http://collegebaseball360.com/arizona-state-gets-back-on-track/ http://collegebaseball360.com/arizona-state-gets-back-on-track/#comments Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:01:09 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=18742

www.simplesharebuttons.com

Sweeps WSU After Being Swept By OSU…

By CB360 Contributor Kevin Kennedy

Tenth ranked Arizona State bounced back from last weekend’s sweep at Oregon State with a three game sweep of Washington State this past weekend in Tempe. ASU defeated the Cougars 3-1, 8-2, and 10-4 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday respectively.

Last weekend in Corvallis the Sun Devils were swept by a Pac-10 team for the first time since 1999 when they lost all three games to the Beavers. It was also the first time ASU had been swept by any opponent since 2005.

Brady Rodgers

ASU improved to 25-9 and 8-4 in the Pac-10, while Washington St. continued to struggle in conference action falling to 2-10 in the Pac-10 with a 14-17 overall record.

ASU won in a pitchers duel between sophomore Brady Rodgers, and WSU junior Adam Conley on Friday night. Rodgers pitched 6.1 innings allowing an earned run on five hits. Three ASU relievers pitched the final 2.1 innings allowing just one hit while striking out four. Junior Mitchell Lambson, who took the loss in last Saturday’s game against the Beavers, earned the save on Friday by striking out the side in order.

Rodgers continues to solidify his spot as the Sun Devils ace. He improved to 5-2 with a 2.92 ERA. Through seven appearances Rodgers has a 30 to 1 strike out to walk ratio.

On Friday the Sun Devils had trouble figuring out the Cougar’s ace. Conley pitched a complete game limiting the Sun Devils to seven hits while allowing only one earned run while striking out seven. Conley dropped to 4-4 with the tough loss.

ASU scored all three of its runs in the 5^th off Conley. The two deciding runs came when WSU junior 2^nd basemen Tommy Richards committed an error by allowing a two out ground ball to go though his legs.

The Sun Devils were without sophomore starting SS Deven Marrero for the first two games because of a back injury. The injury forced junior Riccio Torrez to move from 3B to SS, and sophomore Joey DeMichele moved into the starting line-up going to 3B.

DeMichele made two nice plays at third in Friday’s win, and followed up the defensive effort with a 3-4, 3 RBI night on Saturday. Marrero returned to SS on Sunday and went 1-4.

Chad Arnold

The Devils had more offensive success in the last two games of the series. They chased WSU’s Saturday starter, senior Chad Arnold, after he allowed seven runs in 3.1 innings. ASU led 7-1 after just four innings. Besides DeMichele junior 1B Zach Wilson led ASU by going 3-3.

Junior Kramer Champlin went 6.1 innings for the win improving to 5-1 with a 3.20 ERA in nine starts. Champlin allowed two earned on eight hits while striking out five.

ASU struck early again in Sunday’s 10-4 win. ASU jumped out to a 4-0 lead after five innings, and put the game away with a five run sixth inning, which gave the Devils a 9-2 lead. DeMichele has his second consecutive three hit game going 3-5 as the starting DH. Senior RF Matt Newman, sophomore CF Andrew Aplin, and Torrez were a combined 6-for-13 with five RBIs in Sunday’s victory.

For the second consecutive game WSU’s starter failed to get through five innings going 4.2 innings and falling to 3-4 with the loss. Sophomore Jake Barrett got the victory for the Devils improving to 4-3 by going 5.2 innings.

This weekend ASU continued to be aggressive on the base paths. The Sun Devils stole seven bases in the series. For the season has 58 stolen bases on 86 attempts – a 67% success rate.

Washington State continues to be one of the bigger disappointments in the conference through the first four weeks of conference play. There were high expectations in Pullman coming into this season after the team came within a game of the Super Regional’s in 2010. The Cougars are currently last in the Pac-10 – 7.5 games behind first place Oregon State. WSU has now dropped seven of its last eight Pac-10 games.

The Cougars need to play well the last month plus of the season to reach the tournament again. The Cougars have played one of the tougher conference schedules, with games at #16 Cal, vs. #17 Stanford, and vs. #23 UCLA. The schedule does not get any easier next weekend when they visit #9 Oregon State. WSU will have played the top four teams in the conference standings after the OSU series.

Following OSU, the Cougars do play three of their last four conference series at home.

