Virginia 'fired up' to face fireballer
Strasburg expected to pitch Friday
By Patrick Stevens (Contact) | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Virginia baseball team has seen Stephen Strasburg in action before.

A little more than a month ago, the Cavaliers eyed a broadcast of the San Diego State right-hander as he struck out 14 against TCU, the latest in a string of overpowering performances for the presumptive No. 1 pick in next month's baseball draft.

"He dominated the game, but they scored three runs off him," right fielder Dan Grovatt said. "He's obviously a human being."

Most of the time, though, Strasburg does not appear mortal. As a result, the Cavaliers are likely about to find out if they can uncover something no one else has this spring - a way to defeat the right-hander and his radar gun-tickling fastball should Aztecs coach Tony Gwynn stick with his usual routine of using Strasburg to open a weekend.

Virginia (43-12-1) was shipped west to the NCAA baseball tournament's Irvine regional, the reward for collecting an ACC tournament title and winning 14 of its final 18 games. Up first is a meeting with Strasburg, whose exploits loom far larger than any those of any other college baseball player in the last decade.

"It really is an unbelievable opportunity to come out here to California and face arguably the No. 1 pitcher in the history of the professional draft," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "That's the way you have to look at it. If you're a competitor and you love challenges, you have to relish this opportunity to compete against the best.

Strasburg's statistics are startling, the sort of numbers usually compiled in a weak high school league rather than a solid Division I college conference. There's the 13-0 record, the 1.24 ERA and the .164 batting average against.

Then there's the strikeouts - 180 of them in 102 innings. They've led to some absurd outings, like the May 8 no-hitter against Air Force in which Strasburg struck out 17. In a one-hitter against Utah last year, Strasburg fanned 23.

Little wonder that some Washington Nationals fans view Strasburg as something approaching a messianic figure for their woebegone franchise. Washington holds the top pick, and acting general manager Mike Rizzo has said Strasburg is tops on the team's draft board.

But before June 9 arrives and Strasburg (who can touch 103 mph with his fastball) officially becomes the future ace of the Nationals, he has the tournament to deal with. And for now, that probably means facing Virginia.

"He's assured of being the No. 1 pick, and everybody says he's one of the best pitching prospects ever," center fielder Jarrett Parker said. "We're definitely fired up to get a chance to face him."

And Strasburg is hardly the only challenge awaiting the Cavaliers. Regional host UC Irvine is ranked No. 1 by Baseball America, while the fourth team, Fresno State, is merely the defending national champion.

In many ways, Virginia might be as well-suited as anyone to deal with perhaps the deepest regional in the tournament. The balanced Cavaliers led the ACC in batting average and finished second in runs scored and third in slugging percentage - and did so with a staff that led the conference in ERA.

It hardly mattered that Virginia was the No. 6 seed entering last weekend's conference tournament. In a meeting with North Carolina's Alex White, the Cavaliers torched the likely top-10 pick for eight runs in 2 1/3 innings. White's mid-90s fastball isn't quite in Strasburg territory, but Virginia's treatment of the Tar Heels ace indicates an ability to deal with elite pitchers.

"There's a lot of kids in the ACC that throw hard," Grovatt said. "There was a kid at Georgia Tech that hit 99 on the gun last weekend. We faced all those kids. Velocity isn't an issue for a team like us, facing the people we faced in the ACC. I don't want to say it's business as usual, but we definitely have an advantage facing the pitchers we've faced."

It is Virginia's sixth straight NCAA appearance and perhaps one of the Cavaliers' most surprising in that stretch. Virginia has just four seniors, with only starting pitcher Andrew Carraway a fixture during weekend series. The team remained competitive all year with eight losses coming by a run.

"I'm as impressed with this team as any team I've coached at Virginia," O'Connor said. "This entire year we have handled defeat very well. That was what I didn't know coming into it. I felt we had really good talent. What you don't know with inexperience is how they will handle defeat, how they handle losing a one-run game."

Quite well, it turned out - all the more reason for the Cavaliers to believe they're prepared to deal with the NCAA's greatest force.

"The ACC championship really showed how much and how far this team has gone since the beginning of the year," Grovatt said. "We've absolutely grown over the course of the season. I think we're ready."
 

