Tech @ Duke

MWBATL

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Squints said:
You mean a Cal team that nobody has projected to even make a regional?
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Actually, I mean the Cal Bears that are 13-3 right now. Some folks weren't projecting us as a Regional team either, but we look much stronger than that right now. I suspect we won't know how good Cal is until they get into their conference schedule.

Our starting pitching is REALLY coming through big time for us right now. Gorst is great when he doesn't walk guys, and Ryan seems solid as well out of the pen. No errors (again) and no walks by either King or Ryan !
 

MWBATL

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Meanwhile, our top rivals in the Coastal both lost. Virginia got beat by VPI&SU , 2-1 on a walk-off walk. And UNC got plastered by Pitt, 12-9. That gives us a one game lead on both these programs, with their losses being unexpected, to say the least.
 
Squints

Squints

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MWBATL said:
Actually, I mean the Cal Bears that are 13-3 right now. Some folks weren't projecting us as a Regional team either, but we look much stronger than that right now. I suspect we won't know how good Cal is until they get into their conference schedule.!
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Records this early in the season mean nothing. It's like the first three or four weeks of football season. The big conference teams are beating up on mid majors. Cal's record is a mirage of playing teams like Chicago State and having their series with Arkansas canceled due to weather. Duke is probably the best team Cal has played a series with this year. They're projected by just about everyone to be in the bottom three of their conference. They're not a notch in Duke's belt by any means.

And I think we were projected as a regional team across the board.
 

MWBATL

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Squints said:
Records this early in the season mean nothing. It's like the first three or four weeks of football season. The big conference teams are beating up on mid majors. Cal's record is a mirage of playing teams like Chicago State and having their series with Arkansas canceled due to weather. Duke is probably the best team Cal has played a series with this year. They're projected by just about everyone to be in the bottom three of their conference. They're not a notch in Duke's belt by any means.

And I think we were projected as a regional team across the board.
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While I generally agree (and stated in my earlier post that we wouldn't really know about Cal until they got into their Pac 12 Schedule), I think you are being too hard on them (and Duke). Cal took 3 out of 4 from UC-Irvine, which went to the CWS in Omaha last year, beat Stanford in a mid-week game, and was 12-1 against anyone not named Duke. One can argue that's a better resume than GT has put together so far (we have losses to Fordham, which is only 4-10 thus far, and we lost our midweek game against Auburn). On top of that, in case you missed it, Cal beat #8 Oregon last night and this morning is getting a mention from Aaron Fitt as a team that has been previously overlooked.

GT was projected to finish 4th in the Coastal by the only pre-season predictions I saw, and Duke was projected as 5th. Duke had a better regular season ACC record than we did last year. Duke took 1 of 3 from UNC on the road last weekend. I would be thrilled with a sweep this year in Durham, and do think we could do it, but to denigrate Duke's baseball program as being a team we *should* sweep seems overly much to me.

Perhaps I read too much into your initial posts, but it sounded like you felt this was a no brainer, that we should sweep Duke and that was that. To me, a sweep would be sign that we are seriously better than last year and a serious contender to host a Regional this year (not just be in one).
 

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By the way, we do wake up this morning i sole possession of first place in the Coastal !! Yeay GT! We just keep winning and no one can catch us!! LOL
 
GTNavyNuke

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Squints said:
Records this early in the season mean nothing. It's like the first three or four weeks of football season. The big conference teams are beating up on mid majors. Cal's record is a mirage of playing teams like Chicago State and having their series with Arkansas canceled due to weather. Duke is probably the best team Cal has played a series with this year. They're projected by just about everyone to be in the bottom three of their conference. They're not a notch in Duke's belt by any means.

And I think we were projected as a regional team across the board.
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Records now mean something, but they mean a lot less than the end of the year records. I'd much rather be 3-1 in ACC now than 1-3.

Fluke has a good team - last year GT and Fluke had essentially the same record. 14-16 and 16-14 is middle of the pack. Fluke has great pitching.... 2.36 ERA before our game and only 3 ERA for yesterday. And we have a very good offense. There is no reason Fluke couldn't keep us to 0 to 3 ERA the next two games with their pitchers and depth. It will come down to timely hitting (or errors).

