SEC Shining Saturday

Rosenblatt Stadium hosted the opening round of the 2009 College World Series Saturday. Two SEC teams, Arkansas and LSU, waltzed to wins at the prestigious Omaha, Nebraska venue. The Razorbacks transplanted the notion of an impossible task with a surprising 10-6 win over favored Cal State Fullerton. The Tigers knocked down Virginia, 9-5, with an offensive outburst and brilliant bullpen battle.
Arkansas came into the College World Series as a struggling team. They lost 10 of 13 games heading into the tournament. Their road to Omaha was the toughest of the final eight teams. The strong finishers stormed through the Norman Regional as one of the hottest hitting teams. The Razorbacks then defeated Florida State in two games in the Tallahassee Super Regional round to advance to the CWS. The team has played exceptionally well during the post-season and somehow seem to get things done with average pitching. They have challenges ahead because they are in a tough bracket. The Hogs needed an outstanding pitching performances and a first game win in order to keep the momentum and have a chance at being in the championship series.
Arkansas received a strong start from their best pitcher, Dallas Keuchel, in the victory over Cal State. Keuchel allowed four runs on five hits. He threw his true left-handed sinker and laser fastball to tame the Titan bats. Mike Bolsinger added aid with three innings for his second save. He allowed two runs and four hits. Bolsinger has appeared in 27 games for the Hogs and has a 2.83 ERA in 60 1/3 innings. The Razorbacks reached double-digits in runs for the fourth time in six games. Nine runs were scored with two outs and the leader offensively was Andy Wilkins. Wilkins lead the offense during the season with a .329 batting average and 17 homeruns. He clubbed 51 RBIs and drove in five more yesterday. The sophomore first baseman will step to the plate against LSU (the Razorback’s next opponent on Monday) with a .593 average. He has five extra-base hits and four homeruns this NCAA tournament run. The serious 7th year head coach, Dave Van Horn, guided the Hogs to the 2003 and 2004 CWS but failed to win a game in those years. This year the monkey is off his back and he has a fair chance to grasp another game, or more.
The Razorbacks manufactured a pair of runs in the opening frame. Zack Cox, the Arkansas freshman who flashed 12 homeruns during the season flicked another in the third inning for two more Hog runs. Cox plays third base and is a dead-red fastball hitter. The Razorbacks ripped 19 year old, Fullerton freshman, Noe Ramirez. He lasted just 3 2/3 innings for the number two seeded Titans. It was Ramirez’s shortest start in his last 15 appearances. The first freshman pitcher to start a CWS game left after allowing seven runs by the fourth inning. That’s when Arkansas broke the game open, scoring five runs in total during the inning. Wilkins walloped a Tyler Pill offering into the stands for three more runs. It was Wilkins’ team-leading 19th long ball. The Hogs pressured Pill previous to Wilkins pulverizing the pitch. Scott Lyons grounded the first pitch he saw between Cal State shortstop and third baseman for a four run lead. The early scoring proved too much for the Titans.
It was a huge boost for Arkansas to take the early advantage against the five-time defending CWS champions. Fullerton represents to class of college baseball and has an offensive with a wealth of experience. Josh Fellhauer, with his .399 average, scares you the most. Junior, Khris Davis and senior, Joe Scott, also are capable of putting the ball in play and taking pitches. The Titans were one of the favorites to win the national title with their 47-14 regular season record. Cal State benefited from weak regional round opponents. They stomped Utah and Gonzaga and hosted an overmatched Louisville squad in the super regionals. The Titans crushed the Cardinals in two games, outscoring them 23-2. Ramirez was 10-1 for Cal State with a 2.86 ERA in 107 innings. The phenom struck out 18 in just 15 innings in the regional and super regional rounds but was chased out of the game by the fourth inning in Saturday’s defeat. Pill was 11-3 this Spring, but pitching in just his first relief role in the CWS yesterday. The balanced team entered the tournament hitting an outstanding .330 and a staff ERA of 3.36. It’s win, or go home, time for the Titans now. They face Virginia in the loser’s bracket elimination game next. Coach Dave Serrano knows the Titans have a tough road ahead but the team is still and exciting one to watch. They have one of the game’s best hitters in Jared Clark and an All-American candidate in right-hander, Daniel Renken. Renken struck out 98 and walked 32 this year, and opponents are finding it hard to hit more than .200 off the standout sophomore. Before this weekend, Serrano’s team trailed in just one inning in nine games. The Titans cut the Hogs’ lead in half in the third inning, scoring one-third of their six runs. They came away with just one run in the eighth after loading the bases and being down in the box score, 10-6. That would be the game’s final score and the Titan’s closing chance at coming back.
