Arena NCAA Baseball/Softball

not the only Tigers that do

 

The Beavs are back! A sweep of then-#5 Arizona State and now #17 Stanford (there may still be a game to go, but I'll have to check on that) isn't bad at all. They're now leading the Pac-10 standings at 8-1.

 

Maybe we can get a nice matchup in Omaha, Gunny

 

Yep. That'd be great.

 

Okay, so I can't believe I'm watching college baseball, either, but NC State just launched ahead of UVA 5-2 in the sixth inning. It looked like they wouldn't get anything going at all, but wow... they've really poured it on here!

I spoke too soon... 6-2, and with a runner on third and two outs. Impressive!

 

Troubles in the outfield... is what South Carolina has right now. That great looking outfield that started the season, with Jackie Bradley Jr in center, Adam Matthews in right, and Evan Marzilli in left? A couple weeks ago it was still completely intact, and now... all three are out. Jackie Bradley Jr's likely out for the season (wrist injury) which could very well end his collegiate career given that he's still likely to go early in the draft, Adam Matthews could be out for the season (hamstring, though he could return sometime in the postseason) as well, and Evan Marzilli is out right now with an undisclosed medical condition. At least Marzilli will probably be back relatively soon, possibly this weekend though more likely next week.

Instead we have untested freshman DeSean Anderson in center, utility man (and backup catcher) Robert Beary in right, and Jake Williams in left. Not really worried about Beary or Williams (who's been the DH most of the season), though it'll get interesting when Beary's needed behind the plate... but there's no depth. After those three would be LHP Steven Neff, who's had some good swings lately, but is still 1 for 14 on the season. He split time DHing yesterday with Friday starter and staff ace Michael Roth (now 3 for 15 on the season after going 1 for 2 yesterday).

The good news, though? 1B Christian Walker is hot right now. Over the weekend series at Mississippi State he went 10 for 11 (.909!) with 4 walks and a sacrifice fly.

Home series against Auburn this weekend, have tickets for Sunday's game

 

Ok, I so want this to happen today:

South Carolina over Alabama
LSU over Mississippi State
Tennessee over Auburn
Arkansas and Ole Miss split their doubleheader.

Why? If that plays out, we get an absolutely hilarious scenario in the West, which would have these final standings (SEC records only):

Alabama 14-16
Auburn 14-16
Arkansas 14-16
Mississippi 14-16
Mississippi State 14-16
LSU 13-17

So it would be a 5-way tie for first in the division. By SEC rules, all five would be declared division champions. But only the top 8 teams in the SEC make the SEC tournament, and South Carolina, Vandy, Florida, and Georgia all have better conference records than anyone in the West. So... a 5 way tie for first in the west, but only 4 of them can make it to Hoover. I'm not sure how the tiebreaker would fall, but one way or another we'd have a SEC divisional champion that didn't even make the SEC tournament. Yeah.

Also, if South Carolina wins today, that will clinch the SEC East (or at least a share with Vandy/Florida, and USC has the tiebreaker)

 

So, so, close... South Carolina beat Alabama, LSU and Tennessee both won, and after losing game 1, Ole Miss was just a few outs away from sending the West into a 5-way tie... but fell short. Darn.

Still, South Carolina got a share of the East and hold the tiebreakers, getting the top seed for the SEC tourney in Hoover... not that this is the important tourney

 

Michael Roth must like pitching against Tigers in the postseason - after starting his time as a starter with a CG against Clemson in Omaha last year, he goes the distance against Auburn to open the SEC tourney this year, his only two CGs in his career. Gave up 3 runs, but all unearned (and all in the first) and just got stronger as the night went on, and the offense provided enough lift to carry the team to a 7-3 victory. Game against Vandy scheduled for tonight, though there's some possibility of it getting delayed or even forced to tomorrow for weather-related reasons.

Speaking of late games... suddenly the bad scheduling Clemson's basketball team had in the NCAA tourney doesn't look so bad. Because of a lengthy (20 inning) previous game, College of Charleston's baseball team didn't start their game until 12:30 this morning, and the game didn't end until after 3. And because CofC lost, they had to play again at 1 this afternoon. 12 hours and 30 minutes between the start times, just under 10 hours between the end of one and the start of the next. Ugh. I feel sorry for them.

