College Baseball thread

[cartman]

Just one spot remaining to see who goes to Omaha. Coastal Carolina and East Carolina play this afternoon for the final berth.

It was a crazy weekend for the regionals. Three of the biggest comebacks in postseason history happened, with the biggest being Okie State coming back from being down 12 runs to win by 14

[miked]

Meh, Rutgers made the Big10 final, had 40+ wins and were snubbed with their only loss to Michigan. College baseball sucks!

[Ksyrup]

This weekend made me remember why I never watch college baseball. All the pacing of MLB with 200% more hits and walks. I can remember when my daughter would have a softball DH at roughly the same time as the guys were warming up for their DH and we'd be finished with both games before the end of their first game.

I watched a couple of innings here and there, but sitting through multiple 4-5 hours games is not what I call entertaining. I did enjoy watching Miami get knocked out of their own regional before the finals, though.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by cartman

Just one spot remaining to see who goes to Omaha. Coastal Carolina and East Carolina play this afternoon for the final berth.

It was a crazy weekend for the regionals. Three of the biggest comebacks in postseason history happened, with the biggest being Okie State coming back from being down 12 runs to win by 14

Pretty crazy for Coastal to make it this far in the regional. Virginia went up early in the elimination game 6-0 then Coastal scored 7 straight unanswered runs to win then came out firing against and East Carolina team that had won like 20 in a row until then, and never looked back. Game starts in about 40 minutes

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by cartman

Just one spot remaining to see who goes to Omaha. Coastal Carolina and East Carolina play this afternoon for the final berth.

It was a crazy weekend for the regionals. Three of the biggest comebacks in postseason history happened, with the biggest being Okie State coming back from being down 12 runs to win by 14

I'm looking at a college baseball scoreboard on ESPN and actually there are quite a few deciding games left besides Coastal today-10 or so. So lots of drama left today

[Poli]

Lots of baseball left for today.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

I'm looking at a college baseball scoreboard on ESPN and actually there are quite a few deciding games left besides Coastal today-10 or so. So lots of drama left today

You are correct, my bad. Not sure what I was looking at this morning. Here are today's games to see who goes to the Super Regionals:

Coastal Carolina v. East Carolina
Louisville v. Michigan
Florida v. Oklahoma
Stanford v. Texas State
Maryland v. UConn
North Carolina v. VCU
Arkansas v. Oklahoma State
Arizona v. Ole Miss
Southern Miss v. LSU
Vanderbilt v. Oregon State

and maybe Auburn v. UCLA. Auburn was up 9-0 when the game yesterday was suspended. If UCLA has a comeback, there will be a second game.

[Toddzilla]

Virginia Tech qualified for the Super Regionals for the first time in modern program history and will play the winner of Florida/Oklahoma in Blacksburg.

[JonInMiddleGA]

We watched a fair bit of baseball the past few days, what with the "you gotta be kidding me" pairings (for my household) of both UT and GT and Miami and Ole Miss*

My biggest takeaway from the weekend might very well be how bad college baseball defense seems to have gotten. I knew that most teams suffer from a scarcity of pitching but damn, some of the defense was atrocious.

Some of the weakest #4 seeds I can recall in a while offhand, and some top seeds that felt overrated to me. Otherwise, a mixture of genuinely good dramatic games AND games with drama manufactured by not very good teams being paired.


*the kid actually opted out of watching that one saying, reasonably, "that's more stress than my life needs"

[Thomkal]

hehe Jon's son. Looks like two or three of the early starts are now delayed. Unfortunately not Coastal as they are down 4-0.

[Ksyrup]

They moved the Louisville game up from 6pm to noon to try to get ahead of the rain and it didn't work. But there may be enough of a window to get it in before the next round comes through this evening.

[Ksyrup]

Looks like the rain delay hurt Louisville. Up 7-3, now down 9-7 since the game restarted.

[Thomkal]

apparently Coastal made East Carolina mad...sheesh

[Thomkal]

Coastal had a 2 run homer in the 9th to show they had a little spark left, but then it ended, 13-4 East Carolina moves on. It really was a good season for the Chants-at the beginning of the season, it did not look like they were going to have much of a pitching staff, and were the only SC based school to make the regionals.

[Poli]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

We watched a fair bit of baseball the past few days, what with the "you gotta be kidding me" pairings (for my household) of both UT and GT and Miami and Ole Miss*

My biggest takeaway from the weekend might very well be how bad college baseball defense seems to have gotten. I knew that most teams suffer from a scarcity of pitching but damn, some of the defense was atrocious.

