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NCAA TOURNAMENT: Wolfpack Headed to Columbia

May 29, 2023
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NC State (35-19, 13-16 ACC) has been selected to the 2023 NCAA College World Series Tournament and will play in the Columbia Regional as the No. 3 seed.

The Wolfpack will be paired against No. 2-seed Campbell (44-13, 22-5 Big South) as tournament play begins Friday at 1 p.m. from Founders Park. Regional host South Carolina (39-19, 16-13 SEC) will open against four-seed Central Connecticut State (36-12, 25-5 NEC). The Columbia Regional is matched against the Gainesville Regional which contains Florida, Connecticut, Texas Tech, and Florida A&M.

One of the more explosive teams in the Southeastern Conference, South Carolina currently sits within the top 10 teams in the country in home runs hit with 110, but the Gamecocks dropped nine of its last 11 regular-season games after starting the season 30-4 overall. South Carolina defeated Georgia in the SEC Tournament before suffering back-to-back losses to LSU and Texas A&M. NC State holds a 35-22 all-time record over South Carolina, but the Gamecocks have the latest victory in Charlotte on April 2, 2019, dowing the Wolfpack, 10-8.

Entering postseason play with many outlets projected they would host, the Camels secured their second straight Big South Championship with back-to-back wins over USC Upstate who took two out of three from Campbell in the final weekend of the regular season. The Wolfpack last faced the Camels on March 2, 2022 when Campbell took the win in Buies Creek, 7-4.

Central Connecticut State heads into the tournament as the automatic qualifier from the Northeastern Conference after winning five games in four days with the final two victories coming against Wagner by a combined margin of 20 runs. Should the teams meet, NC State will face the Blue Devils for the first time in school history.

Stay tuned to Inside Pack Sports for more information as the Wolfpack’s postseason continues.

NCAA TOURNAMENT: Wolfpack Headed to Columbia (GAME THREAD)

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Wolfer79
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8:57a, 6/4/23
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Rob McLamb
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9:20a, 6/4/23
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NC State submitted a bid to host. That I know for sure.

Texas Tech likely put in its bid to host but I'm not sure about that one.
Twitter: @RobMcLamb
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tau06
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In reply to Alex Gee • 9:22a, 6/4/23
Alex Gee said:
I have to say, I'm a little surprised by the discourse here and twitter. We needed to hit home runs in the pinch hit opportunities given the arms we were using, so we sent out Marcy and Trice. It's unconventional, but makes sense to me. We likely weren't winning by stringing hits together. Needed the big swing. Marcy is a much better power option than Soles. Same for Trice over Harrison.

If either of those guys tie the game on one swing, we could have gone to Fritton and played to win with pitching and offense instead of just offense.

Given how it was managed, we kept two of our best arms fresh for the elimination game and some options available if we can get to USC tomorrow night. If you can get through elimination tomorrow afternoon then it basically turns into back to back Sunday/midweek games in which the better offense tends to win. I'd take that risk.


Feels like a weird response/thought process to have when we scored our first 3 run by stringing hits together and needed one good at bat to get it to our best player with men on base for him for the first time in the regional, no? Have to think Soles getting a hit/walk there is way more likely than Marcy running into a homer.
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tau06
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In reply to castlewood107 • 9:28a, 6/4/23
castlewood107 said:
Campbell's third starter has horrific numbers. Imagine they try to pen this together today with the only 3 relivers they trust-- Cummings, Rund and Boxrucker. Central Conn did us no favors in this region - punting the game vs SCarolina then giving up a 10 spot to Campbell and giving them a non-stress finish with limited pen use.

We need 5 IP from Sam and do everything possible to save Dom for tonight. If we are behind or tied after 5, you have to use Dom I assume.


