Some predictions

Baseball America

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/postseason/regional/2008/266198.html

Rivals.com

http://collegebaseball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=811447

THE BUZZ
There has been much discussion that Miami was given a very tough Regional. Sure, compared to the College Station Regional it's tough, but besides the Hurricanes this Regional is filled with inconsistent teams. Missouri is a very good team when they're on, but when they're off they can lose to anyone. The Tigers will also have to throw All-American pitcher Aaron Crow against Ole Miss. Speaking of the Rebels, they looked good at the SEC Tournament. But like the Tigers, what exactly are you going to get from them in Regional play? That's the million-dollar question. Also like Missouri, the Rebels likely will throw ace pitcher Lance Lynn in the first game – not in a possible matchup against Miami. Bethune-Cookman is a team many feel is a tough four-seed for the Hurricanes, but don't' expect coach Jim Morris to take them lightly. In the end, the 'Canes have the most balanced team and should move on.

Bethune-Cookman

Last but not least, fourth seeded Bethune-Cookman out of the MEAC. Bethune-Cookman is the MEAC regular and post-season champion. Bethune-Cookman finished 17 -1 in conference and were 36-20 overall. The MEAC is not a very strong conference seeing as only one other team had a record above .500 and the team was only a game over .500. At least Bethune-Cookman did what they had to do and ran through through the conference without any problems. They have a tough first day match-up against Miami.

hitting-.297 average
pitching- 3.86 ERA
defense-.959 fielding pct (Led the conference in fielding!)

Hitting

Led the conference in hitting with a .297 batting average. They dont score very many runs scoring 419 runs in 56 games throughout the year, walks taken (255) and SO (506). Two hitters to watch for them are JOse Lazada who lead the conference in hitting with .404 average. However Lozada is not a good fielding, seeing as he committed 20 errors which led the team. The other hitter to watch is Osvaldo Torres who is hitting .339, with 12HR and 72RBIs.

Pitching

Their starting pitching just by looking at their stats is actually pretty good. Again the level of competition faced compared to the other teams in the regional is not very high, but they got the job done. Leading the way for the pitching staff is HIram Burgos who is 9-1 with a 1.20 era with 1 save. Burgos made 15 appearances, 12 of them starting and only gave up one HR. He will need probably the start of his life on Friday afternoon to beat a strong Miami offense.


latest line up for Bethune-Cookman

ORTIZ,Jose cf.
FORD,Kenneth ph/rf
HOYTE,Justin rf
VELEZ,Jorge ph/c
LOZADA,Jose ss
TORRES,Osvaldo 1b
JONES,Neal dh
CASTRO,Emmanuel 3b
RUPERTO,Jeremy c
DE LA ROSA,Devin lf
BROOKS,Mark 2b.
PATTERSON,Aaron 2b
JONES,Patrick lf/cf


To look at more stats if interested

http://www.meacsports.com/artman/publish/baseball.shtml
http://bccathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/beth-m-basebl-body.html

Miami Hurricanes preview

Miami (47-8, 23-5)

The number team in the country for the most of the year, the Hurricanes only lost one weekend series this weekend. This is also the second year in a row the Tigers and Hurricanes are in the same regional. Last year of course, the Hurricanes were in the Mizzou regional as a number 2 seed. Miami lost their first game to Louisville, then beat Kent St. in the losers bracket, and lost to Louisville again in an elimination game.

Miami hitting-.329 (2nd in conference)
Miami pitching-3.96 (6th in conference)-Should tell you how good the conference's pitching is.
Miami defense-.975 (2nd in conference)

Offense

Offensively this team is just stacked and lead by Yonder Alonso, who is hitting .380 with 21HR and 66RBIs. Stats that jump out while analyzing them are the number of HR (90), 2B (119), and R (496). This is a team that you do not want to mess around with because they will beat you up.

Pitching

The pitching on this team just by looking at the numbers is pretty average with the exception of their number one started Chris Hernandez and closer Carlos Gutierrez. It is clear to see that the offense carries this team, but again a team you probably dont want to fall behind in late innings. Stats that jump out while looking at their stats, are opponents ERA (8.12), SO (475), and their ERA (3.96). The pitching staff also does not walk people (160) on the season as a staff.

