… and for the first time since 1986, that *one* is Arizona.
South Carolina's Grayson Greiner walks dejectedly by as the Arizona Wildcats do the dogpile thing behind him.
See people. The SEC can actually NOT win a national title, and I bet our sport will still survive just fine moving forward.
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DAY ELEVEN IN OMAHA.
South Carolina had the trophies. They had the bling. They had the magical fish. They had the biggest fan following. They had the CWS experience. They had all the quirky characters which ESPN loves. They even had the biggest media darling since Darwin Barney in the starting pitcher Michael Roth.
But Arizona just had the better team.
Not only that, but the Wildcats had the precocious Sophomore starter and the death-defying Freshman closer, who both had the balls enough not to care that this was his first start and his first attempt at shutting down the two-time national champions. Both James Farris and Matthew Troupe came through huge when they needed to. And leave it to team leader Robert Refsnyder to score the go-ahead run and make the final out. How apropos, right?
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GAME TWO, CWS FINALS
After South Carolina tied the game 1-1 in the 7th inning, the Wildcats made a man-sized rally in the 9th, getting a pair of huge hits off of one of the best closers in college baseball history in Matt Price, to put them ahead for good. Three top-of-the-9th runs by Arizona put the Gamecocks in an unusual position – on the verge of losing the national title for the first time in three years. A one-out RBI double from Frosh Brandon Dixon scored Robert Refsnyder with the go-ahead run, and then 9-hole hitter Trent Gilbert got a two-run single off of Carolina’s second reliever in Tyler Webb, giving the Desert Cats a 4-1 lead.
The Cats had some shaky moments there in the bottom of the 9th with freshman Matt Troupe loading the bases and making this a true white-knuckler, but he got Tanner English to line-out sharply to 2nd baseman Trent Gilbert, then induced a pop-up to right field from Grayson Greiner to seal up UofA’s fourth national title, and first brass ring since 1986.
To put it in perspective, “I Wanna Be A Cowboy” from Boys Don’t Cry and “Holdin’ Back the Years” from Simply Red were two of the crappy songs in the Billboard Top 10 the last time Arizona won the big prize on the diamond in Omaha. Somewhere, Jerry Kindall is smiling… and possibly holding back the tears too.
Wildcat Soph James Farris was seeing his first action in three weeks, but was still dead-on all game long.
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LINESCORE:
U of A – 001 000 003 – 4Â 7Â 1
SoCar – 000 000 100 – 1Â 3Â 1
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PITCHING:
WP: Matthew Troupe, 6-1
LP: Matt Price, 5-5
Save: None
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TOP HITTERS.
Arizona:
- Robert Refsnyder, 2-for-3
- Brandon Dixon, 1-for-2, Game winning RBI
- Trent Gilbert, 2-for-4, 3RBI
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South Carolina:
- Christian Walker, 1-for-2, 2walks
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CONDITIONS:
84 degrees at first pitch
Clear skies
Winds from the East/Southeast at 15mph
Attendance: 23,872
Duration: 3:00
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TOUR DE FORCE:
- James Farris, starting pitcher, Arizona
He didn’t factor into the decision, but what can you say about the performance of the Sophomore Sunday starter for the Wildcats? The dude hadn’t pitched in 22 days and was passed over for starting assignments twice during the post-season – in the Regionals and in the CWS bracket play – and yet he came on like there was no rust at all. Coach Andy Lopez said in the post-game press conference that he pained over the decision to start Farris.
“I thought, well if we start Farris against Michael Roth… mmmmm, we’re probably gonna end up playing again on Tuesday.” coach Lopez quipped.
But Farris gave up just two hits and two walks in his 7.2 innings of work, throwing 95 pitches, 64 of them for strikes. That’s nails there people. And to do it against the defending national champions? Ballsy.
