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Bruins Gain Momentum – Ducks Seek Identity…

By CB360 Contributor Kris Anderson

As the regular season winds down, we are starting to gain a better idea of what the postseason might look like. In Eugene, Ore. over the weekend, the UCLA Bruins and the Oregon Ducks showed they are two teams heading in opposite directions.

The Bruins, behind their dominate starting pitching, swept the Ducks, and continued to silence the criticism of their offense. On the other side of the diamond, the Ducks all but played their way out of any hopes of the postseason, due in large part to an offense that only got worse as the series went on.

Beginning with the first game of the series, the Bruins offense seemed unhindered by Oregon’s elite starting pitching.

Seattle Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik was among those in attendance for last Friday's UCLA-Oregon game.

Friday’s series-opener marked one of the most anticipated pitching match ups in PK Park’s short history. Gerrit Cole, a potential number one overall pick in this year’s draft, faced off against Oregon’s Tyler Anderson, a probable first round draft pick. An estimated 25 scouts were on-hand, including Seattle Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik.

The Bruins took advantage of Anderson’s lack of control, tagging him for four runs (three earned) on six hits and drew four walks. Anderson only lasted 5 1/3 innings. Cole’s stuff wasn’t as sharp as usual, but he only allowed one earned run through 7 1/3 innings. A steady drizzle throughout the game could have been a factor for both pitchers, although Anderson said it wasn’t.

Saturday night against Ducks’ sophomore Madison Boer, the Bruins bats did get to Boer early, but not often. UCLA right fielder Chris Giovinazzo led the game off with a double and would later score. They rattled Boer once more in the fifth innings, scoring two runs on three hits and a walk.

The nation’s strikeout leader, Trevor Bauer, was on the hill for the Bruins, and he dazzled as usual. The probable top-10 pick struck out 12 on the way to earning his fifth consecutive complete game (sixth on the year). The only sign of life in the Oregon lineup came from freshman Ryon Healy who drove a 4-seam fastball over the wall for his second home run of the year.

Healy’s performance in recent series’ has earned him a starting spot in the lineup, and has many excited about his future as a Duck.

Adam Plutko was named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week for his efforts on Sunday.

UCLA looked to earn the sweep behind the arm of freshman Adam Plutko on Sunday. Plutko was a sixth round draft pick in 2010 by the Houston Astros out of high school, and showed he why on Sunday. He and Oregon starter Alex Keudell matched zeroes until Keudell came out of the game after 6 2/3 innings. In the eighth inning, UCLA got on the board first. Things fell apart for the Ducks in the ninth as relief pitcher Scott McGough was tagged for three earned runs.

Plutko earned his first complete game of the season in a shutout effort. He pitched to his scouting report, as he worked his fastball and changeup effectively and recorded seven strikeouts. He did show an extreme lack of confidence in his curveball. Following a base hit up the middle by Oregon center fielder Brett Thomas on a hanging curveball in the fourth inning, Plutko did not appear to throw another curve throughout the rest of the game.

By series end, the Bruins had outscored the Ducks 14-2, and continued to prove that their weekend rotation is among the best—if not the best—in the nation. They also out-hit the Ducks 30-to-13. UCLA was able to get to the Oregon pitching staff in a way that not many teams have. Bruins head coach John Savage said that any concerns about his team’s offense were “a non-issue,” and that is hard to argue after their showing at the plate over the weekend.

John Savage's UCLA offense is starting to get hot at the right time of year.

Bruins third baseman Cody Regis raised his batting average over the weekend from .287 to .302—he went 4-for-4 in the final game of the series. Including Regis, the Bruins two, three, four and five hitters in Sunday’s lineup are all hitting above .300.

UCLA’s offense was reeling during the first half of the year, but that was likely due to a lack of comfort with the new bats. While they did leave 26 runners on base over the weekend, they found ways to get on base and continuously executed sacrifices, helping to bring runners home. With their pitching staff, that might be all it takes to win games now, and possibly into June.

Following the game on Sunday, there was plenty of insult to add to the injury. Second baseman Danny Pulfer’s streak of reaching base consecutively ended at 31 games. It was the first time the Ducks have been swept at home since May 24, 2009. They were also held to a season low two hits.

Last year the Ducks were selected for regionals with a 13-14 record in the Pac-10. They now sit at 5-13 and would have to go 8-1 through their remaining conference schedule to match their record from last season. That includes a three game series against No. 3 Oregon State at home to finish the regular season.

Oregon appeared to be a team finding their stride as of late. After taking two out of three against Arizona , the Ducks went on the road and played No. 21 Cal. Oregon did drop the series but both losses came on walk-off hits by the Bears.

In the week before UCLA, the Ducks beat Oregon State during a mid week, non-conference game, 7-2.

But by many accounts following the sweep, this is a team that consists of some players who have given up on the season.

“Pretty sure we established that we’re soft two weeks ago…” Pulfer said. “Some guys are focused, some guys aren’t.”

George Horton's Oregon Ducks have struggled to find consistency in 2011.

Ducks head coach George Horton echoed Pulfers thoughts. “I feel like throwing up. I thought it was one of the weakest offensive efforts that I’ve seen in a long time,” he said of Sunday’s game. “I’m out of speeches.”

While by last year’s standards the Ducks are not yet eliminated from the postseason, mentally they appear to be. In the week leading up to this series, Horton described his team as being “immature”, and those feelings are probably even stronger after the weekend. 21 of the 35 Oregon players are underclassmen, and the immaturity could be a result of that.

This is a team that hasn’t found an identity, nor do they have the emotional stability that would make them poised enough to finish the year by going 8-1. To be a year older and a year wiser could create for an impressive turnaround next season. They’re a team with raw offensive talent and freshman set to become the face of the program in the next couple of years. But with every step forward comes two steps backwards.

Barring a dramatic epiphany, Oregonis a team better suited for the future than the present.

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Every weekend provides every team the opportunity to make a statement in the college baseball world, and this past weekend was no different. However, for the most part it was favorites and not underdogs that made statements from April 15-17.

Friday’s games saw higher ranked teams in the College Baseball 360 Composite National Rankings go 30-8, for a .790 winning percentage. That percentage dipped to .580 (25-18) on Saturday, but the higher ranked teams bounced-back on Sunday by winning at a .700 (26-11) clip.

Two underdogs that broke that trend were #4 South Carolina and #21 Oklahoma State, which each took two of three games in their high profile series against #3 Vanderbilt and #15 Oklahoma, respectively.

