By MONTE DUTTON

Surfing the Super Regionals, I heard an announcer yell, “Wow!!! That ball went 110 miles off the bat!!!”

I thought, Far out. (I’d just been playing a John Denver song.)

In hysterics, of course, the announcer left out “per hour” after miles.

I know that announcers do not have a backspace button. They don’t get to edit. I write it because it’s funny. Or at least it is to me.

That was in Tallahassee. Up in Raleigh, a Georgia hurler gave up eight consecutive hits to open the second inning. The eighth was a whistling liner up the middle that nicked the unfortunate pitcher on the throwing hand.

He took a few warmup tosses to make sure he was still fine.

North Carolina State scored 11 runs in the top of the second.

A Florida State pitcher is getting his master’s in hospitality. Seems like a pleasant way to make a living.

I’m undoubtedly hypersensitive on the subject, but I can’t help but notice how many schools wearing purple – Clemson, Kansas State, Evansville, LSU, High Point – have fine baseball programs.

I probably notice because I know one that doesn’t field a team.

Baseball is so big here, and not just the colleges. The crowds were gigantic when I watched Clinton High win the Class 3A state title a year ago and Laurens fall in the finals this year.

Since my “provider” doesn’t “provide” Bally’s, which I understand is where the Atlanta Braves may be seen, I can’t see them. On the other hand, I don’t think the Indiana Fever is going to play a game that isn’t “provided” somewhere.

Caitlin Clark played well Friday night, and the Fever won its third game. The Washington Mystics haven’t won any.

America’s Sweetheart is adjusting. She spent most of the first half facilitating others with passes that were sometimes too snazzy for her teammates to handle. She can’t charge into the paint the way she could at Iowa. Women in the pros are too big. Women in the pros are too mean.

Clark found her long-range groove in the second half and scored 30 points.

When she breaks for the rim, though, she looks as if she just emerged from the trenches at Gallipoli. She’s under heavy figurative fire.

The UConn-FSU series made me think of an old Furman story from 40-some-odd years ago.

As a sports-information office assistant, I traveled with the baseball team, and one spring break, we went on a trip to Florida to play Rollins, Flagler, etc. We played two games in Deland at Stetson and lost the first one by major numbers, somewhere around 24-4, which was the score of the UConn-FSU game.

The Hatters had us sized.

Late in that game, head coach Tom Wall summoned a pinch-hitter, and no one could find him. He wasn’t in the bullpen. He wasn’t in the can.

He was standing behind the Stetson dugout, in front of the first row of the stands, munching on a box of popcorn.

Disciplinary measures were in order.

What does that have to do with UConn-LSU? Well, Stetson just beat us, 4-3, the next day.

Is a stadium that doesn’t have a roof “a building”? I don’t think so. The consensus on ABC and ESPN is “yes.”

Greenville Memorial Auditorium was once described in print as “that one-story brick structure on North Street.”

Pretty tall tale, that story.

Furman senior Dylan Schubert is honorable mention All-America by virtue of his 19^th-place finish in the 5,000-meter finals at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

A native of Loveland, Colo., Schubert ran a 14:06.41.

If you’re one to mark calendars or, for that matter, book travel, the Paladins’ Family Weekend game, on Sept. 28, kicks off at 2 p.m.

It’s a big one. The Samford game marks the Southern Conference opener for both teams.

Fourteen Furman sports exceeded the national average Academic Progress Rate (APR), and five scored perfect multi-year APRs of 1,000, according to a report issued by the NCAA.

Furman’s five multi-year APRs of 1,000, which included men’s golf, men’s tennis, women’s cross country, women’s tennis, and women’s track, led all Southern Conference schools.

Two Paladin sports, women’s lacrosse (996) and men’s basketball (995), recorded scores of 995 or better, followed by volleyball (993), women’s soccer (992), men’s cross country (990), men’s track (990), and women’s golf (990) above 990. Furman men’s basketball, football and men’s track each paced all SoCon programs.

The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years.

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