Only 2 out of our six ACC teams selected to play in the postseason survived their regionals: North Carolina and a surprise, to me at least, Duke who won 2 of 3 vs the Canes in Durham earlier this year.
The Heels dispatched Houston at home to advance while the Dookies went into Athens and knocked off Georgia 2x Sunday. That was a huge.
Meanwhile, our 4 other high profile teams flatlined:
Top 8 seed FSU was one strike away from winning the game but they gave up a walkoff HR in the bottom of the 9th to Miss St and that sent to Noles packing having gone to 0-2 despite playing at home.
Clemson, another top 8 seed, was crushed at home by Vandy, 19-5 on Sunday. It was a 2nd straight loss to the 'Dores that sent the Tigers packing in their regional.
NCST was another No. 1 regional seed playing at home and Auburn whacked them 15-7 to move on. The Pack also lost to No. 4 seed Army 5-1 in their opener.
All three conference teams above proved playing at home was no advantage. And they were all beaten by SEC teams.
Louisville traveled to Lubbock and was eliminated by the host team Texas Tech. I thought the Cards had a good chance to advance but they drew a very good Red Raider team that did play well at home. (Remember when TT came to The Light and kocked us out of our regional?)
So, the ACC got 6 teams into the playoffs and only 2 survived. The SEC landed 10 teams and 6 advanced.
One of the 4 that didn't was Ole Miss, the No. 4 national seed. Little Tenn Tech came into Oxford and beat the conf tourney champs in back to back games 15-5 and 3-2 to win the regional. That was impressive. Plus, they had to climb out of the loser's bracket and play 4 games, the last 3 in 30 hours. U know, it wasn't all that long ago - when we were good - that Miami went to Oxford and beat the Rebs in another exciting regional. That is one tough place to play...and win.
Tech at 52-9 on the year joins another Cinderella team, Stetson. The Hatters justified their selection as a regional host by going 4-0 at home in DeLand and eliminating Oklahoma St 11-1 Sunday to win it's nation's best 18th straight game and improve to 48-11. When the U was on it's winning streak, only one team had a better mark: Stetson and they have kept it going.
Stetson's top pitcher, 6-6, 225lb Logan Gilbert, a junior out of Apopka was taken 14th overall in the first round Monday night by Seattle. He warrants the pick and possible $3.9M signing bonus. He led all of Div 1 in strikeouts with 157 in 107 innings. In Saturday night's regional win over Okie St, all Gilbert did was strike out 14 Cowboys. He was 10-0 last year and this year? Only 11-1 with a 2.25 ERA while holding opposing batters to just .172. Not bad for the former infielder at Wekiva HS.
Here are the Super Regional lineups (national seed rankings included):
Friday
Minnesota 44-13 @ No. 3 Oregon St 47-10-1
Stetson 48-11 @ No. 6 UNC 41-18
Washington 33-23 @ Cal St Fullerton 35-23
Miss St 35-26 @ Vanderbilt 34-25
Looking at the last 2 games above, their records aren't impressissve vs the first 2 games above, but that tells me those last four got hot at the right time, at the end.
Miss St was one strike away from elimination and now here they are, 2 wins from Omaha. What's more amazing, the Bulldogs were another team that played its way out of the loser's bracket. Before that miracle win against the Noles, Oklahoma slapped them around in a 20-10 win. All Miss St did in response was win 3 in a row, beat FSU and get revenge on the Sooners by beating them two straight.
Think the Bulldogs love their baseball? Their stadium seats 14,000, almost 2 and a half times the size of The Light. And the State of Mississippi loves baseball too. Ole Miss, Miss St and Southern Miss all went to the postseason. Ole Miss won the SEC tourney and Southern Miss the C-USA tournament.
U-Dub (Washington) traveled across country to upset regional host Coastal Carolina in the Conway Regional. The Chanticleers are no slouch either. They won the CWS just 2 years ago and this year they were awarded a regional.
