April 25, 2019
MCNEESE BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL ARE ON THE AIR!
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This week’s broadcasting schedule includes:
Apr 26 @Abilene Christian 6:15 BASEBALL
Apr 27 @Abilene Christian 1:45 BASEBALL
Apr 28 @Abilene Christian 12:45 BASEBALL
May 1 @Southeastern LA 5:45 BASEBALL
LSU, SAINTS AND MUCH MORE
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
I would like to say I didn’t have the LSU baseball season on life support going into game two of the Florida series, but that would a lie. Thank goodness Florida is not the team they have been in the past. Of course, the question we have yet to find out is whether LSU will become the team we all hoped this year.
The best model for what can happen over the course of a season when the champion is determined by a tournament is LSU gymnastics. The similarities between the programs is striking. Both teams began the year with high expectations. Both teams started poorly due to injuries. Will baseball ever get healthy, come together, and finish as brilliantly as gymnastics?
If LSU does not get healthy, none of what I am about to write matters. For fun though, let’s suppose at some point, LSU gets reasonably healthy. For the record, I thought that would have happened by now.
The health of the pitching staff is my top concern because the opportunities to ease the pitchers back into a role are rapidly decreasing. LSU has only two midweek games remaining, and these are the best circumstances to bring back a pitcher who needs mound time. On the road in the SEC or at home against Ole Miss are not times to experiment on the mound.
I don’t think anyone knows what this team will turn into if it ever gets healthy. Will the offense find consistency? Will the offense be able to manufacture runs with situational hitting? Will the pitching staff be dominant and make the opponent’s offense earn every base? Even without the answers to those questions, I can have a vision of what could be a great batting order.
LSU needs Brandt Broussard to be the guy in the two hole. Watson has been great, but Mainieri is hesitant to sacrifice his at bats to produce runs. I don’t blame him since Watson is one of LSU’s more explosive bats. Nevertheless, LSU needs a two hole to move runners, hit and run, or bunt Smith to scoring position.
If Broussard can be a great situational hitter, then Watson can move back down to a slugging role like he started the year. I doubt Mainieri will move Duplantis from hitting third which is fine, but Duplantis has to be who he is and consistently hit the ball hard all over the field.
Cabrera needs to return permanently to the cleanup spot. Mainieri said at the beginning of the year he has to be an All-American for LSU to do great things and it is true. Cabrera won’t be an All-American this year, but he can be an All-American from now until June and All-Americans hit 1st, 3rd, or 4th.
If Cabrera is producing, then Watson should get fast balls in the fifth spot like he did in the second. At this point, that would have Chris Reid hitting sixth which would have many positive benefits. LSU’s four left handed bats would be in the top six of the lineup, but only Duplantis and Cabrera would hit back to back. Also, Reid never gives in as a hitter and that can really wear on a pitcher after having to face Duplantis, Cabrera, and Watson.
Beloso is clearly the first baseman at this point of the year and is a powerful seventh man in the lineup. Mathis or Garza would have to be in the traditional eight hole for the weakest hitter in the college lineup. Maybe one of them can figure it out at some point.
Finally, I would love to see Digiacomo in the nine hole. His speed and quality at bats to turn the lineup over and get back to Smith would be extremely valuable. If LSU is facing a tough lefty, Digiacomo could be traded out for Hughes, Bianco, or Dugas (when he gets healthy). Willis would be available to pinch hit for whoever starts at catcher.
All of that would be pretty exciting and requires three things. One, Broussard being great in the two hole. Two, the All-Americans (Smith, Duplantis, Cabrera, and Watson) hitting like they are capable. Three, everyone getting and staying healthy as the options are plentiful at that point.
No matter what happens on offense, LSU will need depth in the pitching staff. Zack Hess gives me a heart attack pitching, but I know he will compete and at least get LSU into the 6th inning. Cole Henry is an ace, but as a freshman will probably only pitch into the 7th inning. Eric Walker is a great option for game three, but he is a 4-6 inning pitcher. I don’t think there is enough time for anyone else to move into these starting roles.
LSU needs 10-12 innings of quality relief in a super regional and a fourth starter in a regional, SEC Tournament or CWS. Peterson, Fontenot, Hilliard, and Vietmeier are good options for 1-2 innings at a time. Sometimes longer if necessary. But that is not enough. LSU must have Marceaux and Hill return and pitch to their ability. If they do, LSU will be very difficult to beat twice in a any of the postseason formats.
I need to go on the record on a couple other hot topics quickly.
Scott Woodward is the reason why schools must invest in their own first. If you produce quality alums, you increase the chances of them coming back and reinvesting in your school.
The NCAA is woefully incompetent. Football can have an unlimited number of analysts, but baseball and softball have to have “volunteer” third assistants. Ridiculous.
They still didn’t fix the targeting issues from this year in regards to clearing up the language that led to the controversies this year.
