A hateful, repugnant waste of nine and a half minutes.
Welcome to the third baldcast of From The Cave for this season. Hope you enjoy it. And if not, thanks for watching anyway.
And if you don’t like watching me blabber on about the sport we love, then check out the *other* 10 reasons it was a good day in college baseball – posted below. (Yes, that means you have to keep reading, slacker.)
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THE TWITTER AND FACEBOOK THING AGAIN…
If you missed it in the baldcast above, join my Twitter account by going to Twitter.com and search under “Stitch_Head” and sign up. For Facebook, a College Baseball Today page has been set up, so you can just search it out and become a member. Look for lots of cash and prizes to go along with them both.
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JUST IN CASE YOU’RE WONDERING ABOUT SOME OF THE JUMP-CUTS YOU SEE IN THE VIDEO.
Most of the time, when you see an edit or two in one of my baldcasts it’s because I’m probably trying to shave a few seconds off the length of the video. I don’t want it to go over the 10 minute mark, so I try to shave it down just a tad here and there. No biggie.
But tonight, I also had a bad misstep. In talking about the SEC’s road trips for the upcoming weekend, I accidentally said, “Alabama goes on the road to play a mid-major at Coastal Carolina this weekend.”
After taping was completed I realized my mistake – Bama is actually playing at College of Charleston – and went back and edited out that part. So you see, nobody’s perfect here. Luckily I caught it before you guys could bombard me with “WTF?” Emails.
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10 REASONS WHY TODAY WAS SUCH A COOL DAY IN COLLEGE BASEBALL.

Baseball, palm trees and the blue Pacific. Not a lot to hate about going to a game out at Pepperdine.
1- I GOT TO GO TO PEPPERDINE.
It was a perfect day to get the motorcycle out, go up the Pacific Coast Highway, take in lunch at the Reel Inn and then hit an afternoon game at Pepperdine. Niiiiice.
UC Irvine – 000 000 000 – 0 6 0
Pepperdine-001 001 22x – 6 11 0
WP: Aaron Gates (1-1)
LP: Kyle Necke (0-2)
Sv: Keven Inman (1)
Key play:
Brian Humphries knocked in an RBI single in the 3rd inning to provide the Waves with all the scroring they would need. But Humphries wasn’t done there, he also scored the second run of the game, being knocked in by Floyd Given on another RBI single. Then, Humphries cemented things with a two-run double in the 7th that essentially took the air out of the Anteaters altogether.
Pepperdine ended up using just two pitchers – Gates went 5.0 innings, giving up just four hits and Inman went the remaining 4.0 innings giving up just two more hits. The ‘Eaters meanwhile, used six different hurlers on the day, despite starter Kyle Necke having a solid 5.0, 4-hit outing in his second start of the year.
Pepperdine is now 3-4 as they travel to Baton Rouge this weekend and UCI is now 4-4 and will host St. Mary’s this weekend.
I talked briefly with Pepperdine head man Steve Rodriguez after the game and he said, “When we execute our game, pitch down in the zone and throw strikes, it’s amazing how well these guys can play. I mean, Irvine is a phenomenal team and they’ll be better as the year goes on and I told our guys, ‘you guys have the ability as long as you go out and do the small things and execute our game, we’ll win some ball games.”

Brian Humphries (#21) went 3-for-4 with two RBI from his leadoff spot.
It was interesting talking to Coach Rodriguez and hearing his thoughts about the upcoming weekend at LSU. I’ll type up more of it for this Thursday’s column. Check back then. For now, on with the rest of the list from today…
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2- THE TWO NO-HITTERS
Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tennessee beat Lane College 10-0 and 13-2 today in a doubleheader. But the remarkable thing was that FHU won both games by throwing a pair of no-hitters.
Gage Franklin and Adam Blackburn went back-to-back to record the third and fourth no-hitters in school history. Ironically, Gage’s brother Tyler threw the first no-hitter in Lions history back in 2006 and this was actually Blackburn’s second skunking of an opponent, having pulled the no-hit trick back in 2008.
And in case you’re wondering, the second game, where Lane scored two runs, came about because the Freed-Hardman defense committed six errors in the game.
