By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

TUCSON, Ariz. — Introducing my 26th annual All-Pavlovich Team, a remarkable collection of people who typify what the game should be all about.

My National Player of The Year was an easy choice in Columbia University’s Joe Falcone.

He had a marvelous season as the designated hitter. He hit .354 with 11 homers, 18 doubles and 51 RBI and was a unanimous first team All-Ivy League selection.

What separates Falcone from others is that he witnessed more suffering and death than anybody should be allowed as a medic for the U.S. Marine Corps infantry during three tours of duty in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan prior to playing at Columbia.

After Joe finished high school, he decided to enlist in the Navy because he didn’t apply himself academically in high school.

Falcone said he embarked on a seven year odyssey in the military that took him to some of the most dangerous places in the world in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting for the United States and caring for soldiers who were shot or blown up by road side bombs as a medic.

 After boot camp for nine weeks, he was trained to be a medic as he learned everything it took to keep wounded soldiers alive for an additional 16 weeks.

Falcone said the Third Marine Division flew to Iraq in February of 2008 and performed numerous dangerous missions in the suburbs of Fallujah.

“That place was pretty nasty,” said Falcone.

“We went to a forward operating base, and we were right in a middle of a third world, run down war zone slum with bullet holes in all the buildings. The place smelled like smoke, gun powder, crap and sewage. We lived in a little Iraq police station which was essentially a little hut of concrete.

“Me and another guy were medics for over 60 Marines. We worked out of there and pushed out on missions in incredible heat which was over 120 degrees as you were wearing uniforms complete with bullet proof vests over your chest, right and left flanks and back along with an 80 pound back pack and medical bag to treat wounded soldiers. You also had to carry ammunition and a rifle. Plus you have your Kevlar helmet on.

“You are extremely uncomfortable in this oppressive heat carrying all this weight. We had to get used to hauling all this stuff and wearing it. Every day was just an endless march among these slums as you pushed out on missions for hours at a time and even days. At times, you were just moving like a mule and trying to survive.”

Falcone said you were always being watched by the bad guys during these missions.

“It was like Russian roulette going out on these patrols. You never knew if you would step on a mine, and you never knew if you would make it back alive. Every day was like this…an endless march with the possibility of dying.

“You had sniper fire and people who would walk up to you and detonate a bomb which would blow themselves up along with a Marine. The enemy would blend in with the people of the town. And you never knew who was who. A guy might come up to you and try to shake the hands of a soldier and praise him by saying, ‘American forces good’ or something like this. But that night, he might be the same guy who places an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the ground to kill us.”

Falcone said that maybe the most horrifying situations during his deployments took place when vehicles ran over IEDs which then destroyed the vehicles and anybody inside.

“Often times it would be a big fireball. Out of the corner of your eye at the top of the fireball, the vehicle would get propelled over a power line almost as if it was a toy. And your friends were in there. Then you had to fight if necessary. If there was only the blast, you more than likely had dead bodies. You might be there for hours cleaning up the vehicle debris. In addition, you were required to clean up any human remains of your friends that were left. You put body parts in body bags. But sometimes you ran out and had to put them in garbage bags.”

Falcone said the smell of the decaying flesh was difficult to stomach.

He was asked if he ever saw any beheadings as the Taliban retaliated against others.

“They would bully the local people quite a bit. One time we saw the remains of a local school teacher who was filleted and diced into many parts with a knife. Maybe the Taliban thought the teacher was being sympathetic to Americans. Who knows? It was so difficult as an American to comprehend people doing things like this.

“I remember getting shot at by the Taliban. One of their techniques was to hold an infant in the arms of a soldier while his buddy, close to him, would be shooting at us with an AK-47 assault rifle. And he knew we wouldn’t shoot back at him with his buddy holding an infant in his arms right next to him. I didn’t want to shoot at him with him holding a little kid. None of us fired back.”

Falcone can play on my team any day.

To read about other amazing people picked for the 2015 All-Pavlovich Team, purchase the June 12, 2015 edition of Collegiate Baseball by CLICKING HERE.

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

OMAHA, Neb. — It simply was the ugliest offensive streak in College World Series history.

Not one home run had been hit in 115 innings and featured 923 batters, 3,436 pitches and 672 outs between homers during the last 3 1/2 games of the 2013 College World Series and nine more to start the 2014 CWS.

C.J. Hinojosa of Texas snapped the streak in the seventh inning of game nine last year as the Longhorns held on to beat U.C. Irvine, 1-0.

Hinojosa was probably the most unlikely person at the College World Series to hit a home run since he only had one circuit clout all season in 231 at-bats prior to that homer.

The streak was the symptom of a serious underlying problem as home runs were becoming extinct at the College World Series and rare during the season.

For the first time in CWS history, only 3 home runs were hit in 16 games at the 2014 event. It was the fewest amount of homers ever hit over this many games in one College World Series.

For the second year in a row, only three home runs were hit.

In 2013, three home runs were hit over 14 games.

These were the lowest home run totals since 1966 — nearly a half century — when only 2 home runs were hit in 15 games.

Home run numbers are expected to climb at the 2015 CWS since the flat seam baseball will replace the raised seam ball after the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee approved the change in November of 2013 in an attempt to generate more home runs and offense.

With all NCAA Division I schools using the flat seam ball during the 2015 season, a dramatic increase in home runs has taken place.

