Two pitchers with excellent ERAs and wins and losses, and their top of the lineup looks really stout, not to mention the entire lineup seems to hit really well.<div>Team ERA around a 2. 40-19....gonna be tough.</div>
Looking at Georgia Tech's stats, it's going to be tough to win the regional.
- Thread starter TheStateUofMS
- Start date
I think we finish 2nd in this one, splitting the 1st 2 games (no idea if it's win-lose or lose-win, but it should be a split), then beat a depleted USM pitching staff in the 1st Sunday game before losing to GA Tech in the 2nd Sunday game. And realistically, considering where we've been, 2nd in a regional isn't too bad (this year).
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And realistically, considering where we've been, 2nd in a regional isn't too bad (this year).
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Fact is IF we do this I'd say we not only over-achieved but are ahead of schedule in rebuilding.
And realistically, considering where we've been, 2nd in a regional isn't too bad (this year).
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Fact is IF we do this I'd say we not only over-achieved but are ahead of schedule in rebuilding.
our best shot to win in my opinion is to either go through the loser's bracket or upset GT in the second round after beating USM. I'm not banking on either of those things happening, though.
Also, in some odd way not having an ace may be an advantage for us because none of the teams know who we will throw.
Also, in some odd way not having an ace may be an advantage for us because none of the teams know who we will throw.
I think going to Atlanta was as good of a regional draw as we could have hoped for. It's always better to be a strong 3 than a weak 2, simply by the strength of the host team. We were very close to ending up at Virginia or UNC, if you consider ranking alone...
This team feels alot like 2007 to me. You need "swagger/confidence" in baseball, and if 1-2 guys step up and show this, you can go a long way(see Jeffrey Rea interview after we went 2 and out in the SEC tourney in 07 for a description of what I mean). This is what Cohen's coaching approach "should" give us...I look for it to be the single-most positive aspect of hiring him. Will it be? We'll see...
We've just got to get past McInnis. The focus should be that simple all week. Don't worry about USM, Ga Tech, etc as teams. Just get to McInnis. If we manage to light him up early, USM will fold. They're already be on the ropes with all the players missing. He's a bigtime pitcher, upper-classman, and the emotional leader of their team. Knock him out, they go away...and then we can worry about Georgia Tech...
edit for spelling*
This team feels alot like 2007 to me. You need "swagger/confidence" in baseball, and if 1-2 guys step up and show this, you can go a long way(see Jeffrey Rea interview after we went 2 and out in the SEC tourney in 07 for a description of what I mean). This is what Cohen's coaching approach "should" give us...I look for it to be the single-most positive aspect of hiring him. Will it be? We'll see...
We've just got to get past McInnis. The focus should be that simple all week. Don't worry about USM, Ga Tech, etc as teams. Just get to McInnis. If we manage to light him up early, USM will fold. They're already be on the ropes with all the players missing. He's a bigtime pitcher, upper-classman, and the emotional leader of their team. Knock him out, they go away...and then we can worry about Georgia Tech...
edit for spelling*
"Mississippi State (34-23) had a disappointing season by its standards. The eight-time College World Series entrant finished second in the SEC West with a 14-16 conference record. The losers of Friday's games will play at 3 p.m. Saturday; the winners meet at 7 p.m." Sportswriter-Doug Roberson, Atlanta Journal Constitution.
bruiser said:
How the rest of the country views us at this point. I was surprised in 2007 when CWS commentators practically acted like we "should" always be there...when most of us that follow baseball closely knew it was nothing but "lightning in a bottle." However, that was BEFORE the first 3 losing seasons in 30 years...
