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Stanford Series Thread

180

Son’s ‘O Mitch’s go on the road for what many figured to be a big test. Is it really?

So far, the teams are pretty close in several stats: BA, OBP, Fielding, Beavs have the better ERA by about 2.5. Tree looks better though, when considering RPI (82-108) and SOS (127-178).

Tree coming off two losses at SC. Game times, on PAC, Fri 7pm, Sat 5pm, Sun noon.

Not sure this is the big test we expected, thinkin’ Mitch gets the series win.

Just for fun, something to consider:
Which Beav is tied for the team lead with Turley for the most multi RBI games this year?
GO BEAVS!

180 COMMENTS

    • And that reason alone is why Stinkle should be shit canned. Managed to win 5 games in a garbage conference and 2 of those were against the last place team.

      Fuck Stinkle.

  1. 5
    1

    I think Barnes believes that Tinkle=McDermott of Creighton.
    Both are big guys with all star sons and some NCAA history.
    The problem is McDermott=gold & Tinkle=pyrite. Pyrite never will become actual gold and
    Tinkle will never excel as a coach based on his own track record.
    Fire Tinkle or be done with mbb as a major OSU sport from now until he is gone.

  2. FDU vs Purdue is pretty emtertaining. 16 seed taking it to a 1 seed and just outhustling Purdue. Doubt they can keep it up for 40 minutes, but through minutes they’re outplaying Purdue.

        • Isn’t it interesting to see schools that should be outmatched playing high profile blue bloods even?
          Amazing what sound coaching and maximum effort can create with decent but not elite talent.

          • 4?

            Is this the first year under this coach?
            That’s a pretty impressive turnaround.

            Sorry BendBeav, thought Purdue had a decent chance at winning the whole thing this year.

          • Appreciate that. Rough game, but I was prepping myself for their early exit. I’ve been saying that if they don’t hit their 3s, they’re not going far, and they went 5 for 26.

          • I’m watching these tournament mid-majors run offenses where they get open looks at least some of the time even against upper-tier competition and then I watch Tinkle’s teams over the past two seasons and they literally cannot get open. Is it that the players can’t or won’t execute or is it the offensive design? Either way, it’s ultimately on Tinkle (which I don’t think he fully understands), but it’s become bizarre.

  3. Sellers with 4 appearances third season and 17 innings pitched. He’s going to need to do much better than that in league play. ERA is good but he throws too many pitches. Playing with fire. Will be interesting to see the offense face a top team’s ACE. I’m not too hot on our guys right now. Think it’s an L unfortunately.

  4. 2
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    Beavers hitting .239 in March. Yikes. Beavs go down 1, 2, 3 with 2 k’s in the 1st. Hitters looked fooled. Threw 10 pitches? Something like that.

  5. Beavs look…not great. 5 strike outs thru 3 innings. McDowell gets caught in a pick off at first to end the 3rd. Totally stupid. Was after Stanford threw to 1st 4 times in a row. 5th time is a charm I guess.

  6. Sellars looks like shit. He’s no ace at this level. Down 3 -1 now. He loaded the bases. Gets a nice ground out for a double play. He’s at 40 pitches already. Lol. JFC

  7. Trey Munoz loses in the 184 lb. semis at the NCAA championships. Injures his knee in 2nd period and trys to wrestle through it. Loses 5-1 to #1 seed from N. Iowa. Now an All American. Cant find how the other beavs did today. There were 3 others still wrestling.

  8. Well, another base running error. Jfc. Hit off the right field wall and we only score 1 and runner somehow gets caught between 3rd and home and is out in a rundown. Who the fuck is outr 3rd base coach? That was costly.

  9. Well, Sellers goes 5.1 on 84 pitches……better than previous but not what ya need from a Friday night guy.
    Still, Beavs should be ahead, not tied at 3.

  10. Wow. Ferrer has been awful. Gives up a few hits and then a grand slam. Beavs gonna drop this one. Down 9-3 heading to 7th. Hasn’t been much to like tonight. So many strikeouts. Too many mental errors on the bases.

