College Baseball 360 » Kurt Heyer

Pitching Reigns In Stanford-Arizona Series

Sean Stires — Tue, 24 May 2011 14:20:03 +0000

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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.

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Has The Real Oregon Stood-Up?

Sean Stires — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:24:30 +0000

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Ducks Take Two Of Three From Arizona…

By CB360 Contributor Kris Anderson

This was the Oregon baseball team many expected to see this year- just two months later than expected.

For Oregon (21-17, 4-8 Pac-10) and the No. 23 Arizona Wildcats (24-25, 6-9 Pac-10), it was arguably the most pivotal series of the year for both teams to this point. The Ducks had failed to win a Pac-10 Conference series this season and believed that any hopes of an NCAA regional rested on the result of this weekend. The Wildcats, who had lost six of their last ten games and had lost two out of three against UCLA a week ago, thought this series would be an opportunity to get back to their winning ways.

The starting pitching for both teams highlighted the first two games of the series. With that being the case, there was little margin for error for the guys starting on the hill. In the final game of the series, it was the Oregon bats—including five freshmen in the starting lineup—that propelled the Ducks to the win, as they took two out of three from the Wildcats.

On the hill Thursday night was Kurt Heyer for Arizona, who ranks fourth in the Pac-10 in earned run average. Oregon countered with Tyler Anderson, who ranks fifth in the Pac-10 in the same category.

Anderson out-dueled Heyer by going the distance, with 9 strikeouts. He scattered three hits and allowed only two earned runs, while showing why he is a projected first round draft pick. He retired Arizona batters in order in the first three and last three innings of the game. Anderson showed tremendous confidence in his curveball, as he used that pitch to get ahead of hitters early—often throwing it for a first pitch strike.

The 6’4 junior from Las Vegas turned to the fastball to strike hitters out. Anderson found himself in a little trouble in the fourth inning after allowing a leadoff walk to Joey Rickard and then a double to Cole Frenzel that scored Rickard from first.

Solid starts for Anderson are sometimes haunted by one bad inning—such was the case in his last start at home against the Washington Huskies. Anderson pitched seven innings, but showed how costly one bad inning can be with a struggling Oregon offense. The Ducks would loose that game in extra innings.

On this night, Anderson was in ace-like form, and he only seemed to get better as the night progressed.

Heyer pitched well in his own right, but didn’t have his lights-out stuff that has made him one of the most dominant pitchers in the Pac-10 this year. He went 7 2/3 innings, while allowing three earned runs on nine hits, walked two batters and struckout four. The strike out total was lower than expected for the pitcher who ranks second in the conference in strikeouts—did I forget to mention that Anderson in third in the same category?

Heyer’s best pitch was without-a-doubt his curveball. In the eighth inning with the game tied at two and a runner at second, the Wildcats made a mound visit with thoughts of pulling Heyer from the game. He told the coach to leave him in, as he believed he would strikeout Oregon’s Tyler Kuresa in a critical situation. And he did just that—with a curveball.

Heyer’s fastball was effective against a rather weak Oregon lineup, but his location was prone to becoming inconsistent at times. His slider was used at times when hitters forgot that he had that weapon in his holster. But it was the changeup that let him down on this night. When used, it was ineffective, and he said it’s the pitch that needs the most work.

Friday night’s match up proved even more impressive than the previous nights. With scouts on hand to watch Oregon junior Madison Boer, the starter did not disappoint. He earned his first career complete game, while allowing two earned runs on six hits and struckout five.

Boer, who ranks eighth in the Pac-10 in earned run average, got ahead of hitters early and often. He threw first-pitch strikes to more than 18 batters that he faced. Boer was not weary of the Arizona hitters who crowded the plate. He used his fastball to pound the inside part of the plate and generated a lot of balls off the handle. Once ahead of hitters, Boer went to his slider to expand the zone. But on this night, one mistake could mean all the difference, and that was the case when Arizona left fielder Johnny Field was at the plate. Field led off the seventh inning with a home run to take a one run lead—it would prove to be the game-winning run. Boer showed his maturity by striking out the next two batters and didn’t allow a hit the rest of the way.

That one mistake was all it took for Arizona to escape with a 2-1 victory.

