University of Oregon reinstates Baseball!

The University of Oregon will reinstate baseball as one of its intercollegiate programs following a 26-year absence, according to an announcement Friday by the school's Director of Athletics Pat Kilkenny.

Kilkenny said that his decision was based in part upon the financial future of the Ducks' department of athletics as well as a growing interest in the sport on a national level and among University of Oregon constituents and alumni.

He added that an aggressive timetable for bringing back baseball on an intercollegiate basis would include the hiring of a national caliber coaching staff no later than this fall, with Oregon to resume competition during the 2008-09 season.

Oregon had remained as the only school in the Pacific-10 Conference without a baseball program since it was one of four sports eliminated following the 1980-81 season due to financial considerations. The other sports that were dropped at that time were men's gymnastics as well as women's golf and soccer.

University of Oregon news release

From Eugene Oregon

Wynn Pelzer Update

Baseball America is reporting that Wynn Pelzer (South Carolina) broke his right kneecap after taking a line drive off the bat from Allan Dykstra (Wake Forest) in Cape Cod action this week. Pelzer was a ninth round pick by the San Diego Padres who was playing this summer to increase the amount of money that he could get for a signing bonus. He likely will stay unsigned with this injury and pitch next season for the Gamecocks.

Baseball America

New Haven and Bryant going D-1?

The New Haven Register is reporting that the University of New Haven has set up an exploratory committee to discuss the feasibility of moving up to Division 1. New Haven is currently a member of the ECC but they want to move over to the Northeast-10 conference which has turned them down more then once over the last few years. New Haven has stated that they will not make the move to Division 1 if they were given the invitation to the Northeast-10. It is possible that New Haven will get that invite as Bryant University is also exploring about moving up to Division 1 which would be a great move for the Smithfield, RI school.

New Haven Register

FSU Star signs

Tony Thomas Jr. of Florida State has officially joined the Chicago Cubs organization after being a fourth round pick by the Chicago Cubs. He was named Collegiate Baseball's Player of the Year after hitting .430 with 91 runs, 33 doubles, 11 homers, and 31 stolen bases in 2007. The Seminoles are in the process of signing Tony Delmonico who is transferring from the University of Tennessee and should compete for the starting job at second base in 2008.

Tallahassee Democrat Article

2008 Schedules

We have found that three schools have already released their 2008 schedules. The NCAA annouced in 2006 that they will have an unverisal start date which is Febraury 22nd this season. The LSU Tigers will open the season on the start date when they host Indiana for a three game set. The Cal State Fullerton Titans will also open up at TCU. The final schedule we have found is the UC-Riverside Highlanders who also start on the first possible day with a series at Washington.

LSU Schedule
Cal-State Fullerton Schedule
UC-Riverside Schedule

Valley League Weekly Honors – July 9, 2007

-Courtesy of Valley Baseball League-

Complete Week 5 League Notes

Players of the Week

Matt Payne (Hiddenite, N.C.), a junior outfielder from North Carolina State, hit .385 last week for Staunton. Payne helped to pace the Braves with two home runs, five RBIs and two runs scored. He led all players with an .846 slugging percentage and also posted a .357 on base percentage.

David Dennis (El Cajon, Calif.), from Oklahoma City University led Harrisonburg with a .455 batting average, while also finishing tied for second in the league with two home runs. Overall, Dennis collected 10 hits including a double and the two home runs, three RBIs, five runs scored and 17 total bases.

Pitchers of the Week

Scott Shuman (Valdosta, Ga.), the freshman righthander out of Auburn carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning when the Royals hosted Covington on Friday. Overall, Shuman went 1-0 in two appearances, with a 1.80 ERA. He struck out eight and allowed just four hits over 10 innings.

Joel Brookens (Fayetteville, Pa.), out of North Carolina State, lead the league with three saves and help Front Royal complete a 5-0 week. Brookens appeared in three games, pitching 3.1 innings, struck out 10 and allowed only one hit. He also picked up the save for the North team in Sunday's All-Star game to complete a solid week of pitching.

NSU coach could return to Alabama as assistant

TUSCALOOSA - Mitch Gaspard is expected to rejoin the University of Alabama baseball coaching staff as its top assistant, two sources said Monday.

Gaspard could resign his post as the head coach of Northwestern State University, where he has been since the 2002 season, as early as today.

