NCAA Baseball Houston Super Regional Preview

Texas A&M v. Rice

 

via www.aggieathletics.com

 

Host: Rice University

Site: Reckling Park

Schedule:

• Game 1: Saturday, June 7^th, 2 p.m. (ESPNU)
  
• Game 2: Sunday, June 8^th, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
  
• Game 3: Monday, June 9^th, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN) or 6 p.m. (ESPN2)

 Teams Overview:

Texas A&M Aggies (46-17)

The Aggies enter the super regional after advancing from the College Station Regional last weekend. After a recent 10-game slide, the Aggies have won four of their last five games.

via www.aggieathletics.com

Who’s Hot:

• Kyle Colligan – The Aggies’ centerfielder led the team in the championship game of the Super Regional with two home runs. Colligan was named the MOP of the regional.
  
• Darby Brown – With 4 RBIs in the Championship game on Monday Darby has showed why the Aggies love having him in the middle of the order. Coach Childress will need lots of production out of Brown and teammate Luke Anders for the Aggies to feel good about their chances in Houston.

Rice Owls (45-13)

The Owls earned their way to the super regional by defeating Texas in their regional. Rice will be making its fourth consecutive trip to the super regionals.

Coach Wayne Graham has the Owls playing at an extremely high level. The Owls really have no glaring weaknesses on their team. They hit for power, use speed on the base paths, and not to mention their team ERA is near the top of Division 1 baseball.

 

 Who’s Hot:

• Jimmy Comerata – The Owls second basemen helped pace the Owls to a regional championship with some big hits in the final game against Texas. 

• Adam Zornes – The handling of a pitching staff is vastly under-rated and the Owls catcher does a wonderful job of making sure his pitchers are zoned in and ready to beat anyone. It also doesn’t hurt that he produces at the plate. Zornes was named to last weekend’s All-Regional Team in Houston.
  

 

See it live.

Reckling Park is considered one of the premiere parks in college baseball. Rice University did a magnificent job of framing a view of downtown Houston in the outfield.

The Aggies ended their season last year in the Super Regionals at Reckling Park and are hoping to avoid the same fate this year.

I am really looking forward to seeing if the Aggies can bust past their old SWC foe for a trip to Omaha.

 

Gig ‘em.

 

-Jarrett

 

Runner up at the Softball World Series. Baseball Regional Champions. Men's and Women's Track & Field Regional Champions. Men's and Women's Golf best finish since the 1980's.

No matter how you look at it, it is good to be an Aggie fan these days. Over the course of the next several days, 12th Manchild is going to walk through each of the spring sports. We will be looking at just how far Bill Byrne has brought our athletic department in a short 6 years. 

To hold you guys over between now and then, enjoy the following stats:

Using a formula that awards 12 points for a league championship, 11 points for second place, 10 points for third and so on, overall the Aggies athletic department ranks 1st in the Big 12 Conference for 2007-2008. On the men's side the Aggies are second, the women's side the Lady Ags are in a commanding 1st place.

 

Overall Rankings:

1-183 - Texas A&M

2-182 - Texas

3-146 - Nebraska

4-139 - Oklahoma

5-132 - Missouri

6-123 - Oklahoma State

7-116.5 - Texas Tech

8-110.5 - Kansas

9-95 - Baylor

10-89.5 - Iowa State

11-75.5 - Kansas State

12-78 - Colorado

Men's Rankings:

1-95 - Texas

2-81.5 - Texas A&M

3-67 - Oklahoma State

4-63.5 - Missouri

5-61.5 - Oklahoma

6-59.5 - Nebraska

7-57.5 - Texas Tech

8-47.5 - Kansas

9-47.5 - Baylor

10-40.5 - Colorado

11-35.5 - Kansas State

12-33.5 - Iowa State

Women's Rankings:

1-101.5 - Texas A&M

2-87 - Texas

3-86.5 - Nebraska

4-77.5 - Oklahoma

5-68.5 - Missouri

6-63 - Kansas

7-59 - Texas Tech

8-59 - Iowa State

9-57.5 - Baylor

10-56 - Oklahoma State

11-43 - Kansas State

12-37.5 - Colorado

 

Aggie Softball wins Big XII Tournament

The 2008 Big 12 Championship at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City was dominated by Texas A&M.
The Aggies, regular season champs, were clearly the superior team in the tournament.

