NCAA Regional Preview: Corvallis

By Will Kimmey
June 2, 2005

1. Oregon State 41-9, automatic, won Pacific-10 regular season, No. 8 national seed, seventh NCAA tournament
2. Virginia 41-18, at-large, seventh in Atlantic Coast, fifth NCAA tournament, second consecutive appearance
3. St. John's 39-16, at-large, won Big East regular season, 28th NCAA tournament, second consecutive appearance
4. Ohio State 39-18, at-large, won Big 10 tournament, 16th NCAA tournament

Players To Watch: Each of the top three seeds offers a potential first-round pick, with center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury (.415/.504/.604 with 21 steals) leading the Oregon State offense, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman (.399/.474/.592 with 17 steals) anchoring Virginia's lineup and infield defense and righthander Craig Hansen (2-2, 1.41, 14 saves, 77 strikeouts) closing things down for St. John's.

The Favorite: The top two seeds in this region don't have much history on their side, but record books don't play the games so it may not matter that this is Oregon State's first regional since 1986, or that it has won just three regional contests, or that it hasn’t been to Omaha since 1952. The Beavers do it with pitching--their 3.02 team ERA ranks eighth nationally thanks to sophomore righthanders Dallas Buck (1.93) and Jonah Nickerson (2.13)--and an offense that doesn't feature tons of power (30 homers) but scores plenty of runs by pressuring the defense with a .315 average and 72 steals.

On The Other Hand: Virginia finished the season rather warm to force its way off the bubble and into a No. 2 seed. It swept Georgia Tech for the second straight year, but fell to the Yellow Jackets following an undefeated run to the ACC tournament championship game. Like the hosts, Virginia does it with pitching: its 2.73 ERA ranked third nationally. Zimmerman and freshman first baseman/lefthander Sean Doolittle (team-best 11 home runs; 1.30 ERA as a reliever) drive in most of the runs in an otherwise opportunistic offense.

Bracket Buster: It's an all-pitching bracket, so St. John's fits right in with Hansen and starters Anthony Varvaro (9-3, 2.32), Anthony Sullivan (7-2, 2.47) and Jim Wladyka (7-1, 2.96), all of whom rank among the Big East's top 10 in ERA and feed into the team's 3.04 mark. Junior center fielder Greg Thompson leads the club in the triple crown categories at .377-7-43 for an offense that scored about six runs per conference game.

Don't Forget About: It's no surprise that Ohio State's 3.81 ERA led the Big Ten, is it? The Buckeyes are in this regional, after all. Sophomore lefthander Dan DeLucia (4-5, 2.98) and freshman lefty Cory Luebke (4-2, 3.55) lead the rotation, though closer Rory Meister (8-1, 1.91), a freshman righthander, earned more decisions on a club that generally scored enough to win but often took care of business late. Senior outfielder Steve Caravati, the 2004 Big 10 player of the year with a .391 average, leads an offense that relies on contact and speed more than power. He missed 12 games with hamstring issues but still hit .358.