ACC Tournament

[2330859]

This battery is looking more and more like Little League; passed balls can now be added to wild pitches, walks and HBPs as evidence of poor baseball at it’s worst.

Down 4 runs in 2, innings gives a Pitt team a lot of confidence, while the UL roster must be thinking about how can they score enough runs to overcome this pitching rotation?

 

[earsky]

Umpire flat misses a third strike

I was hoping I wasn’t the only one who saw that.

 

[Thecycle27]

Who knows how this game will finish but this is why they will struggle in the regionals. They will have to rely on the bull pen a lot and it is not good.

Nice swing Neighbors.

 

[Thecycle27]

I was hoping I wasn’t the only one who saw that.

Good lord ump another awful miss. Yep, that was a ridiculous miss. Happened against Wake to next pitch home run.

 

[UofLouisville]

Glad our best starters were saved for later in the tournament.

 

[CardX]

Why am I watching this game? 8 walks in four innings. Cards aren’t winning this one.

 

[Thecycle27]

It is amazing how inconsistent this staff is game to game. When they throw strikes they are pretty good. When they can’t they are god awful. To walk 9 batters 4 innings is just pitiful at this level.

Louisville doesn’t have any aces on the staff. The other teams weekend guys are better than Louisville.

 

[UofLouisville]

Gotta say though, King has been on fire.

 

[Cardiac Red]

Looking like status quo.. As I type that Eddie hits a 3 run dinger.

Still going to have to show me they can pull it out. My confidence in that happening is a cool 10%..

 

[Thecycle27]

That pretty much sums up the stupidity of Williams pitch calling. Why in the world do you throw a fastball in that situation? The dude is sitting dead red and you give him a 89 mph fastball. His best pitch is his curve ball not his fastball.

 

[Cardiac Red]

That pretty much sums up the stupidity of Williams pitch calling. Why in the world do you throw a fastball in that situation? The dude is sitting dead red and you give him a 89 mph fastball. His best pitch is his curve ball not his fastball.

I was hoping for a strikeout but would've been ok with a walk. I could feel during his whole at bat he was going to crush a "slow" fastball, and he did.. As you said, pretty much sums up our pitching.

 

[Thecycle27]

It makes no sense the hitter in that situation is going to be super aggressive why give him exactly what he is expecting. You aren’t going to sneak a fastball by him. Who cares if you walk him. Make him beat you with your pitchers best pitch. They rarely pitch from in front I get calling pitches is tough but man trying to sneak fastballs with a hitters count is not wise.

What did the Pitt pitcher do with King on 3-2 count. Off-speed out of the zone. King chased.

 

[Cardiac Red]

Unbelievable comeback. Glad I stuck with it. Just need one inning of good pitching from somebody. I think we can score one in the bottom.

 

[earsky]

I’m wore out!

 

[Cardiac Red]

If Cline was able to come in and pinch hit in a crucial situation and then go in to catch, why didn't he start ?

 

[Cardiac Red]

Sad thing is, Im not even shocked...

 

[Thecycle27]

I saw that coming.

My god how many times do they have to see Stark before they know he sucks?

It is unreal they don’t understand their staff.

 

[Bardman]

Same dumb, irrational decisions by the staff.

 

[abgoss96]

I knew as soon as Sharpe came in that we were screwed.

 

[Thecycle27]

The fact they haven’t really given Cutts a chance is puzzling. He was a starter in a regional last year but they had him on a
short leash all year.

 

[2330859]

So sad to have a rotation that cannot throw strikes: little chance of winning with this pitching staff

 

[Cardiac Red]

I knew as soon as Sharpe came in that we were screwed.

His control issues alone should have kept him out of the game in a tie score in the 9th. It's just like we throw guys out there just hoping they come through. Nothing Starke has done this year says that was a situation for him to be in the game.

 

[Thecycle27]

13 runs on 7 hits is crazy.

