THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,414 MLB PLAYERS | 15,806 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,414 MLB PLAYERS | 15,806 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Sign in Create Account
Sign in Create Account
College  | Story | 6/24/2016

CWS: Beckwith does it again

Patrick Ebert
Photo: Coastal Carolina University




2016 College World Series Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6


OMAHA, Neb. – Andrew Beckwith certainly has a knack for stymying opposing hitters. Just five days after shutting down the mighty Florida Gators lineup he faced an equally lethal TCU squad that led the Big 12 in batting. Mitchell Traver took the mound opposite Beckwith, and although he pitched well was saddled with the loss as Coastal Carolina forced a Saturday elimination game against TCU with the 4-1 win.

And for as good as Beckwith was, his defense behind him – both in the infield and the outfield – made numerous key plays throughout the game that helped secure the victory.

“I knew our defense was going to come out and play,” Beckwith said, quickly attributing his success to his teammates. “I knew they were going to scratch some runs across. Like I said on Sunday, just pounding the zone, let your defense work. We got the best infielders, the fastest outfielders I feel like in Division I baseball. And they really came to play today.”

The two starters offered a stark contrast from one another. Beckwith, the Big South Pitcher of the Year, is listed at 6-foot, 180-pounds. He changes his arm slot from one delivery to the next, leaving hitters unsure if Beckwith will be coming from a more traditional three-quarters slot or a near submarine one. While his fastball doesn’t climb past the low-80s very often, with a fluttering upper-60s sidearm breaking ball and low- to mid-70s changeup, he exhibits pinpoint control and a fearless overall approach.

After allowing a double to Josh Watson in the second (who Beckwith promptly picked off as Watson was caught napping too far off the bag), Beckwith proceeded to retire the next 13 batters in order before allowing a leadoff single to Cam Warner in the seventh.

“It was a very well pitched game on both sides,” Coastal Carolina head coach Gary Gilmore said after the game. “Ten hits total, and Andrew was absolutely incredible. I can't say enough about him.”

Traver on the other hand is every bit of 6-foot-7, 255-pounds, with a power arsenal that includes a fastball that sat at 90-92 in the early innings and a low-80s slider that frequently was clocked higher than Beckwith’s fastball. Traver was a prized recruit coming out of high school, and was a participant of the 2011 Perfect Game All-American Classic at Petco Park given his high-powered arm and promising future potential.

A hit by pitch, single, bunt single, infield error and a sac fly led to two runs in the third inning for Coastal Carolina who took the early 2-0 lead. Only one of those two runs were earned, but both runs were somewhat of a hard-luck situation for Traver, as neither run should have scored had the inning been played cleanly.

Traver settled down nicely after the third, at least for the next few innings. At one point in the game the two starters had combined to retire 20 straight batters. However, by the seventh Traver had clearly ran out of gas. He was laboring more on the mound, and after 90 pitches, and 6 1/3 strong innings, his day was done.

Preston Guillory was called upon to take over with runners at first and third with one out, and the first batter he faced, Billy Cooke, hit a deep fly to left that scored Woodall. The second batter, David Parrett, hit a booming ground-rule to left field that scored Tyler Chadwick, and the third, Michael Paez, was hit by a pitch. Guillory did freeze Anthony Marks to end the inning, but when it was all said and done Coastal Carolina added two more runs to extend their lead to 4-0.

All four runs were attributed to Traver, who allowed only three hits and a pair of walks.

The TCU offense did come to life, relatively, in the eighth inning as Beckwith surpassed 100 pitches. Drew Steinhagen hit a solo home run with one out to put TCU on the board and Ryan Merrill followed him with a sharply hit single up the middle, but Beckwith did a nice job collecting himself to retire the next two batters and enter the ninth with a 4-1 lead.

Beckwith managed to squeeze one more inning out of his arm, tossing his second complete game in Omaha while recording his 14th win on the season. He allowed the one run on six hits and a walk, using 137 pitches to complete the feat.

“I think I would have had to hit (Beckwith) with a brick or whatever to get him to come out of the game,” coach Gilmore said of his ace. “I was trying to take him out of the eighth. He wouldn't come out. I didn't want to see him out in the ninth, and he just wasn't going to have any part of it.

“He's a unique young man, and what he did tonight was incredible. And we're fortunate enough to get a couple hits here and there and execute a couple of things and live again for tomorrow.”

As a result the two teams will play again on Saturday at the same time (7:00 p.m. CT) in a re-match of Friday’s contest. Although both coaches were reluctant to name a starter, TCU is expected to flip their rotation and hand the ball to Jared Janczak while Coastal Carolina will likely turn to Alex Cunningham.


