San Diego sports broadcasting icon Cookie “Chainsaw” Randolph has agreed to join 619 Sports as a minority owner, columnist and contributor.  Randolph, the widely self-proclaimed “Dean of American Sportscasters”, will begin by writing a weekly column for 619Sports.Net.

“We couldn’t be happier to welcome Chainsaw to 619 Sports,” said company co-founder and president Craig Elsten, “Cookie’s wit and wisdom will be a tremendous addition to our website.  We look at the addition of Chainsaw to our team as another step toward 619 Sports becoming the premier online destination for San Diego sports talk and sports writing.”

Randolph spent 20 years as part of the “Dave, Shelley and Chainsaw” program on 101.5 KGB-FM, the top-rated and wildly popular morning radio show.  While the DSC is currently in between radio gigs, Randolph has been itching to continue to contribute to the San Diego sports scene.

“Thank you, President Obama!” said Chainsaw, “Thanks to an obscure clause in ‘Cash for Clunkers’, Craig and Chris get a tax credit for donating a portion of their website to the unemployed.  I’m happy to take advantage of this sports welfare.”

“Chainsaw is one of the funniest, most entertaining sports personalities I’ve ever listened to in San Diego,” said company co-founder and vice president Chris Ello,  “It’s going to be a lot of fun to work with him and I can’t wait!”

Cookie “Chainsaw” Randolph will be officially introduced as a member of the 619 Sports team on Tuesday night, April 13^th, at the Tilted Kilt downtown in San Diego.  619 Sports will be hosting a “tweetup” from 6:30-8:30pm, open to the public.

We will be announcing multiple ways to get free VIP tickets for this exciting tweetup, within hours on 619 Sports, so check back!

Will SDSU find its way into the NCAA Tournament this year?  College basketball Hall of Fame writer Frank Burlison says yes!  Burlison, longtime writer for the Long Beach Press Telegram and a man who is close with every coach and program in Southern California, joins 619 Sports to talk about each of our local teams.

Can the Mountain West get four teams into the NCAAs while the mighty Pac 10 gets just one?  Will Kawhi Leonard be a one-and-done player, off to the NBA (at 8:47)?  And what about Bill Grier (at 13:15) and Chris Carlson (at 17:15), two quality coaches who are struggling this year at USD and UCSD respectively?  Burlison covers it all with Craig in this college hoops podcast!

Download audio file (021610-frank-burlison.mp3)

Follow Frank Burlison on Twitter

Frank’s College Hoops Blog

It came down to the final day.  In the final day, it came down to the last game.  But when the dust had settled and all ten results were in from the pro and college games we asked you to pick for our 619 Sports Holiday Bowl Pick’em Contest, there were two winners standing alone.

Congrats to Chuck D and TruAztec, the winners of our pick’em contest!  Chuck made the bold move to split away from the pack on Tuesday and pick UCLA and Wisconsin, taking a shot at solo glory over the chance to be pulled from a tiebreaker random drawing.  The gamble worked, and Chuck finished in a clear first place with a 7-3 record.

TruAztec finished 6-4, and nobody else who participated managed to fashion a better-than-.500 record.  I guess I chose some tough games to predict!  In particular, UCLA dumping Temple was a major shift in the game.

Guys, the tickets are waiting for you tonight at will call…enjoy the Holiday Bowl, courtesy of your prognosticating ability, the good people in the Holiday Bowl front office, and 619Sports.Net!

When circumstances change, contests change.

Last week’s Poinsettia Bowl Pick’em contest was a great success with 50 tickets overall distributed to 619 Sports readers & listeners.  We were all set to roll the contest forward…then we found out that we have just FOUR tickets to give away to the SOLD OUT Pacific Life Holiday Bowl on December 30th.

Hey, that’s still two pairs of tickets to see the AP College Football Player of the Year Ndamukong Suh and the 22nd ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers against the 20th ranked Arizona Wildcats at Qualcomm Stadium on Wednesday night!

Want to get in on the action?  You’re going to need to visit 619Sports.Net each of the next four days, and you’re going to need to show some prognosticating savvy picking college and pro football games!

Starting with two of today’s three college football bowl games, and continuing through Tuesday night, 619 Sports will present you with 10 different opportunities to pick games.  The two people who come up with the highest number of correct picks will be going to the Holiday Bowl!  In case of a tie I will randomly select the winners from the available pool of contestants with the same number of correct picks.

After the jump, take a look at the 10 games you’ll be picking!