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KNEE-JERK REACTION:
I had a sneaky suspicion that Arizona was the best team in the country back when I saw them obliterate teams like Missouri and Louisville in the Regionals. I really did. They were scary on offense. But the thing I started to notice – along with everyone else – was that it was their pitching that was starting to get hot as the last four or five weeks transpired. Kurt Heyer was becoming a bulldog. Konner Wade was starting to throw strikes and go deep into games. The freshmen Tyler Crawford and Matthew Troupe were starting to establish more of a mound presence. Now granted, I didn’t see this stellar start from James Farris happening, not for a dude who had barely picked up a ball in the last three weeks.
But I knew UofA was going to make a good run at this. I thought they had a pretty good draw in the Regionals and Super Regionals and they were the co-champions of the Pac 12, which was a MUCH better conference this year than in 2011. These guys got hot a the right time and didn’t bother to give in to any foolish hype about any of their opponents. And best of all for them, they climbed out of the shadows of that Arizona State program up I-10 from them.
Congratulations coach Lopez, you’re one of the genuine articles and a true “good guys” in college baseball. Happy for you.
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NOTES:
- Arizona now has four national titles in baseball, but still trails the women’s softball program, which has eight titles.
- Arizona’s title gives the Pac 8/10/12 its 16th national title, easily the most in baseball. This was the conference’s first title since Oregon State’s 2007 run.
- Andy Lopez becomes just the second head coach to win a natty at two different schools. His Pepperdine team won the 1992 title. Augie Garrido is the only other coach to pull off the feat, winning titles at Cal State Fullerton (1979, 1984 and 1995) and Texas (2002 and 2005).
- I LOVE this stat: With three sac bunts in tonight’s win, Arizona had 20 total sac bunts in the NCAA tournament. Their opponents had none.
- South Carolina had a team batting average of .188 for the CWS, going just 33-for-181 in their seven games.
- Michael Roth now holds three CWS records for most innings pitched in a career at 60.1, eight starts on the mound and most hit batsmen at seven.
- Christian Walker’s eighth walk of the series, which came in the 7th inning, tied the CWS record for individual walks in a series.
- Walker also tied North Carolina’s Dustin Ackley for most career hits in the CWS with 28. He also tied Garrett Gore and Chad Flack of UNC for most career at-bats with 73 in his three CWS appearances.
- Tweet of the Day:
Mark Etheridge of SEBaseball.com: “The 2012 CWS: Where RBI groundouts and bases-loaded walks dominate the offensive highlight tape.”
- The combined batting average of all teams in the CWS this year was .234, the lowest average since 1974 (which was .227), the year before aluminum bats were allowed in college baseball.
- NCAA.com writer Doug Kroll sat next to me when I was in the press box and he had a picture of himself taking BP here at the Big Tiddy on his computer. When I asked about it he said the NCAA guys let a few of their writers take some swings in the batting cage. He said the bat he was using was one of the bats the umpires disallowed for the series because it was beyond the proper specifications. Who’s bat was it? Florida State’s Devon Travis.
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PICS
Some of the things I saw at The Big Tiddy on championship night.
First, before the game started, the NCAA's J.D. Hamilton (left) announced that Lou Spry, the official scorekeeper for the last 45 years at the CWS, was officially retiring. Sorry to see the man with the mean sideburns finally hang up his clipboard. He's been scoring games in Omaha since well before I was ever around.
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Omaha's Kaitlyn Maria Filippini practices the national anthem on her violin in the tunnel before going out to perform in front of 23,000+. And dig those bitchin' heels she's wearing too. Niiiiiice.
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The ultimate in sportsmanship: I've never seen a player go out of his way to introduce himself to the umpires like Arizona SS Alex Mejias, who shook hands and had short conversations with two different umpires before the first pitch today. Here he's shakin' hands with 3rd base ump Mark Chapman.
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Michael Roth (left) exits the mound for the last time in what has been a storied and record-setting CWS career for the Gamecock starter.
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The Key Sequence of the Game: With the score tied at one in the top of the 9th and a man on 2nd, Brandon Dixon lasered a liner toward the hot corner.
