First question: Has the SEC just lost any hopes for a national seeding? If Memorial Day rolls around and not a single SEC team gets a guaranteed home Super Regional, this past weekend might be the main culprit. All the higher ranked teams took in on the chin in the Southern super-conference this weekend.

(Curt Casali and the Commodores will have to hustle more to rebuild from this weekend)

That's where we're going to start our Ouch List for this week. Because of attrition, it looks like the SEC is slowly becoming like it was last year, a lot of good teams, but no great teams. I know, that's certainly arguable. And, it's still early. Here are the hurtin' kind from this weekend.

- Vanderbilt.
Record:
31-13 overall, 11-9 in the SEC, 3rd place in the East.
Result:
Lost two of three at home to Kentucky, W3-2, L6-2, L3-1.
Why it hurts:
Vandy's chances for a national seed are wilting. Hell, maybe even a No. 1 seed period. With Pedro Alvarez back this was supposed to be a totally different offensive team. But not this weekend. The UK staff - No. 1 in the SEC - put the clamps to the 'Dore bats big time, holding them to six runs. Sunday's games saw VU out-hit the Cats 11-6, but four costly errors doomed them.

- South Carolina.
Record:
31-14 overall, 11-10 in the SEC, 4th place tie in the East.
Result:
Got swept in Baton Rouge by LSU, L11-3, L11-10 (11inns), L6-3
Why it hurts:
Can you name the last time an LSU team played over its head and beat a Top 10 team in three games at home? Plus, if a light hitting team like LSU (came in hitting .268 in SEC games) can out-slug the Cocks, what's going to happen in the post-season when they play someone with serious offensive skills? Hmmm. This just gives fodder to that whole "Does SoCar have the pitching?" question that the media-types love to ask about this team.

- Mississippi.
Record:
28-17 overall, 11-10 in SEC, 1st place in the West.
Result:
Lost two of three at home to Arkansas. W12-4, L13-11(10inns), L12-4.
Why it hurts:
The general rule of thumb in the SEC is that you take care of business at home and then try to play .500 ball on the road, or as close to that as you can. Well, the Rebels mystery team tour continued as the Hogs went into Swayze and pulled out a pair of wins on Saturday alone. This is the second time this year that the Rebs have lost twice at home in SEC play, losing two to Florida back in mid-March. The good news is that they are still in 1st in the SEC West at 11-10.

- Georgia.
Record:
29-14 overall, 15-5 in the SEC, 1st place in the East.
Result:
Lost the last two games at Florida
Why it hurts:
I don't think a lot of us are going to disparage the Dogs for dropping a pair of games at McKeithen Stadium, it's not an easy place to play. But coming in as the dominant team and having the highest national ranking (in one or two of the "polls"), they were carrying the torch for the conference. Now, after a 2-2 week, the Dawgs national profile took a hit this week, dropping them to No. 17 in the writer's poll.

- Arizona
Record:
28-13 overall, 7-8 in the Pac 10, 5th place.
Result:
Lost two of three at Oregon State, both losses by a single run.
Why it hurts:
This is a horrible result, no shame in going on the road to the two-time defending national champions and losing two close shaves. But - and this is a big but - when the NCAA selection committee decides to only dole out three or four regionals out West, if it comes down to a choice of these two teams, the Beavers got the drop on the Wildcats.

- Charlotte.
Record:
31-12 overall, 12-6 in the Atlantic 10, 2nd place tie
Result:
Lost two of three to Duquesne to fall into a second place tie with the Dukes.
Why it hurts:
With a record of 30-10, wins over South Carolina and Wake Forest, a close loss to North Carolina and an RPI of 53, the 49ers looked to take over the Atlantic 10 conference this weekend to further enhance the at-large resume. But getting roped for 16 and 18 runs in Saturday and Sunday losses, leaves the confidence shaken and the NCAA bid in serious jeopardy.

- New Mexico.
Record:
27-19 overall, 11-4 in the MWC, 2nd place
Result:
Swept in three straight at home to UC Irvine.
Why it hurts:
All that stuff we just said about Charlotte goes double for the Lobos. They had an RPI of 52 and could've used a marquee series win in a rare visit from a Top 10 team. All went for naught after a tough loss on Friday (5-3), they fell apart on Saturday and Sunday, relenting 23 runs. They also lost twice in the mid-week to Arizona. All is not lost though, as UNM is still just a half-game out of 1st in the Mountain West and has TCU coming to Albuquerque to end the regular season.

- Missouri.
Record:
29-14 overall, 9-9 in the Big 12, 4th place.
Result:
Lost all three games at Texas A&M, L9-8, L15-0, L3-2 (10inns)
Why it hurts:
It still may be a tad early to say this, but the Tigers may have just shot themselves in the foot for getting a home regional. Again, it's early. And I love the way Aaron Fitt put it, going into the 7th inning on Friday, Aaron Crow had squelched the Aggie attack, and Mizzou was sitting pretty with an 8-2 lead. An hour later, the Ags had come back to win it from the Tiger bullpenners who couldn't stem the Maroon tide and eventually lost in the 9th inning on a balk call. From there, the Tiger arms were a major problem, losing 15-0 on Saturday and then, as Aaron also pointed out, sending Rick Zagone out for the 10th inning on Sunday, 142 pitches into his outing, only to give up a home run on pitch No. 143 to Kyle Colligan.

- Florida State
Record:
35-7 overall, 19-5 in ACC, 1st in Atlantic Division.
Result:
Lost two of three at North Carolina, L11-4, W13-5, L2-1.
Why it hurts:
You have to like FSU's bounce-back ability for the second week in a row. But you still have to think, they lost two of three to a high-profile team again. Will it cost them in the national seeds department? It could. But there's still time to make amends, namely, the ACC tournament.

(Despite the Sunday loss, you had to be impressed by Elih Villanueva's 9-inning, 2-hit performance)

- California
Record:
27-13 overall, 7-8 in Pac 10, tied for 5th.
Result:
Lost all three at Arizona State, L11-7, L11-7, L18-2.
Why it hurts:
Barring an incredible hot streak to end the season, this will almost assuredly knock the Bears out of a possibility of a No. 1 seeding in the NCAA tournament. But even more alarming for the Bears has been the ineffectiveness of Friday ace Tyson Ross, who got roped at USC two weeks ago and gave up eight earned runs and five walks in 5.1 innings of work vs. the Devils on Friday. Not a good sign.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 01:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

TCU wrestles the Mountain West lead with 13-6 Sunday win on Montezuma Mesa.

(Clint Arnold paced the Frogs with four hits and, get this, scored from 2nd base
on a sac bunt. Yes, he scored from 2nd on a sac bunt in the 8th inning)

It's no exaggeration to say that when the Horned Frogs WEREN'T facing the pitching of San Diego State ace Stephen Strausburg, they schooled the Aztecs this weekend.

