AIAA COLLEGE BASEBALL UPDATE
April 29, 1929
TRULY MAJECSTIC PITCHING
For the third week in a row the top team in the nation remains the Rainier College Majestics. With a pair of three game sweeps over Boulder State and Travis College last week, the Majestics ran their win streak to 11 games and at 22-5 own the best record in college baseball. They are a little off the pace of the all-time mark of 44-6 set by College of San Diego 3 years ago but the Majestics season has been one for the ages so far.
Rainier College has allowed just 73 runs in 27 games, 46 less than any other team in the nation. The dominant season Chick Stout (7-0, 0.95) is putting together is the big reason but from top to bottom their pitching staff has been very good and more than made up for one of the weaker offenses in the league. The Majestics are on pace to allow just 135 runs this season. How does that rank historical? Well, only 2 teams have ever allowed less then 135 in an AIAA season.
Number one is the 1914 Indiana A&M squad which surrendered just 117 runs. That team was led by a dominant season from current Baltimore Cannon Oscar Jefferson as well as Del Plummer and Jerry Taylor, who are both with the New York Stars now. The 1921 Northern California Miners allowed 131 runs with current Boston Minuteman Dick Alexander and Baltimore Cannon Leo Reynolds leading the way.
So just how dominant is the Rainier College pitching this season compared to the rest of the league. Their team era is 2.22. The league average is 4.80 and only 4 other teams are under 4.00 with the lowest being 3.54. Rainier College is clearly in a class by themselves this season and have to be early favourites to win their first Western Collegiate Division title since 1910. The Majestics history has been anything but, with just 2 College World Series appearances to their credit and they have never won a postseason series.
Here is a quick look at the 5 college divisions.
WESTERN COLLEGIATE: It is beginning to look like no one will catch the Majestics but defending National Champion Lubbock State, at 17-10 and 5 games off the pace, is doing it's best to keep up. Senior outfielder Al Couch is leading the Hawks with a .421 average to go with 10 homers and 30 rbi's.
MIDWESTERN COLLEGIATE: It was a rough week for Chicago Poly as the division leading Panthers went 1-5 including being swept by lowly Lincoln College in a 3 game series. Tom Blalock, who it was mentioned here last week hadn't lost a game in 2 years did just that, suffering his first defeat and snapping a personal 16 game winning streak. No one was able to take advantage of the Panthers slump as Central Ohio could only play .500 ball this week and remains second, two and a half games back of Chicago Poly. St Blane is also tied for second.
SOUTHERN COLLEGIATE: Joe Foy's batting average slipped below .500 (.496,3,27) as he had just his second hitless game of the season but that did not slow down his Opelika State Wildcats, who have won 6 in a row and 10 of their last 11. At 19-8 on the season, the Wildcats are 2.5 games ahead of Georgia Baptist with everyone else dropping quickly out of contention. The Wildcats continue to rely on the right arm of freshman Chalie Bingham. The 18 year old threw a 1-hitter in a complete game 1-0 shutout of North Carolina Tech earlier in the week. On the season Bingham is 7-1 with a 1.75 era. Georgia Baptist won 5 of 6 last week and, while receiving a little less publicity than in past years because of all of the great pitching performances, Gators star Tom Barrell continues to quietly go about his business. The potential first overall draft pick is 5-2 with a 2.11 era on the mound while hitting .364 with 6 homers and 26 rbi's playing first base when he is not pitching. Also, missed in an earlier write-up Barrell tossed a perfect game in a 5-0 win over North Carolina Tech recently. It was just the second perfect game in AIAA history.
ACADEMIA ALLIANCE: While the races in the Continental Region are starting to sort themselves out the two divisions in the Northeast Region remain highly contested. Just one game separates the top four clubs in the Academia Alliance with hard charging Pierpont making it's presence felt. The Purple have been to more College World Series playoffs (10) than any other team but have yet to win a title and have missed the tournament each of the past two years - which is the longest they have ever gone between tournament berths. They started very slow this season but have won their last 8 in a row including a 3 game sweep of first place Brunswick to get in the race. Freshman Sam Brown, an 18 year old outfielder from San Francisco, is leading the charge. Brown, who is batting .382 with 9 homers and 25 rbi's on the season, was named player of the week.
NORTHEAST COLLEGIATE: Liberty College's powerful offense has led the Bells to 11 wins in their last 12 games and they are now alone atop the NE Collegiate Division with an 18-9 record, one game better than St Patrick's. Senior outfielders Joe Jones (.417,13,36) and John Collins (.345,9,36) along with senior 2B Jake Shadoan (.412,9,16) continue to lead the way for the Bells. Commonwealth Catholic was tied for first place a week ago, but the Knights dropped 3 games over the week, including 2 of 3 to Liberty, and now sit 2.5 off the pace.
Here are the updated top 10 rankings:
Code:
TOP TEN RANKINGS REC LW
1- Rainier College Majestics 22-5 1
2- Liberty College Bells 18-9 4
3- Opelika State Wildcats 19-8 7
4- Lubbock State Hawks 17-10 9
5- Chicago Poly Panthers 17-9 2
6- Brunswick College Knights 17-10 3
7- Georgia Baptist Gators 17-11 NR
8- Pierpont Purple 16-11 NR
9- Ellery Bruins 17-11 6
10-St Patrick's Shamrocks 17-10 NR
DROPPING OUT OF TOP 10
Commonwealth Cath. Knights 15-11 5
Golden Gate Grizzlies 16-11 8
George Fox Reds 16-11 10