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College  | Story  | 12/24/2019

Year in Review: College

Mike Rooney     
Photo: Kumar Rocker (Vanderbilt Athletics)

Year in Review: PG Events

Continuing with our Year in Review series we look at the top stories from the world of college baseball that emerged during the 2019 calendar year.


The Legislative Branch

This was a year where college baseball legislation earned headlines. A controversial reduction in the recruiting calendar passed but that was not altogether surprising. The bigger news was that legislation allowing for a third paid assistant coach did not pass. This bill would have allowed programs to promote their volunteer coaches to a paid position. This change would include two critical advancements for those coaches: healthcare benefits and the ability to recruit off campus.

As disappointing as this vote was, it may end up being a historic flash point for the sport. For example, cash rich conferences like the Big Ten and the Big 12 did not support this legislation. Additionally, athletic directors who have long supported baseball voted no in fairly mysterious fashion. While this defeat left college baseball coaches both disappointed and angry, the sport will clearly need to be more strategic with future proposals.

West Coast in Flux

The offseason coaching carousel affected the West Coast more than any other part of the country. The Pac-12 in particular will have four (out of 11) new head coaches in 2020 as Washington State, USC and both Oregon schools made changes. Additionally, there were high profile pitching coach changes in the league with Nate Yeskie moving to Arizona, Jason Kelly moving to Arizona State and Gary Henderson moving to Utah.

In the Big West, Rick Vanderhook shuffled his entire coaching staff at Cal State Fullerton and Eric Valenzuela was introduced as the new skipper at Long Beach State. Those two schools make up one of college baseball’s greatest rivalries and those changes will surely kick the intensity up a notch.

Big League TV Ratings

Game 3 of the College World Series Finals garnered 2.00 million viewers and at the time that was the highest rated baseball or softball game on ESPN in 2019. For perspective, a Red Sox-Yankees Sunday night game on June 2 drew 1.97 million viewers. The Vandy-Michigan finale drew ratings that were up 18 percent year over year.

MLB Connecting with College Baseball

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has embraced college baseball at a level unlike any of his predecessors. One example of this focus occurred when the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals played a game at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha on the Thursday before the College World Series began. The game was a great symbol of the power of collaboration in growing the game of baseball.

While that game was a beautiful event, an even more impactful announcement came in December. Manfred announced that the 2020 MLB draft will take place in Omaha on the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of the first week of the College World Series.

This change could have many benefits but two stand out. First, this will eliminate the long-standing challenge of college baseball players being drafted while they are literally participating in a NCAA Tournament game. Second, there is a fair greater chance for MLB to turn the draft into a legitimate event. Of course, that will be predicated upon more potential first round draft picks attending the draft in person. The city of Omaha seemingly increases the odds of that dramatically.

Life is Precious

It was a tough year for college baseball in that we lost several very impactful contributors to the sport.

Long-time University of Louisiana skipper Tony Robichaux died suddenly on July 3 of this year. Robichaux was an iconic and outspoken figure in college baseball. The beloved head coach won 1,173 games in his 33 seasons and he took the 2000 Ragin’ Cajuns to the College World Series. Robichaux led ULL to four Super Regional appearances and his program has been a gold standard for mid-major programs.

Matt Deggs will take over in 2020 and this may be the pinnacle of Robichaux’s already strong legacy. Robichaux resurrected Deggs’ career in 2012 by hiring him to run the Cajuns’ offense. Deggs had lost his coaching career to a battle with alcohol addiction but he regained his footing in Lafayette. The two coaches orchestrated a magical 2014 season that saw the program win a remarkable 58 games and host a Super Regional. Deggs has become a star in the coaching profession.

In addition to the passing of “Robes,” Demie Mainieri died on March 13th. Mainieri, who is the father of LSU head coach Paul Mainieri, was a legendary junior college coach in South Florida. Mainieri won 1,012 games at Miami Dade Community College, becoming the first junior college coach ever to reach 1,000 victories.

