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Rivals Both Headed To Regionals…

By CB360 Contributor Jack Blanchat

The final games of the Pac-10 season for the Cal Bears and the Stanford Cardinal showed two teams that appear to be heading in opposite directions, even though both are headed for the postseason once again.

Stanford once again utilized its great pitching to take the first two games in the series up in Berkeley by scores of 3-2 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday. The Stanford bats woke up in the third game, part of a Saturday doubleheader, and the boys in red and white were leading 7-1 in the bottom of the fourth when foul weather set in and ended the game for good.

With the series victory, Stanford finished the season on a high note by beating two top-25 Pac-10 teams in back to back weeks (Arizona and Cal). Cal, on the other hand, hobbled across the finish line with three consecutive series losses in the Pac-10, albeit against three of the better teams in the conference (Oregon State, UCLA and Stanford).

Once again, pitchers Mark Appel, Jordan Pries and Chris Reed all pitched very well, and for the second week in a row, the Cardinal didn’t need much offense to have a winning weekend.

Appel went seven and one-third innings while only giving up one earned run and walking nobody in Friday’s 3-2 win. Reed gave up a hit and a walk, but he closed out the final one and two-thirds innings with the game on the line to seal the victory, which helped Appel’s record to 5-6 and earned Reed his seventh save of the year.

The story was the same in the first game of the scheduled doubleheader on Saturday, but this time Pries was the winner, as he went seven and one-third innings, giving up two unearned runs, one walk and just six hits. Reed closed out the game after he came in during the 8th with a 4-2 lead, runners on the corners and one out. Reed got a fielder’s choice groundout on a dramatic play at the plate and a flyout to rightfield to squash the Bears’ rally, and got a double play in the ninth to end the game.

Despite the losses, Cal’s pitching staff did well over the weekend also, with Erik Johnson striking out 11 Stanford hitters in Friday’s game, and Justin Jones settling down after giving up four runs in the first four innings to finish eight full innings with the Bears down just 4-2 before Reed closed things out for the Cardinal.

Despite the Bears’ solid arms, the offense is a major concern for the boys in blue and gold. Cal has scored just 33 runs in its last 14 Pac-10 games, an average of just 2.3 runs a game. They have been facing off against some excellent teams in that time span – Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA and Stanford – but the offensive struggles will most likely mean an early exit for the Bears unless they can turn things around in the batting cages before the NCAA regionals.

Stanford’s offense didn’t score a ton of runs either – just enough to get the victories – but a couple key cogs in the Cardinal offense had good weekend. Sophomore Tyler Gaffney extended his hitting streak to 17 games this weekend with consecutive 2-for-4, one run, one RBI days at the plate. Fellow sophomore Stephen Piscotty went 2-for-4 with an RBI on Saturday and had a double, a single, and a walk in the second half of the doubleheader before the game was called due to rain.

Senior catcher Zach Jones went 3-for-5 on Saturday and scored three runs in two games (he also had a double and a single in the rainout game) to raise his batting average to .268 this year. This was a particularly impressive feat because Jones was hitting .130 through 16 games, but Jones has finished the regular season by hitting .323 in the last 36 games, and he leads the team in extra-base hits with 31.

Both these teams will be interesting to watch in the regionals – the Pac-10 has been strong this year, and the Cardinal and the Bears both have some nice pieces going into the postseason, both teams have a tough draw with Stanford heading down to Cal State Fullerton and Cal traveling to Rice, but with a little bit of luck, and the offense,
defense and pitching to syncing up, the Bay Area rivals could find themselves advancing to a Super Regional.

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Cardinal, Wildcats Preparing For NCAA Bids…

Mark Appel (courtesy Gostanford.com)

No starter went fewer than six innings all weekend, and Friday night saw two sophomore starters battle in a dramatic fight to the finish. For Stanford, righty Mark Appel went eight innings with nine strikeouts, one walk, and no runs, and for Arizona, righty Kurt Heyer went nine innings with ten strikeouts, no walks, and no runs.

Appel got a no decision even though his team won, but he tied a career high in strikeouts, and had his second-longest outing of the year in the aces’ duel. Appel had excellent command of his change-up and his curveball all night, and the youngster continues to add diabolical off-speed pitches to compliment his mid-to-upper nineties fastball.

Heyer was fantastic as well, as his accuracy with his running two-seam fastball and rapidly sinking change-up propelled him through nine solid innings before the bullpen eventually gave up the loss.

The two pitchers will undoubtedly be Friday night starters next year as well, but, more importantly, they give each team a chance against any squad going in to the postseason.

Appel continues to raise eyebrows, particularly because he has gone against a ton of tremendous Friday starters this season – Sonny Gray, Taylor Jungmann, Gerrit Cole, and Sam Gaviglio to name a few – and he has continued to get better as the season has gone along.

Heyer doesn’t have Appel’s overpowering stuff, but he is very hard for hitters to hit squarely, and he hits the strike zone so often that batters cannot afford to sit back, because he will strike you out (he has 122 K’s already this year).

Starters Kyle Simon and Konner Wade were also fantastic for the Cats on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Simon went seven and one-third inning and kept the Stanford offense to three runs en route to a 7-3 win, stretching his record to 10-3 on the season. Wade threw six and one-third innings of shutout ball Sunday, gave up only one walk, and caused the Cardinal to hit into several double plays.

Kyle Simon improved to 10-3 with Saturday's win.

The Cats’ pitching rotation is solid top to bottom (perhaps it’s not just a coincidence that their names all start with the letter K), but the bullpen leaves some room for concern, particularly Bryce Bandilla, who got saddled with two losses this weekend. The setup man struggled with control in both of his appearance out of the pen, and even though he passed the ball to closer Matt Chaffee in both of those games, the damage was already done by the time Chaffee came in.

The Wildcat offense was uninspiring for most of the weekend, and except for DH Josh Garcia’s two-run home run and shortstop Alex Mejia’s 3-for-4 day on Saturday, the Cardinal pitchers had their way with the Wildcat offense, which currently has the second best team batting average in the nation.

One pitcher who had a bit of breakout weekend against the Wildcat offense was righty Jordan Pries, who had an exceptional start on Sunday for Stanford. Pries went seven innings with six strikeouts, and only gave up one run on a solo home run. The junior has gotten the loss or no decision in his last eight starts, but he finally looked like the Jordan Pries who beat Cal and Vanderbilt in the same week earlier this season. Pries threw all four of his pitches for strikes
and generally confused Wildcat hitters, showing the stuff that powered him to a no-hitter this past summer in the Cape Cod League.

The Cardinal also got an excellent performance from junior closer Chris Reed, who vultured two wins this weekend thanks to late-inning victories on Friday and Sunday. He extended his record to 6-3 this season (which nicely compliments his six saves), and he had great off-speed pitches as well as the nasty, breaking, mid-90s fastball that has been unhittable so far this season.

Tyler Gaffney

Stanford’s offense got a boost from sophomore Tyler Gaffney, who now has a 14-game hitting streak after reaching base in all three games this weekend, and right fielder Austin Wilson, who continues to show how much he has matured at the plate over the course of this season. The freshman hit two seeing-eye singles on Sunday, including the hit that scored the winning run, and he showed that he has adapted to college pitching by no longer swinging for the fences in every at-bat.

