DAVE BURROUGHS
Both Emporia State and Cowley get started with College World Series action Saturday — the Hornets at the NCAA Division II event in Cary, N.C., and the Tigers at the NJCAA in Grand Junction, Colo. And get this — both teams have already faced their first-round opponents this season.
No. 17-ranked ESU faced No. 13 Grand Valley State and lost 12-11 in Pittsburg — but good news — MIAA MVP Conner Crumbliss went 3 for 4 with three runs in the loss. Here’s a link to the full package of CWS preview stuff from the ESU sports info department. They play at 4 p.m. Saturday and you can get live stats through www.ncaa.com and audio through www.kcove.com. If they don’t work, remember, I’m not on the hook. But let me know.
Cowley — ranked No. 3 in the latest poll — lost to first-round opponent Seminole (Okla.) State 7-3 on Feb. 10 in Seminole, Okla., in the Tigers’ third game of the season. Honestly, that they played is more of an ironic wrinkle at this point. It was so long ago I don’t think you can take anything from it. They play at 4 p.m. Saturday, too, and if you can pick it up its on 95.9-FM, or just go to this site. Is this a full-service blog or what?
Can either team make some noise? For sure. The Hornets exploded offensively at the regional, scoring 59 runs in five games, and never count out coach Dave Burroughs and Cowley, which won back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998 (they had a dude named Travis Hafner back then, ever heard of him?)
Come back for updates — I’ll be on it tomorrow posting stuff up here as soon as the games are done along with updates from NCAA DII and NJCAA track in Hutchinson. It’ll be Update Saturday.
-TA.