Around the American 2020 Version

[Cdizzle]

To show how volatile the RPI is right now, WSU's 2-1 walk-off win over No. 252 Arkansas-Pine Bluff vaulted us 17 spots to No. 49 in the RPI. (And APBU rose 3 spots with the loss.)

That win actually dropped us, it was the TxSo win over MSST that caused the big jump. As all of us have pointed out, it's clearly unusably volatile right now. I do think discussion about how useful and when it becomes useful is interesting though. I don't have a good feel for it with baseball.

[Wuzee]

That win actually dropped us, it was the TxSo win over MSST that caused the big jump. As all of us have pointed out, it's clearly unusably volatile right now. I do think discussion about how useful and when it becomes useful is interesting though. I don't have a good feel for it with baseball.

I noticed that D1baseball.com doesn't post their RPI until March 18. Maybe that's a good yardstick.

[Kung Wu]

And just for ShockerFever, that puts the 1-7 #15 Stanford RPI at 250. :)

Which is only 30 spots higher than the #280 ShockerFeverPI ranking for Texas Southern!

[WuDrWu]

USF was very competitive at Miami today. a 2 run homer in the 1st staked the Bulls to an early lead. Miami played long ball themselves and led 5-2 after 5. The Bulls picked up a single in the 6th and another 2 run homer in the 7th to tie it, but alas, the Hurricane walked it off with their own 2 run homer. 7-5 final at Mark Light Field.

Tulane is having an off night to say the least. An average New Orleans team is kicking their tail at Greer Field tonight. It's a rivalry game so anything is possible. 10-0 Pirates playing the 9th.

[ShockerFever]

Looking at our schedule at the moment, we may only play one team with a winning record in the next month (Louisiana Tech). From the opponents we've played, only 1 team had a winning record so far and that was the series we lost. So to say that we really haven't played anybody so far is quite an understatement. And that may continue for a while.

With that said, I'm not complaining about the W's and certainly not how the game is played now. Already tons of improvement in virtually all aspects and fundamentals. A welcome change for sure. So our record may inflate a bit over the next month. I hope some fans don't get too caught up in that. If we make the conference tournament this year, I'll call it a success. Anything above 8th is pure gravy. This will likely be made known once the competition stiffens. And I'm afraid our bats aren't gonna help us out much this year.

[pogo]

Agree. We haven't put up big numbers offensively and the starting pitching has been nice against the early teams. Where is k state picked in the big 12-2. Nice to get any win this early against the in state schools. If the pitching stays good and the guys execute in the field and on the bases we can look forward to lots of low scoring games. I like the quote from I believe Alex Jackson about how the pace of the game/pitching keeps the other team members more engaged in every pitch. So looks like HCEW is undefeated at home this year. Go Shox

[WuDrWu]

American teams breaking out the lumber today. In addition to the Shocks 19 run outburst, Cincinnati, on the strength of SEVENTEEN free passes (!!!) drubbed Oakland in their home opener 18-0 in a game called after 6.5. It was the Bearcats first win of the season.

Memphis pounded Western Illinois 24-2. Sophomore preseason Collegiate Baseball AA catcher and overall stud Hunter ******* is picking up right where he left off last season. He's hitting .351 so far, 5 HR and 14 RBI including a 3 run tater today. Dude is a stud. Tigers are 6-3.

Cal-Northridge flew across the country for a 4 game set at UCF. CSUN was 7-0 against decent competition before dropping their first game to the Knights today 12-5. The Knights are 9-1.

Northwestern, losers at home of 2-3 vs Omaha, and winners of 2-3 at South Carolina (figure that one) gifted USF two runs in the 6th (ground out, ground out, error, error, single) and lost to the Bulls 2-1.

3 Tulane pitchers combined to no hit Middle Tennessee. Only a 6th inning error broke up the perfect game. The Green Wave are 7-2.

New Orleans continues to ***** slap the American Conference, this time beating UCONN 8-3.

