On Wednesday, both assured themselves they’d be teammates in college as well, keeping together one of the more productive batteries in area high school baseball as both signed national letters of intent with Texas Tech.

“I’ve been talking about it forever and it’s finally here,” said Randolph, a catcher who committed to Tech last November. “I’m glad I finally signed. I always went to the games and wanted to play for them. We always talked about (playing together at Tech), even when we were 12 and on the same all-star team. So it’s awesome.”

Scott, a pitcher and third baseman for the Mustangs, said he hopes to concentrate on the pitching side of the game with aspirations of advancing to the next level.

“I’m going for both, but that’s probably what I’ll end up doing is being a pitcher,” Scott said. “It’s awesome not having to switch catchers. I love it. Just having a catcher that also hits and provides runs for me, that’s going to be great.”

Randolph stayed true to the commitment made almost a year ago, not looking at other schools. Scott came along later in the process and drew interest from a pair of Tech’s Big 12 Conference foes in Baylor and Kansas State as well as Houston, but his desire to stay close to his family and play in his hometown led him to the Red Raiders.

They’ll be joined by a crosstown rival as well. Monterey outfielder Ryan Reagor signed a letter as a preferred walk-on for the Red Raiders, also realizing a lifelong dream to compete for the home team.

“It’s awesome,” Reagor said. “Tech has been the school I’ve always rooted for since the third grade when I started caring about sports. To get a chance there for four years is awesome. It’s a great day.”

Texas Tech will likely not release its entire list of signees for the fall until later in the week after all the letters have been received.

Randolph, a switch hitter, has been a two-year starter for the Mustangs. As a junior he hit .422 with two home runs and 31 RBIs with nine doubles and two triples to earn Avalanche-Journal All-City and All-South Plains second-team honors.

Scott will enter his fourth season as a starter at Coronado. On the mound in 2009 he was 6-1 with a 4.24 ERA, striking out 47 batters in 361/3 innings. At the plate he hit .406 with two home runs, 23 RBIs and 32 runs scored. He was an A-J first-team All-City and All-South Plains selection.

“It’s a neat situation for them,” Coronado head coach Jimmy Webster said of both players signing with Tech. “Both these guys love the game and they’re both obviously good at it. They’ve grown up together in the same neighborhood, and they kind of have that mentality of working well together.

“One thing recently that has added to their abilities is the competitive level they bring. They’re both very good athletes … and I think that’s something that people see is how athletic they are and how they can do some things that some other people are not able to do at the level they’re looking for them to be at.”

As a junior, Reagor hit .288 with six doubles, a home run, a triple, 10 RBIs with 26 runs scored.

(Staff writer Adam Zuvanich contributed to this report.)

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The Coronado senior wants to compete with the best, beat the best and, ultimately, be the best.

That’s why Wofford chose to play collegiate tennis at Tennessee, which finished the 2009 spring season as the 10th-ranked women’s team in the nation.

“It’s definitely going to be tougher, but that’s what I wanted,” Wofford said Wednesday, shortly after signing her national letter of intent. “If I can’t be the best, I don’t really want to try. That’s what I’m going for.”

Wofford, who said her long-term goals are to win national championships with the Lady Volunteers and play professionally, has what it takes if her high school career is any indication. She won a Class 5A state championship in girls doubles as a freshman — teaming up with current Texas Tech player Kelsy Garland — and earlier this month helped lead Coronado to the team tennis state tournament for the first time since 2003.

Wofford has lost only two singles matches and one doubles match in three years of high school competition.

“She’s going to be great, absolutely,” said Coronado head coach David Denham, who tabbed Wofford as the most physically gifted player he’s coached. “… She’s a well-rounded player, and she has unbelievable potential to grow even better.”

Denham described Wofford as having a rare combination of power and finesse, saying she’s an “all-court player that can beat you at the net or beat you at the baseline.” The coach said she also can adjust to opponents on the fly and has a perfectionist’s mentality.

“Even as a freshman, she’d wait until practice was over and come back out and run behind the scenes where she didn’t have to be noticed,” Denham said. “She would do a lot of things behind the scenes because she wanted to get better, she wanted to get stronger, she wanted to work on her weaknesses. Honestly, her work ethic is above and beyond most.”