The Sun Devils are going for a fourth straight conference title, and currently sit 1.5 games behind conference leader Oregon State, three games back in the loss column. The Beavers hold the tiebreaker over ASU with last weekend’s sweep.

Next weekend the Devils travel to northern California to play at Cal beginning on Thursday. The Bears are 9-3 in the Pac-10, just one-half game behind OSU.

The Sun Devils currently could be eligible for the NCAA Tournament, because they are appealing the NCAA’s postseason ban. The ban would not go into effect until the appeals process is over.

ASU has a decent shot to make the tournament because they are not set to have their case heard until May 14, about two weeks before the tournament field is selected. It is unlikely that the appeals committee will make a ruling by the time the 2011 tournament beings.

Dugouthats.com has officially licensed 2010 College World Series memorabilia year- round!

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!!

www.simplesharebuttons.com

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/arizona-state-gets-back-on-track/feed/ 0

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gator Bait…

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

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise…

Cal State Bakersfield's Jonathon Montoya

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

Sycamore No-No…

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

TCU’s Aces…

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

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

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

Kyle Robinson

Razorback Off & Running…

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

Quality Pitching…

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

Duke-ing It Out…

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

Stanford @ Texas…

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

Taylor Jungmann

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

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

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

Dean McArdle

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

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

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

Dugouthats.com has officially licensed 2010 College World Series memorabilia year round!

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 LSU, Texas, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UCLA, South Carolina, Miami and more.

(Full Release)

Oklahoma sophomore rightfielder Cody Reine

Two sophomores who helped take their teams to Super-Regional series wins on the road are the featured individuals on the latest edition of CB360’s exclusive Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll, for the NCAA Super-Regional round spanning games played on June 11-14. (front-page photo courtesy of Oklahoma)

TCU sophomore righthander Kyle Winkler

Oklahoma rightfielder Cody Reine (Walker, La.) is the Primtime Player of the Week and TCU righthander Kyle Winkler (Sugar Land, Texas) the Primetime Pitcher of the Week, with 11 others joining them on the Primtime Honor Roll (as selected by CollegeBaseball360.com). Reine and Winkler headline the 17th installment of the CB360 Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll, which includes 11 other players who helped carry their teams to the College World Series (or, in a few cases, to the brink of advancing).

CLICK HERE for the Primetime Honor Roll archive (scroll down on that page for the 16 previous Honor Roll releases).

REINE – who also was a CB360 Primetime Honor Roll selection following the NCAA Regional round – showed that he packs plenty of power into his 5-9, 215-pound frame, as the lefthanded-hitting cleanup hitter posted a pair of 2-HR games while sparking Oklahoma to the Super-Regional series win at #5 national seed Virginia (2-3, 10-7, 11-0). During the two wins, Reine racked up 11 RBI and hit 5-for-8 (plus a walk) while batting in the #5 spot.

Oklahoma sophomore rightfielder Cody Reine homered twice in the series-tying win of the Super Regional at #5 national seed Virginia ... and he matched the 2-HR feat one day later, in the decisive third game (photo courtesy of Oklahoma).

In the Super-Regional opener, Virginia ace Danny Hultzen limited Reine (batting cleanup) and six other Oklahoma starters to 0-1 hits, but Reine’s power stroke quickly put the Sooners back in the series. He drove in half of his team’s runs (5 of 10) in the game-2 win, starting with a 3-run blast in the 1st inning (0-1 pitch from Robert Morrey) as OU claimed an early 4-2 cushion.

Five innings later, with the Sooners holding a 6-4 lead, Reine jumped on a 1-1 pitch from Cody Winiarski and drove the ball over the fence in right-center for another 2-run shot.

The deciding game saw Reine rise up for 6 RBI, including a 1st-inning home run for the second straight day (this 3-run blast came with 2-outs, on a 1-0 pitch from Branden Kline).  He added another 3-run HR in the 8th, as OU inched closer to Omaha.

Reine is batting .341 for the season, with 42 RBI and 10 home runs.

WINKLER was placed into a pressure-packed spot for game-3 of the Super-Regional series at #2 national seed Texas. Not only did he have the chance to pitch TCU to the program’s first CWS trip, but such a victory would come against the in-state rival that had knocked off the Horned Frogs one year earlier in the same Super-Regional round.

