1. UCLA (33-22)
2. Fresno St. (40-14)
3. UC Irvine (39-16)
4. San Francisco (31-23) Read the rest of this entry »
Selection Monday is one of the biggest days on the college baseball calendar, but the biggest prize that the NCAA selection committee hands out actually is awarded the day before. A day before the NCAA reveals the Regionals, Super Regional match-ups and map to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, they announce the 16 teams that will host Regionals. That huge advantage is handed out to the teams that prove themselves worthy over the course of a long, grueling regular season. Well, not quite all of it because the Regional hosts are inexplicably announced at 3:30 pm ET, before all of the day’s games are finished. Read the rest of this entry »
LSU 3, UC Irvine 4
The defending national champions got knocked down early and after nine innings in the Sunday elimination game at Jackie Robinson Stadium, they were out. UC Irvine jumped ahead early, extended their lead a bit and then hung on to take out LSU and send the throngs of purple and gold clad Tiger fans home disappointed with a 4-3 win. Read the rest of this entry »
LSU 11 UC-Irvine 10 (11 innings)
Widely regarded as the top first day Regional match-up in the country, the battle between UC Irvine and LSU lived up to the billing and then some in a thrilling contest at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium. A back and forth contest filled with quality pitching at times, several tremendous defensive plays and excellent hitting finally came to an end after 11 innings and more than four hours of play with LSU on top, 11-10.
The last two undefeated teams in the nation are still undefeated and both hail from the Pac-10. Arizona St., 20-0, and UCLA, 16-0, each took care of business this weekend to continue their perfect runs this season, but the rest of the conference is also faring well as only one checks in below .500 despite the conference playing the toughest schedules as ranked by BoydsWorld.com
This weekend marked the final weekend before conference play gets underway so several teams were looking to put in a good weekend of work in hopes of carrying momentum into the league season. In total, six teams swept their series, another took two of three, two lost two of three and one lost their only game of the weekend because two were snowed out.
It was a weekend of almosts in the middle of the Pac-10. A couple of the middle Pac-10 teams hoping to make a statement that they are really top-notch teams came close and showed well, but they came up just a bit short of their goals. Even so, the conference proved yet again that they’re a force to be reckoned with excellence at the top and with surprising depth.
The real question developing now is can anyone challenge the top two? The Pac-10 has two undefeated teams in UCLA and Arizona St., both of whom have looked extremely impressive. There are multiple strong teams behind them, though, so both better be ready for a challenge come conference play because it is only March and nothing is determined in March.
California has long been a hotbed of college baseball talent and the state has long produced top team after top team. 71 trips to the College World Series have originated from California, resulting in 21 national championship teams from five different schools hailing from the Golden State. As a result, the state has hosted its share of postseason contests, but this season could be different.
In the 11 postseasons played since the NCAA went to the 64 team Super Regional format, the state of California has been well represented when it comes to Regional hosts. In those 11 years, the West Coast has had four host sites three times, three host sites six times and two host sites twice. Whether the region has hosted two, three or four times, California has always be a feature, hosting at least two Regionals in every single year.
This season, the state of California is suffering from a lack of teams off to a quality start and a possible lack of facilities qualified to host. It is admittedly early in the season, but this is shaping up to be a year with only one California host or even an unthinkable, none. Read the rest of this entry »
The Pac-10 entered the season’s third weekend with three undefeated teams and by the end of it, that number was whittled down to two. It still proved to be a successful weekend for the league as eight of the 10 teams came away series winners and three of those came away with series sweeps. Through three weeks, the conference is 76-31, good for a .710 winning percentage as they show a depth of quality that was certainly missing a year ago when it was Arizona St. + 9. Read the rest of this entry »
The Pac-10 was never going to replicate their play of a week ago. An .862 winning percentage is just not something an entire conference keeps up week after week and the Pac-10 didn’t. The conference flashed a little of the opening week’s flash, but was also roughed up in a weekend’s showing that truly covered all bases. Some teams (UCLA, Washington St., Oregon St.) proved that they’re contenders, while others (Stanford, USC) made their opening weekend heroics fade into a memory of long ago.
It was one heck of a weekend for the Pac-10. Coming off of a disastrous 2009 campaign in which only three teams qualified for a Regional and only one made it past the first weekend, the conference came out in a complete 180 in the 2010 season’s opening weekend. As a whole, the Pac-10 went 9-0 on Friday, 10-2 on Saturday and then 6-2 on Sunday for a weekend record of 25-4 with the opponent’s including Rice, Fullerton, Cal Poly, Long Beach St. and Hawaii. After three days of the 2010 season, no team has more than one loss.
Recapping the action from the Fullerton Regional at Goodwin Field on Sunday.
Utah- 9, Gonzaga- 7
Led by a 5-for-5 performance by freshman Tyler Yagi, the Utah baseball team defeated Gonzaga in an elimination game of the NCAA Regional on Sunday afternoon, 9-7.
With the win, Utah turns around to play Cal State Fullerton in the regional title game tonight beginning at 6:10 p.m. (PT, 7:10 MT). The Utes would have to beat the Titans twice to win the regional.
Yagi, who tied his career-high for hits, led a Utes offense that has scored 20 runs and banged out 33 hits in their two elimination games since an opening night loss to Cal State Fullerton on Friday.
Recapping the action from the Irvine Regional at Anteater Ballpark on Sunday.
UC Irvine- 14, San Diego St.- 3
Jeff Cusick went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and the UC Irvine offense belted out 19 hits in a 14-3 victory versus San Diego State in an elimination game of the Irvine Regional Sunday at Anteater Ballpark.
Ben Orloff, Ronnie Shaeffer, Casey Stevenson and Dillon Bill provided three hits apiece as the Anteaters rebounded from a 5-0 shutout loss to Virginia just one night earlier.
2012 CBD All-American Teams Announced
Top 100 Countdown: 1. Mark Appel (Stanford)
Top 100 Countdown: 2. Mike Zunino (Florida)
Top 100 Countdown: 3. Deven Marrero (Arizona State)
Top 100 Countdown: 4. Michael Roth (South Carolina)