Wofford said it feels good to know her hard work has paid off, and that the recruiting process is finally over. She took a break from high school tennis as a junior, instead competing in United States Tennis Association events so she could increase her national profile and improve her chances of being noticed by collegiate programs.
Consider it a game plan well executed, and a dream come true.

“It really is,” Wofford said. “It’s amazing to look back on it and know that I’ve stressed so much. I worked real hard and had fun, but I did a lot of stressing to get to this point. And this is exactly what I wanted, so I’m just happy.”

Tyler Pearson, Rice baseball
Kent Meador has been Monterey’s baseball coach only since July, and he’s had Tyler Pearson in offseason workouts for less than a week.

But Meador can already see why the senior catcher was an attractive prospect to Rice, where Pearson is headed after signing his national letter of intent on Wednesday.

“I’ve had him three days now, and shoot, he’s got the tools,” Meador said. “He can throw — he’s got a plus arm — and he just has a good concept of what he’s doing. And he swings the bat and has got a lot of power. He’s got the tools, no question about it.”

Pearson, who was a first-team selection on The Avalanche-Journal’s All-South Plains Class 5A-4A team as a junior last year, said he’s thankful for the opportunity and “excited” to play for the Owls and head coach Wayne Graham. Pearson also hopes to make an immediate impact for a program that has seven College World Series appearances and a national championship since 1997.

Pearson is coming off a season in which he batted .371 with 17 extra-base hits and 32 RBIs, and he gunned down 20 potential base-stealers.

“I think I have a chance my freshman year (to play), to tell you the truth,” Pearson said. “I’m going to have to work hard, of course, but I think that there’s a chance.”

Meador said a solid work ethic is already in place, thanks in large part to Pearson’s family. His father, Todd, is Monterey’s head football coach.

“We just tried to keep him grounded, stay humble and work hard, and if you put yourself in the right position, good things will eventually happen to you,” Todd Pearson said. “Whether it’s this or something else, something will come of that.”

Devin Griffin, North Carolina State women’s basketball
Devin Griffin found what she was looking for half a continent away. The versatile Coronado senior signed with North Carolina State, to whom she had made an oral commitment in early October.

She said NC State had all the ingredients.

“The atmosphere, the gym, the players,’’ Griffin said. “Just when I got there, that welcoming feeling. You could tell they were very loving and like a family, like I have here at Coronado.’’

Griffin didn’t want to disrupt her Lady Mustangs family, so she brought the college decision to a close before her senior season.

“I didn’t want to have to worry about it through the season and take away from my teammates and our big goal,’’ said Griffin, whose Coronado teammates encircled her as she signed her letter of intent Wednesday afternoon.

The 5-foot-9 Griffin averaged 19.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game last season, helping Coronado to a District 2-5A championship and the regional quarterfinals. She said she’s not sure what position NC State will have her play, but Coronado coach Shirlene Hughes said it doesn’t matter.

“She can play point guard, she can post up, and she can shoot the ball from the wing as well as create offensively,’’ Hughes said. “She’s fast. She reads well. She can see past the defense and anticipate. For us, hopefully she’ll kind of carry us through the season. For her as a player, she’s going to get better and be a plus for the ACC, I believe.’’

Griffin’s mother, Tami Wilson, and her older sisters, Darrice and Teddy Griffin, all played for Texas Tech. Devin Griffin said she was offered a scholarship by the Lady Raiders this summer, but Tech coaches needed to know quickly whether she’d accept.

“They were excited about me, so they wanted me to commit right then and there,’’ Griffin said. “But I knew I needed a little bit more time to get my mind together and figure out the rest of the recruiting process. I didn’t want to jump into anything too quickly.’’

She was won over by new NC State coach Kellie Harper who, as Kellie Jolly, was a standout guard on Tennessee teams that won three national championships from 1996-98.

“She’s gotten national championships, so she knows what it takes,’’ Griffin said. “I can’t wait to go and get all that knowledge from her.’’

(Assistant sports editor George Watson and staff writer Don Williams contributed to this report.)

