Chad Kreuter and the USC Athletic Department announced some renovations today to Dedeaux Field. They will be replacing the old fence with a new one for the upcoming season. After the season they will also be replacing the batting cages on the third base side of the field. There also is a fund raiser currently going on to upgrade the scoreboard and the lights. The full release is available here.
Harvard University has posted the 2007 Pre-Season prospectus. The Crimson made the Ivy League Championship last season losing to Princeton in the final. They are expected to again compete for the Ivy League title behind the leadership of Brendan Byrne. The prospectus is available in PDF format here.
The NCBWA has released their 2007 Pre-Season poll. The Owls of Rice are the number 1 pick overall with Clemson, UNC, University of South Carolina, and Miami rounding out the top 5. The full poll is available here.
The Elon Baseball team has released their 2007 schedule. They open the season in the Springmaid Beach Resort Tournament hosted by Coastal Carolina where they will take on UVA, Coastal Carolina, and North Florida. They also have a trip to Miami to face the Hurricanes for a three game set before opening the season in the Southern Conference. They have big weekday home games against North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wake Forest to name a few. The full schedule is available here. The athletic department also has posted some news and notes in this press release which was released today.
The Daily O'Collegian checks in with an article about the Oklahoma State baseball program. They are ranked 22nd by Baseball America and return a ton of offensive talent including NC State transfer Matt Mangini who impressed The College Baseball Blog staff and scouts in the Cape Cod League this summer. Mangini has to work on his defensive skills to become a better player all around but is an excellent hitter. The full article is available here.
Maryland Media Relations has posted a new season preview about the Terps season. They believe that the team is going to be able to compete for the ACC Championship this year. I believe this is unlikely as they really don't have too much talent in their pitching staff. The full season preview is available here.
The Daily Toreador also has written an article previewing the Red Raiders season. The article written by Wes Skipwith can be read here.
Recently, this blog has taken off. I know that there are some members of college baseball world that read this blog and if anyone would be interested in doing a quick Question and Answer session through email feel free to email me. Note: It is a new business email address.
Thanks to LeftyDad for helping out.
Rivals also posted a new article about the BYU Cougars. They will be returning 4 significant players from last year team but are getting a ton of players back from the missions which are required at BYU. The full preview about the Cougars of BYU is available here.
Rivals has released their top 25 for the upcoming season. The top team is Rice with UNC, University of South Carolina, Virginia, and Miami rounding out the top 5. I believe that Miami is a little overrated being in the top 5 but we will have to see how the season falls to find out the truth. It is nice to see 3 ACC teams in the Top 5.
The full poll is available here.
Mike Martin was officially enshrined into the ABCA Hall Of Fame today. This was a very high honor for Coach Martin who enters the season with a career record of 1435-493-4 (.744). The full press release on Coach Martin is available here.
Also, The Florida State Baseball team has officially started practicing this week for the upcoming season. They open the season on Feb. 2nd against Tennessee. There is a nice little photo gallery on the official Seminole site here.
The College Baseball Hall of Fame has elected four new members. The four people were Lou Gehrig, Christy Mathewson, Joe Sewell, and Jack Barry. Lou Gehrig played with the Columbia Lions before joining the New York Yankees and having a great professional career. Mathewson played for Bucknell from 1898-1900, in addition to Baseball, Mathewson played Football and Basketball. Joe Sewell played at Alabama from 1918-1920 and returned to coach the team in 1964 where he compiled a record of 106-79 in five seasons. Sewell and Gehrig were roommates with the New York Yankees which is ironic since they both are great players and contributers to the College Baseball World. Jack Barry played for Holy Cross from 1905-1908 and returned to the school in 1920 to coach the team. Barry is known as the Knute Rockne of the College Baseball World where he compiled a record of 616-150-6 (.802).
The full press release from The College Baseball Foundation is available here in PDF format.
Rivals.com has added some Conference Previews with the Big 12, ACC, and SEC already done. They are fairly short but gives the readers a quick synopsis about the key players and teams in the respective conference.
Big 12
SEC
ACC
It is a bad day when I have to post a story about a death but I have to. Jody Schrage, 45, wife of Notre Dame Head Coach Dave Schrage passed away on Tuesday from complications with cancer. The College Baseball Blog wants the readers to keep her and the Schrage family in your thoughts.
