NCAA Division I Baseball - Best Names in the Super Regionals

You know I love me some cool names. Here's a list of the top two names from each Super Regional team.

Skye Bolt, UNC (photo cred: Score Magazine)

Oklahoma Sooners -- C Mac James. Mac is just cool.
Louisiana State Tigers -- RHP Aaron Nola. 11-0 with a sub-1.50 ERA.

South Carolina Gamecocks -- INF Joey Pancake. Duh!
North Carolina Tar Heels -- OF Skye Bolt. Sure, why not?!

Mississippi State Bulldogs -- INF Nick Flair. It rhymes with the Nature Boy, Ric Flair, WOOOOO!
Virginia Cavaliers -- OF/1B Mike Papi. Aye, Papi!

Kansas State Wildcats -- INF Tanner Witt. Just a solid baseball name.
Oregon State Beavers -- LHP Jace Fry. Bueller. Bueller. Fry(e). Fry(e).

UCLA Bruins -- RHP Nick Vander Tuig. Sweet name with sweet stats (11-4, 2.51 ERA).
Cal State Fullerton Titans -- RHP Koby Gauna. Didn't serve up any goners.

Louisville Cardinals -- OF Coco Johnson. Vandy best B. Ware of Coco
Vanderbilt Commodores -- IF Zander Wiel. Forget VW, they got ZW.

Rive Owls -- OF Keenan Cook. Always a fan of alliteration.
NC State Wolfpack --RHP Dillon Frye. Bueller. Bueller. Frey. Frye.

Indiana Hoosiers -- C/OF Kyle Schwarber. Schwarble went deep 17 times.
Florida State Seminoles -- RHP Gage Smith. Dean's List and he deals.
--
Happy Friday! Tropical Storm Andrea is dumping buckets of rain on us here in Connecticut so I'll have to play it by ear (or eyes) if I take off for Long Island tonight.

NCAA Baseball Regionals - Regional by Regional, Mascot by Mascot

As you know if you read or have read WRT, I love mascots and numbers. For the sake of this post, numbers will be excluded in order to focus on the mascots in the 64-team field. I'mm go team-by-team, sorted alphabetically by regional location.

A turquoise rooster? Go CCU! (photo credit: goccusports)

Baton Rouge, La.
The LSU Tigers--the Bayou Bengals, as they're affectionately known around these parts--look to avoid elimination at the hands of the Jackson State Tigers, who won the SWAC tournament to earn their bid. We'll also have the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns and the Sam Houston State Bearkats squaring off. Not quite sure why they spell it with a 'k' instead of the standard 'c,' but who am I to judge. A little monotonous with two Tigers and a Bearkat, but the Ragin' Cajuns spice it up. Literally.

Blacksburg, Va.
The Virginia Tech Hokies take on the UConn Huskies--I know, very similar while the Oklahoma Sooners will face the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. A hokie isn't a turkey, as their logo might suggest, in fact, it's a spirit yell coined way back in 1896. The Huskies just got a new, meaner looking logo while the Sooners are a staple in college athletics. A chanticleer is in fact a rooster. Weird.

Bloomington, Ind.
The Indiana Hoosiers had a hell of a season (43-14) as did the two-seed Austin Peay Governors (45-13). The same can't be said for the other two schools. The Florida Gators (29-28) got in solely based on their name while the Valparaiso Crusaders (31-26) took the crown in the Horizon League to earn the in-state trip to Bloomington.

Chapel Hill, N.C.
We all know the North Carolina Tar Heels but the other three, not so much. The Florida Atlantic Owls, Towson Tigers and Canisius Golden Griffins, who I highlighted yesterday, are far from household names. It's rare finding an owl as a mascot but it's cool.

Ah to hell with this, I'm gonna go through the remaining 48 teams and pick out the best mascots.

The Corvallis, Ore. site has two of the best in the field--the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos and the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners.

And come to think of it, the Rice Owls also have the nocturnal bird as a representation of who they are.

The South Dakota State Jackrabbits are kinda cool as well though I think they're likely two-and-BBQ.

Time to work. Later all.