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The ball eludes the diving LB Dantzler and goes careening toward the corner of the outfield. Meanwhile, Arizona's Robert Refsnyder starts to turn and burn toward home.
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Refsnyder (left) cruises into home to give the Cats a 2-1 lead as the 'Cocks get the ball back into the infield and Dixon has now landed at 2nd base.
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... all of which leaves Refsnyder all fired up and screaming for vengeance, Judas Priest-style. (Rob Halford would be proud)
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A batter or two later, Arizona has men on 2nd and 3rd, still clinging to a 2-1 lead. Refsnyder (2) joins coach Andy Lopez (7) on the top step of the Wildcat dugout.
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Then, with this swing of the bat, Trent Gilbert delivers a two-run single to right field giving the Desert Cats a more comfortable 4-1 lead.
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That leads to this outburst of excitement from Refsnyder and Lopez. The rest of the bench was going pretty nutso too, but I didn't get any pictures of them.
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Oddly, a few minutes after that, Coach Lopez passes me on the ramp and goes into the clubhouse. During the post-game press conference I asked him why he did that. He said it was to do two things, to pee and also to clear his mind before the bottom of the 9th so he'd have a clear gameplan for that half-inning.
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Matt Troupe came to the mound, but he got in some trouble quickly, giving up a leadoff single to Christian Walker and a walk to LB Dantzler.
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After loading the bases, Arizona pitching coach Shaun Cole went out to calm Troupe down and tell him to breathe through his eyelids.
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Troupe gets the last two SoCar guys to fly out, meaning the Wildcats rush the field and the National Championship dogpile is now underway.
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I found an odd moment when the Cats were still celebrating and donning the title t-shirts, Andy Lopez was getting a hug-it-out from sideline reporter Jessica Mendoza.
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Eventually Kyle Kallendar (in blue) would present coach Lopez and his troops the national title trophy for them to scream about.
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Lookin' Good there Double-R: Robert Refsnyder, the College World Series MVP, poses with the hardware.
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The rest of the Wildcat players come over to salute their fans, who were smaller in number to the Carolina contingent, but boy were they loud.
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A few minutes later the entire team is stylin' and profilin' with the bling bling.
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Jessica Mendoza and Jenn Brown, decked out in their high heels, look for another interview to pick up during the post-game celebration.
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Michael Roth appears to be asking, "Soooo, what do I do with THIS?" as he carries off the runner's up trophy... something South Carolina isn't used to.
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This ain't Texas in 2004: I found it odd that the South Carolina players remained on the field and stared at the entire ceremony.
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This South Carolina photographer found the moment a little overwhelming.
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This may be history happening here, but I get the feeling we haven't seen the last of South Carolina in Omaha.
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Okay, that’s it. The good news is that Arizona has at least made it possible for me to start my drive back to Smogland a day earlier. After 12 days here in The O, I’m looking forward to getting back home. This thing just drags on too damn long.
But I’ll have more stuff to post in the next few days. Lemme get on the road first and put some miles under my wheels. Thank you again Omaha… my hometown always does it up in a first class way.
G’night.
(21)
Go Army - Go Hoos says:
You know…I thought the brilliant moment in the game was the positioning of the infield for English’ at bat in the 9th. When he hit that sharp liner right up the middle, I thought we had a 4-3 game with men on 1st and 3d and 1 out…but the shortstop and 2d basemen were clearly protecting the middle, for reasons my feeble baseball mind doesn’t understand, but certainly brilliant in hindsight. Really good game! Very enjoyable championship series.
Duke says:
You’re right Stitch, it definitely wasn’t ’04. I’m proud of the way our team handled the loss graciously and with class. It was a great moment seeing Coach Tanner congratulate Coach Lopez after the game, smiling the whole time; you could tell he was genuine in giving him credit for a great coaching job and for how well his team performed at Omaha. As much as was made about our streak and our bid for a three-peat, this was really about two teams that few if any expected to make a big noise in Omaha just a few weeks ago. I tip my hat to Arizona, they were clearly the best team in Omaha this year. I’m also proud of my Gamecocks and look forward to the future.
NECBLfan says:
Kurt Heyer = Matthew Settle, who played Lieutenant Spears in Band of Brothers (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0786136/)
Thank you Arizona! Clemson in 2013!
DirtbagBlues says:
Bittersweet day for me. On the one hand, the season is over. On the other, we don’t have to hear ESPN tell the Joey Pankake/National Pancake Day story for the 400th time. Hey, has everyone heard how fast Tanner English is?
kevin cooney says:
Eric…
Great job all Series…insight…humor…sarcasm…and a feel for the game…you make being retired from the game a little easier.
Kevin Cooney
James says:
Howdy Stitch! Thanks for the great season.
Any specifics on Devon Travis’ bat? Anyhow, have a great summer and fall and I’ll see you here next year!
Eric Sorenson says:
Great point about the positioning of UofA defenders Go Army-Go Hoos (and by the way, who were you for when those two teams faced off with each other in the Regionals?).
Duke, you saw what i saw, the Gamecocks were gracious in defeat. I s’posed after winning so much it took the sting of losing away a little. But still weird to see them get the runner-up trophy… I mean, are they really gonna display it? Do they need to?
NECBL Fan, so you’re picking Clemson in 2013? Maybe not totally outlandish. Jack Leggett is due.
Dirtbag Blues, unfortunately, I don’t get to hear the guys in the booth or all the features and stories they chase. I was told the Carolina-heavy banter (especially the Michael Roth stuff) was a little much by some people. But I didn’t know anything about the Pancake Day. And maybe I’m glad I didn’t.
Kevin Cooney. Thanks mucho bro. Very good to hear.
James, no I don’t have any more stuff on Devon Travis’ bat. I just know that it was rejected by the umps for some reason. Sorry, couldn’t chase anything more down on that.
Thanks for the comments guys. I’ve gotta get on the road now, start my drive back. But if there are more comments sent in by the time I get to Vail tonight, I’ll approve and post ‘em then.
Guy says:
“This ain’t Texas in 2004: I found it odd that the South Carolina players remained on the field and stared at the entire ceremony.”
I’m curious why you found that odd. Is it that rare? One-of-a-kind?
I assume both teams did the handshake line, right? Didn’t see all the postgame activities.
bill says:
Happy for Lopez and Arizona….sad for Tanner. Truly a nice man whom I wouldn’t have had a problem with a 3-peat. Quality men and good kids.
Bit of redemption for Lopez…..bet you Florida is wondering a bit right now. All said, nice to see a CWS ring for the Wildcats.Funny how things work out sometimes for genuine people.
It’s been a REALLY bad year for Arizona…..STATE !! First, the probation. Can’t play in NCAA’s. Then see arch rival WIN the whole thing. Plus, recruiting points will be going to another place besides Tempe…..couldn’t have been more frustrating for ASU.
Omaha is the best…..2 northern teams…..new champion over a school seeking a third straight.. Will be hard to top this year.Outstanding CWS.
Tim says:
This ain’t Texas in 2004: I found it odd that the South Carolina players remained on the field and stared at the entire ceremony”
Stitch-While the Gamecocks have been to three straight Championships- there were 6 freshman on the field that have never won one. Tanner wanted the “Knuckleheads” to soak it up so they could see what it was like. South Carolina will be back dogpiling here soon.
Ben Johnson says:
Hats off to Omaha for hosting another sensational World Series…
A few things that could make the transition to the new ballpark better…
The fences in the gaps need to be moved in…
With the new bats and deepness of the ballpark, it amounts to watching a soccer game, rather boring and slow. This is not a way to grow the sport! They need to find a balance between the trampoline era and the no bat era…Mark Etheridge’s tweet is apply applied here.
We don’t need to see the baseball flying out of the park every other pitch, but there were about 10-12 balls that should have been home runs throughout this series. Last year we only had 9 HR and this year I can only recall 5 or 6. This needs to change ASAP!
