Around the AAC Baseball

[WuDrWu]

In addition to Tulane losing to LSU 10-4.......

Florida State hammered UCF 13--3.

In a directional Florida showdown, the South rose again to get revenge against the North 12-5.

Houston roughed up one of the statistically worst teams in D1, Prairie View A&M, 9-2.

Conference play opens tomorrow, without the Shocks due to the 9 team schedule. Memphis travels to Houston, Cincinnati is at Tulane and in the 2 series that would seem to be the most interesting, UCONN goes down to Tampa to take on the Bulls of South Flo-Rida and ECU travels to the mouse's home field to square off against the Knights.

You can catch the UCONN USF game tomorrow on the American Network. 2 studs on the mound, Scott McClanahan for USF and Tim Cate for UCONN.

[SPEShockAlum]

Is the American Network on ESPN3? I could never find it for non-con matchups.

[Windiwu]

utube

[1972Shocker]

Is the American Network on ESPN3? I could never find it for non-con matchups.

http://theamerican.org/index.aspx?path=baseball

Scroll down to the Events Calendar and find the event. I assume clicking on the Video link will take you to the game.

[WuDrWu]

UNCONN dented some cars with McClanahan's fastball in the 2nd inning tonight in Tampa. An "Alec Bomb" made it 5-0, the Huskies plated 6 in the inning and held on for the 6-4 win.

Those were the first runs given up all season by the Bulls star pitcher.

Houston got a 2 run homer from sophomore star Jared Triolo in the 4th and that's all they needed (and got) to beat Memphis 2-0.

Cougar Left handed junior ace Trey Cumbie was on point going the distance and tossing a 3 hitter against the Tigers. 8Ks and only 1 walk and threw 118 pitches, 91 for strikes.

Tulane scored 5 in the bottom of the 1st on an infield single, a single to center, a double and a bunch of walks, HBP and errors. The Green Wave only managed 1 more hit the entire game but hung on for a 5-3 win at home vs Cincinnati.

ECU went to Orlando and the Knights promptly spanked them 9-1. Sophomore lefty Joe Sheridan scattered 7 hits over 8 innings picking up the win for UCF. The Knights parlayed 3 singles, a walk, a HBP, a WP. a PB and a sac bunt into 4 runs in the 5th, and 4 more in the 6th with a death by papercut performance getting their 9 runs.

[WuDrWu]

Saturday's games:

Tulane took the 2nd game from Cincinnati 8-7. The Bearcats tied the game in the top of the 9th but in the home half it went double, WP move to 3rd, intentional walk, intentional walk, infield single, ballgame.

RS-Jr LHP Aaron Fletcher went the distance in a 4 hit shutout as Houston is set up beautifully to sweep Memphis tomorrow. They haven't touched their bullpen yet in shutting out the Tigers twice. In 2 games, Memphis has managed 6 singles (only 3 left the infield) and 1 double.

South Florida even their series with UCONN on the strength of a 5 run 6th, winning 8-4. The Huskies did not help themselves committing 4 errors.

Trailing 4-3 in the top of the 8th at Central Florida, ECU plated NINE and evened that series, winning 12-4. A leadoff homer tied it at 4, then the merry go round began. Walk, single, walk, FC out at the plate and there was 1 out with the bases full. UCF shot themselves in the foot big time then. A dropped fly by the CF scored one, then a ground ball which would have ended the inning turned into a 2 run error. A single reloaded the bases, then an error by the 1B scored one but the runner at 2nd was thrown out trying to score on the error. Another walk loaded them again, and Cowley County JR transfer Connor Litton promptly unloaded them with a grand slam, his 3rd home run of the season.


Around the non con:

OU completed the sweep of a bad West Virginia team (maybe a great reason to still not put a lot in the RPI....the Mountaineers sit at 33 right now. OU is 41). The Sooners are 17-9

Creighton moved to 12-6 returning to Valley action and beating ISUr twice. Creighton is 14 in the RPI.

Missouri split the 1st two with Mississippi State in Columbia, winning Friday 4-1 and losing today 3-1. The Tigers are 35 in the RPI and are 18-6.

The Mavs of UTA saw their 6 game winning streak (post Wichita visit) come to an end Friday in a 5-1 loss at a decent Arkansas Little Rock. They evened the series winning 15-13 pitching battle today. The Mavs led 15-7 going into the 9th.....and they left SIXTEEN on base. SIXTEEN. The Mavs sit at 58 in the RPI and are 11-10.

After splitting with Nebraska, ORU has dropped the first 2 of 3 in Omaha to the suddenly hot Mavs. ORU is 12-9 RPI 204, Omaha is 9-12 RPI 171.

SIUE is 5-15. No more needs to be said on this matter.

The Huskers have opened B1G play splitting 2 with a good Minnesota team in Lincoln. At 13-10 the Huskers are 72 in the RPI.

McNeese State has turned cold again. 3 losses in row has dropped their record to 8-14 RPI 173.

Remaining non con

Central Arkansas (2) 14-9 157
Okie State (2) 11-9-1 98
Kansas (2) 14-9 91
Kansas State (2) 12-11 78
ORU 12-9 204
South Dakota State 3-17 270!

