Preston Morrison picked a good time to notch the first post-season win of his career.

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Sorenson: Three-up, Three-down – CWS Day 2

A quick-hit look at the good and bad from TD Ameritrade Park and the College World Series on Day Two.

THREE UP

The best of the day at the CWS

1- Preston Morrison (finally) getting a postseason win

Talk about a hard-luck guy, Mr. Morrison has had eight starts in his career in the postseason but had yet to get a win for himself. And that includes six quality starts in that stretch. But today, with his defense behind him and his offense in front of him, he finally got the W vs. LSU today in 10-3 fashion. And not a bad time to do it, right? Morrison threw seven innings, giving up just five hits and one run while striking out five.

Coach Jim Schlossnagle said afterward, “He’s the best pitcher in the history of the school and he has pitched well, things just haven’t worked out for him. You’re looking at a TCU Hall of Famer. He’s a ‘rocking chair’ pitcher, which means I can put him in there and sit back in my chair and watch him go.”

2- Fullerton’s lead.

Before the rains came, Cal State Fullerton had jumped out to a stunning 3-0 lead on heavily favored Vanderbilt. Thomas Eshelman was rolling on the mound and the Titans normally wispy bats had managed to scratch out a few runs off of the intimidatingly impossible Carson Fulmer. Not sure anyone had the Titans taking down the defending champs … or well, taking the lead as they have done. It’s certainly not over yet. Stay tuned.

3- Stadium P.A. during rain storm

Not sure who is running the music at the TD Ameritrade Park, but once the rain hit so did the songs about rain. “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain” and “Singing in the Rain.” But the best one of all was this one…

THREE DOWN

The worst of the day at the CWS

1- Mother Nature.

While everyone back home in bone dry Southern California would kill for a deluge of rain like we got in Omaha tonight, the Cal State Fullerton Titans could’ve done without it. This was actually terrible news for them. They had a 3-0 lead and had gotten to Carson Fulmer well enough to put doubt in the Commodores minds. Having Thomas Eshelman on the hill has obviously been a source of confidence to the Titans. But when the rains hit, that marked the end of Eshelman’s game. Do the Titans have the horses in the pen to hold off VU for three more innings? Again, stay tuned.

2- Bad Fans

Let me speak for those CWS fans sitting near the Vanderbilt and TCU fans. There are a lot of fans from Omaha and the surrounding area who are there to see good baseball played by great college teams on the biggest stage of the season … and you’re ruining it for them. The VU fans who are whistling in an ear-piercing fashion on a constant basis and all the “Woo-birds” doing that “whooing” sound intermittently during the game is just mostly a bother to most of the people in the stands, forcing people to move and not have a good stadium experience.

As if that wasn’t enough bad fan experience, there is this guy…

3- The TD Ameritrade Radar Gun

The radar mph that shows up on the TD Ameritrade scoreboard is consistently different from the speed that is shown on the ESPN broadcast of the game. In fact, in Carson Fulmer’s first pitch of the day, the scoreboard readout was “90” and the TV showed “94” on it. So yes, sometimes it’s by three or four miles per hour. With that in mind, can we really trust any radar gun reading?