http://collegebaseball360.com/pitching-reigns-in-stanford-arizona-series/ http://collegebaseball360.com/pitching-reigns-in-stanford-arizona-series/#comments Tue, 24 May 2011 14:20:03 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=20773

www.simplesharebuttons.com

Cardinal, Wildcats Preparing For NCAA Bids…

By CB360 Contributor Jack Blanchat

If you like good pitching, you missed out on a good series this weekend if you weren’t in Palo Alto, as the starting pitching for both the Arizona Wildcats and the Stanford Cardinal was tremendous all three days.

Stanford won the series with a 1-0 walk-off win in the 11th on Friday and a 2-1 eighth inning comeback win on Sunday after dropping the Saturday game 7-3, but both teams had some impressive performances on a sunny weekend in the Bay Area.

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.

2011 College World Series shirts are already in stock at The Dugout. Get yours at a discount now!

Right now, you can save 10% on everything – even sale items –  in stock at Dugouthats.com when you enter the coupon code CB360.

Save on 2011 College World Series apparel as well as authentic college baseball caps from teams like LSU, Texas, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UCLA, South Carolina, Miami and more at Dugouthats.com!

www.simplesharebuttons.com

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/pitching-reigns-in-stanford-arizona-series/feed/ 0

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.

Beavers Lead Pac-10 After Weekend Sweep…

Sam Gaviglio (OSU photo)

Sam Gaviglio, the Friday starter, is a hitters’ worst nightmare. He throws almost exclusively breaking pitches, but the words “hanging curve” are not in his vocabulary. He struck out eight Stanford hitters in Friday’s game using the precise command of his curveball, baiting hitters into sitting back and swinging over pitches that ended up in the dirt and mixing in a surprise fastball every now and then.

With breaking pitches that were so deadly accurate, Gaviglio can go deep into games and keep the base paths clear – he only gave up two walks and four hits in eight innings on Friday, keeping consistent with his 0.779 WHIP this year.

But after Gaviglio beats you on Friday night (he’s 7-1 this year), lefty Josh Osich will most likely beat you on Saturday, too. Osich uses the fastball to his advantage, riding up into the mid-to-high nineties at times, and then mixing his stuff up to keep hitters guessing at the plate. Osich is 5-0 so far this season, and his six-inning, two-hit, six-strikeout, five-walk performance on Saturday was especially good because the Cardinal has a .332 team batting average against lefties this season.

Kavin Keyes had the only RBI in Friday's 1-0 Beaver win (OSU photo).

Freshmen hurlers Scott Schultz and Ben Weztler were also impressive on Sunday, but no matter who takes the hill, the Beavers’ defense gives any pitcher they trot out an advantage over most teams in the nation.

Shortstop Ryan Dunn has a massive range, and he can get to essentially any ball that comes his way, no matter if it’s to his left or right. Similarly, centerfielder Brian Stamps made three great catches in the outfield this weekend – and he came in as a defensive replacement for the last two innings of every game. It’s hard to rally on a team with such a good defense, and that great D can keep the Beavers safe even if their excellent starters get bounced early in a game.

Stanford, on the other hand, leaves this series reeling. The Cardinal has now lost five of its last six games, and the offense was downright dreadful for the entire weekend.

For example, righty Mark Appel dropped to 2-4 this season because Stanford couldn’t muster a single run off Gaviglio on Friday night. Appel went six and two-thirds innings with six strikeouts and just two walks, but he ended up losing a 1-0 decision, the second one-run game that Appel has lost this season ( the other a 2-1 loss to Vanderbilt).

The Cardinal offense appears to be struggling because shortstop Kenny Diekroeger is in the midst of a miserable slump, and in each game this weekend it was apparent that Stanford needs Diekroeger to hit if it expects to win.

Diekroeger went 2-for-12 this weekend with just one RBI, and his batting average has dropped over seventy points in two weeks, plummeting from .422 to .351. As Diekroeger goes, so do the rest of the Cardinal hitters, as the offense has only mustered 11 runs in the last six games.

After this cheerless weekend, the Card cannot afford to let the Beavers beat them again, as any hangover from the Oregon State series might be just the advantage that the visiting UCLA Bruins will exploit in this weekend’s upcoming series at Sunken Diamond. If the Cardinal expects to get back into the race for the Pac-10 title, it needs to rally hard and get wins against the Bruins’ great pitching staff.

