College Baseball Notebook-Week 2

A By The Numbers Look At The First Full Week Of The Season

3…Weekend wins over Stanford by Texas.  The Longhorns had dropped 2 of 3 games at home to New Mexico on opening weekend, while the Cardinal had started the season with a home 3-game sweep of Rice.

20-5…Combined score of Texas’ three wins.

1…Home run by Longhorn DH Russell Moldenhauer in the series.  The single longball surpasses his 2009 regular season total.  All four of Moldenhauer’s home runs last season were at the College World Series.

0…Hits allowed in five innings of relief by UT pitcher Cole Green.  He fanned 6 with no walks in the series finale.

18…Strikeouts by UT Arlington pitcher Jason Mitchell in Friday’s win over Missouri State.  Mitchell lost a no-hitter with one out to go in the game, which the Mavericks won 1-0 in 14 innings.   The 18 Ks breaks a school and Southland Conference record.  He struck out at least two batters in all but the 8th inning (1).

0…Runs allowed in 5 innings of relief in that same game by Arlington reliever Adam Boydston, who fanned 8 himself with just one walk and one hit allowed.

2…Wins in three games  by TCU at Cal State Fullerton over the weekend.

4…Home losses by the Titans already this season.

8…Home losses by Fullerton in 2009.

2…Losses in his first two starts by Cal State Fullerton pitcher Daniel Renken after allowing 3 ER in 6 IP in Friday’s loss to the Horned Frogs.

3…Losses by Renken all of last year.

2…Wins by #19 Coastal Carolina over #4 UC Irvine on Saturday in Myrtle Beach, SC.

9…Runs in the 8^th inning of game two of the doubleheader by the Chanticleers to beat the Anteaters 13-6.

2…Combined losses by Irvine pitchers Daniel Bibona and Eric Pettis in Saturday’s twin bill.

3…Combined losses by Bibona and Pettis in 2009.

109…Pitches thrown in 5 1/3 IP by Bibona in his loss.

119…Pitches thrown in 6 2/3 IP by Pettis in his loss.

5…RBIs by Coastal Carolina catcher Jose Iglesias in the doubleheader sweep.  He was 6-for-8 at the plate in the games.

6…Runs scored by Irvine in the 8th inning on Sunday to beat James Madison 15-9 for their only win in Myrtle Beach.  In addition to their losses to Coastal Carolina the Anteaters also fell to North Carolina State.

8…Strikeouts and earned runs allowed in 3 ½ innings by Tennessee’s Bryan Morgado in Friday’s 17-1 loss

to Oregon State.

0…Runs allowed with 9 strikeouts by Oregon State’s Greg Peavey in Sunday’s 1-0 win over the Vols.  Peavey allowed just three hits with one walk in his first win of the season.

0.64…Peavey’s ERA in his first 14 innings pitched this season.

9…Strikeouts in 6 innings by Louisville pitcher Thomas Royse in Friday’s 2-0 win over Michigan.

10…Strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings by Todd McInnis in 26th ranked Southern Mississippi’s 8-2 loss to LeMoyne.

2 of 3…Games Southern Miss. dropped to LeMoyne after falling 12-11 in the series finale.

20…Runners left on base by the Golden Eagles in the pair of defeats.

5…RBIs by Dolphin LF Chris Edomonson in the 12-11 win over USM.

84…Runs scored by Arizona State in its 7-0 start to the season.

18…Runs allowed by the Sun Devils (two unearned) for a 2.36 staff ERA.

15…Runs and hits by Georgia Tech in Saturday’s 15-0 win over Xavier.

1…Win over a top 10 team in the history of Xavier baseball after Sunday’s 7-6 win over #4 Georgia Tech.

4 & 3…Respective errors and unearned runs allowed by the Yellow Jackets in their first loss of 2010.

13…Errors in three games committed by Notre Dame en-route to a 1-2 weekend at the Big Ten/Big East Challenge.

