CollegeBaseball360.com Blog

WE HAVE DISCONTINUED THE USE OF THIS BLOG

2009-09-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

Hello college baseball fans. Collegebaseball360.com is no longer using this blog. We have reconfigured, retooled and redesigned our web site, so now you will find all of our blog thoughts, facts and other college baseball content at www.collegebaseball360.com.

We have a lot of new content there, like our Two-Sport Report which follows college baseball players who are starring on their school's football, soccer and even swimming teams in addition to baseball. We also have new podcast interviews on the way this fall.

We'll see you on the new site!

www.collegebaseball360.com

From Little League World Series To College Baseball

2009-08-25T05:13:00.000-07:00

With the Little League World Series in full swing in Williamsport, Pa, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some players who graduated from the LLWS to play in college baseball and even beyond.

Any list of players who've played at the LLWS has to start at the top. There are just two, count 'em two, players who have played in the Little League World Series, College World Series and MLB's World Series: Jason Varitek and Ed Vosberg. It's amazing that with all the LLWS, CWS and Fall Classics that have been played only two have managed to achieve the career trifecta.

Varitek played in Williamsnport in 1984 for the Florida Springs team that fell to Seoul, South Korea in the championship game. Ten years later he and former Red Sox teammate, Nomar Garciaparra, were on the Georgia Tech team that lost to Oklahoma in the 1994 College World Series title game. Varitek won the big prize though as the captain of the Boston teams that won the World Series in 2004 & 2007. Varitek was also a member of the 1992 USA Olympic baseball team in Barcelona, Spain.

Vosberg is probably less known than Varitek, but his path is filled with titles as well. He first played for the Tucson, Az squad that fell to Taiwan in the 1973 LLWS title game, but seven years later he starred for his hometown Arizona Wildcats that won the 1980 College World Series. Then, in 1997 Vosburg helped the Florida Marlins win it all in their first World Series appearance.

There have been plenty of players to go from the Little League World Series, including the likes of Gary Sheffield and Derek Bell, who were Tampa, Fl teammates in 1980, and even hockey stars like Chris Drury and Pierre Turgeon. However, none of them achieved "legendary" status, like Lloyd McClendon.

McClendon played at Valparaiso University in Northwestern Indiana from 1978-1980, and went on to play in the big leagues from 1987-1994, but before that he was known as "Legendary Lloyd" at the Little League World Series. McClendon earned the moniker when he belted five consecutive home runs for his Gary, In Little League team in Williamsport in 1971.

Former Rutgers standouts Jeff Frazier and Casey Gaynor helped the Toms River, NJ squad win the 1998 LLWS Championship prior to their time in the college ranks. They helped the Scarlet Knights win the 2007 Big East Championship, while Frazier was named conference player of the year. He smacked 14 home runs this season for the AA Carolina Mudcats. Gaynor's father, Mike Gaynor, managed the '98 championship team as well as the 1995 Toms River LLWS team that included another future Scarlet Knight, Colin Gaynor.

We have also come across an interesting list of players who cut their teeth in Williamsport prior to entering the collegiate ranks. At least three current college players suited-up at the 2001 Little League World Series that featured possibly the most infamous Little League player ever-Bronx, NY pitcher Danny Almonte, who was later discovered to be too old for the team he was on.

Oregon State's Adalberto Santos was a teammate of Almonte on that Bronx team. Santos was a junior college All-American at New Mexico JC when he led the nation with a .520 batting average. He hit .320 and led the Beavers with 15 stolen bases this past season to help OSU to an NCAA Regional berth.

Stuart Tapley was the winning pitcher vs. Santos' Bronx team at Williamsport in the US Championship game. He helped Florida State to the 2008 College World Series when he hit .383 with 8 home runs en-route to earning Freshman All-American honors. Tapley batted .316 with 13 HR and 60 RBIs this past season.

Current Illinois sophomore to be, Willie Argo, faced that Bronx team as well in the LLWS. As a member of the Davenport, Ia team, Argo hit a home run vs. the Bronx that bounced off the Lamade Stadium statue in center field. He carried his home run mogo to college as well. Argo homered in his first three college at-bats in Baton Rouge against eventual national champion, LSU. He finished his freshman season with 12 home runs and 47 RBIs to go with a .355 batting average and 1.072 OPS.

Some other current college players who roamed the bases at the Little League World Series include:

Walker Kelly, who as a freshman helped TCU to the program's first Super Regional appearance as a relief pitcher. (2002 LLWS)

South Carolina native, Robb Scott, is an incoming freshman at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. Bucknell is located just 30 miles from Williamsport. (2002 LLWS)

UNC Willimington freshman, Tom Timoney, played for the Dhahran, Saudi Arabian All-Stars at the LLWS in both 2002 & 2003. His brother, Matt Timoney, holds the distinction of the being the only player to participate in the LLWS three times when he did it in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Their father, Tom Timoney, was their coach.

There are three players at the University of Rhode Island with Little League World Series experience. Tom Coulumbe, Chris Pickering and Kyle Borden will all be juniors at URI this season. They helped the Lincoln, RI team get to Williamsport in 2001. Coulumbe and Pickering helped the Rams win 37 games in 2009, while Borden joins them this season after two years at a junior college.

Another college player, Josh Keener at Coastal Carolina, didn't play at the LLWS, but his father, Steve Keener, is the President of Little League Baseball.

I can't say how many Little League World Series games I have sat and watched on TV over the years. The grand stage and the bright lights of the television cameras take a little away from the purity we attribute to baseball played by (mostly) 12 year olds, but it's still fun to watch. Part of the fun is, you just never know who you are watching will turn out to be.

While We're Young...

2009-07-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post, so I thought I would share a few thoughts while I'm watching the Cubs vs. Astros on WGN.

Speaking of baseball on TV, the length of the games on ESPN was one of the hottest topics to come out of the College World Series. The average CWS game time was 3 hours and 40 minutes. That is a bit long, but more commercials are a fact of life when it comes to postseason sports on television. Networks are paying big money for the rights to the games, and packing each break is a necessary evil if they're going to make money.

An average big league ball game is just under three hours, while a commercial break typically lasts between 90 seconds and two minutes. Compare that to the aforementioned 3:40 game time that is due in part to the three and a half minute breaks ESPN takes every half inning.

Here are some ideas to speed things up next year (and beyond) on ESPN in Omaha:

1. Do away with the mid-game interview with each team's head coach. I watch Major League Baseball all the time, and it's never done in the regular season, and yet I still enjoy the game. The mid-game interview is the single most useless interview in TV sports, and ESPN isn't the only guilty party. Fox does it too during the MLB postseason. They don't do it during a football game, they wait until halftime (and it's still mostly useless). It's not like the interviews are sponsored, so put us all out of our misery and get back to the game quicker rather than make us sit through an extra 30 seconds of dugout banter. However, if ESPN wants to keep the interviews how about a compromise...

2. Inset the interview in a small picture-in-picture type box at the bottom of the screen. This way viewers and ESPN all get to eat their cake and eat it too. The interview goes on at the bottom of the screen while we watch the start of play begin that inning. ESPN holds-up play to get the interviews in, but they could be easily recorded (which I know FOX has done in the past and may still do). I'm sure it won't kill Orel Hershiser and Mike Patrick if they get 30 seconds less air time. Speaking of which...

3. Do away from the in-game instructional demonstrations in the press box. Bob Brenly's doing a pretty good job of analyzing the game I'm watching right now, and he hasn't done one on-camera bit between innings to show me how Kevin Hart grips the ball when he throws his off-speed pitch. I know it's college baseball, but it's still baseball. We don't need the game explained to us like we're ten years old just because we're watching college players instead of big leaguers. However, if ESPN really thinks it needs the demonstrations see suggestion #2. Do them at the bottom corner of the screen in a small box while the game is going on. Better yet, ESPN could promote its web site by posting the demonstrations there. IE- Mike Patrick: "To see Orel show you how to throw a curveball go to espn.com, to hear him mispronounce another college player's name keep it tuned here."

4. Start the games when they're supposed to start. If the ticket says game time is 1pm start the game at 1pm and not 1:08pm. This is another network TV commercial related thing, but come on would it really be so hard to at least shoot for an :04 start time? All the chatter before the game is just lettuce on a steak sandwhich.

CWS- Before And After

2009-07-06T04:49:00.000-07:00

We took a little time off after the end of the College World Series, but Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires is back with a few final thoughts on the 2009 event.

To start with, we have complete statistics from both the College World Series as well as the NCAA Tournament. Kudos to our resident stat guru, Pete LaFleur, who compiled this information since the start of the conference tournaments. This is data that can only be found at collegebaseball360.com...seriously.

Even the NCAA did not distribute an all-encompassing statistical data base for every NCAA Tournament game. They did update the national stat leaders, but those statistics cover the entire season, our stats tell you what teams did during the tournament itself, including the CWS.

We also have an exclusive podcast interview with LSU head coach Paul Mainieri. The Word Association segment alone is worth listening to. You don't have to be an LSU fan to appreciate the things he talked about.

Alright, enough plugging ourselves. On to some thoughts on what we saw from teams and players before and during their time in Omaha.

Fullerton Flop...What happened to Cal State Fullerton? The Titans hit .447 (to lead all NCAA teams) and averaged nearly 13 runs a game in their five Regional and Super Regional games (all wins) prior to the CWS. Their pitching staff also turned-in a stellar 1.80 ERA in those games (9 earned runs allowed). The wheels came off in Omaha though, where Fullerton was two and out. The staff ERA was 9.00 (17 ER allowed), while the offense scored a total of 11 runs in losses to Arkansas and Virginia.

Wither Wood...Texas closer Austin Wood received a lot of well deserved national attention for his 13 inning effort in the Longhorn's 25-inning win over Boston College in the Austin Regional. However, Wood was not the same after that outing that saw him throw nearly 140 pitches. In his two combined Regional outings Wood totaled 15.0 IP with 2 hits, 4 BB, 17 strikeouts and no runs allowed. However, in his six appearances after the famed 13-inning outing here are the lefty's numbers: 11 IP, 16 hits, 10 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, with a 6.54 ERA. Wood made his nation-leading 41st appearance of the season when he toed the rubber for the last time in the final game of the CWS vs. LSU.

Slightly Saved... Wood had 15 saves during the season, and CWS teams combined for 131 saves going into Omaha. However, Arkansas' Mike Bolsinger had the only save at the College World Series. It's the lowest save total at the CWS since 1993 when no saves were recorded. Part of the lack of saves is partially due to the fact that just six of the 15 games at the CWS were decided by three or fewer runs. Because of the best of three championship format games are also now more spaced out so that teams play only every other day, which gives coaches the chance to use starting pitchers out of the bullpen more often. Speaking of which...

Nice Arm Young Mann...Texas freshman Taylor Jungmann was 3-0 on the mound in Omaha, with three relief appearances and one start to his credit. Jungmann made 12 relief appearances during the season, but the right hander had also made six straight starts going into the CWS. Jungmann totaled 15.1 IP with a 0.59 ERA, allowing just two runs on 8 hits with 15 Ks and 5 BB in Omaha. After making three relief appearances (including his third in game one of the championship series), Jungmann tossed the only complete game of the CWS in the Longhorn's 5-1 win over LSU in game two of the championship series. It was also his only CG in 2009. (North Carolina's Alex White did pitch 9 innings in the Tar Heel's 10-inning loss to Arizona State in game 3.)

Molden-Power...How about another Longhorn who waited for the right time to get hot: Russell Moldenhauer. The Longhorn DH was batting just .250 with 4 doubles as the only extra base hits to his credit in 2009 entering the CWS. However, in six games in Omaha Moldenhauer hit .350 with four solo home runs and a double for a slugging percentage of 1.000. Moldenhauer's injury-riddled junior season saw him total just 15 hits prior to the CWS, but he had seven knocks in Omaha, and tied Arizona State's Kole Calhoun for the CWS lead with 20 total bases.

Longhorn Longball...Texas hit 14 home runs (12 solo) in six games at the CWS for an average of 2.3 per game. That after hitting just 39 in 61 games prior to Omaha for a .63 a game average. All told, Texas scored 17 of its 36 runs at the CWS courtesy of home runs. The Longhorns had just a .413 slg% going into Omaha, but slugged at a .537 clip during the CWS.

No Small Ball...Texas averaged 1.5 sac bunts a game (96 in 61 games) prior to the College World Series, but ended-up with just 8 in their six CWS contests. The Longhorns had just a .373 success rate advancing runners (8th of the 8 teams in Omaha), while flying-out a series high 57 times.

Clutch When It Counts...LSU collected 23 2-out RBIs en-route to winning its championship. The Tigers plated 26 of their 51 CWS runs in 2-out situations. While LSU outfielder Mikie Mahtook struggled at times (8 strikeouts in 6 games) the freshman also had four 2-out RBIs in Omaha, including the game-winner in the 11th inning in game one of the Championship Series.

Theft Control...LSU stole 111 bases (on 151 attempts) in 67 games prior to the CWS, but the Tigers stole just two bags on four tries in six games in Omaha. D.J. LeMahieu had both of the thefts (he was also caught once).

It's been a great first season for us at Collegebaseball360.com. We've enjoyed being involved with you, and we hope to bring you even more unique coverage in 2010 and beyond!

Texas Forces Deciding Game 3 At CWS

2009-06-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

The Texas Longhorns beat LSU 5-1 Tuesday night to force a third and deciding game in the College World Series Championship Series. Collegebaseball360.com's Sean Stires has some notes from Omaha...

The last two teams to force game three in a CWS Championship Series have gone on to win the National Title. Fresno State did it last year, while Oregon State pulled it off in 2006.

The winner of bracket two at the CWS has won every championship since 2000. Texas is the bracket two representative this year.

Wednesday's probable starting pitchers are Anthony Ranaudo for LSU and Cole Green for Texas.

Russell Moldenhauer hit his fourth CWS home run Tuesday to tie the College World Series record.

Nine of the last 15 runs Texas has scored have come via solo home runs.

Coming into the College World Series, the Longhorns had 39 home runs and 96 sac bunts this season. In their five Omaha games they have 11 long balls and just eight sac bunts.

Texas has commited more errors than any other team at the CWS with eleven in five games (3 Tuesday). LSU committed its first two errors in Omaha Tuesday night.

Texas position players and pitchers have a ritual before they take the field each inning. The eight players gather in foul territory by either first or third base (depending on which dugout they're in) and then they wait for their catcher, Cameron Rupp, to get to home plate to scatter out to their positions on the diamond.

Speaking of Rupp, he's put together. The Plano, TX native is 6'2-235 lbs and chiseled. Think "Bull" from the '80s sitcom "Night Court".

LSU Takes Game One Of CWS Championship Series

2009-06-22T21:15:00.001-07:00

Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires notes LSU's 7-6 comeback win over Texas to start the CWS Championship Series...

Mikie Mahtook drove-in DJ LeMahieu with two outs and two strikes in the top of the 11th inning to give LSU the win. Mahtook started the game 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a 4-6-3 doubleplay.

Texas hit five solo home runs in the game, all of them came off LSU starter Louis Coleman.

The Longhorns have scored ten runs in their last two games (LSU & ASU), and eight of the runs have scored via solo homers.

Russell Moldenhauer has three home runs this season, and all of them have come in the Longhorn's four CWS games. He hit just one home run last year after belting six as a freshman.

Three of the Texas home runs came in the 4th inning. It's the first 3-homer inning at the CWS since LSU did it vs. Mississippi State on June 1, 1998.

Texas hit 39 home runs with 96 sacrifice bunts in 61 games coming into the CWS, but the Longhorns now have ten home runs in their four games in Omaha.

Coming into the CWS Texas scored roughly 18% of its runs due to home runs, but they've scored about 48% of their runs in Omaha courtesy of the long ball.

Texas starter Chance Ruffin had 10 strikeouts tonight, and he's rung-up 114 this season. He writes a "K" for each one on the bottom of the bill of his cap.

Since the College World Series switched to a best 2 of 3 format for the National Championship the game one winner has won four of six titles. Georgia won game one last year, but Fresno State went on to win the last two games to claim the crown.

How did Mike Patrick, Orel Hersheiser and Robin Ventura all end-up wearing some form of purple during tonight's telecast? Will the ESPN crew all wear orange tomorrow night?

Mainieri's dad, Demi "Doc" Mainieri was in the press box tonight. He's a juco baseball Hall of Fame coach who won a national championship in 1964.

It was Africa hot in Omaha tonight. It was sunny and 94 degrees at game time with a heat index of 107. Fans exiting the stadium after the game looked like they had either just stepped out of a sauna or just finished swimming in the Missouri River. It's supposed to be hotter Tuesday.

My drive to Omaha from Indiana today took a bit over eight hours. When I called home after my arrival my daughter didn't even realize I was gone.

Speaking of my trip across Illinois and Iowa...the Bob Feller Museum is in Van Meter Iowa (exit 113 on I-80).

"Radar's home town rocks! Ottumwa, IA, the home of the ficticious "MASH" character has a booming classic rock station, 101.5 FM, that booms up to Des Moines.

For the most part, Iowa drivers get out of the left hand lane to let you pass them on the interstate (unlike most drivers in Indiana and Illinois).

The John Wayne birthplace and the covered bridges of Madison County are at exit 110 on I-80.

Ever feel like you could be about to jump into a Bruce Willis explosion scene when you pull into a gas station behind a guy who's hanging a cigarette out the window?

Another Day, Another CWS Blog!

2009-06-20T05:45:00.000-07:00

Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires with some thoughts on Friday's LSU-Arkansas and Texas-Arizona State games...

So much for Cinderella this year. LSU beats Arkansas 14-5 while Texas edges Arizona State 4-3 to each advance to this year's CWS Chamionship Series. That means teams with five and six national championships, respectively, will play for the title.

LSU's thumping of the Razorbacks not only keeps it as the only team not to lose during the NCAA Tournament (8-0), but the Tigers have also outscored opponents 72-31 in those games. They've won their three CWS games by a combined 32-11 margin.

Back to the jungle...the days of "Gorilla Ball" aren't done for LSU. Seven different Tigers have hit nine home runs in their three College World Series games in the last week.

The Road to Omaha less traveled...Arkansas pitcher T.J. Forrest actually started his college career at LSU, but transferred to Bossier Parish Community College. He's now a junior and pitched for the Razorbacks against LSU Friday. There's no mention of his time at LSU in his bio on the Arkanas web site.

Good career choice...LSU pitching coach Dave "Red" Grewe left his head coaching position at Michigan State after last season to rejoin Paul Mainieri's staff. Grewe led the Spartans for three seasons after working for Mainieri for three years at Notre Dame from 2003-2005.

LSU pitchers did not allow a run in their first 15 innings vs. Arkansas in two College World Series games prior to Brett Eibner's seventh inning home run Friday.

Mainieri has a handful of former players and assistants who are now head coaches, including UCF skipper, Terry Rooney, who was his pitching coach last year in Omaha. Don't be surprised if LSU assistant Javi Sanchez leads a team to Omaha himself one day. Sanchez is a natural leader who takes leadership seriously, but at the same time he has an easy way about him that draws players to him. He also knows the game and teaches it well.

Ever heard the saying "he's talking about how the sausage is made"? Orel Hersheiser did a bit of that during the LSU-Arkansas game when he bored viewers with the "difficulty" of his job, because of all the producers and directors talking into his earpiece during a game. Some of it was tongue and cheek, but Orel should stick to the game, because when he talks it he shows he talks it well.

A tip of the hat to the Hogs...Arkansas had 17 comeback wins this season, including Wednesday's dramtice elimination game victory over Virgininia. The Razorback's magic ran out though with Friday's loss to LSU. You gotta give it though for a team that brought a .272 team batting average and 4.50 ERA to Omaha. Like Virginia, Arkansas had to first win a Regional on the road against a top eight national seed and then go on the road again to win a Super Regional just to get to Omaha.

Murph's Milestone...I forgot to mention this in yesterday's blog. Arizona State head coach Pat Murphy picked-up his 1,000th career win when the Sun Devils beat North Carolina in Thursday's elimination game. North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams was there to see it.

Great to hear Sean McDonough has his voice back. The ESPN play-by-play man labored earlier this week when his normally dulcet tones were strained by what he said were allergies, but he had the cords back for Friday's ASU-Texas game. McDonough kind of gets lost in the shuffle in the myriad of TV sportscasters these days, but I've heard he's one of the nicest guys in the business. I'll always remember him for his "Bream to the plate" call as Sid Bream chugged home when Altanta beat Pittsburgh in game seven of the 1992 NLCS. My college roomate, Randy Rosetta, and I were watching that game together in a Lawrence, KS sports bar. Last week Randy and I sat together covering the College World Series (he covers LSU for the Baton Rouge Advocate) while McDonough sat about 60 feet away in the Rosenblatt press box calling the action for viewers on ESPN.

Arizona State pitcher Mike Leake gave-up two home runs in 132 IP during the regular season, but the Pac 10 Pitcher of the Year surrendered two long balls in two starts vs. Texas this week in Omaha.

Rudy, really...Have you heard!?! Arizona State freshman Johnny Ruettiger is the nephew of Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger. Oh, of course you have, because ESPN only mentioned the connection every time he stepped to the plate in Omaha. So, here are a few things they could have mentioned, but didn't so they could mention "Rudy" one more time, during any of his 17 trips to the plate during his first CWS: Johnny was Joliet Catholic Acadamey's starting quarterback on the team's 2007 Illinois State Championship team, he was the captain of both his baseball and football teams during his junior and senior seasons, as a senior in high school Johnny hit .450 and went 11-2 on the mound, he was picked by the Texas Rangers in the 35th round of last year's MLB draft and his father, John, was a pretty good athlete himself-he wrestled at Nebraska in 1977-'78.

I've got a feeling those Jaguars are going to beat Visigoth State sometime soon!

Friday CWS Thoughts And Notes

2009-06-19T03:04:00.000-07:00

Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires shares some thoughts from another day at the College World Series...

Does Arizona State's Kole Calhoun remind anyone else of the character 'Ham" Porter from the movie Sandlot? Calhoun (pictured right) and his teammate, Carlos Ramirez, are built more like beer league softball players than college baseball players, but they play the part well. Neither strikes out a lot for power guys, and they both know how to work a count. Calhoun's OPS is .981, while Ramirez's is 1.126. After Thursday's win over North Carolina, Calhoun now has 3 home runs and 10 RBIs in Omaha, including a grand slam vs. the Tar Heels. Meanwhile, Ramirez has caught all 64 of the Sun Devils' games this season. Like Oakland's Billy Beane has said "We're not selling blue jeans".

Speaking of movie characters...ASU's Pat Murphy reminds me of Mickey Rourke's "Marv" in Sin City. Murph was born in New York, and he brings that east coast toughness to the desert & the Pac 10. The confidence his players exhude often borders on, if not crosses into, cockiness, but given the results (3 CWS in the last five years) that's not a bad thing.

The ebb and the flow...Arizona State jumped-out to a 6-0 lead in Tuesday's game vs. Texas, only to see the Longhorns score the last ten runs of the game. North Carolina opened Thursday's game with the first four runs of the game, to bring ASU's total to 14 straight combined unanswered runs. The Sun Devils then used an 8-run seventh inning en-route to 12 unanswered runs of their own before UNC finally got a run in the 9th in ASU's 12-5 win.

North Carolina's Garrett Gore played in the 21st and final College World Series game of his career Thursday night. He's played in more CWS games than anyone in the history of the event.

Gore's teammate, Dustin Ackley, collected a ninth inning double Thursday to extend his record NCAA Tournament hitting streak to 21 games. It was his 28th career CWS base hit, a CWS record.

Robin Ventura is just a dude who knows baseball. When he talks baseball during a game as an ESPN analyst he makes me listen intently to what he has to say. Ventura speaks and explains the mechanics of the game, both pitching and hitting, in a manner that's easily understood. His breakdown of Ackley's swing during Thursday night was eye opening.

Is it just a coincidence? Since 2000 the winner of bracket 2 has gone on to win the College World Series. Texas and Arizona State are the remaining teams from bracket 2 this year, while LSU and Arkansas reside in bracket 1.

Thursday Thoughts & Notes On The CWS

2009-06-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires with his thoughts from Wednesday's CWS action...

Arkansas' Mr. Clutch is at it again...Andrew Darr's 12th inning RBI double ended-up being the game-winner in the Razorbacks' 4-3 win over Virginia in Wednesday's CWS elimination game. Darr entered the game in the 9th inning as a defensive replacement after Virginia loaded the bases. Darr's walk-off double vs. Florida State ended the Super Regional nearly two weeks ago & sent Arkansas to the College World Series. (Podcast with Darr is available by clicking HERE.)

Brett Eibner more than atoned for his short start on the mound vs. LSU Monday when his 2-out 9th inning home run tied the game 3-3 to send it to extra innings.

ESPN's Mike Patrick was half correct when he talked about the importance of Zach Cox's 2-out, 2-strike single that came just before Eibner's HR. However, Patrick said it was important, because if Cox hadn't singled Eibner's HR would have just been a solo shot. It was more important than that though, because if Cox hadn't reached base the game would have been over, and Eibner wouldn't have even come to the plate again until 2010.

Speaking of TV...wouldn't it be nice to make as much money as ESPN analyst Orel Hersheiser makes to butcher players' names? In his time in Omaha he has incorrectly pronounced: Arkansas pitchers Dallas Keuchel and Brett Eibner, Virginia pitcher/DH Danny Hultzen, Arizona State SS Drew Maggi, and MLB's #1 draft pick Stephen Strasburg. His analysis is usually spot-on, but c'mon Orel is it too hard to just write the names pho-net-i-cal-ly? Is it a wonder Howard Cosell used to opine about the "jockocrasy" in TV sports?

Speaking of TV II...it was pretty touching to see and hear business owners from the Rosenblatt area getting choked-up while trying to talk about the CWS moving to downtown Omaha after next year.

