This year, junior right-handed pitcher Ryne Stanek and senior left-hander Randall Fan have two of the weekend starting positions, said Chad Crunk, assistant media relations director.

In his sophomore season, Stanek started 17 games and finished the year with an 8-4 record and a 2.82 ERA. He struck out 83 batters in 92.2 innings and held opposing hitters to a .229 batting average.

Stanek was named a preseason All-American by Perfect Game and Collegiate Baseball.

Fant pitched in 15 games last season, 14 of which he started. He finished the season with a 2-3 record and a 3.27 ERA.

The final starting role could be filled by junior Brandon Moore, redshirt senior Trent Daniel, junior Barrett Astin or freshman Trey Killian.

Moore pitched in 19 games last season, 26 as a reliever, and posted a 5-2 record with three saves and a 2.43 ERA. He only allowed 11 walks in 81.1 innings and held opponents to a .230 batting average.

Daniel started four games and pitched in 17 out of the bullpen last season. He finished with a 2-0 record with one save and a 5.06 ERA.

Astin pitched in a team-leading 32 games, 29 in relief, and had a 3-5 record and a 1.99 ERA. His team-high 11 saves were the third highest single-season total in school history.

Killian finished his senior season of high school with a 8-1 record with a .88 ERA and 138 strikeouts. He pitched 10.1 innings in two games during the Cardinal-White series and posted a .87 ERA with 10 strikeouts.

The three pitchers that do not earn a starting spot will join junior Colby Suggs and senior Tyler Wright in the bullpen.

Suggs appeared in 30 games last season and finished the year with a 7-1 record with a 1.38 ERA. He set a new Arkansas single-season record for fewest runs allowed when pitching at least 30 innings by giving up just six runs during the season.

Suggs held opponents to a .203 batting average and struck out 36 batters in 39 innings. He was named a preseason All-American by Perfect Game, the NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball.

Wright pitched in 16 games last season, posting a 1-0 record with a 2.60 ERA. He held opposing batters to a .234 average.

Senior Cade Lynch and sophomore Chris Oliver will also potentially get some work out of the bullpen.

As a junior, Lynch appeared in 21 games, posting a 3-1 record, two saves and a 2.11 ERA. He held the opposition to a .180 batting average and struck out 46 batters in 47 innings of work.

Oliver pitched in 11 games as a freshman, one as the starter. He had a 1-0 record with a 3.86 ERA.

The stigma of steroid use that has plagued a once-valiant American pastime, has left the fans, the players, the writers and the aspiring players without a hero. 

Whether through actual admission, hearsay or public opinion, none of the members on the list of players, who performed at the highest echelon of their sport, will have their achievements on the field etched in baseball’s history book.

While Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are often seen as the face of the Steroids Era of baseball, it is disheartening just how easy it was for steroids to infect an entire institution that was once so admired. 

With names like Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, who inspired so many young people to dream of baseball stardom, it is sad that all of the qualified names are now replaced with an asterisk. 

There is no getting around the fact that steroid use is cheating. 

Every player that admitted or was caught using steroids knew what the drugs would do and they should have known the consequences. 

The problem is, to what extent do we question whether any player’s accomplishments in baseball were products of mere athleticism and dedication or products of steroid use? Now that steroids have become as much a part of the game as peanuts and cracker jacks, is it right to ostracize any one who reached greatness between 1990 and the present? 

One thing that we should remember is that steroids can only do so much. 

If a person off the street took steroids, they would not magically be able to hit 762 homeruns like Barry Bonds did. They would not be able to reach 3,060 hits like Craig Biggio nor would they come close to the 354 wins and seven Cy Young awards that Roger Clemens reached during his 23-year career. 

Of the top five names that were eligible to be inducted, every one of them made multiple All-Star appearances. There were 10 league MVP awards between them, seven Cy Young awards, 12 Gold Glove awards and more than 2,000 homeruns. The talent and the statistics that this group put up are unquestionable. 

The only caveat is that they played during a time when the threat of steroid use was a greater story than accomplishments on the field.

If we let the steroid era of baseball deter us from appreciating the accomplishments that the players reached because popular opinion dictates they cheated, then it will have ruined the game forever. We cannot allow the cynicism of assumptions and accusations to cloud the fact that this group of players performed at an astonishing level.

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg is creeping closer to his team-imposed limit of between 160 and 180 innings pitched in 2012.

The 24-year-old flamethrower is averaging a little over 30 innings per month this year. So the question is: Do you sit your All-Star pitcher with his future health in mind, or do you send Strasburg out every fifth day and try to win it all this season?

The Nationals need to keep Strasburg on the mound. Washington doesn’t have a good shot at a World Series title; they have a great shot. With Strasburg at the front of the rotation, they’re the favorites in the National League.

Washington’s rotation is tops in the NL, and it’s not even close. The staff ranks among the best in the league in wins, earned run average, innings pitched, quality starts and opponents’ batting average.

The playoffs are all about starting pitching and the Nationals have it in spades, or more likely aces. Gio Gonzalez or Strasburg would be the ace on most teams, and the Nats march both out to the mound and have a very good third starter in Jordan Zimmermann. It’s an excellent formula for a championship.

Obviously, an outstanding pitching staff doesn’t guarantee a team a spot in the World Series, but shutting down a pitcher doesn’t guarantee a longer career. If a pitcher possesses poor mechanics, which Strasburg does, the rest might only be postponing an inevitable injury.

General Manager Mike Rizzo implemented the innings limit to protect Strasburg, who underwent Tommy John surgery in September 2010. The Nats used a similar strategy with Zimmermann last season, with a key difference: Washington didn’t have one of the best records in baseball.

You can’t blame the Nationals for trying to protect their young star, but the truth is Strasburg’s health and the Nats’ title shot may never be better than they are right now. Strasburg’s violent mechanics will continue to put his health at risk every time he throws a pitch.

The Nationals could still be in a good position, even with Strasburg potentially becoming a spectator. Edwin Jackson, Ross Detwiler and John Lannan will each move up in the rotation.

But neither of those three is a flame-throwing All-Star with a Bugs Bunny changeup. World Series titles and 24-year-old pitching stars are hard to come by; the Nats will have to decide what they value more.

Arizona took the first game of the championship series Sunday night, 5-1, making Monday night an elimination game for the Gamecocks, South Carolina’s third of the CWS and seventh stretching back through their previous two championship runs.

“It’s disappointing tonight,” South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner said. “We did everything possible to win tonight except come up with a few more hits.”

The Gamecocks won all of those games with a combination of pitching combination Michael Roth and Matt Price, who sealed their legacies as two of the greatest CWS pitchers in history, with Roth holding the all time wins record and Price tying the record for the most appearances by a pitcher in a World Series.

None of that mattered against Arizona, who came up with key hits when they needed them and rock solid pitching from James Farris, who had not started since the NCAA regional championship game on June 3, a 22 day layoff while Kurt Heyer and Konner Wade pitched two times each in the postseason.

“My thought was, when I left here (after Sunday night’s win), we probably needed to pitch Heyer,” Arizona head coach Andy Lopez said. “By the time I went back to the hotel, I went back to logic. The logic says James has been throwing great. He was ready to pitch.”

Unlike Sunday’s game, in which a Robert Refsnyder put the Wildcats on top early, a lead they would not vanquish, Arizona had to earn this victory, only getting one run and three hits off of Roth in 6 2/3 innings of work.

In the first six innings of the game, Roth retired the Wildcats in order four times. The two exceptions came on a Refsnyder single in the fourth and a leadoff double for freshman Joe Maggi in the third, which would eventually lead to the first score of the game for the Wildcats, on a Trent Gilbert RBI groundout to first base.

Arizona rode their 1-0 lead and the pitching of Farris, who went 7 2/3 innings with 95 pitches and 65 strikes, giving up just two hits and the lone run, a Kyle Martin RBI groundout that scored Christian Walker from third.

With the game tied 1-1 in the top of the ninth, it was Arizona defensive sub Brandon Dixon and freshman Trent Gilbert, who has the lowest batting average of the starting lineup at .268, who knocked clutch hits for the Wildcats.

With Refsnyder on first and senior Bobby Brown intentionally walked so Price could face Dixon, who popped out with a man in scoring position in the seventh inning, Dixon ripped an RBI double down the left field line, which scored Refsnyder and put the UA on top 2-1.

“It was amazing to get that opportunity to help the team out,” Dixon said.

Dixon and Brown were in scoring position for Gilbert, who singled to right field, but advanced to second on a botched throw. Gilbert’s hit cleared the bases and put Arizona up 4-1 with three Mat Troupe outs standing between them and a College World Series title.

“With me and some of the younger guys, I think we feel confident in those situations,” Gilbert said. “When we get a chance like that, I like our chances as well.”

Troupe made the game interesting when he faced five batters and gave up a hit and two walks to start the inning off, loading the bases for the two-time defending champs with the winning run at the plate.

Troupe forced freshman Tanner English and catcher Grayson Greiner to both pop out, ending the game and cementing Arizona’s first national championship since 1986.

“We’re very thankful,” Lopez said. “Very fortunate. Very blessed. I’m extremely, extremely fortunate to have coached this group this year.”

Wade, for the third time this postseason and the second time in Omaha pitched a complete game, the first time since 2004 any pitcher has had two in the CWS. He allowed six hits, but held the Gamecocks to one run.

“We just couldn’t get in a situation to do anything offensively,” South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner said. “He kept making big pitches when he needed to and they played solid defense out there.”

Offensively, Arizona’s Robert Refsnyder settled his team down with an opposite field two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, putting the Wildcats up 2-0 after Wade struck out first baseman Christian Walker to end the inning.

“I knew if we got on the team on the board right there, it would kind of settle the team down so we could just go out and play good baseball,” Refsnyder said. “Sometimes you close your eyes and swing really hard, good things happen.”

The Gamecocks’ Joey Pankake led off the first with a single through third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean’s legs, but the next batter, Evan Marzilli grounded into a double play started by a diving Alex Mejia to quell any momentum as the inning continued.

In the third, the Wildcats extended their lead on the virtue of an RBI single from Mejia, which scored second baseman Trent Gilbert, who reached first base on an error from Pankake.

South Carolina’s starting pitcher, Forrest Koumas, was replaced in the third by Evan Beal after giving up the Mejia RBI and walking Refsnyder. Koumas pitched just 2 1/3 innings against the Wildcats, giving up four hits and three runs, two of which were earned.

“I thought he was throwing the ball pretty well,” Tanner said. “Forrest battled when he was out there, we just didn’t make enough tings happen on the offensive side.”

Through three, Wade had only thrown 37 pitches, 28 of which went for strikes. He had also allowed just one hit, a single to left fielder Tanner English, who was stranded when Wade forced Pankake to pop out. In the first three frames, Wade had allowed the English single, and not much else, retiring eight of the 10 batters he faced to that point.

Arizona capitalized again in the fifth on South Carolina’s second error of the game, this time on a wild pitch that moved Johnny Field into scoring position on second base.

Refsnyder was intentionally walked for the second time in the game before Seth Mejias-Brean, who grounded into two inning-ending double plays before the fifth frame, came up with an RBI single to centerfield that scored Field, improving the lead to 4-0.

If Wade showed any signs of weakness at any point in the game, they reared their head in the sixth, when uncharacteristically Wade walked a batter, his first in 31 innings. It was also his longest outing of the game, as he gave up his first extra base hit in two World Series appearances, a double to catcher Grayson Greiner.

After an RBI single from Evan Marzilli cut the Arizona lead to 4-1, scoring Greiner, Wade forced LB Dantzler to hit a one-hopper to a waiting Joe Maggi at first base, who easily recorded the out, ending the Gamecock threat.

“We got runners out there, but Wade was able to make a big pitch when he needed to,” Greiner said. “You have to give him credit for that.”

In the seventh, Mejias-Brean again grounded out to Pankake, but was able to advance Refsnyder into scoring position from first. Arizona senior designated hitter Bobby Brown stepped to the plate and smacked a ball between the first and second baseman, scoring Refsnyder from second, pushing the Arizona lead to 5-1, a lead they did not vanquish.

“They did a great job tonight,” South Carolina center fielder Evan Marzilli said. “ Tomorrow’s a new day. We have to come out and pretend like nothing ever happened.”

Arizona will attempt to close out its quest for a national championship Monday night at 7 p.m. CDT when a Gamecock team that has won their last six elimination games will try to bounce back.

“We’re not dumb, we don’t want to treat it like any other game, because it is the national title series,” Mejia said. “We understand what’s at stake.”

Kurt Heyer, the Wildcats’ No. 1 pitcher will start over James Farris, Arizona’s usual third starter. In the first game against Florida State, Heyer pitched 7.2 innings and tossed 128 pitches, giving up six hits, but striking out eight in the process.

Farris would be the usual starter but head coach Andy Lopez doesn’t believe in getting “cute,” as he puts it, with his pitching.

“I did that once in life, and I’ll never do that again,” Lopez said. “We’re gonna go with a guy that’s been with us for three years. I’d like to be able to fly home and say ‘We threw our best guy twice in five games.’”

The one time Lopez did try to beat the system, he saved his best pitcher for the second game of the 1996 regional, at which time he was the head coach at Florida. The Gators lost the first game, starting an emotional cycle Lopez cares not to repeat.

“We won the regional and finished third in Omaha, but I’ve never been so nervous, wound up and miserable in my life,” Lopez said. “We’re going to throw our guys when we’re supposed to throw them and try to play good baseball.”

The Wildcats will face a rejuvenated and patient Seminole team. Florida fought through two elimination games to put themselves back into a position where, if they defeat Arizona today, will force an elimination game Friday afternoon with the championship series on the line.

Arizona will also face freshman Brandon Leibrandt for a second time this World Series, who they were able to get three runs and six hits against in their last meeting. Right fielder Robert Refsnyder says the almost identical rematch can be a double-edged sword for both teams.

“It helps, but they’ve seen Kurt too for a long time,” Refsnyder said. “They had some good at bats against him. Hopefully, we can limit (Leibrandt) and get some base hits early. He seemed a little bit uncomfortable with guys on.”

Defensively, the Wildcats have been spectacular in their two games in Omaha, but will need to play almost a perfect game to limit the powerful Seminole batting order. According to Refsnyder, their last outing was not good enough.

“That one inning they scored two runs, we kind of stubbed our toe a little bit with poor defensive plays,” Refsnyder said.

Arizona is in the driver’s seat for tomorrow’s game, meaning they can lose and still be in the tournament for one more game. At this time of the season, gaining any and every advantage, especially another day of practice to prepare for a potential championship series, is crucial.

“When you get into a tournament like this, you have to win every single game, no thinking ‘Well we won, so now we can save,’” catcher Riley Moore said. “No. Every game counts, every game matters.”

Top-ranked Florida (47-20) will leave the College World Series winless after a 5-4 loss to Kent State (47-19) in an elimination game Monday.

“I’ve been able to make it out here three times and all three times I’ve been just as disappointed,” UF catcher Mike Zunino said. “It’s one of those things where you don’t want it to end.”

Errors proved costly for the Gators during this year’s stay in Omaha. They committed five fielding miscues in just two games, including two early mistakes against the Golden Flashes.

In the bottom of the first, a throwing error by Florida shortstop Nolan Fontana allowed Kent State’s Jimmy Rider to reach base with one out. Rider eventually scored an unearned run to put the Gators in a 1-0 hole.

Making matters worse for Florida heading into the bottom of the second was the abrupt exit of starter Hudson Randall (9-3). Randall, who took the loss for the Gators, left the game after the first frame due to heat-related issues.

“I could tell he was laboring a little bit,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I went out there just to give him a little breather to catch his breath. Then when I went out there, it was obvious he was having a little trouble breathing.”

Crawford came on in relief in the bottom of the second, but the defense behind him was not much improved.

After Crawford surrendered a leadoff single to Golden Flashes’ designated hitter Jason Bagoly, Alex Miklos reached base on a fielding error by UF third baseman Josh Tobias. Spurred by the Tobias error, Kent State plated three more unearned runs in the second frame.

“We made three errors the first night, we made two today, and they ended up coming back to haunt us a little bit,” O’Sullivan said.

Florida’s defensive mistakes Monday came on the heels of a three-error performance in a 7-3 loss to South Carolina on Saturday. Trailing 5-3 headed into the top of ninth, the Gators sent Steven “Paco” Rodriguez to the mound.

The Gamecocks scored twice in the frame to double their lead to four as a result of three miscues: a wild pitch by Rodriguez, a Rodriguez throwing error and another throwing error by first baseman Vickash Ramjit.

“Very sloppy on defense, especially late in the game,” UF assistant coach Brad Weitzel said Saturday. “We still [had] a chance, we [were] two runs down.”

While defense played a role in Florida’s early exit from Omaha, its inability to take advantage of scoring opportunities proved costly. The Gators put the leadoff man on base 11 times in 18 innings during the College World Series.

However, UF only scored runs in four of those 11 frames.

Against Kent State, Florida loaded the bases in the seventh and ninth innings. Trailing by three runs, the Gators put their first three runners on in the seventh inning.

Zunino singled up the middle to cut the deficit to two for designated hitter Brian Johnson. With perhaps Florida’s best chance at a rally at stake, Johnson plated a run but at the cost of hitting into a 4-6-3 double play.

It was the last run the Gators scored Monday.

“Our team battled through some adversity today, and I thought they did a nice job battling back in the middle innings,” O’Sullivan said.

In the ninth inning, UF second baseman Casey Turgeon stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. Facing a 3-1 count, Turgeon took a pitch outside he believed to be a ball. It was called a strike.

On the next pitch, a Turgeon check swing on a ball outside sent him to the dugout. Left fielder Justin Shafer flew out to right field for the final out of the Gators’ season.

“My first gut instinct (on Turgeon’s check swing) was hoping it was going to be ball four,” said Zunino, who was on second base during the at-bat.

“[Kent State] appealed, and it wasn’t.  I thought the umpire did a great job the whole game.  So I thought they were good calls.”

Monday’s defeat was likely the final time Florida’s nine MLB draft prospects will play together under O’Sullivan. Ten of the 20 players to suit-up in the CWS did so for the final time in a Gators uniform.

“In the end, it’s just another ball game,” Tucker said. “But it’s my last, and obviously, I’m not going to get another chance.”

Prior to running the sport, 77-year-old Selig owned the Milwaukee Brewers and played an integral role in bringing baseball back to the city after the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta in 1965.

This past offseason, MLB’s owners approved a two-year extension for Selig that will keep him in the commissioner’s role until the end of the 2014 season. Upon the conclusion of his tenure as commissioner, Selig hopes to return to UW to teach history.

While in town for his lecture, “Talking Baseball: The Challenges of Communicating in Turbulent Times,” as part of the Robert Taylor Lecture Series, Selig met with UW journalism students to discuss topics ranging from his tenure as owner to the Ryan Braun steroid situation and the recent firestorm sparked by Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen’s comments on Fidel Castro and Cuba. Below are the most significant questions and answers from Selig’s interview in his Mosse Humanities Building office.

What is it like being commissioner of baseball right now when you have so much going on? It seems like a new era’s starting after this past decade or so. Can you put that into words?

Selig: I’ve done this now for 20 years, it’s hard to believe. When I’m done, it’ll be 22. If I stay an extra three months, I’ll break the all-time record, which was [held by] Kenesaw Mountain Landis, which has some slight appeal to me. It’s hard to describe the feeling, because you couldn’t write a script like this. A kid from Milwaukee comes to the University of Wisconsin — it’s a great experience, a very difficult job. We live in a public eye at all times. Today, I have Ozzie Guillen. Tomorrow, who knows what it’ll be.

What do you make of the Ozzie Guillen situation? You released a statement today in support of his five-game suspension.

Selig: We’re going to celebrate next week Jackie Robinson’s coming into the big leagues. Think about that. Think what that meant to American society. April 15, 1947, four years before Harry Truman desegregated the United States Army. Think about that. Seven-and-a-half years before Brown v. Board of Education, which changed education. And 18 years before the Civil Rights Movement. So here’s Jackie, changing the landscape. That’s why to me, he in the 20th century was one of the two or three most important figures in America. And that was baseball.

When I said in my statement today that we are a social institution, no question about that. That means every one of us in the game has important social responsibilities. There’s just no place in it for comments like Ozzie made. I’ve had that conversation with a fair number of people, and I really believe that.

I was taught early in my career by a man named John Fetzer, who was the owner of the Detroit baseball club, as he used to call it. Wonderful man, a great statesman. [He said] that the sport’s best interest transcends always your own personal interest, or your franchise’s. That’s true in life. We’re here to represent people. To participate in something that becomes divisive, nasty and angry is clearly not in the best interest of baseball.

The Ryan Braun situation has to be very close to your heart, especially as former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. What’s next?

Selig: Well, I like Ryan personally. I said that the other day, and I meant it. But let me go back, we talked about baseball being a social institution. The steroid issue really bothered me back in the late ’90s, early 2000s. Really bothered me. I spent a lot of sleepless nights. We had never been able to have a drug-testing program with this players union. We had a terrible cocaine problem in the ‘80s — and I know, just from owning the Brewers, that we had a terrible problem. And they couldn’t do anything about it. They had the Pittsburgh drug trials in 1985. Twenty-nine players were found guilty, four went to jail. Imagine the disgrace of that. Still no program.

We now have a program that’s been carefully crafted. … We have the toughest testing program in American sports. Last year, we administered 4,800 drug tests. We had a problem with only one, and that was Ryan.

On the subject of the Brewers, you look at a team like them, a small-market team that seems to be really finding some sustained success on the upswing right now. Are they setting a model for small-market teams to bridge the gap in competitive balance?

Selig: We have more what I call “competitive balance” than ever before. Pete Rozelle, the great NFL commissioner, used to call it parity. I call it competitive balance. Tampa has played in the World Series, Texas has been there a couple years. … We’ve never had competitive balance like that. Milwaukee has done very, very well. And St. Louis, a small market the same size of Milwaukee really at least in the basic market, and they’re the world champions and they look to be pretty good again this year.

What we’ve done by reforming the economic system and changing things is give everybody hope and faith. It’s on my phone, as a matter of fact. I say to the clubs every meeting, it’s our job — my job — to provide hope and faith in as many places as possible so that on April 1, when the season starts, hopefully 20 or 22 of our franchises have hope that they’ll be competitive. They can’t all win; that’s business. But I think we’ve accomplished that.

When you look ahead to teaching here, have you thought about what you’re going to teach?

Selig: What I would hope, frankly, and I’ve talked to everybody and it’s really about my schedule, is sports in American society, 1960 to the present. It’ll be an interesting class, I’ll tell you that.

When you’re in Madison, are you going to try to work with Barry Alvarez to try to get baseball back?

Selig: I’m not going to wait until I’m here, I’ll do it before. Wisconsin should have a baseball team. The state has a great baseball tradition. Think about this, here are the Brewers — actually, Barry came down for a playoff game last year, I might add — drawing over 3 million people. Think about that. The greater Milwaukee area is 1.5 million, at most. To draw over 3 million people is amazing. The interest in baseball in this state is unbelievable.

What do you think about Milwaukee having a pro team means to the state of Wisconsin? Why is it so important?

Selig: The most important thing is what I would call the sociological benefit. You ask yourself this question: in the last 30 years, or even in the last 10 or 15, was Milwaukee and Wisconsin a better place to live because the Brewers were here? The excitement, you watched it last September, was incredible. The city, the state — that’s what it does. That is the exciting part of it.

People sometimes lose sight of that. They say, ‘Oh, I don’t want to do this; I don’t want to give money to the stadiums through my taxes. Look at how much the ballplayers make, the owner’s rich, so on and so forth.’

Those are not the essential questions. What does it do for people?

A huge part of the two teams’ success is undoubtedly a result of the performance of their superstars, most notably Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Evan Longoria and David Price. Among them, the three pitchers and stud third baseman have 11 All-Star appearances. Lincecum already has two Cy Young Awards under his belt. The difference among the four: The Giants paid Lincecum and Cain a combined $20 million in 2011, while Price and Longoria earned a total of $3.25 million.

The disparity will increase in 2012, as the former pair will earn $33 million and the latter duo will take in $6 million. Luckily for the Giants, the extra cash paid off with the world championship two seasons ago.

How could four equally and incredibly talented players be compensated so differently?

The answer is simple: The Rays’ front office management had the foresight and intelligence to secure long-term contracts for Longoria and Price at the start of their promising careers, while the Giants waited to pay their stars based on past performance and a hope for continued future performance. The Rays are in position to compete today and in the long term, while the Giants do not feel as secure.

If there is one thing that has never made sense to me in the game of baseball, it’s when teams sign players who are in the end of or past their primes to massive contracts, hoping they can continue to perform at an elite level. If performance drops off, like in the cases of Alfonso Soriano and Barry Zito, the contracts can be financially crippling for the organization. Just this past offseason, the Angels and Tigers entered into this type of marriage with Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, respectively.

While I think Pujols is the best player of our generation, I also think that it is absurd to expect a consistent offensive output through the end of his contract in 2021 — when he will be approaching his 42nd birthday and earning $30 million annually.

The MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement, or CBA, lays out a system to determine a player’s compensation if a long-term contract cannot be agreed upon. During the first three years of a player’s MLB service, he is under club control and will be paid according to the rookie wage scale, which equates to somewhere around $500,000 every year. For the four subsequent seasons, the player is arbitration eligible, which means he can request a salary and have his case heard in front of a group of arbiters who will decide whether the player deserves his request pay or the pay the team is offering. Again, this will not occur if the player is under a long-term deal.

In the cases of Longoria and Price, the Rays recognized the superstar potential of their prospects, and inked them to multi-year contracts very early in their careers. Price signed a six-year, $8.5 million deal in 2007 before pitching at Tropicana Field. He just signed a one-year deal for the 2012 season for just over $4 million. Longoria agreed to a six-year, $17.5 million deal in 2008 at the very beginning of his big league career, and the Rays hold very team-friendly contract options for the 2014-16 seasons that would buy out all of his arbitration eligible years.

When taking a look at San Francisco, the situation is much different, and it is flirting dangerously with financial issues. Lincecum signed a two-year deal prior to the 2010 season that cost the Giants $21 million, and just signed another two-year, $40 million deal that will take him through his arbitration years.

Cain was under a contract similar to Price’s, but the Giants decided to renegotiate the deal to remove a club option year and guarantee another season of Cain in San Francisco. Instead of carrying out 2010 and 2011 under the initial deal, the Giants paid Cain another $750,000 and set the precedent for his recent deal with a $15 million figure in 2012. His latest extension, signed April 2, could reach over $20 million per year by the time it expires in 2018.

Because of the shorter, more lucrative deals in San Francisco, the long term also becomes much more expensive. At the culmination of the deals in Tampa Bay, the players might deserve significant raises, but they will also remember the loyalty shown to them by the organization.

Even if some scouts in 2007 might have recognized that Longoria and Price would have been worth tens of millions of dollars a few years into their careers, they were still young, developing players. The Rays showed a great deal of faith in both by offering them financial stability at a point in their lives when a major league career still seemed like a dream. Price returned the loyalty this year by negotiating a $4.35 million deal when he is probably worth millions more.

In December, the Rays continued this course of action with their signing of highly touted pitching prospect Matt Moore to a five-year, $14 million deal with an additional three club options that take away his club control and arbitration years. With the club options included, the Rays could either lock up Moore for more years at a cheap price, or part ways with him if he fails to live up to his expectations.

The Rays are in a low risk, high reward situation. If the Rays can negotiate a similar deal with reigning AL Rookie of the Year Jeremy Hellickson or talented outfielder Desmond Jennings, they could lock up an extremely promising young core of players at a significant bargain.

The Giants have a fantastic opportunity to do exactly the same thing. Even with the expensive contracts of Lincecum and Cain, they have talented, young players Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner and Brandon Belt. They are all still under club control, and deals similar to that of Matt Moore could be highly beneficial down the road for San Francisco.

In an industry where money is the name of the game, the Rays are ahead of the curve. The market in Tampa is small and the team’s tiny payroll is a reflection of this situation. Thanks to some smart maneuvering in the front office, they are now able to compete with juggernauts like the Yankees and Red Sox season after season. And I expect them to be in the hunt for years to come.

The MLB is still struggling to break away from the tainted steroid era, and Braun was supposed to be the face of the future. He’s a mild-mannered and hardworking outfielder who helped lead the Milwuakee Brewers to the National League Championship last season.

Now, Braun’s legacy is permanently tainted.

In Braun’s failed test, he had a 20/1 ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone. Normal adult men usually have anywhere from a 1:1 to a 4:1 ratio. In addition to high levels, the test also found traces of synthetic testosterone in his system. To put it simply, Braun had more testosterone than Marion Jones.

According to ESPN, Braun’s sample was not immediately sent to the lab for analysis. The handler did not make it to FedEx before it closed on a Saturday evening and kept the sample in a cool place at his house until Monday morning. When the sample arrived at the lab, all of the seals were fully intact, and it did not appear to have been tampered with.

Although the collector made the correct decision, Braun and his legal team claimed that MLB policy states that the sample must be delivered to FedEx immediately after collection. Because of this breech in procedure, the arbitrator ruled in favor of Braun and granted the appeal.

I’m not claiming that Braun is guilty. I have no idea what would have caused him to have such high levels of testosterone, but I know he’s passed over 20 previous drug tests in his career. He adamantly claims that he’s innocent, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Yesterday’s decision, however, does not clear his name.

Braun’s case is very similar to O.J. Simpson’s murder trial. Obviously the stakes are much lower, but like O.J., Braun won because of a technicality. Although Braun avoided sanctions, he failed to prove his innocence. Now, for the rest of his career, Braun will have to deal with suspicion and doubt from players, fans and league officials.

Because Braun failed to prove his innocence, I’m starting to doubt the integrity of the MLB. I grew up idolizing players like Berry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Rodger Clemens. I watched all of their games and wanted to grow up to be just like them. As each one became involved in some sort of cheating scandal, I slowly started to lose faith in the league.

When I was watching Ryan Braun last season, I saw a glimmering ray of hope. He could slam home runs, and his biceps didn’t resemble cantaloupes. He was a force at the plate but athletic enough to make great plays in the field. When I saw him play, I never once compared him to Bonds or McGwire. I thought we’d finally reached an era where baseball players didn’t have to use steroids to compete in the league.

Now, I don’t know what to think. If Braun truly is guilty, it proves that players can’t compete without some sort of banned substance. If everyone else around you is doing steroids, you have two choices. You can either get pushed out of the league because you’re not strong enough, or you can take your choice of banned substances to save your job. It’s easy to say that you would take the high road when you’re an outsider like me, but would you change your mind if your career were at stake?

Regardless of Braun’s innocence, we should use this decision as an opportunity to analyze the current substance abuse of professional sports. We need to remember that athletes are role models for millions of kids across the country, and we need to hold them to high standards. We need to build a culture in which we respect an athlete’s character as much as his ability to hit a curveball. If we as fans demand a higher standard, we can finally leave the steroid era behind us.

“I was kind of born into it,” said JJ, whose father had a 21-year Major League Baseball career as a relief pitcher with the Mets, the Cincinnati Reds and the Houston Astros. His 424 career saves are the fourth-most in MLB history, and the Mets announced last month that he would be enshrined in the team Hall of Fame June 3.

Watching baseball was always going to be part of JJ’s life, but he said his father never pressured him to play the sport. “My dad said I could do or be whatever I want to be,” he said.

But JJ loved sports from a young age, and his father’s influence instilled in him a passion for baseball. “Constantly being around that atmosphere … it was almost like it wasn’t a choice,” he said.

John came to as many of his son’s games as he could, and JJ said he remembers the car rides with his dad more than he recalls the games themselves. Even after John tore his Achilles tendon in November 2011, he still threw batting practice to JJ while wearing a boot.

Having a baseball player for a dad also had other perks. “I basically grew up in Shea Stadium,” JJ said. Until he began playing in travel leagues that required a greater time commitment, it was as though every day was “bring your son to work day,” JJ said.

While shadowing his father, JJ was able to take batting practice on the field and field ground balls hit by Mets coaches. He got to know his father’s teammates and spent a lot of time with his father’s fellow relief pitchers.

He became closest to pitcher Al Leiter, whose locker was next to John’s and also got to know several outfielders quite well, especially Cliff Floyd, Jay Payton and Mike Cameron through shagging flies with them. “I definitely knew that I was in a very small group of kids” to have this type of opportunity, he said.

John said that his son fit right in with the team, and that his fellow players were happy to have teammates’ kids around. “We’re all family,” he said.

The opportunity was not wasted on JJ — he took full advantage of the exposure he got to professional baseball and the advice he received from Mets coaches, John said. “He was like a sponge, and to this day, he’s like a sponge,” he said. “He’s a bright student of the game.”

JJ said he hopes to be drafted and to sign with an MLB team after he graduates. It would not be the first time — in 2010, after he had already committed to Brown, the Mets picked him in the 47th round of the amateur draft. Though he decided to go to college, the day he found out he was drafted was “a very satisfying day,” he said.

“I think he’s got a bright future,” John said. “We’re very proud of his accomplishments,” he added, pointing to his son’s mental and physical development, as well as his improvements hitting and fielding.

Though father and son have spent a lot of time with each other on the diamond, they have rarely been in competition. The only time  John has pitched to JJ as though he was actually playing in a game was when JJ was 14. John, in his first year of retirement, was coaching his son’s summer league team and one day agreed to pitch seriously to each player on the team.

JJ used his knowledge of his father’s pitching style to his advantage. John was best known for throwing a circle change-up, but JJ was looking for something else. “I knew his first pitch was going to be a fastball,” he said. He guessed correctly and got a base hit.

“He knows exactly how my ball moves,” John said.

Today, John “could probably get him out from 40 feet. If I had to go from 60 feet, I’d be in trouble.”

Céspedes, who just signed a four-year $36 million salary with the Oakland Athletics, formally established residency in the Dominican Republic in January and has been weighing offers from Major League Baseball teams ever since. The A’s fought off stiff competition from the Miami Marlins, the initial frontrunners to sign the outfielder.

Céspedes rose to prominence several years ago. In the 2009 World Baseball Classic, he hit .458 with a double, three triples, and two home runs in a six-game span for Cuba. Céspedes has routinely slugged over 20 home runs per season in Cuba’s professional league, including an impressive 33 bombs in just 90 games in 2011.

Perhaps Céspedes’ best move from a public relations standpoint was releasing a 20-minute video that demonstrated his physical ability in the weight room and on the field (the video can easily be found on YouTube by searching “Yoenis Céspedes showcase”). Kevin Goldstein, a minor league baseball analyst for baseballprospectus.com, has referred to Céspedes as the complete package and “arguably the best all-around player to come out of Cuba in a generation.”

But before we christen Céspedes as an All-Star, we should remember that it’s difficult to predict how he — along with Japanese pitching phenomenon Yu Darvish, who will begin his MLB career in 2012 with the Texas Rangers — will adjust to baseball in the States.

Other than the considerable talent gap between foreign leagues and Major League Baseball, many players with Major League skill sets struggle to adapt to the culture of America.

Céspedes’ free agency was nearly affected by an issue that surfaced in the new collective bargaining agreement regarding international free agents. In the past, teams were able to spend as much money as they wanted on international amateurs. After the collective bargaining agreement, teams are limited in the amount they can spend on players aged 16 or older from outside the United States.

Céspedes and fellow Cuban defectors will not be subject to these new rules, but future international free agents — including many from Cuba and the Dominican Republic — will not receive contracts as large as Cespedes’.

Is MLB right to limit spending on amateurs, including draft picks from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, as well as 16-year-old free agents from Latin America? It’s certainly a topic worth discussing, but it doesn’t seem fair that teams will be restricted in their pursuits for some players and not for others who, like Céspedes, are still very much unknown in quantity.

The driving force behind the decision to limit spending on certain kinds of players is a desire to level the playing field. But until a universal salary cap is instituted, the rich will continue to be able to spend lavishly on free agents, while smaller-market clubs still won’t be able to easily afford to match the contract offers their richer brethren can make. On the other hand, MLB’s decision to cap spending on some players is unfairly hindering the earning potential of many who likely won’t receive Big League paychecks in the future.

Ultimately, however, these issues remain irrelevant for the likes of Yoenis Céspedes. The young star is set for the next four years thanks to the A’s generous contract offer, which made him the ballclub’s highest-paid player despite his never playing a Major League game before. The rest of his professional baseball future is very much unclear.

If anything is certain, though, it’s that it will be interesting to watch the unfolding of MLB’s new policies concerning international players play out. Cespedes’ may be one of the last international young stars to get a rookie contract this size.

The other superstar first baseman on the market this winter, Prince Fielder, has experienced a much less exciting offseason. Interest in him appears lukewarm, and even though pitchers and catchers start reporting to spring training in 25 days, he seems to have no idea where he will play in 2012.

It’s all a fluke. Teams refuse to express interest because they don’t want to drive the price up like middle aged men at a silent auction for charity. Every front office employee wearing his best poker face right now knows he has the chance to land the best free agent available this winter. No, not Prince Albert. Prince Fielder.

On the surface, anyone can see that Pujols and Fielder are two of the best baseball players of our day. Over the past four years, Pujols has hit .323/.421/.611 (BA/OBP/SLG) while Fielder has put up a comparable .284/.400/.537 line. During that time, Fielder has 150 home runs and 446 RBI’s, while Pujols has 163 and 468. The most important stats might just be 32 and 28: the ages of Pujols and Fielder, respectively, for the 2012 season.

The Angels’ signing of 32-year-old Pujols to a 10-year, $240 million contract is a high-risk, medium-reward situation at best and does not hold a truly significant impact. While his statistics speak for themselves and he just might be the best baseball player of the last half century, statistics also point to significant declines in performance once a player enters his early to mid 30s.

No one can assume he can maintain his current level of production over even half of his new deal. Pujols will be paid $30 million in 2021, when he is into his 40s. What are the chances he puts up numbers warranting that salary?

Regardless, the Angels can be excited that their potent offense is now coupled with one of the best pitching rotations in baseball, featuring Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, C.J. Wilson and Ervin Santana.
The Rangers, who also reside in the AL West, will be the only hurdle for the Angels to clear on their way to being perennial division champions.

On the flipside, the Cardinals’ loss of Pujols is not as devastating as the public makes it out to be. St. Louis will welcome the return of ace pitcher Adam Wainwright back from elbow surgery, and Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman figure to anchor the offense. The NL Central will also be weaker than normal this season, with only the Reds figuring to be legitimate title contenders. The bottom line: The movement of Pujols from the Cards to the Angels might seem drastic, but does not actually hold significant impact.

Let’s consider the case of Prince Fielder. The 28-year-old entering his prime is unlikely to command the same mammoth contract as his fellow slugger. He also has four fewer years of baseball mileage on his body and brings a left-handed bat. For his price, he will end up being much more valuable than Pujols, and will undoubtedly have a bigger impact on his future and former team.

For his entire career, he has played alongside Ryan Braun as a face of the Milwaukee Brewers franchise. With the news being leaked that Braun may serve a 50-game suspension for a performance enhancing drugs violation, the Brew Crew is now facing a dire situation. The loss of two of baseball’s best players, including the reigning NL MVP, is enough to cripple a team’s spirits and playoff chances.
Conversely, Fielder’s addition to the right team is enough to alter the landscape of the sport for the next decade.

For the sake of argument, let’s say Fielder signs with the Washington Nationals. A lineup that includes Fielder, Ryan Zimmerman and uber-prospects Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon would be terrifying to any opposing pitcher. Speaking of pitching, the Nats also have three of the best young arms in the game in Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann and Gio Gonzalez. With the Phillies continuing to age and the Marlins’ experiment of Reyes and Zambrano set up to fail, Washington could be looking at a close race with the Braves for the NL East title for years to come. Not bad for a team that has been a basement dweller for most of the last decade.

Other than the Nationals, the Texas Rangers are favorites to sign Fielder at this point. Unfortunately, that might be difficult after the signing of Japanese star Yu Darvish. The Rangers’ shiny new $60 million man might be the cornerstone of their rotation over the next half decade, but also has the potential to destroy payroll flexibility down the road. Add in the likelihood of signing Josh Hamilton to an extension, and suddenly the Rangers are strapped for cash. If they can squeeze out enough dough to lock up Fielder for eight years or more, Texas will keep pace with the Angels in the AL West and can expect to compete for World Series titles for the foreseeable future.

Just like in the case of Pujols, we cannot ignore the chance that another team becomes a bidder at the 11th hour. In this case, two teams come to mind. The first is the Toronto Blue Jays, who are stuck in the gauntlet that is the AL East and could be looking to make a splash and compete for a playoff spot after years of being overshadowed by the Yankees and Red Sox. With slugger Jose Bautista and Brett Lawrie ready to support Fielder in the lineup and flame-thrower Ricky Romero on the verge of a Cy Young-level breakout year, the Blue Jays could finally shift the balance of power in the division and take a run at a title.

The dark horse in this scenario is the Seattle Mariners. A team that hasn’t truly been competitive since the turn of the century, they are ready to go all-in. With Felix Hernandez, Taijuan Walker and James Paxton forming an above-average rotation and newly acquired catching prospect Jesus Montero ready to jumpstart the offense for Fielder, Seattle could be a scary team to face. It could lock up a few division titles down the road if the Pujols, Wilson, Darvish and Hamilton signings don’t produce the desired results for the Angels and Rangers.

Plenty can happen between now and opening day that will affect how people perceive each team’s chances this coming season. When the dominoes start to fall and Fielder picks an employer, however, perceptions will be utterly and completely altered. Who knows? Maybe the Brewers, Orioles or Dodgers could make a late push. Only one thing is certain at this point: The imminent signing of Prince Fielder will bring seismic changes to the landscape of major league baseball.

When ESPN reported Saturday afternoon that the Brewers star — one of the most respected and talented players in the game — tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, it came as a shock to most, myself included. With strict testing in place and a limited number of major leaguers ringing up positive, it appeared that the juicing that once dominated the sport in the late 1990s and early 2000s was now the practice of only a select few.

Braun is fighting to clear his name through arbitration, and according to an ESPN story, the Milwaukee leftfielder’s representatives say there are special circumstances regarding the increased levels of testosterone that they are confident will allow him to successfully prove the test wrong. The same story says Braun asked for another test after finding out in late October he failed a test, and he passed the second time around, strengthening his case.

However, if the surrounding circumstances fail to explain the positive test, Braun’s elevated testosterone levels are not simply a brutal disappointment to Brewers fans, but rather a major setback for professional baseball. This is about much more than a potential 50-game suspension for the 28-year-old slugger and four-time All-Star that could limit Milwaukee’s playoff chances in 2012.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig wasn’t the only one who felt his heart drop when the news broke, as baseball fans around the country realized there was yet another pothole in the road to returning baseball to it’s fabled, drug-free past. Braun was one of the MLB’s shining young stars, a man who looked to be everything a professional team builds around — strong character, immense talent, commitment to the franchise — but if true, this is a disheartening sign for baseball.

When Milwaukee’s front office handed Braun a massive five-year, $105 million contract extension, they thought they had just hit the jackpot. After all, they had just guaranteed the team’s most popular and productive player would call Miller Park his home for the next nine years.

It’s certainly true that baseball hasn’t been entirely clean over the last two or three seasons. Most notably, former big hitter Manny Ramirez tested positive for the second time in his career in April, but he was the only active MLB player suspended for performance enhancers in the 2011 season. The 18 other players suspended under the league’s latest performance-enhancing drug policy, adopted in 2008, include a list of mostly unfamiliar names, with Ramirez being the only one with stature comparable to Braun’s.

This was a season in which Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista led the league with a reasonable 43 home runs and Dodgers centerfielder Matt Kemp led in runs batted in with 126, statistics that pale in comparison to those of just five years ago. With relatively modest numbers, there was no way the league’s biggest names were relying on human growth hormone or steroids for the extra power.

Only one player — Bautista last season — has broken the 50 home run plane over the last four seasons, and professional baseball’s image has increasingly become one of a pitcher-friendly league. As these hitting statistics slide, professional baseball has seen a resurgence of great pitching statistics, a trend capped by Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander taking home the American League MVP, the first pitcher to win the award since 1992.

These stats, along with much more stringent testing, had analysts and fans alike believing that Selig and company had cleaned up their game. The faces of the MLB, including a lengthy roster of stars like Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard and Braun, among others, were putting up impressive numbers thanks to a fair combination of hard work and talent.

A golden age for professional baseball was developing, one similar to that of the late 1990s, except this time without the eye-popping physiques and locker room syringes. Just as baseball was beginning to turn its image around and show it could attract fans without a regularly rotating single season home run record, the unthinkable happened.

Braun’s positive test brings up another inevitable question. If one of MLB’s golden boys is using PEDs, who else is relying on more than just natural talent and strength to put up impressive numbers?

It may not be fair, it may not be justified, but it’s the unavoidable product of the National League MVP finding himself embroiled in allegations involving performance-enhancing drugs. For the sake of the game and baseball junkies around the country, let’s hope that this is an isolated case, and that positive tests don’t await other stars who were helping clean up the league’s image.

I honestly hope — and assume most baseball fans feel the same way — that Braun’s positive test truly is just an anomaly as he says, that this is nothing more than a serious misunderstanding. It will likely take several weeks to figure out the validity of the claims and if the rightfielder has a legitimate excuse for increased levels of testosterone, and until then, I’ll be pleading that the steroid era has not made an unwelcomed return.

It’s not fair to assume Braun is guilty until all the facts come out, and until then — for the sake of Brewers fans and everyone else — let’s hope that he’s telling the truth.

Aaron, a baseball Hall of Famer, and his former business partner Frank Belatti, an adjunct professor at U. Notre Dame, presented “Athletes, Entrepreneurship and Franchising” at the Mendoza College of Business in the Jordan Auditorium Tuesday evening.

The two spoke about helping others through both direct charity and properly run business.

Aaron said he hoped to be remembered most for helping others achieve their dreams.

“Coming from an isolated city in Alabama, I wanted to play baseball badly and I chased that dream,” he said. “I decided after I retired I’d do everything I could to help some child or someone chase their dreams.”

Aaron and his wife, Billye Williams, established the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation to support ambitious youth in 1994.

The foundation struggled in its early years, he said.

“The foundation was just fuddling around and we weren’t making much money. But my wife … said she would have a birthday party for me and would handle it,” Aaron said. “She went to Coca Cola and other companies … and the night of the dinner we made over a million dollars.

“The money and having the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, at my dinner was a blessing. We needed this money badly.”

Aaron said the foundation awarded 755 grants to deserving youths, one for each of his home runs. He said the challenge of running the foundation in addition to his restaurant and auto businesses offered valuable lessons.

“Going from baseball to business, the number one rule is you have to put your heart and soul in it. I woke up every morning at five to go to dealerships when I began my automobile businesses,” he said. “The disadvantage is the idea of thinking you’ve been successful in one, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to transition to the other.”

The help of friends and business partners, such as Belatti, led to Aaron’s success, he said.

“We all talk about how much we can achieve in a lifetime but I look around and say there were teammates on base when I look at those home runs,” Aaron said. “The restaurants weren’t only my doing. God put a blessing on me to have people like [Belatti].”

Belatti said he met Aaron in 1985 while working on a promotion with Major League Baseball. The pair built their business relationship based on trust rather than contracts.

“We shook hands and that is our only contract. That says a good deal about how honorable Hank Aaron is and about the power of a handshake,” Belatti said. “The power of a handshake is an incredible thing.”

Since then, the two worked to develop a business model with a contemporary and competitive backbone, Belatti said. Sustainable models created jobs with a sense of personal ownership and ended the cycle of disenfranchisement, he said.

“Create jobs that you believe are highly sustainable and have an aspect of ownership. Change the mindset,” he said. “Part of a change in the social strata and economic strata might not otherwise happen.”

Belatti said trust was important in running a business. He met with each franchise they worked with to establish a sense of trust.

“For every franchisee who came into the system, I had them come to my office so I can meet them face-to-face. I wanted to shake their hand and make them a promise,” he said. “I gave them my home phone number so if they ever need me, they can call me directly.”

Belatti said Aaron was a true entrepreneur. Aaron created opportunities for others rather than focusing on revenue, he said.

“An entrepreneur is willing to put his or her career on the line and take risks in the name of an idea and an ideal. Hank often talks about how many new managers, owners and jobs he’s created,” Belatti said. “We don’t talk as much about the money.”

Aaron said his experience in baseball and entrepreneurship taught him two things: creating opportunities for others was essential to addressing economic and social issues and there are no shortcuts to success.

“You may not ever hit a single home run but the thing you have to remember is you can always be a great doctor, lawyer, teacher or someone great. You’ve got to crawl, got to walk, got to take your time to get where you’re going,” Aaron said. “And believe me, you do have time.”

Statewide website AL.com reported there were two tickets for sale on Stubhub.com for a seat in row 25 of the lower level north end zone for $10,423.14 each. The tickets are no longer available.

Will Flaherty, director of communications for SeatGeek.com, a search engine that pulls together ticket listings from all major secondary ticket websites, said the average ticket price of sold tickets on their website is $606.

For comparison, tickets to Game 7 of this year’s World Series averaged $601 on SeatGeek, tickets to Game 5 of the NBA Finals averaged $686, tickets to last year’s BCS National Championship game averaged $1,351, and tickets to last year’s Super Bowl averaged $3,067.13, Flaherty said.

“This is a demand we’ve never seen in our two years of doing this,” Flaherty said. “The ticket prices are astronomically expensive, but there are tickets still available. I think it really speaks to just how great these two teams are. They have two loyal fan bases and are a drivable distance away, which really allows people to spend more money on their game tickets.”

Many UA students have posted their tickets on websites such as StubHub.com and Facebook Marketplace to make a profit.

J Finley, a senior majoring in telecommunication and film, said he was selling his ticket to Saturday’s game for $300.

“This ticket and game tickets in general are a great source for extra income,” Finley said. “I don’t have a job, so this is basically like my paycheck. This ticket is one of the most valuable tickets I’ve sold in my four years of flipping tickets. I’d rather watch the game in the comfort of my home instead of standing up for three hours.”

UA student Corey Neill said he was asking for $300 because that’s how much it’s worth to him to miss the game.

“I could definitely use the extra money for bills, but I would also love to go to the game myself,” Neill said. “I can remember paying $230, including an upgrade fee, to go to the Tennessee game when I had just transferred in and feel like this is a much more important game. I think it’s a lot of money for one game, but at the same time, I could see myself spending just as much if I didn’t have a ticket.”

Doug Walker, associate athletics director at the University, said the face value of tickets to attend Saturday’s game is $85, regardless of whether the seats are on the 50-yard line or in the upper deck.

The tickets to Saturday’s game sold out before the team ever stepped onto the field this season, and no public sale took place, he said.

Media requests for the Alabama-LSU game have also increased, Walker said.

For a normal game, anywhere between 300 and 350 credentials are given out. For the Iron Bowl, 400-450 credentials are distributed. But for Saturday’s “Game of the Century,” Walker said he expects credential requests to end up in the 625 range.

“Everyone knows the winner of this game is in the driver’s seat to the national championship,” Flaherty said. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that we’ll see prices like this again for the SEC Championship game and even the national championship game.”

The win ends a two-game skid for the Cardinals after seizing an early 2-1 series lead. Right fielder Lance Berkman’s bat fueled the Cardinals offense with a game-high three hits in five at-bats, three RBIs and a first-inning homerun.

Sloppy weather delayed the start of the game, and sloppy play characterized the opening innings. The Cardinals had three early errors to set them back from the start.

The Rangers used a three-run seventh inning – highlighted by back-to-back solo homeruns by third baseman Adrian Beltre and right fielder Nelson Cruz – to take control after the Cardinals tied the game at 4-4 in the sixth. Second baseman Ian Kinsler singled to center field, bringing in pitcher Derek Holland to complete the seventh inning scoring run.

The Cardinals answered with a solo homerun of their own from outfielder Allen Craig in the eighth to left field, narrowing the Rangers lead to 7-5.

Trailing 7-5 with two outs in the ninth, Freese drove a two-strike pitch from Rangers closing pitcher Neftall Feliz for a two-run triple to tie the game and send it into extra innings.

Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus led off the top of the tenth with a shallow single to center, setting up center fielder Josh Hamilton’s two-run homerun to put the Rangers ahead 9-7.

And once again, the Cardinals answered. Third baseman Daniel Descalso advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a ground out. With runners on first and second, Berkman scored center fielder John Jay with a single to center field to even the game and force an eleventh inning.

Cardinals pitcher Jake Westbrook held the Rangers to a single by catcher Mike Napoli and no runs in the top of the eleventh. Leading off for the Cardinals, Freese worked a 3-0 count before homering on a full-count pitch from Rangers pitcher Mark Lowe to seal the game.

Rangers starting pitcher Colby Lewis went five and one-thirds innings, surrendering just three hits but walked three batters and allowed four runs.

Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia lasted three innings, giving up two runs on five hits.

The Rangers used eight different pitchers over the course of the game, while the Cardinals used seven.

The decisive game seven begins at 7:05 p.m. Friday from Busch Stadium.

“Danny is a hard-throwing left-hand pitcher with tremendous athletic ability,” Tom McNamara, Seattle director of Amateur Scouting, said in a statement. “We are excited to welcome him to the Mariners organization and watch him work his way towards being part of our major league rotation in the near future.”

Negotiations ran close to the midnight deadline Aug. 14, as the Mariners tried to convince Hultzen to forgo his senior season at Virginia. Both sides ultimately agreed to a figure that includes a $6.35 million signing bonus. Hultzen was also added directly to the Mariner’s 40-man roster, which means that he will attend the team’s spring training next year.

During his tenure with the Cavaliers, Hultzen routinely dominated the opposition and posted a 12-3 record and 1.37 ERA during his junior season. He currently ranks as the winningest pitcher in program history with 32 career victories and also holds the school record for career strikeouts with 395.

Washington State U. associate professor Lloyd Smith, U. Illinois Professor Emeritus Alan Nathan and Kettering U. professor Daniel Russell published their collaborative study, which mixed baseball and physics in the paper “Corked Bats, Juiced Balls, and Humidors: The Physics of Cheating in Baseball” for this month’s issue of American Journal of Physics. According to the paper, three questions were tested through experimentation: Can a baseball be hit farther with a corked bat, are today’s baseballs juiced and does storing the balls in a humidor affect their performance.

The study found no measurable effect on ball distance when using a corked bat instead of a regular bat, no evidence supporting balls as more lively today than in the 1970s, but there is an effect on ball performance when they are stored in a humidor. Nathan, the main data analyzer and writer, said the corked bat experiment results were expected, but they had no idea what would come of the juiced baseballs experiment. He said that as far as he knows no one has ever done the juiced balls experiment before, and they were lucky to gain the baseballs from the 1970s.

“The difficult part is obtaining baseballs from an earlier time because with used balls all bets are off,” Nathan said. “That part of the process was absolutely serendipitous. The niece of Charles Finley, the Oakland A’s previous owner, offered unused baseballs.” According to the paper, the idea for the experiment came from the incident at Coors Field in Denver, Colo., when the Rockies began storing their balls in a humidor to compensate for the air density difference at the higher Denver altitude. The offensive statistics, like home runs, were reduced about 25 percent after the change. Nathan said the results of the humidity study were expected because of earlier experiments on the subject. He said the effect of humidity on a Major League baseball has twice the effect against an NCAA baseball, and he said it is nice when science can be applied to a real-life situation. “The Arizona Diamondbacks were going to store in a humidor, and I did some calculations and concluded that if they were to do the same in Phoenix the reductions in home runs would be 35-40 percent,” Nathan said. “Shortly after, I learned that they were putting the project on hold. I would like to think that our work had helped with that decision.” According to Smith, who works in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, the motivation for the project came from Chicago Cubs player Sammy Sosa getting caught using a corked bat in 2003. He said they were looking at something similar at the time that contradicted the statements that the cork bat was affecting Sosa’s hitting, so they decided to look at it experimentally. “Alan Nathan is a physicist, so he’s the one that had the idea and kind of formulated the problem,” Smith said. “I’ve got all of the cool toys, so I’ve got the laboratory to do the work.” Smith said Russell wasn’t a major contributor because his part of the project ended up getting cut. He said the project was self-funded with the bat and ball donations from Rawlings Sporting Goods and the use of the WSU Sports Science Laboratory including an air canon that fires a high-speed ball at a bat to measure bat performance.

“It’s a fun lab, and I think it’s unique at the university that we can do something useful and has a worthwhile effect,” Smith said.

According to Nathan, the final touches to the project were finalized in the paper they decided to write. The group reviewed the information to decide how the data would be be presented. “I wrote most of the paper because you can’t really write via committee, so they reviewed it,” Nathan said. “It was completed by September, and we submitted it to the American Journalists.” According to Smith, who is considered a bat-testing expert, they may not be looking at cheating in the future, but they will continue to test other hypotheses in the sports science field. “It’s fun to take topics that are popular and to look at them critically,” Smith said. “For us, it’s kind of like Myth Busters. It was really fun to say here’s a guy that corked his bat, he thought it would help him in home runs, now let’s run an experiment to show that it isn’t correct.” Smith said he has no illusions about the paper having an effect on people who already believe in corking bats because many don’t have any interest in reading it. However, he said that there is a pretty good group that is interested in sports science. “To the extent that we can help those people understand the game and the science, I’m delighted,” Smith said. “As academics, we are providing a useful service to our society.” According to Nathan, he has visited the Pullman campus quite a few times to use the facility and collaborate with Smith. He said they are both consultants in amateur softball, are on NCAA committees together and have worked together extensively since 2002, becoming major contributors to the study of baseball and softball performance.

“We compliment each other quite well,” Nathan said. “The things he’s good at I’m not so good at, and the things I’m good at maybe he’s not so good at.” Nathan said with Smith’s laboratory and his own ability to grapple with the data, they are an excellent collaborative team. Both Smith and Nathan said they love the work they do in sports science “I’ve been a physicist all of my professional life, and I’ve been a baseball fan even longer,” Nathan said. “Part of what gets me into it is the love of baseball. It has been one of the most enjoyable things about my whole career.”

Not for the preseason favorite and top-ranked team in the country. Not for the team that shrugged off expectations and captured the regular season and tournament title in the nation’s toughest conference.

But it did.

Florida’s season bitterly ended Tuesday night, as reigning national champion South Carolina successfully defended its title and swept the Gators (53-19) 5-2 in Game 2 of the College World Series Finals.

“They earned this one. They were a little bit better than us in all phases,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said of the Gamecocks, who beat Florida in four of their five meetings this season. “It’s nice to make steps but the idea is to win this thing. Our goal year in and year out is to win championships.”

After closing out historic Rosenblatt Stadium with a championship, the Gamecocks (55-14) opened beautiful TD Ameritrade Park with another, winning a NCAA record 16 straight tournament games in the process.

In two tries, the Gators are now 0-4 in the CWS Finals, also getting swept by Texas in 2005.

Although Florida won a school-record 53 games this season, numbers 54 and 55 exasperatingly eluded them.

In a series full of plays decided by inches, the Gators continuously fell short.

“We just didn’t do enough. They just did a little bit more,” O’Sullivan said.

After struggling to score in Monday’s frenzied loss, the Gators bats were flummoxed again, this time by USC left-hander Michael Roth (14-3, 1.06 ERA).

South Carolina’s ace, pitching on three-days rest, tossed 7.2 sharp innings allowing two runs on an astounding 127 pitches.

UF flamethrower Karsten Whitson was rolling for the first two innings before unraveling in the third when South Carolina put up a three spot.

USC shortstop Peter Mooney led off the inning with an opposite field double, as Florida’s freshman All-American suddenly lost his command.

Following a walk and a sacrifice bunt, Monday’s hero and CWS Most Outstanding Player, Scott Wingo, knocked a sacrifice fly to center. After another walk, UF shortstop Nolan Fontana booted a routine high chopper, allowing a second run to score. The Gamecocks plated their third run on an infield squibbler by designated hitter Brady Thomas.

In the sixth, Mooney, whose brother Mike played for the Gators in 2009, smoked a solo homer into the right field bullpen.

Whitson (8-1, 2.40 ERA) pitched 4.2 innings but never looked comfortable after the first two frames, hitting three batters on the night — matching his season’s total coming into the game — and losing the first game in his career.

The Gators got on the board in the fourth when Mike Zunino cranked his 19th homer to lead off the inning.

But UF could never put it all together offensively, failing to get the timely hit.

“We made great strides this year,” Zunino said. “But you’re always going to have that hollow feeling if you don’t win. It’s an empty feeling.”

All season, Florida’s kryptonite has been crafty southpaws, and Tuesday night was no exception.

UF left-handed batters went 0-10 against the soft-tossing Roth, who moved his CWS ERA to 1.17 in 38 career innings.

The Gators stranded a pair of runners in the first when Preston Tucker and Josh Adams hit lazy flyouts to center field.

In the fifth, Florida had two on and no outs but nine-hole hitter Cody Dent botched the bunt attempt, fouling out on a third-strike effort. Two pitches later, Bryson Smith rolled into a routine 4-6-3 double play.

The Gators wasted two more scoring opportunites in the sixth and seventh. For the series, the Gators were just 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position with a pair of RBIs.

In the eighth, Zunino doubled — the SEC Player of the Year went 4 for 4 with two walks after going 2 for 15 to open the CWS — and later scored on Adams’ two-out RBI single. Tyler Thompson then pinch hit for Pigott and just missed a double down the left field line before USC closer Matt Price struck him out looking to end the frame. Price recorded his 20th save of the season to preserve the title.

“We stuck with our approach, but that’s the game of baseball,” Adams said. “Some days you can come out on top but others days you look like a fool. All you can do is say ‘what if.’”

Some 69 injury-riddled, drama-laden games later, the Gamecocks are once again the best collegiate team in America. They accomplished this by – at least by their standards for on-field theatre – a surprisingly clean and easy triumph led by Roth himself.

There was no walk-off hit in Tuesday’s 5-2 win over Florida to sweep the three-game College World Series finals. Nor was there an improbable double play or devastating throwing errors. It was just a baseball game, and one the Gamecocks won without much doubt ever entering the equation behind 7.2 stellar innings from its ace southpaw.

USC scored three runs in the third after both teams played scoreless in the game’s first two frames. Florida would get a run back the next inning on a solo home run from Mike Zunino, but that was it for the Gators, who several times got multiple runners on base, only to fail to bring them around.

The Gamecocks had their own missed opportunities as well, most notably when they loaded the bases in the fifth inning with two outs, but Florida reliever Tommy Toledo ended the threat, striking out Jake Williams to escape the frame.

A Peter Mooney home run to lead off the bottom of the sixth got USC back the run lost on Zunino’s shot.

UF would pull to within 4-2 and send the tying run to the plate in the ninth, only to see Matt Price end the threat with a strikeout en route to another save and, ultimately, another South Carolina national championship.

South Carolina did it again.

In an instant classic, the reigning national champions are just one win away from defending their title after stunning the Gators 2-1 in 11 innings Monday night in a thrilling Game 1 of the College World Series Finals.

In a jam-packed TD Ameritrade Park, the Gamecocks (54-14) escaped multiple contentious situations and later scored the winning run to take control of the best-of-three series.

“Incredible college baseball game. Hudson Randall is very, very special,” USC coach Ray Tanner said. “We hung in there and eventually tied it up. We were able to get a couple of atom balls.”

In the top of the 11th inning, South Carolina’s injured first baseman Christian Walker singled with one out. The sophomore then stole second and scored on a wild play involving a pair of errors from UF catcher Mike Zunino and center fielder Bryson Smith.

The Gators now must win two games to become the first SEC school to win a national championship in football, basketball and baseball, and with their backs against the wall, they’ll throw freshman Karsten Whitson (8-0, 2.43 ERA) against Gamecocks’ ace Michael Roth (13-3, 0.98 ERA) tonight at 8 p.m. in Game 2 of the best-of-three championship series.

“We experienced it against Mississippi State. We just have to put it behind us,” said UF designated hitter Brian Johnson. “Tomorrow is a new day”

The Gamecocks again displayed their late inning magic Monday, exiting the ninth inning unscathed with a 4-2-3 double play after the Gators (53-18) loaded the bases with no outs.

Florida missed another chance to walk-off in the 10th inning, as USC left fielder Jake Williams gunned down Cody Dent at the plate after he led-off the frame with a single.

“We battled.  We didn’t give it away,” Tanner said.  “We have to win late.  That’s the way we play. We keep the game in perspective.  We don’t let it tear us up when we’re behind or when we don’t have that movement.”

USC closer Matt Price, who tossed 90-plus pitches in South Carolina’s win Friday night, recorded his 19th save with a scoreless 11th.

“The most frustrating thing is had opportunities to win this game,” UF’s starter Randall said.

“The team that beat us today is ourselves.”

The devastating loss wasted a valiant effort from the right-hander. The Gators ace was strong for seven innings, but in the eighth the sophomore coughed up the tying run after issuing a leadoff walk to USC shortstop Peter Mooney.

With two outs, Scott Wingo ripped an RBI single up the middle to square the contest at one.

“We had our opportunities. Wingo makes a great play. …That was probably the most pivotal part of the game,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.

“It was a frustrating game for us at the end there, but they’re the defending national champs for a reason.”

The second baseman’s pair of defensive heroics in the ninth were also a major factor in the Gamecocks’ comeback win.

But for the first seven innings, Randall flaunted his impeccable command, throwing 18 first-pitch strikes, going to a three-ball count just once and stifling the Gamecocks’ bats.

After Dent booted a ball in the second, Randall pitched around the third baseman’s fifth error of the year, retiring 18 of the next 19 batters he faced.

The Gators manufactured their lone run in the third, taking an early 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly from Dent.

The sophomore infielder plated just his seventh run on the year, scoring Tyler Thompson, led off the inning with a four-pitch walk and later reached third on a wild pitch.

Two hours before the dramatics ensued, most of the pregame theater surrounded Walker.

Late Sunday, word leaked that the Gamecocks’ leader in average (.355) and homers (10) had a stress fracture in his left wrist and would be doubtful for the series.

He was not in the original lineup Monday, but after knocking out several long balls in batting practice, Tanner was convinced he could play.

In his first at-bat of the game, Walker sliced a double down the right field line and later scored the winning run.

“You know, I knew it was going to take a lot of pain specifically for me not to play,” Walker said.

Nearly lost in the evening’s dramatics was Forrest Koumas’ start for USC. The freshman, who made his first collegiate start against Randall in Gainesville on March 26, hadn’t pitched in 21 days but the power righty showed no signs of rust, tossing 5.2 innings with just the one run allowed.

“He did a heck of a job, especially being a freshman,” O’Sullivan said. ” I thought he hung in there really well. … I thought we were starting to press a little bit as the game went on.”

“Last year, when we got home, I got a nice note from Mr. [Jeremy] Foley, very, very nice note congratulating us,” South Carolina’s coach said.  “I wrote back and said, ‘Your team is outstanding, your coach is the best and you will win a national championship in baseball sooner rather than later.’”

Then he paused and joked, “Be careful what you say.”

We’ll see.

In a Southeastern Conference grudge-match, the Gators (53-17) and the defending national champion Gamecocks (53-14) will square off tonight at 8 p.m. on ESPN in the best-of-three championship series at the College World Series.

For the third straight season, baseball’s championship trophy will find itself back in football country.

LSU captured the crown in 2009, while the Gamecocks won it last season, but with a new engraving on the 2011 trophy, the Gators hope they’re the one’s to bring it home.

“There’s going to be a team at Florida that wins it for the first time. Hopefully this is the one,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “It would be awfully special to be the first team at Florida to win the national championship in baseball.”

The Gators and Gamecocks both endured rollercoaster seasons with the bulls-eye squarely on their backs, but despite it all, the Eastern division rivals reached the title round, thanks in large part to a grueling conference slate.

“It’s kind of ironic that two SEC teams get a chance to go head-to-head here in Omaha,” O’Sullivan said. “But all year we felt like the SEC is certainly the best conference in the country. I think playing the SEC schedule has certainly prepared us for this opportunity.”

Tanner agreed saying, there’s no easy weekends because “everybody is good.”

“I think one of the coaches coined it a long time ago… I’ll never forget he said, ‘Our league is tremendously exciting but very dangerous.’ And that’s what it is.”

The recent history between Florida and South Carolina has been riddled with excitement, as the Gators dogpiled in Columbia last season after winning the SEC regular season, only to see the Gamecocks close out Rosenblatt Stadium with an even rowdier celebration.

“We were able to go up there and take two out of three from them, but they got the last laugh,” UF catcher Mike Zunino said. “They got to hold up the championship trophy.”

In late March, the Gamecocks stole the series in Gainesville, sandwiching a pair of victories between Hudson Randall’s (11-3, 2.24) — tonight’s Game 1 starter for Florida — trilling complete game.

“I see him in my sleep a lot,” Tanner said. “He’s special. He’s fun to watch.”

The Gamecocks will start freshman Forrest Koumas (6-1, 3.07), who made his first career start against the Gators and tossed six sharp innings, allowing just one unearned run on two hits.

Entering tonight, both teams are confident, hitting their strides at the right time of the year.

O’Sullivan said the turning point for Florida was hurdling the mental hump of a devastating Super Regional loss to Mississippi State.

THe Gamecocks, who won the title with a walk-off hit a season ago, have continued their flair for the dramatics, winning two more contests at the CWS in the last at-bat variety.

“It’s swag versus swag,” O’Sullivan said. “Both teams are playing very well.”

The Cleveland Indians currently sit at the top of the AL Central division with a 19-8 record and have a 4.5 game lead over the Kansas City Royals, another team that has been a pleasant surprise.

One of the most remarkable aspects of this early season surge is how the team has played at home. After their 5-4 come-from-behind win against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, the Indians have won 13 home games in a row. They also set a team record for the most wins in team history in the month of April.

This isn’t to say the Indians have a playoff berth locked up. They’re still far from it, and the St. Louis Blues are a prime example of how a season can take a turn for the worse. The Blues started the season with a 9-1-2 record, but injuries ravaged the team and the Blues missed the playoffs.

Injuries and starting pitching will play a large part in how long the Indians can remain at, or near, the front of the AL Central, but so far Cleveland’s pitching staff has allowed more than five runs only twice in its first 27 games. Plus, the Indians’ disabled list has just four members, although two of them, Mitch Talbot and Carlos Carrasco, were part of the Indians’ opening day rotation.

Although its still early, many believed Cleveland would be in full-on rebuilding mode yet again and have a record closer to the Minnesota Twins’ 9-18 mark.

The previous sports year was otherwise quite forgettable for Cleveland sports fans. The Browns finished their season at 5-11, the Cavaliers went 19-63 with a 26-game losing streak mixed in and the Indians were coming off a 69-93 season and finished 25 games behind the division-winning Twins.

Expectations for this year were equally low, but the Indians have thus far shown Cleveland fans there is reason to hope.

The economics of Major League Baseball are much different than they were back in the mid-1990s when the Indians last had a team make the playoffs multiple years in a row, but they have the youngest team in baseball that could give fans optimism for another similar run of success.

The Indians had the makings of a great team in 2007 with a pitching staff led by C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee and almost went to the World Series, but salary restrictions forced the Indians to trade both Sabathia and Lee before the 2009 season was finished.

Maybe this early success is just a fluke and the Indians will be in fourth place by the time September comes around, but they have already beaten teams that are over .500 such as the Royals and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and they’ve beaten teams that likely will be over .500 by the end of the season, including the Tigers, Twins and Boston Red Sox.

The Indians’ May schedule doesn’t look to be any more difficult than April, so maybe this team will be this season’s baseball surprise and give Cleveland fans a reason to believe they can have a good team without a dominant superstar such as LeBron James.

Dirtbags head coach Troy Buckley said this year’s event was intended to “give a message back to [LBSU's] current players about the story of how a marquee player got to where he’s at [today].”

And who better to share his experiences with the team this past Thursday than one of the biggest stars in professional baseball?

None other than ex-Dirtbag and Tampa Bay Rays All-Star third baseman Evan Longoria.

Though it may come as a surprise, Longoria, 25 — who appeared on the cover of Major League Baseball 2K10 — graduated from St. John Bosco High School with no college scholarship offers.

USC was the only program to consider him, but eventually backed out of recruiting him.

At 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds, many baseball recruits felt Longoria was too slim by Division I baseball standards.

As a result, he attended Rio Hondo Community College during his freshman season before LBSU offered him a scholarship.

“You know, being close to home and allowing [my family] to watch me play every day was awesome,” Longoria said. “But I had seen so many great baseball players come out of Long Beach and that was the selling point for me.”

After all, The Beach has produced a number of major league stars — including Jason Giambi, Troy Tulowitzki and Jered Weaver, to name a few.

In just his second year with the Dirtbags, Longoria earned Big West Conference Player of the Year honors in 2006 after batting .353 with 11 home runs and 43 RBIs.

In just two years, Longoria transformed his thin stature as a high school senior into a 6-foot-2, 210-pound specimen by the end of his LBSU tenure.

That same year, he was picked third overall in the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft — the highest draft selection in school history — by Tampa Bay, which gave him a $3 million signing bonus.

After a successful year in the minors, the Rays eventually signed him to a six-year, $17.5 million contract that can potentially earn him upwards of $44 million.

In just his first professional season with Tampa Bay, Longoria did more than just make good on his paycheck.

He went on to win the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2008 and was selected to the American League All-Star team.

Rise to prominence

Not to be mistaken for Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria, Evan had an unexpected run-in with his Hollywood namesake just prior to the All-Star Game.

The actress sent the Downey-native a bottle of champagne and a thank you note for “doing the Longoria name proud,” even though they aren’t related.

In return, Evan sent Eva three signed jerseys.

To top his rookie season off, the LBSU alumnus homered in his first two postseason at-bats and led the Rays to their first-ever World Series appearance. Longoria’s magical year ended when the Rays fell to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games in the best-of-seven World Series.

He matched his rookie season with another All-Star appearance in 2009 and earned the AL Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards as the top fielder and hitter in the league at his position.

Managing his success off the field

But even after all the success, Longoria has maintained a humble outlook on his fame, and was quick to credit his family upbringing.

“I feel the same,” said Longoria, who was recently featured in TV commercials for Gillette and New Era caps. “I was raised pretty humble, I mean, I’ve got great friends and great family, and they’re able to keep me grounded.

“That’s what I kinda lean on when things get weird or different, or there’s something that I’m experiencing for the first time.”

In the zone

Handling fame off the field is one thing. But Longoria has also managed to maintain his composure at the plate against the best pitchers in the world.

“The game comes at a slow pace for him,” Buckley said. “He certainly went through his trials, but I think he knew that the [MLB stadium] surroundings weren’t going to affect how we was going to behave.

“‘He has what you call the ‘It Factor.’”

To put his prolific three-year career in the Majors into perspective, he has compiled a total of 82 home runs, 302 RBIs, and a .283 batting average.

But before the Longoria was making major league pitchers pay at the plate, he was just another solid high school baseball player — or, so Buckley thought.

Buckley, who was LBSU’s recruiting coordinator at the time, fondly remembered his first impression of Longoria at the Dirtbags baseball camp he attended while in high school.

It was nowhere near what Buckley expected. Longoria’s level of play exceeded his expectations, which the coach recalled in a light-hearted moment.

“It was my unawareness and ignorance if you will,” Buckley said in between laughs. “It’s a running joke that your best athlete, now, was playing first base at our camp to fill a position.

“When really, [Longoria] pitched, played short[stop], played third [base] and did all those things.”

Even after Longoria transferred to The Beach, it never occurred to Buckley or then-assistant coach Dan Barbara that they had a future All-Star on the program.

“I don’t think anybody — myself and Dan included — when they’re evaluating amateurs or young professionals, can predict stars,” Buckley said. “They can predict he’s gonna be a big leaguer or a solid player, but what Evan’s done — an All-Star — that’s phenomenal.”

Now entering his fourth season in the majors, Longoria hopes to win a World Series title in the near future, but cited other career goals as part of his main priorities, as well.

“My goal for last year and this year, and hopefully every year to come, is to just stay healthy,” Longoria said. “My preparation and the way I go about things kinda carries me through the year, but you know, it’s just all about staying healthy and being able to compete at a high level every day.”

“I kind of got my feet wet last year as far as pitching,” Schulz said. “There’s just nothing like college baseball. I just love the game and I love my teammates. I really want to help the team out this year and get to the post-season and beyond.”

Schulz, a life-long surfer, needed over 400 stitches for the cuts that were through four out of five ligaments on the top of his left foot from the attack.

Despite suffering what could have been a huge blow to his baseball career at UNF, Schulz was determined to get back for the 2011 season. He was even pitching in small doses just weeks after receiving option skin grafts, which not only made the wound look better but also helped in the healing process.

New head coach Raymond “Smoke” Laval said he thinks rehab helped Schulz get through the dog days of fall baseball.

“He was out to prove a point,” Laval said. “This wasn’t going to be a road block. He wanted to overcome it and comeback even better. This was good for him because it got his energy flowing even more. So he wasn’t down at all … right now we don’t even bring it up. It’s not even like ‘How’s the foot?’ It’s more like ‘How’s the arm?’”

The rehab after the attack was not an easy road for Schulz. It consisted of six to seven days a week that included stretching his foot twice a day and working on flexibility. After that, he added strengthening to his list of rehab tasks and worked on getting back equal strength in both legs. Finally, he had to run two miles in under 14 minutes.

“I’ve done what I’m required to do so now it’s back to getting ready for the season and stuff,” Schulz said.

While Schulz has appeared to make a full recovery from his attack, Laval said he still isn’t quite ready to take the mound as a full-time pitcher yet. He said he needs some more game experience to get him used to game situations again, and he said he expects Schulz to come out of the bullpen to start the season. He wants to pitch Schulz as a situational pitcher to start off until he gets his mound presence back.

“That shouldn’t take real long,” Laval said. “We’ll kind of spoon-feed him and put him in situations where we feel pretty good that he can succeed in. That will just double anything if there is anything going on in his dome.”

Schulz pointed out that a lot of people helped him through the process of rehabbing and getting back in time for the 2011 season. He thanked his trainers, coaching staff, family and teammates for helping and said he couldn’t have done it without them. However, he made sure to thank God first.

“God has really been a source of strength for me,” Schulz said. “I couldn’t have done it without him. Sometimes he gives you obstacles in life. My faith has definitely kept me going. I couldn’t have done it without God and everyone who helped me through it.”

The Ospreys have less than a month before the season gets underway. They travel to Charleston, S.C., for a three-game road trip to start the season Feb. 18-20 before returning home to Dusty Rhodes Field at Harmon Stadium, to host Liberty for a three-game series Feb. 25-27.

Kennedy School professor Graham T. Allison moderated the conversation, saying Lucchino would provide a unique perspective on the reality of politics.

“Baseball is more than a business. It is more than a sport. It occupies an important role in the psychological life of the residents in this area,” Lucchino said at the beginning of the discussion.

He recounted lessons he learned as chief executive of three different major baseball teams: the Baltimore Orioles, the San Diego Padres, and the Boston Red Sox.

“Politics are profoundly different from Baltimore and San Diego to Boston,” Lucchino said.

“They reflect different cultural and geographical characteristics of the town,” he added.

He recalled the political differences he encountered in his experiences renovating different stadiums.

In Oriole Park, the government controlled the funding and was the main supporter, whereas a grassroots effort was more effective for rejuvenating Petco Park in San Diego, he said.

“There is an extraordinary relationship between sports teams and cities,” said attendee Samuel B. Novey. “I was impressed to hear that Lucchino seems to have thought deeply about the civic role of sports teams.”

Lucchino emphasized in each city, baseball teams should use different techniques to act as social and civic institutions for their fan bases.

He explained that as chief executive, his role is to be a bridge between the baseball team and the city, dealing with elements of taxation, regulation, and instruction.

“As a baseball executive you have to recognize the politics and apply it to what you do,” he said.

Keeping with baseball tradition, during a question and answer session, Lucchino brought out a gift bag and, to the amusement of the filled room, threw signed baseballs, key chains, and t-shirts to those who asked questions.

During the session he spoke of the various changes baseball is undergoing across the country.

He also discussed the obligation baseball has to serve the community as both a sport and a business.

Beginning Jan. 1, all NCAA teams must use bats that are aluminum — like the bats they have used in the past — but are designed to knock the ball slower, at the same speeds as wooden bats.

“It’s definitely going to change our game,” Ohio State coach Greg Beals said. “It’s not going to be as offensive.”

The new regulation is a response to rising offensive statistics by college baseball teams. Some say the aluminum bats are to blame for the offensive outburst and hope the new bats will level the playing field.

“The teams that are going to be successful are teams that get ahead of the curve,” Beals said. “You don’t want to play 15 to 20 games and realize, ‘Oh hey, the games are going to be different.’”

Players also have to adjust to using the new bat.

“A well-struck ball that sometimes might go for a double or even a home run, stays in the yard or is cut down to a single,” senior infielder Tyler Engle said.

Although teams aren’t required to use the new bats until January, OSU has been practicing with them all fall.

“We’ve seen enough in our scrimmage games here in the fall that we know the games are going to be different,”Beals said. “We’ve got to value each base runner and each base that we can get.”

Athletes said the Jan. 1 deadline to switch over to new bats won’t be a problem.

“Nike is our bat manufacturer and Nike has supplied us with a full line of the new bats for our guys to use,” Bealssaid.

The new regulation also aims to protect pitchers, who have taken more hits from fast-flying balls in recent years.

But Engle said he doesn’t think pitchers will be much safer.

“They are such a short distance away and the force (of the ball) coming off the bat, I don’t think they have enough time to react anyway,” he said.

Some athletes have said the new bats have a smaller “sweet spot,” but the bats aren’t expected to stump batters who have been successful in the past.

“Good hitters are still going to get hits, and good teams are still going to score runs,” Beals said.

Using an aluminum bat similar to their wooden counterparts might help college players prepare for using wooden bats at the professional level.

“It definitely will prepare our guys a little bit more for playing at the professional level,” Beals said.

The Buckeyes won’t be the only ones getting used to the new bats, but Engle said to expect lower-scoring games next spring.

“I think everybody in the country is going to have to (change) because the balls aren’t leaving the yard,” Engle said. “You won’t see too many double-digit run games.”

The Cincinnati Reds are division champions for the first time in 15 years, far exceeding expectations in a Cinderella season that saw a young core of players make a name for themselves in the big leagues — including former Texas baseball star Drew Stubbs, who left Austin in 2006.

Stubbs exploded onto the major league radar this year in his first full season in the big show. He played 150 games in center field and hit 22 homers, drove in 77 runs and stole 30 bases for the National League Central champs.

The former Big 12 co-player of the year will look to extend Cincinnati’s improbable season as the Reds take on the Philadelphia Phillies in the first round of the MLB playoffs. While the Reds are strangers to post-season success and the team lost the series opener 4-0 on Wednesday, Stubbs knows what it’s like to take the field on the big stage.

“Playing at the university — it being one of the grandest scales in college baseball — helped me transition to pro ball because when you start playing in front of the bigger crowds some guys get mesmerized,” Stubbs said. “But my experiences in Omaha [for the College World Series] and in the postseason at Texas prepared me for this.”

Cincinnati traded for 17-year MLB veteran Jim Edmonds in August to school Stubbs on the nuances of playing center field in the pros.

“He’s a guy that I followed growing up and I appreciate the way he plays the game,” Stubbs said. “He’s been a great mentor for me.”

But Edmonds isn’t the only figure in Stubbs’ baseball career who has had a lasting impact on the way he plays the game.

“Playing for [head] coach [Augie] Garrido at Texas taught me a lot about the mental side of the game,” Stubbs said. “The thing I took away the most was how to mentally stay in the game and prepare.”

It’s that mental toughness that has kept Stubbs going this season. Reds general manager Walt Jocketty told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the rookie was in danger of an early season demotion.

“It was fun seeing a guy like Drew Stubbs emerge to have a good year,” Jocketty said. “Early on, we had people screaming at us to send him back to Triple-A.”

Stubbs has found a home in center field for the Reds but still has a soft spot for Austin — his home for offseason workouts.

“I like Cincinnati just fine but it’s not Texas, it’s not home,” Stubbs said. “I hope we can ride out this playoff streak as long as possible but I’m also looking forward to getting back to Austin.”

It’s the Tampa Bay Rays.

Before they open their series with the Texas Rangers, I think it’s appropriate to pose this question about the Rays: How the heck did they do that?

For perspective, since the AL East took its current five-team form in 1995, four of the five teams in the division have won the division title. The Boston Red Sox won the first flag in ’95 and then waited until 2007 to repeat the feat. The Baltimore Orioles took home the division championship in 1997 and haven’t won since. As you might have guessed, the Yankees won the other 11 times. (The fifth team, the Toronto Blue Jays, last made the playoffs in 1993 and decided, after winning two consecutive World Series, to quit while they were ahead.)

So since 1998, only the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays have won the AL East, and only the Yankees and Rays have won it more than once.

That’s all well and good, you might say, but what’s the big deal? Well, there’s $179 million. That’s how much the Rays have committed to combined Opening Day payroll over the last three seasons.

Then there’s $206.3 million. That’s how much the Yankees committed to this season’s Opening Day payroll. Add up the last three seasons, and New York’s total comes to a whopping $616.7 million.

Before you close the paper because you’ve heard the “ridiculousness of the Yankee payroll” story a million times, know that I know that the Red Sox haven’t shied away from the tab during that three-year span, either, committing to more than $417.5 million in Opening Day payroll since 2008. The Orioles and Blue Jays have also outspent the Rays over the last three seasons.

The point I’m making is probably obvious by now: The Rays, who hadn’t even enjoyed a winning season as a franchise prior to 2008, have done something fiscally incredible by beating the Yankees two out of three times despite the fact that New York spent more money this season alone than Tampa Bay has spent in total over three years. It’s even more impressive that the Rays outdid the top two spenders in all of Major League Baseball — the Yankees and Red Sox — with the second-to-lowest payroll in 2008 and the 21st-highest out of 30 teams this season. Imagine how much there would have been to talk about if Tampa Bay had beaten the Phillies in the ’08 World Series and won the whole darn thing.

So this column isn’t about the need for a salary cap or knocking the Yankees for paying Alex Rodriguez almost as much money this season ($33 million) as the entire 25-man roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates made ($34.9 million). It’s simply a call to all fans to pause before the playoffs begin tomorrow — whether your team is still playing or not — and appreciate the little baseball miracle that is the ball club from Tampa Bay.

It wasn’t long ago that the Rays were more famous for a Dennis Quaid movie about a hard-throwing reliever named Jim Morris (“The Rookie”) than they were for their play on the field. Some didn’t take them seriously until they knocked the Red Sox out of the American League Championship Series in Game Seven in 2008 on their way to the World Series. Others watched them miss the playoffs last year and dismissed ’08 as a fluke.

But now they’re back.

So pay attention to the Rays this time. They may not be the same again after this year as key players like Carlos Peña, Carl Crawford and Rafael Soriano hit the free agent market this offseason, but the current group has one more shot at it.

And if for no other reason, wish the Rays well because — no offense to the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers — they might soon be the only thing left standing between the Evil Empire and another World Series at Yankee Stadium.

Replacing his older brother, Tom, who took a pitching coach position with U. Pittsburgh, Lipari will fulfill similar duties.

Head coach Rich Pasquale, who made the decision, chose Lipari for his organizational skills and the quality of work he put in with the pitchers last season.

“Our players, especially the pitchers, all respected Coach Lipari’s knowledge. He’s an up and comer in [Division I]. He’s very positive, and I’m encouraged with how he handled the day-to-day last year,” Pasquale said. “He’s got a passion for the game, and I can trust him. He comes from a good baseball family and gets things done. He does them the right way. When he goes around recruiting, he’s a very good representation of the program. I’m comfortable with him.”

Eric Marzec and Aaron Swenson, who were signed to professional contracts, contacted Pasquale and suggested the younger Lipari for the vacant position, solidifying Pasquale’s decision.

Lipari began to draw attention over the summer for his performance as a coach of the Brainerd Lakes Area Lunkers in the Northwoods Summer Collegiate League.

“That was a great experience. I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Lipari said.

“Brainerd was a great opportunity, but where I want to be, I eventually want to have my own college program. For that to happen, I need to stay in the NCAA, and I need recruiting experience.”

The manager of the Brainerd organization offered Lipari a managerial position, which Lipari declined because he would be “unable to keep a recruiting position.”

Pasquale pointed out how remarkable Lipari’s performance was, given the inability to work pitchers as hard due to pitch counts and their college coach’s stipulations.

Looking forward, Lipari said he’s optimistic.

“From a pitching standpoint, there’s a lot of young guys. Last season we had three true freshmen have over 20 appearances,” Lipari said. “As for the older guys, they know what to expect. They know their time with Youngstown State baseball won’t last, they will make the most of it.”

The institution of a salary cap results in increased parity. The existence of a salary cap has worked quite well in both the NBA and NFL in regard to competitive play and limiting true domination by a few elite franchises. With no salary cap, the MLB has seen its share of teams that do well every season, usually the large-market teams that have scads of money to spend on talent. The Philadelphia Phillies have been in the World Series the past two years in part because they are the biggest spenders in the NL. The biggest spenders in the AL, the New York Yankees, have won 27 championships. A team’s success should never depend on the amount of money they can spend, as this makes a game too predictable. In a perfect world, the MLB would have a salary cap.

Not enough teams get rewarded with a postseason berth after playing well during the regular season. In the current setup of the MLB playoffs, only four teams in each league can earn a postseason spot: the winner of each of the three divisions and a wild card team. Over the years, this has clearly proven to be an inaccurate way of determining a champion. A rule change should be particularly evident this season with so many tight division races so close to the start of the playoffs. The largest division lead is currently held by the Texas Rangers, who lead the AL West by eight games, but no other division lead is larger than six games. It looks as if several deserving teams will be left out of the postseason this year including the Red Sox, White Sox, Cardinals, and Giants. None of the aforementioned teams holds a division lead, but they all have very respectable records and could be a tough out in the postseason. The very least Commissioner Selig could do is to add one additional wild-card spot to each league and award the team with the best record within each league a first-round bye. In a perfect world, this would already be happening.

Allowing managers one challenge per game would ensure less blown calls. Jim Joyce’s erroneous call that cost the Tiger’s Armando Galarraga a perfect game this spring was one of the worst calls by an umpire in recent memory. The MLB should expand their use of instant replay anyway, but allowing each team’s manager one challenge per game should help fix umpire error. With only one challenge to burn, it would ensure that the managers would use them in important situations, much like NFL coaches do. Some calls will be missed; that’s just the nature of the game. However, the ones that get noticed and scrutinized are the big, important ones. That’s why, in a perfect world, each team’s manager would receive one challenge per contest.

Both the American League and the National League need to be equal in their rules. In no other major sport does there exist two leagues that play by different rules. In order to make everything equal, NL teams would need to institute a designated hitter into their everyday lineups. With this change, the rules could stay the same no matter what the venue is. The games would, in all likelihood, be more exciting and more runs would be scored. The NL has been the inferior league for quite some time, and this is likely due, at least in part, to their rejection of the use of a DH. In a perfect world, the NL would adopt the use a DH.

Leagues should be organized by location with appropriate division names. Many sports fans and media members have recently suggested a total realignment of MLB teams. This idea is enforced by the fact that, under the current rules, it is impossible for three teams in one division to qualify for the postseason. The three teams hinted at here are the AL East juggernauts: the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, and Boston Red Sox. These are all quality teams that will finish with 75-90 wins, but one of them will fail to make the postseason. In all likelihood, that team will be the Red Sox, and they would have a valid argument if they happen to finish with a better record than the Rangers or the Twins, who lead the AL West and AL Central, respectively. Another argument to realign the divisions is that it makes much more sense to have teams with similar locations to be in the same division. A better league alignment would look like the following:

AL Atlantic: New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Washington Nationals.

AL Central: Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, and Milwaukee Brewers.

AL West: Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Seattle Mariners.

NL East: Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, and Toronto Blue Jays.

NL Southeast: Tampa Bay Rays, Florida Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Royals, and St. Louis Cardinals.

NL Pacific: San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and Oakland Athletics.

In a perfect world, MLB divisions would look similar to the ones suggested above, and the top five teams from each league would earn a postseason berth whether they win their division or not.

Florida State’s Mike McGee—this past season’s John Olerud Award winner, which honors the nation’s best two-way player—put his expected Major League career on hold. The Port St. Lucie native turned down a chance to play for the Arizona Diamondbacks in order to return to Tallahassee for his senior season.

McGee was drafted in the 41st round by the Diamondbacks in June, but did not reach an agreement with the team by the mandatory deadline, which was just before midnight of Aug. 16.

In 2009-10, and for the second year in a row, McGee led the team in home runs and RBI. McGee cranked 17 home runs and drove in 73 RBI at the plate. When it came to taking the mound as the Seminoles’ closer, the right-hander shined as well compiling a 4-1 record with 13 saves and a 2.96 ERA. McGee registered 27.1 innings in 20 appearances, allowing nine earned runs while posting 33 strikeouts. McGee gave up just 15 hits on the season while holding opponents to a .160 batting average.

In his first and only start of the season on March 8 at Jacksonville, McGee no-hit the Dolphins over 6.0 innings. His 13 saves are the third-most in a single-season at Florida State.

In addition to winning the inaugural Olerud Award as the nation’s best pitcher/hitter in college baseball, McGee was named as a third-team All-American selection by the NCBWA.

“Of all the guys that it would have hurt the most to lose, he would have hurt the worst because he’s two guys for us,” Florida State pitching coach Jamey Shouppe said. “Obviously, we’re very excited that he’s coming back.”

McGee will get a chance to play alongside his brother Stephen, an FSU catcher, in 2011. The elder McGee will also anchor the clean-up spot and the heart of the Florida State lineup along with third baseman Sherman Johnson and first baseman Jayce Boyd.

Included in the MLB Draft festivities was Florida State signee Kaleb Cowart, a first-round pick of the Angels, who signed on the same Monday ahead of the deadline that McGee passed on.

Joining Cowart at the next level, the Seminoles lost All-American center fielder Tyler Holt, who signed a reported $500,000 contract with the Cleveland Indians the week prior to McGee making his decision. Holt, a 10th-round draft pick, hit .355 with 13 home runs and 26 doubles as a junior.

Coach Mike Martin said in June that second baseman Devon Travis, a former Palm Beach Central standout, would likely step in to the leadoff role if Holt signed.

On June 9, the junior left-handed pitcher, Serino was first pick in the 37th round of the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft by the Washington Nationals. On June 24, right-handed pitcher Leigh signed a contract with the Seattle Mariners.

“We’re happy for them,” UMass coach Mike Stone said. “They had good enough years and showed enough potential to be [signed]. It’s a great opportunity for them and hopefully they make the best of it.”

Serino, a 21-year-old from Saugus, Mass., is the latest of 75 Minutemen to be selected in the MLB draft and the first since Washington selected left-handed pitcher Mitchell Clegg in the 21st round in 2009.

Serino opted to forego his senior year at UMass to sign a minor league contract with the National’s’ affiliate team in the Rookie Gulf Coast League in Viera, Fl.

“If I went back to school, I could have gotten drafted higher or been a senior-sign,” Serino said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. I thought if I had a good year, I could get picked up.”

Serino posted a 2-6 record with a 6.72 earned run average in 11 starts this past spring and ranked 21st^stin the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (10.72). His 83 strikeouts rank ninth in the program’s history for a single season.

In his career at UMass, Serino threw in 39 games, including 26 starts, going 9-14 with a 5.67 ERA. He leaves sixth all-time in career strikeouts (189).

Serino pitched for the Lowell All-Americans of the New England Collegiate Baseball League during the summer of 2009 where he earned an all-star selection. His performance that season reaffirmed his confidence that he could take the leap to the professional level.

Serino’s decision became easier after a workout he had with Mike Albert, a scout for the Nationals organization, who helped Clegg get drafted last year.

“On paper, I didn’t have a great year,” Serino said. “About four or five days after the draft, I had a workout with the Nationals. After that, I started thinking ‘OK this might happen.’ I knew that I was going to be playing at the next level. I just didn’t know when that was.”

Serino is getting limited time with his new minor league club. In 10 games since joining the GCL Nationals, Serino is 1-2 with 16 strikeouts and a 2.93 ERA. He has pitched 15.1 innings in relief as the team makes room for rehabbing pitchers such as Scott Olsen and Chien-Ming Wang.

“It‘s really tough to get innings,” Serino said. “When a guy gets hurt in the minor leagues or the big leagues, they come down here to rehab. It’s crazy— I grew up playing with these guys in video games and now I’m standing next to them.”

Leigh, 22 years-old from Somerset, Mass., was passed over in the MLB draft and signed with Seattle as a free agent. On June 25, he was assigned to the Mariner’s’ affiliate team in Pulaski, Va., a member of the Appalachian League.

After transferring from Barry University as a sophomore in 2008, Leigh pitched in 39 games as a Minuteman, starting 19 of them. He holds a 9-14 record with a 4.63 ERA and 128 strikeouts. Leigh began his senior season going 0-4 before registering five-straight wins. He finished 6-5 with a 4.80 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 12 games.

His performance out of the Minutemen UMass bullpen and later as a starter made enough of an impression to garner the attention of Brian Nichols, the major league scout of the New England area for the Mariners’ organization. Once he got the offer to play, his decision was a quick one.

“I was shocked, excited and surprised at the same time,” Leigh said. “They told me they had a spot for me and I left the next day. It was either that or start looking for another job.”

Leigh is given limited time on the mound for the Pulaski Mariners. He currently has 13.1 innings pitched in eight relief appearances. Part of the reason for Leigh not getting out of the bullpen is because of his extensive time spent on the mound for UMass. He now has a 1-0 record with a 1.35 ERA and 14 strikeouts.

Over 30 former players have now made the move to the professional level in Stone’s 23-year tenure.

“UMass has always had the kind of baseball program that would have the kind of players that can play at the next level and we prepare them to play at the next level,” Stone said. “It is something that we promote when we recruit and it is something we are very proud of.”

Matulis has left for Central Florida to play for Terry Rooney, who recruited Matulis to Baton Rouge when he was an assistant coach for the Tigers from 2007-08.

“He was looking for a clean start,” Mainieri said. “With my blessing, he decided to transfer.”

The Lake Worth, Fla., native went 5-3 this season with a 5.33 ERA in 12 appearances on the mound.

Matulis underwent Tommy John surgery on his elbow earlier this summer.

“I don’t know if he established himself as a premier guy for us,” Mainieri said. “He felt by the time he comes back he might have a chance to make an impact.”

Mormann will transfer for Wichita State after only playing one season for LSU with a 5.97 ERA in 19 relief appearances.

“He came here for one year and wanted to improve his [draft] stock and then get drafted,” Mainieri said. “The year didn’t end up how he hoped. He thought maybe a change of scenery could help him.”

Mainieri said sophomore pitcher Jordan Rittiner had Tommy John surgery Monday.

The elbow reconstruction surgery typically takes at least a year of recovery before the pitcher can gain full form.

“He came home from summer ball and found out he had to repair the ligament,” Mainieri said.

Junior pitcher Joey Bourgeois had Tommy John surgery around the same time as Matulis.

Mainieri said the biggest impact of losing Matulis, Mormann, Bourgeois and Rittiner will be missing the experience and depth they give the pitching staff.

“All of them had good moments, and all of them had moments when they didn’t pitch that well,” Mainieri said.

LSU’s pitching staff could get a shot in the arm after Aug. 16, the deadline for players selected in the MLB draft to sign contracts.

The Tigers are waiting on would-be senior pitcher Anthony Ranaudo and incoming freshmen Zach Lee, Kevin Gausman and Ryan Eades.

Ranaudo was selected by the Boston Red Sox with the 39th pick.

“If Ranaudo comes back, that gives us much more experience,” Mainieri said.

Mainieri said the ace pitcher is seeking a large contract from the Red Sox.

Lee, Gausman and Eades were also picked in the draft and have until Monday to sign contracts.

Lee, a scholarship quarterback for the football team, said he has the intention of staying in Baton Rouge at football media day Tuesday.

“We’ll have a better idea on Tuesday,” Mainieri said about his pitching staff for next season. “You just never know.”

But hopes of Team USA winning its fourth straight FISU championship were dashed when Cuba’s Alfredo Despaigne hit a walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning of the gold-medal game.

USA Shortstop Drew Maggi of Arizona State, who was drafted in the 15th round this summer as a draft-eligible sophomore, broke a scoreless stalemate in the eighth inning with a solo homer after righty starter Gerrit Cole of UCLA threw seven shutout innings, showing why he’s thought to be a candidate to go in the top five picks of next year’s MLB draft. But the lead was short-lived, as Despaigne hit the first of his two homers, matching Maggi with a solo shot of his own in the ninth inning, forcing the game into extras.

The remainder of the game was played using the International Baseball Federation’s tie-break rule, which puts runners on first and second to begin each half inning starting in the 10th. USA took advantage of the added baserunners, scoring them both with RBI-hits from outfielder George Springer of Connecticut and infielder Nick Ramirez of Cal State Fullerton. However, Ramirez, who was then called on to pitch, was unable to close the door on Cuba in the bottom of the inning. Ramirez got the first batter of the inning to harmlessly fly out, but surrendered the game-winning homer two pitches later.

As two of the superpowers of the world baseball scene, it was no surprise that USA and Cuba went down to the wire.

“They have 5-6 guys who were in the World Baseball Classic,” Kinneberg said, who also serves as head coach of Utah’s baseball team. “They’re just a different type of athlete than what we are seeing in everyone else — they are a professional baseball team.”
Despite earning just a silver medal, Team USA made a strong showing on the world stage. With a roster chock-full of premium talent that will help make next year’s MLB draft one of the richest in recent memory. The team went 5-1 in the FISU event and 16-3 overall for the summer.

Standouts included righthander Sonny Gray of Vanderbilt, who finished 3-0 with a 0.38 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 24 innings, which solidifies his stock as a first-rounder next year. Infielder Brad Miller of Clemson was a pleasant surprise for Team USA. He was added to the squad only after an injury to Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon, who will likely be next year’s top overall pick. But in 14 games, Miller hit a team-high .441 with four doubles and a homer.

In addition to the experience of managing the supremely talented USA roster, Kinneberg took time to experience Tokyo, Japan, which hosted the FISU event.

“Toyko’s a neat city,” Kinneberg said before the quarterfinals. “The people are very friendly and it’s easy to get around. The food has been great here. We haven’t had a whole lot of time… Toyko’s a beautiful city, but we haven’t experienced a lot other than baseball.”

Currently, U. Nebraska-Omaha sophomore pitcher Joe Holtmeyer is sporting a 1-3 record with a 3.18 ERA and 37 strikeouts.

His strikeouts put him at the top of the league in that statistic for this summer.

“I want to have the most strike outs in the league and have a very low ERA by the time the league is over,” Holtmeyer said.

It looks as if he is doing just that. This summer the Division II All-American joined the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League. The league is one of the most prominent summer baseball leagues for college players.

In 2004, one out of every 7 players in the CCBL went on to play Major League Baseball. MLB stars such as San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum and Tampa Bay’s first baseman Carlos Pena are among the Mariner’s former players.

Holtmeyer is the only Division II player on the Harwich Mariners roster. He enjoys coming from a smaller school.

“It makes it fun to do well against bigger school guys when they’ve never heard of my school,” he said.

UNO baseball coach, Bob Herold, seems to have only good things to say about his star pitcher. Herold, who recommended Holtmeyer should be in a league where he could be successful, was confident in Holtmeyer’s abilities to play in the CCBL.

Herold has enjoyed being able to watch Holtmeyer progress as a player this summer, and that is exactly what Joe has been doing. His best starts with the Harwich Mariners have come toward the end of the season.

As for the spring, Coach Herold will be putting Holtmeyer on the mound as his ace pitcher, looking for momentum in the first game of a series.

It seems that both player and coach are looking forward to continued success once the season rolls around in 2011.

“He came to help [UNO], and he has, and we will continue to help him,” said Herald.

