Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll #4 (March 8-14)

A By The Numbers Rundown Of The Latest Action

Brett Bochy

13…Straight wins to open the season by Louisville-the best for the program since a 15-0 mark in 1957-after Friday’s 6-1 win at Ole Miss.

5…Runs scored by Louisville in the top of the 12th inning of that game to pick-up the victory.

17…Combined strikeouts by Rebel pitchers Drew Pomeranz (12 in 6 1/3 IP) and Brett Huber (5 in 4 1/3 IP) in the loss.

7…Walks issued by Louisville starter Thomas Royse in 6 1/3 IP.  Royse had walked just 3 batters in 18 innings in his previous three starts this season.

9…Ks by Mississippi starter Drew Barrett in Saturday’s 8-3 win to hand Louisville its first loss of the season.

2…Wins by Louisville (14-1) in the series after winning 10-8 in Sunday’s series finale in Oxford.  Cardinal head coach Dan McDonnell, a former Ole Miss assistant, was making his first trip back to Oxford since becoming Louisville’s head coach in 2007.

1 & 1…Win and save by Cardinal pitcher Neil Holland in the series.  Holland pitched a total of four innings in his two appearances with 6 strikeouts and a walk while allowing a run on one hit.

8…Combined home runs hit by North Florida and James Madison in UNF’s 22-19 win over the Dukes.

7…RBIs powered by two home runs by Ospreys shortstop Andrew Hannon in the win.

2…Wins by Duke over North Carolina in its 3-game ACC-opening series.  The Blue Devils also took 2 of 3 games from the Tar Heels last year.

8…Runs scored in the 6th inning of Duke’s 15-11 win, which came a day after falling 21-9 in the series-opener.

1/3…Inning pitched by Illinois starter Brian de la Torriente-who gave-up 6 runs on 5 hits in the Illini’s 11-10 over Coastal Carolina.

Casey McMurray (Illinois photo)

5…RBIs by Illinois DH Casey McMurray who doubled and hit his first home run of the season in that game to hand the Chants just their second loss of 2010.

6…Runs scored by Virginia in the top of the 9th inning to rally to beat Florida State 9-8 at Dick Howser Stadium on Saturday.

4…Of the UVA runs that scored with two outs to give the Cavs the first two games of the series and the first series win over the Seminoles in program history.

15…Strikeouts by UCLA’s Gerrit Cole in 7 2/3 innings Friday vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi at the Whataburger Classic.

41 & 4…Strikeouts and walks by Cole (4-0) in 25 2/3 IP so far this year.

15…Strikeouts by Cole’s teammate, Trevor Bauer, in 8 plus innings in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Mississippi State.

13-0…Record by UCLA after Sunday’s win over 5-2 win over Oklahoma in their finale at the Whataburger Classic.

1969…The last time the Bruins had a 13-game winning streak.  The 13-0 start is UCLA’s best of the modern era (dating back to 1955).

10…Straight games Oklahoma had won prior to Sunday’s loss to the Bruins.

Mario Hollands (UCSB photo)

16…Strikeouts in eight innings by Santa Barbara pitcher Mario Hollands in Friday’s 8-1 win over Northern Illinois.  The lefty matched a school record held by Barry Zito (1997) and Walt Rehm (1970).

8…Runs scored by Georgia Tech in the bottom of the 6th inning Saturday to rally for a 15-8 win over Wake Forest.

24…Total runs scored by Rice in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings of Saturday’s 26-11 win over Cal.

12…Of the runs that scored in the 6th inning as the Owls sent 17 batters to the plate in the frame.

7…Times Rice SS Rick Hague reached base in the game to tie a program record.  He was 4-for-4 with two walks with four runs scored and 3 RBIs.

8…RBIs in the game by Owl 3B Anthony Rendon, who homered twice in the victory.

8…Strikeouts in 8 IP by Manhattan’s Tom Costigan in a 13-1 win over West Virginia to help the Jaspers to a Saturday sweep of the Mountaineers.

