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2022 Baseball Mega Thread

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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by Stonewall » Wed Jun 01, 2022 6:37 pm

We need better recruiters.

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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by Boone Goon » Wed Jun 01, 2022 9:49 pm

WVAPPeer wrote:
Wed Jun 01, 2022 9:29 am
Also, if someone cares to investigate, can you come up with teams in the field of 64 that face anywhere near the hurdles the Mountaineers do ---
Here’s the list of “cold weather” schools in this year’s 64:
Notre Dame - at large
Michigan - won the Big Ten
Air Force - won Mountain West
Columbia - won Ivy
Army - won Patriot conference
Binghamton - won America East conference
UConn - won Big East
Hofstra - won Colonial conference
Long Island University - won Northeast conference
Canisius - won Metro Atlantic conference
Central Michigan - won MAC

Only true comparators in that group are Hofstra, UConn and Central Michigan.

The others are either big money programs (ND/Mich) or the entire conference is a cold weather market and they were the best of a bad conference.

I feel confident in saying App would win a series against Hofstra, UConn and CM. I also feel confident they would win the recruiting battle against these 3 programs. Only recruiting battle they would be challenged against are the first 5. The Service Academies and the Ivy League are typically a different student profile; I seriously doubt we’re offering the same players as ND or Mich…

Looking at this list I hope others see cold weather is a deterrent for baseball prospects.

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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by AppStateNews » Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:36 am

APPdiesel wrote:
Wed Jun 01, 2022 2:39 pm
hapapp wrote:
Wed Jun 01, 2022 1:23 pm
APPdiesel wrote:
Wed Jun 01, 2022 11:38 am
Man, if excuses were bricks we'd have a new IPF by now.

"When we refer to “high altitude” in sports medicine, we generally mean 7,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level or higher. Low altitude is approximately 4,000 feet above sea level or lower." - Ben Levine M.D., Internal Medicine and Cardiology

"High altitude is generally considered to be anywhere from 8,000 to 18,000 feet. However, those coming from sea level may start feeling the effects—lightheadedness, pounding heart, GI distress, dehydration, and compromised performance, to name a few—as low as 5,000 feet." - Outside Online in an article about high altitude running

"altitude positively (referring to ball travel in thin air) and negatively (referring to football players in intense bursts of physical activity) affects athletes ability to preform at an elite level. It can hinder an athlete’s performance because of the minimal oxygen particles available for use that can lead to shortness of breath. Or it can enhance an athlete’s performance, as a hitter in baseball is more likely to be more successful playing at high altitudes. The effect that altitude has on performance depends on the type of sport that is being played." in the article 'How does elevation affect sport performance?' specifically citing examples from Denver, Colorado (altitude 5,279 ft) published by Penn State University

Conclusions:
- 3,333 feet is NOT considered high altitude in the world of sports medicine
- Most humans don't feel the affects of high altitude until 5,000 ft
- In higher altitudes than Boone thinner air is considered to have a positive on baseballs and home runs
- Fans on this very website cite the cold conditions as a positive for football, but a negative for baseball???
- Almost every team on our schedule is coming from lower altitudes and should be impacted more than our players who have trained in those conditions.
In fairness, its the climate not the altitude that makes a difference. Over the years, however, many of our teams have had consecutive successful (or at least winning) seasons. The climate is a negative but its not the most important factor given what teams have accomplished in the past. Until we commit more resources and expand our recruiting footprint, we will struggle in a league as good as the Sun Belt. I'm not an advocate of changing coaches at this juncture but I do believe we should expect better results going forward. One can't look at our record over the last two seasons and not suggest that none of it lies at the foot of the coaches. It is hard for me to believe that our fans are willing to accept a sub .500 performance year in and year out. Hopefully, the scholarship changes will help us seek out talent from a more diverse area.

Unfortunately, baseball isn't alone in bottom half finishes in Belt play. Last year we finished 8th and this year 9th in the Bubas Cup competition. The big 3 (FB, MBB, WBB) all did respectable in conference play and XC has been consistently in the top echelon of the Belt but the rest of our sports have struggled. And, just like baseball, they have budgets that lag significantly behind many of their peer programs.
Way oversimplified fix: Invest $500-$750k more into baseball. That amount would get us to middle of the pack in spending.

That can look like a lot of different things: Invest in better coaches; invest in better facilities: indoor practice facilities, locker rooms, stadium enhancements; invest in recruiting (travel budget and marketing).
I mean, that is a great fix. You're not wrong. But, what sport do we take that 500-750k from? Because, that would likely mean getting rid of a sport; maybe 2 for Title IX reasons.