Sophomore centerfielder Jake Stewart also returned to the lineup after missing the last several weeks with appendicitis. Stewart was leading the team in extra-base hits and stolen bases when the illness struck, and the capable leadoff hitter will likely provide a big boost to an offense that has seen its stalwart hitter – shortstop Kenny Diekroeger – stuck deep in a rut. The sophomore went 0-for-3 on Sunday to drop his batting average below .300 for the first time all year after he was batting over .400 for the first third of the season.

Stanford ends up with a big series win to keep it at .500 in Pac-10 play, but this series was so close that it very easily could have gone in Arizona’s direction. Keep an eye on these two teams coming into the postseason – I expect them to both be two seeds in regionals, and they most certainly could upset a one seed due to their powerful pitching staffs.

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Cardinal Back On Track…

Tyler Gaffney (courtesey Stanford)

The Stanford offense had an unmemorable weekend overall, but knocking around Gerrit Cole on Thursday night was certainly impressive. The Cardinal hit three home runs, including Zach Jones‘ third three-run homer of the year, and sophomore Tyler Gaffney knocked Cole out of the game after just 6 and 1/3 innings with a two-run shot.

But even though the Cardinal bats woke up against UCLA’s “Ace 1A,” they went silent just a day later against “Ace 1B.”

Trevor Bauer struck out 17 Cardinal hitters in a complete game 4-1 win on Friday night, and his stuff was unbelievable. The junior had 10 strikeouts through just four innings, using a fastball that touched 97 miles an hour, and a dominant curveball that never seemed to miss the strike zone.

After watching his performance on Friday, if someone were to tell me that Bauer is not the best pitcher in college baseball this year, I’d just assume they were crazy. Bauer leads the nation with 127 strikeouts, has an ERA of 1.42 and a WHIP of .802 in just ten starts this season (oh, and four of those starts were complete game wins). Simply put, I don’t think it’s possible for any team to hit Bauer when he’s pitching like this.

And, to make matters worse for other teams, freshman Sunday starter Adam Plutko is also very good – a 1.69 ERA this year – but the UCLA bullpen is a bit of a cause for concern because UCLA will most likely be in a lot of low-scoring games this year.

Trevor Bauer leads the nation with 127 Ks.

This is because UCLA’s bats are not special, but they hit just well enough behind their three-headed monster of a pitching staff to beat anyone on any given day. The Bruins only have three batters that hit over .300, but they did have eight extra-base hits in three games off the Stanford pitching staff, so every batter can make you pay, particularly against righthanded pitchers because UCLA starts five lefties in their lineup.

Looking ahead, both of these teams are going to be threats in the postseason, but both teams do have things to fix. UCLA’s starters give them a chance to go back to Omaha – and maybe to win it all – but their offense and bullpen are concerns. Like I said, I don’t foresee UCLA scoring a ton of runs, so if any team can find a way to get past their starters and dig into the bullpen, the Bruins are vulnerable. However, I’m not sure how a team can get past all three Bruin starters in a double-elimination format, so expect to see UCLA in June.

If Stanford wants to make it deep into the postseason, it needs two players to regain their early-season form – Kenny Diekroeger and Jordan Pries.

Diekroeger has been struggling at the plate lately – his batting average has dropped from .422 to .336 over the last month – but he did have a three-run homer in Stanford’s midweek game against Santa Clara, as well as the walkoff single in Saturday’s game.

Pries has now lost his last three decisions (one against Trevor Bauer and his 17 strikeouts), but his stuff has not looked spectacular lately. After watching Pries dominate Cal and Vanderbilt in his first two starts of the season, I expected him to have a monster year, but he has not been able to dominate the mound like he did early in the year in his last two starts. However, he has not gotten any help from his offense – Stanford has scored only three runs in his last three starts.

Do I expect those two to get right over the last two months of the season? Absolutely. Both are veterans who know what it is like to go through the ups and downs of a long season, and I think the big series win over UCLA will help them regain their form. If that does happen, the Cardinal could be poised for a major late-season surge deep into the postseason.

Another Tough Test Awaits Cardinal…

Mark Appel

Stanford’s pitching has been solid, if unspectacular, the last few
weeks, and a lot of different players have had very good performances
on the mound. Mark Appel got a win over a conference opponent last
Friday, which was important for a guy who only had one win as a Friday
starter, mostly by virtue of going up against great pitchers like
Vanderbilt’s Sonny Gray and Texas’ Taylor Jungmann. I fully expect
Jordan Pries and Dean McArdle to bounce back from their losses this
weekend – they have both done it before – but getting Appel over the
hump with a win was very important.

Out of the bullpen, the story has been the tale of two lefties, with
Scott Snodgress not playing particularly well over the last few weeks
and Chris Reed becoming a dominant performer. Snodgress’ ERA has risen
to 3.48, while Reed’s ERA in the last three weeks is just below 1.00.
Reed’s four saves lead the team, and he pitched two perfect innings on
Tuesday to get a win against Pacific.

While pitching has got their side of the job done, the Cardinal
offense has fizzled lately. Stanford has score six runs in their last
three games, a surprising result for a team that clobbered Washington
State for 22 runs two weeks ago.

Kenny Diekroger

Especially puzzling was shortstop Kenny Diekroeger’s silent bat last
weekend at USC, as he went just 2-for-12 in the series after he came
in hitting .422 – the second best batting average in the Pac-10. Of
course, Diekroeger’s struggles could just be a larger issue with the
Trojans – he went 2-for-11 against USC in a weekend series at home
last year.

If the Cardinal wish to improve as it heads into the heart of the
Pac-10 schedule, it must show better plate discipline. Stanford hit
into four double plays in Tuesday’s game against Pacific, and
strikeouts have plagued the lineup. Highly touted freshman Austin
Wilson now leads the Pac-10 with 30 strikeouts, and centerfielder Jake
Stewart and designated hitter Ben Clowe both have 26 whiffs.
One bright spot has been senior catcher Zach Jones, who has 15 RBI
since March 29th, and has brought in runners in eight of the last ten
games.

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* Look for first hand insight and analysis from this Pac-10 series next week on Collegebaseball360.com!

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The college baseball season continues to gain momentum as well swing into week four. This week’s Notebook combines some of the observations of College Baseball 360 Editor Sean Stires with the observations and insights of CB360 contributor Jack Blanchat.

Bryan Peters had both of Nebraska's game-winning hits over UCLA.

weekend in Lincoln. All three games went to extra innings. How rare is that? Nebraska has been playing baseball since 1889, but prior to Friday and Saturday it had never had extra inning games in back-to-back days go to extra frames. Gerrit Cole lost a perfect game after retiring Nebraska’s first 20 batters Friday, but still helped the Bruins win 1-0 in 11 innings thanks to nine shutout innings.

With Trevor Bauer on the mound, Nebraska’s hopes for a win weren’t looking any better on Saturday. Bauer fanned 17 in 10 innings, but settled for a 129 pitch no-decision in the Cornhusker’s 2-1 win. Bryan Peters had the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 12th for Nebraska, while Dylan Vogt pitched five no-hit innings of relief to earn the win.

The Cornhuskers then plated three runs in the bottom of the 9th inning in Sunday’s series finale and eventually won 5-4 in 11 innings. Peters was the hero again, belting a game-ending home run to give Nebraska back-to-back walk-off wins for the first time in eight years.

Nebraska is 8-4 with a team batting average of .303. UCLA is 7-4, despite a 1.55 team ERA with 126 strikeouts and 42 walks in 104 1/3 IP.

