The Bryant Bulldogs were recently accepted into the NEC conference. This is a great move for the Smithfield (RI) school as they have become a Division 2 powerhouse in many different sports. The College Baseball Blog will be making more appearances in Smithfield to take in some NEC baseball. The full release from the NEC is available here and Bryant University here.
LAFAYETTE - Twenty-four home games, in addition to seven contests televised locally on KLAF-TV Channel 17, highlight Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball's 56-game schedule which was announced Oct. 18 by head coach Tony Robichaux.
Louisiana's schedule features six teams that participated in the NCAA Regionals a year ago, including NCAA College World Series participant Rice. Last season, the Cajuns, which won the 2007 Sun Belt Conference regular season title, finished with a 45-17 overall record after falling in the NCAA College Station Regional championship game.
The Cajuns open the 2008 season Feb. 22-24 at the Texas-San Antonio Tournament in San Antonio, Texas, against Army, Oral Roberts and Texas-San Antonio. UL then faces the Tulane Green Wave in New Orleans on Feb. 27. UL will open the home portion of its 2008 season with a home tournament, featuring Southern Miss, Miami (Ohio) and New Orleans. The Cajuns will face the Miami Redhawks once and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles twice during the weekend.
After a non-conference tilt on the road with the Houston Cougars on March 4, Louisiana returns home for a four-game homestand featuring a Wednesday contest Southeastern Louisiana (March 5) and a three-game conference series against Arkansas State (March 7-9).
Louisiana's solid non-conference schedule concludes with Louisiana State (April 29) and a three-game series at NCAA Regional participant Nebraska (May 2-4). The Cajuns' trip to Baton Rouge marks the first meeting in the series since the 2002 NCAA Regional at Alex Box Stadium.
For the fourth time, Louisiana's M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field will host the Sun Belt Conference Championship May 21-24. Since joining the Sun Belt, the Cajuns have also hosted the conference tournament in 1997, 2001 and 2003.
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns will hold their annual Red-White Fall World Series at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field beginning with game one on Thursday, Nov. 1.
Complete schedule
The Notre Dame Baseball program has ended the Blue-Gold series with the Gold team winning two out of the three games. The Notre Dame Media Relations department has recaps of each game which can be read by clicking on the respective games.
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
The Notre Dame Media Relations department has also released a recap of the summer league action from the ND baseball players. It can be read by clicking here.
The Temple Owls have released their 2008 schedule. They will open the season with a three game set at Bethune Cookman on February 22nd-24th. They will head the next weekend down to Old Dominion for a nice matchup of mid-majors. Temple will play a full A-10 schedule this season with Charlotte, Duquesne, Richmond, Fordham, and Dayton visiting the Owls. The Owls will play road series against URI, St. Joe's, George Washington, and St. Louis. The A-10 tournament will take place from May 21-24th in Camden NJ. The full schedule is available here.
Doug Kroll of CSTV recently wrote an excellent article abo Presbyterian College upgrading their program from Division II to Division I. Kroll talks about the challenges the school faces on the field and off the field in terms of scheduling. The full article is available here.
Ritch Price the head coach of the Kansas baseball program checked in with Shawn Shroyer of The University Daily Kansan. Price discusses many different topics in the interview from instant replay to metal bats vs wood bats. The full interview is available here.
Here is your update on Fall Baseball Scrimmage Action for October 18th. Click on the links below for more information.
Wake Forest
Georgia Tech
Washington
Xavier
Miami (OH)
Wayne State
The Boston College Eagles finished up fall practice with the Sonny Nictakis World Series. The Eagles played four games with the Gold team taking all four games. The star of the series was Freshman Matt Hamlet who picked up four hits in the series including two for homers in Game 3. Tony Sanchez also picked up two homers in the series with freshman Garrett Smith going 3-3 in Game 1 of the series. A full recap of the games and boxscores are available here.