And the overtime “fix” is as well thought out as a 1st grade science project. Alternating two point conversions after 5 overtimes? Look out soccer and hockey. NCAA football might have a worse method of picking a winner than you.
HEY REF
It’s become a tradition so to speak here at “Hey Ref” for us to once again print a column that so many parents have enjoyed and continue to request since its first run some six years ago. As summer gets closer and closer so will the beginning of summer baseball leagues. So before each new season gets rolling along we’d like to once again try and put into perspective exactly “WHY” the games are played. I’ve had more comments on this one column than just about all the other columns combined. When someone comments how much they enjoyed a certain storyline I do make an effort to get that column printed again so those that may have missed it the first time have an opportunity to enjoy my words of wisdom. So with that said, please be my guest and enjoy one of YOUR all-time favorite columns.
How many parents are scratching their heads trying to figure out why their children’s behavior has hit rock bottom? Maybe all they should do is look in the mirror. I’m referring to some parent’s behavior at their children’s ballgames. I remember a thing called SPORTMANSHIP, that thing fewer and fewer adults are bringing with them when they go to watch their kids play football, basketball and/or baseball. I remember the pure disgust that stirred inside my gut during a little league baseball game I was calling. The game was out of hand and the coaches were emptying the benches and giving everyone a chance to play.
This one player who happened to be the smallest on the team had struck out twice and was “on deck”. His mother came out of the stands and shakes the fence so hard it sounded like a wild animal trying to get out of its cage. At the top of her lungs she screams at him “If you strike out one more time I’m going to whip your a--”! Just about every jaw dropped and as I called “Batter-up” he looked so terrified I thought he was going to run back into the dugout.
The first pitch was right down the middle of the plate and the biggest “STRIKE” I’d ever seen. I yell “BALL”. The next pitch was a clone of the first and again I called “BALL”. As you can guess the next two weren’t going to be anything but ball 3 and 4. Not a single voice of opposition was uttered. I saw his eyes get big as watermelons and after he got to first his bench erupted and the opposing coach asked for a time out.
After a minute went by I started the slowest walk to the mound in my 15 years of calling baseball. The only two things the coach said to me was “even if we didn’t have a 12 run lead I’d have to agree with you that every pitch was a ball and THANKS for doing what you did”. I didn’t know what to say and then we noticed the celebration at first as the opposing coach gave me a big “Thumbs up”.
I started calling games, both football and baseball back in ’79 and am asked all the time “what changes have I noticed most”? My pat answer most of the time is “well, the biggest change has got to be those sitting in the stands watching games”. It seems to me that many of those fans don’t have lives. Each game feels like I’m headed to an execution. In that I mean those on the losing side wouldn’t have anything to live for once the game was “in the books” so to speak. These amateur games are supposed to be where an athlete would begin to learn the game from the inside.
In football what seems to be happening are many parents believe this 9th grade game tonight is all that’s left in this world. Parents you’ve got to understand when officials try to help these young athletes line up and stay set before the snap it isn’t meant to help the other team beat your team. We strive to help youngsters when we can so that we don’t spend the majority of the game walking five yards this way then five yards the other.
And YES we can call holding on every play, hands down. But how many parents want the officials to do this? The only ones that do are the parents of the team with the ball. I wonder how many parents are living their lives through their child’s life. Well, all I can think it’s more than 90% just by their behavior during the games. Of course “little Johnny” never holds he always plays by the rules. It has to be the OTHER guys that are holding.
If you’ve never heard the term “PREVENTATIVE” officiating let me educate you. A simple example is when one player’s head is in the neutral zone we as officials will tell the player between plays to back up or get back depending on what side of the ball they’re on. One coach will thank you for not calling the foul on his team but as soon as the other team has the ball he goes ballistic if you tell the other team to back up a bit.
If I had my way each and every parent would spend an entire year working football games for nothing. This way they might actually learn the rules. There are so many experts sitting in the stands that I feel you are hurting the game by staying home or sitting in the stands trying to tell everyone the rules and how the officials on the field really don’t know what they are doing.
So, please do the game a great service, get off your butts and try to call a few games. Then everybody will see just how much you really don’t know! I’m not about to let the officials off the hook by no means. I spent nearly 20 years calling football in this area before a bad injury caused me to “retire”. Well, I’ve tried to return to the field but what I’ve found is scaring me to the core.
The quality of the officials calling games has drastically declined. So many of the best that have put on the striped shirt have left the game entirely. And I feel it’s due to the lack of respect given them by parents, coaches and the media. For whatever reason the games are suffering because so many good officials have hung up their whistles and aren’t returning year after year.
So, I’ll close by asking all the great officials instead of sitting in the stands please put on the uniform and help the sport you know so much about by getting involved and start at your earliest convenience and start calling real games and not those video games on your TV!!!
Till next week… …
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