wrapping up regionals this weekend, lots of upsets -- NCAA baseball has to be the cruelest postseason of any major sport; you can dominate all year but are just one bad inning from being in an impossible position

this thread exists to talk about the Tennessee Volunteers baseball team, however

last season's Vols team was one of the most villainous, dominant, hated teams in college baseball history and offended so many people they started changing celebration rules

did not make it out of Super Regionals though when Notre Dame stunned them at home

this year's team has been left for dead at various points of the season, whole different make-up and some returnees struggled (RHP Chase Dollander looked like a top five pick last season and has had control issues this year)

BUT VOLS, BITCH

down to their last strike, last out, down two runs in the top of the ninth to top-four overall seed Clemson (who won 17 games in a row), Vols rallied and eventually won one of the best regional games of all-time in 14 innings

Clemson couldn't recover today and Vols trounced Charlotte to move to the Supers, with the talent to be force all the way through to the CWS

--------

best of three to start this Friday

(1) Wake Forest vs. (16) Alabama
- not sure if anybody not following NCAA baseball knows this, but Alabama's head coach was fired midseason because he was placing bets *against* his own team through a parent of a Cincinnati player (another Cincinnati staffer was implicated, and the head coach resigned last week). Alabama actually has done well since his departure, however, so it'll be interesting to see if they can test Wake's dominant team. Wake has the top pitching staff in the country, leading the NCAA in team ERA by nearly a full run (2.64). RHP Rhett Lowder led the country in ERA (1.77) and is a projected first-rounder.

(2) Florida vs. (15) South Carolina
- Gators nearly choked away another regional at home but came back to win three in a row and knock out Texas Tech. Florida OF Wyatt Langford is a projected top three pick, while Florida RHP Hurston Waldrep has been inconsistent but should still be a first rounder. South Carolina was ranked in the top three in April after sweeping Florida, but they didn't win another series after that. Their bats did come alive in the regional so it should be a good test for both.

(5) LSU vs. (12) Kentucky
- LSU has the best pitcher/batter combo in the country (RHP Paul Skenes and CF Dylan Crews). both are putting up stupid numbers: Crews has a 1.310 OPS and Skenes has a 1.90 ERA with freaking 16.2 K/9. Crews is expected to be the top overall pick in the MLB Draft and Skenes not far behind.

(7) Virginia vs. Duke
- UVA denied my ECU Pirates another Super Regional and Duke is Duke, so fuck these teams. Cavs are balanced though; first nationally in BA (.334) and third in team ERA (3.69). Virginia C Kyle Teel is a projected first-rounder.

(8) Stanford vs. Texas
- Cardinal spoiled an A&M vs. Texas Super Regional. Stanford can rake (best offense in the Pac-12) but their pitching is not great (5.83 team ERA). Stanford SS Tommy Troy is a projected first rounder. Texas knocked out Miami in Coral Gables (somewhat of a tradition now for the once-proud Hurricanes) and are coming into form at the right time.

(14) Indiana State vs. TCU
- good god, TCU rolled up to Fayetteville and started crushing souls last weekend. Arkansas was the #3 overall seed and TCU scored 32 runs against them in two games. TCU 2B Tre Richardson went 6-for-11, 4 HR (2 grand slams) and 13 RBI in those pair of games and I wonder why Dave Van Horn was even pitching to him by the second game. although Indiana State is the higher seed, the games will be played in Fort Worth because of a scheduling conflict (I suppose Indiana State thought Arkansas would win their regional).

Southern Miss vs. Tennessee
- Vols fans up in arms about Southern Miss hosting but it should be a madhouse there and Tennessee should be worrying about themselves anyway. Tennessee doesn't have the bats they did last year, but they can still score and what really let them down last postseason was the pitching. RHP Andrew Lindsey has been big down the stretch (Charlotte transfer) and if RHP Chase Dollander (projected first rounder) can find his stride and RHP Chase Burns can keep this up (he was last year's Friday starter and now is an elite fireman out of the bullpen; he threw 100 pitches in relief against Clemson), Vols can get to Omaha. Won't be easy but this team was just trying to make the NCAA tournament not too long ago.

