LSU’s 23-game winning streak came to an end Saturday, as UC Irvine smacked the homestanding Tigers 11-5 in the first game of the final series ever at LSU’s Alex Box Stadium.

A Tony Asaro single plated two runs to give the Anteaters a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Going into the sixth, UC Irvine held a 3-1 edge and gets two aboard via the walk from a pair of Tiger pitchers. Sean Madigan then erases the Anteaters’ “small ball” image by depositing the ball over the right center fence to put Irvine up 6-1. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Baton Rouge Super Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big West, LSU, SEC, UC-Irvine

Stanford 4 Fullerton 3

When Jeff Kaplan and Jeremy Bleich went head to head early in the season, the Stanford hitters got the best of Kaplan, knocking him out of the game after only an inning. Stanford went on to sweep Fullerton, but that, as coach Dave Serrano said, was a different Fullerton team, one still searching to find its identity. Fullerton turned its season around and played well enough to garner a #5 national seed, but lacked the same tenacity they showed in the second half of the season tonight as they fell to Stanford 4-3 in a lackluster offensive effort. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Super Regional, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Visit, Pac 10, Stanford

Tigers to stick with strengths vs. UCI

By now, the point has been clearly pushed across.

In case you haven’t heard, the red-hot LSU baseball team will not adapt its style simply because UC Irvine figures to play at a different tempo and with a different approach.

Tigers coach Paul Mainieri beat on the same drum again Wednesday, reiterating what he has said all week.

“Just because they play small ball doesn’t mean we’re going to combat that by playing small ball ourselves,” Mainieri said.

Maybe not. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Baton Rouge Super Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big West, LSU, SEC

Fullerton Super Regional Preview

Stanford Regional Coverage

Fullerton Regional Coverage

Both Stanford and Fullerton hosted regionals, but had to work their way out of the loser’s bracket to advance to the Super Regional stage. Cal State Fullerton was swept by Stanford the second weekend of the season. Here’s a recap of how each team fared in their regional, and what to look for this weekend. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Super Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, Pac 10, Stanford

By Willie Nicklaus

With the NCAA regionals finished, I thought it was a good time to post my All-Freshman team for 2008. The high school Class of 2007 was a highly touted one, and they did not disappoint as contributors to their respective teams. Here they are with a little information about each. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2010 Top Players, ACC, Alabama, Auburn, Big East, Big South, Big West, Cal, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Column, Coastal Carolina, Conference USA, Florida, GT, Kent State, MAC, Miami (FL), Middle Tennessee, Ole Miss, Rice, Santa Clara, SEC, Tennessee, Texas, UNC, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference, West Virginia

Fullerton 5 UCLA 4

Fullerton decided to go with it’s Friday starter, Brian Wilson. UCLA decided to save ace Tim Murphy to possibly come in late in the game. The decision paid off for Fullerton, and UCLA will have to wait til next season to try and make it to Omaha.

Freshman pitcher Rob Rasmussen was coasting with the help of his defense, including Tim Murphy throwing out the speedy Christian Colon at third after a Brent Dean overthrow on a stolen base attempt. The good times didn’t last though as the Titans were able to put together a two out rally with a couple of 1^st and 3^rd singles by Christian Colon and Erik Komatsu. After a mound visit Rasmussen was able to get out of the inning on a Jared Clark popup to right. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Visit, Pac 10, UCLA

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Stanford 9 Pepperdine 7

STANFORD, Calif. - Sean Ratliff’s grand slam, his 20th home run of the season, capped off a six-run fifth inning that provided the Stanford baseball team the boost it needed to pull ahead of Pepperdine and hold it together for a 9-7 victory Monday over the Waves (38-21). The win sends the Cardinal (37-22-2) to the program’s seventh Super Regional appearance next weekend, where it will face the winner of Monday night’s Fullerton Regional final between UCLA and CS Fullerton. The scenario involving the location of next weekend’s Super Regional will be announced by the NCAA Monday night at 8 p.m. PT. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 NCAA Tourney, 2008 Stanford Regional, Big West, Pac 10, Pepperdine, Stanford

CBS College Sports has forwarded us a list of the Webcasts for the final games of the Regionals on Monday. Click on the links below!

Georgia Tech v. Georgia (Audio)
TEXAS A&M v. Houston (Video)
FLORIDA STATE vs. Tulane: Post-Game Press Conference (Video)
TULANE v. Florida State (Audio)
Stanford v. Pepperdine (Video)

Tags: 2008 NCAA Tourney, ACC, Big 12, Big West, Conference USA, FSU, Georgia, GT, Houston, Pac 10, Pepperdine, SEC, Stanford, Texas AM, Tulane

Fullerton 11  UCLA 8

Gavin Brooks started off the season as UCLA’s #1 starter, and the Bruins thought he could rekindle some of last year’s magic.  They we’re wrong, and after using up more of their bullpen than they wanted in this loss to Fullerton, the Bruins are forced into an elimination game in Fullerton, where their 2007 season ended in the Super Regionals.