Indiana gave ECU a dose of reality in Greenville, beating the Pirates 11-5.

Houston continues to play bizarre games. Trailing Texas State 11-3 in the bottom of the 9th, the Cougars go single, WP, error, single RBI. K, ground out RBI. 2 out 11-5. HR 2RBI. 11-7. BB, SB, single, double 2RBI 11-9. Walk. Single RBI 11-10. 1st and 3rd, 2 out. 11-10. K 11-10 Final. They got 7 but needed 8.

[WuDrWu]

Looking at our schedule at the moment, we may only play one team with a winning record in the next month (Louisiana Tech). From the opponents we've played, only 1 team had a winning record so far and that was the series we lost. So to say that we really haven't played anybody so far is quite an understatement. And that may continue for a while.

With that said, I'm not complaining about the W's and certainly not how the game is played now. Already tons of improvement in virtually all aspects and fundamentals. A welcome change for sure. So our record may inflate a bit over the next month. I hope some fans don't get too caught up in that. If we make the conference tournament this year, I'll call it a success. Anything above 8th is pure gravy. This will likely be made known once the competition stiffens. And I'm afraid our bats aren't gonna help us out much this year.

Not arguing at all with your assessment, but want to add a couple of things. No doubt the next 4 games are bad. After that, LT is a solid top 100 team. Nebraska is off to a rough start against an extremely challenging schedule, all away from home, at least 700 miles away from home. 2nd in the B10 last season and return most of their hitting. They'll be fine and plenty of a challenge for all but the best programs in the country. 4-3 or better in those two series would say plenty.

Still top 100 the last 2 seasons, probably 3 run one games from making the tourney 2 seasons ago. We haven't been THAT far away. We're not terrible. Certainly not where anyone wants to be, but it's not like we're North Dakota or something. I'm not trying to put expectations on anything. I've said here I enjoy watching this team play, win or lose. But if they could win the next four, stay healthy, then 2-3 against LT, split or better against N and go into Houston somewhere around 16-5 then anything is possible. Houston's pitching doesn't appear as strong as in previous seasons. Our league is really solid and frankly I don't see many series wins right now but IF we can get a little hitting I think we'll be a tough out all season. Getting Wallace healthy would help that end, but I'm starting to wonder if that's ever going to happen.

[Cdizzle]

4 of the 5 teams WSU has played picked up wins last night. The only loss came between two former WSU opponents.

#overlyoptimistictake

[WuDrWu]

Cincinnati wins their 2nd game of the season against Oakland, this time 9-8. Bearcats got a run in the 8th to tie and then were gifted a run in the 9th to win.

Houston evened their series with Texas State winning 5-1.

Northwestern 2 hit USF but the Bulls won another 2-1 decision and moved their record to 4-7.

Memphis rode the extraordinarily broad shoulders of Hunter ******* to another win over Western Illinois, this time 8-5. ******* was 2-4 with a HR and 4 RBI. He's hitting .366 with 6 HRs and 18 RBI ten games into the season.

New Orleans continues to wear out the American, denting a few cars today with UGONE pitching. The Privateers struck for 2 in the first, 3 in the second and 7 in the third and cruised to a 17-8 final.

Middle Tennessee tied Tulane with single run in the 9th only to watch the Green Wave walk it off with a 3 run HR in the bottom of the 9th. Tulane is 8-2.

ECU lost a tough pitcher's battle 2-1 to Ole Miss. ECU got an unearned run in the 1st but Ole Miss plated 2 in the 2nd and made it stand up. ECU is now 7-3.

Cal Northridge and UCF split a doubleheader. UCF took the nightcap 10-5. CSUN committed SEVEN errors in the 2nd game, 4 by SS Carlos Arenello.




NSU dropped just their 2nd game of the year, to Eastern Illinois, 5-1. TSU clinched their series against A-PB 13-7. KState completed the sweep of FDU 20-1. Strong pitching week for the Cats.

