Todd4State
04-21-2016, 06:30 PM
I would have had this in sooner- except I went to the game and sat through the ENTIRE 14 inning affair- and didn't get home until 1:45 AM and I had to be up at 5:00 to get to work. Which I also made by the way.
The fact that the game took 14 innings was the only bad thing I could say about the Biloxi experience in general- speaking from the point of view of a "neutral fan" just going to a game. It's a very nice stadium and I liked how you could see the downtown area and the casinos along the beach. It has to be nice to be a fan and be able to be within walking distance of the Beau Rivage Buffet, Mary Mahoney's, and other local restaurants. I noticed the gulf breeze blowing pretty good early in the game- I would have to think that comes into play a lot when games are played there. Overall, very good experience from a stadium standpoint. I'm looking forward to the Mississippi Braves and Biloxi Shuckers becoming a rivalry and I hope that Biloxi lands the C-USA Tournament one day.
As far as MSU and games in Biloxi- it sounds to me like we moved one of our OOC home games up a day and it coincided with us playing LSU. My guess is next year we will play South Alabama there- but that's just a guess at this point. We may see a South Alabama game one year and then the next play someone like ULM when South Alabama plays in Starkville. If it were me, I'd like to see us play Tulane there and either make that a permanent game or alternate between Tulane and South Alabama.
Now as far as the game itself- the hitting was not good until the last two innings. It's the same story as it was the LAST time we were shut out this year by FAU and when we got one run against Oral Roberts- we got away from our typical line drive approach which has been working really all year long for whatever reason. And the results were pop ups and weak fly balls. We swung at a LOT of bad pitches and it just seemed like for most of the game we had guys trying to do too much. One interesting thing that happened during the game- Wes and Cohen saw something that one of their pitchers was doing and we called a time out. The result was some balls that were smoked that almost got out of the ballpark- ULM was really lucky there. The last two innings we started to go BACK to the line drive use the whole field approach and we put together a rally which including Luke Alexander getting a solid single and then Gridley hitting a double the next inning followed up by Mangum's game winning single. Mangum is already becoming an urban legend and I love how he plays the game.
Another interesting moment was when they tried to IBB Holland and he swung at the first pitch- it didn't work but it took a heck of a play by their SS to get the out. It was probably an inch or two from being a hit and that would have been an interesting way to win that game.
Now the good- or REAL good was the pitching. I'm proud of how they performed last night. Some of those guys were getting lit up by EKU five weeks ago- and here they were basically shutting down an opponent and only getting into a few high leverage situations. I thought Wes handled the staff really well- and that was a huge key to us winning. I thought Houston looked really good as the starting pitcher. He didn't go very deep and it will be interesting to see if we start him against LSU. Blake Smith did well. Kale Breaux was really good as well. He's VERY close to being ready as a SEC starter. Daniel Brown has gone from a guy that was getting shelled every Sunday to a legit option out of the bullpen. He only got hit hard once- and he got out of the jam. He probably would have fallen apart a few weeks ago. Ryan Cyr was outstanding and it makes me wonder if he should be pitching more. Billingsley looks so much better now too. He got us out of a jam and he almost got into a fight with their SS after he struck him out- and it only got our guys fired up while their guys just stood around the dugout. LOVED IT. And LOVED the response by our team. I liked how Gavin told him to just go back to the dugout. Ethan Small looked good- I didn't mind his walk because he threw a ball up in the strike zone after the hitter had chased a couple of pitches around the letters. Keegan James pitched well also and he is going to bea very good pitcher for us. Paul Young fell behind his hitter and it's like the lightbulb went off and he just started throwing gas and got the guy out. I like how a lot of the guys I just mentioned are just freshmen this year.
Also of note- we didn't have to use Rigby or Humphreys which tells me that we have some depth.
Our defense was rock solid and much better than it was against A&M.
Injuries- Robson they are hopeful he will be back by the Alabama series. LA should be back soon and actually got a nice hit despite his injury. Sexton is adamant that he is pitching Saturday.
Up next we have LSU and it's going to be an intense series because we are both big rivals in baseball. They're playing pretty well right now- but I will say that every win and loss that they have seems to be overmagnified. They have two legit SEC aces and that is going to keep them in most SEC series and keep them from getting swept most weekends. They don't have a ton of power- but they do lead the SEC in stolen bases right now. The best way to stop that is to get a lead early because it makes most coaches less likely to run. Jake Fraley is their best hitter and he is a possible first- second round pick. At this point because I have no idea how Sexton's hamstring is going to feel and the fact that it is in Baton Rouge I'd have to say that I would be satisfied coming out of there with one win. If we win the series, I will be ecstatic.