Two Best Names in Omaha

South Carolina infielder Joey Pankake garners my top spot while recently departed Stony Brook Seawolves infielder Maxx Tissenbaum came in a close second.

I hope everyone is watching the CWS.

Florida, the #1 overall seed, is gone.
Stony Brook, playing the role of Cinderella, is gone.

Arkansas and Arizona are both 2-0 and in the driver's seat.

Shaka > Shockers; D1 Baseball

11 of 16 on Day 1 of March Madness.  I'm in 22nd place out of 30 participants in my pool.  It's gonna be an uphill climb.

UNLV, Wichita State, UConn, West Virginia, Long Beach State - thanks for nothing!


I thought the entire time I had Colorado winning in one of my money pools, so I was stoked when they held on for a win against UNLV.  Turns out, I didn't.  Runnin' Rebels sucked up my bracket.

The Shockers of Wichita State screwed me too as I had them advancing to the Sweet 16.  I guess simple math prevailed - Shaka > Shockers.

UConn and West Virginia just put in uninspired efforts in two lopsided losses to Iowa State and Gonzaga, respectively.  Not a great showing for the Big East so far.

The Beach has some freak athletes but the New Mexico Lobos proved too much.  Their momentum from running through the Mountain West Tournament certainly hasn't worn off.


Moving on to the baseball diamond.

Northeast Game of the Day
Albany Great Danes (4-8) at St. John's Red Storm (6-9)

St. John's, I believe, began the season as a Top 25 team.  They've traveled a lot - this will be their second home game.  They've also played some pretty good teams - Liberty, Texas Tech, UNC, Illinois - although they were 0-8 against said teams.  They will figure it out once they get settled in and play some games on Utopia Pkwy. in Queens. 

Albany has won four of its past six after beginning the season 0-6 but are coming off a 5-4 loss to Central Connecticut.  They're scoring just over five runs a game, but the number is skewed - they scored 16 in a W against NY Tech last weekend.  They always have a few arms and will certainly be throwing their ace, Zach Kraham, who is a very good pitcher despite his inflated ERA numbers.

VERDICT:  St. John's 6, Albany 4

Meltdown Madness; D1 Baseball

There were two huge collapses last night in the first two games of the "First Four" in Dayton.  The first was bad, the second was historic.

I picked Western Kentucky and Iona to win.  I split.

Western Kentucky fought back from 16 back and finished the game on a 22-5 run to close out the season for Mississippi Valley State, 59-58.  Oh, did I mention they erased a 16-point deficit in the final five minutes? 

Iona, on the other hand, looked like they couldn't be stopped in their game with BYU.  They were up by as many as 25 points in the first half before settling for a 15-point cushion going into the half.  Once the second half started, it looked like a different team out there for the Gaels.  They were playing slow, seemingly trying to take the air out of the ball and kill the clock with long possessions.  That isn't who they are and that isn't what got them here.  BYU took advantage, biting off little chunks of the lead before claiming the 78-72 win.

Moving on to the baseball diamond...

Northeast Game of the Day
Iona (3-10) at Stony Brook (7-5)

Iona is reeling, having lost 6 of their last 7, but are coming off a W against bad Temple squad.  They're struggling to score runs, averaging just under 4 runs per game while their pitching has allowed almost double that.  They did beat Michigan down in Florida but also lost to them three times and were outscored in the series 27-16.

Stony Brook on the other hand is dominating on the mound once again.  They swept through the four-game Colonel Round Robin held by Nicholls State during their first game action, yielding only 9 runs.  East Carolina beat them 1-0, 2-1, and 4-3.  They just got back from the Metrodome, where they split with Minnesota and Kansas.  So they've been playing some pretty good teams and have held their own.

This is a tricky one to call.  Iona underachieves and Stony Brook can't "play down" to them.

VERDICT: Stony Brook 8, Iona 2

March Madness - Basketball and Baseball

NCAA March Madness - Basketball Edition
The field of 64 68 was announced on Sunday and I think the committee did a pretty decent job.  The biggest surprises were Iona (although they did deserve it more than a Drexel team that everyone has a hard on for) and South Florida (sure they play in the Big East, but they played no one out of conference and played a soft Big East schedule).  It's no surprise that both are in the "First Four" games today and tomorrow.

