Midweek v Georgia State

[DecaturJacket]

Back when I was still playing on the travel ball circuit, not even a decade ago, ninth inning was a pretty solid program. I wouldn't consider them one of the top-tier elite ones, but they were one that would typically have college level guys going to lower level schools.

Looks like they've had a couple solid guys come through. The only Tech names I recognize are Baron Radcliff and Andy Archer. Mostly smaller school guys.

Alumni - Ninth Inning

NINTH INNING’S COLLEGE COMMITMENTS Harrison Aiken University of Mount Olive Eli Allen Spalding University Shota Barbeau Dominican College Jaret Barr Covenant Jack Bartlewski Oglethorpe University Mason Bernard Chattahoochee Valley CC […]

www.ninthinningbaseball.com

 

[Vespidie]

Good info @DecaturJacket . This whole discussion has been a learning experience for me on how pitchers are recruited and the crap shoot it is as to whether they will pan out…or not.

This particular thread topic has turned into a small business Google review where one only sees the negative reviews and ignores the other 95 % positive reviews due to negative Nancyism
The sky has fallen on those cats due to the overcast conditions. I suggest that the Nancy's get outside and get some of that natural vitamin D, and get off the Trintellix, Rexulti and/or Vraylar so youze can turn that frown upside down.

 

[DecaturJacket]

This particular thread topic has turned into a small business Google review where one only sees the negative reviews and ignores the other 95 % positive reviews due to negative Nancyism
The sky has fallen on those cats due to the overcast conditions. I suggest that the Nancy's get outside and get some of that natural vitamin D, and get off the Trintellix, Rexulti and/or Vraylar so youze can turn that frown upside down.

It's all good. It's been a long stretch of the negatives killing us, so it's natural to jump on a negative. I still think the best is to be seen and we're right where we want to be with who we need to have this season. But I'm an optimist.

 

[senoiajacket]

Sometimes Ga State pitchers just have our number. 5 years ago.
Ga State 10
Tech 1

View attachment 20976

I remember that game and remember thinking HOW is that guy (Patel)doing that to us?!?!?!!

Also, looking at our line with 13 walks is like reliving a nightmare. So glad we seem beyond that!

 

[JacketFan27]

Again, rankings aren't everything, but since you brought it up, here's the rankings of the 5 pitchers we signed this class followed by Lewis:

• Willcox (throws 95+)
  • National: 73rd overall, 14th RHP
  • State (Florida): 5th overall, 2nd RHP
• Underwood (throws low 90s)
  • National: 118th overall, 13th LHP
  • State (Georgia): 7th overall, 1st LHP
• Raymond (throws 95+)
  • National: 180th overall, 46th RHP
  • State (Connecticut): 2nd overall, 1st RHP
• Vicens (throws mid 90s)
  • National: 201st overall, 53 RHP
  • State (Georgia): 14th overall, 3rd RHP
• Hall (throws low 90s)
  • National: 230th overall, 61st RHP
  • State (Georgia): 17th overall, 4 RHP
• Lewis (throws 95+)
  • National: 461st overall, 53rd LHP
  • State (Georgia): 36th overall, 4th LHP

FWIW, MOST of the guys we sign are honor roll students and 3 of the 5 pitchers (ranked well ahead of him) are also from metro Atlanta. It sucks we lost two of these guys to the draft, but it wasn't the two we thought we'd lose. Recruiting pitchers is tricky because you never know who you'll lose. Would we love have replaced Raymond or Lewis with Lewis knowing that they signed pro contracts? Of course. Hindsight is 20/20 though. We literally had the best pitcher recruiting class we've had in probably 20 years. I think our recruiting is doing just fine, but you're welcome to put in your application.

Great Info - also, a bit more perspective here. This kid (Cooper Lewis) or any kid that has 97mph next to his name as his "Top Velo" on the Perfect Game rating site......that kid (when he lives in Atlanta and plays for a pretty good/above average travel team like 9th Inning), he got looked at by EVERY SEC and ACC team. Every single one saw him throw repeatedly at East Cobb and at Lakepointe tournaments the past few years. None of them bit on him. So it's not like Ga Tech was the only one who "missed".

