Polk’s Winning Ways Return

Ron Polk is back in college baseball, and so are his winning ways.

Polk, hired last June to coach Georgia, had retired in 1997 after 26 years and six College World Series appearances with Mississippi State and Georgia Southern.

Georgia athletic director Vince Dooley contacted the 56-year-old Polk and asked him if he would be interested in rebuilding the school’s baseball program. Georgia has appeared in the NCAA tournament just once since winning the College World Series in 1990.

“I agreed to do it, and felt maybe I needed one more challenge in my coaching career,” Polk said.

Georgia was 22-14 entering the weekend and has hovered around the top 25 all season. The Bulldogs are on pace for their first 30-win season since 1993.

“I didn’t even go after any other job,” he said. “I retired in Omaha after our Mississippi State team was eliminated (in the College World Series), feeling like it was time to leave.”

Polk, one of the most outspoken critics of the NCAA’s scholarship limitations, remained at Mississippi State as an assistant athletic director and worked with Team USA for two summers.

“I think Vince Dooley wanted to bring some credibility to the program as quick as possible, so he went into the bag of old coaches and picked me out to resurrect the program,” said Polk, who has a career record of 1,065-500.

Since Polk’s hiring, season-ticket sales increased from 76 to more than 700, and renovations have been made to the team’s facilities.

Georgia, frequently one of the Southeastern Conference’s weaker teams since 1991, has had a number of significant victories. The Bulldogs beat Clemson, ranked No. 1 at the time; defeated Georgia Tech twice; beat Louisiana State, 26-1 against Georgia the last seven seasons, twice; and swept a three-game series against Alabama.

“My goal when I leave here is to turn the program over to a younger coach, and when I give it to him, like I did at Mississippi State, I can look him in the eyes and say, ‘Hey, this program’s in good shape ... take it from here,”’ Polk said. “I think the most rewarding thing for me will be to undergo this one last challenge before I really retire.”

TEXAS TOSSERS: Texas is back among the nation’s elite, thanks to its much-improved pitching staff.

The Longhorns are 32-7 and ranked third in the nation in two major polls entering this weekend’s series with Big 12 conference rival Texas Tech. But most impressive is the team’s 3.04 ERA, which ranks fifth among Division I schools.

Senior D.J. Jones (8-2, 2.44 ERA) and juniors Beau Hale (8-2) and Charlie Thames (4-0, 12 saves, 0.88) have anchored a staff that has thrown five shutouts this season--most since it had five in 1994. Hale also pitched the Longhorns’ first no-hitter in 13 years on Feb. 11.

“The pitching staff has given us leadership, stability, and consistency on the defensive side,” said coach Augie Garrido, who needs one victory to tie Ron Fraser for third on the Division I career victories list with 1,270.

Garrido left Cal State Fullerton in 1997 and replaced Cliff Gustafson, the winningest coach in Division I history. Garrido’s teams had the worst ERAs in school history--including 6.36 in 1998 and 5.52 last season.

FLORIDA FOES: Florida State and Miami are at it again.

The Seminoles, ranked No. 1 in various polls, and the Hurricanes, ranked in the top 20, renew one of college baseball’s most intense rivalries with a three-game weekend series at Coral Gables, Fla.

Florida State, which lost to Miami 6-5 in the championship game of last year’s College World Series, swept last weekend’s series in Tallahassee, Fla.

Brett Groves’ double gave Florida State a 14-13 victory in 17 innings--the longest game ever for either team. The Seminoles cruised to a 12-2 victory in last Saturday’s second game.

In last Sunday’s series finale, the Seminoles got a game-winning triple from Mike Futrell in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 5-4 victory.

Florida State leads the series 109-96.

AROUND THE HORN: Rutgers had its 16-game winning streak, longest in Division I this season, stopped with a 2-0 loss to Connecticut on Monday. It was also the first Big East Conference loss this season for the Scarlet Knights, who lead Division I schools with a .352 team batting average. ... Skip Bertman won the 800th game of his career in Louisiana State’s 17-11 victory over Arkansas last Sunday. ... Alabama right fielder Aaron Clark set a school record for outfielders with 12 putouts in a 12-7 loss to Tennessee last Sunday. Clark recorded at least one putout in each inning.