I didn’t have a chance to really recap the Norwich Regional in which I attended over the weekend. It was hosted by UConn at Dodd Stadium which is now the home of the Connecticut Tigers. Heading into the weekend, I heard from Mark Rafferty and Ryan Rosenblatt that the Oregon Ducks were much improved. I was also looking forward to see the Florida State Seminoles who played much better baseball in the ACC Tournament after losing the final three games of the regular season to Clemson. The only other thing I was looking forward to was how the state of Connecticut would support the event.
I saw Florida State this season on May 7th-9th when they visited Boston College. My initial thoughts after the Boston College series was that the Seminoles looked like a weak ACC squad and would not have a chance for a spot in the College World Series. I was totally wrong about this after seeing them this weekend in Norwich where they swept through their opponents with a perfect 3-0 record. I have included the post game interviews from the Regional Final with players and Coach Mike Martin below.
Mark Rafferty and Ryan were right about the Oregon Ducks who ended up finishing the season with a 40-24 overall record after struggling last season with a 14-42 overall. I was extremely impressed with the Oregon pitching staff who pitched well the entire weekend and even though the lineup didn’t have the greatest power hitters they did what they could do by moving runners around with bunting and stealing bases. I have included videos below with the first video talking with Justin LaTempa and Scott McGough after the first victory on Sunday. The other two videos feature Coach Horton and players talking after the Florida State loss on Sunday.
Oregon Press Conference from Brian Foley on Vimeo.
The other story on Sunday was the UConn Huskies who had a tough regional with only one victory but played two tough one run games against Oregon in which they lost both of them. The UConn program had 48 wins which was a school record and hosting an NCAA regional for the first time since 1990. You can check out the postgame interviews below.
