June 1 at Illinois Field in Champaign, IL
ESPNU
Wright State came into the day as a pretty heavy underdog. Host Illinois is the No. 6 national seed and needed to win just once to advance to its first-ever Super Regional. Meanwhile, the third-seeded Raiders needed to win twice on Monday. So anytime this type of situation presents itself in sports, we'll hear how the underdog team is running out of time & it's almost midnight & various thoughts on glass slippers.
Play-by-play man Jim Barbar, though, was on his own level. I consider him the Cinderella of Talking About Cinderella Baseball Teams.
Barbar talked about Cinderella three times in the pre-game, then as the broadcast headed toward a commercial he said: "we're about to find out if the shoe fits for Wright State", so that's four pre-game mentions.
He continued throughout the game:
"Cinderella hanging tough" (5)
"C (Cinderella) trying to make that glass slipper fit tonight" (6)
"The C Raiders up 2-0" (7)
"C
is right there for the taking" (8) - that's not the way you say that,
Jim. that makes it sound like C is right there in front of you,
ready to be kidnapped.
"Well, if there was any doubt that
C came to the ball just to sit around and do nothing...that
thought has been extinguished today because Wright State has come and
come to win" (9)
"The clock is about to strike midnight on C" (10)
* Fantastic job out of the bullpen by Illini left-hander Tyler Jay, who relieved in the sixth and fired four scoreless innings. Jay, expected to be a high first-round draft pick later this month, continued his remarkable junior season as he picked up his 14th save and lowered his ERA to 0.60 in 60 1/3 innings. Jay fanned five Monday and has 70 strike outs and just seven walks.
"It's something that we've been building up my arm for throughout the season," Jay said to ESPN about the extended outing. "I really look forward to it."
Something tells me not many people look forward to facing Illini pitching. In the three regional wins against Ohio, Notre Dame and the Raiders, Illinois allowed five earned runs in 27 innings pitched (1.66 ERA) and pitched a pair of complete games.
* Lost in all the Barbar/Cinderella nonsense was a solid night of Baseball Phrases from Jerry Kindall:
"Slugfest"
"He's all business"
"A plethora, a cascade of runs"
"The rest is history"
"The obligatory bath"
"The super playoffs....what do you call it? The Super Regionals!"
Showing posts with label NCAA regionals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NCAA regionals. Show all posts
Game 135 - Michigan vs. Bradley
May 29 at Jim Patterson Stadium in Louisville, KY
ESPNU
Michigan won 10-5 and will play host Louisville Saturday in a winner's bracket game, but that's not why we're here today.
We're here because the Wolverines were trailing 1-0 and had 2nd/3rd with one out in the top of the second inning and color commentator Wes Clements had this to say:
"Now Michigan with a chance to tie the game and/or take the lead."
No, Wes.
Michigan isn't taking the lead unless they tie it first.
* Bottom of the Michigan order was excellent as No. 9 hitter Kendall Patrick homered twice and drove in five runs, while No. 8 hitter Johnny Slater went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
ESPNU
Michigan won 10-5 and will play host Louisville Saturday in a winner's bracket game, but that's not why we're here today.
We're here because the Wolverines were trailing 1-0 and had 2nd/3rd with one out in the top of the second inning and color commentator Wes Clements had this to say:
"Now Michigan with a chance to tie the game and/or take the lead."
No, Wes.
Michigan isn't taking the lead unless they tie it first.
* Bottom of the Michigan order was excellent as No. 9 hitter Kendall Patrick homered twice and drove in five runs, while No. 8 hitter Johnny Slater went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Game 134 - Indiana vs. Radford
May 29 at Hawkins Field in Nashville, TN
espn3.com
Radford came into its first-ever NCAA Regional on a 15-game winning streak, but Indiana starter Kyle Hart turned out to be main story. The southpaw, who is coming off Tommy John surgery, tossed seven innings of no-earned run ball and struck out six in the Hoosiers' 7-1 win.
Tommy John Surgery? Is the word 'surgery' capitalized?
Also, 'surgery' is an interesting-looking word when you stare at it for a while. It looks like a misspelling of the word 'sugary', or, perhaps 'sugary' is a misspelling of the word 'surgery'.
* Couple oddities early on. Indiana got out of the bottom of the first with what I'm assuming is an extremely-rare, 2-6-2 double play with catcher Brad Hartong diving to tag out Shane Johnsonbaugh attempting to get back to third.
In the third, Casey Rodrique hit a ball that was basically a pop up behind second. It might've been a bit wind-blown, but no infielder could get to it before right fielder Brad Keen dropped the ball and Rodrique raced to third. Official scorer: TRIPLE.
Rodrique later scored on Hartong's single to give the No. 3 seed Hoosiers the lead for the rest of the day.
* Great day for Dave Neal and Chris Burke in the booth:
"Cat and mouse game"
"180 in momentum"
"24-7"
"The pendulum starts to swing a little bit"
"Spit on the 1-2 change up"
"The rigors of a minor league season"
"His arsenal"
"Not afraid to body a ball up"
"Gift-wrapped triple"
"Flashing some of that leather"
And one final note from Burke, who in the fifth inning said: "that's just a good baseball play."
Yeah it is.
espn3.com
Radford came into its first-ever NCAA Regional on a 15-game winning streak, but Indiana starter Kyle Hart turned out to be main story. The southpaw, who is coming off Tommy John surgery, tossed seven innings of no-earned run ball and struck out six in the Hoosiers' 7-1 win.
Tommy John Surgery? Is the word 'surgery' capitalized?
Also, 'surgery' is an interesting-looking word when you stare at it for a while. It looks like a misspelling of the word 'sugary', or, perhaps 'sugary' is a misspelling of the word 'surgery'.
* Couple oddities early on. Indiana got out of the bottom of the first with what I'm assuming is an extremely-rare, 2-6-2 double play with catcher Brad Hartong diving to tag out Shane Johnsonbaugh attempting to get back to third.
In the third, Casey Rodrique hit a ball that was basically a pop up behind second. It might've been a bit wind-blown, but no infielder could get to it before right fielder Brad Keen dropped the ball and Rodrique raced to third. Official scorer: TRIPLE.
Rodrique later scored on Hartong's single to give the No. 3 seed Hoosiers the lead for the rest of the day.
* Great day for Dave Neal and Chris Burke in the booth:
"Cat and mouse game"
"180 in momentum"
"24-7"
"The pendulum starts to swing a little bit"
"Spit on the 1-2 change up"
"The rigors of a minor league season"
"His arsenal"
"Not afraid to body a ball up"
"Gift-wrapped triple"
"Flashing some of that leather"
And one final note from Burke, who in the fifth inning said: "that's just a good baseball play."
Yeah it is.
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