Yankees sign Brackman

The New York Yankees signed Andrew Brackman to a four year guaranteed deal which is worth a minimum of 4.5 million to a maximum of 13 million. The College Baseball Blog attended one of Brackman's starts in the 2007 season (sat about four people over from Keith Law of ESPN) and was less then impressed with his performance. He did not show me first round type material but throws a very hard fastball but his curveball needs a lot of work. The biggest issue that I have over Brackman is the arm issues he ran into at the end of the NC State season which hampered the Wolfpack's chances in the NCAA and ACC tournaments. There is not much mileage on his arm since he pitched in only 78 innings in 2007 while pitching in a combined 71.1 innings in his freshman and sophomore seasons. He was visiting famed surgeon James Andrews this week to look at his inflamed elbow where Tommy John surgery might be needed.

NC State Release
River Ave. Blues Article
CBB article on Brackman's start against Boston College

The CBB takes in Northeast Conference Championsips

The College Baseball Blog made the trip down to New Britain Connecticut to see the championship games of the Northeast Conference on Saturday afternoon. Monmouth entered the championship round without a loss in the tournament while Central Connecticut State had one loss.

In Game 1, The Blue Devils got 8.2 innings of great pitching from Adam Piechowski as they took care of the Monmouth Hawks 4-2. The Blue Devils offense was led by Adam Taha who went 2-3 at the plate and provided a solid game behind the plate as he blocked several pitches in the dirt to hold runners on their respective bases. Andy Meyers led the Hawks offense by going 3-4 with a double. The win by CCSU forced a deciding game later in the day.

CCSU Recap
Monmouth Recap

In Game 2, Monmouth starting pitcher Matt Coulson (4-3) pitched 7.2 innings while letting up only one run on five hits. He was effective at getting the Blue Devils to hit the ball at his fielders as he only had two strikeouts on the day. Both of them came with runners on second and third with one out in the fifth inning with a 2-0 Hawks lead. Justin Esposito pitched a perfect 1.2 innings to get his tenth save. CCSU starter John Tesseyman lasted only two innings as he gave up two runs on four hits. His record for the season drops down to 6-4. John Dennis went 2-2 with 3 RBI and a sacrifice bunt to lead the Monmouth offense.

Monmouth Recap
CCSU Recap

The College Baseball Blog would like to give thanks to the great community of New Britain for putting on a fine event. This was one of the better experiences on the season as the College Baseball Blog might not see anymore College Baseball live this season due to logistics. The CBB will likely be heading to the Cape Cod League throughout the summer to check in on some college players.

The CBB checks out D-2 Northeast Regional Final

The College Baseball Blog headed up to Franklin Pierce on Sunday to take in the championship round of the Division 2 Northeast Regional Final between Franklin Pierce and Bryant University. The Ravens of Franklin Pierce entered the game with a 48-9 record while Bryant had a record of 34-23. Franklin Pierce was also undefeated in the tournament so Bryant had to sweep a doubleheader to advance to Alabama for the World Series while FPC only had to beat the Bulldogs once.

Franklin Pierce jumped on Bryant starter Luke Cowan in the top of the first inning with back to back solo homers from Kevin Renaud and Scott Savastano to get the 2-0 lead. Kevin Renaud also tacked on another solo homer in the eighth inning to extend the lead to 5-0. Bryant would pick up two runs in the bottom of the eighth but could not come closer then the 5-2 final score. Keith Renaud got the start for Franklin Pierce and continued to dominate the Division 2 ranks as he only allowed two hits in seven strong innings. He was followed up by Clay Jenkins who faced only two batters but both of them reached base. Jayson King then made the move to closer Tyler Bishop who got the final six outs of the game while allowing only one hit to send the Ravens to the College World Series starting this upcoming weekend.

