2017 College Baseball Thread

[Thomkal]

yowza. that sucks. Hope he's not behind the plate in the finals

[I. J. Reilly]

Yeah, that was a really tough game to end the season on for the Beavs. It just really took them out of their game, they like to work pitchers and get deep into the count. No way they could do it today with that horrible strike zone. Couple today's game with that huge missed call yesterday on what should have been a double and it's a really shitty way to end a great year. Oh well, there's a lot of Sophomores on this team so hopefully we can give it another go next year.

[LloydLungs]

Most college baseball umps have really absurd, Eric Gregg-ian outside corners but yeah, this guy was awful. Oregon State had a pretty significant run of bad umpiring to go against the past couple of days -- that said, they knew from the first batter today what the deal was, yet they kept standing there with the bat on their shoulder all day expecting it to change. Would've been tough, but you have to at least *try* to foul those off until he makes a mistake.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

About that time for the season to begin in the next couple weeks, so a good time to look ahead. The reigning defending champions (still can't believe I can say that) Coastal Carolina Chants move up to the Sun Belt this year, and are ranked #1 in their division, and as high as #9 nationally.

Would not surprise me to see them struggle early in their non-conference schedule, as they lost a lot on the offensive side of the ball to graduation, and it will be hard to replace that magic and heart right away. They led the nation in stolen bases last season, and would not surprise me if they challenge for that again.

Pitching wise, a lot returns from last season including most outstanding player of the College World Series, Andrew Beckwith. The team is relatively healthy right now, but if key members of the pitching staff go down, it could be a long season for them.

Right now it looks to me like TCU will be the team to beat, as they have most of their team returning. But there are always teams that surprise, and the season is long so anything could happen.

Coastal Carolina baseball team picked to win its division in the Sun Belt Conference | The Sun News

Well I was /this/ close to being right with my TCU prediction. Florida vs LSU for the title-how boring unless you are a SEC fan of course.

[cartman]

Florida topped LSU 4-3, to take the early lead in the best of 3.

edit: LSU has lost a game in the championship round before, but has always won the title. My bad.

[cartman]

Florida wins 6-1 to sweep LSU and win the NCAA title.

[Thomkal]

<--reluctantly hands off the victory banner to Florida fans.

[Thomkal]

I'm back Coastal cruised through the Sun Belt tourney as the #1 seed, and is officially in this year's NCAA's. They are ranked in the top 25 and some consideration is being given to them as a #1 seed in the regionals. How are "your" teams doing?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Literally posted this to my social media less than a minute before seeing what's at the top of the thread here

Anybody's team loyalties aside, you kinda gotta like (or at least appreciate) an SEC baseball championship featuring #1 vs #2 in attendance.

After a rain-soaked week, LSU fans and Ole Miss fans are rocking that stadium in Hoover, AL. No matter which way you lean, these are as rabid a college baseball fan bases as you can find.

[MrBug708]

UCLA is firmly in, but I doubt they are getting seeded among the top 16

[JonInMiddleGA]

And NOW it's safe for me to #HottyToddy. Tight early, turned into a laugher for a 9-1 SEC tournament clinching win for Ole Miss. Gotta like the rally out of the loser's bracket, not crazy about the various nicks & bumps for some key players but they're positioned for a return to Omaha for sure.

[Butter]

Clemson will probably get to host a Regional but probably will not be one of the Super Regional seeds after losing in the Semis of a down ACC.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Butter

Clemson will probably get to host a Regional but probably will not be one of the Super Regional seeds after losing in the Semis of a down ACC.

Wouldn't surprise me at all if Coastal gets put in their bracket as the #2 seed.