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.

Click Here to read more on this and other big weekend series around the country.

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

Click this link to find out how to save 50-75% on college baseball caps and 2010 College World Series gear and memorabilia at Dugouthats.com!!

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!”)

Dugouthats.com has officially licensed College World Series memorabilia year round as well as officially licensed college baseball caps.

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 Cal State Fullerton, TCU, Vanderbilt, and Stanford.

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.

Texas catcher Rupp, Florida two-way threat Johnson earn top CB360 Primetime honors …

Texas junior catcher Cameron Rupp

Rupp has been named the national Primetime Player of the Week and Johnson is the Primetime Pitcher of the Week, while 17 others (listed below, with headshots and info. capsule) join them in comprising the Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll, as selected by CollegeBaseball360.com.

CLICK HERE for archive of previous CB360 Primetime award winners (scroll down for earlier weeks).

Florida freshman LHP/DH Brian Johnson

Johnson delivered on the mound and at the plate, logging seven shutout innings and providing the pinch-hit single that sparked a 9th-inning rally to beat Arkansas in the 2-1 series-clinching finale (the only weekend series between top-10 teams in the CB360 Composite National Rankings). Rupp helped vault Texas atop many of the national polls, as the cleanup batter smacked a pair of 1st-inning home runs and nearly did the same in the series finale – leading the way for a Longhorns squad that swept Oklahoma State while extending its win streak to 16 games.

JOHNSON rose to the occasion while facing an Arkansas offense that owned the best conference batting average (.338) in the elite Southeastern Conference. The 6-3, 225-pound lefthander racked up a season-high nine strikeouts and faced only 25 batters in the seven shutout innings, scattering three hits (.130 team batting avg.) and one walk with only three Razorbacks reaching second base (each occupied that position for  only a few moments).

Brian Johnson pitched seven shutout innings and delivered the pinch-hit single that sparked the winning rally, as Florida edged Arkansas by a 2-1 score to win that top-10 showdown series (photo courtesy of Florida).

The impressive outing saw Johnson post four 1-2-3 innings (1st-2nd-4th-7th) and allow multiple baseunners in only the 3rd, when James McCann was hit by a 1-out pitch and Matt Vinson followed with a single into left. Johnson executed the pickoff play to erase McCann and Collin Kuhn’s single put another runner on second, but Johnson forced Bo Bigham into a 4-3 groundout to end the pitcher’s busiest inning.

Andy Wilkins walked to open the 5th, but Johnson quickly record two outs (KS-F8-KS) to maintain the 1-0 thriller. One inning later, Zack Cox sent a 2-out double into the rightfield corner – but Johnson induced cleanup batter Brett Eibner to fly out to center field.

An Arkansas home run tied the game in the 8th and Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan elected to move Johnson into the DH spot in the bottom of the 9th. The rookie responded by working ahead in the count vs. bullpen ace Mike Bolsinger before poking a 2-0 pitch up the middle for a 1-out single. Moments later, Johnson’s pinch-runner Cody Dent came home with the series-winning run – leaving Florida (28-11/12-6) two games behind South Carolina in the race for the SEC title.

Johnson – who located 70 of his 99 pitches for strikes in the pressure-packed outing – now owns a 2.91 season ERA. He was batting 8-for-23 (.348) prior to the single that sparked the game-winning rally.

If setting an early tone is a character trait for “primetime” players, RUPP left no doubt during four games over the past week. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound cleanup hitter had an early-game home run in a midweek win over Texas Arlington before providing plenty of early fireworks in all three games of the Oklahoma State series (14-1/5-0/9-3). Rupp smashed a 3-run blast in the 1st inning of the series opener and then duplicated that feat one day later, as Texas clinched the series with a 19-1 scoring edge over the first two days.

Texas junior Cameron Rupp did his usual stellar job directing the pitching staff during the past week's action – but his early-game power display in multiple games repeatedly set the tone (in a midweek game vs. UT Arlington and sweep of Oklahoma State; photo courtesy of big12sports.com).

