College Baseball - Regionals and Beyond!

[jholz]

Well, the conference season is coming to a close this weekend, and it looks like everything is coming back to a bit of normalcy in College Baseball. A lot of familiar suspects in the top 25, and I think we are in for a very volatile and exciting post-season. The only problem for me is that Auburn - most certainly - isn't going to be in the mix. But who the hell knows...

 

Here's the top 25 going into the last weekend. Lots of the surprises have been washed out (Pitt, Old Dominion, Indiana) and with the exception of Texas, Notre Dame, and Oregon, we are dealing with a lot of the usual suspects. Notable teams not showing up in the rankings include Cal State Fullerton, Oregon State, and Costal Carolina:

 

1	Arkansas	39-10	1
2	Texas	38-12	5
3	Vanderbilt	36-12	2
4	Tennessee	39-13	4
5	Texas Tech	33-12	7
6	Oregon	33-11	10
7	Arizona	35-13	13
8	Notre Dame	26-10	8
9	Florida	35-16	9
10	Mississippi State	36-13	3
11	East Carolina	36-11	11
12	TCU	35-14	6
13	Ole Miss	36-15	18
14	Louisiana Tech	36-14	14
15	Stanford	28-12	12
16	Florida State	28-19	17
17	Gonzaga	30-13	22
18	UCLA	30-16	23
19	Southern Miss	35-17	19
20	UC Irvine	33-15	24
21	South Carolina	31-18	25
22	Charlotte	37-16	20
23	NC State	26-14	NR
24	Michigan	25-13	NR
25	Arizona State	30-16	NR

 

With COVID rules in place and the expansion of rosters due to the extra year of eligibility, it is going to be a wild post season. Once the conference tournaments wrap up, it will be interesting to see how the regional tournament matchups shape out and I'm certainly looking forward to some spirited play. If you haven't watched the whole of the College World Series (regionals, super-regionals, Omaha) before, you should check it out. Well worth your time. ESPN should offer the vast majority of games through the Watch ESPN app.

 

As far as Auburn is concerned, again, I can't think of a harder luck season, or a better team that has lost as many games as they have. Looking at the stats, it's tempting to put it all down to pitching (and injuries to the pitching staff) but if you watch the games, you see a lot of really bad fielding at key times, and an inability to get hits when they need them. They are either the unluckiest team in history, or the position players have given up on the season. It's probably a matter of both. 

 

But, if Auburn can go into Columbia and win the series over Missouri, they will make the SEC tournament, so that's something. I look forward to them quickly being eliminated and then rebuilding for next year. In the meantime, I'd love to see South Carolina, La. Tech, or Southern Miss. make a good post season run. I will be watching....

Edited June 14, 2021 by jholz

[jholz]

New content above for those with interest!

[jholz]

Another update! 

[jholz]

Week 5 Update!

[jholz]

Mid-WeeK Update:

 

I watched the Oklahoma - Arkansas game on Tuesday night...at least the last five innings or so. Arkansas has been ranked No. 1 for a few weeks, and was the only undefeated team, but lost their first to Louisiana Tech on Sunday, and then again to Oklahoma on Tuesday 8-5. 

 

I missed most of Oklahoma's scoring, which apparently mainly happened in the third, with Arkansas pitchers Kole Ramage and Evan Gray combining for 5 earned runs in the inning (4 and 1 respectively). Oklahoma looked strong but unspectacular across the board, but it does make me feel better about Auburn's close loss to them at the Round Rock Classic earlier in the season. Oklahoma is no slouch.

 

The other crazy thing is that Arkansas used 10 pitchers in the loss. 10. Apparently, because of COVID, baseball programs have unlimited rosters this year. They are always huge, but they are even larger this year. It is crazy. Most people are arguing that it is leading to a higher level of competition across the board. Whatever it is doing, it is certainly doing something. 

 

Auburn beat Lipscome on the road 9-7 on Tuesday and they travel to Oxford, Mississippi and Swayze Field to face Ole Miss for the SEC opener this weekend. Ole Miss is ranked No. 4 with a 13-4 record, but they've dropped their last 2 games to ULM at home and La. Tech on the road. 

 

Regardless, it's going to be a test for the Tigers. Ole Miss is a strong team, and Swayze Field isn't an easy place to play. Since Mississippi cancelled all of their social distancing requirements, I'm sure the place will be full. 

