2012 College Baseball- Road to Omaha

Count the number of ACC national seeds, regional and super regional hosts over that same period. Success isn't so hot when you look at it that way. They do less with more than any other conference in America.

2011- Three national seeds, five total bids, two teams in Omaha posted a 2-4 record
2010- Two national seeds, eight total bids, two teams in Omaha posted a 3-4 record
2009- One national seed, seven total bids, two teams in Omaha posted a 2-4 record
2008- Three national seeds (1,2, 4), six total bids, three teams in Omaha posted a 4-6 record with one of the wins being FSU beating Miami in an elimination game
2007- Two national seeds, seven total bids, one team in Omaha posted a 3-4 record and reached the championship series (UNC lost to Oregon St.)
2006- Two national seeds, seven total bids, Four teams in Omaha posted a 6-7 record and UNC reached the championship series and lost to Oregon St. Two wins & two losses were ACC vs. ACC games.


Edit: By comparision, with only 10 teams reaching Omaha in the same span, the SEC has won three titles with two runner-up finishes (one being Florida losing to South Caroina last year when three of the four semifinalists were SEC schools).

 

Having arrived and settled in here in South Padre for a 3-day jaunt with my daughter, I'm set for the Spurs and I'm pulling for the likes of Vandy, Appy, Dallas Baptist, Stoney Brook and Ole Miss to git 'ers done enroute to the Supers.

 

There's no doubt the SEC is the strongest baseball conference in the nation and has been for quite a while. But I'm looking at your numbers, and the ACC's national seeds do a good job of getting to Omaha. In fact, there are more ACC teams in Omaha than it had national seeds. So wouldn't that be over-achieving?

Regardless, like Final Four appearances in basketball, CWS appearances are a good barometer of success. Winning a title -- whether it's basketball or baseball -- is often dependent on matchups, health, and sometimes just good luck.

I think there are a lot of conferences out there that would love to have the ACC's CWS numbers. You don't win a title without getting to Omaha first.

 

I meant it more as a crack about college baseball in general. One of the things I love about the sport is how it's closer to high school and little league, in terms of the way players act, than the majors. For some reason I always get a chuckle when I'm at a tournament and see the next teams to play sitting in the stands or milling about the concourse while the previous game is wrapping up.

 

Yeah, I agree with you. The ACC does better getting teams to the CWS than I thought, and that has to be the major barometer of success.

I was actually pretty surprised at the numbers. My perception has been that it has been far worse than those numbers indicate. I'd be curious to see a comparison of the Supers teams from each conference over the same time span. I wonder if that would also be more in favor of the ACC than my perception.

 

Not a bad year for Stony Brook athletics. The Seawolves' football team won an FCS playoff game and nearly upset the eventual runner-up in the second round, and the baseball team makes it to a super regional.

 

Here is the SEC in the same span:


2011
Three national seeds, seven total bids, three teams in Omaha posted an 8-4 record (6-0 against non-SEC opponents). Three teams reached the semifinals, two reached the final and South Carolina won the title.

2010
One national seed, eight total bids, two teams in Omaha posted a 6-3 record and South Carolina won the title.

2009
Two national seeds, eight total bids, two teams in Omaha posted a 7-3 record (5-1 against non-SEC teams). Two teams reached the semifinals and LSU won the title.

2008
Two national seeds, nine total bids, two teams in Omaha posted a 5-4 record and Georgia finished second.

2007
Two national seeds, six total bids, one team in Omaha posted an 0-2 record.

2006
Two national seeds, eight total bids, one team in Omaha posted an 0-2 record.

Not counting ACC vs. ACC or SEC vs. SEC games, the conference records in Omaha look like this:

ACC: 14-26 0 titles, 11 teams in Omaha, two runners-up
SEC: 22-12 3 titles, 10 teams in Omaha, three champions, two runners-up, two semifinalists

Over that same span the Pac 10 had eight teams reach Omaha. They posted a 19-15 record with two titles with one runner-up and one semifinalist.

Total Tournament Bids
SEC: 46
ACC: 40
Pac 12: 29

 

LSU and Stony Brook locked in a thriller in the top 11th.

LSU was down 2-0 through the first seven, then got a run back in the bottom 8th. Tied it at 2-2 in the bottom 9th. Stony Brook homered in the 10th, and LSU somehow came up with a homer to tie it again at 3-3 on a full count with two outs. Craziest part was that Stony Brook dropped what looked like a routine fly over toward the bullpen in left that would have ended the game.

Hell of a game to watch, and I'm not a particularly big baseball fan.

 

Stony Brook takes a 4-3 lead in the top 11th, then LSU answers in the bottom half with it's third game-tying home run in as many innings. Haven't seen a game this good in years. Tied 4-4 in the bottom 11th now.

 

Damn, why'd you post that? Because I just turned it on and it's tied again. I may be a little late for work ...

 

Scratch that last one ... rain delay.

 

Yeah, into the top 12th now, but by the sound of things it'll be a while before they start back up.