FROM PRESS RELEASE
University of Oklahoma Vice President/Athletics Director Joe Castiglione and head coach Sunny Golloway announced the Sooners' 56-game 2008 regular season schedule on Thursday.
For the first time since 2003, the Sooners will not open the year in a tournament, but will instead kick off the season in a three-game set at UCLA from Feb. 22-24.
The Sooners will face 10 opponents (24 total games) that participated in last year's NCAA Tournament, including five 2007 Super Regional teams (UCLA, Rice, Wichita State, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State).
In addition, 29 home games at L. Dale Mitchell Park and three contests against Rice, Houston and Tennessee in the Houston College Classic (Feb. 29 - March 2) highlight the schedule. All three games of the tournament will be played at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, the home of Major League Baseball's Houston Astros. Rice is the lone 2007 College World Series participant on the schedule and one of seven teams the Sooners' will face that won 40 or more games last season.
"Our non-conference schedule will challenge a young and inexperienced Sooner club," said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. "With the talent we have recruited along with our returning players, the challenges of opening the season at UCLA and the trip to the Houston tournament with games against Rice, Houston and Tennessee, will prepare us for a rugged Big 12 schedule."
The home opener, slated for Feb. 26-27 against Arkansas Pine Bluff, begins a stretch that will see OU play at L. Dale Mitchell Park for 13 of the next 18 games, including home series against North Dakota State, Western Illinois and Washington State.
The Sooners will also face Dallas Baptist, Northern Illinois, South Florida, UT-Arlington, Wichita State and TCU in non-conference action in 2008.
"There has always been a great debate in whether you should play an easy schedule that helps build your team's confidence or play a tough schedule and prepare the student-athletes for what lies ahead in conference play," added Golloway. "At the University of Oklahoma, we have always accepted the challenge of playing the tougher schedule and we feel this year's slate will do exactly that."
The 27-game Big 12 schedule begins with Nebraska in Lincoln on March 21-23. The Sooners will also travel to Texas A&M (April 11-13), Texas Tech (April 25-27) and Kansas (May 2-4) during conference play.
In Norman, Oklahoma will host Baylor (March 28-30), Texas (April 4-6), Missouri (April 18-20) and Kansas State (May 9-11).
The Sooners will conclude the regular season with the annual Bedlam Series with Oklahoma State. Game one of the series is set for May 16 in Tulsa at Drillers Stadium. The teams return to Oklahoma City for the final two games of the series slated for May 17 and 18 at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.
FROM PRESS RELEASE
Ten teams that qualified for the 2007 NCAA tournament, including two that advanced to the College World Series, highlights a 56-game slate as the 2008 Kansas State baseball schedule was announced by head coach Brad Hill on Thursday.
Of the 56 games, 29 make up one of the most exciting home schedules in recent memory, which features 20 games against opponents that advanced to regional play in 2007 and three against College World Series participants UC-Irvine and Arizona State.
“This is one of the tougher schedules we’ve put together since I’ve been here,” said Hill, who is entering his fifth year at the helm of the program. “We wanted to challenge our kids more and prepare ourselves for postseason play, and this schedule should give us a good indication of where this program is at.”
The 2008 season gets underway on Feb. 22 in Berkeley, Calif., as the Wildcats will have two games with California – one of three Pac 10 teams on the schedule – and Santa Clara. Following the trip to Berkeley, K-State travels to Beaumont, Texas, on Feb. 28-March 2, for games with Arkansas State, Michigan State and host school Lamar. The Wildcats will then make a four-hour trip west for two games at UT-San Antonio.
Kansas State opens up its home schedule with four games against MAAC champion and NCAA tournament qualifier LeMoyne on March 7-9, followed by one game against Washington State on March 11 before opening up conference play on March 14-16 against Nebraska. The conference opener against Nebraska at Tointon Stadium marks the first time since 2002 that the Wildcats have opened conference play at home.
