All in all a pretty productive weekend......

[thekimmer]

We didn't play our best at times but we did what we needed to sweep an SEC series, made some productive changes to the line up, and gained some ground on the SEC leaders. One of the biggest pluses was Brad Cumbest. 4 for 12, huge double in the bottom of the ninth down a run. Solid D. We have found our every day left fielder. On the mound I think we have found our adjunct to Sims in Cam Tullar.

In the SEC we gained ground on vandy, upigg, and TN in the conference race having caught vandy & TN and are just one game back of upigg. In reality we are effectively a game back of Vandy and two back of the pig because of the tie breaker.

Looking ahead, upig still has GA, UT, and Fla left while vandy has bama, old missy, and UK. We have USC, Mizz and bama. I think things are aligning for us to have a decent chance to win the conference because we have the easier schedule left, Vandy's superman is faltering down the stretch and Arky has proven they can win series but do not tend to sweep while we have a couple of sweepable series. Ironically ark has only swept one series and that was US at the dude! They lost a game to two teams that we swept in TAM and AU which I think is a testament to our deeper pitching staff. I still don't think we are a better team at this point than either vandy or upigg but the schedule is lining up favorably for us. It might all come down to what happens this next weekend in columbia as the chickens are the best team we have left and we are on the road.

In any case, if we can turn it up a notch with this tweaked line up we might have a chance to make a lot of noise in the post season.

 

[wsjmsu75]

Yep.

 

[MSUDC11]

Tiebreakers only matter for Hoover seeding, and Hoover doesn’t mean jack squat for the teams at the top of the league. If we finish tied for 1st with Arkansas/Vandy/Tennessee/whoever, we are SEC co-champions and I expect us to claim a conference championship.

I’m sure our own fans would discredit that if we weren’t the No. 1 seed in Hoover, but I don’t have an issue with it at all. Obviously would prefer to win it outright like we did in ‘16, but if it ends up being a tie then I’ve got no gripes with celebrating that.

 

[wsjmsu75]

Tiebreakers only matter for Hoover seeding, and Hoover doesn’t mean jack squat for the teams at the top of the league. If we finish tied for 1st with Arkansas/Vandy/Tennessee/whoever, we are SEC co-champions and I expect us to claim a conference championship.

I’m sure our own fans would discredit that if we weren’t the No. 1 seed in Hoover, but I don’t have an issue with it at all. Obviously would prefer to win it outright like we did in ‘16, but if it ends up being a tie then I’ve got no gripes with celebrating that.

Our record head to head with Arkansas and Vanderbilt will no doubt come into play with national seeding too, but as long as we do what we should from here on, that should not be a big deal. I think probably just 6-3 from here gets us a top 5 seed.

 

[GhostOfJackie]

Our record head to head with Arkansas and Vanderbilt will no doubt come into play with national seeding too, but as long as we do what we should from here on, that should not be a big deal. I think probably just 6-3 from here gets us a top 5 seed.

As long as we're a national seed, it really doesn't matter where we are seeded. We just want to host at the dude all the way to Omaha. We have the most intimidating place to play in the nation and it will work to our benefit. Just hope we are playing our best baseball at that time, which most state teams do.

 

[Russ Wheeler]

Our record head to head with Arkansas and Vanderbilt will no doubt come into play with national seeding too, but as long as we do what we should from here on, that should not be a big deal. I think probably just 6-3 from here gets us a top 5 seed.

We still get to change the 11 to a 12 on the outfield fence. 17 Hoover seeding.

 

[thekimmer]

Tiebreakers only matter for Hoover seeding, and Hoover doesn’t mean jack squat for the teams at the top of the league. If we finish tied for 1st with Arkansas/Vandy/Tennessee/whoever, we are SEC co-champions and I expect us to claim a conference championship.

I’m sure our own fans would discredit that if we weren’t the No. 1 seed in Hoover, but I don’t have an issue with it at all. Obviously would prefer to win it outright like we did in ‘16, but if it ends up being a tie then I’ve got no gripes with celebrating that.

Absolutely we'll take a shared SEC championship but I'd selfishly rather not share it if we can. I wish they'd just forego the conference tourney.

 

[Lawdawg.sixpack]

Good, maybe we can use the newer "1" - that old "1" looks a little worn. I'm sure we saved some $$ though by just buying the single digit....

 

[MSUDC11]

Absolutely we'll take a shared SEC championship but I'd selfishly rather not share it if we can. I wish they'd just forego the conference tourney.