TCU sophomore Kyle Winkler delivered a clutch game-3 outing at #2 national seed Texas, logging 7.2 shuout innings as the Frogs won (4-1) to secure the program's first College World Series trip (photo courtesy of TCU).

With so much riding on his shoulders – and Texas talented #3 starter Brandon  Workman opposing him – Winkler met the challenge head-on by working into the 8th while Workman (5IP-R-4H-4K) was forced out three innings earlier. The TCU sophomore was the much-deserved pitcher of record in the historic 4-1 victory, after limiting Texas to 5 hits and 3 walks in his 7.2-inning shutout stint (he struck out six 0f his 32 batters faced, during the 112-pitch outing).

Winkler will enter the College World Series with a 2.84 season ERA and 12-1 record in 17 starts this season, plus 90 strikeouts, 33 walks and 103 hits allowed (.242 opp. batting avg.) in 114 innings pitched.

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 games that could be key to a team’s conference/NCAA postseason qualification/advancement; 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 11 members of the CB360 Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll for the NCAA Regionals include (see capsules for each player at bottom of release): Vanderbilt jr. DH Curt Casali (New Canaan, Conn.) … Florida State so. 3B Sherman Johnson (Tampa, Fla.) … Arizona State so. LHP Mitchell Lambson (Tualatin, Ore.) … Florida so. LHP Alex Panteliodis ( Tampa, Fla.) … TCU fr. LHP Matt Purke (Spring, Texas) … UCLA so. 2B Tyler Rahmatulla (Mission Viejo, Calif.) …UCLA jr. LHP Rob Rasmussen (Arcadia, Calif.) … Clemson fr. 1B Richie Shaffer (Charlotte, N.C.) … Oklahoma jr. RHP Bobby Shore (Oceanside, Calif.) … Alabama sr. 3B/RHP Jake Smith (Shannon, Ala.) … and South Carolina fr. 1B Christian Walker (Limerick, Pa.).

The week-17 honorees include four impressive lefthanded pitchers (Lambson, Panteliois, Purke and Rasmussen), along with righthanders Winkler and Shore, the two-way talent Smith (3B/RHP), a pair of first basemen (Shaffer and Walker), second baseman Rahmatulla, third baseman Johnson, rightfielder Reine and DH Casali. The 13 selections feature the lone senior Smith, three juniors (Casali, Rasmussen and Shore), six sophomores (Reine, Winkler, Johnson, Lambson, Panteliodis and Rahmatulla), and the freshman trio of Purke, Shaffer and Walker.

The honorees hail from nine different home states, including a pair of players (Johnson and Panteliodis) who were teammates at Alonso High School in Tampa, Fla. There also are three California products – Shore and UCLA teammates Rahmatulla and Rasmussen – along with two who have Texas hometowns (Winkler and Purke), plus one each from: Alabama (Smith), Connecticut (Casali), Louisiana (Reine), North Carolina (Shaffer), Oregon (Lambson) and Pennsylvania (Walker).

PRIMETIME PERFORMERS WEEKLY HONOR ROLL #17
(NCAA Super-Regionals; June 11-14, 2010)
presented by CollegeBaseball360.com

“It’s not so much what you do, as it is when you do it.”

CURT CASALI (DH … #9)
Vanderbilt  •  Jr.
New Canaan, CT  •  New Canaan HS
6-2  •  215  •  Bats: Right

5-hole hitter who batted .500 (7-for-14) during tight Super-Regional series at Florida State, with FSU posting pair of 1-run wins (9-8, 7-6) while Commodores took game-2 (6-2) … had pair of RBI doubles (one in the 1st and another in 8th, for 4-2 lead) during win over the Seminoles (also scored a run) … his strong game in opener (4-for-5, 8th HR of season, 2-out RBI double) nearly carried Commodores to game-1 win … also had a pair of RBI in close series finale.

SHERMAN JOHNSON (3B … #32)
Florida State  •  So.
Tampa, FL  •  Alonso HS
5-10  •  180  •  Bats: Left

Repeat CB360 Primetime honoreee who followed up clutch performances in the Regional round by delivering several key plays in hard-fought Super-Regional series vs. Vanderbilt (9-8, 2-6, 7-6) … factored into 3 runs (2RBI-2R; 9th HR of season) during the tight opener, also adding a single in 7th-inning rally that tied score (7-7) … singled and reached on a HBP in game-2 before driving in four of FSU’s 7 runs in the decisive third game (his 2-out/3-run double in the 8th turned a 4-3 lead into a 7-3 cushion … played error-free at the hot corner during the three games.

