2012 College Station Regional

Regional Schedules

CBI Preseason Feature on Texas A&M (Feb. 3)

1. Texas A&M Aggies

College Station, Texas

At-large bid from Big 12

2012 record: 16-8, 42-16 (second in Big 12)

Head coach: Rob Childress (Northwood, 1990)

Record at school: 288-152-2, 7 years

Overall record: same

Assistant coaches: Andy Sawyers, Justin Seely, Mike Clement

Team offense: .292 BA, 345 R, 23 HR, .391 SLG%, .373 OBP, 127-169 SB

Team pitching: 2.86 ERA, 529.1 IP, 461 H, 130 BB, 448 K

Top hitters: Tyler Naquin (.386/3/46/21-26 SB), Troy Stein (.313/2/25), Jacob House (.308/8/55), Mikey Reynolds (.303/1/22/19-21 SB), Matt Juengel (.302/2/45), Blake Allemand (.289/0/14)

Top pitchers: Michael Wacha (8-1, 2.21, 106 IP, 90 H, 17 BB, 107 K), Rafael Pineda (5-1, 2.78, 81 IP, 71 H, 15 BB, 44 K), Ross Stripling (10-3, 2.90, 118 IP, 94 H, 16 BB, 110 K), Estevan Uriegas (4-1, 1.74, 20.2 IP, 14 H, 7 BB, 17 K), Daniel Mengden (3-3, 2.80, 3 SV, 45 IP, 44 H, 6 BB, 41 K), Kyle Martin (6-5, 3.40, 6 SV, 53 IP, 55 H, 21 BB, 50 K)

Last NCAA Appearance: 2011 (3-1 at College Station Regional; 2-1 at Tallahassee Super Regional; 0-2 at College World Series)

Notes: The Aggies return to the field for the sixth time in Rob Childress’ seven years. Childress has built his program on pitching (.235 BAA this season), and the Aggies have responded with 41 wins a season under his direction. Led by all-conference (and all-world) pitchers Michael Wacha (17 BB, .231 BAA) and Ross Stripling (16 BB, .221 BAA), A&M ranks fifth in the country in ERA and third in K/BB ratio (3.46). Couple that with great speed – the Aggies are fourth in the country in stolen bases – and Texas A&M has matched its win total from last year entering the tourney. Tyler Naquin backed last year’s Big 12 POY year with another strong year and was first-team all-conference. He was joined by Jacob House, who had a third of the Aggies’ homers. 

2. TCU Horned Frogs

Fort Worth, Texas

At- large bid from Mountain West

2012 record: 18-6, 36-19 (Tied for first)

Head Coach: Jim Schlossnagle (Elon, 1992)

Record at School: 385-171 (nine years)

Overall Record: 461-219 (11 years)

Assistant Coaches: Randy Mazey, Tony Vitello, Chuck Jeroloman

Team Offense: .268 BA, 305 R, 26 HR, .374 SLG%, .359 OBP%, 50-80 SB

Team Pitching: 3.17 ERA, 493.1 IP, 450 H, 161 BB, 404 K

Top Hitters: Josh Elander (.314/8/38/12 SB), Kyle Von Tungeln (.287/2/19/10 SB), Kevin Cron (.366/3/26), Jantzen Witte (.331/2/18), Jerrick Suiter (.291/17 RBI), Derek Odell (.276/2/20)

Top Pitchers: Preston Morrison (9-1, 1.73, 98.2 IP, 71 H, 8 BB, 64 K); Stefan Crichton (8-2, 3.56, 86 IP, 97 H, 17 BB, 49 K); Andrew Mitchell (5-3, 3.62, 69.2 IP, 40 BB, 93 K); Kevin Allen (2.40, 5-3, 5 SV, 30 IP, 22 H, 16 BB, 42 K); Justin Scharf (2-2, 3.03, 3 SV, 38.2 IP, 42 H, 12 BB, 27 K); Brandon Finnegan (3-3, 3.06, 50 IP, 41 H, 24 BB, 45 K)

Last NCAA Appearance: 2011 (1-2 at the Fort Worth Regional)

Notes: TCU is in the tourney field for the ninth straight year, one of 10 teams that can boast that, and 11^th time overall. The Horned Frogs failed to win the MWC automatic bid for the second straight year (they’ve won six of nine tourneys) but went 14-13 against Regional competition – that includes a 4-1 loss to host Texas A&M. They would need to win the Regional to have a shot at extending their 40-win-season streak to six under Jim Scholssnagle, the 2010 NCBWA coach of the year. Freshman Preston Morrison made history as the league Pitcher of the Year and Newcomer of the Year – he lost his first game in the conference tourney and ranks among the nation’s leaders in WHIP and is fifth in the nation in K/BB ratio (8.0). Sophomore Andrew Mitchell ranks fifth in the nation in Ks per 9 (12.01). The Horned Frogs will be without senior Jason Coats, a career .336 hitter entering this year who was leading the team in most categories. He suffered a torn ACL in the final regular season game on May 20.

