Alright EP, 5 dimes has the numbers posted this morning!
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Coastal +120
June 1, 2012 -- Coastal Carolina +120
The Chants are starting Jr. LHP Austin Wallace against Clemson who has yet to announce who will be starting but CU Head Coach Jack Legget said as of right now Daniel Gosset, Kevin Pohle, and Dominic Leone are the three scheduled starters but not necessarily in that order. Coastal and Clemson already faced each other this season in late April where Coastal scored 5 unanswered runs in the 7th and 8th innings to win 10 to 7. Gosset started that game for Clemson going 4 inning with 19 batters faced allowing 4 runs on 5 hits.
Even if Gosset doesn't start this game, I like Coastal's chances in this game as I feel they have the better arm on the mound in any situation against the Tigers and they have momentum coming into the post season.Comment -
St. John's +125
June 1, 2012 -- St. John's +125
St. John's and ECU will be meeting in the post season for the second consecutive season as they split two games last year in the Charlottesville Regional, SJU took game 1 against ECU and were later sent home by the Pirates in the elimination game 3. ECU is starting Freshman RHP Jeff Hoffman who comes in sporting a 3.37 ERA with a 3-1 record in 18 appearances and 9 games. SJU counters with the BIG Junior RHP Kyle Hansen (6'8") who sports a 3.44 ERA with a 4-5 record. In Hansen's last six starts he has gone 3-0, 1.93 ERA, 1 complete game with 44 K's through 42.0 innings pitched. SJU is worth a play in this spot!Comment -
Nice write ups...good luckComment -
Futures Plays
Rice to Win Houston Regional [-155]
Mississippi State to Win Tallahassee Regional [+285]
Vanderbilt to Win Raleigh Regional [+275]
UCF to Win Coral Gables Regional [+315]
Just some quick notes on the futures plays. Rice looks to be the class of the Houston Regional. Arkansas is the other contender in that Regional, but they have had problems with offensive consistency & come in on the heels of two losses in the SEC Tournament where they scored one run combined. Rice has the pitching to dominate this Regional, but will need their offense to show up. Good price though to me for the best team. Took the two SEC teams to pull upsets in their Regionals. Mississippi State & Vanderbilt both got hot to end the year against some of the best teams in D1 in the SEC. State knocked Vandy out of the SEC Tournament, but not before Vandy scalped Florida twice. A team like NC State isn't going to frighten Vanderbilt who probably feels like they have nothing to lose since they didn't look like a lock to make the Regional round just about six weeks ago. The Wolfpack are dangerous, but dependent on freshman to make them go. Mississippi State got dominant pitching down the stretch to win eight of their last nine and claim the SEC Tournament over Vanderbilt. They have a tough team in Florida State to beat to advance, but FSU scuffled with three losses in the ACC Tournament. FSU has a great offense and good enough pitching, but the Diamond Dogs have seen teams equally as tough and conquered them. With UCF, you get an offensive powerhouse in a Regional that features a lot of pitching. UCF has five starters batting over .300, while teams like Miami and Missouri State rely on their pitching to keep them in tight, low scoring affairs. The Hurricanes may be without their best offensive option again with Peter O'Brien still recovering from a wrist injury and their fielding has been woeful at times. UCF primed itself for the postseason with a tough regular season schedule that included all their Florida brethren: Florida, FSU & Miami. They beat the Canes in Coral Gables in splitting their two games this season and played FSU to a pair of one run losses. This team can compete. Missouri State's Petree will be the nut they need to crack in the opener. He is perhaps the best in the country with a ridiculous ERA. Feeling for me is that Miami is not going to overcome their shortcomings on offense and defense in spite of a solid pitching staff. If UCF doesn't advance, Missouri State just might. But, I'll side with a better tested club in UCF.
The goal with these is to see Rice win and at least split the SEC dogs for a profit. We've seen at least three teams that aren't the #1s win in each of the last four years in this round. Last year, six teams pulled off the trick.
