ORU at UALR

[theeagleman5]

ORU visits Little Rock tonight for the final non league road tilt of the season....Golden Eagles are 23-20....it's been an up and down season and all is riding on the next 2 (hopefully 3) weekends....GO BLUE!!!....

[theeagleman5]

5 run lead blown...6-5 loss...Gonna be a loooong hot summer....we stink. 

[theeagleman5]

TheEagleman has to say.....hope it doesn't happen but how embarrassing is it going to be if host ORU doesn't even make the 4 team Summit League Tournament??....don't even want to think about it.....but the possibility is very strong if ORU can't at least split their final 6 league contests.....

[Old Titan]

I can't remember the specifics, but I've had to work either a basketball or baseball tournament on campus back in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference days where ORU was either not a participant or was eliminated early.

It's not fun, but you've still got a job to do, particularly when you consider that the conference brass are all in attendance, and the outcome means so much to the participants.  There's typically a decent number of family & friends when there's a conference championship and an NCAA berth on the line - no matter WHO is playing - so it's not like the seats are all empty.

I can recall it's easier to focus on the task at hand (in my case, keeping the scorebook and/or doing the PA) when ORU was NOT a participant.  You don't find yourself as emotionally distracted by a controversial call or a tide-turning play.  It's easier to be "professional", and just do what's required of you.

Even if ORU is not a participant, it ought to be a good tournament.  Any of the four teams (Omaha, SDSU, NDSU and WIU) could win it, depending on how their pitching holds up.  I really think you could throw those four teams and ORU into a hat this year, and any one you pull out is going to do about the same in an NCAA regional (two-and-BBQ).