San Diego head coach Rich Hill chased his white whale and landed 1st round draftee Dylan Covey.

I had the chance to talk to a handful of coaches about that day and those players that were counted amongst our beloved legion of draft dodgers who will take their talents to the college game. Here are a few of the highlights of those convos.

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1- THE FIRST TIMER

Illinois State’s Mark Kingston took over the Redbird program last year and in his first go-round, the rookie skipper commandeered them to a Missouri Valley Conference title and their first NCAA bid since 1994. Not a bad first impression, huh?

On Monday the 16th, coach Kingston saw three of his recruits that had been drafted all say “no” to the bigs and will enroll at that school in that cool-named town known as Normal. Catcher Mike Hollenbeck (14th round, Boston), RHP Johnny Lieske (35th round, Texas) and INF Brock Stewart (40th round, Mets) form the trio of draftees that didn’t sign and are part of a very good seven-man recruiting class.

The three studs also signal a new mentality to a Redbird program that has been mostly off-the-grid in its history. In his two years (one was as one of those “coach-in-waiting” assistant positions), Coach Kingston is changing the culture in Normal, as he has seen an all-new stadium built, a rash of improved facilities, a winning attitude and a desire for players to skip the minors and head to campus as part of a renaissance to the baseball fortunes.

Me:

First question is simple, how big was it to get all three drafted players to not sign?

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Coach Kingston:

As you know, with the amount of money being thrown around by Major League Baseball, it’s hard to get kids to come to school. Having been at Miami and Tulane for so many years, I think you just have to focus on telling these kids they’ve got two really good options, you can go develop in minor league baseball or you can come develop here and also get your education. And I think ANY school that has three kids that got drafted coming in is pretty big. It also says a lot about a program that these guys are attracted to us that much.

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Me:

When it got down to the last few days, were you expecting all three to come to campus?

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Coach Kingston:

It looked like we were going to get two of the three. Hollenbeck being a 14th round pick was a guy that we thought we were probably going to lose. Because as you know the Red Sox have a ton of money to throw around. So we held our breath right down to the last minute. And Boston signed a bunch of guys on the last day, with (Anthony) Ranaudo, (Brandon) Workman and Chris Hernandez, they signed a bunch of guys. At 11:01, Hollenbeck texted me saying “Coach, I’m coming to school.” That was a great text to get.

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Me:

All three being from Illinois say anything about the talent in the state? Or is it getting better?

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Coach Kingston:

The talent in Illinois is really good. It may not be quite as developed as states we recruit like Texas or Florida where you can practice year-round. But in terms of athletic ability, there is a lot of good athletic ability in Illinois. I mean, one of the first guys I signed as a recruiting coordinator at Tulane was Brian Bogusevic. So I’ve known for a long time that there is great talent here. That was one of the reasons I thought that this job would be a good job to have, because of the talent in-state.

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Me:

Do you think the success you guys had this past season have much to do with these guys deciding not to sign and come to ISU?

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Coach Kingston:

Ya’ know, it’s hard to say. Because the kids are always going to make the best decisions for them in terms of if the money is right, is the situation right and if the team is right. Them seeing that our program has really taken off in the last year or two, it certainly hasn’t hurt, but kids are still gonna make the best decisions for themselves. Otherwise, teams like Miami or Texas would never lose a recruit because they win big every year. So while it still comes down to each players’ situation, I still think it didn’t hurt for them to look at us and say, “Wow, look at the legitimate program we’re going to.”

As opposed to what you've probably read, Coach Mainieri got his grip on a helluva lot of good talent after the signing deadline.

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2- THE VICTIM OF THE DOOMSAYER MEDIA

When the midnight hour rolled around last monday, the news was bad. I even texted the Doctor of College Baseball, “Today wasn’t a good day for Paul.” In the last 30 minutes before the carriage turned into a pumpkin, LSU coach Paul Mainieri and Co. lost out on 1st rounder Zach Lee and sandwich pick Anthony Ranaudo to the Dodgers and Red Sox respectively.

Earlier in the day, Lucas LeBlanc, an 11th round draftee who was considered a shoe-in for school, and SS Garin Cecchini, a 6th rounder, both signed with the Red Sox as well, drooping the shoulders of Tiger fans everywhere. 

So… bad day, right? Every outlet that I read had said so. 

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Holy hyperbole Batman!

When I finally got my hands on the entire list of signees, it turned out that LSU had seven (7) drafted players spurn the pros and want to become Tigers. Seven, man. Damn. So listen people, quit saying the Bayou Bengal empire is crumbling down. 

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Me: 

Okay coach, let me start off by saying that this is your chance to clear the air about your draft deadline day. It wasn’t as big of a disaster as some have made it out to be, right?

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Coach Mainieri:

(laughs) No, it wasn’t that big of a disaster at all, as some people made it out to be for us. It would’ve only been a disaster if we hadn’t have fulfilled any of our needs, and we did. Now, could it have been a better class? Sure. If we had signed Zach Lee, we probably would’ve had the No. 1 ranked recruiting class in the country. But he had 5.25 million reasons not to come to LSU. 

You know, all summer long I didn’t think the Dodgers would sign Lee. But then about 10 days before the deadline, I started hearing rumblings in my baseball circles that they were going to put on a mad rush at the end to get him signed. Now, if it was an organization that was strapped for cash, I don’t think they would’ve done it. But them signing Lee actually helped us keep Kevin Gausman (a 6th round pick) because they didn’t have enough money to offer him what they wanted. In fact, Tommy LaSorda called me the next day and said, “Are you mad at me?” And I said, “Heck no? In fact, I might’ve given Gausman the $5.25 million to be honest.”

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Me:

So if someone would’ve told you that going into Monday, you’d come out of the signing day with seven players that got drafted that were still coming to school, you would’ve taken that, right?”

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Coach Mainieri:

Oh yeah, I would’ve felt very fortunate. Sure. ‘Coz you never know what’s gonna happen with the draft. You know one of the players that surprised me was Lucas Leblanc, an 11th round pick and J.C. All American outfielder who was in my office on Sunday saying he was 100% sure he was coming to school – it was a done deal. The Red Sox had offered him $250,000 and he said that wasn’t even close to what he wanted and they wished him well and said “Good luck with school.” Then, in the last few hours on Monday they suddenly doubled the offer to $500,000 and he decided to sign. So anything can happen on draft day.

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Me:

Of the other guys, who do you think was drafted lower because of signability or other reasons?

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Coach Mainieri:

Well I’ll tell you this, our two 19th rounders, Jacoby Jones (SS) and Ryan Eades (RHP), clearly were top-five round caliber talents, but sometimes teams will just “take a flyer” on a guy in a later round and then throw a bunch of money at them. So I didn’t feel comfortable about them until it was one minute after the signing deadline and I knew they were coming here.

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Me:

Okay, I’ve got a question for you, what were you literally doing between 10 and 11pm Central time? Lighting a candle at church? Holding a voodoo doll? What?

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Coach Mainieri:

I’ll tell you exactly what I was doing. I was sitting on my couch with my computer on my lap and my cell phone next to me. My son Tommy who is in the 10th grade and usually goes to bed about 10 or so, says to me, “Dad, I’m too nervous. I’m gonna stay up with you until the deadline passes.” 

So from 10 to 10:30 I got into a very intense text messaging session with Kevin Gausman, ‘coz he was the one I was sweating out the most. At 10:30, I stopped and told him, “call me at 11:01 and let me know you’re going to become a Tiger.”

After that I got a phone call from Zach Lee and I showed my son who it was on my caller I.D. I started talking to Zach and after a few minutes, I looked at my son Tommy and I gave him the “thumbs down” that Zach wasn’t coming to school, and of course Tommy was distraught. And then, right about at the witching hour, I got a call from Anthony Ranaudo. So again, I showed Tommy who was calling on my caller I.D. and I started talking to Anthony. A few seconds later, I looked at Tommy again and gave him the “thumbs down” again, and he was once again distraught.

Then, I hung up with Anthony and I said to Tommy, “well, I haven’t heard from Gausman yet.” And it was about 11:05 at this time. Then, it got to 11:10 and I started wondering if my clocks were set right. Finally at about 11:15, I couldn’t take it anymore so I called him. I said, “What are you doing? It’s 11:15 and I haven’t heard from you yet!” 

He said, “Oh I’m sorry coach, I’m just messin’ around on my computer.”

I said, “I told you to call me at 11:01. That was the longest 14 minutes of my life. Now I feel like I wanna kill ya’!'” (laughs) 

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Me:

Too awesome. On that note, I hafta ask, did you REALLY think you had a chance to keep Ranaudo?

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Coach Mainieri:

I thought there was a chance. He really loves LSU. And he was asking for $2.5 million and got $2.55 million. But I think he was looking for any reason he could to come back to LSU. He told me there was no way he was going pro unless he was the highest paid right handed pitcher in the draft. I know Matt Harvey went with the 7th overall pick and he got $2.525 million and Ranaudo was offered $2.55 million, so once I found that out I knew he was going to sign. To be honest, the Boston really got anyone they wanted to sign. It’s obvious that the Red Sox just print their own money. 

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3- THE SOON-TO-BE TOP DOG OF A NEW CONFERENCE.

Nebraska is a program in flux. Their years of playing in the Big 12 have seen them rise to heights never even sniffed before, including conference championships and CWS appearances. But the last two years we’ve seen them come up short of making it to the post-season. And soon, the Cornhusker nine will be moving on to the Big 10. So the players they were recruiting this year would be the ones that set the precedent for the new conference. 

Coach Mike Anderson has had his ups and downs with getting his high-profile recruits to school. But this year, the signing deadline was decidedly kind to the Husker head honcho. Losing veteran hurlers like Mike Nesseth and Michael Marriot were expected. So the onus was on Anderson and pitching coach Eric Newman to replenish a staff that was part of a .500 ball club (okay, a big part of that .500 record was due to a brutal schedule, but that’s for another discussion.).

Monday’s deadline passed by and Cornhusker coaches were found to have their big grins on. None of their big targets signed as NU will retain the services of a trio of mound workers in 8th round draftee Logan Ehlers (a LHP), 11th rounder Jon Keller (a RHP) and 26th rounder Brandon Pierce (a RHP).  

Me:

To start with a general understatement, you had a pretty big day on the signing deadline, right?

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Coach Anderson:

Yeah, we had the three high schoolers that didn’t sign with their clubs, plus we’re going to get Sean Yost back as well, who was drafted in the 24th round by the Red Sox. So we feel really fortunate. 

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Me:

How big was getting those guys? Was it vital to your teams’ hopes for 2011?

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Coach Anderson:

Well it’s kind of two-fold here. First, it’s big when you consider that an 8th rounder, an 11th rounder and a 26th rounder come to school because those kids are offered a substantial amount of money to go pro. So it’s always big to get them in your program. And secondly, it’s big because of what’s happened the last two years with the draft. Two years ago we lost eight pitchers to the draft. Last year we survived it okay, but still had some losses. So in the cycle of things, the draft has gotten us pretty good the last few years. But I’ll tell you this, Monday night and Tuesday morning, it sure felt nice to know those guys were going to give us a lot of potential on the mound.

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Me:

Were you surprised to get all three?

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Coach Anderson:

There was a strong foundation for all three of those to come here. But really, the one we were worried about most was Logan Ehlers. The reality is that he set his number with the Blue Jays, and they gave him that number. Then, he raised his number and the Blue Jays matched it again. But in the end, he just told them “Really, I just want to go to school.” And you can never anticipate that. It’s great too because he’s a small-town kid from Nebraska City. And yet he’s been a high-profile kid who has now turned down a substantial amount of money simply because he really wanted to become a Husker. That’s a big thing for us.

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Me:

Do you anticipate all three making a big impact right away?

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Coach Anderson:

We really do. You know, last year we started to get our pitching back to where it used to be after getting devastated by the draft two years ago. So we’ve got a group of sophomores that we feel strongly about. And now these high-profile arms we’ve got will be big. But I have to say there are more first year guys outside of the three drafted guys that will be part of that incoming class that we also feel strongly about. It’s certainly going to be more than just those three.

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Me:

I know it’s hard to tell now, but how does your incoming class rank with some of the ones you’ve brought in recently?

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Coach Anderson:

Really good. Really good. I mean, two years ago we probably had our best class ever, but then when signing day came around we lost every one of them. Then last year we had the highest ranked class we’ve ever had, rated at 13th in the country. I would say this year’s class ranks up there with that one, it’s certainly pitching-strong.

But I will say this, at Nebraska, we’ve had some classes come in that weren’t high-profile like these guys, but then developed into great players. When Joba Chamberlain stepped foot on this campus, nobody knew who he was, but we felt strongly about him and obviously he ended up being one of the best ever.

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Me:

You touched on Sean Yost a bit, was getting him back much of a surprise?

