Experience Pays Off for Fullerton’s Ace

The environment that is the College World Series almost overwhelmed Cal State Fullerton pitcher Jason Windsor in his first start last season. Older, wiser and just plain better, he is now making the tournament his personal showcase.

Windsor threw a masterful three-hitter with a career-high 14 strikeouts in a 2-0 opening-round victory over South Carolina on Saturday before 23,976 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

In a string of dominant performances that stretch back to April 8 against Pacific, this one was Windsor’s best and certainly most important.

The senior right-hander pitched the first complete-game shutout in the College World Series since Brad Rigby did it for Georgia Tech in 1994 against Fullerton.

“I’m just glad you and America got to see what we’ve been seeing for two years,” Fullerton Coach George Horton said.

Windsor ended the regular season with seven consecutive victories, six of which were complete games. As the games have become more important, he has taken his own to another level.

In four postseason starts, he has given up one run in 32 innings and hasn’t been scored upon in his last 25.

“It’s like Kurt Suzuki where he makes it look ridiculously easy at times,” Horton said. “That team sees some of the best pitching in the country week in and week out in the [Southeastern Conference]. For him to dominate them is just special.”

For Windsor, this start was much different than the one last season against Louisiana State. He admitted that he was a nervous wreck, opening the game by throwing seven balls before settling down to pitch 5 2/3 innings and get a victory.

“I was a little bit nervous, I’m not going to lie,” Windsor said about Saturday’s outing.

“But I worked on putting those feelings aside and focused on making the next pitch. Eventually those feelings went away.”

Windsor needed to be at his best as the Titans (43-21) managed only five hits and failed to cash in a number of scoring opportunities as South Carolina starter Matt Campbell walked eight. Their only runs came when Danny Dorn doubled in Suzuki in the fourth inning and Justin Turner drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth.

In the fifth, Windsor gave up a one-out double to Michael Campbell and put runners on second and third before striking out Steven Tolleson. In the seventh, he struck out the first two batters, but South Carolina loaded the bases with a single and two walks.

Windsor had thrown six consecutive balls at one point and Fullerton had Mike Martinez and Scott Sarver warming up in the bullpen. Tolleson worked a 2-2 count on the Titan ace but froze on a changeup that darted back over the outside corner.

“He doesn’t really have overpowering stuff,” Tolleson said. “He throws strikes and makes you put the ball in play. Baseball is a game of percentages that favor the pitcher and, unfortunately, we couldn’t do anything with him.”

Full of adrenaline, Windsor began to throw everything past the Gamecocks (50-16).

He struck out six of the last seven batters he faced in throwing a career-high 145 pitches.

“I thought he was going to tire a little bit there,” South Carolina Coach Ray Tanner said. “After he got out of that jam, it gave him new life and he was rejuvenated.”