Todd4State
04-27-2023, 01:47 AM
Always good to beat Ole Miss. Game was close but it wasn't that pretty. Don't know why some of our fans call it a meaningless midweek game. To me, it's the biggest midweek game of the year. Of course it means a little more to me being from Jackson. Always good to go to school the next day wearing MSU baseball gear after Ron Polk and the Diamond Dawgs took out Jake Gibbs or Don Kessinger's boys. When I was at MSU I would hop in the car and go down HWY 25 catch the game and then go back to MSU through the night. Live out of town now and still make it a point to go to it.
The crowd was lowest I've seen at Trustmark Park. I think both teams having disappointing seasons plus bad weekends plus sky high ticket prices kept people away. Some people on Twitter don't like playing games at Trustmark Park but I'm not sure I understand why. It's a solid AA stadium. I've gone to our games in Biloxi and they have the same issues as Pearl as far as streaming. The concession lines seemed fine this time- and were better than they were in Biloxi. People have to remember as far as game day stuff goes the AA season doesn't start until April whereas college starts in February. So for the minor leagues when we play these games it's usually their first game of the season for the stadium and they usually have all brand new workers- a lot of them high school kids or church volunteers. Add in a big crowd and it's going to equal issues. Just a general thought and not specific necessarily to the Governor's Cup.
Here are my suggestions for the people that put on these games:
1. Make more information more visible. Meaning who is the home team and what dugout they will be in. The M-Braves did put it in some spots but it needs to be in more spots. Put it on the M-Braves schedule and come up with a college schedule on their web site with that info. Also- tell people when the gates open. It used to be two hours before the game. Then it went to an hour and half. And now it's one hour. I don't like standing around and it helps people to plan. And tell people if you are going to charge for parking and how much.
2. Make the trophy presentation better. I seriously had no idea that we got the trophy after the game. It doesn't have to be anything extravagant. But have the Governor on the field and make an announcement. Have Lemonis or one of the team leaders get the trophy and celebrate. Same thing with the game MVP. What they used to do was fine.
3. Incorporate both teams traditions into the game. Does Ole Miss still do that Love is Gone thing? If so keep doing it. They could play Garth Brooks in the 8th inning for MSU.
4. They called Ole Miss OLD Miss on the scoreboard. Surely they can do better with that.
As far as the game itself- I thought it was a good game but it was also kind of sloppy. Lots of bad AB's. Kind of fitting we won the thing when Ole Miss misplayed a ball in the outfield. The difference in the game was our defense. We made a key double play to kill an Ole Miss rally with Stinnett on the mound that to me was maybe the play of the game. I have to give our pitchers credit- we outpitched them with Stinnett and two freshmen and finished up with Hunt and Nixon while they threw some of their main relief guys for most of the game. Siary and Tapper and even Stinnett really impressed me. We need to probably use them more. Hunt got us out of a big jam after Tyson Hardin went rogue and got his ass chewed out by Lemonis. It looked to me like he went against whatever the coaches wanted to throw and it didn't work. Also crossed up Highfill. Nixon looked nasty in the 9th.
At the plate I thought we tried to do a little too much in general. But Ole Miss pitched pretty well too. We helped being overaggressive though. Same thing as when we played Ole Miss in game one of the weekend series. I thought we were going to have a good night after Ledbetter and Hines got back to back doubles. But then we started to have some bad AB's.
Ole Miss to me reminded me of the Ole Miss teams I saw when I was a kid in the 80's and 90's. Real top heavy lineup. Except thy have four pretty dangerous hitters now whereas when I was kid they had one or two.
Elephant in the room- Lemonis is likely staying as long as we don't finish this season like last year getting swept out the rest of the way. Foxhall is probably gone unless we get white hot and get to Omaha. If we make the regionals Lemonis is definitely safe. If we have a winning season and make the SEC Tournament he is probably safe. If we have a winning season and miss the SEC Tournament- things are going to have to be weighed out but he will probably be safe in that situation too. Everything is going to be taken into account and the reality is this team with a different pitching coach is probably in position to host a regional. Even though Lemonis made the decision to being Foxhall back I don't think the powers that be are going to see that as fireable given the circumstances. Some fans can be pissed off at Lemonis for that but the reality is he made a decision based on Foxhall's good track record and it just didn't work out. Cohen made the same decision with Butch back in the day and it worked out great then. It's a difficult decision and Lemonis played the odds and got burned.
