And on and on and on....

Congrats to the BC baseball team. Though they were eliminated from the College World Series by Army yesterday no one can really blame them for being a little out of steam for the game considering the marathon that happened Saturday night into Sunday morning. The 25 inning affair against Texas was truly amazing and though they ended on the losing side BC can still hold its head high for participating in that game.

I kept track of the game on the College Sports TV Gametracker online and was simply amazed as the innings piled up. When the game started, the Stanley Cup playoff game had not begun, the NBA playoff game had not begun, the fights on HBO had not begun. As the game wore on, it was almost comical as it began to outlast all the other sporting events of the night that began after it. I called across the apartment to Mrs. Pike, "The BC game has now outlasted the hockey game!", "The BC game has now outlasted the Cintron-Angulo fight!", then the game outlasted Mrs. Pike as she went to bed and there was no more calling out in the apartment. By the time the final out came, it was the last sporting event going on in the US, outlasting even the 11pm college baseball game that aired on ESPNU.

But it wasn't the innings that even made the biggest impression. Austin Wood from Texas and his 13 innings of shut out, almost no-hit, pitching must have been amazing to see. As the game progressed and he was still in there (not to mention BC's Mike Belifiore and his 9 2/3 innings as well) I kept thinking that there had to be some mistake with Gametracker. That this kid who only averaged about 2 innings an outing during the regular season could not possibly have the arm strength to keep going and keep pitching at this pace in this game. It seemed inhuman. But I guess that's why the game continued because the great efforts of all the players involved.

The final run that was scored was almost anticlimatic. Following a lead off walk, the man on base was sacrificed to second, then made third on a wild pitch. The hit that drove him in was barely beyond the dive of the drawn-in second baseman (I saw the play on grainy replay on SportcenterU on ESPNU as ESPN did not have a broadcast team in Austin - which seemed a little weird not to have one with the number one overall seed - but I digress). Had he been playing back, the second basemen probably makes an easy play on that ball and BC gets the second out. They may still be playing today.

BC has much to be proud of. They came in and won a game and took the number one overall seed to extreme lengths in a second game on Texas' home turf. And then they get barely eliminated by a close play at first on a double play (many thought the runner was safe and it should have tied the game). All quibbles aside BC played well and showed that they belonged on the national stage. When they left the field at 2am on Sunday morning, the Texas fans gave them a standing ovation. For their first trip to the postseason in 42 years, they earned every single clap they got.