6…Of those errors committed by the Fighting Irish in Sunday’s 8-7 10-inning win over Penn State.

1…Win this season for Maine (1-5) after Saturday’s 5-3 upset of #12 North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

1…Career win for Black Bear pitcher Jeffrey Gibbs, who earned the win vs. the Tar Heels.  He struckout seven and allowed 2 ER in 5 1/3 IP.

2…Career starts by Gibbs-a 6′4-190 lb. freshman from Toronto, Ontario.

12…Strikeouts in 7 IP by Virginia sophomore Danny Hultzen in a 13-0 win over Rhode Island.  The lefty allowed no runs and no walks on two hits to improve to 2-0.

43…Runs scored by the Cavs in their 3-game sweep of URI while allowing just 7 runs to improve to 6-1.

0…Runs allowed in 4 IP by Manhattan freshman reliever John Soldinger in Sunday’s 12-7 win over the 10th ranked Miami Hurricanes.

7…Earned runs allowed in 5 IP by Jasper starting pitcher Mike Gazzola who got credit for the win after exiting with his team leading 9-5.

7 & 9…Combined runs scored and RBIs, respectively, by Manhattan 2-5 batters Mark Onorati, Mike McCann, Chad Salem, and Austin Sheffield in the upset of the Hurricanes.  The quartet also combined to hit .500 (10-for-20).

6-0…Washington State’s record after Sunday’s 10-7 win over Texas Tech in Lubbock, TX.  It’s Wazzou’s best start since going 9-0 to start the 1988 season.

4, 11 & 13…Home runs, RBIs & runs scored by New Mexico State shortstop Ryan Aguayo.  The junior hit .440 with an 1.120 slugging percentage in six games last week.

3…Of Aguayo’s home runs that came in one game-a 17-5 win over Akron.  He hit half of the Aggies’ 6 HRs in the contest.

4 & 9…Home runs and RBIs by Eastern Kentucky’s Anthony Ottrando in the Colonel’s season-opening 3-game series vs. Western Carolina.

11…RBIs with 3 home runs in 3 games by Auburn’s Brian Fletcher.  His 10th inning walk-off home run gave the Tigers a Friday win over Boston College.

15…Strikeouts in 7 IP by Ole Miss lefty Drew Pomeranz in a win over Oakland.  He allowed just a run on a solo HR.

8-0…The deficit top-ranked LSU faced in the middle of the 6th inning at home Saturday vs. William & Mary. The Tigers scored 8 runs in the bottom of the 6th and then added two more runs in the 7th to win 10-9.

22…Years since LSU had overcome as big a deficit.  They came back from 10 runs down to beat Ole Miss in 1988.

13 1/3…Total innings pitched in two outings last week by Kansas pitcher Cameron Selik.  The junior allowed just one earned run with 10 strikeouts vs. Eastern Michigan and Sacramento State.

Ten College Baseball Questions For 2010

Ten Questions On The Eve Of The College Baseball Season

By Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires

A new college baseball season is about to begin.  It’s a season that is started a week earlier than it was originally slated to begin, and one school (James Madison) has already canceled its season opener, because (spoiler) it snows in roughly two-thirds of the country in mid-February.

Anyway, from time to time different thoughts pop into my head and I have managed to corral a few of them here.  So, here are Ten College Baseball Questions For 2010… (in no particular order)…

1.  Can LSU Repeat? The odds say it’s not going to happen.  Oregon State (2006-2007), LSU (1996-1997) and Stanford (1987-1988) are the only teams to win back-to-back crowns since Rod Dedeaux’s USC Trojans ended a streak of five straight titles from 1970-1974.  Paul Mainieri’s Tigers have a lot of key elements returning, like Blake Dean’s bat and Anthony Ranaudo & Matty Ott’s arms, but the odds just aren’t in their favor.  On the other hand…

2.  Can Texas Be Stopped? The odds (along with a sick pitching staff and a lot of returning everyday players) would seem to be in Augie Garrido’s favor.  The Longhorns return three starters, Taylor Jungmann, Cole Green and Chance Ruffin who could all be just about anyone’s number one starter.  The trio combined to win 26 games last year.  Cameron Rupp, Kevin Keyes and Omaha long ball ace Russell Moldenhauer are also back to lead the offense.  With all that back the biggest question right now seem to be can they stay number one from now until season’s end?