The Campbell/Cenn Conn game had Campbell needing a game tying grand slam in the 7th. I don't think that game was stress free for them. They had to use good arms just to advance I'd think. Rund and Cummings both pitched
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poexcuse
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In reply to James Henderson • 9:34a, 6/4/23
James Henderson said:
I personally didn't agree with going with Marcy over Soles with Groover in the hole, and I'm shocked neither pitch hitter was Parker Nolan.
Pinch hitting is tough at any level. Pulling a batter who has had multiple ABs for someone who has been sitting can work but the odds are not good. The personnel usage of this group seems to have perplexed our coaches all year. It is remains hard to predict or understand.
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DrummerboyWolf
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In reply to Rob McLamb • 9:45a, 6/4/23
Rob McLamb said:
NC State submitted a bid to host. That I know for sure.

Texas Tech likely put in its bid to host but I'm not sure about that one.
That did work out for us in 2013 when I believe it was Oregon who lost to Rice and we got to host the Supers. I think we were the #9 National Seed. My question for those who asked, we have to win 3 games to keep playing. Until we do that then the other stuff is moot. If it works in our favor and somehow we do win and get a chance to host, then that is great. The goal is to keep playing one more game. We get that done today and tomorrow then we get to play at least 2 more and it doesn't matter where.
Being an N. C. State fan builds great character!
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DrummerboyWolf
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In reply to tau06 • 9:50a, 6/4/23
tau06 said:
castlewood107 said:
Campbell's third starter has horrific numbers. Imagine they try to pen this together today with the only 3 relivers they trust-- Cummings, Rund and Boxrucker. Central Conn did us no favors in this region - punting the game vs SCarolina then giving up a 10 spot to Campbell and giving them a non-stress finish with limited pen use.

We need 5 IP from Sam and do everything possible to save Dom for tonight. If we are behind or tied after 5, you have to use Dom I assume.


The Campbell/Cenn Conn game had Campbell needing a game tying grand slam in the 7th. I don't think that game was stress free for them. They had to use good arms just to advance I'd think. Rund and Cummings both pitched
Exactly. We can't worry about what other teams did or did not do. Had we not walked at least 5 batters with two outs, then there is a good possibility we are sitting back and waiting for tonight's game. Never know how things would have turned out and South Carolina may have gotten hits anyway and scored those 6 runs, but they may have been having trouble to score instead of us giving them all 6 runs.
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Nairo
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9:52a, 6/4/23
What struck me last night was the physical difference between the two teams. Every player in the order, 1-9 for South Carolina was a corn fed steak. Even Mahoney was a hoss. Our team this year looks like a mess of string beans. I don't mean that as a slight, just an observation in the stark differences.
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CLTWolf
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In reply to tau06 • 9:55a, 6/4/23
tau06 said:
castlewood107 said:
Campbell's third starter has horrific numbers. Imagine they try to pen this together today with the only 3 relivers they trust-- Cummings, Rund and Boxrucker. Central Conn did us no favors in this region - punting the game vs SCarolina then giving up a 10 spot to Campbell and giving them a non-stress finish with limited pen use.

We need 5 IP from Sam and do everything possible to save Dom for tonight. If we are behind or tied after 5, you have to use Dom I assume.


The Campbell/Cenn Conn game had Campbell needing a game tying grand slam in the 7th. I don't think that game was stress free for them. They had to use good arms just to advance I'd think. Rund and Cummings both pitched
Cummings pitched an inning and a third (23 pitches) and Rund went an inning throwing only 15 pitches. Rund has thrown 31 pitches total. Jackson Roberts only threw 9 pitches in his one inning of work (23 total).

He's right, it was limited use for them.
*Wolfpack Baseball - 2021 *NCAA COLLEGE WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!
*Congrats to the 10 win 2021 Wolfpack football team!
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CLTWolf
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In reply to Nairo • 10:22a, 6/4/23
Nairo said:
What struck me last night was the physical difference between the two teams. Every player in the order, 1-9 for South Carolina was a corn fed steak. Even Mahoney was a hoss. Our team this year looks like a mess of string beans. I don't mean that as a slight, just an observation in the stark differences.
Ehhh...

