First, Friday was such a long day at the ballpark... lot of fun, but with the long game and quick turnaround, I didn't have much a chance to write anything about the W Friday... Needless to say, though, at the time that rain delay hit, the odds of us winning the series were pretty slim... it's weird, Friday was like two different games, and it was really like two different series on each side of that rain delay.
-Overall, this series reminded me a lot of when we played Arkansas here in 2009. That year, we had walk-off wins on Friday and Saturday... Matt Cierone was the hero both times. We lost Sunday, but had a chance to win it in our last AB, again with Cierone. It was really fun to watch because it was so even, so close... just two really good teams going at it. I saw every inning this weekend, and I'm hard pressed to recall a series recently that I've enjoyed more... maybe Florida State in 2015. That, to me, was what SEC baseball was all about... I'll tell you too, on Keegan's throw to end the game, I haven't gotten that fired up in that stadium in quite awhile.
-Kevin Smith was just terrific. He's our best guy right now... and it didn't seem like we'd be saying at the start of the year. I like seeing that. It was the same case with Heath Holder in 2016.... both guys struggled a little bit early, lost their spot in the rotation, and then came back and caught on fire. Like we saw with Heath down the stretch in '16, Kevin was just in control today. He'd give up a hit, no big deal... you just love that combination of talent and confidence.
-To that end, when the regional starts, Kevin Smith needs to get the ball in game two... that'll either be to put us in the championship game or (and hopefully not) keep our season alive. But he needs to get the baseball in that game. I'd like to see Emerson Hancock go in game one and have Chase Adkins start game three.
-All the seniors that were recognized today had huge contributions over the course of the weekend. That was cool. Mitchell Webb, Tray Logan, and Keegan McGovern were all part of the first signing class that Stricklin had... we had a lot of attrition from it, but those three stuck around and have all had some big moments this season in general, and this series in particular. That was really neat.
-Coming into the series, and really until the rain delay yesterday, I thought that Michael Curry was scuffling a little bit. Safe to say he's feeling good now. What a bomb that was to put us ahead today... I can appreciate that too. It's one thing to hit them out when the game is already decided, it's another to do that in such a big spot.
-I was surprised that we didn't finish the game with Tony Locey. I don't know how many pitches he threw on Thursday, but I thought he could go another inning. I still can't believe they had a guy at 3rd base with no outs in the 9th and we still put up a zero. Think about how realistic that felt when Webb was 2-1 on Shaddy and missing his spots so badly.... I'll give Ryan credit for calming down and making the pitches that he needed to. The K of Shaddy was HUGE in that whole sequence...
-I was also surprised that they ran from 3rd in the 9th. I can respect the aggression, but Keegan hosed one of their runners on Thursday night by about 5 feet, maybe more... so it's not like his arm was any kind of mystery. And he was moving toward the plate when he caught it today... It was weird watching it, because I really thought that Kjerstad was just going to bluff and maybe see if the throw was wild.... so I'm watching it and it's almost like I couldn't believe that he just kept coming. But what a throw from Keegan and what a job by Austin Biggar to catch it and make the tag.... what a moment too.... I mean, it's hard to think of a more fitting way to end this regular season.
-I think today locked up a national seed for us. I don't think that Arkansas is going to get one, a top 8 I mean. I think Florida will and I think we will. Ole Miss may... but I don't see the SEC getting four of the top eight, and I don't see Arkansas getting one over us or Ole Miss. Today was one of those weird days where there was a huge reward for the winner and not a great deal of downside for the loser.
-Arkansas is really good and they should be in Omaha. They need to clean up some things defensively, and I suspect that getting Jax Biggers back (assuming he comes back) will help. Those guys really swing and the bats and they really pitch. Definitely the best team we saw in Athens this season and that's definitely our best series win. That's the other thing too... as good as this season has been, if we'd lost this series, what would our best series win have been? In that case, it'd be South Carolina, but I think we all recognize that we got them at a good time. Texas A&M never quite got on track this season. May sound silly, but I really wanted us to have a really good series win to point to, and we got it today.
-Lastly, Darrel Arnold is a pitcher's umpire, isn't he? He wasn't perfectly consistent, but he had a big strike zone all day and I think everyone recognized that. I can appreciate that too. Nobody wants to see a bunch of walks.