As Friday turned to Saturday, that's when the Frogs turned into a different team. Strausburg - i.e., the freak of nature - handcuffed TCU to one run on one hit with 13 strikeouts on Friday night. In the two games that followed, the Frogs scored 29 runs on 34 hits and turned this weekend series into a track meet. Today, the Horned Frogs put a 13-6 hurting on the red and black at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

With the two wins, the top of the Mountain West now looks like this:
TCU, 13-5
New Mexico, 11-4
San Diego State, 11-7

(Brandon Glover sliding under the tag of TCU catcher Bryan Holaday
was one of the few highlights for the Aztecs)

I made my way down to the Mesa for the 11am first pitch and found a TCU team that was "locked in" and looking much more like their recent regionals teams instead of the young team that struggled out of the gate at 10-10 to start the
season. The Horned Frogs got behind 1-0 after one inning, but it was all downhill from there.

TCU scored four runs in the 2nd to take the lead for good. They built on that lead with two in the 6th, two in the 7th and then put the game away for good with four in the 8th.

Clint Arnold and Bryan Holaday set the table, with four hits on the day. And it was the bottom of the lineup that cleaned everything up with No. 7 hitter Matt Carpenter and No. 9 hitter Matt Vern adding three RBI each.

While the offense was locked in, the pitching wasn't exactly on lock down mode, allowing 14 hits and six runs to the Aztecs. But defensively the Frogs were perfect, committing no errors. In fact, TCU committed only one error on the weekend and scored in 12 of the 18 innings on Saturday and Sunday.

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WHAT'S AHEAD---
TCU has six more MWC contests remaining, three near-gimmies vs. Utah and then a roadie to improved New Mexico to close out the season. But their only RPI-building chance comes in this Tuesday's home game with No. 6 ranked Texas A&M. They spend one weekend hosting Texas-Pan American in Mid-May.

But San Diego State is in much more peril. Their NCAA at-large chances are nearly sunk. Games with Arizona (2), Long Beach State (1) and at Cal State Fullerton (3), does give the Aztecs a chance to improve its standing nationally. But unless Stephen Strausburg can be cloned - and quickly - they probably won't win many of those games.

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NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE---
In all my years of covering college baseball, I've never marked THIS down in a scorebook: a 2-RBI sac bunt 5-to-3. Yes, that's what TCU pulled today in the 8th inning.

With Bryan Kervin on 3rd base and the fleet-footed Clint Arnold on 2nd, both runners started sprinting on a safety squeeze play. Steve Ellington was the Frog that laid down a great bunt down the 3rd base line. Kervin scored as expected. But when Aztec 3Bman Nick Romero threw casually to 1st base to get the out, Arnold never broke stride. He ended up zooming into home standing up, no problem. So there you go, a 2 RBI sac bunt.

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WORKING DEFINITION OF "EFFECTIVELY WILD"---
TCU ace reliever Andrew Cashner came in to pitch the final 1.1 innings in today's game. There was no save opportunity, but Cashner has been a great piece of the Horned Frog puzzle so far this season. At 6'6" and 188, he looks more like Ichabod Crane but his stat line shows he's 7-2 with a 2.27ERA so far this season. He also has 53 Ks in just 35.2 innings and, get this, 21 walks as well. He'll be a key cog in TCU's post-season plans.

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STRAUSBURGLESS---
San Diego State has now lost four of its last five in games where ace Stephen Strausburg hasn't started. In those five games, the Aztecs have allowed 71 runs, an astounding average of 14 runs given up per game.

(I've heard that San Diego State has one of the best grounds crews in
the country. As you notice, I'm not going to argue that point)

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NOW A LOOK AT THE NATIONAL GOOD AND BAD---
It's the usual three up and three down feature we like to do late on a Sunday night.

THREE UP---
1- To Florida State and North Carolina.
For playing a great pitching duel as opposed to the way most Sunday games go.
UNC won 2-1 in 10 innings to win the nip-and-tuck series between two top three teams. But what a getaway game THIS was. FSU's Elih Villanueva took a perfect game beyond the 7th inning stretch and the Heels eventually dug deep and found a way to win in extras.

Special tip of the hat to the Seminoles, who proved for the second week in a row that they weren't going to crumble after an ugly Friday loss. I like their resiliency. And though I've been a little tough on them for their pitching, you have to like the way Villanueva took command today. He didn't look so hot last week when I saw him get roped pretty good in Tallahassee by Miami, but he made amends today.

Okay, a small thumb's down for walking in the winning run for UNC on four straight pitches. But other than that...

2- LSU.
Beat No. 7 South Carolina 6-3 to complete the three game sweep.
Had a tough time decided whether to applaud the Tigers in the Three Up, or chastise the Gamecocks in the Three Down. I chose the former, mainly because you have to ask yourself, when was the last time you saw the purple and gold dig deep and pull out an unexpected sweep over a Top 10 team? Since the Bertman administration? I don't have their media guide in front of me (though if I wasn't so lazy, I could just go to the garage and look), but probably so.

(This weekend, Paul Maineiri picked up the biggest 3-game sweep of his tenure in Red Stick)

3- Xavier.
I heard it on the X. The Muskateers complete the sweep against St. Bonaventure to move into sole possession of 1st place in Atlantic 10.
They got a gutty performance from sophomore starter Danny Rosenbaum today. He went 8.0 innings and struck out a career high 12 batters. Closer Brett Greenwell picked up the save and preserved the shutout with a scoreless 9th. And how about this: The XU arms held the nation's No. 1 hitter, Randy Moley, to just one hit in 13 at bats, including today's 0-for-3 performance.

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THREE DOWN---
1- The Not Ready For Prime Time Players.
The following ranked teams had a chance to prove themselves this weekend, venturing on the road for important three-gamers. But in the end, they gave us all a lump of coal.
- No. 19 Cal.
Swept at Arizona State, including today's hideous 18-2 whitewashing.
- No. 7 South Carolina.
As explained above, lost all three at LSU. How?
- No. 21 Virginia.
Put up a good fight through the first two games, but laid an egg today, losing 10-zip at Miami.
- No. 9 Missouri.
Crumbled under the pressure of A&M's rabid crowd. Nearly got the W today, but succumbed in 10 innings, 3-2.

2- Mother Nature AND the administrators of North Dakota State and South Dakota State.
I knew Mother Nature wouldn't cooperate this season, but this is ridiculous. All four Summit Conference home games by North Dakota State and South Dakota State today were both cancelled against Oakland and Western Illinois respectively.

Now I don't know whether to give Mother Nature ALL of the blame here. Because, today showed sunny conditions for both Fargo and Brookings, albeit with highs just reaching 40 degrees or so. Still, that's plenty warm enough for these rough and tumble natives. So even though the normal high for this time of year is in the mid-60s, they should've played today.

The four games between these four teams won't be made up.

3- The umpiring crew at today's TCU-SDSU game.
I'm not usually one to chide the umps, they've got tough, thankless jobs to begin with. But this crew really screwed the pooch today at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

Three times, the men in black (but yet fans continue to call them "blue") rooked Mr. Gwynn and his boys with pretty obvious bad calls. First, they extended TCU's 2nd inning when home plate umpire Matt Stellges over-ruled first base umpire Keith Bailey's call of a third out on a groundout. That reversal led to two additional runs for the Frogs, putting them up 4-1, instead of 2-1. Then, they missed a pick off at second base of a TCU runner, but with no further damage done. And most egregiously, none of the three happened to see the runner's interference as Cameron Johnson was rounding third that prevented him from scoring a run in the 8th inning for the Aztecs. For the third time today, Tony Gwynn went out to protest, but to no avail.