3.  Would An LSU vs. Texas Championship Re-Match Be Good For College Baseball? It would be good for TV ratings, but I don’t know that it would actually be good for the game as a whole.  Does anyone who’s not a Yankees fan think that the cash cow’s 27th title is good for any other MLB team other than the one in the Bronx with the new stadium and overpriced (and often empty) seats?  Texas and LSU at the College World Series is good for college baseball, because it gets casual fans a little more interested.  But when it comes time for all the marbles David vs. Goliath  is just more fun.

4.  Speaking Of David…Who Will Be This Year’s Cinderella? Fresno State was the ultimate Cinderella two years ago, but Mike Batesole’s great-great-great grand children will be playing before we see that kind of run again.  But that doesn’t mean there won’t be more Cinderellas.  They’re quite common when it comes to the CWS.  Fresno State, Southern Mississippi, Louisville, Southwest Missouri State, Notre Dame, and San Jose State all made it to Omaha in the last decade in what was either their first appearance or their first trip after a long CWS drought.  The odds say there’ll be a Cinderella, but the waiting is the hardest (and most fun) part.

5.  Will Bryce Brentz Win the NCAA’s Triple Crown? The Middle Tennessee State slugger just about did it last year.  He led the nation with his .465 batting average, and he tied Alabama’s Kent Matthes for the home run title with 28.  Brentz also topped the charts with his .930 slugging percentage, but he missed the Triple Crown with “just” 73 RBIs.  That technically tied for 31st nationally, but Brentz was just 14 RBIs behind NCAA leader Paul Goldschmidt of Texas State.  Logical thinking would say Brentz, now a junior, doesn’t have a chance, but logic never pitched to Brentz.

6.  Can Arizona State Overcome The Loss Of Pat Murphy? Love him or hate him, it’s hard to argue with the success that Murphy had in his 15 years in the ASU dugout.   But it’s not like ASU had never won prior to Murph’s arrival.  He led his team to Omaha four times, but the program has 21 CWS appearances since 1964 thanks to Bob Winkles and Jim Brock.  Now it’s Tim Esmay’s turn to guide the cruise ship Sun Devil.  Esmay, a former Utah head coach, himself played for Brock in Omaha twice, and he was also on Murphy’s staff for the last five seasons.  He also has a lot of experience sitting with him in the dugout.  Ken Knutson is in his first year as an assistant on the ASU staff after 17 seasons as the Washington Huskies’ head coach.  ASU’s line-up is loaded again, and there’s plenty of pitching too.  For now anyway the good ship ASU doesn’t show any signs of running aground.

7.  Is Virginia The Next National Power Or A One-Hit Wonder? The Cavaliers can hardly be considered a Cinderella.  Yes, last year was their first-ever College World Series trip, but they are from the ACC and they won their conference tournament last year.  Glass slippers aside, it would be easy to write-off UVA as a team that got hot and made a big run.  However, last year’s CWS squad included 23 underclassmen and set 11 school records…and the most prominent components-like Danny Hultzen, Jarrett Parker and Kevin Arico to name a few-are all back this year.  Who saw North Carolina coming prior four years ago?  Mike Fox’s Tar Heels hadn’t been to Omaha since 1989 prior to 2006 & now they’ve gone four straight times.  Cavalier head coach Brian O’Connor has now guided the Cavs to six straight NCAA berths, and he has been a guy whose destiny has always seemed to be Omaha.  He grew-up in the shadow of Rosenblatt Stadium in Council Bluffs, NE, pitched in the ‘91 CWS for Creighton, helped Notre Dame get to Omaha in 2002 as the Irish pitching coach, and finally took his own team to the promised land last year…not to mention the fact that his mug is one of the players on the famed “Road To Omaha” statue outside Rosenblatt.  So, if you’re asked what lies in the shadow of the statue the safe answer might be “O’Connor’s Cavaliers”.

