So Coastal Carolina quietly won the national championship earlier today

[giveemhell]

While most of us were eating lunch and taking an afternoon siesta earlier today (what, your company doesn’t offer that?), Coastal Carolina was quietly taking care of business, winning the deciding game of the national championship series against Arizona, 4-3. It’s strange to me that this game was played at a time when very few people were able to watch (on ESPNU, no less), but I guess it just goes to show how unimportant college baseball is to the vast majority of the country (except to freaks like us, of course).

 

[56 Bells]

While most of us were eating lunch and taking an afternoon siesta earlier today (what, your company doesn’t offer that?), Coastal Carolina was quietly taking care of business, winning the deciding game of the national championship series against Arizona, 4-3. It’s strange to me that this game was played at a time when very few people were able to watch (on ESPNU, no less), but I guess it just goes to show how unimportant college baseball is to the vast majority of the country (except to freaks like us, of course).

It was, actually, a very exciting game....with Arizona behind 4-3....with men on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs....bottom of the 9th.

The reason the game was played at noon was because of other events in Omaha. Hotels were full. Fans from both teams had lost their hotel rooms yesterday due to the cancellation of the game. Even the teams were having hard times securing their lodging. That's what happens when you're playing in a smaller venue....
Both teams agreed to the time because their fans were having to sleep in their cars, etc. And flights out of Omaha were a nightmare to secure, as well.
Glad a mid-major won! I've never seen a coach so shocked and excited.

With the small limit on scholarships for baseball, there are many many more good teams in comparison to the Gus Days of the 70's and 80's. Suddenly, there 20-30 teams who have a shot at winning the College World Series vs 5-10 in the 70's and 80's.

 

[Brad Austin]

I love it. In the 2 years we've been absent from the CWS field, VA and CC win the title. Neither from our state or conference keeping collateral damage to a minimum.

I was just looking at CWS history and wanted to re-emphasize the lore of the program Pierce just inherited...

1st in CWS appearances - 35
1st in CWS wins - 85
2nd in CWS finals appearances - 12 (USC - 14)
2nd in CWS championships - 6 (USC - 12)

Also of note, over the last 3 years the Big 12 put the most teams in the CWS twice (2014, 2016). No conference had the most in 2015.

Time to get this baby back on track and head towards our second home in Omaha.

 

[56 Bells]

I sure like the idea of Pierce being pitching coach and head coach. Augie did just the opposite over his last few years, leaving 100% of decision-making with pitchers to our pitching coach...with less than stellar results. The results were obvious. Skip's "path to the mound" was used more than the baseline from 3rd to home by the Horns during his reign as pitching coach. I think Skip was an excellent pitching coach, as mechanics go, but his decision-making on when to pull pitchers, who to use at certain times, etc. left so much to be desired, and it was a fatal mistake for Augie to give Skip 100% autonomy in such pivotal moments.
We'll have just the opposite with Pierce, should he choose to continue coaching pitchers as he's done over his years as head coach. I look forward to that!
My bet is we're back in Omaha next year.....we've got a fantastic nucleus of players back from last year's very young squad...almost all position players return, as well as most of the bullpen.
Looks like a bright future for our baseball team!!!
Hook'Em!

 

[UT Horn Fan]

...almost all position players return

Not so sure that is a good thing looking at the final stats.

# Name Errors Fielding %

2 Clemens, Kody 12 0.926

33 Mathis, Patrick 9 0.917

17 Boswell, Bret 8 0.93

42 Clemens, Kacy 7 0.987

12 Baker, Joe 7 0.949

6 Rand, Tyler 6 0.923

51 McKenzie, Jake 4 0.971

1 Barrera, Tres 3 0.99

8 Harlan, Brady 3 0.889

11 Jones, Travis 2 0.962

7 Cantu, Michael 2 0.991

50 Gurwitz, Zane 1 0.994

4 Denny, Kaleb 1 0.929

Hopefully the new staff can correct some of this.

 

[yelladawgdem]

With baseball being a uniquely American game, there is something about the CWS series that is very special. You have that small handful of schools Texas, USC, A-State, that have won all of those games up there. You had the Mighty Maine Black Bears making several trips in the 1980's, that made the CWS different from March Madness or now the Football Playoff. ESPN rolled the dice and stuck gold.

Omaha became College Baseball's mecca, and Rosenblatt got expanded every year to make it into a low end AAA ball park. (Sort of like the men's rooms in the Cotton Bowl Texas-OU weekend, you hoped that was water you were standing in, and yes it was a dump, but generations of Texas-OU fans could agree on one thing, "by God it is OUR dump")!