Can we still make a regional? Maybe but probably not. Going 6-6 merely puts us on the bubble. Alabama did get in with a 12-17 record and a RPI of 32 and a really high SOS. Our RPI last time I checked was 37 and we have a similar SOS as Alabama. Because we have Tennessee, LSU, and Arkansas left we have the opportunity to make it happen. But that's going to be a tall order. Tennessee could very well sweep us. They're hot right now and our pitching staff is depleted. If we get out of Knoxville with one win- we did well.
So I say this in vain because I know how this is going to go but here it is. I would not pay attention to this series at all if I were you. We're probably going to get swept. Our starters can only go six max. That's being optimistic. If Gartman is back there is no way in hell he is going to go more than 2-3 innings. And that's optimistic. Dohm is out for this weekend. We can't pitch KC Hunt and Nixon every game. We're probably going to pitch Ynetema and Hardin because we have to. Would not be surprised if they pitch Davis either. Heck- they may even use Forsythe the shortstop for an inning. Now you people are going to freak out, be pissed off, and say that Lemonis is done and all of this but again the situation will be the same Saturday night as it is now with Lemonis.
Now after this weekend- we get a much needed break. No midweek game and eight of our last eleven are at Dudy Noble. That section of the schedule is what I think we need to focus on. Our team needs to put everything they've got into that Arkansas series. If we can find a way to take two out of three there and then find a way to win a game in Baton Rouge which I do think is possible, then we could be in position to where if we get a sweep of A&M at home we could get to that 6-6 mark. Plus win our two midweek game against Memphis and North Alabama. I think having next week with no midweek game will allow us to reset our staff. I suspect Gartman will be even better next weekend. Miiight get Dohm back but I don't think we're going to use him more than an inning a weekend if he can go. But if Gartman is back we can move Holcombe back to the bullpen and he can take over Dohm's role. I think Stinnett, Tapper, and Siary can help us out too- maybe even Will Gibbs and Logan Forsythe if needed.
Gonna be tough. Let's hope we have some MSU baseball magic these last few weeks.
The crowd was lowest I've seen at Trustmark Park. I think both teams having disappointing seasons plus bad weekends plus sky high ticket prices kept people away. Some people on Twitter don't like playing games at Trustmark Park but I'm not sure I understand why. It's a solid AA stadium. I've gone to our games in Biloxi and they have the same issues as Pearl as far as streaming. The concession lines seemed fine this time- and were better than they were in Biloxi. People have to remember as far as game day stuff goes the AA season doesn't start until April whereas college starts in February. So for the minor leagues when we play these games it's usually their first game of the season for the stadium and they usually have all brand new workers- a lot of them high school kids or church volunteers. Add in a big crowd and it's going to equal issues. Just a general thought and not specific necessarily to the Governor's Cup.
Here are my suggestions for the people that put on these games:
1. Make more information more visible. Meaning who is the home team and what dugout they will be in. The M-Braves did put it in some spots but it needs to be in more spots. Put it on the M-Braves schedule and come up with a college schedule on their web site with that info. Also- tell people when the gates open. It used to be two hours before the game. Then it went to an hour and half. And now it's one hour. I don't like standing around and it helps people to plan. And tell people if you are going to charge for parking and how much.
2. Make the trophy presentation better. I seriously had no idea that we got the trophy after the game. It doesn't have to be anything extravagant. But have the Governor on the field and make an announcement. Have Lemonis or one of the team leaders get the trophy and celebrate. Same thing with the game MVP. What they used to do was fine.
3. Incorporate both teams traditions into the game. Does Ole Miss still do that Love is Gone thing? If so keep doing it. They could play Garth Brooks in the 8th inning for MSU.
