ESPN Super Regional Wrap – Day 2

One day we’ll look upon this and have a good laugh.

How pathetic is this? It’s 5:30am and I’m sitting in my car outside a Starbucks Coffee joint in San Jose, because my friend who I’m staying with is having ill-timed wireless issues. This is in addition to my computer seemingly being the only one in [...]

Regionals: Day Two

Wow. Just… wow. Who would’ve figured Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Fresno State and FIU would be gone, and Texas, TCU, Rice, UCLA, Fullerton and Georgia Tech would have the stack decked against them after losses in the first two days? I mean, to quote Freddy, is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

The heroic Stanford Cardinal took down Cal State Fullerton to advance to the Regional finals.

If you wanna give my daily wrap-up a once-over on ESPN.com, click here and check out the ESPN college baseball blog.

I got to see a couple of games today, the crowning moment being Stanford’s 1-0 stress-fest win over Cal State Fullerton. An unreal contest. I’ll be sure to share some pics I took from that game and the Illinois win over K-State. The first lady of Stitch-Head Nation was at the UC Irvine win over San Francisco as well and the Doctor of College Baseball chipped in from the Carolinas too. Bitchin’.

I Get a Case of Vertigo Over Today’s Action.

This was a long day full of amazing cliffhangers. My nerves can barely take it.

It was a cliffhanger Saturday on the diamond in college baseball today, even a wide-eyed Jimmy Stweart can attest to that.

Harmlessly, it started in my own bed this morning. My dog jumped up, scaled the mattress and licked my nose to wake me up at 8:05am Pacific time. Two minutes later, I picked up my servant bell off the silver salver on my nightstand and rang it. I then asked Jeeves to bring me my laptop. At 8:09 I turned on my computer. At 8:11 I read a “thank you” Email from Maine’s baseball coach. At 8:13am I opened up the scoreboard page on Jeremy Mills’ site and saw that Florida State was beating Georgia Tech 4-0 in the 7th inning.

I scanned down Jeremy’s scoreboard a bit more to find that Samford and Appalachian State were already in the 9th inning of their elimination game, with the Bulldogs up 2-1. Man, a lot happens while I’m sleeping. WTF? Guess I better stop sleeping so much, right?

But that’s the dichotomy of good and bad of college baseball during tournament time.

The Good: it’s wall-to-wall ball from early in the morning to late late at night.

The Bad: Jesus Christ people, we’re deciding conference champions at 6am?! (Pacific). These poor boys.

The World Didn’t End. But Some 2011 Seasons Did.

It was a weird last day of the world people. Believe me.

Lots of upheaval and bizarre season-ending games went into today’s collection of action. It sure points to a wild and unpredictable post-season ahead of us. It also makes me glad we’ll see another tomorrow in our college baseball season.

I would make another “End of Days” joke here, but to be honest, I’m sure you’ve heard more than your share of them today. People, just quit being so stupid about these whack-jobs. It gets in the way of our enjoying college baseball, which is way more important.

Solid Proof That I Have No Freakin’ Life.

I didn’t go to a game today. Instead, I spent nearly the entire day in front of the boob tube to watch games from around the country. Thank you DIRECTV. Yes, thank you for keeping me cooped up inside all day, denying my body of the Vitamin D I need that is supplied by the sun.

Eight of Florida State's nine seniors got an on-field graduating ceremony before the game started this afternoon. They were talked into doing the "N-O-L-E-S" count-out on the field after ward. Well, that is, all except for Taiwan Easterling (#1) who apparently couldn't be bothered to do the actual spell out.

A few notes from the Saturday in college baseball.

Yea Though I Drive Through The Valley of Death, I Fear No Evil.

Bravely, I ventured. Devil may care.

Like Hawaii and UC Irvine, I made my way deep into the San Joaquin Valley. Where ranked teams had met their slow, painful, searing death on Friday. Well today, the only evil I encountered was the specter of missing out on Josh Osich’s no-hitter that I could’ve gone to see as Oregon State beat UCLA 2-0. Yep, evil is totally a man-made farce. But cruel irony?… that’s something the baseball gods vex me with from time to time. And this was one of those times.

On Easter Eve the Cardinal provide a resurrection of biblical proportions..

It’s the ninth inning. You’re up by three. There are already two outs. What’s the worst that could happen?

That’s the situation that UCLA found itself in today as the Bruins were staring down the muzzle of a really solid road series win at No. 23 Stanford. Their stud freshman Nick Vander Tuig was toeing the rubber with the number eight batter in the order coming up. Then all hell broke loose.

Somehow, this is the explosive scene that resulted from a mondo-bizarro 9th inning.

Psst!… A Quick Shot of the New Stadium.

I was able to sneak this center field view of the new downtown stadium in Omaha today. Don't worry, I'll get more.

Spent most of the day traveling on that silver bird and made my way to The Big O and into my good bud’s basement, where I usually hole up for 10 days each June. I’m here a few months early, because I couldn’t wait to see the new downtown stadium and wanted to check out some college baseball in the midlands.

So as soon as I got off the plane and picked up my rent-a-lemon, I made my way to the new downtown stadium. After giving it a lap around the outside, replete with the “Road To Omaha” statue tucked in front, I snuck my way into the groundskeepers’ entrance beyond center field and took a quick pic or two.

A White-Knuckler Saturday.

Kyle Schmidt (foreground) and his Minnesota-Duluth teammates run amok! Schmidt scored the game winning goal as the Bulldogs beat Michigan for the school's first-ever national title in a 3-2 in OT.

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... Meanwhile, UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton got into another good tangle at Goodwin Field tonight.

Great Day to be a Mid-Major

On a day when the Butler Bulldogs won their way to a second straight national championship game in college basketball, let’s all take a minute to be thankful that our sport of college baseball also allows anyone and everyone to have a chance to win a national championship. College football… if you didn’t suck so much, you’d be able to understand that as well.

We're all thankful that guys like Scott Woodward and his Coastal Carolina Chanticleers are given an ample opportunity to take their Easton bats and win a national championship in our sport.

On to the best and worst from this Saturday in college baseball.