The Official Tennessee @ LSU Weekend Series Thread (Thurs. 3/30 8PM EST) ESPNU (Fri. 3/31 7PM EST) SEC Network (Sat. 4/1 2PM EST) SEC NET+

#2,253
#2,253
Dodgers down 1, no outs, B9, Mookie Betts…walk…pitching change…Freeman to the plate…0-1, 1-1, fielders choice Mookie out at 2B…Smith…Chafin has a little Kirby action going on…2 away….ball game.

Diamondbacks take it 2-1.
 
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#2,256
#2,256
txbo said:
We’re dropping pop ups to the mound.
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We didn't even drop it. Five guys surrounded the ball and watched it hit the ground without even a glove up.

I wonder how much time is spent on fundamentals during fall practice and then between regular season games.

Vitello's teams have never been rock solid in the fundamentals department.
 
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#2,257
#2,257
vol_smoothie said:
We didn't even drop it. Five guys surrounded the ball and watched it hit the ground without even a glove up.

I wonder how much time is spent on fundamentals during fall practice and then between regular season games.

Vitello's teams have never been rock solid in the fundamentals department.
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Those pop ups that are hit a mile high straight up can be very difficult to play, but yeah, someone should have taken charge of it. I'm most concerned about the base running blunders. Cost us a crucial run last night. That definitely needs to be fixed.
 
#2,258
#2,258
StickMan said:
Not sure about that. I think they have a powerful lineup. Of course, they're beatable. We helped them a lot with bad mistakes. But they are very, very good. I'm encouraged with our guys moving forward.
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I don't know what to think about this team right now. From the Mizzou debacle to this continuous deal with errors and base running, the jury is still out. Hoping it's just inexperience, but the clock ticks on. I'd love to see what we're really capable of with a solid, consistent defense and smart base running. The question remains...will we get the chance? Tic tok, tic tok....
 
#2,259
#2,259
StickMan said:
Those pop ups that are hit a mile high straight up can be very difficult to play, but yeah, someone should have taken charge of it. I'm most concerned about the base running blunders. Cost us a crucial run last night. That definitely needs to be fixed.
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Simple fix IMO. It's far easier to catch a ball coming forward than going back. Our rule was always if an outfielder calls for it, everone else pulls off and cedes the play to the outfielder. I cringe when we end up with 3-4 guys all converging on a ball only to stand there looking at each other as the ball hits the turf or worse, they run into each other. Makes us look like a tee ball team and poorly coached.
 
#2,260
#2,260
CAVPUT said:
I don't know what to think about this team right now. From the Mizzou debacle to this continuous deal with errors and base running, the jury is still out. Hoping it's just inexperience, but the clock ticks on. I'd love to see what we're really capable of with a solid, consistent defense and smart base running. The question remains...will we get the chance? Tic tok, tic tok....
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's hard to get a gauge on it. Baseball is just a tough game to figure out anyway. One thing I do know is that we'll never see another team like last year's Vols.
 
#2,261
#2,261
StickMan said:
Yeah, it's hard to get a gauge on it. Baseball is just a tough game to figure out anyway. One thing I do know is that we'll never see another team like last year's Vols.
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Exactly. As this year goes on, it really sinks in how rare last year was and what a missed opportunity to win it all. Last night they were talking about how TN was the first team since 1972 to lead the nation in HRs and ERA. All the chuckleheads talking about our power being a product solely of our “tiny” ballpark forget to mention our pitchers led the nation pitching the majority of their games in same said ballpark!
 
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#2,262
#2,262
txbo said:
We’re dropping pop ups to the mound.
Click to expand...
And at SS, and at 2B and at 3B and in every crevice in the field. It’s like they’ve never seen the backspin on a ball and don’t know it’s not going to land directly below it’s peak. Denton called that one pretty heavily last night and it was tailing away from him to the 1B side of the mound terribly. C Mo ran damn near to the interior grass initially on a ball that wound up in the OF grass. They’re misreading the balls path something awful.
 
#2,263
#2,263
VolGee4 said:
Well, we were preseason top 5 this year. Many of the guys for OM who pitched against us last year also pitched late in the year. Not sure if they had a position player or two out with injury. I’m sure Bianco played around with his pitchers, but I think they just improved. Dylan Delucia, who famously guaranteed a win against us after giving up 5 ER in game one, was awesome for them in the post season. I’m not saying we are OM, but they did get hot last year.
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They missed Graham for a 1/3 of the year and I think Leatherwood was hurt as he didn’t play in 15 games after playing every game in 2021. Like you said they toyed with the pitching too and things turned when Delucia and Elliott were cemented as starters. They won 10 of the last 11 games he pitched (10 being starts) and won the last 7 that Elliott pitched (all starts).
 
