NCAA Baseball Committee Drops the Ball … Again

By Jorge Bannister
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

For the second year in a row, Larry Templeton and the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Committee screws one of the Top 8 seeds in the Regional tournament.

Last year it was the top-seeded Miami Hurricanes. This year it’s No. 6 UC-Irvine. If the Anteaters show any anger toward the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Committee, so be it. It’s a legitimate beef.

Jim Morris expressed his disappointment in an interview on ESPN about his No. 1 Hurricanes receiving the teams in its regional. Who were they? Oh, you know, just Missouri, Ole Miss and Bethune Cookman & the toughest Regional in the entire tournament.

This year, UC-Irvine has to go through Virginia, San Diego State and Fresno State just to make it to the Super Regionals.

Fat chance.

Fresno State is the defending National Champions. They are a -- you guessed it -- four seed in the Irvine Regional. The Bulldogs were a four seed last year and won the College World Series. The other two teams in the regional are Virginia and San Diego State. Virginia won the ACC title, and San Diego State boasts the best pitcher in college baseball today, Stephen Strasburg (13-0, 1.24 ERA).

It doesn’t matter if Virginia is going to face Strasburg, the Cavaliers -- who I have winning this regional (more on that later in the week) -- boast the third best ERA in the nation at 3.33.

Yep. No cakewalk.

Thank you again, committee, for ruining what is supposed to be the greatest time of the year for your game. I just can’t take them seriously.

Rhode Island Screwed, Too
Another team screwed by the committee was the University of Rhode Island.

The Rams defeated Miami -- at Miami -- and split a mid-week series with Oklahoma State.

When discussing the process of picking teams, Templeton, who is the director of athletics at Mississippi State, said that the fact that URI didn’t win the Atlantic 10 Conference in either the regular season or postseason was a big factor.

Really? A 19-6 record in the conference and a trip to the conference tournament finals means nothing? Interesting.

I’d rather see URI in the tournament than either Georgia Southern or Gonzaga, two- and three-seeds, respectively, in the Fullerton Regional. Hell, they should be there over Utah, who is 26-29.

Division 1 Conference Tournaments Underway

By Jorge Bannister
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

I apologize for my lack of writing the past three weeks. I have been absolutely swamped with my baseball season. Now that the season is over --  for us anyway -- I am back and with full force through the College World Series.

Conference tournaments are underway across the nation.

Now, I know the Atlantic 10, Big East, Conference USA, the MVC and the Mountain West are mid-major to major conferences in other sports, but in baseball that’s just not the case. I will go through the first two days of action from the big conferences. You should be able to figure them out from the posting.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Day 1 (Wednesday, May 20)

Florida State 7, Boston College 2
Miami 8, Georgia Tech 6
North Carolina 8, Duke 3

Day 2 (Thursday, May 21)

*Boston College 7, Georgia Tech 3
Florida State 4, Miami 2
Virginia 6, Clemson 5

Day 3 (Friday, May 22)

*Miami vs. Boston College, noon
*Clemson vs. Duke, 4 p.m.
North Carolina vs. Virginia, 8 p.m.

Day 4 (Saturday, May 23)

Florida State vs. Georgia Tech, noon
North Carolina vs. Clemson, 4 p.m.
Virginia vs. Duke, 8 p.m.

Championship Game (Sunday, May 24)

1 p.m.

* = Elimination game

Outlook: There’s too much parody in the league this year. I mean, Boston College beating Georgia Tech, get real. Still, look for a Florida State-UNC final with the team with the rested arms getting the win.

Big XII

Day 1 (Wednesday, May 20)

Kansas State 5, Kansas 4
Baylor 14, Texas 9
Missouri 5, Texas A&M 2
Oklahoma 5, Texas Tech 2

Day 2 (Thursday, May 21)

Texas 9, Kansas 3
Kansas State 9, Baylor 4

Day 3 (Friday, May 22)

Missouri vs. Texas Tech, 4 p.m.
Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M, 8:30 p.m.

Day 4 (Saturday, May 23)

Kansas vs. Baylor, 10 a.m.
Texas vs. Kansas State, 1:30 p.m.
Oklahoma vs. Missouri, 5 p.m.
Texas A&M vs. Texas Tech, 8:30 p.m.

Championship Game (Sunday, May 24)

1 p.m.

Outlook: Whoever wins the Texas-Kansas State game will be in the title game against either Oklahoma or Baylor.

Big West

UC-Irvine wins the title. There’s no postseason tournament.

Pac-10

All that’s listed on the Web site is the following: Champion determined by three-game round-robin play.

As of right now, Arizona State (42-11, 19-5) is atop the conference. Washington State (28-23, 16-8), UCLA (26-27, 14-10), Oregon State (33-16, 13-11) and Washington (25-27, 13-11) finish off the Top 5.

Outlook: Arizona State is the clear-cut favorite. They’ve dominated all year long both in and out of conference. Look for the Sun Devils to be the Pac-10 champs. Although, you can never count out Oregon State.