Game recap
Notebook
Post-game video
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Great win… really needed to win the series
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Especially a home series. The hogs really need a
Sweep at Ole Miss.
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OM is really struggling on the mound but they can hit the ball… This will not be an easy series at all. Which is pretty much status quo for the SEC no matter where you play.
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I always caution folks to keep their wishes in perspective.
Sure - a sweep is always great, and you want a team that expects to win every time they go on the diamond.
But sweeps are difficult in the SEC in particular, and especially on the road. It’s fine to want that, but to say we “really need” to sweep the defending National Champions at their ballpark, with their backs against the wall…well, let’s just say it is “aggressively optimistic”. In other words, I think you are setting yourself up to be disappointed if that is your criteria for a successful weekend.
My goal for the weekend is to win the series, which will be a plateful in and of itself. Losing a road SEC series isn’t the worst thing in the world, so long as you can avoid being swept - which is catastrophic. But with Ole Miss having the problems they have had…for whatever reason…losing the series to them would be disappointing, even if it is on the road. We need to win 2…a sweep would be gravy.
But it won’t be easy.
They lost their Ace Hunter Elliott who will be back in about a month and they have yet to find a suitable Friday night guy… transfer portal P has not done very well on Saturday or Sunday. They were trying a true freshman in the rotation as well and he’s not been very good… they walk a lot of people and give up quite a few home runs.
We’re 6-3, which is on pace to win 20 league games if you don’t have any rainouts. Winning 20 usually will win the division. The year we almost won it all we were 18-11 in the SEC.
Oh, by the way our RPI is #3 right now according to Warren Nolan. NCAA had us #4 Thursday morning but we passed the Poultry despite their series win at Moo U.
Elliot was their ace for sure. The hogs lost Wiggins so it is a tale of 2 teams losing their Friday night guy but in addition to that the hogs lost their 2 best bull pen arms in Frank’s for the season and yet to be determined if Tygart can return and be effective or if he will be able to go at all. So I’d say the hogs have been hit with injuries to the pitching staff than Ole Miss.
By limiting the games against in state schools this season our RPI won’t take the hits it took last season. Maybe the hogs can maintain a top 10 RPI
Oh yeah we’ve been hit much harder than they have because we lost our setup man and closer they’re just pitching a lot of young kids kind of like we are. Their biggest problem is throwing strikes. Their offense though isn’t good enough to give us a lot of trouble if we’re not really on our game. Atmosphere will be better there than it was LSU
Yeah the RPI is not going to be a problem this year.
Our hogs failed to show a lot of discipline at the plate against Bama. There were a lot of swings up and out of the zone and there were several hitter that watched strikes right down Broadway.
The home plate umpire was pretty good on Sunday but the other 2 games you could have went and found someone bing led by a see and I dog and they would have done a better job calling balls and strikes.
If the hogs are patient at the plate they can compete with anyone! Beating Ole Miss and Miss St usually is a challenge this year it would be nice to shut both fan bases up!
I just see progress in the bull pen and maybe when Tygart comes back there’s depth you can call on. Morris is still the mystery man down there.
Updated RPI (and yesterday marked the halfway point of the regular season):
Kentucky
Virginia
Arkansas
LSU
South Carolina
Tennessee is 19th, Rebnecks are 51st. We don’t play Kentucky, but we do get the Poultry in May. Vandy is scuffling along at #9 (losing at home to UCA didn’t help).
We do unfortunately play ASWho this week, but hopefully one game isn’t that big a hit (Pink Puppies rose to #258 this morning). And two with UALR (#261) next week. UCA is the best instate opponent at #244.
Really need to stop playing in state teams.
The SEC league results are interesting (and maybe greatly) misleading right now. Vandy 9-0; the same team that lost to UCA. Ole Miss, they may have played the toughest schedule to date. Pretty good start for the Hogs having lost some very good arms.
I think Vanderbilt losing a Tuesday night game to UCA gets overblown. Had they lost a series to UCA using weekend starters, it would be a different story. They didn’t. UCA might lose every game it played against Holton, Owen and Futrell.
We all know mid-week games are weird. Arkansas came pretty close to losing to Grambling on a Tuesday this year.
To me, weekend losses to mid-major and low-major teams are a lot more concerning than a mid-week loss. Alabama losing to Columbia, and Auburn losing to Southeastern Louisiana are a couple of series that come to mind that will be held against those teams more than Vanderbilt losing to UCA.
I believe in the Schluterman/Story scale. Here is an explanation:
Schluterman/Story Scale explained. Win 2 out of 3 at home and 1 out of 3 on the road. You are 15-15 in Conference and solidly in a regional at the end of the season. Any time you get an extra win in the weekend you are plus 1 and conversely you can go negative. The most you can gain on a weekend is +2 for a road sweep. Conversely, the most you can go negative on a weekend is -2 for a home sweep. Finish the season plus 3 (18-12 in Conference) you are a likely Regional Host. Plus 5 and you are a likely National Seed.
It has always worked.
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