Playing in such a prestigious league with its high recognition, players are more likely to be drafted into MLB.

That is one thing Holtmeyer is not too worried about right now.

“I really don’t worry about being drafted right now,” he said. “I’m having fun playing college baseball and worrying about getting drafted would take the fun out of playing ball.”

Most of all, Holtmeyer just likes the fact that he is stacking himself up against some of the best players from major Division I schools. Though he is focused on the here and now, his work ethic may lead to future professional success.

Holtmeyer spends most of his time in New England training day in and day out. He always gets a three-mile run in before he shows up to the field, and follows that with long sprints and agility exercises to further improve.

While baseball is the focus of his time in New England, the Creighton Prep alum also finds time to enjoy the New England culture and scenery, rising each morning to a picturesque view of the ocean.

Given he’s a player, Holtmeyer still relishes the opportunity to be a fan, talking baseball with anyone at anytime, and watching the Red Sox play on every TV in restaurants.

Though this summer has been an experience he will never forget, Holtmeyer’s heart will always be in Omaha.

“I love Omaha. After ball is over, I will be getting home as quick as I can,” Holtmeyer said.

The Mark Cuban we’ve all gotten to know since he purchased the Dallas Mavericks in 2000 should have been ready for any amount of money, wielding his checkbook like Excalibur in battle.

And for a moment Wednesday, when the team of Cuban and Jim Crane were up $25 million over Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan, it looked like all that was left to make it official inside a Fort Worth courthouse was the pounding of a gavel.

Dropping F-bombs like comedian Dane Cook, the lawyers screaming in the hallway outside the courtroom should have indicated that the day wouldn’t end well for Rangers fans while also solidifying Cuban’s first job to fight as hard as he could to keep Ryan around the ballpark.

But sometime around 11:45 p.m., when Cuban had seemingly amassed a pile of money that Greenburg and Ryan couldn’t surpass, something happened away from the auction in Seattle that changed the momentum. Call it a sign, an omen or a second chance. More than 2,100 miles away, the Rangers won a battle of their own.

Down 2-0 and 4-2 in the game, the boys from Arlington wrapped up an 11-6 win over the Mariners thanks to a fifth-inning three-run blast from David Murphy and a grand slam from Michael Young.

Just like that, Young and his team went from celebrating another win — increasing their division lead to eight games over the Oakland Athletics — to celebrating one of the biggest front-office decisions in the history of the Texas Rangers.

“Nolan Ryan gives anything he is associated with instant credibility,” Young told The Dallas Morning News. “We definitely appreciate what it means to be associated with him.”

For a while the score increased with the bidding. The game went from 2-0 to 4-2 as the bids went from $335 million to $355 million before Ryan-Greenberg slammed the door shut with their $385 million bid.

At 12:45 a.m. CST, it was over.

No matter how you look at it, Greenberg and Ryan’s courtroom victory is good for the Rangers and even for Cuban himself.

I’m not saying that Cuban owning the Rangers would have been a bad thing — far from it. In fact, I’m sure he would have done a fabulous job as an owner.

His energy and passion for franchises and players is something the Rangers have needed for many years now. There is no doubt we would have seen Cuban screaming at umpires or hanging with fans in the center-field bleachers and the “Home Run Porch,” but his presence is overshadowed by “The Strikeout King.”

Cuban can’t match the greatness of Ryan’s performance on Aug. 4, 1993 — 17 years ago to the day of Wednesday’s auction — when Ryan sidestepped Robin Ventura as he charged the mound before corralling him into a headlock and landing five or six solid punches.

Cuban isn’t more imposing than Ryan’s presence in the bullpen with the starting pitchers during the offseason, demanding they throw deeper into games. I can guarantee one of the biggest reasons the Rangers signed Cliff Lee back in July was because of “The Ryan Express.”

“We just want the best group to represent us,” Murphy said after Wednesday’s win. “And how could you not want a group that had Nolan Ryan in it?”

I can’t see why you wouldn’t. If Cuban had won Thursday morning, he would have done everything in his power to keep Ryan working for him, but Ryan had been in that position before working under Tom Hicks. It would have lasted a couple years, maybe.

As for Cuban, he has more important things to worry about in Dallas, such as his continually underperforming basketball team that can’t advance into the playoffs and beat the Lakers, Suns or Spurs — the same team that’s losing close to $20 million a season, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Losing this bidding war saved Cuban a lot of money and a lot of ridicule from a Texas Rangers fan base he could only win over with a World Series title within the next two seasons. It would be like Cuban trying to buy the Yankees from Mickey Mantle or Joe DiMaggio.

Unlike his purchase of the Mavericks, Cuban was standing in the way of a Rangers icon — everyone’s favorite Ranger and everyone’s favorite pitcher.

Just ask Robin Ventura how that feels.

During the steroid era there were inflated hitters leading to inflated batting statistics, but in 2010 the pitchers have finally regained some form of power in the league. With the remarkable pitching statistics one would notice the complete pitching renaissance and in turn the Year of the Pitcher II.

The original Year of the Pitcher occurred in 1968 when a slew of legendary pitchers controlled the league. The St. Louis Cardinals hurler Bob Gibson posted a 1.12 ERA (still a record for lowest ERA in a season), Louis Tiant led the American League with a 1.60 ERA, Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers had a streak of 58 straight scoreless innings, the soon to be World Champion Detroit Tiger’s gregarious ace Denny McClain had an unbelievable 31 wins in a season (a record) and San Francisco Giants legend Juan Marichal had 30 complete games completely unprecedented in today’s baseball with the usage of bullpens.

In 1968, the highest batting average in the American League by the end of the year was .301 by Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox. The battle between pitcher and hitter was so uneven by the end of the year disgruntled owners demanded a change. In turn, the league lowered the mound from 15 inches to 10 inches and shrank the strike zone.

However, this year’s pitchers look like they’re returning to their roots, pitching like old school pitchers and recording old school like statistics.

The 2010 season has been so unique because of the plethora of pitchers that have been pitching well. For instance, Josh Johnson of the Florida Marlins leads the league with a 1.62 ERA and Ubaldo Jiminez controlled most of the first half of the season by winning his first 13 of 14 games for the Colorado Rockies. Both pitchers play for teams that are notorious for not giving great run support, especially Jiminez playing in Colorado where balls fly off the bat due to the high altitude, but the two pitchers have been lights out.

Over the past six years there has been a steady decline in team batting averages through July, showing a strengthening of pitching. So far this year there have been four no hitters, two of them being perfect games, and if it wasn’t for Jim Joyce (the umpire that ruined Armado Gallaraga’s perfect game) there would be a third perfect game.

Since 2004 there have only been nine no hitters with only two of them being perfect games. The thing that is so intriguing about the pitchers that threw the no hitters is the diversity of them. It’s pitchers like Dallas Braden, Edwin Jackson and should have been Armando Gallaraga – pitchers that up until this year were not heard of or seen as simply mediocre pitchers. Pitchers such as Roy Halladay, C.C. Sabathia, and Johan Santana are still having great seasons (Halladay having thrown a perfect game) but they are not the only great pitchers in the league as they have been for years.

High profile young pitchers are also beginning to come into their own, pitchers such as David Price who was the 2007 No. 1 pick for the Tampa Bay Rays and for the first time this year has been a regular in the Rays starting rotation and in doing so has 12 wins with a 2.84 ERA and started for the American League in the All-Star Game. Phil Hughes has been the New York Yankees top prospect since they drafted him in 2004 but up until this year has failed to meet the high expectations the Yankees had for him. This year however, Hughes has already pitched in more innings than any other year in his career and has 11 wins.

It will be interesting to see if this year is a start of a trend towards the resurgence of pitchers in the Major Leagues especially with guys like Stephen Strasburg, Mike Leake and Jaime Garcia who have only really been in the league for one year and have already made batters look like Pedro Cerrano trying to hit a curveball. Will batters find a way to crack these pitchers? Or will this be the Decade of the Pitcher?

After 25 outs, Cleveland Indians shortstop Felix Fermin had just unloaded a bullet to deep centerfield — vying to end Yankee pitcher Jim Abbott’s shot at destiny.

This storybook event was over.

But New York centerfielder Bernie Williams had a different idea. He streaked across the outfield, chasing after the fly ball, and reached out to nab it as he crossed onto the warning track some 390 feet from home plate.

The crowd of 27,125 was no longer on the edge of its blue plastic seats — New York City was on its feet.

The Yankees’ veteran announcer Al Trautwig was watching Abbott — the most unlikely of heroes — making history in the Bronx, the Mecca of modern-day baseball.

Two outs in the ninth, as Bernie Williams tracked it down in left-centerfield. With this catch the fans are on their feet. Jim Abbott has a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth!

Abbott tugged on his cap and turned toward home plate to face his final Cleveland Indians batter, second baseman Carlos Baerga. After a first-pitch strike, he aimed a slider low and away from the left-handed hitter.

From that point, Trautwig’s voice, booming through televisions across the nation, told the rest of the story.

And a ground ball to short, Velarde. He did it! He did it! No-hitter for Jim Abbott! Jim Abbott throws a no-hitter and shuts out the Indians four to nothing. Mobbed by his teammates …

The Yankee faithful exploded.

Abbott stood on the mound with his arms raised high and throngs of his pinstriped teammates surrounded him. Catcher Matt Nokes gave his battery-mate a big hug.

That moment, becoming the eighth player in Yankee history to pitch a no-hitter, was the apex of Abbott’s trek to the major leagues during his 10-year career.

This historic moment had come directly on the heels of a horrendous outing only five days earlier against this same Cleveland ball club, pounding Abbott for seven runs on 10 hits in only 3.2 innings.

On this day, though, September 4, 1993, the New York lefty had dominated a lineup stocked with the likes of Baerga, Kenny Lofton, Albert Belle, and highly-touted rookie Manny Ramirez.

Overcoming adversity was a common theme in the life of Jim Abbott: just when everyone told him he couldn’t achieve a feat, Abbott accomplished it, and did it to near perfection.

But to adequately understand this man’s story, it’s best to revert back to the roots of Jim Abbott’s story.

**

Abbott’s journey to perform on baseball’s biggest stage started rather normally, standing in the front yard with a ball, a glove and a dedicated father.

However, there was one glaring distinction between this kid and most other boys trying their luck at America’s favorite pastime.

Mike Abbott had a unique handicap to overcome while teaching his son to play catch: Jim was born with a normal left hand like most children, but lacked a right hand.

At the age of four, he received a prosthetic hook to compensate for his missing hand, but within weeks the toddler had ditched that option, rather satisfied with his one good arm.

No one ever expected this kid to ever step on a baseball diamond.

No one, that is, except this father and son.

An unprecedented dual-sport threat

Mike, an Anheuser-Busch salesman, and his wife Kathy, a local attorney, were determined to downplay his disability and give their son every chance to integrate normally into their community in Flint.

The pair went out and purchased a typical right-handed baseball mitt, and Mike set his plan into action.

Finding the perfect transition from throwing to catching didn’t come without taking a few baseballs to the face, but eventually he grew accustomed to his distinctive fielding routine.

His windup began with the glove resting on the right forearm, and as Abbott released the ball with the left hand, he would slip it into the mitt to assume his regular fielding position. Once he had fielded a batted ball, Abbott would tuck the glove under his right arm and extract the ball with his left hand to complete the play.

He would spend hours practicing this routine at home by bouncing a ball off a brick wall, making the switch, fielding and throwing again.

With time this transition became seamless.

Abbott was not only an adequate fielder — he was exceptional.

As a local legend goes, a Little League coach once tried to exploit the lefty’s handicap by having eight consecutive batters lay down bunts. The first one reached — Abbott threw out the last seven.

“The intent was clear, but that’s the way things are,” Abbott said, laughing at the distant memory. “I suppose everyone, one-handed or two-handed, comes across those points in life where they have to prove themselves. I guess it was almost a tribute to the kind of pitcher I was.”

Although some people tried to deter Abbott from playing baseball in any organized league, fearing his potential inability to handle a comeback line drive to the pitcher’s mound, by the time he reached high school, playing baseball was second nature.

Entering his final year at Flint Central High School, Abbott wasn’t solely focused on baseball, though. He also had picked up a back-up quarterback position on the football team, and after academic ineligibility hounded the starter, Abbott got the nod.

After taking his first serious look at a football only the year before, Abbott had a few things to consider.

“Our head coach, quarterbacks coach, and defensive coordinator were all under center trying to figure out how I could take a snap,” Abbott said. “It was that kind of generosity that surrounded me and gave me a chance. The ability to adjust was a big key in my growing up.”

How did the football experiment turn out?

Abbott carried the Indians to the semifinals of the Michigan state championships, tossing four touchdowns in a 26-20 victory over Midland in one of his playoff starts.

However, baseball remained his primary concern, and he again failed to disappoint.

Taking baseball to the next level

Abbott’s senior season at Flint Central offered a remarkable stat-line: a 10-3 record, four no-hitters, a 0.76 earned run average, 148 strikeouts and scattering just 16 hits in 73 innings.

But not only was he a threat on the mound, Abbott’s hitting was reminiscent of St. Louis Browns’ one-armed hitter Pete Gray, as he also hit .427 with seven home runs.

As the graduation and the summer of 1985 neared, Abbott had two goals he was determined to accomplish.

First and foremost, he wanted to reach his ultimate dream of reaching the Major Leagues as a pitcher, but that desire still seemed far from a reality.

Also, Abbott had cultivated a lifelong aspiration to attend the University of Michigan. After being recruited heavily by Michigan coach Bud Middaugh, Abbott had his mind set on heading to Ann Arbor that fall.

“I loved Michigan from the time I was a kid,” Abbott said. “I was recruited by a few teams in the Midwest, but when Michigan entered the fray, and after I took that recruiting trip to Ann Arbor, it was pretty much all over.”

After discovering the talented pitcher in a Connie Mack Summer League before Abbott’s junior season, Middaugh was quickly impressed. But throughout the recruiting process, there was doubt that Abbott could survive in collegiate baseball.

Middaugh quieted those skeptics by saying that the upside he saw in the pitching performance outweighed any possible physical handicap.

“When you’re in Michigan you are going to be recruiting supposedly the best talent around, in my opinion, and those people should all be coming to the University of Michigan,” Middaugh said. “I never looked at (his situation) as a handicap. I would never recruit a kid I had doubts in.

“When you first recruit a pitcher, the main question is, ‘Will he be good enough to be in your starting rotation?’ I without hesitation said he would be ready as a freshman.”

And just a few days after his high school graduation, the Toronto Blue Jays drafted Abbott in the 36th round of the MLB Draft — a move that many viewed as a backhanded compliment.

The 18-year-old pitcher had a decision to make: attend the college at Michigan, or head to nearby Toronto and attempt to make the ball club.

“As a coach, you’re always trying to sell Michigan,” Middaugh said. “Being drafted that low, you have to wonder if the one-handed thing played into it, just as a publicity thing, but you never know. I think he was deserving to be a much higher pick. I kept talking to him and hoped that he’d make the right decision which I thought was coming to school, whether it was Michigan or not.”

After a few weeks of discussion with Middaugh, his parents and the Blue Jays organization, Abbott decided to capitalize on his opportunity to become a Wolverine — his journey to the big leagues would first have to wind through Ann Arbor.

“I went back-and-forth a little bit, but I wanted to go to Michigan, that was my dream,” Abbott said. “To have professional baseball as an opportunity was very cool and exciting for a small window of time that summer, but … I was more flirting with the idea of playing professional baseball at that point. I was very flattered by the attention, and I think the Blue Jays made a serious approach, but both maturity-wise and physically, I needed to go to school.”

Welcome to Ann Arbor

Only months later, Abbott stood in the outfield at Ray Fisher Stadium, shagging fly balls during batting practice.

The lanky freshman looked at the players around him, faces that he’d never imagined he’d play alongside, and then he looked back to the fence behind him — the wall that would later carry a large emblem reading ‘Abbott 31’ in his honor.

He was in awe.

“It really was just a dream come true,” Abbott said of his arrival at Michigan. “I know it sounds really corny, but it really was true in my case. I really thought that if I didn’t play baseball beyond the University of Michigan, I still would’ve been very proud of my accomplishments.”

Not only was the opportunity surreal, but Abbott also feels that he couldn’t have been matched up with a better group of teammates at Michigan.

“The class of seniors when I was a freshman was a tremendous class of guys,” Abbott said. “Casey Close, Scott Kamieniecki, — guys who really took me under their wing and were just phenomenal.”

He forged a special bond with Kamieniecki in quick fashion. The pair roomed together on road trips during the 1986 season, and eight years later they would reunite to headline the Yankees’ pitching staff.

In Ann Arbor, every player and follower was a fan of the talented left-hander purely based on his performance on the field, but he still had to gain his respect around the league.

Abbott had to prove his fielding competence even at the collegiate level — Middaugh was aware of that, so he did everything he could to help the freshman out, including dressing him up with full protective padding.

“We put Jim in hockey equipment and hit balls right back at him so that he’d be prepared and wouldn’t hurt himself in a game,” Middaugh said. “Being a great athlete like he was, he adapted really well. But we also brought the corners in — the third baseman and first baseman — to try and discourage people from bunting, but even if they did Jim could adequately field it.”

In a game against North Carolina, Michigan’s skipper called on Abbott to shut down a feisty Tar Heels squad in a tie ballgame, but it wasn’t his pitching that was put to the test.

Inheriting a two-out situation with a runner on third, the Wolverine freshman hardly broke a sweat while getting out of the jam.

After his first pitch, the catcher lobbed the baseball back to the mound. Suddenly, chaos consumed the playing field.

Just as the catcher released the ball, North Carolina coach Mike Roberts sent his runner on a mad dash to home plate, certain that Abbott wouldn’t be able to make the catch, transition, and throw in time to keep the run from scoring.

But once again, Abbott did it.

He easily cut down the runner sliding into home, ending the inning. Michigan scored in the next inning, earning Abbott his well-deserved first collegiate victory.

Abbott finished his first year with a 6-2 record, including earning a late victory to clinch the Big Ten title.

After his sophomore campaign ended with continued success, namely a 9-3 season on the slab, word of Michigan’s unique talent had not only gotten out — Jim Abbott’s name was now a buzzword in the sports realms.

He was given the Golden Spikes Award in 1987, a token honoring one amateur baseball player who exhibits tremendous athletic prowess.

The 20-year-old junior was genuinely flattered by the attention, but he had another goal in mind. He aimed to carry his Wolverines to the College World Series that next season.

“It was a nice honor,” Abbott said. “To receive that kind of award is special, and to represent Michigan — a northern school, not necessarily known as a baseball school — that’s something pretty cool.”

But on March 7, 1988, his baseball season was interrupted by another nomination. This time it was for the James E. Sullivan Award, a yearly recognition of the nation’s top amateur athlete.

He didn’t have a chance to win this one, he thought.

No baseball player had ever won, and no team-sport athlete had won since basketball great Bill Walton in 1973. But Abbott, amidst the chiding of teammates, took the trip alongside his parents to Indianapolis for the banquet where a winner would be announced.

“I went, but it really was a lark though,” Abbott said. “I was honored to be nominated for the award, but while I enjoyed the ceremony I really felt like a throw-in.“

The Sullivan Award committee stunned everyone by selecting Abbott over a field that included eventual NBA superstar David Robinson among others.

To this day, Abbott remains the sole baseball player with a Sullivan Award to his credit in the 80-year history of the award.

“When they announced my name I was shocked, I couldn’t believe it,” Abbott said. “I was proud of that. It’s a very significant award, and you appreciate it more and more as the years go on.”

Once back in Ann Arbor, the medals and honors didn’t stop piling up, as Abbott was given the Jesse Owens Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year award.

Frankly, he was running out of room and patience; his real desire was to get out of his formal-wear, don his white uniform, tie up his black Nikes and return to the mound.

When the No. 31 came back onto the rubber, its presence was feared. Abbott finished up his junior year with a superb 11-3 win-loss differential and led Michigan to another Big Ten title.

His dream to take the Wolverines to college baseball’s biggest stage — Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska and the College World Series — ended prematurely, but the pitcher had much else to look forward to as the MLB Draft Day approached.

With a composite 26-8 record at Michigan, along with his 3.03 ERA, he was at the top of most draft boards, yet some still worried that his handicap would hinder him at the sport’s highest level.

But the California Angels didn’t flinch, selecting Abbott with the eighth overall pick of the 1988 amateur draft — a full 35 rounds earlier than Toronto’s bid in 1985.

Abbott had no doubt about whether or not he was prepared for the bright lights of the Big Leagues, and the decision to forgo his senior season didn’t faze the young man.

The decision was clear: hello California, good-bye Ann Arbor.

“It was time for me professionally to try baseball,” Abbott said. “I had competed at the top levels of amateur baseball, and there comes a time where it is just right to go.

“To play with some of the players I played with, played under coach Middaugh, it’s something that I’ve carried with me for my entire life. The proudest aspects of my life, to be honest, are to have gone to the University of Michigan and to have played baseball there.”

Finding worldwide recognition

As his college career wrapped up, Abbott received an offer to take his pitching to a much larger venue: the 1988 Summer Olympic Games.

He had led the US National team to a silver medal in the Pan-American Games a year prior — becoming the first American pitcher to garner a win on Cuban soil in a quarter of a century.

The American players had been treated like celebrities in the charged environment and none more so than Abbott.

“At that point, none of their players were allowed to leave Cuba to play in the Major Leagues, so that put a lot of intrigue into the series,” Abbott said. “Fidel Castro came to the game the first night, we had a chance to shake his hand. It was kind of a strange feeling.”

When he got his Olympic nod, Abbott never balked at the opportunity.

In the Olympic opening ceremonies, Abbott was asked to lead the American athletes by representing his nation as the flagbearer.

Nothing looked any different when he stepped onto the field in Seoul, South Korea — his left arm was just as lights-out as ever. In the gold medal game, coach Mark Marquess slated Abbott to face the Japanese National team.

Nine innings later, Abbott had done it again. After a slow grounder to Robin Ventura at third, a toss across the diamond sealed a 5-3 victory and ended Japan’s threat, Abbott jumped up and down on the mound in pure elation.

“To be out there on the field, to be able to pitch that game, you know I can’t even think about it,” Abbott said, reflecting on his complete game, seven-hitter. “It was just a game for me back then, but now I think about the real importance of it. That was the best team experience I ever had in the game of baseball, and it was just unsurpassed.”

Moving on to the Majors

When he reported to spring training in March of 1989, Abbott wasn’t expected to make the Angels’ Major League squad for at least a few years.

But the Angels took no time in turning their newest acquisition into a true member of the California Angels pitching staff.

Abbott was given his own slot in the California rotation — only the fifteenth player in history to make his professional debut at the major leagues, bypassing the minor leagues altogether.

The first start against the Seattle Mariners wasn’t pretty, as Abbott got roughed up for six runs, three earned, in 4.2 innings, but Angel fans still rose to their feet to offer a standing ovation as he walked off of the mound and into the dugout.

True to form, Abbott shut down his doubters the next chance he got.

He ultimately finished out his rookie season with a 12-12 record and an ERA of 3.92.

As he reflects on his improbable placement in the majors, as well as his whirlwind trip across the country in a year’s time, Abbott tries to maintain perspective.

“It’s hard to describe just how fast things were happening at that time in my life,” Abbott said. “I was just doing what I loved to do in pitching. It’s hard to imagine that all my friends were still back in Ann Arbor going to classes and I was playing in the Major Leagues.”

Taking on bright lights and booming bats

Later in his debut season, the Angels traveled to Michigan to take on the floundering Detroit Tigers.

Abbott had been to countless games at Tiger Stadium, taking in the festivities at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull, but he never imagined he’d actually take the field there one day.

In the second game of a three-game series, Abbott was handed the ball. He stood on the mound, looked around at all the familiar sights, hometown faces and set to work.

He had watched these same Tigers players perform for years, and now he was standing just 90 feet away.

After pitching seven innings of three-run ball, Abbott picked up his sixth victory of the season, and the crowd couldn’t have been happier for the hometown hero.

“Coming to Tiger Stadium for the first time was something really special,” Abbott said. “Some of my college teammates and coaches came. It was pretty crazy to be 21 years old and have all those things happening so quickly.”

His former coach couldn’t help but reminisce.

“Sitting there and watching him play just brought back memories of him coming in as a freshman, adapting to the academics, and going on the field and competing,” Middaugh said. “All of the sudden, he was now pitching on a big league club, so it was just a fascinating thing for me to see.”

Within the next two years, he had transformed from a greenhorn lefty into a Cy Young-contending pitcher, as his 18-11 record, alongside a 2.89 ERA, earned him third place in the voting for the league’s top pitcher.

Given another two years, Abbott had grown into a true veteran, and a trade to the Yankees had given him a new home, one laden with history and tradition.

That relocation set him up for the greatest game of his career, September 4, 1993, when the eyes of the nation watched Jim Abbott, the one-armed pitcher, no-hit the Cleveland Indians.

Abbott still struggles to describe his emotions as he saw the ninth inning close.

“Elation,” Abbott said, trailing off. “Just to make the pitch and see that grounder. The tension had been building all game, and to see that final out and the celebration, it was just unbelievable.”

But his career was by no means a cakewalk. Thanks to playing on a few lowly teams, the lifetime 87-109 record won’t earn him a spot into the Cooperstown, N.Y. — nor will his 2-18 record and 7.48 ERA in 1996, his final full season. Yet, coming from the most humble of roots, Abbott is thrilled with what his career afforded him.

In all sincerity, Abbott will only admit one regret, and that is to have never known championship baseball.

“I was disappointed that I never played in the playoffs,” Abbott said. “I would have loved to have known that level of excitement and the atmosphere.”

Returning to Ann Arbor

Prior to a game against Michigan State on April 18, 2009, Abbott once again found himself on the field at Ray Fisher Stadium, but this time he wasn’t in uniform.

His jersey was there, but it was in a glass frame.

Standing alongside his wife and two young daughters, Abbott shook the hand of current Michigan coach Rich Maloney and looked around the place one more time. His former number had been placed up on the outfield wall, surrounded by the names of four other Wolverine greats: Moby Benedict, Bill Freehan, Don Lund, and Ray Fisher.

“Having my number retired was one of the real highlights of my career,” Abbott said. “I can’t really describe how much it meant to go to school there and have that opportunity, but to think that my number sits on the outfield there is truly mind-blowing to me. I’m as proud of that as anything.”

He stood at the pitcher’s mound with a microphone and spoke to the crowd for a few minutes, thanking family, old teammates and former coaches.

One of the highlights for the honoree was that Middaugh attended the ceremony, paying tribute to his former standout pitcher.

Greeting his mentor and coach brought back a wave of emotions and memories.

“Coach Middaugh gave me a great opportunity, believing in a kid from Flint Central,” Abbott said. “I didn’t come from a baseball hotbed by any means, and he gave me a chance to pitch as a freshman. It meant a lot to me that he came back to the jersey retirement ceremony.”

After the formalities had ceased, Abbott took his final step onto the rubber and delivered the ceremonial first pitch of the game.

**

Today, Jim Abbott strolls across the stage — no longer dressed in California’s gray and red, nor is he donning the infamous pinstripes synonymous with Yankee baseball.

This time he is dressed in a black ensemble: suit pants, a blazer and polished black shoes.

The Nikes are gone. The cap is gone and much of his hair is gone. But some things haven’t left this man: his smile and general aura of contentment.

The stage has become his second home; he looks just as comfortable there as he did pacing the mounds across the majors. Sure, this auditorium has none of the prestige that old Yankee Stadium carried, but no one seems to mind.

Abbott is beaming, sharing his stories — he has tons of them. He talks about the no-hitter, playing football and memories of teammates.

The well-dressed speaker tells of triumphs, of tragedies and of perseverance, but in all he speaks of satisfaction.

He laughs. The audience laughs. The former ballplayer speaks with the wisdom of an elder, but still looks comfortable in his 42-year-old frame.

He invites a man from the crowd to join him on stage; the pair tosses a baseball back and forth as Abbott describes how he learned to play the sport he loves.

This too is home.

Abbott’s new title refers to him as a motivational speaker, but he likes to shy away from that label.

“I know there is something of a slick connotation that goes along with motivational speaking,” Abbott said. “But I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after baseball. As well-rounded as you hope to be after going to the University of Michigan, my eggs were all in one basket — I wanted to be a baseball player — and when you’re done all of a sudden you don’t know what to do. So motivational speaking was just an opportunity for me to get out there and tell my story to help others.”

Now residing in Southern California with his family, Abbott has taken to doing everything he can to aid others with similar disabilities.

Abbott never considered himself to be a handicapped, and now he is encouraging others to find a new outlook for their adversities.

In the last few weeks, he has been in contact with a one-handed softball player from Grand Rapids, as well as a doctor in Aruba who is coaching a young boy who was born without a hand.

“I believe that the challenges that we face in life can make us better,” Abbott said. “I’m not saying that they’re easy, and struggle is painful … but if lacking a right hand pushed me in any way, then I have to say I’m thankful for that.”

And after a lifetime of being tested and tried, Abbott has proven that his physical limitations mean nothing — he dreamed a dream that countless young boys dream, and he didn’t need two hands to achieve it.

He is an inspiration to those near and far, and not only because of his handicap, his Michigan roots, his success, or his no-hitter. Jim Abbott became one of the most memorable ballplayers to ever play the game.

To use Trautwig’s words, in anything and everything, he did it.

The mentor stands six-foot-one, is right-handed and played primarily third base.

The pupil, though two inches taller, is right-handed and has also spent most of his recent time playing the hot corner.

The mentor was drafted in the 20th round of the 1987 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft out of Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore.

The pupil was selected in the 34th round of this past June’s draft out of the same Division III institution.

The mentor had a successful professional baseball career, winning three World Series Championships in his 11 major league seasons.

The pupil has played a mere 32 professional games, but has already experienced his fare share of early success.

However, the biggest thing former World Series MVP Scott Brosius and current State College Spikes infielder Kelson Brown have in common is their passion for America’s greatest pastime. At least according to them.

“He has a real passion to play,” Brosius said of his understudy. “He’s very competitive. All the years that I played, there was never a game that I didn’t look forward to and he’s the same way. He loves to be on the field.”

Brown agreed with the comparison.

“Same fire to succeed,” Brown said of the 1998 World Series MVP. “Same passion for the game. And we both were kind of raw when we first got there and we both worked hard.”

Brown, 22, and Brosius, 43, have known each other for more than four years now, as the former Oakland Athletic and New York Yankee was Brown’s coach at Linfield. Brosius, who was named head coach in 2007 after being an assistant for five years, has remained a mentor to the aspiring major leaguer even after Brown graduated in the spring.

“We went through a lot — four years there,” Brown said. “He’s a great guy. He’s so humble. He cares so much for his players. He’s one of the reasons why I’m here. He was always pushing me.”

When the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Brown in June, it made him the first player since Brian Barnett in 1997 to be drafted from Linfield.

“I was just thrilled,” said Brosius, who was the 2010 Northwest Conference Coach of the Year. “I was pumped for him. This is something he’s worked so hard for. He’s been a very dedicated worker and has a true passion to play and loves to be on the field.”

Brown, a native of La Canada, Calif., has had a solid start to his professional baseball career with the Spikes, the Pirates’ short-season Class A affiliate. He is tied for second on the team with 35 hits and is tied for third with 18 RBI. Many of his hits he has served to the opposite way in right field, a skill he learned from Brosius.

After Brown, who played shortstop in college, managed only one hit in 13 at-bats his freshman and sophomore seasons combined, Brosius helped the rising junior alter his approach from the batter’s box.

Brosius said when players reach the collegiate level, he included, one of the biggest things they have to learn is to stay inside the ball and drive it to the opposite field. Brosius had Brown work on this, and he hit .370 in 18 games during his junior campaign. He continued to work, and in his senior year compiled a .443 average with a school record-89 hits and 72 RBI, starting in all 50 games.

“At the [Division III] level you get a lot of pitchers with not a lot of velocity so they throw away a lot,” said Brown, who was the 2010 Northwest Conference Player of the Year. “In order to be successful you have to learn how to hit the ball the other way and let the ball travel. We worked on it so much and it’s paid off.”

Brown attributes a lot of success to Brosius’ coaching. The Spike referenced a series his senior year at Linfield when his swing was feeling good and he recalled having ten hits in a four-game span. That didn’t stop Brosius from continuing to push his pupil.

“The next day he comes up to me and he says ‘You know what. Were going to work something on hitting because I noticed something,’ ” Brown recalled with a smile. “And I was like ‘Are you kidding me? I just had ten hits.’ But that was him. He realized that I could be more, and pushed me and I’m thankful for that.”

Brosius and Brown have kept in touch even though Brown is busy with the Spikes, playing in all but four of State College’s 36 games thus far.

The mentor hopes to continue being just that.

“The biggest thing is there are a lot of things in baseball that are out of your control,” Brosius said. “Decisions, for example, about who moves up or who moves down, those are ultimately not in our control. I think the biggest thing I talk about is you just need to stay focused on yourself and doing the things that you need to do and let those other things take care of itself. It’s a great experience, obviously, playing in the minor leagues. I loved it.”

The pupil counts on continuing to pick his mentor’s brain throughout his minor league career, which he hopes results in an eventual call-up to the major leagues.

“He’s going to be a guy that’s going to be there for me my entire career,” Brown said. “I plan on going back to Oregon and visiting and helping out around the school and field. We’re going to keep in touch.”

Osprey pitcher Clayton Schulz is currently in recovery at Shands Jacksonville hospital. He was in surgery for around five hours to repair cut tendons in his left foot. Schulz received over 400 stitches for his wounds.

Schulz and his family are staying positive. Schulz says he is feeling better with everyday that passes and feels lucky that it did not end up being as bad as it could have been.

“It did some damage,” said Schulz. “It’s going to take a little time but today is the best I have felt yet. I got up and walked on crutches today a little. So as soon as I can get going and start this rehab and start getting back I’m ready to go.”

Schulz, who has been surfing for a long time, said it all happened within a matter of seconds and never got a good look at the animal that attacked him. However according to Schulz, the doctors who performed his surgery, along with other people who have seen the wound, feel very strongly that it in fact was a shark that attacked him.

“I felt something grab my foot,” said Schulz. “All I really could feel was teeth. He shook his head a little bit and then I think it realized that I wasn’t really what he was looking for and luckily he let me go.”

Once the shark let go, Schulz paddled back to shore with the help of another surfer. While paddling in, he glanced back at his foot to realize that he had a pretty severe wound.

Once on shore, Schulz was met by lifeguards and his girlfriend, Megan Hudack, who was shocked and worried about what she saw when he came out of the water.

“I saw him ride a wave in on his stomach with his foot in the air,” said Hudack. “He just seemed really calm so I didn’t think anything was wrong. I saw a bunch of lifeguards running towards him so I ran up and I saw his foot and it was apparent that something powerful had got him.”

While lifeguards were working on Schulz’s foot, Hudack did the first thing she could think of and called his parents, who immediately got in the car and drove to Jacksonville from Jupiter, Fla.

“Obviously you know when you hear about a shark bite your immediate reaction is Jaws,” said Clayton’s dad Peter Schulz. “But we were pretty calm about it. You always wonder about it when there is big fish around, it’s a possibility.”

Schulz, who is a red-shirt sophomore pitcher for the Ospreys, came out of the bullpen for most of the 2010 season. He struck out 15 batters in the 30.2 innings he pitched throughout the 17 games in which he appeared in for the Ospreys while winning his only start of the season.

Schulz plans to start his rehab a soon as the doctors allow him and plans to be ready by the start of the 2011 baseball season.

“As soon as I can get going I’ll be working as hard as I can to get back,” said Schulz. “I’m excited to get back. I don’t see any problems why I shouldn’t be ready for baseball season. They said four weeks until I can start physical therapy and putting pressure on it so I’m hoping that I can just start going and go with it.”

Despite getting attacked, Schulz says that this will not keep him out of the water and while he admits that it might take some time, he does plan to surf again.

“I’m sure I’ll be back out,” said Schulz. “My neck will probably be turning a little bit looking around and stuff but I’m sure I’ll be back out there as soon as I can.”

It has been more than a month since I packed my things and headed out of Michigan. My final destination: Cooperstown, N.Y., and a summer internship in the public relations department at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

When my office phone rang Tuesday afternoon, it was not surprising my boss was on the other end. His words, however, caught me off guard.

“Dante Bichette is in the research library. Do you want to interview him and write a blog?”

At least, I believe that is how he phrased it. My mind stopped after hearing Bichette’s name, and again after “interview.”

Dante Bichette is not a household name, but most baseball fans will recognize him as the former power-hitting outfielder from the 1990s.

So off I went across the museum to the research library. With less than a minute to prepare, the only questions coming to mind were basic. There was no time to do better.

Former athletes lose their shape shortly after retiring — or so I thought. Even sitting down, Bichette seemed large in front of me. Besides two bad knees, the former Colorado Rockies slugger appeared ready to take batting practice.

And with those thoughts on my mind, the interview started. Not more than 10 minutes later, the impromptu meeting came to a successful end with a handshake and a thank you. Bichette headed off to coach his son’s baseball game, and I scampered back to my desk to write.

It was just another day at the office.

Work has never been a pleasant experience. Work is a necessary evil: a summer job instead of going to the beach, a 10-page paper due tomorrow when you want to relax tonight.

It is boring, time consuming and does not make a person happy. Yet, this quaint little town of 2,000 people has provided me with a job about which I cannot complain.

Living and working in rural New York is not what I had mind when casually sending off internship applications last fall. Sometimes I am amazed my GPS could even find this tiny place. Still, here I am, one of 22 interns selected out of a group of almost 500 applicants — I count my blessings constantly.

Working at the Hall is a never-ending learning experience. Not only have I learned plenty about public relations, the amount of baseball crammed into my head has grown exponentially. For someone obsessed with the sport, this is heaven.

The Hall has an incredible collection of more than 38,000 3-D artifacts, and I have seen and touched some of the best of them: game-used bats from Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Ken Griffey Jr., a game-used glove and jersey sweater from Ty Cobb, first base from Armando Galarraga’s “perfect” game, baseballs signed by Jackie Robinson and, weirdly, a bottle of Tris Speaker-branded whiskey.

I met almost 30 former major leaguers, including seven Hall of Fame members — in just one weekend. In case you were wondering, Ozzie Smith is extremely quiet and Bob Feller likes to talk.

But for all of the amazing things I have done in my time here, there is one experience that tops all others: solitude.

There are days when I arrive early to work to walk through the plaque gallery without the waves of tourists. If the weather is nice, the sun shines through the skylights and creates a picturesque scene among the almost 300 baseball heroes. For a short time, it is just me and the best to ever play America’s pastime. The experience is unforgettable.

Some visit Cooperstown only once in their life. I have 10 full weeks.

I consider myself lucky.

Did Nebraska seek you out for this job? How did this all come together?
(Head coach) Mike (Anderson) and I met a couple years ago and we just threw it around that when I was done, possibly helping out. We had lunch here a little while back. He asked me if I was done with baseball, I said I was done. He wanted to explore the possibility of me joining the staff, one thing led to the next, and here I am.

Do you see a need for someone with your experience to come in and help this team?
Well, the head coach asked me to come in here and help him, and I’m more than happy to come in and help. I haven’t been around and I’ve only seen a handful of games. I haven’t really been able to make an assessment of what’s going on, and that’s not my role. My role here is to help these kids get better and get ready to play, and that’s what I’m going to do.

What challenges does this Husker baseball program face right now?
There’s always challenges; what the exact challenges are right now, I don’t know. I’m new to this whole thing and I’m really inexperienced as far as coaching. I was brought in to Houston to take care of some of the young guys and help them through the tough times, and I spent a ton of time in the cage with them and with the hitting coach. Over the years, you learn stuff. As you get older, you help the younger guys. In a roundabout way, I’ve already been coaching for a few years and I’m very comfortable with the transition.

What challenges do you anticipate you’ll face personally this season?
I’m sure I’ll see new ones every day. To sit here and know what I’m going to be up against, I have no idea. I think the biggest challenge will be, instead of stepping into that cage and hitting in that batter’s box, it’ll be watching. I’ve never been good at watching, even though I got pretty good at sitting the last couple years. The real challenge and reward will be helping these kids improve mentally and physically, and to see them go out and succeed. I know I’ve done that with some younger kids – to see them do things you’re trying to get them to do, they do it and they have a smile on their face and really buy into it, that just does it for me.

Have you met with any of your new players yet?
No. I’ve talked to a few of the kids who have signed letters of intent and have been drafted, just to help them with some information. For the most part, I’m still learning the whole recruiting thing and what I can and can’t do. I’m just really excited to pick the brains of our coaches, because they’ve all got tremendous experience. I just want to learn.

Are you familiar with what you’re working with here as far as the roster?
I know the names from what I’ve seen and watched and read, and I’m just starting to get into video of the guys to have an idea and get a head start, to know what I’m dealing with. But the real thing is, you’ve got to get in their heads and know what they’re thinking and feeling. You’ve got to get their terminology down and really communicate.

What would it mean to you to help turn this program around after a couple rough years?
I’m not coming here to lose. I’m here to help these guys get better, help fill those seats and give fans something to cheer about. To see the pictures on the wall of Buck Beltzer (Stadium) being packed and the transformation Nebraska baseball went through after I left, I just want to be a part of that. As we all know, the fan support at Nebraska is unbelievable. It’ll sure be fun to watch super regionals and College World Series with a bunch of red in the stands.

Will you split your time with the football time this time, too?
(Laughs) I don’t think I bring much to the table there.

How closely have you followed this team over the past few years?
You check the box scores from time to time. When I came to the games here, I spend more time on the slide out in right field than watching the game – I’m chasing the kids around. I’ll get to know these guys plenty well in a few weeks, and I’m just excited to get starter.

When did it hit you that it was time for you to step away from the game, to retire?
I kind of felt it towards the end of last year. When you’re on the bench and playing every once in a while, and you’re getting treatment just to pinch hit, common sense starts telling you ‘What are you doing here?’ Your body lets you know, and it was kind of gently hammering me on the back of the shoulder, saying ‘It’s time, Darin.’ It’s different for every person, and all good things come to an end. That’s how mine went.

Has it been hard to watch baseball from a distance this year?
Yeah, sometimes it’s been hard. Other times it’s been great. It’s the full array of emotions you have, but it’s probably normal. I didn’t expect it to be an easy transition. I’m accepting all of it and taking it all in.

Do you still have that itch to constantly be around the game?
Yeah, who are we kidding here? I’m a baseball player. My field of expertise isn’t something else. The least I can do is try and give back to some kids, and what better place than Nebraska?

Many people applauded Minnesota baseball head coach John Anderson for the Gophers’ success last season, and last Wednesday he received some praise from his peers as well.

The American Baseball Coaches Association named Anderson the Mideast Coach of the Year after he led the Gophers to a Big Ten championship and an appearance in the NCAA regional qualifiers. Anderson was also named Big Ten Coach of the Year in May for the sixth time in his career.

“Anytime you’re recognized by peers, fellow coaches and your association, it’s a special honor,” Anderson said. “But all of the honors I’ve received throughout my career [are] a reflection of the program and the people within the program.”

While Anderson continues to add to a long list of accolades during his career, some have speculated that career may not end at the University of Minnesota.

Anderson’s five-year contract expired June 30, but continues to roll over automatically each year until one side notifies the other that they wish to part ways. The University would need to give Anderson a year’s notice before officially ending the contract, which it didn’t. Anderson agreed to take a 1.15 percent pay cut, standard for University employees, on his $139,000 salary.

Anderson said some talks about creating a new long-term contract have taken place, but nothing is likely to happen until the financial climate at the University and the state clears up. Anderson added that his goal is to finish his career in Minnesota, but he didn’t rule out the possibility of looking at other options if it the new job “met the criteria” he would be looking for.

“To date, that opportunity hasn’t presented itself and I’m committed to the University of Minnesota like I have been for the last 30 years and I’ll continue to be,” Anderson said. “But I don’t think anyone can ever say, ‘never, never.’ That’s human nature.”

Earlier this month, St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Charley Walters surmised that Anderson was possibly a candidate for the vacant head coaching job at Notre Dame, saying it “wouldn’t be surprising if Anderson and the Irish get into discussions before long.” The Fighting Irish filled the spot with Mik Aoki on July 13 .

“As long as the University wants me and I feel like I have the energy to continue to do this … then I’ll continue to do it,” Anderson said. “But if I feel like I can’t give them any of the energy to do that any longer, then I’ll look at doing something else.”

It’s likely that Anderson would want to stick around long enough to see a new baseball field to replace the 39-year-old Siebert Field, which he has championed. The University hopes to begin construction next spring.

In May, the program received a $2 million donation from the Pohlad Family Foundation, which brought the total raised to $3.5 million of the $7.5 million needed to begin construction . Anderson said the total amount currently raised is somewhere around $4 million, but added that the program is focusing its attention on gaining another large donation of $1 million or more.

“There are some bumps in the road and some challenges, but we’re making some progress,” Anderson said. “[The Pohlad donation] has created some more interest and enthusiasm … and gotten some more people involved that weren’t even on our radar screen.”

Baseball is a sport of closure. Unlike other sports, there is neither a clock nor a specific amount of points a team must score. You need to get the other team out 27 times and, if upon doing so, you have scored more than your opponent, you win. And if both teams have the same score after the regulation nine innings, the game adds extra innings until a winner is decided.

This idea of closure in baseball is the basis of Ken Burns’ documentary “The Tenth Inning,” a continuation of his 1992 documentary project, “Baseball.” From drug scandals to shattered records to broken curses, there is much to cover in a documentary about the history of baseball since the early 1990s — so much so that the documentary has been split into a two-part series.

In part one, Burns details the history of baseball from where he left off in his 1992 project, emphasizing various recurring aspects such as the rapidly increasing amount of home runs, the 1994 players’ strike, the international expansion of the game and the disparity between the competitive potential of big and small market teams.

Burns illustrates these vicissitudes both thoroughly and enthusiastically — his love for the game is almost palpable when watching both installments of the documentary. Throughout the first half, Burns explores interesting threads and subplots that leave the viewer anxiously anticipating part two.

The second part, however, unfolds problematically. “The Bottom of the Tenth”—as the second half is cleverly titled—is supposed to provide the sense of closure that Burns so evidently covets in baseball. However, the documentary leaves the viewer unsatisfied as many questions remain unanswered.

Specifically, I was disturbed by how Burns seems to gloss over the negative elements of baseball’s history. He does not reflect on the deep lows and misfortunes of baseball with the harshness deserved. For example, in part one, Burns discusses at length the careers of Ken Griffey, Jr. and Barry Bonds. However, in part two, Burns refuses to reflect on the injustice of how Griffey — one of baseball’s most likeable stars — dwindled at his prime due to injury. Burns also skipped over exploring how Bonds shattered record after record as he pumped his once-modest frame with illegal steroids.

Burns also focuses on the disparity between small and large market teams, yet does not address the tragedy of teams like the now-defunct Montreal Expos, which became increasingly obsolete due to a lack of funds.

Burns should have concluded the “Bottom of the Tenth” by providing the viewer with closure while accurately addressing — even if at the expense of his own baseball-driven heart — these unfortunate truths.

Instead, Burns chose to celebrate his beloved Boston Red Sox’s first World Championship since 1918 and specifically, the team’s legendary triumph over the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series. While these wins were certainly great for baseball and momentous achievements in sports, the idea that they are the concluding messages to the last fifteen years of baseball leaves me unsatisfied (then again, I happen to be a Yankee fan).

I believe that Burns’ undying loyalty to the Red Sox, in the midst of its most triumphant era, colored much of his perspective and distracted his ability to empathize with the state of the game as a whole. For those of us outside of Red Sox Nation, there is still uncertainty on the direction of the game today, and therefore a lack of closure.

It looks like we will have to go into extra innings to decide the final outcome. As he has been for the past 15 years, Burns will be ready, scorecard in hand.

Taking a break after a normal day of work in early June at Fort Hood, Cole White received a puzzling text message from an old friend.

It was from Caleb Campbell, a classmate from their days at West Point. The message read: “Congratulations.”

Moments later, White received a phone call from the United States Army’s Human Resource Command. White soon understood Campbell’s message — the Army was going to let White pursue his professional baseball career.

Knowing his service time was nearing the obligatory two-year-mark, White had applied for an early release from the Army in January. Five months later, the 25-year-old, whose unit was set to deploy to Iraq in February, finally found out which direction his life would be going.

And it wouldn’t be overseas.

Instead, it would be in the New York-Penn League with the short-season Class A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the State College Spikes — the same team he played 21 games with two years ago.

On June 20 — exactly two years to the day after he debuted in State College — White was back in town, having added about 10 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-2 frame.

He arrived at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park the next day and did something he hadn’t done since leaving State College — hit a baseball on an actual field.

“It didn’t really set in until I was taking batting practice here in State College,” White said. “And then I was like ‘Wow, I’m back.’ ”

The West Point experience

White didn’t know much about West Point — until the tragic events of 9/11.

“I kind of felt like a greater purpose and I just felt like I needed to do something,” White said. “I talked to my dad and I said that I wanted to join the Army.”

His father, Jeff, suggested his son, then a junior at Midland High School in Midland, Texas, take a look at the United States Military Academy, a place where he could join the Army and play Division I baseball.

White, who helped his team win the Texas 5A State Championship as a sophomore, visited West Point the summer before his senior year. Passing up offers from Texas Tech and several junior colleges, White committed around Christmas during his senior year of high school, a decision Jeff White said his son never wavered from.

“When you go through the gates there at West Point, it will kind of take your breath away,” Jeff White said of the visit. “It’s kind of a sacred place, and after that I don’t think there was any question that’s where he was going to go.”

Once at West Point, baseball acted as White’s getaway from the long, grueling days at the academy. A typical day for a freshman entailed waking up at 5:30 a.m., followed by formation before breakfast, classes all morning, formation before lunch, more class and then finally, baseball practice.

“As a freshman you’re getting yelled at in the morning cause your shoes aren’t shined, or you didn’t shave well enough, or your hair is too long and all this stuff,” he said. “You just want to get away from that so practice was like the best time to kind of get away and say ‘Hey, were playing baseball today so nothing can be that bad.’ ”

From being named the 2005 Patriot League Rookie of the Year to the 2007 conference player of the year, White excelled for the Black Knights. He finished what he called “the best four years of his life” baseball-wise by leading his team to the 2008v Patriot League regular-season championship, primarily as a pitcher and outfielder.

White graduated from West Point that spring, an experience he called “indescribable.”

“Getting into West Point was great. Player of the year, all that stuff is great,” he said. “But graduating from West Point, and throwing my hat was by far the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life.”

A dream put on hold

In 2008, White was told entering the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft that he probably wouldn’t be selected as high as he should because he had gone to the Military Academy and at 23-years-old, he was older than many of the other players in the draft. He was expecting to be selected between rounds 15 and 20.

Watching the draft-tracker online, White still hadn’t seen his name pop up on the computer screen after 20 rounds had passed. Or 30. Or 40. It was a nerve-wracking day for the whole family. If White’s name was not called, he would have to report straight to the Army.

Finally, the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted White in the 42nd round — 1,254th overall.

The Pirates also drafted White’s four-year college teammate Chris Simmons one round earlier. The two signed their contracts and arrived in State College for a three-day minicamp just days after the draft.

It didn’t take long for White to get settled in. Playing left field and designated hitter, the right-handed hitter led the Spikes with a .338 batting average and put together an impressive 17-game hit streak through the second month of the season.

“When he got up to State College, he was banging the baseball around just like he did at Army,” Jeff White said. “He never really missed a beat.”

However, the Spikes would soon be without their consistent leadoff hitter.

One night on the road after the team played the Lowell Spinners, the league’s Boston Red Sox affiliate, White and Simmons, roommates while with the Spikes, flipped on ESPN and were surprised with what they saw.

Featured on SportsCenter was their friend Campbell, a former Army football player. News had broken that Campbell, who the Detroit Lions drafted in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft, was not going to able to report to training camp because the Army had revised its interpretation of the U.S. Department of Defense Alternative Service Option.

