We didn't have to face Austin Peay's ace. But we had to face USM's ace- a guy that had just been called "the best pitcher in USM history" per Rick Cleveland. And I would put Todd MacInnis up against GT's ace and darn sure would put him up against Austin Peay's ace.
Fortunately for us, Cohen had the brains to pitch Pollorena who shut them down and got us in position to face Austin Peay. I guess that was a fluke.
Had GT won, we would have pitched Routt against them.
They didn't, so we pitched Evan Mitchell- and saved Routt for the Championship. Either way, Routt would have pitched against GT or USM.
We managed our pitching staff awfully well during that fluke- and I think that's what won us that regional- how we handled our pitching staff.
If we had Polk coaching us, it would have been Routt in game one, MacInnis probably beats us, and then we have to go with Pollorena vs. GT.