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#2,264
#2,264
Everyone needs to take a step back from the ledge and realize that we are still building a contender. ‘21 and ‘22 are a lot tlike the Grant and Admiral years early on with Barnes. Not many people expected this baseball program to compete so early and not many predicted guys like Gilbert, Beck etc to be as good as they were and we somehow had everything come together and that fast tracked us into being contenders. Despite what people or the records say, we had a pretty damn good baseball coach before Vitello, that didn’t exactly leave the cupboard bare. We now have a great staff, building great relationships in recruiting, bigger and better facilities on the way, it’s going to be ok. Sit back, enjoy the ride and more importantly enjoy some big time, competitive SEC baseball in the process.
GBO!!
 
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#2,265
#2,265
cobbwebb0710 said:
Everyone needs to take a step back from the ledge and realize that we are still building a contender. ‘21 and ‘22 are a lot tlike the Grant and Admiral years early on with Barnes. Not many people expected this baseball program to compete so early and not many predicted guys like Gilbert, Beck etc to be as good as they were and we somehow had everything come together and that fast tracked us into being contenders. Despite what people or the records say, we had a pretty damn good baseball coach before Vitello, that didn’t exactly leave the cupboard bare. We now have a great staff, building great relationships in recruiting, bigger and better facilities on the way, it’s going to be ok. Sit back, enjoy the ride and more importantly enjoy some big time, competitive SEC baseball in the process.
GBO!!
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When this team makes the routine plays and does not give away 2-3 runs per game with its poor defense, I will enjoy the ride much more.
 
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#2,266
#2,266
LSU had players like Dugas, Morgan, and Crews coming back. These guys are experienced and talented, to boot. They had a great transfer haul as we all know. With us having to replace our position players on a major scale, LSU has the advantages at this point, yet we still had our chances and we were right there in the late innings. Clean up some things and get some more experience and I think we will be scary for teams that have to face us as the season progresses a little further. I’m disappointed in the outcomes the last 2 games, but I’m not discouraged whatsoever. As The General would say, “Pour on more steam.”
 
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#2,268
#2,268
cobbwebb0710 said:
Everyone needs to take a step back from the ledge and realize that we are still building a contender. ‘21 and ‘22 are a lot tlike the Grant and Admiral years early on with Barnes. Not many people expected this baseball program to compete so early and not many predicted guys like Gilbert, Beck etc to be as good as they were and we somehow had everything come together and that fast tracked us into being contenders. Despite what people or the records say, we had a pretty damn good baseball coach before Vitello, that didn’t exactly leave the cupboard bare. We now have a great staff, building great relationships in recruiting, bigger and better facilities on the way, it’s going to be ok. Sit back, enjoy the ride and more importantly enjoy some big time, competitive SEC baseball in the process.
GBO!!
Click to expand...

When I was a kid we had a phrase for what went on up in here last night.

“Quit being such a SPAZ!”

GBO!!!
 
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#2,273
#2,273
I still don’t see how they don’t rule those errors. Rule does not say has to be touched. 9.12. We have had 7 this year that we’re not and it cost our pitchers era. I understand last night because lsu is gonna give their batter hit.
 
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#2,275
#2,275
What a great trip to the Box for my son and I. Thanks preacherman for some super cheap tix I had to force him to accept payment for.

A synopsis of the trip:
Nice fans that gave us a good hearted ribbing from the moment we stepped out of the car. Very helpful stadium crew. Had some great conversation with random LSU fans.

Frat boys were frat boys. We took some cussing and birds and flew the Vol hand sign right back.

Exciting atmosphere. Exchanged lots of joking back and forth with the fans in the stands. Examples:

The players' girlfriends entourage walked by us and high fived my son and I for wearing our Vollie Fingers jerseys. Pretty sure it was Kirby's gf that led the way. Needless to say (all fine babes no doubt) some younger LSU fans behind us took note. I turned and said "out of state tuition is expensive, boys." The older LSU fans had a good lol outta that one.

When the LSU outfielder robbed us of a run on the great running, diving catch, an LSU fan yelled out at us "see, we been watching how you boys do it." I told him I see you seeing us! Then told him to wait til we learn to catch pop ups because y'all are screwed then.

Decided that was a good line and used it the rest of the night. That garnered a lot of chuckles except from the drunk frat guys who probably weren't good at sarcasm anyway.

What a game!
 
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