2023 Texas Baseball

[EZ$ 2104]

Is Luke Harrison hurt?  Noticed him on the roster, but haven’t seen him all year after it seemed Pierce really liked him last year. 
Also, any timeline on Witt?

[Hookem2147 21216]

4 minutes ago, EZ$ said:

Is Luke Harrison hurt?  Noticed him on the roster, but haven’t seen him all year after it seemed Pierce really liked him last year. 
Also, any timeline on Witt?

Tommy John for Harrison. Out for the year.

Witt said this past week he threw breaking balls off the mound for the first time which is normally a big step. Still sounds like a mid/late April return.

Edited March 19, 2023 by Hookem2147

[EZ$ 2104]

Gavin Kash hitting .448 with 7 homers and 34 RBI for Tech.  Keeping him and landing Skenes from the portal would’ve changed this season outlook completely. 
What was the story with Kash?  Why did he leave with 1B being wide open for him to step in and start this year. 

[ChiTownDoc 21152]

On 3/15/2023 at 9:52 AM, Hookem2147 said:

They couldn't care less about baseball at OU. They invest/care more about softball than they do baseball and basketball.

It’s true but personally I’ve always cared more about baseball than a lot of OU fans.  Great series win over the cockroaches to open conference play.  The fun starts now.  
 

The softball thing goes back way before OU won much of anything - the CWS has been there in OKC for ages and people hated seeing the west coast dominate every damn year.  

[Fletch 5800]

So is it time to give credit for DP coaching up players best seasons? Kacy in 2017, Kody and Hamilton in 2018, 2019 Hamilton would’ve taken the next step. Won’t count 2020. 2021 got the most of our Antico and set the stage for Melendez to have the season he did last year. Then Melendez has a historic year with a historic lineups and Stehly oh all people step up the most. Then Campbell comes in late 

This year Kennedy is going all Kacy, Powell is doing what Stehly did last year. Campbell is gonna be solid. GG and Porter are solid bats. Daly has been a pleasant surprise at the plate, O’Dowd is getting better and Thomas is getting better every at bat. I think we’re gonna be a solid offensive team come conference play 

[petscii 1189]

26 minutes ago, Fletch said:

So is it time to give credit for DP coaching up players best seasons? Kacy in 2017, Kody and Hamilton in 2018, 2019 Hamilton would’ve taken the next step. Won’t count 2020. 2021 got the most of our Antico and set the stage for Melendez to have the season he did last year. Then Melendez has a historic year with a historic lineups and Stehly oh all people step up the most. Then Campbell comes in late 

This year Kennedy is going all Kacy, Powell is doing what Stehly did last year. Campbell is gonna be solid. GG and Porter are solid bats. Daly has been a pleasant surprise at the plate, O’Dowd is getting better and Thomas is getting better every at bat. I think we’re gonna be a solid offensive team come conference play 

I like DP and think he is doing a great (yes) job.  Having said that this is the softest part of the schedule they have played since intrasquad games last fall.  Let's tap the brakes on the praise a bit and see how they are doing after TT-Aggie-OSU-AF.    

I think losing Witt and Nixon hurts more than Kash.  Having said that, if someone doesn't want to play here.  There is the door.

[Had Enough 2081]

Looks like Nixon has only pitched one game for MSU.

I’m not in a jinxing mood. But I think Pierce gets a lot of guys to reaching close to their potential but others tend to get relegated to the bench and/or limited opportunities for success.

He’s a good coach with some frustrating tendencies. Sometimes those tendencies do work out well. The question does somewhat remain as to how good he is. I think Tulo was helpful, but I don’t think it was all him. For example, EK is having a much better season than the past two. His hands are higher in his stance this year. No idea whose impact that is.

This season I feel he’s done better at keep more of the roster engaged. It remains to be seen whether that is an advantage come seasons end.

[Spaceman_Spiff 121]

I’m cautiously optimistic. I get something like a 2017 vibe, with better top-end hitting and more balanced (though maybe not front-line dominant) pitching. Powell unlocks a lot higher ceiling for this squad. This was a very easy stretch, so I don’t think we should be resetting expectations yet. But I think we’re solidly in-play for
top half of the Big 12, and if we pick up a 2/3 seed somewhere then Pierce teams are very dangerous in playoff play.

