SBNation.com: All Posts by Abram Orlansky

Texas Baseball Post-Mortem

2013-06-13T18:33:34Z

We may have mentioned once or twice that "we," 40AS, are two guys who went to Texas together and now write under the same author handle together. We disagree on some stuff sometimes, so this is a conversation between the pair of us about this Texas baseball season and where the program stands now.

JA: Ok, AO, lets get this started with a simple statement.

Right now, you are feeling _______ about Texas baseball.

AO: I think the word has to be "impatient." Look, I understand that baseball is a finicky game, where you can get out-hit significantly and still win a game; crush a ball and have it be an out, or hit a dinker that gets you on base; or lose to a team you're a lot better than because their pitcher had a career night. I get all that, and that's why MLB plays 162 games and college teams play over 50. It takes a lot of games for things to normalize and for the cream to rise to the top.

The problem is, Texas has not risen to the top, or even the middle, these last couple of years. A bad season can happen, sure--but there are two problems with being an apologist and just assuming Augie will get it fixed. First is that a "bad season" in Austin ought to be getting a 3 seed at someone else's regional. Second is that missing the NCAA Tournament two years in a row is bad, but being the only team in the Big 12--not exactly a baseball power conference--to miss the conference tournament as a result of winning zero conference series on the season is the absolute nadir of Texas baseball's possible outcomes. You could seriously make the argument that, in context, this was the worst baseball team in UT history. So I just have very little patience for any excuses about how baseball is a tough game to predict, or about guys going pro instead of enrolling, or whatever. I'm impatient, not for some pie-in-the-sky expectation of contending for a national title next year, but for the team to simply look like it has a clue. And, with the coaching staff's track record of taking promising hitters as freshmen and turning them into sub-.250 head cases by their junior years, I no longer think Augie is the guy to deliver what I'm looking for.

So that leads me to my first question of you, and I will paraphrase Stephen Colbert. 2013: awful Texas baseball team or the worst Texas baseball team?

JA: I'll go with the worst Texas baseball team. Maybe the 1956 (5-13) or 1998 (23-32-1 in Augie's first year) were worse, but I'll interpret your question as asking if Texas baseball has hit rock bottom and I've got to believe that's the case. What cinches it for me is how simplistically close this team was to being a pretty good team. All it needed was a competent offense.

Consider that five of the top six teams in the country in ERA made it to the Super Regional round. Texas ranked seventh. A year ago Texas went 14-10 in conference and hit .272. Both are fairly mediocre numbers for a fairly mediocre team. Had Texas done that in 2013 they would've been 34-17 in the regular season. Not great but good enough for a 2-seed somewhere. Instead they hit .234, scored just 71 runs in 24 games (59 in 23 games if you take out the 12-0 drubbing of WVU) and went 7-17. Hell, Nathan Thornhill had a 1.98 ERA and two complete games in 8 conference starts and still managed to go 1-5 in conference play. If the offense hadn't been so anemic and Corey Knebel hadn't imploded (1-3, 7.53 ERA) then things wouldn't be looking so gloomy.

We both know I'm the crazily optimistic of the two of us, and maybe my answer would have been different if the draft hadn't gone so well for us, but the return of Payton/Weiss and the addition of several offensively talented freshman gives me hope for the future. Throw in Texas having the strongest starting pitching staff it has had since 2010 and I don't think there's a problem with thinking of 2013 as rock bottom.

I guess before we talk about how things get turned around I'll ask: why do you think things got so bad? People blaming Augieball seems like such an oversimplification as it's hard to blame a strategy that can't be employed because you've got the 2003 Detroit Tigers on offense.

AO: Well there are a couple of things to unpack here. First is your implicit defense of "Augieball" against its many critics. I've always thought "Augieball" was kind of a silly term, considering the man did not invent small ball and an offensive strategy based on bunting and stealing bases is not exactly new to the game. But, in any event, I do think some of the displeasure with Augie's strategic approach can be chalked up to some fans taking the principles of "Moneyball" and sabermetrics, which I think are provably correct at the Major League level, and applying them directly to the college game. The reason bunting and stealing bases is an ok approach in college, whereas it's pretty stupid in the Majors, is that putting pressure on college defenses has proven effective time and again; they're less sure fielders and will make some mistakes. The trouble, as you alluded to, is that it only works if you can get guys on base--preferably with no outs, but at the very least with one out. Texas can't even get that far lately, so the strategy is a moot point.