Simultaneous announcements from Alabama and Northwestern State will come when the move is official, likely Wednesday.

Complete story

Beavers get chance to swing bats again

CORVALLIS — After pretty much destroying the field at last month's College World Series, Oregon State's baseball team found something else to demolish on Monday morning.

A handful of the Beavers, with bats in hand, began knocking down a house to make way for a new home for a deserving family on the television program "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

A group from OSU's national championship team — head coach Pat Casey, pitchers Eddie Kunz and Blake Keitzman, infielders Lonnie Lechelt and Brett Casey, outfielders Scott Santschi and Braden Wells, catcher Erik Ammon, injured catcher Casey Priseman and manager Peter Hughes — spent much of the morning at the job site in Lewisburg, just north of Corvallis. The players eventually got to blow off a little steam by clubbing walls, windows and fixtures for the cameras.

Shortly thereafter, a pair of backhoes began the heavy demolition of the home that formerly housed Rob and Rachel Byers and their family. Their 8-year-old daughter, Jenessa, has a form of childhood cancer and is fighting a recurrence.

Complete story

Western Carolina interviewing several coaches

Two more candidates, including a member of the Western Carolina baseball “family,” are getting a shot this week at becoming the Catamounts’ next head coach.

Jeff Sziksai, a Reynolds graduate and former WCU player, met with Western officials on Monday in Cullowhee. Georgia Tech associate head coach Bobby Moranda will also get an interview this week.

WCU assistant coach Eric Filipek, former N.C. State assistant Chris Roberts and Vanderbilt assistant Erik Bakich got their chances last week.

Complete story

TCL All-Star Game!

After losing the first three Texas Collegiate League All-Star games, the Rogers Hornsby Division finally broke through.

McKinney's Derek Wiley hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning to lead the Hornsby All-Stars past the Tris Speaker Division 3-0 Monday. Wiley, who is from Belmont University, was named the game's MVP.

"I was looking for a good pitch and I was down 0-2, so I was going to battle," Wiley said. "I got a good curveball to hit and just put a good swing on it."

The Hornsby pitching staff held the Speaker All-Stars to three hits.

Greer a hit

Former Rangers outfielder Rusty Greer is making his mark in the TCL.

Greer, the first-year manager of the Colleyville LoneStars, managed the Speaker All-Stars and received a loud cheer from the fans during pregame introductions.

"It's a big honor," Greer said of his All-Star nomination. "Hopefully, it means I'm doing something right."

Greer's team is 6-10 and in last place in the division, but the 2007 Rangers Hall of Fame inductee created a buzz when he was first introduced as the Colleyville manager and has helped give the TCL a familiar face.

"That's kind of why I took this job," Greer said. "I wanted to help out not only the Colleyville LoneStars but the league as well."

Fort Worth Star Telegram

TCL ALL_STAR RECAP

University Of Texas inks 15th Signee for 2008!

	Freshman Pitcher Bats: Leftt Throws: Left 6'5" 195 lbs. Hudson High School Lufkin, Texas	#12 BRANDON BELT
		Prior to SJC: Randon was the most valuable player of his high school district and also earned All-State and All-american distinctions. 2006 drafted by Boston Red Sox.

The University of Texas baseball squad added pitcher and outfielder Brandon Belt to the squad when UT Athletics compliance office validated his National Letter of Intent on Monday.

Belt, a 6-foot, 5-inch, 190-pound left-hander originally signed a letter of intent for the 2007 season but opted to play at San Jacinto College. Last season, Belt helped lead the Gators to the JuCo World Series with a 7-2 record, 2.82 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 51 innings on the mound and a .421 batting average with 11 doubles, nine home runs and 57 RBI at the plate.

TexasSports.com press release

North earns 2-0 Shutout over South in VBL All-Star Game

FRONT ROYAL, Va., July 8, 2007 - Woodstock's Shayne Moody drove in both runs while Front Royal's Bennett Davis doubled and scored a run to lead the North All-Stars to a 2-0 shutout over the South All-Stars in the 2007 Valley Baseball League All-Star Game on Sunday evening at Bing Crosby Stadium.

Davis, who was also hit by a pitch, was named Most Valuable Player of the North squad in a pitching-dominated game. Just seven total hits were recorded in the game. Davis and South MVP Zach Barrett of Staunton were the only players to hit an extra-base hit, each with doubles.

