re: Anyone else miss the old 6 team regionals?

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The only reason they changed

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And to get more money and exposure for college base

Furniss hit a bomb vs Nichols on a Thurs nite that still hasn't landed. Those regionals were the best.
Very exciting with the number of good teams.

tBoat when they switched formats

I don't mind the 4 team regional, but I have always hated and still hate the Super Regional format.

College baseball is better when all the playoffs are tournament style.

For the same reason, I hate the CWS Championship Series.

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96 GA tech game was a blast 29-13. Batted around twice in one inning.

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I was at that game. It was hot but what a great game!

They were hell on pitching staffs.

I'm trying to remember the year, I came into the earlier game to get a spot with my gal and my buddy. I think South Alabama was playing someone.

We came in, and were walking up the bleachers up by right field maybe 20 yards deeper than 1st base. Someone hit a wicked liner foul, you could see the crazy slice it took, right towards us. My babe did the 'girl' thing, tightened up and turned away so it wouldn't hit her in the face (instead of watching and ducking)... it hit her square in the arse
I could see the lace outlines in the bruise later

Luckily, we were pretty drunk so it didn't bug her too much until later. We stayed and watched LSU play.
I tried to get that ball as a souvenir to make it sorta worthwhile, but as soon as it ricocheted off, a pack of 10 yr olds jumped all over it. They were like a swarm.

If it helps to clarify the game/year, the LSU game was the one where we got a guy on, and their pitcher threw to first about 10 or so times in one at-bat. Everyone was booing, until he finally threw one into the dugout.

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It was fun to see 5 different teams and three games a day, but that bracket format was so fricking stupid

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If you think the 6 team regional bracket was fricked up, check out the JUCO World Series bracket from this year if you get a chance. That World Series features 10 teams.

I was only interested in it because Delgado made it and I wanted to see how they were doing. But it was a weird deal. I studied it for about 15 minutes and still couldn't figure out the logic...10 team double elimination all the way. And they finished it in 8 days.

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I’ll never forget those tourneys. I was younger at the time and can remember making my parents stay for Tulane vs NLU or something random like that as well as all 9 innings of every game LSU played!
You’ve got me reminiscing now…

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I was in college. I have lots of fond memories...and lots of near-heat exhaustion moments

I also tried to attend as many non-LSU games as possible. But by the time LSU played that 11am "marble game" on Saturday, I was spent.

That being said, some of my favorite games were the 3:00 Saturday elimination game that were usually played between 2 lower seeds who by that point had run out of pitching. You could often count on a 15-11 type of game.

I don't think there will ever be a regional with more drama than the one in 1990.

USC was a holy terror. They came in red hot with a number of future pros on their team, most notably Bret Boone.

LSU lost the marble game to USC by one run, and had to beat Houston that night to stay alive, which they did.

LSU needed 2 wins over USC on Sunday, which was going to be a monumental task. The Tigers got their own 1-run, drama-filled win in the first game.

As the teams readied for the winner-take all game afterward, a massive thunderstorm rolled through campus. Everyone scattered for cover. It was one of those Sunday 4pm boomers that brought heavy rain and high wind. Some of the center field fence was blown over and I seem to recall it being found somewhere on the other side of Nicholson.

So needless to say the game was delayed til Monday so they could fix the fence and let the rain move out.

I seem to remember Monday being scheduled for noon, but they kept having to push it back due to rain Monday and the game didn't start til either 6 or 7 (someone with a better memory may correct if any of this is a little off)

When the game finally started, it was very hot and extremely muggy. And the game was damned intense.

I dont remember who started for LSU, but Boone hit a 3-run HR in the 1st and we were in a hole. Boone hit 6 or 7 HR in the regional and was named MVP. He scared the shite out of you every time he batted.

LSU rallied to go up 5-3 and all looked good, but USC got 3 in the 7th and led 6-5. I can still feel the tension that was in the air.

In the bottom of the 7th, Rich Cordani saved the day by pulling a 2-run HR to right. I was sitting in the 3rd base bleachers and can still recall the arc of the ball and the pandemonium at the Box.

There were still 6 outs to get. Lefty Mark LaRosa was the man for the job as he pitched a scoreless final 2 innings. The crowd nervously hung on every pitch until the last out and the roar was the loudest I'd ever heard at the Box...it was more of relief than jubilation I think. USC was that damned good.

The whole regional was incredible. LSU-USC played 3 one-run games.

Why was USC so feared? They won their first two games of the regional by these scores:

23-5 over Southern Miss
26-11 over Houston

So needless to say, we were all scared shitless every time they batted. They easily could have hosted and been a #1 seed, but the selection process was very different back then and not every bracket was equitable. It was about which host could pony up the most $$$.

But for my money, that was the best regional ever.


TLDR: The 1990 regional was really awesome. And fricking hot. And the Tigers slayed a giant.