Who: ASU v Oral Roberts
Where: Phoenix Muni
When: Fri 6:30 Sat 1:00 Sun Noon
TV: ESPN+ subscription
Overview
Probably more than any other program in America, you could make Oral Roberts sound as good or as bad as you want.
Good: The 3 time defending Summit League Champions played in the 2023 CWS where they beat #7 ranked TCU and stood toe to toe with #2 Florida. Since 1998 the Golden Eagles have been to the NCAA Baseball Tournament 22 times. This season they are undefeated largely due to their pitching staff having given up 0 earned runs in 3 games.
Bad: Last season Oral Roberts made the tournament with a #261 RPI. They won just 27 games, 22 of which were against Q4 opponents. They had 17 losses to Q4 opponents. Their strength of schedule was 274th nationally and they only made the post season because they beat #241 North Dakota State, and #282 Northern Colorado in their conference tournament. Their only Q1 win was against Oklahoma on a Tuesday. The same Oklahoma team beat them 14-0 in the Norman regional.
Key to the series:
Introduce Sun Devil Baseball:
Does anybody know what our identity is anymore? When a ticket rep called to see if I wanted to renew my season tickets she mentioned our deep pitching staff. ESPN+ mentions our home runs but says Bloomquist wants to see more contact in the gaps. The outfield signs point to names and teams from long ago. We scrap for 11 pitch at bats followed by 1 pitch at bats.
There is a lot of talk of what we used to be.
There is a lot of talk of why we aren’t that anymore.
There is almost zero talk of who we are.
What is our identity? I’d like to know.
Oral Roberts isn’t good. I would love ASU to introduce themselves to college baseball this weekend in an unmistakable way.
Where: Phoenix Muni
When: Fri 6:30 Sat 1:00 Sun Noon
TV: ESPN+ subscription
Overview
Probably more than any other program in America, you could make Oral Roberts sound as good or as bad as you want.
Good: The 3 time defending Summit League Champions played in the 2023 CWS where they beat #7 ranked TCU and stood toe to toe with #2 Florida. Since 1998 the Golden Eagles have been to the NCAA Baseball Tournament 22 times. This season they are undefeated largely due to their pitching staff having given up 0 earned runs in 3 games.
Bad: Last season Oral Roberts made the tournament with a #261 RPI. They won just 27 games, 22 of which were against Q4 opponents. They had 17 losses to Q4 opponents. Their strength of schedule was 274th nationally and they only made the post season because they beat #241 North Dakota State, and #282 Northern Colorado in their conference tournament. Their only Q1 win was against Oklahoma on a Tuesday. The same Oklahoma team beat them 14-0 in the Norman regional.
Key to the series:
Introduce Sun Devil Baseball:
Does anybody know what our identity is anymore? When a ticket rep called to see if I wanted to renew my season tickets she mentioned our deep pitching staff. ESPN+ mentions our home runs but says Bloomquist wants to see more contact in the gaps. The outfield signs point to names and teams from long ago. We scrap for 11 pitch at bats followed by 1 pitch at bats.
There is a lot of talk of what we used to be.
There is a lot of talk of why we aren’t that anymore.
There is almost zero talk of who we are.
What is our identity? I’d like to know.
Oral Roberts isn’t good. I would love ASU to introduce themselves to college baseball this weekend in an unmistakable way.
