2024 Season

MWBATL

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,119
Trivial early season trivia... the 3 conference teams Ga Tech "avoids" this regular season are a combined 3-12 right now in ACC play. Schedulers screwed us again. Did I do that right?

WF 2-4
LOU 1-2
ND 0-6
Well, maybe it'll help our RPI (or whatever).

Look on the Bright Side of Life.....
 

FredJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,994
Location
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Massey does his own ratings and compiles "composite" information using others out there. It looks like he does weekly updates. He'll add to the composite list as those come out over a week.

Full Composite list

Ga Tech's trend...
 

FredJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,994
Location
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Doesn't cost a lot to be optimistic. I'll 'try' :)

The Jackets have improved in pitching and defense. Is it enough to matter... maybe. We'll see. Offense is still very good... although, I'd argue not as consistent or as potent as in recent years. NET ... I think the team shows signs they can get to the post-season. Need to keep grinding, keep executing, avoid any significant injuries, and figure out the things that have been problems... namely timely/situational hitting at key times in games.

At 16-7, worth noting that 5 of the 7 loses have been against UNC and UGA (all 5 of these losses are away from home). RPI is improving... up 20 spots to mid-50s after losing 2.1 games in Chapel Hill. :)

UNC and UGA are 42-8 combined (both 21-4). They are both on track... still early... to be national (top 8) seeds. [I'm not predicting that]

Obviously, I am aware of the the pessimistic angle on all this. ...but if you told me after the NE game, we'd be 3-3 in the ACC right now, I would have taken that. There are 24 ACC games left and based on what's happened across the conference so far this season... ANYTHING can happen. There have been some whacky results.
 

gtbeak

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
236
Doesn't cost a lot to be optimistic. I'll 'try' :)

The Jackets have improved in pitching and defense. Is it enough to matter... maybe. We'll see. Offense is still very good... although, I'd argue not as consistent or as potent as in recent years. NET ... I think the team shows signs they can get to the post-season. Need to keep grinding, keep executing, avoid any significant injuries, and figure out the things that have been problems... namely timely/situational hitting at key times in games.

At 16-7, worth noting that 5 of the 7 loses have been against UNC and UGA (all 5 of these losses are away from home). RPI is improving... up 20 spots to mid-50s after losing 2.1 games in Chapel Hill. :)

UNC and UGA are 42-8 combined (both 21-4). They are both on track... still early... to be national (top 8) seeds. [I'm not predicting that]

Obviously, I am aware of the the pessimistic angle on all this. ...but if you told me after the NE game, we'd be 3-3 in the ACC right now, I would have taken that. There are 24 ACC games left and based on what's happened across the conference so far this season... ANYTHING can happen. There have been some whacky results.
I would argue we have already had a significant injury with Giesler being out for 4 weeks now. Getting his bat back in the lineup would be a big help, and the question of where he plays would be a nice problem to have. As it stands, the only consistently good bats have been the two freshmen, with Jones and Yunger also hitting pretty well albeit at a slightly lower level than Burress and Kerce. We need to have at least two from the group of Green, Ellis Zmarzlak, and Giesler hitting, as when they are not we don't have a deep lineup. This weekend Green was 0 for 14, Ellis was 2 for 12 with no XBH, and Zmarzlak was 2 for 9. Giesler, of course, didn't play. Overall, I agree that the offense is still above average but not as consistent or potent as last season.

I agree that defense is much improved. I'm not as convinced the pitching is improved. There have been flashes, but way too much inconsistency. Hopefully yesterday was just one of those days from McGuire. We need to get Finateri going again, he has not been real good in the two ACC starts. The pitching has been better mid-week (thanks Carson Ballard!!!), so that helps the overall stats. But in ACC play (and also the UGa series), the numbers are a little bit worse for ERA and walks compared to last year. I will grant you that we have played three tough teams in those three series, and that certainly should be expected to skew the numbers. I should also note that, so far, across the conference scoring is up quite a bit in ACC games, so that should also be considered. Although doing that makes our offensive numbers look even a little bit worse than stated above. I'll go with the pitching is SLIGHTLY improved over last season.
 
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gtbeak

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
236
Looks like today's game has been postponed. With the Boston College series being scheduled for Thursday - Saturday to accomodate Easter Sunday, the game can't simply be pushed back a day. I'm guessing it will likely be canceled as finding an open date to re-schedule will be difficult.

I wonder if this will allow Carson Ballard to be considered for his first ACC appearance this weekend.

 
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