2007 Fayetteville Regional

(capsules compiled by Jamie Learakos, Stuart Smith, Scott Day, Sean Ryan, Phil Stanton)

1. Arkansas Razorbacks

Fayetteville, Ark.

At-large bid from the SEC

2007 record: 18-12, 41-19 (first in SEC-West)

Coach: Dave Van Horn (Arkansas, 1988)

Record at school: 199-108, 5 years

Overall record: 784-335, 18 years

Assistant coaches: Todd Butler, Dave Jorn, Bubbs Merrill

Team offense - .288 BA, 453 R, 70 HR, .460 SLG%, .395 OB%, 66/86 SB

Team pitching - 3.86 ERA, 525 IP, 491 H, 203 BB, 526 SO

Top hitters – Logan Forsythe (.359/8/50/19 SB), Casey Coon (.311/9/69/20 HBP), Ben Tschepikow (.294/1/27), Danny Hamblin (.274/21/58/13 2B), Jake Dugger (.274/5/23/13 2B), Jeff Nutt (.259/3/39/14 2B), Brian Walker (.252/9/33) 

Top pitchers – Jess Todd (9-2, 2 saves, 2.49, 90.1 IP, 77 H, 25 BB, 124 K), Nick Schmidt (10-3, 2.85, 117 IP, 82 H, 37 BB, 107 K), Shaun Seibert (0-1, 1 save, 19.0 IP, 15 H, 12 BB, 18 K), Duke Welker (6-5, 3.83, 91.2 IP, 79 H, 36 BB, 73 K), Travis Hill (3-2, 3 saves, 5.18, 41.2 IP, 46 H, 12 BB, 41 K)

Last NCAA appearance - 2006 (1-2 at Fayetteville Regional)

Notes - This will be Arkansas’ 19th trip to the NCAA Regionals. The Razorbacks are 40-38 in NCAA Tournament games. Arkansas has been to the College World Series five times. The Razorbacks have hosted four NCAA Regionals, including three in the past four seasons. The pitching staff has dramatically increased its strikeout total over last season. Arkansas has two pitchers with more that 100 punchouts. Danny Hamblin owns the school’s career home run record with 57.

2. Creighton Bluejays

Omaha, Neb.

Automatic bid - won Missouri Valley Tournament

2007 record – 19-5, 44-14 (second in MVC)

Coach: Ed Servais (Wisconsin-La Crosse, 1981)

Record at school: 158-76, four years

Overall record: 340-158-1, 13 years

Assistant coaches: Rob Smith, Jason Shockey, Tom Oldham

Team offense: .292 BA, 372 R, 34 HR, .413 SLG%, .391 OBA%, 40/60 SB

Team pitching: 3.38 ERA, 513.1 IP, 495 H, 144 BB, 385 K

Top hitters: Darin Ruf (.377/8/56), Chris Gradoville (.341/5/56), Michael Lam (.331/0/16), Ross Sinclair (.314/0/14), Andrew Small (.285/2/37), Chad Ogden (.274/8/36).

Top pitchers: Andy Masten (4-3, 16 SV, 1.74, 46.2 IP, 35 H, 7 BB, 45 K), Pat Venditte (8-2, 4 SV, 1.83, 88.1 IP, 56 H, 21 BB, 90 K), Ben Mancuso (10-2, 2.28, 71 IP, 72 H, 19 BB, 54 K), Casey Schmidt (5-1, 3.24, 41.2 IP, 40 H, 11 BB, 27 K), Marc Lewis (8-2, 3.54, 86.1 IP, 89 H, 25 BB, 55 K), Zak Moore (5-1, 3.61, 82.1 IP, 88 H, 22 BB, 59 K).

Last NCAA appearance: 2005 (2-2 at Lincoln Regional)

Notes: The Bluejays are making their eighth trip to the NCAA Regionals and have one CWS appearance. Creighton edged Wichita State in the MVC tourney final behind ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte - one of the greatest college baseball stories in recent memory, if not ever. Venditte can legitimately get outs with his left and right arm as he showed in his first career start, tossing 6.1 innings with five hits and 10 strikeouts (92 pitches, 60 from the left side, 32 from the right). He’s not the only solid pitcher on the Bluejays, though, as a team ERA of 3.38 shows. Ben Mancuso is the top starter, but the Jays aren’t afraid to go to Venditte, Andy Masten and other reliever early as Mancuso’s 72 innings show. Darin Ruf slugs at a .600 clip. Coach Ed Servais is the uncle of former major leaguer Scott Servais.