Some of the weakest #4 seeds I can recall in a while offhand, and some top seeds that felt overrated to me. Otherwise, a mixture of genuinely good dramatic games AND games with drama manufactured by not very good teams being paired.


*the kid actually opted out of watching that one saying, reasonably, "that's more stress than my life needs"

I made the GT/UT connection but failed on the Ole Miss and Miami one.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Coastal had a 2 run homer in the 9th to show they had a little spark left, but then it ended, 13-4 East Carolina moves on. It really was a good season for the Chants-at the beginning of the season, it did not look like they were going to have much of a pitching staff, and were the only SC based school to make the regionals.

You can cheer for the Longhorns now to take down the Pirates.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by cartman

You can cheer for the Longhorns now to take down the Pirates.

That's okay still have Southern Mississippi from the Sun Belt to root for, (and almost Texas State!)

[Atocep]

Tennessee has been in the discussion for best college baseball team ever this year and they got punched in the mouth by ND yesterday. They're currently up 1-0 in the 4th in game 2 but need two win this one today and game 3 tomorrow to get out of the Super Regional.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Tennessee has been in the discussion for best college baseball team ever this year and they got punched in the mouth by ND yesterday. They're currently up 1-0 in the 4th in game 2 but need two win this one today and game 3 tomorrow to get out of the Super Regional.

How dare you sir! The best ever team is clearly the 2016 World Series Winner, Coastal Carolina

[RBlant]

I believe you meant Fresno State featuring one Aaron Judge!

[Ksyrup]

That team needed 4 Aaron Judge's.

[RBlant]

Still won it all

[Ksyrup]

Wait, what? I don't remember Judge playing on the national championship team. I'm pretty sure he wasn't a freshmen until a few years later.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Tennessee has been in the discussion for best college baseball team ever this year and they got punched in the mouth by ND yesterday. They're currently up 1-0 in the 4th in game 2 but need two win this one today and game 3 tomorrow to get out of the Super Regional.

UPSET ALERT!

[Poli]

It got away from the Vols with a quickness, that's for sure.

[cartman]

The eight for Omaha are set:

Texas A&M (42-18)
Oklahoma (42-22)
Texas (47-20)
Notre Dame (40-15)
Stanford (47-16)
Arkansas (43-19)
Mississippi (37-22)
Auburn (42-20)

This is the 75th College World Series. This will be the 38th time that the Longhorns will appear.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Tennessee has been in the discussion for best college baseball team ever this year and they got punched in the mouth by ND yesterday. They're currently up 1-0 in the 4th in game 2 but need two win this one today and game 3 tomorrow to get out of the Super Regional.

So much for being the best ever college team this year

[Poli]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

So much for being the best ever college team this year

Still a darn good team. On top of being a Vol fan, my cousin played baseball with one of the kids on this team from the time they were 6 years old. Given the question marks they had going into the season (replace 3/4 of the infield...LF moved to C...a good chunk of the pitching staff replaced). I wasn't sold on how good this team was initially. This was a season I'll take anytime.

I'm interested in what they do for next season. RF, CF, 1B, C, 3B are all gone. Possibly the 2B and SS. Tidwell as a SP is gone, the top two relievers are gone as well.

Maui Ahuna is coming in at SS presumably. Blake Burke takes over at 1B. Will Christian Moore move if Jorel Ortega stays to play 2B? Not stuff I'd suspect anyone outside of Tennessee will care about, but it keeps me going.

[Poli]

My wife wants to "root" for another team since the Vols are out...apparently I can't just route for them all to lose.

Most of my family are Arkansas fans, I suppose I could do that. I'm leaning more Texas or A&M. I do like Elko at Ole Miss and Sonny D out of Auburn, but I don't think much of either of those teams outside of those guys.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Poli

My wife wants to "root" for another team since the Vols are out...apparently I can't just route for them all to lose.

Most of my family are Arkansas fans, I suppose I could do that. I'm leaning more Texas or A&M. I do like Elko at Ole Miss and Sonny D out of Auburn, but I don't think much of either of those teams outside of those guys.

If you've followed him, Elko has such a Kirk Gibson vibe that he's hard not to like. Last year's injury and performance cemented him as a program legend. The antithesis of a "sit out culture" player. The rest of the team, eh, typically non-descript overall. They're definitely the solid underdog choice in remaining field (last at-large into the field, etc) so if that's her thing they're it.

