Hurricanes Still Alive at CWS; Noles Going Home

It was very nearly another catastrophic 9th inning collapse for closer Carlos Gutierrez and the Miami Hurricanes. After giving up four runs in the 9th on Friday to cost Miami it's opening round game versus Georgia, Gutierrez gave up another three runs in the 9th yesterday as the Canes beat rival FSU 7-5 in Omaha. The Seminoles finish the year 54-14, and have to be exceedingly disappointed at how they finished the year. The 4th-ranked team in the nation goes home without a single CWS win.

For the Canes, there were some heroes - Dannis Raben made a couple of outstanding defensive plays and had a couple of (crucial) RBI's. Eric Erickson played a marvelous game after coming in for injured starter David (please don't call me Carlos) Gutierrez. Erickson gave up one run in 5 innings of work. Jemile Weeks and Blake Tekotte added a couple of much-needed home runs ("blasts" would be more accurate). As for Carlos Gutierrez? One more closing effort like his past two and the Canes will be making expeditious flight arrangements back to Miami.

UM, now 53-10 on the season, plays another elimination game tomorrow night against Stanford. All the games the Canes play from now until the championship series will be win-or-go-home, and tomorrow's is no exception. I say the Canes beat the 40-23-2 Cardinal, though not if they don't get their closer's mind right. After all, remember what Stanford did in the 9th versus FSU last week.

UM On The Precipice Of Epic Fail

The Miami Hurricanes were 52-9 heading into Saturday night's opening round match-up with the Georgia Bulldogs in Omaha for the College World Series. Of course, they could have been 61-0 or 43-18 and it would have all been the same. Everyone goes into the CWS with a blank slate record of 0-0. Nobody cares what you did before, only how you make your mark in the town that Warren Buffet built. And so the Canes find themselves, despite an unprecedentedly good season, on the brink of elimination and one of the most disappointing meltdowns in Hurricane history, after losing to the Dawgs 7-4 on the shaky closing of usually-reliable Carlos Gutierrez.

To put their long odds into perspective, to even get to the best-of-3 championship series, Miami must win four consecutive elimination games in a span of six days. Lose just one more time, and they go home with nothing. Only two teams in the last 28 years have won the CWS after losing the first game, including Oregon State most recently in 2006.

The first step on the improbable road to rebirth is defeating the 54-13 Florida State Seminoles. The Canes have beaten the Noles 2 out of 3 this season, the last one being the most heated and controversial, with tempers flaring and braggadocio, insensitivity, and fan stupidity winning the day. One of these two state powers is going home today, and we'll see who beginning at 2 pm. I'm predicting the Canes by at least 5, but I'm not going so far as to predict a Canes CWS title...not yet, anyways. The key, as always, will be pitching.

Florida State continues on...

Apparently the Florida State Seminoles were told the NCAA tournament started on Saturday. After being shutout by Bucknell in the first game Friday, FSU exacted revenge in extreme fashion, 24-9 today. This coming after a 17-11 win yesterday over Florida. Thats 41 runs in 2 games... Wow.

Florida State must now win 2 straight over the Green Wave of Tulane, who defeated Florida and then Bucknell to earn the 3rd game bye. Should the Seminoles win the first game tonight, a championship game would be played tomorrow.

The Miami Hurricanes won their first 2 games, although they failed to break the 40 run barrier. The 'Canes learned their opponent earlier today as well. They will play Ole Miss, who won their elimination game earlier this afternoon over Missouri, 9-6. Miami needs just 1 win over Ole Miss in 2 tries to earn a spot in an NCAA Super Regional.

Florida State explodes for 17 runs, eliminates Florida

What Freddy Kruger, Jason, and that weirdo from the Texas Chainsaw Masscre is to 19 year old sexy coeds, so is today's Florida\Florida State baseball game to pitchers. The Florida State Seminoles eliminated the Florida Gators from the NCAA tournament today by a final score of 17-11. The two teams combined for 35 hits (25 by FSU, 10 by UF). Two big innings by the Seminoles proved too much for the Gators to overcome. A 7-run, 5th inning, in which FSU sent 13 men to the plate, combined with a 5-run 7th inning provided the difference for the Seminoles, who now advance to play the loser of the Bucknell\Tulane game, which will be played this evening.

The Gators actually had a 5-1 lead after the 3rd inning. The Seminoles cut the lead to 5-2 in the 4th, and then came the eruption of offense. After Florida State scored 7 times to take a 9-5 lead, the Gators rallied right back to tie the game at 9 with 4 runs of their own in the bottom of the 5th, thanks in large part to a 3-run home run by Clayton Pisani. That would be the last time the game was close. FSU extended their lead to 15-9 in the top of the 7th, thanks to a 3-run homer of their own by junior Tony Delmonico. Mr. Baseball and probable top-5 draft pick Buster Posey contributed a 2-run home run of his own and the Seminoles easily closed out the final 2 frames for the win.

In other Florida baseball action, while I am typing, the Huricanes of Miami hold a 5-0 lead in the 3rd inning over Missouri in their winner's bracket game. A win for the 'Canes would give them a bye into the Coral Gables Regional championship game.

Topsy Turvy Opening Day to NCAA Baseball Regionals

Top seeds went down all over the country today, including in Tallahassee. The #1 seed Florida State Seminoles and the #2 seed Florida Gators were defeated in the opening round of the NCAA baseball tournament. #1 overall seed Miami was able to get by Bethune-Cookman.

