Lions 9 Sharpen Claws for NCAA Regionals : Cowboys Are the Team to Beat but That Won’t Be Easy on Their Home Field

Baseball is supposed to be a game of inches, but any team that hopes to topple Oklahoma State’s muscular Cowboys in the NCAA Midwest Regional had better be ready to play long ball. This is not a tournament that figures to produce pitching duels.

Loyola Marymount is among five teams in Stillwater that will try to beat host Oklahoma State--the nation’s top-ranked team in one poll--and advance to next week’s College World Series.

One team will advance from each of the eight regionals.

Loyola, 46-16, opens the double-elimination tournament today at 11 a.m. against Arkansas (39-21).

In the opening match-ups Thursday, Oklahoma State (58-6) beat McNeese State (30-30) 14-4, and Wichita State (51-13-1) topped Southwest Louisiana (41-21) 6-2. Loyola is seeded third in the regional behind the Cowboys and Wichita State. The second-seeded Shockers are one of the hotter teams in the country, now on a 12-game winning streak.

Lions Coach Dave Snow has never seen the Oklahoma State field but knows the Cowboys--who have the nation’s best record and are ranked No. 1 in Baseball America and second by Collegiate Baseball/ESPN--have a well-earned reputation as wallbangers, leading the country in scoring at an average of 11.9 runs per game. Their .355 team average is third nationally.

Loyola’s hitters figure to have fun too. “From what I know it’s a hitter’s ballpark,” Snow said. “It seems to be an offensive ballpark.”

So still waters may run deep, but Stillwater figures to reverberate all weekend with on-field fireworks in cozy Allie Reynolds Stadium. The home team Cowboys have hit 135 homers and are closing in on their year-old NCAA record of 141, and they have been devastating over the last 22 games, averaging more than 15 runs.

Oklahoma State’s one-two punch of Robin Ventura and Monty Fariss is unmatchable in the NCAA. Ventura, the junior third baseman from Santa Maria, batted .460 with 21 home runs as a freshman and set an NCAA record with a 58-game hitting streak last year. This season he is hitting .391 with 24 home runs and 88 RBIs, but he has been surpassed in some scouts’ estimation by shortstop Fariss, also a junior, who has 26 homers and 104 RBIs. They are trying to become the first duo in NCAA history to get 100 RBIs apiece. A newer Cowboy hotshot is freshman outfielder Jeremy Burnitz, hitting .423 with 14 homers.

On top of all that, Oklahoma State is 32-1 at home.

Loyola’s immediate worry is Arkansas. This looks like a good match-up, with both boasting collective batting averages above .300 and earned-run averages above 5.00. The Lions, ranked 12th in one poll and 24th in the other, score 9.4 runs per game--seventh in the nation--and have a team average of .346, which ranks eighth. Arkansas, rated 21st by Collegiate Baseball, averages 7.9 runs.

Snow will open with sophomore left-hander Steve Surico (11-2). Snow considered starting freshman right-hander Mike McNary (9-3) to save Surico for Oklahoma State, partially because Ventura bats left-handed. But with all the possible match-ups in a double-elimination format, that would have been risky.

Snow said: “When it’s double elimination it’s pretty hard to sandbag. You can’t save a pitcher for a certain team. I’d like to throw Surico against Oklahoma State, but you can’t plan on anything when you don’t open against them.”

Snow and the team arrived in Stillwater on Wednesday but weren’t scheduled for Thursday’s opening games. Snow said he liked the advantage of being able to scout four of the teams. However, he said, the late start potentially puts a strain on the pitching staff. “It will be harder to bring a starter back from Friday than if he’d pitched Thursday,” he noted. Loyola’s chance of survival could depend on how often Snow has to use relief ace Darryl Scott, who is 6-3 with a school-record 12 saves, 63 strikeouts in 69 innings and a team-best ERA of 3.36.

Arkansas’ top starters are right-hander Dennis Fletcher (6-1, 5.72) and hard-throwing left-hander John Cebuhar (6-2, 6.20, 74 strikeouts in 78 innings). The Razorbacks’ most impressive pitcher is right-handed reliever Bobby Edwards, 11-7 with 2 saves. However, the scheduled starter is Mike Oquist, a right-hander who is 3-4 with a 4.44 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 71 innings.

The Razorbacks’ top offensive players are first baseman Randy Bobb (.340, 6 HR, 48 RBIs), infielder Kelly Zane (.332, 10 HR, 42 RBIs, 17 stolen bases), catcher Jimmy Kremers (.311, 8 HR, 62 RBIs), third baseman Greg D’Alexander (.295, 10 HR, 42 RBIs) and outfielder Kendall Trainor (.291, 11 HR, 59 RBIs).

Loyola outfielders Robert Cannon and Tim Williams have been nursing leg injuries but returned to practice this week and should be ready.

Loyola’s powerful offense is led by third baseman Don Sparks (.405, 10 HR, 68 RBIs), outfielders Travis Tarchione (.380, 5 HR, 62 RBIs) and Brian Turang (.367, 14 HR, 63 RBIs), utility man Mark Grafitti (.358) and catcher Miah Bradbury (.356, 8 HR, 38 RBIs). Second baseman Carl Fraticelli sets the table, batting .356 with a team-high 48 walks as the leadoff batter.

Tarchione, Fraticelli and shortstop Bobby DeJardin were key players when Loyola went to the College World Series two years ago. The team that KOd the Lions was Oklahoma State.

Loyola will play at noon Saturday if it loses Friday, or at 4 p.m. Saturday if it wins its opener. Games beyond that will be decided by who survives. One team will be eliminated after today’s 1 p.m. game. Another will be eliminated in the first game Saturday. The tournament runs through Monday.