We're off the skids

[Growler]

We're off the bottom hopefully we can stay ahead of Davidson.


The Southern Conference
STANDINGS (including games of May 6, 2007)
SoCon Overall
Team W L T Pct W L T Pct
Coll. of Charleston. 17 4 0 .810 36 12 0 .750
Western Carolina.... 15 6 0 .714 32 15 0 .681
Elon................ 14 10 0 .583 27 23 0 .540
Ga. Southern........ 11 10 0 .524 30 22 0 .577
UNC Greensboro...... 11 10 0 .524 25 23 0 .521
Appalachian State... 10 11 0 .476 25 22 0 .532
The Citadel......... 9 12 0 .429 25 21 0 .543
Furman.............. 9 15 0 .375 14 34 0 .292
Wofford............. 6 15 0 .286 23 26 0 .469
Davidson............ 6 15 0 .286 17 29 0 .370

[Eyes of Old Main]

Winning percentage and a 2-1 series win is a pretty thin margin to be off the bottom. Hopefully, it will stick.

[GoldandBlack]

Two SoCon series left for the Terriers before the Tournament in Charleston- Western Carolina(15-6 SoCon) at home and Elon(14-10) away (ouch!).

Davidson, however, has two series remaining against App State and CofC, which will be no picnic for The Cats, while Furman and Citadel close out the SoCon with a 3-game series against each other at Furman.

The race for the bottom will be tight- it would be nice to be at least one rung above at the end of the season.

[terriers]

If Austin continues to pitch as well as he did against Furman, we
might just be able to sneak in a couple of wins against WCU and/or
Elon. I believe two wins might keep us out of the basement.

[Growler]

If Austin continues to pitch as well as he did against Furman, we
might just be able to sneak in a couple of wins against WCU and/or
Elon. I believe two wins might keep us out of the basement.

Agreed! He went the distance in game three. In game two Kearney got the start. And believe it or not we actually had people up and throwing in the bullpen. Whit came in and pitched very well! Then Gilmartin came in with a blown save then held on for the win!

As was stated many many times, If we use our pitching staff wisely we can and will win games against anyone. Providing our offense keeps pounding the ball.

The trend has been to over extend our starters, keeping them in until they get into serious trouble. Then bring our closers into situations where the bases are loaded or the tying or go ahead run has either already scored or is at third base. They're usually rushed and pressed into a bad situation with no wiggle room.

If we get five or six good innings from our starters, then use middle relief, however many it takes. then go to the closer in the top of the ninth or in the eigth with a base a base oe two open. I believe you'll see a very different outcome!

After giving up the walk off homerun by Sturkie, the closer for Furman #19 Holstegge broke his hand in a fit of rage so Furman probably won't have him available for their next few series or the tourney!

"GO TERRIERS" -

[terriers]

I hadn't heard about the Furman closer breaking his hand. Do those
guys hate losing to us or not? We need to make it more frequent.

I am optimistic about next year. We have terrific position players
returning and I notice we have three new pitchers coming in. Most
of our problems this year centered around our senior pitchers being
ineffective--partially because of injuries. Also, the transfer of J. D.
Melton was a killer. Austin is a proven starter. If our young pitchers
develop and we come up with a closer, I think we should have a
winning season and rise to respectibility in the conference.

[Eyes of Old Main]

I hadn't heard about the Furman closer breaking his hand. Do those guys hate losing to us or not? We need to make it more frequent.

That's a pretty strong reaction for player to have if the Furman fans statements about how Wofford really isn't their rival are true.

I hate to wish bad luck or injuries on anyone, but something like that sure would be a help this fall from the Paladin football team.

[terriers]

Eyes, that thought had crossed my mind but I think we might be OK if
we can just keep our own guys healthy. GO DOGS!

