Sunday, June 12, 2016

College Baseball Update

So far, the Super Regionals have been an unmitigated disaster for the SEC.  You will recall that five SEC teams -- Florida, LSU, Texas A & M, Mississippi State, and South Carolina -- were hosting Super Regionals this weekend.  These are best two-out-of-three playoffs to see who goes to the College World Series.  All five SEC teams lost the first game of their Super Regional.  One of those teams, Mississippi State, has already lost the second game, and they have been eliminated by a relentless Arizona squad that went 4-1 on the road against La-Lafayette and MSU.  It was an utter disaster, as MSU blew a 5-1 lead, going down 6-5 in 11 innings.  On the whole, the SEC is 1-6 in the Super Regionals so far.  Watching the Supers has been like watching bowl games in the 1980's.

Louisville is also in trouble, having lost their first game by the score of 4-2 to UC-Santa Barbara yesterday.  Last year, a highly-seeded Louisville team was knocked out by Cal-State Fullerton in the Supers, even though the Cardinals were at home.  Could that happen again?

Oh, and spare a thought for East Carolina.  The Pirates won their first game on Friday, and had a golden chance to go to the CWS yesterday.  But in 13 innings, they managed only one run despite twelve hits.  That's a lot of guys left on base.  So Texas Tech won 3-1 in 13 innings, and now ECU is in big trouble unless they have a third pitcher.

Here's where we stand:

(1) Florida 0 - 1 Florida St.
(8) Louisiana St. 0 - 1 Coastal Carolina
(4) Texas A & M 1 - 1 Texas Christian
(5) Texas Tech 1 - 1 E. Carolina
(3) Miami (Fla.) 1 -1 Boston Coll.
(6) Mississippi St. 0 - 2 Arizona (Mississippi St. eliminated)
(2) Louisville 0 - 1 UC-Santa Barbara
S. Carolina 0 - 1 Oklahoma St.

All seven of the remaining series will be in action today -- the last day of the year we get this many college baseball games.

19 comments:

  1. In a must-win game for the Cardinals, Louisville leads UCSB 3-0 through 5.

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  2. In their rubber match, Miami leads BC 4-2 through 3.

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  3. Louisville still leads 3-0 in the bottom of the 8th, but the Gauchos have runners on first and second with nobody out.

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  4. The Cardinals escape the jam! They still lead 3-0 after 8.

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  5. Cardinals still lead 3-0 in the bottom of the 9th, but the Gauchos have runners on first and second with one out.

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  6. Heartbreak for Louisville. In the bottom of the 9th, Louisville held a 3-0 lead. UCSB had runners on 1st and 2d with one out. The next batter walked to load the bases. The next batter HIT A GRAND SLAM HOME RUN DOWN THE RIGHT FIELD LINE TO WIN THE GAME 4-3.

    UCSB wins the series 2 games to 0. Louisville is ELIMINATED at home, in the Super Regionals, for the second year in a row. The Lousville players, who were wearing caps with "ALI" on them in small white lettering, are in tears. And who can blame them.

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  7. No team west of Texas hosted a regional or super regional this year. The first two teams to reach the CWS are Arizona and UC-Santa Barbara.

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  8. Ironically, last year UCSB did host a regional -- but they lost that regional to UVA, who went all the way.

    This year, UCSB went to Nashville and Louisville, and now they're going to Omaha.

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  9. Meanwhile, Miami has blown open its game with Boston College. The U leads 9-3 after 7, and they will be the first national seed to make the CWS. They will be part of the group that includes Arizona and UCSB.

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  10. This is UCSB's first trip to the CWS.

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  11. Miami beat BC 9-4, and the Canes are heading to Omaha.

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  12. As I suspected, ECU has run out of pitching. The Pirates trail Texas Tech 5-0 in the third. They had their chance yesterday -- 12 hits and only one run.

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  13. Oklahoma State scores three runs in the bottom of the 5th to take a 3-0 lead at South Carolina, and the Pokes are only 12 outs away from sweeping Clemson and South Carolina out of this tournament.

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  14. Oklahoma State rolls to a 3-1 victory in South Carolina, and the Pokes are going to the CWS for the 20th time in school history. OSU went 2-0 against Clemson at Clemson during the Regionals, and went 2-0 against South Carolina at Columbia during the Super Regionals.

    Coastal Carolina is now the only school left to represent the Palmetto State.

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  15. The bottom half of the CWS bracket is now complete. It will be Miami (Fla.), the number-3 national seed, along with unseeded teams Arizona, UC-Santa Barbara, and Oklahoma State.

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  16. Texas Tech beats ECU 11-0, and the Red Raiders fight back after losing the first game to win the next two and go to the CWS.

    We now have five teams in the CWS: the number-3 seed Miami (Fla.), the number-5 seed Texas Tech, and unseeded Arizona, UC-Santa Barbara, and Oklahoma St.

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  17. Coastal Carolina leads LSU 2-0 in the top of the 3d in Baton Rouge. If the Chanticleers can hang on, they are going to Omaha.

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