As good as Boer was, Kyle Simon was just a little better. Like Boer, Simon went the distance and scattered three hits, allowed one earned run and struck out five—and he did it on only 94 pitches. He took advantage of the overly aggressive Oregon hitters by challenging them early in the count. Simon used that aggressiveness to induce many ground balls. In fact, the Ducks were only retired four times on fly balls.

Emerging as the offensive MVP for the Ducks is second baseman Danny Pulfer. He has established himself as a leader off the field, as well as at the top of the Ducks’ order. Pulfer has reached base safely in 24 consecutive games. Against Simon, Pulfer earned two of the ducks three hits. In that game, Pulfer led off the game with a single that he earned early in the count. After the game, he said that he set the wrong tone for the rest of the hitters by being overly aggressive in his first at-bat.

He’s the only player I’ve ever heard apologize for a hit—but the more I talk to him, the more I learn that’s just the kind of guy he is. He is also one of the best base runners in the Pac-10—if not the country. Pulfer is a perfect fit for Oregon head coach George Horton’s small-ball and aggressive base running style of play.

On the other side of the diamond, Arizona’s leadoff hitter Joey Rickard—leading the Pac-10 with a .409 batting average entering the series—struggled at times with Oregon’s stellar pitching. While reaching base five times in 13 at-bats, it was not one of his better series’ at the plate. No better was that seen than during Thursday nights game, when with a runner on first with one out in a tie game, Anderson got the better of Rickard, getting him to hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

By weekend’s end, the Oregon bats were just a little better than Arizona’s—who would have guessed that after looking at the numbers of both teams? It’s a testament, not only to the potential of Oregon’s young offense, but the depth of the Pac-10 conference. Oregon finds itself riding the wave of a little momentum built from recent clutch performances, while Arizona has hit the skids. For the Ducks, every series from here on is a must win. For Arizona, time will tell if they are in the midst of a slump or were merely the recent victims of the Oregon and UCLA pitching staffs.

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College Baseball Weekend Preview-April 15

Sean Stires — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:13:14 +0000

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Big SEC Series Headlines Weekend Action…

There are a handful of big conference series on tap around the country this weekend in college baseball action. The biggest of those series has #3 Vanderbilt at #4 South Carolina, with Sunday’s series finale scheduled to be televised on ESPNU.

Here’s a look at some of this weekend’s action(all rankings are based on the latest College Baseball 360 Composite National Rankings).

CLICK HERE for Friday’s College Baseball 360 Top 50 Matchup/Scoreboard coverage page.

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#3 Vanderbilt (31-3, 10-2 SEC) @ #4 South Carolina (26-6, 10-2 SEC)

Christian Walker

The new bat standards have made many college offenses look quite mortal this season, but not these two powers. Christian Walker (.344, 7 HR, 37 RBIs, 1.031 OPS) leads the offensive charge for the defending national champion Gamecocks. Jackie Bradley, Jr.’s average sits at .286, but he’s still belted 6 HR as well. Vanderbilt’s balanced offensive attack is hitting .316, with seven players who have started at least 20 games batting .303 or better. Anthony Gomez (.379), Jason Esposito (.320) and Curt Casali (.319) share the team RBI lead with 27 each. Aaron Westlake (.397, 5 HR, 25 RBIs) has been the top overall Commodore hitter. The Friday pitching match-up is one to see. South Carolina send 2010 College World Series hero Michael Roth (7-1, 1.25 ERA) to the mound, while Vandy counters with Sonny Gray (7-1, 1.54 ERA). The two teams have closers who have been lights-out as well. Commodore Navery Moore has a ridiculous 0.46 ERA with 7 saves in 18 appearances, while the Gamecocks counter with Matt Price (3-2, 2.82 ERA, 10 saves). SC set-up man John Tayler is 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 29 1/3 IP.

