AU vs. State Game 3

[AuburnBasketball 0]

ball game!!

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

NICE!!!  

I really love this team!

[AuburnBasketball 0]

well Justin Bryant hit the ball very well today but im still for Alvord at 3rd and Bryant or somebody else at DH

I agree.  I definitely think Alvord gets back in at 3rd.  I think it should be down to Bryant or Ortman at DH.  Ortman really sees lefties well and brings you more power so maybe he starts against most lefties and Bryant starts against most righties.  All things being equal I'd rather see Ortman so Bryant can focus on pitching.

i really like Ortman he is a big dude with power and good plate discipline which is what you want in your DH.

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

well Justin Bryant hit the ball very well today but im still for Alvord at 3rd and Bryant or somebody else at DH

I agree.  I definitely think Alvord gets back in at 3rd.  I think it should be down to Bryant or Ortman at DH.  Ortman really sees lefties well and brings you more power so maybe he starts against most lefties and Bryant starts against most righties.  All things being equal I'd rather see Ortman so Bryant can focus on pitching.

i really like Ortman he is a big dude with power and good plate discipline which is what you want in your DH.

I do too.

[chimesAU 89]

I had to work all weekend. Any chance one of you swell guys could catch me up on how the series went? I can look up wins and losses but I'd like to know how the team looked... Thanks in advance.

[AuburnBasketball 0]

I had to work all weekend. Any chance one of you swell guys could catch me up on how the series went? I can look up wins and losses but I'd like to know how the team looked... Thanks in advance.

First game lost because of errors, second game almost lost because of errors and third game won and looked good but still errors.

[chimesAU 89]

I had to work all weekend. Any chance one of you swell guys could catch me up on how the series went? I can look up wins and losses but I'd like to know how the team looked... Thanks in advance.

First game lost because of errors, second game almost lost because of errors and third game won and looked good but still errors.

Thanks, AuburnBasketball. Glad we won the series but errors are frustrating as hell. Almost as frustrating as missed free throws.

[kbtiger151345162906 0]

I had to work all weekend. Any chance one of you swell guys could catch me up on how the series went? I can look up wins and losses but I'd like to know how the team looked... Thanks in advance.

-Friday night was discouraging, a few errors and lack of hitting led us to our 3rd straight loss.

-Saturday, Auburn scored some runs early off some Miss St errors.  Got a 6-0 lead and looked to be cruising  Will Kendall pitched really well then hit a wall in the 7th, state cut the lead to 6-3.  Auburn came back in the bottom of the 7th, with 4 runs.  Blake Austin hit a 2 run HR.  Auburn rode that lead to a 10-6 win.

-Today, I thought we hit the ball the best we have all weekend.  Justin Bryant and Garrett Cooper both had good days.  Koger gave us 6 innings giving up 2.  Slade shut down the door in the final 3 innings.

Thoughts from the weekend.

-Who is going to play at 3rd?  Alvord has been struggling in the field and Bryant got the start today, but I think Alvord is the guy going forward

-On a related note, who is going to DH?  Kody Ortman had a great game saturday and made a case to DH, but Bryant came back with a great day today.

-Starting pitching is still really solid.  They do seem to be hitting a wall around the 6th or 7th innings that they need to learn to push through, but a quality start is now the norm and not the exception.

-Slade Smith is really come on strong out of the pen.

-I think we are hitting the ball a little better, we're never going to be bombers, but more timely hitting (7 runs with 2 outs today).

-We can still expect 2 errors out of the team each day, would love to cut that down.

-Small ball has slowed down a little bit.

-Overall, its hard not to be encouraged by this team, gotta win another series against Bama next weekend.

[aaronl22 0]

Three straight series win to start the SEC schedule is very positive. Our rotation in the weekend has been rock solid but we have a big hole at 3B defensively. Our hitting the last two days has been good to see because we can't expect all 3 of Varnadore, Kendall, and Koger to be this great every outing.

[AuburnBasketball 0]

I had to work all weekend. Any chance one of you swell guys could catch me up on how the series went? I can look up wins and losses but I'd like to know how the team looked... Thanks in advance.

First game lost because of errors, second game almost lost because of errors and third game won and looked good but still errors.

Thanks, AuburnBasketball. Glad we won the series but errors are frustrating as hell. Almost as frustrating as missed free throws.

yeah sadly we have issues with free throws as well...

[chimesAU 89]

I had to work all weekend. Any chance one of you swell guys could catch me up on how the series went? I can look up wins and losses but I'd like to know how the team looked... Thanks in advance.

-Friday night was discouraging, a few errors and lack of hitting led us to our 3rd straight loss.

