time2time

First, I don't think Coach G should ever be on the hot seat.  Look at where he stands in the history of college baseball and the fact that over his tenure he has kept LU relevant.  Yeah, he has had some rough seasons, but generally speaking, his teams are competitive and at the end of the season are vying for the postseason. As for this team, it looks like it may be lucky to finish the season .500 or better.  It's clear that there is little help coming from the pen, shortstop is a black-hole, hitting while better than recent seasons lacks a consistant middle of the order bat and the three starters are solid but not one is that true Friday starter, at least yet.  It just comes back to pitching and defense, and I think the Cards are average at both this season. The positive is that the season is not even to the half-way point, and that the players had the character to rally when all else was going bad to get the game three win.  That show's guts and mental toughness, things that will help this team as it moves forward. Also, positive is that next season's team should be a contender.  Return 2 of 3 weekend starters.  Will return, assuming players don't transfer out, over 9 players seeing regular at-bats and will have a lot of seniors both on the mound and in the field. 

No, last year the Cards made the conference tourney, this year . . . I'm not sure they have enough pitching (hard to believe I'm saying that about a Jim Gilligan coached team) to even make the tourney.   Don't forget, UCA had like 5/6 wins coming into this weekend.

Mathis was already out of the game when Brunner pinch ran for him after hitting the double.  The interesting thing though was that instead of keeping Brunner in the game at shortstop (clearly the best defense ss we have)  and moving Mena to left, they kept the pitcher in the lineup.  Of course, Mena makes an error in the top of the ninth helping to open the flood gates.

The Cards had 4 run lead heading the 7th, UCA takes the lead, Lamar regains the lead (by two runs) heading to the ninth and blows it again.  Interestingly, pitcher Miller Aldrich bats with 2 outs in the 9th, his first at-bat of the season.  Why not Michael DeLaRosa?  Anyway, Aldrich Ks and Cards lose 10-9.  Now 1-4 in conference against arguably the two worst teams (other than the Cards who are clearly the worst team in conference) in the SLC.   SSs are killing the Cards.  Three errors at that position in Game 1 today.  After the first game on Sunday, LU SSs have made 21 errors - Brunner has 4, Theriot has 11, and Mena has 2 and I'm also pretty sure that Buchanan has made an error or two at SS. So with no bullpen and no SS, the Cards have got to hope the starters can go 9 and the offense puts 6 plus runs to make up for all the unearned runs.  Of course it's hard to go 9 when your defense cannot help you.

The 'pen is brutal!  5 runs scored by UCA in the 7th and 8th.

Or maybe LU just isn't that good.  Maybe the crappy schedule just allowed the team to have more wins then they should.   I mean SFA swept them and kicked the snot out of these guys in Games 2 & 3 last weekend. Here's what is pretty obvious 1.  LU has only 3 decent starters, and one came out of the pen tonight 2.  The pen stinks - McManis, Henderson, and Holley (i.e. the big guns) have really high ERAs 3.  The defense, especially at short is extremely suspect 4.  There's no real RBI man, and the hitting is average at best 5.  Can't seem to keep Anthony Moore healthy, and he is really the only dynamic offensive player Now with all that said, maybe some guys will step-up and play to their best.  It is still early but the cannot afford any more losses this weekend.  It also means they're going to have to care of business against the tougher teams (SELA, TX ST, SAM).  Just going to have to play better.  If they do they'll have a shot, if not they'll be lucky to finish .500 even with a weak schedule.

UH did have a redshirt freshman OL that I believe started a game or two get kicked off the team.  I believe he was from Lufkin.  AJ Dugat from Dayton was also kicked off.  Would be good to add both, if they aren't bad apples, especially since Dugat is a stud.

Is Spencer Cuniff hurt? What about Anthony Moore?  Cuniff has not pitched in weeks.  Moore hasn't played since getting thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple against Nichols on Sunday.

Look, we all know this a web-board and not an English class, and everyone here is guilty of using slang, shorthand and poor grammar but does anyone else have a tough time reading posts by Baseball25?  His grammar is horrible.  Seriously, half the time he is using the wrong word (too/to/two, their/there/they're, etc.) and when he does use the right word he cannot spell it correctly, he does not know how to punctuate and shows a consistant inability to complete a thought.  It gets old and takes away from real debate when the reader is left trying to figure out what Baseball25 is really attempting to say. Baseball25 - it's a dead horse, stop kicking it.  We know the LU schedule sucks.  You have your opinion and you've made your point, time to move on.  Conference play starts this weekend, why not debate the talent of this team, the play of this team or where you predict where LU will finish?  It is probably because you don't have anything else to add.  It is probably because you don't know how to turn the page and move forward, which since you were such a great baseball player, you would know is very important.  Instead you choose to be one of those guys who are still stuck on last night's 0 for 3 performance in your second at-bat of today's game.  Give it a rest, move on. To everyone else, my suggestion is to move on, you are not going convince Baseball25 of anything different.  He is entitled to his opinion so why debate it with him when it just upsets you; that's what he wants.

