ICYMI: Game Winning Walk Off Infield Hit Sends Vandy to CWS

((ht: espn.com))

Imagine for a minute you play a sport or are part of the athletic department at a major SEC University  and your school has had exactly one appearance in an NCAA title game.

And the sport the title was won in: Bowling.

Now imagine the jubilation on the Nashville campus of Vanderbilt University after their baseball team won a berth in the College World Series baseball finals.

The Commodores punched their ticket with a 4-3 win over Texas Saturday night in 10 innings. The game was decided after Tyler Campbell beat out a bases loaded infield hit with 2 outs in the bottom of the 10th inning.

And the celebrating began...

The win sends Vandy into Monday's Best of 3 series with Virginia and gives the Commodores a shot at their 1st ever major sports National title.

Should make for some fun baseball:

ESPN.com gives us the highlights:

Speaking Of CWS History: Here's One For Jackson State

((HT: KLFY-TV))

They've lost since, but Jackson State got their first-ever win in College World Series history against 6th-national seed Louisiana-Lafayette in Lafayette, 1-0.

The HQ has covered the rough season the JSU team has had- that all started with their bus burning to the ground on the side of the road with their equipment in it. Other Mississippi schools pitched in and have given them the basics to get through their season. The group have galvanized and have run through everyone since.

Here's their first-round win
KLFY News 10

Good for them, indeed...

Unless, of course, it's a "different color"
JSU Head Coach Omar Jackson was asked about Miss State's donation...
((HT: Sporting News/ESPN))

Interesting Night In CWS: One Player Backed Up His Presser Comments

((HT: ESPN/NCAA))

Sacramento State got their first-ever win in College World Series history and it came at a good time- knocking off Arizona State in an elimination game.

The Hornets scored three in the bottom of the 8th and held off ASU, 5-4
Interesting thing about the win was that slugger Rhys Hoskins called that shot after the team lost in the opening game to Cal Poly
((HT: Shotgun Spratling))


And that's how they're still alive in the Cal Poly bracket and the two get a rematch Sunday afternoon

OSG NAIA: Southern Poly Is Still At It

One of the HQ's favorite movies is "The Replacements"- the football movie where Shane Falco and the Washington Sentinels

try to make the playoffs with a bunch of players pulled off the streets.

For their Thanksgiving night game with Dallas, some of the Ropers players crossed the picket line for the big game to play the squad of replacements.

Head Coach Jimmy McGinty is anything but a conventional coach and a conventional guy. Here was a bit of his last on-field speech:

"Listen up! This time tomorrow, the strike will be officially over. Now Dallas has made a big mistake out there tonight. They haven't been afraid of you, and they should be, because you have a powerful weapon working for you tonight: There is no tomorrow for you... and that makes you all VERY DANGEROUS PEOPLE!"

Southern Poly's baseball team is in that spot the Sentinels are in... no future after their last loss- whenever that is.

They went through the SSAC tournament in Montgomery last week- fighting weather in both extremes and now get to head to Regionals. The Hornets are making their seventh appearance in the last eight years at the NAIA national tournament.

With the win over top-five Faulkner (who was playing their second game of the day to get to the title tilt in the first place), SPSU captured its fourth SSAC Tournament crown in the last 11 seasons and third in the past eight.

The crowds...??? No, they weren't the biggest...

But that doesn't really matter... the crowds are supporting the teams they follow all through the year...

Those brackets come out Friday and gives the teams that head to the next step in the process a weekend to flock to wherever they need to go next. The HQ wonders if they get to travel all the way across town and play at Georgia Gwinnett College or around the world in any one of these places...

Kingsport, Tenn. Kingsport Bracket
Jackson, Miss. Jackson Bracket
Marion, Ind. Marion Bracket
Daytona Beach, Fla. Daytona Beach Bracket
Montgomery, Ala. Montgomery Bracket
Lawrenceville, Ga. Lawrenceville Bracket
Shawnee, Okla. Shawnee Bracket
Hutchinson, Kan. Hutchninson Bracket
Santa Clarita, Calif. Santa Clarita Bracket

And a lot of people are looking for an ending like this when it comes to Poly...
((HT: Warner Brothers Pictures))


And we'll keep you up to date when we know where they're heading...

The Journey To Omaha: A Walk-Off Win For The OSU Beavers

Their are no concessions during the NCAA college baseball regionals.  Oregon State found that out Friday as Texas-San Antonio gave the Beavers a serious scare at the Corvallis, Oregon regional.

The Roadrunners (35-24), a four seed in the regional, took the Beavers (46-10) to the limit on OSU's home field.

It took a walk-off double by Dylan Davis, who led the Pac-12 in RBI and doubles, off UTSA closer Matt Sims that scoring two runs to win it for Oregon State 5-4

Here's a game winner described by FOSG Tom Hart.


"I was looking first-pitch fastball, got what I was looking for and took advantage of it.'' Davis said.

"We flinched for one second, and they took advantage of it, and that's what happens when you play a good team on its home turf,'' Texas-San Antonio head coach Jason Marshall said. "We don't always play well, but we always play our hearts out, and I think you saw that today.''

Gator Throws No-No In Regional

((HT: Gatorzone.com))

It's the first round of the NCAA regionals and we have our first no-hitter of the weekend...

It was a sophomore pitcher for the school in Gainesville, Florida- Jonathon Crawford in a 4-0 win over Bethune-Cookman...

Here's a Nole and Mark Neely with the recap...


It's the first no-no in 21 years for the north Florida school...

“What a way to start the Regional play,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “The guy to my right [Crawford] had a special night, it was a great night by Jonathon. We needed a good start from our starting pitcher. I thought their starting pitcher was going to be outstanding, and he was. I thought we did a good job getting his [Gonzalez] pitch count up. It is one of those games where we knew it was going to be tight. Bethune is always a very good team. It’s one of those teams, that when it pops up on the board, there is a feeling of a little bit of anxiety because they are very capable. We needed a special outing by Jonathon. I am very proud of Jonathon, but also very proud of our team.”

And they continue...