Notre Dame (having eliminated UT aside) is an interesting option for unattached fans. There hasn't been a midwestern team win the CWS since Wichita State back in 1989.

[Poli]

Elko is definitely a Gibson-esque figure on that team. I'm rooting for him.

[miami_fan]

I just got scolded by my son for saying that Texas A&M need to get their crap together after their parents had to go to Omaha, Nebraska to watch them play.

He has his perspective as a player. I have mine as a parent.

[miami_fan]

Glad I was not the only one wondering if there was a mercy rule.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'm not sure what to think of the CWS at this point (if Ole Miss hangs on for nine more outs)

Was the field seeded badly? (I personally didn't think so going in)
Did teams just get hot at the right time? (probably?)
Is parity more real than I / we thought? (maybe?)

[miami_fan]

To paraphrase that great American philosopher, it seems like all the seeds had a plan until they got punched in the mouth. Once that happened, none of them could recover.

[HomerSimpson98]

Aggie grad here. Gone all weekend. Did I miss anything good?

[cartman]

Originally Posted by HomerSimpson98

Aggie grad here. Gone all weekend. Did I miss anything good?

Y'all lost to OU on Friday. Might have been another game yesterday, but I'm drawing a blank.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Winner take all for Ole Miss-Arky tomorrow.

Good ballgame tonight, regardless of the outcome

[Edward64]

Not a big baseball fan but you made me look. WPS !!!

[JonInMiddleGA]

If you like old school pitching, today's Ole Miss - Arkansas game was an absolute delight.

Dylan DeLucia goes the distance with a complete game shutout for a 2-0 win that sends Ole Miss to the CWS Final for the first time in school history.
3 years since anyone threw a complete game in Omaha, 29 years since any SEC pitcher did it.

All I can say is that it was Maddux-like (except with more velocity), a performance for the ages. And it was necessary given that Arkansas got a great outing from Connor Noland as well.

OU will be a helluva challenge with their rested pitching staff but however it goes, the last two games between Ole Miss & Arkansas are some of the best baseball I've seen in years at any level.

[Poli]

Good luck, Rebels.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If you like old school pitching, today's Ole Miss - Arkansas game was an absolute delight.

Dylan DeLucia goes the distance with a complete game shutout for a 2-0 win that sends Ole Miss to the CWS Final for the first time in school history.
3 years since anyone threw a complete game in Omaha, 29 years since any SEC pitcher did it.

All I can say is that it was Maddux-like (except with more velocity), a performance for the ages. And it was necessary given that Arkansas got a great outing from Connor Noland as well.

OU will be a helluva challenge with their rested pitching staff but however it goes, the last two games between Ole Miss & Arkansas are some of the best baseball I've seen in years at any level.

I just watched the game. Great pitching matchup. That shutout gives me just a little bit more hope that Ole Miss will keep OU under 10.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I just watched the game. Great pitching matchup. That shutout gives me just a little bit more hope that Ole Miss will keep OU under 10.

If only DeLucia could pitch all weekend (ala softball) I'd be more inclined to have some confidence.

The odds of 2 other pitchers matching that sort of performance tho? I ain't liking the odds. The extra game required to reach the final feels like it dims Ole Miss chances by a LOT. (which is how the ball bounces, I ain't complaining about it, just if-only'ing over it)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The odds of 2 other pitchers matching that sort of performance tho? I ain't liking the odds.

Okay, the odds of 1 out of 2 doing it are somewhat better.

[miami_fan]

Hmmm, That is a tough call. I guess rules are rules.

[miami_fan]

Sooner Nation may lose their minds if this goes against them.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Shockingly, the replays got both calls right I think.

The first was kind of obvious, the second had enough doubt that I don't think you could overturn.

[miami_fan]

No doubt on the first one. If that is how the rule is written, then that was the correct call. I always thought the batter had to try to get out of the way but I guess that is not the case.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

No doubt on the first one. If that is how the rule is written, then that was the correct call. I always thought the batter had to try to get out of the way but I guess that is not the case.

The latter kinda cuts both ways for me, in this sense.

It would have required some pretty fast reactions to be able to intentionally move into a pitch going down and in like that. If I question whether the move into the ball was intentional on that basis, then I have to give the benefit of the doubt that he couldn't have gotten OUT of the way either.

I wish it had been more obvious but it just wasn't for me.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Incredible. I mean, 7-14 in the conference, last team into the field.

Don't let the Rebs get hot indeed.