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Gwynn touts quality of college baseball
By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press Writer
College World Series
Notebook
<View previous day's notebook>
OMAHA � As Tony Gwynn sees it,
the college game is getting better and better each year.
"These guys are bigger,
they're faster, and they throw harder," Gwynn said Sunday at the College
World Series. "The college game is really evolving into a really good brand
of baseball."
Gwynn, one of the game's
greatest hitters, just completed his second season as coach of the San Diego
State Aztecs (35-29). He was selected Mountain West Conference coach of the
year for leading the Aztecs to the regular-season title. The team lost the
championship game of the conference tournament to UNLV, marking the fourth
year in a row the Aztecs came one win away from an NCAA Tournament berth.
San Diego State has never been
to the CWS.
Gwynn said the keys to winning
in the college ranks are no different than in the majors.
"You've got to have pitching
and you've got to have lots of it," he said. "It's boiling down to pitching
and defense, just like in the big leagues."
Gwynn, in Omaha for the CWS
for the second straight year, said he's watching the games as a coach and
fan.
"This is kind of like my
vacation, recruiting, and information gathering trip," he said.
The 44-year-old Gwynn retired
from the Padres in October 2001, with 3,141 hits and eight National League
batting titles. He took over as coach at San Diego State, his alma mater,
following Jim Dietz's retirement after the 2002 season.
Although the Aztecs are still
waiting for their first trip to Omaha, Gwynn said he is pleased with the
progress his team is making.
"I'm loving the college game,"
Gwynn said. "I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing."
Under my thumb
The state of Nebraska really
gets under the skin of Cal State Fullerton hurler Jason Windsor. During his
145-pitch, complete game 2-0 shutout of South Carolina on Saturday, Windsor
cut the thumb on his right (throwing) hand. The last time he got a cut
there? The 2003 CWS.
"For the first time this year
that little cut on his thumb surfaced again," coach George Horton said. "I'm
not sure what it is about Omaha and skin, but we're going to have to figure
it out."
Oh, brother
LSU's Clay and Will Harris
were the first brothers to start a game at the CWS since Ryan and Damon
Minor for Oklahoma in 1995. The two Harris brothers managed only one hit � a
single by Clay � in a 9-5 loss to Miami on Saturday.
Oh homers, where art thou?
Through the first four games
of the CWS there were just three home runs. That ties for the second lowest
number of homers through the first four games since 1981. Miami's Ryan Braun
and Adam Ricks hit homers in the Hurricanes' 9-5 win over LSU on Saturday.
The only other player to go deep was Arkansas' Scott Bridges.
Comeback Gamecocks
LSU may want to be aware of
this fact heading into its elimination game Monday: South Carolina tends to
score a lot of runs in second games at the CWS. South Carolina, which got
shut out by Fullerton on Saturday, hasn't scored a run in the first game of
the series for 43 consecutive innings dating back to 1985. But in second
games, the Gamecocks tend to rebound. In the second game in 1985, South
Carolina scored 11 runs, in 2002 the team put up 10 runs in its second game
and last year the Gamecocks came back from a loss to Stanford to beat LSU
11-10.
Copyright 2004
The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:37:28 AM
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