Maryland and the rest of the season

[FBWHEEL]

Maryland in the last six games have scored 102 runs. At Bloomington in their sweep they scored 43. The timing of playing them on the road cannot be any worse.

It is likely with 10 (and the one completion) this team will likely finish these with a 6-5 or 5-6 record. Probably also expect them to win at least one game in the Big 10 tournament (in Omaha).

I hope Trev is doing a thorough analysis of the program and whether or not Bolt is the right guy? He only has had one good year here and that was an abbreviated season with just playing a conference schedule in 2021.

Realize 2020 really doesn't count but the last couple of years has been really telling. If we were in the Summit league we would be fourth with losing games to South Dakota St, Omaha, and now North Dakota St (realize these are mid week games but you get the point).

Bolt's approach to coaching is similar to Frost in some ways and also similar to Hoiberg when he first got here as far as being too dependent on players abilities vs. any type of direction. Last night was indictive of that as that was ridiculous striking out 16 times. A poster hit the nail on the head of just going up and free swinging at everything.

C-Bob, thanks again for the dedication with the detailed play by play. At this point in time Husker baseball again is hard to follow.

 

[johnrr6]

Maryland is huge!

I suspect we are going to get smoked but these kids are just hard to figure. GBR! Go get ‘em boys!

As for Will Bolt. I think he will get one more year.

Then if things haven’t improved Trev will find “new direction.”

The truth of the matter is with a school that puts as much money, effort and support into a program, with the kind of facilities that we have, and the kind of supportive fanbase we have…and that we also are very competitive in today’s NIL world……

There is no reason why Nebraska should not be consistently at the top of a relatively weak power, five baseball conference.

I like Will and I hope he turns things around but if not….we can and should do better!

It’s that simple really.

 

[HuskerWeatherman]

Nebraska's last six games were all against teams with losing records. We went 3-3 in these games.

Including the Iowa series, NU is 3-6 in their last 9 games.

I remember saying in another thread prior to the Iowa series how limited we were in opportunities to improve our postseason resume -- but we needed to take care of business against the mediocre to bad teams (3-3 isn't doing that), and we had to steal a few games in the two series we had remaining against quality competition (0-3 to start with the Iowa series, Maryland next up).

We've had opportunities to prove ourselves, yet we've bellyflopped. We've had games against bad teams we absolutely could not lose, yet we lost. Harsh reality that we aren't good. I'm not convinced that we are coached well, but as I've said, I would be very surprised if Bolt isn't back next season.

Our strength-of-schedule is ranked 196th nationally and last in the Big Ten. We've played four quad one games this season -- less than any other Big Ten school. Couldn't have been an easier path for Nebraska this season, yet we've stumbled with a poor schedule.

Some of us keep holding out hope, mostly due to the fact the Big Ten race is tight. But there's at least a half-dozen Big Ten teams with better resumes for the postseason than ours. Our resume is so poor right now, as someone else said last night, it's possible we could win the Big Ten regular season (unlikely occurrence, not impossible) and not get a bid into the NCAA Tournament (quite possible).

Nothing this Nebraska team has done screams postseason. Not even a whisper, for that matter.

I'm sure I'll be checking out the games against Maryland this weekend. A series win would still be nice -- even if it does little to nothing to help us. Maybe we can end this season with some glimmer of hope for next year. Let's hope we don't just pack it in.

 

[johnrr6]

and then there is a solid…well played game against an excellent top 10 Vandy team.

Which Huskers show up..??

Them or the belly flop version?

Iowa was humbling…these mid week losses seem worse.

It has not been fun!

Hope the rest of the season “gets better”.

But hey…my small market Orioles with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball are 20-10 right now.

Miracles can happen!

 

[CrnhskrBob]

Maryland in the last six games have scored 102 runs. At Bloomington in their sweep they scored 43. The timing of playing them on the road cannot be any worse.

It is likely with 10 (and the one completion) this team will likely finish these with a 6-5 or 5-6 record. Probably also expect them to win at least one game in the Big 10 tournament (in Omaha).

I hope Trev is doing a thorough analysis of the program and whether or not Bolt is the right guy? He only has had one good year here and that was an abbreviated season with just playing a conference schedule in 2021.

Realize 2020 really doesn't count but the last couple of years has been really telling. If we were in the Summit league we would be fourth with losing games to South Dakota St, Omaha, and now North Dakota St (realize these are mid week games but you get the point).

Bolt's approach to coaching is similar to Frost in some ways and also similar to Hoiberg when he first got here as far as being too dependent on players abilities vs. any type of direction. Last night was indictive of that as that was ridiculous striking out 16 times. A poster hit the nail on the head of just going up and free swinging at everything.

C-Bob, thanks again for the dedication with the detailed play by play. At this point in time Husker baseball again is hard to follow.

Yes it's hard not to put the "pen" down, but it's what I do. Thanks for the appreciation.

I guess somehow I think it's gonna turn to the better.
Hope springs eternal?

 

[CrnhskrBob]

Being that we're traveling to Maryland really makes this one tough.