Two feet was all that separated Rupp from another 1st-inning home run in the series finale, but he still settled for an RBI double high off the wall. He finished the week with 13 RBI (boosting his team-best total to 40) and a 1.296 slugging pct. (his season totals now include 7 HR and 10 2B).

Rupp alsp continued to manage the impressive Texas pitching staff, calling pitches for a group of hurlers that combined for a 1.25 ERA during the week.

(note: additional action photos for some of the other honorees may be added to this page).

Primetime Performer Award Criteria (not based solely on raw stats, but rather …)
• 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; made significant contribution to team’s postseason positioning (single-game wins, “quality” wins, series wins, road wins, etc.).
• Involved in clutch performances, such as late game-winning hits, noteworthy comebacks, game-changing plays, team leadership, key defensive efforts, etc.
• Performed 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.
• Overcame adversity or extreme circumstances (for the team and/or individual).
• Any accomplishment that is rare, historic, record-setting, etc., on a national level.

The other 17 members of the CB360 Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll for April 19-25 include: Boston College sr. CF Robbie Anston (Odessa, Fla.) … Washington State sr. RHP Chad Arnold (Kennewick, Wash.) … UC Irvine sr. RHP Christian Bergman (Altadena, Calif.) … Oklahoma jr. 2B Danny Black (Roseville, Calif.) … Stanford fr. 3B Kenny Diekroeger ( Woodside, Calif.) … Seton Hall 5th-yr. sr. 2B Chris Fontanelli (Toms River, N.J.) … Tennessee jr. catcher Blake Forsythe (Memphis, Tenn.) … North Carolina jr. RHP Matt Harvey (Mystic, Conn.) … Florida fr. LHP/DH Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) … Texas State sr. 1B Kyle Livingstone (Ft. Worth, Texas) … Florida State jr. LF/RHP Mike McGee (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) … Texas Tech fr. 2B Jamodrick McGruder (Mesquite, Texas) … Coastal Carolina so. SS Taylor Motter (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) … Connecticut jr. 3B Mike Olt (Branford, Conn.) … Texas junior catcher Cameron Rupp (Plano, Texas) … Virginia Tech so. 1B Ronnie Shaban ( Moseley, Va.) … Mississippi so. DH Matt Snyder (Centreville, Va.) … Texas A&M-Corpus Christi jr. LF Chris Vergne (San Juan, Puerto Rico) … and Arizona sr. RHP Daniel Workman (Sierra Vista, Ariz.).

The 19 honorees include a pair of two-way talents (LHP/DH and LF/RHP), along with four other righthanded pitchers, three second baseman, two catchers, a pair of first basemen, two third basemen, a shortstop, leftfielder, centerfielder and DH. The selections feature a 5th-year senior, five seniors, seven juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen. The honorees hail from 10 different home states/foreign countries, led by four from Florida and three each from California and Texas, plus two each from Connecticut and Virginia, along with one from Arizona, New Jersey, Puerto Rice, Tennessee and Washington.

PRIMETIME PERFORMERS WEEKLY HONOR ROLL #10 (April 27, 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

ROBBIE ANSTON (CF)
Boston College … Sr.
Odessa, FL

Leadoff hitter who paced sweep at #50 North Carolina State (9-5/10-8/11-10), lifting Eagles to 2nd-place in ACC Atlantic Division … had 3 hits in each game while batting 9-for-17 (.529) with 7 RBI, 8 runs, 19 total bases (2 HR, 3B, 2 2B) and pair of stolen bases … hit 9th-inning, 2-run single for go-ahead runs in game-2 … his leadoff home run tied series finale in the 8th.

CHAD ARNOLD (RHP)
Washington State … Sr./Jr.
Kennewick, WA

Logged complete-game victory to knock off #24 Oregon State in Pacific-10 Conference series opener (5-1), limiting the Beavers to 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 11 (35 batters faced) … rolled up 10 groundout during his 125-pitch outing … dropped his season ERA to 3.03 and now is allowing opposing batters a .227 combined batting average.

CHRISTIAN BERGMAN (RHP)
UC Irvine … Sr.
Altadena, CA

Allowed leadoff single vs. UC Davis (runner was caught stealing) but went on to record 27 straight outs and face the minimum 27 batters, in a 1-hit victory over UC Davis (13-0) to help keep UC Irvine in the Big West Conference title hunt (no conf. tournament) … 19 of his outs came via strikeouts (6) or groundouts (13) … located 71% 0f his pitches for strikes (63 of 89).

