It's amazing what you can do with run support

The Braves won on Friday to stop a 4 game losing streak beating the DBacks 10-6. Jair Jurrjens, who was not getting any run support, finally got some while being staked to a 9-1 lead after three innings. Obviously, he didn't know how to react to all of the support because he only lasted 5 innings and gave up 5 runs. The bullpen held up their end of the bargain by only allowing one run in the final 4 innings. The offense had many stars, but the brightest was Yunel Escobar. Escobar's three-run homer in the third gave the Braves the 9-1 lead. Two batters before that, Jurrjens helped himself with a 2-RBI double of his own. The teams play again today at 410p on FOX. Javier Vasquez will pitch for the Braves.

IU had a tough game against Louisville yesterday in front of a Louisville record crowd of over 4,000 fans, losing 8-2. The Hoosiers got two runs in the second to take a 2-0 lead, but could not defend the lead due to poor fielding that led to two unearned runs and a 3-2 deficit after two innings. IU allowed two more unearned runs in the fifth to fall behind 5-2. IU ace Eric Arnett did all he could in his 7 innings of work, giving up 1 earned run and striking out 6. The Hoosiers will play Vanderbilt in an elimination game at 3pm today in Louisville.

Both Brownsburg ball teams start sectional play today. The softball team plays Ben Davis in the first semi-final this morning and could play in the finals at 4pm against host and top-ranked Avon. The baseball team will play Manual at noon today. They should win that game and then play the Avon/Tech winner on Monday in the semi-finals. The championship game is on Tuesday at Decatur Central.

NCAA College Baseball Predictions

The regionals start today for the NCAA baseball tourney, so here are my picks....

Atlanta - Georgia Tech
Austin - Boston College (over #1 seed Texas)
Baton Rouge - LSU
Chapel Hill - North Carolina
Clemson - Clemson
Fort Worth - TCU
Fullerton - Cal State Fullerton
Gainesville - Miami FL
Greenville - South Carolina
Houston - Rice
Irvine - Virginia
Louisville - Vanderbilt
Norman - Arkansas
Oxford - Missouri
Tallahassee - Georgia
Tempe - Arizona State

What is it with the NL West?

The Braves lost to the DBacks last night, 5-2. Atlanta is now 3-7 against the NL West this year after going 20-14 against that same division last year. Derek Lowe pitched 7 innings and gave up 3 earned runs, a quality start by any means, however his defense did not help him by allowing 2 unearned runs on a Kelly Johnson error. Of course, Johnson was one of the few players that hit the ball in the game. He had 2 hits and scored both Atlanta runs. The teams play again tonight at 940p. Jair Jurrjens will pitch for the Braves.

There were no real upsets in the College Softball World Series yesterday. #3 Washington beat #6 Georgia, #10 Arizona State beat Missouri, #5 Michigan beat #4 Alabama, and #1 Florida beat #9 Arizona. The winners play tonight for the right to take Saturday off while 4 teams are eliminated that day.

The College Baseball World Series starts today. I will have predictions for the regionals sometime around 1pm this afternoon.

College Softball World Series Predicitions

The WCWS starts today at 1pm. Here are my guesses on how it will go down:

First two out - Arizona State and Alabama

Next two out - Washington and Arizona

Final Four - Missouri and Michigan

Runner-up - Georgia

Champion - Florida

Same old stuff

The Braves were beaten by Randy Johnson and the Giants last night 6-3. It was Johnson's 299th win of his career. Kenshin Kawakami gave up 3 earned runs in 5 2/3 innings to take the loss for Atlanta. The offense only had 5 hits and struck out 7 times, 4 of the strikeouts were from Chipper Jones, the most he has ever had in one game. The Braves were pitiful in this series getting swept three games to none and being outscored 18-5. They start a 4 game series with Arizona tonight at 940p. Derek Lowe will start for the Braves.

The Brownsburg baseball team had a good tune-up for the sectionals this weekend with a 13-0 victory over Pike in 5 innings. Matt Bowman, Kohl Bennett, and Isaac Sampen combined for the shutout. The Dogs had 14 hits and 4 home runs. Tucker Barnhart had 2 homers while Mitchell Burton and Ben Blystone had one a piece. The Bulldogs play Manual on Saturday at noon-ish, or 30 minutes after the Ben Davis/Pike game. The sectional is at Decatur Central.

It's tough to win when your #5 pitches against their #1

The Braves had trouble scoring against San Fran's ace Tim Lincecum, losing 4-0 in an efficient 2 hour 8 minute game. Kris Medlen started for the Braves and did better than his first outing, allowing 4 runs in 5 1/3 innings. However, the offense only managed 5 hits. The bullpen tried to keep the Braves in the game by throwing 2 2/3 shutout innings, but Atlanta could get nothing done against the 2008 Cy Young winner. Game three of the series is tonight at 1015p. Kenshin Kawakami will pitch for the Braves.

Sometime later this week, I will have predictions for the NCAA baseball regionals and the NCAA softball world series. I have a few possible upsets in mind, but I need to do a little more research before I make those picks.

