Dawg83

Georgia wins the track meet. State’s inability to develop pitching depth on this team is why their season is probably over by Monday. I really struggle to see a path to State winning both of these next two games. If you can’t hold a 7-0 lead with Valincius on the mound, or hold a two run lead with only six outs to get, how on earth can anyone expect the next two days to go better, barring some weird “that’s baseball” type shenanigans.

This has been one of the crazier postseason games I can ever remember. State’s bullpen is pretty much useless at this point in the year.

If it goes three games I think that probably favors Auburn…. But you certainly can’t hate OM’s chances of finishing it off tomorrow with Rabe.

OM takes game one. Clutch is the best way to put it. A lot of timely hitting and getting out of jams on the mound. One win away from Omaha for OM.

Auburn was my national title pick before the tourney so I guess I’ll stick with my guns and say Auburn wins in 3. I think their pitching is good enough to give OM trouble and they do enough at home to come out ahead. My heart wants to say State wins, and I think they can get a game, but I feel like the bullpen has been a blinking red light for a while now and I worry they’re gonna have a hard time closing out this Georgia offense. If it goes to a Game 3 I think I also like UGA’s third stater better than Stone. So I’ll say UGA wins it in three as well. As for the other Supers: Bama over St. John’s Oregon over Texas (this is my big upset pick for the weekend) Kansas over Oklahoma West Virginia over Cal Poly Little Rock over Troy UNC over USC

OM’s super starting on Friday, State’s starting on Saturday. I presume OM will keep their starting rotation the same. Auburn may have to shift some things around since their usual Friday guy started Friday and Monday of the regional. They may end up holding him a day. I think the Saturday start is exactly what State needed. Allows you to throw Valincius and McPherson on full rest in the first two games. Surprised those games are both midday starts, I think you can also argue that works in State’s favor. I would say both State and OM are underdogs this weekend, but I wouldn’t be shocked if either or both got it done and made it to Omaha.

The pressure of hosting is a real factor with certain teams. Half a dozen hosts lose in their regional every year. This year it was seven.

It will be a trip to Auburn for Ole Miss. Seven SEC schools ending up advancing, but two SEC vs SEC supers, so 5 is the max you’ll see in Omaha. Two obviously the minimum.

What an insane weekend of games. Number 1 and number 2 overall are gone. First time ever that two 4 seeds are in a Super (and we could still have a third). Troy is leading Florida right now and will host a Super if they win. And you could still have a Kentucky vs Cal Poly super as well. What on earth….

Technically Oklahoma is still alive and could make it past GT today.

Yep. Could have 10 SEC teams in Supers but two of them would be SEC vs SEC matchups. 5 SEC teams already advanced, 5 others playing today with a chance to move on.

Probably the most dominant regional I can recall for State in recent memory. Simply overmatched all three teams. Great starting pitching and offense all weekend. Bullpen was a bit leaky and that can’t happen if you want any chance to upset Georgia. But not going to complain about a 3-0 weekend where State was never truly in any danger of losing. Big time clutch baseball by Ole Miss this weekend to win three close games against very good teams. I’m sure every OM fan on the planet is a huge Milwaukee fan today. Odds are probably in the favor of OM heading to The Plains for a Super, but certainly not locked in yet. I don’t think I hate either team’s chances in a Super, even State playing in Athens. They’ve lost four close games to Georgia this year, with Valincius only pitching in one of those games (and he was very good in that game) and McPherson did not pitch in any of those games. Maybe Georgia just has State’s number, but they’re gonna have to beat a really good team 6 times to get to Omaha. And beat Brian O’Connor in a Super Regional where he’s 7-2 all time. Not going to be an easy task for UGA.

It will be Dogs vs Cajuns in the regional final at The Dude.

I feel like the goal for State tonight is McPherson as long as he can go and then you go to Bauer. And see where it goes from there. Hopefully the offense continues to produce too, always helpful to score 10 runs in both of your first two games.

OM finishes the job against Nebraska. State and OM both in the catbird seat just one win away from a Super.

Going into Sunday, USM is the lone host to go 0-2 and if Nebraska doesn’t come back on OM, there will be 5 other hosts in the loser’s bracket. To me Regional Sunday is the best day of the Regionals because by now all the weaker 4 seeds are out and also everybody’s pitching depth starts to get super stressed. So you tend to see some crazy games on this day.

State gets by Cincinnati. Fairly dominant for 7 innings, then State’s bullpen did what State’s bullpen does and it got a little weird. But still a fairly comfortable win. Should have McPherson on the mound tomorrow night with a chance to wrap things up in 3 games. Ole Miss is up 6-3 on Nebraska in a weather delay in the 9th, unclear on if they will try to finish it tonight. But OM currently looking really good too. Possibly a path to hosting a Super very much in play too, as Milwaukee is in the winner’s bracket in Auburn currently. I do wonder if Auburn may make a run to come back and take that one, but they’ve still got a lot of work to do.

It’s a two and ‘cue weekend at home for USM. Disappointing end to a great season. I’m sure a lot of USM diehards will have serious questions about what has gone wrong in the postseason the last two years. Second season in a row they have lost a Regional on their home field. But this is the first time they’ve gone winless in it.

I think they can beat Virginia. Beyond that, TBD. Jacksonville State looked awfully impressive last night. Kinda strange that Southern has this knack for losing the first game of their Regional, but still working their way back through the loser’s bracket to either get to the final or outright win it. Saw yesterday this is the fifth time in six years they lost the opener, but the previous four times they won at least their next two games.

Ole Miss wins in 14 innings after 1 am. So State vs Cincinnati and OM vs Nebraska in the winner’s bracket tomorrow night. USM has an elimination game against Virginia tomorrow afternoon.

Worry there is a little bit of a “carriage turned back into a pumpkin” situation going on. They played great the last two weekends but looked totally overmatched today. Which is kinda what I incorrectly believed would happen in Norman.

Stone announced as the Game 1 starter for State. Presume we will see Valincius on Friday and then McPherson for a Game 3 (assuming they don’t go 0-2, I guess).

State’s season changed for the worse after he got hurt. They looked like a title contender early in the season when he was healthy. Hope it’s not too little too late, but he could certainly be a game changer for State in the postseason.

I would probably start Duke Stone on Friday. Allows you to save Valincius plus one of Stone’s best outings of the year was in that Lipscomb series.

Ole Miss with a really interesting draw in Lincoln. I think Nebraska is a beatable 1 seed, but they got a really tough 3 seed in their first game with Arizona State. Certainly would presume you’d want to throw Elliott in that game. Should be a very competitive Regional, but yes I do believe OM certainly has a chance to win it. No SEC team in Hattiesburg shocked me a little, but I’d argue that may have been preferable for USM….Virginia and Jacksonville State are both very dangerous teams in the 2 vs 3 game. Curious to see how that one shakes out. I think State got a pretty good draw if I’m being honest, but you’re at the stage where everyone is good so certainly need to play well this weekend. Got a 4 seed in Lipscomb that you should be able to beat without using Valincius, the two teams already played a three game series this year and State swept it pretty handily. Regionals are a blast, looking forward to it.