I will not make an argument whether or not this is a big loss for the team until I see who the replacement is, but there are some things to consider while analyzing this situation. By no means am I taking anything away from Szefc. He is a college baseball coach, and I am not. But when looking at stats that I believe is essential to our program winning, there was not much improvement during his tenure. We are a mid major school in a mid major conference that must do the little things to be successful. Three stats that I looked at are FLD%, LOB%, and SO%. During Szefc's tenure, our fielding % dropped a little, while our % of runners LOB and % of SO's increased significantly.
Everyone remembers "the play" against Clemson. Does small ball alone win games? No, but it makes things happen. It puts pressure on the defense, and will win games against a dominant pitcher.
Now before you jump my case, remember this is a forum to discuss opinions, and this is mine. Szefc left us for bigger and better things while our program is in the same state as when he arrived.
Good luck at Kansas Coach Szefc. Hopefully we can work out a weekend series year to year.
Now the discussion begins. Who is the replacement going to be?