Monthly Archives: May 2011
USC Wins The SEC Baseball Title
USC defeated Alabama 3-2 Saturday to win the SEC baseball regular season title. After losing the Thursday night game to Alabama the Gamecocks came back to win 2 straight and claim the crown. The Gamecocks are now the number 1 seed going into the SEC tournament. Colby Holmes was the winning pitcher (5-2) on Saturday and Matt Price got his 15th save of the year. USC will play Wednesday against the number 8 seed Auburn. Arkansas by winning the SEC west comes in as the number 2 seed. The SEC tournament is below.
Wednesday’s games
Game 1: No. 7 Alabama vs. No. 2 Arkansas, 10:30 a.m.
Game 2: No. 6 Mississippi State vs. No. 3 Florida, time TBD
Game 3: No. 8 Auburn vs. No. 1 South Carolina, 5:30 p.m.
Game 4: No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 4 Vanderbilt, time TBD
Thursday’s games
Game 5: Alabama-Arkansas loser vs. Mississippi State-Florida loser, 10:30 a.m.
Game 6: Auburn-South Carolina loser vs. Georgia-Vanderbilt loser, time TBD
Game 7: Alabama-Arkansas winner vs. Mississippi State-Florida winner, 5:30 p.m.
Game 8: Auburn-South Carolina winner vs. Georgia-Vanderbilt winner, time TBD
LSU Baseball Coach Paul Mainieri On The Final SEC Weekend
LSU head baseball coach Paul Mainieri talks about the disappointing season but the high hope he has going into the final SEC baseball weekend and the SEC Tournament. He still believes LSU can make it into the NCAA Tournament
SEC Quick Notes
All of the tickets allotted to LSU for the 2011 season opener in the Cowboy Classic at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington are gone. All of the tickets allotted to LSU were scooped up quickly by LSU season ticket holders, who had the first shot at purchasing tickets to the season opener against the Oregon Ducks. You will be able to watch the game on ABC Saturday, Sept.3, 2011.
In case you did not hear South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore is 2nd behind Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck in the first Heisman odds for 2011 released by the SBG Global sportsbook. The odds for Lattimore are set at 5-1, with Luck coming in at 5-2. Georgia QB Aaron Murray was listed as a 45-1 long shot.
Some bad news- Alabama OT Aaron Douglas was found dead in Jacksonville,Fl last week. He was 21 . Aaron was expected to contend for the starting left tackle spot in the fall although he battled injuries all spring.
This will be a huge weekend for SEC Baseball with both the east and west division titles on the line. I don’t think I have ever heard of 4 teams being tied for first place going into the last weekend of play like they are in the west. Three teams are tied in the east. Should be some great SEC college baseball games this weekend.
The SEC owns 5 straight BCS titles. The last 2 winners Alabama and Auburn were both undefeated. Who do you think can run the table this year?
If you love sports like I do, have a favorite school in the SEC and can put your thoughts on paper then I would love to have you write about it. I am looking for guest bloggers. Need regular fans that have something to say about their school, the SEC , the Atlanta Braves or sports in general. If you have a website of your own you can put a link back to your site. Contact me or send articles to [email protected].
USC Coach Ray Tanner Talks About The Weekend Series With Arkansas
USC Coach Ray Tanner talks about the 7-1 victory over Arkansas on Sunday to take 2 out of 3 during the weekend series. Colby Holmes pitched a great game and came close to pitching the first complete game of the year for the Gamecock staff. The Gamecocks are in a 3 way tie for first place but are in the drivers seat. They just need to worry about their games with Alabama next weekend.
3 Way Tie In SEC East After Huge SEC Baseball Weekend Series End
2010 College World Series
SEC baseball had huge series this weekend all over the conference and after the dust had settled Sunday afternoon there is a 3 way for first place in the SEC East going into the last weekend of the regular season with Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Florida all sitting at 20-7 in conference play.
But check this out there is a 4 way tie for first in the SEC West. Arkansas, Mississippi State, Auburn and Alabama are all tied at 13-14 in conference play. Next weekend will be crazy trying to keep up with who finishes where. It would not surprise me at all if we have a tie for first place in both the east and west, which means we could a tie for first in each division. In the east South Carolina is in the drivers seat if they can take care of business against Alabama. They won 2 out of 3 during the regular season against Florida and Vanderbilt but that only counts for seedings in the SEC Tournament. They would still have to share the conference crown if two or three teams are still tied at the end of the weekend. But they will be on the road against Alabama who would like nothing better than to knock off the Gamecocks and win the SEC West.
Coming into this past weekend Baseball America had South Carolina, Florida, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Oregon State and Arizona State as having locked up those 8 important national seeds. Florida State and Texas are two teams on the bubble for the last 2 spots. Of course each team will have to take care of business in final weekend of regular season play. If you out and get swept by your opponent this weekend all bets are off. So each team needs to come ready to play this weekend.
