2024 Games of Interest

[WuDrWu]

Non Con Update:

Little Rock, not surprisingly, was spanked by #1 Arkansas 11-0 (7) then won just 2 of 3 at terrible Lindenwood. The Trojans are 15-13.

Virginia is 22-6 after beating Richmond then dropping 2 of 3 at #11 Duke.

Auburn is 16-11 after beating Jacksonville State then getting swept at #4 Texas A&M 9-7, 12-8, 10-9 (12).

Iowa took 2 of 3 vs Minnesota. Their ace Brody Brecht has struggled. The guy we faced has been pretty much nails.

ORU lost at OU 10-0 (7) then lost 2 of 3 at Omaha. Ugh.

Utah Tech took a step back losing 2 of 3 at home to UTRGV. No pitching.

OU continues to be difficult to get a good read on. They run ruled ORU then lost all 3 at home to a good Lamar squad 12-10, 13-8, 6-3. The Sooners likely will arrive at Eck stadium with a bad case of redass.

Long Beach State dropped 2 of 3 at a pretty bad Cal State Bakersfield. Falling further down the Q4 hole at 204.

Nebraska is 20-5 after sweeping a decent Northwestern team in Illinois. Big Red has a huge game against 20-4 Creighton this week. RPI 11. They haven't lost since us.

Gonzaga stumbled losing 2 of 3 vs St. Mary's. Huge week with two @ #2 Oregon State then getting Santa Clara.

Oklahoma State after beating us, won 2 of 3 at West Virginia. Pokes gave up like 5 earned runs in a 6 game stretch. Then they gave up 15 today. Head scratching.

Kansas State was red hot going into the Texas series. They were on a 10 game heater after beating the Horns on Thursday 14-6. However, all good things must come to an end. Texas won the next two 21-11 & 6-3.

Kansas is 15-10 after sweeping BYU in Provo.


Tough RPI week for us, down to 78. Opportunity abounds this week and over the next month. Of our next 23 scheduled games, 22 are against teams currently with winning records. 16 are top 100 games and FAU could easily make that 19. Game on, let's play.

[WuDrWu]

Week 3 and 4 updates together:

UTSA beat Incarnate Word midweek then took 2 of 3 vs Charlotte, losing Friday 10-5 then run-ruling the 49rs both Friday and Saturday. They then lost a tough, hard fought game at top 5 TA&M, giving up single runs in the 8th to tie and the Aggies walked them off in the 9th 6-5. This week they took 2 of 3 vs Memphis 9-6, 5-12, 7-5 to remain 1 game clear of ECU at 9-3.

ECU beat a good NC State team 12-4 before taking 2 of 3 at FAU last weekend 4-1, 5-6, 8-6. They were sailing through the week beating Elon 12-0 in 7 on Tuesday, ODU 7-5 on Wednesday, then the Pirates behind Trey Yesavage no hit Charlotte 11-0 on Friday in 7, three hit them Saturday winning 5-1 and were 2 outs from the sweep and a 5-0 week when Charlotte hit a 1 out grand slam in the top of the 9th to take an 8-6 lead and then barely held on to win 8-7. ECU is alone in 2nd at 8-4.

WSU struggled, losing to OU then coming from behind to beat KU, played awful getting swept at USF, then lost tough midweek games to OSU and KSU before somewhat righting the ship taking 2 of 3 from FAU. The Shocks are tied for 3rd with USF at 7-5.

USF were run-ruled at Stetson 19-9 before sweeping WSU at home. They beat Bethune-Cookman 4-1 before heading to New Orleans. They found the Green Wave unpleasant. They lost Friday 11-3 then were run-ruled Saturday 14-4, then blew a big lead today but managed to score in extra innings and stay in a tie with WSU at 7-5.

FAU were rude hosts to instate Miami, shutting out the Hurricanes 3-0. They were more accommodating to ECU dropping 2 of 3 to the Pirates, 1-4, 6-5, 6-8. Miami returned the mid week favor 14-6 before the Owls packed up to travel to the 316 where they lost 2 of 3 to WSU. The Owls are 6-6 and tied with Memphis.

Memphis continues to score a ton and give up a ton. The Tigers beat a solid Ole Miss team in Memphis 9-4 then swept Rice in Houston, oddly enough in a pitching contest 4-3, 5-4, 2-1. This weekend was more like normal, losing 2 of 3 at home to UTSA 6-9, 12-5, 5-7.

Charlotte lost at Campbell 9-13. Then won game 1 at UTSA 10-5. After that the wheels came off and the 49rs lost the next two 4-14 and 1-13. They beat NC A&T 10-2 then traveled to ECU for 3 tough games, losing 11-0, 5-1 before salvaging today's game 8-7. They are tied with Memphis at 6-6 and will host the Tigers this upcoming weekend.

Tulane hammered Texas Southern 19-1 then went to UAB and lost two of three 2-6, 14-13 in extra and 6-7. They beat New Orleans 7-4 before taking two of three hosting USF 11-3, 14-4 and 8-9.

