The BulleTin • Friday, June 18, 2021 B5
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
TODAY
SATURDAY
TONIGHT
HIGH
87°
LOW
54°
Mostly sunny and very
warm
Sunny and remaining very
warm
ALMANAC
Yesterday Normal
Record
84°
73° 96° in 1961
46°
42° 24° in 1902
PRECIPITATION
24 hours through 5 p.m. yesterday
0.00"
Record
1.04" in 1965
Month to date (normal)
0.45" (0.46")
Year to date (normal)
2.60" (5.48")
Barometric pressure at 4 p.m.
30.12"
SUN, MOON AND PLANETS
Rise/Set
Today
Sat.
Sun
5:22am/8:51pm 5:22am/8:51pm
Moon
1:42pm/1:43am 2:56pm/2:06am
Mercury 5:02am/7:39pm 4:57am/7:34pm
Venus
7:00am/10:26pm 7:02am/10:26pm
Mars
8:17am/11:13pm 8:16am/11:10pm
Jupiter 12:18am/10:53am 12:14am/10:49am
Saturn 11:28pm/9:12am 11:24pm/9:08am
Uranus
2:55am/5:06pm 2:51am/5:02pm
Full
Last
New
First
Jun 24
Jul 1
Jul 9
Jul 17
Tonight's sky: Delphinus the Dolphin glides
through the Milky Way on summer evenings.
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
UV INDEX TODAY
10 a.m.
Noon
2 p.m.
4 p.m.
5
10
10
5
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index ™ number,
the greater the need for eye and skin protection. 0-2 Low,
3-5 Moderate; 6-7 High; 8-10 Very High; 11+ Extreme.
POLLEN COUNT
Trees
Moderate
Weeds
Absent
Source: Oregon Allergy Associates
TUESDAY
90°
61°
Plenty of sunshine
Hot with plenty of sun
EAST: Sunny and hot
Friday. Clear Friday
night, then partly
sunny, breezy and
very warm Saturday.
86°
56°
Mostly cloudy, a shower
possible; warm
Astoria
65/52
Hood
River
NATIONAL WEATHER
As of 7 a.m. yesterday
Reservoir
Acre feet
Capacity
Crane Prairie
47676
86%
Wickiup
48412
24%
Crescent Lake
25127
29%
Ochoco Reservoir
8470
19%
Prineville
72285
49%
River fl ow
Station
Cu.ft./sec.
Deschutes R. below Crane Prairie
113
Deschutes R. below Wickiup
1190
Deschutes R. below Bend
128
Deschutes R. at Benham Falls
1540
Little Deschutes near La Pine
83
Crescent Ck. below Crescent Lake
17
Crooked R. above Prineville Res.
1
Crooked R. below Prineville Res.
200
Crooked R. near Terrebonne
69
Ochoco Ck. below Ochoco Res.
11
-0s
0s
10s
20s
30s
40s
50s
60s
70s
80s
90s
100s
110s
NATIONAL
EXTREMES
YESTERDAY (for the
T-storms
Yesterday
City
Hi/Lo/Prec.
Abilene
95/69/0.00
Akron
80/50/0.00
Albany
73/46/0.00
Albuquerque
96/73/0.00
Anchorage
64/52/0.08
Atlanta
89/65/0.00
Atlantic City
74/54/0.00
Austin
95/69/0.00
Baltimore
80/58/0.00
Billings
88/57/0.00
Birmingham
89/62/0.00
Bismarck
92/55/0.00
Boise
91/55/0.00
Boston
80/60/0.00
Bridgeport, CT 79/53/0.00
Buffalo
74/47/0.00
Burlington, VT
78/50/0.00
Caribou, ME
66/45/0.04
Charleston, SC 90/66/0.00
Charlotte
84/59/0.00
Chattanooga
89/62/0.00
Cheyenne
95/57/0.00
Chicago
88/58/0.04
Cincinnati
84/60/Tr
Cleveland
82/48/0.00
Colorado Springs 97/62/0.01
