2012 NCAA BASEBALL TOURNAMENT: Baton Rouge Regional

They should've found a way to give Bama and Oregon State easy regionals. Then if they won out the Beavers could deal with the Crimson Tide 3 weeks later.

 

Oh boy...

 

man, WHAT A GAME!!!

Ty Ross (who hit .364 over the whole Regional) slamming the first pitch of the 9th inning for that monster double, making the Box go bananas (and the 10,367 actual attendance set the All-Time LSU Record)... then Edwards comes up and crushes the second pitch to him for the RBI double to tie the game... then in the 10th, Jones, at full count, rocketing that double to the opposite corner of the ball park, putting Nola on 3rd for what would turn out to be the go ahead run!

gotta tip your hat to Oregon State pitchers Schultz (7-2 career record at Oregon State) and Boyd (11-1 career record at Oregon State, on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team), but LSU destroyed the other pitchers Oregon put into the game:
--3-for-3 (1.000), 1 walk vs Starr (8-3 career record at Oregon St, 37th-round selection in the 2011 MLB Draft)
--1-for-1 (1.000), 2 walks vs Davis (ranked No. 36 recruit in the nation and No. 1 player in the state of Washington by Perfect Game USA last year, AFLAC All-American, member of two US National Teams that won Gold Medals)
--1 walk in one time at the plate vs Bryant (6-2 record this year, 25th-round selection n the 2009 MLB Draft )

and how about the LSU relievers?!?!?!!? we only used three during the whole Regional: Rumbelow, Cotton, and Goody... they pitched 6 and 1/3 innings, had 11 K's, 1 walk, allowed no runs (0.00 ERA!!!!), and only allowed 1 hit in 20 at-bats (.050 opposing batting avg!!!!). and how about Goody!??!?! My God he took it to a whole different level last night, his performance last night was one of the greatest closing jobs in the history of college baseball. just completely over-powering, completely dominant. incredible!!!!

and Gausman and Nola, both were named to the Regional All-Tournament Team... both went 8 innings, both of them had a 1.13 ERA, and Gausman's opposing batting avg was .233 while Nola's was an incredible .148 with 10 K's to boot

as for Eades, in his 5 and 1/3 innings last night, he had a 6.35 ERA with a .360 opposing batting average, so he was a liability

now as for our hitters, here's the four best on our team:
.452 Raph Rhymes
.323 Mason Katz
.313 Austin Nola
.309 Ty Ross

and this is how they did in the Regional:
Nola -- .400, 4 RBI, 3 runs, 2 walks -- named Most Outstanding Player of the Regional, and All-Tournament Team
Ross -- .364, 2 runs, 1 walk -- named to Regional All-Tournament Team
Rhymes -- .300, 2 RBI, 2 runs, 2 walks
Katz -- .091, 1 RBI, 1 run, 1 walk, 1 HBP

and you figure Katz will snap out of his funk soon


Oregon State coach, Pat Casey:

"I'm just extremely proud of our club. We asked them one thing before the game and that was just to battle and compete and they went above and beyond the call."

"Like I said before the game, we were going to battle. This is why you get up in the morning and lift weights, why you stand in the rain, so you get a chance to compete. ... We said let's just show them what we can do. We did everything we could do to win the game, we just didn't finish it."

On RHP Scott Schultz's Performance..."It was outstanding. He punched out nine (batters) in eight and two thirds (innings). He was electric. He threw the ball on both sides of the plate with command of three pitches. I thought he dominated for a long period of time there"

On the top of the 10th inning..."We were just trying to keep them from scoring. We knew we were going to get (Nick) Goody in the bottom of the 10th. Scoring two runs off him is pretty difficult. We just thought we had good matchups. (Dylan) Davis was electric last night and he didn't find the plate. We thought we had good matchups with (Cole) Brocker and (Matt) Boyd. It worked. We had (Austin) Nola 0-2 to start the inning and he did a heck of a job walking. We had the next kid (JaCoby Jones) 2-2 and the guy found just inside the right field line.


Mainieri:

"Obviously, it was a tremendous victory for our team," said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. "It was truly a tremendous victory. This was a total team victory. It was tough."

"I want to compliment the Oregon State baseball program and their coach, Pat Casey...I think they deserve a real tip of the hat. Their team has a lot of character and great leadership. They've had a great season."

"I thought (Oregon State head coach) Pat (Casey) made a tremendous move going to his closer, Schultz, right away. That kid just shut us down. He totally had us baffled there for several innings, but our kids never got discouraged. We had some tough at bats, but the kids just kept battling. They kept battling all the way through."

