Baseball season starts earlier for those who care about the college side. Season begins tomorrow. I don't know if we've ever had a college baseball thread, but we do now. Let's go.
2012 in review:
*Arizona spoiled South Carolinas bid at a three-peat to capture its fourth CWS title, and its first since 1986. The Cats went a perfect 10-0 in Omaha.
*The year of the northern teams: Kent St., St. Johns and Stony Brook all won regionals on the road. Since 1999 (new regional format), just five teams north of the Mason-Dixon Line had accomplished this feat.
*Nearly twice as many seniors selected in the top 10 rounds of the draft compared to years past due in large part to the new draft rules.
*Oregon, a club sport prior for 27 years until 2009, was a top eight national seed as well as a regional and super-regional host.
*Florida righthander Jonathon Crawford spun the first no-no in postseason play since 1991 (John Burke, also from UF). On the same night, Kent St. upset Kentucky in a 21-inning thriller, the second longest game in tournament history.
*N.C. State freshman left-hander Carlos Rodon was outstanding, going 9-0, 1.61 with 132 strikeouts and 41 walks in 111 innings. Rodon was Baseball Americas freshman of the year and packs a 97 mph fastball to go with a power slider into the mid-80s.
*Missouri St. righthander Nick Petree went 73 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
*Kentucky opened up the season winning its first 22 games. Two other teams actually had longer winning streaks Baylor (24), Utah St. (32).
*Southeast Missouri teammates Trenton Moses (26th round, Braves) and Kenton Parmley had dynamite seasons. Moses reached base in all 59 games, leading the nation in on-base and slugging, while Parmley compiled a 47-game hitting streak, which tied for the third-longest in D-I history.
*Vanderbilt started the year by going 7-15, but won 22 of its last 26 games to earn a regional bid. Each of the three games in the regional against N.C. State came down to the final at-bat, but the Wolfpack got the last hurrah, scoring six runs in the final two innings to come back from a four-run deficit.
Off-season storylines:
*Three-time national coach of the year Ray Tanner was promoted to Athletic Director at South Carolina. Tanner won the CWS in 10 and 11, and lost in the championship in 12. Chad Holbrook, who served as an associate head coach for the past four years at the program, was named to replace Tanner.
*Modified RPI formula begins this season. Road wins will now be worth 1.3 victories, while neutral-site wins will be worth 1.0 victories, and home wins will be worth 0.7 victories. Conversely, home losses will count as 1.3 losses, and road losses will count as 0.7. RPI is comprised of winning percentage (25 percent), opponents' winning percentage (50) and opponents' opponents' winning percentage (25).
*Southern Cal's head coach Frank Cruz was fired for knowingly violating Countable Athletically-Related Activities. CARA rules restrict the number of hours student-athletes can spend in activities director by a coach. Dan Hubbs was promoted to head coach.
*Vanderbilt pitching coach Derek Johnson became the Cubs' minor league pitching coordinator.
*Florida righthander Karsten Whitson, the Padres ninth overall pick in 2010, will be seeing Dr. James Andrews today after it was announced he will be sidelined to start the year because of shoulder fatigue.
[tablegrid= 2013 Top 25 Polls ] USA Today/ESPN Baseball America College Baseball Newspaper 1 Arkansas UNC Arkansas 2 UCLA Vanderbilt UNC 3 LSU Arkansas Vanderbilt 4 UNC Louisville LSU 5 S. Carolina Miss. St. UCLA 6 Oregon Oregon St. Oregon 7 Stanford S. Carolina S. Carolina 8 Vanderbilt N.C. State Kentucky 9 Florida St. Stanford Stanford 10 Arizona LSU Oregon St. 11 N.C. State Kentucky N.C. State 12 TCU UCLA San Diego 13 Florida Ole Miss Miss. St. 14 Oregon St. TCU Oklahoma 15 Kentucky Oregon TCU 16 Oklahoma Ga.Tech Arizona St. 17 Rice Florida Georgia Tech 18 Miss. St Rice Arizona 19 San Diego Oklahoma Florida St. 20 Arizona St. Florida St. Rice 21 Ga. Tech New Mexico Texas 22 CS-Fullerton CS-Fullerton Louisville 23 Baylor So. Miss CS-Fullerton 24 Texas A&M Arizona Florida 25 Virginia San Diego Ole Miss [/tablegrid]
Opening weekend Top 25 matchups: Stanford at Rice; TCU at Ole Miss.
2012 in review:
*Arizona spoiled South Carolinas bid at a three-peat to capture its fourth CWS title, and its first since 1986. The Cats went a perfect 10-0 in Omaha.
*The year of the northern teams: Kent St., St. Johns and Stony Brook all won regionals on the road. Since 1999 (new regional format), just five teams north of the Mason-Dixon Line had accomplished this feat.
*Nearly twice as many seniors selected in the top 10 rounds of the draft compared to years past due in large part to the new draft rules.
*Oregon, a club sport prior for 27 years until 2009, was a top eight national seed as well as a regional and super-regional host.
*Florida righthander Jonathon Crawford spun the first no-no in postseason play since 1991 (John Burke, also from UF). On the same night, Kent St. upset Kentucky in a 21-inning thriller, the second longest game in tournament history.
*N.C. State freshman left-hander Carlos Rodon was outstanding, going 9-0, 1.61 with 132 strikeouts and 41 walks in 111 innings. Rodon was Baseball Americas freshman of the year and packs a 97 mph fastball to go with a power slider into the mid-80s.
*Missouri St. righthander Nick Petree went 73 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
*Kentucky opened up the season winning its first 22 games. Two other teams actually had longer winning streaks Baylor (24), Utah St. (32).
*Southeast Missouri teammates Trenton Moses (26th round, Braves) and Kenton Parmley had dynamite seasons. Moses reached base in all 59 games, leading the nation in on-base and slugging, while Parmley compiled a 47-game hitting streak, which tied for the third-longest in D-I history.
*Vanderbilt started the year by going 7-15, but won 22 of its last 26 games to earn a regional bid. Each of the three games in the regional against N.C. State came down to the final at-bat, but the Wolfpack got the last hurrah, scoring six runs in the final two innings to come back from a four-run deficit.
Off-season storylines:
*Three-time national coach of the year Ray Tanner was promoted to Athletic Director at South Carolina. Tanner won the CWS in 10 and 11, and lost in the championship in 12. Chad Holbrook, who served as an associate head coach for the past four years at the program, was named to replace Tanner.
*Modified RPI formula begins this season. Road wins will now be worth 1.3 victories, while neutral-site wins will be worth 1.0 victories, and home wins will be worth 0.7 victories. Conversely, home losses will count as 1.3 losses, and road losses will count as 0.7. RPI is comprised of winning percentage (25 percent), opponents' winning percentage (50) and opponents' opponents' winning percentage (25).
*Southern Cal's head coach Frank Cruz was fired for knowingly violating Countable Athletically-Related Activities. CARA rules restrict the number of hours student-athletes can spend in activities director by a coach. Dan Hubbs was promoted to head coach.
*Vanderbilt pitching coach Derek Johnson became the Cubs' minor league pitching coordinator.
*Florida righthander Karsten Whitson, the Padres ninth overall pick in 2010, will be seeing Dr. James Andrews today after it was announced he will be sidelined to start the year because of shoulder fatigue.
[tablegrid= 2013 Top 25 Polls ]
Opening weekend Top 25 matchups: Stanford at Rice; TCU at Ole Miss.