Speaking of TV III...Pretty cool North Carolina's Garrett Gore got to man one of ESPN's TV cameras for a spell during the game. Gore said afterward "That was it, took control, my show". I'm sure Cosell would have been appalled though!

Good job by the umpires in the Arkansas-UVA game to make sure they got John Hicks' fifth inning home run call correct. They conferred after it was originally not called a home run, but Hicks got credit for the round-tripper after they correctly decided the ball hit a fan's hat and then another fan's glove and not Arkansas left fielder Chase Leavitt's glove before it caromed back onto the field.

Great piece of bunting by Virginia's Keith Werman. The pinch-hitter entered the game in a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the 9th with runners at first and second and no outs. Werman bunted the first two pitches of the at-bat foul and then took two balls from fellow lefty Dallas Keuchel before he finally dropped down a two-strike bunt to move the runners to second and third.

How about Keuchel's relief appearance just two days after starting against Cal State Fullerton? The southpaw tossed four shutout innings, while fanning five and giving-up just three hits to improve to 9-3 this season. It was the junior's first relief outing this season.

Speaking of pitching...a tip of the hat to starters Drew Smyly of Arkanas and fellow freshman left Danny Hultzen of Virginia. The two combined to pitch 11.0 innings with 14 strikeouts and no walks on 13 hits. Smyly's string of 19 straight shutout innings in the NCAA Tournament ended on the previously mentioned fifth inning HR by Hicks. He was starting for the first time since losing a no-hitter in the ninth inning of the Razorbacks' Regional Championship game vs. Oklahoma. (Podast with Smyly is available by clicking HERE.)

It's been great having Green Day's musice playing into breaks during Super Regional and now College World Series games on ESPN>

Wednesday CWS Note And Thoughts

2009-06-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

A few notes and thoughts from Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires while waiting for the Virginia-Arkansas game to start...

Tonight's game between Arkansas and Virginia is the first ever on the baseball diamond between the two schools.

Last night's game between Texas and Arizona State marked the 44th time those two teams have played. Texas owns a 26-18 series advantage.

Virginia has broken ten school records this year. They are: wins (49), runs (504), doubles (134), at-bats (2,295), hits (571), runs (504), triples (28), RBIs (465), total bases (1,112), and innings pitched (571.0).

The Texas-Arizona State game marked the first time that three sons of three former College World Series players were on the field at the same time. The current players are Chance Ruffin (Bruce 1985) and Brandon Loy (Darren 1983-'84) of Texas, and Matt Newman (Randy 1981).

Speaking of that game. Did you see ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews' interview with ASU freshman Johnny Ruettiger's parents during Tuesday's game? Ok, so Johnny is the nephew of Notre Dame's "Rudy", but do his parents really want to answer questions like "Where's Rudy", "When will Rudy be here", and "Johnny talks to Rudy all the time, what are those conversations like"? You know, because they've never heard a question about Rudy since the movie came out 16 years ago. That's what they want to talk about while their son is playing at his first College World Series.

ASU's loss to Texas last night snapped their 7-game winning streak, and it leaves LSU as the only team without a loss in this year's NCAA Tournament (7-0).

Arkansas starting pitcher Brett Eibner had a tough time in his last start Monday vs. LSU when he allowed four runs in just 1 1/3 IP. That's nothing compared to what happened to an Omaha motorist at Tuesday's Arkansas practice when Eibner hit a home run during batting practice that smashed the window of a van parked on the street outside the park.

Tuesday CWS Thoughts

2009-06-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires shares some College World Series thoughts...

How important is it to win your first round game in Omaha? Since the CWS began in 1947 just ten teams have lost their first game and gone on to capture the national championship.
Since 1980 just Oregon St. in 2006, USC in 1998 and the 1980 Arizona teams lost their first round game in Omaha and then claimed national titles.
Could Southern Mississippi head coach Corky Palmer have picked a better time to retire? USM can never match what Palmer's team did with its run to Omaha over the last three weeks, and Palmer would only be chasing a golden carrott if he weren't retiring. Just like George Costanza...Corky's leaving on a high note.
If you don't believe how tough it is for a Cinderella to return to Omaha see: Fresno State which went 0-2 in the Irvine Regional this year after winning last year's title. There are others: Louisville-2007, Arizona-2004, Southwest Mo. State-2003, Notre Dame-2002, San Jose St.-2000. Getting to Omaha raises the expectation level of a program, but those expections are seldom met in most cases.
Speaking of Southern Mississippi, great shot by ESPN of USM players scooping dirt from behind home plate to take home some Omaha dirt in paper cups and Gatorade bottles after Tuesday's 11-4 loss (and elimination) to North Carolina.
When the new CWS stadium is built downtown in two years will Zesto's bring its ice cream along?
Also, when the stadium's downtown will outfield tickets still be sold as general admission seating? If so, where will fans stand in line to get in? Fans currently stand in lone serpentine lines that go down the hill beyond the Rosenblatt outfield area. The new stadium will have just a small parking lot and a sidewalk in those same locations. Will they close off the street beyond right field?
LSU scored eight of its nine runs in Monday's win over Arkansas with two outs. Coming into the CWS, the Tigers had just ten 2-out RBIs in five previous NCAA Tournament games.
After Monday's win over Arkansas, LSU is now 35-3 this season when a right-hand pitcher starts.
With its 2-0 start, LSU now waits until Friday afternoonto play either Virginia or LSU. I know the steaks in Omaha are good, and the pitching will be rested, but three days in between games at the most important time of the year is just too much.

Sunday College World Series Thoughts

2009-06-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

Collegebaseball360.com Editor, Sean Stires, shares some thoughts from a day of baseball at Rosenblatt Stadium...

Quite a Sunday afternoon game between North Carolina and Arizona St. UNC’s Alex White: 9 IP-7H-1 ER- 3 BB – 12 K & ASU’s Josh Spence & Mitchell Lambson combine for 10 IP-11H- 2 R – 1 ER – 3 BB – 13 K.

There were still a lot of people outside the stadium today, but it wasn’t nearly the mad house it was all day yesterday before the Arkansas-Cal State Fullerton & LSU-Virginia games. Probably a lot of LSU fans sleeping-off yesterday’s tailgating.

One of the coolest shirts I’ve seen…burnt orange Longhorn Texas logo with simply the word “OMAHA” above it. No other school has a shirt like it in any of the vendor shirts outside Rosenblatt Stadium (and there are dozens of tents and hundreds of shirt styles). The shirt vendor says it’s because Texas considers Omaha their destiny…even though they haven’t been here for four years.

This is the 50th anniversary of ASU baseball. Members of the Sun Devil’s 1969 National Championship team are in Omaha for a reunion.

Don't call it a "Jeter" play, ASU 1B Riccio Torrez with great effort crashing into the wall going for foul ball. Didn’t make the catch, but took a big tumble into the photo pit next to the ASU dugout in the 3rd inning.

Another Sportscenter Web Gem…Texas shortstop Brandon Loy with a lazar beam thrown to first after a diving stop in the hole to throw out Southern Mississippi’s Taylor Walker.

Is there no green paint left in Omaha? The CWS logo on the Astroturf semi-circle behind the plate this year looks as bad as I’ve ever seen it. You can still read “Omaha Royals” underneath the "College World Series 2009" logo that's painted over it.

If the lines for the restrooms inside Rosenblatt are any indication, maybe they DO need a new CWS stadium in Omaha.

Saw this sign by a Southern Mississippi fan today: O-M-A-H-A = Ole Miss At Home Again

Southern Mississippi’s last two coaches have been Corky Palmer and before that Hill Densen. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I have never known a Corky and I have never known a Hill.

My daughter, Baylee, was in the stands again for tonight’s game. She has a mascot phobia. The USM Mascot had her frozen stiff and crying after Golden Eagle Michael Ewing hit his 5th HR of the season against Texas.

My son, Jesse, wanted to come to the Texas-Southern Miss. Game to see the Longhorns in person, but in the 6th inning he was singing the Golden Eagle’s fight song along with their fans in section “R”.

M & M’s and fresh popcorn are two of the more popular snacks among the media in the Rosenblatt press box. They give us paper boats that are about the size of your hand to put them in. The boats are too small for me to get enough popcorn, but big enough that I always fill them with way more M & M’s than even my sweet tooth needs. (Why do I always eat them ALL though)?

Texas LHP Austin Wood gained fame for his 12 1/3 no-hit innings & 13 total innings two weeks ago in the 3-2 25 inning win over Boston College. However, since his 169 pitch effort his command has been erratic, and his fastball has dropped from the high 80s to the mid to low 80s. Wood threw a wild pitch and issued a bases loaded walk Sunday vs. USM to contribute to the Golden Eagle's 3-run inning.

May 30th, 1981 was the last catcher's interference at the College World Series prior to the 8th inning interference by Texas backstop Cameron Rupp that gave Southern Mississippi's Brian Dozier first base.

Dozier was pinch-hitting in that at-bat. He had missed 29 games since fracturing his collarbone on April 14th.

The total attendance for this weekend’s four games was 96,868 for an average of 24,217 per game. The new CWS stadium that will open in two years will seat 24,000.

Texas-Southern Mississippi Starting Line-Ups

2009-06-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

Here are the line-ups for the Texas-So. Miss Game...

Southern Miss

1. CF Bo Davis .371
2. 2B James Ewing .314
3. LF Kameron Brunty .342
4. RF Corey Stevens .330
5. 1B Joey Archer
6. DH Michael Ewing .231
7. SS BA Vollmuth .236
8. C Travis Graves .246
9. 3B Taylor Walker .305

RHP-Todd McInnis (9-4, 3.61 ERA)

Head Coach Corky Palmer

Texas

1. 3B Michael Torres .304
2. 2B Travis Tucker .286
3. 1B Brandon Belt .336
4. DH Russell Moldenhauer .234
5. RF Kevin Keyes .305
6. SS Brandon Loy .294
7. C Cameron Rupp .287
8. LF Preston Clark .264
9. CF Connor Rowe .275

RHP Cole Green (5-3, 3.02)

Head Coach Augie Garrido

Umpires

HP Chuck Lyon
1B Mark Chapman
2B Tony Maners
3B Perry Costello

ASU-UNC Starting Line-Ups

2009-06-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

Here are the starting line-ups for today's North Carolina-Arizona State game...

ASU

1. SS Drew Magi .319
2. CF Jason Kipnis .385
3. C Carlos Ramirez .349
4. LF Kole Calhoun .292
5. 1B Riccio Torrez .298
6. RF Matt Newman .315
7. DH Johnny Reuttiger .356
8. 3B Raoul Torrez .250
9. 2B Zack MacPhee .266

LHP Josh Spence (9-1, 2.33 ERA)

Head Coach Pat Murphy decides not to start Pac 10 Pitcher of the Year Mike Leake. I may be sunning myself with Sparky yet! Will Leake pitch in relief today?

North Carolina

1. LF Ben Bunting .333
2. 1B Dustin Ackley
3. 3B Kyle Seager .386
4. SS Ryan Graepel .279
5. 2B Levi Michael .298
6. C Mark Fleury .315
7. RF Garrett Gore .307
8. CF Mike Cavasini .260
9. DH Jacob Stallings .216

RHP-Alex White (8-4, 4.13 ERA)

Head Coach Mike Fox

Umpires

HP Jeff Henrichs
1B Joe Burleson
2B Darrin Sealey
3B Steve Manders

Pre-Day Two CWS Thoughts

2009-06-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a day for mostly "big boys" with LSU, Fullerton, Arkansas, and Virginia all in action. Arkansas and Virginia have just three trips to the CWS between them in the last ten years (and obviously this is UVA's first trip), but they're still from power conferences.

Three more "big boy" teams are in action today, but Cinderella makes steps up to center stage tonight when Southern Mississippi plays #1 Texas. (North Carolina and Arizona State play the matinee). Some thoughts on today's action...

As of last night, we still had not heard who Texas will start tonight. Fullerton went with Noe Ramirez over Daniel Renken, and now Dave Serrano's team is in a Monday elimination game vs. Virginia. Will that decision make it that much easier for Augie Garrido to go with Chance Ruffin if he was even thinking about anyone else?
Southern Mississippi starting pitchers have made it past the fifth inning just once in their six NCAA Tournament games, but the Golden Eagles are still 5-1 and in Omaha. Their offense has scored 8.8 runs a game to counter the lack of pitching longevity. (Remind you of a team from California last year?)
Seriously, isn't it cool to have a head coach named Corky Palmer in the CWS?
Speaking of starting pitching, as of last night ASU's Pat Murphy still hadn't announced his starter for today's game vs. North Carolina. If it's not Pac 10 Pitcher of the Year Mike Leake (16-1, 1.36 ERA, 150 K), I'll go sun bathe with Sparky in the left field bleachers (trust me, you don't want to see that).
The last time Mike Fox and North Carolina failed to make it to the College World Series was 2005 when his Tar Heels were eliminated by Paul Mainieri's Notre Dame team at the Gainesville, FL Regional. The Florida team that won that regional went on to finish as the national runner-up with a loss to Texas in the CWS Championship Series.
As noted last night, LSU used all three of its weekend starter in its opening win over Virginia. SEC Pitcher of the Year Louis Coleman pitched just an inning, and with a day off Sunday, it was essentially a bullpen workout on a big stage. Mainieri says he and Austin Ross will still make their next scheduled starts.
The crowds inside and outstide Rosenblatt Stadium as well as on the streets and in the press box itself were enormous yesterday. I don't think I've seen as many people here. I wonder how much that fact that Rosenblatt's days are numbered (along with LSU and Texas as well as homeboy Brian O'Connor being here) have to do with it?

You ready for day two?

Arkansas Player Makes ESPN's Top 10 Plays

2009-06-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

OMAHA, Neb. – Arkansas freshman Bo Bigham’s diving stop and throw from his knees cracked ESPN SportsCenter’s top 10 plays, ranking No. 4 on the list Saturday night.

Bigham made the diving stop in the third inning and limited what may have been a big Cal St. Fullerton inning to just a pair of runs. With a runner on first base and no one out, Bigham made a diving stop to his left, turned and threw a strike to Ben Tschepikow from his knees to get the lead runner on the play. The Titans would eventually score two runs in the inning on a hit and one Razorback error, but the two runs only cut into Arkansas’ lead and kept the Razorbacks on top.

Bigham’s play is the third Razorback play to get recognition on ESPN’s top 10 plays this season and fourth in the last two seasons. Last weekend, Andrew Darr cracked the daily and weekly top 10 for his one-out game-winning double against Florida State in the Super Regional and Brett Eibner was featured the day before for a leaping catch while crashing into the center field wall in Tallahassee. Chase Leavitt was the story in 2008 when he made a diving catch in right field.

Bigham's play helped Arkansas down Cal State Fullerton 10-6 in their 2009 CWS opener. The Razorbacks must now take on the LSU Tigers who defeated the Virginia Cavaliers on Monday night in the second round of the College World Series. Game time is set for 6 p.m. Central. Virginia plays Fullerton at 1p.m. that same day.

College World Series Day One Thoughts

2009-06-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Two well played games on day one of the 2009 College World Series. Arkansas downed Cal State Fullerton 10-6 in the opener, while LSU downed Virginia 9-5. A few thoughts/facts on the action from Rosenblatt Stadium.

The four teams that were playing today's games (Arkansas, Fullerton, LSU, & Virginia) had a combined 20-1 record in the NCAA Tournament coming into today's action. Virginia's game one Super Regional loss to Ole Miss was the lone blemish.
As I speak, LSU head coach Paul Mainieri is getting post-game hugs on the field from his daughters Sam and Alex.
The result of Arkansas' win over Fullerton isn't necessarily shocking, but the way they did it is. The Razorbacks put ten runs on the board against a Titans team that had given-up a total of just 11 runs in their five previous NCAA Tourney games this year.
Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn finally has his first CWS win. He was 0-4 in 2001-02 trips with Nebraska, and 0-2 in 2004 with the Razorbacks.
LSU's win gives the Tigers their first victory in a CWS opener since 2000.
LSU used asll three weekend starters in tonight's game. Anthony Ranaudo pitched just 3.1 innings in his 17th start of the year, Austin Ross had 2 IP in relief, and SEC pitcher of the Year Louis Coleman pitched the 8th inning.
Coleman pitched in relief on Friday in SEC play vs. Georgia and Kentucky during the regular season and then made Sunday starts to end those series.
Virginia plays Cal State Fullerton Monday at 1pm Central. The Cavs are the home team.
LSU plays Arkansas Monday at 6pm Central. The Razorbacks will be the home team.
Virginia freshman Steven Proscia hit his 10th HR of the year. It's the most for a Cavs freshman since 2005 when Sean Doolittle hit 15.
Chicago Cubs GM Jim Hendry was in the press box and in the stands for a while tonight. Hendry was Brian O'Connor's head coach on the 1991 Creighton CWS team. He also gave Paul Mainieri his first coaching job at Miami's Christopher Columbus High School.
I sat in the press box between two really nice guys tonight. Marc Davis, the Sports Director at WCDV Channel 19 from Charlottesville, VA and Jason Cole from Burntorangebeat.com. Had a lot of good baseball conversation.
I know it's been overstated all week, but Mainieri and O'Connor are two of the best class acts in the game. They are both great guys, and their staffs and teams embody how the game should be: play hard with no excuses.
My dad, son, daughter, and wife were all in the stands tonight. My son was with a few of his Scrappers baseball teammates. It was their first CWS experience. I hope they had a good time.
Sat for part of the game with my great friend, Randy Rosetta, from the Baton Rouge Advocate....he's still Randy.

We'll have more tomorrow.

Good Times Before The Rain

2009-06-13T04:15:00.001-07:00

College Baseball 360 Editor Sean Stires is in Omaha preparing for the start of the 2009 College World Series.

Friday wasn't necessarily an overly eventful day in Omaha, but it had its share of events. It was practice day at Rosenblatt Stadium the day before the College World Series, but only a few of the teams actually got on the field to take batting practice and shag balls.

Three of the four teams that are set to play today took their hacks on the Rosenblatt turf, but Virginia didn't. Neither did Texas, North Carolina, Southern Mississippi, or Arizona State. Just as LSU was winding-down the third practice session of the morning, and just after Tiger skipper Paul Mainieri exchanged jokes on the field with Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor (Mainieri's former Notre Dame assistant) rain started pelting the field, and they pulled the tarp at Rosenblatt.

That was a little before noon Central Time, and it rained for most of the afternoon after that. It rained pretty hard as well. Not Noah's Ark hard, but it rained enough that games scheduled for the Omaha Slumpbuster Tournament (Thursday's blog) had to be scrapped.

Fortunately, the rain did hold long enough for CWS Opening Ceremonies and fireworks Friday night at Rosenblatt.

Probably the biggest highlight of the day for everyone is when the different teams arrive for practice. LSU and Virginia both took teams pictures with the "Road To Omaha" statue in front of the stadium, and afterward they signed autographs and took pictures with kids of all ages.

My son's team got to mingle with LSU players for quite some time, and Mainieri even said a few words to them later on inside the stadium. Welcome to Omaha!

We did manage to talk to a few of the LSU, Virginia and Arkansas players and coaches Friday, and some of that is now posted on our new "CWS Video" page at www.collegebaseball360.com.

Well, it's Saturday...let the games begin!

Things Are Getting Started Today At The CWS

2009-06-12T05:51:00.001-07:00

College Baseball 360 Editor Sean Stires is in Omaha preparing for the start of the 2009 College World Series.

It's Friday, and we're still a day away from the start of games at the College World Series, but the activity at Rosenblatt kicks-up a few ticks today. If you saw the video on the front page of our web site yesterday, you know the vendors were setting-up their tents yesterday, and some of them had already begun slinging T-shirts, hats and other items to paying customers. Most of the rest of them will be open for business at some point today.

All eight teams will be on the field at Rosenblatt for quick practices throughout the day, and each team's practice will be followed by an autograph session. The best part is: It's all Free to the public.

There's an all day fan fast outside the stadium with interactive games for kids as well as face painting (yes, my dauther Baylee plans to be there) and the like. Opening ceremonies with the parade of teams and then capped-off by fireworks (one of the best fireworks displays I've ever seen) is inside the stadium later tonight. Fanfest runs from 10am-9pm, and the ceremonies is from 9-10pm.

Here's a quick rundown of today's practice schedule inside Rosenblatt Stadium:

Cal State Fullerton 9-10 am, autographs 10:30-11 am.
Arkansas 10-11 am, autographs 11:30 am-12 pm.
LSU 11 am- Noon, autographs 12:30 pm.
Virginia Noon-1 pm, autographs 1:30 pm.
North Carolina 1pm-2pm, autographs 2:30pm.
Arizona St. 2pm-3pm, autographs 3:30pm.
Texas 3pm-4pm, autographs, 4:30pm.
Southern Mississippi 4pm-5pm, autographs 5:30pm.

Baseball's Back In Omaha

2009-06-11T20:46:00.001-07:00

College Baseball 360 Editor Sean Stires is in Omaha preparing for the start of the 2009 College World Series.

We're less than two days away from the start of this year's College World Series, but I saw two games in Omaha today. I mentioned yesterday that my son's 13U team, the Michiana Scrappers, is in a big tournament here in Omaha.

Before I go further, I should explain the name "Michiana". As many of you know, I live in South Bend, IN, which sits right on the Indiana/Michigan state line. Michiana is a combination of those names, kind of like "Texarkana". I've never favored the name Michiana, but that's another story.

Anyway, turns out this isn't just a "big" tournament his team is playing in. It's a REALLY big tournament. 2009 is the seventh year of what's known as the "Omaha Slumpbuster". Last year 462 teams competed in the Slumpbuster, with kids ranging in age from 8 to 18.

Ft. Collins, CO based Triple Crown Sports runs the event, which draws teams from across the country for games that are played on more than 40 complexes in the greater Omaha and Lincoln areas. My son's team played one from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and another from Illinois today. Tomorrow they'll play a team from Colorado.

They held what they called a "bonfire" tonight, but it was really a fire that set off a cluster of explosions and fireworks in the middle of a baseball diamond. I think my eyebrows were singed from my face.

The cool thing from the kids' perspective is, the tournament organizers aren't just using the College World Series to get teams here, and then leave them on the outside looking in. The people who run the Slumpbuster actually include CWS tickets in the packages for teams that participate (I should also say, the entry fee ain't cheap).

They schedule games in the morning and early afternoon though, so kids and parents have a chance to see CWS games while they're in town. Another perk is the fact that there are open practices and by the eight participating CWS teams Friday (the day before the first games) at Rosenblatt Stadium. Each practice is followed by a 30 minute autograph session with each team.

Can you imagine being 10, 11...12 or 13 years old and being up close and personall with some of the best college players in the country? Five of the players who are here this week were taken in the first round of this week's MLB draft, and a barrel-full more were taken in later rounds.

Our Indiana team alone has fans of Cal State Fullerton, LSU and Texas. I'm guessing that after the kids watch some of the Friday practices each team will have more young fans in its base. (My son, Jesse, might have to actually choose between burnt orange and purple tomorrow.)

Call me a kid at heart, but I am like a kid in a candy store right now as we get set to count down the hours to Saturday's 1pm (Central) game.

Check back in Friday for video and more blogging from Omaha at the College World Series!

Rosen-what? Where's Did Johnny's "Ts" Go?

2009-06-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

College Baseball 360 Editor Sean Stires is now in his second day in Omaha, NE in preparation for the 2009 College World Series.

I talked a little food yesterday after my family and got to town, so I'll get to a little more baseball today. First, let me say this is my third CWS, and the people of Omaha are always great. "Welcome to Omaha" is the phrase both players and fans alike love to hear. This is just a great event, and I'm glad the CWS is in Omaha for decades to come.

That said, the hotel I'm staying in has one of those little local event magazines in each room. This one, fittingly, is called "Omaha Magazine", which is published in conjunction with the Omaha Convention & Visitors Bureau (I know so, because it says so right on the cover).

There's a picture of a Fresno State pitcher on the cover of the mag, and the headline reads:
"2009 NCAA College World SERIES Rosenblass Stadium".

You read that correctly- Rosenbla "ss". Oops. Make that double oopss!

I know there's only one for year for Rosenblatt Stadium, but c'mon. Can I get a copy editor please!?! Johnny's rolling over in his grave right now.

I'll tell you what though, in the interest of journalistic integrity I'm going to head to the stadium right now to make sure there are still two "Ts" at the end of the name on that stadium.

Stand by...

On The Ground In Omaha

2009-06-10T18:24:00.000-07:00

College Baseball 360 Editor Sean Stires is on Omaha checking in. Here are a few thoughts...

Got to Omaha this afternoon. Not many of the eight teams are in town right now. Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor is from this area, and he's bringing his team in tonight. Most of the rest of the teams will get here tomorrow.

In addition to the College World Series, I'll be watching some other baseball here in town for the next few days as well. My 13-year-old son's team is in a tournament here that starts Thursday morning, so we have two games that day as well as a Friday game. We don't know the rest of the schedule for the weekend yet.

There are at least two other teenage baseball teams staying in our hotel, so it should be really quiet here for the next few days. (Hope you noted the sarcasm.)

The first thing we did after checking in to the hotel was head for California Tacos. My daughter, Baylee, is a devoted Food Network watcher, and we watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives regularly. The show was here in Omaha during last year's CWS shooting episodes, and the taco joint was featured on the show.

My wife and I had the signature item: The California Taco. I had one beef and one grilled fish taco. The beef was really solid, but the fish taco was...well, a little fishy. Now, before you land-locked types turn your pallets at the very thought of a fish taco, let me just say if you have never had a Wahoo fish taco in California (the state, not the street in Omaha) you're missing out.

Anyway, the California Taco comes in a big puffed & fried flour shell, and the beef was very good. Salsa was good, and so was the cold brews my friend Rob and I sampled. His kids got big nacho platters, but they didn't care too much for them, because they came with flour rather than corn chips (you can order either kind). They ended-up going with the California Taco as well.

