Japan wins third straight over Team USA

FROM USA BASEBALL RELEASE
DURHAM, NC— Keijiro Matsumoto and Hiroki Uemoto each drove in two runs as the Japan University All-Stars (4-3) won the first series on U.S. soil, in 19 attempts, defeating Team USA (10-5) for the third-straight time in the five-game series, 5-2.

The Americans managed just 13 hits over the three losses, Saturday night getting shut down by Shota Oba, who avenged a loss in game one against the Americans. Oba pitched a complete game five-hitter, striking out eight and walking three. Two of those hits, and one of the runs, came in the ninth.

The U.S. vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Series began in 1972 in Japan, with the late legendary USC coach Rod Dedeaux helping organize the event. The Americans had won the first 18 meetings on U.S. soil.

Matsumoto’s RBI single through a drawn in infield, gave the Japanese a 1-0 lead in the first. An RBI single by Hiroki Uemoto followed by an RBI single by Tetsuya Kokubo then chased Ryan Berry (Rice) from the game in the fifth, giving Team Japan a 3-0 lead. Matsumoto’s second RBI single then made it 4-0.

Berry (0-1) gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits for the loss

TEAM NOTES
Oba had lost game one to Team USA.... The Americans had eight hits in the previous two losses against Japan... Lance Lynn (1-0, 0.00) will oppose Mikinori Kato in the Sunday finale... Japanese teams have been playing against organized U.S. teams for more than 100 years. The first games occurred in 1905 when Waseda University visited the U.S. to play a series.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The 10-game North Carolina home stand concludes in Durham, NC on July 8, all with the Japanese... the team then heads to processing in Washington DC on July 9 (or 10) before heading to the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The open play up with the Dominican Republic on July 14.

Japan silences Team USA 2-1

The Japanese team picked up a tight 2-1 victory in a classic pitching duel between Yuki Saito and Jacob Thompson. Saito is credited as the next big Japanese pitcher following in the likes of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideo Nomo. Saito pitched six strong innings while giving up one run on three hits. Jacob Thompson (UVA) was just as good as he gave up both runs which were unearned on three hits. The Japanese team scored in a two run second inning by using small ball by getting a walk, a fielder's choice, two bunts, and a big error by Jacob Thompson to plate the runs. Team USA scored a run in the bottom of the second inning on a lead off double by Brett Wallace (Arizona State) who came around on consecutive groundouts. Neither team would score the rest of the game giving the Japanese team a 2-1 lead in the series. The teams will be back in action on Saturday at 7 pm in Durham NC. The game will be webcasted for free and can be found by clicking here.

Team USA Recap

The picture above was taken from No Sword which is a Japanese blog.

Japan edges Team USA 3-2

USA BASEBALL RELEASE
KANNAPOLIS, NC— The Japan University All-Stars (2-3) evened their five-game series with Team USA (10-3), winning game two of the series 3-2 behind lefthander Mikinori Kato on Thursday evening.

Jordy Mercer (Oklahoma State) had two of the Americans five hits.

Kato pitched six and two-thirds innings, and despite giving up five hits and five walks, struck out eight and only had one tough inning, the seventh, when the Americans pulled to within 3-2. Shinya Muramtsu got the final out in the seventh and then retired six of the final seven batters for the save.

Kato was rolling through the first six scoreless innings, scattering five hits, while retiring seven in a row at one point. As the pitch total rose above 100, the lefthander got tired as two errors and three walks in the seventh led to his departure with a 3-2 lead.

The Americans scored two unearned runs off of errors by Kato and first baseman Ryoji Naktaa to cut the Japanese lead to one. The error by first baseman Ryoji Nakata gave the Americans their first run, before an attempted steal by the U.S. with runners on the corners, plated another.

The Japanese scored two of their first three runs with two-out singles to lead 3-0 off of Brian Matusz (San Diego).

A bloop, two-out single left by Hiroki Uemoto in the third gave Japan a 1-0 lead. An RBI single by Hiroki Nakazawa in the fourth then made it 2-0. An unearned run in the sixth made it 3-0, on a two-out single by Yukinaga Tanaka following a leadoff error by Mercer at short.

Matusz pitched the first six innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits.

