SeBaseball Article

Mark Etheridge of SEBaseball.com checks in with an article about many different topics. The first topic which is discussed is the whole Oregon/UC-Irvine/Fullerton musical chair act that has been going on all summer including Rod Delmonico (former head coach at Tennessee) throwing his name in the hat at UC-Irvine. The next topic discussed is how Dave Perno of UGA has had to change up his staff for the 2008 season with an assistant coach moving on to a different school. He finishes up the article by talking about some of winners and losers in the summer in getting transfers. The full article is available here.

Who's the fastest rising program?

Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com College Baseball has counted down his top 10 rising programs with a series of articles. Here's the list.

10. Memphis
9. Coastal Carolina
8. Michigan
7. UC Riverside
6. Texas A&M
5. Louisville
4. Missouri
3. San Diego
2. UC Irvine
1. UCLA

Kendall also answered some interesting questions in his latest Mailbag. Addressed were the draft decisions for a trio of Longhorns and Rick Porcello. Also discussed are the prospects for the NC State Wolfpack and Western Carolina's hiring of Bobby Moranda.

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.

Oregon State knocks off CS-Fullerton 3-2

Oregon State picked up a 3-2 victory over Cal-State Fullerton in a real pitching duel between Jorge Reyes and Wes Roemer. Reyes gave the Beavers six strong innings while giving up only one run on three hits. Roemer was just as good by giving up three runs in eight innings. The Beavers offense was led with homers from Mike Lissman and Scott Santschi. The Titans got a homer from Nick Mahin in the losing effort. CS Fullerton will play UC-Irvine in an elimination game on Monday while Oregon State faces PAC-10 rival Arizona State in the winner's bracket.

Oregon State Recap
Fullerton Recap
SeBaseball Recap

CWS Day 1 Recap

Rice 15 Louisville 10

The Louisville Cardinals jumped out to an early 5-0 victory but the Rice Owls were able to come back and win a wild game 15-10. Aaron Luna led the Owls by going 2-4 with three RBI. Rice reliever Bobby Bramhall pitched the final two innings without giving up a run to get the victory and up his record to 7-2. Louisville was led on offense by Logan Johnson who picked up two hits while driving in three runs. Cardinals closer Trystan Magnuson got rocked in his only inning of work as he let up six runs as he got the loss to drop his record to 3-3. Louisville will play an elimination game on Sunday against Mississippi State at 2 pm while Rice will play North Carolina at 7 pm.

Rice Recap
Louisville Recap
SEBaseball Recap

UNC 8 Mississippi State 5

The North Carolina Tar Heels erased a 4-0 deficit with eight runs in the fourth and sixth innings combined as the Tar Heels picked up a 8-5 victory over Mississippi State. UNC starter Robert Woodard struggled in only 1.2 innings as he let up four runs on seven hits. Adam Warren relieved Woodard and gave the Tar Heels 4.1 scoreless innings while only giving up three hits and a walk. Warren's record goes to 11-0. Andrew Carignan pitched the final inning to get his 16th save of the year. Chad Flack led the UNC offense by going 3-4 with a RBI. Justin Pigott started for the Bulldogs as he gave up six runs in 5.1 innings as he got the loss to put his record at 7-7. Mitch Moreland led the Bulldogs offense by going 2-4 with a homer. UNC plays Rice on Sunday at 7 pm and Mississippi State plays Louisville at 2 pm.

UNC Recap
Mississippi State Recap
SEBaseball.com Recap

SEBaseball adds C-USA and A-Sun

SeBaseball has now added two more previews with Conference USA and Atlantic Sun added to the mix. They pick Rice to win the Conference USA title over the Tulane Green Wave which is the consensus pick in the media. SeBaseball also picked Jacksonville over Stetson and Mercer to win the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Conference USA
Atlantic Sun

Sebaseball adds ACC and SEC previews

SeBaseball.com has posted a previews for the ACC and the SEC conferences. They pick North Carolina to win the conference over Clemson which they have winning the Atlantic division. In the SEC, they pick South Carolina to win the East and Arkansas in the West. The SEC is by far the deepest conference as any team can logically win if they get their players rolling.

ACC Preview
SEC Preview

At-Large Bids?

Mark Etheridge of SEBaseball has an article posted by CSTV on the struggles of the mid-majors in college baseball. Most of the bids have gone to teams in the Big 5 conferences which are the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Pac 10, and C-USA. Since the year 2000, the amount of teams coming from outside of these conferences has dwindled from 42 to 34 last season. Considering that 25 of those bids are automatic bids, you can see how difficult it is to make the tournament for the mid-major schools like College of Charleston who ended up winning a regional last season. The full article is available here and can be discussed in my comment section.