Lemonis Survives- For Now
Biggest week of Lemonis's career if he wants to keep his job and Karson Ligon comes up with the game of his life at a really good time. We needed to beat Memphis on the road and win at least 2/3 and we did it. Getting down to it, this week is just as big if not bigger. Really need to beat UAB on the road which won't be that easy and their RPI isn't great at 101. They've beaten Auburn twice and played very competitively against Alabama in a loss. The good news for MSU is we didn't have to pitch McPherson, Dotson, or Williams meaning they will almost certainly pitch Tuesday. I fully expect to start Noah Sullivan again. Then we go to Alabama and really need a series win- but 1/3 should be enough for Lemonis to keep his head above water- barely. And what I am referring to when I say head above water I'm talking about a chance to finish out the year and get into a regional. There is a path but with our RPI at 52 as I type this it's a narrow path. I think we're going to have to win at least 15 to have a chance. And we don't have a ton of high RPI games to make a leap- Alabama is one of those few. A series win there plus a win against UAB could vault us into the RPI 30's potentially. The only other high RPI games we have are the Governor's Cup and Ole Miss and Auburn. That's it. The rest of the schedule is RPI 37 or lower.
Pitching this week went pretty well or about as well as we could hope for. I think they have found the right combination of starters/relief pitchers to use FINALLY. Pico wasn't sharp this weekend but he always gives us a chance. Ben Davis gutted it out and saved the bullpen and the defense didn't help him out very much. Those innings he ate allowed us to have a chance to win the series. Siary was good but we left him in too long. We need to understand that he is only going to go 4-5 at the most every weekend and then go to the bullpen we have which is strong. Hungate and Stone Simmons were really good this weekend. Stone was really good against Memphis as well. He is starting to emerge as our relief ace. McPherson was really strong against UAB and we need to see more of that against UAB which I am almost certain he is going to pitch against them.
Joe Powell is only hitting .200 but as a first responder Lemonis might be the next guy he saves. His double was the key hit of the series and he might be taking over at catcher now going forward. Hines is above .300! Needs to keep that up. And he's even hitting clean up now. Sanders is taking over second base. Defense is strong and his .469 OBP will play. Cupp had a rough day defensively but he also had some good with the bad including his first career home run. I think he is really starting to come into his own at the plate but needs to put it all together with fielding too. Reese had some big home runs and I think he will have a big second half of the season.
LF is still a mystery. Stallman played well this weekend. I liked putting Frei out there although it didn't have the bang for the buck that I was hoping to see. Downs will still get opportunities as well. Chance broke out of his slump and had some good AB's. Stevens has been quietly productive and had a good game Saturday. Didn't have a hit Sunday but did have a RBI. Noah Sullivan I think is really emerging now. He's up to 7 home runs and is our best hitter.
So, good weekend but at the same time the loss on Friday was a game that we gave away and probably should have won. And because of that you still feel like there is a little meat left on the bone with this team. The other thing about this team is because of the lack of quality wins there isn't much margin for error. And that's scary in a sport where a bad weekend can rear it's head at anytime. There is a possibility that this team could do what it needs to do and gets hot and wins say 15 SEC games and still could get left out. We'll see how it plays out with a tough week ahead.