Gator Bait…

Florida (10-1) suffered its first loss of the season to Florida State in the Florida Four event last week, but the Gators came back strong over the weekend with a three-game sweep of Miami in Gainesville. Florida’s starting rotation of Brian Johnson, Hudson Randall and Karsten Whitson combined to allow just two earned runs in 17.0 innings during the series. It’s just the second time in school history that Florida has swept a three-game set from the Hurricanes.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise…

Cal State Bakersfield's Jonathon Montoya

Don’t look now, but Cal State Bakersfield is on a run. The Roadrunners have won 10 straight with the help of some great pitching. Bakersfield, playing its first games away from home this season, gave up just two runs while going 4-0 at the Coca Cola Classic over the weekend in Surprise, AZ. The biggest of the wins was a 2-1 10-inning victory over Arizona State. Freshman Cael Brockmeyer’s 10th inning home run off ASU All-American Mitchell Lambson was the difference. The Roadrunners also turned-in wins over Kansas (12-0), Air Force (5-0) and Northern Illinois (6-1). Bakersfield starting pitchers Tommy Hoenshell, Mike McCarthy, Jonathon Montoya, and Brandon Van Dam combined to pitch 35 innings, while giving-up just two runs. McCarthy was the only one not to pitch 9.0 innings.

Sycamore No-No…

Indiana State’s Jason Van Skike tossed a no-hitter in Saturday’s 8-0 win over Central Arkansas. It’s the school’s 10th all-time no-hitter, but the first nine inning no-no for a Sycamore since 1943. Van Skike needed 143 pitches to complete the gem, which still had its share of base runners. Van Skike struckout five, but he walked eight batters and hit one more.

TCU’s Aces…

When talking about TCU pitchers, 2010 freshman phenom Matt Purke is typically the first name to come to mind. However, Kyle Winkler has been lights out so far this year for the Horned Frogs. Winkler (3-0) has allowed just two unearned runs in 22 1/3 IP so far this season. The senior has 19 strikeouts and just one walk with a .149 opponent batting average. He moved to the Friday spot in the rotation the last two weeks while Purke battled a blister on his pitching hand.

Purke has pitched 10.0 shutout innings himself this season (he pitched against Kansas on opening weekend and pitched Sunday against Texas Tech) to improve to 2-0 this year and 18-0 in his career. Meanwhile, freshman Andrew Mitchell has surrendered just a run in his first 15 2/3 IP, including a Sunday start against Cal State Fullerton last week when Purke missed his start.

The Horned Frogs’ bullpen is still a work in progress though. TCU’s opponents have scored winning runs in the 8th inning or later in all four of the team’s losses this year.

Kyle Robinson

Razorback Off & Running…

Arkansas senior Kyle Robinson played sparingly in his first year at Arkansas last year after transferring from Indian River CC. Injuries played a part in his limited time, but Robinson is making-up for it this year. He hit .474 (9-for-19) with three home runs and 13 RBIs last week. The outfielder’s .465 batting average is the third best in the SEC through the first three weeks of 2011. He also ranks in the top five in the conference in slugging percentage (#3 – .791), runs (#5 – 14), hits (T-#1 – 20), and RBI (#1 – 21).

Quality Pitching…

Notre Dame is just 4-6 through Mik Aoki’s first ten games at the helm, but it’s not for a lack of pitching. Starting pitchers Brian Dupra, Cole Johnson and Todd Miller combined to give the Irish nine straight quality starts (at least 6.0 IP and 3 ER or less) to open the season. The last time a Notre Dame staff had just six straight quality starts was 2001, when 2000 and 2001 first round draft pick Aaron Heilman helped the program achieve its first ever #1 national ranking. Dupra, Johnson and Miller combined for 22 2/3 IP with 21 strikeouts and no walks in their three starts last weekend, but went 0-2 with a no-decision (the Irish beat Manhattan in extra innings in Miller’s start).

Duke-ing It Out…

James Madison is off to a record-setting start in 2011. The Duke’s 11-1 start is the best in program history. JMU leads the nation with 30 home runs and 13.3 runs-a-game through the season’s first three weeks.

Stanford @ Texas…

Now we’ll turn things over to Jack Blanchat, who was at the Stanford vs. Texas series in Austin. The Longhorns took two out of three games in the series. Blanchat’s insights start with thoughts on Texas ace Taylor Jungman, who saw his run of 22.0 scoreless innings to open the season come to a close in Friday’s 4-3 Texas win.

Taylor Jungmann

Taylor Jungmann is the real deal – it doesn’t get much simpler than that. He’s confident, aggressive, and he mixes up his pitches and gets outs in every way. His odd delivery makes it hard to pick up the baseball coming out of his hand, and he gets results. It shows something that Friday night was his worst outing of the season so far, considering he pitched eight and two-thirds innings and only gave up three runs on six hits. Even more impressive about those six hits was that nobody got multiple hits off Jungmann – and nothing was hit particularly hard other than a triple from Brian Ragira that broke up Jungmann’s perfect game in the fifth inning.

The environment at Disch-Falk Field was like an NCAA super regional – absolutely crazy, and jam-packed. It’s one of the biggest stadiums in college baseball in terms of capacity and playing dimensions. The stadium also has field turf instead of a natural grass playing surface, so that made conditions a little harder because the baseball would occasionally act very strangely after it bounced off the turf. The playing conditions, which included wind coming in from left field most of the time, resulted in no home runs for a Stanford team that had six dingers in eight games coming into this series, but it also contributed to the three triples in the series as well.

Texas trotted out a few new faces in their lineup, and they all had a few bright spots, but they still looked very much like freshmen. Jacob Felts did a nice job behind the plate, catching Jungmann’s Friday win(although, the way Jungmann is pitching, it’s hard not to do a good job behind the plate), and he went 2-for-7 and scored a run offensively – altogether not a bad weekend for a freshman catcher. Freshman rightfielder Mark Payton went just 1-for-10 at the plate, but he still scored a run and had two RBI in the series thanks to some erratic Stanford pitching. Finally, freshman third baseman Erich Weiss was solid on offense – he had a hit in every game – but he struggled defensively in Saturday’s contest. He had two errors at the hot corner, and could have been docked for one more if the scorekeeper had been less friendly.

Dean McArdle

Stanford’s pitching rotation is shaping up pretty well – now the offense just has to go out and get Mark Appel a win on Friday night. The sophomore has had tremendous stuff in all three of his starts this season, but by virtue of going up against Sonny Gray and Taylor Jungmann, Appel’s record sits at 0-2 so far. It’s easy to believe that Appel will get back in the win column as the season goes along, but he has shown he can be a primetime player on Friday nights – something the Cardinal will need if they want to overtake UCLA and Gerrit Cole in the Pac-10 down the road.

Dean McArdle pitched very well Saturday (in a 9-2 win) – he’s a bulldog pitcher who had his control working and now has a 7-0 career record at Stanford. He and Jordan Pries are surprisingly similar pitchers, both
righthanders with great control and a nice array of pitches, even though they don’t have overpowering stuff.

