2003 College World Series Game 3
Complete CWS Index

by John Manuel
June 14, 2003

OMAHA--Rice's Jeff Niemann tried to add a new chapter to College World Series history Saturday afternoon. For eight innings, the 6-foot-9 righthander, who came to Omaha as the nation's wins leader at 16-0, pitched as dominating a game as the Series has seen in years.

But he could only do it for eight scoreless innings. Niemann gave up a pair of solo home runs and needed relief help from David Aardsma to give the Owls a 4-2 victory against Southwest Missouri State.

The CWS has not had a complete-game shutout since 1994, but has flirted with one in two of the first three games in 2003. Stanford's John Hudgins was efficient in eight scoreless innings against South Carolina in an 8-0 win Friday, but Niemann was better in picking up his 17th victory of the year and 18th straight without a loss, a Rice record. The NCAA is researching whether a Division I pitcher has ever started the season 17-0.

He allowed two baserunners through the first eight frames--a bunt single by Greg Mathis in the third, and a walk to Shaun Marcum in the eighth with two outs. In between, the sophomore ace retired 15 in a row with seven of his 10 strikeouts.

"He made it easy; he hit his spots and got a lot of quick outs," said Rice catcher Justin Ruchti, who calls the pitches. "They came out early swinging the bats and that helped Jeff conserve some energy.

"He threw a lot of fastballs and sliders; his knuckle-curve wasn't really sharp today. I think at the end he got a little tired."

Niemann had thrown only one complete game all year, though, and couldn't finish this game either. He began cramping up in his hamstrings and calves, even though he entered the ninth with a pitch count of 81. Mathis then drove an 0-1 pitch to left field, and it just cleared the wall for a home run. No more shutout, but Niemann was still out there for the complete game. That dream died four pitches later, as pinch-hitter Jacob Hilgendorf hit the first home run of his college career nearly to the same spot as Mathis' blast. End of the day for Niemann.

"I was hoping to maybe get some cheap outs; I wanted the complete-game shutout," he said. "I threw a couple of high fastballs and they hit them out.

"I didn't want to come out, but after that second bomb, I had to."

Aardsma finished up, getting the last three outs on eight pitches for his 12th save of the year. It was a familiar winning formula for the Owls, who defended well, had enough offense with a pair of solo homers--and got their usual dominant pitching.

"What can I say? Jeff came to the big show and was as good as he's been all year," said Graham, whose team won for just the second time in seven all-time CWS games. "You can't be much better than that."

After the first inning, SMS starter Chad Mulholland nearly matched Niemann. He finished the game, gave up just four hits in the final seven frames and struck out three. But two of the hits were nearly carbon copies of each other. Sophomore Vincent Sinisi crushed a solo home run to right field with one out in the third, and junior Austin Davis did the same in the sixth inning.

But Mulholland's real trouble came in the first, where he showed some jitters that were understandable considering the Bears had never played in the CWS. Most of the 23,248 on hand were rooting for SMS, but Mulholland had a shaky start, as Rice loaded the bases without a hit or an out. Chris Kolkhorst was hit by a pitch, as was Sinisi, sandwiched around a walk to Dane Bubela.

Davis fouled out, but Enrique Cruz lined a single to left to plate the game's first run, and Craig Stansberry lofted a sacrifice fly to right with Bubela just beating a good throw from SMS' Mathis.

"Except for that first inning, I thought Chad was outstanding. He threw a lot of strikes," said Bears coach Keith Guttin, who also coaches third base and had an up-close view of Mulholland's counterpart. "Niemann threw a lot of strikes, a lot of quality strikes. Their pitching and defense was outstanding.

"We bunted for a hit and tried to hit-and-run with him. (Ruchti threw Mathis out stealing.) After that, it got kind of lonely."

For much of the game, which lasted just two hours and two minutes, it seemed that those two runs would be all Niemann would need, and the drama revolved around his possible shutout bid. Mathis had SMS' first hit, a bunt to Niemann's right that was scored a hit. Niemann bobbled the ball when trying to barehand the bunt, and while Graham said he would have scored it a hit, Niemann chimed in, "I'd have taken an error."

He also would have taken a shutout. He'll have to settle for a win by the Owls that puts them into a winner's bracket game Monday against the victor of tonight's Texas-Miami matchup.