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Former R-S Central pitcher and current Appalachian St. right hander, Ryan Arrowood was terrific, in an opening round performance on Saturday. Arrowood had a no-hitter in the seventh inning and struckout nine, before giving up two late hits in a win over Oklahoma.
Appalachian St. posted an even bigger win over host seed Virginia the following day which left them one game away from advancing to the Super Regionals.
Although, they were in the driver’s seat, the Mountaineers fell short as Oklahoma won twice on Monday to end their season at 41-17. However, they won their first NCAA baseball tourney game since 1973 this past weekend and it was a monumental moment in that Arrowood was able to deliver it.
Meanwhile, Arrowood was a perfect 11-0 on the season and sat down 93 batters on strikes. And what a way for Arrowood to go out at App. St. and make a statement to Major League teams in his final game of college ball.
Of the seven ACC teams that made the NCAA baseball tourney, just two remained after Sunday. Florida State advanced to the Super Regionals, while N.C State fought off Vandy getting one step closer to Omaha.
The ACC shocker is that North Carolina, Virginia and Miami all lost Regionals at home with Georgia Tech and Clemson putting up better fights on the road before being eliminated.
Four SEC teams made it to the Super Regionals or the Sweet 16 as some may consider it, but easily had a chance of six teams being there on Monday night.
Two-time defending national champs, South Carolina leads that SEC charge as they nipped Clemson in a pair of games decided by one-run each. South Carolina can hit it and pitch it, but fielding could be their weakness. If Appalachian State would have won the Super Regional, they would have had to travel to Columbia to face the Gamecocks.
At least there is a Cinderella left dancing as Stony Brook is pounding the baseball and making people believe as a four seed.
Well, Dover did spell doom for nearly half the field this week in Sunday’s 13th race of the NASCAR season. A 13-car pile up, both Busch brother’s blow up engines and Carl Edwards blows a tire, thus smacking the wall. For once this year, I don’t have to hear somebody ask me why their weren’t any cautions. Dover is treacherous anyhow. Nobody hits softly there and no room for error in turn two allows for such a thing to happen. Jimmie Johnson seems to be in championship form again, but the question of when Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon will win another race, continues another week.
And while we are on the subject, without surprise, Kurt Busch was suspended by NASCAR this week. The guy loses his ride with Roger Penske at the end of last year, finds a new home with a one-car James Finch operation on the Cup side this season. However, he can’t keep his mouth shut, nor can he behave in general. He has proven his talent this season while driving for his younger brother in Nationwide event and showing competitively in a Cup car that some would not expect such to happen.
Although, he mouthed off to a reporter, which is not the first time he has done so in the last 30 days, Busch will not be allowed to race until June 13th. While I can’t say that I don’t like a heated Busch brother, because it does stir things up, you can’t help but side with NASCAR on the latest issue with Kurt.
Legion ball is here and Rutherford County Post 423 (1-1) split in last week’s contests. Come out and support our local kids, which play all their home games at McNair Field again this summer.
