Bulldogs4 Posted May 29, 2023 Share Posted May 29, 2023 It is a new record. 7 was the record previously. Tournament seems to be wide open this year and any number of teams could make it to Omaha and win it all. Conversely, I think there are a lot of highly ranked teams that could lose in the regionals. Just that kind of year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg83 Posted May 29, 2023 Author Share Posted May 29, 2023 USM gets shipped to Auburn, will play Samford in their opening game. Tough 3 seed but not a horrible draw overall. That’s a winnable Regional for USM. Should you want to look ahead, they are paired with the Clemson Regional that also includes Tennessee. I can be convinced of about four different teams getting Omaha out of that pairing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogs4 Posted May 29, 2023 Share Posted May 29, 2023 I would have rather seen USM go to Bama but the opportunity is there. Auburn has a good club but they are beatable. Sometimes being the home team can work against you because now the pressure is on you and you are expected to win. The other teams play loose with nothing to lose. Plus USM is battle tested. I hope they can win it though I still like Butch Thompson and if they win it that will be fine as well. I don’t mean to be pessimistic but I think several SEC host teams are going to get bounced in their own regional. While there are a lot of good SEC teams IMO all of them have some weaknesses and some of those are going get exposed this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg83 Posted May 29, 2023 Author Share Posted May 29, 2023 20 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said: I would have rather seen USM go to Bama but the opportunity is there. Auburn has a good club but they are beatable. Sometimes being the home team can work against you because now the pressure is on you and you are expected to win. The other teams play loose with nothing to lose. Plus USM is battle tested. I hope they can win it though I still like Butch Thompson and if they win it that will be fine as well. I don’t mean to be pessimistic but I think several SEC host teams are going to get bounced in their own regional. While there are a lot of good SEC teams IMO all of them have some weaknesses and some of those are going get exposed this weekend. Yeah I think Auburn, Kentucky, and South Carolina are in clear upset danger. LSU doesn’t have an easy Regional with Oregon State and ULL. Arkansas with TCU and Florida with UConn and Texas Tech could be tricky. Bama actually didn’t get a bad draw even as the 16 seed. Vandy seems to have by far the easiest draw out of any SEC host. On the flip side, I think A&M has a strong chance to win at Stanford and would not rule out Tennessee’s chances against a Clemson team that’s white hot but due a letdown. For what it’s worth, my sure to be wrong national title pick is Florida. I just think they have the best combination of all around talent plus a coach that’s done it all. Wake Forest as the top seed is a great team but I worry about their lack of big game experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSTSatchmo Posted May 29, 2023 Share Posted May 29, 2023 (edited) I was wanting USM in Bama’s regional also instead of Auburn. That way I could pull for both Auburn and USM. Two potential SEC supers with LSU/UK and Florida/S Carolina. I like A&M against Stanford, and Arkansas got a tough 2 seed with TCU and Arizona has a good statistical team too. They just averaged 12 runs per game in the Big 12 tournament. Edited May 30, 2023 by MSTSatchmo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSTSatchmo Posted May 29, 2023 Share Posted May 29, 2023 Amory’s Aubrey Gillentine has made it to a regional with his second team. First with USM and now with Charlotte as a grad transfer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg83 Posted May 30, 2023 Author Share Posted May 30, 2023 Our old pal John Cohen sure had himself a day lol. Came across pretty clueless in the interview he did on the Selection Show. Also the optics of him being the committee chair and Auburn as the only team to host with an RPI outside the Top 15 aren’t great. Not to mention they were seeded ahead of Bama in spite of Bama winning 3 of 4 meetings between the two and having a better RPI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vott Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 William Carey takes down the no.1 team in the nation beating southeastern university (Fla) 13-4 last night. Them and Westmont university (CA) the only two undefeated teams left. A win tonight should put them in the title game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogs4 Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 Westmont beat William Carey 7-3 so they will have to fight their way through the losers bracket now. Play Lewis-Clark this afternoon. WC’s coach is Bobby Halford who had a great high school career at Meridian High back in the 1970’s and then followed that up with a stellar career at William Carey. He won his 1300th game the other night which is just tremendous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSTSatchmo Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 I’m going with a CWS of Wake Forest Texas A&M LSU Tennessee Florida Virginia Vandy TCU It’s hard to find an underdog to push through to Omaha. I probably should go with Arkansas instead of TCU, but I’m sure that’s not the only one I’ll miss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg83 Posted May 31, 2023 Author Share Posted May 31, 2023 2 hours ago, MSTSatchmo said: I’m going with a CWS of Wake Forest Texas A&M LSU Tennessee Florida Virginia Vandy TCU It’s hard to find an underdog to push through to Omaha. I probably should go with Arkansas instead of TCU, but I’m sure that’s not the only one I’ll miss. We have a lot of the same picks. I’ll go with: Wake Forest Texas A&M LSU Clemson Florida Duke Okahoma State Arkansas And I’ve got Florida beating Wake in the Finals. For what it’s worth, I have USM making it out of the Auburn Regional before losing to Clemson in a Super. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSTSatchmo Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 LSU’s pitching worries me, but I’m taking LSU over Virginia in the finals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg83 Posted June 1, 2023 Author Share Posted June 1, 2023 7 hours ago, MSTSatchmo said: LSU’s pitching worries me, but I’m taking LSU over Virginia in the finals. I think LSU got a very manageable path to Omaha. And they can win a game in Omaha with Skenes, beyond that, I just don’t trust the pitching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogs4 Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 LSU might out slugged everyone after Skenes but that path has many pitfalls. They could easily pull a State where they lose a game 14-13. When your pitching is that suspect, that spells danger galore. We may see some football scores in that regional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg83 Posted June 1, 2023 Author Share Posted June 1, 2023 (edited) One thing that’s always interesting to me is how the pressure of hosting gets to certain teams. Most of the time, teams that have never hosted or haven’t done it in a long time are especially vulnerable. Going down the list, you see quite a few of those. Alabama and Indiana State are obvious ones. But even beyond that you’ve got a big group of teams where it’s been 5 or 6 years (Wake Forest, Clemson, Coastal, Kentucky, etc.). If you’re looking for likely upset spots, I’d start with that group. Edited June 1, 2023 by Dawg83 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSTSatchmo Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 I really wanted to go with Wake and Virginia in the finals, but there’s no way an SEC team won’t make it. Right!? Lol. It was also hard to pick against UF and Vandy also. I don’t know why I was stuck on Virginia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg83 Posted June 1, 2023 Author Share Posted June 1, 2023 3 hours ago, MSTSatchmo said: I really wanted to go with Wake and Virginia in the finals, but there’s no way an SEC team won’t make it. Right!? Lol. It was also hard to pick against UF and Vandy also. I don’t know why I was stuck on Virginia. I really don’t know what I think of Wake. Their lack of postseason experience is a concern, but man they are loaded. I ended up putting them in the Finals because I like their pathway, but then another part of me wonders if they’ll do something like get eliminated by Maryland in their own Regional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg83 Posted June 2, 2023 Author Share Posted June 2, 2023 LSU throwing Skenes against a 40 loss team is…. A choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg83 Posted June 2, 2023 Author Share Posted June 2, 2023 Shades of 2012 MSU for USM today, they threw their ace against Samford and lost anyway. Double whammy. It’s a tough road back when you lose Game 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebmus Posted June 2, 2023 Share Posted June 2, 2023 1 hour ago, Dawg83 said: Shades of 2012 MSU for USM today, they threw their ace against Samford and lost anyway. Double whammy. It’s a tough road back when you lose Game 1. While I was picking Auburn to win the regional, I thought it would be a close regional between Auburn and USM. Obviously still plenty of games left, but USM definitely put themselves in a tough hole to dig out of. Many felt Campbell was snubbed without getting a host bid. Campbell lost to NC State 5-1 in their first game. It's hard to argue you deserved to host when you lose the first game to a lower seed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogs4 Posted June 3, 2023 Share Posted June 3, 2023 4 hours ago, Dawg83 said: Shades of 2012 MSU for USM today, they threw their ace against Samford and lost anyway. Double whammy. It’s a tough road back when you lose Game 1. Yep. USM had the bases loaded in the ninth inning and again in the tenth inning and managed only one run. Hard to win like that. Three keys winning Regionals. Pitching, Defense and most importantly TIMELY HITTING. The first two will keep you in the game but third one is the only way you can win the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebmus Posted June 3, 2023 Share Posted June 3, 2023 Weird regional so far, Auburn lost to Penn 6-3. Auburn and USM face off tomorrow to see who keeps hope alive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg83 Posted June 3, 2023 Author Share Posted June 3, 2023 1 hour ago, Bulldogs4 said: Yep. USM had the bases loaded in the ninth inning and again in the tenth inning and managed only one run. Hard to win like that. Three keys winning Regionals. Pitching, Defense and most importantly TIMELY HITTING. The first two will keep you in the game but third one is the only way you can win the game. Inept offense is what killed them in the postseason last year too. I thought Auburn and USM both had Omaha potential, one of them still may but the other one will be going home tomorrow. Pretty surprising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogs4 Posted June 3, 2023 Share Posted June 3, 2023 Often times the 4 seeds have had to win their conference tournament under a great deal of stress. Nobody expects them to beat a one seed but they can and do (not often but certainly several times of each year it happens). Typically, depth will catch up with them later in the weekend. Once you get deeper in to their pitching, they will tend to struggle some. But Penn beating Auburn was not a surprise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg83 Posted June 3, 2023 Author Share Posted June 3, 2023 USM handled Auburn in an elimination game. Impressive showing, wasn’t ever really close. They still have to win three in a row but against Penn and Samford I think it’s a definite possibility. Pretty terrible showing by AU. Butch Thompson teams are usually very good in the postseason so this was a surprise to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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