2009 College World Series: Day One

Arkansas, LSU pickup first-day CWS wins

GAME ONE: CAL STATE FULLERTON vs. ARKANSAS

The College World Series got underway with a bang on Saturday, beginning with the Cal State Fullerton Titans versus the Arkansas Razorbacks. Arkansas, who had dominated at the plate en route to Omaha, continued their dominance with the sticks by scoring 10 runs to power their way to a 10-6 victory.

The Razorbacks got an early jump on the Titans, scoring 9 runs in the first 4 innings! Titans’ starter Noe Ramirez, a freshman, couldn’t handle the big stage (he was quoted after the game saying that he was nervous) and the Razorbacks’ 3 through 5 hitters accounted for all ten RBIs. Zach Cox’s 2 run homer gave the Razorbacks a 4-2 lead in the 3rd inning. Cleanup hitter Andy Wilkins (who is batting a ridiculous .593 in the tournament and finished this game with 5 RBIs) smashed the game open in the next frame after Ramirez was removed, smacking a 3 run shot to extend their lead to 9-2. It was never close after that and the Razorbacks only had to use two pitchers, which is a big deal with so many games in a short time period. Starter Dallas Kuechel earned the win with 6 innings of 4 run (3 earned) baseball.

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A few thoughts on this game: The Titans allowed 10 runs, which is only one run less than they had allowed the ENTIRE TOURNAMENT. That’s right, Arkansas’ run production in 9 innings was only 1 run less than the entire 45 inning qualification process that the Titans went through to get to Omaha. CSF’s 6 runs scored was also their lowest effort of the tournament and the Titans have now lost four consecutive games at the CWS, dating back to 2006.

Meanwhile, Arkansas continued their strong run through the tournament, eclipsing 10 runs for the 4th time in 6 tournament games. Their run production tied the school record in the CWS and led to their first win in Omaha in twenty years. The Razorbacks, who at one point in the year were ranked #1 in the country, have shrugged off a 3-10 run to close the regular season and are perhaps the hottest team in the tournament.

GAME TWO: LOUISIANA STATE vs. VIRGINIA

The other game was the night game, featuring LSU and Virginia. The champions of the SEC and ACC, respectively, both came into the game with vastly different expectations. LSU was a major favorite playing in their 15 th CWS while Virginia was the underdog playing in their first CWS game. In the end, after a game that was very close through seven and a half innings, the game played out as the odds makers expected as the Tigers blew the game open in the bottom of the 8th and defeated Virginia 9-5.

UVA came into the game as one of the strongest pitching teams in the NCAA tournament. However, the Tigers scored 3 runs on each of the Cavaliers’ 3 pitchers, the most important being a 2 run knock by Ryan Schimpf in the bottom of the 8 th to turn a 7-5 game into a 9-5 final. Sean Ochinko also hit a 3 run bomb in the 5th inning in the Tigers’ winning effort. Virginia made a game of it early, earning a 4-3 lead in the top of the 5th before LSU went ahead for good. Virginia’s bullpen allowed 6 earned runs after only allowing 2 in their first 6 tournament games. Meanwhile, the Tigers used 6 pitchers in the victory.

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One of the major storylines in this game was the battle of the head coaches. LSU’s Paul Mainieri and UVA’s Brian O’Connor coached together for nine years at Notre Dame and promised to never play each other unless the NCAA forced them to when O’Connor left to take the Virginia job. However, the student didn’t become the master as Mainieri bested his former pitching coach.

WHAT THIS ALL MEANS

So where does this leave us after one day? The winner’s bracket will feature an SEC match up with Arkansas and LSU on Monday at 7 PM EST. The loser’s bracket will match Cal State Fullerton and Virginia on Monday at 2 PM EST. The loser of this game will be eliminated while the winner will face off against the loser of the LSU-Arkansas game on Wednesday at 7 PM EST. For more, check out the College World Series schedule & scores page.

Cal State Fullerton has to be favored to bounce back in their matchup with Virginia and their team will now have to take the long road to earn their way to the finals. I said before the tournament began that CSF’s opening matchup with Arkansas put them at a disadvantage and that bore fruit today. However, expect the Titans to break their losing streak at the CWS on Monday afternoon as I don’t expect the #2 overall seed in the tournament to get bounced without winning a single game.

The late game will be a fun one as the SEC rivals face off on college baseball’s biggest stage. Both teams have been very good but I’m going to fall back on a few stats. One, the Tigers are now 24-4 since Alex Nola took over as the starting shortstop. Two, the Tigers were 2-1 against Arkansas this year and all 3 games took place at Arkansas. The Tigers will be the home team on Monday, Nola will be the shortstop and frankly I think they’re the better team so expect them to defeat the Razorbacks in this matchup despite Alex Wilkins’ superhuman performance thus far in the tournament.

THE DAY AHEAD

Sunday’s games will also be a fun slate. The first game is at 2 PM EST and features Arizona State and North Carolina and the second game will match up Texas and Southern Mississippi at 7 PM EST. Keep an eye on North Carolina, my pick to win the tournament and keep an eye here on collegesports-fans.com as I will be updating the College World Series daily until the champion is crowned.

If you’d like to be alerted whenever the blog is updated, follow me on Twitter under username MattBaxendell.

By Matt Baxendell
CollegeSports-fans.com Staff Writer

You can contact Matt Baxendell at Matt.Baxendell (at) gmail.com with comments, questions and insults at any time. You can also get updates on all of his articles on Twitter at username MattBaxendell.