If you're coming to Omaha, a trip to California is worth the trip for the signature dish, but I guess I just should have remembered we're in the beef capital of the midwest, so I'll save the fish for my next So Cal trip.

I'm heading over to the stadium tomorrow to see how things are shaping-up outside. Open practices are all day Friday at Rosenblatt Stadium. I'll be there as well, so be sure to check-in the rest of the week as we lead-up to Saturday's opening of the 2009 CWS.

College World Series Items

2009-06-09T19:33:00.001-07:00

We talked stats earlier, and now here are a few random items on teams/coaches/players in this year's College World Series.

Four players in the 2009 CWS field were taken in the first round of Tuesday's MLB draft: North Carolina's Dustin Ackley went #2 overall to Seattle, Cincinnati tabbed Arizona State RHP Mike Leake with the eighth overall pick, Tar Heel pitcher Alex White went with the 15th selection to Cleveland, and LSU outfielder/wide receiver Jared Mitchell was picked 15th by the Chicago White Sox. North Carolina and Arizona State meet in their first game Sunday in Omaha.

Arkansas and LSU's entries into the '09 CWS makes it 17 straight years the SEC has had at least one team in Omaha. The Pac 10 is next with 13 straight years thanks to Arizona State. Southern Mississippi's surprising run this year gives C-USA the third longest CWS stretch at five years.
Mr. Clutch...Arkansas' Andy Wilkins leads all batters in the NCAA Tournament with 8 of his team's 23 2-out RBIs.

Brian O'Connor has now been to the College World Series as a player (Creighton-1991), assistant coach (Notre Dame-1992) and head coach (Virginia-2009).
Current Chicago Cubs GM, Jim Hendry, was O'Connor's head coach on that '91 Creighton team. Hendry also gave LSU's Paul Mainieri his first coaching job at Miami's Christopher Columbus High School.
Brandon Loy of Texas and Cal State Fullerton's Joe Scott share the NCAA lead with 24 sac bunts in 2009.

Cal State Fullerton has outscored its opponents 64-11 during the NCAA Tournament, including a 23-2 margin over Louisville in their two-game Super Regional.

To read more about the 2009 College World Series field CLICK HERE.

Pre-College World Series Statistics

2009-06-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

We're just four days away from the start of the 2009 College World Series. CB360 Co-Editor, Pete LaFleur, and I have been working feverishly to uncover information for college baseball starved fans that's hard to find most anywhere else.

Pete has been working in conjunction with college baseball sports information directors around the nation to provide updated statistics during this year's NCAA Tournament. It's not an easy task when you start a tournament with 64 teams. We do wish to thank every team and conference SID who has contributed to the effort. (Pete has had to hand enter some stats, because a handful of conferences respectfully declined from providing the PAK files Pete needed for the stat program.)

In any case, after 120 tournament games in the last two weeks, what we now have on our web site is the most comprehensive 2009 NCAA Tournament statistics you will find anywhere. You can see the full report HERE.

We (and by we I mostly mean Pete) will continue to update these statistics throughout the College World Series. (Ok, he'll do the stats part, but I'll add the links on the web site.)

I'm getting to Omaha Wednesday afternoon, so be watching our Twitter feed for things going on in the next few days leading-up to Saturday's opening day. I'll be at Rosenblatt for most of Friday's open practices, and we'll have video from the day's events on the site after that.

I hope I don't run into any Visigoths...

Game Times And First Round CWS Pairings Set

2009-06-09T04:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a look at the game times and first round pairing for the 2009 College World Series. The rest of the CWS bracket follows.

ALL TIMES CENTRAL

Saturday, June 13

Game 1 – 1 p.m. (ESPN HD) (V) Arkansas (39-22) vs. (H) No. 2 Cal St. Fullerton (47-14)

Game 2 – 6 p.m. (ESPN HD) (V) Virginia (48-13-1) vs. (H) No. 3 LSU (51-16)

Sunday, June 14

Game 3 – 1 p.m. (ESPN HD) (V) No. 5 Arizona St. (49-12) vs. (H) No. 4 North Carolina (47-16)

Game 4 – 6 p.m. (ESPN2 HD) (V) Southern Miss. (40-24) vs. (H) No. 1 Texas (46-14-1)

Monday, June 15

Game 5 – 1 p.m. (ESPN2 HD) Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2

Game 6 – 6 p.m. (ESPN2 HD) Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Tuesday, June 16

Game 7 – 1 p.m. (ESPN2 HD) Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4

Game 8 – 6 p.m. (ESPN2 HD) Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4

Wednesday, June 17

Game 9 – 6 p.m. (ESPN2 HD) Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6

Thursday, June 18

Game 10 – 6 p.m. (ESPN2 HD) Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8

Friday, June 19

Game 11 – 1 p.m. (ESPN2 HD) Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 6

Game 12 – 6 p.m. (ESPN2 HD) Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 8

Saturday, June 20

Game 13 – 1 p.m. (ESPN HD) or 6 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 13 will be necessary if the winner of Game 9 also wins Game 11. If it is the only game scheduled for that day, the game will start at 6 p.m.

Game 14 – 6 p.m. (ESPN HD)

Game 14 will be necessary if the winner of Game 10 also wins Game 12. If it is the only game scheduled for that day, the game will start at 6 p.m.

Sunday, June 21

No games scheduled

MEN’S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES FINALS

Monday, June 22

Game 1 – 6 p.m. (ESPN HD) Bracket One Winner vs. Bracket Two Winner

Tuesday, June 23

Game 2 – 6 p.m. (ESPN HD) Bracket One Winner vs. Bracket Two Winner

Wednesday, June 24

Game 3 – 6 p.m. (ESPN HD) Bracket One Winner vs. Bracket Two Winner

(if necessary)

Some Texas Factoids

2009-06-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

With its Super Regional win over TCU, #1 national seed Texas is the final team to qualify for the 2009 College World Series. It's not like Augie Garrido and the Longhorns haven't been to Omaha before. Here are some Texas CWS facts:

Texas is making its 33rd overall College World Series appearance.

The Longhorns haven't been to Omaha since 2005, but it's still their sixth trip to college baseball promised land in the last ten years.

Texas has won six national championships. Augie Garrido was the head coach for the 2002 and 2005 title teams.

Garrido also won national championships at Cal State Fullerton in 1979, 1984 and 1995, giving him five titles overall.

His five championships are second only to former USC head coach Rod Dedeaux's 10.

Garrido is the first coach to win national championships at two different schools.

2009 marks Garrido's 13th CWS berth.

Garrido played collegiately at Fresno State (winner of last year's championship) and started his coaching career at Cal Poly (which made the tourney for the first time ever this season).

Garrideo, LSU's Paul Mainieri (then at Notre Dame) and Arkansas' Dave Van Horn (then with Nebraska) all coached teams at the 2002 CWS.

Texas was one of three Big 12 teams (along with Baylor and Nebraska) to go to the 2005 CWS, but this year's Longhorn squad is the first Big 12 team to make it to Omaha since then.

Monday Thoughts On CWS/Supers

2009-06-08T16:09:00.000-07:00

The TCU-Texas game is just starting. It's the only Super Regional game remaining. Who would have thought that just two of the eight series would go the distance? Here are a few random thoughts on some of what we saw this weekend...

Maybe Southern Mississippi's Corky Palmer has the key to career success figured out: Announce your retirement. Palmer made the announcement in April that his 12th season as head coach would be his last. Instead of a gift certificate for an early bird special, Palmer's team's retirement present is a trip to Omaha.

I've always said that in sports (and really life in general) you always get a chance, and then it's up to you to make the most of it.

Exhibit A-Palmer's clean-up batter, Corey Stevens (.329, 8 HR, 58 RBIs) was tossed from Sunday's decisive Super Regional game vs. Florida with his team trailing 6-4. Stevens' replacement in the clean-up spot, Adam Doleac (.286, 0HR, 7 RBIs) lined a ball through the right side to load the bases. It set-up Joey Archer's 2-run, 2-out hit to tie the score 6-6.

Exhibit B-Arkansas' Adrew Darr hadn't started a game for the Razorbacks since March, but head coach Dave Van Horn had him in the line-up Saturday in the Hogs' Super Regional clincher vs. Florida State. Darr responded by going 4-for-5 with a home run, two doubles and 3 RBIs, including a walk-off 2-run double to send the Razorbacks to Omaha for the first time since 2004.

Not So Super...After losing that game to Arkansas, Florida State is now just 3-3 in Super Regional Series played in Tallahassee. The Seminoles are now just 3-6 all-time in Super Regionals.

The Real Rudy...You're going to hear more about Arizona State freshman Johnny Ruettiger during the College World Series. He's the nephew of Dan "Rudy" Ruettiger, the former Notre Dame football walk-on that prompts every opposing fan of any ND athletic team (from football to fencing) to derisively chant Rudy at every Irish player. Like "Rudy", Johnny is from Joliet, and his intensity reminds me more of another former Irish football player, linebacker Mike Goolsby, who also hailed from Jake and Elwood's home town. Johnny is faster than either his uncle or Goolsby, and he's hitting .356 in 87 at-bats with 12 stolen bases.

Speaking of Arizona State, do you think head coach Pat Murphy has ever actually called his Australian pitcher, Josh Spence, a "beautiful kid" to his face the way he did multiple times during his mid-game dugout interview during Sunday night's telecast?

Speaking of the mid-game dugout interview with a team's head coach/manager (depending on whether it's a college or pro game), hasn't it jumped the shark? I like the one during the WCWS when the Washington softball coach responded "Score runs, win the game", when asked what her team needed to do to win.

Speaking of broadcasts, this gem by Keith Moreland at the end of a North Carolina-East Carolina game on the ESPN family might be my all-time favorite bit of wisdom from a color analyst: "Good pitching always beats good hitting...most of the time." That's rates right up there with "Ninety-percent of the time it works every time."-Paul Rudd as Brian Fantana in Anchorman-The Legend of Ron Burgandy.

Speaking of broadcasts pt. 2...I think Dave Ryan, who's doing the Texas-TCU game tonight is becoming my favorite college baseball TV play-by-play guy. Good blend of enthusiasm & facts. He used to do too much reciting of the media guide & random "nuggets" early on. However, his partner tonight, Eric Young, is not on my short list of favorite analysts. He has good information, but he's tough to listen to. Young is far from dulcet, the Rutgers alum and former major leaguer is somewhere closer to Stephen A. Smith (in tone, not content).

Visigoths...really? Is that the best campaign Capital One can come-up with? Go Jaguars!

That's it for now. I'll have more later in the week when I'm in Omaha. My daughter's been trying to fall asleep next to me for the last 45 minutes, and her elbow keeps jerking and hitting me in the arm while I'm trying to type.

Some "Nuggets" On Sunday's CWS Qualifiers

2009-06-07T18:02:00.000-07:00

Southern Mississippi, North Carolina, Arizona State and Virginia became the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh teams to advance to the 2009 College World Series when they won their Super Regionals Sunday. Here are a few tid-bits about those schools and their head coaches:

Virginia

The Cavaliers are in the College World Series for the first time in program history.

This season also marked the first Super Regional appearance for Virginia, as well as its first ACC Tournament title since 1996.

Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor is a native of Council Bluffs, IA, which sits just to the east of the Missouri river from Omaha, NE.

While Virginia is in the CWS for the first time, this is O'Connor's third Omaha experience.

O'Connor was a pitcher on Creighton's 1991 CWS team, and he was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for Notre Dame's 2002 CWS squad.

Current Chicago Cubs GM, Jim Hendry, was the Creighton head coach in 1991.

Current LSU head coach, Paul Mainieri, was Notre Dame's head coach in 2002.

Virginia is 9-1 during the 2009 postseason (including ACC Tournament).

A friend of O'Connor's father crafted the famed "Road To Omaha" statue that sits outside Rosenblatt Stadium. O'Connor is said to be the face of the player being hoisted by his teammates.

North Carolina

The Tar Heels are in the College World Series for a program record fourth straight year.

2009 also marks the 8th overall CWS appearance for UNC, with at least one trip to Omaha in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and now the 21st century.

UNC head coach, Mike Fox, is one of just six men to play in and then coach his alma mater to the College World Series.

North Carolina has 13 all-time wins at the CWS, and Fox has played in (2) or coached in (11) all of them.

UNC lost in the championship series in 2006 and 2007 (Oregon State both times). They were eliminated by eventual National Champion Fresno State last year.

Southern Mississippi

The Golden Eagles are in the College World Series for the first time in program history.

Southern Miss. had never reached a Super Regional prior to this season.

They were the only #3 seed to reach a Super Regional this season.

Southern Miss. head coach, Corky Palmer, announced his retirement in April.

The team's 80th double play of the season ended the clincher of their Super Regional win over #8 national seed Florida.

Arizona State

The Sun Devils are in the College World Series for the 21st time in program history.

Only Texas (32) and Miami (23) have been more times. USC has also gone 21 times.

ASU has advanced to Omaha in every odd year since 2005.

Head Coach Pat Murphy is taking his team to the CWS for the fourth time since 1998.

With Murphy, there are now three former Notre Dame coaches who will coach at this year's CWS. Murphy was head coach at ND from 1988-1994. LSU skipper Paul Mainieri was the Irish head coach from 1995-2006, and Virginia head coach was Mainieri's pitching coach from 1995-2003.

Another former Notre Dame head coach will likely be in attendance in Omaha as well. Larry Gallo coached ND from 1981-'87. He is currently the Senior Associate Athletic Director at North Carolina, and he attended the CWS with UNC last year.

Sunday Super Regional Schedule

2009-06-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

Here's the rundown of Sunday's Super Regional Games:

(All times Eastern)

East Carolina @ North Carolina Noon ESPN or ESPN 2 (UNC leads 1-0)

Virginia @ Ole Miss 3pm ESPN (Series tied 1-1)

TCU @ Texas 3pm ESPN (Texas leads 1-0)

Southern Miss @ Florida 7pm ESPN2 (So. Miss leads 1-0)

Clemson @ Arizona State 10pm ESPN2

Some LSU, Arkansas & Fulleton CWS Factoids

2009-06-06T17:28:00.000-07:00

Arkansas, LSU and then Cal State Fullerton all locked-up spots in the College World Series by sweeping Florida State, Rice and Louisville, respectively, Saturday. Here are a few CWS facts about those three teams and their head coaches:

Arkansas

The Razorbacks are Omaha bound for the first time since 2004.
This is their 6th CWS overall.
Head coach Dave Van Horn will coach at the CWS for the fourth time. He took his alma mater in 2004, and he guided Nebraska to the program's first Omaha berths in 2001 & 2002.

LSU

The Tigers are in their second straight College World Series.
This is the 6th time overall and the first time since 2003-'04 that the Tigers have gone to the CWS in back-to-back seasons.
It's LSU's 15th overall CWS.
Paul Mainieri is coaching at the CWS for the third time. Prior to leading LSU to Omaha last year, he coached Notre Dame to its first CWS since 1957 when the Irish qualified in 2002.

Cal State Fullerton

The Titans are in the College World Series for the 16th time overall.
Fullerton has qualified for Omaha in 3 of the last 4 and 5 of the last 8 seasons.
Fullerton head coach Dave Serrano will coach in his 2nd CWS in the last 3 years. He took UC Irvine to Omaha in 2007 (the Anteaters beat the Titans in an elimination game that year.)

As noted in the bullet points above, Dave Van Horn, Paul Mainieri and Dave Serrano have now all coached two different schools to the College World Series in this decade.

Saturday's Full Super Regional Schedule

2009-06-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

(All Times Eastern)

Arkansas @ Florida St. Noon- ESPN2 (Regional) (Ark. leads 1-0)

East Carolina @ North Carolina Noon-ESPNU Game 1

Virginia @ Ole Miss Noon-ESPN2 (Regional) (Ole Miss leads 1-0)

Southern Miss. @ Florida 3pm-ESPNU Game 1

Louisville @ Cal State Fullerton 5pm-ESPN2 Game 2 (Game 1 10:30 pm ET Friday)

Rice @ LSU 5pm-ESPN (LSU leads 1-0)

TCU @ Texas 6pm-ESPNU Game 1

Clemson @ Arizona State 9pm-ESPNU Game 1

Saturday Super Regional Snapshots

2009-06-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

Four Super Regionals are underway today. As I write this Ole Miss and Virginia are going to the 11th inning tied 3-3, while Arkansas and Florida State are still sitting during their third rain delay in Tallahassee.

East Carolina @ North Carolina Noon ESPNU

ECU is in its first Super Regional since 2004, and it took some dramtics to get the Pirates to Chapel Hill. ECU trailed South Carolina 6-0 going into the 5th inning in Monday's Greenville Regional title game. They chipped away, and then Devin Harris belted a 3-run homer to tie the game 10-10. Harris came through again with the game-winning single in the 10th. Harris calls his head coach, Billy Godwin, "intense". The Pirates have hit 105 home runs this season, and they carry a .341 average into the series.

The Tar Heels are looking for their fourth straight trip to Omaha, and they'll look to match the Pirates power with a pitching staff that has 613 Ks and just 241 BBs this season. Brian Moran and Colin Bates form a nasty bullpen duo that has combined for 64 appearances, 10 saves and 11 wins this season. And, of course, there's first round draft pick in waiting, Dustin Ackley( .417-21 HR- 66 RBIs), at the plate.

Clemson @ Arizona State 9 PM ESPNU

Clemson missed the NCAA Tournament last year, and Jack Leggett's Tigers are looking for their first trip to the CWS since going two and out in 2006. Prior to last year, 1987 was the last time Clemson missed the NCAAs, but it's now playing in its 8th Super Regional (of 11 years under the current format.) They will be the home team in the first game of the series.

Clemson and ASU are nearly identical offensively, but this could be the best starting rotation Pat Murphy has had as Sun Devil head coach. The staff leads the national with a 2.79 ERA, and Mike Leake is 15-1 with a 1.23 ERA and 143 strikeouts in 124.2 IP. Get ready for the "Rudy" references. Sun Devil Johhny Reuttiger is the nephew of the famed Daniel "Rudy" Reuttiger (.350-HR-15 RBIs)-(the one the movie is named after). Murphy was the head coach at Notre Dame prior to taking the helm in Tempe. ASU lost to eventual national champ, Fresno State, in last year's Super Regional.

Southern Mississippi @ Florida 3 pm ESPNU

Southern Miss. has the chance to be this year's Cinderella. Corky Palmer's Golden Eagles give Conference USA three teams in the Super Regionals - one more than the Big 12 and Pac 10 combined. They knocked-off Georgia Tech in the Atlanta Regional by scoring 42 runs in their four games, including 24 runs in their two wins over the Yellow Jackets.

Florida hasn't been this far in the NCAA Tournament since losing to Texas in the 2005 championship series in Omaha. The Gators missed the tournament the following year, and now under Kevin O'Sullivan they earned the # 8 national seed. Florida's pitching staff doesn't have a complete game this season, but a talented bullpen is the reason why. Billy Bullock is 3-2 with 11 SVs while Tony Davis is 5-0 in 30 app.

TCU @ Texas 6pm ESPNU

It's the first Super Regional ever for Jim Schlossnagle's TCU Horned Frogs. After watching Utah win the MWC tournament on their home field, TCU swept through a Ft. Worth Regional that included Texas A & M and Oregon State. The Frogs don't have a lot of players who jump off the stat sheet, but they have a lot of players who do the little things well.

After winning Saturday/Sunday's 25-inning game over Boston College, Texas may have been sleep walking through the first eight innings of Sunday night's game with Army. It looked like the Black Knights would force a Monday winner take all title game, but Texas scored eight runs in the 9th inning, capped by a walk-off grand slam by Preston Clark. It's been a week, but the biggest question is how UT closer Austin Wood's arm will respond to his 13 inning, 169 pitch relief outing vs. BC. FACT: Since sending three teams to the 2005 College World Series (Texas, Baylor & Nebraska) when Texas won it all, the Big 12 has not had a team qualify for the CWS for the last three seasons. Texas is the only Big 12 team in this year's Super Regionals.

To see Super Regional capsules & for other information and exclusive national statistics and podcasts visit www.collegebaseball360.com.

Super Regional Slate Starts Today

2009-06-05T05:33:00.000-07:00

Finally. College baseball's version of the Sweet 16 is finally ready to start today after a record-setting opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. A few quick thoughts before we look at today's match-ups:

Texas reliever Austin Wood has made ESPN highlights and now Sports Illustrated for his 12 1/3 hitless and 13 total scoreless inning outing during last Saturday's epic 25-inning game. After throwing 169 pitches, it's good for Wood that the Longhorns don't open their Super Regional series with TCU until Saturday.

All the talk about pitching going into last week's Irvine Regional was about San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg. Next week's MLB #1 draft pick didn't disappoint with 15 K in a 5-1 loss to Virginia. But how about Virginia? Brian O'Connor's Cavalier pitching staff gave-up just two runs in three games en-route to knocking-off Strasburg as well as #6 national seed, UC Irvine. Virginia led the nation last week with a 0.67 staff ERA.

Speaking of the Irvine Regional, did we really need to be reminded emphatically and ad nauseum during ESPN's telecasts "There will be a new national champion this year", after Fresno State was bounced from the tournament after two games? Fresno State became the first #4 seed to win a regional last year, let alone the national title. They were a #4 seed this year. The were a Cinderella last year, so by definition there should be a new national champion this year. Maybe the reminders were necessary if the people watching the game had as little college baseball experience as the guy who was calling the game. (Phil Nevin exlcuded.) (Seriously, we're used to the metal bats, we don't need more discussion.) The guy talked more about the food he was eating and failed Seinfeld references than the games.

On to today's match-ups:

Arkansas @ Florida State Noon Eastern-ESPN

Arkansas started the season hot, got cold mid-way through SEC play, and then went 3-0 at the Norman Regional last weekend. They made their biggest statement with an 11-0 win over the hard-hitting Sooners in the title game. Freshman Drew Smyly lost a no-hit bid in the 9th inning.
Razorback Andy Wilkins and Seminole Mike Meschke tied for the national lead during regionals with .750 batting averages. Dave Van Horn took Arkansas to the College World Series in 2004 after guiding Nebraska to Omaha in 2001 & 2002

Florida State struggled at the start of the season, but has righted its ship. The Seminoles set an NCAA record with its 37-6 dismantling of Ohio State in its regional championship game. Meschke was 5-for-5 in that game. Mike Martin's crew is looking for back-to-back trips to Omaha after going seven years without a CWS visit prior to last year.

Virginia @ Ole Miss 2pm Eastern-ESPN2

Ole Miss won 20 SEC regular season game, and had 46 wins going into the NCAA Tournament, but the Rebels didn't get a national seed. Understandably, LSU got the #3 seed (the Tigers also had 20 SEC wins and had the season tie-breaker with Ole Miss), but Florida won the SEC East and took the #8 national seed with 19 conference wins and 39 wins entering the tourney. Mike Bianco's Rebels have been one of the most consistent SEC teams over the last decade, and now they're trying to clear the hurdle to Omaha.

Virginia was the #6 seed, but won its first ACC crown since 1996. After that, many thought the Cavs could host a regional as a #2 seed, but got sent to #6 national seed UC Irvine instead. Virginia went 3-0 en-route to the program's first ever regional championship. Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor is a Council Bluffs, IA native who played in the 1991 CWS with Creighton, and coached as a Notre Dame assistant at the 2002 CWS.

Rice @ LSU 7pm Eastern-ESPN

These two teams played last June 17 at the College World Series, and the Tigers won a 6-5 thriller on Blake Dean's 3-run double in the 9th inning. In fact, the last two times LSU skipper has been to Omaha, his teams have beaten Wayne Graham's Owls in walk-off fashion. His '02 Notre Dame team beat Rice 5-3 on a game-ending home run. After winning last week's Baton Rouge Regional, Mainieiri now has three career regional crowns. His teams advance to Omaha the two previous times.

Graham's Owls have been to Omaha in five of the last seven seasons, including a 2003 National Championship. Rice is used to being home for Super Regionals, but mid-season arm injuries to pitchers Ryan Berry and Mike Ojala gave the Owls just enough of a slip to cost them the C-USA regular season crown and possibly another national seed. With those two healthy, Rice has a slight pitching edge in the series, but LSU has the offensive advantage.

Louisville @ Cal State Fullerton 10:30pm Eastern-ESPN2

Louisville is in a Super Regional for the second time in three years under Dan McDonnell. The Cardinals rode steady pitching and the bat of Chris Dominguez to Omaha in McDonnell's rookie year (2007) as Louisville's head coach. Dominguez belted 8 home runs with 19 RBIs during the '07 postseason run.

Fullerton has been to Omaha in five of the last nine years. They missed a trip to the CWS last year when they hosted a Super Regional, but lost to Stanford in Dave Serrano's first season as head coach at his alma mater. Serrano took UC Irvine to the 2007 CWS, and beat Fullerton in a a 13-inning elimination game that's tied for the longest in CWS history.

Collegebaseball360.com will provide live Twitter score updates throughout this weekend's Super Regional Action. CLICK HERE to read more about this weekend's match-ups, to see the exclusive up to date CB 360 NCAA national stats leaders, and to listent to exclusive Super Regional podcasts.

Schlereth Wins One For Dads

2009-06-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

We all know them. Maybe you are one. Stage mom, sports dad, psycho...whatever you want to call them. Parents who push their kids to exceed are labeled that dad or that mom whether it's justified or not.

With all the horror stories of parents who have gone too far in their pursuit to turn their kid into child prodigy, it's really not even socially acceptable to talk about your own kid's success. Co-workers roll their eyes when you tell them you can't work on Saturday, because you have to be at junior's tournament all day.

And don't even think about actually cheering for your kid while you're at the game, do you actually have expectations?

There's a fine line between a parent's expectations and reality, and ESPN's Mark Schlereth found that convergence neatly intertwined last Friday in Phoenix.

