June 24, 2007

A Record for Hit Batsmen in the College World Series

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rice Coach Wayne Graham said Wednesday that the record number of players being hit by pitches at this year’s College World Series was more than a coincidence.

“It basically started on the West Coast,” he said in Omaha, the site of the tournament. “In my case, it’s not a coach teaching it. I’ve never taught anybody to get hit with a baseball, but I don’t know whether some programs do or not.”

Five batters were hit in Wednesday’s game between North Carolina and Rice and two in Thursday’s rematch, taking the College World Series-record total to 47 in 13 games.

Through Wednesday, there had been five hit batsmen with the bases loaded, and 11 players had scored after being hit. Cal State Fullerton tied a C.W.S. record Monday when it hit five batters in a game against California Irvine. The Anteaters finished with 12 hit batsman in four games, a Series record.

Rice’s Ryan Berry hit Carolina’s Reid Fronk to open the game Wednesday, and Fronk scored in the inning. It was the third time this series that the first batter in a game was hit by a pitch.

Rice’s Joe Savery said after the game that the record-setting numbers were “absolutely” more than a coincidence.

“Either say that you don’t have to get out of the way and just let it go as it’s going, or establish the fact that you are supposed to try to get out of the way, and call it the way it should be,” said Savery, a junior.

Savery’s opinion comes from spending time on the mound and in the batter’s box. He led his team in batting average, and also had an 11-1 record with a 2.99 earned run average in 18 starts.

Officials from the N.C.A.A. have noticed the number of hit batters increasing. Earlier last week, a top umpiring official issued a statement saying that the Division I baseball committee would review individual hit batsmen rulings by umpires as part of a general review.

The statement came after a controversial call in Monday night’s game between Cal State Fullerton and U.C. Irvine, which resulted in Irvine’s Taylor Holiday on first and Fullerton Coach George Horton ejected from the game after arguing that Holiday tried to get hit by the pitch. Holiday was later thrown out at the plate, but Irvine won the game on the next play.

Holiday — who was hit three times in the game — said he knew the pitcher was throwing inside and he wanted to give his team a spark.

The rules say that if a batter intentionally gets hit by a pitch by moving himself into it, he should not be awarded first base, according to Dave Yeast, the N.C.A.A.’s national coordinator for baseball umpires.

“I think the umpires are trying to emphasize and try and do a good job,” Carolina Coach Mike Fox said. “They have a difficult job in that they’re not only trying to look at the pitch. I mean, it’s impossible for them to look at the pitch and look at what the hitter’s doing at the same time.”