Vandy, who came into Clemson and whipped the Tigers 2x to advance, has been the topic of discussion on this board regarding scholarships. Supposedly, their program, like Stanford, is fully endowed meaning every player gets a free ride. Think that helps in recruiting?
Speaking of Standord, Cal St Fullerton went to Palo Alto and eliminated the No. 2 seed beating them 2x, the first win was a walkoff HR by a FR and it was his first of the year.
Now, on to the schedule:
Saturday
Auburn 42-21 @ No. 1 Florida 45-18
Duke 44-15 @ Texas Tech 42-17
South Carolina 36-24 @ No. 5 Arkansas 42-18
Tennessee Tech 52-9 @ Texas 40-20
Florida lost 6 of their last 7 games to end the season not to mention getting bounced from the SEC tournament. But they rebounded to win their home regional, even though they were nearly eliminated by FAU who took UF to a winner take all game Monday night. The Owls won the first game 7-4 and led 2-0 in Game 2 before losing 5-2. Btw, the Gates had 3, count 'em 3, players taken in the 1st round of last night's MLB Draft. Shows U how good their recruiting, development an opportunity coaching has been under HC Kevin O'Sullivan.
*In the postseason the Gates have been extremely fortunate to play most if not all their regional and super regional games at home. But when U win and are ranked No. 1....
*It will be interesting to see if Duke, Tenn Tech and Stetson can continue their magical runs. At this point, all 3 have earned their stripes
*Four of the 8 national seeds did not survive: No. 2 Stanford, No. 4 Ole Miss, No. 7 FSU and No. 8 Georgia are on the couch.
*Five teams are playing in their first super regional: Duke, Minnesota, Stetson, Tennessee Tech, Washington.
So, who are U rooting for to make it to Omaha? Me, I'd like to see Stetson 'cause I live in the same county (Volusia) and also TN Tech, the first team from the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) to play in a super regional. Carolina and Texas should not take their upcoming opponents lightly. They are the real deal.
I think that's it.
Go Canes!
The Heels dispatched Houston at home to advance while the Dookies went into Athens and knocked off Georgia 2x Sunday. That was a huge.
Meanwhile, our 4 other high profile teams flatlined:
Top 8 seed FSU was one strike away from winning the game but they gave up a walkoff HR in the bottom of the 9th to Miss St and that sent to Noles packing having gone to 0-2 despite playing at home.
Clemson, another top 8 seed, was crushed at home by Vandy, 19-5 on Sunday. It was a 2nd straight loss to the 'Dores that sent the Tigers packing in their regional.
NCST was another No. 1 regional seed playing at home and Auburn whacked them 15-7 to move on. The Pack also lost to No. 4 seed Army 5-1 in their opener.
All three conference teams above proved playing at home was no advantage. And they were all beaten by SEC teams.
Louisville traveled to Lubbock and was eliminated by the host team Texas Tech. I thought the Cards had a good chance to advance but they drew a very good Red Raider team that did play well at home. (Remember when TT came to The Light and kocked us out of our regional?)
So, the ACC got 6 teams into the playoffs and only 2 survived. The SEC landed 10 teams and 6 advanced.
One of the 4 that didn't was Ole Miss, the No. 4 national seed. Little Tenn Tech came into Oxford and beat the conf tourney champs in back to back games 15-5 and 3-2 to win the regional. That was impressive. Plus, they had to climb out of the loser's bracket and play 4 games, the last 3 in 30 hours. U know, it wasn't all that long ago - when we were good - that Miami went to Oxford and beat the Rebs in another exciting regional. That is one tough place to play...and win.
Tech at 52-9 on the year joins another Cinderella team, Stetson. The Hatters justified their selection as a regional host by going 4-0 at home in DeLand and eliminating Oklahoma St 11-1 Sunday to win it's nation's best 18th straight game and improve to 48-11. When the U was on it's winning streak, only one team had a better mark: Stetson and they have kept it going.