  11. 4
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    This team is just not very good……

    We’ve been spoiled. No lights out Friday night guy. Saturday starter isn’t any better. Hitting is abysmal. Bullpen is just meh so far in conference play.

    Yeah. A 1-5 start to conference play is absolutely a possibility. Sigh.

    At least I’m almost divorced

  12. 2
    1

    Could be the sour taste of an ass whupping but it does seem like we don’t do the little things right like we used to under Casey. Very few baserunning errors. Defense was always sound. Most everyone in lineup could bunt. Obviously he had years where things weren’t great but I don’t recall the fundamentals being things that would hold those teams back. The attention to detail doesn’t seem to be there with this crew. It’s not even the young guys making mistakes. Tonight it’s McDowell with 2 bone head baserunning issues.

    • Not too shabby by the frosh. Walks a guy. Strikes a guy out. Hits a batter. Then gets a ground out double play. Nicely turned.

      • Best part of that DP……Hutch covering. Heads up, not extraordinary to cover 1st but a nice moment given how things have been going.

  13. Stanford closer cutting through batters like a hot knife through butter. Good stats on the year. 13 k’s. 0 walks. He’s added to that strike out total. Hutchison has been great too. Down 9-7 heading to 9th. Not sure we’ll get past their closer. He’s been lights out.

  14. Guerra with a HR. 1 out. Now an 8-9 game. Pitching change. A little surprised tbh. Guy retired 6 or 7 in a row. Only threw a couple of balls and only 1 hit which was the hr. Was throwing darts.

  15. Bad loss. Tree is not the toughest test the Beavs will see this year.
    Team showed some heart, still possible to take the series. Need some mental focus and some hits from Turley.

    • I get that preparation and attention to detail sound lacking, but Is part of the issue also youth and inexperience? Or is talent lacking?

    • In what universe is a 9-8 loss to the #9 ranked team in the country against their Friday guy, and on the road, a “bad loss”? I get the angry Beavs shtick, but y’all lose all credibility sometimes. Back up from the ledge.

      • To me it was a “bad loss” in that the opportunity was there to start the series against a highly ranked team with a W. And, it would NOT have taken an extraordinary performance to secure the Win.
        Had only Ferrer and McDowell turned in their normal performance the outcome would have favored the Beavs.

        I’m still not convinced that Tree is the best opponent the Beavs will face this season.

  16. 11
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    Tinkle is surely in the final stages of destroying any legacy in mbb left from the Ralph Miller era, and Mitch is doing the same with Casey’s legacy.

    It seems as though Mitch and staff have determined how the program will depart from Casey’s plan.
    Mitch emphasizes:
    1) swinging for home runs over contact hitting.
    2) defensive fundamentals are not as emphasized
    3) pitchers should seek strike outs rather than pitch to contact
    4) pitchers aren’t as concerned with giving up walks, hit batters, stolen bases
    5) bunting is not needed
    6) base running isn’t critical since you are waiting for home runs
    All of these areas are departures from the standard Casey vision for how the program was built. Mitch has incorporated many elements that became part of the annoying side effects in MLB of analytics driven strategies. The game has no nuance or strategy, and may contribute to lazy coaching and uninspired play. Just a guess.

    You can’t play gorilla ball in the current era like they did in the majors for the last decade or in college back in the 80s/90s. On top of that, it is tough to identify what the strength of each player actually is at this point.
    Few are “contact” hitters, or power hitters or tough at bat guys. It seems that none are fundamentally sound. Most make base running errors, fielding errors, can’t bunt, strike out looking too often.
    As far as pitchers, who is the replacement for Hjerpe? Femmel? Where is the workhorse Friday night ace?
    Dorman did a similar thing last year to throw a lot of guys in short stints and see who would rise to the occasion. Maybe it is a plan at least, but don’t they already know who the key guys will be? If they are relying on Sellers(too many pitches in too few innings), Kmatz (wildly inconsistent and not reliable) and Hunter(good for 2 2/3 great stuff then crumbles), as the rotation they are in big trouble.

