OU/Virginia Super-Duper Regional Thread

Dates and times for our super regional series with Virginia in Charlottesville are set...

I've got a crazy idea; let's win this f*ckin' thing and get back to Omaha.

 

BTW, thank God the Worldwide Leader will show all three games, 'cause UVA is too ***-backwards to have live video streaming capabilities.

 

We need Neal to set the tone and have another big time performance in Game 1

 

Yup. After hearing UNC's coach basically say "Yeah, Oklahoma may have knocked us out, but Virginia will prison rape this chump squad," I want nothing more in life than to roll in there and knock them out in two.

 

unc fans ran their mouth before the regional and after we beat them, their coach is running his mouth? Stay classy unc, enjoy the view from your couch

 

Oh, their entire team was bitchtastic. I've never seen so much whining about each and every single call. And yeah, they were dicks in the post-game tent.

 

Well they can be dicks back in North Carolina. We're moving on, and we're going to play better. I get the feeling we didn't hit our potential.

 

What do you expect? If I was forced to wear that faggy-blue I'd be a bitch too.

 

Hey is anyone going to do a "Sooners in the 2010 MLB Draft" thread? I know none of OUr guys went in the first 50 picks. I'm hoping they stay away from the early rounds so that they will all return!

 

Fixed. :dean:

 

Ill start one and you all can help, hopefully we dont have any highly drafted guys so we can return everyone next season

 

hahaha, nice!

 

TCU up 3-0 on tex

 

TCU wins. 3-1.

 

This is an excellent preview with a rundown of OU and UVA from an opposing coach to Baseball America


Oklahoma (47-15) at No. 5 Virginia (50-12)

Saturday: 3 p.m. (ESPNU)
Sunday: 4 p.m. (ESPN)
Monday: 1/7 p.m. (ESPN2)

Oklahoma
Coach: Sunny Golloway.
Postseason History: Second super regional appearance (last in 2006). Seeking 10th trip to Omaha (last in 1995).
Postseason Route: No. 1 seed in Norman Regional. Won in three games, beating North Carolina in the final.

Pos. Name Bats Yr. AVG OBP SLG HR RBI BB SO SB
C Tyler Ogle R So. .308 .412 .545 8 40 22 25 4
1B Cameron Seitzer L So. .317 .434 .609 14 51 26 46 2
2B Danny Black L Jr. .339 .403 .541 5 47 19 41 10
3B Garrett Buechele R So. .387 .465 .672 16 62 19 40 3
SS Caleb Bushyhead L So. .329 .382 .487 5 35 19 37 12
LF Max White R Fr. .307 .361 .608 14 40 13 48 7
CF Chris Ellison R So. .329 .426 .494 4 30 27 42 21
RF Cody Reine L So. .333 .445 .558 6 31 16 23 3
DH Ricky Eisenberg R Jr. .306 .370 .472 3 12 11 26 3

Pos. Name Throws Yr. W L SV ERA IP BB SO AVG
SP Zach Neal R Jr. 8 3 0 4.42 96 23 86 .274
SP Bobby Shore R Jr. 9 4 0 4.23 83 29 72 .261
SP Michael Rocha R Jr. 7 1 0 3.50 62 57 17 .242
RP Ryan Duke R Jr. 3 1 11 3.51 33 13 37 .236



Scouting Report


"They hosted a regional, and that was very well deserved. They're very good offensively, very solid defensively, and their pitching's good enough. And they're going to score. They're going to score.

"(What's their biggest strength?) Buechele. He's just a force, man. Even if you just walk him four times, he's going to be involved. He's the coach on the field, he's going to will that team to do things. He's the damn pitching coach over at third, talking to the pitcher the whole game. He's just very smart, and that team is his team. He's tough to pitch around. He can hit pitches that normally some guys don't even swing at. If you're going to walk him, you'd better walk him. If you try to pitch around him, he can still get a hit. He wants to win the game, and he knows he can do it, and if that means stepping on the plate and hitting a pitch a foot over the first baseman's head, he's going to do it. I've seen guys try to pitch around him, and home runs or doubles are hit. He sprays it all over. Yeah, he'll pull a homer, but he'll knock a ball off the right-center wall, too.

"Seitzer, you can pitch to him, but if you make a mistake he'll hit a homer. He can look really bad a couple at-bats, but the third at-bat he'll do some damage. He's got a long swing, but he's very smart and he learns. He's a big leaguer's son. I'm sure there's some limits to him physically. And he can also do damage oppo, he can spray it all over, not like a guy who just pulls it and does nothing else. He's just kind of got a longer swing, but so do half the big leaguers. White is a stud. Same thing—you strike him out on four pitches one at-bat, he hits a home run in the next. Just strong, a competitor, and he'll change his approach, even as a freshman. Maybe you get him out two times in a row but he's going to make an adjustment to where he can do damage. But he's a threat, he's a great freshman, and he's got big power.