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Coach Anderson:

No, it really wasn’t. The Red Sox picked him in the middle rounds, but they really had their priorities elsewhere. Sean knew it would take the perfect situation and amount of money for him to sign and they just didn’t get that number done. So about halfway through the summer we felt pretty confident that he would be coming back.

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Me:

What were you doing on signing day as the deadline got closer?

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Coach Anderson:

The day was fine. I was in contact with most of those kids throughout the day. It was at night when things started to get a little bit hectic, because of some of the media attention around here and all. They had TV trucks over at Logan’s house and it was a pretty big deal. And plus you never know what is going to happen. As things got closer, at about 10:40 or so, I was on the phone with Logan Ehlers and his father. And Logan was telling me, “Coach, we turned down the offers and I’m coming to Nebraska.” So we talked for about 10 minutes and about that time the conversation is winding down. Well my wife comes over to me and says, “You’ve gotta keep him on the phone for the next 10 minutes just in case Toronto tries to call him.” So I’ve gotta give credit to my wife there. 

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4- A MID-MAJOR DOES SOME MAJOR RELOADING

For the third year in a row, the first round of the draft saw another multi-million dollar arm make the *correct* decision to not give in to the whims of the big-money MLB and spend a few years in our beloved sport of college baseball. Well, I lied, this time there were actually TWO 1st round pitchers that took the education and ran. Number nine overall pick Karsten Whitson will take his golden right arm to play for Kevin O’Sullivan’s Florida Gators. And Dylan Covey, the 14th overall draftee, will take his right arm to the best weather spot in the country and play for San Diego. 

Torero head coach Rich Hill was his usual glowing self as he started off talking about his new non-bonus baby. But unlike Whitson at UofF, his prodigal story had a twist to it. A few days before the signing deadline doctors discovered Covey had Type 1 diabetes. Yes, the same thing that former Cal pitcher Brandon Morrow and former Gonzaga round-baller Adam Morrison had. 

Dylan Covey (left center) and his family burst into celebration back in June when he got drafted 14th overall by Milwaukee. (And in case you're wondering, no, I didn't take this picture in the Covey living room. I got it from the Milwaukee Tribune.)

Because his parents thought he’d have better care and attention at an institution like USD, instead of in the cut-throat world of minor league baseball, Covey decided that college was the place for him. 

In other words, all of college baseball wins.

Me:

Going into the draft back in June, did you have an idea that Covey would be picked that high to begin with?

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Coach Hill:

We knew that he was going to be a 1st rounder. But every once in a while you get these off-the-charts guys that you just have to pursue. It’s signing a calculated risk of course, but there are times when 1st rounders will slip through the cracks, that’s what you hope for. But the odds were that he was going to be offered enough money to head off to pro ball.

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Me:

Were there any signs of his having diabetes before last weekend at all?

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Coach Hill:

No. None whatsoever. With the way negotiations go to the last minute, it was kind of a blessing in disguise for us because if signing day was earlier or if the negotiations with the Brewers had started earlier, it might never have been detected and we would’ve lost him. But because the negotiations started so late, we hadn’t heard anything. Then a couple of days before the signing deadline I got a call from Darrell, Dylan’s father, telling me that he had diabetes. The next day they went up to a specialist in Los Angeles and it was confirmed to be true. And that changed everything, of course. 

But I will say this, Dylan’s family is tied for first in the world in First-Classiestness. They felt strongly that the USD environment would be the best fit for their son and I applaud them for their courage to have the conviction to do what’s best for their son. They didn’t feel that the minors would be the best place for him to deal with this. And at USD, they know he’ll get the best nutrition, the best training, know when to take a shot and when to rest and that our medical staff will give him the best care possible. 

It’s an extremely manageable situation though. He’ll have six months before the season starts to get used to medications and how to handle things. In the long run, I truly believe it will be a good thing for Dylan as far as the change in his nutrition and training habits. In the next six months he’ll get to regulate things and get into a regimen. 

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Me:

Even with this diagnosis, when did you find out for sure he was coming to school?

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Coach Hill:

Well, me and Coach Jay Johnson had both gotten texts from Dylan’s father – who was handling his son’s situation – on Monday night that talks had broken off and that they were very at ease with the possibility of his coming to USD. But at the same time, things between the family and the Brewers were very good. They were first class in understanding the situation and honoring Dylan’s wishes and having what was best for him in mind. The parents couldn’t say enough nice things about the Brewers organization. 

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Me:

Other than Dylan Covey, you had some other recruits that were drafted but didn’t sign, right?

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Coach Hill:

Yes. There were actually three other guys that we feel very strongly about in left-handed pitcher Tyler Painton out of Bakersfield, who was taken in the 13th round by Toronto and right-handed pitcher Mike Wagner out of Las Vegas, who was a 28th round pick by Boston. And we also had shortstop Kris Bryant, also from Vegas, who was an 18th round pick by Toronto coming to campus.

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Me:

I know most coaches don’t like to answer this question as its stated, but is this your best recruiting class you’ve had at San Diego?

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Coach Hill:

It’s always hard to say, but I will say it is definitely one of the best ever. Jay Johnson, our recruiting coordinator, did a great job getting the guys we’ve got coming in. To be honest, some of the guys that didn’t get picked in the draft have a great chance to make a big impact. Two guys we’lre really high on are lefties Paul Paez, who you’re gonna love – he’s 5′9″ but he pitches like he’s 6′5″ – and James Pazos, a J.C. guy from Gilbert Community College in Arizona. They’re both going to play a major part in our plans.

Also, I have to credit my former pitching coach Eric Valenzuela, who is now an assistant coach at San Diego State, because he was the one responsible for recruiting Dylan Covey from the get-go, if it wasn’t for Big E we probably never would’ve had a chance to sign him.

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5- THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK “SO YOU WANT TO MAINTAIN A POWERHOUSE.”

It ain’t so easy people. No, not at all. But one man who has this national power racket down pat is Cal State Fullerton head coach Dave Serrano. The Titans lost in the Supers at UCLA, but at one point they were one out away from going on another trip to Omaha. 

Back on that June night when they were eliminated, as he sat in the UCLA media room that was once the batting cages down the right field line, Serrano was sitting right next to All American Christian Colon and I asked him if he was worried about replacing the Titan shortstop that had meant so much to his program the last three years and to some of the other guys that weren’t going to return, like outfielder Gary Brown.

“No. We just move forward. We have to say goodbye to guys like Christian and Gary and seniors like Billy Marcoe, Joey Siddens and Kyle Mertens. But it’s just part of the cycle. I hope in a few years I’m sitting next to another Christian Colon-type of guy, not that he’s replaceable, but that’s just the way things go at Fullerton.”

Sure as shootin’, Serrano went out and got some wicked-good players to re-stock the shelves. Two of the new Titans will be SS Joe Terry, a J.C. All-American who was chosen in the 8th round by the White Sox, and Michael Lorenzen, a speedy outfielder picked in the 7th round by Tampa Bay. Voila’… here’s your possible replacements for Colon and Brown.

Fullerton also got Fresno State transfer Jake Floethe, a power pitcher who sat out last season and was a 29th round pick., and Carlos Lopez, who was a Frosh All American picked in the 37th round. Both will come back to Fullerton and be dominant forces… you know, just like the typical cycle that goes on every year for the Titans.

Me:

For a team that lost guys like Christian Colon and Gary Brown, tell my readers about the two big studs you brought in from the top 10 rounds.

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Coach Serrano:

We were very lucky to have both. Terry is a guy from Cerritos College, and probably the thing that saved us with him was he had an injury his sophomore year there. He still went very high in the draft and was being courted by the White Sox. We’re hoping he can fill a hole in the middle of our infield where we had some losses. But he’s big and athletic and the best part is that he will hit in the middle of our order somewhere near or around guys like Carlos Lopez, Nick Ramirez and Tyler Pill and will provide another explosive left handed bat. Having that bat is going to help us be strong offensively.

Michael Lorenzen is going to be a treat to coach. He’s been on the Team USA 18-and-under team the last two years and is a high profile guy and a good athlete. But the thing I will say about Michael before I’ve even had a chance to coach him for one day is that he’s a tremendous young man. How he stayed strong to the figure that he gave to the Devil Rays shows the character he has and is confident in the three years he’ll spend here working toward his degree and his development at Cal State Fullerton means so much to him. 

Those two young men are class acts and will make big contributions to our future success. 

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Me:

Are you planning on these guys being replacements for Colon and Brown or do you have different plans for them?

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Coach Serrano:

Well they both have the capability to do that. But we’ll take the fall to evaluate that and take a look at where they fit. Joe has a little more development because he’s played two years of college ball, although Michael is advanced with the summer programs he’s played with. They’re going to have to come in and win jobs, but we’re hoping that their abilities take over and we can plug them in to some of the holes that we have. 

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Me: 

Talk about how close you guys came to getting Peter Tago (a 1st round sandwich pick), the pitcher from Dana Point.

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Coach Serrano:

We never really anticipated him coming in. He had some academic issues to overcome, so if he would’ve come here, school might not have been first and foremost in his mind and was a struggle for him at times. In some instances I believe it’s better for young men to go to college to develop and mature. But in his case, I think taking the sure bet of getting a great contract from the Rockies was the better decision. 

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Me:

Your pitching staff is stacked for next year, but who are some of the new guys coming in that didn’t get drafted that you’re high on?

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Coach Serrano:

We brought in a couple that we really like. We got a guy named Christian Coronado out of Hemet High School that we think the world of. He’s going to be one of those typical guys that, after a few years, people are going to wonder how he was never drafted before. Good, tall right hander with a good arm and he comes to us pitch-ready. A strike thrower.

We got another guy out of Serra High named Graham Wiest who was under the radar because of his velocity and that’s why he was bypassed by the pros. But when we were recruiting him, I categorized him as the Orel Hershiser of high school baseball. He throws three or four pitches for strikes and everything in the strike zone. He tricks hitters and because of that he’ll be a great addition to our philosophy at Cal State Fullerton. The other pitcher we like is a two-way player named Chris Devenski out of Golden West is a good athlete with a power arm and will definitely have a chance to make an impact. 

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Me:

Okay, I’ve got a dumb question for you then, is there ever a point where you have too much pitching?

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Coach Serrano:

No, Eric. Never. Never. Never! Let me assure you, never. (laughs) I will say that while we’ve had pretty good staffs over the last few years, we’ve become known more as an offensive juggernaut and scoring a lot of runs. It hasn’t hurt us, but I think we’re in a place where we’ve got the depth that is more to my liking and I’ll put this pitching staff up against any other staff in the country. 

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OTHER DRAFT DRIVEL.

A handful of knee-jerk reactions to the draft signing day and various lagniappe.

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- I asked each of the coaches I talked to for this piece to comment on the MLB’s draft deadline and how it affects the college game. To a man, each one of them responded nearly identically, “It’s ridiculous that they set the date so late in summer and it’s counter-productive to not only the college game but also to the players that get drafted.” 

All the answers were so similar that I didn’t bother to include them above. Why does the MLB bother to have the date in mid-August when all the teams and agents are going to do is wait until the 11th hour to start serious negotiations anyway? Yep, that’s reason No. 572 to hate the play-for-pay boys.

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- Meant to say something about this back in June, but it’s weird to see Florida State’s Mike McGee get drafted way down in the 41st round (by Arizona). I know it all has to do with talent, potential and tools and all, but Mike is still one of the most valuable players in the country. His being the 1,231st pick in the draft is just bizarre. Not surprisingly, he didn’t sign and will play another season in Garnet & Gold.

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- Living up to his habit, one of Tim Corbin’s biggest catches was high schooler Kevin Ziomek, a left handed pitcher who was picked by Arizona in the 13th round but will play for Vanderbilt instead. Oh, the “habit” part?… Ziomek is another one of Corb’s catches from (try to act surprised) the Northeast. He was a grad of Amherst Regional High School in Massachusetts. Going a little further South, Asheville, North Carolina’s  Joel McKeithan, a shortstop who was picked in the 39th round will also come to Nashville.

Vanderbilt's Aaron Westlake will come back in 2011 to power the Commodores again.

Vandy will also return the services of hard-slugging 1Bman Aaron Westlake, who didn’t sign as a 22nd round pick of Toronto (I hafta admit, that kinda surprised me) and RHP Taylor Hill, a 30th round pick by Cleveland.

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- Want a real draft oddity? UAB’s Ryan Woolley, a RHP, was drafted in the 39th round by Texas. Ironically, in the 2009 draft, he was a 6th round pick after playing his first two seasons at Georgia. Woolley will return for his senior year after going 3-4 and 7.03 on the mound this year.