4. They called Ole Miss OLD Miss on the scoreboard. Surely they can do better with that.
As far as the game itself- I thought it was a good game but it was also kind of sloppy. Lots of bad AB's. Kind of fitting we won the thing when Ole Miss misplayed a ball in the outfield. The difference in the game was our defense. We made a key double play to kill an Ole Miss rally with Stinnett on the mound that to me was maybe the play of the game. I have to give our pitchers credit- we outpitched them with Stinnett and two freshmen and finished up with Hunt and Nixon while they threw some of their main relief guys for most of the game. Siary and Tapper and even Stinnett really impressed me. We need to probably use them more. Hunt got us out of a big jam after Tyson Hardin went rogue and got his ass chewed out by Lemonis. It looked to me like he went against whatever the coaches wanted to throw and it didn't work. Also crossed up Highfill. Nixon looked nasty in the 9th.
At the plate I thought we tried to do a little too much in general. But Ole Miss pitched pretty well too. We helped being overaggressive though. Same thing as when we played Ole Miss in game one of the weekend series. I thought we were going to have a good night after Ledbetter and Hines got back to back doubles. But then we started to have some bad AB's.
Ole Miss to me reminded me of the Ole Miss teams I saw when I was a kid in the 80's and 90's. Real top heavy lineup. Except thy have four pretty dangerous hitters now whereas when I was kid they had one or two.
Elephant in the room- Lemonis is likely staying as long as we don't finish this season like last year getting swept out the rest of the way. Foxhall is probably gone unless we get white hot and get to Omaha. If we make the regionals Lemonis is definitely safe. If we have a winning season and make the SEC Tournament he is probably safe. If we have a winning season and miss the SEC Tournament- things are going to have to be weighed out but he will probably be safe in that situation too. Everything is going to be taken into account and the reality is this team with a different pitching coach is probably in position to host a regional. Even though Lemonis made the decision to being Foxhall back I don't think the powers that be are going to see that as fireable given the circumstances. Some fans can be pissed off at Lemonis for that but the reality is he made a decision based on Foxhall's good track record and it just didn't work out. Cohen made the same decision with Butch back in the day and it worked out great then. It's a difficult decision and Lemonis played the odds and got burned.
Can we still make a regional? Maybe but probably not. Going 6-6 merely puts us on the bubble. Alabama did get in with a 12-17 record and a RPI of 32 and a really high SOS. Our RPI last time I checked was 37 and we have a similar SOS as Alabama. Because we have Tennessee, LSU, and Arkansas left we have the opportunity to make it happen. But that's going to be a tall order. Tennessee could very well sweep us. They're hot right now and our pitching staff is depleted. If we get out of Knoxville with one win- we did well.
So I say this in vain because I know how this is going to go but here it is. I would not pay attention to this series at all if I were you. We're probably going to get swept. Our starters can only go six max. That's being optimistic. If Gartman is back there is no way in hell he is going to go more than 2-3 innings. And that's optimistic. Dohm is out for this weekend. We can't pitch KC Hunt and Nixon every game. We're probably going to pitch Ynetema and Hardin because we have to. Would not be surprised if they pitch Davis either. Heck- they may even use Forsythe the shortstop for an inning. Now you people are going to freak out, be pissed off, and say that Lemonis is done and all of this but again the situation will be the same Saturday night as it is now with Lemonis.
Now after this weekend- we get a much needed break. No midweek game and eight of our last eleven are at Dudy Noble. That section of the schedule is what I think we need to focus on. Our team needs to put everything they've got into that Arkansas series. If we can find a way to take two out of three there and then find a way to win a game in Baton Rouge which I do think is possible, then we could be in position to where if we get a sweep of A&M at home we could get to that 6-6 mark. Plus win our two midweek game against Memphis and North Alabama. I think having next week with no midweek game will allow us to reset our staff. I suspect Gartman will be even better next weekend. Miiight get Dohm back but I don't think we're going to use him more than an inning a weekend if he can go. But if Gartman is back we can move Holcombe back to the bullpen and he can take over Dohm's role. I think Stinnett, Tapper, and Siary can help us out too- maybe even Will Gibbs and Logan Forsythe if needed.
Gonna be tough. Let's hope we have some MSU baseball magic these last few weeks.