Texas Southern handed SELU their first loss, 6-1, on Sunday.  SELU actually played a 3 game series with TX Southern. TX State took 2 of 3 from A&M-Corpus Christi.

Not totally sure what you are trying to say, but I agree that the strength (or lack thereof) of the non-conference schedule will likely prevent the Cards from at large bid but as I said before the SLC is typically one bid league.  Thus winning the conference tournament is the only way in(obviously) and likely only way in for the SLC b/c of the lack of national credit it deserves.  Like Foreveadog says, this team is not the type of team to have an strong non-conference schedule.  Too many new faces.  But that does not mean this team will not win the conference tournament.  Of course, this team may not even make the conference tournament.  We just don't know yet. Next season there is no excuse for not having a stronger schedule.  Almost every position player will be back, just need a few pitchers to come along. Baseball25 has made his point, the schedule is weak.  From what I have read, nobody has really disagreed with that statement, but have said the schedule may not be as weak as Baseball25 believes it is.  That was my original point.  Maine may suck but beating a team 3 times is never easy (especially in baseball) and maybe, just maybe they aren't that bad.

Does anybody else get the feeling that Baseball25 is a former player for LU that has it out for Gilligan b/c Gilligan played "his favorites" and he was not one of them.  I get the impression from Baseball25 that if it weren't for Gilligan he probably would be making millions in big leagues right now.  Baseball25 you don't know baseball as well as you think you do, or you would know even the great Yankees lose 60+ games a year.  Last year in college, LSU lost 2 of 3 to Illinois, who is decent but wasn't a tournament team.  Teams lose, it's baseball. Also, I know UNC lost a lot but they still have scholarship players, and if you look at their roster (which I have) a high number of the players were drafted out of HS, so they aren't talentless. As far as this season goes, anybody who has followed Lamar baseball, especially lately, knows the Cards weakness has been scoring runs.  Not a problem this season, so far.  Once the pitching gets ironed out the Cards could be in for a strong season.  If they should get it together and win the Conference tournament, [b]I have no doubt[/b] that Baseball25 will still be b*tch*ng about Gilligan and the Cards. Finally, the SLC is better conference than it was ten years ago.  More teams in the SLC have committed to baseball, and that is reflected in the quality of teams/players/coaches/facilities.

Cards let game 2 slip away, but Maine (a team that "stinks" - according to many on this board - and a team the Cards swept last weekend) beat North Carolina (how many College World Series in a row?) in Chapel Hill today.

Where's Anthony Moore today?

No, the season before last (2008) SHSU had a strong team that played well the whole season.  So, it was not as surprising they the Bearkats won the tournament in 2008. Also, I too hope that the SLC will become a two bid league, but it is not a given.  Whether it's a two bid league will likely depend who wins the tournament.  i.e.  TX ST wins the regulars season (with a great record) but another team wins the tournament, esp. since the #1 never wins the tournament. And for the record, I think Mark Johnson is one heck of a coach.  Truly a great addition for SHSU.

I think it's two seperate arguments.  First issue, the scheduling.  The second is the players/team. When looking at the schedulig then you can point the finger at Gilligan if you don't think it's tough enough, but that's not the players fault.  They can only play who is infront of them.  As to the players, we don't really know what the Cards have, yet.  With that in mind, maybe you/we all should wait to say 20-25 games into the season before we predict the Cards won't win the SLC or be going to a regional. Honestly, the SLC has traditionally been a one team league. Yes, I know last year and some other years has been the exception, but traditionally a one team league.  So, making the SLC tournament and winning that tournament has meant more than anything.  Thus, playing your best baseball that weekend is the most important thing.  And as everyone knows, having a great weekend that particular weekend is not assured just because you played a tough schedule or had a good season.  Just get hot at the right time see SHSU last season.

In what way? By not preparing the team for conference play? By killing their RPI for an at-large bid? 

No doubt TxST and SHSU will have strong to great teams this season, and UTSA and SELA will be scratching on those two's heels, but I think LU just may surprise.  If the new fielders/hitters can adjust to the D1 level then the Cards could be ready to make a post-season run. Should be exciting!

Thanks for the update.

Updated roster! [Hidden Content]

An updated roster but not the Fall roster? How about who is likely to start around the diamond? Pitching looks pretty set, but any updates would be nice.

Inconsistant logic . . . All he cares about are wins . . . then followed by he only plays his favorites.  Don't you think if he only cared about winning he would play the players that gave him the best chance to win.  So if by "his favorites" you meant the players that gave the team the best chance to win, then yes I would agree.  When I hear things like this I think it must only come from someone who is not a regular starter.  Because no starter would ever say, "I only play/start because I'm one of Coach G's favorites, I really don't belong on the field!"

What schools did they commit to?  Could not pull up the link, thanks.

LU Baseball Fan, any updates?

So who is looking good?  It sounds like the pitching is the strength even with the losses on the mound from the  '09 Cards.  Lots of new faces again, especially in the field.