Joey Rickard gets ready to high-five Alex Mejia as he scores the go-ahead run in the 12th. Photo by Matt Ryerson-US PRESSWIRE

The one question about the Arizona Wildcats baseball team: The bullpen.

No one dominant emerged. This season’s pitching staff is the reverse of Andy Lopez’s last great team. The 2008 squad had Daniel Schlereth, Ryan Perry and Jason Stoffel in the back end, and Lopez learned hard on those guys, able to get multiple innings from each to finish games.

That trio combined to throw 176 1/3 innings in 61 games.

This season, Lopez is riding his starters as long as he can. The not-so Big Three relieving crew of Tyler Crawford, Mathew Troupe and Stephen Manthei have combined for only 107 1/3 innings, also in 61 games.

But two of them came up huge Friday night in the first round of the College World Series.

Crawford and Troupe — a pair of freshman — combined to throw 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, successfully holding down the fort while Arizona finally solved Florida State’s All-American closer Robert Benincasa in his fourth inning of work.

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Fred Evander got to sit in on the biggest moment of Andy Lopez's coaching career, after Pepperdine won the 1992 national title. Photo courtesy of Pepperdine athletics.

Fred Evander waited at the gate at the airport for coach Andy Lopez and the Pepperdine baseball team. He was 11. It was 1992.

The Waves were arriving for the College World Series in Omaha, and the boy who had become their biggest fan — and a bit of an inspiration — was waiting at Eppley Airfield.

“Hey, guys!” Lopez shouted as he spotted the boy. “This is Fred!”

Players and coaches converged on Fred. Someone planted a Pepperdine hat on his head. He got to ride on the team bus to the hotel.

According to a newspaper story from 20 years ago, an assistant coach told Fred: “Yours was the first face we wanted to see when we got to Omaha.”

Twenty years. It’s been 20 years since Lopez steered that Pepperdine team to a national title, and he’s trying to lead the Arizona Wildcats to one this season. UA begins play in the College World Series on Friday night against Florida State.

“I never once walked away, saying, ‘This is easy,’” Lopez said about winning the championship. “You’re really thankful when you get to that position. If you’re fortunate enough to win it, you’re very thankful.”

Twenty years. It’s been 20 years since Fred Evander was that baseball-obsessed boy who managed to befriend an entire team and make a memory for a lifetime.

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Andy Lopez was 13-15 against Florida State's Mike Martin while the head coach at Florida. Photo by Anthony Gimino, TucsonCitizen.com

Arizona Wildcats coach Andy Lopez will face an old rival in the first round of the College World Series — at least, most people think his opponent should be a rival.

But Florida State coach Mike Martin is actually what Lopez calls an “extremely close” friend.

And Lopez’ seven years coaching at state rival Florida from 1995 to 2001 did nothing to change that friendship, which includes sharing a deep Christian faith.

“We were friends before I took the Florida job, and then I took the Florida job … and we were still friends,” said Lopez, whose UA team will take on the Seminoles on Friday in Omaha, starting at 6 p.m. Tucson time.

“Before the games, we would be talking, laughing and giving each other a hug.”

Not that everybody appreciated the civility.

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(NOTE: Here is a Florida State baseball story from our Gannett partner, the Tallahassee Democrat, which runs nolesports.com. The Seminoles will take on Arizona in the first round of the College World Series on Friday at 6 p.m. Tucson time.)

Florida State outfielder Josh Delph is congratulated at home after scoring against Stanford last weekend at a Super Regional. Photo by Melina Vastola-US PRESSWIRE

By Jim Henry
Democrat assistant sports editor

Devon Travis isn’t a player who needs to check the lineup card.

Florida State’s junior second baseman has started 62 of 63 games this season and has hit in the No. 2 slot behind Sherman Johnson in 60 games. Yet, Travis does review the lineup prior to each game to see what coach Mike Martin has up his sleeve.

FSU’s batting order — specifically the bottom third — has been a guessing game among players.
Martin has employed 30 different combinations at the No. 7 through No. 9 slots heading into the College World Series. The No. 3 national seeded Seminoles (48-15) meet Arizona (43-17) in an opening-round game on Friday.

“It’s interesting because coach Martin loves tweaking things — he’s not afraid to put a guy into the lineup even if he hasn’t hit in three weeks,” Travis said.

“Every time you look at the lineup you are like, ‘That’s different. That’s different.’ But it works. It’s actually pretty cool.”

FSU’s latest hero at the bottom of the lineup is freshman Josh Delph, a left-handed hitter from Bartow. Delph was expected to play a reserve role this season, but his sharp eye and smooth stroke helped him work his way into the lineup in right field.

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Only a few minutes after Arizona Wildcats sophomore Konner Wade pitched the game of his life last Saturday, coach Andy Lopez brought up one of Wade’s worst performances.

Something about throwing 20 balls in 22 pitches in an outing earlier this season.

That would have been a mid-week relief appearance against New Mexico State on March 21. The strike zone might as well have been a pinhole, as Wade walked four and hit two batters, allowing four runs in one inning.

And this was the same guy who pitched a complete game — with no walks — to clinch last weekend’s Super Regional against St. John’s.

“It’s exactly what you hope for from your children — that they get through the tough times; they grow,” Lopez said.

“That they understand adversity. That they understand that life isn’t fair, and that whoever told you that lied to you. because it’s not fair. It’s a grind, it’s a grind, it’s a grind.”