8.  Is A Northern Team Ready To Make A Real National Statement? Michigan and Notre Dame flirted with it last decade.  St. John’s has had its moments, and Ohio State and Minnesota have each had some success, but it all comes down to pitching.  Or more specifically, pitching depth.  The biggest difference in teams in the good southern teams and the good northern teams is pitching depth.  There are guys coming out of the bullpen in the ACC and SEC who could be starters on most Big Ten and Big East teams.  Just look at last year’s save numbers in those conferences:  157 in the SEC & 160 saves in the ACC compared to 110 and 121 in the Big Ten and Big East, respectively.  But save totals don’t even tell half the story.

When it comes to playing in an NCAA Regional winning the first game is important, but for a northern team winning the first two games of a regional is critical.  The team that starts 2-0 at a regional is at least one starting pitcher ahead of each opponent it plays the rest of the weekend.  Look at Minnesota last year:  They lost their regional opener to Baylor, then out-slugged Southern 11-8 and Baylor 15-12 atfter that before falling 10-3 to LSU.  They played respectably, but they gave-up 10 runs a game over their last three contests, while LSU gave-up 3 runs with its third starter on the mound.   Ohio State lost 24-8 to Georgia to its regional opener last year, then won 6-4 and 13-6 in elimination games before getting trounced 37-6 by Florida State in game four (game 3 for FSU).  OSU’s starting pitcher gave-up 7 runs without getting an out in that game.  But what about Michigan in 2007?  The Wolverines won the first two games of their regional, lost game three, but then beat Vanderbilt in the deciding game four to advance to a Super Regional.  In 2002 Notre Dame used just five pitchers while going 3-0 at their Regional en-route to being the only northern team to advance to Omaha since the ’80s.  The Irish also used just two pitchers in their two Super Regional wins over Florida State the following week.   It’s no coincidence that in recent years only teams from the south have come back  to win a Regional after losing one of their first two games.

9.  Is Conference USA The Most Underrated Baseball Conference In The Country? Quick question…what three conferences have sent at least one team to the College World Series in each of the last five seasons?  If you said the SEC, Pac 10 and Conference USA you get the gold star for the day (but remember to raise your hand before blurting out the answer next time).  Rice, Tulane and last year’s darling Southern Mississippi have all gone to Omaha in that stretch.  Terry Rooney left LSU after a trip to the 2008 CWS in part because C-USA had earned a reputation as a three bid league.  But Conference USA didn’t just get three bids last year.  Rice, Southern Miss. and East Carolina all advanced to Super Regionals, and ECU and USM did it by beating South Carolina and Georgia Tech, respectively, in Regional action.  USM then beat Florida on the road to advance to Omaha, Rice lost to eventual National Champ LSU in its Regional while ECU fell to a North Carolina team that made a fourth straight CWS appearance.  C-USA has arrived, and based on the talent the aforementioned ‘09 Super Regional teams have back, the conference doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

10.  Will The Season Just Start Already? Really, aren’t you tired of waiting?  Oops, that’s another question, we don’t have room for eleven.  Is it here yet?  That’s another questions too…

Top College Baseball Moments Of 2009 #3

Longhorn Longball In Omaha

The Texas Longhorns played 61 games in 2009 before their trip to the College World Series.  In those games they hit a total of 39 home runs, but Omaha was much more agreeable to Augie Garrido’s squad.

After averaging just .63 home runs a game in those 61 contents the Longhorns exploded for 14 longballs in their six games at Rosenblatt Stadium – an average of 2.3 a game.

What caused the sudden surge?

