Needed this week to get some of our pitching numbers back into respectable territory. WHIP, K/BB, ERA were a bit high for what we're used to. A lot of numbers are still getting to where we want but cleaning up walks is the biggest factor lately. After losing our 3rd game in a row in game 10 (Sat vs Campbell) we've since averaged 2.9 walks per game and gone 8-2.
From game 10 to game 20:
WHIP went from 1.568 to 1.328
ERA went from 4.70 to 4.17
K/BB went from 1.37 to 1.92
BB/9 went from 6.14 to 4.53
Offensively, its been the same. Numbers have trended the right directly over this 10 game span (G10 to G20):
AVG from .271 to .288
SLG from .403 to .441
OBP from .381 to .391
OPS from .784 to .831
Stolen bases 19 in first 10 games, 42 in second 10 games
Comparing the last 15 seasons (excl. 2020) at this point (20g), we're at:
Most SB (61, next closest is 48 in 2010)
T-3rd most Doubles (only 1 behind 2011 & 2015, as many as 2014)
2nd most RBI (behind just 2014)
4th most runs (2010, 2014, 2013)
2nd most walks (2009)
4th in OBP (2014, 2013, 2010)
3rd in OPS (2014, 2013)
3rd best record (2014, 2013)
Good stuff wcd35
Thanks
Either way, there's very little competition from the rest of the conference this week. D1 Baseball does the stat roundup and on Sunday they have the top graded on the week. The flaw of this is they do by game, so Rawls gets discounted, but Nezuh had the 9th best outing in the nation and Hammond had the 24th. They do put a lot of emphasis on IP, so its skewed heavily towards starters, but still impressive. No other SBC pitchers in the top 50
Glad you put that together. I was looking at the game by game numbers and definitely noticed the difference in free passes allowed (walks and HBP) from the first 10 games to the next 10.
Hits and runs have also improved (as your stats show). Team is trending in the right direction.
Wednesday game should be a good one. SLU is off to a pretty good start as well.
The reason SLU doesn't make a regional as much as you would think, has nothing to do with talent and more to do with the fact that they play in a 1 bid league and it got worse over the last couple of years.
The Southland is 19th in conference RPI right now out of 30 conferences. This is a conference that in the last couple of years has lost Sam Houston, Abilene Christian, Central Arkansas and Stephen F Austin and has only added Texas A&M Commerce who does not play baseball.
SLU is consistently in the top half of the Southland, but like the SBC in basketball it boils down to winning the conference tournament for Southland teams and anything can and does happen in the conference tournaments.
For instance SLU made the tournament last year with one of their weaker teams that finished 30-31, while the 2021 team that was a fairly good one missed the NCAA's because they lost in the conference tournament.
We are lucky to have had such a great baseball conference with multiple bids annually and we only got better by adding ODU and JMU specifically but Marshall and JMU as well.
SLU will not be an easy out, they have talent on this team. While they may not be as deep as most teams in the SBC, they have some top end talent that can compete on a day to day basis with the Belt's middle of the pack teams. This team is hitting .265 and has 4 regular starters hitting over .295 and 3 of them are over .300. They have a 4.74 ERA, chances are we will see Jay Long on Wednesday night, he has been their usual midweek starter and has been pretty good. He is 1-2 with a 4.08 ERA in 4 starts. 3 of his 4 starts have been good. vs Lafayette he went 4.1 innings giving up 4 hits and 2 runs, only 1 ER, then he had a bad outing vs St. Johns where he gave up 6 hits and 5 ER in 3.1 innings as well as 2 walks, but he followed that up with a 5 inning performance vs Alabama A&M with 1 hit and 0 hits and then 5 innings vs Southern Miss with 6 hits and only 2 runs. His biggest problem has been the walks, he has given up 11 walks vs 16 K's this year.
They will be a well coached team from Matt Riser, one of the best in the business, they also are pretty good defensively with a team fielding % of .971.
We will have to play a pretty solid game vs them on Wednesday night.
Idk if Deggs has turned everything pitching wise over to Thib but i do like how they have managed them so far. Seems to be a little less knee jerk reaction as far as game management is concerned. Ive been fairly critical up to this point about pitching since Deggs took over as HC. It still has some improving to do but i think we can win with most of these guys.
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