UAB lost at Auburn 10-4 before taking 2-3 vs Tulane. They were at Rice this weekend where they lost two of three 2-4, 3-4, 4-3. UAB is alone in 9th at 4-8.

Rice just can't get any hitting. Their pitching has been really good of late though. They lost to Houston 3-4, were swept at home vs Memphis 3-4, 4-5, 1-2. They lost Tuesday to Incarnate Word 5-11 before beat TA&M CC on Wednesday 5-3. This weekend they managed to take 2 of 3 vs UAB 4-2, 4-3, 3-4. That's 7 one run games in the last 2 weeks. The Owls are 3-9 and look likely to miss the tournament next month in Clearwater.



WSU is tied for 3rd 2 games out. I just don't think we're good enough or consistent enough to challenge near the top of the league. BUT, we've won 3 of 4 series in conference. We're a lot better than I thought we'd be.

ECU is the class of the league, and I think that will show by the end. UTSA is probably 2nd. I don't think Memphis has enough pitching to hang in there with USF, FAU and us. Charlotte probably will know their fate after this weekend's series with Memphis. Tulane is capable of biting you. UAB lacks enough talent and Rice is just not good.

The rough series at USF took the wind out of our sails. Opportunity to get back in it at ECU. More likely we realize we're not good enough again.
UTSA will host UAB and need to sweep the Blazers if a first place finish is in the offing.
Memphis travels to Charlotte to likely decide the 6-7 spots.
Tulane travels to FAU. The loser of this series is really behind the 8 ball.
Rice travels to Tampa to take on USF. Could be interesting, but USF likely will sweep.


There have been 20 series played in conference so far. There have been 5 sweeps. WSU over Rice, USF over WSU, UTSA over Tulane, ECU over UAB & Memphis over Rice (in three 1 run games).

Out of 60 games played, I counted (probably not correctly) 13 one run games. Being dominant in baseball, especially this league, is difficult. Too much parity (outside ECU). Speaking of ECU, they have 4 conference losses. 3 by 1 run. The other? A 4-2 loss at UTSA. There's a reason they are top 10.

[WuDrWu]

Terrible Tuesday for our opponents, but UAB snuck into Tuscaloosa and took down the #18 ranked Crimson Tide in Sewell-Thomas Stadium 5-3.

[WuDrWu]

East Carolina 11-4
UTSA 11-4
Charlotte 8-7
Tulane 7-8
FAU 7-8
South Florida 7-8
Wichita State 7-8
Memphis 6-9
Rice 6-9
UAB 5-10





Week 5 and the reports are unpleasant:

ECU is 31-8 after beating William & Mary 14-13 in extra then sweeping us. In their 8 losses, 6 are by 1 run, the other 2 by 2. They've won 15 of 17.

UTSA beat TA&M-CC 4-2 then took 2 of 3 vs UAB 3-7, 7-5, 12-3. The Roadrunners really got the favorable draw, scheduling wise. In addition to being in the group that got 5 home series vs 4 road series (we're in the opposite group), the 4 road series are Tulane, Rice, FAU & Memphis.

Charlotte lost at #6 Clemson 8-5 then swept Memphis at home in 3 close games 6-4, 12-11, 5-4. Charlotte has traversed the most difficult part of the conference and is alone in 3rd. They have the most likely path to the 3 seed at this point.

Personally, I'm a hundred times more pissed about the 8-3 loss to ORU than I am getting swept at ECU. Our strength has to come from being a team, and we've misplaced that recently. If we can't get it back, we'll miss Clearwater which I didn't think was possible 2 weeks ago. We're 1 game from 3rd, but one game from 9th too.

USF completely shat the bed from pillow to duvet by getting swept at home by RICE. And it really wasn't competitive. 13-4, 10-6, 10-3. How you surrender 33 runs to Rice over the weekend is inexplicable.

FAU lost a tough midweek at FIU 1-0 then really kicked it vs Tulane at home. They won Friday 5-0 then lost Saturday 8-3 and today all they had to do was field a simple ground ball to the 2nd baseman and flip to 2nd or 1st and they win the series. Instead, the 2B oles the ball, the tying run scores and before you know it they score 5 in the 9th to beat the Owls 9-5.

Tulane was roasted at home by South Alabama 14-7 before the above series at FAU. Tulane, FAU, USF and WSU are all 7-8.

Memphis was swept at Charlotte (see above) and will try to get well vs Miss St then ECU this week. Good luck.

Out of nowhere, Rice has started to compete. The sweep of USF was shocking. Let's see if they can continue to play well hosting UTSA this weekend with no midweek game to screw up the pitching.

UAB is in last now at 5-10. The Blazers did pick up a midweek Q1 dub at #16 Alabama before dropping 2 of 3 at UTSA. They get Charlotte this week.

ECU is the best team in the league. UTSA seems the clear 2nd best. It's a **** show after that.


