-I wanted to write up some things last night, but being a work/ school night with an early alarm clock this morning, I just didn't have time. I say that because I'm not trying to just do this when we lose.
-They say that momentum is as good as the next day's starting pitcher, and I think that tonight showed that to some extent. I thought that last night was probably our best offensive game of the year. We really battled, squared up a lot of balls... I remember at the end of the 2nd inning, I think that Daniel Jackson was our last out, and I was thinking that we were going to get to Prager the second time through. We had some loud outs and hard hit balls for the first eight hitters and it seemed like we were really seeing Prager well. Then obviously that 7-run 3rd inning shows up. Tonight was the complete opposite. I certainly agree with Coach that this was one of the worst offensive performances in a long time. I think it was the worst of this year. He said it might be the worst since he's been here. Lamkin had a lot to do with that. He kept us off balance. But we just seemed flat for whatever reason too. Last night to tonight was night and day as far as how we approached our ABs.
-Really can't enough how good Slate Alford has been at 3b. He's a stud over there. Never thought I'd be saying that one year ago.
-Good to see Ryan Black playing at 2b. I really think that he's our best defensive option there. Maybe Tray King is better defensively, but not by a lot and Black's bat makes up for it. Nobody had a good night tonight, but I really like Black's approach last night. Didn't over swing and just seemed to take what he was getting.
-Didn't understand why we started Goldstein last night. To be brutally honest, he just hasn't been the same guy that he was last year, and I think that he's shown that in each appearance. Just doesn't throw enough strikes right now. JT Quinn did a very nice job though calming things down and giving us some length.
-I was surprised that we threw Zeldin last night. I figured that was a spot for Justin Byrd or maybe Eric Hammond. Zeldin is just a different guy. He pitches to the moment. You put him in when you're up by 5 runs or 7 runs, and it's going to be a grind. You put him in when you're up by 3 and it's less of a grind. You put him in leading by 1 and he'll put up a 0. So... I didn't think that last night was a great spot for him, but regardless, I didn't love using there with two more games on deck.
-I really hope that Matthew Hoskins comes back next year. I mean, I understand all the reasons why he probably won't and I'm sure that the pro guys are quite enamored with his ceiling. I think that he'd benefit so much from one more year here, though. He's another guy who also doesn't throw enough strikes, and I think that shows up more when he overthrows - which he seems to do quite a lot. We haven't seen what he's really capable of, and I believe that we would in 2026. But I'm not holding my breath and I'm sure it'll be better financially for him to go
-We pitched well enough tonight. If we make that play at 1b, their 3-run HR doesn't show up. Then those last two runs were more of a function of how we had to pitch being behind. We walked too many tonight, but we also had 13 K's as a staff. Don't want to lose track of that.
-Nate Taylor's first inning tonight... man, that strong. Kinda wish we could have just left it there. The second inning for him was shaky. First inning though, totally carved up the three hitters we saw. That guy is going to help us in June.
-Speaking again of Zeldin, I'd be willing to bet that half of the balls that have gotten to the screen with Hunter catching have been thrown by Zeldin. I bet too that if you asked Henry, he'd tell you that just doesn't see Zeldin so well. I don't know how to explain that, but I think there is something to it.
-Home plate umpire caught it from both dugouts tonight. A&M's coach called him a "f**cking smartass" early on in the game, I think after the bottom of the 2nd. Then Wes Johnson was a bit (or a lot) of a smartass to him during Ryan Black's AB in the bottom of the 9th. Coach is standing on the dugout rail clapping real demonstratively and saying "Great, great job, you did a great job tonight, really great job." It is what it is. That's not why we lost tonight and I thought the balls and strikes were better than last night (namely because last night was really bad).
-We'll hit their guy tomorrow. I'm very confident in that. But he'll also have a short leash, I think, given all of the bullpen they still have. I'll admit that I was wrong about how today played out, I didn't think A&M could put together a good enough game to beat us. But I'm not wrong that A&M isn't better than us. We haven't lost a home series all season, and I think that 24 hours from now, that's still true. Tonight was just a bad game at the plate, but we pitched well enough and are quietly playing some good defense right now. We're so much better in that respect than last season. I'm glad that we're playing early, I want to erase tonight as soon as possible.
-Last thing is this and it's not really about either game. Early on last night I was looking at who we had on the field and where, and I had this thought. If you could put our 2025 team on the field in 2015, I bet it wins 48-50 games in the regular season and blows through June undefeated to win a national title. There were good teams in 2015 for sure. It's just different now.... the ages of these guys and their skill levels are just insane. For me, it's not the front-line guys, the future big leaguers. It's everyone else. Your 7-9 hitters are just way better than they would have been ten years ago. It's a hell of a good sport right now. I don't like all the transfer portal stuff, I'm not sure anyone does, but the product on the field is just terrific.