Lets let it ride.

[Hookem2147 21216]

I believe Nixon got hurt. Not sure the extent of the injury. Mississippi State isn't exactly covering themselves in glory right now. Have now lost 14 straight SEC games dating back to last year. If you think some Texas fans don't like Pierce, go look at what some of the Mississippi State fans are saying about Lemonis.

In regard to Pierce and managing this team, this roster is in a weird spot. We have a lot of 3rd and 4th year year players (O'Dowd, Daly, Powell, Hurley, LBJ, Guillemette, Sthele, Tole, Campbell (to an extent), Brown) who are taking on prominent roles for the first time in their careers, but at the same time they aren't young and we could be replacing a lot of them 3 months from now. I look at the pitching staff, and we could be replacing our entire weekend rotation next year depending on how things play out. Just an odd spot to be in because we had to backfill so much from last year.

I don't think the Big 12 is strong on the mound this year, which should help us because our weakness right now is probably more at the plate than on the mound. If we get through this stretch of 3 against Tech, midweek against A&M and 3 at OSU with a winning record that would be absolutely huge. Even 3-4 is probably a small step in the right direction when positioning ourselves for postseason play.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Hookem2147

[Hookem2147 21216]

[jimmyjazz 45903]

Just for comparison at this point in the season:

2023:  14-7

2022:  16-5

 

[torre 1285]

https://txstatebobcats.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS:TXST:BS23:BS21:&linkID=txstate&RSRC=SIDEARM&RDAT=sgl&_ga=&dataAccId=850&locale=en_US&siteId=ev_txstate

 

Tickets go on sale Tuesday, 9AM, 21 Mar, for the Texas St game in San Marcos on 10 April.   Always a sellout,  need to order Tuesday to be safe.

Though we play them at the Disch the following night,  San Marcos trip is good trip,  great venue, ballpark, Texas St does a great job of hosting.  

And always a great game.   Texas St is 13-6 this year.

 

 

[Hookem2147 21216]

1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

Just for comparison at this point in the season:

2023:  14-7

2022:  16-5

 

2022 team had wins over Tennessee, LSU, South Carolina, Bama (x3) and Texas State at this point in the year. Our best win right now RPI wise is Indiana (x2), who is likely to finish in the middle of the pack of the Big Ten.

I'm gonna take a guess and say this team needs at least 34-35 wins between the regular season and Big 12 tournament to not be a bubble team. We are at 14 wins right now. Midweek games left are Incarnate Word, A&M, Texas State (x2), Air Force, Abilene Christian, Texas Southern and UTA. Let's say we go 6-2 there, so that makes 20 wins. 1 more non-conference series later in the year against San Jose State, so let's make it 23 wins. That means we need to go .500 in Big 12 play (12-12). Last year's team went 14-10 (put admittedly had some wtf games like dropping 2 of 3 in Manhattan and getting swept by Oklahoma State) .

Edited March 20, 2023 by Hookem2147

[jimmyjazz 45903]

8 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

2022 team had wins over Tennessee, LSU, South Carolina, Bama (x3) and Texas State at this point in the year.

They also lost to Texas State, went 1-2 against South Carolina, and lost to Charleston.  I'm not saying the schedules are equal, I'm saying the sky might not be falling just yet.

[Hookem2147 21216]

8 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

They also lost to Texas State, went 1-2 against South Carolina, and lost to Charleston.  I'm not saying the schedules are equal, I'm saying the sky might not be falling just yet.

I don't think the sky was ever falling, but 14-7 with this schedule is not close to 16-5 with last year's schedule. We had 19 Q1 wins last year and have yet to pick up a Q1 win this year through 21 games.

We (correctly) structured the schedule to get this team some confidence before conference play. Was just pointing out that because of it we can't afford many of the slip-ups the rest of the way that last year's team could afford.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Hookem2147

[jimmyjazz 45903]

1 minute ago, Hookem2147 said:

I don't think the sky was ever falling, but 14-7 with this schedule is not close to 16-5 with last year's schedule. We had 19 Q1 wins last year and have yet to pick up a Q1 win this year through 21 games.

