The LSU Tigers are heading into Omaha with victories in 25 out of their last 26 games with an overall record of 48-17-1 while going 18-11-1 in the SEC. They are led by second year head coach Paul Mainieri who will be making his second appearance in the College World Series after taking Notre Dame to Omaha in 2002. The Tigers swept through the Baton Rouge Regional with a victory over Texas Southern by a score of 12-1 before beating Southern Miss twice by scores of 13-4 and 11-4. The Tigers followed that up by playing against UC-Irvine where they lost Game 1 by a score of 11-5 then rallying in the top of the ninth in Game 2 to get a 9-7 victory and destroying UC-Irvine in the winner take all game 21-7. Read the rest of this entry »

The North Carolina Tar Heels are making their third straight appearance in the College World Series making the Championship series the last two season where they lost to Oregon State in both years. The Tar Heels are led by 10th year head coach Mike Fox. The Tar Heels enter the College World Series with a 51-12 record after sweeping through the Cary (NC) Regional with victories over Mount St Mary’s (16-8) and knocked off UNC-Wilmington twice (5-1 and 7-3). The Tar Heels were then named the hosts of the Super Regional in Cary where they welcomed Coastal Carolina with two straight victories by scores of 9-4 and 14-4. Read the rest of this entry »

Reckling Park offers proof of the strides the Rice baseball program has made under Wayne Graham, but there are other indications of how expectations have been altered.

In 1995, several Owls gathered at a friend’s apartment to watch the NCAA Tournament selection show, eager to learn where the Owls would land in their first regional appearance. After the Owls were placed in the NCAA South Regional at Baton Rouge, La., an impromptu celebration erupted between the television and the coffee table. Read the rest of this entry »

The Georgia Bulldogs will be heading to their sixth College World Series appearance and head coach Dave Perno’s third with the Bulldogs. They have an overall record of 41-23-1 after winning the SEC Regular Season title with a 20-9-1 record. The Bulldogs lost the first game of the Athens Regional to Lipscomb by a score of 10-7 before running off four victories with a 9-8 victory over Louisville, 14-3 victory over Lipscomb, and winning two straight games over Georgia Tech by scores of 8-0 and 18-6. Last weekend, Georgia hosted NC State for the best of three Super Regional. The Bulldogs won the first game by a score of 11-4 before dropping Game 2 10-6 and winning the winner take all game to get back to Omaha with a 17-8 shellacking of the Wolfpack. Read the rest of this entry »

The Florida State Seminoles will be heading to Omaha for the 19th time in school history and the 13th time under head coach Mark Martin Sr. without winning a title. They have a current record of 54-12 after losing to Bucknell (7-0) in the opener of the Tallahassee Regional before reeling off victories over Florida (17-11), Bucknell (24-9), Tulane (17-8 and 16-7). The Seminoles then hosted Wichita State in the Super Regionals where they lost the first game 10-7 before winning the final two games by scores of 14-4 and 11-4 to qualify for the College World Series. Read the rest of this entry »

The Miami (FL) Hurricanes will be making their 23rd College World Series appearance and 11th under head coach Jim Morris. The Hurricanes enter Omaha with a 52-9 overall record after taking the final two games of the Super Regional against the Arizona Wildcats (6-3 L, 14-10 W, 4-2 W). The Hurricanes swept through the Coral Gables Regional with victories over Bethune Cookman (7-4), Missouri (6-5), and Ole Miss (11-2). Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

DALLAS, TX -The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) has announced today that its inaugural National Coach of the Year Award will go to Fresno State skipper Mike Batesole.  The award, which was voted on by the NCBWA Board of Directors, was chosen from a list that included all Division I Conference Coaches of the Year.

Batesole has led the Bulldogs (42-29) to their College World Series since 1991 and guided Fresno State to Omaha as the first No. 4 seed to advance to the CWS since the 64-team format was introduced in 1999.  He earned Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors for the first time after Fresno State won their third consecutive regular season WAC title.