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By the end of the year, the Red Raiders could put together enough pitching to be competitive in Big 12 Conference weekend series, to which their 12-15 league mark could attest. The problem became pitching during the midweek games, which ultimately led to Tech finishing seven games above .500 while Oklahoma State, which finished two spots behind the Red Raiders in the Big 12, made the NCAA tournament.

So, going into offseason camp this fall, finding pitching depth to last an entire week’s worth of games was one of the Tech coaching staff’s main goals, and those hoping to fill those roles get their final tests as the annual Red-Black Series begins at 5 p.m. today at Dan Law Field.

“We’re not as deep as we think we will be in a couple of weeks when we get a couple of guys back (from injury) and can add them to the active roster,” head coach Dan Spencer said. “I think if the (doctors) are kind to us … and we’re all able to progress and able to pitch in the spring, then the depth on the mound will be very good.”

Tech has gone all fall without veteran pitcher Robbie Kilcrease (3-1, 6.38 ERA last season) and junior transfer Zach Fowler due to arm injuries, and freshman two-way player Duke VonSchamann has been limited to playing first base and hitting due to arm soreness. Otherwise, the Red Raiders have received plenty of encouraging signs, especially from some of the newcomers.

Veteran Chad Bettis (6-1, 3.58), who is expected to anchor the staff and be a top-round draft pick next summer, has been solid in fall intrasquad scrimmages, but the impressive outings have come from the transfers Spencer was counting upon going into the fall. Right-hander Bobby Doran (Seward County Community College), left-hander Jay Johnson (Lethbridge, Canada, College) and Brett Bruening (Grayson County CC), who was originally set to go to LSU, have been three newcomers who have shown good stuff and done so on a consistent basis.

“I think our pitching rotation will have 10 to 12 guys that can go out there on a weekend or a weekday and get us wins,” Bettis said. “Jay Johnson and Bobby Doran have been outstanding, and with Bruening it’s unbelievable the pitching depth we have.”

If that depth can develop, it should complement what is expected to be a deeper, faster and more talented offense and defense judging by the competition at all positions throughout the fall.

Infield depth, which at times was a weakness for the Red Raiders last season, could be their best asset in 2010. Tech returns veteran infielders Joey Kenworthy, Garrett Totten and Justin Berry — who is coming off hip surgery — but newcomers Barrett Barnes, Stephen Hagen, VonSchamann, Nick Popescu and Jamodrick McGruder have had good falls.

In the outfield, seniors Michael Reed (broken hand) and Taylor Ashby (ankle sprain) missed part of the fall, and Nick Hanslik recently had elbow surgery and will miss the 2010 season. That has opened up competition as well, and behind the plate the Red Raiders could run three deep with returning lettermen Jeremy Mayo and Kevin Whitehead joined by freshman Bo Altobelli. Mayo and Altobelli have also seen plenty of work at third base throughout the fall.

“We feel we don’t have anybody positionally that will make this club and we’ll take into the spring who are pretenders,” Spencer said. “They’re all Division I talent. We told them Tuesday that it’s time for guys who think they need to be a starter and those who need to fill roles to start believing in that and start separating themselves. I hope we’ll see that.”

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Admission to the scrimmage is free.

Admission is free, and fans are encouraged to enter the stadium through the main gate behind home plate.

In one of his standup routines, the comedian describes leaving his mother’s number in his cell phone, even years after her death from cancer, until one day when he stumbles across the entry while scrolling through his contacts list.

“I was staring at it and I said, ‘You know what? It’s time to let go because I’m in a better place now and it’s OK.’ ”

Cook says in a standup routine. “I was about to delete it, and I thought ‘Maybe, for good luck, old-time’s sake, I think I’ll call it one last time.’ Then before I was about to press send I stopped myself and was like, ‘What if she … answers?’ ”

Jordan Stern calls it his “Dane Cook moment.” The Bellingham Bells had just left Corvallis, Ore., where they’d played a road stand in the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League. On the drive through the Pacific Northwest, Jordan pulled out his cell phone, scrolled through his contacts list and called his mom, Ilene.

Ilene didn’t answer; she’d died six weeks earlier. But unlike Cook, Jordan says he held on to a small hope that she just might pick up.

“My dad called her, too, thinking she’d answer and say ‘Hey, yeah, I’m in heaven,” Jordan, a pitcher at Texas Tech, said.

