How pathetic is this? It’s 5:30am and I’m sitting in my car outside a Starbucks Coffee joint in San Jose, because my friend who I’m staying with is having ill-timed wireless issues. This is in addition to my computer seemingly being the only one in the Santa Clara press box that can’t get an internet signal. WTF, right?

Well enough of my bitchin’, here’s the link to my wrap-up of Day 2 of the Supers on ESPN.com.
I hope you dig it. And sorry for the delay in posting.

Since I’m kind of handcuffed here, I won’t be able to post all the pretty pictures and post-game quotes like I had hoped to. But maybe after this weekend’s done, I’ll do them all at once in a post-Supers look back. Thanks for understanding.

The heroic Stanford Cardinal took down Cal State Fullerton to advance to the Regional finals.

If you wanna give my daily wrap-up a once-over on ESPN.com, click here and check out the ESPN college baseball blog.

I got to see a couple of games today, the crowning moment being Stanford’s 1-0 stress-fest win over Cal State Fullerton. An unreal contest. I’ll be sure to share some pics I took from that game and the Illinois win over K-State. The first lady of Stitch-Head Nation was at the UC Irvine win over San Francisco as well and the Doctor of College Baseball chipped in from the Carolinas too. Bitchin’.

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GAME ONE AT FULLERTON.

Illinois continues its hot streak with a 5-3 win over fellow snowbelter Kansas State, staving off elimination for another day and building confidence going into Sunday’s Fullerton rematch.

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Illinois – 002 300 000 – 5  12  2

K-State – 010 020 000 – 3    7  1

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WP: John Anderson, 8-6

LP: Matt Applegate, 5-5

Save: Chris Pack, 4

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PICS:

Illini shortstop Pete Capetti had a pair of hits on the day and got some props here too.

John Anderson went 8.0 innings, giving up just one earned run and one walk to improve to 8-6.

9-hole hitter Josh Parr had a double and a triple to go along with 3RBI to lead the Illini.

The Illini committed a few errors, but played sweet D in the infield, including this twin killing.

Illini fans had a lot to cheer abou tas their team improved to 29-26 on the year and stayed alive for another day in the NCAA tournament.

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GAME TWO AT UCLA

UC Irvine took firm control of the Los Angeles Regional with the escape of an inspired San Francisco Dons baseball team in a 4-3 win. The Dons managed to score two runs in the bottom of the 9th inning, but stranded the tying run at 2nd base to fall into a rematch with an angry UCLA team in Sunday morning’s loser’s bracket game.

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UCI – 001 003 000 – 4  7  2

USF – 000 001 002 – 3  5  0

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WP: Matt Whitehouse, 4-0

LP: Matt Heiserman, 6-4

Save: Jimmy Litchfield, 3

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PICS:

Matt Whitehouse threw 8.1 innings of 4-hit, 7K ball for the Anteaters.

The big blow for UCI was administered by Drew Hillman's 6th inning home run

The Dons' Matt Heiserman tossed a good game himself, going the distance and giving up just seven hits. But his mates couldn't quite pull the offense through.

The Frisco defense played errorless vs. the Eaters and went balls-out to keep the Dons in the game.

Pete Lavin did it all for USF, leading the offense with three hits and making plays in centerfield.

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GAME TWO AT FULLERTON.

Stanford relied on a Stephen Piscotty solo home run and the unbelievable dealing of starting pitcher Jordan Pries in a butt-tight battle of familiar post-season rivals at Goodwin Field. The Cardinal pull into the Regional finals with the 1-0 win and withstood an incredible effort from Fullerton starter Noe Ramirez. The Titans now must beat Illinois once again and then take down Stanford twice to make it to the Super Regionals.

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Fullerton- 000 000 000 – 0  2  1

Stanford – 000 001 00x –  1  4  1

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WP: Jordan Pries, 6-5

LP: Noe Ramirez, 8-4

Save: Chris Reed, 9

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PICS:

Coaching legends Dave Serrano and Mark Marquess do the handshake thing before the game. (thanks for the pic Matt)

Jordan Pries pitched tonight like the All American he was expected to be at the beginning of the year. And yes, that's a bad omen for Cardinal opponents if they advance from here.

Stephen Piscotty and Brian Ragira do the helmet-clacking thing after Piscotty's solo shot to left-center accounted for the game's only run.

Coiled like a rattlesnake: Noe Ramirez pitched pretty incredibly tonight, holding a multi-talented Stanford offense to four hits, while striking out 12.

The ageless wonder, Mark Marquess, gives off his usual array of signals from the bench.

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Big Jeffrey Gibbs (32) got the win for Maine and head coach Steve Trimper (right)

FROM THE GOOD DOCTOR OF COLLEGE BASEBALL.

From the Chapel Hill Regional.

GAME 1:

Maine 4

Florida International 1  [FIU eliminated]

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Pitching ruled the day in both games on day 2 of the Chapel Hill Regional.  In the elimination game, Maine starter Jeffrey Gibbs dominated FIU for 8 innings to keep the Black Bears alive, while the Golden Panthers ended their season at 40-20-1.

Just a day after Florida International hammered five home runs in a first round loss to James Madison,  Gibbs allowed FIU only two hits in eight innings in the victory. Gibbs gave up a leadoff single to Pablo Bermudez to start the game, but the Golden Panthers didn’t get a hit off him again until the 9th inning. Gibbs retired 21 of 24 batters after Bermudez’ single, scattering three walks until giving up a leadoff double to Yoandy Barroso in the 9th inning. Stephen Perakslis came on after Barroso’s double and gave up an RBI single to Bermudez before closing out FIU.
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WP-  Jeffrey Gibbs [8-5]  8IP  2H  1R  1ER  3BB  8K
LP-  Phil Haig  [9-4]   5.2IP  9H  4R  4ER  2BB  3K
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Top Hitters:
Maine
-Ian Leisenheimer  2-3, 1RBI
-Michael Fransoso, Alex Calbick, and Colin Gay   all went 2-4, 1R
-Taylor Lewis, Joey Martin, and Troy Black  all went 1-4, 1RBI
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FIU
-Pablo Bermudez  2-4,  1RBI
-Yoandy Barosso  1-3, 1R

NOTES:
- Attendance: 1,462 [official] maybe 200 hundred actual attendance
- Game time:  2 hours, 47 minutes
- FIU’s 2-through-7 hitters were a combined 0 for 19, including 0 for 4 by Garrett Wittels
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For the second day in a row, assistant coach Scott Forbes did the handshake duties while head coach Mike Fox was gone for personal reasons.

GAME 2:

North Carolina – 14

James  Madison – 0
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Patrick Johnson continued his string of recent dominating performances by holding James Madison, the nation’s  highest scoring offense, in check as UNC blasted the Dukes in a winner’s bracket game. Johnson allowed only three singles while striking out 11 in eight innings, while walking only one batter. R.C Orlan and Andrew Smith pitched the 9th inning in relief of Johnson.

Johnson was perfect through the first three innings with five strikeouts until Johnny Bladel had a leadoff single in the 4th inning.

UNC put up single runs in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th innings to take a 4-0 lead, then blew it open with seven runs in the 7th inning.  DH Greg Holt led the way, going 4-for-5 with 4RBI on the day, including a solo home run in the 2nd inning.

Patrick Johnson did it again for the Heels, dominating the nation's No. 1 offense.

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WP-  Patrick Johnson  [12-1]   8IP  3H  0R  1BB  11K
LP-  Alex Valadja  [7-4]    3.1 IP  5H  3R  3ER  2BB  3K
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Top Hitters:
UNC
- Greg Holt  4-5, HR,  3R  4RBI
- Ben Bunting  2-5,  2R,  3RBI
- Jacob Stallings  3-5,  3R
- Chaz Frank  1-3, 1R,  2RBI
- Tommy Coyle  2-4, 1R,  1RBI
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James Madison
- Johnny Bladel  1-3
- Jake Lowery, David Herbek, and Alex Folt  all 1-4
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NOTES:
- James Madison only had five base runners the entire game and none advanced past 2nd base
- UNC pitchers have not allowed a run in 18 innings in their first two games of the regional
- JMU had not been previously shut out this season
- UNC has cruised through its first two games despite Levi Michael going 0-for-9 in those games
- UNC coach Mike Fox has missed the first 2 games due to personal family matters
- Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra were in attendance for last night’s UNC game against Maine
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Okay guys and dolls. It’s time to retire for the night. More tomorrow.

G’night.

It was a cliffhanger Saturday on the diamond in college baseball today, even a wide-eyed Jimmy Stweart can attest to that.

Harmlessly, it started in my own bed this morning. My dog jumped up, scaled the mattress and licked my nose to wake me up at 8:05am Pacific time. Two minutes later, I picked up my servant bell off the silver salver on my nightstand and rang it. I then asked Jeeves to bring me my laptop. At 8:09 I turned on my computer. At 8:11 I read a “thank you” Email from Maine’s baseball coach. At 8:13am I opened up the scoreboard page on Jeremy Mills’ site and saw that Florida State was beating Georgia Tech 4-0 in the 7th inning.

I scanned down Jeremy’s scoreboard a bit more to find that Samford and Appalachian State were already in the 9th inning of their elimination game, with the Bulldogs up 2-1. Man, a lot happens while I’m sleeping. WTF? Guess I better stop sleeping so much, right?

But that’s the dichotomy of good and bad of college baseball during tournament time.

The Good: it’s wall-to-wall ball from early in the morning to late late at night.

The Bad: Jesus Christ people, we’re deciding conference champions at 6am?! (Pacific). These poor boys.

Anyway, it was still an interesting day in college baseball today. We’ll see what Sunday brings as the last few spots of the conference tournaments will be contested for and the NCAA will also announce their 16 Regional sites.

Here’s a few notes about what happened today and what it all means.

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– THREE UP.

The very good things that took place today.

1- GEORGIA.

Took down Florida in game one today, 4-3.

Talk about pulling out all the stops. Georgia did everything it could to get that much-needed win over the Gators and qualify for the NCAA tournament. Even their fallen counterpart, paralyzed outfielder Jonathan Taylor, made his way over from Atlanta to be in the Dogs dugout and provide some inspiration. Thankfully, one of my favorite writers this side of Hank Moody was at the SEC tourney and did a great job of surmising what was a special day at the Hoover Met. Check his very honest and heartfelt column concerning these two rivals as only Eth can describe.

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2- TREVOR BAUER, UCLA

Let’s just go ahead and save a “Three Up” spot for him EVERY Saturday, okay?

Geez. The teflon phenom threw his 8th straight complete game as UCLA downed Arizona State for the second straight day, 7-0 in Tempe. This time Bauer struck out a stunning 14 Sun Devils and relinquished only five hits to improve to 12-2 on the year. I have to say, with Cole throwing as well as he did on Friday night and Bauer becoming an instant W on Saturdays, the Bruins are a beyond-dangerous No. 2 seed for the NCAA tournament. Anybody wanna volunteer to have them play at their Regional site next week?… (crickets… crickets)… that’s what I thought.

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3- THE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS, of course.

- CREIGHTON.

The Bluejays win the Missouri Valley auto-bid by downing Wichita State 3-1.

The defensively-sound Jays win their second-ever MVC title and also take both the regular season and tournament titles for the first time in school history. Coach Ed Servais, Kyle Peterson’s vote for the most underrated coach in the country, used a parade of five pitchers, including weekend starters Jonas Dufek and Ty Blach for the first 6.1 innings and also some sound defensive play to suppress the Shockers.

Creighton is headed to the NCAA tournament... in other words, the Earth is back on its axis and everything is as it should be in this world.

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- KENT STATE.

The Flashes pulled through the loser’s bracket and won the MAC title with a pair of resounding shutouts, 8-0 over Eastern Michigan and 11-0 win over Toledo. This was State’s fourth straight MAC title. Although, as I tweeted earlier, I kinda wanted to see Kent State lose, just to see if the selection committee would screw them or not. But they deserve it, so I’m glad for them.

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MANHATTAN

The Jaspers will go to the NCAAs for just the second time in their 54 year history as a program with tonight’s 5-1 win over Siena. Starting pitcher Mike Giordano threw a 13-K effort and head coach Kevin Leighton earned win No. 200 with the W. Considering I saw a game at Manhattan’s less-than-luxurious Van Cortlandt Park, it’s pretty impressive that this program can make its way to the Big Dance. But as Assistant Coach Ryan Darcy wrote to me after my visit there in late March, this team doesn’t give a damn about having glitzy digs, they just go out there and work their asses off. It’s working guys.

Now let’s see if the Big Green can make the regional final like they did in the Lincoln Regional in 2006.

Manhattan gets its Big Green groove on, winning the MAAC tournament and heading for an NCAA tournament destination after an outstanding "no-excuses" season.

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- AUSTIN PEAY.

The Governors beat Jacksonville State 7-3 to win Ohio Valley title.

The top-seeded Govs win their fourth OVC title in the last seven years, all of which came under the guidance of head coach Gary McClure. I’d be willing to bet my left nut that AP will end up back in Nashville for the Regionals again. It was in 2007 that they they nearly pulled off a stunning upset of No. 1 ranked Vanderbilt in the opening round, losing 2-1.

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- CHARLOTTE.

Downed Richmond 9-4 to breeze through the Atlantic 10 tournament.

The 49ers won all three games they played the last few days, outscoring their opponents by a 20-6 count.

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- BELMONT

How about those 6th-seeded Bruins? Raise a mug to them.

As the lowest seed of the A-Sun tournament, they put a serious hurtin’ on everyone’s ego this week. They opened the tourney with a huge blowout of top-seeded Stetson by a ridiculous 15-3 score. They followed that up by eliminating Kennesaw State and capped things with a pair of two-run wins over a very good Mercer team, including today’s 9-7 conquest.

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- COASTAL CAROLINA

Took down Gardner-Webb 6-1 today to bust through the Big South field.

Well it’s for sure now, the Big South is a one-bid league once again. The Chants won their fifth straight BSC title with today’s win. Jordan Coons went 7.0 innings on the mound and improved to 5-2 and lowered his ERA to just 1.21 on the year. Rich Witten and Daniel Bowman kept up the Chanticleer tradition by going yard today and supplying all the run support that Coons would need.

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- TEXAS STATE.