Read the rest of this entry »

Stanford (39-22-2)

Coached by Mark Marquess (32nd Season)

After losing the first game of the Palo Alto Regional to UC Davis, Stanford won 4 straight, including 2 games over Pepperdine. They won the Fullerton Super Regional in consecutive games with solid pitching and timely hitting, winning by scores of 4-3 and 8-5. Stanford dropped many games they should have won late in the season, losing to Santa Clara, UC Davis, University of San Francisco, and then dropping consecutive series to Cal and Arizona, and were at one point 3 outs away from being upset by UC Davis in an elimination game before their bats came alive. The Cardinal possess a resume of series victories over Arizona State, Texas, Fullerton, UCLA and Oregon State. Read the rest of this entry »

The folks at SportsbyBrooks via the East Valley Tribune report that the pregame “fracas” between ASU’s Brett Wallace and Ike Davis wasn’t real.

“We wanted to do it to loosen up the team a little bit and maybe get the other team to think about other things,” Davis said after the game. “It didn’t work, but it was fun.”

Unfortunately for Arizona State that was about as much fun as they had that night as they fell 12-9 to Fresno State in the rubber game between the two teams.

View the scuffle

For college baseball players everywhere, the word “Omaha” rolls off the tongue like no other.

LSU’s proud army of baseball legacies knows that all too well.

They also know all about dog piles and victory laps around an old ball yard that has seen her share of celebrations.

With the memory of a stirring ninth-inning comeback the night before fresh in their minds and an emotionally charged start as the launching pad, the Tigers punched their ticket to Omaha and the College World Series in explosive and dominating style Monday night.

In the process of romping past shell-shocked Cal Irvine 21-7, LSU also composed the final chapter in the proud and nostalgic history of Alex Box Stadium. Read the rest of this entry »

The Fresno State Bulldogs are headed to Omaha for the first time since 1991. Fresno State stunned the #3 national seed Arizona State Sun Devils 12-9 on Monday night in game three of the Tempe Super Regional. The Bulldogs trailed 2-0 early before a three run home run in the top of the second inning by Fresno State’s Tommy Mendonca gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead. The Bulldogs added a run in the top of the third to take a 4-2 lead but Arizona State answered with runs in the bottom of the third, fourth and fifth innings to retake the lead 5-4.

Fresno State came back in the top of the sixth with one run and tied the game at five and the two teams headed into the seventh inning knotted up. The Bulldogs then exploded for six runs in the top of the seventh with two outs to take a commanding 11-5 lead.

Read the rest of this entry »

The CBB was on The World Ford Sports Show in Pensacola Florida on Saturday. I talked about all the Regionals especially focusing on the Super Regionals involving ACC/SEC teams. The interview is about 20 minutes long and is very interesting as I talked about my expectations for the weekend which have not come true but that is why we make predictions. The full interview is available by clicking here.

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Fresno State 8 Arizona State 6

It was a night of missed opportunities for Arizona State, as the Sun Devils fell 8-6 to Fresno State in Game 2 of the Tempe Super Regional in front of an above-capacity crowd of 4,423 at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. ASU falls to 49-12 on the season and now faces Game 3 tomorrow against the Bulldogs, with the winner advancing to the College World Series.

Playing as the designated visiting team, the Sun Devils stranded 12 runners, including leaving the bases loaded twice, in losing for the first time this postseason. Read the rest of this entry »

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU scored five runs in the ninth inning, including Sean Ochinko’s go-ahead single, as the Tigers rallied to stave off elimination in their super regional series with a 9-7 win over UC Irvine on Sunday.

The deciding third game at LSU’s Alex Box Stadium is Monday night. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Miami (FL) 4 Arizona 2

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) - Yonder Alonso homered and Enrique Garcia pitched six effective innings as Miami defeated Arizona 4-2 and won their Super Regional Series Sunday night.

Miami’s three first inning runs stood as the Hurricanes (52-9) won the series two games to one and advanced to their 23rd College World Series in Omaha, Neb. Read the rest of this entry »