MLB ROUNDUP: ROOKIE GAVIN STONE, DODGERS BLANK WHITE SOX
Rookie Gavin Stone pitched a four-hit, complete-game shutout and Shohei Ohtani smacked his National League-best 25th home run as the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 4-0 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.
Stone stymied the White Sox on a career night. He never had pitched more than seven innings in 18 previous starts but proved to get stronger as the game progressed. Stone (9-2) didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven to match his career high. He set down 10 and nine straight White Sox during separate stretches as the Dodgers ran their winning streak to four games.
Chicago went 0-for-17 with runners in scoring position during the series, getting outscored 11-3. The White Sox have lost five home games in a row and seven of eight overall.
Ohtani set a franchise record by driving in at least one run for a 10th successive game. He snapped a tie with four other Dodgers who collected RBIs in nine straight games.
Mariners 5, Rays 2
Cal Raleigh smashed a two-out, three-run homer in the sixth inning as visiting Seattle closed out a disappointing nine-game road swing (3-6) with a win over Tampa Bay.
Raleigh’s 14th homer of the season, walloped 422 feet off reliever Shawn Armstrong (2-2), put Seattle out front for good, 3-1.
George Kirby (7-5) turned in an outstanding 87-pitch start. The right-hander lasted six innings and yielded one run on a fluky infield single. He fanned seven without a walk.
Pirates 6, Reds 1
Luis Ortiz pitched six solid innings in his first start of the season, and Rowdy Tellez and Andrew McCutchen each homered to help Pittsburgh pull away for a win over host Cincinnati.
Jason Delay also drove in two runs to help the Pirates take the three-game series.
Ortiz (4-2) made his first start since Sept. 28, 2023, and gave up just one run on four hits while striking out seven and issuing no walks. Graham Ashcraft (4-4) was saddled with the loss, making his first start for the Reds since being recalled from Triple-A.
Orioles 4, Guardians 2
Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson, Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn homered to overcome a head-turning debut from Cleveland rookie Jhonkensy Noel as the Orioles snapped a season-worst, five-game losing streak.
Noel homered in his first big-league at-bat and teammate Gabriel Arias also went deep, but the Guardians had their seven-game winning streak end as they failed to complete a three-game series sweep. Noel, a 22-year-old first baseman, ended up 1-for-4, making the game’s last out with his second strikeout of the night. Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco allowed two runs on six hits across five innings with two walks and three strikeouts.
Baltimore starter Grayson Rodriguez held the Guardians to two runs and five hits in seven innings. Rodriguez (9-3), who struck out four without issuing a walk, recorded a victory for the fourth time in his last five starts.
Phillies 6, Tigers 2
Brandon Marsh had four hits, including a two-run homer, and drove in four runs as visiting Philadelphia defeated Detroit.
Bryson Stott scored three runs for the Phillies, who took two games in the three-game series. Bryce Harper extended his hitting streak to 11 with a ninth-inning single. Spencer Turnbull, facing his former team for the first time, left early due to shoulder soreness.
Matt Vierling hit a solo homer and a double while scoring both runs for the Tigers. Andy Ibanez added an RBI single. Keider Montero (0-2), elevated from Triple-A Toledo earlier in the day, gave up five runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Braves 6, Cardinals 2 (Game 1)
Jarred Kelenic went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and RBI single to drive visiting Atlanta past St. Louis in the first half of a split doubleheader.
Zack Short reached base three times and drove in two runs for the Braves, who have won nine of their last 12 games.
Braves starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez (6-2) allowed two runs on four hits and four walks in five innings. Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Gibson (5-3) needed 87 pitches to get 12 outs, allowing four runs on four hits and a season-high five walks in four innings.
Cardinals 4, Braves 1 (Game 2)
Matthew Liberatore blanked visiting Atlanta for six innings on two hits as St. Louis won the second half of a split doubleheader.
Alec Burleson hit two doubles and drove in two runs as the Cardinals won for the 10th time in 14 games.
Atlanta starting pitcher Bryce Elder (1-3) allowed two runs on four hits in six innings while striking out four and walking none. The Braves lost for just the fourth time in 13 games.
Astros 7, Rockies 1
Spencer Arrighetti fanned a career-high 10 over seven shutout innings and Houston won its seventh straight game, beating visiting Colorado.
