OMAHA—Minutes after Florida watched South Carolina celebrate its second straight national championship from the first-base dugout at TD Ameritrade Park, Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan exchanged postgame handshakes with South Carolina's players and coaches, then turned to accept consolatory "congratulations on a great season" handshakes from a couple of reporters.

"We'll be back," he said. "We'll be back."

Indeed, the foundation is rock-solid for the Gators, who entered 2011 atop the national rankings and are strong favorites to be preseason No. 1 in 2012 as well. Florida followed its historically strong 2009 recruiting class with another banner haul in 2010, leaving the roster stacked with experienced stars like Mike Zunino, Hudson Randall, Brian Johnson, Austin Maddox and Nolan Fontana heading into next season.

"What a great team, what a tremendous team, classy organization," Gamecocks coach Ray Tanner said of the Gators. "They play the game the right way. You never like to lose games, but you like to play people like the Gators and coach O'Sullivan because you get after it and you play the game the right way. And you can rest assured he'll be back in Omaha time and time again."

The bright future provided some solace for the Gators—but in the immediate aftermath of a national runner-up finish, it was small solace. Florida has gone from winning a regional to reaching the College World Series to making the CWS Finals in the last three years under O'Sullivan, but the progression of the program provided little more consolation. [...] Continue Reading »

Summer baseball officially gets underway tonight as South Carolina returns to Columbia as College World Series champions for the second straight year.

Before that, though, the Collegiate National Team—which has been preparing for this weekend's Prospect Classic at Durham Bulls Athletic Park by taking on teams from the New England Collegiate Baseball League—faced off with the NECBL all-star team at Fenway Park on Monday afternoon.

The game was more of a showcase/tryout event than anything else, as the NECBL ran out 10 pitchers and Team USA fielded seven, but the NECBL did come away with a 3-2 victory led by 1-for-2 performances from sophomore catcher Tom Murphy (Holyoke) and junior catcher Brandon Miller (New Bedford).

The Collegiate National Team, which is still waiting for several players to report from the College World Series, started LSU freshman Kevin Gausman. Gausman, a 2010 sixth-round pick by the Dodgers  who jumped right into the Tigers weekend rotation this spring, threw the first three innings, yielding one run on two hits. Duke righthander Marcus Stroman, who was recently plucked from Cape Cod after six innings of eight-strikeout one-hit ball for Orleans, struck out all three batters he faced. Stroman had four saves and a 2.80 ERA for the Blue Devils this spring.

Arizona State sophomore shortstop Deven Marrero, a 2011 Baseball America Preseason All-American, and Arkansas first baseman Dominic Ficociello, a Baseball America All-Freshman team selection this spring, drove in Team USA’s only runs.

Meanwhile in the Northwoods League, nine teams entered today with above .500 records. Last night, four of the nine games played were one-run affairs, indicative of the league’s parity. The Madison Mallards, who are tied with Eau Claire for first place in the South Division, split a seven inning double-header with the Wisconsin Woodchucks. Going into game one, Madison had won seven of their last nine, but Woodchuck starter Tom Briner, a redshirt junior out of UC Davis, cruised through the Mallard bats, striking out eight and surrendering just three hits in six innings of work. Briner, a late-inning reliever this spring, has been as dominant as any Northwoods arm in his first three starts, allowing just one run in his first 16 innings of work.

Madison would get revenge in game two, however, thanks to a walk-off home run from leadoff hitter Justin Parr, an Illinois sophomore. Elon sophomore center fielder Niko Fraser had two-hits in the game, and Chris Lamb, an 11th-round draft-and-follow by Oakland out of Davidson, and Matt Milroy, also a member of the Fighting Illini, tempered the Woodchuck bats to just two runs on four hits.

The Mallards walk-off win was one of three Northwoods walk-off wins last night. The Green Bay Bullfrogs and Battle Creek Bombers were both 14-10 before the Bullfrogs’ Billy Moon (Gonzaga) drove home the winning run in the bottom of the 12th, part of a 4-for-6 day that included an RBI.

Alexandria also won in extras, ignoring an early 3-0 deficit to win 4-3 in 10 innings. Logan Bowers, who came into the game as a pinch-runner, proved to be the hero, singling with the bases loaded, overshadowing gutsy pitching performances from LSU’s Michael Reed and Eastern Kentucky’s Anthony Bazzani. Bazzani threw three scoreless innings of relief and now has 28 strikeouts in 20.1 innings of relief.

