Preliminary report from Bryan Young at the Tempe Regional FULL REPORT TO BE POSTED LATER

A tired Oklahoma Sooners team looks to be feeling the effects of an earlier 3:30 elimination game in the 100 degree heat. In their second game of the day Arizona State starter Josh Satow has thrown a shutout through seven innings including retiring 15 Sooners in a row after a first and third one out jam in the top of the first inning.

On the flip side the Arizona State offense has continued the onslaught of last night, scoring in just about every inning so far tonight. Case in point: ASU’s Kiel Roling just blasted a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh towards the Tempe Town Lake, as the ball left Packard Stadium over the left field fence in a hurry.

Unfortunately some distressing news to report. ASU Team Capatain Petey Paramore pulled up lame after limping out a RBI double in the bottom of the fourth inning. Early reports indicate a right quad strain. However, I just received a report that Petey was seen walking around the ASU clubhouse area without much of a limp.

Dave Serrano said Wednesday he has withdrawn as a candidate for the Oregon job, choosing to stay at UC Irvine and continue to build the Anteaters into a perennial national contender.

In his third season at Irvine, Serrano took the Anteaters to the College World Series and garnered National Coach of the Year honors. Along with the recognition came interest from Oregon, which is looking to resurrect its baseball program after 26 years.

“I want to thank the University of Oregon for their interest,” Serrano said. “And I apologize to both universities for any distraction this has caused.

“I am excited to move on and continue to be the coach of the players who are in our program now.”

Serrano said the decision, reached after long discussions with his wife, came down to family. He said the time and effort to start up a new program would cost him too much time away from his wife, Tracy, and his three young sons.

Orange County Register

UC Irvine coach Dave Serrano has taken his name out of the running for Oregon’s vacant head coaching job.

Baseball America’s 2007 Coach of the Year had delayed his scheduled visit to Eugene so he and his wife and staff could make a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate and relive the Anteaters’ College World Series run, and the Ducks allowed him a few more days to think about it before his visit, which he never wound up making. Serrano said he woke up this morning with a decision to remain at Irvine.

“As intriguing and as challenging as the Oregon job would have been–and we would have been up to the task–I hope this shows my commitment to UC Irvine and our team,” Serrano said. “We still have lofty goals here at Irvine. I think this is a good program that can continue to grow and grow as long as I can keep my coaching staff intact, and we can take it to the highest level.”

Baseball America

FROM NCBWA RELEASE

DALLAS - The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continued its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 10th year with its 2007 weekly surveys. Weekly polls were circulated from Feb. 12-June 25 following the NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb. Oregon State became the first school since LSU in 1996-97 to repeat as Division I champ after sweeping North Carolina last Sunday night at Rosenblatt Stadium.

The poll voters come from 32 college baseball writers and related media persons from throughout the nation. The final poll had representation by a season-most 14 conferences (tied for a weekly high for the fourth time in ‘07) among the 293 baseball-playing schools in the ‘07 NCAA Division I ranks, and 17 circuits had teams in the polls in ‘07. For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to www.ncbwa.com

Oregon State defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels 9-3 in Game 2 of the CWS Championship Series to clinch their second championship in as many years. The Oregon State offense jumped on Tar Heel starter Luke Putkonen for three runs in the second inning which knocked him out after only 1.2 innings. Mike Fox, head coach of North Carolina replaced him with Andrew Carignan who acts as the team closer. Carignan ended up going 3.2 innings while giving up two runs. The Oregon State offense was led by many players but Darwin Barney went 2-5 with a homer and Jordan Lennerton hit a two run homer. Oregon State pitcher Mike Stutes struggled through 5.1 innings while giving up three runs on seven hits but picked up the win to give himself a 2-0 record in the CWS. The North Carolina offense was led by Dustin Ackley who went 2-4 with a homer and two RBI in the loss.

The Oregon State Beavers overcame many different obstacles this season who were on the bubble to make the NCAA Tournament when the selections were announced. They also had some major distractions this season with Mike Lissman’s legal trouble. I would like to congratulate the team that started the entire College Baseball season with a trip to Hawaii-Hilo and ended it as the National Champions for the second straight season which is the first time it has happened in College Baseball since LSU won the championship in 1996-1997.

Oregon State Recap
UNC Recap
SeBaseball Recap
Baseball Daily Digest Recap

Game 2 of the College World Series Championship Series is tonight between Oregon State and North Carolina with Oregon State holding a 1-0 lead in the best of three series. Gametracker is available by clicking here.

