The SEC Baseball Tournament is underway in Hoover, Alabama. Tennessee and Alabama did not qualify for the tournament, so only 10 teams are participating. Here were the results from yesterday:
Kentucky 2, Mississippi 0
Mississippi St. 9, Arkansas 1
Florida 6, Auburn 1
Vanderbilt 4, Georgia 1
Here are today's match-ups:
Mississippi v. Arkansas (elimination game)
Louisiana St. v. Mississippi St.
Georgia v. Auburn (elimination game)
S. Carolina v. Vanderbilt
In the bottom of the 4th, Ole Miss parleys a triple and a ground-out into its first run of the tournament. The Rebels lead Arkansas 1-0.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the field at Hoover is quite large -- it's 340 feet down the lines, 380 to the power alleys, and 405 to center field. This is a major reason why the games are low-scoring.
ReplyDeleteThe Sun Belt tournament is underway in Bowling Green. South Alabama leads Louisiana-Monroe, 4-2, in the second.
ReplyDeleteEighth-seeded WKU plays top-seeded Florida Atlantic tonight. "WKU (24-31, 13-17 SBC) is a perfect 4-0 all-time at Bowling Green Ballpark, outscoring opponents 58-22 in those four games. The Hilltoppers took down 18th-ranked Louisville 8-1 this season in front of a crowd of 2,323." HARPERMANIA!
There are two baseball stadiums in Bowling Green? What is the difference between the Bowling Green Ballpark (great name) and wherever Western plays its home games?
ReplyDeleteBowling Green Ballpark, downtown, is home to the minor-league Bowling Green Hot Rods. Here's a pretty picture.
DeleteNick Denes Field, on campus, is home to WKU's home field. "The Nick" is named after "an affable and courteous gentleman," a part-time riverboat cook and "the only man in Kentucky to have guided teams to state high school championships in three different sports. Denes' Corbin High School team won the state basketball crown in 1936, his Louisville Male High foot- ballers were the state's No.1 team in 1951, and he led Male's track teams to an unprecedented seven state championships."
There's a pretty picture of The Nick in that WKU link about the field.
DeleteI really like the name "Bowling Green Ballpark." But I also like "Nick Denes Field."
DeleteIt would be fun to make up two eight-team baseball leagues in Southern Kentucky. There would be teams in places like Glasgow, Franklin, and Hopkinsville. But of course, Bowling Green would have two teams, one in each league. One would play at Bowling Green Ballpark, and the other would play at Nick Denes Field.
Arkansas has played 17 innings in the SEC tournament so far, and they have scored only 1 run. Heading into the bottom of the 8th, the Razorbacks trail Ole Miss 2-0.
ReplyDeleteArkansas's trip to Hoover really didn't go well. They scored 1 run in 18 innings and they are eliminated by the two Mississippi's. Yesterday MSU beat them 9-1, today they lost to Ole Miss 2-0.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the Rebels survive for at least one more day.
Up next: LSU v. MSU.
Headed to the 10th in the Sun Belt tournament opener in at Bowling Green Ballpark ... South Al and Louisiana-Monroe are tied at 4 ...
ReplyDeleteThe Sun Belt today announced the addition of Texas-Arlington.
ReplyDeleteTexas-freaking-Arlington.
Here were the Sun Belt Members in the fall of 1986:
DeleteUNC-Charlotte
S. Florida
Jacksonville
S. Alabama
Ala-Birmingham
Va. Commonwealth
Old Dominion
W. Kentucky
That was the fall that I arrived on campus, and, so, for me, that's the Sun Belt.
Delete49ers
Bulls
Dolphins
Jaguars
Blazers
Rams
Monarchs
Hilltoppers
1986 Sun Belt is to Metro-7 as Shoney's is to Big Boy.
That's a great analogy.
DeleteMSU leads LSU 2-0 in the top of the 5th.
ReplyDeleteLSU scores 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th to tie MSU at 2-all. This is the sixth game of the SEC tournament, and the first in which both teams have scored at least two runs.
ReplyDeleteMSU retakes the lead with one run in the top of the 6th. The Bulldogs now lead 3-2.
ReplyDeleteAt Bowling Green Ballpark, Louisiana-Monroe has beaten South Alabama 7-4 in 10 innings.
ReplyDeleteIt's understandable why one would conclude that, given that the inning-by-inning scoreboard provided by the Sun Belt indicates that this was the final. However, if you look at the bigger scoreboard with the logos slightly above the smaller inning-by-inning deal, you'll notice that this time the Sun Belt says that USA won, 7-4. And, in fact, if you then go to the box score, you'll find that a South Alabama reliever is identified as the game's winning pitcher. So I'm going to go a different way here and guess that the Jags prevailed and that it was Louisiana-Monroe, formerly Southwestern Louisiana, who was up, 4-2, way back in the second inning.