 

Clemson dominated GT yesterday 9-0. Clemson has been playing really well lately. In the discussion for regional hosting once again

 

I expect Clemson to get a regional at this point. If they lose both today (vs FSU) and their other ACC tournament game, that puts it more in doubt, but if they split or win both, I think they'll have their regional.

Actually, the one thing that may be the biggest impediment to Clemson getting a regional is the abundance of ACC teams in that race - UVA, FSU, UNC, GT, Clemson, and Miami all have good or very good arguments for a regional. Not sure about 5 sites from a single conference (I think Miami, barring a great showing in the tourney, is probably on the outside looking in).

My guesses for national seeds and regionals at this point:

National seeds:

South Carolina
Vanderbilt
Texas
Virginia
Florida
Oregon State
TCU
North Carolina

Regional hosts (in addition to the above, obviously)

Arizona State (assuming they are indeed eligible, which from what I've heard they are, since no decision has been made on the appeal)
Florida State
Cal State Fullerton
Georgia Tech
Clemson
Texas A&M
Rice
Arkansas

..with the first half of the latter list also in serious contention for a national seed. Oh, they're in a very rough order, 1-16... but if it was fairly close I didn't really try to separate them.

Another note on the 5-hosts-from-ACC issue: it also wouldn't shock me at all if Clemson is given the #1 seed in the regional... but on the road somewhere (such as Southern Miss). That seems to happen pretty regularly, once a year or so. IIRC, FSU was the 1 seed in Connecticut's regional last year. That may well happen here.

EDIT: on second thought, I think the ACC's very likely to have 2 national seeds, and maybe even 3, so I've tweaked the above slightly.

 

Too many ACC teams is an issue. Exact same thing happened in women's tennis. Clemson was 15 and ready to host but too many ACC teams hosting already so we were sent to Arkansas.

I saw a projection that had Clemson as the 1 seed but going to Connecticut.

Keeping an eye on the game vs FSU right now, balancing it with the multitube of tennis going on(French Open and NCAA mens individual tournament)

 

FSU up 1 on Clemson right now (well, "now" being what the internet is showing me, which is sometimes an inning or so behind, though not usually that much)... good game. FSU laid an egg last night and did some damage to their prospects for a national seed. Think they're outside looking in on that now, especially with dropping 2/3 to Clemson last weekend at home.

On the note of trying to get into the tournament at all... Auburn needed just one win in Hoover to have a winning record and a likely bid... but just went 0-2 and are headed home. That'll do it for them. Georgia needs to win 3 in Hoover, and just got #1 against Auburn... but the other two would have to be against Vandy and South Carolina, in an order to be decided. Georgia did beat both Vandy and SC once this year but I don't think they're likely to do it back to back here. We'll see, though.

EDIT: FSU holds on to top Clemson. Both now 1-1 in that pool.

 

Been away all day. About to watch the selection show on my DVR.

 

My facebook status from after the selection show:

If I wanted to listen to ESPN drooling over Cole & Bauer I could have watched the recording of last year's championship series instead of the selection show

Yeah, they certainly drooled over Cole & Bauer again. What a shock. I wonder if anybody at ESPN has actually noticed what Cole's record is this year. He just managed to improve that record... to a whopping 6-7. Yeah, he's still lost more games than he's won. Heck, by the numbers he ought to be UCLA's 4th starter, in terms of ERA, wins/losses, and opponents' batting average. Granted, that speaks well of their depth, but it also suggests that you probably shouldn't keep talking about him like he's the second coming of Christ.

Also, to be fair: Bauer's been extremely impressive this year. He at least has the numbers to back up commentators drooling all over him (12-2, 1.27 ERA). Cole, however, does not.

Anyway, on to the bracket:

South Carolina and Clemson's regionals are paired up for the supers... if both hold serve and win at home, it could be a very interesting Super regional in Columbia. I've got tickets for the regional, and should be able to get them for the supers as well, assuming the Gamecocks hold up their end of the bargain. South Carolina has Stetson, NC State, and Georgia Southern here this weekend - game 1 against Georgia Southern is 7pm Friday. Not at all surprised by drawing NC State - I was pretty sure that was going to happen even before the selection show. NC State and Stetson are both solid teams, and with Carolina's injuries we can't take them for granted. No recent word on that, though - Brady Thomas is still day to day, and Adam Matthews and Jackie Bradley Jr. are both big question marks. Bradley probably won't be able to do more than late inning defensive subs, if that, but they're reevaluating this week.