Bubble teams everywhere also cheered the Bobcats after they won a 1-vs-2 matchup with Stephen F. Austin tonight, 9-0. And it’s historically rare for the cutthroat Southland to have its regular season champion win the tourney title too. To wit, the ‘Cats have won the last three regular season crowns but this was the first time they added the tourney title. To the surprise of no one, the Bobcats will almost certainly head to Austin for the Regionals. Though unlikely, they could also head to either Texas A&M or Rice. We’ll see. Speaking of Rice…

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- RICE

Owls continue to own Houston, beating the Cougars 4-3 in 10 innings.

Tonight’s win sends the Owls to the NCAA tournament for the 17th straight time. I think the bitchinest part of the whole deal is the stat that CBS put up on the screen during the telecast:

Total program wins for Rice from 1913 to 1991: 838.

Rice wins from 1992 until now (under Wayne Graham): 910

The Ole General is definitely the Bill Snyder of college baseball. Incredible. Now you see why I hope the sumbitch coaches for another 20 years or so.

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- FRESNO STATE

Took down arch-nemesis Hawaii by a rugged 15-4 score.

Bubble teams everywhere ring their approval since it’s likely that the much-deserving Warriors probably won’t make the NCAA field of 64, despite my saying that they should… EASILY. Slugger Jordan Ribera has definitely come out of his slouch with a 3-for-6, 4RBI day. His last two weeks have been smokin’ hot. I’m just sayin’ it here to give people fair warning, just like in ‘08, I wouldn’t want to have to play the ‘Dogs right now.

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- ILLINOIS

The Illini pounded Michigan State 9-1 to win the Big 10 Tournament.

For just the fourth time in program history the Illini will be going to the Big Dance after dominating Bubba Smith U. at Huntington Park tonight. Matt Dittman, who hit the jog-off home run to clinch the regular season title for Illinois went out and hit a grand slam today to cement a big time win and send the navy and orange to June Madness for the first time since 2000.

The Illini get their "whoof!" on as they celebrate their Big 10 title-clinching win over Michigan State. Yes, that's the Big 10 trophy they're holding there.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS.

- OREGON.

Beat No. 13 Oregon State for the second day in a row.

With today’s 4-1 win over the Beavers in the Civil War series, I’ve got something for you to consider… what about Oregon for a late charge at an at-large bid? I know, I know, bare with me for a second. The Ducks are now 32-26 and have weekend wins over the Beavers and No. 20 Stanford, along with a pair of shutout wins over (potential) WCC champion Gonzaga in their last 11 games. Also, their RPI jumped from No. 90 two weeks ago up to No. 65 after their game one win here (I’m sure it’ll jump up more tomorrow morning too). Coach George Horton told The Oregonian’s Lindsay Schnell that he thought if they swept OSU they’d have a chance at getting an at-large bid.

One thing that is working against them, big time, is that 10-16 Pac 10 record. Oh yeah, and despite being the No. 1 rated conference in the ISR, the Pac 10 is *only* the No. 4 conference in the RPI.

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- UTAH VALLEY

Won the Great West tournament title with a 5-1 win over Houston Baptist.

I have to give a shout out to the Wolverines here. They finish up a 34-22 campaign by sweeping through the Great West field and winning their second straight dual titles of regular season and post-season. Nobody dominated their conference more this season as UVU went 22-2 in regular season play and 4-0 in the tourney. Unfortunately, this is one of those weird rules where the young conference isn’t given an auto-bid yet.

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- NORTHERN BASEBALL ATTENDANCE.

There were just under 7,000 fans at the Missouri Valley Championship game for WSU-Creighton at the new downtown stadium. The Civil War game between OSU and Oregon drew the second biggest crowd in PK Park’s short history with 3,629.

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– THREE DOWN

These are the no-bueno things from college baseball on Saturday.

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1- THE INJURY TO FLORIDA’s BRIAN JOHNSON

It was a freakish thing, but it was also a scary thing. As touched on above in Mark Ethridge’s write-up of the Florida-Georgia game, Johnson was beaned by a ball thrown by his own catcher in the 1st inning of the Gators’ game with the Bulldogs. Here’s how things looked.

An off-balance Mike Zunino throws the ball (note it just leaving his hands) as Brian Johnson crouches in anticipation of the throw to second.

After the ball hits him square in the back of the noggin, Johnson crumbles to the ground in a heap as the ball careens toward 1st base.

As Johnson is sprawled out unconscious on the ground, Zunino is nearly unconsolable after making the errant throw.

Johnson is loaded on the stretcher and taken to the hospital for evaluation. Turns out he was still lucid and appeared to have nothing more than a headache. Good news.

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2- FLORIDA ATLANTIC.

Lost 5-3 to Arkansas-Little Rock

I hate to write this because I like coach McCormack and the Owls. But with today’s loss, they drop to 0-and-3 in the Sun Belt tournament, crushing their post-season plans for making the NCAAs. Odd thing is, the Blue Waves started the week at No. 56 in the RPI, but according to Boyd’s World, their RPI had climbed up to No. 49 prior to today’s loss. Still, at 32-25, I can’t imagine the selection committee would give ‘em enough rope here.

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3- KANSAS STATE.

Lost to Texas A&M 9-8 in 11 innings.

The Wildcats really needed this one. Gah! With an RPI at No. 41 coming into the day, a win and advancement to the Big 12 title game would’ve spoken volumes to their hopes, win or lose in the title round. Now, they’ll fall short of Sunday and hope their 36-23 record is enough to sway the committee. That’s some shaky ground there.

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DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

- HOUSTON.

Lost to Rice for the 15th straight time, tonight by a score of 4-3. And even more painful is the fact that they lost it in 10 innings and it also denied the Cougars a spot in the NCAA tournament. Ouch. Mound starter Jared Ray did an admirable job of keeping the Coogs in the game (8.0 innings of one earned-run ball), but a 10th inning RBI single by Rice’s Craig Manuel did them in.

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- FLORIDA

The Gators did no favors for the bubble teams out there by losing that first game to Georgia 4-3. They came back to win game two and advance to Sunday’s SEC title game with Vanderbilt, but the damage was already done. Had the Fighting O’Sullivans taken care of biz in game one, Georgia would be sitting at home with a .500 record and bubble teams everywhere would’ve exalted.

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- ARIZONA STATE

With tonight’s 7-0 loss to UCLA, the Sun Devils fell out of contention for the Pac 10 crown, ending a string of four years where they’ve sat at the top of the standings. The tough part is that ASU may have fallen out of the national seed discussion, having dropped three straight games and five of their last eight.

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- AND BY THE WAY…

I got a couple of Emails and read reports about an Arizona State assistant going into the stands in order to angrily chase after a heckling fan after the game. According to what I heard, that tussle with the drunken fan in the grandstand continued out in the parking lot afterward. If that’s true, dude, that’s an incredibly large no-no in any administrators book.

I hope the reports I’m hearing just ain’t true. That’s not cool on either side.

The poster ad from the 1959 movie Vertigo, one of Hitchcock's best movies.

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OH, ABOUT THAT ‘VERTIGO’ HEADLINE.

After a complete day of reading, writing and watching wall-to-wall college baseball, it was time for me to go out and get away from the stitched ball news and take in some culture. And by “culture” I don’t mean another night on the Sunset Strip seeing a punk band you’ve never heard of (although it was a thought). No, tonight I went with a bunch of buds to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery where they show old vintage movies under the stars, outside, on the side of a giant wall of a mausoleum. Tonight they were featuring the Alfred Hitchcock classic “Vertigo” starring Jimmie Stewart and Kim Novak from 1959.

A great, classic movie under the stars and palm trees. A perfect way to end a long day of college baseball. (Well, that is, until I came home and stayed up ’til 3:30am to write this garb, but it’s a labor of love, ya’ know.)

G’night.

Lots of upheaval and bizarre season-ending games went into today’s collection of action. It sure points to a wild and unpredictable post-season ahead of us. It also makes me glad we’ll see another tomorrow in our college baseball season.

I would make another “End of Days” joke here, but to be honest, I’m sure you’ve heard more than your share of them today. People, just quit being so stupid about these whack-jobs. It gets in the way of our enjoying college baseball, which is way more important.

One of the biggest stories of the entire weekend had to be North Carolina, who spent the last three days winning three straight games over the No. 1-ranked Virginia Cavaliers in an impressive manner.

And for the third straight day, the good doctor of college baseball was there to lay down the keys on what took place.

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WHAT THE DOCTOR OF COLLEGE BASEBALL SAW AT THE BOSH TODAY.

North Carolina completed an unlikely three-game sweep of Virginia to give further credence to their argument for earning a national seed and home field advantage throughout the post-season.

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LINESCORE

UVa – 001 000 100 – 2  6  1

UNC- 000 030 00x – 3 11  1

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PITCHING

WP: Chris Munnelly (6-4)

LP: Will Roberts (10-1)

Save: Michael Morin (8)

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IN SUMMARY

A week after blowing a four run lead to Georgia Tech in the bottom of the ninth inning and losing a key ACC series, North Carolina bounced back with a huge series win over the top ranked Virginia Cavaliers, taking the final game 3-2. Not only did UNC give the Wahoos their first series loss of the season, but swept them three games to none and likely locked down a national seed along the way.

Chris Munnelly (6-4) earned the win by allowing only two runs on four hits over six innings, while Michael Morin earned the save for the second straight game. Will Roberts took the loss for Virginia, the first of his career after starting off 17-0.

Freshman Colin Moran was the offensive hero for UNC, going 4-for-4 with two doubles, including a 2-run double in the 5th inning that plated the two runs that eventually proved to be decisive.

Virginia started the scoring in the 3rd inning when John Barr led off with a double, moved to third on a single by Chris Taylor and scored on a sacrifice fly by John Hicks.

The score stayed 1-0 until the bottom of the 5th inning, when UNC scored all of its runs. A one out double by Brian Holberton was followed by a wild pitch and Seth Baldwin infield single that scored Holberton to tie the game. Chaz Frank then singled and stole second base, eventually both he and Baldwin scored when Moran lined a two-out double down the left field line to give UNC a 3-1 lead.

UVa pulled to within one run in the 7th inning on walks to David Coleman and Jared King, a bunt single by Keith Werman and a bases-loaded groundout by Chris Taylor. John Hicks grounded out to Colin Moran to end the inning, leaving Werman and Coleman stranded in scoring position, which would prove fatal in the end.

Virginia threatened in the ninth inning with a leadoff single by Coleman and a two-out stolen base by pinch runner Will Shifflett, but John Barr struck out swinging to end the game.

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TOP PERFORMERS.

UVa:

- No on with more than one hit.

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UNC:

- Colin Moran  4-4, 2 doubles, 2 RBI

- Seth Baldwin 2-3, 1 RBI

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SERIES NOTES

- Virginia managed only three runs and 15 hits in the series

- UNC pitching staff had an ERA of 1.00 for the series

- UNC bullpen allowed no runs in 6 innings during the series; UNC starters allowed three runs in 21 innings

- The game one shutout of Virginia was the first regular season shutout of the Cavaliers in 166 games.

- John Hicks was kept off base in game one after having reached base safely in every other game he played this season for Virginia.

- Patrick Johnson’s complete game shutout was the first for a UNC pitcher since Alex White against Miami in 2009.

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PICS

A few extra images that the good doctor sent to me to accompany his column.

Chris Munnelly, sporting Carolina's 70s-era Kansas City Royals togs, got the win on the mound today.

He might look perplexed here, but Colin Moran went 4-for-4 to pace the Heels.

Virginia's Keith Werman hasn't had a big time season, but did show his prowess with the bat again here, laying down a bunt single.

Will Roberts lost his first collegiate game today, falling to 10-1 on the season.

The Tarheels celebrate taking down No. 1 Virginia for the third straight day.

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So I was sitting on my couch at home watching a few games on TV, figuring I’d press my ass groove firmly into my sofa for the afternoon. Then, USC scored eight runs on Oregon State in the first tinning to turn that game into a boat race and Florida exploded for 10 runs on Kentucky to make that one a laugher as well. The Texas-Texas A&M game was still an hour and a half before it kicked off…

Then it hit me, “my Gawd, I still haven’t seen Trevor Bauer pitch this year.” So I grabbed my camera, loaded up my Lamborghini and took off for Jackie Robinson Stadium on the VA grounds.

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WHAT I SAW AT JACKIE ROBINSON STADIUM TODAY.

These old rivals left it all on the field today as it was a game of inches that UCLA never trailed, but they also never fell into any kind of comfort zone. The four innings I saw didn’t have any scoring, but didn’t lack for drama either.

Rubber-armed wunderkind Trevor Bauer put on another great performance in Westwood today.

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LINESCORE:

Bears – 000 010 000 – 1  5  1

Bruins- 101 000 00x – 2  6  0

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PITCHING.

WP: Trevor Bauer (11-2)

LP: Dixon Anderson (4-3)

Save: none

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HITTING.

Cal:

- Chad Bunting, 1-for-4, RBI

UCLA:

- Cody Regis, 1-for-3, RBI

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RECORDS:

Cal: 30-17, 13-10 Pac 10

UCLA: 30-20, 15-8 Pac 10

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IN SUMMARY.

The Bruins were able to even the weekend series with their Berkeley counterparts from the counter culture behind the pitching of Trevor Bauer and another great defensive effort.

Bauer wasn’t dominant, but I think we all expect him to be so dead-nuts on every week that when he does give up more than a handful of hits and strike out less than double digits it seems to be an “off day” for the poor boy. But make no mistake, his five-hit, 8K effort was awesome to watch.

In the four innings I saw, the Bears were able to get to him, albeit slightly so. The Bears managed to scratch a few baserunners into scoring position, getting men to 3rd base in the 8th inning and then to 2nd base in the 9th inning. But each time, the Bruin infield made a key stop to snuff out the Bear offensive.

The 9th inning, 3-spot hitter Tony Renda wound up standing on 2nd base with a blistering single to left and then a sac bunt. But Bauer got a full-count strikeout from Chad Bunting and then had a great WWE smackdown-type at-bat with Devon Rodriguez, who fouled off a series of Bauer offerings to build the drama. Eventually, Bauer induced a sharp grounder to 1st, which Dean Espy threw his body in front of and 2nd baseman Trevor Brown gathered quickly enough to flip the ball to Bauer covering the tag at 1st. Game over.