We would be lucky to win 1, let alone be swept!

 

[CrnhskrBob]

Good luck with that!

https://huskers.com/news/2023/5/4/baseball-huskers-head-east-to-no-23-maryland.aspx

 

[HuskerWeatherman]

Good luck with that!

https://huskers.com/news/2023/5/4/baseball-huskers-head-east-to-no-23-maryland.aspx

From the link:

All Three Facets
• Nebraska is one of two teams nationally to be ranked in the top 50 in all three facets of the game.
• The Huskers are ranked 30th in batting average (.304), 38th in earned run average (4.50) and 18th in fielding percentage (.980).
• Nebraska is the only Power Five school to be ranked in the top 50 of all three categories, while Oral Roberts (Summit League) is also ranked in the top 50 of all three categories.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

This seems to be a case when stats don't tell the whole story.

How can we be statistically sound in every facet, yet nowhere near a postseason bid if the season ended today?

Part of that is the relatively easy schedule. Still -- if you told me the only P5 school that's top 50 in batting, pitching, and fielding was nowhere near having a worthy postseason resume, I don't think I could believe it. Bad luck? Poor situational performance? Bad coaching? All of the above?

It'd take some work (unless it's already been done), but I'm curious if a top 50 batting, pitching, and fielding team has ever not made the NCAA tournament.

 

[Burning Bright]

Earlier this season, I was rebuked by a hard charging NU baseball guy when I voiced my concerns about Bolt and the current state of the program. I forget their name but I thought the criticism was fair given I didn’t follow the team that closely even though I would put my baseball knowledge against anyone. I have watched 12 games now and I my original concerns are largely still valid unfortunately.

I see some rather large holes in our analytics, roster construction, and game/rotation management. I don’t think all is lost in Bolt, but there are things we have to address for sure for this program to move in the direction we all want it to.

I’m sure Trev is always concerned about the state of all of our programs. But the man brings back historically bad coaches like my wife changes clothes. Bolt has at least won the conference and isn’t on the same level as suck as Frost and Hoiberg, not even close. He isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[HuskerWeatherman]

I’m sure Trev is always concerned about the state of all of our programs. But the man brings back historically bad coaches like my wife changes clothes. Bolt has at least won the conference and isn’t on the same level as suck as Frost and Hoiberg, not even close. He isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

I'd put Bolt on the same level as Hoiberg.

Consider Big Ten baseball is a generally poor baseball conference. Absolutely better in both football and basketball. And I am certain no Big Ten team has near the fan interest and potential attendance NU baseball does. Not to mention some winning tradition -- much more so than basketball.

Hoiberg gave me hope this season. That team played really well at times -- and had to do so with a major rebuild midseason when we lost two starters. I was crushed they didn't earn an NIT bid. But I still came away feeling the best I had in quite a few years about the state of the program.

IMO, our baseball team should be top 2-3 in the Big Ten more years than not. Bolt did have one very solid season in 2021. But I'm curious to know if that was an anomaly or something we should expect again soon. Heck, Frost had a 13-0 season at UCF -- while every other season at both UCF and NU were losing seasons.

As it stands today, this season is an underachieving failure. As was last year. Still time this year to end on a high note.

Anyhow, I'm not in favor of firing either Hoiberg or Bolt now. But I won't argue if next season both coaches have their feet to the flames a bit.

 

[HuskerDB]

Some of my biggest concerns:
1. this team had a lot of 5th yr players returning yet seems to lack leadership and a sense of team
2. We’ll lose a lot off this team (Brice, Max, Shay, Casey). Possibly Emmitt.
3. We only have one positional freshman (Dylan) and our Freshman pitchers hardly play.

If we couldn’t compete this year, how are we going to in the next year or two? The only hope is to load up on transfers which seems to be the bolt way, but may be part of our lacking in ‘team’ and leadership.

 

[johnrr6]

@HuskerWeatherman

my take on those stats is…wow…

I simply am dumbfounded.

The only thing I can think of is that quite seriously this team has played whack-a-mole all year long.…..And the schedule has been “weaker” which may inflate the numbers.

One aspect seems to jump up and cause a game loss ….they fix that…seemingly…and something new pops up.

And a cycle of problems continues….some old ones recurring. The last games It’s been horrendous strikeouts mixed with terrible early inning pitching.

From unbelievable key errors one game to pitchers that all of a sudden…with good ERAs… are VERY hittable….or can’t find the plate…to head scratcher decisions to leave pitchers in far too long…to constant juggling of rotations trying to whack that mole…to just plain bad luck…pounding the ball all night, hitting it right at people.

I put it off to just the vagaries of the sport.

But those stats just FLOOR me.

Hard to fathom.

 

[johnrr6]

So, if you take those stats seriously, then we have far better than a punchers chance against a Maryland team that is due for a slump.

Why do I not feel very confident?

In the end…doesn’t matter…. I support the boys till the very end of the season regardless.

I hope they do better.!

But I have to tell you looking at those stats and then watching the team in action. There certainly seems to be a very big difference between the two.

Whatever…

GBR!