TODAY

• Meineke Car Care Bowl: #17 Pittsburgh (9-3) vs. North Carolina (8-4)
• Emerald Bowl: USC (8-4) vs. Boston College (8-4)

SUNDAY

• Music City Bowl: Clemson (8-5) vs. Kentucky (7-5)
• NFL: Houston (7-7) at Miami (7-7)
• NFL: Baltimore (8-6) at Pittsburgh (7-7)
• NFL: Denver (8-6) at Philadelphia (10-4)

MONDAY

• Independence Bowl: Georgia (7-5) vs. Texas A&M (6-6)
• NFL: Minnesota (11-3) at Chicago (5-9)

TUESDAY

• Eagle Bank Bowl: UCLA (6-6) vs. Temple (9-3)
• Champs Sports Bowl: #15 Miami (9-3) vs. #25 Wisconsin (9-3)

IMPORTANT!  IMPORTANT! Each day, you must submit your picks in the comments section of that day’s contest post, which will always be on the front page of 619Sports.Net.  If you put all 10 picks in this comments section below, ONLY TODAY’S WILL COUNT! Got it?  Yes, we are trying to train you to visit the site every day!

Any pick submitted after the kickoff of a given game will be invalid.

MAKE SURE when you sign up for our comments section that you use a VALID e-mail address, as that is the way we will contact our winners.  On the day of the Holiday Bowl, winners will need to arrange to physically pick up the tickets from Craig Elsten.

OK, that’s it for rules.  Today’s games are just hours away from kicking off as I publish, so get to it and GOOD LUCK from 619Sports.Net!

Let's Go To The Series!

A nip-and-tuck battle in the NCAA Division II West Regional Championship was blown wide open, as Tim Mort’s 3-run double keyed an 8-run 9th for UCSD, leading the Tritons over Sonoma State 12-4 to claim UC San Diego’s first-ever berth in the College World Series.   Robert Sedin broke a 4-4 9th inning tie with an RBI double, and Mort’s bases-clearing double sent the Tritons on their way to Cary, North Carolina.  By the time the 9th inning had ended, UCSD had sent 13 batters to the plate.  

Until the 9th, it was a hotly contested game between two CCAA rivals.  The Sonoma State Seawolves, seeking a return trip to the College World Series, battled from behind three seperate times to tie the game or take the lead.  In the first, a Garrett Imeson RBI groundout for UCSD was matched by Sonoma’s Ryan Stevens, who singled home Kris Haycock to tie the game at one.  The Tritons’ Brandon Gregorich launched a solo homer in the top of the 4th to put UCSD ahead 2-1, matched in the bottom of the inning again when the Seawolves’ Brian Wright took a Kirby St. John pitch over the right-field fence to tie the game at two.

Next, it was UCSD’s turn to battle from behind.  Sonoma State gained a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 6th on an Ian Bridges RBI grounder, but in the top of the 7th, Tritons’ all-time homerun leader Matt Cantele made his prescence felt with a two-run blast to deep right field, plating Gregorich in front of him to make it 4-3 UC San Diego.

Back came the Seawolves in the bottom of the inning, chasing reliever Ryland McFayden from the game by placing runners at the corners with one out.  Tritons’ ace starter Tim Shibuya, who was roughed up in Thursday’s regional opener, came on for his first relief appearance of the season, but was greeted by a Joe Slater RBI single to right, tying the game at four.  In a key hidden play within the game, Mort’s throw from right field after the single nailed SSU second baseman Nick Ramos trying to advance to third, snuffing out a potential go-ahead rally.  Shibuya (W, 8-4) was untouchable from there, closing out the game with 2.2 scoreless innings of work.  

The game remained tied until the 9th, when UCSD sandwiched a hit batsmen inside seven straight hits to blow the contest wide open.  Shibuya struck out Danny Pignataro to end the game and ignite the UCSD dogpile on the pitchers’ mound.  UCSD improves to 39-13 on the season, and carries the #2 ranking in the nation into the College World Series, which will get underway on Saturday, May 23rd in Cary, North Carolina.

– Elsten

Three outs from claiming their first-ever trip to the NCAA Division II College World Series, UCSD was instead pushed into a one-game winner-take-all matchup for the NCAA West Regional.  Sonoma State’s Kris Haycock launched a two-run homer off Tritons’ closer Guido Knudsen in the top of the 9th, lifting the Seawolves to a 4-3 victory that forced tomorrow’s championship game.  

Before the 9th, the story of the game was junior right-hander Matt Rossman, who was pitching for the first time in three weeks.  Rossman was hit by a line drive on his jaw three weeks ago and had to have the jaw wired shut.  Showing grit just to stick that wired chin in the path of danger once again, Rossman allowed just three hits over eight innings, walking one and striking out three.  A two-run homer allowed to Sonoma’s Ian Bridges in the 4th was the only ding on Rossman for the day.

“It felt great to be back on the field,” Rossman told UCSD’s Mark Oshidari after the game, “I felt stronger as the game went on.”

