| | Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS -- Two line drives off high-performance metal
bats in the NCAA tournament break two pitchers' jaws on the same
field 48 hours apart. Coincidence?
Wichita State coach Gene Stephenson thinks so. He said it's
strictly a "freak of nature" and not a red flag for the NCAA to
investigate the metal bats once again.
"I don't think it has anything to do with the bats,"
Stephenson said after the Shockers eliminated Butler from the NCAA
tournament 15-5 on Sunday. "Major league baseball has more
pitchers hit like that than you'll ever see in college, and those
are wood bats."
Stephenson said he hadn't seen a pitcher struck in the face in
20 years "and now we get two in the same tournament. It's a freak
of nature, obviously. You're going to see more of that in the major
leagues than in college."
Butler freshman Pat Neshek's jaw was broken by Dustin Hawkins'
line drive in the sixth inning of the NCAA regional game at Siebert
Field on Sunday.
On Friday, Butler's Eddie Olszta lined a pitch off Nebraska ace
Shane Komine's jaw, breaking it in three places. Komine, the Big 12
Player of the Year, underwent surgery Saturday at University
Hospital in Minneapolis.
Neshek won't need surgery, the school said.
His jaw swelled immediately when he was hit and he stumbled to
the grass.
"It looked like he had half a baseball coming out of the side
of his jaw," Butler coach Steve Farley said.
Farley disagreed with Stephenson's contention that this was all
coincidental.
"Pat is one of the best athletes on our team and I know Shane
Komine is a great athlete for Nebraska," he said. "If those two
guys can't get their gloves up in time, it makes me wonder about
the bats issue."
The NCAA has adopted bat performance rules and testing standards
in recent years. Metal baseball bats are used mostly at the college
and high school level and recreationally. The major leagues
exclusively use wood.
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