(Not a lot went right for Tony Gwynn with the guys in black today)

Ultimately, considering the winning margin, it didn't decide the outcome of the game. But it's still a case of "What if?" for the Aztecs.

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COUPLE OF QUICK HITS---
- No-hitter for Princeton.
Senior starter Steven Miller flew like an eagle (pause to groan... that was horrible)throwing a 7-inning, complete-game no-hitter for the Tigers in a 3-2 win vs. Cornell. Miller loaded the bases in the 1st inning on two walks and an error. He then hit a batter and walked another, accounting for the Big Red's two runs. From there, Miller was solid, striking out 10, though he did issue six free passes.

- Regular season champions.
Dartmouth split a DH with Harvard today, moving to 24-14 overall, but more importantly, finishing the Ivy part of the schedule at 15-5 and as Red Rolfe Division champions. Though they finish tied with Columbia with the best overall record in the Ivy League, the Big Green will host the Lions in the post-season playoffs.

- Strangest stat line:
Jason Kipnis of Arizona State.
The Kentucky transfer, batting in the No. 2 position today, went 0-for-1 with 4RBI and 3BBs. Kipnis had two sac flies on the day.

- Changing of the guard in the Big 10.
Purdue has been a pleasant surprise as the 2nd place team in the Big 10 standings. Well today, the Boilers reaffirmed their standing in the conference echelon by sweeping normal top rung power Minnesota with a 6-4 win. This marked the first Big 10 weekend sweep since 2005 for PU, also against Minnesota. With Michigan splitting four games with Indiana, the Boilers (now 16-4) are within a single game of the Wolverines. The 16 wins is the most ever for a Purdue squad through 20 games.

- Revolving door in the Missouri Valley.
Now, it's Missouri State that tops the conference. Going into the weekend Northern Iowa was the top dog, but the Panthers lost two of three at home to Southern Illinois. Surprisingly, No. 8 Wichita State lost on Sunday at Indiana State, paving the way for the Bears to move into the catbird seat. MSU beat Illinois State in all three games this weekend. Here's the top of the MVC as of this moment:

So. Illinois, 13-5
Wichita St., 11-4
No. Iowa, 11-4
Creighton, 11-7

WSU actually has the most favorable schedule remaining, with UNI and Bradley at home and a road trip to lowly Evansville... two words I didn't think I'd use in the same sentence anytime soon.

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I would keep going, but my eyelids are becoming freakin' anvils now. I had a late night hockey game tonight, so that's why I'm up 'til 2:30am West coast time finishing this up. I'll throw together an Ouch List sometime tomorrow, er, I mean, sometime later on today.

G'night.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 05:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sometimes it's good to just sit on your fat butt and watch all the great college baseball games that come on satellite TV. Welcome to my world this Saturday. No traveling. No credentials to make arrangements for. No long drives on crowded freeways with drivers paying much more attention to their cell phones than their lane changes.

(Alabama's Kent Matthes made the play of the day, robbing an Auburn home run)

So here's what I saw from the comfort of my couch today. (I know, I need a life. I hear ya'.)

On the Big Ten Network:
Ohio State - 6 13
Northwestern - 4 1
In my pre-season preview I talked about when I was up at last year's Ohio State-Minnesota series, I heard grumblings from the Buckeyes that they weren't real happy with their Nike bats, feeling they seemed "dead" to them. Well sure enough, the announcers on the Big 10 network talked about how the Bucks are last in the Big 10 this year with just 10 home runs.

On Sports South:
Auburn - 4
Alabama - 5
Great defense for the Tide, especially the outfielders. There was Bama right fielder Kent Matthes making one of the best catches so far this season, robbing Auburn's Joseph Sanders of a home run in the 4th inning of the game. Then there was center fielder Tyler Odle making a dramatic diving catch in the 9th inning to protect the precarious one-run lead. And has Bama added on to Sewell-Thomas Stadium? I don't remember there being stands all the way down the right field line. But this is a big time program with a big time fan base, so I'm not shocked.

On ESPNU:
St. John's - 6
Notre Dame - 4
The Johnnies over-take the Big East lead with their second straight win at Eck Stadium over the Fighting Irish this weekend. In the 9th, with Redmen... er, Storm, at 1st and 3rd, a crucial, ho-hum grounder to third was wildly thrown to first, allowing Gino Matias to score from third to provide the winning run for St. John's. The Johnnies improve to 13-4, 31-9 overall and lead the Irish, who are now 12-5 in Big East play. Game three will decide the conference leader tomorrow.

On Fox Sports West:
Arizona - 3
Oregon State - 4
This may have been freshman Tanner Robles' coming out party today for OSU. The fireballing OSU frosh went 7.2 innings, giving up just two hits, striking out seven and retiring the last 12 Cat batters he faced. It was interesting to hear the comments of OSU's Pat Casey during the game (even though I hate those in-game interviews) when he said, "Arizona probably has the deepest pitching staff in the country with six quality guys." Just something to file away come post-season time.

On CBS College Sports:
Fresno State - 1 3
U. of Nevada - 4 7
I was looking forward to seeing the WAC leaders in one of the best settings in college baseball, Peccole Park in Reno. Unfortunately, what we saw was the first double-header loss in WAC play for Fresno all season. Not good. Announcers Tom Hart and Kevin Stocker also reminded the viewers of a terrible situation for the conference, in the fact that the post-season tournament is going to be held in Ruston, Louisiana, hosted by Louisiana Tech. Problem is that right now the under-achieving Bulldogs are way, way down in last place at 3-18. Since only the top six teams make the WAC tourney, if the season ended today, the home town Dogs wouldn't even be able to take part in the tourney. I'd imagine that'll be an easy ticket to procure.

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THREE UP---
1- Miami and Virginia's pitching.
Well, mostly Miami, for pulling out another W by beating UVa 4-3 in 10 innings.
But let's give it up to the pitching staffs of both teams for the last two days. Like Friday's 1-0 Cane win, the two teams once again combined for just nine hits today. But it was another painful ending for the Cavs as shortstop Greg Miclat sailed a throw to first over the head of the first baseman, allowing Jemile Weeks to score the game-winning run. With the W, Miami improves to 19-2 in ACC play, equaling its best conference win total since joining the ACC in 2005.

2- LSU.
Won the South Carolina series with an 11-10 white-knuckler that went 11 innings.
The Tigers showed what they haven't showed in quite some time - dare I say, the Bertman era - and that was a fair amount of chutspa. Down 7-0, the air had gone out of the crowd. But the Bayou boys weren't done bashing. Nick Pontiff roped a two-run bomb to tie things at nine in the 7th. Gamecock errors in the 11th allowed LSU to re-tie the game at 10. Then, with the third error of the inning, Chris McGhee scored the game winning run to sink Carolina and put the Cocks in a 2-0 hole for the weekend.

(Maybe, just maybe, the Gamecocks are really intimidated by the Intimidator?)