Jordan Stern, pitcher for Texas Tech, writes the initials I.S. in the mound before he throws his first pitch during games to honor his mother, Ilene Stern, who recently passed away of breast cancer on June 11, 2009. (Merissa Ferguson/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Ilene died June 11, ending a more than four-year fight with cancer that began in her breast and eventually spread to her liver, lungs, spine and brain. Since her diagnosis in December 2004,

Ilene used a mix of humor and denial to keep her family’s spirits up and the cancer at bay; Jordan says it was a fitting contradiction, describing her as a California flower child who wore the pants in their small family. Since her death, Jordan, an only child, and his dad, Mike, have held on to that humor even as they grieve.

So when she didn’t answer that day in July, Jordan listened to her voice one more time, then spoke.

“Hey, what’s up?” he said. “What’s Tupac like?”

‘She was very fiery’

At 6-foot-4 with wild curly hair and a disposition even he describes as “goofy,” Jordan admits he can be a little intimidating upon first introduction. He says sometimes strangers are surprised to learn he’s a jock, other times they’re caught off-guard when he throws out a multi-syllable word or two.

His mom could be similarly contradictory.

“Think of every Beatles song ever made being played when you’re a child. That’s what I would listen to growing up,” he said. “And she would range from saying ‘Oh, I love you so much, go run around naked,’ to ‘What are you doing wearing that?’ I guess I got the best of both worlds.”

Ilene began her professional career as a teacher in California, but moved to Texas where she spent more than 30 years working as an advancement officer, raising money and publicity for various organizations. She dedicated herself to her final job, raising funds for the Frontiers of Flight museum in Dallas.

Jordan said she often hired underprivileged or undereducated people to work in her department, wanting to help people with promise advance their careers. Yet she wanted things done her way.

“She was very fiery,” Jordan said. “If she wanted something done a certain way, she would let you know it.”

Even though Mike eventually became a teacher in his second career, Ilene was the one to constantly push her son’s education.

“I remember in middle school he had summer reading, and the two of them would sit in the pool and read,” Mike said.

Her first signs of cancer didn’t appear until Jordan was in high school. A routine mammogram revealed a mass in one breast, but Jordan remembers a doctor dismissing it as a benign buildup. Jordan said she was a little bit doctor phobic, and repeatedly put off follow-up visits until midway through her son’s junior year of high school, when she was ultimately diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer that had already spread to her liver.

“When you wait to the last moment, the chances are beyond miniscule,” Jordan said. “But if you catch it early, it’s ridiculous the success rate. Ridiculous.”

Jordan Stern, pitcher for Texas Tech, adorns a tattoo in honor of his mother, Ilene Stern who passed away from breast cancer on June 11, 2009. Stern also wears a pink breast cancer awareness bracelet. (Merissa Ferguson/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Ilene did not catch it early, but her doctors wanted to see her fight. They told her “your liver is pretty torn up,” rather than detailing the disease’s toll. They encouraged her to continue working.

So she endured surgery, radiation and several varieties of chemotherapy. She was too sick from treatment to attend Jordan’s first start as a junior varsity pitcher, so her son developed a tribute he invokes to this day, etching her initials in the dirt on the pitchers’ mound and kissing a gold pendant of a pitcher she gave him when he was just five or six years old.

“They were always close,” Mike said. “She would always encourage him, ‘Get out there, pitch.’

“He wanted to do well for her.”

‘It’s depressing at chemo’

Jordan remembers coming home late from a Thursday night baseball practice to find all the lights in the house off but his mom’s car in the garage. He’d open the door, turn the lights on, and see his mom sitting there, wigless, hoping to frighten him with her bald head. It was one of her favorite pranks.

“She’d always joke about it,” Jordan said. “She’d say, ‘Hey Jordan, I don’t have to shave, and you do,’ because I was in high school and starting to shave my fuzz.”

With her prognosis bleak, Ilene tried every available kind of chemotherapy, resulting in every possible side effect. She lost her hair, developed blisters in her mouth, gained weight, then lost her eyesight. Jordan jokingly called her the Hulk because of her ever changing appearance.

