[jstevenson]

Many people get very excited about March Madness, and a bunch of basketball schools suffering huge upsets, work pools, and spending a couple weeks of Thursday/Friday hitting the "BOSS" button CBS's website.

But for a rare breed of us, it's not about March, it's about June.



What is this you say? Welcome to the NCAA Men's Baseball Tournament. A four weekend event (with some midweek games), that determines college baseball's national champion. Though this tournament may seem a bit weird to you if you've never watched it before, so we'll try to explain with this thread.

The tournament

The NCAA Baseball Tournament is essentially a four-round tournament:

Regionals - 64 teams
Super Regionals - 16 teams
College World Series - 8 teams
College World Series Final - 2 teams

64 teams enter, only one leaves. It's double elimination IN EACH ROUND. So you can technically win the tournament with as many as four losses (if you lose once in each round).


Each conference has an automatic bid into the tournament. Most conferences reward this to the tournament champion. Some conferences (like the Pac-12) do not have a conference tournament and/or choose to reward their automatic bid to the regular season champion (which sort of makes the conference tournament worthless)

Here's a list of this year's conference champions. This of course effects the bubble dramatically when a low seed in a conference tournament (such as Creighton this year, the #8 seed in the MVC) knocks off a champion who would qualify for an at-large bid:



2012 Conference Automatic bids
Dayton - Atlantic 10
Georgia Tech - ACC Champion
Stony Brook - AMEast Champion
Belmont - Atlantic Sun Champion
Purdue - Big Ten Champion
Missouri - Big XII Champion
St John's - Big East Champion
Coastal Carolina - Big South Champion
Cal State Fullerton - Big West
UNC Wilmington - Colonial Champion
UAB - Conference USA Champion
Utah Valley - Great West Champion
Valpraiso - Horizon Champion
Cornell - Ivy League Champion
Manhattan - MAAC Champion
Kent State - MAC Champion
Bethune-Cookman - MEAC Champion
Creighton - MVC Champion
New Mexico - MWC Champion
Sacred Heart - NEC Champion
Austin Peay - OVC Champion
Arizona - PAC-12 Regular Season Champion
Army - Patriot Champion
Mississippi St - SEC Championship
Samford - SoCon Championship
UT Arlington - Southland Champion
Oral Roberts - Summit Champion
Louisiana-Monroe - Sun Belt Champion
Prairie View A&M - SWAC Champion
Fresno State- WAC Championship

At-Large bids

As you can see, roughly 30 of the spots are taken by conference champions, leaving the second half of the field for at-large selections. This is generally selected through RPI, record, conference performance, SoS, etc.

Also, if you get in by winning a weak conference, just like the NCAA Basketball tournament, that doesn't assure you a high seed or an easy regional. You may be a four seed, and you will probably get sent to the closest regional possible. This isn't always possible, but geography does have a large impact on seeding.

June 1st-4th - REGIONALS - 64 teams

The NCAA tournament begins with 16 regionals, at 16 home-school (or nearby in the case of teams with bad home facilities) locations. The 16 host locations are chosen on a criteria of: regular season performance, RPI, conference regular season/tournament championships, fair distribution across region, facility, expected fan support/bid (aka, how much money is paid to host said regional), rewarding teams who played tough schedules etc.

It's also worth noting that you DO NOT have to be a #1 seed in your regional to host. The NCAA sometimes sends teams deserving of a Top 16 seed on the road, if their facility doesn't work, their bid wasn't good enough, or they want to promote baseball a region with no other regionals.

Note the NCAA announces host sites on Sunday before the regionals. The full field is announced Monday morning at Noon EST on ESPN.

