Fresno State - 3-1 vs Butler

The Fresno State Bulldogs, a talented team that we have seen contend for postseason play year in and year out, put it to the Butler Bulldogs, who are a power in NCAA hoops, but not quite as strong on the diamond.  The bigger dogs went 3-1 on the strength of outscoring the smaller dogs 35-14 in the four games.  The one loss was an extra inning L, 12-9.

Sophomore LHP Tyler Linehan dazzled in the opener, striking out 13 in 7.2 innings and was named a national player of the week.  Senior LHP Tom Harlan earned WAC pitcher of the week so it would appear that the Bulldogs are strong from the left side on the mound.  Harlan threw a CG shutout and struck out eight.  For the weekend the Fresno State pitchers struck out 47 and only walked 11, in 37 innings pitched.  That is outstanding.  Three starters didn't give up a run in their 21.2 innings (Linehan, Harlan, Munro).

Stanford - 3-0 vs Vanderbilt

Going 3-0 against a previously top 10 ranked Vanderbilt team is a little different than going 3-0 against Pacific, so after one weekend of play, it sure looks like the Cardinal are the class of Northern California, the Pac-12 and maybe the nation.  They hammered the Commodores by a combined 35-13 (8-3, 9-5, 18-5) and showed their offensive depth and firepower all weekend.  If there is a deeper, more athletic and more talented starting line-up in the college baseball, tell me which team that is.  I don't think there is.

I am not sure yet if I will do a weekend or weekly wrap all season but for now I am inclined to do so.  I will comb the box scores and of course that is not the same as being at the games, but I will do my best to try to get inside those boxscores a little bit and see what they mean for our local D1 programs.  I think in smaller chunks, meaning one team at time, we can know more about each of the teams.

Cal - 3-0 vs Pacific

The Bears won three games and scored plenty of runs in the process.  The won 9-1, 6-3, and 9-3 and in this era of the less impactful bats, those scores tend to jump out at me a bit.  Now, no one is going to confuse the Pacific pitching staff with the 2010 SF Giants, but credit to the Bears for putting up the runs.  Pacific has been a better hitting than pitching team in recent years but the Bears, while not completely dominant, only gave up seven runs in three games.  Tony Renda is off to great start with a .545 average and .667 OBP and four SB.  Darrel Matthews, Andrew Knapp and Chadd Krist all drove in five runs this past weekend.  If Knapp has developed into the type of hitter he projected to be out of high school, the Bears are in good shape, very good shape.  Krist had three doubles.

Only one pitcher went longer than five innings and that was senior RHP Matt Flemer, who went eight.  Of note among the Cal pitching stats is this ratio, 19:2, which is their K:BB ratio.  The 19 strikeouts in 27 innings pitched is a little less than I would want to see to indicate that the Bears have enough stuff to navigate the Pac-12 season, but they do have some great experience with LHP Justin Jones and Flemer. 

I think looking forward, I see Cal having to lean on their offense when the Pac-12 season rolls around. 

Shutouts were the theme of the day on Friday as the NCAA D1 season got underway.  Here are the results and some highlights (box score) from the day...

Stanford beat Vanderbilt 8-3 behind the power arm of Mark Appel and the thunder in the line-up, provided by Stephen Piscotty, Christian Griffiths and Eric Smith.  Of interest to me is that Smith is starting at catcher, having been converted from an infielder.  Piscotty, Griffiths, and Smith all homered.  Cardinal assistant coach Rusty Filter told me last November that Piscotty's power was really showing up in the fall and he has started the season that way.  Is there a deeper, more talented team in the nation than Stanford?  Obviously I have not seen the whole nation but I would have a hard time believing there is.  How many first round picks are on this team?  Could be three this June, and at least two more in 2013 and 2014... and I might be selling them short.