Chris Hernandez (11-0, 2.44, 97SO)
Carlos Gutiererrez (4-2, 11SV, only 13SO)

Miami's # 2

Eric Erickson ( 7-1 4.31, 56SO)

If Mizzou and Miami both win I imagine Mizzou will face Hernandez. Bethune-Cookman should not be a match for Miami, because offensively, I imagine Miami will overpower them. More to come on Bethune-Cookman tomorrow.

last Miami lineup

Blake Tekotte cf
Jemile Weeks 2b
Yonder Alonso 1b
Mark Sobolewski 3b
Ryan Jackson ss
Dennis Raben rf
Dave DiNatale lf
Adan Severino lf
Jason Hagerty dh
Yasmani Grandal c

If you want to look at more stats check out these two links

http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-basebl/acc-m-basebl-body.html
http://hurricanesports.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mifl-m-basebl-body.html

Bethune-Cookman preview tomorrow.

Ole Miss Preview

Ole Miss Rebels (37-24, 15-15, 5-5)

Ole Miss vs. Mizzzou

hitting-.297 which is good for 8th in conference .301(MIZZ)
pitching-4.00 ERA which is good for 3rd in conference 4.54 (MIZZ)
defense-.966 fielding percentage, 78 errors in 61 games .967, 71 errors in 57 games(MIZZ)

Just from looking at this teams offensive stats, it seems as if the pitching carries this team to most of its victories. The SEC is loaded with good pitching and teams, seeing as nine teams made the NCAA tournament. Some key stats to point out for this Ole Miss team is they are 10th in slugging at .451, last in conference with a .373 on base pct, and 10th in walks taken with 214. They are in the middle of the conference in most other offensive statistics, so according to SEC standards they are an average offensive team. The pitching on the other hand for Ole Miss seems to be pretty good. Key stats for pitching are a .253 opponents batting average which is tops in the SEC. The pitching staff is also second in the conference in innings pitched, first in batters struck out (575), third in hits allowed (528). The strike outs are the stat that stands out the most because even in four less games, Mizzou's pitching staff struck out 466 hitters, which is a difference of 109.

latest line up

Jordan Henry rf (14-17 SB-ATT)
Fuller Smith dh
Logan Power lf
Cody Overbeck 3b (15HR 53RBI, .608 SLG%)
Michael Guerrero cf
Matt Smith 1b (14HR, 39RBI, .538SLG%, leads team with 72SO)
Zach Miller 2b
Tim Ferguson ss (leads team with 9 errors)
Brett Basham c


Pitching

#1 Lance Lynn (7-3, 4.21, 103SO in 84.1 IP)
Closer- Scott Bittle (6-1, 26APP, 8 SV, 118SO in 66.1IP)

Bittle is fourth on the team in innings pitched, so it is clear that they rely on him heavily once they get leads. Lynn just based on the games started and innings pitched is averaging about six innings pitched. Bittle definitely seems to be the eight and ninth inning guys. Mizzou will have to get ahead early and hope the bullpen can hold a lead to avoid seeing Bittle.

If anyone would like a better look at these stats, they can look at these two links

http://secsports.com/new/sports/bbc/08stats/lgteams.htm
http://www.olemisssports.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=13045&SPID=748&DB_OEM_ID=2600

And Mizzou will land in...

The Miami regional!

1. Miami (47-8)
2. Missouri (38-19)
3. Ole Miss (37-24)
4. Bethune-Cookman (36-20)

The winner of this regional will play the Arizona regional which is not so easy either

1. Arizon (38-17)
2. Michigan (45-12)
3. Kentucky (42-17)
4. E. Michigan (25-32)

I will have a little preview on each team starting tomorrow with Missouri's first day opponent Ole miss.