3. Oklahoma State Cowboys

Stillwater, Okla.

At-large bid from Big 12

2007 record – 16-11, 38-19 (second in Big 12)

Coach – Tim Jamieson (New Orleans, 1981)

Record at school – 151-88, four years

Overall record - Same

Assistant coaches – Greg Evans, Billy Jones, Bryan Kinneberg

Team offense: .327 BA, 664 R, 75 HR, .526 SLG%, .407 OBA%, 59/77 SB

Team pitching: 4.09 ERA, 501.1 IP, 536 H, 150 BB, 446 K

Top hitters: Ty Wright (.417/5/35), Tyler Mach (.410/15/76), Keanon Simon (.347/3/24/11 SB), Corey Brown (.345/19/65/21 SB), Matt Mangini (.341/9/47), Rebel Ridling (.325/11/62).

Top pitchers: Justin Friend (5-3, 7 SV, 2.54, 63.2 IP, 59 H, 16 BB, 74 K), Martin Beno (1-3, 3.27, 41.1 IP, 32 H, 16 BB, 28 K), Joe Kent (4-2, 3.33, 46 IP, 40 H, 15 BB, 46 K), Robbie Weinhardt (3-1, 4.50, 37.2 IP, 42 H, 9 BB, 42 K), Oliver Odle (6-4, 4.54, 85.1 IP, 109 H, 12 BB, 58 K).

Last NCAA appearance: 2006 (2-2 at Fayetteville Regional)

Notes: The Cowboys are in the Field of 64 for the third time in coach Frank Anderson’s four seasons. Likely one of the last few teams to make it into the tourney because of a low RPI, OSU put up some offensive numbers, scoring better than 8 runs per game. The offense features two players who slugged over .700 - Corey Brown (.743) and Tyler Mach (.709). Mach started his career at Washington before transferring to a junior college then OSU. He was the Big 12’s Co-Player of the Year in 2006. Corey Brown’s brother Dylan is a freshman on the team. Matt Mangini had one of the best starts in the country in 2006 for NC State before transferring to Stillwater. Right-hander Oliver Odle went 23-0 in two seasons at Connors State College. 

4. Albany Great Danes
Albany, N.Y.
Automatic bid – won America East Tournament 

2007 record: 29-27, 13-11 (third in the America East)
Coach: Jon Mueller (Eckerd College, 1992)
Record at school: 180-210-1, 8 years
Overall record: Same
Assistant coaches: Tim Christman, Garett Baron, Matt Quatraro
Team offense - .284 BA, 313 R, 37 HR, .424 SLG%, .392 OB%, 53/79 SB
Team pitching – 5.16 ERA, 450.0 IP, 508 H, 215 BB, 315 K
Top hitters – Steve Wyland (.379/5/44/14 2B), Sean Donovan (.325/2/35), Tom Hill (.317/6/33/22 2B), Steve Sayre (.283/6/34), Dave West (.276/4/14/10 2B), Leo Corvino (.272/1/21/12 2B/11 SB)

Top pitchers – Alexander Beaulieu (2-1, 10 saves, 2.19, 24.2 IP, 18 H, 12 BB, 21 K), Jeff Kaier (1-1, 1 save, 2.78, 32.1 IP, 30 H, 21 BB, 24 K), John Naples (8-2, 3.29, 76.2 IP, 66 H, 31 BB, 49 K), Sean Gregory (2-6, 2 saves, 62.1 IP, 65 H, 20 BB, 44 K), Casey Welsh (5-6, 4.78, 64.0 IP, 74 H, 30 BB, 57 K), Cory Warrings (3-4, 4.84, 61.1 IP, 62 H, 32 BB, 42 K)

Last NCAA appearance – First appearance
Notes – The Great Danes earned their first-ever America East title on Saturday afternoon with a 1-0 defeat of Binghamton. Hurler Cory Warrings was named the Tournament’s MVP, while junior Alexander Beaulieu notched his 10th save in the Championship victory. Head coach Jon Mueller provided journals for two seasons for CollegeBaseballInsider.com.