marathon

Freeman is not only a good hitter but he provides a ton of lineup versatility/flexibility. He can play OF, INF and C if necessary. Those types of players are hard to find. Ashton Larson may not provide the same power as Moroknek but Larson was very good as a freshman in the SEC. He was injured for a portion of this season. Grubbs, Luke Harrison and Riojas are returning. And some talented freshman pitchers will be here to compete. Aiden Robbins has been good in the Cape Cod league so far. Hitting around .300 with 4 HR, 6 doubles and a triple. Larson and Robbins were both selected for the Cape Cod All-Star game (Saturday, July 19th)

Don’t disagree but when politicians (whichever party) inject themselves into the middle of our sport it makes it more difficult.

Probably just me but was he recruited to the portal? Let’s see where he ends up. LSU, Ark and Tenn are looking for pitchers. Other teams are probably looking also. It’s possible it was mutual but the timing seems odd. Plus the mods were caught off guard.

Hard to know but you are probably right. Moffett has looked good in summer league but started on Tuesday and only made it thru one inning. He threw 36 pitches (19 for strikes) and gave up 2 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks. His inning: Walk, stolen base Single, run scores Stolen base Single Strikeout Sac fly, run scores Walk Strikeout

DP

Oliver Service entered the portal in early June IIRC. I am too lazy to look it up though…lol

They “might” look for another pitcher. They like the pitchers they just signed but we may have to sweat out the draft on some of them. Aiden Moffett has also looked good in summer league in relief. 4 appearances, 5.1 innings pitched, 1.69 ERA, allowed one hit with 10 K’s and 3 BB. Here is Moffett from a few days ago.

In 2025 he hit .348, with 17 HR, 53 RBIs, 13 doubles, 34 BB, 40 SO, and a OPS of 1.251

Some of you guys are aholes. We need help at SS and Schloss wanted him. Not a power hitter but he hit 330, had 11 doubles, 2 triples, one HR and 6 sacrifice flies. You live and die in the portal when you get commitments from top shortstops in the country that get drafted as a top 10-15 overall MLB draft pick. They rarely make it to campus. In 2024 Bryce Rainer (SS) was selected 11th overall. This year our infield commitments are SS Kayson Cunningham (projected top 10-15 MLB draft pick) and 3B Gavin Fien (projected top 20 to 25 overall).

I hope they pick up next year where they left off. This season Freeman was the NCAA leader with 28 doubles. While hitting .422 Robbins had 5 triples and 20 stolen bases and didn’t make an error all season. The HR totals from Livingston, Moroknek and Freeman are impressive. I hope they translate against SEC pitching.

Luke Dotson (P) lefthander, from Miss St 2025 stats 3.09 ERA, 23.1 innings pitched, 34 SO, 12 BB Josh Livingston (1B/3B) bats left, from Wichita St 2025 stats, 56 games, .284 batting ave, 15 HR, 10 doubles, 48 RBI’s, .958 OPS, 55 SO, 28 BB, 16 HBP Jack Moroknek (OF) bats left, from Butler 2025 stats, 54 games, .372 batting ave, 18 HR, 16 doubles, 57 RBI’s, 1.145 OPS, 41 SO, 26 BB Kaleb Freeman (OF/2B) bats both, from Georgia St 2025 stats, 56 games, .349 batting ave, 16 HR, 28 doubles, 46 RBI’s, 1.236 OPS, 48 SO, 56 BB Aiden Robbins (OF) bats right, from Seton Hall 2025 stats, 53 games, .422 batting ave, 6 HR, 19 doubles, 5 triples, 38 RBI’s, 1.189 OPS, 32 SO, 44 BB I used OPS because it combines on base plus slugging percentage. A higher OPS shows a better picture of how productive they are offensively.

Summer ball. Diving catch by Winfield.

Agree. This team has exceeded my expectations especially with the injuries.

This team has over achieved but they struggled down the stretch. We lost 7 of the last 10 SEC games including the SEC tournament loss. Going into post season on a downward trend is never ideal. Losing Spencer and Belyeu was huge and Belyeu is still trying to get his timing back. Plus the injury to Mendoza was also critical. His defense is sorely missed. Those are 3 key players and this team doesn’t have enough depth. The baseball gods are cruel. We won a lot of close games this season. You can win 12 of 15 and feel invincible and then turn around and lose 8 of 10 and think you will never win again. Let’s see what happens today…you never know.

Blake, we have had 3 players with 4 hits in a game this season. Want to guess who the are? Belyeu has done it twice. Rodriguez has one 4 hit game. The other player with a 4 hit game this season is Easton Winfield (the last game he started). Winfield started the season poorly but in his last 4 starts against HCU, Kentucky, UTRGV and Prairie View he was 6 for 10, 3 walks, 7 runs scored, 4 RBI’s and a home run. Apparently that was too much offense for Schloss and he buried Winfield on the bench. Winfield hasn’t started a game since the 4 hit night. He has pinch hit 4 times and has one AB since the Arkansas series. At ULM last season, Winfield started 53 games, hit .332, with 10 HR, 3 triples, 8 doubles, 40 RBI’s and 18 stolen bases. When Belyeu was injured that was the perfect time to give Winfield more extended playing time and see what he was capable of.

For good vibes, here is Craig Way’s call of the 3 HR by Belyeu last night.

Maybe Volantis since he threw almost 50 pitches last night unless Schloss needs an out. Riojas struggled his last 2 outings. He lasted 1/3 of an inning last weekend. Grubbs threw twice last weekend but unless they are injured I imagine they will both be used this weekend. Otherwise they will have 2 weeks off before the SEC tournament and pitchers are conditioned to pitch each week and like routine. They may be on a pitch count but I think they will both pitch against OU. Plus Blake said Rojas is scheduled to start today.