College Baseball Preview
Hooray! Baseball is upon us. Yes, the college baseball season is underway. It's not even February, yet the first pitches of 2006 have already been thrown in several warm-weather locales. The schedule picks up steam next Friday with 33 non-conference games, including the defending champion Texas Longhorns at the University of San Diego for a three-game set. Other featured series include Cal State Fullerton at Stanford and the University of Southern California meeting Long Beach State. Texas beat Florida in the finals of the College World Series last June and has now hooked six national championships, including two of the past four. The Longhorns finished #1 in 2002, #3 in 2003, #2 in 2004, and #1 again in 2005. Not surprisingly, Texas is ranked #1 in all the preseason polls. The eyes of Texas will be looking for the Longhorns to become the first school to win back-to-back titles since Louisiana State in 1996 and 1997. Stanford won it all in 1987 and 1988. If Texas outlasts everyone this year, talk will quickly turn toward the 'Horns being in the midst of the greatest run of championship finishes since USC won five in a row from 1970-1974. Augie Garrido has captured five titles and is the only coach to win national championships at two schools--Cal State Fullerton (1979, 1984, and 1995) and Texas (2002 and 2005). He has taken 12 teams to the College World Series and will be seeking his sixth appearance since 2000 with preseason All-Americans Adrian Alaniz (So. RHP, 8-3, 2.67 ERA), Jordan Danks (Fr. OF, Round Rock, TX), Kenn Kasparek (So. RHP, 8-0, 2.10 ERA), Kyle McCulloch (Jr. RHP, 12-4, 2.92 ERA), and Drew Stubbs (Jr. OF, .311/.384/.527) leading the way. Garrido's Longhorns will have to fend off nearly 300 Division I baseball programs in the country. Like college basketball, 64 teams will make it into postseason play. The 16 Regional winners will advance to the Super Regionals, and the eight teams victorious in the Super Regionals will head to Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska for the 60th College World Series. The winners of the two brackets in the double-elimination tournament will meet in a best-of-three championship series. We are going to preview the Big West, Pac-10, Big 12, SEC, and ACC over the next five days and conclude our series with the Best of the Rest on Saturday and predictions on Sunday. Our articles will highlight the teams most likely to make the playoffs with a particular focus on All-Americans and potential first- and second-round picks in the amateur draft in June. With a record number of intersectional games this year, the college baseball season promises to be more exciting than ever. Boyd Nation, an opponent of the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) that the NCAA committee uses to seed schools and select at-large berths for the playoffs, believes that "the Left Coast teams may start being treated more fairly. The RPI's still broken, but teams may be learning to work around it." Play ball! [Editor's note: A salute to the legendary Rod Dedeaux, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 91, is in order. Dedeaux, who retired from USC in 1986, won 11 national and 28 conference championships. He was named the head coach of the all-time College World Series team in 1996 and was honored by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball as Coach of the Century in 1999. Rest in peace, Rod.] |
Comments
Conference USA is a major player in college baseball and in some years will be a top 4 or 5 baseball league and never worse than 6th. Obviously, it's your site and you can do what you want, but that league is much closer to the 5 that you are reviewing than it is to any "best of the rest".
Posted by: DrBox at January 29, 2006 9:34 AM
We realize Conference USA is a "major player in college baseball." We just don't have the resources to cover all of the conferences. We chose to preview five conferences on Monday through Friday and made the decision to go with those mentioned.
Rice and Tulane will get their due, as will a number of other teams around the country, on Saturday in what we have tabbed as the Best of the Rest (for lack of a better term). It is not our intention to slight any team outside of the Big West, Pac-10, Big 12, SEC, or ACC.
Posted by: Rich Lederer at January 29, 2006 9:50 AM
Conference USA definitely improved this year with the addition of Rice. Like the Big West (Fullerton and LB St.), Conference USA is rather top-heavy (Rice and Tulane.) Southern Miss is good, too. No doubt Conference USA will be one of the better "best of the rest" conferences.
Posted by: Joe at January 29, 2006 10:01 AM
as much as i love baseball, i just cant get too excited by the start of the college season. I usually dont pay too much attention until its getting closer to the end of the year. I just try to keep tabs on the 'all-stars', and stay aware of the top teams. I think the reason can be summed up with one word:
"PINNNNGGGGGGG!"
Its just not the crack of the bat, y'know?
Posted by: Eric at January 29, 2006 1:10 PM
I agree Conference USA is solid-- TCU, Eastern Carolina and UH give some big schools a problem.