The North squad was composed of players from Fauquier, Front Royal, Haymarket, Luray, Winchester, and Woodstock. The South included the two best teams in the Valley League in Waynesboro and Harrisonburg, along with Covington, New Market, and Staunton.

The first run of the game came in the third after Davis led off with a double. He advanced to third with two outs and came in to score on Moody's sacrifice fly to center field. The other run came in the fifth inning. After the North loaded the bases on a walk, hit batter, and bunt single, Moody hit into a fielder's choice to score Fauquier's Jeffrey Hartwig.

No pitcher worked more than an inning in the ball game with 23 total hurlers seeing action. Robert Gilliam of Luray earned the victory as the pitcher when the first run was scored. Covington's Robbie Andrews allowed the run to take the loss.

The evening also included a home run derby, which was won by Covington's Jason Kipnis. Haymarket's Spencer Wiggins won the 60-yard dash.

Railroad donates land for new Marshall stadium

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall University and CSX are currently working together to make an on-campus baseball field more than just talk at the office water cooler.

CSX, a railroad company based along 5th Avenue, wants to donate a seven-acre tract of land to Marshall in order to move the baseball field closer to campus, according to Head Baseball Coach Jeff Waggoner.

The seven acres to be donated, adjacent to Village Apartments on 22nd Street, have been toxically contaminated over an extended period of time, Menis Ketchum, chair of Marshall's board of governors, said.

Marshall University must first remediate the land before it can be donated, Ketchum said.

Complete story

Omaha Royals prez: two stadiums can work

Omaha Royals President Alan Stein said his group is open to any sort of possibility regarding the future of baseball stadiums in Omaha.

That includes, he said, having a hand in building a new stadium in the north downtown area, even if Rosenblatt Stadium is refurbished for the College World Series.

Among the possibilities being considered by the city is a $26 million upgrade in and around Rosenblatt Stadium. Another is a new, smaller stadium in the NoDo area with expandable seating for the CWS.

Two new stadiums? Out of the question, Stein said.

"But I'm not so sure that one new stadium and an appropriately upgraded one doesn't make sense," he said. "One of the options I've seen and heard is $50 million for a new stadium for both the CWS and the Royals.

Complete story

Team USA salvages final game

Team USA took the final game of their series with the Japan University All-Stars by a score of 7-3. The USA team took advantage of three walks and two errors by the Japanese team to score six runs in the inning. Tommy Medica (Santa Clara) led the offense by going 2-3 with two runs scored and a run driven in. Mike Minor (Vanderbilt) pitched three innings in relief while giving up only one run on three hits to put his record for the summer at 4-0. Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) was named Team USA's MVP for the series while Shinya Muramatsu was given the MVP award for Team Japan. The USA national team now heads to the Pan-American games which start on July 14th against the Dominican Republic.

Team USA Release

Cape Cod Baseball League Awards for Week 4

The Cape Cod Baseball League has released their players of the week for June 25th-July 6th in Yonder Alonso (Miami FL) and Andy Oliver (Oklahoma State). Yonder Alonso hit .400 for the week in five games while slugging .750 to be named the Player of the Week. Andy Oliver only gave up two hits and one earned run in 15 innings last week to get the Pitcher of the Week award. The full release including news and notes around the Cape Cod League is available here. We will try to make it down to the Cape Cod League for a game this week but for full coverage of the CCBL you can check out Codball.com.

Japan wins third straight over Team USA

FROM USA BASEBALL RELEASE
DURHAM, NC— Keijiro Matsumoto and Hiroki Uemoto each drove in two runs as the Japan University All-Stars (4-3) won the first series on U.S. soil, in 19 attempts, defeating Team USA (10-5) for the third-straight time in the five-game series, 5-2.

The Americans managed just 13 hits over the three losses, Saturday night getting shut down by Shota Oba, who avenged a loss in game one against the Americans. Oba pitched a complete game five-hitter, striking out eight and walking three. Two of those hits, and one of the runs, came in the ninth.

The U.S. vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Series began in 1972 in Japan, with the late legendary USC coach Rod Dedeaux helping organize the event. The Americans had won the first 18 meetings on U.S. soil.