Oklahoma (25-8, 6-5 Big 12) vs. Oklahoma State (26-8, 8-4 Big 12)

Dane Phillips

Bedlam. That’s what they call it when these two programs get together, and it should be no different when they square-off this weekend. For years Oklahoma State was the perennial baseball power in the Sooner State, but it’s Oklahoma that’s coming-off a trip to Omaha. However, OSU is back on track in 2011. The Cowboys need three wins to match their overall 2010 win total and they already have as many wins in conference play as they did last year. The series features a pair of .400 hitters. Dane Phillips (.404, 3 HR, 26 RBIs, 1.096 OPS) leads the Oklahoma State offense and Garrett Buechele (.401, 7 HR, 42 RBIs, 1.046 OPS) tops an OU that’s batting .330. Brad Propst (6-1, 1.25 ERA) tossed his (and OSU’s) second complete game of the season in last week’s sweep of Missouri. Michael Rocha (7-1, 1.02 ERA, 2 CG) fronts the Oklahoma staff. Game one of the series in in Tulsa, with the last two games are in Oklahoma City.

#13 Oregon State (24-7, 5-1 Pac-10) at #16 Stanford (16-9, 3-3 Pac-10)

Mark Appel

Stanford’s record is anything but spectacular, but the Cardinal has played some pretty spectacular competition so far. Consider this, Stanford Friday starter Mark Appel is just 2-3, but he has gone head-to-head with Vanderbilt’s Sonny Gray and Taylor Jungmann of Texas. Both are expected to be high first round draft picks in June. It won’t get much easier for Appel this weekend when he faces OSU’s Sam Gaviglio (6-1, 1.34 ERA, 3 CG). Both pitching staffs are solid, but neither has “strikeout” pitchers. The Stanford staff has a 3.28 ERA with 116 Ks and 85 BB in 217.0 IP, while the Beavers have 228 punchouts and 79 walks in 277 2/3 innings. Oregon State has 33 sac bunts, compared to just 13 home runs. Andrew Susac (.364, 25 RBIs) and Parker Berberet (.256, 27 RBIs) share the team lead with 4 HR each. Stanford has gone yard just 14 times. Kenny Diekroger (.373) has the top Cardinal average, while Brian Ragira (.304, 3 HR, 24 RBIs) is the RBI leader. In a series where a lot of balls will be put in play defense could be the x-factor. Oregon State has a slight edge with a .973 fielding percentage, compared to Stanford’s .965.

Click Here to read more about this series.

#22 Arizona (22-11, 4-5 Pac-10) @ #25 UCLA (17-11, 7-2 Pac-10)

Kurt Heyer

This sneaky series features three of the top power pitchers in the country, let alone the Pac-10. UCLA’s Trevor Bauer (6-1, 1.67 ERA) and Gerrit Cole (4-2, 1.74 ERA) don’t sneak-up on anyone, but Arizona’s Kurt Heyer (5-1, 1.38 ERA) also checks-in with 80 strikeouts in 65.0 innings pitched as well. Bauer leads the nation with 97 strikeouts, Heyer’s 80 ranks third and Cole’s 64 Ks is 13th. Arizona’s .342 team batting average has defied the national offensive downward trend. The Wildcats, led by Joey Rickard (.428) and Cole Frenzel (.408) took two of three last weekend from Cal against, arguably, the second-best pitching staff in the Pac-10, but they’ll face the top staff in the conference this week. UCLA has struggled to score enough runs to support its vaunted hurlers in 2011. The Bruins have actually brought their team batting average up to .258 in recent weeks, but they’ve still managed to win their first three conference series against USC, Washington and Washington State. Dean Espy (.318) is the only UCLA regular batting over .300.

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CB360 Primetime Performers #9 (April 20)

Pete LaFleur — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:01:50 +0000

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Stanford’s Kaskow, SC ace Cooper Lead Primtime Honors …

Stanford junior first baseman Jonathan Kaskow (Coppell, Texas) and South Carolina senior righthander Blake Cooper (Neeses, S.C.) lead the way for the ninth group of honorees on CB360’s Primetime Performers Weekly Honor, for action during April 12-18.

Stanford jr. 1B Jonathon Kaskow

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

South Carolina sr. RHP Blake Cooper

Kaskow has been named the national Primetime Player of the Week and Cooper is the Primetime Pitcher of the Week, while 15 others join them in comprising the Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll (as selected by CollegeBaseball360.com). Cooper delivered a 4-hit shutout in the series opener vs. Mississippi (#20 in the CB360 Composite National Rankings), countering a strong outing by Ole Moss ace Drew Pomeranz – while Kaskow reached base 10 times and drove in/scored 10 runs during the Cardinal’s series sweep at #14 Oregon State.

