Valincius, Nunnallee, and Chone James the first three to commit to State.
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Gross.
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Would love to grab Pollard coming off an Omaha appearance, even if it delays our roster rebuild a bit.
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Oh yeah, Walter took his name out of the mix alright. Not that he remembers the exact moment though.
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Re: James — that’s hilarious.
With how badly Ference and Didawick were playing first eight weeks of the season, James should have gotten a lot more PT.
Oak was screwing him all season long.
I can’t hate on them and hope they do well. They didnt start the fire.
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Loyalty and respect to oak. Glad it’s still a thing in baseball at least. Hoops has no loyalty anymore
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I agree. Did anyone else get the vibe that the Duke program, under Pollard was passing BOC’s program prior to BOC leaving?
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not sure about that since he’s not been to omaha we did knock em out two years ago but when u look at head to head during the regular season he’s done well against us
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Def not, we’ve made 3 CWS appearances in thr last 4 years. Doesn’t get better than that from a program standpoint. I know we all kinda wanna shift the viewpoint to “maybe Oak was plateauing or on a decline” when he left but none of that is true. Not similar to Bennett who was pretty objectively on a decline of sorts.
As to Pollard, he would be absolutely fantastic. I kinda imagine getting Pollard rn would be akin to getting Oak in like 2009ish. He had still done pretty miraculous things by that point (as has Pollard) relative to the programs history but he hadn’t quite reached the highs of what he was able to do in the next 15 years. I.e. we’d be getting a dude who’s likely about to hit the prime of their career
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One of my favorite sporting events I’ve ever attended in person. That knockout game turned into a party early because we were killing them. Felt like they used about 30 pitchers.
Kendall Rogers update on our coaching search reenforces what Pete Nakos reported earlier today. Currently Pollard is the clear frontrunner with Penders as the #2 option.
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two proven coaches
Good point. I do feel like Pollard and Duke has had our number in recruiting and head-to-head battles in recent years. Of course BOC has had better post ACC success.
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Duke wins the first game of their super regional over Murray State. They are one win away from their first ever CWS appearance.
If they win tomorrow or Monday it’ll be a very real question of whether or not we wait around for Pollard.
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If pollard is legit interested, could you wait around on him with the idea that he’d be able to bring a lot of guys with him to get a head start on the portal? I don’t know their roster.
I’ve cooled on my earlier enthusiasm about Penders. Would probably rather wait on Pollard.
If he’s your long term answer, you don’t care as much about 2026
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if they make it to omaha i don’t believe he’s coming
I agree. Gotta be 100% it’s a slam dunk he’s coming here though, if you wait around and then get left out to dry you end up getting the worst of both worlds.
I guess the question is, if it’s not 100%, what should we be doing? We can pursue Penders in a week or two regardless. Same with Glavine.
Elander is still playing and could be in the same boat as Pollard.
Maybe you hire Muscara or Brown right now but I don’t think Brown is leaving Vandy and I haven’t heard us tied to Muscara at all.
I don’t think we should hire a backup option just to get a 10 day head start on the portal. If Pollard seems legit interested, I think it’s a risk worth taking.
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