BUT, I do think there's some validity in criticizing the recruiting process that has apparently been built around fielding a team that plays small ball. I think it's funny that you're way of saying it might not be as bad as it seems is to state that, to be a decent team, "all it needed was a competent offense." Really? All it needed was for one of the game's three phases to not be completely in the gutter? That's kind of like saying the Texas football team was really close to beating Oklahoma last year, all it needed was to score 50 more points. But I digress.

When you get commitments from only two kinds of hitters--guys who can mash so well they'll be drafted too early to justifiably come to college, and guys who can barely hit but "do the little things well"--and only the latter kind ends up on campus, what you have is a team teetering on the edge of offensive impotence at all times. It can't be terribly surprising that the 2013 squad finally fell off the precipice, especially considering that guys who hit like a house afire as freshmen--Weiss and Cohl Walla come to mind--appear to have lost their strokes. I can't tell you the extent to which the coaching staff is to blame for that, but it's happened.

As you know, and have often enjoyed giving me hell for, I grew up an LSU fan and still love the Tigers as my "1B" to Texas' "1A." The comparison between what Paul Mainieri has done in terms of accumulating offensive talent at LSU and what Augie has done at Texas illustrates the first point. LSU's top hitters, in order of where they hit in the lineup, are: freshman shortstop Alex Bregman, who has Major League ability but scared off some scouts with a high school injury; senior Mason Katz, who was drafted late this week and will likely never see significant action at the MLB level because he is a serviceable but not great fielder; senior Raph Rhymes, who didn't make the team as a freshman walk-on, went to JuCo to hone his swing, and came back to provoide two hugely productive years (including hovering around the .500 mark for much of last season); Christian Ibarra, a JuCo transfer who is a little small for pro scouts' liking; and Jacoby Jones, a junior from the great state of Mississippi who was drafted in the third round last week, and who was largely responsible for ending OU's season in the super regional. Of the group, only Jones can be said to be a "good-luck" guy who could have gone pro right out of high school but chose to enroll in college instead. The key to getting big bats on campus is to scour the earth for those diamonds in the rough, the guys who have provn they can hit the ball but, for whatever reason, are not immediately attractive in the draft.

Texas has failed to do that lately, and I have to imagine there are plenty of guys like that right in the Longhorns' backyard. How many great high school hitters who aren't yet considered pro material must come out of Texas prep schools every year? Those are the guys Augie and his staff need to start targeting. If he starts making them bunt once they get to campus, fine; it'll only work if somebody is already standing on first or second base. And, ultimately, if they don't start soon then I don't know how long they can keep convincing elite pitchers to come wear the burnt orange. It can't be too attractive a proposition to know you and your fellow pitchers will have to carry the entire load for your team because you'll get zero run support.

Where do we go from here?

AO: So I guess it's time to start thinking about wrapping this up. With all this said and considered, my question is: does Augies deserve the chance to right the ship in 2014? And, if so, what is the benchmark for success that would justify keeping him in 2015? You know that my answers are "No, because he came in ninth place out of nine teams and didn't win a single conference series at the conference's most successful baseball program after missing the Tournament the year before, so this year WAS his opportunity to start turning it around and he failed," and "N/A." What do you say?

JA: You are of course correct. Suggesting that adding a few bats to an anemic offense with an incredible pitching staff would've made a big difference over the course of conference play IS the equivalent of saying a ridiculous offensive output (70 points) would have made the difference in a 40 point loss where the offense, defense and special teams were annihilated by a sucky Sooner team.

But I digress.

The answer to your first question of whether Augie deserves to return is a 100% yes and not only because he is returning. Your rule about firing a coach when they don't win a conference series is valid, but you forgot the "when you're the winningest coach in college baseball history and have won two titles with two other championship series appearances it doesn't matter what angry Texas fans think you deserve because you've earned every second and you can go out on your own damn time " corollary.

LSU baseball has a good thing going right now and they're going to be really tough to beat in Omaha, no doubt. But let's not pretend as though Paul Mainieri has done this every year. The Tigers were fantastic in 2008, 2009 and 2013, but LSU went 12-17, 14-16 and 13-17 in the SEC in 2007, 2010 and 2011 respectively while failing to make the NCAA tourney in two of those three years.