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3- THE RETURN OF THE “GLARE DELAY”
And no, I’m not referring to Omaha resident Bob Gibson and his intimidating glare down at opposing batters that turned them into mush. The Houston-Rice game had a 22-minute “glare delay” as the sun hit off the Hilton Hotel out beyond center field at Reckling Park – a Rice tradition in February and March.
Rice went on to win game one of the Silver Glove series 8-2, despite getting out-hit 12-10.
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4- THAT WHOLE “FLORIDA FOUR” THINGEE.
How cool is it that Miami, Florida State and Florida put aside their “I won’t play non-conference road games” mindset for a day and all got together with South Florida to play a pair of games at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa? Love it. Nice goin’ guys. College baseball fans across the country thank you.
In those two games, Miami made quick work of USF, beating them 15-2 (ouch!). In the nightcap, Florida State dismantled Florida with a 7-run 1st inning on their way to a 10-5 win (double-ouch!).
Okay, so the games themselves were of crappy quality, but it’s still a great event that I hope is repeated in years to come.
(Note: Surprisingly, Anthony DeSclafani, a weekend starter normally, got blunt-force-trauma’d for five runs on three hits as the starter for UofF today. He left after facing five batters and recording no outs. Stuart Tapley – the No. 5 hitter – knocked him out of the game with a two-run single in the 1st.)
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5- JASON COATS STAYS HOT AS HELL.
TCU outfielder Jason Coats was named the Mountain West hitter of the week after his performance at Fullerton last weekend. Apparently that wasn’t enough for the young buck as he added to that by going 3-for-5 with a double and a home run and a staggering seven RBI in the 17-12 win over UT-San Antonio tonight.
The No. 7-ranked Frogs are now 6-1. Despite the loss, UTSA ain’t too shabby, sitting at 6-2 now.
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6- VMI CONTINUES TO STAY UNBEATEN.
Very quietly, the Key-dets are now 7-0 with a wild 7-6 win in 11 innings at Maryland today. The win was VMI’s first-ever over the Terrapins in six tries and also marked VMI’s best start to a season in its history. We salute you brothers.
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7- BETHUNE-COOKMAN LOSING STREAK ENDS, DRAMATICALLY.
I saw BCU at the Urban Invitational, these guys have some ability. But it was sobering to see them race out to a crappy 1-7 start despite some positive flashes. Tonight, Emmanuel Castro got an RBI double in the bottom of the 9th to give the ‘Cats their second victory of the season with an 11-10 win over nearby rival Stetson.
An obviously relieved head coach Mervyl Melendez said afterward, “I am excited for our team as this was a big win. Especially after the long road trip, this was a special win for us.”
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8- IT’S AMAZING WHAT A 25-MPH TAILWIND WILL DO.
Kansas State bombarded Western Michigan with a 27-8 splatting today down in Winter Haven, Florida, improving the Cats to 6-1 on the young season. But howling winds helped the Cats garner four doubles, three triples and four home runs as they had 21 hits on the day.
But the most impressive stat of the day was the KSU went another game without giving up a walk. Of their first seven games, five have been walk-free.
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9- WE GET AN AMAZING PERFORMANCE FROM MIDDLE TENNESSEE AND IT’S NOT FROM BRYCE BRENTZ.
Good to see the Blue Raiders have more than the wildly-talentd Mr. Brentz in their arsenal. Today, it was Justin Miller stamping his name into the MTSU history books with a three-home run day, which ties the school record. The junior second baseman also had two walks on the day as they went on to beat Southern Illinois 17-4.
MTSU is now 5-1 and will play the Salukis again on Wednesday, before traveling to Jacksonville State this weekend.
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10- THE WESTERN KENTUCKY BULLPEN.
In today’s 14-7 win over Austin Peay, the Hilltoppers found themselves in a deep 7-2 hole in the 3rd inning. But they would go on to score the next 12 runs en route to an easy win. In six innings of relief, Andrew Keltner, Tyler Gilliland and Aaron Mayfield surrendered just three hits and one walk.
In fact, the best part for the Big Red so far this season? How about this fact… the Hilltoppers bullpen has allowed only one run in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings combined this season.
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THE DOWN SIDE TO THIS TUESDAY IN COLLEGE BASEBALL?
There were 33 games involving Division I teams that were postponed or cancelled because of inclement weather. Too bad everybody can’t have a dome to play in… or just have Malibu weather.
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AND HERE’S THE MGMT SONG WITHOUT MY TALKING OVER IT…
Okay, enough already.
