Some how, some way, the BatCats made it into the field of 64. Not only did they make the tournament, but I don't even hate their draw, as far as getting out of the Fullerton Regional goes. They play 2-seed Stanford (32-20) in the first round, and the winner of the Fullerton (40-15) / Illinois (28-25) game.

I don't see either of those match-ups as unwinnable. I would not be surprised to see the Cats win the regional, but it would be equally unsurprising to me if they went two-and-barbecue either. This season has been so wildly inconsistent that nothing they do (or don't do) shocks me anymore. Hit the jump for a poll on how the BatCats will do, as well as the regional seedings for both the Fullerton Regional and the Chapel Hill Regional, the winner of which our regional champion will play.

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Yes, it's summer, which means unless your university is handing out player suspensions or announcing crappy accounting practices, it is slow as hell. But, summer also means it's baseball season, and this sounds like good news for a former Wildcat.

Good luck to Carlos if this rumor turns out to be truth. I hate the White Sox, but I could learn to cheer for them every 5th day or so.

With last night's loss to the Rice Owls in the Houston Regional, the greatest season in 109 years of K-State baseball came to an end.  The way the season ended, with K-State unable to eliminatre Rice in two tries to move on to the Super Regionals, may be a bitter pill to swallow, but should not at all overshadow what was accomplished this season by Brad Hill and the Wildcats.

On the season, K-State won 43 games, eight more than the previous best in 1976.  The Wildcats qualified for their third-straight Big 12 tournament, posting their best conference finish (fourth).  They won more conference games, 14, than any prior K-State team.  They took the series from, and nearly swept, Texas in Austin, which needless to say, doesn't happen very often.  They qualified for the program's first NCAA Tournament.  In that first tournament appearance, they very nearly advanced to the Super Regionals.

Individually, A.J. Morris was named Big 12 pitcher of the year, an All-American, and is still in the running for national pitcher and player of the year honors.  Brad Hill was named Big 12 coach of the year.

Alas, the Regional matchups with Rice proved that K-State, for all its improvements, is still an elite pitcher and a few batters shy of Rice's level.  With A.J. Morris on the mound, K-State was a match for anyone this year, which was proven definitively with Saturday's victory.  Established programs such as Rice have stockpiled talent over years of recruiting, which they showed when a freshman pitcher, for a team facing elimination, threw a three-hitter against K-State on Sunday.  Ultimately, Rice's consistent batting lineup and deep starting pitching wore down K-State.  In a classy gesture, Rice's fans proved their knowledge of the game by giving a standing ovation to four of K-State's key players when Hill substituted them out late in the game Monday.

Many thanks go to seniors Drew Biery, Jordan Cruz, Lance Hoge, Rob Vaughn, Todd Vogel and Dane Yelovich.  Now is also the appropriate time to salute A.J. Morris, as he has played his last game in purple with the MLB draft beckoning.  Justin Bloxom is also draft-eligible and, should he decide to leave, should be saluted for his play in Manhattan. 

Despite these losses, don't fret for the future, Wildcat fans.  With returning pitchers like Thomas Rooke, Evan Marshall, James Allen, Kayvon Bahramzadeh and Matt Applegate, we should have a solid pitching staff for years to come.  In the lineup, Carter Jurica, Nick Martini and Jason King return.  We will need some of the younger players to step up, but that's true of every team in the nation.  Given the vast improvement shown by Morris from last season to this one, I have the utmost confidence in Brad Hill, Andy Sawyers and Sean McCann to get the most out of these guys next season.  Let's do it again next year, folks.

Go Cats!

 

Who: K-State vs. KU
What: Big 12 Baseball Tournament
Where: Oklahoma City, Okla. | Bricktown Ballpark (13,066)
When: May 20, 2009 | 9 a.m.
Media: 1350 KMAN | Big 12 Online Broadcast

K-State will send Lance Hoge to the mound to meet KU and Shaeffer Hall, who took the Sunflower Showdown series off the Cats last weekend. Regular-season champion Texas and Baylor round out Pool 1. Check out the live feed linked above to catch all the action from Oklahoma City.

