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South Carolina Gamecocks Win College World Series

July 1st, 2010 by Matthew C. Keegan | 2 Comments | Filed in Collegiate Sports

First ever baseball championship for Carolina.

The University of South Carolina is on top of the baseball world, college ball that is, thanks to its eleventh-inning 2-1 win on Tuesday. That victory, the second win in as many days over the UCLA Bruins, allowed the Gamecocks to claim the NCAA title for the first time in their history.

Four, Finally

Indeed, it was the fourth time the Gamecocks advanced to the finals, finishing as runner-up in 1975, 1977 and 2002 according to ESPN. The deciding victory came when Whit Merrifield slapped a single past the pulled in UCLA outfield to score Scott Wingo from third base.

With the win, the Gamecocks closed the door on the 2009-2010 athletic season which always ends when baseball crowns a champion. Well over a month after most students leave campus for the summer, college baseball teams battle it out in hopes of reaching Omaha, Nebraska, the perpetual home of the College World Series.

Rosenblatt’s End

This year’s series had another special meaning besides the Gamecocks’ triumph. Historic Rosenblatt Stadium, a 61-year-old venue and Omaha shrine to baseball was hosting its final world series. Omaha will still host the World Series annually with the new TD Ameritrade Park taking Rosenblatt’s place. 23,000 people were in attendance for the final game, comparable to what some major league baseball teams (Kansas City Royals) would be happy to draw on any given day.

Few thought that either UCLA or South Carolina would advance so far this year. Last year, the Bruins finished 27-29 and were clearly at or near the bottom rung of the powerful Pac 10 pecking order. South Carolina lost to Oklahoma in the first game of the double-elimination world series before winning six straight to win it all.

Tiger Dance

Two of those victories were against in-state foe Clemson allowing the Gamecocks to claim Palmetto State supremacy while directly eliminating the Tigers.

The University of South Carolina wasted no time celebrating the Gamecocks victory, opening up Colonial Life Arena in Columbia to welcome the team and its fans, showing a replay of Tuesday night’s game. The first 5,000 fans received a commemorative print, a keepsake for South Carolina baseball faithful.

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LSU Tigers Snag 2009 College World Series

June 25th, 2009 by Matthew C. Keegan | 5 Comments | Filed in Collegiate Sports

Throughout the 1990s, no Division 1 college baseball team was as dominate as LSU, who won five of the ten championships between 1991 and 2000. But, other schools quickly squeezed the Tigers out over most of the ensuing decade until this past Wednesday night when LSU ripped Texas 11-4 in the deciding third game of the College Worlds Series (CWS).

baseballThe Tigers initial ascent to the pinnacle of national college baseball did not begin until they won their first ever championship in 1991. By that time, Southern Cal had already won eleven CWS titles while Arizona, Stanford, Wichita State and Georgia were all rising powers themselves. The school made a name for itself by winning the national championship in football in 2007, but a return to baseball greatness remained elusive.

Wednesday’s win came on the heels of a narrow extra inning victory on Monday followed by a strong Longhorn performance on Tuesday where Texas cooled off the previously hot LSU bats, 5-1. Fears that Texas would once again keep LSU hitters out of the final game were quickly dashed when Jared Mitchell hit a three-run homer first inning homer that led to a 4-0 lead in the second inning. Texas responded with two runs each in the  third and fifth innings to tie the game, but the Tigers erupted for five more runs in the sixth to put the game away.

While all of the LSU players celebrated the Tigers victory, for one player this was his second national championship at the Louisiana school. Outfielder Jared Mitchell who is a first-round pick for the Chicago White Sox is also a wide receiver for the football team. The 2007 team won the SEC title and followed that up in early 2008 with a national championship of their own. Mitchell was also named as the CWS MVP, batting .348 with two homers and seven runs batted in.

Sources: ESPN, LSU Sports

Photo Credit: Nathaniel Tutvid

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Texas Baseball Team Finds Perfection

May 8th, 2009 by Matthew C. Keegan | 6 Comments | Filed in Collegiate Sports

When it comes to sports, finishing at the top of your game is important to players, coaches and fans. But when you win it all there is something especially sweet about that effort.