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June 1st [Gainesville Regional] College of Charleston +150
Georgia Tech has elected to save their ace - Buck Farmer - for their 2nd game against Florida. That means freshman Cole Pitts starts against a power-laiden Charleston squad. Charleston is 5th in D1 with 63 HRs. Pitts was 6-4 with a lofty 4.36 ERA. Charleston will start their ace Christian Powell who went 9-3 with a 2.39 ERA. The Cougars went out with a whimper in the SoCo Conference Tournament, so they'll need to find some momentum early. Still, this team tested itself with a series against Clemson - winning one of three with an extra innings loss. They split two games with South Carolina. Charleston scored 362 runs, batting .269. They are led by Marty Gantt, Brandon Murray and Daniel Aldrich. All clubbed double digit homers and are the top three RBI guys. Tech was a surprising winner of the ACC Tournament after a less than stellar regular season. Their offense is top notch. A .296 average and 389 runs scored. Five starters are batting .297 or better. Their offense can kill any pitching staff. The problem for Tech has been their pitching which sports a 4.33 ERA. Outside of Farmer and Pitts, this team has little quality depth - so getting to the starter early could yield time against a meaty bullpen. Powell needs to set the tone in this one. He's the stopper for Charleston and this figures to be a high scoring game regardless of his prowess. What they need from Powell is quality innings to save the bullpen. If they can jump on Pitts early, Charleston may be able to hang on late and steal a win to start things off.Comment -
June 1st [Pal Alto Regional] Michigan State +170
The Spartans appear to be getting no respect due to the Northern bias often shown in the postseason. The history of Northern squads is bleak, but this State squad rates better in this spot as they take on Pepperdine. I think this should be a pick 'em game at-worst, so getting State at plus money is worth the roll. The Spartans played a challenging non-conference schedule that included wins over St.John's and Baylor. They also played a three game series @ Texas A&M. They got swept, but now know the big game environment they will see all weekend in Regional play. State batted .298 this season with 352 runs scored. Two guys do work on this squad - Jordan Keur & Ryan Jones. Combined, they hit .359 & .356, driving in 71 runs. Six of their regulars are batting .290 or better. Compare that to Pepperdine which is collectively batting .282, but is highly dependent on stud Joe Sever who drove in 52 of the Waves 283 runs scored. No one else on the team has more than 27. The key to beating the Waves is limiting Sever's damage. If Pepperdine does not protect him well in the lineup, they will be hard pressed to win. Senior Tony Buccefero goes for State. He was 6-3 with a 2.80 ERA and 3-0 in his last four starts. Pepperdine counters with junior Jon Moscot who was 6-5 with a 2.97 ERA. Moscot gave up almost a hit per inning, but has good strikeout stuff. Buccefero is along the same vein as Moscot with a few less hits given up. State has a better closer with Tony Wieber notching 9 saves with a 1.37 ERA to anchor the back end of a strong bullpen. Pepperdine relies on Michael Swanner to close. He's solid, but not quite the level of Wieber. I think Michigan State comes here with a chip on its shoulder and something to prove after having to wait out the selection process to see if they were heading to the postseason.
June 1st [Gary Regional] Kent State +180
This is an experienced team that shocked many last year by taking a then national ranked Texas team to the final day of the Regional before ultimately losing out. They have been to the Regionals in four straight years, so this is nothing new. Kent State has a chance to win almost any game that David Starn starts and that's what they have in Game 1 against Kentucky. Starn already shut down a powerful Georgia Tech club in the season opener, dominated another Regional team in Pepperdine and was just flat out dominant overall with a great variety of three pitches with excellent control/location. Starn went 10-3 with a 1.77 ERA and a .205 BAA, striking out 112 in 101.2 IP. The Golden Flashes are potent offensively as well, batting .308 with 409 runs scored. David Lyon provides the pop with 10 HR and 40 RBI. Kent State's leading RBI man though is George Roberts with 57. He is an absolute terror, hitting .368. Five regulars hit above .300. For Kentucky, they come in reeling a bit. They lost five out of their last seven, scoring just 18 runs in that stretch. A Mississippi State squad predicated on great pitching shut them down in four of those five games and has the game plan drawn for Kent State. Kentucky is hitting .297 as a team, scoring 361 runs and bashing 56 HRs. They have plenty of talent, but a common theme for this team was a lack of production against good pitching. Kentucky goes with lefty Taylor Rogers who went 6-4 with a 4.31 ERA. It's interesting to note that Rogers was skipped in the rotation in the SEC tournament and used out of the bullpen for Kentucky. Their coach said he didn't even think about who to toss out in the opener, saying Rogers was their regular Friday night starter - so he was the guy. The question though, why was he skipped in the SEC tournament? In any case, Kent State w/Starn should have a solid chance in this one if they can jump on Rogers.Comment -
With ya on Kent St EP, good luck today sir! Pulling for the CofC also, hope they can pull it out over the Jackets!Comment -
Thanks. You got a good line on St.John's before it started to move.Comment -
Yea I know, wish I had put more on it at the time. Oh well, we got a long tournament ahead of us sir. Is SBR going to put up some lines for the tournament?Comment -
Maybe College World Series, I think that is all they did last year. I decided to wait in booking most of the lines I was going to take until today. Glad I did because most of the prices drifted.Comment -
Yea I saw that. Are you going to have anymore plays for the night games? I like but not sure about Fresno St +3.5 -115, New Mexico St +120, and San Diego +120Comment -
Not sure, going to see how the day progresses. Don't think I really saw anything great that I liked, but had not looked heavy on those West Coasters. Added UCF as a futures play to Win Coral Gables. I don't think Miami is getting out of that Regional. Too many holes on offense/fielding. Either UCF or Missouri State I think gets it, but I'm going with the other Florida team @ +315.Comment -
I hear ya on Miami not making it out. I didn't bet it but picked Mizz St in my office bracketComment -
Heh. Just now booking the other single games today and now got Kent State @ +180. Michigan State @ +170. Gotta love the mad scramble to try and adjust the lines on the first day. Hopefully some of these big drifts work out for the dogs!Comment -
YeahComment -
Damn could be a big blow to the Mississippi State future out the gate. They're down late to Samford of all people and their ace was the one who got hit late today. Going to be tough for them to compete in that regional now given that they'll have to beat Florida State tomorrow just to stay alive. Unfortunately Charleston could not contain the red hot Ga.Tech bats early. Killer error in the 2nd opened the door and Tech took advantage for the difference making runs right now.
