[SuperJon]

I think we got complacent after Coastal.

[krh44]

Good night. Radford tomorrow.

Great, we played so great against RU last weekend.

[Chris Lang]

If we don't win the tourney, will we get an at large?

I think so. The only way LU would have been left out, I think, would have been to go two and barbecue here. The win against G-Webb was big. High Point is not a bad loss, RPI wise. A loss to Radford wouldn't be killer either.

[flameshaw]

I think we peaked when we got ranked... Just before the 9 day vacation. These guys have been playing like a middle of the pack Big South team as of late.

Yep, we have not been playing good ball for some time now. The pitchers have been consistently declining with the exception of Lambert. The batters have pretty much all been in decline with the exception of Perritt. Success, is not always easy for a team to deal with.

[krh44]

9-0 the final. The only good thing about this game is that it is over!

[krh44]

If we don't win the tourney, will we get an at large?

I think so. The only way LU would have been left out, I think, would have been to go two and barbecue here. The win against G-Webb was big. High Point is not a bad loss, RPI wise. A loss to Radford wouldn't be killer either.

I hope you are right. This is from Kendall Rogers
"Wow. Bubble teams beware. High Point beats #Liberty 9-0 tonight in the @BigSouthSports tourney. Liberty is a lock to get in at this point."

[Chris Lang]

Game story:

http://www.newsadvance.com/sports/liber ... f6878.html

[ballcoach15]

If tourney games count in final RPI rankings, I guess LU picked up a few points yesterday with Duke and Clemson winning ACC tournament games. Clemson is in ACC championship game I believe with their 2-0 record so far. Duke beat Georgia Tech.

As for LU, we need to shake up the batting order. In my 49 years of following baseball, I have never seen a team go into a batting slump like one we are in right now. When in a slump such as this, don't trot out same line-up every night. Move some guys around. I have thought all year that Perritt should be hitting 2nd. The DH position should be lower in the order than 4th.

No offense to anyone , High Point and Radford don't belong on same field as Liberty. We should not be losing to teams like that.

[Rooster Cogburn]

That game was depressing. Balls just falling, nothing working, bats silent. We need a wake up call, but what is it? I hope they find it today. Don't need another Radford loss.

[therealbodoyle]

Hey guys. I didn't watch your game, and was really surprised with the result. What happened? Did you guys just run into a buzzsaw pitcher, or did they have a lot of breaks/bad calls go their way?

[Humble_Opinion]

Have to say that I'm a little worried about the game today... It feels like this team is worn out or tired. This should be the time of year that we are peaking and it seems to be the exact opposite. Hopefully, Bean can have an amazing game and keep RU's bats quiet long enough for ours to wake up.

[cuda54]

we have pulled several wins out against week teams do to
our pitching and other teams mistakes. You cant always come
from behind. Somewhere along the line you have to earn your
spot and stop being coddled to. The 2 for 29, or 3 for 30's etc.
have had more than their share of ab's to produce like bbcoach said
time to shake it up. This didn't just start happening

[BJWilliams]

I think a combination of both...and to ballcoach, I actually disagree with your last assertion...come postseason time, it doesnt really matter what the number is next to a team...they do belong on the field or they wouldnt have made the tournament. I do agree some sort of shift in the order is in order...at least in the middle of the lineup

[PAmedic]

put a fork in 'em, they're done. peaked too early and you don't get it back this late.

not saying they dont pull out the stupid BSOUTH tourney but that's hardly the benchmark

best case scenario is they get bounced in the first round of the NCAA's.

sorry. prove me wrong guys

[Chris Lang]

Plate approach has been a problem in recent weeks, Alex Close said as much last night. They built their record on patient hitting, getting guys on base, executing, aggressive baserunning, putting pressure on the defense. Everyone is going up there swinging for home runs right now. Swinging at far too many pitches out of the zone. Plate discipline is the way to get out of the funk.

[flameshaw]

Plate approach has been a problem in recent weeks, Alex Close said as much last night. They built their record on patient hitting, getting guys on base, executing, aggressive baserunning, putting pressure on the defense. Everyone is going up there swinging for home runs right now. Swinging at far too many pitches out of the zone. Plate discipline is the way to get out of the funk.

Said this a few weeks ago. It is obviously a problem, because we haven't been hitting many HR's lately. You usually don't hit HR's when you are trying to. I believe it is a combination of this and the guys believing all the hype regarding hosting a regional, being ranked, etc. You are never as good as you think you are.
Hope we can turn this thing around quickly, because I am like PAmedic, right now, I don't see us doing much from here on out. We are a solid team, but not when reading/believing the press clippings.

[rogers3]

Hey guys. I didn't watch your game, and was really surprised with the result. What happened? Did you guys just run into a buzzsaw pitcher, or did they have a lot of breaks/bad calls go their way?

put a fork in 'em, they're done. peaked too early and you don't get it back this late.

not saying they dont pull out the stupid BSOUTH tourney but that's hardly the benchmark

best case scenario is they get bounced in the first round of the NCAA's.

sorry. prove me wrong guys

That's what happened.

[SuperJon]

You can't hit with no approach. Right now, we have no approach.

[jinxy]

Weve had this approach for the past couple years. We were better in the mid part of the year but the pitching has carried us. Perritt needs to be moved up now and yacyk needs to be dhing. Nobody is hitting much at third.

[SuperJon]

That's why I was giving Toman so much credit earlier this year. In the past, his approach had been to swing hard, try to pull it, and go for the homer. Earlier this year, he had our guys taking pitches, going to the opposite field, and all of the things you want your team to do. He needs to get to where he was earlier this year, not where we've been in past years.

[ballcoach15]

He needs to do something different.

[Chris Lang]

I'm no coach, I just play one in video games sometimes ... that said, my initial thought is to move Perritt back to leadoff, pull Close up to cleanup and drop Lacik/Sankey down toward the bottom of the order. Perritt was dropped because he wasn't hitting early on. He's hitting better than anyone on the team right now and could give an early charge. Cleanup is not the spot where you want to be trying to shake out of a slump. Give Sankey a different look.

[Chippy]

CF Perritt (R)
RF Shephard (R)
2B Seiz (S)
1b Close (R)
SS Britt (L)
C Grauer (R)
3b Allen (L)
DH Yacyk (R)
LF Lacik (L)

Bunch the best averages at the beginning of the order and get them the most ABs. We seem to always play from behind. This might help

[BJWilliams]

From one armchair baseball coach to another...that's a solid lineup, except I would try to centralize power in the middle of the lineup (Seiz, Close and Grauer 4-6) then have your top 3 all speed/average

[BJWilliams]

Coastal getting run off the field by Campbell right now as the Camels put up 5 in the 6th and lead 12-5