FPC Recap
Bryant Recap

The CBB checks out BC-UVA Game 1

The College Baseball Blog took advantage of an opportunity to take a look at Jacob Thompson who entered the day with a 10-0 record. The Eagles countered with senior pitcher Kevin Boggan who was making his last appearance at Shea Field. The Cavaliers came out and took it to Boggan by getting three hits and bringing across two runs to jump out to a 2-0 lead. The Eagles then came out in the bottom of the first and were able to scratch across two runs on one hit, one error, one walk, and a hit by batter to tie the score at 2. The game became a classic pitching duel between Boggan and Thompson until the sixth inning when Brandon Guyer lead off with a high fly ball to right field which was dropped by Johnny Ayers allowing Guyer to get on second base with no outs. David Adams followed the lead-off error with a single up the middle to drive Guyer in to make the score 3-2. BC was held in check by Thompson until the eighth inning when Ryan Hutchinson led off the inning with a single through the infield. He stayed on first after Johnny Ayers flew out to left field. Jared McGuire then hit a double down the left field line to put runners on second and first with only one out. The Cavaliers finally made a move to the bullpen as they brought in Jake Rule to face the hot-hitting Eric Campbell. He proceeded to hit a sacrifice fly to right field which brought home the tying run in Hutchinson. The teams stayed tied until the top of the tenth inning when the Cavaliers struck for two runs on a David Adams single to take a 5-3 lead. Boston College was able to work around the single and get out of the inning while only allowing those two runs. Virginia brought in closer Casey Lambert who got into some trouble as he allowed a run and needed a double play off the bat of Eric Campbell to get the final two outs and pick up his 11th save of the season.

Jacob Thompson was extraordinarily in his 7.1 innings on the mound. He was able to locate all his pitchers including a strong fastball and a solid curveball. Sean Doolittle went 3-4 on the day with an RBI as he has a good solid bat and should be a drafted this upcoming spring.

Boston College's starter Kevin Boggan started out rusty but was able to get in a groove as he went seven strong innings while only allowing two earned runs. He has become a tough luck loser or no-decision guy as he is still 5-5 on the season. Eric Campbell and Jared McGuire both have come alive recently at the plate. If the Eagles are able to get into the ACC Tourney, both players could cause some trouble for their opponents.

BC Recap
UVA Recap

Northeast-10 Tourney Preview

The Northeast-10 Conference Tournament takes place today in Lowell MA at the home of the Lowell Spinners. The teams participating are the Bryant University Bulldogs, UMass-Lowell River Hawks, Franklin Pierce Ravens, and Pace Settlers. Bryant knocked off Southern Connecticut State on Wednesday by a score of 4-2 while Pace University beat Bentley 5-2 in the opening round of the tourney. Franklin Pierce and UMass-Lowell each got byes in the tournament. Franklin Pierce (41-8) enters the weekend as the Number 1 ranked team in the Northeast region by the NCBWA. UMass-Lowell enters as the second seed with a record of 33-16 while Bryant is 29-20 and Pace is 28-24.

The College Baseball Blog will be attending the Northeast-10 Tourney this weekend likely on Sunday. The Blog will be taking the teaching exam on Saturday and might head up after the all-day exam but likely will spend Mother's Day in Lowell taking in the final games of the Northeast-10 Tourney.

Click here to listen to the FPC-Pace Game at 7 pm
Click here to listen to the Bryant-UML Game at 4 pm

Northeast-10 Official Website

The CBB checks out UMass-Richmond

The College Baseball Blog made the trek out to Amherst to check out the Richmond Spiders and UMass Minutemen in Atlantic 10 action. Richmond jumped all over Minuteman starter Tim Comisky for three runs in the first two innings but Comisky used an appeal play on a sacrifice fly to pick up the third out in the second inning in which Richmond head coach Ron Atkins was ejected for arguing with home plate umpire Steve Drescher. Richmond tacked on a run in the sixth inning on a Alex Wotring solo homer and two runs in the seventh to get a 6-0 lead. UMass bats finally came to life in the bottom of seventh when the Minutemen put together four hits and took advantage of an error to scratch across four runs. The Spiders brought in closer Brian Alas who shut the door in his 2.1 innings to pick up the victory.

Richmond Recap
UMass Recap
Daily Collegian Recap from Eli Rosenswaike

The CBB heads to Ivy League Championship

The College Baseball Blog headed down to Providence to check out the Ivy League Championship between the Pennsylvania and Brown.

In Game 1, The story of the game was the starting pitching. Penn freshman ace Todd Roth pitched a complete game by letting up an unearned run in the eighth inning but Brown starter Jeff Dietz was better by pitching a complete game shutout while only giving up three Quaker hits to give the Bears the 1-0 victory. Dietz also drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth by hitting a sacrifice fly to second baseman Steve Gable in foul territory but Gable made a poor throw to the plate allowing Steve Daniels to score the winning run. This was the CBB first time seeing each team and came away impressed by freshman Todd Roth who has a plus curveball but an average fastball. Dietz kept the Quaker hitters on the defensive by throwing a solid slider that was getting the outside corner from home plate umpire Joe Cacciatore. Penn coach John Cole also got into a heated argument around the sixth inning with second base umpire Nick Zebilli over an issue that was not obvious to the fans or myself.

