UC-Irvine announces 2008 schedule and new pitching coach

The UC-Irvine Anteaters and new head coach Mike Gillespie have announced the 2008 schedule. The team will open the season on February 22nd when they head to Nevada to take on the Wolfpack in a three game series. The Anteaters will open the home slate on February 29th when the University of San Francisco heads down the coast. The following weekend they will fly across the country to New Orleans to take on the Tulane Green Wave from March 7th-9th. They will also host Hawaii and take part in the Arizona State tournament before opening up the conference season. The full schedule is available here.

Mike Gillespie has also announced that Ted Silva has been named the new pitching coach for the Anteaters. He spent the 2007 season with the Fresno State program where he developed the team to the second lowest ERA in the conference. Before taking the job with Fresno State, He spent the 2005-2006 season with the Cal-State Fullerton program where he led the team to a nation best ERA. The full release is available here.

Rivals Mailbag

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.

Gillespie to UCI

Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com has confirmed what the College Baseball Blog passed along yesterday, that former Southern Cal coach Mike Gillespie has been hired to take on the UC-Irvine job.

The report breaks the news that Cal State Los Angeles coach Pat Shine will serve as an assistant to Gillespie and run the program. You can read Kendall Roger's article here.

Mike Gillespie New Coach at UC-Irvine??

According to sources Coach Gillespie has decided to get back into coaching after 15 months lay off. It has not been made official yet but UC-Irvine will announce the new coach of the Anteaters as Mike Gillespie real soon. Coach Gillespie comes to UC-Irvine after spending 20 years at USC and winning a National Championship back in 1998. This sets up a family rivalry with USC as his son-in-law Chad Kreuter took over the Trojans job in 2007.

More Details to come soon.

What's In Store for 2008

Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com has been busy churning out quality content. Some of his latests items include:

- A rundown of the issues for SEC teams in 2008

- The same rundown for Big 12 squads

- A pre-Fall listing of the top 25 teams heading into the next season (not really a top 25, but rather a 25 teams to watch, listed in alphabetical order).

In his latest Mailbag, Kendall also discusses Irvine, Wake Forest, Oregon and Oregon State, and the differences between Fresno State and San Diego.

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.

Fullerton and UC-Irvine News

The Daily Pilot wrote an article this weekend on Dave Serrano leaving UC-Irvine for Fullerton. The article discusses some of the reasons Serrano left Irvine for Fullerton which is led by the fact that the Irvine athletic department is currently operating without an athletic director. Serrano also states that Cal-State Fullerton athletic director Brian Quinn spoke with him in 2004 when Serrano left for Irvine and told him that he would be the next coach at Fullerton if Horton ever left. Quinn also reiterated this at Rosenblatt Stadium when the Anteaters were making their magical run. The article also discusses that former Tennessee coach Rod Delmonico has already been in contact with Serrano about taking over the Irvine job. The full article is available here.

More on Serrano going to Fullerton!!

As Brian reported earlier Dave Serrano has agreed to terms with Fullerton. Dave has signed a 4 year contract to be the new coach at Fullerton. Dave will bring over Sergio Brown from Irvine as an assistant.

For more on the story follow the link.

OCRegister.com


With Dave going to Fullerton where will Irvine start looking. Dave did not leave the cupboard empty with a team expected to compete for a conference and national championship in 2008.

Serrano said it remained up in the air who his assistants would be, but that his first obligation is to his two assistants at UC Irvine, Sergio Brown and Greg Bergeron. He said he was informed that Irvine is going to conduct a national coaching search, but he hopes Brown or Bergeron is a candidate for the job. If both assistants decide they want to follow Serrano to Fullerton, and Vanderhook decides he wants to remain as well, Serrano will have to choose between the three coaches for two spots.

Serrano also confirmed that uncertainty surrounding UC Irvine’s commitment to athletics played a significant role in his decision to leave. UC Irvine’s previous athletics director, Bob Chichester, cited budget cuts and a lack of commitment to athletics by Chancellor Michael V. Drake as reasons for resigning in August. UCI is in the midst of a search for Chichester’s replacement, but no hire is expected for at least another month, according to Serrano.

Baseball America

BREAKING NEWS: Serrano to Fullerton

Baseball America is reporting that Dave Serrano will accept the head coaching position with Cal-State Fullerton after saying last week that he was going to stay at UC-Irvine. The article from Baseball America is available here. The College Baseball Blog will have more information as it becomes available.

Update on the Coaching changes

UC Irvine head baseball coach Dave Serrano has been quick to dispel any speculation that he would be interested in the Cal State Fullerton head position with the Titans' George Horton accepting the Oregon job. Serrano was Fullerton's pitching coach for eight years prior to accepting the UCI head-coaching position in 2004.

