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I think there is a difference according to the level of ball and the rules set up by the organization.  Per se.  College has no run rule and it is tough to ever tell a college guy to go strike out intentionally to get an inning over.  In high school, there are run rules so it should be a given in a short time.  In travel ball, the rules some times dictate how many is too many because they put the tie breakers on runs scored or runs allowed or differential which I think should always have a max on it.

Don't steal bases, bunt, or take extra  bases after 15 differential.  Sometimes it is tough when the other coach, parents, or players have an attitude.  I have seen guys not take their at bats rather than run up the score and the other team pitch a fit.  College makes it tough when there is a true mismatch and you play everyone.  Those are hard on both teams when there is no way to keep from scoring without swinging.  Other sports are easier at times to run out the clock but with no clock and no mercy rule in college it is tough.

Due to Covid, it's obviously pretty hard for some top P5 teams to make an effort to find meaningful opponents. Those blowouts are not games and do nothing to help RPI. That's why UF plays UM, or Clemson plays South Carolina and UGA, Louisville plays Kentucky, FSU plays UF or Georgia plays Clemson and GT as noted. That's also why TCU plays Ole Miss, Mississippi State, same for Texas Tech. This is why these teams head the RPI and get home field advantage and go to Omaha. I left out other teams but chose the obvious from the top RPI conferences.

IMO these games are an embarrassment to the college game and friendship has very little to do with it.  An upstanding coach in the baseball community would NEVER embarrass a weaker team.

Jack Legget was the first to schedule quite a few games against SEC opponents first month of the season. They were tough games and often didnt win but it made the team better, especially for freshman. At the same time, an ACC was scheduling easy wins. The commity finally decided they didnt even belong in post season. It was a tough lesson for a winning team, but that is how RPI came into imortance. Not playing weak opponents.

However you do have some teams who are in top conferences that feel that playing their conference only,  will get them to the post season. It will be interesting to see how the commity feel about these blowout games. I dont think it will win points.

So we were asked how we felt about blowout games. IMO it's an embarrassment for college baseball.  It doesnt make the game better.

Of course, it also should be said that some of the games that one might predict would be blowouts, are not, in fact, blowouts.  Coaches can't necessarily know whether "cupcakes" are going to be fodder.  Presumably the "cupcakes" schedule those games because when they actually win, that's a huge deal.  Looking at this past Tuesday's games, I'd call 4 or 5 blowouts (10 runs or more), out of around 20+ games.

I'm not a fan of intentionally striking out or stuff like that.

I only want to see 3 things when you are winning a blowout:

1) don't steal

2) don't advance on passed balls

3) don't work the count. This one is the most important to me and rarely talked about. Don't chase a pitch 10 inches off the plate but also don't take a pitch "on the black" early in the count, hit the first close pitch and don't make a struggling pitcher throw two strikes. I hate to see when a batter waits for a fat one in that situation.

@baseballhs posted:

I don't think you lower your game.  Don't steal, fine...but swinging at pitches you would normally lay off on, no.  

In these instances, most teams know what they are getting into.  It's a long shot to win and it they do, awesome, but you can't expect the other team to play down.

Thats why you set limits beforehand, it's usually after the 7th.

@TPM posted:

Due to Covid, it's obviously pretty hard for some top P5 teams to make an effort to find meaningful opponents. Those blowouts are not games and do nothing to help RPI. That's why UF plays UM, or Clemson plays South Carolina and UGA, Louisville plays Kentucky, FSU plays UF or Georgia plays Clemson and GT as noted. That's also why TCU plays Ole Miss, Mississippi State, same for Texas Tech. This is why these teams head the RPI and get home field advantage and go to Omaha. I left out other teams but chose the obvious from the top RPI conferences.

IMO these games are an embarrassment to the college game and friendship has very little to do with it.  An upstanding coach in the baseball community would NEVER embarrass a weaker team.

Jack Legget was the first to schedule quite a few games against SEC opponents first month of the season. They were tough games and often didnt win but it made the team better, especially for freshman. At the same time, an ACC was scheduling easy wins. The commity finally decided they didnt even belong in post season. It was a tough lesson for a winning team, but that is how RPI came into imortance. Not playing weak opponents.

However you do have some teams who are in top conferences that feel that playing their conference only,  will get them to the post season. It will be interesting to see how the commity feel about these blowout games. I dont think it will win points.

So we were asked how we felt about blowout games. IMO it's an embarrassment for college baseball.  It doesnt make the game better.