Columbia, MO
97/70/0.00
Columbia, SC
88/64/0.00
Columbus, GA
92/65/0.00
Columbus, OH
84/51/0.00
Concord, NH
77/42/0.00
Corpus Christi
94/75/0.00
Dallas
99/75/0.00
Dayton
85/57/0.00
Denver
100/67/0.00
Des Moines
101/70/0.02
Detroit
85/54/0.00
Duluth
83/61/0.08
El Paso
98/75/0.00
Fairbanks
67/54/0.60
Fargo
89/57/0.00
Flagstaff
92/57/Tr
Grand Rapids
85/50/0.00
Green Bay
89/55/0.17
Greensboro
81/58/0.00
Harrisburg
79/51/0.00
Hartford, CT
77/47/0.00
Helena
85/50/0.00
Honolulu
86/75/0.03
Houston
94/76/0.00
Huntsville
88/62/0.00
Indianapolis
85/57/0.00
Jackson, MS
91/63/0.00
Jacksonville
91/70/Tr
Today
Hi/Lo/W
95/71/s
83/69/t
78/61/s
96/70/pc
68/55/pc
92/71/s
78/71/s
93/68/s
87/71/s
85/57/s
92/72/s
81/49/s
96/64/s
83/66/s
81/67/s
73/67/t
81/66/pc
82/57/s
89/74/s
92/70/s
93/70/s
83/58/pc
93/68/t
91/71/pc
80/68/t
89/60/pc
98/74/t
93/72/s
92/71/s
88/70/t
83/61/s
93/72/t
95/73/s
87/70/t
88/63/c
89/66/pc
85/68/t
81/51/pc
100/72/s
78/58/c
80/50/pc
88/52/t
84/63/t
89/59/pc
89/69/s
84/68/s
84/64/s
86/54/s
86/73/s
95/75/t
92/70/s
94/71/t
91/73/pc
88/71/t
Amsterdam
Athens
Auckland
Baghdad
Bangkok
Beijing
Beirut
Berlin
Bogota
Budapest
Buenos Aires
Cabo San Lucas
Cairo
Calgary
Cancun
Dublin
Edinburgh
Geneva
Harare
Hong Kong
Istanbul
Jerusalem
Johannesburg
Lima
Lisbon
London
Madrid
Manila
80/60/t
85/70/pc
61/53/pc
105/80/pc
97/81/t
92/63/s
80/72/s
93/71/s
66/50/c
87/64/s
51/44/s
88/77/s
92/69/s
75/52/pc
87/79/t
60/44/pc
59/49/pc
86/64/t
74/54/s
92/85/sh
77/67/c
76/66/s
67/44/s
68/65/c
68/59/t
61/54/r
79/61/t
94/84/pc
Saturday
Hi/Lo/W
96/73/s
83/67/t
76/58/t
95/70/pc
64/54/pc
80/69/c
82/69/pc
95/73/s
90/70/t
90/55/pc
79/71/r
84/60/pc
95/63/s
82/66/t
82/66/t
79/61/c
80/62/t
76/58/t
89/72/pc
92/70/pc
86/71/pc
85/57/t
88/65/pc
86/70/t
82/65/pc
85/61/t
93/72/c
90/69/pc
79/70/r
85/69/t
80/59/t
94/78/pc
96/76/s
85/71/t
89/61/t
89/69/s
85/62/s
72/53/pc
103/77/s
74/54/c
79/60/pc
88/54/c
81/56/s
78/55/s
92/71/pc
87/66/t
82/63/t
83/54/pc
86/73/pc
96/77/pc
83/71/pc
86/71/t
80/72/r
86/72/t
City
Juneau
Kansas City
Lansing
Las Vegas
Lexington
Lincoln
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Louisville
Madison, WI
Memphis
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Nashville
New Orleans
New York City
Newark, NJ
Norfolk, VA
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Orlando
Palm Springs
Peoria
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Pittsburgh
Portland, ME
Providence
Raleigh
Rapid City
Reno
Richmond
Rochester, NY
Sacramento
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Antonio
San Diego
San Francisco
San Jose
Santa Fe
Savannah
Seattle
Sioux Falls
Spokane
Springfi eld, MO
Tampa
Tucson
Tulsa
Washington, DC
Wichita
Yakima
Yuma
Yesterday
Hi/Lo/Prec.
