Miami And Texas Tech Have Issues With Each Other

((HT: ESPN/NCAA))

First, let's go with the incident at first base where the Miami first base coach, Gino DiMare, tapped the Red Raiders first baseman, Eric Gutierrez, on the top of the head like one of those "Hey, son, what do you think you're doing" moves...

From Luke Zimmerman's Vine


And, then, it carried down 90 feet and led to three ejections...
Gutierrez, DiMare, and after home plate- Tech assistant J-Bob Thomas. Gutierrez is the Big 12 Conference home run leader. So, advantage goes to Miami on man power used.

Tech won 3-0 and advance to the regional final...

Here's the long version


To go with that, Texas A&M beat rice in 10 innings 9-8 on a game-winning wild pitch...

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

ICYMI: TCU Beats Sam Houston in 22 Innings

((ht: espn.com))

We started this with the "In Case You Missed It" moniker because more than likely you were asleep at 3:45 a.m when the game ended.

22 Innings and almost 7 hours after it started, Texas Christian University had an NCAA Sub Regional Baseball playoff win against Sam Houston State 3-2.

And the game didn't lack for drama or what ended up being false finishes.

A controversial double play attempt in the 21st inning initially had Sam Houston thinking they won the game...but the umpire at 2nd base ruled interference, giving TCU 2-outs and getting the Horned Frogs out of the inning.

Sam Houston coach David Pierce and the baserunner, Luke Plucheck were both ejected for arguing the call. The umpire stating that Plucheck got too close when breaking up the double play.

The win puts TCU from winning the reason, Sam Houston plays an elimination game at 3:30 Sunday afternoon.

In case you are wondering, the game was the 2nd longest in NCAA playoff history, the longest went 25 innings for what it's worth...

Here's the game highlights
((HT: ESPN))


We do have some reaction from both teams coaches courtesy of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram:


Sam Houston's David Pierce on the 21st inning controversial call:

Ha! UF Baseball Pulls Hidden Ball Trick on College of Charleston

((ht: espn.com))

Oh, this is embarrassing...

Check out what happened in the first game of the Gainesville regional in the NCAA Baseball playoffs.

The home team, the Florida Gators used one of the oldest tricks in the book to get an out during the 1st inning of their game against the College of Charleston.

Gator pitcher Logan Shore ties his shoe and somehow Charleston's Nick Pappas steps off the bag. What Pappas didn't know was Florida shortstop Richie Martin still had the ball.

Martin reaches over and tags Pappas...who undoubtedly is and will be getting grief for some time to come over this one..

Alas, Charleston got the last laugh, beating the top seeded Gators 3-2....

Your video from ESPN.com:

LSU Gets The Out Off The 3rd Baseman's Face

Haha! This is definitely one way to get an out.

Check out what happened Saturday afternoon, during the LSU vs. Arkansas game at the SEC Baseball tournament in Hoover, AL.

The Razorbacks are at the plate and a pop fly is hit in foul ground just behind 3rd base.

LSU 3rd Baseman Christian Ibarra goes back on the ball, but...well...he must of lost it in the sun.

The ball comes down...and hits Ibarra smack on the face, bounces in the air and is caught by LSU's shortstop Alex Bregman.

And yes, it was an out. A painful out, but an out never the less...

BTW---LSU won the game 11-1 and will play for the SEC Title on Sunday...

College of Charleston Wins In 23 Innings

((HT:WCIV-TV))

Nothing like having to play a double-header and a half just to settle one game...

Happened in Charleston as the CoC played William and Mary. And played William and Mary. And played.

23 innings and a murderous-looking box score later, it was a 3-2 win for the home team.

Yes, only 3-2 in 23 innings...

The game ties for the second-longest in NCAA history and went a little over 6 hours. One game in the NCAA tourney went 25 innings in 2009 (Texas and BC) and a game back in 1971 also went 23 innings.

The teams scored in the 7th, the 19th, and the 23rd innings and Eric Bauer got the win for Charleston going ten innings in relief.

No word on if he threw 194 pitches in his outing.
Here's some of the highlights
WCIV-TV | ABC News 4 - Charleston News, Sports, Weather

ICYMI: Penn State Baseball: Two Triple Plays in One Game

No really, this happened.

Not once...but twice. In the same game.

Check out the video from Friday's Penn State/Michigan State baseball game. It's not often you see a triple play in a baseball game. But in this game it happened twice.