1 - McGillis 5th year 6'3 200 / Soles 5th year 6'1 206
2 - Wimmer Sr 6'4 200 / Groover Jr 6'2 212
3 - Petry Fr 6'4 230 / Peebles Fr 5'11 200
4 - Messina So 6'0 230 / Cozart So 6'3 205
5 - LeCroy So 6'2 205 / Nixon So 6'1 210
6 - Casas Jr 6'4 230 / Candelaria 5th year 6'1 195
7 - Braswell So 6'2 195 / Serrano Fr 6'6 195
8 - Brewer Sr 6'2 180 / Harrison Jr 5'11 190
9 - Tippett Fr 6'1 175 / Green So 6'3 190


We just don't have 3 dudes that weight 230lbs.

Some of our listed weights gotta be off too b/c Peebles definitely weighs more than 200lbs. He's stout. Nixon has a massive lower body, so does Soles. Soles gotta be 210-215.

*Wolfpack Baseball - 2021 *NCAA COLLEGE WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!
*Congrats to the 10 win 2021 Wolfpack football team!
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ClePack
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In reply to Nairo • 10:34a, 6/4/23
Nairo said:
What struck me last night was the physical difference between the two teams. Every player in the order, 1-9 for South Carolina was a corn fed steak. Even Mahoney was a hoss. Our team this year looks like a mess of string beans. I don't mean that as a slight, just an observation in the stark differences.


I noticed this when we played ecu, also. Those boys were thick lol
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Wolfer79
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10:47a, 6/4/23
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Francis
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In reply to ClePack • 10:47a, 6/4/23
ClePack said:
Nairo said:
What struck me last night was the physical difference between the two teams. Every player in the order, 1-9 for South Carolina was a corn fed steak. Even Mahoney was a hoss. Our team this year looks like a mess of string beans. I don't mean that as a slight, just an observation in the stark differences.


I noticed this when we played ecu, also. Those boys were thick lol

Does EA stress strength and conditioning or do our guys have narrow frames?
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Alex Gee
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In reply to tau06 • 10:50a, 6/4/23
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tau06 said:
Alex Gee said:
I have to say, I'm a little surprised by the discourse here and twitter. We needed to hit home runs in the pinch hit opportunities given the arms we were using, so we sent out Marcy and Trice. It's unconventional, but makes sense to me. We likely weren't winning by stringing hits together. Needed the big swing. Marcy is a much better power option than Soles. Same for Trice over Harrison.

If either of those guys tie the game on one swing, we could have gone to Fritton and played to win with pitching and offense instead of just offense.

Given how it was managed, we kept two of our best arms fresh for the elimination game and some options available if we can get to USC tomorrow night. If you can get through elimination tomorrow afternoon then it basically turns into back to back Sunday/midweek games in which the better offense tends to win. I'd take that risk.


Feels like a weird response/thought process to have when we scored our first 3 run by stringing hits together and needed one good at bat to get it to our best player with men on base for him for the first time in the regional, no? Have to think Soles getting a hit/walk there is way more likely than Marcy running into a homer.


It's a completely fair critique. Soles could've drawn a walk or gotten a hit and kept it going.

I really just think it was way more of a macro decision. If last nights game was game 1 of a true best of 3, you probably wouldn't have seen those pinch hitters. I think things change when you are looking down the barrel of potentially needing to win 3 more in the next 2 days.
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James Henderson
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In reply to wilmwolf • 10:55a, 6/4/23
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wilmwolf80 said:
Pinch hitting for Soles wasn't giving up on him, it was just a coach trying to push a button and make something happen with a guy who only has one hit on the weekend. Everyone wanted him to pull Eli for being 0-for the weekend, but Soles is off limits? 41% of Marcy's hits this year have been extra base hits, you hope he runs into one or hits a gapper (questionable strike call didn't help his AB). You could've pinch hit Nolan instead of Trice, but maybe Trice is the only guy you feel comfortable with playing infield if the game was extended with the limited travel roster. Maybe there were other advanced metrics that went into those decisions that we weren't privy to.

