Thanks. And yeah, TCU will be intense. The Frogs knocked Tech out of the CWS in 2014 and our seniors want pay-back. I’d prefer that Tech was in the other bracket but “them’s the breaks.”
OSU in the driver’s seat on their side of the bracket after winning another 1-0 game against Arizona.
1st time in CWS history that a team has opened with 2 straight 1-0 wins. According to ESPN, 2 of the previous 3 teams to open with 2 shutouts ended up winning the title.
OSU’s Starter tonight, Tyler Buffet, was the Astros 7th round pick.
Tech defeats #1 Florida in the losers bracket so the SEC and ACC are out! The B12 has 3 out of the 6 teams left with OSU and TCU in the driver’s seat to meet for the CWS championship…unless Tech can somehow win three games in a row.
Absolutely amazing run by the Big 12 this postseason; even their only loss in the CWS was at the hands of another Big 12 team. Really impressive.
Not saying that UH deserved to make it this year, as we probably didn’t, but I hope the committee takes this year and realizes that they should scrutinize a little more instead of just loading up the field with a number of SEC/ACC teams. Those two conferences are gaming the RPI just like the Pac 12 did in basketball. Giving 2 conferences 13 of 16 regional sites is ridiculous.
Edit to Add: By the way, Von, congrats on your guys first ever win in the CWS!
I totally agree. For example, WVU was around 61 RPI and left out of the tourney due to conference champion automatic qualifiers and the like. Basically an at-large team with a >50 RPI has no chance under the current “RPI rules all” standard. Sure WVU lost to some really bad teams during the first 1/3 of their season but the Eers drastically improved over time and were absolutely awesome during the last 1/3 of the season. That should absolutely matter to the CWS decision makers. If anything, that would allow all conferences (G5 and P5) to put a more balanced slate of hot teams into the tourney to avoid another ACC/SEC let down.
Edit: Thanks!!! That is a really big deal for Tech fans.
Edit 2: Baseball is the only sport that both P5 and G5 teams can compete on a relatively even playing field. That’s what makes the CWS so awesome IMO, so the CWS selection committee would be wise to pay more attention to the merits of individual teams over the usual favoritism shown to P5 schools.
Can’t agree more. Under the current RPI standard, conferences like the ACC/SEC are going to constantly be highly ranked as they usually attract the best players. Add-in that there are 14 teams in each of those conferences and there are more opportunities to raise your RPI because you’ll be playing at least 4-6 highly ranked teams which means your out of conference schedule doesn’t have to be as strong. A conference like the Big 12 or the AAC, who have 9 and 8 teams respectively, has to rely on enough conference teams being strong.
What really hurt the Big 12 this year was Texas, Oklahoma, and Baylor all having down years which meant that there were really only 3 strong teams to build RPI’s from. If a team like West Virginia doesn’t schedule a strong OOC, they’ll fall behind the ACC/SEC mediocre teams because those teams can just rely on their in-conference schedule to keep them near the top. Looking at the RPI, here are some examples:
A&M - 97th OOC SOS, 7th SOS overall
Clemson - 98th OOC SOS, 10th SOS overall
Ole Miss - 60th OOC SOS, 12th SOS overall
South Carolina - 85th OOC SOS, 19th SOS overall
Miss State - 122nd OOC SOS, 16th SOS overall
Vandy - 153rd OOC SOS, 18th SOS overall
Virginia - 101st OOC SOS, 15th SOS overall
Boston College - 215th OOC SOS, 37th SOS overall
Wake Forest - 121st OOC SOS, 17th SOS overall
Duke - 61st OOC SOS, 13th SOS overall
Wake Forest (#3 seed) - 25 RPI, next highest rating is 46 - Overal #55
Duke (#3 seed) - 26 RPI, next highest rating is 42 - Overall #57
Boston College (#3 seed) - 39 RPI, next highest ranking is 52 - Overall #68
3 teams that had inflated RPI’s that helped them get into the tournament which in turn inflated the RPI’s above them to help them host. Something’s got to change.
Good point about the down years. During the season Tech lost a weak-opponent series due to weather and managed to make it up with a hastily scheduled 2-game series at FSU when they were ranked #1. We split the series and our RPI made a nice jump. That’s the way for the member of a 10 team league to bump its RPI.
Thanks. Glad I was out of town and couldn’t watch. losing 7-5 on 6 unearned runs is pretty tough to accept. Especially when our defense was so great all season. But, that’s how baseball goes. I’m rooting for CC anyway. Love going for the underdog.
in the losers bracket 
so the SEC and ACC are out! The B12 has 3 out of the 6 teams left with OSU and TCU in the driver’s seat to meet for the CWS championship…unless Tech can somehow win three games in a row. 
losing 7-5 on 6 unearned runs is pretty tough to accept. Especially when our defense was so great all season. But, that’s how baseball goes. I’m rooting for CC anyway. Love going for the underdog.