Way back at the beginning of the year I said that one of the most noticeable differences between this team and the others that we had the past three years would be the attitude. I think that was on display many times over this past year. Our talent was not the best in the world- or at least the SEC, but we never gave up and aside from a few blowouts we gave pretty much everyone a good, hard fought game this year. And usually after we had gotten blown out, we would come back and either win or play a lot better the next day.
Our seniors did a great job- I'm especially proud of Jarrod Parks because he is from Madison, my hometown. But, there are others like Nick Vickerson hitting an absolutely clutch home run that I think will be remembered for awhile at MSU, Wes Thigpen was solid, Jaron Shepherd got the game winning hit against LSU late in the year, Ogden played hurt a lot, and Ryan Collins- well, he wasn't great, but I've also seen worse.
And then we had some underclassmen step up such as Caleb Reed, CT Bradford has made some All-American teams, Evan Mitchell had some good stretches as did Daryl Norris, Brent Brownlee has had some big hits and flipped off some Arkansas fans who probably deserved it- what was really funny about it to me was he was laughing at them while he was shooting the bird. Adam Frazier has shown some promise, and it was good to see Nick Routt step up some with a great game against GT. Oh, and Luis Pollorena for shutting down USM twice- including once against Todd McInnis, who really and truly is a great college pitcher. Cody Freeman had a good year as well- I can't think of anything specific that he did that was spectacular, but he definately had a pretty good year.
The coaches overall did a pretty good job- did they do some questionable things at times? Sure. But so does every other coach in America. The bottom line is they took a team that was awful last year and picked to finish last and they not only had a winning season- they almost won the SEC West, and probably would have had we played UK, they lead this team to a regional win as a three seed, and then were less than nine outs away from going to Omaha. We also had four wins over top five teams- two of which were on the road. We also beat Ole Miss three out of four times, won the Governor's Cup and we beat USM twice including once in a regional is a game that was pretty hyped in Mississippi.
Now, there were some "If's" in that paragraph above, which means that we have room to get better. One of those "if's" was a schedule thing- well, that's just how it goes. We certainly dropped some games we should have won as well against the teams actually played. Another "if" was we got a tough draw for our SR- we have to win more games to get to where we can host a SR. We play most anybody at Dudy-Noble for a SR, and we're probably going to be the toughest team in America to beat in a SR because of our home field advantage, but we have to earn that by winning. Being a three seed isn't going to get that done. And as far as today, I feel like the main reason we lost today was because of our lack of pitching depth, which is getting better. And building that is part of building a team and a program. My thought late in the game was "man, it sure would be nice to have Ben Bracewell right now."
So, my goals for next year's team are to win the SEC West- "Do it for Stansbury!", continue to improve overall in all areas- pitching, defense, and hitting- which includes power, continue to recruit well, make the SEC Tournament and win at least one game, host a regional, win a SR, and go to Omaha and win a National Championship. We may not attain all of those goals, but this is what we need to aspire to.
This weekend was huge for us. And I think that even though we lost, we earned respect from people around the country in baseball circles. We had lost that over the last 10 years or so. I remember when the SR started- the ESPN people were talking about how we had no chance, how we weren't that good. And all we did was play Florida tooth and nail on the road and push them to the brink. I think we opened some eyes this weekend, and that is almost as good as winning in this case- and winning would have been the only thing better for us. But it's important because it will bring MSU people back in terms on interest, and I think it will help heal some wounds from when Polk left and some of our fans not wanting Cohen for whatever reason and more importantly, I think this will help in terms of recruiting. To get those top flight players like Florida and Vanderbilt have, you have to win and you have to put out a good product. The players we're getting right now are for the most part die hard MSU guys- which is not a bad thing at all, in fact we want them- but if we can surround those guys with some really top flight guys in terms of talent, then we're really cooking with gas. Also, as long as Cohen is here, we are going to have a hard nosed, scrappy team no matter what our talent level. Because those are the types of players that are going to want to play for him- but again, the key for us to find those hard nosed players that also have talent, such as CT Bradford.