Following a two-game series in Provo, Utah, against Brigham Young on March 18 and 19, the Wildcats will begin a nine-game home stand – their longest of the season – with three games against Binghamton on March 21-23, one game against Creighton on March 26, its second conference opponent in Oklahoma State on March 28-30, and a two-game series against Central Arkansas on April 1 and 2.
K-State will hit the road in conference play for the first time on April 4-6 as it heads to College Station to take on Texas A&M, the first of seven-straight games against teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament. Following the three in College Station, K-State will host Wichita State on April 8 and Baylor on April 11-13, before heading to Omaha, Neb., to face Creighton on April 15.
KSU Press Release
The Arizona Wildcats have released their 2008 schedule. They will open the season on February 22nd when they head Georgia for the beginning of a three game set. The Wildcats home opener is against Sacramento State on February 29th. The next weekend they head to Corpus Christi Texas to take on South Alabama, Texas AM Corpus Christi, and Notre Dame. They will play a big nonconference series with a three game set against Cal-State Fullerton on March 14th-16th. They will play a full Pac-10 schedule with UCLA, Washington State, Stanford, and Arizona State visiting Tuscon. The Wildcats will head on the road for series against USC, Washington, Oregon State, and Cal. The full schedule is available here.
Kendall Rogers of Rivals has posted his latest mailbag where he discusses issues and questions about college baseball. This week he fields a question about the Arizona Wildcats, how UC-Irvine dragged their feet in the coaching search, checks in on some of the mid-majors around the nation, and has a nice response about why ESPN does not cover more college baseball. The full article is available here.
Rivals has released their positional rankings for the 2008 season. The top ranked catcher in the country is Buster Posey of Florida State. They ranked Jacob Thompson as the top pitcher in the country and will get no argument from me as I had the chance to see him in 2007 dominate Boston College. The full rankings are available by clicking here.
We have found two new schedules from the Northeast 10 conference which is one of only two conferences in the country that uses wooden bats during their regular season. The Northeast 10 conference has been dominated by Franklin Pierce University the last few seasons with UMass-Lowell and Bryant University also picking up some NCAA bids. The schedules are linked below.
Bryant University
Assumption College
Here is your update on Fall Baseball Scrimmage Action for October 16th. Click on the links below for more information.
Notre Dame (Video also available at the site)
Illinois State
Tulane
Georgia Tech
Memphis
Dartmouth vs Umass
The Kent State Baseball program has announced their 2008 schedule. They will open the season on February 22nd when they take on UNC-Greensboro in the first game of a three game set. The Golden Flashes will spend the next weekend at the Winthrop Tournament where they will play four games in four days against the host Winthrop, St. John's, North Carolina and a placement game to end the weekend. The Golden Flashes final two weekend OOC series are at Washington State and Louisville. The conference schedule has trips to Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Akron, and Miami (OH) with home series against Ball State, Toledo, Ohio, and Buffalo. The full schedule is available here.
The Cal Bears released their 2008 schedule recently which is highlighted by taking part in a tournament in San Diego where they will take on USD, Fresno State, SDSU, and Missouri. They will play a full Pac-10 schedule with UCLA, Arizona, Washington, and Oregon State visiting Berkley while Washington State, USC, Arizona State, and Stanford will welcome the Bears to their stadiums. The full schedule is available here.
Many schools are finishing up their fall seasons with intra-squad scrimmages. We have linked to all the weekend recaps below.
Wake Forest (Game 2)
Wake Forest (Game 1)
Indiana Fall Recap
Southeast Missouri State (Game 2)
Southeast Missouri State (Game 1)
Marshall Fall Series Recap
Villanova Fall Series Recap
UNC Fall Series Recap
Illinois State Fall Series Recap
Michigan State Fall Series Recap
I went to the game at the Dell Diamond between the Longhorns and the Baylor Bears. Baylor will make some noise next year in the BIG 12 and the Regionals. Look for Baylor to be in that top 16 seed as the seeding are announced next year. I know it is early but, Baylor is that good. What does this say about Texas. ALOT. I wish it was Friday February 22nd right now. Both of these teams will only get better as the fall season progress.