I think at this point in the season Stanford head coach Mark Marquess is just trying to mix up his rotation a little bit and see how guys work in different places. Mark Appel brings the power on Friday night and has almost out-dueled both Sonny Gray and Taylor Jungmann.
The three week “Country Music Swing” – Houston, Nashville, and Austin – has been tough on the Cardinal’s record, but they have been impressive so far. I get the sense that the team is ready for a few days off, and they’ll get it with finals week this week. In the big picture, Stanford won’t face as consistently good pitchers as they’ve faced these last three weeks, and that should help cut down on strikeouts. Stanford struck out 27 times in the series against Texas (Jungmann had nine) and therefore stranded 23 runners. All in all, this three-week test has been good for Stanford, though. They’ll be ready to take on teams in a deep Pac-10 Conference, and they’ll have just as much or more experience against the nation’s top teams when it comes time for the NCAA Tournament.

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This week we gather some insights from a couple of the top series in the country, #3 Vanderbilt vs. #12 Stanford and #4 TCU vs. #11 Cal State Fullerton, from reporters who were there (rankings based on the College Baseball 360 Week Two Composite National Rankings).

Jordan Pries

Jordan Pries looked very solid in both of his starts this week (Tuesday against Cal and Sunday vs. Vanderbilt) – add them up and you have two wins, 11.0 innings pitched, 4 hits, and 2 earned runs. He varied his stuff well, and he will definitely be a stalwart this season who the Cardinal can count on all year long. Pries’ fastball reaches into the low 90s at times, but the impressive stuff is his off-speed pitches. He has t a slider that looks the same as his fastball coming out of his hand, but dives hard across the plate and ends up for a lot of called strikes.

Brett Mooneyham, unfortunately for Stanford, will miss the entire season with finger surgery on his pitching hand. The blow is definitely a big one for the Cardinal pitching staff, who will miss having a front line starter who could potentially eat up a ton of innings and help keep the bullpen fresh.

Sonny Gray

Friday’s game was a true pitcher’s duel, and both sophomore (Stanford’s) Mark Appel and (Vanderbilt) junior Sonny Gray brought some good stuff to the table. Personally, I thought Appel had better stuff, but I mean that as a compliment to Gray. Gray definitely didn’t have his A-plus stuff on a very cold Friday night, but he still managed to sneak his way to six strikeouts and give up just one run on three hits. To me, that’s the mark of a good pitcher – a guy who can silence a potent Stanford lineup when he is having control issues with his fastball and he frequently missed the strike zone with first pitches. Gray brought scouts out in droves to see his performance (there were probably 15 to 20 teams there), and even though his pitches weren’t great, his pitching was.

The depth of the Vandy staff is also a high point for a team that I think is legitimately a top five team in the country. Gray is far and away their best starter – Grayson Garvin wasn’t as impressive in his Sunday start – but the Commodore bullpen is a force to be reckoned with, particularly Navery Moore. Moore can reach 98 miles per hour on the radar gun, and he also throws a nasty 94-mile-an-hour sliding fastball that is nearly impossible to hit. Having a true closer separates the men from the boys in college baseball, and I think Moore gives the Commodores a big advantage late in games.

A good example of how important a solid closer is to a top team is how the Cardinal let a three-run lead slip away in Saturday’s game, even though they had 17 hits and seven runs (and stranded 13 base runners). Stanford knows what it’s like to have a pure closer – Drew Storen in 2009 – so they know how to develop a guy to compete at the end of games as well.

Offensively, both teams were about equal, but Vandy does stand out for one reason. Stanford trots out a lineup that is full of right-handed hitters, but Vanderbilt has a totally balanced lineup, with a near-equal number of righties and lefties in the lineup at any time.

Kenny Diekroger

For Stanford, shortstop Kenny Diekroeger had another good week, hitting his first dinger of the season on Tuesday against Cal, then going 4-for-5 on Saturday with three RBIs. Similarly, sophomore centerfielder Jake Stewart had another good weekend, as he’s hitting .367 after hitting just .209 last year. He leads the team with three doubles already, and he is blazing fast in centerfield. Senior DH Ben Clowe is also hitting at a nice rate (.385), and he blasted a big home run off Garvin on Sunday. A sore spot for the Cardinal, though, was the suddenly poor Austin Wilson. The big rightfielder struck out eight times this weekend, and had serious trouble with the sliders the Vandy staff kept throwing him.

Vandy’s balanced offense can score in a lot of different ways – Tony Kemp and Mike Yastrzemski are fast and scrappy (but couldn’t swipe a single base this weekend thanks to Stanford catcher Zach Jones, who threw out three baserunners), Aaron Westlake is a big power hitter, and Jason Esposito is a very solid hitter.

Overall, I think both of these teams are legitimately top ten teams. Stanford easily could have won both the Friday and Saturday games, and Vandy could have easily swept the series. Keep an eye on both of these teams – they will be around deep into the postseason this year.

Blanchat was also there last Tuesday when Stanford hosted rival Cal in a midweek game…

Tuesday’s night’s matchup against Cal was very positive for both teams- the reception for the Bears in their last year of baseball for the foreseeable future was pleasant, even though there was some heckling. (A couple choice insults – “That was a big cut! Kind of like your baseball program!” and “Better luck next year!”)

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Stephen Francis was on hand to see TCU host Cal State Fullerton…

Noe Ramirez

With Titan Friday starter Noe Ramirez, looks can be deceiving.  He doesn’t look like an overpowering pitcher, but he uses off-speed pitching and location with his fastball to throw hitters off and for the most part he did it with success against the TCU lineup.  They made solid contact on a few pitches in the second inning though and with the way Kyle Winkler was handling the Fullerton lineup, that was all they needed.

The TCU and Fullerton lineups compare pretty well to each other at this point, although seven games may be a small sample size.  What sets the two lineups apart though is the power and speed of the TCU lineup vs. the execution ability of the Fullerton hitters.

With TCU, hitters one through nine are capable of driving the ball every at-bat with authority, although things appear to be “all or nothing” at this point.  The Frogs also have a fast group of players that remain aggressive on the basepaths from beginning to end.  With the new bats and the addition of a new hitting coach, the Horned Frogs do appear to have some kinks to work out.

For Cal State Fullerton, they executed very well on the weekend with clutch hitting late in the game.  They seemed to look a little more “seasoned” at this point in the season and took the final two games of the series by winning in the late innings.

While it would be interesting to see what these two teams would do against each other late in the year, it’s clear that Fullerton’s lineup had the easier time this weekend.  That doesn’t tell the full story though because between both teams, pitching was very good across the board.

Andrew Mitchell

Kyle Winkler won TCU’s only game of the series in Friday’s matchup with Ramirez. Matt Purke did not start all weekend due to a blister on his finger. TCU right hander Andrew Mitchell made his second start of the week in Sunday’s series finale and tossed five scoreless innings. He also earned a win after holding Baylor scoreless over 6 2/3 IP in his start last Tuesday.  Although the bullpen couldn’t hold onto his lead in Sunday’s 2-1 loss, the freshman still ended the week with 11 2/3 innings pitched with a 0.00 earned run average, three hits allowed, six walks, six strikeouts and his first career win.

The TCU – Cal State Fullerton and Vanderbilt – Stanford series were two of the top match-ups of the second week of the 2011 college baseball season. This week’s Notebook includes those series as well as other notables from around the nation.

Taylor Jungman has thrown two complete game shutouts to open the season.

junior did it again Friday with a 2-0, 4-hit win at Hawaii. All nine hits Jungmann has given-up this year have been singles. He has 18 strikeouts and just one walk.

15…Innings it took on Saturday for Hawaii to scratch-out a 5-4 win over the Longhorns. David Peterson scored the winning run on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the 15th. Pitchers from the two teams combined for 25 strikeouts, seven walks, four hit batters, and six wild pitches in the 4 1/2 hour maraton. Hawaii’s Pi’ikea Kitamura and Texas’ Paul Montalbano were each o-for-7 at the plate.