Hail State!
The fact that the game took 14 innings was the only bad thing I could say about the Biloxi experience in general- speaking from the point of view of a "neutral fan" just going to a game. It's a very nice stadium and I liked how you could see the downtown area and the casinos along the beach. It has to be nice to be a fan and be able to be within walking distance of the Beau Rivage Buffet, Mary Mahoney's, and other local restaurants. I noticed the gulf breeze blowing pretty good early in the game- I would have to think that comes into play a lot when games are played there. Overall, very good experience from a stadium standpoint. I'm looking forward to the Mississippi Braves and Biloxi Shuckers becoming a rivalry and I hope that Biloxi lands the C-USA Tournament one day.
As far as MSU and games in Biloxi- it sounds to me like we moved one of our OOC home games up a day and it coincided with us playing LSU. My guess is next year we will play South Alabama there- but that's just a guess at this point. We may see a South Alabama game one year and then the next play someone like ULM when South Alabama plays in Starkville. If it were me, I'd like to see us play Tulane there and either make that a permanent game or alternate between Tulane and South Alabama.
Now as far as the game itself- the hitting was not good until the last two innings. It's the same story as it was the LAST time we were shut out this year by FAU and when we got one run against Oral Roberts- we got away from our typical line drive approach which has been working really all year long for whatever reason. And the results were pop ups and weak fly balls. We swung at a LOT of bad pitches and it just seemed like for most of the game we had guys trying to do too much. One interesting thing that happened during the game- Wes and Cohen saw something that one of their pitchers was doing and we called a time out. The result was some balls that were smoked that almost got out of the ballpark- ULM was really lucky there. The last two innings we started to go BACK to the line drive use the whole field approach and we put together a rally which including Luke Alexander getting a solid single and then Gridley hitting a double the next inning followed up by Mangum's game winning single. Mangum is already becoming an urban legend and I love how he plays the game.
Another interesting moment was when they tried to IBB Holland and he swung at the first pitch- it didn't work but it took a heck of a play by their SS to get the out. It was probably an inch or two from being a hit and that would have been an interesting way to win that game.
Now the good- or REAL good was the pitching. I'm proud of how they performed last night. Some of those guys were getting lit up by EKU five weeks ago- and here they were basically shutting down an opponent and only getting into a few high leverage situations. I thought Wes handled the staff really well- and that was a huge key to us winning. I thought Houston looked really good as the starting pitcher. He didn't go very deep and it will be interesting to see if we start him against LSU. Blake Smith did well. Kale Breaux was really good as well. He's VERY close to being ready as a SEC starter. Daniel Brown has gone from a guy that was getting shelled every Sunday to a legit option out of the bullpen. He only got hit hard once- and he got out of the jam. He probably would have fallen apart a few weeks ago. Ryan Cyr was outstanding and it makes me wonder if he should be pitching more. Billingsley looks so much better now too. He got us out of a jam and he almost got into a fight with their SS after he struck him out- and it only got our guys fired up while their guys just stood around the dugout. LOVED IT. And LOVED the response by our team. I liked how Gavin told him to just go back to the dugout. Ethan Small looked good- I didn't mind his walk because he threw a ball up in the strike zone after the hitter had chased a couple of pitches around the letters. Keegan James pitched well also and he is going to bea very good pitcher for us. Paul Young fell behind his hitter and it's like the lightbulb went off and he just started throwing gas and got the guy out. I like how a lot of the guys I just mentioned are just freshmen this year.
Also of note- we didn't have to use Rigby or Humphreys which tells me that we have some depth.
Our defense was rock solid and much better than it was against A&M.
Injuries- Robson they are hopeful he will be back by the Alabama series. LA should be back soon and actually got a nice hit despite his injury. Sexton is adamant that he is pitching Saturday.
Up next we have LSU and it's going to be an intense series because we are both big rivals in baseball. They're playing pretty well right now- but I will say that every win and loss that they have seems to be overmagnified. They have two legit SEC aces and that is going to keep them in most SEC series and keep them from getting swept most weekends. They don't have a ton of power- but they do lead the SEC in stolen bases right now. The best way to stop that is to get a lead early because it makes most coaches less likely to run. Jake Fraley is their best hitter and he is a possible first- second round pick. At this point because I have no idea how Sexton's hamstring is going to feel and the fact that it is in Baton Rouge I'd have to say that I would be satisfied coming out of there with one win. If we win the series, I will be ecstatic.
Hail State!