TEAM NOTES
RHP Jacob Thompson (1-0, 0.00) will start tomorrow’s game for the Americans... Petey Paramore, despite playing in just eight of team’s first 13 games, is the team-leader in walks with 11... the Americans avoided their first shutout since August 13, 2006 (7-0 vs. Nicaragua) and first shutout in the series since June 27, 200 when they were shutout by the Japanese in Honolulu.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The 10-game North Carolina home stand concludes in Durham, NC on July 6, 7 and 8, all with the Japanese... the team then heads to processing in Washington DC on July 9 (or 10) before heading to the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Texas Collegiate League All-Star Rosters released

The Texas Collegiate League has released their rosters for the 2007 All-Star game which will take place at TCU on Monday July 9th. Rusty Greer was named the manager of the Tris Speaker Division team while former Texas Ranger teammate Mike Henneman will coach the Roger Hornsby Division.

2007 All-Star Game Rosters
2007 All-Star Game Coaches

2007 Valley League All-Stars Announced

-Valley League Baseball Press Release-

The Valley Baseball league has announced its 2007 All-Star Teams. The North roster will be made up of players from Fauquier, Front Royal, Haymarket, Luray, Winchester and Woodstock. The South roster will have players from Covington, Harrisonburg, New Market, Staunton and Waynesboro. Each roster consists of 28 players with Waynesboro leading the way with seven All-Stars. Harrisonburg and Woodstock tied for second with six each.

A Home Run Derby will precede the game and will feature all players in the league with three or more home runs through Saturday.

North All-Stars

South All-Stars

Bibb Falk inducted into College Baseball Hall of Fame!

Former Longhorn player and coach Bibb Falk was inducted posthumously into the College Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday. Falk was represented at the Lubbock Convention Center ceremony by his niece Clemmie Hext.

"To hear all the baseball stories of Uncle Bibb," Hext said, "you would have to be somewhere for a long while. He was gruff on the outside but had a heart of gold on the inside, and he touched so many lives. He always had a determined look on his face and a baseball rulebook in his pocket. He was a baseball man through and through but a wonderful human being. He truly loved all his players - especially the ones who competed on the 1949 and '50 national championship teams at Texas."

Texas Sports.com

http://www.collegebaseballfoundation.org/

Southern Miss signs JUCO standout

Southern Miss Head Baseball Coach Corky Palmer has announced the signing of Josh Fields, a 5-11, 185-pound third baseman/right-hand pitcher from Arkansas - Ft. Smith Junior College in Ft. Smith, Ark., , to a letter of intent and grant in aid for the 2007-08 academic year.

"I'm glad that Josh has signed with Southern Miss and will be joining our program," Palmer said. "He is an excellent hitter, who can hit for average and for power from the right side. He covers a lot of territory at third base, has a good arm and doesn't make mistakes. He comes from a good program, and has a chance to see playing time right away."

This marks the seventh signee of the spring signing period and 11th signee overall for the program.

Complete story

USA Baseball takes Game 1 from Japan

Team USA picked up a 7-2 victory over Japan in the opener of a five game series between the countries. The USA team was led by a strong start from Tyson Ross (Cal) who threw seven innings while only allowing two runs on six hits and a walk. The offense was led by Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) who had a homer in the first inning while going 2-3 with two RBI with three runs scored. Team USA and Japan will play on Thursday in Kannapolis NC before heading back to Durham for the remainder of the series. The games in Durham are webcasted through USA Baseball.

Team USA Recap

2008 MLB Prospects

We can now look ahead to the 2008 MLB Draft prospects as Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) and Justin Smoak (South Carolina) lead the draft eligible players. They will also be joined by pitchers Jacob Thompson (UVA) and Brian Matusz (USD). All four of these players are on Team USA this summer as the team will take part in the Pan-American games and the World Port Tournament in the Netherlands. Ike Davis (Arizona State) and Jordan Danks (Texas) also get some talk about being in the top of the 2008 draft. We have found two sites that are already giving their predictions on the upcoming draft which can be read about by clicking the links below.