The bottom line -- we are scraping the bottom of the barrel for all sports not football or basketball. Is that right? Maybe, maybe not. But those are also the two sports that bring us the most money (not necessarily from the attendance -- but NCAA payouts, TV deals, etc). DG and company are doing a great job of slowly allocating more money to other sports. But, its going to take patience. Hell, we JUST got a batters eye. A simple 50k expense that we couldn't endure in years past was finally done.

Is coach Smith not holding up to expectations? Perhaps. But, are we, as donors, holding up to our expectations? If baseball funding isn't increasing at a rate it once was, what is Smith supposed to do? Grow money out of the air? Sure, NC may have a lot of good baseball talent. But, if you can only afford to travel half of the states counties (and a lot of them only once per year), you will very rarely win a recruiting battle for the talent.

I don't disagree that Smith should be putting a better product on the field. But, I do disagree it's because of Smith's coaching.

Fun fact: when Pollard was here, baseball funding was at it's highest. Want to know why? Because football was a big fish in a small pond. At the time, we could put more to baseball. Did it take some patience to get there? Absolutely. We need the same patience now. While we are now a small fish in a big pond, the athletic department is budgeting and fundraising at a level that will get ALL sports to the point they need to be. Baseball is next (again, hence the batters eye).

Also, while unrelated but more proof of the slow but methodical increase in budgets across the board are the new staff positions for basketball. We have an AD that understands the dollar signs. As fans, we need to be patient and realize baseball is not a money maker for most schools -- so that's not the first choice for a higher allocation.
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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by APPdiesel » Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:56 pm

Question: If you make a donation to Yosef club and some how note that you want it to go to baseball, does the university have to ear mark it for baseball or does it still go into a general fund?
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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by AppSt94 » Thu Jun 02, 2022 2:07 pm

APPdiesel wrote:
Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:56 pm
Question: If you make a donation to Yosef club and some how note that you want it to go to baseball, does the university have to ear mark it for baseball or does it still go into a general fund?
Yes. You can make a sport specific donation.

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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by WVAPPeer » Fri Jun 03, 2022 10:58 am

Hey Tommie White has entered the portal - maybe a couple of you could swing him toward App St. :roll: ;)
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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by pop5app » Fri Jun 03, 2022 1:00 pm

WVAPPeer wrote:
Fri Jun 03, 2022 10:58 am
Hey Tommie White has entered the portal - maybe a couple of you could swing him toward App St. :roll: ;)
Yeah! I doubt we can compete with a $850,000 MIL deal froM Fla. St. but just wonder how many homers he might hit in the thin air of Smith Stadium!🤪

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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by Stonewall » Fri Jun 03, 2022 8:33 pm

What were we doing 10-12 years ago that we aren't doing now? And yes, I mean other than winning.Pollard had it figured out , whatever "it" was.

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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by AppSt94 » Fri Jun 03, 2022 8:38 pm

Stonewall wrote:
Fri Jun 03, 2022 8:33 pm
What were we doing 10-12 years ago that we aren't doing now? And yes, I mean other than winning.Pollard had it figured out , whatever "it" was.
Much more level playing field in terms of funding by our peers and a weaker conference.

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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by Oldlknapp » Fri Jun 03, 2022 9:24 pm

Weren’t we in the 1-AA Southern Conference “10 or 12 years ago”?

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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by AppStateNews » Fri Jun 03, 2022 9:27 pm

Stonewall wrote:
Fri Jun 03, 2022 8:33 pm
What were we doing 10-12 years ago that we aren't doing now? And yes, I mean other than winning.Pollard had it figured out , whatever "it" was.
Playing in the SoCon and being able to fund at the top half of the conference... Our baseball funding went up very minimal with the move since the "money" sports had to increase tremendously.
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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by T-Dog » Fri Jun 03, 2022 11:46 pm

This thread over the last week has been depressing. A lot of "we don't have the money to compete" and "we can't recruit top players" over and over again by the same people.