68/44/0.02
98/76/0.02
86/50/0.00
114/91/0.00
82/55/0.00
103/72/0.00
90/73/0.00
87/67/0.02
87/64/0.00
91/58/0.15
92/70/0.00
89/73/0.16
86/55/0.18
89/73/0.00
92/64/0.00
92/79/0.00
78/57/0.00
81/57/0.00
84/67/0.00
94/65/0.00
105/81/Tr
88/71/0.00
123/84/0.00
91/64/0.00
78/58/0.00
118/92/0.00
77/45/0.00
77/48/0.00
78/53/0.00
82/58/0.00
87/53/0.00
102/59/0.00
80/59/0.00
76/45/0.00
107/60/0.00
96/68/0.00
95/69/0.00
94/73/0.00
73/65/0.00
90/62/0.00
95/62/0.00
96/61/Tr
92/68/0.07
78/53/0.00
91/72/Tr
81/50/0.00
93/72/0.00
87/73/2.06
112/81/0.00
99/77/0.00
80/59/0.00
100/70/0.00
88/48/0.00
118/84/0.00
Today
Hi/Lo/W
58/47/r
99/76/c
85/64/t
113/89/pc
88/70/pc
94/66/pc
93/71/s
88/67/s
94/75/pc
88/60/s
92/73/s
88/81/c
86/67/c
90/60/s
94/70/pc
85/77/t
83/70/s
87/70/s
89/74/pc
94/68/s
92/66/pc
89/75/c
119/87/s
95/70/t
84/70/s
117/91/pc
80/67/t
78/62/s
82/65/s
90/71/s
86/53/s
101/67/s
89/72/pc
75/66/t
106/64/s
101/76/pc
100/75/c
92/71/s
78/65/pc
81/58/s
91/61/s
94/60/t
90/73/s
74/53/s
92/56/s
85/57/s
94/70/pc
89/78/c
112/82/s
96/72/s
87/73/s
100/74/s
93/60/s
116/81/s
Saturday
Hi/Lo/W
68/51/c
94/74/c
85/56/s
113/90/s
87/69/c
92/73/pc
89/71/s
86/66/pc
91/73/c
82/58/pc
88/71/s
89/81/pc
81/61/s
81/62/pc
90/70/pc
88/78/r
84/69/t
87/69/t
96/78/pc
93/69/s
92/73/pc
90/75/t
118/87/s
89/68/pc
87/69/t
116/90/s
80/67/t
75/61/t
81/66/t
95/73/pc
88/58/t
100/65/s
95/74/pc
81/58/c
101/60/s
96/76/pc
100/70/pc
95/75/s
76/65/pc
79/58/pc
87/59/s
91/60/pc
88/73/t
73/55/pc
86/67/pc
83/57/pc
91/70/pc
91/80/c
111/82/pc
95/74/pc
90/73/t
97/74/pc
90/60/pc
116/79/s
108/86/0.00
74/54/0.44
77/54/0.00
75/55/0.00
72/57/0.00
88/80/0.01
93/80/0.00
85/68/0.00
75/54/0.49
79/46/0.00
85/66/0.71
68/67/0.47
81/64/0.00
63/39/0.00
63/55/0.00
75/58/0.00
76/68/0.26
82/74/0.06
90/81/0.01
74/55/0.00
64/51/0.00
99/82/0.00
78/73/0.00
78/68/0.17
79/50/0.00
73/54/0.00
86/61/0.00
81/55/0.00
112/83/pc
65/56/t
80/65/c
80/60/s
72/58/c
89/79/c
91/75/s
79/69/sh
70/57/c
75/62/sh
79/60/t
73/67/pc
82/61/pc
60/38/s
62/57/pc
70/56/pc
72/63/sh
82/72/t
84/77/t
83/55/pc
65/55/s
102/85/pc
80/75/s
79/71/pc
74/66/sh
67/55/pc
88/62/s
88/61/s
111/83/s
70/57/t
76/60/sh
82/62/s
71/55/c
90/80/pc
93/76/s
76/66/r
68/53/sh
77/56/pc
84/65/t
75/68/pc
84/64/pc
64/39/pc
66/59/t
69/54/c
75/64/s
77/70/c
87/78/sh
79/63/pc
59/55/sh
101/82/pc
82/75/s
75/70/sh
81/58/s
66/55/pc
91/65/s
90/66/s
INTERNATIONAL
48 contiguous states)
National high: 128°
at Death Valley, CA
National low: 29°
at Stanley, ID
Precipitation: 1.50"
at Clearwater, FL
FIRE INDEX
High
Very high
High
Very high
High
Warm with more clouds
than sun
Sunshine and some clouds
NATIONAL
Yesterday
Today Saturday
Yesterday
Today Saturday
Yesterday
Today Saturday
City
Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
City
Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