So everyone knew he had arm talent, but he was always a bit wild. I have a Perfect Game account, so I can look stuff up. The summer going into his junior year, across a lot of travel ball innings, he had 43 walks to 38 K's. He threw 49% strikes. Not great. Wild. Was probably low 90's that summer. The next summer - going into his senior year - he got up to 97 on the gun (elite), but still had 18 walks and 28 K's and threw 52.9% strikes (so improving, but still, sort of poor control). Generally, pitchers going to big time schools are throwing better than that. Vicens for example, last summer, had 48 K's to 12 walks, threw strikes 60.5% of the time. I'm sure that profile is similar to Underwood and Wilcox, etc.
So my "educated guess" here is that Lewis was a classic Nuke LaLoosh prospect. Everyone knew he had the heater, but a bit too wild, mechanics not classic.......so likely everyone thought, "man, if this kid improves his control, he'll really be something", but Georgia, Auburn, Clemson, Ga Tech, Coastal, Alabama......they all watched him pitch, but just barely passed on him. No one took the educated risk on signing him. So maybe they were all wrong.

Against Tech the other day, he threw 47 pitches and 24 were strikes (so a 51% strike ratio), he K'd 4 and walked 3 (and got a couple of huge K's on full counts). He looked really good, but in the second inning he pitched, he loaded up the bases with walks.....but then with 2 down and bases juiced, he got a huge K on a full count to end the inning, Awesome stuff. But throws 1 more ball there, it's a different story. But that's why we love baseball. Gameof inches and all. I wish the kid well, and hopefully he keeps improving his control, stays healthy, and next year, we get him over to the Flats like Patel before him. Go Jackets!

 

[Techcaster572]

I took a break to continue to grow my business but here are some thoughts on Tuesday's loss vs GSU

Losses like that happen.

Nothing too concerning; however, I do see this weekend important for CJR to motivate the boys regarding the upcoming series vs NW along with rematch against State next Tuesday. It simply looks better to the committee to at least go 1-1 against an instate mid major team vs going 0-2.

I'll be at all the games this weekend and plan to attend Coolray field for the rematch vs GSU.

#1 Ucla
#2 LSU
#6 Arkansas
#11 Dwags

All lost midweek games to mid major teams.

State treated Tuesday night like it was their CWS. I could see State getting a tourney bid. Unfortunately, it just seemed like our guys wanted to get out of the cold.

They threw two of their best arms at us.
Cold seemed to really affect the bats.

I said it last year and I'll say it again. The team just is more explosive with # 10 in the lineup.

Agree with Decatur as Baker may be best suited for the DH position

You can see what CJR is trying to accomplish. Using these early midweek games to see exactly what he's got and why Tuesday's result didn't bother all that much.

Like what Blakely did. Getting in and out of trouble isn't easy in college baseball.

Saw the weekend rotation was announced with Tate, Loy, and Underwood for the series against Northwestern.

I like that rotation as I just truly believe Mason is better suited for the pen with the starting options we have this year.

All in all. Get back on track vs NW this weekend and go get after State next Tuesday.

Go Jackets! See you guys at the Rusty C this weekend.

 

[4shotB]

Great Info - also, a bit more perspective here. This kid (Cooper Lewis) or any kid that has 97mph next to his name as his "Top Velo" on the Perfect Game rating site......that kid (when he lives in Atlanta and plays for a pretty good/above average travel team like 9th Inning), he got looked at by EVERY SEC and ACC team. Every single one saw him throw repeatedly at East Cobb and at Lakepointe tournaments the past few years. None of them bit on him. So it's not like Ga Tech was the only one who "missed".

So everyone knew he had arm talent, but he was always a bit wild. I have a Perfect Game account, so I can look stuff up. The summer going into his junior year, across a lot of travel ball innings, he had 43 walks to 38 K's. He threw 49% strikes. Not great. Wild. Was probably low 90's that summer. The next summer - going into his senior year - he got up to 97 on the gun (elite), but still had 18 walks and 28 K's and threw 52.9% strikes (so improving, but still, sort of poor control). Generally, pitchers going to big time schools are throwing better than that. Vicens for example, last summer, had 48 K's to 12 walks, threw strikes 60.5% of the time. I'm sure that profile is similar to Underwood and Wilcox, etc.
So my "educated guess" here is that Lewis was a classic Nuke LaLoosh prospect. Everyone knew he had the heater, but a bit too wild, mechanics not classic.......so likely everyone thought, "man, if this kid improves his control, he'll really be something", but Georgia, Auburn, Clemson, Ga Tech, Coastal, Alabama......they all watched him pitch, but just barely passed on him. No one took the educated risk on signing him. So maybe they were all wrong.

