Todd4State
04-14-2016, 12:23 AM
First of all- great job by the MSU AD staff for putting together the promotions this year. I'd like to see a bigger fireworks show on Friday nights- but you're headed in the right direction. Camels, Mossy Oak night- good job on that. Great turnout by our fans that could make- 7K plus on a church night in Mississippi? That's strong. And they weren't there to get their picture with a camel. They were there to watch our team ball out- which they did. To me, Memphis is a perception win more than anything even though they aren't very good. Our team made our fans in Memphis pretty proud tonight.
The one bad thing about Pilkington moving to Sunday is we don't really have a midweek starter. Based on their performance tonight- I think it should be Kale Breaux. He comes in during a jam where we were down and he gets out of it AGAIN. But the thing that made me really happy was him going two more strong innings. And even though he got into a jam in his last inning- he got out of it by rolling a double play ball. Nothing against Keegan James at all- but he has gotten a lot of opportunities to start, and maybe he started this game because he is from Desoto County. And I just think it's time to let some of the other freshmen get starts during the midweek. Ryan Cyr has somewhat quietly had a really good freshman year I limited action. Ethan Small threw gas again and is starting to get more and more consistent. But the biggest thing was Tatum and Daniel Brown coming in and having good outings out of the bullpen. Remember- Houston had a big outing last week against UT-Martin and then he built on it. We'll see if the same thing happens with Tatum and Brown. Before Rigby and now Houston emerged- teams are going to start to try to make Dakota and Sexton work their pitch counts up to try to get them out of the game. That's what Florida did last weekend- but it didn't work because of Rigby, Houston, and Humphreys coming through. Also, if our bullpen is solid it's going to take a lot of pressure off of Hudson and Sexton going forward because they aren't going to feel like they have to carry the whole team.
Elih had another hit and has done a great job in the two hole in the absence of Robson. He also threw out a runner as well in a first and third situation.
Nate Lowe had another double and another multi hit game. Gavin hit another home run and made a nice defensive play- in the meantime his batting average continues to climb. He'll probably be over .300 by the end of the year and probably lead us in home runs.
Holland had a rough night at the plate. Gridley had another good day with three RBI's even though he had one hit. But the news to me about the MIF was Luke Alexander belting a home run late in the game. If he starts hitting that would be huge because our best MIF defensively is Gridley at second and LA at SS. But LA has to justify it offensively- and we'll see if this gets him going. I love Hunter Stovall- but he screwed up his SAC bunt and got the runner at third forced out.
It was also good to see Rooker have a great HUMP Day with his double and home run- if we can get him going that's another power bat in the lineup plus he can run some too. Mangum only had one hit which is shocking based on how he has been playing this year. Humphreys appropriately had a great game on HUMP day with three hits and a double.
The good news is we got to play a LOT of guys and we also were able to get some guys that were struggling going a little bit- both on the mound and at the plate. We'll see if it carries over into the weekend. But the thing that really stood out to me and the thing that I was MOST pleased with was the fact that here we were coming off of a big series win and ranked as high as number two in the country and we came out and played our game and took it to Memphis and played the exact same brand of baseball that we have been playing lately. We didn't come out timid. And we sure didn't freak out when Memphis got the lead early- we just brought in Breaux who got out of the jam and then Rooker comes up and blasts a home run and away we went. That's what good teams do.
Now we have SBW coming up and I'm hoping we break our attendance record. I think there is a chance it could happen- and my word of advice is to get to the ballpark early on Saturday. A&M is a really solid team and very well rounded and balanced. They have maybe the best closer in the SEC in Hendricks. Hunter Melton is a really talented player for them as well especially on the offensive side of the ball. They're not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination- they actually have a better home record than Florida now thanks to us. The good news for us is they have struggled on the road some this year. They are yet another top 10 team that we have to face in SEC play- and they have a very legit chance to host a regional and do all of the things that we want to do. We just have to keep doing what we are doing and maybe improve a little bit defensively. I would be satisfied with another 2-1 series win just because A&M is that talented- I think it's going to be tough to sweep them and tough to even win the series.
