Tough weekend for ranked teams

[Coach34]

We should move back inside the Top 20

[Todd4State]

LSU was still ranked? LOL.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

LSU shouldn't have been top 20 anyway. FLorida was criminally overrated and their record honestly doesn't deserve to be top 20. Kentucky is criminally underrated and should be top 5, and Bama shouldn't drop much because of that. NC State shouldn't drop because we didn't drop after losing 2/3 to A&M. Wake should be top 20 but not sure VT drops out of the top 20.

Ultimately, we had a home series vs an unranked team and won 2/3 by the smallest margin possible. 3 games all tied/us losing in the 8th inning. An UGA error the only reason we didn't drop the series outright. Honestly, neutral site we lose that series. We shouldn't drop because of it but it also isn't a "feather in our cap" so to speak worthy of bumping us up

[Coach34]

I love it tho- so many posters said this team would suck and Lemon was a waste. Surely to be fired.

We are about to be ranked in the Top 20 and 6-6 in the SEC so far when fans expected a 3-9

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

I love it tho- so many posters said this team would suck and Lemon was a waste. Surely to be fired.

We are about to be ranked in the Top 20 and 6-6 in the SEC so far when fans expected a 3-9

My god man let the season play out before you claim victory

[Todd4State]

My god man let the season play out before you claim victory

You may want to take your own advice.

[Todd4State]

I love it tho- so many posters said this team would suck and Lemon was a waste. Surely to be fired.

We are about to be ranked in the Top 20 and 6-6 in the SEC so far when fans expected a 3-9

Oh yes! Wasn't Lemonis supposed to be fired by this weekend for going 0-9 against LSU, A&M and Florida?**

Now he still might get fired but it definitely won't be in season unless he murders the SEC official that decided to suspend the entire starting nine.

[ScoobaDawg]

LSU shouldn't have been top 20 anyway. FLorida was criminally overrated and their record honestly doesn't deserve to be top 20. Kentucky is criminally underrated and should be top 5, and Bama shouldn't drop much because of that. NC State shouldn't drop because we didn't drop after losing 2/3 to A&M. Wake should be top 20 but not sure VT drops out of the top 20.

Ultimately, we had a home series vs an unranked team and won 2/3 by the smallest margin possible. 3 games all tied/us losing in the 8th inning. An UGA error the only reason we didn't drop the series outright. Honestly, neutral site we lose that series. We shouldn't drop because of it but it also isn't a "feather in our cap" so to speak worthy of bumping us up

How about looking at it in the correct view point... we have a team that won't stop fighting and very well SHOULD have swept (instead of just winning the series) if not for one of the worst fuc*ups by the sec in conference history.

[MoreCowbell]

We should get a good bump up in the polls

[Coach34]

Georgia was just outside the Top 25 and has the country's HR leader as well as one of the nation's most potent line-ups. You're acting like we played ****ing garbage this weekend. Our fans are such morons. Georgia is highly likely to make the Tourney and very dangerous

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

Georgia was just outside the Top 25 and has the country's HR leader as well as one of the nation's most potent line-ups. You're acting like we played ****ing garbage this weekend. Our fans are such morons. Georgia is highly likely to make the Tourney and very dangerous

Nowhere did I say they were garbage. I agree they will make the tourney and honestly, they should have been ranked higher than us going into this weekend. We got a massive bumb by beating LSU that wound up being fools gold, but I disgress.

I'm speaking "ranking logic". The polls said we were ranked and UGA not, therefore we SHOULD win 2/3 on a neutral field. Add in homefield advantage, and the fact we BARELY won 2/3 isn't something that should make the poll creators impressed and move us up more than they had us.

[Commercecomet24]

Nowhere did I say they were garbage. I agree they will make the tourney and honestly, they should have been ranked higher than us going into this weekend. We got a massive bumb by beating LSU that wound up being fools gold, but I disgress.

I'm speaking "ranking logic". The polls said we were ranked and UGA not, therefore we SHOULD win 2/3 on a neutral field. Add in homefield advantage, and the fact we BARELY won 2/3 isn't something that should make the poll creators impressed and move us up more than they had us.

But weren't people just complaining about us not winning close games? Well this weekend says we may have changed that by winning close games. There are no style points in baseball a close win is a win period. Every win in the sec is earned regardless!

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

But weren't people just complaining about us not winning close games?!

Were they? I hadn't seen it. Personally, I don't want to win ANY close game because I want to blow everyone out lol

There are no style points in baseball a close win is a win period

OK, but if a "win is a win" then a "loss is a loss" and you've got to account for our awful non-con record and RPI. And we can't pretend the team has grown beyond that because 5 days ago we were getting destroyed by Central Arkansas

[Johnson85]

But weren't people just complaining about us not winning close games? Well this weekend says we may have changed that by winning close games. There are no style points in baseball a close win is a win period. Every win in the sec is earned regardless!