Nice work on St.John's.Comment -
Thanks EP, Coastal didn't show up to the park today about like Miss St. Really hope they can turn it around with their backs against the walls to save our futures. Really looking to bounce back tonight with some prime time action. Gimme a winner EP!Comment -
Fresno St is +3.5 runs at +110 now, hard to not take some of that action. They already beat Stanford once this year with Mark Appel on the mound....Comment -
We've got totals! You'll find a lot juiced all to hell, so tread carefully playing some of these. Some worth it, some not. Going to try one additional play for starters.
June 1st [Tallahassee Regional] Florida State-UAB Over 10.5 [-120]
Reasonable total here with FSU playing on their home field and needing to erase the remnants of a weak finish to the season. They get UAB who sends out Michael Busby who sported a 3.90 ERA. He faces a FSU squad that hit .283 as a team and scored 387 runs, 3rd in the ACC - just four off the 1st place pace of Virginia. FSU was a middle of the pack pitching club @ 3.65 on the season. FSU tosses Sitz out today. He had a 4.14 ERA in the regular season. UAB only hit .267 as a team, but showed big in the C-USA tournament by bashing UCF for 15 runs in one game and scoring five or more in three of the four games they played. They played big hitting teams like UCF and Clemson and Rice during the season and often had difficulty keeping them limited. Looking for a spirited start for the Seminoles and a nervous one likely for an inexperienced UAB squad. If UAB can get three runs or more, I think this gets done. Starts @ 6pm ET.
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Michigan State is cooked. Need Kent to keep firm against Kentucky and hit this total to snag a little profit on opening day.Comment -
I have a feeling Kent is going to blow this game totally. Had chances to put some distance between themselves and Kentucky. Now tied @ 4.Comment -
Kent back on top 5-4 in the 8th and still threatening. Need to add some insurance runs fukkos!Comment -
Yacked it up again. 5-5 bottom 9. Think my prediction comes true and they lose now after failing to provide themselves with an insurance run AGAIN.Comment -
Just got home; keep the faith EP. Lets go Kent St! And Gamecocks finally disrupt the no hitter being put on by Manhattan. 4 - 0 Yardcokks!Comment -
Nah. This loss has been coming the whole game man. Seen it since about the 5th inning. About to happen. And the over I took, men LOB all over the damn place so far with just two runs. Day 1 looks like a big bag of suck.Comment -
Oh shit, Houdini action and we go to the 11th. Shit.Comment -
Keep the faith brother!Comment -
Pulled the trigger on Fresno St +3.5 +110. COME ON KENT ST!!!!Comment -
This game is legendary. 18 innings. Damn do I need this to establish something!Comment -
Kent State took a 6-5 lead, Kentucky ties it back up. Headed to the 19th. Fukk me this is awesome even though I expect to be on the losing end.Comment -
Im fukking hammered, wish I could see this game Live and not be watching it on GamecastComment -
Jesus Christ. Loaded the bases and escaped with a double play in the 20th! All I know is for tomorrow, you'd have to think you want to go against the loser of this game and hell probably the winner too.Comment -
EP, how about my Gamecocks meeting our rivals tomorrow at 4 pm?Comment -
YESSSS! 7-6 Kent State in 21! Struck out the final batter with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Holy crap.Comment