COOPER delivered in the clutch versus the Rebels, sending South Carolina on to the series win and a spot among the Southeastern Conference leaders. The 5-10, 180-pound righthander racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts in the 5-0 win over Ole Miss and issued only one walk over the course of his fifth career complete game. It marked the first complete game shutout by a South Carolina pitcher since May 13, 2005 (when Aaron Rawl also posted a noteworthy win over Ole Miss, 2-0).

Blake Cooper's 4-hitter countered 7.0 shutout innings from Ole Miss ace Drew Pomeranz, in South Carolina's 5-0 series opener (photo courtesy of South Carolina).

After working out of a bases-loaded jam to open the game, Cooper settled down and posted four 1-2-3 innings (3rd-5th, 7th) to keep the Rebels at bay. A pair of infield errors allowed the first two batters to reach in the 6th, but Cooper quickly responded with a strikeout and double-play groundball to end the threat.

CLICK HERE to listen to an exclusive podcast interview with Cooper.

The SEC co-lead in victories this season (7-0; giving him28 career wins), Cooper owns a 2.44 season ERA and a lowly .185 opponent batting average, along with a 2.7 K-to-walk ratio (57/21) and 40 hits allowed in 62.2 innings.

KASKOW delivered from his cleanup spot throughout the past week, posting multiple hits in all four games (14-0 vs. Santa Clara; 14-6/5-3 in 10/10-7 at Oregon State) as Stanford gave its NCAA Tournament hopes a major bolt. The imposing 6-4, 225-pound righthanded hitter batted .625 during the week (10-for-16; 8 RBI), including a 7-for-12 effort in the OSU series, with five RBI, five runs, a home run, double and three walks.

Currently the Pacific-10 Conference leader in league batting avg. (.500), Kaskow smacked his first home run of the season and had 4 RBI in the opener vs. Oregon State, followed by a 2-hit game in the series clincher and three more hits in the finale. Stanford entered last week barely over .500 (14-13), with only a 4-5 mark in Pac-10 play (now 18-13/7-5).

Stanford cleanup batter Jonathan Kaskow reached base 10 times and factored into 10 runs, during the Cardinal's series sweep at #10 Oregon State (photo courtesy of Stanford).

(note: additional action photos for some of the other honorees on this page may be added later today)

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.

The other 15 members of the CB360 Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll include: Texas Tech fr. 1B Barrett Barnes (Sugarland, Texas) … Arkansas so. 2B Bo Bigham (Texarkansa, Ark.) … Southeastern Louisiana so. SS Justin Boudreaux (Prairieville, La.) … Georgia Tech jr. RF Chase Burnette (Buford, Ga.) … Univ. of the Pacific so. CF Brett Christopher (Livermore, Calif.) … LSU so. 3B Grant Dozar (Morgan City, La.) … Texas jr. RHP Cole Green (Coppell, Texas) … Miami sr. RHP David Gutierrez (Miami, Fla.) … Arizona fr. RHP Kurt Heyer (Huntington Beach, Calif.) … Vanderbilt jr. RHP Taylor Hill (Old Hickory, Tenn.) … Auburn so. LHP Cory Luckie (Prattville, Ala.) … Florida Atlantic jr. RF/RHP Andy Mee (Palm Beach, Fla.) … Oregon sr. OF Curtis Raukinaitis (Sacramento, Calif.) … Liberty so. SS Matt Williams (Franklin, Tenn.) … and Ohio State jr. RHP Alex Wimmers (Cincinnati, Ohio).

The 17 honorees include nine pitchers (one of them a LHP and one a two-way player), along with two first basemen, a second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, centerfielder and rightfielder (plus a player who had stints at all three outfield spots during the past week). The selections feature three seniors, six juniors, five sophomores and three freshmen. The honorees hail from 11 different home states, led by three each from California and Texas, and two each from Florida, Louisiana and Tennessee, plus players from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Ohio and South Carolina.

