UTSA head baseball coach Sherman Corbett announced Friday the Roadrunners’ 2008 schedule. Highlighted by six opponents that qualified for the 2007 NCAA Tournament (Baylor, Louisiana-Lafayette, Oral Roberts, Sam Houston State, Texas and Texas A&M), the season-opening UTSA Baseball Classic and a full slate of Southland Conference action, the defending SLC Regular Season Champions will play a total of 56 contests next spring.

“Coach (Mike) Clement did an outstanding job of putting together the 2008 schedule with a good balance of teams,” Corbett said. “The non-conference schedule will be a good indicator on where we are as a team heading into conference play. The best thing about the schedule is the number of home contests. With the new NCAA rules not allowing us to start practice until Feb. 1 and play until Feb. 22, we were unsure how this would affect scheduling. The large number of home games should play to our advantage and, obviously, the home games with Texas and Texas A&M highlight this year’s non-conference schedule.”

UTSA’s 34-game home slate includes 12 contests at Wolff Stadium, the home of the San Diego Padres Double A affiliate San Antonio Missions. The Roadrunners’ first 10 games will be played at Wolff, which has been a fixture on the schedule for more than a decade, and 18 of the team’s first 21 contests will be played in the Alamo City.

UTSA opens the campaign with back-to-back games against 2007 NCAA Regional teams that won at least 40 games a year ago. The Roadrunners host Oral Roberts on Friday, Feb. 22, in the third game of the UTSA Baseball Classic and then play Louisiana-Lafayette the following afternoon before hosting Army in the final round-robin contest later in the day. The championship and consolation games are scheduled for Feb. 24.

After welcoming Sacred Heart for a four-game series (Feb. 29-March 2) and Kansas State for a two-game set (March 4-5), UTSA hits the road for the first time when it heads to South Carolina for a three-game series against The College of Charleston (March 7-9). The Roadrunners return home for their first contests of the year at Roadrunner Field when they host Northern Illinois in a doubleheader on March 11.

UTSA kicks off the 30-game Southland Conference slate with a three-game home series against McNeese State beginning on March 14. The Roadrunners also welcome Texas-Arlington (March 28-30), Stephen F. Austin (April 18-20), Sam Houston State (April 25-27), Nicholls State (May 9-11) and I-35 rival Texas State (May 15) to the Bird Bath for conference contests.

Following a March 17 tilt against Texas at Wolff and a doubleheader against Texas-Pan American the following afternoon at Roadrunner Field, UTSA plays its first league road series at Central Arkansas during Easter weekend (March 20-22). Other league road trips include Southeastern Louisiana (April 4-6), Northwestern State (April 11-13), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (May 2-4 in Robstown) and Texas State (May 16-17).

The Roadrunners play their final game of the year at Wolff when Texas A&M comes to town for a March 25 contest. UTSA then hosts Texas State in a non-conference tilt at Roadrunner Field the following night.

The Roadrunners begin a season-long nine-game road trip on April 2 when they make their annual trip to Waco to face Baylor. After a pair of SLC weekend series at Southeastern Louisiana and Northwestern State, UTSA concludes the road swing with a two-game non-conference set at Lamar (April 15-16).

Other non-league tilts include an April 23 game at Texas and a home-and-home series with Houston (April 30 at Houston/May 13 at Roadrunner Field).

The SLC Tournament is scheduled for May 21-24 on the campus of Sam Houston State in Huntsville. The conference’s top two divisional finishers and the next four teams with the best winning percentage in SLC regular-season play will qualify for the four-day tournament to decide who earns the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Full Schedule

Andy Marks who was the number 1 pitcher for the Kansas Jayhawks in 2007 is facing a long road after surgery in September for a torn labrum. He had to keep his arm in a sling right after surgery for four weeks before starting up rehabilitation for his arm. He is currently in physical therapy and expected to begin throwing in January. A full article about Marks was written by Shawn Shroyer of The University Daily Kansan which can be read here.