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- Another surprise was Connecticut pitcher Elliot Glynn. I saw him pitch in Fenway at the Cape Cod League All Star Game in 2009 and his coach Jim Penders couldn’t stop glossing about him when I talked with him last March on a west coast roadie for the Huskies. Then, Glynn gets picked way down in the 49th round by the Padres and of course, he didn’t sign by the August 16th deadline. So I’m sure coach Penders is pretty fired-up that he will have Glynn’s services again in 2011. 

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- The Palmetto state will have some interesting returnees. First off, Clemson will have hard-slugging Jeff Schaus (a 27th rounder of Cleveland) and INF John Hinson (a 13th rounder of Philadelphia) both coming back to make up for the loss of Kyle Parker to the Rockies. Elon has lately been known for its offensive prowess (like the 86 dingers last season), but will get saves specialist Thomas Girdwood back after the Twins couldn’t sign him as a 15th rounder and 9-game winner Ken Ferrer after the Indians didn’t sign him out of the 35th round. The College of Charleston will look to get past that pain of losing the Regional title game by getting back RHP Casey Lucchese, a 39th round pick of the Cubs, and battery mate Rob Kral, a 16th rounder of the Reds. Finally, one of the more exciting players in the country I saw last year, Coastal Carolina’s Scott Woodward, is also returning for his senior campaign after not signing with the A’s out of the 15th round. Bloody good show Scott… I dig that.

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- With scholarship restrictions and the NCAA mandating how much money they can split their scholarships into, it’s rare to see classes like the one San Diego State will bring in, 22 players strong. Wow. And unlike most seasons, this year’s incoming talent is almost entirely frosh, with just two J.C. trasfers. Three of those 22 players were drafted but will come to school, in RHPs Mike Hachadorian, a 33rd round pick of the Yankees, Evan Thomas, a 39th round pick of the Rockies and Phillip Walby, a 50th rounder of the Orioles. In addition, joining those three will be San Diego High School Pitcher of the Year Keegan Yuhl, also a righty. As you might guess, all this pitching talent is quite pleasing to Aztec pitching coach Eric Valenzuela, who said, “All three were drafted low because of their asking price, but all three clubs made a big push to sign them at the end anyway. I have never been this excited to start a fall.” 

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- South Florida could be well-armed for a run next year as both of their weekend aces will return to Lelo Prado’s roster for their senior seasons. Randy Fontanez was picked in the 23rd round by the Reds. You DO recall that it was Fontanez who made headlines last April when he tossed a no-hitter vs. Notre Dame, right? ‘Course you do. Also bolstering the mound corps for the Bulls will be the return of 15th round selection Andrew Barbosa, who was 8-2 with a 2.40 ERA. That’s far out man.

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- New Houston head coach Todd Whitting has already run into a lot of good fortune in his ground-level tenure as a trio of juniors did not sign and will come back to campus in LHP Ty Stuckey (26th round, Reds), LHP William Kankel (33rd round, Astros) and RHP Jared Ray (38th round, Twins). That’s some valuable arms to help the transition of the new staff. Especially Ray, who was 2nd team All-Conference USA in 2009, but had to sit out last season. 

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- Georgia Tech’s Danny Hall would certainly have to be labeled one of the guys with the biggest smiles after last Monday’s happenings. His program was able to keep a hold of six incoming signees after getting drafted, led by 4th round hurler Matthew Grimes and 14th rounder DeAndre Smelter, both righties who Aaron Fitt wrote can both reach the mid-90s. Speaking of hard-throwing righties, Kevin Jacob was picked in the 18th round by the Yankees, but will come back for his senior campaign. 

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- What is it about being the Conference USA Pitcher of the Year that makes you less attractive to the pros? The last two P.O.Y.’s from C-USA both got drafted rather low and are going back to school for another season. The 2010 P.O.Y. Seth Maness of East Carolina didn’t get selected until the 41st round by the Marlins and 2009 P.O.Y. Todd McInnis of Southern Miss didn’t get drafted ’til the 32nd round by the A’s. (Though a lot of that had to do with a strained elbow he suffered near the end of the season, causing him to drop 15-to-20 rounds by some estimates). Great news for ECU, USM and college baseball in general, of course. So I’m not gonna hassle it.

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- Unfortunately, one of my favorite players to watch from last season, won’t be back for 2011, as Florida’s Kevin Chapman, a strapping lefty that could fire a ball through the Great Wall of China, signed with the Royals after getting picked in the 4th round. Although my guess is that the other nine SEC coaches don’t agree with my assertion that this is bad news. 

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- Ah, but don’t shed any Crocodile tears for the Gators as they were chosen as one of the “winners” from last Monday draft dodger rake. The biggest catch was getting one of those all-more-common 1st round pitchers to forego the pros for three years when No. 9 overall pick Karsten Whitson became the highest pick not to sign. Unlike Covey at USD, there didn’t appear to be any extenuating circumstances with his not signing, he just digs the college scene. Following in the footsteps of Gerrit Cole of UCLA and Matt Purke of TCU, look for Whitson to help lead the Gators back to Omaha – and will pull some wins this time around.

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- Don’t expect the Detroit Tigers to send Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn any thank you cards soon. Though they did sign 2nd round pick Drew Smyly from the UofA, OF Collin Kuhn didn’t sign as a 15th round pick and high schoolers Dominic Ficociello – a shortstop from, of all places, Fullerton, California – and OF Nolan Sanburn both turned down offers after being selected in the 23rd and 34th rounds. 

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- To hear Wayne Graham tell Aaron Fitt that RHPs Austin Kubitza (a 7th rounder) and John Simms (a 39th rounder) were “two of the best arms coming out of high school we’ve ever had” is downright scary to everybody who has Rice on their future schedule. Yeah, my open letter to Jameson Taillon didn’t work, but evidently these two should make up for that loss. Especially if they’re going to live up to the Big Man’s praises. Ho hum, the Rice parade of bitchin’ pitchin’ will continue to roll on unabated. 

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- Okay, I didn’t mean to save this for the very end, but I think UCLA head coach John Savage might be pissed at me if I didn’t mention something about the haul of players that will be coming to the Westwood campus this fall, ‘coz these guys are so decorated they’re making “clinking” noises from all the hardware they’ve earned. And it’s not like this team isn’t loaded for 2011 already, but Monday saw them hold on to all five of their high school signees that got drafted, including three that were chosen in the top 10 rounds in 6th round RHP Adam Plutko, 9th round OF Brenton Allen and 10th round RHP Zach Weiss. No pressure coach. 

Damn. Why did I just say that?

G’night.

Nat King Cole: The King of Cool.

Lazy days of summer? Ole Nat King Cole was certainly right about that. 

Ever notice that after the June Classic closes its doors, you tend to move a little bit slower? The days seem longer. Daily chores take forever to complete. Southern drawls get even more drawn out. Even the second hand on a clock seems like it’s stuck in syrup. 

Truth be told, I’m still on that lazy streak that has invaded my life since I left the lights of Rosenblatt in my rear-view mirror, but I’m sure you guys understand. So despite this slight delay, I’d like to take a quick look back at some of the things that made the 2010 college baseball season so cool to me.

I’m hoping this season was a good one for you too. My guess is that you have your own 50 reasons you could give as to why 2010 was a worthy season. In fact, feel free to add your own in the comment section below if you’re so inclined. But for now, here are the 50 reasons I thought the 2010 season was so cool…

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1- Ray Tanner finally getting to lift the trophy

This guy had some championship teams come up short time and again – not that just making it to Omaha ain’t hard enough, mind you. But this time the planets aligned for the Gamecock skipper and he got that oft-elusive brass ring.

Coach Ray Tanner addressing the crowd after winning the national title.

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2- Seeing another non-National Seed win the CWS.

It’s just cool to me. For the seventh time in eight years a non-national seed has won the national title. Makes me smile. Now, when I go on a radio show and the people want to talk to me about the RPI and its foibles, I can still shoot back with “Look, the RPI’s top eight teams have won ONE national title in eight years! If that’s not an indication that the RPI is a horrible formula for placement of teams, I don’t know what is.”

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3- UCLA’s Run

John Savage had a hellish 2009, finishing 27-29 and having a MASH unit full of injuries. Like coach Tanner above, it’s good to see everything fall into place for the dude. He’s built a monster in Westwood, make no bones about it. And they’ve had good teams the last few years, but this edition sent the Bruins into the stratosphere.

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4- TCU making the CWS.

Everybody groaned when they saw TCU matched up with Texas when the Regional brackets were announced (and if you didn’t, you should’ve). Both teams belonged in Omaha. Yet, Jim Schlossnagle’s team was up to the challenge this time, going into Austin and beating the Longhorns on their pasture. 

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5- Oklahoma making it to Omaha as well.

The reason I liked seeing both TCU and OU make the field of eight is because after the opening weekend I had both teams in my personal Top 10 ‘coz I really believed they were better than where most people had them ranked. To see them make it to Omaha made me feel like I really knew what I was talking about. For once.

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6- Gerrit Cole and Matt Purke pitching in Omaha

Cool to see a pair of former 1st round draft picks actually go to college, much less lead their teams to the CWS. This is GREAT p.r. for our sport. Hopefully more top flight talent follows suit in the years to come.

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7- Seeing Arizona State not miss a step under Tim Esmay

Yeah I know, stop me if you’ve heard this one before. But the first thing I noticed about the Devils when I saw them early this year was how relaxed and loose the team played. You could see it right away, these guys were having fun. And if the 52-10 record is any indication, it manifested itself in the win-loss column too.

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8- TCU taking out a full page in the Omaha World Herald to thank the city.

That was a first class move. And rightly so… Omaha embraced the Frogs and turned them into princes for a few days in June. Here’s the ad:

The bottom of the page had a message that said, "Thank you for your support and hospitality... we hope to see you again next year." (Nice touch Frogs)

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9- Beers with Kyle Peterson

Loved getting the straight dope on some issues and stories off the college game from the best in our business. (Oh, and I loved the Holiday Lounge, with its interior straight out of a scene from the Rockford Files.)

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10- Finding out that Kyle Peterson and Eric Byrnes don’t hate each other.

Like a lot of people, after hearing Byrnes in the booth during the Coral Gables Regional, I kept thinking that he was just trying to piss off KP the whole time. But Kyle assured me that they are great friends and he had a blast covering games with Byrnesy. So that’s cool.

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11- Beers with Etheridge, Kenney, Fitt and Rogers.

During the championship series in Omaha we all hooked up for a few post-game brews and all of us told our “here’s why South Carolina fans hate me” stories. That was fun.

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12- Got to write for ESPN.com

Okay, it’s good for me, sure. But the better part is that ESPN appears to be getting a little bit more serious about our sport and cared enough to finally have some original content for their weekend previews – whether it came from me or not.

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13- The drive on I-8

I discovered the absolute best stretch of interstate – outside of Montana’s No Speed Limit interstate system. From Phoenix to San Diego, Interstate 8 was one great, wide-open ride. And barely an 18-wheeler to be found. Bitchin’.

If only every stretch of interstate could be like this.

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14- Taking in a few innings with Tanya Graham at the Rice-USD game.

It’s always unique to hear the wife’s side of the story for the struggles (and joys) of being a college baseball coach. It really makes you appreciate the woman behind the man… and also makes you really hate some fans in this world for what they put these ladies through.

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15- Going to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club with Rich Hill

Turns out that the San Diego head coach is a real fan of garage rock-n-roll and back in March we got to hang out for a bit and see BRMC at the House of Blues in downtown SD. (Thought I’d also say, his son Robbie is a burgeoning musician himself and is way, way, way smarter than I could ever be.).

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16- LSU playing at the Los Angeles Regional

See?… The Earth didn’t stop spinning because the Tigers had to go on the road in the post-season. In fact, I thought it was really cool to have LSU come play out West. It wasn’t the finish coach Mainieri wanted for his team in 2010, but seeing those passionate fans energize the fan-bases of UCI and UCLA too… that was cool. Great atmosphere.

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17- Garrett Wittels streak

The 56-game hit streak swept the nation in June. It was a great, and unexpected, bonus to my trip to the Sun Belt Tournament to have Wittels’ streak still be intact and watch him add to it. His 9th-inning, full-count double to the wall in right center in game one of the SBC tournament was white-knuckle nervous time.

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18- Getting the Sun Belt Experience First Hand

In 2010, the Sun Belt was the “It” conference as far as mid-majors go. I was lucky enough to see games at South Alabama and Middle Tennessee during the season and both have really big time stadiums that rival most of the BCS schools’ facilities. Oh, and the Sun Belt was the best non-Big Six conference in the country. Well done boys.

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19- Seeing Mercer and FIU dogpile

As much as I rue the dogpile, in general, it is still awesome to see the raw emotion of a team’s highest point of the season exhibit itself on the field during conference tournament week.

Mercer players celebrate making the Big Dance after beating Jacksonville in the A-Sun tourney.

