Monday, May 3, 2021

College Baseball

Rough weekend for the Vanderbilt Commodores in Gainesville.  The Dores had their third weekend series in a row against ranked competition.  They pulled out series wins over Tennessee and Mississippi State with gutty Sunday wins.  But their bats did not come through this weekend.  Vandy beat Florida 11-7 on Friday night, but lost 11-8 and 5-3 over the weekend.  Nevertheless, they held onto their number-2 spot in the rankings.  Life doesn't get easier for the Dores, as they travel to Louisville on Tuesday for a very difficult matchup with the Cardinals.

Here are the latest SEC standings (conference games only):

EAST
(2) Vanderbilt:  14-7
(5) Tennessee:  14-7
(10) Florida:  13-8
(19) S. Carolina:  11-10
Kentucky:  10-11
Georgia:  10-11
Missouri:  5-16

WEST
(1) Arkansas:  15-6
(4) Mississippi St:  14-7
(12) Mississippi:  13-8
Alabama:  11-10
Louisiana St:  7-14
Texas A & M:  5-16
Auburn:  5-16

Here is the top 10 from D1 Baseball:

1.  Arkansas:  34-8
2.  Vanderbilt:  32-9
3.  Texas Christian:  33-10
4.  Mississippi St:  32-10
5.  Tennessee:  34-11
6.  Texas:  35-11
7.  Notre Dame:  24-8
8.  Texas Tech:  30-11
9.  Arizona:  30-11
10.  Florida:  30-13

27 comments:

  1. I will be rooting for the Vanderbilt today.

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  2. This is what it's like playing Louisville. Vandy leads 1-0. Louisville gets a single, a hit batsman, a sacrifice bunt, a high chopping grounder that scores one runner, and a wild pitch that scores another runner. Now Louisville leads 2-1. Louisville wins dozens of games every year, all without ever hitting the ball very hard.

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  3. Since 2007, Louisville has been to the CWS five times. If I were the Athletic Director at N.C. State, I would base my whole program on Louisville. No school in America does more with less.

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  4. Today Vandy is wearing these glorious cream-colored uniforms with old-fashioned stirrups. Louisville's uniform is a knockoff of the old Houston Astros uniforms of the late 1970s. That's the two programs in a nutshell right there.

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  5. Of course, Louisville just got swept three games in a row at Clemson, losing two of the games by 11-3 and 15-5. But I knew they'd be super hyped for this game. After all, Vandy knocked them out of the 2019 CWS in two nail-biters, and this is the first time they've met since.

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  6. Here we go again. Bottom of the 5th. Louisville gets a walk. Then a high chopper to first -- when the first baseman throws to second, everyone is safe. Then the pitcher tries to pick the runner off at second, throws the ball away, and Louisville have men on second and third with no one out. The Cardinals can -- and will -- do this sort of thing all day. I didn't think Vandy would be mentally prepared to play a game like this in the middle of SEC play. But Vandy's coach is a genius, so I trust his judgment on this sort of thing.

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  7. Louisville hits a grounder to short, and Vandy throws out the runner at the plate. But it's really close, so of course we must have a review. This is ludicrous, because no camera has as good an angle as the home plate umpire. But modern sports are all about this type of litigation. So we wait. And wait.

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  8. After a VERY long review -- the ACC officials must have been trying to reach the ghost of Dean Smith -- the call is affirmed. That was a great play by the Vandy shortstop, and exactly the sort of play Louisville doesn't expect its opponents to make.

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  9. Now the Louisville runner at second dances back and forth until Vandy's pitcher is called for a balk, so the Cards have men on 2d and 3 with 1 out.

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  10. And there's a single up the middle to score two runs. Louisville has 4 runs on 3 hits. They lead Vandy 4-1, and I've seen enough. This all went pretty much exactly as I expected. That long review prevented Vandy from getting any momentum out of the huge play at the plate, and Vandy's pitcher is plainly frustrated by facing a whole team of Pete Roses.

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  11. Of course, Pete Rose was from just up the river, so it's very appropriate that Louisville plays this way.

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  12. And there's the coup de grace: a two-run homer to put Louisville up 6-1. They can really hammer you if you give them the chance. You just can't ever put yourself in a situation with Louisville where they want it more than you do. If you do, you are dead.

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  13. It's a very bad sign for Vandy to be this pathetic, however. It doesn't bode well for the tournament. It reminds me of when UK goes to Knoxville and loses in basketball. If you're a champion, this is exactly the type of game you want to win.

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  14. Louisville rolled 7-2. Three losses in a row for Vandy.

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  15. McCracken County is 14-4 in baseball; Tilghman is 16-1. They are playing before a packed house(!) in West Paducah, and the game is tied 2-2 going into the ELEVENTH INNING. Wow!

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  16. I'm listening to McCracken County and Tilghman on 99.5 FM the Fan. The Internet is amazing.

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  17. It's a huge crowd at the game and no one has left. The announcers have seen folks from Marshall County, Massac County, and Ballard.

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  18. Mustangs can't score in the bottom of the 11th, and we head to the 12th.

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  19. McCracken County is number-5 in the State; Tilghman is number 11.

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  20. McCracken County mows down the top of Tilghman's order in the top of the 12th.

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  21. Bottom of the 12th, Mustangs have runners on 1st and 2d with two out.

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  22. Mustangs get a two-out single to left, and win the game 3-2 in 12 innings. The McCracken County announcers say it's a shame either team had to lose.

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    1. YEAH!

      I agree with the announcers that it would've been a shame had McCracken County lost.

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  23. While Tilghman and McCracken County played five extra innings to get a true result, the Cubs and Dodgers are playing with ghost runners in the 11th.

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    1. The A's have the best record in MLB21, but they are only 5-5 in their last 10.

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