All Things 2016 Gophers Baseball Season Thread

RPI has dropped to #55. That's danger zone. I think Gophers will squeeze in, but it won't be because of a sterling resume. Outright regular season championship probably what bails them out.
 

I'm thinking we will squeeze in, but if we don't, I'm not going to cry foul. For whatever reason we just seemed to run out of steam. Maybe injuries, maybe Oakes struggles, maybe our teams hitting sump, maybe some of Coach Andersons decisions, all had something to do with it. A month ago it looked like we were a one seed for regions and this was going to be Coach Anderson's best team. What a difference a month makes!
 


Minnesota is in they play Wake Foroest in Texas A&M regionals.
 

Thought the Gophers would be in but a little surprised we still ended up a #2. Tough regional with a Texas A&M team that is the #4 national seed.
 


Thought the Gophers would be in but a little surprised we still ended up a #2. Tough regional with a Texas A&M team that is the #4 national seed.

Well we have the WELL RESTED thing going for us...
 

I will be headed over to College Station if anyone is coming down. Let me know! Great stadium, Blue Bell Park on the campus of aTm! Go Gophers
 

Sawyer should be the Game 1 starter. Far and away gives Gophers best chance to win.
 






Welcome to Aggieland to any Gophers making the trip. While I'm sorry to have to send you home with a loss, I hope you at least enjoy the experience. :)

It appears that all tickets sold out pretty quickly, so hopefully you were able to grab yours. There may be standing room only tickets released on Friday. This includes seating on the grass berms or standing on the concourses.

http://www.12thman.com/news/2016/5/29/baseball-blue-bell-park-selected-to-host-ncaa-regional.aspx

Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park was renovated in 2012 to become one of the premier college baseball facilities.

http://www.12thman.com/facilities/?id=2

I'd be glad to offer lodging, dining, and entertainment suggestions to any traveling fans.
 

I wish I could be at this one! Although I did not attend a game, I had the opportunity to tour Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park and it is a fantastic venue for baseball. I would highly recommend CS for anyone thinking of going. The fans are great and will treat you extremely well.

If you are like most people and cost conscious about traveling, be sure to check flights to/from Dallas, Houston, and Austin. CS is accessible from all three places and I have flown to each of these airports many times. TX is usually a price friendly place for travel.

If you go and like to downhill ski or snowboard, be sure to check out Mount Aggie ;-)

SKI-U-MAH and Go Gophers!
 



If you want to win game 1 in Regions start Sawyer. If you want to win the Regional start Fiedler. I know some people are saying start Sawyer, but I'd start Fiedler for game one and keep the pitching rotation the same. If you want to win the Regional both of those guys (Fiedler, Dalton) have to have big games. They both have shown an ability at times to shut down teams, Dalton more than Matt. I know Matt's last outing was not good but he's faced teams number one pitcher all year round and has done well. I think Matt will bounce back and have a very good game. If Matt wins game one, then your facing one of college baseball's top teams on the Road, I like sending Dalton out for that game. Plus Texas AM has two really good starters, so your not going to skip out on facing a much weaker pitcher for game two. They probably will start their better ace game two anyways. Some one seeds even have their number three guy start game one. I agreed with Anderson when he switched his starting rotation around in the LSU region, but this time around I would not change.
 

If you want to win game 1 in Regions start Sawyer. If you want to win the Regional start Fiedler.

I agree 100%.

FYI- Texas A & M is throwing their #1, Brigham Hill, on Saturday. They are throwing Kyle Simonds versus Binghamton.

If the Gophers start hitting again, pitch well, and play good defense, they just might advance to their 1st Super Regional. Absolutely no reason they can't win the Regional if they play well. The team has faced some "big time arms" throughout the season already so I have a feeling they won't be in awe of the arms they'll face in College Station.