The only metric I'm sure of is that people don't ***** about coaching decisions when they work. Nobody cared about pulling Nixon for Nolan in the 5th yesterday when he hadn't gotten out in 3 ABs. I know I wouldn't want to have to make these decisions, with two or three potential more games, trying to balance winning the game in front of you while not burning out your team for the other games. If you don't have a super dominate team, the regional setup is probably the most difficult setup from a coaching standpoint that you can have. I don't agree with all the decisions, I would've gone to Nelson first out of the pen (imagine the meltdown on here, lol). I would've tried to get some runners going to try and break up those double plays, but I have the benefit of hindsight, and you don't get that as a coach.

It's a monumental task now, but let's beat the Camels and see what happens.
I'm always going to Nolan with a multi-run lead, I don't care which bat you take out and/or who it's for. He's by far State's best defensive outfielder and can hit basically as well as the other guys too.

The fact that he has more HRs than Trice/Marcy and is a plus defender (while being a righty too) is surprising to me that they didn't go to him. Not to mention he's been playing more.

I guess I personally don't view Marcy as a high-upside homer guy but could just be me.

i didn't care as much about going with Trice in the 9th trying to hit a bomb, makes sense there. Didn't to me with 8 outs left and your heart coming up. Stick with Soles who can get a basehit and keep things moving.

Hell, I'd have been cool bunting Soles to try and get runners to 2nd/3rd and just give Gino a chance. If they walk him, we get Peebles up to bat with bases loaded and a chance to take the lead.

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CLTWolf
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In reply to Francis • 10:56a, 6/4/23
Francis said:
ClePack said:
Nairo said:
What struck me last night was the physical difference between the two teams. Every player in the order, 1-9 for South Carolina was a corn fed steak. Even Mahoney was a hoss. Our team this year looks like a mess of string beans. I don't mean that as a slight, just an observation in the stark differences.


I noticed this when we played ecu, also. Those boys were thick lol

Does EA stress strength and conditioning or do our guys have narrow frames?
Those narratives are wrong. Let's not do this. lol
*Wolfpack Baseball - 2021 *NCAA COLLEGE WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!
*Congrats to the 10 win 2021 Wolfpack football team!
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Pack31
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In reply to Francis • 10:58a, 6/4/23
Francis said:
ClePack said:
Nairo said:
What struck me last night was the physical difference between the two teams. Every player in the order, 1-9 for South Carolina was a corn fed steak. Even Mahoney was a hoss. Our team this year looks like a mess of string beans. I don't mean that as a slight, just an observation in the stark differences.


I noticed this when we played ecu, also. Those boys were thick lol

Does EA stress strength and conditioning or do our guys have narrow frames?


So we lost because we are skinnier. Hmm
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James Henderson
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10:58a, 6/4/23
Staff


Laughed at this reply
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Alex Gee
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11:09a, 6/4/23
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Regardless, it's over and has happened. We have the pitching advantage against Campbell by a significant margin. Win this first game and tonight/tomorrow turns into a run scoring contest… especially if you can get to tomorrow.
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DanielWilsonIPS
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In reply to Wolfer79 • 11:10a, 6/4/23
Wolfer79 said:
PaperWolf said:
In our best case situation, it would be #3 vs #3 (State and Texas Tech)...so maybe depends on the total 64 team rankings? Anyone know for certain?

Wolfer79 said:
I40Wolf said:
If neither host team wins their regional what is the selection criteria for the super regional host?
I think several factors

1. who put in bid to host, how much?