Rod Bramblett and his wife Paula died in a tragic car accident in May of this year. Bramblett had been the radio play-by-play voice of the Auburn Tigers and he was the voice of Auburn football, basketball and baseball. Butch Thompson’s team honored the late Bramblett with the program’s first trip to Omaha since 1997.

Hunter Bishop of Arizona State lost his mother Suzy in October of this year. She had fought a long battle with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Bishop put together a magical junior year in 2019 and the San Francisco Giants selected him 10th overall in the June draft. Bishop had struggled to tap into his enormous upside in his first two years in Tempe, but he unleashed a dominant performance this past spring. The Northern California native finished fifth in the nation with 22 home runs while hitting .342 with 50 RBI.

College baseball also lost long time Vanderbilt administrator David Williams this year. Williams was an instrumental figure in Nashville as Tim Corbin built the Commodores’ baseball program into a national power. Williams was there from the beginning as Corbin laid the foundation for a powerhouse.

Player Development

MLB organizations continue to target college players in the draft at an ever-increasing rate. Fifty-one of the 78 day one selections this year came from the college ranks. That marks the highest percentage of college players selected in that tier since 1981. Additionally, the overall percentage of college players being drafted is trending up as well.

College programs remain on the cutting edge of technology-based training strategies. The college game also provides reliable date for scouting decisions. In many different ways, MLB continues to lean on the college game for the development of future big leaguers.

Play Badly For Adley

Oregon State’s 2018 National Championship team was made up of four first round picks. Adley Rutschman was just a sophomore on that team but it was he who won CWS Most Outstanding Player. He went on to win the Golden Spikes Award in 2019 while also being the first overall pick in the draft.

Scouts gushed over Rutschman and for many he was the highest graded prospect of their scouting careers. The profile was unprecedented: a switch-hitting catcher with a plus arm, special makeup, feel to hit and projectable power. If that profile doesn’t inspire you, there’s something else. Rutschman kicked off for the Oregon State football team as a true freshman. In a game versus Stanford, he solo-tackled future NFL star Christian McCaffrey. #Athlete

Champs Again

There is no playbook for what the Vanderbilt baseball program experienced over the last four years. This journey was book-ended by the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. It began with the tragic death of freshman phenom Donny Everett in 2016 and culminated with Everett’s classmates leading the Commodores to the 2019 National Championship.

This 2019 Vandy club turned in the best season in SEC history. It included 59 wins, the SEC regular season title, the SEC Tournament championship and they became the first team in league history to beat every other team in the SEC (13 teams in total) in the same season.

This club was strong in every way. They were led by grizzled senior class that included mainstays Ethan Paul, Julian Infante and Patrick Raby. The junior class was led by JJ Bleday, who was selected fourth overall by the Marlins. The sophomore class also had a future first rounder in Austin Martin not to mention the pitching production of Mason Hickman and Tyler Brown.

And then there was the freshman. Kumar Rocker came to Nashville a known commodity: a big talent with even bigger pedigree. But he was still a freshman who was going to have freshman moments. Like his first collegiate start against TCU, a 10-2 loss that saw him give up five earned runs and not make it out of the second inning.

But under the tutelage of pitching coach Scott Brown, Rocker kept improving. And then he had his star moment.

Vandy was the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and they breezed through the Nashville Regional. Duke was a nice story heading into the Nashville Super Regional but clearly a mismatch for these Commodores. There was no shame in that as virtually everyone was a mismatch for this club.

And then sometimes, Baseball happens. In game one of this Super Regional, Duke bombed the Commodores by an unthinkable score of 18-5. So in game two, with a historic season on the line, Tim Corbin gave the ball to a true freshman.

Kumar Rocker didn’t just win that game. He made college baseball history. Rocker threw a no-hitter with 19 strikeouts. It was utter dominance.

From there, Vandy never looked back. It was a journey for the ages.

