Ole Miss fans -- baseball next year

[pondman]

Expectations for MSU baseball have been thoroughly discussed. What about OM? Is the fanbase happy with this year's results? What are the expectations going into next year? What will Bianco have to work with?

Pond

[SWAG]

Interesting just how quiet it has been here and all social media about the Rebels going to a regional. I guess they got the monkey off their back last year finally making it to CWS and the excitement has worn off? As a college baseball fan and a MSU fan, even I went and looked at the Rebels matchups in the regional and looked over the other team's rosters whom the Rebels may play. Was obvious the SP from Maryland was a Friday night guy for any program. Curious as to the lack of conversation and such regarding the Rebels and their NCAA post season opportunity. Was it the one and done in Hoover? The struggles they had during the regular season? MSU failed to make SEC or NCAA tourney. Awful, awful, awful. BUT had the Dogs snuck into either of those even by a coin flip, you would have heard and seen major discussion.

Rebels SS is a top defensive and offensive player. Not familiar enough with their pitchers to know who is coming back. Orvis of course is a kid I like even though he plays for the enemy. Him leaving puts a smile on my MSU face, and I hope he does get drafted as he probably should have last year. Your 3B seems to have improved into a very good ball player although I can not tell you his name or if he will be back. Rebels seemed like a team that played to the level of their opposition this year...beat some really good teams and lost to some bad ones. Without Orvis this year though I feel like UM may have had a record/season mirroring MSU. So their would be definite concern about 2016 if I was an UM fan.

[camlock]

I think Ole Miss going home Tuesday morning of SEC tourney...sitting 10 days and being shipped to Los Angeles were they played late games in another timezone just sorta made it easy to miss coverage of it...

Ole Miss should be a much better team this year...they had the key contributors to make a run this year if their youth had grown up faster, but they didn't and they played inconsistent all season. Lot of young talent returning...some all-SEC and maybe all-american caliber guys on that roster.

The 10 days rest after losing first day in Hoover, after finishing the season fairly hot, was kryptonite to this lineup...

[Deltamud77]

The SEC is all most completely about weekend pitching. If you have two good starters and a decent closer, you are gonna win a lot of series, host a region and maybe even a Super. If you don't, you end up like Ole Miss and State this year.

[sab316]

If we had just played UCLA first we would have been alright. Far better win % against the #1 team this year.

[Greenhead22]

Kaprielian would've no hit Ole Miss.

[camlock]

The SEC is all most completely about weekend pitching. If you have two good starters and a decent closer, you are gonna win a lot of series, host a region and maybe even a Super. If you don't, you end up like Ole Miss and State this year.

That's a real over simplification of reality...the only thing Ole Miss had consistently was two good starters, a really good closer and one good power hitter...so your theory doesn't hold up. If all you have is two good starters and nothing else, your two good starters will end up looking average with good stuff. With last years offense and general experience and leadership on that roster (and Cliff Godwin), Christian Trent and Brady Bramlett would have both had no more than 1-2 losses...as it was Trent had 7 and Bramlett had 5. Both pitchers allowed 3 or less runs in regionals in 7+ inning and LOST. Trent was perfect into the 6th against TAMU and lost. Wyatt Short was just as good as you'd ever want any year, nothing else need be said, we just didn't get to him enough. Christian Trent was like 11-0 last year, dominated team in regionals, supers, and Omaha in his starts...he was that guy. He still is but he's pitching on a different team, and Bramlett had good Saturday SEC stuff but he was pitching with 3,4,5 run deficits all the time...they were those two good guys, but Ole miss is an example of how in 2015 two good starters at the front of every series, one good arm in the pen aren't enough...

I get your point, but you gotta have more to be a host team...cause you followed it with "end up like Ole Miss" and that just isn't true...what you laid out ,that's all Ole Miss had really consistent all year and they never got swept but didn't win a lot of series and obviously weren't a host caliber team...

[camlock]

The SEC is all most completely about weekend pitching. If you have two good starters and a decent closer, you are gonna win a lot of series, host a region and maybe even a Super. If you don't, you end up like Ole Miss and State this year.

