Strike One: Scrappy Mississippi State Finds A Way

STARKVILLE, Miss.—After losing its first three Southeastern Conference series, Mississippi State knew it wouldn't be easy to dig out of a 2-7 hole in the standings. Injuries to key players piled up in the middle part of the season (and the injury bug reared its head again this weekend), but the Bulldogs were confident their pitching and defense were strong enough to help them navigate through the rough patches.

MSU still isn't an offensive juggernaut and won't ever be this season, but the Dawgs are finding ways to win. MSU has won three home series over the last four weekends to climb to 10-11 in the SEC and strengthen their at-large regional bid position. This weekend's series against rival Mississippi was huge, and the Bulldogs rode their pitching-and-defense formula to wins Friday and Sunday.

"We'll take the series win and get out of here with two out of three for sure," closer Caleb Reed said.

Friday's story was a familiar one: ace Chris Stratton put the Bulldogs on his back and carried them to victory, throwing a five-hit complete-game shutout in a 4-0 win (more on Stratton in an upcoming feature story). Sunday's win was rather less emphatic, as Mississippi State capitalized on two walks and three hit batsmen to score four runs in the first inning, en route to a 4-2 win—despite mustering just two hits in the game. The hit-by-pitch is one of MSU's best offensive weapons; it recorded nine of them in four games last week.

"Our kids are good at it, thank goodness, because if we didn't have that club in our bag we wouldn't have been able to put four runs on the board, and thank goodness that was good enough to get it done today," MSU coach John Cohen said after Sunday's win. [...] Continue Reading »

BATON ROUGE, La.—As Raph Rhymes posed with a fan for a postgame photo, the fan said, "Did you hear this place? Man, it got juiced."

"Yeah, it did," Rhymes replied with a shake of his head.

For the second straight night, Louisiana State came from behind in the late innings to stun snake-bitten Georgia. This time, LSU erased a 4-2 lead with six runs in the eighth, as Mason Katz smacked a go-ahead grand slam and Rhymes followed with a solo shot over the left-field bleachers, sending the Alex Box Stadium crowd into a deafening frenzy and propelling the Tigers to an 8-4 win.

Rhymes finished 2-for-4 to maintain his .503 batting average, and the Tigers got three hitless innings of relief from Joey Bourgeois and a 1-2-3 ninth from closer Nick Goody, who struck out the side. LSU's collection of dominating power arms stood in contrast to Georgia's softer-throwing bullpen, which failed to nail down the win after starter Michael Palazzone left in the fifth inning with a back spasm.

LSU starter Ryan Eades (5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER) did not have his best command but still showed his typical power stuff—a 92-94 mph fastball that peaked at 95, a sharp downer curve at 76-79, a slider with good depth at 82-83 and a changeup with lively arm-side action at 80-81. Bourgeois worked mostly at 90-91 and bumped 92, while getting swing-and-misses with his 73-74 curveball. Goody worked in the 90-93 range for the second straight day, getting two strikeouts on 92 mph heaters and another on a sharp slider at 78.

LSU's bullpen was a bit of a question mark coming into the season, but it has emerged as a true strength for the Tigers, rivaling its vaunted weekend rotation. And the lineup has continued to show a knack for getting big hits in pressure situations—the mark of a confident team capable of making a deep postseason run.

Here's a look at some other highlights from Saturday's action: [...] Continue Reading »

Top 25 Showdowns

• (25) New Mexico State at (3) Baylor: Josh Turley (7.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K) and two relievers combined on a three-hit shutout in Baylor's 5-0 win. Turley carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning before Tanner Waite broke it up with a one-out single in the eighth. The Bears broke a scoreless tie with three in the sixth against Ryan Beck (6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K), capped by Cal Towey's two-run double.

• (21) Arkansas at (5) Florida: The Gators overcame a 2-0 deficit with three runs in the sixth against Ryne Stanek (5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER), highlighted by Casey Turgeon's two-run double, as Florida won 3-2. Hudson Randall (6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER) returned to the Friday starter role and pitched well to improve to 4-1.

• (20) Texas at (9) Texas A&M: The Aggies held off UT's furious ninth-inning rally to win 6-5. A&M capitalized on three Texas errors and built a 6-0 lead through five innings against Nathan Thornhill (6 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 ER), while Michael Wacha (8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K) kept the Longhorns off the board for eight innings. But Texas scored five runs in the ninth against the A&M bullpen before pinch-hitter Collin Walsh grounded out with runners at second and third to end it.

• (13) Stanford at (12) UCLA: Stephen Piscotty's three-run homer off Adam Plutko (5.2 IP, 9 H, 7 ER) highlighted Stanford's four-run fifth, as the Cardinal broke open a close game en route to a 7-2 win. Mark Appel (7 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K) was strong for the Cardinal, improving to 6-1. [...] Continue Reading »

Wednesday's slate featured no Top 25 showdowns or upsets, but there were some interesting results. A few highlights:

• A day after its winning streak was snapped at 24 games, Baylor got back in the win column with a 6-4 victory against Southland Conference upstart Texas-Arlington. Max Muncy (2-for-5, 3 RBI) led the Baylor offense behind Tyler Bremer (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K).

• Karsten Whitson (4 IP, 4 H, 0 R) turned in his longest and best outing since returning from arm soreness, as Florida cruised to a 10-1 win against Bethune-Cookman. Preston Tucker hit his 11th home run.

• Tyler Moore's two-run single highlighted LSU's four-run third inning, propelling the Tigers to a 4-3 win against a quality Southeastern Louisiana club.

• Kent Emanuel (8.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K) dominated into the ninth inning on four days' rest, and Chaz Frank (3-for-5) broke a scoreless tie with a walk-off RBI single in the 10th, sending North Carolina into its exam break with a 1-0 win against East Carolina. The Tar Heels shuffled their defense, moving Tommy Coyle (who has 19 errors this season) from shortstop to second, sliding Mike Zolk from second to third and Michael Russell from third to short. Russell and Zolk each committed an error, but Russell also made a game-saving stop in the ninth inning to prevent ECU from scoring the go-ahead run. Jeff Hoffman (7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K) turned in a strong outing in a no-decision for the Pirates. [...] Continue Reading »

Missouri State's Pierce Johnson generated first-round buzz earlier this spring, but the Bears' most consistent pitcher in 2012 has actually been redshirt sophomore righthander Nick Petree, who leads the nation in ERA  at 0.77.

Petree is riding an incredible hot streak: He hasn't allowed an earned run in 49 1/3 consecutive innings over seven starts, dating back to March 2. He threw six shutout innings at Wichita State last week, allowing just four hits and striking out nine, as the Bears shut out the Shockers in Wichita for the first time ever. That performance improved Petree to 8-2 on the season with 67 strikeouts and 22 walks in 70 innings.

"It's unreal," Shockers pitching coach Brent Kemnitz said of Petree's streak. "He wasn't on top of his game against us. In the first inning he touched 87 a couple of times, but late in the game he was 83. He's got a lot of movement, a tight slider and a really good changeup. He just competes. You've got to tip your hat to him; he keeps making pitches and getting outs."

Petree has been carving hitters up recently despite pitching through a herniation in a forearm muscle, which hampers his velocity a bit, but doctors say he can't hurt himself worse by pitching with it. He might wind up taking the summer off to address the injury. At his best, he works in the 86-89 range, but he has good enough movement and feel for pitching to win with less velocity. [...] Continue Reading »

Top 25 Upsets

• No. 3 Baylor's remarkable winning streak is over at 24 games. The Bears were upset at Texas-San Antonio, 4-1—their first loss since March 13. UTSA jumped on Austin Stone for three runs in the first inning, highlighted by Daniel Rockett's two-run single, and Jordan Pacheco (5.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) kept the Baylor offense in check to pick up his first win.

• Louisville smashed No. 2 Kentucky 10-2 to complete a two-game season series sweep of the Wildcats for the first time since 1970. The Cardinals hadn't won back-to-back games against UK since 1998 and '99. Jeff Gardner's two-run ground-rule double highlighted Louisville's six-run third inning, breaking open a 2-1 game. Six Louisville pitchers held the Wildcats to five hits.

