Super Regional Slate Starts Today

Finally. College baseball's version of the Sweet 16 is finally ready to start today after a record-setting opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. A few quick thoughts before we look at today's match-ups:

• Texas reliever Austin Wood has made ESPN highlights and now Sports Illustrated for his 12 1/3 hitless and 13 total scoreless inning outing during last Saturday's epic 25-inning game. After throwing 169 pitches, it's good for Wood that the Longhorns don't open their Super Regional series with TCU until Saturday.

• All the talk about pitching going into last week's Irvine Regional was about San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg. Next week's MLB #1 draft pick didn't disappoint with 15 K in a 5-1 loss to Virginia. But how about Virginia? Brian O'Connor's Cavalier pitching staff gave-up just two runs in three games en-route to knocking-off Strasburg as well as #6 national seed, UC Irvine. Virginia led the nation last week with a 0.67 staff ERA.

• Speaking of the Irvine Regional, did we really need to be reminded emphatically and ad nauseum during ESPN's telecasts "There will be a new national champion this year", after Fresno State was bounced from the tournament after two games? Fresno State became the first #4 seed to win a regional last year, let alone the national title. They were a #4 seed this year. The were a Cinderella last year, so by definition there should be a new national champion this year. Maybe the reminders were necessary if the people watching the game had as little college baseball experience as the guy who was calling the game. (Phil Nevin exlcuded.) (Seriously, we're used to the metal bats, we don't need more discussion.) The guy talked more about the food he was eating and failed Seinfeld references than the games.

On to today's match-ups:

Arkansas @ Florida State Noon Eastern-ESPN

Arkansas started the season hot, got cold mid-way through SEC play, and then went 3-0 at the Norman Regional last weekend. They made their biggest statement with an 11-0 win over the hard-hitting Sooners in the title game. Freshman Drew Smyly lost a no-hit bid in the 9th inning.
Razorback Andy Wilkins and Seminole Mike Meschke tied for the national lead during regionals with .750 batting averages. Dave Van Horn took Arkansas to the College World Series in 2004 after guiding Nebraska to Omaha in 2001 & 2002

Florida State struggled at the start of the season, but has righted its ship. The Seminoles set an NCAA record with its 37-6 dismantling of Ohio State in its regional championship game. Meschke was 5-for-5 in that game. Mike Martin's crew is looking for back-to-back trips to Omaha after going seven years without a CWS visit prior to last year.

Virginia @ Ole Miss 2pm Eastern-ESPN2

Ole Miss won 20 SEC regular season game, and had 46 wins going into the NCAA Tournament, but the Rebels didn't get a national seed. Understandably, LSU got the #3 seed (the Tigers also had 20 SEC wins and had the season tie-breaker with Ole Miss), but Florida won the SEC East and took the #8 national seed with 19 conference wins and 39 wins entering the tourney. Mike Bianco's Rebels have been one of the most consistent SEC teams over the last decade, and now they're trying to clear the hurdle to Omaha.

Virginia was the #6 seed, but won its first ACC crown since 1996. After that, many thought the Cavs could host a regional as a #2 seed, but got sent to #6 national seed UC Irvine instead. Virginia went 3-0 en-route to the program's first ever regional championship. Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor is a Council Bluffs, IA native who played in the 1991 CWS with Creighton, and coached as a Notre Dame assistant at the 2002 CWS.

Rice @ LSU 7pm Eastern-ESPN

These two teams played last June 17 at the College World Series, and the Tigers won a 6-5 thriller on Blake Dean's 3-run double in the 9th inning. In fact, the last two times LSU skipper has been to Omaha, his teams have beaten Wayne Graham's Owls in walk-off fashion. His '02 Notre Dame team beat Rice 5-3 on a game-ending home run. After winning last week's Baton Rouge Regional, Mainieiri now has three career regional crowns. His teams advance to Omaha the two previous times.

Graham's Owls have been to Omaha in five of the last seven seasons, including a 2003 National Championship. Rice is used to being home for Super Regionals, but mid-season arm injuries to pitchers Ryan Berry and Mike Ojala gave the Owls just enough of a slip to cost them the C-USA regular season crown and possibly another national seed. With those two healthy, Rice has a slight pitching edge in the series, but LSU has the offensive advantage.

Louisville @ Cal State Fullerton 10:30pm Eastern-ESPN2

Louisville is in a Super Regional for the second time in three years under Dan McDonnell. The Cardinals rode steady pitching and the bat of Chris Dominguez to Omaha in McDonnell's rookie year (2007) as Louisville's head coach. Dominguez belted 8 home runs with 19 RBIs during the '07 postseason run.