Here's this year's 16 host sites:

Baton Rouge, La. — LSU (43-16)
Chapel Hill, N.C. — North Carolina (44-14)
Charlottesville, Va. — Virginia (38-17)
College Station, Texas — Texas A&M (42-16)
Columbia, S.C. — South Carolina (40-17)
Coral Gables, Fla. — Miami (Fla.) (36-21)
Eugene, Ore. — Oregon (42-16)
Gainesville, Fla. – Florida (42-18)
Gary, Ind. — Purdue (44-12)
Houston, Texas — Rice (40-17)
Los Angeles, Calif. — UCLA (41-14)
Palo Alto, Calif. — Stanford (37-16)
Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina State (39-17)
Tallahassee, Fla. — Florida State (43-15)
Tucson, Ariz. — Arizona (37-17)
Waco, Texas — Baylor (44-14)

Purdue is hosting in Gary as their brand new ballpark isn't ready for the tournament this year. Coral Gables is a confusing selection as well.

THE REST OF THE FIELD

Will be announced, including seeding and national seeds, tomorrow at noon EST on ESPN.

Seeding

Each regional has four teams, and they are seeded 1, 2, 3, 4. The next section will describe the tournament process.

There are also eight (8) National Seeds, with specific seedings (1-8). These teams cannot meet each other until the College World Series in Omaha, and their regionals/super regionals are seeded against each other (ie, if the #1 national seed, and the #8 national seed both make it to Omaha, they would play there in the first game).

National Seeds have an added bonus of being guaranteed to host a Super Regional at their home park if they win their regional



Regional Tournament Example Schedule - WILL BE UPDATED

The #1 seed can elect if it wants to play the early game or the night game on day one of the regional. Most teams will select the early game, though weather may change that in the deep south.

Friday - June 1st
Game 1: #1 seed vs. #4 Seed
Game 2: #2 Seed vs. #3 seed

Saturday - June 2nd
Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner

Sunday - June 3rd
Game 5: Game 4 loser vs. Game 3 winner
Game 6: Game 5 winner vs. Game 4 winner

Monday - June 4th
Game 7: Game 5 winner vs Game 4 winner (IF NECESSARY)

Pretty standard double elimination bracket. The team last team standing without two losses is the Regional Champion and advances to the Super Regional round.

June 8th-11th - Super Regionals - 16 teams reamining

Super Regionals are Best of 3 series played between two regional winners. If a National Seed wins its regional, it hosts. If the national seed is eliminated during the regional, the Super Regional is awarded based on the bids that come in. Typically this will favor the other team that hosted a regional, but if a Super Regional contains two teams that were not hosts, it can get fun and end with games played in interesting/weak parks.

Super Regionals begin with one game played per day, the three game series finished over three days.

The first four super regionals begin on Friday, June 8th. The second four begin on Saturday June 9th. (the start dates correspond with which day of the College World Series you would start on) Each team that wins the three-game Super Regional series then advances to the college world series.



June 15th-June 23/24th - COLLEGE WORLD SERIES - 8 Teams remaining

The College World Series is hosted annually in Omaha, Nebraska, at TD Ameritrade Park (a brand new downtown ballpark that replaced the aging but classic Rosenblatt Stadium by the Omaha Zoo).

The best way to explain this, is imagine if you had two regionals occurring and intertwined at the same location, there are two separate brackets of four teams playing a double elimination tournament each. The winner of those brackets then meet in a Best of three series. Essentially we are repeating the Regional/Super regional process with the final 8 teams



whew....

That's a brief run-down. I'm reserving the post below to move some of this info down as we get the seedings tomorrow and i update the schedule

Of course, this year i'll be missing the whole CWS due to an out of the country vacation, but I'm excited to share my love for this time of year with ya'll

[jstevenson]

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES (JUNE 15TH-26TH/27TH) SCHEDULE
(all times Eastern)

Bracket One:

Friday June 15th:
Game 1 5pm:
4. Stony Brook vs. 1. UCLA (#2 National Seed) - ESPN2

Game 2 9pm:
1. Arizona vs. 1. Florida State (#3 national seed) - ESPN2

Sunday June 17th
Elimination Game Game 5 5pm:
Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2 - ESPN2

Winner's Bracket Game 6 9pm:
Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2 - ESPN2