-Saturday, Auburn scored some runs early off some Miss St errors.  Got a 6-0 lead and looked to be cruising  Will Kendall pitched really well then hit a wall in the 7th, state cut the lead to 6-3.  Auburn came back in the bottom of the 7th, with 4 runs.  Blake Austin hit a 2 run HR.  Auburn rode that lead to a 10-6 win.

-Today, I thought we hit the ball the best we have all weekend.  Justin Bryant and Garrett Cooper both had good days.  Koger gave us 6 innings giving up 2.  Slade shut down the door in the final 3 innings.

Thoughts from the weekend.

-Who is going to play at 3rd?  Alvord has been struggling in the field and Bryant got the start today, but I think Alvord is the guy going forward

-On a related note, who is going to DH?  Kody Ortman had a great game saturday and made a case to DH, but Bryant came back with a great day today.

-Starting pitching is still really solid.  They do seem to be hitting a wall around the 6th or 7th innings that they need to learn to push through, but a quality start is now the norm and not the exception.

-Slade Smith is really come on strong out of the pen.

-I think we are hitting the ball a little better, we're never going to be bombers, but more timely hitting (7 runs with 2 outs today).

-We can still expect 2 errors out of the team each day, would love to cut that down.

-Small ball has slowed down a little bit.

-Overall, its hard not to be encouraged by this team, gotta win another series against Bama next weekend.

Nice breakdown. It's very much appreciated. Next weekend's series is in trashcaloosa, right?

[C'viewTiger 242]

Hey guys, just got in and skimmed through the posts.  didn't see a final.  Can someone post the final?

[AuburnBasketball 0]

8-2

[au03cobrafan 0]

(1) Could our two out scores be because they can't play small ball with two outs?  If so this makes me question whether this team should try to play small ball as much as they do.

(2) I think it's possible that 3rd base is just the hardest position on the field to play when it comes to hard hit balls and long throws.  It takes a very strong arm and quick person to play 3rd base.  Could it be that our 3rd baseman would make a better shortstop or 2nd baseman but he's got the best arm of all the infielders.

(3) Another thought is that errors are just part of the college game and these guys aren't seasoned professionals just yet.  I would like to see a ranking of all teams in errors just to see if Auburn is really as bad as everyone thinks they are.

[AuburnBasketball 0]

(1) Could our two out scores be because they can't play small ball with two outs?  If so this makes me question whether this team should try to play small ball as much as they do.

(2) I think it's possible that 3rd base is just the hardest position on the field to play when it comes to hard hit balls and long throws.  It takes a very strong arm and quick person to play 3rd base.  Could it be that our 3rd baseman would make a better shortstop or 2nd baseman but he's got the best arm of all the infielders.

(3) Another thought is that errors are just part of the college game and these guys aren't seasoned professionals just yet.  I would like to see a ranking of all teams in errors just to see if Auburn is really as bad as everyone thinks they are.

For number 2, Alvord started off the season at ss and Bryant used to be a 2b so that is the case in that situation I guess.

[kbtiger151345162906 0]

(1) Could our two out scores be because they can't play small ball with two outs?  If so this makes me question whether this team should try to play small ball as much as they do.

(2) I think it's possible that 3rd base is just the hardest position on the field to play when it comes to hard hit balls and long throws.  It takes a very strong arm and quick person to play 3rd base.  Could it be that our 3rd baseman would make a better shortstop or 2nd baseman but he's got the best arm of all the infielders.

(3) Another thought is that errors are just part of the college game and these guys aren't seasoned professionals just yet.  I would like to see a ranking of all teams in errors just to see if Auburn is really as bad as everyone thinks they are.

1. Valid point, I am not a fan of small ball and have been outspoken about it.  I think the fact that we've scored 10 and 8 runs the past two games without bunting as much is very telling.  The quote has always been "if you play for 1 run, you'll probably get 1 run."  I'm a fan of letting guys swing away and posting 2, 3, 4 spots on the board to build a lead.

2.  Alvord wasn't very good defensively at 2nd or SS.  Conventional baseball wisdom has always ranked position difficulty SS, 2B, 3B in that order.  A lot of that ranking has to do with turning double plays, covering steals, being in the right position for cut offs more than simple ground balls.  I'd say as far as making your "routine" plays SS is the hardest because of how quickly you have to release the ball. 3B is the second hardest, IMO.

3.  Auburn is 11th in the SEC in fielding percentage.  Vanderbilt is behind us right now.  Hey that's some improvement because we were last most of last year if I remember correctly

[AUTUmike 79]

I wasn't able to keep up with the games this weekend, but despite what sounded like sloppy games, I'm glad to have another series win in conference play.