Baseball slump

18IsTheMan

Well-known member
Jan 19, 2022
14,162
12,152
113
Man, we are in the rough, for sure. 3-8 over our last 11, including an ugly home loss to North Florida. Have lost 3 SEC series in a row now. Hard to believe 3 weeks ago we were making our case as one of the best teams in the land. But baseball is a weird game. Beat Charlotte and sweep UT at home and we can go into the post-season on a high. Never like sliding into the post-season, especially baseball. Just harder to pull out of a funk it seems.

And, just because I couldn't help but notice, Clemson is surging, having gone 18-3 over their last 21 games.
 

Sweetwatergolf

Well-known member
Jan 20, 2022
642
567
93
Tuesday will be interesting. Short turnaround to Thursday, short on pitching. Going 3 and 1 this week will be good.
 

Deleted11512

Well-known member
Feb 2, 2023
4,985
3,954
113
Yeah, pretty bad. If we lose the series and do poorly in the SECT, I think we're travelling for the regionals. We are currently 5th overall in the SEC. If we don't win the UT series, we could be 7-9 in the SEC. I saw Cloninger on twitter a couple of weeks ago saying there's a chance we could be in Clemson's regional. I was outraged at the sheer mention of that nonsense. But man, it's looking like a legit outcome at this point.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bubba Fett

18IsTheMan

Well-known member
Jan 19, 2022
14,162
12,152
113
Yeah, pretty bad. If we lose the series and do poorly in the SECT, I think we're travelling for the regionals. We are currently 5th overall in the SEC. If we don't win the UT series, we could be 7-9 in the SEC. I saw Cloninger on twitter a couple of weeks ago saying there's a chance we could be in Clemson's regional. I was outraged at the sheer mention of that nonsense. But man, it's looking like a legit outcome at this point.
Quite the turnaround from a few weeks ago when I saw Clemson predicted to be in our regional.

What's been the main cause for the slump? Or not just one thing?

Last year the Yankees were playing at a torrid pace and on pace for a near-record-setting win total. Then the bottom totally fell out in the 2nd half. When you looked back on the hot stretch, every single we player had was playing the absolutely best baseball they'd ever played. Then everyone regressed to their mean and we started losing.
 

Prestonyte

Well-known member
Jun 1, 2022
5,261
5,214
113
Quite the turnaround from a few weeks ago when I saw Clemson predicted to be in our regional.

What's been the main cause for the slump? Or not just one thing?

Last year the Yankees were playing at a torrid pace and on pace for a near-record-setting win total. Then the bottom totally fell out in the 2nd half. When you looked back on the hot stretch, every single we player had was playing the absolutely best baseball they'd ever played. Then everyone regressed to their mean and we started losing.
I say the hitting slump is the culprit as we were able to overcome spotty pitching by outscoring some of our opponents until recently. Generally speaking, without drastic change and Noah Hall on the IL, outside of Mahoney, our pitching will not get us to Omaha. It is possible that the switch flips this week and our bats return which would give us a chance. Petry's slump has really hurt us in key situations with men on base as he was delivering on every opportunity before the slump hit. Maybe a day off for the mid-week game would do Petry some good (he looks fatigued and mentally unfocused) or the opposite could happen and he breaks his slump against Charlotte. You never know as a coach what approach to take. Basically, if our big bats don't return very quickly, we're screwed!
 

18IsTheMan

Well-known member
Jan 19, 2022
14,162
12,152
113
I say the hitting slump is the culprit as we were able to overcome spotty pitching by outscoring some of our opponents until recently. Generally speaking, without drastic change and Noah Hall on the IL, outside of Mahoney, our pitching will not get us to Omaha. It is possible that the switch flips this week and our bats return which would give us a chance. Petry's slump has really hurt us in key situations with men on base as he was delivering on every opportunity before the slump hit. Maybe a day off for the mid-week game would do Petry some good (he looks fatigued and mentally unfocused) or the opposite could happen and he breaks his slump against Charlotte. You never know as a coach what approach to take. Basically, if our big bats don't return very quickly, we're screwed!

boom or bust. story as old as time.
 

Prestonyte

Well-known member
Jun 1, 2022
5,261
5,214
113
Other than Messina, Casas and Braswell, it's been a team hitting slump with everyone going down at the same time. Usually others are able to pick up the slack, but with a broad slump you just have to wait it out!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bubba Fett

Deleted11512

Well-known member
Feb 2, 2023
4,985
3,954
113
I say the hitting slump is the culprit as we were able to overcome spotty pitching by outscoring some of our opponents until recently. Generally speaking, without drastic change and Noah Hall on the IL, outside of Mahoney, our pitching will not get us to Omaha. It is possible that the switch flips this week and our bats return which would give us a chance. Petry's slump has really hurt us in key situations with men on base as he was delivering on every opportunity before the slump hit. Maybe a day off for the mid-week game would do Petry some good (he looks fatigued and mentally unfocused) or the opposite could happen and he breaks his slump against Charlotte. You never know as a coach what approach to take. Basically, if our big bats don't return very quickly, we're screwed!
Pitching was terrible against AU, UK, and NF. You can't expect to score 9-10 every game. Pitching was much better against Ark, but we only scored 1, 3, and 1. Fielding hasn't been great either. So, we need to hit, pitch, and field better. :confused:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bubba Fett

Prestonyte

Well-known member
Jun 1, 2022
5,261
5,214
113
Pitching was terrible against AU, UK, and NF. You can't expect to score 9-10 every game. Pitching was much better against Ark, but we only scored 1, 3, and 1. Fielding hasn't been great either. So, we need to hit, pitch, and field better. :confused:
Arky only scores 4, 1 and 5 in the series. With our early season hitting, we win all 3 games.
 

Begonenow

Joined Mar 23, 2009
Jan 25, 2022
692
1,177
93
We need to have clutch hitting, loading the bases time and time again and getting nothing is a killer.
 

Blues man

Joined Jul 1, 2009
Jan 22, 2022
1,681
1,666
113
Are our hitters in a slump or did SEC teams figure them out?
Fair to say both imo. I would guess the reason we get HBP so much is they know we cant hit an inside pitch... seems every team must know this since we will probably get our 100th HBP this week. We have some guys who wont swing at anything close side to side, some guys who are a sucker for a high pitch and so on and so on. I imagine our weaknesses are pretty well documented.
 

Roosterbell

Active member
Jul 29, 2022
246
290
63
Oh, I agree. Just saying the previous 7 games our pitching was a mess. Hopefully the Ark series turned it around. If so, I think the bats will wake up.
I honestly think our pitchers reacted very well to Messina being back behind home plate. Pitching and defense were solid the whole series.

Hitting on the other hand has been a mess. It's mostly a mindset but teams have obviously adjusted too in my opinion. It could turn on like a light switch at some point. We've all seen it happen. Might even be a good idea to move Petry down to take a little pressure off of him. Looks like he's pressing some and missing some pitches he would have crushed a few weeks back. There's still hope in my honest opinion, but seeding is slipping badly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Blues man