My Thoughts from Day 1

As always, the first day of the season is special as every team in the country has the same goal of winning the College World Series but you can’t make it to Omaha on Day 1. It is a very long journal and we are only done one day so we can’t get too excited for one victory or down after a tough loss. As always, I am trying to give as many different conferences and teams some press not just based on how great we think a certain program is. Here are my thoughts from a bunch of games which I watched or followed today through Gametracker. I will be running a Live Chat on Sunday evening at 8pm Eastern time to discuss the opening weekend and take questions from all our loyal readers. If I missed a story in this article, feel free to leave a comment below.

1. Deck McGuire continued to show that he is an elite college pitcher by going seven innings and striking out 10 batters while allowing no runs to a Missouri State squad that is expected to compete in the Missouri Valley Conference this season. Kevin Jacob also was outstanding striking out the side in the ninth continuing his strong summer play in Game 1 this spring.
2. Eric Erickson had a solid start for Miami today as he went 5.2 innings while allowing only two hits and an unearned run as the Hurricanes rolled over Rutgers 12-1. Harold Martinez also hit two homers in the game. Can I change my picks in the ACC Coastal Division after seeing these performances?
3. Terrible Day for Conference USA teams as the conference had a record of 2-6 as Southern Miss defeated Northwestern State 11-0 and UCF beat Savannah State 7-2. I wouldn’t consider either of those victories quality wins. The marquee games of the day in the conference saw Rice lose to Stanford by a score of 6-4 and East Carolina lose to CWS contender Virginia 6-2. On the other hand, what a great day by the Pac-10 where they went a perfect 9-0 with victories over Cal-State Fullerton and Rice.
4. George Mason lost a ton of offensive talent from last year’s team but put up a 25 spot on Northwestern as they cruised to a 23 run victory. Can George Mason knock off James Madison in the CAA this season again?
5. Not to be forgotten is the offensive explosion in Raleigh by the North Carolina Wolfpack who knocked off LaSalle by a score of 32-3.
6. Coach Horton at Oregon had a nice return to Cal-State Fullerton where he defeated his former club by a score of 7-3.
7. Dallas Gallant was a tough luck loser on Friday as he let up zero earned runs in six innings of work but gave up unearned runs in the second and third innings which cost his team the game in the end.
8. Don Robbs who broadcasters games for Hawaii is one of my favorite broadcasters and seems to be calling the games like he is calling an epic Red Sox/Yankees game. I highly recommend listening to him on ESPN 1420. Oregon State ended up knocking off Hawaii in that game by a score of 10-6. The interesting part of the game was that Pat Casey pulled freshman catcher Andrew Susac after four innings. Susac was called for two catcher’s interference and was responsible for two passed balls. Seems like the move paid off tonight. Hopefully, Susac gets back behind the plate tomorrow.
9. North Carolina struggled Friday against George Washington where they needed both a ninth and tenth inning comeback to avoid losing the opening. I think they are missing Dustin Ackley and Alex White more then I expected.
10. Chris Sale started tonight for Florida Gulf Coast where he was outstanding but he only pitched two innings where he struck out four batters and did not allow a hit. The reason for this is that FGCU will be facing Miami (FL) on Wednesday where Sale will get the ball.

You can check out a full scoreboard from the day by clicking here.