Can Ray Tanner secure his spot among the all-time greats with his 3rd National Championship in a row? Or will Andy Lopez bring home a second title 20 years after winning his first?
Find out right here:
Enjoy the series and as always, Don't Buy the Hype!
Arizona SP Konner Wade has had the performance of the CWS so far, pitching a complete game shutout against UCLA. The Wildcats have already claimed their place in the CWS Championship Series. Who will join them, Arkansas or South Carolina?
Check out the video below for a Series recap, where I discuss the following:
Mike Martin: 21 trips to the CWS and 0 national titles
Stony Brook will get the majority of the press, but can they shock the world and win the National Championship?
Here is my preview of the 2012 College World Series, complete with team-by-team analysis and overall predictions. My "Cut Half My Face Off" video technique is in full force here as well. If it's too annoying, just listen to the video and pop up another window while you listen. I guess I may have to fire my tech guy...
What do you think about the 2012 CWS? Are you buying the Stony Brook hype? Can Mike Martin finally win the big one? Drop me a comment in the box below, I love talking college baseball!
The 2012 ACC Basketball Tournament was a return to the glory years of the ACC! Many games were decided by a basket. The ACC Tournament used to be so much fun! I hope the 2012 ACC Tournament will be the beginning of the tournament being the most exciting in the nation again! I didn't pick Flordia State to win, but I can still say "I told you so." CLICK THE VIDEO FOR THE WHOLE STORY!
For Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, California, Texas and South Carolina, a season's worth of blood, sweat and tears has all come down to a trip to Omaha and TD Ameritrade Park and a chance to play for the College World Series Championship. The Gamecocks are the defending champions, but 7 other teams are vying to knock them off their throne. You can find the CWS schedule with TV listings HERE.
I did get 7 of 8 teams correct in my College World Series Preview back a couple weeks ago. The only one I missed was California, as they defeated underdog Dallas Baptist in the Super Regional that was played in Santa Clara, because the Bears don't have lights at their stadium!
This weekend's Super Regional action provided some great drama, especially the ending of the UC Irvine/Virginia game 3:
I thought the Cavaliers were gone after they made the first two outs in the bottom of the 9th, but they made a rally for the ages.
I'm sure many college baseball fans were surprised to see Texas A&M go to Tallahassee and beat Florida State, but I wasn't one bit surprised. As storied as Mike Martin's career has been, he still hasn't won a national championship. That's amazing when you consider the amount of quality players he's had over his 30+ years! I'm starting to think he could coach until he turns 100 and not win a title, just like Jack Leggett at Clemson and Danny Hall at Georgia Tech.
Why do these great ACC program underachieve every year? Did you know the ACC hasn't won a national championship since Wake Forest did it back in the 1950's? Amazing.
Florida and Virginia are the two best teams in the tournament, and Florida has the deepest staff in the country. They can also score enough runs to win even if the pitching lets down. That will be the downfall of Texas, they are just too offensively challenged to win the whole deal.
Watch out for Vanderbilt as well. They have a deep staff and split the season series with Florida. If Sonny Gray and Grayson Garvin get them through the first two, they will be in a great spot to advance to the championship series.
Don't count out California either. They are playing with house money, as their program was due to be cut after this season, but a fund-raising effort has helped save the program. They have all the confidence rolling in to Omaha, much like Fresno State in 2008.
I will stick to my original prediction of a Florida over Virginia in 3 games for the title. The Gators depth will help them through, even if they do slip up early and fall into the loser's bracket early on.
Who is your choice to win this year's College World Series?
As many readers know, I am a baseball fanatic, to a fault. I was tracking the MLB Draft online today and in the 33rd round, I did a double take. I had been watching to see which local high school players and Diamond Dawgs players had been taken when I saw JT's name pop up. It made my day, to say the least.
For the Rangers to draft JT is a remarkable, and has to be a huge lift to his spirits, as he fights hard to overcome paralysis. The Rangers have immediately become my 2nd favorite team behind the Braves. What a classy organization!
You can read the full ESPN article complete with Texas Rangers and David Perno quotes HERE!
Congratulations to JT and the Texas Rangers! I'm off to buy myself a Rangers hat.
For the first time in over 50 years, the road to the College World Series will not end at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha. The brand new TD Ameritrade Park in downtown will be the new home of the CWS. If you ever had the opportunity to visit Rosenblatt for the CWS, as I have, it will be sorely missed and will probably always be my favorite ballpark.
However, we do have 64 teams vying for the right to be the first national champion in the new park. To see the entire bracket, and follow the tournament in real-time, CLICK HERE!
Here are my projections for how this year's tournament will play out:
Regional Winners
Charlottesville: Virginia
Los Angeles: UC Irvine
Houston: Rice
Fort Worth: TCU
Columbia: South Carolina
Clemson: Clemson
Tallahassee: Florida State
College Station: Texas A&M
Chapel Hill: North Carolina
Fullerton: Stanford
Nashville: Vanderbilt
Corvallis: Oregon State
Gainesville: Florida
Atlanta: Mississippi State
Austin: Texas
Tempe: Arkansas
Going to Omaha
Virginia over UC Irvine
Rice over TCU
South Carolina over Clemson
Texas A&M over Florida State
North Carolina over Stanford
Vanderbilt over Oregon State
Florida over Mississippi State
Texas over Arkansas
CWS Finals
Florida over Virginia in 3 games
Who do you think will win this year's national championship?
So here's the deal: I started this blog two months ago, in the spring, and I'm finally writing about college baseball. Don't worry, there will be plenty more as we near the postseason on the road to Omaha.
If my beloved Georgia Diamond Dawgs are to start the journey, they must do some work here in the next week. To make the regionals as an at large team, you must be at least one game over .500, which is where the Dawgs stand now at 27-26. After playing the toughest schedule in the nation and being in 4th place in the SEC, Georgia is assured a berth in the SEC Tournament next week in Hoover, AL. With an RPI of 25, conventional wisdom says if Georgia could finish one game above .500, they would be a near lock for the field of 64.
Therein lies the hard part. Georgia's regular season finishes with a three-game series against Top 5 Vanderbilt tonight at 7:30 on ESPNU. They will face a sure-fire top 10 pick in next month's MLB Draft, Sonny Gray. Since the SEC West winner would get the #2 seed in Hoover, Georgia could draw the #5 seed and be in a bracket with Vanderbilt, the SEC East winner, and either South Carolina or Florida, both of which are top 5 in the country.
For Georgia to make it in, they need to do at a minimum:
Scenario 1:
1. Take 2 of 3 from Vandy
2. Win 1 game in the SEC Tournament (double-elimination)
This would leave the Dawgs at 30-29 and should make them a lock. Two wins versus Vanderbilt and possibly another in the first game of the SEC Tourney would boost the Dawgs into the RPI Top 20 with ease.
Scenario 2:
1. Lose the Vandy series (either 1-2 or get swept)
2. MUST WIN the SEC Tournament (and get the automatic bid)
This would be tough as well, because Georgia has never won the SEC Tournament and has gone two-and-out on many occasions, even the College World Series teams. This scenario is much less likely in comparison to Scenario 1.
My Take: As much as I've appreciated the job Coach Perno and the players have done in righting the ship this year, even under very difficult circumstances, I just don't see either scenario above playing out. I don't put anything past the resolve of the Diamond Dawgs, and wouldn't be shocked if they made a way, but I give them about a 30% chance of making the NCAA Regionals. I'll be down at the game tonight, so let's see if we can increase that percentage against one of the best teams in the country.
