Thoughts After Four Late Nights...

[HHH_Gopher]

What a great second half of the season by this team. I echo John Anderson's comments about how proud he was of this club. Although the last two games were certainly disappointing, the resilience of this group of kids to play through the early season struggles was impressive. It looked for a while as if this was as poor a club as we'd seen in quite a few years, but they definitely dispelled that notion. To top it off, they were on tv for three straight weekends. Great, great fun watching these guys play out the end of the season.

As for last night, CSF was simply more talented, especially at the plate. We have some really solid hitters in Pettersen, Kvasnicka, Knudson, and O'Shea, but otherwise we're relatively light hitting. It seemed as though every guy CSF brought up could do some damage. I think they only had one guy hitting under .300 in the lineup. That's just tough to beat twice in a regional. We did a great job against Floro, but that Hernandez kid was great. Not sure how I feel about him getting to play after sitting out the entire season, but rules are rules. I loved how we battled and I thought Lubinsky actually did ok. Just made a few too many mistakes, especially with two outs. CSF is a great team, but I'd love to see UCLA knock those bat-flipping punks around a little this weekend.

Despite the graduation of Knudson (best player down the stretch) and the expected losses of Rosin and Kvasnicka, this could be a really nice team next year. I would expect either Lubinsky or Soule (who looked great) to step into the third starter role. Just need a few more bats and we'll see another team that contends for the conference title and potentially makes some noise in the regionals.

Hats off to 14 and the Gophers!

[RodentRampage]

I'd have loved to see the Gophers go farther, but it was a good run. When the Big Ten season started, it looked like we would be closer to the cellar than first place. But we won the regular season outright, won the tournament, and got to the championship game of the regional. We might have won the regional in a different bracket.

That we've been able to keep up a good team despite the stadium situation bodes well for the future. The dome is of benefit in getting early games at home, but playing all your home games there is a hardship. In the Metrodome, even a good college crowd makes it seem like an empty parking lot.

The new baseball field that is on the way should make recruiting easier, and if we are this good with having an awful stadium situation...

Maybe we could play some more games at Target Field next season. We could play there when the Twins are on the road.

[ski-u-mah]

Agreed, hats off to the Gophers, nice run! Unfortunately ran into a very serious baseball school. But they played hard, had a nice run and I am proud of their effort.

I love baseball, and I love the Big Ten, so I enjoy Big Ten Baseball, but unfortunately, it will be very difficult for us northern schools to ever complete on the same level with a lot of the top baseball schools.

At least we have baseball! Looking at you gay Bucky.

[RodentRampage]

Honestly, I hadn't paid all that much attention to college baseball until this season. I went to an occasional game, checked up on the scores, but this is the first time I really got into it. It's funny though, I started getting interested during the non-conference schedule, when we weren't doing so well.

I took my three year old to a game, I explained it to her as much as I could. She really loved Goldy Gopher. The Gophers have a consistently pretty good team, and I think with the new stadium, things will only be looking up. Minneapolis regional one of these years?

[betterdeadthanred]

Originally Posted by RodentRampage

Minneapolis regional one of these years?

It is kind of surprising looking at most of the locations you would think that there would be at least one in the midwest.

[Lincoln gopher]

Originally Posted by betterdeadthanred

It is kind of surprising looking at most of the locations you would think that there would be at least one in the midwest.

First you have to have a top ranked team to host and then have the facilities and fan support to make the NCAA some money. Since Nebraska has gone down hill the last couple of years, no midwest team has hosted a regioanl or super.

[betterdeadthanred]

I figured it was like BB and schools just requested to be host site and were awarded it.

[Lincoln gopher]

Originally Posted by betterdeadthanred

I figured it was like BB and schools just requested to be host site and were awarded it.

The team that hosts has to be in the tournament and be a 1 or 2 seed and have good facilities.

[RodentRampage]

I assume the new baseball stadium would be good enough facilities to host. Right now, even if we were a #1 or #2 seed we wouldn't host because no one wants the tournament in the Dome. It really is an acomplishment to have kept together a good team despite the stadium situation. Get back in our own stadium, be one of those #1 or #2 seeds, and get the NCAA to throw a bone to the midwest...

[HHH_Gopher]

I think it's a pretty safe assumption that we would be in line to host a regional with a new facility. Michigan is a great example....a year after winning the Vandy regional in 2007, they completed the renovation to Fisher Stadium, and were awarded a regional the following year. I believe they were seeded 2nd in the region, but they did not advance. Though I can't remember who came out of it.

As long as we have adequate capacity (2,000+), I can't imagine it not happening down the line. It wasn't that long ago (1999) that we hosted a regional at Siebert.

[fan of Ray Williams]

13 out of the 16 #1 seeds advanced to the Super Regional. The other three advancing were #2 seeds. Talk about tough to advance for the lower seeds.