Hoover has its pro’s and con’s. It’s fun for the fans and can help unlock some hidden potential for certain players (Zac Houston). So maybe if it takes Cerantola striking out 10 against Kentucky on a Wednesday in Hoover for the light to come on then it will have all been worth it.

On the other hand, it can absolutely wear you down and really hurt you in a Regional if you’re having to play a ton of games that don’t mean a lot in consecutive days (MSU 2012, OM 2018).

 

[wsjmsu75]

Hoover has its pro’s and con’s. It’s fun for the fans and can help unlock some hidden potential for certain players (Zac Houston). So maybe if it takes Cerantola striking out 10 against Kentucky on a Wednesday in Hoover for the light to come on then it will have all been worth it.

On the other hand, it can absolutely wear you down and really hurt you in a Regional if you’re having to play a ton of games that don’t mean a lot in consecutive days (MSU 2012, OM 2018).

Wasn't that the year we played something like 6 games in 6 days to win the trophy? And a lot of them were day games when it was hot as hades. No wonder we had absolutely no gas left in the tank for the regional. Just not worth it.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Hoover has its pro’s and con’s. It’s fun for the fans and can help unlock some hidden potential for certain players (Zac Houston). So maybe if it takes Cerantola striking out 10 against Kentucky on a Wednesday in Hoover for the light to come on then it will have all been worth it.

On the other hand, it can absolutely wear you down and really hurt you in a Regional if you’re having to play a ton of games that don’t mean a lot in consecutive days (MSU 2012, OM 2018).

I know Hoover has been known sometimes as Dudy Noble, AL but I never really liked the stadium, just from an appearance point of view.

I do like the fact that we play well there and historically have great fan support there so I will keep my mouth shut. I do think it would be great to move this around but I guess it I like the WBK Tourney... never going to change unless more schools start squawking.

 

[MSUDC11]

Wasn't that the year we played something like 6 games in 6 days to win the trophy? And a lot of them were day games when it was hot as hades. No wonder we had absolutely no gas left in the tank for the regional. Just not worth it.

Yes, we were the 7 seed and played from Tuesday to Sunday, all day games. I know this because I was in college at the time and there for every single one of them. I think I sweated off at least 5 pounds that week. Pretty sure Mitch Slauter caught every inning which in hindsight was insane.

 

[patdog]

It was hot as hell that week too. I do think if you look at it though, teams that go deep in Hoover generally do well in their regional too though. Yeah, it's a tough week sometimes, but you've got 4 days off before the regionals start. Shouldn't really be a problem .

 

[Dawgg]

There is no tiebreaker. Hang a banner.

 

[PirateDawg]

Hoover has its pro’s and con’s. It’s fun for the fans and can help unlock some hidden potential for certain players (Zac Houston). So maybe if it takes Cerantola striking out 10 against Kentucky on a Wednesday in Hoover for the light to come on then it will have all been worth it.

On the other hand, it can absolutely wear you down and really hurt you in a Regional if you’re having to play a ton of games that don’t mean a lot in consecutive days (MSU 2012, OM 2018).

Hoover and the CWS are setting up nicely for our pitching staff. We can trot out the best pitching staff over several days and not miss a beat. Of course, we have to hit the ball to be successful. I'm glad to see Cumbest back in the lineup. Right now we have 3 players that are hitting well. If we can get the others going over the next 3 series we can make a serious run!

 

[MarkDallas]

Maybe something like this for Hoover?
<video>https://youtu.be/hqPdOQNVN5o</video>

https://youtu.be/hqPdOQNVN5o

 

[MSUDC11]

It was hot as hell that week too. I do think if you look at it though, teams that go deep in Hoover generally do well in their regional too though. Yeah, it's a tough week sometimes, but you've got 4 days off before the regionals start. Shouldn't really be a problem .

Really just depends on the team. Our last two teams that won the SEC Tourney weren’t elite by any means, so the fact that they didn’t have deep postseason runs isn’t really shocking. The 2005 team had a 13-16 conference record, the 2012 team flat out couldn’t hit, other than Frazier. It’s possible Hoover did wear them out due to a lack of depth, or maybe those teams just weren’t good enough to make a run in June.

In those two situations you were talking about a lower seeded team winning the tourney and having to expend every ounce of energy to do it. That hasn’t really happened in a while, not since our 2012 run actually. Every champion since 2013 has been a Top 4 seed, i.e. they had a first round bye and didn’t have to do the crazy 6 games/6 days thing that we did in ‘12.