Wildcats determined to remain in Omaha

In the first game of the day on Friday Arizona continued to tame the best Omaha has to offer, jumping on Oklahoma State early en route to a convincing 9-3 win. After a pair of 1-0 wins for Oklahoma State that put them on the easy winners’ bracket path to Friday’s game, the Cowboys fell behind for the first time during the 2016 College World Series, and did so in the first inning.

OSU starter Jensen Elliott didn’t have his best stuff, or his best command. His fastball sat at 86-90 mph early and the Arizona batters were jumping all over it, making consistent, hard contact early in the game.

He walked the first batter, Cody Ramer, and allowed a sharp single through the left side of the infield to Zach Gibbons. After a fielder’s choice bunt attempt and a strikeout looking of Bobby Dalbec, J.J. Matijevic hit another sharp single through the left side of the infield to give the Wildcats an early 1-0 lead.

The Wildcats added two more in the second, as Louis Boyd followed Cesar Salazar’s hard-hit double with a booming two-bagger of his own, and another run came around to score on yet another hit by Zach Gibbons, who finished the day 3-for-4 with two RBI.

“Just using our eyes, letting the ball back up to us and getting our pitch and putting a good swing on it,” Gibbons said after the game about he and his teammates’ revised approach after being shut down by Oklahoma State on Monday. “I feel like (Tyler) Buffett the other night was making great pitches and we were just swinging over the top of him, swinging at his pitch. I think today it just helped backing the ball up and getting our pitch and putting a good swing on it.

Gibbons added a sacrifice fly in the fourth that gave Arizona what seemed like a commanding 4-0 lead, and tacked on five more runs in the final two innings to put the game well out of reach.

J.J. Matijevic also enjoyed a three-hit day, and Cesar Salazar, the No. 8 hitter, reached base five times (two hits, a walk, a hit by pitch and he reached on an error) and scored three runs.

The story early in the game was Arizona starter Nathan Bannister, who has been a workhorse for the Wildcats all season, but especially in the postseason, coming off of his dominant seven inning, 11 strikeout performance over Miami on the first day of the CWS. In this game he seemed to be cruising, freezing the first two batters he faced in the top of the third on upper-80s fastballs before he over extended on his delivery on his first pitch to Collin Theroux and apparently tweaked something in the process.

Although he remained in the game to face Theroux, with no initial visit to the mound from the coaching staff, he showed signs of being in discomfort, taking his time pacing behind the mound after throwing the pitch and holding his arm close to his body. His command wasn’t the same and his velocity was a few ticks below where he had been with the previous two batters.

As a result, his day came to an end after 2 2/3 innings without allowing a hit and striking out five.

“He felt something uncomfortable that he felt three summers ago when he was in the Cape Cod League,” Arizona head coach Jay Johnson said of Bannister after the game. “And he said it was just a little bit tight, a little bit tired like there was nothing on the ball. I was very encouraged he threw two pitches after we went out there. Standing behind the mound, had I not known anything would happen, it didn't look any different to me. So that's a very encouraging sign with Nathan.

“So we'll get him checked out obviously further, but I'm very optimistic about it.”

Kevin Ginkel, who picked up the win despite being responsible for two of the three Oklahoma State runs that scored, showed impressive stuff in the fourth inning, touching 95 and 96 after throwing 91-93 fastballs upon entering the game in the third.

However, the real story of this game came down to Arizona’s closer Cameron Ming who is doing his best impersonation of last year's CWS hero, Josh Sborz.

Ming made his fourth appearance in as many games played in Omaha for the Wildcats and responded with five near-perfect innings. While he did walk the first batter he faced in the ninth, Corey Hassel, he was able to get Donnie Walton to hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

And his appearance should have ended when the next batter, Garrett Benge, hit a lazy fly to left field. However, Arizona left fielder Justin Behnke lost the ball in the brilliant sun and Benge was credited with a double. Conor Costello, who tripled in Benge earlier in the game, followed with a walk, and Benge was brought home on an RBI double by Andrew Rosa to put a blemish on Ming’s stat line.

That would be all of the damage he would allow, and now has only allowed the one run in 10 innings, allowing just four base hits, during his time spent in Omaha so far.

“Bannister is the captain of the pitching staff, I would say,” Ming said of his extended appearance after his teammate’s early exit. “He grinds it out every time he goes out there and shows us how much he wants to win. And it means a lot to every one of the pitchers. I look up to him a lot. When he came out of the game, I just wanted to give him and our team the best.”

