College Baseball Super Regional
The Round of 16
Welcome to the College Baseball Super Regionals Newsletter, written by @CrutchBets
Sorry we missed getting a newsletter out for regionals but it’s for the better as I had a tough weekend on the books. But now with the 16 winners of regionals decided, we move on to the Super Regionals, where the paired up regional winners will play a best 2 out of 3 series at the higher seed to advance to the College World Series in Omaha.
1. Louisville Super Regional
Louisville (38-21, ACC 15-15)
Miami (34-25, ACC 15-14)
An unexpected regional as Louisville went to Nashville and #1 national seed Vanderbilt and won the regional in dominant fashion. A wishy washy pitching staff all season showed out in force giving up just 4 ER in 3 games while amassing 43 K compared to just 9 base on balls. Winning is easy when you are giving up 1-2 runs a game. On the other hand, Miami went to war in the Hattiesburg Regional eventually knocking off #16 Southern Miss in game 7. The Canes had a 15 game stretch where they were super hot before a quick exit from the ACC tournament. Sitting on the bubble, they were one of the last teams in the field but made the most of it and are headed to Louisville. This ACC matchup is sure to be entertaining as common foes duke it out for a ticket to Omaha. I’ll personally take the team who didn’t lose a conference series at home this year in a conference matchup and ride with Louisville -160.
2. Corvallis Super Regional
Oregon St (45-13-1, Independent)
Florida St (41-14, ACC 17-10)
The Beavs were the only host to lose game 1 and come all the way back to win their regional. It took a tough loss to wake this team up, but once you poke the bear, everyone’s in trouble. They proceeded to put up 50, yes 5-0, runs across the next 4 games punctuated by 14-1 and 9-0 wins over USC in the final 2 games. Florida State stayed true to themselves and leaned on their pitching to sweep their regional against two dangerous teams in Miss St and Northeastern. Two electric shortstops will be on display in Aiva Arquette vs Alex Lodise as two of the very best players in the country. Jamie Arnold, Joe Volini and the electric Noles bullpen will be battling against an emboldened Beaver lineup. Plenty of questions are waiting to be answered, but the biggest question in this series will be how the Noles hold up with the longest trip they’ve had to take in many years to an electric Goss Stadium. At a pick’em, I have no action and will be watching for entertainment.
3. Chapel Hill Super Regional
North Carolina (45-13, ACC 18-11)
Arizona (42-18, B12 18-12)
Shoutout Arizona. The team we all wanted to root for but couldn’t convince ourselves to stand on business about. Arizona walked through the Eugene regional, albeit never having to play the 1 seed in it. Now they fly to Tobacco Road to take on the Tar Heels of North Carolina. UNC isn’t the golden team of last year but I think that’s what makes them more dangerous. Last year was the team that was supposed to contend for the natty. Was the world early? Maybe. This team can beat you however you want to play baseball. Jake Knapp is a bonafide ace coming off TJ surgery. Jason Decaro is developing into the #2 he was expected to be after his run last year. Gavin Gallaher is leading the charge on offense and they absolutely mash. I think the travel ultimately gets to the Wildcats and the Heels find a way to get this done. Will I be playing -325 for the series? No but Go Heels!
4. Auburn Super Regional
Auburn (41-18, SEC 17-13)
Coastal Carolina (51-11, Sun Belt 26-4)
If you’ve followed me at all, you know that Auburn is my chosen team of destiny. Yes, that is completely biased by the fact that I have an 80/1 ticket on them to win it all and have been the sole champion of them as a contender. They have a huge challenge rolling into Plainsman Park in the Chants of Coastal Carolina. The sole 50 win team in the country, the Chants are the best mid major team in the nation, and in unique fashion for them, it’s led by their arms. Jacob Morrison and Riley Eichoff make up the two headed monster in the starting rotation with Dom Carbone shutting the door on the back end. On the flip side, Auburn leans on a single ace in their rotation in Sam Dutton, bolstered by a lineup that absolutely mashes. Bub Terrell, Ike Irish, and Cooper McMurray lead the charge for the Tigers offense which has no intentions of slowing down. No action on the series price as I have Auburn to make CWS at +600 and I cannot bring myself to hedge emotionally. War damn.
5. Los Angeles Super Regional
UCLA (45-16, B10 22-8)
UTSA (47-13, AAC 23-4)
Name a team that had a better weekend than the Roadrunners last weekend. You can’t. The UTSA Roadrunners went to Austin and stomped out formerly #1 Texas at the Disch. UTSA looked like the home team in the regional and continues their hot streak as they shoot for a 50 win season. Let’s see how they thrive in Hollywood as they play a series at Jackie Robinson Stadium. UCLA is the definition of the team that no one can explain why they’ve made it as far as they have. They don’t do anything special, but they do everything pretty good. Roch Cholowsky probably got screwed out of being a Golden Spikes Finalist and I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays like a man possessed this weekend. Is that enough to get over the mid major wagon? I can’t wait to see but I will take my chance on the Roadrunners continuing their magic at +135.
6. Durham Super Regional
Duke (40-19, ACC 17-13)
Murray St (41-14, Missouri Valley 17-8)
If you had these teams making the Super Regional weekend, please go play lotto and I’ll take 5% of the payout for the advice. It is wild that one of these two teams will be in Omaha. After the dream season that Duke was set up for last year, everyone expected a serious regression year this year. They defied all odds and came out of the crazy Athens regional. Murray St acted like they weren’t the 4 seed and took 2 of 3 from Ole Miss at Swayze and added in a win over ACC regular season champs Ga Tech for fun, making it was a dream weekend for the Racers. This team is playing with house money and a never say die attitude which is the most dangerous kind of team out there. Will Duke reach the promised land for the first time ever or will Cinderella keep dancing all the way to Omaha? No action for me but gun to my head, Cinderella keeps dancing and Murray State bats stay hot +300 to win this series.
7. Baton Rouge Super Regional
LSU (46-15, SEC 19-11)
West Virginia (44-14, B12 19-9)
Alex Box Stadium is a Mecca of college baseball. Arkansas-Little Rock attempted to ruin the aura in the Baton Rouge Regional. They pushed LSU to the absolute brink until Chason Evans snuffed them out and Anthony Eyanson shut the door in the final game of the regional. If LSU’s offense wakes up, they might just be the most complete team in the country. Mountain Mama has ridden their ace Griffin Kirn as far as he will take them. He threw G1 of the Clemson Regional and came back in the clinching game in relief to shut the door and secure the win. This Mountaineer team is gritty and will fight tooth and nail to survive. If they can drag LSU into a dog fight they have a chance, but if this becomes a talent contest, LSU should send WVU back up to Appalachia. I won’t lay -375 but I have a +1300 championship ticket on LSU so Geaux Tigahs!
8. Fayetteville Super Regional
Arkansas (46-13, SEC 20-10)
Tennessee (46-17, SEC 16-14)
Arkansas. Tennessee. SEC rivalry. Good ol’ fashioned hate.
Talk about a war before the war. These two titans collide in the supers in what is sure to be the series of the weekend. Two of the very best teams in the country meet in Fayetteville with only one getting to Omaha. Tennessee is looking to defend their title while the Hogs finally got the monkey off their back and made it out of their regional unscathed. Vitello vs DVH. Doyle vs Root. Fischer vs the Aloy brothers. This series is appointment television and I could not be more excited to watch. No team in college baseball ever repeats as champions, so give me Arkansas to continue the run their on and make it Omaha -140.