ESPN strikes again...

I agree that the weather in Coral Gables and Baton Rouge is generally similar, but SB only had to face UM once (and UCF three times, a de facto home team, granted) in a stadium that holds 5,000. Joe Nathan Stadium (the Seawolves' home field) by comparison seats 1,000.

Couple the mid-day South Louisiana weather with Stony Brook's first ever Super Regional appearance and the 10,000+ lunatics in Alex Box, and I like the Tigers' chances over a three game set.

I do, too. Just wish the games were at night so I could watch, well Friday's anyway

the first 15 rounds of the MLB Draft finished today, and this is how the 16 Super Regional teams did:

Florida (Preseason #1/#1/#1/#1/#1)
1st Round (#3 overall) -- C Zunino, Mike
1st Round (#31 overall) -- RHP Johnson, Brian
2nd Round (#61 overall) -- SS Fontana, Nolan
2nd Round (#62 overall) -- LHP Rodriguez, Steven
3rd Round (#118 overall) -- RHP Maddox, Austin
7th Round (#219 overall) -- OF Tucker, Preston
7th Round (#244 overall) -- RHP Randall, Hudson
9th Round (#292 overall) -- OF Pigott, Daniel

UCLA (Preseason #14/#18/#19/#19/#20)
1st Round, Supp (#57 overall) -- OF Gelalich, Jeff
7th Round (#232 overall) -- OF Amaral, Beau
8th Round (#249 overall) -- C Heineman, Tyler
8th Round (#266 overall) -- RHP Griggs, Scott
10th Round (#328 overall) -- INF/C Brown, Trevor
11th Round (#351 overall) -- RHP Jaffe, Eric
15th Round (#467 overall) -- OF Keefer, Cody

Florida State (Preseason #9/#10/#13/#13/#20)
1st Round (#23 overall) -- OF Ramsey, James
6th Round (#200 overall) -- 1B Boyd, Jayce
7th Round (#234 overall) -- RHP Benincasa, Robert
13th ROund (#424 overall) -- INF Travis, Devon
14th Round (#447 overall) -- INF Johnson, Sherman
14th Round (#454 overall) -- RHP Scantling, Hunter

Stanford (Preseason #2/#2/#3/#3/#4)
1st Round (#8 overall) -- RHP Appel, Mark
1st Round, Supp (#36 overall) -- 3B Piscotty, Stephen
3rd Round, (#111 overall) -- LHP Mooneyham, Brett
4th Round (#133 overall) -- SS Diekroeger, Kenny
9th Round (#304 overall) -- OF Stewart, Jake

Stony Brook (Preseason NR)
1st Round, Supp (#44 overall) -- OF Jankowski, Travis
3rd Round (#123 overall) -- C Cantwell, Patrick
11th Round (#345 overall) -- INF Tissenbaum, Maxx
11th Round (#368 overall) -- 3B Carmona, William
12th Round (#386 overall) -- RHP Campbell, James

Arizona (Preseason #5/#11/#18/#20/#20)
4th Round (#150 overall) -- SS Mejia, Alejandro
5th Round (#187 overall) -- 2B Refsnyder, Rob
6th Round (#210 overall) -- RHP Heyer, Kurt
8th ROund (#262 overall) -- 3B Mejias-Brean, Seth
9th Round (#302 overall) -- OF Rickard, Joey

St. John's (Preseason #11/#21/#27/NR/NR)
2nd Round (#68 overall) -- OF Baltz, Jeremy
5th Round (#168 overall) -- SS Wessinger, Matthew
6th Round (#198 overall) -- RHP Carasiti, Matt
6th Round (#201 overall) -- RHP Hansen, Kyle

South Carolina (Preseason #2/#2/#2/#3/#3)
4th Round (#132 overall) -- 1B Walker, Christian
7th Round (#222 overall) -- RHP Price, Matthew
8th Round (#273 overall) -- OF Marzilli, Evan
9th Round (#297 overall) -- LHP Roth, Michael

Arkansas (Preseason #4/#6/#7/#8/#8)
2nd Round (#71 overall) -- RHP Reynolds, Matt
2nd Round (#74 overall) -- RHP Sanburn, Nolan
10th Round (#310 overall) -- RHP Baxendale, D.J.