MLB.com
Project Prospect

David Price Named Brooks Wallace Award Winner

David Price of Vanderbilt University picked up the 2007 Brooks Wallace Award for being the national player of the year in Collegiate Baseball. He led the Vanderbilt Commodores to a 54-13 record while individually going 11-1 on the season with his lone loss coming in the Regional Championship game loss to Michigan. Price ended up getting picked by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with the first overall pick in the MLB draft in June. Full press release coming soon!

CSTV Release

I Want to be a Sports Agent blog recently sat down and did an interview with David Price in which he discusses many different topics in which he has faced during his college baseball days. The full interview is available here.

Top 5 Coaching jobs of 2007

SeBaseball has released a list of the top five coaching jobs of 2007. The list is led by Louisville Head Coach Dan McDonnell to their first trip to the CWS in the team's history. They also name UC-Irvine's Dave Serrano, Mississippi State's Ron Polk, North Carolina's Mike Fox, and Missouri's Tim Jamieson. The full article is available here.

Want to watch baseball?

I have been following the Cape Cod Baseball League over the first three weeks of the season and just discovered that a ton of Cape Cod League games are being broadcasted for free on the Internet. The games include a full radio broadcast and video of each game. All games can be watched by clicking here.

If you are not aware of the Cape Cod League you are missing out on the best deal in the nation and some pretty good baseball. The CCBL is consistently rated the top summer baseball league in the nation every summer for College Baseball players. This year the Cape Cod League has Chris Dominguez and Joey Wong each who made an impact on the national level in the College World Series. Dominguez and Wong are just two out of the many examples of excellent players on the Cape this summer.

Cape Cod Baseball League Awards for Week 3

The Cape Cod Baseball League has announced their players of the week for the week ending on June 29th. The league named Bourne pitcher T.J. Hose (East Carolina) the Coca-Cola Pitcher of the Week after pitching eight innings without allowing an earned run. Brian Pruitt (Stetson) also of Bourne was named the Coca-Cola Player of the Week after hitting .412 last week. The full press release from the Cape Cod League is available by clicking here.

Valley League Weekly Honors – July 2, 2007

Players of the Week

Luke Greinke (Orlando, Fla.), a junior utility player out of Auburn for the Winchester Royals hit .474 last week. Greinke added a double, a home run, three RBIs and three runs scored to help lead the way for Winchester. He finished fifth in the league last week with a .684 slugging percentage. This season he is hitting .478 with three doubles, two home runs, 10 RBIs and six runs scored.

Nick Stanley (Largo, Fla.), a junior catcher for New Market out of South Florida C.C., hit .474 last week second best in the Valley League. Stanley also added six runs scored, two doubles, a home run and three RBIs to help lead the Rebels last week. This season he is hitting .345, with eight doubles, 15 runs scored, a home run and 10 RBIs for New Market.

Pitchers of the Week

John Dages (Indianapolis, Ind.), a right-handed junior for Waynesboro out of Butler University, won his only start of the week. Dages threw a complete-game shutout against Covington on Sunday. He allowed just one runner to reach base on a single in the fourth innings, while also striking out nine and holding opponents to a .036 batting average. On the season Dages is 5-0 with a 0.89 ERA. He has struck out 31, while allowing just four extra base hits and four runs in 40.1 innings pitched.

Josh Judy (Morgantown, WV), a senior right handed pitcher for Indiana Tech and Haymarket led the league with 18 strikeouts last week. In his start against Staunton, Judy went all nine innings, striking out 17, allowing just five hits and one earned run. Judy also pitched an inning in relief for Haymarket as he allowed one hit and struck out one for the Senators.

Team USA bounces back with a win

Team USA got six strong innings from starting pitcher Mike Minor (Vanderbilt) who only gave up one run on five hits while walking only a single batter and striking out four hitters in a 5-1 victory over Chinese Taipei on Tuesday evening. Team USA was led on offense by Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State) went 2-4 with two RBI. Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) also went 2-4 in the game. Team USA will now play Japan in a five game series which starts tomorrow (July 4th).

Team USA Release

College Baseball HOF inducts three

FROM COLLEGE BASEBALL FOUNDATION RELEASE

The inaugural Veterans Class of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame was inducted this morning in a ceremony held in Lubbock, Texas. Jack Barry of Holy Cross, Lou Gehrig of Columbia, Christy Mathewson of Bucknell and Joe Sewell of Alabama comprised the class.

