OMAHA, Neb. — The 2011 College World Series has narrowed to just two teams with the winner declared as early as today or tomorrow. This article, written too early to discuss Monday’s outcome, would see Monday’s winner declared college world champion tonight with a win. However, if Monday’s loser wins today, then the deciding third game will be played on Wednesday.

SEC Dominance

Both schools play in the SEC, a conference that is as dominate in baseball as it is in football. Still, South Carolina and Florida had to hold off Virginia and Vanderbilt respectively to advance to the championship, with both schools 3-0 in this year’s series. The Gamecocks are the defending CWS champion while Florida was the pre-season favorite to win it all. Expect this series to take three games to decide a winner.

Last year was the first time the Gamecocks (53-14) won the CWS, having appeared three times previously and lost. Florida (53-17) has yet to win a CWS, losing to Texas in two games in 2005. This will be the third consecutive year that an SEC will win the national title with LSU winning in 2009 followed by the Gamecocks in 2010.

Although both schools play in the same conference, they met for a three-game series in late March, with the Gamecocks winning the first and third games. These schools did not face off in the NCAA tournament and, of course, haven’t faced each other yet in the CWS.

Team Comparisons

How well do these two teams stack up? When it comes to ERA, the Gamecocks are fifth in the nation, averaging 2.49 runs per game while Florida comes in at 2.97. When it comes to batting, the Gators have the upper hand with team average of .309 compared to South Carolina at .295. With a short series, those numbers may be relatively inconsequential, with the winner likely being the team that can figure out a way of outlasting the other.

Resources

ESPN; Florida Slightly Favored in CWS Final; Jeff Sackmann; June 27, 2011

Omaha World-Herald; Tournament Central: 2011 College World Series; Tom Shatel; June 27, 2011

There are some important differences between major league baseball and the college level, including the bats used. Wooden bats are used by the majors, aluminum bats are the choice of the colleges. The real differences between the two levels has nothing to do with bats, but everything to do with how the game is approached. Let’s take a look at what major league baseball can learn from the colleges.

Give fans the players — On the college level, the fans can reach out and touch their favorite players. Literally. That was something professional baseball used to make possible, but the interaction between the stars and the gawkers has diminished considerably. Certainly, pre-game autograph signings can help, but they’re difficult for people to get to who have to slog through traffic. After game meet ups can help.

Give players the fans — MLB has lost the trust of a lot of fans. Sure, attendance is strong at many parks, but the drug problems of the last decade have made everyone in the stands a cynic. It is assumed that any player who has a break out year has either juiced the ball or juiced himself. Pro players have lost perspective of the game and are now controlled by statistics and a slave to an outrageous salary structure. There is something to be said of players who take to the mound for no pay and many weeks after school has ended for the year.

Make it worth following — The pro season is too long, dragged out by an extended post season that goes through the month of October, when football season is at its peak. Certainly, baseball has heard some of the grumblings about games stretching into November, but the series is still too late. And, games are impossibly long — contests that were over in under two hours now take three, sometimes four hours to end.

Bring back the mystique — Perhaps it is the extended post season where three sets of series are played that has change pro baseball. Before the days of expansion, the winner of the American League played the winner of the National League for the world series. Maybe professional baseball should invite each of the teams to one location to duke it out for 10 to 12 days just as they do in Omaha. At least the season would be over by October 12.

Will major league baseball make some more changes to bring the game back to the fans? Probably not. With money driving the game at a level far higher than what you find on the CWS level, the incentive to change just isn’t there. That’s too bad, but we can dream now, can’t we?

Further Reading

Omaha Prepares to Host College World Series at New Ballpark

Road to Omaha Spots Claimed by 8

The University of South Carolina is on top of the baseball world, college ball that is, thanks to its eleventh-inning 2-1 win on Tuesday. That victory, the second win in as many days over the UCLA Bruins, allowed the Gamecocks to claim the NCAA title for the first time in their history.

Four, Finally

Indeed, it was the fourth time the Gamecocks advanced to the finals, finishing as runner-up in 1975, 1977 and 2002 according to ESPN. The deciding victory came when Whit Merrifield slapped a single past the pulled in UCLA outfield to score Scott Wingo from third base.

With the win, the Gamecocks closed the door on the 2009-2010 athletic season which always ends when baseball crowns a champion. Well over a month after most students leave campus for the summer, college baseball teams battle it out in hopes of reaching Omaha, Nebraska, the perpetual home of the College World Series.

