Wanted to create a thread that captured all our season thoughts.
For me, I have really come to love college baseball, and Bulldog baseball in particular because of the players. Starting with Chandler Hall, the Washam brothers, Cameron Linck, Nate Harris, Sean Ullrich, Raphael Gladu, Chase Lunceford, Mason Paxton, Brent Diaz, Braden Bristo, Phil Diehl...those guys brought baseball back at Tech. They played for, in my opinion, a real jerk in Greg Goff, but play they did. These guys took us to another level.
It took a couple of years, but players like Mason Mallard (who remembers him tagging from 2B on a fly in Fayetteville!), Manny Garcia, Tanner Huddleston, Dalton Skelton kept us on trajectory.
Then comes Hunter Wells, Taylor Young, Steele Netterville, and Parker Bates. Wells is a hitter like we have not seen (as noted by his Hit King status), and there's not a more complete player in Bates. In the Burroughs era, we went from pitching strength to more of a hitting club, but overall they kept the trend upwards.
Will Taylor Young make legend status? Is Cole McConnell ready to carry the offense? Does a pitching staff retool and we see Martinez, Tompkins, Crigger and Hodges become Diehl, Harris, Bristo, and Linck? Who will choose to take the torch so brightly burning from Bates and Fincher to the future?
Football went from, from my view, a real jerk in Dooley (but a necessary change catalyst), to just a little less of a jerk in Dykes, to a true program builder in Holtz. Can we go from one jerk (but a necessary change catalyst) to a program builder in Burroughs?
All I know is I'll be there to see.
As Burroughs says, "It's a great day to be a bulldog"!
For me, I have really come to love college baseball, and Bulldog baseball in particular because of the players. Starting with Chandler Hall, the Washam brothers, Cameron Linck, Nate Harris, Sean Ullrich, Raphael Gladu, Chase Lunceford, Mason Paxton, Brent Diaz, Braden Bristo, Phil Diehl...those guys brought baseball back at Tech. They played for, in my opinion, a real jerk in Greg Goff, but play they did. These guys took us to another level.
It took a couple of years, but players like Mason Mallard (who remembers him tagging from 2B on a fly in Fayetteville!), Manny Garcia, Tanner Huddleston, Dalton Skelton kept us on trajectory.
Then comes Hunter Wells, Taylor Young, Steele Netterville, and Parker Bates. Wells is a hitter like we have not seen (as noted by his Hit King status), and there's not a more complete player in Bates. In the Burroughs era, we went from pitching strength to more of a hitting club, but overall they kept the trend upwards.
Will Taylor Young make legend status? Is Cole McConnell ready to carry the offense? Does a pitching staff retool and we see Martinez, Tompkins, Crigger and Hodges become Diehl, Harris, Bristo, and Linck? Who will choose to take the torch so brightly burning from Bates and Fincher to the future?
Football went from, from my view, a real jerk in Dooley (but a necessary change catalyst), to just a little less of a jerk in Dykes, to a true program builder in Holtz. Can we go from one jerk (but a necessary change catalyst) to a program builder in Burroughs?
All I know is I'll be there to see.
As Burroughs says, "It's a great day to be a bulldog"!
