Jump to content

Baseball Series vs. uat


Recommended Posts

11 hours ago, tigers23 said:

Have we beat Alabama at anything this year?

We have not.

 

0-1 in football

0-2 in basketball

0-3 in softball

0-1 in baseball

 

0-7 overall. Not good.

 

If we don't see some improvement by the end of the year, Hudson may not be here next season. Have not seen much improvement from any of the pitchers. Offense scores enough runs to win. 

We continually take leads or come back to tie games, and then immediately give it back in the next inning. At some point, that's the pitching staff not being mentally tough enough. A few times is "just baseball." 9-10 times in one half of a season is no longer that. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites





15 minutes ago, tigerbrotha12 said:

We have not.

 

0-1 in football

0-2 in basketball

0-3 in softball

0-1 in baseball

 

0-7 overall. Not good.

 

If we don't see some improvement by the end of the year, Hudson may not be here next season. Have not seen much improvement from any of the pitchers. Offense scores enough runs to win. 

We continually take leads or come back to tie games, and then immediately give it back in the next inning. At some point, that's the pitching staff not being mentally tough enough. A few times is "just baseball." 9-10 times in one half of a season is no longer that. 

This to me is an indicator that AU athletics is at an all time low. Our AD needs to get in gear.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, tigerbrotha12 said:

We have not.

 

0-1 in football

0-2 in basketball

0-3 in softball

0-1 in baseball

 

0-7 overall. Not good.

 

If we don't see some improvement by the end of the year, Hudson may not be here next season. Have not seen much improvement from any of the pitchers. Offense scores enough runs to win. 

We continually take leads or come back to tie games, and then immediately give it back in the next inning. At some point, that's the pitching staff not being mentally tough enough. A few times is "just baseball." 9-10 times in one half of a season is no longer that. 

Correct. If this happens 9-10 times in 1/2 season then there's a real problem somewhere.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

in regard to ppl talking about Hudson and his "volunteer" position.....did he just volunteer to do it and save AU money, or is there no such asst baseball coach position?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, TigerPAC said:

in regard to ppl talking about Hudson and his "volunteer" position.....did he just volunteer to do it and save AU money, or is there no such asst baseball coach position?

So, the NCAA allows for the head coach and two paid assistants on a staff. Almost every team in the country carries a third assistant, but he can't be paid by the university. So, he's considered a volunteer coach, and that position is usually always paid by the program's booster club. My guess in this particular case is Huddy isn't being paid anything, just giving back to his alma mater. Volunteer coaches are limited in recruiting and can't recruit off-campus.

In 2019, the NCAA put forth a proposal to add a third paid assistant coach for baseball and softball. The size of the rosters really requires you have three assistants. That proposal was voted on by the conferences and denied. There's a lot of back and forth on why it was denied, but ultimately it wasn't passed. And I don't believe it can be proposed again until this year. So, I suppose it will go up for vote again this year.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good points guys. I admit I did not even think about the fact that Hudson is our volunteer coach. Even still, I always thought those coaches were paid under the table or by boosters like @boomsticksays. Pretty cool of him if he's not taking anything as a way to give back. Not surprising knowing he's always been a great guy. At the end of the day I think we were extremely spoiled by having Steve Smith here. Hopefully they pass the third assistant, which will give Butch some more flexibility. If not, I'm sure he switch things up with the staff and the volunteer position. I really want Hudson to work out as I'm sure we all do, but I want what's best for the program as well. I agree Butch has earned the chance to fix this.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, au302 said:

Good points guys. I admit I did not even think about the fact that Hudson is our volunteer coach. Even still, I always thought those coaches were paid under the table or by boosters like @boomsticksays. Pretty cool of him if he's not taking anything as a way to give back. Not surprising knowing he's always been a great guy. At the end of the day I think we were extremely spoiled by having Steve Smith here. Hopefully they pass the third assistant, which will give Butch some more flexibility. If not, I'm sure he switch things up with the staff and the volunteer position. I really want Hudson to work out as I'm sure we all do, but I want what's best for the program as well. I agree Butch has earned the chance to fix this.

Huddy loves Auburn and it's baseball program. He has donated LOTS of money to Auburn as well. I think he knows pitching, but injuries are out of his control. He would take himself out of the picture before he'd cause serious problems for the baseball program.

Butch and Huddy will fix things. No fan wants success more than the coaches and players do.

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, au302 said:

Good points guys. I admit I did not even think about the fact that Hudson is our volunteer coach. Even still, I always thought those coaches were paid under the table or by boosters like @boomsticksays. Pretty cool of him if he's not taking anything as a way to give back. Not surprising knowing he's always been a great guy. At the end of the day I think we were extremely spoiled by having Steve Smith here. Hopefully they pass the third assistant, which will give Butch some more flexibility. If not, I'm sure he switch things up with the staff and the volunteer position. I really want Hudson to work out as I'm sure we all do, but I want what's best for the program as well. I agree Butch has earned the chance to fix this.