Texas DH Russell Moldenhauer’s explanation was simple “We’re not playing at Disch-Falk (the Longhorn’s home field),” Moldenhauer said after belting a pair of solo shots in UT’s 7-6 loss to LSU in game one of the CWS Championship Series.  Moldenhauer led Texas with 4 solo HR in his six games in Omaha after totaling just 15 hits in 38 games in 2009 prior to the College World Series (he was inured for much of the season).

The Longhorns needed every longball they could muster in Omaha.  They scored 17 of their 36 runs at the CWS courtesy of home runs (12 of the 14 shots were solo,)  Texas had just a .413 slugging percentage going into the College World Series, but they slugged at a .537 clip in their six games at Rosenblatt.

The home runs, along with a CWS-best 4.02 ERA in their six games, helped them overcome a.258 2-out batting average and .373 on-base percentage in Omaha.  Their 2-out average ranked 6th in the eight team CWS field, while the OBP was last.  However, only LSU’s .555 slugging percentage was better than Texas’ .537.

It’s also quite ironic that the team that led the nation with 104 sacrifice bunts (including an NCAA Tournament record with seven in a Super Regional game vs. TCU) in 2009 while hitting just a total of 53 home runs had more homers than any other team at the CWS.  LSU was second with 13 Omaha home runs, but the other six College World Series participants managed a combined 18 HR in a total of 19 games at Rosenblatt.

All told seven of the Longhorn’s nine regulars hit home runs during their stay in Omaha.  Here’s the breakdown with CWS HRs followed by each player’s final 2009 HR tally:

Russell Moldenhauer:  4/4 (Hit .350 with a slg% of 1.000 in 6 CWS games.)

Cameron Rupp:  3/11 (the 11 HR led Texas in ‘09. Tied w/Keyes w/6 CWS RBIs.)

Kevin Keyes:  2/9  (Added two doubles & tied for team-leading w/6 RBIs.)

Connor Rowe:  2/8 (Had 7 total hits, including two doubles at CWS.)

Travis Tucker: 1/3 (Rowe led Texas with a .400 avg. in Omaha.)

Preston Clark:  1/3 (Hit .381 in Omaha (8 hits), but his HR was his only extra-base hit.)

Michael Torres:  1/5 (He also had a pair of Omaha doubles.)

Neither Brandon Belt nor Brandon Loy homered in Omaha, but they had 3 and 4 RBIs respectively.  Loy led the nation with 25 sac bunts in 2009, but he had just one in 6 games in Omaha.  Belt had 11 sac bunts in ‘09, including two at the CWS.

Other Top Moments Of 2009

4.  Southern Mississippi Sweeps Florida To Go To Omaha

5.  The Texas vs. Boston College 25-inning Game

6.  Andrew Darr Comes Off The Bench & Comes Up Big For Arkansas

7.  Virginia Beats Stephen Strasburg In Irvine Regional Opener

8.  Washington State And Gonzaga End Long NCAA Tournament Droughts

9.  Cal Poly Gets Its First NCAA Tournament Bid

10.  Kansas’ Field of Dreams: Kansas, Kansas State & Wichita State All Get NCAA Bids

11.  Stephen Strasburg Strikes out 17 in a no hitter

12.  Ohio State’s Alex Wimmers No-hits Michigan

13.  Kansas Sweeps #1 Texas

14.  Bryce Brentz Has An April To Remember

15.  Clemson’s Kyle Parker Does Double Duty

16.  #1 Arkansas Beats #1 Arizona State

17.  Rhode Island Beats Miami And Oklahoma State

18.  Kansas State’s A.J. Morris beats Arizona State’s Mike Leake

19.  North Carolina’s Mike Fox Wins His 1,000th Game

20.  Illinois Shocks #1 LSU In Baton Rouge

21.  Alabama’s Kent Matthes Launches Longballs

22.  Freshman Levi Michael Starts In North Carolina’s Season Opener

23.  LSU Opens The New Alex Box Stadium

24.  Oregon Brings Back Baseball

Texas Baseball Celebrates 2009 Season

Rupp and Jungmann Named MVPs At Team’s Award Banquet

AUSTIN, Texas – Taylor Jungmann and Cameron Rupp were named the Texas Baseball Most Valuable Pitcher and Most Valuable Player, respectively, at the Longhorns’ 2009

Baseball Awards Banquet on Sunday afternoon.

