CBT - Supers Day One: It Was Mostly Not So "Super"
Other than the UC Irvine upset of Oklahoma State tonight, this was a rather uneventful first day of the Super Regionals. Home teams Texas, Vanderbilt and Louisville all took game one over Houston, Stanford and Kennesaw State, respectively. But given the way the Anteaters played up at Oregon State, I s'pose it's not TOO unexpected that the Anteaters took down OSU, the only home team to lose on Friday. But there is a lot more interesting stuff coming on Saturday, when all 16 remaining teams get their hoe-down on.
In a rather brief manner, here's how Friday played out
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BEST GAME:
- Louisville's 5-3 win over Kennesaw State
This wasn't a complete white-knuckler, but it was an exciting come-from-behind win for the Cards. Kudos to the Owls for having UofL on the ropes and giving them all they want. It has to bode well for their confidence going into game two. This series could very well go three games.
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BIGGEST WIN:
- UC Irvine over Oklahoma State
If you saw how the Anteaters built their 8-1 lead you had to either be, A- Very impressed with UCI's fundamentals, or B- Just shake off the loss if you're OSU and say, "We got beat by smoke and mirrors, we can rebound, no prob."
It was not a good day for the fundamentals of baseball when it came to OSU's play.
It was not a good day for the fundamentals of baseball when it came to OSU's play. Like on this play at the plate from a wild pitch.
Either way, the Anteaters put on a clinic for seven innings of this game and as I tweeted on @ESPNU's twitter page, they gave the Cowboys the heebie-jeebies. Wild pitches, passed balls, throwing errors and misplayed bunts. Hell, the Cowboys even threw wildly on an intentional walk, which led to one of the Anteater runs.
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BIGGEST LOSS:
- Stanford's confidence.
As alluded to above, these guys have to be shell shocked after today's washout. The Cardinal gave up 10 runs in the first three innings on seven walks, two wild pitches, one error and eight hits. It was disastrous for the Cardinal.
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BEST BET TO GO THREE GAMES:
- Texas vs. Houston.
Even though you have to figure the Longhorns will be the "favorites" for game two. But you have to like the Cougars resolve as they displayed in the hostile environment in Baton Rouge last weekend. So you know they won't be freaked out about being down a game at Texas. This should be a helluva game two.
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BEST BET TO END AFTER TWO GAMES:
- Vanderbilt over Stanford.
The Cardinal just have too much youth to lean on here ? they're still a year away if you ask me. But the other big factor is that now they'll have to face Carson Fulmer in game two. If he stays as hot as he's been, it could be a long second game for Stanford as well.
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PLAY OF THE DAY:
- Mark Payton's 2-run dinger
It was only Payton's second home run of the entire season, but how timely was that? His 1st inning two-run shot to right put UT ahead to stay and was the difference-maker for the remainder of the game. Payton has been UT's best hitter all season, and today we saw why. Of course, the capper for Payton's day was when he found out he was drafted by the Yankees as well.
Mark Payton's 1st inning home run set the tone for today's 4-2 win by the Longhorns.
Mark Payton's 1st inning home run set the tone for today's 4-2 win by the Longhorns.
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TOUR DE FORCE:
- Taylor Sparks, UC Irvine.
Talk about a great leadoff hitter. The Anteater firestarter went 4-for-5 including two doubles and two runs scored to pace UCI's 8-4 win over Oklahoma State. The Anteaters aren't a high-volume hitting team, but Sparks came into the game with a representative .297 average and a team-best 27 walks on the year.
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TOUR DE FORCE II:
- Bryan Reynolds, Vanderbilt
Somebody from VU had to be mentioned here as they made quick work of the Cardinal in game one. Reynolds went 4-for-4 with 2RBI and having scored three times. Oh, and like seemingly every batter in the order, he also earned a walk as well.
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THE NOT-READY-FOR-PRIME-TIME PLAYERS:
- Stanford pitchers
Today's start reminded me of the last time the Trees were in the Super Regionals in 2012, where they lost two games at Florida State by a combined 35-8. As pointed out above, the first three innings saw the Cardinal starter John Hochstatter pitch just 1.0 inning with five walks and five earned runs, but only giving up just one hit. Ack!
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LONGEST GAME:
- Stanford-Vandy, 3 hours, 35 minutes.
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SHORTEST GAME:
- Houston-Texas, 3 hours.
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HOTTEST:
- Austin, 93 degrees with 55% humidity. Yuck.
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COOLEST:
- Louisville, 73 degrees at last pitch
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QUICK HITS
- THE UMPS.
Keep in mind that what I've always been told is that the umpires who work the Regionals are eligible to umpire at the College World Series. But those umpires you see this weekend in the Supers aren't eligible to go to work the Series. They like to give those men in black going to work the CWS a week off before the Series begins.
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- TO QUOTE CHARLIE SHEEN, "WINNING!"
For the record, in 2013, seven of the eight teams that won game one of the Super Regionals advanced to Omaha. In 2012, six of the eight did. So you can see how important it is for teams to get a W in game one this weekend.
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- THE DREADED GLITCH AWARD.
There were a couple of faux pas in today's broadcasts. The biggest had to be Carter Blackburn's explaining how the four previous teams to win a Regional in their first appearance had all "won Super Regionals and gone to Omaha."
None of the teams before 1999 had to go through the Super Regional round.
None of the teams before 1999 had to go through the Super Regional round.
But of course, the other four teams to win Regionals in their first try did NOT have to play Super Regionals. The Supers didn't come around until 1999 with the expansion of the NCAA tournament to 64 teams.
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- BURDI IN HAND
The last time Louisville has blown a lead in the 9th inning was May of 2012. In other words, before Nick Burdi came around and became the Cards closer. Burdi picked up save No. 17 on the year by pitching a perfect 9th inning with no hits.
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- TOUGH PINCH HITS
There were a couple of odd late-inning at-bats today, including Kennesaw State's Chris Erwin, a freshman who had just 22 at bats all season, but was brought in to face Nick Burdi and his 98mph heat as the last batter of the night. He flew out to third base.
In Houston's 4-2 loss to Texas, seldom-used Jacob Campbell strode to the dish in the 9th inning with two out. Campbell also had just 22 at-bats this season when he was inserted as a pinch hitter and meekly flied out to left field to end the game.
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- ASSHOLE TWEET OF THE DAY
This one from Matt Lane. Apparently he's an Auburn fan.
WorstTweet
Okay, it's past 1am left coast time, 4am eastern media time.
That's enough.
G'night.
CBT - Supers Day One: It Was Mostly Not So "Super"