 

Either way, I've got my fingers crossed that ESPN won't have the games behind a pay wall and look forward to watching them. Let's hope for the best for Auburn!

 

WAR EAGLE!

   

Edited March 18, 2021 by jholz

[jholz]

Week 6 Update Added!

[jholz]

Week 7 update added!

[jholz]

Week 8/9 update posted

[jholz]

Week 10/11 update!

[thatbaseballguy22]

Guessing you're an Auburn fan? I played summer ball under a couple of the former players a few years ago. Cool guys.

Doesn't look like there's much of a love for the game of college baseball here!

[jholz]

15 hours ago, thatbaseballguy22 said:

Guessing you're an Auburn fan? I played summer ball under a couple of the former players a few years ago. Cool guys.

Doesn't look like there's much of a love for the game of college baseball here!

 

Correct on all counts! I, however, love the college game!

[thatbaseballguy22]

2 minutes ago, jholz said:

 

Correct on all counts! I, however, love the college game!

Me as well. All things baseball really. Should be an interesting tournament. Hopefully nothing happens to teams where they would have to pull out due to COVID issues. Going to be tough to take down Vandy if Rocker and Leiter are on in a regional / super.

[jholz]

34 minutes ago, thatbaseballguy22 said:

Me as well. All things baseball really. Should be an interesting tournament. Hopefully nothing happens to teams where they would have to pull out due to COVID issues. Going to be tough to take down Vandy if Rocker and Leiter are on in a regional / super.

 

Seems like the same story every year with Vandy. I don't know how they get all those great pitchers!

[jholz]

Final Weekend of Conference Play Update!

[TiScape]

On 5/7/2021 at 8:02 AM, jholz said:

 

Seems like the same story every year with Vandy. I don't know how they get all those great pitchers!

I’m betting if your’re a top pitching prospect and Vandy offers you, you most likely take it (if of course you don’t decide to accept a pro deal). The list of top MLB pitchers that played there is truly astonishing. 

[jholz]

8 minutes ago, TiScape said:

I’m betting if your’re a top pitching prospect and Vandy offers you, you most likely take it (if of course you don’t decide to accept a pro deal). The list of top MLB pitchers that played there is truly astonishing. 

 

The crazy thing is their pitching coach Scott Brown is basically a nobody - outside of the stellar work he has done at Vandy. No MLB experience. I don't even think he played pro ball. Auburn touts having Tim Hudson on their staff, but he isn't doing half the job that Brown apparently is. I don't know how to explain it. 

[TiScape]

6 minutes ago, jholz said:

 

The crazy thing is their pitching coach Scott Brown is basically a nobody - outside of the stellar work he has done at Vandy. No MLB experience. I don't even think he played pro ball. Auburn touts having Tim Hudson on their staff, but he isn't doing half the job that Brown apparently is. I don't know how to explain it. 

Yeah that’s an odd one. Just goes to show you. Just because you were phenomenal at something, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be  phenomenal and coaching it. But of course one would think being an exceptional pro would definitely be an advantage. Strange 

btw. As a big A’s fan I definitely appreciated Huddy. Good times when we had Mulder, Hudson and Zito!

[thatbaseballguy22]

Regional time! Always a fun time of the year. Looking towards the Knoxville regional. I grew up pretty close to Wright State and they can play some ball. Four good teams and programs are facing off.

[jholz]

11 minutes ago, thatbaseballguy22 said:

Regional time! Always a fun time of the year. Looking towards the Knoxville regional. I grew up pretty close to Wright State and they can play some ball. Four good teams and programs are facing off.

 

Yeah man, since Auburn got knocked out in the first round of the SEC tournament, I haven't had the heart to post an update, but I'm looking forward to the regionals too. Lots of interesting matchups and hopefully we will get some good games.

 

Glad to see there are some other fans out there!

[smashdn]

Lot of SEC in the mix.

[jholz]

4 minutes ago, smashdn said:

Lot of SEC in the mix.

 

As always... the SEC was a meat grinder this year. Arkansas and Vandy look particularly formidable, but it's baseball, so I wouldn't be surprised by anything. 

[TiScape]

Watching LSU vs. Oregon right now. Great game!

[TiScape]

Congrats to LSU! Oregon ‘balking in’ a run and losing by 1… OUCH

[jholz]

I was able to catch the decider between Arkansas and Nebraska. My old office mate was a diehard Razorback fan, so I have a hard time rooting for them, but at this point I think they may be the team to beat.