Gamecock Statement…

Considering South Carolina is the defending national champion, it’s kind of hard to consider its series win over #3 Vanderbilt an upset. However, the Commodores are the second SEC team that South Carolina has beaten this year (Florida is the other) that was ranked #1 in one of the national polls at the time the Gamecocks beat them in a best two-of-three series. Vandy’s (32-5, 11-4 SEC) series loss is its first since dropping last year’s Super Regional at Florida State, while South Carolina (28-7, 12-3 SEC) has won every series it has played in 2011.

Matt Price

This series was everything it was supposed to be, with great pitching, timely hitting and great defense. There were just two errors committed all weekend. Michael Roth (8-1) out-dueled Sonny Gray (7-2) to give South Carolina a 3-1 game one win. Each ace fired 7 2/3 innings, with Matt Price closing the door with 1 1/3 perfect innings and four strikeouts for his 11th save. The teams combined to use 11 pitchers in Saturday’s 6-4 Vanderbilt victory. Aaron Westlake and Mike Yastrzemski each had two RBIs to help Grayson Garvin improve to 7-1. South Carolina used a 4-run 7th inning to win Sunday’s finale 5-3. Roth was again spectacular out of the bullpen, notching 7 Ks in 3.0 shutout innings to improve to 4-2.

By the way, how would you like to be in the SEC East, where South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Florida all reside? The defending national champs now sit atop the division at 28-7 overall and 12-3 in conference play, followed by Florida (28-9) and Vandy (32-5), which are both 11-4 in the SEC. The Commodores and Gators go head-to-head in Nashville May 13-15.

Beavers Surging, Cardinal Slumping…

Sam Gaviglio

Oregon State swept Stanford in Palo Alto in a match-up of teams who are now heading in completely opposite directions. The Beavers (27-7, 8-1 Pac-10) have won nine straight, with eight of those wins coming against conference foes Arizona, Arizona State and now Stanford. Meanwhile, Stanford (16-12, 3-6 Pac-10) has dropped five of its last six games, including five straight in conference action.

OSU’s Sam Gaviglio (7-1) was masterful in Friday’s 1-0 series-opening win. He mixed enough fastballs in between his devastating curveballs to limit the Cardinal to four hits over 8.0 innings. Gaviglio and his staff mates combined to hold Stanford to five runs on the weekend. It doesn’t get any easier for the Cardinal next week, with UCLA coming to Sunken Diamond.

CLICK HERE for even more in-depth analysis of this series from CB360 contributor Jack Blanchat.

Bedlam Breakthrough…

Oklahoma State took two of three from Oklahoma in the Bedlam Series for its first series win over the arch-rival Sooners since 2008. Both Cowboys wins came in walk-off fashion. Davis Duren gave OSU the win on Sunday with a 10th inning walk-off RBI single for an 11-10 victory in Oklahoma City. Dane Phillips ended Friday’s 8-7 win in Tulsa with a 9th inning lead-off home run.

Break-up The Bruins…

Beau Amaral

The adage that good pitching beats good hitting held-up as UCLA picked-up its biggest series win of the season by taking two of three games from hot hitting Arizona. The Wildcats were averaging 7.5 runs-a-game with a .342 team batting average heading into the series, but the vaunted Bruins pitching staff limited Arizona to 3.3 runs-a-game and a .202 average over the weekend. Trevor Bauer (7-1) fanned 13 and gave-up just four hits in Saturday’s complete game win. Bauer has hit double digit Ks in eight of his nine starts this year. His 110 strikeouts leads the nation. Beau Amaral led the Bruins by hitting 7-for-12 (.583) for the weekend, including six RBIs in Sunday’s 8-5 series clincher.

Wolfpack Attack…

North Carolina was red hot entering its series with arch rival North Carolina State, but the Wolfpack red gave UNC the blues by sweeping the Tar Heels in Raleigh. North Carolina had won 16 of its previous 18 games, including a sweep of Clemson and 2-of-3 vs. Florida State, entering the weekend. Pratt Maynard led NC State by going 6-for-12 with five runs scored in the sweep.

Red Storm Rising…

Joe Panik

Louisville is finding out just how hard it is to maintain dominance over an extended period of time. St. John’s swept the Cardinals (20-15, 6-6 Big East) to hand Louisville its fifth straight loss. Louisville’s 15 losses are one more than it suffered all of last year. St. John’s shortstop Joe Panik was 6-for-14 (.428) with 5 RBIs and a home run in the sweep. Louisville committed 12 errors in the series and has just a .963 fielding percentage this season.

By Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires

Gobble, Gobble…

To kick-off this week’s Notebook, we first want to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving! No matter where you are or what you are doing this week and throughout the holidays, do it safely! Also, with the end of the year fast approaching and football winding down, be sure to look for more pre-season college baseball information coming soon. The start of the 2011 college baseball season is now less than three months away!

TD Ameritrade Park will be the new home of the CWS in 2011.

New Stadium, Higher Prices…

With the hoopla of the last College World Series played at Rosenblatt Stadium, the emphasis is now on the CWS’ move to downtown Omaha and TD Ameritrade Park. While ticket prices won’t have the same kind of hike in price that Yankee Stadium had when the new palace in the Bronx went up last year, CWS season ticket holders will pay more to watch the first series in the new building. Multiple Omaha media outlets have reported that College World Series of Omaha, Inc. has informed season ticket holders that ticket prices will be higher next year.

The price of a 2011 season ticket package at TDA will reportedly go for $374-up from $293 this year. A general admission book of 10 tickets will also go from the $70 price over the last three years to $80. Individual reserved seats will see a slight bump in price as well from $22 to $28. The new stadium also will not have box seats like Rosenblatt did. Some 2,800 season ticket holders who have the rights to buy roughly 14,600 tickets will receive renewal notices the first week of December. They have until February 1 to return their orders.

Tar Heel Gone…

Brian Goodwin

North Carolina has suspended Brian Goodwin for the 2011 spring semester for a violation of university policy . Goodwin earned Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American honors last season by batting .291 with seven home runs and team-highs of eight triples and 63 RBIs. UNC has not disclosed what rule Goodwin broke, but does say that his suspension is not related to the NCAA investigation into the Tar Heel football program.

Gone Batty…

Most of the emphasis on the new bat regulations for the upcoming 2011 season has been on college baseball, but high school baseball players will face some changes as well. Composite bats will still be allowed in 2011 for high schoolers, but the list of allowable composites is short. CLICK HERE for the list of composite bats that meet the ball exit speed ratio (BESR) for high schools (excluding California) for the upcoming season. The National Federation of State High School Associations will follow college baseball’s lead and completely ban composite bats in 2012.

