I feel your pain Buckeye. Has happened to my son more times than I'd like to remember. Had one a few weeks ago where he gave up 4 in one inning. There was one blooper to short center and the rest were ground balls that found holes. Ugh... So frustrating.
Consultant posted:Buckeye,
does the coach teach "up and in". Hershirer said "change location, change speed"
Bob
Up and in...down and away....curve ball, fastball....lol. It didn't matter....it really was like he said "they just stuck their bat out". Heck, one was on a check swing that just cleared the first baseman and dropped 2 inches inside the line. Other than the double that was hit ok, the other 5 hits were just balls that made contact and could easily have been 5 outs. I guess some days you get all the breaks...and today he didn't. Again, he actually threw pretty well....probably had a half dozen swinging strikes...and another half dozen foul balls.
I feel for you. My son came in with bases loaded not outs. The starter had already given up a single, 3 doubles and hit a batter. We were up by one. Facing Air Force @ Colarado Srings. 42 degree weather. Son got maybe 10 warm ups in the Bullpen. First pitch, coach calls for a slider. throws a get me over. Grand slam! This was the 2nd game of a double header. 6 home runs already in the first game. Son stays in the game to get 8 outs. Game suspended to travel back. Innings still not on the books
Buckeye, I was at the Bowling Green - Wright State game your son started. He had a nice start. Obviously it was pitch everybody a little day for both teams, as BG had 7 pitchers with no one going more than 2 and WSU had 4 pitchers- no one with many pitches. Your Son really only had one bad pitch. I was impressed with how hard he threw. One specific pitch really caught my attention, Big pop in the glove on a chest high fastball. GAS! Nice win for BGSU
Friendly reminder that conference play offs , conference tournaments, and regional playoffs are coming up fast...
It is a chance to see a lot of competitive baseball condensed into a few days time.
If a parent or HS player wants to check out a certain team or conference its a great time to see the best of that conference or region. Teams are usually hanging around stadiums between games, its a great opportunity to chat with players, observe coaches, etc.
Some D2 notes.
I know the PSAC playoffs should be outstanding this year. There should be at least 4 top 25 D2 teams playing, Millersville is currently #1 overall. They will be worth the price of admission by themselves. There is one regular season weekend remaining with a couple of playoff spots up for grabs. The last spot in the East has 3-4 teams in the running.
The SAC conference playoffs start this Friday in Kodak Tennessee, I would pay to watch the Torres kid from Tusculum pitch, he has an outstanding season going.
So check out your local schools websites and go see some great baseball in the next 3-4 weeks.
Over the weekend, on Saturday, my son's D2 team clinched their regular season conference title 
. It was their 17th straight win. Pretty big accomplishment. His team has been to the College World Series 7 times winning it once and this is only the 3rd time they have won their conference regular season title and their first since 2008. Unfortunately, they had a big celebration party that night and their 17 game win streak was snapped in a 10-9 loss on Sunday. They still wound up with a 39-11 overall record, 23-7 in the conference.
Son has not had the best of seasons, but has been an integral part of this team for 4 years. Being on a winning team is definitely more fun than if they were losing. Over his 4 years there, the team has won 144 games so far. Not too bad.
Senior day was Sunday and there were a few tears, but not as many as there could have been since we still have the post season to look forward to. Conference tournament starts next week and it's a pretty good bet his team will make the regionals.
Still hard to believe that his journey is coming to an end. As has been stated here MANY times, enjoy every minute, it will be over before you know it.
chefmike7777 posted:Buckeye, I was at the Bowling Green - Wright State game your son started. He had a nice start. Obviously it was pitch everybody a little day for both teams, as BG had 7 pitchers with no one going more than 2 and WSU had 4 pitchers- no one with many pitches. Your Son really only had one bad pitch. I was impressed with how hard he threw. One specific pitch really caught my attention, Big pop in the glove on a chest high fastball. GAS! Nice win for BGSU
Just saw this....sorry for the delay. Thank you. That was a big win....unfortunately we just have no consistency. Took 2 of 3 vs Ball State then lost all 3 vs NIU. We're at FSU this weekend (makeup for losing Akron) while everyone else is playing a MAC series. Going to take some work the last 2 weekends to make the MAC tourney....but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
MMM1531 - I wish your son's team luck in the conference tournament. Looks like W-S (son's former team) probably won't be at the Atlantic Regionals. Despite finishing 1st in the CIAA regular season they lost in the CIAA tournament - losing twice to Chowan on championship Saturday. Chowan earned the automatic bid to regionals (1st time ever for them). There's still a chance for W-S to get an at-large bid but I don't see it happening. They have not had a spectacular season - currently are 29-21 overall with 4 games to play - two with Mount Olive and two against Bluefield State.
