Psu at Pitt Baseball
- Thread starter TheSpecialSauce
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They burned through everybody that could have closed out the game.At this point put in a position player.Couldnt do any worse.
I just turned it on. 14-6? NCAAT on the line and THIS???
Last year they couldn't stop partying, wouldn't get vaxed and missed the NCAAT. This year they cant beat rec league teams NCAT, Oakland, and PSU late in the year. Might as well bring back Jordano. Same old story. Maybe he would have made the guys get vaxed though
They lead at the end of 8 and gave up 13 runs in the Top of the 9th? I can honestly say they wouldn't have scored 13 if I was pitching. I would put the ball over the plate and get 3 people to fly out before giving up 13.
In the last two innings Pitt used SEVEN pitchers. Their combined line:
2 IP, 17 runs, all of which were earned, 10 hits, 8 walks, 3 strikeouts, 2 hit batsman, 3 wild pitches.
Give up three runs in the top of the 8th to fall behind by four, make a nice comeback to score five and take the lead, and then start the 9th with walk, walk, homer, single, single, homer on the way to giving up 14 runs in the inning.
How hard is it to find someone who can throw strikes and get guys out semi-regularly? Apparently pretty hard.
2 IP, 17 runs, all of which were earned, 10 hits, 8 walks, 3 strikeouts, 2 hit batsman, 3 wild pitches.
Give up three runs in the top of the 8th to fall behind by four, make a nice comeback to score five and take the lead, and then start the 9th with walk, walk, homer, single, single, homer on the way to giving up 14 runs in the inning.
How hard is it to find someone who can throw strikes and get guys out semi-regularly? Apparently pretty hard.
Yeah. That was bad. But couldn't stop watching. Was like a car wreck.
You guys follow Pitt baseball closer than me and I am being told that Bell was some magnificent hire but why is our bullpen so bad? This is Year 3 (counting the very abbreviated Covid Year) and it appears we have D3 pitchers (at best) in our bullpen. To give up 13 runs in the Top of the 9th with the NCAAT on the line has to go down as one of the all-time worst choke jobs in Pitt history. PSU wouldn't have scored 13 on most WPIAL teams and probably not on many Colt League teams.
He put the closer in when there was no game to close at the time.And anybody else that could have closed it out was burned before we had a chance it close it out.I guess he figured anybody could have got those last three outs.Apparently not.
You know that Penn State is 5th in the Big Ten right now, right? I mean they aren't great, but they aren't North Carolina A&T or someone like that.
As to the bullpen in general, there are several guys who coming into the season you would have expected to be decent who have generally been, well, not.
And our closer stinks. He has a 6.10 era. He came in tonight with a runner on first and no outs and pitched to six batters and got two outs.
Well, I don't really disagree with the strategy of using a closer an inning early if you need to get out of a jam or something. I mean all innings are of equal importance.
The bullpen has been bad all season. This team is basically Gilbertson, Corcoran and some solid hitters. Winning baseball at Pitt is an extremely difficult job. It always will be playing in a southern conference. Bell has done a really good job with this program. They’ve been competitive since he’s gotten here and have been on the doorstep of the tournament the last 2 seasons. I know the ACCT just went from 10 teams to 12 recently but this is the first time they’ve made back to back ACCT appearances. The last 2 seasons they’ve had some really good wins. I want more too but you have to be realistic given the situation. I think they’ll break through and make the tournament one of these years but being competitive needs to be the goal for the program. I think they are getting there.
One of those mid-majors is probably going to host a regional the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. Another is 30th in the coaches poll this week.
It's certainly not one of the best baseball conferences, but I can't imagine someone who knew anything about the two sports thinking that the A10 is more than a mid-major in basketball but the Big Ten is only a mid-major in baseball.
Right now Gilberson and Corcoran have eras of 3.06 and 3.48. Devereaux, who pitched two scoreless tonight is at 4.91. The next best is Stuart's 6.10. There isn't even someone who has only pitched a few innings who is better than that. No one else is better than 6.85.
That is awful.
Bullpen ERA’s are a tough stat especially in college baseball. They pitch very few innings and a bad game or 2 can destroy your ERA for the season. Stuart has been generally good. The rest have been either inconsistent or just bad. Bautista looked really good tonight. Maybe they can get some innings out of him this weekend and in the ACCT. They need at least 4 more wins to have a shot at the tournament.
I agree, it can be a really small sample size.