MITCHELL LAMBSON (LHP … #40)
Arizona State  •  So.
Tualatin, OR  •  Tualatin HS
6-1  •  195

Faced the minimum 15 batters in huge 5-inning relief appearance that closed 12-inning win (7-6) over Arkansas in Super-Regional opener … allowed pair of baserunners (H-BB) that were erased on a pickoff move and a batters-interference call … his 7 strikeouts included 3-up/3-down in the 11th.

ALEX PANTELIODIS (LHP … #24)
Florida  •  So.
Tampa, FL  •  Alonso HS
6-2  •  235

Continued his stellar season with yet another appearance on the Primetime Honor Roll, after logging complete-game victory in Super-Regional opener vs. in-state rival Miami (7-2) … faced only 30 batters (3 over min.; 3H-BB) while recording 22 of his outs via strikeouts (12) or groundball outs (10, including a double-play) … retired finaal 14 batters he faced (6 Ks, 7 GOs) … located nearly 75% of his pitches for strikes (85 of 116).

MATT PURKE (LHP … #47)
TCU  •  Fr.
Spring, TX  •  Klein HS
6-4  •  180

Extended his stellar rookie campaign by winning Super-Regional series opener at #2 national seed Texas (3-1), getting the best of pitchers duel opposite Cole Green (who dropped to 11-2, after 5.2IP-3R-5H-3BB-4H) … allowed the lone run while working into the 8th (7.2), with 19 of his outs coming via Ks (11) or groundouts (8) … faced only 28 batters (3H-BB-HB) in the 110-pitch outing, en route to a 14-0 season record.

TYLER RAHMATULLA (2B … #5)
UCLA  •  So.
Mission Viejo, CA  • Mater Dei HS
5-11  •  180  •  Bats: Right

3-hole batter who delivered one of the biggest hits in the entire 2010 NCAA Tournament, driving 3-1 pitch over left-center fence for 2-out/2-run blast in 9th inning of game-2 vs. Cal State Fullerton … that home run lifted UCLA into 7-6 lead and Bruins went on to force game-3 by winning in the 10th (11-7) … played error-free in the series (14 fielding chances) … also had pair of doubles in 4-3 opening-game loss (RBI, R) and closed 2-for-4 with an RBI in the 8-1 clincher.

ROB RASMUSSEN (LHP … #27)
UCLA  •  Jr.
Arcadia, CA  •  Pasadena Poly HS
5-11  •  170

Lived up to his reputation as nation’s top #3 starter in the rotation, with 2-hitter that beat Fullerton in Super-Regional finale (8-1) … faced only 32 batters in that 112-pitch outing, limiting the potent Titans lineup to a pair of hits and a single walk (2 HB) while striking out 9 CSF batters.

*CODY REINE (RF … #11)
Oklahoma  •  So.
Walker, LA  •  Grayson JC/Walker HS
5-9  •  215  •  Bats: Left

Cleanup/5-hole batter who filled that role in timely fashion by batting 5-for-8 in pair of wins over #5 national seed Virginia (with 2 HRs in each game), as Sooners overcame game-1 loss to win Super-Regional series on the road (2-3, 10-7, 11-0) … hit 2–for-3 with a walk and 5 RBI in game-2 before driving in 6 runs (3-for-5) during the stunning runaway clincher.

RICHIE SHAFFER (1B … #8)
Clemson  •  Fr.
Charlotte, NC  •  Providence Senior HS
6-2  •  190  •  Bats: Right

7-hole batter who had totaled only 2 home runs this season before besting that total with 3 HRs in Super-Regional series vs. Alabama (4-5, 19-5, 8-6) … hit 4-for-10 with 7 RBI in pair of wins over the Crimson Tide … smacked pair of home in decisive third game (3 RBI), after also homering in game-2 blowout (4 RBI, sac-fly) … drew a walk in low-scoring opener.

