{"id":13970,"date":"2017-06-15T10:42:52","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T14:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=13970"},"modified":"2017-06-15T10:42:52","modified_gmt":"2017-06-15T14:42:52","slug":"2017-cws-super-regionals-recap-cws-field-and-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=13970","title":{"rendered":"2017 CWS Super-Regionals recap, CWS field and predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/CWS-2017_calendar-narrow.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13886\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13886\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/CWS-2017_calendar-narrow.jpg\" alt=\"CWS-2017_calendar-narrow\" width=\"234\" height=\"272\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a recap of our CWS coverage so far for 2017:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=13362\">College Baseball 2017\u00a0Kickoff<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=13884\">Field of 64 announcement<\/a>\u00a0with Regional predictions and highlights of top-end draft prospects.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=11114\">2017 Draft Preview<\/a> with coverage of\u00a0Local College-age eligible players of note (publishing closer to the draft)<\/li>\n<li>2017 CWS tournament: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=13898\">Regional Results, Super-Regional Pairings<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Lost in Draft 2017 mania was the finishing of the Super Regionals on Monday evening. \u00a0This post is a couple days old but just in time for the CWS to start.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Super Regional Recaps<\/strong><\/span>: \u00a0I&#8217;ve got these ordered by they way they&#8217;ll be playing into the CWS field (i.e. by bracket). \u00a0And this is the order they&#8217;re listed on <a href=\"https:\/\/d1baseball.com\/super-regional-tournament-central\/\">d1baseball&#8217;s Tourney Central<\/a>, the quickest way to find results. \u00a0Rain throughout southeast cancelled half the friday slate of games.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">#1 Oregon State vs Vanderbilt<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">: Oregon State&#8217;s #1 starter\u00a0<strong>Luke Heinrich<\/strong> left the team after some past indiscretions were uncovered by the local paper (you can google the details yourself; the timing of the unveiling couldn&#8217;t have come at a worse time for him, his team or his future just days ahead of the draft, \u00a0however reprehensible his transgressions were). \u00a0Behind #2 starter\u00a0<strong>Jake Thompson<\/strong> they rolled over Vanderbilt nonetheless 8-4 in game one. \u00a0 They continued the onslaught, destroying one of the best SEC teams 9-2 to go two and out; <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Oregon State<\/strong><\/span> advances to the CWS even without its ace.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cal State Fullerton vs #9 Long Beach State<\/strong>: LBSU blanked CS-F in the first game 3-0, taking the 6th game out of the 7 times they&#8217;ve now played this season. \u00a0Fullterton came roaring back and destroyed the Dirtbags 12-0 to force the decider. \u00a0In a shocker to me, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Cal-State Fullerton<\/strong><\/span> got a dominant pitching performance from a mid-week starter and won the clincher 2-1 to advance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sam Houston State v #12 Florida State<\/strong>: FSU rallied to beat Sam Houston in the first game 7-6. \u00a0Sam Houston was in control before FSU scored 3 in the 6th to tie it, eventually getting the walk-off in the bottom of the 9th. \u00a0In game 2, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Florida State<\/strong><\/span> scored in each of the first six innings to turn it into a laugher 19-0 and advance to their 22nd CWS.<\/li>\n<li><strong>#4 LSU vs Mississippi State<\/strong>: LSU scored 4 in the 8th to rally past Mississippi State in the first. \u00a0LSU&#8217;s ace\u00a0<strong>Alex Lange<\/strong> was a bit wild; he got relieved by Virginia product\u00a0<strong>Zach Hess<\/strong>, who got the Win. \u00a0In Game 2, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>LSU<\/strong> <\/span>turned a close game into a laugher as Mississippi State seemed to run out of arms, eventually winning 14-4 to advanced to the CWS.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Davidson vs TAMU<\/strong>: Texas A&amp;M beat the cinderella story Davidson 7-6 in the first game &#8230; in 15 innings (!). \u00a0One worry you always have seeing these collegiate long extra inning games is pitcher abuse; TAMU did seem to select a periodic starter to eat up the extra innings, so that&#8217;s good to see. \u00a0In Game 2, Davidson was ahead into the 8th &#8230; and then their lack of pitching depth finally got exposed. \u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>TAMU<\/strong> <\/span>exploded for 10 runs in the 8th and 9th to blow them away 12-6 and be the second team to punch their ticket to the CWS.