The college baseball playoffs got off to a fairly predictable start last weekend. Of the 16 Regionals, 13 of the #1 seeds made it to next weekend’s Super-Regionals. Only Georgia Tech, Oklahoma and UC Irvine were unable to survive while hosting their own region. Likewise, only 2 of the national seeds failed to survive and advance (#6 UCI Anteaters and #7 Oklahoma Sooners).
Who cares if they were a #2 seed; I wouldn't bet against the Cavaliers!
The least surprising upset over the Regional Weekend had to be UC Irvine losing to the Virginia Cavaliers. Even though the Cavs were the #2 seed in the Irvine Regional, they just won the ACC Conference Tournament (arguably the best conference in the nation) and were ranked #7 overall in the final regular season poll. In fact, the Irvine Regional was widely regarded as the toughest region in the country. It wasn’t a huge shock that the Anteaters fell in to Virginia—it was surprising that they were only able to score 1 run total in 2 games against the Cavs. Virginia will be matched-up against the Ole Miss Rebels in the Super Regionals (in Oxford) next weekend. I don’t care who was a #1 seed and who was a #2 seed—my money would be on Virginia.
In Norman, the Arkansas Razorbacks showed the world that pitching is overrated. Well, not really—but considering they put up double digit runs in each of their 3 Regional games, they blew the competition out of the water. In their two games against the region’s hosts (Oklahoma), they won 17-6 and 11-0. Winning each game by 11 runs on the road is a fairly impressive way to advance to the Super-Regionals. But if they’re only going to score 13 runs per game, they’re going to be in some serious trouble against Florida State next weekend. In case you missed it, they hung a record breaking 37 runs on Ohio State to win the Tallahassee Regional. Yes, you read that right: 37 runs. Even Bobby Bowden would have been proud of that score!
The final team to lose their Regional at home was Georgia Tech. Of the teams that were upset in the first weekend, the Yellow Jackets definitely put up the best fight. After losing their second game of the weekend—the battled back to force a 7th and decisive game of the Regional in Atlanta. But at the end of the day, it was too much to overcome as Southern Miss finished them off on Monday. In the 3 head-to-head games between the Golden Eagles and the Ramblin’ Wreck, it was simply a case of getting to 10 runs. The winner of their series had 10 runs or more, the loser had 8 runs or less. Southern Miss is going to need better pitching if they want to be successful in their first Super Regional in school history. If not, Florida is going to have a field day next weekend.
Here’s how the Super Regionals look for next weekend. Remember, each series is a Best of 3 with the winner earning a trip to Omaha and the College World Series. The Super Regionals will take place either on June 5-7 or June 6-8 (depending on the series).
2009 Super Regionals
TCU Horned Frogs at Texas Longhorns (#1 Overall Seed)
Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles at Florida Gators (#8 National Seed)
Clemson Tigers at Arizona St. Sun Devils (#5 National Seed)
East Carolina Pirates at North Carolina Tar Heels (#4 National Seed)
Louisville Cardinals at Cal State Fullerton Titans (#2 National Seed)
Arkansas Razorbacks at Florida St. Seminoles
Virginia Cavaliers at Ole Miss Rebels
Rice Owls at LSU Tigers (#3 National Seed)
For a complete look at Regionals and Super Regionals thus far, the NCAA has a great interactive bracket.
Check back later this week as we’ll be breaking down all 8 Super Regional series. If you’re new around here, this might be a good time to subscribe for updates (via e-mail, Facebook, etc.)
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