The LSU Tigers got a go-ahead three run bomb from Sean Ochinko and an eighth inning two-run rip from Ryan Schimpf to top UVA in the opening round of the CWS. The Tigers have a number one ranking in the major polls and a number three seed this tournament. They won 51 games in the regular season and returned for their 15th CWS appearance this year. LSU came into Rosenblatt Stadium perfect and untouched this postseason and hoping to continue the terrific, tearing, trend. After cruising past three teams in the Baton Rouge Regional, they took care of business against Rice in two tries during super regional action. The team’s confidence is as high as ever with a .315 hitting offense lead by second baseman, DJ LeMahieu. LeMahieu, who batted .340 this year, is one of many over-300 hitting LSU players. Schimpf had 19 homers and a .335 average while driving in 63 for the 2009 Tigers. Blake Dean boasted a .333 clip with 15 dingers. Junior right-fielder, Jared Mitchell, is LSU’s most versatile star. He was recently drafted 24th overall by the White Sox. Mitchell hit .325 and stole 35 bases, while Ochinko clubbed .330 with 50 RBIs. Anthony Ranaudo and Louis Coleman are an excellent pair of pitchers. The one-two punch packed a combined 23-5 record and both have ERAs under 3.00 in over 105 innings each. The Tigers have a fabulous closer in freshman, Matty Ott, but not too many reliable arms in relief. Despite the lack of depth in the pen, LSU has dominated opponents and the greatness continued against the second best lineup in the CWS.
The Cavaliers sent Danny Hultzen to the mound against Ranaudo in what was pegged as a pitcher’s dual from the onset. Hultzen never got into a rhythm for Virginia. He allowed three LSU runs and seven hits in three innings. The Tigers won their opening round game for the first time in four appearances since 2000 by banging out 14 hits against a pitching staff allowing only ten runs in the past six games. LSU took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on three consecutive hits but left two men stranded on base. LSU plated two runs in the bottom of the third inning on smashes by LeMahieu and Schimpf. Dean followed with a sacrifice fly and Micah Gibbs capped off the frame with his second base hit.
Hultzen wasn’t the only ace having a tough time toeing the rubber. UVA succeeded in unsettling Ranaudo. Ranaudo was lifted after 3 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits. Anthony laid down the Cavaliers in order in the first and escaped the second when Mikie Mahtook made a tremendous diving catch. He’s a dynamic outfielder and the big freshman will be one to contend with for some time at LSU with his surprisingly blazing speed and great dumps on balls. Virginia solidified, coming through with a run in the third inning on a double. They sent into a tizzy and roughed up Ranaudo in the fourth. LSU coach Paul Mainieri removed his starter when he couldn’t find the strike zone and replaced him with Paul Bertuccini. LSU clung to a 3-2 lead after the reliever polished off UVA in the fourth.
Virginia bested the Bayou Bengals’ bullpen in the fifth inning backed by a solo homerun, to take a one-run lead. Reliever Austin Ross finished the fifth to keep the game within reach for the home team. With LSU trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth, Gibbs lead off the inning with a single. Mahtook reached base on a one-out single and both were driven in on Ochinko’s drilling off Matt Packer. The ball was driven into the leftfield bleacher seats for a 6-4 Tigers advantage. Franco Valdes, the Virginia backstop, laced an opposite-field homerun to left off Ross to trim the Tigers lead to one in the seventh. Tyler Wilson, UVA’s top bullpen arm, tossed an easy 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh. Ross and three relievers combined to hold Brian O’Connor’s Cavaliers scoreless the rest of the way. But, LSU would cross the plate three more times in the 3 hour, 40 minute emotion-filled slugfest.
In the eighth, the Tigers extended their lead on a pair of singles and a hit-by-pitch. Schimpf stroked his 20th homer of the season off Wilson to provide Ott with a four-run cushion. Ott struck out one of college baseball’s best and exciting offensive players, centerfielder Jarrett Parker, to end the game. Nine pitchers were used during the heated happening. LSU, with an eleven game wining streak on the line, will have an SEC showdown with a bout against Arkansas on Monday. The Tigers will give the nod to Coleman, who last took the mound against the Razorbacks in May. The senior right-hander shut them out, allowing just two hits that game. Coleman was one of the relievers Mainieri used to down the Cavaliers yesterday. He maintained the LSU lead in the eighth by getting three outs on about 15 throws. Coleman will be ready to start tomorrow to bestow LSU a solid outing in a superior SEC billing.

Parting points: Andy Pettitte sure was cooked in an insipid effort on Saturday. I am hoping the Yankees can somehow show chivalry with Johan Santana on the hill for the Mets in the finale of the Subway Series. I guess you have to be living on another continent to expect A.J. Burnett to be the better pitcher this afternoon.

Is it closing time for Hollywood tonight in the NBA Finals?