    What I see happening is a downgrade of talent at every position the further Casey is in the rear view mirror. It doesn’t look like a concerted effort to upgrade pitching or great hitters or great 5 tool guys. It seems like a bunch of dudes who don’t have much focus, fundamentals, or potential to become superstars. Forester is your leader and he isn’t getting drafted. Bazanna may be the next leader and he routinely blunders on bases and fielding, Dernedde couldn’t hit in city league softball and has way too many errors to still be starting. The outfield is a mystery, catcher has zero impact on the game offensively or defensively.
    Maybe the bullpen is a strength but what good is that when you’re going to be down 3-4 runs every game going into the 6th inning.

    Oh well, 2017 & 2018 are the gold standard of elite talent playing at elite levels in all 3 phases of baseball. Casey gave us 3 championships and it should have been 4.
    Tough to follow a legend.

    • Very good guess: The game has no nuance or strategy, and may contribute to lazy coaching and uninspired play.
      It’s hard to pick out my favorite among your 6 listed items. Not agreeing that Mitch has intentionally departed from those 6; just that he hasn’t (yet) mastered the art of putting them into consistent practice.

    • Lol you think it’s Tinkle that’s destroying the OSU bball legacy? You must have missed the tenures of every coach since Miller left.

    • Mitch inherited a depleted team and reloaded it with MLB talent. Those players were drafted last year. This year’s team is inexperienced and has too many holes to fill. I expect next year to be improved.

      • Acutely you are seeing the first year of Mitch recruiting except Turley, forester. Bazzana,smith. They were all recruited by Casey and Bailey.
        Smith is probably best defensive catcher in PAC 12 needs to hit. Forrester doesn’t strive in leader role. Travis and Gavin only care about themselves.

    • And they don’t hustle, so tired of guys striking out and casually walking back to the dugout. If you are going to lose at least let’s see some effort!!

  17. 10
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    just a small point of reference:

    OSU Baseball savior Pat Casey didn’t make it to a CWS Regional in his first 10 Years. MC has been there twice in his first 3 years (one of those Covid year). Maybe he rode Casey’s coattails, but it might be a little early to say he’s a bad coach.

    • 11
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      Casey started with Yugo and upgraded it to a Mercedes. Mitch was handed the keys to the Mercedes.
      This looks a lot like his first year trying to play MLB at the college level. It appears he learned nothing from the last two seasons.

    • 8
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      It’s still way early and there’s nothing definite to say he’s bad coach. The team isn’t going to be great every year. If he had a tinkle bad year then it’s time to start questioning.

    • And today Kmatz gets the first out of the game fielding his position well with a nice unassisted put out at first.
      Cheers to Dorman??

  18. It will be interesting to see how the move to the Big10 impacts UCLA and USC recruiting. Yes, they should dominate that conference, but the conference is a non-entity nationally. And I’m guessing they’ll have two-week road trips, to cut down on travel – two weeks home – but I wonder if we’ll see them play Pac-12 schools early in the year to boost their SoS.

    • “… but I wonder if we’ll see them play Pac-12 schools early in the year to boost their SoS.”

      They”ll need to schedule cupcakes instead, especially with all of their travel and more cold weather games.

      And if they do take two week road trips, I think practicing a week on the road between road games could be disconcerting/distracting. More opportunities for misbehavior too.

      Take cupcakes. Works for the SEC….

      • I would imagine they will play virtually all their early conference games as home as it will give a chance for the real big 10 teams to get out of the cold weather and get games in so they’re not getting canceled or delayed due to snow storms. The travel will be back loaded.

    • How bad are the road-trips really? I don’t travel much. They do have direct flights to the east coast now and if you are flying private would it be that much different? Still go the airport, still get on the plane etc but instead you are on it for 3 or so more hours? Time differences would be more extreme. Curious what others think. I feel like that’s an easy thing to point out but I don’t know if it’ll be that big of a deal. I do believe that will stink for families that want to travel day from California to watch their kids play away games.