Florida State has UCF and Alabama, along with Bethune-Cookman. Couple more solid teams there in UCF and Alabama that should challenge the Noles. I was absolutely shocked that FSU got the #5 national seed, though. I thought FSU was on the outside looking in for a national seed, perhaps squeaking in at #7 or #8 at the absolute best... but not #5. Still unsure how in the world FSU was seeded ahead of Vandy (#6)... Vandy was ranked ahead of them in pretty much every poll the entire season, including at the end, and for a good reason.

Georgia didn't get any favors in terms of traveling - all the way out to Corvallis? Yikes. That could easily turn into a very interesting regional, though. Oregon State struggled down the stretch and is looking a bit vulnerable right now.

 

Georgia did not belong in the field, 31-30?

Clemson's regional is pretty tough. UCONN and Coastal are both in the top 25. Glad they did not send us to UCONN.

Yeah the guy on ESPN picked UCLA to win it all despite having to play Virginia in the super regionals. I don't think UVA will win it all though.

 

Georgia got off to a bad start but picked up play later - 4th in the SEC, behind only the USC-Florida-Vandy trio (so ahead of anybody from the West), 2 victories over South Carolina, 2 over Florida, 1 over Vandy, 2 over SEC West champion Arkansas, as well as nonconference victories against FSU and UCLA. RPI of 22 even before SEC tourney wins over USC and Florida. They earned it.

 

Couple of exciting games here in Columbia yesterday - and one of those classic moments that doesn't come around very often at the end of USC-Georgia Southern. One of the best power bullpen arms in the country (Matt Price) on the mound, the nation's leading home run hitter at the plate (Victor Roache; 30 HR; more homers than 169 division 1 teams), two outs in the ninth and a 1 run game. Price went right after him with the fastball, and got him on a called strike 3 when Roache was clearly looking for the slider.

NC State and Georgia Southern coming up shortly, then USC and Stetson tonight

 

and two blowouts in Clemson. I am going to the game today vs Coastal Carolina.

Glad to see Georgia Tech lose. Florida State almost lost as well.

 

Another hot afternoon game today... whew. Trying to cool off a bit before going back to watch Carolina tonight.

 

Good 11-5 win for South Carolina tonight, highlighted by Robert Beary's grand slam. Solid start from Colby Holmes - it was a bit surprising that he got the start instead of Forrest Koumas. I assume Koumas will get the start tomorrow, or Steven Neff if not. Neff (or maybe Webb) is more likely to be the potential starter Monday, if that game is necessary. Which hopefully it won't be.

 

So much for the highly anticipated South Carolina-Clemson Super Regional matchup. Gamecocks held up their end of the bargain, finishing off a 8-2 win over Stetson this afternoon (game started last night but had to be finished today after severe thunderstorms left the stadium without power). Matt Price pitched 2.2 solid innings for his 17th save of the season and South Carolina tacked on 4 runs in the top of the ninth to seal the game.

Clemson, on the other hand, lost to UConn in a close game last night, 7-6, and then got obliterated by UConn tonight, 14-1. Honestly, I'm stunned, and disappointed that we won't have the USC-Clemson matchup next weekend. I know UConn's a very solid team, and quite capable of making it to Omaha if South Carolina doesn't come out and play as well as we can, but I really thought Clemson had the edge there.

FSU advanced this afternoon as well, another rain-delayed game from yesterday. Don't know who they'll play in the supers, though, because the deciding game between Texas A&M and Arizona got postponed until tomorrow for the weather.

The top 7 national seeds all advanced, the top 6 (all the SEC/ACC ones) without losing any games. #7 Texas dropped one game this weekend but survived, while #8 Rice got knocked out.

Also of note: the still-ongoing game between Dallas Baptist and Oral Roberts, with the winner advancing to the supers. Who called that one?

 

Well whaddya know. The Clemson baseball team decides they would rather lose to UCONN than South Carolina. I don't blame them, at least it saved a lot of fans the trip to Columbia where we were bound to be humiliated.

Tonight was terrible. No passion from any player all night. This has been the #1 problem with Leggett teams for years, when the adversity hits they tighten up and get scared. They think they are being calm but really its just passionless play.

 

Bleh. Tech chokes at a regional they host for the second year in a row. At least I didn't pay money to watch the embarrassment this time.

 

Oregon State wins its regional, and now has a date with Vanderbilt in the Supers.