Wichita State Is Making Its Pitch

Wichita State is unbeaten in the NCAA Midwest Regional going into today’s championship round, and the reason appeared obvious after the Shockers’ 6-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton Saturday.

“We have a saying around here that pitching sets the tone,” Wichita State pitcher Brandon Baird said. And that’s what happened. Baird pitched almost flawlessly and held the Titans to four hits and no runs in 6 1/3 innings.

Branden Looper, regarded as the nation’s top reliever, came on to finish it, giving up four more hits and one run in 2 2/3 innings.

But the most important statistic is this: Wichita State has given up a total of three runs in three games. The Shockers shut out Indiana, 4-0, and defeated Missouri, 9-2, earlier. Wichita State has given up only 19 hits in the three games.

That type of pitching wins championships.

Baird, a left-hander, set the tone for Saturday’s game in the first inning. He struck out Steve Chatham, Jeremy Giambi and Mark Kotsay, the first three batters he faced.

“I thought Baird was outstanding,” Wichita State Coach Gene Stephenson said. “I’ve said all along that he’s at his best in big games, and he showed that again. Fullerton is a really good hitting team, but he kept them off balance with his pitches all day.”

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Baseball America’s most recent list of the top prospects for the June amateur draft has Kotsay as the probable ninth pick even though it rates him as college baseball’s “best pure hitter.”

The Florida Marlins have the ninth pick, and indications are that they will draft Kotsay if available.

Baseball America has Clemson pitcher Kris Benson ranked as the No. 1 prospect. San Diego State first baseman Travis Lee is No. 2, even though his batting average (.355), homers (14) and RBIs (60) are below Kotsay’s totals.

Outfielder Chad Green of Kentucky, who has outstanding speed, also is ranked ahead of Kotsay at No. 8.

Six of the top eight prospects listed are pitchers. Wichita State relief pitcher Looper is rated No. 3.

Titan catcher Brian Loyd is rated the 45th best prospect, but 16th among non-pitchers. Baseball America rates him as the second best catcher defensively behind Miami’s Alex Cora.

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The question heard most recently around Wichita this week was: “Is Kevin Costner going to be here?”

Well, Costner arrived early Saturday morning in a private jet. And Wichita suddenly became “Water World.” Heavy rains hit, forcing the Fullerton-Wichita State game to be delayed for four hours.

But when the rain stopped and the sun came out, Costner was at the game.

Costner has become Fullerton’s No. 1 celebrity fan. A Fullerton alumnus, Costner and Coach Augie Garrido have become close friends since Costner helped dedicate Titan Field in 1992.

Costner also attended two regular-season games and one at the Big West tournament this season and spent a weekend at last year’s College World Series, and took batting practice with the Titans in Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium.

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Kotsay and Loyd were teammates of Wichita State players Looper and Casey Blake last summer on Team USA. When Wichita State played games at Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara this season, the four had talked about getting together, but Loyd said it didn’t work out.

Rice relief pitcher Matt Anderson also was a member of the national team. Loyd hit a three-run homer against his former battery mate Friday night in Fullerton’s 7-3 victory.

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When Kotsay was hit in the upper right calf by a pitch thrown by Shawn Onley in his first at-bat against Rice Friday night, Kotsay said he had no concern that it was intentional.

But it rekindled memories of a fight between Fullerton and Rice in a regular-season game at Rice in 1991. In that game, pitcher Craig Charlton fired a fastball behind Jason Moler’s head, and Moler charged the mound, touching off a bench-clearing brawl.

Moler and two other Titan players, Mike Berry and Jim Betzsold, were suspended for one game by the NCAA for their involvement.