The Tritons took the lead in the 6th on Robert Sedin’s game-tying RBI single and Kellen Lee’s go-ahead RBI single up the middle.  UCSD went on to load the bases in the inning and threatened to break the game open, but all-conference shortstop Vance Albitz grounded into a fielder’s choice to leave the game a one-run affair.  The Tritons would strand runners at the corners with one out in the 8th and left ten runners on base for the game.

Still, with Rossman mowing down the Seawolves and closer Guido Knudsen ready to go in the 9th, it looked like UCSD’s pitching would be enough to carry the Tritons to Cary, North Carolina, site of the D-II College World Series.  The Seawolves rewrote the script quickly in the top of the 9th, though, as Joe Slater singled to open the 9th and Kris Haycock drove him home with a two-run blast over the left-field fence at Volcanoes Stadium.  

At the CCAA conference tournament in Palm Springs last weekend, Sonoma rallied off Knudsen to take the lead only to see UCSD come right back for two runs to win it in the bottom of the 9th.  In Oregon this weekend, the Tritons tried again, as Josh Tanner and Garrett Imeson reached with two outs.  However, Seawolves closer Troy Brown struck out Brandon Gregorich to end the game and force Sunday’s championship game.

The loss was the first for UCSD throughout this postseason, but sets them in a precarious place: one more loss tomorrow would end their season on the doorstep of the College World Series.   The game will be played at 12pm Sunday at Volcanoes Stadium in Keyzer, Oregon.

– Elsten

One local college baseball team is firing on all cylinders and playing their best baseball of the year when it counts the most.  In Keizer, Oregon, site of the NCAA Division II West Regional, UCSD is one win away from claiming its first-ever trip to the College World Series.  Friday night at Volcanoes Stadium, the Tritons routed the host team Western Oregon with an 18-3 drubbing that placed UCSD in the regional championship game later on Saturday.  UCSD will play against the winner of an earlier game between WOU and Sonoma State, and would have to lose both on Saturday night and Sunday to be denied a CWS berth.  

The Tritons broke open Friday’s game after both teams posted two runs in the first three innings.  Matt Cantele, UCSD’s all-time homerun leader, broke the 2-2 tie with a two-run homer in the 4th.  Kellen Lee, the Palomar transfer who played alongside SDSU’s Mitch Blackburn last year, then continued his stellar postseason hitting with an opposite-field homerun, his team-leading 12th of the year.  Lee finished the game 3-for-5 with two doubles, a homer, and 4 RBI.  

The barrage was on as UCSD then plated four more in the 5th, 3 in the 6th, 1 in the 7th and four again in the 8th.  Table-setters Vance Albitz and Josh Tanner each delivered four hits and combined to score five runs.  Second baseman Garrett Imeson, the Tritons’ all-time hits leader, launched a three-run homer and drove in four.  Right fielder Tim Mort added two hits, two RBI and three runs scored, as UCSD went 12-for-20 with runners in scoring position, 11-for-18 with two outs, and matched their season-high with 24 hits overall.  

All of this was more than enough support for Trevor Decker.  The red-headed right-hander from Redding scattered 13 hits over seven innings, walking none and allowing just one earned run, to improve to a team-best 9-2 on the season.  Decker is UCSD’s all-time wins leader and has shined in the postseason, going 2-0 in 16 IP allowing just 2 earned runs.  

Ranked 2nd in the nation, the Tritons are now just one win away from booking a trip to Cary, North Carolina for the Division II College World Series, which gets started on Saturday, May 23rd at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.

– Elsten

So far in this postseason, the UCSD Tritons have had the magic touch.  When they have needed a big play, they’ve made it.  When they’ve needed a big hit, someone has stepped up and delivered.  And when a pitcher falters, the offense is there to pick him up and carry the team to victory.  Thursday at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Oregon, the trend continued.  The Tritons came back from a 5-run 7th inning deficit to beat Cal State Dominguez Hills 11-10 and win the opener of the NCAA Divison II West Regional.  

Tim Shibuya, the UCSD ace who entered the regional as a 7-game winner with an ERA under 2, was touched up for six runs in 4 1/3 innings, his shortest start of the year.  At 6-5 in the 7th, CSUDH broke out against the Tritons’ reliever Sean Greer for a four-run inning, seemingly putting the game out of reach.  But UCSD immediately got those runs back, with Vance Albitz’s 2-run double keying a four-run inning to make it 10-9.

After Ryland McFayden pitched a perfect 8th, UCSD loaded the bases with nobody out on singles by Evan Kehoe and Robert Sedin and a walk by Matt Cantele.  There are many ways to score two runs in this situation, and the Tritons picked one of the more unusual paths.  A one-out sac fly by pinch-hitter Kyle Saul scored pinch-runner Nick Burke, and a passed ball brought home Sedin with the go-ahead run.  