Congrats to Andy Lopez and Ray Tanner. Andy recruited me when he was at Pepperdine and I go to meet Ray Tanner and his staff in 2004 while attending the CWS and then returning to Carolina to visit a friend. Both are outstanding coaches who run it the right way.
Until next year fellas…and great job again Stitch!
Sean says:
I hate even writing this because I know how it has been beaten to death, but can the bats seriously go back to how they were before? .234 batting average? These are the best teams in the nation and to watch how much players struggled to even hit doubles in the gap is truly painful to watch.
I remember during the postseason Stanford’s Dean Stotz made a comment related to how golf courses all don’t have to be designed for PGA players making the comparison to the bats used in college baseball. His point was that the bats need to be designed so that the “typical D1″ college player can have an opportunity to be successful at the plate.
The CWS was so great in the years preceding the bat change. For me personally, missing Rosenblatt is part of it, but it is also missing the games in the past where there was so much excitement and ability for big innings.
There are very few players in college who can have any success with the bats currently being used. Heck, probably only the top round draft picks can.
I just wish the NCAA would utilize some common sense and see how they are driving the casual fan away from the game at a time when the sport had been gaining so much traction nationally.
I know Eric you hate the bat talk, so I’ll leave it at that.
Tim K says:
I can’t believe people are clamoring for a change to the bats and to move the fences in already. Not every baseball fan wants to see homeruns. Some actually enjoy pitcher’s duels and the strategy and coaching that goes into a close game. And there is this great new ballpark and people want to change the distances out to the outfield walls after 2 years? Talk about a waste of $ by overreacting.
As for people who think it is a detriment to the game, look at the bigger picture. It is more typical of a true game and not a 12-10 slugfest that takes 4 hours to complete. That is going to help keep the casual fan watching. Also you are going to continue to see top pitching out of high school spurn the majors and play a few years in college. Their pitching #’s aren’t going to be inflated anymore, and with more games being televised, many will continue the recent trend to buck the system, go to college for a few years and provide the game with some top notch talent like Gerrit Cole or Matt Purke.
Go Gophers says:
Agree with a lot of what Tim K says. However, it doesn’t look like it is even possible for anyone to hit a home run in the power alleys or straight away center. I don’t mind home runs to these parts of the field being rare, even really rare to center field, but it needs to at least be possible.
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Record versus Arizona: South Carolina 0-2; Utah Valley 1-1…..just sayin’
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Lots of great pics. Well done.
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“There can only be one”–> ‘Highlander’ take off?
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Arizona looked ridiculously good in the Regional round. After seeing that performance it wasn’t surprising that they won it all.
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Love being introduced to what a “haboob” is……..funny name
Sean says:
Tim K: Nobody is asking to return to the Gorilla Ball era. What was so bad about college baseball in the years preceding the bat change? How can anyone make an argument that the current bats are good for college baseball? I am so sick and tired of people trying to justify how pitcher duels are somehow “better” for college baseball. According to who? Who decided that a lack of offense was better for the game?
The most famous baseball franchise in history is nicknamed the “Bronx Bombers.” Is is too much to ask that the 3, 4, 5 hitters in the lineup actually be able to hit doubles in the power alleys and home runs? This CWS was a snoozefest and I absolutely love college baseball. I can only imagine what the casual observer thought.
Cracker says:
” Who decided that a lack of offense was better for the game?”
Who decided that an abundance of offense was better for the game?
Fat Sam says:
** While I enjoy the emphasis on defense & pitching & not having to sit through 4 hour games, I too would like to see some changes that make HRs possible at the Big Tiddy. Grayson Greiner in particular hit some bombs that off the bat I was sure were gone, only to die harmlessly in front of the warning track.
** Since the season is over & you have nothing to do, any chance we’ll get summer updates about how key returnees are doing in summer leagues? Maybe the Easton Lear jet will fly you to Cape Cod and other such locales.