Further, the constant message board barrage of "Donate! Donate! Donate" whenever a loss happens or a championship isn't won loses its impact over months and years. And I financially can't make a difference without increasing my CC debt that I'm in the process of eliminating. I've donated before when I couldn't afford it and had to stop. There's not 20 non-staffer employee in this world who paid for and went to more App sporting events from 2010 to 2020 than me. I worked night shifts for years, got off work at 7 a.m., driven to tailgate on no sleep, taken a nap at tailgate, been made fun of for falling asleep at tailgate, gone to the game, maybe gotten some sleep after, then went back to work. I did that for years, and not just football games. I drove back 550 miles from Penn State right after the game ended, got home to Blowing Rock at 6 a.m., woke up at 11:30 a.m. and went to the home field hockey match at Noon. Not to mention doing the GIFs for years and years, which is something I love doing and have had players ask for theirs privately. For the Miami game, I covered high school football on Friday night, drove to the airport, flew Spirit to Ft, Lauderdale at dawn, went to the alumni tailgate, went to the game, went back to the airport and slept for a couple hours, flew back home Sunday morning and nearly passed out at the wheel 10 minutes from my front door. I had to miss the App vs UVA regional game in Charlottsville because I couldn't get someone to cover for me, so I drove 600+ miles only for the first Oklahoma game, drove back and went to work that same night. Every hotel night I avoided and below-face-value ticket I bought from friends was so I could go to the next game.

Am I insane? Yes. Point is, I can stretch my love and dollars for something I deeply care about. And that's without being able to drop donations with multiple zeroes or commas because I don't have a lot of free money most of the time. Maybe one day I'll have a big-money job where I can make those donations with a comma in them and have Yosef Club people pretend to like me?

For now? I'll show my love in my caring and when I can, my ticket and clothes purchases. And I will point out when teams aren't playing well. And I would like the App State Baseball team to win 30 games a season or at least have a winning record. I think that's doable even with a comparatively meager budget in the Sun Belt. And I will say that forever because I saw a lot of cool App moments and experienced a lot of great things on a shoestring myself. If I could make it work for a decade, they can too.

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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by AppSt94 » Sat Jun 04, 2022 8:11 am

The burden of closing the gap with donations isn’t the responsibility that one person alone should carry. And you or no one else should feel bad if life prevents them from giving. However, it doesn’t change the fact that money is needed to compete. As low as our budget for baseball is, it is the most funded sport outside of the big three.

There is no issue with being disappointed with results. However, if the solution to the problem is a personal point of contention then you aren’t really interested in being part of the solution. You just want to get bang for the dollar that you are unable to spend.

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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by BambooRdApp » Sat Jun 04, 2022 8:53 am

I believe there is one underlying premise of folks being on team's athletic forum such as Yosef's Cabin is that we are all fanatical about all things App. St. sports. With that being the underlying premise, we all make sacrifices to be a fan. For some, it may be long distances to travel one-way to experience game. For others, it may be ongoing health issues, etc. however, they make to whatever sporting event because they fanatical about App. St. sports. I see posts on the board from time to time about giving and donating. I am not sure that anyone has requested for anyone to "give more than they are comfortable giving"....the mantra is and should be "give what you are comfortable with to support the athletic program". Although no detailed research..just looking at the numbers posted on past posts, etc., it is apparent that we lack in number of "1% club type donors" compared to some other athletic programs in our conference as well as schools we compete with in our region. In addition, we have a low number of alumni that become members of Yosef Club. Although a pipe dream, if every alum gave a minimum of $25..we would be in a much different funding situation I believe than we are. This is no disrespect to past leaders, current leaders and other alumni trying to grow the membership. Without their past service, I cannot imagine how worse off we would be from a funding perspective. So a big Thank you to them. With that said, the stats are what they are.....

Early in my professional and personal life, I learned early on that in many cases "you get what you pay for". Is that an absolute? No. However, in more cases than not..this is the case. Transferring that to athletics, if you are near the bottom of funding a particular sport...more than likely the results will be at the bottom of the standings. Are there exceptions to the rule..you bet ya there is.. Are there other factors that may impact the sport (climate, etc.)..sure..

Other than football which is our Money Maker sport, I do not believe we actually need to be in the top 5 in the conference in spending. Absolutely not. I realize I am a "homer". However, I truly believe "there is something special about this place" or if you want to say "there is something about these mountains". If we are in the middle of pack or a little above, it sure would seem to help or maybe more that this should not be an excuse for not winning. are there exceptions of programs winning with less funding, sure....However, being well lower quartile of the pack, you get the results to get... This is life as being a D-1 program especially in our new conference that is now maybe tops in the G5.

If members of the Yosef Club and fans in forums like Yosef"s Cabin are not at the so called mountaintop selling the App. St. brand and reinforcing the importance of supporting the program through service as well as making contributions...then who will. I suspect "No one"....So give what you are comfortable with (and not less than that :D)...and let's go App. St.!!
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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by AppStateNews » Sat Jun 04, 2022 9:42 am

T-Dog wrote:
Fri Jun 03, 2022 11:46 pm
This thread over the last week has been depressing. A lot of "we don't have the money to compete" and "we can't recruit top players" over and over again by the same people.