Gwynn plays coy – won't divulge Aztecs starter
By Mick McGrane, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. May 28, 2009

San Diego State baseball coach Tony Gwynn may have an ace in Stephen Strasburg, but he's playing his cards close to the vest.
With the Aztecs preparing for their first appearance in an NCAA Regional in 18 years, Gwynn yesterday refused to confirm whether Strasburg, the nation's premier college pitcher, would start tomorrow's game against Virginia at UC Irvine.
“Everybody wants to know. TV wants to know, opponents want to know; we don't think they should know,” Gwynn said. “We're going to do what's best for San Diego State. We want to win. We're not going up there just to make an appearance for the first time in 18 years. Whatever puts San Diego State in the best position to win, that's what we're going to do.
“Obviously, Stephen is our horse, but I also think we can win with Tyler Lavigne.”
Lavigne (7-2) is a second-team all-Mountain West Conference selection with a 3.32 ERA and 79 strikeouts. In helping the Aztecs to a second-place finish in the recently concluded MWC Tournament, he started two games with just two days of rest in between, striking out a combined 14 while allowing three earned runs and seven hits in 14 2/3 innings.
Strasburg, meanwhile, the MWC Pitcher of the Year, is 13-0 and in less than two weeks is expected to be tabbed the No. 1 pick in the draft by the Washington Nationals. He leads the nation in strikeouts (180) and ERA (1.24). He also is accustomed to a week of rest between starts.
Although Gwynn said an announcement on his starting pitcher could come today (the Aztecs left for Irvine following yesterday's workout), the only NCAA rule in place regarding a starting lineup is that a team present its lineup card 60 minutes before the start of the game.
“I know Stephen wants the ball; I know Tyler Lavigne wants the ball, too,” Gwynn said. “With what Tyler did in the conference tournament, you have to think about it. He may not be our go-to guy, but when you get into a tournament situation like this where you're playing once on Friday, once on Saturday, possibly twice on Sunday and maybe again on Monday, you have to try and maximize the guys you can use.”
Strasburg said he has no preference as to whether he's handed the ball tomorrow against a Virginia team that is averaging 8.32 runs and batting .333 as a team, or pitches Saturday against either top-seeded UC Irvine or defending national champion Fresno State.
The Aztecs are 40-21 but just 27-20 in games Strasburg did not start.
“We're going to have to win at least two games, so whichever game I pitch in I'm going to give it everything I have,” Strasburg said. “I'm confident in the other pitchers we have and the hitters that we have and that if we play our best baseball we should be able to get the job done.
“The coaches have been real good to me in terms of limiting my pitch counts, but it's the postseason now and I'm sure they know that I'm willing to do anything and everything it takes to get to the next (round).”
 

Is Stephen Strasburg the Best Pitcher Alive?
By Jeff Beresford-Howe
Friday, May 29 2009

It had to be somebody, but I bet Virginia didn’t think it would be them.

The Cavaliers finished the season with the best record in the ACC (43-12-1) and had every right to expect a cushy, first-round NCAA baseball tournament berth somewhere in the fragrant South against, you know, Coastal Carolina or Elon. Instead, the Cavs got on a plane and flew 3,000 miles via John Wayne Airport to Irvine, California, on their way to a first round match-up this afternoon with the San Diego State Aztecs. The ‘tecs haven’t made the tournament since 1991, so it sounds like no big deal, right? But the Cavs know better, because they’re probably going to have to face Stephen Strasburg.

Never heard of him? You will. Soon. Strasburg, who will start Friday for San Diego State — No. 1 pitchers in college ball are “Friday pitchers” because teams play conference games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday — is the best collegiate player in the country. By far. He may be the best pitcher in the world.
Continue reading....
San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg. (Flickr user samballew (cc: by-nc-sa))In 102 innings this year, Strasburg gave up 57 hits, walked 19 and struck out 180. Pitched a no-hitter and struck out 17 against Air Force. Struck out 18 in a game against Nevada. Led the country in ERA with a microscopic 1.24. He was the national player of the week five times.

Strasburg is not some dummy. He's got a near 4.0 GPA in Public Administration at SDSU, and he’ll graduate in just over three years because of all the AP credits he piled up in high school. And he can throw a baseball 103 miles per hour. Some scouts think he hasn’t topped out yet physically. When he does, they say, he may throw a baseball faster than any human who’s ever lived. He already throws faster than anyone in major league baseball. He’s got breaking pitches in the high 80s — which is where most pitchers find their fastball. If anyone ever teaches him a good change-up, he’ll make big-league hitters look Little League.

