Super-regional dates, times, TV announced
Michigan at #1 UCLA
Game 1: Friday, 9:00 pm EDT (6:00 PDT), ESPN2
Game 2: Saturday, 9:00 pm EDT (6:00 PDT), ESPN2
Game 3: Sunday, 9:00 pm EDT (6:00 PDT), ESPN2, if necessary
The winner will play in Omaha on Saturday, June 15.
BEAT L A
On Friday, I'm assuming Michigan starts Kauffmann and will use Tommy Henry in relief for up to 2 innings, and Criswell starts Saturday and Henry will start Sunday if necessary.
Super-regionals are a different thing than regionals when it comes to your pitching staff, because you don't have to worry about having to play 5 games over the weekend. You often see teams using only 5 or 6 pitchers all weekend, even if it goes 3 games.
Hope that Kauffman and Henry don't decide to sit out given their draft status.
Good one!
In baseball it actually makes a lot of sense. Ask Kenny Baugh.
No, now Brewer, too!
Help me out here - I've not really followed college baseball much. What is the difference in the tourney format between regionals and super regionals?
If my understanding is correct, regionals are double elimination, 4 team tourney. So there's essentially a winners bracket and losers bracket that meet in the finals, and for the "losers bracket" champion to with the region they'd have to beat the "winners" bracket team twice in a row. Do I have that right?
What is the super regional format?
Yeah, you've got the regional correct. Now there are 16 teams left. Only 8 will make it to Omaha.
So now everybody is paired off in a best-of-3 Super Regional series. Winner goes to the College World Series. We've got UCLA.
Yeah, the whole super-regional concept is a bit weird.
They use 16 regional double-elimination tournaments to go from 64 to 16 teams. Then they change to 8 super-regional best-of-3 series to go from 16 to 8 teams. Then they go back to 2 double-elimination tournaments to go from 8 to 2 teams. And then finally they have another 3-game series to pick the champion.
I believe the format is meant to get rid of some of the randomness of baseball and be a boon to the better teams. You can see the stupidity of a single-elimination tournament in hockey, where the winner each year is basically random.
However, it's also pretty random to go back and forth from tournaments to best-of-3 series, and your chances of getting to Omaha are greatly determine by who you get matched up with in the Super Regional. Going up against UCLA in a best-of-3 series is pretty much the worst case for Michigan. They would have been much better off getting UCLA in the double-elimination format where they could have gotten help from another team beating UCLA and leaving them only having to beat them once. Beating them twice is going to be a major challenge.
But, generally you can't win without beating the best teams at some point, so this is their shot.
Agree. I don't mind the hockey tourney, but no doubt the baseball format helps cut down on flukes.
Speaking of which, of the 16 four-team regionals (each seeded 1 thru 4), twelve #1 seeds advanced. I believe one #2 made it, and Michigan is one of three #3 seeds to make it out of their four-team region. So as confusing as the format can be, at least it seems to be working.
What's unique about baseball is that the player filling the most important position on each team can only go every fourth or fifth day. A single elimination tournament wouldn't make much sense.
Michigan has three quality starters and not a lot of depth behind them--I think the best-of-three format is probably ideal. A possible five games in three days, not so much.
UCLA's got quality starters too, to be sure. But it's best for Michigan not to have games piling up.
This is a good point I hadn't considered. If Michigan had to fight from the losers bracket, they would probably be in trouble. My thought was simply that maybe in a double-elimination format, someone else would beat UCLA and Michigan would only have to do it once.
I guess with their pitching staff, any format that never requires more than 1 game a day is for the better.
Correct for regionals. Creighton had to beat Michigan twice. They won the first game in the 9th inning comeback forcing the "if necessary" winner takes all game last night. Super Regionals is straight up best of 3 series for the berth to the World Series.
SUPER!!!
Go Blue! Beat the Bruins into submission. Carry off their heads one by one!
Thanks!
Thoughts and prayers!
Will be a great series. If the middle of the lineup gets hot Michigan can definitely pull an upset!! Thanks for the info and Go Blue!!!
Are you bipolar?
Come on down to LA blue.
Should be a great series.
Expect to see Lots of Blue at Jackie Rob stadium
I mean, blue is UCLA's primary color, so...
I'm just happy there are no 10pm ET games.
6 p.m. L.A. time on a Friday will be no picnic.
On the bright side, few of UCLA's fans will be able to get there for the first few innings. The 405/Sepulveda corridor is a nightmare during drive-time, especially on Fridays.
The 405/Sepulveda corridor is a nightmare at every time of every day
FTFY.
Despite the traffic and the earlier start time (the Monday night game was a sellout, but started an hour later at 7:00 pm) it looks like the place will be packed. Per UCLA's website ticket availability is "limited."
And the location of the Stadium off campus might hurt student attendance a bit but it's waaaaay better for everyone else.
Pretty neat that my alma maters face off in the super-regional - Michigan undergrad and UCLA grad. My rooting choice is easy as I've always been 100% Michigan and could never really get behind UCLA athletics. There's something strange about going to the Rose Bowl and watching 2 ranked teams battle while the stadium is half empty (half full?)... Go Blue!
I hope Michigan's LA based fans bought tickets before Bruins fans could - 'just in case'! Go BLUE!!!
Just for clarification, there are no guarantees that the winner of this super would play on Friday. Play for the Friday-Saturday-Sunday supers feature two supers from each side of the bracket. NCAA will announce on Monday which side of the bracket will play Friday and which will play Saturday (after some of the first round CWS pairings are set to decide what is best for attendance and TV).
Oh, you're right. I missed that detail, thanks.
Interesting that of course Michigan is the only school above the Mason Dixon Line. Stanford, ECU, UNC and Vandy are all, what, 500 mi. further south?
college baseball is mainly a southern, western, and coastal type thing -- much like softball for the most part.
Baseball is pretty hard to practice well indoors and impossible to play indoors unless you have the money for a dome (do any schools have that kind of baseball $$$?) So northern schools can't even start playing games at home until mid-march. UCLA's first home game was Feb 15, and they can practice outdoors all year.
Friday and Saturday at 9 is fine, but Sunday night? Sounds like the same jokers in charge of the basketball tournament that somehow thinks having 10:20 pm games on Sunday night are also in charge of scheduling these times.
They're showing a possible quadrupleheader on ESPN2 on Sunday with games starting at noon, 3, 6 and 9. Since this is the only superregional on the west coast, this is going to be the late game.
Right - it would be a later night for Michigan baseball fans but that was the draw. 6:00 local time is not a ridiculous 1st pitch time on a Sunday night. It would be light out for the first 6 Innings.
Mississippi State is also hosting at 9 ET Sunday night. But that's 8:00 local. That's much tougher on the locals and the student-athletes.
Go Blue!