Schlereth is a former NFL offensive lineman. His gnarled knees are the product of life in the trenches with the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos, but he has three Super Bowl rings for his sacrifice, and he's now an NFL analyst for ESPN.

I'm sure if you asked Schlereth he would tell you he would trade all that for the gift he got last week when his son, Daniel, made his big league debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The elder Schlereth (or Stink as he's known, although I prefer Roc Hoover) recounted the events this morning on Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio & ESPN2.

It was last Thursday night, and Daniel had just finished an outing on the mound for the D-Back's AA affiliate in Mobile, Alabama. They traded texts and jabs, and then Mark put his cell phone away in his Colorado home.

The cell phone rang about 30 minutes later. It was Daniel. Last year's first round MLB draft pick out of the University of Arizona had himself just got the call of his life. He was going to the show! Mark told Mike & Mike that he and his son both started crying at that moment, but it was what Daniel said next that made the proud pappa say "I will take that moment to my grave".

Before Daniel hung-up the phone he had a message for his dad "I know I never said it, and I know I never talk about it, but thank you for all that you've done. Thank you guys, my family, for all the support", he said. "For all those times you whipped my butt, for all those times you yelled at me, for all those times you made me go out and work...Thanks."

Talk about the call of a lifetime.

Don't get me wrong. Just because Mark Schlereth's kid says he actually appreciates the fact that his dad's prodding was actually a good thing, doesn't mean that every parents' tactics are perfect.

I worked with two teams at Notre Dame, and I got to know a lot of coaches, players and players' parents over a span of nearly ten years. I heard the stories from both sides. Parents who nagged DI coaches about playing time, about being too negative with their child prodigy. Parents who called the press box during a game to find out "why was that scored an error and not a hit"?

That wasn't in high school, that was at Notre Dame.

No, not every parent is perfect. HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumble is running a feature this month on the subject of overzealous parents.

My point is, not every parent who actually holds their kid to high standards in the name of excelling at sports is the anti-Christ. Look at every athlete who's made it to a high level and more times than not there's a parent who's pushed them along the way.

I had a buddy in college who was brilliant. He wanted to be a doctor, but his dad was a lawyer. Dad said he wouldn't pay son's college tuition unless he followed in his footsteps. Son's now a lawyer rather than finding the cure for cancer. Todd Marinovich's dad wouldn't let him eat a Big Mac or any junk food while he was trying to build "the perfect quarterback". Marinovich made it to the NFL, but famously faded away due to personal issues that included drug abuse.

Which is worse?

Is it so wrong to tell your kid that, whether it's in the classroom or on a field, whatever you do, do it all the way. And by the way... occasionally I might hurt your feelings when I say something you don't want to hear, but I'm doing it to help you.

Why is it that when you kick your kid in the butt to make him study hard for a test you're being a good parent, but when you kick him in the butt to get ready for a game you're overzealous?

I have a 13-year-old son. He plays sports. He's competitive. He's also a straight-A student. He's just as mad when he strikes out as when he gets an A-minus on a test. Whether it's pushing a kid to hit the books for trigonomics or pushing a kid so he can hit triples, they both require hard work and a kick sometimes.

I think the real self-test is simply this: Is it your dream or your kid's dream? Whether it's sports, music, engineering, or art, if it's your dream the kid will eventually lose interest and all the kicking in the butt will just lead to bigger problems. If it's your kid's dream then kick that butt as far as it can go, and someday he might thank you for it.

Mark Schlereth has toed the line of expectation and reality. His reality is that his son is now in the big leagues, and it came with the expectation that he work hard to get there (with a few kicks in the butt along the way).

Happy Father's Day Mark.

Sean Stires is the co-editor of collegebaseball360.com. His email address is sean@collegebaseball360.com.

General Monday Regional posts (on Twitter/cb360updates)

2009-06-01T20:27:00.000-07:00

See who's hitting, pitching & fielding the best in an exclusive Regional Tournament stats report at www.collegebaseball360.com.

LAST-UPS - These teams will be batting in the bottom of the 9th tonight: hosts Rice, Clemson, Vanderbilt & ECU, plus W-Kentucky & SoMiss

Vandy's Mike Minor, OSU's Tyler Lyons & GT's Deck McGuire all started tonight & two days ago. Lyons is the only one still pitching tonight.

WHAT'S NEXT? - SMiss/GT winner at Florida...OKSt/Clemson vs. ArizonaSt...ECU/SC @UNC...OlMiss/WKU vs. UVA...Rice/KSt @LSU...LOU/VAN @FULL

CORRECTION - ASU (top-8 nat'l seed) should host SuperRegional...UVa (a #2 seed) also could, if #2 WKU wins at Ol-Miss (WK down 0-1 in 6th)

ACC NOW FOUR IN THE SUPERS: UNC/FSU/VA/CL are on to round-of-16, plus three SEC (LSU-ARK-FL) & one each from B-12/P-10/B-West/MtWest/B-East

CONFERENCE COMMAND - With four games left, the ACC & SEC each could get 5 in the SRs, CUSA could put 3 in (B12 could get 2nd, Sunbelt 1st)

(check that) ROLLCALL- If W-KY (Sunbelt Conf.) wins, there will be teams from 9 conferences in the SRs (also ACC/SEC/B12/P10/BW/BE/MtW/CUSA)

CUSA PLACES THREE IN SRs (fixed)- Big day for league, as Rice, So-Miss & ECU all win, CUSA one shy of ACC & SEC (4), 1 for B12/BW/BE/MtW/P10

AT END OF THE DAY ... 13 of the #1-seeds/hosts advance: FULL/ TX/TCU/FL/ECU/UNC/ASU/CL/LSU/Rice/OlMiss/LOU/FSU, plus #2s
VA & ARK, #3 SoMiss

Mississippi 4, Western Kentucky 1 - CB360updates on Twitter

2009-06-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

STARTERS IN OXFORD - WKU Jr. RHP Matt Ridings (8-2, 4.94-92K-29BB-103H-98.1IP)..Ol-Miss So. LHP Drew Pomeranz (7-4, 3.73-105K-33BB-76H-82IP)

SCORELESS IN OXFORD - thru 3 inn., Ol-Miss has 3H (all 1Bs; also an E) and WKU is hitless...Pomeranz has faced 10, Ridings 12 (3K)

CORRECTION - ASU (top-8 nat'l seed) should host SuperRegional...UVa (a #2 seed) also could, if #2 WKU wins at Ol-Miss (WK down 0-1 in 6th)

LOTS-O-ZEROES - Western Kentucky (0-0-1) batting b-6th down a run to Ol-Miss (1-7-1), with Pomeranz working on the no-hitter (BB-12Ks!)

PRECIOUS RUN - Ol-Miss scored after 1-out infield single (by so. cleanup/1B Matt Smith) & sr. catcher Kyle Henson's RBI double to rt-center

SEE-SAW BATTLE - WKU tied it in the b-7th (1-1), an UER sequence that included Chad Cregar's 1B/SB and Matt Hightower's infield single, but:

... Ol-Miss put two on the board in the t-8th and is five outs from the win; Matt Smith had the big 2-run triple (scoring Snyder & Power)

REBEL YELL - Ol-Miss actually had 3R in the t-8th, as a 2-out 2B from David Phillips scored Smith ... WKU is down to its final out (1-4)

OL' MISS CLOSES IT OUT - Mississippi 4-10-2 shuts down Western Kentucky 1-2-1 and likely will play host to Virginia in the Super Regionals

OXFORD WRAP - Ol' Miss: Drew Pomeranz CG-R-2H-BB-15K!!...Matt Smith part of all 4R: 2-run 3B in 8th (broke 1-1 tie) and scored twice

Ole Miss 4-10-2, W. Ky 1-2-1. W-Pomeranz CG-2 H-16 K. Ole Miss wins Regional & Plays Virginia in Super Regional.

Louisville 5, Vanderbit 3 - CB360updates on Twitter

2009-06-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

STARTERS IN L'VILLE- Vanderbilt Jr. LHP Mike Minor (6-5, 3.79-110K-35BB-105H-107IP)..LOU Fr. RHP Tony Zych (5-2, 3.29-29K-9BB-34H-38.1IP)

Vandy starter Mike Minor pitching on 2 days' rest. Minor pitched 8 inn. in Friday's 5-4 loss to Mid. Tenn. St.

Update: Lou 3, Vandy 1. 3R HR by RF Ryan Wright. Vandy now batting w/2 outs in bottom of 4th.

Update: Vandy solo HR by Joe Loftus cuts deficit. Louisville now leads 3-2 end of the 5th inning.

Vandy's Giobbi HBP to lead off the bottom of the 7th. Louisville makes pitching change.. Gabriel Shaw replaces Zych on . Lou leads 4-2

Tying run now at first for Vandy w/no outs B7. Still 4-2 Louisville.

Louisville's Gabe Shaw Ks two w/tying runs @ 2nd & 3rd to end bottom 7th. Louisville leads Vanderbilt 4-2 T8.

Louisville adds a run on 3rd Vandy error of the night & leads 5-2 w/1 out, T8.

Vandy gets a run in the bottom of 8th, 643 double play ends further threat. Louisville leads 5-3 going to 9th.

Last chance for Vanderbilt. Commodores trail Louisville 5-3 & getting ready to bat in bottom of 9th.

Louisville beats Vandy 5-3. Lou. Friday starter Justin marks pitched 9th for SV. Cardinals now play Cal State Fullerton in Super Regional.

Louisville 5-8-0 W-Zych SV-Marks, Vanderbilt 3-7-3. Lou. wins own Regional & plays CS Fullerton in Super Reg.

Clemson 6, Oklahoma State 5 - cb360updates on Twitter

2009-06-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

STARTERS IN CLEMSON - OKSt Jr. LHP Tyler Lyons (7-5, 4.12-70K-23BB-106H-89.2IP)...CLEM Sr. LHP Ryan Hinson (2-1, 3.41-46K-17BB-30H-37IP)

Update: Clemson on the board after HR by Mark Ginther. Oklahoma State leads Clemson 3-1 with OSU now batting in top of the 6th.

CLOCKWORK ORANGE - Thriller in the Palmetto state, with OKState (5-9-2) clinging to 1-run lead, as Clemson (4-7-3) bats in bottom of the 8th

TYING RUN ABOARD - Clemson leadoff batter Ben Paulson drew a 5-pitch walk...5-hole hitter Wilson Boyd (Sr. OF) now at the plate

HIGH DRAMA - Clemson so. catcher/7-hole John Nester's 2-out double to left-center has tying & go-ahead runs in scoring position

TIGERS DO IT - OKSt starter Tyler Lyona was relieved by Fr. RHP Randy McCurry, who served up pinch-hits by Kyle Parker (2RBI) & Matt Sanders

Clemson now leads Ok. State 6-5 after plating 3 R in 7th & 2 R in 8th. Tigers trailed 3-0 in the 5th.

SPOILED OUTING - OKState's Tyler Lyons could take the loss, despite allowing only three earned runs (but also 3UER) in 7.2 IP (8H-2BB-7K)

CLEMSON WINS - CL 6-10-3, OKSt 5-10-2...Jr. RHP Tomas Cruz strong midrelief (4.1IP-R-4H-2BB-4K), leadoff/so. DH Chris Epps HR-2R

MORE CLEMSON (next @ASU) - Pinch-hitter Kyle Parker key 2-run double in 8th (tying/go-ahead runs); OKSt: Mark Ginther HR, Tom Belza 2RBI

ACC NOW FOUR IN THE SUPERS: UNC/FSU/VA/CL are on to round-of-16, plus three SEC (LSU-ARK-FL) & one each from B-12/P-10/B-West/MtWest/B-East

Rice 13, Kansas State 4 - cb360updates on Twitter

2009-06-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

STARTERS IN HOUSTON- Rice Sr. RHP Mark Haynes (2-0, SV-4.21-21K-17BB-55H-47IP)..KSt So. LHP Thom. Rooke (5-1, 4SV-3.88-56K-11BB-43H-51IP)

Update: Rice leads K-State 8-2 in bottom of 4th. Rice has scored 6 R in the inning after Diego Seastrunk 3 R HR.

NCAA Regional: Rice adds 2 more in bottom 5th & leads Kansas St. 10-2. KSU pitching change-Applegate is 5th Wildcat hurler of the night.

Kansas St. trying to mount late rally, plates 2 in T7. Still trails Rice 10-4, with 2 outs.

Final: Rice 13-20-2, Kansas State 4-7-2. W- Reckling. Rice beat KSU Sunday & Monday to win Houston Reg. Plays LSU in Super Regional.

So-Miss 12, GaTech 8 - cb360updates on Twitter

2009-06-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

STARTERS IN ATL - SMiss Jr. RHP Scott Copeland (1-5, 6.23-22K-14BB-49H-34.2 IP)...GTech So. RHP Deck McGuire (11-1, 3.18-114K-44BB-80H-99IP)

Update: 9-run 2nd inning gives So. Mississippi a 9-3 lead over Georgia Tech. GT batting with 2-outs in bottom of 3rd.

EAGLES SOARING - S-Miss leads @GT 11-2, with 5th-inn. RBI from Ewing and Brunty; Copeland (1IP-3R) out, So. RHP Todd McInnis 4IP-H-4K in

DARKHORSE DELIVERING - So-Miss, one of final teams in the NCAA field, has an 8-run lead and 4 inn. to make the Super-Regionals (at Florida)

SURGING- If SM wins, they'll be 10-3 over past 13 (2-1 v. TNTech & GT, 2-0 vs. Tulane, wins v. MEM/So-AL/ECU/Elon, loss to Rice (CUSA final)

GT MAKING SOME NOISE (6-11)- The hosts still are batting in the b-6th, with 3-run HR from So. SS/7-hole Derek Dietrich, man on 1st & 2-outs

STRIKING DISTANCE - We've seen hosts (TX) rally in the 9th, can GT do it? They had 2R in the t8 (2-run 2B by leadoff Jeff Rowand), down 8-11

MORE CUSHION - SoMiss leadoff man and senior CF Bo Davis just launched 2-out HR over RF fence, for 12-8 lead (Army led TX by 4! in the 9th)

THE FINAL OUTS - Eagles Jr. RHP Collin Cargill blew a third strike by 3-hole hitter Luke Burton, now up 1-2 on Tony Glagman (1-2/2BB today)

COSTLY ERROR? - Shortsthop Joey Archer misplayed a grounder from Plagman, still 12-8 lead with 1-out (GT tying run in the hole)

Cargill's season stats: 4-3, 9 SV-3.31-32K-20BB-26H in 35.1IP ... Sr. catcher/5-hole Jason Haniger now at the plate (today: 1-4/RBI-2K-GDP)

BACK IN ATL - Haniger bounced into a double play for the second time today (the rare 1U-6, might by typo?) to end the game...SoMiss next @FL

ATL WRAP - SMiss 12-13-1, GT 8-8-3...So. RHP Todd McInnis 4.1IP-2R-H-2BB-5K, Fr. SS/7-hole B.A. Volmuth 2HR-5RBI-2R

ECU 10, SC 9 (in 10) - cb360updates on Twitter

2009-06-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

SC UP EARLY- t3rd: So-Carolina 2-6-0, E-Carolina (h) 0-1-0..t2: Merrifled 2-out single scored Wingo (prev, play-Crisp thrown out at plate)

MORE SC (6-0!)- t3: Parker Bangs RBI 2B (R: Ebert), Andrew Crisp sac-fly (Dalles), Bobby Haney RBI 2B, 9-hole/2B Scott Wingo 2-run HR (RF)

PIRATES SINKING FAST? - Sr. RHP Bailey Daniels came on to record the final out in the top of the 3rd; ECU has leadoff man on, long way to go

EARLY PITCHING - SC: Sr. RHP Jay Brown 2IP-H-3K...ECU: Fr. LHP Patrick Somers went 2.1 IP (3R-5H-2BB), Jr. RHP Chris Heston 0. 1IP, 3R-3H

Update: E. Carolina getting closer, 2 Runs in the 5th & 6th innings have the Pirates now trailing So. Car. 7-4. ECU batting in Bott. 7th.

NCAA Regional: So. Car. w/2 in top of 8th makes it 9-6 over E. Carolina. ECU had made it a one-run gm. w/2 more in the 7th.

Going to the 9th. South Carolina to bat in top of inn. leading East Carolina 9-6. 8-9-1 batters for USC.

5-6 & 7 batters due-up for ECU when the Pirates bat in bottom of 9th. USC still leads 9-6, 1 out T 9.

Boom goes the dynamite. 3R HR by ECU's Devin Harris ties So. Carolina 9-9. ECU still batting, 0 out B9.

ECU has winning run at 1B w/2 outs B9. ECU & USC tied 9-9.

ECU averts big damage. USC's Nick Ebert (23 HR) Ks w/bases loaded to end T9. Last chance for ECU down 9-6 B9.

East Carolina & South Carolina going to the 10th inn. tied 9-9 in Greenville, NC Regional title Game. Winner plays North Car. in Super Reg.

East Carolina takes 10-9 walk-off win over South Carolina. Devin Harris w/game winning single. Harris-3R HR to tie game in bottom of 9th

East Carolina 10-14-2, South Carolina 9-16-1. W-Wright (1-2). ECU now plays North Carolina in Super Regional. www.collegebaseball360.com

What Else Could Happen?

2009-05-31T20:42:00.001-07:00

Here's a quick look at just some of the things that happened in a span of less than 24 hours of the 2009 NCAA Baseball Tournament:

The longest game in NCAA history ended when Texas beat Boston College 3-2 in 25 innings. The 7-plus hour game ended at just after 2am Eastern Time.

#4 seed Army beats BC 4-3 in an elimination game that started Sunday at Noon Central Time. However, Army then lost to Texas after a walk-off grand slam by Preston Clark capped an 8-run ninth inning to give the Longhorns a 14-10 win and the Austin Regional championship.

Less than 20 minutes later, TCU beats Oregon State 5-4 in walk-off fashion. The Horned Frogs trailed 4-0 after three innings.

Florida State scores the most runs in NCAA Tournament history in a 37-6 win over Ohio State to win the Tallahassee Regional. It's just the second time in more than 30 years that as many as 30 runs have been scored in an NCAA Tourney game.

FSU's 66 Total Bases, 15 doubles, and 38 hits are all NCAA team records.

Seminole Stephen Cardullo goes 7-fo-9 with 5 RBIs. It's the first 7-hit game in NCAA Tournament history.

Another #4 seed, Utah, beats Gonzaga 9-7 to advance to the Fullerton Regional title round.

Trey Sperring breaks-up Arkansas pitcher Drew Smyly's no-hitter with one-out in the 9th inning of the Norman Regional title game. Smyly settles for 2 hits in 8 1/3 IP, and the Razorbacks beat the Sooners 11-0 to win the Regional.

Western Kentucky overcomes a 9-3 deficit by scoring 6 runs in the 8th and another run in the 9th inning to knock-off Ole Miss 10-9. The two teams play Monday for the Oxford Regional crown.

Ride Or Die with Wood And Belfiore

2009-05-31T15:48:00.001-07:00

They call it "ride or die", and Saturday night/Sunday morning in Austin Texas two teams rode two stallions as far as they could go in the longest game in NCAA history. The most impressive of the feats to come out of the 3-2 Texas win over Boston College is the dueling performances by the two teams' closers: Longhorn lefty Austin Wood and BC's Mike Belfiore.

Wood came into the game with one out and a runner at second base in the seventh inning. He then pitched 12 1/3 straight innings without giving-up a hit, and ended his night with 13.0 scoreless frames with a whopping 14 strikeouts. It goes without saying the Ks were a career-best. It could take some closers three weeks to rack-up 14 punch-outs.

Belfiore's feat was a little more human. All the BC junior did was pitch 9 2/3 innings without yielding a run after taking the mound in the ninth inning. He fanned 11 on the night.

Two pitchers, 22 scoreless innings, 25 strikeouts, just 4 walks, and a total of 298 pitches.

A complete game in any game is a valued commodity. A complete game in a double-elimination post-season tournament is pure GOLD. Although neither gets credit for a complete game, they each tossed the equivalent and then some.

Talk about taking one for the team. Whatever these guys are getting in scholarship money their coaches should double it.

Texas is a program with national championships. Big things are expected when you sign-on to wear the burnt orange, and Wood came-up big at the biggest of times. (And you think his team's not ecstatic that after they finished just after 1 am they got to sleep-in for a 7pm game rather than getting-up for a Noon elimination game vs. Army?)

The two hits Wood gave-up are more hits than Angelina Jolie's had over the last couple years, but she might have more adopted kids than his 13 IP. Longhorn head coach, Auggie Garrido, called Wood's performance "the best by an individual" he's seen in his 41 years on the bench. Pretty big praise for a guy with national titles at Texas and Fullerton.

Boston College ended-up in that elimination game after the 7-plus hour marathon. (By the way, you can fly from Boston to London in less than seven hours. You can also drive from Austin to Baton Rouge in about that time, or you could drive from Austin to Ft. Worth and back and have time eat a steak along the way.) BC lost 4-3 to Army in Sunday's elimination game, but that doesn't discount Belfiore's guts.

He's a two-way player, and finished just 1-for-9 at the plate in the marathon, but his one RBI was more than he allowed in his 9-plus innings on the hill.

Boston College should erect a statue to Belfiore and plant it outside Eddie Pellagrini Diamond at Shea Field in Chestnutt Hill, MA. Boston College is in it's first NCAA Tournament since Yaz became the last player to win the triple crown. We've had eight presidents, 250 Star Trek movies, two Red Sox championships, and Seinfeld has come and gone since then.

Q: What lies in the shadow of Belfiore's statue? A: Belfiore's cohones. BC freshmen must hence forth carry a tooth brush and a can of Brasso to keep it clean.

Win or lose Saturday or Sunday, Belfiore's 9 2/3 scoreless innings vs. Texas are the most important Eagle innings since before Neil Armstrong and his Eagle landed on the moon.

No matter what he does for the rest of his baseball career, or the rest of his life, Belfiore will always be that BC pitcher in that game.

Maybe the Dropkick Murphys will write a song about him: "Belfiore! Mikio Aoki shouted, we're not here to mess around..." (Sung to the tune of "Tessie".)

Or maybe not.

Aoki is in just his second year as Boston College head coach. If he goes 39 more he'll never see another Eagle match Belfiore, and none of us will ever likely see a duel effort like Wood and Belfiore gave us Saturday night.

Let's get the ball rolling. I'll donate the first $5 to the Mike Belfiore statue project. You in?

Sean Stires is the co-editor at collegebaseball360.com. His email address is: sean@collegebaseball360.com

More "Nuggets" On The TX-BC 25-Inning Game

2009-05-31T12:17:00.000-07:00

(Courtesy Boston College & Texas Sports Information Depts.)

(Austin, TX) In a game that lasted an NCAA all-division-record 25 innings and went 7 hours and 3 minutes, the No. 5 Texas Longhorns toppled the Boston College Eagles 3-2 at the NCAA Austin Regional at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Saturday evening.

The evening was highlighted by the relief performance of each teams’ closers.

Longhorns left-hander Austin Woods entered the game with one out and a runner on second base in the seventh inning and proceeded to pitch 12.1 innings before yielding a hit. For the game, Wood pitched 13.0 scoreless innings, scattering two hits and four walks while striking out a career-high 14. He logged 169 pitches on the evening.
BC closer Mike Belfiore entered the game in the ninth inning and worked 9.2 scoreless innings and allowed just three hits. He struck out 11 in his outing, throwing 86 strikes and 129 total pitches.
Both pitchers had pitched the previous day as well. Belfiore threw an inning against Texas State on Friday while Wood worked 2.0 innings versus Army.

The 25.0-inning game topped the previous longest game of 23.0 innings played between Louisiana-Lafayette and McNeese State on March 27, 1971. ULL won the game, 6-5.

The prior record for an NCAA Division I Championship game was 1988 when Clemson bested Fordham, 3-2, inning 19 innings at a Northeast Regional game in New Britain, Connecticut.

BC has to turn around and face Army, which beat Texas State in the elimination game earlier in the day, at noon CT on Sunday. Should they win, the Eagles would then have to take on Texas again in the first championship game at 6 p.m.

FACTS AND FIGURES
• Both teams received a standing ovation at the conclusion of the game
• Texas had to reset the scoreboard twice to post the score by inning
• It was 96 degrees at first pitch at 6:02 p.m. - The game finished at 78 degrees at 1:05 a.m.
• Texas introduced the 21st inning stretch
• Both teams used all of their position players
• There were 683 pitches thrown in the game
• Texas stranded 24 men on base
• Belfiore, Hamlet and Lawrence each played three positions
• Texas had three runs on 20 hits
• Junior Chris Kowalski recorded his first-career at-bat
• There were 11 walks in the game compared to 42 strikeouts
• The 10 p.m. ET game at UC Irvine game started and finished
• The 25-inning game was the longest game in NCAA baseball history. The previous longest game was a 23-inning game played between Louisiana-Lafayette and McNeese State on March 27, 1971. ULL won the game 6-5.
• The game also marked the longest NCAA postseason game in history. The previous longest game was a 19-inning contest between Clemson and Fordham at the NCAA Northeast Regional in New Britain, Conn. on May 26, 1988.
• Texas and Boston College combined to set NCAA records with 42 strikeouts, 222 total chances, 69 assists, 192 plate appearances and 171 at-bats.
• Texas' 91 at-bats, 103 plate appearances, 115 total chances and 75 putouts set new NCAA records
• Tucker and Torres set the NCAA single-game record for at-bats with 12 AB's against BC
• Preston Clark's 33 putouts against BC set a new NCAA record for most single-game putouts.

More Twitter Excerpts ...

2009-05-30T23:57:00.000-07:00

SIX #1 SEEDS ON THE ROPES - Irvine, Oklahoma, Rice, GaTech, Clemson & East Carolina all must win twice on Sun., again on Mon. to advance (those teams lost, respectively, to VA-ARK-KSt-SoMiss-TNTech-SC)

SUPER-REGIONAL SCENARIOS - If the 2-0 teams all advance, the SR matchups would include: Texas-TCU..SoMiss-FLA..ASU-OKSt..SC-NC (cont.)

