As many folks around the mid-Ohio Valley proudly proclaim, the center of the universe is lovely Maysville. At least, that’s how many longtime residents refer to the charming river town. All of that is about to change, with the arrival of the impending doom and gloom.
What meteorologists are calling a “mega heat dome” is about to descend upon Kentucky, as temperatures soar above 90 degrees, with heat indices climbing above the 100 degree threshold. The humidity will be on the rise beginning tomorrow, and continuing for more than a week, according to our weather “experts.”
Definitions vary on what is precisely a heat wave, but we’re about to experience doozy of a heat wave in the coming days. The description I’m going with is a simple one found in the dictionary; a prolonged period of abnormally hot weather.
The folks at the National Weather Service are seemingly always coming up with new terms to describe just how awful the weather is, i.e. arctic blasts, wind chills, heat indices etc., which is likely where “mega heat dome” originated. I suppose calling it “mega” will get our attention to just how uncomfortable it will feel when we step outside. Not only will the temperatures feel as if we’re in the desert, but predictions are we may be in for a drought as well.
OK, I reckon that’s enough weather-related news for today, and all that’s left to say is, stay cool.
Maybe even try to stay mega cool.
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STRONG FIELD HIGHLIGHTS MCWS – The eight-team field gathered in Omaha for the 2024 Men’s College World Series features the best teams from just two leagues, four each from the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The MCWS opened Friday afternoon at Charles Schwab Field — I prefer “The Chuck”— with Bracket 1 action. North Carolina and Virginia were slated for a 2 p.m. start, with top-seed Tennessee and Florida State
scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Bracket 2 begins today at 2, with Kentucky taking on North Carolina State, followed at 7, when Florida and Texas A&M meet in an all-SEC battle. The winners of the opening games in Bracket 2 square off on Monday at 7, with the losers playing at 2. Bracket 1 winners and losers play on Sunday.
(A brief explanation of the format: there are two brackets, and after each concludes a two and out elimination process, the winners of each bracket faces of in a best-of-three series beginning next Saturday.)
As we mentioned in the last column, Kentucky (45-14) appears to be in great shape to make a run in its first-ever trip to the MCWS. The park should play perfectly into their aggressive style of play, which relies heavily on taking the extra base, and making their opponent make plays. Charles Schwab Field is expansive, and that, along with the wind often blowing in, could prove problematic for power-hitting teams some issues.
One of those teams is the Bat Cats’ opening opponent.
North Carolina State is somewhat of a Cinderella story, but make no mistake, they earned their way to Omaha after knocking off Georgia on the road in the Athens Super Regional. Like most teams in the field, they’re entering the fray playing their best baseball of the season.
The Wolfpack, led by veteran head coach Elliot Avent, are 38-21 on the season, they’ve amped it up in the latter part of the season, winning 16 of their last 21. NC State is on a mission as well, which is to forget the last time they came to Omaha, when a shorthanded team – due to a COVID outbreak – fell to Vanderbilt 3-1, a game short of qualifying for the championship series.
No matter what occurs this afternoon, the Bat Cats will be facing a conference opponent on Monday. In the regular season, Florida won two out of three in Gainesville versus Texas A&M, and the Gators are looking to stay hot in Omaha. Florida was the decided underdog in both the Stillwater Regional and the Clemson Super Regional, but upended both Oklahoma State and Clemson to earn their way to the MCWS.
The Gators (34-28) were squarely on the bubble when the 64-team field was announced, but they’re no stranger to Omaha. The Aggies (49-13) will be playing without star outfielder Braden Montgomery, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury during Game 1 of the Super Regionals, but they still bring a formidable squad to the series.
For the Bat Cats to advance through the bracket, the pitching staff will need to continue its excellent postseason performance. Offensively, UK just needs to keep doing what it’s been doing, coming up with clutch hits, playing loose, having fun, and being smart on the base paths. Some folks consider the offensive philosophy employed by coach Nick Mingione “smallball” but he says the team merely does whatever they need to do to win.
Winning that all-important first game today is almost a must, but if Kentucky can win today and Monday, you have to like their chances at making it to next weekend. If the Bat Cats accomplish that feat, they could be matched up with border rival Tennessee in the best-of-three series for the title. The Volunteers are the top-seeded team in the field, and the trendy pick by most college baseball observers to win it all.
A UK-UT championship series would be ultra-competitive and big time fun for both fanbases. The teams met in Lexington April 19-21, and it did not go well for the home team. After the Bat Cats won the opener 5-3, the Vols feasted on Kentucky pitching both Saturday and Sunday, winning 9-4 and 13-11. None of that will matter of course, if the teams get a chance to tangle in Omaha next weekend.
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“You don’t bunt. You don’t steal. You don’t hit and run. You don’t do anything. Really, that’s easy coaching. It’s hard coaching to try to get guys to do the fake bunts, the slashes, the hit and runs, hit dome runs, battle with two strikes, to put plays on. It’s hard. But we have allowed our players to play with what I would say are brains and guts. It takes brains and guts. And we allow them to make mistakes.” – Kentucky baseball coach Nick Mingione
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“When a person is accustomed to 138 in the shade, his ideas about cold weather are not valuable….In India, “cold weather” is merely a conventional phrase and has come into use through the necessity of having some way to distinguish between weather which will melt a brass door knob and weather which will only make it mushy.” – Mark Twain
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