Aggies honored
On Friday, Aggie Senior Megan Gibson was named the Big 12 Player and Pitcher of the year, becoming the first
player to ever receive the both awards. Over the weekend in Oklahoma City Gibson showed why she was
named the conference's top player. Coach Jo Evans was also named the conference's Coach of the Year.

Quaterfinals
In the quarterfinals on Saturday, Gibson shut down the Cyclones from Iowa State. Gibson had dominating stuff
and gave up only two hits in the complete game shutout. With the win the Aggies advanced to play Texas in the
semifinals on Saturday night.

Semi-finals
Against the Longhorns, Gibson led the Aggies with her tenth double-digit strikeout game of the season. In the
bottom of the third, freshman Rhiannon Kliesing launched a pitch over the fence for a 2-run homer. That is all
Gibson would need as the Aggies came one step closer to their goal of winning both Big 12 titles this season.

The Ship
In Sunday's championship game the Aggies were pitted against the 10th seeded Cornhuskers from Nebraska.
The Aggies struck first in the home half of the first inning with a single by Illinois native Erin Glasco. The
Cornhuskers were over matched all day and couldn't ever find a way to solve Gibson.

Who's next
The Aggies will next play in the NCAA Tournament, where they are sure to be one of the all important top 8
seeds. Being one of the top 8 is important because it assures that team will not have to leave their home park
until the Women's College World Series.  

sorry this isn't sports related

Aggieland's 'Idol' Hopeful

Much to the chagrin of all the Castro-nauts out there, Jason Castro '09 was eliminated Wednesday night on America's favorite reality show, American Idol.

Castro, the junior construction science major from Rockwall, finished an astonishing 4th out of the nearly 100,000 people that auditioned. His dreadlocks, good looks and dreamy lyrics helped him rise from obscurity to his place today, as a national celebrity.

On a recent trip to Las Vegas, Castro and the other three finalists were mobbed by fans outside of their hotel.

Regarding the scene at the hotel, Castro said "It was crazy, They were all just screaming their heads off. It was fun."

After his elimination, Castro asked two of his friends to take two large suitcases back to Texas for him. The contents of those cases...Fan mail. He had already shipped 2 other large trunks home.

He shot the Tambourine man... <--his quote from his facebook

During Castro's Tuesday night's performance, he butchered the words to Mr. Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan. Rising concerns that he was trying to be eliminated or that he purposely screwed up.

"I definitely did not do that on purpose," Castro said via conference call "I couldn't believe I forgot such a popular line, something that's, like, written on your soul. Somehow, it slipped my mind."

"I Shot the Sheriff" by Bob Marley, his first performance of the night was not well received by the `Idol' judges. Simon Cowell said it was "atrocious."

When asked about his undoing and his elimination Castro cited his inexperience.

"I think what it came down to was just my inexperience. Once we doubled up on songs, I wasn't able to focus." Castro said. "My mind was just split, and I just couldn't deliver either/or."

12th Man for Castro

Over the last several weeks, several organizations came together to throw Idol watching parties in the MSC Flagroom. People whooped every time he flashed up on the screen.

Castro, a member of the Aggie Men's Club, was honored by all the support he received from his Aggie brethren.

Castro said, "All the support was tremendous. I'm honored they all wanted me to do so well. I am anxious to get back and see everyone. I just don't know when that will be."

iTunes sensation

After two of his performances, Castro not only popularized himself with fans, but he also re-birthed forgotten or underrated songs.

This first sensation was after his performance of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." The song made popular by Jeff Buckley, shot up the charts and became the #1 most downloaded song on iTunes following Castro's performance.