3- Kent Matthes, Alabama.
Because of the Tide right fielder, Bama beats Auburn 5-4.
Not only did the right field ace steal the home run from Joseph Sanders in the 4th inning, he also kick-started the Crimson offense with a two-run double in the 1st inning. Then he culminated the W with an absolute strike from the right field corner to throw behind the runner at first to get the last out of the game and preserve the one-run win.

(Player of the Game Kent Matthes got a shaving cream pie to the face during the post-game interview)

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THREE DOWN---
1- Ole Miss.
The Rebs get swept in two games, 13-11 (10inns) and 12-4 by Arkansas.
Remember when the Rebel pitching staff was supposed to be the bee's knees? Well, with the two losses today, Mississippi drops to 11-9 in SEC play and 28-16 overall. In other words, rather ordinary. The Rebs combined for five errors in the two losses and surrendered 26 hits in the two games. To their credit, the Rebs came back from an 8-1 deficit in game one, so they've got this no-quit facet to their game. But still, the Rebels shouldn't be a middle-of-the-road team in the southern super-conference.

2- Northern Iowa.
Lost twice at home to Southern Illinois, 7-5 and 11-7.
The Panthers went into Saturday with an 11-2 mark in the Missouri Valley, a game and a half ahead of second place Wichita State. But somehow, UNI dropped both games to the 7th-place Salukis. Game two was decided when SIU scored seven runs in the top of the 9th. After this weekend, Northern has the now-1st place Shockers, 3rd place Missouri State and 5th place Bradley remaining. This team might've been one of those textbook fool's gold teams.

3- Butler.
Blew a 13-0 lead and lost in 10 innings to Valparaiso, 16-15.
In what may be the worst defensive performance of the season, the Bulldogs commit eight errors and allow the Crusaders to put together a 7-run 9th inning that tied the game. VU won the game in the 10th on a Ryan O'Gara sac fly with the bases loaded. Butler committed five errors in the last four innings to help the comeback. Then the Bulldogs went out and blew another lead in game two and lost 7-5 to complete the ignominious sweep. Zach Rodeghero went 7-for-10 on the day and Andrew Quinnette smashed three home runs to pace the game one win.

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NEWS FLASH... I FOUND ANOTHER STADIUM THAT SERVES BEER---
Here's a screen grab from the Fresno State-Nevada game today. See? There are two women in this picture that are obviously drinking beer. Hopefully in a responsible manner.

(That does it! I've gotta make the trek to Reno for a game sometime soon)

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It's late. Time to hit the rack. Hope you guys had a great college baseball Saturday.

G'night.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 02:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well at least there were handshakes before and after the game this time. And just like last Friday, the Seminoles played eight innings of really good baseball.

(Stupid umpire got in the way, but as you see, Mike Martin had no problem shaking Mike Fox's hand before tonight's FSU-UNC game.)

Only problem was, just like their big loss last Friday to No. 1 Miami, the Noles saw their bullpenners lugging a gas can with them to the mound tonight. And it was the hot sticks of players like Garret Gore (2-run single), Dustin Ackley (2-run single), Kyle Shelton (2-run dinger) and Kyle Seager (2-run double) that supplied the matches, pacing North Carolina to an 11-4 win.

The scoreboard couldn't handle the double-digit tally as the Heels ran the total to 11 runs in the 8th inning alone, crushing the Noles hopes in Cary tonight. Eerily similar to last Friday's 10-run 6th inning that doomed their chances against top-ranked Miami.

As I feared, the Noles faced a much tougher assignment at the dish tonight than they've seen all season, getting just four hits on the night despite coming in with an insane .352 team average. But still, they nipped and picked and got some free passes on the way to building an unlikely 1-hit, 3-0 lead. Two of their runs came in the 6th inning, which saw Alex White load the bases after walking the first three batters. Two sac fly RBIs built up the 3-run cushion going into the bottom of the 8th inning.

And that's where things got ugly. After giving up just a harmless single run to Dustin Ackley, the Noles seemed destined to escape the inning with only one run of damage. But the defensive deficiencies bit them in the butt again, as a sure third out grounder was booted. Next thing you know, the floodgates opened up, with a salt in the wound kind of ramifications.

Six FSU pitchers went through the 8th inning revolving door and they could do no good out of the pen. After two pitching changes, head coach Mike Martin quit making the trip to the mound himself, instead sending out assistants who merely signaled to the pen as soon as they bounced out of the dugout. And what hurts even more was the fact that starter Matt Fairel did an admirable job, going 5.2 innings without giving up a run and holding the blue and white to just four hits.

The fight was gone in the Noles. But don't forget, last week they dug deep to take game two and nearly win game three. We'll see how they react now that they're on the road and facing arguably tougher arms.

(The Juan Marichal-like high kick of UNC starter Alex White, who only gave up one hit but walked four and gave up three runs in 5.1 innings of work.)

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NOW ON TO THE USUAL NIGHTLY FEATURE---
The best and worst from around the nation on this Friday of college baseball in our usual Three Up-Three Down feature.

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THREE UP---
1- The Texas A&M student section.
How else can you explain the Aggies coming back from an 8-2 deficit to win?
And how many times can I give props to the Aggies? Am I showing a bias now? Well, either way, the Maroons came back from an 8-2 deficit by scoring four runs in the 7th, one in the 8th and two in the 9th to complete the most unlikely comeback against an otherwise solid pitching staff of the Missouri Tigers. Aaron Crow came unglued (by his standards) by giving up six hits, five runs and five walks. HAD to be the student section amping up the pressure. In the end, Brian Ruggiano knocked in the game-tying run and the game-winner came from, what else, a Tiger mistake. This one was a balk that scored the winning run from third with no outs in the 9th.

2- Ho-hum, Stephen Strausburg again.
The SDSU ace help lead the Aztecs to a 4-1 win over TCU.
For the second time in three weeks Strausburg tossed a complete game one-hitter as the Aztec ace K'd 13 Horned Frogs to improve to 4-1 with a 1.63 ERA. The bad news? (If you consider it bad news) Strausburg's scoreless streak ended at 30 innings when he gave up a single run in the 7th inning.

3- Preston Guilmet, Arizona.
Threw a complete game 5-hitter in a 7-0 win at Oregon State.
UofA takes game one behind Guilmet's 10K performance, where he gave up only one walk. The Cats also didn't commit a single error on the night. Of course, it didn't hurt that OSU's Mike Stutes issued eight walks and gave up six hits, two home runs and also plunked a batter.

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THREE DOWN---
1- Rice.
Lost to Central Florida 4-2.
I know, I know. It will look weird. It will take a while to get used to seeing it. But for the first time in C-USA history the Rice Owls have three check marks on the L-side of the ledger. UCF's Kiko Vazquez blasted a yard call as part of the 3-for-4 night in which he also scored two runs himself. Kyle Sweat improved to 4-2, giving up just five hits in 7.1 innings to squash the Owls. This also breaks a 4-11 skein for UCF. Now let's see if they can build on it.

2- Whoever left Billy Bullock hanging out to dry.
Florida lost to Georgia 7-4 tonight.
Gator starter Billy Bullock was getting hit hard. And hit often. It was a horrible 3rd inning nightmare for the Gator slinger as he surrendered four runs on six hits. Even the outs appeared to be hard-hit baseballs. But he was given little run support (again) and kept in the ball game way too long. UofF's charges would've been able to make the comeback possible, since their bats woke up in the 7th inning, where it scored three runs. But too much damage had been done.