Kentucky, Syracuse, North Carolina, and Michigan State are the number one seeds.  Kentucky is the overall number one even though they have one of the most difficult roads to New Orleans.

I have to research a little bit and make my selections.

NCAA March Madness - Baseball Edition
Seeing how I tend to focus on the northeast baseball scene, I will stick with just that.

We'll start with the MAAC, a conference I know a little bit about.

• Niagara, a team that won 8 games all last season, is sitting as the only MAAC school at/above .500 - they're 7-7.
• Manhattan, my ex and defending champion, is 1-11 and riding a 10-game losing streak.  Their pitching will hold up fine once conference starts, but they've got to score runs - they've been blanked five times. 
• Iona and Rider are the only two teams who won their last game - Iona against Temple and Rider against Charleston Southern.
• Conference RPI is 26th.  Last year, they MAAC finished the year with an RPI of 22.
• Niagara, Canisius, and Fairfield are the only three to have a positive run differential this season.
• Marist has only played 8 games but their three wins are over Campbell, Old Dominion, and Coastal Carolina.
• Siena has had their typical early season struggles thanks to it's ridiculous schedule (SOS 48) - Tulane, UCF, Liberty, Lipscomb.
• St. Peter's hasn't really played anyone good either yet is 3-11.

It'll be a dog fight to get into the postseason.  The top four make it to Albany for the tournament.  A huge series occurs right off the bat as Manhattan heads to Marist to open up MAAC play.  Everyone always says it's not how you start but how you finish, but if you start like shit, it makes things a little more difficult down the stretch.

Taking Nolan to get a fresh pair of kicks after he finished up this bottle.  The kid is a walking machine now so it's about that time.

Have a great day.

Where's Lin?; Today in D1 Baseball

Jeremy Lin and his leadership seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur.  After losing 118-105 to the aging Spurs last night, the Knicks are in the midst of a three-game skid. 

Here are Lin's numbers during the current slide:

• 16 ppg - not bad
• 5.3 apg - not great for a point guard
• 3 TO/g - meh
• 3.3 rpg - no big deal, he's a guard

Gone are the days of 8+ assist games.  A 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio seems average in the NBA - for the year, Lin is at 1.71 : 1.  Where, oh where has the Jeremy Lin of old gone?  Maybe he went by way of Tebow - people are figuring out his weaknesses and exploiting them.

On to the baseball diamond.  Thursday tends to be a slow day on the baseball front with most teams travelling and/or preparing for a weekend series with a Friday night opener.  There are a few games on the slate, however.

Northeast Game of the Day
Miami-Ohio (4-7) vs. Sacred Heart (1-6)

I know this isn't truly a "northeast" game but they're one of only three teams from the region in action today - Yale (vs. Bowling Green) and Penn (vs. Western Michigan).  All three games are down in Florida.

Miami-Ohio blew a 3-2 lead in the ninth against the #13 Miami-Florida Hurricanes yesterday, so that should give them some confidence going into today - even though they're riding a four-game losing streak.  The Red Hawks are hitting .278 as a club but have only managed 15 XBH (13 2B, 2 HR).  Two of their three starting pitchers have ERA's over 12.00.  Not exactly a recipe for success.

Sacred Heart had a nice win over Pitt on Tuesday to get them in the W column but dropped their game with the Panthers yesterday, 5-4, despite outhitting Pitt 13-9.  With only seven games under their belt, it's hard to get a real feel for the Pioneers offense - they've got just 7 XBH (5 2B, 2 HR).  The thing that jumps out - besides the 13.41 team ERA - is the .937 fielding percentage.  They're averaging 2 errors per game.  They have to get that cleaned up, especially playing on nice fields out west and down south.

VERDICT:  SHU 11, Miami-Ohio 6

Today in D1 Baseball

Northeast Game of the Day
Albany (0-6) at Fordham (4-7)

My old boss, Kevin Leighton leads the Rams against the Danes. 

Albany dropped it's first three of the year to Miami (FL) before losses to Wofford, USC-Upstate, and Gardner-Webb.  The offense is struggling, scoring only 16 runs through the first 6 games.