Strasburg is the only person any serious major league team would consider with the number one pick in baseball’s amateur draft in June. However, the team with the number one pick this year isn't serious. It's the Washington Nationals, whose management has oscillated between venality and incompetence over the last decade or so in Montreal and D.C. Last year, the Nationals failed to sign one of the best collegiate pitchers in the country, Missouri’s Aaron Crow. They got hung up in a dispute over $700,000, so Crow is now unscored upon as he pitches for the Ft. Worth Cats in an independent league and waits for this year’s draft to assign his rights to another major league team.

By most accounts, Strasburg’s agent will be the barracuda Scott Boras. Boras has already been quoted as saying he’ll be looking for major league, number one pitcher money for Strasburg. Not "number one prospect" money. "Number one" money: Roy Halladay money. C.C. Sabathia money. Boras vs the Nationals should be quite a show.

What to watch for this weekend in the sixteen double-elimination tournament:

Poor Virginia. After they’re done facing Strasburg (broadcast live nationally on ESPNU at 7 Eastern), they’ll play either U.C. Irvine – the consensus number one – or Fresno State, the defending national champion. You have to wonder what Cavaliers coach Brian O’Connor did to piss off the NCAA selection committee.

Speaking of which, the selection committee displayed its usual regional and conference biases. The tournament is heavily larded with teams from the Big 12 and the SEC – eight teams from each conference, including Baylor, which lost 12 of its last 14 regular season games. The West, which typically produces the tournament champion, was ignored. Only three Pac 10 teams – Arizona St., Washington St., and Oregon St. ndash; made the tournament. (Three schools from the Big 10, no one’s idea of a serious baseball conference, did too.) San Jose State, the best team in the WAC, was left out. U.C. Irvine, No. 1 in the Baseball America poll (and virtually every other one, too), was seeded sixth and placed in the toughest first round bracket while Texas and LSU get virtual walkovers into the second round.

If you want a favorite to win the tournament – hey, I know you’re laboring over your brackets as you read this – go with Arizona St. They have the best non-Strasburgian pitcher in the tournament, junior Mike Leake (14-1, 1.24), who shouldn’t follow Strasburg by much in the first round of the draft, and a line-up which includes two of the very best hitters in college baseball, juniors Jason Kipnis (.380, 14, 65) and Carlos Ramirez (.347, 18, 67). They may also go in the first.

Two schools from New York State made it this time: SUNY Binghamton, which is actually in a somewhat winnable bracket, and Marist, which gets offered up to perennial powerhouse Florida St.

2006 and 2007 champion Oregon St. is a great dark horse pick to win the tournament: coach Pat Casey is the best college coach in the country, they’re coming off an inexplicable snub from the tournament selection committee last year and the Beavers have a deep and very effective bullpen, led by Kevin Rhoderick. In the first round format, which can end up with a team playing five games in four days, a good bullpen is the last thing most college teams have and the first thing they need.

The tournament format: This weekend, sixteen pods of four teams, playing in a two-losses-and-you’re-out format. Next weekend, the sixteen remaining teams remaining will be matched up in eight best-two-of-three series. The eight winners advance to the College World Series in Omaha, where they will be divided into two pods of four, again in a two-losses-and-you’re-out format. The two winners of those pods will then face each other in a best two of three series for the national championship.

— Jeff Beresford-Howe
 

Aztecs’ ace in limbo
By Barry Faulkner
Updated: Friday, May 29, 2009 12:22 AM PDT
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IRVINE — Will he or won’t he?

San Diego State Coach Tony Gwynn was adamant about not revealing whether junior pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg would start today against Virginia in the first game of the Irvine Regional at 4 p.m. at Anteater Ballpark.

But he might have inadvertently done just that Thursday after the Aztecs’ brief workout at UCI.

After showing some frustration with media inquiries about whether Strasburg — the projected No. 1 pick in the June 9 major league draft who is 13-0 with a 1.24 earned-run average and has 180 strikeouts in 102 innings this season — would get the opening-game start or be held until Saturday, Gwynn might have slipped when talking about Strasburg’s pitching prowess.

“He does what he has to do,” Gwynn said of the hard-throwing, 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-hander who has been called the best pitching prospect ever. His fastball has been clocked at more than 100 mph.

“And I’m sure [today at 4 p.m. against Virginia] is going to bring a different kind of challenge, because we really don’t know much about [the Cavaliers] other than what we see on their website and the scouting report,” Gwynn said. “But I’m sure [Strasburg] is going to go with his strengths, though he’ll be very aware of what the hitters are trying to do.”