The full article is available here.
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Cal-State Fullerton is picked to win the 2007 Big West Conference behind Head Coach George Horton. They will rely on Co-National player of the Year Wes Roemer and third baseman Evan McArthur to carry the load for the Titans. The full article about the poll is available here.
Big West Conference Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Cal State Fullerton (7) - 63
2. UC Riverside - 50
3. UC Irvine (1) - 48
4. Long Beach State - 43
5. Cal Poly - 31
6. UC Santa Barbara - 23
7. Pacific - 22
8. Cal State Northridge - 8
The A-10 Conference has released their 2007 Pre-Season Baseball Poll. They have picked Charlotte to win the title behind third baseman Aaron Bray's potent bat. The defending champion St. Louis and URI round out the top three. It should be an interesting season in the A-10 conference like usual and the full press release on the poll is available here.
2007 Predicted Order Of Finish
1. Charlotte
2. Saint Louis
3. Rhode Island
4. St. Bonaventure
5. Dayton
6. Richmond
7. George Washington
8. Fordham
9. Duquesne
10. Massachusetts
11. Xavier
12. Temple
13. La Salle
14. Saint Joseph's
The University of Tampa is the pre-season Number 1 in Division 2 according to the College Baseball Newspaper. They have perennial New England power Franklin Pierce in the 10th spot. They play in the finest facility in the New England area and will conitnue to dominate the Northeast in the Division 2 level. They continue to get recruits out of D-1 programs like St. John's and Hartford. Jayson King at Franklin Pierce deserves a D-1 job and is excellent at building a strong following which he has done in Rindge. I will be attending a few FPC games this season in addition to the D-2 tournament which likely will take place in Rindge if they continue the winning ways.
The full D-2 poll available here.
Otterbein, OH leads to Division 3 poll with New England powers Southern Maine, Eastern Connecticut State, and Wheaton all in the top ten. The full poll is available here.
Added Content
College Baseball Newspaper also released the California Community College Pre-Season poll which is lead by Sacramento in the North and Riverside in the South. The full poll is available here.
SeBaseball has added two free previews to their site. The two teams which they have profiled are the Ragin' Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette and the Auburn Tigers. Mark Etheridge continues to provide the great coverage for the readers of SeBaseball.
The Western Carolina Catamounts were picked by Collegiate Baseball to win the Southern Conference in 2007. The full press release from Western Carolina is available here.
Projected Order of Finish
1. Western Carolina
2. College of Charleston
3. Elon
4. UNC Greensboro
5. The Citadel
6. Georgia Southern
7. Furman
8. Appalachian State
9. Davidson
10. Wofford
One of my loyal readers forwarded me a story about the upcoming auction dinner on Feb. 3rd for the Sam Houston State Bearkat baseball team. The dinner will feature guest speaker Nolan Ryan who was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1999. The full press release is available here.
There is also a recent feature on the SHSU website with new Bearkat head coach Mark Johnson in which he talks about the upcoming season which is available here. The Bearkats open the season on Feb. 8th against BYU. Full Schedule available here.
The IU Media Relations department is continuing the series of articles about the new players on the Indiana Baseball team for the 2007 season. The article about Mr. Arnett is available here.
The Hawaii Rainbows will be starting practice today. Head Coach Mike Trapasso is in a rebuilding mode for this season but they should still be competitive with 3b Justin Frash returning and 9 game winner Ian Harrington. He lost his ace in Steven Wright, Darrell Fisherbaugh who led the team in saves, leadoff hitter Robbie Wilder, cleanup hitter Luis Avila, and fifth hitting Matt Inouye. These are some major losses but Coach Trapasso will be able to recharge the Rainbows batteries this upcoming season. The full article from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin is available here.
GoJackets.com checks in with a preview on the UNC Tar Heels. They will continue to be a power in the ACC with their hitting but they need to replace both Andrew Miller and Daniel Bard to head back to the CWS Final. Robert Woodard is the only returning starter and Andrew Carignan returns in the Closer role. The full preview is available here.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders have started practice for the upcoming season. The Red Raiders are led by 21st year Head Coach Larry Hays. The two stars of the team this year are Junior catcher Matt Smith and Sophomore outfielder Roger Kieschnick who were both named to the NCBWA Preseason All-America Team. The full article about them starting practice is available here.
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