Jason Castro - Hallelujah

Jason Castro - Over the Rainbow

The second time our favorite dreadhead made iTunes a ton of money was after his performance of "Over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland. There was a version of this song, which was performed with a ukulele by a large Hawaiian man, who Castro called Brotha Iz. iTunes went nuts after this melodic tune hit the air, becoming the THIRD most downloaded song of the week.

We here at 12MC are proud of our Aggie friend for doing as well as he did. Great job, Jason!

photo courtesy of AggieAthletics.com

Ft. Worth -- Scott Migl took the hill in a match-up of former SWC foes, as the No. 5 Aggies (38-7) visited the Horned Frogs of TCU (29-16). The Aggies entered the game winning 20 of their last 21 games, including five straight 3-game sweeps against Big XII opponents.

TCU has a pretty scrappy squad, that I would not want to play in a regional <--- watch out Rice/OSU, they will probably be in on of our brackets.

Tonight's game was a pitchers duel, which is slightly unusual for a mid-week game, in which teams start their 4th starter or even a reliever (See last week's Texas State game).

However, tonight Migl had good control and mowed through the TCU line-up. The only hiccup for the Aggies happened in the 5th when TCU scored both of its runs. The first on a misplayed ball by Kyle Colligan.

The Aggies plated Dane Carter on a triple by Jose Duran, Fort Worth native and brother of German Duran (Texas Rangers), in the top of the third. A sacrifice fly in the 5th gave the Aggies their second run of the game.

The Aggie bullpen was "lights out" tonight, Kyle Thebeau and Hank Robertson completely shut down the Frogs over the final four innings.

Andrew Cashner, aka Cash, the closer for the Frogs had electric stuff. His fastball topped out at 98mph and he had a wicked slider that buckled several Aggies coming in at about 85mph. I really liked this Cash kid, lets just say he will be "money in the bank" at the next level. <---lame.

As good as Cashner was on the night, the Aggies were able to scratch one out in the top of the ninth...without getting a hit. Brodie Greene walked and moved up to second after Colligan was pegged in the helmet. The runners moved up on a passed ball, putting men on second and third. Just like the Aggies seemingly have done all year, they found a way to put one across when they neeeded it. However, this time it wasnt so much what we did, as it was the WILD PITCH by Cashner. Greene scored on the wild pitch and gave the Aggies the lead for good.

In the bottom of the ninth, TCU got a man on first with 2 outs. Matt Vern crushed a ball to left-center that brought everyone to their feet. TCU's team was already coming out of the dugout to celebrate the walk-off, but the wind just held the ball in play, preserving the Aggies non-conference victory.

The Aggies head into this weekend's series against Dallas Baptist with incredible momentum. I would love to see the Ags not have to squeeze so many out late like this, but I'll take them anyway I can get them.

gig 'em

Game Notes:

In the eighth inning, a little girl was struck behind her ear by a screaming line-drive foul ball. The girl was taken to a Ft. Worth hospital for some tests. Reports indicate that the little girl is doing well and is in good spirits. Nonetheless, anytime a child is taken from a baseball game in a stretcher, it is not a good situation. From all of us here at 12MC our prayers are with that little girl tonight.

The game was the first meeting of the two teams in Fort Worth since 1996 and the largest crowd ever (4,294) at TCU's Lupton Stadium, breaking the former record by over 1,000 fans. Maroon-clad fans littered their little sandlot field (actually a very nice stadium).

A&M has played TCU (247) more than any other school except Texas (346), Baylor (301) and Rice (266).

Texas A&M University was well represented over the two-day amateur draft held at historic Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Players drafted by school (Big XII)

Texas A&M(5) -Was that cupboard so empty?

Texas(5) -Actually, kind of a down year

Oklahoma(4) -See Texas

Kansas(4) -Showing ability to find diamonds in the rough

Nebraska(3) -not surprising

Missouri(2) -Little surprised they didn't have a KU like showing

Kansas State(2) -Jordy Nelson will be productive

Colorado(2) -Lions picked up a solid LB in Dizon

Iowa State(2) -Who would have thought Blythe wasn't one of them

Baylor(0) -Did you expect anything different?

Texas Tech(0) -How do they beat us every year?

Okla State(0)    0 -"I'm a man, I'm 40..." and have no NFL level players

The Aggies also had more players selected than Florida, Florida State, Miami, Ohio State, Notre Dame and UCLA.

The Chosen (in order by selection):

Martellus `Jerry Jones is on my phone' Bennett
Dallas Cowboys
Pick No. 61

America's Team filled a void left when back-up TE Anthony Fasano was traded to the Dolphins, by selecting the boisterous Bennett in the second round. The Cowboys raved about Bennett's athleticism after this year's combine. Some close to the team said the Cowboys had him tied with Purdue TE Dustin Keller as the best tight end in the draft and even considered moving up in the second round to get him.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' take on Money Bennett:
"We didn't draft Bennett to be a backup tight end...We wanted to add a dimension to the offense."

Bennett, who is never shy with the media, gave all us sports nerds some golden audio on Saturday when Jones called to tell him of his selection.

Enjoy:
http://www.dallascowboys.com/multimedia_center.cfm?id=8DFA1F0B-0D3A-92C1-80781F87E6CE974F

Cody Wallace
San Francisco 49ers
Pick No. 107

San Francisco desperately needed help on their offensive line and they picked up an All Big XII player in Wallace. After a less than stellar combine, the Cuero, Texas native slipped farther than some had projected after the college season ended. Wallace will get time to work himself into the rotation on a playoff contender (I mean in the NFC, who isn't?).

Good story on Cody out of San Fran:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/28/SPKL10CQG0.DTL&feed=rss.49ers

Joseph `Red' Bryant
Seattle Seahawks
Pick No. 121

No one will ever be able to tell Big Red that he is underachieving in life. For Bryant, who almost did not qualify to attend Texas A&M out of high school, being selected in the NFL Draft is just icing on the cake. In high school, he had friends tell him to give up, whenever he would go in early for extra help in math. This past December, Bryant graduated with a degree in Ag Leadership. He gave a stirring speech to a group of boosters at a Kickoff Event before the 2006 season. He spoke about his struggles with dyslexia and how people used to always count him out.

That night Bryant said "You will never have any idea what the support you guys have given me is going to do in my life. Football is a great game and I love it, but after I'm done playing here in College Station [pause], I'm leaving with a degree [pause]. That doesn't happen where I come from [pause]. Where I come from you don't choose the colors of your favorite college, you choose the colors of your favorite gang."

I don't want to be come off as biased, but who cares it's a blog! Red is one of my favorite Aggies of all-time, and it has nothing to with ANYTHING he has ever done on the football field. He is one of the most respectful gentlemen you will ever meet. I strive to be half the man Red Bryant is [physically, I am half the man of Red].

Chris Harrington
Arizona Cardinals
Pick No. 185

The Arizona Cardinals chose Harrington in the 6th Round, a steal if you buy into the pre-draft rankings, which had Harrington projected as high as the late 3rd round. Harrington has a great motor coming off the end and will challenge for playing time in a year or two once he acclimates to the pro game. I really like Harrington's athleticism and think he can be a productive player at the next level.

Corey Clark
San Diego Chargers
Pick No. 234

A perfect example of what exceeding expectations at the combine can do for you. In fact, the biggest mistake Clark made at the scouting combine was not slapping the goons from the NFL Network for repeatedly saying he was from Texas Tech [the nerve!]. Clark may not make the Chargers squad this year, as the runners up in the AFC Championship are a quality team and built very soundly. However, he will get a shot somewhere and if he keeps his work ethic up, he will make a very serviceable guard for a team in the league.

This weekend was a very good one for the Aggies and for a program which could really use some positive energy.

Give `em hell in the NFL

Gig `em.