My point is that things can turn around so quickly in college baseball that you'd be a fool to fire a coach with a winning pedigree after one or two bad years. And when that coach is also the winningest coach in NCAA history then I begin to question the quality of your parentage, and your parents are good people who don't deserve this kind of shoddy treatment, dammit.

What your question really should have been is "should Augie choose to return for 2014" and I think the answer is still yes. Considering the returning pitching staff, the possibility of progress in year two under Nicholson (check out what happened in his second year at Sacramento State) and the likelihood that a strong offensive freshman class makes it to the 40 Acres, I'd say there's at least reason for optimism next year. That having been said, I'll grant you that I probably would've been the guy feeling good about Custer's chances just before Little Big Horn.

I don't know how to define success in 2014 but I feel like we'll know it when we see it. If the program does rebound then I have no reservations about Augie being the coach until he doesn't want. I still don't see how you can ever reasonably fire a coach like Augie Garrido if the program struggles again in 2014, but I would definitely want him to develop a plan for leaving on his own accord, possibly at the end of the 2014 season.

AO: Look, you can characterize your "all we lacked was one third of the game!" argument however you want; it's silly no matter what lipstick you put on it. And your corollary to the "when you lead the program to rock bottom, you get fired" rule is nonsensical. It's wonderful that Augie Garrido is the winningest coach of all time. It's wonderful that he has won a pair of national titles and come close another couple of times while at Texas. And those factors are the only things that make this a tough question; I think he ought to go, either of his own accord or forcibly, before next season; but, I think it's valid to think he deserves to see it though for another year with a strong freshman class and the second year of Nicholson as hitting coach. It's not a 100% definite question.

But, your devotion to the status quo has gotten laughable. You basically said: "If we improve next year, Augie should get to define his own terms for leaving. If we don't, he should still get to define his own terms for leaving but I'll hope he does that at some point." What? Buddy, I love how much you love Augie, and believe it or not I am equally appreciative of what he's done in his career. He revived the Texas program from the doldrums and brought it back to where it belongs. But now he's in danger of putting his successor in the exact same position. No matter how accomplished a coach is, he is still a coach--an employee of the athletic department who does not make his own decisions about his employment status. This idea that no matter what, Augie gets to go out on his own terms is ludicrous. Obviously he is coming back for 2014, and while it's not the decision I would've made I'm fine with that. But if we don't improve dramatically (winning two conference series won't do it), he ought to be offered the chance to remain in the athletic department in some capacity, but told in no uncertain terms that he is no longer the baseball coach.

You're obviously right that things can turn around in a hurry, and I'm hoping that will happen next year. But if it doesn't, and that makes three straight years of disappointing baseball? There are plenty of exciting, proven young coaches out there that would likely jump at the chance to come to Austin--Dan McDonnell of Louisville comes to mind. So I can respect your position on 2014; your thinking with regard to the long-term future makes you a disgrace to your family name, to your alma mater, and to this great country of ours.

JA: I hear ya, and I applaud your hyperbolic statements and total disregard for the concept of loyalty. You're gonna be a good lawyer. But I think suggesting any coach with a good track record deserves to be fired after two bad years is absurd.

Sticking by your coach doesn't mean anyone is rooting for the status quo, I think we all want to see the Horns dogpile every June. Can Augie get us back there? I hope he can and think he can, but neither of us knows for sure. If this were random winning coach Johnson I'd say he still deserves another shot, maybe that's just who I am.

Three years in college baseball is a generation of players running through a program. Three straight years of failure would say something to me about Augie's ability to recover. Let's say the status quo persists next year. In that case I'd say Augie should resign. I'd support Augie saying 2015 is his swan song. Hell, I'd support the athletic department strongly encouraging his retirement. Your support for a Soviet-style purge and Gulagging makes my skin crawl though. This isn't some random coach we are talking about and let's not pretend this is a Fortune 500 company where you're only as secure in your job as your last profit margin. Loyalty and career accomplishments matter in sports more than business and calling those concepts nonsensical and silly doesn't make them so. My point is that I'll reserve judgment on 2015 until we cross that bridge.

There's a point where Augie's goodwill would be used up, I'll grant you that. But going 7-17 in conference two years after going to Omaha isn't that point.

I look forward to writing the same column with you again next year for Augie, Mack and Rick.

