I can’t help but think about a number of losses this year that have wound up benefitting this team by serving as motivation. The ones that come to mind are Game 2 to Louisiana Tech, Game 2 at Alabama, Game 1 at Auburn, the UALR game and Game 2 at Vanderbilt. In almost every instance, the team came back highly focused the next game - especially on offense - and played one of its best games of the year.
I wonder if the loss last night might not do the same for the team going into this weekend’s series. The team was kind of flying high after the sweep of Mississippi State, and a loss to Northwestern State, regardless of the pitching situation, is going to get their attention.
Before the game last night, Dave Van Horn got on the team a little bit after batting practice. Phil Elson asked him about it during the radio pregame show and Van Horn said something to the effect of, “We’re playing well as a team right now, but there are still little things I’m seeing that we’ve got to fix. They might not get you beat in a game like Tuesday, but they might in SEC play.”
That loss last night isn’t going to be a killer for Arkansas in RPI, its chance to win the division/conference or its hope to host. If anything, it might benefit the team by getting its focus right for another big series.
I definitely agree with that having coached as long as I did and what I found out is the great teams well always get ticked off at a loss especially against a team they shouldn’t lose to.I am beginning to think this team has a chance to be great but I’m still not quite there yet as I’ve seen things that coach Van Horn has seen that will get you beat when you’re facing good competition.Tennessee will be the best pitching staff we have seen because they have the best combination of starters and relief pitchers there’s really no weak spots but we are hitting the ball very well this will be a great test if we can win this possibly and sweep it I will be more inclined to think this is a great team we have.
I hope you’re right, Matt. I always hate losing, especially to teams like NW & UALR. (UALR was worse because of the in-state aspect) But baseball is different from other sports. You’re always going to lose several games during the course of a baseball season. That’s especially true in college ball where there can be a big drop off in pitching with freshmen, etc.
I note we slipped about 4 spots in our RPI, but no doubt it’ll move back up if we win the TN series or better yet, sweep it.
Van Horn told me several times that you learn a lot in a loss. You just want to make sure you learn enough not to repeat it. I think young players need to play. That goes for the pitchers and the field players, too. They’ve won enough and played a good enough schedule that a few of these can be overcome. There is only one more midweek, next week in North Little Rock against Grambling.
From now on, the pitching is deep enough to handle the schedule. It really wasn’t deep enough for a second midweek game this season. Those were a struggle.
I think what Dave is trying to do with the schedule is smart. The early part has enough heavyweights and SOS plus games that you can afford a loss and still stay high in the RPI.
Easy - we have the same record and their SOS is a litte higher (tougher) than ours, so their RPI is ranked ahead of us. In these types of predictions, they usually go straight down the RIP rankings in terms of who is predicted to win. Not the best way, IMO, when there is home filed to factor in and it DOES factor in.
On the other hand, take a look at his season ending projected RPI’s. Obviously, there are different algorithms in place here.
Easy - we have the same record and their SOS is a litte higher (tougher) than ours, so their RPI is ranked ahead of us. In these types of predictions, they usually go straight down the RIP rankings in terms of who is predicted to win. Not the best way, IMO, when there is home filed to factor in and it DOES factor in.
On the other hand, take a look at his season ending projected RPI’s. Obviously, there are different algorithms in place here.