2010 College World Series: CWS

One baseball game is a crapshoot. UCLA came good, while TCU turned sour. That's why the Bruins are headed to the best-of-three championship round of the 2010 College World Series.

There's a reason why Major League Baseball plays 162 games a year, with the minors playing almost as long. There's a reason why collegiate baseball requires at least 55 to 60 contests in a full-length campaign that includes the postseason. Baseball is the everyday sport, the realm of athletic endeavor which doesn't demand multiple rest days. The game of base is played more often in a season than just about any other sport.

One baseball battle on one afternoon, then, is a supremely fragile organism. Will the pitcher have his good stuff? Will hitters put good swings on the ball? Will the fielding be up to par? Will the snap decisions be smart and sensible? Over the course of a full season, it's relatively easy to assess and evaluate performance levels among baseball teams. In the postseason, it's harder. In a one-game showdown, it's well-nigh impossible to do so. Great baseball teams will encounter days when nothing goes right - the very best Major League teams will still lose 60 games per year.

The challenge of playoff baseball, then, is simply to conjure up one's best when the moment demands it. Failing in this attempt doesn't brand a team as unworthy; it's much fairer to say that success enhances the profile of the winner. Therefore, as afternoon gives way to evening in Omaha, Nebraska, don't bury the TCU Horned Frogs. Focus instead on the team that punched out the Purple People at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Yes, it's true that the talented team from Texas Christian didn't play very well on a sparkling and sun-drenched Saturday in the land of the Central Plains. TCU - which upset Texas to get to Omaha and then pulled off a miraculous eight-run eighth inning to even get to the Bracket 1 final - didn't conquer the crucible of crunch-time competition. The Horned Frogs came up short in all three facets of play, and that can't be denied after UCLA's seven-run win.

Such is the nature of a one-game deathmatch. The real story, then, is not that TCU faltered, but that UCLA flourished.

UCLA starter Trevor Bauer began this game like a man who wasn't going to last more than four innings, if that. Bauer threw over 40 pitches in the first two innings, as he struggled markedly with his command. Bauer walked hitters and dug himself into trouble on a number of other at-bats, and while he found a way to get some clutch early outs, it seemed after two innings that he wasn't going to stick around very long.

The following six innings changed all that. Bauer ironed out his control as this tussle unfolded, and by finding a good hard snap on his curveball, Bauer was able to change speeds on the Horned Frogs' batting order. Bauer used a mix of power and speed to pound the strike zone early and then get TCU hitters to chase pitches late in the count. By the time his day was done, Bauer (12-3) had pitched eight strong innings, throwing 135 pitches in a wonderful workhorse effort. Starting pitching is the biggest factor in a one-game baseball playoff, and Bauer - following his early wobbles - proved worthy of the moment in Omaha.

The Bruins' hitters also deserved a lot of credit for pushing UCLA into the CWS finals. While Bauer's arm was falling off in the first two frames, UCLA hitters made three TCU pitchers (yes, three) throw over 60 pitches in the opening two innings. Every batter worked the count and waited out a Horned Frog pitcher for a hittable fastball in the strike zone. This patience at the plate produced a three-run homer from Blair Dunlap and an RBI double from Jeff Gelalich which enabled the Bruins to bust out to a five-run first and a 6-1 lead after two. UCLA's plate discipline was so good that TCU starter Kyle Winkler (12-3) didn't get a single out. The Bruins were so unerringly smart at the plate that they forced the Frogs to send in two relievers - Paul Gerrish and Trent Appleby - in the first two innings. As the game continued, UCLA hitters continued to contest every at-bat, and that's why the Pac-10 powerhouse plated two runs apiece in the sixth and seventh stanzas to put this contest into the deep freeze. In every respect, manager John Savage's crew was in form and on song.

TCU just couldn't match the high level of quality displayed by the lads from Los Angeles.

The Horned Frogs' pitching woes were evident - three hurlers in the first two innings can never be regarded as a good sign. TCU also failed to create a multi-run inning; Frog hitters couldn't catch up to Bauer's heat with runners in scoring position with two outs. TCU fielders also struggled, as shortstop Tyler Featherston badly missed a throw to home plate that would have cut down a UCLA runner. While the men from the Mountain West were throwing the ball around the place, UCLA threw the ball with precision. The result was a blowout, and that's the tenuous nature of one-game do-or-die baseball.

Don't knock TCU - many great baseball bunches will bow out of tournaments because they lack their best on one snake-bitten day at the office. Credit UCLA for finding a winning formula. If the Bruins can bottle up Saturday's success and contain it for two more games next week, you'll be able to call them the 2010 champions of Division I collegiate baseball.

College World Series - Bracket 1 Final - UCLA vs TCU