On the All-Tournament team for the recently completed Big XII baseball tournament, only three OSU players were named to the All-Tournament team. Benge (the tourney MVP), Schubert, and Garcia were named to the team from the Pokes.

The Goons had SEVEN named to the team! Did they choose the team before the championship game or something???

TCU had two players on the team (they didn't even get to the semifinals), and UCF had the other.

No Brian Holiday. No Lane Forsythe (who I thought played well enough to at least be considered for MVP). No Adrian Ortiz. No Robert Cranz (an OU guy was picked as the All-Tournament relief pitcher).

What a bunch of crap.

All these PSU fans on your message board are…

Free to someone who will use them (not for resale, please).

Two good seats above the 1st base dugout, great view of 1st base.

Reply here or send a DM to me with a number to which I can text the tickets.

Does anyone know or at least have a guess as to our chances of not having to listen to this guy anymore. It would be great to hear J. Carl again but almost anyone would be better, except Askren of course.

So, looking at our pitching options, there are a couple of ways of looking a things.

Reasons to start Benge in the opener
1) Benge has pitched outstanding in his three starts and makes you feel comfortable starting him against Niagara.
2) You obviously save your two aces for Florida and/or Nebraska and have one of the two (if you win your first two games) to pitch in the championship.
3) Benge may be a better fit against Niagara than Florida. Benji is more of a power pitcher. Without knowing for certain, Florida, with their plethora of power hitters, are more likely to have success against a power righty versus a a power lefty (Garcia) or a junker/softer righty (Holiday).

Reasons to start Garcia against Niagara
1) Losing the opener is hard to overcome so you want to go with your best.
2) Garcia is a lefty and Niagara’s lineup is lefty heavy, including three of its top four hitters and by far its best hitter.
3) It keeps everyone on their regular schedule: Bubba on Friday, Brian on Saturday, Benji on Sunday.
4) Garcia and Holiday are proven - or at least more proven - to give you seven or eight innings (or maybe even a CG) and saving your pen for later in the tournament can be vital, especially if you fall into the loser’s bracket.
5) You don’t want to take the chance of being knocked out of the tournament without even using one of your two aces.

All of that being said:
I’d go Benge, Garcia, Holiday. I think it gives you the matchups that give you the best advantages and the best chance to win the tournament.

It really is sad to know that such people exist, and even sadder to know that they don’t get any better with age. I don’t know that Dan is an atheist, but this kid apparently studied his debate playbook.

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The 2nd Court of Appeals ruled it was reasonable for government to pressure businesses to terminate business relationships to silence advocacy government disagreed with? Just goes to show you how precarious our Constitutional protections are when a court of appeals rules against those protections because of their ideological beliefs.

Login to view embedded media Who ever said Askren didn’t have a beef with OSU, you can say, “I told you so”.

It’s just what happens in war. They probably are all Hamas terrorist/murderers anyway, or at least cheered when Hamas attacked. They’re Palestinians and *every* Palestinian is a terrorist or terrorist supporter which means they are animals not humans and therefore deserve whatever revenge Israel visits upon them. Even genocide. But this isn’t genocide. This is just what you do in war. If Israel didn’t do it to Palestinians the Palestinians would do it to Israel. Therefore logic dictates Israel must kill Palestinians indiscriminately. War is hell. The Palestinians FAFO. That’ll teach ‘em!

All NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will eventually become a member of the alliance but the main focus now is to ensure the country prevails against Russia, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday...

“Let me be clear, Ukraine’s rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family," Stoltenberg told a news conference. “Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO....”

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/russia-ukraine-nato/2023/04/22/id/1117129/

On Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Iran and the USA.


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Do you guys remember last summer U23. I was pretty impressed with Troy Spratley’s performance. I think TS is a title contender this year for sure
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Yikes, Republicans…




carry on

to come here and read those members who can define all seven components of critical thinking. Most board members are well equipped to do such. These members regularly abuse the tiny segment who are without clue. Where the majority fails? Teaching the tiny minority segment is completely beyond the reach of the gifted ones. I keep looking for a member of the tiny slow segment to catch on. It doesn't happen.

I am opinionated (you might have guessed that) especially about people who do not respect a job well enough to give their best effort. The poster boy for my displeasure, Angel Hernandez gets paid to leave umpiring when he should have been fired years ago. But then gets his attorney to make the following statements.

"Hernandez's lawyer, Kevin Murphy, told "The Athletic" that he was "NOT kicked out." Hernandez, in formerly announcing his retirement himself, said he wants to "spend more time with my family."

We all know social media has been roasting Hernandez for the last few years so to come and say this statement is almost comical. Now he gets a check to ride on in the sunset and write a story about how to be a truly bad MLB umpire.

Old retiree price for AT&T 1 gig internet fiber: $34.99. $35.56 out the door. New retiree price just announced: $10 plus tax.

I subscribed to hulu for higher picture quality locals than YouTube TV, A&E, Lifetime and Lifetime Movies. Wife likes A&E, Lifetime and Lifetime Movies.

“There’s still a path to win this, but they don’t look like a campaign that’s embarking on that path right now,” said Pete Giangreco, a longtime Democratic strategist who’s worked on multiple presidential campaigns. “If the frame of this race is, ‘What was better, the 3.5 years under Biden or four years under Trump,’ we lose that every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”

“New York Democrats need to wake up,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. “The number of people in New York, including people of color that I come across who are saying positive things about Trump, is alarming.”