The Maryland Terrapins and head coach Terry Rupp have released the 2008 schedule. The Terps will open the season on February 22nd when they head down to Coastal Carolina for the IMIChotels.com INN-vitational where they will take on the hosts twice and the Pittsburgh Panthers for a single game. Hofstra will open up the Terps home schedule with a four game series from February 29-March 2nd. The Terps will host ACC conference opponents North Carolina on March 21st-March 23rd in their first home series. The Terps will also host conference opponents Clemson, UVA, Georgia Tech, and NC State. They will head to FSU, BC, Wake Forest, Duke and Virginia Tech. This schedule is excellent for the fans of the Terps as they have many exciting series at Shipley Field. The full schedule is available here.

We have three schedules to post on this cold Thursday afternoon. We found Fordham’s 2008 schedule where they are coming off a 36-21 regular season with a 19-8 record in the Atlantic 10. They lost in the A-10 Championship game to Charlotte which ended the season. Fordham will open the season at Wichita State and host Charlotte in a key A-10 series. The full schedule is available at the link below.

Fordham

The Marshall Thundering Herd will open the 2008 season at Western Carolina for a three game set from February 22nd-24th. The next weekend they will head down to Conway, SC to take part in the Bash at the Beach but before the first game in the tournament Marshall will play Western Carolina for the fourth straight time. The Bash at the Beach will have Marshall facing off against Coastal Carolina, West Virginia, and George Mason. The highlight on the Marshall home schedule is a visit from Rice on March 21st-23rd. The full schedule is available by clicking the link below.

Marshall

The Furman Paladins will head down to Knoxville on February 25th for a single game to open the season. They will play at Charleston Southern on February 27th. The first home series for the Paladins is March 1st and 2nd when NJIT comes to town to play two doubleheaders. The two marquee home games are on April 22nd when South Carolina visits and Tennessee on May 13th. Both of these games will take place at the Greenville Drive’s stadium. The full schedule is available at the link below.

Furman

We have been posting articles for over two weeks now on teams releasing their 2009 signees. We continue the tradition today with some more press releases. Click on the respective team for the full press release.

South Carolina
Iowa
St. Mary’s (CA)

The North Carolina Tar Heels have continued their strong recruiting by signing 10 student athletes for the 2009 season. Eight of the players are ranked in the top 112 in the nation by Perfect Game including the number 2 ranked player in Tim Melville out of Wentzville, Missouri. He is rated by Baseball America as the top high school player in the country. This is the second straight year that the Tar Heels have picked up the top player in the country after getting Matt Harvey out of Connecticut for this upcoming season. A full release is available by clicking here.

NORTH CAROLINA BASEBALL FALL 2007 SIGNEES
Name Hometown High School Pos. Ht./Wt.
Seth Baldwin Forest City, N.C. East Rutherford OF 5-11/205
Derrik Gibson Seaford, Del. Seaford SS/OF 6-1/170
Matt Harrison Henderson, Nev. Green Valley SS 6-0/175
L.J. Hoes Washington, D.C. St. John OF 6-1/190
Jason Knapp Annadale, N.J. North Hunterdon RHP 6-5/235
Garriston Lassiter Clemmons, N.C. West Forsyth SS 6-2/187
Tim Melville Wentzville, Mo. Holt RHP/3B 6-5/205
Jimmy Messer Hudson, N.C. South Caldwell RHP 6-0/185
Quinton Miller Medford, N.J. Shawnee RHP 6-2/178
Jacob Stallings Nashville, Tenn. Brentwood C 6-4/175

The College Baseball Blog recently had a chance to speak with Scott Stricklin. He is entering his fourth season at the helm of the Golden Flashes program. He led the team to the NCAA Tournament in 2007 and a conference championship game appearance in 2006.

1. In 2007, Kent State had a solid record of 33-26 with an outstanding record of 19-8 in the MAC. This season you return seven out of your nine starters from your MAC championship and NCAA participant squad. Who do you think has improved the most during fall practice from 2007?