Every graduate from West Point owes the Army five years of service. Though previous rules allowed graduates drafted to play a professional sport to compete right away, the new interpretation of the rule requires two years of service to Army before the athletes can begin their sports careers.

“Chris and I were just kind of both sitting there silently,” White recalled of that night. “All of a sudden I kind of looked over at Chris and Chris looked over at me and we were like ‘Do you think that’s going to affect us?’ ”

The two made phone calls to West Point the next day and were given similar news to Campbell’s: They were going to have put their professional baseball careers on hold and report within four or five days to their respective duty stations. White reported to West Point and Simmons to Kentucky’s Fort Knox.

Though Simmons said the way they found out wasn’t ideal, it was not a total surprise. Rumors had floated around that the interpretation of the rule might be altered. In all, there were five baseball players affected.

“We had an idea that it might come, so we were kind of thinking about what would happen if it did,” Simmons said. “Obviously kind of disappointed, but at the same time we both went in knowing you don’t really go to West Point to be a professional baseball player.”

White and Simmons came back to State College for its series against the Batavia Muckdogs. Simmons played one game before departing and White played two before heading back to West Point, where he would be a graduate assistant. White said he thinks everyone else took the news harder than he and Simmons and he was just glad he got to play some games before he started serving.

“I mean playing professional baseball you just can’t beat,” White said. “Of course you don’t want to leave. We were having a great time playing the game that we grew up to love.”

Serving proudly

As a graduate assistant for Army’s baseball team, White helped out around the office, on the field and with recruiting.

After nine months he traveled to Fort Sill in Oklahoma to go through a seven-week Basic Officers Leaders Course. Then White moved to Fort Knox for four-and-a-half months where he learned specifics about his position as a First Lieutenant and a platoon leader. He spent the remainder of his two-year commitment at Fort Hood in Texas where he was in charge of 12 soldiers.

During his two years of service, White did not have the opportunity to play much baseball. However, the Army kept him in good physical shape. White was awake at 6:30 every morning either running, lifting weights, doing pushups, pull-ups or sit-ups.

Knowing there was always a chance he could return to baseball, he would try to swing a bat at least a couple of times per week, depending on how busy he was.

“I tried to do as much as I could with minimal facilities of just hitting and seeing a pitch come in and feeling my swing,” White said.

Returning to State College

Spikes manager Gary Robinson called his new outfielder into his office on June 22nd.

“I said ‘What do you want me to do? You want another day of [batting practice] or do you want to go hot?’ He said, ‘I’m used to it hot, let’s go.’ That was all I needed to hear,” Robinson recalled of their conversation.

Just one day after being placed on the Spikes roster, White started in right field and batted ninth. Though he went 0-3, in the fifth inning he put the barrel of his bat on a first pitch fastball and flew out to deep left field, a ball Robinson said after the game he just missed from hitting it “way, way, way out” of the ballpark.

“After that at-bat, I started to feel like ‘All right, I’m good now,’ ” White said.

But the next day, set to get another start in the outfield, White tweaked his back during batting practice and was forced to sit. The injury was a little worse than thought. He had a small tear in his cartilage between one of his ribs. White was placed on the seven-day disabled list.

“It was pretty tough for him,” Jeff White said. “He waited all that time to come back and then went down again.”

On July 9, White finally returned again. He started the next three games, hitting safely in all three.

Aside from White, Nick Hill, a pitcher in the Seattle Mariners organization, is the only other baseball player to come back this year after serving two years because of the new rule interpretation. Simmons recently came home from a six-month tour in Iraq. White hopes now that he, Hill and Campbell, who is set to report to Lions’ training camp this month, are back in sports, it will ultimately help the Army.

“You may lose one or two here or there, but the whole idea for this program is to show how great the military is and the things they can do for you,” White said. “It was a great experience for me.”

Others have taken notice of White’s story, too.

“He stayed with it and battled and it’s great to see him on the baseball field,” Pittsburgh Pirates GM Neal Huntington said Tuesday. “It’s a great story what he’s gone through and to see him back out and in uniform for the Spikes is a lot of fun.”

Currently on inactive reserve, White still owes the Army three years of service. His main goal right now, though, is to continue to improve in State College and keep climbing the ladder on his way to his goal: playing Major League baseball.

“I think about it from time to time and think about how amazing it would be to finally, after all these years of hard work, especially having two years off and not knowing if I was ever going to play the game of baseball again,” White said. “I think making it to the major leagues, it would be nothing short of amazing.”

With the MLB All-Star break ending Wednesday, the next couple of weeks leading up to the July 31 trade deadline should prove exciting for teams hoping to be active in the trade market. Teams looking to make trades at this time in the season are split into two categories: buyers, which are the teams in contention who want to add talent for a run at the playoffs, and sellers, who wish to unload unwanted salaries or valued players to build for the future by saving money and receiving young prospects in return.

One such team planning to build for the future is the Houston Astros. The name that has been most associated with trade rumors coming out of Houston is longtime pitcher Roy Oswalt. A 6-10 record is mostly the result of a lack of run support and defense, as Oswalt has proven he’s still got it at 32 years of age, coming in at 11th in the National League with a 3.08 ERA. While Oswalt has been rumored to move to anywhere from New York to Minnesota, it will be very difficult for the Astros to unload their ace, who has requested a trade because he is due to be paid $30 million over the next two seasons. Oswalt has 143 career wins, one short of the franchise record held by Joe Niekro, and has starts scheduled on Sunday and the following Saturday to get a chance to break that record.

Oswalt isn’t the only Astros pitcher generating trade buzz. Brett Myers has also garnered interest from teams wanting to add a starter to their rotation. Myers has been solid thus far, going 6-6 with a 3.41 ERA. Myers, who was signed to a one-year, $5 million contract in January, has gone at least six innings in every start this season for the Astros, giving general manager Ed Wade at least one good move since joining Houston.

Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder headlines the list of sluggers presumed to be available for trades this summer. Fielder has had a subpar year so far, hitting only .265 with 39 RBIs, and it seems the Brewers would be willing to part with him if given young pitching in return. Since Angels first baseman Kendry Morales went down with a season-ending injury in late May, the team has been involved in various trade rumors concerning available first basemen. Derek Lee has been mentioned, but owns a no-trade clause in his contract that prevents the Cubs from trading him to a team he doesn’t want to join. Other first basemen on the trading block are Arizona’s Adam LaRoche and Toronto’s Lyle Overbay.

Toronto has already shown it is willing to trade away its talent to get younger players and save money by moving shortstop Alex Gonzalez to Atlanta for Yunel Escobar on Wednesday. Other players the Blue Jays would be willing to trade are closer Kevin Gregg and outfielder José Bautista. Bautista leads the American League with 24 home runs, and is a valuable trade commodity because of his ability to play positions in both the infield and outfield. His $2.4 million contract is also something that has general managers who are hoping to save money on a power hitter salivating.

Brewers’ outfielder Corey Hart has been shrouded in trade rumors for the past month or so, but Milwaukee has not yet been able to move him. Hart is hitting .288 with 21 HR and 65 RBIs, but Milwaukee may be asking too much in return for him. The Brewers are interested in adding starting pitching to their roster, with one possible scenario being Hart’s move to San Francisco in exchange for Jonathan Sánchez. But teams are hesitant to make a move for Hart because he’s coming off a poor year, and they aren’t convinced after 81 games that he can keep his production steady.

Documentarian Ken Burns will present the world premiere of his new film “The Tenth Inning” this Friday and Saturday at Dartmouth College. The film is a continuation of his 1992 project entitled “Baseball” and showcases the last 15 years of baseball history.

“Baseball has always been, since its inception, a really precise mirror of our larger country,” Burns said. “All of the things, good and ill, that are part of us are written in baseball so it acts as a way to gain access to the American psyche.”

The last 20 years have been among the most consequential in the history of baseball and included conflicts ranging from the strikes of the early ’90s to the steroids scandals that have plagued the sport, he said.

The original “Baseball” series — the most watched series in the history of PBS — came out in 1994 as nine episodes that, over the course of its 18.5 hours, traced the history of baseball from the Civil War to 1992, Burns said. The new program picks up where “Baseball” left off and focuses on more recent developments in the sport. The film includes interviews, footage from games and Burns’s distinctive use of still photographs as a part of documentary’s features.

“The Tenth Inning” covers Barry Bonds’ success and part in the steroid scandal as well as the home run race between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire during the mid-1990s. While the game did see a spike in the sheer numbers of home runs during the late 1990s and early 2000s, the game has begun to return to normalcy, Burns said.

The film does not limit itself to American baseball, but also looks at the baseball culture of countries like the Dominican Republic and Japan, Burns said.

“I think [baseball] has a huge potential to expand — in the 19th century the Japanese and Latin countries adapted it and took it as their own,” he said.

Baseball continues to grow and create exciting new talent like Washington Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg — the “most-hyped pick in draft history,” Burns said. Burns had the opportunity to throw the first pitch of his debut game, he said.

“I think [baseball is] the greatest game that has ever been invented,” Burns said. “It’s so unique and cerebral that I can’t imagine there being anything that could supplant it.”

“The Tenth Inning” was originally intended to be a two hour special but grew into a two-part four-hour program, Burns said. Even with the additional time, a lot of footage was set aside during the editing process, according to Burns.

“Our cutting floor is always filled with scenes that were fantastic but just didn’t fit,” Burns said.

The film features figures from the original series and has “lots of surprises and lots of good humor,” Burns said. Highlights from the four-hour segment include interviews with former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre and Boston Red Sox fan Mike Barnacle, he said.

In an important moment in baseball history, the film captures the game when an umpire’s call ruined Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga’s perfect game and the following public apology. These incidences reflect the way that instant replay and the media are changing the nature of spectator sports, according to Burns.

Issues that pertain to the United States on a larger scale, like immigration patterns and financial instability, are also prominent in the film, Burns said.

“The Tenth Inning” will premiere on New Hampshire Public Television on September 28 and 29.

Steinbrenner paid for the school’s championship rings because it couldn’t afford them.

“There aren’t too many guys in this whole country that have done what George Steinbrenner has done for people,” Prado said to the St. Petersburg Times. “Forget about baseball — for anyone that needed help.”

Steinbrenner, who had owned the Yankees since 1973, was known by the average sports fan for his unmatched passion for winning while rebuilding the Yankees’ dynasty. His philanthropic side, though, reached many, including some at USF.

In 1977, Steinbrenner paid for the first set of lights used at Red McEwen Field. In 1994-95, the Tampa Yankees needed a place for its home games while Legends Field — now known as Steinbrenner Field — was being built. Steinbrenner compensated USF to let the Tampa Yankees, who at the time fielded future baseball Hall of Famers Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, use its facility until the stadium was finished.

“His positive contributions to baseball are timeless. George was a great friend and philanthropist to USF and Tampa Bay,” USF athletic director Doug Woolard said Tuesday. “As we celebrate his successes in the sporting world, I also hope we all take time to applaud his generosity and the giving spirit he fostered throughout his life.”

“The sports world lost a legend (Tuesday),” he said. “George Steinbrenner will go down as one of the greatest owners and leaders in baseball history.”

Benefits received from Steinbrenner weren’t limited to athletics. He donated to USF’s music sdepartment throughout the years. Steinbrenner also “mobilized Tampa business leadership on behalf of the University,” sportscaster Ann Liguori, a former USF broadcast student, wrote on the Huffington Post.

“Every time I had an opportunity as a student to talk with him at an event in Tampa, he seemed genuinely interested in my work at the University and my broadcasting career,” she wrote. “Needless to say, to me, at the time, he seemed larger than life.”

Penn State and Nebraska’s baseball teams have combined for more than 6,000 games played and nearly 4,000 wins since both programs began playing more than 100 years ago.

Yet, the two programs have never faced each other on the diamond.

That should change in two seasons, when Nebraska begins competition as a member of the Big Ten.

The history the Cornhuskers have built while playing in the Big 12 has the Penn State players and coaches excited to face Nebraska and hopefully create a new rivalry.

“Any time you get a new team that you weren’t expecting, it’s always fun,” pitcher Ryan Ignas said. “We like to play teams that are nationally known in the Big 12. When we went down and played Texas and Texas A&M we were pumped up.”

Despite finishing 27-27 in 2010, Nebraska has been dominant during its time in the Big 12.

The Cornhuskers are second to perennial power Texas in number of Big 12 regular season and tournament championships won. Nebraska has claimed three regular season and four conference tournament titles in 14 seasons of Big 12 play.

In addition to success in the Big 12, Nebraska made three appearances to the College World Series in the last decade (2001, 2002 and 2005).

With the Cornhuskers’ past success in the Big 12, Nittany Lion first baseman Joey DeBernardis believes they may be a strong team in the conference once they begin play in the Big Ten.

“I definitely think they’ll be up there [in the conference standings],” DeBernardis said. “They’re a good team and coming from the Big 12, they’ve been playing good competition.”

Baseball programs in the Big 12 have been generally strong in recent seasons compared to the Big Ten. The final NCBWA Rankings for 2010 had two Big 12 teams in the Top 25 — including No. 1 Texas — while two others received votes. No teams from the Big Ten even received votes in the poll.

Penn State pitching coach Jason Bell, who played and coached in the Big 12 at Oklahoma State, recently spoke with Nebraska assistant coach Dave Bingham.

Bell said Bingham shared the same feelings with the potential matchup as the Lions. Bingham believed Nebraska had a natural fit in the Big Ten and said the Cornhuskers were looking forward to the change.

Bell said there is no difference in the style of play between the two conferences, but he said Nebraska will have to adjust to a few differences in rules in the Big Ten.

The Lion coach mentioned the disallowance of over-signing players in the Big Ten — something that’s allowed in the Big 12 — as one of the minor adjustments the Cornhuskers will face. Over-signing allows programs to use money from potential draft picks for future scholarships before those prospects sign major league contracts.

The Cornhuskers have had their share of players advance to the professional ranks. There are currently three Nebraska alumni in Major League Baseball and six others playing in AAA.

Former Nebraska outfielder Darin Erstad, who played professionally for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros, was named to their coaching staff July 8.

Bell believes the rich history of Nebraska and alumni such as Erstad will help add to the reputation of Big Ten baseball.

“I think it’s going to be great,” Bell said. “It will do nothing but help the Big Ten as far as recognition. When you talk about getting more teams into regionals and getting national recognition, it’s another name to lend a hand.”

Love him — many did.

Hate him — probably even more did.

Respect him — if you don’t, shame on you.

George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees from 1973 until Tuesday, when he died of a heart attack at the age of 80, was one of the most influential figures in the history of baseball.

He was also one of the most interesting people in the history of sports, heck, maybe even the world.

This is a man brilliant enough to buy a franchise for $8.8 million and turn it into a billion-dollar entity by the middle of the 2000s.

A man crazy enough to fire and re-hire manager Billy Martin five times.

A man legendary enough, he became an iconic figure on Seinfeld, even though he was only ever portrayed by the back of an actor’s head.

A man who wanted to win titles so badly, he is single-handedly responsible for the birth of high-priced free agency. That’s right, thank Steinbrenner, who once said, “Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing,” for the $25 million contract Cliff Lee will sign this offseason.

He wanted to win so badly, he publicly apologized for his team’s performance after it dropped the 1981 World Series in six games. So badly, he fired the manager who resurrected the Yankees to their first playoff appearance after a 14-year drought, during the ensuing offseason.

The man he hired to replace Buck Showalter: Joe Torre. Yup, that turned out all right.

If you think Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert was angry when he wrote his letter to Cavs fans after LeBron James’ departure, Steinbrenner would have made Gilbert look tame. After all, it was Steinbrenner who claimed to have gotten in an elevator fight with two Dodger fans after a Game 3 loss in 1981.

Of course, in Gilbert’s situation, Steinbrenner would have been able to throw infinite money at James.

He did that for four decades.

In his early years it was Catfish, Reggie and Winfield, and in the years leading to his death, he drove fans of 29 other teams crazy by inking names like A-Rod, Giambi, Mussina, Matsui and Sheffield to lucrative contracts.

The incessant desire to win-by-cash is ultimately what made Steinbrenner so scrutinized and so hated.

Was it bad for the game? That’s a debate for another column. But Steinbrenner was allowed to win by spending, and that’s what he did.

Sure, he had the most money, but he also cared more. Pirates fans, tell me with a straight face you’d rather have the Nuttings as your owners than a man who spent in order to win seven World Series and 11 pennants.

The lasting memories of Steinbrenner will hopefully be the ones of him arguing with Martin or calling out Dave Winfield for being “Mr. May.” They epitomize his brash desire to win.

I grew up watching 130 Yankee games a year, and it was rare that I agreed with the Boss. He called out Torre, a man who earned him four titles, far too often, and he put unhealthy pressure on general manager Brian Cashman to raid the farm system to overpay for bigger names.

But, I am a fan of the New Jersey Nets (yes, we exist), and I have watched, first-hand, a franchise demolished by majority owners who cared about earning a buck more than a title.

That was never the case with George, and, as a fan, isn’t that all you can ask for?

Remember in Anchorman, when Vince Vaughn’s character, Wes Mantooth, tells Ron Burgundy, “With every inch of me, I pure straight hate you. But damnit, I respect you.”

The same has to apply for critics of Steinbrenner.

Rest in peace, George. The Yankees are champions, and I’m sure you wouldn’t have wanted to die any other way.

Now the veteran first baseman and outfielder, who wrapped up his Major League career with the Houston Astros last year, is returning to the Cornhuskers as the hitting coach. Having those credentials on the bench will be valuable to the team, NU coach Mike Anderson said.

“While his success in the Major Leagues will be the first thing that people notice, his wealth and depth of knowledge may be his strongest asset,” Anderson said. “You have to be a great communicator, and Darin is that. He has the ability to take the experiences he has and transfer that knowledge to our players to help them reach their potential.”

Erstad said he was surprised and excited to have the opportunity to return to Lincoln as a coach.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be part of the university in a coaching role,” he said. “It is a great opportunity to help some young kids develop for the rest of their lives.”

Erstad said he hopes to teach the hardnosed style he honed in his 1,654 big league games with the Los Angeles Angels, Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros to the Husker players.

“My philosophy is to lay it on the line every day, every time you are on the field,” Erstad said. “There is a couple of ways to play the game, but there is only one right way to play the game of baseball, and that is to play hard, respect the game, and respect your opponent.”

Erstad’s World Series title came with the Angels in 2002, a season in which he also won a Gold Glove. In 2000, he was named to his second All-Star team and won the American League Silver Slugger Award with a .355 batting average and 25 home runs.

In college, Erstad starred on both the diamond and football field for Nebraska. He was the Big Eight Conference co-player of the year in 1995 in baseball and was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award. He was also a punter in the football team’s undefeated 1994 season.

Erstad found success off the field as well as a professional, winning the Angels’ Roberto Clemente Award in 1995 for his community work in Southern California.

Anderson said Erstad’s giving spirit will translate well into coaching, where he will be charged with invigorating an offense that fell short of last year’s Big 12 Conference tournament.

“He understands that the most important role in coaching is to be able to serve others, and the values he has match with our program’s philosophy,” Anderson said.

“When I assumed control of the Rays almost five years ago, it was commonly assumed that winning would change everything at Tropicana Field,” Sternberg said. “Everyone believed that with a winning team on the field, fans would fill the stands. That has not been the case.”

This leaves the Tampa Bay area with limited time to finish the long and complex process of planning and constructing a new stadium if they wish to keep the Rays.

Engaging in endless debate and a rivalry between the two cities will only further diminish the team’s chances of staying and increase the possibility of a successful courtship by another baseball-hungry city that lacks a major league franchise.

Sternberg has also said that the team will not be willing to stay in St. Petersburg, either.

With this in mind, only those who wouldn’t mind the team’s departure from the Bay area would oppose the Rays relocating to Tampa.

In an act of regional self-destruction, the city of St. Petersburg has foolishly threatened to sue the Rays or anyone who talks to them about a new stadium until their lease with the Trop expires. The Rays and other cities will likely risk the financial penalties of a lawsuit, considering the potential benefits of relocating.

If the goal is to keep the Rays in the Tampa Bay area, then the obvious solution is to build a new stadium in Tampa.

Tampa is more centrally located for local fans who live outside of Pinellas County, and the anticipated downtown light rail stop in 2015 would enhance this benefit.

The rail would run from Tampa to Orlando and could act as an easy way for Rays’ fans in Orlando to commute to and from games, creating a larger fan base for the team.

Target Field, the Minnesota Twins’ new stadium, has a light rail line directly adjacent to the stadium that attracts more than 5,000 fans a game, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

A professional baseball team is a cultural treasure for any city. It promotes the region, excites its people and brings about collective happiness or sorrow with its play.

The area has no hope for keeping the Rays without moving them to Tampa, and continually denying this reality will only assure their departure.

After all, the team is called the Tampa Bay Rays, not the Tampa Rays or St. Petersburg Rays. The city of St. Petersburg should allow the team to do what’s in the best interests of the entire Bay area.

In less than a week, the MLB will play its annual All-Star game, which takes place on the second Tuesday of each July. It is a time for players to take a few days off from meaningful competition–or at least it used to be.

In 1947, fans were given the opportunity to vote on the eight starting position players for the American League and National League All-Star squads. It was the first year for this type of fan interaction, and it allowed fans the chance to see their favorite players in action for the Midsummer Classic.

Unfortunately, the MLB hit some rough patches in the All-Star voting process. In 1957, Cincinnati Reds fans stuffed ballot boxes, resulting in seven Reds players being selected to the starting lineup.

That situation is uncommon today, but other concerns remain.

As with financial situations in baseball, big market teams often have an advantage. The All-Star voting situation is no different. New York, Los Angeles and Boston are all major markets in professional sports. With larger markets come a larger number of fans, and with more fans come more All-Star votes.

This year, Reds first baseman Joey Votto is among the league leaders in several statistical categories. Frankly, Votto is tearing up opposing pitching and putting together a phenomenal year.

Votto is not on the National League All-Star roster. He simply did not receive enough votes.

But even if Votto were not the leading vote getter at his position, there is still a way to get on the roster and be deemed an All-Star. Each team carries two or more players at each position. The team’s manager selects the reserve players.

Votto heads a long list of deserving players who were denied the opportunity to play in the All-Star game, the spots instead filled by fan and manager favorites, and up-and-coming rookie phenoms.

There is a big problem with that process. Many managers and fans favor their own players. Many of those players are selected to an All-Star squad.

If the All-Star game meant nothing but a break from a grueling 162-game season, I probably would not take exception to the process. Being labeled an “All-Star” is a notable accolade, but the extent of the honor is limited.

Before 2003, being awarded a spot on the All-Star roster was nothing more than an honor for the players. Since then, the game has taken on a whole new meaning.

In 2003, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig came to terms with the league’s player union on new ramifications for the All-Star game. The game would decide home-field advantage for the World Series.

Home-field advantage plays a major factor in the MLB playoffs. Each series consists of an odd number of games, thus ensuring one team an extra game on its home turf. In 2003, the league decided one of the most important factors in the playoffs was to be decided by an exhibition game, played by Major League ballplayers selected by a flawed system.

As long as fans and biased coaches are selecting All-Star squad rosters, players like Joey Votto are going to continue to be snubbed and home-field advantage in the World Series will continue to be a joke.

The talking heads of Major League Baseball are trying to make the All-Star game into something it is not–meaningful. For so many years, the Midsummer Classic represented a much-needed break for players to spend time with their family, heal injuries and take time away from the mental aspect of the game for a few days. The All-Star break should continue to be just that.

Perhaps the new ramifications of the All-Star game are good for the competitive nature of the league. If that is the case, why is the selection process so blatantly out of date?

Fans should continue to choose players they want to see in one of America’s favorite exhibition games. Managers should continue to be allowed to select a few players they want on the roster. But, the process needs to be tweaked.

The MLB needs to bring statistics into the equation. It cannot allow the selection process to be a popularity contest with so much on the line. The best players need to be on the field for the All-Star game. The fate of two MLB ball clubs depends on it.

The World Series is the ultimate destination for every Major League player and team. A World Series Championship is what separates one team from the other 31 in a given year. Because the World Series is so important, shouldn’t the All-Star selection be held to a higher standard?

The MLB has struggled with a decline in popularity in recent years. The biggest reason for that is the shortsightedness of MLB officials, and their unwillingness to make the changes needed to clear up issues like this. From steroids to instant replay to rule changes, Commissioner Selig and the players union have dropped the ball repeatedly.

If the All-Star game could potentially decide the fate of World Series participants, the league needs to address the issue and make changes before it is too late.

In making the decision to leave legendary Rosenblatt Stadium for TD Ameritrade Park, the NCAA has essentially announced that it is ready to take the next step. Maybe it was fitting, then, that UCLA advanced to the championship series in Rosenblatt’s final days. Maybe the Bruins’ loss to South Carolina in the finals was merely the beginning of their own college baseball renaissance.

In the aftermath of Tuesday night’s loss to the Gamecocks, the mood among the Bruins wasn’t about missed opportunities or coulda-woulda-shouldas. Instead, the focus was twofold: appreciating the year that was and looking ahead to the future that will be.

“I’m so proud of our players and program, the strives that we’ve made,” coach John Savage said. “It’s been a long journey. I’ve told the players that they’ve now reached the pinnacle in college baseball.”

Not bad for a group of guys that, at this time a year ago, probably felt that they were at its base. In 2009, UCLA went 27-29 and failed to qualify for postseason play. An offseason of introspection and commitment to chemistry later, the Bruins rattled off 22 straight wins before anyone could blink. It was undoubtedly a special season that ended with them being the penultimate team in the nation.

“Now every player in that locker room knows what it feels like, what all the hard work and all the sacrifice to get to where they are,” Savage said.

Despite the history that the Bruins made – they set the program record for wins and advanced further than any other UCLA baseball team – they left some unfinished business on the table. UCLA was swept at home by conference rival Arizona State and went winless again in the final best-of-three series against South Carolina, in which they scored just two runs in 20 innings.

Plus, the fact that they put together a record-setting season didn’t help ease the heartbreak the Bruins felt after being eliminated in walkoff fashion on Tuesday.

“Emotions are running wild,” outfielder Brett Krill said afterward. “I just can’t say enough about this team.”

The Bruins now face an interesting offseason. Pitchers Rob Rasmussen and Dan Klein are most certainly gone after getting selected high in the MLB Draft. Seniors Blair Dunlap, Justin Uribe and Garett Claypool have graduated, and key contributors Krill, Matt Grace and Niko Gallego could also depart.

But the team returns two of its aces in Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer, as well as the bulk of a lineup that will benefit from the return of rising junior Tyler Rahmatulla and rising sophomore Cody Keefer, both of whom missed the College World Series with injuries.

With that much talent coming back and having gotten so close this year, UCLA will be all the more hungry in 2011.

“Now the bar’s been raised,” Savage said. “We look to be back (to Omaha) as soon as possible.”

New stadium in Omaha, new expectations. Should the Bruins be back in Nebraska next year, there will be no time for being in awe of the stage. This year’s team set a new standard for UCLA baseball, and while that is not completely satisfying for the group of departees that helped take the team to the brink, it is pretty darn good.

“We really were the best team that this school has ever seen,” Rasmussen said. “We set the bar for this program really. That’s something that we’re all very proud and something that we came here to do. So looking back on it, I think we’ll all be pretty happy.”

No, I am not talking about the possibility of LeBron James walking away from the Cleveland Cavaliers.

This is about something even more ingrained into the prototypical idea of American sports. This is about something that has been a staple in our country for 61 years.

The book on Rosenblatt Stadium, home of the College World Series, was officially closed after South Carolina won the CWS title on a walk-off hit Tuesday.

The ballpark that sits on a hill in Omaha, Neb., will soon be demolished in order to make way for a new state-of-the-art facility.

TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, a beautiful 24,000-seat stadium that will become the new home of the CWS, is being built just three miles north of Rosenblatt.

Corporate executives are going to love the comfortable venue loaded with 30 luxury suites and 1,000 club seats, but baseball fans won’t.

This move is a travesty.

Unlike Rosenblatt, which is on the south side of Omaha in the middle of an empty field next to sports bars and famous eating spots, Ameritrade Park will be located in the downtown area.

When I made the trip to cover the CWS a couple of weeks ago, I saw what everybody was talking about. It felt like what baseball is supposed to feel like.

Tailgaters surrounded the stadium and fans stood in lines for hours just for a chance at tickets to catch a glimpse of the action.

If you didn’t know, college baseball doesn’t usually draw the biggest crowd. But in Omaha, it does.

Sure, Ameritrade Park will be in that same city, but things won’t be the same.

As I drove by the semi-built stadium, I couldn’t help but notice the gigantic shadows projected onto Ameritrade Park by the sky-rise buildings looming over it. These money-making landmarks mark the end of tailgating alongside the stadium and the famous eating spots like Zesto’s Drive-in, a legendary burger and milkshake joint located next to Rosenblatt which makes 80 to 90 percent of its profit during the CWS.

This is just one of the factors that played into the fans’ decision to boo Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle at the opening ceremonies.

But let’s just think about the logistics of this move.

The Omaha Royals, a minor league affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, call Rosenblatt their home, too. But they aren’t following the CWS to Ameritrade Park because they thought it would be too big for them. Instead, another stadium is being built for the Royals.

That’s right, two baseball stadiums within 20 minutes of each other are under construction simultaneously. They are expected to cost $154 million combined.

None of this makes any sense.

There is something to be said about the feel of an old ballpark full of tradition that witnessed 61 years full of special CWS moments, Robin Ventura’s NCAA-record 58 game hitting streak come to an end and thousands upon thousands of fans travel to a part of Omaha that is not often visited if it isn’t for the CWS.

The ballpark was not even in bad shape. I had the opportunity to walk around the stadium multiple times and sit in the crowd to watch some of the games, and everything was in good condition by my standards.

Rosenblatt looked as pretty as ever. It seemed to be freshly painted and all of the facilities were up to the times.

I know the CWS can’t be played in Rosenblatt forever, but it just doesn’t seem like their is a reason to change sites right now.

What is going to happen to the nearby restaurant owners which wait all year for the CWS to come around to make their profits? What is going to happen to the house next to Rosenblatt whose residents earn over a $1,000 a year from parking cars in their yard?

A lot of people are going to feel the effects of this loss, not only baseball fans.

But once the old ballpark is demolished, there is no looking back.

Instead, the adjacent Henry Doorly Zoo, one of the top zoos in the country, will take control of the sacred land once the ballpark is knocked down. A little league replica of Rosenblatt will be built on the site, too.

This mini version of the stadium seems fitting with all of the childish politics that went into this decision.

Merrifield’s walkoff RBI single scored Scott Wingo and lifted South Carolina to a 2-1, 11-inning victory that made the Gamecocks the College World Series champions Tuesday night, as they swept the Bruins in the best-of-three series.

It was a disappointing end to an historic season for UCLA. The Bruins (51-17) set a program record for wins and advanced further than any UCLA team had ever gone. But in the series to determine the national champion, the Bruins ran into a South Carolina team that was clicking on all cylinders.

“They’ve earned the right to be called national champs,” UCLA coach John Savage said of South Carolina. “They’re the last ones standing.”

The Gamecocks’ victory Tuesday night was their sixth straight in Omaha, all coming after they lost their opener to Oklahoma.

South Carolina – thought to be boasting the weaker of the two pitching staffs entering the series – held UCLA to two runs over the two games. The Gamecocks (54-16) got just enough offense on Tuesday night, tying the game at 1 in the bottom of the eighth before closing out the 2010 season in walkoff fashion. UCLA, meanwhile, failed to come through at the plate when it mattered most.

“We just could not come up with the big hit,” Savage said. “That was the story the last two nights.”

Klein threw 73 pitches in his longest outing of the season. The fateful 11th inning was his fourth inning of work, as he exchanged zeroes with South Carolina’s closer Matt Price in the late innings. Klein walked Wingo to start the 11th. The Gamecock second baseman then advanced to second on a passed ball and third on a bunt before Merrifield was able to drive him in.

Trevor Bauer, who started for UCLA on Saturday, got loose in the bullpen multiple times throughout the late innings, including in the 11th.

UCLA got on the board in the fifth when Niko Gallego drove in Trevor Brown. It was just the second – and final – run that the Bruins scored in the final series. For a while, however, it appeared that that’s all the Bruins would need. They got a strong start from Rob Rasmussen, who went six shutout innings before turning the ball over to Erik Goeddel to start the seventh inning.

“Once you get taken out it gets nerve-racking,” Rasmussen said.

How right he was. South Carolina scored its run in the eighth when UCLA first baseman Dean Espy failed to field a groundball. Espy hurt his right hand punching the dugout bench in frustration and had to be removed from the game.

Although the game was won in the 11th, it might have been lost in the early innings. UCLA stranded runners on base in each of the first three innings. The Bruins also loaded the bases in the top of the ninth but Price struck out Gallego to maintain the tie.

As the home team, South Carolina had a chance to win with every at-bat from the ninth inning on. Bright flashbulbs popped around the ballpark like Nebraskan fireflies. The atmosphere was celebratory and electric, but the eventual ending was a somber one for the Bruins.

“Emotions are running wild,” said UCLA outfielder Brett Krill, who hit a pair of balls to the warning track for outs and watched the game-winning hit fall in right field. “I just can’t say enough about this team. It was a battle, and South Carolina played a great game, but so did we.”

“In the locker room it’s hard to hold your emotions in,” Rasmussen added. “You get so close and you fall short, that hurts.”

The night was also significant in that it was the final game to be played at historic Rosenblatt Stadium. As the game progressed into the late innings, it seemed destined that the Rosenblatt legend come down to a final at-bat. In the end, the Gamecocks turned the ballpark into a party, with fireworks bidding good-bye to Rosenblatt. With South Carolina celebrating just its second ever national championship across all sports – and its many fans cheering in jubilation –Rosenblatt was, fittingly in the end, a Merrifield.

Whit Merrifield delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning to score Scott Wingo to win the game 2-1. This marks the second NCAA Championship in school history, the first in the three major sports of baseball, basketball and football.

UCLA led for most of the game by one run until Bobby Haney forced an error on UCLA first baseman Trevor Brown, which scored Robert Beary.

With the game tied, freshman closer Matt Price came in the shut it down. He succeeded.

Price pitched like a maestro and kept the Gamecocks in the game through the extra innings. Wingo drew a walk in the eleventh, advanced to second on a past ball and the rest is history.

It’s hard writing about a place as special, magnificent and historic as Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, having never personally been there.

There was a moment this past season, when Texas was hotter than any team in the nation, I thought I’d be there to see its farewell tour while covering the Longhorns, who were arguably the kings of Rosenblatt from 2000-2009 with six trips to the College World Series, two national championships and two second-place finishes. Instead, I’ve watched the final eight teams compete in Rosenblatt for the last time on television and in bars, and I can’t help but feel a little sad.

For so long, Rosenblatt seemed untouchable. A dream. The mecca of college baseball that delivered more magic than Disney and had a reputation for turning young men into heroes and legends.

My first memory of Rosenblatt, and the CWS, came when I was 7 and saw Louisiana State’s Warren Morris blast a two-out, two-run home run just over the right-field wall in the bottom of the ninth to beat Miami 9-8 and win the 1996 national championship.

After that, I was hooked. I didn’t need any reminder when the CWS was starting. I knew Rosenblatt was a place built for dreams and history. Part of me even wanted to play for LSU for a while after that — only for a little bit, though.

With the stadium’s remaining lifetime down to possibly two more games, it’s hard to imagine the CWS and Omaha, Neb., without it. Instead, college baseball’s national championship will be played three miles north at the new, $128 million TD Ameritrade Park that seats 24,000.

The name could use some work.

A year from now, the only thing that will still be standing at Rosenblatt’s original location are the foul poles and home plate, after 61 years of hosting the “Greatest Show on Dirt.” The field, lights, dugouts and stands will become a pile of rubble, and the area will be used to provide additional parking for the Omaha Zoo.

Since the CWS’s inception in 1950, the event has drawn more than 7 million fans and has grown from its original capacity of 10,000 to 23,000. A mere 17,805 people came the first year and a record 336,076 came in 2009.

But will it be the same? It’s hard to imagine the CWS without Rosenblatt and the atmosphere it has created for Omaha. Sure, people complained about the concourses being too narrow, the clubhouses too small and parking the limited parking, but the history overshadows it all.

“If you’re a sports fan, you need to attend the College World Series because of the festival that it is,” Texas head coach Augie Garrido said. “It’s right up there with the Kentucky Derby or anything else you can name. It’s pretty damn special.”

Yes, the new stadium will be nice, with a 360-degree concourse, more restrooms, big clubhouses, 26 luxury suites and indoor batting cages. There will be more than enough room for the iconic tailgating that goes on, but the new stadium will face a lot of the same challenges the new Yankee Stadium has — making new memories and looking forward.

“I cry every day,” Greg Pivovar, the 19-year owner of the Stadium View souvenir shop, told The New York Times. “It’s a rough goodbye.”

With the last college championship finals at Rosenblatt wrapping up as soon as tonight with UCLA and South Carolina, there are only a few more moments of magic left on its hallowed field. Pivovar asked customers to write farewell messages on the north side of his shop, across the street from the stadium.

Rosenblatt will still host the Class AAA Omaha Royals and the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League to complete their seasons, but it will never again be used for what it’s most known for.

All we can do is look at the “Road to Omaha” statue out front one last time and hope for a three-game series, so we can have one more chance to see the best in college baseball battle in Rosenblatt.

Or, go on a spontaneous all-night road trip to catch the final CWS game. I hear it’s worth it.

Holaday is the 11th player to win the award since its inception in 2000. It is the first major award won by a TCU baseball player in school history.

A first-team all-conference member, Holaday adds to his list of accolades, which also include second-team All-America honors. He is a three-time MWC Hitter of the Week winner and was also named MVP of both the Houston College Classic and the Mountain West Conference Tournament. He earned a spot on the 11-man College World Series all-tournament team.

Holaday was clearly the leader of the team, helping lead the Horned Frogs to their first-ever appearance in the College World Series. He was one of just two Frogs to start all 68 games this season. He hit .355 with a school-record 99 hits. He tallied 72 runs scored and drove in 53. Holaday hit 24 doubles, one triple and 17 home runs.

Defensively, Holaday guided a staff that posted a 3.55 ERA. As a team, the Frogs surrendered just 30 stolen bases in 57 attempts. Holaday threw out 46% of the runners trying to steal and posted a .988 fielding percentage.

He was one of three finalists for the award, joining Miami’s Yasmani Grandl and Coastal Carolina’s Jose Iglesias at the award’s ceremony in Wichita, Kan.

Previous Winners: 2009 J.T. Wise, University of Oklahoma 2008 Buster Posey, Florida State University 2007 Edward Easley, Mississippi State University 2006 Jake Smith, East Carolina University 2005 Jeff Clement, University of Southern California 2004 Kurt Suzuki, Cal State – Fullerton 2003 Ryan Garko, Stanford University 2002 Jeremy Brown, University of Alabama 2001 Kelly Shoppach, Baylor University 2000 Brad Cresse, Louisiana State University

Miles is regarded as one of the top recruiters in the nation, landing the likes of Russell Shepard, Patrick Peterson and Chad Jones.

Mainieri holds his own in the recruiting world as well, having signed Leon Landry, Austin Nola and Anthony Ranaudo, among others.

Now the two coaches are forced to muster their recruiting prowess into one prospect who could alter the future of LSU football and baseball — phenom Zach Lee of McKinney, Texas.

The two-sport star dominated the high school gridiron on Friday nights, throwing for 2,564 yards and 31 touchdowns his senior season, and owned the diamond, striking out 90 batters and leading McKinney High School with a 11-3 record and a 2.15 ERA.

Lee, with his 6-foot-4-inch, 200-pound stature, was drafted 28th overall June 7 by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2010 MLB Draft, but he is currently attending summer classes at LSU and working with the football team.

Bobby Reyes, Lee’s football coach at McKinney, said he predicts his former quarterback will choose to play at LSU.

“He’s told me all along … he wanted to go to school, and he wanted to play both [football and baseball],” Reyes said.

Reyes said he talked to Lee about the potential of having to decide between LSU and an MLB team.

“It’s a decision him and his family will have to make,” Reyes said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it — that’s what he always told me.”

Shea Dixon, managing editor of TigerSportsDigest.com, said Lee may make his decision before Aug. 16, the deadline for drafted players to sign.

“Coach Mainieri usually asks his guys to give him some sort of heads up,” Dixon said. “I’m guessing it won’t come down to the last hour.”

Dixon talked to Lee before he enrolled in LSU, and Dixon said all indications point to the athlete joining the Tigers on the field.

“The impression I got is that he is looking forward to college,” Dixon said.

Mainieri said he was surprised Lee went in the first round.

“The Dodgers took him in the first round, and really, from my knowledge, they had not really had any conversations with him about whether or not he was signable,” Mainieri said at a media session the day of the draft. “His asking price is through the roof.”

Dixon said the Dodgers, already struggling financially after the divorce of owner Frank McCourt, drafted the pitcher knowing he would be tough to sign.

“At first the numbers were $2 and 3 [million],” Dixon said. “Then I heard the Dodgers people were saying anywhere from $4 to 6 [million].”

Rene Nadeau, college football analyst for ESPN and TigerVision, said LSU is the favorite to land Lee.

“There’s a better-than-average chance he’s going to go to LSU,” Nadeau said. “The Dodgers’ situation with the divorce — that’s going to make him tough to sign. Money is just not available.”

Los Angeles has signed most of its draft picks, including the second and third round picks.
Ralston Cash, a high school pitcher from Georgia, and former LSU outfielder Leon Landry have inked deals with the Dodgers since the draft.

“We’re all hoping that [Lee] shocks the world and doesn’t sign as a first-round draft choice,” Mainieri said.

Reyes said Lee has the ability to be a duel-sport athlete for the Tigers.

“He’s talented enough to play quarterback and pitch for LSU,” Reyes said. “He’s somebody that can balance the two.”

Lee was the only quarterback in LSU’s 2010 recruiting class. Shepard, who has now moved to wide receiver, and Chris Garrett from Tupelo, Miss., were signed as quarterback in the 2009 class.

“It’s unrealistic for him to come in and compete for the starting spot.” Nadeau said. “[Junior quarterback] Jordan Jefferson’s going to be given every opportunity possible.”

Nadeau said Lee would see more time on the mound of Alex Box Stadium early in his career.

“It would be a bigger shot in the arm to Paul Mainieri,” Nadeau said. “He has a lot more to gain immediately than Les Miles does.”

Dixon said Lee has started off strong in limited football practices this summer in Baton Rouge.

“From what I hear, he is impressing the coaches,” Dixon said.

Reyes knows what LSU will be losing if Lee signs a deal with the Dodgers.

“LSU better really pray he doesn’t sign a baseball contract,” Reyes said. “He can be a big part of what they do for the next four years.”

Reyes said Lee’s best attributes are his short-term memory and potential to grow from his 200-pound frame.

Off the field, Reyes said Lee, who had a 4.8 GPA at McKinney, is down to Earth and humble among all the hype surrounding him.

“He’s a yes sir, no sir kind of guy,” Reyes said. “Zach is as fine of a young man as you’re going to meet.”

Sure, “Field of Dreams” – the appropriately named 1989 film in which James Earl Jones’ character, Terrence Mann, utters the above words – took place in Iowa, but its application to the College World Series, held in Omaha, Neb., is apt. After all, nothing but a zoo and a river separates Rosenblatt Stadium from the Hawkeye State.

Baseball just feels right here in the Midwest, and nowhere more so than at the venue named for former Omaha mayor Johnny Rosenblatt. Shoeless Joe Jackson and Co. may not have emerged like Gandalf from the afterlife to play at Rosenblatt like they did in the ’89 movie, but Rosenblatt has been the site of dreams – and of nightmares – in its 61 glorious years of hosting the College World Series.

The three-game series between UCLA and South Carolina that begins today will be the beginning of the end for the stadium. 2010 is the last year that Rosenblatt will serve as the tournament’s host.

“They’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.”

The heartland that is the Midwest is often referred to as the crossroads of America, so perhaps it’s only natural that there’s a sense of anything-can-happen, things-can-go-any-direction around Rosenblatt.

“This place is an adventure of its own,” TCU pitcher Matt Purke said after he led his team to a win over UCLA on Friday. “You never know what’s going to happen here.”

A combination of draconian heat, tricky winds, crowds of 20,000-plus and the grandeur of the stage make for an unparalleled baseball experience. Not that the future site of the event – the sickeningly corporate TD Ameritrade Park – won’t feature those things, but at Rosenblatt it just feels proper. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the name itself evokes an image of spring. Indeed, for 61 memorable fortnights, the stadium has flourished. It blossoms into something brilliant. It becomes a Rose-in-bloom.

“The one constant through all the years … has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.”

It certainly does in Omaha, where the entire city pulses with action when baseball descends upon it. At its epicenter is Rosenblatt, atop a grassy knoll, its blue girders still appearing as strong as ever and giving little evidence that they have held fast for six decades.

Recently passed coaching legend John Wooden would probably agree with Terrence Mann’s assessment of the game; it has long been said that Wooden’s favorite sport was baseball, which makes sense considering he was born in Indiana. If this is the heartland, the red stitches on a baseball are the primary arteries.

Little has changed in America’s game since Wooden was born in 1910; the two most significant alterations have been the creation of the designated hitter and the banning of beer sales at ballparks after the seventh inning (and I would argue that the latter was probably a reaction to the former).

In “Field of Dreams,” the man who builds a mystical ballpark in his Iowa cornfield does so at the behest of a heavenly voice, and a supernatural journey promptly commences.

So maybe – just maybe – this series serves as one of those magical moments unique to baseball. Since Wooden’s passing, the UCLA softball team won their sport’s championship, held in Oklahoma, and now their male counterparts are on the cusp of a title of their own. Is the Wizard still working his magic from above? Only in baseball, and maybe, only here in the Midwest.

Rosenblatt Stadium is perfect in that it is both a salute to baseball’s enduring past, and a launching pad for its future stars. Crossroads of America, definitely.

“This field, this game, it’s a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again. People will come … People will most definitely come.”

For 61 years, people have come. This year, they came from California and Arizona and Texas, from Oklahoma and Florida and South Carolina. They come to Rosenblatt and they spend two weeks filling their bellies with steak and their minds with baseball. If they had a day or two to spare, they could drive east and soon find themselves at the eponymous Field of Dreams, where legends live on and magic is reality.

But why take the drive when there’s something just as good right here at Rosenblatt? Sixty-one years of dreams later, it will be bittersweet to awaken.

The former first-round draft pick and ace starting pitcher wasn’t missing any of South Carolina’s bats. The typically stout defense was sloppier than a Rosenblatt Stadium Chili Cheese Fry Special. The patient, deliberate offensive attack managed just one hit through the first eight innings and had all the potency of a blade of grass.

The result? A 7-1 win for South Carolina in the first game of a best-of-three series to determine the College World Series champion.

“I told the team after the game, it wasn’t our pitching, it wasn’t our defense, it wasn’t our offense,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “It was everybody. But on the other hand, you gotta give South Carolina a ton of credit.”

The Gamecocks (53-16) did indeed dominate in every aspect of the game, and it appeared that Lady Luck was in their dugout from the outset. South Carolina scored a pair of runs in the first inning off UCLA right-hander Gerrit Cole, doing so on a bunt base hit, a bloop single, a check swing line drive and a routine ground ball that went right between the legs of second baseman Cody Regis. The entire rally came with two outs, and seemed to take all the life out of the Bruins (51-16).

South Carolina added a run in the second and two more in the third off Cole, who suffered through arguably one of the worst outings in his career in his biggest start. The sophomore finished the night having gone seven innings and giving up six runs, four of them earned. He yielded 11 hits and struck out two as he seemed to lack the aggressiveness and tenacity that made him one of the nation’s best pitchers during the season. Despite getting ahead on a number of hitters, Cole was often unable to finish the deal.

“They had a great approach,” Cole said. “I don’t know what the approach was, but whatever it was it worked.”

Cole’s struggles on the hill were magnified thanks to the performance of his counterpart; South Carolina’s Blake Cooper was lights-out from the get-go. UCLA didn’t get its first hit until the fifth inning. Cooper hit two batters and walked just one, and when the Bruins did make contact, it was generally hit weakly or right at a Gamecock fielder. The senior struck out 10 and was pulled after UCLA managed to load the bases with nobody out in the ninth. John Taylor came out of the bullpen to get a double-play ball that scored a run before getting a fly-ball out to end the ballgame.

“(Cooper) mixed it up well tonight, he kept us off balance,” said UCLA catcher Steve Rodriguez, who had the Bruins’ lone hit through the first eight innings. “We didn’t make enough adjustments at the plate.”

In front of a crowd predominantly adorned in garnet and black, the Gamecocks possessed all the energy in the contest.

The victory gives South Carolina an early advantage in the series, although the Bruins are far from out of it. In its most recent three-game set – against Cal State Fullerton in the Super Regionals – UCLA dropped the opener but came back and won the final two games. For that to happen in Omaha and give the baseball program its first-ever championship, a lot is going to need to happen for the Bruins. They could start by remembering who they are and how they got here.

“He’s still in the hospital in what will be a long recovery process,” Bonnette said.

Jones’ 2010 Range Rover ran into a street car line pole on Carrollton Avenue. The two other passengers in the SUV were unharmed.

The New Orleans native was back home after attending organized team activities with the Giants.

“Chad is extremely alert, and he’s in good spirits,” Al Jones Sr. said in an LSU press release. “His leg and foot are looking better. This is going to be a long process, but everything is positive right now. We are just beginning the healing process.”

Bonnette said Chad Jones has appreciated all the messages sent by LSU fans and friends.

“The athletic department has tried to give people the opportunity to send Chad and his family messages to get well,” Bonnette said. “He knows we support him any way he needs us to.”

Jones was drafted in the third round of April’s NFL Draft by the New York Giants and in the 50th round of this year’s MLB draft by the Milwaukee Brewers.

The safety reportedly signed a four-year, $2.6 million contract with the Giants. His future is uncertain after Saturday’s surgery.

“It’s going to be a lengthy process for Chad,” Bonnette said. “There’s no time table on it.”
Bonnette said Jones’ family is holding up strong.

“They are doing the best they can,” Bonnette said. “They are taking it day by day.”

Bonnette said LSU football coach Les Miles visited Jones on Friday to spend time with his family.

The Southern Lab High School alumnus doubled as a safety and pitcher for the Tigers, winning national championships in both football and baseball.

Jones started 19 games as a safety, most notably the 2009 game against Mississippi State when Jones returned a punt 93 yards for a touchdown and helped stop the Bulldogs during a goal-line stand in the final minutes.

On the diamond, Jones played in 27 games, including the third game of the national     championship series when he pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings against Texas.

Stick Purke in the Microsoft Word database of synonyms for undefeated, clutch and reliable. He’s a right-click and scroll of the mouse away from extending what has become a memorable 2010 College World Series for TCU in Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium’s last year of service.

Purke had shut down Texas and Florida State consecutively in the NCAA postseason; he gave up one run to the Longhorns with 11 strikeouts and didn’t allow an earned run to the Seminoles in TCU’s first CWS victory.

Head TCU baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle said his team wouldn’t see pitching like they saw against Texas in the Austin Super Regional, but UCLA is the next best thing. The Bruins rank second in the nation in team ERA (2.97), compared to Texas’ nation-best 2.47 ERA.

The Bruins’ probable starter will be junior southpaw Rob Rasmussen (11-2, 2.73 ERA). Rasmussen, a Florida Marlins second-round draft pick, is ranked third in the Pac-10 in strikeouts (117).

Rasmussen has been able to finish teams off for UCLA in the postseason: Rasmussen was the starting pitcher in the Bruins’ 6-2 win against UC-Irvine; he also finished of Cal State-Fullerton in the Los Angeles Super Regional, throwing a two-hit complete game to give UCLA their third CWS berth.

“I think UCLA, no disrespect to anybody else we’ve played, they’re the best team,” said TCU head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle. “Oklahoma and UCLA are the two best teams I think we’ve seen all together.

“Texas is right there with them with their pitching for sure. But UCLA is a very complete team.”

