FSU Fall Ball Recap

The Florida State Seminoles have finished up Fall practice this week with a two Garnet vs. Gold games.

The Garnet team won Game 1 with a 9-0 shutout of the Gold Team in five innings. Matt Fairel picked up the victory by going three innings while allowing only three hits and two walks. Buster Posey also pitched a shutout inning while allowing one hit. Jack Posey (Buster's brother) led the offense with three RBI's. Jimmy Marshall of the Gold team came in to pitch the third inning but was lit up for six runs (one earned) while walking four batters. The Gold offense was led by Ruairi O'Connor who went 2-2.

Game 1 Recap
Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 was won by the Garnet team with a 7-5 victory to complete the sweep. They were led by Tennessee transfer Tony Delmonico who went 2-3 with two RBI. Mike McGee (Garnet team) chipped in with three hits in the victory. Elih Villanueva pitched three perfect innings with two strikeouts with Mike McGee picking up the victory on the mound by pitching two perfect innings. Trenton Jarvis had the best day on the mound for the Gold team by pitching two scoreless inning while allowing only one hit. Dennis Guinn led the Gold offense with a three run homer in the fourth inning.

Game 2 Recap
Game 2 Box Score

Jett Ruiz turns up at San Diego

Jett Ruiz formerly a catcher with the Boston College Eagles has turned up with the San Diego Toreros. He left the Boston College program last season late in the year over the emergence of freshman catcher Tony Sanchez Jr. Ruiz will enter San Diego as a junior but will likely not see much time behind the plate with Logan Gelbrich expected to handle the pitching staff in 2008. Ruiz struggled mightily in the ACC the last two seasons. He showed a few glimpses of talent but could not become a consistent hitter.

Why is NC State losing top players?

I have noticed a recent trend with the NC State baseball program with top players transferring to other schools across the country. After the 2006 season, Matt Mangini transferred for his junior season to Oklahoma State where he ended up getting picked up by the Seattle Mariners with the 52nd overall pick. This past summer Mike Roskopf transferred out of NC State to the University of Southern California for his senior season. Roskopf showed me some major power this past season when the Wolfpack visited Boston College. What is Elliot Avent doing to these kids? Is it just a random occurence that these players have transferred out the last two seasons? I hope someone has some insight into the reasoning these players have left.

Cornell returns a strong team

The Cornell Daily Sun writer Eric Haskel checked in on the Cornell baseball program status for fall practice. Cornell lost Justin Milo to UVM and pitcher Jim Hyland to graduation but return a veteran squad. Cornell finished the 2007 season in last place with a 8-12 record in the Gehrig Division in the Ivy League. The full article is available here.

Marist welcomes eight players

The Marist baseball program will welcome eight new players for the 2008 season including three transfers. Chris Wojick from Maine, B.J. Martin from St. John's, and Zach Starkey from Wabash Valley College will join five freshman in the Red Fox program. The full release is available here.

Texas adds two more Transfers

The University of Texas Baseball squad had two transfers from the West Coast enroll in classes for the fall semester. The pair, both infielders, includes David Hernandez from Fresno State University and Michael Torres from the University of Southern California.

Hernandez will be a sophomore in 2008. He played in 35 games for Fresno State as a freshman, including 21 starts. Hernandez hit .251 (18-of-72) with two doubles and six RBI. The smooth fielder committed just two errors in a 107 chances at shortstop for a .981 fielding percentage.

Torres will be a junior in 2008. He played in 46 games over two seasons at USC, including 27 starts. In 2007, Torres, a left-handed batter, hit .253 (20-of-79) with four doubles, one triple, one home run and 10 RBI as a second baseman and third baseman. He batted .231 (6-of-26) with three runs scored and four RBI in 15 games in 2005.

Both players are California natives. Hailing from Danville, Calif., Hernandez was a three-year letterwinner at Monte Vista HS, playing shortstop and third base. A product of Santa Ana, Calif., Torres was named the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register Player of the Year as a senior at Mater Dei High School, batting .459 with 23 RBI and 19 stolen bases.

TexasSports.com

These two kids are a great addition to the roster for the '08 season. They will come in and immediately compete for starting time. Look for Hernandez to be the Starting short Stop and Torres the 2nd baseman on opening day. This will allow Travis Tucker to slide over to 3rd base. This will shore up the infield. This will also allow Texas to really put the pressure on opposing team defense as these two guys will put the ball down and Run.

Tulane gets three transfers for 2008

The Tulane Baseball team picked up three transfers this summer to hopefully lead the Green Wave back to the upper echelon of college baseball. The first transfer is shortstop Josh Prince (Texas) who hit .371 in 35 games for the Longhorns in 2007. Left-handed pitcher Matt Petition (UNC) heads to New Orleans after appearing in only two games in his freshman season. The final transfer is Josh Zeid from Vanderbilt which the College Baseball Blog reported earlier this summer. Zeid pitched in 18 games in 2007 and 13 games as a freshman. The full release is available here.

NCAA suspends three Nebraska players

The NCAA has suspended three Nebraska baseball players after trading baseball bats for store credits. Andy Gerch took the biggest hit as he will be suspended for the first 12 games of the 2008 season while Craig Corriston will be missing the first six games. The NCAA has also suspended Jeff Lanning for six games as he has recently transferred to New Orleans for next season. Mike Anderson said that the players could face discipline from the university also. The full article is available from the AP here.

Corbin Lands NAIA Star for '08 Class

Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin announced yesterday that he was remaining in Nashville. Just 10 hours after that decision, VandySports.com's Mike Rapp broke the news that Corbin and Erik Bakich had landed coveted transfer candidate Drew Hayes.

