The Road To Omaha

[odessasteps]

 

[John from Cincinnati]

 

[Dolfan in NYC]

Jesus CHRIST, what a cannon this woman has...

 

 

[Pete]

Updated brackets here with the Super Regionals set. Highly, HIGHLY amused at Columbia getting Virginia vs Dallas Baptist - when was the last time neither seeded team in a given bracket advanced?

[Greggulator]

On 6/9/2021 at 9:03 AM, Pete said:

Updated brackets here with the Super Regionals set. Highly, HIGHLY amused at Columbia getting Virginia vs Dallas Baptist - when was the last time neither seeded team in a given bracket advanced?

It's actually pretty common. In 2018, they had two Super Regionals with unseeded teams meeting. One actually pitted 3-seeds between Cal-State Fullerton and Washington, and it was hosted at Fullerton. 

NCAA baseball selections for regionals and Super Regionals can get really weird. There's usually one or two schools located in the northeast that will be in contention for a Top 16 seed like Connecticut or Northeastern. But their stadiums are barely stadiums and don't have lights to host night games. They always have to scramble for alternate sites, so it's always rumored that they'll play a game at one of the minor parks in Connecticut or even Fenway. Even a bunch of major conference schools have dumpy stadiums. Cal "hosted" a super regional one year after coming out as a 2 or a 3 seed and had to play at Santa Clara's stadium since it didn't have lights. 

The Columbia hosting situation is due to COVID and the iffy travel situation. Virginia and Dallas Baptist have both hosted regionals in the past. Virginia actually won the championship in 2015 and came in second in 2014. Dallas Baptist has a nice small stadium. Either one of those teams could have hosted the games but they had a few protocols in place ahead of time.

Dallas Baptist is one of the most interesting college baseball teams. Baseball is its only D1 sport. It plays in the Missouri Valley Conference. It has become a really good mid-major program and its most famous alum is Ben Zobrist.

 

[Greggulator]

Also, I think the schools that are really into college baseball might have the best atmospheres in American sports. They're all completely fucking CRAZY. 

The biggest stadiums have at most 10,000 seats. It's like if you went to a minor league game but everyone actually cared who won. And they had entire sections where Southern college kids could get completely hammered. And a few of these sections aren't actually officially in the stadium so they're lawless. 

The best venue is probably East Carolina, which is the best team to never make Omaha. They have a 3,000 seat stadium but an outfield section called "The Jungle" that was at one point literally a forest that people started cutting down to watch games at. They won one of their regional games this year in the late innings and people were jumping up and down on the dugout like in Major League. They're facing Vanderbilt (another great stadium) in the supers, which sucks for them because Vandy has Kumail Rocker and Jack Leiter as their top two pitches and they're both going to go in the Top 10 in the draft probably. Just nasty pitches and the Vandy Boys are also the defending champs. East Carolina fans though took over like 1/3rd of Vandy's stadium.

I also loved Knoxville this year. Tennessee is really good this year. They're not a traditional power at all but are actually the overall third team in the tournament. They won their first game in the regionals with a walk-off grand slam and the stadium flipped. There was just this vibe that the crowd had that was like... "Oh, wow, this is awesome, why the hell don't we do this for every game?"

[Greggulator]

And one last post: Arkansas Omahogs are the best team this year. Their stadium is one of the biggest at over 11,000 official seats and it's utter chaos. People wave flags, hold up Razorback logos and wear these foam beer hats when bases are loaded for some reason. Their "anything goes" section is called the Hog Pen and it's just nuts.

They also have one of the crazier players in college baseball this year in Kevin Kopps. He's the Mariano Rivera of college baseball. He's 12-0 this year with 11 saves and a 0.68 ERA. The Hogs manager will "Call the Kopps" anytime he really wants and he just mows people down. He got called in one of the regional games in the second or third inning and plowed through everyone. He also does this with literally one pitch -- a friggin' gyroball popularized by Diasuke in Japan.

[Pete]

The Mississippi schools look like a lot of fun as well, especially the bleacher beer shower in Oxford after a Rebel home run. The first time I saw it I thought it was a Royals-style waterfall.

[Greggulator]

5 hours ago, Pete said:

The Mississippi schools look like a lot of fun as well, especially the bleacher beer shower in Oxford after a Rebel home run. The first time I saw it I thought it was a Royals-style waterfall.

Starkvegas might be my favorite, actually. They are nuts for college baseball. They have had the "Left Field Lounge" for decades. It started as a bootleg thing where fans would watch games from pickups or RVs. Some dude's truck wouldn't start after one game so he just left it there. This started a trend where people would just leave their recreational vehicles there and then would build contraptions for tailgating after that. It ended up looking like a shanty in a South American favela. 