“It’s depressing at chemo. No one looks happy, it’s painful,” Jordan said. “And by the time they leave there they look like they’ve had about 35 beers.”

She found support in a group of fellow breast cancer patients she called her chicks. Chemo became bearable because it meant sharing her favorite comfort food, macaroni and cheese. She changed the ringback tone on her phone to “Staying Alive” by the BeeGees, so everyone who called her heard the song.

Between treatments the family would take vacations to the Caribbean or British Isles, places Ilene had always hoped to see.

“She would try to do as much as possible,” Jordan said. “You know how old people are always rushing places? I can understand why. They want to experience as much as possible.”

Jordan eventually walked-on at Tech, redshirting his first year and struggling as a reliever the next two. When she was healthy Ilene would come to games, but never saw her son pitch in college (she once e-mailed a doctor that her dream was to see him pitch in the majors). And when she was sick she always had advice.

“The funniest thing is, even when she was in the hospital completely out of it, my mom said, ‘Why you being such a pussy? Just go out there and do awesome,’ ” Jordan said. “I’m like, ‘OK Mom.’ ”

‘Sadness overcomes you’

Mike Stern couldn’t help but be relieved when his son didn’t make the travel roster for Texas Tech’s trip to the Big 12 baseball tournament last spring. Instead of heading to Oklahoma, Jordan returned home to Plano.

Jordan says that was when he realized his mom very sick. The day he returned home from Lubbock she had to make an unscheduled trip to the hospital. She was weaker than he’d ever seen her, and could no longer work, although she called the office just a week before her death to remind coworkers she’d be back soon. At times she didn’t recognize her husband or son.

“She looked like hell,” Mike said. “A beautiful, beautiful, beautiful woman, and she looked like hell. All I could do was hope we would get another miracle.”

Although he was scheduled to play summer league baseball in Bellingham, Wash., Jordan promised to stay home. He shuttled his mom to hospitals and doctors’ offices while Mike, a junior high English teacher, finished the semester.

“My wife saw him become a man in her declining hours,” Mike said. “He really stepped up.”

While family members and friends insisted it was best that Jordan stay home, Mike didn’t think sitting at home would help his son. Ilene wanted him to keep playing baseball. So they decided he would leave for the west coast.

“I think he and his dad agreed that if he left this summer for baseball, he wasn’t supposed to come back,” Tech teammate Chad Bettis said. “His dad knew if he came back it would be a lot more hard on him. She wanted him to do it, and he knew that, so I honestly think he did it for her.”

The Bells’ season was only six days old when Ilene died. Jordan was three connecting flights and a very expensive last-minute airfare from Plano, and could not come home for the funeral.

“When the end did come, I wasn’t surprised or shocked,” Jordan said. “I was relieved, although sadness overcomes you anyway.”

So instead of sitting at home and mourning, he kept playing baseball. He added a change-up, improved his stats, and moved from a reliever to a starter.

Not Jordan, Mike, or Texas Tech coach Dan Spencer will definitively say whether or not Ilene’s death affected the change. Jordan says he felt less worry this summer than ever before. Mike says he saw his son throw himself into baseball. Spencer said Jordan’s approach is much calmer, more mature than it once was.

“He’s just got a real sense of conviction about what he’s trying to do as a pitcher,” Spencer said.

“That could be tied partially to his life and his mother, partially to just being a year older, but I think there’s a correlation there.”

‘God was good to her’

Three days after Ilene’s death, Jordan went to a tattoo parlor in Washington and had three roses and the words “Forever in my heart” and “Mom” etched on his chest.

He said he’s glad he did not attend the funeral—he didn’t want to grieve so publicly—but says he found closure in attending a ceremony late this summer in which a tower at the Frontiers of Flight museum was named in her honor.

Jordan jokes that these days their family is “a dude party,” but admits he is still very much grieving.

He tears up when he sees her photo. He said weekends are especially difficult, because that’s when they would spend time together, seeing movies or even just calling on the phone.

While he said it was surreal to hear her voice that day in July when he called her cell phone, he’s removed the number.

Mike is learning to think about a future without his wife. He said he knows Jordan is starting his own adult life, and that he’s coming to terms with facing certain milestones alone.