We had several guys make jumps this fall for us. Doug Sanders, our second baseman, came back in great shape and worked very hard to become more athletic. Conor Egan saw limited time in the outfield last season but has really improved and will be pushing guys for more at bats. Jason Patton was the MVP of the MAC tournament last spring and he has added some strength and is ready to have a great junior year. On the mound, Kyle Smith and Jon Pokorny really impressed us this fall. Both guys gained strength over the summer and they now have one college season under their belt. Steven Ross has come back from injury and looks like he is going to be ready to make a push for a lot of innings.

2. Chris Carpenter entered the 2007 season as your top starter in terms of talent. He had an up and down season where he went 4-1 with a 4.50 ERA. I heard that he had some issues in the Cape Cod League on his surgically repaired right arm. Is he going to be ready to hold down your Number 1 starter role when play kicks off on February 22nd against UNC-Greensboro?

When you look only at Chris’ numbers from last year, they do appear average. However, when he pitched his way back into our rotation, we started winning. We won 16 of our last 17 games going into the regionals and Chris was a big reason why. He is our best prospect in terms of a professional player but he is also our hardest worker. Our kids really look up to him and he makes everyone around him better. He established himself as our number one starter this fall and is much more comfortable on the mound. When he was pitching last season, he was coming off almost a two year break due to Tommy John surgery. He has found the command for his fastball and his breaking ball has really sharpened up. We are all looking forward to watching him finally be able to pitch at 100% every Friday this spring.

3. You lost your top catcher in Will Vazquez who started 56 games last season. You have four catchers on your roster including Cory Hindel who is transferring from Wake Forest. Has any of the four put a hold onto the position heading into Spring practice?

Losing a leader like Will Vazquez is always difficult but I’m very optimistic about our catching situation. Cory Hindel came in and had a great fall for us and established himself as our starting catcher. However, Tyler Martin also had a good fall and has worked extremely hard. Those two will be pushing each other for the majority of innings behind the plate.

4. How will the new rules with the way the scholarships can be split on the team affect your program? Do you think it is a good change for college baseball?

I don’t think too many coaches are excited about having a minimum scholarship put into effect. We are already short-handed with 11.7 scholarships and now we are being told how to spend that money. The roster limit of 35 will not affect us because we are operating with a 32 man roster right now but I know that it will impact a lot of other schools and players on those rosters. The other dynamic that will be difficult to handle on a yearly basis is the rule that stipulates that only 27 players on the roster can receive athletic scholarships. The uncertainty of the pro draft will make this a tough issue for sure.

5. Has any of your incoming freshman impressed you during Fall Workouts? Do you see any of them breaking into the starting lineup this season?

We were very happy with our freshman this fall and feel like several of them will make an impact for us. Ben Klafczynski had a very solid fall with the bat and made some strides defensively in the outfield. Brett Weibley came into the fall injured but was able to practice at the end of the fall. He showed a lot of athletic ability at 3rd base and is going to hit for a lot of power. We feel that both Ben and Brett have a chance to be a great players here. The two freshman pitchers that performed well were Justin Gill and Kyle Hallock. Both showed that they can locate their fastballs and have command of their secondary stuff. Cory Martin, another one of our left handed freshman, has really made some improvements this off season and we feel that he is going to get some quality innings.

6. What is your biggest challenge on and off the field in dealing with young men from 18-23?

There are always challenges when you are dealing with 32 different individuals on a daily basis. It’s certainly never boring around here! I think as a coach you can limit those challenges if you recruit the right type of kids. Talented players are great, but if they are going to give you constant headaches off the field, it’s just not worth it. Our kids are required to go to class and we check to make sure they do. They are all required to do at least five hours of community service to make sure they are giving something back. If my kids are busy doing the right things, they don’t have much time to do the wrong things.

The College Baseball Blog would like to thank Scott for checking in with us for the second straight year. If any more coaches are interested in doing a similar interview feel free to email us by clicking here.

The College Baseball Blog is continuing their series of previews on the Top Players in the Country with our second edition of the Top Position Players for 2008.