The Baseball America Top 25 will be out a little later today. It will be interesting to see if there are any changes in the top 10. But more importantly there are a lot of teams on the bubble trying to get into that top 25. It helps if you are in there, especially if you go to your conference tournament and lose two straight. That can end your post season hopes. 64 teams make it into post season play. There are a lot of good teams hanging around the 500 mark or just above it that need to win out this weekend and /or win a game or two in their conference tournament to get in post season play.
I picked up a great little paperback recently if you love baseball. It written by Zack Hample titled “Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan’s Guide for Beginners, Semi-Experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks”. It’s only 200 pages or so. A collection of baseball trivia, insights and a lot of random stuff about baseball. For instance can you name the 10 ways a pitcher can balk? You will learn more about stats and stadiums than you care to know. There are chapters on each position, baserunning, hitting, pitching and umpiring and lots more. I suggest you pick it up. Great read while on vacation this summer.
Ray Tanner Talks About The SEC And The Arkansas Series
There has been a lot of talk about the pitching staff coming into the big weekend series with Arkansas. The Friday and Saturday starters are set with Sunday being the question mark. Michael Roth (10-1) will be the starter as normal on Friday night with Forrest Koumas (5-0) moving from the Sunday to Saturday starting spot. Adam Matthews may be available to pinch hit this weekend. The Gamecocks are getting a little better injury wise. USC is end the hunt for the SEC East Championship and really need to take 2 out of 3 this weekend against Arkansas to stay in the hunt.
Gamecocks Lose 2 Out Of 3 Drop To No. 4 In Polls
The Gamecocks finally lost a series this year after losing 2 out of 3 to Ole Miss this past weekend. The starting pitching on Saturday and Sunday let them down. Ray Tanner does not seem to concerned about the starting pitching after 2 straight weeks of less than stellar performances by the starters on Saturday and Sunday. I am a little worried but what do I know.
Good news, Adam Matthews is working out and making improvement although he is a ways away from being 100%. DeSean Anderson is also working out and is much closer to being 100%. He may be back soon to give depth to the depleted outfield. A little bad news a cast was put on the forearm Jackie Bradley Jr. and this will probably delay his rehab although Jackie says he will be back. Coach Tanner is not so optimistic but something tells me Jackie will return to play even if it’s only defense.
USC dropped in the polls to number 4 today. Oregon St. moved ahead of the Gamecocks. Oregon St. has a 34-11 record so I don’t really understand how they were moved ahead of the Gamecocks other than they have been hot lately, sort of. All that matters though is that you finish in the top 8 in the nation so you can get the homefield advantage. That means USC needs to win both midweek games this week and take care of Arkansas at home this weekend. The polls seem to have a thing for west coast teams. Oregon St. took 2 out of 3 from a pretty good Cal team but they also had a midweek loss last week. Go figure.
Derek Dooley Talks After The 2011 Orange And White Game
Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley talks to the media about the 2011 Orange and White game that ended spring practice for the Vols. Dooley says the Vols have a long way to go to be ready to compete for an SEC Championship.
Jackie Bradley Jr. Talks About Injury And Returning To Action
Jackie Bradley Jr. discusses his recent injury, the surgery and his timetable for returning to action in some limited way. The Gamecocks will miss his leadership on the field. Can others pick up the slack for the remainder of the season is a big question mark? USC is one more injury away from having serious trouble in the outfield.
Braves Sweep The Brewers – Now Have Won 5 In A Row
The Atlanta Braves swept the Milwaukee Brewers tonight giving them a sweep with 4 wins in a row over the Brewers. They also have a 5 games winning streak going into their weekend series with their arch rival Philadelphia Phillies. Atlanta got a 8th inning solo home run by Martin Prada to secure the 2-1 victory. Craig Kimbrel pitched a perfect ninth inning to get his 7th save. He had great movement on his fastball and also was throwing a sinker in the 93 mph range. He looked outstanding.
The Braves go into the series with an 18-15 record 4 1/2 games behind the Phillies who are 21-9. Both Atlanta and Philadelphia are 7-3 in their last 10 games. So both teams are hot right now and this should be a great series. Tim Hudson is expected to start on 3 days rest Sunday after pitching in the doubleheader against Milwaukee on Thursday. He threw 102 pitches in the 1 hit shutout.
The Braves pitching has been really good lately after a little shaky start. Jason Heyward has been in a bit of a slump but he still has 7 HR. Hopefully he can break out of it this weekend and give the pitching some help in the runs department. Peter Moylan and Kris Medlin two pitchers that were expected to help the Braves pitching staff remain on the 15 day disabled list. But the bullpen is in good shape going into the weekend series.