City
Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
Astoria
68/48/0.00 65/52/pc 66/55/s
La Grande
84/48/0.00 89/57/s 84/58/pc
Portland
84/57/0.00 81/54/s 82/58/s
Baker City
83/39/0.00 89/51/s 85/51/pc
La Pine
84/36/0.00 86/45/s 85/52/s
Prineville
84/39/0.00 91/53/s 85/54/s
Brookings
80/51/Tr
71/57/s 76/59/s
Medford
90/53/0.00 90/57/s 93/62/s
Redmond
87/44/0.00 89/50/s 89/53/s
Newport
63/46/0.00 61/50/pc 63/52/s
Roseburg
85/53/0.00 85/53/s 87/60/s
Burns
89/44/0.00 94/53/pc 91/52/s
Eugene
85/48/0.00 84/48/s 84/56/s
North Bend
65/55/0.00 65/52/pc 68/55/s
Salem
85/51/0.00 83/50/s 85/57/s
Klamath Falls
89/41/0.00 92/52/s 93/52/s
Ontario
95/57/0.00 98/65/pc 98/65/s
Sisters
81/39/0.00 88/53/s 87/55/s
Lakeview
89/55/0.00 93/53/s 93/51/s
Pendleton
86/47/0.00 92/59/s 89/60/pc
The Dalles
93/53/0.00 91/61/s 90/63/pc
Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice, Tr-trace, Yesterday data as of 5 p.m. yesterday
-10s
81°
53°
TRAVEL WEATHER
Umatilla
96/63
Rufus
Hermiston
86/61
95/63
93/65
Arlington
Hillsboro Portland
Meacham Lostine
94/60
80/48 81/54
87/51
Wasco
88/52 Enterprise
Pendleton
The Dalles
CENTRAL: Sunny and
Tillamook
87/51
90/62
92/59
Sandy
91/61
McMinnville
65/50
hot Friday. Clear and
Joseph
Heppner
La
Grande
79/52
Maupin
Government
83/47
comfortable Friday
89/57
87/54
Camp
91/59 Condon 87/59
Union
Lincoln City
night, then partly
84/54
72/49
90/54
Salem
63/52
Spray
sunny, breezy and
Granite
Warm Springs
83/50
Madras
92/52
Albany
84/52
very warm Saturday. Newport
Baker City
90/52
91/52
Mitchell
61/50
79/48
89/51
WEST: Sunny and
Camp Sherman
86/51
Redmond
Corvallis
John
Unity
pleasant Friday. Clear Yachats
87/52
89/50
77/48
Day
Prineville
61/51
90/53
and comfortable Fri-
Ontario
Sisters
91/53
Paulina
91/52
98/65
day night. Sunny and
Florence
Eugene 88/53
Bend Brothers 89/48
Vale
warm again Saturday. 63/52
84/48
87/54
85/48
Sunriver
98/64
Nyssa
86/49
Hampton
Cottage
La Pine
98/63
Juntura
Oakridge
Grove
86/45
89/50
OREGON EXTREMES Coos Bay
Burns
97/56
82/52
84/50
Fort
Rock
65/51
94/53
Riley
YESTERDAY
Crescent
90/48
93/52
High: 95°
85/45
Bandon
Roseburg
Christmas Valley
Jordan Valley
at Ontario
Beaver
Frenchglen
Silver
64/52
85/53
91/49
92/56
Low: 33°
Marsh
Lake
95/53
Port Orford
87/47
91/47
at Meacham
Grants
Burns Junction
Paisley
66/54
Pass
98/60
Chiloquin
94/53
89/54
Rome
Medford
90/53
Gold Beach
90/57
99/58
65/56
Klamath
Fields
Ashland
McDermitt
Lakeview
Falls
Brookings
98/58
85/58
92/52
98/58
71/57
93/53
Seaside
63/52
Cannon Beach
63/52
THURSDAY
81°
55°
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
541-683-1577
WATER REPORT
Bend
Redmond/Madras
Sisters
Prineville
La Pine/Gilchrist
WEDNESDAY
OREGON WEATHER
TEMPERATURE
Grasses
Very high
MONDAY
85°
57°
86°
56°
Clear and mild
Bend Municipal Airport through 5 p.m. yest.