LSU (Preseason #8/#10/#12/#12/#14)
1st Round (#4 overall) -- RHP Gausman
5th Round (#167 overall) -- SS Nola
6th Round (#217 overall) -- RHP Goody

Oklahoma (Preseason #14/#15/#16/#19/NR)
4th Round (#148 overall) -- LHP Okert, Steven
5th Round (#185 overall) -- RHP Magnifico, Damien
6th Round (#214 overall) -- LHP John, Jordan

Baylor (Preseason #28/#29/#32/NR/NR)
5th Round (#169 overall) -- 1B Muncy, Max
8th Round (#278 overall) -- C Ludy, Josh
11th Round (#353 overall) -- OF Vick, Logan

TCU (Preseason #10/#11/#13/#15/#18)
6th Round (#209 overall) -- C Elander, Josh

Kent State (Preseason #34/NR/NR/NR/NR)
7th Round (#239 overall) -- LHP Starn, David

NC State (Preseason #38/NR/NR/NR/NR)
11th Round (#346 overall) -- SS Diaz, Christopher

Oregon (Preseason #27/#30/NR/NR/NR)
-none-



compare to:

National Seed North Carolina (Preseason #3/#4/#4/#5/#9)
7th Round (#226 overall) -- C Stallings, Jacob
13th Round (#417 overall) -- RHP Morin, Michael

and Top 4 SEC Team Kentucky
8th Round (#255 overall) -- OF Adams, Brian
8th Round (#272 overall) -- C Maile, Luke
11th Round (#340 overall) -- LHP Rogers, Taylor

If the humidity this weekend is anything like it was yesterday, Stony Brook will be on the first plane back to NY Friday evening..

if its as hot as it was yesterday during the day, Alex Box will be empty this weekend during the day. it was horrible yesterday, even for Louisiana standards. LSU fans used to being in the a/c all day will be in hell/misery at the Box if its as hot as it was yesterday where I'm at (further to the south)

good news is that the high for Fri is projected to be 88 and 85 for Sat and Sun, so hopefully that holds up so it is a comfortable day in the Box for our fans like we had last weekend

as for Stony Brook, the heat and humidity appears to be a non-factor for them. they've been down here practicing and playing outside in the humidity for two weeks now, and they played in Miami which is closer to the equator and right next to the Everglades, and all the articles from the Miami Regional talk about "a frustrating, humid day" and "a humid day at Alex Rodriguez Park," etc

God damn UF is loaded....


Mother of GOD!

How did we beat them?

UF was without their #1 and #2 starting pitchers the weekend we beat them:

--Hudson Randall (Honorable Mention All-American last year, First Team Freshman All-American the year before that, 19-5 record over last 2 seasons at UF, 27-9 record over all three seasons)

--Karsten Whitson (#9 overall pick in the 1st Round of the 2010 MLB Draft out of high school, last year was National Freshman Pitcher of the Year and First Team Freshman All-American, 11-1 career record at UF)

those two were the #1 and #2 pitchers in the Super Regional for Florida last year, and in the CWS for Florida last year, and they started in the weekend rotation the whole season for Florida last year

this year, Hudson Randall missed the LSU and then the Tennessee series due to a sore arm, but other than that, he's been Florida's #1 ace pitcher since early last year. last year, he held LSU to zero runs in 6.2 innings

