Wake Forest releases 2008 schedule

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons have announced their 2008 schedule this past week. They will open the season on February 22nd when they head to Malibu CA to take on the Pepperdine Waves for the beginning of a four game set over three days. The next weekend the Deacons will head to Troy to take part in a tournament where they will play Kennesaw State and Penn State for single game and Troy for two games. The Deacons will host conference opponents Clemson, Maryland, Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Duke. Wake will head on the road to face conference opponents Miami, Boston College, NC State, Virginia, and Georgia Tech. The full schedule is available here.

TCU announces 2008 Schedule

The TCU Horned Frogs have released their 2008 schedule recently. The Horned Frogs will open up the season on February 22nd when they host Cal-State Fullerton for the first game of a three game set. This game marks the beginning of the Dave Serrano era at Fullerton. The next weekend they will head up to Minneapolis to take part in the MetroDome tournament with Minnesota, Pepperdine, and Tulane. If you are in the Minnesota area, you need to make it to that tournament to see top of the line College Baseball as each school is expected to finish near the top of their conference. TCU then heads home for two non-conference weekday games before hosting Ole Miss for a three game set. TCU finishes their non-conference weekend schedule with a visit to Wichita State from March 14th-16th. TCU then heads into conference match-ups on the weekends and get the key match-up against Utah in Lupton Stadium on May 2nd-4th. TCU will also host the Mountain West Conference tournament on May 20th-25th. The full schedule is available in PDF format here. The College Baseball Blog expects TCU to make a run for the conference title in 2008.

Cuba ends Team USA's summer

Courtesy of USA Baseball
ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS— Cuba (8-0 WPT) ran the table on the rest of the World Port Tournament, eliminating Team USA (25-12, 4-4 WPT) from the finals and ending their summer, following a 5-1 victory. The Cubans will take on Chinese Taipei, who also beat the USA twice over the last 10 days, in the finals starting at 7 a.m. Eastern.

The Americans sent the go-ahead run to the plate in the eighth against reliever Yulieski Gonzalez with two outs, after putting two runners on with no outs against starter Arley Sanchez. Gonzalez got a hard lineout, followed by a strikeout and then walked Jordy Mercer (Oklahoma State) to load the bases. Gonzalez though got Roger Kieschnick (Texas Tech) to strikeout, part of a nine-pitch at-bat, to keep Cuba in front 4-1.

Gonzalez then pitched a scoreless ninth, after Cuba added a run in the top of the inning, for the two inning save.

Three Cuban home runs were more than enough for Sanchez, who tired after seven-plus innings. Sanchez allowed a single unearned run on seven hits, while striking out six and walking one. Sanchez allowed a walk and a single in the eighth, before being relieved by Gonzalez.

Mike Minor (5-2, Vanderbilt), took the loss, going the first four innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits, two of which that left the ballpark. Cody Satterwhite (Ole Miss) and Brett Hunter (Pepperdine) each gave up single runs in their relief appearances.

A one-out error by Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State) at short came back to haunt the Americans as Tournament RBI leader, Yosvani Peraza, hit a two-run homer to give Cuba a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Minor had a 33-pitch first inning.

A solo home run by Jose Julio Ruiz gave Cuba a 3-0 lead in the fourth. Hector Olivera’s solo home run off of Satterwhite in the seventh made it 4-0.

TEAM NOTES
Josh Romanski (San Diego) made a nice diving catch in the fourth, towards the line, to rob Alexei Bell of a hit... Cleanup hitter LF Logan Forsythe (Arkansas) missed the last five games, minus a pinch-hit performance yesterday, with a sore foot... 3B Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) was the designated hitter the last four days due to a sore arm... Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State) ended the summer on an eight-game hit streak, while Jordan Danks (Texas) ended it on a seven-game streak.

WORLD PORT NOTES
Japan (0-7) and the Netherlands (3-4) close out the regularly scheduled tournament games tonight... Chinese Taipei (4-4), who finished yesterday, gained the tiebreaker with the USA yesterday, forcing the USA to win today to advance, based on number of wins against (2-0), if the USA and Taipei were tied and in runs allowed between the three tied teams, if the Netherlands were to finish in a three-way tie with the USA and Taipei (12 runs for Taipei to 13 runs for the USA to 21 runs for the Netherlands)... Games can be followed live on the internet at http://www.worldporttournament.nl/... Stats are available at: http://utopia.ision.nl/users/hwede/stats07/wpt07/ and under live scoring.

