Tweets by @StanfordSports

Rough pct. of points received each week: Week 1: Henry 33%, McCaffrey 7% Week 2: Henry 38%, McCaffrey 20% Week 3: Henry 35%, McCaffrey 30%: 5 hours ago, StanfordDaily Sports
16% (148/898) of the ballots came in before Championship Sat. Around 311 of those points went to Henry, ~178 to McCaffrey and Watson each.: 5 hours ago, StanfordDaily Sports
This year's Heisman ballot was the closest since 2009, when Mark Ingram beat Toby Gerhart by 28 points.: 6 hours ago, StanfordDaily Sports
McCaffrey won the Far West region, finished second in the Northeast, South, Southwest, and Midwest, third in the Mid-Atlantic.: 6 hours ago, StanfordDaily Sports
Point totals: Henry - 1,832 McCaffrey - 1,539 Watson - 1,165: 6 hours ago, StanfordDaily Sports
Derrick Henry has won the 2015 Heisman Trophy.: 6 hours ago, StanfordDaily Sports
Counting down the minutes until the Heisman announcement. Stay tuned.: 6 hours ago, StanfordDaily Sports

Jaffe: Baseball regional at Sunken is a must-see event

The calendar has flipped to June, meaning the world of college sports is nearing its annual hibernation period. Almost every college sport has ended because most college school years have ended, so the athletics schedule is a little sparse.

But it’s coming up on finals season, which means you need something to distract you from studying, your last-second search for a summer internship or, if you’re like me, your impending graduation and the jobless, directionless, nebulous blob known as the rest of your life.

Fear not! The sports world (and the NCAA selection committee) has given us all another gift: Stanford is hosting a regional in the NCAA baseball tournament this weekend. The Cardinal will compete in a four-team, double-elimination bracket, and the winner will go on to the Super Regionals. From there, a best-of-three series will determine the eight participants in the College World Series.

In short, Stanford is beginning a tournament to decide the national champion, and in sports, there is nothing better than a tournament. Basketball’s tournament captures the nation’s attention for a whole month, while football’s lack of a tournament has created such an uproar that even Congress has gotten involved.

But for many, it doesn’t get better than the road to Omaha. In baseball, no game is a gimme, and all four teams have a legitimate shot at advancing from a regional. Take the 2008 Fresno State team. The Bulldogs barely got into the 64-team tournament by winning the WAC tournament, and as a No. 4 seed in their regional, they had the equivalent chance of a No. 13 or 14 seed in basketball. Yet they beat the odds, becoming the lowest seed ever to make the College World Series and then continuing their magical journey all the way to winning the national championship, the first title in any men’s sport in the school’s history.

This is particularly relevant this year given the fact that Fresno State is once again a No. 4 seed and, as chance would have it, the Bulldogs are starting the tournament against none other than Stanford. To make matters worse, Fresno State is the only team that managed to defeat Stanford’s Friday starter Mark Appel. So naturally, Appel and Fresno State are set to face off once more tonight.

Getting to watch Stanford in a tournament like this is a treat, but being able to head over to the ballpark and see it live is another thing entirely. For the first time in four years, the Cardinal gets to play its regional right here on the Farm, which means that the team will get a home-field advantage, but also that we as fans get a rare opportunity to watch the tournament in person.

It is commonly said that baseball is the best sport to watch in person, and Sunken Diamond is as scenic a spot for a game as you could ask for. They say every time you go to a game, you could see something you’ve never seen before, and Stanford has helped support that statement of late. A week ago, the Cardinal played the longest game in school history (18 innings and about six hours), including the first time in my life I’ve ever seen a walk-off win overturned after an argument with the umpires. What will happen this weekend?

Finally, if you’re really looking for a reason to head on over to Sunken Diamond this weekend, here’s the simplest one: There will be some really good baseball. Stanford has as talented a team as any in the country, and at least two Cardinal players will likely be first-round draft picks in the majors. Appel and Stephen Piscotty, Stanford’s two All-Pac-12 selections, are expected to go in the first round this Monday when the 2012 draft begins, and there is a ton of talent behind them on both sides of the ball. The Cardinal has been up and down this year, but Stanford is solidly in the hunt for the national championship with a good shot to beat any team it faces.

The road to Omaha begins tonight, and I hope to see you there.

 Jacob Jaffe hopes that Stanford baseball will give him a good excuse to road trip to Omaha. Let him know what you think at jwjaffe“at”stanford.edu and follow him on Twitter @Jacob_Jaffe.

  • alum4card

    Thanks for all your work broadcasting and writing about Stanford sports.  The 18 inning game stressed me out last week, but listening to baseball on the radio with two pros like you and Jack Blanchat was the fun part of it.