Leggett likely did this from his experience playing at Maine, then coaching against John Winkin while coaching at Vermont. I had a conversation recently with a friend who was on the 1976 CWS team. Jack Butterfield, then John Winkin scheduled challenging games against major college programs early in the spring. They started conference play with a losing record. Then they swept through conference play and were ready for the post season.

In the 80’s Maine got to five CWS in six seasons. Granted Maine was advancing due to the regional nature of seeding at the time, then be eliminated in two or three games in Omaha. It’s why seeding and regionals are done as they are now. But they got there. In 1976 when Leggett was on the team Maine came in fourth beating Auburn and Washington State. Ironically, they lost the first game to Eastern Michigan. They were shut down by Bob Owchinko who became a first round pick.

Last edited by RJM
@PTWood posted:

Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Louiseville all went down yesterday in games I’m sure they expected to win handily.

While teams like Vandy, State and Louisville lose players through the draft, many teams have kept their mature solid players.

It's gonna be a fun ride for some, not for others.

It's all in the RPI and top P5 programs who compete fiercely for RPI position actually can hurt themselves scheduling games that are meaningless.

JMO

@JohnF posted:

Surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet... Congrats and a loud shout out goes to @Prepster and his team for their 9-0 victory over #14 Tennessee this past week...

Seems to be lots of mid-majors beating P5 schools in mid-week games this year. More than I can ever remember. Tells me that there is more parity in D1 now than ever before - and that some of the big schools are not recruiting the right guys. Whatever the reason, I think it’s good for college baseball!

I would like to know who is adament about mid week games? When son was in college, they played 5 games a week. No joke. That's how you get to Omaha.



There are a lot of P5 teams that are struggling but so are other programs expected to do better. I think it's just the nature of the covid beast.  Fall and spring practice with players quarantined. Players cant play summer ball. Freshman not able to play their senior year or summer. And dont forget D1 coaches could not have camps or go on the road.

It's all in the preparation and the success or lack of, falls on the coaching staff.

JMO

I was there.  He was a great pitcher sitting 91-93, that I could see from outside the fence, with good stuff.  A lot different from last year and that is the difference that a good coach will make as I stated last year.  I knew that Robert would recruit and find good guys as he has always been a good recruiter of pitchers, he recruited both of mine to varying degrees.  Each coach has a different approach to midweek games.  Some go with the throw the platoon method and some go with giving a guy a lot of innings and some times it makes a great difference in the game.  Some see midweek games as a statement point and others see it as a chance to see some guys play.  That is what makes them fun early in the season and why mid-majors want to play the P5 teams.  I've even seen teams throw their Friday starter in mid-week games for 7 innings to win a game against a P5 team for bragging rights.  To each his own and that's way it should be at all levels.  Glad I got to see my son pitch and his teammates play even if it was from a hillside not the stands.  As I told the Charlotte players I saw at dinner, they played great all around.  I don't think Robert will stay there very long.  He will get a shot at a P5 job quickly.

My son played D3 baseball for a ranked team. I saw quite a few blowouts over his 4 years. Usually due to a combination of one or two innings with walks and errors. My friends who watched the streams or attended the games would always ask about mercy rules. 

However, on a number of occasions I witnessed an early 8-10 run lead vanish in a few innings (my son's team being on both ends of that). I learned not to trust those early leads. Most hitters at D3 can put the ball in play. Sometimes that's all it takes.

My son plays in the (I think) only D3 conference that has a 10 run rule for in-conference games due to there being one team that has been historically weak but has lately been much improved.  One of the most fun games I saw during his career was when they 10-runned the defending national champion end their hope of repeating.

@RJM posted:

It seems a lot of games have been shifted to ESPN+ this year. Am a correct? It’s seems needed in order to have a large option of games.

Almost every game has been on espn+ ( unless conference has their own channel). Then I can watch any game On Demand xfinity 1 the next day. I do not get ACCN in my lineup though. Once basketball is hopefully the  channels should cover local games but ESPN+ seens to have the market covered.

@adbono posted:

Seems to be lots of mid-majors beating P5 schools in mid-week games this year. More than I can ever remember. Tells me that there is more parity in D1 now than ever before - and that some of the big schools are not recruiting the right guys. Whatever the reason, I think it’s good for college baseball!

Impressed with Gonzaga. Ran a lot of good arms to the mound over two days. Played solid all the away around. They weren’t scared and didn’t give anything away. Not sure what arms they have left for three with TCU this weekend, but liked how they played.

We play four vs UConn starting in a few minutes. I looked at their roster, they were all in business suits. Impressed!

Last edited by Go44dad

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