[WuDrWu]

East Carolina righted the ship a bit by destroying a pretty decent High Point team 13-1.

Cincinnati completed a 4 game sweep of Oakland with 2 seven inning wins today, 11-5 & 5-4.

UCONN ends the New Orleans beatings, turning the tables on the Privateers on getaway day 9-2.

UCF takes 3 of 4 from a good CSUN team, winning today 6-4.

USF completes the sweep of Northwestern 10-5.

Houston continues their early season woes dropping the deciding game to Texas State 12-4 at home today. The Cougars are 3-7.

Tulane beat Middle Tennessee again, this time 11-7.

And Memphis completed the sweep of Western Illinois, winning today 23-8. The Tigers scored 55 runs in the 3 game weekend series. AA catcher Hunter ******* went off yet again, this time he was 4-6 with a HR, 2 doubles and eleven runs batted in.

Through 11 games the sophomore is hitting .404 with 3 doubles, 7 HRs and 29 RBI.

Another guy having a great season is New Mexico State's returning AA SS Nick Gonzales. Through 13 games the Aggies are 12-1 with their only loss a tough 6-5 defeat in Tempe vs #8 Arizona State. Gonzales is batting .478 with 22 hits in 46 ABs and he's scored 24 runs walked 15 times and was hit another 3. He has 3 doubles, a triple and TWELVE big flies. TWELVE in 13 games. He also has 36 RBI and is slugging 1.370. Launching pad or not, this kid can hit.

Two really good players to keep your eye on all season.

[WuDrWu]

Tulane blasted former WSU opponent Texas Southern 18-2.

Cincinnati was hammered by a Kentucky team picked to finish last in the SEC.

#14 UCF slugged 5 HRs and beat Jacksonville 6-0. The Knights 2 hit the Dolphins.

Memphis suffered through a death-by-papercut loss at #8 Ole Miss 8-1. The Rebels scored on a single to the pitcher, a wild pitch, an error, a wild pitch, a walk (following 2 other walks), a wild pitch (following 2 walks and a HBP), a sacrifice fly (following 3 walks) and a double. That's brutal. No help from Hunter ******* tonight.

Latest polls have UCF in the top 25, Tulane just in or just out, ECU falling out but receiving votes, and OU ranked, OSU rv among future opponents.

La Tech, headed to the 316 this weekend, beat Sam Houston State on the road tonight and is 10-3 with a 81RPI and a 36ELO.

[WuDrWu]

ECU handed a really solid Liberty team on a seven game heater their worst loss of the season last night, shutting out the flames 11-0.

Houston won on the road, kind of, against in-city rival Rice 6-4. Rice is just 2-10 but have played a more than challenging schedule.

[WuDrWu]

Well, USF righted the effing ship tonight. TheAmerican.org website has USF 9 #1 Florida 1 in Gainsville. I couldn't believe it. And for a reason. 9-1 Florida is the right score.

ECU whips Scooter's old team in Charlotte 14-4.

Memphis scored 3 in the 1st and 1 in the 2nd and made it stand up, shutting out a decent UNCW team in Wilmington. The Tigers are there for 3 this weekend.

Cincinnati survived Eastern Michigan 6-5.

UCF got 1 in the 7th to nip a pretty weak Butler team 2-1 in Orlando.

Tulane hammered a decent Southern team that beat NWSU earlier this week. 16-2 Green Wave.

Houston is trailing at a decent but far from great Arizona team, 7-1 bottom 8. Final 7-1.

You want a good example of why you pound the zone? Here's Arizona's 2nd where they went up 2 on UH. Single up the middle, WP, Intentional walk, FC 1st and 3rd 1 out, walk bases loaded, walk RBI, ground out RBI, K. 1 single, 2 runs scored, game over.

[WuDrWu]

Other games of interest, Kansas State 6 Stanford 1 at Palo Alto.

NWSU, Nevada and AF also won. TSU, A-PB and Hofstra lost.