UCLA pounced on TCU starting pitcher Kyle Winkler, who didn’t last three innings, in the Bruins’ 6-3 route of TCU Monday.

Frogs’ starting pitcher Steven Maxwell lasted the same number of outs as Maxwell against Florida State Wednesday, but TCU couldn’t muster any eighth inning heroics against a defensively solid UCLA team (FSU committed five errors Wed.).

“(The Bruins) are a great club; they have great pitching,” said TCU All-American catcher Bryan Holaday. “They play really good defense. They hit really well. It’s going to be a really tough game going into them, but we’re really looking forward to it.

“Were right where we want to be, our backs against the wall and were throwing one of our best pitchers (in Matt Purke).”

The TCU-UCLA rematch would only be half the battle for TCU to reach the CWS Final, as well as just one win out of the five the Frogs need to be crowned champions after Monday’s loss to UCLA.

18 out of the last 20 CWS champions were 2-0 entering their respective Bracket Final. UCLA or Clemson would continue that trend in 2010 if either team were to win the NCAA Baseball Championship.

The Clemson-South Carolina game will follow the TCU-UCLA game at 8 p.m. Friday on ESPN2.

South Carolina is in the same shoes as TCU after eliminating Oklahoma 3-2 in extra innings Thursday. The Gamecocks would have to beat the Tigers twice to advance out of Bracket 2.

Florida State (48-20) was a mere six outs away from facing sixth-ranked UCLA when the day’s mistakes (a season-high five errors) and a persistent TCU team (53-13) finally caught up with FSU, which proved to be the difference in the game.

FSU entered the top half of the eighth inning with a 7-3 lead and reliever Geoff Parker on the mound. Parker, efficient upon relief that previous Monday in the ’Noles’ first elimination game against the Florida Gators, was unexpectedly forced to hand the ball over to closer Mike McGee because of swelling and clear discomfort in his throwing elbow after just three batters.

After TCU’s Brance Rivera grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Jantzen Witte, who had reached on FSU’s fifth and final error of the day, cutting the lead to three.

An RBI double by Jerome Pena that reduced the lead to 7-5 was followed with a walk to Jason Coats, who loaded the bases and the hearts of TCU players and fans for first baseman, Matt Curry, to capitalize upon.

McGee, who was named as a third team All-American for his efforts as the ’Noles closer, threw a slider to Curry with the count full.

From that pitch on, nothing for the rest of the game was full for FSU as their championship hopes deflated after Curry smashed a go-ahead grandslam to center field.

Casual observers might be quick to point the finger at McGee. To the Seminole faithful, however, watching McGee struggle was like watching Lex Luthor sprinkle Kryptonite in Superman’s Corn Flakes. Although a baseball team is undeniably greater than the sum of its parts, it was McGee that had a walk-off home run and a crucial Game 3 save in Super Regionals that allowed the ’Noles to advance to the College World Series.

“Michael is the reason we’re here,” FSU head coach Mike Martin said. “You can’t go through a season without experiencing some problems. We ran into a hot-hitting ball club that did an outstanding job of getting themselves back in the game.”

After surrendering a single to Josh Elander, McGee was replaced by reliever Hunter Scantling. Scantling gave up a two-run homer to the next batter, Witte, who was up for the second time in the inning, capping off an eight-run eighth inning for the Horned Frogs.

All runs were unearned. The ’Noles committed five errors on the day, leading to nine TCU runs.

“Being up with six outs, you’re definitely expecting to win the game,” said third baseman Sherman Johnson, who, along with shortstop Stephen Cardullo, led the ’Noles with three hits. “It felt like we just couldn’t get out of that inning—felt like we were stuck on the field. Not a good feeling.”

The Seminoles would load the bases in the home half of the eighth, but after a shallow fly-out by McGee, the ‘Noles would get no closer, falling 11-7.

Their defeat marked the 20th time in as many appearances at the CWS that they failed to return to Tallahassee with a championship, the most appearances without a title of any Division I school. The ’Noles consistently attend the final stages of the NCAA Tournament, but have not advanced to the championship round since 1999, where they fell to Miami.

It was their 14th appearance under current head coach Mike Martin, and a win by the ’Noles during the final season at historic Rosenblatt Stadium would have been a fitting final chapter in the drama of college baseball’s home for 65 years. Next season, the Series will move to downtown Omaha and the newly constructed TD Ameritrade Stadium, a place Martin is already planning to visit.

“We played some very good clubs in order to get here,” Martin said. “To all of you, and I mean this, thank you for a great run at Rosenblatt. And I sure want to see you at TD next year.”

So do we, coach.

If the winningest manager in big league history was still stalking dugouts today in his trademark straw hat, he could say the same words about South Carolina coach Ray Tanner.

There are a lot of reasons why South Carolina, after a 4-3 defeat of archrival Clemson tonight, has risen from the bleak depths of the loser’s bracket to within 54 defensive outs of the school’s first national championship.

But, whether you’ve watched Carolina’s run in Omaha from the friendly confines of Rosenblatt Stadium, in high-definition from your northern New Jersey family room or someplace in-between, one thing has been readily apparent: the biggest reason, by a mile, has been the gutsy and brilliant tactical maneuvers by USC’s grizzled leader, who has channeled Stengel ever since the postseason began.

At first glance, it’s hard to find a lot of similarities between Stengel, the ebullient “Old Perfesser” and the stoic Tanner. But, in guiding the Gamecocks back to the College World Series finals for the first time since 2002, Tanner has exhibited the guile and instincts that Stengel relied upon in managing the Yankees to seven world championship.

Stengel was notorious for playing any and all hunches that crossed his mind – he was the first manager to strategically pinch hit for pitchers in an attempt to break a game open, and he was even known to move players in and out of the lineup as early as the bottom of the first inning. Little he did ever seemed to make sense, that is, until the Bronx Bombers prevailed, which was more often than not.

Tanner has been in that same zone of late, and it too has led to wins for the Gamecocks.

It started prior to the Columbia Regional. After using freshman outfielder Evan Marzilli for little more than late-inning defensive insurance and national anthem stylings on the electric guitar during the regular season, Tanner saw something out of him in the practices leading up to the regional, and decided to start him in the opening game against Bucknell and in a pinch hitting spot against The Citadel the next day.

In return, Tanner got six hits and five runs batted in total out of the young buck from Rhode Island.

Then, the elimination game against Oklahoma, which was to Tanner’s gambling spirit as the Mona Lisa was to da Vinci. First, there was the insane idea to throw Blake Cooper on three days rest after throwing 67 pitches against the same Sooners in the opening game loss. Many scoffed at the decision. When Cooper walked off the mound after 5 2/3 brilliant innings of one run, four hit ball, nobody was armchair managing Tanner.

A little bit later that night, with OU entering the bottom of the 12^th leading 2-1 and three outs from ending Carolina’s season, the leadoff hitter in the frame for USC was Robert Beary – who had entered the game off the bench and looked horrible in his only at-bat, not even lifting the aluminum off his shoulder as he struck out looking.

Many thought Tanner should pinch hit for Beary, an assumed automatic out in a situation where USC had precious few batter retirements left to play with. Many more jumped on to that sentiment’s bandwagon when Beary fell behind 0-2 on two big looping and late hacks.

Ping. Line drive. Base hit. Left field.

Moments later, Mr. Beary went from second to home on Jackie Bradley’s 3-2, two out RBI stroke to right, tying the game at 2. Bradley himself came around soon after that (with Beary jumping into his arms), sending USC to Palmetto State Baseball Armageddon in Omaha, Part II, and Tanner in search of a starting pitcher.

Several names were bandied about: Tyler Webb, Jay Brown, Matt Price, Jose Mata.

The name that was chosen: Michael Roth. Wait, who? Michael Roth? The lefty setup man? Clearly, ol’ Ray had lost his mind. Going to a guy who, best case scenario, could give the team three innings? Nuts.

Well, Roth gave them three innings – times three. The Tigers swung like rusty gates as the southpaw threw an inexplicable three-hitter over nine innings, bringing Carolina to Saturday’s do-or-die, winner-take-all return clash against CU.

Obviously, given the way Roth dominated, the starting pitcher just had to be a lefty. Right? Two days later, Webb was going to get the start he supposed to have gotten against Oklahoma, right?

Nope. Enter Sam Dyson on three-days rest after throwing 100+ pitches. Enter all the second-guesses again.

And, with Dyson’s 5 2/3 innings of two run, five hit ball setting the foundation, enter one of the only two remaining college baseball teams in America wearing garnet and black, as Tanner’s gut once again proved prophetic.

“I don’t think anybody could have managed our club like Casey did,” Don Larsen once said about his old manager, who also happened to be the same guy who gave Larsen, on a hunch, the ball in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series after he had blown a 6-0 lead in Game 2, being rewarded with the only perfect game in postseason history that day.

“He made what some people call stupid moves, but about eight or nine out of ten of them worked.”

For Tanner, it’s been more like ten out of ten have worked over these past few weeks. His hot streak has been a refreshing one, if for nothing more because it proves that it’s still possible in this day and age to win the old-school way rather than the nouveau riche “Moneyball” way.

For better or worse, the modern game of baseball has been hijacked in a sense by a deluge of statistical analysis, sabermetrics and match-up micro-managing. Instead of relying on old-fashioned courage and wiles, managers have begun listening to the insights of Ivy League mathematicians and business students masquerading as baseball men, devouring their printouts and computer-generated charts.

In other words, it has become the complete polar opposite of the game that Casey was a part of for most. But, as we have learned during Carolina’s ten-game march to the promised land, Ray Tanner isn’t one of those neo-hardball guys.

The statheads can have their VORP. Ray, like Casey, has his baseball philosophy measured by a different scale, albeit a four-letter one.

Guts.

Bruins’ starting pitcher Trevor Bauer (12-3) struck out 13 batters and gave up four hits and two earned runs through eight innings. 84 of Bauer’s 135 pitches were for strikes.

Winkler gave up two runs and three hits on nine pitches before head TCU baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle elected to pull him for reliever Paul Gerrish. Six TCU pitchers saw action in the elimination game.

TCU All-American catcher Bryan Holaday knocked out two solo home runs in his final game as a Horned Frog, becoming the 11th player in CWS history to hit four home runs in the same CWS tournament.

With the win UCLA advanced to the best-of-three CWS Final against the Clemson-South Carolina Bracket 2 Final winner. The CWS Championship Series will begin Monday at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN. None of the remaining teams have one a CWS Championship.

The Bruins, boasters of one of the nation’s most dominant array of starting pitchers, ran into an opposing ace in TCU’s Matt Purke that led his Horned Frogs (54-13) to a 6-2 victory.

TCU’s win means that the two teams will play again on Saturday, with the winner advancing to next week’s best-of-three series against either Clemson or South Carolina. Trevor Bauer will start for UCLA.

Purke – a freshman left-hander who improved his record to a remarkable 16-0 with the win – worked at a tremendously fast pace. He went 6 and 1/3 innings, giving up two earned runs on just three hits, while striking out a pair. For its part, UCLA (50-15) made very little good contact against Purke, hitting a number of easy groundballs right at TCU infielders. He also didn’t appreciate the fact that the Bruin hitters tried their best to slow him down.

“I was going to get them out,” he said. “And they could take their time on the bench.”

TCU got runs in the first, second and fourth to build a 3-0 lead. The Bruins clawed their way back to cut the deficit to one, but that was all they could muster.

On the other side, Bruins starter Rob Rasmussen struggled with his command early and never really found a rhythm. The junior left-hander lasted just four innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits and three walks. He did strike out six before yielding to Garett Claypool out of the bullpen.

“I didn’t throw enough strikes,” Rasmussen said.

It was the first action in almost a month for the senior right-hander, and it showed at times. Claypool gave up a two-run homer to sophomore Taylor Featherston and a solo shot to senior Bryan Holaday that eliminated any hope of a Bruin comeback.

“Just felt like we were swimming upstream,” Savage said.

Win 16 broke Lance Broadway’s previous TCU record of 15 wins in a single season, which Purke tied in TCU 11-7 victory over Florida State in Game 1 of the College World Series.

“Coming in I was tied with Lance Broadway, and certainly to be in that category with those guys at TCU, its awesome to have the record,” Purke said. “But hopefully next year I can break my own.

“This is where you want to be as a college player, and to come (to Omaha) as a freshman was phenomenal; I just took it as it is, it’s still baseball, just a different park and a different team.”

Purke typically pounds the strike zone, working fast and getting ahead in the count early, racking up his strike totals. He was 11 strikeouts from the single-season TCU record of 151 entering Friday’s game. He only notched two strikeouts in a 6-2 win over UCLA.

“Jerome (Pena) joked with me this week that (in) the Florida State game I didn’t get him a ground ball,” Purke said. “He said, ‘I want a ground ball.’ Alright, today I’ll give you a few.”

Purke also thought the Bruins conspired to slow down his pace throughout the game. Head TCU baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle thought that was good coaching, but Purke didn’t appreciate any UCLA attempts to disrupt his pitching rhythm.

“I mean, (UCLA) decided that it was their job to take about 20 minutes between the walk from the dugout to the plate,” Purke said. “And you just can’t get rattled with that stuff because teams are going to try to do that, try to break up your rhythm.

“I was able to stay focused and keep getting ground balls, and I figured sooner or later I would get them out and they could take their time on the bench.”

Bush league tactics or good coaching, depending on differences in Purke and Schlossnagle’s opinion, didn’t change the overall moment for the TCU’s star freshman. Regardless of if TCU made it to the College World Series, Purke was comfortable with his decision to come to TCU.

“I knew when I wanted to go to college I wanted to compete for a national championship, that’s why you go to college and play college baseball,” he said.

“I’ve talked to coach, and I’ve told him even if we weren’t here (at the CWS), I’d be 100 percent OK with my decision. I love TCU I love and Fort Worth and I love everything about it, it’s my new family.”

Frogs’ second baseman Jerome Pena and shortstop Taylor Featherston each knocked out left field home runs, combining for five of TCU’s six runs in the game.

Frogs’ All-American catcher Bryan Holaday added his 15th home run of the season for TCU’s sixth run of the game.

Purke (16-0) lasted 6 1/3 innings and gave up two runs on three hits, but it was more than enough to beat UCLA starting pitcher Rob Rasmussen (11-3), who lasted 4 1/3 innings; he allowed six hits and three runs.

Tyler Lockwood recorded his eighth save of the season in relief for Purke–he pitched the final 2 2/3 innings for TCU, allowing no runs and one hit.

TCU and UCLA will square off tomorrow in a do-or-die elimination game for both teams; the winner will advance out of Bracket 1 to the CWS Final.

The time of the final Bracket 1 game (either 1 p.m. or 6 p.m. on EPSN2) will be determined by the Clemson-South Carolina outcome later in the evening.

TCU will play at 1 p.m. if South Carolina escapes elimination tonight, while a Clemson win would guarantee a 6 p.m. start for TCU-UCLA tomorrow.

Rasmussen walked TCU third baseman Jantzen Witte to load the bases up in the first inning. Featherston battled a 3-2 count, and his eight- pitch-patience paid off; Rasmussen walked his second batter in a row to bring in a run.

Designated hitter Josh Elander looped a ball to center, but UCLA center fielder Beau Amaral, former MLB player Rich Amaral’s son, laid himself out to make a diving catch to save at least one run from scoring.

“(I was) a little nervous the first three or four innings because I felt like we Rasmussen on the ropes and didn’t cash in enough,” said TCU head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle. “The play in center field in the first inning, I don’t know where in the world (Amaral) was playing…but that’s what a great center fielder does; he plays shallow and dares you to hit it over his head.”

Pena hit a RBI single to center to add another run for TCU in the second inning.

All-American catcher Bryan Holaday hit a harmless infield pop fly, but short stop Nike Gallego lost it in the sun to put two runners on.

“Just seemed like we were swimming upstream all day defensively,” said Bruins’ head baseball coach John Savage. “A little bit on the mound, certainly offensively. ”

Added Gallego: “Yeah, the wind was blowing pretty good. But I mean TCU had to deal with the same wind as we did. And we know we should have handled it better.

On a full-count pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning, Pena zapped a laser shot into the left field stands for his 11th home run of the season, putting TCU up 3-0.

Bruins’ right fielder Chris Giovinazzo decided to get creative in the to of the fifth inning, bunting to reach base with no runners on and one out. It was UCLA’s first hit of the game.

Bruins’ right fielder Brett Krill hit a RBI single to bring Giovinazzo home with two outs, cutting TCU’s lead to 3-1.

Purke hit catcher Steve Rodriguez to put runners on first and second. It was Purke’s first sign of nerves in the game. On Purke’s 81st pitch Gallego hit a fly ball to right, ending UCLA’s scoring threat in the fifth inning.

Rasmussen walked third baseman Jantzen Witte for the second time in the game–and it would be his last batter of the game

UCLA right-hander Garret Claypool replaced Rasmussen. Claypool walked Featherston out of the game, putting runners on first and second, but he pitched out of the jam, coaxing a fly ball from Elander and striking out center fielder Aaron Schultz.

With two UCLA runners on and one out, Purke was done after 6 1/3 innings and 107 pitches. Lockwood, who threw 73 pitches in TCU’s 11-7 victory over Florida State on Wednesday, replaced the Freshman Pitcher of the Year.

Lockwood loaded the bases up after walking Rodriguez. Gallego his a grounder to Witte, but Witte couldn’t get to third base in time on a close play at the bag. It would be an RBI for Rodriguez, bringing the score to 3-2.

Lockwood, on the brink of blowing Purke’s lead and TCU’s CWS run, struck out Amaral to end the inning.

Curry hit a single in the bottom of the seventh inning. On a 1-1 pitch, Featherston knocked a 2 RBI homer to left field for his eighth of the season.

“(Featherston) is a guy that grinds out at bats, he doesn’t have the greatest stroke but he’s a very, very competitive player,” Schlossnagle said. “He just does a good job of trying to win pitches and he always seems to come up with a big hit when we need them.”

Holaday sent another ball into the stands in the eighth inning for TCU’s sixth run. Lockwood would finish the game, receiving his eighth save.

Notes

TCU is 3-0 in elimination games during the NCAA postseason.

Lance Broadway held TCU’s previous single-season wins record-Purke tied the previous record of 15 wins against Florida State in Game 1 of the CWS.

Taylor Featherston’s three-RBI day tied him with South Carolina’s Jackie Bradley Jr. for the CWS RBI lead (seven).

The Rally Turtle.

Frogs’ All-American catcher and Detroit Tigers’ sixth-round draft pick gave due credit to the the dugout turtle, which was drawn in the dirt, for TCU’s eighth inning comeback spectacle against Florida State Wednesday.

“That was our rally turtle,” Holaday said. “We were just basically digging in the toolbox, trying to find something to energize the dugout, trying to get everybody into the game and just realize that it wasn’t over yet and we could still fight back.

“It was just a testament to how resilient our club is, especially our hitting and just our ability to trust each other no matter what the situation.”

Said turtle sparked an impromptu dialogue between TCU head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle and his players at the podium during Wednesday’s post-game press conference.

Schlossnagle: “Where does the turtle come from?”

Holaday: “It’s been around for awhile.”

Schlossnagle: “I absolutely have no idea what goes on in the course of the game in our dugout.”

First baseman Matt Curry: “We were feeding him and giving him water and everything. He got us that rally. You’ll probably see it again.”

Schlossnagle: “It happens in the big leagues everyday, Barry Bonds and those guys draw a rally turtle.”

It’s doubtful the All-Time MLB home run king drew any rally turtles in the dugout before teeing off on opposing pitchers; the sarcasm was understood by anyone on hand to here the rally turtle conversation.

If the rally turtle sparked anything for TCU’s eight-run rally in the eighth inning, it was Holaday’s bold slide into second.

It looked like Holaday, not known for his speed, tried to do too much with his rope off the left field wall as the throw came into second base–Holaday would have been out had he not avoided the tag, switching up arms after coming in with his left hand.

“Part of TCU baseball is taking pride in the small things like sliding,” Holaday said. “Not a lot of teams do that. Coach (Randy) Mazey, our base running coach, has done a terrific job with everybody on working on sliding, just in case you got in that moment, and it paid off for me.”

Had Holaday been thrown out on his two-base hit, Curry’s grand slam and third baseman Jantzen Witte’s fourth homer of the season would have never happened.

“But this is what its all about, when you turn it on and you see a bunch of college kids on both ends,” Schlossnagle said. “Florida State and here, and the rally turtle and different things in the dugout.

“I mean, that’s why college baseball-I’m very biased-it’s the best sport around. It’s great. It gets to be showcased in such a great forum here in Rosenblatt.”

South Carolina’s Avatar “Spirit Bat” May Trump Rally Turtle

The South Carolina Gamecocks may have one-upped TCU when it comes to dugout luck charms. Heck, The Gamecocks don’t have a luck charm, they have a James Cameron-inspired ritual that incorporates a ball, bat and chanting.

Here is an excerpt on the Gamecocks’ Avatar Bat Ritual from Ron Morris of The State:

The clubhouse séance was intended to exorcise the demons from USC’s bats. Then, when the team returned to the dugout to resume play, Beary said an illustration was needed on how the team should begin hitting.

Beary grabbed a baseball and taped it to a fungo bat. The concept was simple, Beary explained to his teammates: You put the bat to the ball to produce hits. Presto! USC also had its “Avatar” spirit stick, and players since have touched it for good luck before going to bat.”

The Gamecocks defeated Oklahoma 3-2 in extra innings Thursday to stave off elimination in Bracket 2. They will play their in-state rivals, the Clemson Tigers, Friday at 8 p.m. on ESPN2 for a chance to advance the CWS Final.

It might not be likely, but a Rally Turtle-Spirit Bat showdown dugout showdown would be in the works if TCU and South Carolina advance to the Final.

The Sooners ended their season with a 50-18 record, culminating in their first trip to Omaha since 1995.

Zach Neal delivered a stellar performance as a starter after 11 days off the mound, allowing only five hits, one walk and adding seven strikeouts in seven innings. Neal retired 14 consecutive batters during the outing, a record for pitchers in the 2010 College World Series.

Caleb Bushyhead hit an RBI single into right center field to score Tyler Ogle to get things started for the Sooners in the top of the second. Ogle reached first base off of a infield single.

The Gamecocks continued to threaten the Sooners’ one-run lead in the bottom of the fifth inning after South Carolina’s Bobby Haney doubled down the right-field fence, putting two runners in scoring position with two outs in the inning. The Gamecocks would end up loading the bases before Neal got out of the inning on an infield pop fly.

Both teams saw infield errors during Thursday’s game as well, with Garrett Buechele collecting just his first error in 49 games off a bunt to third base. The error allowed the runner to advance to third to put runners at the corners with no outs in the bottom of the eighth.

The Gamecocks would go on to tie up the game at 1-1 off of Christian Walker’s single through the left side to score Evan Marzilli.

South Carolina registered its first error in the of the tournament with a dropped pop-up in the infield by first baseman 13 in the top of the ninth. Cameron Seitzer would eventually hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

The teams remained tied at 1-1 until the 12th inning. After several pitching changes throughout the extra innings by the Gamecocks and with one quick swing of the bat on the first pitch, Ogle slammed a home run over the center field fence to give the Sooners a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the 12th.

When the game looked secure for the Sooners, Golloway brought in Ryan Duke to close out the inning. Duke tied OU’s record of career saves with his 28th during Sunday’s win over South Carolina.

But this time the Gamecocks would not go down without a fight.

The Gamecocks tied up the game as Jackie Bradley Jr. got his first hit of the night, an RBI single to score Robert Beary.

Bradley then advanced to second after Duke issued a walk to Jeffery Jones. Brady Thomas stepped up and delivered his first hit of the night, the game winning RBI single to center field to score Bradley and end the Sooners’ season and hopes of winning their third national title.

The Seminoles (48-19) took a six-run lead into the ninth inning, but swiftly fell into trouble as the Gators (47-17) quickly loaded the bases after a walk, a single and an error by shortstop Stephen Cardullo. The Gators plated three runs after a double by first baseman Preston Tucker sent everyone home. Seminole pitcher Daniel Bennett was then relieved of his duties by the ’Noles perennial stopper, Mike McGee.

With Tucker still on second base, McGee gave up singles to Austin Maddox and Matt van Decker to load the bases for a second time in the top half of the ninth and bring the potential game-winning run in Gator catcher Mike Zunino to the plate. McGee then got Zunino to line a ball straight to Cardullo at shortstop who then tossed the ball to freshman Devon Travis at second for the final out of the Seminoles’ victory, and consequently the final out of the Gators’ season. McGee recorded his 13th save of the season.

“We’ve got the man in the game that we want in the game at that moment, because he’s been there so many times,” said FSU head coach Mike Martin of the late inning drama. “Certainly there was a concern of the lead that we had in seeing it dwindle. But Mike was in control.”

Sophomore Brian Busch started the game on the mound for the ’Noles, and after giving up a home run in the top of the first, settled in to go 5.1 innings with two earned runs, at one point retiring eight straight Gator batters. It was his sixth win of the season.

After falling down 1-0 in the first, leadoff hitter Tyler Holt would set the tone for the Seminoles’ day offensively with a solo home run to even the score at 1-1. Holt would finish the day with three hits in four at-bats, three runs and two RBI.

“My first at-bat, I just wanted to get him deep in the count, kind of set the tone to where if they were going to beat us, they’re going to have to use their pen,” said Holt. “And that’s kind of the approach that we had today.”

It was an approach the ’Noles would utilize for the remainder of the game, roughing up Gator starter Hudson Randall early and often. Randall would only last 2.1 innings against a ’Noles lineup that had 14 hits on the day.

After the second ended scoreless for both sides, Holt and third basemen Sherman Johnson both reached base on walks in the home half of the third. McGee then put a 1-2 slider over the wall to give the Seminoles a 4-1 lead.

“I like to be in control in the end, but hitting the home run, it’s the best feeling there is,” said McGee.

McGee would drive in Holt once more in the fourth inning for a season-high four RBI. The offensive charge was also lead by Cardullo, who pushed a ball over the wall in deep center in the 7th and freshman first baseman Jayce Boyd, who finished the day with three hits and an RBI.

Geoff Parker provided 2.1 innings of exceptional relief for the ’Noles, relieving Busch in the top of the sixth and allowing just four hits and no runs.

The Seminoles now face an uphill climb and move on to face the TCU Horned Frogs (52-13) in a rematch of the opening round game that saw the ’Noles fall 8-1 on Saturday. The game will be played Wednesday June 23 at 7 p.m. EST and will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

Carolina defeated No. 1 Arizona State 11-4 Tuesday to eliminate the Sun Devils from the College World Series. USC scored eight runs in the second inning and never looked back.

The defeat of the Sun Devils by Carolina marked the first time since seeding began in 1999 that a No. 1 national seed lost its first two games in the College World Series.

Adrian Morales led off the second with a single, and the offense exploded from there. Scott Wingo scored Morales and Kyle Enders with a double down the line after coming up unsuccessful on two bunt attempts. Evan Marzilli and Whit Merrifield followed with two singles, but the inning wasn’t really broken open until Jackie Bradley Jr. blasted a home run over the center field fence.

“I just wanted to stay aggressive with baserunners on,” Bradley said. “I was actually just looking to drive him in. He made a great pitch, low and outside. I was just able to put a good swing on it. It was wind-assisted a little bit.”

Designated hitter Brady Thomas promptly singled after the homer, bringing Morales back to the plate. Morales, who took some criticism for swinging at the first pitch in the ninth inning on Sunday, banged a homer down the left field line that resulted in a resounding “ping” off the foul pole.

“I’m my biggest critic,” Morales said. “I felt it the worst, and I was down on myself for the whole night. I couldn’t sleep. I tried to bounce back and help the team win, and I was able to do that today.”

USC ended the second inning with eight runs on eight hits, one less than they had in the whole game on Sunday. But the Gamecocks weren’t done scoring. They added two more in the third and another in the eighth on a Merrifield dinger that landed in the second deck of the Rosenblatt Stadium.

“That second inning for us with eight runs and eight hits was the most we have had in one inning the entire season,” coach Ray Tanner said. “We don’t score runs like that very often. I’m proud of these guys.”

Sam Dyson, who started the game for Carolina, atoned for his poor outing against Coastal Carolina in the Super Regional. Dyson made it through seven and one third innings, only giving four earned runs and eight hits in process. A surprising stat was that Dyson only had four strikeouts in the inning.

“Sam Dyson was outstanding,” Tanner said. “If you look at his line score, it is impressive. The fact that he had only three or four strikeouts against those guys show how good that team is.”

Freshman closer Matt Price, who was not feeling well prior to the game, came in in the eighth inning to shutdown the Sun Devils. Price was once again faced with bases loaded, akin to the first Coastal Carolina game. The result ended up being the same as Price ended up striking out the last to batters to end the frame. The Sumter native went out again in the ninth to finish off the Devils, and drew two strikeouts from the top of the Arizona State order.

USC will face the loser of the Clemson-Oklahoma game. Tanner said that Blake Cooper, who only had 67 pitches Sunday, will be available to pitch in the elimination game Thursday at 7 p.m.

OU previously outlasted South Carolina for the 4-3 win Sunday after two rain delays totaling six hours caused the afternoon game to go deep into the evening hours.

Following a 6-4 loss to Clemson (45-23) after the game resumed Wednesday after a rain delay, the Sooners need to beat the Gamecocks tonight to stay alive in the tournament and advance to a rematch with Clemson.

With the win, Clemson will play the winner of tonight’s game in the Bracket Two finals at 8 p.m. Friday.

The Sooners will need to beat Clemson twice to become the win the bracket and advance to the College World Series championship.

“We’ve just got to go out and play like we have been all year,” Cameron Seitzer said about going into Thursday’s elimination game. “Facing elimination, not facing elimination. We’ve got to go out and play the same intensity every game and just go one pitch at a time and play to the best of our ability and win three straight.”

OU Pitching — Zach Neal

The Sooners will start Zach Neal on the mound.

Neal, who hasn’t thrown on the mound in 11 days, is 8-3 on the season with a 4.65 ERA. The right-hander out of Flower Mound, Texas, last pitched in the Charlottesville Super Regional, lasting only three innings after giving up four runs on five hits.

Neal faired better the previous weekend in the NCAA Norman Regional against North Carolina. Neal allowed three runs while striking out 10 batters in eight innings.

SC Pitching — Blake Cooper

The Gamecocks will start their ace, Blake Cooper, a righty from Neeses, S.C., with a 12-2 record on the season and a 2.92 ERA.

Cooper received just his second loss on the year against OU in the Tigers’ opening game of the CWS. Cooper allowed three earned runs on six hits through five innings, including a solo home run by Caleb Bushyhead in the bottom of the second inning.

OU Still ‘Dangerous’ Ball Club

After falling to Clemson following a fourth inning meltdown by the OU pitching staff, Tigers head coach Jack Leggett had this to say when asked about who he would match up better with in the Bracket Two finals.

“Oklahoma has got some good balance,” Leggett said. “They’re a good ball club. Got a little speed, a little power. A little bit of everything. They’re a dangerous ball club. No question about it.”

Sooner Notables

The Sooners have homered in 22 of the last 25 games, including multiple home-run outings in both CWS games this tournament. Bushyhead and Garrett Buechele collected home runs in the first game against the Gamecocks, while Seitzer and Tyler Ogle went over the fence against Clemson.

OU is the only team with a previous national title (1951, 1994) still competing in Omaha.

During Sunday’s game against South Carolina, closer Ryan Duke tied OU’s record for career saves with his 28th after coming in during the ninth inning to finish the game. The record was previously held by Jeff Bajenaru (1999).

Bracket One Update

Florida State (48-19) was eliminated Wednesday night after a TCU (52-13) resurgence in the top of the eighth tied the biggest comeback (4 runs) for the Horned Frogs this season, as TCU rallied to beat the Seminoles 11-7. TCU previously beat Oral Roberts earlier this season after being down by the same number of runs.

The Horned Frogs scored eight runs on five Seminole errors to take the lead after trailing 7-3 through seven innings. TCU moves on to face UCLA (50-14) at 3:30 p.m.

The teams previously met Monday with the Bruins coming away with a 6-3 victory.

The OU-SC game will be televised on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com.

Ogle also hit an RBI double in the ninth to score Chris Ellison from second base as the Sooners scored runs in the last three at-bats of the three remaining innings.

The game, originally scheduled for Tuesday evening, was postponed before the start of the sixth inning due to inclement weather over Rosenblatt Stadium.

A comeback was necessary if the Sooners wanted to take the easier rout in the winner’s bracket for the 2010 tournament. But over half of OU’s wins have been come-from-behind victories during this season.

After falling behind 6-1 to the Tigers before the weather stopped play Tuesday evening, OU would need another come-from-behind victory to receive a day of rest and stay in the winner’s bracket for the tournament.

Will Lamb entered the game to replace Scott Weismann on the mound for Clemson. Weismann finished the first five innings on Tuesday, allowing only one run, three hits and striking out four batters.

Lamb came into the game with a 4.93 ERA through 49.1 innings pitched. The left-hander had allowed 27 earned runs, while walking 23 batters and striking out 25 on the season.

J.R. Robinson continued on the mound for the Sooners after coming in Tuesday night during the fourth inning.

The two teams played tight during the sixth inning before Seitzer led off the seventh inning with a home run on a 3-1 pitch over the right center-field fence. It was Seitzer’s 16th home run on the season, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 6-2.

OU continued to chip away at the Clemson lead with a solo home run down the right field line by Ogle, bringing the score to 6-3 in the top of the third inning.

The Sooners had an opportunity to tack on more runs in the top of the eighth inning. With two outs and Caleb Bushyhead on first base, Danny Black doubled to put two runners in scoring position with the tying run coming to the plate in Seitzer.

On a 3-2 pitch, Seitzer who homered in the seventh, walked to load the bases for Casey Johnson, a pinch hitter for Ricky Eisenberg. But Johnson hit a pop-up to the short stop to end the inning.

With one more at-bat left in the game, the Sooners had the top of the line-up due up to the plate. Ellison led off the inning on a 3-2 pitch with a single to left field.

Following the lead off single, Clemson’s Leone was replaced on the mound by Alex Fredrick.

Max White grounded out to third to advance Ellison to second base.

Ogle hit an RBI double to right center to score Ellison, bringing the score to 6-4 with two outs remaining in the top of the ninth. Cody Reine would end the game on a flyout to left field after the Sooners rally fell short and Clemson claimed the 6-4 victory.

The Sooners return to face South Carolina in an elimination game at 6 p.m. Thursday.

The Sooners defeated South Carolina in its first game of the College World Series by a score of 4-3 on Sunday. The winner of Thursday’s game will face Clemson at 8 p.m. on Friday.

The crack of a wooden bat or the ping of aluminum?

With the College World Series taking place in Omaha, baseball fans are sure to hear the ping of aluminum bats a lot more over the next week, and Iowa head coach Jack Dahm and three other coaches in the state hope it stays that way.

Many of the best coaches across America agree, too.

A recent Associated Press survey of 24 Division-I baseball coaches who have won 1,000 games or more since 1985 found that 17 coaches prefer metal, and five wish the game would be played with wood bats. Two coaches had no opinion or declined to answer.

Changing from aluminum bats to wood bats would be like fixing something that isn’t broken, Dahm said.

“College baseball is at an all-time high right now and I don’t think there’s any reason to change it,” he said. “I’m a big believer that the bat companies have done great things for college baseball.”

Proponents of aluminum frequently bring up the cost and durability issues concerned with using wood bats.

Cost of wood bats range from $30 to $160, significantly cheaper than aluminum bats, but they can break after one swing.

Durability is key for baseball programs at the Division II and III levels because of smaller athletics budgets. Although aluminum bats can cost as much as $380, they are much more durable in the long run.

“I just don’t think that it’s financially feasible for schools to go to wood bats,” said Division III Buena Vista head coach Steve Eddie.

Other coaches, such as Wartburg’s (D-III) Joel Holst, believe teams will be at a disadvantage if wooden bats are implemented.

Colleges with higher budgets will get better, more expensive wood bats, he said, and low-budget squads would be forced to purchase cheaper, lower-quality bats.

Supporters of wood bats, such as Upper Iowa (D-II) head coach Mark Danker and Coe College (D-III) coach Steve Cook, bring up the historical aspects the wood bat represents.

“That’s the way the game was meant to be played,” Cook said. “It has been for a very long time. From the purist side, the game changes with aluminum bats from an offensive standpoint.”

Danker said the switch to wood bats would also give pitchers a little more balance over hitters and speed up the play of games.

The argument that continually goes back and forth is the safety risks that aluminum bats could potentially pose.

But Dahm doesn’t buy into aluminum bats being more dangerous, noting that wood bats can be dangerous as well, because splinters of wood could pose a threat to players when the bat breaks.

“For most kids, aluminum bats are all they know,” Dahm said. “Why do anything to change it? There’s certain things I want to change for the better. Why change something that is very, very good for college baseball right now?”

Ogle also hit an RBI double in the ninth to score Chris Ellison from second base as the Sooners scored runs in the last three at-bats of the three remaining innings.

The game, originally scheduled for Tuesday evening, was postponed before the start of the sixth inning due to inclement weather.

A comeback was necessary if the Sooners wanted to take the easier route in the winner’s bracket for the 2010 tournament. But more than half of OU’s wins have been come-from-behind victories during this season.

After falling behind 6-1 to the Tigers before the weather stopped play Tuesday evening, OU needed another come-from-behind victory to receive a day of rest and stay in the winner’s bracket for the tournament.

Will Lamb entered the game to replace Scott Weismann on the mound for Clemson. Weismann finished the first five innings on Tuesday, allowing only one run, three hits and striking out four batters.

Lamb came into the game with a 4.93 ERA through 49.1 innings pitched. The left-hander had allowed 27 earned runs, while walking 23 batters and striking out 25 on the season.

J.R. Robinson continued on the mound for the Sooners after coming in Tuesday night during the fourth inning.

The two teams played tight during the sixth inning before Seitzer led off the seventh inning with a home run on a 3-1 pitch over the right center-field fence. It was Seitzer’s 16th home run on the season, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 6-2.

OU continued to chip away at the Clemson lead with a solo home run down the right field line by Ogle, bringing the score to 6-3 in the top of the third inning.

The Sooners had an opportunity to tack on more runs in the top of the eighth. With two outs and Caleb Bushyhead on first base, Danny Black doubled to put two runners in scoring position with the tying run coming to the plate in Seitzer.

On a 3-2 pitch, Seitzer who homered in the seventh, walked to load the bases for Casey Johnson, a pinch hitter for Ricky Eisenberg. But Johnson hit a pop-up fly to the short stop to end the inning.

With one more at-bat left in the game, the Sooners had the top of the lineup due up to the plate. Ellison led off the inning on a 3-2 pitch with a single to left field.

Following the lead-off single, Max White grounded out to third to advance Ellison to second base.

Ogle hit an RBI double to right center to score Ellison, bringing the score to 6-4 with two outs remaining in the top of the ninth.

Cody Reine would end the game on a flyout to left field after the Sooners rally fell short and Clemson claimed the 6-4 victory.

The Sooners return to face South Carolina in an elimination game at 6 p.m. Thursday.

The Sooners defeated South Carolina in its first game of the College World Series on Sunday by a score of 4-3. The winner of Thursday’s game will face Clemson at 8 p.m. Friday.

The Frogs must now win three games in a row to advance to the College World Series Final, and that starts with a rematch against Florida State, which will begin 50 minutes after the conclusion of Tuesday’s suspended Oklahoma-South Carolina game due to inclement weather on ESPN2.

Florida State eliminated in-state rival and no. 3 seed Florida 8-5 Monday to keep their season alive.

Had TCU found a way to solve Cole for more than just the seventh inning Monday, the Frogs wouldn’t have had to play another game until Friday, and that game wouldn’t even have been a must-win to advance to the Final.

It would have been a comfortable, and familiar, situation for TCU-the Frogs found themselves in UCLA’s situation during the Fort Worth Regional, defeating Baylor 9-0 in the first of two tries in the Regional Final. The Regional was the same double-elimination format as the CWS.

Instead, UCLA gets the three-day furlough that is awarded to the survivor of the winner’s bracket-the Bruins will also have two shots to win one game to advance to the Final against the Bracket 2 winner.

“I’m sure UCLA is certainly sitting pretty, ” said TCU head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle. “But I like the guys we have left to pitch. And with the days off and the fact that we haven’t used (Tyler) Lockwood yet and (Steven) Maxwell hasn’t pitched; and (Matt) Purke’s certainly come back on six, seven days’ rest.

“We just have to, right now, be totally locked in on playing well against Florida State. ”

TCU blasted FSU 8-1 in the opening game up the 2010 CWS, but the Frogs won’t be able to rely on their only sure-fire Freshman Pitcher of the Year Matt Purke, who leads the NCAA with 15 wins.

Purke dominated FSU in Game 1, allowing no earned runs and tallying seven strikeouts in seven innings. It was probably the most dominant pitching effort in the CWS until Cole’s 13-strikeout performance against TCU Monday.

It is likely that TCU will start Steven Maxwell (11-2, 2.41 ERA) against Florida State, while FSU’s John Gast (7-3, 5.53 ERA) is listed as the Seminoles’ probable starting pitcher.

Schlossnagle broke the rotation order that secured TCU’s berth to the CWS during the Austin Super Regional against Texas by moving Kyle Winkler ahead of Maxwell to pitch against UCLA. When asked why he flipped the two starters in the rotation, the response was another flip of sorts.

“But honestly, between (Maxwell and Winkler) it’s a toss-up,” Schlossnagle said. “And once we won the first game (against Florida State), you knew that all three of them were going to pitch… it’s a coin flip, to be honest.”

Schlossnagle noted that what actually prompted the rotation swap probably had more to do with the fact that Maxwell lasted less that four innings while throwing 82 pitches, giving up five runs in the process (none earned, however).

A game later, Winkler out-dueled two of college baseball’s finest pitchers in Texas’ Brandon Workman and Chance Ruffin to clinch TCU’s first berth to Omaha; Winkler didn’t allow a run in 7 2/3 innings pitched in what was the equivalent of a home game for the Longhorns at Disch-Falk field in Austin, TX.

TCU had a quick preview of Gast in Game 1-he pitched a scoreless inning of relief work, with two strikeouts and one walk.

CWS Update

The Clemson-Oklahoma game was suspended Tuesday due to inclement weather and will resume at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow on ESPN2. The game, suspended while Clemson held a 6-1 lead going in to the sixth inning, may push back the original 6 p.m. start of the TCU-FSU game, which will now start 50 minutes after the conclusion of Clemson-Oklahoma.

South Carolina eliminated no. 1 overall seed Arizona State in stunning fashion, blowing out ASU 11-4. The Gamecocks will play the winner of the Clemson-Oklahoma game for a chance to advance to the CWS Final.

UCLA and the Clemson/OU winner are in prime position to advance to the Final in their respective brackets, needing only one victory in two tries to advance; TCU or FSU would have to win three-straight to advance in Bracket 1, and South Carolina would have to beat the Clemson/OU winner twice.

Cole – starting UCLA’s second game in the College World Series – delivered a dominant pitching performance not unlike that of his fellow sophomore on Saturday, leading the Bruins (50-14) to a 6-3 win over TCU.

Cole went eight innings and gave up three runs on five hits. All three runs and four of the hits came in the seventh inning, when TCU (52-13) cut into a 5-0 deficit. He struck out 13 batters.

Cole’s masterful performance came on the heels of Bauer’s gem on Saturday, a game in which the other sophomore right-hander on the UCLA staff fanned 11 Florida Gators in seven strong innings of work while giving up just three runs.

Meanwhile, the Bruins’ offense started off the game by extending its remarkable run of scoring. UCLA scored once in the first inning, again in the second and three times in the third, when freshmen Cody Regis and Jeff Gelalich each homered. By scoring in each of the first three frames, UCLA had a streak in which they scored at least one run in ten consecutive innings dating back to Saturday’s win over Florida.

Through the middle innings, it appeared as if the Bruins were going to coast to an easy victory. Cole was mowing down the Horned Frogs, and the scoreboard continued to read 5-0. But TCU loaded the bases in the seventh and got a two-out triple from Taylor Featherston that scored three runs. UCLA coach John Savage paid a visit to the mound during the inning, but chose to leave Cole in the game. The sophomore went on to pitch the eighth as well before ceding to closer Dan Klein, who gave up a hit but got the final three outs for his tenth save of the season.

The victory guarantees UCLA a spot in the championship of their bracket. The Bruins will not play until Friday night, when they will face the winner of Wednesday’s Florida State-TCU matchup. That team will have to beat UCLA to advance to the final three-game series, while the Bruins will have to win just once thanks to their as-of-yet unblemished record in the bracket.

But this week marks the last time teams and fans will flood into Rosenblatt to crown a college baseball champion.

Next year, the CWS will move from its traditional South Omaha home to the new TD Ameritrade Park. And later this year, Rosenblatt will be torn down to make room for the expansion of the neighboring Henry Doorly Zoo.

While Rosenblatt has become synonymous with the College World Series, the two haven’t always been linked. The College World Series spent its first two years, 1947 and 1948, in Kalamazoo, Mich., before heading to Wichita, Kan., for a year.

Rosenblatt had a life before the CWS as well. Built in 1947 as the Omaha Municipal Stadium, the park was conceived to house Major League exhibition games, concerts and be home to the Omaha Cardinals, a minor league team associated with the St. Louis Cardinals.

It wasn’t until 1950 that Rosenblatt Stadium and the CWS began their long history together. John Rosenblatt, an Omaha city council member and former semipro baseball player who had been instrumental in building the Municipal Stadium, convinced the NCAA to give its baseball championship a permanent home in Omaha.

While the CWS would remain an integral part of the stadium for the next six decades, the facility itself would undergo a number of changes during that time.

After losing its minor league tenant in 1962, the stadium became the home of the Kansas City Royals’ minor league franchise in 1969. And in 1964 the stadium was renamed the Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in honor of the man who’d played such an important role in bringing baseball to Omaha.

In 1980, ESPN raised awareness of Rosenblatt and the CWS by televising games and by the late 1990s average attendance at CWS games was reaching 20,000 people. In 2001 Rosenblatt received a $7 million renovation. Ten thousand new seats were added, raising the stadium’s total capacity to 23,145.

But by this point some feared the popularity of the CWS had become too great for Rosenblatt to contain. About six years ago, rumors began that the NCAA was threatening to move the CWS out of Omaha unless the city was willing to commit to a larger, more updated facility.

While efforts began to save the CWS’ longstanding home, including a television campaign with ads featuring Kevin Costner, eventually the city relented to the NCAA’s demand. In January 2009, Omaha began construction on TD Ameritrade Park, a $128 million facility that guaranteed the CWS would stay in Omaha at least through 2035.

Extending Omaha’s contract to host the CWS for another 25 years was an unprecedented move from the NCAA, but Dennis Poppe, NCAA vice president of baseball and football, said the new stadium reflected Omaha’s commitment to the CWS.

“The construction of this new stadium is a result of the outstanding partnership that the NCAA and Omaha have enjoyed,” Poppe said. “I am pleased that together we arrived at an agreement that ensures Omaha will be the home of the College World Series for many years to come.”

The new stadium will have a capacity of 24,000, with 26 luxury suites and 1,000 club seats. In addition to housing the CWS every summer, the Creighton University baseball team and the new Omaha United Football League team will also play in the stadium.

Although Rosenblatt Stadium will ultimately be demolished to make way for the new facility, a piece of the CWS’ traditional home will be part of the new stadium. The bronze “Road to Omaha” statue currently outside Rosenblatt will be moved downtown to the new location.

While moving the CWS from Rosenblatt drew intense criticism, former Omaha mayor Mike Fahey said it was the only option for keeping the tournament in Omaha. And losing the CWS wasn’t something he wanted to see.

“The NCAA College World Series is one of the nation’s great amateur sports events and the benefits to Omaha serving as the host city for the next 25 years are far-reaching,” Fahey said.

It’s nearly 7 p.m. on the opening night of the College World Series, and the Shreveport, La., native is joking around with friends and being generally jovial while tailgating outside Rosenblatt Stadium.

“Let me tell you, this has been some of the best times of my life right here,” he said. “I’ve been here three years, and it’s the best time of my life.”

But when asked for his thoughts on the future of the CWS, Covell’s mood quickly changes.

“This is so special. They have everything down here and everyone has a good time,” Covell, 52, said. “I don’t know why they want to change it.”

Covell’s certainly not the only one. This is the last year the CWS will be played at the legendary 61-year-old stadium before it’s torn down. Next year, the tournament will move to the brand-new TD Ameritrade Park in downtown Omaha.

And as much as many tailgating fans want to celebrate the memories and have one final great year, they can’t help but wonder why this has to be Rosenblatt’s last hurrah.

“If it works, don’t fix it,”  Covell said, shaking his head.

Covell’s LSU Tigers, last year’s national champions, didn’t make it to this month’s College World Series. But that didn’t matter – he and his 16-year-old son, Tyler, still made the 14-hour drive. They had to be here for Rosenblatt’s last year.

“We come here because LSU fans have a good time,” he said. “And you know what’s so great? Omaha people give us high fives and just have a great attitude all the time.”

Among the people Covell is partying with is his daughter’s boyfriend, 27-year-old Omaha resident Alan Sarka. While Covell is sad about leaving Rosenblatt, Sarka is just plain mad.

“What’s better than this? What’s better?” he asks. “Are we improving by moving downtown, or are we just satisfying the corporate sponsors? Are we really improving the fan experience?”

The way they see it, the only person who wanted TD Ameritrade Park was former Omaha mayor Mike Fahey. He’s the one who pushed for the $128 million stadium to be built near Qwest Center Omaha, they say.

In their eyes, Fahey just wanted to inflate his legacy. He cared about the money, not the fans.

That’s also how Papillion residents Mike Mallory and his daughter, Beth Garcia, perceive things.

“They didn’t ask us,” Garcia said. “I was thumbs-down from the very beginning. I like it as it is.”

The CWS season ticket holders have attended at least 10 tournament since 1991.The reason they keep going back is as much about the baseball games as it is the people they’ve met over the years.

“You become friends with people you only see once a year,” she said. “You come back every year and you see them again. It’s really neat, and I just don’t think it will be the same.”

The benefits of moving downtown have been clearly laid out by CWS and city officials: better ballpark, better parking and more upscale restaurants and hotels.

But those features aren’t really meant to appeal to the people drinking beers and playing lasso golf in Rosenblatt’s parking lots.

They don’t want five-star restaurants. They want the burgers on their mini grill and some Zesto ice cream.

Mallory has toured TD Ameritrade Park and admits it’s going to be a pristine baseball facility that will still aim for a fan-friendly experience.

“But a lot of this atmosphere is going to go away,” Mallory said. “I think they’re going to be catering more to a more corporate crowd. It’ll be more like an NCAA tournament event, like the Final Four.”

For TCU fan Mark Mourer, being in Omaha is a dream come true. His Horned Frogs had never made it to the College World Series prior to this season.

So when TCU upset traditional power Texas in its three-game super regional series earlier this month, Mourer knew he had to follow the squad to the tournament.

His wife surprised him with CWS tickets for his Father’s Day present, so Mourer gladly made the 12-hour drive from Fort Worth, Texas. He has no regrets so far.

“For me, on that bucket list of things all sports fans have to do, the College World Series is on there,” said Mourer, who serves as the director of development at TCU’s communications college. “I couldn’t be happier.”

Mourer drove by TD Ameritrade Park on his way into town. Seeing it, he said, reminded him of the new Cowboys Stadium and the New York Mets and Yankees ballparks that opened last spring.

They’re masterpieces, no doubt, but there’s also something that’s just too sterile about them.

“This right here is the essence of Omaha and of baseball,” Mourer said. “This is a really special event.”

The regulars say they’re still planning to attend next year’s CWS. They’ll give TD Ameritrade Park a chance. But they’ve talked to their fellow friends and fans, and a strong sentiment emerged this weekend.

“There are going to be a lot of people like me who are going to try it one year and see if they can make the adjustment,” Mallory said. “Some will and some won’t.”

Year one at the downtown park for CWS devotees, Sarka said, will be a make-or-break experiment in fan experience and atmosphere.