Arrighetti (4-6), who entered the game with an ERA of 6.36, enjoyed the longest outing of his major league career. He gave up just three hits and didn’t issue a walk.
Jose Altuve and Yainer Diaz both delivered a pair of RBIs and Jeremy Pena added two hits and an RBI for Houston. Brenton Doyle drove in Colorado’s run with a sacrifice fly.
Royals 5, Marlins 1
Salvador Perez’s RBI double highlighted a late rally as Kansas City rebounded for a victory over visiting Miami to win the rubber game of the three-game series.
Trailing 1-0 with two in the eighth, the Royals erupted for five straight hits against Huascar Brazoban (0-1), including a triple by Bobby Witt Jr.
Kansas City starter Brady Singer allowed just one hit after the second inning, retiring the final 11 batters he faced in 7 1/3 innings. Angel Zerpa (1-0) earned the win.
Brewers 6, Rangers 5 (10 innings)
Andruw Monasterio hit a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 10th, lifting Milwaukee over visiting Texas.
Christian Yelich and Sal Frelick each finished with three hits while Jake Bauers hit a third-inning grand slam for the Brewers, who won their fourth straight game.
Nathaniel Lowe went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs for Texas, which was swept in the three-game series.
Angels 5, Athletics 2
Zach Neto’s three-run double highlighted a five-run sixth inning, propelling Los Angeles over Oakland in Anaheim, Calif., completing a three-game sweep.
The Angels went with a bullpen game to fill the spot of Patrick Sandoval, who was lost for the season with a major elbow injury. Five Angels pitchers combined to give up two runs on seven hits and five walks. Mike Moore (4-2) got the win with one scoreless inning.
Angels starter Joey Estes (2-3) allowed two runs on three hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out eight and made 87 pitches.
Padres 8, Nationals 5
Dylan Cease allowed just one hit over seven shutout innings while battery mate Kyle Higashioka homered twice and knocked in six runs as San Diego polished off a three-game sweep of visiting Washington.
Cease (7-6) walked two and fanned nine, throwing 65 of his 102 pitches for strikes. The only hit he allowed was a two-out single by Nick Senzel in the top of the fifth inning.
Higashioka lined a two-run shot in the second and added his first career grand slam in the eighth. The Nationals erupted for five runs in the ninth on two-run doubles by Lane Thomas and Luis Garcia, plus an RBI single by Harold Ramirez. They had the tying run on deck before Senzel grounded into a game-ending double play.
Red Sox, Blue Jays (suspended)
Boston’s home game against Toronto was suspended in the second inning due to a severe rainstorm.
The game will resume on Aug. 26 at 2:05 p.m. as part of a split-admission doubleheader, beginning with one out in the top of the second inning. The teams will play their originally scheduled contest at 7:10 p.m.
Neither team recorded a hit in the first 1 1/3 innings of the game, though starting pitchers Yariel Rodriguez of the Blue Jays and Kutter Crawford of the Red Sox combined to issue three walks.
FINAL USA TODAY SPORTS TOP 25 BASEBALL COACHES POLL
The USA TODAY Sports Top 25 baseball poll, with team’s RECORDS THROUGH END OF SEASON in parentheses, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last week’s poll and first-place votes received.