Barry, a player and later coach at Holy Cross, coached the Crusaders for 39 seasons, including a College World Series title in 1952. Representing Barry in the ceremony, which was conducted as part of the “Hall of Fame Showcase” at City Bank Texas, was his nephew, Mr. Tom Deedy. A video speech was played from Ron Perry, former Holy Cross athletic director and a player for Barry on the ’52 national champions, in which he spoke of Barry.

“Jack Barry stressed the fundamentals and he demanded that we be mentally alert at all times,” Perry said. “He did not hesitate to replace a player who was not attentive.”

Gehrig, who set several offensive records and also pitched for Columbia, was represented by Barry Neuberger, Associate Athletics Director for Sports Marketing at Columbia University. He detailed a home run hit by Gehrig on campus at Columbia that traveled through a distant classroom window.

“I’ve had this story detailed to me a number of times, and all accounts are consistent,” Neuberger said. “The ball traveled about 450 feet.”

Bucknell baseball coach Gene Depew accepted the induction plaque on behalf of Mathewson. One of the first college men to achieve prominence in professional sports, Mathewson was better known in college as a football star.

“Grantland Rice referred to him as the finest drop-kicker of his time,” Depew said. “He also played a horn in the band and sang in the glee club.”

Joe Sewell played at Alabama from 1918 to 1920, and later coached the Crimson Tide to the SEC title in 1968. His daughter, Mary Sue Sewell Parnell, and son, Dr. James Sewell, described a father who loved to tell stories about his baseball days.

“He loved baseball until his death,” said Dr. Sewell.

“He told us about being roommates with Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, although he said he roomed with the Babe’s suitcase more often than the Babe himself,” Pernell laughed.

Hall of Fame festivities will continue on July 4 with the induction of the 2007 Class of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame. The class of 11 includes John Olerud of Washington State, Jim Abbott of Michigan and Fred Lynn of USC.

Thanks

The College Baseball Blog would like to give thanks to Sooze over at Babes Love Baseball for creating the new logo on the top of the site. She was nice enough to donate her time to making a new logo as I tend to struggle with creative arts. Please go check out her site by clicking here.

Holy Cross names New Head Coach

The College Baseball Blog has confirmed with multiple sources that Greg Dicenzo has been selected to become the new Head Coach of the Holy Cross baseball program. Dicenzo heads to Holy Cross after being with the Northeastern Huskies as a pitching coach the last five seasons. He left the program abruptly after the close of the 2007 season in hopes of receiving a head coaching position which came with the Holy Cross program.

The Holy Cross program plays in the best college stadium in New England in Fitton Field. The field is the home of the Independent League Worcester Tornadoes and provides a great place to watch some college baseball.

The College Baseball Blog would like to congratulate Coach Dicenzo for getting the job and hoping he leads the Crusaders program back to the promise land.

UPDATE: Official Press Release

USA drops game to Chinese Taipei

USA Baseball Release

CARY, NC— Wei-Hua Lee (2-0) pitched a complete-game, seven hitter as Chinese Taipei (2-3) scored two runs in the top of the seventh to defeat Team USA (8-2) 3-2 on Monday morning. Lee struck out four and walked one. The five-game series continues in Kannapolis, NC on Tuesday at 7 p.m. after the U.S. won the first three games.

The American bullpen blew a one-run lead in the seventh when Josh Romanski (0-1, San Diego) put two runners on and Joe Kelly (UC Riverside) walked the bases full Kelly then gave up a two-run single to Ying-Chien Liao to give CTBA a 3-2 lead.

Reliever Jordy Mercer (Oklahoma State) kept the game to within one, getting three consecutive outs after Kelly walked two straight to begin the inning.

Back-to-back RBI singles by Brett Wallace (Arizona State) and Petey Paramore (ASU) gave the Americans a 2-1 lead in the fourth.

The Taiwanese took a 1-0 lead in the first off of Ryan Berry (Rice) on an RBI double from Chien-Ming Su. Berry was making his first start for Team USA since pitching for Rice in the College World Series. Berry went the first six innings, giving up one run on four hits, using just 68 pitches.

