College Baseball Stock Up/Stock Down – Week 1

A Look At Some Movement From Opening Weekend Action

It’s only one weekend, but there were plenty of statements made over the course of the season’s first three days.  Granted, the trends are a little skewed right now, since everything is based on mostly head-to-head match-ups, but we’ll do this every week throughout the season.   Here are three teams whose stock is up and three whose stock is down after opening weekend:

Stock Up

New Mexico:  Ray Birmingham’s Lobos did the nearly unthinkable when they went to Disch-Falk Stadium in Austin and took two of three games from top-ranked Texas.   Both teams stranded a lot of runners, but the Lobos out-pitched the team with last year’s second best ERA (2.95) by compiling a 1.73 ERA compared to 2.67 for the Longhorns.  The biggest difference was the late innings where New Mexico outscored Texas 6-1 in the series from the 6th-9th innings.  The Lobos now find themselves in the national polls the earliest in program history.  Last year’s #21 Baseball America ranking on March 23 was the previous earliest national ranking.

Oregon:  Did the stars align for George Horton’s Ducks, or are they that good?   Horton returned to the place where he won the 2004 National Championship and six College World Series berths and beat his former team, Cal State Fullerton, 7-3 on opening night.  They’re off to a 3-1 start after wins over Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount along with an 11-7 loss to Pepperdine.  Not bad for a team that won just 14 games in its first season of DI baseball since 1981 last year.  The opening night win also snapped a 13-game losing streak that ended the 2009 campaign.  Before anyone gets too excited though remember this:  Oregon won its season opener and then took 2 of 3 games from defending National Champion Fresno State last year.  They were 8-8 in their first 16 games only to win just 6 more times after March 15th.  Their stock is up now, but wait and see might be the better approach for now where the Ducks are concerned.

Stanford:  Stanford missed the NCAA Tournament in 2009, but made a big splash to start the 2010 campaign with a 3-game sweep of #5 Rice at Sunken Diamond.  The biggest question for the Cardinal coming into the season appeared to be offense, but that question was answered at least for a week.  Eleven different batters had at least one RBI over the weekend as Stanford outhit the Owls .327 to .233.  Mark Marquess will find out a lot more about his team this weekend when they go to Austin for a 3-game set with Texas.

Stock Down

Texas:  After a National Runner-Up finish last year Augie Garrido’s Longhorns were the consensus number one team entering the season.  Texas opened 2009 with 11 straight wins and didn’t lose a home game until March 14.  In fact, the Longhorns only suffered six setbacks at Disch-Falk Stadium all of last year.  However, they dropped 2 of 3 games at home to New Mexico last weekend to unanimously fall from the top spot in each of this week’s rankings.  Stat of the weekend:  19 combined runners left on base in their 6-5 & 3-1 losses.  All the key parts are there, it’s just a matter of getting them in-synch.   Texas hosts a hot Stanford team this weekend.

Rice: Credit Wayne Graham for going to California to start the season for a second straight year, but he and his Owls took 3 on the chin while being swept at Stanford.  Rice hit just .233 as a team, but the 9.49 staff ERA along with 19 walks and 23 strikeouts in 24 2/3 IP  have to be the most concerning stats from the weekend..  The longest outing by a Rice starter was 3 1/3 innings pitched by Jared Rogers in Saturday’s 14-5 loss (Stanford exploded for 11 runs in the 7th inning).  To make matters worse, the Owls lost their home opener to Lamar 13-7 Wednesday night to fall to 0-4.  Rice can point to the fact that his team bounced-back nicely after losing 2 of 3 games at Cal Poly to open last season.  The Owls host Elon, Nebraska and Texas A&M Corpus Christi this weekend.

Cal State Fullerton:  Dave Serrano’s Titans followed their season opening 7-3 loss to Oregon with a 6-0 setback to  Pepperdine before beating Long Beach State 8-1 for their first win of the season.  Fullerton hit just .240 in their three games, with the trio of Gary Brown, Billy Marcoe and Christian Colon combining for 12 of the team’s 23 hits.  Meanwhile, starting pitchers Daniel Renken and Noe Ramirez yielded 7 earned runs in 11 2/3 combined IP.  A 3-game home series with 2009 Super Regional team TCU is one of this weekend’s more intriguing match-ups.

Intriguing Week One College Baseball Match-Ups

Some Big Match-Ups Highlight The Start Of 2010 Campaign

We’re almost there.  The 2010 college baseball season starts tomorrow.  Most of the nearly 300 teams that open their seasons Friday haven’t played together in a real game since last May.

Not every team is playing this weekend.  Maine is the only team from the America East Conference that has a series scheduled.  The Black Bears are in Beaumont, TX to face Lamar.  There are a lot of Northern teams that didn’t add a week to their schedules this year even though the NCAA decided to do so last summer after Feb. 26th was the originally scheduled starting point.  In fact, all eight Ivy League teams don’t get 2010 started until the weekend of March 5th, while none of the nine Northeast Conference teams will take the field this weekend either.

A majority of teams are playing this weekend though.  Here’s a look at some intriguing interconference games across the country.

