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It was down to A&M or Texas. But as others have mentioned we were slower to the NIL game for baseball unlike our other sports, which I think one can attribute the close portal misses to. Definitely can improve in that, and have to if we want to keep up in the arms race.

Petition to stop playing in MLB stadiums Kidding (kind of)

I wouldn’t compare Pierce to Dabo in terms of portal usage. We were very much in the race for Skenes and Montgomery, so it’s not for lack of trying. So while we haven’t quite gotten our top target, it’s far from a reluctant approach.

Akana working at SAM makes a lot of sense to me with how loaded EDGE is overall. With bringing both starters back plus Finkley and Tapp, and adding Simmons, Umeozulu and Moore. Plus Vasek if he can heal up will really fill up that room

A&M is legit, their position player lineup is absolutely loaded. With LaViolette, Montgomery, Grahovac, and Camarillo all hitting over .380, their pitching just needs to be decent for them to have a really good year. Our pitching meanwhile has led the way so far for us especially with the three shutouts this weekend! The lineup has been up and down. While Thomas and Powell have been everything you could’ve asked for at the top of the order, there has been some slow starts further down. Notably Brown and O’Dowd hitting .154 and .125 respectively. But with how good the pitching has been early, it is allowing time for them to get going. Both catchers hitting well too

Cal Poly’s Friday and Saturday starters had good outings against Missouri, should be a solid challenge for the lineup.

Something else to expand on this. In our current 2025 class, we are at 19 commits after the loss of Small. 10 are from Texas, 6 are from California, with 1 each from Georgia, Arizona and Wyoming. I’m surprised we’re playing both SD and Cal Poly at home, considering we played @CSU Fullerton last year I expected making a West Coast trip could become a yearly occurrence.

For Reference Of the top 8 ranked Perfect Game players in CA for 2023 who signed with colleges out of HS, only 2 stayed in the state. 4 of 8 in 2022 and 2021. Even before the Pac-12 died California players have been more than willing to venture out and I’m expecting that to only increase. With Texas and TCU being two major benefactors.

Texas’ Computer Science program is incredibly selective, pretty sure it’s below 10%, and extremely rigorous. It would be very impressive to balance that workload as a student athlete, considering the majority of the team are PCS majors.

Seeing that he tagged our OL staff in Flood and Gatewood, I would lean towards as an OL.

Crazy stat- Will Gasparino struck out in 7 of his 11 ABs…but still ended up with the 4th best average on the team at .273

One thing I think it’s important to remember is what transpired with the late attrition of the 2023 recruiting class. This year’s roster looks A LOT different with Holland and Johnson. I think Terry did an okay job piecing the roster together this year but it’s hard with the timing of when the coaching turnover and decommits happened. Looking at the 2024 class, I think the future classes will set up our team much better in the future.

Good to hear about Stroh moving forward! 6’7 365 is a great point to work from and I’d love to see him take a guard spot in 2025

Hype video is out!

Would rather take a chance being unseeded! Wake Forest is stacked.

Would be a nice get after a couple of other potential DB targets have come off the board in Sanchez and Antoine and with Sellers potentially leaning towards OU. Chuck McDonald would be another player I’d like us to push for

Not only did he visit for the KSU game, but appears he was in Austin for June elite camp as well in 2023.

2026 QB Troy Huhn Mission Hills HS San Marcos, CA

Pitching Injuries seems like a cliche, but it’s often the truth on how successful a season can be. Losing Mercer definitely hurt, but if Shaw and Harrison return to pre injury form and stay that way it will be huge from a lefty perspective. Don’t know that Santos can get there in time.

Farmer going from one of the lowest ranked recruits we signed in the class to potentially having one of the biggest impacts of the freshman is so cool to see! I’m excited to see Fontenot and Boehm, both have really good stuff that could play well out of the bullpen this year. At DH, I expect to see a lot of Belyeu and Sanders. With appearances by J Duplantier as well.

I’m rooting for Witt to have a Tristan Stevens ECU-style moment this year. Would love to see him come back and have that redemption arc this season.