Stanford’s Kaskow, SC ace Cooper Lead Primtime Honors …
Stanford junior first baseman Jonathan Kaskow (Coppell, Texas) and South Carolina senior righthander Blake Cooper (Neeses, S.C.) lead the way for the ninth group of honorees on CB360’s Primetime Performers Weekly Honor, for action during April 12-18.
Stanford jr. 1B Jonathon Kaskow
CLICK HERE for archive of previous CB360 Primetime award winners (scroll down for earlier weeks).
South Carolina sr. RHP Blake Cooper
Kaskow has been named the national Primetime Player of the Week and Cooper is the Primetime Pitcher of the Week, while 15 others join them in comprising the Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll (as selected by CollegeBaseball360.com). Cooper delivered a 4-hit shutout in the series opener vs. Mississippi (#20 in the CB360 Composite National Rankings), countering a strong outing by Ole Moss ace Drew Pomeranz – while Kaskow reached base 10 times and drove in/scored 10 runs during the Cardinal’s series sweep at #14 Oregon State.
COOPER delivered in the clutch versus the Rebels, sending South Carolina on to the series win and a spot among the Southeastern Conference leaders. The 5-10, 180-pound righthander racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts in the 5-0 win over Ole Miss and issued only one walk over the course of his fifth career complete game. It marked the first complete game shutout by a South Carolina pitcher since May 13, 2005 (when Aaron Rawl also posted a noteworthy win over Ole Miss, 2-0).
Blake Cooper's 4-hitter countered 7.0 shutout innings from Ole Miss ace Drew Pomeranz, in South Carolina's 5-0 series opener (photo courtesy of South Carolina).
After working out of a bases-loaded jam to open the game, Cooper settled down and posted four 1-2-3 innings (3rd-5th, 7th) to keep the Rebels at bay. A pair of infield errors allowed the first two batters to reach in the 6th, but Cooper quickly responded with a strikeout and double-play groundball to end the threat.
CLICK HERE to listen to an exclusive podcast interview with Cooper.
The SEC co-lead in victories this season (7-0; giving him28 career wins), Cooper owns a 2.44 season ERA and a lowly .185 opponent batting average, along with a 2.7 K-to-walk ratio (57/21) and 40 hits allowed in 62.2 innings.
KASKOW delivered from his cleanup spot throughout the past week, posting multiple hits in all four games (14-0 vs. Santa Clara; 14-6/5-3 in 10/10-7 at Oregon State) as Stanford gave its NCAA Tournament hopes a major bolt. The imposing 6-4, 225-pound righthanded hitter batted .625 during the week (10-for-16; 8 RBI), including a 7-for-12 effort in the OSU series, with five RBI, five runs, a home run, double and three walks.
Currently the Pacific-10 Conference leader in league batting avg. (.500), Kaskow smacked his first home run of the season and had 4 RBI in the opener vs. Oregon State, followed by a 2-hit game in the series clincher and three more hits in the finale. Stanford entered last week barely over .500 (14-13), with only a 4-5 mark in Pac-10 play (now 18-13/7-5).
Stanford cleanup batter Jonathan Kaskow reached base 10 times and factored into 10 runs, during the Cardinal's series sweep at #10 Oregon State (photo courtesy of Stanford).
(note: additional action photos for some of the other honorees on this page may be added later today)
Primetime Performer Award Criteria
• Must have been playing for or against a CB360 top-50 team (in the Composite National Rankings) or performed a high level in a game that could be key to a team’s conference/NCAA postseason qualification.
• Involved in clutch performances, such as late game-winning hits, noteworthy comebacks, game-changing plays, team leadership, key defensive efforts, etc.
• Performing at a top level against a team rated highly nationally (or within its conference), with bonus consideration given for key performances away from home field and vs. traditional rivals.
• Overcoming adversity or extreme circumstances (for the team and/or individual).
• Any accomplishment that is rare, historic, record-setting, etc., on a national level.
The other 15 members of the CB360 Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll include: Texas Tech fr. 1B Barrett Barnes (Sugarland, Texas) … Arkansas so. 2B Bo Bigham (Texarkansa, Ark.) … Southeastern Louisiana so. SS Justin Boudreaux (Prairieville, La.) … Georgia Tech jr. RF Chase Burnette (Buford, Ga.) … Univ. of the Pacific so. CF Brett Christopher (Livermore, Calif.) … LSU so. 3B Grant Dozar (Morgan City, La.) … Texas jr. RHP Cole Green (Coppell, Texas) … Miami sr. RHP David Gutierrez (Miami, Fla.) … Arizona fr. RHP Kurt Heyer (Huntington Beach, Calif.) … Vanderbilt jr. RHP Taylor Hill (Old Hickory, Tenn.) … Auburn so. LHP Cory Luckie (Prattville, Ala.) … Florida Atlantic jr. RF/RHP Andy Mee (Palm Beach, Fla.) … Oregon sr. OF Curtis Raukinaitis (Sacramento, Calif.) … Liberty so. SS Matt Williams (Franklin, Tenn.) … and Ohio State jr. RHP Alex Wimmers (Cincinnati, Ohio).
The 17 honorees include nine pitchers (one of them a LHP and one a two-way player), along with two first basemen, a second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, centerfielder and rightfielder (plus a player who had stints at all three outfield spots during the past week). The selections feature three seniors, six juniors, five sophomores and three freshmen. The honorees hail from 11 different home states, led by three each from California and Texas, and two each from Florida, Louisiana and Tennessee, plus players from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Ohio and South Carolina.