Against Tech the other day, he threw 47 pitches and 24 were strikes (so a 51% strike ratio), he K'd 4 and walked 3 (and got a couple of huge K's on full counts). He looked really good, but in the second inning he pitched, he loaded up the bases with walks.....but then with 2 down and bases juiced, he got a huge K on a full count to end the inning, Awesome stuff. But throws 1 more ball there, it's a different story. But that's why we love baseball. Gameof inches and all. I wish the kid well, and hopefully he keeps improving his control, stays healthy, and next year, we get him over to the Flats like Patel before him. Go Jackets!

Great first post. It made me start researching what % of pitches thrown were strikes were considered good for pitchers in HS, college and MLB. I then did the same for "average" pitchers. This data (around 50%) falls below what is considered even average for a HS pitcher. Somewhere in the 55% range might be the cutoff here.

Interestingly enough (y'all regulars here probably knew this) there is an unwritten maximum or limit of around 70 to 75% strikes to pitches thrown. If the batter is comfortable knowing that a pitch will be in the strike zone he or she can "dial in" at the plate and become more aggressive knowing that the pitch is hittable.

Which made me think of this question. Assuming a pitcher on the GT staff is throwing his best stuff to a catcher with no batter at the plate, would they be able to throw a strike 90% of the time? 95% of the time? What about a guy like Greg Maddux. A variation of the "tree falling in the woods making noise" question. Or a slight variation to that..."if a man speaks and there is not a woman present to hear him, is he still wrong"?

 

[gtbeak]

Great first post. It made me start researching what % of pitches thrown were strikes were considered good for pitchers in HS, college and MLB. I then did the same for "average" pitchers. This data (around 50%) falls below what is considered even average for a HS pitcher. Somewhere in the 55% range might be the cutoff here.

Interestingly enough (y'all regulars here probably knew this) there is an unwritten maximum or limit of around 70 to 75% strikes to pitches thrown. If the batter is comfortable knowing that a pitch will be in the strike zone he or she can "dial in" at the plate and become more aggressive knowing that the pitch is hittable.

Which made me think of this question. Assuming a pitcher on the GT staff is throwing his best stuff to a catcher with no batter at the plate, would they be able to throw a strike 90% of the time? 95% of the time? What about a guy like Greg Maddux. A variation of the "tree falling in the woods making noise" question. Or a slight variation to that..."if a man speaks and there is not a woman present to hear him, is he still wrong"?

I read an article in The Athletic in the pre-season where they interviewed a panel of about 10 college coaches asking them (among other things) what is the main thing you look at when evaluating a player, and %Strike was the most common answer for evaluating pitchers. The common answer was "of course we look at velocity, but velocity with a large percentage out of the zone is not useful". And you are correct that a pitcher can throw too many strikes. I can't say I've seen that at the college level, but I've seen a few examples at the MLB level where a pitcher had to consciously throw fewer strikes.

For completeness, the most common answer about evaluating hitters was In-Zone Contact Rate. That data is nigh unto impossible to find for college hitters, but one of the panelists mentioned that Jarren Advincula's In-Zone Contact Rate was >95% last season. IOW, if he swings at a strike, he's going to make contact. The panelists also mentioned that you need to see damage done on those pitches in the zone (IZSLG), so there is that caveat that you can't achieve high IZCR just by being a slappy hitter who hits a bunch of weak ground balls.

 

[DecaturJacket]

Great first post. It made me start researching what % of pitches thrown were strikes were considered good for pitchers in HS, college and MLB. I then did the same for "average" pitchers. This data (around 50%) falls below what is considered even average for a HS pitcher. Somewhere in the 55% range might be the cutoff here.

Interestingly enough (y'all regulars here probably knew this) there is an unwritten maximum or limit of around 70 to 75% strikes to pitches thrown. If the batter is comfortable knowing that a pitch will be in the strike zone he or she can "dial in" at the plate and become more aggressive knowing that the pitch is hittable.

Which made me think of this question. Assuming a pitcher on the GT staff is throwing his best stuff to a catcher with no batter at the plate, would they be able to throw a strike 90% of the time? 95% of the time? What about a guy like Greg Maddux. A variation of the "tree falling in the woods making noise" question. Or a slight variation to that..."if a man speaks and there is not a woman present to hear him, is he still wrong"?