PRIMETIME PERFORMERS WEEKLY HONOR ROLL#9 (April 20, 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
Barrett Barnes (1B) … Texas Tech … Fr. … Sugarland, TX
Hit .500 in series and homered in both wins vs. #19 Oklahoma (1-12/7-3/8-3), as Red Raiders moved into 3rd place in Big 12 (6-12, 3RBI-3R-2B-BB)

Bo Bigham (2B) … Arkansas … So. … Texarkansa, AR
2-hole batter who offset subpar week by team’s top hitters, in 5-game stretch vs. #34 New Mexico (4-3 in 11/5-4) and SEC rival Georgia (10-2/10-2/13-5); hit 11-20 during week and scored 6 times (once in extra-innings), also 2RBI-2BB-SB-SAC

Justin Boudreaux (SS) … Southeastern Louisiana … So. … Prairieville, LA
Homered twice (5RBI) from 2-hole in key Southland Conf. series-clinching win vs. #37 Texas State (10-1/10-12 in 11/9-6); hit 6-14 with 9 RBI in series (3R-SB-SAC)

Chase Burnette (RF) … Georgia Tech … Jr. … Buford, GA
Helped rout in-state rival Georgia (25-6) and then sweep #16 Clemson (8-6 in 10/4-3/11-3) as Tech remained atop ACC; his HR from 6-hole won opener, then 2B & scored go-ahead run in 7th inn. of gm-2; factored into 8 runs during week (4RBI-5R-HR-2B-BB-2 SB-SF)

Brett Christopher (CF) … Univ. of the Pacific … So. … Livermore, CA
Played lead role in series win at #33 UC Irvine (2-4/7-4/7-2), as UOP jumped into race for BIG WEST title; 2-hole hitter’s strong all-around series included batting 4-9 with 6RBI, 4 sac-bunts & 3 extra-base hits (3B-2 2B-R)

Blake Cooper (RHP) … South Carolina … Sr. … Neeses, SC
Tossed 4-hit shutout (5-0) to beat #20 Mississippi in opener, with career-high 10 Ks and only one walk as SC went on to win series; countered strong outing by Ole Miss ace Drew Pomeranz (7IP-2H-4BB-10K)

Grant Dozar (3B) … LSU … So. … Morgan City, LA
8-hole batter who had game-tying single in 9th and then homered in 14th to win series-sweeping game vs. #26 Alabama (12-5/9-7/6-5); went 2-2 (RBI-R) with 2 walks in opener vs. Tide (SB)

Cole Green (RHP) … Texas … Jr. … Coppell, TX
Crafted 1-hit shutout to beat #32 Texas A&M (14-0) in gm-2 or road sweep vs. rival Aggies (3BB-4K-32BF)

David Gutierrez (RHP) … Miami … Sr. … Miami, FL
Logged 7.0 “perfect-game” innings (21BF, 7Ks) vs. potent Florida Gulf Coast offense (.339 team batting avg.; nearly 9 runs/gm) before leaving due to pitch-count (84); Miami bullpen allowed 1H in 9-0 win

Kurt Heyer (RHP) … Arizona … Fr. … Huntington Beach, CA
Rookie who racked up 14 Ks and ended one out shy of complete game in 5-3 series-opening win at #44 Washington State (5-3; 8.2IP-3R/2ER-4H-BB)

Taylor Hill (RHP) … Vanderbilt … Jr. … Old Hickory, TN
Game-3 starter who turned in near-complete game in 3-2 finale,helping win series vs. #24 Auburn (8.2IP-2R-7H-7K)

Jonathan Kaskow (1B) … Stanford … Jr. … Coppell, TX
Cleanup hitter who Reached base 10 times and drove in/scored 10 runs, during huge Pac-10 sweep (14-6/5-3 in 10 inn./10-7) at #14 Oregon State (7-12; 5RBI-5R-HR-2B-3 BB)

Cory Luckie (LHP) … Auburn … So. … Prattville, AL
Delivered series-tying complete game at #21 Vanderbilt (12-2; 5H-2BB-3K-33BF-115 pitches)

Andy Mee (RF/RHP) … Florida Atlantic … Jr. … Palm Beach, FL
3-hole hitter who paced huge Sunbelt Conference sweep of #18 Western Kentucky (10-3/5-4/9-8), batting 8-13 while factoring into 9 runs (6RBI-4R-HR-2 2B-BB-SF); also saved series finale

Curtis Raukinaitis (OF) … Oregon … Sr. … Sacramento, CA
Delivered key offensive plays from #9 spot, as Ducks won Pac-10 series at #2 UCLA (5-4/8-4/1-5); had 4RBI-HR-3B in series clincher (2RBI in 1-run opener)

