D1Baseball Weekly Chat: March 24 • D1Baseball
Another big week of college baseball action is in the books and our Kendall Rogers and Aaron Fitt answer your burning questions.
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(Just win baby and this will take care of itself)
EagsBy10: Can southern miss put together a top 8 seed resume?
Aaron Fitt: It doesn’t feel like their schedule is going to be strong enough for them to build a top-eight case. They do play a road series at Troy late, but they don’t get a chance to play another marquee conference series against Coastal, and that probably hurts them, if we’re talking about them as a potential top eight. I think they can be a host, but I don’t see top-eight materializing.
Andrew: Pencil in one of these “mid majors” to get to Omaha. Southern Miss, DBU, or UC Irvine?
Kendall Rogers: Out of those three teams, I personally have the most conviction in USM for now.
Scott: It has been a remarkable start to the season for the Southland Conference. Currently with 5 teams in the top 75 RPI and two others in the 75-102 range. Do y’all see the conference as a potential 2 bid league currently or just 1?
Aaron Fitt: Yeah, you’re right Scott — I sure wasn’t expecting the Southland to be the No. 6 RPI conference at the six-week mark. UTRGV, Southeastern Louisiana, Houston Christian and McNeese have all been a lot better than we expected, and Lamar is also in at-large range in the RPI (even though it’s still too early to lean too much on RPI). Ultimately, I think one-bid is still more likely, but the chances of getting a second bid have gone way up. The most likely scenario for that to happen would be if one team dominates the regular season and has a strong RPI (UTRGV is obviously best positioned for this) but fails to win the conference tourney. If UTRGV gets pulled back to the pack in conference play, it probably winds up being a one-bid league.
SmartMuffin: What exactly should we make of the mid-week games, particularly the upsets? For RPI they all count the same, but you guys don’t seem to consider them as much for ranking purposes, and it sometimes feels like the coaches/teams themselves don’t even take them quite as seriously as a proper weekend series…
Aaron Fitt: Yeah they just aren’t as important as weekend games — but that doesn’t mean they are irrelevant. They are a piece of the pie, and as you point out, the RPI treats all games the same. Plenty of teams have built their postseason resumés on the strength of midweek excellence against quality competition. But ultimately our game is about winning weekend series, and that’s what we will always value most.
Hunter: Is it time to start talking about a 2+ bid Southland? They currently have 4 teams in the top 55 in RPI: UTRGV, McNeese, Lamar, and Southeastern.
Kendall Rogers: As of right now, it’s probably a two-bid league. But I’m not sure I see that staying the case as the season progresses. Those RPIs for those mid-major leagues will decline as the season progresses, which means even a team like McNeese, which is 29 right now, will probably, at best, be around 50 or so by Selection Monday. Let’s see where things stand in a month or so.
James: Hey guys how about that freshman sawyer strowsnider. Also how about TCU’s impressive 8 – 1 record on the road and a huge road series win in a tough place.
Kendall Rogers: James – Yeah, that was a big road series win despite the fact Tech isn’t the normal Tech team. Another series loss like that combined with the Arizona State series loss, etc, and TCU would have some making up to do. Coach Saarloos was ultra excited about Strosnider in the fall, and you’re seeing why. A 450 foot home run over the weekend. Are you kidding me? I will get a good look at Strosnider and the Frogs down here in Houston on Saturday night at UH.
95Tider: Should I be concerned that Bama’s bats seemed to have cooled off, or is it a product of facing elite arms of Texas A&M and Tennessee? Also, I don’t know that I have ever seen Coach so fired up… hope that fire carries over to the team this week.
Aaron Fitt: Yeah I wouldn’t read too much into it — as you point out, the Aggies (for all their problems) do have a terrific staff, and obviously Tennessee looks like the best staff in the country. Alabama still scored enough to win all three games in CS, and really fared better against UT’s arms than anybody. I think the Bama offense is solid.