Just as the sports world came to a lull, we have some new headlines to keep us interested. The Aggie Baseball Team is flirting with making their first trip to Omaha in years, Spring football has wrapped up, the NBA Playoffs are in full blossom, and the NFL Draft is on Saturday. To hold you over until we get to see teams poke and prod over their newest franchise player, we sat down with one of 12th MC's favorite Aggies, Joseph Liam Thomas to talk about his outlook and thoughts going into what could be the biggest day of his life:

>

JT MONEY #81

1) What are your thoughts going into the NFL Draft? Do you have hopes of getting drafted? Signed as a free agent? JT:This whole experience of getting ready for the draft has been awesome. As soon as last season ended I started preparing myself for a chance to play in the NFL. Things have gotten nothing but more optimistic since. It started out as more of a dream that has now become more of a reality. I have had pro day and a few personal workouts with teams, all of which went well. This past week, I've received phone calls from 7 different teams that all nice things to say and wish me good luck this weekend. I've gotten the notion that I have a chance of being drafted in one of the late rounds and if not, I will definitely be signed as a free agent and have a much appreciated chance to make a team.

2) What did you do to get ready for the draft? Where did you work out? Who did you work out with? JT:My agent, Jordan Woy, sent me to train up in McKinney, Texas to train at the Michael Johnson Performance Center. It was an amazing experience that taught me alot. It was hard not being starstruck the first week. Not only did we have Michael Johnson working with us everyday, two of the guys I was working out with should be first round picks, Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. Dan Campbell, along with some other NFLers, were also there keeping his body in shape. Michael Johnson and Lance Walker, a former Cowboy's strength coach, worked out me and 7 other guys out for about a month and a half, Monday through Saturday. A typical day was 7am to 6pm of mixed workouts.

3)What teams have you met with? Talked to? JT:I've have been in contact with quite a few teams, some of which I talked to personally and some of which my agent has been talking to. The ones that I personally have been talking to the most are Cleveland, Seattle, Indianapolis, New England, and Jaxsonville. Lately, it has been Cleveland that has been giving me the most attention. The thing about them though, is they only have 4 picks in the draft starting in the 4th round. I have had personal workouts with Jaxsonville, New York Jets, and Cleveland.

4)What have they told you about your NFL chances? JT:As I mentioned earlier, I have gotten the feeling that I have a good chance at being drafted in a later round and if not, teams have confirmed that they will offer me a free agent deal. My agent seems to think I have a great chance of getting drafted but I usually take things with a grain of salt. I will be happy with any chance to make a team.

5)How are you spending Saturday? JT:Well, Saturday I will be relaxing in Austin and maybe go out on the lake for a bit. Sunday is when I will start to actually watch the draft and probably get a little more stressed.

6)Out of all of A&M's players in the draft this year, who will be the best pro? Why? JT:It's hard to say because I love all our guys coming out this year, most of whom I've been with for 5 years now. If i had to pick one though, I'd say Martellus, just because of his raw ability and athleticism. If he can get in a good system, he has the potential to really shine.

7)If you don't get drafted, how do you decide between the possible handful of teams that you could sign as a free agent with? JT:What it comes down to for me is where I have to best chance to make a team in the long run. As a free agent you have to ignore the signing bonus amount or any desire to live in a certain place and concentrate on where you would fit in best with your abilities as well as the current depth at your position for any such team.

8)If you could pick the tea to play for, who would it be? JT:I would have to pick the Texans, solely because I am in love with Texas and I have never liked the Cowboys, which you and Plunk know. If I could start an NFL team in Austin I would. The hill country is my favorite place in the US.

9)Who would make a better NFL agent, JLOU or PLUNK? JT:J Lou, no offense but Plunk is in law school so I'm going to have to go with Plunk. Plus you and I would be too distracted by having fun. I would trust Plunk more because he is a bigger dork.

10)How did you workouts help/hurt your NFL stock? JT:I performed pretty well in Pro Day which I think helped me alot. I was able to show my athleticism and really drew alot of scouts and coaches attention. Things got exponentially better since my Pro Day.

