2026 Baseball Mega Thread

[WataugaMan]

And that’s , that. About as expected . This is App baseball.

And, from what I've witnessed, if your okay with it expect more of the same.

[SlappyAppy72]

And that’s , that. About as expected . This is App baseball.

And, from what I've witnessed, if your okay with it expect more of the same.

I'm okay with 30+ wins and setting a program record for conference wins and highest finish in the conference. Absolutely nothing to hang our heads about this year. Do I want us to win the conference tournament? Yes. Do I want us in the discussion for an at large big? Yes. But to act like this season was a failure is a joke. These guys battled their tails off and faught through adversity all year. Hats off to them.

[WataugaMan]

I don’t recall saying this season was a failure. However, I’d describe it more as a lukewarm one which seems to be par for the course these days.

[Stonewall]

Everyone has their own measurements of success I suppose. By my standards this was a good season overall with a rough start and more concerning , a drop off at the end. Ten years is more than enough time to build a program so It appears this is what we are. I have no reason to believe the future will be anything other than more of the same.

[B30020]

Best season in ten years in the Sunbelt. Had more guys than ever recognized for accolades in the regular season. SunBelt Conference is fifth best conference out of 30 in the country. Pretty damn good season! Pretty hard to recruit baseball players to come play baseball in cold weather. Be thankful for what we have.

[AppSt94]

Best season in ten years in the Sunbelt. Had more guys than ever recognized for accolades in the regular season. SunBelt Conference is fifth best conference out of 30 in the country. Pretty damn good season! Pretty hard to recruit baseball players to come play baseball in cold weather. Be thankful for what we have.

Well said. Gratitude is a tough thing for sports fan to grasp.

[Bigdaddyg1]

Best season in ten years in the Sunbelt. Had more guys than ever recognized for accolades in the regular season. SunBelt Conference is fifth best conference out of 30 in the country. Pretty damn good season! Pretty hard to recruit baseball players to come play baseball in cold weather. Be thankful for what we have.

Well said. Gratitude is a tough thing for sports fan to grasp.

The problem we have (like other schools or teams) is that aside from normal fans we have that small core of fanatics who apparently live and die with App sports. They have no real sense of reality, always want to fire coaches, can’t or refuse to comprehend how scheduling, roster building and the overall financial dynamics works. The expectations are unrealistically high and apparently this group lives in some delusional world.

I think I share the same opinion about baseball in particular that it’s possibly the most difficult sport to play (as far as the major sports goes). No other sport with a 70% failure rate gets you in a Hall of Fame. NIL and revenue sharing doesn’t change the fact that there is still a finite number of players every year who are really good enough to play at certain levels. We had a pretty good year and a tough ending.

[SlappyAppy72]

Sun Belt Freshman of the Year in the transfer portal. Sounds familiar. Every school outside of a few SEC/ACC schools are JuCo's.

[WataugaMan]

Best season in ten years in the Sunbelt. Had more guys than ever recognized for accolades in the regular season. SunBelt Conference is fifth best conference out of 30 in the country. Pretty damn good season! Pretty hard to recruit baseball players to come play baseball in cold weather. Be thankful for what we have.

Agreed the players played their hearts out and like you've summarized this is pretty much the best it will be, we have hit our peter principle in baseball.

[311neers]

I am a homer but I think we can do a tad better. We can beat Gardner Webb.

Remember- we didn't have the Sofield Indoor to practice in this year. Baseball might use that more than football haha.
Come August, we will have a brand new Sofield indoor for the fall/winter season.
That should pay off down the road, along with the baseball indoor expansion.

Keep pushing, guys. Get a tad better each year as we keep improving the facilities and get a little more money.
30 wins is awesome, another milestone. But we were right there in the hunt for 32-33 wins! Don't settle, don't get content!

If Kermit doesn't think this is our peak potential, neither do I.

[t4pizza]

This season was a great success. Finishing third in the Sun Belt is not an easy task, proved by the fact that we have never done it before. I know he has been here a minute now, but Kermit seems to be building the right way, especially the past handful of years. I think he uses the transfer portal and restocks better than any other coach we have. If we can reset our floor to about 3-5 finish in the league, then our ceiling will be 1-2. We really are not that far away from consistent post season play. Seriously, little tweaks to our schedule can get us the RPI needed for at large conversations. We need to keep building, but this was a good year.

[BambooRdApp]

Need to hold onto the good guys that still have eligibility, a legit third day weekend starter, and upgrade relievers.
There was a distinct difference in Beach Chickens reliever yesterday compared to any of our relievers. However, it would be great to have an elite reliever when we need it.
It was a fun season. Hopefully we can add to it for 27.

[appvette]

This baseball season felt like the basketball season. We overachieved and had great seasons in both, but the ending left a sour taste.

We had the most runs in the conference and pitching improved compared to the last couple years. We just didn't hit well the last couple weeks.

A few achievements:
30 win season, which has been rare the past couple decades
Most SBC conference wins in program history
Most all SBC selections in program history
Highest SBC tournament seed in program history
Swept GS for the first time ever

[appvette]

I know all teams deal with stars transferring or going pro, but imagine if we had Steensma this year. That would have given us a great weekend rotation to go along with our great hitting.

[311neers]

This season was a great success. Finishing third in the Sun Belt is not an easy task, proved by the fact that we have never done it before. I know he has been here a minute now, but Kermit seems to be building the right way, especially the past handful of years. I think he uses the transfer portal and restocks better than any other coach we have. If we can reset our floor to about 3-5 finish in the league, then our ceiling will be 1-2. We really are not that far away from consistent post season play. Seriously, little tweaks to our schedule can get us the RPI needed for at large conversations. We need to keep building, but this was a good year.

I think 5 SBC teams will make the tourney.

USM host
Coastal might host
La La is a lock.
Troy first 4 in
Tx State first 4 in.
If So Alabama wins it all, they could sneak in.

Crazy that we finished 3rd in the conference and have absolutely no shot but 3-4 teams below us could be IN. Schedule has to improve.

[311neers]

I know all teams deal with stars transferring or going pro, but imagine if we had Steensma this year. That would have given us a great weekend rotation to go along with our great hitting.

Haha. It does seem like we can say that every year.
Marks also got hurt.
We're always going to be 1 guy away.
But, Silver Lining- Come to App and you can get drafted.

[BambooRdApp]

I do not think Coastal gets to host with last night's loss to LaLa. That's 4 of 5 from Coastal in a week by LaLa

[AppSt94]

I do not think Coastal gets to host with last night's loss to LaLa. That's 4 of 5 from Coastal in a week by LaLa

Definitely sliding the wrong way and the wrong time.

[311neers]

USM with a walk off grand slam down by 3 B9 down to their last strike 0-2 count…Wow. Can’t make it up.

[ASUFan4863]

Best season in ten years in the Sunbelt. Had more guys than ever recognized for accolades in the regular season. SunBelt Conference is fifth best conference out of 30 in the country. Pretty damn good season! Pretty hard to recruit baseball players to come play baseball in cold weather. Be thankful for what we have.

I hate to call you out directly, but do not misconstrue questions/criticisms as being ungrateful for what we have. That is a ridiculous statement to make. I understand that some of the posters on this board are holier than thou, but give me a break.