BOBBY SHORE (RHP … #16)
Oklahoma  •  Jr.
Oceanside, CA  •  Palomar JC/Oceanside HS
6-1  •  175  •  Bats: Right

Rose to the occasion in decisive third game of Super Regional at #5 national seed Virginia (11-0 win) … faced only 29 batters in his 8.0 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits and a pair of walks with 5 strikeouts in the 99-pitch outing … his clutch appearance helped Sooners complete series comeback, after narrow 3-2 loss in opener (won game-2, 10-7).

JAKE SMITH (3B/RHP … #14)
Alabama  •  Sr.
Shannon, AL  •  Hueytown HS
6-2  •  190  •  Bats: Right

Two-way talent who played big role in 5-4 win during Super-Regional opener at Clemson … went 2-for-4 from the 5-hole and smacked his 14th home run of the season, before closing the final 2.0 innings for his 6th save of the season (H, 2 Ks) … also homered in game-2 and had a walk and run scored in tight finale (8-6 loss).

CHRISTIAN WALKER (1B … #13)
South Carolina  •  Fr.
Limerick, PA  •  Kennedy-Kendrick HS
6-0  •  210  •  Bats: Right

5-hole hitter who helped South Carolina win Super-Regional series at #4 national seed Coastal Carolina (4-3, 10-9) … batted 2-for-5 in each of the wins, adding 5 RBI, 2 runs scored, a home run and hit-by-pitch … his 2-run single sparked SC to 3-0 lead in 1st inning of game-1 … supplied the big hit in the clinching win, as his 3-run blast in the 8th provided the final 10-9 margin (Coastal held an early 5-2 lead).

*KYLE WINKLER (RHP … #8)
TCU  •  So.
Sugar Land, TX  •  Kempner HS
5-11  •  190  •  Bats: Right

Delivered game-3 Super-Regional win at Texas (4-1) that sent Horned Frogs to Omaha for the program’s first College World Series appearance … worked into the 8th to outduel Brandon Workman (5IP-R-4H-4K), logging 7.2 shutout innings with 5 hits and 3 walks allowed … struck out 6 of his 32 batters faced, during 112-pitch outing.

Day Two Super Regional Notes And Thoughts

Florida head coach Kevin O'Sullivan

Miami hasn’t won a postseason game in Gainesville since 2002.

The Big “E”s: Miami committed seven, that’s right seven errors in Saturday’s loss to Florida.  Only one of the four runs scored by the Gators was earned.  In fact, just two of Florida’s 11 runs in the two games was earned thanks to nine Hurricane miscues.  Miami hasn’t won a postseason game in Gainesville since 2002.

Mighty Mo: It didn’t take long for Texas to take back the momentum in it’s series with TCU.  After losing 3-1 in Friday’s opener the Longhorns drubbed the Horned Frogs 14-1 on Saturday to send the game to a deciding third game.  The rout was due in part to the dominant pitching of Taylor Jungmann, who struck out 9 in 8 1/3 IP, but also largely to three Horned Frog errors that led to six unearned runs scored by the Longhorns.  All five runs allowed in 3 2/3 IP by TCU starter Steven Maxwell (11-2) were unearned.

Crowded House: The first two games of the Texas-TCU Super Regional have drawn more than 7,300 fans each to Disch-Falk Field.  That makes 21 games this season in which the Longhorns have played in front of a crowd of more than 7,000.

Livin’ On The Edge: Vanderbilt downed Florida State 6-2 Saturday to force Sunday’s winner take all game.  The win makes the Commodores 4-0 in NCAA elimination games this year.  Saturday’s win halted Florida State’s seven game winning streak.

Not So Super: This is Florida State’s 10th Super Regional since 1999, but the Seminoles have won just one of their last seven Super Regional series since advancing to Omaha in the first two years of the format in 1999 and 2000.  Three of those Super Regional losses came on their home field.  Including their 1-1 mark this year, the Seminoles are 9-14 all-time in Super Regional games.

Great Garvin: Commodore reliever Grayson Garvin tossed three shutout innings to finish Saturday’s win.  Garvin has now given-up just two runs with 12 strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings in three postseason appearances this year.

Son Of A Yaz: Vanderbilt freshman Mike Yastrzemski is the grandson of Red Sox Hall of Famer Carl

Vanderbilt freshman Mike Yastrzemski

Yastrzemski, but he has a Seminole connection as well.  Mike’s dad, Michael, played at Florida State from 1980-’83.  Mike is 4-for-7 in the Super Regional with a double, a home run and two RBIs.