Go Cats!

As I generally do when K-State travels to Austin to take on the Longhorns, I made the trip up from Houston to take in the action.  Following the suggestion of a good friend, I went to the game on Friday to catch A.J. Morris, the best pitcher in the country this year, in action.

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The K-State baseball team made some history this weekend in Lincoln, and in the process took a huge jump up the conference standings.

The Wildcats swept Nebraska in Lincoln, the first time the Huskers have been swept at home in 12 years.  K-State won by tallies of 15-1, 9-3 and 5-3, taking advantage of the Huskers' continued atrocious pitching and in the process seeing an improvement in its own troublesome pitching.

Because of weather concerns, the series was moved up, with the teams playing a doubleheader on Friday and the concluding game on Saturday afternoon.  In Friday's opening game, K-State jumped all over Husker starter Jordan Roualdes for five first-inning runs.  K-State starter Lance Hoge was pretty much untouched by the Huskers, and freshman reliever James Allen went three scoreless for the save.

Friday's nightcap brought a season first and a little excitement.  Nebraska managed to score three runs on K-State starter A.J. Morris, the first runs allowed by Morris in conference play this season.  In the second inning, in the midst of what amounts to a scoring binge against Morris this season, Morris threw a wild pitch to bring in Nebraska's Nick Sullivan from third.  Sullivan slid in to tally the run and then had words with Morris as he turned toward the Husker dugout.  K-State catcher Rob Vaughn ran in to break up the confrontation, shoving Morris and Sullivan in turn, and in the process inciting a benches-clearing discussion of differences at home plate.  Vaughn and Sullivan were both ejected.  You can see video of the incident here.

In my opinion, the whole deal was a lot of talk over next to nothing.  Sullivan's slide didn't appear particularly egregious, and Vaughn appeared just as interested in keeping Morris out of the fight as he was in sending a message to Sullivan.  Husker fans will of course believe this is more conclusive evidence of dirty play by K-State, pointing to the well-publicized slide by Jordan Cruz two years ago that injured Mitch Abeita and nearly led to a riot between the two teams in Okahoma City's Bricktown Ballpark.  Frankly, I believe that if Husker fans want to take a principled position here, they would have to admit that Sullivan's slide was dirty if they still want to argue that Cruz's slide was dirty, but I have little hope of such level-headed analysis from our friends to the north.

In Saturday's concluding game, K-State again jumped ahead early, scoring three runs before the homestanding Huskers came to bat.  Nebraska clawed back into the game with single tallies in the fourth, fifth and eighth inning, but the Wildcats countered with single tallies of their own in the seventh and eighth innings to keep the game out of reach.

By sweeping the Huskers, K-State vaulted from last place to fourth in the Big 12 standings.  Here's a quick look at the conference standings as of today's action:

Oklahoma 6-3 (Defeated Missouri, 2-1, this weekend)

Texas A&M 7-5 (Lost to Texas Tech, 1-2, this weekend)

Baylor 7-5 (Defeated KU, 2-1, this weekend)

K-State 5-4 (Swept Nebraska this weekend)

Texas 6-6 (Defeated Oklahoma State, 2-1, this weekend)

Texas Tech 6-6 (Defeated Texas A&M, 2-1, this weekend)

Oklahoma State 4-5 (Lost to Texas, 2-1, this weekend)

KU 4-5 (Lost to Baylor, 2-1, this weekend)

Missouri 4-7 (Lost to Oklahoma, 1-2, this weekend)

Nebraska 4-8 (Swept by K-State this weekend)

Next weekend presents a huge opportunity for K-State to solidify its conference standing and NCAA Tournament chances as Texas A&M comes to Manhattan.  The Aggies lead K-State by 1.5 games in the conference standings and tout a No. 22 RPI.  Taking a series off A&M is the goal for next weekend.