Our lineup is very good. Our defense is very good. Our starters are fairly solid with the exception of our Saturday starter recently. Our bullpen is the problem and it’s a major problem and it’s the pitchers and the staff. Pitching is about strategy and pitching ahead and pitching within oneself. It’s about throwing strikes and allowing your defense to play and our defense is great. Get ahead in the count and then try to be fine and get them to swing at your pitch. Don’t walk the lead off hitter, the bottom of the order, and don’t give up walks when you have a damn 7 run lead. 7 free passes in that one inning. Everyone of them could have hit a home run and the final score would have been the same. They only had 4 hits in the inning and scored 10 runs with no errors. This has been the only significant problem with this team all year. The staff needs to preach this everyday all day. The pitchers need to execute it. LET YOUR DEFENSE PLAY.
Texas v. Oklahoma State April 29-May 1, 2022
- Thread starter FWHORN
- Start date
Well, I am sure we lead the NCAA in grand slams given up!.
Our position players are excellent, our pitching staff couldn’t win at Williamsport.
Who is the pitching coach, he needs to replaced.
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This collapse could be the nail in the coffin. I don't know how a pitching staff can collapse so completely in such a big series and come back from it. There has to be some tension in the locker room between the pitching staff and the rest of the team.
UT Horn Fan
500+ Posts
Grand Slams given up by tx pitching = 5.
1 - Tx St
1 - CoC
1 - TTU (walk-off)
1 - TAMU
1 - OSU
Strange how our decline coincided with that one incident, isn't it?
It's either that or the loss of Tanner Witt, but I'm at a loss to explain how either or both of those could make our entire pitching staff go in the toilet and they are getting worse as the year goes on.
UT Horn Fan
500+ Posts
One word - coaching. The players are not equipped to deal with adversity and limit its impact on performance.
Augie used to say that baseball is a game of adversity/failure. That's a given, so you can't control that. What you CAN control is how you respond to it.
There is at least one person on this board that will never hang this on pierce or the pitching coach. Both are mediocre at best when compared to past TEXAS coaches. Pierce is a dumpster fire who lucked out and got to Omaha and got within 1 game of the title. Its not the loss of Witt although he is a large issue but I just dont understand the lack of development of the pitching staff. Guessing and hoping the seat pierce sits in is very hot!
Yeah, you're right, it's me. I put this on the players. If you cannot throw strikes, that is on you. You learned how to do that in Little League. If you need a coach to tell you how to throw strikes at this level, you are in big trouble.
I get that the HC is ultimately responsible for the team's performance, but y'all wanna put all the blame on Pierce and give him no credit for last year. Last year, in your mind, it was great players and he just got lucky. But now, with virtually the same team, it's the coaches and players have no responsibility.
Maybe I am stupid and hard-headed. So please, enlighten this idiot, tell me what you think Pierce oughta be doing that he is not. If you know so much about baseball that you are SURE this is all Pierce's fault, tell me what he should be doing that would make this all go away. I am sure I am not the only one who would like to know.
FWHORN
10,000+ Posts
Actually he got Texas to Omaha twice in four years (three seasons if don't count the lost covid year) but hey don't let facts stand in the way of a good diatribe.
Or maybe me too.
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Yeah I hate to bring facts into your rant, but, right now, DP's overall winning percentage is better than Augie's at the same time with UT. He also has more CWS wins than Augie at the same point in his UT career.
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UT Horn Fan
500+ Posts
Some will disagree with my take, but here it is anyway...
If Pierce were a proven commodity when hired, I might feel differently about 2022, but he wasn't. He had all of 5 years experience as a head coach - FIVE! And 3 of those were at Sam Houston State. He should never have been hired at Texas, but he was probably the best they could get given the way Augie's departure was handled. It cannot be overstated how poorly that was handled. By announcing his departure on the same day as the NCAA Selection Show, they all but guaranteed they wouldn't get their top choice(s). All the best coaches would still be coaching for at least 2 more weeks that season giving their current school time to redo their contract to get them to stay.