(CLICK HERE to see any of the 301 Division I college baseball schedules.)

Virginia at East Carolina

(3-game series)

Bam!  Right off the bat a prime time match-up.  Q: How did East Carolina end its 2009 season?  A:  With a Super Regional loss to ACC power North Carolina, which earned a fourth straight CWS berth.  Q:  Where did Virginia end its 2009 season?  A:  Omaha after a trip to the program’s first ever College World Series appearance.

With a young squad last year Brian O’Connor eased into the start of the season by winning its first 19 games against the likes of Bucknell, Fordham, and Canisius.  That’s not the case this year though.  The Cavaliers go to Greenville, NC at

Clark-LeClair Stadium, where East Carolina beat South Carolina in last year’s NCAA Regional, in what is likely to be Super Regional-like atmosphere in week one.

Danny Hultzen, meet Kyle Roller.  Brad Mincey, this is Jarrett Parker.  If you can’t get excited about this one you probably liked the movie “Valentine’s Day” (my wife drug me there and she didn’t like it either).

New Mexico at Texas

(3-game series)

This is a classic match-up of hitting vs. pitching.  New Mexico led the nation last year with its .363 team batting average while Texas had the second-best ERA in the land at 2.95.  The Lobos haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1962, but the Longhorns have been to the College World Series 26 times with four National Championships in the time since then.

On the flip side, New Mexico had a 5.26 ERA while Texas sported just a .288 team batting average last year.  Augie Garrido’s Longhorns thrived on “small ball” last year with 104 sacrifice bunts compared to 54 home runs.  New Mexico only hit 51 long balls, but they led the nation by legging-out 47 triples.

Texas returns the bulk of its pitching staff, including Taylor Jungmann (11-3, 2.00 ERA) and Chance Ruffin (10-2, 3.32 ERA),  and is the consensus #1 team in the nation entering the season.  Catcher Rafael Neda (.415, 1.133 OPS) and Ryan Honeycutt (.406, 6 HR, 53 RBIs) lead the Lobo offense.

UNM head coach Ray Birmingham knows he’s putting his team’s feet to the fire with this series and other road trips to Arkansas and Arizona this season, but he hopes the tough tests pay off by season’s end.

Rice at Stanford

(3-game series)

Talk about tradition.  This is a College World Series match-up in February between two teams that traditionally thrive on pitching.  Stanford has been to Omaha 16 times, including five times in the last decade.  Rice has seven CWS appearances of its own, and they have all been since 1997.

Stanford missed the NCAA Tournament last year after joining Rice in Omaha in 2008, and they had trouble scoring

runs last year.  The Cardinal ranked seventh in the Pac 10 with 341 runs scored.  Their .416 slugging percentage was also seventh in the league, while they were sixth with a .360 on-base percentage.  That didn’t combine well with a 5.12 ERA that ranked seventh as well.

Rice is led by 2009 National Freshman of the Year Anthony Rendon (.388, 20 HR, 72 RBIs) at the plate and Mike Ojala (5-0, 2.17 ERA) on the mound.  Rendon is one of eight returning starters from last year’s Super Regional team.  Sophomore LHP Brett Mooneyham (6-3, 4.14 ERA) gets the Friday start for Stanford.  Cardinal shortstop Jake Schlander is the reigning Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Year.  OF Kellen Kilsgaard (.313, 9 HR, 46 RBIs) is Stanford’s top overall returning offensive player.

This is just the third meeting between Wayne Graham and Mark Marquess’ teams.  The Cardinal swept a series at Sunken Diamond in 1991, while Rice won two out of three games at the 2003 College World Series.

Rhode Island at Mississippi State

(3-game series)

Rhode Island was the team that was perceived as the biggest snub last year after the NCAA Tournament bids were announced.  Jim Foster’s Rams won 37 games in 2009, but won neither the Atlantic 10’s regular season nor tournament titles.  Oliver Palmer (.342, 11 HR, 44 RBIs) and Mike LeBel (.323, 7 HR, 41 RBIs, 17 SB) lead the URI offense.  The pitching staff must replace its top two starters and its closer from last year’s squad.

Mississippi State has missed the last two NCAA Tournaments after going to the 2007 College World Series.  The Bulldogs have finished a combined 14 games under .500 with back-to-back 9-win seasons in SEC play in John Cohen’s first two years as the MSU head coach.  Connor Powers (.301, 19 HR, 63 RBIs) and Ryan Duffy (.339, 10 HR, 33 RBIs) head a group of solid returning players in the line-up.

Oregon at Cal State Fullerton

This is just a one-game match-up to open the season on Friday.   Both teams aslo play Pepperdine and Long Beach State over the weekend.  The season-opener is a homecoming for Oregon head coach George Horton, who graduated from Fullerton in 1978 and later coached the Titans for 11 seasons.  Horton played on Fullerton’s first College World Series team in 1975 and later coaches the Titans to six CWS berths, including the 2004 National Championship.  He is one of just nine men to appear in Omaha as a player and head coach.  He left his alma mater after the 2007 College World Series when he was hired to revive a program at Oregon that had been

defunct since 1981.

