Do you feel better or worse about the baseball team now, compared to Thursday?

[Quaoarsking]

I'm going slightly worse, but not by much since I already wasn't feeling good in the first place. The bad loss is a red flag, but I'll reserve judgment until I see if it was a freak "that's baseball" thing or if we rack up a bunch more.

However, the way we lost on Saturday (baserunning and poor pitching management) are further indication of what we pretty much all knew - Lemonis just isn't that good of a coach. We are one of 4 fanbases in the entire NCAA who care about baseball, and we arguably care the most. ANY halfway decent coach should be fairly successful here. Unlike other sports, we don't have to find a unicorn to win big, so there's less risk in making the change.

As of right now, I do still think we will make the Tournament this year with improved pitching, and I think Lemonis will get 2025. I don't think he should get 2025 unless we host (or at the very least barely miss hosting), but we clearly don't have leadership that agrees with my bolded statement above.

[Leroy Jenkins]

I actually feel better after seeing the guys we've added in person. This portal class has been a pleasant surprise. Was there any word on Kohler?

[BrunswickDawg]

I feel better so far. The pitching is noticeably more aggressive and is throwing strikes. Hitting was ok - but hitting is usually a little behind early. Defense was markedly better. The only real oof was base running, but frankly we've had a ton of boneheaded base running over the past decade so I just chalk it up to base running not being an emphasis anymore (and I see just as much boneheaded base running in college ball beyond MSU).

But, these are just 3 games. I'm gonna wait and watch the OOC before starting to judge.

[Coursesuper]

We’ve played 3 games. This is not a sprint. At least we’re not pitching like 9 year olds.

[BuckyIsAB****]

3 years in a row of losing to a probable losing record team on opening weekend.

I guess it was just baseball for the past 2 years too

[Bothrops]

Fans that know baseball, don't actually know baseball. I feel the same.

[Homedawg]

I'm going slightly worse, but not by much since I already wasn't feeling good in the first place. The bad loss is a red flag, but I'll reserve judgment until I see if it was a freak "that's baseball" thing or if we rack up a bunch more.

However, the way we lost on Saturday (baserunning and poor pitching management) are further indication of what we pretty much all knew - Lemonis just isn't that good of a coach. We are one of 4 fanbases in the entire NCAA who care about baseball, and we arguably care the most. ANY halfway decent coach should be fairly successful here. Unlike other sports, we don't have to find a unicorn to win big, so there's less risk in making the change.

As of right now, I do still think we will make the Tournament this year with improved pitching, and I think Lemonis will get 2025. I don't think he should get 2025 unless we host (or at the very least barely miss hosting), but we clearly don't have leadership that agrees with my bolded statement above.

Better in this sense... we pounded the zone for all but a couple of instances.
Worse in this..... we have 3 injuries. One we aren't getting back and we could afford him to be a 230 hitting catcher while hitting 12 hr if he was improved behind the dish. But he's not a dh. Kohler is going to be out a while. That hurts and hurts bad. Mershon still out for a bit. That's 2.5 big hits to the lineup and now our 7-9 are not good offensively. So rough on days that our top 6 don't hit.

[WSOPdawg]

I feel better than last year when our pitching was so abysmal. I like that we only had 6 walks over the 3 games (with one being intentional BB) so we're not giving away free outs. I think our infield defense is much improved (really like Cupp at SS) and when Kohler returns, we have a chance to be among the best in the SEC. I was hoping for more from Colby and am not sure Dohm is the answer on Friday nights.

BUT Pitching and defense will win a lot of games.

As for offense, I'm still concerned that we need a more protection for Dakota and Hunter. We're still a work in progress so as long as we get better with each passing week/month (and don't blow the season on the front end), I remain optimistic we can make a regional.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

The same. Last year, the team was bad defensively, sloppy at base running , mid overall on offense, awful on the mound, and the team didn't have that "it" factor at all.