| Rank | School (record) | Record | Points | Last week’s rank | First-place votes |
| 1 | Tennessee | 60-13 | 775 | 1 | 31 |
| 2 | Texas A&M | 53-15 | 744 | 3 | 0 |
| 3 | Kentucky | 46-16 | 687 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | Florida State | 49-17 | 677 | 8 | 0 |
| 5 | North Carolina | 48-16 | 649 | 5 | 0 |
| 6 | Florida | 36-30 | 589 | NR | 0 |
| 7 | Virginia | 46-17 | 580 | 13 | 0 |
| 8 | North Carolina State | 38-23 | 571 | 15 | 0 |
| 9 | Clemson | 44-16 | 502 | 6 | 0 |
| 10 | Georgia | 43-17 | 479 | 9 | 0 |
| 11 | Oregon State | 45-16 | 462 | 7 | 0 |
| 12 | Arkansas | 44-16 | 409 | 4 | 0 |
| 13 | Oregon | 40-20 | 281 | NR | 0 |
| 14 | Oklahoma State | 42-19 | 273 | 14 | 0 |
| 15 | Oklahoma | 40-21 | 264 | 11 | 0 |
| 16 | East Carolina | 46-17 | 252 | 12 | 0 |
| 17 | West Virginia | 36-24 | 238 | NR | 0 |
| 18 | Duke | 40-20 | 223 | 10 | 0 |
| 19 | Connecticut | 35-26 | 203 | NR | 0 |
| 20 | Mississippi State | 40-23 | 168 | 19 | 0 |
| 21 | Kansas State | 35-26 | 157 | NR | 0 |
| 22 | UC Santa Barbara | 44-14 | 155 | 16 | 0 |
| 23 | Evansville | 39-26 | 125 | NR | 0 |
| 24 | LSU | 43-23 | 116 | 30 | 0 |
| 25 | UC Irvine | 45-14 | 107 | 18 | 0 |
Dropped out: No. 17 Wake Forest (38-22); No. 20 Arizona (36-23); No. 21 Indiana State (44-15); No. 22 Dallas Baptist (45-15); No. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette (42-20); No. 24 Southern Mississippi(43-20); No. 25 Nebraska (40-22).
Others receiving votes: Wake Forest (38-22) 95; Arizona (36-23) 81; Indiana State (44-15) 64; Louisiana-Lafayette (42-20) 35; Dallas Baptist (45-15) 32; Southern Mississippi (43-20) 26; Vanderbilt (38-23) 24; Coastal Carolina (36-25) 10; Alabama (33-24) 7; San Diego (41-15) 5; South Carolina (37-25) 4; UNC Wilmington (40-21) 2; Texas (36-24) 2; Central Florida (37-21) 1; Nebraska (40-22) 1.
SCHLOSSNAGLE SAYS TEXAS NEEDS TO GET READY FOR ‘MAJOR LEAGUES’ OF COLLEGE BASEBALL IN THE SEC
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — New Texas baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle said Wednesday he is ready to lead the Longhorns into the “major leagues” of college baseball, the Southeastern Conference, and he acknowledged the raw feelings left behind at Texas A&M following his abrupt departure for an archrival.
Texas introduced Schlossnagle at a campus news conference less than 48 hours after Schlossnagles’ Aggies lost to Tennessee in the championship game of the College World Series.
He joins a program with which he will be facing Texas A&M on a regular basis now that the Longhorns move from the Big 12 to the SEC next season. SEC teams have won the last five national championships.
“We have to prepare to compete in the major leagues of college baseball. If you’ve never been in SEC baseball, get ready,” Schlossnagle said.
Schlossnagle led Texas A&M to the College World Series twice in three years, and now he takes over a Texas program desperate to recapture past success.
Texas has won six national championships but none since 2005. The Longhorns had been to the CWS three times in eight seasons under David Pierce, who was fired on Monday, hours before Texas A&M lost to Tennessee in this year’s final.
Schlossnagle apologized for his terse remarks when he was asked about the Texas job in the postgame news conference Monday night and responded: “I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again. And that hasn’t changed in my mind.”
“I wish I could have answered that better,” Schlossnagle said Wednesday. “I didn’t intend to mislead (Texas A&M fans). In that moment, that’s exactly how I felt.”
Schlossnagle said he understands the hurt feelings from Texas A&M fans who rallied behind his program.
“If I had left Texas A&M for some other school, in a different part of the country, the interesting text messages and messages that I got yesterday probably wouldn’t have happened. But I get it,” Schlossnagle said.
Schlossnagle said several times that the chance to reunite with close friend Chris Del Conte, the Texas athletic director, was a key element in his decision. The two worked together at TCU from 2009-2017.
“There wasn’t anybody at Texas A&M I couldn’t trust,” Schlossnagle said. “I just know I can trust Chris.”
But Schlossnagle would not get pinned down on when Texas first opened talks with him about luring him away. He insisted that while he and Del Conte “talk all the time,” it was as friends, not about work.
He acknowledged that his contract at Texas A&M had a specific buyout in case he left for Texas, “and that’s because of Chris.”
