I love the first few weeks of the year, like Spring Training in the Big Leagues. It still seems like everyone has a chance. The trick is extending the early surprising starts, and for now throw Cal St. Bakersfield, San Jose St., Creighton, and an honorable mention to Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Yep, the Islanders have already beaten Texas and Oregon St. and head to Southland favorite Texas St. this weekend for the conference opener. Bakersfield is now 5-2 against the Pac-10 this year with a win over Arizona St. today. The Road-Runners are an independent but they play a very impressive schedule. They head across the country to take on the defending National Champs next weekend in Columbia. San Jose took 2 of 3 in Westwood and Creighton is off to their best start in over ten years. I know it’s early but I like the starts.

Let’s talk bats. I think it all might be a little overblown. Yes, it is tougher to hit homeruns, that should remain constant all year. Don’t tell LSU that though. The Tigers have hit twelve homeruns already, with Mikie Mahtook going deep 5x and freshman JaCoby Jones 3x. Jones is hitting over .500 by the way, not a bad bat to insert into Paul Mainieri’s lineup. LSU has been impressive so far, and the midweek win over Southeastern is a good one. I like Southeastern to make regionals this year after seeing them in Miami. They were close last year but faltered down the stretch, I would be surprised if they are not in the dance this year.

Back to the bats though. I think the most interesting this will be how coaches adjust to the difference in the game. Pitching and defense have been the keys to championships in Omaha over the past few years. That should be even more important this year. The key for me is how coaches that have previously relied more on offense will adjust to the change. It will be tougher to score runs with one swing, and the ability to force the other team to defend will be even more important. Although that sounds like its easy, it is not. Coaches that have played the “small ball” game in the past already know how to coach it. They have recruited to this style too and thus it is easier to play that type of game. For others, they personnel might not necessarily fit the style of game that will be needed to win. I was interested to see how LSU opened but they have definitely answered the bell. They have done it with balance though, and the pitching staff has a 2.56 ERA through the first ten games. Time will absolutely tell, but I do think that the change in bats will have a marked effect on certain teams this year. I do like the rule though, and love the shot clock rule too. I saw it in the SEC tournament last year and though it was a huge success. It does not affect the flow of the game at all, when a runner reaches first the shot clock is retired. It does speed up the game and that by itself is a positive.

This is the week that I wish I had unfettered access to a private bird. Stanford at Texas, Miami and Florida, Clemson at South Carolina, Florida St. at Georgia…not to mention the USD tourney in San Diego. Cal v. OU this weekend should be a great one, Cal has allowed 11 runs in seven games thus far and OU has cruised to an 11-0 start. I’ll have OU v. Texas Tech in Norman April 2 and look forward to seeing Sunny Golloway’s club again. They are a real contender to make a run in Omaha. Stanford’s masochistic road march ends this weekend in a series that I hope continues every year moving forward. Miami needs wins and Florida will try to bury the Canes if they can. The Palmetto state battle matches two of the country’s best in three different cities. The Noles are still undefeated with a midweek win over UF and Georgia desparately needs a series win. That’s it tonight, get out to a ballpark this weekened.

KP