The Official UNC @ #1 Tennessee CWS Game 2 Thread (Sun. June 16) (7PM EST) (ESPN2)

[firestorm]

They need to change it to say, first cycle in CWS history.

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It’s a high bar list to make.

 

[DooleyOrangePants]

Most important question on this fine Saturday:

Where are we standing in the shot competition?

 

[NighthawkVol]

I think Causey will want more innings because he had a tough go. He threw 45 pitches so with a day off maybe he can go another 20-30 pitches.

Combs is a big maybe. He had 59

Kirby can go again. Benkhe only had 8 pitches. Loy hasn’t pitched yet.

Hopefully Beam can get thru 5 or 6 Sunday.

We NEED Beam to be good. But Snead had 39, Loy didn’t pitch, Behnke threw 7, and Kirby is available. Marcus Phillips or JJ Garcia might be options.

I think Snead, with a day in between, is likely to be available. That rest day is big. And if we can win, we get a near total reset for the bullpen.

 

[fryeguy93]

 

[fryeguy93]

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As this would all apply for both Sunday games, They will flip a coin for both games to determine home team. They may have done already.

I’m guessing should we win the coin toss, Sunday creams and if we lose, black on gray.

 

[volplaya8]

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Damn…I thought if teams had played same amount of games as home/away team then the highest seeded team automatically got to be the home team with no coin flip. These idiots really need to change the rules on that crap. You can’t be the highest seeded team, stay in winners bracket and not be the home team. Stupid!

 

[WillisWG]

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so who won the flip? Looking at the NCAA sites I think NC may have.

NCAA college baseball scores | NCAA.com

Live NCAA baseball scores, schedules and rankings for all divisions from opening day to the College World Series.

www.ncaa.com

 

[NighthawkVol]

We NEED Beam to be good. But Snead had 39, Loy didn’t pitch, Behnke threw 7, and Kirby is available. Marcus Phillips or JJ Garcia might be options.

I think Snead, with a day in between, is likely to be available. That rest day is big. And if we can win, we get a near total reset for the bullpen.

Also...Stamos is available. I'd like nothing more than to see him come in and have a great outing. He was a great teammate last night.

 

[firestorm]

The Cubs continue to struggle because they haven’t been able to return to winning consistently which is less frustrating because I’m pretty damn happy that the 2024 Volunteers baseball team continues to be a rock for me because they find ways to win in ugly games.

They have the heart of a champion.

 

[runthrutheT]

We would all agree that there were many coaching blunders along with team playing tight, making odd errors, etc. I'll move on but would love to see us not put ourselves behind the 8 ball for once and play sound Sunday.

Pitching wise, all of our pitchers should be able to throw at least an inning. These guys grew up playing travel ball and it is nothing to throw 40-60 pitches and come back on a days rest to throw another 30. Wouldnt do it in the season, but now that you are at this point everyone is an option.

Beam will need to keep the ball down and reduce the speed of his curve. At times he throws it too hard and it has no touch. He's due...I would have a short leash and be ready to pitch Zander. Then use Beam and Causey on Wednesday. It should be all in to win with the winner not playing again until Wednesday.

I love the never quit of this team. I hope we can mix that with sound decisions and good play. We win Sunday and we likely make the finals. Would be hard to beat us twice

 

[87&91ALUM]

We NEED Beam to be good. But Snead had 39, Loy didn’t pitch, Behnke threw 7, and Kirby is available. Marcus Phillips or JJ Garcia might be options.

I think Snead, with a day in between, is likely to be available. That rest day is big. And if we can win, we get a near total reset for the bullpen.

Lord help us if Marcus pitches. On the positive side, still thinking. Just hope all our pitchers are dialed in and focused. Hard to score 12 runs consistently at this level.

 

[firestorm]

The 2024 Volunteers baseball team are a tenacious team that finds ways to win.

That’s why this fast moving song used in the Daredevil movie would also be a great theme song for them.
It is Won’t Back Down by Fuel.

 

[87&91ALUM]

I will be living last night for quite a while. Need to take UNC Sunday and win this thing outright! No excuses. National Championship trophy or bust.

 

[VolPack22]

What are we expecting out of the Tarheels? Their game looked radically different than ours did.

They are a much more well rounded team than FSU. They won the ACC regular season. And they have a DUDE, Vance Honeycutt. Arguably the best player in UNC history and will be a top 5 pick. I suggest our pitching staff avoid him at all costs.

 

[Sudden Impact]

We would all agree that there were many coaching blunders along with team playing tight, making odd errors, etc. I'll move on but would love to see us not put ourselves behind the 8 ball for once and play sound Sunday.

Pitching wise, all of our pitchers should be able to throw at least an inning. These guys grew up playing travel ball and it is nothing to throw 40-60 pitches and come back on a days rest to throw another 30. Wouldnt do it in the season, but now that you are at this point everyone is an option.

Beam will need to keep the ball down and reduce the speed of his curve. At times he throws it too hard and it has no touch. He's due...I would have a short leash and be ready to pitch Zander. Then use Beam and Causey on Wednesday. It should be all in to win with the winner not playing again until Wednesday.