-What a great day and great weekend. Can't wait to be back in 13 days!!
-Overall, this series reminded me a lot of when we played Arkansas here in 2009. That year, we had walk-off wins on Friday and Saturday... Matt Cierone was the hero both times. We lost Sunday, but had a chance to win it in our last AB, again with Cierone. It was really fun to watch because it was so even, so close... just two really good teams going at it. I saw every inning this weekend, and I'm hard pressed to recall a series recently that I've enjoyed more... maybe Florida State in 2015. That, to me, was what SEC baseball was all about... I'll tell you too, on Keegan's throw to end the game, I haven't gotten that fired up in that stadium in quite awhile.
-Kevin Smith was just terrific. He's our best guy right now... and it didn't seem like we'd be saying at the start of the year. I like seeing that. It was the same case with Heath Holder in 2016.... both guys struggled a little bit early, lost their spot in the rotation, and then came back and caught on fire. Like we saw with Heath down the stretch in '16, Kevin was just in control today. He'd give up a hit, no big deal... you just love that combination of talent and confidence.
-To that end, when the regional starts, Kevin Smith needs to get the ball in game two... that'll either be to put us in the championship game or (and hopefully not) keep our season alive. But he needs to get the baseball in that game. I'd like to see Emerson Hancock go in game one and have Chase Adkins start game three.
-All the seniors that were recognized today had huge contributions over the course of the weekend. That was cool. Mitchell Webb, Tray Logan, and Keegan McGovern were all part of the first signing class that Stricklin had... we had a lot of attrition from it, but those three stuck around and have all had some big moments this season in general, and this series in particular. That was really neat.
-Coming into the series, and really until the rain delay yesterday, I thought that Michael Curry was scuffling a little bit. Safe to say he's feeling good now. What a bomb that was to put us ahead today... I can appreciate that too. It's one thing to hit them out when the game is already decided, it's another to do that in such a big spot.
-I was surprised that we didn't finish the game with Tony Locey. I don't know how many pitches he threw on Thursday, but I thought he could go another inning. I still can't believe they had a guy at 3rd base with no outs in the 9th and we still put up a zero. Think about how realistic that felt when Webb was 2-1 on Shaddy and missing his spots so badly.... I'll give Ryan credit for calming down and making the pitches that he needed to. The K of Shaddy was HUGE in that whole sequence...
-I was also surprised that they ran from 3rd in the 9th. I can respect the aggression, but Keegan hosed one of their runners on Thursday night by about 5 feet, maybe more... so it's not like his arm was any kind of mystery. And he was moving toward the plate when he caught it today... It was weird watching it, because I really thought that Kjerstad was just going to bluff and maybe see if the throw was wild.... so I'm watching it and it's almost like I couldn't believe that he just kept coming. But what a throw from Keegan and what a job by Austin Biggar to catch it and make the tag.... what a moment too.... I mean, it's hard to think of a more fitting way to end this regular season.
-I think today locked up a national seed for us. I don't think that Arkansas is going to get one, a top 8 I mean. I think Florida will and I think we will. Ole Miss may... but I don't see the SEC getting four of the top eight, and I don't see Arkansas getting one over us or Ole Miss. Today was one of those weird days where there was a huge reward for the winner and not a great deal of downside for the loser.
-Arkansas is really good and they should be in Omaha. They need to clean up some things defensively, and I suspect that getting Jax Biggers back (assuming he comes back) will help. Those guys really swing and the bats and they really pitch. Definitely the best team we saw in Athens this season and that's definitely our best series win. That's the other thing too... as good as this season has been, if we'd lost this series, what would our best series win have been? In that case, it'd be South Carolina, but I think we all recognize that we got them at a good time. Texas A&M never quite got on track this season. May sound silly, but I really wanted us to have a really good series win to point to, and we got it today.
-Lastly, Darrel Arnold is a pitcher's umpire, isn't he? He wasn't perfectly consistent, but he had a big strike zone all day and I think everyone recognized that. I can appreciate that too. Nobody wants to see a bunch of walks.
-What a great day and great weekend. Can't wait to be back in 13 days!!