On the other hand the JuCo my son is an assistant coach (student assistant) for has done very well down the stretch. They are currently 37-14 overall and 14-3 in the conference. Last I checked they were 2nd in the region with the final conference series this coming weekend.
Disclaimer: Brag post! Our son's JUCCO team is going to the regionals for the first time since 1961. They have a coach who has completely turned the program around in four years. If any of you are looking for a JUCCO program in a strong conference, with strong academics, message me!
PHCC secured the #1 seed for the Region 10 D2 JuCo tournament with a double header sweep (11-7, 14-4 (6 innings)) of Southeast Community College (Wytheville) on Saturday. Completed the series sweep with a win today. A couple of firsts for PHCC - first time for winning the regular season crown and the #1 seed for the tournament. Also the first time PHCC won 40 games in the regular season.
BBALLMAN congrats to CSU for not only winning the Peach Belt regular season but also the Tourney. Great accomplishment. I really hope I can make it to the regional.
Thanks coach!!! Very exciting year. Believe it or not, I just came here to post the accomplishment. We were fortunate enough to secure the #1 seed in the Southeast Regional as well, so the kids are all VERY excited about playing the regional at home.
Going into the PBC tournament, we were the #1 tournament seed and Lander was the #2 seed. In the Regional picture, Lander was the #1 seed and we were the #2 seed. That championship game had some big implications. How often do you have a conference championship with the #1 & #2 Regional seeds playing for the top spot? I wouldn't think very often, so it was pretty cool.
If you are able to make it to the Regionals, let me know! We'll have to meet up. I probably won't be down there Thursday since we have a bye, but, I'll be there for remainder of the time. Thanks again!!
Princeton becomes the first team to punch it's ticket to the dance. What a turn around: last season was the worst in Princeton's 150 year old history - only one D1 team won fewer games last year than the Tiger's 7 wins.
One of our poster's son pitched the CG final and when he trudged off the mound for his final home game of his career his Princeton squad team was down 1-0. And that is why a team plays to the last: multiple lightning bolts later and Princeton walks off with a 2-1 win and the NCAA ticket.
My son coaches at Belmont Abbey they will be the #3 seed in the regional and play Catawba in their first game. That is one tough regional. I have seen every team in that regional play this year. When Mount Olive is a #7 seed you know it's tough. Good luck to your son and CSU. My grand daughter's birthday party is this coming weekend and I will get hammered if I miss that. So I will settle for the video. It should be a great regional.
My son is a volunteer coach (student assistant) for PHCC - a JuCo he once played for. PHCC entered the NJCAA D2 Region X tournament as the #1 seed. They defeated New River 12-2 (5 innings) in game 1. A 6-1 loss to Wake Tech knocked them to the loser bracket. They rebounded with a win vs Southeast (Wythville). Next game was against last years regional champ, Catawba Valley. After spotting 4 runs to Catawba in the first inning, PHCC clawed back with 3 runs in the 7th to tie and then 2 more runs to earn a hard come-from-behind victory. This put them facing Wake Tech again who had lost to Brunswick. Again Wake Tech got out to a early lead, but PHCC fought back tying the game in the 8th. WT took the lead in the top of the 9th, but Patrick Henry wasn't done. PH tied the game on a sacrifice fly and then won the game on walk-off HR.
This put them in the championship game vs Brunswick (#2 seed) where they would have to win two to advance to the WS (was also told that if PH won game 1 and game 2 was rained out PH wold advance to the WS due to being the #1 seed). Brunswick got out to an early 8-0 lead (seems to be a habit for PH in this tournament). PH cut the deficit to 3 (8-5) by the 5th, but Brunswick's bats were too much for Patrick Henry's now depleted pitching staff. PH added a few more runs but just could not hold Brunswick back. Final score was 22-9.
