Home-Run Rate Slows This Year

Home runs flew out of Rosenblatt Stadium at a rate of more than four a game in last year’s College World Series.

A record 62 homers were hit in the 14 games, including nine in USC’s 21-14 victory over Arizona State in the championship game.

Through 10 games this season, there were 24 homers. The combined batting average of the eight teams (.281) also is down from a year ago, when the teams hit .318 in 14 games.

Is this another indication that the new bat standards adopted by the NCAA this season are having an effect?

Dave Keilitz, the executive director of the American Baseball Coaches Assn., says it’s difficult to make that judgment.

“I’d hate to determine anything on just what happens here in one week,” Keilitz said Wednesday. “The wind has been blowing in or across the field in almost every game this year. The last two years the wind has mostly been blowing out.

“But the statistics from the first half of the season did show that the offense was down slightly, and that’s a better indication. We don’t have the statistics for the full regular season yet.”

Keilitz says the NCAA needs to take the next step: adopt a maximum exit speed for the metal bats for next season.

An NCAA research panel has recommended standards that would make the aluminum bats comparable to major league wooden bats. Testing on the wooden bats will begin this summer.

“We think an aluminum bat can be produced that will approximate wood,” Keilitz said.

Keilitz also is pushing to have the NCAA extend the regular season by two weeks to give the schools in cold climates more opportunity for better weather.

“We lost by two votes in the NCAA Management Council last week to extend the season by one week, but we’ll bring it up again in a year,” Keilitz said. “That’s going to have to happen for Northern schools to compete at the same level as the warm-weather schools.”

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Rice catcher John Lukin, a junior who played at Trabuco Hills High and Orange Coast College, found himself thrust into the middle of a tense game Wednesday won by Alabama, 6-5.

Lukin, a backup catcher behind senior Zane Curry, went into the game for Curry in the bottom of the eighth inning after Curry left for a pinch-hitter in the top of the eighth when Rice rallied for three runs and a 5-4 lead.

Lukin made a big tag at the plate in the eighth to keep Alabama from scoring a go-ahead run. “Will Ford made a great throw on the play, and I was quick enough to tag him out before he touched home plate,” Lukin said.

Lukin also singled in the ninth in his only at-bat, but the Owls failed to score in the inning, and Alabama won the game in the bottom of the ninth.

Lukin had played in 31 games previously this season, starting 16, and batted .267. “I played behind a good catcher this season, and it toughened me a lot,” Lukin said. “Hopefully, I can use that next year.”

Lukin redshirted for one year at UCLA before transferring to OCC. “I had some bitter feelings at UCLA, but the Orange Coast coaches showed confidence in me,” he said. “I’m glad I stayed with the game.”

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When both College World Series games were rained out Tuesday, it was the first time since 1974 two games on the same day had to be postponed.

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Fullerton players and coaches spent their 19th night on the road in the last 21 days after the game against Florida State Wednesday night.

The Titans didn’t return home after winning the Notre Dame regional. They took a bus to Cleveland, then on to Columbus for the super-regional at Ohio State.

The team returned to Fullerton late Sunday night after the final game of the super-regional, then was back on a plane Tuesday on the way to Omaha.

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The Titans won’t have any players on Team USA this summer.

Pitcher Jon Smith was invited to try out but withdrew from consideration when he began having soreness in his arm and shoulder in April. Pitcher Adam Johnson was on the invitation list but didn’t go to the tryout camp because Fullerton was in the playoffs. Third baseman Ryan Owens played for Team USA last summer.