CBD Visit Archive

CBD Visit: Bruins Put Gauchos On The Ropes

– May 22, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Interview, CBD Photo Gallery, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, Pac 12

LOS ANGELES – Around Southern California, several teams are seeing their NCAA Tournament hopes dwindle, stretch runs wind down and some seasons outright ending. But not UCLA.

The Bruins keep trucking on, winning one tight game after another. They have won 11 of 13, including sweeping their last three weekend series. On Tuesday evening, the Bruins (38-15) kept things rolling, improving to 15-1 in one-run games this season with a 2-1 victory over UC Santa Barbara (31-23) at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Freshman Cody Poteet, who has been an extreme pitcher as of recent — either pitching really well or not making it through an entire inning, allowed only one hit and one run in six strong innings.

“I think he showed everybody how good he’s going to be,” UCLA head coach John Savage said. “He could have gone out there in the seventh inning. He had 72 pitches in six innings and that’s pretty pitch efficient. I was excited by what we saw from Poteet tonight.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, CBD Interview, CBD Photo Gallery, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, Pac 12, UC-Santa Barbara, UCLA

CBD Visit: Irvine Blows Late Lead, Potentially At-Large Bid

Shotgun Spratling

– May 21, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players

FULLERTON, Calif. — Though it is now a distant memory, Carlos Lopez was originally set to be an Irvine Anteater. When he was a sophomore in high school, Lopez committed to play for Dave Serrano at Irvine. But when Serrano took the Cal State Fullerton job, Lopez followed his head coach across town to Fullerton.

Fast forward a few years, several if you ask anyone how long it seems Lopez has been wearing a Titans uniform, and you get Lopez’s penultimate weekend of baseball against the team he once planned to play for.

On Sunday afternoon, Lopez capped a weekend of baseball Fullerton coach Rick Vanderhook said was “absolutely unheard of,” by crushing a three-run walk-off home run to give Fullerton (45-8, 20-4) a 7-5 victory and a three-game sweep of UC Irvine (31-20, 13-11).

The final play: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, UC-Irvine

CBD Visit: Bruins Sweep USC Behind Berg & Valaika

Shotgun Spratling

– May 21, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, Pac 12

LOS ANGELES — Sophomore David Berg set the UCLA school record with his 16th save of the season and pushed his scoreless streak to 34 2/3 innings pitched on Sunday.

The scoreless 1 1/3 innings he pitched in the series finale at Dedeaux Field was also his third save of the weekend as UCLA (37-15, 20-7) swept rival USC.

The Trojans (19-33, 10-17) were in all three games, but couldn’t get over the hump, losing back-to-back one-run contests before Sunday’s 5-2 defeat. They dropped Friday night’s game when the turf monster bit them on a flukey play where the “earth moved and sod came up” as USC head coach Dan Hubbs described it. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, Pac 12, UCLA, USC

CBD Visit: Army sweeps Holy Cross to Win Patriot League Championship

Brian Foley

– May 19, 2013Posted in: CBD Column, CBD Photo Gallery, CBD Visit, Patriot League

The Army Black Knights continued their dominance of the Patriot League by sweeping the Holy Cross Crusaders on Sunday afternoon by scores of 9-4 and 5-4. The wins by the Black Knights give them their sixth Patriot League title under Joe Sottalano as they have now made the NCAA Tournament in back to back seasons for the first time since they completed the feat in the 2004 and 2005. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Army, CBD Column, CBD Photo Gallery, Holy Cross, Patriot League

Michael Conforto Powers Oregon State by Oregon in the Series Finale

Ryan Broadhead

– May 19, 2013Posted in: CBD Visit, General CBB News, Pac 12

Oregon State and Oregon met again Sunday afternoon, at PK Park in Eugene, with first place atop the Pac-12 conference on the line.

The Beaver’s Michael Conforto delivered a knockout blow, a mammoth grand slam to right field, in the second inning in route to Oregon State’s 12-2 victory.

Conforto got the Beavers on the board in the top of the first inning with an RBI single to left field. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: CBD Visit, Oregon, Oregon State, Pac 12

Oregon State at Oregon Series (Game 1) Recap

Ryan Broadhead

– May 18, 2013Posted in: CBD Visit, Pac 12

The Oregon State Beavers, ranked No. 3 in the NCWBA poll, arrived in Eugene this weekend to take on the N0.6 ranked Oregon Ducks. With a one game lead over Oregon atop the Pac-12, the series has both conference and national implications. Oregon State is ranked No. 6 in the latest RPI rankings, while Oregon currently sits No. 7. The winner of the series puts themselves in perfect position to grab one of the eight national seeds, which guarantees home field advantage throughout the Super Regionals. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: CBD Visit, Oregon, Oregon State, Pac 12

CBD Visit: Two-Way Robby Nesovic Leads Gauchos to 6-2 Win

Shotgun Spratling

– May 12, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — Robby Nesovic pitched six strong innings and pitched in a pair of hits, including a two-run double, to help UC Santa Barbara take a 6-2 win at Cal State Northridge’s Matador Field Saturday afternoon.

The Gauchos (27-20, 12-8) took advantage of three Northridge errors to score an error-asssisted run in the third inning and another in the fifth inning. Joey Epperson also hit a solo homer to left field to lead off the fifth inning, giving Nesovic a 3-0 lead. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, Cal-State Northridge, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, UC-Santa Barbara

CBD Visit: Northridge Picks Up Big Win at UCLA

Shotgun Spratling

– May 8, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Pac 12

LOS ANGELES — Cal State Northridge sophomore ace Jerry Keel throws a bullpen on Tuesdays in preparation for his Friday starts. He normally doesn’t do it against the No. 8 team in the country, though.

