College baseball 2022 running thread

[Batman]

Thanks.
How do coaches approach an event with a maximum of four games? When does the ace/Friday night starter go?

Depends on what their goals are and how the matchups and schedule line up. You're not going to bring back your Friday night guy to pitch on Tuesday, but he'd be ready to go Thursday or even Wednesday, since most leagues started their final regular-season series last Thursday.
After that, you go through the rotation and if you make it to game four or five it's all hands on deck. It's not uncommon for the "closer" to start or pitch four or five innings in a tournament or regional championship game on Sunday, or for the Friday night starter to come back for a couple of innings in relief.
Most coaches will throw their ace in the opener like normal. That first game is so important to win that you want your best out there, and then you have them on some sort of rest for later on if you get desperate. Sometimes they might save them for a tougher matchup in the second game, though, especially if they're a No. 1 seed in a regional and facing a jamoke in the opener.

 

[Batman]

Meanwhile, in Hoover, Alabama and Georgia just returned from another weather delay. They're in the seventh inning of a game that was scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. CST. It's the first of four games today. They'll be almost a whole game behind when it's over, and that's if there are no more delays.
Wouldn't shock me if Auburn and Kentucky wind up playing tomorrow instead of at 8 p.m. tonight.

 

[rtse11]

"Facing a jamoke" might become my new favorite phrase

 

[tapintoamerica]

"Facing a jamoke" might become my new favorite phrase

I prefer “tomato can,” but that’s good, too.

 

[Cosmo]

Tap ... I'm guessing if you're Virginia Tech and you make it that far, you run your usual weekend rotation out there for Thursday-Saturday and go Johnny Wholestaff on Sunday if you get there. Honestly (and I can't believe I'm saying this), if VT were to get to Sunday, there would be absolutely nothing gained by wasting a pitcher to win that championship game. They'll be locked into whatever regional seed they're going to get at that point. A win or loss in that game for a team heading in ranked second in the country isn't going to change anything.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Meanwhile, in Hoover, Alabama and Georgia just returned from another weather delay. They're in the seventh inning of a game that was scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. CST. It's the first of four games today. They'll be almost a whole game behind when it's over, and that's if there are no more delays.
Wouldn't shock me if Auburn and Kentucky wind up playing tomorrow instead of at 8 p.m. tonight.

Just seems like madness to try to schedule 4 college baseball games in the same site on the same day.
A few years ago, University-6 hosted the ACC tournament. When the rain messed with the schedule, they were able to move some games to the Triple-A park in town. Wonder if the Birmingham park is available to the SEC.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Tap ... I'm guessing if you're Virginia Tech and you make it that far, you run your usual weekend rotation out there for Thursday-Saturday and go Johnny Wholestaff on Sunday if you get there. Honestly (and I can't believe I'm saying this), if VT were to get to Sunday, there would be absolutely nothing gained by wasting a pitcher to win that championship game. They'll be locked into whatever regional seed they're going to get at that point. A win or loss in that game for a team heading in ranked second in the country isn't going to change anything.

College baseball coach is a tough gig. You have to manage a roster of 35 with only 11.7 full scholarship equivalents. And then you have to manage a pitching staff In competition. Only sport in which you have to decide if you’re willing to tank a conference championship.

 

[Batman]

Just seems like madness to try to schedule 4 college baseball games in the same site on the same day.
A few years ago, University-6 hosted the ACC tournament. When the rain messed with the schedule, they were able to move some games to the Triple-A park in town. Wonder if the Birmingham park is available to the SEC.

The Barons are on the road this week, but I'm not sure they'd do that. There's a little wiggle room in the schedule on Friday and Saturday to add a couple of games if they need to.
And now it'll be five games in one day. They've officially postponed tonight's late game until tomorrow. The scheduled 1 p.m. game hasn't started yet and it and the 4:30 game have a start time of "TBA." So figure it'll be a rolling ball of crap, because I think the weather tomorrow is supposed to be worse than today.