In Game 2, The Brown Bears jumped all over Penn starter Jim Birmingham for five runs in the first inning including a grand slam from Robert Papenhause. He would finish the day with three hits and six RBI. The second inning did not get better for Birmingham as the Brown Bears picked up another four runs on a Devin Thomas grand slam. Thomas finished the day with four hits in seven at-bats and seven RBI. The Bears would cruise to the 20-6 victory to win the Ivy League Championship for the first time in the school's history. Brown is now scheduled to have a few weeks off until they head to the NCAA Tourney.

Brown Recap
Penn Recap

Ivy League Championship Series Preview

The Penn Quakers will head to Providence RI to take on the Brown University Bears in the Ivy League Championship series (Best of three). The winner of the series will punch the first ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

The Quakers won the Gehrig Division title last weekend after Princeton lost their final game of the year against Cornell in extra innings. Penn is led by second year head coach John Cole. He led the Quakers to a second place finish in 2006 in the Gehrig Division and won the Division title in only his second season. He had a ton of success at the Division 3 level at Rowan College where he compiled a 229-73 record. Cole has been receiving outstanding pitching from freshman pitcher Todd Roth who enters the weekend with a outstanding 6-1 record and an ERA of 2.25. He has thrown six consecutive complete game compiling a 1.50 ERA and 32 strikeouts while only walking six batters. Roth picked up a 5-3 victory over Brown on April 9th. He is expected to start Game 1 for the Quakers on Saturday. In Game 2, Penn is expected to send another freshman to the hill in Jim Birmingham who has a 4-1 record and a 3.30 ERA. The top hitter for the Quakers is Kyle Armeny who leads the team with a .326 average and eight homers.

The Brown Bears will be taking part in their first Ivy League playoff series in the 15 years of the playoff format. The Bears are led by Jeff Dietz who is tied in wins at 6 with Todd Roth of Penn. Dietz has had some outstanding performances throughout the season on the mound with a 6-3 overall record and an ERA of 3.57. He is expected to start Game 1 against Roth in a battle of aces. Dietz is also a solid hitter for the Bears as he plays first base when he is not pitching and has a .352 average with seven homers and 48 RBI in 39 games. Devin Thomas who is the starting catch for Brown has a very strong average of .372 and has hit 14 homers on the season.

The College Baseball Blog will be making the road trip down to Providence to check out the first two games of the series on Saturday and will provide a full report on Saturday evening.

Brown Game Notes
Penn Game Notes
John Cole Preseason interview with CBB
Baseball America Preview of series

Playoffs in sight for UMass with sweep

The University of Massachusetts headed to Dayton Ohio this weekend to take on the Dayton Flyers in a key Atlantic 10 showdown. The Minutemen were able to get a key sweep to get them back into the hunt for a spot in the Atlantic 10 tournament. The CBB will be heading to the final game of the UMass-Richmond series this upcoming weekend and will have a full report.

Umass sweeps Dayton from Massachusetts Daily Collegian

The CBB checks in on BC-VT

The College Baseball Blog after moving all day Saturday made a trip into Chestnut Hill to check out the rubber game of the Boston College and Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech scored in the first inning on a double steal with two outs to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Boston College responded right away by getting a bases scoring single from Tony Sanchez to tie the game at 1. Virginia Tech then responded with a solo home run in the third inning from Matt Hacker. Boston College got to Hokie starter Adam Redd for two runs in the fourth inning by getting back to back doubles by Johnny Ayers and Eric Campbell to start the inning. Sanchez then sacrificed Campbell to third and was driven in by Mike Augustine on a single up the middle. Both pitchers would settle down with Terry Doyle in command the rest of the game to finish with a complete game while only allowing two runs on eleven hits and eight strikeouts. Eric Campbell made two spectacular plays in the game. The first play occurred with two outs in the fifth inning and Sean O'Brien on second. Bryan Thomas hit a shot to third baseman Campbell who dove to his right to make the stop and made a fake throw to first base and O'Brien overran third base giving Campbell a chance to run over to the base and block O'Brien from getting back. The second play happened with two outs in the top of the ninth with the tying run in Luke Padgett on second base. Matt Foley (no relation) hit a shot to Campbell's left in which he dove and threw him out at first by a step.

The Boston College Athletic Department needs to get information out to the general community better because of the face that my staff was under the impression that the game was going to start at 1 pm but began at noon thus making us miss the first two innings. I also have read the recap and it states that Doyle pitched his second complete game in his last two outings which is not true since Doyle only pitched nine innings in an extra inning game.