  19. People overstate the difficulty of road games for baseball. Baseball is probably one of the easiest sports to be a road team. Series go multiple days so you actually get to settle in a bit rather than coming in and out, weather *generally* isn’t a factor in baseball, and the home fans have little to no impact on the game unlike football and basketball.

  20. 5
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    There has got to be some talks about firing Canham if we aren’t in Omaho at the end of this year. The expectation with this program is on a higher level, and that’s why you see great programs like LSU firing Ed Ogeron only 2 years after he won a national championship.

    • 11
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      Stop. That’s not rational. This team may not make the postseason let alone Omaha. Pat Casey missed the postseason with Kwan, Rutchman, Larnach, Grenier, Madrigal, and one of the best pitching staffs in the county. Granted, it may have been the biggest snub in NCAA history but Casey had other years when the team struggled. This program is in good shape and MC has already proven he can reload. People forget that when MC got the job that the talent level was not good. This team will be better next year and get back to Omaha within the next few years but it’s unrealistic to expect any program to get there every year especially after a year with so many players drafted. Unless we can get Angry to manage this team, we need to stick with MC.

  21. 3
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    Also, does anyone else think a lot our coaches have no personality/energy to them? Mitch, Smith, and Tinkle are almost entirely coach speak, and I can’t imagine them firing a lockeroom up or inspiring them

    • 6
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      Smith is all business and linearly focused, and I think that inspires the players to believe in the vision. The other guys are catastrophes.

    • 6
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      Smith is not just coach speak. He has energy, and he’s inspired the meeting room and the locker room. He was clear from when he arrived he wanted to develop a “nationally relevant” program. He’d been top 4 team as a player on the fiesta bowl team, went to the play offs as a UW OC. The guy wants to kick ass and he’s been building a roster and culture to win. He’s building the talent and depth to achieve his goals, and we’re seeing that. Four more points each against USC and UW and last year’s team is in the playoffs.

      Tinkle is done. Everyone knows it, even him. I hope they have their eyes on candidates.

      Canham can’t replicate Casey’s smoldering, ever-present intensity. He’s been there, been in the right position as a player, but can’t put it all togethe,. probably won’t get better, and he’ll probably be kept until he goes back to the pro minor leagues.

      • 2
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        Canham can’t replicate Casey’s smoldering, ever-present intensity.
        Well said.
        Part of that was Pat’s creed of “I don’t become friends with players till they graduate”…….not sure Mitch feels that way.

    • 1
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      The reporters (or at least one) are still kind of shocked OSU took two weeks to get back to DJ. I’m impressed the team focused on the bowl game prep, was not reactive, and stuck to their process. This deliberate approach likely would not have worked with a less mature iand more self-centered player than DJ, but then that probably works out anyway because such a player is likely not a good fit for the program.

      Hard to hear that last reporter’s question clearly, but I think he says Chiles has looked good and asks Smith about him. Smith responds that the arm jumps out at you, can really throw the ball, talent, savvy, works hard, they’re not holding anything back from the QBs and he’s picking things up.

      Question: Why do they turn the stadium lights on for daytime practices? Seems unnecessary?

      • It’s going to depend on what light is needed. Lights come on during daytime games, because the stadium itself casts shadows. To avoid dark holes on one side of the field, the lights go on.
        Mostly, it’s a TV thing–so cameras can use a single AP filter. But if that’s the way games are played, you don’t change it for practice.

  22. Some stats after last night’s game. Think OhioBeav had some really good points above.
    1) last night’s players…only 4 of them over .300. The rest of the lineup is 2 at .288, 1 at .216, 2 at .200. 2 under .150.
    2) kmatz is 1-3 on season. 4.85 era

    Conference games offensive stats (yes its early for league games with most squads at 5 games but still interesting):
    1) last with a .200 team batting avg.
    2) tied for 2nd to last in strikeouts
    3) 10th in runs
    4) 3rd in walks
    5) tied for 7th with 4 teams at 3 HR
    6) 10th in slugging %
    7) 9th in obp
    8) 9th in hits