DeletePerhaps some connected member of HPNATION is onsite at Bowling Green Ballpark and could clear up our confusion ...?
BUT NO!!! @MrChadBishop of The Park City Daily News in Bowling Green has Tweeted that it was ULM who won! Apparently, the Sun Belt just got its box score labels switched. Mystery (probably) solved!
DeleteThe SEC's scoreboard this morning had Arkansas beating Ole Miss, when the reverse was true. So far, the most reliable scoreboard I've seen is at D1baseball.com.
DeleteMSU finishes off LSU 3-2. The Bulldogs advance to play Kentucky tomorrow, while LSU will take on Arkansas in an elimination game.
ReplyDeleteBack at Bowling Green Ballpark, Arkansas State is blasting Middle Tennessee State, 9-1, in the seventh.
ReplyDeleteDown in Jackson, Tennessee, Eastern Illinois has beaten Morehead State 2-1 in the OVC Tournament.
ReplyDeleteTweets Jordan Owen, senior outfielder with Tennessee-Martin (@Jowen05):
DeleteSo glad Morehead State lost #OVCBaseball #punks
6:03 PM - 23 May 12
And in Bowling Green, Arkansas State beat MTSU 12-1. Western's game starts at 7 PM CDT.
ReplyDeleteBottom of the seventh at Bowling Green Ballpark, and the Tops are tied with Florida Atlantic at 3. With one out, Florida Atlantic triples. WKU's Taylor Haydel strikes out the next batter ...
ReplyDeleteNow he hits a Florida Atlantic batter with a pitch, so we have first and third with two out. Still tied at 3 ...
ReplyDeleteWKU Sports @WKUSports
ReplyDelete#FAU's Mike Albaladejo triples to left with one out, but is left stranded as Haydel strikes out a pair. #WKU-#FAU tied at 3, top 8.
9:19 PM - 23 May 12
#HARPERMANIA!
ReplyDelete3-3, headed to bottom of eighth ...
ReplyDeleteThe Sun Belt's play-by-play animation is on the fritz, but, per various Tweets, it appears Florida Atlantic again has a man on third with two out. This time, FAU doubled to open the inning, with the man then advancing to third base on a wild pitch. Grounder and strikeout since ...
ReplyDeleteChad Bishop @MrChadBishop
ReplyDeleteRyan Hutchison makes a sliding catch in right. 3-3, top 9.
9:39 PM - 23 May 12
#HARPERMANIA!
ReplyDeleteWKU got a one-out double in the top of the ninth but stranded him. It remains 3-3 at BG Ballpark.
ReplyDeleteWKU Herald Sports @wkuheraldsports
ReplyDeleteAlbaladejo singles to put runners on first and second for #FAU with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, 3-3 tie with #WKU. Morales up.
9:57 PM - 23 May 12
Chad Bishop @MrChadBishop
ReplyDeleteHaydel will stay in to pitch to Morales who is 0-4 with 4 Ks.
9:59 PM - 23 May 12
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
ReplyDeleteJosh @Jfryd015
ReplyDeleteNathan Pittman scores on Wild pick off throw #FAU wins 4-3 over #WKU in first round of #SBCBaseball tournament
10:01 PM - 23 May 12
Chad Young @ChadwellYoung
ReplyDeleteOne of the worst endings to a baseball game I've ever seen. #WKU
10:02 PM - 23 May 12
Down in Hoover, Auburn beat Georgia 3-2, so the Bulldogs have been eliminated.
ReplyDeleteIn the nightcap, Vandy and South Carolina are tied at 2 in the 7th.
In Hoover, Vandy knocks off the two-time defending national champions from South Carolina, and wins 3-2.
ReplyDeleteIn Jackson, SEMO beats Jacksonville State 4-1.
In the Big East Tournament, Louisville beat Pittsburgh 8-4.
Per Baseball America today:
ReplyDeleteMississippi State is still behind Kentucky in the SEC pecking order because it lost five SEC series and finished two games behind the Wildcats in the conference standings, but if MSU can beat Kentucky on Thursday to improve to 4-0 against the Wildcats over the last two weeks, then go on to win the SEC tournament, it could conceivably supplant the Wildcats as a host. The committee does look at momentum, and right now Mississippi State has it in spades. Kentucky lost nine of its last 15 regular-season games, capped by the sweep in Starkville. But the Wildcats stopped their downward slide Tuesday, and another win Thursday would sufficiently reverse their momentum and effectively sew up a hosting spot, likely ending MSU's hosting chances. So Thursday's meeting between the Wildcats and Bulldogs is a very big game.