Unfortunately, if it's a learning curve for Hudson at the college level as a coach, I think Butch has to work with him to see where the issues lie. It is too consistent, like others have said on here, to have a pitching staff be so unreliable in so many games. It's a mentality so much w pitchers, unless you are elite w your stuff. 

Also, as in hitting instructors, the best teachers are not always the best players when they played in MLB or college. Most often it is the guy who has to work to be a good hitter or pitcher that becomes the best teachers and coaches. 

It also applies to pitching coaches. Butch indicated after one of the games, he needed to stick his nose in the pitching problems a little more to see where he can help. Don't know what has changed, but the results seem to be the same....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, tigerbrotha12 said:

We have not.

 

0-1 in football

0-2 in basketball

0-3 in softball

0-1 in baseball

 

0-7 overall. Not good.

 

If we don't see some improvement by the end of the year, Hudson may not be here next season. Have not seen much improvement from any of the pitchers. Offense scores enough runs to win. 

We continually take leads or come back to tie games, and then immediately give it back in the next inning. At some point, that's the pitching staff not being mentally tough enough. A few times is "just baseball." 9-10 times in one half of a season is no longer that. 

Don't forget 0-2 in women's basketball and 0-1 in gymnastics bringing our overall grand total to a whopping 0-10.

The pitching has gotten worse this year. No mental toughness. Hudson was a great player but obviously not qualified as a coach. A change has to be made. What is so crazy is that Butch was supposedly a great pitching coach. He needs to get involved ASAP and make a change in the off-season 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This team is hitting pretty well. Why would you think Gabe needs to be replaced? Hitting is not really the issue. Auburn is a team who can get 7-8-9 runs a game. With better pitching that's plenty of runs to win. The Tigers have been pretty productive at the plate in 2021. 

The catcher position needs a little bit of tweaking, and obviously the pitching needs to be stabilized. Everything else is looking good. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Tigerbelle said:

This team is hitting pretty well. Why would you think Gabe needs to be replaced? Hitting is not really the issue. Auburn is a team who can get 7-8-9 runs a game. With better pitching that's plenty of runs to win. The Tigers have been pretty productive at the plate in 2021. 

The catcher position needs a little bit of tweaking, and obviously the pitching needs to be stabilized. Everything else is looking good. 

When things aren't going well it's just nature that some want a coaching change right away. I agree with you that Hudson is not the problem. I would like to hear who anyone thinks we could better than Hudson as a volunteer coach.

Edited by Proud Tiger
Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, Tigerbelle said:

This team is hitting pretty well. Why would you think Gabe needs to be replaced? Hitting is not really the issue. Auburn is a team who can get 7-8-9 runs a game. With better pitching that's plenty of runs to win. The Tigers have been pretty productive at the plate in 2021. 

The catcher position needs a little bit of tweaking, and obviously the pitching needs to be stabilized. Everything else is looking good. 

I think the argument against Gabe is the numbers in SEC play don't really match the numbers overall. Like right now, we're 9th in conference only games in BA and 8th in runs scored. And I think those trends have been pretty consistent throughout Gabe's tenure. In 2019, we finished 9th in BA and runs scored. In 2018, we finished 9th in BA and 4th in runs scored. There's just been a trend of a big drop-off between conference play and non-conference play. 

I'm not necessarily advocating for Gabe to be removed or Hudson to be removed, but there's been a clear regression this year in pitching and offense seems to be trending in the same direction it's done the last 2-3 full seasons. And when a team struggles like this team has, people go looking for answers. And while pitching seems like the obvious one, I think it's fair to point some criticism for potentially not being better than it is. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well here we are. 

Now 1-7 in 1 run games in the SEC, and 1-8 if you include games that were more than 1 run, but decided in extra innings (Game 1 vs. Kenutcky).

 

If you look at Auburn's path to still being in the hunt for a regional, remember, the record you MUST get to (based on history) is at least 13-17.

At 1-12, it ain't looking so good. 

 

In terms of mathematical possibilities that still are in the realm of rationality, it's pretty simple: Auburn has to win the next two games they play. 

If AU finds a way to take this series, they still have to win every series they play from here out, but the schedule sets up in a way that makes that plausible. If Auburn were to drop one of these, it'll need to win every series, and sweep one. And that's just to get in the conversation. 

Don't want to be dramatic, but this is probably this team's "last stand" tonight barring a miraculous run of series wins and sweeps after this. The team is still very close to breaking through and looks like they can hang with anyone in the country, yet they continue to have major issues with relief pitchers providing quality innings. This team has been bitten in the rear all season after they have some success. 