3- James Madison.
Lost 6-4 to Virginia Commonwealth.
The Dukes are a team I'm keeping close tabs on mainly because they came into this weekend on a 13-3 spree and, at 28-10/16-4, have accomplished more this season already than most people were expecting. And with 1st place UNC-Wilmington taking the weekend off from CAA play, this was JMU's chance to make up some ground in the standings. But no dice. VCU squashed the Dukes attack, holding them to seven hits, despite coming in hitting .323.

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WHAT I SAW ON SUN SPORTS TONIGHT---
Georgia- 204 001 000 - 7 15 1
Florida - 000 100 300 - 4 9 0

WP- Trevor Holder (6-2)
LP- Billy Bullock (3-3)
Sv- Joshua Fields (12)

As mentioned above, the poor early start by Bullock (his fourth Friday non-win in a row) doomed the Gators tonight. The Bulldogs got a series of hard-hit balls in the third inning, scoring four runs to break open the game. The inning started like so:
Matt Olson hit a towering home run down the right field line.
Gordon Beckham doubled.
Rich Poythress singled to right.
Bryce Massanari blasted a no-doubter for 3RBI.
Lyle Allen K'd.
Joey Lewis ripped a single.
Matt Cerione doubled solidly to left center.
Ryan Peisel hit into double play.

But the Gators fought back, scoring four earned runs off of Dawgs starter Trevor Holder to pull within three runs. But Joshua Fields, mullet flailing and all, was a freakin' monster on the mound. He came on in the 8th inning with the bases loaded and one out and just started mowing like a tractor. He faced five Gator batters and five Gator batters went down looking confused by strike three. Unlike his wildness at LSU last week, where he was brilliant AND wild at the same time (two walks and three Ks in seven batters), he was locked in this time.

(Joshua Fields finished off the Florida Gators for his 12th save of the season)

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SPECIAL LATE NIGHT THUMBS UP AND THUMBS DOWN---
To Arizona State's Mike Leake and Cal's Tyson Ross.
Leake really, really, really helped his team out by going the distance tonight in the Devils 11-7 win. An already thin pitching corps was saved from usurping the bullpen when Leake turned into a complete-game iron man tonight. Sure, he gave up 11 hits and issued four walks, but he kept getting back up after getting knocked down and let his offense back him up.

Ross, on the other hand, hit another blip on the screen, going just 5.1 innings, while giving up eight hits, nine runs and handing out five walks. in the last three weeks, Ross has given up 27 hits in the last 16 innings of work. He HAS to rebound for the Bears to challenge for a spot in Omaha... much less the Super Regionals.

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QUICK NOTE ABOUT BIG 10 BASEBALL---
Who says the Big 10 can't pull some crowds? Here's a shot of Michigan State head coach Dave Grewe doing a sideline interview on the Big 10 Network with the MSU cheerleaders in the background and in front of an Oldsmobile Park record crowd of 12,862 were in attendance as the Spartans took on the Lansing Lugnuts in an exhibition game on Thursday.

(Now THIS is what college baseball is all about. In-game coach's interviews, cheerleaders and a packed house at a minor league stadium)

Of course, MSU then went out and dropped an ugly 16-2 game to Iowa to kick off the weekend earlier today.

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G'night.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 02:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stitch-heads, I come to you with a troubled heart.

This past week the NCAA released its RPI rankings to the general public for the first time this season. And of course, the RPI always boils the blood for yours truly, just in its basic unfairness. But it does give us a crystal ball into what the NCAA tournament field might look like come this June.

(If the Big Dance started today, Florida State would flip their hats as a No. 2 national seed)

So with that as a backdrop to our weekend preview, let's take a quick look at some of the quirks and curves in the current RPI rankings before we get to the other stuff.

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QUICK HITS ON THE RPI---
- Some years the NCAA selection committee seems to go straight off the RPI and sometimes they really do use it only "as a tool" without as much emphasis. Well, if this was going to be one of those by-the-book years, this would apparently be your national seeds:
* Miami
* Florida State
* North Carolina
* Arizona State
* South Carolina
* Oklahoma State
* Rice
* Arizona

- How about this for big jumps?
* Rice jumped from No. 24 all the way up to No. 7 after sweeping East Carolina
* Arizona went from No. 19 to No. 8 for going unbeaten against New Mexico and Washington State.
* Oregon State jumps from 23 to 16 for winning two of three at ASU. Seems like it should be more.
* Despite having a schedule rated at No. 135 by Boyd Nation and No. 75 by Warren Nolan, Coastal Carolina is up to No. 10 in the RPI (jumped seven spots last week).

- It's still the ACC's world, we're merely living in it.
The ACC has the top three positions of course, with Miami, Florida State and North Carolina. Also note that N.C. State is No. 13 and Georgia Tech is No. 15. All five were in the top 10 last week.

- Notice something missing?
The Big West isn't given much love. In the top 25 there are only two Big West teams: No. 18 UC Irvine and No. 22 Cal State Fullerton. And both of those teams took significant dives this week. The Anteaters did a swan dive from No. 5 to 18 after losing two of three to UC Riverside. Fullerton fell eight spots from No. 16 after sweeping Pacific.

- I don't get this one.
Wichita State jumped up to No. 20 from No. 28 after losing to Nebraska, beating somebody called Tabor and then going 2-1 vs. Southern Illinois. Huh?

- This is a good trivia question.
When was the last time someone named something other than Miami prior to their migration to the ACC made the NCAA tournament from the independent ranks? Well make way for Dallas Baptist. The 27-11 Patriots currently have an RPI of No. 27.

- Texas is at No. 34.
Man, that just doesn't look right.

- Look out for a huge jump up here people.
Who's the last team listed in the RPI? My beloved Coppin State Eagles at No. 296. But they won't be there for long. Not after Tuesday's win over No. 153 VMI.

- Underrated and overrated?
Here are a few teams that get a lot of respect from the RPI:
* Arizona. No. 20 in the human poll. No. 8 in the RPI.
* N.C. State. No. 28 in the human poll. No. 13 in the RPI.
* Oklahoma State. No. 14 in the human poll. No. 6 in the RPI.
* Southern Miss. Unranked in the human poll. No. 19 in the RPI.
* East Carolina. Unranked in the human poll. No. 9 in the RPI
Here are a few teams that don't get much respect from the RPI:
* Texas A&M. No. 6 in the human poll. No. 23 in the RPI.
* Missouri. No. 9 in the human poll. No. 41 in the RPI.
* Wichita State. No. 8 in the human poll. No. 20 in the RPI.
* Kentucky. No. 17 in the human poll. No. 35 in the RPI.

- From three bids to one?
Two conferences that got three bids to the NCAA tournament last year could very well be destined for one-bid territory in 2008. The Big Ten and the Big East don't have the overwhelming numbers as of right now.
Big Ten:
* Michigan, No. 38. They're in. But if they hog the riches by winning the conference tournament...
* Next closest team is No. 114 Illinois. 2nd place Purdue is No. 132.

