Wake Forest

[up state jacket]

When the head man's best is behind him and no one wants to admit it, you get this kind of product. Baseball has always been about pitching and for some reason that concept has escaped this program. Scoring is only part of the game and yes you have to score more than the other guy, but you also have to be able to protect a lead. I am branded a hater and I'll be the first one to give credit when credit is due, but dang this is getting old.

 

[Lagrangejacket]

Very questionable 3rd strike call there on Bart.

 

[Lagrangejacket]

8-4 final. Extremely fortunate not to get swept.

13-9 overall, 3-6 in the ACC. RPI will be around 90 after this one.

 

[Newnan Jacket]

It's going to be a long year when you also rely on 3 freshmen to the 3 weekend starters. How does that happen? Hall has been here 20 plus years and the pitching coach has been here for 4 years. Howell has got to go and if he isnt gone by the end of the season then Hall needs to go. I respect Hall and appreciate for what he has done for Tech during his time but sadly this might be similar to the Leggett situation at Clemson. Hall might be running its course here. It might be time for a change and a new voice. Look at Clemson. THey have great pitching in their weekend rotation and play very well. I refuse to believe that we should be 3rd to last in pitching in almost every year under Howell. You mean to tell me we can't get better results then Wake, Duke, or BC? With the talent base here in Georgia? And its not like UGA is a powerhouse either. They are more of a joke than we are.

 

[Lagrangejacket]

And all 3 of our ACC wins are in extra innings. Our 6 losses are by a combined 29 runs.

 

[65Jacket]

We are 3-6 and tied for last in the Coastal. We are looking at 3-9 with Clemson coming in next week. This team has 3 freshmen starters, and Ryan in the pen, with little else. The short stop is not ready for prime time, the third baseman cant throw to first, and we have no first baseman. Is this Hall's worst team? We will be most likely left out of the post season. And Carter Hall is hurt again.I'm told he was always hurt in travel ball.

 

[awbuzz]

And all 3 of our ACC wins are in extra innings. Our 6 losses are by a combined 29 runs.

Ouch... Not good.

 

[FredJacket]

At this point (sample size feels large enough), all indications are this team is a step down from 2016. The offense showed great promise in pre-conference play. It is now looking too much like 2016.... consistently failing to move runners over or in with runners on & fewer than 2 outs. Related to that... too many K's. Too much (or total?) reliance on HR's.

Pitching & Defense worse than 2016.

If there may be hope?
1) We're through 3 ACC weekends. Two road series & a home series against one of the best 2 or 3 teams in the conference.
2) Must believe we can actually "improve" as season progresses. Need to find a way.

 

[THWG]

I'm really frustrated and disappointed with this team so far, but we are only 22 games into a 54 (should be 56, but we've had the two rainouts) game season so there is still a lot of baseball left to be played. This team is too talented to keep playing like this, and we are also pretty young, especially pitching wise with 3 freshman starters, which means that they're still learning how to play at this level. When this team puts it all together, they could be dangerous. Hall also needs to seriously look at a new pitching coach if the pitching does not get more consistent by the end of the year.

 

[65Jacket]

Why is Peur in the 2 hole? I believe he struck out 4 times today, and I believe all were 3 swinging strikes chasing outside breaking balls. To his credit, he did win the first game with a homer, and he is our best defensive outfielder.

 

[FredJacket]

Why is Peur in the 2 hole? I believe he struck out 4 times today, and I believe all were 3 swinging strikes chasing outside breaking balls. To his credit, he did win the first game with a homer, and he is our best defensive outfielder.

The batting order changes are hard to understand.... Peurifoy batting 2nd is the most confounding. But he is the best defensive outfielder & needs to be in lineup regularly based on that.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

The trend is there - lost again today on 2 or more errors. We are now 12-2 when we have 1 or fewer errors, 1-7 when we have 2 or more errors. We are not good enough it appears to give away a few runs...when we do, we lose. By not much more than a miracle, we could be 0-9 in league play right now. Its still early, but we don't appear to be doing much of anything to gain momentum.

 

[THWG]

I kind of hope Hall decides to switch Ben S and Hughes this week. I think that Ben S will give us the best chance to beat Clemson next Saturday and Hughes is starting a downward trend, so I believe that it might help him to pitch the midweek games (even though those are not gimmes).