“Either it’s going to be Rosenblatt-esque, or it’s going to be corporate hell,” he said.

For now, though, the tailgaters will push those worries aside. They don’t want to spend the next two weeks dwelling on where they’ll be this time next year.

For now, they’re having too much fun, and they have to make this last.

“I’ll be back,” Covell said, “but the best memories and camaraderie will come from this year.”

The stadium, bathed in colors of blue, red and yellow, has seen thousands of fans make their way through the gates. Boys have become men in the ballpark through their defeats — Paul Carey’s grand slam against Ben McDonald — and legends through their triumphs — Warren Morris’ walkoff home run to win the 1996 championship.

Former Daily Reveille sports writer Andy Schwehm, who covered LSU’s national championship run last year, said it felt surreal to see the stadium for the first time.

“The first thing you see coming up the hill is this gigantic baseball stadium,” Schwehm said. “It’s the most beautiful sight ever for a college baseball fan.”

The big stadium in the small neighborhood has offered that same sight for thousands of fans, standing the test of time as the city grew up around it. But as recent history has shown, no ballpark is too sacred to be replaced.

Yankee Stadium has been replaced, and the original Alex Box has been reduced to rubble. Once TD Ameritrade Park opens up in 2011, Rosenblatt will be gone, too.

Those who have been there say Rosenblatt’s destruction won’t keep the loyal fans of the College World Series away from Omaha.

“What makes the stadium is people,” said LSU fan Chris Guillot, who can usually be seen leading “Geaux Tigers” cheers in Alex Box.

Guillot made his first trip to Omaha in 1989, after LSU beat Texas A&M in the regional to advance to the World Series, and has come back every year since.

“Barely could afford tickets, barely could afford a room, but I left College Station and went straight to Omaha,” Guillot said. “I come and go even if LSU’s not there because I have made friends and relationships for 21 years. The game of baseball is one thing, but life is about people.”

Guillot isn’t alone, especially this year, as people have flocked to the old neighborhood to say their goodbyes. University alumnus Joy Hammatt, who cheers with Guillot, is in Omaha for her 12th tournament.

There’s a palpable difference in the air and in the streets, which Hammatt said have been so packed with people she could hardly move.

A sign Hammatt saw this year said, “LSU fans love Omaha with or without their team,” and the Tiger faithful are just a few of the thousands of people who came to pay their respects.
The demise of Rosenblatt can’t replace the memories either. Years after the fact, Morris’ home run still stands as one of the greatest plays ever made in the stadium.

“It was excitement that you never dreamed of,” Guillot recalled. “It’s the definition of baseball.”

The passion of playing in the College World Series brings that out in people, he said.
“People start crying tears of joy or tears of sadness here when their teams win or lose,” Guillot said.

The absence of LSU has been like a “death in the family” to the locals, Guillot said.

“What makes Omaha and why people beg for the LSU fans to be here is because LSU fans make the College World Series,” Guillot said. “They bring more excitement than any team in the country.”

Other notable teams missing this year are Texas, Stanford, Miami and USC. The teams have been mainstays to the tournament over the years.

But among the many good qualities of Omaha locals, including generosity, friendliness and passion for college baseball, is the ability to see things in a positive light, Guillot said. The lack of the traditional powerhouses has led them to root for teams like TCU, which made its first appearance this year.

“They’ve embraced TCU the most,” Hammatt said. “Not only did they beat Texas, but it’s their first year here.”

Hammatt said she worries about what will happen to the neighborhood once the College World Series packs it up for good. Local businesses like Zesto Ice Cream and Stadium View Sports Cards thrive on the tournament’s business.

Parking is also a worry for the fans who love tailgating.

“A lot of us are worried about where we’re going to cook,” Hammatt said.

It’ll be a different experience, but Hammatt said she is willing to give the new stadium a shot.

“I don’t see anything wrong with the stadium,” Hammatt said. “But I’m going to embrace the new [one].”

As for Guillot, he knows he’ll be there next year cheering for the Tigers in a new location.

“I know LSU is going to be there for a simple reason: Paul Mainieri,” Guillot said. “People think or hope, but I know we’re going to be back in Omaha.”

Down by three runs with the bases loaded and just one out in the ninth, the freshman catcher smashed a ball that went straight into the glove of shortstop Stephen Cardullo, who then doubled off Austin Maddox at second to end the game and eliminate third-seeded Florida (47-17) from the CWS.

“I kind of leaped up like I do on most line drives,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I was hoping it would go either over his head or a little right or a little left.”

But his wish did not become a reality as UF’s stay in Omaha, Neb., was cut short with a 8-5 loss to in-state rival FSU.

It marked the fourth time the Gators have fell to the Seminoles this season. Each of the losses featured one consistent theme – unreliable Florida starting pitching.

UF’s starters put up a miserable 14.63 ERA in the four regular season contests against the Seminoles.

That did not change in the CWS as FSU battered Hudson Randall around for four runs in 2.2 innings.

“(Randall) threw the ball pretty good and then in the third something didn’t quite look right,” O’Sullivan said. “He got a little overheated and he just didn’t look himself.”

After the Gators grabbed an early 1-0 advantage in the first off of an RBI single from freshman Maddox, the Seminoles struck back quick against the heat-fatigued right-hander.

Junior Tyler Holt, who graduated from Gainesville High School, smashed a leadoff homer off the pine green backdrop in center field to tie the game.

“It was big, especially since they scored a run in the opening inning,” FSU All-American Mike McGee said. “That got the momentum back on our side.”

Just two innings later, McGee, who also earned the save against UF, crushed a ball over the left-field fence for a three-run shot, which gave FSU a lead it would never relinquish.

Randall, who had allowed more than two runs in just one of his last 10 starts, did not give the Gators the start they were looking for.

But the Seminoles didn’t have the same problem.

Left-hander Brian Busch came into Monday’s game with two relief appearances against UF earlier this season, which resulted in seven scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts. He carried that success into the start and turned in 5.1 innings of work while only allowing two hits and two runs.

“I was just working ahead,” Busch said. “In the first inning I could not control anything. But I just let my defense work.”

The Gators put runners in scoring position in each of the last four innings, but could only convert in the ninth.

Preston Tucker, who popped out with runners on first and second in the seventh, hit a double down the right-field line to drive in three runs and cut the deficit to just three, but Zunino’s line out ended the threat and the game.

UF was outscored 19-8 in the two games it played in Omaha.

However, all was not lost in the Gators’ short stay in the CWS.

“I think we are all foolish if we don’t pull something away from this and don’t try to improve and make ourselves better for next year,” O’Sullivan said. “I can tell you we are looking forward to breaking in the new (CWS stadium) next year.”

Cole (11-3), the New York Yankees 2008 first-round draft pick, dominated TCU with 13 strike-outs for all but one inning; Cole pitched eight innings and allowed three runs on five hits to lead the Bruins to a 6-3 victory.

“I thought facing (Gerrit Cole) who was outstanding, for us to have a chance we were going to have to pitch with him, just like last week when we played Texas,” TCU head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “Cole showed why he’s an All-American the way he pitched after the seventh inning. That was really, really impressive.”

The Bruins scored five runs in the first three innings and Kyle Winkler (12-2) only lasts 2 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and five earned runs.

TCU will move to the loser bracket in an elimination game rematch against Florida State Wednesday at 6 p.m. on ESPN2HD. Steven Maxwell will get the start for TCU Wed against the Seminoles.

“It wasn’t (Winkler’s) day,” Schlossnagle said. “He pitched behind the count, walked some guys and couldn’t keep the lead-off hitter off base.”

TCU shortstop Taylor Featherston’s three RBI triple in the seventh inning cut UCLA’s lead to 5-3, but the Bruins would answer with an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh to bring the lead to 6-3.

“That was actually the most comfortable at bat I felt,” Featherston said. “My stomach dropped there for a little bit, that was a pretty crazy, probably the most fun at bat in my entire life.”

UCLA head baseball coach John Savage said it was like a TCU home game Monday; Featherston’s at-bat might have been the loudest occasion of the 2010 CWS–credit Rosenblatt Stadium’s 23,345 fans, who have heavily favored TCU throughout the tournament, for rising to the occasion Monday evening.

Bruins’ designated hitter Blair Dunlap, a Baltimore Orioles 2010 draft pick, hit an RBI single past Frogs second baseman Jerome Pena to put UCLA up 1-0 in the first inning. Cole struck out the side in the top of the first.

With men on first and second catcher Bryan Holaday picked off Dunlap at second base to end the inning. Holaday had thrown out Dunlap on an attempted steal to second, but the throw came after the fourth ball of the at bat.

Winker put runners on first and second base in the second inning and center fielder Beau Amaral hit a RBI single to put UCLA up 2-0.

Center fielder Aaron Schultz walked with one out in the top of the third, but right fielder Brance Rivera lined a ball straight at UCLA third baseman Dean Espy, who threw out Schultz for the double play to end the inning.

It didn’t seem fortunes were favoring the Frogs after almost every bounce of the ball went their way Saturday against Florida State.

UCLA second baseman Cody Regis busted the game open with a 2 RBI blast over the left field wall on a 0-1 pitch.

Rivera made a spectacular foul ball catch over a fan who nearly fell over the railing on the first base side, but UCLA left fielder Jeff Gelalich knocked out the second home run of the inning, putting UCLA up 5-0.

The three-run third inning was enough for Schlossnagle to call up pitcher Paul Gerrish from the bullpen.

Gerrish didn’t allow an earned run in 3 2/3 innings of relief, but it was too little, too late for the Frogs.

After Holaday was credited a passed ball, shortstop Niko Gallego’s hit a sacrifice fly to center field to tack another run on for UCLA, bringing the score to 6-3.

TCU pitcher Kaleb Merck replaced Gerrish to finish the seventh inning. Merck finished the game with no hits, runs or walks.

Coats hit a single off Cole for TCU’s second hit of the game in the seventh inning. Curry followed with another single to put runners on first and second base with one out.

It was Cole’s fist sign of trouble in the game. After designated hitter Joe Wieke hit a harmless fly ball to center field, third baseman Jantzen Witte loaded the bases up with a shot to left field.

With a full-count and two outs with the bases loaded Featherston put the crowd on their feet with a three RBI triple to the gap. It was his seventh triple of the season.

Schultz couldn’t bring Featherston home-he was Cole’s 11th strikeout of the evening.

Pitcher Dan Klein replaced Cole in the ninth inning for his 10th save of the season.

If TCU wins Wednesday’s elimination game against Florida State they would play UCLA Friday in another do-or-die game. A win Friday would set up a final elimination for the Frogs and Bruins for a chance to play in the CWS Final (best-of-three) against the Bracket 2 winner.

TCU head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle would agree-consider Schlossnagle a five-star general and Holaday as the next-highest ranking commander.

Holaday, a Johnny Bench Award finalist and Detroit Tigers’ draft pick, doesn’t necessarily have the offensive numbers or fielding percentage of the two other Johnny Bench Award finalists.

U. Miami’s Yasmani Grandal and Coastal Carolina’s Jose Iglesias both have more home runs, RBIs and a better fielding percentage than Holaday.

But Schlossnagle doesn’t think statistics tell the true tale of what Holaday has done for the team this season.

“He’s the straw that stirs the drink of our entire program, it’s like having a great quarterback,” Schlossnagle said. “When your very, very best player is your very, very hardest worker and your leader; that’s when you have a chance to have a great season.”

Consider Holaday a Johnnie Walker Blue on the rocks for a first-time CWS head coach who is competing with the likes of Garrido and Florida State U. all-time great Mike Martin.

A stiff drink brings confidence to the newest of players in this game; this game also brings magnanimity to the newest of players.

“Bring it,” Schlossnagle said.

“At this point in the season there’s going to be great teams and we feel like we should have been worthy of a national seed. What we went through last weekend (in Austin), there is no tougher situation. I have a lot of respect for UCLA and obviously Coach Savage…but those Longhorns are pretty good, and they were deserving to be here.”

Holaday stirred the drink, he rallied the troops if you will, after the 14-1 Game 2 drubbing Texas handed the Frogs in Austin.

Respect is the key word. Schlossnagle can go to Holaday with a problem and be confident that he will handle it; that’s because the other players respect the way Holaday plays and the passion with which he gives on every out.

Nothing is more of a testament to what Holaday has done for the Horned Frogs than Freshman Pitcher of the Year Matt Purke’s NCAA-best 15 wins as a starter.

“He’s the rock, the whole foundation,” Purke said. “We turn to him whenever we need anything. And with me this year, he’s really just brought me along, shown me the ropes, been there when things have gotten a little hectic to slow me down and then he’s been right behind me when things are rolling.

“I can trust Bryan, he’s going to block every single ball and not one will get by him. So I can concentrate on making good pitches and getting swings and misses and I know he’s going to right there to handle it.”

Against UCLA Monday, Schlossnagle will turn to Holaday to make sure his soldiers are ready; Holaday will be sure to stir the drink.

“I think right now we’ve really come together as a team and we’re more confident than we’ve ever been; we’re just looking forward to the next game,” said Holaday after an 8-1 win over Florida State in Game 1 Saturday.

Johnny Walker Blue on the rocks-that’s what TCU and Schlossnagle need against UCLA Monday; or maybe just Bryan Holaday.

It was an appropriate environment considering how Trevor Bauer rained on Florida’s parade in UCLA’s 11-3 victory.

The sophomore starting pitcher gave up a pair of runs in the first inning, but found his groove as the game progressed. He ended up striking out 11 in seven strong innings to help No. 6 UCLA (49-14) move ahead in the winner’s bracket.

The win means the Bruins will next play TCU (52-12) – which beat Florida State on Saturday – today. The winner of that game earns a trip to the bracket’s final game.

Bauer was backed by a new-look Bruins lineup that had to make up for the loss of second baseman and three-hole hitter Tyler Rahmatulla. Shortstop Niko Gallego was moved up to the leadoff spot, an adjustment that paid off extravagantly as the junior reached base five times, scored a pair of runs and stole a base.

UCLA got one run in the first but left two men on base. It appeared that failure to come through had cost the Bruins, after the Gators (47-16) scored twice that same inning to take back the early lead.

But after a scoreless second inning, it was all UCLA the rest of the way. The Bruins scored at least one run in every inning after the second, while Bauer and Erik Goeddel combined to give up just one more run, a solo homer by Florida’s Josh Adams.

After Gallego, UCLA got contributions from up and down their lineup. Third baseman Dean Espy and catcher Steve Rodriguez each drove in a pair of runs. Rodriguez also scored twice, as did first baseman Justin Uribe.

But the story of the night was Bauer, who overcame early butterflies to dominate the rest of the game. A somewhat-controversial decision to start Bauer instead of Gerrit Cole in the opener paid off for coach John Savage. For one night, at least, things were sunny for UCLA in Omaha.

TCU will play the winner of Game 2 (Florida vs. UCLA) Monday at 8 p.m. on ESPN2HD.

TCU Catcher Bryan Holaday hit a solo home run and left fielder Jason Coats had 3 RBIs as six Frogs drove in at least one run.

FSU starting pitcher Sean Gilmartin (9-8) gave up six runs (five in the first inning) on eight hits, walking three batters in three innings pitched. FSU head baseball coach Mike Martin called up six pitchers in the game.

“If you had told me that we were going to get two hits in 27 outs, and no runs, I think I would have discussed it with you,” Martin said. “From our side, we didn’t make an error. You might just saw we got our butts whipped.”

The Seminoles’ took an early 1-0 lead off third baseman Jantzen Witte’s throwing error, but TCU rallied to score five runs in the bottom half of the first inning to give the Frogs a permanent lead. The five runs were the most Gilmartin had ever allowed in the first inning in 38 starts.

Purke struck out the side in the first inning, but an error cost the Frogs an early deficit.

“I caught a break, we caught a break (on the unearned run), and (Purke) did a great job to just come back and stop the bleeding,” FSU third baseman Sherman Johnson said. “They kind of used that as momentum into the next half of the inning.”

TCU responded quickly in the bottom of the first-second baseman Jerome Pena and catcher Bryan Holaday both knocked singles into left field to put runners on first and second. Left fielder Jason Coats hit a two RBI double into the leftfield corner to give TCU a 2-1 lead with one out.

Designated hitter Joe Weik hit another RBI single to bring Coats home. Witte hit a double to the right field wall to put runners on second and third for the Frogs.

Shortstop Taylor Featherston continued the big inning, hitting a RBI sacrifice fly to bring TCU’s early lead to 4-1. Center fielder Aaron Schultz hit one more RBI single before the end of the inning to add another run for the Frogs.

“They’re everything that I saw when I saw them play Texas on television,” Martin said. “They’re everything I thought they were, which I feel they deserve to be in Omaha. They earned it.”

It seemed like luck favored TCU in the second inning after a five-run first inning.

“To come down 1-0 and our guys put up five runs, it takes pressure off of you and you’re able to just go out there and throw and just compete,” Purke said.

FSU designated hitter Stuart Tapley hit a rope right at Witte, but the ball ricocheted off his glove and right into to the hands of Featherston, who had time to throw him out at first. Purke tallied another strike-out in the inning.

Purke walked two strait batters in the third, but Holt touched third base on a infield pop fly but didn’t retouch third when going back to second. Holaday tossed the ball back to third for the double play to end the inning.

Gilmartin matched Purke’s two-straight walks in the bottom of the third, putting Witte and Featherston on first and second base with no outs.

Schultz laid a sacrifice bunt down the third base line to advance the runners.

TCU continued to play small ball–the Frogs attempted a two-run squeeze play, but Rivera’s bunt could only score one run. Featherston was called out on the collision with FSU catcher Rafael Lopez at home plate. TCU was up 6-1 at the end of three innings.

Purke struck out right fielder James Ramsey, but his wild pitch got away from Holaday allowing Ramsey to advance to first. Purke walked shortstop Stephen Cardullo to put runners on first and second with first baseman Jayce Boyd at the plate.

TCU turned a 5-4-3 double play on a grounder to Featherston; Purke struck Boyd at looking to end the inning.

Seminoles’ pitcher Hunter Scantling replaced Gilmartin in the fourth inning. Gilmartin threw 70 pitches and allowed six runs on eight hits in three innings.

Holaday jacked his 14th home run of the season to left field. Holaday’s home run on a 0-1 count put the Frogs up 7-1 in the fourth inning.

“Definitely heard the (fan support) running around the bases,” Holaday said. ‘Everyone that’s behind us, the Fort Worth people that came up to watch us and the hometown people that are supporting us, it’s been great…it just made me feel so amazing.”

Purke cruised through the fifth and six innings, while FSU freshman pitcher Robert Benincasa replaced Scantling.

The Florida State pitching carousel began.

Benincasa didn’t record an out before head Florida State baseball coach Mike Martin called John Gast up from the bullpen. Benincasa walked Rivera and Schultz before being pulled.

Gast pitched his way out of a bases loaded jam with two strikeouts to end the top of the sixth. Purke eclipsed 100 pitches in the seventh, but pitched out the inning stranding seven Seminoles on base through seven innings.

TCU pitcher Eric Marshall replaced Purke (no earned runs, seven Ks), in the eighth inning. Marshall threw 23 pitches, walking one batter and allowing no hits in the eighth inning.

FSU pitcher Tyler Everett came in for the Seminoles’ final inning pitched-he would be the sixth FSU pitcher of the day.

Rivera singled to left in the eighth and Pena hit a sacrifice bunt to advance him to second. Left fielder Jason Coats roped an RBI single to right field to add one more run to TCU’s lead, 8-1.

Notes

The Rosenblatt Stadium crowd of 23,649 was the largest crowd to ever watch a TCU baseball game.

TCU’s 8-1 victory was the first Men’s College World Series victory for a Mountain West Conference team since the conference formed a decade ago.

Saturday’s win marks the first time in 17 starts Purke has not allowed an earned run.

Purke now ranks fourth nationally in strikeouts with 140 after his seven strikeout performance Saturday.

FSU has lost four of its last five CWS openers, dating back to 1996.

FSU went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position and 2-13 with runners on base.

But if the Frogs accomplish anything in their first CWS appearance, even a single victory (which could come as soon as 1 p.m. Saturday against Florida State), they must thank UT for that opportunity.

Q: Why should Frog-faithful thank the Longhorns for anything more than getting a rare chance to quasi-morbidly revel in what Texas head baseball coach Augie Garrido described as a devastating, gut wrenching and heart breaking experience for the Longhorns?

“Unbearable pain, it’s like a bad dream,” said Texas closer Chance Ruffin after the Austin Super Regional loss.

A: Because Texas made TCU earn their ticket to Omaha, Neb.

Thank you, Texas.

The Frogs have one advantage over the other seven teams joining them in Omaha: They’ve already played a no. 2 nationally seeded CWS team–a Longhorns team that boasted the best team ERA (2.45) in Division I Baseball.

“That’s no disrespect to the other teams that are going to be there, but it’s a shame that Texas and TCU have to play (in the Super Regional) when I think Texas and TCU are two of the top eight teams,” said TCU head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle.

Thank you, Texas.

Schlossnagle had to beat Garrido, a five-time CWS champion and member of the College World Series Legends Team, at his own game in an atmosphere unmatched by any other Super Regional location.

Garrido said the Frogs will go as far as their confidence allowed them in Omaha, and that the performance the TCU pitcher’s mustered in Austin in a pressure-filled away environment would have to be matched at Rosenblatt.

“No disrespect to all of the other Super Regional sites, but it was really hard for me to go home and watch UCLA and Fullerton play…two good teams, but a slightly different atmosphere than (Disch-Falk Field),” Schlossnagle said. ”

Thank you, Texas.

No disrespect, but Schlossnagle knows that his offense won’t have to face any pitchers quite like Texas ace Taylor Jungmann or Longhorns’ All-American closer Chance Ruffin (both ranked in the top-ten in college baseball ERA).

Thank you, Texas.

What may help TCU the most in Omaha (at least inside the confines of Rosenblatt Stadium) is another bad-blooded rivalry, this time out-of-state: Nebraska Cornhuskers’ red-blooded hatred for anything Texas and burnt-orange.

Last season’s Big-12 Championship game, where the now infamous added tick to the fourth quarter clock led a to a Longhorns field goal to win the game, still lingers sourly in the mouths of many Big Red faithful who will pack Rosenblatt to capacity.

“Go Horned Frogs,” shouted an array of Omaha-bound travelers watching ESPN coverage of the CWS while waiting for their connecting flight in a Minneapolis, Min. bar Friday. Baseball chatter quickly shifted to football and conference realignment while the bartender couldn’t shake up Bloody Mary’s fast enough for the Huskers-heavy patrons.

TCU is the only team in the 2010 CWS that has yet to make at least one appearance. Omaha usually takes well to College World Series newbie’s, especially newbie’s that knock off the Longhorns in Austin.

Thank you, Texas.

Now that the dust has somewhat settled from the recent conference-shifting fiasco over the past few weeks, Texas is staying put in the now 10-team Big 12 Conference.

Of course, the most dramatic change affects football, for which there will no longer be a conference championship game as there was before. Now, the regular season will decide the outright champion.

Basketball will also play every team in the conference twice in a round-robin-style regular season, meaning Longhorn basketball fans will get to see Kansas and Kansas State every year at home in the Frank Erwin Center.

But as for the next-biggest men’s sport behind football and basketball, the conference shake-up doesn’t really change things for the baseball team, whose season ended last weekend in the Super Regionals against TCU for a shot at Omaha, Neb., in the midst of conference speculation and reports.

Like football coach Mack Brown and men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes, baseball head coach Augie Garrido is pleased with the decision to remain in the Big 12.

“I think we’d lose a lot of identity if we went in a different direction,” Garrido said after Tuesday’s press conference. “I feel good about the conference. Having our own presence is better than being the second cousin to the Pac-10.”

While conference realignment was the least of the Horns’ worries last weekend, having lost to TCU in three games, losing Nebraska and Colorado really won’t impact Garrido’s bunch at all.

The Buffaloes didn’t even have a team, and Nebraska finished second to last in the conference with a .370 winning percentage.

Interestingly enough, the Huskers did hand Texas one of its three regular-season Big 12 losses, but overall, Garrido thinks the conference is as strong as any in the nation.

“From our point of view, baseball-wise, the conference is very strong,” Garrido said. “We put five teams in the playoffs, and Oklahoma is going to the College World Series. The conference as a whole has established itself in the United States as a powerhouse conference.”

One of the big tipping points in Texas’ staying put was considering the longer trips to the West Coast and how it would affect the student-athletes.

“It’s gonna be a lot easier on the players, too, but we’ll be playing 27 games exactly how we’ve been, so baseball stays exactly the same,” Garrido said.

While there hasn’t been any formal talk of inviting two other schools to bring the conference number back to 12, according to The Houston Chronicle, state Reps. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, and Bill Callegari, R-Katy, co-authored a letter petitioning the Big 12 to allow former Southwest Conference member the University of Houston into the conference.

“UH is the third-largest university in Texas, and is on track to rank among the top research universities in this state,” they said in the letter. “The Cougars, the city of Houston and the state of Texas deserve better.”

The Houston legislators also asked the Big 12 to consider admitting TCU into the conference as well.

As soon as he took the head coaching job in 2007, O’Sullivan wasted no time and put in a 7 a.m. conditioning workout, something the Gators weren’t used to.

“He made sure to tell our strength coach to push us to our limits,” UF closer Kevin Chapman said. “It wasn’t very pretty. Anytime somebody does that to you it’s a love-hate relationship.”

Whether it was with agility drills, long-distance sprints or a shuttle run players refer to as “ladders,” O’Sullivan made his presence known.

“It was death,” sophomore Alex Panteliodis said of his introduction to the workout plan. “I thought I had joined the track team — I wasn’t playing baseball.”

But as third-seeded Florida (47-15) prepares for its first game in the College World Series against six seed UCLA (48-14) on Saturday at 7 p.m., players are starting to see there is a method to their coach’s madness.

“It was just a matter of trying to get guys in shape and trying to get their attention,” O’Sullivan said.

He used a top recruiting class, an emphasis on conditioning and his expertise of pitching to put his imprint on the team.

Panteliodis is a prime example of his coach’s effect on the program. He has lost 20 pounds since enrolling at UF in 2008 and it has translated on the field.

The sophomore, who is expected to be named the starting pitcher for Saturday’s game, has seen his ERA fall from 4.38 in his freshman year to 3.26 this season.

“Losing the 20 pounds has allowed me to finish through on my pitches, and I have gained a lot of velocity through it,” Panteliodis said. “It’s really exciting to learn what (O’Sullivan) knows.”

The entire Gators pitching staff has benefited from having O’Sullivan around. He was a pitching coach at Clemson for nine years, and his knowledge in the area is evident.

When he took the position, the team was coming off a season in which it posted an ERA of 5.27. But in each of the three years O’Sullivan has been the coach that number has improved. This season, the team achieved a 3.96 ERA.

“I think it’s better this year than last year because we have main starters,” Panteliodis said. “Last year, we rotated a lot with everybody, but this season I think everybody found a role and found a position.”

Panteliodis and freshmen Hudson Randall and Brian Johnson have been the team’s weekend rotation for most of the season. The three have played their best in the NCAAs, allowing just nine earned runs in 35 innings while striking out 10 batters per every nine frames.

But this three-year fast track to the CWS wasn’t planned.

“We did not put a timetable on this thing when we got here,” O’Sullivan said. “We just took it one day at a time.”

On March 27, he became the first player to catch a pitch at the Twins’ new ballpark during a game against Louisiana Tech, and last Wednesday night, he became the first player to sign a major league contract there.

The Minnesota Twins took Knudson with the 285th overall pick (ninth round) in the 2010 MLB amateur draft, and he signed within a day. He will likely play for the Elizabethton Twins of the Appalachian League, whose season starts June 22.

Knudson’s initiation to the major leagues began years ago and with plenty of scouting trips and reports collected by professional clubs.

Mark Wilson, an area scout for the Twins, canvases six states and all of Canada in search of major league talent. Wilson’s most notable prospect was a Cretin-Derham Hall catcher by the name of Joe Mauer.

Wilson said he started watching Knudson play as a sophomore at Maple Grove high school, and, like he does with all other prospects, began compiling reports on every aspect of his game from his on-field talent down to his demeanor in the dugout.

Wilson, along with about 14 other area scouts for the Twins that cover the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, continually builds “follow lists” of players that perk his interest, even if they are not eligible for the draft.

Before the draft each year, the area scouts rank their prospects into categories of where the player might go in the draft, using their reports as a guide. A handful of regional supervisors then combine the reports into more regional preferences, and an even smaller number of crosscheckers cross the country and combine regional lists into a more comprehensive nationwide preference list.

About a week and a half before the draft, the scouting department meets and debates in the draft room, ranking players in each position.

Although Twins scouts all use the same numerical scale to grade certain abilities of a prospect in their reports, Wilson said the process of ranking players from different areas of the country is a subjective process.

“There isn’t a science formula to it — it’s all opinion,” Wilson said. “Much like going to an art museum, someone else is going to like a sculpture for different reasons.”

The decision on who to draft is ultimately up to the scouting director, who has to take a number of factors into consideration before picking a player, including the likelihood they will sign with the team.

According to MLB rules, players can be drafted straight out of high school, or after their junior or senior season in a four-year college, but can tell the team they won’t sign if they are drafted in a late round. This lets them improve their stock and come back to be drafted in a later year. That means players must decide if they want to try professional ball right out of high school or spend at least two years in college.

Seth Rosin, who was drafted in the 28th round by the Twins out of high school in 2007, opted to play for the Gophers and was selected in the fourth round by the Giants last week.

“I knew I wanted to go to college,” Rosin said. “I’m glad I made that decision.”

Junior closer Scott Matyas was drafted in the 40th round by the Milwaukee Brewers, and will likely return for his senior year with the Gophers.

Other than talent and the “signability” of a player, Twins vice president of player personnel Mike Radcliff said the organization pushes versatility and ability to play multiple positions, because it never knows what spot the Major League squad will need to fill.

“It’s hard to go from the rookie league … to the big leagues,” Radcliff said. “You want to have some versatility as a player just to give yourself a chance to survive.”

Michael Kvasnicka was projected to be drafted as a catcher, but during a pre-draft workout, the Astros had him bring a third baseman’s glove to see him catch ground balls. Kvasnicka was surprised when the Astros announced they would play him at third base after drafting him with the 33rd overall pick.

“I knew that if anybody was going to do that, it would have been the Astros, but I still didn’t think they were going to do it,” Kvasnicka said. “To me, that’s a great thing … because it means that they have a plan for me and that they have a need or some kind of importance for me.”

Troy Hoerner, an area scout for the Astros who both scouted Kvasnicka and was drafted by the Twins in 1988 along with Kvasnicka’s father, Jay Kvasnicka, said he will play catcher and in the outfield as well as third base until they determine the best fit for him.

On Monday, Michael Kvasnicka signed with the team for an undisclosed amount.

Kvasnicka added that he is excited to have the scouting and drafting process finished so he can focus on baseball. But for Radcliff, the scouting process and the ability to draft well is what breeds success on the field in the major leagues.

“If you’re better than the other 29 teams in the drafting process, you have a good shot at being better than the other 29 teams at the big-league level eventually,” Radcliff said. “That’s what we strive to do.”

For the second-consecutive game, the sophomore right fielder blasted two home runs to carry U. Oklahoma (49-16) back to Omaha with a 11-0 victory over No. 1 Virginia (51-14) in Charlottesville, Va.

After going 0-for-4 in the Sooners’ 3-2 loss Saturday in the Charlottesville Super Regional opener, Reine (2-for-3) broke loose with two home runs and five RBIs to keep OU’s season alive Sunday in the second game of the best-of-three series.

Reine followed up that performance with a 3-for-5 game Monday, knocking out two more homers and driving home six runs in the decisive game three.

He didn’t do it alone, however, as the Sooners pounded out 12 hits, with sophomore catcher Tyler Ogle and sophomore first baseman Cameron Seitzer each adding solo home runs.

The Sooners never trailed as Reine’s three-run shot in the top of the first inning put OU ahead to stay.

The team tacked on runs in the second, fifth, sixth and eighth innings to turn the early lead into a rout.

Reine’s second three-run blast in the eighth put the finishing touches on the night, as OU denied Virginia its second-straight trip to Omaha and clinched its first trip back to the College World Series in 15 years.

Virginia started the game with undefeated freshman pitcher Branden Kline (5-1), but the Sooners rocked the righty for four runs as Kline was pulled after Seitzer’s solo shot put OU in front 4-0.

A pitching change failed to slow OU down as the Cavaliers, the nation’s No. 5 seed, cycled through five pitchers in the game, with junior Tyler Wilson lasting the longest in 3 2/3 innings.

Junior pitcher Bobby Shore (10-4) earned the win for the Sooners, holding the Cavaliers to four hits with five strikeouts in eight innings.

Junior pitcher Ryan Duke closed out the game, allowing one hit during the ninth inning in his first action since April.

But ultimately the night once again belonged to the Walker, La., native, who exploited Davenport Field and the Cavaliers for his coming-out party.

Entering the second game, Reine had only six home runs and 31 RBIs in 46 games. In OU’s last two games, Reine posted four homers and 11 RBIs.

With the win, the Sooners handed Virginia its first back-to-back losses of the season and its first shutout loss in two years.

The No. 11 Sooners move on to face South Carolina at 1 p.m. Sunday in the NCAA College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb.

The Gamecocks defeated No. 4 national seed Coastal Carolina with a pair of one-run victories Saturday and Sunday to sweep past the Chanticleers in the Myrtle Beach Super Regional in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

OU will make its 10th appearance, and first under head coach Sunny Golloway, in the eight-team double-elimination tournament.

The Sooners were national champions in 1951 and 1994, but have not been back since losing to Florida State and USC in 1995.

But Miami’s defense revived them.

Down by just one run in the ninth, Florida loaded the bases with two outs.

But the Gators didn’t need a hit to get the job done – all it needed was Miami’s fifth error of the game on a routine ground ball off the bat of junior Josh Adams.

UF took advantage of the Hurricanes’ lackluster defense on Saturday to punch its ticket to Omaha, Neb. for the sixth time in school history with a 4-3 victory over Miami in front of a record 5,783 people in McKethan Stadium.

“It’s tough when you are dealing with 18- and 19 year-old young men,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “When so much is at stake at this time of the year, little things like that can come back to either help you or haunt you.”

Adams reached base in the ninth because of a weak throw from Miami shortstop Stephen Perez, which allowed the ball to bounce before it reached the first baseman.

The critical error allowed sophomore Preston Tucker to score and tie the game at three. The Gators eventually won the game on a go-ahead double from Austin Maddox in the 10th inning to bring freshman Nolan Fontana home.

“I’ve been seeing the ball well all weekend,” Maddox said. “I got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it and came up big time. I’ll remember that hit for the rest of my life.”

Fontana’s run was also unearned as he reached base thanks to an error by right fielder Chris Pelaez.

Miami’s seven errors in the second game of the series didn’t help pitcher Chris Hernandez, who threw a gem Saturday. He threw 8.1 innings while giving up just three hits.

The Gators scored eight unearned runs in the two super regional games on nine errors by the Hurricanes.

However, UF’s defense didn’t give its starting pitcher Hudson Randall those same problems.

Randall used two double plays and a stellar diving catch from UF center fielder Matt den Dekker to throw 6.2 innings and allow just two runs. The freshman struck out five to continue his recent success.

“I was coming in trying give our team the same chance we had yesterday,” Randall said. “Our offense has been on a roll now, so I knew they were going to get some runs for me.”

The freshman hurler is sporting a 2.14 ERA in his last 11 starts.

Florida’s bullpen was just as good. Four relievers combined to pitch 3.1 innings of one-run baseball.

The UF pitching staff limited Miami’s offense, which came into the super regional averaging more than 11 runs per game in its last seven contests, to just five total runs in the super regional.

Sophomore Greg Larson recorded the final two outs for the Gators to close out the game and begin the celebration.

“This is what I came back for,” den Dekker said. “This is definitely the best moment of my career.”

“I think our sport has grown enough to where the best teams should end up in Omaha, NE,” Schlossnagle said. “The best teams that earn their way through the regular season should have the best opportunity to get there.”

Schlossnagle said the NCAA should seed more than eight teams, as he went even further to advocate a 64-team format.

He had support from Baylor head baseball coach Steve Smith after the Bears fell 9-0 to the Horned Frogs in the Fort Worth Regional championship game.

“The things that not right about this regional stuff has everything to do with the number two seeded (team) in the country getting matched up with what would have been the nine or 10 seeded team… in basketball,” Smith said. Since we don’t seed this tournament past eight, you basically have a regional bias in this tournament.

“Probably TCU and Texas will both be better than some body that makes it to Omaha.”

Smith noted that about 98 percent of the NCAA’s budget goes to the NCAA basketball tournament, but that college baseball is the NCAA’s second-largest revenue producer.

“I think our kids got t-shirts,” Smith said.

“There is another fully seeded NCAA tournament that loses anywhere from $8-12 million dollars annually,” he said. “You could get a lot more t-shirts.”

Baseball Schedule Biased Against the South and West

Schlossnagle said baseball should be played in the summertime, not in early spring. He called for starting the season in early April and ending in August.

Smith said that northern schools lobbied to push back the start of the season because of weather, but that it makes it particularly difficult during the regional rounds in the South and West because of the heat.

“If the NCAA and the presidents would allow our sport to grow the way it has the potential to do so, we could really do some special things across the country and also have a lot of growth and have the best teams end up there,” Schlossnagle said. “It’s not fair.”

Texas scored its only run (unearned) against Tyler Lockwood on a throwing error from second baseman Jerome Pena in the ninth inning.

The Frogs will play Florida State in the opening round of the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. at Rosenblatt Stadium either June 19 or 20.

“I came to TCU seven years ago and this is the day you dream about,” said TCU head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle. “We feel privileged to have a chance to go to Rosenblatt (Stadium) in it’s last year and we are really looking forward to it.

“Omaha is the pearly gates of our profession, it’s the pearly gates of college baseball. To be the first at something is incredibly special…that’s what we’ve been preaching for seven years of recruiting and it has finally come to fruition.”

Texas stranded 10 runners on base and failed to score an earned run on seven hits after a 14-1 Game 2 win Saturday, which forced Sunday’s elimination game. TCU took the first game of the series 3-1.

“It’s a devastating, gut wrenching, heartbreaking experience for the Longhorns,” Texas head baseball coach Augie Garrido said. “These teams could play 100 games and it would end up 50 to 50.”

Texas third baseman Kevin Lusson said, “We made (Winkler) work, but we hit the ball right at people. I personally think the wrong team is going to Omaha.”

The TCU bench cleared out after the final out and bolted for the burnt orange and white-outlined Texas Longhorn symbol painted in center field and dog piled the University of Texas logo.

“Every team does that,” Lusson said. “Every team dog piles after they win the Super (Regional) except for us. They won so they can do whatever.”

Winkler and Texas starting pitcher Brandon Workman (12-2) matched each other pitch-for-pitch through four innings– both teams combined for five hits after four innings (TCU with two and Texas with three).

Texas first baseman Tant Shepherd hit a harmless grounder, but TCU shortstop Taylor Featherston sailed the ball over first baseman Matt Curry’s head to put Shepherd on second base. Featherston’s throw to first had been consistently high all series.

Winkler pitched his way out of trouble, striking out designated hitter Russell Moldenhauer to end the fourth inning.

Featherston knocked a line drive ball and doubled to right in the fifth inning, and Texas right fielder Kevin Keyes evened Featherston with his own throwing error, which allowed Featherston to advance to third base.

Frogs’ left fielder Jason Coats found a hole in the infield and ripped a 1-2 count RBI single to give TCU its first lead since Game 1, 1-0.

Winkler entered the sixth inning with renewed confidence after TCU gave him a lead, striking out Texas catcher Cameron Rupp and coaxing a ground ball out from Keyes. Lusson hit a fly ball to center for the third out of the inning.

“My biggest key for today was to try and keep the ball down and get ahead of hitters,” Winkler said. “As long as you get ahead of any good team you can get them guessing a little bit.”

Ruffin, who gave up as many home runs Sunday (two) as he did all season, replaced Workman in the sixth inning. The All-American entered the game with the best ERA per nine innings (0.75).

Workman (3.35 ERA) allowed four hits and one run in five innings pitched.

Ruffin walked Featherston with one out in the seventh inning. Ruffin fanned Coats for an out, but Schultz battled back from a 0-2 count to jack a 2-RBI home run out to put TCU up 3-0.

Schultz’s defense was equally as impressive as his hitting in the eighth inning, when he ran down a fly ball to center and made an over-the-shoulder grab to keep Texas from manufacturing a scoring situation.

“I was so pumped up from my homerun,” Schultz said. “I felt like a million bucks out there even though my body was worn down from the season and the hot weather. I felt like I was flying out there, to be honest.”

Tyler Lockwood (1.97 ERA) replaced Winkler with two outs in the eighth inning; Winkler allowed five hits and had six strikeouts, but Schlossnagle felt that after 112 pitches, Winkler was throwing the ball a little bit higher in the strike-zone.

“I thought I may have made the most monumental mistake in the programs history taking out Winkler,” Schlossnagle said.

Texas scored it’s only run on TCU’s second error of the game in the ninth inning, but Keyes hit a harmless grounder for the final out of the game.

“That’s going to be my message to the team, ‘take it all in,’” Schlossnagle said. “But if there’s anything better than (winning the Austin Super Regional), it’s certainly (winning a national championship).”

“I can’t say enough about the character of our baseball team,” FSU Head Coach Mike Martin said. “I’m very proud to be a part of them.”

The ’Noles—fresh off earning their 20th CWS appearance—struck early when shortstop Steven Cardullo lit up the scoreboard, as well as the home fans’ emotions, with a solo shot to left center that put the Tribe up 1-0.

After a Rafael Lopez single, a Devon Travis double and an Ohmed Danesh walk that loaded the bases, center fielder Tyler Holt—who struggled in Saturday’s game-two loss, going 1-for-5—brought home two more runs with a double to right-center that was immediately followed by Sherman Johnson recording an RBI groundout that brought home Danesh to put the ’Noles up 4-0.

Those four runs, unexpectedly, would become the foundation for the FSU pitching staff to uphold.

Right-hander Geoff Parker started possibly the biggest game of his junior season, as he was able to keep the Commodores uncomfortable at the plate in his short stint on the mound. Parker pitched 3.1 innings, surrendering only one run on two Commodore hits before FSU’s game-one starter, Sean Gilmartin, came out of the bullpen in relief.

Gilmartin and Parker swapped roles in game three from game one, with Parker starting and Gilmartin relieving. While both Gilmartin and Parker struggled in Friday’s win, it was undeniable that both Seminole aces had gotten plenty of rest between games (each surrendered four earned runs in their team’s late-inning dramatics, with Gilmartin unable to make it out of the fifth and Parker getting whacked around in 2.1 innings).

“I think Vanderbilt showed what they are all about,” Martin said after the opening victory. “When we went up, certainly we knew there was a lot of baseball left. They really showed what they’re about by coming back and not only tying the game, but going ahead. It was a clear display of fight on their part, and certainly I was pleased with the fight in our guys when we fell behind to not feel sorry for ourselves.”

Martin’s game-one comments set the tone for the remaining games in the pivotal series as either team just refused to give in.

Vanderbilt, though, would simply not go away. Fighting to keep their postseason hopes alive, their rally began in the fourth inning.

After Anthony Gomez was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom half of play, an Aaron Westlake walk advanced Gomez to second, which was followed by Jason Esposito driving home the Commodores’ first run of the game with an RBI single.

Vandy would strike again just two innings later, when Gomez was in the center of the action again. Down 4-1, Gomez ripped an RBI single through the left side of the infield that cut the Seminoles’ former four-run margin in half in just two innings of work.

The Commodores weren’t done, though.

Westlake followed Gomez’s hit with a double of his own that drove home another Vandy run to bring the FSU lead to 4-3.

Despite Martin’s earlier comments about how unrelenting the Vanderbilt squad was, it was Martin’s own team that proved to be the more forceful.

Following a 58-minute rain/lightning delay that stole the thunder from a Jayce Boyd lead-off double to open the top half of the eighth inning for FSU, once play resumed, the ’Noles showed how composed and cool they were, despite the anticipation. After FSU loaded the bases with a couple of walks, Sherman Johnson—who came into his final Sunday at-bat 0-for-4—laced a bases clearing double into the right-center field gap that all but booked the plane reservations to Omaha.

With the victory, Florida State becomes the second team to qualify for play inside Omaha’s illustrious Rosenblatt Stadium.

Joining FSU are the Florida Gators, who the ’Noles have defeated in two out of the season’s three meetings.

Now, instead of working to attain his goal, he will wait to pitch competitively again until he reaches a contract agreement with his new club. What will he do in the meantime?

“I’m just going to play golf and see what happens,” Pomeranz said. “Play golf every day.”

He will not throw much during his period of rest, but instead will focus on keeping his body in shape.

“I’ll probably take a little bit of time off,” Pomeranz said. “I haven’t really thought about that much either. Mostly probably just running. I’ll just run every day and just stay in shape body-wise. I mean, I’ve got 100 innings under my belt this year. I don’t think it will take me that long to get back into it.”

The left-handed pitcher from Collierville, Tenn., has until August 15 to sign with the Indians. Negotiations between big-league ball clubs and draftees often develop slowly, with neither side giving ground until the final weeks, days or hours.

“I don’t have any rush to get in or rush to drag (the negotiations) out at all,” Pomeranz said. “I don’t know how it’s all going. I haven’t heard anything, any negotiations. From what I hear, they are going to probably fly me up there or get me a trip up to Cleveland, do a physical, show me around before they even start negotiating anything.”

When Pomeranz — advised by the Beverly Hills Sports Council — does sign, he could play with former Rebel teammate Jordan Henry at some point in the Indians’ system. Henry, who texted Pomeranz a message of congratulations after the draft, is playing for the high-A Kinston Indians.

But Pomeranz’s goal is not to just sign.

It is to make it to the big leagues and have a successful career. The Washington Nationals have already promoted two pitchers they selected in the 2009 draft, just one year after having a 5.00 team ERA. This season, the Indians are 24th in the league with a 4.72 ERA and have only one starter with a number under 3.50, so if Pomeranz pitches well in the minors, he could be called up as early as next season.

“It’s definitely a positive, I guess, to go to a team where I could be up pretty quick,” Pomeranz said.

With his Rebel career now over, Pomeranz compared some of the aspects of his college life to the stories he has heard, through his brother Stuart Pomeranz – drafted 65th overall in 2003 – and former teammates, about life in the minors.

“I guess you don’t have the whole college thing,” he said. “You’re on a bus all the time traveling. There is not 8,000 people in the stands every weekend.”

With a one-run game in the fifth Miami produced six runs following a second delay to beat Texas A&M 10-3 Tuesday afternoon at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.

When play resumed in the bottom of the second on Tuesday, starter Eric Whaley stayed on the mound and gave up consecutive singles to the second-seeded Aggies.

But Caleb Shofner was thrown out at the plate when Chris Pelaez’s throw from right was cut off by Scott Lawson and thrown to Yasmani Grandal for the tag at home.

“I think it was huge coming out of last night,” Texas A&M shortstop Brodie Greene said. “We had two runs scored and all the momentum and right out of the box today. That play kind of set us back and evened out the momentum threat in the game.”

After that play the Hurricanes (43-18) outscored the Aggies (43-21-1) 7-1.

Chris Hernandez (10-3), who was taken in the seventh round of the MLB Draft by the Boston Red Sox and started on Saturday, earned the victory with two scoreless innings of relief.

“I felt great. I was out there and was able to get the job done for as long as I could for my team,” Hernandez said. “I just wanted to help us out somehow and I was able to do it.”

Miami head coach Jim Morris, however, said that Sam Robinson was the team’s MVP of the game for his 4.1 innings of relief.

He allowed just one run, in the ninth, and struck out four.

“I was excited to go in because I hadn’t pitched all weekend, so getting this opportunity to go out there and pitch, I was really excited for it,” Robinson said. “Having the opportunity to go 4-plus innings, I’ve never done that before.”

The Hurricanes picked up their first three runs with the benefit of just two hit thanks to a total of eight walks issued by Texas A&M pitching.

Play was halted yet again after Frankie Ratcliff reached first on a strikeout on a pitch that got away and Lawson and Grandal each walked with no outs in the fifth.

When play resumed Harold Martinez picked up an RBI on a groundout to make it 4-2.

Barrett Loux, who was drafted sixth overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks, gave up three runs in the sixth on three hits, including a two-run double by Grandal and RBI double by Martinez.

“I didn’t see it as a battle. I’ve faced good pitching all year, so the better you throw them out there the better I hit, the better I get,” Grandal said. “He’s a great pitcher. He has great stuff. I guess I was the lucky one who came out on top today. I’m sure I’ll see him down the road either in the minor leagues or the major leagues.”

Grandal, who was drafted 12th overall by the Cincinnati Reds, came into the game with just three hits and no RBI.

He finished the game 1 for 3 with a double, two walks and two RBI.

“We just didn’t play well enough to win. I wish we had pitched better,” Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “When you’re playing catch-up like we did after we fell apart, it made it tough on us because Robinson did a nice job of changing speeds.”

The Canes produced their second consecutive three-run inning in the seventh on an RBI single by Stephen Perez, a two-base error by the pitcher and a wild pitch to make the score 10-2.

Before play was called on Monday Miami got on the board without the benefit of a hit in the first to take a 1-0 lead when Ross Stripling encountered control issues as he walked the first two batters.

Ten of his first pitches were for balls.

Martinez, who drove in a game-high three runs, grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Ratcliff.
Michael Broad picked up the Hurricanes’ first hit with a single to left in the second, stole a base and moved over to third on a wild pitch.

After a two-out walk to Zeke DeVoss, Ratcliff, plugged into the leadoff spot and up for the second consecutive inning, produced a two-run single to center to give Miami a 3-0 lead.

The Aggies came back with two unearned runs of their own when Matt Juengel surprised the Hurricane defense with a bunt and Martinez threw the ball out of play for a two-base error, his first of two in the game.

Following a wild pitch Kevin Gonzalez doubled to right to score Juengel, and Shofner, the eighth batter, blooped a single that stayed fair down the right-field line to make it 3-2.

Miami advances to the Gainesville Super Regional to play he third overall seed Florida Gators.

“Florida came in and beat us two out of three. They’ve got an outstanding club so we have something to prove. We’ll be a challenge for those guys,” Morris said. “They’ve got good power arms. I think we’re a better club now than when we faced them early in the season. It seems like last year it’s been so long.”

On this Monday, they finally pushed through. Literally.

A safety squeeze bunt by Connor Harrell scored Curt Casali from third base in the bottom of the 10th inning to win 3-2 over Louisville, setting off a wild celebration by the Commodores at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Vanderbilt will travel to Florida State this weekend to play in its first Super Regional in six years and only the second in its history.

“We pitched very well and played great defense and just hung in there,” said Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin. “And it is just a credit to what we have gone through this year…just happy, happy for the kids.”

Harrell’s bunt came on the first pitch and rolled underneath Cardinal third baseman Phil Wunderlich’s glove, allowing Casali to slide in head-first and get mobbed by his teammates. Casali had been hit by a pitch by Neil Holland (8-1) and advanced to third on a single by Mike Yastrzemski.

“I saw it get past the pitcher and I was already in celebration mode,” said Harrell, who drove in his first and only run of the Regional.

The Commodores were finally able to shake off the disappointment of a year ago, when the Cardinals won 5-3 in the Monday night game to advance, and even more so from three years ago, when they lost 4-3 to Michigan in 10 innings while hosting a Regional championship in Nashville.

“You knock on the door and you want to bust through the door at some point,” Corbin said.

Louisville coach Dan McDonnell was making his first appearance of the Regional after sitting out his team’s first three games due to a suspension. He has now seen it go both ways after the Cardinals triumphed last season but then had to watch Vanderbilt celebrate this time.

“It’s very tough,” McDonnell said. “I want to congratulate Vanderbilt. They have a great team.”