 

Incredible atmosphere in Fayetteville. Would love to see a game there sometime. 

[jholz]

Can't believe Arkansas went down to NC State! Just goes to show you how fickle baseball can be.

 

Haven't been able to watch much of the action in the Super Regionals, but I'm looking forward to the Mississippi State - Notre Dame decider tonight. Don't care much for either team, but should be a good game.

[TiScape]

1 hour ago, jholz said:

Can't believe Arkansas went down to NC State! Just goes to show you how fickle baseball can be.

 

Haven't been able to watch much of the action in the Super Regionals, but I'm looking forward to the Mississippi State - Notre Dame decider tonight. Don't care much for either team, but should be a good game.

My son played HS baseball with one of NDs starting OFs. So I’ll definitely be watching! One of Oregon’s starting pitchers was also on their team. Unfortunately they’re out. 

Edited June 14, 2021 by TiScape

[jholz]

8 minutes ago, TiScape said:

My son played HS baseball with one of NDs starting OFs. So I’ll definitely be watching! One of Oregon’s starting pitchers was also on their team. Unfortunately they’re out. 

 

Awesome! I guess I have someone to root for now.

 

I have a ton of respect for college baseball players. They are paying for most of their education and were uniformly the best male student athletes I had the opportunity to teach when I was a college professor.

 

The vast majority from larger programs go on to at least play minor league ball. In a different life, I would strive to play college ball.

[j.b.newton]

On 5/20/2021 at 3:23 PM, TiScape said:

Yeah that’s an odd one. Just goes to show you. Just because you were phenomenal at something, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be  phenomenal and coaching it. But of course one would think being an exceptional pro would definitely be an advantage. Strange 

btw. As a big A’s fan I definitely appreciated Huddy. Good times when we had Mulder, Hudson and Zito!

A) Tim Corbin

B) Vandy is a private school where the NCAA limit of scholarships are not the only scholarships potentially available, especially need based grant types......much like Stanford, Notre Dame, USC, Rice, TCU, Miami, etc etc

Edited June 14, 2021 by j.b.newton

[jholz]

20 hours ago, j.b.newton said:

A) Tim Corbin

B) Vandy is a private school where the NCAA limit of scholarships are not the only scholarships potentially available, especially need based grant types......much like Stanford, Notre Dame, USC, Rice, TCU, Miami, etc etc

 

Yes, Tim Corbin is obviously a phenomenal coach/manager like Scott Brown and both have worked wonders at Vandy. I've been envious of that program for a long, long time. 

 

Having said that, I'd love to know more about this advantage you are saying private schools have over state institutions. I've never worked on that side of a university athletic department before. I've only taught and tutored. Honestly I never wanted to have anything to do with the money side of things. I like my integrity and do my best to maintain it. 😀

 

I'm reasonably certain that Al Leiter's kid isn't getting any "need based grants" but if they have alternate scholarships available, that sounds rather shady and like an issue that would impact competitive balance. Could you explain more?

[j.b.newton]

Im not 100% confident that all schools in that situation do it, but there is a reason why parents/student athletes may meet with a financial advisor/financial services at their campus visit to a private school that may not be as prevalent in public institutions.  Private institutions declaring "need" based scholarships are not under the same scrutiny.  When is the last time Vandy listed their head FB or BB coach's exact salary?  Notice the lines that are blank on this list:  https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/

 

Its the same way that some lottery driven tuition states can spend higher percentage of scholarships on out of state kids.  Example:  Univ of Fl or Univ of GA - students from those states (with qualifying standards) are given tuition scholarships as part of the state's lottery agreement.  As such, UF baseball does not need to spend that % of a scholarship on that student and can give a recruit from Alabama a higher percentage (which attracts more players to those schools).  Hypothetical: So, a high level recruit from Jacksonville, FL goes to UF at 100% scholarship to him, but may not count towards the 11.7 full equivalents for D1 baseball, or would count only the minimum 25% scholarship if the state and leadership scholarships did not cover books/fees, etc. to that number.  11.7 distributed over 25-30 players goes VERY quickly, and you think someone pays their way at a school charging $50k + tuition per year to sit on the bench for 2 years to move into the rotation left by a couple of top round picks??  Some families can, but are you sure all of the players on that team can?