Big East:
* St. John's, No. 62. The Johnnies do have better Big East teams to face down the stretch. But probably not enough to get into at-large land.
* Notre Dame and Louisville are tied at No. 78.
* West Virginia is way down at No. 103 despite a 28-11 record.

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REQUIRED READING FOR THE COLLEGE BASEBALL FAN---
Take a quick gander at a few of my favorite things this time of year out there in webland:
- College Baseball Insider's Field of Dreamers:
http://www.collegebaseballinsider.com/FOD080422.html

Always good, useful information, especially when it comes to some of the low-major conferences. Good job again boys.

- Jeremy Mills, one of the great minds in college baseball:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3363058&name=ncaa_baseball

I've known Jeremy for a couple of years now and we all - and I mean ALL - use the website he developed for score updates. But now the ESPN employee has been given the green light to start writing some baseball columns, including a weekly weekend preview.

Two quick notes about Jeremy's columns:
1- I'm glad to see that ESPN is finally starting to "get it" when it comes to college baseball. Jeremy brings great knowledge of the game and of its history to the fore.
2- You still have to do a lot of digging to find the baseball stuff. Something like going to "ESPNU" pulldown and then go to "college sports" and fish around from there.

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10 PLACES I'D WANNA BE THIS WEEKEND---
Well, considering the places I've been the past few weeks, I guess I shouldn't complain about a weekend where I can just kick back at home. But if I could go to ten places, this is the ones I'd go to:

1- No. 2 Florida State at No. 3 North Carolina.
Here we go again having the main focus of the country on the ACC as the Seminoles take their show on the road to face the arm-heavy Heels in Cary. If FSU thought Miami pitching was tough, wait 'til it faces the blue and white. It is interesting to note, the Tarheel team ERA is nearly twice as better as the Canes at 2.15, having given up just 89 earned runs in 373 innings. The key to the weekend will certainly be how FSU's bullpen does. In Saturday's 9-5 win over The U, they were brilliant, giving up just a single hit in five innings. It was mostly the starters that gave up the big inning last weekend. And let me say this though, Buster Posey was awesome to watch and Nole leadoff man Tyler Holt has been one of the most impressive freshmen I've seen this year.

2- No. 9 Missouri at No. 6 Texas A&M.
Now is certainly the time for the Tigers to make their move in the Big 12. At 9-6, they stand a healthy 4.5 games behind the scorching hot Ags (15-3). The schedule could help tip the scales as well, since Mizzou has the Big 12 North remaining while the Maroons have Texas and Nebraska left. Aaron Crow needs to out-duel the combo of Brooks Raley and Kyle Thebeau on Friday for them to have any chance to take the series. As you've probably heard a million times already, A&M is on a school record 12-game conference win streak.

3- No. 20 Arizona at No. 29 Oregon State.
Both are 6-6 in Pac 10 play, so this could have post-season hosting ramifications. My first thought is, "Are the Beavers doing it to us all again?" Just like last year, it seems like they're starting to hit their stride later on in the season - sort of typical for a Northern team. Last week's series win at ASU was freakishly impressive, especially the kick that the offense delivered. The UofA is an intertesting story, winners of 12 straight and sitting at No. 8 in the RPI. So if the season ended today, the Cats would be considered a national seed.

4- St. John's at Notre Dame.
Two hot teams. The Irish have been the (mild) surprise of the Big East, racing out to a 1st place standing in the standings at 12-3. Overall, they are a more Irish-like 27-10 than what they were last year (a 28-28 record). But an RPI in the mid-80s isn't going to curry favor with the selection committee. St. John's has gone 19-5 since i saw them win at Northridge early in the season. The Storm needs a better start than lately, having lost its last two Friday games and garnered only 10 hits combined in them.

5- No. 15 Coastal Carolina at VMI
This is another 1vs.2 showdown in the Big South. After this tough roadie, the Chants have only league also-rans High Point and Radford remaining. So this will probably be the KeyDets only chance to make a run for the regular season crown. But VMI has the indignity of becoming just the second team to lose to Coppin State, by an 8-5 count on Tuesday.

6- No. 21 Virginia at No. 1 Miami.
Okay UVa, you haven't held up your end of the bargain lately (going just 9-7 in April, 23-5 before that). So this being your last road games of the season, consider it your next chance to step up and play big. You ready this time? I know this may sound outlandish for me to even suggest this, but this COULD actually be a tougher test for the Canes offense than last week in Tallahassee. UVa has a better pitching staff and plays much better defense than the Noles do. We'll see.

7- No. 19 California at No. 5 Arizona State.
There are big red flags for both teams here. First, for the Bears, two weeks ago I saw Friday ace Tyson Ross get absolutely rocked at USC and last week, though better, still had some trouble with Washington (gave up seven hits, five runs in 7.0 innings but got the win to improve to 6-1). For ASU, I just wonder if the arms are running out of gas. Seven of the last ten games, the Devs have allowed the opponents to score in double digits.

(The easy motion of Tyson Ross will need to be effective to do in the Sun Devils)

8- Nachitoches, La., San Marcos, Tx. and San Antonio.
There are six teams with winning records in the Southland Conference and they all face off against each other, making this Separation Weekend in the SLC:
Texas-Arlington (10-8) at Northwestern State (12-5)
Lamar (12-6) at Texas State (13-5)
Sam Houston (12-6) at Texas-San Antonio (14-4)

9- Monmouth at Central Connecticut State.
For all intents and purposes, this series will probably decide the Northeast Conference, especially if the Hawks (11-1 in NEC play) win out or takes three of four from the 2nd place Devils (9-3). Monmouth has far and away the best RPI at No. 106. The next closest in the NEC is Wagner at 242.

10- TCU at San Diego State
It's 1 vs. 3 in the Mountain West at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The two teams are separated by just one game in the standings (TCU is 11-4, SDSU is 10-5). Too bad traffic is such a pain that I'm not able to get down for the Friday matchup and see if Stephen Strausberg can earn his third straight Pitcher of the Week award. Could this actually be the year that Tony Gwynn's charges break through and make the Big Dance? This will be a huge weekend to decide that.

And two to grow on...
- Ohio at Kent State
- Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois.
The top two teams in the East and West divisions of the MAC square off this weekend in Kent and DeKalb respectively. Keep in mind that the winner of the MAC will host the post-season tournament, so this is a big weekend for all.

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BEST PITCHING MATCHUP TO WATCH---
TCU's Tyler Lockwood vs. SDSU's Stephen Strausburg.
You can bet the mortgage that this will be a sub-3 hour game (well, with the mortgage crisis in America, nevermind, but you get the spirit of the comment.). In fact, I'm betting on something like two and a half hours or so. Tops. Lockwood (4-0, 1.87) has a pair of complete games and just eight walks in 60 innings. So he obviously doesn't pussyfoot around on the hill. The Air Force game I saw him throw at Lupton Stadium was a brisk two hour masterpiece. No muss. No fuss. But Strausburg is even better, throwing 86 strikeouts to just eight walks in just 57 innings.

