2021 College baseball postseason thread

[dixiehack]

My son graduated from Hoover High yesterday, three days earlier than planned. Seems it was only a couple of months ago that the powers that be realized the SEC baseball tournament was coming back and there would be a traffic jam back to the Mississippi line if they tried to accommodate both at the same time.

Anyway, LSU and Georgia just starting the evening session, a pair of bubble teams fighting to stay in good graces.

 

[tapintoamerica]

If read it correctly, there are no meaningless games according to their format. If the double-elimination phase is just that and not some pod or pool system, they've found the system.
In the ACC tourney, for example, two of tomorrow's three games will feature a team that has to play even though it is ineligible for the championship by virtue of losing today.

 

[dixiehack]

Today is single elimination for the SEC. Next three days go double elimination, then back to single elimination starting with Saturday’s semifinals.

 

[TigerVols]

Vols better make hay before their coach scoots to aTm.

 

[Batman]

LSU lost yesterday, marking the first tine since 2005 that they did not win a game in Hoover. It's been a bad year and Paul Manieiri is drawing comparisons to Les Miles.

 

[dixiehack]

I’m headed out to the Met on Saturday. By then this Florida-MSU game might be past the seventh inning stretch. Maybe.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Vols better make hay before their coach scoots to aTm.

I wouldn’t blame him. What he has done at a private school in baseball is remarkable.

 

[TigerVols]

I wouldn’t blame him. What he has done at a private school in baseball is remarkable.

Huh?

 

[maumann]

 

[dixiehack]

The Whistler is back. Hand me my gun.

 

[Batman]

The Conference USA tournament got off to a great start in Ruston on Wednesday.
Four games scheduled. The first one had a 90-minute rain delay and the third went 12 innings and lasted five hours.
Game No. 4, between Southern Miss and Western Kentucky, started at 12:15 a.m. and ended at 2:59. Thankfully, Southern Miss won 11-1 via the mercy rule and the game only went eight innings.

 

[dixiehack]

Are they back to campus sites for good or is this a one-time covid special? Thought they had a pretty good run going in Biloxi.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

The Whistler is back. Hand me my gun.

He is the most hated person in all of college baseball, right? Do Vandy fans even like him?

 

[Batman]

Are they back to campus sites for good or is this a one-time covid special? Thought they had a pretty good run going in Biloxi.

Back to campus sites for at least the next three years. Not sure if Biloxi wanted out or there were schedule conflicts, or what.
It's at Louisiana Tech this year, Southern Miss in 2022 and Rice in 2023.
Louisiana Tech has a brand new ballpark that opened this year. The old one (along with their softball and soccer facilities) got nuked by a tornado in 2019.

 

[qtlaw]

Cool story about the Vandy aces:

A pair of aces: Kumar Rocker, Jack Leiter lead Vandy's quest for a repeat national title

I forgot about Tracy Rocker.

 

[dixiehack]

Tired: Why is Georgia such a mediocre basketball school?

Wired: Why is Georgia such a mediocre baseball school?

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

LSU lost yesterday, marking the first tine since 2005 that they did not win a game in Hoover. It's been a bad year and Paul Manieiri is drawing comparisons to Les Miles.

I've been wondering about Mainieri's future at LSU.

He didn't follow the legend, Skip Bertman, but Bertman's right-hand man for 10, 15 years, Ray "Smoke" Laval.

Laval had limited people skills and virtually no media savvy. The Tigahs twice went to Omaha under his leadership and went 2-and-out, and then they failed to make the NCAA Tournament, and that was that.

Paul Mainieri played at UNO, did a great job at Notre Dame, and at first, seemed like a great fit. Personable, charismatic, tough-minded, able to relate to the athletes, etc.

They were national runner-up to Florida in 2017, if memory serves, before Arkansas screwed the pooch, one out away from the championship, one year, and Vanderbilt pitching taking the Commodores to the promised land.

Mainieri's Dad died two or three years ago, and I'm told he's struggling with that. (I can definitely relate.)

It'll be interesting if they get in, after a subpar year, to say the least -- by LSU's standards -- and if they don't, whether it's time to move Mainieri to an administrative role with the athletic department.

I've heard both trains of thought.

LSU fans are nothing if not impatient.

I'm thinking a change is on the horizon, but that's just me.

 

[micropolitan guy]

In 2017 LSU was runner-up, thanks in part by some favorable umpiring in Omaha. In 2018 they were eliminated 14-1 and 12-0 by Oregon State at a regional. OSU then won the national title, helped in large part by Arkansas messing up a foul popper, which would have been the final out in Game 2.

Instead a base hit tied the game and Trevor Larnach, now with the Twins, hit a two-run homer to win it. The next day Arkansas got 2-hit, had its final 20 men retired in order, and lost 5-0 in the title game.

 

[Batman]

Mainieri did win one national title at LSU in 2009. But for this program, that is an eternity. There are still some supporters, but the sentiment that maybe it's time to shift gears and go a different direction are growing.

It doesn't help that a ton of other SEC teams have won or sniffed a national title more recently that LSU.
South Carolina, Florida and Vanderbilt have all won titles since LSU's last one. Carolina and Vandy have won more than one. Arkansas and Mississippi State have been in the finals.
Maybe the only SEC team that's underachieved more than LSU in the past decade is Ole Miss. When LSU fans start looking around the neighborhood and see that the program has sunk to a B-level contender, it's hard to argue that a change is warranted.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I enjoy watching Kopps pitch. Dude is filthy with 100 Ks in less than 63 innings.