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20- George Horton opening the season with a win at Fullerton

Emotional night. But also cool to see the mustachio’d one back in his old stomping grounds AND – most importantly – after a 14-42 season in 2009, the win over the Titans was a horn-blowing proclamation that the Ducks were for real. 

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21- Niall Adler getting the SoCal and NoCal Media Days back to relevance.

I love ALL of you SIDs out there, but Niall pulling this off – with the help of Easton, of course – proves he’s the best there is in the business. Dear Stanford, get this guy a raise NOW! 

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22- Interviewing all those coaches in the pre-season

It’s great to talk to these guys in a relaxed atmosphere like the Media Days. Sure, there’s still a lot of “coach speak” going on, but these guys were really loose off-camera and that’s where most of the fun was. 

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23- This picture…

Right place at the right time: I caught this shot of Tyler Gaffney leaping over UCLA's Steve Rodriguez.

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24- Having the parents of players come up and ask for copies of pictures like that.

One of the main reasons I like to post so many pictures on my site is because the parents really seem to dig it and often ask for copies. Hmmm… maybe I should start charging.

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25- Getting one of my pics on the front page of the Miami Herald 

While at the Sun Belt tournament I was contacted by the Herald about using a handful of my pictures. So on my roadie to Tennessee, I got to make a little extra cash on the side too. Bitchin’. Here’s the pic they used for the front page of their website that Sunday night of conference tournament week:

FIU players give Turtle Thomas the cooler treatment after winning the Sun Belt.

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26- The MLB Urban Invitational

Still the coolest tournament and the best cause of any weekend gathering of any season.

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27- Seeing the new Alex Box Stadium

Finally got to take in a game in the new shrine to bayou baseball. It was definitely different than the old box – some things better, obviously, but some things that weren’t as good. (I kept looking for the volume’s “up” dial).

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28- The usual SEC bloodbaths.

It’s never a bad season in the monster conference, ifyouknowwhatimean. But another example of its awsomeness was the first game of the SEC Tournament, which saw a full house file in for the Auburn-Alabama game that started at 9am. From what I heard from Jeremy Mills, there was a massive traffic jam in the area from the mad crush to get to the stadium.

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29- Minnesota’s post-season run

Coach John Anderson told me that injuries and the rainier-than-normal fall (not the Minnesota winter) ruined his teams’ chance at scrimmaging and valuable outside time. So despite a crap start to the season, when May came around the Gophers mojo rolled around. In Fullerton, The U’s infield was as sharp as any team I’d seen in years and Seth Rosin was a monster, leading the Maroon and Gold to the Regional title round.

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30- Northern baseball made big leaps this year.

While I’m on the Minnesota kick here, teams like Oregon, UConn, St. John’s, Louisville, Washington State and Dartmouth all acquitted themselves very well and all are programs that are on the uptick. In addition, the Big 10 is about to get a little bit better with the addition of Nebraska – who you know is a program that won’t be down for long. 

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31- My D-2 experiences

One of the things I’m starting to enjoy about the late February start date is that it affords me a few weekends to see some D-2 and NAIA games to prime me for the D-1 season. So I got to see Western Oregon at UC-San Diego (the No. 1 ranked team in D-2), which led me to going to see D-2 Regional final at the Urban Youth Academy in Compton in May, where the Tritons won their way to the D-2 World Series.

UC-San Diego's Vance Albitz, a D-2 All American.

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32- Seeing John Smith coach his last game

One of the truly nice guys in the last 32 years of college baseball rode off into the sunset with a game at Fresno State. I was glad to witness it and talk to him afterward. (Bummer side of things: Not being able to be there for Dusty Rhodes last game at the A-Sun tourney because of rain delay and the Wittels Watch)

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33- Nobody named Garrido, Gillespie, Graham, Stephenson or Martin announced their retirement.

… and that’s really cool.

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34- Having a beer at Blair Field

And this one goes out to the departed Mike Weathers of Long Beach State. He’s a cool guy.

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35- Coppin State coach Mike Scolinos.

It’s always satisfying to get a “thank you” from coaches, but my interview with him was really cool. Thanks for the t-shirt Mike. But where are you now coach?

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36- New Mexico State head coach Rocky Ward telling me I had my facts wrong.

I even like it when coaches write me to tell me I screwed something up, like Coach Ward did. I ended up calling him on the phone and after a short explanation on things, we ended up having a 45-minute conversation, mostly about things like Popeyes Chicken, the RPI and AC/DC. Awesome.

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37- Talking to Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin about Bobby Orr.

I’m a big puck fan, so talking to the Boston native and getting his opinion on how he thinks Orr is “easily being the best player of all time” was a kick.

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38- Discovering the next hot name for the coaching carousel.

Best road trip of the season? My daddy-doggie trip I took to Southern Utah to go do some mountain hiking and to see the T-Birds play South Dakota State (in the late-April snowfall, might I add) led by the highly-successful Ritchie Price, who steered the Jackrabbits to a 39-21 record and tied for the Summit Conference title. That’s heady stuff for a 26-year old head honcho… 39 wins at a freakin’ Dakota school? This guy’s going places.

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39- The Baldcasts

The hateful, repugnant waste of six or seven minutes was fun to do and hopefully a new approach to a regurgitation of thoughts that you appreciated. Only problem was, YouTube puts a 10-minute cap on anything that is posted like that, so I had to just breeze over most of the topics. Maybe a 30-minute network show should be the next step. 

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40- All the radio hosts that had me on their shows this year.

Especially Mike Grose in Phoenix who started my segment with him having Rush’s ‘Red Barchetta’ as the music bed right before I came on. (I had mentioned that song in my ‘Road to Omaha’ column).

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41- My Road to Omaha

Two stops in Telluride. Nearly half-price gasoline. A lot of Americana (like getting hit up for money by a hobo everytime I filled the tank). I loved my drive to The O and back. Not sure if I’ll ever fly again.

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42- Seeing the Pac 10’s comeback.

After being the top-ranked conference in 2008, the Pac took a major dive in 2009, getting just three teams into the NCAAs. But this year, they were back to their usual selves. Even had a commenter on my board ask early in the season, “Is it possible for the Pac 10 to get nine teams in this year? Just askin’.”

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43- The coaching in the state of Alabama.

Both Alabama and Auburn needed this. UA’s Mitch Gaspard and AU’s John Pawlowski orchestrated both schools back to national relevance this season. Good to see.

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44- Davenport Field for the VaTech-UVa game

This place was way bigger than I was expecting. And crowds started showing up for the Friday night tilt well before gametime. Good to see what UVa coach Brian O’Connor has done with that “sleeping giant” program he told me about in 2006.

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45- Big crowds started popping up in odd places.

*36,056 at Target Field to see Minnesota host Louisiana Tech in the biggest crowd of the college season.

*14,588 at Dodger Stadium to see UCLA and USC, proving that even in L.A. college baseball can pull a big crowd given the right conditions.  

*8,487 turned out at PGE Park in Portland for the Oregon-Oregon State game. The Civil War, stitched-ball style, begins.

* 5,684 showed at the Norwich Regional for Oregon vs. UConn, proving that Regionals in the Northeast can do just fine.

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46- Fordham’s Brian Kownacki doing the Superman flip over Iona catcher James Beck.

Not only was it an incredible play, but he also was up for an ESPY because of it. Too bad he didn’t win it. But the play got college baseball a lot of publicity.

A couple frames of the Kownacki Flip that came in 2nd in voting for an ESPY.

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47- Hearing that Zesto is opening a downtown location near the new stadium.

That was great to hear that the Zesto tradition will carry on… even though the Stadium View card shop won’t. 

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48- The “Take Me Out To the Ballgame” Trumpeter

It was a first class finale for the closing of a first class old school ballpark. Sent it out on an eerie, yet reflective note with the classic baseball song. Ciao Rosenblatt. 

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49- Getting my baggie of Rosenblatt infield dirt

And just for the hell of it, I went ahead and grabbed a pocketful of warning track gravel too.

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… and finally, 

50- Easton

Hey, I gotta give it up to my “corporate champion” (as the NCAA likes to call theirs) once again. Look, who else in the sport of college baseball are bigger fans or supporters than Easton? I defy you to tell me.

Oh, and it’ll only get better next year too.

The reason for my truancy.

I know. I know. It’s been 20 days since South Carolina dogpiled and I filed my last real bit of writing here on the site. Mea culpa. As I told Easton’s Kyle Horn, when asked about my lack of entries since Omaha, it’s like decompressing from rehab. I have to get used to not chasing the dragon first. 

Well not to worry ladies and gents, I’m good now. After starting and stopping a few times the last two weeks, I’m finally ready to finish a daily entry here at College Baseball Today. 

And let me start by adding a few more thoughts and short tales from the College World Series that I wasn’t able to add during the 10 days I was there. 

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- YOU MIGHTA THOUGHT THIS WOULD HAPPEN A FEW YEARS AGO.

One of the first things that struck me after South Carolina won the national championship this season was the irony over this not necessarily being one of the better teams that Ray Tanner had put together in Columbia. He had a streak of even-numbered seasons where his 2000, 2002 and 2004 teams were certainly worthy of a “favorites” role in the post-season.

But it wasn’t only those teams. In fact, it’s weird to me that the Gamecock team of two or three years ago didn’t come close to sniffing a national title. Talents like Justin Smoak, Reese Havens, James Darnell, Andrew Crisp and DeAngelo Mack went through never lifted the trophy skyward. But that’s what we’ve come to in college baseball.

You have to say that Ray Tanner did his best coaching job in 2010.

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- SMELLEY DECISION-MAKING

You want cruel irony? Take the case of Chris Smelley. 

The former all-state high school quarterback and catcher decided to give up baseball to play football in college. His choice? South Carolina. But after going 9-6 in two years as the mostly-starting signal-caller for the Gamecocks, he’d figured he’d had enough of Steve Spurrier’s mind games. So he bolted Columbia and decided to transfer back to his hometown university – Alabama. Only now, he gave up football and decided to concentrate solely on baseball as a Tide-roller. This past spring he started 10 games and had 33 at-bats for Bama, hitting .152 along the way.

So what did his transfer of schools and sports mean? Well, had he stuck with football, he could’ve been a national champion for the Crimson Tide football team this past fall. Then again, had he had decided on pursuing baseball a bit sooner, he could’ve stayed in Columbia and now won a national championship on the diamond. 

And you think you’ve got rotten luck? 

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- BAYLER

As you guys probably have read already, South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner had dedicated this trip to Omaha to seven-year old Bayler Teal, who died of cancer during the first week of the CWS. His passing was felt by the entire team and Coach Tanner made mention of the young man during the post-game celebration when he was addressing the crowd on the p.a. A few minutes later in the post-game press conference, Tanner was asked about his thoughts on Bayler. Choked up, he responded with this:

“We battle. We compete. And a lot of times you put too much into it and we lose perspective. And our players do a great job of reaching out to people in our community and volunteer work and hospital visits and Bayler –  Bayler just came to us. We visited the hospital. Coach Holbrook had an experience in his family. And it just – it was one of those situations that this felt right. 

And he really became a part of our program. And he was always in our thoughts and prayers. We would get updates on how he was doing when we traveled.  His dad would stay in constant contact with Coach Holbrook. So he really was a part of who we are, and we thought about him so many times. 

And I’ve gotta believe right now he’s probably smiling right now and a happy camper looking down upon us.”

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- THE ADAMS FACTOR

UCLA coach John Savage has had some great mentors. Mike Gillespie, the recently deceased John Wooden and even the late Rod Dedeaux. But I thought one of the forgotten men in his coaching rise was former Bruin skipper Gary Adams. I don’t know if it was the perfect time to ask him, but I brought Adams name up to him in the final post-game press conference from Rosenblatt. 

“Gary is one of the best guys in college baseball. Gary was here for 30 years, established a very good program.  Means a lot that he’s back this weekend to enjoy this moment. I know he’s very proud. 

I know the former Bruins, all those players that played for him cherish the moments and times that they spent with Gary. And whenever you’re at a program for 30 years, you know, you make a major impact. And when I got the job at UCLA, Gary could not have been any better. I mean, the guy is so generous and professional, kind, giving – I mean, that’s the way to describe Gary Adams. So I have a ton of respect for Gary and what he did at UCLA and certainly always will. And I feel very humbled to be in the position that he was in.”

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- ME AND THE GAMECOCK GUY

Quick story here. 

As was my practice near the end of most games in Omaha, I went down to behind home plate near the end of the first game of the championship series to capture a few pictures. Sitting in the aisle at the netting, I was right next to an old South Carolina fan, who was obviously digging what was happening on the field with the Gamecocks on the way to a 1-0 lead in the title series. 

