1902 RECAP
NCAA
A very balanced season as the 8 conference champions all ranged between 82 and 72 victories and the wildcards were all within 6 wins of each other. We did need a playoff to determine the final wildcard tournament berth and it went to LSU after the Tigers beat Colorado 6-4. A one game playoff was also required to declare a winner in the Big 10 as Purdue and Wisconsin each finished with 77-49 records. The Boilermakers won the extra game to claim the Conference title.
Arizona slugger Jason Sawyer(.355,58,133) missed out on a repeat Triple Crown win but did lead the NCAA in homers and rbi's. However, the 18 year old's team missed the post-season with a 64-62 record. A great debut this year from Penn State freshman righthander Samuel Pullen. The youngster went 26-4 with a league leading 1.27 era while fanning 336 batters in 298 innings. He did all of this while playing on a team that was well below .500. Equally impressive was another freshman pitcher. Bobby Atkins went 31-4 with a 2.11 era and 333 strikeouts in 324 innings for Ivy League champion Dartmouth.
THE TOURNAMENT
The brackets for the 1902 NCAA Tournament were as follows:
Code:
EAST REGION
ACC champ Clemson Tigers 82-44
IVY champ Dartmouth Indians 81-45
At Large 8 LSU Tigers 71-56
At Large 1 Wisconsin Badgers 77-50
SOUTH REGION
SEC champ Florida Gators 73-53
Big East champ Syracuse Orangemen 80-46
At Large 4 Nebraska Cornhuskers 74-52
At Large 5 Michigan Wolverines 73-53
MIDWEST REGION
Big10 champ Purdue Boilermakers 78-49
Big 8 champ Oklahoma State Cowboys 78-48
At Large 2 Duke Blue Devils 74-52
At Large 7 South Carolina Gamecocks 71-55
WEST REGION
PAC10 champ California Golden Bears 72-54
SWC champ Arkansas Razorbacks 73-53
At Large 3 Brown Bears 74-52
At Large 6 North Carolina State Wolfpack 72-54
The College World Series finals involved a pair of wild card teams with the North Carolina State Wolfpack beating Nebraska 3 games to one in the newly expanded championship final. (It was bumped from a best of three to a best of five with all other rounds remaining as they were.)
Despite finishing third in the ACC the Wolfpack caught fire in the tournament, compiling an 11-4 record en route to the title. Known for their hitting during the regular season, it was timely pitching that led North Carolina State to the title. Senior Ryan Seay (13-8, 3.15) and freshman Dave White (15-10, 2.96) each went 4-1 while senior Rich McGuire (10-10, 3.97) came up with 2 wins in the finals. The offense was also present, particularly from senior second baseman Dave Alonso (.378,40,104), who hit .306 with 13 runs scored in the post-season, and fellow senior Danny Gillean (.316,9,58) who led all batters with 7 post-season homers and 15 rbi'. Alonso is a likely top five pick in the upcoming MLB draft.
THE DRAFT
North Carolina State star Dave Alonso did indeed go first overall in the draft as he was selected by the Philadelphia Athletics. The 21 year old second baseman is projected to be a future MLB star. The A's will have him begin his career with Class B Lancaster of the Interstate League. Detroit selected Boston University third baseman Elijah Briggs second while the St Louis Cardinals opted for Princeton outfielder Josh Tyner with the third pick.
MAJOR LEAGUE SEASON
Both World Series participants from last year got off to slow starts and never recovered. It was somewhat expected that would happen to the Cincinnati Reds with so many of their key players being in their late thirties or early forties but it was a surprise that the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox started so poorly. Craig Hill (.336,44,136) basically duplicated his last year offensive production but again narrowly missed out on the triple crown because of batting champ John Clardy (.347) of the Athletics. The American League champion ended up being the St Louis Browns, who got off to a great start and led nearly all the way. Much of the Browns offense came from Cody Garcia (.337,29,99), Jason Barr (.331,36,130) and Nate Wood (.315,30,90) while Seth Houser (18-9, 3.01) and Jon Kleiner (19-9, 2.64) anchored the rotation.
Despite having the league's best pitcher in 29 year old Michael Muir (25-4, 2.20) and top batter in 26 year old John Garrett (.352,7,82, 49SB) the best the Philadelphia Phillies could do was finish second in the National League. Top spot went to the team with the highest payroll in the NL - the Boston Braves. The key to Boston's success was it's power with 5 players hitting over 20 homeruns led by first baseman David Ingram (.305,41,136) and third baseman Jesus Pagan (.279,36,98) who was a mid-season pickup from Pittsburgh. The strength of their pitching staff was 30 year old reliever Dave Whitaker, who led both leagues with 26 saves.
WORLD SERIES
The Browns took the series opener by an 8-2 score at home but lost game two 10-6 as Matthew Elden (.274,31,77) homered twice and Pagan once for the visiting Braves.
Pitching was the story of Game Three as crafty veteran Matt Raymer (9-9, 3.88) tossed a 2-hit shutout to pace St Louis to a 3-0 victory. The bats came alive the next day as Boston evened the series with a 10-9 victory behind catcher Brian Rose's (.292,9,62) 3-hit, 5-rbi performance.
Jason Barr, who is having a whale of a series, carried St Louis to a 9-3 victory in the all important fifth game. The slugger homered for the second time in the series and drove in 4 runs, giving him 10 rbi's in the first five games.
St Louis wrapped up the series the next game with another terrific pitching effort from a veteran starter. 38 year old Jon Kleiner, who was lit up for 8 runs in 6 innings in Game Two, fashioned a 2-hit shutout to clinch the series for the Browns with a 2-0 victory in Game Six. Jason Barr had two hits and drove in one of the runs to give him 11 rbi's in the series. He was rightfully named the Most Valuable Player of the 1902 Fall Classic after posting the following numbers: .444 (12-for-27) with 2 homers and 11 rbi's.
OTHER NOTES
For the second year in a row the Tampico Alijadores won the Mexican League title while in Canada the Victoria Royals successfully defended their Western Provincial League crown but lost in the national championship series to the Trois-Rivieres Phillies.
Minor league champions were as follows:
Code:
LEAGUE CHAMPION PARENT CLUB
American Association Milwaukee Brewers Bos Braves
International League Buffalo Bisons Detroit
Pacific Coast League Hollywood Stars Independent
Southern Association Nashville Volunteers Chi Cubs
Texas League Houston Buffaloes StL Cardinals
Eastern League Wilkes-Barre Barons Cleveland
SALLY League Savannah Indians Phi Athletics
Three I League Davenport Cubs Chi Cubs
Interstate League Allentown Cardinals StL Cardinals
West Texas-New Mex L Lubbock Hubbers Washington