Cal State Fullerton finally drops a game, but won another big series. San Diego takes a tournament title.
Walk-off wins. Nine home runs for one squad. Twenty-three runs in a game for another. Four extra-base hits in a game for one slugger while another tied an NCAA record with three triples.
It was an exciting weekend of action between the 11 SoCal baseball squads.
We provided you with live updates on Twitter (@SoCal_CBDaily) throughout the weekend, but here’s a recap of all the weekend action:
After a tremendous introduction to the stage, San Diego State froze like a scared little girl at the Apollo once the spotlight turned on it. A five-game losing streak sent the Aztecs on a nosedive in the rankings. So who takes the top spot this week after three top SoCal teams took road series in the Lonestar State this past weekend?
The second weekend of the season provided a lot of excitement for Southern California baseball fans. Three teams went on the road to play marquee series in Texas while San Diego State hosted No. 6 Oregon State and crosstown rival San Diego welcomed Kent State — a team that made it to the College World Series last year.
UC Irvine and Loyola Marymount both played Pac-12 programs with the Lions going on the road to take on No. 14 Oregon…and yet, it was UC Riverside playing at Sacramento State that produced the most talked about event of the entire weekend.
We provided you with live updates on Twitter (@SoCal_CBDaily) throughout the weekend, but here’s a recap of all the weekend action:
SAN DIEGO — San Diego State knew playing a top 10 team early in the season would be tough challenge, but the Aztecs didn’t expect to be completely shut down.
That was the case, however, as No. 6 Oregon State finished off a dominant four-game sweep with a 7-1 victory on Sunday. The Beavers improved to 8-0 outscoring San Diego State (3-4) by a 22-2 margin in the series.
Oregon State’s starting pitching had been the main Aztec bane in the first three games of the series with Dan Child, Matt Boyd and Andrew Moore allowing just 14 hits and one run in 22 innings of work. But on Sunday it was relievers Brandon Jackson and Scott Schultz.
After starter Clay Bauer went 1 2/3 innings, right-handed sidearmer Jackson gave the Beavers 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits. He was followed by three scoreless frames of Schultz, who picked up his second save of the season.
Oregon State head coach Pat Casey said Bauer was scheduled to pitch up to two innings and then turn the ball over to lefty Tyler Painton, but with back-to-back right-handed batters due up, he called Jackson’s number first. With Jackson rolling through the middle innings, Casey left him in the game.
“He just kept getting guys out. We didn’t have it planned,” Casey said. “We didn’t have it scripted. We were actually going to go to the lefty, but Brandon just kept throwing the ball where he needed to and got some big double plays.”
SAN DIEGO — Brandon Jackson pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings of middle relief Sunday afternoon to help Oregon State finish off a four-game sweep of San Diego State at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
The Beavers (8-0) scored five runs in the first three innings against San Diego State freshman Cody Thompson, who was making his first collegiate start, and rode the quick start to a 7-1 victory.
Jeff Hendrix singled home two runs in the first inning. Kavin Keyes doubled home a pair of runs in the third inning. And Andy Peterson added a pair of RBI for the Beavers. In total, Oregon State had 14 hits with six players recording multiple hits.
The Aztecs (3-4) struggled offensively once again against the Beavers. While it tied a series-high with seven hits, San Diego State grounded into three double plays and stranded eight runners. The Aztecs scored only two runs on 22 hits during the four-game weekend set.
Check out the 17-shot photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game:
SAN DIEGO — Behind 8 1/3 shutout innings from senior southpaw Matt Boyd, No. 6 Oregon State took a 2-0 victory over San Diego State Friday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Aztecs starter Philip Walby matched Boyd pitch for pitch until Oregon State (6-0) was able to put together a two-out rally in the eighth inning. Danny Hayes singled home Max Gordon and later scored on a Dylan Davis double to provide all the scoring for the game.
San Diego State (3-2) had its chances, but couldn’t get to Boyd. The Aztecs botched an opportunity in the third inning when they had runners on the corners with no outs (see The Game Changer below). They also put together a two-out rally in the seventh inning to load the bases, but after a mound visit, Boyd got Avondre Bollar to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the threat.
SAN DIEGO — Oregon State scored a pair of runs in the top of the eighth inning. It was all the run support Matt Boyd needed to take a 2-0 victory over San Diego State Friday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
The Beavers (6-0) had only one hit against San Diego State (3-2) starter Philip Walby through seven innings, but leadoff hitter Max Gordon started the eighth inning by slicing a single down the left line. After a sacrifice moved him to second, Walby was able to get Oregon State stud Michael Conforto to roll over a pitch to second base. Gordon moved up to third base and came home to score when Danny Hayes singled into right field to break the tie.
An error moved Hayes to third base where the third hit of the inning, a double by Dylan Davis, put the Beavers up by two runs — an insurmountable lead for either team with the quality starting pitching — and ended Walby’s evening (7 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K).
As good as Walby was through seven innings, Oregon State veteran southpaw Matt Boyd proved he was just a notch better on this night. Boyd (8 1/3 IP, 5 H, 0 R, BB, 9 K) picked up his second victory of the season.
Check out the 15-shot photo gallery from Wednesday night’s game: Read the rest of this entry »
UCLA at BaylorThe No. 6 ranked Bruins will travel to Waco, Texas to take on the Baylor Bears this weekend. It will be UCLA’s first visit to Baylor in program history. UCLA (2-1) is coming off a series victory against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Bruins dropped the opener 6-2 in 10 innings Friday night, but rallied on Saturday by defeating the Gophers 14-0. On Sunday, sophomore starter Grant Watson kept the Gophers quiet by throwing six scoreless innings and tallying a career high eight strikeouts. Baylor (1-3) is coming off a win at home Tuesday against Texas State. The Bears were swept on the road at UC Irvine last weekend. Read the rest of this entry »
The college baseball season is officially back under way in Southern California and that means it’s time for the SoCal Power Rankings. A surprise team sits atop the first SoCal Power Rankings as San Diego State ruined their rivals stadium unveiling. The Orange County duo of Fullerton and Irvine remain undefeated after the opening week of play as well.
The UNLV Rebels hosted the Tennessee Volunteers over the weekend with the Rebels winning three out of four games. All three games were highly contested with all three Rebels wins by a run including a 14 inning victory in the series finale. You can check out my notes from the weekend below. Read the rest of this entry »
Opening Weekend provided a ton of Southern California action. We even got plenty of SoCal vs. SoCal action with San Diego hosting San Diego State in the brand new (and immaculate) Fowler Park and Cal State Fullerton hosting USC on Opening Night.
A couple of teams decided to play four games on the first weekend, allowing a lot of players an opportunity to play. Overall the 11 teams in our Southern California coverage area finished 24-13 (and that’s including the four SoCal vs. SoCal matchups.)
We provided you with live updates on Twitter (@SoCal_CBDaily) throughout the weekend, but here’s a recap of all the weekend action:
February 15th this year marked the start of the Division 1 College Baseball season. Here are some of the top performances and highlights on the day. We will be providing daily articles as often as possible this season. If you know of an outstanding performance ever that we might miss feel free to send us an email by clicking here. Read the rest of this entry »
CBD Scouting Spotlight: Mark Appel (Stanford)
CBD Scouting Spotlight: Adam Plutko (UCLA)
CBD Scouting Report: Kevin Ziomek (Vanderbilt)
CBD Interview with Notre Dame’s Mik Aoki and Dan Slania
CBD Scouting Video: Colton Plaia (Loyola Marymount)
