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2023 Texas Baseball


Fletch

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10 hours ago, YGIFS said:

Hard to believe this thing starts in just 4 hours.  

There's no way we can play our way into hosting a Super (unless of course, the other side has a #1 seed upset).  

But IMHO, we need more than 2 wins in this thing to wrap up a regional hosting.  2-2, if one of those losses is early on to a Kansas or even a KSU who is likely not gonna get in the 64-team bracket...that's ugly for us.  Every little thing counts right now as we're right on the cusp.  However, finishing 10-3 in our last 13 looks pretty damn good.  Still, I'd like us to play until Sunday.  Arms will have plenty of rest until Friday 3 June, provided we're not coming out of the losers bracket on extra innings or some shit.  

Really didn't think we'd be talking like this several weeks ago, but glad we are.  If we host, I definitely picked the wrong month to quit sniffing glue.  

Okay, so I didn't literally mean for us to lose to both Kansas and Kansas State right outta the fucking gate.  Hate to sound alarmist, but tomorrow morning is must win for any chance at hosting a regional.  This afternoon was not uh...how you say...good.  

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6 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Okay, so I didn't literally mean for us to lose to both Kansas and Kansas State right outta the fucking gate.  Hate to sound alarmist, but tomorrow morning is must win for any chance at hosting a regional.  This afternoon was not uh...how you say...good.  

You sound like an alarmist. 

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Probably, but 2-and-Q against two teams not going to the post-season (well maybe KSU could with a run up in Arlington) is not a hot look for a team who needed a little help and little flash this week in their conference tourney to secure a regional host spot.  I'll cool off this evening and like the rest of you, conveniently schedule a 3-hour "late work breakfast" tomorrow and sort this out.  

I have some kinda family calendar alert deal setup with UT Athletics with anything that begins before 7:00p so I can take the little ones to it whenever possible or watch on TV (soccer, swimming, baseball, etc.).  Anyway, wife sees the ping for "Kansas State v. Texas-Thursday, 9:00a."  So she texts with a "WTF?  Baseball at 9 in the morning in DFW?" Before I could explain it was legit, she said, "Just remember to take her swimsuit and the vegetable tray to preschool tomorrow before that game starts."  I am so fucking confused, what does the last day of school need a swimsuit and a veggie tray for?  Oh yeah, she's a K-State alum. 

We are living in a simulation.  May as well see what it looks like from Omaha again.

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40 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Okay, so I didn't literally mean for us to lose to both Kansas and Kansas State right outta the fucking gate.  Hate to sound alarmist, but tomorrow morning is must win for any chance at hosting a regional.  This afternoon was not uh...how you say...good.  

I think hosting is out. We lost 41 RPI points today.

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31 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Burke and Tole did not travel with the team to Arlington. Might explain why Sthele was first out of the pen. Also, Powell is nursing a back injury and would only be able to DH tomorrow if he can give it a go.

Tole sounds like he is nursing an injury.

Burke has likely thrown his last pitch as a Longhorn.....

Edited by Hookem2147
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12 minutes ago, Spaceman_Spiff said:

Anyone know what happened to Burke?

Don't know the specifics, just that it got to the point where the coaches basically said don't let the door hit you on the way out. They did something similar with a JUCO OF in the fall who was having issues (already forgot the name).

 

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We don't suck again but hopefully we got out our suckiness out the way since we were playing really well down the stretch.  

We have 8.5 days to rest the arms so that certainly shouldn't be an issue.  But $50 says it ends up being an excuse.  Team has overachieved to be sure, but they have a real knack for underperforming as well.  Ah well, let's just hope the regional draw isn't awful and the games are on free TV.  

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Rest won't be an issue or excuse. It will be the lack of quality options to go to in crunch time, which is a result of a combination of injury/underperformance/inconsistency/all the above. For Texas to have a chance they will have to get some superman-like performances from an unexpected source or two. Like Kobe Minchey randomly throwing 3 shutout innings or Duplantier turning back the clock to 2020 or Whitehead getting big outs against lefties.

For a small stretch it was walks that plagued the group, but the reality is we are middle of the pack when it comes to putting guys on base. The bigger issue is just a lack of nasty stuff and commanding the zone. There is a big difference between control and command. Control is just looking at walk numbers and being happy if they are low. Command is setting up pitches and putting the ball where you want it (sink it, cut it, outside corner with the slider to set up the fastball in, etc). People say stuff like "oh just throw strikes and let them hit it" and far too often we have done just that and watched balls sail over the outfielders heads or have stuff crushed into the gaps. Sthele and Morehouse are the hardest throwers in the pen right now at 95-96 but both struggle to command their fastball and locate their breaking balls. Every other bullpen arm is 89-92 with inconsistent breaking balls. You are playing with fire if the ball is always being put in play. Shaw throws 88-90 but has good deception in his delivery and the ball can jump on hitters. Tole might have the best slider on the staff. We are going to really miss them.

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4 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

Is Tole out for certain?