The Mankato Moondogs, who sit atop the North Division standings, had a rough day against the struggling Thunder Bay Border Cats falling 12-2 via multi-hit games from Cullen Mahoney (South Mountain, Ariz.), Kevin Taylor (St. Joe’s), Evan Weibel (Nicholls State), Ty Wosleger (Fairfield), and Matt Stevens (Eastern Michican), but it was the Moondogs’ Blain Schwartz who stole the show the night before. Against Thunder Bay, Schwartz, a junior from Minnesota State, threw a complete game two-hit shut out with 14 strikeouts and no walks. Schwartz has been dominant for Mankato in the early going, allowing no more than one run in any of his five starts, and he has struck out 42 in 33 innings.

There were also several notable performances on the Cape last night, led by Jacksonville sophomore Adam Brett Walker, who went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, including his second home run of the summer for Hyannis. Bourne got a big outing from UConn freshman Brian Ward who struck out seven through five innings of two-hit ball, stifling hot-hitting Harwich, and Yarmouth-Dennis sneaked by Orleans 5-4 thanks to solid outings from UC Irvine freshman Andrew Thurman and St. John’s sophomore Kyle Hansen.

Thurman turned in his best outing of the season, throwing six innings, while Hansen threw the finals three. Together, the duo struck out 10 and walked none. The Red Sox were led at the dish by a pair of long home runs, a two-run shot in the second from Arkansas sophomore Matt Reynolds, and a three-run blast from Florida State junior James Ramsey, the Twins 22nd round draft-and-follow, in the fifth.

Georgia Southern's Victor Roache, who led the nation with 30 home runs this season, headlines the eight-player field for the second annual TD Ameritrade College Home Run Derby, scheduled for Saturday in Omaha.

Roache, a sophomore, was a first-team All-American this season who hit six more home runs than any other Division I player and led the Golden Eagles into NCAA regional play. One spot in the eight-player field remains unfilled, but six others have committed to join Roache in the Home Run Derby field:

• First-team All-Freshman outfielder Daniel Aldrich of College of Charleston, who hit 22 homers to lead all freshmen

• Andrew Rash, a redshirt sophomore who hit an Atlantic Coast Conference-best 18 homers for Virginia Tech and was drafted in the 36th round by the Padres

• Bucknell first baseman Doug Shribman, who hit a Patriot League-best 16 homers

• Junior DH Dylan Pratt of East Tennessee State, alma mater of 2010 champ Paul Hoilman; Pratt hit 15 homers for ETSU this spring

• DH Joey DeMichele of Arizona State, a third-team All-American who hit nine homers while batting .368 for the Sun Devils

• Outfielder Connor Harrell of Vanderbilt, a sophomore who hit two of his nine homers during the College World Series.

Joe Carter and Hall of Famer Paul Molitor will serve as honorary hitting coaches for the participants, while Frank Thomas will provide commentary on the CBS Sports coverage of the competition. The Derby will air at 2 p.m. Eatern Time on Sunday, July 3. For more information, visit www.collegehomerunderby.com.

OMAHA—I took advantage of another 7 p.m. start time to play my annual round of golf with Doug Kroll of NCAA.com at Shoreline Golf Course in nearby Carter Lake—we've come to call it the Shoreline Classic. This year, we were also joined by Doug's co-worker, Matt Wickline. Like South Carolina, I am the defending champion, and like the Gamecocks on Monday, I had to overcome an early deficit, trailing by two strokes after nine holes. Like the last few innings last night, the back nine was full of dramatic momentum swings—Doug increased his lead to four strokes after 13 holes, then I surged ahead by two strokes with two holes to play. My short game melted down on No. 17, allowing Doug to retake a one-stroke lead. But I took the final hole, and our showdown ended in a draw, with Matt three strokes behind us.

Settling for a tie is never satisfying, but at least we don't have to worry about that tonight. Either South Carolina will be crowed national champion for the second straight year, or Florida will force a decisive third game Wednesday. The Gators showed plenty of character with their backs to the wall in super regionals against Mississippi State, but Mississippi State is no South Carolina, and the Bulldogs did not have Michael Roth on the mound, as the Gamecocks are expected to. After MSU's walk-off win in the second game of the Gainesville Super Regional, the Gators were "almost ticked off and mad" in the post-game press conference, according to Matthew Stevens of the Starkville Daily News. After their gut-wrenching loss Monday against South Carolina, the Gators seemed shell-shocked and despondent. Maybe they'll put those emotions behind them and bounce back tonight, but they looked like they were already beaten Monday night, for what that's worth.

If this is the last day of the college baseball season, let me say that it has been quite a year. College basball has entered a new era, ushered in by less potent bats and a brand-new stadium for the College World Series. And after a slow start, this CWS has provided us with fantastic theater over the past three games, for which I'm appreciative.