Everyone that is able go to SBW and give our guys the support that they have earned so far. We might just make some history along the way too!
The one bad thing about Pilkington moving to Sunday is we don't really have a midweek starter. Based on their performance tonight- I think it should be Kale Breaux. He comes in during a jam where we were down and he gets out of it AGAIN. But the thing that made me really happy was him going two more strong innings. And even though he got into a jam in his last inning- he got out of it by rolling a double play ball. Nothing against Keegan James at all- but he has gotten a lot of opportunities to start, and maybe he started this game because he is from Desoto County. And I just think it's time to let some of the other freshmen get starts during the midweek. Ryan Cyr has somewhat quietly had a really good freshman year I limited action. Ethan Small threw gas again and is starting to get more and more consistent. But the biggest thing was Tatum and Daniel Brown coming in and having good outings out of the bullpen. Remember- Houston had a big outing last week against UT-Martin and then he built on it. We'll see if the same thing happens with Tatum and Brown. Before Rigby and now Houston emerged- teams are going to start to try to make Dakota and Sexton work their pitch counts up to try to get them out of the game. That's what Florida did last weekend- but it didn't work because of Rigby, Houston, and Humphreys coming through. Also, if our bullpen is solid it's going to take a lot of pressure off of Hudson and Sexton going forward because they aren't going to feel like they have to carry the whole team.
Elih had another hit and has done a great job in the two hole in the absence of Robson. He also threw out a runner as well in a first and third situation.
Nate Lowe had another double and another multi hit game. Gavin hit another home run and made a nice defensive play- in the meantime his batting average continues to climb. He'll probably be over .300 by the end of the year and probably lead us in home runs.
Holland had a rough night at the plate. Gridley had another good day with three RBI's even though he had one hit. But the news to me about the MIF was Luke Alexander belting a home run late in the game. If he starts hitting that would be huge because our best MIF defensively is Gridley at second and LA at SS. But LA has to justify it offensively- and we'll see if this gets him going. I love Hunter Stovall- but he screwed up his SAC bunt and got the runner at third forced out.
It was also good to see Rooker have a great HUMP Day with his double and home run- if we can get him going that's another power bat in the lineup plus he can run some too. Mangum only had one hit which is shocking based on how he has been playing this year. Humphreys appropriately had a great game on HUMP day with three hits and a double.
The good news is we got to play a LOT of guys and we also were able to get some guys that were struggling going a little bit- both on the mound and at the plate. We'll see if it carries over into the weekend. But the thing that really stood out to me and the thing that I was MOST pleased with was the fact that here we were coming off of a big series win and ranked as high as number two in the country and we came out and played our game and took it to Memphis and played the exact same brand of baseball that we have been playing lately. We didn't come out timid. And we sure didn't freak out when Memphis got the lead early- we just brought in Breaux who got out of the jam and then Rooker comes up and blasts a home run and away we went. That's what good teams do.
Now we have SBW coming up and I'm hoping we break our attendance record. I think there is a chance it could happen- and my word of advice is to get to the ballpark early on Saturday. A&M is a really solid team and very well rounded and balanced. They have maybe the best closer in the SEC in Hendricks. Hunter Melton is a really talented player for them as well especially on the offensive side of the ball. They're not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination- they actually have a better home record than Florida now thanks to us. The good news for us is they have struggled on the road some this year. They are yet another top 10 team that we have to face in SEC play- and they have a very legit chance to host a regional and do all of the things that we want to do. We just have to keep doing what we are doing and maybe improve a little bit defensively. I would be satisfied with another 2-1 series win just because A&M is that talented- I think it's going to be tough to sweep them and tough to even win the series.
Everyone that is able go to SBW and give our guys the support that they have earned so far. We might just make some history along the way too!