I get the merits of getting to the postseason in College Baseball. But is going 2 & Que in an ACC team's backyard next weekend (and finishing the season 0-4 in the postseason really going to help build momentum for this program heading into the off-season?
This team's best win of the season was against #29 RPI Tulane in February. FEBRUARY!
Sure, you might have had a Punchers Chance if Scott Schreiber was still in the lineup, but we didn't have the pitching to beat the #77 and #101 RPI teams last week in Omaha. What makes you think this team will do better this weekend against the #32 (Oklahoma St.) & #6 (Clemson) RPI teams?
This team fought and scrapped back to make a good run at the end of the season. But sans a 15-2 win against Creighton in mid-May, never really dominated any other game this entire season.
With little or no offensive pop up and down the lineup, and mid-week level starters strewn throughout the pitching staff, it was an accomplishment just to be in contention for the B1G regular season title heading into the last weekend.
But with the Big Ten being a #7 RPI league, and the regular season conference champion having to sweat it out as a bubble team themselves for the NCAA tournament, how much of an accomplishment finishing runner-up is certainly up for debate.
This past weekend may have proved just how good a coaching job Estad did with this team during the regular season. It also showed how close this team would have came to finishing in the bottom half of the league had Schreiber not played the entire season.
In baseball, it's not the batting order or the pitching rotation. It's the Jimmies and the Joes (or the Scotts) that ultimately define your program's success.
And when you have just three players hitting over .300 on the season, with only one with a slugging percentage over .500 (Schreiber), and you lose your line-up's best bat, the season pretty much ended on May 19th.
Bottom-line, Erstad has to evaluate and recruit talent (JUCO or otherwise) better than he has on the current roster if this team is ever going to lose this "overachiever" tag under his watch. Schreiber didn't let his teammates down by getting hurt. Erstad let his team down by not having someone behind him ready to take his place.
That's recruiting, and that's what's missing in Lincoln right now.
This team's best win of the season was against #29 RPI Tulane in February. FEBRUARY!
Sure, you might have had a Punchers Chance if Scott Schreiber was still in the lineup, but we didn't have the pitching to beat the #77 and #101 RPI teams last week in Omaha. What makes you think this team will do better this weekend against the #32 (Oklahoma St.) & #6 (Clemson) RPI teams?
This team fought and scrapped back to make a good run at the end of the season. But sans a 15-2 win against Creighton in mid-May, never really dominated any other game this entire season.
With little or no offensive pop up and down the lineup, and mid-week level starters strewn throughout the pitching staff, it was an accomplishment just to be in contention for the B1G regular season title heading into the last weekend.
But with the Big Ten being a #7 RPI league, and the regular season conference champion having to sweat it out as a bubble team themselves for the NCAA tournament, how much of an accomplishment finishing runner-up is certainly up for debate.
This past weekend may have proved just how good a coaching job Estad did with this team during the regular season. It also showed how close this team would have came to finishing in the bottom half of the league had Schreiber not played the entire season.
In baseball, it's not the batting order or the pitching rotation. It's the Jimmies and the Joes (or the Scotts) that ultimately define your program's success.
And when you have just three players hitting over .300 on the season, with only one with a slugging percentage over .500 (Schreiber), and you lose your line-up's best bat, the season pretty much ended on May 19th.
Bottom-line, Erstad has to evaluate and recruit talent (JUCO or otherwise) better than he has on the current roster if this team is ever going to lose this "overachiever" tag under his watch. Schreiber didn't let his teammates down by getting hurt. Erstad let his team down by not having someone behind him ready to take his place.
That's recruiting, and that's what's missing in Lincoln right now.
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