2. comparison of seeds
a #3 will probably not host over #2 from other regional


does anyone know if NC State and Texas Tech submitted bids to host and amount of bids?
NC State definitely submitted a bid to host supers. Rob and I asked the Pack's SID about who would host if Tech and State won out.
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In reply to Alex Gee • 11:13a, 6/4/23
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Alex Gee said:
Regardless, it's over and has happened. We have the pitching advantage against Campbell by a significant margin. Win this first game and tonight/tomorrow turns into a run scoring contest… especially if you can get to tomorrow.
Yep get it done!
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Wolfer79
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11:23a, 6/4/23
NC State's batting order versus Campbell:

RF Noah Soles
3B LuJames Groover, III
DH Cannon Peebles
C Jacob Cozart
LF Chase Nixon
CF Trevor Candelaria
1B Eli Serrano, III
SS Kalae Harrison
2B Payton Green

RHP Sam Highfill (6-3, 4.18 ERA) on the mound for the Wolfpack.


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Wolfer79
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11:24a, 6/4/23
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Tom OBriens Smile
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11:29a, 6/4/23
8-1 with a 5.25 ERA? Sheesh.

Lets' get after Daquila to the point he'll need tequila to forget.
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I40Wolf
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In reply to DrummerboyWolf • 12:00p, 6/4/23
DrummerboyWolf said:
Rob McLamb said:
NC State submitted a bid to host. That I know for sure.

Texas Tech likely put in its bid to host but I'm not sure about that one.
That did work out for us in 2013 when I believe it was Oregon who lost to Rice and we got to host the Supers. I think we were the #9 National Seed. My question for those who asked, we have to win 3 games to keep playing. Until we do that then the other stuff is moot. If it works in our favor and somehow we do win and get a chance to host, then that is great. The goal is to keep playing one more game. We get that done today and tomorrow then we get to play at least 2 more and it doesn't matter where.
I meant this as a general question because I noticed that several potential hosts were in the loser's bracket.. Didn't mean it as a State related question. Sorry that it came off that way.
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Tom OBriens Smile
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In reply to I40Wolf • 12:02p, 6/4/23
I40Wolf said:
DrummerboyWolf said:
Rob McLamb said:
NC State submitted a bid to host. That I know for sure.

Texas Tech likely put in its bid to host but I'm not sure about that one.
That did work out for us in 2013 when I believe it was Oregon who lost to Rice and we got to host the Supers. I think we were the #9 National Seed. My question for those who asked, we have to win 3 games to keep playing. Until we do that then the other stuff is moot. If it works in our favor and somehow we do win and get a chance to host, then that is great. The goal is to keep playing one more game. We get that done today and tomorrow then we get to play at least 2 more and it doesn't matter where.
I meant this as a general question because I noticed that several potential hosts were in the loser's bracket.. Didn't mean it as a State related question. Sorry that it came off that way.
The answer, and potentially relevant to us, is I believe the selection committee makes a choice on host if seeds are equivalent in a 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 situation. Presumably they would award it to the better team in their eyes.
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ChemE94
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12:08p, 6/4/23
Well that sucked
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SportManagementEngineer
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12:09p, 6/4/23
Well that feels like a bad omen
Twitter: @JJwith2Jays
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metcalfmafia
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12:11p, 6/4/23
There we go Sam. We ain't gonna get beat by solo shots.
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In reply to metcalfmafia • 12:14p, 6/4/23
metcalfmafia said:
There we go Sam. We ain't gonna get beat by solo shots.
Two out walks will.
Twitter: @JJwith2Jays
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metcalfmafia
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In reply to metcalfmafia • 12:14p, 6/4/23
metcalfmafia said:
There we go Sam. We ain't gonna get beat by solo shots.
Never mind.
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ChemE94
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12:15p, 6/4/23
Highfill is a warrior but is a shell of his former self out there. Really sad for him and really hard to watch....
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pack2010
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In reply to ChemE94 • 12:15p, 6/4/23
ChemE94 said:
Highfill is a warrior but is a shell of his former self out there. Really sad for him and really hard to watch....


Came to post this. Really unfortunate, he just isn't very good.
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flylike44
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12:16p, 6/4/23
This isn't an optimal start.
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In reply to ChemE94 • 12:16p, 6/4/23
ChemE94 said:
Highfill is a warrior but is a shell of his former self out there. Really sad for him and really hard to watch....
Yup. Cannot find an out pitch.
Twitter: @JJwith2Jays
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