Some more stats...TheStateUofMS said:
<font size="2">Team Stats/Comparisons
OFFENSE
Team Batting Avg
Austin Peay .306
Ga Tech .304
Southern Miss .302
Mississippi State .282
Team Runs Scored
Southern Miss 394
Ga Tech 384
Austin Peay 380
Mississippi State 351
Home Runs
Austin Peay 45
Ga Tech 41
Southern Miss 41
Mississippi State 28
Stolen Bases
Austin Peay 95 (of 126 attempts)
Mississippi State 84 (of 112 attempts)
Ga Tech 64 (of 79 attempts)
Southern Miss 24 (of 40 attempts)
DEFENSE
Team ERA
Ga. Tech 2.84
Southern Miss 3.45
Mississippi State 4.37
Austin Peay 5.27
Opponent Runs Allowed
Ga Tech 232
Southern Miss 258
Mississippi State 283
Austin Peay 347
Opponent Strikeouts
Ga Tech 514
Mississippi State 448
Austin Peay 412
Southern Miss 338
Opponents Avg.
Ga Tech .232
Southern Miss .264
Mississippi State .270
Austin Peay .301
Defensive Fielding %
Mississippi State .973 (58 errors)
Ga Tech .967 (75 errors)
Southern Miss .963 (86 errors)
Austin Peay .961 (79 errors)
(Individual leaders added later tonight)..........................
Homerun Leaders (7 or more)
John Hogan (Aus. Peay) 13
B.A. Vollmuth (S Miss) 12
Daniel Palka (GT) 10
Matt Skole (GT) 9
Jonathan Ogden (Miss St) 8
Greg Bachman (Aus. Peay) 7
Marc Bourgeois (S Miss) 7
Cody Hudson (Aus. Peay) 7
Nick Vickerson (Miss St) 7
Stolen Base Leaders (10 or more)
Michael Blanchard (Aus. Peay) 28
Nick Vickerson (Miss St) 25
Brandon Thomas (GT) 19
Cody Hudson (Aus. Peay) 18
Kyle Wren (GT) 14
Reed Harper (Aus. Peay) 11
Jaron Shepherd (Miss St) 10
Ryan Collins (Miss St) 10
C.T. Bradford (Miss St) 10
Total Bases (100 or more
Jacob Esch (GT) 122
John Hogan (Aus. Peay) 122
Matt Skole (GT) 119
B.A. Vollmuth (S. Miss) 118
Tyler Koelling (S. Miss) 116
Kyle Wren (GT) 116
Daniel Palka (GT) 114
Marc Bourgeois (S. Miss) 103
Reed Harper (Aus. Peay) 103
Kameron Brunty (S Miss) 102
Jarrod Parks (Miss St) 100
</font>
but expecting this team to win a regional is expecting WAY too much. Its not impossible, but we are going to have to beat McInnis and USM (not going to be easy), and then upset Georgia Tech's ace to have a chance. Even then we'd have to withstand GT trying to beat us twice. Finishing second in this regional would be overachieving for this team. If Pollorena or Stratton have a Pigott like performance against GT on Saturday (assuming we beat USM), then we could have a chance to win it and make the Supers at Florida.
This team has accomplished what it needed to accomplish. Make Hoover and make a regional. Being one game back of winning the first SEC West crown in school history since the official divisional split was a bonus. Next year, we need to be in the upper third of the SEC and be hosting at this time next year. We're on the right track.
I would like to point out one thing that is possible with this regional. There is no perennial top ten college baseball team in the country that constantly ***** the bed in the postseason like the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets. Let's look at the last few years.
2010: #1 seed at home, 2-2
2009: #1 seed at home, 3-2 (lost to USM)
2008: #2 seed in Athens, Ga., 2-2
2007: did not qualify for NCAA postseason
2006: #1 seed at home, won regional, won Super Regional, 0-2 in Omaha
2005: #1 seed at home, won regional (3-1), 0-2 in Super Regional
2004: #1 seed at home, won regional that included MSU as 3 seed, 0-2 in Super Regional
2003: National seed, #1 seed at home, 0-2 (ironically matched up vs. MSU regional, which Polk famously pitched Maholm against 4 seed with losing record, we would have hosted SR)
2002: National seed #1 seed at home, won regional, won super regional, 1-2 in Omaha
2001: #2 seed in Athens, GA regional. 0-2
So in the last 10 years, GT has hosted 7 times, and won 4 of them (4 out of five years 02-06). They have lost the second game at their home regional the last two years. In the last three NCAA postseasons, GT is a paltry 7-6, all in the state of Georgia. In fact, GT has not played an NCAA regional or Super regional game outside of the state of Georgia in the last 10 years, but they have only made the CWS twice.