“The day he makes his big league debut, the day he gets married, the day he and his wife have their first child, we’ll be OK,” Mike said. “Ilene will be there in spirit. A month or two ago, I would think about that and start crying.

“When you look back and think about it, God was good to her in that he let her and us cherish some really special moments. That’s something we can celebrate going forward.”

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In second-year head coach Dan Spencer’s mind, though, the time for baby steps is over. It’s time to start making big strides toward becoming a championship contender in the Big 12 Conference, and those first steps begin today with organized fall team workouts.

“I don’t know that we’re looking at the fall differently in the way we do things or what we’re trying to get out of them,” said Spencer, who in his first season in 2009 led the Red Raiders to the Big 12 Championships for the first time in three years. “But we’ve got to win more and push for those goals to give us a chance for where we need to be. We got a taste of it last year playing in some big games and winning some games, but we want more.”

Despite improving to an eight-place finish in 2009 with a 12-15 record – three games better than 2008 – the Red Raiders still finished seven games under .500 at 25-32. The Red Raiders’ setbacks during the season were never caused by desire or attitude, but simply by numbers. The pitching depth never developed to a point where Tech could effectively pitch five games a week, often times having to pull back resources to concentrate on Big 12 series and piecemealing the midweek together the best it could.

That’s likely a big reason why, of the 42 players listed on the fall reporting roster, 20 are listed as either full-time or part-time pitchers, and less than half of those are returning hurlers from last season. Collegiate Baseball also ranked Tech’s recruiting class as No. 38 in the country, a distinction that had been missing for some time.

Leading the staff is junior right-hander Chad Bettis, who will likely be one of the top draft-eligible pitchers when the spring opens up in a few months. Bettis, who spent his summer as the closer for Team USA, led the Red Raiders last season in ERA (3.59), wins (6), saves (7) and innings pitched (722/3) and was second in strikeouts (58), giving Tech someone who can seal the deal with the lead in hand late in games.

The key will be getting to the ninth inning with the lead, and that’s where the rest of the staff comes in. Tech enters the fall searching for three new starters and how to best fill out the bullpen roles. The Red Raiders will do so without returning junior Robbie Kilcrease and newcomer Zach Fowler, both left-handers who are nursing injuries.

“We’re confident enough in the arms we have here to do that, and then we’ve got to get guys to buy into roles,” Spencer said. “Baseball is a long season and consistency is the key. Relentless consistency. We’re always going to play defense and we’re always going to pitch and throw strikes. If you can be consistent in the little things in the game, if we can be more consistent in pitching and defense, that will mean more wins.”

Spencer is also looking to build infield depth as well despite having three returners with extensive experience in sophomores Garrett Totten and Justin Berry and senior Joey Kenworthy. Totten came on late last season after finally healing from a broken hand suffered in spring preseason practices, and Berry played the entire season with a torn labrum in his right hip, which he had surgically repaired shortly after the season. Kenworthy emerged as the team’s offensive sparkplug, hitting .335 on the year.

But the coaching staff brought in five new infielders, including three true freshmen plus last year’s junior college home run leader, hoping to bolster not only the defense but the offense as well. Catcher will also have plenty of competition with six players listed, including 2008 starter Jeremy Mayo and backup Kevin Whitehead.

Tech will also have experience in the outfield with returning starters Taylor Ashby, who hit .330, and Michael Reed, who will miss time after suffering a broken hand during individual drills a few weeks ago. Also back is sophomore Scott LeJeune, who was a candidate for freshman of the year in the Big 12 after hitting .321 with two home runs, 14 doubles and 37 RBIs. Getting more production from right field, however, will be a focus during the fall.

“I think we have a chance to be a deeper lineup,” Spencer said. “We’ve got a lot of at-bats back but they need to have solid years again and get better, and we still need two or four young hitters or new hitters to jump in there and be productive.

“I feel we’ll have more depth on the mound and more overall athleticism as a team. I’m anxious to see them compete.”

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TEXAS TECH/After deadline passes for MLB draftees to sign, Raiders find out they will have four key players in fold

One of the hardest things a college coach can tell a prospective player is that his lifelong dream to play professionally should wait.