Diversity in College Baseball

Baseball continues to push for greater diversity among its participants. College baseball has long struggled in this area and the reasons are almost too many to count. Yet it was encouraging to see progress in the form of Michigan and Vanderbilt playing in the CWS Finals.

These are arguably the two most diverse rosters in the upper echelon of college baseball. These two schools also share this quality: outstanding financial aid situations. Here’s to a day when more schools convert massive endowments into more generous assistance to their students.

The B1G is Back Baby!

The Big Ten owns a proud history in baseball but unfortunately it had become an ancient history. Things have trended up since Purdue hosted a Regional in 2012 and schools like Indiana and Illinois even garnered Top 8 National Seeds just a few years after that. Clearly Indiana’s 2013 run to Omaha had been the crown jewel of the league’s baseball resurgence.

That is until Michigan came within one win of capturing the Big Ten’s first Baseball National Championship since Ohio State won it all in 1966. There are many reasons to remain bullish on the Big Ten in baseball. There is great coaching talent in place and the baseball facilities are mostly outstanding. And let’s not forget that these are some of the finest institutions in America.

There Are No Straight Lines to the Top of the Mountain

In Erik Bakich’s seven years as the Michigan head coach, one could see the talent level rising consistently. Regional appearances in 2015 and 2017 gave credence to that observation. Yet there really wasn’t any way to see 2019 coming. And that was especially true during the 2019 season.

This wasn’t a trip for the feint of heart. Michigan entered the 2019 season as PG’s No. 19-ranked team. The season began with eight straight wins and then two surprising losses to Cal State Northridge and an 11-win Long Beach State club.

Next up was an extremely loud road win over UCLA, a team that would end the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation. Lefthander Tommy Henry looked like a Top 10 overall pick that night and a statement was made. However, the Wolverines proceeded to buy most of that excitement back by losing to both USC and Oklahoma State to finish the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic weekend.

Michigan bounced back with five straight wins and then took a trip to Lubbock, Texas to face a Top 5 team in Texas Tech. They were outscored 29-10 in the three-game sweep, and as it appeared from the outside, the Red Raiders had run them off the field.

A six-game winning streak propelled Bakich’s team into Big Ten play and an opening series win over defending conference champion Minnesota was an excellent start. Especially after losing the Friday night game.

But in what was becoming a pattern, the excitement was betrayed by a rather blasé performance in league play. To be fair, the Wolverines did finish in second place with a 16-7 record. However, they lost all three of the series they played versus Big Ten teams who qualified for the NCAA Tournament (Ohio State, Indiana and Nebraska). But an 11-0 record versus the likes of Rutgers, Northwestern, Maryland and Michigan State carried the day.

So just went you thought it was safe to come outside, Michigan lost their Big Ten Tournament opener to rival Ohio State by a score of 2-1. They were now 1-3 versus the Buckeyes on the season and squarely on the bubble for a Regional bid.

Fast forward to their elimination game versus Illinois and they were down 4-3 with two outs in the ninth inning. Jordan Nwogu faced NCAA saves leader Garrett Acton. The odds weren’t great. And that is when the magic happened.

Nwogu sent a 1-1 fastball deep into the left-center field gap, scoring two and securing the walk-off win for the Wolverines. Michigan ran out of pitching in the semifinal game but a 3-2 showing in the conference tournament was enough to solidify their NCAA Tournament resume.

The Corvallis Regional began perfectly: Michigan won its first two games, host Oregon State was eliminated in two games and the Wolverines took a sizeable lead into the ninth inning of the first Regional final game. And of course, they gave up seven runs to lose the game.

This team had been steeled by a regular season of many fluctuations. And thus, this group was ready for another gut punch. They responded with a blowout victory over Creighton by a score of 17-6. On to the Supers.

Nothing ever came easy for this group and this Super Regional assignment wouldn’t be easy either. A trip to Los Angeles to face No. 1 UCLA. The Bruins led the nation with 13 drafted players.

It was a Super Regional for the ages that included two one-run games, a 12-inning game and Michigan outscored UCLA 11-9 for the weekend. But it was enough and Michigan won Game 3 to earn a trip to Omaha for first time since 1984.