Fullerton has been to Omaha in five of the last nine years. They missed a trip to the CWS last year when they hosted a Super Regional, but lost to Stanford in Dave Serrano's first season as head coach at his alma mater. Serrano took UC Irvine to the 2007 CWS, and beat Fullerton in a a 13-inning elimination game that's tied for the longest in CWS history.

Collegebaseball360.com will provide live Twitter score updates throughout this weekend's Super Regional Action. CLICK HERE to read more about this weekend's match-ups, to see the exclusive up to date CB 360 NCAA national stats leaders, and to listent to exclusive Super Regional podcasts.

Schlereth Wins One For Dads

We all know them. Maybe you are one. Stage mom, sports dad, psycho...whatever you want to call them. Parents who push their kids to exceed are labeled that dad or that mom whether it's justified or not.

With all the horror stories of parents who have gone too far in their pursuit to turn their kid into child prodigy, it's really not even socially acceptable to talk about your own kid's success. Co-workers roll their eyes when you tell them you can't work on Saturday, because you have to be at junior's tournament all day.

And don't even think about actually cheering for your kid while you're at the game, do you actually have expectations?

There's a fine line between a parent's expectations and reality, and ESPN's Mark Schlereth found that convergence neatly intertwined last Friday in Phoenix.

Schlereth is a former NFL offensive lineman. His gnarled knees are the product of life in the trenches with the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos, but he has three Super Bowl rings for his sacrifice, and he's now an NFL analyst for ESPN.

I'm sure if you asked Schlereth he would tell you he would trade all that for the gift he got last week when his son, Daniel, made his big league debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The elder Schlereth (or Stink as he's known, although I prefer Roc Hoover) recounted the events this morning on Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio & ESPN2.

It was last Thursday night, and Daniel had just finished an outing on the mound for the D-Back's AA affiliate in Mobile, Alabama. They traded texts and jabs, and then Mark put his cell phone away in his Colorado home.

The cell phone rang about 30 minutes later. It was Daniel. Last year's first round MLB draft pick out of the University of Arizona had himself just got the call of his life. He was going to the show! Mark told Mike & Mike that he and his son both started crying at that moment, but it was what Daniel said next that made the proud pappa say "I will take that moment to my grave".

Before Daniel hung-up the phone he had a message for his dad "I know I never said it, and I know I never talk about it, but thank you for all that you've done. Thank you guys, my family, for all the support", he said. "For all those times you whipped my butt, for all those times you yelled at me, for all those times you made me go out and work...Thanks."

Talk about the call of a lifetime.

Don't get me wrong. Just because Mark Schlereth's kid says he actually appreciates the fact that his dad's prodding was actually a good thing, doesn't mean that every parents' tactics are perfect.

I worked with two teams at Notre Dame, and I got to know a lot of coaches, players and players' parents over a span of nearly ten years. I heard the stories from both sides. Parents who nagged DI coaches about playing time, about being too negative with their child prodigy. Parents who called the press box during a game to find out "why was that scored an error and not a hit"?

That wasn't in high school, that was at Notre Dame.

No, not every parent is perfect. HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumble is running a feature this month on the subject of overzealous parents.

My point is, not every parent who actually holds their kid to high standards in the name of excelling at sports is the anti-Christ. Look at every athlete who's made it to a high level and more times than not there's a parent who's pushed them along the way.

I had a buddy in college who was brilliant. He wanted to be a doctor, but his dad was a lawyer. Dad said he wouldn't pay son's college tuition unless he followed in his footsteps. Son's now a lawyer rather than finding the cure for cancer. Todd Marinovich's dad wouldn't let him eat a Big Mac or any junk food while he was trying to build "the perfect quarterback". Marinovich made it to the NFL, but famously faded away due to personal issues that included drug abuse.

Which is worse?

Is it so wrong to tell your kid that, whether it's in the classroom or on a field, whatever you do, do it all the way. And by the way... occasionally I might hurt your feelings when I say something you don't want to hear, but I'm doing it to help you.

Why is it that when you kick your kid in the butt to make him study hard for a test you're being a good parent, but when you kick him in the butt to get ready for a game you're overzealous?

I have a 13-year-old son. He plays sports. He's competitive. He's also a straight-A student. He's just as mad when he strikes out as when he gets an A-minus on a test. Whether it's pushing a kid to hit the books for trigonomics or pushing a kid so he can hit triples, they both require hard work and a kick sometimes.

I think the real self-test is simply this: Is it your dream or your kid's dream? Whether it's sports, music, engineering, or art, if it's your dream the kid will eventually lose interest and all the kicking in the butt will just lead to bigger problems. If it's your kid's dream then kick that butt as far as it can go, and someday he might thank you for it.

