Seminoles Eliminate #2 UCLA

The Florida State Seminoles are one step closer to that elusive title in the College World Series. They just took out the UCLA Bruins. UCLA was #2 and the highest ranked team left after the Gators were eliminated a night earlier. With UCLA and Florida knocked out, the highest ranked team is....The Florida State Seminoles. Don't get too excited though.

The Seminoles may now be the favorite on paper, but if you go by where they are at in the bracket they can't be the favorite. FSU will now take on the Arizona Wildcats again. Arizona beat FSU in 12 innings on the 1st day of this tournament. Arizona also has not lost in the CWS yet. In this double elimination tournament, that means that FSU has to beat Arizona twice. Not impossible, but a tall order. I will get to the other side of the bracket after I tell you about last night.

Scott Sitz was the hero for the Seminoles who have had surprisingly strong pitching through this CWS. He went 6 2/3 innings and had 8 huge strikeouts. UCLA had one threat, and Sitz struck out the side to end that threat as soon as possible. Sitz stranded the bases loaded in that instance and helped the Noles secure the victory. He shut down a very good UCLA lineup and only gave up 1 run in the 4-1 Noles victory. Robert Benincasa, the future Nationals closer, earned his 16th save of the season.

The top of the order again was what delivered for the Noles. Sherman Johnson was 2-3 with 2 runs scored. Including scoring on a bunt by Jayce Boyd. Boyd's bunt was so perfect, that Devon Travis also scored on the play after the 3rd baseman didn't field it cleanly. Travis was also 2-3 in the game. The captain, James Ramsey, was also 2-3 with a run scored. Great night from the three at the top, again.

No word yet on Thursday night's starter.

Anyways, back to the bracket. On the other side of the bracket, Arkansas has yet to lose a game, and of course Florida is eliminated. Defending back to back champ South Carolina's winning streak was snapped by Arkansas and they will play Kent State in an elimination game tonight. The winner will meet Arkansas on Thursday and then play again on Friday if they win Thursday night. Hopefully Kent State wins out on their side and plays us for the title. We will see though.

Go Noles!

-Noland

Who Will the Noles Play in the CWS?

So we know the Noles are in and we are all excited. There are 8 teams that play in the College World Series though. Who are the other 7? Well only a few have been announced yet, but I thought I'd post some pics from the victory first. If you want one of the shirts posted, head to Seminoles.com and click on the shop. You will find them easily.

You can tell by the shirts that there are 5 teams who advanced and that there are three to still be decided. Unfortunately, our rivals and the current #1 overall seed, the Florida Gators advanced. The #2 team was UCLA and they also advanced. We were the #3 overall seed. Any time the top 3 teams advance it looks like chalk city, but as Lee Corso says "not so fast my friends."

Cinderella has also joined the dance. Stony Brook who was a 4th seed in a regional which is basically a 16th seed has advanced to the College World Series. Not just that, but they look hungry. They knocked Miami out and won the Coral Gables Regional. From there they went to the Baton Rouge Super Regional and knocked out the #7 overall LSU Tigers. What a huge win for the Stony Brook team. Just a few years ago Stony Brook was Division 3. Now they are 1 of 8 teams left. In case you were wondering, Gausman (the Orioles 1st rounder) won game 1 for the Tigers in relief and then lost game 2 as a starter.

The other team to advance already was the Arizona Wildcats. Arizona was a #1 seed, but not in the top 8 national seeds. So they are somewhere between 9-16. If you do the math, Arizona would have been matched up with UNC who was #7 so that would put Arizona @ #10 in this tournament. Therefore, 4 top 10 teams have advanced so far and we can get 3 more.

#5 Oregon is currently tied with the Cinderella Kent State @ 1 game a piece. Will another top 10 get in or will we have two Cinderellas.

Two time defending champion and #8 South Carolina is up one game on Oklahoma. Oklahoma would love to knock out the reigning champs. Meanwhile, SC would love the three-peat.

Finally, #3 Baylor is taking on SEC powerhouse Arkansas. While Arkansas is a 2 seed, they are more than capable of taking down Baylor. That series is tied at a game a piece. This could be the positive news that Arkansas is desperately looking for following the Petrino scandal.

-Noland

Hiring John L. Smith Terrible Decision

So there once was this college in Arkansas that hired a man to coach that had signed 19 years of contracts in a year. That man ended up cheating on his wife, hiring his mistress and disgracing the Arkansas school. So what does that school do for an encore? They hire John L. Smith to replace that coach.

The same John L.Smith that has not coached a single game at Weber State. He HAS NOT coached one game. Instead Smith who was just hired left his program for Arkansas. Did you not just do this with Petrino? What are you thinking? Once again Arkansas will deserve what comes to them.

Before the apologists come, because I know they will, I realize that Arkansas is a better coaching job than Weber State. However, Weber State is John L. Smith's alma-mater. His alma mater hired him and he wouldn't even coach one game and you trust this guy after what the last guy did to you. Smith just was hired in December and when he was hired he said "I've always had a special place in my heart for Weber State." Well I guess that special place wasn't that special, huh Johnnie?

Who cares though right? The guy left a non football school for an SEC job. In my view he left his alma mater for a new job. Before you think this was a one time thing, why don't you ask Louisville how they feel about Smith and how they found out he accepted another job while he was coaching on the sideline. Way to go Arkansas, you hired a guy with no class to replace a guy with no class, he should fit right in.

-Noland

Bobby Petrino Out @ Arkansas

Another "classy" SEC guy bites the dust. How he left his pro team in Atlanta was disgusting. The questionable recruiting practices at SEC institutions of course says nothing about the character of the men though (Sarcasm). If you cheat on your employer it is one thing, but hiring someone for the sole purpose of cheating on your wife is downright dirty. Man I cannot stand the SEC or its lack of character among coaches. The only one that seems to have a lot of class is Mark Richt. Sometimes there are more important things than winning and winning does not excuse all. It is one thing to have an NFL coach doing these types of things, but young people need better role models than this in college during a crucial point in their lives. I hope Petrino works everything out and is able to take care of his family while learning from his mistakes, but this is truly an unfortunate situation.

-Noland