I focused on Nikhazy obviously yesterday, but that was a really good offensive day as far as approach. That's a little bit of a duh statement with 17 hits and six of the extra base variety, but the early Gonzalez walks were important against Bednar. And the early runs had to free Doug up a little bit.
McCants is showing more offensive maturity by the week; I'll take all the stock I can buy of his right now. I don't know what position he's going to play, but he's going to hit during his career here. He's a freshman so there will be some rough moments, but man he's learning and adapting and really showing good progress at the plate.
Baker and Van Cleve had better approaches yesterday. I really liked how Van Cleve took the ball the other way, and Baker seems calmer. Velocity still gives him issues a lot, but the timing is better, and he's not overswinging. Confidence can help with that.
The more I hear about SI joint pain, the more credit to Justin Bench. A few doctors are stunned he's playing through this.
Today's game is pretty important for postseason positioning. The thread below goes into detail about the gaudy records at the top of the league, and Ole Miss has to stay in that community. Plus it needs another bullet series win to go with the sweep in Arlington. Today would definitely count as that. A loss and it's not like all is lost, but the resume isn't as good in the company its keeping if we're having a top-8 seed conversation. Tennessee, Arkansas and Vandy feel like national seeds at the moment. Tennessee has a cake schedule and could really put a number up these next two or three weeks. Ole Miss needs to make sure it has a case better than State and Florida. Tennessee may come down to earth with a closing schedule of Arkansas and at Carolina, but the host sites will be decided before then, so Knoxville may be chosen even if they go 1-5 or 2-4 down the stretch.
Vandy plays State and Florida the next two weeks, so some of this will sort itself if Ole Miss will just take care of business. There will be 21 games played in the SEC when host sites are determined. Ole Miss needs to be no worse than 13-8 in my opinion. They are 9-5 right now. The Rebels' RPI is 13. It's still a touch early because there are RPI abnormalities, but it's starting to come into focus. The Rebels need to make hay with LSU and Carolina the next two weeks. The Tigers are plain bad when Marceaux isn't pitching, and Carolina isn't the same team away from home. However, USC's RPI is currently 11.
McCants is showing more offensive maturity by the week; I'll take all the stock I can buy of his right now. I don't know what position he's going to play, but he's going to hit during his career here. He's a freshman so there will be some rough moments, but man he's learning and adapting and really showing good progress at the plate.
Baker and Van Cleve had better approaches yesterday. I really liked how Van Cleve took the ball the other way, and Baker seems calmer. Velocity still gives him issues a lot, but the timing is better, and he's not overswinging. Confidence can help with that.
The more I hear about SI joint pain, the more credit to Justin Bench. A few doctors are stunned he's playing through this.
Today's game is pretty important for postseason positioning. The thread below goes into detail about the gaudy records at the top of the league, and Ole Miss has to stay in that community. Plus it needs another bullet series win to go with the sweep in Arlington. Today would definitely count as that. A loss and it's not like all is lost, but the resume isn't as good in the company its keeping if we're having a top-8 seed conversation. Tennessee, Arkansas and Vandy feel like national seeds at the moment. Tennessee has a cake schedule and could really put a number up these next two or three weeks. Ole Miss needs to make sure it has a case better than State and Florida. Tennessee may come down to earth with a closing schedule of Arkansas and at Carolina, but the host sites will be decided before then, so Knoxville may be chosen even if they go 1-5 or 2-4 down the stretch.
Vandy plays State and Florida the next two weeks, so some of this will sort itself if Ole Miss will just take care of business. There will be 21 games played in the SEC when host sites are determined. Ole Miss needs to be no worse than 13-8 in my opinion. They are 9-5 right now. The Rebels' RPI is 13. It's still a touch early because there are RPI abnormalities, but it's starting to come into focus. The Rebels need to make hay with LSU and Carolina the next two weeks. The Tigers are plain bad when Marceaux isn't pitching, and Carolina isn't the same team away from home. However, USC's RPI is currently 11.
