Lamar Baseball 2023

[spidersal]

Another poor outing for Lamar

I just don’t know if they can come in 7th or not, certainly a possibility of not making the tournament 

[myrecordwashorrible]

57 minutes ago, spidersal said:

Another poor outing for Lamar

I just don’t know if they can come in 7th or not, certainly a possibility of not making the tournament 

Drove over to Lake Chuck to watch this one.  The offense was poor and when they had chances to score simply didn't.  Sadly, based on position players that returned from last year this has been an underwhelming season. 

[spidersal]

You are absolutely correct It is time for Lamar to part ways with Davis. He can’t get the job done

[myrecordwashorrible]

Cards win 10-9 and use everbody with a jersey to pitch the ninth. Guess I chose the wrong day to travel over for a game.   Wow!  Just wow.  Not sure what else to say.  

Must sweep HCU in 2 weeks and hope for a little help.  Must secure a 5 seed or higher to avoid play in game. The play in game makes the odds of winning the tournament very low.  Heck, HCU could sweep the Cards and leave them sitting at home.  

Despite today's win, still a disappointing season thus far. 

[spidersal]

They won which is a plus, however the pitching staff tried their best to blow another game

They will come in 7th or 8th after HCU series and if HCU wins 2 of 3 from SEL, look for Lamar to be sitting at home after the HCU series

If the pitching staff is not the worst in the Southland conference, it is real close. They simply have very few decent relievers on the staff

IMO, I don’t think they like playing for Davis

[myrecordwashorrible]

Just scanning the remaining schedules. 

A sweep by either team in next weekends McNeese vs. Northwestern State series and with UNO finishing with Nicholls and UIW, Lamar could sneak into the 5 seed.  Don't see it happening, but it could.  It would be undeserved to not be a 6 seed or lower or even sitting home....but they have the talent base to pull a "Gilligan" (win the tournament unexpectedly).  

Lamar has the leage leading ERA and ranks 7th in team batting average. The offense was expected to carry the team this year.  There have been some blown saves and several 1 run losses, but the again the offense should have had extended leads in several of those games.

 

[spidersal]

Yes, the offense is not doing well, but scoring enough runs to win. If they are 1st in ERA, then it is the starting pitchers. The bullpen is bad. You saw it again today when they had a 6-5 lead going to the bottom of the 8th and pitchers blew the lead. Thank goodness McNeese pitching in 9th was worse and bottom of 9th Lamar’s pitchers tried to blow it again

I don’t see them as a 5th seed, I see 7th or 8th

[myrecordwashorrible]

I don't see a 5th seed either.  Just stating the possibility of it. 

They can't be an 8th. Remember, the tournament is a bit unusual with the 6th and 7th playing on Tuesday to earn a spot in the tournament. 

[spidersal]

If they are tied with HCU going into the final series and lose 2 of 3 then they can be 8th

[myrecordwashorrible]

1 hour ago, spidersal said:

If they are tied with HCU going into the final series and lose 2 of 3 then they can be 8th

Place 8th, yes.  However, there is no 8 seed in the tournament. 

[spidersal]

Yes I know Thank you

That would simply mean season is done and unfortunately that could happen 

[spidersal]

Wow the Cards are now 28-20, which means they will have a winning season this year.

They have a season where they beat Baylor, Houston, Kansas State, Texas A&M, and TCU, but have won only 2 of 7 conference series.  They have also lost to weak teams like Penn.

They simply can’t find their identity this season

They have 7 games left before the tournament and I look for them to win2 of those, 1 vs SFA and 1 vs HCU with a 30-25 record and either 7th in conference or 8th and sitting at home. If they had any pitching and played above the opponent level, they could win more, however they don’t do that, they play down to their opponent level

[myrecordwashorrible]

LU has 12th best ERA in the country with the 219th lowest runs scored total and 233rd in runs per game. 

I differ with you on the pitching being the issue.  I will give you that there have been blown saves. However  let's look at 7 of the conference losses.  

5 games the offense has produced 2, 2, 1, 3, and 3 runs in those games the runs against was 5, 4, 5, 4, 4. The other 2 games in the 7 discussing were extra inning affairs in which the offense provided 0 runs over 13 extra innings of play. 

While the season has been disappointing and could be labeled even worse... if we point fingers here...the pitching is not the biggest issue.  Again, blown saves have hurt, but college offenses put up runs these days. 

[Coach 01]

1 hour ago, myrecordwashorrible said:

LU has 12th best ERA in the country with the 219th lowest runs scored total and 233rd in runs per game. 

I differ with you on the pitching being the issue.  I will give you that there have been blown saves. However  let's look at 7 of the conference losses.  

5 games the offense has produced 2, 2, 1, 3, and 3 runs in those games the runs against was 5, 4, 5, 4, 4. The other 2 games in the 7 discussing were extra inning affairs in which the offense provided 0 runs over 13 extra innings of play. 

While the season has been disappointing and could be labeled even worse... if we point fingers here...the pitching is not the biggest issue.  Again, blown saves have hurt, but college offenses put up runs these days. 

Bingo. Agendas and hurt feelings aside, it's pretty obvious that pitching is not the problem for the majority of the Cards struggles. 