Is That A Girl, What’s She Know About College Baseball? Those were my wife’s words, not mine, when she heard Pam Ward doing the play-by-play of Virginia’s 3-2 win over Oklahoma in game one of their series.  I’ll admit I was skeptical of Ward doing the game, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone.  I have to say though that Ward did a solid job.  She’s got a lot of experience doing softball games, and she even used that to provide some baseball insight.  Ward talked about the current moratorium on composite bats in college baseball and how college softball may consider the same thing with all of the home runs hit at this year’s Women’s College World Series.

Hoos Boom: Virginia scored all three of its runs in that game on home runs.  Phil Gosselin led-off the bottom of the 1st inning with his 10th HR of the year and then Dan Grovatt hit the deciding two-run blast in the 6th.

Nice Lid: Did you see the hat UCLA pitcher Trevor Bauer wore during the Fullerton game at Jackie Robinson Stadium?  It’s so faded and worn looking that it looks like Jackie Robinson could have worn it during his playing days with the Bruins.

That’s A Bold Statement: “Of all the guys I’ve seen hit Harold Martinez is my favorite hitter.  Manny Ramirez is my guy in Major League baseball.  When I walk into a room and a Manny Ramirez at-bat is on I’m not walking out.   That’s how I felt about Harold Martinez.”  That’s what Eric Byrnes said about injured Miami third baseman Harold Martinez, who was hospitalized in Gainesville with an infected shin.  Byrnes got to see first hand last week just how explosive Martinez’s bat is when the sophomore had 9 RBIs and two HR in the Coral Cables Regional.

Jake Smith hit a home run and earned a save in Alabama's win.

Tide Rolling: Alabama beat Clemson 5-4 in Saturday’s series opener.  The Crimson Tide, which barely made the SEC Tournament field,  has won 13 of its last 15 games to move to within one win from Omaha.  One more win would make Mitch Gaspard just the second rookie coach in the last 30 years to take a team to the College World Series.  Dan McDonnell did it at Louisville in 2007.

The Two Jakes: How about Alabama’s Jake Smith?  The senior started at third base and hit his 14th home run of the season to help the Tide win Saturday’s game.  He then gave-up just a hit over the final two scoreless innings of the game to earn his sixth save.

It’s On Where? With all eight Super Regionals in action on Saturday it was a little hard to actually find where some of them were (or weren’t) being televised.  I was never actually able to watch the Alabama-Clemson game on TV.  I did watch parts of it on ESPN3.com.  That’s where I found most of the UCLA-Fullerton game, and then the video froze.  Turned out they moved it to ESPN2 after the Florida-Miami game was over. It’s just a shame that unless you were on the west coast most of the UCLA-Fullerton series was either on TV after 11pm ET Friday night (it ended after 2am) or was not on TV at all.

Bopping Bruins: UCLA hit four home runs in Saturday’s 11-7 10-inning win over the Titans.  Tyler Rahmatulla had the biggest of the blasts.  With UCLA down to its last two strikes of the season the sophomore’s 2-run shot gave the Bruins a 7-6 lead in the top of the 9th.  Fullerton tied the score 7-7 in the bottom of the inning, and then UCLA plated four in the 10th for the win.

Golden Gallego: Bruin shortstop Niko Gallego made two great plays in the bottom of the 10th to help force Sunday’s deciding game.  Niko is the son of 13-year MLB vetern Mike Gallego.

White Between The Eyes: When Arizona State reliever Mitchell Lambson went to the mound in the top of the 8th inning umpires apparently told him he had too much rosin on his hat.  The reasoning would be that the white from the rosin could be deceptive to Arkansas batters.  Sounds fairly reasonable, and the rationale would be in line with the fact that pitchers cannot have white on their gloves.  What I’ve never understood is how a few white stitches on a pitcher’s glove (or in this case rosin on a hat that’s also covered in white salt stains) aids in hiding the ball than a full home white uniform (like ASU was wearing Saturday night)…or even white lettering on a dark uniform (like Arkansas had).

Lights Out Lambson: Rosin or no rosin, Lambson had 2 Ks in a 1-2-3 inning, and he wasn’t done there.  In a game ASU eventually won 7-6 in 12 innings, Lambson (8-2) fired five shutout innings of relief with six strikeouts to earn the win.