 

[maumann]

They should move the SEC Baseball Tournament to Southern California. It would end their drought.

 

[tapintoamerica]

The Barons are on the road this week, but I'm not sure they'd do that. There's a little wiggle room in the schedule on Friday and Saturday to add a couple of games if they need to.
And now it'll be five games in one day. They've officially postponed tonight's late game until tomorrow. The scheduled 1 p.m. game hasn't started yet and it and the 4:30 game have a start time of "TBA." So figure it'll be a rolling ball of crap, because I think the weather tomorrow is supposed to be worse than today.

Am I reading the bracket correctly? Is it possible that the champion might play 7 games? Seems like a terrible idea. Particularly in a league in which teams don’t have to pad resumes to make the NCAAs.

Yet it doesn’t seem to hurt them in the NCAAs.

 

[Batman]

Am I reading the bracket correctly? Is it possible that the champion might play 7 games? Seems like a terrible idea. Particularly in a league in which teams don’t have to pad resumes to make the NCAAs.

Yet it doesn’t seem to hurt them in the NCAAs.

If you have to come through the play-in round, that's correct. But a lot of these teams are playing for more than just a spot in the NCAAs.
The top 16 teams in the country in RPI — among other metrics — get to host regionals and the top eight also are guaranteed to host super regionals. Right now only four SEC teams (Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Auburn and Georgia) are in that top 16 and Georgia lost today. Several others are a cut just below that and trying to play their way into hosting. If they make a deep run and face some of the others it'll certainly help or hurt their case. You don't want to go one-and-done this week.
Then there are a few others like Ole Miss and Alabama that have mediocre records but decent RPI ratings and probably need to win a game or two to shore up their footing for a bid.
Tennessee has locked up a top-eight seed and probably the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA tournament no matter what they do this week. Everybody else has something to play for.

 

[dixiehack]

That late game tonight that’s pushed to tomorrow is Auburn-Kentucky, which would have been a good gate.

Rain should end about 6:15 here sez local weather guru James Spann.

 

[dixiehack]

 

[tapintoamerica]

That late game tonight that’s pushed to tomorrow is Auburn-Kentucky, which would have been a good gate.

Rain should end about 6:15 here sez local weather guru James Spann.

So they’ll get in 2 of the originally scheduled 4 games today? Or will they try for the third?

 

[dixiehack]

So they’ll get in 2 of the originally scheduled 4 games today? Or will they try for the third?

Baseball after midnight is a Hoover tradition. Radar looks decent enough past this line that is lifting now; maybe one more cell in SW Alabama that could arrive in a couple of hours. I would guess three today and pray for better luck through Thursday. Weekend looks good.

 

[Batman]

Ole Miss baseball's Twitter operator having a little fun.

 

[dixiehack]

LSU officially punted to Thursday morning.

 

[Cosmo]

I covered an NC State-UNC ACC tourney game in Durham that ended after 2 a.m. Granted, it went 18 innings, but still...

 

[tapintoamerica]

Baseball after midnight is a Hoover tradition. Radar looks decent enough past this line that is lifting now; maybe one more cell in SW Alabama that could arrive in a couple of hours. I would guess three today and pray for better luck through Thursday. Weekend looks good.

I love late late night sports. So I hope they start at 10:30 pm and end at 2 am.

 

[Cosmo]

The ACC went to this current model to eliminate the possibility of teams having to play a ridiculous amount of games. I really like it. The resume is built in the regular season. And it's not like everyone gets in. There's no chance of Boston College or Duke stealing a bid. The only remote possibility for a bid steal is Pitt. The other 11 teams are in the field. I honestly could care less if Virginia Tech goes two-and-barbecue. Losing to Clemson and Carolina on neutral fields won't sink their seed much. Hopefully the Hokies stay in that top four or five and avoid the "good" four seed. In '13, they hosted, but they got Oklahoma, Coastal Carolina and Connecticut--UConn notoriously being a very tough out as a northeast school that doesn't play home games for the first month or so of the year. Would be nice to draw the MEAC champ or something.