[spidersal]

219 in lowest runs and 233 in runs per game is not good. Again the starting pitching is not the problem, it is the bullpen that struggles when they come in. I agree with you that the hitting and runs the Cards score is not very good. I guess the real question is why can’t they play well vs weak teams

You can tell me that the weak SLC is in the middle of the pack in NCAA D1, but I bet only 1 team from the SLC goes to a regional and will be seeded 3 or 4, so I don’t think the committee thinks too highly of the SLC

[myrecordwashorrible]

47 minutes ago, spidersal said:

219 in lowest runs and 233 in runs per game is not good. Again the starting pitching is not the problem, it is the bullpen that struggles when they come in. I agree with you that the hitting and runs the Cards score is not very good. I guess the real question is why can’t they play well vs weak teams

You can tell me that the weak SLC is in the middle of the pack in NCAA D1, but I bet only 1 team from the SLC goes to a regional and will be seeded 3 or 4, so I don’t think the committee thinks too highly of the SLC

Just for the sake of discussion, it will be a 4 seed.  The conference would be lucky to get 2 teams once every ten years and that would take the conference regular season winner having a great season but losing in the conference tournament.  The SLC schools simply don't have and quite honestly can't have the facilities (MONEY, MONEY MONEY) to recruit the best college players.  The SLC plays a decent quality baseball and though they shouldn't be content with that, to expect high tournament seedings is a stretch. PAC 12, ACC, BIG 12,and SEC alone will grab most of the 1 and 2 seeds and there are still several other conferences with bigger budgets, better facilities, etc.  Examples ULL, Coastal Carolina, Southern Miss, some CUSA schools, some American Athletic, etc....

Opinion here for sure.  The only way a SLC team becomes a perennial top 25 or even top 50 team ...  someone worth well in excess of 50 million dollars chooses to fund a fabulous facility as well as NIL for simply baseball and in a "neat" town.  Not sure Beaumont qualifies to young kids that aren't from the area. Yes, stating that as delicate as possible. 

In Lamar's case one oddity I will state.  Although most AD's in the SLC would love to have Lamar's facilities, the last one most would take on the campus would be Vincent Beck.  I believe it has the largest seating capacity, but beyond that there is nothing special about the overall facility at all.

 

[spidersal]

I totally agree with your post. You hit it right on the head with your assessment 

[snakehead26]

On 5/7/2023 at 4:25 PM, myrecordwashorrible said:

Cards win 10-9 and use everbody with a jersey to pitch the ninth. Guess I chose the wrong day.  Wow!  Just wow.  Not sure what else to say.  

 

Baseball stadium was originally upgraded in 1983 (40 years) when Beaumont Golden Gators came to time.  Only a few minor improvements from time to time since then.

As for NCAA tournament even if SLC had a legitimate top 25 team that lost the conference tournament you would be biting your fingernails hoping you get a bid. The committee is biased to the larger richer conferences and just isn't going to give a bid to the lower conferences because of politics.

That is why I like to view the independent RPIs put out by different services in all the different sports. They give you a better idea where you stand. Actually, this year Southland keeps moving up on some of those to like 14. The cluster of power is in the mega conferences. 

All the teams in SLC are pretty much equals this year as even the conference standing indicate this. You could put all the schools in a hat and pull out a name to try to pick the tournament winner. If Lamar's bats woke up in the last week or two they could easily win the tournament but you have to get there to win.

[spidersal]

Another lackluster performance by the Cards, again playing down to their level of competition and again poor pitching and not much hitting or runs

we will see tomorrow if they split or go 0-2

hopefully they can win 2 of 3 from HCU

[myrecordwashorrible]

Scoreboard watch today and then play what if with the HCU series for Lamar and who plays who in the final weekend. 

Interesting note...if they don't move sites or cancel today, HCU will have played 11 games at "home" this season (believe I calculated correctly).  Very few games scheduled at home to begin the season and several were moved to Sugarland and Rice due to weather. 

[myrecordwashorrible]

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LU has a decent shot at avoiding being in the play-in game. However, there is still a chance they could be sitting at home if swept by HCU.  

Several interesting scenarios and a strong chance of a tie breaker determining play-in game or being out right in the tournament.  If I'm reading things correctly, Lamar wants to avoid tie breakers with McNeese and Corpus, but holds the head to head with UNO.

3 way ties.. I have an idea about, but more than I care to write. 

[snakehead26]

Looks to me like they will need to win all three against HCU to avoid that play-in. That would put them past McNeese who holds a tie breaker edge with them. Then they need to hope New Orleans loses at least one or two without us finishing in a tie with AMCC. Our problem is that we lost all the conference series except New Orleans and Southeastern.

Also the tiebreaker rules reference eight teams so I don't know if that is from a prior year. I still assume that if two teams are tied it is head to head with the one taking 2 out of 3 being the higher seed. If three are tied the head to head could be even and then they go to best record against higher seed....yeah it gets complicated.

Win 1 and they are at least in the play-in and get swept and they are out of the tournament. 

[snakehead26]

Well Tuesday night victory against UTRGV by a score of 10-4. Close out the regular season against HCU on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. This will finally determine if we make the conference tournament and if so what position we will occupy.

[spidersal]

They need to win all 3 to avoid being 12-12 and tied with McNeese. A play in game vs them in Lake Charles would not be good. I do not see them being above 6th or 7th. They just don’t have the pitching. Do not be surprised if they go 1-2 vs HCU

[myrecordwashorrible]

7 hours ago, spidersal said:

They need to win all 3 to avoid being 12-12 and tied with McNeese. A play in game vs them in Lake Charles would not be good. I do not see them being above 6th or 7th. They just don’t have the pitching. Do not be surprised if they go 1-2 vs HCU

Heck, they may get swept. However, if you want to see some bad numbers, check out the ERA'S for the Huskies.  Team ERA is over 8 and ranks 275 out of 295.