A lot of times, the Texas Tech baseball program has been unable to convince incoming recruits of that, losing some of its top talent to the pros. Perhaps 2009 will be a change in that direction.

Midnight Monday was the deadline for players chosen in the Major League Baseball amateur draft to sign a deal or have clubs lose their rights. Tech coaches anxiously waited for the deadline to pass to see where four of their top recruits would land, and at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, they could breathe easily because all four will be in a Tech uniform when classes start next week.

“It really does help us on the mound where it’s most important and gives us a lot of bodies,” head coach Dan Spencer said. “The thing you talk about is it gives us some competition on the mound like we had last year positionally. I think it raises the level of not just the guys who are showing up but of the guys we’ve already got in the program, because they’ll have to raise their game because of the competition. It’s good for all of us.”

The Red Raiders had four incoming recruits taken in the draft – pitchers Jay Johnson and Brandon Petite out of Canada and Robert Doran from Seward County (Kan.) College and slugger Stephen Hagan from Eastern Oklahoma Junior College.

Tech was able to get all four into camp but almost lost Johnson to the Orioles, who took him in the 25th round. Baltimore’s ability to sign him hit a bump when injuries Johnson had suffered previously – Tommy John surgery when he was 15 and a broken wrist this past season – were not originally disclosed to the organization because the scout who followed him did not turn over medical records before quitting to join the staff at Notre Dame. Baltimore held off on signing Johnson, Spencer said, so Johnson decided to come to Tech.

Spencer expects Johnson and Doran to improve their draft standing after just one year at Tech, and with Chad Bettis back in the fold as a junior and expected to be a high draft pick in 2010, Spencer feels that will elevate the program in terms of future recruiting.

“It should help a bunch,” Spencer said. “You’re only going to make good money by going to college. The first three rounds are kind of difficult, and if a kid really wants to come to school we’d love to have him. It’s hard to tell him to turn down that kind of money. But from the fourth round on, unless kids go way over slot, it makes sense to go to school.”

Spencer said he expects all incoming recruits to make an impact in 2010, especially on the mound. Hagan could be the next top power hitter in the Big 12 Conference after leading the junior college ranks in home runs last season.

Elsewhere, former Frenship standout Tyler Lyons turned down 10th-round money to return to Oklahoma State for his senior season. Lyons was taken at No. 315 overall by the New York Yankees after going 7-6 with a 4.07 ERA as a junior. His sophomore season he was 12-2 with a 3.31 ERA.

Tech did lose one underclassman in the draft when junior Nate Karns signed with Washington, but Spencer had said earlier he expected Karns to sign and had already allocated his scholarship money elsewhere for 2010.

Injury update

Spencer said sophomore infielder Justin Berry is on schedule and maybe ahead of schedule rehabilitating from hip surgery and should be ready to go when the Red Raiders start fall workouts.

Berry played all of last season with a torn labrum in his right hip, the same injury suffered by New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who underwent surgery in April. Berry played through the injury all last season when he hit .292 with four home runs and 26 RBIs.

Also, Spencer said senior outfielder Taylor Ashby will be good to go after staying in Lubbock this summer to work in the weight room and strengthen his shoulder. Ashby was third on the team last season with a .330 average and also had 47 RBIs and a team-high 12 stolen bases.

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OMAHA, Neb. – Augie Garrido is the all-time winningest coach in Division I baseball and his Texas Longhorns open the College World Series best-of-three finals against LSU tonight.

Garrido said Sunday he’s just happy to still have a job.

A season that started with Garrido suspended for four games for his drunken-driving arrest in January will end with Garrido going for his sixth national title in a coaching career that spans 40 years. Texas will be playing for its seventh, and third since 2002.

The 70-year-old Garrido, who pleaded guilty to DUI and will be sentenced after the season, said he used the incident as a teaching opportunity for himself and his team.

The players say their coach’s arrest, and its fallout, drew them closer.

“If it happened to anyone on our team, coach Garrido would do anything in his power to keep and protect all of us around him from the negative things people were saying,” third baseman Michael Torres said. “He would put his arms around us and protect us, so we wanted to do the same thing for him. That made our team bond and helped us be successful.”