As for Texas, I think this team is Augie Garrido's best yet. Not only does he have Stubbs and Danks but more recruits that will make a quick impact (Jace Fuller, Kyle Russell)..not to mention key returners Carson Kainer, Chance Wheless and Nick Peoples. Lineup 1-8 is strong.
And oh yeah, they return their entire starting rotation. The Horns' will be deadly.
Posted by: Jeff at January 29, 2006 1:16 PM
Rose Bowl rematch in Omaha?
Posted by: Bob Timmermann at January 29, 2006 3:01 PM
I do see the top heaviness of Conference USA, but when you include the bottom of the league USA is hardly any better than the Sun Belt, and no one is crying that they don't get included.
And just because I read this site everyday, and because they never get any press, could you at least include one sentence on University of Louisiana(you can even include the Lafayette part if you want). Yeah we lost an amazing number of players, but we did win 45+ last year, and are a consistent top 30 program. In the 4th best state in the Union(after Texas, FLA, and Cali obviously) UL is just as good as LSU, and when we do get a chance to play Tulane we are very competitive.
Also, I go to Auburn, please don't embarass us with a mention. We are terrible.
Posted by: JPMouton at January 29, 2006 3:38 PM
"I do see the top heaviness of Conference USA, but when you include the bottom of the league USA is hardly any better than the Sun Belt, and no one is crying that they don't get included."
That's just a ridiculous statement. We agree on Rice and Tulane. Houston and ECU - 2 super regional appearances EACH in the last 5 years (Houston may have 3 in 6 years). Southern Miss - 4 regional appearances in the last 5 years. Central Florida - several regional appearances in the last 5 years. There are 3 teams that are non factors: UAB, Memphis and Marshall. That's SIX of NINE members who are post-season regulars.
The sun belt is nowhere close to that record in quality or in depth.
Posted by: DrBox at January 29, 2006 4:01 PM
could you at least include one sentence on University of Louisiana
We will go beyond your request and include THREE sentences. Here you go...
Louisiana-Lafayette wasn't included in Baseball America's Top 25, Collegiate Baseball's Top 40, or NCBWA's Top 30. In fact, they didn't even receive a single vote in NCBWA's poll despite the fact that 57 other schools did. Louisiana-Lafayette was one of 37 schools to pick up an honorable mention vote in the Collegiate Baseball poll.
Posted by: Rich Lederer at January 29, 2006 6:38 PM
Yes, well they started there last season as well. However, it's where they end the season that is generally important. They finished 48-19 last season, ranking 13/20/23 in the polls.
And the conference argument was horrendous. I'll admit that.
However, They have one of the handful of best C in the college game Jonathan Lucroy(.380 with more BB than K as a freshman) and are projected to finish 2nd in a damn solid conference. This has been one of my favorite teams since the CWS appearance and I have kept a close eye on them since then. They lost an unbelievable amount of talent from last year, and certainly won't be in contention for a super regional berth this year, but they have a damn good shot at making the regional tournament. And since "Our articles will highlight the teams most likely to make the playoffs with a particular focus on All-Americans and potential first- and second-round picks in the amateur draft in June." I figure its a team worth mentioning. They are in fact likely to make the playoffs, they have a number of top prospects on the team(though most are too young to be eligible this year), and its a team that has been very good rather recently.
But hey, instead of saying no you just be snide to your readerbase.
Posted by: JPMouton at January 29, 2006 9:58 PM
I love baseball and am in high schol and i WILL attend your school and be your next all start pitcher that wins you another championship!!!!!!
Posted by: Brad Sears at January 30, 2006 6:28 AM
I love baseball and am in high schol and i WILL attend your school and be your next all start pitcher that wins you another championship!!!!!!
Posted by: Brad Sears at January 30, 2006 06:28 AM
Hopefully, young Brad is better on the hill than he is on the keyboard...
Posted by: E.W. Williams at February 3, 2006 9:43 AM
What do you think of the University of Florida Gators?
Posted by: Zach at February 8, 2006 1:42 PM
The Florida Gators are undoubtedly one of the favorites to earn a spot in Omaha next June. Matt LaPorta is the best amateur slugger in the country, and he has a strong supporting cast in Adam Davis, Brian Jeroloman, and Brian Leclerc.
Darren O'Day is one of the better pitchers in the conference. If the Saturday and Sunday starters come through, look out for your Gators this year.
Posted by: Rich Lederer at February 8, 2006 10:39 PM
baseball is my favourite sport but with a metal bat a pitcher could get killed if a shot is hit back at him
Posted by: bryan marion at February 14, 2006 5:06 AM