College World Series Thread

CWS starts Saturday in Omaha. Horns are highest remaining seed but they face a stacked field with their bracket having Tennessee, Virginia and Mississippi State and the other side having Vanderbilt, Arizona, NC State and Stanford. Horns open with MSU Sunday.

Texas set for rematch against Mississippi State to open College World Series

 

Teams in the current field by CWS Appearances:

1. Texas: 6 Titles; 37 Appearances
2. Arizona: 4 Titles; 18 Appearances
3. Stanford: 2 Titles; 17 Appearances
4. Mississippi St: 0 Titles; 12 Appearances
5. Vanderbilt: 2 Titles; 5 Appearances
6. Virginia: 1 Title; 5 Appearances
7. Tennessee: 0 Titles; 5 Appearances
8. NC State: 0 Titles: 3 Appearances

Arizona, Vanderbilt and Virginia have all won national titles in the past 10 years. UT is due for another title!

 

It will be interesting to see how UT and MSU have improved since our first matchup. I know we were mostly playing freshmen in their first game and were reeling from he winter freeze. I am hoping the MSU team is cocky and arrogant from beating us the first time.

 

You could argue Stanford deserves one too. For the record, I think we win against Miss St, but it’s going to be uphill after that.

 

Possessing one of the best rotations in the SEC, Mississippi State baseball looks like an Omaha team

Why Mississippi State baseball needs more from starting pitchers

MSU'S STARTER WILL LIKELY BE:

Christian MacLeod
6'4" 227
4.24 ERA
6-5 reord
113 SO
29 Walks

"He [MacLeod] doesn't have the overwhelming velocity of some of the other arms on the staff..." Throws 89-92 and up to 93-94. Good curve ball. Possible early rounder in draft.



Christian MacLeod

OR IT WILL BE:

Will Bednar
3.53 ERA
7-1 record
113 SO
20 Walks

"Bednar's an animal..." Throws mid 90s, hits 97 mph when he's on. With good control. Has a good breaking ball.



Will Bednar


Or

Eric Cerantola - a 6'5" Canadian who throws 98 mph and has a "hammer curveball" with (allegedly) a spin rate of 3300 rpm (yeah, right…). Some control issues. "He may hit the backstop but ..."


Relievers:

Landon Sims
6'2" 216
10 saves
1.55 ERA
85 SO
14 walks
Hits 98 mph with his fastball on a good day with a hard breaking/late breaking mid-80s slider and a curve.
"His fastball is a nasty pitch with ride and late cut."
Middle relief workhorse
At least one commentator thinks Landon Sims is the best pitcher on the staff.


Landon Sims
We're likely to see this reliever




Houston Harding
2.87 ERA
59 SO
17 walks
Lefty
Change up and off-speed trickster

Parker Stinnett
1.56 ERA
30 SO
13 walks
Stinnett, a JC transfer, is "a dogged competitor" and aggressive with put-away stuff. Uses a wicked slider to get SOs.

Brandon Smith
4.29 ERA
39 SO
10 walks
Recovered from Tommy John surgery last year.
Now throws in the Lo 90s or higher.

Preston Johnson
4.44 ERA
38 SO
11 walks

Chase Patrick
2.13 ERA
9 SO
5 walks
A sidewinder delivery

Dylan Carmouche
6'5"
1.23 ERA
11 SO
3 walks
Low 90s, good movement on his fastball, tricky changeup, and a decent curve ball.
But, "a bit erratic."

Stone Stimmons
6'3" 220
transfer from Furman
Throws low 90s with a decent slider in the low 80s.
Changup sinker is tricky pitch.

Yeah, these guys can throw. And they can throw hard. Warm up the bats, cuz ice cold hitting won't get it done.

 

More on MSU's top reliever RHP Landon Sims, a scouting report from earlier in the year:

Underclassman Watch List, 2022 & 2023 Top College Prospects — Prospects Live

"RHP Landon Sims, Mississippi State | Draft Year: 2022 | 5 G, 11.2 IP, 30 K - 3 BB, 1 ER

Few relief arms have been as loud or as dominant as Sims has been this year for Mississippi State. He’s been up to 98 mph on his fastball and has averaged 94.6 mph thus far in 2021. He features a hard breaking slider at 83-88 mph with tight spin and late break. His fastball is a nasty pitch with ride and late cut. The obvious question is how Sims stuff could play in a starter’s role, but he’s barely shown a changeup and his high effort mechanics make it somewhat of a question. "

 

Chop
Thanks

 

Thanks for the info Chop.

 

I remember the Gus years, when, if we were facing a first round draft pick, we'd knock the tar out of him and win going away. However, bring out a lefty with his cap on at 2 oclock throwing 65 mph change ups and we'd go to the dugout shaking our heads....

 

I ordered tickets for game 3 and now I see Texas is game 4. Back to Stubhub

 

I was at the regional in 1983 when we played Miss.State at Disch and they were loaded with talent. Brantley, Palmero, etc...We had to crawl through the losers bracket and beat them twice. And we did and ended up winning the College Series against Alabama.
Our 1979 team was the best team ever I saw and then all of sudden they weren’t in Omaha. We did beat Miss State in Omaha. We were 61-8 that year

 

This printable bracket for the CWS was strangely challenging to find.

 

Pre CWS press conference

Video: Baseball NCAA CWS Pre-Omaha Media Availability - University of Texas Athletics

 

Hype video is out

Watch: Texas baseball hype video ahead of College World Series

 

Frankly, I don’t see how we win 2 games.

 

The only way this could possibly be any better would be if Pierce flew into the video on a swag copter.

 

For news matter only . . .

UT: -150
MSU: +130
O/U: 8.5

{ game 1 odds }

 

Was that shot in the 90s? Seemed pretty weak...

 

Texas fans on the way to Omaha.

 

NC State takes down Stanford in game one of the CWS 10-4. Vanderbilt and Arizona on tap for this evening.

 

What has gotten into NCState? They are on a hell of a hot streak.

 

Hell has gotten into them. Interesting start to the tournament.

 

They wore those camo uniforms in their first game vs Arkansas in the regionals and got their butts kicked. They switched back to normal uniforms and have been on a roll since then.

 

I am still expecting Vandy to advance out of that bracket. But I am impressed with the Pack.

 

Vanderbilt beats Arizona 7-6 in twelve innings and advances to winners bracket game Monday against NC State while its an all PAC 12 losers bracket game between Zona and Stanford.

 

Pierce and the Horns are not just happy to be in Omaha:

David Pierce on Texas: ‘We’re going to Omaha to win this thing’

 

Texassports preview:

TEXAS (47-15) at the NCAA COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
June 19-30, 2021
Where: TD Ameritrade Park
Time: Sunday at 6 p.m.; Tuesday at TBD
TV: ESPN2
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: NCAA.StatBroadcast.com
NCAA College World Series Appearances (last): 37th (2018)
All-Time CWS Record: 85-61

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP
SUNDAY–Texas RHP Ty Madden (7-4, 2.41) vs. Mississippi State RHP Will Bednar (7-1, 3.53)

2021 6 20 CWS (PDF) - University of Texas Athletics

No. 2 Baseball preview: NCAA College World Series - University of Texas Athletics

 

Hmmmmmmm. So they’re probably going with Bednar, huh... The “animal.”
113 SO. 20 walks. Throws up to 97mph. Good breaking ball.

Warm up the bats Horns. Let’s light him up!

 

Didn’t OF Steve Labay have to start that second game against MSU?