2014 NCAA Baseball Tournament

Collegiate Sports
1

It sucks that the Niners are not participating this year, but I still enjoy this time of year when all the Regionals get cranked up. For the second year in a row, all the games will be televised on the ESPN family of networks. I’m glad to see the sport continuing to grow even while some schools have or have considered dropping the sport due to Title IX.

Here is the bracket:
http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/baseball/d1

Schedule:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/field-of-64-times-tidbits-and-tweets/

C-USA got 2 bids.
Rice is hosting a Regional and was in the mix to be a top 8 overall seed according to the committee. It seems like they are being overlooked with Texas and Texas A&M in the Regional as the 2 and 3 seeds. A-10 champ George Mason is the 4 seed.

ODU got in as a 3 seed in the Columbia Regional with SC, Maryland, and Campbell. Their RPI ended up at 35 even though they finished 4th in the conference. It should be a tough regional with Maryland catching fire lately and Campbell out to prove themselves after getting snubbed last year.

49er opponent College of Charleston won the CAA in their 1st season and got the 4 seed in the Gainesville Regional.

2 other teams that were on the Niners schedule that either got snowed out or rained out are Youngstown State and Liberty. YSU is by far the worst team in the tournament with a 16-36 record and a 270 RPI. They got hot and won the Horizon League Tourney and the auto bid. Liberty is a solid team who got an at-large bid out of the Big South.

As far as next year’s opponents for the Niners, Dallas Baptist won the Missouri Valley Tournament and is a 2 seed in the Fort Worth Regional. They will be coming to the Hayes for our C-USA off weekend next May.

Field by Conference

• SEC: 10 (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi St., Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt)
• Atlantic Coast: 7 (Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia)
• Big 12: 5 (Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas Christian, Texas, Texas Tech)
• Pac-12: 5 (Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington)
• Big West: 4 (Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Irvine)
• American Athletic: 2 (Houston, Louisville)
• Big South: 2 (Campbell, Liberty)
• Big Ten: 2 (Indiana, Nebraska)
• Conference USA: 2 (Old Dominion, Rice)
• Missouri Valley: 2 (Dallas Baptist, Indiana State)
• Mountain West: 2 (San Diego State, UNLV)
• Southland: 2 (Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana)
• America East: 1 (Binghamton)
• Atlantic-10: 1 (George Mason)
• Atlantic Sun:1 (Kennesaw State)
• Big East: 1 (Xavier)
• Colonial: 1 (College of Charleston)
• Horizon: 1 (Youngstown State)
• Ivy: 1 (Columbia)
• Metro Atlantic: 1 (Siena)
• Mid-American: 1 (Kent State)
• Mid-Eastern: 1 (Bethune-Cookman)
• Northeast: 1 (Bryant)
• Ohio Valley: 1 (Jacksonville State)
• Patriot: 1 (Bucknell)
• Southern: 1 (Georgia Southern)
• Southwestern: 1 (Jackson State)
• Summit: 1 (North Dakota State)
• Sun Belt: 1 (Louisiana-Lafayette)
• Western Athletic: 1 (Sacramento State)
• West Coast: 1 (Pepperdine)

2

CWS is on my short list of things I would love to do

3

It is on my list too.

4

I need to clarify. The CWS in Omaha is high on my list, but even higher on my list is to see the Niners playing in Omaha.

5

same here

6

Some Regional previews.

Houston:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/2014-houston-regional-preview/

Rice is hosting a regional for the 11th time in the past 14 years. The Owls had a strong RPI (No. 7) and strength of schedule (No. 8 ) and won the C-USA regular-season and tournament titles, marking the 19th straight year they have won a regular-season or conference tournament title spanning three conferences. Rice won 41 games despite ace righthander Jordan Stephens to Tommy John surgery and missing righthander Zech Lemond for about a month with elbow inflammation. Lefthander Blake Fox stepped up in the absence of Stephens and Lemond and went 12-0, 1.38. Fox is unbeaten (17-0) in his two years on campus. Longtime coach Wayne Graham said Fox works at 85-87 mph, mixes in his slider and curveball and a good changeup, and moves his fastball around the zone to keep hitters off balance. In the bullpen, sophomore righty Matt Ditman replaced Lemond as stopper and recorded nine saves and struck out 77 in 68 IP. His fastball reaches 91 with plenty of movement, and his curveball is a true out pitch. Rice’s offense came into its own as the season progressed, led by senior third baseman Shane Hoelscher (.332/.395/.430), junior first baseman Skyler Ewing (.330/.398/.496), senior left fielder Michael Aquino (.323/.358/.500) and junior catcher John Clay Reeves (.316/.369/.443). The Owls are also an elite defensive team, ranking ninth in the nation with a .979 fielding percentage, led by steady shortstop Ford Stainback (.978).

