Baseball America College Podcast: Rewatching the 2006 Lincoln Regional

Image credit: (Photo courtesy of Manhattan)

On this episode of the Baseball America College Podcast, Teddy Cahill and Joe Healy are joined by Chris Cody, who pitched for Manhattan from 2003 to 2006 and now serves as an assistant coach in the program, to discuss the Jaspers’ upset win over Nebraska to begin the 2006 Lincoln Regional. 

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Nebraska came into that regional riding high. It was 42-15, hosting a regional as it so often had in that era, coming off of a 2005 College World Series appearance and with future big leaguer Joba Chamberlain ready to start the first game of the weekend. 

But things didn’t go according to plan. Manhattan jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second innings thanks to back-to-back homers off the bats of Matt Rizzotti and John Fitzpatrick, and Cody worked hard to make those two runs stand up. 

Working with fastballs that didn’t even touch 90 mph, the lefthander kept a Nebraska team used to seeing big-time velocity in the Big 12 out in front all game long. And when the Cornhuskers did get traffic on the bases, as they began to do in the middle innings, Cody expertly buckled down and kept them off the scoreboard, save for a single tally in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly. 

Manhattan continued to cling tightly to a 2-1 lead until the eighth inning, when the Jaspers broke through again for two runs, giving Cody some breathing room as he polished off a complete game gem in a 4-1 win. 

Not content with just pulling off one big win, the Jaspers later captured a win over San Francisco to advance to the regional final before falling to Miami. 

Nearly 15 years later, this Manhattan win still stands as one of the more impressive underdog victories in the 64-team era of the NCAA Tournament. 

Among the topics discussed with Cody on this episode are: 

• Whether his repertoire gave him an advantage against a Nebraska team used to dealing with velocity
• Cody’s expectations coming into the start
• How the two early home runs for Manhattan changed the game
• How the Jaspers settled in through the middle innings
• Tense moments as Nebraska tried to mount a comeback
• His understated celebration after the last out was recorded
• The team’s run to the regional final after the upset of the Cornhuskers
• What about the 2006 team allowed it to produce such a high number of people who stayed in the game, such as himself, Maine head coach Nick Derba and longtime scout Eric Nieto