Well, except for the post-game woofing, that is.

For some reason, after touching 1st base with the last out, Bauer started squawking at Rodriguez. This caused Rodriguez to turn and start chasing after the Bruin hurler while barking WTF statements back at him. Both teams poured onto the field and a bunch of junior-high-girls pushing matches ensued, but nothing serious. Things were broken up without incident, setting the stage for Sunday’s finale.

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A FEW BAUER NUMBERS.

- Today’s complete-game effort was Trevor Bauer’s 13th complete game on the mound. That moves him into fourth place on the all-time list for complete games for the Bruins.

- Bauer now is rated second on the UCLA list of complete games in a season with eight.

- Today’s complete-game was also Bauer’s seventh consecutive complete game.

- Bauer also moved into fourth place on the Pac 10 list for single season strikeouts with 175.

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PICS

A few images from the last few innings of today’s Cal-UCLA game.

At the end of the 7th inning, a Bauer strikeout with a man on 2nd left him screamin' glad.

How it all went down: In the 9th inning, with a man on 2nd and two out, Devon Rodriguez peppered a hard shot toward the right side of the infield.

Bruin 1st baseman Dean Espy was able to get his body in front of the ball and knock it down.

2nd baseman Trevor Brown ended up picking up the rebounded ball (I didn't get that pic) and flipped it over to pitcher Trevor Bauer who touched 1st base for the final out of the game.

After that, Bauer yelled some "encouragement" to Rodriguez after he passed the base.

Rodriguez took exception of Bauer's antics and had to be restrained. That brought out the rest of the two teams to the middle of the field.

The two teams mix it up and trash talk each other. Looks like even the UCLA bat boy was putting in his two cents. Can't believe stadium security didn't come down and hold him back too.

A couple minutes later Devon Rodriguez was seen still yelling at Bauer.

Bauer's retort this time was to simply to point at the scoreboard in response.

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– THREE UP

The good part of today in college baseball.

*First off, a quick note about the “Three Up” and whatnot… there were SO many good happenings in college baseball today, including teams winning conference titles and making their conference tournament fields, please excuse me if I don’t list them all here. There’s just too many to keep up with. Now, on to my list.

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1- ARKANSAS

Beat Ole Miss twice today, 2-0 and 5-3.

The pair of wins propelled the Razorbacks into sole possession of first place in the SEC West, finishing a game ahead of Alabama, Auburn and Mississippi State with a 15-15 mark. But get this, had the Hogs lost the final game, they would’ve ended up sharing the division title with four other teams, but because of the tiebreakers involved, they would’ve ended up sitting at home from the SEC tournament. Barrett Astin did yoeman’s work, getting the save in game one and pulling out the win in game two, getting 4.1 innings of scoreless work for Dave Van Horn’s troops. Collin Kuhn went yard in both games and finished the weekend going 4-for-8 with three dingers.

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2- CLEMSON

Won at Florida State 8-5 to win the series two games to one.

Break up the freakin’ Tigers man. These dudes are piping hot as the No. 15 ranked Tigers improved to 39-17 overall, having won 25 of their last 30 games. The Tigers never trailed in the game, getting home runs from Richie Shaffer and John Hinson to take an early lead and get an insurance run respectively. The better news for CU was the bullpen as reliever David Haselton threw 2.2 innings of hitless ball to earn the win and Scott Weismann earned his second save of the weekend in Tallahassee with a scoreless 9th inning.

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3- BAYLOR

Took down Oklahoma 3-2 to win the series.

The Bears really needed a series win with meaning, especially after coming in with an overall record that was teetering just above the Mendoza Line. After taking down the No. 13 Sooners twice this weekend to improve to 29-24 overall. Today, Josh Ludy got a jog-off RBI single to score Steve DalPorto to supply the game-winning run. As BU’s release stated, this is the Green and Gold’s first win over a top 15 opponent since 2006. That’s clutch.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS

- Texas A&M’s Ross Stripling.

Dude, A&M needed at least ONE win this weekend. And thanks to the Aggie hurler, they got it today. Stripling threw a complete-game four-hitter to shut down Texas in a 3-0 win in Austin. He also improved to 12-2 with the win, striking out six and walking none in a 105-pitch effort. An Andrew Collozo triple cleared the bases after they were loaded in the top of the 9th for the difference-making runs.

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- Belmont

Talk about being behind the 8-ball. The Bruins lost Thursday’s game with No. 27 Stetson and had to win the remaining two games in order to get into the A-Sun tournament field and extend their season. Yesterday, they took down the Hatters 5-2 and today, the Bruins routed them 11-5. With the two wins, BU earns the sixth and final spot in the conference tourney.

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- Florida’s Austin Maddox.

I could’ve picked almost any other Gator hitter in the lineup to feature here, but Mad Max was the one who went nutso the most at the dish for the Blue and Orange. Maddox plastered two fence-busters as part of a 3-for-6, 6RBI day as Florida waltzed past Kentucky 19-3. The Gators tied South Carolina and Vanderbilt at the top of the SEC East.

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- Southern Miss

The Eagles managed to forge a tie atop the Conference USA regular season standings with a 7-3 win over Rice, also salvaging a three-game weekend. This is USM’s first regular season title since 2003.

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- Stony Brook

Won a pair of games vs. Albany, 13-4 and 4-3, to finish a record-breaking regular season at 41-10. They also tied an America East record by winning 22 conference games and will host the AmEast Tournament by virtue of their title.

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- UC Santa Barbara’s Matthew Vedo and Brett Fick.

The Gaucho pitchers combined on a one-hitter in today’s 1-0 win over UC Davis. Vedo went 8.0 innings improving to 5-6 on the season, while Fick threw a perfect 9th inning to pull his 2nd save of the season.

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- Bethune Cookman.

For the sixth straight season the Wildcats have won the MEAC conference title as they took down Norfolk State 9-3 in the title round. BCU enters the NCAAs with a 35-22 record as Peter O’Brien went 8-for-14 with 8RBI in the tourney.

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- Hawaii

The Rainbows missed out on an outright WAC regular season crown, but pulled a portion of it today by opening up a serious can of whip-ass on New Mexico State, 24-3. Timmy Chang threw for 452 yards. The Warriors end the season tied with Fresno at 17-7, claiming their first regular season crown since 1992. The UofH scored a school-record 15 runs in the 6th inning and also scored 13 of their runs with two out.

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- Troy.

The Trojans took down South Alabama 10-7 today to claim their third league title for coach Bobby Pierce. Finishing the regular season with a 40-16 record, 21-9 in Sun Belt play, its their second Sun Belt title (the other was in 2006). Tyson Workman entered the game in the 3rd inning and went the distance from there, setting a career high with 7.0 innings of work and six strikeouts, improving to 5-3 on the year.

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– THREE DOWN

The bad part of today in college baseball.

1- GEORGIA’s BULLPEN.

This game could really come back to haunt the Silver Britches. The Bulldogs had a 7-6 lead with six outs to go vs. No. 3-ranked Vanderbilt, but surrendered 11 runs in the last two innings to lose a 17-7 skull-clubbing to the Commodores. More importantly, the Dogs now fall to 28-28, which means they’ll more than likely have to make it to the SEC title game in the conference tournament next week in order to get a record above .500 and make the NCAA’s Big Dance.

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2- STETSON’s REGIONAL HOSTING HOPES.

There were a LOT of big-time screw-ups across the board this week, with teams missing their post-season tournaments and whatnot. But Stetson’s fate was one of the more painful of the day. The Hatters were squashed by a game Belmont crew by an 11-5 count. For the weekend, SU ended up losing two of three to the Bruins, which should ruin any hopes the Hatters entertained for hosting a home regional.

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3- THE TV EXECS THAT MAKE DECISIONS OF WHAT GAMES TO TELEVISE.

We’ve bagged on networks before, but they deserve it again.

The Missouri-Nebraska and Oregon-Washington State games had almost zero impact on the upcoming post-season, yet CBS Sports and the Cox Sports Network decided to televise these dogs in TV games today. Again, I ask – nay, I BEG – please TV execs, feel free to pay me a six-figure salary just so I can tell you what games are worthy of showing on TV that actually mean something and have an impact on the post-season. It’s pretty simple. How do you guys screw it up?

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DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

- Kent State.

Lost to rival Akron by a gnarly 13-4 count.

The Flashes are trying to impress the NCAA selection committee just in case they don’t win the whole ball of wax in Chillicothe this coming week. Guess what? They didn’t impress anybody today. That football-like run total they gave up to an inspired Zips squad that was playing its last game of the season will stick out like a sore thumb in eight days when the committee is making its last at-large choices.

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- Fresno State.

For the second day in a row the Bulldogs lost to valley neighbor Cal State Bakersfield, this time by a 5-2 margin. The Dogs had jumped up to No. 19 in the RPI, giving them hopes for hosting a regional. But now, just like fellow mid-major Stetson, those hopes have probably been dashed thanks to this weekend’s follies.

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- Ole Miss.

The last thing the Rebels needed was a double-dose of bad luck at Arkansas today. Losing twice to the Razorbacks could have been a death knell to their post-season hopes. Like LSU, the Rebs will miss the SEC tournament. Unlike LSU, the Rebs don’t have a mid-20s RPI. They entered the weekend ranked at No. 39 in the RPI and a last place team in the SEC doesn’t usually get much wiggle room for at-large consideration.

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Okay, I’m sure there are more teams to discuss here, but I’ve got to sleep sometime. Join me in the land of the sandman.

G’night.

Eight of Florida State's nine seniors got an on-field graduating ceremony before the game started this afternoon. They were talked into doing the "N-O-L-E-S" count-out on the field after ward. Well, that is, all except for Taiwan Easterling (#1) who apparently couldn't be bothered to do the actual spell out.

A few notes from the Saturday in college baseball.

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WHAT I SAW FROM MY COUCH TODAY

It was an embarrassment of riches for college baseball on TV today. Here’s part of what I saw.

Northwestern's Paul Snieder pitched an inning on the mound and also hit the go-ahead two-run single to down Iowa.

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On the Big 10 Network:

Northwestern – 9

Indiana – 6

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- Hard to believe this is the same team that I saw win at Iowa a couple weeks ago. Since that Sunday win over the Hawkeyes, IU has gone 3-8 since then, including a 1-7 mark in Big 10 play. They were 23-12 after that Sunday win over Iowa when coach Tracy Smith said, “I really believe this is a Top 25 team.”

- NU pitching coach Tim Stoddard is one of only two people to ever play in the NCAA basketball championship game (He was a member of the N.C. State national title team in 1974) and played in the World Series (He won game four in the 1979 Series with Baltimore). Stoddard played for 12 years in the MLB as a relief pitcher.

- Kenny Lofton is the only other player to play in both the Final Four (with Arizona in 1988) and the World Series (with Cleveland in 1995). Ironically, both Lofton and Stoddard went to East Chicago’s Washington High School.

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On NESN:

Maryland – 4

North Carolina – 5 (10inns)

- This one really has to hurt the Turtles. They’ve beaten teams like Texas, Florida State, Miami and Clemson. Today, it looked like they had Carolina on the hook. But a game-tying run in the 9th and a game-winning run in the 10th cost the Terps a series-tying win.

- The game winning run was made by senior Ben Bunting, whose bases-loaded “swinging bunt” was misplayed and allowed Levi Michael to score from 3rd. Bunting ended up leading the Heels with three hits on the day.

Maryland 2B Ryan Holland and 1B Tim Kiene collided on Ben Bunting's bases-loaded chop hit in the 10th inning, scoring the winning run.

- Michael Morin should get a huge portion of the credit as he threw 2.2 innings of 0-hit, 3-strike work in getting the win and improving to 4-2 on the season.

Not shockingly, game hero Ben Bunting got the now over-used shaving cream treatment during the post-game interview.

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On Fox Sports Southwest:

Kansas – 4

Oklahoma – 11

- The Kansas defense was abysmal. More on that below.

- Burch Smith improved to 8-3, throwing 7.0 innings of seven hits, eight strikeouts, no walks and just one earned run.

OU starter Burch Smith was finger-lickin' good, and even sported the unwashed hat look that is becoming all the rage.

- Despite 18 hits in the game, there was only one player on either roster that had more than one hit, KU leadoff man Brandon Macias, who was 2-for-4.

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On Sun Sports:

South Carolina – 2

Ole Miss – 10

- This is one of the things that have me concerned about the Gamecocks. Michael Roth and Matt Price are both awesome and deserve their All American status they’ll get when June rolls around. But today, the Cocks went through seven pitchers not named Roth and Price and none of them could stop the onslaught. Is that an indication of cracks in the dyke?

- Meanwhile, Rebel relievers Brett Huber and Mike Mayers lived up to billing, combining for the last three innings, not allowing a single hit or run.

- Alex Yarbrough and Miles Hamblin set the tone early with home runs in the 1st and 2nd inning respectively. For the game, Yarbrough was 2-for-4 with 4RBI and Hamblin was 3-for-3 with 2RBI.

Alex Yarbrough gets the heroes welcome after his 2nd inning home run.

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On the Big 10 Network:

Penn State – 3

Iowa – 2

- With the win, Penn State stays in 6th place, which is good enough to stay in line for a berth in the Big 10 Tournament. Iowa fell into a last place tie with Michigan, who lost for the second day in a row to Minnesota.

- On the ESPNU Studio show, Lowell Galindo commented on seeing the highlight of Sean Deegan’s opposite field home run, “Look at this swing. I thought the new bats were supposed to be deader this year?”

All that the Iowa players can do is watch as Sean Deegans' opposite field home run clears the fence.

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On Root Sports (Formerly Fox Sports Northwest):

California – 0

Oregon State – 3

- Incredible pitching from both sides of the diamond dominated this game. Cal’s Erik Johnson went 7.0 innings, striking out nine and giving up just two hits. In fact, Johnson had a no-hitter going into the 7th inning, though he did issue six walks on the way.

- On the other side, Sam Gaviglio had his hammer working, striking out 10 Bears and giving up five hits in 6.1 innings.

This scene was pretty typical. Sam Gaviglio (#32) gathers another strikeout from a downtrodden Cal Bear.

