CWS - Upsets and random thoughts

I think it's great that a few northern teams are making waves. Still obvious the SEC and ACC and PAC12 are the top 3.  6 of the 8 teams are from those three conferences. The SEC has two this year, down from the number they usually produce.  Vanderbilt, and other SEC/ACC teams were among the very best in the nation this year.  They just got upset by some very good teams. That said, I'd love to see Indiana make a run at the championship.  Fun stuff!

I heard one of the Indiana coaches say that the uniform start date and the northern schools investment in facilities...not only fields/stadiums but indoor practice facilities...were big reasons for northern teams climbing back into the competitive ranks.

Apparently IU's field before very recently was worse than many HS fields.

I didn't used to believe the uniform start date would make any difference.  Happy to admit I was wrong.

IU's old field looked like an ordinary, middle of the road high school facility. The new facility is on par with a class A minor league park.

My youngest son will be attending IU this fall (not playing baseball)...on his campus visit we made a point to stop by the field and it was impressive.  Got to believe that will help with future recruiting. 

X2 

NC State's Carlos Rodon is a stud.  #1 team in the country (UNC) has seen him for the fourth time, and they still can't hit him.  Even before today, I thought we were looking at the best college pitcher.  Now, there is no doubt in my mind.  I wish I could have seen the whole game.

I'm really looking forward to the LSU/UCLA game tonight with the family.

This is the first time in a while I can say this...but I am really rooting for a northern team.  Go Hoosiers!  

Go State!!! Los was on F I R E!

(maybe some of it will rug off on the rest of the staff!)

Go Pack!

That would be my 2nd choice.  

Your son will love the place.  It's the greatest place in the world. 

Over the past several years IU has really upgraded its athletic facilities.  With their new baseball stadium and several indoor venues they should be able to compete with the best of them.  Go Hoosiers!!!!!!!!!

Don't tell anyone, but I usually pull for the Tarheels in Baseball. Except when they are playing State. 

Unbelievable.  4 games and 4 upsets. I can't help to wonder if these national seeds were accurate or they are just a victim of circumstance?  UNC and LSU play tomorrow in a loser go home game.  That is going to be a really tough start in the losers bracket. 

Indiana over Louisville

MS State over #3 Oregon State

NC State over #1 UNC

UCLA over #4 LSU

55Mom,

Your secret is safe.  You must be going crazy with excitement.   They have a legit shot to win this thing.

I wonder if Emanuel's arm is tired.  UNC played a lot of games and he was called upon to both start and close games in the regional/super regional games. 

For a 3 game series, one dominant pitcher can make a huge difference and you saw that this past weekend.  Plutko, Rodon and DeNato each winning and giving up a combined total of 4 runs .  Wow!

Fenway - agree UNC-LSU in a loser's bracket is a tough start your Omaha trip and will be a quick end of the trip for someone.

The NC State Pitcher was incredible. Did he beat NC in his other matchups? Perhaps the outstanding front line pitching makes the State win less of an upset. I need to DVR the LSU NC elimination game game tomorrow.Gonna be interesting to see if either of those teams can fight their way back. Great stuff!!

Could be?

I remember when our older son got to Omaha after an exhausting year on the mound and coming through the loser's bracket in the regionals, he was pretty close to being 'out of gas.'  Kind of 'gutted' his way through 4 innings of a game.

It takes a lot of energy to get there.  Sometimes you're on fumes by the time you're in Omaha.

I saw Rodon pitch this year. Possibly the most impressive lefty I have seen in college since Hultzen. In the late innings his fastball was 95 whenever he wanted it to be. His slider is killer. I was not at all surprised to see him shut down even a good batting team like NC.

I think it probably correct to say that Emanuel's arm might be tired.

Rodon's pitching was filthy-good. Almost unhittable (1 hit to be precise).

thoroughly enjoying the mic'd up umps. my boys and I rewound and laughed at the "yesss......BOOM!" called 3rd strike numerous times. That's what it sounded like anyway.  Thought maybe Frank Drebin was behind the plate. 

I would like to see Rodon vs UCLA.  The announcers mentioned how the coach wants as many lh bats as possible becasue so many good lhp get drafted and said they would struggle vs a good lhp.  Rodon could whiff 12-15.

Very excited - Carlos is a local kid and just so excited for State, for him, and for his family.  

Sunday was his second win against Carolina. He didn't have any losses, but 3 no decisions.  

I am rooting for MSU to win it all as they knocked out Golfball Jr's team in the super regionals. They have a very large and loud crowd that follows their team.