March Madness after the explosion of cable TV in the 1980's and everyone broadcasting games, cemented the fact the tournament was about TV sets and no longer about determining the best team/tournament winner. And the number of teams in the tournament exploded from (yes I am old) from 16 to 68. ( Remember that Jody's title team that there were only 40 teams in the tournament). Don't get me wrong, I love watching games of schools that have 2 NCAA appearance's in 50 years playing a team that has NEVER been. I am even a fan of the play-in games. And the VCU's and Geroge Mason's and Butler's and 12 loss Kansas teams.

But let's not kid anyone. The expanded tournament is about TV sets, advertising, and declining productivity at work for 3 weeks. More and more, starting with the NC State's and Villanova's of the 80's, the Uconn title here in Dallas a few years ago or UK's 39-1 squad, or the Rock Chalks return from the dead to beat Memphis, the best team is wining less and less.

The first Football Playoff, the best team in America did win. But given what we had been fed with the polls and the "rules" and just the general logic, THAT TEAM DID NOT BELONG! When you are ranked third, beat a conference team by 52 points, you drop 3 spots in the polls because you wear the wrong helmets, that old dog just don't hunt. If the team I am referring to had had a Longhorn slapped on the side of it's helmet, or an opened up paperclip of crimson and cream, they would have been in the playoff. And tOSU would have been in Pasadena. (Also fun fact to know and tell, Bo Schembecler, the Maize and Blue God, won the same amount of Rose Bowl's, two, as Mack. Of course Mack only coached in two and Bo coached in 10).

All of which to say is that college baseball in general and the CWS in particular, remains perhaps the last of the truly intercollegiate, along with Women's Softball, tournament that is truly about the game.

Watching Coastal yesterday was like watching the Maine Black Bear's in the 1980's. How could you hot help but smile? Our games at Rosenblatt were always nerve racking with me pacing up and down the mezzanine wanting a cigarette, (I don't smoke). While I enjoyed the dog piling and the screaming when we won up there, I'm not sure I enjoyed a game much more than yesterday.

A boy. A ball. A dream. Congrats to Coastal Carolina. The CWS and the NCAA. Any team with a teal rooster (named Chauncey has my support!!)

 

[56 Bells]

Not so sure that is a good thing looking at the final stats.

# Name Errors Fielding %

2 Clemens, Kody 12 0.926

33 Mathis, Patrick 9 0.917

17 Boswell, Bret 8 0.93

42 Clemens, Kacy 7 0.987

12 Baker, Joe 7 0.949

6 Rand, Tyler 6 0.923

51 McKenzie, Jake 4 0.971

1 Barrera, Tres 3 0.99

8 Harlan, Brady 3 0.889

11 Jones, Travis 2 0.962

7 Cantu, Michael 2 0.991

50 Gurwitz, Zane 1 0.994

4 Denny, Kaleb 1 0.929

Hopefully the new staff can correct some of this.

Most are young and inexperienced players who had to play out of their normal position for over 1/2 of the year due to injuries.
I'm glad you didn't list the pitching staff and the 20-something errors by pitchers alone....lol....would have been a really long list.
So we had 65 errors NOT INCLUDING THE 25'ish by the pitching staff?...So 90 errors?
Can that be correct?

 

[n64ra]

Worth noting that LSU is tied with us for 2nd in CWS championships - 6. I don't like that so let's get #7 pronto.

 

[UT Horn Fan]

Most are young and inexperienced players who had to play out of their normal position for over 1/2 of the year due to injuries.
I'm glad you didn't list the pitching staff and the 20-something errors by pitchers alone....lol....would have been a really long list.
So we had 65 errors NOT INCLUDING THE 25'ish by the pitching staff?...So 90 errors?
Can that be correct?

The team had 80 errors on the season.
50 Gurwitz, Zane - 1
45 Kingham, Nolan - 1
4 Denny, Kaleb - 1
19 Mayes, Connor - 1
14 Ridgeway, Beau - 1
35 Wellmann, Blake - 1
29 Malmin, Jon - 1
7 Cantu, Michael - 2
11 Jones, Travis -2
34 Johnston, Kyle - 2
24 Shugart, Chase - 2
1 Barrera, Tres - 3
8 Harlan, Brady - 3
38 Culbreth, Ty - 3
41 Cooper, Morgan - 3
51 McKenzie, Jake - 4
6 Rand, Tyler - 6
42 Clemens, Kacy - 7
12 Baker, Joe - 7
17 Boswell, Bret - 8
33 Mathis, Patrick - 9
2 Clemens, Kody - 12