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Do we have a new baseball coach?
Short answer: no. Long answer: journalists seem to think so, but we really have no idea, since Ian McCaw denied reports that came out yesterday about MCC's Mitch Thompson taking the job. We're all pretty much in the dark here, and knowing as little about baseball as I do I probably shouldn't comment and further on the matter. An official announcement of some kind has to come soon though, yeah?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A <a href="https://twitter.com/BaylorAthletics">@BaylorAthletics</a> administrator to me, "Any report we've hired or decided on a head baseball coach at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Baylor?src=hash">#Baylor</a> is completely false."</p>— David Smoak (@DavidSmoak) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidSmoak/status/608097619047510017">June 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Do we have a new 2016 commit?
Short answer: yes! Long answer: yes! Daingerfield's Denzel Mims committed to Baylor on Sunday, and everyone seems pretty excited about him. Like Tren'davian Dickson, Mims looks like an underrecruited prospect who could blow up after his Baylor recruitment. He's a physical monster at 6'4, 180 and camp reports say he can play corner nearly as well as receiver. With measurables on par with Ish Zamora and Josh Gordon and a huge amount of versatility, I say we may have gotten ourselves a star.
Worth noting is Mims' relation to former Baylor back David Mims, who was before my time but will probably be a familiar name to more than a few of you.
Welcome to the crew, Denzel. May your future hold many touchdowns and/or interceptions.
Bromell Named Regional Track Athlete of the Year
Bromell was named the South Central region's athlete of the year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association yesterday, the first time a Baylor player has won the award. Bromell is also one of ten finalists for the Bowerman Trophy. Bromell and a few of his friends will be heading to Eugene for the NCAA Track and Field Championships tomorrow. We'll have a preview for you then.
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Kim Qualifies for U.S. Women's Open
This news is four days old now, but it's 100% worth reporting. Dylan Kim, who just completed her freshman season with Baylor's women's golf team, will compete at the U.S. Women's Open as an amateur after taking first out of 66 players in a Dallas-based qualifier. Even more remarkable about Kim's game is that she is less than half a year out of high school- she joined Baylor in January after graduating early and only has a semester of college under her belt, and she's already winning matches in the NCAA finals and qualifying for one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world.
TCU Wins Super Regional over Texas A&M
TCU won on what seemed like an absolute miracle. What should have been an easily-fielded grounder to third was mishandled, then thrown home, where it should have been caught for an easy tag, but was mishandled again, allowing a TCU baserunner to slide home for the winning run.
TCU must now face LSU in the beginning of the College World Series. LSU has been a machine this season. Are we all pulling for the Tigers? I don't know. Yeah, probably. Most definitely.
TCU and LSU are joined by Arkansas, Virginia, Florida, Miami, Cal State Fullerton, and Vanderbilt.
United States Wins Women's World Cup Opener vs. Australia
The Lady Socceroos were scrappy early on, equalizing in the 27th minute after Megan Rapinoe's early goal, but later goals by Christen Press and again by Rapinoe put the Australians down for good. The scoreline would have been 4-1, but Abby Wambach whiffed on a perfectly placed cross that should have been headed in past Australia's frozen keeper.
Here's Rapinoe's goal to seal it:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Megan Rapinoe does it again <a href="https://t.co/fpQiZKg9Tl">https://t.co/fpQiZKg9Tl</a></p>— The American Outlaws (@AmericanOutlaws) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmericanOutlaws/status/608078004137238528">June 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
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USA vs. Germany Friendly: Short Preview
As some of you may know, I will be attending the U.S. Men's National Team's friendly versus the Germans in Cologne tomorrow. The defending world champions are a nearly perfect team, but will be without a few superstars tomorrow, some of whom are being rested after lengthy club campaigns, while others are forced to join the team late or are nursing nagging injuries.
Who will be missing for the Weltmeister? Most notably keeper Manuel Neuer and marauding forward Thomas Müller, both widely considered to be the best in the world at what they do. Along with Neuer and Müller, the Germans will be missing Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng, both crucial parts of a defense that shut down prolific Brazilian and Argentine attacks in the 2014 World Cup.
By no means should you underestimate them, though; their backups are still world-class players and the United States will be missing Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard to even it out. The Americans are in solid form right now after a huge comeback upset of the Netherlands on June 3, where Jürgen Klinsmann's "total football" paid off as defender John Brooks scored a goal and players like Jordan Morris (a rising junior at Stanford) and Bobby Wood (a player for 1860 München, a third-division German side) were key contributors.
If the United States can pull off a win, or even a draw, it will be a huge achievement and a testament to Klinsmann's genius. Many of Germany's players, like field general Bastian Schweinsteiger and forward Marco Reus, are literal leagues ahead of any of the Americans in terms of talent.