This was PHCC's best season ever finishing 44-16 with 40 wins coming in the regular season.
Congrats to Brunswick. I wish them success in the NJCAA D2 WS.
Coach, I agree, this will be a tough region to come out of. And the PBC seems to be on a down year, only 3 teams made it. 
Not uncommon for 4 PBC teams to be in the mix. Last year was an anomaly as all 3 conferences had unranked teams win their conference tournaments for the automatic bid. Some REALLY good baseball teams didn't even make the regionals last year.
I don't have any first hand knowledge of the other regions in the country, but I'd be hard pressed to believe that there are tougher regions than the southeast and the south in D2 baseball...
Yeah curious why SE was only 7 teams... Suppose it would be "hard" to pick between PB's George College, CC's Erskine/N. Greenville, or SAC's Newberry/Carson-Newman. Certainly a tremendous advantage for CSU to get that first round bye.
Another mild surprise is/was SNHU winning their tournament, but FPC getting #1 seed even after falling in their conf tourney at their own place...
Goosegg posted:Princeton becomes the first team to punch it's ticket to the dance. What a turn around: last season was the worst in Princeton's 150 year old history - only one D1 team won fewer games last year than the Tiger's 7 wins.
One of our poster's son pitched the CG final and when he trudged off the mound for his final home game of his career his Princeton squad team was down 1-0. And that is why a team plays to the last: multiple lightning bolts later and Princeton walks off with a 2-1 win and the NCAA ticket.
That was one of the craziest endings to a big game that I've ever seen.
I think this is the first year the SE has had 7. I know in previous years it's only been 6. Erskine, NGU, Newberry and Carson Newman are all worthy. CSU has a huge advantage with the bye and playing at home. But then again they earned it with a tremendous season.
Yes coach, it is the 1st year any region has had more than 6 teams. I don't know the exact makeup right off hand, but I know some regions remained at 6, some have 7 and some have 8 this year. Another worthy team was Georgia College in the PBC. Before we beat them in the tournament, they were on a 12 game win streak and played some of the toughest competition in the country, including a 3 game series with Tampa early in the year.
Yes, it is a HUGE advantage to not have to play that 1st round game and play at home. While other teams are traveling, we can get some practice in. Our pitchers know the mound, kids can go home between games and we get to save a pitcher. Which is real big for us since our weak spot (until the tournament last weekend) has been our pitching.
Looking forward to a good, competitive tournament. I'll tell you this, there will be some good baseball played down in Columbus over the next few days. If anyone is in the area, they should stop by for a game or two. With the quality of teams down here in the Southeast, there is no shame in playing D2 baseball...
The PBC is much better baseball than the D1 teams I watched my son's D1 team beat down in midweek games when he was at UNC. In fact it's not even close. My oldest son is actually driving down Thursday to watch the first couple of days. Its going to be great baseball.
Looked like a pretty darned good first game in the Southeast Regional. #4 seed USC-Aiken beat #5 seed Tusculum 2-1. Aiken pitcher threw a complete game on 119 pitches. Aiken will take on CSU tomorrow at 3 in a PBC battle. CSU and Aiken did not play each other this year, so it will be interesting to see what happens...
Lander beat Mt. Olive 6-4 completing the game after almost a 4 hour rain delay. Peachbelt Conference is 2 for 2 so far. PBC will get a loss tomorrow though when CSU plays USC-Aiken at 2pm.
How about Belmont Abbey! It took 12 innings but they beat Catawba in a game that ended today with the loser having to play at 10:30am today. They face Lander today after the CSU - USC-Aiken game.
Two opponents that knew each other well - Belmont Abbey & Catawba... Early in April it was a 24-22 BAC win that took 4H23M to complete (http://abbeyathletics.com/spor...es/20160406_dfe6.xml).
I think I know why 6 team regionals are preferred now - this rain is killer and it's not just 1 region affected! The UMO v. Catawba game is now 7P tonight and the rest of today's games are tomorrow. Loser's tomorrow will play 2 games.... CSU/CSC at 1030A, BAC/Lander at 130, Loser CSU/CSC v. Winner UMO/Catawba at 5, and loser BAC/Lander v Tusculum at 830.
I am somewhat surprised that given the rain and the prospect of last night's loser (game was 3H51M starting at 1052P) would still be scheduled for a 1030A start... Why not flip-flop with the CSU/USCA game... Imagine getting into bed at what 330-4A knowing you have like 4-6 hours of "sleep" to need to get ready to play an elimination game. Killer for us Adults, perhaps just an average day for a college student!
Weather has wreaked havoc for sure!! And leave it to fate that a game that starts at almost 11pm goes into extra innings. Go figure!
I know the 3 games so far in this region have all been good, competitive games. There are some good teams playing down in Columbus.
JohnF posted:I am somewhat surprised that given the rain and the prospect of last night's loser (game was 3H51M starting at 1052P) would still be scheduled for a 1030A start... Why not flip-flop with the CSU/USCA game... Imagine getting into bed at what 330-4A knowing you have like 4-6 hours of "sleep" to need to get ready to play an elimination game. Killer for us Adults, perhaps just an average day for a college student!
My son's team experienced something similar at last years NCAA D2 Atlantic Regionals. Third day of the tournament they were scheduled to play late - 7 pm (had won the first two games). The two games ahead of them both went into extra innings. The first one went 11 innings and the second went 13 innings. That pushed the start time for my son's game to 10 pm. Game did not end until 1 am - unfortunately they lost. That put them playing at 10 am then next morning. At best they got about 6 hours actual sleep by the time you factor in getting to/from the field from the hotel, meals, etc.
NCAA would not waiver from the schedule unless weather related.
Well, CSU lost their 1st game 8-5 in 10 innings. Bummer... Need to win 5 in a row to advance now. Chances not looking great. Never know though. It's baseball.
Well I waited for son's season to be over to post (avoid HSBBWEB "jinx") and unfortunately it did last Sunday..they were 2 outs from making NCAA tournament.. first inning run that held through 8 wasn't good enough as a hit, walk, 2 HB and a "walk off" wild pitch ended season.
Some solace though as RipkenFan son's team is young-- ace this year was freshman, and starting CF and 2B (RF Son) were freshmen; two best hitters are returning. Exciting year as team went from last to first and won first division title in 20 years.
Son had a good fall (hit over .400), but was I was pleasantly surprised that he played every game--started all but one but PR and stole base off bench in that one. Looking to build on next year. Thrilled he ended up in top ten in league in hits, runs, and triples. Second in stolen bases and sac bunts in league.
His defense kept him in lineup while he adjusted from HS to D1 pitching--slow start with bat. He had highest fielding percentage among all MI in the league.
Interested to see how NCAA tourney works out. Once league champ loses, I'll probably be rooting for a team he faced early in season.
Bummer both CSU and BAC lose two yesterday and are done... Still great seasons. Considering the prolific offenses of many of the PBC, CC, and SAC teams - the pitching seems to be the real key... Always tough to beat good pitching and defense. Been a fun season to follow along.
Ripken Fan posted:Well I waited for son's season to be over to post (avoid HSBBWEB "jinx") and unfortunately it did last Sunday..they were 2 outs from making NCAA tournament.. first inning run that held through 8 wasn't good enough as a hit, walk, 2 HB and a "walk off" wild pitch ended season.
Some solace though as RipkenFan son's team is young-- ace this year was freshman, and starting CF and 2B (RF Son) were freshmen; two best hitters are returning. Exciting year as team went from last to first and won first division title in 20 years.
Son had a good fall (hit over .400), but was I was pleasantly surprised that he played every game--started all but one but PR and stole base off bench in that one. Looking to build on next year. Thrilled he ended up in top ten in league in hits, runs, and triples. Second in stolen bases and sac bunts in league.
His defense kept him in lineup while he adjusted from HS to D1 pitching--slow start with bat. He had highest fielding percentage among all MI in the league.
Interested to see how NCAA tourney works out. Once league champ loses, I'll probably be rooting for a team he faced early in season.
How could they be 2 outs from NCAA tourney? For most, they have to get through conference tourney, then regional, then super regionals, if your reference was to D1 baseball.
It was the conference championship game; Yale was up one with one out in nine but lost. Winning team got automatic NCAA bid.
Goosegg posted:It was the conference championship game; Yale was up one with one out in nine but lost. Winning team got automatic NCAA bid.
Gotcha but that was just a bid for regional appearance. I know Princeton won!
Congrats to your son Ripkenfan. It's a long road to the NCAA tourney, can be very rewarding or heartbreaking along the way.
http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2016/05/28
D2 World series starts tomorrow, 10:00 am game should be a good one Millersville vs Angelo State. I would expect a matchup of Brandon Miller vs Bryce Zak two of the top D2 pitchers in the country. Games are streamed, with a top notch commentary and using multiple cameras. They must be expecting bad weather because game times have already been moved.
Fun time for NCAA baseball, as another thread mentioned TV games on everywhere... Clemson/ Virginia was a good one last night, I kept sneaking peeks during the Stanley Cup playoff game.. Lets Go Pens!!!
So, within 100 miles.... 2 D1 conference champions and 2 D1 runner ups
SEC - TAMU
Southland - Sam Houston State
C-USA - Rice
AAC - University of Houston
If within 250 miles....3 more D1 conference champions
Big 12 - TCU
Missouri Valley - Dallas Baptist
Sunbelt - Louisiana Ragin Cajuns
Son finished his first season last week.
36 2/3 innings 2.70 ERA, 32 K's, and .237 batting average against. Finished it by pitching 5.0 innings with 3 hits and 4 K's vs. South Alabama (regional team) in Sunbelt conference tourney.
After a slow start and his 1st (and only) start vs. TCU, he had a 2.03 ERA for the remainder of the season. He looking forward to coming back next fall and competing for a weekend rotation spot. Said that after pitching at TCU and Tech (at Globe Life), "how could there be any more pressure?" and I think that outlook benefitted him the remainder of the season.
And I would be remiss to not add---0-2 (and both were almost hits) with a walk while back up catching. Coach said he will retire with a .333 OBP.
Already left this morning for Canada (24 hour drive w/ a teammate) and summer ball.
Son's team (Wright State) rolled thru Horizon league tournament this past weekend. 3-0 (won 11-3, 5-1, 7-2) and basically all games were decided early. Our starting pitching rocks with 7IP, 3R -2ER, then 6.2 IP, 0R, then 9IP, 2ER for the 3 SPs. Left on the table without getting to pitch was our 2nd team all league 9-1 2.8 ERA pitcher who is #4. Son was supposed to be in that rotation as #2 but as you all know out with TJ surgery after first game of year. 3 of those 4 are coming back next year.
As far as rest of this year. WSU has 44 wins which is 2nd in team history, #3 seed in Louisville bracket (They are gonna be TOUGH to beat). Get the opportunity to play Ohio State in first game on Friday. This will be first time in well over a decade the 2 have met. Thru grapevine, OSU unwilling to schedule WSU over the years. Battle for Ohio supremacy for 2016 will be on the line. Truthfully, Ohio State, Wright State, and Kent State should play each other every year. These generally are the 3 best programs in Ohio over last few years. Certainly would help the ole' RPI for each.
I, along with my older son) are going to the regional. Very excited to see some great baseball and hopefully pitch our behinds off, get timely hits, play defense as we usually do and upset the regional
Congrats to Wright State.
I guess thats why the committe awards regionals where they do, because teams make an effort to meet up and beat up each other for home field advantage to advance.
You cant depend on winning on someone elses home turf.
well the season is over. Wright state lost in regional championship vs Louisville. Lost first game in regional to Ohio State on numerous very close call that did not go our way (part of baseball- not complaining) and then opened the door in bottom of 9th. Ohio State took advantage and goo walk off win. Then WSU played Western Michigan and there high draft prospect pitcher on Saturday, Hit him hard and had convincing win 10-3, Yesterday v Ohio State. came right out in bottom of first with a 5 spot, tacked on a few more runs over game and won 7-3. Then to Louisville where we hung on with very good pitching losing 3-1. They are certainly a very very good team and would not be surprised to see them win it all.
For WSU this signaled most wins in history of program (46-17), probably the most players getting drafted in a single season, and a great group of guys and parents. This, also, signaled that Purdue is reportedly after our coach (along with others potentially). With greatness comes opportunity. Though I hope for my sons and WSU sake that he stays. We will see in the next few weeks.
Chef Mike,
Wright State is a fun team to watch. They play hard and loose. Congrats on a great season, and hope to see the young chef back on the mound dominating next year.