I feel like we’re better in 2024 than in 2022 and 2023

[HuntDawg]

Braden Montgomery has 1 less HR than our team and nearly 1/4 of the RBI. He would have been a huge boost, but also a 1 year rental and gone like most of the rest of this team. The program is in big time trouble with no depth following all of these departures. The new coach is going to have to be a portal king for a few years.

We've hit 6 homers this season. 7 TEAMS have hit over 20, one has hit 30.

Weve got Chance hitting 5th. I looked it up and at one point he had 8 career extra base hits in 150 at-bats. Yet we've got him penned into the lineup daily.

and I got ridiculed for saying we lacked talent after the air force series...

 

[Perd Hapley]

This is the worst thing Lem has done to this program. Not the losing. The total shift in expectations where we have been fooled into debating whether we are better than 2 of the worst teams in history. Where we are saying “Austin Peay isn’t that bad”.

Let’s hope we don’t make a regional as a 3 or a low 2. That’s the absolute worst thing long term for this program.

Nobody is debating those things.

Any regional appearance this year is a massive step up from 22/23, and where we are now. Its laughable that people can sit here and comment (correctly) about how bad we suck, and still say “damn, we’d be so screwed if we somehow made a regional!”. Its a nonsensical thought process.

It’d be like if, after the LSU game in football this past year, being like….”the worst thing for our program would be if we somehow still finished 8-4 and won the Egg Bowl, and Arnett got another year and a raise”. Tons of obvious huge problems somehow getting magically fixed in a very short period of time by a coaching staff is never the “worst thing for a program”.

 

[HuntDawg]

Obviously would love to have him but this is what he did last year. He tore up OOC pitching last year and then was not nearly as good in conference. Kellum Clark had a much better conference season in a much tough conference.

Montgomery had a 945 OPS, with 7 homers and 30 RBI. The production numbers were better than Clarks (6 hr, 17 rbi). The OPS was in the ballpark.

Not to mention Montgomery was a year younger.

 

[8dog]

Nobody is debating those things.

Any regional appearance this year is a massive step up from 22/23, and where we are now. Its laughable that people can sit here and comment (correctly) about how bad we suck, and still say “damn, we’d be so screwed if we somehow made a regional!”. Its a nonsensical thought process.

It’d be like if, after the LSU game in football this past year, being like….”the worst thing for our program would be if we somehow still finished 8-4 and won the Egg Bowl, and Arnett got another year and a raise”. Tons of obvious huge problems somehow getting magically fixed in a very short period of time by a coaching staff is never the “worst thing for a program”.

But that’s the entire issue. We have let this guy show improvement by doing what should be easy at State- because he was so bad.

comparing a 1 game issue and then doing what we generally expect in FB is a bad analogy. Analogize that to competing to host or making a Super after 2 4-8 seasons.

 

[8dog]

Montgomery had a 945 OPS, with 7 homers and 30 RBI. The production numbers were better than Clarks (6 hr, 17 rbi). The OPS was in the ballpark.

Not to mention Montgomery was a year younger.

Meh. 40 points higher BA. 50 points higher OPS. 1 fewer homer. RBI is a tough stat if I don’t know how they did with RISP. But against Clark faced better pitching.
Be interesting to see how Montgomery does. He may tear it up.

 

[Old Dawg]

Would anyone disagree? The staff and the left side of the infield aren’t complete horror shows this year.

Withholding comment until we face SEC pitching.

 

[GloryDawg]

I don't think we win more than 6 SEC games. We suck. I hope I am wrong. I want to win, and I don't care who the coach is. If he doesn't make a regional this season he should be gone. Three years of rebuilding in baseball is unacceptable. To be honest he can't even get the tires on correctly in his rebuild.

 

[HuntDawg]

Meh. 40 points higher BA. 50 points higher OPS. 1 fewer homer. RBI is a tough stat if I don’t know how they did with RISP. But against Clark faced better pitching.
Be interesting to see how Montgomery does. He may tear it up.

Point being, Clark wasnt "much better" if anything maybe slightly better but thats how you want to break it down. I could also argue Montgomery spent the majority of the season hitting in the middle of the order and probably pitched a lot tougher than clark did, who spent the majority of the season in the 7 spot.

Regardless, our offense is a major issue, if we've convienced ourselves that Chance is starting SEC outfielder, are missing highfill, and have to start cupp daily. We need 2 or 3 more Montgomery/Clark players in our order.

 

[Perd Hapley]

But that’s the entire issue. We have let this guy show improvement by doing what should be easy at State- because he was so bad.

We haven’t let him show anything, because he hasn’t 17ing performed that miracle. You’re putting a really big asś cart before a really tiny horse here.

comparing a 1 game issue and then doing what we generally expect in FB is a bad analogy. Analogize that to competing to host or making a Super after 2 4-8 seasons.

You missed the point of the analogy entirely. The point was….it would have taken an act of God plus an act of Congress at the same damn time for our football program to get from where we were after LSU to 8-4.

Likewise, it will take the same caliber of intervention for this 2024 baseball team to make a regional, even as a 3-seed. Its 99.9999% not going to happen, and Lemonis will be fired unless the boosters just collectively decide they DGAF. If it does happen….it implicitly means we made unfathomable strides in hitting and pitching and fielding over the course of the year…..which means - in that pie-in-the-sky hypothetical scenario of all time - that the coaching staff would have done a commendable job improving the team from Game 1 to Game 56, and thus would have earned at least some goodwill back from the fanbase.

 

[thekimmer]

Would anyone disagree? The staff and the left side of the infield aren’t complete horror shows this year.