I understand that Clearwater was always the goal. And I have no problem with that, for now. But if we don't have some success, and soon, I fear how this thing will end and frankly, there's no excuse for NOT having some success. We're better than Tulane. We should at least win one at UTSA and we should beat Charlotte at home and win 2 at Memphis. Anything less than 7-5 in our last 12 conference games will be a disappointment, and a pretty large one at that. We're better than I thought we'd be. We're far from great, but we're better than a plurality of teams in this conference. It's time to play like it.

[WstateU]

[Shockersdad]

Need to go inside for that move lol

[WstateU]

Good for ECU and AAC; hoping one day, we can join them…

[shoxlax]

Settle for Top Five in the conference.

[Kung Wu]

Oooouch!

[WstateU]

Ole Shoxlax dropped the mic…

[WuDrWu]

East Carolina 16-5
UTSA 13-8
Charlotte 11-10
Tulane 10-11
FAU 10-11
Wichita State 10-11
Rice 9-12
UAB 9-12
South Florida 9-12
Memphis 8-13




Week 7 and the weekend was good for us:

ECU is 16-5 (37-9) and just lost to USF. First loss in 14 games for the Pirates. Run rules, comebacks, no hitters, one hitters...they seemingly can do it all. Ain't no one catching the Pirates for 1st. They travel to Tulane this week before finishing up at home vs Rice.

UTSA is 13-8 & hosts USF and then is at FAU to close out the season.

Charlotte is 11-10 and travels to WSU and will host Tulane to end the season.

Tulane is 10-11 and will host ECU this weekend then travel to Charlotte.

FAU is 10-11 and travels to Rice before hosting UTSA to close out the regular season.

WSU is 10-11 and will host Charlotte before traveling to Memphis.

UAB is 9-12 and will host Memphis before traveling to USF.

Rice is 9-12 and will host FAU before traveling to ECU.

USF is 9-12 and will travel to UTSA before hosting UAB to end the season.

Memphis is 8-13 and travels to UAB before hosting WSU.


1 game separates 3 from 9 at this point.


shoxlax asked about going 3 and 3. That certainly gets us to Clearwater. Probably 4 or 5 but with all the teams so close, who knows? Every time a team wins, another team loses. For instance, which ever team loses the series this weekend between Memphis and UAB (and one team will lose 2 game or more) is going to be in big trouble. Tulane and Rice are probably in the biggest trouble. The Green Wave could easily lose 5 or 6 of their last 2 series. Same with Rice. They HAVE to win one or more likely, 2 this weekend. Going to ECU needing a couple of wins to make the tournament is a bad recipe.

16-11 for the Shocks doesn't promise much just yet. It does look good though. UTSA would have to play well to finish 4-2 or better which is what they would need to finish ahead of us at 16-11. Also, Tulane would have to go 6-0 too but against ECU and at Charlotte. For all intent and purposes 6-0 finish is 2nd or 3rd.

5-1 gets a little dicey but still likely good for 3rd. We'd have the tiebreak vs Charlotte or Tulane would have to finish 5-1 too. FAU could finish 6-0 and pass us. But that would likely drop UTSA behind us (not a guarantee though).

Given that 1 game separates 4-9, it's likely that seedings won't be settled until the final Saturday. Must win the series, and hopefully sweep Charlotte. Then if ECU can sweep Tulane, Rice beat FAU twice, USF beat UTSA at least once, hopefully twice, and UAB takes 2 from Memphis.....

We'd be tied with Charlotte with the tiebreak advantage with just a series win. Gotta start by beating Charlotte who also hosts Clemson on Tuesday.

Also, to be balanced, 0-6 almost certainly keeps us in Wichita after Memphis.

[Cdizzle]

After the last month, it's more than fair to consider the less good possibilities. Looking at the balance of the season, it's also fair to consider that the schedule turns much more favorable again starting now. NO remaining midweek games and 6 games remaining against teams the quality of which the team has shown an ability to win at a high percentage. Oh, and they might be feeling a LOT better about themselves and once again feel like they are playing for something (a Top 3 finish, a chance to be opposite ECU in the tourney, and a chance to play well going into the tourney with hopes of competing).

I'm interested to find out if they found a little something or not.

[WuDrWu]

Excellent analysis, Cdizzle. While on one hand I am very excited about playing meaningful games at home in mid May this weekend, I am also cautious about the progress made (or not made) over 2 days and 3 games in San Antonio.

We looked the part (for the most part) this weekend against a decent team on the road. Can we repeat that with a touch more scoreboard success this weekend?

I don't know, but I'm looking forward to being there and seeing for myself.

[WuDrWu]

Goals they should be looking to hit:

Winning season (something I believed was nonsensical talk before the season): 5-1 finish would be over .500 4-2 right at .500

Top 3 in the conference. Might take 6-0, could get there at 4-2 but we'd need help. Just cannot overstate how important it is to finish 2nd or 3rd and stay away from ECU. This is a one bid league unless someone eliminates ECU. Let the 4,5,8 seeds pick at them for awhile until we get to Sunday.

[Kung Wu]

Top 3 in the conference.

Also would have been considered non-sensical talk before the season.