<\/li>\n<li><strong>#7 Louisville v #10 Kentucky<\/strong>; Lousiville took game one behind their #2 starter, with super star\u00a0<strong> Brendan McKay<\/strong> going 0-3 at the plate. \u00a0McKay got the win in game two to punch <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Louisville&#8217;s<\/strong> <\/span>ticket to the CWS, the first team to do so. \u00a0(Louisville had clinched the super regional before the LSU regional had played an inning thanks to weather).<\/li>\n<li><strong>#6 TCU v Missouri State<\/strong>: TCU won a close one 3-2 behind ace\u00a0<strong>Jared Janczak<\/strong>; they scored 2 in the 8th to go ahead. \u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>TCU<\/strong> <\/span>cruised in game 2 8-1 to advance to their 4th straight CWS.<\/li>\n<li><strong>#3 Florida \u00a0vs #14 Wake Forest<\/strong>: Florida won game 1 in 11 innings; they threw ace\u00a0<strong>Alex Faedo<\/strong> but he was on 72 pitches through 4 and got pulled. \u00a0Wake&#8217;s ace\u00a0<strong>Parker Dunshee<\/strong> threw a fantastic game; 8ip, 3hits but Florida won on a walk-off. \u00a0Game two was suspended sunday night due to rain; the last regional to finish. \u00a0Wake Forest took the suspended game to force the decider, which unfortunately was being played just as the MLB draft started monday night. \u00a0There, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Florida<\/strong> <\/span>held serve and advanced 3-0 to finish out the field.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>My CWS Predictions<\/strong><\/span>: Oregon State, TAMU, Florida, LSU, Florida State, TCU, Louisville, Long Beach State.<\/p>\n<p>Actuals: Oregon State, TAMU, Florida, LSU, Florida State, TCU, Louisville, Cal-State Fullerton<\/p>\n<p>I got 7 of 8 right, missing on the Fullerton pick (figuring that Long Beach State would continue to dominate them).<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>CWS Field and Profiles<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Top Bracket:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>#1 Oregon State: 54-4 overall record (27-3 in conference). \u00a01st place Pac12, \u00a0 Regular season conference champ (no post-season Pac12 tourney)<\/li>\n<li>Cal State Fullerton: 39-22 (15-9). \u00a03rd place Big West regular season (no Big West tourney)<\/li>\n<li>#12 Florida State 45-21 (14-14): 5th place, Atlantic division ACC regular season. \u00a01st place ACC tournament.<\/li>\n<li>#4 LSU: 48-17 (21-9): 1st place, SEC West conference. \u00a0SEC tourney champs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bottom Bracket<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Texas A&amp;M: 41-21 (16-14): 5th place SEC West.<\/li>\n<li>#7 Louisville: 52-10 (23-6): 1st Place Atlantic division ACC regular season.<\/li>\n<li>#6 TCU: 47-16 (16-8): 1st place Big 12. \u00a0Lost in Big12 tourney title game.<\/li>\n<li>#3 Florida: 46-19 (21-9): 1st Place SEC East regular season.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>CWS field review by the numbers<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pac12: 1 team<\/li>\n<li>Big West: 1 team<\/li>\n<li>ACC: 2 teams<\/li>\n<li>Big12: 1 team<\/li>\n<li>SEC: 3 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CWS Field thoughts<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What a great CWS field. \u00a0Several legendary programs (Cal-State Fullerton, Florida State and Florida) with dozens of appearances between them. \u00a0The undisputed #1 team in the land (Oregon State). \u00a0The undisputed #1 pre-season team in TCU. \u00a0Arguably the hottest team in the land in LSU. \u00a0The team with the likely #1 overall pick (Louisville). \u00a0Great spread amongst the power conference; you have 1st place teams from both SEC divisions, the ACC, the Pac12 and the Big12. \u00a0Every team in Omaha this year has been there already this decade, making it a very experienced field. \u00a0Should make for great baseball.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Quick predictions<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0LSU from the top; I&#8217;ve always been slightly biased against Pac12 teams and when the #1 team from the west meets the #1 team from the powerhouse SEC conference, something tells me the Tigers will prevail. \u00a0 TCU from the bottom, though its tough to pick against Louisville. \u00a0I think TCU gets a break not having to face <strong>Brendan McKay<\/strong> in game one and that might be the difference.<\/p>\n<p>Final: TCU takes the title over LSU and fulfils their #1 pre-season ranking.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Player Star power in this CWS<\/strong><\/span>: By team, here&#8217;s the guys to look for either for Nats interest or for overall talent\/draft position:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Oregon State: two dominant starters in\u00a0<strong>Luke\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Heimlich <\/strong>(possibly not playing)\u00a0and <strong>Jake Thompson<\/strong>. \u00a0Also\u00a0<strong>Drew Rasmussen<\/strong>, drafted ahead of either guy. \u00a0<strong>Max Engelbrekt<\/strong>\u00a0has the best ERA on the team and was the Nats 40th round pick as a 5th-year senior.