One Texas baseball team has been winning consistently all Spring, chalking up victory after victory. As the regular season ends and post season looms, there is one disadvantage that the Howard College Hawks has versus its opponents: the team doesn’t know what it means to lose, at least this year.

Undefeated And Ready For Action

baseball gloveBig Spring, Texas is the home of the Howard College Hawks, a junior college baseball team that is 54-0 going into the post season. Not since Monroe Community College of New York went undefeated two decades ago has a team like the Hawks come along. Even then, the New York team played half as many games as the Hawks did this year to finish the regular season undefeated.

The Hawks begin their post season quest toward perfect this Saturday when they participate in Region V of the National Junior College Athletic Association Division 1 Tournament. The winner of that round proceeds to the National JUCO tournament in Grand Junction, Colorado which will begin on May 23rd and crown a champion on May 30th.

Even if the Hawks lose one game in either the regional or national championship double elimination series, they could still win the championship outright. Still, if the Hawks are perfect through the post season, they’ll accomplish a goal never met previously by any baseball team – finishing the year with a perfect record.

Several Challenges Along The Way

Getting to 54-0 didn’t come without some challenges although quite a few of the team’s wins were by ten runs or more. There were a few close scares especially early in the season when in the second game of a seasoning opening doubleheader, the Hawks held off McLennan CC 9-8 after clobbering the Highlanders 11-1 in the first game. Later in the season the Hawks had one run wins over Hutchinson CC and Odessa College, the closest games of the season for Howard College.

What is it that has contributed to the Hawks success this year? Talent and depth. Out of 25 players, at least seven are expected to be drafted by major league teams. Plus, many of the students hail from the area and have been playing with or against each other for the past five or six years.

Photo Credit: Brian Lary

Source: Howard College Athletics

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A College Elective Red Sox Fans Can Cheer About

October 1st, 2008 by Matthew C. Keegan | 4 Comments | Filed in Academics

Colleges and universities across America require that their students take certain classes, standard curriculum to meet graduation requirements. In the mix of classes are electives, those courses which are supposed to make students’ college experience well rounded, Red Sox Nationgiving them the tools they need to succeed in life.

At Bates College — located in Lewiston, Maine — fifteen lucky freshmen are taking the class of their dreams: Red Sox Nation: Baseball and American Culture is a course that is being offered by history professor Margaret Creighton, who came up with the idea following the Red Sox’s loss to the hated New York Yankees in the 2003 American League Championship Series. The following year the Boston Red Sox won the World Series which led to the course first being offered in 2005.

Now being taught for just the second time, Creighton’s Red Sox Nation course was filled up one minute after it was made available for online registration this fall. Twelve men and three women take the weekly three hour class, wearing their Red Sox paraphernalia, eating popcorn and peanut snacks, and discussing the team’s exploits while in class.

Though the Boston Red Sox are at the centerpiece of the curriculum for the course, students take a look at major league baseball and its place in American culture in history. Specifically, Creighton requires that her students take a look at baseball’s role as it relates to politics, religion, race, and gender, an “American Cultural Studies” elective like none other.

Among the many topics that come up in class are:

  • The class differences between those fans who occupy the bleacher seats versus the people who can afford the more expensive seats located behind the dugout.
  • How baseball mirrors American immigration policy in light of the huge influx of players from Latin American countries.
  • Whether football and NASCAR have replaced baseball as the country’s top sport.
  • How has the Red Sox fan base transformed over the years? That is, from a mostly white, male northern New England following to one where women and minorities are some of the most passionate fans?

The students do take a field trip to see the Red Sox in action, supposedly to observe fan behavior as much as how the team is doing on the field.

Yes, students do receive credit for the course toward their graduation, an unusual area of study that is also near and dear to the hears of Bosox faithful.

As far as Professor Creighton’s allegiance goes? This one-time Yankees fan is now a passionate Red Sox follower.

Further Reading

Ask Me Another: Historian Margaret Creighton and the Rebirth of a Nation

Baseball course a hit at Maine college


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