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Wish I could offer more commentary. Work obligations precluded me from listening to most of the game. I picked it up around the end of the 6th and listened the rest of the way. I was down in Macon today and drove back home to Jefferson. I take 129 the whole way whenever I go to Macon. It’s a lot of farm land and never very much traffic. Just so pleasant doing that and listening to Dave and Jeff on the radio (or, app).

Anyway… from what I heard and read, what a weird game. 9 runs on 4 hits.. but all extra base hits. You remember last year how we just didn’t steal bases at all, didn’t even try, and then that one Sunday afternoon, I think against Alabama, we just started stealing left and right? That’s kinda what Burnett’s day made me think about. Almost like “ok, we are just going to do this now.”

And then all the walks and three more HBPs… I think 11 total between those two. It’s got to be such a headache pitching to us. We hit all the HRs last year, but we also just a tough team to get out. How do you score 9 runs on 4 hits? I guess that’s how!

Was a bit surprised to see Slate Alford at 3b, but it sounded like he did a nice job over there. I think the reality is that for pro ball, he’s going to have to play a position, just to show that he can. I was thinking about that somewhere in Morgan County earlier today.. I was wrong to just assume that he’d slot into a DH only this year. And he might ultimately, but it’s certainly better for him to play a position.

3 of our first 4 hitters today were transfers. It’s just crazy how much it’s changed.

I didn’t have Paul Fairley on my bingo card for today. Was surprised he went as deep as he did. I don’t remember hearing his name a whole lot in the lead up to this season. That guy has to feel like a million dollars right now. He got his opportunity and he made the most of it. And then Zach Harris too. Got his number called and was ready to go.

So Harris has started two games in a row. I sat here for awhile trying to think of a guy who started the final game of the season in the postseason, and then Opening Day the next year. I really can’t come up with one.

I also don’t know that we’ve ever played our first two games of the season at noon and 10am.

Hopefully tomorrow isn’t as windy. Will be a long day at the park, but we’ve obviously got a lot of bullets in our bullpen. Can’t wait to see how we line it up and I’m really pulling for Charlie Goldstein to have a strong start (I assume the plan is still for him to 1).

Last thing I’ll say is this. Two years ago we opened up at home against a Jacksonville State team that had a losing record the prior year. They beat us. We didn’t hit much and gave up too many HRs. It was just one game, etc, but you could see there were some holes and it was hard to be very optimistic. Last year we opened with UNC Ashville and played a strong game, got good contributions through the lineup, seemed to play with a lot of confidence, and had a defensive miscue. Just one game, etc. Both years showed some of the overarching characteristics for the season, in game one. This thing will evolve quite a lot, but it’ll be interesting to look back and see much today set the tone for the rest of the year.