re: Alabama Baseball Thread -RIP 2014/Stacked for 2015?

I think we are going to go to Florida State. I don't want to go to ULL. I don't think we can outscore them , but we are not going to win any regional if we don't play better than we have been.

Noles are hard to beat at home.

That, and there's a good chance that the 3 seed in our bracket will be a tournament champion, meaning they're playing good baseball right now, and we're not.

How many times has Bama played Florida State in the tournament?

@_DCReeves: This is #Alabama’s third straight trip to Tallahassee for NCAA Regional play. 2011, 2013 and 2014. 5th overall.

Personally I still trust Kamplain more than Turnbull right now. I never feel comfortable watching Turnbull because you never know when he's going to lose command and start walking everybody. I just think Kamplain is more consistent. And if we're looking ahead to Saturday, FSU has 4 lefties in their lineup, including 2 of their top 3 hitters. So they're not a typical right-handed heavy lineup.

quote:

---

Think I would pitch Turnbull on Saturday, if we don't win on Saturday we have zero shot to win that regional.

Winning on Friday or losing will be irrelevant.

---

If you don't win Friday AND Saturday, we have almost zero shot. Friday is just as important. Saturday's game doesn't mean a whole lot (just preventing the inevitable if you win) if you fall to the loser's bracket Friday.

Florida State Seminoles (43-15)

21-9 in the ACC, 3rd overall in the league, won the Atlantic Division

Pitching Stats:

Team ERA: 3.02
Opponents BA: .236
K/BB ratio: 420/175

They have 10 pitchers with ERAs under 3.70, so obviously they're deep. Mike Compton (7-2, 3.06)is starting on Friday night which would reason Luke Weaver (8-3, 2.66) would start Saturday. Brandon Leibrandt (4-1, 1.83) is the wild card though. He's been out since late March but will be available in some role this weekend. Their bullpen features 3 guys with ERAs under 2.00, including Jameis Winston (7 saves, 1.17 ERA).

Offensive Stats:

Team BA: .278
OBP: .394
Slugging: .387
Runs Per Game: 6.7

Their batting average, while good, doesn't exactly jump out at you. However their on base percentage is out of this world. That's because they've drawn more walks than any other team in the country. If you've followed our staff lately, you know that's a terrible matchup for our staff. DJ Stewart leads their team in hitting (.348) and homers (7). They only have 4 starters hitting .300 or better, but 9 of the 10 guys who have started 35 games or more have an OBP of .350 or better. That's absurd. They don't run a ton, just 57 stolen bases in 58 games.

Georgia Southern Eagles (39-21)

15-12 in the Southern Conference, won conference tournament, finished t-3rd in regular season

Pitching Stats:

Team ERA: 3.16
Opponents BA: .251
K/BB Ratio: 463/177

They have two starters with ERAs under 2.60. So if we unfortunately fall to the loser's bracket we'll be seeing a good arm on Saturday against them (assuming they lose to FSU). Their long reliever also has an ERA of 1.06. As you might expect, they're not a deep staff.

Offensive Stats:

Team BA: .289
OBP: .372
Slugging: .432
RPG: 6.7

They have just 4 everyday players batting over .300, but have a ridiculous 59 HRs on the year so they can score at any time. They also steal a lot of bases, 88 on the year.

That would be the dream scenario, no doubt. We have to beat Kennesaw and then anything can happen against FSU Saturday. Just have to give ourselves the chance to play in the winner's bracket, which we failed to do last year.

I haven't heard anything on him, but he pitched a couple of innings against MSU so I'd think he should be healthy. We desperately need him to be able start. That whole situation has been kept pretty close to the vest, and frankly it's been a little weird since it suddenly popped up right after his suspension.