Similar to Coastal Carolina/Texas Christian, Arizona's win forces a re-match in an elimination contest against Oklahoma State set to begin at 2:00 p.m. CT at TD Ameritrade Park on Saturday.
Give us your feedback
College | Rankings | 4/22/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: April 22
Nick Herfordt
Article Image
The final weeks of the college baseball regular season have a way of separating programs that are genuinely postseason-ready from those that have simply been good enough for long enough. Conference tournaments loom, selection committees are paying close attention, and every game on the schedule carries weight that it simply didn't in February. This week's action, combined with the latest Perfect Game Top 25, paints a picture of a college baseball landscape where the top is clearly defined — and where the middle is a genuine battle. What follows is a cross-level look at teams across the NAIA, NCAA Division II, and NCAA Division III ranks who find themselves in that uncomfortable space: not safely in, not clearly out, but firmly on the bubble. Some have built compelling résumés that should hold up under scrutiny. Others have excellent records against soft competition...
Read More
Softball | Softball Tournament | 4/22/2026

PG Softball Battle for the Belt

Article Image
Perfect Game Softball Battle for the Belt April 18-19, 2026 Des Moines, Iowa It was a cold and very windy weekend, but the girls still came out and put in their best efforts. If you wanted the place to see some of the state’s top talent, this was the tournament to be at. The 18u division was quite the slugfest! The Ankeny Centennial 18U -Kennedy team took down a tough Iowa Alliance Select-Benge team in the championship. Both teams had double digit homeruns on the weekend. In the 16u division the Iowa Aries CE Fire Black took control of the game from the start and never let up on the gas, taking down a solid Alliance Select- Harper team. 18U Division Kori Lincicum (2026 Ankeny, IA) of the Centennial Jaguars- Kennedy and Drake Bulldog softball commit was the weekends MVP Pitcher. Lincicum defeated a tough Alliance team in the championship game finishing with that game with 11...
Read More
Juco | Rankings | 4/22/2026

JUCO Top 25: April 22

Blaine Peterson
Article Image
Another week down and Johnson County continues their torrid run to remain at number 1. They're 46-2 on the season with multiple hitters over 25 bombs which is astonishing for the level as the Cavs have announced themselves as title favorites. Just a couple of weeks left heading down the stretch and our field remains mostly the same with the two additions of midwest powerhouse Iowa Western and the Warriors of East Central who will have a tough test Wednesday in Poplarville against fellow Mississippi adversary Pearl River in a mid-week double header.   Rk. School Record 1 Johnson County (KS) 46-2 2 Gaston (NC) 47-3 3 Walters State (TN) 42-10 4 McLennan (TX) 38-8 5 Southern Nevada (NV) 33-9 6 Chipola (FL) 39-9 7 Blinn (TX) 33-12 8 Florida Southwestern (FL) 32-13 9 Florence-Darlington (SC) 42-10 10 Pearl River (MS) 39-9 11 Cloud County (KS) 40-4 12 Cochise (AZ) 39-11 13 Midland (TX)...
Read More
High School | Rankings | 4/21/2026

High School Top 50 Update: April 21

Tyler Russo
Article Image
Another few weeks have wrapped up this high school season as we’re flying through the spring and most southern states are starting playoffs right around the corner. With the end of the regular season, we have another National Top 50 update to bring to you, along with this will be the start of the weekly editions of our National Top 50. We have a change at the top of the rankings as Venice (FL) takes over the top spot after just dominating their competition in the state of Florida this year. Orange Lutheran (CA) drops one spot to No. 2 after dropping a series but still holds firm at No. 2 in the country. Barbe (LA) has continued to dominate and holds onto the No. 3 spot while Tomball (TX) skyrockets in this update to No. 4 in the country, currently holding an incredible 30-0-1 record. The rest of the top-10 is names we’ve become accustomed to see with Aledo (TX) at No. 5, IMG...
Read More
Tournaments | Story | 4/21/2026

