Collegiate Baseball The Voice Of Amateur Baseball Started In 1958 At The Request Of Our Nation’s Baseball Coaches Vol. 62, No. 11 Friday, June 14, 2019 $4.00 Greatest Title Game Of All Time Fifty years ago, USC navigated 29 innings over final 2 games to win 1970 College World Series. By HANK SCHOMBER Special To Collegiate Baseball MAHA, Neb. — In 1970, the greatest College World Series Ochampionship game in history took place. Southern California beat Florida State, 2-1 in 15 innings. To reach the title game, the Trojans had to beat Texas in 14 innings, 8-7 two days prior. was the start of the Trojans’ incredible In USC’s final two games of that 5-year run of national titles that has never Series, the Trojans navigated 29 innings been duplicated in NCAA Division I of pressure packed baseball over three baseball. days to win its sixth national title. How USC got to the final was The 8-team double elimination interesting in itself. tournament was compressed over seven The Trojans lost its first game of the days 50 years ago with three of those College World Series, 4-1 against Ohio days featuring triple headers. Today the and OU’s All-American pitcher Ed INCREDIBLE CHAMPIONSHIP — Southern California captured the 1970 tournament is played over two weeks. Robbins who was 14-0 after the win. College World Series by winning a 14-inning thriller over Texas and the national This also was a time when only Trojan RHP Jim Barr started and took title game against Florida St. two days later in 15-innings, 2-1. Left to right is Jim wooden bats were allowed and pitchers the loss. He was hit by a line drive in Barr who pitched 16 innings over the final three days of the tournament for USC, hit for themselves with no DH. Trojan Head Coach Rod Dedeaux and All-American Pitcher Brent Strom. The 1970 College World Series See EPIC TITLE GAME, Page 3 Adley Rutschman Collegiate Baseball’s 2019 National Player Of The Year Amazing Athlete Can Do It All As A Catcher Oregon St. catcher was only 19 picks away from being the last pick of the draft in the 40th hits .411 with 17 round. homers, 58 RBI and Oregon State’s 6-foot-2, 216- walks nation-leading pound catcher is a remarkable study. 76 times in 57 games. Since he was drafted three years By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR. ago, he has improved dramatically Editor/Collegiate Baseball in every phase of his game at Oregon State. O RVA L L I S , O r e . — His greatest strides have been Collegiate Baseball’s 2019 made as a switch hitter. National Player of The Year As a freshman two seasons ago, C he hit an anemic .234 in 61 games is Adley Rutschman of Oregon State. with 7 doubles, 2 homers, 33 RBI Rutschman hit .411 over 57 and 27 walks over 209 at-bats. games with 17 homers, 10 doubles Last year was remarkable as he and 58 RBI. hit 174 points higher with a.408 An incredible switch hitter, batting average. opponents tried to pitch him He had 15 more doubles (22), 7 carefully all season as he walked more homers (9) and collected 26 a nation-leading 76 times. His on- more walks (53) as he turned into base percentage was the best in a skilled hitter from both sides of Graphic Courtesy Oregon State University NCAA Division I at .575. the plate. Over eight games against elite over Arkansas as Rutschman was he went 4-for-4 with two walks. Rutschman was recently selected It was one of the greatest pitching staffs, he hit .567 as he named Most Valuable Player of the Oregon State Head Coach Pat the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB turnarounds by a hitter in college collected a College World Series 2018 CWS. Bailey, one of the top hitting minds Draft by the Baltimore Orioles. baseball history. record 17 hits in 30 at-bats and Last season he delivered clutch in the game, said subtle changes Only three years ago, he was the His numbers continued to climb recorded 13 RBI, 3 doubles, 2 hits over and over again. were made with Rutschman after 1,197th pick in the MLB Draft by in 2019. homers and 7 walks. One he will never forget was a his freshman season. the Seattle Mariners from Sherwood At the College World Series last He tallied three hits and two walkoff inside-the-park home run High School (Sherwood, Ore.). He year, he was on fire. RBI in the national title game win in the 10th inning against Nevada as See IRON MAN, Page 8 Inside Collegiate Baseball Web Site: www.baseballnews.com College World Series Preview Collegiate Baseball A-A Teams Craziest Regional Drive Ever CB looks at how each of the final 8 Elite NCAA Division I players, high