Rosenblatt’s End

This year’s series had another special meaning besides the Gamecocks’ triumph. Historic Rosenblatt Stadium, a 61-year-old venue and Omaha shrine to baseball was hosting its final world series. Omaha will still host the World Series annually with the new TD Ameritrade Park taking Rosenblatt’s place. 23,000 people were in attendance for the final game, comparable to what some major league baseball teams (Kansas City Royals) would be happy to draw on any given day.

Few thought that either UCLA or South Carolina would advance so far this year. Last year, the Bruins finished 27-29 and were clearly at or near the bottom rung of the powerful Pac 10 pecking order. South Carolina lost to Oklahoma in the first game of the double-elimination world series before winning six straight to win it all.

Tiger Dance

Two of those victories were against in-state foe Clemson allowing the Gamecocks to claim Palmetto State supremacy while directly eliminating the Tigers.

The University of South Carolina wasted no time celebrating the Gamecocks victory, opening up Colonial Life Arena in Columbia to welcome the team and its fans, showing a replay of Tuesday night’s game. The first 5,000 fans received a commemorative print, a keepsake for South Carolina baseball faithful.

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The Tigers initial ascent to the pinnacle of national college baseball did not begin until they won their first ever championship in 1991. By that time, Southern Cal had already won eleven CWS titles while Arizona, Stanford, Wichita State and Georgia were all rising powers themselves. The school made a name for itself by winning the national championship in football in 2007, but a return to baseball greatness remained elusive.

Wednesday’s win came on the heels of a narrow extra inning victory on Monday followed by a strong Longhorn performance on Tuesday where Texas cooled off the previously hot LSU bats, 5-1. Fears that Texas would once again keep LSU hitters out of the final game were quickly dashed when Jared Mitchell hit a three-run homer first inning homer that led to a 4-0 lead in the second inning. Texas responded with two runs each in the  third and fifth innings to tie the game, but the Tigers erupted for five more runs in the sixth to put the game away.

While all of the LSU players celebrated the Tigers victory, for one player this was his second national championship at the Louisiana school. Outfielder Jared Mitchell who is a first-round pick for the Chicago White Sox is also a wide receiver for the football team. The 2007 team won the SEC title and followed that up in early 2008 with a national championship of their own. Mitchell was also named as the CWS MVP, batting .348 with two homers and seven runs batted in.

Sources: ESPN, LSU Sports

Photo Credit: Nathaniel Tutvid

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One Texas baseball team has been winning consistently all Spring, chalking up victory after victory. As the regular season ends and post season looms, there is one disadvantage that the Howard College Hawks has versus its opponents: the team doesn’t know what it means to lose, at least this year.

Undefeated And Ready For Action

Big Spring, Texas is the home of the Howard College Hawks, a junior college baseball team that is 54-0 going into the post season. Not since Monroe Community College of New York went undefeated two decades ago has a team like the Hawks come along. Even then, the New York team played half as many games as the Hawks did this year to finish the regular season undefeated.

The Hawks begin their post season quest toward perfect this Saturday when they participate in Region V of the National Junior College Athletic Association Division 1 Tournament. The winner of that round proceeds to the National JUCO tournament in Grand Junction, Colorado which will begin on May 23rd and crown a champion on May 30th.

Even if the Hawks lose one game in either the regional or national championship double elimination series, they could still win the championship outright. Still, if the Hawks are perfect through the post season, they’ll accomplish a goal never met previously by any baseball team – finishing the year with a perfect record.

Several Challenges Along The Way

Getting to 54-0 didn’t come without some challenges although quite a few of the team’s wins were by ten runs or more. There were a few close scares especially early in the season when in the second game of a seasoning opening doubleheader, the Hawks held off McLennan CC 9-8 after clobbering the Highlanders 11-1 in the first game. Later in the season the Hawks had one run wins over Hutchinson CC and Odessa College, the closest games of the season for Howard College.

What is it that has contributed to the Hawks success this year? Talent and depth. Out of 25 players, at least seven are expected to be drafted by major league teams. Plus, many of the students hail from the area and have been playing with or against each other for the past five or six years.

Photo Credit: Brian Lary

Source: Howard College Athletics

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At Bates College — located in Lewiston, Maine — fifteen lucky freshmen are taking the class of their dreams: Red Sox Nation: Baseball and American Culture is a course that is being offered by history professor Margaret Creighton, who came up with the idea following the Red Sox’s loss to the hated New York Yankees in the 2003 American League Championship Series. The following year the Boston Red Sox won the World Series which led to the course first being offered in 2005.