Speaking Of Bats…

Black Friday will be upon us soon, but if you are looking for baseball, softball or football gear for your athlete there’s no need to fight the crowds during the Holiday Season. Baseball Express is one of College Baseball 360’s top sponsors, and they have special Baseball Internet Specials for you right now. Just click the link and enter the coupon code AFSSPD2 to receive 15% off baseball orders of $99 or more from Nov. 23-28. The softball code is AFSSPD3 and the football code is AFSSPD3.

The Conference Shuffle…

The biggest announcements regarding conference realignments this came out of the Big 12, Big Ten and Pac 10, but the situation remains very fluid. Texas State, UT-San Antonio and Denver are set to join the WAC for the 2012-2013 academic year. Denver is the only one of the three that plays neither Division One baseball nor football, while TSU and UTSA will both move from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS or DI) next year. Meanwhile, Hawaii could be ready to follow Boise State and Fresno State to the Mountain West Conference, but that move may not include baseball. There’s a good chance Hawaii will be a football only member of the MWC, with the rest of its sports possibly joining the Big West. At least one recent report says 16 of Hawaii’s 18 teams would prefer the Big West, which would mean much shorter travel times and costs for the lower-revenue generating sports.

New Name, Same Stage…

One of college baseball’s premiere early season events has a new name. What used to be the Whataburger Classic in Corpus Christi, TX is now the Kleberg Bank College Classic. Kleberg recently signed a five-year naming rights contract for the event, which will still be played at Whataburger Field-the home of the minor league Corpus Christi Hooks. Last year’s event saw Oklahoma and UCLA both go to the College World Series. This year’s field includes Oregon State, Indiana, UConn, and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

Auf Deutsch Bitte…

Greg Frady (10) led Germany to a third place finish at the European Championships.

Georgia State baseball coach Greg Frady has been named the European Baseball Coach of the Year. Frady was honored for leading the German National Team to a third-place finish at this year’s European Baseball Championship. It’s the highest finish for the Germans and their first medal in the history of the event. Frady has led his Georgia State Panthers to 73 wins over the last two seasons, including a 2009 NCAA Regional bid.

Three For The SEC…

National letter of intent signings continue to be announced by college baseball teams across the country. It’s a big enough feather in the cap of any high school to send just one player to the Division One ranks, but Lake Wales High School in Lake Wales, FL has a full plume this Thanksgiving. The Highlanders had three players recently sign baseball NLIs with SEC schools. Colton Davis and Jarred Smith will continue to be teammates next year after signing with Auburn, while Justin Shafer signed to play at Florida. Davis and Shafer both turned down DI football offers to play baseball. Lake Wales has a population of roughly 12,000.

Players are timed in the 60-yard dash at Arizona's scout day.

And At The Next Level…

All 30 MLB teams were represented by more than 70 scouts at the University of Arizona’s scout day over the weekend. Scouts put draft eligible Wildcats through their paces in things like the 60-yard dash, a half dozen rounds of batting practice and positional throwing (including pitchers). Senior outfielder Bobby Rinard turned-in the top 60 time at 6.5 seconds. The workout was the last such event for the scouts before the holidays.

Wearing It Out…

We received a question in our mail bag this week about the record for home runs in consecutive at-bats by a DI baseball player. The email cited former Sam Houston State player Tommy Cliffe, who homered in five straight at-bats in 1999. The e-mailer wanted to know if that might be the NCAA record. Turns out, Florida State’s Marshall McDougall did Cliffe one better in that same season. After singling in his first at-bat, McDougall went on to go yard in his next six trips to the plate in his historic 16 RBI day in the Seminole’s 26-2 win over Maryland on May 9, 1999. Have a question for us? Make sure  to drop us a line by clicking here.

V Is For Verlander…

Old Dominion recently retired the jersey of  Justin Verlander. The current Detroit Tiger set the ODU and Colonial Athletic Association record with 427 strikeouts in 335 2/3 innings in his three-year career from 2002-2004. Verlander was the second overall pick in the 2004 MLB Draft by Detroit after winning 21 games for his alma mater. He also helped Team USA to a silver medal finish at the 2003 Pan Am Games.

Keep Growing College Baseball…

Three more schools have made recent additions and/or renovations to their college baseball facilities. Lamar just finished the H.D. “Tex” and Emma Strait Baseball Training Facility. It’s a 9,600 square foot indoor practice center. Butler has made several tweaks to Bulldog Park, with a new turf halo around home plate, new laser-graded infield sod, new netting, and a still to be completed fan patio area down the left field line. Columbia also just dedicated its new Robertson Field at Satow Stadium. The digs include new chairback seating, a new home dugout and a state-of-the-art scoreboard.

Give a unique gift this Christmas from Dugouthats.com.  The Dugout in Omaha has officially licensed 2010 College World Series memorabilia that would make the perfect gift this holiday season (click on the image to left to enlarge).

From t-shirts and caps to limited edition prints commemorating the last CWS ever played at historic Rosenblatt Stadium. Dugouthats.com also always  hats of your favorite college teams like LSU, Texas, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UCLA, South Carolina, Miami and more.

A Look Around The Country At Saturday’s NCAA Action

• The hitting streak continues, but the season is over.  Garrett Wittels extended his hitting streak to 56 games in Florida International’s 15-9 loss to Dartmouth.  The loss eliminated FIU from the Coral Gables Regional.  That means Wittels will begin the 2011 season needing hits in his first two games to tie Robin Ventura for the all-time Division One record hit streak.
  

  Garrett Wittels (FIU photo)

• ““Teams are gonna know what to anticipate.  He likes to drive the ball away.  Look for some teams to try to different things next season.  Try busting him hard inside.  Nobody tried to do that.  We know he can push the ball into right center field, but can he turn on the ball?  I think that’s gonna be the test.”  That’s what ESPNU studio analyst Jay Walker had to say about Wittels and how other teams might approach him next year.  So let me get this straight…Wittels batted .409 this season, hit safely in 56 games, smacked 20 doubles, and came to the plate 237 times, but nobody ever challenged him inside once and he never once turned on the ball?  Great analysis Jay (I hope the sarcasm is detected)!  Anyone who hits in 56 straight and bats .400 over the course of the season is going to do it by going to all fields.  More great analysis by someone we’ve never heard of who probably saw all of eight of Wittels’ at-bats this season.
• Dartmouth clean-up batter Jason Brooks was 2-for-5 in the win over FIU with a grand slam and a total of 6 RBIs.  The win was the first for Dartmouth in the NCAA Tournament since 1987 and the first for the Ivy League since Princeton won a game in 2004.
• Not to be outdone, Illinois State got its first NCAA win in 34 years by downing St. Louis 8-3 in the Louisville Regional elimination game.  Kevin Tokarski homered and drove-in four.
  