DANNY BLACK (2B)
Oklahoma … Jr.
Roseville, CA

Sooners’ 2-hole hitter who racked up 10 RBI in three big wins (8-3 vs. #14 TCU; 6-5 in 13/10-2 at #37 Texas A&M), helping solidify OU’s postseason positioning … his other stats in the three big wins included 2 home runs, 3 runs scored, 2  doubles and a pair of walks.

KENNY DIEKROEGER (3B)
Stanford … Fr.
Woodside, CA

Lower-third hiter (7-hole) who had a pair of game-winning RBI in the Pacific-10 Conference series sweep of Bay-area rival #18 California (3-2/15-12/11-10) …  hit 6-for-12 and factored into 8 runs (5RBI-3R, 2B-BB) during series; executed sac-fly to win pitchers duel in opener … added 3-5/2RBI-2R effort in game-2 before his RBI double capped 3-run rally that won finale – pushing Cardinal (10-5) to within one game of Pac-10 leader Arizona  State.

CHRIS FONTANELLI (2B)
Seton Hall … 5th-Yr.-Sr.
Toms River, NJ

Helped hand #10 Louisville only its third home loss of the 2010 season (8-6; as one if the BIG EAST lower-ranked teams upset a league leader; SHU also suffered narrow losses in the series, 2-4/1-3) … had early 2-out RBI single and 2 runs in win over Cards; scored tying run in 5th inning of opener (2-2); executed 11 fielding chances as part of SHU’s error-free series.

BLAKE FORSYTHE (C)
Tennessee … Jr.
Memphis, TN

Helped post three wins over CB360 top-50 teams (18-8 vs. #46 Western Carolina; doubleheader sweep of #17 Vanderbilt, 4-2 in 11 & 4-3 in 7, to complete that Southeastern Conference series) … hit 5-13 with 6 RBI and pair of home runs in those three big wins (3 runs, double, 2 walks, hit-by-pitch) …  his 2-run blast ended 11-inning game vs. Vandy … a couple hours later, his walk was part of 2-run, game-ending rally that gave Vols the series.

Matt Harvey (RHP)
North Carolina … Jr. … Mystic, CT

Struck out 15 batters (nine “looking) from #19 Clemson, in complete-game win (5-3) as UNC went on to win key road series … held Tigers to 6 hits (.167 batting) and a single walk … posted 6 straight Ks in 6th and 7th innings.

*BRIAN JOHNSON (LHP/DH)
Florida … Fr.
Cocoa Beach, FL

Delivered on the mound and at the plate, as Gators edged #4 Arkansas (2-1) to win that top-10 series matchup between two of top teams in the Southeastern Conference … pitched 7.0 scoreless innings and allowed only 3 hits (.130 tean batting avg.) by SEC’s top offense (the Razorbacks entered the game with a .338 team batting avg. in league play) …  had 9 Ks and only 1 walk …  his 1-out single sparked 9th-inning rally (his pinch-runner scored winning run).

KYLE LIVINGSTONE (1B)
Texas State … Sr.
Ft. Worth, TX

Hit 5-for-11 with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored in three big wins for Texas State (9-3 vs. #49 Baylor; 5-3 and 7-3 vs. Southland Conference contender Northwestern (La.) State), as the Bobcats cracked the national rankings for the first time during the 2010 season … serves primarily as team’s 5-hole hitter … played lead role in the win over Baylor (3RBI-2R).

MIKE McGEE (LF/RHP)
Florida State … Jr.
Port St. Lucie, FL

Two-way talent (5-6/8-7/7-6) who helped Florida State edge its  in-state rival and #11 Miami, in hard-fought series with three 1-run games …  hit 5-for-9 in the series with 3 HR, 5 RBI and 5 walks (also 4 runs, 2 doubles and a sac-fly) … his 9th-inning, 2-out, 2-run home run won the series (also was the pitcher of record, with 1.2IP-2K-5BF) … earlier walked and scored in 3-run bottom of 8th, as FSU similarly rallied to win gm-2 (2R in 9th).