USF shutout San Jose State 4-0 behind the stellar pitching of junior RHP Kyle Zimmer and senior LHP Jordan Remer.  Senior catcher Mason Morioka homered (1st in his career) to help with plenty of offense.  

UC Davis also won via the shutout, downing Utah 3-0 behind six shutout innings from senior LHP Dayne Quist.  Freshman OF John Williams was 2-4 and drove in two runs.  Williams was a pick for the all-frosh team I posted.  

Cal Poly shutout Oklahoma State 6-0 as junior RHP Joey Wagman limited the Cowboys to two hits in his eight scoreless innings.  Junior OF Mitch Haniger, freshman 1B Ryan Drobny and third baseman Jimmy Allen paced the offense. 

Fresno State also won via the shutout, 3-0 over Butler as sophomore LHP Tyler Linehan was strong in his season debut.  He went 7.2 IP and struck out 13.  The top of the order did enough for the Bulldogs, with freshman OF Jordan Luplow tallying two hits and driving in a run.  Senior INF Pat Hutcheson had a big day, going 1-3 with a homer, two runs scored and an RBI.

Cal hammered Pacific 9-1 as junior LHP Justin Jones went five strong innings.  The offense had 11 hits and five players drove in at least one run.  Junior 2B Tony Renda scored twice and had two hits, as did senior CF Chad Bunting.  Sophomore 1B/C Andrew Knapp drove in a run and had two hits.  Junior 3B Mitch Delfino drove in a couple and senior catcher Chadd Krist drove in two.

Nevada beat New Mexico 5-3.  Senior INF Joe Kohan had two hits and drove in two runs.  Sophomore RHP Braden Shipley threw five shutout innings, striking out seven and walking five.  Five shoutout innings in Albuquerque is quite a feat, truly!  With the five walks he was flirting with trouble but only gave up two hits to escape unscathed.

Sacramento State fell to Cal State Northridge 6-4.  Three Hornets had two hits, including sophomore OF Justin Higley, junior 1B Clay Cederquist and senior INF Derrick Chung.  Chung and Cederquist each drove in a run.  Those three players were in the 1-2-3 spots in the order.

Saint Mary's opened the new Guisto Field with a 2-1 win over Southern Utah.  Junior RHP Martin Agosta went 7.0 IP, struck out eight and gave up no earned runs.  Sophomore LHP Jordan Mills went the final two innings to get the W for the Gaels.  Senior catcher Toby DeMello and junior OF Cole Norton drove in the two runs.

Santa Clara opens up today, at a tournament in Texas as they will take on Wichita State.

The list of the "watch list" for the 2012 Golden Spikes Award has been released and there are five players from Northern California on it.  Three of them are from Stanford and four of them played on my last Braves scout team.  Seems I knew what I was doing.

Mark Appel (RHP), Kenny Diekroeger (SS), and Stephen Piscotty (INF/OF/P) from Stanford join Cal's 2nd baseman Tony Renda, the reigning Pac-10 Player of the Year and Cal State Fullerton RHP Dylan Floro.  Appel went to Monte Vista HS, Diekroeger wen to Menlo School, Piscotty attended Amador Valley HS, Renda prepped at Serra HS, and Floro went to Buhach Colony HS.  I had Floro on our Braves scout team in Jupiter (FL) at the WWBA Championships so actually, I got to have all five of these players on Braves scout teams.  Nice.  All are good kids, good players and I enjoyed getting to know them all during that process a few years ago.

As for their place on this "watch list," well, why does there need to be a watch list?  What if a player outperforms all 30 "semifinalists" in 2012, can't that player win the award?  Here is the list

The season opens this weekend and the race is on. 

Two Bay Area natives are in ESPN's top 100 prospects of 2012, compiled by Keith Law. 

Joe Ross (RHP) went to Bishop O'Dowd HS and was selected in the 1st round last June by the Padres.  He is the younger brother of A's RHP Tyson Ross.  Brett Jackson (CF) went to Miramonte HS before heading to Cal, where he developed into a 1st round pick of the Cubs in the 2009 draft.  Jackson was a two time participant in Bay Area World Series (2004 & 2005) and the event's most outstanding player player award is named after him.