Matsumoto’s RBI single through a drawn in infield, gave the Japanese a 1-0 lead in the first. An RBI single by Hiroki Uemoto followed by an RBI single by Tetsuya Kokubo then chased Ryan Berry (Rice) from the game in the fifth, giving Team Japan a 3-0 lead. Matsumoto’s second RBI single then made it 4-0.

Berry (0-1) gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits for the loss

TEAM NOTES
Oba had lost game one to Team USA.... The Americans had eight hits in the previous two losses against Japan... Lance Lynn (1-0, 0.00) will oppose Mikinori Kato in the Sunday finale... Japanese teams have been playing against organized U.S. teams for more than 100 years. The first games occurred in 1905 when Waseda University visited the U.S. to play a series.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The 10-game North Carolina home stand concludes in Durham, NC on July 8, all with the Japanese... the team then heads to processing in Washington DC on July 9 (or 10) before heading to the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The open play up with the Dominican Republic on July 14.

Japan silences Team USA 2-1

The Japanese team picked up a tight 2-1 victory in a classic pitching duel between Yuki Saito and Jacob Thompson. Saito is credited as the next big Japanese pitcher following in the likes of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideo Nomo. Saito pitched six strong innings while giving up one run on three hits. Jacob Thompson (UVA) was just as good as he gave up both runs which were unearned on three hits. The Japanese team scored in a two run second inning by using small ball by getting a walk, a fielder's choice, two bunts, and a big error by Jacob Thompson to plate the runs. Team USA scored a run in the bottom of the second inning on a lead off double by Brett Wallace (Arizona State) who came around on consecutive groundouts. Neither team would score the rest of the game giving the Japanese team a 2-1 lead in the series. The teams will be back in action on Saturday at 7 pm in Durham NC. The game will be webcasted for free and can be found by clicking here.

Team USA Recap

The picture above was taken from No Sword which is a Japanese blog.

Japan edges Team USA 3-2

USA BASEBALL RELEASE
KANNAPOLIS, NC— The Japan University All-Stars (2-3) evened their five-game series with Team USA (10-3), winning game two of the series 3-2 behind lefthander Mikinori Kato on Thursday evening.

Jordy Mercer (Oklahoma State) had two of the Americans five hits.

Kato pitched six and two-thirds innings, and despite giving up five hits and five walks, struck out eight and only had one tough inning, the seventh, when the Americans pulled to within 3-2. Shinya Muramtsu got the final out in the seventh and then retired six of the final seven batters for the save.

Kato was rolling through the first six scoreless innings, scattering five hits, while retiring seven in a row at one point. As the pitch total rose above 100, the lefthander got tired as two errors and three walks in the seventh led to his departure with a 3-2 lead.

The Americans scored two unearned runs off of errors by Kato and first baseman Ryoji Naktaa to cut the Japanese lead to one. The error by first baseman Ryoji Nakata gave the Americans their first run, before an attempted steal by the U.S. with runners on the corners, plated another.

The Japanese scored two of their first three runs with two-out singles to lead 3-0 off of Brian Matusz (San Diego).

A bloop, two-out single left by Hiroki Uemoto in the third gave Japan a 1-0 lead. An RBI single by Hiroki Nakazawa in the fourth then made it 2-0. An unearned run in the sixth made it 3-0, on a two-out single by Yukinaga Tanaka following a leadoff error by Mercer at short.

Matusz pitched the first six innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits.

TEAM NOTES
RHP Jacob Thompson (1-0, 0.00) will start tomorrow’s game for the Americans... Petey Paramore, despite playing in just eight of team’s first 13 games, is the team-leader in walks with 11... the Americans avoided their first shutout since August 13, 2006 (7-0 vs. Nicaragua) and first shutout in the series since June 27, 200 when they were shutout by the Japanese in Honolulu.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The 10-game North Carolina home stand concludes in Durham, NC on July 6, 7 and 8, all with the Japanese... the team then heads to processing in Washington DC on July 9 (or 10) before heading to the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Texas Collegiate League All-Star Rosters released

The Texas Collegiate League has released their rosters for the 2007 All-Star game which will take place at TCU on Monday July 9th. Rusty Greer was named the manager of the Tris Speaker Division team while former Texas Ranger teammate Mike Henneman will coach the Roger Hornsby Division.

2007 All-Star Game Rosters
2007 All-Star Game Coaches