College Baseball...Update - Done! LSU wins!

[jholz]

I know I'm pleading in a vacuum, but seriously, college baseball is awesome. MLB makes the game look too easy. College ball is where it's at.

 

My own Auburn Tigers will be going against Indiana in the opening series - plus a trip to face USC in California early in the season.

 

Things won't really get going until conference play begins in March. Auburn has Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas, LSU, and both Mississippi teams on their schedule - plus playing Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

 

We will see how the Tigers (the real tigers of the SEC) do. I'm hoping for another run to Omaha.

Edited June 27, 2023 by jholz

[GHIN n Juice]

We always love having LSU here in Omaha.

 

Personally, as an alum from a Pac12 school, I want to see some Pac12 representation make their way to Omaha.  Too much quality baseball out west to miss out.

[jholz]

15 hours ago, GHIN n Juice said:

We always love having LSU here in Omaha.

 

Personally, as an alum from a Pac12 school, I want to see some Pac12 representation make their way to Omaha.  Too much quality baseball out west to miss out.

 

Yeah, and most of the good west coast teams - at least usually, aren't even Pac-12. UCLA had had some good teams of late, and of course, Oregon State.

 

But I always like watching Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach. They tend to have strong teams.

 

What's really been crazy on the Big 10 showing up here and there with some really competitive teams.

Edited February 20, 2023 by jholz

[GHIN n Juice]

Just now, jholz said:

 

Yeah, and most of the good west coast teams - at least usually aren't even Pac-12. UCLA had had some good teams of late, and of course, Oregon State.

 

But I always like watching Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach. They tend to have strong teams.

Stanford is solid this year.  The Arizona schools should be better than they are but for some reason they just can’t get it together.

[jholz]

8 hours ago, GHIN n Juice said:

Stanford is solid this year.  The Arizona schools should be better than they are but for some reason they just can’t get it together.

 

Yeah, Stanford kind of comes and goes. They always have the potential to put together a good team.

 

If they really wanted to, Stanford and Pepperdine could easily replicate the Vanderbilt model and be competitive every year.

 

The Arizona schools are always a mystery. Given the weather and talent pool, they should be like Florida and Florida State, but as you say, they only manage to put it together every now and again.

 

College baseball is a pretty unforgiving game.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by jholz

[jholz]

Well, Auburn managed to handle Indiana for two out of three this past weekend. 8-4, 6-1, then a pretty terrible 11-2 loss.

 

After having some really solid starters for a few years - Casey Mise (Detroit Tigers), Keegan Thompson (Chicago Cubs), and Jack Owen (Lansing Lugnuts) - as well as losing Tim Hudson as pitching coach - looks like they are going with a platoon strategy early in the season. 

 

It seems similar to what some MLB teams have been doing - most notably Tampa. Will be interesting to see how this develops. Joseph Gonzalez seems like the only horse. Pitched 5 with two hits and no earned runs on Saturday. Wouldn't be surprised to see him as a Friday starter sometime this season.

 

As far as position players are concerned, DH/catcher Ike Irish has come out of nowhere to bat .500 with 9 TB and 3 RBI. Bryson Ware continues his strong play. 

 

Wouldn't be surprised to see any of these guys on an MLB roster in the next few years.

[DoubleDrops]

The man

[jholz]

On 2/22/2023 at 11:58 AM, DoubleDrops said:

The man

 

 

Yeah man, Vitello is a hell of a coach. Cool to see Tennessee fielding some great teams over the last several years. I'll always take the SEC over everybody - and particularly if it ain't Alabama. 😜

[jholz]

Was checking some box scores this morning - and this guy:

 

https://auburntigers.com/sports/baseball/roster/tommy-vail/18410

 

is killing it so far. I know it's early season, but still.

 

Strong resume. Graduate transfer. 13.1 innings so far giving up one hit. .024 BAVG.

Somewhat strange he's starting mid-week - but he is coming off Tommy John surgery, so maybe they are easing him into it.

He went 5.2 innings against UAB with 87 pitches. Wouldn't be surprised to see him as a weekend starter sometime soon.

[jholz]

SEC play starts today with Auburn traveling to Fayetteville. The Razorbacks have had Auburn's number of late, including an absolute shellacking at the CWS last year. Ugh. I hate losing to Arkansas.

 

But, Baum-Walker is a great stadium and you gotta love the culture and enthusiasm of Arkansas fans. College baseball is great for heckling and weird "stadium specific" behaviors. They do it well in Arkansas.

 

But, my old office mate was a Razorback, and it's always particularly sweet when Auburn manages to squeeze out a win against those bastards. 

 

Overall, Auburn is looking pretty strong through the early season. Dropped two games to Southeastern Louisiana last weekend. But, had a pretty impressive, extra-innings, comeback win over Georgia Tech at the mid-week. 

 

Pretty typical Auburn team so far - except for no real dominant talent on the mound. We got spoiled with Casey Mize, etc. over the last several years.

 

Joseph Gonzales and Tommy Vail have shown some strong outings early and overall, the staff has been ok, but no real standouts so far.

 

With hitting, they've got a heavy top of the order. Lots of good bats. But, they still struggle to find a solid hitting catcher and the lower part of the lineup can be dicey. Lots of talent on the bench though, so we will see how the lineup develops.

 

All I can say is I hope I can watch some of the games from Fayetteville. Please ESPN...

 

[jholz]

I know I'm about the only person on here who cares....

 

But, Auburn got swept by Arkansas over the weekend. Very weak performance from my beloved Tigers.

 

Pitching and timely hitting are killing them again this year.

 

I'm not sure if the loss of pitching coach Tim Hudson is the issue, but they've got some talent on the roster. Hopefully things will even out as the season progresses.

 

Always sucks to see them lose to Arkansas.

[jholz]

So, it was tough to watch my beloved (and real) Tigers this season. They made a run at the end of the season, but fell to Southern Mississippi in the regionals.

 

But, it's tough to argue with LSU baseball.

 

Great program. Nice stadium. Draw good crowds even in the early season. I wish Auburn could compete.

 

I'll root against you "bastards from Baton Rouge" every time - but much respect and well deserved.

 

And...couldn't ask for a better team to beat in the finals.

 

*%$# Florida!

[deadsolid...shank]

Crazy final series. Start out with maybe the best college game I’ve ever seen in game one. What a classic pitcher’s duel.  Then two games of BP!

 

Those guys were knocking the cover off the ball in games 2 & 3. 
 

3 of the projected top 5 picks in the upcoming draft in the series.