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Friday, June 20 Will pitching be enough for Rice? By Tony Gwynn Special to ESPN.com |
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Rice and Stanford both advanced to the championship round of the College World Series in dramatic fashion, the Owls by scoring a run off nearly-untouchable Texas closer Houston Street in the bottom of the ninth inning, and Stanford thanks to a dramatic 10th-inning homer by leftfielder Danny Putnam against Cal State-Fullerton. The two teams begin their three-game series Saturday night, and here's how it breaks down:
Pitching
The Owls have pretty much gone with a postseason pattern of Neimann in the first game and Townsend in the second, with the exception of Philip Humber starting before Neimann and Townsend in the super regional, and there's not much reason to think they will change that now. The question for Stanford is how spent its staff will be. John Hudgins, the Cardinal's best pitcher, threw 135 pitches over nine innings on Wednesday, and he likely won't pitch until Game 2. The 10-inning win over Cal State-Fullerton will give the Cardinal something to think about when considering who to go with in the opener.
Hitting But Rice has been impressive at the plate in the College World Series. Guys like centerfielder Austin Davis and catcher Justin Ruchti -- who drove in the game-winner against Texas -- have gotten big hits, and top bat Vince Sinisi has struggled. The Owls know Sinisi will come around and the contributions from other guys have been a good sign, but everyone is going to have to be just a little bit better for them to win the whole thing.
Intangibles Stanford's experience will be an advantage here. The Cardinal has guys all through the order who have been here before, and everyone has contributed something throughout the year. That's huge against an underdog opponent.
Prediction The Owls have surprised people with their hitting, but they will have to step it up even more against the Cardinal. Stanford has better balance between its offense and pitching, and for that reason I like the Cardinal. ESPN analyst Tony Gwynn, a career .338 hitter with the Padres, is the head baseball coach at San Diego State.
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