It was a battle from inning one, with both teams playing airtight defense. Harrell made the play of the weekend in the third inning, robbing Louisville’s Jeff Arnold of a two-run home run to keep the game scoreless. Brian Harris saved the game for Vanderbilt in the ninth with a leaping catch of a line drive to save at least two runs and send it to extras.

“The defense on both sides of the ball,” Corbin said, “no one probably deserved to lose.”

Grayson Garvin made just his second start of the season and threw six innings, allowing only three hits and one earned run. Together, he and Richie Goodenow, both normally used out of the bullpen, held the Cardinals to five hits and one run in 15 innings of work over the last two games.

“It’s heroic,” Corbin said.

It was also dramatic.

The Commodores led 2-1 going into the bottom of the ninth and had ace Sonny Gray on the hill to close it out. With two outs and a runner on first, Drew Haynes reached on an infield single, and Arnold jumped on a curveball and lined a game-tying hit to score Stewart Ijames.

Gray walked Adam Duvall before Andrew Clark’s line drive was snagged by Harris to preserve the tie.

Gray, despondent over blowing the save, was pumped up by his teammates in the dugout. Jason Esposito and Casali told him, ‘We got you.’

“That is just what this team is about,” Gray said. “Just picking each other up.”

After Taylor Hill (6-5) mowed the Cardinals down 1-2-3 in the top of the tenth, that’s exactly what they did.

The Commodores took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Casali singled in Joe Loftus with two strikes and two out. In the fifth, they loaded the bases with no one out, but Louisville ace Thomas Royse, making his first start in nearly two weeks, came back to strike out Aaron Westlake, Esposito and Loftus to end the threat.

The Cardinals tied it in the seventh on an RBI grounder by Stewart Ijames, where Ryan Wright barely slid in under the tag of Andrew Giobbi.

The Commodores re-claimed the lead in their half of the inning when Esposito singled with two outs to score Harris, who had walked and was sacrificed to second by Anthony Gomez.

Gray got out of a heart-pounding jam in the eighth, inducing an inning-ending groundout from Wunderlich that bounced off his glove and right to Harris, who threw just in time to get him at first. Wunderlich had taken Gray deep for a three-run home run in the first inning of Saturday’s game.

This was too good a game to be done after nine innings, as it turned out.

About an hour before his team’s eventual loss to Cal-State Fullerton in the regional finals Monday night, U. Minnesota starting right fielder Mike Kvasnicka was selected by the Houston Astros as the 33rd pick in the supplemental portion of the first round of Major League Baseball’s amateur draft.

Kvasnicka is the highest drafted Minnesota player since the Twins took pitcher Glen Perkins with the 22nd pick in 2004. He is the highest position player taken since infielder Brett Gates was taken 26th overall by Oakland in 1991.

Kvasnicka can play in the outfield, behind the plate or at either corner infield position, and filled in for Kyle Knudson at catcher this season as Knudson recovered from off-season hip surgery. The Astros announced that they will use Kvasnicka as a third baseman.

Kvasnicka reached base in 40 straight games, and 61 of the team’s final 62 games, to end his junior season and likely his college career. He finished the season hitting .358 with eight home runs.

A graduate of Lakeville North, Kvasnicka was drafted out of high school by the Twins in the 33rd round (961st pick), but opted to play for the Gophers. His father, Jay, was selected by the Twins in the eighth round of the 1988 draft but didn’t make it to the majors.

The supplemental round comes sandwiched between the first and second rounds of the draft. When a team signs a “Class A” free agent – a player in the top 20 percent of players at his position, as determined by the Elias Sports Bureau – the signing team must give its top draft pick to the team which loses the free agent. In addition, the team which loses the free agent receives a pick in the supplemental round. Houston received its supplemental pick when it lost free-agent reliever Jose Valverde to Detroit.

Cal-State had two players selected in the first round, shortstop Christian Colon was taken fourth overall by the Kansas City Royals, and outfielder Gary Brown was selected 24th overall by the San Fransisco Giants.

One other notable Big Ten draftee was Ohio State’s starting pitcher Alex Wimmers, who was taken 21st overall by the Twins.

“It’s definitely an exciting time, sitting there and waiting for that moment in the draft,” Pomeranz said. “I’m glad to finally have it over and know something more about what my future holds.”

His excitement reached its peak right before he was selected.

“My heart was definitely racing a little bit more right before that pick because I’ve seen it a lot before [where someone thinks they are going to be picked at a certain spot and it doesn’t happen]. I felt pretty confident that Cleveland would pick me, and it’s just an awesome feeling to actually have it happen.”

The 6-foot-5 230-pound Pomeranz was drafted out of high school in 2007 by the Texas Rangers in the 12th round, and he saw his draft stock rise during the summer of 2009 when he went 4-1 with a 1.75 ERA for the USA Collegiate National Team.

He pitched 25.2 innings and struck out 48 batters during the campaign.

“We’re very excited and proud of Drew and know it’s a special day for him,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “It’s one that most people would feel that he deserves. He’s worked so hard since he’s been here to make himself into the best college pitcher in the country.”

The Collierville, Tenn. native may have put the finishing touches on a great Rebel career in 2010, going 9-2 with a 2.24 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 100.2 innings.

Just a month before starting the international competition, Pomeranz turned in one of the more memorable Ole Miss baseball performances in 2009 when he helped the Rebels reach the NCAA Tournament Super Regionals with a two-hit complete game against Western Kentucky on two days’ rest, striking out 16 and walking one.

As a freshman, Pomeranz was named to both the Freshman All- America and All-SEC Freshman teams after appearing in 17 games, starting 11, and going 4-3 with a 4.16 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 71.1 innings. He followed with an All-SEC Second Team selection his sophomore year, posting a 8-4 record and team-leading 3.40 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 95.1 innings.

The Indians have until August 15 to sign Pomeranz to a contract.

If a deal cannot be reached, he can return to Ole Miss if he does not sign with an agent, or he can play in a semi-professional league until next June, when he would re-enter the draft.

“I haven’t even talked to the Indians at all yet,” Pomeranz said.

“They are going to call me, so I’m waiting for them to call me back and then I’ll talk to them about things.”

Chris Coghlan and Lance Lynn are the only two former Rebels to be selected in the first round.

Both were taken in the supplemental portion of the round, with Coghlan going No. 36 to the Florida Marlins in 2006 and Lynn No. 39 to the St. Louis Cardinals in 2008.

The Indians last won the American League Central division in 2007 before losing in the Wild Card round to the New York Yankees.

In 2008 and 2009, the Indians finished third and fourth, respectively, and they are currently dwelling in the cellar, 13 games back of first place.

The Washington Nationals selected 17-year-old Bryce Harper with the first overall selection.

He was followed by high schoolers Jameson Taillon (Pirates) and Manny Machado (Orioles) and Cal State Fullerton shortstop Christian Colon (Royals) before the Indians nabbed Pomeranz.

The Benton, La., native told the team to not worry, as he said he would help close out the Fayetteville Regional with solid pitching performance.

And he delivered on the promise by picking up the win during a 7-2 victory over Washington State, pitching 5.1 innings while allowing four hits, one earned run and striking out four.

“We had a down feeling after wanting to close it out,” Razorback catcher James McCann said. “We were trying to get over it in the locker room and then TJ walks in and says, ‘Don’t worry, fellas. I got this.’ He told me last night he was going to come out and have a good day.”

Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said he wanted Forrest?with his ability to bounce back and his experience?to start the game. But Van Horn just didn’t think the relief pitcher would last as long as he did.

“We didn’t expect him to pitch that long,” Van Horn said. “We were hoping just for three. But he looked like he had good stuff and was throwing harder in the fourth than the first.”

Making just his fifth start of the season, Forrest said he wanted to just attack hitters and get as many outs as he could on the mound after throwing 80 pitchers Friday during a 19-7 win over Grambling State.

“I knew I wasn’t going to go very far, so I tried to keep the ball down,” Forrest said. “I just tried to eat up some innings while striking some guys out?more than I usually do.”

Forrest helped the Razorbacks (43-19) secured a Super Regional bid for the second straight year, as the team will travel to face the top seed in the NCAA Tournament?Arizona State (50-8).

The Diamond Hogs opened up offensively in the first inning off Washington State starter Paris Shewey, who allowed the first three hitters of the game to reach base while Razorbacks Brett Eibner, Andy Wilkins and McCann picked up RBIs to take a 3-0 lead.

Arkansas short stop Tim Carver and outfielder Collin Kuhn, who was named the most valuable player for the regional, then picked up RBIs with back-to-back hits in the third inning, which pushed the advantage to 6-1.

“Really when Collin goes, we go,” Van Horn said. “He saw the ball good and he had a great tournament with power, speed and defense.”

Washington State tagged Forrest (8-0) with an unearned run in the fourth inning when Arkansas made three errors to start the inning. The Cougars, while down 6-2, chased Forrest from the game with a runner on third base during the fifth inning.

But Razorback top starter Drew Smyly took the mound and stranded the Cougar by inducing back-to-back outs, which included a strike out of Washington State designated hitter Matt Fanelli to end the scoring threat.

“Smyly deserves everything because he is one of the best we have faced,” said Fanelli, who hit a home run in the second inning. “Their pitching staff did a really good job of mixing things up and keeping us off balance. All of them were pretty good.”

Washington State head coach Donnie Marbut said he felt Forrest and his performance was a big factor in the elimination game.

“Honestly, I thought if we could hold them to seven runs we’d beat them,” Marbut said. “Credit their guy Forrest, he was strong. I’m just really proud of our boys. They went out and gave it their best.”

While eating a breakfast with the team, Van Horn had player after player tell him they were ready to pitch or play?it didn’t matter if they had to throw on a days rest or play through injury.

“I had a really good feeling coming into the night,” Van Horn said. “These guys really wanted to win. People were willing to do whatever it took to play. I’m really proud.”

And Van Horn said the pride extended to Forrest, who stepped up making his start and helped lead the Razorbacks to the victory.

“It all started with TJ on the mound,” Van Horn said. “He mixes it up and throws strikes. They hit a couple ball hard. But we got off to a good start. It was our night.”

Tempe Super Regional

Saturday, June 12

Game 1 – Arizona State vs. Arkansas – 8 p.m.

Sunday, June 13

Game 2 – Arizona State vs. Arkansas – 9 p.m.

Monday, June 14 (if necessary)

Game 3 – Arizona State vs. Arkansas – 6 p.m.

As the junior was preparing to watch the second game–as he already started and threw 76 pitchers during a 9-6 win over Kansas State only hours earlier–he was asked if he wanted to start again.

It didn’t take Wise long to answer before he picked up the win during a 10-7 victory over the Razorbacks to avoid elimination at the Fayetteville Regional and force a game Monday night at 7:00 p.m. to decide which team goes to a Super Regional.

“They picked me up in the first game and took me off the hook,” Wise said. “Several guys have stepped up and answered the bell this year. I just thought it was my turn to do that and do my job.”

The Boise, Idaho, native pitched three innings, allowing just an earned earned run and two hits while striking out three batters with 53 pitches.

Wise lasted just 2.2 innings against Kansas State when he allowed six earned runs and seven hits while striking out four. But the starter stepped up during his second apperance of the day.

“Kansas State was just swinging that bat good in the first game,” Marbut said. “We knew we could get some more pitches out of him. If that can’t inspire your team, you can’t be inspired. He wanted the ball.”

The junior set the tone early for the Cougars, who were able to use the performance to get off to a 2-1 lead after three innings.

“He came in and kept us off balance and down for a couple innings,” Razorback second baseman Bo Bigham said. “That shows how much he cares about his team.”

Arkansas senior Mike Bolsinger kept the Razorbacks in the game by allowing a pair of runs after just four innings. But then the Cougars tagged the McKinney, Texas, native with five runs in the fifth inning and took a 7-1 lead.

The Razorback battled back with two runs in the fifth and three more in the next two innings, as Razorback first baseman Monk Kreder hit a home run in the seventh to cut the Cougar lead to 7-6.

But Washington State–which was aided by two errors in the eighth–scored three more runs and put the game away.

“In a couple key situations we let some things get away from us defensively,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said of the defense that made three errors in the loss. “They took advantage of that.”

The Razorback offense that played without outfielder and home run leader Brett Eibner because of an injury used three home runs without men on base. But it wasn’t enough against the Cougars, who stranded nine Arkansas runners stranded.

“We always talk about the solo shot not being able to beat you,” Kreder said. “We just couldn’t get the big hit.”

Washington State pitcher James Arnold, who threw 113 pitches during a 8-6 win over Kansas State on Friday, picked up his first save of the season by throwing four innings and striking out five.

“I just went out to compete, empty out the tank and leave everything I had on the field,” Arnold said. “The last few outings I struggled early and did so again tonight, but was able to do what I needed to do when I needed to do it.”

Arnold was tagged with three runs–which where earned with home runs by outfielder Collin Kuhn and Kreder along with a RBI hit by Bigham.

But the come-from-behind attempt was crushed when the Razorbacks made the defensive mistakes in the eighth inning.

“We came climbing back,” Van Horn said. “They went to their bullpen and got their Friday night starter. We had some home runs. But other than that, he held us down and jumped back up on us.”

Marbut joked with Wise before the game, asking his pitcher if he would throw a shutout. Wise didn’t quite do that, but the coach was proud.

“I’m proud beyond believe of him,” Martbut said. “Even if we would have lost, I would have been proud. You can’t teach attitude or effort.”

FAYETTEVILLE REGIONAL SCHEDULE

Friday, June 4

Game 1 – Arkansas 19, Grambling State 7

Game 2 – Washington State 8, Kansas State 6

Saturday, June 5

Game 3 – Kansas State 9, Grambling State 8

Game 4 – Arkansas 6, Washington State 4

Sunday, June 6

Game 5 – Washington State 9, Kansas State 6

Game 6 – Washington State 10, Arkansas 7

Monday, June 7

Game 7 – Arkansas vs. Washington State – 7:05 p.m.

Without a hit through the first three innings and trailing 3-0, the Aggies scored 11 runs over the next nine outs to beat top-seeded U. Miami 11-7 and force a decisive game 7 p.m. tomorrow.

“I spoke to the players this morning and told them that we were going to be at the field for 10 hours, so make sure you get after it and compete,” Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “It was going to take a heroic effort on everyone’s part to make sure we finished the day off the right way.”

Closer John Stilson, who pitched in the first game against Dartmouth and tallied more than 120 pitches on the day, tossed 3.2 scoreless innings of four-hit ball for his 10th save of the year. He also lowered his ERA to 0.76.

“That was all adrenaline,” Stilson said. “I knew I had to get the job done for us to go to tomorrow and I just did what I do out there and had a good day and made the pitches when I needed to.”

Starter Michael Wacha (9-2) picked up the win for the Aggies (43-20-1) despite surrendering seven runs on 10 hits in 5.1 innings.

That included a three-run shot by Harold Martinez, his 21st of the year, to give the Hurricanes (42-18) a quick 3-0 lead in the first.

Brodie Greene got things going for Texas A&M when he collected its first hit on a stand-up double to left in the fourth. When Joe Patterson grounded out to second to advance him, Matt Juengel produced an RBI single.

Adam Smith followed with a two-run homer, his 10th of the season, to tie the game at 3.

But Miami came right back to take a 5-3 lead with back-to-back blasts from Nathan Melendres and Michael Broad in the sixth and seventh spots of the lineup.

The pair combined to go 6 for 10 with three homers, three RBI and four runs.

Poor fielding doomed the Hurricanes in the fifth when first baseman Scott Lawson dropped a throw from second and a ball hit off starting pitcher David Gutierrez for an infield single.

With runners on first and second cleanup hitter Patterson hit a ball into the gap in right-center to drive in two and tie the game at 5. Juengel doubled to right and collected the third straight hit for the Aggies and gave them their first lead at 6-5.

Texas A&M then broke the game wide open with a five-run sixth on just three hits.

Kenny Jackson led off with a walk, Andrew Collazo was hit by a pitch, Joaquin Hinojosa put down a bunt, Tyler Naquin doubled, Greene singled and Jeungel homered to deep left.

“Early on in the game I was doing a really good job keeping the ball down and working my offspeed for strikes,” said Gutierrez, who dropped to 5-2 on the year. “The fourth inning I left a couple balls up and I just had to make an adjustment and I didn’t.”

Miami had its chances, stranding nine runners, including six over a three-inning span between the fifth and seventh.

“We didn’t get those clutch hits that we usually get in the postseason,” Martinez said.

Motivation shifted for good when Naquin threw out Lawson from right field as he tried to score from second in the bottom of the fifth with the score 6-5 in Texas A&M’s favor.

Lawson, who reached on an infield single and went to second on an error by the shortstop, ran for home on Chris Pelaez’s single through the hole between second and first

“Whenever runners are on in big situations I visualize that part of the game happening and sure enough I saw it before the play happened,” Naquin said. “There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to make that throw.”

The winner of tomorrow’s game will head to Gainesville to face the overall third seed Florida Gators in the NCAA Super Regional.

“Texas A&M’s got a very good club and we didn’t play well enough to win. We could’ve pitched better and played better defense and they outplayed us today,” Miami head coach Jim Morris said. “Number one we need a crowd tomorrow night. This is why we come here, that’s why players play here, that’s why I coach here, that’s why we come to this program is because of fan support. We need a packed house tomorrow night.”

The Gators’ offense entered Saturday’s contest with a noticeable edge in the power department over the Beavers and it showed. No. 4 Florida’s (44-15) lineup came in with a combined 64 round-trippers this season, compared to Oregon State’s measly 22 – just five more than UF’s home-run leader Austin Maddox.

The advantage was evident as UF pounded three homers and seven extra-base hits in a 10-2 thumping of Oregon State (32-23) on Saturday after a one hour, 17-minute rain delay to seize control of the NCAA Gainesville Regional.

Freshman shortstop Nolan Fontana, who is not known as a power hitter, displayed UF’s strength right away with a lead-off home run to start the game. It was just his third of the season.

“That momentum just carried with us throughout the whole game,” second baseman Josh Adams said.

The Gators kept that 1-0 lead until the third when they exploded for seven runs.

But the inning looked like it was about to go to waste after UF loaded the bases with no outs and sophomore Preston Tucker lined into a double play.

However, just one at-bat later, Maddox salvaged the frame with a two-run single. It was the first of a string of five two-out hits off of Beavers pitcher Sam Gaviglio to push the Gators’ lead to 8-0.

“(Maddox’s hit) was huge,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “It just got things going for us.”

Gaviglio, a ground-ball pitcher who pitched 7.2 scoreless innings and struck out a career-high 13 batters in his last outing, did not have the same sink on his stuff Saturday. He gave up eight runs, seven of them with two outs, in just 2.2 innings of work.

A two-run homer from Adams, who also hit a double in the fifth, capped off the seven-run frame.

“Not many teams can hit like that,” Adams said. “For us to be able to put it together – it’s something we haven’t seen very often this season. So it was fun to be able to enjoy it.”

That was all UF sophomore pitcher Alex Panteliodis would need.

He pounded the inside corner of the plate to strike out eight and limit Oregon State to only two runs in five innings. It was an encouraging outing considering the right-hander has posted a 5.09 ERA in the seven starts prior to Saturday’s contest.

“The fastball inside happened to work a lot tonight,” Panteliodis said. “(Oregon State) just wasn’t expecting it. They were looking away on two strikes.”

From there the bullpen took over to throw four scoreless frames.

Reliever Greg Larson turned in two of them as he used his sinker to induce two groundouts in that span and punch out three.

He has been an effective option out of the UF bullpen lately, as he has allowed just two runs in his last 12.2 innings pitched after carrying an 8.34 ERA into a May 7 game against Alabama. That number is now down to 5.86.

The victory puts the Gators into the driver’s seat of their regional. They will now meet the winner of Sunday’s 1 p.m. elimination game between FAU and Oregon State at 7 p.m on Sunday. If UF is able to win that game, it will clinch a berth in next weekend’s super regional.

Baylor (36-23) advances to the championship round, where it will try to overcome the fatigue of three hours in 100 degree heat and beat TCU at 7 p.m.

Arizona (34-24) starter Tyler Hale assisted a struggling Raynor Campbell in the seventh inning. Campbell, who dropped to 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position at the Fort Worth Regional, swung at a slider in the dirt for strike three with two outs at Logan Vick standing at third.

The ball skipped to the backstop, and Vick scored while Campbell reached first safely and Baylor tied the game at two.

“I was pretty sure (Campbell) would swing at a hard slider in the dirt. Honestly, there were a couple of really timely breaks,” coach Steve Smith said.

An inning later an intentional walk put Max Muncy on first and pinch runner Chris Slater on second for Josh Turley. Turley smacked a grounder to shortstop Alex Mejia, but Mejia’s misplay left the bases loaded.

Landis Ware sacrificed flied to right, bringing in Slater, and Logan Vick added an insurance run with an RBI double.

Kempf suffered mild struggles through the first two innings, allowing five of his seven total hits. The Wildcats led off the second singling in consecutive at-bats before a Mejia two-RBI double scored both runners. But after consulting catcher Gregg Glime, Kempf settled down for the rest of his career long eight innings.

“In the first couple innings I was really on the side of my cutter,” Kempf said. “After that (catcher Gregg Glime and I) really started locating the fastball well and using the cutter whenever we were ahead in the count.”

The Baylor bats finally awakened in the third inning when Max Muncy blooped a single for his team’s first hit. He scored two batters later via Ware’s sacrifice fly to right.

When the Bears finally took the lead in the eighth, the team was glad to finally line up Kempf for the win.

“It was a huge relief because Willie was doing his job. He only kept them to two runs, so we’re trying to do everything we can to get a lead for him,” Vick said.

Kempf’s final line read 8.0 innings, two runs, seven hits, eight strikeouts and zero walks. He tossed 121 pitches.

Craig Fritsch takes the mound in tonight’s game as Baylor fights for its tournament life.

Brooks was at the plate only because on the previous play FIU (36-25, 22-14 Sun Belt) first baseman Tim Jobe dropped a two-out pop-up by Chris O’Dowd, loading the bases and extending the inning . .

The win was Dartmouth’s first in the NCAA tournament since May 21, 1987, when the team led by All-American and 16-year MLB veteran Mike Remlinger defeated the University of Michigan, 4-0.

Like Friday’s game against Miami, Dartmouth’s matchup against FIU was another high scoring affair. The teams traded the lead six times before Brooks put the Big Green on top for good. FIU lost despite the efforts of sophomore infielder Garrett Wittels, who was 3-5 on the day.

Wittels recorded a hit in all 56 games the Panthers played this season. He is only two games shy of tying Robin Ventura’s NCAA record, but will now wait eight months to attempt breaking the record, as Dartmouth eliminated FIU from the tournament.

Along with Brooks, who had six RBIs on the day to go with his grand slam, Zack Bellenger ’13 led the Dartmouth offense with two home runs and three RBIs, including a game-tying shot in the sixth inning.

Captain Rob Young took the mound for Dartmouth, but like Kyle Hendricks yesterday, Young struggled against a hot-hitting lineup. In what was likely his final collegiate start, Young went two innings, surrendering six runs on eight hits. Facing elimination, Young had a narrow margin for error, and manager Bob Whalen brought in Cole Sulser ’12 in for the third inning.

Sulser (8-0) has been effective out of the bullpen all season for the Big Green and gave Dartmouth two strong innings before running into trouble in the fifth. Sulser was able to escape after allowing two runs, however, and pitched well in a crucial moment for Dartmouth. He would allow no further runs, and went a total of five innings, striking out four.

FIU got on the board early, as Wittels kept his streak alive, driving a double to right-center field to score T.J. Shantz. Young struck out Jeremy Patton and Mike Martinez to end the inning, as the Panthers took a 1-0 lead to the bottom of the first.

Dartmouth answered right back, as the two players who found the most success for the Big Green yesterday — Joe Sclafani and Sam Bean — combined to score the Big Green’s first run. Sclafani led off the game with a single, and Bean notched his fifth hit in his last six at bats, an RBI double that scored Sclafani from first. After a groundout from O’Dowd advanced Bean to third, Brooks sent Bean home with another groundout, giving Dartmouth a 2-1 lead.

FIU regained the lead thanks to a two-run homer by first baseman Tim Jobe in the second. Yoandy Barroso singled up the middle before Jobe put FIU up 3-2 with a home run to right. It was the sixth home run to right field in the two games Dartmouth played in Coral Gables.

Later in the inning, back-to-back doubles by Pablo Bermudez and T.J. Shantz extended the Panthers’ lead, and Wittels added an RBI single of his own to give FIU a 6-2 lead.

The Big Green mounted a comeback in the third, using a five-run inning to pull ahead. With one out, a pitch from Panthers starter Aaron Arbeloya hit Bean — his 26th hit batsmen of the season. After O’Dowd singled to left, Brooks followed him with a single of his own to score Bean.

O’Dowd then scored on a wild pitch, and Jim Wren chased Arbeloya from the game with an RBI single to right to make it 6-5. FIU manager Turtle Thomas brought in senior lefty Corey Polizzano to face Bellenger, but, with a runner on first, Bellenger took Polizzano’s 2-2 pitch deep to left-center to put Dartmouth on top, 7-6.

The Panthers drew level in the fifth with a solo shot from Barroso off Sulser. It was the first batter Sulser allowed to reach base except for Shantz, who reached on an error in the fourth.

Later in the inning, the number nine hitter, Sean Reilly, sent a 1-2 pitch from Sulser through the right side to bring FIU ahead once again, 8-7.

Bellenger responded for Dartmouth in the bottom of the fifth, hitting his second home run of the game to tie it at 8, setting the stage for Brooks’ heroics in the sixth.

The Big Green added three insurance runs in the seventh, courtesy of RBIs from Brett Gardner and Bean. Bean’s RBI double gave him seven hits through two games in the Regional.

Kyle Hunter closed out the victory, pitching the final two innings while allowing one run.

Dartmouth will be in action again tomorrow at noon on ESPNU where it will take on the loser of the Texas A&M-Miami game. Should the Big Green win again, it would face the winner of that matchup at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow.

The OSU baseball team recently adopted O’Brien with the help of the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, a non-profit organization that seeks to improve the lives of children with pediatric brain tumors.

O’Brien was born with cancerous brain tumors and his mother said he simply was not supposed to live this long.

“When other mothers were buying clothes for their babies a year ahead of time, I couldn’t do that,” Nancy said.

The O’Brien family applied for Will to be adopted through the program, but never imagined he would be matched with OSU.

“We were really thrilled,” Nancy said.

OSU alum Michael Hunter was the liaison with Friends of Jaclyn who worked to pair O’Brien with the baseball team.

He went to the baseball team with the idea of adopting one of the kids in the program, and the team got right on board.

Pitching Coach Greg Cypret thought it was a great idea and the captains were really looking forward to it, Hunter said.

Getting O’Brien involved took longer than Hunter would have liked due to a lengthy process in the athletic department compliance office, but O’Brien was approved in mid-April.

O’Brien receives team e-mails, phone calls and updates. He is also on the field prior to home games, gets to go into the locker room and is often in the center of the team huddle.

He was shy and reserved in the beginning, co-captain Zach Hurley said.

“We took a team photo with him in the middle and the smile on his face was unbelievable, it was just priceless,” Hurley said.

It didn’t take O’Brien long to warm-up to the team. When offering some encouragement before the game, he said only one word: win.

“It was always fun to see the spark in his eye when he got really excited supporting the team,” co-captain Cory Kovanda said.

Kovanda is O’Brien’s favorite player.

O’Brien has been passionate about baseball since a young age, but has been passionate about the Buckeyes since birth.

Nancy recalled moments when Will was an infant, in the beginning of what would become a rollercoaster ride of events, she said.

In May 1992, at 10 months old, O’Brien underwent his first surgery to remove tumors. Because O’Brien was so young, doctors used fiber optic chemotherapy after the surgery and treated an infection in his head for seven weeks.

O’Brien underwent his second surgery in October of that year and received a bone marrow transplant in December.

He endured his third surgery in October 1993.

“That’s all we were willing to do then because he was just two and had spent his whole life treating the disease, so we kind of thought we’d be lucky enough to stay well,” Nancy said.

O’Brien was well for three years until his luck ran out. He had his fourth surgery and began his first rounds of radiation.

The radiation caused O’Brien to lose his hearing. He now has bilateral hearing aids.

Along the road, his growth began to diminish and his developmental delays were more apparent, Nancy said.

But he never let his disability slow him down.

O’Brien began playing soccer when he was 5 years old, after his mom had to petition to be allowed to play in a baseball cap.

He was the only child on the field who was losing his hair.

O’Brien was healthy until he was 14.

The O’Brien family turned to Gamma Knife, a non-invasive surgery for brain tumors.

After failed attempts with this new method, O’Brien underwent his fifth and final surgery in September 2005.

“I remember so clearly the doctor and nurse practitioner coming in with very sad faces and telling us the pathology from the last surgery was still live tumor and there was really nothing more they could offer us,” Nancy said.

The O’Brien family was fine with that.

In 2006, O’Brien entered Watkins Memorial High School with more optimism than fear.

He earned straight A’s his freshman year and played cymbals in the marching band.

Intervention specialist Jim White, has been working with O’Brien for four years. He is very active and involved at school, White said.

In May 2008, at the end O’Brien’s sophomore year of high school, he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on the right side of his body and in a wheelchair for nine months.

“That was the most devastating physically,” Nancy said.

Never once has he complained or asked why it had to be him, White said.

“He would also say ‘God has a plan for me,’” White said.

With the assistance of an orthopedic that keeps his foot in position, O’Brien has since regained his strength to walk on his own and has roughly 60 percent of his dominant side back.

He continued to excel in school and began to play the bass drum in the marching band.

“I like learning and making new friends,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien’s favorite sports are baseball and hockey, but he truly loves Disney World, which the O’Brien’s try to visit at least once a year.

“When we were little I used to go to New Jersey,” O’Brien said.

His favorite trip was traveling to 12 theme parks in 12 months.

Today O’Brien is very active, but suffers from mild to severe seizures as a result of his medications.

But high school has thrown O’Brien an unexpected curveball.

He has met the requirements to graduate, but as a student in the special education program, O’Brien will continue his education at the high school level until he is 23.

The Southwest Licking School District does not allow social graduations.

The stage was set for another battle, this time the opponent wasn’t cancer.

O’Brien’s friends and classmates organized a petition that circulated the school in support of his social graduation.

O’Brien’s fate hung in the balance for weeks as his family petitioned the school board.
In the end the school board voted in favor of his graduation.

“We won that battle and they’re going to write a new policy so that it is never an issue again,” Nancy said.

O’Brien agreed that this is his biggest accomplishment thus far.

Today, O’Brien is a graduate of Watkins Memorial High School and the O’Brien family is planning a big graduation party on June 5 to celebrate all of his accomplishments.

O’Brien has shared this experience with his brother Isaac.

“Isaac is such a good soul,” Nancy said. “He treats Will like his brother; he doesn’t treat him like he’s fragile.”

Isaac, who is only 14, often takes the role of the big brother.

“I have to help out wherever I can,” Isaac said.

But Isaac is reminded that he’s the baby of the family and said, “Will wants to show me around next year.”

For once, Isaac isn’t the one protecting Will, Will is going to be looking out for Isaac.

“I could tell that Isaac was always out there making sure Will was safe,” Hurley said. “I could tell there was a strong bond between the two of them.”

This summer the two travel to Akron, Ohio, for Camp Quality, a camp for children with cancer and their siblings. This summer marks the 11th year the two have gone together.

O’Brien has two older sisters, Katie, 23, and Hannah, 21.

“Katie is the typical oldest child,” Nancy said. “She mothers everybody.”

Katie is a self-imposed caregiver to Will, and Hannah takes everything in stride and adds some much needed comic relief, Nancy said.

As if his devoted parents and protective siblings weren’t enough, O’Brien now has 40 more family members cheering him on.

It’s no secret that Texas didn’t play like the second-ranked team in the nation last week at the Big 12 Championship.

You can blame it on complacency, fatigue or any other excuse you want. The pitches weren’t there. Balls didn’t fall in the right places, and the conference “lion” passed on its final Big 12 kill.

But don’t jump ship just yet.

There was a lot missing in the Horns’ three losses to opponents they had a 6-1 record against during the regular season, and there are even more questions.

Where did the offense go?

Can the pitching staff hold up down the stretch?

Can the Horns recreate the magic from the last postseason?

With this Texas team, it’s been easy to assume a win or series sweep day in and day out. The Longhorns won 21 games in a row, 28 of their last 29 in the regular season and swept all but two conference series. For a while it was as if Garrido’s bunch could do no wrong.

But baseball is a game of failure that has a way of humbling even larger-than-life psyches like Kevin Federline or Paris Hilton.
This time it was the Horns.

“I feel like losing three games up there was kind of a wake-up call for our team,” today’s starter Brandon Workman said. “It showed us we can’t just throw it out there and expect to win every game.”

Speculation aside, here are a few contributing factors in Texas’ first consecutive losses since Feb. 20 and 21 against New Mexico:

— Five errors
— Going 3-for-23 with runners in scoring position
— Hitting into six double plays

But the best news for the Horns is shortstop Brandon Loy’s return to the lineup.

Before missing the past five games because of a shoulder injury, the sophomore played in 119 straight contests for the Horns the past two seasons.

Loy’s absence may not appear to be as detrimental as losing a pitcher like Taylor Jungmann or Chance Ruffin. And it may not seem to be cause for alarm, as an injury to an offensive threat like Cameron Rupp would be, but it hurt just the same.

There is more to playing shortstop than soft hands, coal-walking quick feet and an arm that can fire a strike to first base off one foot while moving toward third base.

It’s a mindset.

Part arrogance, part confidence, with a whole lot of respect from your teammates that you’re more than just another fielder — you’re the captain of the infield.

The position is easy to overlook, as is Loy. He’s batting only .258 with 12 extra base hits and one home run going into the postseason, but Loy’s worth comes from more than averages or numbers.

“It’s huge having him back,” Rupp said. “He’s a good defender — gets the job done — and he’s a guy you want in the lineup.”

The biggest number from Loy is 16, the number of sacrifice bunts he laid down this season. For a Texas team that ranks fourth in the nation with 69 sacrifice bunts this season, it only got one down during the tournament.

Loy, who holds the school record for most sacrifice bunts, does more for the Horns with his return. Loy has only seven errors this season, making any ball hit his way an almost sure out. This also moves sophomore Jordan Etier back to second base, where he has been all semester, and brings consistency back to the batting lineup.

With Loy back in the second spot in the lineup, Tant Shepherd can move to the third spot, where he has really gotten comfortable over the last month of the season. And as much as baseball is a game of failure, it’s also a game of consistency and routine.

But if there is anything to learn from Garrido, it’s to not expect anything. That’s been a big part of Texas’ success this season — not folding under the expectations or predictions — and just worrying about each pitch.

Looking back on the magic of last season, Garrido said you don’t really manufacture the spiritual part of the game.

As with everyone else, the Horns’ postseason fate is still up in the air.

But with Loy back in the lineup, their chances just got a lot better.

Armando Galarraga’s quest to pitch the 21st perfect game in MLB history screeched to a halt Wednesday evening as a result of something every sports enthusiast fears: a blown call.

And what happened in the bottom of the ninth inning at Comerica Park in Detroit wasn’t just a bad call, it was the worst-possible bad call at the worst-possible time.

Consider the events:

• Galarraga, Detroit Tigers pitcher, was on the verge of becoming the third pitcher to pitch a perfect game since May 9.

• The Venezuela-native had retired 26 of Cleveland’s batters and had one final out before reaching perfection.

• Indians short stop Jason Donald hit a grounder toward Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera.

• Cabrera fielded the ball and fired it to Galarraga, who was covering at the first-base bag for out No. 27.

• Galarraga caught the ball, tagged the base and braced himself to simultaneously exhale and celebrate as the perfect-game club’s newest member.

• Jim Joyce, first-base umpire, inexplicably ruled Donald safe and immediately sent the 17,738-person crowd in Detroit into a uniformed outrage. Not to mention the Tigers players and coaches, and baseball fans across the nation.

• Perfect game thwarted.

No, this wasn’t a blown call — this was a total lapse of judgement and an inexcusable mistake. Even die-hard Indians fans must admit Donald was clearly out.

With one call, Joyce successfully went from relatively obscure umpire to baseball’s biggest villain for the immediate future.

Upon watching the reply, Joyce asked to speak with Galarraga and offered a tearful apology. Incredibly honorable, if you ask me. It’s rare to see an umpire acknowledge a mistake, especially in such a swift manner, and I believe the umpire’s actions have reignited a controversial debate in the league: Replay.

Baseball is a game that prides itself on its dependence on the human eye, but Wednesday’s abomination strengthens the pro-replay argument.

MLB uses replay to determine whether home runs are fair or foul. And since the league implemented the technology in 2008, it seems to be working just fine. So why not expand it?

I don’t want to expand baseball’s replay system to include every pitch, every catch and every call. That would be absurd. But shouldn’t the sport strive to get the big calls — the game-changing decisions — accurate?

But, you may say, how do we define what is a big call? Simple: By using common sense.

I’m not saying to visit the replay booth when something happens at the start of a game, but in the final innings of a tight game, sneak a peak at the replay monitor when a crucial call is made. Anything that would majorly affect the outcome of said game can be quickly reviewed.

Replay doesn’t work 100 percent of the time, as every OU football fan is well aware of (don’t make me bring up the Disastrous Ducks Debacle of 2006), but it has a greater accuracy on calls like Joyce’s than the human eye, as most amateur replay officials sitting at home can attest to.

There will inevitably be an outcry for the league to overturn the botched call and award Galarraga with his rightfully earned perfect game. Will league officials listen? I’m not sure. Should they? I’m not sure.

However, what they can do is take a look at a limited expansion of MLB’s replay system and ensure Wednesday’s situation doesn’t happen again.

Consider the scenario: Joyce rules Donald safe. Realizing the magnitude of his call, he jogs over to the replay booth, deliberates with the other umpires for a few minutes, heads back to the field and throws up the “out” sign. It certainly wouldn’t be as gratifying to Galarraga as if the proper call would have been instantly after the play, but the 28-year-old pitcher would make his mark in the record books.

Baseball purists argue that replay slows an already slow game down. One of MLB Commissioner Bud Selig’s arguments against expanding replay is nobody wants to sit through hours of officials double checking every questionable call.

I agree. But if if a limited-replay system is used, how much would the game really be extended? Maybe 15, 20 minutes? After witnessing the travesty that occurred Wednesday night at Comerica Park, who wouldn’t sacrifice a few extra minutes in the name of accuracy?

The burly left-hander was a Louisville Slugger All-American at Westminster Academy where he recorded a 0.89 ERA in his junior year. In his senior season he was limited due to injury on his way to being drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 42nd round of the MLB Draft before even stepping foot onto a college campus.

Since arriving at U. Florida, the southpaw struggled to carve out a role on the team in his first three years – until now.

He opened this season as a middle reliever and ended it on the All-Southeastern Conference team as a closer.

Chapman has played a key role in a Gators bullpen that has been the catalyst to the team’s 36-0 record when leading after the sixth inning. It will look to continue that streak tonight at 7. when No. 4 Florida (42-15) begins regional play against Bethune-Cookman (35-20) in McKethan Stadium.

“Even from high school, he was always a guy that scouts coveted,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “It’s not like he has come out of nowhere. It was just a matter of time — when is he going to start reaching his potential? – and I think now he is starting to do that.”

After receiving a medical redshirt because of Tommy John surgery in what would have been his sophomore season and splitting time on the mound as a starter and reliever in his other two seasons at Florida, nobody knew what to expect from Chapman in his junior year.

“He really wasn’t on the map. He was just an X-factor,” Baseball America’s Aaron Fitt said. “You wondered what you were going to get out of that guy. I didn’t expect him to be a key part of this team.”

Now, Chapman isn’t only an integral part of the squad, he owns the second-most saves in the SEC and boasts a minuscule 1.31 ERA.

For the first time since his memorable junior season at Westminster Academy, the hard-throwing left-hander is at 100 percent – and it shows.

“I think it’s a combination of me being fully healthy and having three other years under my belt,” Chapman said. “I think that’s really helped me.”

Wear and Tear

It has been a while since Chapman’s arm has felt this strong – 2005, to be exact.

The domino effect that led to Tommy John surgery began in his senior year of high school.

Tendinitis in his throwing elbow limited him during his last season at Westminster Academy. It was a year that was supposed to start his rise to the next level – Chapman earned preseason Louisville Slugger All-America honors – but instead it began a nightmarish series of events.

“(The tendinitis) was like a discomfort thing, and it probably made me change my mechanics a little bit,” he said. “Over time, with wear and tear, it probably made my ligament break.”

In other words, the minor elbow injury led to Tommy John surgery. After a mediocre freshman campaign at Florida, Chapman underwent the serious procedure for an ulnar collateral ligament (elbow) tear in March 2008.

After rehabbing from the first surgery, he was forced go under the knife a second time in September 2008 to remove a bone chip in his left elbow. He sat out that entire season and received a medical redshirt.

But his return the next season wasn’t everything he expected.

Despite only taking the mound in 11 games, the numbers were there. Chapman put up a 2.38 ERA, but he knew his arm still wasn’t at full strength. For a hurler that normally hits 94 mph on the radar gun, he was topping off at 90 mph a year removed from the surgeries.

“I was definitely healthy as far as my arm,” he said. “It just wasn’t back to 100 percent strength. I had to build up some muscle and some arm strength.”

The lack of velocity, the injuries and a string of inconsistent performances since joining the Gators left everybody with low expectations for the pitcher.

However, Chapman finally fulfilled his potential this season, and he will likely reap the benefits in this year’s MLB Draft.

“He’s been chomping at the bit,” O’Sullivan said. “He’s been wanting to go since last year. He was healthy, but he just didn’t have as many innings under his belt as he needed to. We started seeing flashes last year.”

Ready for Next Level

Pitch velocity is not the only thing that has risen this season for the Coral Springs native.

The junior’s draft stock has skyrocketed. Chapman, who will be eligible for June’s MLB Draft, could be the first college closer selected and is the top 2010 draft prospect on Florida’s roster.

According to Fitt, who has talked to numerous MLB scouts, he could be selected at the back end of the first round.

“A three-pitch lefty with that kind of velocity (mid-90s) who has put up the numbers that he has put up,” Fitt said, “he is going to appeal to scouts who are numbers-oriented, but also scouts that are tools-oriented because his tools are ridiculous.”

Although Chapman estimates he uses his overpowering fastball 90 percent of the time, his sharp slider and deceiving changeup are what make him so attractive to professional scouts.

The only thing working against the lefty is his history of elbow injuries.

But he has put some of those doubts to rest this season after appearing in 28 games, the most out of any Gators pitcher this year.

“They definitely have a right to be worried about it – (Tommy John is) a major surgery,” Chapman said. “But this season I’ve been able to throw no problem – I’ve thrown back-to-back days. I feel like I just have shown that my arm is back to 100 percent.”

Fitt said it didn’t take long for scouts to gravitate toward the closer this season. Once they heard reports that his velocity was back, they were all talking about him, he said.

He is projected to stay in the bullpen once he makes the jump to the next level, but his history as a starter – he has logged seven starts at UF – gives him the versatility to do both.

“I think at this point he has found a niche in the bullpen,” Fitt said. “He succeeds there. He has the right mentality for it. Your stuff plays up when you are in the pen, and that’s what he has been able to do. So I think that is where he will stay in pro ball.”

All at the Right Time

It is not often that a player puts together an All-SEC season in the same year he is going to be eligible for the draft and Chapman doesn’t have to look far from his own clubhouse to find proof of that.

UF center fielder Matt den Dekker, Chapman’s cousin, struggled in his junior year and hit just .296 before posting a .355 batting average this season. He attributed the down year to the pressure that came along with impressing scouts.

But that hasn’t been a problem for Chapman, who has posted his best numbers in his draft season.

“He’s just been healthy,” den Dekker said. “He battled some injuries. He has always had a good arm and he’s doing a great job this year for us.”

This season, he has put it all together. He has struck out 40 batters in 41.1 innings of work, compared to just seven walks.

However, the three-year span full of elbow issues and uncertainty not only affected Chapman then — it is still with him now.

“They always say, ‘You never really know what you have until you lose it.’ I lost it there for a little bit,” Chapman said. “It really helped me realize how fun this game is and how much I’m blessed.”

To some, it might seem extreme how much attention is devoted to one player on OSU’s 33-man roster. But those who have seen the junior pitch would say he’s worthy of such attention.

The right-hander started the season 9-0 for the Buckeyes, which tied him for the best start in OSU history.

“He’s an All-American. He’s undefeated on the season, obviously he’s a huge talent,” senior Ryan Dew said. “Every time he’s on the mound, we know we’re going to win.”

Wimmers’ attempt to collect his 10th win of the season was put on hold after he pulled his left hamstring in a pre-game warm-up on April 30.

The injury caused him to miss his start that day against Michigan, the team he tossed a no-hitter against the previous year. Altogether, Wimmers missed three consecutive starts because of the injury.

“Not being out there is killing me,” Wimmers said before the team’s trip to Iowa City, Iowa, on May 14. “With the conference so close, you want to be out there and help your team as much as possible. I’m trying to get as much treatment as possible. I’m practically living in the training room.”

Wimmers’ dedication to his rehabilitation paid off as he was able to return to the mound in a must-win game against Minnesota. Nearly a month after his last start, Wimmers took the mound for his team.

“It just shows you how much of a competitor he is and how much he cares about this team more than anything else,” Dan Burkhart said. Burkhart is a long-time friend and teammate of Wimmers, having caught him since they were nine years old.

If Wimmers was rusty, he didn’t show it. He recorded three of the first four outs of the game by strikeout and looked dominant. But a weather delay caused the game to be postponed until the following day.

When play resumed Saturday, Wimmers again took the mound. Admittedly in pain and fighting fatigue, the hurler risked further injury by pitching, but said that wasn’t his concern.

“I didn’t think about it like that. I just did the best I could to try and get a win for my team,” Wimmers said.

The Buckeye ace completed six innings, allowing just one run. The scouts on hand saw not only Wimmers’ mid-90s fastball and knee-buckling curve, but also his tremendous heart and competitive fire, coach Bob Todd said.

“He’s a competitor and I think he’s proved that with his two outings this weekend,” Todd said. “He put the team in front of his own goals. I couldn’t say enough good things about Alex Wimmers.”

In a post-game press conference, an emotionally and physically drained Wimmers addressed the media. Although the question was never formally asked, the consensus in the room was that, with the MLB Draft less than two weeks away, Wimmers’ gutsy performance would be his last for the Scarlet and Gray.

But these two have a lot of experience working with one another because they grew up playing together.

Since they were 9 years old, Burkhart and Wimmers have been teammates, and they feel that their experience together has helped them get to where they are.

“It’s been a great honor to be on the same team as him,” said Wimmers, who should start Friday for the first time since a hamstring injury suffered before a loss to Michigan April 30. “It’s been a great experience growing up together,” he said. “It’s crazy to think that we’ve carried it on to Ohio State.”

Having played together, these two feel that there is a natural chemistry between them when Wimmers is on the mound and Burkhart is behind the plate.

“Me and him (Wimmers) have a good rhythm going on out at the mound,” Burkhart said. “I usually know what he likes to throw on certain counts, and it works out good that way.”

“He knows me and he knows my pitches, and he usually calls a great game,” Wimmers said. “When the game flows, it really works to our advantage.”

Burkhart and Wimmers enjoyed a great deal of success in 2009, with Burkhart being named Big Ten Player of the Year and Wimmers being named Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the Year.

“When you’re the Player of the Year in Dan Burkhart, it means that every phase of his game is solid,” coach Bob Todd said. “And of course with Alex Wimmers, he’s gone out there every Friday night and he’s pitched every big game for us, and he’s won.”

When these two played together at Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, it took persuasion on the part of Burkhart to have the OSU coaching staff get Wimmers as well.

“Ohio State was recruiting Dan and he put a good word in for me,” Wimmers said. “And it worked out to our advantage.”

Coach Todd said that when they saw Wimmers pitch in the spring of his senior year, they liked what they saw and decided to bring him in along with Burkhart.

This season, the Buckeyes have struggled, going 27-21 on the season. They are currently in a four-way tie for fifth place at 10-11 in Big Ten play.

As OSU heads into its final Big Ten series of the 2010 season against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, these two players will work together once again Friday night.

The team will need to play well to qualify for the Big Ten Conference tournament because only the top six teams will play in the tournament.

If there’s one thing U. Minnesota head baseball coach John Anderson learned from the success of the Gophers’ new football home, TCF Bank Stadium last fall, it was, “If you build it, they will come.”

After years of starts and stalls, the baseball program is now closer than ever to bringing more fans back to a new ballpark on campus, with the announcement of the first major donation last week.

Standing in the infield of the outdated Seibert Field last Tuesday, Anderson and Athletics Director Joel Maturi announced that the Pohlad Family Foundation will donate $2 million toward a new ballpark for the baseball team, one they hope to begin construction on next spring .

But before they can break ground on the new stadium, they will need to raise another $4 million on top of the $3.5 million they have already raised. The funds will be privately raised, with the athletic department donating $1 million from its general operating fund along with $500,000 from various donors.

Now that the first major donor has come forward, more donations will follow, Anderson said.

“I believe this is going to inspire others to join the campaign and … to bring this new facility to reality,” he said. “We’ve had some other quiet conversations with others [and] we think there are some other people willing to step up.”

Once they raise the necessary $7.5 million, they will begin construction on the field and a 3,000-seat grandstand , with approximately $7.5 million more needed for amenities like indoor batting cages, locker rooms and a plaza on the south side of the field.

The new park will be built on the same location that the 39-year-old Siebert Field currently stands, with the home plate pushed back to where the pitching mound now sits to allow for bigger dimensions in the outfield.

“This was built for wood bats,” Anderson said. “You get aluminum bats out here with some wind blowing out, it’s like a little league park.”

The proposed plan also calls for a sunken field featuring artificial turf that will require less maintenance in the winter months.

Maturi said that one of the major reasons the baseball team needs a new ballpark is because it doesn’t stack up to other facilities around the country.

“I think this is the one facility that we have out of all athletic facilities that is under par in the Big Ten,” Maturi said. “And really, I don’t know if we have a program that is more successful … than baseball.”

The baseball team is currently first in the Big Ten and is playing all of its home games this season at the Metrodome, where attendance has been poor. Just 409 fans attended Minnesota’s 8-1 win over Penn State on Sunday .

But like the football team’s move back to campus last fall, Anderson said he hopes the move will create a buzz around the program.

“I heard many people say, ‘Now that we got (TCF Bank Stadium), we have to get your baseball stadium going,’” Anderson said. “People found out how much fun it was to come back to campus in a beautiful new facility and enjoy athletics in a 21st century facility.”

Besides the fan experience Anderson hopes to create, he also hopes the new park will help the program recruit talent and not lose in-state players to national recruiting.

“I’ve always felt that you win with good people,” Anderson said. “But I think you need a facility that represents the 21st century and that’s what we’re after if we want to keep the best Minnesota kids here.”

Maturi set a time frame for the opening of the ballpark for the start of the season in 2012, although he admitted that it’s an ambitious goal. For that goal to become reality, another $4 million must be raised so construction can begin next spring.

But for Maturi and Anderson, it will be worth the wait.

“We’ve been fortunate in this community to build some wonderful facilities in the last couple of years,” Maturi said, “but nobody has waited longer than John Anderson and the faithful of the Minnesota baseball program.”

Dufek’s walk-off homer tallied the final run in Michigan’s monumental 15-14 comeback victory over Northwestern, which saw 15 unanswered runs for the Wolverines.

The game started off like a breeze for the Wildcats, as the Wolverines’ pitchers walked in the first four runs of the game in the top of the second inning. Northwestern’s third baseman Chris Lashmet eventually took advantage of the bases-loaded situation, knocking a grand slam out of the park.

The Wolverines were quickly down by eight runs, and things looked grim. Despite cycling through two pitchers by the third inning, Northwestern still managed to extend its lead to 14 with a six-run rally in the top of the third inning.