3. Ole Miss Rebels

Oxford, Mississippi

At-large bid from SEC

2012 record: 14-16, 35-24 (fourth place in SEC West)

Head coach: Mike Bianco (LSU, 1989)

Record at school: 469-276-1, 12 years

Overall record: 569-346-1, 15 years

Assistant coaches: Carl Lafferty, Cliff Godwin, Kirk McConnell

Team offense: .298 BA, 320 R, 37 HR, .414 SLG%, .370 OBP, 38-52 SB

Team pitching: 3.56 ERA, 518.2 IP, 472 H, 142 BB, 490 K

Top hitters: Alex Yarbrough (.389/3/41/17 2B), Tanner Mathis (.346/0/21/34 BB), Matt Snyder (.333/12/57/16 2B), Blake Newalu (.333/1/11/5 2B), Will Allen (.305/1/24/11 2B), Zach Kirksey (.287/13/46/6 2B), Austin Bousfield (.285/2/20/10 2B), Preston Overbey (.259/2/12/7 2B)

Top pitchers: Bobby Wahl (6-3, 2.26, 87.2 IP, 67 H, 31 BB, 90 K), R.J. Hively (5-5, 2.88, 75 IP, 64 H, 18 BB, 89 K), Mike Mayers (5-3, 3.52, 84.1 IP, 69 H, 26 BB, 60 K), Brett Huber (2-2, 10 SV, 3.09, 23.1 IP, 22 H, 7 BB, 26 K), Chris Ellis (4-0, 2.84, 31.2 IP, 25 H, 8 BB, 29 K)

Last NCAA Appearance: 2010 (1-2 at Charlottesville Regional)

Notes: Ole Miss has made 10 postseason appearances in 12 seasons with Mike Bianco at the helm. Junior second baseman Alex Yarbrough, who has just two errors this season, is a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Award, which is given to the top player in the country. Sophomore pitcher Bobby Wahl is a member of the USA Baseball National Team. Seven Ole Miss alumni played in the major leagues in 2011, the most among all SEC schools. Coach Mike Bianco reached the College World Series as the starting catcher at LSU in 1989, and he was part of three national championship teams as an assistant for the Tigers between 1993 and 1997.

4. Dayton Flyers

Dayton, Ohio

Automatic bid - won Atlantic 10 Tournament

2012 record: 17-7, 31-28 (t-1st)

Head coach: Tony Vittorio (Hanover, 1988)

Record at school: 373-354, 13th season

Overall record: 593-552, 20th season

Assistant coaches: Todd Linklater, Matt Talarico, Terry Bell

Team offense: .293 BA, 360 R, 33 HR, .399 SLG%, .368 OB%, 162-195 SB

Team pitching: 4.77 ERA, 532.1 IP, 602 H, 200 BB, 372 K

Top hitters: Brian Blasik (.344/3/46/35-38 SB/21 2B), Bobby Glover (.331/9/41/.421 OB%), Zach Stewart (.314/3/21), C.J. Gillman (.314/5/63/10 SF), Ian Hundley (.323/2/11/16-22 SB), Robby Sunerman (.294/3/26), Josh Jeffery (.303/2/14/18 CSB)

Top pitchers: Tim Bury (8-2, 3.14, 103.1 IP, 102 H, 27 BB, 76 K), Burny Mitchem (6-7, 3.65, 79.0 IP, 73 H, 31 BB, 70 K, 7 SV), Mike Hauschild (7-2, 4.29, 113.1 IP, 123 H, 26 BB, 87 K), Parker Schrage (4-6, 4.48, 74.1 IP, 91 H, 29 BB, 32 K)

Last NCAA appearance: first appearance 

Notes: Dayton is making its first NCAA tourney appearance after ending the season with nine wins in the last 10 games, including six consecutive. The Flyers lead the nation in stolen bases (162), featuring eight players with 10 or more steals. Tony Vittorio led the Flyers from a 2-9 start to a share of the A-10 regular season title and its first conference tournament crown. SS Brian Blasik has a career .348 BA and owns UD career (64) and single-season (35 - 2012) stolen base records. CF Bobby Glover leads with nine homeruns, 131 total bases and a .421 SLG%. RF C.J. Gillman ranks in the NCAA top-20 in RBI (63). Pitchers Burny Mitchem and Mike Hauschild rank in the top three in career strikeouts at UD. Mitchem (318) is first and Hauschild (264) is second. Two current major-league pitchers are Jerry Blevins (Athletics) and Craig Stammen (Nationals).

(other capsules to come soon)