I'm also thankful for all the coaches and players who have made college baseball fun to cover in 2011. Without further ado, here is a list of my favorite players to watch and interview this season—also known as the All-Fitt Team: [...] Continue Reading »

After three weeks, college summer league standings and statistics have begun to shake-out even though several players have yet to report to their respective teams around the country—most notably those still fighting for a College World Series title in Omaha.

In Cape Cod, the Harwich Mariners have gone on a tear, winning seven of their last eight and all four of their games last week to improve their record to 10-4 and take a commanding first-place lead over Orleans in the Eastern Division. The Mariners’ winning ways have been the result of a good bullpen and timely hitting, both of which were showcased in their first contest of week three—last Tuesday against Cotuit.

Tied at one heading into the bottom of the seventh, Harwich's Billy Burns, a Mercer junior outfielder, knocked a one-out double to spark a three-run rally. DH  Andrew Rash, a sophomore at Virginia Tech, capped the run with another double. Carter Capps, Seattle’s supplemental third-round selection out of D-II Mt. Olive (N.C.), and Grant Gordon, a sophomore righthander from Missouri State, threw 2 2/3 innings in relief to back a standout performance by starter Tanner Perkins, a big southpaw out of Western Kentucky.

Perkins threw six innings without allowing a run, setting up Capps to earn his first win of the summer. Darnell Sweeney, a sophomore middle infielder from Central Florida, led the Harwich bats with a 3-for-4, three-RBI night in the win.

[...] Continue Reading »

As expected, Cal State Fullerton officially announced Friday that it has hired Rick Vanderhook as its new head coach, replacing Dave Serrano, who left for Tennessee. Vanderhook spent the last three years as the top assistant at UCLA, where he helped the Bruins reach the College World Series Finals in 2010.

Now he returns to Fullerton, where he'll begin his 22nd season as a member of the Titans' coaching staff. A player on Fullerton's 1984 national championship team, Vanderhook started his coaching career as an assistant to Augie Garrido in 1985. He spent two seasons on Bill Kernen's staff at Cal State Northridge in 1989-90 before returning to Fullerton from 1991-2007. He left for UCLA on rocky terms after he was passed over for the head coaching job when George Horton left for Oregon.

But Vanderhook is a Titan through and through. He continued to commute to UCLA from his home in Yorba Linda, and it's hard to imagine him ever leaving Fullerton for another job the way Horton, Serrano and Garrido did.

"I have never met anyone with more passion for Titan baseball than Rick, and I couldn't be happier to bring him home where he belongs," said Fullerton athletic director Brian Quinn, who awarded Vanderhook a three-year contract through the 2014 season. [...] Continue Reading »

OMAHA—They have been dismantling Rosenblatt Stadium piece-by-piece for months now and Thursday morning the pieces were put up for sale.

More than a hundred people showed up in person—while who knows how many others sat at their computers and bid over the internet—for an auction that was conducted in two tents located just outside the front gates of the fenced-off stadium.

The auction was being conducted for the Omaha Zoo Foundation, which now has the land to use for expansion of the adjacent Henry Doorly Zoo. Money from the auction is supposed to help defray costs to build a small park—the “Infield at the Zoo”—that is to be built where the playing field is/was after the stadium is demolished.

Some 900 lots were put up for bid in an auction that lasted well into the afternoon. Everything and anything was sold: from home plate to a handicapped seating sign. From pitching mounds to the padding on the outfield wall. From drinking fountains to dugout benches. From bleacher seats to bathroom contents in the umpires locker room.

Prices ranged from $5 for some signage to $7,500 for the American flag flown outside the stadium for the last time. Winning bids came from all corners of the country, although an Omaha woman won the bidding for the flag, so it will stay home. An additional 10 percent auction fee was added to each item. In some cases, removal charges also were tacked on. [...] Continue Reading »

After my 6-0 start to our annual College World Series picks competition, I stumbled with two misses Tuesday but rebounded Wednesday by correctly picking Vanderbilt to beat North Carolina, keeping me unbeaten in that bracket. John Manuel is also 7-2, and now the action shifts back to the left bracket, where California and Virginia meet in an elimination game today.

The Golden Bears will start junior righthander Dixon Anderson, who has power stuff but has had an up-and-down season thanks to inconsistent command. Virginia eats up pitchers who are not fine with their location, so Anderson needs to be sharp Thursday. I like how loose Cal has been out here—coach David Esquer has done a great job setting the tone for his team, which is playing with house money as the biggest underdog of the CWS. But Virginia senior righthander Tyler Wilson (today's starter) is a proven big-game pitcher with outstanding command, and I expect the Cavaliers to rebound from Tuesday's loss to South Carolina with a victory against Cal. John is also taking the Cavaliers.

