We have two thrilling NBA conference championships going on (GO MAVS!). Major League Baseball is rounding into full swing, with the contenders starting to separate themselves from the pretenders. I’ve heard the World Cup is about to begin, an event whose excitement is only surpassed by the National Spelling Bee, which ABC is televising in prime time for some reason. And here in Austin, we have 40,000 Harley-Davidson-types rumbling into town for the Republic of Texas Biker Rally on the same weekend as the NCAA REGIONALS!
No program has a longer, more illustrious history than the University of Texas, which is hosting its 35th (35th!!!!) regional. Not all of those regionals have been at Disch-Falk Field – it just seems like it because the 30-year old stadium is not wearing well. A first-time visitor to Disch-Falk will notice several things immediately. First, the grandstand looks enormous. Most of the 6,649 official seats are located in the main grandstand, which rises about 40 rows up from the field. Even though a stadium such as LSU’s Alex Box has a greater seating capacity, its grandstand looks tiny compared to Disch-Falk’s. Second, the field has artificial turf. There’s a sizable contingent (perhaps even a majority) of Texas fans who hate the turf, but every time the athletic department needs to replace it they trot out the same old excuses about how grass wouldn’t handle the Texas heat and summer camps and high school playoff games, etc. Honestly, I think the athletic department likes it because it reduces maintenance costs, and it’s a great home-field advantage for the team because it speeds everything up. Finally, the playing surface is huge. It takes a 340-foot poke to clear the fence down the left-field line. The official distances are 375 to the alleys and 400 to center, but I would swear on a stack of Nolan Ryan baseball cards that those numbers are short by at least 10 feet. Add all this together and you get the main reason Texas traditionally leads the nation in sacrifice bunts, usually has a very low team ERA, and rarely hits dingers at home. The Disch will be receiving a $21M renovation starting in July and ending in 2008. Read about it here if you're interested.
Most people expect Texas to win this regional easily, but they’ll have to make it through three teams that have enjoyed recent success against the Longhorns. NC State came to town for a double-header in 2004 and not only swept the two games, but also shut out the Longhorns twice. Stanford took two of three from Texas in an early-season series in Palo Alto. And UT-Arlington beat the Longhorns 6-3 here in April.
#1 seed Texas (40-18) will be making a run at a 5th consecutive trip to Omaha. The team is talented, deep, and experienced, so it’s tough to bet against them. Offensively, the team is led by co-Big 12 Player of the Year Drew Stubbs, who is expected to be the first college position player chosen in the draft. Stubbs is the rare blend of power (12 HR’s, which is a lot when most of your games are in Disch-Falk), speed (24 steals), and size (6’4”) that makes scouts drool. He improved his hitting this season, batting .356 even though he still strikes out too much (53 K’s). Stubbs is backed by veterans Carson Kainer and Chance Wheeless. Kainer (.367 BA) is one of those guys the major league announcers call “a professional hitter.” After an early-season wrist injury, Wheeless is finally starting to hit like he did last season. The pitching staff returned most of the arms that mowed through everyone at last year’s CWS, but has not been as good as expected. Kyle McCulloch started out the year slowly, but reverted to form (6-1, 2.08 ERA in conference) and was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Year. The coaching staff seemed to have little confidence in Kenn Kasparek this season, and though he never adjusted to pitching out of the bullpen, he did throw six shutout innings in his Big 12 Tournament start, earning the start for the regional opener. Adrian Alaniz has also been inconsistent and has a 4.00 ERA to show for it. None of these guys have been bad, but if you saw how good they were in the postseason last year, you probably expected them to be better. The Longhorn bullpen has received significant contributions from four freshmen, especially closer Austin Wood. Nice smile there, Austin.
#2 seed NC State (38-21) can be best described with one word: hitters. The Wolfpack bats are nationally ranked in on-base percentage (2nd), hits (2nd), batting average (3rd), runs (4th), walks (7th), and doubles (8th). The Wolfpack hit .335 as a team, with only two starters batting lower than .324, and average an absurd 8.76 runs per game, more than two runs per game more than anyone else in town this weekend. Their top seven hitters are all so similar in productivity that I can’t even single out one to write about. Seriously, look at these guys. Though the staff ERA is a respectable 4.37, there’s no horse like Vern Sterry or Michael Rogers in 2004. The Wolfpack will throw Gib Hobson (9-1, 4.60 ERA, .287 BAA) against Stanford and Eryk McConnell (7-6, 4.20 ERA, .270 BAA) on Saturday.
#3 seed Stanford (30-25) is no stranger to the NCAA playoffs or the Texas Longhorns. This is the Cardinals’ 13th consecutive trip to the regionals and 27th overall. They’ve played the Longhorns 37 times over the years, including several in Omaha, and hold a 19-17-1 series advantage. Stanford is led by two players, pitcher Greg Reynolds and SS Chris Minaker. Reynolds is expected to be a 1st-rounder in the upcoming draft. He has been a workhorse for the Cardinal, averaging seven innings per start and posting a 3.47 ERA. Every year, Stanford seems to have one guy who takes The Leap, developing from a pretty good player into a great player. This year that guy was Minaker, who seriously leads the team in every important offensive category (.346 BA, 11 HR, 64 RBI) except on-base percentage. (14 walks is not going to make Billy Beane’s heart flutter.) The rest of the guys have hardly been dominant, either at the plate or on the mound. Stanford has actually been out-hit by their opponents (.279 BA vs. .281 BAA) and is only +3 in runs scored on the season.
#4 seed UT-Arlington (29-34) was the surprise winner of the Southland Conference Tournament. I saw them play two games the week before the conference tournament, and saying they looked mediocre would be charitable. But they got hot at the right time, losing their first game of the SLC tournament but streaking back through the losers’ bracket with four straight wins, including an extra-inning victory over host Lamar. Like Stanford, UTA is led in nearly every offensive category by one player, catcher Adam Moore, who spent last season on redshirt with Nebraska. Moore shows good plate discipline and power, and should be a fairly high pick in the upcoming draft. The Mavs’ pitching staff is a real mess, sporting a 5.64 overall ERA and allowing opposing hitters to bat .314. Unless UTA can capture the same magic they had last weekend, they’ll 2-and-que this one.
This regional will have no night games because it’s being televised by ESPNU. (If your cable company doesn’t carry ESPNU, call them and tell them to stick it, and then switch to DirecTV.) Fortunately, it’s unseasonably cool here, with high temps predicted in the 80’s. Unfortunately, there’s rain in the forecast. NC State and Stanford are scheduled to get it going at 11 am Friday, followed by UT-UTA at 3 pm.