BC Recap
Virginia Tech Recap

The CBB takes in a classic in Brockton

The College Baseball Blog took a little road trip on Saturday down to Brockton MA for some ACC action between Boston College and Wake Forest. BC got a fabulous pitching performance from junior pitcher Terry Doyle who was on top of his game for the first time this season. He went nine innings while giving up two runs (one earned) while striking out 12 batters. Wake Forest starter Garret Bullock was equally impressive as he went ten innings while also giving up two runs. The teams stayed tied until the 14th inning when Wake Forest manufactured a run out of a lead-off single from Evan Ocheltree who was driven home with two outs by Allan Dykstra who hit a ball in the hole to Ryan Hutchinson but he bobbled the ball to let the run score. Boston College responded right away in the bottom of the 14th as Jared McGuire hit a lead-off triple and was driven in with a single through the left part of the infield by Joseph Ayers. Wake was able to get out of the inning without anymore damage. The teams continued to stay tied until the top of the 17th inning when Ben Terry and Allan Dykstra hit back to back singles to start the inning. Nate Jeanes then walked Eric Williams to load the bases with no outs. Jeanes then bared down and struck out Andy Goff and induced a shallow fly ball to Peter Frates which Ben Terry could not score on because it was not deep enough. Jeanes then struck out Ocheltree to end the inning. The Eagles then took their at bats against Phil Negus and Tony Sanchez hit a single to lead off the inning and then was driven in by next batter Eric Campbell who hit an absoulte bomb to center field which went off the wall and enabled Sanchez to score all the way from first base to give the Eagles their second walkoff win in as many days. Nate Jeanes pitched 5.2 innings while allowing only one run. Eric Nielsen took over for Bullock and gave them five innings while only giving up a single run also. Local MA native Phil Negus came in to relieve Nielsen and got the loss in 1.0+ innings of work in his return to Massachusetts.

This win ties the Eagles and Deacons for the final spot in the ACC Tournament. The teams will be back in action on Sunday at 1pm.

BC Recap
Wake Forest Recap

The CBB checks in on Harvard/Yale

The College Baseball Blog had the chance to visit Cambridge MA on Saturday to take in some Ivy League Baseball action between the Harvard Crimson and Yale Bulldogs. The Crimson took both games of the doubleheader.

In Game 1, They received a very solid pitching performance from freshman Max Perlman who pitched a complete game allowing only three hits and a home run to Justin Ankney who crushed the first pitch of the sixth inning over the right field fence. The Crimson took advantage of five errors by the Bulldog defense including one by Dan Soltman and Ryan Lavarnway.

In Game 2, Shawn Haviland started for the Crimson and gave them eight shutout innings while only giving up seven hits. Jake Bruton pitched a perfect ninth to close out the doubleheader sweep. The Crimson offense was led by Matt Vance who went 2-4 with 3 RBIs. Yale starter Chris Wietlispach only lasted four innings while giving up all six runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks. The Yale defense did not back him up at all as Dan Soltman and Ryan Lavarnway each committed two errors in the nightcap.

The CBB was impressed with the level of pitching from the Harvard Crimson. They were able to throw a freshman in game 1 of the doubleheader and he was unhittable. The Bulldogs were off balance throughout the game. Steffan Wilson who plays third base for Harvard is a definite MLB prospect as he has all the tools scouts are looking for in an athlete. He made an excellent play on defense in which he charged a ball and threw out the runner by about three steps. The Harvard coaching staff also took advantage of many situations which arose in the game. They used a double steal (1st and 2nd) with two outs and an 0-2 count on the hitter which ended up getting the Crimson an extra run.

The College Baseball Blog might head down to Brown next weekend to see the battle for the Red Rolfe Division lead.

Harvard Recap
Yale Recap

The CBB reports on BC/NC State Game 3

The North Carolina State Wolfpack completed a series sweep over Boston College with a 6-2 victory on Sunday. Jimmy Gillheeney pitched 5.2 innings for the Pack while giving up two runs to up his record to 3-1. Terry Doyle picked up his first loss of the season by giving up six runs (four earned) over eight innings. Matt Roskopf led the offensive attack for NC State with a 3-4 game including a homer and 2 RBIs. Joseph Ayers was the only BC hitter with multiple hits as he was perfect in his two at bats.

I was more impressed today with the level Boston College played and seemed to be compete with NC State. The Boston College program is still far away from being a factor in the ACC race and they need to start bringing in impact players as they really have no reliable hitters. We will see how Boston College plays next weekend when National Finalist North Carolina comes in.

