the season ending. I know we're all on pins and needles about what is going to happen, but independent of all that, it absolutely sucks when the season comes to an end.
I can't follow it as closely as I used to, but I still do what I can. I think back to going to a couple of fall scrimmages on Sunday afternoons, taking my daughter over there... I think she enjoyed that more than the real games I took her to. Anyway, from what I saw last fall, I thought we had a chance to be ok, at least offensively. I thought that we had some good players in the program and I thought that we had some good kids in the program. I think most of that turned out to be true. It took a lot of character to turn the boat around after that 1-9 start in league play. It took a lot of character to beat Tennessee on Saturday afternoon when Charlie Goldstein got hurt after like one pitch. But obviously, there just wasn't enough production to get to 14 wins. I think that I discounted just how bad we were positioned pitching wise. That reality thundered home quickly, and I realized that we'd all be whistling past the graveyard when considering our prospects for the 2023 season.
I haven't looked at all the numbers, but for my money, this was as bad as the pitching has been since at least 2010. In '10, we did have Justin Grimm in his junior year and he gave us a chance each time out. But the pitching coach that year just didn't work, and a number of good, talented pitchers took a step back. It felt the same this year too. Just not a much improvement from anyone that I saw and a lot of regression. I keep going back to Coleman Willis, who has all the physical tools to make an impact. I can't imagine what was going through his head after his mechanics were being changed, his velocity drops, and he looks around and sees everyone struggling as well. No wonder his "confidence" was an issue. How could it not have been?
Two months ago I thought that Sean Kenny wouldn't be back in 2024 regardless of what happened with Stricklin. But I also thought he was respected enough that he wouldn't have a problem landing a new job. Now I'm not so sure about that - this was two years of being pretty bad collectively, and a lot very little progression for anyone individually. Unless Stricklin was over-riding a lot of what Kenny wanted to do, I'm not sure if a big-college job is going to be around the corner next season.
I wonder too where Stricklin lands and if he might be done with big-time college baseball regardless of whether its done with him.
Anyway, it just sucks when its over. I'd rather have a bad season going on than no season at all. I really enjoyed the game threads on the Dawgvent this season and appreciate the commitment of @CoastalVADawg and @Finance Dawg to get those going and to keep them flowing. Probably my favorite game this year was Friday night at Florida. I built a fire in the fire pit in the backyard, had some beers, and listened to the whole game... what an unbelievable comeback and then Leighton Finley shutting the door in the bottom of the 9th after that huge rally. And then the next weekend against Arkansas - that's when I really started to believe that we'd indeed make a Regional after all. It was right there in front of us. But the same reason we started 1-9 is the same reason we finished where we did. Heck, we went 4-2 against the top 2 finishers in the SEC. And we went 1-5 against the 12th place and last place team.
We'll see what happens. I too believe that brighter days are ahead. But I still the end of the season, even a bad one.
I can't follow it as closely as I used to, but I still do what I can. I think back to going to a couple of fall scrimmages on Sunday afternoons, taking my daughter over there... I think she enjoyed that more than the real games I took her to. Anyway, from what I saw last fall, I thought we had a chance to be ok, at least offensively. I thought that we had some good players in the program and I thought that we had some good kids in the program. I think most of that turned out to be true. It took a lot of character to turn the boat around after that 1-9 start in league play. It took a lot of character to beat Tennessee on Saturday afternoon when Charlie Goldstein got hurt after like one pitch. But obviously, there just wasn't enough production to get to 14 wins. I think that I discounted just how bad we were positioned pitching wise. That reality thundered home quickly, and I realized that we'd all be whistling past the graveyard when considering our prospects for the 2023 season.
I haven't looked at all the numbers, but for my money, this was as bad as the pitching has been since at least 2010. In '10, we did have Justin Grimm in his junior year and he gave us a chance each time out. But the pitching coach that year just didn't work, and a number of good, talented pitchers took a step back. It felt the same this year too. Just not a much improvement from anyone that I saw and a lot of regression. I keep going back to Coleman Willis, who has all the physical tools to make an impact. I can't imagine what was going through his head after his mechanics were being changed, his velocity drops, and he looks around and sees everyone struggling as well. No wonder his "confidence" was an issue. How could it not have been?
Two months ago I thought that Sean Kenny wouldn't be back in 2024 regardless of what happened with Stricklin. But I also thought he was respected enough that he wouldn't have a problem landing a new job. Now I'm not so sure about that - this was two years of being pretty bad collectively, and a lot very little progression for anyone individually. Unless Stricklin was over-riding a lot of what Kenny wanted to do, I'm not sure if a big-college job is going to be around the corner next season.
I wonder too where Stricklin lands and if he might be done with big-time college baseball regardless of whether its done with him.
Anyway, it just sucks when its over. I'd rather have a bad season going on than no season at all. I really enjoyed the game threads on the Dawgvent this season and appreciate the commitment of @CoastalVADawg and @Finance Dawg to get those going and to keep them flowing. Probably my favorite game this year was Friday night at Florida. I built a fire in the fire pit in the backyard, had some beers, and listened to the whole game... what an unbelievable comeback and then Leighton Finley shutting the door in the bottom of the 9th after that huge rally. And then the next weekend against Arkansas - that's when I really started to believe that we'd indeed make a Regional after all. It was right there in front of us. But the same reason we started 1-9 is the same reason we finished where we did. Heck, we went 4-2 against the top 2 finishers in the SEC. And we went 1-5 against the 12th place and last place team.
We'll see what happens. I too believe that brighter days are ahead. But I still the end of the season, even a bad one.
