I caught a couple of games over on the B1G network today. Maryland shocked Illinois and Ohio State upset Michigan. Both of them well pitched, well played games. I flipped over to Fox Sports to watch ND and Georgia Tech. ND is just bad in ways that are inexcusable. Theie 4th error in the top of 6th inning was a bases loaded, 2 out dropped infield pop fly that scored two. I don't care if you're a bad weather team, defense is something you can practice indoors. That's just terrible. It's not over technically but the Yellow Jackets are up 9-2 now and they are prepping the fat lady.
Irish baseball is in a deep hole, they desperately need to fire Aoki and start over with somebody new. He's had 6 losing seasons out of his 9 at ND and his overall record is under .500. I'd say he's been given plenty of time. I don't think anybody expects the Irish to be like some of the powers in baseball, but Pat Murphy and Paul Maineiri proved you can be very competitive. We're not competitive.
UPDATE: A soccer game has now broken out. ND has the bases loaded with 1 out and they've scored two runs without hitting a ball out of the infield. GTech now has 2 errors. One a fluke, the other was terrible. It's weird that the best baseball I've seen today has been in the B1G. As for the coaches, it's interesting that you could make the argument that it doesn't get any better than Murphy and Maineiri. It's tough when you can't hold onto the great ones.
Buckeyes win over Michigan was a pleasant surprise. The Wolverines left a ton of players on base late in the game which proved to be their demise. Very close game up to the final innings by both teams.
That 1 hitter was some real work. Not dominant, but effective. That was a good game. Down in Hoover, Vanderbilt beat Auburn like a baby seal.
6 hours, 42 minutes and 17 innings later, Miss State beat LSU... I can't believe I watched the whole thing.
I was in quite a bit of discomfort and couldn't sleep. I started watching it hoping it would knock me out. I sat there, literally, for the whole thing. When it finally ended, I felt cheated. The SEC will get a whole mess of teams in the NCAA tournament based upon their ability to pack in the attendance. That's a shame. There's some good baseball out there this year.
Corey, do you think the NCAA really picks teams based on attendance? I've heard and agree with a lot of criticism of the NCAA. I had never heard that one.
I'm not convinced that the NCAA teams are chosen for attendance reasons, I mean they do chose 64 teams for the Regionals. The 16 seeds that get to host Regionals usually follow the rankings fairly closely, just like basketball there is never a seeding that everybody agrees with and there are always complaints about favoritism and stuff like that. Who is on the committee that selects the 64 teams and seeds the top 16?
Sadly Texas baseball is mired in last place in the B12 conference, this is David Pierces 3rd year. He did make the CWS last year, so I don't think he's in trouble. But this has been a big disappointment, much more was expected.
I do, actually. I just sat here and watched the SEC Network make a case for Texas A&M to host a Regional based entirely on the fact that they would pack the stadium and sell tickets. The Aggie starting pitching is phenomenal, but watching them play in back-to-back games now, I can see why their fans are frustrated.
Well Texas A&M is ranked #17 in the Baseball USA rankings so they are certainly in the conversation for a top 16 National Seed and hosting a Regional no matter what their attendance is at College Station.
1. The rankings are hot garbage. You have teams like UCSB that are something like 44-7. I believe only UCLA has a better record. They are dominating the conference normally led by Cal State Fullerton and LB State. 2. Texas A&M managed, I believe, 2 hits in 2 games.. or maybe that's all they gave up and still lost. Either way, it was rather underwhelming and I love pitching first.
Ohio State leads Maryland 3-2 with two out in the bottom of the 8th and another rain delay. Unfortunately, we left the bases full in the top of the 8th after scoring the go-ahead run.
Can't argue with Corey. The Aggies are exactly what I said they'd be at the beginning of this season: A team with some very good pitching, backed up by mediocre hitting and defense. And Childress will come back next year, and do verse 14 for us... And for the record - we needed to win a few games to get in the conversation for hosting a regional. We might get it based on the tickets... (we ALWAYS fill Olsen up) but that ain't fair to more deserving teams.
I don't follow college baseball much, (mainly because Alabama is not very good), but if attendance is a factor for getting into the tournament then I won't follow the post-season at all.