I genuinely believe had LeMo been the coach of the 2016 team that we would have won a National Championship.
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I genuinely believe had LeMo been the coach of the 2016 team that we would have won a National Championship.
Preacher you need to lay off the hard stuff. The 2016 team went as far as they could and really overachieved.
The 2016 team was super talented, but we just ran into a hot Arizona team that went on to play for the championship that year. I don't think Lemonis does anything different that changes the outcome of that series
Sorry that's wrong. We were 2nd in the SEC in BA (.308), 5th in ERA (3.35), and 5th in fielding. We won the SEC outright and were a national seed. We had 11 players drafted that year.
We most definitely didn't "over achieve" by losing in the Supers. 2013 overachieved, 2017 overachieved. 2016 underachieved by not making Omaha
I haven't seen anything from Lemonis I haven't seen from any other State baseball coaches. Well, except he hasn't banged a staffer I guess.
2016 team didn't overachieve. They were super talented & possibly the best team in the country.
That being said, we didn't lose it as much as Arizona just got hot & nothing Lemo would have done would've prevented Arizona from catching fire. Arizona ended up in the CWS final that year
2016 was mismanaged, Lemo may not have managed it better. But Foxhall probably manages the pitchers way better.
(1) Reid Humphries was dog meat to decent right handed pitching and terrible defensively in OF, he misplayed the fly ball to give up run in game-1 vs Arizona
(2) JC iced and forgot about Cody Brown, clutch has hell Cody was left handed and would have done better vs Dalbec was iced and forgotten by JC in late 2016
(3) JC cut a very competent and experienced LH hitter in Luke Reynolds. After he hit 370 in the SEC in 2015. Reynold then produced an All American year at USM hitting 389 with 18 HRs. JC cut him from the roster preseason.
(4) our hottest pitcher Zac Houston did not throw a pitch vs Arizona. With Arizona completely selling out to hang on for dear life with left our best pitcher unused.
(5) JC yanked Brent Rooker, triple crown Brent Rooker in critical Game-2. To let Micheal Smith bat.
(6) we DH?ed with with Elih Marrero in game-2! A 200 hitter while Cody watched and Reynolds prepared to win the CUSA triple crown
(7) meanwhile in the bullpen, MiniMe maybe destroyed the arms of our greatest ever pitching recruiting class
(8) cherry on top, Pilkington our best LHP with SEC experience was never used in post season. We had to watch Reid Humphries melt down and lose game-2.
Just my opinion, Cohen sank the Titanic then got promoted!
Following season, with no pitching and half the roster talent, Cannizzaro fully matched him in a Super Regional. AC lost in a valiant last stand in Baton Rouge.
No DOUBT dumb ass Cohen lost that Super Regional for us.
He out thought himself again...
There were some parents that wanted to really Kick his 17 a$$ after that botched last game... All the while we treated Arizona like they were the host damn team.
Did get drunk with the ESPN guy that died earlier this year. His son played for Zona... He was a nice guy...
17 the intense bastard...
i love reading this forum first thing in the morning it makes my day before i go out and deal with assholes everyday.
You would have to think Level-Headed Lemonis would be able to better manage that series all-around. He's not panicky or knee-jerk for sure.
It was pretty awful seeing Reynolds turn out the way he did.
Reynolds was pretty much the only bright spot of the 2015 year and we knew he would be something to build off of for 2016, why Cohen cut him is just odd.
I'll never forget, we played Georgia in the third SEC weekend of the year. Cohen tried to use Kruger (one of our better power hitters) to bunt in the third inning. The stadium booed every time He put the bat out and when he fouled a perfect strike two behind the catcher the stadium really let him hear it. He swung away next pitch and got a single.
BTW I will go to the grave believing this, if we had made it to game three and Zac Houston starting, we would have gone to Omaha that year. Great job Cohen.
C'mon man. That's just crazy. Cohen took that team from worst to first. Plus, Hudson was beaten 1-0 by Bobby Dalbec in that super by a hot 'Zona team.