However, Stuart has pitched 41-1/3 innings. He's given up 49 hits, 16 walks and 5 hit batsmen. That is, well, it's bad. For a closer, really, really bad. He is the definition of inconsistent. He can come in one game and give you two or three good innings. And then the next time he pitches he gives up runs like crazy. Tonight, for example. One of the NC A&T games. The game against Miami. Or BC. Or Louisville. Or, well, you get the idea.
Going 4-0 instead of 2-2 vs NC A&T and Oakland isnt a big ask. Do that and you are in.
I think Stuart has been generally good. He definitely has had some bad games but has closed many (7 saves) with many being multiple innings. He has had his share of stinkers too but overall I think he is their most reliable reliever. Pitching depth is lacking at almost all schools. Schools like Pitt will always have that issue. They honestly need to get lucky. This year having Gilbertson and Corcoran go so deep in games has given them a shot.
You keep bringing up these 2 games. I admit they have some bad losses on their resume (5 against Q4 teams). It’s all 5 that hurt and not just those 2. Losses are going to happen. These midweek games are crap shoots. The challenge that Pitt has is their midweek games are all going to be against northern mid/low majors with high RPI’s. They have no room for error. Miami, for example, lost tonight to Florida Gulf Coast and only dropped a couple spots.
He IS the most reliable reliever. And he isn't very reliable at all. He's pitched in 23 games. He's given up multiple runs in nine of them. That would be bad if he was just a run of the mill middle reliever. But he's the closer. And that isn't nearly good enough for a closer.
the year we brought Gilbertson in, we had a pretty good year recruiting pitching.
I think they were mostly JCTs. We have been horrible with freshmen and most transfers.
This year, I had hope for Miller, Summers and Stuart,some hope for Dragoni and little hope for Evans.
Even before the season, it. Was clear they didn’t bring in nearly enough.
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Maybe we miss this guy:
pittsburghpanthers.com
Jerry Oakes - Baseball Coach - Pitt Panthers #H2P
Jerry Oakes was named the Pitching Coach at the University of Pittsburgh in August of 2012, and has taken the Panthers’ pitching staff to new highs in his time in
pittsburghpanthers.com
Is it a rule that Pitt has to host bad northern mid-majors mid-week? They cant bus to VA or NC to play a few better mid-majors? How about a Big Ten school?
No it’s not a rule but the dynamic is much different for northern schools. Typically they play closer schools for midweek games. All schools do this. In addition northern schools have a significant expense in February and March since all of their games are in the south (Florida, the Carolinas, etc) since baseball can’t be played here then. It is what it is and something all northern schools need to overcome.
Why cant they play Big Ten teams mid-week? Or A10? The A10 probably isnt very good but maybe better than MAC/Horizon/MEAC/Big South. Would it be so terrible to bus 7 hours for 2 games against like UNC Greensboro. And before you say their RPI is 225, I didnt look it up and dont care. Just an example because I am sure there are some decent mid-majors within a 6-7 hour driving distance. And maybe they come here the next year.
Strength of schedule is not the issue. It is currently 40. And you are not going to do a 7 hour bus trip mid week for 2 games and then turn around and travel to whatever ACC series that you have. That’s why you see schools mostly play regional opponents mid week.
They are a mid/low major school who is traveling for a paycheck. Oakland is a little north of Detroit so roughly 5 hours. The area where Pitt might want to try to improve their non conference schedule strength is during the first month of the season playing in the south. These mostly local mid week games are the norm during conference play.
SMF is clueless as to how college baseball works but loves to speak about it.
Which is pretty much the norm for him.
Which is pretty much the norm for him.
I'm not clueless about it but sure there are people who know more. What I do know is we haven't made the NCAAT in 30 years and the few times we have been on the bubble during that time, late April/May losses to lower D1 teams have kept us out. Why play them? Play D2 or D3 teams. Or play someone better. Or get in a bus a drive to VCU or Michigan or some place like that (using an example, those teams may suck but hopefully you understand my point). What Pitt is doing isnt working.
The schedule really isn’t the issue. Their strength of schedule is 40th and will get better after this weekend. The issue is pitching depth. They just don’t have it and it’s difficult to get. Missing out on the tournament sucks. Unless they win 4 or 5 more games their likely out again. They deserved to make it last year but got screwed. The fact that Bell has them on the doorstep 2 straight years is a huge accomplishment for the program. They just need to take the next step by continuing to upgrade the talent. Baseball is the hardest coaching position at the school IMO.
