Leader -Call
June 6 , 2007
Bunch of surprises in NCAA Baseball Tourney
By Sports Editor Shawn Wansley
Thoughts made while signing up for the Sensitivity Training course offered by Mississippi Braves manager Phillip Wellman. I hear it’s well-worth the price of admission....
The NCAA Baseball Tournament has been whittled down from 64 teams to 16 in one stirring weekend of action.
And, in a strange twist, most of the 16 remaining teams were not No. 1 seeds heading into their opening regionals last week.
Last week, some ignorant sportswriter (pardon me, while I blush) confidently declared at least 14 of the 16 top seeds would advance to this week.
Well, as Maxwell Smart would say, “Missed by that much!”
Only seven top seeds advanced this week and two of those had to fight their way back from the loser’s bracket. Wichita State lost its opener to New Orleans and Texas A&M lost early to Louisiana-Lafayette, but the Shockers and Aggies rebounded to capture their respective regionals.
Of the top seeds, only Ole Miss, Arizona State, North Carolina, South Carolina and Rice went through their regions unscathed.
Six No. 2 seeds reached the Super Regionals.
Mississippi State, Clemson, UCLA, Cal State-Fullerton and California-Irvine all went 3-0 last week. Michigan lost once in its regional in Nashville, but still managed to beat No. 1 ranked Vanderbilt twice and advance to this week.
There are three No. 3 seeds remaining: defending national champion Oregon State, Louisville and Oklahoma State. Louisville is coached by former Ole Miss assistant Dan McConnell, who has turned that program around instantly.
And the way the regional matchups are set up this week, we will be assured of at least one true ‘Cinderella’ team in the College World Series. That’s because Louisville will host Oklahoma State this weekend with the winner headed to Omaha next week.
What are the chances for the Mississippi schools this week? Well, after last week, you cannot count them out.
Certainly, Mississippi State is thrilled to have a chance to host, even though the starting times are not ideal. Temperatures are supposed to be in the mid to upper 90s this weekend and the Bulldogs will be playing at 11 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and, if necessary, at noon on Sunday.And I imagine Clemson is feeling a bit miffed at not hosting, even though their record is better and their RPI is slightly higher than the Bulldogs.
Ole Miss has come extremely close the last two years in Super Regionals, falling in three game series at home to Texas and Miami. Who knows? The Rebels might fare better on the road this time around.