This team has accomplished what it needed to accomplish. Make Hoover and make a regional. Being one game back of winning the first SEC West crown in school history since the official divisional split was a bonus. Next year, we need to be in the upper third of the SEC and be hosting at this time next year. We're on the right track.
I would like to point out one thing that is possible with this regional. There is no perennial top ten college baseball team in the country that constantly ***** the bed in the postseason like the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets. Let's look at the last few years.
2010: #1 seed at home, 2-2
2009: #1 seed at home, 3-2 (lost to USM)
2008: #2 seed in Athens, Ga., 2-2
2007: did not qualify for NCAA postseason
2006: #1 seed at home, won regional, won Super Regional, 0-2 in Omaha
2005: #1 seed at home, won regional (3-1), 0-2 in Super Regional
2004: #1 seed at home, won regional that included MSU as 3 seed, 0-2 in Super Regional
2003: National seed, #1 seed at home, 0-2 (ironically matched up vs. MSU regional, which Polk famously pitched Maholm against 4 seed with losing record, we would have hosted SR)
2002: National seed #1 seed at home, won regional, won super regional, 1-2 in Omaha
2001: #2 seed in Athens, GA regional. 0-2
So in the last 10 years, GT has hosted 7 times, and won 4 of them (4 out of five years 02-06). They have lost the second game at their home regional the last two years. In the last three NCAA postseasons, GT is a paltry 7-6, all in the state of Georgia. In fact, GT has not played an NCAA regional or Super regional game outside of the state of Georgia in the last 10 years, but they have only made the CWS twice.
that if you had asked me after the OM series if we had a pretty decent shot to win a regional I would definitely have said yes. But after the very poor series against LSU and the SEC tournament showing there is no way we are playing well enough right now to do much in a regional. We continue to struggle to score runs and we don't have any dependable pitchers other than Reed. We will be lucky to win one game.
The problem I see is that throughout the entire year, and even the 2007 team showed some of this, but we cannot seem to come through when we absolutely need to. The 7th inning of the Florida game summarized our whole season. When the rubber meets the road and this team HAS to perform to win, we just can't seem to do it. I am not expecting us to win this regional, but this time next week, I could be eating my words (and hope to).
but you are right. This team needed to make a regional. Honestly- one more losing season or a season without a postseason bid would have started to really affect recruiting very negatively for us. We haven't even been in the postseason since 2007. We have literally zero players with any postseason experience.
Second place is a reasonable expectation for us with this regional- because we're better than Austin Peay, and after McInnis, we can at least match USM pitching wise, and are probably better than what they will be throwing at us. GT is at home and they have a better team than MSU. If we're going to win this, we're going to have to go through them at some point.
Also, apparently, their ballpark is small, which doesn't play to our strengths.
I'm not so worried about the SEC Tournament- it would have been more of a miracle for us to win it this year than when we did in 2005. We just don't have the pitching to get through that. We lost the first game on a grand slam that was kind of flukey. What we really needed was for our pitching staff to rest- we're getting that now, and that is going to benefit us more than anything in this regional.
Second place is a reasonable expectation for us with this regional- because we're better than Austin Peay, and after McInnis, we can at least match USM pitching wise, and are probably better than what they will be throwing at us. GT is at home and they have a better team than MSU. If we're going to win this, we're going to have to go through them at some point.
Also, apparently, their ballpark is small, which doesn't play to our strengths.
I'm not so worried about the SEC Tournament- it would have been more of a miracle for us to win it this year than when we did in 2005. We just don't have the pitching to get through that. We lost the first game on a grand slam that was kind of flukey. What we really needed was for our pitching staff to rest- we're getting that now, and that is going to benefit us more than anything in this regional.