D1Baseball Weekly Chat: May 8 • D1Baseball
Have questions about the latest Top 25 Rankings and the overall postseason picture? You have questions and we have answers.
Dave: Please explain the love for Coastal. All I see is a few good midweek wins which begs the question should these midweek games count in the same regard towards RPI as a weekend series? Appears to me different teams take different approaches to these games but it’s mostly games with bad pitching and a guy or two resting.
Aaron Fitt: I mean, in addition to its midweek success, Coastal also has not lost a weekend all year, has won quality series against Davidson (best team in the A-10), Texas State, at ODU, vs. Southern Miss, at Louisiana. CCU is No. 11 in the RPI with an 8-6 mark against the top 50 — it’s a lot harder to be No. 11 in the RPI as a mid-major than it is as an SEC team that rolls out of bed and automatically gets a giant RPI bump before it even gets to the field every day. I think Coastal has flaws — really not sold on the pitching — but I have a ton of respect for the season they’ve had so far.
Charlie: Love the Nerdcast, it gives me a whole new context while I am scrolling through the scores. As someone who is philosophically opposed to 9th/10th place power conference teams with losing records receiving tournament bids, I am slightly concerned that what Ole Miss did last year will make the committee more likely to pick one of those teams instead of a mid-major.
Aaron Fitt: Thanks for the kind words. And yes, I see where you’re coming from here, it does feel like the Ole Miss run probably will embolden the faction of the committee that has a power-conference lean (and let’s face it, John Cohen probably falls into that faction, and he has the most influence there as the chairman and a former D1 coach — his credibility and sway with this committee will probably be outsized).
BirminghamEagle: How do you like Southern Miss’s chance to host regional if they can keep the 10 game winning streak going? Would they need to win all 6 remaining games to host if they go deep in conf tournament?
Aaron Fitt: If they can keep that streak going — let’s say they sweep ULM on the road (and they really need to sweep that, since the Warhawks are just 16-32), then take two of three vs. Louisiana to win the regular season, they’d probably finish in the mid-20s in the RPI heading into the conference tournament. If they can win the regular-season Sun Belt title and sneak inside the top 20 (probably with a couple wins in the conference tourney), I like their chances to host
Josh: Does it look like Southern miss has a shot of hosting again this year? Feel like it would take a strong finish on their part to be in the conversation.
Kendall Rogers: They definitely have a shot with a Top 25 RPI and a solid conference standing to go with solid vs. RPI T50 and T100 metrics. Finish strong to the regular season and play well in the conference tournament and hosting is most certainly a solid possibility.
Last edited:
