Complete CWS Index

by John Manuel
June 14, 2003

OMAHA--Offense was down all around college baseball in 2003. In its midseason trends report, the NCAA reported that home runs were down 30 percent from the record high for Division I in 1998, and scoring was down nearly half a run per game from the previous year.

Those trends have carried over to the College World Series, where the story so far has been pitching. Through three games, three different pitchers with different backgrounds and styles have shined with stellar efforts.

Rice's Jeff Niemann, who wasn't drafted out of high school, had the most dominant effort. He one-hit Southwest Missouri State for eight innings, striking out 10 in his sixth double-digit K's effort of the year and third straight. He gave up a pair of solo homers in the ninth of a 4-2 victory, but Niemann still moved to 17-0, 1.67 for the season. Already invited to Team USA's national team trials that begin June 21, Niemann profiles as a near-lock first-round pick in 2004 thanks to his mid-90s fastball and power slider and curve.

"We got a few runs for Jeff early," Rice first baseman Vincent Sinisi said, "and we knew he could take care of business after that."

Niemann just missed in his quest to throw the first complete-game shutout in CWS play since 1994, as did Stanford's John Hudgins. A 20th-round pick of the Athletics out of high school, Hudgins went in the third round to the Rangers this season after being the Pacific-10 Conference's pitcher of the year. He showed that form Friday in the opener of the Series, carving up South Carolina with great command of four solid pitches in an 8-0 win. He didn't come out for the ninth to save his arm for future Series games while improving to 12-3, 3.01.

"If we can't hold an 8-0 lead for one inning, then we should have to go home anyway," Stanford coach Mark Marquess said after removing Hudgins, who combined with Kodiak Quick for the CWS' 25th two-hitter ever and first since 1993.

The most unlikely member of the pitching trio wasn't drafted this year, even though his numbers are nearly as gaudy as Niemann and Hudgins. Friday night's win against Louisiana State made Cal State Fullerton righthander Jason Windsor 11-2, 1.81 for the season. He's given up just 69 hits in 89 2/3 innings, has a 75-20 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and has become the ace on a team with an ERA of 2.74 and a plethora of power arms.

Windsor can't be unknown to scouts, not with that kind of season on the nation's No. 2 team. Plus, he's been drafted before, twice--in the 43rd round in 2000 by the Astros out of high school, and in 2001 out of West Valley (Calif.) JC by the Rangers. But he was overlooked this season.

"I don't know what happened; maybe there's something I need to work on," Windsor said Friday night. "Maybe I'm not ready for the next level in their mind, or they just forgot about me. I don't know--I had good numbers the last two times I was drafted. I was 11-1 both times, and I had good numbers again.

"I guess I'll come back to school and try to get back to Omaha."

He gave the Titans one step toward a successful trip this year, overcoming a shaky start to beat Louisiana State 8-2. The fact Windsor was starting the opener for the Titans seems highly unlikely to many observers, but not to him.

Windsor said he wanted to play for the Titans since Little League, but eligibility questions kept him in junior college for two seasons. He was on CSUF's campus as a sophomore before a high school class was questioned by the admission's department, forcing him back to the juco ranks. When he returned to Fullerton last fall, he brought his high-80s fastball, good changeup and solid breaking stuff back with him.

Because of Fullerton's pitching depth, Windsor emerged from fall practice in the bullpen, behind harder throwers and more experienced pitchers like Wes Littleton, Darric Merrell and Travis Ingle. But he quickly earned a spot in the rotation after Littleton was suspended for a team rules violation and lefthander Ryan Schreppel went down with a knee injury. Ingle and Merrell also missed time with injuries.

"I thought I pitched well enough in the fall to be in the rotation, but I guess the coaches didn't see it that way, and that might have been the right decision," he said. "Guys started getting hurt, though, and when Wes and Ryan were off the field, I was able to get a chance, and I've just tried to seize it."

Catcher Kurt Suzuki said Windsor isn't doing anything differently now than when he first showed up--he throws strikes, consistently, to all sides of the plate.

"He has real easy arm action, a nice, easy arm that works real well," Suzuki said. "So he's showed fastball command from the first day of practice, and that's the big key for him. He's got a good changeup and can throw his curve and slider for strikes, but fastball command is what has done it for him all year. He can almost dominate with his fastball."

The same can be said for Hudgins and Niemann in their CWS starts. It's made for a pitching-rich Series so far, and the only one's complaining are opposing hitters.

ROSENBLASTS

• The Rice-SMS game took just 2 hours and 2 minutes. The Series hasn't had a game come in at less than two hours since 1981.

• Stanford's win was its season-best 10th straight and 19th in its last 20 games. The Cardinal also has won six straight CWS openers dating back to 1995.

• Stanford and Cal State Fullerton are familiar foes, with Stanford owning a 39-32 edge in the all-time series. The Titans swept the series this season by a combined score of 25-7, but the Cardinal has won the last three postseason meetings between the two. Jeremy Guthrie beat the Titans 3-2 in an epic 13-inning regional game last year, and the Cardinal also beat Fullerton twice in Omaha in 2001.

• When CSUF outfielder Shane Costa hit his fifth homer Friday, it was his first since March 23 against Cal State Northridge.

• LSU and South Carolina meet in an elimination game having played 29 times in their series history, which dates back to the Gamecocks' 1992 entry into the Southeastern Conference. LSU has a 19-9-1 edge, including a 2-to-1 series win this year in Baton Rouge. The Tigers' lone loss to the Gamecocks this year came despite the fact that shortstop Aaron Hill hit for the cycle in the game, an 8-5 South Carolina victory.

• The Tigers have gone 6-0 against SEC opponents all-time in College World Series play, with the last win coming in 1998 against Mississippi State. LSU also hasn't gone 0-2 in Omaha since 1994, its only such trip in 12 CWS appearances.

• South Carolina will start lefthander Steven Bondurant, who threw a complete game last year in a 10-2 semifinal win against Clemson in his only previous CWS start. LSU will make a game-time decision on its starter. Senior righty Bo Pettit is fighting a blister problem and will start if healthy; if not, freshman righty Justin Maier will go.

• Rice outfielder Jeff Jorgenson, who missed super-regional games against Houston with a groin pull, was available Saturday against SMS but sat out in favor of lefthanded-hitting Matt Ueckert, who was the DH. That moved Dane Bubela to right field and Austin Davis into center.