The NCAA reported that home runs are up more than 38 percent from 0.39 per game in 2014 to 0.54 per game in 2015 comparing numbers from the first week of May each year.

Runs scored in a game are up from 5.12 in 2014 to 5.47 in 2015.

After several months of testing at the NCAA Bat Certification lab during the summer of 2013 at Washington State University, results showed that the flat seam ball would travel further than a raised seam ball due to the “drag effect.” The greater the distance a ball travels, the greater the drag effect.

The test was conducted with an average ball exit speed from a machine at 95 mph with a spin rate of 1,400 RPM and a launch angle of 25 degrees. These parameters were set because they replicate the settings of a typical home run or a hit that could become a home run.

The average distance the raised seam ball traveled was 367 feet while the average distance the flat seam ball went was 387 feet — 20 feet further.

“We are very pleased with how the flat seam ball has performed so far this season,” said Damani Leech, NCAA Managing Director of Championships and Alliances.

“I think heading into the season we were cautiously optimistic based on the lab testing we had done and some of the reports from field testing that was conducted. The uptick in home runs has been great this season.

“The problem has been more than just home runs. It’s about offense in general. More offense was needed in the game, and many coaches voiced their concerns about the lack of offense the last few years as well as fans.”

The cumulative batting average at the 2014 College World Series was only .219 which was the lowest in 42 years.

In the 68-year-history of the CWS, the lowest scoring ’Series have been the last two years with an average of 6.1 runs per game in 2013 (all-time record) and 6.3 runs in 2014.

Leech, who has worked a number of years at the College World Series on behalf of the NCAA, said he was extremely concerned when the home run numbers fell to three the last two College World Series.

Offenses by and large at the 2014 College World Series were unwatchable. When the vast majority of runners got to first base, teams immediately attempted to sacrifice bunt them over to second.

There were 37 sacrifice bunts last year in 16 games which were the most in 59 years. This doesn’t even factor in unsuccessful sacrifice bunts as batters popped pitches up that were caught or bunted too hard as lead runners were thrown out.

“It was pretty painful to watch the last two College World Series with so few home runs,” said Leech.

“The NCAA staff and members of the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee are all fans of baseball as well. We want to see excitement and more scoring. There were a number of times the last two years where potential dramatic moments ended with a fly ball caught on the warning track.”

To read more of this in-depth story, purchase the June 12, 2015 edition of Collegiate Baseball by CLICKING HERE.

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Andrew Benintendi became the first University of Arkansas baseball player in history to be named National Player of The Year by Collegiate Baseball after piling up staggering numbers in 2015.

The sophomore centerfielder was hitting .391 with 12 doubles, 18 homers, 52 RBI and 22/26 stolen bases up to the NCAA Regional playoffs.

What makes those numbers even more impressive is that one year earlier as a freshman at Arkansas, he only hit 1 home run in 61 games and produced 27 RBI while hitting .276.

This season, the lefthanded hitter has belted 17 more homers than the year prior, nearly doubled his RBI production with 25 more and hit 115 points higher.

He also has incredible speed and could have easily stolen 35-40 bases if he were cut loose on the base paths.

Benintendi is also an exceptional centerfielder and tracks down numerous balls that would be uncatchable for normal outfielders. Plus, he has a left arm that can fire balls into the infield at 90 mph.

In other words, Benintendi is the consummate 5-tool player scouts drool over.

This is why he was chosen in the first round of the MLB draft recently as the seventh overall pick by Boston as a draft eligible sophomore.

The Cincinnati native is on the brink of becoming the third player in SEC history to lead the league in home runs and batting average, currently holding a two-homer lead and 16-point edge in batting average.

Benintendi would join Rafael Palmeiro (Mississippi St. in 1984) and Jeff Abbott (Kentucky in 1994) as the only players in conference history to accomplish the feat.

He is one of two players in the country to rank in the top 15 in home runs and batting average and one of two individuals in the nation with 15-plus home runs and 20-plus stolen bases.

Benintendi leads the SEC in batting average, home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and walks, and is the only player in the nation to rank in the top 25 nationally in every category.

The talented Arkansas center-fielder said that the transformation from an average freshman ball player into National Player of The Year began after he finished his season a year ago.

“I had a nagging quad strain last season that lingered for a month and a half,” said Benintendi.

“In talking to my trainer and coaches, everyone felt it would be best to let it totally heal during the summer and not play. So I did that and decided to really focus on getting bigger and stronger.

“I am 5-foot-10 and weighed 165 pounds at the end of my freshman season at Arkansas. Since I wasn’t playing last summer, I approached weight training as a job with my upper body. In addition, I changed my diet which helped me gain weight.

“By the end of the summer, my back, chest and arms got noticeably bigger. When I got back to Arkansas, I worked with our strength coach who does a superb job. In all, I put on 15 pounds of muscle during this time and felt a lot stronger going into the 2015 season at 180 pounds.

“There is no question this added strength has allowed me to drive the ball harder and further this season.

“I always knew I had the ability to have this type of season. It was just a matter of staying mentally strong when things weren’t going well. I have done fairly well my entire baseball career.”

To read more of the in-depth story about Andrew Benintendi’s ascent to Collegiate Baseball’s National Player of The Year, including comments from Arkansas Head Coach Dave Van Horn, purchase the June 12, 2015 edition of Collegiate Baseball by CLICKING HERE.