  Anthony Rendon (Rice photo)

• Anthony Rendon jacked 3 HR and totaled 7 RBIs to lead Rice to a resounding 19-1 elimination game win over Rider at the Austin Regional.  With the Owls leading 11-0 Wayne Graham lifted starter Taylor Wall after 3 2/3 hitless innings.
• Southern Mississippi’s Taylor Walker was 4-for-4 with a home runs, 4 runs and 4 RBIs in an Auburn Regional elimination win over Jacksonville State.
• Matt Weisinger hit two of St. John’s‘ four home runs in Charlottesville to help the Red Storm eliminate VCU 8-6.
• Baylor beat Lamar 6-5 in Ft. Worth.  Logan Vick had his 29th extra base hit to set a freshman school record.
• Florida Atlantic had a season-high 18 hits to eliminate Bethune-Cookman with a 12-6 win in Gainesville.
• Buddy Sosnoskie belted two HR with 6 RBIs to help Virginia Tech beat Bucknell 16-7.
• Stony Brook eliminated North Carolina State with a 6-2 win in Myrtle Beach.  Sophomore Tyler Johnson (10-3) set a new Seawolves single-season record for wins.  Johnson notched 10 Ks in 8 IP.
• Tyler Garwal hit a walk-off home run to keep Oral Roberts‘ season going with a 9-8 win over Cal in Norman.  The Golden Eagles hit 4 HR and won despite walking 9 batters.
• Francis Larson hit his 25th career home run to help UC Irvine beat Kent State 19-9 in the L.A. elimination game.  Larson has now hit the most home runs in Anteater history.
  

  Neil Holland (UofL photo)

• Louisville’s 7-1 win over Vanderbilt set a program record with the 50th win of the season for the Cardinals.  Neil Holland got his 17th save with 3 shutout innings of one hit ball.
• How confident was Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell that his team could start Regional play 2-0?  Cardinal ace Thomas Royse (9-1, 2.91 ERA) did not start either of his team’s first two games.  He’ll start Sunday, which is the final game of McDonnell’s 3-game suspension.
• Mike Olt is UConn’s all-time home run (44) and RBI (177) leader after belting two long balls with a career-best 8 RBIs as the Huskies routed Central Connecticut State 25-5.  UConn now faces Oregon, which lost 6-4  to Florida State.
• Rain and lightening caused two hours and 28 minutes of delay, but Miami cruised to a 14-1 win over Texas A&M.  Hurricane 1B Scott Lawson was 4-for-6 with 3 HR and 6 RBIs.
• Danny Hultzen gave-up 6 earned runs in 6 IP, but still improved to 10-1 as Virginia beat Ole Miss. 13-7.  The Cavaliers tied a school record with their 49th win.
• Mike Ferraro was 4-for-6 with a home run, two doubles and 6 RBIs to lead San Diego to a resounding 22-1 elimination game win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Tempe.
• Here’s a lesson to the kids at home: ALWAYS RUN IT OUT.  Stanford’s Colin Walsh hit a fairly routine fly ball to left field, but Cal State Fullerton’s Casey Watkins dropped it.  Walsh motored all the way to third on the play and scored on a single by Stephen Piscotty.  The Titans still won 6-5 thanks to a pair of 2-run home runs by Christian Colon.
• Stanford goes 0-2 at the Fullerton Regional.  It’s just the second time Stanford has gone two and out in Regional play.  The last time it happened was in 1994 in Austin, TX.
• There were a total of seven upsets on Saturday.  Five #4 seeds won, with three of those wins vs. #2 seeds.  Two #1 seeds lost to #2 seeds.
• Minnesota is the Cinderella of the Regionals so far.  The fourth-seeded Golden Gophers downed #3 New Mexico 6-4 in 10 innings the Fullerton winner’s bracket game to go to 2-0.
• Scott Matyas struckout 8 in three scoreless, hitless innings of relief to improve to 5-1.
• Eight of Saturday’s Regional games were decided by double digits.
• Citadel’s 1-3 batters combined to go just 2-for-12 in their 9-4 loss to South Carolina.  The Gamecocks used a 5-run 7th inning to take the win.
• Starting pitchers Blake Cooper (11-1) of South Carolina and Asher Wojciechowski (12-3) of The Citadel combined for 23 strikeouts and just 4 walks.
  

  Trevor Bauer (UCLA photo)

• Trevor Bauer had 11 strikeouts to lead UCLA to a 6-3 win over defending national champion LSU in the L.A. winner’s bracket game.  Anthony Ranaudo had 10 Ks in the loss.
• The Bruins (45-13) tied a program record for most wins in one season.  It equals the win total from the Bruins’ 1997 team (45-19-1), which was the last UCLA program to go to the College World Series.
• Junior Casey Harman tossed the first complete game of his career to help #2 seed Clemson topple #1 Auburn 5-2  in Auburn.  Harman scattered five hits with 8 strikeouts.
• Arizona State’s Seth Blair is 12-0 after giving-up just a run in 7 IP as the overall #1 seeded Sun Devils rolled Hawaii 12-1.
• Joe Weik smacked two home runs and had a career-high 6 RBIs to help TCU down Arizona 11-5.  The Horned Frogs improve to 48-11 to tie the school record for wins in a season.
• TCU pitchers Matt Purke (13-0) and Tyler Lockwood combined for 10 strikeouts, making TCU 21-0 when its pitchers have at least 10 Ks in a game.

Notes & Thoughts From Day 1 NCAA Action (updated)

CLICK HERE for DAY-1 NCAA SCOREBOARD

• Minnesota was the only #4 seed that won on Friday (3-1 at Cal State Fullerton, see notes below), while the collective #3 seeds went 9-7 vs. the #2s. The #3 seeds that posted the “minor upsets” (some may have been considered the favorites?) included: Louisiana-Lafayette 1, Rice 0 (in Austin) … The Citadel 7, Virginia Tech 2 (in Columbia) … Washington State 8, Kansas State 6 (in Fayetteville) … Arizona 10, Baylor 9 (in Ft. Worth) … New Mexico 9, Stanford 5 (in Fullerton, which also had the 4-vs.-1 upset) … Oregon State 6, Florida Atlantic 4 (in Gainesville) … North Carolina 12, California 3 (in Norman) … Oregon 5, Connecticut 3 (in Norwich) … and Hawaii 4, San Diego 2 (in Tempe). See bullet notes below for some highlights from Friday’s nine “upsets” (along with info. from the other games).

• Regional host teams have the option to take the first or second game on Day-1 of NCAA Regional play. The hosts traditionally take the second or “Prime Time” game, and this year was no different with 12 of 16 Regional hosts opting for game two. Coastal Carolina, Virginia, Arkansas, and Oklahoma were the only Regional hosts to opt for the early game rather than the night cap (some coaches prefer to get the game out of the way, avoid risk of rain delays, get their team a few hours more rest, etc.). All four of those teams won.
  