Further, the constant message board barrage of "Donate! Donate! Donate" whenever a loss happens or a championship isn't won loses its impact over months and years. And I financially can't make a difference without increasing my CC debt that I'm in the process of eliminating. I've donated before when I couldn't afford it and had to stop. There's not 20 non-staffer employee in this world who paid for and went to more App sporting events from 2010 to 2020 than me. I worked night shifts for years, got off work at 7 a.m., driven to tailgate on no sleep, taken a nap at tailgate, been made fun of for falling asleep at tailgate, gone to the game, maybe gotten some sleep after, then went back to work. I did that for years, and not just football games. I drove back 550 miles from Penn State right after the game ended, got home to Blowing Rock at 6 a.m., woke up at 11:30 a.m. and went to the home field hockey match at Noon. Not to mention doing the GIFs for years and years, which is something I love doing and have had players ask for theirs privately. For the Miami game, I covered high school football on Friday night, drove to the airport, flew Spirit to Ft, Lauderdale at dawn, went to the alumni tailgate, went to the game, went back to the airport and slept for a couple hours, flew back home Sunday morning and nearly passed out at the wheel 10 minutes from my front door. I had to miss the App vs UVA regional game in Charlottsville because I couldn't get someone to cover for me, so I drove 600+ miles only for the first Oklahoma game, drove back and went to work that same night. Every hotel night I avoided and below-face-value ticket I bought from friends was so I could go to the next game.

Am I insane? Yes. Point is, I can stretch my love and dollars for something I deeply care about. And that's without being able to drop donations with multiple zeroes or commas because I don't have a lot of free money most of the time. Maybe one day I'll have a big-money job where I can make those donations with a comma in them and have Yosef Club people pretend to like me?

For now? I'll show my love in my caring and when I can, my ticket and clothes purchases. And I will point out when teams aren't playing well. And I would like the App State Baseball team to win 30 games a season or at least have a winning record. I think that's doable even with a comparatively meager budget in the Sun Belt. And I will say that forever because I saw a lot of cool App moments and experienced a lot of great things on a shoestring myself. If I could make it work for a decade, they can too.
I don't think anybody (at least on this thread) is questioning anybody's fandom if they can't donate. The question was asked, we gave the answers.

You know enough to know our budget was tight in the SoCon. We obviously need to spend more in the Sun Belt. To off set that, we make more in the Sun Belt with media, conference payouts, etc.

As I stated before, it's a marathon, not a sprint. DG is slowly building all other sport budgets up. But, at the same time, is needing to continue building up the money sport (football and basketball) budgets. It's a slow process and we are seeing it come to fruition now.

Can we still want all programs to be successful? APPsolutely! Should we still want the best of the best? APPsolutely! Do we have the right to show our dissatisfaction? APPsolutely!

But, we also must temper our expectations and become more realistic when seeing the bigger picture.

Possibly an unpopular opinion -- Cobb really screwed us. Our budgets were so out of whack when DG took over (it was borderline illegal). It's just now starting to baseline itself.
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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by Stonewall » Sat Jun 04, 2022 10:54 am

It appears that the realistic approach is to lower expectations. We are in over our heads in this conference outside of a handful of sports. Fortunately we are competitive in football and basketball , the marquee sports. Hopefully we will sustain that.

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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by WVAPPeer » Sat Jun 04, 2022 11:55 am

T-Dog wrote: ↑June 4th, 2022, 12:46 am
This thread over the last week has been depressing. A lot of "we don't have the money to compete" and "we can't recruit top players" over and over again by the same people.

Unfortunately, these happen to be facts - not conjecture. And I think several of us have added that it doesn't preclude us from having a competitive team just makes it more difficult --- thus the term "hurdle"
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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by AppStateNews » Sat Jun 04, 2022 6:25 pm

Stonewall wrote:
Sat Jun 04, 2022 10:54 am
It appears that the realistic approach is to lower expectations. We are in over our heads in this conference outside of a handful of sports. Fortunately we are competitive in football and basketball , the marquee sports. Hopefully we will sustain that.
Orrr... Just give it a little more time until we can organically increase every sports budget.

Fun fact -- baseballs budget next season will see the highest percentage increase of any sport ever in App State athletics history. It'll still take a couple of seasons to realize those increases, but we must be patient. It's happening as we discuss. But it doesn't happen over night.
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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by Stonewall » Sun Jun 05, 2022 6:20 pm

89 days ?

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Re: 2022 Baseball Mega Thread

Unread post by WVAPPeer » Sun Jun 05, 2022 7:11 pm

Have you guys seen some the scores from the regionals? - There seems to be a shortage of solid pitching just about everywhere -
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