Michigan won its first four games in the College World Series. That included game one of the CWS Finals versus heavily favored Vanderbilt. While this group was not able to finish off Vandy and secure the national title, it does seem that this team changed the future of college baseball.

This team sent a reminder to Northern schools. They sent a message to their own conference. They encouraged a younger generation of players. And they also reminded all of us of a truism in college baseball that makes the sport so fun: there are no perfect trips to Omaha. Only the strong survive.

Regional Excitement Abounds

In 2018, we experienced a Super Regional round like no other. In 2019, the Regional round was one of enormous home runs.

In the Chapel Hill Regional, North Carolina freshman slugger Aaron Sabato hit a game-tying home run on the very first pitch of the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Tar Heels avoid an upset at the hands of No. 4 seed UNCW.

In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma State’s Trevor Boone came up with two outs in the ninth inning in the Cowboys’ winners’ bracket final versus Nebraska. Boone deposited the first pitch he saw into the left-center field bleachers, completing a four-run ninth inning and comeback victory.

Steven Williams of Auburn is a star-caliber player who struggled for most of his sophomore season. But in the critical winners’ bracket final of the Atlanta Regional, with two outs and two strikes, Williams hit a three-run, walk-off home run to defeat host Georgia Tech. The Tigers were down 5-3 at the time and they never looked back on their way to Omaha.

In the Morgantown Regional, Texas A&M was down to their last strike of the season. And then Bryce Blaum hit a walk-off grand slam to beat West Virginia 11-10. This completed an insane comeback as the Aggies were down 9-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The home runs were spectacular but they weren’t the best thing we saw in the 2019 Regional round. That would be an intentional walk that was awarded to Oregon State phenom Adley Rutschman. Repeat, the best moment of the Regional round was an intentional walk.

At first glance, that strategy makes a lot of sense. Do not let a generational player beat you.

Unless of course you were intentionally walking Rutschman with the bases loaded. And a 5-2 lead. In the seventh inning.

Which is exactly what Cincinnati skipper Scott Googins did. He put the tying run in scoring position to avoid letting the best player in college baseball impact the game. Note to self: it worked. The Bearcats defeated the defending National Champions 7-6.

SEC Hit Kings

In late April, Mississippi State’s Jake Mangum collected his 353rd career hit to unseat LSU’s Eddy Furniss as the SEC All-Time Hits leader. Mangum, who won the SEC batting title as a true freshman finished his brilliant four-year career with 383 hits (fourth in NCAA history). He led Mississippi State to four Super Regional appearances and two trips to the College World Series, including a SEC regular season championship in 2016. Mangum played for four different head coaches in Starkville and his leadership was a key to this incredible four-year run for the Bulldogs.

Antoine Duplantis of LSU also broke Furniss’ record during the 2019 season as he finished his career with 359 hits. Duplantis’ remarkable career saw him finish second in NCAA history with 1,109 at bats and he is LSU’s all-time leader in both hits and games played. Both Duplantis and Mangum were drafted by the New York Mets.

Only 11

2019 marked the final year for Mike Martin’s historic career. Martin finished with 2,029 victories which is the most in NCAA history. In any sport.

Martin’s 40th regular season was below average by his standards: a fifth-place finish in the ACC. But he saved the best for last. Because of course he did.

His Seminoles were sent to Athens, Ga. for their Regional and the Georgia Bulldogs were the No. 4 National Seed. Georgia’s vaunted pitching staff was torn apart by Martin’s squad and Florida State scored a shocking 35 runs in their three victories.

The only thing standing between “Eleven” and a 17th trip to Omaha was a Super Regional at The Box in Baton Rouge, La. Unfortunately, many college baseball dreams have come to an end in Baton Rouge.

But not this one. Florida State eliminated LSU in two games and sent the great Mike Martin out in the way that he deserved. He would end his coaching career in Omaha, Nebraska.
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