Just not big on Powers. Throws a hittable ball and has pretty average stuff at best. Good enough against the low-hanging fruit and maybe as a Sunday guy.

If I overlooked my apologies but what's the forecast for:

- pitching possibility for Brant Blaylock

Thanks for all the reports Beagle and will there be game day video links like you had last year?

(02-13-2019 08:56 AM)usm99 Wrote:  If I overlooked my apologies but what's the forecast for:

- pitching possibility for Brant Blaylock

Thanks for all the reports Beagle and will there be game day video links like you had last year?

Blaylock will pitch some. Possibly in a back end role.

Try the link below for video. Should have something by Friday I would guess.

http://www.streamhub.hk/forum/forumdisplay.php?19-NCAA

Definitely feels like we know what to expect from most of the key returning pitchers (Powell, Powers, Keys, Strickland, Carroll). 4 of the 5 can be effective against 75 percent of our schedule but just don't have the stuff to get us through regional competition. And unless Keys has developed consistency (difficult to see that suddenly happening for a fourth-year player), it will be more of the same from him.

Even if Wallner is able to step into the #1 role (which is far from a guarantee), without several newcomers with really good stuff emerging (maybe one as a starter and a few as key relievers), it is tough to see this being the year we break through regionals.
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People are talking about the hitting disappearing in postseason play. I agree that it does. But that is going to happen. I would compare a team that relies on hitting to a basketball team that relies on three-point shooting in March Madness. There are going to be games where it just isn't there. Also, even though I believe that our lineups have generally been capable of hitting high-level pitching, they just don't see enough of it. When regionals roll around and they are seeing a 1-seed or power conference 2-seed roll out pitchers who throw 93 and have command of three pitches, that's got to require a huge adjustment. A stretch like 2009 where our entire lineup is clicking every single game is not something you can count on. You've got to have pitching to fall back on.

Season is off to a good start, and I expect it to be another good one--another conference title and a regional. That's pretty damn good. It just feels like we are a long way from having the horses on the mound to get us over that hump (with the exception of a good draw and/or some upsets in the bracket).

(02-17-2019 06:36 PM)eaglenjxn Wrote:  Definitely feels like we know what to expect from most of the key returning pitchers (Powell, Powers, Keys, Strickland, Carroll). 4 of the 5 can be effective against 75 percent of our schedule but just don't have the stuff to get us through regional competition. And unless Keys has developed consistency (difficult to see that suddenly happening for a fourth-year player), it will be more of the same from him.

Even if Wallner is able to step into the #1 role (which is far from a guarantee), without several newcomers with really good stuff emerging (maybe one as a starter and a few as key relievers), it is tough to see this being the year we break through regionals.
.
People are talking about the hitting disappearing in postseason play. I agree that it does. But that is going to happen. I would compare a team that relies on hitting to a basketball team that relies on three-point shooting in March Madness. There are going to be games where it just isn't there. Also, even though I believe that our lineups have generally been capable of hitting high-level pitching, they just don't see enough of it. When regionals roll around and they are seeing a 1-seed or power conference 2-seed roll out pitchers who throw 93 and have command of three pitches, that's got to require a huge adjustment. A stretch like 2009 where our entire lineup is clicking every single game is not something you can count on. You've got to have pitching to fall back on.

Season is off to a good start, and I expect it to be another good one--another conference title and a regional. That's pretty damn good. It just feels like we are a long way from having the horses on the mound to get us over that hump (with the exception of a good draw and/or some upsets in the bracket).

Good take.

I'm always amazed at some of these schools that somehow have enough pitching to win regionals. The two teams that jump out to me over the last couple seasons are Davidson in 2017 and Tennessee Tech in 2018. Davidson's ace was some righty that topped out at like 88, yet he was able to keep #2 UNC at bay (twice). Tennessee Tech threw out some random right fielder that had hardly pitched against Ole Miss and he shut them down for 3 innings to close out the game. Meanwhile, our #2 guy just gets shelled by Arkansas.

I get our staffs are never all that talented, but you gotta think one of these years we can piece it together to at least give us a chance to win a regional. Most of the time we are not even competitive against SEC or ACC powers in regionals.

Anyway, we'll see what we're made of this weekend. If it goes badly, at least we know what we have instead of the rug being pulled from under us in June. If we win a couple, we'll know we have a pretty damn good team.

I actually thought some of our young arms provided quality relief for us this weekend. They were much better than the known variables we threw out there (and got what we expected).

(02-17-2019 10:23 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  I actually thought some of our young arms provided quality relief for us this weekend. They were much better than the known variables we threw out there (and got what we expected).

It's flipped this year....our starters aren't as good as last year but our relief guys are better. Curious to see how it all plays out.