- The Killer Bs took over after Gaviglio exited the scene. Matt Boyd pitched 2.0 innings of four-hit work and Tony Bryant came on to get the final two outs and pick up his 8th save of the season.

- Cal evened the weekend series with a 6-2 win in game two of the doubleheader. Going into Sunday’s game, OSU still leads the Pac 10 at 13-4, while Cal is now 12-8.  More on this game below.

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On Sun Sports:

Central Florida – 14

Florida State – 10

- This is the kind of game that should concern Seminole fans, to say the least. Sean Gilmartin pitched like a champion on Friday, but the depth of quality pitching is a question. Five pitchers toed the rubber today, including starter Hunter Scantling (4.1 inns), Brian Busch (1.2 inns) and Scott Sitz (0.2 inns) who combined to give up 13 of the 14 runs. That’s scary.

- FSU’s renaissance man James Ramsey’s walk-up music is Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower”. That’s pretty cool. Dig the specs he plays in too.

- Meanwhile, Jayce Boyd’s walk-up song is evidently something by Miley Cyrus. Embarrassing.

- Pretty impressed with UCF’s Ronnie Richardson, who reached base all five times (going 3-for-4 with two walks) and showed great speed in the meadow at CF.

- Richardson flashed his remarkable speed by slapping an infield single in the 7th inning, scoring a run AND keeping the inning alive for UCF. Sure enough, two batters later Jonathan Griffin went yard for a grand slam, putting the Knights up 13-6.

- 45% of FSU’s runs this year have come with two out. That’s pretty freakin’ clutch. If they keep this up, the Noles can overcome nearly any pitching deficiency.

- I’m still flummoxed over the fact that Florida State gets to keep its nickname and does that “Tomahawk chop” thing, yet the NCAA has told North Dakota they have to change their “hostile and demeaning” nickname, won’t let them host NCAA post-season events and just plain gives them a rash of shit for having the Sioux nickname.

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On ESPNU:

Florida – 5

Arkansas – 3

- Nolan Fontana hit just his second home run of the season.

Nolan Fontana led the Gators, including this round-tripper trot early in the game.

- In the replay reaction of Fontana’s home run, coach Kevin O’Sullivan could be seen saying, “That’s with two strikes. That’s with two strikes.”

- Hog slugger Matt Reynolds hit the first career home run off of super-frosh Karsten Whitson in the 5th inning, cutting the lead to 2-1.

- This was the Gators’ first win at Arkansas since 2005. They also avoided the sweep with a good comeback. As Kyle Peterson pointed out, it was an impressive to see this team dig out of the rowdy grave after Arkansas appeared to stick them with a dagger. They used a magic 7th inning going single, single, single, sacrifice, and finally a crushing two-run single by Daniel Pigott that put them up 5-3.

- Loved the graphic they flashed up on the screen right before Fontana’s homer about the change in culture that Kevin O’Sullivan has brought to the Gator program. Here’s the stats of his teams’ ERA from before he was hired to today:

Coach Kevin O'Sullivan, and the numbers behind his being the architect of a Gator resurgence in Gainesville.

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– THREE UP

The good today.

1- TREVOR BAUER… again.

The dude just keeps bashing us over the head with incredible outings. Today, the Tim Lincecum prototype struck out 12 Oregon Ducks, gave up four hits and one run as the Bruins won in Eugene 3-1. The rubber-armed flinger improved to 9-2 on the season, throwing 95 strikes in his 135 pitches. Incredible, man, incredible.

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2- EAST TENNESSEE STATE’s DEREK BUSHEY.

The sophomore righty threw a complete-game two-hitter as the Bucs beat North Carolina State for the second consecutive day, 2-0. Bushey faced four batters over the minimum, improving to 5-3 on the year after striking out six and walking three. This is a huge pair of wins for the Bucs in their beauty pageant image for the rest of the country.

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3- THE MAGIC 7TH.

In addition to Florida’s big 7th inning comeback, a couple more teams used a 7th-inning wake up call to pull out wins today.

- Oregon State.

The Beavers entered the 7th inning with a 1-0 lead over Cal, but thanks to Erik Johnson’s wicked dealing, they were still no-hit through the first six innings. But Carter Bell broke up the no-hit bid with a single back up the box and two batters later, Mr. EnergyMan Brian Stamps stroked a two-run double off the left-center field wall to put OSU up 3-0. For the game, OSU was out-hit 9-to-2 in the game.

- Southern Illinois.

Get this, the Salukis had only earned four meek singles and not had a runner go beyond 2nd base through the first 15 innings of their series with Bradley, including Friday’s 9-0 shutout. But in the 7th inning today, SIU plated six runs. They went on to score 11 runs on 13 hits in the final three innings.

- Western Kentucky.

The Hilltoppers entered the 7th inning trailing 2-1, but scored five runs in the frame, keyed by a two-run single by Kes Carter that put WKU up for good. More on this game below in the Honorable Mentions portion.

- Cincinnati

The Bearcats scored six runs in that magic 7th to take down West Virginia 9-4 in game one of the doubleheader. Braden Kline got the wheels rolling with a solo home run to start the 7th inning. A couple batters later, Justin Glass blasted a three-run double to put UC up for good.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS.

- Arizona State’s Joey DeMichele

Looks like the Devils have found a new weapon in their offensive arsenal, as the sophomore went 5-for-5 with a double and 3RBI as ASU beat Long Beach State 9-2. DeMichele had a grand total of nine at-bats last year as a frosh, but now lead the Devil Dogs with a .406 average.

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- Alabama’s Hunter Morgan.

The Tide’s No. 2 starter went 8.0 innings and spread out eight hits enough to where LSU wasn’t able to score a single run. He got support from Jonathan Smart, who picked up save No. 9 on the year with hit 9th inning work. What a great rubber match this should be on Sunday.

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- Ole Miss

The Rebels beat South Carolina 10-2… boy, did they really need this. With their RPI entering the mid-40s, they are certainly in need of a big win or two. Today, they got it with a rout of the 3rd-ranked team in the RPI. Coach Mike Bianco hopes to get the Rebels to take the series with a win on Sunday.

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- Western Kentucky pitcher Justin Hageman.

The southpaw threw his second complete game of the season as the Hilltoppers evened their series with Florida Atlantic with a 6-2 win. Hageman improved to 8-4 on the year and became the winningest pitcher in WKU history.

“He’s been doing it for us all year,” Hilltoppers coach Chris Finwood would say afterward. “He is just a different beast. He doesn’t mind the moment. He always thinks he is going to win.”

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- The Killer B’s of FIU

The Panthers pounded out five home runs to beat Middle Tennessee 11-2 and extend their win streak to 11 straight and improve to 31-16 overall and 15-8 in Sun Belt play. The Killer B’s of Pablo Bermudez, Yoandy Barroso and Jose Behar combined to go 7-for-13 with seven runs scored and seven RBI.

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- Texas A&M’s pitching.

It’s back! Yes, the Aggies got back on track with Ross Stripling on the mound, helping to down Dallas Baptist 14-2. Stripling went 8.0 innings, giving up six hits and striking out seven while issuing no walks. The Aggies offense did its part, out-hitting the Patriots 17-8.

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- Connecticut’s Matt Barnes.

The Husky ace struck out 10 South Florida batters in 8.0 innings of work as UConn won a 2-1 butthole-tight game with the Bulls. Barnes ended up relenting just three hits on the day and improved to 9-3 on the season. John Andreoli went 2-for-4 to lead the offense to push his hit streak to 17 games.

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– THREE DOWN

The bad of today.

1- NEBRASKA

Just like in football, the final matchup with Texas as a member of the Big 12 is becoming a big bummer for the Big Red. Texas took the second game of the weekend with a 16-5 rout at Haymarket Park. Texas ain’t exactly an offensive juggernaut, but the Cornhuskers made them look the part today, giving up 17 hits and watch the Longhorns bat around three different times today. Oh, and NU could’ve really used a win or two in this series since their RPI is slowly sinking out of at-large consideration.

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2- LOUISVILLE

Dropped all three games to Seton Hall, including today’s 9-4 soul-crushing loss. As SID Garrett Wall wrote in his game release, “The Louisville baseball team completed a disappointing and frustrating week with a 9-4 loss at Seton Hall on Saturday. With their fifth loss in five days, the Cardinals dropped to 25-23 overall and 11-10 in Big East games. After being swept in league play for the second time this season, Louisville dropped to seventh in the Big East standings with just two weeks left.”

I couldn’t have said it better G-man. I feel your pain.

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3- THE KANSAS DEFENSE.

The Jayhawks fumbled, bumbled and stumbled their way to a 11-4 loss at Oklahoma today. In fact, it was the first time that the ‘Hawks have committed five errors in a game since March of ‘07. Coupled with the four errors the Jayhawks committed on Friday, well… you can do the math. KU’s defense is a big ole giant struggle. The loss was KU’s seventh straight L at the hands of the Sooners.

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DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

- Washington

Been a tough season for Washington’s Lindsay Meggs’ crew. But today was one of those salt in the wound kind of deals. An infield error with two out in the 9th inning allowed Stanford to score the winning run in an 8-7 conquest in Seattle.

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- Florida Gulf Coast.

Keeping on the crushing finishes motif, the Eagles had the biggest collapse of the day, allowing No. 14 Stetson to score six runs in the 9th inning to post an 8-5 win in Fort Myers. On Friday, the Hatters busted up a 4-4 tie in the 9th to get the win. That’s some major league pain there.

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- Georgia State

The Panthers entered the day a half-game out of first place in the Colonial, but dropped a pair of games to UNC-Wilmington, 8-4 and 6-1. The difference in game one being Jake Koenig’s 7th inning grand slam.

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- Richmond.

Lost to Charlotte, 1-0, in 10 innings. That wasn’t the worst part, it happens that the game-winning run was scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch by pinch runner Shane Brown. Charlotte is now 6-0 in extra inning games this season and has now won nine shutout wins on the year.

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G’night.

Bravely, I ventured. Devil may care.

Like Hawaii and UC Irvine, I made my way deep into the San Joaquin Valley. Where ranked teams had met their slow, painful, searing death on Friday. Well today, the only evil I encountered was the specter of missing out on Josh Osich’s no-hitter that I could’ve gone to see as Oregon State beat UCLA 2-0. Yep, evil is totally a man-made farce. But cruel irony?… that’s something the baseball gods vex me with from time to time. And this was one of those times.

With Friday’s stunning upsets by Cal State Bakersfield over No. 17 UC Irvine and Hawaii over No. 13 Fresno State, I couldn’t help but load up my ‘64 Dodge Dart and steer into what had been the Valley of Doom for the ranked teams so far. Can you blame me? Well, with hindsight being 20-20, I guess so. But who woulda figured the biggest story in college baseball would take place 15 minutes from my house in Smogland  and not three-and-a-half hours away up the Grapevine. Oh well, you win some, you lose some and you cuss about it all later. Dammit!

Let’s start with the biggest news of the day in college baseball.

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– THREE UP.

1- OREGON STATE PITCHER JOSH OSICH

Threw the Beavers first no-hitter since 1947 at Jackie Robinson Stadium today, striking out 13 Bruin batters in the process and walking one. That walk came in the 4th inning to Dean Espy. As mentioned above, OSU won 2-0. If you want to read more about it, check out Aaron Fitt’s coverage of the no-hitter, since I know he was there today… the lucky bastard.

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2- DARTMOUTH.

The Big Green clinched their fourth straight Rolfe Division title in Ivy League play with today’s DH sweep of Harvard, 4-1 and 6-0. Those two wins, in conjunction with Yale’s loss at Brown did the trick. Keep in mind, the Yalies and DU came into the weekend tied atop the Division and with the Bulldogs holding the edge because they actually swept Dartmouth in four games a couple weeks ago. But the Big Green came up clutch today. With the two wins, Dartmouth also extended their home win streak to a nation’s-best 24 games.

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3- FLORIDA STATE.

The Seminolss relish nothing more than putting the big urt on their rival Hurricanes of Miami, and that they’ve done for the second day in a row, this time by a 2-0 count. Starter Hunter Scantling and relievers Brian Busch and Daniel Bennett held the Canes to five hits and no runs while their defense behind them committed zero errors. FSU improves to 33-10 overall and 16-7. The Canes drop to 28-15 and 15-7.

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HONORABLE MENTION.

- UCLA’s Trevor Bauer.

Lost in the hoopla of Josh Osich’s no-hitter is the fact that the Bruins No. 2 starter pitched a pretty wicked game himself. Bauer held OSU to four hits, two runs and struck out 15 batters while tossing his fourth consecutive complete game. He’s got five complete games in all this season.

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*Note: There are plenty more Honorable Mentions out there, but getting home from Fresno at 1am, I feel I should cut this short. Sorry.

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– THREE DOWN.

1- TEXAS A&M.

Once again the Aggies must be letting somebody else wear their uniforms this weekend, dropping a second straight game to Missouri. But this time it was by a stunning 9-1 slapdown. A&M pitching has taken another black eye with Michael Wacha going 5.2 innings, giving up eight hits, nine runs (just four earned), three walks and one hit batsmen in what must be his worst effort of the season. The Aggie defense committed three errors, helping to explain the five unearned runs. Yuck!

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2- OKLAHOMA.

For the 13th straight season the Sooners have dropped a regular season series vs. Texas with today’s 4-3 loss. Also, as reader Gusball pointed out, the last five games between these two has seen the Longhorns hold the big sticks of the Big Red to five hits or less. OU drops to .500 in league play with the losses at 9-9. UT is now 15-5.

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3- EAST CAROLINA.

The Pirates drop a second straight game to visiting Southern Miss, this time by a 5-0 count. All five Eagle runs came in the 5th inning, keyed by Marc Bourgeois’ grand salami that would deep-six the Pirates. East Carolina now dops to 8-9 in Conference USA play, while USM continues to close its grip on the standings with an 11-3 mark.

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WHAT I SAW AT HARDT FIELD TODAY.

There was no letup in the Anteaters this time. In fact, UCI fell behind Cal State Bakersfield early and still never flinched, powering from a 6-4 deficit and putting on a relentless offensive display of 14 hits, three hit batsmen and getting the benefit of four Roadrunner errors on the way to a breezy 11-6 win to even the weekend series.