NCAA Tournament

With Mizzou's lost yesterday to Texas A&M, they were eliminated from playing today in the Big 12 Championship game (Texas-Kansas St.) and an automatic bid. Mizzou is a lock to get in the tournament, but playing today probably would have helped their chances of hosting a regional. Regional sites are announced today with the rest of the field being announced tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m. It is hard to predict where Mizzou will land tomorrow, but I have seen Rice, Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Ann Arbor over the past few weeks. It should be an exciting two days of finding out where teams land.

Texas-OU

What a wild one in Oklahoma city! Texas and Oklahoma went back and forth today with both teams needing todays game. Texas got off to a fast start scoring two runs each in three of the first four innings of the game to get out to a 6-1 lead. Oklahoma battled back scoring six runs in the seventh inning to pull ahead. Texas scored one run in the bottom of the seventh and eight to pull ahead 8-7. Texas then fell a part in the top of the 9th inning. A leadoff double, miscommunication on a sacrifice bunt, an error, and a couple of walks lead a three run inning for Oklahoma to pull ahead 10-8. Texas put together a couple of hits together and got one run on an rbi single and the game tying run on a past ball. With short stop David Hernandez down 0-2 in the count, he singled into left field to drive in the game winning run, scored by Brandon Belt. It was fitting for Belt to score since he struggled in the top of the ninth. Oklahoma is now eliminated from the Big 12 championship game tomorrow and now only Texas or Mizzou can go from this pool. Texas needs a Mizzou loss to A&M to advance to Sunday and Mizzou needs to win to advance. Not sure on a time yet for the baseball game since the Texas-Oklahoma game just ended, but the table is now set for Mizzou to advance.

A&M game today

According to aggieathletics.com Freshman Barret Loux (4-2, 4.62 ERA) will start todays game against the Tigers. Loux has made 13 starts this year, with 72IP, 70Ks, and 30BB, but leads the pitching staff with 9HRs given up. Maybe the Tiger offense can get a couple home runs today. Ian Berger should get the start today for the Tigers. The game is @ 12:30 today after the Texas-Oklahoma game currently in progress.

Oklahoma game

THe Tigers lost last night in Oklahoma's last at bat, which now means they need Texas help again. Texas needs to beat OU and Mizzou needs to beat A&M on Saturday. The defense can not play like they did last night. The Tigers committed four errors in the game, which hopefully is not repeated on Saturday. I would have to guess that Ian Berger starts on Saturday now, and if everything falls into place, probably go with Rick Zagone to start on Sunday.

Tonight's game

Aaron Crow is throwing tonight's game against Oklahoma. In Crow's start against OU this year he struggled early giving up three runs in the first and one run in the second. He finished with a line of 7.2IP, 7H, 4 runs all earned, and 2BB. Greg Folgia was the hitting star of the game going 4-5 with 4RBIs. Ryan Duke pitched on Sunday, so it is unlikely hell pitch tonight's game against MIzzou. My educated guess is that C.J. Blue will start tonight's game against the Tigers.

Blue's pitching stats for the year

6-3 4.95 ERA 14 appearances 8 starts

His only appearance against Mizzou this year was in relief. He pitched 2.1IP, allowed 5H and three runs all earned.

Texas is currently up 14-8 through 7/ If the Longhorns hang on and Mizzou wins tonight, they will be playing in Sundays championship game.

Update

Oklahoma beat Texas A&M 4-1, which changes a lot of things. If Texas A&M loses to Texas tomorrow it would make them 0-2 and eliminate them from playing in the championship game on Sunday. The game against OU would essentially be the championship game for Mizzou because they would then be 2-0 and own tie breakers against OU and Texas. If OU and Texas win tomorrow, OU would be 2-0 and Texas 1-1 . If Texas beats OU and Mizzou beats A&M, three teams could potentially be 2-1 ,which could create quite a jam. Mizzou, Texas, and OU would all be 2-1 with OU having beat Mizzou, but losing to Texas. Mizzou would have beaten Texas and A&M, but losing to A&M. Texas would have beaten OU and A&M, but have lost to Mizzou.

Tiebreaker if that happens from big12sports.com

In the event of more than two teams being tied for the top spot within a bracket, the highest seeded team will advance to Sunday's winner-take-all Championship game.

