So, about next weekend.

[tatedog]

Absolutely must not get swept up there. 0-6 against Vandy/Ark will wreck our chances to get a top 4 seed, which I think is our realistic goal at the moment.

 

[dawgstudent]

Honestly - does it matter if you are top 4 vs top 8?

 

[Shmuley]

Gotta get game 3 somehow.

 

[patdog]

Maybe a little, if you make the CWS. But yeah. Just get top 8, which will still not be easy.

 

[tatedog]

That’s a good question and historically speaking I have no idea what the answer is.

 

[57stratdawg]

Have we figured out if the NCAA is announcing Regionals and Super Regional sites in early May or only the 16 regional locals?

 

[Go Budaw]

Do you consider pitching Fristoe on Friday or Saturday, while moving Bednar to Sunday? That might max out our chances of not getting swept. I’d personally consider flipping Bednar and Fristoe for this weekend only, with the understanding that Fristoe just needs to give you 85 pitches or so no matter what happens. Leiter is currently holding teams to a .098 batting average, and has 94 K’s in 55 innings. Those numbers are just stupid. We aren’t going to beat him so might as well go balls out on Friday and Sunday.

 

[anon1787432961]

One just has to love that all turf mini field they play on. What's the chance of rain

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Dawgs Sweep!

 

[campshelbydog842003]

Honestly - does it matter if you are top 4 vs top 8?

Yes. We don’t want to face Vandy or Arkansas until as late in the CWS as possible. If we can be a 2 or 3 seed overall that will allow that.

 

[MSUDC11]

Do you consider pitching Fristoe on Friday or Saturday, while moving Bednar to Sunday? That might max out our chances of not getting swept. I’d personally consider flipping Bednar and Fristoe for this weekend only, with the understanding that Fristoe just needs to give you 85 pitches or so no matter what happens. Leiter is currently holding teams to a .098 batting average, and has 94 K’s in 55 innings. Those numbers are just stupid. We aren’t going to beat him so might as well go balls out on Friday and Sunday.

Georgia beat Rocker and Tennessee won the game that Leiter pitched. We are better than both of those teams. So no, you don’t concede any game next weekend. If anything you lean on your best pitchers, hope they can keep it close until late, and then pounce on their bullpen if/when they make a move.

 

[hatfieldms]

My God some of you dig for stuff to freak out about

 

[Hump4Hoops]

I see it different - better to be on Vandy's side

In the CWS. In the championship series you will have to beat Rocker or Leiter, period. If you face them earlier in the CWS, one of those guys will be throwing against a different team, and the deciding factor might be the 4th or 5th starter or depth of bullpen.

Wanting to be slotted on the other side of the CWS bracket from Vandy is hoping someone else takes them out for you. I can't see anyone beating them in the championship - save maybe Arkansas.

 

[Shadow34]

I like that idea, but I just dont know. Or maybe go C Mac Sunday? I know these guys are used to the days they pitch on and have routines. But I am with yall, we gotta get one.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

Luckily our coaches aren’t dumb enough to change the rotation order next weekend, like apparently some of you are.

 

[Ranchdawg]

THIS! I would have the team study those two games this week. Every pitcher has a weakness. If we win one of those games we can play for the series on Sunday.

 

[Bulldogg31]

Honestly - does it matter if you are top 4 vs top 8?

It depends. If you want to avoid the #1 seed in Omaha (Vandy, or maybe Arkansas), then it’s better to be the #2,3,6, or 7 seed so you’ll be on the other side of the bracket. I think we were the 5 seed in 2019 which put us on on Vandy’s side of the bracket and likely kept us out of the championship series.

 

[campshelbydog842003]

In the CWS. In the championship series you will have to beat Rocker or Leiter, period. If you face them earlier in the CWS, one of those guys will be throwing against a different team, and the deciding factor might be the 4th or 5th starter or depth of bullpen.

Wanting to be slotted on the other side of the CWS bracket from Vandy is hoping someone else takes them out for you. I can't see anyone beating them in the championship - save maybe Arkansas.

The higher your seed the less likely you are to have to face them at all. I get we want to have the attitude as a team of not wanting to be scared of anyone but the less likely we are of having to face them at all the better. Same with Arkansas. At a minimum hopefully someone can sneak one in on them and put them in the losers bracket so we will get to face a lesser pitcher later in the tournament. The higher our seed the better.

 

[johnson86-1]

In the CWS. In the championship series you will have to beat Rocker or Leiter, period. If you face them earlier in the CWS, one of those guys will be throwing against a different team, and the deciding factor might be the 4th or 5th starter or depth of bullpen.

Wanting to be slotted on the other side of the CWS bracket from Vandy is hoping someone else takes them out for you. I can't see anyone beating them in the championship - save maybe Arkansas.

Just want the best possible chance to get to the finals. Weird things can happen in a 3 game series. Get there enough and we’ll win one.

 

[Go Budaw]

Georgia beat Rocker and Tennessee won the game that Leiter pitched. We are better than both of those teams. So no, you don’t concede any game next weekend. If anything you lean on your best pitchers, hope they can keep it close until late, and then pounce on their bullpen if/when they make a move.

Fair point. I admittedly didn’t pay much attention to UT-Vandy this weekend and didn’t realize Leiter got “shelled” for 3 runs in 6.1 innings. I guess maybe he is semi-human after all. He’s still on pace to have the best season for a pitcher in the SEC in the nearly 30 years I’ve followed the sport, so I wouldn’t be totally against a shake up to acknowledge that, but I can see it both ways and how you want to send the right message to your players that you believe they can win every game.

 

[Go Budaw]

I like that idea, but I just dont know. Or maybe go C Mac Sunday? I know these guys are used to the days they pitch on and have routines. But I am with yall, we gotta get one.

I think C-Mac to Sunday is too big of a routine disruption for him, especially if he’s expected to come back and throw the following Friday (or Thursday?). If anything, you swap Bednar and Fristoe. But upon further examination, Bednar hasn’t really been that much better than Fristoe (maybe due to this weekend). He has about an ERA about 0.55 lower, but OBA and K rates are about the same between them.

 

[thekimmer]

To be the best you gotta beat the best....

Absolutely must not get swept up there. 0-6 against Vandy/Ark will wreck our chances to get a top 4 seed, which I think is our realistic goal at the moment.

At some point you gotta line up toe-to-toe against the best they have and beat em if you are going to have any notion of challenging for a natty. Might as well get used to it now. UGA and UT have proven that neither of their two aces are unbeatable. Tough challenge no doubt but also no fear.

 

[GhostOfJackie]

Gotta get game 3 somehow.

For sure, but we can win this series on the road. We won't be favored but don't put it past these guys to go up there and win the series.

We are a very good team playing another very good team. At some point we will face them in the postseason on our way to the ultimate goal.

 

[ronpolk]

Have we figured out if the NCAA is announcing Regionals and Super Regional sites in early May or only the 16 regional locals?

I thought I heard the announcers on Friday’s game say that both regional and super regional sites were going to be decided beforehand. There is a chance someone hosts a super that they don’t even play in.