FINAL TEAM LEADERS FOR THE SUMMER
Hitting--Average (Alvarez-.315), Home Runs (Alvarez/Kieschnick-7), RBIs (Alvarez-30), Runs (Danks-37) Hits (Alvarez-40), Walks (Danks-25), Doubles (Smoak-10), Triples (Danks-2), Multi-Hit Games (Alvarez-12); Pitching---Wins (Minor-5-2), ERA-Reliever (Hunter-0.66), Saves (Satterwhite-4), ERA-Starter (Ross-0.82), Strikeouts (Ross-39), Appearances (Hunter-14)

USA drops critical game to Chinese Taipei

FROM USA BASEBALL
ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS— Team USA (25-11, 4-3 WPT) was beat for the second time by Chinese Taipei (4-4 WPT) at the World Port Tournament, 1-0, forcing the Americans to have to beat first place Cuba on Saturday to advance to Sunday’s finals. If they lose on Saturday, their summer is over.

The Americans forced one last rally in the ninth inning off of Wei-Hua Lee, who finished with a complete game four-hitter. Tommy Medica (Santa Clara) had a one-out pinch-hit single, before a two-out bunt base hit by Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State) in front of the plate, followed by a walk, loaded the bases. But Petey Paramore (Arizona State) struck out on a 2-2 pitch to give the Taiwanese the victory.

Lee worked his magic all day long, retiring 10 in a row early, and then another nine in a row into the eighth inning.

Tyson Ross (4-1, California) lost for the first time this summer, pitching seven-plus innings, giving up one run on six hits. He put runners on base in seven of the eight innings, but got 13 groundball outs. With a runner on base in the eighth, Brett Hunter (Pepperdine) came on and struck out the side.

Ryan Flaherty’s (Vanderbilt) hit in the fifth, the 3500th hit in the tournament’s history, broke a string of 10 in a row retired by Lee, and loaded the bases for the first of two times. Two walks followed Flaherty, before Jordy Mercer (Oklahoma State) struck out to end the threat and keep Taipei up 1-0.

A one-out triple by Chien-Yu Kuo came around to score on a groundout to give Taipei a 1-0 lead in the first.

TEAM NOTES
Ryan Flaherty’s single in the fifth inning was the 3500th hit in the tournament’s 22-year, 11-time history... Standings heading into tonight’s game between Cuba and the Netherlands are the Cubans are 6-0, Japan is 0-7 and the Netherlands is 3-3... Netherlands will need to win twice and have Team USA lose to Cuba in order to get into the Finals... The Americans won four of five from Chinese Taipei in the States and lost the first game at the World Port Tournament, 10-5... Jordan Danks has hit safely in the last six World Port Games... games can be followed live on the internet at http://www.worldporttournament.nl/... Stats are available at: http://utopia.ision.nl/users/hwede/stats07/wpt07/ and under live scoring.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The Americans will close out the summer with a game against Cuba (8 a.m. Eastern). The Finals between the first place team, currently Cuba (6-0) and the second place team are on August 12 at 7 a.m, Eastern, finishing the summer for the Americans.

Team USA rallies for 2-1 victory

Team USA rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth inning to defeat the Netherlands 2-1 in Game two of their brief three game set. Team USA was down to their final out with Josh Romanski (San Diego) on second which represented the tying run and Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) up to bat. Alvarez came through with a double to drive in the tying run in Romanski. Roger Kieschnick (Texas Tech) then hit a run scoring single to drive home Alvarez with the eventual winning run. The USA pitching staff was fantastic throughout the game as they only allowed one hit. Eric Surkamp (NC State) started for Team USA and went 5.2 innings while giving up the only hit and run of the game while walking the four batters. Brett Hunter (Pepperdine) relieved Surkamp and pitched a perfect 3.1 innings while striking out five. The teams will finish off a doubleheader on Sunday at 5 pm in Durham NC.

Team USA Story

UPDATE: You can watch tonight's game which started at 5 pm by clicking here.

