re: 2022 Diamond Dawgs / 36-23 (15-16) / Season ends in the Chapel Hill Regional

Stricklin is certifiably retarded. We have a closer that only gives up homers, who was pulled after one inning yesterday, that we put in today to close the game out with a lead. mind you the first batter he's facing homered off him yesterday. He proceeds to give up a single, then a homer.

It's time to move on from woods who no longer is "really good but can give up hits now and then when he gets through the lineup" and has moved into "everyone knows what he's gonna throw so hes useless" territory.

Not being an apologist for Stricklin because it’s still a problem of his making, but I don’t think he had much choice but to try Woods. We already threw Wagner, Marsh, and Rokose is only good for a few batters. Gowen was used up yesterday when Woods failed the first time. Ate up our worse arms Friday trying to get through innings.

So the decision to pitch Woods is understandable but it’s because he has nobody else really developed behind Gowen that we can count on: it was supposed to be Woods. Caldwell looked good for a minute. But there’s been some serious regression in our bullpen that was supposed to be a strength this year and that’s in Stricklin and Kenny

To that point in the game we had pitched the following in the weekend:
Crisp (start)
Wagner
Caldwell
Pearson
Cannon (start)
Woods
Gowen (2.2 innings)
Sullivan (start)
Marsh
Rokose
Pearson (again)

Assuming they even made the trip, only other guys would’ve been Bearden, Brown, DeJong, and Willis - none of whom have consistently thrown strikes all season.

Best argument you can make is throw Gowen again and hope 1. He’s effective and 2. Doesn’t hurt himself

Again, the real failure here is that Woods has not advanced beyond what he was last year and has even regressed to a degree. He has 2 pitches which is fine for a midweek starter to go three innings but is absolutely ineffective in middle innings against SEC teams, let alone a closing situation on the road

We will beat UTk at least once.

quote:

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KSU (W)

Vandy (2-1)

at Tennessee (0-3)

Presbyterian (W)

Mizzou (2-1)

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Same prediction I had a week ago, with only taking 1 against LSU....except I see us grabbing 1 against UT

Still puts us hosting a regional...on the bottom end of it

D1Baseball drops us 8 spots to #22 this week.

Seems a bit harsh given that we were 3 outs away from being 3-1 on the week on the road against a ranked opponent

The hard part to gauge is how everyone around us is doing. Other than Tennessee, everyone has been up and down all year. That will determine seeding down the stretch (unfortunately)

It’s a good move. Need his confidence back, even if he’s not what we hoped he would be. He still has strike out ability and good stuff, just not a guy who is going to fool or overwhelm good hitters in a closer situation

Jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st

Woods faced 3 and sat down 3 in the 1st with one K

Coleman Willis faced 6 in the 2nd, coughing up a walk, 3 hits, and 3 runs.

Wagner faced 7 in the 2nd and 3rd, giving up a walk, 4 hits, and 2 runs

Caldwell is now in in the 3rd with bases loaded and 1 out (inherited form Wagner). He hits the first batter he faces and throws a wild pitch to the next, both scoring runs. Add a walk to his tally before Stricklin brings the hook.

Here comes Will Pearson, 5th arm of the game. It’s still bases loaded and 1 out

7-2 KSU in the 3rd

9-7 Dawgs now in the bottom of the 8th.

Rokose and Marsh have paired on the mound in the 7th and 8th. Trying to close out what would be a remarkable come back victory