Matt Williams (SS) … Liberty … So. … Franklin, TN
5-hole batter who hit .500 (7-14) and played error-free in Big South Conference sweep of #42 VMI (12-9/9-6/13-8), which was coming off upset of #3 Virginia; factored into 10 runs vs. VMI (6RBI-4R-3B-2B-BB-SB)

Alex Wimmers (RHP) … Ohio State … Jr. … Cincinnati, OH
Opened key Big Ten road series with dominating win at #48 Michigan State (10-1; 8IP-R-7H-2BB-7K)

* – Kascow is the CB360 Primetime Player of the Week and Cooper 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)

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College Baseball Notebook-Week 9

Sean Stires — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:56:19 +0000

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Big Pitching Performances Headline The Week

2…Wins by Oregon over #2 UCLA to give the Ducks their second Pac 10 series win of the season (they took two games at Stanford last week).

0…Pac 10 series wins by Oregon last year. The Ducks are now 6-4 vs. ranked teams in 2010.

1…Loss this season by UCLA’s Gerrit Cole. It came in Friday’s loss to the Ducks. Cole (6-1) gave-up five runs in 5 IP.

7…Different pitchers who earned their Division One leading eighth win of the season. Pittsburgh’s Corey Baker was

Justin Jones

the first to do it Friday afternoon. He was followed by: Alex Wimmers-Ohio St., Cole Green-Texas, Justin Jones-Cal, D.D. Hanks-South Alabama, Merrill Kelly-Arizona St., and Asher Wojciechowski-The Citadel.

1…Freshman among that group of eight game winners-Cal LHP Justin Jones (8-2, 2.62 ERA), who has both of his team’s complete games this season.

12…Strikeouts by Wojciechowski in his Friday complete game 4-2 win over Furman.

4…ACC series lost by North Carolina this season after being swept in Miami over the weekend.

4…ACC series lost by the Tar Heels over the previous three seasons combined. UNC lost three conference series last year, none in 2008 and one in 2007. They also lost just two in 2006 for a total of six ACC series defeats from ’06-’09 en-route to four trips to the College World Series.

David Guetierrez (Miami photo)

7…RBIs by Hurricane catcher Yasmani Grandal, who homered to help his team to the weekend sweep of the Tar Heels.

7…Perfect innings pitched by Miami’s David Guetierrez in Wednesday’s 9-0 win over Florida Gulf Coast. The senior struck out seven and retired all 21 batters he faced in just his second start of the season before leaving the game after throwing 84 pitches. Hurricane reliever Eric Whaley lost the perfect game and no-hitter when he hit a batter and gave-up a single in the 8th inning.

3…Wins by #6 Georgia Tech over visiting #16 Clemson. The sweep was sparked by Friday’s 10th inning walk-off home run by Yellow Jacket right fielder Chase Burnett.

15…Consecutive games in which a Georgia Tech player has homered after second baseman Jacob Esch went deep in Sunday’s 11-3 series finale, which gave Clemson its fifth straight loss.

9…Of Clemson’s 13 losses this season (including three in its five-game slide) which have been decided by one or two runs.

5…Runs scored by #25 Virginia Tech in the top of the 9th inning in Sunday’s 8-5 win over #3 Virginia, which avoided a 3-game sweep. The rally was capped by Buddy Sosnoskie’s 2-out bases clearing double.

3…Walks issued in just 1/3 of an inning by Cavalier closer Kevin Arico, who had earned his Division One leading 12th save earlier in the series, in that Hokie rally.

4…Walks issued by Arico (0-1) in 20 innings pitched prior to Sunday’s outing.

0 & 23…Runs allowed and strikeouts totaled in 25 combined innings by Texas starting pitchers Brandon

Brandon Workman (Texas photo)

Workman, Taylor Jungmann and Cole Green in the Longhorns’ weekend sweep of arch rival Texas A&M. The trio also surrendered a grand total of seven hits on the weekend.

12 & 6…Consecutive wins by Texas and losses by Texas A&M, respectively, after the Aggies’ fourth sweep at the hands of the Longhorns in the last five seasons. The sweep keeps Texas 2 1/2 games ahead of Kansas State in the Big 12 Conference standings.

