2025 Baseball Mega Thread

[Appmountaineers19]

I'm excited to see this team in person for the first time. Hope our pitching can hold up.

Can't beat 2$ tickets. Will be there too. Should be a beautiful night.

[proasu89]

Welch only gets 1 retired before getting pulled. 3 runs so far and bases loaded. Ouch.

[appst89]

Still ouching.

[311neers]

3 outfield errors in the first inning. Not sure I’ve ever seen that.

[Stonewall]

Comeback just short . DP to end it with runners on the corners.

[311neers]

Suicide/safety squeeze. Our inability to bunt costs us.

Heck of a fight and comeback though!

[Bigdaddyg1]

I’ve been around a good bit of baseball. Seems like after high school much of the small ball aspect goes away. Hitting a ball is hard enough but bunting one that breaks has to be really tough. You have to wonder if the success rate would go up with a wood bat instead of composite. There is a proven reason why pros don’t use composite/aluminum bats.

[BambooRdApp]

Stink!!! Let's win a series against these "sons of motherless goats" this weekend.

[JTApps1]

I’ve been around a good bit of baseball. Seems like after high school much of the small ball aspect goes away. Hitting a ball is hard enough but bunting one that breaks has to be really tough. You have to wonder if the success rate would go up with a wood bat instead of composite. There is a proven reason why pros don’t use composite/aluminum bats.

Texas State laid down some very nice bunts, and UNCC had one in the first last night. Not sure why we can't execute one.

[BambooRdApp]

I’ve been around a good bit of baseball. Seems like after high school much of the small ball aspect goes away. Hitting a ball is hard enough but bunting one that breaks has to be really tough. You have to wonder if the success rate would go up with a wood bat instead of composite. There is a proven reason why pros don’t use composite/aluminum bats.

Texas State laid down some very nice bunts, and UNCC had one in the first last night. Not sure why we can't execute one.

Hmmm, free throws and bunts....

[appstate24]

Not being able to bunt drives me INSANE.

I know the game has changed some, but there is always a time and place for a well placed bunt. Not being able to bunt almost cost us a game in the Texas St series as well. It’s. Not. That. Hard.

GO APPS!!

[311neers]

Not being able to bunt drives me INSANE.

I know the game has changed some, but there is always a time and place for a well placed bunt. Not being able to bunt almost cost us a game in the Texas St series as well. It’s. Not. That. Hard.

GO APPS!!

While I agree that not being able to bunt does cost us a couple of games during the year, it is still pretty difficult. Free throws are way easier though.
The guys should be able to do it, but UNCC's pitcher had a nasty 12/6 hanger and was pumping 91, probably afraid of pop up bunt double play. I would have at least liked to have seen us square around to keep them honest...even just squaring around can move infielders and take them out of the shift that we hit right into...

[AppDub]

I’ve been around a good bit of baseball. Seems like after high school much of the small ball aspect goes away. Hitting a ball is hard enough but bunting one that breaks has to be really tough. You have to wonder if the success rate would go up with a wood bat instead of composite. There is a proven reason why pros don’t use composite/aluminum bats.

Texas State laid down some very nice bunts, and UNCC had one in the first last night. Not sure why we can't execute one.

Hmmm, free throws and bunts....

It's the little things that make the biggest differences for sure.

[SlappyAppy72]

Heck of a fight from the guys last night. Big innings have been our kryptonite all year. Kermit mentioned after the Texas St. series that we pitched 25 out of 27 really good innings but those 2 almost costed us. 7 2/3 innings of really good baseball were drowned out by the first 1/3. No loss is a good loss, but that's a loss you can build on. Rest and reload and go beat the stink!

[hapapp]

Not being able to bunt drives me INSANE.

I know the game has changed some, but there is always a time and place for a well placed bunt. Not being able to bunt almost cost us a game in the Texas St series as well. It’s. Not. That. Hard.

GO APPS!!