Tuesday June 19th:
Elimination Game Game 9 8pm:
Winner Game 5 vs Loser Game 6 - ESPN

Thursday June 21st
Bracket Final Game 11 5pm:
Winner Game 9 vs Winner Game 6 - ESPN2

Friday June 22nd:
If Necessary Bracket Final Game 13 5pm:
Winner Game 9 vs Winner Game 6 (if necessary) - ESPN2

---------winner of above double elimination bracket meets winner of below bracket in Best of 3 College World Series Final

Bracket Two:

Saturday June 16th:
Game 3 5pm:
3. Kent State vs. 2. Arkansas - ESPN

Game 4 9pm:
1. South Carolina (#8 National Seed) vs. 1. Florida (#1 National Seed) - ESPN

Monday June 18th:
Elimination Game 7 5pm:
Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 - ESPN2

Winner's Bracket Game 8 9pm:
Winner Game 3 vs Winner Game 4 - ESPN2

Wednesday June 20th:
Elimination Game 10 8pm
Winner Game 7 vs Loser Game 8 - ESPN

Thursday June 21st:
Bracket Final Game 12 9pm
Winner Game 10 vs Winner Game 8 - ESPN2

Friday June 22nd
"If necessary" Bracket Final Game 14 9pm
Winner Game 10 vs Winner Game 8 - ESPN




---------------------PREVIOUS ROUNDS BELOW


Super Regionals (ALL BEST OF THREE):

Saturday-Monday (aka, teams that start on Day 2 of CWS)

Gainesville Super Regional - ESPNU

1. NC State (0-2)
at
1. Florida (#1 national seed) (2-0)

Game 1, Florida 7, NC State 1
Game 2 Florida 9, NC State 8

Florida advances to College World Series

---------------- Florida plays South Carolina at 9pm EST Saturday night at College World Series

Columbia Super Regional ESPNU (Game 3 ESPN2)

2. Oklahoma (0-2)
at
1. South Carolina (#8 National Seed) (2-0)

Game 1 South Carolina 5, Oklahoma 0
Game 2 South Carolina 5, Oklahoma 1

South Carolina advances to College World Series

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Eugene Super Regional - ESPNU

3. Kent State (2-1)
at
1. Oregon (#5 National Seed) (1-2)

Game 1 Kent State 7, Oregon 6
Game 2 Oregon 3, Kent State 2
Game 3 Kent State 3, Oregon 2

Kent State advances to College World Series

---------------- Kent State plays below below super winner at CWS on Saturday at 4pm EST

Waco Super Regional - ESPNU (Game 3 on ESPN2)

2. Arkansas (2-1)
at
1. Baylor (#4 National Seed) (1-2)

Game 1 Baylor 8, Arkansas 1
Game 2 Arkansas 5, Baylor 4
Game 3 Arkansas 1, Baylor 0

Arkansas advances to College World Series


---------Teams above this line cannot meet teams below this line until CWS Final-------------

Friday-Sunday (aka, teams that start on Day 1 of CWS)

Tallahassee Super Regional - ESPN2HD

1. Stanford (0-2)
at
1. Florida State (#3 National Seed) (2-0)

Game 1 Florida State 17, Stanford 1
Game 2 Florida State 18, Stanford 7

Florida State advances to College World Series

---------------- Florida State plays Arizona in first game at College World Series

Tuscon Super Regional - ESPN2

3. St John's (0-2)
at
1. Arizona (2-0)

Game 1 Arizona 7, St. John's 6
Game 2 Arizona 7, St. John's 4

Arizona advances to College World Series

--------------------------------------------------------

Baton Rouge Super Regional - ESPN2HD

4. Stony Brook (2-1)
at
1. LSU (#7 National Seed) (1-2)

Game 1 LSU 5, Stony Brook 4
Game 2 Stony Brook 3, LSU 1
Game 3 Stony Brook 7, LSU 2

Stony Brook advances to College World Series

---------------- Stony Brook plays UCLA in game one at CWS

Los Angeles Super Regional ESPN2 (Game 1 on ESPN)