That’s when he noticed me and my media credential next to him, taking pictures.  Here’s how the subsequent conversation went:

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Carolina guy:

Are you a baseball writer?

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Me:

What makes you say that? Maybe I’m just a photographer.

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Carolina guy:

Your credential.

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Me:

Hmmm. Okay. 

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Carolina guy:

Let me ask you, how is it that we’ve got two teams from these piddly little towns that made it here?

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Me:

Huh? You mean South Carolina and who?

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Carolina guy:

Yeah! Us and Clemson. Why is it two teams from these piddly little towns can dominate college baseball?

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Me:

Well, I wouldn’t say Columbia is a piddly little town. It IS the state capital ya’ know? And both Carolina and Clemson are big schools. SEC and ACC and all.

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Carolina guy:

You from Los Angeles?

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Me:

(Wondering how the hell he suspected that) 

Not as far as you know.

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Carolina guy:

Then you tell me, how is it that we don’t get any respect?

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Me:

If you ask me, you get plenty of respect. Hell, you guys are one of ten best programs of the last 10 years.

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Carolina guy:

Then how come none of you writers are giving us a chance to win this?

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Me:

C’mon, you’re now 27 outs away from a national title. Who’s not giving you a chance?

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Carolina guy:

Nobody EVER gives us a chance. We’re just a team from this piddly little town and the media hates us.

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At that point I realized I wasn’t going to make up any ground here with this guy, so I started acting like I was snapping pictures at breakneck speed. I appreciate passionate fans, but this was getting near the unreasonable side of things. At about that time, the p.a. played Chubby Checker’s “Do the Twist” for the in-between innings entertainment and I don’t want to to even begin try to describe the way the old codger was dancing to the song. That really made me feel better. 

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- READY FOR TACKLING DUMMIES.

Right before the final game, I was on my way down to the field level and was stopped by one of the policemen that was manning the ballgirls’ gate behind home plate. I was about to pass him on the way to the field and stopped for a second and decided to tell him, “Ya’ know, I keep waiting for the time during this series where another one of those idiots jumps out onto the field from general admission and you get to lay a form tackle on him.”

He laughed for a second and shot back with, “Well, if it’s gonna happen, tonight’s the night for it.”

And of course, we saw what ended up happening… it wasn’t just one idiot, it was two. Unfortunately, neither of them got very much of a brutal tackle put on them. The girl was flung down by her backpack and the dude was on the ground before anyone could bother to notice. 

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- THE BIRTHDAY CHICK 

During the fireworks show at the end of the evening, I talked briefly with the Omaha police officer that escorted the girl that ran onto the field off the field. I asked him what her deal was – why she ran onto the field. He said, “She told me when I started walking her off the field, ‘Today’s my 21st birthday!’ and I told her, ‘Congratulations, you’re going to spend your 21st birthday in jail.’”

According to the cop's testimony, this girl's 21st birthday was spent in the pokey.

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- AWKWARD MOMENT 1

Had a totally unavoidable/strange moment after the final game was over. After the trumpeter played “Take me out to the Ballgame” one last time and the celebration was over, it was time for me to head for the post-game press conference. And from the field, the quickest way to the interview room is to pass through the 1st base dugout and up the stairwell below the stands, the same stairs the players take to the interview room. 

As I started up the stairs, UCLA coach John Savage was mid-way up the stairwell and putting the last few things of his into his Easton duffle bag. As I got close to him he blurted out, “Hey Eric.” to me. Not really sure what to say to a coach that just lost the national championship game, I quickly snapped back with the only thing that was on my mind, “Coach… great freakin’ season man.”

Luckily my brain wasn’t stuck in “Man, that game sucked for you guys!” or “So you’re now 0-and-1 in national titles, coach.” mode. 

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- AWKWARD MOMENT 2

After UCLA had eliminated TCU on Saturday the 26th, I was out on the field joining the hundreds of photographers trying to shamefully capture images of the Horned Frogs in their despair (I hate when photographers do that… yet, here I am). While walking in front of the TCU dugout, I walked right next to TCU’s baseball Sports Information Director Brandie Davidson, who was obviously upset over the Frogs having ended their magical season. So, again, I happened upon somebody in an unavoidable situation where you have no idea what to say. 

I quickly thought, “Okay Eric, don’t say something like ‘hey good season Brandie.’ or ‘Sorry you guys lost, Brandie.’ or anything stupid like that.” What ended up happening was that I ended up telling her, “I still love you.”… oh great Eric. That was even stupider than anything you thought about.

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- I WIN A MEDAL.

During one of the lengthy UCLA games during the CWS, my bud Mark Etheridge of SEBaseball.com turned to me and said, “Eric, you deserve a medal for putting up with these long west coast games you go to all year long.”

And he does have a point. But I will say this, it never seems as bad during the regular season. Of course, that may also be because they tend to exaggerate things in the post season in an attempt to get teams further out of their comfort zone. 

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- AN OPEN LETTER TO JAMESON TAILLON.

Dear Jameson,

I know you were the top high school pitcher in the country this past season and just got drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the 2nd overall pick of the draft and everything. Congrats on that. I also know you are close to signing a multi-million dollar deal and going to become one of those instant-billionaires and all. Sure must be exciting. 

But I’ve got three names for you: Gerrit Cole, Matt Purke and Stephen Strasburg.

And I’ve got three more words for you too: College. World. Series. 

The first two guys were former 1st round draft picks that found our sport of college baseball way too valuable to pass up. And because of that, they’re lives are much more enriched because of it. Both are at great baseball programs. Both are at great academic institutions. And best of all, both have made it to the College World Series, one of the grand stages of the sport. 

If you decide to follow their exemplary lead, you too could attain all those things and who knows, maybe even a national title. How bitchin’ will that be? Being the winning pitcher in the last game of the season on Omaha’s main stage and lifting Wayne Graham up on your shoulders one last time before he retires? Doesn’t that beat riding busses for three years in podunk mining towns with a bunch of guys that would rather you pitch really crappy so they can have your spot on the roster? 

Oh, that third guy I mentioned up there? Strasburg. You probably know his story, going from being a big man on campus at San Diego State to being the most popular man in D.C., making his millions after all.

One last thing… let me take a page from the Mark Marquess tools of recruiting. Jameson, would you rather meet your future wife at an institution of high acclaim like Rice University? Or some minor league skank in a roadside bar in Ampipe, Pennsylvania?

Do yourself a favor. Do college baseball a favor. Don’t sign.

Sincerely,

Right minded people everywhere.

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- THE HOME RUN DERBY.

So, it appears as if CBS felt so inclined to televise the first ever college home run derby that was held at Rosenblatt Stadium last week. East Tennessee State’s Paul Hoilman won it with a dazzling display that looked somewhat like Mark McGwire – oops, sorry big man, didn’t mean to equate you with a steroid freak – given his big dimensions and his reddish hair. 

The odd thing was, CBS College Sports also decided to air a half-hour Home Run Derby “preview” show as well, featuring host Adam Zucker and the “Big Hurt” Frank Thomas. Which made me wonder, was that really necessary? And secondly, if they had the money for this, couldn’t they have had the money to televise a Regional? Just one? 

East Tennessee State's Paul Hoilman not only won the college home run derby, but also got to hang out with Andre Dawson and Mike Schmidt, plus had a nice conversation with Tracy Wolfson.

The seven participants in the derby were Hoilman, Jordan Ribera of Fresno State, Matt Skole of Georgia Tech, Matt Gaudet of LSU, Ricky Oropesa of USC, Dan Paolini of Siena and Matt Leeds of College of Charleston.

The good part about the competition? Of the seven competitors, six of them are slated to return to the college ranks next season. Hoilman himself was a junior this past season, but was curiously drafted way down in the 49th round. So his return for a senior season seems likely. 

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- STEINBRENNER.

Okay, so one of the most well-known team owners in baseball died. I get that. All thoughts and best wishes to his grieving family and the Yankee organization, of course. 

But I’ve got a question for you: Why do we have to glorify everyone in death? I remember when Richard Nixon died, all they talked about was that he was the man that re-opened trade with China. Forget thefact that the man was a criminal and perpetrated further involvement in the Vietnam War. Just like when King George left this mortal coil, I saw headlines like “Steinbrenner remembered as benevolent boss” and “Much loved Yankee boss will be missed.”

I’m sorry, but I remember him as being a two-sided figure. One of those being that he was one of the biggest pricks in sports. This is the dude that once publicly referred to College World Series hero Dave Winfield as the mocking nickname “Mr. May” and disparaged people left and right in his organization. Sure, he did some benevolent things – such as personally putting lights up at Grambling’s practice facilities a few years ago – but overall, he ruled with an iron fist and always made hasty decisions that ruined many people’s lives. 

In some of the tributes splashed all over ESPN the last few days I saw one interview from 2003 in which he said “loyalty and devotion” were the most important things in life. I’m sorry, but this jerk had neither of these characteristics in his early career. Don’t you remember when the blackard went out and fired uber-successful Billy Martin time and time again in his managerial stint? The record shows that this dude officially had 22 managers in 24 years.

This corporate bully should be remembered for a number of things, but as anything BUT a kind-hearted, sweet soul. Good riddance little Georgie. 

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- AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

Not that I totally agree with the dude’s personal vendetta here or anything, but for a different perspective on the passing of George Steinbrenner, here’s former Red Sox pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Collegiate Baseball's Lou Pavlovich.

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- LOU.

During this past College World Series, I got the chance to finally officially meet one of the pillars in the college baseball writing community in Collegiate Baseball’s Lou Pavlovich. Great guy. Really nice. And of course, he’s been doing this college baseball writing thing much, much longer than any of us greenhorns in the business. He’s seen everything in his tenure behind the lens and as a publisher, from the USC dynasty of the 60s and 70s to the Grand Illusion to the Gary Burnham foul ball incident to the rise of Oregon State.

During the series, Lou stays in the photo wells almost the entire time and I’ve never seen him in the press box. So he’s like myself, hates the quiet sterility of the press box, especially when you can take the game in up close and personal. (Albeit, when the temperatures get above 95, I question that thinking.) 

Oh, and I hate to be a prima donna here, but the coolest thing of all… he told me he’s a big fan of my coverage and style of writing. That’s a huge compliment coming from the master. (Blush. Blush.)

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DAMN THAT TOMMY JOHN.

I know the season just ended and all, but already, the news out of Baton Rouge ain’t so great. Two key pitchers from the 2010 squad are already expected to miss the 2011 season as both Joey Bourgeois and Chris Matulis will apparently be having Tommy John surgery this off-season and will miss all of next spring. 

Both pitchers were huge keys to the early season success of the Tigers’ 32-8 start. Bourgeois was a Sunday starter early in the SEC slate posting 4-1/6.68 numbers on 12 starts. Matulis was also a key figure in the conference chase, posting 5-3/5/33 marks and making eight starts along the way. 

But of course, if any team can withstand this kind of attrition, it’s the Tigers. Already, two huge arms that were high draftees have been mentioned to be coming to campus as 6th round pick Kevin Gausman and 19th round pick Ryan Eades both have indicated serious consideration to coming to campus and skipping the pros. Good thing. I mean really… would these dudes rather be heroes on the Baton Rouge campus or riding rickety busses in podunk towns full of people that would rather beat them up than raise them up? C’mon. 

The college baseball gods are angry over people trying to pick the eight teams in Omaha a full year in advance.

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OKAY, OKAY, HERE’S MY “EIGHT FOR OMAHA 2011″

As I’ve mentioned here before millions of times, if you see your favorite team listed among the early projections for the “Field of Eight” that come out right after the just-completed CWS, then you’re almost assured that they won’t be there. Every year, myself and plenty of other college baseball writers try our hand at picking the teams that we’ll see in Omaha 350+ days ahead of time – and every time we are all nearly completely wrong. For instance, in my original prognostication from last year, I only got two correct: UCLA and Clemson. I also had Arizona State, Florida and Florida State under my “Six to watch” section too.

Remember who I didn’t choose last year? Everybody and their brother had LSU and Texas pegged to return to Omaha in 2010. (In fact, where ARE all those Emailers that cried bloody murder for my not putting them in there?). And look at what happened. I mean, who could’ve predicted a 7.32 ERA for Anthony Ranaudo anyway? 

So with many, many asterisks, here are my drop-dead, lead pipe cinch, bank-on-it, “Eight for Omaha 2011″ picks that I am never wrong about:

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- Cal State Fullerton

- TCU

- Florida

- Arkansas

- UCLA

- Stanford 

- Wichita State

- UConn

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There. Done. Fini.

You might notice that most of these teams had really solid freshman and sophomore pitching staffs. To the surprise of no one, that’s why the first six listed are pretty self-explanatory. As for the last two? Well, normally you’ve gotta include a shocker or two (oops, no pun intended… well, yeah, it’s sorta intended). I mean, keep in mind people, only three of the eight national seeds made it to Omaha this season. And two of those were the first two teams eliminated – Arizona State and Florida.  