Uggghh: I really want to watch the Arkansas-Arizona State series, just not with Justin “I continually second guess head coaches who have been to the College World Series four times” Kutcher calling the action.  Ok, so Dave Van Horn didn’t bring in Brett Eibner to pitch leading 6-5 in the 9th inning…we get it.  Now go back to criticizing umpires.

Tough Night: Eibner was called out not once, but twice for batter’s interference.  The second one ended the top of the 12th inning.  The two-way star (21 HR, 69 RBIs) then gave-up the game-winning hit to Deven Marrero in the bottom of the 12th.

A Team By Team Look At This Weekend’s Games

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

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

Arizona

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

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

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

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

Arizona State

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

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

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

UCLA

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

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

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

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

READ MORE!

(Front page viewer photo courtesy Chase Titleman.)

Big Names & Lessor Known Hurlers On The List

LUBBOCK, TX — As starting pitchers across the country continue to impact the success of their teams, the College Baseball Foundation has released the first Pitcher of the Year Watch List for 2010.  The Pitcher of the Year Award will be presented in Lubbock, Texas,on July 2 as part of the College Baseball Awards Show.

“This watch list is full of great college pitchers from around the country,” said Landon Holly, who together with Justin Knowles serves as co-chair for the Pitcher of the Year committee.  All the major conferences across the country have multiple representatives on the list, with the Pac-10 leading the way with nine.  Many of the smaller conferences also have representation on the list.

This is the second year the CBF will present the Pitcher of the Year Award.  Deck McGuire of Georgia Tech is the only 2009 finalist to appear on the 2010 watch list.  2009 Stopper of the Year Award winner Addison Reed of San Diego State (now a starter) is on the Pitcher of the Year watch list as well.

The award will be presented on July 2 in Lubbock, TX as part of the College Baseball Awards Show.

2010 College Pitcher of the Year Watch List

Jimmy Nelson-Alabama-SEC

Jake Borup-Arizona State-Pac 10

Mitchell Lambson-Arizona State-Pac 10

Josh Spence-Arizona State-Pac 10

Drew Smyly-Arkansas-SEC

Logan Verrett-Baylor-Big 12

Eric Johnson-California-Pac 10

Asher Wojciechowski-The Citadel-Southern

Matt Rein-Coastal Carolina-Big South

Cody Wheeler-Coastal Carolina-Big South

Alex Panteliodis-Florida-SEC

John Gast-Florida State-ACC

Sean Gilmartin-Florida State-ACC

Deck McGuire-Georgia Tech-ACC

Drew Leininger-Indiana-Big 10

Matt Little-Kentucky-SEC

Shawn Teufel-Liberty-Big South

Anthony Ranaudo-LSU-SEC

Neil Holland-Louisville-Big East

Thomas Royse-Louisville-Big East

Matt Harvey-North Carolina-ACC

Francis Brooke-Northwestern-Big 10

Alex Wimmers-Ohio State-Big 10

Jeremy Erben-Oklahoma-Big 12

Aaron Barrett-Mississippi-SEC

Drew Pomeranz-Mississippi-SEC

Tyler Anerson-Oregon-Pac 10

Greg Peavey-Oregon State-Pac 10

Tanner Robles-Oregon State-Pac 10

Addison Reed-San Diego State-Mountain West

D.D. Hanks-South Alabama-Sun Belt

Trevor Vermeulen-South Dakota State-Summit

Josh Janway-Southeastern Louisiana-Southland

Scott Copeland-Southern Mississippi-Conference USA

Todd McInnis-Southern Mississippi-Conference USA

Cole Green-Texas-Big 12

Taylor Jungmann-Texas-Big 12

Chance Ruffin-Texas-Big 12

Barret Loux-Texas A&M-Big 12

John Stilson-Texas A&M-Big 12

Daniel Bibona-UC Irvine-Big West

Eric Pettis-UC Irvine-Big West

Mario Hollands-UC Santa Barbara-Big West

Trevor Bauer-UCLA-Pac 10

Gerrit Cole-UCLA-Pac 10

Jason Mitchell-UT Arlington-Southland

Sonny Gray-Vanderbilt-SEC

Danny Hultzen-Virginia-ACC

Jesse Hahn-Virginia Tech-ACC

Collegebaseball360.com Editor, Sean Stires, shares some thoughts from a day of baseball at Rosenblatt Stadium…