Real deal

[mbil]

Pre season was almost perfect with only one loss to the College of Charleston, and it was only by one run. Now its time for the real deal, conference play. Good luck boys!

 

[crimsonkelly]

Point made. These games we have been playing really are nothing more that glorified scrimmage games. Vanderbilt will be by far the best opponent we will have played. This weekend will go a long way in telling us how well this team is really going to play this year. I personally think we will be just fine. They aren't 14-1 because they are average or even decent. 14-1 is pretty stout, but there are a lot of teams out there that are pretty stout at the moment.

1. Virginia 12-3
2. Texas 13-3
3. Georgia Tech 13-1
4. Texas Christian 12-2
5. Florida State 13-2
6. Florida 11-3
7. Louisiana State 13-2
8. Coastal Carolina 15-2
9. Louisville 14-1
10. Arizona State 15-0
11. Clemson 13-1
12. UCLA 13-0
13. Arkansas 12-3
14. Rice 10-7
15. UC Irvine 9-6
16. South Carolina 11-4
17. Miami 10-4
18. Oregon State 10-3
19. Vanderbilt 14-1
20. East Carolina 8-6
21. Mississippi 12-4
22. Kentucky 13-2
23. Stanford 7-4
24. North Carolina 12-4
25. Oklahoma 15-2

Not sure how Rice, UC Irvine, or even Stanford for that fact are ranked. Granted Stanford swept Rice, but got swept by Texas. Rice has played no one really other than Stanford, and UC Irvine other than Oregon St and Arizona St (both lopsided loses) hasn't really played anyone yet either.

Bottom line is teams are ranked now based on name and history, not really what they have done so far this season. That will change over the next 3 weeks or so.

 

[bamamick]

It is just so hard to tell the character of a team until they get into conference play. CoC and Minnesota were supposed to be tough tests, and even though Charleston is 14-5 right now their wins have come against a weak schedule and they lost a series (badly) to Samford. Minnesota is way off the mark this year, and in both of these series our bats didn't exactly burn the house down.

Our starting pitching has been very good. Even surprisingly good. White and Kilcrease have been very effective, and some of these young guys can throw. Our defense should be fine. We have little power but we knew that coming in. Smith and Smelley haven't been on their games, but they will get better, and most of the other guys have done well.

I predicted a regional and not much more for this season. Maybe we will be a really good team. We will just have to see how these guys respond this weekend.

jmo rtr

 

[crimsonkelly]

It is just so hard to tell the character of a team until they get into conference play. CoC and Minnesota were supposed to be tough tests, and even though Charleston is 14-5 right now their wins have come against a weak schedule and they lost a series (badly) to Samford. Minnesota is way off the mark this year, and in both of these series our bats didn't exactly burn the house down.

Our starting pitching has been very good. Even surprisingly good. White and Kilcrease have been very effective, and some of these young guys can throw. Our defense should be fine. We have little power but we knew that coming in. Smith and Smelley haven't been on their games, but they will get better, and most of the other guys have done well.

I predicted a regional and not much more for this season. Maybe we will be a really good team. We will just have to see how these guys respond this weekend.

jmo rtr

I agree with the above, granted we haven't played someone that can actually hit other than CoC and they are inflated due to smaller park, so we are at best right now an unknown quantity. After Vanderbilt, we will know a lot more about our team.

 

[crimsonkelly]

granted another thing about Vanderbilt is they usually give us fits, soooo......

 

[bamzoo]

granted another thing about Vanderbilt is they usually give us fits, soooo......

This is a really, really good baseball team. Have a lot of confidence, this will be another good weekend. We took care of Vanderbilt just fine on the road last year and they had superior pitching in 09 imo. Sonny Gray throws hard but we tagged him for 4 or 5 runs last year, and I dont see tomorrow night being any different. This will be a big weekend for the tide, and I see a possible sweep.