Now being taught for just the second time, Creighton’s Red Sox Nation course was filled up one minute after it was made available for online registration this fall. Twelve men and three women take the weekly three hour class, wearing their Red Sox paraphernalia, eating popcorn and peanut snacks, and discussing the team’s exploits while in class.

Though the Boston Red Sox are at the centerpiece of the curriculum for the course, students take a look at major league baseball and its place in American culture in history. Specifically, Creighton requires that her students take a look at baseball’s role as it relates to politics, religion, race, and gender, an “American Cultural Studies” elective like none other.

Among the many topics that come up in class are:

• The class differences between those fans who occupy the bleacher seats versus the people who can afford the more expensive seats located behind the dugout.

• How baseball mirrors American immigration policy in light of the huge influx of players from Latin American countries.

• Whether football and NASCAR have replaced baseball as the country’s top sport.

• How has the Red Sox fan base transformed over the years? That is, from a mostly white, male northern New England following to one where women and minorities are some of the most passionate fans?

The students do take a field trip to see the Red Sox in action, supposedly to observe fan behavior as much as how the team is doing on the field.

Yes, students do receive credit for the course toward their graduation, an unusual area of study that is also near and dear to the hears of Bosox faithful.

As far as Professor Creighton’s allegiance goes? This one-time Yankees fan is now a passionate Red Sox follower.

Further Reading

Ask Me Another: Historian Margaret Creighton and the Rebirth of a Nation

Baseball course a hit at Maine college

]]> http://www.saycampuslife.com/2008/10/01/a-college-elective-red-sox-fans-can-cheer-about/feed/ 4 http://www.saycampuslife.com/2008/05/16/academic-progress-rate-reports-are-in/ http://www.saycampuslife.com/2008/05/16/academic-progress-rate-reports-are-in/#comments Fri, 16 May 2008 07:14:15 +0000 Matthew C. Keegan http://www.cfone.com/blog/?p=174 Founded in 1910, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has long worked with colleges and universities to ensure that student-athletes and their participating athletic programs meet association guidelines, with member schools held to established standards.

One standard that has gotten a lot of attention lately is the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR), a measuring tool which ensures that student-athletes are academically prepared and complete college. The APR was instituted in 2005 to provide benchmarks for all Division 1 athletic programs.

Division 1 schools typically include high profile athletic programs offering scholarships such as Johns Hopkins in lacrosse, Notre Dame in football, Stanford in baseball, etc. Each program at participating schools is graded annually with a benchmark grade of 925 established. This score is the equivalent to a 60% graduation rate, a low benchmark, but higher than what many programs had been achieving. Schools which fail to meet APR standards can lose academic scholarships, effectively impacting how well a program does on the field or on the court.

Schools recently received their most recent APRs from the NCAA and the news isn’t particularly pleasing, especially for those programs which are failing. The reports being delivered include scores for the 2006-2007 academic year as well as a comprehensive four-year report and score.

Failing programs are too many to mention but include Akron, San Diego State, and Florida International in football; Colorado State, UAB, and Liberty in men’s basketball; and Florida Atlantic in baseball. With these latest results some schools have lost scholarships with some possibly having their sport banned until academic improvement has been made.

Not all of the news is grim as some schools are meeting standards including Yale which not only exceeded benchmarks but saw 28 of its 29 athletic programs finish in the top ten percentile APR.

Further Reading

Aztecs fifth-worst among Div. I teams

NCAA starving small schools with APR

What is the Academic Progress Rate?

Yale Leads Nation with 28 NCAA Public Recognition Awards Again

As it often seems to happen, such tragedies eventually seem to fade away, at least on the national level. This is unfortunate as important lessons still need to be learned and lives remembered.

One group of men hasn’t forgotten what happened at Virginia Tech and they made good on a promise made last year: the New York Yankees team would visit the Hokies’ campus and play an exhibition game against VT.

On March 18, a bus transporting the Yankees arrived in Blacksburg, stopping at Drill Field, the memorial for those who were slain. Later, the two teams met and played a game won by the Yankees 11-0, but it wasn’t the score that mattered: the Yankees came to town to offer what support they could to the community, a gesture that was warmly received by the Hokie faithful.

Principal owner George Steinbrenner responded to the shootings by donating one million dollars to the VT memorial fund. In addition, he asked that team officials make arrangements to set up the practice game. Although the Yankees do not have any connections to the VT community, the team wanted to show solidarity with the Hokies.

In a fitting tribute, the Yankees wore maroon and orange hats during the game with the Yankees logo embroidered on the front, the VT logo on the side.

(Source: The New York Times)