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Monday, May 24, 1999 Baseball Team Headed to the NCAA's The Tech baseball team this year, more than any other year in the A-10, has fulfilled the promise of what membership in this league was supposed to mean. Specifically, when the Hokie baseball team entered this conference, they were expected to dominate it, with the exception of perhaps UMass, which fields very competitive teams in all sports in the Atlantic 10. The long-term effects of A-10 membership on the Hokie baseball team are not expected to be good ones. Being a southern team trying to compete in a mainly northern league is expected to take its toll on Tech's baseball team, most notably in the area of recruiting (although, with some of the good young players Tech has, you can argue that recruiting hasn't fallen off - only those who follow the baseball team closely could say for sure). But for now, Tech is expected to do well in the A-10. That hasn't been the case the last few years, but this year, the Hokies blew the doors off the league, going an eye-popping 18-3 in the league, and winning the A-10 West by an equally astounding eight games. A-10 East champion UMass was "only" 13-8, a full five games behind Tech. The Hokies' league-best 37 regular season wins were 9 better than runner up Temple, who went 28-26-1 (Tech was 37-14). But there was danger around the corner, namely, in the tournament. Tech, despite a strong finish and a sparkling record, probably wouldn't receive an at-large bid, so their job was to do in the tournament what they had done in the regular season. The double-elimination tournament got off to a slow start for the Hokies, who squeaked by Temple 4-3 on Thursday and then opened Friday's games with a 13-6 loss to La Salle, in a game that Tech trailed 12-0 at one point. Friday night, though, the Hokies cranked up the machine and started steamrolling their opponents. Tech eliminated UMass by a 9-4 score Friday evening, and then laid two major-league spankings on La Salle on Saturday, 15-3 and 20-6. I heard the 20-6 score Saturday night on the local news, and I thought, "Did he just say twenty to six?" Whereupon the announcer proceeded to say that Tech hit six home runs in the final game, and I thought, "Well, maybe he did." The tournament victory completes a 22-4 run through the A-10 for Tech, who now moves on to the NCAA's with the A-10's automatic bid. The NCAA baseball tournament selection show will be televised by ESPN at 2:00 in the afternoon today (thanks to Steve in Baltimore for that little tidbit), so if you can catch it, be sure not to miss it. I fully expect another shafting from this selection committee, if Tech's experience with past selection committees means anything. Nonetheless, this is a great job by the Tech baseball team. Congratulations, guys, and thanks for doing us proud in what has been a great year for Tech sports.
Tech Notes and HokieCentral Notes
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