AZ Longhorn

Alright, third time through. Time to put up a crooked number!

Big spot for his Horns debut!!

Alright, left him in for the matchup with the lefty. Now making a move.

Sharp leadoff single from the 8 hole, walks the 9 hole. Please don't leave Harrison out there for a third time through the heart of the order... they've already been all over him.

Can't wait for Jonah to be fully healthy (stop me if you've heard this one before lol) to see his speed put pressure on defenses. In these two games so far, there have been a couple ground balls I'd have loved to see him leg out, speed up the defensive clocks, and either steal a baserunner outright or force mistakes

Three batters, two more barrels. But somehow no baserunners. This ain't for the faint of heart!

We're lucky they only have 1. With how deep our staff is, and since we didn't have to use anybody critical yesterday, and with Volantis tomorrow... I need me some Grubbs and Burns asap!

What a play by Robbins! More barrels, though.

Harrison not missing many bats or barrels. Good swings against him, comfortable at bats. Let's hope he dials in the command or eventually they'll break through.

Four batters, three barrels for MSU.

It's just the rules of the baseball gods. If you hit the 8 hole, with 2 strikes, to lead off the inning, that guy is scoring

Riojas is dialed!! Love the aggressive approach against the bottom half of the order

*edit - i was wrong lol

Big time! Not only a sharp start after last weeks not-so-sharp start, but there's a big dropoff in danger after their 2-3-4, and they won't be up again for a while!

I like your thinking. Unfortunately, for non-con, as Jeff said above the default is for run rule in effect, so it takes the opposing coach to agree to remove it as well. And it would be understandable that the red meat we bring in might not agree to overriding the run rule. But we can't control their decision—I just wish Jim would make it clear that from our side we always want to play 9.

I'm excited for this weekend. A step up in competition (including UTRGV on Tuesday). What I'm hoping for: Mostly, more of the same! A great start. Better 1st and 2nd innings. Cleaner defense. (Bunt defense, quicker turns on double plays, better tracking of fly balls) Borba and Livingston starting to produce, or else I'll be hoping for a batting order change. Tinney is a golden spikes watchlist guy, and we've seen what he can do when he gets pitches to hit. Have to find a way to punish teams if they try to avoid him like UCD did. The Jonah wildcard, obviously. Getting to know the depth better—please no run rules. Ideally Crossland, Leffew, Walls, and McKernan all get some outs. For LF - more Monsour, hopefully a look at Pendergrass, maybe even Ermis? And for 1B/DH - hopefully more Ermis, and maybe another AB or two for Courville. Exciting stuff! Hook em!

Fantastic stuff, @Jeff Howe, thank you! On the run rule: can you clarify whether, in non-con play, the run rule is the default (and both coaches have to agree to change that and play all 9) or vice versa? (Either way, I don't understand Jim talking about it in terms of choosing "the recommendation from our conference." Don't offload responsibility for that decision. That's a choice, and your duty is to your team and university, not to a conference's non-binding "recommendation" smh. That justification shouldn't fly—ever, but especially not when the run rule has been all downside for us (1) this early in the season and (2) with this deep a staff we need to get to know.) On a different note, so relieved to hear Pack is fine. Obviously it started as a transient cramp, but I was worried he injured himself by trying to play through it and taking swings. Whew!

Yeah, from personal experience, the schloss quote had me thinking hamstring (again). Weird how "Ft Knox" everyone is being about it. Thanks for posting the update though! Jonah is the biggest wildcard for this team's ceiling, and anything is better than nothing for inquiring minds who want to know wtf is up 😆

No question. Elite physical tools, elite makeup, elite bloodlines (his brother Nick was a longtime MLB vet who now runs a training facility for pros in the offseason... Jonah has grown up around big leaguers), tantalizing production as a freshman in the SEC without the same level of investment other guys put in... Absolutely first-round potential. Potential being the operative word for the whole frustrating Jonah-in-Austin experience so far.

Ehh, you don't gain 11 pounds of muscle in 4-5 weeks, if that's what you mean. (Without... "chemical assistance" at least).

Thanks for the update. What was the injury?

Wow! Didn't know Robbins has that kind of pop!!

Looking better and better. 48 pitches through 3 IP is not bad for how it started. Any idea of a pitch count number for Riojas today?

96-97, with life, and commanding it to the top of the zone. That's an impressive weapon. Only thing he has going right now tho. No feel for any other pitch (or even location of the fb elsewhere)

This has been simple for a while. Consider us the 35-40th best team in the nation (a lot of advanced ratings have us around there). That itself is close to getting in at large. Not a lock, admittedly. But close. What is a lock is getting to 9 SEC wins (and even 8 is 50/50 odds IMO, projecting from where we are now) If we just play to "chalk" the rest of the season against those rankings, we get there easy. We have shown the ability to "play down" and that Miss St. loss still hurts, but we also have the ability to "play up" and beat almost anybody (except Florida IMO). So call it a wash if we lose one we shouldn't and win one we shouldn't. A LOT of evidence at this point says we are between 35-40 nationally... just be who we are — a frustrating but tantalizing team who averages out to around 35-40th in the nation — and beat who we're supposed to beat on the rest of our schedule (according to those advanced rankings) and we get to the magic number of SEC wins to get that tourney bid. Since about 4-5 weeks ago, when the rankings really started to stabilize and we've gotten to know who the rest of our scheduled teams are, I haven't understood the doom and gloom that says we won't make the tournament. I'm 75% sure we will🤘