Good News So Far For Texas Baseball in MLB Draft

2013-06-07T22:48:49Z

Hopes have been very high the last few years that Texas would catch a few breaks in the MLB draft only to have those hopes slowly demolished over the ensuing months. It would be an understatement, therefore, to call the 2013 MLB draft the best offseason news for Texas baseball since Taylor Jungmann departed the 40 Acres.

Corey Knebel and Trey Ball went early and both were pretty much locks to go pro from the beginning. The way the MLB draft is set up these days means teams are less reluctant to take players they won't sign (you can read about the rules and slot values here), but suffice it to say that teams pick players in the top ten rounds because they think they'll sign. A year ago 89% of players taken in the first ten rounds had signed by early July.

So avoiding players getting drafted in the top ten rounds is critical.

As we noted earlier, the Horns appear to have swung for the fences a year ago. Whereas Texas has struck out on home run swings each of the last few years, Texas appears to have hit a solid double in the 2013 draft judging by the top ten rounds.

It's a huge breath of fresh air for a baseball program desperate for good news.

The Horns have quite clearly failed to develop players who don't arrive on campus with strong offensive skills over the years though players who come on campus already knowing how to hit have done well enough. Conversely the Texas pitching staff has been able to consistently develop a deep pitching staff which ranked #7 in the country in ERA. Texas doesn't need a dominant offense to win lots of baseball games, just a competent one capable of catching fire at the right times.

What Texas needed in the 2013 MLB draft is to bring talented hitters to campus and possibly return one or two of the proven juniors eligible to go pro. Through ten rounds that's exactly what the Horns got.

Mark Payton, Erich Weiss and Nathan Thornhill avoided being drafted through ten rounds and there's no reason to believe they won't all return for a senior season to improve their draft stock. Of course something behind the scenes could cause any or all three to leave, but having talented seniors playing for big league contracts as motivation could be a huge boost in 2014.
The prize of the recruiting class (after Ball) was Virginia SS Andy McGuire who told teams before the draft he planned to honor his commitment to Texas. Of course that didn't stop the Pirates from throwing $5 million at Josh Bell, but McGuire's stock fell without the chance of that happening. McGuire arriving on campus gives the Horns much added flexibility in the infield which struggled mightily in 2013.
Infielder Bret Boswell brings a similar strong offensive background and wasn't drafted in the top ten rounds.
Tres Barrera needs to learn how to catch or play third base but he can surely hit. Barrera hit .556 with six homers in his senior year and was expected to go relatively early in the draft. The commitment to Texas clearly scared teams away and getting him on the Texas campus would be a nice coup.
Lukas Schirald, Blake Goins and Kacy Clemens (who can also play first base) could also contribute to one of the country's top pitching staffs which is only losing Knebel.

If these players pan out and Tommy Nicholson can work some of the same magic he worked at Sacramento State then things could be looking up for Texas baseball. Though after a 27-24 season and two straight years outside of the postseason there's not really much further down to go.

Either way, things are setting up for improvement in 2014, and a failure to get much better will be an indictment of Augie and the coaching staff.

Texas Baseball Hopes To Avoid Another Crushing MLB Draft

2013-06-06T21:28:11Z

We're still working on a Texas baseball post-mortem but with the MLB Draft tonight (June 6th to 8th) we decided it was time for our annual "Let's Be Optimistic That Some Talented Players Will Go To College Ahead Of All Of Them Deciding To Go Pro Within An Hour Of The MLB Signing Deadline."

As you know, high school baseball recruiting can be difficult to follow. It's hard to know what's going on behind the scene or how a high school senior who is fully committed to attending college will respond to a pro team offering him a record $5 million signing bonus (a la Josh Bell in 2011). The good news is that the 2013-2014 recruiting class appears to be less risky than last year's disaster with only a few high risk-high reward players in the class.

When deciding whether to get optimistic about a highly rated players coming to Texas one should consider the history of four MLB draft success stories for Texas. Kyle Russell, Jordan Danks, Taylor Jungmann and CJ Hinojosa were all thought of as high level talent leaving high school yet that wasn't reflected in their respective draft positions. Russell wasn't drafted in 2005, Danks went in that draft's 19th round, Jungmann lasted until the 24th round in 2008 and Hinojosa went in the 26th round a year ago. All were rock solid about going to Texas and their draft positions plummeted as a result.