The Brownsburg baseball team completes its regular season today, hosting Pike at 5pm. The sectionals start on Saturday when the Dogs play Manual at Decatur Central.

Playing to the level of your competition

The Braves came back to earth after a sweep of the Blue Jays to lose to the Giants 8-2. Starter Javier Vasquez ran into trouble in the fifth and sixth innings and the bullpen couldn't keep the game close. The offense didn't help too much either. Vasquez gave up 5 runs in 5 2/3 innings and Buddy Carlyle gave up 3 runs in 2 innings to raise his ERA to 8.84. Why is Carlyle still getting innings??? The offense could only muster 6 hits, but 3 of them were from Brian McCann. McCann is hitting 11-for-23 (.478) in his last 7 games. Currently, Atlanta is 12-8 against teams that are .500 or better and 11-13 against teams that are below .500. The Braves are 1.5 games behind in the NL East. They play tonight at 1015pm. Kris Medlen will make his second career start for the Braves.

The IU Hoosiers will travel to Louisville to play the Cardinals in the NCAA regional on Friday at 7pm. It should be a great pitching match-up as IU pitcher Eric Arnett is a finalist for national pitcher of the year and Louisville pitcher Justin Marks was the Big East pitcher of the year.

NCAA Baseball Seeding Revealed

1. Texas
2. Cal State Fullerton
3. LSU
4. North Carolina
5. Arizona State
6. UC Irvine
7. Oklahoma
8. Florida
9. Georgia Tech
10. Florida State
11. Ole Miss
12. Clemson
13. East Carolina
14. Rice
15. Louisville
16. TCU

I had the top 6 teams correct, just not in the right order.

Seeded too high
#7 Oklahoma - 19th in RPI, 17-14 road/neutral record.
#13 East Carolina - 22nd in RPI, 15-14 vs top 100, 14-10 road/neutral record.

Seeded too low
#14 Rice - 10th in RPI, 22-9 vs top 100, 19-8 road/neutral record.
Virginia - 6th in RPI, 14-6 road/neutral record, ACC tournament champ.

The UC Irvine bracket will be tough. The Anteaters will host ACC Champ Virginia, defending CWS champion Fresno State, and San Diego State, who has the consensus best player in college baseball, Stephen Strasburg.

IU got a #50 seed and will travel to Louisville as the 4th seed in that regional.

NCAA Baseball Seeding Predictions (Final)

Final predictions for the NCAA baseball tourney. All seeds listed will be the host unless otherwise specified. The selection show is at 1230p today.

1. Arizona State
2. Texas
3. North Carolina
4. Cal State Fullerton
5. LSU
6. UC Irvine
7. Rice
8. Florida
9. Georgia Tech
10. Virginia (at East Carolina or Louisville)
11. Florida State
12. Clemson
13. Ole Miss
14. TCU
15. Oklahoma
16. Louisville/East Carolina

I know East Carolina is a host, but I don't see how the committee can leave Virginia out of the top 16. They are 43-12, ranked in the top 20 in both polls, and are 6th in the RPI. They could also send Virginia to Louisville and have East Carolina host as the 16th seed.

NCAA Baseball Seeding Predictions (Updated 5/23/2009)

Next-to-last seeding predictions for the NCAA Baseball tournament. I will have one final post tomorrow morning before the selection show at 1230p.

1. Arizona State
2. Texas
3. North Carolina
4. Cal State Fullerton
5. LSU
6. UC Irvine
7. Florida State
8. Florida
9. Rice
10. Georgia Tech
11. Virginia
12. Clemson
13. Ole Miss
14. TCU
15. Oklahoma
16. Miami

On the bubble - Louisville, East Carolina, Texas A&M, Arkansas

Another good day

The Braves continued their winning ways against the best team in the AL as they beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-3. The Blue Jays jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third off of Atlanta starter Derek Lowe, but could not defend the lead in the bottom of the inning as Casey Kotchman had a 2-RBI double to tie the score. Lowe helped himself with a RBI single in the 4th and Kelly Johnson had a solo homer in the 6th to make the score 4-2. The ninth inning was trouble again, as closer Mike Gonzalez allowed a run then issued a walk to load the bases with one out and the tying run on third. Rafael Soriano came in and struck out Kevin Millar and got Marco Scutaro to fly out to end the game. It was Soriano's 4th save of the season. Lowe pitched 7 1/3 innings and got his 6th win of the season, which leads the NL. The final game of the series is at 135p today. Jair Jurrjens will pitch for the Braves.

The IU baseball team won its first Big Ten championship since 1996 by beating Minnesota 13-2. In the tourney, IU was 4-0 and outscored their opponents 47-9, beating #1 seed Ohio State, rival Purdue, and #2 seed Minnesota twice. If they can get that type of pitching against those decent teams, they may put up a good fight in the NCAA tourney. It looks like they may get the basketball equivalent of a #12 seed, which mean they would be the third best team in their regional.

Brownsburg plays their final regular season game on Monday at home against Pike. The sectionals start on Saturday, May 30th as Brownsburg will play Manual at Decatur Central. If they win that, they will play the winner of Tech and Avon on Monday, June 1st. The sectional final is on Tuesday, June 2nd.