4 & 3…Strikeouts and walks, respectively, in 8 total IP by Notre Dame’s Brian Dupra in his first two starts against Mississippi Valley State and Ohio State.  The junior surrendered 9 ER as he started the season 0-1 with a 10.12 ERA.

13 & 1…Strikeouts and walks, respectively, in Dupra’s last 14 IP vs. Stetson and Gonzaga to improve to 2-1 and drop his ERA to 4.91.

8…Total errors committed by Pacific in its first 13 games of the season.

5…Errors committed by Pacific in the 7th inning of Saturday’s 10-1 loss to Bradley in San Antonio.  The five miscues led to five unearned runs.

35 & 7…Strikeouts and walks by the Texas pitching staff in a weekend 3-game sweep of Iowa.

17…Strikeouts in 7 2/3 IP by Longhorn starter Taylor Jungmann in Friday’s 2-1 win.  It took a 10th inning walk-off home run by Tant Sheppard to get Texas the victory.

Taylor Jungmann

30-24…The score of Sunday’s Georgia State win over New Mexico State.

12…Combined home runs hit in the game by the Panthers and Aggies.

4…Of the home runs that were grand slams.   Ryan Aguayo hit the lone slam for NM State, while Carl Moniz, Bradley Logan and Joey Wood all had them for Georgia State.  The three slams ties an NCAA team record for a single game, while the four combined slams also ties an NCAA record.

14…RBIs in five games last week by Wood.  The sophomore DH batted .640 with an 1.160 slugging percentage for the Panthers.

10…Strikeouts in 8 innings by Ohio State’s Alex Wimmers (4-0) in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Tennessee.

8…Double digit strikeout performances by Wimmers in his 20 career starts.  He also won for the fourth time on the heels of a Buckeye loss.

5…Home runs last week by Tennessee Tech’s A.J. Kirby-Jones.  The junior is now Tech’s all-time home run leader with 33.  Kirby-Jones hit three of the long balls in Friday’s 9-0 win over Buffalo.

Jabari Henry (FIU photo)

2006…The last time an Indiana pitcher tossed a complete game shutout prior to sophomore Drew Leininger accomplishing the feat in Sunday’s 9-0 win over Central Michigan.

17…RBIs in five games by Florida International OF Jabari Henry, who hit five home runs while hitting .500 (9-18) during the week.

6…Home runs in five games by VMI 1B Jordan Ballard who had 14 RBIs in 14 at-bats.  He ended the week with a 1.929 slugging percentage.

7…Extra base hits-3 home runs, 3 doubles and a triple-in four games by Rutgers’ Pat Biserta.  The junior had a grand slam and totaled 13 RBIs to help RU go 4-0 after a 1-8 start to the season.

Illinois Shocks #1 LSU In Baton Rouge

Illinois was not intimidated by the daunting Alex Box Stadium environment.

games dating back to the end of the 2008 season.  Not only was Paul Mainieri’s squad winning games, they were bludgeoning opponents by a combined 109-25 score in their first nine games of the season.

Enter Illinois.  The Illini was a respectable 5-1, but this was a Big 10 team…in Baton Rouge no less.  Illinois was 6-13-2 all-time vs. LSU with all 21 games on the bayou.  No problem…right?  Think again.

In the 129 previous season of Illinois baseball it would be hard to find a better three days than head coach Dan Hartleb’s squad was about to have, and a new freshman phenom was about to emerge.  Here’s how it happened:

Aaron Johnson (Illinois Photo)

Friday, March 6: LSU and Illinois were tied 1-1 in the ninth inning when Illini catcher Aaron Johnson stepped to the plate with one on and two out.   Illinois had done next two nothing all night vs. LSU starter Anthony Ranaudo, who struckout 12 before exiting after seven innings.  Johnson, Illinois’ #5 batter, was responsible for 3 of those Ks.  The junior from Sussex Corner, Neb made up for it though by launching a first pitch slider from Louis Coleman off the massive video scoreboard above the wall in left field to put Illinois on top 3-1.  The Alex Box crowd of 7,640 was stunned and later silenced when Illinois pitcher Nick Chmielewski struckout the side in the bottom of the 9th to end the game.