“I didn’t do this to spite anybody,” Schlossnagle said. “Many people on the A&M side will say this wasn’t done the right way. I just don’t know any other way it could have been done.”
REPORTS: TEXAS A&M LOSES JACE LAVIOLETTE, OTHERS TO PORTAL
Five starters from Texas A&M’s College World Series runner-up team entered the transfer portal after coach Jim Schlossnagle left for Texas, per multiple media reports on Wednesday.
Texas A&M players are allowed to enter the portal via a 30-day transfer window that opened Tuesday, when Schlossnagle took over as Texas’ coach, per NCAA transfer rules.
Eleven Aggies, including starters Jace LaViolette, Gavin Grahovac, Kaeden Kent, Ali Camarillo and Hayden Schott, opted to enter the transfer portal Wednesday, per the reports.
Max Kaufer, Caden Sorrell, Jack Bell, Carl Schmidt, Justin Vossos and Jett Johnson are also reportedly set to transfer.
LaViolette, who hit .309 with 29 homers and 16 doubles but sustained a hamstring injury in the College World Series, is expected to be among the top picks in next month’s MLB draft.
Grahovac hit .298 with 23 homers with 66 RBIs en route to SEC Freshman of the Year honors.
Kent, the son of former NL MVP Jeff Kent, filled in after Braden Montgomery suffered a leg injury and hit .417 with a homer and seven RBIs in Omaha.
2024 D1BASEBALL ALL-AMERICA TEAMS
College World Series runner-up Texas A&M leads all programs with five players on D1Baseball’s 2024 All-America teams. The Aggies are also tied for the most first-team All-Americans with national champion Tennessee and CWS semifinalist Florida State. The Aggies, Volunteers and Seminoles each have a pair of first-teamers.
Tennessee, FSU and Oklahoma State are tied for second-most All-Americans in all, placing three players across the three teams.
The SEC leads all conferences with 16 All-Americans in all, and seven players on the first team. The ACC is next with 13 All-Americans and five first-teamers. The Big 12 has seven All-Americans but no first-teamers, and Conference USA has three All-Americans, including two players on the first team.
Six preseason first-team All-Americans also landed on the first team in the postseason: Texas A&M’s Jace LaViolette, Oregon State’s Travis Bazzana, Georgia’s Charlie Condon, Florida’s Jac Caglianone, East Carolina’s Trey Yesavage and Arkansas’ Hagen Smith. Bazzana, Condon and Smith were all finalists for the Golden Spikes Award.
Caglianone is the only repeat member of the first team from 2023, though Smith, Condon, Yesavage and Wake Forest’s Nick Kurtz all earned second-team honors in 2023.
D1Baseball’s editors and national writers determined the All-America teams based on 2024 performance, taking into consideration statistical production, league context, defensive value and postseason impact.
First Team
| Position | Name | School | Year | W | L | ERA | APP-GS | SV | IP | K | BB | BAA | ||||||||
| SP | Jamie Arnold | Florida State | SO | 11 | 3 | 2.98 | 19-18 | 1 | 105.2 | 159 | 26 | .224 | ||||||||
| SP | Chase Burns | Wake Forest | JR | 10 | 1 | 2.70 | 16-16 | 0 | 100 | 191 | 30 | .175 | ||||||||
| SP | Ryan Johnson | Dallas Baptist | JR | 11 | 3 | 2.29 | 16-16 | 0 | 106 | 151 | 14 | .212 | ||||||||
| SP | Hagen Smith | Arkansas | JR | 9 | 2 | 2.04 | 16-16 | 0 | 84 | 161 | 34 | .144 | ||||||||
| SP | Trey Yesavage | East Carolina | JR | 11 | 1 | 2.02 | 15-15 | 0 | 93.1 | 145 | 32 | .154 | ||||||||