As matter of fact, look at your own team...all proof you need SEC isn't all most completely about weekend pitching...no disrespect but I don't know what you're watching, I just don't get your point. Granted, dominating pitching can control games but that is at every level in every league. LSU is tops in the league just as much b/c of their unbelievable offense and big play defense...Lange is special...Poche and Bain are good, and lot of arm talent in that bullpen...but LSU doesn't have a closer and outside of Lange, neither other guys would have the season they've had if not propped up by the rest of that team, they are good but not special SEC starters...and same can be said all around the league.

[NUTMEG]

Comparing a young Ole Miss team (that still went to a regional) with a Ms State team that after starting 13-0 only won 11 games the rest of the season? Now that's comical!!!!!!

[big gumbo]

The SEC is all most completely about weekend pitching. If you have two good starters and a decent closer, you are gonna win a lot of series, host a region and maybe even a Super. If you don't, you end up like Ole Miss and State this year.

Example: Arkansas this year.

Placing them in Stoolwater as a 2 with the known stadium situation for a national seed at Springfield is an obvious set up. It played out. We had half the crowd at OSU and it was at worse a neutral site regional in the beginning and all Arkansas at the end.

[4dawgma]

[Deltamud77]

In 2013, UCLA went undefeated in their regional, super regional and the CWS. The beat MSU in two games in the championship round to win the CWS. They did it with dominant pitching and sacrifice hitting.

During the regular season:

The Bruins only sit 253rd in team batting average at .251, and it's not as if they're a team built with sluggers who can crush the ball. UCLA is 154th in team home runs.

Give me two solid starters against a team of hitters all day and I will win more series than I lose.

OM this past year was an outlier in my opinion. They had a good staff, but it was no means dominant - certainly not as compared to other SEC staffs. Orvis looked like Baba Ruth at times, and like Dr. Ruth at others. The rest of the line-up was serviceable but not special. That said, the pitching was not good enough to pull the offense along.

LSU has won many low scoring, close games this year...due to pitching and defense. Can they hit? Sure. Do they always hit? Nope. As a matter of fact, they rarely give Lange run support.

[camlock]

LSU has won many low scoring, close games this year...due to pitching and defense. Can they hit? Sure. Do they always hit? Nope. As a matter of fact, they rarely give Lange run support.[/quote]

The speed with which LSU plays offense and defense is THE reason they are what they are...Alex Lange is a big time arm, outside of that, LSU is probably be best team in the country, and would be regardless with Lange and with nearly any pitching staff in NCAA top 50. LSU has outscored it's opponents 429-215 this season. in 61 games they have only 9 of them were one run and only 21 total were less than 3 run margin. 24 of them they won by 5+

In 2015, with the evolution of the college game as it is, having two good arms is not enough. UCLA won b/c they had an entire pitching staff and an unstoppable small ball speed driven offense, they didn't just win the NC and beat MSU cause they had dominate front end pitching, they played a special brand of baseball from top to bottom and it fit perfectly that year in that tournament and field...specifically in TD Ameritrade and BBCOR still relatively new in the game.

I'm not at all debating the value of dominate front end pitching, I'm just saying that it's not all you need and I'm using the case point that Ole Miss had what you would've considered that level talent had they had another team around them; you just can't see that b/c of what happened around them. You take Christian Trent, Brady Bramlett, and Wyatt Short as two weekend starters and your closer...you put them inside your upper tier speed and offensive clubs and they are WAY better than they finished on a team full of youth and inexperience around them. That's my opinion, it's too subjective to just assume at this level of baseball two starters and a closer makes you a host team in contention for top 8.

[Greenhead22]

Comparing a young Ole Miss team (that still went to a regional AND shouldn't have) with a Ms State team that after starting 13-0 only won 11 games the rest of the season? Now that's comical!!!!!!

There I fixed it for ya.

[mossyisland]

Comparing a young Ole Miss team (that still went to a regional AND shouldn't have) with a Ms State team that after starting 13-0 only won 11 games the rest of the season? Now that's comical!!!!!!

There I fixed it for ya.

Why would you think a team that finished sixth in the conference, playing the #1 toughest schedule in the country, and finished with a RPI of 32 didn't deserve to be in?

Can't wait to hear this one.........