Mid season report

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GoCougsGo
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Mid season report

Post by GoCougsGo »

We are halfway through the season and I’m still on the fence with this team. We currently stand tied at the top with Elon but they hold the tie break over us should it be needed at the end of the season.
We currently lead the league in hitting with a .289 batting average. We have a strong 1-5 with 6-9 starting to come around. Griffin McLarty has had a fantastic year as the Friday night guy. Great command with a mix of speeds and a high ability to hit his spots. After that, we seem to be pitching by committee for Saturday and Sundays are a wash unless we get into a slugfest which we will win out on.
Nathan Ocker is turning into a saved machine and when he gets the ball, 9 times out of 10 we finish with a W. He is just as good as Hanzlick and Carter Love in the save category.

Midweek games are a big time problem. We are extremely thin and young in the mid week, probably the weakest midweek rotation I’ve seen us have in years. Judging by the schedule, coach seemed to have limit the scheduling of them knowing this might be a problem.

We have 3 quad 1 wins and 3 losses. We are about to hit the gauntlet for the next two weeks. This weekend against Dallas Baptist and Coastal on Tuesday are our last chances for Quad 1 wins. Then we hit the road to face an always stout northeastern pitching rotation.

Verdict still out for me but we will make the tournament without question. The league is so bad this year, especially at the bottom that we likely won’t see much, if any changes in the bottom 3
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swampcougar1
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Re: Mid season report

Post by swampcougar1 »

Only 3 games has a starting pitcher not named McClarty gone 5 innings. Does not bode well for tourney play
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charlestondxman
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Re: Mid season report

Post by charlestondxman »

Pitching is an issue, especially with the tourney being in the thinner air of Harrisonburg. We didn’t do well there last year in the tourney.
hungry
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Re: Mid season report

Post by hungry »

"Pitching is an issue"
Even more so. Are any of these Holbrook's or all Heath's? Next year will be better?
Couldn't believe Friday lack of closure.
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swampcougar1
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Re: Mid season report

Post by swampcougar1 »

Not hard to see pitching was going to be a huge issue before the season was over. At this point a starter has gone 5 innings only 5 times that is not named McCarty. Lot of pressure to continually put on relievers. I was ready to support Holbrook when he was hired. Having lots of doubt at this time. Have yet to see any great recruiting and game day is definately not a strong point
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GoCougsGo
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Re: Mid season report

Post by GoCougsGo »

That Friday loss was inexplicable given how reliable Ocker is. He had it in the bag with two quick outs.
Saturday really showed how bad our pitching staff can be. I just finally turned it off it was hard to watch.
We lose a ton of fire power at the plate for next season. McRae, Hart, Wondrack, Dixon, Manzo, Hunt, Davey. That’s almost irreplaceable with a completely new infield.

The CAA is so bad this year in baseball that the rest of the conference makes us look way better than we are. If we sweep, W&M, and UNCW loses 3, we will be the 2 seed (I don’t see Elon losing 4 more games with two series left on their schedule.). Our remaining schedule is quite favorable to win out.

As frustrating as this team is, i’d STILL take this over at Matt Heath led team. Just a check of his UT-Martin team, and they are dead last in the OVC right now but time will tell what he does there. Holbrook likely will never get us to Omaha but a regional is certainly within expectations. If he doesn’t do it once in his 5 year contract, then decisions may need to be made. On the flip side, he is a tremendous fundraiser and the program is receiving financial backing like they’ve never seen for baseball. $75-100K alone on the first pitch banquet
hungry
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Re: Mid season report

Post by hungry »

So we swept Coastal & Citadel (pending suspended game), split w/CSU, won series v/Connecticut. Glad to hear about fund-raising. Standing by on recruiting success.
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swampcougar1
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Re: Mid season report

Post by swampcougar1 »

hungry wrote:So we swept Coastal & Citadel (pending suspended game), split w/CSU, won series v/Connecticut. Glad to hear about fund-raising. Standing by on recruiting success.
Coastal has lost 16 of their last 24. Wow! We swept them. CSU and Citadel in bottom.third of country and we lost a game to CSU. Won a couple games against a northern team before they had an outdoor practice. Whoop de doo. Yes we won a game against Ariz. They have a losing record. Guess I should put my thick maroon glasses on so I can be impressed with those wins.
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charlestondxman
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Re: Mid season report

Post by charlestondxman »

This has been a really down year for almost everybody in state. The Citadel has 10 wins on May 5 and hasn’t won a road game yet. Elon has 2 weekend starters (Kirby and Brnovich) that will likely go in the first couple rounds of the draft. And their #3 has a 2.86 ERA.

In conference their team ERA is a full run below everyone else (2.63).
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swampcougar1
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Re: Mid season report

Post by swampcougar1 »

Out played and coached last 2 weekends
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GoCougsGo
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Re: Mid season report

Post by GoCougsGo »

I’m so ticked off after this weekends games that I’m going to refrain from posting what I really want to post.
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swampcougar1
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Re: Mid season report

Post by swampcougar1 »

GoCougsGo wrote:I’m so ticked off after this weekends games that I’m going to refrain from posting what I really want to post.
Say it anyway. Sure some here would agree with your thoughts
You are who you are because you are who you want to be
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