Well, now that Florida finally decided to wrap things up at 1am, we have the field set. -Florida and Auburn -Texas Tech and Duke -Arkansas and South Carolina -Texas and Tennessee Tech -Cal State Fullerton and Washington -Vandy and Miss State -North Carolina and Stetson -Minnesota and Oregon State
I watched both of those double headers. Tennessee Tech and Duke just flat out beat Ole Miss and Georgia, respectively. No fluke about either one getting in, they earned it. I thought Minnesota dumping UCLA twice was a bit of a shock.
Corey, never underestimate Minnesota, they have some excellent young pitching and are well coached. A true northern baseball team. :roll:
No doubt, Minnesota has a great history in baseball. I was speaking towards the teams this year though, I really thought UCLA was going to beat them. Oregon State absolutely dismantled LSU. Washington was my pick of the Pac12 teams to go down, but they prevailed. Now they'll have to play Cal State Fullerton. That should be an interesting matchup of Earl Weaver baseball vs small ball.
Houston Chronicle article on A&M coach Rob Childress says A&M fans who want Childress fired are wrong. What say you Scott? https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/aggies/article/Disappointing-end-to-season-shouldn-t-cost-12976984.php
The problem with the article is comparing baseball and basketball. A&M SHOULD... be competitive in basketball... but only recently (and sporadically) has that been true. We've been "good" in baseball a long time, in a state that produces a lot of baseball talent. Also... comparing the CWS to elite 8 is a little misleading... Rob has gotten us there twice in 12 years is true, but he has yet to win a game in DOUBLE ELIMINATION. Basketball is a little more streaky, and thus I think a little more difficult to achieve. So... he has 2 conference titles in 12 years. And that's all we really have to show for the investment made with Bluebell park. Zero wins in Omaha. Also... you have to look at HOW his teams play. They have talent, but usually are lacking in fielding, base-running smarts, and often hitting. While hitting is very dependent on talent, fielding and base-running can be greatly improved with COACHING. And yet... we are often below average in that dept. SO... we get what we get. A team that will compete for a champ every 6 years, and as often have a shot at the CWS while playing less crisp ball than the teams we face, which will get us eliminated at the highest level. That is why many want to make a change, and I fall in that camp. Nothing is guaranteed if you bring in someone new, but then... we're not wing games in Omaha right now anyway.
playing in the SEC now, you're going to get into the post-season. You're going to probably host a regional. There's a lot of built in advantages to being in the SEC for baseball. I can see why they are a growing tired of the little engine that could bit. Hey. I'd take the job.
BRO... i have no problem with you giving it a shot. I'm fairly certain our fielding and base-running gaffs would drop a LOT. Just need you to be able to walk that fine line of finding guys who can hit and pitch, but would rather do college than ride a bus the minors for cash. And Corey is right when mentioning advantages. We've hosted a LOT of regionals... which is huge for getting to the next step. If Rob had the record he does but we had only hosted a time or two I'd be a lot more impressed. But we are almost guaranteed to host at least the first round thanks to the bids we can promise. This year... we just weren't very good, and so we didn't host... guess what? Flushed in the first round.
North Carolina sweets Stetson and moves on. Oregon State sweets Washington and moves on. Tennessee Tech comes from behind to shock Texas leading the series 1-0. Arkansas takes a 1-0 lead after beating SCAR. Florida tops Auburn in a battle of top draft pick aces. to take a 1-0 lead. Texas Tech beats Duke close to take a 1-0 lead. Vandy, facing elimination, hits a walk off HR to shock Miss State. All tied at 1. Cal State Fullerton didn't let a soccer game break out in this matchup and beat Washington to tie the series at 1. Winner takes all tomorrow. KP, There's no excuse for Alabama to not be moving onto post-season play. Scott, My levels of expertise of pitching, defense and base running. I live for the inside game. My hardest time has always been convincing sluggers that they need to bunt or go the other way. My ultimate goal is always to make a defense play us straight up with no shifts, no playing in, no DP depth, nothing. Long balls come on their own. If I could talk kids out of playing pro hockey in MN, I could talk them out of a dusty bus trip in minor league ball for 3 years of college fun.
watching the Florida Auburn game tied at 1 in the 7th. The pitcher for Auburn is one of my son's best friends, Tanner Burns and they're showing a lot of faith in him pitching him in the elimination game. It's weird, Carson doesn't have a lot of friends but 2 of his best friends play for Auburn. Tanner plays baseball there and Josh Marsh plays football.
:idea: I watched this game to see Carson's friend. Auburn won to force a game three tomorrow. Tanner Burns is a very special player. It says a lot that Auburn went with a freshman with their season on the line. The manager said Burns has the best arm on the team. I believe it. He looked like he had no fear.
JOCO, Glad you got to watch the game and see Tanner pitch. Believe it or not, he may well be one of the better hitters on the team. I would not be surprised to see him being used as a pitcher/DH next season. All, I hope you watched the night games because they were extra inning classics. Washington topped Cal State Fullerton in extra innings to make their first ever appearance in Omaha. Miss State outlasted Vandy in extras as well. Great night for college baseball.