Here are how the Gophers have done against some of the best starting arms they've faced this year:

1. Beat Jayson Rose of Utah (Sophomore who will likely get drafted high in 2017):

https://www.facebook.com/UtahBaseball/posts/1029579957102903:0

2. Won game when Brett Adcock (#221 in Baseball America's top draft prospects of 2016) of Michigan started.

3. Beat Cody Sedlock (#42) of Illinois when he started.

4. Won game when Mike Shawaryn (#117) of Maryland started.


Baseball America Draft Prospect link:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft-preview/


Hope the Gophers go in focused and confident and get the job done!
 

I think we see a more relaxed and refreshed Gopher team than we have seen the last few weeks. I think we see the Gophers play at the level they were when they where in the top 25 earlier this year and really rolling. It had to have been very tough emotionally the last few weeks with T.O. and I'm sure the guys had a lot going on in their minds during that time making it tough to play baseball. With the funeral yesterday it doesn't make the loss of T.O. any easier to take but I do think it provides the team a little closure and maybe clears the mind a little bit.
 

I agree Goldy, I also think having the season ending awards ceremony on Tuesday helps in bringing closure to this season and focus to the future.
 

Looking at the game notes it looks like the Gophers will go with Sawyer game 1, Anderson game 2, and Fiedler for game 3. I kind of like the move, I also wonder if part of Fiedler's struggles on the mound the last couple weeks are maybe he is dealing with a little bit of a tired arm with this being his 1st season as a starter.
 

I don't like the rotation, but if Coach Anderson turns out to be correct, I would be the happiest person in the world. They key is to figure out the best pitching rotation to win games one and two. I think besides Texas AM, everyone else has to win the first two games in order to have a shot at winning the regional.
 

Gopher baseball team ate Chipotle in College Station last night. Thoughts and prayers go out to the toilets at the College Station Hilton.
 

Conference slates prepared teams for College Station Regional

http://www.theeagle.com/aggie_sport...cle_38df3638-294a-11e6-b255-f35e5b0755b9.html

If there was one recurring theme to what the coaches and players had to say leading up to this weekend’s College Station Regional, it was how each team’s conference had prepared their team for anything they might face in the NCAA baseball tournament.

“I think the [Big Ten] today, no doubt about it, from top to bottom is very similar to the top conferences in the country today,” said Minnesota coach John Anderson, who is in his 35th season. “Everybody has improved their facility, everybody has hired new coaches and there are people losing their jobs in the league because they haven’t won enough. The league has made [financial commitments] across the board to facilities, coaches’ salaries, indoor facilities, training centers, the amount of money to travel to be competitive in February and March. The league has made a huge investment in our competitiveness in the league and it is evident when you play in the league. Every weekend there are no easy games.”

Anderson led Gophers (34-20, 16-7) to the Big Ten regular-season title, but lost both games in the league’s tournament. Anderson used the tournament as an example of the parity in the league, noting that No. 8 seed Iowa made the final of its postseason tournament.
The Big Ten was the No. 7 RPI conference and got three teams — Ohio State, Nebraska and Minnesota into the tournament.

Minnesota and Wake Forest open the tournament at Blue Bell Park at 3 p.m. Friday. Host Texas A&M and Binghamton follow at 8 p.m.

The Minnesota Gophers had a loss far worse than any game when pitching coach Todd Oakes died of leukemia on May 26.

“With Coach Oakes it was a rough couple of weeks that we’ve had recently, with him passing, but ultimately he is in a better place and his suffering is over, so there is some peace in that,” said one of Oakes star pupils, senior pitcher Dalton Sawyer. “We’ve kind of stumbled the last couple of weeks, lost some close games, but ultimately baseball is just a game and we’re not defined by wins and losses. That was a big thing that Coach Oakes taught us, so I think even though he is gone, his messages and his ideals still live on through this team and his family.”