This year getting a few extra wins, early middle or late in the season, could put us in the top 6 for ACC tourney. But it's way too early and I'll stick with the 7-10 guess I have for us for another few series.
 
GTNavyNuke

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MWBATL said:
Actually, I mean the Cal Bears that are 13-3 right now. Some folks weren't projecting us as a Regional team either, but we look much stronger than that right now. I suspect we won't know how good Cal is until they get into their conference schedule.

Our starting pitching is REALLY coming through big time for us right now. Gorst is great when he doesn't walk guys, and Ryan seems solid as well out of the pen. No errors (again) and no walks by either King or Ryan !
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I missed the first 5 innings. But King was a stud in 5-2/3. 6 SOs and no walks! That is how you win, by no walks and no errors. 94 pitches with 69 strikes is about 73% which great. Sure he gave up 9 hits and 2 Earned Runs, but that is good in my book with the strikes he threw.

Gorst and Ryan made it interesting but no ER, so all is good.

Agree our pitching is looking better.

Let's hope we play even better today in better weather. (y)
 
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Squints

Squints

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MWBATL said:
While I generally agree (and stated in my earlier post that we wouldn't really know about Cal until they got into their Pac 12 Schedule), I think you are being too hard on them (and Duke). Cal took 3 out of 4 from UC-Irvine, which went to the CWS in Omaha last year, beat Stanford in a mid-week game, and was 12-1 against anyone not named Duke. One can argue that's a better resume than GT has put together so far (we have losses to Fordham, which is only 4-10 thus far, and we lost our midweek game against Auburn). On top of that, in case you missed it, Cal beat #8 Oregon last night and this morning is getting a mention from Aaron Fitt as a team that has been previously overlooked.

GT was projected to finish 4th in the Coastal by the only pre-season predictions I saw, and Duke was projected as 5th. Duke had a better regular season ACC record than we did last year. Duke took 1 of 3 from UNC on the road last weekend. I would be thrilled with a sweep this year in Durham, and do think we could do it, but to denigrate Duke's baseball program as being a team we *should* sweep seems overly much to me.

Perhaps I read too much into your initial posts, but it sounded like you felt this was a no brainer, that we should sweep Duke and that was that. To me, a sweep would be sign that we are seriously better than last year and a serious contender to host a Regional this year (not just be in one).
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My only issue with what you said is considering California a good win for Duke when it's not. At least not yet. Like you said it'll take time to determine that. And I'll be happy to change my tune when Cal shows that I should, which they haven't, and not before that. It's going to take more than a single win against Oregon and 3 out of 4 from an Irvine team that doesn't look any good this year. Going to the CWS last year doesn't matter.

As for expecting to sweep Duke, I never said that. I said we should win at least two games AKA win the series. I never said that Duke was a bottom feeder just that I think we're better then they are based on what I've seen so far.

GTNavyNuke said:
Records now mean something, but they mean a lot less than the end of the year records. I'd much rather be 3-1 in ACC now than 1-3.

Fluke has a good team - last year GT and Fluke had essentially the same record. 14-16 and 16-14 is middle of the pack. Fluke has great pitching.... 2.36 ERA before our game and only 3 ERA for yesterday. And we have a very good offense. There is no reason Fluke couldn't keep us to 0 to 3 ERA the next two games with their pitchers and depth. It will come down to timely hitting (or errors).

This year getting a few extra wins, early middle or late in the season, could put us in the top 6 for ACC tourney. But it's way too early and I'll stick with the 7-10 guess I have for us for another few series.
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I never disparaged Duke's team I don't know where you guys are getting this from. I too said 7-10.
 

MWBATL

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GTNavyNuke said:
@Squints when I went back and looked at this, I see that you didn't disparage Fluke. More said that we are better.......
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Yeah, I actually think we are all in violent agreement here....just some nuances that I may have read too much into. Peace@Squints

Now, let's go out and sweep Duke!! LOL
 
Squints

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Yea I'm not trying to argue with anyone. My posts are meant to be more explanatory in tone not antagonistic.

As for today's game so far Pitts does not look good. No command so far. We'll lucky to get three innings out of him.
 
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