Compare that to Texas draft failures such as Bell (2nd round), Robbie Grossman (6th), Blake Swihart (1st) or Wyatt Matthieson (2nd) and it's plain to see that teams know which players they can throw money at and whose commitments to college are squishier. In other words, there isn't a great track record of high school seniors passing up professional baseball money once it's on the table to attend Texas.

If they're drafted early then it's not good for Texas.

If they're already saying things like "I’m not really too worried about it. I just have to focus on what I’m doing and what we’re doing. (The scouts) are going to do their job, and I’ll do mine," then it's not good for Texas.

Before getting to the seniors though, here are the draft eligible players on the current Texas roster who may be going pro this year:

Mark Payton - Payton flirted with .400 (.393) this season and led the team in pretty much every meaningful offensive category. Payton is one of the few players to improve dramatically over the last three years and there's no doubt he'll be drafted. Payton clearly loves Texas and we would love to have him back, but there's not much more for college ball to offer. We have a hard time seeing Payton back in 2014 though maybe teams will be scared by his 5'8" 180 pound frame.
Erich Weiss - Weiss is the anti-Payton, devolving from a solid defensive third baseman who hit .348 as a freshman to a strong hitting defensive liability his sophomore year to a man without a position who lost all his power offensively. Weiss' strikeout rate increased each of the last three years, his OBP fell and his slugging plummeted. Weiss slugged .518 and .547 his first two years in burnt orange before slugging just .390 with a single home run in 2013. Weiss should be drafted relatively early (think top 10 rounds) but could benefit significantly from another year at Texas to gain a position on defense and work out the kinks offensively. Conversely a pro team may want him out of the Texas system to teach Weiss a new position and help him improve his hitting. For an excellent Draft Profile of Weiss, check out the review from Crawfish Boxes, SB Nation's Houston Astros blog.
Nathan Thornhill - A pitcher's wins and losses is a useless stat and no player proves that more so than Texas's Sunday starter Nathan Thornhill whose 3-6 record belies his 2.21 ERA with a pair of complete games and 60 Ks compared to only 15 walks. Thornhill was the victim of poor Texas defense more than any other pitcher on the Longhorn roster which resulted in 14 unearned runs being scored against him. There's not much for Thornhill to gain in another year at Texas but the Horns have had luck in the past (Cole Green and Sam Stafford sort of come to mind) getting junior pitchers to return for their senior year.
Corey Knebel - What a sad end to what should have been a glorious college career. Knebel clashed with the Texas coaching staff and was suspended as a result allegedly for providing urine for a teammate. Knebel should be drafted early and is unlikely to return to the 40 Acres. For a Draft Profile of Knebel, again we refer you to Crawfish Boxes, who provides another excellent review.
Juniors Jacob Felts, Josh Urban, Weston Hall and Madison Carter could get drafted but it's hard to see any of them leaving to pursue pro dreams.

The real impact for the 2014 season and beyond comes from the high school recruits whose future enrollment at Texas will be largely impacted by their draft position. One of those players is a sure-fire first round pick though several could go early. Overall the class appears to have a lower ceiling than last year's class that largely went pro but there also appear to be fewer risks.

Here are the players who signed with Texas in November:

Trey Ball (New Castle, Indiana/New Castle HS) - Ball, a likely future pitcher from Indiana is projected to go early in the first round with Keith Law pegging him at 16. Maybe something will go wrong with contract negotiations otherwise there's no way Ball will find his way to college. His twitter profile says Ball is "Heading to Texas", so we've got that going for us!

Tres Barrera (McAllen, Texas/Sharyland HS) - A catcher or third baseman who mashed in high school, Barrera is one of those borderline players who could make or break this class. Coming to Texas could make Barrera some money if he can succeed at catcher. We'd expect Barrera in the top 10 rounds though it's hard to say where exactly.

Infielder Bret Boswell (Rockwall, Texas/Heath HS) - Boswell is a left handed shortstop who could slide over to second base if he ever makes it on campus. Another likely top 10 round draft pick who is likely a toss up to ever go to Texas.

First baseman/right-handed pitcher Kacy Clemens (Houston, Texas/Memorial HS) - Roger Clemens has spawned another child and he appears to be a legit MLB prospect. The chance to follow in Roger's footsteps and his dad's departure from pro ball could provide incentive for Clemens to come to college.

Right-handed pitcher Morgan Cooper (Jarrell, Texas/Jarrell HS) - A pitcher who should end up at Texas. Huzzah.

