BOSTON, MA — The old adage that “Good pitching beats good hitting” rang true on a beautiful summer night at the oldest ballpark in the Major Leagues on Wednesday, as the West All-Stars beat the East All-Stars 5-0 before 10,470 fans in the Cape Cod League All-Star Game at Fenway Park.

Fenway Park at the 2010 Cape All-Star Game (courtesy capecodbaseball.org)

Pitching was the story for the first four innings. Andrew Gagnon (Long Beach State), Marcus Stoman (Duke), Derek Self (Louisville), and Matty Ott (LSU) each made their innings count for the East, combining to allow only two hits over four shutout innings.

The West staff matched the East’s dominance, as Austin Wood (St. Petersburg), Grayson Garvin (Vanderbilt), Max Perlman (Harvard), and Tyler Ray (Troy) held the high-powered East squad scoreless.

The scoreboard was awash in zeroes until the West struck in the top of the fifth. The East’s troubles began when Tyler Bream (Liberty) singled off Braden Kapteyn (Kentucky), and moved to second on a wild pitch. Bream stole third, and rode home on a wild pitch.

The East ran into more trouble in the sixth when the West roughed up East pitcher Kyle Simon (Arizona). Johnny Ruettiger (Arizona State) stroked a leadoff double and moved to third on a wild pitch. East shortstop Joe Panik (St. John’s) kept the score at 1-0 by throwing out Ruettiger at the plate on Zach Wilson’s (Arizona State) grounder up the middle. But Panik’s efforts went in vain when Casey McElroy (Auburn) drove in Jordan Leyland (UC-Irvine) for a 2-0 lead.

Now operating with some breathing room, the West pitching staff continued to shine. Jed Bradley (Georgia Tech), Christian Jones (Oregon), AJ Achter (Michigan State), and RJ Alvarez (Florida Atlantic) strung together four more unblemished innings and keep the shutout intact.

“Our guys pitched great,” West field manager Harvey Shapiro said. “It isn’t too taxing when you have nine great pitchers in the bullpen. It’s very stress free.”

(Cape Cod Release)

The Cape Cod Baseball League selected its elite team today, and the Harwich Mariners lead the way with seven all-stars heading into the 48th annual All-Star game on July 28 at Fenway Park.

(With the end of the year fast approaching, we’re counting down some of the top moments from the 2009 college baseball season.  We’ll have one a day through New Year’s Eve.)

There’s not a lot to say about this game that hasn’t already been said.  It’s probaly the most famous college baseball game of the decade, and arguably the most famous ever.  The record setting game started on May 30th and it ended on May 31st.

Texas pitcher Austin Wood and BC hurler Mike Belfiore got the lion’s share of the attention for their epic relief performances that night, but there was a lot of other action (or inaction) in those 7-plus hours in Austin.

Here’s a By The Numbers look at the game that the Longhorns finally won 3-2:

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.  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!

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.