OK BB fans. On to the SECT...

[thekimmer]

We missed an opportunity on Sat to win the west outright and more importantly improve our national seeding by beating one of the worst teams in the league at home who was down to starting their closer. Egg laid., bed crapped, whatever. Moving on.

Does this make the SECT any more important for us? Could we improve our national seed?

Then on to our pitching rotation. I would like to win the SECT but then the problem is the SECT will stretch a pitching staff beyond anything a team will ever face in the NCAAT and therefore is not very predictive of NCAA success. Case in point, in the Hoover era SEC teams have won 8 national titles. How many of those teams that won the CWS also won the SECT in the same year? Just two, LSU in 2000 and 2009. Anybody remember the 2012 SECT where we played a marathon 6 games and won the thing going 5-1? We then promptly lost to 3rd seed Samford in the regional. Twice. Food for thought.

 

[patdog]

Actually, a pitching staff could get a lot more stressed in a regional with a max of 5 games in 4 days than it could in the SECT with a max of 5 games in 5 days. Just keep our regular rotation and play baseball. It doesn't mean anything in terms of national seeding (the difference between #3 and #6 is minimal), but it's always nice to win and hopefully add a 2nd trophy this year to the trophy case. And it's better to keep playing than to have too much rest going into the regional.

 

[fevans]

Actually, a pitching staff could get a lot more stressed in a regional with a max of 5 games in 4 days than it could in the SECT with a max of 5 games in 5 days. Just keep our regular rotation and play baseball. It doesn't mean anything in terms of national seeding (the difference between #3 and #6 is minimal), but it's always nice to win and hopefully add a 2nd trophy this year to the trophy case. And it's better to keep playing than to have too much rest going into the regional.

Do we treat Wednesday's game as a normal mid-week game and start with the normal rotation on Thursday?

 

[Cat Duck]

Our fans make too big of a deal out of 2012. We just were not that great. We were a small ball regional team that could play well at times, and we got stuck in a crackerjack ballpark in Tallahassee. It's that simple.

You may say we got overconfident after that SECT championship. But we weren't tired or some other nonsense. I mean you have like 5 days rest after it.

 

[MSUDC11]

Our fans make too big of a deal out of 2012. We just were not that great. We were a small ball regional team that could play well at times, and we got stuck in a crackerjack ballpark in Tallahassee. It's that simple.

You may say we got overconfident after that SECT championship. But we weren't tired or some other nonsense. I mean you have like 5 days rest after it.

This is correct. We were a bad hitting team outside of Frazier. Had to play a power hitting three seed in a hitter’s park and it was just a rough matchup for us.

 

[Go Budaw]

Do we treat Wednesday's game as a normal mid-week game and start with the normal rotation on Thursday?

I think not. Start your normal rotation on Wednesday. This makes sure that both Small and Ginn get starts in Hoover and don’t get too long of a layoff. Chances are good that we win at least one of those, allowing Plumlee to get his start in too. After that, just play baseball and keep the pitch counts low for the weekend rotation.

 

[Hankp22]

Yes

Do we treat Wednesday's game as a normal mid-week game and start with the normal rotation on Thursday?

1. The game Wednesday will allow Brandon Smith to start on a big stage. That experience will be valuable.
2. I'd start the Small/Ginn/Plumlee rotation beginning on Thursday so they can stay in their normal routine.
3. If we end up in a extra game situation, then I'd like to see Cerantola get the ball. Again, low pressure/big stage experience.

 

[patdog]

I would go with the regular Small, Ginn, Plumlee, Smith rotation to try to stay in the winners bracket. But I'd be OK with starting Smith on Wednesday either. May depend on who we face, Small vs LSU or Smith vs South Carolina.

 

[thekimmer]

I think it all depends on our strategy for the next week.

Do we treat Wednesday's game as a normal mid-week game and start with the normal rotation on Thursday?

If our main goal is to get starters some work then just go with the weekend rotation and take the latter games as the come. If the goal is to win the thing then you have to gamble in game 1 with a mid-week guy. It might not be a bad idea to start out with your best, win as many as you can then let the chips fall where they may. The other consideration is next week we will start a post season tourney where its win or go home and it will likely require our starters to do things outside their routine. The rotation for a 4 team regional will likely be different than a super regional. Situations might require a starter to pitch an inning or two out of the bullpen to stay alive. The SECT might be a good place to tinker with that without the season on the line.

 

[StarkVegas Steve]

Our fans make too big of a deal out of 2012. We just were not that great. We were a small ball regional team that could play well at times, and we got stuck in a crackerjack ballpark in Tallahassee. It's that simple.

You may say we got overconfident after that SECT championship. But we weren't tired or some other nonsense. I mean you have like 5 days rest after it.

After last year, I love that crackerjack ballpark. In all seriousness though, you're absolutely correct. That ballpark was much more set up for our 07 and 18 teams. 18 moreso than 07. 07 we just got an out of this world pitching performance from Justin Pigott

 

[Go Budaw]

I would go with the regular Small, Ginn, Plumlee, Smith rotation to try to stay in the winners bracket. But I'd be OK with starting Smith on Wednesday either. May depend on who we face, Small vs LSU or Smith vs South Carolina.

I think the overall point is that it doesn’t matter that much. You are looking at a minimum of 5 days rest for your top guys in the rotation, with 7 or 8 days rest for them afterwards as we head into regionals. If the primary focus is winning the thing to maximize our national seed, then try to start Smith on Wednesday. If the focus is getting innings for starters and not have them skip a start before the regionals, then start Small. I’m fine with it either way.