Got a chance on Sunday to watch the DodgerTown classic at Dodger Stadium. Saw some great college baseball in a beautiful stadium in some unbelievable weather (sunny and 70).
The first game featured Vanderbilt versus Oklahoma State. Vanderbilt jumped out early and survived a late scare by Oklahoma State to win 7-6.
For Vanderbilt, I was impressed with 1st baseman Aaron Westlake, who went 2-4 with a 2 run double and a 2 run home run. Also impressive was Brian Harris and Curt Cassall who each had 2 hits to lead the 10 hit attack. The neatest thing for me though was seeing Freshman outfielder Michael Yastremski. "Yaz" is the grandson of Carl Yastremski and was a draft pick of the Boston Red Sox last summer. He elected to go to Vanderbilt instead of signing. On the day he was 0-3 with a walk, but still it brought back childhood memories for me to hear the P.A. announcer say " now batting, Yastremski".......
The second game featured cross town rivals UCLA and USC, and as you might imagine, this is what the announced crowd of 14,500 was there to see.
Some great early starting pitching by both clubs took us into the 5th before either side got on the board. USC scored first when Freshman Cade Keuter doubled to left, followed by a Mike O’Neill double to left center. The Bruins answered back in the bottom of the inning when Brett Krill doubled down the left field line to drive in Cody Keefer.
In the 7th, UCLA scored twice and then another 3 in the 8th on a Niko Gallego home run and doubles by Steve Rodriquez and Keefer.
The final score was Bruins 6, Trojans 1. On the year UCLA is now 6-0 (best start since 1997) and the Trojans drop to 3-4.
An interesting note here, which I think depicts the state of the two programs. Out of UCLA's 33 kids listed on their roster, 31 were from California (other 2 from Arizona). For USC's roster, only 20 from California, with the others a mixture from Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, Georgia and Florida. In recent years the Bruin program has been on an upswing with the USC program struggling since Chad Kreuter took over 3 years ago (I believe they're 85-87 over his tenure). Obviously John Savage and UCLA have done a better job "mining" the California and specifically the Southern California talent. Any major college program in any sport gets the homegrown talent first. Take football as an example. Here in Southern California, if you're a 5 star athlete and if you're staying home, you're probably going to USC. Look at the rosters of Texas, Florida, Alabama, etc.... A high percentage of their roster is from their home state (like 97%). If Kreuter has a bad season (or even another average one), I think he might be out of a job. When does Mike Garret pull the plug? This is (or at least was...) one of the marquee programs in the country. Now? I think I saw the other day where they were expected to finish next to last in the Pac 10 by the coaches vote..... That's now NOT a national power.
Anyway, it was a great day of baseball and I'm looking forward to going again next year.
Bill
1 comment:
Bill, agreed here on USC. Could the program fall any further? If Kiffin goes sub .500 over the next 3 years, no way, no how does he still have a job. This is a baseball program that has a greater tradition (more national titles) than their football program has, but it's a complete non entity at this point.... Too bad.
Jim
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