Baton Rouge Super Regional: LSU vs. Stony Brook

oh. now i'm stupid?

 

New York Post:

Cocky Stony Brook won’t back down with LSU up next

Stony Brook flew to Miami expecting to challenge for its first NCAA tournament regional championship. After accomplishing the feat...it let everyone know about it.

After the Seawolves’ 10-6 victory over No. 2 Central Florida Monday night...Willie Carmona exchanged words with a few players from the opposition and a scrum nearly broke out.

“That’s the way we are,” said Carmona, the regional’s most outstanding player. “We don’t back down from anyone.”


in the Miami Regional, Carmona hit .524 (11 for 21) with two home runs and 10 RBIs in five games

“It’s scary how hard Carmona [6-0, 220] can hit a baseball,” Stony Brook coach Matt Senk said. “There’s not too many Willie Carmonas that come along too often.”

Collegiate Baseball Newspaper named Carmona a Louisville Slugger first team All-American last year, a Louisville Slugger third team All-American this year, and a Louisville Slugger freshman All-American two years ago

 

how was the St. John's Red Storm able to curb-stomp National Seed North Carolina at North Carolina by a combined score of 14-9 over two games during their undefeated run through the postseason?

how was the Kent State Golden Flashes able to sweep Top Four SEC Superpower Kentucky and take down Regional Host and Big Ten Champions Purdue during their undefeated run through the postseason?

Sports Illustrated provides answers:

"Athletic departments and athletic directors are recognizing that baseball is the least expensive opportunity to win a national championship that is televised nationally," said Texas' Augie Garrido, the all-time winningest coach in Division I [and the winner of 5 National Championships]. "In football, these smaller schools aren't going to have a chance to dance with the giants. In baseball, the parity is extreme."

Mid-majors have benefited from the 2-year-old NCAA rule allowing only 27 of the 35 players on a roster to get a cut of a team's 11.7 total scholarships. Each of those 27 players must receive at least a 25-percent scholarship.

"There are a lot of very good players who are spread around now," Kent State coach Scott Stricklin said. "The scholarship limitations have taken away from the big schools that were just giving kids books. Those kids would go because they wanted to play at a big-name school. So now players who might be sitting on the bench in the SEC, Big 12 or ACC are playing at the so-called mid-majors and playing right away."

Another factor is the toned-down aluminum bats. They've neutralized the teams that once dominated with bigger and stronger athletes.

"You're seeing more one- or two-run ball games, and that means you have to change the way you play," St. John's coach Ed Blankmeyer said. "It becomes pitching, defense and timely hitting. You get guys who can pitch and catch the ball, you can make some noise."

 

Mainieri on Stony Brook:

"This is a legitimate team. This is an SEC-caliber team – I kid you not. They had seven players drafted in the draft. We had five. They had five players drafted in the first twelve rounds."

"I talked to a major league executive the other day and he told me that he thought [Stony Brook’s] leadoff hitter [Travis Jankowski] will be leading off for a major league team within a couple of years."

"They might as well take that shirt off and put the name Florida across the front, or Texas, or Ole Miss, or UCLA. This team is legit."

"We’re going to have to play our very best to beat these guys."

 

Nicholls State baseball coach Seth Thibodeaux on Stony Brook (Stony Brook swept Nicholls in Thibodeaux, LA earlier in the season):

"I warned people that when we put them on the schedule that Stony Brook is the real deal," Thibodeaux said. "They've got a kid in center field (Travis Jankowski) that will play in the big leagues for a long time. He is their leadoff hitter and a very dangerous player. There is a reason why they won 50 games this season."

"I wasn't going to say anything, but I knew in my gut last week that they were going to win that regional," he said. "It was setup for them. They are a dangerous and talented team. They've got some guys in their lineup who are very comparable or even more talented than what LSU has in its lineup."

"They are not going to be intimidated by LSU by any means," Thibodeaux said. "They will come in thinking they are better than LSU. They are not going to be scared of LSU, and in some instances, they will be a little better at some positions. It should be a really good series. LSU will have to play its best ball to win two-out-of-three this weekend. If you see a blowout, it's because LSU is playing outstanding."

 

That's nice. How many stadiums full of 10,000 loud opposing fans have they played in again?

 

lol

SO never been to a super, but when they do, they play host LSU whose been to what 15 CWS? and has 6 titles?

Get the fuck out of here, they will see it and feel it.

Thats not to say they wont play well, but come on... Even Bama gets rattled in death valley.....

 

it'll be interesting to see if we get more than 7,000 to 7,500, which is what we had the last time we had day games at the Box for a Super Regional on a Saturday and a Sunday (this season, our biggest attendance for a day game was 6,673). as for the Friday game, i expect it to have the smallest crowd because people have work

even if 10,000 do show up, it's not like in football...it's not like Tiger Fans are like "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" every time one of their guys gets up to the plate. baseball games are much more quiet (although the place does go nuts when we score a big run)

also, like in football, the crowd will be dead for a day game compared to what they are like during night games

plus, it's typically hot as hell during the day, which is miserable for everybody

it's all part of the reason why LSU doesn't do well at home in day games... we are 5-6 in day games in Alex Box Stadium this season (including 2-3 vs SEC teams, 3-3 vs small conference teams)

 

Your sample sizes are way too small to derive anything statistically significant.

And this isn't a midweek game against UNO or a regular season series where you can dust yourself off and bounce back next week. This is Omaha or bust. For all the marbles. It will get loud.

 

another thing to consider is that bigger and more excited crowds show up when LSU hosts big-time opponents, while smaller and less excited crowds show up when LSU hosts small-time opponents