chase25

Miami is good, we can definitely win this regional but Miami can play. Hit .300 as a team with 111 HRs

Auburn hosting a regional is just sad

34 walks in 82.1 innings isn’t bad if you are coupling it with 104 strikeouts

I really don’t understand Auburn hosting, way too much recency bias from all of these sites projecting.

Right now the bullpen is David Shaw and then… Ace Whitehead? Heston Tole, who has an injury that we don’t know the extent of. Charlie Hurley who’s had command issues. One thing all these guys have in common is they have yet to pitch in a big time environment. The only guys in the bullpen that have pitched in an NCAA tournament game are Zane Morehouse, Travis Sthele, and Andre Duplantier. Everybody has their own opinion, but if I had to chose one of those 3 to get me 3 outs in the 9th, it’s probably Andre Duplantier and I don’t say that confidently. I agree it’s much easier to absorb a bad start. Which is why I would throw Sthele, Lummus, or Hurley as that 3rd or 4th starter. I don’t think Witt having to get warm in the bullpen puts him at anymore risk than him constantly having to get loose every inning. I believe his highest pitch count out of his 4 starts this year is 44. I know they have him on a gradual plan to increase that but I honestly think both him and the team would benefit from him coming out of the pen. He can come in the game going balls to the wall for 15-25 pitches rather than starting and trying to save something in an effort to try and throw however many pitches Pierce and company are willing to let him throw. He looked like he found his Curveball against West Virginia. Given that the deficiencies of this pitching staff reside in the bullpen, I’d much rather have Witt giving 15-25 max effort pitches out of the pen than being a 3rd starter (something no program has outside of maybe Wake Forest who has the best ERA in the country by .73, which is absurd to be almost a full run better than the rest of the country) It may blow up and not work but I’ve watched Morehouse and Sthele blow up enough times out of the pen to know that isn’t working either.

Don’t think Pierce will do it but this team would greatly benefit by moving Witt to the bullpen. Having someone who has delivered in big time pressure situations that you can call upon late in games is much more beneficial than a 3rd starter.

Let Zane Morehouse wear this game because its over, just let him rot out there

Try him at 2B then because Daly and O'Dowd can't be in the lineup every night

Jayden also needs to get a Tuesday night start at SS, him, Galvan, and Carlson should be the only ones getting DH opportunities as well with JD getting most of them. Flores just isn’t ready yet. May be time for another lineup shuffle as well with Peyton Powell hitting .226 in 13 conference games.

Pretty routine on Surly. This team has a fairly high ceiling and a fairly low floor, and you see it from game to game. When you look at how much this program lost to the draft last year, basically losing Tanner Witt for two seasons, and then losing Luke Harrison in the offseason, it’s pretty impressive for this group to have come together like they have. This team’s postseason fate rests on the arm of Witt, if he comes back and looks like his old self it takes a lot of the pressure off everybody else. A 2018 run is likely best case scenario for this team which would be a good season, difference between this team and 2018 though is this one has the arms to take down a good team when they are on.

The Big 12 is not good at all this year. Likely only one team from the big 12 will get a host bid and it will be whoever wins the conference. I think 39-17/40-16 is what it would take with how bad the big 12 is. Kansas State is currently in sole possession of 2nd place and TCU just lost a home series to UNC Wilmington…

Yeah this weekend was pretty bizarre. There are guys on this staff with command issues but coming into this series Texas was right around Top 50 in walks allowed in college baseball as a pitching staff and it seemingly sent like everyone but Gordon and Tole went out there with the yips

Yeah yesterday was pathetic and that is putting it lightly. Losing today would have been the train coming off the rails. Having 2019 TCU series flashbacks

There is no closer but Pierce doesn’t know that. The closest thing we have to a shut down arm is David Shaw and we decided to save him for a rubber match tomorrow I guess

Atleast we saved David Dhaw for tomorrow? Pierce just zoned out and looks lost at times

This is on nobody but David Pierce

That should be a shutdown for the rest of the season and hit the transfer portal game for Sam Walbridge.

Good news on Shaw because he has easily been the best arm out of the pen

Has there been any specific update on Witt and Shaw as to when they would be back?

Travis throws a sinker/changeup and has an average slider that he throws in occasionally. He has two good starts this year, Indiana and New Orleans. Charlie has a slider/curveball to go with the sinker. Which is a big reason why he’s given up 26 hits in 37 innings to Sthele’s 42 hits in 36.2 innings. Sthele is Tristan Stevens and it works over the course of a season but it’s not going to cut it once you get into the tournament. At this point I wouldn’t say Texas has a reliable 2nd starter or even 3rd starter but most programs don’t have a 3rd and given what they’ve shown coupled with the pitch repertoire, I’d lean LBJ and Hurly as opposed to the current Sthele and revolving door on Sunday. Ty Madden had similar issues as LBJ in 2019 and sometimes you just have to give the kid the ball and show him you have confidence in him as opposed to one week he’s starting on Sunday. Then the next he’s throwing 2 innings of relief on Friday and 2 innings of relief on Sunday.

He performs better as a starter as opposed to coming out of the pen. As a starter you can settle in and work through some bumps, no room for error when you are coming out of the bullpen. Swing and miss stuff is what plays when you get deep into the tournament and play better competition and that’s what LBJ has. I don’t think anyone has confidence in Sthele to go out and mow down an LSU, South Carolina, etc… It’s why a guy like Witt had to bail out Stevens against Tennessee in 2021. If you are banking on a sinker baller that pitches to contact to go out and beat a good lineup, that is not likely going to end well once you get deeper into the tournament. Just my opinion though, not saying I have supreme confidence in LBJ to do it consistently, but he can is my point and some guys need the structure of knowing when they are going to pitch and the routine of that.

Tanner Witt is the wild card that could change the ceiling for this team. If he is able to come back and give you an inning every other night at the level he pitched at before he got hurt, the staff will start to take shape. Going into the Big 12 tournament, I would personally like to see a rotation of Gordon, LBJ, Hurly. Back end of the bullpen consisting of Witt, Shaw, Burke, and Morehouse. Tole/Sthele can be inning eaters and then hopefully one if not both of Lummus/Stuart can get to where they are valuable lefties out of the pen

Would like to see someone like Chase Lummus get the ball tonight. We know what Duplantier is and it’s Kameron Fields 2.0

Chris Stuart has a Jake Diekman like delivery where his fastball just explodes. Everything is there to be nasty out of the bullpen. Just has to work on the command. 13 walks in 13 innings ain't going to cut it, 16 Ks and a .188 avg against will though.

Put that score up all across the baseball facility and get to work.