CSN star delivers as expected
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- What wasn't expected:
The policeman following our rental car for miles through Utah, finally pulling us over and informing us that the license plates were registered to a Chrysler, which I'm sure would interest the boys back in Las Vegas who gave us a Toyota Rav 4.
What was expected: Bryce Harper making the ultimate difference.
Think of baseball's perfect storm. A player with the enormous skill of Harper swinging an aluminum bat at nearly 4,600 feet. Opposing pitchers might as well take the George Clooney route and hope going down with the ship isn't that awful a way to perish after all.
It seems all routs are relative. The College of Southern Nevada rolled along at the Junior College World Series on Tuesday night, rolled past Iowa Western 12-7 before 10,233 at Suplizio Field, rolled into the quarterfinals and yet didn't play all that well doing so.
You get these types of games when you're the more talented team in a grind of a tournament. Ones you need to survive more than dominate. Ones in which you must rally from deficits of 3-0 and 5-3.
It takes six victories to claim the championship that CSN also won in 2003. It's a long week, and overwhelming is hard to deliver every night.
You have a far better chance, though, with Harper.
The outfield bleachers were packed for his first two games, when Harper was an ordinary 3-for-6 with no home runs and one RBI. Not as many curious folks showed for CSN's third game, perhaps thinking the 17-year-old was more hype than anything.
Runs produced Tuesday:
Harper 8.
Iowa Western 7.
Rest of CSN's players: 4.
I'm guessing those bleachers will be packed again tonight.
"I knew they were going to come right at me," Harper said. "They want to shut me down. I have the utmost respect for anyone who comes after me and gets after me."
They came after him, and he went 3-for-5 with a double, two homers and eight RBIs. The two-run double was a fly ball the left fielder never saw that dropped.
The two home runs were reasons Nos. 1 and 2 that Harper on Monday is expected to be the top overall choice in baseball's amateur draft.
He struck out on an inside fastball in the first inning, vowed to make up for it and lined a first-pitch changeup in the third over the right-field fence. The ball never traveled above 25 feet. It was a rocket. It was hit ridiculously hard.
Iowa Western led 3-0 before the pitch. It was 3-3 after it.
Harper's second three-run homer was completely different, an opposite-field shot that nearly sailed above the left-field light standard and traveled some 440 feet.
"We didn't play very well early, I'll tell you that," CSN coach Tim Chambers said. "We have to play a whole lot better than that if we're going to win it.
"But the difference is, you have to go at (Harper). With guys on base, you have to pitch to him, and you just can't afford to put another runner on with the guys we have behind him. Bryce was pretty impressive. He just missed hitting the one that (fell for a double) out also."
Harper was certainly worth the 7½-hour drive to watch hit, a journey lengthened by that curious police officer who, when told Review-Journal reporter Adam Hill and I were headed to the Junior College World Series, replied: "What is that, like karate?"
The good news is, our license plates checked out.
The really good news for CSN is, Harper will be back at the plate again today when the Coyotes meet top-ranked San Jacinto (Texas) at 6:30 p.m.
It's the game everyone wants to see here, one between the top two teams, one that could go a long way in deciding which team departs this town of 53,000 as World Series champion.
"We're just trying to get that ring," Harper said. "I could care less about (the draft) right now. I'm just worried about the ring. I love this. This is awesome."
I hope they keep coming after him.
This kid with an aluminum bat at this altitude ... ridiculous.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618.