I don't have it handy -- how many of those Q1 wins last year occurred before conference play?

[Hookem2147 21216]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

I don't have it handy -- how many of those Q1 wins last year occurred before conference play?

6 it looks like- Tennessee, LSU, Bama (x3), Texas State

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

7 hours ago, torre said:

https://txstatebobcats.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS:TXST:BS23:BS21:&linkID=txstate&RSRC=SIDEARM&RDAT=sgl&_ga=&dataAccId=850&locale=en_US&siteId=ev_txstate

 

Tickets go on sale Tuesday, 9AM, 21 Mar, for the Texas St game in San Marcos on 10 April.   Always a sellout, need to order Tuesday to be safe.

 

 

 

Pretty much. I would order early Tuesday if you are really planning on going. SRO starts around 2100 people and they WILL BE lining the fences. 

I took my niece ( who was a student at TxSt then) to probably the last time it wasn't a sellout (Kacy's sophomore yr maybe?) I just remember it being pretty damn cold and we staked them to a big lead, but then in the ninth (can't remember who) hit a home run (slam maybe?) to win the game. 

And if you do go, those guys love talking shit ( as others do, they seem to stake their whole season on winning this one, now two midweek games), so be prepared. Roger had the caboose rented that year and the damn frat boys didn't let up on him the whole game. They also turned on some other players parents that were there in the stands,  which was really classless. To State's credit, a couple of the more foul mouth were thrown out of the ballpark.

Edited March 21, 2023 by BillyGoatHill

[Fletch 5800]

So who’s pitching tonight? Whitehead? Hurley? Duplantier?

[zlavydra 2120]

35 minutes ago, Fletch said:

So who’s pitching tonight? Whitehead? Hurley? Duplantier?

Hurley. I would imagine next week against Aggy as well, then he'll be a weekend weapon.

[Fletch 5800]

2 minutes ago, zlavydra said:

Hurley. I would imagine next week against Aggy as well, then he'll be a weekend weapon.

Actually yeah that makes perfect sense 

[Hookem2147 21216]

Latest Baseball America Top 300 MLB Draft Prospects

26 RHP Travis Sykora (Signee)
29 RHP Tanner Witt
58 OF Will Gasparino (Signee)
226 LHP Lucas Gordon
238 RHP Lebarron Johnson, Jr
274 INF Casey Borba (Signee)

[Hookem2147 21216]

I'm surprised that Dylan Campbell isn't a top 300 draft prospect in the country. Maybe he's getting dinged for his size, but he can hit for power and run, and those tools combined usually have the attention of MLB teams.

[Valmy77 13226]

Sounds like we need to pass the hat for NIL money for Sykora and Gasparino.

[Hookem2147 21216]

41 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Sounds like we need to pass the hat for NIL money for Sykora and Gasparino.

I know Gasparino and Borba are California kids, and I think Borba's dad works in the Dodgers front office so that one might also be an uphill battle. Might be better served using NIL money to retain some of the draft eligible players on the current team.

I guess never say never, but Sykora making it on campus would be one of the more shocking things I've ever seen in college baseball.

[BERT 4358]

55 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

I know Gasparino and Borba are California kids, and I think Borba's dad works in the Dodgers front office so that one might also be an uphill battle. Might be better served using NIL money to retain some of the draft eligible players on the current team.

I guess never say never, but Sykora making it on campus would be one of the more shocking things I've ever seen in college baseball.

Hey, Jungman made it to campus.

 

Speaking of pitchers, did i hear that Dressendorfer (god damn spelling) is getting his number retired this weekend?

[torre 1285]

3 hours ago, BERT said:

 

 

Speaking of pitchers, did i hear that Dressendorfer (god damn spelling) is getting his number retired this weekend?

https://texassports.com/news/2023/2/21/baseball-to-retire-dressendorfers-jersey-number.aspx

Saturday.    Link above for those maybe not familiar with Dressendorfer.

 

Other news:

 

Brandon Beckel, key middle reliever for Tech, suspended for 4 games.    Don't know,  apparently for over celebrating, maybe taunting,  key was he was warned.  Strict punishment. 