The initial trio of Michigan pitchers — sophomore right-hander Brandon Sinnery, senior lefty Eric Katzman and redshirt freshman lefty Matt Broder — only lasted a combined four innings and allowed 14 runs on 15 hits.

But the Wolverines clawed back into the game, scoring often from the third inning on.

Down 14-12 in the bottom of the ninth, Michigan was down to its last out. Junior leftfielder Ryan LaMarre had just sent a long ball to center field, falling just short of a home run. But senior catcher Chris Berset came up big, keeping the Wolverines alive by launching a home run over the centerfield fence and sending the game to extra innings.

Then came Dufek’s game-winner.

“He threw me a changeup first pitch,” Dufek said. “I took a great big swing, I swung through it actually. I was thinking he might come back with it again, so I moved up in the box so I could get it before it really broke down. He did it again and I guessed right. I got a pretty good piece of it. I knew it was gone right after the bat. It was great.”

Going into this weekend’s series, the Wolverines were in a four-way tie for first in the Big Ten with Northwestern, Purdue and Minnesota. And at the start of the weekend, Michigan showed it was worthy of its lofty spot.

On Friday, LaMarre led the Wolverines offensively to a 4-3 win with two hits, two runs and two RBI — one of which brought in freshman centerfielder Patrick Biondi in the bottom of the seventh inning to put Michigan up by the deciding run.

On Saturday, 10 runs on 18 Wildcat hits marred Michigan’s 10-8 loss — and its chance for another huge comeback win. Going into the sixth inning, the Wolverines were down 7-2. After Toth began the inning by popping out to first base, LaMarre launched his fourth home run of the season.

Berset and sophomore designated hitter Coley Crank followed suit to mark the season’s first back-to-back-to-back home runs. The Wolverines’ hot hitting continued, as seven straight hitters reached base. The six-run rally brought Michigan out of the hole and into the lead.

But the eighth inning proved to be trouble for the Wolverines. Northwestern had a comeback of its own, scoring three runs on four consecutive hits off junior right-hander Tyler Burgoon. Michigan had a chance to answer with the bases loaded for Crank, but he struck out to end the threat.

Although the Wolverines were able to take just one of their two comeback attempts on the weekend, they showed they have the necessary heart to win a conference crown.

“This is one you’ll never forget for the rest of your life,” Maloney said. “Even though it didn’t win a championship, it’s (amazing) just to win a game when you are down 14 to nothing. We will go back to the drawing board and keep working, but what a victory it was for today.”

A curveball can be called many things, but most experts call it TROUBLE.

In recent years youth baseball leagues have drastically changed pitch count rules to help protect kids’ arms.

Overuse is a major contributing factor to arm injuries, but misuse is just as dangerous.

David Marshall is the director of sports medicine at Children’s Health Care of Atlanta.

He explained that “Little League Elbow” is a separation of the growth plate in the elbow caused by overuse and misuse.

Yes, they call it “Little League Elbow.” How’s that for a legacy?

According to Marshall, “The growth plate is not completely closed until a child is 17 or 18.”

Leagues are doing a great job of policing pitch counts to deal with overuse, so let’s focus on misuse–specifically the curveball.

The overhand throwing motion is unnatural, and the curveball exaggerates the motion by increasing torque on the elbow and shoulder.

“I have a teenage son, and we did not throw anything other than a fastball and changeup until he was 16,” said Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell.

“Since becoming a Major League pitching coach, I have learned about growth plates and the importance of being a good steward of a kid’s arm,” explained McDowell.

Former Braves reliever Mike Gonzalez agrees.

“I am not a big fan of curveballs until you are a sophomore in high school. You have nothing to prove until then. The longer you can wait the better,” he said.

“It’s not a good idea for a kid to throw a curve ball, I don’t even throw one now,” said Chuck James of the Washington Nationals.

Former Brave Buddy Carlyle said, “I threw curveballs when I was 12, and I wish I wouldn’t have. I wish someone had taught me a changeup instead. Maybe I would not have so much trouble with it now.”

Not only is a curveball dangerous, it is the easy way out.

Teach a kid to pitch. Give him a fastball and a changeup and explain how changing speeds and hitting your spots is more effective than a big hook (it worked pretty well for Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux).

Pitch smarter not harder, or in the words of the greatest fictional manager of all time, Lou Brown, “Forget about the curveball, Rickey, give ‘em the heater.”

The SUV was driven by Macomb resident Shameka Beard-McAllister. According to police reports, she was making a left turnand turned in front of VanBrooker..

Whitley Klingler, who was riding with VanBrooker, suffered a broken arm and a broken leg in the accident. Klingler, 20, and also a WIU student was airlifted to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, where she underwent surgery on Wednesday morning.

Police stated that Klingler was wearing VanBrooker’s helmet at the time of the accident, and she was listed as being in serious condition.

The native of Plymouth, Illinois and College of Lake County graduate signed with Western last summer and had a 3-4 record in nine starts this season to go along with an 8.07 ERA. His 40 strikeouts and 54 and two-thirds innings pitched were the most among pitchers on the Western staff.

“Devin’s passing is a shocking, tragic loss. He was not only a standout pitcher, but a great teammate as well. I only knew Devin for a few short months, but I am honored to have had the opportunity to coach him and get to know him as a person,” said Western Illinois head baseball coach Mike Villano. “We want to extend our thoughts and prayers to the VanBrooker family in their time of grief.”

VanBrooker’s first start with the ‘Necks was a series-clinching victory against Furman. He got his second win is his next outing, when he pitched five strong innings against Stephen F. Austin in the Sooner Classic.

Earlier this season, VanBrooker led the ‘Necks to a 6-3 victory over North Dakota State for his third win of the season. In the contest, he pitched a career high seven and two-thirds innings, striking out seven while giving up three runs.

The ‘Necks had been scheduled to face Bradley on Wednesday, but the game was cancelled after Villano spoke with the head coach from Bradley.

“Western Illinois’ athletic department has lost so much this year,” said Bradley head coach Elvis Dominguez, “having lost their former coach, Stan Hyman. Our prayers are with them.”

This weekend’s series at Centenary has also been cancelled and athletic director Dr. Tim Van Alstine stated that make-up dates for the series are still pending.

“Devin was an outstanding young man. He may have only been with us a short while, but Devin made an immediate impact on our baseball team. He was going to be a key player as Coach Villano works to rebuild our baseball program,” said Van Alstine.

A funeral service for VanBrooker is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday at Southeastern High School in Augusta where he was an all-state pitcher during his senior year. Visitation services will be held from 4-8 p.m. at Southeastern, and VanBrooker’s family has asked that donations be made to the Western baseball team instead of flowers.

The biggest issue could be the distances teams would likely have to travel if the conference added schools outside the Midwest.

Making another trip to the East Coast, for example, would take a bigger chunk out of the University’s budget than the current setup, and it would cause some athletes to miss class more often than they already do.

“This year we had about a 12-hour trip to get to Penn State,” men’s tennis head coach Brad Dancer said. “When we look at expansion, it’s probably going to be driven by finances and revenue opportunities, but I hope that when they look at that they do look at the logistics in terms of missed class time and other factors that are associated with that.”

Baseball head coach Dan Hartleb said while road trips may be extended, the benefits of expanding the conference would cancel out the drawbacks of the extra travel.

“You could have someplace where you have further travel, maybe another flight,” Hartleb said. “But that stuff will all be considered, and if it brings more revenue to the entire conference, then there’s going to be money there for us to travel.”

Some athletes may not notice or care too much about the increase in distance that expansion could bring.

“Obviously, we travel a good amount as it is right now,” sophomore tennis player Dennis Nevolo said. “I don’t know how much we’d realize it if they did add another school. Clearly, it’d be a long trip (to the East Coast), and we probably don’t want to travel too far again. But if that’s how it happens, then that’s just how it is.”

Illinois softball’s Audrey Gallien said any disadvantages of adding teams would be negated by the positives another team could bring.

“Every softball program is getting better and better every year, and to add that much more competition to the conference would just be great all around, in terms of competition and camaraderie,” Gallien said.

“We’d miss more school, obviously, but it’s a great opportunity,” Gallien added.

The Big Ten began as a seven-school conference in 1895. The original members were Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin and the University of Chicago. Indiana and Iowa joined four years later, and Ohio State joined in 1912 to bring the number of members to 10. Chicago left the conference in 1946 and was replaced by Michigan State three years later.

The conference first expanded to 11 schools in 1990 with the addition of Penn State. A decision resolving current expansion discussions will not be announced until at least December.

Schools that have been included in the expansion rumors include (in no particular order): Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Missouri, Notre Dame, Texas and, to a lesser extent, Connecticut and Maryland. Notre Dame turned down an offer to join the Big Ten in 1999.

“Everyone talks about possibly bringing in Texas,” Dancer said. “I know that might be a pie-in-the-sky dream, but everyone’s got an understanding of what kind of revenue that potentially brings in, too.”

Schools joining the conference would likely need to be members of the Association of American Universities, an organization of universities to support research, which could rule out Connecticut and Notre Dame — unless the benefits of adding either school trump the importance of AAU membership.

All 11 current Big Ten schools are AAU members, which no other Division I conference can claim.

The extended travel would either cause long road trips or a two-division conference, splitting it either north-south or east-west. Softball head coach Terri Sullivan said she wouldn’t be in favor of splitting the conference, which would have the Illini facing fewer teams and possibly playing three-game series instead of the current setup of two-game series.

“I don’t particularly care for that,” Sullivan said. “That’s what the SEC has to do — they’re split into two divisions and then they join up at the end. I’ve just always been a big fan of being able to play everybody in the conference. I’d go nuts if I was in football and wasn’t able to.

“You find a true conference winner by playing each other.”

No matter how many teams are added — if any — Hartleb thinks the Big Ten will remain one of the premier conferences in the country.

“I don’t mind one way or the other,” Hartleb said. “I think our setup’s very good right now. I think if you bring more teams into the mix, it just adds a new dimension. If it’s what’s best for the entire conference, I’m all for it.”

Lloyd Smith, director of the WSU sports science laboratory, has been searching for the perfect combination of bat and ball to help Rollins knock one out of the park.

“If we could have Jimmy in good shape, have the bat perform like we think it should and have a good tailwind, then there is a chance that we could break it,” he said. “If any of those things don’t work to our advantage, then it will be pretty hard to get that distance.” Red Bull, the event’s sponsor, is planning to reschedule the event for sometime in June. The current record holder, Babe Ruth, set the record at 576 feet in the 1920s. That ball was reportedly carried along by a strong tailwind, but Rollins will have technology on his side.

The Guinness World Record allows for the use of any bat and any ball, so Rollins has been given a rare opportunity to cheat. For this task, Red Bull originally recruited professor Al Nathan of U. Illinois.

“We consult with organizations such as the NCAA, the amateur softball association and things like that to regulate the performance of bats,” he said. “Here, we are being asked to do the opposite.” Nathan later contacted Smith because his lab was the perfect facility to test and make modifications to the bats. Once they had found the right composite bat, they hollowed it out and softened the barrel to improve its performance, Smith said.

The bat was also weighted so it would feel like the wooden bat that Rollins normally uses, but even with these modifications, Nathan is unsure whether Rollins will be able to break Babe Ruth’s record.

“With a standard baseball and a standard bat, it’s simply not possible for a human being to hit the ball that far without being somehow aided by the wind,” he said. “For that particular home run, I think the wind may have been blowing out at about 20 or 30 mph, which is huge.” Unlike Babe Ruth, Rollins will also get to choose his ball. A harder ball will fly much faster than a soft ball, so it was originally decided that he would use an NCAA ball rather than an MLB one.

Jeff Kensrud, a graduate student in the school of mechanical engineering who was also working on the project, reversed that decision after comparing their aerodynamics.

“The main differences are the stitches,” he said. “The stitches on the NCAA ball are four times the height of the MLB ball.” Those stitches create so much additional drag that it was actually better to use the MLB ball. The difference comes out to around 75 feet, and that would make or break the record, he said.

When his hair is longer, he has a habit of flipping it. That’s why, sophomore pitcher Matt Flemer says, the U. California-Berkeley baseball team calls Jones “our Zac Efron.”

“I go with it,” Jones says, smiling. “It’s cool to have a nickname, I guess.”

Keep pitching like he has and Jones, the Bears’ left-handed freshman, may find himself with a more distinguished title by the end of the season. Right now he is 8-2 with a 2.62 ERA, leading the conference in innings pitched (72), and a big reason why this young Cal team is 22-11 and second in the Pac-10. Barring some second-half meltdown, Pac-10 Freshman of the Year is a good bet, and National Freshman of the Year a legitimate discussion.

“It’s unbelievable what he’s doing,” says Flemer. “And we’re kinda lucky to have him, because he did get drafted (out of high school) and fairly high. You don’t see a lot of those guys come to college.”

But here Jones is, precisely because he found college-this college-too good to sacrifice for the instant gratification of a contract, signing bonus and professional label. He got the chance to attend his dream school and chose not to pass it up.

“It just fits my personality,” says Jones. “I’m a laid-back guy and I’ve always loved the Bay Area, Berkeley. I guess you can say I’m kind of hippie without the title? I don’t know. I just love the atmosphere.”

Jones is so laid-back that when Bears pitching coach Dan Hubbs called him about two years ago to express the program’s interest, the then-Oakdale High senior was lying-not jumping-on the trampoline in his backyard.

His reaction was, “Wow, that’s pretty intense.” No word on whether he sat up.

Last Saturday, Jones requested that Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes” be played over the speaker system while he warmed up prior to the first inning. Bemused, the guys working the sound, used to blaring out rap and AC/DC, shrugged and said, “This is what he wants.”

One of his favorite things to do around here is walk down Telegraph, because “the diversity on that Avenue is amazing.” That includes the food, but it’s mostly about the people. He likes talking to people in general. He carries out conversations with the homeless every chance he gets.

“I was walking with my girlfriend and I think a girl said, ‘You look good,’” says Jones. “And I was like, ‘Well, thank you!’ And she goes, ‘No, not you. You’re not good-looking at all. I’m talking about your girlfriend.’”

“Stuff like that-I love stuff that catches me off-guard.”

He smooths the hair again, but by this point you realize that it’s an exception to the rule-one of the few things about which he is meticulous. Compare it to something more grandiose like, say, his pitching mentality, which he describes as: “I just kind of throw the ball.”

That’s part of what makes him so good. Take his last outing against Washington. In the fifth inning of a 1-1 game, he has two runners on with two out and two strikes on the Huskies’ No. 3 hitter-and hits him with an inside fastball.

On this day, Jones is being nagged by a persistent cough and has no command of his curveball, which is normally his best pitch. That means he’s working solely with a fastball and changeup.

He falls behind Washington’s cleanup hitter, Pierce Rankin, 2-0, but works the count back to 2-2. He misses with a fastball down and in, then comes right back inside on the full-count pitch with another fastball. It jams Rankin and he hits a fly ball to center field.

Jones gives up one earned run in 8 1/3 innings and gets the win.

“We always talk to our guys about being able to stay in the moment, not let the moment be too big,” says Hubbs. “Be able to relax in the moment so you’re able to make the pitch. I think he’s the epitome of what that means. He doesn’t get rattled. He doesn’t have to try harder in the bigger spots, he just has to make a good pitch.”

Jones internalizes much of what he’s thinking. When he told the coaches on his unofficial visit to Cal that it had always been his dream school, it was news to his own father.

That was the summer before his senior year of high school. He saw a football game, walked the campus with the coaches and was offered a scholarship right there.

“We talked on the way home,” says his father, Stanley. “And I said, “If it’s a place you want to go, call now.”

Jones could have waited. He hadn’t used any of his five official visits to college campuses.

So he thought about it-for a day. Then he called and committed.

But the draft was still to come, and the following summer, in the wake of being selected in the seventh round by the Chicago White Sox, Jones warmed to the idea of turning pro out of high school. He even backed down from his original “firm number,” the amount of money he was asking from Chicago, which indicated that he was leaning towards signing.

“I really wanted to go,” says Jones. “I really wanted to play baseball-that’s what I want to do with my life.”

Still on the fence in mid-June, Jones attended the Summer Bridge program at Cal, which is geared towards easing the transition into the university for accepted students.

Truth be told, academics were a somewhat daunting prospect. Jones is a self-motivated learner. He was home schooled until the ninth grade and, away from the books, also taught himself to play the piano and guitar. So he bucked against the structure at Oakdale and, while his transcript wasn’t bad, it didn’t jump off the page.

“Coming in I was like, wow, college is probably going to be really tough,” says Jones. “(In Summer Bridge) I took Chicano Studies and College Writing, and it was just easier than high school to me. Just the fact that you’re more on your own, that it was more on me to learn.”

Seeing his son begin to gravitate towards college, Stanley told Justin, “If you think you want to do it, you need to up your value to the White Sox.” So Justin went back to asking for his original firm number. Chicago refused to meet it.

By that point, though, it wouldn’t have mattered.

“I remember asking him when (summer school) ended, ‘Will you be showing up in 10 days,’” says Bears head coach David Esquer. “And he says, ‘Coach, I wouldn’t give this up for any amount of money now.’

“We’ve had kids in the past who have given up Cal because they didn’t know what they were giving up. He had a clear picture of what he would be giving up.”

For one thing, as Hubbs says, Jones would have given up the chance to be a kid for a few more years. You wonder, though, if he ever won’t be. His good-luck charm, a stuffed penguin named Petey given to him by his girlfriend, is present for all of his starts.

He would have given up the chance to prove Hubbs right. While Jones was deciding between school and draft, Hubbs told him that he could someday be a first-round draft pick.

“I said, ‘I’m not going to tell you what to do, but just don’t sell yourself short,’” says Hubbs.

“You never know, but I thought he’d be pretty good.”

So here Jones is, sitting in the home dugout at Evans Diamond, as Bob Dylan plays over the speakers on a Sunday afternoon. Dylan is his idol, Jones says. He plays both the acoustic and bass guitars, loves oldies and “indie-type stuff.” He has thought about bringing his acoustic to Telegraph and jamming with the street musicians, but hasn’t gotten around to it yet.

The song playing is “Like a Rolling Stone,” and although it’s Dylan’s familiar rasp jangling across the empty field, it does not apply here because Justin Jones is exactly where he wants to be.

On a clear, warm April day last season, Kevin Keyes walked through the doors at Disch-Falk Field before U. Texas’ series finale against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. He strutted down the hallway past the Horns’ weight room, turned the corner and headed toward the clubhouse when one of the team’s trainers stopped to remind him it was April 15.

That day, 62 years ago, another man walked into a much quieter clubhouse at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, dressed in a camel-hair coat to block out the brisk morning air. He found his uniform hanging on an empty wall behind a folding chair because he didn’t have a locker yet.

With the opening pitch to Boston Braves batter Dick Culler, in front of an average-sized crowd, Jackie Robinson stood at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke the color barrier for Major League Baseball.

This story wasn’t new to Keyes. He’d admired Robinson as a player, describing him as a man you never forget. Keyes had just forgotten the date.

Keyes walked up to Coach Augie Garrido and asked if he could, for a day, trade in his number 29 for a number more fitting — 42, Robinson’s number.
Garrido was all for it.

“I felt so honored to wear the number of a guy that was one of the best and who is the forefather of African-Americans playing baseball,” Keyes said. “Honoring him was one of the greatest thrills I’ve ever had. It’s a day I’ll never forget.”

While the world remembers April 15, 1947, as a monumental moment for black athletes and for baseball, Robinson went 0 for 5 that April day.

Luckily, Keyes didn’t copy the performance. He went 3 for 3 with two runs and two stolen bases to record one of his greatest and most memorable games as a Longhorn.

“I got to the ballpark, and I was so proud to see him wearing the number,” Keyes’s father Gregory Keyes said. “Lot of kids don’t really know about the tradition, so it was great to see him acknowledge what guys before him have gone through.”

As the only African-American on the baseball team, it was the least Kevin Keyes could do to show respect to a man that he believes paved the path for him and his family. Robinson played a similar role in sports that Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. played in the civil rights movement, according to Ben Carrington, an African and African-American studies professor at UT.

“He’s become perhaps the key symbolic figure in the gradual transition from Jim-Crow racism into the kind of pre- and then post-civil rights accommodation,” Carrington said. “There is something about the centrality of baseball to the American psyche and narrative that elevates Jackie above others.”

Keyes learned baseball at an early age with help from his father. While he played basketball in junior high and football at Connally High School in Pflugerville, he chose to pursue baseball.

“He would always come up to me to go play catch or to the hit the ball. He just really loved it,” Gregory Keyes said about his son. “You should see how many pickets are knocked off our fence from him hitting balls at it.”

As an African-American, Kevin Keyes is an increasing rarity in Division I baseball because of a decline in blacks playing the game over the past thirty years.

The most recent statistics say that only 6 percent of Division I baseball players are black, compared to 58 percent in basketball and 44 percent in football. Many critics have associated the decline with the high cost of playing baseball and the length of time it takes to reach the professional level, but Louis Harrison, an associate professor in the College of Education, says the decline has a lot to do with blacks identifying more with other sports.

“They are looking at what they see from the media and television, and I think kids are identifying with basketball and football because they see more people that look like them in those sports,” Harrison said.

Harrison doesn’t see the decline as a problem or believe the work Robinson did will be undone.

“He broke a color barrier to show blacks they can do anything,” Harrison said. “I don’t think blacks have to prove themselves on a particular stage to be accepted. Kids should pursue what they’re interested in, and it’s not all that important to have blacks involved with sports. I’d rather see them in board rooms and head of corporations.”

Although the numbers are low across the board — 9.5 percent in the major leagues — Keyes hasn’t always been the only African-American on his teams. He has played with black players on select teams in high school and even had five on his summer team.

“It’s good to see blacks re-establish themselves in this game,” Keyes said. “And maybe with charities like [Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities], it can help turn the corner and make progress.”

Another factor to consider in professional baseball is the rise in international players. In the most recent report from the University of Central Florida, Latinos make up 28.7 percent of players while Asians comprise 2.5 percent.

“Baseball is becoming more diverse in a different way,” Carrington said. “The international migration could displace local labor, so African-Americans are being replaced with black and brown bodies from the Americas, but not from the United States of America.”

Still, Keyes’s father believes that parents and high school coaches are encouraging black athletes to concentrate on bigger sports like football and basketball. With Keyes’s 6-foot-4, 225-pound build, who could blame them?

“I sat down with Kevin sophomore year and asked what he wanted to play,” Keyes’s father said. “He wanted to play baseball and wanted to play at Texas. So we committed and put the time in. I don’t think the football coaches were very happy.”

Keyes, again, will be the only African-American player on the field or in the dugout in this weekend’s series against Texas A&M. He doesn’t plan on wearing number 42 today like he did last season, since it’s the day after April 15, but he wouldn’t mind a similar performance at the plate.

A Bill James symposium makes the cut.

“We are all condemned to float endlessly in a vast sea of unanswered questions — a sea of ignorance,” James said.

James, a U. Kansas alumnus who popularized statistics — and indirectly, unconventional strategies — in baseball, delivered “Battling Expertise with the Power of Ignorance” on the KU campus Tuesday afternoon before a diverse audience. Thick lenses and backward caps alike ogled the man that Time Magazine named in 2006 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

But James does not think much of titles.

“Self-designation is dangerous for public figures,” James said. “It indirectly places limits on what one can attempt within a definition. Saying that I am this or that adds limits but not abilities.”

With a full beard, a slight hunch over the podium and a mathematical prose, James is an atypical icon. Beginning with “The Bill James Baseball Abstract” of 1977, he captured the minds of just a few baseball enthusiasts. Eventually James’ works expanded to a national scale and eventually swayed the perception of baseball, the childhood love that he never let slip away.

He coined the term “Sabermetrics”, after the Society for American Baseball Research, to define his array of statistics founded upon objectivity.

“My reputation is based entirely on finding the right question to ask,” James said.

He does so by breaking down an unknown and locating the point of potential subjectivity. Through numbers, James aims to reach as close to objectivity as mathematics allows.

One of his examples went like this: Which characteristics define a winning and/or successful baseball team? So called “experts” have said that players’ hit their prime at ages 28-32. They also say that teams gain an advantage stealing bases and bunting the runner on first base over to second base.

James countered these claims, stating that the risk of stealing a base or bunting — a potential out — is not always worth the attempt. He also argued a player’s true prime with statistical evidence.

“27-year-old players hit 68% more home runs in the Major Leagues than do 32-year-old players,” James said.

Another more recent assumption is that in every season, no matter the team, 100 of the 162 games in a regular season are predetermined. Some say that it is inevitable that a team will lose 50 games and win 50 games. The outcome of other 62 games decide whether the season was a success or a failure.

James calculated that this claim is both inaccurate and misleading. He said that only about 40 games in a season result in a blowout, thus, 122 games are toss ups. Obviously, financial and talent pools skew these numbers. However, James repeatedly noted that his numbers rely on arbitrary factors and that he has no official credentials, other than credibility itself.

But despite his apparent bashing of the conventional wisdom of scouts, James does hold a certain respect for the tiring trade.

“I admire the ability of scouts to look at a young hitter and note things about his swing that may predict what he will be able to adjust to at higher levels of competition,” James said. “I also lust after those really cool radar guns.”

But trusting the subjectivity of the eye often pales in comparison to the truth of the objective number.

John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox and Baseball Abstract enthusiast, felt the same way. In 2002, he hired James as a Senior Advisor of Baseball Operations. The move was controversial, but paid its dividends. After all, it was partly James’ idea to sign David “Big Papi” Ortiz and trade for Mark Bellhorn, two once unheralded players who played key roles in Boston’s 2004 World Series title, its first since 1918.

He is still writing and digging for the next great baseball metric. So long as James and his followers continue to ask questions, baseball will continue to crawl toward complete objectivity.

“You don’t learn anything by focusing on stuff that you already know,” James said. “In order to advance the sphere of what is known about baseball, you have to learn to identify your own ignorance.”

The combination of UCLA taking its second consecutive Pac-10 series – against Oregon State over the weekend – and previously top-ranked Arizona State dropping two out of three against Washington State helped vault the Bruins to No. 1 when Baseball America released the new rankings on Monday morning. The Sun Devils fell to third, right behind Virginia, which moved up from No. 4.

“As everybody knows, it’s all about the next seven weekends of Pac-10 play,” coach John Savage said. “But it’s a credit to our players and my assistants. We’re halfway through the season, and they’ve stuck together and played pretty well.”

The Bruins’ ascension marks the first time they have been ranked No. 1 during the season since March 3, 1997. Baseball America anointed UCLA as its preseason No. 1 before the 2008 season. The recognition will mean little unless the Bruins can maintain their success in the Pac-10 and against their midweek opponents.

“We’re not going to let it affect us in any way,” Savage said of the ranking. “The guys know that they haven’t accomplished anything that we set out for. They know that we’re a long way from reaching our goals.”

Now that they have a larger target on their backs, UCLA’s first test as front-runners will come today as the Bruins hit the road to face UC Riverside (15-11). It will be the fourth consecutive game away from Jackie Robinson Stadium for UCLA, which moved its road record to 9-1 in taking two out of three at Oregon State.

The Bruins and Highlanders have met once already this season, with UCLA squeaking out a 3-2 victory at home on March 9. The two teams share a mutual opponent in Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which UCLA swept and UC Riverside took two out of three from. Despite their record, the Highlanders should pose a significant threat.

“Riverside’s a very competitive team offensively,” Savage said. “Very well-coached. I have a ton of respect for coach Smith and his staff. We’ll see how we respond.”

Today’s showdown will be an opportunity for UCLA starter Garett Claypool to rebound from last week’s Tuesday outing, when he gave up five first-inning runs en route to a 6-1 loss to Cal State Fullerton. Claypool did pick up the victory in Saturday’s 16-inning marathon against Oregon State, a game in which he went four and two-thirds scoreless innings in relief.

But during Sunday’s rubber match against No. 2 Georgia Tech (27-5, 12-3 ACC), No. 4 U. Virginia (27-7, 10-5 ACC) held the Yellow Jackets to one measly run on seven hits en route to a 9-1 victory that clinched the series and moved the Cavaliers to just two games back of the Coastal Division lead in the ACC.

Junior pitcher Cody Winiarski worked 5.1 innings of five-hit, one-walk baseball to earn his fourth win of the season in the decisive game that may have postseason implications. Winiarski’s performance and the strong relief pitching of junior Tyler Wilson came after poor outings against N.C. State in Raleigh the previous weekend in Virginia’s first series loss of the season. Given the same opportunity to clinch a series against the Wolfpack, Winiarski sputtered on the mound, lasting only 3.1 innings while surrendering three runs on eight hits.

The right-hander relished another shot at it.

“It’s part of being the Sunday starter,” Winiarski said. “You gotta go out the same mindset every weekend, no matter what the first two games have done.”

A three-run second inning, powered by RBI-hits off the bats of junior center fielder Jarrett Parker and senior catcher Franco Valdes, gave Winiarski a comfortable lead. Although he scattered just two hits and a walk through the first four innings, the junior found trouble during the top of the fifth. After a leadoff single, junior designated hitter Thomas Nichols hit a deep fly ball off the right-center field wall for a double. With runners on second and third and only one out, Winiarski needed to protect his lead.

“Our goal right there was just to trade up outs, ‘cause they only had two guys on,” Winiarski said. “If we give up those two runs, we’re gonna get two outs — out of the inning, and we’re still up 3-2.”
He made no such compromise. Pounding the inside corner with hard fastballs, Winiarski induced two consecutive pop flies to end the inning.

The Yellow Jackets did finally tag the Sunday starter when junior shortstop Derek Dietrich, who hit 4-for-12 with five RBIs and two long balls during the series, belted a one-out home run to deep right that was gone the second it left the bat.

After Winiarski hit the next batter, coach Brian O’Connor turned to Wilson — a move that proved costly against N.C. State in a similar situation. Virginia held a 4-3 lead in Sunday’s game against the Wolfpack when Wilson surrendered a grand slam home run during the bottom of the seventh from which Virginia would never recover.

Wilson, like Winiarski, was eagerly waiting for another opportunity.

“If you don’t want the ball on Sunday in a 3-1 game against Georgia Tech, one of the top-ranked teams in the country, then you shouldn’t be pitching in the ACC, anyway,” Wilson said.

He struck out the first batter, but a line drive to right off the bat of sophomore third baseman Matt Skole put the potential go-ahead run at the plate for Georgia Tech. After junior right fielder Chase Burnette worked a 2-2 count, Wilson fired a 90 mile per hour fast ball high and outside past Burnette’s futile hack to again silence the high-powered Yellow Jacket offense.

Two RBI-singles by junior left fielder John Barr and junior second baseman Phil Gosselin helped double Virginia’s lead during the bottom half of the frame. But that very five-run lead was not safe against Tech the previous afternoon, when the Yellow Jackets overcame a five-run deficit to defeat the Cavaliers 9-7. Therefore, it was imperative that Wilson continue to deliver his best stuff.

The right-hander found himself in another jam during the top of the eighth after allowing a leadoff single and a subsequent walk. With two men on and nobody out, pitching coach Karl Kuhn paid Wilson a visit to the mound.

The set-up man and main innings-eater out of the bullpen responded with three straight strikeouts with a mixture of fastballs and biting sliders. Wilson said he benefited from freshman Branden Kline’s outstanding four innings of relief during the loss Saturday, which gave Wilson much-needed rest. Virginia tacked on three more runs during the bottom half of the inning, and junior Kevin Arico closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.

Virginia acquired its first win of the series Friday night, when two of the best pitchers in the ACC squared off. Although an old-fashioned, low-scoring pitching duel was expected, Virginia won 7-4, plating four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take the lead for good.

Apart from the fifth inning, when Georgia Tech belted back-to-back home runs to take a 4-2 lead, sophomore Danny Hultzen was dominant on the mound, racking up 11 strikeouts while allowing only four hits and two walks.

The seventh inning proved to be the critical juncture of the game. O’Connor decided to leave Hultzen in despite a pitch count that was at 110 and a Jacket team that seemed to be catching up to the southpaw.

“I felt Danny Hultzen going back out there in the seventh inning — he was at 110 pitches — and then going one, two, three that inning really — from a defensive and pitching standpoint — was the story of the game,” O’Connor said. “He gave us a chance. Any time you have to go to that bullpen in the seventh inning and stretch it out that makes it difficult.”

Hultzen — who moved to 5-1 on the year — started throwing more off-speed pitches after the fifth inning once the Jackets started catching up to his fastball.

The Cavaliers used Hultzen’s inspired seventh-inning performance to fuel a rally that would eventually put them ahead for good. Sophomore second baseman Keith Werman got things started with a single to center field. With one out, senior shortstop Tyler Cannon ripped a shot to center, where junior center fielder Jeff Rowland appeared to make a superb diving catch. The field umpire ruled that he dropped it, however, and the Cavaliers gained a sudden burst of momentum. A wild pitch advanced both Werman and Cannon into scoring position. Freshman designated hitter Stephen Bruno then delivered a single through the middle of the infield that scored both runners, giving the Cavaliers the lead again 5-4.

“Stephen Bruno got that single with one out and that was huge,” Cannon said. “It seems like every time you put runners in scoring position for Bruno he gets a hit. He’s a clutch hitter.”

After a second out, Georgia Tech removed junior pitcher Deck McGuire from the ball game after 6.2 innings and put in sophomore Jake Davies. The switch did not yield positive results. Junior right fielder Dan Grovatt instantly added to the home run frenzy with a two-run moon shot to right center field — the fifth total home run of the night — to give the Cavaliers a 7-4 cushion.

Wilson proved to be the common thread in the two Virginia victories, as he struck out the side in the eighth to set up Arico’s 11th save.

“Tyler Wilson bouncing back after last weekend I think was the difference for us,” O’Connor said following Sunday’s victory. “He came in and threw that great eighth inning on Friday night, not any bigger than the innings that he threw today … He’s not gonna do it every time, but how he pitched this weekend is the reason we have so much confidence in him.”

The often-quiet Houston native is a dominating performer on the mound, opting more toward doing his job than putting on a show.

“It’s something I’ve kind of embraced,” Loux said about his quiet demeanor. “I wouldn’t say I’m very emotional. Compared to before I got here, I’d say I’m more emotional than I used to be.”

Maybe a little fist pump after a strikeout, of which Loux has many, or a gritting of his teeth after giving up a home run, of which he has few, is about as far as the 6-feet, 5-inch tall junior will go.

But it’s not his emotions that have been turning heads around the Big 12, it’s his numbers.

Leading the conference with 64 strikeouts, Loux sometimes pitches more like former Houston Astros and Texas Rangers great Nolan Ryan than fellow Texas native Greg Maddux.

He averages slightly more than nine strikeouts per start, has a strikeout to walk ratio of 4.92 and has an opponent batting average of .192, making Loux one of the premier pitchers in the Big 12.

Against U. Missouri on March 26 at Olsen Field, Loux was his usual self, striking out 11 Tiger batters in seven innings of work and allowing just one run on three hits.

“That was about as good of pitching against us that I’ve seen in awhile,” Missouri Head Coach Tim Jamieson said. “Our hitters battled and competed, but we were just overmatched tonight.”

Kansas Jayhawks starter T.J. Walz, who had one of his better starts of the season with eight strikeouts against A&M, said the hitters made the difference in the 5-2 win.

“That guy is an unbelievable pitcher,” Walz said. “To do that against him is great.”

Though he hears compliments from fans, opposing teams and professional scouts, Loux takes them in stride.

“I’m just focused on pitching out here,” he said. “When you start to worry about other things you can’t control, bad things might happen.”

What Loux and many Aggie fans are aware of is his impending eligibility for the MLB Amateur Draft. As a junior, Loux will be eligible for the draft in June after playing the requisite three years for NCAA players.

Some scouts are salivating over his 1.98 ERA and 64 strikeouts. Loux was projected by some media outlets as being drafted in the first few rounds.

The one thing stopping him from being in the national spotlight is his pitch count. Being a strikeout pitcher, Loux’s pitch count is often more than 100, which could lead to shorter outings and a tired arm.

But while averaging more than 105 pitches per start and 18 pitches per inning, Loux has said his arm felt fine after one of his longer outings. It’s also a part of his game he’s trying to improve.

“It’s nice to have strikeouts but it’s nice when guys put some balls in play and get your pitch count down,” Loux said. “It’s something I struggle with a little bit, but we’re working on that and our defense is starting to come around and play really well.”

In true Nolan Ryan style, Loux’s favorite pitch is his fastball. He said his curveball and cut fastball have improved this season and his changeup is stable.

Cheering on that fastball is Loux’s parents, Debbie and Steve, who can often be found in their second-deck seats at every A&M game.

Being from Houston, playing baseball for A&M was a unique opportunity that allowed him to be close to home and have his parents see all of his starts.

“It’s really nice to just get some food from home sometimes,” he said. “It’s always nice to have that cooler waiting in their car.”

U. Minnesota’s baseball team was elated to play in the first game at Target Field on March 27. However, merely participating in a test drive for the Twins is not enough for Gophers coach John Anderson and Athletics Director Joel Maturi. They want a new ballpark for the Gophers.

Plans for a new open-air stadium to replace the on-campus Siebert Field have already been approved by University President Bob Bruininks and the Board of Regents.

Maturi, who was courting potential donors during the game at Target Field, said there is no timetable on when ground may break for the proposed stadium.

Maturi estimates that the total cost of the project, which will rely entirely on private funds, will be between $15 million and $18 million. Maturi said he hopes to begin construction prior to raising the entire sum.

“We do think we are in desperate need of a field and stands and the basic amenities to play collegiate baseball,” Maturi said.

In order to accomplish this goal, the project has been divided into two stages. The first stage, which Anderson estimates will cost about $7.5 million, would provide the bare essentials of a stadium: a field, stands, an entryway, a press box, restrooms and concessions. The second stage would include things like locker rooms, indoor batting cages and “some of the other amenities we’d like to have but don’t need immediately,” Maturi said.

The athletics department has begun what Anderson describes as “quiet fundraising” for the new ballpark, which will feature an artificial surface so it can serve as a multipurpose facility.

“We don’t want to go too public until we’re sure we have at least an initial amount of money and pledges that we feel like we can really do something.” Anderson said March 27. “We’ve had a lot of starts and stops in this process, and we surely don’t want that again.”

According to the docket from the Board of Regents’ Feb. 12 meeting, the University received four gifts and pledges in December for an “on-campus stadium.” Amounts gifted ranged from $5,000 to $50,000 and came from both individuals and organizations.

The Gophers are slated to play their entire home schedule this season under the Metrodome’s Teflon-coated roof, instead of at the on-campus, open-air Siebert Field. With the collegiate baseball season beginning in February, Maturi said that even with the new stadium, the Gophers would likely schedule home games at the Metrodome through early March.

While Siebert Field is in good condition, Maturi said the dilapidated stands around the field present “serious safety issues” for the fans.

“Quite frankly, much of the stands have already been condemned,” Maturi said. “It’s falling apart.”

He said that in the past, pieces of the stands have actually fallen down during the course of games.

“We definitely have the worst [stadium] in the Big Ten,” Maturi said.

The new ballpark would be built on the same site as Siebert Field, near the intersection of 15th Avenue Southeast and Fifth Street Southeast, with slight modifications. Home plate would be pushed back to where the pitching mound is currently.

The plans call for a new entryway built at what is now right field, making the stadium more accessible, especially for fans parking in the Fourth Street Ramp.

“Hopefully it will entice students as well as people in the community to come and watch some good baseball,” Maturi said.

Anderson and the Gophers’ storied baseball program, whose alumni include Hall of Famers Dave Winfield and Paul Molitor, could certainly use any additional fanfare. The last game played at Siebert Field, a May 5, 2009 contest against North Dakota State University, drew a meager crowd of 414.

The baseball program is not one of the University’s money-generating sports, and Maturi said a new ballpark would not carry with it expectations of significantly increasing revenue like TCF Bank Stadium.

Plans for basketball

In addition to the new baseball stadium, Maturi is working on securing funds to build a basketball practice facility. Maturi said practice facilities around the country range in cost from $15 million to $50 million.

“I’m convinced ours will be closer to $15 [million],” Maturi said.

Like the baseball stadium, the practice facility would be privately funded.

Currently, both men’s and women’s basketball practices are held on Williams Arena’s single court, making it difficult for players to stop in for individual workouts.

While the University was recruiting men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith in 2007, Smith asked Maturi and Bruininks, who at the time were trying to garner enough support from donors to build TCF Bank Stadium, if they would consider building a practice facility. Maturi said they told Smith they would concentrate their efforts on raising money for both the baseball and basketball projects after TCF Bank Stadium was funded.

A practice facility would have a tremendous impact on recruiting, Maturi said.

“I think for Minnesota it’s huge because, in all due respect, to those of us who love old Williams Arena, that doesn’t turn on 18-year-old kids,” Maturi said. “It is about impressing 17- and 18-year-old kids.”

But the Tucson native wasn’t a sure thing at Arizona.

Mejias-Brean, who starred at football, baseball and basketball at Cienega High School, remained unsigned just three days before classes began.

He was enrolled at Pima Community College and being a Wildcat wasn’t even a possibility. That is, until Matt Helm, then committed to Arizona, signed a $500,000 contract with the Diamondbacks, opening the door for Mejias-Brean.

“I had all my classes, and I was all set at Pima,” Mejias-Brean said. “And then I got this call from coach (Andy) Lopez. I was really excited. I never expected it to happen.”

“I feel like God has his way of placing everyone where they need to be,” he added. “That just happened to be how it turned out for me.”

Mejias-Brean played on the same legion team as Arizona head coach Andy Lopez’s son David, allowing Lopez to see that Mejias-Brean had some talent.

“I was just playing and David, his son, was telling me ‘Oh, you should come. (Helm) signed, we need someone,’” Mejias-Brean said. “I was worried about playing time. There was a lot going through my head a couple of days before school.”

But when Lopez offered the uber-athlete a scholarship, Mejias-Brean found a home with the Wildcats.

“We were able to offer him a little bit of money and get him and we’re very happy with him,” Lopez said. “He’s a very good athlete — very competitive. He’s done a marvelous job for us.”

Mejias-Brean was highly regarded as a dual-threat quarterback, and was hoping to play both football and baseball in college, which drew him to San Diego State University.

He verbally committed to SDSU for baseball in the summer before his senior year and was promised a roster spot on the Aztecs’ football squad. But for whatever reason, SDSU lost interest.

“At first I was pumped,” Mejias-Brean said of going to SDSU. “But it just never went through and I never got a call back.”

His hopes of being a two-sport athlete at the collegiate level went out the window, but he couldn’t be happier to be playing for Arizona.

He’s found a home, batting .396 in 28 games at third base. He already captured a game-winning hit this season, and with the perfect frame for a third basemen — 6-foot-2, 198-pounds — the sky is his limit.

“He has a bright future,” Lopez said. “Just the physical package that he brings is going to attract some people to say ‘Hey we need to follow this guy.’ And obviously if he continues to put up the numbers that he’s put up in 20 something games, they’re going to be watching him in a year or two.”

Mejias-Brean attributed his early success to his ability to focus on only one sport, but also made it clear how much his multi-sport background helped him endure the bumps and bruises that come along with the lengthy college baseball season.

Lopez was also intrigued by the athleticism and leadership that comes along with playing three sports.

“I love those guys,” Lopez said of multi-sport athletes. “They’re competitive and they’ve been in a lot of pressure situations. He’s been a quarterback, a point guard and a shortstop. All year long he’s in pressure situations.”

It’s been an interesting road for Mejias-Brean, but as is the case for a lot of athletes, all he needed was a chance. He’s solidified himself as the starting third baseman and has exceeded all expectations.

After being overlooked during recruiting, Mejias-Brean entered the season with a chip on his shoulder, and it’s certainly translated on the field.

“People were like, ‘Oh, he’s not going to do well,’” he said. “But you’re not supposed to listen to them. You’ve just got to go out there and do your best.”

Mejias-Brean has done exactly that, and Lopez and the Wildcats couldn’t be more pleased.

“I’m very, very happy with him,” Lopez said. “He’s a great student. He’s got a good mind. He’s easy to work with and with that he’s easy to make adjustments with in terms of his baseball mechanics and things of that nature … He’s got a very bright future.”

It’s April in sunny Arizona, and you can see Gillheeney throwing in his bullpen, the same as he used to, working his trademark curveball-changeup combo. But this year, instead of small talk in between pitches with N.C. State pitching coach Tom Holliday, he’s getting tips from Cy Young winner Cliff Lee and MLB All-Star Felix Hernandez.

Gillheeney ignited his baseball career as the Wolfpack’s No. 1 starting pitcher last year after collecting All-ACC and Third-Team All-America (NCBWA) honors in 2008. Although he was still in college, many scouts began to salivate over his surprisingly advanced repertoire as early as his freshman year, when he was nominated for NCBWA’s Stopper of the Year, an award for the best closer in college baseball.

“Jimmy has always been really motivated,” said junior pitcher Jake Buchanan. “He is also confident in his abilities. He could stay relaxed even in the toughest situations when he pitched.”

The Seattle Mariners then drafted Gillheeney after his junior year with the second pick of the eighth round. He performed so well in the minors this past season that he was asked to participate in Spring Training with the major-leaguers in Arizona. This has surrounded him with famous players like Ken Griffey, Jr., with whom he shares a locker room.

“Its been crazy,” Gillheeney said, “I have been fortunate enough to meet and even have conversations with all the big-name Seattle players.”

Gillheeney is acing his way through the minors in a hurry. Most minor-leaguers spend years without even catching a glimpse of a major league game. Gillheeney hasn’t been in the system for a year and already is getting chances to throw against MLB All-Stars. For Gillheeney, playing professionally has upped the ante on how he performs.

“I have been working twice as hard as I did in college,” Gillheeney said. “It’s a little more serious considering that I’m actually employed with a full-time job, which is baseball.”

At this rate, Jimmy Gillheeney might soon be the next Seattle ace. The Mariners have fared well with lefties drafted in the eighth round. Seattle left-handed pitcher Cliff Lee was also drafted in the eighth round, in 1997 by the Marlins. In the meantime, Gillheeney is enjoying every bit of his trek to the top.

“I’m really enjoying myself a lot,” Gillheeney said. “I had a good spring training so I’m really excited for the rest of the season.”

The Wolfpack offense slugged four home runs in three games against the fourth best pitching staff in the ACC to win the series 2-1. Friday’s win gave Coach Elliott Avent 500 wins, making him only the second coach in program history behind Sam Esposito to reach the 500 mark.

“It feels even better to win two out of three against Virginia, the No. 1 team in the country,” Avent said. “We put ourselves into a little bit of a hole coming out of the Clemson series, so to win the series against Virginia is what we needed to do.”

The Cavaliers did everything they could Friday night to stave off win number 500. The first game started off as a pitcher’s duel between Virginia’s Danny Hultzen and State’s Jake Buchanan. The score was only 3-1 in the top of the eighth.

The Wolfpack began its comeback in the bottom of the eighth when sophomore pinch-hitter John Gianis led off with a double to the wall. Senior centerfielder Kyle Wilson then belted a 400-ft homerun to left-center to tie the game at three apiece.

Virginia retaliated with two runs in the ninth. But the Wolfpack made a repeat of the eighth inning with a double from freshman pinch-hitter Danny Canela and a homerun from senior second baseman Dallas Poulk to tie the game again, this time at 5-5. Canela was 2-for-3 that night, solidifying his status as one of the team’s most clutch pinch-hitters.

“I like pinch-hitting. I get into that mode and I focus even more when I come into the game,“ Canela said.

The game remained deadlocked until the bottom of the 11th inning. With two outs, two strikes, and the winning run on third, freshman shortstop Matt Bergquist crushed a line drive to right field to seal the game. After freshman pinch-runner Mike Clark crossed the plate, the Wolfpack celebrated its 6-5 win in its fourth walk-off win of the season.

However, the Cavaliers answered back on Saturday with a decisive 8-4 win over the Pack to even the series one-to-one. But on Sunday, the Pack edged Virginia 7-6 to clinch the series win.

Virginia was ahead 4-3 until the bottom of the 7th.  Dallas Poulk started the rally with a one-out infield single. Then sophomore first baseman Pratt Maynard and Danny Canela both drew walks to load the bases for sophomore third baseman Andrew Ciencin.

After going one-for-10 the first two games, some hitters may have withered under the pressure. Ciencin did just the opposite. With the series on the line he ripped a pitch over the left field wall for a grand slam to put his team ahead 7-3.

“You just have to stay with it the whole weekend,” Ciencin said. “They’re a good pitching staff, but I knew I could do it, so I did.”

The Cavaliers attempted to rally late in the ninth, but fell short. State won, 7-6. The Wolfpack improves to 18-10 overall and 5-7 in the ACC with the series win.

The Pack returns to action with a two-game series at home against Coppin State on Tuesday and Wednesday before facing UNC at Chapel Hill this weekend.

Despite two late-inning rallies in the first and last games of a three-game set over the weekend, the fourth-ranked Florida State Seminole baseball team was able to take the weekend series against the 17th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, N.C.

FSU (15-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) defeated the Heels (15-6, 2-4 ACC) in their first game of the weekend as they erased a three-run deficit in the later innings to claim a 4-3 victory. The Heels, however, came back in game two, leaving Sunday afternoon’s matchup to decide the weekend series. FSU would score four runs in the last two innings to take Sunday’s game, 5-3.

“You might just routinely say that we were lucky (Friday),” FSU head coach Mike Martin said. “There are no two ways about it. We were just very lucky. I know exactly how they (the Tar Heels) feel because last week we had a five-run lead in the ninth inning, so I know how they feel.”

The Seminoles trailed 3-2 heading into the ninth inning when Justin Gonzalez came up to bat with one out already gone. Gonzalez lined a single up the middle and scored on the next hit as Jayce Boyd doubled into the gap in right center.

Despite a nice relay by the Tar Heels to make for a play at the plate, Gonzalez managed to slide in safely as UNC’s catcher Jacob Stalling could not hold on to the ball to make the out.

FSU then proceeded to load the bases as Tyler Holt drew a walk and James Ramsey was hit by a pitch in consecutive order. Boyd then scored the game-winning run as Michael Morin, the third Tar Heels pitcher of the inning, unloaded on a wild pitch on his first throw to the plate.

After Morin’s wild pitch that broke up the late-game tie, FSU called upon Mike McGee to protect and save the one-run, ninth-inning lead.

McGee would do exactly that as he retired the Tar Heels side in order to earn his first-ever collegiate save. Arguably the biggest hero of the night, Boyd got the job done defensively as well. Boyd helped McGee earn that first save with a back-handed catch on a hard hit line drive to get the second out of the inning and then by catching a fly ball in foul territory to get the last.

“It was kind of nerve-racking,” McGee said of his first-ever save. “I got a little behind, but just started to focus on making sure I did not walk anybody. I was going to throw strikes regardless.”

Game two, however, was a different story for both squads. The Seminoles found themselves on the shortend of the stick as the Tar Heels scored four runs from the seventh inning and beyond to take the 10-4 victory.

UNC scored four runs in the seventh inning alone as the Seminoles helped facilitate the effort by committing two errors that successfully avenged their late-inning defeat the previous day.

“You really have to credit North Carolina in the way that they bounced back (Saturday),” Martin said. “That was an excellent performance by their entire ball club.”

John Gast received his first loss on the season as he went 4.1 innings allowing six hits and five earned runs while only striking out three. On the other side, Colin Bates struck out five batters for the Tar Heels as he pitched just 3.2 innings. Jesse Wierzbicki went 2-for-4 as he notched a game-high three RBI for UNC.

Sherman Johnson was the only Seminole with multiple hits on the evening as he went 2-of-4 as well. Holt, Ramsey, Stephen Cardullo and Johnson each had an RBI in the loss.

FSU recovered against the Tar Heels in game three, though, as the game went to the top of the ninth tied at 3-3 after a two-run Seminole eighth. FSU scored two runs in the ninth to win 5-3. Cardullo went 3-for-5 in the game with an RBI, while McGee achieved his second save of the weekend as he got Brian Busch out of a jam in the bottom half of the ninth inning.

The Tribe will next play the Stetson Mad Hatters on March 26, before the Maryland Terrapins visit Tallahassee for a three-game set.