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LINESCORE:

U.C. Irvine – 402 210 110 – 11  14  1

Bakersfield- 600 000 000 -  6   12  4

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PITCHING.

WP: Andrew Thurman (2-3)

LP: Jonathan Montoya (7-2)

Save: Kyle Hooper (1)

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TOP HITTERS.

Irvine:

- Drew Hillman, 3-for-4, 3RBI, 2 doubles

- Jordan Leyland, 2-for-5, 3RBI, double

- Brian Hernandez, 3-for-5, double

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CSUB:

- Kevin Younger, 1-for-4, 3RBI, double

- Martin Medina, 2-for-5, RBI

- Jeremy Rodriguez, 2-for-4, walk

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RECORDS:

UCI: 27-12

CSUB: 25-14

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IN A NUTSHELL.

With the exception of that awful 1st inning that didn’t seem to want to end, the Anteaters put a serious hurtin’ on the Cal State Bakersfield boys. The Roadrunners started out like they were hitting off a tee, getting six runs on six hits, including a crushing bases-loaded double from Kevin Younger, which knocked Irvine starter Crosby Slaught from the game after just 0.2 innings. Bleaksville for Irvine, right?

But from there, the game turned completely around as the Anteaters only gave up six more hits the rest of the game, while scoring in droves themselves, plating two in the 3rd to tie the game, then two more in the 4th, after which they never trailed again.

After Slaught’s onslaught, Andrew Thurman and Kyle Hooper combined to hold the ‘Runners scoreless the rest of the way, while also striking out seven and walking two. That nightmarish 1st inning notwithstanding, the UCI defense played errorless ball the rest of the way as well. Offensively, the ‘Eaters never let coach Bill Kernen’s blue crew get into a comfort zone, scoring in five of the final seven innings.

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THE ERRORS DIDN’T HELP.

Despite all the strides the Roadrunners have made this season, their Achilles heel has been their hither-and-yon defense and today it prominently reared its ugly head as they committed all four errors in their first five innings, helping Irvine build up its 9-6 lead. They also drew the ire of their head honcho while digging themselves into a hole they couldn’t recover from.

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NOT OFTEN YOU GO TO A GAME AND SOMEONE QUOTES WILFORD BRIMLEY.

Staying on the error subject, after the 5th inning, when the Runners came close to a collision in the outfield as two players didn’t communicate well enough to his liking, CSUB head coach Bill Kernen called his fielders together and started reading them the Riot Act. At that point, Roadrunner assistant coach Dennis Machado walked up to me and said, “Just like in The Natural, this is one of those times where you just want to say, ‘I should’ve been a farmer.’” Good call coach.

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GILLESPIE GETS RUN.

UCI head coach Mike Gillespie certainly wasn’t in the mood to entertain much guff from the men in black today. The Hall of Famer was out arguing some questionable calls early and often. (And I personally thought he had some legit concerns too, but who am I to judge?). After getting in the grill of all three umpires at one time or another, Gillespie was tossed from the game in the 4th inning. After 1st base umpire Bob Williams said 1st baseman Jordan Fox bobbled a ball that allowed for Bakersfield to score their fourth run of the game, Gillespie got a bit uppity and told Williams, “That’s two horse shit calls and you’ve cost us four runs now! So knock it off.”

Mike Gillespie gets into the grill of 1st base ump Bob Williams. I actually thought he had a legit beef with a few calls, but sometimes you just have to accept that's baseball.

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DOMINO’S? PFFFT! IT’S EASTON THAT DELIVERS

In the 5th inning of today’s game as I was standing next to the Bakersfield dugout, a package was delivered to the Roadrunners. Curious as to what the package was, I had the camera trained on the long, cylinder-like box. Pitcher Mike McCarthy did the honors of opening it. Sure enough, three bright, shiny new Easton bats emerged. But for the two remaining innings I was at the game, nobody used the new bats. But it did seem to cause quite the buzz on the Roadrunner bench. (Hey, they’re Easton’s, of course they’re going to be diggin’ the new sticks)

(Cue the Gregorian choir of awe) Mike McCarthy (hidden, holding box) and Cael Brockmeyer (33) inspect the new Easton bats.

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MORE PICS.

A few more images from the Irvine-Bakersfield game.

Fireplug starter Jonathan Montoya might have the highest wind-up kick I've ever seen. Check that out.

Irvine's Andrew Thurman came on to calm the rough waters of another rocky start for the Anteaters.

Drew Hillman had the big bat for the 'Eaters today, getting two doubles and three RBI in his first three at-bats.

Like this high toss that missed getting the force-out at 2nd, Bakersfield screwed the pooch on a couple of routine throw-and-catch plays in the field that might've made a huge difference.

Coach Bill Kernen tried to calm down Montoya, his starter, who showed some effects from the failing defense behind him.

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After five innings in Buck Owens-town, it was time to get in the old jalopy and make the drive to Fresno.

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WHAT I SAW AT BEIDEN FIELD TONIGHT.

Last night it was a 3-hour, 24-minute marathon that featured 20 hits, 11 walks and 21 stranded base-runners. Flip that bitch over tonight as both teams came out throwing fire and giving up hits and runs like they were diamonds. In a game that lasted just 2:21 (although it seemed like a 20 minute game), Hawaii shut down Fresno’s offense enough (seven hits) and scratched across a couple of knockout runs to pull their second win in Dogland.

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LINESCORE:

Hawaii – 010 001 004 – 6  6  0

Fresno – 000 001 100 – 2  7  3

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PITCHERS

WP: Brent Harrison (1-1)

LP: Charlie Robertson (0-5)

Save: Save

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TOP HITTERS:

UofH:

- Kolten Wong, 1-for-3, HR, RBI

- Zach Swasey, 1-for-5, 2RBI

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FSU:

- Dusty Robinson, 3-for-4, RBI, HR, double

- Jacob Alvarez, 1-for-3, RBI

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RECORDS

Hawaii: 24-17, 9-1

Fresno State: 28-9, 8-5

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IN A NUTSHELL

After Friday night’s ugly donnybrook between these two, this game was the complete opposite, but the result was the same; Hawaii downed the No. 13 Bulldogs pushing them further back into the pack in the WAC. (Sorry, didn’t mean to rhyme so many times…)

The two teams traded a pair of runs through the first eight innings, including yard calls by both Kolten Wong and Dusty Robinson to pace the two squads. But the big difference was the 9th inning where Hawaii was able to chip away and plate four runs and put the game on ice with reliever Brent Harrison locking down the W.

The key play came with men on 1st and 3rd with one out and 9-hole hitter Jesse Moore laying down a decent bunt that was cleanly fielded by Fresno 1st baseman Jordan Ribera. But the relay throw to home was off-line and Ribera threw the ball to the backstop, allowing Collin Bennett to score from 3rd. From there the Rainbows were able to plate three more runs, thanks mostly to a huge 2-run single by Zack Swasey and it was TAPS City from there for the Bulldogs.

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LINEUP CHANGES.

Fresno head coach Mike Batesole made some wholesale changes to his starting lineup today, in hopes of getting a better defense onto the field and to shake up some dormant bats as well. Not only did Justin Alvarez get his first start of the season (at 3rd base) and Andy Qualls get his fifth start of the season (at RF), but there were big batting order changes too. All American Jordan Ribera had been struggling mightily, coming in hitting just .213, and was moved from cleanup position to hitting in the 8-spot. Also, Austin Wynns, who came in hitting a team-best .365, moved from the 8-spot on Friday to the 5-spot in the order today. Brennan Gowens, who I saw go apeshit at the plate vs. Washington State the last time I was here, was dropped out of the starting lineup from Friday to Saturday. Chris Mallory also got just his 14th start of the season at 2nd base.

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PICS

How things transpired in Fresno tonight.

Frosh flinger Jarrett Arakawa had a great start tonight, going 6.2 innings and giving up six hits and two runs.

All American Kolten Wong made good contact on this sweet-swinging 6th inning swat.

... so much so that he had to admire it for a second or two before flipping his bat and trotting down the first base line.

Upon his jog around the diamond, Wong was greeted with fives from his cohorts as Hawaii took a 2-1 lead.

But Fresno slugger Dusty Robinson would have his say in the matter, swatting a 6th inning drive well onto the scoreboard in left.

360 feet later teammate Aaron Judge would clack helmets with him as the game was tied once again.

Hawaii coach Mike Trappasso said his team played one of their best defensive games of the season. Collin Bennett's diving catch (and Kolten Wong's "out" call) was one of the highlights of the night.

The Play of the Game: Jordan Ribera's throw to catcher Austin Wynns was slightly off-target, allowing Collin Bennett to come sliding home from 3rd with the go-ahead run in the 9th. The man who bunted the play into action, Jesse Moore, looks on as he trots to 1st.

Reliever Brent Harrison did a bang-em-up job tossing 2.1 innings of one-hit ball and picking up the win

The Hawaii outfielders all appear to have 40-inch verticals as they celebrate the second win over Fresno State in as many days.

I finally got the chance to talk with Hawaii head coach Mike Trapasso, who I saw play with Gary Ward's infamous Oklahoma State teams in the 80s up in Omaha. And no, that's not Lemmy from Motorhead standing with us.

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QUOTES.

Hawaii’s Mike Trapasso.

- On his  team getting two wins at Fresno to start a month where they’ll spend most of it on the mainland:

“Well, at Hawaii going on the road is quite an ordeal ya’ know, with all the travel involved. To get off to a good start in what will be four of the last five weeks on the road, and to do this here at Fresno is one of the hardest places to play, that’s huge. I’ll be honest, Fresno’s got a great club. A great club. So this is a great feeling to get these two.”

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- On comparing Friday’s win to today’s solid effort.

“Yesterday’s game was mass chaos for both teams, I called yesterday’s game was a ‘God game’ because God only knows how we won that game to be honest. But today we really played well because it was all about pitching, defense and good execution. We got bunts down and moved runners along and then got some timely hits.”

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- On beating teams like Fresno, Wichita, Texas, Oregon and LMU and still seeing his team’s RPI in the 130s.

“Seriously, I’ve been really disappointed in how this has gone the last few years because our formula is to try to schedule as tough of games as we can in the non-conference schedule. And we hung in there in the non-conference this year and yet it still didn’t get reflected in the RPI. And I think this year especially an anomaly because some of the teams we played are really good. And I’ll tell you what’s been really disappointing, two weeks ago we beat Louisiana Tech three out of four and somehow we dropped eight spots in the RPI. To me, there’s something wrong with that, when you get punished by winning over a good team. I know historically the WAC has been a one-bid league, so we try to get the best teams we can to come out to Hawaii, but it has me thinking, ‘Is that the best way to do it? Maybe we should schedule easy?’ But I don’t think that’s the right formula for us. I would still like to schedule as tough as we can, even if it doesn’t seem to help us a lot.”

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- On his team’s big key tonight.

“The big thing was that we executed. We were able to get the bunt down on that safety squeeze that put us ahead in the 9th. And that’s more of our M.O., to pitch well and execute. We haven’t played very good defense for most of the year, but we did tonight and it made a difference.”

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- On his team’s bullpen, which was solid again tonight.

“Our bullpen’s been spectacular for us all season and it was again tonight. Our pitching depth has been our strength. Brent Harrison is a guy that isn’t going to be used a lot but he was able to come in tonight and get us out of a jam. And he was really big in the 9th because we didn’t have to bring in Lenny Linskey for the second straight night. Now we have him to go to again this weekend.”

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- On keeping his team grounded after two big wins at Fresno.

“I tell our kids all the time that every WAC game is 1/24th of our season and to give each one equal weight. and just focus on that. You know that kids often have a hard time doing that, but I think our guys have actually done a pretty good job of keeping things in perspective.

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Fresno’s Mike Batesole.

- When asked if his team was just in a funk or was Hawaii out-playing them.

“it’s a little bit of both. Their freshman (Jarrett Arakawa) threw a heck of a ballgame today and made us put the ball in play and had a really good defense behind him. And that’s where they really beat us, they out-defensed us. When we had our chance to make plays in the clutch we didn’t get it done and they did.”

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- On the difference between the two offenses.

“They beat us with two strikes.They got two of their RBIs with two strikes and we didn’t get any. In fact, we were 0-for-15 with two strikes and we need to be tougher than that.”

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- On his drastically changing the staring lineup tonight.

“Well yeah, we wanted to shore up our defense a little because we’ve been struggling and haven’t made some tough plays in the clutch. We had Jacob Alvarez at 3rd tonight and he had some real tough plays looking into the sun, I actually felt really bad for him. But then he regrouped and made some nice plays. He’s an outstanding defensive player. And Andy Qualls got the start in right field and made a couple of good plays and got a big hit, so both of those guys played really well for getting the starts.

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- On his teams’ mental toughness and the mindset of his team after these two losses.

“We’re gonna find out how tough we are. This is the first bump that we’ve hit. Things have been going so smooth for so long and we have been playing really good defense and our pitching has been so good, especially at the end of games. Our relief pitching has been almost flawless up until the last two weeks. And now that we’ve hit a little bump, we’re going to see how we handle it.”

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Okay, it was a long and dangerous day going into the Valley. Gotta get some shut-eye. More tomorrow.

G’night.

That’s the situation that UCLA found itself in today as the Bruins were staring down the muzzle of a really solid road series win at No. 23 Stanford. Their stud freshman Nick Vander Tuig was toeing the rubber with the number eight batter in the order coming up. Then all hell broke loose.

Somehow, this is the explosive scene that resulted from a mondo-bizarro 9th inning.