It's an arm issue. Not sure of the severity but for him to be left off the travel roster means they didn't see any way he could be ready to throw this week, which probably means he is questionable for next week at best.

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1 hour ago, UTPhil2006 said:

BA projection has us at a 2 going to 11 Auburn matched up with 6 Clemson for Supers. I’ll take that in a heartbeat 

Also of note @Hookem2147 they have Aggy as a 3 still which is accurate unlike KR. I’ll bet he has them as a 2 when his come out 

What regional they have A&M in? 

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Although Kendall is an A&M homer, I do trust D1baseball's projections a tad more than BA.

Maybe Indiana State can be the last host and we can be sent there. They have a very impressive 2 quad 1 wins on the year and have played 32 games against teams outside the RPI top 100.

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10 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Although Kendall is an A&M homer, I do trust D1baseball's projections a tad more than BA.

Maybe Indiana State can be the last host and we can be sent there. They have a very impressive 2 quad 1 wins on the year and have played 32 games against teams outside the RPI top 100.

No thanks, zero desire to play WF

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5 minutes ago, UTPhil2006 said:

No thanks, zero desire to play WF

Cross that bridge if we come to it. One weekend at a time. I want what gives us the best chance to win now. Eventually you are going to play a really good team if you want to accomplish your goals. Can't run from that.

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13 minutes ago, UTPhil2006 said:

KR has us as a 2 at 6 Stanford

..and Aggy a 2 at 15 Okie St 

I think it's pretty dumb that they don't do it where the best 1-seed gets the worse 2-seed, etc., but I guess "region" is in the name so they try to make it as regionalized as possible without pairing teams from the same conference together.

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I think it's pretty dumb that they don't do it where the best 1-seed gets the worse 2-seed, etc., but I guess "region" is in the name so they try to make it as regionalized as possible without pairing teams from the same conference together.

My ass. That’s just an excuse. If so, shouldn’t a Super Regional be the same?
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22 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

Don't know the specifics, just that it got to the point where the coaches basically said don't let the door hit you on the way out. They did something similar with a JUCO OF in the fall who was having issues (already forgot the name).

 

Good thing we have an abundance of pitchers we can rely on this year.

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6 minutes ago, WBT said:

Good thing we have an abundance of pitchers we can rely on this year.

If the dude was a cancer or not doing things right off the field, then that is his own fault. Seemed like he had some potential but I don't think coaching staffs are jumping for joy having to dismiss contributors during the most important stretch of the season. Again, I don't know the full story but it has to be pretty bad for it to reach this point with the postseason about to begin.

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11 minutes ago, Hook1997 said:

Jesus is it a rats jumping ship situation already?   Wtf does someone enter the portal right before playoffs?  Oh yea he’s seen Moorehouse run out their time after time with terrible results instead of him.  

There was an off-field incident with Burke. 

He started 2 games before his departure. He was in line for a big role.

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2 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

There was an off-field incident with Burke. 

He started 2 games before his departure. He was in line for a big role.

Was it like the drink a beer in the dougout when handed to you incident or worse?  Cause if it was for bs wtf.  I mean his stats say he played in more games than two. 

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12 minutes ago, Hook1997 said:

Was it like the drink a beer in the dougout when handed to you incident or worse?  Cause if it was for bs wtf.  I mean his stats say he played in more games than two. 

It was an off-field incident and he was told he was no longer a part of the program.

He his playing time was increasing right as the incident happened. He had just started two games and was seeing an increased workload/pitch count. I’m sure the coaches weren’t naive to that when the decision was made and I’m gonna take an educated guess the decision isn’t made lightly to dismiss one of the more reliable arms on the team.

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The rhythm of this team may be lining up well. Embarrassing WTF games and series followed by “That’s Texas baseball, hell yeah!” Performances. I didn’t think hosting was any way you slice it but if Texas went on a tear in the Bug 12 tourney, the pattern would suggest bed shitting in the regional.  Now that the bed shitting just occurred maybe the bats come alive and the 1-2 punch of Gordon and LBJ gets us to the regional finals without a lot of heart burn when it’s time for the pen to see action then at that point it’s just lay it all out there. 

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11 minutes ago, troph said:

The rhythm of this team may be lining up well. Embarrassing WTF games and series followed by “That’s Texas baseball, hell yeah!” Performances. I didn’t think hosting was any way you slice it but if Texas went on a tear in the Bug 12 tourney, the pattern would suggest bed shitting in the regional.  Now that the bed shitting just occurred maybe the bats come alive and the 1-2 punch of Gordon and LBJ gets us to the regional finals without a lot of heart burn when it’s time for the pen to see action then at that point it’s just lay it all out there. 

Amen and amen.

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What’s a successful postseason for this team? Obviously Omaha is the goal always and would be great but be realistic with yourself. After the crap we saw in February and at Fullerton, winning a road regional would be pretty satisfying in my mind and I’d let the chips fall where they may in a super. Not where I want this program to be long term but it would feel like a small step in the right direction considering the turnover all over the place after last year.

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