Opening Day Thoughts

Usually save this for the end of the series but why not?

Worst thing about today is because we beat them so bad we only got to use six pitchers today. I don't think either of our starters got to 70 pitches and both of them had a TON of K's. I suspect there is going to be some emphasis on getting guys on the mound on Sunday so I expect a short outing from Stone Simmons so we can get some guys like Makhai Grant and Dane Burns in. Might want to get Gavin Black, Chase Hungate, and Kevin Mannell an inning just to get their feet wet before we play at USM.

And as you can see this team so far looks and feels different than last year. The pitchers are attacking the zone and the result is strike outs and opponents getting dominated. So much better than what we saw from Foxhall.

Also, I think Gautreau did a great job of making over the offense. In both games our hitters walked 8 times and struck out only 5 times in each game. Last year that probably would have been reversed. Good example of it today- Noah Sullivan comes up with the bases loaded and instead of overswinging and being overaggressive which is what likely would have happened last year he goes with the pitch and punishes the ball which gets in the gap for a bases clearing double. Here's a good example of what I am talking about- Dylan Cupp didn't get a hit today and his OBP is .714. And at the same time we hit four home runs and had 7 doubles while also stealing 4 bases. I love the balance between power and aggressiveness on the bases. We also only made one error today. Hopefully the good defense continues.

Biggest thing as far as the lineup IMO is if Downs and Stallman both hit like they are we're probably going to platoon them because that makes the most sense. Small sample size but Reeves had a bit of a rough day at the plate and there are several guys that are capable of taking over if it turns into a slump like Pulliam, Frei, or Gatlin Sanders.

We'll see how Sunday looks but no question we had a really good day today. Just need to finish the series on Sunday. I do like playing a team like this in weekend one just because you can play a lot of guys and odds are you are going to get some wins under your belt.

Top to bottom, it looks to be the most complete lineup we've had in years and we've got lots of options with guys on the bench. You saw that in the 1st game when we had 5 pinch hitters in one inning that went 4 for 5.

As you mentioned, Reeves didn't look great but it's just 1 day so I'm not worried. Even if he falters, Pulliam and Sanders are right behind him. Bukner is going to get some PT somewhere too.

Pitching looked solid with the exception of Pruitt. He had no control of his off speed pitches. I was thinking he'd be in line to start Tuesday night in Hattiesburg, but now I'm not so sure I trust him down there. I think the buzzards have already sold out that game so it's going to be a tough environment.

Hat tip to Lemonis for putting constructing the roster. The lineup is deep and I believe the bullpen is too although we didn't get to see much of them due to the shortened games.

I think this team will host.

Reeves hit a couple of balls hard for outs.

I still have concerns about Ligon only because the Manhattan batters were teeing off on him in the 1st and 2nd inning with line-drive, solid contact hits. Ligon eventually settled down, but I'm wondering if the K's he got against the Jaspers would have been pitches that were punished by SEC batters (ie, the 1st & 2nd innings could have been bad if he was pitching an SEC game). Still, Ligon settled down and solidly competed against lesser competition.

Good to be 2-0 on opening weekend.

Even better to be 3-0 after 1st weekend and 8-0 going to Houston. 😎