| RP | Evan Aschenbeck | Texas A&M | SR | 6 | 1 | 1.78 | 32-0 | 10 | 75.2 | 87 | 12 | .198 | ||||||||
| RP | Charlie Beilenson | Duke | GR | 7 | 3 | 2.01 | 34-0 | 12 | 62.2 | 92 | 18 | .181 | ||||||||
| UTL | Jac Caglianone | Florida | JR | 5 | 2 | 4.76 | 16-16 | 0 | 73.2 | 83 | 50 | .225 | ||||||||
Second Team
| Position | Name | School | Year | W | L | ERA | APP-GS | SV | IP | K | BB | BAA | ||||||||
| SP | Brian Holiday | Oklahoma State | JR | 7 | 3 | 2.95 | 16-16 | 0 | 113 | 128 | 19 | .199 | ||||||||
| SP | Luke Holman | LSU | JR | 9 | 4 | 2.75 | 16-16 | 0 | 91.2 | 127 | 33 | .174 | ||||||||
| SP | Ryan Prager | Texas A&M | SO | 9 | 1 | 2.95 | 19-19 | 0 | 97.2 | 124 | 20 | .226 | ||||||||
| SP | Brett Sears | Nebraska | SR | 8 | 1 | 2.16 | 17-16 | 1 | 104 | 101 | 19 | .191 | ||||||||
| SP | Payton Tolle | TCU | JR | 7 | 4 | 3.21 | 14-14 | 0 | 81.1 | 127 | 39 | .205 | ||||||||
| RP | Griffin Herring | LSU | SO | 6 | 1 | 1.79 | 21-1 | 6 | 50.1 | 67 | 13 | .215 | ||||||||
| RP | Dalton Pence | North Carolina | SO | 5 | 1 | 2.45 | 36-0 | 8 | 58.2 | 74 | 27 | .189 | ||||||||
| UTL | Carson Benge | Oklahoma State | JR | 3 | 1 | 2.75 | 17-4 | 3 | 36 | 42 | 11 | .165 | ||||||||
Third Team
| Position | Name | School | Year | W | L | ERA | APP-GS | SV | IP | K | BB | BAA | |||||||
| SP | Derek Clark | West Virginia | SR | 8 | 2 | 3.23 | 14-13 | 0 | 97.2 | 91 | 23 | .227 | |||||||
| SP | Daniel Eagen | Presbyterian | JR | 5 | 2 | 2.90 | 14-14 | 0 | 77.2 | 121 | 28 | .176 | |||||||
| SP | Ryan Gallagher | UC Santa Barbara | SO | 10 | 1 | 2.22 | 14-14 | 0 | 89 | 96 | 25 | .161 | |||||||
| SP | Aidan Knaak | Clemson | FR | 5 | 1 | 3.35 | 15-15 | 0 | 83.1 | 108 | 29 | .218 | |||||||
| SP | Khal Stephen | Mississippi State | JR | 8 | 3 | 3.28 | 16-16 | 0 | 96 | 107 | 21 | .213 | |||||||
| RP | Chris Cortez | Texas A&M | JR | 10 | 3 | 2.98 | 24-3 | 0 | 60.1 | 95 | 32 | .192 | |||||||
| RP | Bridger Holmes | Oregon State | JR | 3 | 4 | 1.87 | 27-0 | 13 | 33.2 | 47 | 15 | .142 | |||||||
| UTL | Ethan Bates | Louisiana Tech | SR | 2 | 2 | 3.43 | 36-0 | 17 | 44.2 | 52 | 19 | .180 | |||||||
MWCS ATTENDANCE, TV VIEWERSHIP DIP SLIGHTLY FROM RECORDS
Television ratings and attendance at the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Neb., narrowly failed to surpass the records established a year ago.
A total of 371,820 spectators attended the 15 games over 10 days this year. Last year, 392,946 attended 16 games at Charles Schwab Field.
With one fewer game this year, the average attendance was a record 24,788. The stadium’s capacity is listed at 24,000.
The total attendance mark was broken each of the three previous years.
On Monday, Tennessee won the best-of-three final series for its first national title, defeating Texas A&M.
In 2023, LSU beat Florida in the three-game championship series.
TV ratings for the MCWS also were slightly lower than in 2023.
Viewership on ESPN platforms averaged 1.56 million compared with last year’s all-time high of 1.65 million.
An average of 2.82 million viewers took in the Tennessee-Texas A&M series. A year earlier, the LSU-Florida series set the record with an average of 2.86 million. Game 3 on Monday drew 3.34 million viewers, ESPN’s second-best figure for a MCWS contest, trailing only the 3.59 million that watched the 2023 finale.