I was really happy for Fidel Ulloa.

Does he have the ability to be our third day starter? I think so.

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Does he have the ability to be our third day starter? I think so.

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I really don't know.

I thought Kade Anderson was going to grow into that position. I still think he will.

'Castro' did a good job!

I noticed in the post game presser that Johnson referred to Braswell & Jake Brown being there with him - instead of Ulloa. Kind of felt bad for Fidel at that point. Johnson was going on & on about Brown and Ulloa was sitting there like "what about me coach".

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None of y’all have any friggin idea what you are talking about. There was a poster earlier this week who seemed to have inside information, who said that Anderson has arm fatigue and that he has lost velo and movement. If that’s true, what kind of moron coach would “give him the chance”?

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I'm sure the arm fatigue thing is/was true. But Jay was "giving him a chance" by putting him in high leverage situations coming in out of the bullpen with guys on base during SEC play. And he was getting up and down more than just when he came in, and sometimes that is harder on a pitcher's arm than starting once every 7 days. But he hasn't pitched a whole lot lately, so maybe the rest has helped with the arm fatigue. I wouldn't' be surprised to see him start Saturday.

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And others are suggesting Fidel could be our starter. No, just no! He clearly does not have the stuff to go twice through a lineup. He is being used just right.

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I agree he is being used just right and, at this point, can't be a true starter. He could be an "opener," for a game if we needed and maybe get us through 2 or 3. But to say he "clearly does to have the stuff to go twice through a lineup" is just wrong. His stuff is plenty good to get hitters out a 2nd and maybe even a 3rd time through the lineup. It's just that he hasn't been stretched out to do so and doesn't have the stamina. Which is fine, because like you said, he is being used just right in the role he currently has.

After Jump and Holman, the only other candidates to stretch out and be capable of giving us 4, 5, 6 innings are probably Hurd, Ack, and Anderson. Hurd has his obvious issues, and while it doesn't appear likely that he would do that, we know it's possible. We know Anderson can do it, but if he's still battling arm fatigue, that's also not likely. Ack has proven he's been able to do it, but he hasn't seemed as capable to go more than 2 or 3 since he tweaked his hamstring. He's probably more valuable being able to pitch multiple times in a weekend.

But I don't think we can win a regional if we don't do it 3-0. Having to go 4-1 and winning that 5th game in 3 days just doesn't seem feasible with the back end of our staff. And you can't go 3-0 without going 2-0, so unless it works out like it did Tuesday and Wednesday with Jump and Holman going so long and us having big leads to where we could finish each game only using 2 pitchers a piece, we're probably gonna have to throw Ack in Games 1 or 2. Maybe both.

Can't "save" him for Game 3 unless the regional mirrors the 1st 2 games of the SECT. But I do think if we can get those same performances, Ack would get the Game 3 start in the regional. He would have started yesterday instead of Hurd if the game really mattered. Jay just had the benefit of playing with house money so he could take a chance on Hurd to try and get his confidence up.

Herring is a guy that I have no doubt could go out and throw 6 innings. He's just too valuable in the role he's in, though, since our only chance to win a regional is to win Games 1 and 2. Jay didn't have to bring him back out for the 9th--or even go to him in the 8th--against Georgia, but that was a playoff game and Jay couldn't frick around and risk it getting away from us by going to anybody else. It will obviously be the same in the 1st 2 games of a regional. HOWEVER, if the bats stay hot and Jump and Holman can turn over a big lead in the 8th or 9th to Little or Guidry and we can somehow manage to win the 1st 2 without Herring, I think he starts Game 3 and we ride him as long as he can go. He's been stretched out and thrown 3 or 4 innings several times this year. With the adrenaline he would have and as much as he competes, I could definitely see him being able to extend that to 5 or 6 strong.

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He clicked at some point in the 8th. Was cool to see. He went from struggling bad to full command of his stuff.

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I think he got a few shitty calls on pitches I thought were located perfectly. He was pounding those low strikes at the knees and the umpire didn’t give him even one of them.

Underutilized this season IMO.