High
Low
SUNDAY
Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
Rain
Showers
Snow
Flurries
Ice
Warm Front
Stationary Front
Cold Front
Source: USDA Forest Service
84/66/0.00
84/64/0.00
58/52/0.02
99/79/0.00
93/81/0.00
90/65/0.00
79/70/0.00
93/65/0.00
66/49/0.18
85/59/0.00
52/43/0.00
95/76/0.00
89/67/0.00
75/46/Tr
81/75/2.01
64/46/0.02
68/48/0.00
86/64/0.44
70/45/0.00
91/83/0.18
73/61/0.03
77/63/0.00
67/48/0.00
67/64/0.00
67/63/0.07
71/64/0.08
72/61/0.51
91/82/0.00
67/58/pc
86/70/t
63/55/r
107/79/pc
98/81/t
97/64/s
82/71/s
93/67/t
66/50/t
90/67/s
53/44/s
89/72/s
93/72/s
61/49/r
88/79/pc
61/52/c
61/50/c
88/65/t
70/47/pc
92/85/c
75/65/r
77/64/s
62/43/pc
68/64/c
67/57/t
67/57/sh
77/56/t
92/83/t
Mecca
Mexico City
Montreal
Moscow
Nairobi
Nassau
New Delhi
Osaka
Oslo
Ottawa
Paris
Rio de Janeiro
Rome
Santiago
Sao Paulo
Sapporo
Seoul
Shanghai
Singapore
Stockholm
Sydney
Taipei City
Tel Aviv
Tokyo
Toronto
Vancouver
Vienna
Warsaw
COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
Teams on homer binge will be challenged at Omaha stadium
BY ERIC OLSON
Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. — Home
runs — lots and lots of them —
have defined the NCAA base-
ball tournament so far.
A total of 381 have been hit
in 123 games, the highest total
through super regionals since
at least 2005.
History suggests it is unlikely
homers will come at the same
rate when the stage moves to
TD Ameritrade Park for the
College World Series beginning
Saturday.
When the ballpark opened in
2011, it quickly earned a repu-
tation for being the place where
home runs go to die. While
the number of CWS homers
has increased since the NCAA
went to the less air-resistant,
flat-seam ball, teams that are
most successful find gaps in
the expansive outfield for ex-
tra-base hits and advancing
runners. And, of course, strong
pitching and defense help.
After watching Tennessee
and LSU combine for 10 home
runs in the game’s first 17 hits
in a super regional loss to the
Volunteers on Sunday, retiring
Tigers coach Paul Mainieri said
of the CWS: “There might not
be 10 home runs hit the entire
tournament up there.”
Home runs have been up
all season. The rate of 0.87 per
team per game through May 30
already was on track to be the
highest since 2010. That figure
is 1.55 in tournament games.
Teams combined for five or
more homers in 33 regional
and super regional games, ac-
cording to Associated Press
research. The high was 11 in a
Mississippi-Southern Missis-
sippi regional game.
There were 38 instances of a
player hitting multiple homers
in a game, and there were 13
grand slams.
No team enters the CWS on
a bigger home run surge than
Tennessee, which hit 16 in five
tournament games. The Volun-
teers have homered at least once
in 26 of their past 30 games, in-
cluding 15 with multiple hom-
ers and seven with at least four.
How will that homer-heavy
offense carry over to Omaha?
“The easy answer would be
as much as they’ve leaned on
the home run down the stretch,
it has potential for them to not
be nearly as effective because
it’s so much more difficult to
get the ball out of TD Ameri-
trade than most ballparks,” said
ESPN analyst Chris Burke, a
three-time All-American for
Tennessee from 1999-2001.
“However, I do think the ball
is carrying much better this
year, and we’ve seen in the last
few years in Omaha that while
it’s certainly not an easy place to
get the ball out of, it’s traveling
out of that ballpark much more
regularly since they switched to
the current ball,” he said.
TD Ameritrade’s dimensions
are 335 feet down the lines, 375
to the alleys and 408 to center.
The cavernous downtown sta-
dium sits on low ground a few
blocks from the Missouri River,
and ball flight is suppressed be-
cause games this time of year
typically are played in high hu-
midity and batters often hit into
a south wind.
There were a total of 25
homers hit in 59 CWS games
from 2011-14 (0.21 per team
per game). With the flat-seam
ball, there have been 88 hom-
ers in 80 CWS games (0.55)
since 2015.
Coach Elliott Avent brought
North Carolina State to the
CWS in 2013, the first of two
straight years when only three
balls left the park. This week,
he recalled watching his star
player, Trea Turner, raise a fist
in premature celebration after
he drove a ball deep to left late
in a game against UCLA. What
he thought was a three-run
homer turned out to be just a
long out.
“I jumped out of the dugout,
which I never do, and that ball
didn’t get out and so we lost to
UCLA,” Avent said. “I remem-
ber it’s tough to get the ball out
of there.”