  11 year MLB veteran turned college baseball analyst Eric Byrnes

• Disclaimer: I (Sean Stires … Pete LaFleur ditto) like Eric Byrnes. That said, Byrnes was considered by many to be more style than substance in his playing days, so it’s only fitting that ESPNU has continued its tradition of going with style over substance by using the newly-retired Byrnes in the broadcast booth during the Coral Gables Regional. Case in point:  Texas A&M was trailing FIU 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning. After Aggie leadoff man Jaoquin Hinojosa reached base safely, 2-hole batter Tyler Naquin tried (unsuccessfully) to bunt him over. This prompted Byrnes to question why A&M was playing for only onw run so early in the game…. An inning later, with #9 batter Andrew Collazo at the plate in the same situation, Byrnes said, “We’re not bunting again are we?” Uh, yes Eric they were, and after Collazo executed his 8th sac-bunt of the season a graphic popped-up on the screen that showed that A&M had just tied a school record with its 59th sac-bunt of the season. The Aggies entered the day tied for 14th nationally in that department. Apparently game preparation was not high on Byrnes’ list of things to do prior to his college baseball broadcasting debut.
• Byrnes, who played at the 1997 College World Series for UCLA, again showed his lack of knowledge of the current college game later in the broadcast when the subject of NCAA bids came up. Minnesota was mentioned as the only Big Ten representative in the tournament, while the Pac-10 was one of three conferences to get eight bids. “How does that happen, though,” Byrnes asked. “We’re talking one team from the Big Ten and eight from the Pac.” Um…do I really need to say more? Thankfully, Kyle Peterson was there to keep Byrnes pointed in the right direction.
• In fairness to Byrnes, he did provide some needed entertainment when the game turned into a blowout in the middle innings.
• When Florida International pitcher Daniel DeSimone hit Caleb Shofner with a pitch in the bottom of the 5th inning, it marked the 100th HBP by the Golden Panther pitching staff this season. The dubious mark sets an NCAA single-season record.
• Garrett Wittels extended hit hitting streak to 55 games in FIU’s loss to Texas A&M. He doubled to right-center field by swinging at a 3-0 pitch to lead off the top of the 6th inning. A smattering of boos were directed at A&M pitcher Barret Loux when the count reached 3-0 and it looked like Wittels might not have a chance to swing in his third at-bat of the day.
• The hit by Wittels marked the 16th time he extended the streak with a hit between the 4th and 6th innings this season. He’s kept the streak going 25 times in the first three innings of a game, 13 times from the 7th through 9th innings, and once (March 26 vs. Arkansas-Little Rock) in the 12th inning.
• Five different Texas A&M players hit home runs in the 17-3 win, while Aggie winning pitcher Loux (11-2) struck out 10 in 8 IP. He’s now fanned 136 in 104 innings this season.
• The Aggies have won seven straight, 13 of their past 14 and 19 of 22 games dating back to April 27.
• Southern Mississippi’s got some work to do if they’re going to make a return trip to the College World Series (and possibly extend Brett Favre’s NFL career … although something tells us he’s coming back anyway!). The Golden Eagles fell 10-1 to Clemson in their Regional opener. USM ace Scott Copeland dropped to 11-1 with his first loss of the season, after winning as a starter and deep reliever at the C-USA Tournament (to earn CB360 national Primetime Pitcher of the Week honors).
  

  Brett Eibner hit 3 HR in Arkansas' Friday win over Grambling St. (Arkansas photo)

• Brett Eibner smacked 3 HR to help Arkansas rout Grambling State 19-7.  Eibner was 4-for-5 with 7 RBIs and 5 runs. Look for the two-way talent on the mound this weekend as well. Collin Kuhn and Andy Wilkins each homered twice for the Hogs.
• The Citadel pulled-off a minor upset as the #3-seeded Bulldogs beat #2 Virginia Tech, 7-2. The win is the 13th straight for The Citadel, but the best news is they didn’t even use ace Asher Wojciechowski (3.25 ERA, 12-2. 144 Ks in 119 IP). Lefty Matt Talley (8-3) tossed 7.0 innings and won, while 3B David Greene had a 2-run HR from the 7-hole. The jr. RHP “Wojo” is slated to be opposed on Saturday by South Carolina’s ace, sr. RHP Blake Cooper (2.94, 10-1, 88 Ks in 104 IP). Justin Wright was the losing pitcher on Friday vs. Citadel (5.1IP-6R-10H-BB-5K), as VT’s #1-3 hitters combined to hit only 2-for-14 (CF/leadoff Sean Ryan has a 2-run HR in the 7th).
• Zach Osborne registered Louisiana-Lafayette’s first NCAA Tournament shutout since 2002 by blanking Rice, 1-0. Catcher/cleanup hitter Chad Keefer’s 2-out single in the 8th inning plated the game’s lone run.
• Baylor scored five runs in the bottom of the 9th inning, but they came up short in a 10-9 loss to Arizona at the Ft. Worth Regional. The Bears left runners at first and third to end the game. They committed three errors to give the Wildcats five unearned runs in the 6th inning. Steve Selsky & DH/6-hole Josh Garcia (2RBI-2R-HBP) homered for the Wildcats, while SS Alex Mejia was 3-for-4 with 4 RBI, a double & run scored from the bottom of the order.
• Baylor’s Logan Vick walked twice to set a single-season school record with 56 BBs this year. The Bears left 12 men on base (including the two in the 9th), with Gregg Glime‘s home run and 3 RBI pacing the Baylor offense. Logan Verrett had no-decision (3.1IP-3R-5H-BB-2K) and Shawn Tolleson (2-7) was let down by his defense in the hard-luck loss (3.2IP-6R/1ER-5H-BB-2K).
• Closing in on 200: … Friday’s win by Coastal Carolina (6-0 vs. Stony Brook) is the 199th victory for the Chanticleers over past four seasons (199-50-0, from 2007-10).
  