• South Florida broke a 3-3 tie with a run in the seventh and added another in the eighth to upset No. 5 Florida, 5-3. Andrew Longley homered twice and drove in three for the Bulls, while Florida got homers from Nolan Fontana and Mike Zunino in its three-run sixth. USF snapped a 12-game losing streak against the Gators and beat a top-10 team for the first time since coach Lelo Prado joined the Bulls in 2007.

• UNC Grensboro pounded out 16 hits in an 8-4 upset of No. 16 North Carolina in Chapel Hill. UNC jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first, but the Spartans tied the game with three in the second against Chris Munnelly (1.2 IP, 3 H, 4 ER). Trevor Edwards (5-for-6, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 2B, HR) had a monster game to lead the UNCG attack. [...] Continue Reading »

This time of year, a hefty majority of all questions submitted in our weekly college chat, as well as those sent via e-mail or Twitter, center around the battle for postseason positioning. Our readers want to know how the races for national seeds, host sites and at-large bids are shaping up—so it's time to roll out our weekly Stock Report feature. Every Tuesday here on the College Blog, we'll examine how the postseason picture has shifted over the weekend. Rather than get bogged down in the jigsaw puzzle that is a full field of 64 projection, we're not going to worry about which regionals teams get sent to. We're just looking at who's in, who's out, who's on the bubble. This discussion is weighted much more toward performance and remaining schedule than projection based on talent, but it's also not intended to show what the field would look like if the season ended today. We're still looking ahead.

During this discussion, we will reference the NCAA's official RPI report, which is released every Tuesday and is updated through the weekend's games. We'll also reference the useful RPI Needs Report at Boyd's World, which provides a rough sketch of what teams need to do in order to reach important RPI benchmarks like finishing inside the top 45 (a loose target for an at-large bid). And we'll make use of records against the top 25, 50 or 100 in the RPI—there is some margin for error with those figures, but they are accurate enough to serve our purposes.

We'll get to at-large chances in a bit, but let's start with a look at which teams are on track to earn national seeds and which are on track to host regionals through the first nine weeks of the season: [...] Continue Reading »

Strike One: Gael Force

SAN DIEGO—With an experienced team headlined by a pair of potential top-two-rounds picks in Patrick Wisdom and Martin Agosta, St. Mary's entered 2012 with high hopes. At 18-19 overall and 3-9 in the West Coast Conference, the Gaels haven't lived up to expectations, but Agosta sure has.

After allowing just an unearned run in seven strong innings to beat the WCC's best offense Friday at San Diego, Agosta improved to 6-2, 1.70 through 74 innings over 10 starts. The Toreros threatened early and often, but Agosta repeatedly made big pitches to escape jams unscathed, stranding runners at third base in the first, third and fifth innings. His composure in tight spots has been a trademark since his days at Jesuit High in the Sacramento area.

"He's an extremely mature pitcher," St. Mary's coach Jedd Soto said. "I watched him in high school in the state playoffs, everyone's going crazy and the world's falling, and he's just relaxed on the mound, telling the coach, 'Hey, I'm good.' You just don't see that from an 18-year-old kid. Even with the bases loaded, he's still attacking hitters the same way, not afraid to use his offspeed early in the count."

Agosta has a cerebral approach to his craft—that much comes across by talking with him. He knows how to work hitters and has an innate ability to manipulate the baseball in a variety of ways.

His feel for pitching stands out, but his stuff has started to catch up. Agosta said he worked in the 86-88 range as a freshman, when he pitched 70 innings and posted a 5.40 ERA. He barely touched a baseball that summer, focusing on adding strength to his slender frame, and his velocity bumped the low 90s when he returned for his sophomore year. He went 7-6, 2.81 with 76 strikeouts in 90 innings as a sophomore, but the best was yet to come.

[...] Continue Reading »

College baseball has gone no-hitter-crazy.

Penn State's Steven Hill and Army's Logan Lee each threw no-hitters Saturday—the third and fourth Division I no-hitters in the last four days (Oregon's Jordan Spencer threw one Wednesday, and UC Irvine's Andrew Thurman threw one Friday).