 

[Lagrangejacket]

The trend is there - lost again today on 2 or more errors. We are now 12-2 when we have 1 or fewer errors, 1-7 when we have 2 or more errors. We are not good enough it appears to give away a few runs...when we do, we lose. By not much more than a miracle, we could be 0-9 in league play right now. Its still early, but we don't appear to be doing much of anything to gain momentum.

I won't deny that our fielding has been suspect - especially at 3rd base, but you could also argue that the errors are making our pitching seem better than it is (as hard as that is to do).

For example, yesterday in the 2nd inning we had gotten 2 outs and a runner gets to first due to a throwing error. We then subsequently gave up 4 hits, 2 wild pitches, and a HBP to give up 5 runs. While all of those runs are technically unearned, our pitching had far more to do with it than the 1 error that inning.

 

[THWG]

I won't deny that our fielding has been suspect - especially at 3rd base, but you could also argue that the errors are making our pitching seem better than it is (as hard as that is to do).

For example, yesterday in the 2nd inning we had gotten 2 outs and a runner gets to first due to a throwing error. We then subsequently gave up 4 hits, 2 wild pitches, and a HBP to give up 5 runs. While all of those runs are technically unearned, our pitching had far more to do with it than the 1 error that inning.

I get what you're saying and believe that he should have got out of the inning unscathed, but if that routine play is made then none of that other stuff happens and Hughes has the confidence of a 1-2-3 inning.

 

[FredJacket]

http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/032617aaa.html

Mainly posting this link for the video/interview embedded of Wiley and Coach Hall. The coach is not happy.... nor should he be.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Yea if you go back 8 years and look at the trend in the number of wins, its not a good line plot: 47, 42, 38, 37, 37, 32, 38, on pace for 31 wins this year.

 

[CrackerJacket]

The program's on a downward trend. CDH has done a lot of good for us for quite a while, but I begin to wonder if maybe we need some new blood in the skipper's chair. I'm not one to run CDH off, but an honorable retirement may be called for soon.

Yeah, I know we could end up doing worse, but dammit, GT baseball's as important to me as football.

 

[MWBATL]

I won't deny that our fielding has been suspect - especially at 3rd base, but you could also argue that the errors are making our pitching seem better than it is (as hard as that is to do).

For example, yesterday in the 2nd inning we had gotten 2 outs and a runner gets to first due to a throwing error. We then subsequently gave up 4 hits, 2 wild pitches, and a HBP to give up 5 runs. While all of those runs are technically unearned, our pitching had far more to do with it than the 1 error that inning.

Nah, even with that, our pitching is just...embarrassing. We are 13th out of the 14 ACC teams in Team ERA at 5.15...only VPI&SU is worse. On top of that, I think we nearly lead the league in unearned runs allowed with 27 (WF has allowed 33). By comparison, Clemson has allowed 12 unearned runs, Duke 16. Our fielding % is 4th from bottom. But what is still incredible to me is how poorly we pitched on Coral Gables, where Miami with its TEAM batting average of 0.211, made us look like a peewee team on the mound, scoring 32 runs. Since then in their next TWO ACC series, the powerhouse 'canes have put up a total of 11 and 12 runs, for a total of 23 runs. They can likely go another weekend series before they match what they did against us in one series. Was it Squints who told me they were really a good hitting team?? Balderdash!

Our hitting continues to follow the "big basher" theory. We tend to get some HR's and lots of K's. I think in part that is due to the stadium we play in, which I think is a hitter friendly stadium, and encourages this approach. We are 3rd in the ACC in HR's, we are 4th worst in K's per game, ranking just above that powerhouse hitting club Miami, as well as Notre Dame, BC and VPI&SU.

Overall, this team is just exceptionally unimpressive. They look to me like winning 1 of 3 against the weakest ACC teams is our best bet on the road, while we seem more likely to get swept on the road against the top half of the league. At home, I would think we could get 2 of 3 against our brethen seller-dweelers and 1 of 3 against top tier teams. I personally think we'll go 11-19 against the league this year, miss any type of post-season play.

Then the real question will be whether Hall actually changes anything worthwhile. I am honestly not sure if all can be blamed on Howell as pitching coach. I am not yet convinced that the problem hasn't become Hall himself.