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Monday - June 9, 2008

CWS News: the field is set

I watched several of the Super Regional games this weekend. There were some good games. But, there's really no beating the final game this evening between Fresno State and Arizona State. Well, the 11-inning game between Arizona and Miami on Friday was pretty sweet. But, it was early on. What have you done for me lately? Heh.

As soon as I saw that Fresno State won the Long Beach Regional, I knew I had to root for them in the Tempe Super Regional. The Sun Devils won the first game 12-4 on Saturday. Yesterday, the Bulldogs had a big 4th inning, scoring 5, and managed to hold on to win 8-6. Which led to the deciding game this evening.

It was a very close game through 6. With the score tied 5-5 going into the top of the 7th, the kids from Fresno State pushed 6 runs across. What? Amazing. And, then they held the Sun Devils scoreless in the 7th and 8th. They tacked on another run to go up 12-5 in the top of the 9th. And, then the kids from Arizona State started their own big inning. With one out and runners at 1b and 2b, the Bulldogs sent their closer (Brandon Burke) to the mound. Burke walked the bases loaded. Then he gave up a single (and the 6th ASU run). And, then another single (along with the 7th and 8th ASU runs). Then he got the next batter to fly out to lf. Two out, runners at 1b and 2b. The 8th batter of the inning singled, driving in the 9th ASU run and putting runners at the corners. The 9th batter, representing the tying run, walked (!) to load the bases!!!

Oh. My. Goodness. This was the final game of the Super Regionals. The LSU/UC-Irvine game had ended 10 or 15 minutes earlier.

Everyone who cared about college baseball was glued to ESPN2, just waiting to see what would happen. We were all watching the Fresno State closer struggle. He'd get his first pitch over for a strike, pull ahead of the batter, and then give up a single. We watched. And couldn't believe what we were seeing.

The 10th batter of the inning went to the plate. He'd struck out to start off the inning. Now he was getting a second chance. Now he represented the winning run. If he homered, ASU would go to the CWS. And, he'd already hit 2 homeruns earlier in the game! Two of 'em. One in the 4th and another in the 5th. Wow. He lifted a pitch toward lf. And, it was caught by the Fresno State left fielder. Game over.

Amazing.

This is the first time a 4th seed from the Regional round has made their way to Omaha since the Regional/Super-Regional 64-team format was instituted. Wow. I'm gonna keep on rooting for the kids from Fresno State.

The field is now set:

Miami, Florida State, Stanford, and Georgia are on the 1-4-5-8 side of the bracket. North Carolina, Fresno State, Rice, and LSU are on the 2-3-6-7 side. The winners of each 4-team bracket will face each other for a best-of-3 series in a couple of weeks.

Fresno State faces Rice at 1 PM on Saturday. Usually, I'd be rooting for Rice. But, I can't do that this year. I have to root for the underdog. Go, Bulldogs!

Posted by Joanna at 11:19 PM