It is the responsibility of the coaching staff to put the players in the best possible place to succeed. For whatever reason that didn't happen this year. The coaches are not entirely to blame - I just think they might be in over their heads at a school like UT.
To be successful at this level, coaches must be able to do two things: recruit and develop. I don't think anyone can argue that this coaching staff isn't one of the best in the business at getting top talent to the 40 acres. It's what wasn't done once they put on the burnt orange that was lacking.
Don't get me wrong. The players (primarily the bullpen) are not blameless here. They have to do their part, too. Hoffart's antics in the bullpen make me believe there is a faction of this team that does not feel responsible to his teammates to do all they can to ensure success. That falls on Pierce.
Now here's to hoping they can pull things together and make another surprise run to Omaha.
This is baseball, so anything's possible. 
If Pierce were a proven commodity when hired, I might feel differently about 2022, but he wasn't. He had all of 5 years experience as a head coach - FIVE! And 3 of those were at Sam Houston State. He should never have been hired at Texas, but he was probably the best they could get given the way Augie's departure was handled. It cannot be overstated how poorly that was handled. By announcing his departure on the same day as the NCAA Selection Show, they all but guaranteed they wouldn't get their top choice(s). All the best coaches would still be coaching for at least 2 more weeks that season giving their current school time to redo their contract to get them to stay.
It is the responsibility of the coaching staff to put the players in the best possible place to succeed. For whatever reason that didn't happen this year. The coaches are not entirely to blame - I just think they might be in over their heads at a school like UT.
To be successful at this level, coaches must be able to do two things: recruit and develop. I don't think anyone can argue that this coaching staff isn't one of the best in the business at getting top talent to the 40 acres. It's what wasn't done once they put on the burnt orange that was lacking.
Don't get me wrong. The players (primarily the bullpen) are not blameless here. They have to do their part, too. Hoffart's antics in the bullpen make me believe there is a faction of this team that does not feel responsible to his teammates to do all they can to ensure success. That falls on Pierce.
Now here's to hoping they can pull things together and make another surprise run to Omaha.
This is baseball, so anything's possible.
UT Horn Fan
500+ Posts
It's not how you start - it's how you finish that counts. Case in point - 2022 Texas baseball
Some crazy, wacko ideas:
Starting pitchers for the Remaining Games, Tourney, and Regionals:
1. Gordon
2. Harrison
3. Hansen
4. Morehouse (or Olivarez...)
[the top 3 above, would post a combined ERA right around 3.00--->most innings to the best pitchers. Do you think Harrison can go a good 5, 6, or 7 innings? I think he can!]
Frequently used relievers:
Stevens (2-3+ innings)
Olivarez (2+ innings)--if he's not the #4 starter
LBJ (2 innings)
Nixon (1-2 innings)
Stewart (1-2 innings)
(also Morehouse, if he hasn't started within 5 days)
Relievers for when we have a BIG lead and/or all the guys above are used up:
Southard
Cobb
Blair
Sthele
DuPlantier
Eckhardt
Starting pitchers for the Remaining Games, Tourney, and Regionals:
1. Gordon
2. Harrison
3. Hansen
4. Morehouse (or Olivarez...)
[the top 3 above, would post a combined ERA right around 3.00--->most innings to the best pitchers. Do you think Harrison can go a good 5, 6, or 7 innings? I think he can!]
Frequently used relievers:
Stevens (2-3+ innings)
Olivarez (2+ innings)--if he's not the #4 starter
LBJ (2 innings)
Nixon (1-2 innings)
Stewart (1-2 innings)
(also Morehouse, if he hasn't started within 5 days)
Relievers for when we have a BIG lead and/or all the guys above are used up:
Southard
Cobb
Blair
Sthele
DuPlantier
Eckhardt
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These are the guys that stunk it up Sunday aren't they, or do you consider 7-0 after 6 NOT a big lead?
I would submit that no lead is big enough for this crew.
I am with you. That's two people.
Gus had 0. ZERO!
UT Horn Fan
500+ Posts
IMO, there's a difference in being a good hire at UT and being successful here. I define a good hire as being a proven winner when selected as head coach. Gus should not have been hired because he was not qualified at that time. Now if in his job interview, they could tell the future and see that he would go 1466-377-2, if hired at Texas, he would have been a good hire.