Hill threw Penn State's first no-hitter since 1995 in a 2-0 win at Iowa. The junior righthaner issued just one walk and allowed just two baserunners in nine innings, while striking out three.

Lee, a senior lefty, threw a seven-inning no-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader sweep of Bucknell. Lee carried a perfect game into the seventh, when he issued a leadoff walk on a 3-and-2 pitch. He finished with seven strikeouts and one walk in Army's first no-hitter since 1957. The Black Knights won the nightcap in 15 innings to clinch the Patriot League regular-season title.

Top 25 Showdowns

• (18) Miami at (1) Florida State: Freshman John Holland (3-for-4, 2 RBI) led the FSU offense in support of Mike Compton (5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K) in Florida State's 6-1 win. The Seminoles clinched their third straight series against the Hurricanes, who got a wild start from Eric Whaley (4 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 6 BB, 3 K).

• (2) Texas A&M vs./@/@ (6) Baylor: The Bears ran their winning streak to 23 games with a series-clinching 1-0 win in front of a Baylor Ballpark-record crowd of 5,911. The Bears improved to 17-0 in the Big 12, tying the league record with 17 straight wins in conference play. Trent Blank (8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K) turned in a masterful performance to improve to 9-0, 2.18. Max Muncy provided the game's only run with a fifth-inning sacrifice fly against Ross Stripling (7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K).

• (4) Louisiana State at (3) Kentucky: Austin Cousino and Luke Maile each homered and drove in three runs apiece, leading Kentucky to an 8-1 win, leveling the series. Jerad Grundy (6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER) got back on track for the Wildcats, while Ryan Eades (3.1 IP, 9 H, 6 ER) struggled for the Tigers.

• (20) Arizona State at (14) Stanford: Alex Blandino (3-for-4, 4 RBI, HR) delivered a two-out, walk-off RBI single in the ninth to give the Cardinal a series-clinching 8-7 win. The Great Blandino hit his third home run of the weekend—a three-run shot in the sixth. A.J. Vanegas (2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER) moved back to the bullpen after two strong weekends in the rotation and earned the win. The Cardinal hit Trevor Williams (6 IP, 11 H, 7 ER) hard. [...] Continue Reading »

UC Irvine junior righthander Andrew Thurman carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning a week ago against Cal State Fullerton, before giving up a chopper over the mound to spoil his bid. This week against Long Beach State, he finished the job.  After hitting the leadoff batter, Thurman retired 23 straight before issuing a walk in the eighth. Those were the only two baserunners of the game, a 4-0 Anteater win at Blair Field. Thurman struck out five, giving the 'Eaters a no-hitter in the series opener against LBSU for the second straight year (Matt Summers threw one a year ago). It is also the second no-hitter of this week; Oregon's Jordan Spencer threw one Wednesday at Portland.

Thurman has some of the best stuff on the UCI staff; last week he commanded an 87-89 fastball to both sides and bumped 91 in the ninth inning. His second pitch is a quality 78 mph changeup, and he mixes in a handful of slow, big-breaking curveballs in the 70-73 range. Thurman has shown flashes of dominance throughout his career at Irvine but never quite developed into a consistent, reliable ace—until now.

"It's what he's capable of," UCI coach Mike Gillespie said last week, after the Fullerton game. "His stuff is such that he is capable of that. It's been an up and down year for him, so I think it had to be a lift for him too. Certainly, I think it's got to buoy his confidence, I would think.

"He's going to be better week to week and month to month, he's going to be better  next year, he's going to be better five years from now than he is today. He's never had really lights-out success at any level. So the chicken and the egg deal that applies to success and confidence, he hasn't had the game after game after game great performances that allows him to really build that confidence. So each time he does something like this, we'd like to think it makes a big difference for him."

• One other note before we get to the Top 25 highlights: Southeast Missouri State senior shortstop Kenton Parmley extended his hitting streak to 46 games with a fifth-inning single against Tennessee Tech. He added a seventh-inning grand slam that proved the game winner in SEMO's 9-6 victory. Parmley's hitting streak is the fourth-longest in D-I history, a game shy of Wichita State's Phil Stephenson (47 games in 1981) for third-longest all-time. 