    Conference pitching/Fielding stats:
    1) 7th in earned runs
    2) 3rd in walks
    3) 6th in k’s
    4) tied for 4th at 4 hr allowed
    5) 6th in era at 5.23
    6) 8th in hits
    7) 2nd in Fielding %

    These last 2 recruiting classes are two of the highest in program history, if not the highest. We knew they were young but would you expect the results to be somewhat better for 2 classes of highly rated talent? Clearly they were up to the challenge vs Coppin State who had 80ish wins in program history, but to be outclassed so far is a little concerning to say the least. Also concerning is the apprent lack of recruiting from a pitching perspective, particularly starting pitching. I’m no big Dorman fan and have been wanting a replacement there since year 1 and his recruiting and development of players seems lacking.

    It’s obviously early in the season so a lot can change, but I do think after 19 games played that we are starting to collect a sample size that is becoming meaningful.

  23. 4 of our 9 outs have been strike outs. We’ve only plated the minimum hitters. Stanford swipes 2nd and then next pitch steals 3rd. Proceed to hit into a double play to end inning. 0-0 heading to 4th

  24. Hunter had a great 4 innings but wheels are falling off. Base hit. Hits batter. Misplaced fly ball in right by Kasper loads bases. Base hit scores 1 and now we’re at 4-1 game with bases loaded and 1 out. Hunter is pulled.

    Props here to Dorm to make a quick change. Hunter had been super efficient up to that point and his pitch count wasn’t high. Kind of tells you they know getting swept and starting 1-5 in P12 play would be brutal.

    • Parker seems to think there was a physical problem that led to Hunter being puilled.
      Second DP ends the inning with just 1 run for Tree.

    • Against the same guy that hit a grand slam off him Friday night. Didn’t hit a GS this time but he came through again.

      • what in hell were the coaches thinking bringing in Ben in this situation? He ends up with 2 of the losses this weekend. Friday to slow in taking Ben out, had given up a couple of hits already and no outs but left him in. Also pinch hitting Turley for Kasper, when Turley hasn’t had a hit since pac 12 play started including non-league game and mostly strike outs. Righty lefty doesn’t mean shit if the pitcher can’t get anybody out or the batter can’t even make contact. All for giving players a chance but not when the game is on the line and in desperate need of a win..

  25. 3
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    Swept. Sorry to say but I called it.

    Whiskey soaked napkins
    March 17, 2023 at 2:06 pm

    Not me. Based on the last few games I’ll be surprised if the Beavs steal one game

  26. 2
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    Stanford’s first sweep of OSU in 13 years. Going to be a loooonng trip home.

    Conference foes are really going to enjoy the OSU. baseball downturn….

    • 11
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      Called what? That he wouldn’t win every game and reach Omaha every year? You’re basically rooting against them so you can say you’re right which is pretty lame. Even if this is an underwhelming season it doesn’t prove anything. He’s been successful so far here and they lost a lot to the draft. I think most of us here thought it wasn’t going to be a very good team with all things considered.

  27. One thing I’ve wondered with newer style analytics is why no one has experimented with bringing in the closer early. Like bottom 7, bases loaded with no outs those next 3 outs will be as high of expected points prevented as you are going to have. Why not bring in Brown knowing you might need someone else in the 9th?

    • This is an interesting comment because in the pre-season press conference Mitch talked exactly about doing that with…Ryan Brown. Yet I don’t know if he pitched that series? I wasn’t able to catch the last few innings of game 3 so not sure.

  28. 3
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    As much as I sometimes think the sky is falling rhetoric regarding baseball is somewhat overblown here – I do know the donors of the baseball program are probably feeling the same way. They have a sense of ownership (not in a bad way) of the program’s success that donors for football and basketball just don’t due to the greater impact they have on baseball given the TV money hoops and football have.
    When is the last time the Beavers have lost their first two conference series?

    • Also curious how much pull the former players who have donated a chunk of change into the program have – could be Ellsbury and others will give Canham a longer leash than average donors would give him.