I read an article in The Athletic in the pre-season where they interviewed a panel of about 10 college coaches asking them (among other things) what is the main thing you look at when evaluating a player, and %Strike was the most common answer for evaluating pitchers. The common answer was "of course we look at velocity, but velocity with a large percentage out of the zone is not useful". And you are correct that a pitcher can throw too many strikes. I can't say I've seen that at the college level, but I've seen a few examples at the MLB level where a pitcher had to consciously throw fewer strikes.

For completeness, the most common answer about evaluating hitters was In-Zone Contact Rate. That data is nigh unto impossible to find for college hitters, but one of the panelists mentioned that Jarren Advincula's In-Zone Contact Rate was >95% last season. IOW, if he swings at a strike, he's going to make contact. The panelists also mentioned that you need to see damage done on those pitches in the zone (IZSLG), so there is that caveat that you can't achieve high IZCR just by being a slappy hitter who hits a bunch of weak ground balls.

Yeah, you definitely don't want to live in the zone. Unless you're like Mariano Rivera and throwing your cutter every pitch it's probably not a good idea. My problem with our pitchers (for several seasons now) is that we tend to get ahead in counts and then leave the ball over WAY too much of the plate when we're up 0-2, 1-2. When a batter is forced to be defensive you don't want to give them pitches in the zone. Hopefully this is just an execution issue and not a philosophy issue. Again, my concern there is that this is something that I've noticed for several seasons now.

If the goal is just to throw a strike with no batter, I'd hope our guys could get a fastball over 90+% of the time. If you're changing pitches that number drops, but realistically if there's no batter and you can start a breaking ball at a point where you're not concerned if it hangs over the middle, you should be able to execute it at a pretty high level too.

Regarding Maddux, watch this (note that this is hitting spots, not just throwing strikes):


Hitting spots is where success lies. Throwing strikes could be laying pitches down the middle. In hs if you throw hard enough you can live in the middle because 90% of hitters won't be able to catch up to your fastball.

 

[4shotB]

Yeah, you definitely don't want to live in the zone. Unless you're like Mariano Rivera and throwing your cutter every pitch it's probably not a good idea. My problem with our pitchers (for several seasons now) is that we tend to get ahead in counts and then leave the ball over WAY too much of the plate when we're up 0-2, 1-2. When a batter is forced to be defensive you don't want to give them pitches in the zone. Hopefully this is just an execution issue and not a philosophy issue. Again, my concern there is that this is something that I've noticed for several seasons now.

If the goal is just to throw a strike with no batter, I'd hope our guys could get a fastball over 90+% of the time. If you're changing pitches that number drops, but realistically if there's no batter and you can start a breaking ball at a point where you're not concerned if it hangs over the middle, you should be able to execute it at a pretty high level too.

Regarding Maddux, watch this (note that this is hitting spots, not just throwing strikes):


Hitting spots is where success lies. Throwing strikes could be laying pitches down the middle. In hs if you throw hard enough you can live in the middle because 90% of hitters won't be able to catch up to your fastball.

Great clip re: Maddux. Mixing sports metaphors, I saw a recent interview with Geoff Ogilvie (pro golfer). He played wihen Tiger and Phil were at their prime. He said those two hit shots that were beyong what the normal PGA can do. Everyone knew that. Then he switched to talking about Scheffler. He says "everyone who is a pro level player can do what Scotties does. He doesn't awe anyone the way Tiger or Phil did. He doesn't have any secret shots or skills other than no one can replicate or has replicated what he does as consistently as he does. He misses his spot less than anyone else I have seen. He doesn't focus on his swing or technique. He focuses on his target and where he wants the ball to go and just executes that." Paraphrased a bit.

In baseball parlance, Tiger and Phil were Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Bob Gibson, Koufax. They had a wow factor that even other players noted. Scottie is to golf as Greg Maddux was to pitchers. Just outliers above the mean in terms of consistency.

 

[DecaturJacket]

Great clip re: Maddux. Mixing sports metaphors, I saw a recent interview with Geoff Ogilvie (pro golfer). He played wihen Tiger and Phil were at their prime. He said those two hit shots that were beyong what the normal PGA can do. Everyone knew that. Then he switched to talking about Scheffler. He says "everyone who is a pro level player can do what Scotties does. He doesn't awe anyone the way Tiger or Phil did. He doesn't have any secret shots or skills other than no one can replicate or has replicated what he does as consistently as he does. He misses his spot less than anyone else I have seen. He doesn't focus on his swing or technique. He focuses on his target and where he wants the ball to go and just executes that." Paraphrased a bit.

