June 18, 2013

CWS field finalized as UNC gets past South Carolina

North Carolina rallied for three runs in the sixth inning and blanked the Gamecocks over the final three innings to earn a trip to Omaha and the College World series with a 5-4 win. The #1 seeded Tar Heels improve to 57-10 and are headed to the CWS for the sixth time in eight years. They will play arch-rival NC State Sunday afternoon in their opening CWS game. And they still haven’t lost consecutive games this season.

The schedule is set to start this Saturday . Mississippi State and Oregon State, will face each other at 2 pm. . Big Ten champ Indiana faces Louisville, at 7pm. UNC/NC State Sunday at 2pm. UCLA and LSU Sunday at 7pm.

Huskers land a 2014 commitment

Nebraska football gets its fourth commitment for 2014, getting a verbal from offensive lineman Tanner Farmer from Highland, IL. He had offers from Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri.  Farmer is 6’4, 300 pounds and has bench pressed as much as 225 pounds, 33 times. To give you an idea of how good that is…if he went to the NFL combine, he would have been in the top 10 this past February.

Sean Callahan, a contributor to Nebraska Radio Network has more on Farmer.

Miles adds final assistant to basketball staff

Nebraska men’s basketball coach Tim Miles announced the hiring of former Georgetown assistant coach Kenya Hunter as a new assistant coach for the Husker basketball program. Hunter was the longest-tenured assistant on John Thompson III’s Georgetown staff, a program that won a pair of Big East titles (2008 and 2013), five 20-win seasons and five NCAA Tournament bids over the last six years.

In his tenure at Georgetown, he played a significant role in the development of four NBA players, including all-star Roy Hibbert and Greg Monroe, who was the No. 7 pick of the Detroit Pistons in the 2010 NBA Draft. In addition, Hunter will likely produce a third NBA first-round pick this month, as Otto Porter, who was the Big East Player of the Year in 2012-13, is expected to be a top-five pick.

“I’m really excited to add Kenya Hunter to our staff. He brings a wealth of experience in many areas which will help the Huskers reach our goals,” Miles said. “Through my discussions with Kenya, I was very impressed with his knowledge of the game and his feel for the game, and I believe his extensive network of contacts will help us expand our recruiting boundaries.”

CWS field for Omaha just about set

The Oregon State Beavers are heading back to Omaha for the first time since their national championship run in 2007, following their 4-3 victory against Kansas State in the third game of the Corvallis Super Regional.

Mississippi State completed its suspended super regional game against Virginia on Monday with a 6-5 victory, sending the Bulldogs to the College World Series for the ninth time. Weather in Chapel Hill forced the third and final game between North Carolina and South Carolina to be played at 11 a.m. our time. The winner will fill out the eight team bracket for the College World Series which gets started Saturday.

The College World Series gets started Saturday. Mississippi State and Oregon State, who both just got in, will face each other at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Big Ten Champ Indiana faces Louisville, in the second game at 7 p.m.

Indiana punches a ticket to Omaha

The Indiana Hoosiers who beat the Huskers for the Big Ten championship punched their ticket to Omaha after sweeping Florida State to advance to their first College World Series. It is also the first time a school from the Big Ten has made it since Michigan in 1984. Big Ten MVP Sam Travis hit a two run homer to break a tie and lead the Hoosiers to an 11-6 win on Saturday.

”This is certainly uncharted territory for us,” Indiana coach Tracy Smith said. ”We’re thrilled, we’re happy but we feel like we have a lot of work left to do.”

NC State, UCLA, LSU and Louisville also clinched a trip to Omaha.

North Carolina-South Carolina and Kansas State-Oregon State are tied 1-1 in their super regionals. Mississippi State leads Virginia 1-0 in the series. Mississippi State’s game two against Virginia has been suspended in the middle of the seventh inning by lightning and heavy rain.

The Bulldogs were leading 5-3 and coming to bat six outs from a sweep and their first College World Series berth since 2007 when the rain came at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday. The game will resume at 3 p.m. CT on Monday, the original scheduled time for a possible Game 3 at Virginia’s Davenport Field. A win would finish off a consecutive victory for Mississippi State against the nation’s No. 6 seed, and send them on to Omaha, Neb., as one of eight teams remaining.