Top 25 Showdowns

• (18) Miami at (1) Florida State: Sherman Johnson and Justin Gonzalez combined for five hits, four runs and five RBIs to power the Seminoles to an 11-2 win. Gonzalez homered twice in support of Brandon Leibrandt (5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K). The 'Noles chased Eric Erickson (5 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) after a three-run fifth, then broke the game open with five in the seventh. [...] Continue Reading »

Top 25 Showdowns

• No. 7 Rice won a big midweek game at No. 2 Texas A&M, 5-4. Shane Hoelscher (3-for-4, 2 R, RBI) scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth, then delivered a game-winning RBI single in the ninth. The Aggies jumped on Jordan Stephens for four runs before he could record an out in the first, but John Simms (6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K) came up big in relief for the Owls. Ford Stainback had four hits out of the leadoff spot for Rice.

• No. 20 Arizona State overcame a five-run deficit to beat No. 13 Arizona, 12-8. The Wildcats surged ahead with six runs in the fifth, but ASU erupted for seven runs in the seventh, highlighted by Deven Marrero's two-run single and Joey DeMichele's two-run double. DeMichele and James McDonald had three hits apiece for the Sun Devils.

Top 25 Upsets

• Daniel Aldrich (2-for-4, R, 2 RBI, HR) helped College of Charleston build an early four-run lead against No. 9 South Carolina, and the Cougars held on for a 4-3 win in Columbia. Ryan West (6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) turned in a strong start to earn the win.

• No. 14 Stanford continued to scuffle, losing  3-2 against San Jose State. The Spartans broke a 2-2 tie on Michael Gerlach's RBI single in the eighth. Stanford mustered just five hits against seven San Jose State pitchers.

• Campbell improved to 31-8 with a big 8-6 win against No. 21 North Carolina State. David Olson (3-for-5, R, 2 RBI) led the offense for the Camels, who overcame a 4-1 deficit with three in the fifth and four in the sixth. [...] Continue Reading »

This time of year, a hefty majority of all questions submitted in our weekly college chat, as well as those sent via e-mail or Twitter, center around the battle for postseason positioning. Our readers want to know how the races for national seeds, host sites and at-large bids are shaping up—so it's time to roll out our weekly Stock Report feature. Every Tuesday here on the College Blog, we'll examine how the postseason picture has shifted over the weekend. Rather than get bogged down in the jigsaw puzzle that is a full field of 64 projection, we're not going to worry about which regionals teams get sent to. We're just looking at who's in, who's out, who's on the bubble. This discussion is weighted much more toward performance and remaining schedule than projection based on talent, but it's also not intended to show what the field would look like if the season ended today. We're still looking ahead.

During this discussion, we will reference the NCAA's official RPI report, which is released every Tuesday and is updated through the weekend's games. We'll also reference the useful RPI Needs Report at Boyd's World. And we'll make use of records against the top 25, 50 or 100 in the RPI—there is some margin for error with those figures, but they are accurate enough to serve our purposes.

We'll get to at-large chances in a bit, but let's start with a look at which teams are on track to earn national seeds and which are on track to host regionals through the first nine weeks of the season:

[...] Continue Reading »

Strike One: Cats' Meow

Wet weather forced Kentucky and Arkansas to wrap up their series with a doubleheader Saturday, so the Wildcats spent Sunday in Fayetteville before heading to the airport for a 5 p.m. flight. That flight was delayed, and Kentucky didn't wind up getting home to Lexington until the middle of the night. That could hardly dampen the Wildcats' spirit.

"Sitting in an airport after a couple wins is certainly better than the alternative," UK coach Gary Henderson said.

Kentucky was leaving Fayetteville with a couple of wins for the first time in a decade. It was just one more big weekend in a season filled with big weekends for the Wildcats.

SEC coaches always talk about the importance of winning series at home and managing not to get swept on the road. Kentucky has trumped that, winning all three of its conference road series (at Tennessee, at Georgia and now at Arkansas) plus taking down a pair of top-10 opponents at home (South Carolina and Mississippi).