One other note: Florida announced today that it will start junior lefthander Alex Panteliodis against Vanderbilt and Sonny Gray on Friday. Panteliodis was outstanding over 5 1/3 shutout innings against Vandy in the SEC title game, but I'm still a bit surprised the Gators opted not to bring back ace Hudson Randall on five days' rest against an opponent of Vanderbilt's caliber, especially with Gray on the mound. Randall will be the choice if Vandy forces a rematch Saturday; otherwise he'll be plenty rested to start the opener of the CWS Finals next week.

There are plenty of hot hitters in every college summer league, from Cape Cod to Alaska and everywhere in between, but over the last few months, no one has been hotter than Howard JC outfielder Tyler Collins.

Collins—who transferred to Howard after one year at Baylor, where he hit .404 in 29 games for the Bears—dominated NJCAA Division I competition this spring. He led the country with 19 home runs and finished second with a .488 average and 82 RBIs en route to the National player of the year award. Collins also stole 16 bases, hit a school record 34 doubles, and was awarded the Rawlings Gold Glove award for his defense in left field.

“I never thought (winning national player of the year award honors) could really happen,” the sophomore said. “But after the season, I looked at the numbers and thought, ‘Wow, I had a pretty good year.’ It’s a real honor and really incredible.”

[...] Continue Reading »

OMAHA—Senior catcher Curt Casali hit a solo home run, his seventh of the season, to help Vanderbilt beat North Carolina 5-1 Wednesday night. The victory advanced the Commodores into the bracket championship against Florida, which it must beat twice to reach the College World Series Finals.

Casali was gracious enough to join us for a postgame video interview.

UC Santa Barbara announced Wednesday that it has hired one of college baseball's top up-and-coming coaches, Andrew Checketts, as its head coach. Baseball America's John Manuel originally reported the Gauchos hired Checketts on Saturday via Twitter.

Checketts has spent the past three seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Oregon. He is a perfect hire for UCSB because he also won in the Big West when he was the pitching coach/recruiting coordinator at UC Riverside, and he continued to mine Southern California for talent after moving on to Oregon.

“UC Santa Barbara has made a great selection in Andrew Checketts as its new baseball coach,” Oregon head coach George Horton said in a statement. “He is an exceptional coach, recruiter and mentor of student-athletes. The job he has done as an assistant here at the University of Oregon is exemplary. He is one of the top coaches in the country, and has a very bright baseball mind."

Checketts is highly regarded in the coaching and scouting communities for his pitching acumen. His staff ranked third in the nation with a 3.29 ERA in 2010 and 18th in the nation with a 2.99 ERA this year. His staff this spring also produced four pitchers drafted in the top seven rounds, led by first-rounder Tyler Anderson and second-rounder Madison Boer. In his coaching career at UC Riverside and Oregon, Checketts has had 36 pitchers drafted or sign pro contracts and he has coached 12 pitchers who were drafted in the top 10 rounds since 2001. Pitchers get better when they work with Checketts.
 
"Throughout the process, Andrew’s name kept coming up as one of the best recruiters and assistant coaches, not just in the West, but in the country," UCSB director of athletics Mark Massari said. "In only a short time at Oregon, what he and coach George Horton have accomplished has been extremely impressive. Andrew’s future is extremely bright and we’re excited that he decided to make that future at UCSB."

OMAHA—Eight games into the College World Series isn't a large enough sample size to draw definitive conclusions about new TD Ameritrade Park, but it does provide an opportunity for a mid-Series assessment of the new venue.

Among the upgrades at the new ballpark is a wider concourse that circles the ballpark from home plate to the outfield and back again, giving fans elbow—and breathing—room not afforded at 63-year-old Rosenblatt Stadium.

The concourse received a big thumbs up from fans Monday night when they took refuge there after a tornado siren sounded in the sixth inning of the Vanderbilt-Florida game.

It was actually for a high-wind warning. No more than 15 minutes later a big swirling wind came in from right field and stirred up paper and other debris unlike anything even the locals had seen here. [...] Continue Reading »

OMAHA—Travel complications conspired to keep me in town one more day, but it's not like I was hurting for something to do. It's Day Five of the College World Series and time for an elimination game between Vanderbilt, rocking the Clemson-cut pants, and North Carolina, which looks in pregame to be taking a page from Cal's stirrups playbook. (Of course, Texas A&M was all about stirrups, too, and went 0-2.)

Old Dominion made a splash this week by hiring Chris Finwood away from Western Kentucky to be its head coach. The Virginian-Pilot originally reported the news Tuesday night, and WKU confirmed it in statements issued Wednesday.