 

[Bardman]

Starke has had may e two-three good moments all year. Otherwise - very meh. Biven - overall - not good. Why not throw Peter Micheal tonight? Cutts has been hot and cold. Hell, the entire pitching staff has been hot and cold all year. Zero consistency.

 

[UofLouisville]

Goes to show good hitting doesn't beat bad pitching when both are on the same team

 

[TheRealVille]

I know we're all Cards fans and would rather see our team in the tournament than not, but how can anyone worry if this Cards baseball team is in or not?

Just how serious was the effort against Pitt from the staff and the team? It looked to me like Mac didn't care with his pitching choices. They had to win or be eliminated from the ACC tournament and it surely didn't look like it mattered much. To allow 13 runs on 7 hits is a joke and is embarrassing.

Do Cards fan really think it will be any different in the NCAA tournament?

I'm sorry because some will disagree, but I truly believe a change has to be made and I mean starting at the top with McDonnell. I have ZERO confidence going forward with him. It is what it is and the sooner UofL moves on, the sooner the program has a shot to be relevant again.

 

[earsky]

Do Cards fan really think it will be any different in the NCAA tournament?

I'm pretty sure it won't be. The question is will it be any different next year? It's been like this for a couple of minutes. I don't see things changing unless there's an injection of money from private sources. We have to level the playing field with regards to NIL.

No matter whether Mac is here or not,his successor will face the same challenges bringing in talent and/or keeping it.

Hell,we're probably about to get poached again and soon.

 

[Thecycle27]

As fans we only see the on field results. This can’t be just be a NIL issue with pitching. We really don’t know why they can’t obtain pitching talent. The fact Ty Starke sees the mound in critical spots throwing 85-88 at this level is the problem.

I think Williams and McDonnell pitching philosophy has all been fastball reliant to get ahead of counts. The reliance on fastballs is death when you don’t have high velocity guys with good, not great, off speed stuff.

I think NIL is a factor but their evaluation haven’t been good. You really wonder how much effort they are putting into finding arms. It really looks like they are settling at this point.

 

[PushupMan]

Cinderella lives! Cal knocks off Wake Forest 14-12 and will face #1 seed Georgia Tech tomorrow at 9AM.

Lower seeds are now 4-1 so far in the ACC tournament.

 

[CardX]

As fans we only see the on field results. This can’t be just be a NIL issue with pitching. We really don’t know why they can’t obtain pitching talent. The fact Ty Starke sees the mound in critical spots throwing 85-88 at this level is the problem.

I think Williams and McDonnell pitching philosophy has all been fastball reliant to get ahead of counts. The reliance on fastballs is death when you don’t have high velocity guys with good, not great, off speed stuff.

I think NIL is a factor but their evaluation haven’t been good. You really wonder how much effort they are putting into finding arms. It really looks like they are settling at this point.

You're worried about fast balls? Hell, I just want strikes. Enough with the darn free bases.

 

[earsky]

This can’t be just be a NIL issue with pitching. We really don’t know why they can’t obtain pitching talent.

I would have agreed 5 years ago,maybe even 3 years ago. Baseball has become the last bastion to fall because the $EC has made it that way. There are a handful of teams that typically draw on average 5 thousand fans to their games. Their budgets are higher,expectations are higher (see Lemonis).
We're getting the scraps out of high school and hoping we can keep the really good ones here after they've found their way onto those Big Boy radars.
I long for the program we had pre Covid but I don't think we'll get back there until the rules change or we pick up the moxy and finance being used by that other league.

 

[2330859]

I do not think it’s as much about money as many are suggesting here; the 2 run shot that beat us was a kid who transferred to Pitt from Fairleigh Dickinson!

As X stated, these 90mph UL pitchers are worthless if they cannot find the strike zone. At one point last night, Pitt had 8 runs on 4 hits and had only given up 1 walk. While UL had 1 run on 6 hits, but gave up 12 walks and 2 wild pitches or passed balls.