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WHAT I SAW AT SUNKEN DIAMOND TODAY.
This was one of those What-the-Bloody-Hell? kind of games that represent the exact reason you can never feel safe with 18-to-22 year olds determining high-stakes games. Stanford entered the 9th inning down 4-1 and having just four hits on the day against UCLA’s venerable staff. After two immediate outs, I grabbed my camera and went down to the first row of the stadium to get a pic of the two coaches shaking hands. Twelve minutes and seven batters would go by before that happened. I’ll try to describe it here as best as I can. First, here are the particulars…

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LINESCORE
U.C.L.A. – 000 101 101 – 4 7 0
Stanford – 000 000 104 – 5 8 0
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PITCHING:
WP: Chris Reed (2-1)
LP: Nick Vander Tuig
Save: None
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TOP HITTERS:
Bruins:
- Pat Valaika, 2-for-3, HR, RBI
- Cody Keeler, 2-for-4, 2doubles
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Cardinal:
- Brian Guymon, 3-for-4.
- Kenny Diekroeger, 2-for-5, RBI
- Jake Stewart, 2-for-5, RBI
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RECORDS:
UCLA: 21-14, 10-5 Pac 10
Stanford: 19-13, 5-7 Pac 10
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IN A NUTSHELL.
So here’s how it went down. First, UCLA scored single runs in the 4th, 6th, 7th and 9th innings to build up a 4-1 lead. The Bruins gave up a single run in the bottom of the 7th. In fact, that 4-1 lead could’ve been even more if an apparent got-our-signals-crossed steal of home wasn’t botched to end the top of the 9th for the Men of Westwood. Still, no-muss, no-fuss, right?

The UCLA bullpen and Stanford's Tyler Gaffney react differently to Pat Valaika's home run.

Then Vander Tuig climbed aboard the hill in the bottom of the 9th. He immediately got Brian Ragira and Lonnie Kauppila each to groundout meekly. That’s when I decided to take my camera and head down to the front row for some post-game pics.

But then the aggro ghosts of the Evil Baseball Gods decided to take their shriveled-up digit and give the Bruins the King Midas in Reverse touch of death.

1- It started simply enough, Brian Guymon scratched a single just beyond the grasp of Bruin 2nd baseman Kevin Williams…

2- Then, Vander Tuig walked 9-hole pinch hitter Justin Ringo on a full count.

3- Another ground ball, this one hit by leadoff man Jake Stewart, just eked by 2nd baseman Williams again. That scored Guymon from 2nd.

4- Hot-hitting Zach Jones got up next and sliced a double just beyond the reach of UCLA 1st baseman Dean Espy, which ended up scoring both Ringo and Stewart and tied the game. (Note the ball on the right side of the pic)

5- Bruin coach John Savage then pulled Vander Tuig and went with frosh Zack Weiss.

6- Weiss struggled, throwing nine straight pitches out of the strike zone, which loaded up the bases for Kenny Diekroeger. Weiss was pulled for Brandon Lodge.

7- With the count full, Lodge induced the pop-up from Diekroeger that you see below. At that point, Stanford’s fans groaned and some of the Cardinal players even went and grabbed their gloves to take the field for the 10th inning.

8- Problem was, the swift Bruin outfield was playing so deep, the ball ended its trajectory by hitting harmlessly on the grass at what is essentially deep 2nd base. Beau Amaral and Chris Giovinazzo could only watch it bounce off the turf.

9- That lazy fly ball would score Zach Jones from 3rd base and then the Cardinal bench exploded.

10- UCLA dropped two of three from Stanford and knowing its snake-bitten season has a cruelty that knows no bounds.

11- In the Stanford press box after the game, the Cardinal radio crew brought in Diekroger to talk about his winning “hit”. He said to Niall Adler, the SID, “I don’t know WHY you want me? That was the weakest hit of all time.”

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– THREE UP.
The best of the day in college baseball.

1- NORTH CAROLINA STATE.
Sure the Wolfpack only split with No. 1 Virginia in today’s double-header, but give the Pack some huge props for actually tagging a loss on previously unbeaten Wahoo All American Danny Hultzen. Yep, they did it. State scored six runs in the 6th inning for all the support their own pitching staff would need in a 6-2 win. UVa took game two 3-1. Hultzen gave up 11 hits in his 7.1 inning stint. Meanwhile, across the way, State’s Rob Chamra improved to 6-0 with 7.0 innings of four-hit, 0-earned runs work.

Nathan Melendres was 5-for-6 in game 1.

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2- MIAMI
Showed a lot of moxie in taking two games from North Carolina in Chapel Hill, by scores of 13-6 (10 innings) and 5-3. The Hurricanes opened up a serious can of whoop-ass with an eight-run 10th inning to salt away game one and then jumped on UNC early in game two to destroy their will to compete. The U came in hitting just .274, which was 9th in the ACC, but totaled 25 hits in the two games. Miami is now on a spree of winning 12 of their last 13 games, including a sweep over suddenly-scorching North Carolina State. Cane pitchers also held UNC leadoff man Ben Bunting and super-frosh Colin Moran to go a combined 1-for-12 on the day.

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3- TEXAS A&M
With all the upsets, shockers and wild finishes out there this weekend, the Aggies have quietly gone out and put a pair of good beatdowns on Oklahoma State two straight days, this time by a 5-1 count. Michael Wacha pitched into the 7th inning, giving up just four hits to the Cowboys and Nick Fleece came on in relief to throw the final two innings, with three Ks and no runs. Through these two games, OSU’s Dane Phillips, who came in leading the Big 12 with a .403 average, has been held to 1-for-8 at the dish. A&M also has surrendered just 10 hits and struck out 23 Poke batters in the two games.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS
- Utah.
I’m getting more and more convinced that the Utes might be one of the better “ugly-reord” teams in the country. Today, Bill Kinneburg’s crew pulled out a weekend series win at Tulane with today’s 8-1 squashing. The Utes are now 18-15 on the season. The Greenies dropped to 23-17.

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- East Carolina.
The Pirates swiped the series win over Houston by clubbing five home runs in today’s 12-2 skunking of Houston. Trent Whitehead hit two of the yard calls and pulled in four RBI. ECU has also now posted double-digit hit totals in six of its last seven games as they posted 13 hits today. Must be those awesome Easton bats.

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- Kansas State’s James Allen.
Allen picked up saves in all three wins over Texas Tech this weekend, including today’s 4-1 win. With the three saves, Allen now has 13 saves on the season which is a new school record.

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- T&MCC pitcher Todd Simko.
The junior righty threw a complete-game two-hitter in the Islanders’ 7-1 win over Southeastern Louisiana. Simko allowed only one hit through the first eight innings and ended the day with four walks and induced 16 groundouts in the game.

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- BYU pitcher Matthew Neil.
Neil threw the first 1-0 shutout in Provo since 1976 in today’s win over New Mexico. In his 128-pitch stint, Neil struck out six and has now lowered his ERA to 1.75 and improved his record to 4-2. This was also his second win of the week, having thrown the last two innings of Tuesday’s 7-6 win over Utah.

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- Bradley pitcher Joe Bircher and Evansville pitcher Cole Isom.
Today’s double-header in Peoria, there were a pair of really good pitching performers. Game one saw Bircher strike out 10 EU batters n a complete-game 3-2 win. It turned out to the Braves’ 12th come-from-behind win of the season.

In game two, the Aces ace threw a complete-game two-hitter in today’s second game of a DH with Bradley. Behind the crafty lefty EU won game two 6-0 as Isom struck out eight batters along the way in completing his second shutout of the season.

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– THREE DOWN
Some of the bad things from today in college baseball.

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1- AKRON.
The Zips were indeed zipped today, losing three games in one day, all of them by one run. The Miami Redhawks meted out the punishment on the Zips, winning a rain suspended game 5-4 in 10 innings to kick start the day. They they went on to win 4-3 and 1-0 in the two other contests. Akron dropped to 9-29 with the three Ls.

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2- THE TWIN-HEADED LOSERS.
With rain and weather postponements, a lot of series had to play catch-up today. Here are some of the more surprising DH tank jobs.

- Rice
I know UAB is improved this year, but I still didn’t expect to see the Owls deep-sixed twice by Ron Polk U. The Blazers scored 7-2 and 8-7 (12 innings) wins today to improve to 23-17 overall and 8-7 in CUSA play, a half-game behind the Owls.

- Indiana
Lost to Minnesota (right there at Sembower Field no less) in two straight games, 3-2 and 12-1. The Hoosiers really blew an opportunity because Michigan State split with Illinois, which means IU could’ve taken over first place with a sweep of the Gophers. But instead they still sit a half-game back of the Spartans.

- Hartford.
The Hawks were felled by a double-edged dagger, losing twice to AmEast favorite Binghamton, 3-2 and 1-0, both of them being jog-off losses too. Ouch. For a team that came in with a record of 3-25, this was a well-pitched day for the Hawks. Too bad the offense didn’t keep up its end of the bargain.

- North Carolina.
Things keep going bad to worse for the youthful Tarheels, as today saw them drop a 13-6, 10-inning loss in game one (yes, the Canes scored eight runs in the top of the 10th) and then lost 5-3 in game two to Miami. The two losses, which snapped a 19-game home win streak, are added to last week’s shocking sweep at the hands of North Carolina State.

Levi Michael showed his usual hustle, but the only thing UNC ended up with today was a mouthful of dirt.

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3- CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD.
Dammit! I just got done glossing these guys two weeks ago. The Roadrunners not only lost to UC Riverside by an 8-4 count today, they also got swept in all three games of the weekend, dropping their record to 24-11. Today, the Runners were vexed by the Highlanders’ seven runs in the top of the 8th inning. CSUB will have plenty of chances for redemption as they’ll take on teams like UC Irvine, UCLA and Kansas State remaining to play, but this weekend certainly won’t look good on a resume.

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DISHONORABLE. MENTIONS.
- The losers of the Big 12.
Of the five teams that lost in Big 12 play today, four of them (Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Baylor and Texas Tech) scored only one run on the day. The fifth loser of the bunch? Texas… which scored two runs in a 4-2 loss to Kansas. Oh, and Nebraska buys the beer round after being the only Big 12 North team to lose to a Big 12 South team (NU lost 4-1 at Oklahoma) on the day.

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- Weather in the Northeast.
These woebegone programs in the upper right portion of the country have had a pretty crappy season weather-wise in 2011. The Ivy League and the MAAC both had all of their schedule of games ruined by Mother Nature, all six in the Ancient Eight and all six in the Metro. Aye-yaye-yaye.

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A COUPLE OF MILESTONES.
A couple of notable happenings from the last two days.

- Western Kentucky’s Matt Rice became the school’s all time leader in RBI with a first inning single in Saturday’s 6-3 loss at Troy. Rice, a Lowe’s Senior Class Award nominee, now has 209 career RBI, passing Mike Williams, who played from 1978-81.

- Texas State’s Ty Harrington coached his 400th win with today’s 16-2 rout of Northwestern State. Tyler Sibley stroked a pair of home runs in a 3-for-4 day. Two years ago, Sibley also hit two dingers in a game against the Demons.

- Long Island left handed pitcher Matt McCormick threw his second complete-game shutout of the season in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Bryant. With the win, McCormick also improved to 5-1 on the year – not bad for a team that has had recent seasons where they’ve struggled to win five games overall.

- Louisiana’s Tony Robichaux coached in his 1,000th game as the Ragin Cajuns’ leader, watching his team rally for a 7-6, 11-inning win over South Alabama. The Cajuns scored five times in the 8th inning and then got a jog-off RBI single from Michael Strentz to win it in the 11th.

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Okay, on we go to Sunday.

G’night.

I was able to sneak this center field view of the new downtown stadium in Omaha today. Don't worry, I'll get more.

Spent most of the day traveling on that silver bird and made my way to The Big O and into my good bud’s basement, where I usually hole up for 10 days each June. I’m here a few months early, because I couldn’t wait to see the new downtown stadium and wanted to check out some college baseball in the midlands.

So as soon as I got off the plane and picked up my rent-a-lemon, I made my way to the new downtown stadium. After giving it a lap around the outside, replete with the “Road To Omaha” statue tucked in front, I snuck my way into the groundskeepers’ entrance beyond center field and took a quick pic or two.

I know, I know, my headline promised more. Sorry. But on Monday night there is supposed to be an open house for the public to come out and peruse the new digs. I’ll give you a more detailed report of the joint after that. But it does look pretty nice… although I’ll still hold off on complete judgement until I see it in full.

The relocated Road to Omaha statue sitting outside the front steps of the grand glass edifice.

Now, here’s a quick spin on some of the things I noticed on the diamond today.

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– THREE UP.

1- UCLA’s TREVOR BAUER.

Okay guys, I’ve got a question for you: Should I bother putting Bauer’s voluminous accomplishments down here week after week? ‘Coz the dude keeps on posting incredible numbers every time out on the mound. Today, the pale-hatted junior struck out 13 Arizona Wildcat batters in a complete-game four-hitter as the Bruins evened the series with Arizona in a 4-0 win. In the process, Bauer also became UCLA’s all-time winningest pitcher, improving to 28-7 in two and a half years. Bauer leads the nation once again in strikeouts, upping that number to 110 today.

The well-faded chapeau of UCLA's Trevor Bauer was magical again today.

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2- GEORGIA’s BRETT DeLOACH and MICHAEL PALAZZONE.

DeLoach, the Bulldog DH, sparked the Silver Britches offense, going 3-for-4 with a triple and 4RBI as UGa took down No. 4 Florida by a 7-2 count. Special props to Bulldog mound starter Michael Palazzone, who pitched 8.0 innings and held the powerful Gators to six hits and struck out six as well. By the way, Georgia is slowly creeping up into the national discussion, now sitting at 9-5 in the SEC, despite their uninspiring 19-17 overall mark.

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3- OREGON STATE’s OFFENSE.

The big concern was how the Beavers’ weak-stick offense would fare without their top-bat hitter Andrew Susac, who was leading the team at .365 before being felled with an injury two weeks ago. Rest assured you can put that out to pasture. In their last five Pac 10 games, the Beavs have gone double-digits in hits, including 12 base knocks in the 8-1 landslide at Stanford.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS

- Belmont head coach Dave Jarvis.

Picked up his 700th career win with a pair of upset wins over East Tennessee State, 11-1 and 2-0. The Bruin pitchers held the Buccaneers offense to just nine hits in the two games, well below their .303 team average coming in.

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- Vanderbilt’s “mix-and-matchmen”

In this week’s ESPN preview, coach Tim Corbin told me he liked his team’s depth of pitching and how he had the luxury to mix and match with his deep bullpen. Tonight, against national champion South Carolina, that scenario played out perfectly. Corey Williams, Jack Armstrong, Kevin Ziomek, Mark Lamm and Navery Moore combined to hold the Cocks to one hit in the final three innings as VU evened the series with Carolina thanks to a 6-4 win in Columbia.

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- Vanderbilt’s Tony Kemp.