  29. 5
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    Tied for last place with Cal. Next weekends opponent. If they can’t win that series it might be time to throw in the towel on the season.

    Hell, even the ducks managed to win 2 of 3 against WSU in Pullman.

  30. This offense is just downright bad right now. Thru 6 conference games:
    10th in strikeouts. Last in BA batting a whopping .185. The entire team avg is below .200. That’s not a typo. Hard to fathom. On base percentage is last at .289. Last in slugging at .307. Tied for 9th in runs.

    UP isn’t going to be easy and has played the Beavs well over the last few years. A split might be lucky. The real question will be the Cal series.

  31. 7
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    To have five conference losses already is pretty shocking. They need to start some sweeps to get back into the playoff picture. We will see if they have it in them.

  32. 1
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    OT:”The Cowboys have acquired Brandin Cooks after shipping a 2023 fifth-round pick and a 2024 sixth-round selection to the Houston Texans. This marks the fourth trade that Cooks has been a part of since March 2017.

    …reported that the Texans restructured Cooks’ contract so that Houston will be responsible for $6 million of his 2023 salary, while the Cowboys will foot the remaining $12 million.”

  33. 1
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    I just saw that Nuc still obsessively reads the site. I unbanned him so we can hear his hilarious, unhinged justification for Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch. I remember he had pre-built excuses for this year all ready to go…last year. This should be good!

    • 10
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      Why so petty? You disagree with his opinion, be like everyone else on the internet, roast him and move on. Seems like the only one with a beef is you.

      • 1
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        Oh no. Way off. You should see the log. He’s blowing up the comment section with petty, unhinged insults. He even threatened to insert a virus into the site.

        • 3
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          OK. That’s lame too. Doesn’t sound like his work but maybe he’s having a bad day. Y’all should hug it out or something because it seems petty. Anyway guess we’ll see if he posts now.

          • 1
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            I offered an olive branch a few months back, said I liked his posts, and hoped he’d get over things and post again, and he completely ignored those (despite obviously reading them), and choose to focus on my laughing at his bad calls on Q/Musgrave and Mitch. So instead of accepting the olive branch and going that route and rejoining the community, he went this route and threatened me and threatened to take down the site with viruses. I probably shouldn’t remove the ban, but he clearly has some stuff he wants to say, so I’ll remove it and see how this goes. Let’s see if he’s mature enough to accept the olive branch this time.

    • 4
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      I always thought he had pretty good posts. If I remember correctly you kind of were provoking. You have some deal where you’re desperate to always to prove that you’re right even when everything suggests otherwise.

        • 4
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          See so defensive it’s weird. Now I have an agenda? So strange. It’s true like how you blasted on Twitter that you called it about mitch. Not a good look. Others have said the same so it must be a conspiracy. SMH

  34. 1
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    I’m curious how this season compares to seasons where Casey’s teams didn’t make the tournament. I would guess there are similar hallmarks in terms of major offensive/pitching production losses.

    My big question remains: how is this team not better and why is it filling holes with JUCO’s when the recruiting classes were supposed to be so good the last three years?

    • 2
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      This posted up above for some reason:

      Here’s the 2010 baseball schedule since it’s been referenced.

      Got swept by Stanford and Cal and went 12-15 in conference.

      This is 3 years after winning back to back CWS with Casey at the helm. Take it for what it’s worth. As was mentioned it seems more concerning that two of the best recruiting classes ever have produced a mediocre team up to this point in the season.