"I thought Nick Rumbelow was very key to the game, for him to come in and stem the tide there for us. I almost wish I had brought him in a batter earlier now. (Chris) Cotton gave us a great inning. What Nick Goody did, I tell you, that's true closing. To close a championship with a one-run lead and throw the ball the way he did. That's why you have to stick with people that have that kind of talent."


Austin Nola, Regional Most Outstanding Player:

"we had to play a very tough ball club in Oregon State, and we have a lot of respect for those guys how they played."


Alex Edward, who tied it up in the Top of the 9th with his huge double:

On his RBI double in the ninth inning..."I had been struggling all weekend (he hit .167 in the Regional), but when you have the crowd behind you and all your teammates behind you and getting a good pitch to hit and being able to barrel it up; there's no better feeling in the world."


Raph Rhymes, SEC Player of the Year:

"There wasn't a second that I doubted whether or not we would win. Growing up, coming to these regional games, and watching LSU baseball, I know how big of a factor the crowd is. I just knew we were going to come away with that win; I knew the crowd was going to will it. Our guys feed off that energy, and it proved it tonight."

 

I had the pleasure of watching it at the Abita Brew Pub with my friend who used to be the producer for John Ferguson's LSU broadcasts and a new friend of mine who Loves LSU but they never offered him so he played catcher, and defensive tackle for Southern Miss.

Knowledgeable sports discussion all night long in front of a great game and a few rounds of pints !!

GREAT game !!!

 

NCAAT:

Pac 12 is 14-2 (lost to LSU twice)...Oregon State is eliminated

SEC is 20-6 (lost to NC State, TCU, Kent State twice, Samford twice)... Kentucky and Mississippi State are eliminated

ACC is 13-11 (lost to Florida twice, South Carolina twice, Vanderbilt, Stony Brook, Appy State, Oklahoma, St John's twice, Missouri St)... Miami, Virginia, North Carolina, Clemson, Georgia Tech are eliminated

Big 12 is 7-6 (lost to Ole Miss, Arizona, Appy State, TCU, Louisville, Oral Roberts)...Texas A&M and Missouri are eliminated

Big Ten is 1-4 (lost to Kentucky, Pepperdine, Fresno St, Kent State)...Purdue and Mich State are eliminated


the following teams all rolled through the Regionals UNDEFEATED and have secured a spot in the Super Regionals:
--LSU (SEC)
--Florida (SEC)
--South Carolina (SEC)
--Arkansas (SEC) -- at the Rice Regional in Houston
--Oregon (Pac)
--UCLA (Pac)
--Arizona (Pac)
--Stanford (Pac)
--Florida State (ACC)
--St. John's -- at the North Carolina Regional in Chapel Hill
--Kent State

4 of 5 Pac 12 teams advanced to Supers
4 of 8 SEC teams advanced to Supers, and 2 more have the chance to do so tonight (Vandy, Ole Miss)
1 of 7 ACC teams advanced to Supers, and 1 more has the chance to do so tonight (NC State)
0 of 4 Big 12 teams advanced to Supers, but 2 have the chance to do so tonight (Oklahoma, Baylor)
All Big Ten teams have been eliminated

CWS spot #1
Florida
plays winner of
Vanderbilt v NC State (final game)

CWS spot #2
South Carolina
plays winner of
Appy State v Oklahoma (Oklahoma has to beat Appy State twice)

CWS spot #3
Oregon
v
Kent State

CWS spot #4
Arkansas
plays winner of
Dallas Baptist v Baylor (final game)

CWS spot #5
UCLA
plays winner of
Ole Miss v TCU (final game)

CWS spot #6
LSU
plays winner of
UCF v Stony Brook (final game)

CWS spot #7
Arizona
v
St. John's

CWS spot #8
Stanford
v
Florida State

 

Although it's hard to tell, it looked like the ball that Jones hit in the 9th was above the yellow line. The ball bounced back in play, but that was awfully close to a HR. Anybody at the game get a better view of it?

 

Man, you guys just don't let up, do you. I got the whole rivalry and civil war and ill blood between your two fan bases, but after reading some of the comments on Oregon Live, I would think you fellas would at least cut them a little slack. They played well and showed a lot of class and dignity. Alex Box is the toughest place to play in college baseball during the post season and Oregon State put up a great fight. No one wants or likes to lose, and those players have nothing to be ashamed of and no reason to hang their heads.

They had a much tougher road than playing Austin Peay. It takes a bigger man to say, "congratulations on another 40-win season and good luck next year" than kick a team when it's down, especially by people in their own state.

 

Stony Brook leads UCF 7-3 in the 6th.