Lack of NIL money does not explain this pitching staff

 

[CardX]

End of Pitt/Duke game felt like a Louisville game. Pitt pitcher choked, let his team down.

 

[PushupMan]

End of Pitt/Duke game felt like a Louisville game. Pitt pitcher choked, let his team down.

Exactly. Bases loaded walk gives Duke the walk-off 4-3 win.

 

[UofLouisville]

You're worried about fast balls? Hell, I just want strikes. Enough with the darn free bases.

An 88 mph fastball in college is in the bleachers. Particularly on a 3-1, 2-1 count. It's a horrible combination of getting behind, no control and then HAVING to throw one over the plate because you walked a batter then beaned the next. It's just an all around really bad roster. Started 25-7 (only 5 away non tournament games wtf? ) and finished 10-14. Don't know what happened starting at game 33 but it's not been pretty. I don't see a rusty Cards team coming off a week and a half vacation making a splash in the ncaa trny unless we score 15 runs a game.

 

[earsky]

Lack of NIL money does not explain this pitching staff

Do you understand what the SEC has become literally overnight? It started with that dude who was at NC St Tommy White I think. Since then,we've had to take the scraps. We don't have the money to go get 5 star pitchers. We just don't. Those dudes that don't get drafted out of high school are looking to get paid.

We could bring in Cy Young to coach,but he's only gonna get what's left over after the Big Dogs pay for who they want. Hell,Tennessee stole our ss for 100k.


Baseball has become a big thing to those willing and able to pay.

 

[UofLouisville]

NIL has nothing to do with getting pitchers who can throw stikes. 90 mph fastball arms are a dime a dozen. 85-90 are pennies on the dollar. Earning your way on base is one thing but this staff is giving it away for free and allowing extra bases with wild pitches and hbp's. This team had the ability to win more games by limiting the free runs allowed and it had nothing to do with nil. I would be curious to know how much Sharpe is paid to throw upper 80's sidearm fastballs and upper 70 curves. That's the kind of junk you see in American Legion, and then only if you have control. Not something you should be relying on in the top of the ninth in a tie game in the first round of a tournament. But apparently CDM thought that was the best choice. Which speaks volumes.

 

[2330859]

Do you understand what the SEC has become literally overnight? It started with that dude who was at NC St Tommy White I think. Since then,we've had to take the scraps. We don't have the money to go get 5 star pitchers. We just don't. Those dudes that don't get drafted out of high school are looking to get paid.

We could bring in Cy Young to coach,but he's only gonna get what's left over after the Big Dogs pay for who they want. Hell,Tennessee stole our ss for 100k.


Baseball has become a big thing to those willing and able to pay.

Earsky
Yes I am acutely aware of what Tommy White meant to both NC State as well as LSU, but Tommy was a mediocre 3rd baseman with a Major League power swing that never threw a single pitch in his career. We have sufficient hitting, it’s the pitching that explains why we went home 0-1 despite scoring 11 runs.

My argument has nothing to do with our offense; my question to you is how can you defend a pitching coach that gave up 10 runs in a loss to Bellarmine, or 17 runs at UK or the 13 runs to Pitt? Did you see the number of walks in those and so many other games?

I respect your opinion on UL baseball, and appreciate your posts as much as any on this site; but you suggestion that our incredibly poor pitching performance is tied to lack of financial support is misdirected.

I will concede that lack of money can explain why we are no longer at the same level as most of the top SEC teams, but losing to Bellarmine, Pitt, GT, WF and ND cannot be a result of insufficient NIL money.

 

[nccardfan]

The battery has basically chucked this one away. Pitching for 3 runs and Mowrey 2.

I’d rather see Rose catch.

That ship sailed before the season even started...

 

[earsky]

That ship sailed before the season even started...

Tongue in cheek comment as I watched Mowrey look like a 15 year old catcher trying to keep up with 18 year old pitchers. It wasn't a serious comment, but I mean really...cmon with this guy.