Fordham is coming off a 2-2 home weekend against Quinnipiac and Hofstra.  They opened the year at Western Carolina and Campbell and came back from down south 1-5.  They beat Fairfield in a midweek tilt.  There are some questions still with the bullpen and some holes in the lineup, but I know The Leight Show will get them pointed in the right direction.

PREDICTION: Fordham 8, Albany 3

FINAL: Albany 7, Fordham 6 (10 Innings)

Today in D1 Baseball

Game of the Day
Vanderbilt (4-7) at Belmont (6-5)

Vanderbilt - The perennial powerhouse is coming off a three-game sweep of URI, who is solid year in, year out.  The record is decieving as the 'Dores were swept at Stanford and at home to Oregon - both are 10-1 with top 25 RPI.  Sprinkle in an L to Louisiana Tech and a W against Oakland and you've got your 4-7 record.  The normally dominant pitching staff is struggling early on, pitching to a 5.53 ERA while the lineup is hitting at a .258 clip with pretty good power numbers (28 of 92 hits are XBH).  This is a good chance for Vandy to gain some momentum heading into a weekend series with San Diego.

Belmont - The Bruins are coming off a 2-1 series win over Butler and have won 4 of their last 5.  It's a lineup that isn't going to scare anyone but they find ways to get on base - 35 BB and 17 HBP.  They're fielding .980 and the staff has only walked 28 in eleven games.  They'll have home field advantage in this one, but it might not be enough to handle an SEC goliath.

Verdict:  Vanderbilt, 9-4

FINAL: Belmont 6, Vanderbilt 5
Upset Alert
#8 Florida State (9-1) at UCF (10-2)

The first road game for the #8 'Noles comes against in-state rival UCF, who is seeing the ball pretty well at the dish (.323 AVG, 25 2B, 5 3B, 8 HR) and reaking havoc on the bases (22 SB).   The Seminoles need to cut down on the walks from their pitchers (43 BB in 88 IP) but that stat can take a back seat when they're averaging over 9 runs a game (9.2).  If they're not careful, they can lose this one.  Oh, and they play the Golden Knights again tomorrow to cap off the midweek two-game set before opening ACC play at Duke.

FINAL: #8 FSU 7, UCF 6
Northeast Game of the Day
Pittsburgh (4-4) at Sacred Heart (0-5)

Pitt Head Coach Joe Jordano is coming off his 403 career win at Pitt, a school record.  The Panthers have a new facility and are on a two game winning streak.  SHU is stuggling on the mound having allowed 75 runs en route to the 0-5 record.  The game is being played in Port Charlotte, FL, home of the Tampa Bay Rays.

FINAL: SHU 7, Pittsburgh 6

Rondo'd; NCAA BASEBALL

The Knicks went to Boston hoping to prove themselves ... again.  Jeremy Lin played his college ball not far from TD Garden, but he (and the Knicks) got Rondo'd.  To the tune of 18 points, 20 assists, and 17 rebounds.  You know the only other two players in NBA history to record a triple-double of at least 15-15-15?

Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain.

Oh, and Paul Pierce dumped in 34 to help support Rondo.  Lin had a decent fourth quarter but wound up with more TO's than assists (6:5).

On to something I know a little bit about - college baseball.

SPOTLIGHT

I'll start with the little known New Jersey Tech Highlanders.  At 4-2, my man Mike Cole has these guys headed in the right direction.  Two games over .500 is uncharted waters for the program, but knowing Mike, these guys will stay hungry and keep scrapping.  They've got three very good weekend arms and a lineup that can do some things.  The return of OF'er James D'Aloia, who missed 2011 with a freak accident prior to the first game, will certainly help their chances.  Dude is hitting .500 with two bolts, two doubles, and 11 RBI through the first 6 games. 

They beat down the Hornets of Delaware State on getaway day 18-4 and 4-2, thanks to 23 hits in the first game and a last-inning grand slam in the second.

They head down to Carolina this weekend to take on the Blue Hose of Presbyterian in a three-game set before capping the trip to Wake Forest for a single game.

Keep an eye on the boys in red down in Newark.