Bulldogs4

There comes that experience factor again. Stanford, like many other teams before them tonight, had a hard time to closing out the game at the end. Definitely just let that game slip away in the ninth inning.

Agree with you. Bullpen was great. Particularly the DP in the second inning when they had the bases loaded with one out. That was huge. Also, Hatcher with the base hit after the year he has had was definitely big. I hope on Friday we can get 5 innings out of Harding and then have the BP throw the 6th and 7th innings. Sims is much better for one or two innings. Provided of course that we are able to have a lead in the game at that juncture. I have said before that the experience of being in Omaha before is such a important piece of this. Last night was a good example of that.

Bullpen is the player (s) of the game. Kept the score at 4-0 until we could finally get the bats going. Boy if you are Virginia, you gotta be shaking your head. Guy throws a no hitter for seven innings and then one pitch changes the whole momentum of the game.

McGarry was unhittable except for one pitch. Baseball is weird game . Momentum can change in matter a few minutes. Let’s Go Dawgs!!! Let’s finish this out.

Tennessee is melting down in the 4th inning though it is a long way to go. 7-4 and they are still batting. I do think the runner was out at home a while ago but it was not enough evidence to overturn it. Had they called him out it would have stood as well. Very close play. Tough break for Tennessee.

I think you see what happened to Arizona pretty often in the CWS. When a team loses an extra inning heartbreaker especially late in the evening they seem to play flat in the next game. Stanford put absolute whooping on their conference rival this afternoon to live another day. Will Vandy start the end of the Cinderella run by NCSTATE tonight?

WOW what a finish. UT with the tying run on third and winning run at first and Sims gets a grounder to second to end the game. 21K’s by our pitching staff. Just incredible. Experience was crucial tonight. Had this been our first rodeo in Omaha I have no doubt that we choke this game away in the ninth. But that experience and quiet confidence carried the team through when things got tense there at the end.

Crud then. I was hoping they would swap the crews from day to day. Can’t believe the afternoon crew is the “B” crew. Oh well. I will suffer through them. Though I need to learn how to sync the radio guys with the TV. I definitely enjoy listening to Jim & Jay.

I agree w/83 that Eduardo Perez is horrible. They need to have replaced him years ago. Most of the guys are really good but listening to him is like hearing fingernails on a chalk board. Ugggghhhh. I hope they have Ben McDonald on our game. He is good and is knowledgeable. Plus he likes State.

He is awful. If he only did it occasionally it would not be so bad but it is incessant and that is what makes it so horrific. Evidently the Vandy fans like because they clap in unison to it. Uggggghhhh

WOW What a game Vandy wins

Zona scratches out a run to send it to the bottom of the ninth. Been a good game.

Interesting, if Vandy holds on here, then Stanford & Arizona will be playing an elimination game Monday. That would be a bit of a surprise IMO.

Weird way to end the NC State - Stanford game. Did not see how that was runner interference. of course it was a 6 run game so it was mostly a moot point. NCST looks good.

NCState up 3-0 over Stanford (shows you what I know LOL). Of course it is early and anything can happen later in a game.

Vanderbilt is a good pick. I think while Tennessee has had a great year the big stage is going be too much for them and I would not be surprised if they go 2 and Q. Experience is huge in Omaha and I think that their run will end pretty quickly there. Stanford is another team that has looked great in the postseason. Otherwise, who knows. It kind of feels wide open and as 83 noted probably 6 of the 8 teams could win it all. Just don’t see UVA or NCState winning it all.

I think that is an accurate statement. He has a great program going at Ole Miss and I can see him finishing out his coaching career in Oxford. As I mentioned previously LSU would be the only place that I could see him going to if he were to leave. Also as you mentioned, unless the team just totally tanks (which I don’t see happening) he is not going to get fired. This will be interesting to see how it plays out in the coming days.

ND outscored us 24-21 in three games but we won the series which is what counts. Tanner’s three run homer in the second inning was the biggest hit of the game. Kavalas’ HR in seventh may still be airborne. Talk about crushing a ball. Reminded me of Reggie Jackson’s HR in the 1971 all star game in Tiger Stadium (the one that hit the transformer). Proud of our guys for the resiliency they have shown this year. After last night, many of us did not feel too good about tonight.

WOW What a game Go Dawgs!!!!!

I think so but he had a good sixth inning. Just avoid BB’s, HBP’s and errors and we should be fine.

No way Sims starts. Just don’t see that. Cerantola , if, and it is a big IF, can just throw strikes for 3 innings. His stuff is good enough but control is the key. A guy like Harding can be very effective against a team like ND because he changes speeds , is left handed. He is best suited for middle innings (3-4 tops). But at the end of the day , we have got to score runs and keep scoring runs. No lead is safe unless it gets ridiculous, which I don’t see happening either way.

Tough way for Ole Miss to lose but still a lot of credit to the team for persevering through a difficult year. Bianco is only 4 years away from MS state retirement (which in his case would be a sweet amount). As I have mentioned, I think LSU would be the only place he would leave for. ND appears to be the better team but that does not always equate to a victory in a given game. For State this afternoon, we need someone to step up and start and give us 3 innings of solid pitching, then Harding for 4 innings and Sims for 2 innings. That will be the formula. ND is going to score runs but we cannot have BB’s/HBP’s. Those are killers. Just throw strikes (sounds easy but I know it is hard). The two huge other keys are clean defense (which we did not have last night) and timely hitting (the most important of all along with pitching). The weather is supposed to great this evening (hot, sunny and then a clear evening). I think that works to our advantage.

Credit to ND. They whipped our butts today but our team is resilient. I think we will bounce back tomorrow. Harding is typically not a starter so I wonder who will start since Fristoe has struggled down the stretch. I know it sounds crazy but might we see Cerantola tomorrow in some form or fashion? Sometimes the worse thing that can happen is for a team to blow out a team like Arky did NC State on Friday. It is hard to follow up scoring 21 runs. NC State earned it.

The evokes thoughts of panic on his part. Why change what has gotten you to this point? Kopps is not a starter. Bad strategy IMO. Plus what happens if he struggles? Who then? It is always dangerous to put a player in a new situation that he has not been in before. For Arkansas it is certainly a risk. We will see how it plays out.

I like Ole Miss’s chances this evening. ND is certainly very capable and I look for them to play much better defense today. That said the keys are throwing strikes and avoiding BB/HBP’s and playing clean defense. On the the offensive side, just continue to take advantage of our opportunities.