Louisiana has 21 sac bunts, we have 3.

[311neers]

I’ve been around a good bit of baseball. Seems like after high school much of the small ball aspect goes away. Hitting a ball is hard enough but bunting one that breaks has to be really tough. You have to wonder if the success rate would go up with a wood bat instead of composite. There is a proven reason why pros don’t use composite/aluminum bats.

Texas State laid down some very nice bunts, and UNCC had one in the first last night. Not sure why we can't execute one.

Hmmm, free throws and bunts....

It's the little things that make the biggest differences for sure.

It's an extremely tough game, but there have been a ton of "little things" that just didnt happen the past couple of years. We may just have some guys out of position and still learning to play. Or learning how to field on natural grass as opposed to turf.
1st inning- booted grounder in right, runner advanced 90'
booted ball in center- runner advance 90'
dropped foul pop up in left- more runs scored

Dropped foul at first late in game.
Dropped 3rd strike for what is probably the winning run late in game.
Not tagging up on a ball in deep right center at 2nd base with 1 out. Should be on 3rd base. Pass ball can score you, but not from 2nd.

All of these small things add up to what Kermit was talking about. 1 or 2 of those a game is okay-stuff happens, but can't have that many mental or physical boo boo's and still consistently win. Hell of an effort to fight back and the bullpen did a mop up job after a bad 1st inning. Props to the guys for fighting back.

Beat STINK!

[Appmountaineers19]

If bunting is not emphasized by the coaching staff then I can't get mad at the players for not executing. It's a fundamental/art that could and should be taught still. The coaching staff seems to be following the same trends as many others (analytics and power hitting - which seems to work for the most part)

As for the errors - this is starting to be pretty bad at this point. Can't use the excuse about not being outside enough at this point. Just bad fielding. Too many unforced errors

[AppSt94]

If bunting is not emphasized by the coaching staff then I can't get mad at the players for not executing. It's a fundamental/art that could and should be taught still. The coaching staff seems to be following the same trends as many others (analytics and power hitting - which seems to work for the most part)

As for the errors - this is starting to be pretty bad at this point. Can't use the excuse about not being outside enough at this point. Just bad fielding. Too many unforced errors

Agree. Bunting is “small ball” and we play in a power park on the Mountian.

[JTApps1]

If bunting is not emphasized by the coaching staff then I can't get mad at the players for not executing. It's a fundamental/art that could and should be taught still. The coaching staff seems to be following the same trends as many others (analytics and power hitting - which seems to work for the most part)

As for the errors - this is starting to be pretty bad at this point. Can't use the excuse about not being outside enough at this point. Just bad fielding. Too many unforced errors

Our fielding has been tops in the SBC the past few years. It's hard to know what is the cause for this year's issues, but I have to believe the constant injuries and therefore lineup shuffling are playing a big role.

[Appmountaineers19]

If bunting is not emphasized by the coaching staff then I can't get mad at the players for not executing. It's a fundamental/art that could and should be taught still. The coaching staff seems to be following the same trends as many others (analytics and power hitting - which seems to work for the most part)

As for the errors - this is starting to be pretty bad at this point. Can't use the excuse about not being outside enough at this point. Just bad fielding. Too many unforced errors

Our fielding has been tops in the SNC the past few years. It's to know what is the cause for this year's issues, but I have to believe the constant injuries and therefore lineup shuffling are playing a big role.

I mean maybe...But you have JZ and BC as returning staters and on pace or exceeding (in a good way) fielding stats from last year. The rest are newbies are rotational players so you can throw the team stats out from previous years. It's year to year and right now it's not cutting it. As to your point about shuffling the lineups, Out of the 35 players - 21 our pitcher, 4 catchers and the rest position players. The position players are being recruited to play multiple positions. It's a below average fielding team right now.

All this said they still have over a 1/2 season left to clean things up. If we are having this discussion later then they are what they are.