Score one run, give up two by the opponent the next inning.... come back from 4 down to tie it up in the eight? Give up a run on a wild pitch in T9 to let opposition win..... Leadoff double, single, and walk to load the bases? Pop out, strike out, strike out to end the inning and get no runs. 

I don't know what you do if you're Butch. It's obvious the guys have the ability to hit, and they also look to have the ability to pitch well at times, but there are no players on this team that are able to be a consistent player in the clutch, and that is very disappointing with a team full of Omaha veterans. 

 

I think tonight is probably the deciding night of the season. You have to win this series, and a loss tonight makes that impossible, and just puts you so far behind in terms of mathematical play. Although unlikely, a series win still gives you a somewhat rational path to playing your way into the NCAA's. Lose this series, your chances go down to infinitesimal as you'd have to win them all and pick up a sweep. That would be a huge challenge, and one that I don't see this team or just about any other team in this league pulling off.

I've said it for a couple weeks now that I thought "this game is Auburn's last chance at turning things around truly." I think tonight is truly that. If you can't pull out two wins in this series, it likely ain't happenin' this year. Switch has to flip tonight. Must have clutch performances. Veterans must step up. Pitchers must execute spots and have good situational awareness (DON'T THROW A CURVEBALL IN THE DIRT WITH THE GO AHEAD RUN ON THIRD AND TWO OUTS).

Still a small bit of light left, but if you don't stick your hand through it tonight, I think it closes.

 

  • Like 1
  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Proud Tiger said:

When things aren't going well it's just nature that some want a coaching change right away. I agree with you that Hudson is not the problem. I would like to hear who anyone thinks we could better than Hudson as a volunteer coach.

To be honest and fair, we don't know if Hudson is part of the pitching problem. How can you see he is not the problem? 

All we know is that these pitchers even after the ones that had nagging injuries got back we still are not able to be consistent in shutting down teams, especially when we come back and tie or get the lead back.

Hudson has never coached pitchers before (as far as I know), so how do we know his philosophy on pitching and how he wants our pitchers to approach situations when in the game? How do we know he can teach college pitchers to be successful? We don't....but all we know right now he is the pitching coach responsible.

I never said he needed to be replaced after 1 year coaching. But injuries are not the only issue troubling this inconsistent  staff.  

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Proud Tiger said:

When things aren't going well it's just nature that some want a coaching change right away. I agree with you that Hudson is not the problem. I would like to hear who anyone thinks we could better than Hudson as a volunteer coach.

Well our last volunteer coach was Steve Smith, and he has had a pretty decorated career and did a fabulous job for us, at least in my opinion. Now, obviously we got very fortunate to get him and I do not expect us to get volunteer coaches with his resume often, if ever. In terms of name recognition and playing career accomplishments, I agree it would be tough to beat Hudson. That being said, I don't buy this notion that it is extremely difficult for us to attract a volunteer coach. Butch seems to be respected across the college game. A guy like Steve Smith and his resume doesn't come work for ya if he doesn't respect you as a coach. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So happy to see Williams destroying the ball the last couple of weeks after having the horrible slump at the start of SEC play. 4-1 Auburn in the bottom of the 5th. Miller, Ware, and Williams all have homers to put the good guys on top.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A swinging bunt for a single, a HPB, and a high chopper that Bliss can't get to second in time and bama has the bases loaded with 1 out. Owen still in the game but we do have people up in the bullpen warming up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fielder's choice, Woley to second to get one. Run scores but we have 2 outs now. 4-2 Auburn.

Owen has been throwing a lot of balls in the dirt. Had 2 wild pitches in the 2nd that caused the first run and has had several in this inning that Williams has stopped from getting away.

3-2 count and bama lines it into left for a base hit. 4-3 Auburn.

Edit: Inning mercifully over with a strikeout.

Edited by tgrogan21
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nothing doing for Auburn in the top of the 6th and Owen bounces back and strikes out the side. Going to the 7th 4-3 Auburn! Gotta get some insurance runs.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So weird to see Bliss not get hits all the time. He's 0 for his last 11. Miller and Woley with back-to-back 2-out singles. Williams up to bat.

Edit: Williams strikes. Bottom of the 7th 4-3 AU

Edited by tgrogan21
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moore with a lead-off double. Ward bunts, bama goes to 3rd and throws it away. Moore scores, Ward on 2nd no outs. 5-3 Auburn!!!

Edit: Howell bunts Ward to 3rd. 1 out.

Edited by tgrogan21
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 pitch at-bat for Cam Hill, fouling off a lot of 2 strike pitches and wins the battle with a walk. Runners on the corner with 1 out. Ware up to bat.

Edit: Ware hits it hard but right at the 3rd baseman and bama turns a double play. Sucks we couldn't get more runs but 5-3 Auburn B8th

Edited by tgrogan21
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...