In the 4th and in the 8th inning, a Michigan State hitter came to the plate with runners on and lined out. The baserunners, thinking the ball was going to go through, were on the move.

The rest is, well, video history. Though we should note, the pair of triple plays did not set, only tied an NCAA record

We should also add, despite the baserunning blunders, Michigan State still won the game, which was the 1st game of a doubleheader, 4-2. For whatever that's worth.

Ha!

Here's your highlights from GoPSUTV:

This: LSU Baseball beats NW State 27-0 on No Hitter

((ht: theadvocate.com))

Yikes! Don't they have a mercy rule in College Baseball?

The LSU Tigers annihilated Northwestern State 27-0 in a game called in the bottom of the 6th inning due to lightning.

The game featured 2 Grand Slams HR's and 5 Tiger pitchers giving up 0 hits to the Demons.

According to the Baton Rouge Advocate, the win was the largest in LSU Baseball history--and that the program dates back to 1893.

And in case you are wondering, Northwestern State isn't a terrible team, they came into the game with a 30-21 record on the season.

Thankfully a thunderstorm rolled in and put an end to the game which started an hour late due to the weather and was delayed in the 3rd inning. The final straw was lightning in the area just before 10:30 p.m central time.

The win put the tigers at 37-14 on the season and sets them up for the SEC baseball tourney which begins next week.

WAFB-TV gives us the highlights:

WAFB 9 News Baton Rouge, Louisiana News, Weather, Sports

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...

Jackson State's Bus Catches Fire On The Road

((HT: ABC3340))

The Jackson State University baseball team was travelling to Savannah for a series, but didn't make it because of this:
ABC 33/40 - Birmingham News, Weather, Sports

Thankfully, no one was injured. But, obviously, the team has to get equipment since it was all lost in the fire. The series with Savannah State was cancelled.

Bruce Thomas took some really engrossing pictures that can be also found on the 3340 website...

Best Baseball Catch Ever: LSU's Jared Foster with This Week's Version

((ht: cbssports.com))

This baseball highlight is too good not to share.

You want to talk about saving a game...and we're not speaking about pitchers here.

Check out what happened in the bottom of the 9th inning during Friday night's LSU/Texas A and M baseball game in College Station, Texas.

Bases loaded, 2 out, the Aggies Blake Allemand at the plate in a tie game. Allemand goes opposite field and it looks like the game is over.

That's when LSU left fielder Jared Foster jumped into action...literally.

Foster takes a direct angle towards the ball, almost over runs it, leaps in the air, twisting while doing it and makes the catch.

It kept the game tied until the Tigers would win in extra innings....

OSG NAIA: Southern Poly's End Of The End...

The HQ does some television programming for the premier conference in the NAIA- the Southern States Athletic Conference...

And, as is the case these days, mergers and acquisitions can't even escape the land of colleges and universities...

The University System of Georgia had a round of mergers and dissolves within the past year that had an effect on two Atlanta-area universities: Kennesaw State University and Southern Polytechnic State University. Southern Poly ranked highly in a lot of categories state-wide including enrollment increases, test scores, and all those academic-type things that keeps you desirable and profitable in a university system.

But, at the end of the day confusing a lot of people, Southern Poly was told THEY were the ones who were going to be merged with Kennesaw and not going to be left to their own devices as a technology university.

That meant one thing- a lot of people were going to lose their jobs...

And even more students were going to be displaced athletically in four sports...

The Hornets have a history: The baseball, soccer, and basketball teams have won conference titles and made plenty of post-season appearances in the NAIA tournaments. This season alone, the women's basketball team under LaQuanda Dawkins won the SSAC Eastern Division title and made an appearance in the NAIA tournament in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Here's that story about leaving a legacy in the "Southern States Showcase" TV program from early March
The segment airs at the 9:45 mark...
((HT: Workhorse Video Productions))


And the baseball team is ranked in the top-20 in the country...

The issue with the transition in the first place is always the "when..."

Initially, the thought was that SPSU players, coaches, and personnel would have another year to figure out their futures. But that idea got squashed and put the slow fade of the Hornets on a fast track. As a result, when teams would lose their last game of the 2013-2014 season, it would be their last loss ever.

Like the last home game for the men's basketball team...
((HT: Taylor McDonald))


And, this weekend, the last home game for regular-season baseball... a three-game, two-day series against the University of Mobile. The two teams split the Thursday double-header which led to Senior Day on Friday.