14…Big 12 leading home runs hit by Nebraska’s Adam Bailey this season.

1…Hit by Bailey in 13 at-bats vs. Kansas (not a home run), while the Jayhawks took two of three games in the series from the Cornhuskers.

1996…The last time Kansas won a series in Lincoln prior to the weekend’s wins.

1,000…Career wins by Rutgers head coach Fred Hill after his Scarlet Knights beat South Florida 6-1 Saturday en-route to a 3-game weekend sweep of South Florida. The wins move RU into a first place tie with Connecticut atop the Big East Conference standing.

1…Home run this season by LSU sophomore Grant Dozer-a walk-off shot that ended Sunday’s 6-5 14-inning win over Alabama to cap a 3-game weekend sweep.

2002…The last time LSU (30-6, 11.4) swept a series from Alabama (22-15, 5-10).

7…Ride or die innings pitched by LSU closer Matty Ott to earn his first win of the season. The sophomore allowed two runs on four hits in the longest outing of his career. He gave-up the runs in the 8th inning and then proceeded to toss six scoreless frames.

32…Division One leading wins by Coastal Carolina, which beat Gardner-Webb 13-0 Sunday for its 13th straight win.

4…Third inning home runs hit by UC Riverside in Sunday’s 7-5 win over Long Beach State.

Marcus Stroman

3…Hits by Duke second baseman Marcus Stroman in Saturday’s upset of #8 Florida State.

3…Scoreless innings pitched by Stroman, who moved to the mound and earned his fourth win in relief in that same game.

4…RBIs along with a home run hit by Arkansas’ Brett Eibner in Saturday’s win over Georgia. He is tied for the team lead with 11 HR this season.

7…Innings pitched in that game by Eibner, who earned his third win in his ninth start of the season.

11…Straight wins by the Razorbacks (31-6, 12-3) after Sunday’s 13-5 win over the Bulldogs. Arkansas has the most overall wins and conference wins of any team in the SEC.

20…Combined strikeouts by starting pitchers Blake Cooper of South Carolina and Drew Pomeranz of Ole Miss in Friday’s Gamecock win over the Rebels. Cooper (7-0) scattered four hits with 10 K in the complete game effort to help

Christian Walker (USC photo)

South Carolina win two of three games in the series.

9…Straight South Carolina batters who reached base safely in a seven-run 2nd inning-capped by Christian Walker’s grand slam-in Saturday’s 9-5 win over the Rebels.

4…Runs scored by Arizona in the bottom of the 9th inning to rally to beat Washington State 12-11 Sunday in Tucson.

11…Straight wins by the home team in the series between the Wildcats and Cougars.

14…Strikeouts in 8 2/3 IP by Arizona’s Kurt Heyer in Friday’s 5-3 win over Wazzou.

18…Scoreless inning streak by Pepperdine’s Matt Bywater that ended when Gonzaga scored a 1st inning run en-route to a 16-3 win.

8…Runs scored by Miami (OH) in the bottom of the 9th inning of Tuesday’s 12-11 win over Xavier.

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Pac 10 Baseball Weekend Preview

Sean Stires — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:21:18 +0000

www.simplesharebuttons.com

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.

Week One College Baseball Notebook By The Numbers

Sean Stires — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:57:08 +0000

www.simplesharebuttons.com

Milestones & Upsets Highlight The First Week Of 2010

Max Willett (UNM photo)

2…wins by unranked New Mexico at #1 Texas in Austin. The Lobos lost the season-opener on Friday, but came back with 3-1 and 6-5 wins Saturday and Sunday. The wins are the first ever for New Mexico over a #1 ranked team. Texas topped every national poll heading into the season.

.636…batting average by Lobo Max Willett in the 3-game series. He had a 1.615 OPS with two doubles and a triple. Willett also had the game-winning RBI in Saturday’s win.

23…runs by Washington State in Sunday’s 23-o rout of Seattle-the most runs by a Cougar team since 1999. 15 different Cougars had at least one hit.

5…Wazzou pitchers who combined in the shutout.

1,001…Career wins by LSU head coach Paul Mainieri after his Tigers’ 3-game weekend sweep of Centenary. Mainieri hit the 1,000 win mark with Saturday’s 25-8 victory.