G’night.




(10)
Wal says:
Love the explanation on how you are going to fill out your poll. I wish more voters took that approach – voting based on performance than by the name on the uniform.
Chip Porter says:
Stitch,
When you talk about your poll choosing methodology, is it strictly based on who beats who where, or will you factor in your own ambiguous observations/thoughts/conclusions/daydreams?
I was standing and applauding (it was inside, you couldn’t really see it), when you were giving the examples of barely beating creampuffs at home vs. dominating ranked teams on the road. But then the little man inside took a seat when you mentioned ISR’s. Let’s take for example a school like SLU. There’s a high degree of probability they won’t face another ranked opponent all year. If they continue to dominate, wouldn’t they be worthy of ranking, in spite of having a lower ISR? It may not be the best of examples, but I’ll bet you smell where I’m coming from.
I guess what I’m saying, is that I agree wholeheartedly that the ranking poll should be a snapshot of what this team is today and not a projection which Power Ranger they may morph into, but how much of your subjective baseball wisdom will you be interjecting vs. straight up statistical weighting??? Enquiring minds want to know.
Bulldog says:
Good stuff as always!!
I agree that there are some good match ups this weekend and several of these tilts involving SEC teams that are traveling! Though I think the LSU vs Pepperdine is very intriguing too since this it is a step up in opponent for LSU. I personally will be following the TCU vs. T. Tech & Nebraska vs. UCLA games to get an idea of how the predicted middle of the pack Big 12 teams do against a couple of proven teams! The Sooners openning weekend does appear to include so easier teams but I am not too confident because this is college baseball and anything can happen, especially this time of year!
admohr says:
Thanks for making it over to Twitter. Its just awesome this year w/ everyone providing updates & commentary from the games they are at – its going to be fantastic during regional week when everyone is at a different regional.
Kudos for your resume-based ranking methodology, but a follow up question: will you weight wins/losses at the beginning of the season with equal weight to wins at the end of the season? For instance, will you penalize Fullerton in May even if they get scorching hot based on how slow they are out of the gates this year? It seems that a lot of times in Fitt & Manuel’s podcast, they mention how they don’t penalize Fullerton, Rice, or Texas too much in February because they know they’re going to turn it on by the end of the year – but doesn’t that become kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy when the beginning of the season carries no impact at all?
NECBLfan says:
Great point about South Carolina-Clemson this weekend. I was jacked when I saw the schedule for this year with the 3-game weekend series. It should boost attendance and also offer some marquis starting pitching matchups, as opposed to the midweek starters of years past. Saturday’s neutral site game is in Greenville, SC this year, right near Clemson, at Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive. I kind of hope they head to Capital City Stadium (Columbia Blowish, Coastal Plain League) in Columbia next year to even out the benefit of the hometown neutral-site game.
Chrs Webb says:
Dude….
I skimmed through the posting, I’ve heard enough of your nonsense to skip the baldcast… saw the Time to Pretend vid… you just stitched yourself into legend lure with that staple. Oracular Spectacular my favorite CD of all time…. and hear I thought I was the coolest, hippest, dirtiest baseball writer.
Chris Webb says:
Dude….
I skimmed through the posting, I’ve heard enough of your nonsense to skip the baldcast… saw the Time to Pretend vid… you just stitched yourself into legend lure with that staple. Oracular Spectacular my favorite CD of all time…. and hear I thought I was the coolest, hippest, dirtiest baseball writer.
Go Army - Go Hoos says:
Hmmmm….I’ve always been disappointed to hear a big journalistic voice for a college sport announce that they are a pollster…I believe it is an inherent conflict of interest…now that I know you’re voting, and basically having an impact on how teams are perceived and viewed throughout the country, I have to read your column a little differently. My vote (no pun intended) is for journalists to do journalism, and leave the polling to experts who are not otherwise touting their opinions to the general public. This is not a direct criticism of Stitch, but a criticism of the system that allows this conflict of interest to occur. Just my opinion…
Stitch-head says:
Oh I see “Go Army”. I’ll go ahead and tell the NCBWA that I rescind my voting privileges. Thanks.
Bozar says:
Frank Zappa? Alice Cooper? Really? Why’d you leave out Lumpy Gravy? They’ve had a pretty good year.