Unknown pitchers in double elimination tournaments make college baseball unique

Staying in the winner’s bracket is big. Arizona State and Southern Miss have to throw the kitchen sink if needed to stay alive. Then with whatever deleted staff they have left they have to try to beat LSU twice.

What’s amazing is that some teams beat the odds and play back through the loser’s bracket to win. For that to happen, some kid buried on the pitching staff all year has to step up and pitch in the teams biggest game of the year.

That’s a feature that makes college baseball so fun and different. In what other sport than college baseball would a team have a sixth or seventh string player starting the team’s biggest game of the year?

The tigers are in the driver’s seat for sure, not only winning both games but doing so with about as minimal stress on their pitching staff as could be expected. Arizona State and Southern Miss’s hopes in the end are going to depend on some kid playing on a stage he’s never been on, and its always fun to watch how kids respond. For most, the stage is too big. But every year in at least one of the regionals a star is born.

It’s pretty cool how LSUs young pitchers fought through their inexperience and injuries to dominate at just the right time.