uGag Series

[65Jacket]

We will be OK this year. There are a lot of young guys at key positions, who need to mature. No time to start Coach bashing and players bashing. We still have the best coaching staff we have ever had.

 

[FredJacket]

Unless we run through ACC play & end up in top 3 in the conference, expect to be slotted in the Athens regional by projections... probably all season. Can look forward to bouncing them from the tournament & hosting a super regional in June at Russ Chandler.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

It's never as bad or as good as it seems.

What a difference a week makes.

I guessed we'd have won 7.3 games by this point. ( https://gtswarm.com/threads/2020-baseball-preseason.20618/#post-669121 )

We're at 7 wins so about what I guessed; need to grind out the games we should win now. We certainly aren't elite at this point and uGag is probably correctly ranked in the top 4. They should be the best regular season team we'll see.

 

[FredJacket]

It's never as bad or as good as it seems.

What a difference a week makes.

I guessed we'd have won 7.3 games by this point. ( https://gtswarm.com/threads/2020-baseball-preseason.20618/#post-669121 )

We're at 7 wins so about what I guessed; need to grind out the games we should win now. We certainly aren't elite at this point and uGag is probably correctly ranked in the top 4. They should be the best regular season team we'll see.

Last year at this point, we were 7-4 with losses to UCLA(2), Northwestern, & Richmond. ...& last year turned out ok.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Unless we run through ACC play & end up in top 3 in the conference, expect to be slotted in the Athens regional by projections... probably all season. Can look forward to bouncing them from the tournament & hosting a super regional in June at Russ Chandler.

And here is where it gets interesting. Georgia was the home team twice in our series. So if we end up traveling to Athens for the post season, according to the NCAA's BS stupid idiot rules, we should be the home team when we play. That's the same ridiculous BS that cost us last year, where we were the road team twice while hosting our own regional. Ridiculous stupidity.

 

[JacketOff]

And this is why Friday's game was so painful. When you outplay a top team in the country, you have to close the game out. We should have won Friday 7 different ways. Very disappointing, because we knew we may not get another chance like that the rest of the series. And sure enough we didn't.

Here is the long view:
* Last year we entered the post season ranked #3 in the country.
* Last year after the first 6 games, we were 3-3.
* Last year after the first 11 games, we were 7-4.

Our record after the first 11 games this year? 7-4.

Really wish we could’ve pulled out that Friday game. Would’ve played out almost exactly like last year with the UCLA series. Also wish we could’ve stopped the bleeding in the 9th on Saturday. An 8 run inning is inexcusable, and it made that game look non-competitive on paper when in reality we had chances to chip away and we gifted them most of their runs.

Tech has a good team, we’re just really young. Half of the team who has either recorded an at-bat or an inning pitched is a freshman. Not an underclassmen, a freshman. 1/3 of the starting lineup, 1/2 of the starting rotation, and 1/2 of the bullpen are freshman. Georgia is “old”. Just about everyone who contributed for them played a significant amount last year, or like Bradley, has played a significant amount in previous years. The good thing is that the tables will be turned next year. They are going to lose the majority of their production on the mound and at the plate to either graduation or the draft. Tech will return basically all of the pitching talent (Hughes, Archer, maybe Hurter are the only losses for next year), and a lot of at bats, and the new guys who will play will have a year of college practice experience under their belts.

Georgia is going to be tough for anyone to beat over a weekend this year. I would think they’ll break the drought of Georgia teams losing in regionals this year. They’re probably a favorite to make it to Omaha, although postseason baseball is crazy, and I hope like hell crazy strikes them. I have confidence in Tech making the tourney in some capacity. I doubt we’ll host, but making the tournament is well within reach and should still be expected. Getting swept sucks. It really sucks when it’s to the inbreds across the state. The Saturday game is going to leave a bad taste in the mouths of many fans who made it out to the game. I hope we can string together some ACC series wins so the Rusty C will fill up again. The beer sales will probably help the cause a little bit.

 

[NW GA JACKET]

Hopefully can work on the things that really hurt. If I did the math right we gave them 26 free runners with walks and hbp , on top of that we gave them extra bases with wild pitches. Those things can be improved upon. (Hopefully). Even with our injuries last year, there were only a few times that bb really were a factor. With that being said , I don’t think the sky is falling. We should have won Friday, Saturday wasn’t near as bad as score indicated, and today just wasn’t good, but we were in it until late. Buckle up guys, we may be on a roller coaster ride this year.

 

[THWG]

I'm obviously not happy with the result, but we'll be fine this year. I would move Maxwell to weekdays though and let Bartnicki start on Sundays. At the beginning of the year, I thought we would be thin in the pen and need him there more than starting, but we have a lot of depth. It is inexperienced, but Smith, Crawford, Chapman, Archer, and Westbrooks will be a solid pen. Arnold and Finley have both also looked good at times.

 

[FredJacket]

I'm obviously not happy with the result, but we'll be fine this year. I would move Maxwell to weekdays though and let Bartnicki start on Sundays. At the beginning of the year, I thought we would be thin in the pen and need him there more than starting, but we have a lot of depth. It is inexperienced, but Smith, Crawford, Chapman, Archer, and Westbrooks will be a solid pen. Arnold and Finley have both also looked good at times.

