He knows it

[Todd4State]

My take is simple. I hate to place blame on one kid, but if anybody other than Holcomb pitches the 9th and we win. It’s early and we have to learn what we have. My guess is by sec play Holcomb won’t be pitching much, if any. Our other pitchers looked much better. Stephen was absolutely dealing. We look so much better pitching thus far this season early on outside of Holcomb. Like I said, we are learning who our players are right now. We will win today and have one series under our belt. From my perspective, this team looks the part of a NCAA tournament team. We hit decent yesterday just had no timely hits. That’s the way it falls sometimes. Our hitting will improve weekly.

We actually hit OK I thought. But when your baserunners erase themselves it hurts your offense in multiple ways.

If Chance doesn't slip it's one less out and it's a run. Just an example.

[Pancho]

This all goes back to the reason "big donkey", holcombe was at NEMCC playing juco ball and not somewhere else right out of HS. Parker Owen was the only catcher on that NEMCC team who could adequately block his pitches. He looked good at times but was wild beyond measure. If he continues to struggle with proper mechanics, he'll be observing.

[maroonmania]

This all goes back to the reason "big donkey", holcombe was at NEMCC playing juco ball and not somewhere else right out of HS. Parker Owen was the only catcher on that NEMCC team who could adequately block his pitches. He looked good at times but was wild beyond measure. If he continues to struggle with proper mechanics, he'll be observing.

He is certainly not the guy I want pitching in the ninth with a one run lead. That's not the time to have a guy pitching who can't throw strikes.

[WSOPdawg]

He is certainly not the guy I want pitching in the ninth with a one run lead. That's not the time to have a guy pitching who can't throw strikes.

I just hope it doesn't take Lemonis 3 or 4 more times to see this (and resultantly costing us 3 or 4 more wins).

[Coach34]

I just hope it doesn't take Lemonis 3 or 4 more times to see this (and resultantly costing us 3 or 4 more wins).

This is on Parker. He's the one that wanted him out there

[Todd4State]

He is certainly not the guy I want pitching in the ninth with a one run lead. That's not the time to have a guy pitching who can't throw strikes.

But who else do we have that has experience in that situation? That is healthy? It's not like we have a clear cut closer. Auger and Holcombe are honestly our most reliable "proven" guys at this point. Sure you would like to pitch guys with a huge lead to see what happens but we didn't have that opportunity.

This to me is where Dohm in the rotation kind of hurts us. I think he would have gotten the job done last night.

My point is we're going to have to try some other guys and put them in the fire to see who can perform and who can't. Some will like Cheatham and some won't like Holcombe.

[Todd4State]

I just hope it doesn't take Lemonis 3 or 4 more times to see this (and resultantly costing us 3 or 4 more wins).

I don't think Lemonis can afford to give guys long leashes. Last nights game was just stupid. It was a classic early season loss to me. We're down a few starters and trying to figure ourselves out and then we have some weird things happen in the game and lost by one run.

[msstate7]

Holcombe pitching the 9th makes me question lemonis' judgement. If Holcombe is pitching the 9th bc he's our best option, I question lemonis' recruiting.

[Coursesuper]

We actually hit OK I thought. But when your baserunners erase themselves it hurts your offense in multiple ways.

If Chance doesn't slip it's one less out and it's a run. Just an example.

Those are called free outs. Was taught that the other side has to earn outs. Out are precious don’t give them away you only have 27 to play with.

[Coursesuper]

Holcombe pitching the 9th makes me question lemonis' judgement. If Holcombe is pitching the 9th bc he's our best option, I question lemonis' recruiting.

I don’t, after the PC talked to him about his mechanics in the 8th he got the next two easily. In the ninth it’s like he forgot all that last conversation. His elbow was all over the place, he was just chunking it up there as hard as he could. Just another big arm talent with a 5 cent head. It being the second game of the season Lemonis is trying to see how the pieces fit. It it were me Holcombe would have just shot his wad and proven that he can’t accept coaching and be done except for some time on Tuesday afternoon, now if Lemonis runs him back out there in a crucial situation then it’s on the staff.

[MetEdDawg]

This is on Parker. He's the one that wanted him out there

I do think Parker pulled him faster than Foxhall would have last year.

Holcombe would probably have stayed in at least one more batter. Parker at least made the change after two batters.

[smootness]

Holcombe's issues last night were mechanics. I just don't think he is a relief pitcher. It's a good test for Parker IMO. Holcombe looked strong in the preseason up until his last start. We'll see if he can correct it.

Is this supposed to be a defense of him? Mechanical issues are a problem and have been for him since last year.

[Todd4State]

Is this supposed to be a defense of him? Mechanical issues are a problem and have been for him since last year.

Not a defense. It's an observation. The coaches have to fix it and Holcombe has to execute it.

[msudawg1200]

This is on Parker. He's the one that wanted him out there

No, it's on Lemonis. He's the head coach. He's paid to make the tough decisions.

[basedog]

Not a defense. It's an observation. The coaches have to fix it and Holcombe has to execute it.

Let him pitch when things don’t matter. He has struggled and maybe he can get better midweek pitching when the game is out of hand. No way I’d run him back out there in the situation like last night.

This team lacks confidence, gotta get a winning streak going to gain some swag, two straight years we had has caused problems. Not sure we are as talented as some thing on ED.

[WSOPdawg]

Let him pitch when things don’t matter. He has struggled and maybe he can get better midweek pitching when the game is out of hand. No way I’d run him back out there in the situation like last night.

This team lacks confidence, gotta get a winning streak going to gain some swag, two straight years we had has caused problems. Not sure we are as talented as some think on ED.

^^^^ This. I love my Bulldogs, but outside of Dakota and Hunter, how many starting position players do we have that would start for other SEC teams (UT, LSU, UF, Arky) - maybe a couple but not many more.

[Coursesuper]

Let him pitch when things don’t matter. He has struggled and maybe he can get better midweek pitching when the game is out of hand. No way I’d run him back out there in the situation like last night.

This team lacks confidence, gotta get a winning streak going to gain some swag, two straight years we had has caused problems. Not sure we are as talented as some thing on ED.

I can buy this.

[99jc]

This is on Parker. He's the one that wanted him out there

the head coach is ultimately responsible for wins and losses...not the pitching coach. another reason to send lemondick to the showers.

[maroonmania]

But who else do we have that has experience in that situation? That is healthy? It's not like we have a clear cut closer. Auger and Holcombe are honestly our most reliable "proven" guys at this point. Sure you would like to pitch guys with a huge lead to see what happens but we didn't have that opportunity.

This to me is where Dohm in the rotation kind of hurts us. I think he would have gotten the job done last night.

My point is we're going to have to try some other guys and put them in the fire to see who can perform and who can't. Some will like Cheatham and some won't like Holcombe.

We know Holcombe is wild as he had already shown in the 8th as well as most of last year. If Auger had started the 9th we would have been much more likely to have held the lead. I can live with losing much more if our pitcher gets hit than just walking the park.

[Coach34]

No, it's on Lemonis. He's the head coach. He's paid to make the tough decisions.

Ultimately yes.

But Parker made the decision to stay with Holcombe. Parker is the guy who spends all the practice time with them. Not Lemon. I guarantee you Parker wasn’t in the dugout going “get him out of there” and Lemon insisted we roll him out another inning