Finwood, a native of Hampton, Va., played and coached for three years at Virginia Military Institute, and the opportunity to take a job close to home was too good to pass up.

"This is just a unique opportunity for our family that we cannot turn down," he said in a statement issued by WKU. "I am very proud of all that we accomplished in the last six years. We did some special things, and none of it would have happened without a tremendous assistant coaching staff, players who bought into the right way to do things, and a loyal and hard working support staff." [...] Continue Reading »

OMAHA—South Carolina's Jonathan Taylor was fighting to throw from a lower arm slot since high school. But that was when he was playing middle infield.

Taylor pitched and played second base at Wilson High in Florence, S.C. He says he threw from a lower arm slot when making throws from second and dropped down when he threw his changeup from the mound. Otherwise, he pitched overhand, and his coach implored him to throw overhand on his infield throws as well.

"I felt comfortable throwing like that, and it seemed to be a pretty good throw most of the time," Taylor said, "but he harped on me throwing over the top and making an accurate throw. And I threw a changeup from a lower slot.

"When I got to junior college (at Florence's Darlington Tech JC), I got in my first 'pen and my coach said, 'You can't do that in college, they'll pick up on it.' So instead of changing the changeup, I changed the fastball and slider."

From sidearm in juco ball, Taylor has gone even lower as a senior at South Carolina. He and pitching coach Jerry Meyers have tweaked his mechanics from last season, when he went 3-2 with a 3.49 ERA in 28 innings. His slot is a bit lower, he's added some front-side funk and hides the ball better in the back. The result is a deceptive, submarine delivery that has made Taylor the most valuable middle reliever in the country. [...] Continue Reading »

Aaron Fitt insists on interviewing only players he can look down upon or look in the eye. So here's his postgame interview with Pac-10 player of the year Tony Renda, who had two hits in Cal's 7-3 elimination victory against Texas A&M.

OMAHA—This is what Karsten Whitson came to Florida to do: start in the College World Series. Strike out hitters like Vanderbilt's Aaron Westlake—who has 17 home runs—and help pitch the Gators to within three victories of a national championship.

Of course, if Whitson were writing the script, he'd have stayed on the mound deeper in the game. In fact, if most other college coaches were writing the script, Whitson would have had a chance to work out of a two-out, two-on jam in the fifth inning.

Not at Florida. Whitson, the Padres' unsigned 2010 first-round pick out of Chipley (Fla.) High, hasn't pitched more than 6 1/3 innings in a game all season. His highest pitch count is 92, and coach Kevin O'Sullivan pulled him after 83 Monday night. Gators reliever Steven Rodriguez wound up finishing the game, getting one fewer out while still registering more strikeouts (seven to five) and throwing just 50 pitches.

"I was just trying to keep us in it," Whitson said. "My slider was a little low in the zone the first couple (of) innings. Then I did a good job of changing my sights and bringing it up a little bit, and I was able to keep hitters off balance.

"I knew when Preston (Tucker) hit that home run, I had to put a zero on the board the next inning, which I did. Then Sully came and got me and brought in (Rodriguez), and you can't say enough about what he did today. So it was good for him to pick me up." [...] Continue Reading »

Well, Florida already has beaten Vanderbilt 3-1, which tells you a bit about my video editing skills. Still, this preview has our picks today. Aaron has improved to 6-0 with the Gators' victory, while I fell to 5-1. We diverge again in Games Seven and Eight:

OMAHA—Monday's winners' bracket game between Florida and Vanderbilt was suspended by inclement weather, with the Gators leading the Commodores 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Play will resume at 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday; ESPN will televise the action when play resumes.

The Gators jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Preston Tucker's massive three-run homer to right field against Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year Grayson Garvin in the fourth inning. The 'Dores got on the board in the fifth, when Anthony Gomez singled home Connor Harrell and knocked UF starter Karsten Whitson out of the game.

Steven Rodriguez took over for Whitson and was on the mound with one out in the bottom of the sixth when tornado sirens started blaring from downtown, at about 8 p.m. CT. Rodriguez got Mike Yastrzemski to fly out, and then the players were called off the field. A bank of black clouds rolled through the city, and hurricane-force winds caused debris to swirl throughout the stadium.

On May 13, Vanderbilt led Florida 4-2 in the sixth inning when play was suspended, knocking Vandy ace Sonny Gray out of the game. Florida reversed momentum when play resumed the next day and won 6-5. Both of these teams have extraordinarily deep bullpens, so neither team gains a distinct advantage from the suspension.

By Michael Kanen