Oh, and my “Six to Watch”? Here you go:

- Texas A&M

- Oregon 

- Texas

- Clemson

- St. John’s 

- … and the remainder of the SEC

There, that’ll cover my ass for next year.

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Okay, time to go. More later.

G’night.

Okay, this one’s pretty self-explanatory. The new stadium is on the way and everybody has had their tributes to Rosenblatt over the past week or two. So why not join the hit-parade on that, right? I thought I’d go ahead and add my ten favorite moments that I have experienced first-hand inside the Mecca of College Baseball. So here you go. Enjoy.

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10- Paul Mainieri brings LSU back – 2009

Taken from the “Nice guys DO finish first” department.

I always thought Skip Bertman was a great coach, great motivator, great program-builder, etc., etc. His only problem…  an ego the size of Greenland. I still firmly believe he set up Smoke Laval to fail miserably as his successor as part of his “you’ll miss me when I’m gone” campaign. And yes, I realize that is nearly tantamount to a conspiracy theory. But let’s face it, had “Slip”, as Mickey Mantle once called him, hired Mainieri as his immediate successor, I firmly believe the Tiger program would not have skipped a beat. 

That’s part of what made LSU’s 2009 national title so satisfying to me personally. That, and the fact that Mainieri is just the opposite of Bertman, a true down-to-Earth, good-natured soul who doesn’t put himself above anyone. And did I mention he’s as friendly as all get-out? The dude rules. So it was great to see a really good guy attain the top spot in our sport while also returning a program where it was used to being.

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9- Sitting on the warning track – 1978

Courtesy of the “No way in hell they’d ever do THIS nowadays” department.

When USC and Arizona State played the winner’s bracket game in the ‘78 series, there were so many fans packed into Rosenblatt that officials eventually roped off a portion of the left field foul area and we were allowed to sit on the gravel of the warning track. Back then, the average attendance for a CWS game was just under 9,000 and there was no outfield seating. The gen-ad sections were two sets of steal bleachers down each line. But for this game it was packed to the gills to say the least. 

I remember, when the ASU pitchers were warming up in the bullpen later in the game, they made us move further up along the 3rd base warning track to avoid sitting directly behind the catchers. But by the later stages of the game, enough people had left the stands and all the warning track people were moved to the gen-ad bleachers. USC won the game 5-2.

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8- The 1995 CWS.

Special thanks to the “Oh, she’s a keeper” department.

This was my first trip back to Omaha in over 10 years and I was living in Dallas at the time. I watched every game closely all week long and near the end of bracket play, my girlfriend at the time told me, “We should go up there for the last few days.” I had just been laid off from my job, so we loaded up my ‘64 Dodge Dart which had a coat hanger for an antenna and made the 10-hour drive to Mecca. Once there we saw three games in three days, including Cal State Fullerton – one of the best teams in college baseball history – beating USC 11-5 for the national title behind Mark Kotsay, Brian Lloyd and C.J. Ankrum. 

Oh, and given that my girlfriend was a college baseball fan, I eventually made her my wife and my official CWS photographer.

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7- The 2000 CWS.

Exclusive to the “Somebody pinch me” department.

This was my first “working” College World Series. I couldn’t believe I was actually getting paid to do this. 

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6- Fresno State’s national championship run – 2008

Courtesy of the “Hey big-money snobs, mid-majors CAN play” department.

Not that I cheer for anyone – I hate all teams on the same level, as you know. But the Wonderdogs were not only “is this really happening?” worthy, but great fun to watch. I wasn’t around to see Pepperdine or Wichita State win their titles in ‘92 and ‘89, so this mid-major title run was really special. Who would’ve thought a team with a thread-bare pitching staff and banged-up batting order could win it all? And from the WAC? Great story.

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5- Cal State LA’s “Shadow Ball” warmups – 1977

From the “They’ll never make it to Omaha again” department.

Much like TCU this year, CSU-LA (not to be confused with UCLA) made a big splash before the CWS by upsetting No. 1-ranked USC to advance to Omaha. Once there, the then-nicknamed Toros endeared themselves with the fans by performing their infield warm-ups without a ball. Their “shadow ball” routine drew a lot of attention and big guffaws, especially when, at the end of the routine, the coach would feign hitting a ball straight up for the catcher to catch, but instead, the catcher would end up looking skyward for 10 seconds and, as if bewildered over not seeing the ball ever come down, would put his hands on his hips and walk off.

The Toros, who now go by the nickname “Eagles”… borrrrring, went 2-2 in the ‘77 CWS and have since dropped down to Division II.

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4- The championship game streaker – 1974.

With permission of the “At least this is civil disobedience with a concept” department.

Unlike the numbskulls of recent years who merely run on the field just to be idiots, this guy highlighted a nation-wide phenomenon AND had a concept to his on-field intrusion. My father and I were sitting on the first row above the walkway in section J, right behind home plate for this game and in the 9th inning, the naked man came bolting from out of the concourse and ran right in front of us, then down to the ball-girls gate behind home plate and onto the field.

He was going to bat for his nudity. Brandishing one of those oversized plastic pink bats, the tog-less one stepped up to home plate, took a fake swing, dropped the bat and then noticed the cops starting to run at him from the 1st base side. So he began to run down the 3rd base line instead. After stepping on 3rd, he bolted for 2nd, touched the bag and then, just kept running for the right field foul pole. 

At that point, p.a. man Jack Payne blurted out over the microphone, “… and there he goes!”

With 10 mostly portly cops on his tail, he scaled the fence and went over. I never found out for sure the result of his trespass. Rumor had it that he had escaped the cops and got away scott-free. My brother claims to have been a friend-of-a-friend of the guy and knew about it beforehand, but I never substantiated that either. He tended to lie a lot back then.

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3- Nebraska-Arizona State, 2005

From the “Incredible game/Home team blues” department.

Probably the most exciting CWS game I’ve been to. With the red-clad crowd at Who-concert levels all game long, the back and forth elimination game came down to a game-tying home run in the 9th inning by the Big Red, which easily made for the loudest CWS crowd I’d ever heard. Then, in the 11th inning, ASU’s Jeff Larish parked his third dinger of the day to straightaway center field, providing the winning run in a riveting 8-7 game. 

Best crowd. Best energy. Best big-time performance by a batter. 

Oh, and to complete what was possibly the best single day in CWS history for me, Baylor overcame a 7-0 deficit to beat Tulane in game two that day, also by an 8-7 score. I started my daily article that night with the line, “I’m not sure I could write anything here that would come close to describing what happened at Rosenblatt today.”

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2- The comeback I missed – 1973

Courtesy of the “This is baseball, NEVER leave a game early” department.

Every list I’ve ever seen of the best moments in the history of the CWS includes that incredible 8-7 comeback win USC made over Dave Winfield and Minnesota in the 1973 winner’s bracket game. But mine has a couple of unique twists. 

1) It was the first game I had ever kept a scorebook. My father even wrote at the top of that CWS program page, “Eric’s first scorebook”

2) Of course, I let my father talk us into leaving the game in the 9th inning with Minnesota up by a 7-0 lead. Winfield had struck out 15 batters (I think I had him down for 13… shows how crappy I kept my first book) and looked invincible. So we took off early. Got home, brushed my teeth and went to bed. (no Sports Center, no internet, of course). The next morning, my father’s at the kitchen table with the Omaha World Herald in his hands, “Hey Eric, did you know that USC won last night?”… “Quit trying to yank my chain, dad.” 

Then he showed me the paper. My favorite team with my favorite player had blown a 7-run lead in the 9th inning. You’ve gotta be shittin’ me! Damn. 

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1- Creighton – 1991.

Special thanks to “The greatest thing in the history of EVER” department.

Okay, I’m cheating a bit on this one. I have to admit, at the time, I lived thousands of miles away and I didn’t have a red cent to my freakin’ name, so I couldn’t make it to The O for this resplendent, magical moment that, in my book, equates to Gehrig’s Speech, Hammerin’ Hanks 715th bomb and Willie Mays’ catch in deep center field of the Polo Grounds. 

But I was glued to the boob tube the entire week of course. Understand, as an Omaha native, everyone in this town could only dream of one of our home state teams actually making it to the field of eight here in Rosenblatt. And when Jim Hendry – now the GM for the Cubs – led the Bluejays to the promised land as head coach, the entire city was electric. Mike Patrick opened one of the Bluejays’ games with the line, “They’ve hosted the event for 40 years, but now they want to run everybody out of town.” 

That was classic cool by Patrick, but I remember my favorite quote of the whole week was ESPN color analyst Lary Sorensen saying, “If Jim Hendry could run for mayor right now, he’d win and it wouldn’t even be close.”

The energy and excitement for that week was incredible. The only bummer was that their regular season tormentor, Wichita State, was in the same bracket as the Jays and that was one team CU never could get past in the 1991 season. And when Jim Audley threw out Randy Bruns at home plate in the 12th inning to keep a hold on the Shockers 3-2 lead, Patrick belted out the best play-by-play call in college baseball history, “What a throw by Audley!… Ho-Lee-Cow!”

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… And one more personal fave Rosenblatt story:

The summer between my 6th and 7th grade years, me and a handful of friends were spending the week out at Creighton’s basketball camp. One night a group of us went out to one of the College World Series games just for the hell of it. 

I don’t remember who was playing that night, but it was one of those games that had some light rain earlier in the game, making the entire stadium a slippery surface, especially those corrugated metal stairways that most of you are familiar with.

Well, there were a group of drunken hobos sitting near us at the top of section P and they were holding up a bedsheet spray-painted with the phrase “The Ump is A Chump” and were chanting that at the same time. My good bud Jeff Jamrog – now the assistant athletic director at Nebraska – jumped out in the aisle and started chanting with the bums and doing some kind of Indian rain dance, trying to make us all laugh. And it worked, of course.

Suddenly, Jeff slipped off the edge of one of the steps and slammed down directly on his tailbone, as all of us went “OHHHHH!” in unison… and then commenced to laughing our asses off. Little did we know, Jeff really banged his butt on the steps. The next morning, he could barely run. So for the last three days of basketball camp, Jamrog was walking like a duck and had to sit out a lot of the drills and scrimmages we played. 

All in the name of making us laugh.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For the last time this season, I brought my bald pate to another Baldcast for you guys. Hope you dug these video ventures during the 2010 season. I tried to make them somewhat palatable, touching on interesting topics when I could, adding a little bit of music for you to check out and also doing them from different locales. 

And if you’re wondering about the music bed for this week’s Baldcast. I know it’s a tad on the melancholy side, but it’s Frank Sinatra’s “There used to be a ballpark.” Sort of a little tribute/remembrance of Rosenblatt.

I first heard the song in the HBO documentary “Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts of Flatbush” and there was actually a video of the song at one point up on YouTube, but I couldn’t find it. Instead, I got this close facsimile from a Sinatra sound-a-like:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Carolina players with their national title trophy.

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The early days of the Series was plagued by lighting and rain delays. Well... except the Carolina-Oklahoma game where the powers-that-be allowed them to play with lightning seemingly directly overhead.

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... because of the weather, we got crowds like this one from time-to-time at the 'Blatt.

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OU 2nd baseman Danny Black goes airborne to make a valiant dive at a bleeder through the right side.

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This little girl shows her love for the old stadium on the hill.

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Garrett Buechele and Caleb Bushyhead can't reach this seeing eye single.

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Cameron Seitzer uses all of his lanky frame to make this foul ball catch vs. South Carolina.

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Another view of Jackie Bradley scoring the winning run vs. OU. To think, the Cocks were down to their last out from being eliminated. (I'll give you five bucks if you can find me in this photo)

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Bradley gets lifted up by his teammates at home plate immediately after that.

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It's always awkward to see head coaches shake hands after an elimination game, especially one that ends so abruptly like this one did, plus knowing what the other guy is going through. Here, Ray Tanner gives his condolences to OU's Sunny Golloway.

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Tyler Ogle , rounding 3rd and making his way toward home plate on an RBI single.

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Who do you think you are, Ty Cobb?: Cody Reine isn't making many friends out there with his slide that has the spikes up high.

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I know nearly everyone will probably disagree, especially the fans of the eight teams, but I thought the umpiring crew did a really good job all series long. Here, Paul Guillie is on top of this call at 2nd.

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Clemson's Mike Freeman gathers dirt in a baggie out at 2nd base after the Tigers were eliminated by South Carolina.

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Two kids hamming it up for the TV camera once they found out they were up on the JumboTron.

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Hey girl, you better try to wrangle that guy up as a husband, 'coz he's gonna be a seriously rich dude in a couple of years. (Matt Purke gets a hug... then again, I guess I don't know for sure that's his girlfriend.)

