The Blue Workhorse

We’ve previously previewed the NCAA college baseball Regionals and each of the Super Regionals, and with the College World Series set to begin Saturday, it’s time for us to preview the teams that will be playing at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha for the chance to be crowned national champions.

Today, we preview Bracket Two (yesterday we previewed Bracket One) giving you each teams’ projected starting lineup, projected pitching rotation, “Road to Omaha,” and some keys to success:
Schedule/Results (will be updated daily):

Sunday, June 14

* Game 1: North Carolina vs Arizona State - 2 PM EST (ESPN)
* Game 2: Texas vs Southern Mississippi - 7 PM EST (ESPN)

Tuesday, June 16

* Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2 - 2 PM EST (ESPN2)
* Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2 - 7 PM EST (ESPN2)

Thursday, June 18

* Game 5: Loser Game 4 vs Winner Game 3 - 7 PM EST (ESPN2)

Friday, June 19

* Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs Winner Game 5 - 7 PM EST (ESPN2)

(if necessary) Saturday, June 20

* Game 7: (if necessary) Saturday 2 PM or 7 PM EST (ESPN)

North Carolina Tar Heels (47-16)

Projected Starting Lineup:
1. Ben Bunting - LF
2. Dustin Ackley - 1B
3. Kyle Seager - 3B
4. Mark Fleury - C
5. Ryan Graepel - SS
6. Levi Michael - 2B
7. Garrett Gore - RF
8. Mike Cavasinni - CF
9. Jacob Stallings - DH

Projected Pitching Rotation:
1 - Alex White (R)
2 - Adam Warren (R)
3 - Matt Harvey (R)
4 - Patrick Johnson (R)

CL: Brian Moran (L)

North Carolina’s Road to Omaha:
2009 has been another outstanding season for the UNC Tar Heels. After a solid regular season, which saw them win the ACC Coastal Division Title, the Tar Heels earned the national number four seed in the NCAA Tournament. UNC was able to breeze through the Chapel Hill Regional, knocking off Dartmouth, Coastal Carolina, and Kansas by a combined score of 31-8. The Tar Heels continued to roll through the Super Regionals, sweeping past in-state rival East Carolina by the scores of 10-1 and 9-3 to earn the programs fourth straight College World Series appearance.

The UNC program is no longer satisfied with making it to Omaha, they have their expectations set on coming back to Chapel Hill with the title. Coach Fox’s club is certainly equipped to do so, with a roster that includes 6 players that were selected in the top 6 rounds of the MLB Amateur Draft.

…more…

College baseball’s Super Regionals start Friday at noon when Arkansas takes on Florida State on ESPN. We give you the info you need to know, including how each team got to the Super Regionals, some keys to success, and our predictions in our Super Regional Previews (Also, know who your team could potentially face by looking at the official NCAA tournament bracket):

Schedule/Results:

* Game 1: Saturday 6 PM EST (ESPNU)
* Game 2: Sunday 3 PM EST (ESPN)
* Game 3: (if necessary) Monday 1 or 7 PM EST (ESPN/ESPN2)

Austin Super Regional

Texas (44-13-1) vs Texas Christian (39-16)

Texas Longhorns -
Road to Super Regional: After starting out 3-5 in conference play, the Longhorns rebounded to win the regular season Big XII conference crown with a 17-9-1 record. Similar to their regular season conference play, the Longhorns lost their first game of the Big XII Conference Tournament but bounced back to win the conference title when they defeated Missouri 12-7 in the championship game earning themselves the #1 overall national seed. Texas played in one of the most memorable regionals ever…especially for closer Austin Wood.

Austin Regional

1. Texas Longhorns (41-13-1) vs 4. Army Black Knights (34-19)
2. Texas State Bobcats (41-15) vs 3. Boston College Eagles (33-24)

Winner to take on champion of Fort Worth Regional.

It is easy to call the Longhorns the favorite in this regional being the #1 overall seed in this year’s tournament. However, The Longhorns will not have a cakewalk to advance to the super regional next week matched up with some hard hitting clubs with the likes of Boston College, Army, and in-state rival Texas State.

This will be quite to contradiction to the pitching laden Longhorn baseball team. Despite the contrast in styles that might give the favored host some minimal problems as the Longhorns should still be on the diamond next weekend at home again.

…more…

All we heard about this college football season was the gunslingers from the West and the high-powered, high-oiled Big 12 South offensive machines. Choke-lahoma regularly scoring 40 in the first half, the resurgence of Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and the “Air Raid”, Texas and Colt McCoy putting up massive numbers.

Every Saturday night (it seemed), we had to watch each installment of the Big 12 South showdowns. Brent Musberger roaring about the offensive proficiency and how good these teams seemed to be. This season was the Big 12’s moment. This was their time to shine….

Until the bowl season came upon us.

..more…

Throughout this year’s college football bowl season, I have enjoyed being off work, spending time with friends and family, and watching plenty of bowl games on the ESPN family of networks.

The TCU-Boise game was a great display of competition, as well as the highlight reel catches in the North Carolina and West “By God” Virginia game. However, there is one thing that continually disturbs me through these early bowl games.

…more…

Last Saturday, Sam Bradford was honored with the prestigious Heisman Trophy after being named the most outstanding player in the regular season of college football this season.

Bradford’s winnings came on the heels of the announcement of Tim Tebow’s historic win in the first annual Sports Blog Hesiman Trophy. For the Sports Blog Heisman Trophy, we e-mailed many, many bloggers asking them to give us their Heisman ballots, several of which did.

We also gave our votes, and I’d be remiss as this site’s editor if I didn’t broadcast these selections (in alphabetical order):

There was a great competitive matchup for the SEC title and then there was a blowout where the opposition never even looked prepared for the Big XII title.

The winners, Florida & Oklahoma, of these games will now faceoff for the right to be crowned the BCS national champion.

Another week means another re-evaluation, and thus, we give you our new The Blue Workhorse College Football Top 25 after Week 14. Some things to note from this week’s rankings:

…more…

Oklahoma won impressively yet again, and it was just enough to bump them past Texas and into the Big XII championship game. With a win, they appear to be destined for the national championship against the winner of the SEC championship game. Too bad Texas can’t replace Missouri in the championship game. Now that would make for an entertaining championship weekend.

Another week means another re-evaluation, and thus, we give you our new The Blue Workhorse College Football Top 25 after Week 13. Some things to note from this week’s rankings: