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Great job by Pollorena and Reed

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Todd4State

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McInnis is a great pitcher- I was worried about that. Pollorena just outdueled him. I hope he has his confidence back- Pollo is going to be good for us- he's only a sophomore.

I have to wonder how hard he was throwing because I read that article about him throwing harder than he has all year.

In hindsight- great call by Cohen, too. I wasn't 100% sure about starting Pollorena over Mitchell. But now, we are in the winners bracket, and we still have our hottest pitcher available, and we will now almost certainly see Routt at some point- probably for our third game.
 
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bruiser.sixpack

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But if we get to Sunday that will be gravy on top of potatoes and molasses on top of biscuits.

We just won our first game of the season with "less than" 4 runs. Previously had 2 with 4 runs, 7 with 5 and 25 with 6 or more. Good time to get an outstanding pitching performance while facing a quality guy like McInnis.

Got just enough key hits...

Now...if we can learn how to execute the hit and run, we might not get guys thrown out at 2nd by the catcher so much. Give McInnnis credit on that though as he kept those pitches down and hard to put the bat on. Fowler is quick back there on balls in the dirt.
 
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Todd4State

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if we have to use him. It's the postseason- it's time to win becuase if we lose, our pitchers will get all offseason to rest their arms.

And I do think we will conserve him if at all possible, but if we need him for an inning or so, he will be out there. Pollorena is the only one who isn't available.

I agree with everything else you said though.
 
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dawgatUSM

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Apr 6, 2008
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Which, to me, defies gravity with as small as he is. I have no clue how he gets that much on his fastball.
 
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windcrysmary

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shutting out USM and fighting hard to get those 3 runs against their ace speaks volumns about our effort today...

I'm surprised AP didn't start their ace today.. what the hell is up with that? I've never forgiven polksie for doing that **** and florida ***** slapped us with that embarassing ****...

I was hoping to get AP's 2nd guy... what the hell though.. time to go to work
 
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dawgatUSM

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But his slider was around 85 and his curve was in the mid to upper 70s. He was keeping them very much off balance, and he is tough to hit when he's throwing strikes like he was today.
 
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Todd4State

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I'm sure his thinking was that they were more than likely going to lose, so, he could throw his ace in the elimination game and possibly beat us since we have no ace, or USM which has been decimated by grades.

The other thought- the more positive one- is that if they upset GT, they could then throw their ace and possibly get to the championship game.
 
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maroonmania

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Feb 23, 2008
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I certainly can't see Austin Peay's #1 pitcher doing any better job against us tomorrow night than their #2 guy did against GT tonight. On top of that, if memory serves, we have not had much luck against good left handers this year and that's what AP's pitcher tonight was. In fact they used 2 lefties tonight along with their right handed set up guy who pitched for two-thirds of an inning.
 
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mstatefan88

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He got ahead of guys early and often today, and that saved him when he got in trouble. Ump screwed him a few times in the game, especially on the guy that ended up getting to 3rd base in the 5th I believe. Pollorena threw him 4 strikes that at bat, the ump only called 2 of them, and the guy got a single and almost ended up scoring later. Pollo pitched great today though. Huge performanceonthe biggest stage he's been on.

Reed on the other handwas just plain nasty. His curve was practically unhittable. He used every pitch he hadto every corner of the plate, and gave the defense a chance to help him. Then he justtook control in the 9th. Filthy stuff. Great performance by both guys today.
 
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Todd4State

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is probably going to be Jed Bradley- he is projected to be a first round pick.

I'm sure AP's ace is a very good pitcher, but I'm 99% sure that he is not a first round pick.

Obviously, with our lineup- I would probably take my chances with Austin Peay's ace.
 
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Todd4State

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but when you are in a regional, you have to think ahead a little bit as a coach.

That's why Polk pitching Maholm against MTSU was dumb- we could have beaten them with our three or our midweek guy.
 
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Todd4State

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If you are a 1 seed, and you can't beat a 4 seed with your second or third starter, you probably shouldn't win the regional anyway.

But I will say this- you have to know your opponent and what they have as a team. For example- Cohen knowing that Pollorena owns USM. If your facing a four seed with a first round pick type pitcher- then I would pitch my ace. But typically, no.

And the thing about those teams that lost and didn't pitch their ace- now they have their ace for the elimination game, which gives them a better shot at winning the regional. That also means that if you win the elimination game, you get to use your two or three against the opponents three at best- giving you either an even match-up or an advantage.

If you win, now you have your ace for game two, which puts you at an advantage of getting to the championship round, and giving you a better chance at having two tries to win one.

GT has even less of an excuse- Austin Peay didn't pitch their ace tonight. I think they would tell you that they should have scored more than one run. On top of that GT did pitch their "best" pitcher tonight- and he got hurt. Which sucks for them- so kind of a weird circumstance there.

But coaches do have to think ahead in a regional type situation just because teams can go through a LOT of pitching in a short period of time, and they have to start people that wouldn't normally start- not to mention manage the bullpen without burning someone out.
 
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8dog

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Feb 23, 2008
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Va didn't and won. I think you always have to look ahead in regionals

Techs problem wasn't pitching
 
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Goat 4 Eva

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Todd4State said:
And the thing about those teams that lost and didn't pitch their ace- now they have their ace for the elimination game, which gives them a better shot at winning the regional. That also means that if you win the elimination game, you get to use your two or three against the opponents three at best- giving you either an even match-up or an advantage.
Click to expand...
<div>
</div>Say you lose with your #2 guy. You pitch your ace in the elimination game and win. Then you have a #3 vs. #3 matchup AGAIN in the loser's bracket. If you win, you then have to beat the winner's bracket team twice with your #4 and #5 vs. their #3 and #4. <div>
</div><div>If you had pitched your ace in Game 1, you may have a shot to use him again in the 5th game, if you even get that far. </div><div>
</div><div>So, if you've got 1 dominating pitcher you want to save for round 2, you better damn well be sure you can win round 1. Getting to 2-0 is the ONLY reason you should save an ace pitcher. And really, you better sweep the next game to have the best advantage. </div><div>
</div><div>None of this matters to a team like MSU with no ace, or a team like Georgia Tech with 2 top notch pitchers. Still have to win the games.</div>
 
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patdog

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May 28, 2007
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who routinely pitched a mid-week pitcher in the 1st game against a #4 seed. But what does he know?
 
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