NC State Recap
Boston College Recap

The CBB reports on Game 2 of BC/NC State

NC State 10 Boston College 1

The NC State Wolfpack jumped all over Boston College starter Nick Asselin as they were able to get a quick seven runs over the first two innings to cruise to a 10-1 victory. Asselin gave up six hits, three walks, and hit a batter while giving up seven earned runs over his two innings of work. He was followed by Nate Jeanes who looked solid in seven innings of work while giving up three runs in the eighth inning as he was tiring.

Andrew Brackman was very unimpressive to myself in seven innings he gave up four hits, three walks, and hit two batters while giving up only one earned run. He hit 97 on the radar gun a few times but was not hitting his corners and his curveball was flat over the first 3 or 4 innings. I still don't see how the scouts have him going in the first round but I believe that his size is the biggest reason scouts are in love with him.

This was the first game I have attended this year and I have to say that I was unimpressed with the Boston College hitters. Tony Sanchez was the only hitter that looked comfortable at the plate while Jared McGuire has continued to struggle since he moved to left field last season. He won the Big East Player of the Year award as a sophomore and is barely cracking .260. I don't think I will be at the game on Sunday as I have some better options in the area for baseball including a solid Navy team taking on Holy Cross and some Division 2 action at Bryant. We will see where I show up tomorrow and if I do head to the Heights, I better see some life out of that baseball program or it will be a very long season.

NC State Recap
BC Recap

BC finishes Home Schedule with a Win

Boston College completed their home schedule with a come from behind 6-3 win. Nate Jeanes took the mound and was his consistent self in getting out of jams in his five and a one-third inning of work. He gave up three runs but only 2 were earned as Johnny Ayers made an error on a ball in the sixth inning. Matt Meyer and Kevin Boggan shut down the Terps offense for the rest of the game which let BC come back with some clutch hitting. With the game tied at 3, Boston College exploded for three runs in the bottom of the eighth off Maryland's best relief pitcher Seth Overbey. Shawn McGill and Ryan Hutchinson both got hits with one out to have runners on first and second with one out and Eric Campbell at bat. Campbell delivered with a shot over the third base line to score both runners. Eric has started to hit the ball much better in the last few weeks and seems to becoming a force with his bat. He is only a freshman, so he has plenty of time to become better at bat. He is very smooth defensively though.

BC knocks off UMD

Boston College received another solid outing from Terry Doyle today to lead the Eagles to a 9-4 victory. Doyle improved his record to 5-4 with a 3.28 ERA. His next start and final start on tea season will be against the UNC Tar Heels in two weeks. Hopefully, BC pitches him against Andrew Miller to have a showdown of aces. Shawn McGill and BC punter and second baseman Johnny Ayers had three hits to lead the attack. McGill had three RBI's and Ayers had 2 runs scored respectively. Jared McGuire made a Yastremski like catch in the sixth inning. Top play of the year nominee from me. I will be there on Sunday for the final home game of the season.

Terps knock off BC

The Maryland Terrapins knocked off the Boston College Eagles 11-10 in a wild game. Boston College jumped out to a 7-0 lead after 4 innings behind 3 RBI's from Jared McGuire. The Maryland offense woke up in the 5th inning by scoring 4 runs with Dan Melvin hitting a 2 run homer. Maryland was held off the scoreboard until the 8th inning when Kevin Boggan came in and had his worst outing of the season. He only pitched 2/3 of an inning letting up 7 runs on 6 hits and one walk. Kevin had been a very good pitcher for BC this season but did not come through today. BC mounted a comeback in the bottom of the ninth to close it to 11-10 but come not come through with a runner on first with 2 outs.

Eagles Sting Yellow Jackets!!!!

Boston College for the second consecutive weekend knocked off a Top 10 team but the difference this week was Boston College ended up winning two games. This was a big step forward for the program which has struggled throughout the season with a ton of early season losses. There has been many indications that Terry Doyle will become a dominant Ace for Boston College next season. He knocked off Clemson last weekend with a solid performance and this past weekend had very little command but still pulled out a 5-4 victory on Saturday. Nate Jeanes returned the favor on Sunday with a 5.2 innings of great junk ball pitching and holding the Jackets to a solo home run by Jeff Kindel who could be heard grunting when he hit the ball. Dave Preziosi had a huge 2 out triple to break the game open on Sunday and San Diego native Jett Ruiz had 3 hits and will be an excellent middle of the order next season.

One important thing to say about GA Tech was the loss of Danny Payne and Steven Blackwood. They both are great hitters and could have caused some trouble but both players were not available after they collided in game 1 and Danny Payne had a separated shoulder and Blackwood a bruised thigh.

I will be there on Saturday in Brockton (TV game) and Sunday in Chestnut Hill likely the last ACC home game for the seniors. I can't wait till next year and see how we do.