Diamonds For Women

dodgerblue6 · Posted: Wed 3/29/23 9:32 pm Post subject:

Coming back with latest rankings.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

dodgerblue6 · Posted: Mon 4/3/23 11:23 pm Post subject:

And with the Bruins being snowed out at Washington State this weekend, here are this week's rankings from BA.com. OMG, USC cracked them this time!

1
Louisiana State

2
Florida

3
Wake Forest

4
Vanderbilt

5
Arkansas

6
South Carolina

7
Stanford

8
Virginia

9
Boston College

10
Kentucky

11
Oklahoma State

12
Tennessee

13
Campbell

14
Miami

15
East Carolina

16
North Carolina

17
Louisville

18
Texas Tech

19
West Virginia

20
Texas

21
Florida Gulf Coast

22
Coastal Carolina

23
Connecticut

24
Texas-San Antonio

25
Southern California
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

sunnyblue · Posted: Tue 4/4/23 10:47 pm Post subject:

UCLA dropped out! I didn't see that coming but because we were distracted, it was easy to miss what was going on for a few weeks. There are a lot of surprises like BC in the top 10! Locally it looks like UCSD is the best choice we have going this year for any success in DI. Their record is 17-9 now. Pretty sluggish going for USD & SDSU.

forloveofthegame · Joined: 23 Oct 2009 Posts: 7346 Location: San Diego

Well the Trojans are looking like they are on the rise, as they swept our poor Aztecs over the weekend at Dedeaux Field. 11-16 record now.
_________________
"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

sunnyblue · Posted: Tue 4/11/23 7:27 pm Post subject:

(error)

dodgerblue6 · Posted: Thu 4/13/23 6:15 pm Post subject:

Alright, the rankings, coming up!
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

forloveofthegame · Joined: 23 Oct 2009 Posts: 7346 Location: San Diego

Looking forward to finally getting out to an Aztecs game this weekend when they host Nevada. We sure do not usually wait until the season has been going on for a couple of months! Just so much other baseball in March that usually is not going on like the WBC.
_________________
"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

dodgerblue6 · Posted: Thu 4/20/23 4:04 pm Post subject:

Current rankings from BaseballAmerica.com:

1
Louisiana State

2
Florida

3
Wake Forest

4
Vanderbilt

5
Arkansas

6
South Carolina

7
East Carolina

8
Coastal Carolina

9
Virginia

10
Campbell

11
Stanford

12
Kentucky

13
Louisville

14
Texas

15
Texas Tech

16
Miami

17
North Carolina

18
Arizona State

19
Oregon State

20
Oregon

21
Dallas Baptist

22
Texas-San Antonio

23
Connecticut

24
Oklahoma State

25
Southern Mississippi
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

sunnyblue · Posted: Sat 4/22/23 10:19 am Post subject:

I need to read up on what's going on with some of these other teams. I know the SEC domination but how is it that Campbell is in the top 10?

dodgerblue6 · Posted: Mon 4/24/23 6:17 pm Post subject:

Current rankings from BA.com:

1

Louisiana State

2

South Carolina

3

Wake Forest

4

Florida

5

Vanderbilt

6

Arkansas

7

Coastal Carolina

8

Campbell

9

Stanford

10

Texas Tech

11

Virginia

12

Arizona State

13

Miami

14

East Carolina

15

Kentucky

16

Duke

17

West Virginia

18

Boston College

19

Dallas Baptist

20

Oregon

21

Oklahoma State

22

Oregon State

23

UTSA

24

Connecticut

25

Indiana
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

dodgerblue6 · Posted: Tue 5/2/23 9:26 am Post subject:

The current rankings from BaseballAmerica.com:

1

Louisiana State

2

Wake Forest

3

Vanderbilt

4

South Carolina

5

Florida

6

Arkansas

7

Coastal Carolina

8

Stanford

9

Duke

10

Miami

11

West Virginia

12

Campbell

13

East Carolina

14

Virginia

15

Texas Tech

16

Dallas Baptist

17

Oregon

18

Arizona State

19

Oregon State

20

Oklahoma State

21

Tennessee

22

Texas-San Antonio

23

Connecticut

24

Maryland

25

Boston College
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

sunnyblue · Posted: Tue 5/2/23 3:13 pm Post subject:

UCLA just keeps missing out! The Pac is getting other representation though.

dodgerblue6 · Posted: Tue 5/9/23 10:00 pm Post subject:

You're not going to believe this new No. 1 team.