3…Big wins for Cal at the Baseball at the Beach Tournament in Myrtle Beach, SC. In the second weekend of their swan song season, the Golden Bears outscored Coastal Carolina, North Carolina State and Kansas State by a combined 29-1 to improve to 5-1. The bulk of the runs came in their 17-0 win over Coastal Carolina. Chanticleer ace Anthony Meo yielded 9 ER on 10 hits in just 5.0 IP in the drubbing.

7…RBIs to go along with 2 HR by Golden Bears CF Chad Bunting in the win over Coastal Carolina. Bunting was 7-for-12 (.583) for the weekend in Myrtle Beach.

5…Straight wins to open the season by Michigan State before dropping an 8-0 decision at Clemson Sunday. The 5-0 start for Jake Boss, Jr.’s squad is the best by MSU since 1964. Senior centerfielder Brandon Eckerle leads the Spartans with a .696 (16-for-23) average.

6…Straight losses to open the season by Michigan after being swept in three games by Rutgers in Port St. Lucie, FL. All six Wolverine losses are to Big East Teams (they were 0-3 at the Big East/Big Ten Challenge). Rutgers starter Tyler Gebler tossed a complete game to earn the win in the series-opener.

10…Combined runs allowed (7 earned) by UCLA aces Trevor Bauer and Gerrit Cole in Saturday and Sunday’s shocking 5-3 and 8-3 losses to San Jose State. After the losses, the Bruins fell to 4-2 after opening last year with 22 straight wins.

Matt Zahel saved both of Toledo's wins at Louisville.

2…Wins to start their series at Louisville by Toledo. The Rockets won by scores of 3-1 and 4-2 Friday and Saturday as the Cardinals lost their first two home games of a season for the first time in 20 years. Toledo closer Matt Zahel saved both wins with a total of 2.0 perfect innings with three strikeouts. Toledo had lost twice to Canisius and once to Creighton in the season’s opening weekend. Louisville won Sunday’s finale 4-2.

0…Hits allowed by Georgia Tech starter Jed Bradley in 7.0 IP in Saturday’s 5-0 win over St. John’s. Bradley fanned 10 with three walks to earn his first win of 2011. Bradley has 20 Ks and has allowed just four hits and one run in 12 1/3 innings this season.

.800…Batting average of Yellow Jacket 3B/1B/C Matt Skole in the 3-game series. Skole was 8-for-10 with a HR and 7 RBIs on the weekend.

0…Runs scored by St. John’s in their first two games of the series with the Yellow Jackets before finally erupting for a 13-3 win in Sunday’s series finale. The Red Storm has scored a total of 35 runs in their three games at the season-opening Big East/Big Ten Challenge.

10…Runs scored in the first inning by Georgia Tech in Friday’s 13-0 series-opening win. Red Storm starter Sean Hagan exited after allowing all 10 ER on 9 hits in just 2/3 IP.

2…Of 3 games won by Cal State Fullerton at TCU to hand the Horned Frogs their first series loss in nearly two years. After dropping Friday’s opener, the Titans won by finals of 8-4 and 2-1 Saturday and Sunday, respectively. TCU ace Matt Purke (17-0 in his career) did not pitch in the series due to a blister on his finger. TCU last lost a series in March 2009 when they lost two of three to San Diego State.

1…Career Division One win by Delaware pitcher Eric Young. It came in Friday’s 7-3 upset at Arizona State. Young, a transfer from Riverside CC, gave-up two runs in 5.0 IP in his first career start in the series-opener against the Sun Devils. Blue Hens DH Jimmy Yezzo helped Young by going 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs.

Danny Hultzen

15…Strikeouts with no walks in 7.0 IP by Virginia’s Danny Hultzen in Friday’s 10-1 win over East Carolina. Hultzen yielded a single to open the game and then retired 19 straight Pirates. He struckout the side three times.

19…Combined strikeouts by Texas A&M’s John Stilson and Gonzaga’s Ryan Carpenter in Friday’s 1-0 win in 11 innings by the Aggies. Stilson, who was one of the top closers in the country last year, fanned 9 in 9.0 shutout innings in his second start of 2011, while Carpenter rang-up 10 Ks in 7 1/3 IP.

2…Wins over Top-30 teams (CB360 composite poll) by Stanford’s Jordan Pries. The junior helped the Cardinal beat #26 Cal in his first start on Tuesday and then earned another victory at #3 Vanderbilt on Sunday for Stanford’s only win in the 3-game series in Nashville. Pries totaled 11.0 IP with 8 Ks and 6 BB. He didn’t allow a hit through the first four innings of the 5-2 win over Vandy (7-1), although the first seven pitches he threw were balls. Stanford (3-3) will rely on Pries even more this year after the announcement that teammate Brett Mooneyham will miss the season after requiring surgery to repair a finger he cut in January.

7 2/3…Scoreless innings pitched by Radford relievers Jason Patton, Brad Wimmers and Abram Williams in Friday’s 13-inning 8-6 win over Auburn. Highlander LF Matt Hillsinger led-off the to of the 13th with a home run to help Radford to the upset.

14…Runs allowed in 11.0 IP by Alabama starting pitchers Adam Morgan, Nathan Kilcrease and Tucker Hawley in losses at the Jaguar Classic, hosted by South Alabama. The Crimson Tide staff surrendered a total of 43 hits in setbacks to Southeastern Louisiana, South Alabama and Central Florida.

26…Game hitting streak, to tie a school record, by Central Florida’s Beau Taylor that ended in Saturday’s loss to Southeastern Louisiana . Taylor made-up for in by going 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs in Sunday’s 12-4 win over Alabama.

3…RBIs and a home run by Appalachian State’s Jeremy Dowdy in Friday’s 7-4 upset of Miami in Coral Gables. The Hurricanes still took two of three games in the series.

Lawrence Pardo

29…Years since Appalachian State had beaten a ranked opponent prior to that win at #19 Miami. Freshman (and Miami native) Lawrence Pardo earned his first win in his second career start in his return to his home town. Prado gave-up three unearned runs on four hits in 6.0 IP.

2…Wins in the first two weeks of the season by Connecticut. The Huskies entered the season with the program’s first top 10 ranking, but have stumbled to a 2-4 start. Their lone wins are over winless Michigan and Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Friday and Saturday starters Elliott Glynn and Matt Barnes, respectively, have suffered all four defeats.

1.2…Runs-a-game scored by UConn in its four losses, while averaging 11 runs in its two wins, but just 1.2 runs in its four losses. Coaches we spoke to at the Big East/Big Ten Challenge last weekend said the losses of Pierre LePage (.327-29 SB) and Mike Olt (.381-23 HR-76 RBIs) from last year’s line-up will be tough to overcome.

10…Strikeouts by Oregon State’s Sam Gaviglio in Friday’s complete game, two-hit 2-0 over UConn. The junior has 15 Ks with one BB and has allowed just two unearned runs in 15 2/3 IP this season.

2…RPI-boosting wins last week by Texas A&M Corpus Christi, which beat Texas 8-7 on Tuesday and then topped Oregon State by the same score on Saturday. Islanders catcher Jumpy Garcia was 2-for-5 with 4 RBIs in the win over the Longhorns.