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TCU fans loved the fact that they eliminated Texas in the Supers. I also thought the line about living in Dallas is pretty funny too, since I lived there once before.. but got out as soon as possible.

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Kyle Peterson's image is up on the JumboTron. This was from his playing days as an All American pitcher at Stanford.

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Diggin' deep.

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This could also have been the last CWS for Erin Andrews as it's been said that her contract with ESPN is done on July 1st and it seems to me she's got bigger fish to fry in TV land. We'll see.

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With South Carolina and UCLA playing a nip-and-tuck duel in the second title game, it's so good that this guy brought his Harry Potter book to read.

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These girls had to be pissing people off behind them, having stood for a lot of the Carolina-OU game. But say this for them... they're definitely into the emotions of the game.

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UCLA's Trevor Bauer gives a fist pump and Tiger Woods-like yell after striking out a TCU batter to end an inning.

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Heard many, many, many complaints from fans this year about foot traffic problems in and around Rosenblatt, specifically in having to evacuate the stadium after each game and then waiting in longer-than-normal lines to get back in and of course the herding of cattle... er, people, through the four access gates just to get on the Rosenblatt campus.

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Sherman Johnson had a solid series for Florida State. Sadly, he was still one of the very few black players participating in college baseball.

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Sadly, this picture isn't actually from this year's College World Series. I just thought I'd point out at this time how disappointed I am that Jenn Sterger and the FSU Cowgirls don't come to Seminole games anymore.

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Florida players react to being eliminated in two games. With all their youth on this year's team, I'd be shocked if the Gators aren't back in Omaha again really soon.

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Okay, survey time: Which one of these three bat girls from TCU, Clemson and Florida State are the best? You decide.

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The "Oiho State" banner gets paraded around before the championship series. Really people?

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Matt Purke, inconsolable after the Frogs got eliminated just short of the championship series.

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... ironically, fellow former 1st round draft pick Gerrit Cole took losing the championship series just as hard as Purke did. I s'pose that is because both of these guys put off million-dollar pro ball dreams to win a national championship in college and came up just short.

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Jackie Bradley just missed on this outfield flair by a UCLA batter and had to play in on a big bounce.

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A fan runs out onto the field during the final game. And no, it's not a drugged up Lindsay Lohan.

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... and even though she was getting roughed up on the ground, she never stopped smiling. Then again, maybe she *likes* getting roughed up.

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Then, this skinny runt in his underwear ran out on the field during a crucial time in the 9th inning. Like we really wanted to see this guy in his grutchies.

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Carolina players start the celebration after Scott Wingo scored the final run.

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So tell me again, who is it that says it's a good idea to shoot the confetti cannons over the celebrating players?

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The Gamecocks did a victory lap... ironically, in the opposite direction of LSU's victory lap last season. Just thought I'd point that out.

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Kyle Enders hoists the national championship trophy up high during the lap around the field.

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The trophy and me. (In case you couldn't tell from the previous two pics, I was standing on the tarp roll to get some shots from higher up on the victory lap.)

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UCLA coach John Savage congratulates a Gamecock player. Considering he led the Bruins back from a losing record last season to within a whisker of the national championship, this was the best coaching job he and his staff had done in his six years in Westwood.

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The mad crush of photogs trying to get a shot of the Gamecocks with the trophy. The highest hand you see snapping pics is mine. The shot of the SC players with the trophy that you see at the head of this entry is the one I got from this angle.

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Jackie Bradley doing his best Tommie Frazier imitation, running with his CWS plaque and carrying it like a football.

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After the ESPN cameras had long been turned off, they turned the stadium lights off and had a final fireworks show that was ignited on top of the pavilion in centerfield.

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... then, sparsely lit in the still-dark stadium, a lone trumpeter came out and played a slow-paced "Take me out to the ballgame" one last time as a fitting tribute to Rosenblatt. The few members of the crowd that remained sang along with him.

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After the final press conference was over, I walked out to the stadium, put some Rosenblatt dirt in a bag, then went and stood under the 408 sign in center field and snapped this one last photo of the old park.

… and for 2010, it’s South Carolina!

Spurs Up: South Carolina wins its first national championship in the sport of baseball.

So, you breathing again yet?

How about THAT finish?! My-oh-my. It wasn’t a walk-off. Not even a jog-off. When Whit Merrifield sliced that bend-it-like-Beckham line-drive to right field, sending Scott Wingo to home plate with the winning run, this officially became a sprint-off win. The rest of the Carolina team came charging from the dugout en masse and started mobbing their late-game heroes on the field. 

And think about this… You just don’t get a jog-off victory in extra innings very often in the national championship game, but what a bitchin’ ending this was to the 2010 season. I s’pose the only way to have topped it would’ve been if it had been in the third game of the championship series, instead of a series sweep in two games. But hell, who here wearing Carolina pinstripes is gonna argue that? 

For South Carolina fans, this was the first time for standing on top of the mountain of college baseball. Not to state the obvious here, but a huge “congrats” to them. Gamecock Nation, here is your party.

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GAME 16

Ray Tanner said that unlike some of his past teams that were more home run-heavy outfits, this one had the pitching and defense to keep them in any game. Tonight, that’s exactly what they did, hanging tough long enough to end up putting a cap on the Bruin offense and eventually to get some extra inning heroics and pull out the last victory in Rosenblatt Stadium.

Matt Price got the win with 2.2 innings of commanding one-hit work on the hill for the Gamecocks.

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U.C.L.A. – 000 010 000 00 – 1  8  1

Carolina – 000 000 010 01 – 2  9  1 

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WP: Matt Price, 5-1

LP: Dan Klein, 6-1

Save: None

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Top hitters.

BRUINS:

- Brett Krill, 2-for-5

- Trevor Brown, 2-for-4, HBP

- Beau Amaral, 2-for-5

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GAMECOCKS:

- Bobby Haney, 2-for-5

- Christian Walker, 2-for-4, 1BB

- Whit Merrifield, 1-for-5, Game winning RBI

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IN A NUTSHELL.

Just an FYI here guys and girls, this is what my twitter entry at the beginning of the 9th inning said: 

“SoCar-UCLA tied in the 9th. It would be appropriate for these two if this game came down to whoever made the last boneheaded play.”

Well, it wasn’t totally a bonehead play on UCLA’s part, but it was certainly a series of miscues that led to Carolina’s national title-clinching win. 

A walk to 9-hole hitter Scott Wingo, then a passed ball on the Bruins advanced him to 2nd base. A sac bunt by Evan Marzilli followed, advancing Wingo to within 90 feet of the winning run.

And finally, when the infield was pulled in and the outfield was tightened up, Whit Merrifield went with an outside pitch by Dan Klein and shot a low-line drive salvo that found terra firma about 10 feet from the line in right field. 

Those series of events ended up being the deciding factor in Carolina’s 2-1 win over the Bruins, snatching their first-ever national title in the sport of baseball.  

This Whit Merrifield swing produced the final RBi single in College World Series history inside Rosenblatt Stadium.

Both teams saw their ace relievers go from real to surreal, with each giving their longest performance of the season as SC’s Matt Price and UCLA’s Dan Klein put up a beauty of a duel on the bump in this showcase game. Price threw 46 pitches in his 2.2 innings of work, giving up just a single hit and striking out three, including a riveting bases-loaded whiff of Niko Gallego to stave off a rally in the 9th inning. Klein was equally effective, lasting 3.1 innings on 73 pitches, giving up just a single hit and striking out four. His downfall was seeing his defense commit that crucial error in the 8th to help the Gamecocks tie things up and then giving up a pair of walks, including the free pass to Scott Wingo that began the 11th inning. He would eventually score the winning run, as mentioned above.

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KEY MOMENT.

Merrifield’s final at-bat.

With the winning run just 90 feet away and only one out, you had to figure this was almost a certain Gamecock win. Unless Dan Klein could get a strikeout, that is. And when he tried to, Merrifield merely took what Klein gave him and went with the low, outside pitch to right field, setting off the celebration.

Merrifield's hit sets off the celebration from his Gamecock teammates.

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KEY MOMENT II

Bobby Haney’s handcuffing grounder to Dean Espy at 1st, bounced over his glove and into right field, allowing for South Carolina’s game-tying run to score in the 8th inning. If that ball doesn’t take a tough hop, it could’ve been a UCLA win.

Robert Beary scores the game-tying run in the 8th inning off of Bobby Haney's odd chopper.

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MORE TITLE GAME PICS.

A few more images from South Carolina’s 11-inning 2-1 win over UCLA.

UCLA's Niko Gallego narrowly missed a lazy pop-up that ended up in short left field early in the game.

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... an inning later he does a flip after getting nabbed trying to steal 2nd base.

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Dan Klein took the loss after working his longest stint of the season, throwing 73 pitches in 3.1 innings.

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Michael Roth got his second start of the season and went 5.0 innings, giving up just six hits and one run. Here, he laid out to stop a chopper in the infield before flipping the ball to Christian Walker and getting the out at 1st.

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The Gamecocks rush out to mob Scott Wingo after he scored the winning run in the 11th inning.

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Wingo and Co. go down in a heap after he touches the plate. The celebration is on.

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... then the attention turned to chasing down Merrifield and tackling him to the ground.

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The dogpile begins in earnest. To hell with the injury factor, this is the celebration to end all celebrations.

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The Gamecocks start their victory lap and do a couple of Rosenblatt Leaps in the meantime.

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Jackie Bradley Jr. holds on to the national championship trophy as the victory lap makes its way down the 1st base side.

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The pain on the other side of these title games can be palpable as the Bruins are inconsolable.

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THE SEC HAS ITS ARGUMENT. 

One of the two more ludicrous arguments I’ve heard fans make in college baseball is that the SEC is “weak” because only LSU can win national titles. Well, with Carolina’s win tonight, the southern power conference has now won its second straight national title and it’s first non-LSU title since Georgia in 1990. You knew someone else would break through eventually from the SEC, one of those matter-of-time things, of course. Especially for a program like Carolina’s, who has been bridesmaids three times in the past, 2002, 1977 and 1975. 

Now, if the ACC could go ahead and win a title so people will get off that “they haven’t won a title since 1955″ crap. Then all in the world would be right.

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PAC 10 PROWESS.

… and don’t get me started about those that think the Pac 10 is overrated or given too much credit. With this year’s runner-up finish, the west coast power conference has now had a team win or play for the national title nine times in the past 15 years, which is more than any other conference in the country. 

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EXTRAS

The national championship-deciding game has only gone into extra innings on four occasions previously. The last time came wayyyyy back in 1970 when USC (the California version) beat Florida State 2-1 in 15 innings. That was also the last time a title game was won in jog-off fashion as well. 

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THE FLASHES.

Not sure if you could see this on television, but from the bottom of the 9th inning onward, every pitch that the Bruins threw to the plate was met with a hale of flashes from people in Rosenblatt wanting to make sure they got the last swing in the old stadium on their camera. There must’ve been about 50 erased pictures on every camera owners photog cards.

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BLOWN CHANCES.

Both teams ended up stranding runner’s in scoring position in their first two innings of the game. UCLA’s Beau Amaral got picked off 2nd base with two men on and no outs in the 1st inning. What would’ve been a bases-loaded walk followed immediately after. But Carolina had a chance to put a serious dent in the scoreboard in the 2nd inning as they loaded the bases after getting the first two batters out. But an Evan Marzilli liner was aimed right at Bruin CF Amaral and the threat was ended.

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THE BIG DOGS.

As you probably saw on the boob tube, both Steve Spurrier and Rick Neuheisel were in attendance for tonight’s game. Word was, King Spurrier was here last night, but I never saw him. Sean from CollegeBaseball360.com said he saw the man in the media lunch room hogging all the pretzels. Neuheisel arrived today for game two. 

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QUOTES.

Due to the extra inning finish and the late nature of things, hope you guys don’t mind if I post some post-game quotes in the morning.

More images from last night’s first game of the championship series, as South Carolina takes control in their pitch for the first national title in school history.

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The Gamecocks take the field for game one of the title round.

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... and I liked that picture so much, I decided to take a pic of UCLA in take-the-field fashion too.

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If there are two things UCLA likes, it's their tribute to John Wooden (the "JW" on their helmets) and their mini toilets, as you see two of them in this picture.

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Another one of those uber-expensive military fly-overs that last all of 2.5 seconds. Yay.

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Huge play: When Jackie Bradley beat out this throw to 1st in the opening frame, that's when all the trouble started for the Bruins.

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Home plate umpire A.J. Lostaglio, possibly the best umpire in college baseball, explains to Niko Gallego why he wasn't given a free base after it looked like he got hit by a pitch.

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Speaking of great umpires, one of the best in college baseball history, Al Davis of Tallahassee, Florida, was one of the umps honored during the game. In the span of his career, Al worked behind the dish for two national title games and one at the D-II level.