The Oregon State Beavers took Game 1 of the College World Series Championship Series by a score of 11-4. Jorge Reyes pitched 6.1 innings while allowing only three runs to the North Carolina offense. Joe Patterson relieved Reyes by giving up only 1 run over the final 2.2 innings. North Carolina starter Alex White was lit up for five runs in 5.1 innings of work. Jordan Lennerton did most of the damage to the North Carolina offense by going 2-4 with a homer and two RBI. Mitch Canham also had a strong day as he went 1-2 with two RBI. The Tar Heels offense was led by Reid Fronk who had a two run double in the 5th inning.

Oregon State Recap
UNC Recap
Doug Kroll (CSTV) Recap
Rivals.com Recap

The teams will play Game 2 on Sunday at 7 pm eastern time. If Oregon State wins the game they will be the national champions for the second straight year while North Carolina will try to force a deciding game on Monday. The Beavers will send Mike Stutes (11-4, 4.03 ERA) to the mound while UNC sends Luke Putkonen (8-1, 4.44 ERA) to the mound.

Oregon State looked like a much more polished team on Saturday evening while North Carolina looked a little tired from the long week in Omaha. We will see tomorrow if the Tar Heels can get a big start from Putkonen as their bullpen has been extremely busy this past week.

The Gametracker for Game 1 of the College World Series Championship series is available here for anyone not able to watch the game on TV.

North Carolina (57-14)

The North Carolina Tar Heels head back to the CWS Championship Series to face Oregon State for the second straight year. UNC has compiled a 4-1 record in Omaha as they fought through the loser’s bracket. The Tar Heels are led on the mound by Robert Woodard who has struggled in the College World Series but has a 11-2 overall record with a 3.19 ERA. Rob Wooten has appeared in every single game in the NCAA. He has pitched 15.1 innings in the tournament compiling a 1.17 ERA. The Tar Heel offense woke up in the final elimination game against Rice on Thursday when four different hitters went deep. Josh Horton, who was a second round pick by the Oakland Athletics leads the CWS with a .389 average.

North Carolina is expected to start Alex White (6-6 4.74 ERA) in Game 1.

UNC CWS Game Notes
CBB report on UNC-BC

Oregon State (47-18)

The Oregon State Beavers enter the College World Series Championship Series seeking their second straight national championship. This is also their second straight year facing the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Championship series. The Beavers lost a ton of talent from last year’s team but have been able to get hot at the right time of the year as they have compiled a 3-0 record in the CWS. The Beavers are led by catcher Mitch Canham who was the 57th overall pick by the San Diego Padres. Canham is hitting .321 with ten homers on the season. Daniel Turpen is the top starting pitcher for the Beavers. He was drafted in the eighth round by the San Francisco Giants. He has accumulated a 10-1 record with a 3.44 ERA.

Pat Casey will send Jorge Reyes (6-3, 3.00 ERA) to the mound for Game 1.

Oregon State CWS Game Notes

The College Baseball Blog predicts that Oregon State wins the championship in two games as UNC’s starting pitching has been suspect all post season. North Carolina has a stronger bullpen so they need to have a solid five-six inning start in every game of the series to have a chance.

CWS Championship Series Previews from the Internet

Salem News (OR paper)
Corvallis (OR) Gazette Times
News and Observer (NC paper)
River Ave. Blues
Arizona Daily Star
Rivals.com
Doug Kroll of CSTV Preview (Great article)

North Carolina hit four homers in a 7-4 victory over Rice to advance to the CWS Championship Series where they will take on Oregon State. The Tar Heels got a solid start from Adam Warren who gave up three runs in six innings as his record goes to a perfect 12-0 on the year. Rob Wotten came in to the game to relieve Warren but gave up a run on three hits in 0.2 innings. Andrew Carignan pitched a perfect 2.1 innings to get his 18th save of the year. The Tar Heels were led on offense by Dustin Ackley who went 2-3 with a homer and two runs scored. Tim Fedroff, Josh Horton, and Seth Williams also hit homers in the victory. The Owls were led by Diego Seastrunk who had two RBI in the loss.

This is the second straight year that the Rice Owls were denied a spot in the CWS Championship series with two consecutive losses. The Owls end the season with a 56-14 record while UNC will play Oregon State for the national championship.

