2024 Baseball Mega Thread

[Stonewall]

We had the hitting and fielding we needed to keep playing. The best in my memory , top to bottom. On the mound we weren’t close to having what it takes to compete for a championship or an at large bid. Middle of the pack pitching might have gotten us to a regional given our lineup . Might have gotten us to Sunday in Montgomery.We were last or next to last through the season in ERA . Not going anywhere. Next year is a major rebuild, top to bottom and we don’t dodge Southern Miss and Louisiana . These past two seasons were good by our historic standards. Guys like Tolley don’t come around often. Should have been player of the year. Anyway it takes the right mix of hitting , fielding and pitching to advance and we didn’t have it , but if Meatloaf is your dish , “two out of three ain’t bad.” It’s just not enough.My opinion.

[311neers]

This year further solidifies that we can be an offensive powerhouse in the portal.
Look at all our portal bat additions: ASL, Boyd, Tolley, Holderbach, Moronta, Gillespie last year etc.
We can sell that to hitters.
Not sure how we sell the thin, cool mountain air, flying out to left ballpark to pitchers though…that’s the difficult part. Maybe play off Xander and Steensma success and keep talking up the pitching lab.

[BambooRdApp]

The portal additions mentioned above were over several years. If all have used eligibility, except ASL and Steensma and they stay, there are still quite a few holes to fill compared to just needing a few a year.....and we (or most programs) do not get a Tolley every year. May get good players..but cannot expect Tolley like player every year in Portal.
Also losing a slew of pitchers but appear to have a few young ones that could fill roles. If the lefty can give more innings and be that effective...with Steensma ...have two of 3 starters..feel like not having a solid lefty starter hurt us dearly this year.
The JC and Portal route will be probably more important this year for Coach Smith than historically as only needed a few each year in the past.
Coach Smith seems to be building a destination for good players that want playing time. Hopefully he and rest of coaching staff are successful in recruiting experienced players.

[311neers]

Coastal and JMU are in as 3 seeds. Bubble treating the SBC well.
Southern Miss a 2 seed.

Waiting on UL… Troy?

[AppinVA]

Four in. Louisiana in the aTm regional.

[311neers]

Committee chair (Coastal AD, shocker they got in) says bubble teams came down to strength of schedule. 2 of those being Sun Belt teams (JMU and Coastal). We’ve got to play a P5 for a weekend series every year and mix in solid regional midweeks.

They’ll expand the tournament as baseball continues to grow. Too many good teams left out. Better opportunity for us!

[BambooRdApp]

So Miss in Tenn regional and Coastal and JMU going to higher seeded team regional makes no sense

[311neers]

So Miss in Tenn regional and Coastal and JMU going to higher seeded team regional makes no sense

That’s a tough slot for Southern Miss but they’re a 2 seed.
JMU/Coastal are 3’s and will face a tough USCjr/Vandy before even playing the 1 seed.

[ah59396]

Committee chair (Coastal AD, shocker they got in) says bubble teams came down to strength of schedule. 2 of those being Sun Belt teams (JMU and Coastal). We’ve got to play a P5 for a weekend series every year and mix in solid regional midweeks.

They’ll expand the tournament as baseball continues to grow. Too many good teams left out. Better opportunity for us!

I hope they don’t expand it. It should be hard to get in. If we want to be there, we need to earn it. Luckily Kermit’s done a fantastic job putting us on that trajectory.

[Stonewall]

Taking three of four from Coastal was the highlight of the season I suppose. I laughed though when I read the comments about Southern Georgia. When’s the last time we took a series from them ? We’ve got no standing to throw shade at them the way they smoked us on Senior Day.

[311neers]

We signed 11 recruits in the fall for 2024-2025 class.
A little too early to tell, but with attrition and guys running out of eligibility, we should have a few portal scholarships to offer in the summer.

[311neers]

Wofford small ball makes you smile. Up on LSU in the 6th.
Coastal crushing Vandy- does that mean we’re better than Vandy? I think so.

[BUTCH1991]

So Miss getting whipped by Indiana, 7-0

[AppFan11]

Sunbelt took it on the chin yesterday losing 3/4 games and the weakest representative from the conference won big… CC…. that’s baseball. Hopefully we’ll see some wins coming. ULL didn’t use their number 1…..

[311neers]

Have our exit interviews been completed? Any idea where we stand portal wise?
Seems like some have posted they’re returning but haven’t seen a portal yet.

[AppSt94]

Have our exit interviews been completed? Any idea where we stand portal wise?
Seems like some have posted they’re returning but haven’t seen a portal yet.

The official portal is private and exclusive to NCAA coaches. I believe that there is a portal behind the paywall at D1Baseball.com, but like the one on 24/7, it’s likely only reliable to what is reported publicly.

[311neers]

Wilder, Tolley, CJ Boyd, Moronta, & Holderbach are gone. Good chance St Laurent is gone. Chirico, Wilson, Laspaluto,Tut, Tujetsch,Welch & Sleeper for sure. Plus, we'll have to find some NIL to have any chance of keeping Steensma.

Our lineup would do damage in the tourney. It’s a shame we couldn’t find 1 more starting arm and a stud reliever to help this year. (Really we’re just Xander and Brooks away) We were very close. Interesting that Brooks wasn’t on the roster at the end of the year but was to start it in February.

[BambooRdApp]

In the early games, SBC bouncing back so far with JMU and So. Miss winning thus far.

[Tru2ASU]

High Point beats Vanderbilt.

[AppinVA]

ECU sends Wake packing.

Before the sham NIT game, I would’ve pulled for Wake. No more.