Right-handed pitcher Blake Goins (Pearland, Texas/Pearland HS) - A pitcher whose 6'0" frame may keep down his considerable draft stock. Goins seems a strong candidate to end up at Texas based on his public comments such as "When you step on the campus, it’s a great feeling. Once you step on the field, it feels like home. It’ll be fun playing at Texas because I already have a relationship with my future teammates and now we get to play at the next level."

Infielder Zane Gurwitz (San Antonio, Texas/Churchill HS) - A strong hitter whose family history at Texas makes him a good candidate to end up on campus.

Left-handed pitcher Jon Malmin (Troy, Texas/Troy HS) - Malmin said the following about attending school at Texas "I’ve always been a big fan of (Texas). It’s always kind of been a dream to go there. I mean, you grow up thinking I’m going to go play for Texas or something like that, thinking you’re going to go do that, but the opportunity is kind of like a dream come true." Strong chance he ends up in burnt orange.

Infielder Andy McGuire (Oakton, Virginia/James Madison HS) - McGuire would be a huge get for Texas if he ever makes it onto campus but that is a huge if. Keith Law has McGuire as his 74th ranked player in the draft and he is considered one of the top ten middle infielders in the draft. McGuire is the only Virginia high schooler ever to commit to Texas. McGuire's draft position will likely dictate his future status with the Longhorns.

Right-handed pitcher Lukas Schiraldi (Cedar Park, Texas/St. Michael's HS/Navarro College) - The only JUCO transfer identified in this year's class so far, Schiraldi is the son of former Longhorn Calvin Schiraldi. The younger Shiraldi was a dominating reliever at Navarro in 2012 and would provide instant depth to the bullpen should he make it on campus.

Drafted players have until July 12th at 5 PM to sign. This'll be your MLB Draft open thread and we'll try to update as the Horns and future Horns go off the board.

Texas eliminated by Tennessee

2013-06-03T14:50:33Z

With the Texas men's golf team being knocked out in the national quarterfinals over the weekend, the softball Lady Longhorns were the ~~only~~ penultimate squad still competing in the burnt orange for the (largely forgettable) 2012-13 school year. Despite a valiant effort in OKC, their season ended last night with a tough 2-1 loss to Bizarro UT that, like most one-run losses, was full of "what-ifs" and "coulda-beens."

First, it must be noted that Texas pitcher Blaire Luna was heroic on Sunday. She struck out 14 in the Horns' first game of the day, in which they eliminated Florida. For those counting at home, in a seven-inning game that's two thirds of the total outs. She then threw 147 pitches in the nightcap against the Lady Vols, holding them to three hits and two runs in a complete game effort. Tennessee hit a homerun in the first, and the score remained 1-0 until the sixth. This despite the fact that Texas got at least one runner on base in five of the first six innings, including a two on and none out situation in the bottom of the sixth. They just couldn't come up with a clutch hit to break through.

Meanwhile, Luna lost control on the top of the sixth. After walking the leadoff hitter, she got the next two batters on a strikeout and a flyout. But then the wheels came off: she hit the next hitter with a pitch and walked the next on four pitches, setting up a bases-loaded, two-out situation. Despite starting pinch hitter Lexi Overstreet with a 1-2 count, Luna then walked her as well to score the Vols' second, and ultimately winning, run. Lindsey Stephens led off the bottom of the seventh with a homerun for Texas, but the next three hitters went down in order to end the game. So, despite out-hitting Tennessee 5-3, the Longhorns were eliminated.

It's particularly tough to see Luna's career end this way. Although the sixth inning was certainly disastrous on her part, she held Tennessee to two runs on the night and gave her team a chance to win. The hitters just couldn't come up with the clutch hit, which happens sometimes. When you face elimination, the margin for error is zero and Texas learned that the hard way. The Lady Longhorns represented the University well in Oklahoma City, finishing in the top four and ~~ending~~ leaving only track and field left in a generally terrible school year for UT sports on a positive note.

The three-game championship series between Tennessee and Oklahoma begins tonight. We'll be pulling for the Sooners for three reasons: 1. It's hard to muster up much hatred for a softball team, even if they wear those awful colors. 2. Whatever tiny amount of joy a Sooner victory would bring to whatever portion of the state that's paying attention has to be hoped for in this tough time for the people of Oklahoma. 3. Big 12 pride, etc.