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Scott Wingo, running scared. Okay, he's not really scared, he just has that look on his face as he races to complete his triple.

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Typical of their day against the brilliant Blake Cooper. The ball seems beach-ball sized, but Blair Dunlap couldn't get a hit off it.

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Siouxie Sioux would be proud. Nice purple mohawk with black tips on this scamp in the crowd. (Not sure I approve of the collared shirt though. Not so punk.)

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One of the perks of pitching the game of your life, a close-up with Erin Andrews.

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Yep. Self-explanatory.

For the third straight year in Omaha, the SEC has a team one win away from a national title. But to be honest, none of the two previous teams – Georgia and LSU – have looked as impressive in their opening game of the title round. Carolina got some seeing eye shots throughout the game, slapping 13 singles in their 14 hits, and got some early defensive foul-ups to put UCLA in an early hole, and ended up cruising from there.

So now the Gamecocks are a full 27 outs from winning their first national title in baseball. And if tonight was any indication, 24 hours from the time I’m writing this, they could possibly be the last team ever to dogpile in Rosenblatt Stadium.

But put a heavy emphasis on the word “possibly.” This is a proud Bruin squad that won’t lay down and die.

Blake Cooper. Gamecock bad-ass tonight. (And he needs just two fingers to throw, evidently)

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GAME 15
I mentioned in the Baldcast yesterday that Carolina would need a transcendent pitching performance from somebody other than Blake Cooper and Sam Dyson. Well, in the words of Andrew Dice Clay, Carolina got the bonus plan. OH!

Cooper went over and above any performance he may have thrown this year, handcuffing the Bruins like no one has all season. So NOW, if the Gamecocks get another Michael Roth performance tomorrow or Wedensday, it’s time for Carolina fans to start their first national championship celebration.

Carolina is one win away from jumpin' and bumpin' for reeelz.

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Carolina- 212 010 010 – 7 14 2
U.C.L.A. – 000 000 001 – 1 3 2
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WP: Blake Cooper, 13-2
LP: Gerrit Cole, 11-4
Save: None
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Top Hitters
GAMECOCKS:
- Evan Marzilli, 2-for-4
- Jackie Bradley, 2-for-4
- Christian Walker, 2-for-4
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BRUINS:
- None

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IN A NUTSHELL.
First and foremost, UCLA is not a big-hitting team. And once they get behind, it’s not an offense designed for comebacks. Tonight was exhibit A in that argument.

And all that was needed to be explained because of what happened on the SC mound.

In a battle of wicked pitchers, the Bruins’ Gerrit Cole was coming off a dominating, 13K performance vs. TCU on Monday. Meanwhile, SC ace Blake Cooper had come off a pair of decent, but not dominating performances against Oklahoma, where he threw a total of 165 pitches in 10.2 combined innings.

Tonight, you would’ve thought the two roles were completely reversed. Cole labored through the first three innings and got no help from either his teammates nor the baseball gods as his mates kicked the ball around a bit and Carolina chipped away with numbing dink and dunk hits and check swings that found holes in the defense. But Cooper was beyond solid. Giving up just one hit through the first eight innings, he was in control and draped a giant blanket on the Bruins from pitch one of the game.

After the Gamecocks scored five runs in the first three innings, Cooper made this game a no-brainer, striking out 10 Bruin batters and inducing 11 groundouts mixed in as he completely dictated the entire game from his pitch No. 1 to pitch No. 135.

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KEY MOMENT.
The two-out nightmare.
It couldn’t have been a worse start for the Bruins. Sure, Gerrit Cole got the first two batters of the game out in easy fashion, but from that point on, it was something out of a Kubrick film. Multiple errors, mis-judgings and half-hearted half-swings that found a hole helped Carolina build a quick 2-0 lead before the final out of the inning was recorded. A bunt by Jackie Bradley surprised Bruin 3B Dean Espy, then a Texas Leaguer from Christian Walker was followed by a check swing RBI single by Brady Thomas that found terra firma just out of the infielders grasp. That was followed by a gimme grounder to frosh Cody Regis, who allowed the ball to go through the wickets and helped the Cocks score their second run of the inning.

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KEY MOMENT II.
In the third inning, after giving up another infield single and a walk, Cole tried to field a grounder and throw to third to get the force, but he butter-fingered the grounder and that loaded the bases. Two batters later, a looping pop-up down the left field line was mis-judged by a diving Jeff Gelalich and two more Gamecock runs scored.

Facing a 5-0 deficit, the Bruins had to be worried, considering they weren’t much of a comeback team this year, relying more on getting early leads and letting their stud pitchers get in a comfort zone.

Game over.

Early trouble Bruin: This 1st inning visit to the mound by John Savage was a harbinger of bad things to come.

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The Bruins had their issues on defense, dropping the pill in some low-pressure situations.

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... they also had some misfortune just trying to deal with some of the awkward pop-ups and seeing-eye grounders.

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Scott Wingo had the lone multi-base hit for the Gamecocks when he slid into 3rd on this 2nd inning triple.

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About the only problem South Carolina had all night was the near-collision in the 9th inning between Scott Wingo and Whit Merrifield.

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QUOTES.
South Carolina’s Ray Tanner
- Opening statement:
“We got a great start tonight and pushed across some early runs. And they made a couple of mistakes and we had a couple of hits stuck in there. We really didn’t hit Cole that hard early, but we were able to get a couple balls to drop and scored some runs. This guy next to me gave us an outstanding performance. He just made pitch after pitch after pitch and we hung in there and kept scoring a few more runs. Just a tremendous night for us. I though our guys did a tremendous job against Cole. I can’t say enough good things about our effort tonight against one of the best pitchers in the country.”

- on Cooper:
“The first day here we had the rain delay and his pitch count was in the mid-60s and I think that helped him a little bit. We met this morning and I encouraged him to take another day. He said, ‘I’ll be as good today as I’ll be tomorrow.’ I said, so be it. But he realized early on that he didn’t have the giddy-up he needed on his fast ball. He needed his changeup, slider, the two-seamer was sinking and he got some ground balls. He was outstanding.”

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Blake Cooper:
- On his stamina on the mound and conditioning that went into it:
“Last year I knew I was a little bit overweight. The coaches came to me and for me I knew I had to do something about it to have a chance to have a year like I did this year. And our strength and conditioning coach got me in the weight room this summer and I worked out hard and was able to lose some weight. And I feel like it’s been a great key to my success this year and being able to last as long as I did throughout the year and maintain velocity and maintain my composure on the mound.”

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UCLA’s John Savage.
- Opening statement.
“It was clearly South Carolina’s night. I thought their hitters did a terrific job off Gerrit. I think he had two strikeouts in seven innings, which was probably a season low. They deserved to win the game. They dominated us in every phase of the game. This guy (Cole) hasn’t been touched like that all year, so that’s to their credit.”

“But we’ve come back all year, we’ve been in this position plenty of times before and this is a team that is used to being very resilient, so we’ll get back at it tomorrow night.”
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- On being in this same position vs. Fullerton in the Supers:
“I think we lost two series all year. We’ve been in this position before and we’ve bounced back. They’re up a game and that’s to their advantage and they’ve got the momentum. That’s how baseball goes.”
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- on his defense, when asked if it missed Rahmatulla:
“Well, Regis has played well all week. I mean, guys make errors all the time, the ball just kicked off his glove. To say that tonight was the night that we missed Rahmatulla would not be the right way to look at it.”

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Gerrit Cole.
- On his effort tonight:
“They had a great approach. I don’t know what the approach was, but whatever it was, it worked. I had a lot of batters 0-1 and 1-2 and they didn’t chase the fast ball up. They just did a very good job.”

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Steve Rodriguez.
- On Blake Cooper:
“Cooper mixed it up well tonight. Kept us off-balance. And we didn’t make enough adjustments at the plate, obviously, with only three hits.”

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Okay my fellow fools and freaks. We’ve got 16 or so hours before the next pitch kicks off game two of the championship series. Let’s see if the Carolina magic continues for a second straight night.

G’night.

Here is my latest Baldcast, shot while in Omaha before the championship series between UCLA and South Carolina. Below that I’ve included 10 very strong suggestions for the new stadium when it opens in downtown Omaha next June. Here you go:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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10 THINGS WE’D LIKE TO SEE  AT THE NEW STADIUM.

I know we’re probably looking a gift horse in the mouth here, with an ultra-modern new stadium on the way for the CWS next year and all, but there are a few vital things we want changed completely from this year to 2011 when the new downtown stadium opens. 

And we’re talking about things other than the obvious things, like moving the “Road to Omaha” statue down there and bringing Lambert Bartak along as well.

So let me say that this list comes from the hearts and desires of the fans of college baseball. Here’s our list.

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1- Wider concourses.

God PLEASE! 

I know this is already in the offing, with a good amount of shaded area underneath the upper deck, but just make sure not to muck things up with large booths, displays, food carts and whatnot. Please leave as much room as possible for those slow-walking MoFos that are clueless to how slow they walk, and people like me who walk a little bit faster.

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2- Keep the name “Rosenblatt”.

Look, I know in this corporate-run world, it’ll never happen. But wouldn’t most fans, if given the choice, take the name Rosenblatt over anything else? Plus, look at other pro stadiums, you know that in 15 years the corporate name will probably change two or three times anyway.

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3- Make the seats blue, yellow and red.

It’s a nice, iconic touch that has become synonymous with the CWS. Keep it. No reason to go with boring old green. Lets make it easy to point out the new stadium while looking out the window on a flight from L.A. to New York. 

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4- Return it to a pitcher’s park

Let’s return the CWS to normalcy. Let’s make it more of an actual challenge to hit a home run. Go back to 420 in dead center and move back the 335 foul poles. The players have gotten too strong and the bats too powerful. The stadium already points in a different direction, making it so that wind-blown pop-ups don’t turn into home runs. But let’s go the extra step and make the fences a sensible distance.

By simply moving the stands back a few feet, we can avoid dumb situations like this where the fans interfere with plays at the fence.

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5- Move the outfield stands at least five feet away from the outfield wall.

We can’t have the disrespective general admission people trying to catch home runs before the players get a chance to make a play at the ball. That has GOT to change. People won’t listen to your little p.a. announcement of “please let the players make the play on the field.” It’s white noise to low-IQ fans who think it’s cool to catch a ball before an outfielder can.

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6- More height differential between walkways and the 1st row of seats.

People moseying in front of the fans on the first row of each section have become the bane of fans in Rosenblatt. So I propose that the walkways need to be shallow enough to where a 7-footer is able to walk around without disrupting anyone’s view.

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7- No general admission

It’s unfair to have people stand around in the intense heat of 100-degree sun for three hours to get into games. Just make some tickets available for the cheap seats, for the fans sake in the outfield. It’s pretty easy, then you can distribute tickets accordingly.

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8- Please put all fans of participating teams TOGETHER in the same section.

It’s always stupid to see schools have their fans at the games all spread out in three different sections of the stadium, including very few behind their teams’ dugout. Save a block of 1000 tickets for seating behind the dugouts. That should be a no-brainer. 

Oh, while we’re at it, go ahead and allow fans of those teams to pick up their tickets well in advance instead of having them stand in a long line right before game time and miss the first inning and a half wallowing through that line. 

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9- Cupholders

That’s one thing that has been lacking in the stadium for a long time. It’s pretty simple and hopefully on the docket already.

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10- More leg room please

The current Rosenblatt is horribly devoid of comfortable seating. This will be a huge first step in giving the fans of college baseball additional comfort. Because the last thing you want to do on a 95-degree day is to rub legs with a sweaty man with hairy legs for four hours. 

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… and one to grow on:

11- No temporary fencing around the stadium. 

Please don’t reprise that piece-of-crap “crowd control” fencing around the grounds of Rosenblatt. Stupidest idea ever.

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There. That’s all we ask.

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THE MUSIC BED FOR THE BALDCAST.

Tonight’s selection for music was from former Stray Cat frontman Brian Setzer. His 2003 album “Nitro Burning Funny Daddy” featured this selection called “Sixty Years.” I figured since Rosenblatt is in its 60th and last year of being the home of the CWS, this song was appropriate. Especially since the chorus says, “We’ve only got 60 years on the planet.” (I.e., your time is up Rosenblatt)

Sorry to say, I couldn’t find a proper video for the song, but you can check the song out by itself by entering this address into your browser: 

http://s0.ilike.com/play#Brian+Setzer:Sixty+Years:1679648:s10572364.11514974.447822.0.2.154%2Cstd_121af9a38ad843c3a806e05352f485f7

You can also purchase the song on Itunes, just search Brian Setzer “Sixty Years”… it’ll be well worth the 99 cents.

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More again after game one between the Chickens and the Broons Monday night.

G’night