This is getting ahead, but it does not hurt to look at all the things that could happen.

Game 1 vs. Texas

Great game by both teams with Mizzou coming out with the victory in ten thanks to a Trevor Coleman rbi single. Jacob Priday tied the game with a two run home run after Chance Ruffin completely shut the Tigers down. Rick Zagone was great today, keeping the Tigers in the game until Kyle Gibson came in to replace him. Gibson came in the 8th and got the Tigers out of a jam after the Longhorns advanced a runner to third with one out. The Tigers play again tomorrow night against Oklahoma with an expected start of 7:30. The team that actually uses the park plays a game at 11 that same morning so we will have wait to see how it affects Texas vs. Texas A&M.

Possible pitching scenarios

I said yesterday that Gibson might pitch this game, but it appears he has taken over the closers role . Now, this might be getting ahead a bit, but now look for Ian Berger to start against Oklahoma tomorrow. I think they will try to avoid using Gibson and possibly use him against Texas A&M. Now if all of this happens, Crow would pitch Sunday. Crow could still pitch the opener against whoever the Tigers play in whatever regional they land in.

Another Scenario is that Berger goes tomorrow, and Crow goes against A&M on Saturday. If they could win the pool, it could be a mix of Zagone, Tepesch, and possibly Gibson again on Sunday.

Big XII Tournament Time

After a big sweep against rival Nebraska, the Tigers are preparing for a run in the Big XII tournament. Aaron Crow was dominant in the win Friday. Gibson, Zagone, and Tepesch all pitched well in Sundays 7-3 win. It was definitely a good tune up for the tournament this week. Congrats are in order for Aaron Crow being named Big XII pitcher of the year. Aaron Senne and Jacob Priday were named to the first team while Trevor Coleman was named to the second team. Greg Folgia, Ryan Lollis, and Kyle Gibson all received honorable mention. Looking at the second team pitchers, a case can be made for Gibson being put on the second team.

Big XII Tournament Schedule for the Tigers

#4 seed Tigers vs. # 5 seed Texas Longhorns -5/21 @ 9 a.m. Probable pitching matchup according to TexasSports. com

Texas: RHP Chance Ruffin (7-3, 1.84 ERA)
Missouri: LHP Rick Zagone (2-3, 5.22 ERA)

Ruffin was also named Big XII freshman of the year

Ruffin defeated the Tigers in Texas's only win on the first series between the two teams 9-2. Here is Ruffins line from the start, Ruffin, Chance...... 5.1 4H 2R 2ER 5B

More from TexasSports.com

In the last 14 games, the Longhorns pitching staff has been dominant posting, an 11-3 record and 2.45 ERA. After posting just one shutout in the first 39 games, Texas posted three during the 14-game stretch. KENN KASPAREK and CHANCE RUFFIN both went 3-0 during the span with ERAs of 1.27 and 1.61, respectively. Before catching fire, the Longhorns posted a 5.14 ERA and struggled to a 23-16 record.


#4 seed Tigers vs. # 8 seed Oklahoma Sooners- 5/22 @ 7:30 p.m.

The Tigers have not decided on a pitcher for Thursday game, but I imagine if they can win Wednesday game they will throw Kyle Gibson and save Crow from the game against Texas A&M and probably flip flop the two if they lose Wednesday.

From soonersports.com

The Sooners finished the regular season with a .316 average in Big 12 games, the top mark in the conference. OU has finished a season hitting over .300 in Big 12 play on four occasions (2006, 2000, 1998 and 1997). In 2008, Jamie Johnson (.393-4th), Mike Gosse (.360-9th) and Aljay Davis (.354-10th) each rank in the top 10 in the Big 12 among conference games played.

#1 seed Texas A&M vs. #4 seed Tigers-5/24

If the Tigers were to win their pool, they would play the other pools champion on Sunday @ 1 p.m. on FSN.