The outgoing president, Dr. Lisa Rossbacher, was there with her husband and pit bull mix- wearing a Southern Poly hat that was given out to all who wanted one. Her husband, a St. Louis Cardinals fan, had as a condition to them getting married that she had to learn how to score a baseball game.

She can do that, by the way...

The day had more of an Irish wake feel to it than a baseball game if you knew what was going on. People could have lunch, take their picture taken with the Hornets' mascot (who, from the looks of things, was well on his or her way to losing a good ten pounds in water weight), play side-show games, or watch the game itself. And, by the transitory nature of the crowd, it seemed like people would come by. They just couldn't stomach hanging around for the end.

Both literal and figurative...

After the last regular season game with the Rams, all that is left of a six-decade athletics program is the conference tournament and a possible trip to regionals-slash-nationals...

And that's it...

No more nothing... except alums and a Hall of Fame-to be...

And it also makes you wonder... do you claim your alma mater with a sense of pride or hide from it once your school is eaten up in today's view of colleges and universities...??? All the banners in the gym get rolled up. The floor gets put somewhere unless Kennesaw wants to use the facility for intramurals and the same goes for baseball...

All you're left with are memories because you're history...

As both an imperative and an adjective...

UPDATE: So you know, naturally, the last game on campus lasted a while... especially near the end...

Mobile broke out to a 6-0 lead, but Southern Poly scored three in the 7th and 10 in the 8th...

Southern Poly sent 15 hitters to the plate in the 8th inning, scoring 10 runs on six hits after the inning started with a walk, two hit-batsmen, a walk and a grand slam. There were 14 pitchers used in the game, including eight by SPSU. Mobile pitchers issued 18 walks and hit five batters in the game. Southern Poly left 15 runners on base and the Rams nine.

It was Senior Day for Southern Poly’s eight senior players - Chris Dykes, Forrest Garrett, Chad Livingston, Dalton Martinez, Reese Patten, Tyler Roach, Zach Smith and Khirus Ware

Southern Poly finishes their last regular season going 38-16 and will play Wednesday in the conference tournament in Montgomery.

Ole Miss Hits Walk Off HR on Intentional Walk Pitch

Yeah, we know, the headline for this story doesn't make much sense, but how do you explain something so bizarre?

Ole Miss beat Auburn 7-5 in a 13 inning SEC Baseball game. And they won on a walk-off Home Run.

The reason that homer is noteworthy?

Auburn's pitcher was trying to intentionally walk Ole Miss slugger Austin Anderson with a runner already on second, to set up at double play.

However ball one was a little too close to the middle of the plate. Anderson swung, the ball disappeared into the night and the Rebels began celebrating one heck of an unlikely win...

Your highlight of the day starts at about the 3:30 mark in this video from Ole Miss Sports:

Arkansas-Little Rock And Central Arkansas Rumble In Baseball

((HT: The Echo))

Brother Wilkie can speak to this better than the rest of us, but our history of knowing rivalries would put UALR and UCA in it without fail. You're talking D1 versus D2, big versus little, and all the regional complexes that go along with it all.

In the 10th inning of the Trojans-Bears game last night, Arkansas-Little Rock coach Scott Norwood and Central Arkansas coach Allen Gum got into a disagreement and it escalated from there.

Here's the start of it...


According to Dustin Poynter's article in the UCA newspaper, umpires stopped the game for approximately 20 minutes before play resumed. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported as UCA won 5-4 in 11 innings.

The only game fallout were the ejections of Norwood and UALR sophomore pitcher Chad Bradford.

More as we know more...

Gators And Seminoles Brawl, Jameis Winston Gets Involved

It's a fact of life in Florida, Gators and Seminoles don't get along.

Tuesday night in Jacksonville the top ranked Florida State Seminoles faced Florida in a college baseball game and the fireworks went off in the eighth inning.

FSU's D.J. Stewart collided with UF left-handed pitcher Danny Young hustling down the line.  Gator first baseman Zack Powers took exception shoving Stewart.

Then it was on.




What makes this more interesting is that Heisman Trophy winner and FSU closer Jameis Winston was involved in the brawl.

Florida ended up winning the game 4-1.

Florida State head coach Mike Martin who is known to deliver some great quotes had some good ones summing up this game for the Florida Times-Union.

There's no doubt that the testosterone and the adrenaline kicked in." Martin said. "Those men are very strong and very active.  The hands got a little quicker. The motivation rose. Just very proud of our baseball team, and the way that we fought. We certainly didn't back down from anything, and that makes every Seminole proud, because that's what we're about." 