Pretty interesting tidbits. The $22 million / year that is now basically just legitimized NIL, that’ll be tax deductible for donors and paid through the school. Considering that it’s capped it’ll be interesting to see how the well funded schools handle this. Which boosters do they choose to participate with. Do the football boosters get first dibs and a guy like Richison might be left paying through NIL (if he still chooses) without the tax benefits. I get that many schools might not have to deal with clearing $22 mill but the bigs will imo.


Also, ncaa doing away with scholarship limits and imposing roster limits will be very interesting. If we want to go all in on baseball and wrestling we could give full scholarships to the entire teams if we had had the funding. It’ll be very very interesting to see much how the ADs handle things and just how football-centric most schools will be

Florida Gators
* 28-27 overall, 13-17 in the SEC East (tied for fourth with South Carolina)
* Florida played for the national championship last year, losing 2 of 3 to LSU in the finals
* Gators lost to Vanderbilt in the first round of the SEC Tournament
* Florida is making its 16th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament (second longest current streak)
* Florida is making its 39th appearance in the NCAA Tournament
* Florida lost 2-of-3 to Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Vanderbilt and South Carolina, and got swept by Missouri and Florida St.
* The Gators took 2-of-3 from LSU, Mississippi St., Georgia, and Texas A&M
* They lost to UCF in their lone meeting
* Florida may have the youngest lineup in the regional, starting five sophomores and two juniors and just one senior.
* They feature a player who is a finalist for the John Olerud Two-Way Player award, Jac Caglianone

On Offense
* It's Caglianone and a bunch of guys who either strike out or hit home runs. Okay, it's not that cut and dry, but it's pretty close.
* They've been held to 4 runs or less in 18 games this season
* Caglianone will be one of the first players taken in next month's MLB draft
* He has hit 29 homers this season after hitting 33 last year. He hit a home run in eight straight games last season.
* He has 58 RBI this year and had 90 as a sophomore. Obviously, opponents are not giving him opportunities this year, but also a sign that his surrounding cast is not as good this year.
* After Caglianone, Florida has just one other regular - Ty Evans - hitting above .266.
* Florida has SEVEN regulars that have struck out on at least 25% of their at bats, with four of them striking out 30% of the time or worse.
* Evans, a junior OF, is batting .316 with 10 homers and 43 RBI. He's struck out 58 times in 193 ABs (30% K rate)
* Senior LF Tyler Shelnut is batting .265 with 13 HRs and 47 RBI, but also with 67 strikeouts in 204 ABs (33% K rate)
* Sophomore SS Colby Shelton is an Alabama transfer who's hitting .256 with 18 homers and 45 RBI, but also 63 Ks in 211 ABs (30% K rate)
* Sophomore 2B Cade Kurland is hitting .265 with 13 homers and 39 RBI. He's struck out 63 times in 200 ABs (32% K rate).
* Sophomore CF Michael Robertson is batting .246 with 2 homers and 20 RBI; he's struck out 34 times in 130 ABs (26% K rate)
* Sophomore C Luke Heyman is batting .250 with 14 HRs. He has K'd 59 times in 216 at bats (27% K rate)
* Sophomore DH Brody Donay is batting with .266 with 11 homers, but has struck out 49 times in 124 at bats - that's 40% of his at bats

... I think you get the picture ...

That being said, they do have SEVEN guys who are double-digits in going yard. They're seventh in the nation in home runs as a team.

On the Bump
* While Florida has struck out a lot on offense - like, a whole lot - it has struggled on the bump as well. Like on offense, the exception is Caglianone
* Caglianone is the ace of the pitching staff. He is 5-1 with 13 appearances - all starts - and 62 innings pitched, all team highs.
* Liam Peterson is their No. 2 starter. The 6-5 freshman has started 12 games and has an ERA of 5.83, a record of 2-4, and a WHIP of over 1.50. He's given up 14 home runs.
* But, like Poke-Dawg said in another post, since mid-April, he's been pitching much better, a 2.25 ERA in last four outings, including nice outings against Kentucky and Tennessee. If he continues that roll, that will play a huge factor for Florida.
* After Caglianone, the most consistent pitcher for the Gators might be Fisher Jameson (4-0, 4.26, 2 saves, 28 appearances). He's struck out 62 in 50 innings.
* After that, it's been a struggle for the Gator staff. They've used EIGHT other pitchers as starters, with five of those making at least 3 starts without much success.
* Brandon Neely, who saved 13 games a year ago as the closer, is 2-4 in 6 starts, 15 relief appearances and 55 innings. His ERA is 6.55. He has struck out 70, leading the team in that category.
* Cade Fisher (3-3, 7.51 ERA) has made 8 starts and Pierce Coppola (0-4, 9.42 ERA) has made 6, but neither has had much success. Maybe Coppola should try a movie career???
* Out of the bullpen, Jameson has had the most success, followed by Ryan Slater whose made 28 appearances and 3 starts. He's 4-2 with a save, but his ERA is near 7.
* To say the least, outside of Caglianone, the Gators have lacked consistency on the mound

Summary
Florida is certainly not the team they were a year ago when they went 54-17 and were national runner-ups, but losing Wyatt Langford (and others) on offense, and losing two guys who gave you 100 innings each and 290 strikeouts on the bump will do that to you. The thing that the other teams in the regional have to hope is that the others remaining from the last year's Gator team and their newcomers don't suddenly find their groove in the playoffs. The production on the bump by Peterson and Neely will go a long way for the Gators.

We do not want Florida getting on a roll. They can be a dangerous team. You're talking about a team that has beaten some of the best teams in the country - Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas A&M, LSU, Vandy, and Arkansas have all been beaten by the Gators. With their playoff experience from a year ago, it would not be a surprise to see them make a run.