-They say that momentum is as good as the next day's starting pitcher, and I think that tonight showed that to some extent. I thought that last night was probably our best offensive game of the year. We really battled, squared up a lot of balls... I remember at the end of the 2nd inning, I think that Daniel Jackson was our last out, and I was thinking that we were going to get to Prager the second time through. We had some loud outs and hard hit balls for the first eight hitters and it seemed like we were really seeing Prager well. Then obviously that 7-run 3rd inning shows up. Tonight was the complete opposite. I certainly agree with Coach that this was one of the worst offensive performances in a long time. I think it was the worst of this year. He said it might be the worst since he's been here. Lamkin had a lot to do with that. He kept us off balance. But we just seemed flat for whatever reason too. Last night to tonight was night and day as far as how we approached our ABs.
-Really can't enough how good Slate Alford has been at 3b. He's a stud over there. Never thought I'd be saying that one year ago.
-Good to see Ryan Black playing at 2b. I really think that he's our best defensive option there. Maybe Tray King is better defensively, but not by a lot and Black's bat makes up for it. Nobody had a good night tonight, but I really like Black's approach last night. Didn't over swing and just seemed to take what he was getting.
-Didn't understand why we started Goldstein last night. To be brutally honest, he just hasn't been the same guy that he was last year, and I think that he's shown that in each appearance. Just doesn't throw enough strikes right now. JT Quinn did a very nice job though calming things down and giving us some length.
-I was surprised that we threw Zeldin last night. I figured that was a spot for Justin Byrd or maybe Eric Hammond. Zeldin is just a different guy. He pitches to the moment. You put him in when you're up by 5 runs or 7 runs, and it's going to be a grind. You put him in when you're up by 3 and it's less of a grind. You put him in leading by 1 and he'll put up a 0. So... I didn't think that last night was a great spot for him, but regardless, I didn't love using there with two more games on deck.
-I really hope that Matthew Hoskins comes back next year. I mean, I understand all the reasons why he probably won't and I'm sure that the pro guys are quite enamored with his ceiling. I think that he'd benefit so much from one more year here, though. He's another guy who also doesn't throw enough strikes, and I think that shows up more when he overthrows - which he seems to do quite a lot. We haven't seen what he's really capable of, and I believe that we would in 2026. But I'm not holding my breath and I'm sure it'll be better financially for him to go
-We pitched well enough tonight. If we make that play at 1b, their 3-run HR doesn't show up. Then those last two runs were more of a function of how we had to pitch being behind. We walked too many tonight, but we also had 13 K's as a staff. Don't want to lose track of that.
-Nate Taylor's first inning tonight... man, that strong. Kinda wish we could have just left it there. The second inning for him was shaky. First inning though, totally carved up the three hitters we saw. That guy is going to help us in June.
-Speaking again of Zeldin, I'd be willing to bet that half of the balls that have gotten to the screen with Hunter catching have been thrown by Zeldin. I bet too that if you asked Henry, he'd tell you that just doesn't see Zeldin so well. I don't know how to explain that, but I think there is something to it.
-Home plate umpire caught it from both dugouts tonight. A&M's coach called him a "f**cking smartass" early on in the game, I think after the bottom of the 2nd. Then Wes Johnson was a bit (or a lot) of a smartass to him during Ryan Black's AB in the bottom of the 9th. Coach is standing on the dugout rail clapping real demonstratively and saying "Great, great job, you did a great job tonight, really great job." It is what it is. That's not why we lost tonight and I thought the balls and strikes were better than last night (namely because last night was really bad).
-We'll hit their guy tomorrow. I'm very confident in that. But he'll also have a short leash, I think, given all of the bullpen they still have. I'll admit that I was wrong about how today played out, I didn't think A&M could put together a good enough game to beat us. But I'm not wrong that A&M isn't better than us. We haven't lost a home series all season, and I think that 24 hours from now, that's still true. Tonight was just a bad game at the plate, but we pitched well enough and are quietly playing some good defense right now. We're so much better in that respect than last season. I'm glad that we're playing early, I want to erase tonight as soon as possible.
-Last thing is this and it's not really about either game. Early on last night I was looking at who we had on the field and where, and I had this thought. If you could put our 2025 team on the field in 2015, I bet it wins 48-50 games in the regular season and blows through June undefeated to win a national title. There were good teams in 2015 for sure. It's just different now.... the ages of these guys and their skill levels are just insane. For me, it's not the front-line guys, the future big leaguers. It's everyone else. Your 7-9 hitters are just way better than they would have been ten years ago. It's a hell of a good sport right now. I don't like all the transfer portal stuff, I'm not sure anyone does, but the product on the field is just terrific.
