re: *2023 ARKANSAS RAZORBACK SEC CHAMPION BASEBALL THREAD - End Season 43-18*

Wegner goes down swinging. 1 on, 1 out.

Diggs strikes out on 3 pitches on a checked swing. 1 on, Hogs down to their last out.

Cali grounds out 6-3.

Final score: 12-1 Bama

Three straight conference losses by a combined 30 runs.

Final pitching stats:

Bama: 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 HR 12 K's
Hogs: 22 H, 12 R, 4 BB, 4 HR, 7 K's

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Three straight conference losses by a combined 30 runs.

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That seems....not good.

I know it won't happen, but I wish DVH would sit Slavens, Bolton, and Cali and see what the freshmen can do. Put Holt at 2B. Shake things up. Something needs to be done.

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He could do it now.

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We're not that lucky

Hobbs sucks and our pitching is absolute dogshit this year, but we're not hitting in SEC play.

Slavens is easing into to his yearly midseason slump. He's 1 for his last 11 with 5 strikeouts (including 3 tonight), and went from hitting to .350 a few weeks ago to flirting with the Mendoza Line.

Stovall has been a bust at the plate with no pop.

None of us want Cali in the lineup, but Coll isn't the answer either (he's 0 for his last 10 in SEC play with 5 strikouts). Cali is a defensive liability.

Bolton doesn't need to play. Ever again.

Rowland is so bad at the plate, but he has to play because Polk is the worst hitter on the team and is a worse defensive catcher.

Outside of the outfielders this lineup stinks.

Updated slash lines (BA / OBP / SLG)

Bohrofen - .405 / .542 / .684
Wegner - .366 / .496 / .796
Diggs - .355 / .495 / .724
Josenberger - .344 / .440 / .563
Stovall - .294 / .369 / .459
Slavens - .261 / .340 / .432
Bolton - .208 / .337 / .250
Rowland - .208 / .317 / .358
Cali - .205 / .352 / .386

At first glance, batting average and slugging percentage fall off a cliff when you get past the outfielders and DH.

SEC rank in offensive categories:
Batting Avg - 8th (.296)
Slugging % - 8th (.523)
On Base % - 8th (.410)
Runs - 7th (221)
Hits - 12th (249)
Walks - 8th (142)
RBI - 6th (211)
HR - T8th (44)
Strikeouts - 6th (205)
Stolen bases - 11th (18)
GIDP - 3rd most (20)

SEC rank in defensive categories:
ERA - 10th (5.05)
Opp BA - 13th (.266)
Strikeouts - last (230)
Strikeouts looking - last (56)
Runs allowed - 10th (140)
Earned runs allowed - 10th (126)
Walks - 7th (100)
Home Runs - T11th (34)
Fielding % - 10th (.976)
Errors - 5th most (22)

Offensively, we’re middle to lower middle in almost every category except for hits (12th) and stolen bases (11th).

Defensively…woof. Bottom 5 in every category except for walks allowed, dead last in strikeouts, and second highest opposing BA.

I've said this before but baseball is a long season where a lot of weird turns happen, so it's not time to panic. Remember, Ole Miss started falling off a cliff around this time last year (coincidentally they began conference play against Auburn and then ran into a buzzsaw against the #1 team in the country), ended up a 3 seed in the Coral Gables Regional, and then morphed into the '27 Yankees.

Anything is possible, but DVH needs to do a few things:
- figure out the left side of the infield and stop trotting Bolton and Cali out there together
- figure out what to do with Slavens, who's regressed significantly at the plate now that the scouting report is out that he'll swing at literally anything low and away
- figure out the rotation (Hagen needs to be a starter)
- identify who from the bullpen can step up
- squeeze something offensively out of the infield. Slavens, Bolton, and Cali have a combined .230 BA, 4 homers, 54 strikeouts, and account for 9 of our starting lineup's 13 errors in the field (Bolton and Cali have all 9 of them). We already have an automatic out with Rowland but he has to play since there's no other option behind him, so we can't afford more of them in our feast-or-famine lineup.

Biggest red flag stat of them all for this team -- we have yet to lose a game by less than 9 runs. When we lose, we get blown the F out.