"I have no interest in leaving UC Irvine for Cal State Fullerton," Serrano said. "I feel that we have something special building at UCI with the program moving in the right direction. Fullerton is a great program and I have many enjoyable memories from there but my family and I are very happy in Irvine."

Watch for Ted Silva pitching coach for Fresno State and Bryant Ward hitting coach from South Florida. This two guys could very well end up on a new staff here in the next week or so.

Ted Silva Played for CSF in the early 90's and the was drafted by the Rangers and was in their organization for 5 years. Prior to being the pitching coach at Fresno State Ted over saw the pitching staff at CSF '04-'05 as a volunteer assistant. Bryant Ward played and graduated from East Carolina before going to CSF to be an volunteer assistant.

CSTV Story

UC-IRVINE Release

Oregon baseball thoughts

The University of Oregon announced on July 13th that they were bringing back baseball to the Eugene school after a 26 year absence. The school ended up dropping the wrestling program and adding competitive cheerleading to the athletic program. The reason that was quoted by the Oregon athletic department to add baseball was that the sport is seeing increased growth across the country.

I believe that this is true in the suburbs but Baseball has seen a major decrease in urban areas. The main reason is the increasing cost in competing on select teams which in some communities start before the age of 12 when a kid in the city of Miami can go play a game of basketball for weeks on end at the playground for 20 bucks with a decent basketball. I would like my readers to drive by a baseball field this weekend and see how many kids are playing on their local Little League field. Also, look at the Little League World Series and see how many African-American kids participated in the final eight. There was a report on Say Hey which is one of the top sports blogs on the internet that only two out of the eight US teams had any African American kids. (Click here for article). The other experiment is to look at a MLB baseball game and see how many players are minorities from United States. You will be surprised with how low it actually is.

The other problem I see with Oregon adding baseball is that the wrestlers at the school now will have to transfer to continue their athletic careers and possibly make the Olympic team. Baseball has been removed from the Olympics starting in 2012 due to the lack of interest in the sport around the world. We did see a very well attended World Port Tournament in Holland this summer with over 3,000 people attending some of Team USA games but we also saw the debacle which was the Pan-American games. During that tournament, we saw multiple delays with the field due to poor drainage and even had the tournament readjusted a day before it started due to insufficient lighting.

The final problem I have with Oregon is that they couldn't support baseball 26 years ago. What has changed in Eugene to say they can support a Pac-10 team? They currently have no stadium and need to build a brand new facility.

I also think that the Oregon Athletic Department is aiming way too high with the help of Phil Knight for a new head coach. The Oregon Athletic Department has already interviewed Tim Corbin and planned on bringing in Dave Serrano before he backed out. There was some reports on the Internet that Phil Knight had earmarked so much money that whoever took the job would be one of the top five coaches in the nation in terms of salary. Why has Oregon not looked at some of the top assistants on the West Coast instead of a current head coach? How many top head coaches are going to leave a successful place to restart a program which will not have the full usage of scholarships until 2011-2012 season?

I just felt like sharing my thoughts on the situation in Eugene and hope that the Oregon program will be a success but they need to overcome the obstacles I have outlined above.

Update on Dave Serrano!

Dave Serrano said Wednesday he has withdrawn as a candidate for the Oregon job, choosing to stay at UC Irvine and continue to build the Anteaters into a perennial national contender.

In his third season at Irvine, Serrano took the Anteaters to the College World Series and garnered National Coach of the Year honors. Along with the recognition came interest from Oregon, which is looking to resurrect its baseball program after 26 years.

"I want to thank the University of Oregon for their interest," Serrano said. "And I apologize to both universities for any distraction this has caused.

"I am excited to move on and continue to be the coach of the players who are in our program now."

Serrano said the decision, reached after long discussions with his wife, came down to family. He said the time and effort to start up a new program would cost him too much time away from his wife, Tracy, and his three young sons.

Orange County Register

UC Irvine coach Dave Serrano has taken his name out of the running for Oregon’s vacant head coaching job.

Baseball America’s 2007 Coach of the Year had delayed his scheduled visit to Eugene so he and his wife and staff could make a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate and relive the Anteaters’ College World Series run, and the Ducks allowed him a few more days to think about it before his visit, which he never wound up making. Serrano said he woke up this morning with a decision to remain at Irvine.

“As intriguing and as challenging as the Oregon job would have been–and we would have been up to the task–I hope this shows my commitment to UC Irvine and our team,” Serrano said. “We still have lofty goals here at Irvine. I think this is a good program that can continue to grow and grow as long as I can keep my coaching staff intact, and we can take it to the highest level."