Kentucky has gotten off to strong starts against soft nonconference schedules before, but its dominance of a loaded SEC is something else entirely. It's natural for people in college baseball to wonder if the Wildcats are for real, or if they have just played above their heads. By now, that question has been answered—UK is a very complete, very deep, very dangerous team, and it is a legitimate Omaha contender. [...] Continue Reading »

Top 25 Showdowns

• (3) Kentucky at (11) Arkansas: After losing Friday's opener, Kentucky bounced back to sweep a doubleheader Saturday, giving the Wildcats their first series win in Fayetteville in 10 years. Arkansas was swept in a doubleheader at home for the first time since 1999. A.J. Reed's fourth-inning RBI double proved the winning run in the opener, as Chandler Shepherd and Tim Peterson combined for 5.2 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief in a 5-4 win. Brandon Moore (5 IP, 2 H, 0 R) was strong in relief of Barrett Astin (4 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) for Arkansas. Cameron Flynn's two-run homer in the fourth provided all the offense Kentucky needed in the second game, as Corey Littrell (6.1 IP, 8 H, 1 ER) improved to 6-0. D.J. Baxendale (8 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) was strong in defeat.

• (17) UCLA at (4) Arizona: The top three hitters in UCLA's lineup—Beau Amaral, Tyler Heineman and Cody Keefer—combined for 11 of the team's 20 hits, as well as seven runs and five RBIs, leading the Bruins to a 15-3 rout. Nick Vander Tuig (5.2 IP, 8 H, 3 ER) earned the win for UCLA, which hammered Konner Wade (3 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 5 ER). The series is tied 1-1.

• (16) Oregon at (6) Stanford: Ryon Healy (3-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR) led the Oregon offense in support of Jake Reed (7 IP, 2 H, 0 R) in the Ducks' series-clinching 5-0 win. Oregon has now won four straight Pac-12 series—the last three against powers Arizona State, at UCLA and at Stanford—to move into a tie with Arizona for first place in the conference. The Cardinal mustered just three hits behind Brett Mooneyham (4 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 8 K).

Top 25 Upsets

• (7) Florida at Tennessee: Richard Carter (2-for-3, 3 RBI) drove in the winning run on a fifth-inning squeeze, as the Volunteers evened the series with a 5-4 victory. The dramatically improved Volunteers climbed back to .500 in the SEC (7-7). Karsten Whitson (3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER) got a no-decision for the Gators, and Johnny Magliozzi (5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER) pitched well in defeat. [...] Continue Reading »

Top 25 Showdowns

• (3) Kentucky at (11) Arkansas: Derrick Bleeker's three-run triple in the seventh inning propelled the Hogs to a come-from-behind 8-7 win. Cade Lynch (5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) earned the win with strong relief work, as starters Ryne Stanek (3.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) and Taylor Rogers (4 IP, 7 H, 5 ER) struggled. Tim Carver had four hits and two RBIs for the Razorbacks, and Thomas McCarthy (3-for-4, 2 RBI) led the UK attack.

• (17) UCLA at (4) Arizona: Joey Rickard's RBI single broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth, and Kurt Heyer (9 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER) went the distance in Arizona's 4-3 win. Tyler Heineman had three hits in a losing cause for the Bruins.

• (16) Oregon at (6) Stanford: Alex Keudell (9 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K) turned in a gem for the Ducks, who scored three times in the 10th to win 4-2. Mark Appel (9 IP, 10 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 13 K) turned in a gritty 149-pitch outing in a no-decision for the Cardinal, which melted down in the 10th, as Oregon took advantage of a dropped routine fly ball, two throwing errors, a walk and a wild pitch. Stanford got a run in the 10th against Jimmie Sherfy but stranded the bases loaded to end the game. Oregon improved to 9-4, taking sole possession of second place in the Pac-12, a game behind Arizona. Stanford fell to 4-6 in the conference.

Top 25 Upsets

• (15) Central Florida at Southern Mississippi: Mason Robbins blooped a walk-off RBI single down the left-field line in the 14th, giving the Golden Eagles a thrilling 1-0 win. Andrew Pierce (9 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 10 K) and Bradley Roney (5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K) shut out UCF's potent offense on six hits for 14 innings. The Knights stranded the bases loaded in the eighth, and USM left the bases full in the 11th, adding to the tension. Brian Adkins (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R) was strong in a no-decision for the Knights. [...] Continue Reading »

The NCAA released its annual midseason trends report, and the data holds a few surprises.