The Seminoles were blanked 7-0 by Bucknell and senior pitcher Matt Wilson, who pitched a complete game shutout, allowing only 6 hits. All the scoring was done in the first 4 innings, as the Bison put up 3 runs in both the 2nd and 4th frames.

Meanwhile, in the early game in Tallahassee, the Tulane Green Wave sent 11 men to the plate in a 6 run 7th inning to defeat the Florida Gators, 7-4. The Gators had just scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 6th to take a 4-1 lead before Tulane erupted in the 7th. Reliever Billy Bullock entered the game with 2 on and nobody out with a 4-1 lead. He faced 5 batters, allowed 3 hits, a walk, and a sacrifice fly. He left the game trailing 6-4, after giving up 3 runs (plus the 2 runners he inherited coming into the game scored, as well as one runner that was on base when he was yanked also scored). To be fair, while Florida had 4 hits in their 4-run 6th inning, they managed just 4 hits in the other 8 frames and never really threatened.

What all this means is that Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. EST, Florida will play Florida State in an elimination game. Some may have predicted Florida being in this situation, but not many people could have forseen a matchup with FSU in the loser's bracket. Florida State won the regular season series, 2-1. Both teams won a game on their home field, while FSU took the relatively new, annual neutral-field site game in Jacksonville. But all that is meaningless now. Lose tomorrow and your season is over.


Other top seeds that find themselves in the loser's bracket on day 2 include #8 Georiga (who lost 10-7 to Lipscomb), #18 Long Beach State (7-3 losers to Fresno State), #19 Texas (losing 2-1 to St. John's), #20 Stanford (were beat 4-2 by UC Davis), and #21 Vanderbilt (8-5 to Oklahoma).

Florida NCAA baseball fates revealed

2 of the Big 3 Florida schools will host an NCAA regional next week.

The #1 National Seed Miami Hurricanes will host Bethune-Cookman, Ole Miss, and Missouri in what looks like the "group of death." You would have thought being the #1 overall seed would have gotten you a little easier path...

The #4 seed Florida State Seminoles will welcome Bucknell, Tulane, and the Florida Gators to Tallahassee. The Gators were hoping to host their own regional, but with the early exit in the SEC Tournament, those hopes evaporated.

The SEC tied its own NCAA record of having 9 teams invited to the Tournament. The ACC has 3 of the top 4 overall seeds (#1 Miami, #2 UNC, #4 Florida State). Regional action kicks off Friday, May 30.

UM Undisputed #1; Yonder Alonso a Pimp

The Miami Hurricanes, after their hotly contested series victory over the Florida State Seminoles over the weekend, are now the unanimous #1 in all major polls. Competition is unprecedentedly fierce in the ACC, where the Noles and the North Carolina Tar Heels are second and third, the order depending on which poll you look at.

Yonder Alonso garnered ACC player of the week honors after batting an unbelievable .556 with 9 RBI's in games against FAU and FSU. On the year, he posts a .380 batting average with 11 HR's (1st in team) and 42 RBI (tied for 1st in team with fellow pimp Jemile Weeks, who for the record leads the team with a .404 batting average).

Canes and Noles Fight (Literally) For #1

Yonder Alonso provided the fireworks during the game, hitting a grand slam which helped propel the #1 Canes to an 11-10 victory over the Seminoles in Tallahassee, and a 2-1 series victory, sealing their place at the very top of the college baseball world. Both teams, and Noles' fans, provided fireworks aplenty after the game. Let's set the stage...

Miami was up 11-3 in the 4th inning, thanks in large part to Alonso's blast the previous inning. Miami starting pitcher Eric Erickson (6-0), making his first start in a month due to elbow soreness, was looking in top post-injury form. FSU surged when Erickson left the game, rocking Hurricane relievers David Gutierrez and Kyle Bellamy to reduce the Canes' lead to 11-9. The furious comeback would fall short, however, as the game ended after seven innings to accommodate UM's travel plans.

FSU's players were crestfallen, and refused to make it out to home plate to engage in standard post-game handshakes with Hurricane players. This prompted the Canes to jump around and celebrate their victory near home plate. FSU's entire squad raced to home plate, where heated words, but no punches, were exchanged, as team staff and security personnel were able to restore peace before the situation got out of control. As the Canes were exiting the stadium, several FSU fans began cussing their rival's players and throwing things at them. UM players not unexpectedly began flashing the team "U" logo with their hands and mocking FSU's tomahawk chop.

Classlessness prevailed on both sides. I think the Noles players were wrong to not come out and shake hands with Canes players. Yes, it was a hard-fought series, and college baseball supremacy was on the line. But anyone who knows college baseball knows that it is customary, and wholly in keeping with the spirit of collegiate athletics, to shake hands with the other team after the game - the Hurricanes were justified in feeling that such a no-show at home plate was an affront. The Noles also came off as the aggressors in the whole affair, and did not have to come out to begin what could have been an all-out brawl just because the Canes celebrated a huge series victory over their hated rival. The Canes players, on the other hand, were wrong to elevate themselves in a haughty and demeaning manner in enemy territory. I fancy myself a tad old-school, and think that a team's play on the field should do all of the talking. There was really no need to rub in the series victory - it happened, and you solidified your place atop college baseball. Now go home, rest up, go to class, and ready yourself for a run through Omaha.

This is Miami and FSU, so confrontations are to be expected. But one thing that Canes and Noles have shown each other consistently over the past several decades was respect. Neither side seemed willing to continue that tradition on Sunday afternoon.