16…Innings it took Elon to defeat South Florida 7-5 Sunday in Tampa to tie the longest game in USF history. The game featured 14 pitchers, but amazingly took just under 3 1/2 hours to play. 21 of the game’s 24 hits were singles, the other three went for doubles.

16…Strikeouts in 7 2/3 IP by Memphis pitcher Dan Langfield in Friday’s win over Kennesaw State. The sophomore gave-up a pair of first inning singles, struckout the side in the second innings and then retired 16 of the next 19 batters he faces.

240…Points raised on Mike McGee’s batting average (.440) after the Florida State outfielder went 9-for-15 with two HR, 9 runs and 11 RBIs. McGee made his first pitching appearance of the season in the top of the 8th inning  and then homered in the bottom of the inning Sunday against Hofstra. It marks the eighth time McGee has homered and pitched in the same game.

27…Consecutive batters retired, spanning two starts, by Florida’s Brian Johnson. The lefty set down 10 straight batters to end his first start of 2011 against South Florida and then retired the first 17 men he faced in last Thursday’s win over Boston College. He is 2-0 with 12 shutout innings to open his sophomore campaign.

A Team By Team Look At This Weekend’s Games

Collegebaseball360.com has recently teamed-up with Road2rosenblatt.com to help bring you even more great college baseball information.  Chase Titleman has a look at this weekend’s Pac 10 games as well as team capsules.  Following are a few of the capsules.  CLICK HERE to see more.

P.S.-Chase and I will record a Podcast later today to talk about his new Key Stats Indicator ratings index as well as several west coast teams.

Arizona

• After leading Oregon 8-3 with two outs in the Top of the 6th Inning two weeks ago, the Cats have dropped 4 straight, ending what was once a 15 game winning streak.

• Cats lead the PAC in Team Batting Average (.358), Runs Scored (247) and Total Bases (500)…WOW!

• C – Jett Bandy leads conference in batting average (.450) and is tied for 1st in total bases (77), followed by Steve Selsky (.433), Robert Refsnyder (.423) and Seth Mejias-Brean (.396).  Joey Rickard is 2nd in conference in RBI’s with 34.

• Kurt Heyer (2.08 ERA, 4-0) leads the pitching staff with 50 strike-outs and just 7 base on balls.

Arizona State

• Recent 24 game win streak is a program record for a start to the season, but only the 2nd longest overall behind the 1972 record of 32 in a row.

• SS Drew Maggi was named PAC-10 Player of the Week after going 6-13 against Oregon (.462).

• Pitching staff is led by starters Jake Borup (2.43 ERA, 6-0) , Seth Blair (3.12 ERA, 5-0) and Merrill Kelly (3.52 ERA, 6-0), while relievers Mitchell Lambson (1.48 ERA, 41K’s/8BB’s), Jake Barrett (4.50 ERA, 28K’s/5BB’s) & Jordan Swagerty (0.93 ERA, 25K’s/7BB’s) shine in closing roles.

UCLA

• Bruins lead the PAC in ERA (2.32), Strike-outs (293) and Opponent Batting Average (.191).

• So. RHP Gerrit Cole leads conference in opponent batting average (.157) and strike-outs (61), while Sr. RHP Garett Claypool has the best ERA (1.21).

• Tyler Rahmatulla & Dean Espy both lead the Bruins with .422 AVE, followed by Justin Uribe .403, and Blair Dunlap .394!  Every starter in the starting line-up is hitting .300 or better.

• Suffered 2nd loss of the season to Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday after Jordan Pries of Stanford shut down the Bruins on Saturday.  The 23-2 record is the best start in school history.

READ MORE!

(Front page viewer photo courtesy Chase Titleman.)

Louisville’s Clark, Stanford’s Pries Headline Weekly Primetime Honorees …

Louisville sr. 1B Andrew Clark

Louisville senior first baseman Andrew Clark (New Palestine, Ind.) and Stanford sophomore righthander Jordan Pries (Alameda, Calif.) headline CB360’s most recent Primetime Performers Weekly Honor, for action during the end of March/start of April. Clark has been named the national Primetime Player of the Week and Pries is the Primetime Pitcher of the Week, while 16 others join them in comprising the Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll (as selected by CollegeBaseball360.com).

Stanford so.RHP Jordan Pries

PRIES went the distance on April 2 in game-2 of the series at #2 UCLA, as the Cardinal handed the Bruins their first loss of the season (8-4). The 6-0, 190-pound righthander allowed three earned runs on eight hits and four walks, with four strikeouts while facing a potent UCLA lineup that featured four players hitting above .390 for the season.

The 133-pitch complete game saw Pries sparkle through the first 7.2 innings, as he allowed only an unearned run and four hits until late in the 8th inning. Twice in the game, Pries retired seven in a row – and his first six frames featured two 1-2-3 innings and four others in which he induced a double-play ball.

Stanford's Jordan Pries limited #2 UCLA to one run (unearned) and four hits until late in the 8th inning, en route to a complete-game win that handed the Bruins their first loss of the season. – photo courtesy of Stanford

Pries allowed five hits from UCLA’s top-two hitters in the lineup (Blair Dunlap and Beau Amaral), but the sophomore steered clear of any big innings by limiting the other Bruins batters to a combined 3-for-23 in the upset win.

CLARK led Louisville to a 4-0 week, helping keep the Cardinals on course for a possible top-8 seed in the NCAA Championship. The 6-3, 225-pound lefthanded hitter batted at a .556 clip during the week (10-for-18), with four home runs, 10 RBI, nine runs scored, a pair of doubles, a walk and a sacrifice fly (plus a 1.333 slugging pct.).

In a midweek game at Indiana, the 3-hole hitter continued to star in his comeback from a ribcage stress fracture. The Hoosiers opted to send their ace Friday-night starter, LHP Drew Leininger, to the mound for a potential 3-inning save and IU was one out from the upset – but Clark drove a 1-1 pitch over the rightfield fence for a 2-run homer and the winning 5-4 margin. The blast ended Leininger’s impressive shutout streak that had spanned 28.2 innings (Leininger also entered the game with a lowly 0.79 season ERA).

Senior first baseman Andrew Clark - who recently returned from a ribcage stress fracture - helped keep Louisville among the nation's top teams, with his highlights included a 9th-inning home run for the final margin at Indiana and 13 total bases in the opener vs. BIG EAST challenger Villanova. - photo courtesy of Louisville

Two days later, Clark single-handedly turned away BIG EAST challenger Villanova by batting 5-for-5, racking up 13 total bases (2 HR, 2 2B) and factoring into seven of the Louisville runs (5 RBI, 4 R) during the 12-4 opener. The Cardinals went on to sweep the Wildcats and remain tied atop the BIG EAST standings (5-1; 24-3 overall).

In his seven games since returning from the ribcage injury, Clark is batting .444 with 13 RBI. His .408 season batting avg. includes 25 RBI, 17 runs scored and six home runs in 14 games played.

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.

(from left) Andrew Ciencin (NC St.), Harrry Clark (UAB), Grant Dayton (Auburn), Clayton Farhat (Lamar), Cole Green (Texas) and Justin Jones (Cal).