TEAM NOTES
Taiwanese starter Wei-Hua Lee was making his second start on the American tour. He gave up one run on five hits in CTBA’s first game on Thursday... the team’s start time of 10 a.m. is the second earliest start of the season. They play host Brazil on the third day of the Pan American Games at 9 a.m.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The Chinese Taipei series closes out in Kannapolis, NC (July 3) at 7 p.m. The 10-game North Carolina home stand continues with Japan on July 4, beginning a five-game series in Durham, NC (July 4, 6, 7, 8) and Kannapolis (July 5).

St. Louis names New Head Coach

The Saint Louis Athletic Department announced on Monday that they have hired Darin Hendrickson as their new Head Coach for Baseball. He comes from Central Missouri State where he compiled a 209-46 record in four seasons.

Full release

Texas Tech lands Oregon State pitching coach!

Texas Tech hired Oregon State pitching coach Dan Spencer on Monday with hopes that he can help the Red Raiders return to the top of the Big 12 standings.

Spencer helped lead Oregon State to national championships the last two seasons and was also the Beavers' recruiting coordinator. Spencer, an infielder at Tech from 1985 to 1987, will serve as the Red Raiders' associate head coach in charge of pitchers and catchers and as the recruiting coordinator.

"I don't think I'm exaggerating to say that Dan Spencer is the hottest pitching coach in America," said Tech head coach Larry Hays, who recently completed his 21st season. "He really left a lot of money on the table with other [offers]."

Hays said Spencer, 41, turned down head coaching jobs to take the Tech position and said Spencer also had offers to become the pitching coach at other Big 12 schools. Hays said once he retires, he would like to see Spencer take over Tech's program.

"If we do well, that should be a natural result," Hays said. "If we do a good job and he's not the head coach, it would be a crime."

Tech also announced Monday the hiring of assistant coach Trent Petrie, an assistant the last two years at New Mexico. Petrie, 36, was an infielder at Tech in 1992. Petrie will be Tech's infield coach and assist with recruiting.

Tech assistant coach Daren Hays has been reassigned to the director of baseball operations. Volunteer assistant coach Lance Brown, the former TCU head coach who has served as the Red Raiders' pitching coach the last two seasons, will work with outfielders and likely become the bullpen coach, Larry Hays said.

Dallas Morning News.com

Texas Tech Story!

Oregon State Story!

Team USA knocks off Chinese Taipei

FROM USA BASEBALL RELEASE

CARY, NC— Lance Lynn (1-0) struck out 10 over six innings as Team USA (8-1) cruised to a 13-2 victory over Chinese Taipei (1-3), winning for the third-straight time to begin their five-game series with their Asian-Pacific counterpart.

Lynn (Ole Miss) retired the first nine batters of the game and then another six near the end of his day. At one point, from the fourth through the sixth, he struck out five of six Taiwanese batters. Overall, Lynn gave up just one unearned run on two hits. He walked two and struck out 10 on 92 pitches.

Arizona State’s Brett Wallace and Petey Paramore reached base safely a combined eight times. Paramore walked twice and was 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Wallace was 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Justin Smoak (South Carolina) added three hits, while Tommy Medica (Santa Clara) had two, part of a 16-hit attack.

Poor pitching led to three runs in the second for Team USA and a 3-0 lead. Cheng-Long Lo (0-1) did not get out of the inning, walking four on the day, including two in the second. Back-to-back RBI singles by Roger Kieschnick (Texas Tech) and Logan Forsythe (Arkansas) made it 2-0, before a bases loaded walk to Paramore made it 3-0. Forsythe also had a three-run double in the eighth.

Three double plays over the first three innings by Chinese Taipei kept the damage at a minimum as the U.S. tacked on a run in the third to lead 4-0.

The Americans batted around in the fifth and scored four more times to lead 8-1.

TEAM NOTES
3B Pedro Alvarez (hand) was scratched from the original lineup. He is day-to-day.... the team’s early time schedule this week is set to replicate the schedule in the Pan American Games, one night game, followed by two early games... it was Team USA’s first official game in their new training complex which opened last week... they have been practicing in the facility since last Tuesday... Steve Strasberg (San Diego State) appeared for the first time, joining the team for a week, pitching the eighth and ninth, giving up a run on three hits.