OTHER SUPER-REGIONAL PROBABLES - Fullerton-Louisville ... Florida State-Arkansas ... Virgnia-Ol' Miss ... Kansas St.-LSU

UPSET BENEFICIARIES - FSU and Ol' Miss could be prime beneficiaries from #1-seed upsets (OK/UCI), as 'Noles & Rebels now could host a S-Reg.

TEXAS WINS RECORD-SETTING 25-INNING GAME

2009-05-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

excerpted from the CB360updates Twitter feed...

TEXAS SURVIVES 25-INN. SAGA - #1 TX (now 2-0) 3-20-3, #3 Boston Coll. 2-8-0..Travis Tucker 1-for-11 before 1B thru rt-side scored ConnorRowe

MORE MARATHON NOTES - Austin Dicharry gets win (5.2IP-H-BB-4K), TX closer Austin Wood 12.1 innings of no-hit mid-relief (13IP-2H-4BB-14K)17 minutes ago from web

MORE CRAZY NUMBERS - 28 pos.-players used and 10 pitchers (only 3 by TX); TX no runs from 2nd-24th (BC none from 7th-25th); 35 LOB (TX 23)

RECORD-SETTING - Longest game in NCAA history (25 inn.; game lasted roughly 7 hours)...46 zeroes (scoreless half-innings) on "scoreboard"

GO-AHEAD SEQUENCE (t-25): Rowe 1B/David Hernandez sac bunt/wild pitch/Tucker RBI 1B thru right side (took 2 strikes, then full-count)10 minutes ago from web

ON & ON ... BC's closer Mike Belfiore stellar "mid-relief" (9.2IP-3H-0BB-11K); TX: 3-hole Mich. Torres 1-for-12, cleanup Cam. Rupp 2-11 (6K)13 minutes ago from web

HISTORICAL- Previous NCAA record: 25-inn. game (1971; La-Laf vs. McNeese); longest MLB gm: 26-inn. (Br. Dodgers 1, Boston Braves 1, in 1920)

READ MORE

CB360updates - tweats from today (9AM-4PM)

2009-05-30T13:09:00.000-07:00

CB360updates

If you're new to CB360, be sure to check out our website – www.CollegeBaseball360.com - which offers several unique features.less than 10 seconds ago from web
Ol-Miss REG (elim-gm) - t-6th: Missouri 5-7-1, Monmouth (h) 0-4-2 ... Kyle Gibson still in (BB-5K), Kyle Mach 3-3/R, Tigers only 2RBI16 minutes ago from web
LSU-REG (elim-gm)- t6th: MINN 5-10-1, Southern (h) 3-6-2..Rosin still in (2BB-6K), Justin Gominsky 3-3/2R-3B-SB; SO-Maloy still in (BB-3K)19 minutes ago from web
KU ELIM DART (@UNC) - #3 KAN 16-17-0, #4 DART 0-5-2..Shaeffer Hall CG (0BB-6K), Zac Elgie HR-6BI-HR, Naradowski HR-2R, Afenir 3-3/HR-2BI-4R27 minutes ago from web
RICE-REG ELIM-GM (2-2/t-3rd) - Starters: Sam-Houston So. LHP Brent Powers & Xavier Jr. LHP Danny Rosenbaum32 minutes ago from web
LOU-REG ELIM-GM- Starters: VAN Fr. RHP Sonny Gray (4-1/5-SV/4.94/60K/19BB/59H/51IP), IU Jr. LHP Matt Bashore (7-4/3.69/105K/29BB/93H/92.2IP)34 minutes ago from web
BACK @ECU (elim-gm) - t6: BING (h) 4-6-1, GMason 2-9-1...BING: Dennis 5IP-2UER-9H-3BB-3K, Taylor HR-2RBI; GM: Crum 5IP-2BB-2K, Henderson 2BI36 minutes ago from web
TX-REG ELIMgm - Starters: A&M Fr. LHP Ross Hales (6-2/4.17/74K/22BB/73H/73.1IP) & Wr-St Jr. RHP Alex Kaminsky (6-2/2.72/52K/9BB/94H/79.1IP)40 minutes ago from web
CLEMSONREG ELIM-GAME - Starters: Alabama Fr. LHP and TN-Tech Sr. RHP Michael Alcorn43 minutes ago from web
GT-REG ELIM GAME - Starters: Elon So. LHP Jimmy Reyes (7-0/5.12/88K/18BB/93H/77.1IP) & GaSt Jr. RHP Ryan Moore (7-1/4.63/61K/29BB/82H/79.2IP44 minutes ago from web
PITCHERS DUEL (@OK) - t6: Wich-St 1-2-1, Wash-St (h) 0-1-1...Cooper (0BB-7K) and Arnold (2BB-6K) still in; Jones SF scored Bascue in 3rdabout 1 hour ago from web
MIDGAME (@FL) - t6: #3 J'ville 7-7-1, #4 BCook 5-5-0...JV: Loosen still in (4ER-BB-6K), HR by Myers (2RBI) & Martinez, Opachichi 3BI; BC 3HRabout 1 hour ago from web
WICH-WSU - starters: WICH Fr. RHP Jordan Cooper (8-5/2.61/87K/19BB/85H/93IP) and WSU Jr. RHP Chad Arnold (7-3/4.42/72K/43BB/78H/77.2IP)about 1 hour ago from web
TIGHT BATTLE IN TX - (b-7) TXSt 4-7-1, Army (h) 2-2-3...TS: Borski 6.1IP-2R/ER-2H-4BB-5K, Spenser 2RBI, Goldschmidt 3R; Army: Henshaw HRabout 1 hour ago from web
MN-SO UNDERWAY- (MN 4-2/b3); MN So. RHP Seth Rosin (7-1/4.21/60K/14BB/78H/72.2IP); Southern Fr.RHP Jarrett Maloy (8-2/3.52/48K/16BB/79H/69IPabout 1 hour ago from web
OHSt ELIM MAR (@FSU) - #3 seed Ohio-St. 6-7-0, #4 Marist 4-10-0...Dew 3-run 3B/R, Streng 2RBI; MAR: Agostini HR-2R, Meyer 2RBIabout 1 hour ago from web
MORE OSU/MAR - Marist: Martin in (5IP-5BB-2K), 2-run 1B in 2nd (Meyer), SF in 4th (Stanton) ... OSU 4R in 3rd (Dew 3-run 3B/Miller SF)about 2 hours ago from web
DEADLOCKED @FSU- Marist 3B/7-hole George Agostini ties OH-St (t-6), followed by 1B; MAR 4-10-0, OS 4-4-0; Wolosiansky pulled (5.1IP-2BB-K)about 2 hours ago from web
TXSt-ARMY UNDERWAY (@TX): Pair of soph. RHPs - Brian Borski (Texas-St.) and Ben Koenigsfeld (Army) - starting on the mound.about 3 hours ago from web
NO MAJOR UPSETS - With ECU's win, all of the regional #1 seeds/hosts have opened with a W (FLA & CLEM rallied in 9th; TX, OK & UCI won by 2)about 3 hours ago from web
PIRATES WIN – ECU 11-10-1, BING 7-13-3...Bailey Daniels relief (4IP-R-3H-0BB-3K), Dustin Harrington 3RBI-HR; BING: Charron 2HR/4RBI-4Habout 3 hours ago from web
UNDERWAY @FL - OHSt So. RHP Dean Wolosiansky (11-2/5.76/53K/32BB/109H/86IP)...Marist Jr. RHP B.J. Martin (5-5/4.08/94K/34BB/79H/81.2IP)about 4 hours ago from web
ECU LEADS (t6)- ECU 11-10-1 (4R in 3rd/4th), BING 6-11-3 (4 in 5th)..Heston 4IP-6R-10H-3K, HR: Whitehead/Harrington/Harris, BING: Charron HRabout 4 hours ago from web
KU-DART STARTS - Kansas Jr. LHP Shaeffer Hall (4-6/4.63/59K/10BB/99H/83.2IP ... Dartmouth Fr. RHP Kyle Hendricks (6-2/4.14/47K/15BB/78H/63IPabout 4 hours ago from web
EARLY SAT. STARTS - Elim. gms (times eastern): Marist v. OHSt (12 @FS), KAN vs. DART (1 @NC), TXSt v. Army (1 @TX), J'ville v. BCook (1 @FL)about 6 hours ago from web
(cont.) BING starter Fr. RHP Murphy Smith (7-2/2.41/81K/14BB/70H/86IP), solid K/BB ratio..loser vs. GMason in elim. gm (2PM), win vs. SC (6)about 6 hours ago from web
PPD GAME UNDERWAY- #4 seed BING at #1 ECU has begun (ppd from Fri.)...ECU starter is Jr. RHP Chris Heston (7-0/3.41/86 K/32 BB/78 H in 87IP)about 6 hours ago from web
MILD UPSETS (Fri., #3 over #2)- S-Miss 17, Elon 15..BosColl 8, TXSt 7..BAY 5, MN 0..OKSt 9, AL 6..ORSt 9, A&M 8..GON 19,GSo 10..WKY 11, MO 5about 6 hours ago from web
Open-up and say "Strasburg". CB360 Editor, Sean Stires, takes a look at the hurler's name pronunciation. www.collegebaseball360.com.about 7 hours ago from web

CB360updates Twitter feed

2009-05-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

If you're on Twitter, be sure to sign up for CollegeBaseball360's tweats, for updated feeds throughout the NCAAs (username is CB360updates). A sample of some of our Twitter posts since the NCAAs started is included in the previous blog post (due to work/family commitments, our posting was a bit limited on Friday – but we should be posting on a more regular basis throughout the weekend). Note that you also can see a few of CB360's most recent tweats via the blog's left sidebar, but those can quickly cycle off the page.

Also, if you're going to be away from the computer during key stretches of the NCAAs, you can sign up for CB360's FREE text/email blast service (simply follow the links on the menu bar of our main site, at www.collegebaseball360.com)

CB360 Updates on Twitter

2009-05-30T06:23:00.000-07:00

CB360updates

BIG-12 STARTS 5-3 - Losses by #2 seeds TXA&M & MO, and #3 KAN ... wins by #1 seeds TX & OK, and #2 seeds BAY, OK-St & K-St
SEC OPENS 6-2 - losses by #2 seed ALA (6-10 vs. OK-St) and #3 Vandy (4-5 vs. Mid-TN)...#1 seeds LSU, FL & Ol-MS won, as did #2s ARK, SC & GA
ACC SWEEPS DAY-1 (7-0) - GT 9, GaSt 3..BC 8, TX-St 7..UNC 11, KAN 3..CLEM 5, TN-Tech 4..MIA 9, J'ville 4..VA 5, SD-St 1..FSU 16, Marist 4
MILD UPSETS (Sat., #3 over #2)- S-Miss 17, Elon 15..BosColl 8, TXSt 7..BAY 5, MN 0..OKSt 9, AL 6..ORSt 9, A&M 8..GON 19,GSo 10..WKY 11, MO 5
NARROW ESCAPES - #1 close calls: Clemson 5 (2R b9), TN-Tech 4...FLA 8 (3R b9), BCook 7...OK 5, WICH-St 4...TX 3, Army 1...Irvine 4, Fresno 2
FRIDAY OVERVIEW - Hosts/#1 seeds went 15-0 (ECU-BING ppd to Sat.)...in #2 vs. #3 seed games, the #3 seeeds won 7-of-16.
NCAA Baseball Friday Round-up & Today's schedule + a look at some NCAA leaders in tourney action. www.collegebaseball360.com/
MORE FL/BCook - Gators in b-9: Teddy Foster 1B scored tying/winning runs (den Dekker/Adams); FL HR: Tucker (2BI-2R); BC HR: Durrence & Clark
WILD FINISH @UF- #1 FL 8-13-1, #4 Beth-Cook 7-14-0...BC led 6-3 mid-8/7-5 mid-9 (FL 2R in 8th/3 in 9th), BC: Hiram Burgos 7IP-3R-8H-2BB-6K
ECU GAME POSTPONED - #4 seed Binghamton at #1 East Carolina moved to Sat. (10 AM)
CLEMSON RALLY AVERTS UPSET - #1 seed CLEM 5-8-1, #4 TN-Tech 4-8-0...CL 2R b-9 (Schaus 2-run 2B), Stoneburner 4.2IP shutout relief-2H-0BB-5K
TOP SEEDS (all win; cont.) - TCU 6, Wright-St 3..FL 8, Beth-Cook 7..Rice 5, SamHouston 2..LOU 8, IND 2..OK 5, WICH 4..Ol-Miss 8, Monmouth 1
Middle Tennessee St. won today, and Sean Stires likes it. Read why on today's blog at www.collegebaseball360.com
TOP SEEDS/HOSTS - 11-0 so far today: GaTech 9, GaSt 3...TX 3, Army 1...LSU 10, Southern 3...UNC 5, Dartmouth 2...CLEM 5, TN-Tech 4...cont
For NCAA College Baseball Tourney scores at your fingertips sign-up for FREE text message updates at www.collegebaseball360.com
MORE GON/G-So– Bulldogs 7R in 1st; Berg relief win (6IP-2R-6H-0BB-6K), HR by Wiegand (3BI)/Synegal/Castellito (3BI); GS 4 HR (2 by Benedict)
"ZAGS" HAPPY RETURN TO NCAAs (@full) - #3 seed Gonzaga 19-18-1, #2 GA-Southern 10-15-3...first NCAA appearance for GON since '81
STRASBURG'S FIRST LOSS - San Diego St. ace Stephen Strasburg tough loss vs. VA (7IP-2R-8H-2BB-15K), now 13-1/1.40 ERA/210K/19BB/73H in 116IP
CAVS BEAT ACE STRASBURG (@Irvine)- #2 VA 5-13-0 (3R in 8th), #3 SD-St 1-6-1..Morey 6 shutout IP-5H-3BB-9K, HR by Gosselin & Proscia (2BI-2R)
Updated scores and most of tomorrow's NCAA baseball match-ups. www.collegebaseball360.com/
OL' MISS REG - #3 seed W-KY 11-12-0, #2 Missouri 5-5-1..WK HR by Gaynor (23rd of yr; 3RBI) & Rice (3R), Dayleg 4-5/RBI-3R-2 2B; MO: Senne HR
ANOTHER BUBBLE-TEAM WIN (LSU Reg.) - #3 seed Baylor 5-9-1, #2 Minnesota 0-5-0...Willie Kempf 6IP-3H-2BB-6K, Shaver Hansen HR-2RBI-2R-BB-2B
RECENT FINALS (details later)-NC 5, DART 2..So-CAR 11, G-Mason 2..K-St 16, Xavier 8..W-KY 11, MO 5..GA 24, OHSt 8..O-Roberts 13, CalPoly 3
MORE SM/Elon (@GT)- 11 HRs! SoMiss: BoDavis 2 (4BI)/Brunty/Stevens/Archer (4BI-3R)/Maxie, Elon: Bennett Davis 3 (4BI)/Austin (5BI)/Pritchard
SHOOTOUT YIELDS ANOTHER 2-3 UPSET - So-Miss 17-16-0, Elon 15-18-2...SM 8R in 2nd/3 in 7th/5 in 9th, Elon closes with 3-1-3-2 runs from 6-9th
MORE ON ORSt/A&M - Beavers: Sam Gaviglio 5.2IP-R-6H-2BB-6K, 3-for-5 from Koa Kahalehoe (3BI-R) & Carter Bell (2BI-2R); A&M: Kyle Colligan HR
TIGHT ONE @TCU - #3 seed Oregon State 9-14-0, Texas A&M 8-15-1...Beavers led 9-1 after 6 (Aggies 7R in 7th; 3 in 9th, on Caleb Shofner HR)
MORE OKS- #3 reg. seed OK-St 10-12-0, #2 Alabama 6-12-0..3HR-6BI-2BB by SS/5-hole Tom Belza, SV by Randy McCurry (3.1 shutout IP-2H-0BB-2K)
UPSET IN CLEMSON - It seemed inevitable that OK-St. (whose selection to the '09 NCAAs has caused major stir) would win today...10-6 over ALA
ANOTHER DELAY - #2 reg. seed South Carolina 9-16-1, #3 George Mason 3-7-4 (@ECU), halted b-7th (SC 2-on, 2-out), SC HRs: Bangs/Ebert/Bradley
LOUISVILLE REG. - #2 seed MID-TN 5-10-0, #3 VAN 4-8-0..Kenneth Roberts 7IP-3R-6H-5BB-K, Stuart Meinhart 1st-inn grand-slam, Taylor Dennis HR
SO FAR: reg. #1 seed LSU 10, #4 Southern 2...#2s over #3s: Coastal-CAR 11, KU 3; Miami 9, J'ville 4, ARK 10, Wash-St 3; #3 BC 8, #2 TXSt 7
OK REG.- #2 seed ARK 10-10-2, #3 WASH-St. 3-9-2 ... Kuechel 7IP-3R-9H-2BB-K, Lyons HR-3RBI, Tschepikow 2RBI-2R-2B; WS: Way 6IP-R-3H-2BB-10K
UNC REGIONAL - #2 seed Coastal Carolina 11-15-1, #3 Kansas 3-6-1..CC HR by Anderson (3BI) & Daniel Bowman (2BI-2R-2B); KU's Narodowski: 2 HR
MILD UPSET- BColl. 8-14-2 (6R/t9) TX-St 7-12-1 (2R/b9)..Spatola HR (4BI-2R), Lawrence 2R; TS: Holbrooks 7IP-2R-5H-BB-K, Goldschmidt HR/3BI
TIGERS ROAR BACK - @LSU 10-14-1 (7R in 7th), Southern 2-7-4..2 RBI for DJ LeMahieu (R) & Derek Helenihi (2B), Austin Ross 6.2IP-2R-7H-BB-10K
GAMECOCKS UP BIG (@ecu) - S-CAR (h) 8-11-1, GMU 1-5-4 ... Sam Dyson 6IP-R-5H-2BB-4K, Parker Bangs HR-2BI-2R-3H, Whit Merrifield 2H-3RBI
The delay in the Georgia vs. Ohio State game (in Gainesville, Fla.) is due to lightning.
DELAY (b5) - GA (h) 10-8-0, OH-St 2-6-1; GA HR: Lewis 2 (4BI), Cerione & Poythress, Grimm 5IP-2R-5H-2BB-5K; OSU: Wimers 4IP-10R-8ER-7BB-5K
MIA 9-10-2, JV 4-10-1 (f): Miami 4R in 5th, Jacksonville 4R in 7th; MIA: Miller 4IP-0R-3H-BB-2K, Hagerty 2HR-3RBI-3R; JV: Fleming 2RBI-R
Big 10 Pitcher of the Year Alex Wimmers: 4 IP-8 H-10R-8ER-7BB-5K vs. Georgia. Bulldogs hit 4 HR-2 by Joey Lewis
Rain delay in Tallahassee: #2 Ga 10-8-0, #3 Oh. St. 2-5-1. Play is about to resume in the bottom of the 5th
UPSET BREWING? b-6: reg. #4 seed Southern 2-5-0 @#1 LS 1-5-0..Richard 5.1IP-0R-5H-0BB-0K, Franklin 2-run HR in 1st; LS R in 6th (1-on/1-out)
REMINDER–CB360 offers FREE text/e–mail blasts. You can sign up for updates from regionals of your choice. See link on CollegeBaseball360.com
MIA UP ON JU (@U–FL) – top7: #2 reg. seed MIA 6–5–2, #3 J'Ville 3–8–1..MIA 1R in 1st/2nd, 4 in 5th, HR Hagerty/Hermann (2BI); JV 3R in 7th

Did I Miss A Memo?

2009-05-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Since the first time I heard of San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg, I have always heard the "a" in his last name pronounced "ahh"...like the dentist "Open-up and say ahhh".

Now, two different TV talking heads have taken it upon themselves to go with a different flow. Ryan Burr, who was the ESPN anchor on Monday's "Road To Omaha Selection Show", and Greg Amsinger from MLB Network have decided that the "a" in Strasburg is more like an "ouch".

Burr mispronounced Strasburg's name throughout Monday's selection show, and what made it even more comedic is the fact that Kyle Peterson and Will Kimmey were saying Strasburg with the correct "ahh" pronunciation.

Apparently, nobody at ESPN saw a need to correct Burr, because during Thursday WCWS coverage he was going with the same pronunciation while promoting Friday's San Diego State vs. Virginia Regional match-up on the ESPN family of stations.

I hope I spelled "Burr's" name correctly. ESPN never put his name up on the screen during the selection show like they did for Peterson and Kimmey.

My biggest point is just that these guys get paid good money to 1. Deliver the facts correctly and 2. Say the players' names correctly. Is it so much to ask that they do that?

However you say his name, Strasburg had a great game Friday: 15 K and no BB in 7 IP, but his SDSU team lost 5-1 to Virginia in their NCAA Regional opener in Irvine.

It's no secret that Strasburg will be the number one pick in the soon-arriving MLB draft, so let's hope Bud Selig says it right.

NCAA Coverage at www.collegebaseball360.com

Who Will Be This Year's Fresno State?

2009-05-29T06:01:00.000-07:00

Who's going to Omaha? Who's going to win this weekend? Who's this year's Fresno State? I've heard all of those questions this week as we get ready for the 2009 NCAA Baseball Tournament to start today. The one thing I can say for sure is (ready)...I don't know.

I have always said, if I could make those kind of predictions I would be making a lot more money somewhere else. One thing last year's Wonderdogs taught us though is: How could we know?

How could we have ever seen them coming? There's no way. (Even though New Mexico State's Richard Stout told me in an interview earlier this season that one of his coaches predicted it when the Aggies were playing the Bulldogs last year.)

The 2008 Fresno State run made me throw out everything I thought I know about winning in the college baseball post-season. Rule #1 (I thought) was you need starting pitching depth. Fresno State had solid pitching, but true depth? Head coach Mike Batesole's pitching was so worn out by the time he got to the CWS championship series against Georgia that he didn't even know who he would start in the first game.

He roles out Sean Bonesteele, who pitched valiently for three innings, but FSU lost 7-6. It's over, right? Wrong. Bulldog starter Justin Miller gives-up five runs in 2.2 innings the next night , but Fresno State wins 19-10. Then Miller comes back the next night, goes eight innings in the most important game of his life, gives-up just a run, Steve Detwiler drives-in six runs, and FSU wins 6-1 to claim the improbable national title.

Who needs to know who their starting pitcher will be?

But that was all last year. What about 2009? Is there a team in this year's field that can wear Cinderella's slipper as snugly as the 2008 Wonderdogs?

I don't think we can bank on a #4 seed again. A #3 seed can just as easily fit the bill. To start with, I wouldn't count out a team like Baylor or Oklahoma State from at least to a Regional title game. Both of those teams have been bashed all week, and in today's "nobody thought we could do it" world, I wouldn't count out some good old fashioned machismo where those teams are concerned.

Some interesting #3s to watch: Ohio State vs. Georgia in the Tallahassee Regional and Cal Poly vs. Oral Roberts in Tempe (a classic hitting vs. pitching, respectively, match-up).

How about the Norman Regional, where #2 Arkansas plays #3 Washington State, and perrenial power Wichita State is a #4 seed vs. #8 National Seed Oklahoma.

Don't rule out Ft. Worth as a region where the improbable might become possible either. TCU is seeded first vs. #4 Wright State (podcast with WSU's Quentin Cate), with #2 Texas A & M vs. #3 Oregon State.

But after scanning the brackets, my true sleeper to watch in this year's tournament is: Middle Tennessee State. The third-seeded Blue Raiders play Vanderbilt in the first round of the Louisville Regional. (The Cardinals play #4 Indiana in the other first round game.)

Why MTSU? How about a self-proclaimed "good ol' boy" named Bryce Brentz. The sophomore leads the nationa in the following categories:

Batting average (.482), slugging percentage (.968), on-base percentage (.552), total bases (213), and home runs (28-T w/Alabama's Kent Matthes).

I had to double and triple check Brentz's batting average when I saw it. I thought maybe I was looking at his on-base percentage. Who leads the nation in both batting average and home runs? It's just not fair.

By the way, Brentz is also 5-3 with a 4.78 ERA on the mound this year. This from a guy who calls himself a "late bloomer" to college baseball. He late-bloomed himself to a .329 average with 18 home runs as a true freshman last year.

"Baseball's just a game of adjustments", he told me in an interview I did with him just a few weeks ago on our web site. (It's still the most fun I had doing an interview this season.)

Brentz may or may not get anything to hit when MTSU plays Vanderbilt today in their Regional opener. The Blue Raiders split two games with the Commodores April 7 and 14. Brentz combined to go (7-9) with 3 home runs and 8 RBIs in those two games.

There's good reason to believe the Sun Belt champion's NCAA run could be short lived. Vandy sends Mike Minor (6-4, 3.64 ERA) to the mound to face the Blue Raiders. Minor tossed his second complete game of the season in last week's 4-1 win over LSU in the first round of the SEC Tournament. However, the Tigers avenged that loss by beating the Commodores 6-2 in the SEC title game. Fresno State anyone?

Don't get me wrong, with sluggers like All-American Chris Dominguez (23 HR) and Phil Wunderlich (18 HR) can ping it too. But the Cards are the #1 seed at they're own regional, we're talking about possible Cinderellas.

It's hard to count out a team like Middle Tennessee State with team numbers that go like this: .346 BA, 99 HR, .578 slg%, .422 OBP, 9.1 runs/game. If you were a coach would you want to face an offense like that with your third, fourth or fifth starting pitcher on the mound?

Speaking of head coaches, Brentz says his coach, Steve Peterson, is "...cool and level-headed, it's like cutting the head off a snake, the snake dies. Coach never breaks down."

How can you argue with logic like that?