  Oklahoma's Chris Ellison

• Chris Ellison drove in Cody Reine in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Oklahoma a 7-6 win over Oral Roberts. Reine had homered two innings earlier to tie the game (6-6) and ultimately force extra innings.
• One-time Little League World series participant Michael Broad hit one of Miami’s two 1st-inning, 3-run home runs to help the Hurricanes beat Dartmouth, 12-8. The ‘Canes held on after leading 11-0 thru five innings. Joe Sclafani homered twice for the Big Green.
• Oregon State beat Florida Atlantic, 6-4, in Gainesville, Fla. The start of the game was delayed a total of 3:15 by rain. Tyler Smith hit his first home run in nearly two months in the win.
• “Lobos fight scratch and claw baby, we’ll play anybody, anywhere anytime and we’re trying to spend a lot of our effort trying to prove that we can play with anybody in the country.” – Those were New Mexico third-year head coach Ray Birmingham’s comments during his in-game interview on ESPNU while his team was playing Stanford. Is it any wonder UNM is making its first NCAA appearance since 1962?
• New Mexico won that game, 9-5, for the second NCAA Tournament win in school history. Willy Kesler had no-decision (5.2IP-4R-11H-BB-5K) and Jason Oatman (1-2) picked up the relief win (3.1IP-R-3H-2K). RF Chris Juarez went 3-for-4 (3RBI-2B) from the 5-hole, while the 2-hole-batting catcher Rafael Neda homered and scored 4 times (1B/2-hole Justin Howard had 3R).
• Don’t know how to say his name, but Pi’ikea Kitamura was hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the 9th inning to give Hawaii a 4-3 win over San Diego in Tempe, Ariz. San Diego ace Kyle Blair had another solid outing but did not figure into the decisions (8IP-3R/1ER-7H-8K). USD’s Mike Ferraro homered from the 7-hole and had 2 RBI, but USD’s #1-5 hitters combined for only 4 hits.
  

  LSU's Trey Watkins

• In his only at-bat of the night, LSU’s Trey Watkins smacked a 2-strike, 2-out double in the bottom of the 11th to lift LSU to an 11-10 over UC-Irvine. LSU’s Austin Nola forced extra innings when his blooper to right with 2 outs in the 9th scored Johnny Dishon, who motored all the way  aroundfrom first base.
• Jack Armstrong’s pinch-hit single scored Andrew Giobbi to give Vanderbilt an 8-7 win over Illinois State at the Louisville Regional opener. If the name of the offensive hero sounds familiar, it’s because Armstrong has been one of Vandy’s top starting pitchers this season and we’re sure to see him make a start over the weekend.
• Oregon beat Connecticut, 5-3, in Norwich, Conn., thanks to three runs in the top of the 9th inning.
• TCU didn’t use freshman ace Matt Purke (12-0), but the Horned Frogs still cruised to a 16-3 win over Lamar. Kyle Winkler and Greg Holle combined for 11 strikeouts to improve TCU to 20-0 this year when its pitchers have at least 10 K in a game. Purke will go Saturday vs. Arizona.
• Louisville also sat its ace, Thomas Royse (9-1), in its 11-2 win over Saint Louis. Head coach Dan McDonnell was not in the dugout, as he served the first game of his three-game suspension for last week’s dustup with an umpire at the Big East Tournament.
• Minnesota pulled-off the biggest Day-1 upset, as the #4 seed Golden Gophers downed #1 seed andnd host Cal State Fullerton, 3-1 in Fullerton. Jr. RHP  Seth Rosin (9-4) faced only 26 batters and struck out 7 with no walks in 8.0 innings to move his season totals to 95 Ks and only 12 BB. All the Gophers runs came in the opening frame, with RBI singles from Kyle Knudson and Matt Puhl scoring AJ Pettersen & AndyHenkmeryer (other run scores on error/unearned).
• Washington State registered its 19th come-from-behind win of the season, an 8-6 victory over Kansas State in Fayetteville, Ark. Adam Conley postedhis 19th save, while the Cougar bullpen notched its 18th win of the year (one away from tyingthe school record set in 1987). Cody Barlett’s 2-run HR in the 8th inning proved to be the game-winner.
• It took a 5-run 8th inning for South Carolina to rally to a 9-5 home win over Bucknell. It’s the Gamecock’s 12th straight postseason home win.
• Texas scored all 11 of its runs with 2-outs in an 11-0 win over Rider in Austin. Brandon Workman (12-1) tossed a complete game.
• Ole Miss held off St. John’s, 10-5, in Charlottesville, Va. The Red Storm scored all five of their runs in the last two innings.
• Tony Plagman was 5-for-5 in Georgia Tech’s 10-0 win over Mercer in Atlanta.
• Florida freshman Hudson Randall notched a career-best 10 strikeouts in 7.1 innings to help the Gators beat Bethune-Cookman, 7-3. Randall didn’t allow a hit until the 5th inning.
• UCLA routed Kent State, 15-1 in L.A., for the Bruins 25th home win of the season. Their 44 total wins are one away from tying the program’s single-season record set in 1997.
• North Carolina validated its NCAA berth with a 12-3 win over Cal in Norman, Okla. The Tar Heels have scored eight or more runs in 16 of their past 24 first- or second0round NCAA Tournament games.
• 5,684 fans saw Oregon beat UConn, 5-3 at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, Conn. The Ducks rallied for three runs in the top of the 9th. Reliever Madison Boer has notched a save in Oregon’s past four wins. An attendance of 1,948 was on hand earlier in the day to see Florida State beat Central Connecticut, 11-3.
• Kole Calhoun hit his team-leading 14th HR to help overall #1 seed Arizona State beat Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 6-2 in Tempe.

FIU’s Wittels Heads This Week’s “By The Numbers”…

Garrett Wittels (FIU photo)

45…Game hitting streak by Florida International’s Garrett Wittels.  The sophomore had at least one hit in each of FIU’s three wins over South Alabama over the weekend to tie Roger Schmuck of Arizona State (1971) for the third longest Division One hitting streak of all-time.

47…Game hitting streak by Phil Stephenson of Wichita State in 1981 for the second longest streak in NCAA history.  Oklahoma State’s Robin Ventura’s 58 game streak (which ended at the 1987 College World Series) is the longest in DI history.

3…Teams that have qualified for the 2010 NCAA Baseball Tournament.  San Diego and Cal State Fullerton joined Ivy League champ Dartmouth by claiming the their regular season crowns over the weekend.  San Diego won the WCC thanks to losses by Portland, while Fullerton claimed at least a share of the Big West after sweeping Long Beach State.  The Titans own the tie-breaker with UC Irvine and need just one win or one Cal State Northridge loss to win the title outright.

18-2…Fullerton’s record in its last 20 games since losing game one of its series vs. Irvine back on April 9th.

19…Straight NCAA Tournament appearances Fullerton will make when it plays in its NCAA regional this season.  It’s the third longest active streak in the nation behind Miami (37) and Florida State (32).

47…Days it took to complete TCU‘s 19-17 win in 12 innings over Air Force to clinch the 2010 Mountain West

Matt Purke (TCU photo)

Conference Championship.  The game began on March 28th in Colorado Springs, and was suspended due to weather.  It resumed in the 7th inning Friday afternoon in Ft. Worth with TCU leading 16-15.

