Two winners. Two completely different games. As we head to Monday’s start of the championship series between national behemoths LSU and Texas, here are some of the images I caught from elimination Friday, as both teams advanced unbeaten in the CWS.
At the beginning of the rain delay, Sean Ochinko, Jared Mitchell and Louis Coleman sign some autograpsh.
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Things didn’t look good early on as the Omaha radar showed nothing but thunderbumpers everywhere. Luckily it all cleared out by the afternoon, but the schedule got pushed back a good bit. No worries, we’re used to late nights here at the College World Series.
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The first indication it’s going to be a long day, the Rosenblatt grounds crew races to put the tarp on the field.
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Head groundskeeper Jesse Cuevas (looking up) and officials from the NCAA assess the weather situation.
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Gasp! It’s the NCAA’s worst nightmare! Alcoholic beverages on the grounds of a national championship. Some fans play an exciting round of that flip cup beer drinking game in the parking lot of Rosenblatt Stadium.
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Okay dude, you wanted people to see your sign for your Facebook page, so here you go. What’s next, your social security number so people can steal your identity too?
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Blake Dean and the LSU gorilla-ballers are doing their usual ritual of celebrating another home run. It’s a common occurrence every June.
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Although he didn’t throw all that crash-hot against Arkansas on Friday, Matty Ott is going to be a great closer for LSU in the next few years.
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I don’t see how this guy doesn’t get purple, gold and white face paint all over the back of his camera.
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These girls kindly asked “Can you take our picture for your website?” so I obliged. Maybe they thought my site was like a SportsByBrooks or Girls Gone Mild kind of thing. Oh well.
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Paul Mainieri said in the post game press conference that there wasn’t much that concerned him as his team chugged toward the championship series on Monday. Guess not, these guys haven’t really broken a sweat this week.
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This amazing factoid was posted on the Rosenblatt scoreboard during tonight’s second game. So tell me again what’s wrong with the 11.7 scholarship limit? Obviously you can win a national championship with it.
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Texas entered the College World Series with one of the top fielding percentages in the country at .979, but has looked downright shoddy at times this week.
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… like here when Preston Clark and Brandon Loy both slipped down while trying to field a pop-up to short left.
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… or here when second baseman Travis Tucker threw wildly to first, which allowed Jason Kipnis to reach second on the way to scoring the go-ahead run.
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But the UT offense came into this week hitting just 39 home runs all season, yet guys like Cameron Rupp here, have shown that the Longhorns have some long ball power too. They just waited for the national stage to display it, I guess.
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Yee-hah! The Texas players and bullpenners in the background race toward home plate to greet Connor Rowe after his four-base knock won the game vs. Arizona State.
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The other side of euphoria. ASU pitching coach Josh Holliday consoles freshman reliever Mitchell Lambson after his tough 9th inning.
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KC says:
Not to suggest the umpires should have done anything about it, but isn’t it technically against the rules to intentionally take off your batting helmet while running the bases, as Connor Rowe did? If so, wouldn’t that have been a hell of a way to have the game winning HR taken away?
Jerry Palm says:
Actually, I was thinking the same thing, but as a former ump, the only way I’m making that call is if he throws that helmet at me.
KC says:
…And even then the Texas fans would have impaled you with one of Bevo’s horns.
Texas Wahoo says:
I was wondering the same thing. I noticed he took off the helmet, looked like he was going to throw it up in the air and then appeared to think twice about it and kept it in his hand. I wonder if he was thinking about that as well.
wal says:
Ric,
Wondering why LSU was the visitor in their game vs Arkansas and Texas was the home team vs. ASU. Does the team undefeated in the bracket get to choose home or away in the 2 games if needed? Do tell.
Gusball says:
Wow. That was one helluva baseball game. I’ve been lucky enough to see some great ones here at Rosenblatt (2005 in particular had some fantastic games: Texas’ Chance Wheeless beating Baylor with a walkoff HR — with a bum shoulder no less — the Nebraska-ASU thriller and Baylor’s amazing comeback over from a 7-0 deficit against No. 1 Tulane) but this one is right up there at the top. Talk about having a definitive answer when your resolve is tested! How about these Longhorns? Michael Torres had a terrific game, making some spectacular plays at hot corner and going yard on Mike Leake (how many HRs had Leake allowed all season?) But Torres, Cole Green and Texas’ other outstanding efforts took a backseat to what happened in that 9th inning. Cameron Rupp, seriously, how far did that ball travel, dude? I was in right center and it cleared the CF wall by a mile. And Connor Rowe, the 9-hole hitter? Had 6 homers this season, none in 6 weeks. Un-freaking-real. It’s so good to see the Horns silence all this talk about how they can’t hit worth crap, they’re a bunch of slap-hitters who bunt all the time and have no power. This team’s got plenty of power. They just happen to play for a coach who firmly believes in the bunt as a major offensive strategy, and they play in a stadium with cavernous dimensions and a prevailing wind that knocks down most anything that has the gall to approach the OF walls. Credit to Augie, who has given his players the green light to swing away in normal bunt situations b/c he knows Rosenblatt is playing small.
This postseason run by Texas has been the most amazing I’ve ever seen from them, and that covers a lot of baseball. They might not win it all (although I think they have a very good chance against LSU), but damn this has been one heck of a fun ride.