Va winning that series, let's face it, is more impressive than LSU being taken to the wire twice by Centenary.
+2 on a side note, i am very surprised BC isn't ranked. not because of what they did to toolame, mind you, but by what they did last season. they have a solid group returning from a team that made the regionals last season and took texas to 25 innings.
Agree VA's series win is a bigger accomplishment. But a 4-0 win on Sunday isn't exactly being taken to the wire. It just doesn't look as good up against that 25 run slaughterfest on Saturday night!
:hihi: well, despite our first opponent being centenary, i think we saw what we all expected -- as least i did. i thought that our starting pitching would be ace -- it was. i thought that we would struggle offensively -- which we did, aside from sat. and i thought that we would be rusty defensively -- watkins and dean were early on in the weekend. once it warms up, we will be where i think we should be offensively. defensively, dean is playing 1B for the first (?) time in his life, and watkins was playing in front of crowds that were probably more than 10 x's larger than he played in front of at LSUE. surely he was nervous. a couple of things that will make this team tough to beat: 1 - starting/closing pitching will be HELLA solid! middle relief? we'll see. rittner showed some promise sunday. 2 - we will jump on opponents early with watkins and nola. that small-ball portion of the lineup will pay dividends early on in the season. watkins will learn when to run and when not to. i think his being thrown out sunday is what he needed to bring him back down to earth after that performance friday. centenary may not be much, but this is baseball. if your team can get solid pitching performances, you can beat anyone. i.e. Nicholls State over LSU last season. saturday was warm, hitting is contagious. sunday was nasty, and how "up" can you be against a team you just slaughtered by 17 runs? wednesday is supposed to be warm and clear -- watch out mcneese. GEAUX TIGERS!
Thats why its tough to sweep. Just about every team has an "ace", if he's "on" and your bats aren't, could make for a long day. Baseball is such a mental game, very finesse. Can't really outmuscle or outrun an opponent. You have to play good, fundtmentally sound and disciplined ball and learn not to panic at the first sign of trouble to consistently win. At times, like Saturday, the baseball gods shine down on you and the ball looks as big as a head of cabbage.
I fully agree. I meant in the perception of those who vote in these things. All they see is "Centenary" and think we should put up 25 every time. In reality, the Gents are a decent team and would give Virgina all they could handle.
Rankings in baseball do not matter until selection time. Being one of the 8 is what is about and winning the last game.