Oregon vs. Oral Roberts
- Ducks knocked out Vandy so much love.

--------

>- not sure if anybody not following NCAA baseball knows this,
>but Alabama's head coach was fired midseason because he was
>placing bets *against* his own team through a parent of a
>Cincinnati player (another Cincinnati staffer was implicated,
>and the head coach resigned last week).

___________________

Mar-A-Lago delenda est

for #1 LSU to beat Alabama -- the bama head coach tipped him off before the game that their starting pitcher would be scratched (Tigers won)

I guess that triggered a gambling regulation flag and it all came tumbling down after that

--------

looked like Virginia hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, but Duke snagged it at the wall

Duke 5, UVA 4 (Duke 1-0)

--------

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide

Oregon became the first team since Super Regionals started to come back from an 8-0 deficit (teams were previously 0-96)

chipped away at it and won 9-8 in the bottom of the ninth

South Carolina and Florida was a classic back-and-forth SEC game, Gators won 5-4

love Super Regionals, maybe more than the CWS due to the home stadium atmospheres

--------

Longhorns weren't doing much of anything offensively all day, Cardinal bring in their closer up 5-2 at the top of the 9th

- Walk
- HBP
- Walk
- E9, 2 runs score
- 6-3, 1 run scores
- Walk
- Walk
- Single, 2 runs score

Final: Texas 7, Stanford 5

amazingly, Texas' first three batters of the inning didn't even try to swing -- all Stanford had to do was throw strikes and they couldn't

--------

___________________

Mar-A-Lago delenda est

dominant

--------

Wake Forest flexed against Alabama (W 22-5) today and swept the series

Florida and TCU with mostly drama-free sweeps to get in

Texas and LSU can get in tonight, LSU crushed Kentucky 14-0 yesterday

Oregon-Oral Roberts has been the series of the supers, Oregon with the 8-run comeback Friday then Oral Roberts scored the last four runs of the game, including a walk-off two-run single, to win 8-7 last night -- game three tonight

Vols in a battle in Hattiesburg, Southern Miss jumped on them early but Tennessee got a break with a weather delay/suspension; they almost came back in the game one continuation today (ended up losing 5-3)

however, Tennessee won 8-4 in the doubleheader after Dollander picked himself up -- game three tomorrow with all hands on deck

--------

this is the comeback story of a team that ripped itself off the cross, stared at the Romans with blood in their eyes and said, "our turn now, cocksuckers" (c)

Tennessee went down 4-0 against Southern Miss' ace then outscored the Golden Eagles 13-0 over the final 15 innings

Vols were 23-14 (5-10 SEC) in mid-April but kept getting better and better

Zane Denton is the best reverse-bama transfer since Alvin Kamara

a half-dozen power arms, including Chase Burns pumping fastballs at 102 out of the pen with psychotic energy

BRING ON LSU

--------

(2) Florida vs. (7) Virginia

Florida is one of the front-runners to win the title, well-balanced and SEC battle-tested. Virginia has been lighting up teams offensively (averaged 10 runs per game against Duke in the Supers) so this should be a good one.

TCU vs. Oral Roberts

Oral Roberts has been on an unbelievable tear; winning 31 of their last 33 games and banging in a lot of runs doing so (they've scored 90 runs just in the postseason). TCU's bats cooled off a bit in the last round after going nuclear in regionals. Both these teams are underdogs in the field but the public will be behind Oral Roberts if they stay on fire.

(1) Wake Forest vs. (8) Stanford

Demon Deacons looked like the number one overall seed against Alabama, obliterating them in every facet during Supers. The top seeded team has not won the CWS in 24 years, however. Stanford is a top team themselves, helped out by a freaking 156-pitch complete game by Quinn Mathews in game two and a walk-off pop fly that got lost in the lights in game three of their series win against Texas.

(5) LSU vs. Tennessee

LSU took this series 2-1 in Baton Rouge earlier in the year, but that was a different (worse) Tennessee team. LSU has been dominant during the NCAA tournament, going undefeated in the first two rounds and winning by an average of 6.2 runs per game. Their two studs have been studding in the postseason: CF Dylan Crews is hitting .578 with a 1.692 OPS and SP Paul Skenes has thrown 16.2 innings with a 0.54 ERA and a 21-1 K:BB.

sounds about right for Tennessee, who has had to go on the road the entire tournament and has had nothing easy so far.