Current Titan head coach Dave Serrano was an assistant under Horton at Cal State Fullerton from 1997 to 2004.  He coached UC Irvine to the 2007 CWS, and prevailed against Horton and the Titans in a 5-4 13 inning game that’s the longest game (in time) in CWS history.  Horton has a 7-6 head to head advantage when the two have met as head coach.

Horton, known as “The Commissioner” at Fullerton, ranks 19th among active head coaches with a .665 career winning percentage, while Serrano ranks 25th at .660.

Pac 10 Baseball 2010 Preview

Can ASU Keep On Winning Without Murphy?

2009 Pac 10 Champion:  Arizona State (No Pac 10 Postseason Tournament)

The More Things Change…:  There wasn’t much change at the top of the Pac 10 ranks, but there was some turnover in the middle.  Arizona State’s 2009 Pac 10 title was its third straight to give the Sun Devils their 10th straight NCAA appearance.  However, Washington State went from the bottom of the conference in 2008 to a second-place finish last year.  It was the Cougars’ first top five finish in the conference since 1991 and they earned their first NCAA Regional appearance since 1990.  Meanwhile, Oregon brought back baseball & played its first games since 1981, Oregon State was back in the tournament after staying home in 2008 and Stanford missed the NCAAs after a 2008 trip to the CWS.  The biggest news from the Pac 10 in 2009 though came in the off season with the departure of ASU head coach Pat Murphy.  The big question now is: Can ASU continue its success with a new head coach?

2010 Pac 10 Baseball Preview

Arizona

2009 Record:  (30-25, 13-14)

Mascot:  Wildcats

Head Coach:  Andy Lopez

Location:  Tucson, AZ

Vitals:  .314 BA, 46 HR, 71 SB, .387 OBP, .965 Fld%…5.46 ERA, 0 CG, 13 SV, 379 K, 215 BB, .293 opp. BA

Slight Returns:  The Wildcats have just 12 returning players from last year’s roster.  They will have as many as 16 freshman on the roster this season.

The Holes:  Pac 10 batting champion Dillon Baird (.433, 8 HR, 55 RBIs) leads the list of departed players.  Hunter Pace (.372, 15 SB) and Dwight Childs (.331) are gone from the line-up as well.  Arizona also loses its top starting pitcher, Preston Guilmet (6-5, 3.74 ERA), as well as relievers Cory Burns (2-0, 3.80 ERA, 40 appearances) and Jason Stoffel (2-1, 4.67 ERA, 39 app., 11 SV).

Who’s Back:  The top returning pitcher include Daniel Workman (3-1, 3.86 ERA), Joe Allison (5-1, 4.66 ERA) and Kyle Simon (3-5, 6.03 ERA, 11 starts).  Bryce Ortega (.324, 16 SB) and Steve Selsky (.318 will lead the offense).

Family Ties:  Brothers Michael and David Lopez will both wear the Wildcat uniform this season.  Their dad is head coach Andy Lopez.  Michael is a pitcher who redshirted last year, while David is a freshman infielder.

Tucson Time:  Arizona plays its first 26 games, including its conference-opening series vs. Oregon, on its home

field in Tucson, AZ.  The Wildcats have a total of 44 home games in 2010.

Arizona State

2009 Record:  (51-14, 21-6)

Mascot:  Sun Devils

Head Coach:  Tim Esmay

Location:  Tempe, AZ

Vitals:  .303 BA, 75 HR, 116 SB, .418 OBP, .969 Fld%…2.90 ERA, 11 CG, 12 SV, 608 K, 157 BB, .239 opp. BA

Meet The New Boss:  Pat Murphy is gone after 15 seasons in the desert.  Murphy’s last win in a Sun Devil uniform was a 12-5 victory over North Carolina in Omaha, and it was the 1,000th of his career.  New head coach Tim Esmay is no stranger to the ASU

program.  He played in the College World Series for Jim Brock’s Sun Devils in 1987 and ‘88, and he was also an assistant to Murphy for the last five seasons.  Esmay was also the head coach at Utah from 1997-2004.

Line-Up Lowdown:  ASU returns 7 of its top 9 hitters who saw significant action in 2009.  The glaring losses are Pac 10 Player of the Year Jason Kipnis (.384, 16 HR, 71 RBIs, 27 SB) and catcher Carlos Ramirez (.338, 19 HR, 75 RBIs).  However, Kole Calhoun (.313, 12 HR, 53 RBIs) is back for his senior season.  Calhoun hit 3 HR with 11 RBIs in Omaha.  Sophomores Johnny Ruettiger (.360, 12 SB) & Drew Maggi (.309, 21 SB) and junior Matt Newman (.305, 7 HR, 54 RBIs) all return as well.

Oh Brother:  Senior co-captain Rauol Torrez (.250,15 SB) and soph. Riccio Torrez (.280, 6 HR) are the fifth set of brothers to play at ASU at the same time, but they are the first to start alongside one another in school history.  All 54 of Rauol’s starts came at third base, while most of Riccio’s were at first base.  The brothers are back as well to anchor the Sun Devil infield in 2010.