I love the never quit of this team. I hope we can mix that with sound decisions and good play. We win Sunday and we likely make the finals. Would be hard to beat us twice

I was really surprised to see how much movement AJ Causey was getting on his pitches. I assumed it was the tension/nerves. I do believe it his movement was larger than normal. A lot of factors played into it yesterday. The will adjust and settle down once they figure it out. You get a 2 foot movement on a ball and it's not normal, you can have some mental moments on the mound.

 

[NighthawkVol]

They are a much more well rounded team than FSU. They won the ACC regular season. And they have a DUDE, Vance Honeycutt. Arguably the best player in UNC history and will be a top 5 pick. I suggest our pitching staff avoid him at all costs.

They are more well rounded. But FSU was playing better and UNC doesn't have an Arnold.

 

[volfan102455]

Damn…I thought if teams had played same amount of games as home/away team then the highest seeded team automatically got to be the home team with no coin flip. These idiots really need to change the rules on that crap. You can’t be the highest seeded team, stay in winners bracket and not be the home team. Stupid!

Agree would make more sense to use the "higher seed" rule,

 

[volplaya8]

They are a much more well rounded team than FSU. They won the ACC regular season. And they have a DUDE, Vance Honeycutt. Arguably the best player in UNC history and will be a top 5 pick. I suggest our pitching staff avoid him at all costs.

What if I told you he was not even the best hitter on the team…would that shock you

 

[VolPack22]

They are more well rounded. But FSU was playing better and UNC doesn't have an Arnold.

They don’t have Arnold but they do have a lower team ERA than FSU, good for 15th in the country. 15th in HR, 11th in runs scored. FSU came into the game with the 43rd ranked ERA in the country and it showed. I expect this to be a lower scoring game.

 

[volplaya8]

Agree would make more sense to use the "higher seed" rule,

I understand the reasoning behind if a team has been the away team more games…I do not get if things are equal and you have been home/away same amount of times that higher seeded team doesn’t automatically get to be the home team…real bad rule that needs to be changed if this is actually how it goes

 

[VolPack22]

What if I told you he was not even the best hitter on the team…would that shock you

They have a couple other very good hitters but not as good or dangerous as Honeycutt. He leads their team in HR, SLG, OPS, total bases. Oh and he is 28-31 on stolen bases. Not to mention that walk off yesterday and the walk off bomb in the Super Regional. Everyone in the stadium collectively said “why aren’t you intentionally walking him?” Then proceeded to hit a bomb to the moon. I would walk his butt or throw every pitch in the dirt every single AB. So yeah I’ll take Honeycutt.

 

[volplaya8]

They have a couple other very good hitters but not as good or dangerous as Honeycutt. He leads their team in HR, SLG, OPS, total bases. Oh and he is 28-31 on stolen bases. Not to mention that walk off yesterday and the walk off bomb in the Super Regional. Everyone in the stadium collectively said “why aren’t you intentionally walking him?” Then proceeded to hit a bomb to the moon. I would walk his butt or throw every pitch in the dirt every single AB. So yeah I’ll take Honeycutt.

They didn’t walk him because the better hitter was due up next…lol…way less strikeouts and almost guaranteed to put the ball in play…tough calls when you have good players…walk CMO and see what happens with Blake..on and on down our lineup…Honeycutt got the job done but went 1 for 5…next guy had already went 3 for 4…the ballsy play would have been to walk both and load the bases…of course a walk, passed ball etc could then lose the game…UVA was losing regardless…lol

 

[wtmvol]

They didn’t walk him because the better hitter was due up next…lol…way less strikeouts and almost guaranteed to put the ball in play…tough calls when you have good players…walk CMO and see what happens with Blake..on and on down our lineup…Honeycutt got the job done but went 1 for 5…next guy had already went 3 for 4…the ballsy play would have been to walk both and load the bases…of course a walk, passed ball etc could then lose the game…UVA was losing regardless…lol

They could have walked both of them.

 

[NighthawkVol]

They don’t have Arnold but they do have a lower team ERA than FSU, good for 15th in the country. 15th in HR, 11th in runs scored. FSU came into the game with the 43rd ranked ERA in the country and it showed. I expect this to be a lower scoring game.

Right. I get that. But if one team pitches Arnold against Tennessee and the other pitches Sprague against Tennessee, the overall ERA doesn't really matter to Tennessee. What matters is who we face in the particular games against Tennessee. North Carolina will not be throwing pitchers at Tennessee who are as good as the pitchers FSU threw against Tennessee, in all likelihood. They used their best starter and best bullpen arm (threw 3.1 innings) yesterday.

 

[AllThingsTN]

A Spring Sunday won’t be a long challenging workday for me at Texas
Roadhouse because Tennessee is playing North Carolina in the Winners bracket game instead of the undesirable no room for failure that is an elimination game.

Man now you got me craving Texas Roadhouse. The best and most underrated restaurant! Wish there was one near me.