Oakes, 55, had battled leukemia for four years. He had been with the Gophers since 1999.
After the Gophers won the Big Ten regular-season title, Anderson took the trophy to Oakes’ house.
“We were all extremely emotional when he was moved to hospice,” said Gophers’ leading hitter Matt Fiedler. “We knew his fight was over but as Dalton alluded to, it was good for us and it was good for the family to have some closure. TO is a strong man of faith and a lot of us are as well so we know he is in a better place right now and we are hoping to play with the attitude and play with the lessons he taught us.”

Two of the best two-way players in the nation will be at Blue Bell Park over the weekend. Wake Forest’s Will Craig and Minnesota’s Matt Fiedler are both up for the The John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award.

Fielder, the 2016 Big Ten player of the year, is hitting .377 with seven homers when in the outfield and has an ERA of 4.10 and record of 7-3 as one of the Gophers’ starting pitchers.

“It will be really cool [to play against Craig],” Fiedler said. “I think Craig has got a lot of national attention as a two-way player and you look at his numbers they are unbelievable and getting to compete against somebody like that is going to be really fun, challenging for us. I don’t know if he will throw at all in that game but it will be really exciting to get matched up with him at some point on the mound or at the plate.”
 

Baseball opens NCAA Tournament in College Station

http://www.thebatt.com/sports/baseb...cle_6a60fcc6-2866-11e6-a56d-bfccbb535213.html

Four long months of tough baseball have led to the NCAA Postseason. NCAA Tournament time is here for college baseball, and Texas A&M begins their quest for a title Friday night as number four national seed.

A&M will play host to Binghamton University from the America East Conference, the University of Minnesota from the Big Ten and Wake Forest University from the ACC.

#2 Minnesota

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Enrollment: 50,678

Season notes: Big Ten regular season champion

It was a rough start to the season, as the Gophers began the campaign going 10-9 in their first 19 games. However, they caught fire the second half of the season, going 24-10 down the last half of the season. Much like A&M, Minnesota presents a tough lineup, with seven hitters batting over .300 this season. They scored the third most runs and hit the second most home runs in the Big Ten this season, so they have some pop to the bats. Their pitching falls off a bit, accumulating a 3.90 ERA, but their bats keep them in games. They present the biggest challenge to the offensive-minded Aggies.
 

It's gameday!

yT4JMHP.jpg


Sparse tailgate crowd out this morning. They'll start rolling in by late afternoon.

vgDqgPg.jpg
 



2016 NCAA Baseball Regional Tournament Parking

Pre-pay baseball game parking NOW AVAILABLE. Reserve your parking for baseball now, and know you'll have a space waiting for you! Reserve parking here.

For Friday and Saturday, June 3 & 4, we highly recommend arriving early and parking in West Campus Garage at the corner of Olsen and John Kimbrough Boulevards due to increased traffic and parking congestion from high school graduations scheduled in Reed Arena throughout the day and evening.

General parking is $5 payable at the garage and surrounding lots with CASH or CREDIT CARD. Secure credit card payments may be made using VISA, MasterCard, Discover or American Express. Lots available for general parking are marked with the dollar sign on the Baseball Parking Map. This does not include 24 hour numbered, 12th Man or timed spaces.

IMPORTANT: No street parking is allowed.

Post Game Traffic

To avoid traffic after the game, take advantage of the Baseball Traffic Map.

- - -


Download the free Destination Aggieland app and know your options before heading to Aggieland for campus events.
 


TICKET ALERT: A limited number of reserved tickets to Friday's NCAA College Station Regional opening games will go on sale today (Friday) at 12 p.m. ONLY at Blue Bell Park's ticket windows. The tickets will NOT be available online or via phone.

Tickets are available for both the 3 p.m. game (Minnesota vs Wake Forest) and the 8 p.m. Texas A&M/Binghamton game. A reminder to fans that the games are separate sessions.

Fans can visit 12thman.com or 12thman.com/ncaaregional for any additional ticket updates throughout the weekend.
 






Top Bottom