David Pierce might turn out to be the best head coach in the history of college baseball, but even if that turns out to be the case, it will not change the fact that he should not have been hired. That's just how I see it.
When I questioned hiring Pierce, the sales pitch was his recruiting expertise in finding and getting talent on campus. Specifically, the downturn of Rice's program after he left. No doubt this team has a ton of talent. Question is whether that talent is getting better or worse once it's here.
If I had to guess, half the pitching staff is in their own heads, like a golfer with the yips. I hope somebody can come up with a better way to fix their problem than Costner banging Rene Russo.
David Pierce played and coached HS baseball in Houston. He knows the game. If you're not from there, there is no way to overstate how big a deal HS baseball is in Houston. Even Coach Gus once said, "All you need to do to be successful in college baseball is recruit the Houston area well."
Augie WON the title in his sixth year. But I do remember questioning whether he was the right hire and he was under some pressure just before he won it. And just a question, would you rather have Augies record after 6 years or David’s? Since you’re comparing.
And trying to compare Gus to now is asinine, geez, that was over 50 years ago.
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That's all well and good, but has nothing to do with what I posted. At this point, in Augie's 6th year at UT, he hadn't won anything at the CWS.
From the Stats thread, this is as of Monday 5/2 (so the HBU game is not included)
ERA
Starters:
Gordon......3.00
Hansen........3.20
Morehouse...4.15
Stevens.......4.99
Relievers:
Olivarez.....0.73
Johnson....2.45
Harrison....2.73
Nixon.......3.55
Stewart....4.32
Southard...4.70
Cobb.........5.68
DuPlantier..6.33
Sthele.......7.20
Blair.........7.43
Eckhardt....8.17
Unlike football, or even basketball, baseball is very much a numbers and stats sort of game. Based on the data, if one were to make a data-driven decision, the bold-highlighted guys above are the ones that should be seeing the mound going forward. And of these, both Stewart and Southard are highly questionable--but both are great development projects for the future (nasty stuff, high 90s, etc.), they're just not there yet, this year. I keep hammering on it in various threads, but we need to see more of Olivarez and LBJ.
The 5 that are not highlighted...let's hope they develop and show up next year as good pitchers. The conference tourney, regionals, super-regionals, etc. isn't the place to trot them out to the mound--unless we run out of pitchers. And at the regionals, that does happen, from time-to-time...
ERA
Starters:
Gordon......3.00
Hansen........3.20
Morehouse...4.15
Stevens.......4.99
Relievers:
Olivarez.....0.73
Johnson....2.45
Harrison....2.73
Nixon.......3.55
Stewart....4.32
Southard...4.70
Cobb.........5.68
DuPlantier..6.33
Sthele.......7.20
Blair.........7.43
Eckhardt....8.17
Unlike football, or even basketball, baseball is very much a numbers and stats sort of game. Based on the data, if one were to make a data-driven decision, the bold-highlighted guys above are the ones that should be seeing the mound going forward. And of these, both Stewart and Southard are highly questionable--but both are great development projects for the future (nasty stuff, high 90s, etc.), they're just not there yet, this year. I keep hammering on it in various threads, but we need to see more of Olivarez and LBJ.
The 5 that are not highlighted...let's hope they develop and show up next year as good pitchers. The conference tourney, regionals, super-regionals, etc. isn't the place to trot them out to the mound--unless we run out of pitchers. And at the regionals, that does happen, from time-to-time...
This! This was widely considered the best staff in the NCAA now they can't throw a strike when it matters....several times in a row. The talent is there and it's up to the coaches to get them in the right head space. This is why I said after the KSU and Air Force debacles the pitching coach needs to go now. To me it's all on him.
Sean Allen is his name and just like what binder boy did, Pierce brought him along from Sam Houston instead of hiring the best pitching coach out there. He was promoted in 2020 so really he has one full year under his belt in position which is a pretty stupid move on Pierce's part. He's in over his head right now and is probably sitting at home with a bourbon in the fetal position wondering what to do.
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