Pac 10 Announces 2009 Awards

2009-05-27T18:18:00.000-07:00

2009 BASEBALL ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS

ARIZONA STATE'S JASON KIPNIS NAMED PAC-10 BASEBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR

ARIZONA STATE'S MIKE LEAKE NAMED PITCHER OF THE YEAR

STANFORD’S JAKE SCHLANDER NAMED DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

UCLA’S TREVOR BAUER NAMED FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

ARIZONA STATE'S PAT MURPHY NAMED COACH OF THE YEAR

(Courtesy Pac 10 Conference)

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – ARIZONA STATE junior outfielder Jason Kipnis
has been named the 2009 Pacific-10 Conference Baseball Player of the
Year, while teammate junior right-hander Mike Leake has earned Pitcher
of the Year honors. STANFORD sophomore Jake Schlander has been
selected the Defensive Player of the Year, UCLA right-handed pitcher
Trevor Bauer has been named Freshman of the Year and Arizona State's
Pat Murphy has earned Coach of the Year honors, Commissioner Tom
Hansen announced today. The awards are determined by a vote of the
league’s coaches.

Kipnis, the 2008 Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year, leads the Pac-10 in four
statistical categories this season, including slugging percentage (.
720), runs scored (66), total bases (144) and stolen bases (21). The
Northbrook, Ill., native also ranks in the top-3 in the Conference in
batting average (.380, 2nd), on-base percentage (.496, 2nd), RBI (65,
2nd) and hits (76, 3rd). Kipnis has been selected as one of 30
semifinalists for the 2009 Golden Spikes Award, presented annually to
the top player in college baseball. A Sun Devil has now been selected
the Conference’s Player of the Year for the last three seasons (Brett
Wallace 2007, 2008). Coincidentally, Arizona State was the last
institution to produce three straight winners (Willie Bloomquist 1999,
Casey Myers 2000, 2001).

Leake garners his second consecutive Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year award,
becoming the first ever back-to-back winner and the fourth two-time
recipient. The Fallbrook, Calif., native leads the nation with 14 wins
on the season, setting a new career high. His 1.24 ERA is second
nationally and he leads the Conference in innings pitched (115.2),
opposing batting average (.170) and batters struck out (128). In
Pac-10 play, the righty posted a 9-0 record, with six complete games
including two shutouts. He struck out 87 batters while walking just 12
in his nine league appearances. A mid-season All-American, Leake is
also a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award. In addition to his
athletic honors, the junior has also been tabbed the Academic All-
American of the Year by ESPN The Magazine and CoSIDA.

Schlander, a native of Scottsdale, Ariz., started all 55 of the
Cardinal's games this season. The sophomore has also started all 122
games of his Stanford career, becoming the first Cardinal shortstop to
accomplish that feat. Schlander registered a .965 fielding
percentage, while committing just nine errors, three in the final two
games, in 254 total chances. He was errorless in 47 of Stanford’s 55
games this year as he had a 14-game and a 13-game errorless streak
during the campaign. He is second in the Pac-10 with 167 assists and
had a hand in 27 double plays during the season. In addition, he hit .
232 with 12 doubles, one triple, one home run and 22 RBI for the
Cardinal.

Bauer led UCLA with nine wins and a 2.99 ERA in his debut season. He
threw four complete games, three in Conference games, including a
complete-game shutout against Washington on April 18. He was a perfect
7-0 in Pac-10 play. The Valencia, Calif., native is ranked in the
top-10 in several Conference pitching categories, including innings
pitched (105.1, 2nd), wins (9, t2nd), batters struck out (92, 7th) and
opposing batting average (.225, 9th). He is one of only two pitchers
in UCLA history to notch nine wins as a freshman (Pete Janicki, 1990).
He has been invited to the 2009 USA Baseball National Team Trials
taking place in June.

Murphy has guided the Sun Devils to their third straight Pac-10 title,
the first team to accomplish that feat since the division merged in
1999. It is the fourth Conference crown for the Syracuse, N.Y., native
in his 15th season at the helm of the program. ASU was picked to win
the Pac-10 championship in the coaches’ preseason poll and has been
ranked in the top-10 nationally all year. This is Murphy’s fourth
Pac-10 Coach of the Year accolade, winning in 2000 and now three
straight from 2007-09. The Sun Devils will be making their 10th
consecutive NCAA postseason appearance as they have received the No. 5
overall seed in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.

Complete list of Conference honors:

ALL-PAC-10 TEAM

Name School Pos Yr Ht Wt Hometown

Dillon Baird ARIZ 1B Jr. 6-3 215 Prescott, Ariz.
Trevor Bauer UCLA RHP Fr. 6-1 175 Valencia, Calif.
Brad Boxberger USC RHP Jr. 6-2 200 Tustin, Calif.
Mark Canha CAL 1B So. 6-2 195 San Jose, Calif.
Dwight Childs ARIZ C Jr. 6-3 180 Elk Grove, Calif.
Gerrit Cole UCLA RHP Fr. 6-4 215 Santa Ana, Calif.
Kyle Conley (2) WASH OF Jr. 6-4 205 Richland, Wash.
Cody Decker UCLA 1B Sr. 6-0 225 Santa Monica, Calif.
Grant Green (2) USC SS Jr. 6-3 180 Anaheim Hills, Calif.
Brett Jackson CAL OF Jr. 6-2 210 Orinda, Calif.
Jeremy Johnson WSU RHP Jr. 5-10 150 Centralia, Wash.
Kellen Killsgaard STAN OF So. 6-2 225 Auburn, Wash.
Jason Kipnis (2) ASU OF Jr. 6-0 180 Northbrook, Ill.
Jeff Kobernus CAL 2B Jr. 6-2 195 San Leandro, Calif.
Mitchell Lambson ASU LHP Fr. 6-1 190 Tualatin, Ore.
Mike Leake (3) ASU RHP Jr. 6-0 170 Fallbrook, Calif.
Matt Newman ASU LHP/OF So. 5-11 180 Glendale, Ariz.
Bryce Ortega ARIZ SS So. 5-11 175 Palos Verdes, Calif.
Ryan Ortiz (2) OSU C Jr. 6-3 205 San Diego, Calif.
Jared Prince WSU OF Sr. 6-2 211 Poulsbo, Wash.
Carlos Ramirez ASU C Jr. 6-0 210 Tucson, Ariz.
Blake Smith CAL DH Jr. 6-2 220 Modesto, Calif.
Josh Spence ASU LHP Jr. 6-1 170 Victoria, Australia
Drew Storen (2) STAN RHP So. 6-2 175 Brownsburg, Ind.
Matt Way WSU LHP Sr. 6-2 182 Sitka, Alaska

(2) - Two-time All-Conference selection
(3) - Three-time All-Conference selection

The "Ins" and the "Outs" Of NCAA Tournament Selections

2009-05-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

"Part of the discussion is, who would you least want to be matched-up with, who would you least want to play. And, I think that's always part of how we maybe try and break our ties or break the stalemate is to use some variable that brings it down to an on the field issue of, you know from a competitive standpoint, of these teams, who are you least gonna wanna play."

- NCAA Selection Committee Chairman, Tim Weiser, in on the ESPN selection show about how teams were picked in the NCAA Tournament at-large selection process.

So that's Weiser's justification for adding teams like Baylor and Oklahoma State, and apparently George Mason and Western Kentucky to this year's NCAA field, while leaving teams like Rhode Island, Notre Dame and Western Carolina behind.

I'm still looking through the NCAA Division I Championship Handbook for the part that says "who would you least want to play" is part of the selection process. Help me if you ever actually find it.

About 30 minutes before the selections were announced Monday, I posted a list of 20 bubble teams on this blog. I thought that half of the teams on the list would probably get bids. Turns out, 12 of those teams landed in this year's tournament field.

As a refresher, the list includes team, followed by : RPI, wins vs. RPI top-50 teams, overall Divsion I record, record over last 15 games, and strength of schedule. Here's the list:

ELON 20, 5, (40-16), (12-4), 52
BOSTON COLLEGE 29, 9 (33-24), (8-7), 16
OKLAHOMA STATE 25, 10, (31-22), (8-7), 11
TEXAS STATE 30, 3, (41-15), (12-3), 28
BAYLOR 31, 11, (29-24), (4-11), 7

AUBURN 32, 12 (31-25), (6-9), 9
DALLAS BAPTIST 39, 5, (38-17), (9-6), 103
GEORGE MASON 40, 0, (42-12), (11-4), 196
FLORIDA GULF COAST 41, 3 (36-18), (13-2), 84
OREGON STATE 42, 5, (35-17), (10-5), 93

WASHINGTON STATE 44, 6 (31-23), (10-5), 29
CAL POLY 45, 3, (37-19), (7-8), 89
SAN DIEGO STATE 50, 3, (40-21), (11-4), 90
KANSAS 53, 15, (35-22), (8-7), 65
WESTERN KENTUCKY 45, 1, (37-18), (9-6), 105

NOTRE DAME 47, 5, (35-23), (11-4), 47
RHODE ISLAND 57, 3, (37-20), (8-7), 104
KENTUCKY 50, 9, (27-26), (7-8), 13
WESTERN CAROLINA 54, 2, (35-22), (10-5), 66

A quick look at some of the criteria (from the NCAA Handbook) the committee is supposed to consider: "The committee may consider comparing data of individual teams, including, but not limited to, overall record, Division I record, overall RPI rank, nonconference record and RPI rank, conference regular-season record and conference tournament results, road record and RPI, last 15 games' record, its record against teams ranked 1-25, 26-50, 51-100, 101-150 and below 150 in the RPI, head-to-head record, common opponents' record and input from regional advisory committees." -

It's pretty clear that RPI played a huge role in what teams were picked and what teams were not. While strength of schedule is not specified in any of the criteria, it is a factor.

I have no problem taking a good team in a power conference, but does Baylor really meet that standard? My own definition of a "good" team in a power conference would be 30 overall wins and at least a .500 conference record. Neither Baylor (29-24, 10-16) nor Oklahoma State (32-22, 9-16) met that minimal mark. Baylor's record over its last 15 games is listed above, and OSU couldn't win a Big 12 series, so if we're rewarding sub-mediocrity in a good conference, why isn't Texas Tech, which finished ahead of both of those teams in the Big 12 standings, in the tournament?

Who would you least want to play? Ask Kansas State, which lost two of three games at home to the Red Raiders in the second to last week of the regular season. Tech handed A.J. Morris (13-1, 1.84 ERA) his only loss of 2009 to date. Who would you least want to play?

So, what about George Mason? Nice RPI at 40, but wake me up when they get their first win over a top-50 team. (Call me Rumpelstiltskin.) Yes, they had 42 wins, but a strength of schedule of 196 that would even make Virginia's Brian O'Connor wince...really. (I know, I know, the Cavs play in the ACC, and I defended their non-conference schedule in a post earlier this year.)

Mason can mash the ball, but what's the Patriots' signature win? North Carolina State and a 3-game sweep of Army? They have losses to Maryland and Connecticut.

Western Kentucky's 39-win season is the program's best in the last 90 years, but the Hilltoppers have a 105 SOS, and their best win is over a Kentucky team that finished a game over .500. At least they played Louisville twice and Vanderbilt, but they lost all three of those games.

Rhode Island finished 11 RPI spots below W. Kentucky, but had three, count 'em three wins over RPI top-50 teams, even if their strength of schedule was only slightly better at 104. URI beat Miami, not Miami, OH...the Miami Hurricanes in Florida, as well as tourney teams Ohio State and Oklahoma State, and they played Cal State Fullerton twice.

Not only did Notre Dame play a tougher schedule than George Mason, Western Kentucky and Rhode Island, they have more top-50 wins (5) than all three of those teams combined. The Irish have wins over #1 Regional seed Louisville, #2 seed Oral Roberts and #3 seed Washington State. All of those wins came either on the road or at a neutral site.

The biggest knock against ND appears to be their fifth-place finish in the Big East standing. However, they won their series vs. the four teams that finished ahead of them in the conference standings (Louisville, USF, WVU, St. John's). The Big East also plays an unbalanced schedule, and Notre Dame was the only Big East team to play all seven other teams that qualified for the conference tournament. The two teams they didn't play (Rutgers and Georgetown) combined to win 16 BE games.

Western Carolina's resume is even more impressive than either George Mason or Western Kentucky. The strength of schedule is 66, and the Catamounts have two wins over top-50 teams, including a Georgia Tech squad that's a #1 Regional host team.

Western Carolina and Notre Dame's combined strength of schedule (47 + 66=113) is just slightly higher than Western Kentucky's 105.

I just hit my snooze alarm, Baylor has four wins since April 17th, and George Mason is still looking for it's first win over a top-50 team since before Charlie died on LOST. (It's been a while...2007 in fact.)

Well, who would you least want to play?

UC Irvine Takes Top Big West Honors

2009-05-27T05:18:00.000-07:00

Top Three Teams Earn Big West Annual Awards

(Courtesey Big West Conference)

Irvine, Calif. — Big West Champion UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton and Cal Poly are the lucky recipients of the conference’s annual awards. The Anteaters nabbed their second straight Big West Pitcher of the Year honors with the selection of Daniel Bibona and teammate Ben Orloff was named Big West Player of the Year. UC Irvine head coach Mike Gillespie collected the school’s first Big West Coach of the Year award since 1987 when Mike Gerakos earned the same title. Cal State Fullerton’s freshman duo of Noe Ramirez and Tyler Pill was tabbed Big West Co-Freshman Pitcher of the Year and Cal Poly’s Matt Jensen was named Big West Freshman Player of the Year.

A year after All-American Scott Gorgen was one of three recipients of the first-ever Big West Tri-Pitcher of the Year award, Bibona secured UC Irvine’s second straight pitcher of the year accolade. The southpaw from Lake Forest, Calif., was undefeated in Big West play, boasting a 7-0 record and a 2.58 earned run average. Overall, he is currently second in the conference with a 2.65 ERA but tops the league in wins with 11 and strikeouts with 94. Bibona is one of 15 players vying for the College Baseball Foundation’s Pitcher of the Year award and is a semifinalist for the 2009 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award.

UC Irvine, who has been known for its pitching over the past few seasons, is now being recognized for its performance at the plate and on the field as Orloff collects the school’s first Big West Player of the Year award. The senior from Simi Valley, Calif., is currently hitting .359 and boasts a .978 fielding percentage. He is eighth in UC Irvine’s season records with a league-high 85 hits and tops the team with 17 stolen bases, tying him for sixth in the Big West. Orloff is one of 15 semifinalists for the Brooks Wallace Award presented by the College Baseball Foundation, which honors the country’s top shortstop.

Jensen, currently sidelined with a fractured clavicle suffered in a game May 2, sports a .375 batting average with 15 doubles, nine home runs and 53 RBI. The Clovis, Calif., native had started 41 of Cal Poly’s 42 games before he was involved in a collision with a San Francisco baserunner. Jensen had a 23-game hitting streak, the third longest in Cal Poly Division I history, before it was snapped by UC Santa Barbara on April 24. He was 35-for-89 (.393) during the streak with 24 RBIs and produced six consecutive two-hit games during the streak. Prior to the injury, Jensen had 17 multiple-hit games this season and 13 multiple-RBI contests. Earlier this month, the freshman second baseman was extended an invitation to the 2009 USA Baseball National Team Trials.

In his first season wearing a Titan uniform, Pill has accumulated 10 wins this season to set a school record for most wins by a freshman, breaking Dustin Miller (2002) and Dave Weatherman’s (1979) mark of nine victories. The southpaw’s 10 wins knots him in fourth place with Donovan Osborne (UNLV, 1988) in the Big West record books. Hailing from Covina, Calif., Pill has tallied a 4.10 ERA in 90.0 innings pitched. He has struck out 64 batters and has only issued 12 walks, to rank second in the Big West.

Ramirez is close behind his fellow Titan teammate with eight victories on the mound this season. The East Los Angeles, Calif., native currently ranks fourth in the Big West with a 2.93 earned run average and is holding his opposition to a league’s third-best .228 batting average. Ramirez has tossed 78 strikeouts, ranking third in the conference, and has allowed just 17 walks in 92.0 innings pitched.

In just his second year at the helm of UC Irvine, Mike Gillespie guided the Anteaters to their first-ever Big West Conference title with a near flawless 22-2 mark, earning him Big West Coach of the Year honors. Along with its impressive Big West record, UC Irvine was a perfect 12-0 at home during conference play this season. Following an incredible start to the season that included series wins over Tulane, Hawaii, nationally-ranked Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine received its first No. 1 ranking in the national polls. Since reaching the highest rung of the ladder, the Anteaters have embraced the top spot for six consecutive weeks, the longest streak of any team this season in the Baseball America poll. For its efforts, UC Irvine received a national seed in the upcoming NCAA Regionals and has the honor of hosting its first regional. Gillespie enters the postseason with an 85-31 record during his two years at UC Irvine.

Big West Champion UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton received five All-Big West First Team nods to lead all conference teams, followed by Cal Poly and UC Riverside who each picked up two selections. UC Santa Barbara and Pacific each placed one player on the first team. Anteater teammates Orloff and Eric Pettis are making their second appearance on the first team list.

2009 Big West All-Conference Team

FIRST TEAM

Player School Ht. B/T Yr. Pos. Hometown

Francis Larson UC Irvine 6-1 R/R Jr. C Yorba Linda, Calif.
Jared Clark Cal State Fullerton 6-4 R/R Sr. 1B Castaic, Calif.
Matt Jensen Cal Poly 5-10 R/R Fr. 2B Clovis, Calif.
Ryan Goetz UC Riverside 5-10 L/R Jr. 3B Temple City, Calif.
Ben Orloff^ UC Irvine 5-11 R/R Sr. SS Simi Valley, Calif.
Khris Davis Cal State Fullerton 6-0 R/R Jr. OF Glendale, Ariz.
Josh Fellhauer Cal State Fullerton 5-11 L/L Jr. OF Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
Eric Deragisch UC Irvine 6-3 R/R Sr. OF Granite Bay, Calif.
Nick Longmire Pacific 6-2 R/R So. OF San Diego, Calif.
Michael Hur UC Riverside 6-0 R/R Jr. DH Stevenson Ranch, Calif.
Adam Buschini Cal Poly 6-2 R/R Jr. UTL San Ramon, Calif.
Daniel Bibona UC Irvine 5-11 L/L So. SP Lake Forest, Calif.
Daniel Renken Cal State Fullerton 6-4 R/R So. SP Cypress, Calif.
Joe Gardner UC Santa Barbara 6-5 R/R Jr. SP Fremont, Calif.
Nick Ramirez Cal State Fullerton 6-3 L/L Fr. RP Anaheim Hills, Calif.
Eric Pettis^ UC Irvine 6-2 R/R Jr. CP West Hills, Calif.

SECOND TEAM

Player School Ht. B/T Yr. Pos. Hometown

Kurt Wideman Pacific 5-11 R/R Sr. C Fallbrook, Calif.
Eric Oliver UC Santa Barbara 6-1 R/R Sr. 1B Irvine, Calif.
J.B. Brown Pacific 6-1 L/R So. 2B Alvin, Texas
Casey Stevenson UC Irvine 6-3 L/R Jr. 2B Saugus, Calif.
Mike Walker Pacific 6-3 L/R Jr. 3B Marysville, Calif.
Kyle Smith Cal Poly 6-1 R/R Jr. SS Visalia, Calif.
Ryan Lee Cal Poly 6-0 R/R Sr. OF Los Altos, Calif.
Carl Uhl UC Riverside 5-9 S/L Sr. OF Phelan, Calif.
Ronald Shaeffer UC Irvine 6-2 R/R Fr. DH Garden Grove, Calif.
Joey Centanni Pacific 6-0 L/R Sr. UTL San Diego, Calif.
Paul Applebee UC Riverside 6-2 L/L Jr. SP Upland, Calif.
Christian Bergman UC Irvine 6-1 R/R Jr. SP Altadena, Calif.
Adam Wilk Long Beach State 6-2 L/L Jr. SP Cypress, Calif.
Dustin Emmons UC Riverside 6-1 R/R So. RP La Crescenta, Calif.
Brian Slover Cal State Northridge 6-3 R/R So. CP Covina, Calif.

HONORABLE MENTION

Player School Ht. B/T Yr. Pos. Hometown

Ross Brayton Cal Poly 6-1 R/R Jr. C Oakdale, Calif.
Dustin Garneau Cal State Fullerton 6-1 R/R Sr. C San Pedro, Calif.
Marty Mullins UC Santa Barbara 5-10 R/R Jr. C Los Gatos, Claif.
Richard Cates Cal State Northridge 5-11 L/R Sr. 1B Yuba City, Calif.
Matt Valaika UC Santa Barbara 5-10 R/R Jr. 2B Valencia, Calif.
Ryan Cavan UC Santa Barbara 5-11 S/R Jr. 3B Belmont, Calif.
Ty Kelly UC Davis 5-11 S/R Jr. 3B Tracy, Calif.
Christian Colon Cal State Fullerton 6-0 R/R So. SS Corona, Calif.
Brian Gump UC Santa Barbara 6-1 L/L Sr. OF Westminster, Calif.
Tommy Reyes UC Irvine 6-0 R/R Fr. OF Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
DJ Gentile Cal Poly 6-2 R/R So. DH Petaluma, Calif.
Gary Brown Cal State Fullerton 6-0 R/R So. UTL Diamond Bar, Calif.
Tyler Pill Cal State Fullerton 6-1 L/R Fr. SP Covina, Calif.
Noe Ramirez Cal State Fullerton 6-2 R/R Fr. SP East Los Angeles, Calif.
Mark DeVincenzi Cal Poly 5-10 R/R Jr. RP Napa, Calif.
PJ Rousey Cal State Northridge 6-0 R/R Sr. RP La Cresenta, Calif.
Brock Bardeen UC Irvine 6-2 L/R Sr. RP Fallbrook, Calif.
Eric Massingham Cal Poly 6-2 R/R Sr. CP Benicia, Calif.
Charlie Ruiz Long Beach State 6-1 R/R Jr. CP San Leandro, Calif.
^Two-time All-Big West First Team selection

NCAA Field Of 64 Announced

2009-05-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

(Courtesy NCAA)

2009 NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET ANNOUNCED

INDIANAPOLIS – The field of 64 teams competing for the 2009 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship was announced today by the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee.

The national top eight seeds are Texas (41-13-1), Cal State Fullerton (42-14), LSU (46-16), North Carolina (42-16), Arizona St. (44-12), UC Irvine (43-13), Oklahoma (41-18) and Florida (39-20).

The Big 12 and Southeastern Conference lead all conferences in the number of teams in the championship field with eight, followed by the Atlantic Coast Conference with seven. The Big Ten, Big West, Conference USA and Pacific-10 each have three teams each.

Twenty-nine of the 64 teams were not in the field last year. Binghamton (AQ), Cal Poly (at-large), Georgia St. (AQ), Kansas State (at-large) and Xavier (AQ), all are making the championship for the first time. Utah last was in the field in 1960, Boston College last made it in 1967.

Miami (FL) is in the field for the 37^th consecutive year, extending its own record. Florida State is making its 32^nd straight appearance, second all-time. Other long consecutive streaks: Cal State Fullerton (18), Rice (15) and Oral Roberts (12).

Of the 288 championship eligible Division I institutions that sponsor baseball, Coastal Carolina and LSU have the most Division I wins with 46. Twenty-five other teams won at least 40 Division I contests, and all of which but New Mexico St. and San Jose St., are in the field.

Each of the 16 regionals feature four teams, playing a double-elimination format. The regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, May 29, to Monday, June 1 (if necessary). Selection of the eight super regional hosts will be announced on NCAA.com, Monday, June 1 at approximately 11 p.m. (ET).

The 63^rd Men’s College World Series begins play Saturday, June 13, at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.

A complete bracket, including records and match-ups, is attached.

OTHER SELECTION INFORMATION

FIELD BY CONFERENCE (30)

Big 12 8 (Baylor, Kansas, Kansas St., Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Texas, Texas A&M)

Southeastern 8 (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi, South Carolina, Vanderbilt)

Atlantic Coast 7 (Boston College, Clemson, Florida St., Georgia Tech, Miami (FL), North Carolina, Virginia)

Big Ten 3 (Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio St.)

Big West 3 (Cal Poly, UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton)

Conference USA 3 (East Carolina, Rice, Southern Miss.)

Mountain West 3 (San Diego St., TCU, Utah)

Pacific-10 3 (Arizona St., Oregon St., Washington St.)

Colonial 2 (George Mason, Georgia St.)

Southern 2 (Elon, Ga. Southern)

Southland 2 (Sam Houston St., Texas St.)

Sun Belt 2 (Middle Tenn., Western Ky.)

America East 1 (Binghamton)

Atlantic Sun 1 (Jacksonville)

Atlantic 10 1 (Xavier)

Big East 1 (Louisville)

Big South 1 (Coastal Carolina)

Horizon 1 (Wright St.)

Ivy 1 (Dartmouth)

Metro Atlantic 1 (Marist)

Mid-American 1 (Kent St.)

Mid-Eastern 1 (Bethune-Cookman)

Missouri Valley 1 (Wichita State)

Northeast 1 (Monmouth)

Ohio Valley 1 (Tennessee Tech)

Patriot 1 (Army)

Southwestern 1 (Southern)

Summit 1 (Oral Roberts)

West Coast 1 (Gonzaga)

Western Athletic 1 (Fresno St.)

FIELD BY STATE (27)

Texas 7 (Baylor, Rice, Sam Houston St., Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas St.)

California 5 (UC Irvine, Cal Poly, Cal St. Fullerton, Fresno St., San Diego St.)

Florida 5 (Bethune-Cookman, Florida, Florida State, Jacksonville, Miami [FL])

Georgia 4 (Georgia, Ga. Southern, Georgia St., Georgia Tech)

Ohio 4 (Kent St., Ohio St., Wright St., Xavier)

Kansas 3 (Kansas, Kansas St., Wichita St.)