as for Karsten Whitson, he was their #3 all last year, but took over the #2 spot beginning in the Super Regionals, and stayed the #2 pitcher all through the CWS, and was their #2 pitcher starting this season in their first series vs Cal State Fullerton. however, then he got hurt, and was out a while before they played LSU (big series that he missed were: Miami, Vandy, South Carolina, Ole Miss). they tried to bring him back as their starter vs LSU on Sunday, but he wasn't ready, and they pulled him after 1 inning (during which LSU went 2-for-5 against him and got 2 runs). they tried to start him again the next week vs Tennessee, but again, he wasn't ready and Tennessee went 6-of-14 against him (.429) and got 3 runs in 3 innings against him. after that, they had him rest and didn't use him vs Georgia or Arkansas... they finally brought him back into their starting rotation vs Kentucky, and he's been in their weekend rotation ever since


however, note that LSU hammered UF starter Brian Johnson this year, and he just got taken in the 1st Round of the 2012 MLB Draft. he's been part of their weekend rotation all this year and all last year (except they didn't use him in the Super Regional or CWS last year for whatever reason). this year, we hit 7-for-19 (.368) against him, and gave him a 13.50 ERA for the day (6 earned runs in 4 innings). compare to last year, when he held us to 2 runs in 5.1 innings, and we only hit .263 against him

and note what LSU did this year to UF relievers Steven Rodriguez and Austin Maddox, who just got taken in the 2nd Round and 3rd Round of the 2012 MLB Draft. they shut LSU down in Game 1 and 2 this year (over 3 and 1/3 innings, they allowed no runs and held LSU batters to 1-for-12), but in Game 3, LSU went to town on both of them: over 6 and 1/3 innings, LSU hitters went 10-for-28 against them (.357) and got 4 runs (giving them a combined 5.69 ERA for the game)

also note that LSU's starting pitchers weren't as good as they normally are that weekend. first of all, we were without Aaron Nola (that's before Nola beat out McCune as our weekend starter). and second of all, our starting pitching got destroyed by Florida this year -- Florida hitters were 23 of 66 (.348) against our 3 starters that weekend, giving them a combined 6.28 ERA... they were 7-for-17 (.412) vs Eades, 7-for-20 (.350) vs McCune, and 9-for-29 (.310) against Gausman...and last year, Gausman went 8 innings against them, held them to only 1 run and 5-for-27 at the plate (.185)

finally, note that 3 of LSU's best 4 hitters did poorly vs Florida this year: Rhymes (who had a concussion that week) was 0-for-6, Ross was 0-for-7, and Katz was 3 for 12 (.250)

the heros for LSU vs Florida this year were:

Tyler Moore -- 4-for-6 (.667), 1 run
Jordy Snikeris -- 2 for 3 (.667), 1 RBI, 1 run
Arby Fields -- 2 for 4 (.500), 1 RBI, 2 runs
Jared Foster -- 4 for 10 (.400), 1 RB1, 2 runs
Jacoby Jones -- 4 for 12 (.333), 4 RBI, 4 runs, 2 walks
Austin Nola -- 4 for 13 (.308), 1 RBI, 1 walk

as well as the entire LSU bullpen (Bonvillain 4 innings, Cotton 2 and 1/3 innings, Goody 2 innings, Bourgeois 1 and 1/3 innings, Broussard 1 inning, and Rumbelow 1/3 of an inning)

combined, they went 11 and 2/3 innings, had 14Ks, 3 walks, and held UF to only 2 runs and 8-for-42 at the plate (.190)

especially good were:
Bonvillain: held UF batters to zero runs and a .091 avg over 4 innings in Game 3
Goody: held UF batters to zero runs and a .143 avg over 2 innings--last inning of Game 1 and Game 3
Broussard: in his 1 inning of Game 3, knocked them down 1-2-3, including All-American and 1st Round pick Zunino

Dude, you're just a smorgasbord of knowledge. Either that, or you're an expert Google-er.

you just go to the websites for LSU baseball and UF baseball and they have all the info there. most of that stuff is from arguments i've had on other forums where people tried to knock LSU's accomplishment of beating UF as tainted