We defnitely are showing some improvement there. We aren't what I would consider clutch, but close games are toss ups for us now, where as we were losing way more than our fair share of them the last two years. Some of that was a pitching talent issue, but a lot of it was just being mentally weak (granted when you know you can't trust your pitching, I can see how that causes players to get tight and press in the field and at the plate in close games).

We can no longer be counted on to fold in a tight situation. That's a major improvement. And with how fast that improvement came, maybe by the end of the year we will be one of those teams that is able to step up when in tight games and win more than our fair share of them.

[BrunswickDawg]

We defnitely are showing some improvement there. We aren't what I would consider clutch, but close games are toss ups for us now, where as we were losing way more than our fair share of them the last two years. Some of that was a pitching talent issue, but a lot of it was just being mentally weak (granted when you know you can't trust your pitching, I can see how that causes players to get tight and press in the field and at the plate in close games).

We can no longer be counted on to fold in a tight situation. That's a major improvement. And with how fast that improvement came, maybe by the end of the year we will be one of those teams that is able to step up when in tight games and win more than our fair share of them.

Define clutch for me. Yeah, we were 1-7 in one run games coming into the weekend. I think 4 of those losses were games we were behind by more than 1 and cut the lead to 1.
Is clutch being 2nd in the SEC in hitting with runners on base (.338)? Or is it being in 2nd in hitting with RISP (.364)? Maybe its hitting 4th in the league with the bases loaded (.357)?
Maybe it is leading the league in Pinch-Hitting Avg. (.400)? Or hitting a 2nd best .313 with 2 outs?

I'm kind of at a loss here so, fill me in.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

Define clutch for me. Yeah, we were 1-7 in one run games coming into the weekend. I think 4 of those losses were games we were behind by more than 1 and cut the lead to 1.
Is clutch being 2nd in the SEC in hitting with runners on base (.338)? Or is it being in 2nd in hitting with RISP (.364)? Maybe its hitting 4th in the league with the bases loaded (.357)?
Maybe it is leading the league in Pinch-Hitting Avg. (.400)? Or hitting a 2nd best .313 with 2 outs?

I'm kind of at a loss here so, fill me in.

Where are you getting these stats Id love to go check out that site

[BrunswickDawg]

Where are you getting these stats Id love to go check out that site

You have to scroll deep into the PDF - but the SEC publishes it every day. https://www.secsports.com/2024-baseball-stats-pdf

[Commercecomet24]

Define clutch for me. Yeah, we were 1-7 in one run games coming into the weekend. I think 4 of those losses were games we were behind by more than 1 and cut the lead to 1.
Is clutch being 2nd in the SEC in hitting with runners on base (.338)? Or is it being in 2nd in hitting with RISP (.364)? Maybe its hitting 4th in the league with the bases loaded (.357)?
Maybe it is leading the league in Pinch-Hitting Avg. (.400)? Or hitting a 2nd best .313 with 2 outs?

I'm kind of at a loss here so, fill me in.

It's because most people on here only watch us, and see our warts. They don't watch any other college baseball and don't see the struggle other teams have. If you look at our stats with RISP it's really amazing. Dakota is hitting over 400 with RISP, I bet folks don't realize Larry is over 350 with RISP, Mershon, Hujsak, Chance, Long all over 300 with RISP. Hines is at 280 with RISP, I don't understand what more people can ask for. Also people keep saying Long doesn't help on offense but his OBP is 444, he has 6 sac bunts, 3 hit and run base hits and has stolen 3 bases.

[Bdawg]

It's because most people on here only watch us, and see our warts. They don't watch any other college baseball and don't see the struggle other teams have. If you look at our stats with RISP it's really amazing. Dakota is hitting over 400 with RISP, I bet folks don't realize Larry is over 350 with RISP, Mershon, Hujsak, Chance, Long all over 300 with RISP. Hines is at 280 with RISP, I don't understand what more people can ask for. Also people keep saying Long doesn't help on offense but his OBP is 444, he has 6 sac bunts, 3 hit and run base hits and has stolen 3 bases.

Maybe Larry need to move down and hit more with runners on!! Ha

[Johnson85]

Define clutch for me. Yeah, we were 1-7 in one run games coming into the weekend. I think 4 of those losses were games we were behind by more than 1 and cut the lead to 1.
Is clutch being 2nd in the SEC in hitting with runners on base (.338)? Or is it being in 2nd in hitting with RISP (.364)? Maybe its hitting 4th in the league with the bases loaded (.357)?
Maybe it is leading the league in Pinch-Hitting Avg. (.400)? Or hitting a 2nd best .313 with 2 outs?

I'm kind of at a loss here so, fill me in.

Generally, winning more close games than you lose. That can hide issues (if you have a talented team with a focus issue, they're probably going to win a lot of games that shouldn't have been close to begin with), but it's a good enough metric over time. I was really referring more to last year's team folding than this years, but we definitely caught some bad losses early on. How much of that was "just baseball" versus us just not having things figured out yet versus not being clutch (I assume more of the former two than the latter one; but it's possible players may have still been expecting the other shoe to drop in close games early on because of last year's team and it got in their head).