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The hits just keep on coming at the College World Series.
Keith Moreland. Barry Bonds. Greg Ellena. Robin Ventura. Mark Kotsay. Ryan Garko. John Gall. Sam Fuld.
That's not the entire list of great hitters at the CWS, of course. But if you had to fill out the lineup card for most consistent sluggers while in Omaha, that's your starting point.
But the legacy never seems to end. Just when you think that you've seen it all, someone else with a better eye and quicker bat “pings'' his way into the record book and the memory.
Someone named Dustin Ackley.
Beneath the shadows of a routine 11-4 elimination win over Southern Miss on a Tuesday afternoon, Ackley quietly and efficiently etched his name into a lineup of CWS greatness.
The hits just kept on coming for Ackley. A single up the middle. A double to left. A single to left. A single up the middle. A single to right center.
He flied to left center in the ninth as he attempted to be only the second player in CWS history to get six hits in one game.
He would have to settle for being the all-time hits leader (27) in CWS history.
As he jogged back toward the dugout, the people stood and applauded. Everyone seemed to know this was a special moment provided by a special, once-in-a-generation player.
“I'm at a loss for words to describe what I've been able to see,'' said North Carolina coach Mike Fox.
Are we seeing the greatest hitter in CWS history?
The junior first baseman makes a strong case. This is his third consecutive CWS. There won't be a fourth. Ackley was selected by Seattle as the second overall pick in the major league draft.
Throw in this year's .636 average (7 for 11) in two games and Ackley has a CWS career average of .429 (27 for 63), which ranks him ninth all-time. He's had a hit in all 14 games he's played in the CWS, which is thought to be a record. Ackley is even setting records nobody knew existed.
There is definitely an aura around this budding star.
On the surface, he's a kid from Walnut Cove, N.C., whose father taught him to hit in the backyard. He's humble. He drinks his milk. He outworks everyone.
But there is something else about Ackley, too. Something people can't explain. That eye. Fox says he knows the college strike zone well — almost too well. Ackley says many of his strikeouts are called third strikes, which happened because he was more certain that the pitch was a ball than the umpire.
Southern Miss second baseman James Ewing was certainly convinced that Ackley is of another zone.
“It seemed like every time I shaded the middle, he hit the four-hole,'' Ewing said. “And every time I shaded the four-hole, he hit the middle. The guy can flat-out hit.”
Told that Ewing was convinced that Ackley could place the ball where he wanted, Ackley laughed and said, “No, no. I don't know anyone who can do that. It just seemed like everything I hit today went to a hole.''
The great ones say that. Is Ackley the greatest?
I'll still take Kotsay, the brilliant center fielder/pitcher who led Cal State Fullerton to the 1995 CWS title and still leads the CWS record book in two categories: career batting average (.517) and career slugging percentage (1.103).
It's a tough call, but I give Kotsay the edge in one important area: He's got a ring. And, he was a tour de force on that 1995 championship team.
In fact, he's one of the very few of the CWS' all-time hitters who has a ring.
Stars with rings transcend CWS lore. Ackley seems to know that a ring in his third and final CWS might make his case debate-proof.
“It means a lot,'' Ackley said. “It will mean a lot more as I get older and I look back and realize what I've done. It's hard to think about it right now because we're still playing and we have a chance to win a national championship, which would mean even more than any of those things.''
One problem: The Tar Heels will have to win three games — against Texas and Arizona State — just to play for the championship.
But if anyone here is equipped to do it, it's them. North Carolina has the pitching, the depth, the CWS experience, the hot bats (record-tying 23 hits on Tuesday) and one very special player who could carry them and no one would be surprised. If anything, it's now expected.
“I'm glad the country had a chance to see what we've seen,'' Fox said. “I don't think I'll ever have another like him.''
He still has him now and that might be enough.
Contact the writer:
444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com
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