Yes - that 2015 team was awful. And Cohen let a number of guys go from that squad. While Reynolds did excel at USM in 2018 (not 2016 as Fed indicated)- lets not oversell what he did here either. On April 25th he was batting .154 - 8 for 52 in 25 games. He then went 20 for 40 over a 10 game stretch closing out the season. He also had an .846 fielding percentage. He was a mess until the last 10 games of the season. That streak was excellent - but there had to be a legit reason for letting Reynolds go, or else he would have caught on somewhere in 2017 and not sat out 2 years before catching on at USM.
The Dalbec game was just kind of a fluky deal, tip your cap to a talented guy for throwing the game of his life and mowing down a really good lineup. The game ended with runners on base and Jake Mangum at the plate, you take that all day every day, unfortunately he had maybe the worst AB of his career in that moment.
We had Game 2 won and then our bullpen imploded. Went to Ryan Rigby, who had been our best reliever all year, with a 5-1 lead in the 8th and he proceeded to put two guys on base and give up a three run moon shot. After that we were hanging on for dear life and couldn?t do it. I think they outhit us something like 19-7 in that game, we just couldn?t get them out.
That was one of our all-time great teams and unfortunately we just ran into a buzzsaw. That Arizona team made it all the way to the championship series. The only move I question Cohen on is the Smith for Rooker defensive sub. I get prioritizing defense in a game where we had a 5-1 lead late, but it was definitely a gamble to think we wouldn?t need any more runs. It?s the kind of move you make in March and nobody bats an eye, but in an elimination game of a Super Regional the stakes are way higher and taking out a guy who had hit two home runs in that game is a move that Cohen will admit now was a mistake.
Smart thoughts, KO. But two things to consider:
(1) "Worst to First" is only impressive when you were not the coach during the "Worst", especially at a School that is supposed to have elite baseball.
(2) Can you imagine the alternate universe where MSU had hired the other coach in the state of Kentucky in 2008? Dan McConnell of Louisville.
Byrne did a great thing in not hiring Polk's favorite, Raffo. But what if Byne had said, "I cant decide between the two Alumnus, so I will go Dan McConnell to prevent bad feelings".
In 2008, I bet even Tim Corbin was gettable.
So, the Arizona loss was really Gregg Byrne's mismanagement ***
Cheers
He pulled Rooker as defensive replacement when we were up. He didn't get pinch hit for. It was still dumb though. And Lemonis has done the same thing w TAnner Allen 3 times this year. Twice in one run games. I would never ever take him out of a one run game. Did it again on Sunday. Skinner isn't THAT much of an improvement in the field to justify that move, IMO
Arizona was slow death.
https://i.imgur.com/i05QJEX.gif?noredirect
Still not as bad as 1989, i was just like this kid at 10. I know his pain.
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/qv...e6c2ffdcde4f1e
Bobby Dalbec was Superman that Super Regional. He damn near pitches a CG Shutout and then the next day hits a baseball that I'm still not sure where it actually landed. It was still rising going over the LFL. Cohen had his flaws as manager but that was one of his best managed teams. We were peaking at the right time and just ran into a buzzsaw.
You ain't lying brother. The '89 team, IMO, is still the best MSU team ever. I guess it can be aruged because they didn't make the CWS, yada, yada but that team was the best I've ever personally seen in maroon/white and that includes the 79, 81, 85, 90, 13 and 19 teams.
Best lineup ever and it's not even close. Heck we played 12 guys regularly and didn't drop off. One more pitcher is all we needed. Or two. Great team. One bad game and dig ourselves a hole we couldn't get out of. I just knew when we to them to the elimination game we would win. Wrong. I'll never forget coach Mac sitting in the stands all by himself and not leaving. Course that was his last game as an assistant first time around. Well second if you count him leaving after being a GA.
BTW, anyone know what Mac is up too these days? He bailed on us going to UF and that was a mistake. Anyway, just wondered what happened to him.
Pat is a great guy and a big part of our history. I do wonder what would have happened had he not left for Florida, though. Have to think he would have fared better than Polk 2.0 did, but his Florida run was kind of odd in itself. A couple of pretty good years, then had a very good team that played for a national title in 2005, then had back to back years where he didn?t even have an overall winning record and that was it, he was fired two years after having a national finalist.