Wake Forest 2023 baseball season thread (Deacs end historic season with extra inning loss to LSU: Final record 54-12 and top 4 finish nationally)

[DeacDaddy]

I've been a Wake fan my entire life. That's all I've got to say about tonight's game.

I hear you too. It’s a legitimate sentiment. But I’m feeling good about tonight. At some point a good team gets tired of not playing up to their potential. I’m looking forward to seeing how that feeling manifests itself.

 

[WindyCityDeac]

Yep. Every pitch is either a ball or a strike. So there is a 50-50 chance it's a strike regardless. If you don't swing, there is a 100% chance that you won't hit the ball. If you do swing it raises the odds of hitting the ball dramatically. And if we don't win tonight, there is a 100% chance our season is over. If we do win, there is a 50-50 chance we win the National Championship. So there is much more to gain by swinging away.

 

[Deacfreak07]

Don’t believe either has pitched on short rest period.

For what it's worth, Lowder is a much more experienced pitcher than Skenes.

 

[SkyDivingDeacon]

I like that we have been watching pitches, getting walks and forcing LSU to go to the bullpen early and often, but…we need to get the bat off our shoulders tonight to win, IMHO.

 

[deacdixieboy]

Thank god the Braves have a day game today. That will at least kill 3 hours. This is going to be a long freaking wait. And of course it’s disgusting outside so there is nothing fun to go do to kill time.

 

[aocs3281]

Just a heads up that both coaches have given non-definitive answers on Rhett and Skenes tonight. I do expect that they will both pitch, but would not be shocked if one didn’t or if they only had a few innings.

What are the options for LSU if they hold back Skenes? To be clear, that’s meant to be a question. I don’t follow them enough to know the possibilities.

 

[tvcigar]

The fact they are having an Allegacy event tonight while we play in the seminfinals is embarrassing.

I saw this e mail yesterday at noon, and I had BAD BAD BAD vibes. I kept them to myself for the benefit of the BOARDS.

 

[Deacfreak07]

What are the options for LSU if they hold back Skenes? To be clear, that’s meant to be a question. I don’t follow them enough to know the possibilities.

I really don't think they have any. They have really burned through some arms to get this chance which is why the first win was so important. We have our regular Friday night lineup relatively ready to go with our midweek starter available out of the pen. Skenes is otherworldly good, and it's not a given that they run away with it tonight.

 

[thatguy2016]

What are the options for LSU if they hold back Skenes? To be clear, that’s meant to be a question. I don’t follow them enough to know the possibilities.

They had Thatcher Hurd warming up in the bullpen last night, after he threw 65 pitches against us on Monday, so I would imagine they deem him available for some innings tonight

 

[deacvision7]

 

[liveanddiedeac]

They had Thatcher Hurd warming up in the bullpen last night, after he threw 65 pitches against us on Monday, so I would imagine they deem him available for some innings tonight

Yeah, I think they figure Skenes and Hurd can get them through tonight. I hope they're wrong.

 

[deacfan123]

Hurd the turd. Didn't scare me up there really.

 

[Deacsfan27]

For what it's worth, Lowder is a much more experienced pitcher than Skenes.

He also doesn't throw it as hard as Skenes does, so it won't be as much stress on his arm (one would think anyway).

 

[Jroc25]

 

[bym051d]

If we're posting wrestling promos, here's one for today.

 

[Deaconblue]

He also doesn't throw it as hard as Skenes does, so it won't be as much stress on his arm (one would think anyway).

I would think both use maximum available effort on their top speed pitches. So arm stress should be close to equal.

 

[Jroc25]

 

[liveanddiedeac]

Skenes threw more pitches Saturday and pitched later in the day, so maybe Lowder is just a touch more rested, but not enough to think it'd make a difference.

 

[KidA23]

I like that we have been watching pitches, getting walks and forcing LSU to go to the bullpen early and often, but…we need to get the bat off our shoulders tonight to win, IMHO.

Yea, I feel the same. Probably a deliberate (and typically, successful) strategy that has "worked" in some sense, but not as far as driving in runs. Kind of reminds me of the post-2016 Chicago Cubs lineup that increasingly became more and more patient and homerun-dependent and, somewhat paradoxically, more and more strikeout-prone as they watched one strike 3 after another whiz down the middle of the plate.

 

[DCDeac]

Skenes throw 100+ with movement. These are college hitters - against that kind of stuff they have to guess and if they guess wrong they'll watch the occasional 3rd strike. We can certainly hope Skenes arm tires early or that he's just off under the pressure, but this will probably be a game where we try to work counts, bunt guys over, lean into one, hope to scratch out a couple runs and lean on our pitching. He hasn't given up more than 2 runs since like April and he's in a pitcher's park. Like the first two games, this will be about execution defensively and probably a big hit or two.