Press Release from Texas;
-- The University of Texas baseball squad posted a 5-3 win over Baylor University in a fall exhibition Sunday at The Dell Diamond. Freshman Kevin Keyes and junior Jordan Danks hit home runs to lead the Longhorns to the victory in a pre-arranged 12-inning affair.
On the mound for Texas, junior Austin Wood, the Longhorns' starter, and freshman Cole Green each pitched two scoreless innings. Junior Kyle Walker and freshman Stayton Thomas pitched one shutout inning apiece. Walker picked up the win, giving up one hit and one walk while striking out one. Green earned the save, scattering three hits over two innings, while fanning two.
Baylor broke the scoring seal in the third inning. Paul Miles hit a leadoff single, advanced to second on a groundout by Ben Booker and scored on a single to rightfield by Raynor Campbell.
The Longhorns claimed the lead in the bottom half of the third. Freshman Tant Shepherd led off with an infield single and freshman Cameron Rupp grounded into a fielder's choice to take Shepherd's spot at first. In his first at-bat against collegiate pitching, Keyes deposited a home run over the fence in leftfield, staking UT to a 2-1 lead.
The Bears tied the game in the top of the sixth with a solo home run to right field by Aaron Miller, knotting the game at 2-2.
Texas reclaimed the advantage in the bottom of the seventh as Danks hit a moon shot over the fence in leftfield, giving UT a 3-2 advantage.
Texas tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Danks was hit by a pitch and junior Preston Clark singled through the left side to put runners at the corners. Sophomore Russell Moldenhauer plated Danks with a sacrifice squeeze bunt and sophomore Brandon Belt hit a double off the wall in left centerfield, driving in Clark for the 5-2 advantage.
Baylor scored the games final run in the 10th inning as Miller hit an RBI double to drive in Landis Ware.
Travis Tucker, Michael Torres and Clark each had two hits for the Longhorns.
Beamer Weems and Shaver Hansen each logged three hits for Baylor and Booker and Miller chipped in with two apiece.
Texas returns to action at 3 p.m., CDT on Friday, October 26 against Texas State at The Dell Diamond.
Here is the link to the pictures that I took from the game.
The Plowboys used a three-run third and a six-run fourth to break an early tie and defeat the Roughnecks, 13-5, and capture the Texas A&M Baseball Fall World Series title Saturday afternoon at Olsen Field.
The series sweep gives the Plowboys their second straight fall world series crown, as they defeated the Farmers in three games in 2006.
“The Plowboys really came out early and set the tone offensively, and got a strong start from (Clayton) Ehlert,” head coach Rob Childress said. “When you come out and average over 10 runs and 14 hits a game, it’s easy to see why they were able to win this series in two.”
Roughneck second baseman Blake Stouffer opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a two-out solo home run to right center, but the Plowboys answered in their next at bat as Caleb Shofner singled in Brodie Greene with the tying run.
The Plowboys would add three runs in the third to take a 4-1 lead when Greene doubled in a pair and Shofner followed with a run-scoring single to right center.
The game would be put out of reach in the top of the fourth, when the Plowboys sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs off three Roughneck pitchers to take a commanding 10-1 lead. David Alleman, Brian Ruggiano, Greene, Michael Heard and Ben Feltner all would drive in runs in the frame.
Trailing 13-1 in the seventh, the Roughnecks would cap the scoring on a two-out grand slam home run by center fielder Kyle Colligan.
Plowboys’ starter Clayton Ehlert tossed six strong innings, giving up just five hits and the first inning home run. He did not walk a batter and fanned four.
Roughnecks’ starter Kyle Thebeau suffered the loss, lasting three innings while allowing four runs and seven hits.
The world series marked the conclusion of fall workouts for the defending Big 12 Champion Aggies, who now look to the season opener on February 22 against Northern Colorado.
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