1,000…Career wins by Ohio State head coach Bob Todd after his Buckeyes won three games over the weekend in Jacksonville, FL. OSU pounded Richmond 20-9 Sunday to get Todd to the milestone.

Danny Hall (GT photo)

901…career wins for Georgia Tech’s Danny Hall after a weekend sweep of Missouri State.

36…runs scored by Canisius in a doubleheader sweep of Illinois-Chicago Saturday at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, NC. The Golden Griffins won the first game 20-4 and took the second game 16-10.

3…games Stanford won vs. 5th ranked Rice in Palo Alto.

11…runs Stanford scored in the 7th inning of game two of the series on Saturday. The Cardinal was trailing 4-2 at the time.

5…pitchers Rice used during Stanford’s biggest inning in nearly two years.

265…wins at Cal State Fullerton’s Goodwin Field by Oregon (and former Fullerton) head coach George Horton after Friday’s upset of the 4th ranked Titans.

6-5…the score of Friday’s Louisiana-Monroe win over Ole Miss. It was the Rebels’ first season-opening loss since 1981.

Paul Karmas (St. John's photo)

1 & 15…combined hits and strikeouts by St. John’s starting pitchers Bruce Kern (5 IP-0H-0BB-8K) and Nick Cenatiempo (4 IP-1 H-0R-BB-7) in Friday and Saturday wins over New Orleans.

3…home runs by Red Storm 1B Paul Karmas in Sunday’s 31-6 win over UNO.

5…total runs by West Virginia in weekend losses to #17 Coastal Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia Tech.

9 1/2…runs a game scored by the Mountaineers last year-which ranked 12th in the nation.

14,922…fans who saw #2 Virginia win two of three games over #11 East Carolina at ECU’s Clark-LeClair Stadium. Friday’s opening day crowd of 5,012 is the largest in stadium history. Saturday’s crowd of 5,136 marked the first time ECU ever had back-to-back attendance of more than 5.000.

14…combined pitchers used by the Cavaliers (6) and Pirates (8) in Sunday’s 14-11 UVA series-clinching win.

3 2/3…innings pitched by UVA starter Cody Winiarski. It was the longest stint for any of the 14 hurlers. Virginia had 19 hits while East Carolina totaled 11.

4:11…the total time of the 9-inning game.

4:39…time of Lamar’s 5-4 win in 17-innings over Maine. The game is the longest in Lamar history. The two teams had played a 2 hour and 27 minute 9-inning game prior to the marathon.

12…strikeouts in 6 innings by Georgia Tech’s Jed Bradley in Sunday’s 13-0 win over Missouri State. The lefty allowed just four hits and retired 6 of the first 8 batters he faced via strikeout.

13…strikeouts in 6 innings by Arizona freshman Kurt Heyer. Heyer allowed just three hits and fanned 13 of the 22 batters he faced in Sunday’s win over Utah Valley in his collegiate debut.

2,500…all-time wins for the Arizona baseball program after Heyer’s performance Sunday.

Kevin Tokarski (ISU photo)

8…straight wins by UC Irvine pitcher Daniel Bibona after his 10 strikeout performance in a 5-1 win over Loyola Marymount.

3…the magic number during opening weekend for Illinois State’s Kevin Tokarski. The redshirt sophomore tripled on the Redbirds’ first pitch of 2010. He stole 3 bases with 3 doubles in his team’s first three games of the season. Tokarski was a 2008 Freshman All-American, but missed last season due to wrist surgery.

8,803…total attendance of TCU‘s season-opening 3-game sweep of 2009 NCAA participant Sam Houston State. The mark is a single-series TCU record.

.800…batting average by Horned Frog freshman Josh Elander. He was 8-for-10 with a team-high six RBIs to start his career.

1…hit allowed in 6 innings on the mound by Conference USA Preseason Pitcher of the Year Todd McInnis. The Southern Mississippi hurler didn’t give-up a hit until there were two outs in the 5th inning of Friday’s win over Northwestern State. He exited the game after he reached his 75 pitch limit.

10 of 10…Pac 10 Conference teams that finished opening weekend with a winning record. The Pac 10 is the only BCS conference that claimed that distinction over the first three days of the 2010 season.