Before I get too geeked on the Vandy pitching depth, let us not forget about Kemp, the frosh leadoff man who is becoming a force of nature. Tonight he went 5-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored to set the table for the offense’s 6-4 win at South Carolina.

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- Middle Tennessee’s Hunter Adkins.

Facing No. 18 Troy’s potent offense, the sophomore righty threw 8.0 innings of three-hit ball, including five Ks to help the Blue Raiders to a 1-0 win today. The win improved Adkins’ record to – yes – 1-and-6 on the season. Paul Mittura came on to get the save in the 9th inning.

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- Texas Tech’s Trey Masek.

The frosh mound starter pitched like a 10-year MLB vet today.

Tech took down No. 6 ranked Texas with a 2-1 victory thanks in large part to Masek’s magical arm. He went 6.1 innings, didn’t give up his first hit until the 5th inning and became the first freshman to beat the Horns in over 17 years. Masek only allowed two hits and three walks along the way. This was also Tech’s first win over a top-five ranked team on the road in 10 years.

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- Tulane’s D.J. Ponder

The Green Wave reliever came on to get the save off of starter Drew Zizinia and tossed 3.1 innings of hitless and walkless ball to help Tulane come from behind and beat Rice 7-4. And by the way, today’s win was Greenie’s first-ever conquest of the Owls at Reckling Park in their history.

Coach Rick Jones would say afterward, “D.J. was the best he’s been since he came to Tulane. He touched 90 today and his breaking ball was good, but the key was his velocity.”

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- St. John’s Jeremy Baltz.

The All American came on and got a clutch, 9th-inning RBI single to help the Redmen take down No. 28 Louisville for the second straight day, 6-5. This win improved the Johnnies to 8-0 at home this season and was the second time they won a game in jog-off fashion in 2011. Keep an eye on SJU as the Big Red is now 18-13 and 7-4 in the Big East.

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- Texas State’s Michael Pitts.

Threw a complete-game three-hitter as the Bobcats downed Southeastern Louisiana 4-zot in San Marcos today. Pitts struck out only four, but got 11 flyouts and 10 groundouts and walked only one Lion batter all game. The win ties the weekend series and keeps the Cats tied with Stephen F. Austin atop the Southland at 12-5. SLU falls to 10-7

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- Auburn’s Casey McElroy.

Crushed a two-run yard call in the 9th inning to give the Plainsmen a 3-1 win at Alex Box Stadium over LSU, who just keeps finding new ways to lose. McElroy actually scored two of the three runs for AU as part of a 1-for-3 day, including a walk. LSU frosh Kevin Gausman keeps coming up the hard-luck loser, dropping to 2-4, despite holding the War Eagle offense to five hits in 8.1 innings while striking out eight.

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- Albany.

The Great Danes entered the day tied with defending champion Binghamton atop the America East at 3-0, but were still prohibitive underdogs here. But they didn’t freak out over facing their in-conference bullies, taking the Bearcats down in two straight games, 4-3 and 5-3, taking over the AmEast lead. That’s pretty heady territory for a program that isn’t used to much success. Dave Kubiak threw a complete-game five-hitter in game one, striking out six along the way. Kasceim Graham and Greg Lutton combined on a six-hitter in game two. Between the three pitchers, they held BU’s 4-thru-9 hitters in the order to two hits on the day. Bitchin’.

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– THREE DOWN

1- BRADLEY.

The Braves dropped both ends of a double-header to Illinois State, losing by 4-1 and 12-2 scores. But the painful part of today for the Braves was their striking out a combined 26 times in the two games (the second of which was a seven-inning game) and went 0-for-16 with runners n scoring position on the day. That’s a major league ouch.

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2- ALABAMA.

Okay, we had our doubts about the Tide after a weekend where they lost to Southeastern Louisiana, South Alabama and Central Florida. Then Vanderbilt crushed them in Nashville. Today, last place Tennessee went into Tuscaloosa and took a pair of games from Bear’s Boys, 2-1 and 1-0. The Tide managed just nine hits in the two games. This against a UT staff that came in 9th in the SEC in pitching.

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3- STANFORD’s OFFENSE.

The Cardinal have curiously gone quiet in the last two weeks. After beating USC by an 8-1 count last Friday, the Trees have now gone 1-4 since, including today’s 8-1 squashing at the hands of Josh Osich and Oregon State. In those five games, SU has scored just eight runs, collected just 30 hits and hit just .191 as a team.

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DISHONORABLE MENTIONS.

- Rice.

Let an absolutely limp-bat Tulane team storm from behind to win 7-4.

The Owls led by two going into the 7th against the notoriously punchless Green Wave, but gave up two runs in the 7th and three runs in the 8th. Meanwhile, the Owls offense wilted down the stretch, getting just two harmless hits after the 3rd inning. I’m pretty convinced that the two teams switched uniforms at some point in the middle of the game.

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- Texas offense.

Not a shock here considering their track record this year. But so far in two games this weekend, the Longhorns are a putrid 8-for-57 at the dish, good for a .140 batting average.

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- Pepperdine.

It’s been another season of close misses for the Waves. Today, we were given another example. Clinging to a 3-2 lead in the 9th inning, and having scored all three of their runs in the 1st inning, PU let San Diego score two runs in the bottom of the 9th to pull out a 4-3 win. The painful part was that the game-winning run was scored by a a bases-loaded walk. Yick.

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- North Carolina.

Lost to rival N.C. State by a single run for the second straight night, by an 8-7 count this time. The Tarheels had men on 2nd and 3rd when the game ended, once again coming up numbingly close with no W to show for it. It also soured a tour de force performance from UNC shortstop Levi Michael, who was 2-for-2 with a home run, four runs scored and three walks. Clone that man.

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DID YOU KNOW?

Today, James Madison played its third straight 12-inning game this week, losing to UNC-Greensboro 4-3. The Dukes won the two previous 12-inning games, beating the Spartans 12-8 on Friday and also beating Maryland 13-12.

Kyle Schmidt (foreground) and his Minnesota-Duluth teammates run amok! Schmidt scored the game winning goal as the Bulldogs beat Michigan for the school's first-ever national title in a 3-2 in OT.

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... Meanwhile, UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton got into another good tangle at Goodwin Field tonight.

NOW you see why I didn’t bother going to the Irvine-Fullerton game last night. ‘Coz as opposed to last night’s uncharacteristic blowout, tonight was back to the usual Eaters-Titans donnybrook that we’ve all come to know and love.

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WHAT I SAW AT GOODWIN FIELD TONIGHT.

Fullerton needed redemption. The Titans needed to right a wrong. Last night’s embarrassing 15-3 loss to the ‘Eaters just didn’t sit right with their constitution. Tonight, the Elephants evened the series between them and their O.C. rivals over at UC Irvine with a Victoria’s Secret-like skin-tight 2-1 win.

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UC Irvine – 010 000 000 – 1  8  1

Fullerton – 100 010 00x – 2  4  0

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WP: Noe Ramirez (5-2)

LP: Andrew Thurman (1-3)

Save: Nick Ramirez (7)

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Top Hitters.

UCI:

- Drew Hillman, 2-for-4

- Christian Ramirez, 1-for-3, RBI

CSUF:

- Ivory Thomas, 1-for-2, run scored

- Jared Deacon, 1-for-3, run scored

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IN SUMMATION.

Noe Ramirez messed with disaster a couple times early in the game, having the ‘Eaters put men at 3rd base with one out in three of the first four innings, but came up clutch time and time again. He would eventually settle in and got the next three Anteater frames to go three-up, three-down and then settled in to tame what were some scorching UCI bats prior to tonight.

Neither team could figure out the pitching of the other as the two teams combined for just 12 hits. In fact, the “game-winning” run was scored by Fullerton catcher Jared Deacon who advanced to home plate on an Anteater throwing error in the 5th inning. Neither team could get into any kind of comfort zone from then on, which seemed to suit the Titans just fine.

It was nip-and-tuck from stem to stern, with Fullerton clinging to a slim lead most of the game and UCI making for some frayed nerves in the end. Drew Hillman led off the 9th inning with a Texas Leaguer, got bunted over to 2nd, got grounded out over the 3rd, but then stood by slack-jawed as Jonathan Hurst struck out harmlessly to end the game.

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NOT AS CLINIC-LIKE AS USUAL.

In my ESPN video this week I mentioned that these two teams are usually instructional-video worthy in pitching and defense. But tonight, notsomuch. UCI issued five walks, hit a pair of Fullerton batters and also threw three wild pitches. Fullerton only gave up one walk, but I ran out of fingers counting how many mental mistakes the Titans made, particularly on the basepaths.

Titan OF Michael Lorenzen

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LEAVING A VAPOR TRAIL.

Time for another heat-seeker in the Titan outfield.

Perhaps not since Mark Kotsay was roaming the outfield have we seen a cannon-armed outfielder like Michael Lorenzen for Fullerton. For the second straight night the frosh outfielder gunned down an Anteater runner on the basepaths. This time the victim was UCI’s Jonathan Hurst who was trying to stretch a single into a double.

(*special kudos to Fullerton SID Mike Greenlee for bringing up the Kotsay reference in the press box tonight.)

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PICS

Some images from today’s UC Irvine-Cal State Fullerton game at Goodwin Field.

I've probably taken 520 pictures of Noe Ramirez over the last three years. Here's a really good one.

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Drew Hillman (7) gets props for scoring UCI's lone run.

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Fives all around for UCI's defense as they exit the field.

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Jonathan Hurst slams his hand in anger after getting gunned down by Fullerton's Michael Lorenzen.

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Dude, Garrett totally had this gunny sack race won until he tripped near the finish. Bummer man.

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UCI's Brian Hernandez bobbles the ball as he gets Blake Barber caught in a pickle.

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Nick Ramirez moved from 1st base to the mound to collect save No. 7 on the year.

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Drew Hillman made his way to 3rd base in the final inning, but was stranded there.

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... when Jonathan Hurst struck out swinging for the final out of the game.

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Two SoCal war horses shake hands as Dave Serrano and Mike Gillespie go into Sunday's getaway game tied at a win each.

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– THREE UP

The best of the day in college baseball.

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1- OREGON STATE.

Rallied from a 6-2 deficit to beat No. 5 ranked Arizona State for the second straight day, by a 7-6 count.

The Beavers entered the 7th frame down 6-2, but scored three in that half-inning, then got single runs in the 8th (to tie the game) and a jog off bases-loaded walk by Brian Stamps in the 9th (which means they won, of course). Gotta give huge props to the Beavers, as the game announcers pointed out (sorry, I didn’t catch the names of the golden-throats that were working the game), OSU lost five top 10 round draftee pitchers off last year’s team, but have been locked-in with a team ERA of 2.78 so far. They entered the weekend ranked 19th nationally in team pitching.

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2- RICE.

For the second night in a row, the Owls withstood the venomous Clark-LeClair Stadium crowd and pulled out a win at ECU, today by a 4-2, 11-inning tally.

Unlike yesterday’s 2-1 white-knuckler, the Owls had to come from behind today, scoring one in the 7th, two in the 8th and then two more in the deciding 10th inning. The deciding runs were scored Michael Ratterree earned a bases-loaded walk and then Craig Manuel slapped an RBI single for the two extra frame. That’s a good pair of road wins for a relatively young Rice squad.

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Rice 1st baseman J.T. Chargois was a hero on offense and defense vs. ECU.

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A pitch to the junk ain't fun. Craig Manuel grimaces from a curve ball in the dirt and its unfortunate carom.

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Okay, TRY to act surprised. ECU intentionally walks Anthony Rendon.

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Craig Manuel congratulates Tyler Duffey after he improved to 5-1 with the win tonight.

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THE DOCTOR OF COLLEGE BASEBALL’S WRITE-UP OF THE RICE-EAST CAROLINA GAME.

To go along with his bitchin’ pictures, here’s a few lines the good doctor wrote about the Owls’ extra-inning win:

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Rice came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat East Carolina 5-3 in 10 innings in Greenville, NC to clinch the Conference USA series after 2 games.

Tyler Duffy (5-1) pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief to get the win for the Owls and Seth Simmons (4-1) took the loss in relief for the Pirates.

The wheels came off in the tenth inning for ECU as an error, three straight walks (one intentional) and a single accounted for the decisive runs. Keenan Cook scored on a bases loaded walk to Michael Ratterree for what proved to be the game wiining run. J. T. Chargois then scored on a single by Craig Manuel for the final run.

East Carolina took a 2-0 lead without benefit of a hit off Owl starter Matthew Reckling and added a run off reliever Tyler Spurlin. Reckling didn’t give up a hit in 3 2/3 innings but walked six, hit a batter, and threw two wild pitches to give the Pirates the early lead. ECU scored twice in the 4th inning on an RBI groundout by DH Austin Homan and bases loaded walk to 3B Corey Thompson. A single by John Wooten off Spurlin in the 5^th inning scored Zach Wright to make it 3-0.

Rice evened it up with an RBI double by catcher Craig Manuel in the 7^th inning and a two RBI double by first baseman Chargois in the 8^th before winning in extra innings.

East Carolina wasted a strong effort from starter Mike Wright [ 7 1/3 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 6K].

Top Offensive Stars:
Rice
-J.T. Chargois (from Sulphur, LA by the way)   3 for 4, 2 doubles, 2 runs, 2 RBI
-Craig Manuel 2 for 5, 2 RBI
ECU
-Zach Wright 2 for 4
-John Wooten 1 for 3, 1 RBI

NOTES:
-announced attendance of 3,315 but ECU radio announcers mentioned they were surprised by the poor turnout for both Friday and Saturday games
-Rice DH Anthony Rendon was intentionally walked twice on Friday and three times on Saturday
-ECU fans in The Jungle were pretty ruthless with Wayne Graham, calling him “Old Man” and yelling “get a Hoveround” whenever he made a trip to the mound
-Rice RF Ryan Lewis was a reserve QB on the 2009 football team and graduated from Baton Rouge Catholic HS
-Rice pitcher Matthew Reckling’s grandfather played for Rice in the 1950s and donated a substantial amount of money for the renovation of Rice’s baseball stadium, Reckling Park
-East Carolina’s baseball facility is Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium, with Carterette Pressbox
-LF line dimensions are only 320 feet
-Baseball America’s John Manuel was in attendance at the game
-concession stand sold something called “Frybread”; what the hell is that?
-temperature was 52 degrees and game lasted 3 hours, 14 minutes

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(Thank you for the write-up good doctor. And shame on you East Carolina fans for your ageist comments on the venerable Wayne Graham. Not cool. Now back to our “Three Up” write up)

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3- SOUTH CAROLINA PITCHING.