In baseball parlance, Tiger and Phil were Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Bob Gibson, Koufax. They had a wow factor that even other players noted. Scottie is to golf as Greg Maddux was to pitchers. Just outliers above the mean in terms of consistency.

Great comparison!

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I read an article in The Athletic in the pre-season where they interviewed a panel of about 10 college coaches asking them (among other things) what is the main thing you look at when evaluating a player, and %Strike was the most common answer for evaluating pitchers. The common answer was "of course we look at velocity, but velocity with a large percentage out of the zone is not useful". And you are correct that a pitcher can throw too many strikes. I can't say I've seen that at the college level, but I've seen a few examples at the MLB level where a pitcher had to consciously throw fewer strikes.

For completeness, the most common answer about evaluating hitters was In-Zone Contact Rate. That data is nigh unto impossible to find for college hitters, but one of the panelists mentioned that Jarren Advincula's In-Zone Contact Rate was >95% last season. IOW, if he swings at a strike, he's going to make contact. The panelists also mentioned that you need to see damage done on those pitches in the zone (IZSLG), so there is that caveat that you can't achieve high IZCR just by being a slappy hitter who hits a bunch of weak ground balls.

To me, importance of pitcher stats is ERA, % strikes and WHIP (and they are all interrelated). Seeing a fat pitch over the plate I couldn't help myself but to spend 90 seconds of research. From below I assume mean +/- 1 std dev is 60-65% strikes. A lot more here too. ( .

 

[kg01]

Just a general question from a casual ...

... why do they play these one-off games instead of the usual series?

I'll hang up and listen ....

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Just a general question from a casual ...

... why do they play these one-off games instead of the usual series?

I'll hang up and listen ....

The vagaries of multi team scheduling, different program calendars, and travel logistics.

Full disclosure. I made that up off the top of my head.

 

[DecaturJacket]

Just a general question from a casual ...

... why do they play these one-off games instead of the usual series?

I'll hang up and listen ....

Midweek games inherently have to be one off games. You can't really travel and stay during the week. Also, 4-5 games a week is about all a staff can handle. 3 on the weekend and 1 midweek usually with a couple of 4 game weekend and 2 midweek mixed in.

Or do you mean why don't we play these in state teams in a weekend series? That would have more to do with the ability to play out of state teams and the weekends making the most sense for them travel-wise.

 

[gtbeak]

Just a general question from a casual ...

... why do they play these one-off games instead of the usual series?

I'll hang up and listen ....

Not sure I understand the question. I think you mean the mid-week games are one-offs? That is because the college game is not set-up like the MLB game where they play everyday, but rather the focus is on weekend series. I assume this evolved from the days when baseball was just an activity and the main reason the kids were there was for school, but not certain about that. However, traditionally they try to sneak in a single game during the week, and those are the foundation for the mid-week games against local schools for travel reasons.

And BTW, you (probably unknowingly) touched on a sensitive topic. That being how to view the mid-week games. Are they in place to get the bottom of the roster some action, or should the coach go all out with his top players (pitchers) to win as many mid-week games as possible?

 

[kg01]

Thanks @DecaturJacket and @gtbeak .

I'm completely unversed in college baseball ins and outs. I found myself asking, 'Self, why tf did we just play 1 game instead of a series?'.

You both make sense, in different ways, so it helped me learn a bit.

I found myself feeling about 5% less of a casual. Then I read @Northeast Stinger 's comment and gave the whole 5% back.

 

[senoiajacket]

My point is that it isn't very difficult to see what happened. We took kids who we (and every recruiting service out there - meaning scouts too) thought were better. Lol. There can be good kids that don't get signed because we sign better kids. That's not taking anything away from this kid, but more praising the kids we did get. Willcox and Underwood are proven MLB talent. If you kept up with the draft you already know that. Raymond and Hall signed pro deals. We actually got in on them early and I don't think expected to lose either of them. If anything, that shows that we're doing a pretty darn good job of recruiting. Vicens is the lowest rated of the 3 that made it to campus. His numbers haven't been great so far, but if you watched him in hs and have kept up with him, you'd agree with his rankings. He's a different type of pitcher than Lewis (aka he doesn't throw as hard), but that doesn't make him worse.