Mark Schlereth has toed the line of expectation and reality. His reality is that his son is now in the big leagues, and it came with the expectation that he work hard to get there (with a few kicks in the butt along the way).

Happy Father's Day Mark.

Sean Stires is the co-editor of collegebaseball360.com. His email address is sean@collegebaseball360.com.

General Monday Regional posts (on Twitter/cb360updates)

See who's hitting, pitching & fielding the best in an exclusive Regional Tournament stats report at www.collegebaseball360.com.

LAST-UPS - These teams will be batting in the bottom of the 9th tonight: hosts Rice, Clemson, Vanderbilt & ECU, plus W-Kentucky & SoMiss

Vandy's Mike Minor, OSU's Tyler Lyons & GT's Deck McGuire all started tonight & two days ago. Lyons is the only one still pitching tonight.

WHAT'S NEXT? - SMiss/GT winner at Florida...OKSt/Clemson vs. ArizonaSt...ECU/SC @UNC...OlMiss/WKU vs. UVA...Rice/KSt @LSU...LOU/VAN @FULL

CORRECTION - ASU (top-8 nat'l seed) should host SuperRegional...UVa (a #2 seed) also could, if #2 WKU wins at Ol-Miss (WK down 0-1 in 6th)

ACC NOW FOUR IN THE SUPERS: UNC/FSU/VA/CL are on to round-of-16, plus three SEC (LSU-ARK-FL) & one each from B-12/P-10/B-West/MtWest/B-East

CONFERENCE COMMAND - With four games left, the ACC & SEC each could get 5 in the SRs, CUSA could put 3 in (B12 could get 2nd, Sunbelt 1st)

(check that) ROLLCALL- If W-KY (Sunbelt Conf.) wins, there will be teams from 9 conferences in the SRs (also ACC/SEC/B12/P10/BW/BE/MtW/CUSA)

CUSA PLACES THREE IN SRs (fixed)- Big day for league, as Rice, So-Miss & ECU all win, CUSA one shy of ACC & SEC (4), 1 for B12/BW/BE/MtW/P10

AT END OF THE DAY ... 13 of the #1-seeds/hosts advance: FULL/ TX/TCU/FL/ECU/UNC/ASU/CL/LSU/Rice/OlMiss/LOU/FSU, plus #2s
VA & ARK, #3 SoMiss

Mississippi 4, Western Kentucky 1 - CB360updates on Twitter

STARTERS IN OXFORD - WKU Jr. RHP Matt Ridings (8-2, 4.94-92K-29BB-103H-98.1IP)..Ol-Miss So. LHP Drew Pomeranz (7-4, 3.73-105K-33BB-76H-82IP)

SCORELESS IN OXFORD - thru 3 inn., Ol-Miss has 3H (all 1Bs; also an E) and WKU is hitless...Pomeranz has faced 10, Ridings 12 (3K)

CORRECTION - ASU (top-8 nat'l seed) should host SuperRegional...UVa (a #2 seed) also could, if #2 WKU wins at Ol-Miss (WK down 0-1 in 6th)

LOTS-O-ZEROES - Western Kentucky (0-0-1) batting b-6th down a run to Ol-Miss (1-7-1), with Pomeranz working on the no-hitter (BB-12Ks!)

PRECIOUS RUN - Ol-Miss scored after 1-out infield single (by so. cleanup/1B Matt Smith) & sr. catcher Kyle Henson's RBI double to rt-center

SEE-SAW BATTLE - WKU tied it in the b-7th (1-1), an UER sequence that included Chad Cregar's 1B/SB and Matt Hightower's infield single, but:

... Ol-Miss put two on the board in the t-8th and is five outs from the win; Matt Smith had the big 2-run triple (scoring Snyder & Power)

REBEL YELL - Ol-Miss actually had 3R in the t-8th, as a 2-out 2B from David Phillips scored Smith ... WKU is down to its final out (1-4)

OL' MISS CLOSES IT OUT - Mississippi 4-10-2 shuts down Western Kentucky 1-2-1 and likely will play host to Virginia in the Super Regionals

OXFORD WRAP - Ol' Miss: Drew Pomeranz CG-R-2H-BB-15K!!...Matt Smith part of all 4R: 2-run 3B in 8th (broke 1-1 tie) and scored twice

Ole Miss 4-10-2, W. Ky 1-2-1. W-Pomeranz CG-2 H-16 K. Ole Miss wins Regional & Plays Virginia in Super Regional.

