OMAHA, NEB. (AP) - Jackie Bradley Jr. has felt Christian Walker’s pain.
Walker played in Game 1 of the College World Series against Florida on Monday despite having a fractured hamate bone in his left wrist. He doubled in his first at-bat for the Gamecocks.
A similar injury to Bradley on April 23 caused him to miss 27 games.
Bradley returned for the start of the CWS and went into Monday’s game batting .364 in Omaha. Only Jake Williams, at .417, was hitting better for the Gamecocks.
Bradley, the CWS Most Outstanding Player last year, batted ninth in South Carolina’s CWS-opening win over Texas A&M and returned to his usual cleanup spot for the second game, a 7-1 win over Virginia, going 2 for 5 with an RBI double.
Bradley was the No. 40 overall pick in the recent baseball draft, by the Boston Red Sox.
Jackie Bradley Sr. said he was almost as happy as his son when he returned to the lineup.
“I was glad to see him get his stroke back,” he said.
The elder Bradley said after Friday’s 3-2, 13-inning win over Virginia that his son still hasn’t fully recovered from his injury.
“I’d say he’s about 70 percent,” he said. “I hope he’ll get it back by Monday.”
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BUNTS UP, HOMERS DOWN: The toning down of the aluminum bats has resulted in a reduction of homers and an increase in sacrifice bunts.
Heading into Monday, there were seven home runs hit in the first 12 games at TD Ameritrade Park. That compares to 28 before the final two games at Rosenblatt Stadium.
Meanwhile, there were 18 sacrifice bunts in 2010 compared to 24 heading into the final series.
“The home run numbers obviously went down,” South Carolina’s Scott Wingo said. “But I just think that the sweet spot just is not as big as last year. And I didn’t notice too much of a difference. I don’t know how, but I hit better than I’ve ever hit. So probably bad person to ask on that one.”
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DON’T SCALP TICKETS: Attendance at TD Ameritrade Park is up substantially over last year at Rosenblatt Stadium, and demand for tickets appears to be exceeding supply.
Omaha police say at least 11 people have been arrested for ticket scalping.
The Nebraska State Patrol has joined forces with Omaha police to monitor ticket scalping.
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