New York 3 (Army, Binghamton, Marist)

North Carolina 3 (East Carolina, Elon, North Carolina)

Oklahoma 3 (Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Oral Roberts)

South Carolina 3 (Clemson, Coastal Caro., South Carolina)

Tennessee 3 (Middle Tenn., Tennessee Tech, Vanderbilt)

Kentucky 2 (Louisville, Western Ky.)

Louisiana 2 (LSU, Southern)

Mississippi 2 (Mississippi, Southern Miss.)

Virginia 2 (George Mason, Virginia)

Washington 2 (Gonzaga, Washington St.)

Alabama 1 (Alabama)

Arizona 1 (Arizona St.)

Arkansas 1 (Arkansas)

Indiana 1 (Indiana)

Massachusetts 1 (Boston College)

Minnesota 1 (Minnesota)

Missouri 1 (Missouri)

New Hampshire 1 (Dartmouth)

New Jersey 1 (Monmouth)

Oregon 1 (Oregon St.)

Utah 1 (Utah)

OTHER NOTES

Thirty-five of the 64 teams were in the 2008 field. Five teams made the field for the first time in the program’s history: Binghamton, Cal Poly, Georgia St., Kansas St. and Xavier.

Utah is in the field for the first time since 1960.

Boston College is in the field for the first time since 1967.

The eight teams from the Big 12 are the most ever for this conference.

Miami (FL) is in the field for the 37th consecutive year, extending its own record. Florida State is making its 32nd straight appearance, which ranks second all-time. Other long consecutive streaks include Cal State Fullerton (18), Rice (15) and Oral Roberts (12).

NCAA Tournament Bubble Teams

2009-05-25T08:35:00.001-07:00

With less than an hour to go until the NCAA selection show, here are the teams sitting on the tournament bubble.

Teams are listed in order by RPI, followed by top-50 wins, overall record, record in last 15 games, and strength of schedule.

ELON 20, 5, (40-16), (12-4), 52
BOSTON COLLEGE 29, 9 (33-24), (8-7), 16
OKLAHOMA STATE 25, 10, (31-22), (8-7), 11
TEXAS STATE 30, 3, (41-15), (12-3), 102
BAYLOR 31, 11, (29-24), (4-11), 7

AUBURN 32, 12 (31-25), (6-9), 9
DALLAS BAPTIST 39, 5, (38-17), (9-6), 103
GEORGE MASON 40, 0, (42-12), (11-4), 196
FLORIDA GULF COAST 41, 3 (36-18), (13-2), 84
OREGON STATE 42, 5, (35-17), (10-5), 93

WASHINGTON STATE 44, 6 (31-23), (10-5), 29
CAL POLY 45, 3, (37-19), (7-8), 89
SAN DIEGO STATE 43, 3, (40-21), (11-4), 90
KANSAS 53, 15, (35-22), (8-7), 65
WESTERN KENTUCKY 45, 1, (37-18), (9-6), 105

NOTRE DAME 47, 5, (35-23), (11-4), 47
RHODE ISLAND 45, 3, (37-20), (8-7), 57
KENTUCKY 50, 9, (27-26), (7-8), 13
WESTERN CAROLINA 54, 2, (35-22), (10-5), 66

Ten teams on the list should make the field.

Fresno State Claims WAC Title

2009-05-25T05:18:00.000-07:00

Defending National Champions Receive Last Remaining NCAA Automatic Bid
05/24/2009

(Courtesy WAC)

Defending National Champion Fresno State defeated New Mexico State 5-3 Sunday to claim the 2009 NAPA Auto Parts WAC Baseball Tournament. Jodan Ribera was named the tournament MVP. It marks the fourth-straight and seventh overall WAC tournament title for the Bulldogs, who will represent the WAC at the NCAA Tournament.

Jordan Ribera hit a two-run homer in the first game of the day and followed it up with another in the championship as Fresno State defeated New Mexico State 9-7 in game one and 5-3 in the final to claim its fourth-straight WAC Tournament baseball title. Ribera went 2-for-3 in the championship game with two RBI, a home run and two runs scored. Matt Morse picked up the win in the championship after going 2.2 innings without giving up a run.

Fresno State defeated New Mexico State 9-7 in Sunday's first game, forcing a final championship game, between the two schools which is set for 3:45 p.m. HT. Jordan Ribera led th Bulldogs with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate that included a home run with a pair of RBI that helped clinch the win. Tom Mendonca also had pair of hits with a home run. Holden Sprague was credited with the win on the mound after going 4.1 innings with a pair of strikeouts. Kyle Decater led NM State with two hits and an RBI.

Fresno State receives the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Pairings for the tournament will be announced Monday at 12:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

NCAA Announces 16 Regional Baseball Host Sites

2009-05-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

16 REGIONAL SITES SELECTED FOR 2009

NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

(Courtesy NCAA News Release)

INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee announced the 16 regional sites for the 63^rd annual NCAA Division I Baseball Championship.

The 16 regional sites, with host institutions and records are as follows: Arizona State (43-12 through Saturday, May 23), Tempe, Ariz.; UC Irvine (42-13 through Saturday, May 23), Irvine, Calif.; Cal State Fullerton (41-14 through Saturday, May 23), Fullerton, Calif.; Clemson (40-19), Clemson, S.C.; East Carolina (42-17), Greenville, N.C.; Florida (39-20), Gainesville, Fla.; Florida St. (42-15 through Saturday, May 23), Tallahassee, Fla.; Georgia Tech (35-17-1), Atlanta; LSU (45-16 through Saturday, May 23), Baton Rouge, La.; Louisville (44-15), Louisville, Ky.; Mississippi (40-17), Oxford, Miss.; North Carolina (42-16), Chapel Hill, N.C.; Oklahoma (41-18), Norman, Okla.; Rice (39-15), Houston; Texas (40-13-1 through Saturday, May 23), Austin, Texas; TCU (36-16), Fort Worth, Texas.

By virtue of being awarded a regional, all 16 host institutions have also been selected to the 64-team field. Cal State Fullerton, Clemson, East Carolina, Florida, Georgia Tech, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma and TCU have made the field as at-large selections.

Arizona State (Pacific-10), UC Irvine (Big West), Florida St. (Atlantic Coast), Louisville (Big East) and Rice (Conference USA) have clinched automatic berths by virtue of winning their conference tournament championships. Florida State will be either the automatic qualifier from the Atlantic Coast Conference with a win in the conference championship or as an at-large qualifier. LSU and Texas are in the same situation as they will be the automatic selection for the Southeastern and Big 12 Conferences respectively, or an at-large qualifier depending on the outcome of the Southeastern and Big 12 Conference championships this afternoon.

Each regional field features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. All 16 regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, May 29, to Monday, June 1.

Florida State is hosting for record 28^th time, while this will be the 19^th time that Arizona State and LSU have hosted a regional. Clemson (12^th) is the only other institution to host 10 or more times since the NCAA went to the regional format in 1975.

Georgia Tech is hosting for the ninth time, while Cal St. Fullerton, Florida and Rice are hosting a regional for the eighth time. Mississippi and North Carolina are hosting for the fifth time.

Oklahoma is the host for the fourth time and East Carolina for the third time. Hosting for the first time are UC Irvine, Louisville and TCU. Six institutions (Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton, Florida State, LSU, North Carolina and Rice) also hosted in 2008.

The remaining at-large teams, top-eight national seeds, first-round regional

pairings and site assignments will be announced at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, Monday, May 25, during a live, half-hour program on ESPN. The committee will set the entire 64-team bracket through both the super regionals and the first round of the Men’s College World Series, and will not reseed the field after play begins.

Selection of the eight super regional hosts will be announced on www.ncaa.com, Monday, June 1 at approximately 11 p.m. (ET).

Thirty Division I conferences receive an automatic berth in the field of 64, along with 34 at-large selections. The 63^rd Men’s College World Series begins play Saturday, June 13, at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.

OTHER REGIONAL SITE SELECTION INFORMATION

Atlantic Coast 4 (Clemson, Florida St., Georgia Tech, North Carolina)

Southeastern 3 (Florida, LSU, Mississippi)

Big 12 2 (Oklahoma, Texas)

Big West 2 (UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton)

Conference USA 2 (East Carolina, Rice)

Big East 1 (Louisville)

Mountain West 1 (TCU)

Pacific-10 1 (Arizona State)

NCAA/5/24/2009/JDH

More Big East Tourney Schedule Changes...

2009-05-22T19:53:00.001-07:00

BIG EAST ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO 2009 BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Championship game to be held Sunday; semifinal round to be played Saturday

CLEARWATER, Fla. – The BIG EAST Conference announces the following changes to the schedule of the 2009 BIG EAST Baseball Championship.

The semifinal round will be played in its entirety Saturday, May 23, at Bright House Field. Top-seeded Louisville will meet No. 4 seed Notre Dame at 9 a.m. No. 6-seeded Connecticut will take on the winner of Friday’s game between No. 2 USF and No. 3 West Virginia at 1 p.m., with that game airing live on ESPNU.

Should either Notre Dame or the USF/West Virginia winner win their respective semifinal games, additional games would be played at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Both Louisville and Connecticut are unbeaten in the double-elimination bracket.

The championship game of the tournament will be played Sunday, May 23 at Bright House Field. The time of that game will be determined Saturday.

2009 BIG EAST Baseball Championship

Bright House Field, Clearwater , Fla.

Tuesday, May 19

Game 1 – No. 5 Notre Dame 14, No. 4 St. John’s 5

Game 2 – No. 1 Louisville 12, No. 8 Cincinnati 2 (7 innings)

Game 3 – No. 6 Connecticut 6, No. 3 West Virginia 1

Wednesday, May 20

Game 4 – No. 2 USF 12, No. 7 Pittsburgh 2 (8 innings)

Game 5 – St. John’s 12, Cincinnati 2 ( Cincinnati eliminated)

Thursday, May 21

(Live video on www.bigeastbaseball.com, live audio on Sirius XM Radio)

Game 6 – Louisville 12, Notre Dame 2

Game 7 – West Virginia 20, Pittsburgh 8 (7 innings)

Friday, May 22

(Live video on www.bigeastbaseball.com, live audio on Sirius XM Radio)

Game 8 – Connecticut 4, USF 2

Game 9 – Notre Dame 11, St. John’s 10

Game 10 – USF vs. West Virginia , 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 23

(Live video on www.bigeastbaseball.com of all games except Game 12; live audio on Sirius XM Radio)

Game 11 – Louisville vs. Notre Dame, 9 a.m.

Game 12 – Connecticut vs. Winner of Game 10, 1 p.m. (ESPNU)

Game 13 – Loser of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 11, TBD (if necessary)

Game 14 – Loser of Game 12 vs. Winner of Game 12, TBD

Sunday, May 24

Championship Game

(Live video on www.bigeastbaseball.com, live audio on Sirius XM Radio)

Game 15 – Winner of Group 1 vs. Winner of Group 2, TBD

CB360 Thursday Scoreboard

2009-05-22T07:25:00.001-07:00

College Baseball Scores (Thursday, May 21, 2009)
courtesy of CollegeBaseball360.com

America East Tournament (Endicott, New York)
Albany 8, Stony Brook 1
Binghamton 10, Vermont 7

Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament (Dayton, Ohio)
Dayton 9, Massachusetts 5
Rhode Island 7, Xavier 6
Massachusetts 6, Charlotte 5 (10 inn.)

Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament (Durham, North Carolina)
Boston College 7, Georgia Tech 3
Florida State 4, Miami 2
Virginia 6, Clemson 5

Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament (DeLand, Florida)
Belmont 6, Mercer 5
East Tennessee State 4, Stetson 2
byes: Jacksonville and Lipscomb

Big Ten Conference Tournament (Columbus, Ohio)
Purdue 12, Michigan State 9
Indiana 12, Minnesota 3
Ohio State 7, Illinois 4

Big 12 Conference Tournament (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Texas 9, Kansas 3
Kansas State 9, Baylor 4

BIG EAST Conference Tournament (Clearwater, Florida)
Louisville 12, Notre Dame 2
West Virginia 20, Pittsburgh 8 (7 inn.)
Several games moved to Friday

Big South Conference Tournament (Asheville, North Carolina)
Winthrop 8, VMI 4
Radford 11, Coastal Carolina 7
Liberty 20, High Point 10

Colonial Athletic Association Tournament (Wilmington, North Carolina)
Delaware 9, Northeastern 5
George Mason 11, Old Dominion 5
Georgia State 8, UNC-Wilmington 5

Conference USA Tournament (Hattiesburg, Mississippi)
Houston 4, Marshall 1
Tulane 7, Central Florida 3
Rice 8, Alabama Birmingham 1
Southern Mississippi 5, East Carolina 2

Horizon League Tournament (Lorain, Ohio)
Valparaiso 4, Butler 2
Wright State 20, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 4
Illinois-Chicago 16, Cleveland State 6

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference/MAAC Tournament (Trenton, New Jersey)
Marist 7, Canisius 6
Manhattan 2, Rider 1

Mid-American Conference Tournament (Chillicothe, Ohio)
Central Michigan 6, Bowling Green 2
Miami (OH)17, Bowling Green 4
Ohio 15, Ball State 6
Kent State 17, Central Michigan 2
Toledo 7, Eastern Michigan 6

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament (Wichita, Kansas)
Missouri State 8, Southern Illinois 4
Illinois State 7, Indiana State 3
Creighton 11, Wichita State 0 (7 inn.)

Mountain West Conference Tournament (Fort Worth, Texas)
BYU 5, New Mexico 1
TCU 9, BYU 2
San Diego State 9, Utah 8

Northeast Conference Tournament (New Britain, Connecticut)
Monmouth 14, Wagner
Sacred Heart 16, Central Connecticut State 13

Ohio Valley Conference Tournament (Paducah, Kentucky)
Morehead State 7, Southeast Missouri State 5 (11 inn.)
Tennessee Tech 7, Murray State 2
Jacksonville State 11, Eastern Illinois 5

Southeastern Conference Tournament (Hoover, Alabama)
LSU 9, Alabama 6
Florida 12, Mississippi 2 (8 inn.)
Georgia 2, Arkansas 1 (10 inn.)
Vanderbilt 5, South Carolina 4

Southern Conference Tournament (Greenville, South Carolina)
The Citadel 9, Davidson 8
Furman 6, College of Charleston 5
Georgia Southern 6, Appalachian State 5
Elon 15, Western Carolina 7

Southland ConferenceTournament (Corpus Christi, Texas)
Southeastern Louisiana 9, Northwestern State 7
Texas-Arlington 7, Stephen F. Austin 4
Sam Houston State 8, Texas-San Antonio 6 (11 inn.)
Texas State 10, Lamar 1

Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
Alcorn State 8, Mississippi Valley State 7
Jackson State 17, Alabama A&M 7
Texas Southern 6, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 0
Southern 5, Grambling 2

Summit Tournament (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
Southern Utah 11, South Dakota State 8
Oral Roberts 9, Centenary 1

Sun Belt ConferenceTournament (Troy, Alabama)
Florida Atlantic 16, Florida International 6 (8 inn.)
Louisiana-Monroe 13, South Alabama 8
Louisiana-Lafayette 5, Middle Tennessee State 4
Western Kentucky 14, Troy 11

Western Athletic Conference Tournament (Honolulu, Hawaii)
San Jose State 5, Nevada 3
New Mexico State 7, Fresno State 4
Louisiana Tech 4, Hawaii 3

Other Scores
Cal State Bakersfield 5, at UC Davis 2
at Central Arkansas 7, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 2
Northern Colorado 18, at Texas-Pan American 5 (National Independents Tournament; Edinburg, TX)
at Texas-Pan American 9, Houston Baptist 8 (National Independents Tournament; Edinburg, TX)

Defending Champ Fresno St. Falls In WAC Opener

2009-05-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

(Courtesy NM State, Fresno State & wire reports)

HONOLULU – The New Mexico State baseball team (42-15) won its first ever Western Athletic Conference tournament game 7-4 over the defending tournament champion Fresno State at Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu, Hawai’i, Thursday, May 21.

Junior Steven Anderson hit the go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth giving NM State the chance to take on the winner of the Louisiana Tech-Hawai’i game. Anderson, who entered the game as a pinch runner was 1-for-1 with three RBIs and two runs scored.

“I am proud of him and what he did today,” head coach Rocky Ward said. “This can really boost his career.”

Fresno State had won twelve straight WAC Tournament games, and three straight WAC championships from 2006-2008. The defending national champions are now 12-1 in WAC tournament play.

Senior lead-off hitter Richard Stout (Boise, Idaho) went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while junior Nate Shaver (The Dalles, Ore.) was 3-for-5 on the day hitting in the two hole.

Red shirt freshman Scott Coffman (Albuquerque, N.M.) came in the game during the seventh inning and picked up his third win of the season. He threw 1 1/3 innings with two strikeouts, while senior Jake Wilson (Chropus Christi, Texas) earned his third save coming in to close out the ninth.

The Aggies got on the board first after senior centerfielder Richard Stout (Boise, Idaho) reached base with a lead-off walk and advanced to second on a Shaver single to right. Senior Jeff Farnham (Las Vegas, Nev.) got the RBI on a single to centerfield.

Fresno State leadoff batter Danny Muno opened the first inning drawing a walk. Muno leads the country in getting walked with 62. Freshman Dusty Robinson battled through the pitch count and blasted a two-run home runs over the left field wall giving the Bulldogs the lead, 2-1.

With the bases loaded, Fresno State added another run with an RBI walk in the fourth inning.

The Aggies tied the game in the eighth when junior Leo Aguirre (Austin, Texas) hit a triple over the leftfielder’s head to bring in pinch-runner Steven Anderson (Markham, Ontario) from second base. Anderson came in for junior Mike Sodders (Moreno Valley, Calif.) who picked up the Aggies’ first extra-base hit of the game. Aguirre crossed the plate to give NM State a 4-3 lead when Kyle Decater (Sammaish, Wash.) singled up the middle.

The Bulldogs tied the game up in the bottom of the eighth, but that didn’t last long as Anderson blasted a ball over the left field wall in the pitcher friendly park to bring in three runs.

With the win NM State plays LA Tech with first pitch set for 10pm PT Friday in Honolulu, Hawai’i.

The Bulldogs face San Jose State Friday at 6 pm PT. A loss would end the defending national champion's season. They would become the second straight defending champion (along with Oregon State last year) to fail to qualify for the NCAA field the following year.

Rain Forces A-Sun Format Change

2009-05-22T06:19:00.001-07:00

Four to open in single-elimination; four-team double elimination to follow

Weather Forces Baseball Championship Format Change

MACON, Ga. – Two days of rain has forced a format change in the 2009 Atlantic Sun Baseball Championships. Unable to complete a six-team, double-elimination championship, the championship will begin with two single-elimination games, leading into a four-team, double-elimination championship.

The new championship will commence with the fourth-seeded Belmont Bruins facing the fifth-seeded Mercer Bears at 3:00 p.m. The Bears concluded their regular season by sweeping a three-game series with the Bruins in Nashville, Tenn., last weekend. The winner will face Jacksonville, the Championship’s top seed at 9:30 a.m. on Friday.

Third-seeded Stetson will take on ETSU, the sixth seed, at 6:30 p.m. in the second of the single-elimination games. The Hatters took three from the Buccaneers at home earlier in the month, outscoring the Bucs, 36-11. Lipscomb, the defending champion, waits as the reward for the winning club at 1:00 p.m. on Friday.

Friday’s play concludes with the two losing teams from the day’s first two contests playing an elimination game at 4:30 p.m. The day’s two winners will play at 8:00 p.m. with the victor earning a spot in the title game.

Revised Schedule of Events

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Game 1 3:00 p.m. No. 4 Belmont vs No. 5 Mercer

Elimination Game

Game 2 6:30 p.m. No. 3 Stetson vs No. 6 ETSU

Elimination Game

Friday, May 22, 2009

Start of Double Elimination Bracket

Game 3 9:30 a.m. No. 1 Jacksonville vs Winner Game 1

Game 4 1:00 p.m. No. 2 Lipscomb vs Winner Game 2

Game 5 4:30 p.m. Loser Game 3 vs Loser Game 4

Game 6 8:00 p.m. Winner Game 3 vs Winner Game 4

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Start of Double Elimination Bracket

Game 7 11:00 a.m.

Game 8 2:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Game 9 1:00 p.m. If Necessary

Rain Halts Thursday Big East Play

2009-05-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

RAIN CAUSES MORE POSTPONEMENTS AT BIG EAST BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Rain has yet again halted play at the BIG EAST Baseball Championship as Game 8 between Connecticut and USF has been postponed due to a late sustained rain that moved through the area.

The game is now scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, beginning a slate of four games.

The revised tournament schedule is as follows:

Friday, May 22

(Live video on www.bigeastbaseball.com, live audio on Sirius XM Radio)

Game 8 - Connecticut vs. USF, 10 a.m.

Game 9 - Notre Dame vs. St. John's, 1 p.m.

Game 10 - Loser of Game 8 vs. West Virginia, 4 p.m.

Game 11 - Louisville vs. Winner of Game 9, 7 p.m.

Game 12 - Winner of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 10, TBD

Game 13 - Loser of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 11, TBD (if necessary)

Game 14 - Loser of Game 12 vs. Winner of Game 12, TBD

Game 15 - Winner of Group 1 vs. Winner of Group 2, TBD

2009 WAC Awards Announced

2009-05-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

(Courtesy WAC)

HONOLULU--The Western Athletic Conference today released its 2009 all-WAC baseball teams and postseason awards as selected by the league’s head coaches. Fresno State senior third baseman Tom Mendonca was named the Player of the Year and San Jose State senior Ryan Shopshire earned Pitcher of the Year honors. The Freshman of the Year award went to Hawai‘i outfielder Kolten Wong. San Jose State’s Sam Piraro was named WAC Coach of the Year.

Mendonca, a junior from Turlock, Calif. (Turlock HS), batted .367 in conference play and led the WAC in home runs with 24 earning First Team and WAC Player of the Year. The junior was also named the 2009 Preseason WAC Player of the year.

Shopshire, a senior from Anaheim Hills, Calif., Calif. (Orange Lutheran HS), earned the WAC’s Pitcher of the Year award, becoming the first Spartan to the honor. He is the first San Jose State individual to pick up a top conference award since Junior Ruiz was the 2000 WAC Player of the Year. Shopshire went a perfect 4-0 over five league starts, including a seven-inning shutout with a career-high 15 strikeouts in a 2-0 home victory over rival Fresno State on April 25.

Wong, a native of Hilo, Hawai‘i (Kamehameha-Hawai‘i), batted .424 in WAC play, finishing with 29 RBI, 15 runs, five homers, two triples and 12 doubles. He’s UH’s first WAC Freshman of the Year since Andrew McNally won West Division Freshman of the Year honors in 1993.

Piraro, in his 22nd campaign in charge of the Spartans, was honored as the WAC Coach of the Year for the fourth time. Piraro has led his alma mater to a 39-18 overall win-loss record thus far in 2009. San Jose State reached its third WAC crown, all under Piraro, and first since 2000. The Spartans have eclipsed the 30-win plateau for a fourth straight year, have guaranteed themselves a winning overall record for the fourth season in a row, and finished with a winning WAC mark for the second consecutive year as well, at 15-7, their best since 2002.

2009 ALL-WAC HONORS

Pitcher of the Year: Ryan Shopshire, Sr., San Jose State

Player of the Year: Tom Mendonca, Jr., Fresno State

Freshman of the Year: Kolten Wong, Hawai‘i

Coach of the Year: Sam Piraro, San Jose State

FIRST TEAM All-WAC:

Outfield - Tim Wheeler, Jr., Sacramento State

Outfield - Kolten Wong, Fr., Hawai‘i

Outfield - Devon Dageford, Jr., Louisiana Tech

Outfield - Dusty Robinson, Fr., Fresno State

First Base - Kevin Macdonald, Jr., Hawai‘i

Second Base - Danny Muno, So., Fresno State

Third Base – Tom Mendonca, Jr., Fresno State

Co-Shortstop – Kyle Bellows, Jr., San Jose State

Co-Shortstop – Bryan Marquez, Sr., New Mexico State

Catcher – Travis Simas, Sr., Nevada

Designated Hitter – Nick Melino, Fr., Nevada

Utility – Matt Bowman, Sr., Nevada

Starting Pitcher – Ryan Shopshire, Sr., San Jose State

Starting Pitcher – Jayson Kramer, Sr., Hawai‘i

Starting Pitcher – David Berner, Sr., San Jose State

Relief Pitcher – Holden Sprague, Sr., Fresno State

SECOND TEAM All-WAC:

Outfield – Jason Martin, So., San Jose State

Outfield – Nate Shaver, Jr., New Mexico State

Outfield – Westley Moss, Jr., Nevada

Outfield – Patrick Thomas, Sr., Louisiana Tech

First Base – Shaun Kort, Jr., Nevada

Second Base – Hunter Martinez, Sr., Sacramento State

Third Base – Corey Valine, Jr., San Jose State

Shortstop – Greg Garcia, So., Hawai‘i

Catcher – Jeff Farnham, Sr., New Mexico State

Designated Hitter – Mike Sodders, Jr., New Mexico State

Utility – Chris Kersten, Sr., Louisiana Tech

Starting Pitcher – Daniel Simon, Jr., New Mexico State

Starting Pitcher – Jesse Darrah, Fr., Sacramento State

Starting Pitcher – Derek Achelpohl, Sr., Nevada

Relief Pitcher – Daniel Tinlin, Jr., Nevada

CB360 Wednesday Scoreboard

2009-05-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

College Baseball Scores (Wednesday, May 20, 2009)
courtesy of CollegeBaseball360.com

Atlantic 10 Tournament (Dayton, Ohio)
Massachusetts 5, Fordham 4
Xavier 8, Charlotte 4
Charlotte 13, Fordham 10

Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament (Durham, North Carolina)
Miami, Florida 8, Georgia Tech 6
Florida State 7, Boston College 2
North Carolina 8, Duke 3

Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament (DeLand, Florida)
(All three games rained out/moved to Thursday)
East Tennessee State vs. Jacksonville
Mercer vs. Lipscomb
Belmont vs. Stetson

Big Ten Conference Tournament (Columbus, Ohio)
Illinois 16, Michigan State 5
Indiana 9, Purdue 1

Big 12 Conference Tournament (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Kansas State 5, Kansas 4
Baylor 14, Texas 9
Missouri 5, Texas A&M 2
Oklahoma 5, Texas Tech 2

Big East Conference Tournament (Clearwater, Florida)
South Florida 12, Pittsburgh 2 (8 inn.)
St. John's 12, Cincinnati 2
Suspended: Louisville 9, Notre Dame 2 (t-4th)
Suspended: Connecticut vs. South Florida
Suspended: Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia

Big South Conference Tournament (Asheville, North Carolina)
Coastal Carolina 9, VMI 4
High Point 7, Winthrop 4
Liberty 10, Radford 3

Colonial Athletic Association Tournament (Wilmington, North Carolina)
George Mason 6, Delaware 5
Georgia State 6, Northeastern 5
UNC Wilmington 7, Old Dominion 5

Conference USA Tournament (Hattiesburg, Mississippi)
Alabama-Birmingham 8, Houston 3
Rice 13, Marshall 0
East Carolina 6 , Central Florida 3
Southern Mississippi 15, Tulane 2 (8 inn.)

