Thoughts on Opening Weekend

[The Federalist Engineer]

I think this is a 2016 team again. Hopefully we don't run into a red hot team in the supers this year

Hopefully we are the Red Hot team in the supers

I get the feeling, this team will have elements that will be significantly better by Summer. Plus, we got long ball threats, multiple guys. Sometimes, you need a three-run homer at the right moment. Renfroe vs Oregon State.

Hayden Jones hit a laser beam HR and Foscue looks like a Rooker clone in body type.

[Todd4State]

I don't mind one of those baserunning mistakes. I don't blame Mangum for trying to score when the ball got away from the catcher. We had the game in hand at that point and it would've been a helluva play. It was closer than I thought it was going to be. In a close game I don't think we try to score there.

I see what you are saying but that's Jake Mangum and I think you play/practice how you would in any game.

Hopefully we are the Red Hot team in the supers

I get the feeling, this team will have elements that will be significantly better by Summer. Plus, we got long ball threats, multiple guys. Sometimes, you need a three-run homer at the right moment. Renfroe vs Oregon State.

Hayden Jones hit a laser beam HR and Foscue looks like a Rooker clone in body type.

This team has a good vibe. The fact that no one is talking about dominating Ethan Small was says a lot to me- there is a lot of depth and things to be excited about. To me, Westburg reminds me more of Rooker than Foscue does. Foscue could break out this year though. He had a lot of outs that were rockets hit right at people. BABIP is going to indicate that he was "unlucky" I'm sure.

[confucius say]

I think this is a 2016 team again. Hopefully we don't run into a red hot team in the supers this year

Hopefully we didn't cut Reynolds and keep Michael Smith again ***

[Todd4State]

Hopefully we didn't cut Reynolds and keep Michael Smith again ***

Brant Blaylock a former Diamond Dog is on USM's team now. He hit a pinch hit home run that basically beat Purdue for them on Friday. I'm interested to see if our fans have the same reaction towards him as they did for Reynolds. What sucks for us is with the new redshirt rule in baseball there is a better chance that someone like a Luke Reynolds would stay at MSU although part of the issue for him was he wanted to start and there simply wasn't a spot for him on the 2016 starting lineup unless we have fans that think he should have started over Brent Rooker. That may have factored into Cohen's decision at the time as well.


I'm not sure why Blaylock left us- it certainly wasn't because we didn't play him. We actually let him pitch too. He just never hit while he was here.

[BiscuitEater]

Best stat .. 3 starters, each threw 5 innings with 3 total base on balls. Awesome!

[Todd4State]

Best stat .. 3 starters, each threw 5 innings with 3 total base on balls. Awesome!

And I don't feel like we overworked them or overextended any relief pitchers for that matter either.

Our staff had 43 K's in 27 IP with only 8 walks the entire weekend. We held them down to a .158 AVG. And four of their five runs that they scored were off of home runs.

And then our hitters struck out 13 times but also had 13 walks in 111 AB's. 5 of those K's were from non-starters meaning our starters only struck out 8 times in 3 games and those starters had all 13 walks. In the meantime we hit .351 with an OPB of .434 while slugging .613. We had 18 extra base hits this weekend- 5 home runs, a triple and 12 doubles. And for good measure we chipped in 3 stolen bases but we're not going to be running a lot when we're up by 12 runs on people. (Or we probably shouldn't be).


We basically put on a clinic outside of the two home runs allowed, a couple of baserunning mistakes, and a couple of errors.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Brant Blaylock a former Diamond Dog is on USM's team now....I'm not sure why Blaylock left us- it certainly wasn't because we didn't play him. We actually let him pitch too. He just never hit while he was here.

For us, Blaylock got 83 ABs and struckout 40 times. In the SEC hit sub 0.100 (half a Mendoza) and struckout 15 of 23 times. He was only Redshirt Freshman tho, we should expect a better and very motivated player next weekend.

