A Saturday Morning Baseball Look-In

BALTIMORE, June 1, 2013- First I looked for the score of the first round NCAA Division I baseball game between No. 13 Indiana and unranked Valparaiso.  The game was played last night at Indiana, and quickly I saw that the powerful Hoosiers had prevailed, 5-4.  Then I hopped to the box score.  The Crusaders led from the start and still led, 4-1, entering the bottom of the ninth.  The Hoosiers had pushed across two runs, then Chad Clark, their second baseman, smashed a two-run homer.  You have to understand how hard a small school like Valparaiso has to work to compete with a big school like Indiana.  To lose a critical game like they did and the way they did has to be heartbreaking.  So today, at 1 pm, they are rewarded for their pain by getting to play, of all teams, Florida.  Well, you know what, you read it here first, Valpo will win that game.  Florida's 4-3 loss to Austin Peay was not an upset.  The Gators are now 29-28 while the Governors improved to 45-13.  Baseball is the strangest of games in college because small schools often have great teams, and, come tournament time, their playoffs are double-elimination. In other words, Valpo plays on. Elsewhere, Towson, small, unknown, unheralded Towson, smashed South Florida, 7-2, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to improve to 29-28.  If you are a Towson fan, you might want to head south and watch these games because after the season the idiots that run their athletic program are dropping baseball.  Don't be shocked by the description of these administrators; no less than Maryland's Comptroller has called for the President's resignation (I have, also) over the low-brow sleezy way the affair was handled.  And really, the very idea that the school should consider dropping a well-run, clean, beautiful program like their baseball team is cause for resignation.  Today would be a really great day to make that announcement. Today, the Tigers play defending national champion and no. 1-ranked North Carolina.  And the game, of course, is in Chapel Hill.
       Anyway, in Bloomington, Chad Clark, Indiana's second baseman, committed an error in the top of the ninth that led to two Valpo runs and the 4-1 Crusader lead.  Valpo summonsed their lights-out closer, Karch Kowalczyk, who had surrendered only one run all season in 25 innings.  But Clark ended the game by hitting his homer off of Kowalczyk.  Baseball is so cruel; but it can also be redemptive.  I personally know that, but it is another story.  Hang touch, Karch.