[Thomkal]

Regional sites are going to be announced tonight and then the full field tomorrow. 8:30 PM ET


NCAA baseball selection show: 64-team field to be revealed Monday | NCAA.com

[Thomkal]

Yay Coastal gets to host a regional.
so does Clemson and North Carolina

[Thomkal]

Listing of the regional hosts:


College World Series: 16 regional hosts selected for 2018 NCAA baseball tournament | NCAA.com


Field announced at noon ET on ESPNU

[Thomkal]

They have announced the top 4 seeds-Florida, Miss. Oregon State and Stanford

[Thomkal]

Coastal gets a bit of an odd regional-the NCAA usually tries to play on area/region/travel costs when deciding the teams in a regional, but Coastal did not draw a single southern team-not even South Carolina. Instead two teams will travel from the Northeast (UCONN and LIU) and one from the far west (Washington). Then if they win their regional they will have to go out to Stanford for the Super Regional.



UCONN worries me the most in this regional. There was a lot of speculation they would get to host a regional, but now they will have added incentive to do well here in Conway. How does "your" regional look?

[cartman]

Texas hosts one for the first time in a while. They have Indiana, Texas Southern, and... Texas A&M coming to play in Austin.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Feeling pretty good about #4 national seed Ole Miss chances to reach the Super Regional: Ole Miss,Tennessee Tech,Missouri State,St. Louis

Their SR pairing is the Austin bracket
Texas,Indiana,Texas A&M,Texas Southern

Not thrilled by that SR possibility with a motivated Texas and a familiar-with-Swayze A&M both possible opponents. But, hey, getting to Omaha ain't easy so let's take care of first round business & deal with the SR after that.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Feeling pretty good about #4 national seed Ole Miss chances to reach the Super Regional: Ole Miss,Tennessee Tech,Missouri State,St. Louis

Their SR pairing is the Austin bracket
Texas,Indiana,Texas A&M,Texas Southern

Not thrilled by that SR possibility with a motivated Texas and a familiar-with-Swayze A&M both possible opponents. But, hey, getting to Omaha ain't easy so let's take care of first round business & deal with the SR after that.

Certainly think they have one of the easier brackets. So no doubt St Louis will win now A&M in the past would have been a lot of trouble for Texas, but not sure how good they are this year.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Certainly think they have one of the easier brackets. So no doubt St Louis will win now A&M in the past would have been a lot of trouble for Texas, but not sure how good they are this year.

Yeah, I've seen too many "easy" regionals end up with surprises to count any as a sure thing.

This is an Ole Miss team that reminds me quite a bit of the old Earl Weaver nickname for Don Stanhouse: "Full Pack" ... cause that's what Weaver would smoke in the 9th inning once Stanhouse came in. They have a knack for making things too interesting too often. That's built a certain amount of resilience into the team too, I mean they have managed to extricate themselves from some of those self-inflicted situations, so maybe that's the bright side of it.

[Thomkal]

Nice article at ESPN about how Coastal winning the CWS in 2016 helped to inspire other underdogs:


College baseball's underdogs have become believers

[Thomkal]

Regional action starts today mostly on ESPN2 or U. If you have a team from a conference with its own TV network, might be worth checking those out too. Earlier in the week, I thought rain was going to be more of a factor, but now not looking so bad in most places. Heat will definitely be an issue.


I've put on my Coastal teal-good luck to your school this weekend!

[Thomkal]

A good place to check scores online should be D1baseball.com. Also check out NCAA baseball twitter feed.

[Thomkal]

Washington wins the battle of the Huskies over UCONN, making me breathe a little easier for Coastal's next matchup should they get past LIU. Vandy has beaten St. Johns. Oklahoma in a slugfest with Miss State 16-10 in the 8th. First weather issues in Oxford as they are delayed there.

[MrBug708]

UCLA scores 4 in the bottom of the 9th to bear Gonzaga

[Thomkal]

Coastal cruising over LIU with a shutout so far (and just now a 3-run HR to lead 12-0), Fellow Sun Belt member Troy also shutting out Duke, but in a rain delay there. Oxford Regional ended up being totally postponed until tomorrow. Clemson also in a delay.



