11 ****ing walks!!!! NO ONE SHOULD BE SAFE COME THE FALL.

[Thick]

Lots of gaps in the line up, too many situational players not enough every day players, and quite honestly not a lot of D1 talent on this current squad. Much more Sun Belt then SEC.

[Todd4State]

Some pitchers better grow a set and figure out how to throw a baseball across home plate real quick.

I think we set a ****ing school record for walks this year. Bunch of ****s.

[I seen it dawg]

Fall????

[Liverpooldawg]

I agree, but hopefully we won't have to out of necessity dragoon field players into pitching.

[Tbonewannabe]

Pilk, McQuery, Self, and Price are pretty much it for SEC talent. Hitters are pretty much Mangum and Stovall, everyone else better bust ass this summer getting better.

[State82]

You can say what you want about the injuries and I agree we shouldn't even be close to .500 in league play with the hand we were dealt. However, if you are a pitcher on a D1 SEC baseball team, there is absolutely no excuse for being unable to throw a baseball across the freaking plate. None whatsoever. It may not move much, may not travel at 95+, may get smacked around all over the park. But throw the sob over the freaking plate.

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

You can say what you want about the injuries and I agree we shouldn't even be close to .500 in league play with the hand we were dealt. However, if you are a pitcher on a D1 SEC baseball team, there is absolutely no excuse for being unable to throw a baseball across the freaking plate. None whatsoever. It may not move much, may not travel at 95+, may get smacked around all over the park. But throw the sob over the freaking plate.

I was coming to post this exact same thing.

I can at least muster some sympathy for Gordon and Mangum, who probably thought their pitching days were long gone until the start of this season. But the problem is they threw more strikes, for the most part, than a lot of the pitchers that we actually recruited to pitch.

[CadaverDawg]

You can say what you want about the injuries and I agree we shouldn't even be close to .500 in league play with the hand we were dealt. However, if you are a pitcher on a D1 SEC baseball team, there is absolutely no excuse for being unable to throw a baseball across the freaking plate. None whatsoever. It may not move much, may not travel at 95+, may get smacked around all over the park. But throw the sob over the freaking plate.

This pretty much sums it up....what everybody wants to say, State82 just said it best

[MetEdDawg]

Pitching is mental and focus. If you walk home runs, you aren't mentally tough enough to pitch important innings. My kids I coach know better than to do that crap. Shouldn't happen at this level like it did tonight. Our pitchers have talent, but the ones that struggle with consistency aren't mentally ready to pitch yet in tough situations.

[Todd4State]

You can say what you want about the injuries and I agree we shouldn't even be close to .500 in league play with the hand we were dealt. However, if you are a pitcher on a D1 SEC baseball team, there is absolutely no excuse for being unable to throw a baseball across the freaking plate. None whatsoever. It may not move much, may not travel at 95+, may get smacked around all over the park. But throw the sob over the freaking plate.

YES!

[BB30]

You can say what you want about the injuries and I agree we shouldn't even be close to .500 in league play with the hand we were dealt. However, if you are a pitcher on a D1 SEC baseball team, there is absolutely no excuse for being unable to throw a baseball across the freaking plate. None whatsoever. It may not move much, may not travel at 95+, may get smacked around all over the park. But throw the sob over the freaking plate.

I assure you those kids were trying to throw the ball over the plate. They weren't going out there intending to walk the entire team. Several kids have been thrown into the fire that were either A. Not ready to contribute or B.were poorly evaluated and are not SEC caliber. Pitchers are a finicky bunch and everyone is different. Some of these kids come from getting by in high school with an 86-89 mph fb at a small school never learning how to actually pitch much less command the baseball. They have a high ceiling but also have a lot of development left. The majority of these kids weren't expected to have to contribute this year.

Knocking the coaches for not throwing our two best available out of the pen with the series on the line is one thing. Knocking the players for failing in a situation they shouldn't be in to begin with is another. How many very talented arms have we had over the last 5-6 years that didn't contribute meaningfully until their jr years? A bunch.

[Thick]

So.....we have to wait three years before our young pitchers can throw 3 strikes within 5 pitches? When you walk batters you take away defensive opportunities to get outs. We gave up 11 runs last night, and 6-7 of that run total was created by the free pass. The strike zone doesn't change when you get to college.

[ShotgunDawg]

Pitching is mental and focus. If you walk home runs, you aren't mentally tough enough to pitch important innings. My kids I coach know better than to do that crap. Shouldn't happen at this level like it did tonight. Our pitchers have talent, but the ones that struggle with consistency aren't mentally ready to pitch yet in tough situations.

This is the typical perspective from a bad high school coach.

Throwing strikes is about much more than mental focus. Too many coaches today worry about the in game strategy and assume ererything is about focus and mental toughness.