The Field is Set!!!

The matchups for the College World Series is set with a bunch of inexperienced schools joining the mix with some old favorites. The inexperienced schools are Oregon State, Baylor, and U of Tenn who have been to a grand total of one World Series the last few years. Yes, Tulane has been very good the last few seasons but they are in the next tier with Nebraska, Texas, Florida, and Arizona State group. These are perennial powers in college baseball.

The matchups for Friday are:
U. of Tenn vs Florida
Arizona State vs Nebraska

Saturday’s Matchups
Tulane vs Oregon State
Texas vs Baylor

PS If anyone is going to the CWS and would like to write for the site in a running journal online please e-mail me at bpfoley2004@yahoo.com

Live Scores

If you can’t get to a TV or the stadium to see the games then go to this site for the most up to the minute scores.

Huskers and Vols Advance

Nebraska won their Super Regional today with a sweep as they beat the Miami Hurricanes 6-3. Johnny Dorn provided the pitching for the Huskers as the Husker pitching staff kept the Canes bats quiet the whole series. Alex Gordon was ejected from the game for the Huskers in the sixth inning for arguing with an umpire. (He said a magic word.) There will be a full report from one of our Huskers reader real soon.

The Georgia Tech baseball team was swept right out of the tournament by a pitching heavy Tennessee squad. The duo of James Adkins and Luke Hochevar kept the Jackets bats quiet throughout the weekend with a 13-3 victory on Saturday and an exciting 3-2 victory to lead them back to Omaha.

CSF Wins a Wild One

CSF just beat Arizona State 3-2 behind a two run ninth inning which included a walk-off balk which was called on the fourth pitch of an intentational walk for not coming to a stop which I did not see on the replays. This was a great game that might have been decided by a bad call from an umpire. Jason Urquidez and Ricky Romero pitched great and both deserved to win. Urquidez pitched 7.2 innings only letting up 1 run on 2 hits. Ricky Romero was just as impressive by letting up 2 ER on 3 hits while getting the complete game. His only mistake was a 2 run homer to Travis Buck.

This is the quote from the Crew Chief

“It was a violation of rule 9-3j (which says) the pitcher has to come to a complete and discernable stop,” crew chief and second base umpire Paul Guillie said following the game. “The call was made on the 3-0 count. The third base umpire made the call.”

Gators and Vols win

The SEC had a good day with The Florida Gators beating the Seminoles of Florida State 8-1 and Tennessee used a 2 run homer in the top of the ninth to knock off Georgia Tech 3-2. Florida got a complete game from Tommy Boss as he gave up 7 hits and only 1 run in his nine innings of work. The Florida offense was led by 3 consecutive solo homeruns by Jerolman, McArthur, and Leclerc to make the score 7-1 after five innings. This looked to me like the knockout punch by Florida tonight as FSU’s ace looked weak and the rest of the staff is suppose to be weaker. I think Florida will pull this off after this performance tonight. The Vols needed the Rob Fitzgerald homer in the top of the ninth off of Georgia Tech closer Matt Wieters to win the game. This was a must win game for the Vols as their ace Luke Hochevar pitched seven great innings allowing 5 hits and only 1 earned run. He struck out 11. The rest of this series should be interesting.

Nebraska takes Game 1

The Huskers came out with a solid 3-1 victory over the Hurricanes today to take a 1-0 lead in the series. The game was delayed over 2 hours before it started but Joba Chamberlain was ready as he was the story for the Huskers as he scattered 7 hits in 8.0 plus innings pitched. He struck out 13 of the 29 batters he faced. Cesar Carrillo was very good also letting up 2 ER over 8.0 innings but his defense gave up an unearned run in the fourth inning which was key.

Friday Links

Here are some links to some articles around the country about the Super Regionals.

The Times-Picayune checks in with a few articles about the Regional. The first one is about Nathan Southard, one about Wayne Graham , and the final one is about the threat of a tropical storm interrupting the series.

The Houston Chronicle has three articles today about College Baseball. One about the Rice pitching staff, one about Baylor’s recent turnaround this season, and the final one is about TCU’s Lance Broadway who is up for the Roger Clemens award.

The Lincoln Journal Star has a ton of articles about the Huskers and Canes. The first one focuses on Mike Anderson. Another one focuses on Husker assistant Andy Sawyers. We also have articles on Ryan Braun and also an article about the Huskers two aces. Wow, There is only one more from the Lincoln Star and that is on Zach Kroenke. There is also an editorial about the game from Steven M. Sipple.

The Sun-Sentinel checks in with an article from Jim Sarni about the Huskers series. There is also an article on the Figueroa brothers. The Miami Herald has an article about Miami pitcher Andrew Lane and also an article on Seminole pitcher Bryan Henry.

The Corvallis Gazette-Times has an article about the interest in OSU baseball with this dream season of theirs.

The Gainesville Sun comes in with an article about Brian LeClerc’s hair and Tyler Chamberliss of FSU.

I have to go watch some games…Take it easy and Enjoy the games.

Thursday’s Links

Just thought I would throw up a post about some articles about the games this weekend.

Miami vs Nebraska

This is a good article from the Nebraska side of the table from the Lincoln Journal Star Online. I think there is still bad blood between Miami and Nebraska fans from the mid 90’s and earlier football battles. The South Florida Sun Sentinel has an article about the hostile crowd that the UM team will face in Lincoln this weekend.

Florida State vs. Florida

The South Florida Sun Sentinel delivers again with an article about the series. The Tallahassee Democrat delivers with an article about Alan Horne and also there is an article from a couple of days ago about the Army Baseball team and the experiences they had in the regional. The Gainesville Sun delivers with an article about the series.