(Tyler Lockwood's quick approach guarantees a quick game)

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FIVE CHANGES I'D MAKE TO COLLEGE BASEBALL---
"Not tomorrow. Not after breakfast. Now!"
(Five bucks to who can place that quote. Friends, family members and administrators of CSTV and CBS College Sports are ineligible)

1- No reclassification period.
When teams jump up to Division I, they are required to go through a four-year (or is it five-year?... no matter) period where they are not allowed to play in the post-season. My question... Why? And give me a GOOD reason. Not any of this, "Well it takes four years for the paper work to go through." Just to show you how crappy this rule is, four of the top five teams in the Atlantic Sun are not eligible to play for a championship:

*Florida Gulf Coast, 19-5
Lipscomb, 15-9
*Kennesaw State, 12-9
*North Florida, 13-11
*USC Upstate, 13-11
(* indicates reclassifying team)

2- The Curfew Rule
As I found out this past weekend while at the Miami-Florida State series, this is a horrible, horrible fact of college baseball. I'm not against a Curfew rule. No prob. It's a must. But somebody in the administration of FSU/Miami/the ACC should've looked at it logically and moved the start time to 11:30am. Same goes with teams in the SEC. Simply MOVE THE START TIME. And don't give me any of this "it will conflict with church services" either. All those high-paid top brass administrators in all of these cases are mostly occupied by soulless people anyway.

3- Time Outs.
If a catcher calls time out and goes out to the mound, another time out immediately following should not be allowed to be called. In fact, i think you shouldn't be allowed to call another time out until the next batter is up. In other words, you can't do like Miami did when it appeared as though the Canes were trying to slow the game down for the curfew to take affect. But every team does it every game, especially to give their relievers a chance for more warm up pitches. I realize that.

4- Coaches handshakes.
Again, spurred by the near-brawl by Miami and FSU this past weekend. I don't care how much the coaches on opposing teams despise each other, they should be required to meet at home plate in post-game and set a good example for their impressionable young men and shake hands. (What are we, 10 year olds guys?)

5- If your stadium has three or four names in it, you don't deserve to host in the post-season.
Here's a couple of examples:
- Mississippi State: Dudy-Noble Field, Polk-Dement Stadium
(Just cut the crap and call it Polk Stadium. He's the hero in my book anyway.)
- Tennessee: Robert M. Lindsay Field at Lindsey Nelson Stadium
(Did they REALLY have to include two "Lind-zee" names in there?)
- Nebraska: Hawks Field at Haymarket Park
(I know Hawks is a contributor's name, but it sounds too much like a team's nickname and the Nebraska Hawks just doesn't have a ring to it)
- East Carolina: Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium
("Inside"? C'mon. A stadium that nice should have a single name. Make it LeClair.)
- Oregon State: Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.
(As the above examples show, it's usually a field AT a stadium. OSU's is the opposite.)
And the worst of all...
Arizona State: Winkles Field at Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.

Just stop it people.

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THE UPSET KINGS---
These are the lovable losers that are also the biggest upset pullers of the 2008 season so far. (Is "upset pullers" a correct term?)

- Northern Colorado
Record: 14-25
Notable wins: At Texas A&M (2), at Arizona State, Florida International.
How do victories like this even happen? It could be argued that the Bears have pulled off the biggest upsets in many years. At least they've pulled off the most notable Ws, including handing the Sun Devils their only loss 29 games into the season. At first, the two wins in College Station kept me from giving any props to the Aggies, but they've rebounded and look very impressive now at 33-7.

- UC Riverside
Record: 11-24, 5-4 in Big West
Notable wins: At Cal State Fullerton, at Long Beach State (2), at UC Irvine (2)
Do you think the people in the Big West are tired of getting beat by UCR, last year's regular season champion? Somehow, the Highlanders can pull off these beauties, but lose to just about anybody else on a given day as well. Must be the youth in them.

- Loyola Marymount
Record: 20-20, 5-7 in WCC play
Notable wins: Oregon State, San Diego State, San Diego, Cal, USC (2), Long Beach State, Pepperdine.
Look at those "name" teams. Playing the 4th toughest schedule in the country and with an RPI in the 50s, you almost can say that if the Lions would just get their record above the Mendoza Line, they'll be in the conversation for an at-large berth in the NCAAs. A WCC weekend against No. 12 San Diego is up next.

Washington State
Record: 20-18, 3-9 in Pac 10
Notable wins: at Oklahoma (3), Cal, Stanford, Arizona State
The Cougs are the bottom-feeders of the Pac 10, but have some good Ws here. But they just don't have the pitching depth to win many three-game weekends in conference play.

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GREATEST DUNKERS EVER---
Let's take a short side trip here.
CBS College Sports ran a feature the other night entitled "College Basketball's 10 Greatest Dunkers". Since I'm a huge hoops junkie too, I TiVo'd it and here is their list:
1- Darrell Griffith, Louisville, 1976-80
2- Clyde Drexler, Houston, 1979-83
3- Vince Carter, North Carolina, 1995-98
4- Dominique Wilkins, Georgia, 1979-81
5- Steve Francis, Maryland, 1998-99
6- Shaquille O'Neal, LSU, 1989-92
7- Michael Jordan, North Carolina, 1980-83
8- Darvin Ham, Texas Tech, 1992-96
9- Harold Minor, USC, 1988-91
10- Jerome Lane, Pittsburgh, 1985-88

I'll give the people who chose this list some credit, they got the No. 1 dunker right. Darrell "Dr. Dunkenstein" Griffith was pure artistry and athletic ability in the air. Just 6'4", but with an incredible 48" vertical leap. He was unGodly. Just imagine what he would've been like in today's up-and-down the court game? Yowza!

But three big problems:
1- During the show, unfortunately they didn't show Griffith's from-the-foul-line two-hand, rock-the-cradle, windmill dunk in the 1980 Regional final vs. LSU at the Houston Summit that even had LSU fans cheering.
2- They had a lot of "one shot Charlies" (as Clyde Drexler put it during the show)like Ham and Lane, who both happened to break backboards on their dunks. They weren't great dunkers, game-in, game-out.
3- Speaking of Ham's plexiglass-breaking dunk vs. UNC, they didn't show a clip of the dunk during the show, only the Sports Illustrated cover picture. What? A show on CBS College Sports couldn't show a clip from the NCAA tournament televised by CBS?

If you twist my arm, here's what my Top 5 would be (I would do 10, but I don't have the time to think about it that hard):
1- Darrell Griffith.
2- Vince Carter.
3- Dominique.
4- Bennie Anders, Houston, 1982-86
(Had waaaay more creativity than teammate Clyde Drexler, just not as publicized.)
5- Gary Springer, Iona, 1981-84
(Yeah, I know you don't know who he is, but his 42" vertical was astounding. The only reason I know him is because he nearly signed with LSU.)

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MORE ABOUT BAD UNIFORMS---
Remember these awful togs from the Houston Astros?

Well, looking through the Tulane media guide the other day, I forgot about these forgettable pieces of junk. Note the angled "Tulane" at the top of the uniform. Also note, despite this being a black and white picture, that the stripes on these unis would have been dark green, light green, light blue and white. Talk about your pieces of snot...