Baseball America

Dave Serrano postpones interview

Dave Serrano, the leading candidate to become the coach of Oregon's reborn baseball program, will delay his visit to Eugene to interview for the Head Coach job due to scheduling issues with Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny. Kilkenny is currently dealing with the announcement of a $100 million dollar donation from Phil Knight of Nike and Coach Serrano is scheduled for a family vacation the rest of the week which has rescheduled his interview until August 27th according to The Register-Guard.

Serrano postpones interview
Knight donates $100 million to Oregon

San Diego releases 2008 Schedule

The University of San Diego and head coach Rich Hill have released their 2008 schedule which is highlighted by visits from Cal-State Fullerton, Missouri, and UC-Irvine. They will open the season on February 22nd when they play a four game three day home and home series with cross-town rival San Diego State. Some other highlights from the schedule are when the Toreros head to Hawaii-Hilo for a three game series from March 15th-17th before returning home to take on Ivy League power Harvard for a three game set. The press release is available here.

Dave Serrano Interested in the Oregon job??

Coach Dave Serrano will be visiting University of Oregon and the facilities on Monday and Tuesday. When they approached him two weeks ago to see if he was interested he told them thanks but no thanks. He felt he was not ready for to make this move. Well he had second thoughts about this job and it is a good move on his part to at least go and see what they are willing to provide for a program. This may not be the right job for Serrano but, for the long term he needs to know what is out there. Coach Dave Serrano is a coach that will make a name for himself rather it be at UC Irvine or at another University. Coach Dave is capable of turning UC Irvine into a Cal State Fullerton. Fullerton was not on the baseball map until Augie Garrido came in and turn that program into a Baseball powerhouse which Coach Horton as continue that with Great success. Both Horton and Serrano has played and or coach under Garrido. So, Serrano will be successful wherever he goes.

Some other articles in regard to the coaching job.

The Register Guard
Daily Pilot

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.

Cuba handles USA 8-2

Cuba took advantage of some sloppy Team USA defense to pull out an 8-2 victory in the final game of the first round of the World Port Tournament. Alfredo Despaigne went 2-3 with two homers and five RBI. His second homer came in the seventh inning when Cuba scored five runs to make a 3-2 game in a 8-2 advantage. Scott Gorgen (UC-Irvine) started for Team USA and gave them six solid innings while giving up three runs (one earned) but struck out ten batters without allowing a walk. Cuba ended up getting to reliever Josh Romanski (San Diego) for five runs in two innings of work. Yulieski Gonzalez started for the Cuban team and gave them 7.1 innings while giving up both runs. Arley Sanchez relieved Gonzalez while going 1.1 perfect innings before being lifted for Vicyohandri Odelin who got the final out of the game. Team USA was led on offense by Pedro Alvarez who homered for the third straight game while going 2-4 with 2 RBI. Team USA is back in action on Tuesday when they start the second round of the round robin tournament with Japan at 1 p.m. Eastern. Team USA is currently in a tie for second place with Chinese Taipei. The College Baseball Blog has found out that they are providing live scoring from the games which is available by clicking here.

Team USA Recap
Box Score

Team USA quiets Russia 6-0

Team USA played their final game in the United States on Monday against Russia where they picked up a 6-0 victory. The Russian team was able to hold Team USA to only four hits but gave up eight walks with three errors. Scott Gorgen (UC-Irvine) started for Team USA and went 4.2 innings while giving up three hits and struck out eight batters to pick up his first victory with the team. Seth Frankoff (UNC-Wilmington) relieved Gorgen and provided 3.1 shutout innings with five strikeouts and one hit allowed. Team USA is now off until August 2nd when they play Japan in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Team USA Release

Team USA adds four players

Team USA announced today that UC-Irvine pitcher Scott Gorgen, NC State pitcher Eric Surkamp, UNC-Wilmington pitcher Seth Frankoff, and Tyler Stovall from Hokes Bluff (HS) have joined the team starting on Friday when the team completes their series against China. They replace Brian Matusz, Jacob Thompson, and Lance Lynn who have all left the team to rest their arms until the next college season.

UC-Irvine Release
NC State Release
UNC-Wilmington Release

Cape Cod Baseball League Awards for Week 5

The Cape Cod League has announced their players of the week for the week ending on July 13th. Hyannis starting pitcher Bryce Stowell (Cal-Irvine) was named the Coca-Cola Pitcher of the Week after pitching seven shutout innings against Chatham while only letting up three hits and one walk. Falmouth third baseman Conor Gillaspie (Wichita State) picked up the Player of the Week award after hitting 9-18 including some key extra base hits while slugging .833.

The Cape Cod League also announced that NESN will be broadcasting the Cape Cod League All-Star game on tape delay which will air July 30th at 7 pm with Bob Neumeier of NBC Sports doing play by play with Jim Beattie doing color who pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays and most recently was the Executive VP of the Baltimore Orioles.

The full Cape Cod League Weekly Recap is available by clicking here.