UNC Recap
Rice Recap

The Oregon State Beavers ended the UC-Irvine Anteaters magical run in the College World Series as the Beavers won 7-1 to advance to the CWS Championship series which starts on Saturday. The Beavers starting pitcher Daniel Turpen went eight innings while only giving up five hits and one run to lead the Beavers. The offensive star for Oregon State was Mitch Canham as he went 3-5 with three RBI in the game. Darwin Barney also went 3-5 but only picked up two RBI. The UC-Irvine pitching finally caught up to them as Christian Bergman gave up four runs in four innings. The Irvine offense was dormant throughout the game as Cody Cipraino went 2-3 with a run scored.

UC-Irvine ends the season with a 47-17-1 record while Oregon State heads to the Championship series which starts on Saturday against either North Carolina or Rice. OSU is looking to repeat as National Champions.

UC-Irvine Recap
OSU Recap

Robert Woodard and two relievers limited Rice to six singles and a double, Dustin Ackley broke open the game with a three-run homer and North Carolina beat the Owls 6-1 in the College World Series on Wednesday.

The Tar Heels (56-14), the 2006 CWS runners-up and No. 3 national seed, forced another game against No. 2 Rice (56-13) Thursday at 7 pm. The winner meets defending national champion Oregon State in the best-of-three championship starting Saturday.

North Carolina
North Carolina Recap
Houston Chronicle .com
Rice Owls Recap

If you are one of the many people that are stuck at work and can’t watch the College World Series, we can help you out. We have provided Gametracker links below.

North Carolina vs Rice at 2:00 pm Eastern Time

UC-Irvine vs Oregon State at 7:00 pm Eastern Time

The UC-Irvine Anteaters picked up an 8-7 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils in one of the most exciting games in the College World Series in recent history. The Anteaters trailed 7-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth. The Anteaters were able to pick up four runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie up the game. The Anteaters inning was brought to a halt as UC-Irvine third base coach Greg Bergeron and Cody Cipriano collided as the player was rounding third. Third base umpire David Buck recognized the contact and rightfully called Cipriano out on the play. It would stay tied until the tenth inning when the Anteaters got a single from Ollie Linton which brought home Matt Morris with the winning run. This was the second straight extra inning victory for the UC-Irvine baseball program.

ASU ends the season with a 49-15 record while UC-Irvine will face Oregon State at 7 pm as the Anteaters have to defeat OSU twice to get to the Championship series.

PS: I want a UC-Irvine Baseball Hat now as I have jumped on the bandwagon. Where can I buy one that the players wear? If you have the answer leave a comment or e-mail us.

UC-Irvine Recap
Arizona State Recap
SEBaseball Recap
ESPN Recap
Daily Pilot Recap
East Valley Tribune Recap

North Carolina sent home Louisville after a very strong outing by Luke Putkonen. Luke went 7 innings while giving up a single run on three hits while striking out seven batters and walking only one batter. Louisville came into the game scoring in double digits in both of their games in the CWS. The lone run scored by Louisville came in the first inning on a home run by Logan Johnson but they were not able to get anything else off of Luke Putkonen. North Carolina got all there runs in the second inning including two coming on a critical error by Louisville Chris Dominguez. The North Carolina offense was led by Seth Williams who got the only RBI in the game for the Heels.

Louisville ends the season with a 47-24 record in what is the greatest season for the Cardinals baseball program in their history. North Carolina now advances to play Rice at 2 pm eastern time on Wednesday. The Tar Heels have to knock off the Owls twice to advance to the Championship series.

North Carolina Recap
Louisville Recap
SEBaseball Recap
Courier-Journal Recap
News and Observer Recap

The Oregon State Beavers knocked off the Arizona State Sun Devils 12-6 in a winner’s bracket showdown on Monday. The Sun Devils have rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh to put them down 12-5 but the Sun Devils were not able to make the great comeback as they lost 12-6. The Beavers got a solid start from Mike Stutes who went six innings while giving up only three hits and five walks as he gave up four runs. The Beavers were led on offense by Mike Lissman who went 3-4 with four RBI. Eric Sogard went 2-5 with two RBI to lead the Sun Devils in the losing effort. ASU will be back in action on Tuesday when they face UC-Irvine while Oregon State will play the ASU/UC Irvine winner on Wednesday.

OSU Recap
ASU Recap
SEBaseball Recap