Moving on, here is part two of the Best teams of the 2000s. Just a few honorable mentions to help sum things up from a great decade of college baseball. Enjoy.
OTHERS OF NOTE:
There were soooooo many too close to calls for this list it just screamed for a dozen or so honorable mentions of teams that just missed the cut. So here are a handful of teams that should get some kind of shouts across the rooftops. In no particular order:
- Vanderbilt, 2007.
David Price and Co. seemed destined for Omaha but ran out of gas in the Regionals and lost to Michigan in a stunner.
- Cal State Fullerton, 2004.
Of course, I’m referring to the Titan team that finished 21-4, not the one that started 15-16.
- LSU, 2000.
Brad Cresse, Brad Hawpe, Ryan Theriot, etc. This team was chock-full-o-stars in Skip Bertman’s last trip to Omaha.
- Texas, 2009.
You’ve probably not heard the last of these Longhorns as they were great despite their youth.
- Oregon State, 2007.
Darwin Barney, Mitch Canham and a deep arms corps that stepped up in the post-season led this team of destiny.
- North Carolina, 2007.
Could be argued that this team was better than the ‘06 team, since it was a national seed and all.
- Nebraska, 2005.
With future MLB stars like Alex Gordon and Joba Chamberlain, the crowd fave Cornhuskers got their first-ever CWS win.
Joba Chamberlain, at far right, helped rally Nebraska to the CWS in 2005.
- Notre Dame, 2002.
Coach Mainieri told me that the stacked pitching corps and gritty play of Steve Stanley made this team better than most think.
- South Carolina, 2000.
With rotation of high draftees like Kip Bouknight, Scott Barber and Peter Bauer it’s hard to believe they didn’t make it to Omaha.
- Rice, 2007.
Look, I can’t make this entire list a who’s who of Rice teams from the decade… but Wayne Graham’s success makes it hard not to.
- Georgia, 2008.
This team just ran into the wrong team at the wrong time. Still, Gordon Beckham and Josh Fields were two of the best in the decade.
- Cal State Fullerton, 2005.
If there ever was a shoe-in team for Omaha, this team of CWS vets like Danny Dorn, Justin Turner and Ricky Romero was it. But ASU upset them in the Supers.
(5)
PhxTitan says:
Bias as I am on this, I offer a Correction. The 04 Titans finished hotter than hot, 32-6, not just 21-4, basically sweeping thru April, May, and June on their way to the NC. For them not to be in the Top 10 is a dreadfully sinful omission.
This Titan alum biasly argues THEY should have been thee #1 crownee of the 2000’s. Their 15-16 start, the mark against them, was against one of the toughest SoS non conference schedules in the nation. Good prep… as it was intended to and should be. Finishing 32-6, winning the NC, more than made ammends and proved their mettel. But it’s always the record and never the SoS that gets remembered. Mike Martin has mastered that perception is reality bit to a tee.
And the 03, not 05 Titans were the better team. A definite top 10 team. 03 Titans were sitting pretty in the CWS at 2-0… who were amazingly 4-0 against their nemisis that yr, before tripping up with their kryptonite, Stanford again. O5 lost in the SR’s… at home.
So Stitch, feel free to ammend a revised list!
But great off seaaon fodder work… in place of a ride down to Patagonia.
jodepoley says:
What nonsense… Fresno State’s national championship is not even in your Honorable Mention list?
Stitch-head says:
PHX, it took me a minute to get the Patagonia reference, but glad you reminded me. Big kudos on your memory skills Holmes. And you’ve got a really, really good point about the Fullerton team of ‘03.
Jodepoley, I hear what you’re saying about Fresno. But in my mind, a national title team with the most losses in history doesn’t make my list of best teams of the decade. But that’s also what makes their national title all that much more impressive too. Batesole had his boys overcome their regular season shortcomings and did one of the best coaching jobs of the decade in getting his Dogs to hunker down when it counted.
Dan says:
Ahhhhhhhh.
Thanks for the off-season college baseball “juice.” Anything that can just keep me going is great.
Is it February yet? Wake me when Spring full-squad practices begin….
PhxTitan says:
So Stitch, what became of the Long Way Down trip? Waiting for summer in the southern hemisphere? (I’m assuming you’ve seen both “Long Way Round”, and “Long Way Down”?) Google Ewan’s trips.
Given your platform of notoriety, I’d say start from an Alaska program’s ballpark, and work yourself down. You’d could get coverage up the kazoo… and sponsorship. Enough for a support team perhaps. And since baseball is popular southward too… you could make a good bang of it, Senior.
Regarding the 03 Titans, there were clearly three standouts that yr in Rice, Stanford, and CSF. Boyd had them bunched closely at the end. (The Titans were top ISR dogs until losing two straight to their Achilles Heel, Stanford) Texas was 4th, a sizable 3 ISR pt differential behind CSF in the end, who wound up 3rd. And the Owls were deemed #1 of the 2000’s. And the ‘04 32-6 finishing Titans, during that stretch of April, May, and June, topped the 03 Owls, who were hot from the season start, in Boyd’s ISR 130.5 to 128.7 (using Boyd’s “Roll your own ISR’s)
But they lost, so que sera sera; but 04 Titans… them was robbed in the Top 1 department!
Hats off to you for even attempting such a mind numbing sorting task! The Long Way Down sounds like a better option.