For his part, Strasburg, who is being advised by Newport Beach super agent Scott Boras, said he was unaware of when he would pitch.

“It doesn’t really bother me,” said Strasburg, who has won his last nine starts with an 0.97 ERA and is 8-0 in games away from home with a 1.07 ERA this season. “They tell me to pitch; I’m going to pitch.”

Strasburg, who threw a no-hitter with 17 strikeouts against Air Force on May 8, and had 23 strikeouts against Utah in a 2008 game, has helped lead the Aztecs (40-21) to their first NCAA Regional appearance in 18 seasons.

When asked about the teams he might face in this regional, including top-ranked UCI (43-13) and defending national champion Fresno State (32-28), who square off tonight at 8, he appeared anything but intimidated.

“It’s a good challenge, but it’s a good challenge for them too,” He said. “Because when they see San Diego State, from the Mountain West Conference, they might not think much of us.

“But we’ve played good teams all year, so we’re up for anything.”

Fans who have snapped up tickets, as well as a national television audience viewing the live broadcasts from the Irvine Regional on ESPN, should be up for ogling the prized prospect.

“I think it’s great for our regional in general, because ESPN might not be here if he wasn’t here,” said UCI junior All-American closer Eric Pettis. “And we’ll sell a lot more seats. I think it’s great if we play him or if we don’t play him.”

Should Gwynn elect to start junior Tyler Lavigne (7-2 with a 3.32 ERA) today against Virginia (43-12-1), Strasburg would start Saturday, against either UCI or Fresno State.

“As a competitor, I would love to get the opportunity to face him,” said UCI senior shortstop Ben Orloff, the Big West Conference Player of the Year. “I’ve never seen him throw, but as a competitor, it’d be fun to face a guy people are saying might be the best amateur pitcher in the world, and the No. 1 overall pick.”

Gwynn said Strasburg is a one-of-a-kind talent.

“When you watch him pitch, two things are going to come out at you,” Gwynn said. “One: that it’s so polished as a 20-year old. And, two: how athletic he is.

“Temperament-wise, he’s just a mild-mannered guy, until he gets on that mound and then the competitive juices start to come out.”

TAKING THE HILL

UCI will start junior Danny Bibona (11-1, 2.65) tonight, while Fresno State Coach Mike Batesole said he had not decided whether he will start junior Matt Morse (4-2, 4.50) or freshman Derek Benny (4-3, 5.02).

Virginia Coach Brian O’Connor said the ACC Tournament champions will start sophomore Robert Morey (2-0, 3.25) today.

Batesole said UCI and Bibona will present a formidable challenge.

“We’re excited,” said the former Garden Grove High star, who added it was great to be back home in Orange County. “We get to play the No. 1 team in the country on their home field, against the best left-hander in the country, a first-team All-American.

But supreme challenges are something Batesole and the Bulldogs have become familiar with.

“The last four regionals we’ve been in have been the toughest ones, all four times,” Batesole said. “Fullerton and San Diego, last year in Long Beach and this one this year. So we’ve been there, done that and we’ve learned just to stay patient.

“We’re going to play our game. It doesn’t really matter who is in the other dugout.”

LINEUP SURPRISE?

UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said the Anteaters will be without outfielders Cory Olson (ankle) and Tommy Reyes (back) for the regional.

Gillespie said he had not finalized a lineup for tonight’s opener, but indicated that freshman Jordan Fox might start in left field, with junior Dillon Bell in right flanking senior All-Big West Conference center fielder Eric Deragisch in right.

Fox has appeared in just 21 games, with only four starts, but was three for four in the season finale Sunday at UC Santa Barbara.

“I have a short memory,” Gillespie said.

Bell, whose 47 games played this season include only 14 starts, also went three for four Sunday at UCSB.

Gillespie said sophomore Ryan Fisher might take one of the starting outfield assignments tonight.