University of Tennessee Baseball and The Fastest Field Cleanup Ever

Haha!

This is pretty funny. And kinda cool too.

Check out this video of the University of Tennessee's baseball team clearing their field off about an hour or so before the opening pitch at their own stadium.

Apparently, the pitchers have taken it upon themselves to see how fast they can get the cage, the tarp etc off the field before the game.

And yeah, they are pretty good at it...

Perfection In Miami: Javi Salas Throws A Perfect Game For The "U"

Miami's Javi Salas Throws Perfect Game

Tuesday night at Mark Light Field on the campus of the University of Miami senior pitcher Javi Salas faced 27 Villanova batters and retired all 27 and he only threw 113 pitches.

By the way Salas had plenty of run support as the Hurricanes beat the Wildcats 17-0 but Salas couldn't be touched.

Thanks Canes All Access:

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"I don't even know what to think." Salas said.  "In that last inning, I was trying to keep my adrenaline down. The fans were getting up, and I couldn't believe it. It's a dream come true."

"He's our captain, one of our hardest workers and a leader by example." Miami head coach Jim Morris said.

Salas was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 2013 MLB draft but turned down their offer to stay at the "U"

Salas' perfect game is only the 22nd pitched in modern NCAA Division I baseball history.

College Baseball Coach Facing Bigamy Charges

((ht: wbir.com))

No, he doesn't coach in Utah (ooohhh....sorry, probably shouldn't have made that joke)

Volunteer State college (Gallatin, TN) head baseball coach Mike Crossland is facing bigamy charges. Yes, he apparently married one woman, while still being married to another.

Crossland, who has coached the baseball team for 9-years was booked into the Lincoln County Jail on Monday. He was released later that day after posting a $500 bond.

((note--It appears the charges are a misdemeanor))

According to WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Crossland is due in court to face the charges in November.

College Baseball Player Killed Because Kids Were "Bored" (UPDATED With Charges Filed)

((HT: KFOR-TV))

Australian Christopher Lane, a baseball player for East Central University in the south Oklahoma town of Ada, was visiting his girlfriend Friday in the town of Duncan- 85 miles east. Police allege that three teens drove up and shot him in the back "because they were bored" as one of the suspects who confessed to the crime apparently told Duncan, Oklahoma police.

The suspects’ car was identified on security cameras and hours later, the three suspects – ages 15, 16 and 17 – were arrested.

All three suspects are still being held at the Stephens County (OK) jail on a first-degree murder complaint. Their arraignment was postponed until Tuesday afternoon after initially being scheduled for Monday.

Here's the story from Duncan...


"He was an absolute joy to coach," baseball coach Dino Rosato said in a statement issued by the school. "Chris was an extremely well-respected teammate. ... He set a great example for all of his teammates, but more importantly for the younger players. He was a mature student-athlete who his teammates could look to for advice and support."

Mike Smith of the Duncan (OK) Banner newspaper caught up with town sheriff Danny Ford:

Ford said the 17-year-old suspect implicated the 16-year-old as the one who pulled the trigger while the three drove by in a car.

The 17-year-old was the only one providing any details, he said. Stephens County Sheriff Wayne McKinney said the teens were being isolated from one another and other inmates at the Stephens County Jail. Police have not found the gun or bullet casing but Ford said statements made by the 17-year-old lead police to think it might have been a revolver.

The mother of the 16-year-old has come forward and apologized to Lane's family. But she also believes that her son was not the one who pulled the trigger.

TUESDAY UPDATE:

Officials have charged 15-year-old James Edwards Jr. and 16-year-old Chancey Luna with first-degree murder as adults.

In addition, 17-year-old Michael Jones is facing two felony counts of discharging a weapon and accessory to murder after the fact.

He is being charged as a juvenile.

The Journey To Omaha: A Hoosier Walk Off

Indiana's Chad Clark

Indiana sophomore Chad Clark committed a critical error in the top of the ninth allowing a couple of
Valparaiso runs to score and it looked like an upset.

Clark had a chance to redeem himself in the bottom of the ninth during a Hoosier rally.

Clark crushed the hanging slider from Crusader closer Karch Kowalczyk over the left field wall and it was a walk off winner for Indiana 5-4.


“That’s never happened to me in my life,” Clark said. “Never even had a walk-off hit.”