The Valley League has released their players of the week for the week ending on July 16th. They named Bradley Ray and Brett Stewart as the Players of the Week while Daniel Malone and Russ Brewer picked up Pitchers of the Week. Bradley Ray (Auburn) batted .320 with 2 homers last weekend. Brett Stewart (Appalachian State) hit .375 for the week with four runs scored and four driven in. Daniel Malone (Northwest Missouri State) went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 14 innings last week. Russ Brewer (Vanderbilt) threw a complete game shutout last week on Thursday while only allowing three hits.

Players of the Week Release
Weekly Notes

Western Carolina has officially announced that Bobby Moranda will be the new head coach of the baseball program. He comes to the school from Georgia Tech where he was the associate head and pitching coach to Danny Hall for six seasons. He also spent time at Wake Forest in a similar position while starting his coaching career as an assistant with Virginia and Eastern Kentucky.

Full Release

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.

-Press Release-

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL— The top of the American order reached base safely a combined 11 times as Team USA (13-5, 2-0 Pan Am Games) remained perfect at the Pan American Games following an 8-4 victory over Nicaragua (0-2 Pan Am).Number-three hitter Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) drove in five runs, going 3-for-4, while No. 2 hitter Logan Forsythe walked three times and added two hits. Leadoff hitter Jordan Danks (Texas) added a hit and two walks, as the trio were a combined 6-for-10 with five walks, five runs and three steals.

Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State), Roger Kieschnick (Texas Tech) and Brett Wallace (Arizona State) added two hit days as well, part of the 14-hit attack.

Lance Lynn (1-0, Ole Miss) fought through seven innings, after giving up two runs in the first. Lynn gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits, walking two and striking out one for the win. Lynn had entered the Pan American Games as the team’s strikeout leader.

The Americans scored three runs in the first to chase Nicaraguan starter and loser Luz Portobanco from the game. An RBI single by Alvarez, followed by a double steal gave the Americans a 2-0 lead. A sacrifice fly by Brett Wallace then made it 3-0.

After the Nicaraguans scored two in the bottom of the first, Alvarez came right back with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2. A two-run double by Alvarez in the fourth then made it 6-2. Alvarez’s final RBI came in the eighth, thanks to a two-out RBI single.

TEAM NOTES
A chance of rain threatened the game as a heavy fog blanketed the tops of the mountains… rain began sprinkling in the third inning and was off and on the rest of the game… Pedro Alvarez drove in a summer-best five and has seven RBIs over the last three games… the seventh inning stretch was actually provided by Dodgers Stadium’s organist via computer… the Dominican Republic beat Brazil 14-2 in eight innings in the first game, as both the Dominicans and the Brazilians enter the final day of pool play with a record of 1-1… DR will play Nicaragua at 10 a.m. on the other field…. Panama finished their pool play on the B side 3-0 with a 9-0 win over Mexico.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The Americans continue pool play with host Brazil on Tuesday at 10 a.m. on field one. The games were pushed back a day for the Americans, due to lighting safety concerns for night games during the Pan American Games… Two more medal-round games follow on July 18 and 19.

Box Score

Vanderbilt left-handed pitcher and MLB #1 overall draft pick David Price was named the winner of the 2007 Roger Clemens Award, beating out UVA’s Jacob Thompson and Charlotte’s Adam Mills.

Press release: http://www.rogerclemensaward.com/07winner.html

Team USA picked up a 5-1 victory over the Dominican Republic to open up pool play. Tyson Ross (Cal) started on the mound and kept the Dominican offense off balance with solid off-speed stuff and a good fastball. He lasted 6.2 innings while giving up four hits and one run while striking out seven batters. Logan Forsythe (Arkansas) went 3-4 with an RBI while Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) went 2-5 with an RBI to lead Team USA offense. The Dominican team consisted of former major league players in Jose Offerman, Raul Mondesi, Delvi Cruz, Enrique Wilson, and Luis Polonia.

Team USA will be back in action on Monday when they play Nicaragua and will play Brazil on Tuesday in the final game of group play.

Team USA Recap
Ryan Flaherty Diary Entry

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

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

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

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

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

-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.

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

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

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