 

The junior righthander from San Antonio Antonian was ejected after he struck out Cowboys right fielder Carson Benge to end the top of the sixth inning.

Big 12 spokesman David Waxman said Wednesday in an email to the Avalanche-Journal that Beckel was ejected under a portion of the NCAA baseball rulebook that covers unsportsmanlike conduct.

"Per NCAA Baseball Playing Rule 2-26-e, an ejection of a pitcher carries a four game suspension," Waxman wrote. "This is not a suspension handed down by the Big 12 Conference, but by NCAA rule. It is not able to be appealed by any entity, including Beckel, Texas Tech and the Big 12 Conference."

Beckel is 3-0 with a 0.64 earned-run average this season covering seven appearances, all in relief. In 14 innings, he's struck out 19 batters, walked six and allowed nine hits. He's holding opponents to a .164 batting average.

The suspension makes Beckel unavailable for No. 14 Tech's three-game series Friday, Saturday and Sunday against Texas in Austin, as well as a Tuesday game at New Mexico.

Tech coach Tim Tadlock initially declined to answer questions about the incident after the game.

"I'll say this: Baseball, college baseball's supposed to be played with some emotion," Tadlock said. "And big-league baseball, when it's played with it, is really fun to watch. And so, kid played with a little emotion.

"The unfortunate part was, there was a warning earlier in the game, and it was at a much milder time in the game, quite honestly."

 

 

Home Plate: Doug Williams   First: Luke Hamilton   Second Base: Mike Morris   Third Base: Joe Harris  

Not positive,  pretty sure Doug Williams is an aggy.   Read an article that he lives in the College Station area.

 

https://www.lubbockonline.com/story/sports/college/2023/03/22/beckel-to-serve-4-game-suspension-for-ejection-from-tech-osu-game/70038715007/

 

 

[TornACL 7698]

That's a shame.

[Cairn Horn88 8262]

What happened to our relief pitching last night?

 

Incarnate Word	1	0	0	0	3	3	0	2	2	11	13	3
Winner Texas	4	1	1	4	1	6	0	0	X	17	15	1

 

[Hookem2147 21216]

Couldn’t throw strikes. Conditions were awful and guys seemed to be slipping on the mound a lot, but guys like Ace Whitehead proved they are not reliable options as we head into conference play.

[BERT 4358]

1 hour ago, Hookem2147 said:

Couldn’t throw strikes. Conditions were awful and guys seemed to be slipping on the mound a lot, but guys like Ace Whitehead proved they are not reliable options as we head into conference play.

If conditions were awful then how did he prove that? 

[Hookem2147 21216]

4 minutes ago, BERT said:

If conditions were awful then how did he prove that? 

Second straight outing he’s been bad against bad competition. Found too much of the plate against North Dakota State and then couldn’t find the plate at all yesterday. 

Him and Chris Stuart are a distant second in the left handed reliever pecking order behind David Shaw. Bullpen circle of trust is about to get a lot smaller now that we are done playing Manhattan and New Orleans on the weekends.

[BERT 4358]

54 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Second straight outing he’s been bad against bad competition. Found too much of the plate against North Dakota State and then couldn’t find the plate at all yesterday. 

Him and Chris Stuart are a distant second in the left handed reliever pecking order behind David Shaw. Bullpen circle of trust is about to get a lot smaller now that we are done playing Manhattan and New Orleans on the weekends.

I’ll accept that answer 

[torre 1285]

Props to Pierce for candid insight on everything.    Kash situation is addressed at 13:00 mark.   Appears to be a question of scholarship money, maybe accept less ?  Quites all the rumors.  "Gavin Kash was outstanding when he was here.  He fit in well."     Also, nice player interviews.   (Lengthy but worth the listen)

 

 

[Hookem2147 21216]

1 hour ago, torre said:

Props to Pierce for candid insight on everything.    Kash situation is addressed at 13:00 mark.   Appears to be a question of scholarship money, maybe accept less ?  Quites all the rumors.  "Gavin Kash was outstanding when he was here.  He fit in well."     Also, nice player interviews.   (Lengthy but worth the listen)

 

 

That is nice that he addressed it head on. It does seem to confirm that there was a disconnect between what Kash wanted and what the coaching staff was willing to do. If he walked in after the season and wanted his scholarship money increased and/or the first base job guaranteed to him, then I could see how that could cause some issues. This past offseason was really bad in college baseball because where in the calendar the MLB draft was scheduled. This upcoming offseason should be better because the portal closes after the MLB draft.