JAMODRICK McGRUDER (2B)
Texas Tech … Fr.
Mesquite, TX

Texas Tech leadoff batter who hit 9-for-14 while factoring into 13 runs (7RBI, 6runs, 5 stolen bases, 2 doubles, 3 walks, sacrifice fly), as the Red Raiders won a key Big 12 Conference series at #41 Kansas (2-10/11-8/21-10) … closed the series at Kansas with an impressive all-around game, batting 4-for-5 with  6 RBI, 4 runs scored, a pair of doubles, 2 stolen bases, a walk and a sacrifice fly … did not make an error in the three-game series (12 fielding chances).

TAYLOR MOTTER (SS)
Coastal Carolina … So.
Palm Beach Gardens, FL

The Chanticlers’ 9-hole hitter who helped extend team’s win streak to 17 games, with sweep of Big South contender Virginia Military Institute (7-0/3-2/6-2) … hit 5-for-10 with a pair of home runs in the road series (4 RBI, 4 runs, 2 doubles, 2 walks; also made no errors on 13 fielding chances) … launched a key home run in the 3-2 series clincher, with Coastal Carolina going on to sweep the Keydets and gain firm control of the Big South race.

MIKE OLT (3B)
Connecticut
Jr. … Branford, CT

5-hole batter who led sweep of Rutgers in BIG EAST Conference showdown series (7-2/6-3/8-7 in 12) … hit 11-for-14 (.786) with 5 RBI and 2 home runs in the three games (5R-SF) … delivered quanity (5-for-6) and quality (9th-inning, tying HR) during the series finale versus the Scarlet Knights.

*CAMERON RUPP (C)
Texas … Jr.
Plano, TX

Cleanup batter who hit pair of 1st-inning, 3-run home runs and nearly added another 1st-run HR (RBI 2B high off wall) in Big 12 Conference series sweep of Oklahoma State (14-1/5-0/9-3), as Longhorns pushed their win streak to 16 … amassed 11 RBI & 12 total bases (2HR-2 2B; 4R-B) in series, also 2-run HR in midweek win over Arlington … called pitches for a Longhorns staff that posted a 1.25 ERA over the course of the four-game week.

RONNIE SHABAN (1B)
Virginia Tech
So. … Moseley, VA

Supplied several key hits from the 5-hole in Virginia Tech’s Atlantic Coast Conference series win over #5 Georgia Tech (3-1 in 11/10-3/12-14), batting 6-for-12 in the series with 5 RBI and 3 runs score (also had a home run, triple, 2 walks and a stolen base3) …  hit the g0-ahead single in 11th inning of the series opener … his 2-run home run in game-2 helped the Hokies race out to 6-0 lead, en route to the series-clinching win over the highly-ranked Yellowjackets.

MATT SNYDER (DH)
Mississippi … So.
Centreville, VA

Delivered from cleanup spot in Mississippi’s sweep of #7 LSU (11-9/9-8 in 11/7-6), batting at a .500 clip (6-12) with 7 RBI, 3 home runs and 5 runs scored (also reached on a BB & HBP) … delivered in opener vs. ace Anthony Ranaudo, with 1st-inning solo shot and 2-inning grand slam (8-2 lead) … closed series in similar fashion, with tying 2-run home run in the 8th.

CHRIS VERGNE (LF)
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi … Jr.
San Juan, Puerto Rico

2-hole batter who helped Islanders win series from #31 Southeastern Louisiana (the Southland Conference leader) … hit 2-run double for early 4-2 lead in game-2 and added clinching grand slam (10-5 final) … went on to score 3 runs in series finale (11-5).

DANIEL WORKMAN (RHP)
Arizona … Sr./Jr.
Sierra Vista, AZ

Beat in-state rival #1 Arizona State (4-2; 6.1 innings, 2 runs, 5 hits, 4 strikeouts, 23 batters faced) and closed week with solid short start in team’s 6-4 win over #6 UCLA (3.1IP-R-3H-2BB-5K) … his combined stats in the pair of starts: 9.2 IP, 3R, 8H, 2BB, 9 Ks (.216 opp. batting avg.).

* – Rupp is the CB360 Primetime Player of the Week and Johnson the Primetime Pitcher of the Week … note that rankings above refer to the CB360 top-50 … primary class years are based on academic standing (some players may have an extra year of eligibility).