Hayes will enter with this year's class and be eligible to play immediately as a Sophomore. A 6'1" 200 lb RHP, Hayes is described by Joshua Parrott of the Jackson Sun as having a body built like Casey Weathers, the former Vandy closer and #8 overall pick in this past draft. Parrott reports in today's paper that Hayes will be given the opportunity to use his mid-90s heater to earn the right to close games on West End.

Corbin and Bakich were not unfamiliar with Hayes, nor are his new teammates. Hayes is most well associated with Mikie Minor, the Vanderbilt and Team-USA standout LHP. Minor and Hayes competed for honors as 2005-6's top Tennessee baseball player. Minor ultimately drew the most acclaim, but Hayes bested the southpaw in the TSSAA State Championship game in an epic matchup. Hayes was recruited heavily by Vanderbilt; however, he chose to play at Bethel, where his father is the baseball head coach. Hayes batted .320 and carried a 6-4 record and 2.72 ERA on the hill.

Hayes joins another star-studded class of recruits that have all made it to Nashville without defection. Among them are Catcher Curtis Casali, LHP Kellen St. Luce, 1B/DH Aaron Westlake, LHP Ben Blanton, RHP Chase Reid, 1B Drew Fann, SS Gabe Ortiz, OF Joey Manning, LHP Sean Bierman and RHP Taylor Hill. Casali, Manning and Westlake are expected to push holdover starters at C, LF and 1B, respectively, while all six pitching recruits will join a solid redshirt class in replacing the six Vanderbilt pitchers who moved on to the professional ranks this year.

Joshua Parrott Article from the Jackson Sun

Vanderbilt Release

I would also be remiss if I did not link Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com's excellent article on Tim Corbin and the Oregon search. It touched on the topics I addressed in my late post last night, but Kendall actually attended the presser and knows Tim from attending a number of Vandy games and covering the Dores. It's an outstanding read for those of you who aren't sick of me talking about the Commodores yet.

Ryan Davis and Mike Roskopf set to transfer

Ryan Davis of Vanderbilt is set to transfer to San Diego according to a few sources including Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com. Davis had become a role player in the 2007 season, splitting time with Parker Hanks and Matt Meingasner in left and at DH, after nearly capturing a batting crown by hitting .340 in SEC play in 2006. Due to the Senior year return of All-American RF Dom De la Osa, Vandy has four capable bodies competing for time in left field (Hanks, Jonathan White, red-shirt freshman Steven Liddle and highly touted freshman Joey Manning). With the opportunity to prove himself ahead of the 2008 draft, Davis stands to be a potential middle of the order bat for the Torreros and will have the opportunity to help contribute to the Toreros run to Omaha in 2008, while playing closer to his Arizona home. Thanks to NY Dore for providing the information used in this report.

Rivals.com is reporting that NC State first baseman/designated hitter Mike Roskopf is transferring to Southern California to play under Chad Kreuter. Roskopf hit .316 with 13 homers with 42 RBI. He will be an instant addition to the Trojans squad hopefully leading them to the Pac-10 Championship in 2008.

Maine picks up four transfers

According to multiple sources, The University of Maine has picked up four transfers for the 2008 season. Joe Mercurio is coming from Illinois where he was the backup to All-American catcher Lars Davis. Mercurio was only able to get into eleven games while only starting three games. (The Baseball Zealot has more on Mercurio.) The Black Bears also picked up High Point University right-hander Joe Miller. he pitched in only six games in 2007 while making one start with no record and a 8.31 ERA. The other two players are Greg Doogan and Tony Patane who played with UConn-Avery Point in 2007. Doogan is a 6'5 230 pound right-hander while Patane is a 6'0 shortstop from New Milford CT. It should be interesting to see how this Maine program does under second year head coach Steve Trimper who led the program to a disappointing 22-31 record in his first year.

Samford gets MSU Transfer

The Samford Bulldogs have picked up a transfer from Mississippi State in Michael Rutledge. He played in 69 games last season for the Bulldogs while advancing to the College World Series. Rutledge should provide leadership for the Samford program hopefully leading them to a Ohio Valley Conference Championship in 2008.

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

Vols name Todd Raleigh new coach

According to multiple reports around the Internet including the Knoxville News, the University of Tennessee will name Todd Raleigh their next head coach. Raleigh is the current head coach of Western Carolina where he took the team to the NCAA Tournament on two separate occasions including the 2007 season. He compiled a record of 257-209 in eight seasons with the Catamounts.

Also, Tony Delmonico has decided to transfer to Florida State next season. This was expected as Delmonico's father Rod was an assistant under Mark Martin Sr. before heading to Tennessee.

Knoxville News
Western Carolina Release
Tennessee Release

Maxie to Southern Miss

Kyle Maxie, formerly of Florida State, is officially transferring to Southern Mississippi next season where he is expected to compete for the starting catcher's job with the Golden Eagles. The full story is available here.

CSTV Articles

CSTV has posted two articles on College Baseball. The first article deals with how Paul Mainieri (LSU) and Chad Kreuter (USC) are dealing with the intense pressure put on them at their respective schools. I believe both guys will be winners at each school since Mainieri had some major success at Notre Dame. The full article is available here.

The other article deals with how the transfer rules in college baseball are different then some other collegiate sports. The article really deals with Paul Mainieri in both occasions since he released Jarred Bogany from his scholarship and scooped up Charlie Furbush from St. Joseph's of Maine. The full article is available here.

Bogany granted release from LSU

Jarred Bogany was released from his scholarship at LSU by new head coach Paul Mainieri. He played in 49 out of 59 games last season and was expected to contribute this year but something changed along the way.

Official Release from LSU
The Daily Reveille
Baseball America