 

Virginia reveals today's starter against Aztecs
2:00 a.m. May 29, 2009

There was a starting pitcher revealed yesterday for today's NCAA Regional game between San Diego State and Virginia at Irvine – but it wasn't Tony Gwynn making the announcement.
Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said he would pitch sophomore right-hander Robert Morey, who made just six starts this season but had 70 strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings.
“Robert Morey has been our most consistent pitcher the last six weeks,” O'Connor said. “He has been a dominant starter and is the freshest coming out of the ACC Tournament. I think Robert gives us the best chance at giving us a quality start.”
Morey was 2-0 with a 3.25 ERA in 15 games. Opponents batted just .207 against him.
Which Aztecs pitcher he will face remains a mystery. Gwynn again declined to say whether he would start Stephen Strasburg or Tyler Lavigne.
“You'll find out in time,” he said. “I had to make the exact same decision last weekend” at the Mountain West Conference Tournament, when he started Lavigne in the first game.
Near the end of his seven-minute discussion with reporters yesterday in Irvine, Gwynn answered a question about Strasburg by saying, in part, “I'm sure tomorrow's going to bring a different kind of challenge.”
Was it just a slip of the tongue, or a hint? We'll find out this afternoon.
Aztecs honored
Strasburg was named Collegiate Baseball's National Player of the Year and was joined on the Louisville Slugger All-America first team by Aztecs closer Addison Reed, the national leader with 19 saves.

UC Irvine's NCAA regional has plot points galore
The highly regarded Anteaters, reigning College World Series champion Fresno State and top college star Stephen Strasburg figure into the story.
By Gary Klein
May 29, 2009

 UC Irvine, hosting an NCAA Division I baseball regional for the first time, erected temporary bleachers to accommodate an overflow crowd expected for today's games.

They'll be needed, because some of the most intriguing story lines on the road to the College World Series will play out among the four teams competing at Anteater Ballpark.

UC Irvine plays Fresno State at 8 p.m. in today's second game, a marquee matchup featuring this year's No. 1 team as ranked by Baseball America, the Anteaters, against the defending national champion.

But in terms of interest, the game of the day might be San Diego State-Virginia, the 4 p.m. opener of today's nationally televised doubleheader. The notables in that game will include college baseball's biggest star, a former major league star and, in all probability, a famous local star-maker.

The main attraction is San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who has dominated for an Aztecs team coached by Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.


Strasburg, expected to be chosen No. 1 by the Washington Nationals in next month's major league draft, said Thursday that he did not know whether he would start. Gwynn declined to reveal his plans.

Regardless, expect agent Scott Boras, an Orange County resident who will represent Strasburg, to be seated behind the backstop screen when the 6-foot-4 right-hander starts firing his 100-mph fastball.

"I don't think there's any debate," Irvine Coach Mike Gillespie said. "This is one tough regional." Maybe the toughest in the 64-team tournament.

"It's a very, very strange combination to put four teams together like this on one weekend -- and we all know the story," Virginia Coach Brian O'Connor said after his team practiced Thursday. "No. 1 team in the country, ACC champion, greatest pitcher in the history of college baseball and the defending national champion.

"So if you love baseball and you want to watch talent, this is a pretty good spot to be."

Senior shortstop Ben Orloff, the Big West Conference player of the year, leads a 43-13 Irvine team vying for its second College World Series appearance in three years.

Fresno State (32-28) could not be more comfortable in its role as the fourth-seeded team in the regional.

Last year, the Bulldogs occupied the same spot at Long Beach, where they started a postseason run that ended in a dog pile near the mound at Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium after they defeated Georgia for the College World Series title.

Fresno State earned its bid, and a matchup against top-ranked Irvine, by winning the Western Athletic Conference tournament at Hawaii.

"You get through that first [regional] game and anything can happen," Fresno second baseman Danny Muno said.

San Diego State (40-21) is in a regional for the first time since 1991, a goal that Strasburg said was the focus of Gwynn's recruiting pitch.

"All these guys have heard that spiel," said Gwynn, a San Diego State alumnus who starred for the San Diego Padres before becoming the Aztecs' coach in 2003. "This is where you hope to get, and now that we've gotten there, we'll see how far we can go."

Virginia (43-12-1), winner of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, boasts the highest team batting average (.333) and lowest earned-run average (3.33) in the regional.

Meantime, up the freeway, Cal State Fullerton (42-14) will host a regional that features three teams largely unfamiliar with a Titans program making its 18th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

A 10-member NCAA Division I baseball committee that included Fullerton Athletic Director Brian Quinn refrained from the tradition of stacking Southland or West Coast teams in the same regional.

Fullerton, seeded second nationally, opens against Utah (26-29). The Utes made the field for the first time since 1960 by winning the Mountain West Conference tournament. They have played Fullerton only once, in 1976.

Georgia Southern (42-15), winner of the Southern Conference tournament, has never played Fullerton.

Gonzaga (35-16) earned its bid by defeating Loyola Marymount to win the West Coast Conference's automatic berth. Gonzaga last played Fullerton in 1995.