Today we continue our March Madness coverage with the results of the South Regional. We’ve already covered the East and the West.
As a reminder of the format, each school’s best MLB player, based on WAR, will represent them in Round 1, their second-best in Round 2, and so on. Whichever school’s player had the higher career WAR score wins.
SOUTH - Round 1
1 Houston vs. 16 Longwood: Had Longwood alum Michael Tucker managed to pull off the first round upset, his alma mater would have been forced to forfeit in Round 2 for lack of a second major leaguer to represent them. Tucker (8.1 WAR) is all alone, the only Longwood player ever to make the big leagues. As you might expect, Houston has a deeper pool of big leaguers to choose from. Their top man is Woody Williams, whose 30.2 WAR allowed the Cougars to advance easily and saved Longwood some embarrassment.
8 Nebraska vs. 9 Texas A&M: Like most 8/9 matchups, this one could have gone either way. The top of Nebraska’s pool of major leaguers is pretty pretty strong, with Alex Gordon representing them at 34.2 WAR. With a different draw they’d have been strong contenders, with Darin Erstad, Stan Bahnsen, and Pete O’Brien lined up next. But their draw was the Aggies, and Chuck Knoblauch’s 44.6 WAR knocked off Gordon and sent the Huskers packing.
5 Wisconsin vs. 12 James Madison: The Hall of Fame built an entire exception to their 10-year eligibility rule around the short career of Addie Joss, a fabulous pitcher who sadly passed away before he could start the 10th major league season that would have made him eligible. No such exception was needed for him to lead the Badgers past James Madison, though, as he trounced poor Billy Sample 45.3 to 10.4. On Wisconsin!
4 Duke vs. 13 Vermont: Duke came in cocky, and that’s understandable. Not only did they have Dick Groat representing them with his very solid 36.8 WAR career, but they also had the knowledge that they had the only representative who nearly played the NCAA basketball tournament, as Groat starred for the Blue Devils in both baseball and hoops in the 1950s. Facing Vermont, they felt they were in good shape. BUT THAT’S WHY THEY PLAY THE GAMES. The Catamounts were ready with longtime Red Sox and Indians infielder Larry Gardner. A four-time World Series champion, Gardner just knew how to win, and he did that again here, shocking Duke, 48.3 to 36.8.
6 Texas Tech vs. 11 North Carolina State: The Red Raiders were the better seed, but have a surprisingly thin group of big leaguers to choose from. Their best has been Josh Tomlin, and he was simply no match from the Wolfpack’s Trea Turner, who crushed Tomlin, 33.3 to 5.5.
3 Kentucky vs. 14 Oakland: Tiny Oakland has sent just two players to the major leagues. One of them is Mike Brosseau, who is currently hoping to make the Royals’ bench and is the owner of 3.1 career WAR that probably isn’t increasing anytime soon. Kentucky was able to roll out Brandon Webb and his three top-2 finishes in Cy Young voting, so their 31.1 to 3.1 victory comes as no surprise.
7 Florida vs. 10 Colorado: Robert Redford went to Colorado, and if the Buffs had been able to have Redford’s portrayal of Roy Hobbs represent them, they might have had a shot against Robby Thompson’s 33.8 WAR for the Gators. But alas, Colorado could only muster the real-life version of John Stearns, 19.7 WAR, sending Florida on to Round 2.
2 Marquette vs. 15 Western Kentucky: This game could barely be played. Marquette’s Skip Lockwood is one of just three players in school history to play in the major leagues. That’s better than Western Kentucky, which had Rick White representing them as the better of the two Hilltoppers who’ve made the big leagues. The Golden Eagles are probably going to have a problem in the second round, but Lockwood gave them enough to advance, 10.8 to 2.4.
SOUTH - Round 2
1 Houston vs. 9 Texas A&M: In a game that mirrored real life, Houston had their hands full with A&M right down to the wire. The Aggies were able to send Davey Johnson out there, with his 27.4 WAR and, sadly for them, no extra credit for his managing skills. That proved to be unfortunate, because the Cougars’ Doug Drabek was able to nip Johnson at the buzzer, 29.2 to 27.4.
5 Wisconsin vs. 13 Vermont: For the second straight game, Vermont’s opponent felt pretty good before the opening tip. The Badgers had former batting champ and ten-time All-Star Harvey Kuenn in their corner with his 26.0 WAR. What could little Vermont do to counter that? Oh, I don’t know, how about go with two-time World Series winner Ed Reulbach and his 35.6 WAR? Incredibly, the Catamounts moved on to the Sweet Sixteen!
3 Kentucky vs. 11 North Carolina State: It was a battle of cats and dogs (well, wolves) as Kentucky sent Jason Kipnis to face off against NC State’s Mike Caldwell. In a nip and tuck battle, the scrappy Wolfpack hung on longer than you’d expect against the bluebloods, but the Wildcats ultimately came away with a 21.3 to 18.4 win and a spot in the Sweet Sixteen.
2 Marquette vs. 7 Florida: Like we said, Marquette pretty much shot their wad in Round 1 and had only Mike Jurewicz (two career games, 0.0 WAR) or Ralph Shinners (439 plate appearances, -0.4 WAR) to choose from. They went with Jurewicz and watched him get crushed by the 33.5 career WAR of the Gators’ Mark Ellis.
SOUTH - Sweet Sixteen
1 Houston vs 13 Vermont: Houston didn’t make the same mistake as Vermont’s first two opponents. By now it was clear that the Catamounts were not to be taken lightly. They put Michael Bourn on the field to represent them with his 22.8 WAR and hoped it was good enough.
And it WAS NOT!
That’s right, Vermont countered with Ray Collins, who only pitched for seven seasons with the Red Sox back in the Dead Ball days, but he won 84 games for the Sox, including 20 in 1914, and played for two World Series winners. His 25.5 career WAR was just enough to send the Cougars home in the “Battle Of Different Names For Pumas.” Vermont, shockingly, is now in the Elite Eight!
3 Kentucky vs 7 Florida: It’s a bit surprising that an SEC baseball program is down to James Paxton and his 13.6 WAR to represent them as their third-best MLB player, but that’s the case with Kentucky. As you probably suspect, that simply wasn’t going to cut it against the Gators, who had Al Rosen’s 32.4 WAR. They may not be happy with it since they now have to face the juggernaut that is the Vermont Catamounts, but Florida moves on the Elite Eight.
SOUTH - Regional Final
7 Florida vs. 13 Vermont: The Gators game into their Elite Eight game with an embarrassment of riches. Not only did they have a 20.9-WAR player available to represent them, they had TWO. Both David Eckstein and Mike Stanley posted identical career WAR totals. Eckstein is first both alphabetically and in terms of All-Star appearances, so he get the nod against the surging, panic-inducing Catamounts of Vermont. Would it be enough?
It would, but not by as much as you’d think. Vermont was able to send Kirk McCaskill to represent them, and his 14.3 career WAR made the final score respectable, but the Gators were able to capture our third spot in the Final Four.
Tomorrow we’ll find out who they’ll face there as we will cover our final Regional, the Midwest.
Great articles. Learning where a lot of former players came from is fascinating info.
We'll have to see, but I can't help thinking that Florida is well-positioned to get this done.