Most coaches around college baseball expected offensive numbers to rebound somewhat this year as players got more accustomed to BBCOR bats and manufacturers improved the the feel of the bats. But through games of April 1, batting was actually down from .279 at the midseason point a year ago to .275 this year. Scoring was also down, from 5.63 runs per game per team to 5.47, and ERA was down from 4.62 to 4.55. Home runs (0.47 per game per team) have remained constant, as have sacrifices per game (0.74).

Teams are putting balls in play a bit more, as strikeouts per nine are down slightly from 6.97 to 6.88—yet fielding percentage is up, from .962 to .964.

Coaches have talked a lot about how they planned to make small ball a bigger part of their strategy, but when baserunners are harder to come by, coaches tend to get more conservative. Perhaps as a result, stolen bases are actually down slightly from 1.22 per game last year to 1.11 per game this year.

David Pierce was ready for a new challenge, and a change of scenery.

A Houston native, Pierce played college ball at the University of Houston, coached at three high schools in the Houston area, spent six years as the Astros' batting practice pitcher, and spent the last nine years as an assistant coach at Rice. He loves his hometown, and he loved working for and learning from College Hall of Fame coach Wayne Graham, an experience that prepared him well to be a college head coach.

"I was excited to get out of Houston—I'd been there my entire life. I was ready to move on," Pierce said. "I've been very thankful and pleased that I've gotten the opportunity to do it."

That opportunity came when Mark Johnson retired as the head coach at Sam Houston State (located in Huntsville, about 70 miles north of Houston) after last season. The Bearkats hired Pierce, and he hit the ground running, building upon Johnson's solid foundation.

SHSU has had plenty of success in recent years, winning the Southland Conference tournament in 2007, '08 and '09 to make regionals. But the Bearkats hadn't experienced the kind of regular-season success they have under Pierce, who has guided them to a 23-9 record and a spot in the Baseball America Top 25 for the first time ever. More importantly, SHSU is No. 27 in the NCAA's official RPI report, meaning it is in great shape to contend for an at-large bid to regionals even if it fails to win the conference's automatic bid. The Southland conference sent two teams to regionals in 2009, but it's nearly always a one-bid league.

"This is unchartered waters for a lot of people in this conference," Pierce said. "We need to work as hard as we can and not depend on that (conference) tournament. That's the voodoo—you never know what will happen." [...] Continue Reading »

Top 25 Showdowns

• No. 7 Florida completed a sweep of its annual season series against No. 1 Florida State for the first time in 54 years with a 6-3 win in Tallahassee. Mike Zunino, Nolan Fontana and Brian Johnson went deep for the Gators, and Ryan Harris (3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K) picked up the win in relief of Johnson (3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K). Florida State built a 3-0 lead through three innings before the Gators came back against Scott Sitz (5 IP, 8 H, 3 ER), then surged ahead against the FSU bullpen. Florida swept its season series against both FSU and Miami for the first time in school history.

• Pat Valaika's RBI triple highlighted No. 17 UCLA's three-run fourth inning in support of Grant Watson (6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER), leading the Bruins to a 4-2 win against No. 12 Cal State Fullerton. David Berg, Ryan Deeter and Scott Griggs worked a hitless inning apiece to nail down the victory. Koby Gauna (3.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER) started and took the loss for the Titans.

Top 25 Upsets

• Texas-Arlington pulled off a 3-2 upset at No. 2 Texas A&M. Preston Morrow (3-for-4) delivered a tie-breaking RBI single in the fifth, and three UTA relievers combined to throw five innings of shutout ball. The Mavericks, who have won eight of nine to improve to 21-12 on the year, rapped out 13 hits against A&M's stout pitching staff. Arlington now owns midweek wins at Texas, at Oklahoma, at Texas A&M and home against Baylor and Texas Christian. At No. 45 in the RPI, the Mavericks are in position to make a run at an at-large bid.

• Louisville pounded third-ranked Kentucky, 12-0, in Lexington. The Cardinals out-hit their in-state rivals 17-4, as Jared Ruxer (6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K) improved to 5-0, and counterpart A.J. Reed (2.2 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) took his first collegiate loss. Six Wildcats recorded multiple hits, led by Cole Sturgeon (3-for-4, 2 R, RBI). This was a big RPI win for Louisville, which was 1-3 against the RPI top 25 entering the game. [...] Continue Reading »

Between the two of us, BA intern Peter Wardell and I caught most of the UCLA-Oregon and Southern California-California series this weekend. I won't see the Ducks and Golden Bears again this regular season, so I wanted to pass on some of our notes on those two clubs.

Oregon

I wrote a little about the Ducks in yesterday's Three Strikes column, focusing on ace Alex Keudell. The next two members of Oregon's weekend rotation, freshman Jake Reed and sophomore Brando Tessar, are cut from the same cloth as Keudell—they are pitchability righties who lack overpowering fastballs.

Reed, who ranked among our Top 200 prospects for last year's draft, has the best stuff of the three, and he worked primarily in the 86-88 mph range with late arm-side movement on Friday, dialing his fastball up to 91 on occasion but with less movement. He showed a promising changeup at 77-79 with deception, though he struggled to locate it at times. His 78-81 slider had tight break. Oregon coach George Horton said he was very pleased with Reed's poise and presence after the Bruins got to him for a run in the first.

Tessar didn't have his best command in Saturday's loss. His three-pitch mix included an 86-89 fastball, a 76-79 slurve and a 79-81 changeup.

Oregon closer Jimmie Sherfy has been a dynamo this spring, but he was battling the flu this weekend, and the Ducks hoped to get through the weekend without using him. He wound up throwing an inning Saturday, allowing one run but escaping a bases loaded jam with a pair of flyouts. Sherfy worked in the 87-91 range (below his normal velocity) but still flashed a devastating power curveball with three-quarters break at 78-81.

"He gave us everything he could," Horton said. "What I didn't like about Sherfy was his body language. It's something that all prideful athletes have to work on, the disappointment thing. You have to take that like a man and get to the next pitch. That's a deal with Jimmie. Sometimes when things aren't going well he shows that, and I don't like that part of it." [...] Continue Reading »

Strike One: Senior Moments

LOS ANGELES—A major theme of last week's Midseason Report was the quality of this year's senior class across the country. This weekend I took in three big series here in Southern California, and senior pitchers came up big in all three. Time to empty out the notebook from the weekend:

• Gonzaga visited San Diego in perhaps the biggest series of the year in the West Coast Conference. The Bulldogs won the opener behind senior lefthander Tyler Olson (in the game I attended Thursday), but USD showed plenty of character by bouncing back to win the next two games. I'll write more about the Toreros after I see them again in a couple of weeks, but today I want to bear down a bit on the Zags, who remain in strong position to make a run at an at-large bid thanks to a 20-9 record and a No. 25 ranking in the NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index.

Gonzaga went toe-to-toe with the Toreros despite playing without sophomore Marco Gonzales, the team's best hitter and best pitcher. Gonzales was sidelined with a torn meniscus in his knee, and the team hopes to get him back next week against Santa Clara.

Olson isn't the prospect that Gonzales is, but he has been a rock atop the weekend rotation as a senior, going 4-0, 2.03 with 43 strikeouts and 11 walks in 58 innings. He turned in a gritty 138-pitch complete game on Thursday, allowing just two runs (one earned) on seven hits and two walks while striking out four in a 6-2 win. A low-three-quarters slinger, Olson throws an 85-88 mph fastball has serious life, and he get a number of swing-and-misses with his sharp 76 mph slider. He mixed in a slow curve at 71 as a get-me-over pitch, he said, and incorporated his quality changeup more in the later innings.

"He's been outstanding. He settled down after the first inning and was just awesome," Gonzaga coach Mark Machtolf said. "He pitched like the senior he is. He threw all his pitches for strikes, and I think he just competed his rear end off." [...] Continue Reading »