Vols at Georgia Tech

The Atlanta Journal Constitution delivers an article about the series which calls GT a heavy favorite. The Knoxville News Sentinel delivers with an article about Chase Headley patience at the plate.

Clemson at Baylor

The Waco Tribune-Herald delivers with an article about Baylor and Clemson. The Greenville News delivers with two articles about pitching: one about the Clemson staff and one about Baylor’s.

Arizona State at Cal State Fullerton

The East Valley Tribune comes up with an article about the duo of ASU pitchers who might help them beat CSF. The Daily Titan has two articles, one about the previous series and the other about Ricky Romero.

Texas at Ole Miss

The Austin-American Statesman checks in with three articles about the series. The first one focuses on previewing the series. The second focuses on how Texas plays better with its backs against the wall and the final one is about Ole Miss player Stephen Head.

Tulane hosts Rice

The New Orleans Times-Picayune has great coverage of the Tulane Baseball club by clicking here for there most up to date articles. The most intriguing article I found was this one.

USC visits Oregon State

The Corvallis Gazette Times has an article about Tyler Graham and his fight back from a torn labrum. The LA Times has no coverage of USC baseball but that is typical of large papers.

I hope to have up some links tomorrow before the games start up.

The rest of the Super Regionals

Vols at Georgia Tech

Tennessee
They are looking to go to their fourth CWS qualifying in 1951, 1995, and in 2001. They have a team which is led by one of the best pitchers in the country in Luke Hochevar (15-2 2.13 ERA 140 K’s). As you expect, he dominated the SEC throughout and will likely win the game in which he starts. The Vols top offensive threat is Eli Iorg who has a batting average of .390 with 15 homers and 70 RBIs. He only saw limited action in the Regional due to an injury to his foot. He hopefully will be back for the Super Regional in a full capacity or UT might be in some major trouble.

Georgia Tech

The ACC Regular Season and Postseason Champs Georgia Tech look to be the best team because they have it all. They have solid starting pitching and an excellent offense. Sophomore 3B Wes Hodges leads the Jackets in hitting with a .404 BA with Tyler Greene being the second option with his .373 Average, 72 RBI’s, and 12 homers. Greene was selected by the St Louis Cardinals with the 30th overall pick. The top three starters for the Georgia Tech team are Lee Hyde, Blake Wood, and Ryan Turner have a combined record of 24-7 and a 3.74 ERA.

Baseball America’s take on Greene

Green is a 60 runner (some say 70 under way) on the 20-80 scouting scale, with good instincts on the basepaths and elsewhere. A plus arm and good range make him at least an averages defender at short. The question is offense. His hands are just OK both at the plate and in the field. Greene’s swing has evolved to a metal-bat, inside-out style that doesn’t incorporate his hands, short-circuiting his power and leaving him with several holes. His aptitude with wood, however, reminds scouts of Cubs prospect Matt Murton, who also hit better in summers on the Cape than with Georgia Tech.

I believe with the pitching depth of the Jackets that they win this series in 2 quick games.

Clemson at Baylor


Clemson

Clemson comes into this series on a hot streak by winning 14 out of their last 16 games. They dominated their regional by only letting up 5 runs in the three games they played. They are led by DH Kris Harvey who is hitting .342 this year with a nice total of 24 HRs. The hottest pitcher for them has been Josh Cribb who is 4-0 with a 0.79 ERA in his last four starts.

Baylor

Baylor enters this series after a tough weekend of bad weather in Waco. They are lead by Mark McCormick who is 7-3 with a 3.12 ERA this season. Senior Catcher Josh Ford is their top offensive weapon with his .322 average which leads the team. These are very low numbers for a team leader and could spell issues for the Baylor offense.

My prediction is that Clemson wins the series 2 games to 1.

Arizona State at Cal State Fullerton

Arizona State is not going to win this series because they have to face the potent lineup of Cal State Fullerton. Ricky Romero who was the number 6 overall pick of the Blue Jays will dominate this Sun Devil team. Romero has a 12-5 record with a 132 K’s in 125 innings. He is the best pitcher in the game and is battle tested for an example just look at the CWS from last year when Romero pitched very well in Omaha. He won two games in the CWS including Game 1 of the Championship series. Ronnie Prettyman is hitting .333 this year with 13 SBs.

Baseball America’s Take on Ricky Romero

Romero has three solid, major league-ready pitches that he can throw for strikes almost at will, including a fastball that sits at 90-91 mph and touches 93-94. He also has an excellent curveball and a better feel for a changeup this year after he reduced his reliance on his curve. But Romero gets his highest grades for his makeup, temperament and competitive zeal. He is an excellent student of the game who understands the science of pitching, and is a master at controlling the tempo of a game.

This CSF team is well rounded and will beat the Sun Devils in 2 games.

Texas at Ole Miss

This is an interesting matchup with Texas who is a regular in the CWS by being in 31 CWS while Ole Miss who is looking for their first appearance since 1972.

Texas

Texas is led by one of the best head coaches in the game today in Augie Garrido. On Offense, Texas is led by CF Drew Stubbs who recently was named to the USA National Team for the summer. They also have Senior SS Seth Johnston who has hit .384 with 15 SBs. J. Brent Cox is the lead relief pitcher in the country and recently was named the Stopper of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association.

Ole Miss

They are hosting a Super Regional for the second straight year and looking to advance to the CWS for the first time in 23 years. Ole Miss is led by the talented duo of Brian Pettway and Stephen Head. Pettway this season is hitting .391 and has 20 home runs. Head has .319 and has 18 homeruns. Ole Miss pitching is led by Matt Maloney and Mark Holliman. Maloney has a 8-2 record with 3.14 ERA and 104 K’s. While Holliman put up 8-4 record with a 3.85 ERA and 117 K’s.

My prediction is that Texas takes this series based on the experience of Augie in three games.