--------

both games won in the 9th

Oral Roberts DGAF about your lead

Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor is an all-timer with a national title, but he committed bullpen malpractice against Florida

putting your lefty closer in for a seven-out save

then leaving him in after giving up TWO HOME RUNS, one in the 8th and then a leadoff bomb to start the 9th

then leaving him in to give up ANOTHER HOME RUN to the Gators' best hitter to tie the game

then leaving him to put the go-ahead run on base

then leaving him in to walk the next batter and hit the one after that

check to see if he bet against his own team before the game

--------

basically a future front-line MLB starter on the mound, throwing 100+ at the corners (an especially high outside strike zone tonight, thanks to blue) with his usual plus-slider and decent change

that said, Tennessee did enough to get him out late, and was in a position to tie or win the game if their bullpen had held up better

credit to LSU's lineup though -- they were the number one offense in the country for a reason

Vols get Quinn Mathews (Stanford) in an elimination game Monday, although I'm interested to see how Mathews bounces back after throwing 156 pitches against Texas in Supers

Wake-LSU is going to be real interesting, as the Tigers' pitching behind Skenes hasn't been that great and the Deacons basically have co-aces with LHP Josh Hartle

--------

wish i was home i would've went to the super regionals

<--- Big Baller World Order

nearly every one of their games has been decided in the 9th inning, for better or worse

Sully (Florida head coach) severely messed up when he had to take his closer out of the game because of too many mound visits

however, the replacement reliever got out of a bases-loaded jam that inning and another in the ninth to hang on for the 5-4 win

Gators in pole position for one of the finals spots, as TCU or Oral Roberts will play each other tomorrow and the winner will have to beat Florida twice

Virginia is out because their bats went cold, kind of surprising for one of the country's top offenses

TCU pitched well enough but nothing too crazy, Virginia just couldn't get a hit to drop -- Teel and the heart of the order went 2-for-16

--------

His dad was our school's athletic director. Always good to see local small town connections.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

went from 29-12 to the CWS

--------

Burnsie you are a legend

bring on the LSU-Wake loser

--------

>bring on the LSU-Wake loser

Tigers will start a mix at pitcher -- maybe even have Skenes throw an inning instead of his scheduled bullpen day -- but Vols have an actual third starter (Drew Beam, who dominated Southern Miss in Supers) and more depth behind him (Seth Halverson, AJ Russell, Aaron Combs and Camden Sewell all pitched about 3 innings combined on Saturday)

got to keep LSU from going nuclear on offense -- Crews seems due for a big game after a quiet CWS so far -- but Tennessee is very much back in this

--------

got our asses kicked. LSU deserved to move on; clearly the better team this season (4-1 against Tennessee).

great year though. always good to be in the CWS and Vitello has the Vols poised as one of the top programs for years to come.

--------

hell of a battle between LSU and Wake -- two first rounders in Skenes and Lowder going pitch for pitch, both teams struggling to score (0-10 RISP combined) before the Tigers won it with a walk-off homer in the 11th

LSU and Florida did not play a series this season in the SEC, best versus best and a CWS finals rematch from 6 years ago

hard to see Skenes starting the first two games of the finals, and if LSU manages to force a deciding game next Monday then Skenes could theoretically go on four days rest

lastly, the SEC will be winning the national championship for a fourth straight CWS, which will be the conferences ninth in 14 years

--------

LSU takes game one in 11 innings, 4-3

LSU SP Ty Floyd with the start of his life -- 17 strikeouts in 8 innings

--------

not another classic

--------

<--- Big Baller World Order

crazy that LSU won the title without using Skenes in the championship series; a lot of people thought the rest of their pitching would be their downfall but they stepped up multiple times

meanwhile the Gators' starting pitchers, considered stronger as a collective, got rocked (fuck Florida)

Wake-LSU felt like the real final in retrospect

--------