I also wouldn't expect Pierce to publicly say he wasn't a hard worker or didn't fit in well. There seems to be enough breadcrumbs laid out to where if he was such a great fit and hard worker, then they wouldn't have found themselves in the situation that happened.

Edited March 23, 2023 by Hookem2147

[Cairn Horn88 8262]

No way!

 

[Valmy77 13226]

Wish the basketball team had gotten the early game tomorrow. Now we get the fun of watching the baseball team play its biggest game of the season so far while the basketball team is playing in the Sweet 16.

I hope that doesn't hurt the crowd too much tomorrow night.

[NorthLoop 14194]

11 hours ago, Valmy77 said:

Wish the basketball team had gotten the early game tomorrow. Now we get the fun of watching the baseball team play its biggest game of the season so far while the basketball team is playing in the Sweet 16.

I hope that doesn't hurt the crowd too much tomorrow night.

To be fair, we could be Tech and not have that problem at all.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21901]

Yes, It's a nice problem to have.  I'll watch the baseball game until the basketball game starts and then switch to the radio and watch basketball on mute.

[YGIFS 19450]

3 hours ago, NorthLoop said:

To be fair, we could be Tech and not have that problem at all.

It'll be a logistical challenge but the game will be far enough along by the time we tip off with Xaiver at 9:00p-CDT.  What will stink though is we're gonna very likely be the 1:00p game on Sunday in Elite 8 against 2:30p in baseball.  And the series with Red Raiders will be on the line with a sparse crowd.  

[txduck87 985]

Is 2 out of 3 too much for this weekend? Let’s get this conference season started on the right foot. Hook em.

[NorthLoop 14194]

F Herpes

F Gonorrhea

F AIDS

F Tech

. 

[Had Enough 2081]

Is 2 out of 3 too much for this weekend? Let’s get this conference season started on the right foot. Hook em.

Think bigger.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21901]

 Could use another K here

[Fletch 5800]

Huge win. Playing a bunch of shithooks may have paid off. Got our confidence up and was able to tinker with the lineup and pitching roles and boom. We take it to tech Friday night. This looked like a conference title team tonight 

[Had Enough 2081]

Huge win. Playing a bunch of shithooks may have paid off. Got our confidence up and was able to tinker with the lineup and pitching roles and boom. We take it to tech Friday night. This looked like a conference title team tonight 

Don’t want to get too excited too soon, but it looks like we’ve got some baseball players on our team. I’m pretty intrigued by the bats.

[Valmy77 13226]

12 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

Don’t want to get too excited too soon, but it looks like we’ve got some baseball players on our team. I’m pretty intrigued by the bats.

The bottom of the line up is still pretty soft but we definitely found some guys who can rake during that easy part of the schedule.

[Fletch 5800]

33 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

The bottom of the line up is still pretty soft but we definitely found some guys who can rake during that easy part of the schedule.

I feel like Thomas in the 9hole would help alot. Take some pressure off him and let just keep improving. He's gonna be a bitch of a hitter down the line

[Had Enough 2081]

We only struck out twice. Lots of very good bunts. Only 7 hits, but there were a number of very well hit balls. Unfortunately a couple were right at the defender and a couple would have driven in runs.

I’d drop Thomas to 9. He does not strike out a ton and has good discipline, but he’s not real productive. The last week or so he’s made very solid contact several times so maybe he’s heading for a breakthrough.

Belyeu just hasn’t had enough ABs. Odd that he got the start last night when he didn’t versus the last righty that started against us. Looks like he has good patience and is willing to go the opposite way. More physically developed than the other frosh.

They do not appear overmatched or the moments too big. It’d be nice to get it together this year, but we’ll see.

[Hookem2147 21216]

Wanna know a crazy stat? We have more homers through 23 games this year than we did through 23 games last year.