Zach Putnam, Michigan

When Putnam signed with the Wolverines in November of 2005, he was immediately tabbed as an impact player. Rated the #3 High School player by Baseball American as a Senior, he presented an intriguing two-way prospect. In the two years since, he has emerged as just that. As a Freshman, he earned Freshman All-America honors on the hill, going 6-2 with a 2.51 ERA and a save. He struggled at the plate, but emerged as a hitting threat in the Outfield and at DH as a Sophomore. He hit .330 with 8 Homeruns and 59 RBI to complement an 8-5 record with a 3.87 ERA. He starred in the Corvallis Super-Regional, carrying a no-hitter into the ninth inning against eventual NCAA champion Oregon State. Putnam features excellent mechanics on the hill, with a fastball that sits in the low 90s, a slurvy slider and a changeup with excellent tail. At the plate, Putnam shows good contact (1:10 K:AB ratio) and solid power potential. Putnam projects to be the Big10’s top player and figures to join Nate Recknagel and Derek VanBuskirk in leading Coach Maloney’s Wolverines to a pre-season top 25 ranking.

Dustin Ackley (UNC)

Dustin Ackley is a 6′1 184 pound sophomore outfielder/first basemen. He had one of the best seasons in the history of college baseball for a freshman. He finished the season with a .402 average while starting all 73 games in 2007. Ackley picked up consensus national freshman of the year award from Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, and Rivals.com. Dustin should be able to lead the Tar Heels back to Omaha as they try to make their third straight appearance in the CWS Championship series.

Allan Dykstra (Wake Forest)

Allan Dykstra is entering his junior season after having two stellar seasons with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Dykstra stands at 6-5 225 pounds and hits from the left side. Dykstra has had impressive power numbers in his first two seasons hitting 15 homers as a freshman and 18 as a sophomore. He has also spend his first two summers in the Cape Cod League where he starred for the Chatham A’s. In the CCBL, He hit .308 with five homers and 31 RBI in forty games. The CBB took in a game in 2007 when Dykstra went 2-8 in a 17 inning loss to Boston College. Dykstra came up in many key situations but could not deliver any key hits to take control of the game. A full report on this game is available here. Wake Forest should be able to make a run into the top four of the ACC behind Dykstra’s bat in the middle of the order.

Dennis Raben (Miami FL)

Dennis Raben enters his junior season looking to bring the Miami Hurricanes back to the promise land after a disappointing 2007. Raben is a 6-3 220 pound outfielder who also chips in occasionally as a pitcher. Raben had a solid 2007 season as he hit .280 with 12 homers. He picked up many awards this summer including being named the third best prospect in the Cape Cod League by Perfect Game Crosschecker. He hit .298 with six homers against the top pitching in the country. Some scouts expect Raben to move to first base after college because of his side. He can’t play first base at Miami because Yonder Alonso is already taking that spot and is one of the best players in the nation.

Ryan Lavarnway (Yale)

Ryan is a 6′3 210 pound catcher from Yale who might be the best player in the Northeast. He led the nation in batting average (.467) and slugging percentage (.873) during the 2007 season. He broke the Ivy League hitting streak record with a 25 game streak which carried over from the final 2 games of the 2006 seasons which was carried over in the first 23 games of the season. The CBB saw Lavarnway in a doubleheader at Harvard where he showed a strong bat but needs some work behind the plate as he was having problems making throws down to second base including some going into the outfield. Full Report on the doubleheader is available here. This is a player to watch in 2008 that might not be on everyone’s radar. The CBB will see the Yale Bulldogs this spring against Harvard, Brown, or Penn.

Thanks to NYDore for helping out with some of the previews.

Southern Illinois
UC-Irvine
Samford
UC-Santa Barbara
Villanova
Marshall

The Houston Baptist University has released the 2008 schedule. This is the first season that the Huskies will participate in Division 1 as they are moving up from NAIA where they finished third in the NAIA World Series in 2007 with a 43-21 record. The team opens the season on February 1st when Concordia-Texas comes in for the start of a three game set. They will play the first game against a Division 1 program on February 26th when they play a doubleheader against Stephen F. Austin. They will end the season taking part in the NCAA Division 1 Independent Tournament in Edinburg. The full schedule is available by clicking here.