Shut down Tennessee to a ridiculous level once again today in a 2-1 win.

For the three game series, the Vols were held to one run, 15 hits and, remarkably, an 0-for-21 skein with men in scoring position. Frosh Forrest Koumas was laser sharp, going 7.1 innings and giving up just three hits in the process. Oddly, the only time the Big Orange had much of a chance to make a move was when ace closer Matt Price came on as he looked a tad shaky, giving up two hits and a walk, but did shut down UT three times with men in scoring positions, including getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the 8th.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS

- UCLA’s Trever Bauer.

It’s becoming routine that UCLA’s pitching staff is throwing bee-bees game-in, game-out (the difference being now their offense is finally pulling its weight). Mr. Bauer was on again today, striking out 15 batters and giving up just six hits as the Bruins clobbered Washington State up in Pullman 10-3. Bauer has also now tied the school record by pulling in his 27th win with the W today.

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- Arkansas’ James McCann.

After watching LSU take a 3-0 lead in the top of the 9th, the Hog catcher dipped his toe in the pool of infamy by launching a three-run, jog-off home run in the bottom of the frame to give the Hogs a 4-3 win. I TiVo’d the game tonight while I was at the Fullerton game, but because I got home to watch the hockey national title game I also TiVo’d, I haven’t watched the end of this one yet. But I will. The pictures on Arkansas’ website were pretty dramatic, check ‘em out:

James McCann's game-winning home run vs. LSU, in pictures. (Thanks Arkansas Athletic Department)

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- Florida’s Mike Zunino.

For the second time this year the Gator catcher hit a grand slam, this one coming in the 2nd inning of Florida’s 18-0 bloodletting of Mississippi State. Zunino ended up accounting for five RBI on a 3-for-4 day and also had two hits in their 8-run 2nd frame.

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- Oklahoma’s Casey Johnson.

The Sooner outfielder came within a double of hitting for the cycle in today’s 14-3 avalanche of Kansas State. Johnson ended up the day going 3-for-4 with 4RBI. Cameron Seitzer wasn’t far behind him with a 3-for-4 day as well, gathering 3RBI of his own.

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- Memphis duo of Jacob Wilson and T.J. Rich.

The Nos. 3 and 4 hitters in the lineup went nuts in the Tigers’ 16-8 rout of Southern Miss. Wilson went 3-for-5 with 4RBI, including a home run. But Rich was the big boss with the hot sauce, slamming two home runs as part of a 4-for-6 day with 6RBI. It was the second straight win the Tigers, who improve to 19-11 overall and 3-2 in CUSA play.

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– THREE DOWN.

The worst of the day in college baseball.

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1- THOSE OAFS AT FOX SPORTS.

Somebody at Fox Sports, PLEASE feel free to contact me next year when you want to discuss which ACC games you should televise each week. Boston College at Duke for your feature game to put on TV today? I can see the staff meeting on that one now, Mr. Big Cigar says, “Hmmm… let’s see, we could show Virginia at Georgia Tech or North Carolina at Florida State or, maybe N. C. State at Miami?… oh wait, there’s Boston College at Duke. Let’s show THAT game. While we’re at it, we can do a really touching feature on Doug Flutie and Mike Sheshevski!” (I’m not gonna bother to go look up how to spell that name, it’s late.)

Idiots.

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2- THOSE OAFS AT ROOT SPORTS.

Somebody at Root Sports, PLEASE feel free to contact me as soon as possible when you want to hire somebody to make sure you don’t use a screen bug to show a college head coach being labeled as a “manager.” That’s embarrassing.

Say hi to Arizona State's "manager" Tim Esmay.

By the way, what the hell is “Root Sports” anyway?

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3- THE TEAMS WE HAD OUR DOUBTS ABOUT… SO FAR.

Emphasis on the “so far” part here. So don’t get pissed at me, people. But Alabama, Georgia Tech, Southern Miss and Arizona State all took it on the chin for the second straight day this weekend, raising our single eyebrow all at once.

- Alabama just hasn’t been very competitive in their series at Vanderbilt, losing Friday 11-3 and then today getting blanked 7-0. The Tide has just 12 hits and suffered 19 strikeouts in the two losses. They’ve also now lost four straight games overall.

- I have to be careful not to piss off my Tech fan base here, but the Jackets lost to UVa again, this time by a 12-9 count. The final score was made slightly more tolerable as the Jackets tallied four runs in the 9th inning. Otherwise, it was all Cavs up to that point, as they’ll go for the sweep on Sunday.

- The Eagles of USM have now lost back-to-back games at Memphis thanks to today’s 16-8 deflation to the Tigers in Elvistown. Last night it was a 6-5 loss.

- ASU isn’t as blatant as the others above, losing two games at Oregon State by a total of three runs. But the Devils are still 0-2 on the weekend. Today’s loss was arrrrgh-worthy as the Devils let a three-run lead slip away in the late innings of the game.

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DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

- Me.

I have to admit, I got about a two-hour nap last night. My lazy ass is some kind of tired right now. So I’m not going to include much more in the “down” department here. In fact, since I didn’t get to peruse much of the non-top 25 write-ups tonight, be my guest and add any big time performances you want in the “Comment” section from elsewhere in college baseball. I’ll go ahead and approve it and post it when I wake up in the morning. Feel free to cuss if you want as well.

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OH CRAP, I CAN’T FORGET THIS ONE.

As alluded to in the opening, congrats to Minnesota-Duluth, the 2011 hockey national champions. Tonight, the Bulldogs beat Michigan by a 3-2 score in overtime, giving the school its first-ever national title. It’s a good year to be a Bulldog fan as Duluth also won the National Championship last fall in Division II football as well. One last thing, with shades of Long Beach State in mind, the UMD hockey players all bleached their hair for the post-season, just like Mike Gallo and the Dirtbag pitching staff did which inspired them to the College World Series in 1998. (Copycats)

Blondes DO have more fun. UMD celebrates the title-winning goal sans their helmets and golden locks ablaze.

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Enough. I’m waving a white flag here.

G’night.

You all know how I dig the college puck thing. Great post-season on the ice. I hope college baseball can have as exciting of an NCAA tournament as we saw here.

G’night.

We're all thankful that guys like Scott Woodward and his Coastal Carolina Chanticleers are given an ample opportunity to take their Easton bats and win a national championship in our sport.

On to the best and worst from this Saturday in college baseball.

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– THREE UP

1- OLE MISS.

Beat No. 16 LSU 16-3.

It’s about time David Goforth stepped up and got his first win of the season, right? After going just 1-6 last year, the Rebs’ Saturday starter came into this game with another tough-luck 0-4 start. Today, he went 6.0 innings, giving up seven hits, just two runs and striking out six in 87 pitches to get the W in Alex Box Stadium. The top three of the Rebel lineup, Tanner Mathis, Blake Newalu and Alex Yarbrough went a combined 9-for-17 with 6RBI to pace the offense. But it was a 9-run 7th inning that took the wind out of the Tiger sails today, keyed by Yarbrough, who started the inning with a leadoff single and came back around to slam a three-run bomb later on in the inning. Game over. The series will go to a Sunday rubber match now.

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2- MARYLAND.

Beat No. 9 Florida State 5-0.

Could the Terps be growing up right in front of our eyes? Maybe so. Today’s absolute clamp-down on the ‘Noles was pretty impressive. David Carroll went 7.1 innings allowing just three hits, striking out seven and got 1.2 innings of hitless relief from Brady Kirkpatrick. And the defense played perfect, committing no errors. Jake Skinner’s two-run double in the 4th inning would be all the scoring the Terrapin duo would need on the mound.

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3- DARTMOUTH.

In a rematch of 2010’s Ivy title round, the Big Green swept Columbia 6-4 and 8-1.

Dartmouth traveled to the banks of the Hudson River and took two games from CU to improve to 12-4 on the season. Chris O’Dowd hit home runs in his first at-bat of each game to get the scoring started for the Green. This was a pretty impressive road sweep between two teams who could end up facing each other come Ivy playoff time again.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS

- Stony Brook starters Nick Tropeano and Tyler Johnson.

Tropeano collected a career-high 14Ks in a seven-inning complete game win and game two starter Tyler Johnson allowed just one unearned run and got 7Ks in 7.0 innings of work to win a pair of games over New York Tech, 6-0 and 10-1.

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- Alabama.

This is turning into a big weekend for the Tide. Despite a 5-1 start in SEC play, there were still a lot of doubters out there – don’t worry, that includes me. But for the second day in a row the Tide pulled out a 5-3 win over No. 13 Arkansas to slap a muzzle on people like me. Adam Morgan pitched 8.0 innings of six hit work with 7Ks and got help from Jonathan Smart who picked up save No. 7 on the year with an inning on the mound.

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- Florida’s Nolan Fontana.

My God! Is there nothing this boy can’t do? The Gator shortstop set a career-high with 6RBI on a 3-for-4 day in the Gators’ 11-2 rout of Tennessee. His bases-loaded triple put the game out of reach in the 7th inning.

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Somewhere in this mob scene CCU's Daniel Bowman is being congratulated by his teammates.

- Coastal Carolina.

Rebounding from last week’s awful series loss to UNC-Asheville, the Chanticleers have now beaten Big South-leading Liberty in two straight games. Today it was a bottom-of-the-9th 5-4 win in a white-knuckler. Daniel Bowman hit the game-winning RBI sac fly to end the game.

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- The clutch-hitting of the Roadrunners.

In a battle of two of the longest school names in college history, Texas-San Antonio scored all eight of its runs with two out as the Roadrunners raced past Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 8-2. Matthew James hit a 7th-inning grand slam to slump the shoulders of the Islanders for good.

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- UAB.

Took the second straight game from East Carolina, 5-3.

Ryan Woolley won his fourth game of the season, going 5.0 innings giving up just four hits and one earned run in his 95 pitches. Reliever Ryan Nance picked up save No. 7 on the year for the Blazers as they took down ECU for the second night in a row. Having lost two of three now, could this be another mid-season cold spell for the Pirates like last year? Just something to ponder.

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- Cal’s Justin Jones.

The Bears made amends for yesterday’s curious loss with a 9-2 pasting of USC on Saturday. Jones earned his first career complete-game, striking out 12 and giving up just seven hits and one walk along the way. Cal is now 18-6, 4-1 in Pac 10 play. SC crumbles to 10-17, 2-3.

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New Mexico State's Parker Hipp is joined by the Northern Colorado bench in admiring his 3rd inning home run.

- New Mexico State.

The Aggies became the first team in the WAC to reach the 20-win plateau, doing so with a pair of wins over Northern Colorado, by scores of 15-8 and 13-4 to improve to 21-6 on the year. Cleanup man Parker Hipp led the Aggie assault by knocking in four runs in game one and two more runs in game two, which included his 5h dinger of the season. Hipp entered the weekend No. 3 in the nation in runs batted in. Looks like he could climb to the top after this performance.

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- Virginia

The Cavs have already clinched their fourth straight ACC series with a 9-3 win at Virginia Tech. David Coleman went 4-for-5 with a home run and 5RBI. Is it just me, or should everybody start penciling in Virginia for Omaha? (I know, I know, that’s crazy, right?)

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– THREE DOWN

1- Texas Tech.

We’ve had our doubts about the Red Raiders so far this season, but after two straight games of scoring just one run against the Oklahoma Sooners this weekend (Friday night by a 10-1 count, tonight by an 11-1 avalanche), we’re left to figure maybe they’re NOT back after all. Tech drops to 17-10 and 4-4 on the season.

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2- Auburn.

We’ve had our doubts about the Tigers so far this season, but after two straight games of allowing 11 runs to the Vanderbilt Commodores this weekend (Friday night by an 11-6 count, tonight by an 11-2 avalanche), we’re left to figure maybe they’re NOT back after all. AU drops to 15-12 and 2-6 on the season.

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3- Clemson.

We’ve had our doubts about the Tigers so far this season, but after two straight games of allowing big run totals to the North Carolina Tarheels this weekend (Friday night by a 13-3 count, tonight by a 9-5 avalanche), we’re left to figure maybe they’re NOT back after all. CU drops to 14-11 and 4-7 on the season.

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DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

- Kentucky.

Not only was the loss on the hardwood to UConn painful enough, tonight’s 4-3, 11-inning loss to South Carolina was nearly as piercing.

The Bat Cats took a 3-2 lead into the 8th inning, but allowed the Gamecocks to tie the game on a bases-loaded Jake Williams single in the 8th, then gave up the game-losing run in the 11th on an infield single by Brady Thomas, who was 3-for-5 on the day. The Cats not only drop out of the national championship chase on the hardwood, but also drop an SEC East series to the defending national champions. Double dagger dude!

Marcus Stroman didn't get a hit at the dish today (0-for-4), but threw two innings of solid relief to help Duke beat Tech.

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- Georgia Tech.

For the second time this week the Jackets couldn’t come up with a clutch hit when they needed it, dropping a 4-3 game at Duke, despite having nine hits and earning three walks along the way. The Blue Devils got tough pitching from reliever Marcus Stroman, who earned his first save of the season allowing no hits and collecting five strikeouts in his two innings of work. The rubber match will come on Sunday.

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- Northern Colorado’s Joe Sawicki

Despite being a high-round draft prospect, the Bears ace has stumbled remarkably so far. Today, he lasted just 3.1 innings, giving up 10 hits and six runs at New Mexico State. After going 9-2/3.06 last season, the big ace has fallen to 0-6/11.52 so far this season. Not all him to blame of course, but UNC is now just 3-19 after going 36-24 last season.

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- Cal State Fullerton and UC Davis.

There should be a federal law that restricts two teams from wearing similar colored jerseys. Particularly if they both wear dark jerseys. Gah! Here’s another example of that.

Fullerton and UC Davis both wore navy blue tops in their game today. Titans won 7-0. (Special thanks to Don Hudson for the pic)