** Speaking of Easton, do you think South Carolina’s woeful offensive output during the CWS had anything to do with their switching their bats from Easton 2 years ago?
** You should sponsor a poll as to how long it will be before the TD Ameritrade name is replaced on the new stadium by some other corporate vulture. The Qwest Center across the street has already changed its name to the CenturyLink Center, as you know. I’ll always be partial to the Qwest Center name, since it harbored so many of us fleeing TDA during last year’s crazy storm.
Tim K says:
If you really want to know what captures the casual fan into a growing sport like college baseball, talk to someone at ESPN or one of the regional Fox Sports that televises games. They will tell you the length of the game and the scoring are big items. If those things are more aligned with what MLB baseball offers, where there are tons of casual fans on a nightly basis, then people will tune in.
Since the last couple of years before the change in bats was discussed, I crunched some CWS numbers.
2009 CWS Average Game time 3:38; 67% of games decided by 4 runs or less
2010 CWS Average Game time 3:24; 69% of games decided by 4 runs or less
2011 CWS Average Game time 3:10; 86% of games decided by 4 runs or less
2012 CWS Average Game time 2:58; 73% of games decided by 4 runs or less
In 2009 there were no games under 3 hours and 4 games over 4 hours. There has been only one game over 4 hours in each of the last two CWS and 13 games under the 3 hour mark. Now I will admit that factors outside of the park size and bats should be considered. It has been pointed out that the fence dimensions of Rosenblatt (post 2001) and TD Ameritrade are the same. However, Stitch pointed out in his pre ’11 CWS coverage that the location of the two parks has an impact. Rosenblatt was elevated and positioned to catch more of the southerly wind. TD Ameritrade is turned to face right into that wind. And I crunched the #’s for above, but didn’t dig into the Wind data. However, it seemed to me that the wind was a bit stronger and more consistently blowing in for the ’12 CWS then it was for the ’11 CWS.
If you want more offense, tune into coverage of a game like this: http://deadspin.com/5921913/this-at+bat-captures-the-sublime-ridiculousness-of-mens-slow+pitch-softball
I’m sure the 3, 4 & 5 hitters for each squad fared pretty well in that barnburner.
Sean says:
Why does it have to be an extreme one way or the other? Like I already said, NOBODY wants to go back to 1998. That would be ridiculous. But, it is ridiculous to have the bats go completely the opposite direction like they are now too.
I have never understood the length of the game argument. What is so bad about going to a baseball game and watching it for 3+ hours? People watch football games every week which run longer than that. If you become bored with a game running longer than the “magical” 3 hours, perhaps you simply don’t like college baseball.
“The combined batting average of all teams in the CWS this year was .234, the lowest average since 1974 (which was .227), the year before aluminum bats were allowed in college baseball.”
“Mark Etheridge of SEBaseball.com: “The 2012 CWS: Where RBI groundouts and bases-loaded walks dominate the offensive highlight tape.â€
^^^^ When part of the narrative of the entire CWS is how terrible the offense was from every team in the field, something is wrong.
NECBLfan says:
I think the bats are fine, and I loved the type of baseball in this year’s CWS. If you really want a change after only two years, though, why not the baseballs themselves? We’ve deadened the bats to act more like major league ones, so let’s lower the seams on the balls to be closer to the major league ones, too. The BESR-era problem of outrageous exit velocities wouldn’t be brought back into play, yet hitters would see much better pitches to hit with lowered seams. Just a thought and, like I said, I’m fine with the current state of college baseball.
Go Army - Go 'Hoos says:
Eric Sorenson said: “Great point about the positioning of UofA defenders Go Army-Go Hoos (and by the way, who were you for when those two teams faced off with each other in the Regionals?).”
Well, I was very confused emotionally that day. Army is my alma mater, and the organization from which I just retired after 28 years on active duty. On the other hand, I’ve done 5 years of postgrad education at UVa, and am currently a booster and season ticket holder there since ’04. As soon as the first pitch was thrown, I started rooting for Army…don’t know why, just happened.