Horizon League Tournament (Lorain, Ohio)
Cleveland State 4, Valparaiso 2
Wright State 8, Butler 3

Mid American Conference Tournament (Chillicothe, Ohio)
Kent State 6, Miami (OH) 4
Toledo 14, Ohio 4
Eastern Michigan 19, Ball State 16
Suspended: Central Michigan 4, Bowling Green 1 (b-4th)

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament (Wichita, Kansas)
Creighton 5, Southern Illinois 1
Missouri State 9, Illinois State 6
Wichita State 15, Indiana State 7

Mountain West Conference Tournament (Fort Worth, Texas)
BYU 5, UNLV 4
Utah 9, TCU 7
San Diego State 2, New Mexico 1

Ohio Valley Conference Tournament (Paducah, Kentucky)
Tennessee Tech 9, Southeast Missouri State 5
Jacksonville State 9, Morehead State 0

Southeastern Conference Tournament (Hoover, Alabama)
Arkansas 8, Florida 5
Georgia 6, Mississippi 3
Vanderbilt 4, LSU 1
South Carolina 9, Alabama 5 (11 inn.)

Southern Conference Tournament (Greenville, South Carolina)
Georgia Southern 4, Davidson 3 (11 inn.)
Appalachian State 4, The Citadel 1
Western Carolina 12, College of Charleston 4
Elon 10, Furman 8

Southland ConferenceTournament (Corpus Christi, Texas)
Texas-San Antonio 5, Northwestern State 4
Sam Houston State 9, Southeastern Louisiana 2
Texas State 9, Stephen F. Austin 2
Lamar 4, Texas-Arlington 3

Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
Arkansas-Pine Bluff 6, Alcorn State 5
Grambling State 9, Jackson State 7
Texas Southern 4, Mississippi Valley State 0
Southern 8, Alabama A&M 3

Sun Belt ConferenceTournament (Troy, Alabama)
Louisiana-Lafayette 11, Florida International 3
Middle Tennessee State 12, Florida Atlantic 2 (7 inn.)
Western Kentucky 14, Louisiana-Monroe 4 (8 inn.)
Troy 10, South Alabama 4

Other Scores
Arizona State 9, at Arizona 3
Oregon State 14, at Oregon4
at Central Arkansas 9, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 3

Oral Roberts Sweeps Summit League Awards

2009-05-21T05:42:00.000-07:00

ORU BASEBALL SWEEPS SUMMIT LEAGUE MAJOR AWARDS

(Courtesy Oral Roberts)

TULSA, Okla. - The Oral Roberts University baseball team swept the Summit League major awards for the sixth consecutive season as announced on Wednesday night. Mark Serrano was named the Player and Pitcher of the Year and Seth Furmanek earned Newcomer of the Year honors, while Rob Walton was named the Summit League Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his six seasons at the helm of the Golden Eagles.

Serrano (Downey, Calif.) was named the Summit League Player and Pitcher of the Year after posting an overall record of 9-0 this season with a 2.38 ERA. Serrano won all five starts in conference play, and posted all three of his complete games in league action. Serrano was named a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper after tossing a two-hit complete-game shutout at North Dakota State with a career-high 16 strikeouts on April 25.

The senior right-hander has fanned 107 batters this season in 72.0 innings pitched, which ranks eighth all-time at ORU for a single season. Serrano currently ranks third nationally with a 13.38 strikeouts per nine innings mark, while also placing seventh in total strikeouts and 15^th in ERA. Serranoâs selection as both Summit League Player and Pitcher of the Year marked the fourth time as Golden Eagle has achieved the feat.

Furmanek (Gilbert, Ariz.) earned Newcomer of the Year honors, marking the sixth consecutive season a Golden Eagle has earned the award. Furmanek posted a .340 batting average during the regular season, and led the squad with 15 home runs while ranking second with 56 RBI. In league play, Furmanek hit at a .425 clip and led the conference in RBI (37), total bases (3.78 per game) and slugging percentage (.932), while tying for tops with 10 homers. Furmanek earned Summit League Player of the Week honors twice during the season.

In addition to Serrano and Furmanek, Juan Martinez (Bakersfield, Calif.), P.J. Sequeira (Petaluma, Calif.), Johnny Roberts (Pryor, Okla.), Andre Lamontagne (Santa Maria, Calif.) and Jerry Sullivan (Budd Lake, N.J.) earned spots on the first team, while Tyler Garewal (Bakersfield, Calif.) and Jeff Burleson (Bakersfield, Calif.) were second-team selections.

Martinez earned his second first-team all-conference selection after leading the Golden Eagles with a .379 batting average and 58 RBI. Martinez also tallied 11 doubles and 13 homers and led the Golden Eagles with a .470 on-base percentage. Martinez batted .419 in league play with seven doubles, five homers and 35 runs driven in. The senior shortstop earned National Player of the Week honors by Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA after going 13-of-22 in five games with five long balls and 19 RBI.

Sequeira batted .340 overall this season with 11 doubles, two triples, eight home runs and 33 RBI. The junior outfielder led the Golden Eagles in Summit League play, posting a .466 average with a .795 slugging percentage. Sequeira led the league in hits (1.89 per game) and ranked second in runs (1.83 per game).

Roberts was among seven Golden Eagles to earn his first all-conference award after rounding out the regular season with a .307 batting average, eight doubles, seven homers and 35 RBI. Roberts hit six of his eight doubles and five of his seven long balls in Summit League play while batting .368 and slugging .676.

Lamontagne was one of three Golden Eagle starters to earn all-conference accolades after posting a 4-2 overall record and a 3.41 ERA in 14 appearances and 11 starts. Lamontagne went 3-0 in Summit League play, and fanned 31 batters in 26 1/3 innings. The senior right-hander tallied a career-high 13 strikeouts in a 19-0 win over IPFW on April 3, while tossing his first-career complete game on May 9 at Oakland.

Sullivan earned his third all-conference award and second first-team selection as a Golden Eagle after posting a 6-3 record with a 3.29 ERA. Sullivan especially shined in league play, going 4-0 with a 2.18 ERA and fanning 64 batters in only 45 1/3 innings. Sullivan tallied a career-high 16 punch outs on April 11 in a 22-1 win over South Dakota State. The junior led the conference in strikeouts (12.71 per nine innings) and innings pitched (7.56 per appearance).

Garewal was named to the second-team in his first season as a Golden Eagle after posting the second-best batting average on the team (.344) with 11 doubles, five homers, 32 RBI and 13 stolen bases. Garewal hit at a .423 clip in conference action and led the Golden Eagles with 16 walks against league opponents.

Burleson earned second-team honors as a relief pitcher after posting a stellar second-half of the season. Burleson came on in relief in the third inning against Centenary on April 19 and struck out a career-high 12 batters in 7.0 innings pitched for his first collegiate victory. The junior right-hander threw his first-career complete game at Oakland on May 9, only allowing one run to earn his second victory of the year. Burleson, a converted infielder, posted a 3.04 ERA in 10 appearances with 27 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings, while only allowing two earned runs in 17.0 innings pitched in league play.

Walton was named Summit League Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season and fourth time overall after leading the Golden Eagles to a 16-2 league record and their 11^th consecutive conference regular season title.

In 12 seasons in the Summit League, ORU has earned 124 all-conference selections, including 84 first-team honors.

The Golden Eagles open the Currington Mortgage Summit League Baseball Championship against Centenary at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

Summit League Player of the Year

Mark Serrano, Oral Roberts

Summit League Pitcher of the Year

Mark Serrano, Oral Roberts

Summit League Newcomer of the Year

Seth Furmanek, Oral Roberts

Summit League Coach of the Year

Rob Walton, Oral Roberts

Summit League First Team

Stephen Turner, South Dakota State, 1B

Keliâi Zablan, Southern Utah, 2B

Jesse Sawyer, South Dakota State, 3B

Juan Martinez, Oral Roberts, SS

Seth Furmanek, Oral Roberts, C

P.J. Sequeira, Oral Roberts, OF

Johnny Roberts, Oral Roberts, DH

Tony Martin, South Dakota State, UTL

Andre Lamontagne, Oral Roberts, SP

Mark Serrano, Oral Roberts, SP

Jerry Sullivan, Oral Roberts, SP

Summit League Second Team

Tell Ross, Centenary, 1B

Tommy Jablonski, Oakland, 2B

Drew Laidig, Western Illinois, 3B

Ricky Imperiali, Centenary, SS

Justin Kline, North Dakota State, C

Joel Blake, South Dakota State, OF

Tyler Garewal, Oral Roberts, OF

Travis Leversen, Centenary, OF

Michael Tompkins, Centenary, DH

Chester Wilson, Southern Utah, UTL

Steve Johnson, Southern Utah, SP

Justin Kraft, Centenary, SP

John Straka, North Dakota State, SP

Jeff Burleson, Oral Roberts, RP

2009 Big South Baseball Awards

2009-05-21T05:38:00.000-07:00

BIG SOUTH ANNOUNCES 2009 BASEBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS AND AWARD WINNERS

(Courtesy Big South Conference)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Coastal Carolina senior first baseman David Anderson and Chanticleers head coach Gary Gilmore have been voted Big South baseball Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively, by the League’s head coaches, it was announced this evening prior to the third game of the 2009 Royal Purple Big South Baseball Championship. Coastal Carolina sophomore Cody Wheeler was unanimously voted the Big South’s Pitcher of the Year, while Radford shortstop Jeff Kemp earned Freshman of the Year honors. Gardner-Webb’s Jonathan Ahearn was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s sports information directors.

Anderson finished the regular-season with League-bests of 19 home runs and 72 runs batted in. He ranks eighth in batting (.379), is first in slugging percentage (.737), walks (40) and total bases (140), and second in on-base percentage (.491) and 10th in hits (72). In League games, Anderson batted .420 (37-88) in 26 appearances, with 10 home runs and 38 RBI. He also slugged .818 against Conference opponents, drew 25 walks and posted on on-base percentage of .534. Anderson recorded seven game-winning RBI in 2009 and had 17 multi-hit games and 21 multi-RBI performances during the season. He is the second-leading home run hitter in Big South Conference history with 48 career home runs, which is tied for first in Coastal Carolina history.

Wheeler amassed a perfect 10-0 record during the regular-season to lead the Big South in wins. He also was tops in the Conference with 91 strikeouts in 84 innings and walked just 24 batters. Wheeler’s .208 opponents’ batting average against is first in the Big South, while his 3.11 earned run average is fourth. In Big South games, Wheeler was 7-0 with 63 strikeouts in 57 innings pitched. He was named Big South Pitcher of the Week three times in 2009, and his highlight of the season came on March 26, when he threw a complete game no-hitter in a 4-0 win at Hawai’i. He struck out 10 Rainbows and was named National Pitcher of the Week for his effort. During the season, Wheeler had three outings of seven innings where he permitted one hit or less. He also struck out seven-or-more batters in eight of his 13 starts and had a streak of 17.2 consecutive innings without giving up a hit from March 20-April 3.

Gilmore is now the first six-time Coach of the Year recipient, and receives his fourth award in five years. Gilmore led his squad to the No. 1 seed in the 2009 Royal Purple Big South Baseball Championship with a 21-5 League mark, which tied the Big South record for most Conference wins in a season. His club has been nationally-ranked most of the 2009 season and is currently ranked as high as No. 18 in the nation by the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). As a team, Coastal Carolina ranks first in the Big South in batting average (.335), slugging percentage (.535), on-base percentage (.420), runs scored (467), hits (637), runs batted in (424), home runs (76), doubles (129), walks (254), and has been among the national leaders with its 3.90 ERA. Gilmore recently earned his 800th career win, led the team to a 42-13 record during the regular-season, and directed the Chanticleers to wins over nationally-ranked North Carolina, Elon and Kentucky during the year. Coastal Carolina is vying for its 10th Conference tournament championship this week.

Kemp is Radford’s first-ever Freshman of the Year recipient. He batted .341 during the regular-season to rank second on the squad, with eight doubles, two triples and five home runs. He also knocked in 35 runs, posted a .408 on-base percentage and was 13-of-15 in stolen bases to rank seventh in the Big South. Kemp posted 20 multi-hit games, including nine in League action, and opened his collegiate career with a 10-game hit streak. In Conference games, Kemp hit .337 in 24 contests and was among the League leaders with seven stolen bases. During the season, Kemp was named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List as one of the College Baseball Foundation’s candidates for the nation’s Shortstop of the Year award – the only Big South player on the list.

Ahearn is the first Gardner-Webb player to be voted Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and was recently awarded the Big South’s Bob McCloskey Graduate Fellowship. He was named an ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District III First-Team selection earlier this month and is on the national ballot for Academic All-America. Ahearn batted a career-high .328 this season and ranked among the League leaders with 19 stolen bases.

The Conference also announced the 2009 All-Conference and All-Academic teams Wednesday, which are listed below. The First and Second All-Conference teams, as voted by the head coaches are comprised of 13 players each. The All-Academic Team consists of one student-athlete from each institution and is nominated and selected by the League’s sports information directors.

2009 BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE BASEBALL ALL-CONFERENCE

FIRST-TEAM
SP Cody Wheeler, Soph., LHP, Coastal Carolina
SP Shawn Teufel, R-Jr., LHP, Liberty
SP Anthony Meo, Fr., RHP, Coastal Carolina
RP Nick McCully, Jr., RHP, Coastal Carolina
C Billy Alvino, Sr., High Point
1B David Anderson, Sr., Coastal Carolina
2B A.J. Yoder, Sr., VMI
3B Justin Loyd, Sr., Gardner-Webb
SS Alfie Wheeler, Sr., High Point
DH Eddie Rohan, Soph., Winthrop
OF Curran Redal, Jr., Liberty
OF Rico Noel, Soph., Coastal Carolina
OF Brock Miller, Sr., Gardner-Webb

SECOND-TEAM
SP Matteo D’Angelo, Soph., RHP, Winthrop
SP Travis Smink, R-Jr., LHP, VMI
SP Aerik Taylor, Jr., RHP, Radford
RP Tyler Mizenko, Fr., RHP, Winthrop
C Errol Hollinger, Sr., Liberty
1B Alex Gregory, Sr., Radford
2B Bryn Henderson, Sr., Winthrop
3B Tyler Bortnick, Sr., Coastal Carolina
SS Kevin Nolan, Jr., Winthrop
DH Adam Rice, Jr., Coastal Carolina
OF Daniel Cooke, Sr., Gardner-Webb
OF Daniel Bowman, Fr., Coastal Carolina
OF Cory Lyda, Sr., Presbyterian

ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Mark Perry, Sr., Charleston Southern
Austin Fleet, Sr., Coastal Carolina
Jonathan Ahearn, R-Sr., Gardner-Webb
Billy Alvino, Sr., High Point
Errol Hollinger, Sr., Liberty
Mitchell Odom, Sr., Presbyterian
Alex Gregory, Sr., Radford
Justin Schumer, Jr., UNC Asheville
Adam Kruithof, Soph., VMI
Bryn Henderson, Sr., Winthrop

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
David Anderson, Sr., 1B, Coastal Carolina

PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Cody Wheeler, Soph., LHP, Coastal Carolina

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Jeff Kemp, SS, Radford

COACH OF THE YEAR
Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina

SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Jonathan Ahearn, R-Sr., Gardner-Webb

CB360 Tuesday Scoreboard

2009-05-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

College Baseball Scores (Tuesday, May 19, 2009)
courtesy of CollegeBaseball360.com

Results involving top-25 teams (NCBWA/writers poll)
at #1 UC Irvine 5, UCLA 4 (10 inn.)
at #5 Cal State Fullerton 9, Pepperdine 1
#23 Louisville 12, Cincinnati 2 (7 inn.) (BIG EAST Tournament; Clearwater, FL)

Other Scores (listed alphabetically, by winner)
Butler 7, Youngstown State 6 (Horizon Tournament; Lorain, OH)
UC Davis 11, at Stanford 2
Cal State Northridge 3, at Cal State Bakersfield 0
Connecticut 6, West Virginia 1 (BIG EAST Tournament; Clearwater, FL)
at Gonzaga 8, Washington State 7
High Point 2, Charleston Southern 1 (Big South Tournament; Asheville, NC)
Notre Dame 14, St. John's 5 (BIG EAST Tournament; Clearwater, FL)
at Oregon State 2, Oregon 0
San Diego State 12, UNLV 1 (Mountain West Tournament; Fort Worth, TX)
at Southern California 5, UC Riverside 4
Utah 2, BYU 1 (10 inn.) (Mountain West Tournament; Fort Worth, TX)
VMI 13, Gardner-Webb 4 (Big South Tournament; Asheville, NC)

Games Canceled/Postponed/Suspended
Pittsburgh vs. South Florida (BIG EAST Tournament; Clearwater, FL)

Big Ten Baseball Honors Announced

2009-05-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

INDIANA AND OHIO STATE EARN TOP BIG TEN INDIVIDUAL HONORS

FOR 2009 BASEBALL SEASON

OSU’s Burkhart and Todd named Player, Coach of the Year; Buckeyes’ Wimmers shares pitching honor with Indiana’s Arnett; Hoosiers’ Dickerson is top freshman

(Courtesy Big Ten)

COLUMBUS, Ohio – On the night before the start of the 2009 Big Ten Baseball Tournament, the Big Ten Conference announced the season’s All-Big Ten teams and individual honors, recognizing Ohio State catcher Dan Burkhart as the conference Player of the Year, Indiana’s Eric Arnett and OSU’s Alex Wimmers as Co-Pitchers of the Year, IU’s Alex Dickerson as Freshman of the Year and Buckeye mentor Bob Todd as Coach of the Year.

Burkhart becomes the fifth Buckeye to be named Big Ten Player of the Year and the first since Ronnie Bourquin in 2006. He is the second Ohio State catcher to earn the honor, joining Jonathan Sweet in 1994. The sophomore backstop led his team to its first conference championship since 2001 on the heels of an 18-6 Big Ten slate and a 39-15 mark headed into tournament play. The sophomore batted .362 on the season with a slugging percentage of .611, reaching base at a .435 clip. He also ranked in the conference’s top five with 57 RBI. Burkhart also handled a pitching staff that held opponents to a .282 batting average and struck out an average of 7.67 batters per game. Burkhart is a semifinalist for the Coleman Company-Johnny Bench Award, which honors the nation’s top collegiate catcher.

A high school friend of Burkhart’s, Wimmers is the second Buckeye in the last three years to receive top conference pitching honors and is the fourth Ohio State player to earn the distinction. Wimmers finished the regular season on top of several Big Ten statistics, including ERA (2.58), opponents’ average (.197), innings pitched (94.1) and strikeouts (122). The sophomore was named Big Ten Player of the Week four times this year and threw the first nine-inning no-hitter in program history on May 2, recording 14 strikeouts in the process. Wimmers enters the tournament with a 9-1 record, including a 4-1 mark in Big Ten play. The righty is a semifinalist for the College Baseball Foundation’s Pitcher of the Year Award.

Co-Pitcher of the Year Arnett is the first Hoosier to earn the conference’s top pitching award. The junior enters the Big Ten Tournament among the conference’s elite in ERA (2.78), innings of work (94.0), strikeouts (93) and opponents’ batting average (.215), which drops to .203 in Big Ten play. The right-hander tied for the conference lead with 11 wins throughout the 2009 campaign and again tied for the Big Ten’s best with seven victories during the conference slate. Arnett is a semifinalist for the College Baseball Foundation’s Pitcher of the Year award.

Dickerson becomes the first Indiana player to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. The designated hitter earns the laurel after finishing among the conference’s top 10 in average (.367), hits (80), RBI (52) and home runs (14). The newcomer helped Indiana reach its highest seed in the Big Ten Tournament since 1996 and is a unanimous selection to the inaugural Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

Selected unanimously by his peers as Big Ten Coach of the Year, Todd led the Buckeyes to their first conference title since 2001 on the strength of an 18-6 Big Ten slate with a conference-leading 39 victories heading into the tournament. The accolade is the fifth of Todd’s career as he last took home the honor following his squad’s most recent championship season in 2001. Under Todd’s guidance, eight Buckeyes took home All-Big Ten honors, including four first-team members and the conference’s Player and Co-Pitcher of the Year.

The Big Ten also released the All-Big Ten teams and inaugural All-Freshman team. Ohio State led all teams with four first-team selections in Burkhart, Wimmers, designated hitter Ryan Dew and closer Jake Hale. Wimmers was a unanimous selection to the squad, as was Minnesota second baseman Derek McCallum, Purdue outfielder Brandon Haveman and Indiana’s Arnett. Rounding out the first team are Illinois third baseman Dominic Altobelli and shortstop Brandon Wikoff, Indiana outfielder Kipp Schutz and catcher Josh Phegley, Iowa outfielder Ryan Durant and Michigan first baseman Mike Dufek and starter Chris Fetter.

For the first time, the Big Ten coaches also selected an All-Freshman Team, which consisted of seven unanimous selections in Illinois’ Willie Argo, Indiana’s Dickerson and Blake Monar, Iowa’s Dallas Burke, Minnesota’s AJ Pettersen and Justin Gominsky and Penn State’s Jordan Steranka.

The conference office also announced honorees from each of the 10 baseball squads for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Honorees for baseball are Illinois’ Altobelli, Indiana’s Jerrud Sabourin, Iowa’s Justin Toole, Michigan’s Kenny Fellows, Michigan State’s Nolan Moody, Minnesota’s Matt Nohelty, Northwestern’s Jake Wilson, Ohio State’s Cory Kovanda, Penn State’s Ryan Boonie and Purdue’s John Cummins.

The complete All-Big Ten teams and award winners can be found below.

FIRST TEAM

1B – Mike Dufek, MICH

2B – Derek McCallum, MINN#

SS – Brandon Wikoff, ILL

3B – Dominic Altobelli, ILL

OF – Kipp Schutz, IND

OF – Ryan Durant, IOWA

OF – Brandon Haveman, PUR#

C – Josh Phegley, IND*

C – Dan Burkhart, OSU*

DH – Ryan Dew, OSU

SP – Eric Arnett, IND#

SP – Chris Fetter, MICH

SP – Alex Wimmers, OSU#

RP – Jake Hale, OSU

SECOND TEAM**

1B – Jerrud Sabourin, IND

2B – Cory Kovanda, OSU

SS – AJ Pettersen, MINN

3B – Justin Miller, OSU

OF – Pete Cappetta, ILL

OF – Ryan LaMarre, MICH

OF – Michael Stephens, OSU

DH – Alex Dickerson, IND

SP – Matt Bashore, IND

SP – Seth Rosin, MINN

SP – Dean Wolosiansky, OSU

RP – Scott Matyas, MINN

THIRD TEAM

1B – John Cummins, PUR

2B – Eric Charles, PUR

SS – Justin Toole, IOWA

3B – Jordan Steranka, PSU

OF – Willie Argo, ILL

OF – Mike Kvasnicka, MINN

OF – Alex Jaffee, PUR

C – Aaron Johnson, ILL

DH – Matt Nohelty, MINN

SP – Will Strack, ILL

SP – Tom Buske, MINN

SP – Matt Bischoff, PUR

RP – Chris Squires, IND*

RP – Ryan Ignas, PSU*

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM

1B – Nick O’Shea, MINN

2B – Eric Charles, PUR

SS – AJ Pettersen, MINN#

3B – Jordan Steranka, PSU#

OF – Willie Argo, ILL#

OF – Justin Gominsky, MINN#

OF – Tyler Spillner, PUR

C – Dallas Burke, IOWA#

DH – Alex Dickerson, IND#

SP – Will Strack, ILL

SP – Blake Monar, IND#

SP – Tony Bucciferro, MSU

RP – Austin Lubinsky, MINN

BIG TEN INDIVIDUAL HONORS

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Dan Burkhart, OSU

CO-PITCHERS OF THE YEAR

Eric Arnett, IND

Alex Wimmers, OSU

FRESHMAN OF THE YER

Alex Dickerson, IND

COACH OF THE YEAR

Bob Todd, OSU#

SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD HONOREES

Dominic Altobelli, ILL

Jerrud Sabourin, IND

Justin Toole, IOWA

Kenny Fellows, MICH

Nolan Moody, MSU

Matt Nohelty, MINN

Jake Wilson, NU

Cory Kovanda, OSU

Ryan Boonie, PSU

John Cummins, PUR

# - Unanimous selection

* - Additional honorees due to tie

** - Fewer selections due to additional selections on first team