They rebuilt the stadium a few seasons ago and made the Left Field Lounge official and no longer some DIY death trap. Included in this is a condo building where you can rent rooms to watch games and tailgate out on porch.

Ole Miss also built the stadium in a peculiar way. There's a no beer policy in Oxford or the country or something. Magically, the right field student section falls on the other end of the township line so that's why the beer showers happen. 

This rules so hard and I wish it was a thing here in the northeast.

[Pete]

So THAT happened in Fayetteville last night.

After getting hammered 21-2 on Friday, NC State comes back with two straight wins to eliminate the #1 Hogs and head to Omaha.

[Pete]

 

[elizium]

 

[Pete]

What a way to get sent home...

[Dolfan in NYC]

And NC State figured out another way to get sent home.  They've been thrown out of the tournament because of "COVID-19 Protocols".   

 

 

 

[Pete]

Not often you wave goodbye to the pitch you just threw, but here we are. (TBF, State was leading 13-1 in the top of the ninth at the time.)

Game 3 tonight for all the marbles. Who you got, State or Vandy?

[Greggulator]

Bumping this up because MLB sucks and NCAA Baseball rules. 

Fun start to the season. Northeastern is looking to take Top 10 team NC State’s lunch money. Get on board the Sacramento State bandwagon now. 

The top teams are all the usual - Texas, Ole Miss, etc.

I am going to try and make a trip to whatever is the closest school to Philly where they give a crap about college baseball this year. 

[Pete]

Walk-off STOLEN HOME is a new one.

[Greggulator]

On 3/26/2022 at 8:45 PM, Pete said:

Walk-off STOLEN HOME is a new one.

Same dude hit a walk-off grand slam the next night!

[Greggulator]

So apparently Rhyno is a pitching coach in the Texas JUCO circuit.

 

 

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

The “oh my oh no” commentary cracked me up.

 

[Greggulator]

It's college baseball conference tournament season. Some of the insanity that has unfolded:

1) In the Ivy League, the birth goes to the winner of a 3 game series between the top two teams. It came down to the end of the regular season between Penn (at Princeton) and Columbia (at Dartmouth) to see who would host. Columbia had a lead and was on a 19-game winning streak, which was the longest in the country. Rain messed up the schedules, which meant Penn and Princeton essentially played a triple-header. Game 1 was postponed from the day before, so they started in the top of the 5th. Princeton ended up sweeping the tripleheader, so they got to host the series. Columbia ended up winning.

2) UCLA played Oregon State today in the Pac 12 and won 25-22. UCLA tied it up with 9 in the bottom of the 9th. Then the Beavers had a one run lead in the 10th. UCLA tied it up on a balk, and then someone hit their first career HR to win the game.

3) A Ball State pitcher threw over 140 pitches in a clutch win over Central Michigan.

4) There were a combination of rain delays and extra inning games in the Big 10 Tournament so Rutgers is playing Indiana in a game that started at 12:15 AM tonight.

And there are so many other weird things I am forgetting.

[Pete]

The reason for the season: JERSEYS.

Spare a thought for Rutgers: 44-15, #2 in the Big 10 and runner up in the tournament, #42 RPI, led the nation in runs scored, staying home.

[Greggulator]

NC State also has a huge argument to be made. They were the first team out on the cut list. It also comes one year after they finally broke through to Omaha and made it to the final four teams... only to get eliminated because of a Covid outbreak. 

[Greggulator]

The first weekend of the Road To Omaha has been predictably batshit. But the regional hosted by Oklahoma State stands out as something especially insane. 

The first day on Friday started out normally. Top seed OK State beat Missouri State. And second seed and perennial power Arkansas easily handled Grand Canyon.

Then Saturday the funhouse mirror began.

Grand Canyon faced Missouri State in the elimination game. The Bears were down 7-1 in the 8th inning. But the Antelopes (with head coach Andy Stankiwicz - yes, that one) hit a bunch of late HRs, scoring five in the top of the 9th, and pulled out an 8-7 miracle win.

In the winner's bracket, Arkansas and OK State had a truly batshit game. OK State was up 7-3 after 3. It ended up 7-5 after five.  Eventually, OK State ended up with a 10-5 lead going into the 7th and that's when the chaos begain. 

Arkansas hit two home runs in the 7th to make it 10-8. They held serve when OK State batted. OK State brought in their closer Nolan McLean ... who proceeded to walk five straight batters, then hit the next one, and walk the next one. He mercifully was pulled and the next pitcher served up a meatball for a grand slam. 16-10 Razorbacks. They ended up winning by a score of 20-12.