Here are the scouting breakdowns of Ross and Jackson, as well as the entire list of 100 players.  Personally I think Law has rated 1st year minor leaguers way too generously.  I would like to see prospects broken up into different categories; prospects and suspects.  For instance, Rays LHP Matt Moore is listed as a prospect and that is simply due to the fact that he still has his rookie eligibility intact, despite appearing in the big leagues last year and in the playoffs.  There are clearly different levels of prospects, those who are suspects (those just drafted and 2nd year players in particular) and those who are prospects, which to me means they have a proven minor league track record and are either on the cusp of the big leagues or have some big league time (Trout, Moore, Montero, Teheran, Rizzo, etc).

If you have ever stumbled around in the dark and stubbed your toe or banged your shin on a coffee table, that is sort of what predicting the performance of a freshman in college sports is like.  It is a dangerous thing to do because just like when you bang your shin in your own home, a home you think you know, thinking you know how a freshman is going to perform can lead to some painful bruises.

I am going to take a stab at selecting a preseason All-Freshman team for our Northern California region D1 programs, including Nevada and Cal Poly.  I am going to get a lot of this wrong not only because predicting freshmen performance is difficult, but also because I don't have familiarity with all of them.  Some of them I am familiar with because they are local kids and I saw them play last spring or in Bay Area World Series.  Others I saw at the Area Code Games or in other action somewhere last summer or fall. 

Not only will I attempt to pick an All-Frosh team but I will also highlight all the freshmen I think will have an impact this college season.  Without any further ado, here goes... oh yes, I didn't include any red-shirt freshmen on this list.

Catcher

Wayne Taylor (6'1" 205), Stanford - I saw Taylor in the Area Code games and he is good, with a plus arm and good raw power.  He is going to be another in the long line of Stanford catchers who play pro ball.  Taylor could end up the spring as the #1 catcher for the Cardinal and frankly I expect that to happen.

As with this post last year, this 'team' is clearly just for discussion sake and it is strictly my own opinion.  Hopefully it creates some local interest in our D1 programs.  This year the team is heavily loaded with Stanford players, and if you read a post of mine a couple of seasons ago, about the freshmen on the 2010 Stanford team, well, you know this group of juniors has had star potential all along.  What I like about this group though is that another team, and not one you might expect, is also heavily represented.

Contrary to popular belief, Cal and Stanford are not the only programs with good players.  Furthermore, the players listed are not the only good players at those positions and in some cases, I might have a player out of the position he will end up playing this season.  These are the programs I am picking players from: Cal, Cal Poly, UC Davis, Fresno State, Nevada, Pacific, Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, USF, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Stanford.  I include Cal Poly because they have so many NoCal players we are familiar with and we should claim them as our own rather than ceding them to SoCal.  I will just list the positions and the names, no reports or specific thoughts...

Disagree? Your comments are VERY WELCOME and ENCOURAGED.  Send me a note at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any feedback and I would be happy to post any comments that ADD to the discussion.

The players were selected because I think they will have the best all-around college seasons in 2012 (offense & defense) but yes, previous performance certainly counts.  These players are not necessarily going to be the best pro prospects, though on this year's team, the best pro prospects seem to be represented.  With no further ado, let's go with a 1st team (9 offensive players, 3 starting pitchers, 1 closer/short reliever) and a 2nd team (9 offensive players, 3 starting pitchers, 1 closer/short reliever).  I am also listing last year's stats.

