2011 College Baseball Tournament Updates
By hogmaninla
College baseball teams began their march to Omaha, Nebraskaon Friday. 16 teams are hosting the field of 64 across the country. The top 8 surviving teams will battle it out for the National Championship June 18-29. Without the same fan fair as March Madness, college baseball is proving it has the same share of thrills and mayhem for college sports fans. 6 top seeded teams face elimination games today, five #2 seeds have already been sent home, and four #3 seeds are 2-0.
NCAA top 8 seeded teams
Virginia
Florida
North Carolina
South Carolina
FloridaState
Vanderbilt
Texas
Rice
NCAA Division 1 updates from Friday and Saturday
#1 seeds facing elimination games:
UCLA is 1-1 and faces an elimination game today.
Texasis 1-1 and faces an elimination game today.
TCU is 1-1 and faces an elimination game today.
Rice is 1-1 and faces an elimination game today.
Georgia Tech is 1-1 and faces an elimination game today.
Cal-State Fullerton is 1-1 and faces an elimination game today.
Eliminated #4 seeds:
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Sacred Heart
Georgia Southern
Wright State
Navy
Alcorn State
Bethune Cookman
Manhattan
New Mexico
Princeton
Eliminated #3 seeds:
Kansas State
Upsets and surprises:
#2 seeded Oklahoma is out of the tournament.
#2 seeded Oklahoma State is out of the tournament.
# 2 seeded Southern Mississippi is out of the tournament.
#2 seeded Fresno State is out of the tournament.
#2 seeded Florida International University is out of the tournament.
#3 seeded Dallas Baptist University is 2-0 in the Fort Worth/TCU regional.
#3 seeded UC Irvine is 2-0 in the UCLA/Los Angelesregional.
#3 seeded Mississippi State is 2-0 in the Georgia Tech/Atlanta regional.
#3 seeded Kent State is 2-0 in the University of Texas/Austin regional.
Win-Loss breakdown per seeds thru Friday and Saturday games:
2-0 1-1 0-2
#1 seeds 10 6 0
#2 seeds 2 9 5
#3 seeds 4 11 1
#4 seeds 0 6 10
How are the “power conferences” performing?
Teams Wins/Losses
ACC 7 11-3
Big East 3 3-3
Big 12 6 5-7
Big 10 1 1-1
PAC 10 6 9-3
SEC 7 11-3
How are the new bats affecting play?
Home runs are down in the NCAA tournament this year. During the first day of play in 2010 (32 games) 87 home runs were hit. This year only 38 home runs were hit on the first day of play (32 games).
A full season perspective:
Offense was down this year in Division 1 baseball primarily due to the new bats. The new bats are said to have a smaller “sweet spot”, 3 inches as opposed to the 5 inches on the older bats, and the weight of the bat is throwing hitters off. The average distance of home runs has changed from 400 ft. in 2010 to 375 ft. in 2011. Teams have complained that the weight of the bat is not centered properly like a wooden bat. More weight is given to the barrel of the bat used this year in college baseball. This causes players to change their swing and go through the strike zone too fast. The NCAA plans to change the style of bats for the 2012 season.
The one thing they got right with the bats is the sound the ball makes on contact. The “PING” sound of the old aluminum bats is gone, replaced with the sound a wooden bat makes upon contact.
1998 was a record setting year offensively in Division 1 baseball. Compare 1998’s stats to 2011 for yourself.
Comparing numbers
1998 2011
Home runs/game 1.00 .52
Runs/game 7.12 5.62
Batting avg. 3.06 2.82
ERA 6.12 4.70
Just to clarify, it was a clean play, get over it!
San Francisco Giants’ fans and their team management need a little baseball education. On May 25th Florida Marlins rookie, Scott Cousins, made a clean baseball play when he collided with Giants’ catcher Buster Posey at the plate. It is unfortunate that Posey was hurt and is out for the rest of the season due an ankle injury that occurred from their collision. Fans have been sending Cousins death threats and Giants management has been harsh in their words and also threatening to Cousins. Cousins apologized twice to Posey, the Giants organization, and their fans publicly. Still Cousins receives death threats from fans for a clean play at the plate. Posey was blocking the plate preventing Cousins from making a clean slide to the plate. Shoe on the other foot, anyone of the Giants players would’ve run over a Marlins’ catcher.