Jungmann was 11-3 with a 2.00 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 94.1 innings. He was instrumental in the Longhorns’ postseason run, going 4-0 with a 0.42 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 21.1 innings in Super Regional and College World Series action. Jungmann was tabbed a Freshman All-American and earned College World Series All-Tournament Team status.

Rupp led the Longhorns with 11 doubles and 46 RBI on the season. He hit .292 and added 46 runs and 13 doubles as the Horns’ starting catcher. Rupp hit .370 with eight runs, three doubles, three home runs and eight RBI in 12 NCAA postseason games. He earned College World Series All-Tournament honors and was named All-Big 12 honorable mention.

Connor Rowe was tabbed the Lowe’s Most Improved Player. Rowe hit .277 with seven doubles, two triples, eight home runs and 40 RBI. He provided College World Series heroics, hitting the game winning walk-off home run against Arizona State to send the Longhorns to the championship series.

Travis Tucker earned the Team Captain Award. He hit .297 with a team-high 52 runs, 12 doubles, two triples, 30 RBI and 13 stolen bases as the Longhorns’ starting second baseman. Tucker remains on the squad as a student assistant following his three-year playing career.

Keith Shinaberry was voted by the players as the Teammate of the Year. Shinaberry was a four-year member of the Horns and was 1-0 with a 2.53 ERA as a senior.

The UT Athletics Student Services issued three awards for academic accomplishment. Shinaberry earned the Student Services Most Inspired Academic Performance Award, Russell Moldenhauer garnered the Academic Achievement Award and Stayton Thomas earned the Longhorn Academic Spirit Award.

The banquet concluded with the squad being presented with their College World Series runner-up rings.

(Press Release)

More Longhorns Notes

• Texas downed Texas State 9-7 on Sunday in a 14-inning exhibition game at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
• Texas State was a 2009 NCAA Regional Team.
• The Longhorns scrimmaged Baylor last week as well.  The two games count against the Longhorn’s 2010 56- game limit, so they will play a 54-game regular season.
• Tant Sheppard was 3-for-6 with a home run and five RBIs to lead Texas at the plate.
• Russell Moldenhauer homered as well.  He homered vs. Baylor as well.
• Brandon Workman, Austin Dicharry and Cole Green each pitched two shutout innings.

CWS Wrap-Up…After LSU’s Championship Win

We took a little time off after the end of the College World Series, but Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires is back with a few final thoughts on the 2009 event.

To start with, we have complete statistics from both the College World Series as well as the NCAA Tournament.  Kudos to our resident stat guru, Pete LaFleur, who compiled this information since the start of the conference tournaments.  This is data that can only be found at collegebaseball360.com…seriously.

Even the NCAA did not distribute an all-encompassing statistical data base for every NCAA Tournament game. They did update the national stat leaders, but those statistics cover the entire season, our stats tell you what teams did during the tournament itself, including the CWS.

We also have an exclusive podcast interview with LSU head coach Paul Mainieri. The Word Association segment alone is worth listening to.   You don’t have to be an LSU fan to appreciate the things he talked about.

Alright, enough plugging ourselves. On to some thoughts on what we saw from teams and players before and during their time in Omaha.

• Fullerton Flop…What happened to Cal State Fullerton?  The Titans hit .447 (to lead all NCAA teams) and averaged nearly 13 runs a game in their five Regional and Super Regional games (all wins) prior to the CWS.  Their pitching staff also turned-in a stellar 1.80 ERA in those games (9 earned runs allowed).  The wheels came off in Omaha though, where Fullerton was two and out.  The staff ERA was 9.00 (17 ER allowed), while the offense scored a total of 11 runs in losses to Arkansas and Virginia.