2. TCU (0-2)
at
1. UCLA (#2 National Seed) (2-0)

Game 1 UCLA 6, TCU 2
Game 2 UCLA 4, TCU 1

UCLA ADVANCES TO COLLEGE WORLD SERIES



PREVIOUS ROUNDS BELOW



REGIONAL ROUND BELOW - Regionals Completed

Gainesville, Fla. Regional - ESPN3/WatchESPN

Regional Champion
1. Florida (#1 National Seed) (3-0)

Eliminated:
2. Georgia Tech (2-2)
3. College of Charleston (1-2)
4. Bethune-Cookman (0-2)

Florida will NC State in the Gainesville Super Regional:

Raleigh, N.C. Regional

Regional Champion:
1. North Carolina State (3-1)

Eliminated:
2. Vanderbilt (2-2)
3. NC-Wilmington (1-2)
4. Sacred Heart (0-2)


------------------Winner of above 2 regionals, plays winner of below 2 at College World Series-----------------------------------

Charlottesville, Va. Regional



Regional Champion:
2. Oklahoma (4-1)

Eliminated:
3. Appalachian State (2-2)
1. Virginia (1-2)
4. Army (0-2)


Oklahoma will play South Carolina in Columbia Super Regional

Columbia, S.C. Regional - ESPNU

Regional Champion:
1. South Carolina (#8 National Seed) (3-0)

Eliminated:
2. Clemson (2-2)
3. Coastal Carolina (1-2)
4. Manhattan (0-2)


------------------------------------------------------------

Eugene, Ore. Regional

Regional Champion:
1. Oregon (#5 National Seed) (3-0)

Eliminated:
4. Austin Peay (2-2)
2. Cal State Fullerton (1-2)
3. Indiana State (0-2)


Kent State plays @ Oregon in Super Regionals

Gary, Ind. Regional - BIG TEN NETWORK / BTN2GO


Regional Champion:
3. Kent State (3-0)

Eliminated:
2. Kentucky (2-2)
1. Purdue (1-2)
4. Valparaiso (0-2)


------------------Winner of above 2 regionals, plays winner of below 2 at College World Series-----------------------------------

Houston, Texas Regional

Regional Champion:
2. Arkansas (3-0)

Eliminated:
3. Sam Houston State (2-2)
1. Rice (1-2)
4. Prairie View (0-2)


Arkansas will play in the Waco Regional vs. Baylor

Waco, Texas Regional

Regional Champion
1. Baylor (#4 National seed) (4-1)

Eliminated:
2. Dallas Baptist (2-2)
4. Oral Roberts (1-2)
3. UT-Arlington (0-2)




-----------------------LEFT SIDE OF CWS BRACKET ABOVE-----------------------------------------

The teams above this line cannot play teams below this line until the College World Series final. Imagine these as opposite sides of the bracket

-----------------------RIGHT SIDE OF CWS BRACKET BELOW------------------------------------------------

Tallahassee, Fla. Regional - ESPN3/WATCHESPN

Regional Champion:
1. Florida State (#3 National Seed) (2-0)

Eliminated:
3. Samford (2-1)
2. Mississippi State (1-2)
4. UAB (0-2)

Florida State will host Stanford in the Tallahassee Super Regional:

Palo Alto, Calif Regional -ESPN3/WATCHESPN

Regional Champion:
1. Stanford (3-0)

Eliminated:
2. Pepperdine (2-2)
4. Fresno State (1-2)
3. Michigan State (0-2)


------------------Winner of above 2 regionals, plays winner of below 2 at College World Series-----------------------------------

Tucson, Ariz. - ESPNU


Regional Champion:
1. Arizona (3-0)

Eliminated:
3. Louisville (2-2)
4. Missouri (1-2)
2. New Mexico State (0-2)


Arizona will play St. John's in the Tuscon Super Regional

Chapel Hill, N.C.