Columbia:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/2014-columbia-regional-preview/

In his first three seasons, Old Dominion coach Chris Finwood has nearly doubled the program’s win total, taking it from a 19-34 record and finishing dead last in the Colonial Athletic Association in 2012 to 36 wins in ODU’s first season in Conference USA. The Monarchs nearly played their way out of the NCAA field with back-to-back series losses to Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic down the stretch, but they were able to get back on course by winning their final two weekends and going 3-2 in the C-USA tournament, including a crucial win against Rice. A bubble team that got into the field, ODU scheduled aggressively enough and had enough top 100 wins (22-19) to build up a No. 36 RPI, offsetting its fourth-place finish in an underwhelming year for C-USA. Of the four teams in Columbia, the Monarchs are the only one to rank higher nationally in scoring (68th at 5.7 runs/game) than they do in ERA (74th at 3.43). The Monarchs are a quality hitting team with five batters at .300 or better, led by freshman Nick Walker (.329/.420/.482, 4 HR), their top-of-the-lineup catalyst. First baseman Josiah Burney (.303/.414/.526, 6 HR) has dangerous raw power from the left side and is one of four seniors that play every day. Likewise, the best asset the Monarchs’ pitching staff might have is its experience level. Neither of ODU’s top two starters, lefthanders Andy Roberts (5-3, 3.09) and Ryan Yarbrough (6-6, 4.37), light up radar guns, but they’re both seniors and tough competitors. Though they’re not especially deep, the Monarchs can give teams some different looks at the back of the bullpen with hard throwing sophomore Conner Overton (2-2, 2.48, 3 SV) and sidearming senior closer Brad Gero (3-3, 2.82, 11 SV).
7

ODU just choked their game away vs Maryland. They were leading 3-1 going into the bottom of the 9th. Maryland ends up winning on back to back HBPs.

8

C-USA Champ Rice beats A-10 Champ GMU 7-2. Rice was down going into the 8th but scored 6 for the win. Rice plays Texas next in the winners bracket.

9

Rice plays Texas in the Winners Bracket.
ODU plays Campbell in their Losers Bracket.

Some other games of interest:

College of Charleston 3, Florida 2
Long Beach State 6, UNC-chapel hill 1
Oregon 18, Clemson 1
South Carolina 5, Campbell 2
Kennesaw State 1, Alabama 0
Georgia Southern 7, Florida State 0

10

I like some of the big schools going down. Go CUSA!

11

Looks like Oregon opened a can of wupass on Clemson as well.

12

I didn’t mention it because the teams were not from our region, but lowly Pepperdine also beat mighty Arizona State. The West Coast is loaded with talented non-BCS baseball programs.

13

The Maryland coach is very good. Coached by friend at Marist College in the early 2000s. Lead them to the NCAA Tournament 3 years in a row, including a 3 seed and a victory over SW Missouri State (Shawn Marcum). I wonder how the move to the Big 10 will affect their baseball program. They were a traditional a cellar dweller in the ACC, but are finally moving in the right direction. Will the Big 10 take them back, or will they be able to be the best of a mediocre baseball conference?

14

Campbell just defeated ODU in 12 innings 4-1. ODU has now been eliminated. Go Rice.

15

Chapel Hill eliminates regional host Florida. Florida goes 2 and out for a second year in a row. Florida State also 2 and out. Clemson 2 and out.

16

Rice loses to Texas A&M in 10 innings and is eliminated. Lots of 1 seeds getting knocked out.

17

The Maryland coach is very good. Coached by friend at Marist College in the early 2000s. Lead them to the NCAA Tournament 3 years in a row, including a 3 seed and a victory over SW Missouri State (Shawn Marcum). I wonder how the move to the Big 10 will affect their baseball program. They were a traditional a cellar dweller in the ACC, but are finally moving in the right direction. Will the Big 10 take them back, or will they be able to be the best of a mediocre baseball conference?[/quote]

They beat South Carolina twice to win the Columbia Regional and advance to the Supers. The second game they won 10-1.

I don’t see them taking a step back in the Big 10 as long as they can keep their coach. They may take a dip in recruiting but they are still a BC$ school and now their schedule becomes easier in a multi-bid conference. I have a feeling their coach might be getting some offers after the season.

18

After Sunday, 7 teams have advanced to the Super Regionals. So far 5 #1 seeds have been eliminated and 5 have advanced.

UVa 1
Maryland 2
TCU 1
Louisville 1
Vandy 1
Pepperdine 3
Oklahoma State 1

19

In reference to the Columbia regional: Plucked, uh, huh!

Trailor parks around the area in mourning today.

20

CoC looking good. #4 seed sitting pretty in the winners bracket