I agree but far from convinced that we have improved enough to keep Lemonis around. I in fact have serious doubts about that based on what I have seen so far. We will know soon enough though.

 

[mike tice]

Would anyone disagree? The staff and the left side of the infield aren’t complete horror shows this year.

I think so. We shall see.

 

[Forrest4Moore]

This question is about to be clearly answered. In case anyone has not looked at the schedule, let me help you out:

USM 8-4 This Tuesday in Pearl
Evansville 7-5 3 games this weekend
South Alabama 10-2 Tues in Biloxi
UNO 7-4 Wed in Biloxi
LSU 11-1 3 Games
Memphis 7-6 Tues
Texas A&M 11-0 3 games AWAY
Samford 8-4 Tues AWAY
Florida 8-3 3 Games AWAY


This is freaking brutal. Everything will be crystal clear by April 1.

This is the issue. Absolute best case scenario, is 9-8 in this stretch. That’s our best case. And at 17-12, our RPI would be around 100+

We needed to be 15-3 or 14-4 coming out of Non-conf to have a chance at a regional… bc the non conf schedule was so weak, those losses are a killer metric. So unless we go 6-0 from now until next Wednesday… we have no hope at post season play. Otherwise, our RPI will be so low we’ll have to go 15-15 in the toughest league schedule I’ve ever seen.

Sucks seeing what Montgomery and Holman are doing. Those two guys would have us a contender.

 

[HuntDawg]

This is the issue. Absolute best case scenario, is 9-8 in this stretch. That’s our best case. And at 17-12, our RPI would be around 100+

We needed to be 15-3 or 14-4 coming out of Non-conf to have a chance at a regional… bc the non conf schedule was so weak, those losses are a killer metric. So unless we go 6-0 from now until next Wednesday… we have no hope at post season play. Otherwise, our RPI will be so low we’ll have to go 15-15 in the toughest league schedule I’ve ever seen.

Sucks seeing what Montgomery and Holman are doing. Those two guys would have us a contender.

Our RPI will shoot up when playing the SEC. Have to keep in mind last season, 8 of the top 12 RPI teams were SEC teams.

While I'm not optimistic about this team either. If we go 15-15 in the SEC, we are going to a regional. League schedule is as tough as its always been.. we dodge UT and South Carolina and get missouri from the east, its about par for the course for an SEC schedule

 

[57stratdawg]

Our RPI will shoot up when playing the SEC. Have to keep in mind last season, 8 of the top 12 RPI teams were SEC teams.

While I'm not optimistic about this team either. If we go 15-15 in the SEC, we are going to a regional.

I think Lemonis returns if we’re .500 in SEC play.

But, I also think 8 SEC wins is more likely than 15.

 

[HuntDawg]

I think Lemonis returns at 15-15

Missouri, UGA, Auburn at home- you need 7 wins. Have to hope our dominance over ole miss holds, and maybe get 2 there. That leaves you fighting and clawing for 6 more wins against the big dogs.

Not impossible, but not very likely, either.

 

[theoriginalSALTYdog]

Would anyone disagree? The staff and the left side of the infield aren’t complete horror shows this year.

I'll wait until SEC play begins to cast my vote.

 

[patdog]

I think Lemonis returns if we’re .500 in SEC play.

But, I also think 8 SEC wins is more likely than 15.

THIS. If we win 15 SEC games and don't lose a bunch more OOC games, we're definitely in the tournament and Lemonis is back. But it's a hard ask to ask a team with 4 losses already against the schedule we've played to win 15 SEC games.

 

[patdog]

Missouri, UGA, Auburn at home- you need 7 wins. Have to hope our dominance over ole miss holds, and maybe get 2 there. That leaves you fighting and clawing for 6 more wins against the big dogs.

Not impossible, but not very likely, either.

As mediocre as I think we are (and I'm being kind), I think Mississippi is worse.

 

[Perd Hapley]

As mediocre as I think we are (and I'm being kind), I think Mississippi is worse.

Agreed. Their 4 game losing streak where they lost back to back games to Hawaii, lost to Arkansas State in the midweek, then lost a Friday night game to High Point might have been the worst 4 game stretch for any SEC team….ever.

For context, High Point has an RPI in the 280’s and is 1-9. And they rolled into Oxford and beat their ace for their only win of the season.

 

[Mr. Cook]

Was this the plan? Lower the bar so low that looking like a college team against little sister of the poor looks better?

In "university speak," this is commonly known as "managing expectations"

 

[StillTbonewannabe]

We've hit 6 homers this season. 7 TEAMS have hit over 20, one has hit 30.

Weve got Chance hitting 5th. I looked it up and at one point he had 8 career extra base hits in 150 at-bats. Yet we've got him penned into the lineup daily.

and I got ridiculed for saying we lacked talent after the air force series...

I think we lack SEC talent but our current talent shouldn't have lost more than a couple of games with the the current schedule.

 

[StillTbonewannabe]

Nobody is debating those things.

Any regional appearance this year is a massive step up from 22/23, and where we are now. Its laughable that people can sit here and comment (correctly) about how bad we suck, and still say “damn, we’d be so screwed if we somehow made a regional!”. Its a nonsensical thought process.

It’d be like if, after the LSU game in football this past year, being like….”the worst thing for our program would be if we somehow still finished 8-4 and won the Egg Bowl, and Arnett got another year and a raise”. Tons of obvious huge problems somehow getting magically fixed in a very short period of time by a coaching staff is never the “worst thing for a program”.

Depends on if Arnett won like Croom. That one bowl game win wasn't the norm. Arnett had regressed our team similar to Moorhead. It isn't a bad thing if you cut a problem off before it gets bad.