[Ruckus]

I like our chances just fine too if we can keep everybody healthy. Remember 2003? No real injuries that had any impact as I recall. I think last year would have been different, with the exception of the Purps, if we had been healthy at d-line and corner. Sorry for the football talk on the b-ball forum. Go Terriers! Beat Clemson!

[Growler]

Most of our problems this year centered around our senior pitchers being
ineffective--partially because of injuries. Also, the transfer of J. D.
Melton was a killer.

Let me address a few of your points. Once Again We've got good pitchers they're not used properly. Truth be known maybe J D Melton saw the handwritting on the wall and left before he was used up! Don't take this out of context, I'm not questioning the young man's patriotism or his desire to attend Annapolis. I am saying he was tired toward the end of the season and not near as effective at either pitching or at short. Which by the way seems to be Deja Vu with Gilmartin. The problem doesn't lie with our pitching staff, it starts higher!

[Eyes of Old Main]

The problem... ...starts higher!

But will admnistration ackowledge what everyone else sees?

That is the $64,000 question right now.

[Rowdy]

(The problem doesn't lie with our pitching staff, it starts higher!)
[But will admnistration ackowledge what everyone else sees? That is the $64,000 question right now.]

Let's see now. Would "everyone" be the 50 people in the stands and the 5 or 10 folks on this list who actually care about baseball? Sorry folks, this is a minor. minor pastime for a few people that doesn't warrant more money from the administration when there are greater needs..... revenue producing needs.

[Ruckus]

If you are referring to fotball, I disagree. All of our resources has been devoted to football for years now and we have had some success. Now it's time to grow the pot and support basketball and baseball (and others) in manner they deserve. We have a long history of success in those sports that have neglected for a while. I am sorry but it is inexcusable that our baseball team has 2 or 3 shcolarships and have no funds for decent meals lodging etc while football has most of the money. Not that I don't support football and don't enjoy our sucess but a long term strategy needs to implemented to support the other "major sports".

[terriers]

This is a healthy discussion among a few of us who all happen to be
passionate Wofford baseball fans. There are not many of us. Being
200 miles away I certainly am not qualified to say where the root of
our problem lies but I am haunted by the fact that, according to the
figures from last year on another post, Wofford spent more on base-
ball than four other SoCon schools. Maybe our conditioning and hand-
ling of pitchers is not what it should be.

Be that as it may, we appear to need more scholarships and the big
donors like Russell King and the late Walt Sessoms have done more
than their share. Just as Richardson, Wile, and Chandler are bailing
us out in football, I believe it will take some affluent alumni to do the
same for baseball. Someone needs to win the lottery.

[BestOfBreed]

Any changes besides the coach that anyone can think of? Here's my two pie in the sky ideas:

1. Season Pass : This year there were 15 home conference games at $3 a game it would be $45 plus $7 each for the Tenn and USC games. Instead of single tickets costing $59 sell a season pass for like $40. I would even let the season pass holder pick an assigned seat when they bought the pass. In theory, you'll be more likely to show up since you already have a "ticket". Also, I know from personal experience that I make friends with the season ticket holders sitting around me at football games which makes the experience that much more enjoyable.

2. Early season tourney at Wofford : Next year there will be 5 DI teams within easy driving distance of Wofford (Wofford, Furman, Upstate, PC, and Gardner-Webb). I think it would be nice to see those 5 battle it out. Maybe even throw in SC State to make it to 6 teams or cut Gardner-Webb to drop to 4 teams. None of these teams are good enough to get invited anywhere else and most likely none of them can afford to travel out of state much anyway. It would be a good experience for the players and fans. Maybe even get a sponsor like BMW or Spinx who can give away free tournament passes to employees and the public. Call it the BMW Upstate Baseball Classic or the Spinx Upstate Baseball Classic. If they gave away 1500 passes at area Spinx stores you would hope maybe somebody would show up besides the player's parents and girlfriends. The hardest step is to get people to the park the first time.

Keeping in mind that those two ideas probably would help matters much. Anybody with anything else or preferably better?