He wouldn't be playing this weekend if he still played for us. Ironically, he would be the new Michael Smith. Our designated Pinch Runner

[Todd4State]

For us, Blaylock got 83 ABs and struckout 40 times. In the SEC hit sub 0.100 (half a Mendoza) and struckout 15 of 23 times. He was only Redshirt Freshman tho, we should expect a better and very motivated player next weekend.

He wouldn't be playing this weekend if he still played for us. Ironically, he would be the new Michael Smith. Our designated Pinch Runner

Very true. I wouldn't start him over MacNamee, Mangum, or Rowdey. And I wouldn't start him at DH either.

Looks like Blaylock went 3-10 with a home run and 3 RBI's against Purdue. USM is very fortunate to get our transfers like Blaylock, Reynolds and you could sort of even say Jamie McMahon who was a signee of ours and then later won the Ferris Award for them his senior year. They're very lucky to have Matt Wallner too- basically they picked him up because his old school was stopping college baseball and their coach knew someone at USM.

[MaroonBelle]

Brant Blaylock a former Diamond Dog is on USM's team now. He hit a pinch hit home run that basically beat Purdue for them on Friday. I'm interested to see if our fans have the same reaction towards him as they did for Reynolds. What sucks for us is with the new redshirt rule in baseball there is a better chance that someone like a Luke Reynolds would stay at MSU although part of the issue for him was he wanted to start and there simply wasn't a spot for him on the 2016 starting lineup unless we have fans that think he should have started over Brent Rooker. That may have factored into Cohen's decision at the time as well.


I'm not sure why Blaylock left us- it certainly wasn't because we didn't play him. We actually let him pitch too. He just never hit while he was here.

Spoke to his mom on Twitter last year when he was so hot in Juco. Was talking to another MSU fan discussing his hot bat and how sorry we were he left (he always seemed like a really good kid and I think he and Rooker were besties). She must have been searching his name on Twitter because she entered the convo. Believe the his fam r MSU people although gf was OM softball player. Anyway, gist of convo was he just did not like Can. Dude gave him bad vibes and he didn't want to be coached by him. Obvs he was a good judge of character. She said they were sorry it worked out that way but he had to do what he thought was best for him and at that time he had Already committed to USM. Said they would always love state and we expressed our regret at the loss of him and our hopes for his future success.

[Powersaw]

I thought Skelton played quite well. Certainly an improvement over last season. The entire pitching staff was so good that there really weren't a ton of balls in the dirt, but he did a good job blocking the ones that were and made pretty good contact at the plate even if only a couple of balls found holes. His arm was his biggest limitation defensively. Indiana Jones is miles ahead in that area and I agree that he is our catcher of the future. For the time being, however, this is still Dustin's job. Like everyone else, I was super impressed with Cerantola. He was consistently 93-96 during his one inning of work and I think he could get close to triple digits later in the spring, especially if the gun is off (it is). Jack Eagan and Colby White were also impressive. If Eagan develops into a long reliever, it'll be fun to see him go through the lineup and then hand it off to one of these guys.

[Tbonewannabe]

I thought Skelton played quite well. Certainly an improvement over last season. The entire pitching staff was so good that there really weren't a ton of balls in the dirt, but he did a good job blocking the ones that were and made pretty good contact at the plate even if only a couple of balls found holes. His arm was his biggest limitation defensively. Indiana Jones is miles ahead in that area and I agree that he is our catcher of the future. For the time being, however, this is still Dustin's job. Like everyone else, I was super impressed with Cerantola. He was consistently 93-96 during his one inning of work and I think he could get close to triple digits later in the spring, especially if the gun is off (it is). Jack Eagan and Colby White were also impressive. If Eagan develops into a long reliever, it'll be fun to see him go through the lineup and then hand it off to one of these guys.

I would love a Ross Mitchell/Girodo type reliever that could go for 2-4 innings if necessary. Those type of guys can change a series.