I wonder why the Huskies are being allowed to start the season on February 1st when the uniform start date is February 22nd. Anyone have any answers? If you do then leave them in the comments section.

Thanks to Bob Broughton of Tbirdbaseball.net for the heads up on the schedule.  He is the best source for NAIA baseball news on the Internet.

Since we have been busy lately, We missed a ton of releases on the Recruits for the 2008-2009 season. The releases are listed below.

Cal
Pacific
Rice
Southern Miss
Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne
Northern Illinois
Memphis
Louisville
Oklahoma
Southern Cal
Cal-State Fullerton
UNLV
Pittsburgh
Utah
Central Florida
Fresno State
Mercyhurst
Wright State
Washington
Northern Iowa
Tulane

The College Baseball Blog took some time off for the Holiday so we are catching up on some the schedules that we missed that were released over the last week. Some of the big time programs that have released a schedule are Kansas led by Ritch Price expects to compete for the 2008 Big 12 title and Notre Dame who looks to return to prominence under second year head coach Dave Schrage. The links to schedules are available below.

Kansas
Notre Dame
Western Carolina
St. John’s
Cincinnati
Memphis

Doug Kroll continues his preview of the top players for the 2008 season. This week he checks in on the top first basemen with Brett Wallace (Arizona State) taking the top spot. Wallace had a tremendous 2007 season where he was named the PAC-10 player of the year and led the Sun Devils to the College World Series. Dustin Ackley (UNC) is put into the second position but is the only sophomore listed on Kroll’s top five. Justin Smoak (South Carolina) comes in at the third spot which is a surprise as he will be a top five pick in the 2008 draft. Yonder Alonso (Miami FL) and David Copper (Cal) round out the top five. The CBB thinks Allan Dykstra (Wake Forest) should be considered a top five player but who should get off the list though? The full article is available here.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. –Vanderbilt baseball announced the addition of 14 players for the 2008-2009 school year today.

The Commodores class includes six pitchers and eight position players with 12 high schoolers and two junior college transfers.

“We are excited about this class and its future potential,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. “The class was compiled to help offset the loss of our upperclassmen to graduation and the draft. The incoming group are very talented players and we look forward to seeing them on campus next fall.”

The 14 member class is made up of student-athletes from nine different states, including three ranked as the top player in their state. Below is the list of signees with brief information on each. Rankings were taken from Perfect Game Crosschecker and Baseball America.

Players and Their Bios:

Jack Armstrong • RHP/1B • Jupiter, Fla. (Jupiter High)
Armstrong is the # 1 ranked righthander pitcher in Florida and one of the top two way players in the nation. At 6′7”, he is extrememly athletic and also a Division I caliber basketball player. He is rated the No. 28 player nationally by Perfect Game. His father, Jack Armstrong, pitched at the University of Oklahoma and in the major leagues from 1988-1994 with Cincinnati, Cleveland, Florida and Texas.

Will Clinard • RHP • Cross Plains, Tenn. (East Robertson High)
Clinard is a 6′4” righthanded pitcher that consistently throws 88-92 mph. He is the fourth ranked high school prospect in Tennessee and the 218 ranked prospect nationally by Perfect Game.

Jason Esposito • INF • Bethany, Conn. (Amity High)
Jason is the #1 ranked overall player in Connecticut and one of the top infield prospects in the nation. His best tools are his defense, arm strength, and hitting ability. He is the ranked as No. 63 in Baseball America’s Top 100 High School Prospects.

Grayson Garvin • LHP • Suwanee, Ga. (The Wesleyan School)
Garvin is the #1 ranked lefthanded pitcher in Georgia and one of the top pitching prospects in the country.  He has outstanding command, a 86-90mph fastball and a very good changeup. He is the No. 55 ranked high school prospect in the country by Baseball America.

