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Dirtbags Pitching Is Tops

Q: Baylor is looking for a fourth starter to emerge but already has a very good weekend rotation in Trey Taylor, Mark McCormick and Cory Van Allen to go with solid relievers Abe Woody, Ryan LaMotta and the emerging Jeff Mandel. How do the Bears' weekend starters and their relievers compare on a national basis?

Dan Jensen
Claremore, Okla.

A: National writer Will Kimmey is our college expert, so I'll turn this question over to him:

Baylor's arms rank among the nation's best. The Bears' 3.04 team ERA is the 11th-best in NCAA Division I, and they've needed it because their offense ranks just 219th in scoring at 5.2 runs per game.

With a mid-90s fastball and an improved hard curveball, McCormick (6-2, 2.74) has a first-round arm and has really improved his command since a rough March start at Arizona State. Van Allen (6-3, 3.90) will be a high pick next year after going in the third round to the Dodgers out of high school in 2003. He has plus stuff for a lefthander and good command. Taylor's (4-4, 3.27) stuff has slipped since he was a Rockies second-round pick in 2001, but he's the Friday starter as a crafty senior lefty who locates everything in his repertoire well.

The bullpen features dual closers with Woody (6-3, 2.41, eight saves) and LaMotta (5-0, 1.76, four saves). LaMotta's ERA and 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings rank among the Division I leaders. A strike-thrower with an 88-91 mph fastball and a plus changeup, he's regarded as a better prospect than Woody, a sinker-slider specialist. Mandel, who has really come on this spring after barely pitching as a freshman in 2004, had a recent streak of 25 consecutive scoreless innings.

Long Beach State leads the nation with a 2.06 ERA thanks to an impressive trio of starters (Cesar Ramos, Marco Estrada and Jared Hughes) that each boast Big West Conference ERAs under 2.00. Senior relievers Neil Jamison and Brian Anderson have yielded four runs (two earned) between them all year. Given that its offense averages but 4.6 runs (256th among 283 ranked teams), the onus on the pitching to perform at a near-perfect level is even greater than at Baylor. This is the staff I'd pick, though I know that Long Beach's Blair Field might be the best pitcher's park in the nation.

A couple of more staffs worth mentioning are Texas and Oregon State. The Longhorns' rotation (underclassmen Kyle McCulloch, Adrian Alaniz and Randy Boone) and power bullpen (J. Brent Cox, Buck Cody, Clayton Stewart) have combined for a 2.67 ERA, third nationally. A stunning rotation (Dallas Buck, Anton Maxwell, Jonah Nickerson) and two key bullpen arms (Nate Fogle, Kevin Gunderson) are a big reason for Oregon State's 32-8 record and seventh-best ERA (2.95). Nebraska (2.41), North Carolina (2.81) and Vanderbilt (3.26) also have strong pitching depth.