August 1: The Fall of Troy

The Shockers are now 19 games up on Texas A&M, while Miami and the Texas Longhorns are the latest entries in the sweepstakes to clear the .500 mark, if not mount a challenge to Wichita State.  With the season entering the dog days of August, the Shockers could lose three quarters of their remaining games and still end up with over 100 wins.  At the other end of the standings, a few teams may be threatening the 100-loss mark, with the latest contestant being the vaunted 1971 USC Trojans.  For a team that didn't lose a game in conference play in '71, they've managed to find ways to lose quite a few in this league, having recently been surpassed by Oklahoma State and dropping into ninth place. Here are the gory details:

Who's Getting It Done:  This was a team known for it's pitching staff, and for the most part the staff is living up to the reputation. Steve Busby (14-12, 1.92) has the league's best ERA among regular starters, while Tim Coffin (13-8, 1.24) has the best ERA among qualifying pitchers, working primarily out of the bullpen.  The Trojans' team ERA of 2.71 is the league's best and they've allowed 25 fewer runs than any other team in the league. The pitching has been aided by sure-handed fielding, with the 72 team errors tying the Trojans with Fullerton for the fewest in the circuit. SS George Ambrow has hit 30 doubles and has 23 steals, batting .257.
 

2b Frank Alfano, batting .176

 Who's Not:  Ambrow's .257 leads the team--these guys are struggling to hit the aces of these great pitching staffs.  As a team, the Trojans are hitting .225; they have drawn the second fewest walks, hit the second fewest homers, and scored the fewest runs in the league. Freshman Fred Lynn (.249, 2 HR) has looked overmatched against league pitching, but he still boasts the 2nd best average on the team.  With little power, little speed, and little capacity to get on base, the Trojans are in peculiar position of both allowing and scoring the fewest runs in the league.  That is a recipe designed to produce close games, but unfortunately for USC, they're not winning many of those, with part of the trouble stemming from woes of closer Jim George (0-5, 7.76, although 21 saves).  To turn things around, the Trojans need more timely hitting, and better relief work when the game is on the line.


USC Trojans **Team Batting Stats**
Last      First   AVE   G    AB   SO   BB  H    2B   3B  HR  R   RBI SB E   
Ambrow    George  .257  114  501  135  31  129  30   5   0   49  30  23 12  
Port      Jeff    .224  114  474  35   24  106  20   0   0   39  28  3  8   
Cross     Dick    .216  114  467  33   47  101  2    2   0   37  33  1  15  
Steele    Tim     .223  114  435  35   38  97   25   2   0   28  38  1  11  
Carter    Gordon  .224  114  415  107  30  93   14   4   6   42  41  0  3   
Arenstein Daryl   .244  114  402  92   23  98   14   5   8   39  39  2  4   
Perkins   Craig   .233  85   326  61   41  76   29   0   10  36  43  2  9   
Alfano    Frank   .176  75   261  58   52  46   5    1   1   26  13  0  3   
Pedersen  Jeff    .198  71   248  45   31  49   6    0   0   15  6   0  0   
Lynn      Fred    .249  45   173  52   13  43   3    4   2   19  18  9  0   
Ball      Mike    .201  45   164  43   8   33   6    1   1   11  12  0  2   
Ceci      Sam     .213  29   108  17   2   23   9    0   0   6   8   1  0   
Guggia    Milt    .000  3    2    1    1   0    0    0   0   0   0   0  0   
-         -       .225  1253 3976 714  341 894  163  24  28  347 309 42 72

USC Trojans **Team Pitching Stats**
Last      First    ERA   G    GS  CG  W   L   SV  IP    SO   BB  H   R    ER  
Busby     Steve    1.92  29   29  10  14  12  0   234.2 177  84  181 64   50  
Sogge     Mark     2.66  27   27  6   3   12  0   209.2 113  39  171 70   62  
Raich     Eric     2.39  23   23  7   11  8   0   177.1 148  78  145 53   47  
Widman    Greg     3.08  23   23  4   4   15  0   169.1 171  94  133 66   58  
Coffin    Tim      1.24  71   2   2   13  8   1   145.0 225  63  68  22   20  
Scarbery  Randy    6.72  10   10  1   1   8   0   67.0  59   47  68  52   50  
George    Jim      7.76  30   0   0   0   5   21  29.0  24   53  20  29   25  
Vella     Chris    1.42  3    0   0   0   0   0   6.1   6    4   4   1    1   
-         -        2.71  216  114 30  46  68  22  1038.1923  462 790 357  313 

College Greats League Standings

Year      Team                     W    L    PCT   GB   L10  STRK 
1982      Wichita State Shockers   88   26   .772  -    7-3  W4   
1989      Texas A&M Aggies         69   45   .605  19.0 5-5  L1   
2001      Miami Hurricanes         58   56   .509  30.0 5-5  W1   
1983      Texas Longhorns          57   57   .500  31.0 8-2  W2   
1967      Arizona State Sun Devils 55   59   .482  33.0 7-3  L1   
1997      LSU Tigers               54   60   .474  34.0 1-9  L4   
1995      Cal State Fullerton Titan51   63   .447  37.0 3-7  W1   
1985      Oklahoma State Cowboys   48   66   .421  40.0 7-3  W5   
1971      USC Trojans              46   68   .404  42.0 3-7  L2   
1985      Miss State Bulldogs      44   70   .386  44.0 4-6  L3