Here are the latest rankings from BA.com:

1

Wake Forest

2

Louisiana State

3

Vanderbilt

4

Arkansas

5

Stanford

6

South Carolina

7

Florida

8

Coastal Carolina

9

Duke

10

Miami

11

West Virginia

12

Campbell

13

East Carolina

14

Virginia

15

Texas Tech

16

Dallas Baptist

17

Oregon State

18

Clemson

19

Kentucky

20

Oklahoma State

21

Connecticut

22

Maryland

23

Texas-San Antonio

24

Oregon

25

Auburn
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

forloveofthegame · Joined: 23 Oct 2009 Posts: 7346 Location: San Diego

Thank you for the updates. Still finding D1 harder to follow this year, except for UCSD (27-18 & they have 7 games left to play). Raul & I went to a game last week and saw them beat BYU, 3-0. And we also have a winning local team in D2 and not much has been said about them since they lost out in the championship last year. That of course is PLNU, and they have a 35-12 record now and are in the PacWest championship series in Fresno.

Aztecs have been painful to watch, but I still feel bad I have not been out to see them play more. Still 7 games left and they are 20-24 now.

Toreros have a series to wrap up this season coming up at St. Mary's this weekend and they have a shot at finishing .500 too.
_________________
"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

sunnyblue · Posted: Thu 5/11/23 7:06 pm Post subject:

Thanks for keeping us up to date on D2 stuff.

dodgerblue6 · Posted: Mon 5/15/23 11:58 pm Post subject:

A new surprise: Washington has made it into the rankings.

Per the lead-in, Wake Forest leads the nation in both wins (42) and winning percentage (.840).

From BA.com:

1

Wake Forest

2

Arkansas

3

Florida

4

Stanford

5

Louisiana State

6

Vanderbilt

7

West Virginia

8

Coastal Carolina

9

Miami

10

South Carolina

11

Campbell

12

Duke

13

East Carolina

14

Virginia

15

Dallas Baptist

16

Clemson

17

Oregon State

18

Oklahoma State

19

Tennessee

20

Kentucky

21

Connecticut

22

Auburn

23

Maryland

24

Washington

25

Indiana State
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

dodgerblue6 · Posted: Fri 5/19/23 9:17 pm Post subject:

I enjoyed reading this in the L.A. Times:

"UCLA Two-Sport Athlete JonJon Vaughns Works at his ‘First Love’ on the Diamond"

BY SARAH VALENZUELA

MAY 16, 2023 3:51 PM PT

JonJon Vaughns stood behind his UCLA baseball teammates, who were perched along the dugout fence, watching those ahead of him in the batting order.

It was an early-season Pac-12 game against Arizona and the 21-year-old junior — a two-sport athlete who also plays on the Bruins football team — got into his batting stance. As the Wildcats pitcher threw, Vaughns mimed his swing. It was a routine he repeated through the game when he was not in the batter’s box himself.

“JonJon is a very consistent, competitive guy,” UCLA baseball coach John Savage said. “It’s just his competitive nature. He’s gonna fight you. I think it’s a kind of football mentality.”

That mentality is also seen in the batter’s box as he stares down pitchers, unafraid. It made for a productive early part of the season as he hit a team-high five home runs in March and remains tied for second on the team with nine. For the season, Vaughns has 28 RBIs and an .813 OPS while starting 39 of the 42 games he’s appeared in for the Bruins (26-21-1, 11-14-1 Pac-12) in right field. He has settled in after starting 17 games as a freshman in 2021 and 33 games, including 28 in right field, last season.

“I just be out there having fun with the guys,” Vaughns said of his baseball experience. “I’m just trying to help the team win and just have fun with it. Pretty much, that’s all I do.”

This comes on the heels of a football season in which Vaughns, as a 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker, played in all 13 games, starting the last 11, for a Bruins team that went 9-4 and reached a bowl game for the first time since 2017.