An Ace Down:  RHP Mike Leake (16-1, 1.71 ERA, 7 CG) and LHP Josh Spence (10-1, 2.37 ERA) were both good enough to be any team’s ace last year, but only senior Spence is back this season.  Leake signed after being taken in the first round of last year’s draft by Cincinnati.  Spence decided to return for his year after going in the third round to the Angels.  Other notable returning pitchers are LHP Mitchell Lambson (9-5, 3.01 ERA, 5 SV) and RHP Jordan Swaggerty (4-1, 4.50 ERA, 4 SV).

California

2009 Record:  (24-29, 9-18)

Mascot:  Golden Bears

Head Coach:  David Esquer

Location:  Berkeley, CA

Vitals:  .298 BA, 65 HR, 66 SB, .375 OBP, .966 Fld%…5.74, 2 CG, 13 SV, 423 K, 249 BB, .284 opp. BA

Big Bear Losses:  Cal loses three of its top four batters from last year, including two-way player Blake Smith (.319, 10 HR, 38 RBIs), who was drafted in the second round last year by the Dodgers.  Smith had two saves out of the

bullpen while starting three games as well.  Jeff Kobernus (.341, 8 HR, 20 SB) and Brett Jackson (.321, 8 HR, 11 SB) are both gone as well.

Top Bear Back:  Cal’s top overall hitter, Mark Canha, is returns.  The junior led Cal in average (.366), HR (12), RBIs (43), slg% (.634), and OBP (.444).  Brian Guinn (.315, 10 SB) and Danny Oh (.303, 7 HR) is back as well.

Plenty Of Pitching: The Golden Bears return most of their pitchers from a staff that finished with the worst ERA in the conference last year.  Reliver Dixon Anderson (3.98 ERA, 3 SV), LHP Chris Petrini (4-3, 3.98 ERA) and Erik Johnson (3-6, 4.41 ERA, 9 starts, CG, 4 SV) are among the top returnees.

No-Nonsense Non-Conference:  In consecutive weeks Cal plays non-conference games vs. 2009 CWS team Arkansas (3 at home), 2009 Super Regional team Rice (4 in Houston) and ‘09 NCAA team Cal Poly (3 on the road).  They follow that with their Pac 10-opening series at Arizona State.

Call From The Hall:  Former Cal head coach Bob Milano was inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame in January.  He won 688 games at Cal from 1978-1999 and led the Golden Bears to the College World Series in 1980, 1988 and 1992.

Oregon

2009 Record:  (14-42, 4-23)

Mascot:  Ducks

Head Coach:  George Horton

Location:  Eugene, OR

Vitals:  .227 BA, 16 HR, 60 SB, .296 OBP, .961 Fld%…5.07 ERA, 4 CG, 8 SV, 357 K, 239 BB, .271 opp. BA

Growing Pains:  Oregon fielded its first baseball team since 1981 last year, and things looked bright early when the Ducks beat St. Mary’s 5-3 in their season opener.  They lost the next two games of the series, but then won 2 of 3 games at home vs. defending national champion Fresno State.  That would be the high point of their inaugural season though, as they won just three games after March 31 en-route to a 14-win campaign.  Oregon finished last in the Pac 10 in these (and a few other) statistical categories:  Batting average, HR, runs, slg%, OBP, hits, RBIs, doubles, total bases, walks, strikeouts (by pitchers), saves.  They also committed the second most errors (85) in the conference behind USC”S 101.

The Bright Side:  After a bumpy first year George Horton returns all but five players who saw action last year, while nine freshmen and a handful of junior college transfers join the team.  Here’s a look at some of the returnees with the category in which they led the Ducks last year Curt Raulinaitis (batting avg.-.291), K.C. Serna (RBIs-19 & HR-3), Danny Pulfer (starts-55 & BB-19), Drew Gagnier (ERA-2.70, appearances-23, saves-7).  Starting pitchers Erik Stavert (5-6, 3.04 ERA, 14 starts) & Tyler Anderson (2-9, 15 starts) are both gone.

Homecoming:  Oregon opens the season at Cal State Fullerton, where Horton played and later spent 11 seasons as the Titans’ head coach.  Horton guided Fullerton to six College World Series appearances and the 2004 National Championship.  Current Fullerton head coach Dave Serrano was an assistant under Horton.

Oregon State

2009 Record:  (37-19, 15-12)

Mascot:  Beavers

Head Coach:  Pat Casey

Location:  Corvallis, OR

Vitals:  .278 BA, 23 HR, 53 SB, .392 OBP, .977 Fld%…3.93 ERA, 3 CG, 13 SV, 431 K, 199 BB, .245 opp. BA

Locked Line-Up:  Oregon State returns six starters from last year’s team.  All-Pac 10 honoree Adalberto Santos (.320, 4 HR, 43 RBIs, 15 SB) and team HR and RBI leader Stefan Romero (..291, 5 HR, 51 RBIs) head the group.