• Wither Wood…Texas closer Austin Wood received a lot of well deserved national attention for his 13 inning effort in the Longhorn’s 25-inning win over Boston College in the Austin Regional.  However, Wood was not the same after that outing that saw him throw nearly 140 pitches. In his two combined Regional outings Wood totaled 15.0 IP with 2 hits, 4 BB, 17 strikeouts and no runs allowed.  In his six appearances after the famed 13-inning outing here are the lefty’s numbers: 11 IP, 16 hits, 10 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, with a 6.54 ERA.  Wood made his nation-leading 41st appearance of the season when he toed the rubber for the last time in the final game of the CWS vs. LSU.

• Slightly Saved… Wood had 15 saves during the season, and CWS teams combined for 131 saves going into Omaha. However, Arkansas’ Mike Bolsinger had the only save at the College World Series.  It’s the lowest save total at the CWS since 1993 when no saves were recorded. Part of the lack of saves is partially due to the fact that just six of the 15 games at the CWS were decided by three or fewer runs.  Because of the best of three championship format games are also now more spaced out so that teams play only every other day, which gives coaches the chance to use starting pitchers out of the bullpen more often.  Speaking of which…

• Nice Arm Young Mann…Texas freshman Taylor Jungmann was 3-0 on the mound in Omaha, with three relief appearances and one start to his credit.  Jungmann made 12 relief appearances during the season, but the right hander had also made six straight starts going into the CWS.  Jungmann totaled 15.1 IP with a 0.59 ERA, allowing just two runs on 8 hits with 15 Ks and 5 BB in Omaha.  After making three relief appearances (including his third in game one of the championship series), Jungmann tossed the only complete game of the CWS in the Longhorn’s 5-1 win over LSU in game two of the championship series. It was also his only CG in 2009. (North Carolina’s Alex White did pitch 9 innings in the Tar Heel’s 10-inning loss to Arizona State in game 3.)

• Molden-Power…How about another Longhorn who waited for the right time to get hot: Russell Moldenhauer. The Longhorn DH was batting just .250 with 4 doubles as the only extra base hits to his credit in 2009 entering the CWS. However, in six games in Omaha Moldenhauer hit .350 with four solo home runs and a double for a slugging percentage of 1.000. Moldenhauer’s injury-riddled junior season saw him total just 15 hits prior to the CWS, but he had seven knocks in Omaha, and tied Arizona State’s Kole Calhoun for the CWS lead with 20 total bases.

• Longhorn Longball…Texas hit 14 home runs (12 solo) in six games at the CWS for an average of 2.3 per game.  That after hitting just 39 in 61 games prior to Omaha for a .63 a game average.  All told, Texas scored 17 of its 36 runs at the CWS courtesy of home runs.  The Longhorns had just a .413 slg% going into Omaha, but slugged at a .537 clip during the CWS.

• No Small Ball…Texas averaged 1.5 sac bunts a game (96 in 61 games) prior to the College World Series, but ended-up with just 8 in their six CWS contests.  The Longhorns had just a .373 success rate advancing runners (8th of the 8 teams in Omaha), while flying-out a series high 57 times.

• Clutch When It Counts…LSU collected 23 2-out RBIs en-route to winning its championship.  The Tigers plated 26 of their 51 CWS runs in 2-out situations.  While LSU outfielder Mikie Mahtook struggled at times (8 strikeouts in 6 games) the freshman also had four 2-out RBIs in Omaha, including the game-winner in the 11th inning in game one of the Championship Series.

• Theft Control…LSU stole 111 bases (on 151 attempts) in 67 games prior to the CWS, but the Tigers stole just two bags on four tries in six games in Omaha. D.J. LeMahieu had both of the thefts (he was also caught once).

It’s been a great first season for us at Collegebaseball360.com.  We’ve enjoyed being involved with you, and we hope to bring you even more unique coverage in 2010 and beyond!