      https://osubeavers.com/sports/baseball/schedule/2010

  35. 15
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    I appreciate honest, logical, well articulated and thoughtful analysis and good questions (yes there are bad ones). I like the inside scoop… sometimes you get it at angrybeavs. I enjoy supporting the Beavs. I appreciate the student athletes. I celebrate tradition, history, and accomplishments. I love the Beav culture and how it brings unique and amazing people together. Sometimes I enjoy angrybeavs for all of the above. Often all you get is “Miiiiiiiiiitch is Tony Robbins!!!!!”. Occasionally it’s BS gossip about comment history, downvotes, Olive branches, personal conflicts, etc. Sometimes you get dozens of back and forth insults between two misguided souls. Very often angrybeavs is the source for recruiting updates… thanks Nicebeaver! Once i tried to engage in a personal finance conversation but that didn’t go well… made me feel like a know it all and got lots of downvotes. I got the message. Anyhow, even though angry is a big reason angrybeavs is not perfect, he is the reason it exists and I understand some of what he says is calculated and intentionally irrational. If you understand this and have a sense of humor, it’s a bit more bearable. Yes, even the “I called it” bullshit. Reminds me of a teammate I had that would remind everyone how many points he scored in a game the year prior. Dude thought he was best player on the team but the best players on our team didn’t need to brag to get respect. They just balled and let their game speak for itself. Angry, from my POV and based on my observations over the last 25+ years of closely following the Beavs baseball program, I think MC is the right guy for this program. Whether or not this team is successful this year, doesn’t determine if MC will be successful long term. You haven’t called shit… the jury is still out and worst case scenario it’s 2-3 years from playing out. If I was to bet, the Beavs will make it to Omaha before Miiiiiiiitch gets fired. That said, if MC get the Beavs back to Omaha, you won’t hear me gloating about how I called it.

  36. I was fully expecting the offense to not be as good…said it a lot leading up to this season that it’s hard enough to replace 70% of the offense much less with 1/2 the roster seeing limited time or never playing college ball before. How bad it’s been vs everyone not named Coppin State is below what I was thinking it would be. Slumps happen but we’ve got 6 or 7 guys all slumping at the same time for an extended period of time so…is it really a slump? We’ll find out.

    Pitching is kind of a head scratcher. Not a fan of Dorman, and I’d hope they move on from him, but as a OhioBeav mentioned above, pitching seems to try and be “ok” but not the stellar stuff we’ve seen from this program over the last 20 years. However, every year there was still something you could point to as being the strong suit of the pitching unit under Dorman. Some years they were tops in strikeouts but also led in giving up HR and hit batters. Last year was a shift. Not as many k’s but less HR given up. This year, it’s a very middle of the road unit. They don’t particularly stand out in any category.

    Stats wise, they sit 6-8 in most categories with the exception of walks where they are 3rd. I’d put an asterisk after that stat though cause I’m not sure if hit batters are lumped into that stat on P12 website. Seems like they hit at least 1-2 guys each series, but I’m sure other teams do too…point being, not sure it’s as great of result as it may look. Aside from the on field results a bigger concern could be the arm talent coming in and Dorman’s ability to recruit. Not everyone is on social media and not everyone blasts it out there, but I just don’t recall seeing many posts about top pitchers making visits, committing, etc. See a lot of the skill positions for 2025 and beyond making announcements but haven’t seen much from pitchers. Think we have an in-state guy that’s committed that should be good but this roster used to include 5 or 6 guys that were top in their state, etc. I don’t run down all the recruiting stats for baseball so perhaps they are there and just not seeing it on SM. Feels like the last few years we’ve really had to dig into the CC and xfer ranks to find guys to play, not just to fill some spots. Maybe it’s the shift from good pitching and defense to only offense and that’s where the limited schollys are being given to.

    • Pitching isn’t a headscratcher.
      It is what it is.
      The propensity to throw gauged pitches, rather than ones that work our strenghts… is obvious.
      If our strength is D, let the D play.
      Don’t relegate the D to a spectator.
      Fuck metrics.
      Pitch what works for the situation, not the stats.
      You can create the situation by pitching in this manner, instead of allowing the oppo to play the stats and beat you.
      Players are more creative than stats. Let them make those decisions in real time, especially those we have on the roster.

  37. Regarding Spring Practice, this is the schedule: Oregon State opens the first of 15 spring practices Tuesday, March 7. The Beavers will practice for two weeks, take two weeks off for spring break, and then resume practices the week of April 3.

    Spring Game April 22nd.

    So I don’t think a football thread is warranted right now. Could do general.

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