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>TAMU; RHP\u00a0<strong>Corbin Martin<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Florida: <strong>Alex Faedo<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">LSU\u00a0<strong>Alex Lange<\/strong>\u00a0their #1 starter plus their clean-up hitter\u00a0<strong>Greg Deichmann<\/strong>, both first day draft picks. \u00a0Nats 2017 4th rounder <strong>Cole Freeman<\/strong> is their engine.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Florida State; none really, despite FSU&#8217;s ranking. \u00a0They&#8217;re a solid and younger team this year with no major 2017 draft prospects.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">TCU&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>Evan Skoug<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>might get drafted relatively highly.<\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Louisville: \u00a0led by #4\u00a0overall pick\u00a0<strong>Brendan McKay<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Cal State Fullerton; no 1st round notables; same as FSU: team depth, not superstars this year.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Nats 2017 Draftees in the CWS<\/strong><\/span>: thanks to the Nats strategy of drafting only College players, they drafted a ton of guys who are playing in Omaha. \u00a0By team:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Oregon State: <strong>Max Engelbrekt<\/strong>\u00a0has the best ERA on the team and was the Nats 40th round pick as a 5th-year senior. \u00a0Not sure why he lasted til the 40th round&#8230;<\/span><\/li>\n<li>TAMU: 5th rounder Jr RHP\u00a0<strong>Brigham Hill<\/strong>, 18th rounder OF\u00a0<strong>Nick Choruby<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Florida: none<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">LSU\u00a0\u00a0Nats 2017 4th rounder 2B\u00a0<strong>Cole Freeman<\/strong> is their engine.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Florida State: none<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">TCU: none this year, last year&#8217;s pick\u00a0<strong>Evan Skoug<\/strong> got picked.<\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Louisville: none<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Cal State Fullerton: 24th rounder sr. SS\u00a0<strong>Tim Richards<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>College CWS tournament references<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>d1baseball.com&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.d1baseball.com\/daily\/today.htm\">daily scoreboard<\/a> is my go-to link<\/li>\n<li>d1baseball&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/d1baseball.com\/regional-tournament-central\/\">Tourney Central<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Baseball America&#8217;s\u00a0College coverage home page<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.collegebaseballdaily.com\/\">CollegeBaseballDaily.com<\/a> has coverage as well.<\/li>\n<li>CollegeBaseballCentral.com has coverage as well.<\/li>\n<li>Ncaa.com&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncaa.com\/interactive-bracket\/baseball\/d1\/2017\">interactive full 64-team bracket<\/a> for 2017<\/li>\n<li>NCAA <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncaa.com\/stats\/baseball\/d1\/current\/individual\/200\">Individual player stats<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Warren Nolan.com&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.warrennolan.com\/baseball\/2017\/index\">College Baseball RPI<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Warren Nolan&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/warrennolan.com\/baseball\/2017\/conferencerpi\">Conference RPI rankings<\/a> for 2017<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s a recap of our CWS coverage so far for 2017: College Baseball 2017\u00a0Kickoff Field of 64 announcement\u00a0with Regional predictions and highlights of top-end draft prospects. 2017 Draft Preview with coverage of\u00a0Local College-age eligible players of note (publishing closer to the draft) 2017 CWS tournament: Regional Results, Super-Regional Pairings Lost in Draft 2017 mania was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3202,2844,3203,3606,3605,3602,3601,2940,3603,3579,3578,3599,3612,3613,3600,3614,3166],"class_list":["post-13970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","tag-alex-faedo","tag-alex-lange","tag-brendan-mckay","tag-brigham-hill","tag-cole-freeman","tag-corbin-martin","tag-drew-rasmussen","tag-evan-skoug","tag-greg-deichmann","tag-jake-thompson","tag-jared-janczak","tag-luke-heinrich","tag-max-engelbrekt","tag-nick-choruby","tag-parker-dunshee","tag-tim-richards","tag-zach-hess"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13970"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14084,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13970\/revisions\/14084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}