After Mount St. Helens erupts with teams made it to Omaha and what school stars, honored from teams volcanic blast in 1980, Gonzaga makes them special/Pages 6-7 across USA/Pages 12, 14, 20 faced massive problem/Page 4 Page 2 Collegiate Baseball Friday, June 14, 2019 Coaching Changes Take Place Collegiate Baseball The Voice Of Throughout College Baseball Amateur Baseball TUCSON, Ariz. — As the spring baseball season draws to a close, the carrousel of coaching changes Collegiate Baseball (ISSN 0530-9751) is published twice a month begins. January-May and once in June, July, September and October (14 total Washington State Athletics issues) by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, Inc., 2515 N. Stone Ave., Director Pat Chun relieved Coach Tucson, AZ 85705. Periodicals postage paid at Tucson, AZ. Marty Lees of his coaching duties. Postmaster: Send address changes to: In his four years of guiding the Collegiate Baseball Cougars, Lees had a 70-137-2 P.O. Box 50566 record and 32-83-2 mark in Pac- Tucson, AZ 85703 12 play. Several weeks later, New Mexico Overnight Mail: 2515 N. Stone Ave., Tucson, AZ 85705 State Head Coach Brian Green accepted the job as he became the Past Publishers: Abe Chanin, Lou Pavlovich, Sr. 17th baseball coach in Washington Single 1-Year Subscription Rate: $28 for 14 issues. State history. Single 1-Year First Class U.S. Subscription: $45 $50 Green comes to WSU after five Single 1-Year Foreign Air Mail Subscription: Special Team Subscriptions: 11 papers each issue sent to one ad- seasons as the head coach at New dress — $110 (save $198 off the single subscription price), and 21 papers Mexico State where he led the each issue sent to one address — $189 (save $399). Aggies to a 2019 Western Athletic Other Multiple Subscription Offers: Please inquire with subscrip- Conference regular-season title and tion department at (520) 623-4530. an NCAA Regional appearance in 2018. Green led NMSU to a superb 4-year stretch that saw the Aggies Directory record 34 wins or more in each of the last four seasons and also signed Area Code (520) four straight nationally recognized Publisher: Lou Pavlovich, Jr. (Call 623-4530) Lou Pavlovich, Jr. (Call 623-4530 to report stories) recruiting classes along the way. Editor: Advertising Director: Diane Pavlovich (Call 623-4530) Green has appeared in nine Brian Green is the new skipper at Washington St. Subscription Department: (Call 623-4530) NCAA Regionals as a head coach to the Central Division title as Major Leaguer when he debuted Fax Machine: (Call 624-5501) or assistant coach at the NCAA Cleveland beat the Yankees in the with the Toronto Blue Jays. E-Mail: [email protected] Division I level. American League Division Series Cal. St. Northridge Athletics Web Site: www.baseballnews.com In his five years at NMSU, before falling to the Red Sox in Director Mike Izzi announced that Green produced nine All- seven games in the American Head Coach Greg Moore and his Americans, including three first League Championship Series. staff are no longer with CSUN 2019 Publication Schedule team selections in 2019 and 26 He was named American League Athletics. All-WAC honorees. January 4 March 8 May 3 September 6 Manager of The Year. Moore recently completed January 25 March 22 May 17 October 4 Darin Erstad stepped down He then was manager of the his sixth season at the helm of February 8 April 5 June 14 as head coach at the University of February 22 April 19 July 12 Seattle Mariners. After that, he the program, compiling a 161- Nebraska in early June. spent the 2014-15 seasons as a 175 overall record. His Big West He guided the Husker program studio analyst for ESPN’s Baseball Conference record was 59-85. for the past eight seasons, Tonight. Since 2016, he has been a South Carolina Upstate Coach leading Nebraska to a Big Ten Moving? Player Development advisor for the Matt Fincher will step down after championship and four NCAA Make Sure CB Moves Along With You! Toronto Blue Jays. 22 seasons leading the Spartans. Regional appearances. To change your address, please write us 30 days in advance if The University of Oregon Fincher joined USC Upstate in “I have made the extremely you can. Mail to: Collegiate Baseball Newspaper athletics’ department and Head 1998 after serving as an assistant difficult decision to step away from Dept. Address Change Coach George Horton announced, coach of the Cape Cod Baseball coaching,” Erstad said. P.O. Box 50566 by mutual agreement, the one-year League’s Chatham Anglers. Tucson, Ariz. 85703 “I love this team.