Team USA picks up second win over China

Team USA got four runs in the middle innings to knock off China 4-1 in the second game of their five game series. Team USA was led on the mound by Josh Romanski (San Diego), Brett Hunter (Pepperdine), and Cody Satterwhite (Ole Miss). Romanski started for Team USA and went four innings while giving up one run on six hits with six strikeouts. He ended up getting a no decision as Brett Hunter (1-0) picked up the win by going the middle four innings without allowing a run on one hit and two walks. Cody Satterwhite pitched a perfect ninth inning to get his fourth save. Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) went 2-4 with a run scored to lead the offensive attack for the national team. Brett Wallace (Arizona State) got a run-scoring double to help the offensive attack. Team USA and China will play on Wednesday at 7 pm in Birmingham (AL).

Team USA Recap

Long Beach Regional Day 2 Recap

LBSU 6 Pepperdine 3

The Long Beach State got a complete game from starting pitcher Andrew Liebel as he scattered 11 hits and only gave up three runs as the Dirtbags picked up a 6-3 victory over Pepperdine. The offense was led by Robert Perry who went 2-4 with 2 runs scored. LBSU will play the loser of UIC/UCLA on Sunday.

LBSU Recap
Pepperdine Recap

UCLA 3 UIC 1

The UCLA Bruins advanced in the NCAA Regional to the Championship game by knocking off the UIC Flames 3-1. UCLA starter Gavin Brooks threw a two hitter while allowing only one run in the game. UIC starter Zach Peterson gave up 14 hits in nine innings but only allowed three runs. UCLA will play the winner of the UIC and LBSU elimination game in the nightcap Sunday.
UCLA Recap
UIC Recap

Long Beach State Regional Day 1 Recap

UCLA 7 Pepperdine 3

Tyson Brummett (UCLA) pitched 8.2 innings while giving up three runs as his Bruins picked up pa 7-3 victory over Pepperdine. The UCLA offense got to Peperdine ace Barry Enright for six run in 6.1 innings. UCLA will face surprise winner UIC while Pepperdine will face Long Beach State in an elimination game.

UCLA Recap
Pepperdine Recap

UIC 4 Long Beach State 1

The UIC Flames picked up an impressive 4-1 victory over Regional host Long Beach State on Friday evening. The Dirtbags were held to only one hit by UIC starter Ryan Zink who pitched eight strong innings. David Cales struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to pick up the impressive victory for the Flames. UIC will play UCLA on Saturday in the winners bracket while LBSU will play Pepperdine.

UIC Recap
LBSU Recap

Long Beach Regional Preview

The Long Beach Dirtbags will be one of the 16 hosts for the NCAA Baseball Tournament that starts on Friday. They will host Pepperdine, UCLA, and Illinois-Chicago.

Long Beach State

The Dirtbags (37-18) are heading into the weekend after finishing up the regular season knocking off Cal-State Fullerton in two out of three games last weekend. LBSU is led by Omar Arif who is 5-5 with a 3.11 ERA. Bryan Shaw leads the team with 10 saves with a 2.53 ERA.

LBSU Tourney Notes

UCLA

The UCLA Bruins (30-26) finished in third place in the Pac 10 conference with a 14-10 mark. They are led by Gabe Cohen who is leading the team in hitting with a .357 average including ten homers. Tyson Brummett leads the starters with a 9-5 mark with an ERA of 3.69. He also has 103 strikeouts in 125 innings.

UCLA Tourney Notes

Pepperdine

The Pepperdine Waves (35-20) are led by one of the top pitchers in the country in Barry Enright who leads the team in wins with 12 and has an ERA of 1.73. Jason Dominguez leads the team with 12 saves in 28 appearances. The offense is led by Adrian Ortiz (.355 BA), Danny Worth (.346 BA), and Donald Brown (.342 BA).

Pepperdine Tourney Notes

UIC

The University of Illinois-Chicago heads out to Long Beach CA to take part in the regional that Long Beach State is hosting. UIC got into the NCAA Tournament after winning the Horizon League Tournament. UIC is led by Larry Gempe Jr. who is hitting .397 for the season. Steve Crnkovich who leads the starting pitchers in ERA at 2.27 and has only a 4-3 overall record. They have one of the best closers in the country with David Cales who has twelve saves on the season and an ERA of 0.84.

UIC Tourney Notes

The CBB predicts Pepperdine to shock everyone and win the regional behind Barry Enright's arm.

News and Notes from the West Coast

Bob Keissner checks in with some news and notes on some of the action on the West Coast. He discusses the impact Chad Kreuter is going to have on the Trojan program. Also discussed is how strong the Pepperdine program has become again under Steve Rodriguez. The full article is available here.