In yesterday's first session, OK State took on MIssouri State in an elimination game. Missouri State got out to an 12-0 lead after three innings. They coughed that up and the Cowboys won by a score of 29-15. I am not making that up. One of their relief pitchers threw 126 pitches, going 6 and 2/3 with 16 strikeouts. It was insanity. 

In the nightcap of the regional final, the two teams went back and forth. The Cowboys ended up leading 7-5 after the top of the 8th.  Some of the runs came via a home run from Nolan McLean - the embattled closer from the night before who also serves as a DH. The Razorbacks score 3 after the second basemen sailed a throw to first trying to get a double play followed by a home run. 8-7 Razorbacks. In the top of the 9th, the Cowboys started with a fly-out. Then they had a bunch of walks to rally, followed by a bunch of walks and doubles. They're now up 10-8. They go back to Nolan McLean. He strikes out the first batter. Then there's a throwing error. And a single. Then Nolan coerces a groundball. Two outs, but runners on second-and-third. The next batter hits a single to tie the game 10-10. 

In the Top of the 10th, OK State has runners on second and third with one out. Up to the plate is Anthony Meola -- and, no joke, his dad is former US National Team Goalkeeper Tony Meola. He hits a single. 12-10 Pokes. They get another runner on. Who is up? Nolan McLean, who hits a 2-run HR. 14-10 Cowboys.

He then closes out the bottom of the inning without any issues. 

All told, in two games on Sunday, the Cowboys scored 43 runs. They faced a 12-0 deficit and nearly blew another lead against the Razorbacks.

Now, they face Arkansas again tonight for a winner-take-all to go to the Super Regionals. 

[DEAN]

10 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

The first weekend of the Road To Omaha has been predictably batshit. But the regional hosted by Oklahoma State stands out as something especially insane. 

The first day on Friday started out normally. Top seed OK State beat Missouri State. And second seed and perennial power Arkansas easily handled Grand Canyon.

Then Saturday the funhouse mirror began.

Grand Canyon faced Missouri State in the elimination game. The Bears were down 7-1 in the 8th inning. But the Antelopes (with head coach Andy Stankiwicz - yes, that one) hit a bunch of late HRs, scoring five in the top of the 9th, and pulled out an 8-7 miracle win.

In the winner's bracket, Arkansas and OK State had a truly batshit game. OK State was up 7-3 after 3. It ended up 7-5 after five.  Eventually, OK State ended up with a 10-5 lead going into the 7th and that's when the chaos begain. 

Arkansas hit two home runs in the 7th to make it 10-8. They held serve when OK State batted. OK State brought in their closer Nolan McLean ... who proceeded to walk five straight batters, then hit the next one, and walk the next one. He mercifully was pulled and the next pitcher served up a meatball for a grand slam. 16-10 Razorbacks. They ended up winning by a score of 20-12.

In yesterday's first session, OK State took on MIssouri State in an elimination game. Missouri State got out to an 12-0 lead after three innings. They coughed that up and the Cowboys won by a score of 29-15. I am not making that up. One of their relief pitchers threw 126 pitches, going 6 and 2/3 with 16 strikeouts. It was insanity. 

In the nightcap of the regional final, the two teams went back and forth. The Cowboys ended up leading 7-5 after the top of the 8th.  Some of the runs came via a home run from Nolan McLean - the embattled closer from the night before who also serves as a DH. The Razorbacks score 3 after the second basemen sailed a throw to first trying to get a double play followed by a home run. 8-7 Razorbacks. In the top of the 9th, the Cowboys started with a fly-out. Then they had a bunch of walks to rally, followed by a bunch of walks and doubles. They're now up 10-8. They go back to Nolan McLean. He strikes out the first batter. Then there's a throwing error. And a single. Then Nolan coerces a groundball. Two outs, but runners on second-and-third. The next batter hits a single to tie the game 10-10. 

In the Top of the 10th, OK State has runners on second and third with one out. Up to the plate is Anthony Meola -- and, no joke, his dad is former US National Team Goalkeeper Tony Meola. He hits a single. 12-10 Pokes. They get another runner on. Who is up? Nolan McLean, who hits a 2-run HR. 14-10 Cowboys.

He then closes out the bottom of the inning without any issues. 

All told, in two games on Sunday, the Cowboys scored 43 runs. They faced a 12-0 deficit and nearly blew another lead against the Razorbacks.

Now, they face Arkansas again tonight for a winner-take-all to go to the Super Regionals. 

My VCU Rams scored 8 runs against UNC!