Here's a random thought I had while watching tonight's game. I sure would like to be a pitcher at TD Ameritrade Park. Balls were being crushed by both teams and went nowhere. Great game again!

A new pitching strategy has emerged at TD Ameritrade Park....tease & taunt the hitters with high fastballs.   Certainly the UCLA pitcher (Plutko) was challenging the LSU hitters to hit it out, and only one did (that was a no doubter).   All the others were harmless flyouts.  I saw a little bit of that same strategy in last nights MS State/Indiana game.  The pitchers were challenging them high.  It seems to be a strategy that is working as the hitters aren't laying off the high cheese.

Makes me wonder why they made the park so pitcher-friendly/hitter-unfriendly. With BBCOR bats HRs are not all that common, but to be mostly taken out of the game. I dig it not...

The new stadium opened in 4/2011, the same year the NCAA began using the BBCOR bats.  Seems like the stadium was most likely planned and built under the "old bat rules" when home runs and offense were more common than today's pitching dominated games. Call it poor timing more than anything. 

With no home runs ever hit out of the TD Ameritrade park to centerfield (over 2+ years), it will be interesting to see if the NCAA considers moving the cf fence in so at least it's a possibility.

I'm sure the park wasn't built with the priority of college baseball and BBCOR bats in mind. For two weeks it's a college baseball park. For six months is a AAA minor league park. The NCAA isn't going to order a AAA to move their fences in.

RJM: Creighton's website says they play there home games at TD Ameritrade field as well. I just looked up Creighton's stats and theyhad a 30-18 record, and only 10 team HR's.

I would disagree with your statement about the NCAA's influence. I'm sure if the NCAA wanted to they could get the fences moved. In those 2 weeks they may put more people in the seats then the AAA team does in a season. They certainly fill all the hotels and restaurants and bring a load of money to the city of Omaha.

RJM-

What I'm saying is that while the NCAA isn't going to order anyone to move the fences, I'm sure they don't like hearing 6 hours of game broadcasts each day where commentators keep harping on it and showing stats about it. 

The NCAA does not want a reputation of playing at a field that is not conducive to homeruns, where fans on message boards and fans of college baseball grumble about it, where coaches have to change strategy and play small ball knowing a hr is most likely not going to happen.  Why make teams change a year's worth of success when they get to Omaha due to the park? 

Therefore, I would not be surprised if the NCAA at least explored the option.

Regarding the fences...

Doesn't it make it pretty clear the difference between college players from the best teams in the best conferences...and higher level minor league players?

I used to think (dream?) that the Pac10/12 was like double-A.  Nope, not that close.

My son is a pitcher, so I like the new bats.  However, at that new park, even balls that are crushed go to the OF to die.  The hitter should be rewarded for crushing it, and the pitchers can get away with some bad pitches.  Not really fair, nor is it as entertaining as it needs to be to grow the game.  Seems the pendulum needs to swing back a little.  Move the fences in 10-15 feet.

PS-if my son ever is fortunate enough to get there, move them back 30 feet.

I agree.  IU wins last night with a shorter fence.  Bummer. 

Kyle Peterson was saying how the balls also play a role - that pro/minor league balls fly further than college balls and that he expects the NCAA to start using pro/minor league balls in the not-to-distant future.

I think it could have worked the other way as well. The ball that Porter hit in the 6th(the kid that had the game winning hit), in his pinch hit AB, would have been a grand slam in many parks and was absolutely crushed. Instead it was out #3.

Really good point. The other difference is the college balls have raised seems that the pro balls do not. Much easier for the pitcher to throw breaking balls and get movement from. This would also help hitters in squaring up the ball.

He said minor league balls fly farther than college balls?

Never heard that before.

The raised seams is certainly true.  But on the other issue, I'm a little hesitant to buy that.  Same ball (I believe) was flying out of parks at record pace before the bat change.

Just found an article that says the college ball has a softer core too.  Did not know that before now.

The AAA team, the Omaha Stormchaser,s does not play at ameritrade but Werner Park. Creighton plays at Ameritrade.

Word is out that many college teams considerin moving their home plates up 10 feet (and mound back as needed) because of the new bats.  The absence of the long ball has taken away from the college game and attendance is down.  Let's face it, for most without that long ball the game can be boring.

Fences will remain the same.

I'm pretty sure the plate is in the same place here. Home runs are up in Louisiana....

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/base.../d1/current/team/513

I am pulling for UNC, not just out of ACC loyalty, but they played a much tougher team to get to Omaha.

Not sure any other team would have gotten past South Carolina.