Thanks to the Lady Longhorns for an entertaining run. Hook 'em!

Texas Softball Do or Die Open Thread

2013-06-02T15:37:17Z

Well, that was ugly. Texas took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning against Oklahoma yesterday, only to see it evaporate in the blink of an eye in the bottom of the same inning. OU put up a six-spot on Texas in the bottom of the third, aided by a four-base throwing error by pitcher Kim Bruins, who had come on in relief of Blaire Luna earlier in the inning. The Sooners never looked back, ending the game by a score of 10-2 in five innings due to the eight-run, five-inning mercy rule.

So Texas now flips to the other side of the bracket. The good news about that is Oklahoma is almost certainly the best team in this tournament, so if Texas can prove itself the second-best team then the Longhorns won't have to face the Sooners again until the three-game championship series. The problem is, in order to get there Texas will have to win three games in two days against a pair of very good SEC squads.

At noon today, Texas takes on Florida in an elimination game for both teams. If the Longhorns emerge victorious, they play tonight at 6:00 CDT against Bizarro UT (Tennessee), with the weird-looking orange. That would be an elimination game for Texas, but not for Tennessee. Then, if they win that one, Texas would again play Tennessee tomorrow; and the winner of that game would then play the winner of the other bracket (again, likely Oklahoma) in the championship series, which would start after the bracket-championship dust settles tomorrow.

So, to recap: all Texas has to do to win the national championship is beat two really good teams today, beat one of those teams again tomorrow, and then beat the best team in the country two out of three times in a series that starts tomorrow. It's an awfully tall order, but it starts with a single win. To whatever extent it matters, Texas should have a slight advantage today because Florida played late into the night last night, finally taking out Nebraska 9-8 in 15 innings. Nebraska lost their chance to force a 16th inning, or maybe win it in 15, when a terrible call at third base ended their season.

This is your open thread for the day's games. Texas-Florida is at noon on ESPN, followed by Washington-Michigan in another elimination game on ESPN. Florida against the UT-Bizarro UT winner at 6 on ESPN2, then OU against the UW-UM winner also on ESPN2. Hook 'em!

WCWS Postponed games schedule

2013-06-01T13:31:04Z

The weather yesterday in Oklahoma City had tragic consequences that of course make sports seem far less important. We will certainly keep the folks in that area, who have been hit hard twice in a short period of time, in our thoughts today; and, we very much encourage readers to do whatever they can to help Texas' neighbors to the north. We remember Hurricane Katrina all too well, and can tell you that every little donation and act of kindness really does help.

In OKC, though, the show must go on and last night's games have been rescheduled. Tennessee and Washington will now play at 11 AM on ESPN2, followed by Texas-OU at 1:30 PM, also on ESPN2. The two elimination games (Florida-Nebraska, Michigan-Arizona State) that were scheduled for those times will now take place tonight.

The next two elimination games (tonight's winners against this afternoon's losers) will be played tomorrow at noon and 2:30 on ESPN, with the first bracket championship games to follow tomorrow night. The second, "if necessary" bracket championship games will happen on Monday.

Texas in the WCWS

2013-06-01T13:20:53Z

The Longhorns look to take home a softball national championship from Oklahoma City

The Texas softball team will open its Women's College World Series run this evening at 6:00 PM against fifth-seeded Arizona State, and it should be a fantastic ballgame. We'll have a preview and open thread up in time for that one, but there are two games in Oklahoma City before the Lady Longhorns take the field.

First, at 11 AM CDT, the two party-crashers in this year's field square off. Eleventh-seeded Washington, which went into Columbia and swept Mizzou out of the tournament last weekend in a pair of tight games, will be the home team against 14th-seeded Nebraska. The Huskers' 43-13 record indicates they may have been slightly under-seeded, although they were probably dinged for playing in the generally weak Big Ten. They showed that was a mistake by taking two of three from third-seeded Oregon in Eugene last weekend; in fact, the Big Ten has two teams in the WCWS as Michigan will face OU tonight.

This year's WCWS has remarkable conference symmetry--the eight teams come from four conferences, with each conference represented by two teams. Washington and ASU from the Pac-12; Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12; Nebraska and Michigan from the Big Ten; and Florida and Tennessee, who play each other at 2:30 following the UW-NU game, from the SEC.