The other 16 members of the CB360 Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll include: N.C. State so. 3B Andrew Ciencin (Cranford, N.J.) … Alabama-Birmingham freshman catcher Harry Clark (Memphis, Tenn.) … Auburn jr. LHP Grant Dayton (Huntsville, Ala.) … Lamar jr. LF Clayton Farhat (Plano, Texas) … Texas jr. RHP Cole Green (Coppell, Texas) … California fr. LHP Justin Jones (Oakdale, Calif.) … Arkansas so. CF Collin Kuhn (Beaver Dam, Wis.) … so. RHP Jacob Lee (Jonesboro, Ark.) … Texas Tech so. RF Scott LeJeune (Austin, Texas) …San Diego St. fr. RHP Ethan Miller (Chino Hills, Calif.) … Coastal Carolina jr. CF Rico Noel (Lawton, Okla.) … Florida so. LHP Alex Panteliodis (Tampa, Fla.) … Oregon jr. LF Marcus Piazzisi (Placentia, Calif.) … Tennessee jr. LF P.J. Polk (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) … Tulane so. catcher Jeremy Schaffer (Bellaire, Texas) … and Virginia Tech jr. RF Austin Wates (Richmond, Va.).

(from left) Collin Kuhn (Arkansas), Jacob Lee (Arkansas St.), Scott LeJuene (Texas Tech), Ethan Miller (San Diego St.), Rico Noel (Coastal Carolina) and Alex Panteliodos (Florida).

The 18 honorees include seven pitchers (three LHPs), three leftfielders, two catchers, a pair of centerfielders, two rightfielders, a first baseman and a third baseman. The selections feature one senior, seven juniors, seven sophomores and three freshmen. Four of the players are California natives are four others are Texas products, along with two from the state of Tennessee and one each from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Virginia and Wisconsin.

(from left) Marcus Piazzisi (Oregon), P.J. Polk (Tennessee), Jeremy Shaffer (Tulane) and Austin Wates (Virginia Tech).

PRIMETIME PERFORMERS WEEKLY HONOR ROLL (April 6, 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
Andrew Ciencin (3B) … North Carolina State … So. …. Cranford, NJ
6-hole hitter whose 7th-inning grand slam provided winning margin in series-clinching win over #3 Virginia (7-5); hit 2-for-4 and scored game’s first run in earlier win over UVa (6-5)

*Andrew Clark (1B) … Louisville … Sr. … New Palestine, IN
3-hole hitter continued to star after returning from ribcage stress fracture; his 10-for-18/4-HR/10-RBI/9-R week included GW homer at Indiana (ending ace LHP Drew Leininger’s 28.2-inn. shutout streak) and 13 total bases in opener vs. BIG EAST challenger Villanova (5-5, 2HR-5RBI; UL swept)

Harry Clark (C) … Alabama-Birmingham  … Fr. … Memphis, TN
Rookie 8-hole batter hit 3-for-4 with 2 RBI (R, 2B) in 6-4 upset of in-state power #25 Alabama

Grant Dayton (LHP) … Auburn … Jr. … Huntsville, AL
Seven strong innings to win finale of rivalry series at #25 Alabama (1R-7H-6K)

Clayton Farhat (LF) … Lamar … Jr. … Plano, TX
2-hole hitter who led series win vs. #24 SE Louisiana; 4-for-8 with 4 RBI in the two wins (7-4/8-1; R-3B-2B-SAC)

Cole Green (RHP) … Texas … Jr. … Coppell, TX
Dominant outing to win tight game-2 (2-0) in sweep at #16 Oklahoma (which entered game with .323 team batting avg.); faced only 26 batters in 7.2-inn., 112-pitch outing (3H-2BB-6K); only runner to reach 2nd base vs. Green was after late dropped ball on forceout

Justin Jones (LHP) … California … Fr. … Oakdale, CA
Logged 8.0 shutout innings and faced only 28 batters (4H-5K) in game-2 win over #21 Arizona (8-0), as Bears posted their first Pac-10 series sweep since 2007

Collin Kuhn (CF) … Arkansas … So. … Beaver Dam, WI
Leadoff batter who came through with 2-out/2-strike grand slam to beat #49 Kentucky in 17-16 shootout that clinched SEC series (bailed out staff that coughed up 8-run lead); career-high 4 hits in that series finale (3R-2B-BB-HBP), also strong effort in game-2 win (10-1; 2-for-5, 3RBI-2R-HR-2B)

Jacob Lee (RHP) … Arkansas State … So. … Jonesboro, AR
Delivered series-clinching win (3-1) vs. #20 Western Kentucky team that was averaging nearly 10R per game (6.2 shutout IP-5H-3BB-8K)

Scott LeJeune (RF) … Texas Tech … So. … Austin, TX
Cleanup batter who led series win vs. #24 Kansas State (8-5/13-4 wins); hit 6-for-8 in the pair of wins (3RBI-3R-2 2B-BB-HBP)

Ethan Miller (RHP) … San Diego State … Fr. … Chino Hills, CA
Beat #14 TCU with 7.0 shuout innings, in his second start of season (3-1; 8H-BB-3K)

Rico Noel (CF) … Coastal Carolina … Jr. … Lawton, OK
Leadoff batter whose 11th-inning HR delivered 4-3 win at #11 Clemson (2-for-4, 2 RBI, sac. fly)

Alex Panteliodis (LHP) … Florida … So. … Tampa, FL
Won pitchers duel opposite #18 Vanderbilt’s highly-rated ace Sonny Gray, in 3-2 series opener (6.1IP-R-7H-2BB-6K)

Marcus Piazzisi (LF) … Oregon … Jr. … Placentia, CA
2-hole hitter whose 12th-inning single handed #1 Arizona St. its first loss (6-5; hit 3-for-5 with 2RBI, 2 BB); also doubled in 1-0 loss to ASU and had RBI/R as part of early 3-0 lead in finale (3-7 loss)

P.J. Polk (LF) … Tennessee … Jr. … Murfreesboro, TN
Leadoff man who homered twice in game-2 win (5-2) at #12 Mississippi; hit combined 6-for-12 pair of wins during series upset (10-6 finale; 4 RBI-4R)

*Jordan Pries (RHP) … Stanford … So. … Alameda, CA
His 133-pitch complete game handed #2 UCLA its first loss (8-4; 3 earned runs-8H-4BB-4K); allowed only one run (unearned) and four hits until late in the 8th

Jeremy Schaffer (C) … Tulane … So. .. Bellaire, TX
Smacked 1st-inning grand slam in 10-5 win at #36 Tulane (2-for-4; 5RBI-2R-SB-SAC); added 425-ft blast to dead-center in 7-5 clincher of key CUSA series (2RBI-BB)

Austin Wates (RF) … Virginia Tech … Jr. … Richmond, VA
3-hole batter who paced series win at #4 Florida State (VT had not won at FSU since ’89; 1-25 in previous 26 games vs. ‘Noles) … led 10-5 opening win (4-5, 3RBI-R-2 2B) and scored in gm-2 (8-7; VT’s first-ever series win over FSU)

* – Adam Clark is the CB360 Primetime Player of the Week and Pries 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)

A By The Numbers Look At The Latest Week’s Action

We comb through hundreds of box scores, game recaps and releases each week to find our Notebooks nuggets.  If there’s something noteworthy you think we need to add drop us an email.

D.D. Hanks (USA photo)

7…Wins apiece for South Alabama pitcher D.D. Hanks and Asher Wojciechowski of The Citadel.  Both earned their nation-leading wins Friday night.

8:13 P.M…The time (Eastern) South Alabama’s 9-2 win over New Orleans ended Friday night, making Hanks (7-1) the nation’s first 7-game winner.  He struck out 9 in his fourth complete game effort of the season.