12…Strikeouts by TCU pitcher Matt Purke, who gave-up just a run on five hits in six innings of relief in that game to improve to 10-0.  The freshman is the Horned Frog’s regular Friday starter.

8…Home runs TCU hit in that game to help the Horned Frogs to a new school record total of 84 HR hit this season.  The record had stood since 1998.

3…Weekend wins by Kentucky (29-23, 12-15) over LSU to hand the defending national champions their fourth straight SEC series loss.  The Tigers (34-18, 12-15) have lost 11 of their last 12 SEC games and 12 of their last 14 games overall.

19…Years since Kentucky had last swept a weekend series from LSU.

21…Years since LSU played in the NCAA Tournament but did not host a Regional.  The Tigers played in College Station Texas that year.  LSU has hosted 18 NCAA Regionals since then, but could find themselves on the road when the tournament starts this year.

16-8…Score by which Indiana trailed Kentucky heading into the bottom of the 8th inning of Tuesday’s game vs. Kentucky.  The Hoosiers plated five runs with two outs in the 8th and then added three more in the 9th to force extra innings before Michael Early’s walk-off hit gave IU an improbable 18-17 victory.

0-for-6…What Early was at the plate in the game prior to drilling a pitch off the left field wall to plate Dylan Smith with the game-winning run.

4 & 7…Home runs hit and RBI’s by St. John’s left fielder Jeremy Baltz in Friday’s 8-5 win over #6 Louisville (the Red

Jeremy Baltz (SJU photo)

Storm lost the other two games in the series).  The freshman leads St. John’s with a .412 average, 18 home runs and 68 RBIs this season.

14-0…Northwestern’s lead over Michigan in the middle of the third inning Sunday in Ann Arbor.

15-14…The final score of Michigan’s comeback win over the Wildcats.  The game ended on Mike Dufek’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

5 2/3…Scoreless innings pitched by Wolverine reliever Matt Miller to pick-up the win.  The junior struck out seven and gave-up just two hits to keep the Wildcats scoreless while Michigan scored the last nine of its 15 unanswered runs.

14…Straight games Virginia has won after sweeping North Carolina over the weekend.  North Carolina (32-20, 11-16) had won eight straight and 10 of its last 11 games heading into the series with the Cavs (43-9, 21-6).

2…Walk-off hits the Cavaliers needed to pull off the sweep.  John Barr’s 2-out RBI single capped Saturday’s game one 3-2 victory,  while John Hicks ended Sunday’s 5-3 win with a 3-run home run.

900…Wins at Ohio State by head coach Bob Todd after Sunday’s 11-6 win over Iowa for the Buckeyes’ lone win of the 3-game series.  Todd will retire at season’s end.

7…Scoreless innings pitched by South Carolina’s bullpen in a 3-game weekend sweep of Arkansas.  Five relievers combined to give-up just two hits after starter Tyler Webb left after giving-up three runs in three innings in Sunday’s 5-3 win to cap the sweep.

33…Consecutive Big South Conference games won by #5 Coastal Carolina (45-6, 23-0) after a 3-game sweep of #39 Liberty (37-15, 18-6).  The Chanticleers remain in good shape to receive a top 8 national seed after sweeping the second place team in their conference.

14,619…Fans who saw Florida’s 3-game sweep of Georgia over the weekend in Gainesville.  It’s the best 3-game attendance figure in program history.  Florida (37-12, 20-7) and South Carolina (41-11, 29-7) are tied for first place in the SEC East.  They go head to head this weekend.

4…Straight SEC series won by Auburn after taking two of three games from Tennessee.  The Tigers (35-17, 17-10) now lead the SEC West.

15…Years since Auburn last won the SEC’s Western Division.  They close the regular season this weekend at Ole Miss.

Anthony Rendon (Rice photo)

10…Run deficit faced by Rice as the Owls prepared to bat in the bottom of the third inning Sunday vs. Southern Mississippi.

19…Unanswered runs Rice scored to beat the Golden Eagles 21-14.  Anthony Rendon paced the Owls, going 4-for-5 with two home runs and 4 RBIs to help Rice lock-up the top seed in the Conference USA Tournament.

7…RBIs by USM’s B.A. Vollmuth in the loss.  The sophomore shortstop belted a pair of home runs himself, including a grand slam.

1,000…Career wins by Arizona head coach Andy Lopez after his Wildcats topped #1 Arizona State 12-4 Sunday night in Tucson.  Lopez is the 16th active coach and the 46th all-time Division One coach to reach the milestone.

1…Loss by ASU’s Merrill Kelly (9-1) this season after giving-up six runs (five earned) in just 3 2/3 IP-his shortest start of the season.  The 12 runs are the most given-up by the Sun Devils this year.

25…Consecutive scoreless innings pitched by Rhode Island’s Tim Boyce (a new URI school record).  The senior struck out 10 and gave-up just two singles with his second straight complete game shutout in Friday’s 6-0 win over Richmond.

27 1/3…Consecutive scoreless innings pitched by Wichita State’s Jordan Cooper after Friday’s 3-0 win over Missouri State.  The sophomore fanned 14 and struck out at least one batter in every inning to improve to 8-2.

69…Walks issued to UT Arlington outfielder Michael Choice this season to set a new Southland Conference single season record.  Choice is batting .401 with 16 home runs and 58 RBIs for the Mavericks (26-26).  He was walked

Tony Nix (UC Riverside photo)

intentionally in the first inning of Sunday’s 11-8 win over Lamar to set the record.

19…Times Choice has been intentionally walked this season to help him lead the nation with his 69 free passes 2010.

10…Big Ten teams that are all still alive in the race to qualify for next week’s 6-team Big Ten Tournament. Four  teams, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, and Iowa, are tied for fifth place.

.266…UC Riverside’s Tony Nix’s season batting average entering last week’s action.

.341…Nix’s current average after a week in which he was 17-for-26 with three home runs, five doubles, a triple, 11 runs scored, and 15 RBIs.  Nix had a stretch during which he had nine straight hits, including a 6-for-6 game against Loyola Marymount.

4…Home runs hit by Bucknell’s Paul Shribman to help the #4 seed Bison beat #1 seed Army in the Patriot League’s best two of three semifinal series.  Shribman belted a grand slam in the series clinching win and finished the weekend by batting 8-for-13 with 9 RBIs and 7 runs scored.  Bucknell faces #3 seed Holy Cross in this weekend’s Patriot League Championship Series.

