With the continuing warm weather change in the Midwest, this may not be a factor in the long run. However, I doubt I will be around to see the results. :lol:
IMO that is not a wise position to take. It's obvious that consistent excellence in college baseball is weather-related, so the warm weather states are going to attract the best talent and play consistently under the most favorable weather conditions. That's a fact of life. I can't imagine the B10 leadership agreeing to such a preposterous proposal. Imagine playing games post-CWS. They would have no meaning. They would be, in essence, exhibition games.
The Aggies host the 2011 BIG co-champs Michigan St this weekend. Tonight the Spartans will face Aggie ace Michael Wacha who is sporting an ERA of 0.00. The Aggie bats have been inconsistent so far this year, struggling against breaking ball pitchers. The weekend pitching has been very good. Mid-week is still sorting itself out. Should be a good series.
Houston College Classic is this weekend. Great lineup of Teams. Texas, Rice, UH, Ark, Tenn, and Texas Tech. It's played at Minute Maid Park and all Texas games are on the Longhorn Network! The Irish are in San Marcos today to start a 3 game series.
When I read the full article about the Big 10 concerns, I learned about a more sensible possibility, an optional fall nonconference schedule of 20 or so games which would count against the ensuing spring limit on total games. This would help northern teams in a couple of ways: 1) it would allow them to play early games in good weather and delay the start of the spring conference games, and 2) it could, at the option of individual teams, eliminate the expense and time of traveling south to start the season. This certainly makes more sense than playing in June and not potentially being included in the CWS pool.
Bam, slam, flush!!! Those are the sounds of the Gators coming down to Coral Gables ranked #1 to play the #8 Canes and defeating us for the 10th time in a row for the three game series. The Canes led in every game and were leading in the ninth in the last game until self destructing where the Gator talent took over. My hats off to the Gators and their talented team, this will take some time for the Canes to recover and the now three year long scar of not defeating the UF team is ever deeper and permanent. The end must be near, the Mayans may be correct...
The Irish added to Texas State's streak of shutout innings by their pitching staff, getting beat 6-0,6-0, and 5-0 in San Marcos. Texas State's pitchers have thrown 54 consecutive innings of shutout baseball. Next up is Michigan in the LSU tournament.
The Aggies swept the Spartans, although they made the final game interesting. (both teams ended with 3 errors each for some sloppy ball) We get to work over Prairie View on Tuesday, and then the fun really starts. Cal State Fullerton rolls in this weekend for what should be a great set of games.
Stu, I spoke this morning with a friend who was on the 1959 Purdue team that started 8-1. He said it was not a good team, but they got off to a fast start. He follows PU baseball closely. He said that this team's strength is built on hitting and relief pitching. He described them as (my words) an offensive juggernaut. Case in point: He watched them play at Butler. With a strong NW wind coming in from left center field, they still managed to hit 4 HRs to left and left center field.
Purdue starting a spring break trip with a three game series at Murray State. Won yesterday to go 9-1.
My friend who played baseball for Purdue years ago follows the program closely. He said that in his opinion this year's team is built on great hitting and excellent relief pitching. He emphasized that the starting pitching was good but not great.
I know ND doesn't have a snowball's chance in hades of winning the Big East, so I'm rooting for the Boilers to win the Big 10 and make the tournament and eventually make it to the CWS. Go Boilers!