Regional Champion:
3. St John's (3-0)

Eliminated:
1. North Carolina (#6 National Seed) (2-2)
2. East Carolina (1-1)
4. Cornell (0-2)


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Baton Rouge, La. Regional - COX SPORTS NETWORK (WTF?)

Regional Champion:
1. LSU (#7 National Seed) (3-0)

Eliminated:
2. Oregon State (2-2)
4. UL-Monroe (1-2)
3. Belmont (0-2)


LSU will host Stony Brook in the Baton Rouge Super Regional

Coral Gables, Fla. Regional

Regional Champion:
4. Stony Brook (4-1)

Eliminated
2. Central Florida (2-2)
3. Missouri State (1-2)
1. Miami (Fla.) (0-2)


------------------Winner of above 2 regionals, plays winner of below 2 at College World Series-----------------------------------

Los Angeles, Calif Regional

Regional Champion:
1. UCLA (#2 National Seed)(3-0)

Eliminated:
4. Creighton (2-2)
3. New Mexico (1-2)
2. San Diego (0-2)

UCLA will host the winner of the College Station regional in the Los Angeles Super Regional

College Station, Texas Regional

Regional Champion:
2. TCU (4-1)

Eliminated:
3. Ole Miss (2-2)
1. Texas A&M (1-2)
4. Dayton (0-2)

[jstevenson]

And just for a little taste of the zany fun of college baseball and it's smallball ways, here's a perfect triple steal executed by Vanderbilt against Florida during the SEC tourney... SO GOOD

http://www.secondemand.com/Theater/T...8-5e94db3212ce

[jstevenson]

The NCAA Tournament Selection show is airing right now on ESPNU and WatchESPN.com, will be updating the main thread with pairings as we go

[GoldenEye 007]

Sounds good. Thanks for the informative OP!

I'll actually be in South Florida during the Miami regional which features UCF, but I don't think my schedule will allow seeing a game.

[Silkworm]

And just for a little taste of the zany fun of college baseball and it's smallball ways, here's a perfect triple steal executed by Vanderbilt against Florida during the SEC tourney... SO GOOD http://www.secondemand.com/Theater/T...8-5e94db3212ce

Ugh... will not watch this again. I saw it live on TV and could not believe the collapse that occurred in that 9th inning. At least MSU beat Vandy ;-) (was also impressed with the notable MSU fan attendance -- perhaps nothing new but it was obvious that MSU's fans were there in force for the championship game). Anyway, at least UF is hosting a regional and has a chance to make it to Omaha. Nothing guaranteed but everything is even now and hopefully they've put that Vandy game in the past (though it would be nice for UF to get another crack at Vandy in the super regional and perhaps kill the beaver mojo).

[jstevenson]

Ugh... will not watch this again. I saw it live on TV and could not believe the collapse that occurred in that 9th inning. At least MSU beat Vandy ;-) (was also impressed with the notable MSU fan attendance -- perhaps nothing new but it was obvious that MSU's fans were there in force for the championship game). Anyway, at least UF is hosting a regional and has a chance to make it to Omaha. Nothing guaranteed but everything is even now and hopefully they've put that Vandy game in the past (though it would be nice for UF to get another crack at Vandy in the super regional and perhaps kill the beaver mojo).

you guys have a great path. Outside of Georgia Tech's hot streak, really like your chances, even with Vandy in the way. 3-game series in Gainesville would go your way

[jstevenson]

here's a crazy stat, if everything went just right, Sacred Heart could win the college wold series with a final record of 35-34.

What is the craziest underdog story in all of Men's College Athletics? I point you to the 2008 tournament, where 4 seed (equiv to a 13-16 seed in March Madness) Fresno State won the whole thing. Their final record of 47-31 represented the most losses ever by a national champion:

http://baseball.about.com/b/2008/06/...rdog-story.htm

[outunderthestars]

Alright.... For my upset pick in the first round: Samford. They are swinging an incredible bat right now, and have some truly lights out pitching when they are healthy (which they are).

