The Sarge

Just got into the hotel.

What I saw as a former baseball coach......

Jordan Mont - is the real deal and while he will have some up and down starts due to just being a freshman, he will become the Friday night starter next season after Roth has departed. He has very good stuff (3 solid pitches) and gets good movement on his fastball. His motion, balance and delivery are text book. His needs to very his pick off moves but he has a nice slide step to the plate with runners on and doesn't lose much off the fast ball when he has to use the slide. This kid understands how to use the entire plate - he hits his spots very well.Moves the ball around the plate without throwing a lot of wasted pitches. 99 pitches going into the 8th - outstanding. But he is young and he needs to keep a level head

Hitting - anyone that has ever taught hitting can see that this entire team is pressing. They are simply to worried about the K's and hitting with guys on. That being said, Ray Tanner is the best hitting coach (outside of my brother) that I know and he has been since the day he walked onto the Sarge for his first practice. He knows it's not bad techique. These guys need to find a team on the schedule that they can unload on.......when it comes it will be fun to watch. This team has guys that can hit and or make solid contact. The entire team is in a slump but there are two very good things that happen when you are slumping; 1) as a hitter you work harder everyday, every at bat to do the basic's correctly. You focus on the little things so that when that big hit falls in, you take off. 2) Slumps come to an end in a big way. Baseball history has proven time and time again that good hitting teams that go through slumps break out in big ways and for an extended period of time. This team can hit - who knows when the baseball gods are going to smile and allow it to happen. The nice thing is the fact we do have the pitching depth to keep us in games until it happens.

Youth - Youth - Youth
We are talking about a major college program having to start 4, 5 sometimes 6 first year players......That is difficult to do. Young players go through hitting and fielding slumps more than older guys that have been through the wars. But let me say this, unlike a lot of teams in the SEC and ACC that have had to use young players, our guys are very talented which leads one to believe that as they gain experience at this level, they will become great. Remind yourself that on most nights we are starting one vet player in the entire infield including catcher. That is unheard of for a winning major program.

No need to panic........

19 SEC games to go and a nice 13-6 winning record over those 19 games will land this team in Hoover and win 2 there will get them a sub-regional....after that who knows.

New slogan.........Just Win Tomorrow