Selection Sunday

Bart Simpson is jumping for joy after Ohio's win over Akron last night.

It’s Selection Sunday in college basketball. I hope your team will make it into the field of 68 in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Before offering up a few Dash notes, I have to puff my chest a little bit. My Ohio University Bobcats are headed to the Big Dance for the second time in three years after beating Akron in the MAC Championship Game. They will probably be a 13 seed, but they won’t exactly sneak up on anyone. In 2010, the 14th-seeded ‘Cats crushed Georgetown 97-83 in the first round.

Famous Bobcats include Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, World Series manager Bob Brenly, NBC’s Matt Lauer (who is doing quite well for himself), Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, and even the voice of Bart Simpson Nancy Cartwright.

Enough of that. Here are a few Sunday Dots.

DASH DOTS:

• Former Dash hurler Terry Doyle had a difficult outing for the Twins yesterday in Grapefruit League action. Doyle gave up two runs on seven hits in two and two-thirds innings against the Pirates. Minnesota selected Doyle in the Rule 5 Draft during the offseason. As a result, the right-hander must be on the team’s 25-man roster, or the Twins will have to offer him back to the Sox.
• Obviously, you don’t want to root against a player, but a tough spring could mean a return to the White Sox for Doyle. He was a starter during his minor league career, but according to this story from Tyler Mason on FOX Sports North, the Twins are, in essence, set with their rotation. A bullpen spot may be Doyle’s only chance to open in the big leagues.  While the Twins had an awful 2012 season, they aren’t exactly in a rebuilding mode. With a very new ballpark and a huge amount of money locked up in Joe Mauer, Minnesota will still try to compete in a wild A.L. Central. This means that the Twins may not want to hold onto a player simply because of the Rule 5 Draft scenario. This is something to monitor.
• Here is a cool story from the Washington Post about White Sox catchers A.J. Pierzynski and Tyler Flowers bonding through video games. I tried to bond through video games with my friends in high school when we had projects to do. For some reason, my parents didn’t buy that.
• High school baseball continued over the weekend at BB&T Ballpark. Friday night, Asheville edged Forsyth Home Educators 6-5, and Mt. Tabor earned the first shutout of the amateur slate with a 4-0 triumph over West Davidson. So far this spring, the community’s response to these games has been great. There are still plenty of games left on the schedule, which you can see here.
• Don’t forget that Tuesday is round 1 of “Mascot Madness” for Bolt against Wilbur, the University of Arizona’s mascot. Fortunately, Arizona lost in the Pac-12 final yesterday, so the area won’t be booming with Wildcat pride. Be sure to help Bolt pull off the first round win by voting Tuesday!

Have a great rest of your weekend! I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

- Brian