This season, I expect us to be better on the mound (still sub par overall), better defensively (still subpar overall), maybe a bit improved on O (have talent returning but lost Ledbetter and Clark)... and still suck at the basics and the "it" factor because those are HC issues -not pitching coach ones- so why'd I expect them to be fixed?

I will not let my opinion be swayed till the end of the 3rd weekend. This is baseball, and the season is long. Hope I'm wrong overall but I think we finish about 10th in the SEC

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

I feel better than last year when our pitching was so abysmal. I like that we only had 6 walks over the 3 games (with one being intentional BB) so we're not giving away free outs. I think our infield defense is much improved (really like Cupp at SS) and when Kohler returns, we have a chance to be among the best in the SEC. I was hoping for more from Colby and am not sure Dohm is the answer on Friday nights.

BUT Pitching and defense will win a lot of games.

As for offense, I'm still concerned that we need a more protection for Dakota and Hunter. We're still a work in progress so as long as we get better with each passing week/month (and don't blow the season on the front end), I remain optimistic we can make a regional.

My how far we've fallen that "make a regional" is considered "optimistic"

[MetEdDawg]

I feel much better.

1) Pitching looks much improved. Threw a lot of strikes, limited walks, and didn't get a lot of hard hit balls off of us during the weekend. Seems like we've got some depth and still haven't shown all our arms yet.

2) Scored 20 runs in very cold weather this weekend. Air Force is a better opponent than most everyone else the SEC played this weekend. So I would say not bad there. Need better approaches but again it's February and it's cold.

3) Defense seems much improved. Cupp can flat out glove it at SS. Rest of the team seems fine.

4) No Mershon, Kohler out games 2 and 3, and Highfill limited to DH role.

All in all there's nothing this early that screams glaring weakness that will hold us back. Keep it moving to next weekend.

[basedog]

We should be better but I'm not sure where we will stack up in Sec play. I think we are in the bottom half of the league, it's early and we need to get healthy. I really like what I saw in Stephen's and closer on Friday!

[99jc]

our players i feel good about. Our head coach not so much.

[Coursesuper]

We should be better but I'm not sure where we will stack up in Sec play. I think we are in the bottom half of the league, it's early and we need to get healthy. I really like what I saw in Stephen's and closer on Friday!

Spot on.

[parabrave]

I feel better so far. The pitching is noticeably more aggressive and is throwing strikes. Hitting was ok - but hitting is usually a little behind early. Defense was markedly better. The only real oof was base running, but frankly we've had a ton of boneheaded base running over the past decade so I just chalk it up to base running not being an emphasis anymore (and I see just as much boneheaded base running in college ball beyond MSU).

But, these are just 3 games. I'm gonna wait and watch the OOC before starting to judge.

This

[Tbonewannabe]

Baserunning still drives me crazy. Not sure why they let Holcomb back out in the 9th when he obviously didn't have it. Even then, how you let him walk two before pulling him is on the coaching staff.

Hitters still take bad approaches. I think our lineup even with the injuries is good enough to get into a Regional. Pitching staff is greatly improved but not sure that we have a Friday guy for the 3rd year in a row.

Every year we seem to send out a guy that would be everyone else's Saturday guy so we aren't on a level playing field. Maybe Khal is that guy, I am certainly hoping.

[Quaoarsking]

My how far we've fallen that "make a regional" is considered "optimistic"

And that's why we should move on from Lemonis even if he makes a Regional.

[Saltydog]

My concerns are the bottom half of the order.....The bottom 5 didn't hit shit.......Getting Mershon back in the lineup in place of Cupp will help some but losing Kohler hurts bad......Outside of the top 4 (Larry, Jordan, Hines and Chance) the rest of the lineup went a combined 10 for 48 for the weekend.........That's against AF pitching, which was supposed to be their weakness........

[BuckyIsAB****]

My how far we've fallen that "make a regional" is considered "optimistic"

Ding ding ding

[Coach34]

And that's why we should move on from Lemonis even if he makes a Regional.

Many of us arent worried about making a Regional