Saying we should do better in recruiting is a given. It's an empty goal. Sure, we should always strive to do better. Even if we're the top recruiting class in the country. By saying "what happened" here and acting like we "missed" on a guy is where I disagree. Maybe if we were a lesser program or had one of our lesser years of recruiting. We literally just brought in one of the better pitching recruiting classes in the country - despite losing two guys to

Great Info - also, a bit more perspective here. This kid (Cooper Lewis) or any kid that has 97mph next to his name as his "Top Velo" on the Perfect Game rating site......that kid (when he lives in Atlanta and plays for a pretty good/above average travel team like 9th Inning), he got looked at by EVERY SEC and ACC team. Every single one saw him throw repeatedly at East Cobb and at Lakepointe tournaments the past few years. None of them bit on him. So it's not like Ga Tech was the only one who "missed".

So everyone knew he had arm talent, but he was always a bit wild. I have a Perfect Game account, so I can look stuff up. The summer going into his junior year, across a lot of travel ball innings, he had 43 walks to 38 K's. He threw 49% strikes. Not great. Wild. Was probably low 90's that summer. The next summer - going into his senior year - he got up to 97 on the gun (elite), but still had 18 walks and 28 K's and threw 52.9% strikes (so improving, but still, sort of poor control). Generally, pitchers going to big time schools are throwing better than that. Vicens for example, last summer, had 48 K's to 12 walks, threw strikes 60.5% of the time. I'm sure that profile is similar to Underwood and Wilcox, etc.
So my "educated guess" here is that Lewis was a classic Nuke LaLoosh prospect. Everyone knew he had the heater, but a bit too wild, mechanics not classic.......so likely everyone thought, "man, if this kid improves his control, he'll really be something", but Georgia, Auburn, Clemson, Ga Tech, Coastal, Alabama......they all watched him pitch, but just barely passed on him. No one took the educated risk on signing him. So maybe they were all wrong.

Against Tech the other day, he threw 47 pitches and 24 were strikes (so a 51% strike ratio), he K'd 4 and walked 3 (and got a couple of huge K's on full counts). He looked really good, but in the second inning he pitched, he loaded up the bases with walks.....but then with 2 down and bases juiced, he got a huge K on a full count to end the inning, Awesome stuff. But throws 1 more ball there, it's a different story. But that's why we love baseball. Gameof inches and all. I wish the kid well, and hopefully he keeps improving his control, stays healthy, and next year, we get him over to the Flats like Patel before him. Go Jackets!

TIC on …….. OK then, why haven’t we hired the G state pitching coach and fired that bum we got. After all, he “fixed” cooper Lewis, an outcast no one wanted who couldn’t throw a strike, in only 5 college innings!!! …… TIC OFF

 

[DecaturJacket]

May as well reuse this thread for this week's midweek.

Neither Roberts, nor Lewis pitched this weekend. I'd expect to see both again this week. So yall get a chance to fangirl out over Lewis all over again

It looks like we should be able to give them some different looks this week, as it seems like Patel may be in line for the start. If not, I'd definitely at least expect him to get in the game. Blakely didn't throw this weekend, so there's a chance we throw him again. Willcox didn't get any innings this weekend, so I'd expect him to be in line to get in.

State went 2-2 against Belmont (4-8) this weekend - W 4-1, L 8-7, L 16-3, W 4-2

 

[senoiajacket]

May as well reuse this thread for this week's midweek.

Neither Roberts, nor Lewis pitched this weekend. I'd expect to see both again this week. So yall get a chance to fangirl out over Lewis all over again

It looks like we should be able to give them some different looks this week, as it seems like Patel may be in line for the start. If not, I'd definitely at least expect him to get in the game. Blakely didn't throw this weekend, so there's a chance we throw him again. Willcox didn't get any innings this weekend, so I'd expect him to be in line to get in.

State went 2-2 against Belmont (4-8) this weekend - W 4-1, L 8-7, L 16-3, W 4-2

Is Roberts projected to be a weekend starter and they are just holding him out for us? I think we hit him better this time through. If Lewis does pitch, his performance may be the most “interesting” aspect of the game ………. That and how Patel pitches ……… oh, and who returns from injury watch.