Garrido had met friends for dinner and wine on a Friday night at one of his favorite restaurants in Austin and then stopped at a bar on his way home to see a friend. Police pulled him over four blocks from his condominium because he had forgotten to turn on the lights on his Porsche. He spent a night in jail.

Garrido told the Austin American-Statesman he drank five glasses of wine.

Garrido is the highest-paid college baseball coach, at $800,000 a year, and his contract puts him on track to make $1 million in 2012.

He said he feared he would be fired.

“The university is far greater than anyone who serves it,” he said. “If it’s in the best interest of the university, I would have to expect them to replace me. It’s as simple as that.”

Athletic director DeLoss Dodds offered his support but suspended Garrido for the season-opening series against Illinois-Chicago.

Garrido said he told his team that he failed to adhere to what he calls the cornerstone of his program – “Do what’s right,” he said.

“I did not do what was right. What we lose in that situation is freedom, control, respect and trust,” he said. “Those four things went out the window.”

Pitcher Chance Ruffin said he and his teammates already respected Garrido as a coach. They respect Garrido even more as a man.

“He showed us that he’s a leader by taking responsibility for it and making an example of himself,” said Ruffin (10-2), who will start today’s game against LSU’s Louis Coleman (14-2).

The Longhorns (49-14-1) have had a wild ride to the finals.

In regionals, they won the longest game in NCAA history against Boston College, 3-2 in 25 innings, and in the next game overcame a four-run eighth-inning deficit to Army to win 14-10 on a Preston Clark walkoff grand slam.

At the CWS, the Longhorns trailed Southern Mississippi by a run in the eighth inning before scoring their last three runs on bases-loaded walks to win 7-6. They were down 6-0 against Arizona State ace Mike Leake before scoring 10 straight runs and winning 10-6.

They never led in their 4-3 bracket-clinching win over ASU on Friday before Cameron Rupp and Connor Rowe went deep in the bottom of the ninth.

LSU (54-16) has trailed for a total of a half-inning in Omaha. Texas has led after only 11 of 27 innings.

Rowe sent a shot into the left-field seats, then sprinted around the bases with his helmet raised in his right hand as his celebrating teammates waited at home plate to greet him.

Two batters earlier, Rupp homered over the 22-foot wall in straightaway center field to tie it.

Texas (49-14-1) advanced to the CWS best-of-three finals starting Monday against LSU. The Longhorns will try to become the first No. 1 national seed to win the title since Miami in 1999.

Rowe, who batted in the No. 9 spot, hit the first walkoff homer in Omaha since Texas’ Chance Wheeless did it in a win over Baylor in 2005.

It looked as if the Sun Devils (51-14) would force a Saturday rematch for the Bracket 2 championship after they took a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth on Zach Wilson’s RBI triple.

Mitchell Lambson (9-5) struck out Brandon Loy to start the bottom of the ninth, but Rupp tied it with a homer that carried at least 420 feet, one of the longest in recent CWS memory.

After Preston Clark popped out, Rowe hit the first offering from Lambson over the left-field wall, well above the leaping Kole Calhoun.

Austin Wood (6-1) got the win after throwing three innings in relief of starter Cole Green. But it didn’t look so good for Wood in the top of the ninth.

The senior struck out four of the first six batters he faced before Jason Kipnis battled through an 11-pitch at-bat. Kipnis’ hard shot got past first baseman Brandon Belt, but second baseman Travis Tucker came up with the ball and threw wildly to Wood, who was covering first. Kipnis took off for second as Rupp, the catcher, scrambled for the ball next to the top step of the ASU dugout.

Clark got a bad break on Carlos Ramirez’s hard line, but made a nice recovery to catch it. Wood then struck out ASU’s hottest hitter, Calhoun, before Wilson hooked a 1-0 pitch into the right-field corner past a diving Kevin Keyes to score Kipnis. It was Wilson’s first RBI since May 10.

Starters Mike Leake of Arizona State and Texas’ Green each went six innings, giving up two runs on eight hits, before turning the game over to the bullpen with the score tied at 2.

Lambson allowed Calhoun’s single leading off the seventh, then retired six in a row before his disastrous ninth inning.

Texas returns to the CWS finals for the first time since 2005, when the Longhorns won the last of their six national championships.