Plus Pitching:  The Beavers’ 3.93 team ERA ranked second in the Pac 10 last year to Arizona State, and they return two starters, Sam Gaviglio (10-1, 2.73 ERA) and Tyler Waldron (6-4, 4.15 ERA), and closer Kevin Rhoderick (3-3, 4.18 ERA, 9 SV).  Gaviglio was a Freshman All-American last year.

Turn The Page:  Baseball America recently named Oregon State the #2 team of the past decade, while tabbing head coach Pat Casey the coach of the decade.  The Beavers won back-to-back National Championships in 2006 and 2007 and made an additional trip to Omaha.  They averaged 35.6 wins a season from 2000-2009.

Stanford

2009 Record:  (30-25, 13-14)

Mascot:  Cardinal

Head Coach:  Mark Marquess

Location:  Palo Alto, CA

Vitals:  .279 BA, 49 HR, 46 SB, .360 OBP, .977 Fld%…5.12 ERA, 2 CG, 8 SV, 381 K, 222 BB, .268 opp. BA

Rare Absence:  After a trip to the 2008 College World Series Stanford missed the NCAA Tournament last year.  It was

the second time in three seasons that the Cardinal failed to receive a post season bid, but it’s also just the third time since 1990 that Stanford did not at least go to an NCAA Regional.

Core Cardinals:  Stanford returns 2B Colin Walsh (.320, .466 OBP), SS Jeff Schlander (.232), catcher Zach Jones (.239, 3 HR), and OF Kellen Killsgard (.313, 9 HR, 46 RBIs).  Walsh was the team’s top hitter as a sophomore and was named a Cape Cod League All-Star last summer,  while Schlander was named the 2009 Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Year.  The team loses top run producer Brent Milleville (.306, 14 HR, 52 RBIs).

Cardinal Arms:  Starting pitchers Jordan Pries (4-4. 4.62 ERA) and LHP Brett Mooneyham (6-3, 4.14 ERA) are back to lead the weekend rotation.  The duo combined to make 22 starts last year as freshmen.

Gerhart’s Gone:  Two-sport sensation Toby Gerhart (.288, 7 HR, 36 RBIs, 7 SB) burst on the national scene on the football field in 2009.  He was the Heisman Trophy runner-up and won the Doak Walker Award after rushing for a school record 1,871 yards and 28 TDs.  Gerhart hit 16 home runs in three years with the Cardinal baseball team.  He was an outfield starter on the 2008 CWS squad.  He won’t play baseball this year as he prepares for the April NFL Draft.

Tough Tests:  Stanford opens the season by hosting a 3-game series with perennial power Rice.  They go to Austin, TX the next weekend for a 3-game set with 2009 national runner-up Texas.

UCLA

2009 Record:  (27-29, 15-12)

Mascot:  Bruins

Head Coach:  John Savage

Location:  Los Angeles, CA

Vitals:  .285 BA, 54 HR, 55 SB, .382 OBP, .969 Fld%…4.28 ERA, 5 CG, 12 SV, 509 K, 197 BB, .259 opp. BA

Power Outage:  UCLA loses its top two run producers, Cody Decker (.322, 21 HR, 53 RBIs) and Casey Haerther

(.305, 9 HR, 42 RBIs) from last year’s team.  Haerther was selected in the 5th round of last year’s MLB Draft by the Angels, while Decker was tabbed in the 22nd round by San Diego.

The Line-Up:  Justin Uribe (.318, 3 HR, 23 RBIs) and Blair Dunlap (.301, 7 HR, 39 RBIs, 15 SB) are the top hitters back in the Bruin batting order.  Uribe will move from the outfield to first base this year.  Junior college transfer Dean Espy will be expected to step-in at third base as well.

Bruin Pitching:  Sophomores Gerrit Cole (4-8, 3.49 ERA) and Trevor Bauer (9-3, 2.99 ERA, 4 CG) will lead the pitching rotation.  Bauer had pitched a  team-high of 105 1/3 IP last year.  Cole is a Preseason All-American who struckout 104 in 85 IP last year.  He pitched for the USA Collegiate National Team last summer.

Big 12 West:  UCLA plays five games against three Big 12 teams in 2010.  The Bruins host Oklahoma State in one of their three games in the Dodgertown Classic (Vanderbilt & USC are the other two opponents there).  They also host a 3-game series vs. Nebraska and play Oklahoma in their last game of the Whataburger College Classic in Corpus Christi, TX.

USC

2009 Record:  (28-28, 13-14)

Mascot:  Trojans

Head Coach:  Chad Kreuter

Location:  Los Angeles, CA

Vitals:  .274 BA, 41 HR, 58 SB, .359 OBP, .954 Fld%…4.06 ERA, 5 CG, 10 SV, 438 K, 231 BB, .259 opp. BA

Top Losses:  USC loses three players, Grant Green (.374, 4 HR, 32 RBIs, 16 SB), Brad Boxberger (6-3, 3.16 ERA) and Robert Stock (5-4, 2.90 ERA, 4 SV), who were taken in the first two rounds of last year’s MLB Draft.  Green went with the 13th overall pick to Oakland.

Returning Trojans:  Ricky Oropesa (.314, 13 HR, 48 RBIs) was named a Freshman All-American last year.  He and Mike O’Neill (.319) are the top returning players in the USC line-up.  Sophomore RHP Andrew Triggs (5-3, 3.96 ERA) is expected to be the staff’s #1 starter.  Fellow Soph. Chad Smith (3-4, 3.40 ERA) and Sr. Kevin Couture (3-3, 5.66 ERA) return as well.

New Faces In Many Places:  A total of 15 newcomers (7 transfers and 8 freshman) will look to contribute for USC in 2010.  One of them is redshirt sophomore Mike Greco, who hit .250 with 2 HR and 27 RBIs in 46 games as a freshman at Army.  He sat out last year after transferring and will battle for a spot at first base this year.

Washington

2009 Record:  (25-30, 13-14)

Mascot:  Huskies

Head Coach:  Lindsay Meggs

Location:  Seattle, WA

Vitals:  .265 BA, 64 HR, 42 SB, .357 OBP, .967 Fld%…4.88 ERA, 1 CG, 14 SV, 387 K, 194 BB, .276 opp. BA

New Skipper:  2010 will be Lindsay Meggs’ first season as head coach at Washington.  He arrives after three seasons at Indiana State.  Meggs was named the 2009 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the Sycamores to a 33-21 record and a second-place conference finish.  Prior to that Meggs spent 13 seasons at head coach at Chico State, where he won Division II National Championships in 1997 & 1999.

Draft Losses:  The Huskies lose their top run producer, Ryan Conley (.303, 19 HR, 55 RBIs), who was taken by St. Louis in the 7th round of last year’s draft.  Top reliever Brian Pearl (3.05 ERA, 8 SV) and starter Jason Erickson (5-4, 4.34 ERA) were both drafted and signed as well.

Husky Returns:  Pierce Rankin (.299, 6 HR, 26 RBIs) and Troy Scott (11 HR, 31 RBIs) are the top returnees in the line-up.  Sophomore Andrew Kittredge (4-5, 4.27 ERA, 3 SV, 7 starts) and LHP Geoff Brown (4-4, 5.01), who made 31 relief appearances, are among the top returning pitchers.

Big Home Slate:  Washington’s first nine home games are three 3-game series vs. 2008 National Champion Fresno State, perennial power Cal State Fullerton and intrastate rival Washington State.

Washington State

2009 Record:  (32-25, 19-8)

Mascot:  Cougars

Head Coach:  Donnie Marbut

Location:  Pullman, WA

Vitals:  .273 BA, 56 HR, 44 SB, .358 OBP, .971 Fld%…4.34 ERA, 1 CG, 15 SV, 453 K, 184 BB, .279 opp. BA

The Drought Is Over:  Last year’s NCAA Regional appearance was the first for the program since 1990.  The Cougars swept five series in 2009, including three in Pac 10 play.  All of the sweeps came on their home diamond, where they had just three series sweeps in the previous 11 seasons combined.

Leaving & Staying:  WSU loses its top three hitters, Alex Burg (.346, 7 HR), Jared Prince (.343, 7 HR) and Greg Lagreid (.332, 5 HR), from last year’s NCAA squad.  They return stolen base leader Garry Kuykendall (.299, 11 SB), Matt Argyropoulos (.277), Shea Vucinich (.230, team-high 40 runs), and Derek Jones, who hit a team-best 12

home runs despite just a .223 batting average.

On The Mound:  Junior Chad Arnold (8-3, 4.39 ERA) will lead the weekend rotation.  Arnold got the team’s only NCAA win with an elimination game victory vs. Wichita State in the Norman, OK Regional.  He’s joined by David Stilley (3-3, 4.64 ERA) and reliever Seth Harvey (2.25 ERA, 22 app.).  The Cougars lose starter Matt Way (8-4, 2.43 ERA) and closer Jeremy Johnson (6-2, 2.90 ERA, 10 SV).

Texas Time:  Washington State plays 12 of its first 18 games in the state of Texas.   After four games in Lubbock they return home for a 4-game set vs. Utah and then return to the Lone Star State for three games at Texas A&M and two games at Dallas Baptist.  They end their spring trip with a 3-game series in Wichita, KS vs. Wichita State.

2010 Pac 10 Conference Predictions

Player of the Year:  Kole Calhoun – Arizona State

Pitcher of the Year:  Sam Gaviglio – Oregon State

Conference Champion:  Arizona State, with Oregon State giving the closest challenge

Toby Gerhart’s Baseball/Football Career By The Numbers

Toby Gerhart is not Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders, but the big Stanford running back is going to do something that neither of those famous two-sport stars ever did.  Gerhart is part of a small group of athletes whose college career

will end after playing in both a football bowl game and the College World Series.

While Sanders took his two-sport act to another level by winning Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys and playing in the World Series with the Atlanta Braves, even he cannot make the claim that Gerhart will after Stanford plays in its bowl game at the end of this season.  (Sanders was also neither a Biletnikoff Award finalist nor Heisman Trophy hopeful, although he and Biletnikoff did both go to Florida State.)