(These rival those banana unis from Florida State as the worst in college baseball history)

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Okay people. That may be about all I've got for tonight. Hope you guys have a good college baseball weekend. Some decent matchups here and there, so check out a game near you. Tell 'em the big stitch-head sent you and you'll get in for half price.

More tomorrow.

G'night.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 12:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

(FSU's Mike Martin has had his share of disgruntled fans, impressionable recruits and ornery umpires over the years )

Mike Martin entered his 29th season of coaching at Florida State just a mere 145 wins shy of Augie Garrido's NCAA Division I record of 1,629 wins. That's not that many wins in FSU terms, roughly the equivalent of three seasons. I mean, when you consider Martin's fewest victories for a single spring was 44 in 2006, that's not too bad.

He may be 65 years old, but you can't accuse him of slowing down. Not Mike Martin. Too many things to do, too many recruits to meet.

At least that's what I discovered when I tried to set up a quick back-and-forth with the Florida State Seminole head coach this past weekend. With the help of Jason Leturmy, the FSU baseball media contact, I was able to get a few minutes before Sunday's Miami game to talk to the legendary, 28-year head coach of the garnet and gold.

But I have to say, I had to wait a little while. When Jason took me down to the dugout 45 minutes before game time, there was a handful of high school recruits sitting there next to him, listening to his sales pitch intently. After a few minutes, I was given access to Coach Martin. Obviously, I didn't mill around, I hit the ground running with him, knowing my time was limited.

Me:
Hi Coach, I'm Eric Sorenson, from CSTV and CBS College Sports Tonight.

Coach Martin:
Hi, good to see you. Take a seat. (He motions to the dugout bench)

Me:
Just wanted to ask you five or six questions, mostly going back a ways, more than just about this series. And I swear I'm not going to ask you when you're going to retire.

Coach Martin:
(Laughing) Well good.

Me:
First off, is it true that you used to play golf with Rod Dedeaux?

Coach Martin:
(with serious look on his face) Ohhhh, gosh yeah. One of the real big thrills of my life was the day that he took me out to Lakeside, out in California. He treated me like an absolute king. But he was the real King out there. Everybody knew him. It was one of the oldest clubs in California. Lots of movie stars played there, but everyone knew Rod.

Me:
Let me guess, he called you Tiger, right?

Coach Martin:
Never called me anything but that.

Me:
Ironically, same with me. Umm, you walked into a great situation at Florida State a long time ago, what was your predecessor Dick Howser like? What was his influence on you?

Coach Martin:
Dick was a guy that was a consummate baseball man. Taught me a lot about the game. The main thing he taught me was the patience factor, 'coz he knew I was never one to have a lot of patience. He was always relaxed and cool and I was always impressed with the way he treated players. It was a good learning experience. I mean, we used to talk baseball all the time. No matter what it was, we were talking baseball.

Not only was I an assistant to him, but I was a friend. The families would get together, we'd have five or six couples come over for dinner, or at somebody else's house, and eventually we would all end up in the kitchen talkin' baseball.

Me:
(Laughing) Much to the wives chagrin I'm sure.

Coach Martin:
They were unaffected. (wry smile)

Me:
Okay, how big was Seminole baseball when you started in 1980. I mean, you've had two straight nights of record crowds here this weekend. I know you guys were always successful, but how big of an event was it when you began here?

Coach Martin:
Well, you know, we're one of those schools that is deep in tradition and when I came here in 1975 as an assistant and when I played here in '65 and '66, baseball was always very important to the university and certainly in our community. We're one of the few baseball programs in the country that sells out the entire grandstand before the first pitch is thrown each season.

Me:
You haven't had a "bad" season since you've been here, does that make it tough as far as fans expectations and stuff like that?

Coach Martin:
Well there's always expectations that go with this program. But you have to understand that there are going to be years where things don't go your way. You've gotta be patient. It's been hard work. It's obviously been very challenging, but I'm very blessed to have this position, I love what I've learned and love this great university.

Me:
Okay, the 1986 pitching staff... Is that the best staff you've ever had?

Coach Martin:
Well we've had some very good pitching here. I guess in '02, where we had three lefties (led by ace Matt Lynch), they were very, very intelligent and very good. Unfortunately, we got beat right here (at Howser Stadium) against Notre Dame in the Super Regionals.

But certainly, (Mike) Loynd and (Richie) Lewis was a very good 1-2 combination. Lewis wanted the ball every day. But it was also a year when, you're looking at a major leaguer in Paul Sorrento in right field, a major leaguer in Luis Alicea at second base and major leaguer in Mike Loynd on the mound. That was obviously a pretty good team.

(At this point, assistant coach Jeremy Shouppe brings another recruit up to meet Coach Martin, so I politely add that there are only two more questions I'd really like to ask... though that number could easily be about 50 or so.)

Me:
Okay, has there been any difference in the rivalry between you guys and Miami since you have become conference rivals now? Or has it always been intense, no difference?

Coach Martin:
Oh it's ALWAYS been intense, you're talking about guys that have played with and against each other since grade school. In fact, Elih Villanueva, who is pitching against Miami today is from Miami. He knows a lot of these guys.

Me:
Right. That's an interesting story in itself.

Coach Martin:
In fact, my first home run as a collegian was against Miami and my first win as a head coach was against them too. I've never forgotten that. But now that they're in our league, it takes on even more importance, because now we're trying to position ourselves against them for the post-season. And that's the most important part.

Me:
Okay, last question. You gonna try to catch Augie?

Coach Martin:
(Laughs) Well... let's put it this way. He needs to retire. THEN I'll catch him.

Me:
That's what I figured. Thanks coach.

With that, I watched as Coach Martin shook hands with the latest recruit to visit the Tallahassee campus. Then I thought about how many of these young recruits he's shaken hands with before games over the previous 28 years. Probably enough to give anyone a life's full of blisters. Then again, Coach Martin still has the pep and vigor of a younger coach.

Augie, you've been warned.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 01:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A baker's dozen of photos from this past weekend's Miami-Florida State series in Tallahassee.

(If you had Jemile Weeks' wheels you'd be smiling too)

(Is that Mike Martin in the corner stealing signs from Jim Morris? Or just admiring his handiwork?)

(Dennis Guinn and Blake Tekotte both had big at-bats this weekend)

(Remember the "Snap Into a Slim Jim!" guy?)

(This guy was leading those N-O-L-E-S spell out cheers all weekend)

(Okay dude, judging by the score on your shirt you've had that thing since 1994, giving males everywhere a bad fashion name to sorority girls everywhere)

(Sunday starter Elih Villanueva wasn't so impressive, suffering his first loss against some of his hometown friends on the Miami roster)

(Buster Posey lived up to billing all weekend long, raising his average to .483 and hitting his 11th home run)

(Is there such a thing as being an FSU Cowgirl Wanna-be? Or do you automatically become one with a short shorts, fakies and a plunging neckline that has been purposely ripped?... Well, you know what, I don't care either way.)

(Hurricane leadoff man Blake Tekotte had a good weekend at the dish, on the basepaths and in center field)

(Mike Martin had some odds with the boys in blue, but was mostly sedate)

(Jason Stidham had two doubles in Saturday's win and a home run in Sunday's slugfest)

(FSU players had a unique way of taking in the action from their own dugout)

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 01:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)