No big upsets so far it looks like.

[Thomkal]

Coastal wins 16-1. Woohoo!

[Thomkal]

First #4 upset of a #1 seed with Army beating N. Carolina State 5-1. Others in trouble-Clemson down 2, Stetson tied with Hartford, Samford ahead of Florida State by 1 and just got out of a bases-loaded jam with a double play

[Thomkal]

Florida State choking badly. Relief pitcher comes in with one out, one guy on base-walks first batter, hits the second, then balks a run in, walks the third batter.

[Thomkal]

Troy finishes rain delayed game with Duke, wins 6-0. #Sunbelt Supreme

[Thomkal]

Samford upsets Florida State (barely) 7-6 Clemson tied with Morehead State in the 7th. Stetson cruised after being down early.

[Thomkal]

Clemson and Stanford barely survive extra inning games against #4 seeds. Me thinks the ACC was not as good as they thought they were. Campbell/Georgia got pushed back to today at noon.

[Thomkal]

LIU becomes the first team eliminated after losing to UCONN 10-3. Ohio State and UNC-Wilmington in extra innings to decide another. Florida State on the verge of beating Mississippi State but in a rain delay in the 9th.


Edit: Ohio State goes ahead by 1 in the top of the 11th only to have UNCW come back to tie in the bottom and then have the winning run called out at home plate where it looked like he scored.


Edit: And now they are in a weather delay. Ick.

[Thomkal]

not raining here yet, but all the other regionals just to the east and south of us are in a weather delay. Glad Coastal doesn't play for another hour.

[Thomkal]

Starts pouring in Raleigh, but umps lets them finish and NC State finds redemption with a complete game 9-3 win.

[Thomkal]

Florida State has restarted against Miss. St, next game pushed back.

[Thomkal]

Holy Crap-Florida State elects to keep their starter in after the rain delay in a 2-0 game. Walks the first two batters and then Miss. State hits a 3 run HR to win the game and eliminate Florida State

[Thomkal]

Coastal now wishing for a rain delay after their best starter just gave up a grand slam to Washington 6-1 Washington. Most of the other game are back from rain delays and UNCW just eliminated Ohio State.

[Thomkal]

Coastal loses 11-6 and will hope for better results tomorrow against UCONN.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Coastal loses 11-6 and will hope for better results tomorrow against UCONN.

Washington is having a nice post-season. The softball team is one win away from the final of the CWS, and the baseball team is peaking at the right time and is a win away from advancing.

[Thomkal]

Looked like Duke was going to be the victim of a big upset by Campbell, up by 6 late in the game. But Duke roared back in the 9th and not only took the lead but now lead by more than Campbell did and about to win the game 16-8

[Butter]

Clemson going to lose their 3rd hosted regional in a row unless they put together a surprising 3 game win streak.

[cartman]

Texas cruises against Texas A&M and moves on to the regional final. They'll play either A&M or Indiana tomorrow night, and I've got my ticket to that one.

[Thomkal]

Well at least Coastal's potential opponent in the next round if seeds work right, Stanford, lost late last night to Cal-State Fullerton so they are both struggling.

[Thomkal]

Couple games in/just getting out of rain delays. St. Johns leads Clemson, Sanford comes back to tie Miss. State at 5. Troy ahead of Georgia in a winners bracket game, and Coastal is up 1-0 over UCONN

[MrBug708]

UCLA dropped a game to Minnesota 3-2 yesterday and faces a difficult climb, though the way the Beavs are playing, it probably doesnt matter

[Thomkal]

Coastal down 3 to UCONN in the eighth comes all the way back to tie it 5-5. Troy loses to Georgia in the winners bracket. Miss State just won over Samford by 1, NC State up by one over Army, Clemson up by 4 over St. John late

[cartman]

The Aggies have dug themselves a huge hole to start their elimination game. They gave up 9 runs in the top of the first to Indiana.