Coach Hall would not commit ("will talk it over as a staff"), but sounds like Bartnicki is certainly in strong consideration to be in the weekend rotation. I would do it.

Other notes/quotes from his postgame interview:
"We knew this would be a test."
"We failed the test."
Next year this series will be a week earlier (2nd weekend of season) & Tech travels to UCLA 3rd weekend.

 

[NW GA JACKET]

The mutts top 2 arms are really good. We actually roughed Hancock up by his standards, Wilcox was on his game. We were in both games and should have won 1 of them. I say the mutts are not near as good as they think they are, but Hell that is always the case, and if they are , the sweep is not devastating to the season. An early season sweep against a top 5 doesn’t mean that much if we right the ship. Yes, a win might have given us an edge over someone late in year , but we should be in a regional and that is big considering what we lost last year. This is not a popular opinion I’m sure, but it is my opinion. This is also my opinion :TO ABSOLUTE HELL WITH uga!

 

[THWG]

Coach Hall would not commit ("will talk it over as a staff"), but sounds like Bartnicki is certainly in strong consideration to be in the weekend rotation. I would do it.

Other notes/quotes from his postgame interview:
"We knew this would be a test."
"We failed the test."
Next year this series will be a week earlier (2nd weekend of season) & Tech travels to UCLA 3rd weekend.

Next year we'll have a weekend rotation of Roedig, Bartnicki, and Maxwell. That could easily get us to Omaha.

 

[THWG]

The mutts top 2 arms are really good. We actually roughed Hancock up by his standards, Wilcox was on his game. We were in both games and should have won 1 of them. I say the mutts are not near as good as they think they are, but Hell that is always the case, and if they are , the sweep is not devastating to the season. An early season sweep against a top 5 doesn’t mean that much if we right the ship. Yes, a win might have given us an edge over someone late in year , but we should be in a regional and that is big considering what we lost last year. This is not a popular opinion I’m sure, but it is my opinion. This is also my opinion :TO ABSOLUTE HELL WITH uga!

Yep, just make the postseason (especially with how young we are on the mound) and then anything can happen.

Before the year, I predicted that we would be like FSU was last year. Start out slow and play around .500 ball, then turn it on the last month+ of the season. I hope that happens and we can get to Omaha like they did.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Might be the best 600k the Mutts have spent this year-Scott Stricklin in his 7th season with back-to-back NCAA Regional appearances.

 

[Gtbowhunter90]

Welp....Those jackwads just went 5-0 against through the big 3 sports......Sigh.......Gonna have to endure some family ribbing now...

Yup

 

[MWBATL]

Let's see how this team responds.

It's a long season, and (as always) pitching will be the key (and defense). As Yogi said, baseball is 90% pitching...and the other half is defense (or something like that). We lost our entire weekend rotation from last year. That is awfully tough to replace quickly. The question will be how quickly some of these other guys develop.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

Last year at this point, we were 7-4 with losses to UCLA(2), Northwestern, & Richmond. ...& last year turned out ok.

Our biggest problem since 1964.

Last year did not turn out ok. It turned out sucking and being embarrassed in our own park - again.

It is as if people have become so brainwashed and beaten on the public square that they think "winning" is holding the regionals at home.

Instead of actually winning the game.

 

[LargeFO]

Our biggest problem since 1964.

Last year did not turn out ok. It turned out sucking and being embarrassed in our own park - again.

It is as if people have become so brainwashed and beaten on the public square that they think "winning" is holding the regionals at home.

Instead of actually winning the game.

I've realized there's always a ton of spinning on the basketball and baseball boards. Heaven forbid we expect better.

 

[JacketOff]

Our biggest problem since 1964.

Last year did not turn out ok. It turned out sucking and being embarrassed in our own park - again.

It is as if people have become so brainwashed and beaten on the public square that they think "winning" is holding the regionals at home.

Instead of actually winning the game.

Last year was a great year. Did it end on the note anybody wanted it to? No. Absolutely not. But that doesn’t take anything away from how special last year’s team was.
12-2 in weekend series
9-1 in ACC series
22-12 overall in the ACC
9-1 vs the state of Georgia
Won the season series vs UGA
5-3 in postseason play
Oh, and in case you forgot, we played the last 3 series of the year (plus postseason) without draft pick Xzavion Curry, and the last 4 series (plus postseason) without future draft pick Brant Hurter. Draft pick Chase Murray played in less than half of all games last year. Given the circumstances I’d say it was a damn good year. Hosting a regional is special regardless of whether or not we win it. Obviously we want to win, but just like last years football team, if you can’t see the bigger picture then there’s no point in trying to make you.

 

[NW GA JACKET]

No doubt last year’s ending was not what anyone wanted, but that team was a great team. How many times has the team with the best record won the World Series or super bowl? More so in football, but in baseball not near as much. Yes you are disappointed when you lose, but don’t be blind to the fact that the guys had a great year. Only 1 team is happy at the end, and it is not always the “best” team of that particular year. Look how many top 8 seeds lost in regionals last year in particular. We all want better, but if you can’t step back and enjoy last season, maybe you need to find something else to do. Our guys represent and never embarrass the Institution , they are fine young men playing a game to the best of their ability, and I for one enjoy supporting them.

 

[Techster]

Season is still young. You never want to get swept (especially by little a), but there's a LOT of baseball to be played, and there's still a LOT to play for.