The Titans offense was stifled for most of their 4-1 victory over Virginia earlier in the day by reliever Matt Packer, but they started a two out rally in the first after Erik Komatsu reached first on a hit by pitch. Komatsu was able to advance to third after Bruin lefty Gavin Brooks missed his first baseman on a pickoff throw. After a four pitch walk to Jared Clark, DH Brian Wilson singled to right, scoring Komatsu and advancing Clark into scoring position. The Titans loaded the bases on a walk to Gary Brown and looked to capitalize, but Joel Weeks lined a 2-2 pitch right to Brandon Crawford to end the inning on a drive that sounded like it broke Weeks’ bat. Brooks threw 32 pitches in the first inning, limiting his longevity. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, Pac 10, UCLA

Fullerton 4 Virginia 1

Cal State Fullerton was looking to rebound in this game after a weak performance against UCLA. Their offense caught fire early against Virginia start Pat McAnaney, and that was all they needed as Titan starter Corey Arbiso only gave up one run, throwing a complete game.

The action got started in the second inning when Pat McAnaney showed some uncharacteristic control issues, handing out free passes to the 6-7-8-9 hitters, beaning Dustin Garneau and Joe Scott. After Gary Brown scored on the bean ball and Josh Fellhauer went down on strikes, Christian Colon came through provided the offense yet again with an RBI single to left. McAnaney got Erik Komatsu to flyout to right, ending the threat with the bases loaded. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Regional, ACC, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Visit, UVA

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

Oral Roberts 8 Nebraska 0

LINCOLN, Neb. — Kelly Minissale had a no-hit effort thru six innings and lasted 8.1 innings as Oral Roberts University defeated Nebraska, 8-0, to stay alive in the NCAA Lincoln Regional and eliminate the Cornhuskers on Sunday afternoon at Hawks Field.

ORU improves to 48-13 and will now play UC-Irvine on Sunday night at 6:05 p.m. The Golden Eagles need to beat the Anteaters twice before advancing to the next round. No. 1 seed Nebraska saw their season come to an end with a 41-16-1 record.

Minissale finished with 8.1 innings of work, allowing just two hits while striking out two to improve to 3-3 on the year.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Lincoln Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big 12, Big West, Nebraska, Oral Roberts, Summit League, UC-Irvine

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Oral Roberts 8 Eastern Illinois 7 (10 innings)

LINCOLN, Neb. — Brendan Duffy hit the eventual game-winning RBI single in the top of the 10th and T.J. Kelly recorded his 10th save of the year to help lead Oral Roberts University to a 8-7 win over Eastern Illinois in the elimination game of the NCAA Lincoln Regional, Saturday at Hawks Field. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Lincoln Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big 12, Big West, Eastern Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio Valley Conference, Oral Roberts, Summit League, UC-Irvine

UCLA 11 Fullerton 4

Interview w/Cal State Fullerton President Dr. Milton A. Gordon

Whether or not Jeff Kaplan’s eye was still bothering him, something was definitely off for him tonight at Goodwin Field. Kaplan faced a total of 19 batters over 3 innings, giving up 6 earned while striking out 4.

After Bruin starter Charles Brewer sent the Titan leadoff batters down in order to start the game, the UCLA offense got started when All Pac-10 2B Alden Carrithers was beaned by Titan starter Jeff Kaplan. Kaplan thought he had finished off the inning when with two strikes on Bruin cleanup hitter Casey Hearther, he started back to the dugout on what he and most of the Cal State Fullerton faithful thought was strike 3. Two pitches later, Hearther hit a hanging breaking ball out of the park to right field, giving UCLA the early 2-0 lead. Kaplan then struck out SS Brandon Crawford to end the inning, with Titan fans still yelling at home plate umpire Darrell Arnold over the potential strike three call.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Visit, Pac 10, UCLA

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Stanford 5 Arkansas 1

STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford baseball team lives on at the NCAA Regional, defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks, 5-1, in an elimination game Saturday at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond. Randy Molina had three hits Saturday, including his fifth home run of the season, and Austin Yount tossed five innings of one-run ball and struck out five to earn his fifth win. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 NCAA Tourney, 2008 Stanford Regional, Arkansas, Big West, Pac 10, Pepperdine, SEC, Stanford, UC-Davis, West Coast Conference

UCLA 3 UVA 2

UCLA’s main offensive production came early on. In the first inning, after a Jermaine Curtis leadoff double and single by Blair Dunlap, Alden Carrithers grounded out, scoring Curtis. UCLA scored again in the fourth on a Mickey Weisser single, scoring Carrithers. Virginia got out of the fourth inning relatively unscathed though after Brady Dolan grounded into a double play to end the inning. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, ACC, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Visit, MAAC, Pac 10, Rider, UCLA, UVA