-First, I think that it's very safe to say that this was the biggest win of Stricklin's career today. To beat South Carolina for the third straight year is great, but what today did for the season cannot be understated. We're 6-9 now in league play. That's the mark that we had at the halfway point in 2004... But more than that, we won another home series and, should this come into play, we do have the tie breaker with South Carolina (having the ticket breaker with Alabama is probably going to prove more relevant). Since A&M, which was probably the worst weekend that we've played since Florida State in 2010, we managed to go on the road and beat tech and then managed to win a series from the league leaders. I like that bounce back, I really do.
-Thought Bo Tucker was really good today after the 2nd inning. He settled in and finally looked the guy I was expecting to see. I thought that running him out there in the 7th was a bit questionable, but all in all, fantastic game by him today. He minimized the damage too in the 1st inning, and that wound up being HUGE.
-Any time your 9 hole hitter finishes a triple short of the cycle, you feel you had a good day. Mitchell Webb has been swinging it better I think. He's so good at 3rd base with the glove, he's going to play every day regardless, but I think most everyone knows it's just a matter of time before he starts to really contribute offensively.
-Daniel Nichols. During the game I was thinking back to the grand slam that he hit against South Carolina on Sunday in 2014. That one really propelled us that day. It's funny how that works.... I don't know that I've ever seen him as fired up as he was on the HR today. Here's a guy who has really grown up a lot since he stepped onto campus. It's fun to watch players evolve over their careers, see the changes along the way. I know that we haven't named captains this year, but I'm sure Daniel Nichols would be considered one of the captains of this team.
-This morning I said "let's hit a non-solo HR today." Well, we hit four HRs and managed to score five runs. That doesn't happen too often. The solo HR streak is one of those crazy things.... I can't find any fault with our offense the last two days, or even at tech, we did what we needed to do over there too. We'll get a HR with at least one guy on base again soon I'm sure. The main thing is, we are hitting them and they're coming from a number of different guys.
-At 6-9 right now, we are in striking distance. I think it's probably going to take 7 or 8 more wins to get us into the post season, and we'll probably need to go something like 2-1 against tech and Clemson in these next three with them. But we're back in it.... This whole season could have gone off of the rails this weekend. Instead, we have something to play for. So it can go in a few different directions now. This weekend is going to be a HUGE challenge in Gainesville. And the weekend after, just for where it falls and how tough it is at their park, with Vanderbilt will be a huge challenge as well. So let's see where this goes... it's worth paying attention to now.... This thing just got very interesting....
-Thought Bo Tucker was really good today after the 2nd inning. He settled in and finally looked the guy I was expecting to see. I thought that running him out there in the 7th was a bit questionable, but all in all, fantastic game by him today. He minimized the damage too in the 1st inning, and that wound up being HUGE.
-Any time your 9 hole hitter finishes a triple short of the cycle, you feel you had a good day. Mitchell Webb has been swinging it better I think. He's so good at 3rd base with the glove, he's going to play every day regardless, but I think most everyone knows it's just a matter of time before he starts to really contribute offensively.
-Daniel Nichols. During the game I was thinking back to the grand slam that he hit against South Carolina on Sunday in 2014. That one really propelled us that day. It's funny how that works.... I don't know that I've ever seen him as fired up as he was on the HR today. Here's a guy who has really grown up a lot since he stepped onto campus. It's fun to watch players evolve over their careers, see the changes along the way. I know that we haven't named captains this year, but I'm sure Daniel Nichols would be considered one of the captains of this team.
-This morning I said "let's hit a non-solo HR today." Well, we hit four HRs and managed to score five runs. That doesn't happen too often. The solo HR streak is one of those crazy things.... I can't find any fault with our offense the last two days, or even at tech, we did what we needed to do over there too. We'll get a HR with at least one guy on base again soon I'm sure. The main thing is, we are hitting them and they're coming from a number of different guys.
-At 6-9 right now, we are in striking distance. I think it's probably going to take 7 or 8 more wins to get us into the post season, and we'll probably need to go something like 2-1 against tech and Clemson in these next three with them. But we're back in it.... This whole season could have gone off of the rails this weekend. Instead, we have something to play for. So it can go in a few different directions now. This weekend is going to be a HUGE challenge in Gainesville. And the weekend after, just for where it falls and how tough it is at their park, with Vanderbilt will be a huge challenge as well. So let's see where this goes... it's worth paying attention to now.... This thing just got very interesting....