Southeast Super NIT #2 Scout Notes

Jason Phillips
Article Image
Chase Jelks (‘30 GA)- with a long double to deep CF. Huge day from the primary SS, 5-for-6 w/ 4 doubles & 6 RBI. #SESuperNIT @TheDreamBall @PG_Georgia https://t.co/biFSzXCrUt pic.twitter.com/HCQMduedb5 — Perfect Game Youth (@PGYouthBB) April 20, 2026 Chase Jelks (’30, Atlanta, Ga.)- the left-handed hitting Jelks was all over the barrel on Sunday in a pair of games for The Dream 14U Black. He finished the day with five hits in six at-bats which included four doubles and six runs batted in. His two doubles and four runs batted in played a big part in the Gold Playoffs Round 1 victory over the talented BPA squad out of California. He backed up that performance with three more hits in a quarterfinal’s loss to the East Cobb Astros 14U Orange to finish the tournament with a .600 batting average and 1.636 on-base plus slugging percentage. A primary utility infielder,...
Read More
PG Select Baseball Festival | General | 4/21/2026

Select Festival Dates/Locations Announced

Article Image
    667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923  www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    PERFECT GAME ANNOUNCES DATES AND VENUES FOR   2026 SLATE OF SELECT FESTIVALS    Sanford, Florida (Tuesday, April 21, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced dates and venues for its 2026 Select Festivals, a premiere series of invitation-only events showcasing many of the nation’s top young prospects at the 11U, 12U, 13U and 14U levels.    The Select Festivals provide elite players with a unique opportunity to compete alongside and against the best talent in their age group while experiencing a...
Read More
College | Story | 4/21/2026

College Players of the Week: April 21

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
April 21st Perfect Game/Player of the Week:  Tague Davis, IF, Louisville  The Louisville Cardinals (22-18) haven’t been able to get themselves in much of a groove this spring, their longest winning streak is 5-games, and they are (4-6) in their last 10-games.  The issue has not been the offense as the Cardinals are averaging over 8-runs per game and Tague Davis is leading the club in virtually every offensive category.  His calling card is his 70-grade power and that was on display last weekend in their series against Cal.  In the three-game series, Davis went 7 for 12, scoring 4 runs, launching 5 home runs and collected 7 RBIs.  The 6-4/220 lefthanded hitter from West Chester, PA has a pure stroke, is one of the premier power hitters in the nation and has significantly improved his plate discipline from a year ago.  After his big weekend, he is...
Read More
Press Release | Press Release | 4/20/2026

PG & EventConnect Extend Collaboration

Article Image
    667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923  www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    PERFECT GAME AND EVENTCONNECT EXTEND COLLABORATION FOCUSED ON SCALE, SERVICE AND EXPERIENCE    Sanford, Florida (Monday, April 20, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced the renewal and expansion of its long-standing housing and technology partnership with EventConnect, reaffirming a shared commitment to innovation, scale and best-in-class experiences for athletes, families and event operators across North America.    The renewed multi-year agreement extends a successful partnership that has helped Perfect Game...
Read More
College | Rankings | 4/20/2026

College Top 25: April 20

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
As the old saying goes, “all good things must come to an end” and that was the case last Tuesday when UCLA (36-3) saw their 27-game win streak come to an end in a shutout loss to UCSB.  However, the No. 1 team in the land still has their 21-game winning streak in Big Ten to protect, as they have started off league play without a single blemish.  The Bruins will remain atop our poll this week and their historical start to the season roll on.  The UNC Tarheels (33-7-1) move up to No. 2 this week after they made their biggest statement of the year by taking the weekend series from now No. 4 Georgia Tech (32-7).  No. 3 Texas (30-8) and No. 5 Georgia (32-9) both went (3-1) on the week and won their SEC series to stay in contention for the regular season title.  Florida State (28-11) had a nice bounce back (4-0) week and re-enter the Top 10 at No. 8 this...
Read More
College | Story | 4/16/2026

Coppy's Corner: April 16 POY Deep Dive

John Coppolella
Article Image
Each week I huddle with Vinnie Cervino and Craig Cozart  to discuss Top-25 rankings and Players of the Week. In Coppy’s Corner, I dive deeper into these Players of the Week, providing analysis from 20+ years working in baseball front offices at the highest level.   Player of the Week: Jaquae Stewart – Texas State University  If you squint a little bit, you can see some Josh Naylor or Dominic Smith in Jaquae Stewart, with a stout build like a more powerful version of the teacup from the children’s song. Lately, the Sun Belt Conference has been child’s play for Stewart as he has been on fire showing an improved hit approach and power that tracks more with his 2024 performance at Northwest Florida State College than with his 2025 experience at the University of Texas. It’s tough for any player to jump from a JUCO in Florida to the big stage...
Read More
Loading more articles...
About Perfect Game :: Contact us :: Terms of Use :: Privacy Policy :: Testimonials :: Job Opportunities
Copyright 1994-2026 by Perfect Game. All rights reserved. No portion of this information may be reprinted or reproduced without the written consent of Perfect Game.