Louisville 5, Vanderbit 3 - CB360updates on Twitter

STARTERS IN L'VILLE- Vanderbilt Jr. LHP Mike Minor (6-5, 3.79-110K-35BB-105H-107IP)..LOU Fr. RHP Tony Zych (5-2, 3.29-29K-9BB-34H-38.1IP)

Vandy starter Mike Minor pitching on 2 days' rest. Minor pitched 8 inn. in Friday's 5-4 loss to Mid. Tenn. St.

Update: Lou 3, Vandy 1. 3R HR by RF Ryan Wright. Vandy now batting w/2 outs in bottom of 4th.

Update: Vandy solo HR by Joe Loftus cuts deficit. Louisville now leads 3-2 end of the 5th inning.

Vandy's Giobbi HBP to lead off the bottom of the 7th. Louisville makes pitching change.. Gabriel Shaw replaces Zych on . Lou leads 4-2

Tying run now at first for Vandy w/no outs B7. Still 4-2 Louisville.

Louisville's Gabe Shaw Ks two w/tying runs @ 2nd & 3rd to end bottom 7th. Louisville leads Vanderbilt 4-2 T8.

Louisville adds a run on 3rd Vandy error of the night & leads 5-2 w/1 out, T8.

Vandy gets a run in the bottom of 8th, 643 double play ends further threat. Louisville leads 5-3 going to 9th.

Last chance for Vanderbilt. Commodores trail Louisville 5-3 & getting ready to bat in bottom of 9th.

Louisville beats Vandy 5-3. Lou. Friday starter Justin marks pitched 9th for SV. Cardinals now play Cal State Fullerton in Super Regional.

Louisville 5-8-0 W-Zych SV-Marks, Vanderbilt 3-7-3. Lou. wins own Regional & plays CS Fullerton in Super Reg.

Clemson 6, Oklahoma State 5 - cb360updates on Twitter

STARTERS IN CLEMSON - OKSt Jr. LHP Tyler Lyons (7-5, 4.12-70K-23BB-106H-89.2IP)...CLEM Sr. LHP Ryan Hinson (2-1, 3.41-46K-17BB-30H-37IP)

Update: Clemson on the board after HR by Mark Ginther. Oklahoma State leads Clemson 3-1 with OSU now batting in top of the 6th.

CLOCKWORK ORANGE - Thriller in the Palmetto state, with OKState (5-9-2) clinging to 1-run lead, as Clemson (4-7-3) bats in bottom of the 8th

TYING RUN ABOARD - Clemson leadoff batter Ben Paulson drew a 5-pitch walk...5-hole hitter Wilson Boyd (Sr. OF) now at the plate

HIGH DRAMA - Clemson so. catcher/7-hole John Nester's 2-out double to left-center has tying & go-ahead runs in scoring position

TIGERS DO IT - OKSt starter Tyler Lyona was relieved by Fr. RHP Randy McCurry, who served up pinch-hits by Kyle Parker (2RBI) & Matt Sanders

Clemson now leads Ok. State 6-5 after plating 3 R in 7th & 2 R in 8th. Tigers trailed 3-0 in the 5th.

SPOILED OUTING - OKState's Tyler Lyons could take the loss, despite allowing only three earned runs (but also 3UER) in 7.2 IP (8H-2BB-7K)

CLEMSON WINS - CL 6-10-3, OKSt 5-10-2...Jr. RHP Tomas Cruz strong midrelief (4.1IP-R-4H-2BB-4K), leadoff/so. DH Chris Epps HR-2R

MORE CLEMSON (next @ASU) - Pinch-hitter Kyle Parker key 2-run double in 8th (tying/go-ahead runs); OKSt: Mark Ginther HR, Tom Belza 2RBI

ACC NOW FOUR IN THE SUPERS: UNC/FSU/VA/CL are on to round-of-16, plus three SEC (LSU-ARK-FL) & one each from B-12/P-10/B-West/MtWest/B-East

Rice 13, Kansas State 4 - cb360updates on Twitter

STARTERS IN HOUSTON- Rice Sr. RHP Mark Haynes (2-0, SV-4.21-21K-17BB-55H-47IP)..KSt So. LHP Thom. Rooke (5-1, 4SV-3.88-56K-11BB-43H-51IP)

Update: Rice leads K-State 8-2 in bottom of 4th. Rice has scored 6 R in the inning after Diego Seastrunk 3 R HR.

NCAA Regional: Rice adds 2 more in bottom 5th & leads Kansas St. 10-2. KSU pitching change-Applegate is 5th Wildcat hurler of the night.

Kansas St. trying to mount late rally, plates 2 in T7. Still trails Rice 10-4, with 2 outs.

Final: Rice 13-20-2, Kansas State 4-7-2. W- Reckling. Rice beat KSU Sunday & Monday to win Houston Reg. Plays LSU in Super Regional.