"Ellison, Black and Bushyhead, they know their role. They have power too—they're not just up there collecting singles. they know their role, they're very well coached, and for what they are, their numbers and everything, they're just very well coached. They're good, solid athletic guys, and they've equipped them with everything they need. They can bunt, they can run, they can hit-and-run, execute and when it's necessary they can all step in there and hit a home run. That team is just very, very, very well coached offensively. They can beat you so many different ways it's stupid. You don't know what they're going to do—they might hit five home runs, they might bunt four times in a row. They might take a ton of pitches or swing away. The team offense with them is really good, and it can be a nightmare for you. They're very unpredictable, so it's very hard to position defensively because of the different things that they'll do. I'm talking about second-and-third squeeze, hit-and-run in three consecutive at-bats—there's like a hundred things they might do. It's brain damage for a team preparing for them before a game. I'm almost an advocate of no scouting report against those guys, just play. They don't allow tendencies to take place offensively.

"Defensively, they have a very good catcher, and Bushyhead at short is better. He made some errors early, but he's gotten better and he's making the plays. He's tough. They have speed, athletic, fast-twitch guys in the middle of the field, for sure. And Buechele—it's a waste of time to hit a ball over to third base.

"On the mound, they're very capable. They've got some JC guys. They've got a very good freshman you don't hear about—his name is Jack Mayfield. And they've got the closer, Duke. They've got a couple lefties, too, that come in and help and are solid. But look at their numbers; they've got to be the best pitching numbers they've had in a long time, in a small ballpark, not a fun place to pitch. When's the last time they've had an ERA below 4? They've always had good arms, but what's changed? They've got a guy, their pitching coach (Mike Bell) knows what he's doing. He's got a good group of pitchers, but they're achieving at a very high level. If there was a pitching coach of the year award, that guy gets it, for me.

"They have big pitchability, good enough stuff. Shore throws harder, he can roll some 92s. They compete, and they throw strikes, and it's good enough. I think they also know they're going to score. They're not out there pitching like, 'Oh jeez, I've got to throw a shutout today,' or something. They've got good breaking balls, they're pretty aggressive, they're older guys. Real high pitchability with those guys, all of them. They don't have a guy who sprays it or doesn't have feel to pitch. Mayfield is my favorite guy on their staff—I love that guy. He's a position player who comes in and it's strike, strike, strike, strike, and he's got a good breaking ball. He's not out there analyzing, he's very aggressive and a good athlete. He's fun to watch, loves being out there. And he's a position player pitching, so he doesn't worry about making the perfect pitch, shaking off the catcher, pinpointing the perfect pitch, any of that stuff. And he's good, up to 90-91. And he can field; very good athlete.

"Rocha, (Jeremy) Erben, lot of experience, good enough stuff, they'll compete. Nothing that's going to blow you off the face of the earth, but they'll keep you off the game and more, they're capable of throwing up a lot of zeroes. Good competitors who've been around, they know what they're doing. Duke, if they get a lead, he's going to be in the game. He's going to get it done. I've seen him when he's tired, when he's fresh. When fresh, it's 90s with a slider, and strikes and command. Not like 95, more like 88-91. But I've seen him get outs at mid- to upper 80s, too, so when he doesn't have great stuff he's still going to get the job done. He's been a closer for two years, there's nothing new that's going to be thrown at him. Just experienced. A lot of veteran pitching on that team.

"(To beat them), you've got to have a guy with great stuff, like a guy that throws hard. When they start attacking you've got to slow the game down. They'll do back-to-back steals, or back-to-back swing-out-of-their-shoes first pitch. And the guy on the mound's got to throw 90. The average stuff guy can't miss. I would like your chances better if you've got a velocity/stuff guy. They're not going to take a lot of pitches, they're going to be very aggressive, and velocity can beat some of them. But they're not going to stand for that for long, eventually they're going to make adjustments. The in-game adjustments those guys make are as good as anybody in the country."

Virginia
Coach: Brian O'Connor.
Postseason History: Second super regional appearance (second in a row). Seeking second trip to Omaha (second in a row).
Postseason Route: No. 1 seed in Charlottesville Regional. Won in four games, beating St. John's in the final.

Pos. Name Bats Yr. AVG OBP SLG HR RBI BB SO SB
C Franco Valdes B Sr. .224 .300 .327 1 13 11 27 0
1B John Hicks R So. .306 .357 .494 8 48 14 29 8
2B Keith Werman L So. .430 .500 .514 0 23 18 9 10
3B Steven Proscia R So. .322 .371 .551 10 64 19 39 8
SS Tyler Cannon B Sr. .341 .420 .498 3 38 29 37 10
LF Phil Gosselin R Jr. .378 .460 .606 9 57 39 43 18
CF Jarrett Parker L Jr. .338 .427 .606 10 55 33 54 12
RF Dan Grovatt L Jr. .289 .385 .471 8 56 37 36 6
DH John Barr R Jr. .373 .485 .507 1 22 23 20 7

Pos. Name Throws Yr. W L SV ERA IP BB SO AVG
SP Danny Hultzen L So. 10 1 0 2.83 99 23 114 .192
SP Robert Morey R Jr. 9 3 0 3.72 97 38 76 .230
SP Cody Winiarski R Jr. 5 0 0 4.65 72 27 41 .283
RP Kevin Arico R Jr. 1 1 17 2.59 31 7 40 .222


Scouting Report


I thought they were the most balanced team in our league. Georgia Tech's got more power hitters. Virginia can run, they can bunt, they'll hit the long ball if you make a mistake. They can win no matter what park you play in.

"(Do they have any weaknesses?) Honestly, no. I could give you holes for something or another for most other teams, but that's the one team in our league I felt like there wasn't a drop-off. Obviously their starting pitching arms are very good, but their bullpen arms are good, they have a good closer. One through nine are good athletes, one through nine can hit, one through nine can run. They're good athletes, good players, they're very well coached. The depth of their team, they've done a very good job putting that team together. That's a team that's built for Omaha. You've got depth everywhere.

"Hultzen didn't have his best stuff against us, but he battled and he got through it. The thing Hultzen does is I thought he located down in the zone very well. He only came up in the zone when he was trying to with the fastball. He didn't make many mistakes. Everything he threw was downstairs, he made it tough for any offense when you're throwing a few different pitches and everything was at the knees. Against us it was away, away, away—bam, in. Away, away, away—in. He throws the changeup down in the zone. He was spotting his pitches, he was really good. Morey, their No. 2 guy, he's got a big arm. He had a power arm against us, he was coming after us with a hard fastball-slider mix. The thing those guys can do is drop in an offspeed pitch or a get-me-over pitch early and bury late as a chase pitch. He was throwing the fastball to both sides of the plate, and the second you'd look for a fastball first pitch, he'd throw a breaking ball for strike one. He's pretty damn good.

"Some of these other teams, their No. 3 is definitely not as good as their one and the two, or they do the TBA deal where don't have a set rotation. Winiarski's not as good as Hultzen or Morey, but he's still OK from what I saw. He's 87-90 but straight, average slider but it was hard, 80-82. He wants to get ahead with the fastball and use the slider. He's a stock righty—may not have Friday night stuff, but he's got a firm fastball, a hard slider and a changeup that he can use. When you've got a three-pitch mix and you're filling up zone, he'll be fine, especially with that offense.

"(Righty Branden) Kline, if you told me draw a 6-foot-3 righthanded pitcher, I'd probably draw his body. He's tall, he's lean, he's athletic, he's got a power arm. He's what you want. (Tyler) Wilson had good arm-side run on his fastball, 89-91, hard slider. He throws a changeup mostly to lefthanded hitters, sliders to righties. He came in to our righties with his fastball a lot. He was able to really command the slider and bury it. Arico's pretty damn good. A lot of sliders, but it's a swing-and-miss slider, a definite ******* slider.

"Up and down, that's as good of a lineup as you'll see. There's no drop-off, there's no holes. Parker's the body you draw up, if you say, 'Hey, draw a center fielder for me,' I draw Parker. Everyone's an athlete, everyone's fast-twitch and got a good swing and makes consistent, hard contact. Gosselin can play anywhere, Grovatt—good god. Cannon, I love Cannon. Those guys, you get confused with them because they're all similar type of athletes. They're either strong or tall and lean or fast-twitch like Gosselin or Cannon, or they're skilled in everything like Werman. He's 5-5 maybe, but he's so tough to pitch to, he doesn't strike out, he battles, he knows his role perfectly, he sprays the ball all over the field. Just when you think he's a little slap hitter and you're about to come in on him, he gets the (bat) head out and drives it down the line.

"They can run, bunt, hit, hit for power, they can beat you in a lot of different ways. Play them on a big field or a small field, they'll beat you. That's the difference between them and a team like Georgia Tech that relies on long ball to win games. And they've got some pretty good players who aren't even starting every day— that's how good they are."

 

I still hate John Crotty.

 

Bryant Stith, I stab thee in the face.

 

sounds like UVA will small ball all day with us. we usually execute that stuff better than opponents...

 

virginia up 1-0 in the 2nd