Based on how Gerhart has performed this year odds are he will be a part of an even more select group of athletes who can say they hit a home run at the CWS and scored a touchdown in a bowl.

Here’s a by the numbers look at Toby Gerhart’s statistics as both a college football and baseball player at Stanford:

1,736…net rushing yards by Gerhart this season

1,651…Gerhart’s career yardage prior to 2009

.867…Gerhart’s OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) in 2009 on the Cardinal baseball team

1…football start made by Gerhart in 2007 after he suffered a season-ending knee injury vs. San Jose State

140…yards he rushed for in that game prior to the injury

16…career home runs Gerhart has hit in three seasons playing for Mark Marquess

16…career touchdowns he scored in his first two-plus seasons playing for Walt Harris and Jim Harbaugh

26…touchdowns Gerhart has scored so far in 2009 – a new Pac-10 single-season record

42…career touchdowns scored by Toby Gerhart – a new Pac-10 career mark

25…times Gerhart has been hit by pitch

639…career rushing attempts by Gerhart

433…Gerhart’s career at-bats

12…career stolen bases in as many attempts

7…home runs hit and stolen bases in 2009

7…Gerhart’s football jersey number

24…Gerhart’s baseball jersey number

24…career doubles Gerhart has hit

1…career pass attempt by Gerhart – an 18 yard touchdown in Stanford’s win over Notre Dame

1…home run hit by Gerhart in Stanford’s 2008 CWS win over Florida State

3…RBIs in two Super Regional elimination game wins over Pepperdine in ‘08

3…200-plus yard rushing games by Gerhart this season

0…200 yard rushing games by a Stanford player since 1988 prior to this season

21…credit hours – Gerhart’s course load at Stanford during the fall 2009 semester

Gerhart is among more than 35 student athletes who have been featured this fall in the exclusive Collegebaseball360.com Two Sport Reports.

Charlie Weis Talks Gerhart & Tate

Two Top Two-Sport Stars Go Head-to-Head Saturday

Stanford’s Toby Gerhart and Notre Dame’s Golden Tate have three things in common:  1. They both play college football 2. They are both college baseball outfielders and 3. Irish football coach Charlie Weis talked about both of them at his weekly press conference Tuesday afternoon.  (They might actually have more than that in common, but that’s the nutshell version.)

Gerhart is a 6′1, 235 lb. senior who has rolled through Pac 10 defenders like a bowling ball through Weebles this season to the tune of 1,531 yards (2nd in the nation) and 23 nation-leading touchdowns.  He is one of three finalists for the Doak Walker Award, which is given to the nation’s top college running back each season.

At 5′11 and 195 pounds Tate is the lightning to Gerhart’s thunder.  His blazing speed has helped him reel-in 83 receptions for 1,295 yards (both ND school records) with 12 touchdown grabs.  Tate has also rushed for two touchdowns, and returned a punt 87 yards for another score.  His efforts rank him fourth nationally in receiving yards and have made him one of three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award, which is bestowed annually upon the nation’s top college receiver.

Gerhart has now exhausted his football eligibility, but he has one season of eligibility left if he decides to play for Mark Marquess and the Cardinal baseball team next spring.  (That could be tough with the NFL draft in April.)  Gerhart has made 105 baseball starts in his first three seasons while helping Stanford to the 2008 College World Series.

Tate has a few more options remaining.  As a junior on the Irish football team he could still return for a last bit of

gridiron refining next fall.  He also has two years of baseball eligibility left, so he could potentially patrol the outfield for Dave Schrage for two more seasons.  He could also go the route of another former Irish two-sport star, Jeff Samardzija, who is now a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs.  Samardzija played minor league baseball after his junior baeball season, and then returned for his senior football campaign to break more records & catch more passes thrown by current Cleveland Brown QB Brady Quinn.  (Tate has already broken Shark’s single-season yardage record and needs just 88 yards to break his career mark of 2,593.)

But here’s the best part:  We get to see both Gerhart and Tate in action on the same field while we’re gorging on leftovers this weekend when Notre Dame visits Stanford this Saturday night in the regular season finale for both teams.

*CLICK HERE to read the Collegebasell360.com Two Sport Reports which have featured Gerhart, Tate & other two sport athletes throughout the fall.)

Following is what Weis had to say about each of them on Tuesday:

On Toby Gerhart

Q.  Their running game, what do you need to do to slow that down?  What do they do that makes them so successful?

WEIS:  Well, I mean, I could talk about their offensive line, I could talk about their tight ends and I could talk about their scheme and their mentality, but

That No. 7 (Gerhart), the guy with the ball in his hands, you know, he’s special.  He’s a hard north‑south runner.  Not that he can’t bounce it outside, but you have to gang‑tackle him, and we’ve had a few problems with tackling now, and I think that if you don’t gang‑tackle him, he gets a lot of hidden yardage because you don’t get 139 yards a game by just being running in open field all the time and just by scheme.  I mean, this kid is a heck of a runner.  I have a lot of respect for him.

Q.  Where does Gerhart rank in terms of the skill position players you guys have faced this year?

WEIS:  Well, I think that, for example, if you’re going into the draft, let’s take him ‑‑ with this guy, you’re going into the draft, he’ll be one of the first guys taken, because one of those guys who wants a guy, a dependable, every‑down runner they can just hand the ball to 25, 30 times a game, there aren’t very many of them that are that type of size that are that type of durable that have proven track records.  He obviously has a proven track record.  So he’s right up there with the best of them.

There’s guys that we play that are faster than him, but I don’t know if there’s any more grounded than this guy.

Q.  I know you get this kind of question a lot.  Who does he remind you of?  Is there anyone?

WEIS:  Size alone puts him in a different category than a lot of running backs.  Yeah, there’s a bunch of guys that come to mind, but I’d have to think about that a little bit more.  I really haven’t thought about the parallel.

On Golden Tate

Q.  I don’t know how familiar you are with the strength and conditioning numbers of your players, and I don’t know if Golden Tate is pound for pound one of your strongest players.  Is it that?  Is that what makes it so difficult to bring him down, or is it just desire and will that keeps him on his feet sometimes?

WEIS:  Well, he is a rocked‑up unit to start out with.  I agree.  I think it’s a combination of both those elements.  I think you hit it twice.  I don’t think it has to be one or the other.  I think it’s a combination of both those things.  He’s a strong, physical rocked‑up unit, and he has a great center of gravity when he’s playing.  He’s well‑grounded when he gets hit a lot of times.  How many times have we seen people bounce off of him?  But I think that and a strong will, it’s a good combination.

Q.  And I know that he and you both said he’s learned the game a lot more, and that’s helped him become a better player.  But what pushed him down that road do you think?  What got him ‑‑ because this guy has improved so much.

WEIS:  Yeah, well, first of all, he’s a great competitor any time he’s on the field.  That’s why in baseball season he doesn’t want to talk about football, and in football season he doesn’t want to talk about baseball, because he’s such a fierce competitor.  I think he’s got ‑‑ he’s probably improved more than any player on the team, and there’s still some things that he can even get better.  There’s some things that when he goes over a few more of the more refined coaching points, he can even get better than where he is.  Maybe not necessarily numbers‑wise, okay, but he can get better from where he is now.

Q.  Whether it’s this year or next year, and I know that he’s going to make that decision at the appropriate time, but he’s going to play in the NFL, and there are some people that you talk to, it just seems like the only thing that they’re worried about is the height.  Can you address that, what you think ‑‑

WEIS:  They won’t be worrying about the height.  You know what’s going to happen is they’re going to watch the tape, because anyone who watching the tape, they’re not worrying about the height.  I think that more importantly, they want to let him go to the combine and see what number he runs, because when all of a sudden it’s a 4‑4 flat or something along those lines, that height will be thrown right out the window, because unlike a lot of other receivers, the volume ‑‑ just think about the number of plays that you’ve seen him make this year.

The bottom line is he has evidence.  You have visual evidence when you watch him.  You don’t want to bet on the come with him.  He’s already got a body of evidence on tape.  You just go pick a game out, and you’re going to have at least nine or ten plays where you say, this kid is something special.

Q.  Is there anybody at the next level that you see a parallel to?

WEIS:  Unlike Gerhart, who I don’t have, so I’d have to think about it, he reminds me of Steve Smith’s clone.  I know Steve Smith well.  I’m a big fan of Steve Smith.  A little trash‑talker just like Golden.  But their personalities are alike, they’re fiery guys, they make big plays.  They’re tough.  They don’t back down from anyone.  I would imagine ‑‑ I don’t know exactly Steve’s size, but I would imagine it’s probably pretty close, and he’s done pretty well, last time I checked.  He reminds me a lot of Steve.

Q.  Following up on that, you say size is not a limitation for him.  Route‑running, which two years ago was really non‑existent for him, is that the area where he has improved the most?

WEIS:  He has improved the most, and he has work to do yet.  The two things, because he’s capable of running even better routes, which he has improved exponentially on that subject right there.  But he’s capable of running even better routes, and with his strength and quickness getting off the line of scrimmage versus a jam, when he starts using even more proper technique and better technique at that right there when people come up and they want to try to take him away, it’s going to be scary when he really gets that down the way ‑‑ with the same improvement that he has in route running.

Q.  Assuming that he came out right now, how would the NFL judge him?  Would they say, okay, he’s weak on the route running but he’s so physically skilled that we’ll take him early and develop him?

WEIS:  I think it would really come down to two things, and he already has one of them in the bank already.  I forget who I answered it with, but he already has the volume of evidence in the bank.

I mean, when you start studying a player in college, you’re looking for him to make plays.  Well, he doesn’t take long to find this guy.  He’s a highlight reel.  You’ve got a highlight reel.  Just imagine, do you want to make his highlight real for the year?  How would you like to be his age when it came to that?  There would be plenty of evidence; you could put play after play on there, and they’re all from this year.  You don’t have to go to any other year.

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