9:37 P.M…The time (Eastern) The Citadel’s 3-2 win over Wofford ended Friday night, to make Wojciechowski the nation’s second 7-game winner.  He fanned 9 as well in 8 innings of work.

46…Combined wins by Arizona State and UCLA to open the 2010 season.

2…Combined losses by ASU and UCLA Friday night, as they both tasted defeat for the first time to Pac 10 foes.  ASU’s 24-game winning streak and UCLA’s 22-game streak were both respective school records.  Both the Sun Devils and Bruins would win their series finales to win 2 of 3 games on the weekend.

5:24…Time of ASU’s 6-5 loss in 12-innings to Oregon Friday night in Eugene.  The game featured an hour and five minutes of rain and lightening delays.

3…Sun Devil errors in the loss, leading to five of six Duck runs being unearned.  Junior Marcus Piazzisi had the

Marcus Piazzisi

game-ending RBI single in the bottom of the 12th inning.

1…Career home run by ASU’s Drew Maggi-a solo shot that gave the Sun Devils a 1-0 win over the Ducks in the series-opener to run their record to 24-0.

7…Runs scored by Stanford in the 5th inning en-route to their 8-4 win over UCLA that same night.

6…Of those runs that were unearned due to a throwing error that started the frame.  Four runs crossed the plate with two outs.

9…Innings pitched by Stanford’s Jordan Pries (3-1) who notched the second complete game of the season for both he and his team while handing the Bruins their first loss.

Jordan Pries

3…Home runs hit by Virginia Tech in Saturday’s 8-7 win at Florida State.  Coupled with Friday’s 10-5 series-opening win over the Seminoles, the Hokies notched their first series win ever over FSU (the lost 9-6 in Sunday’s series finale).

400…Career wins for Virginia Tech head coach Pete Hughes after the weekend’s two wins over the ‘Noles.  Hughes is in his 14th year as a head coach.

2…Wins by Georgetown in its three-game series with Notre Dame to give the Hoyas their first ever series win over the Fighting Irish.

1…Grand slam hit by North Carolina State’s Andrew Ciencin to help the Wolfpack upset #3 Virginia Sunday.  The win gave NC State its second win over the Cavs in the 3-game series.

9 of 9…Virginia closer Kevin Arico’s record in save opportunities this season prior to his first blown save in Friday’s 6-5 loss in 11 innings to NC State.

500…Wins at NC State by head coach Elliott Avent after the Friday night win.  He’s just the second coach in school history with as many victories.

16…Strikeouts in 9 innings by South Florida’s Andrew Barbosa in Friday’s 5-0 win over Cincinnati.

9…Combined strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings by Cincinnati relievers Brian Garman and Andrew Burkett in Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Bulls.  Garman (3-0) fanned 7 of the 9 batters he faced to earn the win, while Burkett K’d 2 of 3 Bulls in the 9th to notch his 5th save.

3…Grand slams hit in a span of five games by East Carolina’s Zach Wright, who connected on his third slam in Tuesday’s 8-0 win over Elon.

Zach Woods

15…Strikeouts by ECU pitcher Zach Woods-a career-high-in that same win over Elon.  He fanned 7 of the first 9 batters he faced to become just the second Pirate pitcher in the last 40 years record 15 punch outs in a game.

20 & 23…Runs scored Thursday and Friday by Cal State Fullerton in wins over UC Davis to give the Titans back-to-back 20-run games for the first time in 30 years.  They won Saturday’s finale 3-2 to open 3-0 in Big West play.

21 2/3…Innings pitched by Texas hurlers prior to surrendering a run to Oklahoma en-route to a 3-game weekend sweep.  The Longhorns won by finals of 5-0, 2-0 and 9-3 in Norman.

11…Game winning streak by #35 Pittsburgh-a school record-heading into last weekend’s Big East series at Rutgers.

5…Runs scored by Rutgers in the bottom of the 9th inning of Thursday’s 9-8 series-opening win to snap Pitt’s streak.  The Scarlet Knights won game two 6-1 to run their winning streak to eight before falling 6-5 to the Panthers in the finale.  Since a 1-8 start to the season RU has won 13 of its last 16 games.

3…Straight complete games pitched by UT Arlington right-hander Jason Mitchell (4-2) after Thursday’s 4-0 win over Nicholls State.

3…Games played away from home this season by Arizona, which opened the season with a 20-5 record at Kindall Field/Sancet Stadium.

Andrew Clark (Louisville photo)

3…Losses by Arizona at Cal in their first road trip of the year.  The Golden Bears beat the Wildcats by finals of 7-2, 8-0 & 4-3 in Berkley over the weekend in the second Pac 10 series of the season for both teams.

13…Total bases for Louisville’s Andrew Clark in Thursday’s 12-4 win over Villanova.  The senior first baseman was 5-for-5 with two home runs, two doubles and 5 RBIs in the game.

13…RBIs for Clark in his last seven games since returning from a rib cage stress fracture.  Clark’s 9th inning game-winning HR in Tuesday’s 5-4 win over Indiana is among the four home runs he’s hit in that stretch.

28 2/3…Scoreless innings streak by Indiana pitcher Drew Leininger that ended with Clark’s home run.

26…Runs scored by IU in Sunday’s 26-6 win over Michigan-the most runs ever scored by a Hoosier team in Big Ten play.  The final scored was also the most lopsided win for IU in the 186 game series vs. the Wolverines, who still won the series 2-1.

1…Hit allowed by Rice’s Taylor Wall in Thursday’s 6-0 win over cross-town rival Houston.  Wall struck out seven with one BB to earn the Rice pitching staff’s first complete game of the season.

6…Sacrifice bunts by TCU-a school record-in Thursday’s 4-1 win over visiting San Diego State.

14…Straight batters retired by Horned Frog freshman pitcher Matt Purke from the 3rd through the 7th inning of that game.  Purke struck out 10, but settled for a no-decision in the win.  (TCU won the series 2-1.)

2-1…Score of Pacific’s Big West series-opening win at Long Beach State.

1998…The last time Pacific won a road game at LBSU (the Dirt Bags still won the series 2-1).

12…Strikeouts in 8 innings by UC Irvine pitcher Daniel Bibona in a series-opening 16-2 win over Cal State Northridge en-route to a 3-game sweep to open Big West Conference play.

6…Runs scored with two outs in the 8th and 9th innings of Tennessee’s 10-6 win over Ole Miss on Sunday to win the series 2-1.

7…Straight losses to open SEC play by the Vols before winning the last two games of the series vs. the 12th ranked

P.J. Polk (UT photo)

Rebels.

2…Home runs by Tennessee outfielder P.J. Polk in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Mississippi.

10…Doubles hit by North Florida-a school record-in a 13-5 win over East Tennessee State.

4…Of those doubles that were hit by UNF catcher David Eldredge.

20…Game hitting streak by Central Florida’s Chris Duffy after recording at least one hit in all five UCF games last week.  Duffy is among the nation’s leaders with a .478 average, 13 HR and 48 RBIs.

12…Strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings in two appearances by Wichita State reliever Cobey Guy.  The senior logged a career-high 3 1/3 innings with 6 Ks after entering the game in the first inning of Sunday’s 17-2 win over Evansville.

1,700…Career wins by Wichita State head coach Gene Stephenson after Sunday’s victory over the Purple Aces, making him just the second coach in Division 1 baseball history to reach that milestone.