PRIMETIME PERFORMERS WEEKLY HONOR ROLL#9 (April 20, 2010)
(presented by CollegeBaseball360.com)
“It’s not so much what you do, as it is when you do it.”
Player (Pos.) … School … Yr. … Hometown … Stats & Notes
Barrett Barnes (1B) … Texas Tech … Fr. … Sugarland, TX
Hit .500 in series and homered in both wins vs. #19 Oklahoma (1-12/7-3/8-3), as Red Raiders moved into 3rd place in Big 12 (6-12, 3RBI-3R-2B-BB)
Bo Bigham (2B) … Arkansas … So. … Texarkansa, AR
2-hole batter who offset subpar week by team’s top hitters, in 5-game stretch vs. #34 New Mexico (4-3 in 11/5-4) and SEC rival Georgia (10-2/10-2/13-5); hit 11-20 during week and scored 6 times (once in extra-innings), also 2RBI-2BB-SB-SAC
Justin Boudreaux (SS) … Southeastern Louisiana … So. … Prairieville, LA
Homered twice (5RBI) from 2-hole in key Southland Conf. series-clinching win vs. #37 Texas State (10-1/10-12 in 11/9-6); hit 6-14 with 9 RBI in series (3R-SB-SAC)
Chase Burnette (RF) … Georgia Tech … Jr. … Buford, GA
Helped rout in-state rival Georgia (25-6) and then sweep #16 Clemson (8-6 in 10/4-3/11-3) as Tech remained atop ACC; his HR from 6-hole won opener, then 2B & scored go-ahead run in 7th inn. of gm-2; factored into 8 runs during week (4RBI-5R-HR-2B-BB-2 SB-SF)
Brett Christopher (CF) … Univ. of the Pacific … So. … Livermore, CA
Played lead role in series win at #33 UC Irvine (2-4/7-4/7-2), as UOP jumped into race for BIG WEST title; 2-hole hitter’s strong all-around series included batting 4-9 with 6RBI, 4 sac-bunts & 3 extra-base hits (3B-2 2B-R)
Blake Cooper (RHP) … South Carolina … Sr. … Neeses, SC
Tossed 4-hit shutout (5-0) to beat #20 Mississippi in opener, with career-high 10 Ks and only one walk as SC went on to win series; countered strong outing by Ole Miss ace Drew Pomeranz (7IP-2H-4BB-10K)
Grant Dozar (3B) … LSU … So. … Morgan City, LA
8-hole batter who had game-tying single in 9th and then homered in 14th to win series-sweeping game vs. #26 Alabama (12-5/9-7/6-5); went 2-2 (RBI-R) with 2 walks in opener vs. Tide (SB)
Cole Green (RHP) … Texas … Jr. … Coppell, TX
Crafted 1-hit shutout to beat #32 Texas A&M (14-0) in gm-2 or road sweep vs. rival Aggies (3BB-4K-32BF)
David Gutierrez (RHP) … Miami … Sr. … Miami, FL
Logged 7.0 “perfect-game” innings (21BF, 7Ks) vs. potent Florida Gulf Coast offense (.339 team batting avg.; nearly 9 runs/gm) before leaving due to pitch-count (84); Miami bullpen allowed 1H in 9-0 win
Kurt Heyer (RHP) … Arizona … Fr. … Huntington Beach, CA
Rookie who racked up 14 Ks and ended one out shy of complete game in 5-3 series-opening win at #44 Washington State (5-3; 8.2IP-3R/2ER-4H-BB)
Taylor Hill (RHP) … Vanderbilt … Jr. … Old Hickory, TN
Game-3 starter who turned in near-complete game in 3-2 finale,helping win series vs. #24 Auburn (8.2IP-2R-7H-7K)
Jonathan Kaskow (1B) … Stanford … Jr. … Coppell, TX
Cleanup hitter who Reached base 10 times and drove in/scored 10 runs, during huge Pac-10 sweep (14-6/5-3 in 10 inn./10-7) at #14 Oregon State (7-12; 5RBI-5R-HR-2B-3 BB)
Cory Luckie (LHP) … Auburn … So. … Prattville, AL
Delivered series-tying complete game at #21 Vanderbilt (12-2; 5H-2BB-3K-33BF-115 pitches)
Andy Mee (RF/RHP) … Florida Atlantic … Jr. … Palm Beach, FL
3-hole hitter who paced huge Sunbelt Conference sweep of #18 Western Kentucky (10-3/5-4/9-8), batting 8-13 while factoring into 9 runs (6RBI-4R-HR-2 2B-BB-SF); also saved series finale
Curtis Raukinaitis (OF) … Oregon … Sr. … Sacramento, CA
Delivered key offensive plays from #9 spot, as Ducks won Pac-10 series at #2 UCLA (5-4/8-4/1-5); had 4RBI-HR-3B in series clincher (2RBI in 1-run opener)
Matt Williams (SS) … Liberty … So. … Franklin, TN
5-hole batter who hit .500 (7-14) and played error-free in Big South Conference sweep of #42 VMI (12-9/9-6/13-8), which was coming off upset of #3 Virginia; factored into 10 runs vs. VMI (6RBI-4R-3B-2B-BB-SB)
Alex Wimmers (RHP) … Ohio State … Jr. … Cincinnati, OH
Opened key Big Ten road series with dominating win at #48 Michigan State (10-1; 8IP-R-7H-2BB-7K)
* – Kascow is the CB360 Primetime Player of the Week and Cooper the Primetime Pitcher of the Week … note that rankings above refer to the CB360 top-50 … class years are based on academic standing (some players may have an extra year of eligibility)