Stetson's top pitcher, 6-6, 225lb Logan Gilbert, a junior out of Apopka was taken 14th overall in the first round Monday night by Seattle. He warrants the pick and possible $3.9M signing bonus. He led all of Div 1 in strikeouts with 157 in 107 innings. In Saturday night's regional win over Okie St, all Gilbert did was strike out 14 Cowboys. He was 10-0 last year and this year? Only 11-1 with a 2.25 ERA while holding opposing batters to just .172. Not bad for the former infielder at Wekiva HS.
Here are the Super Regional lineups (national seed rankings included):
Friday
Minnesota 44-13 @ No. 3 Oregon St 47-10-1
Stetson 48-11 @ No. 6 UNC 41-18
Washington 33-23 @ Cal St Fullerton 35-23
Miss St 35-26 @ Vanderbilt 34-25
Looking at the last 2 games above, their records aren't impressissve vs the first 2 games above, but that tells me those last four got hot at the right time, at the end.
Miss St was one strike away from elimination and now here they are, 2 wins from Omaha. What's more amazing, the Bulldogs were another team that played its way out of the loser's bracket. Before that miracle win against the Noles, Oklahoma slapped them around in a 20-10 win. All Miss St did in response was win 3 in a row, beat FSU and get revenge on the Sooners by beating them two straight.
Think the Bulldogs love their baseball? Their stadium seats 14,000, almost 2 and a half times the size of The Light. And the State of Mississippi loves baseball too. Ole Miss, Miss St and Southern Miss all went to the postseason. Ole Miss won the SEC tourney and Southern Miss the C-USA tournament.
U-Dub (Washington) traveled across country to upset regional host Coastal Carolina in the Conway Regional. The Chanticleers are no slouch either. They won the CWS just 2 years ago and this year they were awarded a regional.
Vandy, who came into Clemson and whipped the Tigers 2x to advance, has been the topic of discussion on this board regarding scholarships. Supposedly, their program, like Stanford, is fully endowed meaning every player gets a free ride. Think that helps in recruiting?
Speaking of Standord, Cal St Fullerton went to Palo Alto and eliminated the No. 2 seed beating them 2x, the first win was a walkoff HR by a FR and it was his first of the year.
Now, on to the schedule:
Saturday
Auburn 42-21 @ No. 1 Florida 45-18
Duke 44-15 @ Texas Tech 42-17
South Carolina 36-24 @ No. 5 Arkansas 42-18
Tennessee Tech 52-9 @ Texas 40-20
Florida lost 6 of their last 7 games to end the season not to mention getting bounced from the SEC tournament. But they rebounded to win their home regional, even though they were nearly eliminated by FAU who took UF to a winner take all game Monday night. The Owls won the first game 7-4 and led 2-0 in Game 2 before losing 5-2. Btw, the Gates had 3, count 'em 3, players taken in the 1st round of last night's MLB Draft. Shows U how good their recruiting, development an opportunity coaching has been under HC Kevin O'Sullivan.
*In the postseason the Gates have been extremely fortunate to play most if not all their regional and super regional games at home. But when U win and are ranked No. 1....
*It will be interesting to see if Duke, Tenn Tech and Stetson can continue their magical runs. At this point, all 3 have earned their stripes
*Four of the 8 national seeds did not survive: No. 2 Stanford, No. 4 Ole Miss, No. 7 FSU and No. 8 Georgia are on the couch.
*Five teams are playing in their first super regional: Duke, Minnesota, Stetson, Tennessee Tech, Washington.
So, who are U rooting for to make it to Omaha? Me, I'd like to see Stetson 'cause I live in the same county (Volusia) and also TN Tech, the first team from the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) to play in a super regional. Carolina and Texas should not take their upcoming opponents lightly. They are the real deal.
I think that's it.
Go Canes!
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