Nebraska Preview

I wrote a little yesterday on how Nebraska won a tough series against A&M last week. Nebraska is a team that was predicted to finish 6th in the conference due to many reasons including some off season troubles for some players. We can not say this is not a good team anymore, they just find a way to keep winning. The Tigers will have a tough time on their hands this weekend but they have played better the last couple of weekends. It also seems like the pitching is coming together as well with Gibson continuing to pitch well and Zagone as well, even though he hit a wall in his start last week. The Tigers have also played well the last conference series of the year. Two years ago they swept Texas, last year beat Kansas two out three with Frey memorable three run walk off home run. Lets hope that trend continues.

Projected Pitching Match ups

Nebraska (39-9-1, 17-6-1 Big 12)

Probable Starting Pitchers

Dorn vs. Crow Friday will be a huge match up. I expect lots of scouts to be watching this one. Dorn has returned to form after a tough season last year and become Nebraska's ace. If the Tigers can win Friday night, I think they could sweep the series. Weber was 6-0 over a stretch from March 1-April 5 with an earned run average of 1.64. He struggled in his last outing which was a no decision against the Aggies allowing six runs. Pribanic has average numbers and gives up a lot of hits (69 in 67.2IP). He does not walk many (32BB) and has 55 strike outs. On Saturday and Sunday, I expect it to be Gibson and Zagone. It was odd to see Gibson out of the pen last week, but that might just show how little confidence Coach J has in anyone outside of Ryan Allen and Nick Tepesch. Ian Berger should also get some time in at some point this weekend.

Insights from a Nebraska fan

Dan jennings might be the sunday guy, although i doubt they'd switch it up at this point in the season. Pribanic throws harder than any of them, but lacks control big time. Jennings has been unreal but he's also nice to bring in late in the games.



Friday
NU-Johnny Dorn, Sr., RHP (5-1, 2.65 ERA)
MU-Aaron Crow, Jr., RHP (11-0, 2.82 ERA)

Saturday
NU-Thad Weber, Sr., RHP (8-2, 4.24 ERA)
MU-TBA

Sunday
NU-Aaron Pribanic, Jr., RHP (3-3, 4.26 ERA)
MU-TBA

lets look at some regional projections.

Last Nebraska line up

Nimmo, Bryce cf
Mort, Jake 3b
Opitz, Jake
Abeita, Mitch
Sullivan, Nick lf
Farst, Tyler 1b
Belfonte, DJ rf
Stewart, David dh
Cotton, Andy ss
Neer, Cody ph
Kline, Ben ss 1

This is according to Rivals.com as of this week

Houston Regional
Host: Rice {5}
1. Rice (CUSA Automatic)
4. Columbia (IVY Automatic)
2. Missouri (Big XII at large)
3. Dallas Baptist (Independent at large)

Baseball America

Ann Arbor, Mich

1. San Diego
2. Michigan* regional host
3. Missouri
4. Notre Dame

From baseballamerica.com

Missouri, like Kentucky, could move up to a No. 2 seed with a strong finish, but the Tigers will have to deal with Nebraska this weekend in Columbia, Mo. The Tigers, who are ranked No. 15 in the nation, stick out as a No. 3 seed, but bad losses to Minnesota, Western Illinois, Southern Illinois, Texas Tech and Kansas hurt their RPI (46), as do nine games against Indiana State, Toledo and South Dakota State. Still, beating Nebraska could render all of that moot.

Update

Mizzou won a series last weekend against rival Kansas and even though a sweep would have been nice, two out three is always good. Mizzou is pretty much locked into finishing fourth or fifth so this weekend against the Huskers is very important. The Tigers win the tie breaker with Baylor and Texas if either team were able to tie the Tigers for fourth place in the conference. The Tigers can play spoiler this weekend because A&M can still lose the conference title to Nebraska as a result of Nebraska taking two out three last weekend. Once the Big 12 Conference brackets are finalized, I will have an update who where Mizzou will be.

Currently

(1,4,5,8)-A&M, Mizzou, Texas, Oklahoma
(2,3,6,7)-Nebraska, OSU, Baylor, Kansas

9th place Kansas St and 10th place Texas can still make the Tournament. Kansas plays instate rival Kansas and Texas Tech play Baylor. Spots are still up in the air and it will be an interesting weekend in the Big 12.

