2023 college baseball/softball thread

[dixiehack]

At least New Mexico State got to fire a coach for the old fashioned reason of sucky play.

https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/sp...-fires-baseball-coach-mike-kirby/69964327007/

Dude was in his last year under contract, but when you start 0-7 and get dusted by a NAIA school, hard not to expect the hook.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Tough year to be an Aggie fan. They generally had a pretty good baseball program, the last coach did well and got the Wazzu job. They also had some guy and his son coach there for about 40 years (the Wards?) in the not-so-distant past. They need to be in the MWC but that will never happen because they're UNM's red-headed stepbrother.

 

[Batman]

The Metrodome was used for college baseball essentially nonstop for six weeks every spring - the Gophers listed it as one of their two home fields, and all the small colleges used it as well, even playing at midnight or 6 AM. Now they get US Bank stadium for a much briefer period with more limited use, and perhaps not coincidentally, the Gopher baseball team (historically a decent northern program) is struggling like never before.

Bringing this over from the NFL thread, @mateen , so as not to clutter that one up with college baseball talk.
What the hell happened to Minnesota's baseball program? I just got to looking at their record the past few years and ... yikes. They made the NCAA Tournament a couple of times and even got to a super regional in 2018, and have absolutely cratered since then. It looks like the fall accelerated after 2020, so did they get killed by COVID or what?

 

[micropolitan guy]

Bringing this over from the NFL thread, @mateen , so as not to clutter that one up with college baseball talk.
What the hell happened to Minnesota's baseball program? I just got to looking at their record the past few years and ... yikes. They made the NCAA Tournament a couple of times and even got to a super regional in 2018, and have absolutely cratered since then. It looks like the fall accelerated after 2020, so did they get killed by COVID or what?

I talked to the coach's brother at a tailgate in Surprise. He said John Anderson (42 years) will go as long as it keeps being fun, but I got the impression he's not having much fun. I do think Covid hurt them. They do have a guy who threw 100 MPH.

 

[mateen]

It's hard to figure out - COVID hurt but then it hurt everybody, and the issues from being so far north hadn't kept them from being generally competitive in the Big Ten for almost 40 years.

For whatever reason they're not getting all the high end Minnesota players they used to get. I think the spread of the traveling club stuff made those kids more visible nationally (Tennessee had a first-round pick last year who was a Minnesota kid).

I can't imagine Anderson holds out much longer, but I'm sure they're going to let him do it on his terms if possible. I have never heard a bad word about the guy, and it's a remarkable story - while a student manager he was voted MVP, by the players, of a CWS team that included Molitor, and he's been head coach since he was 28.

 

[micropolitan guy]

It's hard to figure out - COVID hurt but then it hurt everybody, and the issues from being so far north hadn't kept them from being generally competitive in the Big Ten for almost 40 years.

For whatever reason they're not getting all the high end Minnesota players they used to get. I think the spread of the traveling club stuff made those kids more visible nationally (Tennessee had a first-round pick last year who was a Minnesota kid).

I can't imagine Anderson holds out much longer, but I'm sure they're going to let him do it on his terms if possible. I have never heard a bad word about the guy, and it's a remarkable story - while a student manager he was voted MVP, by the players, of a CWS team that included Molitor, and he's been head coach since he was 28.

Drew Gilbert would have driven Anderson crazy. At Tennessee they didn't care about the stupid **** he did. Microville Tech has/had a couple good pitchers from Minnesota (one was Gilbert's teammate at Stillwater) and had another from Webster, WI., before he transferred to Ole Miss. In the old days they all would have been Gophers.

 

[Batman]

It's hard to figure out - COVID hurt but then it hurt everybody, and the issues from being so far north hadn't kept them from being generally competitive in the Big Ten for almost 40 years.

For whatever reason they're not getting all the high end Minnesota players they used to get. I think the spread of the traveling club stuff made those kids more visible nationally (Tennessee had a first-round pick last year who was a Minnesota kid).

I can't imagine Anderson holds out much longer, but I'm sure they're going to let him do it on his terms if possible. I have never heard a bad word about the guy, and it's a remarkable story - while a student manager he was voted MVP, by the players, of a CWS team that included Molitor, and he's been head coach since he was 28.

I know Southern Miss, of all places, made some recruiting inroads into Minnesota. One of their best players of recent vintage, Matt Wallner, was from there and is one of the top prospects in the Twins' organization. He originally signed with North Dakota, which dropped its program, so he wound up at Southern Miss. While recruiting him, the coaches found a few other guys up there as well.

 

[mateen]

Anderson's long-time assistant/chief recruiter going back to the mid-80s retired in 2018, right before the decline started, and I've seen speculation that this explains part of it.

Minnesota's 2023 high school class has kids committed to Wichita State, Texas A&M, Washington State, Arizona, and Duke; kids from 2022 went to Arizona, Oregon, N.C. State, and Wichita State. Minnesota kids just didn't go to those places 10 or 20 years ago.

 

[dixiehack]

If you are only getting a fraction of a scholarship and still have to account for living expenses, the Twin Cities have to be a ***** I’d imagine.

 

[BTExpress]

For somebody who's supposedly the savior of Tennessee baseball, Tony Vitello sure can't seem to teach his players how to run the ******* bases.

 

[goalmouth]

Tulane -- off to a 2-11 start under new coach Jay Uhlman, former assistant to Travis Jewett who was fired after the 2022 season -- gives up 13 hits, 13 walks, and six HBP in 17-7 loss to Campbell.

 

[Batman]

East Carolina unveils its new "Powder Purple" uniforms.

 

[Batman]

It's a relatively meaningless midweek game, but Vanderbilt and Evansville are locked in a death struggle in Nashville. Tied 1-1 in the 15th inning. That's not really what you want from a midweek game — for either side, I'm guessing. Nice way to nuke your pitching staff, especially since it was mostly a bullpen game to begin with.

EDIT: Vanderbilt almost blows a second-and-third, no out situation before getting a single on a 2-2 pitch to win 2-1 in 17 innings.

 

[BartonK]

Tulane -- off to a 2-11 start under new coach Jay Uhlman, former assistant to Travis Jewett who was fired after the 2022 season -- gives up 13 hits, 13 walks, and six HBP in 17-7 loss to Campbell.

What's happened to Tulane? They were pretty consistently good for nearly 30 years, up until 2008 or so, and then it's not been the same since.

 

[goalmouth]

HC Rick Jones retired in 2014.
Brief resurgence under David Pierce, who was then hired by Texas.
Hiring of AD Troy Dannen, who eliminated baseball at Northern Iowa.
Lousy HC hires since.
Limited $$$ for HC eliminates quality candidates.
Scholarship limits.
Sky high tuition, academic reqs limit talent pool.
It's early but so far, this year's team looks to be historically bad.

 

[Batman]

Dear God. What a horrible, petty call by the umpire.
Nice job by the UNO catcher to hold the Valley player back and keep him from doing something stupid, when he might have been totally justified in breaking a kneecap or two.

 

[poindexter]

I've never seen a bigger "**** you" by an ump.

 

[mateen]

If he'd thrown the kid out of the game after the first one, I would have disagreed with it but it would be on some level understandable. But calling that second pitch a strike and letting his grudge completely undermine the competition means that guy should never umpire again.

 

[Spartan Squad]

A buddy just sent tours to me saying it was a crime against baseball. He’s right. That ump needs to be benched for the rest of the year and reevaluate his career choices.

 

[HanSenSE]

Everyone went to the game to watch the umpire.