But with an important non-conference road victory against a top 10 squad in UCLA hanging in the balance, Keel took the ball and toed the rubber at Jackie Robinson Stadium Tuesday evening. The big 6-foot-6 southpaw did his part to pitch in for a great team 4-1 win over the Bruins.

Keel pitched a scoreless eighth inning before turning the ball over to closer Josh Goosen-Brown, who picked up his ninth save of the season with a quick ninth inning.

The Matadors scored three runs on one hit in the first inning and plated one run on three hits the rest of the game. They rode their arms to a victory despite only four hits and leaving nine runners on base in the first six innings — including a whopping seven in scoring position.

“Give Northridge credit,” UCLA head coach John Savage said. “I really thought they outplayed us. They outcompeted our club tonight.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, Cal-State Northridge, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Pac 12, UCLA

CBD Visit: Benches Clear, Two Ejected as TCU Takes Series

Shotgun Spratling

– May 4, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big 12, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Pac 12

LOS ANGELES — TCU will fly home happy after an emotionally charged series win at USC. On Saturday, the Horned Frogs took a 3-0 win at Dedeaux Field in a game that featured a benches-clearing altercation resulting in a pair of ejections.

TCU scored a pair of runs in the fifth inning on a Jantzen Witte two-run triple and added an insurance run the next inning on a Boomer White single. It was plenty enough. Starter Andrew Mitchell combined with relievers Trevor Seidenberger, Riley Ferrell and Alex Young for a four-hit shutout. USC never even got a runner to third base.

Mitchell picked up his first win since moving into the starting rotation from the closer role in the middle of the season. Young picked up his fourth save. USC starter Kyle Twomey fell to 2-6 despite pitching well.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big 12, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Pac 12, TCU, USC

CBD Visit: Horned Frogs Win Sloppy Affair

Shotgun Spratling

– May 3, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big 12, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Pac 12

Unfortunately, a more thorough breakdown did not save correctly and our tireless reporter did not have time to rewrite everything.

LOS ANGELES — For about six innings, there were young men throwing a rawhide-covered ball and young men swinging aluminum cylindrical wands at it. Eight men stood with leather ball-catchers and one wore extra padding, surely making an over-protective mother happy.

Though they played on a field with four vinyl-covered stepping stones indicating a safe zone, I hesitate to call what occurred for the majority of three hours, the game of baseball. It was definitely not the caliber of baseball that has historically been played by young men representing the University of Southern California and Texas Christian University.

After several miscues and blunders early in the game, TCU finally woke up and grabbed the reins in the late innings of Thursday night’s game for a 5-4 victory at USC’s Dedeaux Field.

Derek Odell carried the Horned Frogs to the win. Odell homered and drove in the go-ahead run. He also got things rolling for TCU in the seventh inning when he delivered a single and scored later in the inning on a Keaton Jones single up the middle.

The next inning, Jantzen Witte walked, stole second and came around when Jerrick Suiter rocked a ball deep into the left-centerfield gap to tie the game. The Horned Frogs scored the go-ahead run when Odell hit a line drive single the opposite way, bringing in Suiter. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big 12, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Jim Schlossnagle, Pac 12, TCU, USC

CBD Visit: Dirtbags Grind Out 3-2 Win Against Cal Poly

Shotgun Spratling

– April 28, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Long Beach State isn’t quite ready to just play spoiler. The Dirtbags think they still have some quality baseball left in the tank. They are drawing on their experience from last year when they made a run down the stretch, winning 14 of 18 at one point, and had an opportunity to win their way into the NCAA Tournament the final weekend of the regular season.

Long Beach State has shown it can play with anyone in the country with wins on the road at Vanderbilt and UCLA. On Saturday, the Dirtbags knocked off another top 25 team as they beat Cal Poly, ranked No. 23 in the NCBWA poll, 3-2 at Blair Field.

Juan Avila hit a deep sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to score the game-winning run two batters after the Mustangs failed to get an out on a potential double play ball. In the ninth inning, Ryan Millison got the first two outs before allowing a walk, but seldom-used senior catch Zach Miller threw out pinch runner Tyler Evanoff to end the game.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cal-Poly, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Long Beach State, Troy Buckley

CBD Visit: Cooper’s Squeeze Gives ‘Eaters 5-4 Walk-Off

Shotgun Spratling

– April 27, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players

IRVINE, Calif. — Ryan Cooper may not have a hit since March 8, but that doesn’t mean the UC Irvine coaching staff doesn’t have faith in him. Cooper pinch hit with runners on the corners with one out in the ninth inning and laid down a perfect safety squeeze.

UC Davis catcher Izaak Silva did all he could to block the plate, but Justin Castro got his foot between Silva’s legs and toe-tapped the plate to give Irvine (26-12, 8-5) a 5-4 walk-off win Friday night at Anteater Ballpark.

The Aggies (15-24, 3-10) and Anteaters traded the lead back and forth before Taylor Sparks tied the game in the sixth inning with a home run over the left field fence. Neither team scored in the seventh or eighth innings, setting up the dramatic walk-off squeeze.

Mitch Merten picked up the win in relief for Irvine. Anteaters ace Andrew Thurman looked brilliant at times and easy to hit at times. Neither he nor UC Davis starter Harry Stanwyck factored in the decision after both allowed four runs in 7 2/3 innings pitched. Only three of Thurman’s runs were earned, but he allowed 11 hits.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, Mike Gillespie, Taylor Sparks, UC-Davis, UC-Irvine