What attracts you to it vs the pro game, other than it is the Cougars.
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Nothing. If UH didn’t have a baseball team there would be no reason for me to follow college baseball.
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I played….my son played….love the goal of the College World Series and Omaha.
Watching several of my former players compete….that never gets old……
So I guess more of a personal connection for me.
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Makes sense. My Uncle played in the College World Series for the Coogs, before my time though.
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I like that there are 130 or college teams and the diversity in talent and the mystery of it. Until we get a 12 team playoff or more, you don’t really know. The nfl has 32 teams and you do know who is best but all games are tight. I watch the saints but like college more bc of the mystery and basketball in the ncaa is more a mystery. We’re going to get a 12 team playoff in college football so you’ll see more upsets and mystery.
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Baseball is one of the few sports in which I enjoy the pro game more.
I like college football and basketball more than the NFL and NBA.
But baseball, no.
Prefer MLB. I enjoy watching UH baseball, and try to attend a few games every year, but there’s nothing about college baseball that I enjoy more than the pro game.
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Just fyi——there are 305 schools that play D-1 Baseball.
It’s awesome to see guys playing because they love it, rather than because a school is paying them to show up. That’s what you get with most college baseball players because of the scholarship deal. When you get down into the non-D1 levels, the guys are grinding just as much, and many of them don’t even have a clubhouse, much less a whole support staff.
The dream of getting to Omaha or whatever World Series they can make, the idea that MAYBE they can work their way onto some scout’s radar, and just wanting to play a little longer gets these guys to push through what is a brutal spring schedule, often after enduring a rough fall.
Mainly, it’s better because it’s baseball without all the other crap that MLB has to do to keep people interested. When you go to a game, you end up getting to know the people sitting around you, and the whole scene is just different.
And the CWS is like nothing else.
I might feel differently once my kids are a few years removed from playing.
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We are on the same page their Law……Football and Basketball give me college ball everyday……if it were not for the circumstances I listed above I would probably say MLB as well….pretty close.
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The pros are boring as the dickens. In college ball, anything can happen.
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That’s crazy talk….don’t get me wrong I love college baseball….but if you think MLB is boring it’s because how good they are at what they do….
Weather is pulling their hands in on a 98mph pitch and yanking it out of the park, hitting behind the runner to advance everyone….
Or watching a SS have perfect footwork to be able to be in a position to transfer and throw on the run…. And pitching! Don’t get me started there! Pitching is truly an art and so much goes into it….but I digress.
I don’t think you had to play the game at a high level to appreciate it, but you definitely have to be a baseball nerd to appreciate all the intricacies of the game.
Love all baseball, but the pro game is at an entirely different level. Does anything in sports beat the sound of the crack of a ball coming off a wood bat ?
I was a huge college baseball fan growing up. It was so rare to get a game on tv outside of the CWS that it didn’t matter who was playing I’d be watching (mostly UT or ATM in the SWC days). I always loved the sound of solid contact and the fact that no lead was safe. I even went to the CWS when it was at Rosenblatt which to me was as exciting as seeing Fenway and Wrigley for the first time. I was fortunate enough to play at the collegiate level but the bat modifications that have came along since I played started to put a damper on things for me. Teams are still mashing the ball but we aren’t one of those teams. We just haven’t been playing an exciting brand of baseball for a handful of years now and my desire to go to games has reached a level I never thought it would get to. Hopefully the uptick in competition next year will change that.
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Bunting and stolen bases to manufacture runs when necessary. To me that’s some of the most exciting baseball there is. A realize most people just want to see moon shots.
Also, if you ever go to the CWS in person you’ll understand.
I love, love, love MLB too. I am a baseball freak. I played. I have sons who play/have played. But back to your question about the college game specifically, it’s the willingness to play “small ball” when needed, the aggressive base running to put pressure on the defense (you can’t run on 99% of MLB Right Fielders without getting hosed). As Pollard said, the guys who make it and stick in the MLB are out of this world good at the hardest game on the planet. I find the “raw” side of college baseball refreshing.
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I love situational hitting like a hit and run or the drag that turns into a sac bunt but I can’t stand bunting a guy over early in the game instead of playing for the big inning. Maybe if you’re facing a dominant starter and you got a crap hitter up but small ball just isn’t appealing to me. Saying that, some of the technique I see batters using at the D1 level when attempting to bunt is atrocious.
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Yeah when the leadoff man singles in the first inning, I’m not an advocate of the No. 2 hitter laying down a SAC bunt to move him into scoring position that early in the game. No doubt. But in the 6th-7th inning when it’s called for … executing the hit and run … stealing bases sometimes even recklessly … that’s my style of ball I guess. I grew up watching the 1980s St. Louis Cardinals with Vince Coleman, etc.
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The thing about bunting in college is that it isn’t necessarily giving away an out. It puts pressure on the defense and forces them to make non-routine plays. It’s frustrating to watch if you’re a pitcher’s dad, for sure, but it’s anything but boring. 
Don’t get me started on how bad bunting and baserunning is at the college level. It’s obvious that those things just aren’t high priorities.
You’re correct – far from an out. I saw a stat recently that bunts at the D1 level have a .533 batting average this season. That’s mind blowing to me if accurate.
Unless you know ahead of time runs will be at a premium because a stud is on the mound for the opposition.
There are some college programs that will remain nameless that I would swear do not do PFP on a regular basis….it’s not sexy but if you don’t take the time to do it everyday you will pay for it….guaranteed.