Winning a road series against a ranked opponent is always nice. Anybody that is a fan has to hope it gets us going. Law of averages is on our side to win some close ones going forward. Gives us hope to play in the league tourney.
OT: Boogs 2020 Not Men's Softball
- Thread starter WDE_Tarp
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The biggest thing the UGA series win does is keeps hope alive for Hoover and a regional. Hoover is attainable now because we're tied with the other two teams for that 12th spot, and we get to play both of them. Plus, both of those teams have tougher finishing schedules than we do, at least from a league record standpoint. It's still a longshot to get to a regional, but if we win 7 of our last nine, that gets us to 12-18. With the early win over aTm, that puts us at 13 SEC wins before the SECT. We'd still have to win 2, maybe 3 in the SECT to get into a regional, but it's on the table still. Had we lost the UGA series, that ship would've sailed. Same will happen if we lose 2 of 3 to LSU. We have to win every series from here on out and need a sweep in one of them.
Regardless of what happens tomorrow and vs Mizzou, this team has been so shitty this year that next year, a supposed rebuilding year, is going to end up being a put up or shut up year for us Butch guys. He’s a pitching coach. Like Gussie was an offensive coach. We can’t pay him for very long for this level of production.
Yeah I don't know what I think about next year as far as wins/losses. I agree that Barnett, Burkhalter, Bright all need to show a ton of improvement or I would be extremely disappointed in what I consider Butch's specialty. I like what I've seen from Swilling, Morrison and Gonzo. I have no idea what has happened to Mullins or Garrett Wade. Hurt? Not good enought? I'll be interested to see what happens staff-wise with who comes back and who we are able to go out and get.
The frustrating part for me for trying to figure out what I think about Butch is that I think last year was going to be another CWS year. If that happens, nobody sane would be talking about getting rid of Butch. COVID took that away from us AND kind of screwed us roster-wise. We lost 2 of our weekend rotation guys and some of the bullpen, but brought back the offense. I think this year would have been even worse (because I think we would have lost a ton that ended up staying), but at least we would have been breaking in a ton of new starters and hopefully getting ready for a big year next year. On top of that, we had a ton of minor injuries that led to that 0-12 start. Even if we just win 1 game/series in those 4 series (which seems pretty fair) we would still be in play for a regional. Now we will have to break in a ton of new offensive starters next year. On top of all that we are behind the majority of the rest of the SEC from a scholarship perspective. It's like being on permanent probation, which I think will always keep any program in Alabama from being a true reload every year type program like Vandy or Florida.
You “tried to told” me when we were in Regionals and the CWS so nobody gave a $hit what you said then or now.
Without looking I only remember losing Bailey Horn, Connor Davis and Scheffler from the 2020 team. I’m sure I’m forgetting somebody big. We lose as much or more this year still though.. I do think this year has been a bit of a fluke but he has to be accountable for letting it snowball to the depths it did. What you’re saying is still accurate though. I’m just frustrated.
Yeah Tanner Burns is the big one. One or two bullpen guys. But yeah Bailey and Tanner were the 2 best (talent-wise) starters we had. That’s why they still got drafted even after a super short season and a much smaller draft.
Mullins is done for the year, and I think they're hoping rest can help him avoid TJ surgery. Garrett Wade had TJ surgery this past summer. I'm anxious to see how he returns. Before his injury, he had the stuff, but he didn't have the command. Being able to rebuild his fundamentals while working his way back might give him a chance to harness that good stuff and allow him to be in control and effective. But that's TBD.
I think Bright and Gonzalez have shown real flashes this season against quality competition. Hopefully, consistency comes with experience. Barnett has some potential, but he has to find his confidence and his command. Morrison and Swilling have been really good this year and have made steady improvements. Burkhatler has apparently dealt with a hamstring issue all season and has battled through it, but I'm not sure he's pitched a game yet where he's 100%. I look for those seven names to make big impacts next year. And if we can get someone like Fitts or Skipper to return, that'd be huge for next year. We have a JUCO transfer who started at LSU coming in, Riggs Threadgill, and we need him to have an immediate impact. And we also need to get the higher rated freshmen pitchers on campus so they can find a role and hopefully help out. Ziegler and Allsup are potential draftable kids, but with the shortened draft again, we probably are in decent shape there.
Your second point is a good one. I do think we lost a lot in losing the season last year, more than some other programs IMO. Because we need games to help get experience for these younger pitchers to help their development, we were set up last year to be able to do that with Burns/Owen/Horn as the rotation and Greenhill, Fitts, Skipper, and Watson as more reliable bullpen arms. That would've gotten Barnett, Bright, Mullins, and Burkhalter a great amount of experience without being guys that had to carry the load. But we lost all that, and by losing Burns, Horn, and Watson, it created a void that we didn't get to work on covering up in the 2020 season. And when we could've afforded to lose a few of the offensive guys in the lineup to the draft, because of the recruiting issues, we can't reload at pitcher like other programs and got hurt the most by our three pitching departures. Those guys were worth 12-14 innings or more a weekend. That's just tough to overcome with a bunch of true freshmen and COVID freshmen.
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Well, one win down, at least one more to go. Steven Williams is now out for the season after being hit in the face with a pitch last night and suffering a facial fracture. Tough blow as I don't think we really have anyone to replace what he could bring to the plate. Bryson has some pop in his bat, but he's not swinging it all that much better than Steven right now, and he's a righty. So it hurts with the matchups a bit.
Sucks for Williams. Does he have another year left from Covid? That would be terrible for his playing days to end on a pitch to the face. Dude has had some tough breaks, between the Super Regional walk off and this. T's & P's for the kid.
You could just tell when SW got hit he was going straight into protocol for head injuries. Hate it for him.
On a funny note, I noticed in the baseball thread you mentioned #40 from Mizzou and his hat issues. I had just screamed cut your hair or glue your hat on and my daughter thought I was losing my mind. I think it fell off on 8 straight pitches.
3-0 win on the road. Second straight must win game. Lost team leader for the year last night. No metal toughness.
And LSU beats aTm in 13 innings to help punch out ticket to Hoover.
Yeah, he injured his foot at Round Rock. Not really clear on the injury, but Richard Fitts had the exact same injury happen the next day. I've heard it was related to the big toe, and neither could really push off their back foot without severe discomfort. And several have blamed Under Armour cleats for it. Josh Hall has also dealt with a foot injury and an ankle injury.
But back to Greenhill, he battled the foot injury, made adjustments to pitch effectively around it (mainly going to more offspeed pitches), but in doing so and then trying to transition back to the bullpen, he's picked up a shoulder injury, most likely for compensating around the foot injury. Honestly, I'd be surprised if we saw him pitch again at Auburn. Maybe he throws Tuesday in Hoover if we need him, but he's not really practiced much or thrown much in the last 2-3 weeks.
As an aside, Jack Owen will start in Hoover on Tuesday.
Yeah I can confirm the Under Armor cleat thing. I heard it was effecting the top of the foot though. God I hope we ditch them.
Surprised about Jack. I was kind of think we would go with Gonzo. I guess you have to really try and win the first one though.
Biggest thing by far that has ever happened with Miss State in sports. Was kinda rooting for the Rocker kid & all, but this looking like Starkvegas gone burn tonight.
They will enjoy this one for sure. Another big group of Alabama HS studs headed that way next year too.
I'm happy for them. There's not a more dedicated college baseball fanbase than them, and they've been really good for a long time. I wanted to see Rocker have a good game but ultimately wanted State to win. Doesn't help us any in recruiting as this will just pull more and more Alabama HS kids to Starkville, but I'm happy for that program to finally have a trophy to reward their efforts over the years.