The Southern Conference has some damn fine baseball teams this year. App State won 2 of 3 at LSU, beat Duke, and was ten feet away from beating South Carolina in Columbia.

EDIT: Great work on this thread! :D

[jstevenson]

Alright.... For my upset pick in the first round: Samford. They are swinging an incredible bat right now, and have some truly lights out pitching when they are healthy (which they are). The Southern Conference has some damn fine baseball teams this year. App State won 2 of 3 at LSU, beat Duke, and was ten feet away from beating South Carolina in Columbia. EDIT: Great work on this thread! :D

a friend and I want to put together a June Madness bracket site, hopefully next year.

I like the Samford pick. FSU seems vulnerable right now.

I definitely think Charlottesville is the hardest regional, I think any of those four teams could win, and Army upsetting Virginia and Brian O'Conner in game one wouldn't be a huge surprise.

Lookout for Indiana State in the Eugene regional as well as Kentucky in Gary. Purdue is a great team, but I think their hot streak from earlier this year elevated them. 6 of their 12 losses have been in the last month. Won't cut it in playoffs.

Couple teams that might drop their first games are LSU and UCLA. UL-Monroe (vs LSU) is a solid 4 seed, and Creighton's (vs UCLA) ace is downright nasty, lefty, and they are uber hot at the plate after a cold first 40 games.

[outunderthestars]

Charlottesville is a tough regional to pick. As someone who has watched the entire App State season, they have one incredible starting pitcher and a decent bullpen, but their other starters have talent but not alot of consistency yet. Ryan Arrowood should be starting game 1 for App and just sent the school record for all time wins. He could be a MLB caliber pitcher if he can learn to not get rattled after a walk/hit.

That said, they have the ability to string together hits and get runners on base, but sometimes get a little sloppy in their base running and tend to get thrown out alot. It is also their first NCAA appearance in 25 years, so they may be a bit nervous.

Sadly I will be sea kayaking this weekend so I will miss the games. :(

[jstevenson]

Couple Gary regional tidbits:

1. Big Ten Network (and BTN2Go) will air the Gary regional in its entirety. Should be a good second round game between Purdue/Kentucky

2. Big Ten suspended Purdue 2B Charles for one game due to his malicious slide against Indiana and for throwing a punch afterwards.

[max_cool]

Post season ban for ASU means I just don't give damn this year.

[jstevenson]

Post season ban for ASU means I just don't give damn this year.

yeah, that's kind of rough, you guys are always so awesome. I went to a regional out there once, good times. My sister is a student there too.

[Screaming_Gremlin]

I feel pretty good about Arkansas's regional. We could have been stuck with a lot rougher grouping. Just hope the team puts up a better showing than we did during the SEC tournament.

[jstevenson]

I feel pretty good about Arkansas's regional. We could have been stuck with a lot rougher grouping. Just hope the team puts up a better showing than we did during the SEC tournament.

I miss Dave Van Horn :-(


Also of note, Baton Rouge regional gets TV coverage, but you probably don't get the channel:

Cox Sports Television and Jumbo Sports Network have been awarded the exclusive television rights to the 2012 NCAA Baseball Baton Rouge Regional, the NCAA announced Wednesday.

All Baton Rouge Regional games (up to seven, if necessary) from Alex Box Stadium, will be carried live on Cox Sports Television (CST), as well as Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS).

Friday's game between Belmont and second-seeded Oregon State will start at 2 p.m. CT, with top-seed and host LSU facing ULM at 7 p.m. CT.

[cashman]

WOOO COLLEGE BASEBALL OH YEAH!!! GO LON- oh. :(

[jstevenson]

WOOO COLLEGE BASEBALL OH YEAH!!! GO LON- oh. :(

hahaha, right there with you for the last 4 years. sigh.

Texas might've owned us in football, but we had your god damn number in baseball.

[Chumly]

Haven't picked up any tickets yet. Been working a lot and will probably during the CWS so its going to be painful to get in time for a few games.