The win came almost 14 years to the day after Illinois’ last win over a #1 ranked team (March 5, 1995-a 7-4 win over Miami).  Illini sophomore starter Phil Haig held an LSU team that was averaging 12 runs a game to just a run on eight hits through seven innings.  He induced 12 groundouts.  Freshman reliever Corey Kimes earned the win by fanning the side in the 8th inning.  That’s right…Kimes and Chmielewski combined to strikeout the last six LSU batters of the night.

Saturday, March 7: If the Tigers were licking their wounds after Friday night’s stunner, they didn’t show it.  LSU exploded for a 22-10 game two win.  The game featured 10 home runs, 3 grand slams (all by LSU), 32 runs, 32 hits, and 11 pitchers.  None of the pitchers for either side lasted more than three innings.  Illinois’ hurlers combined to walk 11 LSU batters.  The 3 grand slams by LSU tied an NCAA record for the most in a single game and set a new SEC mark.

Willie Argo (Illinois Photo)

However, the story of the game wasn’t what the vaunted Tigers did in victory, it was was an Illinois freshman did in defeat.  Outfielder Willie Argo had sat on the bench through the first seven games of his career, but he made the most of his first collegiate opportunity.  Making his first college start in rightfield (at LSU no less) Argo went 3-for-3 with 3 home runs in his first three official at-bats (he drew a walk his third time up).

The Davenport, Iowa native hit the leftfield foul pole with the second pitch of his first career at-bat for his first home run, and then launched two shots over the left field wall in his next two official trips to the plate.  After the game Argo said “I couldn’t believe it after the first one, and then I just laughed after the second and felt like it was just one of those days after the third. They made some mistakes by giving me fastballs in the middle of the plate, and I took advantage of it.”

Argo (Press play to listen to Argo talk about his big day & Illinois’ big weekend in his podcast interview with Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires.)

Sunday, March 8: Stellar pitching and shaky defense by LSU capped Illinois’ remarkable weekend with a 6-2 Illini win.  Senior Ben Reeser had the start of a lifetime with 9 Ks in 8 2/3 innings to give his team the series win.  Illinois

Ben Reeser (Illinois Photo)

scored its first two runs thanks to a pair of LSU errors in the 3rd (somewhat ironic since LSU’s stellar defense later in Omaha was such a big part of its national championship run).  Designated hitter Casey McMurray had a pair of RBIs for Illinois, while three of his teammates had an RBI apiece.  Illinois took a 6-0 lead into the bottome of the 9th before LSU finally scored.  Chmielewski came in with one on and two outs to strikeout Nick Pontiff to end the game.  A day after his 3 home run coming out party Willie Argo was 0-for-4 with 3 Ks in the loss.

Notes On The Illinois’ Stunning Series Win:

• Aaron Johnson earned Big 10 Player of the Week honors for his efforts.  He batted .500 in the series with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs.
• Ben Reeser was named Big 10 Pitcher of the Week.
• It was the first time since 1991 that Illinois took both Player and Pitcher of the Week honors in the same week.
• Illinois entered the national rankings the following week at #21 in the Collegiate Baseball poll.
• Willie Argo started the rest of Illinois’ 45 games in 2009.  He ended his freshman season with a .355 average, a team-high 12 HR, 47 RBIs, and a .651 slg %.
• Orange was not a kind color to LSU in 2009.  The only other series the Tigers lost all year, home or away, was when they dropped 2 of 3 at home to Tennessee in April.
• LSU outscored Illinois 25-19 in the 3 games, but lost the series.
• The Tigers hit .421 (16-for-38) in their 22-10 win, but they hit a combined .227 (15-for-66) in their two losses.
• Illinois is the first team to win a game and a series in Alex Box Stadium history.
• LSU, of course, would go on to win the 2009 national championship, while Illinois would go 34-20, but miss the NCAA Tournament.

Other Top Moments Of 2009

21.  Alabama’s Kent Matthes Launches Longballs

22.  Freshman Levi Michael Starts In North Carolina’s Season Opener

23.  LSU Opens The New Alex Box Stadium

24.  Oregon Brings Back Baseball