Guido Knudsen struck out two in a perfect 9th for his 10th save of the season, and the Tritons were into the winners’ bracket in the NCAA Regional.  They will now face the host Western Oregon in a 6pm Friday matchup, with the winner advancing to the championship game.  

NOTES: Josh Tanner led the 13-hit Triton attack with a 3-for-5 performance and 2 RBI.  Kehoe added three hits and 2 RBI, and Tanner Lee continued his offensive production with two hits and an RBI.  Once again, UCSD played error-free ball, while taking advantage of two errors and three unearned runs from the Toros.

– Elsten

PALM SPRINGS, CA–It’s not often, on a 103-degree day without a cloud in the sky, that you see a baseball game delayed, but that’s what happened here Thursday at Palm Springs Stadium.  A pair of cherry-picker cranes that were in center field (presumably, to hang or drop an advertising banner) broke down prior to the CCAA Conference Tournament opener between top-seed UC San Diego and Cal State Dominguez Hills, leading to an hour delay as a flatbed tow truck was called to the scene.  Once the action began, the Tritons started picking it on the field, making several dazzling defensive plays on route to a 2-1 victory which propelled them into the tournament semi-finals.

The game featured two all-CCAA starting pitchers in UCSD right-hander Tim Shibuya (6-4, 1.85 ERA) and CSUDH left-hander Kody Kurowski (7-3, 2.89).  Shibuya showed why he is a promising sophomore staff ace, working quickly and using both sides of the plate effectively with a fastball, slider and change.  He was helped out repeatedly by his defense, with shortstop Vance Albitz making several outstanding throws from deep short. Second baseman Garrett Imeson and right-fielder Tim Mort also made diving stops to prevent Toro hits.

Kurowski also pitched well, but was touched up for two soft runs in the 2nd inning.  UCSD first baseman Brandon Gregorich led off with a flare single to right.  Mort tried to bunt him to second, and Kurowski threw for the lead runner, but his throw to second was not in time (and skittered into center field).  Tritons’ catcher Kellen Lee then laid down a perfect bunt inside the third-base line to load the bases with nobody out.  A sac fly by #9 hitter Robert Sedin scored the game’s first run, and an Albitz RBI single made it 2-0 UCSD.  

That was it for the Tritons’ offense, though, and UCSD stranded a runner at third base in each of the last four innings, keeping CSUDH in the game.  Toros’ all-conference slugger Jon Alia then took advantage of the cozy conditions at scorching-hot Palm Springs Stadium to make it a one-run game.  Alia, the conference Player Of The Year, lofted a lazy fly ball to center leading off the 6th, but with dead-center field pegged at just 375 feet away(!), that lazy fly ball floated over the fence for Alia’s 18th homerun of the season, making it 2-1.  

Shibuya settled down after the homerun, and UCSD tried to answer back in the bottom of the 6th.  Evan Kehoe led off with a double, but failed to get a good jump on Gregorich’s double to the right-field wall, and Toros’ outfielder Andrew Baslow threw out Kehoe at home from the base of the right-field fence to keep the game a one-run affair.

The final CSUDH threat came in the 8th, when Baslow led off with a single and was wild-pitched to second base.  With the dangerous Alia at the plate, UCSD head coach Dan O’Brien called on his closer Guido Knudsen. The right-hander fell behind Alia 3-0 before coming back to strike him out on three straight fastballs.  Knudsen allowed a single in the 9th but nothing else, recording six outs for his 9th save of the season.

The Tritons will now play Sonoma State at 3pm on Friday, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s CCAA Championship Game.  The loser will have to play an elimination game at 7pm today, against the winner between the 11am loser’s bracket game between CSULA and CSUDH.  You can follow the action with my live play-by-play call starting at 3pm today on ucsdtritons.com.

– Elsten

I’m about to start a five-day run of college baseball spanning two teams, two cities, and up to five opponents.  Later this morning I’m making the drive out to Palm Springs for UCSD’s conference tournament opener against CSU Dominguez Hills.  I’ll be doing the play-by-play for their website at www.ucsdtritons.com.  The game starts at 3pm if you’d like to check out the action. 

UCSD (33-12, 27-9 CCAA) has had a great year and comes into this weekend ranked as the #1 team in the West in Division II and the 4th ranked team in the nation.  Dan O’Brien is the CCAA Coach of the year, and eight of their players were named all-conference yesterday.  I’ve spoken with the coach a number of times this year for Triton Talk and it’s going to be fun to watch them play.  

If the Tritons win today, then they play their semi-final game at 3pm on Friday.  If they lose today they play a losers bracket elimination game at 11am on Friday.  If they won there, or lost the 3pm game, they would play a 7pm game the same day, also elimination.  Then the championship is on Saturday.

– Elsten