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Florida State celebrates winning a Super Regional last weekend. Photo by Melina Vastola-US PRESSWIRE

(NOTE: Here is a Florida State baseball story from our Gannett partner, the Tallahassee Democrat, which runs nolesports.com. The Seminoles will take on Arizona in the first round of the College World Series on Friday at 6 p.m. Tucson time.)

By Corey Clark

He hasn’t come out and actually said the words.

But you get the feeling that out of the 15 Florida State teams he has taken to the College World Series, the 2012 version just might be Mike Martin’s favorite.

Maybe because unlike many of his previous clubs, this one didn’t have high preseason expectations placed on it. The Seminoles were ranked 20th in the preseason by Baseball America.

They lost their first-round ace (Sean Gilmartin), All-ACC closer (Daniel Bennett), All-American two-way player (Mike McGee) and three-year starting catcher (Rafael Lopez).

There were no spots in the starting rotation that were known before the year began.

Two wound up being taken by freshmen.

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This is what awaits Arizona later this week -- TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha. Photo by Bruce Thorson-US PRESSWIRE

The Arizona Wildcats will play Florida State in their opening game of the College World Series, either Friday or Saturday.

The Seminoles (48-15) crushed Stanford in a sweep of a Super Regional in Tallahassee, winning 17-1 and 18-7 to advance to their third World Series in the past five years. FSU was the No. 3 overall seed in the postseason this year.

“They are obviously a great team. We just couldn’t stay with them,” Stanford coach Mark Marquess said in his postgame press conference Sunday. “They did a fantastic job. They’re a great team. … We didn’t slow them down at all.”

The game times and days are expected to be announced Monday night after the conclusion of all the Super Regional action. There will be two first-round games on Friday and two more on Saturday (start times both days are 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tucson time).

For Arizona fans who might be more familiar with the Women’s College World Series, there is a difference in how the double-elimination championship bracket is set up in baseball.

In softball, there is a crossover between the two sides of the bracket. In baseball, there is no crossover; it’s two four-team brackets in double elimination, with the winners of each side meeting in a three-game championship series. UCLA will play Stony Brook in the other half of the Arizona-FSU bracket.

Florida State coaching legend Mike Martin is in his 33rd season with the Seminoles, which means he has plenty of experience coaching against Arizona’s Andy Lopez, who was the head coach at Florida from 1995 to 2001.

Lopez was 13-15 against Florida State while serving at Florida, including a pair of games at the 1996 World Series. The Gators won both, reaching the semifinals in Lopez’s second season rebuilding the program.

“In all honesty, I don’t see how Andy Lopez did what he did in two years,” Martin was quoted in an AP story after being eliminated by Florida in 1996. “It’s unbelievable. That’s one of the major accomplishments in college baseball. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”

Arizona is 6-5 all-time against Florida State, with the teams last meeting in 1991, when the Cats took two in a three-game series in Tucson.

The programs have met five times at the College World Series. The Cats won a pair of games against FSU at the 1986 CWS, taking the championship game 10-2.

Arizona also beat the ‘Noles en route to the 1980 title, winning 5-3 in an early elimination game.

Florida State won 4-0 in the opening game in the 1970 CWS. Arizona won the schools’ first-ever meeting 4-3 at the 1963 College World Series.

Here is a postgame video from the Arizona athletic department, with on-field interviews and footage of the celebration after clinching the Super Regional — coach Andy Lopez gets the ice water shower.

Lopez addresses the team on the field, reminding his players that, “It’s never about you … it’s about the program.” He talks later in an interview about playing at Hi Corbett this season. “We definitely have a hometown advantage,” he says.

Take a look …

Andy Lopez is heading to his fifth CWS as a coach. Photo by Anthony Gimino, TucsonCitizen.com

It’s not easy to handicap the College World Series. It’s baseball. It’s double-elimination. Everything you think you know can be wrecked by the variance of small sample sizes.

Arizona Wildcats coach Andy Lopez, who is taking his fifth team to Omaha, won it all with Pepperdine in 1992 when he was seeded seventh in the eight-team field.

His 1998 Florida team was seeded No. 1 … and promptly went home after losing its first two games.

So, who knows what will happen?

Well, Lopez knows he likes the Cats’ chances for two reasons.

“One, they like to compete,” he said. “And, two, they like to compete.”

Beyond that … play ball.

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The Arizona Wildcats baseball team, which won a Super Regional on Saturday against St. John’s, will be making its 16th appearance in the College World Series.

Arizona will open either Friday or Saturday against the winner of the Florida State-Stanford Super Regional.

Arizona has won three national titles — in 1976, 1980 and 1986, all under coach Jerry Kindall — and has been a runner-up three times (1956, 1959 and 1963).

This will be UA’s second appearance in the CWS under coach Andy Lopez, in his 11th season. That came in 2004, when the Wildcats lost their opener to Georgia 8-7, beat Arkansas 7-2 and then lost again to Georgia 3-1.

Entering this year, the Cats’ 15 CWS appearances were tied with LSU for the ninth-most all-time.

The top 10 list heading into this season:

1. Texas (34 appearances)
2. Miami (23)
3. Arizona State (22)
4. USC (21)
5. Florida State (20)
6. Oklahoma State (19)
T-7. Stanford (16)
T-7. Cal State Fullerton (16)
T-9. Arizona (15)
T-9. LSU (15)

Arizona has been to the College World Series in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1985, 1986 and 2004.