Arizona, Oregon Fall Out This Week

May 10, 2010

Rank	School (first-place votes)	Record	Points	Last week
1	Texas (25)	41-8	768	1
2	Arizona State (4)	39-5	732	2
3	Virginia (2)	40-9	719	3
4	Coastal Carolina	41-6	640	4
5	Florida	33-12	606	6
6	Georgia Tech	39-9	590	5
7	TCU	36-10	550	8
8	Florida State	36-12	524	9
9	Louisvill	40-8	513	11
10	Arkansas	37-11	496	10
11	UCLA	34-10	480	12
12t	South Carolina	36-11	471	7
12t	Miami (Fla.)	36-11	471	13
14	Cal State-Fullerton	30-14	359	16
15	Oklahoma	35-13	301	17
16	Mississippi	34-15	300	14
17	Vanderbilt	35-13	237	18
18	Virginia Tech	34-15	171	23
19	Connecticut	37-10	152	21
20	LSU	34-15	151	15
21	Auburn	33-15	133	NR
22	Clemson	31-17	128	24
23	Rice	30-17	120	25
24	Kansas State	32-15	79	20
25	San Diego	30-16	66	NR

Dropped out: No. 19 Oregon, No. 22 Arizona.

Others receiving votes: Oregon (30-18) 51; UC-Irvine (29-16) 46; California (27-17) 40; Pittsburgh (34-12) 38; North Carolina (31-17) 33; Arizona (30-16) 28; Stanford (25-18) 17; Alabama (29-19) 13; Liberty (37-12) 11; College of Charleston (35-13) 9; Portland (31-12) 6; New Mexico State (35-16) 5; Fresno State (30-20) 4; Oregon State (24-17) 4; Southeastern Louisiana (36-14) 3; Florida Atlantic (31-17) 2; New Mexico (31-17) 2; Southern Mississippi (29-17) 2; Wichita State (32-17) 2; Florida Gulf Coast (31-16) 1; Texas State (30-16) 1.

The 2010 board: The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the American Baseball Coaches Association. The board for the 2010 season: Terry Alexander, Jacksonville; John Anderson, Minnesota; Ed Blankmeyer, St. John’s; Rob Cooper, Wright State; Sherman Corbett, Texas-San Antonio; Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt; David Eldredge, Southern Utah; Mike Gaski, North Carolina-Greensboro; Nino Giarratano, San Francisco; Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina; Keith Guttin, Missouri State; Danny Hall, Georgia Tech; Daniel Heefner, Dallas Baptist; Loren Hibbs, Charlotte; Charlie Hickey, Central Connecticut State; George Horton, Oregon; Steve Jaksa, Central Michigan; Omar Johnson, Jackson State; Rick Jones, Tulane; Steve Kittrell, South Alabama; Paul Kostacopoulos, Navy; Kevin Leighton, Manhattan; Gary McClure, Austin Peay; Mervyl Melendez, Bethune-Cookman; Gary Powers, Nevada; Mark Scalf, North Carolina-Wilmington; Jim Schlossnagle, TCU; Matt Senk, Stony Brook; Doug Smith, UC-Riverside; Steve Smith, Baylor; Bob Whalen, Dartmouth.

Texas Nipping On Virginia’s Heels…

The staff of Baseball America determines the Top 25 rankings. Records indicated are through games of May 2 and do not include ties.

The stretch drive of the college baseball season is coming, and conference races are heating up.  In this podcast CB 360 Editor Sean Stires talks with our West Coast correspondent, Chase Titleman from Road2rosenblatt.com, about teams like Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, UCLA and how their NCAA hopes are looking.  Will the Pac 10 get more than five NCAA bids for the first time ever?

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN!

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Thoughts on Tar Heels, Golden Eagles, the Pac 10 and even Toby Gerhart and the NFL Draft with Collegebaseball360.com editor Sean Stires.

Two For Home? North Carolina and Southern Mississippi were two of the “Omaha Eight” last year, but more and more they are looking like teams that could be left entirely out of the field of 64 this season.  UNC (23-16, 6-12 ACC) enters this weekend’s series at Clemson tied with Duke for last place in the ACC Coastal Division.  However,

Mike Fox (UNC photo)

they’re technically not even tied with the Blue Devils, because Duke took two of three games from the Tar Heels last month.  That was the first of four ACC series losses by UNC already this season.  As we pointed out in our Notebook earlier this week, the Tar Heels lost just six ACC series over the last four seasons combined.  They entered the week with a solid 36 in the NCAA RPI, but  have lost seven of their last nine games while continuing to drop in every national poll.  In addition to Clemson, North Carolina’s remaining conference series are Wake Forest, at Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Meanwhile, Southern Mississippi (18-17, 2-7 CUSA) is completely reeling.  With an NCAA RPI of 102, last year’s CWS darlings have lost three straight and seven of their last nine games.   Mid-week losses to LSU and Ole Miss are one thing, but USM has lost its last three Conference USA series to UAB, Central Florida and Marshall to plummet to dead last in the conference standings.

The Pac Is Back: After a down year in 2009 the Pac 10 is looking very good.  Arizona State and UCLA grabbed most of the early season headlines with their long winning streaks to start the season, but the league is deep.  Seven teams, #1 Arizona State, #6 UCLA, #16 Arizona, #18 California, #20 Oregon, #24 Oregon State, and #29 Stanford,  are ranked among the CB 360 Composite National Rankings top 30. Each of those teams is

Toby Gerhart hit 16 HR and ran for 44 TDs in his two-sport career (Stanford photo)

also in the NCAA RPI top 30.  At least six of those teams should receive an NCAA bid this season, making it even tougher for a team like North Carolina to find a bid of its own.

Go Gerhart: As I write this the start of the 2010 NFL Draft is just hours away.  It’s hard to believe, but former Stanford two-sport star Toby Gerhart isn’t expected to be taken until the end of the second round…at the earliest.  This is a guy who set Pac 10 records and led the nation with 28 rushing touchdowns and 1,871 rushing yards in 2009.  He also played in 105 college baseball games, while helping the Cardinal to the 2008 College World Series.  He had good 40 times at the NFL Combine, but he’ll slip in the draft because the last white running back to have any real NFL success was John Riggins.  At least one scout has said “If Toby Gerhart was black, he would be drafted in the first round.”  I’m no scout, but was Gerhart too slow when he ran over and around USC’s Taylor Mays when he ran for 178 yards, while running for 3 TDs and catching another in Stanford’s 55-21 win at USC?  Mays is expected to be a first round pick.   Pete Carroll wanted Gerhart to be a fullback when he recruited him, but he ran over Carroll’s linebackers instead.   Gerhart proved Carroll and a lot of other doubters wrong in college, and let’s hope he does the same again in the NFL.