Baseball at Arkansas, Sat 4/27, approx 5:30 pm EDT

Then no more watching games as they happen for you LOL

 

No you won't.

 

Held Arkansas to their lowest run total at home in a weekend series, and dealt them their second loss at home this season (first in SEC play). All of a sudden our pitching doesn't look so ugly, and very happy to see how we battled throughout. Could we have won the series, maybe. But we're likely not going to be hosting; being able to make progress and stay in the mix for an at-large bid is fine in this regard. Hope we can keep building and work our way towards at least 5 more wins in SEC play, and for @wingtee another midweek win or two. Arkansas is a very good team; no shame in a 1-2 result out there. With any close result, there's going to be "what if" plays involved, that's just part of the game. Keep up the good work, GATORS!

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

I listen to WRUF anyway! lol

 

Wes how is not taking those mid weeks seriously working out for us. ?

 

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Wow. Went 1-2 against Arkansas and moved up to 23 in RPI.

 

Let’s say we’re undefeated in midweek games. 28-15, 9-12. Would you believe we would be on track to host regionals?

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

You don't follow Gator softball?

Game 3 - Sunday at Noon on ESPN2

 

No but wouldnt be sitting near .500 overall, which at this point is UFs only concern IMO. You cant be over .500(pre sect) w/out having enough sec wins(13 w/ sos & rpi) that gets them in. The 2 mid weeks left equal importance to sec left IMo. Could argue more so ,, sec losses wont hurt rpi near as much. Wins are equal(toward overall record).

Gets tricky if enter sect 1 or 2 over .500.. Calll in sick?? lol

 

2 over 500 is OK as first round will be single elimination. Worst they could do is lose the first one and go home or win the first and lose the next two. Either way over. One over is an issue. Then you have to win 2 there.

 

I don't remember that Sully EVER has not taken a game seriously. I'll bet you mean that you don't like the approach of using early season and mid-week games as an opportunity to figure out which position players will perform best and which young pitchers can be relied on in real game situations. It has worked pretty well for the past 15 seasons, but how could Sully have assumed a winning structure would again this year? I have to guess you feel he should have known in advance how slow the rookies in this group would develop, in spite of their generally successful work in the fall and preseason workouts. Rather than stick with a system that has outperformed every team in college baseball for Sully's entire tenure with the Gators, maybe we should have followed the example of JU, Stetson and other mid-major opponents who have put max effort into beating the Gators on Tuesdays in order to get a 3 or 4 seed in a Regional once or twice a decade. Clearly, some Gator fans like their systems better than Sully's.

I enjoyed teams produced by Fuller, Bergman, Rhine, Arnold, Lopez and McMahon that had winning seasons most of the time and even reached Regionals and CWS several times. I liked a lot of those players who gave it their all, but seldom performed better than ANY of Sully's teams. Only a few of those teams performed better then THIS YEAR'S team. I can't criticize any Gator fan who has been spoiled by the program's amazing success under Sully, certainly, I am one of those, but I will assert that the team's weak performance in mid-week games reflects the quality of their play in SEC games, rather than causing it. While hindsight shows losing to StJohns, JU, UCF and Stetson- the other early season and mid-week losses were to a good scUM team and very good noles team- may end up being the difference in making or missing a Regional, I disagree that the coaches should have known in advance that this group was so much different than past teams.

The biggest mistake of fans who consider mid-week losses to be the explanation for the weak season is to think the explanation is such a simple thing. In fact, the true explanation is a complex and difficult list of factors. There's nothing simple about it.

 

^^^^
I agree @TheBoss — you have to put’em in the fire first, or under the lights, or in the spotlight with a full house in the stands. Any way you want to describe it—the pressure of the big stage is all telling.

And again, I agree—every group of athletes is different. Sully’s system of evaluating and developing teams over his tenure has been remarkable. The development of this year’s team has been kinda slow compared to his past teams.

Are we as fans spoiled? Sure we are. The thing I hate to see the most is when fans act like their team embarrasses them. Nobody suffers the failures like the performing players. I’ve been in the dugout and locker room as well as on the field like a lot of you—nothing else in this world hurts like a loss—not to me anyway as a player, coach, or fan.

Any scout who is worth his salt will tell you that they prefer to watch players performing with some adversity going on—it measures the true strengths of a player.

Everyone knows or at least has heard that the game is played during the peaks and valleys of performance. As fans we all enjoy the peak play much more but the valleys are a very real and important part of the game that should be understood.

 

Fair point on overall eligibility. I don't necessarily agree with you on the bold part. I still think it's conceivable (maybe not likely) for FLORIDA to go on a run to at least be in the discussion for hosting. Their biggest obstacle right now is overall SEC record. But the RPI would be there for it. Would probably require no worse than 7-2 finish (that yields a 16-14 SEC record), but even then the question that remains is: has there been too much damage to the overall record? *If* they get to that point, one of the factors that may be taken into consideration would be the return of a player that is crucial to performance (in this case, I'm hoping Coppola is that representation). I recognize it's a lot to ask for, but I don't bang my head against the wall when things don't go as planned/preferred, either. I'd be perfectly fine with traveling to a regional (preferably somewhere in the South), but regardless, a strong finish is all I'm really looking for (including midweeks!).

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

As of this morning UF's RPI is #22, KPI #27.
I gues it's possible we could get in the Top 16 to host a Regional, but considering the number of teams we'd have to jump it's highly unlikely. Our #1 SOS certainly helps, though and we would have to finish VERY strong as you said. I just think getting in the tournament is the main goal at this point.

 

Definitely, but our goals are not mutually exclusive of one another, and I don't think anything would be expected in terms of UF hosting, but the potential is there for an interesting discussion. For what it's worth, Alabama was the 9th best team in the SEC last year and the #16 seed overall when they hosted. Their RPI was 11. If we're able to finish at 16-14 in the SEC and if we don't blow the midweek games, we would be in that 10-14 range for RPI. Even if we finish 16-14 (or better, of course ), and have a top 16 RPI, I don't think it's a given nor should it be expected that we'd host. It's just fun to think about at this point.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

I pitched the last game of Coach Fullers career. Ugh … not so good ! That’s on me

 

Well if youre still thinking hosting at 22-21,, maybe I shouldnt give up at 21-22.. Just need to win out..lol Roughly same odds as UF hosting. Which would also require winning out probably.

 

Bama had 40 wins last year. AU might be a better target, who hosted w/ 34. But T 4th in SEC.. Bama was tied for 6th btw.. which you can stretch to 9th I guess.