11)Can I have tickets to your first NFL game? JT: If you tell me where my taser went.

For the record, JLou has no idea as to the whereabouts of Joey's taser, and if he did would still refuse to share them with JT solely out of fear that he may get shocked yet again when JT's ADD kicks in

SPRING GAME - The Aggies hit the field Saturday night for the annual Maroon and White game. This will be a great opportunity to see the team with a couple months under the Sherminator. We will get our first look at the pro-style offense the Ag's will run in 2008. There are some position changes that I am looking forward to checking out including - (1)J-train as a fullback, (2)Billy Chavis as a LB and maybe a TE, (3)Von Miller as a LB (can't wait to see him in action), and (4)Jordan Peterson moving to safety. CLICK HERE for a speech by Coach Sherman and a list of the day's activities.

BASEBALL TAKES ON BAYLOR - The Aggie baseball team looks to continue its Big 12 dominance against the Bears this weekend. The series opens Friday night at Olsen, then moves to thriving dumphole of Waco for a game on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. The Aggies have swept their past THREE Big 12 opponents and currently sit alone in first place atop the conference.

SOFTBALL TAKES ON KANSAS - The Lady Ag's are currently ranked 4th in the nation and sit in 1st place in the Big 12. The host KU for two games at the Aggie Softball Complex. Sidenote - it is really amazing how good our Women's sports program has become.....if only the Men could follow suit.

NBA PLAYOFFS BEGIN - I don't know who you root for, but you should be excited for this year's NBA Playoffs. The Western Conference matchups are all a toss up (well maybe not LA vs. Denver), and every series should be entertaining. Games begin on Saturday with my beloved Mavs playing New Orleans. My own prediction....Mavs take the series in 7. To make this Aggie related - both Acie Law IV (Atlanta Hawks) and Antoine Wright (THE Dallas Mavericks) will be in the playoffs...here's to hoping Acie can get it going in his rookie year.

Rice 11 A&M 2

courtesy of Aggiesports.com

Rice 11 A&M 2

Rice came into Olsen and got on top early with homers by Aaron Luna and Jared Gayhart. The real blow came in the 5th inning when A&M walked 3 batters which allowed Rice to bat around.

WHAT'S UP NEXT? This weekend the Ag's host Baylor on Friday, then head over to Waco for 2 games (more on this later in the week).

13 IN A ROW

courtesy of AggieAthletics.com

Ag's Sweep OU

Friday Night - Olsen magic was back again on Friday night when Jose Duran hit a bases loaded single in the bottom of the ninth to score an 8-7 win over the land thieves.

Saturday - The Ag's took Saturday's game 10-3 behind an incredible pitching performance by freshan Barrett Loux. The Ag's fed off Olsen's largest crowd of the season (7,092). Jose Duran led the Ag's with 3 RBIs, while Darby Brown had 2.

Sunday Afternoon - A&M completed the sweep Sunday with a dominating 12-2 victory on national television. Tempers started to flare Sunday when Luke Anders was beaned twice and eventually 3 Aggie coaches and an OU player were tossed. Clayton Ehlert tossed a complete game and Jose Duran continued his strong play with 3 more RBIs.

courtesy of AggieAthletics.com

Big 12 Standings:

TEAM:	CONF:	OVERALL:
TEXAS A&M	12-3	30-6
Nebraska	11-3-1	25-6-1
Missouri	7-5	25-9
Okie State	8-7	23-10
texas	8-7	23-12
Baylor	8-7	22-13
Kansas	4-8	22-16
OU	3-8-1	22-13-1
Texas Tech	4-11	17-19
K-State	3-9	16-18

courtesy of AggieAthletics.com

WHAT'S UP NEXT? The # 8 ranked Ag's host a huge game tonight against # 7 Rice. In order to extend the streak to 14, the Ag's will have to continue to get strong mid-week pitching. This weekend the Ag's host Baylor on Friday, then head over to Waco for 2 games (more on this later in the week).