[impirius]

My wife and I are heading down to Columbia tomorrow to watch the NCAA State Championship Tournament.

Go Gamecocks!

[jstevenson]

My wife and I are heading down to Columbia tomorrow to watch the NCAA State Championship Tournament. Go Gamecocks!

Now I hope Manhattan wins just to fuck with you.

(I remember hosting a regional as a national seed and being upset by Manhattan in game one with Joba Chamberlain on the mound for us... sigh)

Those trophies sure are pretty though, very cool

[impirius]

Now I hope Manhattan wins just to fuck with you. (I remember hosting a regional as a national seed and being upset by Manhattan in game one with Joba Chamberlain on the mound for us... sigh) Those trophies sure are pretty though, very cool

Man, I'm already fretting about the Manhattan game tomorrow. They have a pair of very good, very durable pitchers and finished their season on a 32-11 tear.

I remember the postseason you're talking about... Miami came out of the Lincoln regional, cruised to Omaha, crushed Oregon State, then watched them win it all. We made it to the supers in Athens, hit 5 home runs in a row(!!) to win the first game, then promptly lost the series.

[jstevenson]

St. John's with the first regional win of the year

Best resource for up-to-date scores: http://www.d1baseball.com

[impirius]

The rain delay in Columbia is killing me!

Not looking great for the SEC so far. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are both in trouble.


edit: Samford just made it 2-0 over MSU in the 8th. Ruh roh!

[jstevenson]

The rain delay in Columbia is killing me! Not looking great for the SEC so far. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are both in trouble. edit: Samford just made it 2-0 over MSU in the 8th. Ruh roh!

Samford now up 5-0... could be a big upset

[Screaming_Gremlin]

Not looking great for the SEC so far. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are both in trouble.

Seriously, Arkansas is down 4-2 to Sam Houston St, although it is still only in the top of the 6th.

[Meier]

FSU were amazing during the regular season but absolutely flamed out in the ACC Tournament. As long as Mike Martin is the coach, I can't really see us winning it.. he's cursed. Maybe excising the Jamey Shouppe tumor will help us in the tournament.

[jstevenson]

FSU were amazing during the regular season but absolutely flamed out in the ACC Tournament. As long as Mike Martin is the coach, I can't really see us winning it.. he's cursed. Maybe excising the Jamey Shouppe tumor will help us in the tournament.

as Mississippi St shows, sometimes your conference tourney doesn't matter a lot when it comes to the regionals

[jstevenson]

Purdue has to love watching the 2 and 3 seeds just burn through their bullpen in this 15 inning marathon. Chances of the Boilers reaching the supers keep going up

[GoldenEye 007]

UCF took game 1 against Missouri St. in Coral Gables 2-1 with a 2 hour rain/lightening delay at the top of the 9th inning.

Miami is playing now and they are down 2-0 in the top of the 3rd to Stony Brook last time I checked.

[impirius]

We waited an hour and a half through a rain delay to watch the final seven minutes of play. Totally worth it. The postseason win streak continues!

Meanwhile, Kent State is up 7-6 on Kentucky in the 21st inning...

[Silkworm]

Big congrats to Crawford in throwing a no hitter today for the Gators in a 4-0 victory over Bethune-Cookman. Awesome job! :-)

[impirius]

Big congrats to Crawford in throwing a no hitter today for the Gators in a 4-0 victory over Bethune-Cookman. Awesome job! :-)

Seriously impressive. First postseason no-hitter since 1991! Who are you guys throwing against GT tomorrow?

Both USC and Manhattan had no-hitters going through 5.5 innings. Manhattan's submarine pitcher was throwing in the high 60s to low 70s, but we just kept hitting everything to the warning track. We finally broke through in the 6th inning, and Manhattan got their first hit with 2 outs in the eighth. It would have been a very quick game if not for the thunderstorm.

Kentucky had the tying run in scoring position, but couldn't bring him home. Game over! Wish there was video for that one.

