Eater Nation!

For the first time in history at the CWS or in post-season play, a team has won consecutive extra innings game. I thought I'd seen just about all there was to see, but I was wrong. Apparently Cinderella's clock is set on Pacific Standard Time. The Anteaters took out the #5 Sun Devils in 10 innings after that 13 inning marathon against the Titans. You can now officially call them the "over achievers" from UC Irvine. They had a great year, but if you thought they would get a shot at the champs of a year ago, I say that's just kooky talk.

They now face the same, yet more difficult road, to the championship. The Tar Heels have a loss, as well as the Anteaters. However Carolina used 3 pitchers in their regulation length game. UC Irvine used everybody but the bat boy to get here. Carolina faces Rice in a rematch today in the early game, and the Beavers get to build a dam to stop the flood that is UC Irvine. Both teams are in a hole. It will take some crafty pitching with a little offense, so don't count them out.

Today the rubber hits the road. One loss and either the Anteaters or the Tar Heels go home. The Owls and Beavers look to be headed for the championship series due to this little nugget: 15 of the past 17 champs have come from the winners brackets. Winning 2 games sets you up to rest your bullpen and position players, a luxury that the losers bracket doesn't get. I know that your average team wouldn't have taken 23 innings, or a record number of pitchers, to get to this point, but they have and they live to play another day.

Professor's Addendum: With such a great story brewing in UC Irvine I figured we would add a picture of the ubiquitous 'Eater Nation' t-shirts to Whitey's post, which by now are everywhere in Omaha. Not so fast. I can't find 'em. Can't even find a picture. I did find this very interesting article, which states that Irvine has had to "jump through hoops" to try and get their apparel on the streets in Omaha due to licensing problems. Obviously the independent vendor has none of these problems, but for the official NCAA website (ncaasports.com) to offer a grand total of 0 Anteater products speaks to the not-so-amateur status of college athletics nowadays. When we find 'em, our loyal readers will be the first in line...