Current AAC

UH 2-0 15-8 (146)
Tulane 2-0 11-13 (144)
ECU 1-1 17-5 (21)
UCF 1-1 18-7 (71)
UCONN 1-1 11-8 (23)
USF 1-1 17-7 (85)
WSU 0-0 16-4 (7)
UC 0-2 9-12 (213)
Memphis 0-2 8-15 (218)

[Play Angry]

Big, big rubber matches for UTA and Nebraska today. Omaha taking the series (and going for the sweep) against ORU is pretty much the Buster Douglas/Mike Tyson equivalent in the Summit.

[SB Shock]

Around the non con:

OU completed the sweep of a bad West Virginia team (maybe a great reason to still not put a lot in the RPI....the Mountaineers sit at 33 right now. OU is 41). The Sooners are 17-9

That is why they are going to get rid of RPI in basketball. RPI is not a very good tool.

Boyd Nation ISR is a much better tool to be looking at quality of teams -WVA is ranked 100+ there.

[WuDrWu]

Boyd AAC Ratings:

WSU 8
ECU 21
USF 35
UCONN 61
UCF 64
UH 82
Tulane 130
Cincinnati 169
Memphis 210

[WuDrWu]

I understand anyone that's still taking a "wait and see" approach with our team. But you have to give them at least this...they aren't playing a ton of patsies (look around the league if you want to see soft scheduling), there's only the 1 fill in game late in the season against a team with a current losing record, and they are winning their fair share, at least against the better teams.

In the 4 losses, there's just one that you could even hint at as an "embarrassment". A bunch of things went wrong for Nebraska to salvage 1 game. They gave up 3 hits in losing a walk off to CU in a game they easily could have won and I have no doubt WSU would have taken the 3rd (CU basically refused to move things and came up with several excuses to keep from playing 3 games), and a 1 run game at ORU where we have won like what, 1 game since the turn of the century? Only the Missouri game was out of hand and even that was contestable.....7 walks and FOUR HBP (what's up with that?) and our guys still struck them out more times than our batters did (7 to 6).

My point is that they're playing a decent if not above average schedule and at 16-4 the results are solid.

I still think the preseason AAC poll is fair....if not incredibly accurate. Cincinnati, Tulane and Memphis are clearly at the bottom of the league....Houston, ECU, UCF and USF are the most accomplished...and WSU? Above the bottom 3 looks certain but other than that? Time will tell.

Even as a "koolaid drinker" I didn't expect anything more than a sweep at ECU a month ago. However, I see little different mindset...swagger even from these guys. I can't wait to see how they do Thursday, Friday and Saturday. How nice would it be to have them step into the mix right off the bat and say take 2 of 3 on the road?

Go Shocks!

[WuDrWu]

Sunday in the AAC:

Cincinnati got a walk and a double to score 1 in the top of the 1st at Tulane.....and made it stand up. The Bearcats only got 1 more hit but didn't need it. 1-0 final.

Down 2-0 in the bottom of the 8th USF got 2 to tie and then in the 9th, a single, walk and another single for the walk off win 3-2 over UCONN.

Memphis finally scored at Houston but no surprise that the Tigers were out of pitching and lost 9-3. The Cougars sit on top of the league at 3-0.

East Carolina roughed up UCF pitching again, this time winning 11-6 and taking the series against the Knights.

[WuDrWu]

Interesting 2nd weekend in the AAC:

While UCONN finally gets to play home games and beat a couple of bad teams, the other 8 teams get after each other:

We know our Shocks have split the first 2 games and will decide the series today. WSU would have a nice early advantage with a win today. But.......

Even more important IMHO

Trey Cumbie, to no one's surprise, handled Cincy in Cincy in Game 1 of their DH. However the Cougars forgot there was a 2nd game. Houston only managed 5 hits in the nightcap and lost 2-1.

Thursday night, USF wasted yet another good performance from Shane McClanahan and lost a 3-2 decision at home to the Green Wave. The Bulls got even last night winning easily 14-3.

Then in another headscratcher, after blowing out Memphis in Game 1 7-1, UCF lost the 2nd game 9-0 in Memphis. Not sure how that happens, except baseball.


I believe the key to WSU getting a high AAC finish is hammering the bottom of the league, Memphis, Cincinnati and Tulane. That USF, UCF and Houston all have a loss to that trio is good news for our team. Taking a road series at likely the strongest team, well, that would make the end of March very, very good.

[WuDrWu]

Midweek results in the American:

ECU beat UNCW 6-4 yesterday and Wofford 13-8 today.

Cincinnati dropped a 5-1 decision at home to Wright State.

Ole Miss hammered Memphis in Memphis 12-0.

UCF beat Stetson 4-1 in Orlando.

UCONN and Houston both had games cancelled.

[Play Angry]

Fantastic night for the AAC.

WSU comes back to beat OSU in Stillwater, 10-7.

Houston outduels Rice at home, 1-0.

Tulane walks off against New Orleans at home, 4-3.

Cincy pounds Wright State at home, 11-1.

Even Memphis wins, 4-1 at home against Arkansas State.

South Florida at Stetson PPD to tomorrow.

[Play Angry]

The AAC currently sits at 5th in Conference RPI, wedged between the PAC 12 and the Sun Belt (with the Big Ten nipping at the Sun Belt's heels). We've closed the gap a ton on the PAC 12 in recent weeks and have an outside shot at overtaking them.

[Shocker85]

It's interesting, as of the list in the linked site, 2 of the 3 worst RPI teams in the conference are tied for the conference lead right now at 6-3. Obviously ripe for a shakeup.

[Cdizzle]

Watching conference RPI is more interesting in baseball, since out-of-conference games continue to the very end.