[Silkworm]

Seriously impressive. First postseason no-hitter since 1991! Who are you guys throwing against GT tomorrow?

Not sure yet. Speculation is that it would be either Randall or Johnson. Playing GT should prove interesting (and a bit worrisome). Go Gators! :-)

[GoldenEye 007]

Miami goes down and is upset by Stony Brook 10-2.

SB will face UCF in the winner's bracket. Miami has a short turnaround as their game against Missouri St is at 2PM.

Apparantely SB has now won 23 out of their last 24. So it should be interesting...

[jstevenson]

Poor Kentucky, they should've been hosting. Instead Miami does and get rocked by Stony Brook, and Kentucky has to play an uber hot / good 3-seed who takes them 21 innings to lose to. 2nd longest game in post-season history

Just horrific luck.

Plenty of great pitching, Crawford is only the 7th no hitter in the postseason, and he only faced the minimum, giving up one walk that was erased. So close to perfection.

And Baylor loses. Not a big surprise there. Bears used their best baseball up already. I don't think they escape their own regional

[Gamecocks625]

A win over Clemson would be so sweet tomorrow.

[impirius]

Poor Kentucky, they should've been hosting. Instead Miami does and get rocked by Stony Brook, and Kentucky has to play an uber hot / good 3-seed who takes them 21 innings to lose to. 2nd longest game in post-season history Just horrific luck.

I really thought they'd get a 1 seed in Coral Gables after the regional sites were announced. What a miserable start to the postseason.

Austin Peay just tied it up with Oregon. 4-4 mid 7th.

Definitely keeping an eye on the winners bracket game between UCF and Stony Brook tomorrow as well as NC State vs. Vanderbilt.

[jstevenson]

I really thought they'd get a 1 seed in Coral Gables after the regional sites were announced. What a miserable start to the postseason. Austin Peay just tied it up with Oregon. 4-4 mid 7th. Definitely keeping an eye on the winners bracket game between UCF and Stony Brook tomorrow as well as NC State vs. Vanderbilt.

I kinda like purdue being delayed until 8:30 PST / 11:30 EST though, gives us two night caps here with Zona/Mizzou and Boilers/Valpraiso

[impirius]

Why does Mizzou wear Under Armour in baseball and Nike in football? Make up your minds!

They aren't wasting any time jumping on Arizona.


edit: Austin Peay 5-4 Oregon, top 8!

[TheNatural]

The Ville with a nice win today, hopefully it's a spark to turn around an underachieving season.

[impirius]

Peay! You had it and you lost it! Oregon wins 6-5 in Eugene.

Time to rest up for the Clempocalypse tomorrow.

[Dosia]

Just wanted to drop in and say Go Cats!

[jstevenson]

Just wanted to drop in and say Go Cats!

your infield is crazy.

[jstevenson]

updated the schedule to reflect what's going down tomorrow (Saturday)

giving Purdue and Arizona the wins now... sorry if I jinx them, but both look to have their games in hand

[jstevenson]

Looks like Manhattan will be the first 2-n-BBQ team this year.

[GoldenEye 007]

Wow, Miami getting rocked in the first inning by Missouri St. 7-0.

They fool around some more, and they'll get bounced in game 2 of their own regional.

[jstevenson]

Wow, Miami getting rocked in the first inning by Missouri St. 7-0. They fool around some more, and they'll get bounced in game 2 of their own regional.

Such a horrific regional host pick by the committee. What the hell were they smoking

[Four_Chamber]

Resident Stony Brook Seawolves fan here

Felt good to represent NE baseball with domination of da U yesterday. It'd be awesome to get through this round though. Our sports are really getting on the national map now and getting to the Super Regionals would be another feather in our cap. Looking forward to tonight... alas I'm working though.

[GoldenEye 007]

Such a horrific regional host pick by the committee. What the hell were they smoking

You can blame UCF partly for that one. Had they not went into a little slump in the last month of the season and in the CUSA tourney, we may have taken that host spot from them.

3rd inning now and it's at least 9-0.