Avent said his team, which
plays Stanford in the CWS
opener after hitting 13 hom-
ers in six tournament games,
can’t depend on the long ball in
Omaha.
“You have to be a team that
can score different ways,” he
said. “We have team speed,
we can bunt, we can drive the
ball out of the ballpark. But it’s
about singles and hitting gaps
as much as anything.”
Division I Baseball Commit-
Golf
take care of myself,” he said. “I
mean, I love these fans and I
want to play well for them, but
right now I’m just really trying
to be happy.’’
Wolff did himself no favors
by plunging back into compe-
tition at a tournament that is
often the hardest test in golf.
He admitted to being nervous
standing on his first tee and
could have folded after block-
ing his opening tee shot some
40 yards right of the fairway.
But he made a couple of
quick birdies to move to the top
of the early leaderboard. And
he kept making birdies — eight
of them in all — to offset some
of the trouble he had with his
putter midway through the
round on his way to a 1-under
70 that left him in contention.
“Coming off a break like this
when you’re struggling this
much mentally I don’t know if
there’s ever a right time to come
back and maybe that right time
is way down the road,’’ Wolff
said. “But I kind of told myself,
I’m like, Dude, I’ve been mak-
ing progress on enjoying myself
and lightening up a little bit and
accepting the bad shots because
everyone hits them.’’
Wolff said he spent his two-
month break focused on his
mental health, not his golf. He
took heart when he heard other
athletes — including tennis
player Naomi Osaka — talk
about having similar issues.
He knows he’s fortunate to
play golf for a living. But he
also knows he needs to be right
mentally to succeed in his cho-
sen career over a long period
of time.
Wade Payne/AP file
Tennessee outfielder Evan Russell (6) connects for a home run during
a super regional game against LSU on Sunday in Knoxville, Tennes-
see. The Volunteers hit 16 homers in five tournament games and have
cleared the fence at least once in 26 of their past 30 games.
Continued from B3
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Matthew Wolff plays his shot from the 12th tee during the first round
of the U.S. Open on Thursday in San Diego. After struggling early after
a two-month layoff from golf, Wolff fired a 1-under 70 on the tough
Torrey Pines Golf Course.
The story of Wolff’s day was
a lot like the story of his young
career. A lot of highs, a bunch of
lows, and at the end some light
shining in what had become an
increasingly dark place for the
phenom who just eight months
ago seemed destined to win the
Open at Winged Foot before
faltering in the final round.
He came here with no expec-
tations — but brought along a
lot of hope. Not just hope that
he would play well, but hope
that he would handle things
better no matter what the score.
Most of all, though, he just
hoped he would be happy.
“I think the biggest thing
right now that I’m trying to do
is enjoy myself again and just
tee chairman Jeff Altier said he
expects plenty of home runs in
Omaha — and strikeouts —
because the college game has
evolved in the same way as pro-
fessional baseball.
For batters, it’s meant that
trying to achieve optimal
launch angle and exit velocity
has become the holy grail of
hitting. For pitchers, it’s meant
working the upper part of the
strike zone to counter upward
swings.
It’s common for batters to
swing for the fences through-
out every at-bat, and that’s led
to increased strikeouts. Fifteen
teams in the tournament, in-
cluding every CWS team except
Arizona, have struck out at least
10 batters per nine innings.
Wildcats pitchers average 9.0.
“I honestly think it’s just the
approach to hitting that is now
in the game, more of a major
league mentality,” Altier said.
“Launch angle, swinging full ef-
fort, pitchers pitching up more
because that’s the way to beat
the drop and lift. I think you
see more (pitching) mistakes
and guys are bigger, stronger
than they’ve ever been in col-
lege baseball. Hitting the ball
farther is natural.”
“It’s just so important to be
happy and I live an amazing
life,’’ he said. ‘‘So many mil-
lions and millions and millions
of people would trade (places
with) me in a heartbeat. And I
needed to just kind of get back
and be like, Dude, you live an
unbelievable life.’’
That life might be even more
unbelievable if the big hitter
with the unorthodox swing was
to somehow win the Open in
his return to play. Actually, just
getting to play on the weekend
would in his mind be enough
to validate his choice of a path
forward.
Like golf itself, Wolff’s goal
is both complicated — and ex-
tremely simple.
“I just want to be happy,
man,” he said. “That’s pretty
much all it is.”