Rivals tournament projections

Check out Rivals. com tournament predictions. Right now Mizzou is a #3 seed in the Georgia regional.

http://collegebaseball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=805499

Update

Weekend update

The Tigers squeaked by Kansas St. this weekend with a couple of wild baseball games. It would have been nice to have the sweep, but two out of three is not so bad. It was good to see Kyle Gibson and Rick Zagone pitch well. I also forgot to mention that Ian Berger pitched really well against Kansas earlier in the week. Hopefully they can keep it up, because itll nice to have in regional play wherever the Tigers end up.

The Tigers have a tough mid-week match up against Creighton tomorrow afternoon. If you are going to the game, its at 4 p.m. They are in the middle of the pack for conference hitting, hitting .280, but second in the conference with 39 home runs. The Blue Jays are second in pitching with a 3.75 era and also lead the league in defense. Below is Creighton's conference record, actual record, home record, away record and winning steak column.


Creighton 13-8 30-16 17-4 12-11 L1 3rd place in MVC behind Missouri St. and Wichita St.

Update/Preview of KST

I am not sure what is going with this Tigers baseball team right now, but they need to shape up quick. The series last week at Texas A&M was a complete disaster. The Tigers had two games they easily could have won, but after blowing an 8-1 lead, they seemed to sleep through both games until the Seventh inning of the Sunday game. However, there were a couple of positives this weekend. One of the first things Id like to mention is Rick Zagone's strong outing. He pitched very well with the amount of pitches he threw. It was good to see him pull together back to back strong outings and get back in the rotation. Despite losing 2 of 3 to A&M, I think this is a team the Tigers can play with. I mentioned earlier the Tigers could have easily won the series, so that is something to keep an eye on. I would like to see the Tigers get a chance to face this team in the Big 12 tournament. Tigers now have to position themselves for a strong finish in conference play and positioning in the Big 12 tournament/ NCAA tournament.

Kansas St. Preview

KST (6-12, 21-23)

Right now the Wildcats are on the border of making the Big 12 tournament currently in 8th place with a 6-12 conference record. The Wildcats are coming off a big midweek win by defeating 8th ranked Wichita St. 3-2. The Shockers committed four errors and had the tying run on in the last inning.

Pitching match ups

Crow vs. Lance Hoge (5.19 1-5)
Gibson vs. Brad Hutt (3.08 , 4-3)
Zagone vs. A.J. Morris ( 5.23 4-2)

It does not look like they have a consistent Sunday starter. Hoge has made 6 starts, Midweek starter against Wichita St has made 9 and Chase Bayuk has made 6. Im guessing that either of these guys could make a Sunday start or appear at least appear in Sundays game.


Projected line up courtesy of KST PDF preview off of kstatesports.com

POS. PLAYER YR. B/T BA-HR-RBI NOTES

C Rob Vaughn Jr. R/R .229-2-7 Has started 20 of the last 24 games.
1B Justin Bloxom So. S/R .275-6-34 Blasted 2-run, walk-off HR last Wed. vs. UC Irvine.
2B Brett Scott Sr. R/R .287-0-15 Leads team in on-base percentage at .437.
3B Nate Tenbrink Jr. L/R .245-0-8 Leads team in seven offensive categories.
SS Drew Biery Jr. R/R .196-3-20 Has raised average 15 points in last 12 games.
LF Adam Muenster So. R/R .308-0-14 Leads team with batting average at .308.
CF Jordan Cruz Jr. L/R .275-2-23 Currently riding career-best 9-game hit streak.
RF Jason King Fr. S/R .275-3-21 Has started 20 of last 23 games in right field.
DH Byron Wiley Jr. L/L .196-0-14 Has DHed the past 3 games and 4 of last 7.

The team has a team batting average of .249 which is last in Big 12 play with 27hrs and 212rbis as a team. They are also near the bottom in fielding percentage.

In the end, the Tigers should sweep this Kansas St. team, if not, definitely win the series.