All in all, I'm very optomistic about our baseball program and the direction that it is headed in. Next year, we certainly will be young and have some question marks, but we should still be pretty good, and then after next year, we have a chance to be really, really good once these players become experienced juniors and as we also continue to add talent.
Our seniors did a great job- I'm especially proud of Jarrod Parks because he is from Madison, my hometown. But, there are others like Nick Vickerson hitting an absolutely clutch home run that I think will be remembered for awhile at MSU, Wes Thigpen was solid, Jaron Shepherd got the game winning hit against LSU late in the year, Ogden played hurt a lot, and Ryan Collins- well, he wasn't great, but I've also seen worse.
And then we had some underclassmen step up such as Caleb Reed, CT Bradford has made some All-American teams, Evan Mitchell had some good stretches as did Daryl Norris, Brent Brownlee has had some big hits and flipped off some Arkansas fans who probably deserved it- what was really funny about it to me was he was laughing at them while he was shooting the bird. Adam Frazier has shown some promise, and it was good to see Nick Routt step up some with a great game against GT. Oh, and Luis Pollorena for shutting down USM twice- including once against Todd McInnis, who really and truly is a great college pitcher. Cody Freeman had a good year as well- I can't think of anything specific that he did that was spectacular, but he definately had a pretty good year.
The coaches overall did a pretty good job- did they do some questionable things at times? Sure. But so does every other coach in America. The bottom line is they took a team that was awful last year and picked to finish last and they not only had a winning season- they almost won the SEC West, and probably would have had we played UK, they lead this team to a regional win as a three seed, and then were less than nine outs away from going to Omaha. We also had four wins over top five teams- two of which were on the road. We also beat Ole Miss three out of four times, won the Governor's Cup and we beat USM twice including once in a regional is a game that was pretty hyped in Mississippi.
Now, there were some "If's" in that paragraph above, which means that we have room to get better. One of those "if's" was a schedule thing- well, that's just how it goes. We certainly dropped some games we should have won as well against the teams actually played. Another "if" was we got a tough draw for our SR- we have to win more games to get to where we can host a SR. We play most anybody at Dudy-Noble for a SR, and we're probably going to be the toughest team in America to beat in a SR because of our home field advantage, but we have to earn that by winning. Being a three seed isn't going to get that done. And as far as today, I feel like the main reason we lost today was because of our lack of pitching depth, which is getting better. And building that is part of building a team and a program. My thought late in the game was "man, it sure would be nice to have Ben Bracewell right now."
So, my goals for next year's team are to win the SEC West- "Do it for Stansbury!", continue to improve overall in all areas- pitching, defense, and hitting- which includes power, continue to recruit well, make the SEC Tournament and win at least one game, host a regional, win a SR, and go to Omaha and win a National Championship. We may not attain all of those goals, but this is what we need to aspire to.
This weekend was huge for us. And I think that even though we lost, we earned respect from people around the country in baseball circles. We had lost that over the last 10 years or so. I remember when the SR started- the ESPN people were talking about how we had no chance, how we weren't that good. And all we did was play Florida tooth and nail on the road and push them to the brink. I think we opened some eyes this weekend, and that is almost as good as winning in this case- and winning would have been the only thing better for us. But it's important because it will bring MSU people back in terms on interest, and I think it will help heal some wounds from when Polk left and some of our fans not wanting Cohen for whatever reason and more importantly, I think this will help in terms of recruiting. To get those top flight players like Florida and Vanderbilt have, you have to win and you have to put out a good product. The players we're getting right now are for the most part die hard MSU guys- which is not a bad thing at all, in fact we want them- but if we can surround those guys with some really top flight guys in terms of talent, then we're really cooking with gas. Also, as long as Cohen is here, we are going to have a hard nosed, scrappy team no matter what our talent level. Because those are the types of players that are going to want to play for him- but again, the key for us to find those hard nosed players that also have talent, such as CT Bradford.
All in all, I'm very optomistic about our baseball program and the direction that it is headed in. Next year, we certainly will be young and have some question marks, but we should still be pretty good, and then after next year, we have a chance to be really, really good once these players become experienced juniors and as we also continue to add talent.