Sonny Gray    • RHP    • Smyrna, Tenn (Smyrna High School)
Gray is the No. 6 ranked high school prospect nationally by Baseball America. He is a 5′10” and has a power arm that tops out around 96 mph and a dominant 84-86mph slider. He is considered by many experts as the most talented Tennessee High School prospect since David Price.

Andrew Harris • INF • Nashville, Tenn. (Montgomery Bell Academy)
Harris, the brother of current Commodore infielder Brian Harris and son of former Commodore Robert Harris, is a very athletic infielder and a physical left handed hitter.  He is extremely motivated, driven and his competitiveness will stand out immediately.

Joe Loftus • INF • Savage, Minn. (Academy of Holy Angels)
Loftus is the #1 ranked position player in Minnesota and one of the premier power hitters in the nation. In three years of high school, he has already broken Joe Mauer’s (current Minnesota Twins starting catcher) Minnesota High School home run record. Perfect Game lists him as the No. 147 player nationally.

Matt Marquis • OF • Annandale, N.J. (Immaculata High School)
Marquis is the #1 ranked position player in New Jersey and one of the top hitters in the country. His best tools are his extrememly advanced hitting ability and natural power. He is listed as No. 67 in Perfect Game’s Top High School prospects list.

Adam Milligan • OF • Savannah, Tenn. (Walters State CC)   
Milligan is a returning First Team Junior College All-American at Walters State. He has been drafted twice already by the Atlanta Braves (28th round in 2006, 27th in 2007) and is a physical specimen at 6′3” 235lbs. Last season he hit .395 with 13 homers, 18 doubles and 58 RBIs as a freshman.

Navery Moore • RHP • Franklin, Tenn. (Battle Ground Academy)
Moore was considered by many as the nation’s No. 1 high school prospect before undergoing arm surgery last spring. He is expected to return to action in the spring for BGA. He is listed as the No. 3 prospect in Tennessee and the No. 155 prospect nationally by Perfect Game.

Dylan Pratt • UTIL • Gray, Tenn. (Walters State CC)
Pratt, a freshman this season, is another 6′2” 220lb physical specimen from Walters State along with fellow signee Adam Milligan.  He is versatile and can catch and play in the outfield. Pratt was a first-team All-State selection a year ago after hitting .480 with eight homers and 41 RBI at Daniel Boone High.

Riley Reynolds • INF • Lee Summitt, Mo. (Blue Springs South High)
Reynolds is an extrememly athletic middle infielder from the Kansas City area. He has natural raw hitting ability with smooth defensive actions and will progress quickly as he adds more strength. He is listed as the No. 3 prospect in Missouri and the No. 157 prospect nationally by both Baseball America and Perfect Game.

Ryan Westmoreland • OF • Portsmouth, R.I. (Portsmouth High School)
Westmoreland is the two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in Rhode Island and the top position player prospect in New England. His best tools are speed, hitting ability, and arm strength. Baseball America has him at No. 113 nationally among high school players.

Corey Williams • LHP •  Huntsville, Ala. (Madison Academy)
Corey is a very polished lefthanded pitcher who has great command of three pitches. He is the No. 4 high school prospect in the state and is ranked No. 327 nationally. He went 9-2 as a junior for Madison Academy with a 1.89 ERA. He struck out 68 with 19 walks in 63 innings.

Keith Landers, a 6′7 lefty out of St. Peter’s Marian High School in Worcester MA has signed his letter of intent to play with the Louisville Cardinals in the 2009 season. Landers was a standout pitcher for the Worcester LLWS team in 2002 where they advanced to the US Championship game. Landers had a subpar record of 1-4 with a 1.97 ERA in his junior season and as a sophomore went 5-1 with a 0.92 ERA. He received a full athletic scholarship to play for the Cardinals spurning offers from Boston College and St. John’s. Landers is expected to compete for a spot in the starting rotation in 2009 as the Cardinals are trying to rebuild a pitching staff which brought them to the CWS in 2007. A full article from the Worcester Telegram and Gazette is available here.