Open Game Thread: K-State vs. Oklahoma, Game 2

Who: K-State (38-15/15-7) vs. Oklahoma (35-18/12-10)

What: Big 12 Baseball

When: May 18, 2013 | 6:30 p.m. CDT

Where: Manhattan | Tointon Family Stadium (2,331 plus thousands of standing-room spots, apparently)

Media: 1350 KMAN | Fox College Sports Central (um, maybe)

Euphoria's still engaged, and tonight's going to be a raucous celebration at Tointon. The Big 12 Champion Wildcats are expected to send Joe Flattery (3-4, 4.36) to the mound to face Oklahoma's other ace, Dillon Overton (8-2, 2.87). To be fair, the matchup favors the Sooners today, but then the BatCats handled Jonathan Gray last night so anything's possible.

But really, who cares? The Wildcats are, for now, undisputed kings of the Big 12.

Well, actually, we still need to win. Now that the most important piece of business has been handled, there's the small matter of continuing to win games over the next week. Sweeping the Sooners will send us to Bricktown with the magical 40 wins already in the bag, and it would sure be nice to add the Big 12 tournament title to the trophy case too. The big reward: a bunch more games at Tointon after Sunday, as continuing to win will almost certainly guarantee we host our regional. That would be a massive boost to our dreams of making it to Omaha.

Regarding the television broadcast, I'm a bit concerned as the DirecTV guide shows tomorrow's game as "upcoming" during the timeslot for today's game. There's a weird relationship between what the guide thinks is supposed to be airing and what gets blacked out, and I'm deathly afraid I'll turn on channel 623 and see a bouncing DirecTV logo. It's channel 301 on Verizon FIOS and 643 on UVerse; if you've got cable, you're on your own.

In other news, we'd like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to a team which would be on their way to the Big 12 if anyone in charge had any sense. While the BatCats were finishing the CatTrick, Louisville hit the CardTrick, accomplishing the feat in the Big East by knocking off Pittsburgh to add the baseball title to their football and basketball titles. We have to give them the proper credit, I think, and note their year's been even better than ours; after all, they won their BCS bowl, and then there was the small matter of taking home an NCAA championship the first week of April.

But you know what? I have absolutely no problem conceding here. They've had an absolutely stellar nine months, and there's no shame being the second-best men's athletic program in the nation this academic year.

Now, let's beat those dirt burglars again!