Vaughns also has an extra, not-so-hidden talent: The multisport athlete is a pitcher. It was a skill he finally unleashed May 9, when he pitched a scoreless seventh inning in the Bruins’ 10-2 home win over Cal State Fullerton. The win ended a five-game losing streak for UCLA, which is trying to right itself and be in position to qualify for the Pac-12 tournament, which begins May 23 (the top nine teams in the conference qualify, and the Bruins sit in seventh place).

In his collegiate pitching debut, Vaughns threw 20 pitches and walked one batter as one of six pitchers who combined on a three-hitter for the Bruins.

“I think he’s 93 to 95 on the mound,” Savage said earlier this season. “We put him on the mound, I’m telling you, he’s gonna show a solid major league fastball.”

Major League Baseball. That’s where Vaughns wants his future to be.

“I love it more. It’s my first love,” Vaughns said. “I want to chase my dreams.”

Vaughns grew up in a baseball-first family. His dad, Geoffrey, was a catcher at Long Beach State, and taught JonJon and his three older brothers how to play, though two of his brothers, Tyler and Aaren, went on to play professional football (Tyler for the Indianapolis Colts and now in the XFL; Aaren, in the CFL).

JonJon Vaughns attended St. John Bosco High, where he played both sports and was heavily recruited. He was rated the 37th-best high school baseball prospect in California and a four-star football recruit.

In 2018 and 2019, he played in the Area Code Games, a baseball showcase for the top high school players in the country, attended by college coaches and MLB scouts.

Geoffrey remembered the Dodgers and Angels being among the scouts watching JonJon, who wound up going undrafted in 2020.

For Vaughns, it doesn’t much matter which MLB team drafts him, as long as he is picked. Though, if he could choose, perhaps it’d be for his favorite team, the New York Yankees — the team one of his favorite players famously captained, Derek Jeter.

Or for the Dodgers, games of which he fondly remembers watching with his grandfather.

“He loved the Dodgers,” Vaughns said. “He was from Brooklyn.”
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

forloveofthegame · Joined: 23 Oct 2009 Posts: 7346 Location: San Diego

Yesterday was the last regular season game played at Tony Gwynn Stadium, so we were there for it. Needed a break from Padres losing, and we got to see the Aztecs win 8-6 over New Mexico so they finished off a 3 game sweep. Next up comes the MWC tournament. First game is Thursday vs. Air Force, in Fresno. The surprising thing about this is the Aztecs finished with a record under .500 but they are still co-champions of the MWC. I suppose that does not say a lot about the division this year! They were 24-27 to end it.
_________________
"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

dodgerblue6 · Posted: Mon 5/22/23 10:23 pm Post subject:

That really is pretty bad. But we'll see where it takes them.

From BA.com:

1

Wake Forest

2

Florida

3

Arkansas

4

Stanford

5

Louisiana State

6

Vanderbilt

7

Clemson

8

Coastal Carolina

9

Virginia

10

Miami

11

East Carolina

12

Oklahoma State

13

Texas

14

West Virginia

15

Campbell

16

Dallas Baptist

17

Oregon State

18

Tennessee

19

Duke

20

Auburn

21

Kentucky

22

South Carolina

23

Connecticut

24

Maryland

25

Indiana State
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

forloveofthegame · Joined: 23 Oct 2009 Posts: 7346 Location: San Diego

Something else very important to mention. For all the talk we do here about Aztecs baseball, look at how UCSD baseball is doing in their 3rd season of DI play - they clinched at least being co-champions of the Big West! Congratulations, they finished 34-18. and what a big step for this program. Tritons are the big dogs in town for once. Depending on what happens this weekend with UCSB, these boys could end up champions outright. So this is good local news! We shall see how they end up after big Monday gets here.
_________________
"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

dodgerblue6 · Posted: Wed 5/24/23 7:58 am Post subject:

Thanks, Cathy. Remember what a difficult adjustment it was for them making the jump just a couple of years ago! Good work, Tritons.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

forloveofthegame · Joined: 23 Oct 2009 Posts: 7346 Location: San Diego

Kind of sad to see the Aztecs' season over but the way they played this year they were lucky to even be close to the Regionals. They lost 2 games, to Air Force and then to Fresno State in the MWC tournament so were eliminated yesterday. Better luck next year. Article from SDSU baseball
_________________
"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

dodgerblue6 · Posted: Mon 5/29/23 10:45 am Post subject:

Just going to wrap this one up before posting about Selection Monday.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame