Plunk city
June 22nd, 2007, 4:27 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Dan Zeiger
This year, the record for hit batsmen at the College World Series was not just broken. It was obliterated.
The old mark of 36 was surpassed when Arizona State’s Rocky Laguna was plunked in the 10th inning of the Sun Devils’ loss against UC Irvine on Tuesday. Going into this weekend’s championship series between Oregon State and North Carolina, 47 batters have been hit.
Earlier this week, Dave Yeast, NCAA national coordinator for baseball umpires, issued a statement saying that the Division I baseball committee would review individual hit batsmen rulings by umpires as part of a general review of the CWS.
ASU coach Pat Murphy is a member of the committee. He said that a big reason for the rise in batters getting hit is that teams have made it a component of their strategy.
In Omaha, frustrated pitchers and coaches have suggested that some batters — especially those from UC Irvine, plunked by 117 pitches this year — were deftly moving their bodies in ways that precipitate contact with an incoming pitch.
“It’s something you can put into your program,” Murphy said. “The rule will not be interpreted the same every time, so why not put it in, and for the 50 percent of the time it’s not interpreted right, you’ve got a base. But kids come to school to learn to play baseball, not how to trick the system. And some programs are winning by tricking the system.
“People are pitching in to win at this level, and players rolling or leaning into pitches is wrong. You have to earn your hit by pitches.”