Speaking of that second game, Tennessee is used to playing conference-mates in this tournament: they punched their ticket to OKC by taking down Alabama in Knoxville at the Super Regional stage. Florida, the national number two seed, got here with a pair of one-run victories over a game UAB squad that had won the Louisville regional in an upset. The Gators took two of three at home against the Vols in the regular season on their way to an SEC title. One interesting thing to note is that, at 57-7 on the season, if UF were to get the three wins it needs to make the championship series it would have an incredible 60 wins on the season.

This is your open thread for these two opening-session games. We'll be back later with a look at the Texas side of the bracket and your evening open thread. Note that the OKC weather forecast calls for isolated thunderstorms today, so the schedule may get out of whack.

Texas-OU WCWS Open Thread

2013-05-31T22:30:06Z

The first four innings of last night's WCWS first-round game between Texas and Arizona State was about what we expected: a 0-0 pitcher's duel between Texas' Blaire Luna and ASU's Dallas Escobedo. Arizona State didn't manage a hit in those first four innings, although Luna did have to pitch out of a jam caused by a walk and an infield error. Escobedo also had a scare in the second, when the Longhorns' Kim Bruins launched a fly ball over the wall in left--only to have it hauled back in by the Sun Devils' Elizabeth Caporuscio on a play she made look easier than it was.

ASU finally broke through in the top of the fifth, with a pair of runs on their first three hits of the game: two one-out singles followed by a double into the left-center gap. To her credit, Luna then settled down and avoided more damage by getting the Sun Devils' two best hitters, Cheyenne Coyle and Amber Freeman, to end the inning.

It looked bleak for the Longhorns for about a minute, but they fought back for a lead they would never relinquish in the bottom of the frame. After a one-out single by nine-hole hitter Stephanie Ceo, Taylor Hoagland struck out swinging. But then Texas put on a classic two-out rally, keyed--as many rallies are--by a walk. Brejae Washington put together a spectacular at-bat, fouling off a pair of full-count pitches before drawing that fourth ball. Taylor Thom then lifted a well-placed fly ball to right field that dropped in for a double, scoring Ceo; Washington scored on a throwing error by the right fielder, and it was tied up at 2. Then Bruins came up and hit almost exactly the same ball she had hit in the second--but this time, it bounced out of Caporuscio's glove and over the wall for a two-run homer.

Arizona State answered with a leadoff homerun to start the top of the sixth, but that was as close as they would get. Another pair of runs in the sixth served as insurance for Texas. In the top of the seventh, coach Connie Clark made a somewhat controversial decision by putting Bruins in the circle to get the save rather than leave Luna out there to finish the game. Clark may have been partially influenced by the fact that ASU's head coach was calling out Luna's pitches before she threw them; whatever the reason, Bruins overcame a fielding miscue that extended the inning and held on for a 6-3 Texas win.

That success earns the Longhorns the honor of playing the basically-hosting and top-seeded OU Sooners tonight at 8:30 on ESPN. It should be a piece of cake; Keilani Ricketts may be the national player of the year for the second straight season, and she may have started the WCWS with a no-hitter against Michigan last night, but that doesn't mean much. It's simple logic: as we all know, OU sucks. Texas is playing OU. Because Texas does not suck, we can assume Texas should win. Right?

In all honesty, tonight's game is huge for the Longhorns' championship hopes. There is no question that beating Oklahoma would be an upset. But if Texas can pull it off tonight, then not only will Texas need only one more win to make the championship series; the Longhorns would be rid of Oklahoma until a possible rematch in the championship series. As intrepid commenter Texas Wright pointed out yesterday, the NCAA flips the bracket for the Women's College World Series (unlike the men's version). That means, either way, Texas and OU would not meet again after tonight until the championship series. Tonight's loser will move to the other side of the bracket and play the winner of tomorrow morning's Nebraska-Florida elimination game, while the loser of tonight's Tennessee-Washington game will play the winner of the ASU-Michigan elimination game. Meanwhile, tonight's Texas-OU winner will play whomever comes out of the morass of Michigan, ASU, and the Tennessee-Washington loser. Clear as day, right?

This will be your open thread for both Texas-OU and the preceding showdown between Tennessee and Washington, 6:00 on ESPN. It won't be easy for Texas tonight, but with Luna in the circle and Texas' never-say-die hitters anything is possible. Hook 'em!