Sunday Sit-down with SEC baseball analyst/former Tiger Dylan Kelly
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
ABC 17's Chanel Porter brought on the SEC baseball analyst and former Mizzou baseball catcher Dylan Kelly in this week's edition of Sunday Sit-down.
The Mizzou baseball team just wrapped up its regular season and now are preparing to enter the SEC tournament as the 12th seed to play Auburn in the opening round on Tuesday. This comes after Auburn took swept MU in a three-game series to end regular season action.
"I'm gonna stick my neck out and say give me a hot take, I really think Missouri is favored in this game," Kelly said. "I think Missouri's got a good chance, it's the first game for the lower seeds and single elimination so Missouri is going to expand every bullet they got because they know there's no tomorrow if you don't win today."
Mizzou's offense has been the talking point of the season headlined by veterans like Ty Wilsmeyer and Luke Man, but Kelly said as the Tigers enter post season the key difference will be provided in the bottom of the lineup.
"The bottom of the order has got to produce like we talked about earlier, just understanding that these games are going to be magnified. It's not the one versus four, it's the whole order and the bottom of the order is really, really going to have to come through," Kelly said.
The Tigers have dealt with injuries all season and the main thing that it has impacted is the depth in their bullpen. Kelly says with MU lacking a lot of shut down pitchers, the "small ball" aspects of the game will be a game changer.
"The cleanliness of catching the ball, you know, putting the ball in play, all these little T-ball things are starting to get magnified down the stretch because every team is the same caliber as you or better with a better record. That's the things that you really need to focus on down the stretch so that the games that are going to be tight 2-1, you know, 8-7, that you're always on the right side," Kelly said.
The full conversation with Kelly can be viewed tonight on Sports Zone at 9:30 p.m. on FOX 22 and 10:30 p.m. on ABC 17.