1st Team

Catchers Chadd Krist (Sr) Cal / .297, 27 2B, 2 HR, 43 RBI

1st Base Troy Channing (Sr) Saint Mary's / .264, 9 2B, 8 HR, 27 RBI

2nd Base Tony Renda (Jr) Cal / .332, 14 2B, 3 HR, 44 RBI

Shortstop Kenny Diekroeger (Jr) Stanford / .293, 8 2B, 3 HR, 31 RBI

3rd Base Patrick Wisdom (Jr) Saint Mary's / .351, 16 2B, 8 HR, 46 RBI

Left Field Aaron Judge (So) Fresno State / .358, 12 2B, 2 HR, 30 RBI

Center Field Brian Ragira (So) Stanford / .329, 7 2B, 5 3B, 4 HR, 46 RBI

Right Field Austin Wilson (So) Stanford / .311, 7 2B, 5 HR, 30 RBI

Designated Hitter Stephen Piscotty (Jr) Stanford / .364, 13 2B, 3 HR, 40 RBI

Starting Pitchers Mark Appel (Jr) Stanford, Kyle Zimmer (Jr) USF, Martin Agosta (Jr) Saint Mary's

Reliever Zack Jones (Jr)

As the college season is about to get underway, today I bring you some tough news about a former great college pitcher from SJSU, Ryan Shopshire.  I got a call today from SJSU asst coach Jeff Pritchard, who I consider a friend, outside of our involvement in baseball.  He is aware of this blog and as he and his team/staff have been considering ways to get this message out, he thought of me as a way to help.  I am happy to be able to pass along the following information because it can only help a young man and his family in a very tough spot.  No doubt Ryan is humble and competitive and he likely would feel a little embarrassed that others are going to bat for him like this.  That being said, Pritch went to bat for him by contacting me and now I will do what I can to get the information out to anyone who reads this (make sure you read the release from the hospital)... feel free to do the same.

-------------------------

Blaine,

Here is the email that was sent to me by Ryan and his girlfriend...I really appreciate your help.  Ryan was the 2009 WAC Pitcher of the Year, All WAC, etc. He is an outstanding teammate and always thought of his teammates first before himself, in every situation.  He is an unbelievable representative of not only Spartan baseball, but college baseball in general. 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: danielle miller
Date: Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 7:46 PM
Subject: Ryan Shopshire
To: Jeffrey Pritchard

Hey Pritch,

Below is a write up of what happened in the accident. When the accident occurred, Ryan's church created a non-profit for any donations. This rocks because people are able to give a tax-deductible donation with a receipt mailed to them at the end of the year. The money he has received thus far has gone solely towards therapy.....but my hope is to raise more money so he can continue to go to rehab. I truly appreciate all your help in organizing something for Ryan.

With Baseball (according to doctors it is out of the question at the competitive level he played) Ryan is looking to go back to school to further his education. Baseball has always provided Ryan with an outlet, ability to go to school with a full tuition, and fulfill a childhood dream. With the blow to his right arm...furthering his education in a master's program seems to be the next goal in Ryan's new path without ball.

Again I thank you so much for all your support and help. Call me anytime. I would love to help in anyway possible!--- Attached is a pitch from the hospital.

_________________________________________________________

Information about an upcoming clinic, sent to me by John Goulding of James Logan HS...

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Coaches, just a reminder about the upcoming quality clinics in the bay area Jan. 27-29. The Nor-cal All-Sports clinic in Burlingame at the Hyatt Regency the 27th and 28th. This has great speakers in all sports. Baseball has Bill Hutton (Mitty), Greg Moore and Nino Giarantano (USF pitchng and head coach), Bob Morgan (NCAA coaches Hall of Fame), Nate Trosky, and Jim Cleveland.

Sunday the 29th the California Baseball Coaches Association will be having their clinic at James Logan. This is a change from Mitty, due to a scheduling conflict at Mitty - 7:30-2:30. The new Santa Clara staff will be the main speakers at this one. Only 40$ gets you the clinic, food, and membership to the CBCA so you can nominate your players to the North-South tryout and be a part of your coaches association.

Hope to see you all - John Goulding