The Arizona State Sun Devil start off the season as #1 in the latest publication to release a Top 25… err… 30 list.

The release can be found here.

Tags: 2008 Preseason Poll, Arizona State, Pac 10, Ping Baseball

Vanderbilt Coach Tim Corbin took questions from fans via VUCommodores.com this past week. Here’s the results. See if you can guess which three came from me. I’m sure Brian can nail at least one of ‘em.

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Tags: SEC, Vanderbilt

By: Bob Broughton, tbirdbaseball.net
It’s difficult to handicap NAIA baseball before games have actually been played on the field, because the top NAIA teams rely heavily on JUCO transfers. My first prediction, however, is that this ranking will be more accurate than the one released by the NAIA in November. Here goes: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Azusa Pacific, Bellvue, Cal Baptist, CBB Column, Cumberland, Embry-Riddle, Lee, Lewis-Clark State, Lubbock Christian, NAIA, Oklahoma City, Pre-Season Rankings, Spring Arbor

FROM PRESS RELEASE
Keeping with Sun Devil baseball tradition, the 2008 Arizona State baseball schedule will once again be among the toughest in the nation. Announced today by 14th-year head coach Pat Murphy, the 2008 schedule features 26 games against teams that were ranked, 13 games against teams advancing to a Super Regional and seven games against teams advancing to the College World Series in 2007. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Schedules, Arizona State, Pac 10

We continue to get information on Signing classes almost daily. We have linked below a bunch of the ones that have come out in the last week.

Sam Houston State
George Mason
Clemson
Maryland
Northwestern
LaSalle
Gonzaga
Duquesne
Lipscomb
New Mexico

Tags: ACC, Atlantic 10, Atlantic Sun, Big Ten, CAA, Clemson, Duquesne, George Mason, Gonzaga, LaSalle, Lipscomb, Maryland, Mountain West, New Mexico, Northwestern, San Houston State, Southland Conference, West Coast Conference

The CBB will be providing conference previews throughout the preseason. We start this week with the Ivy League. I know you would rather see us preview the ACC or SEC but I have a guilty pleasure for the Ivy League. It is very competitive baseball that is a must-see for a baseball junkie like myself. The Brown Bears won the Ivy League title with a two game sweep over the Penn Quakers. Brown ended up winning the Red Rolfe Division over Harvard by two games while Penn ended up winning the Lou Gehrig Division by only a single game over Princeton. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Conference Preview, Brown, CBB Column, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Ivy League, Penn, Princeton, Yale

We continue to get schedules in from around the country almost daily as many schools are finalizing the 2008 slate. We have linked below the schools that have put out their 2008 schedule recently.

Samford
UMass
George Washington
Marist
Texas Pan-American

Photo is the courtesy of Samford University

Tags: Atlantic 10, George Washington, MAAC, Marist, Ohio Valley Conference, Samford, Sun Belt, UMass, UT-Pan American

So why is it that the fellow posters on the CBB have had full inboxes since the NCBWA All America team was released? It all comes down to snubs… one in particular, but four have gotten me jazzed up.

It’s no secret to my fellow publishers at the CBB that this Commodore has a favorite player who goes by the name of Flash. Ryan Flaherty is the consummate John Olerud clone at the plate, lacing singles and doubles all over the field. He is the undisputed top bat at Short Stop (according to CBB partner StatStud.com) when looking at statistical measures and is riding an SEC record 35 game hitting streak into 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: All-American, CBB Column, Pre-season All-Americans, SEC, Top Players, Vanderbilt

We continue our recent series of interviews this week with Lelo Prado of South Florida. He is entering his second season with the Bulls after a very successful run at Louisville.

1) The South Florida Bulls had a 34-26 overall record and went 13-14 in the Big East. Matt Quevedo (4-3, 4.06 ERA) is the only returning starting pitcher as you lost Danny Otero (9-7, 3.32 ERA) and Chris Delaney (9-4, 4.00 ERA) but return closer Shawn Sanford to the squad. Who do you expect to fill Otero’s and Delaney’s spots in the rotation? If Sanford moves to the rotation who is going to fill the closer’s role? Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big East, CBB Column, CBB Interview, Interviews with Coaches, South Florida

FROM PRESS RELEASE
LINCOLN, Neb. – In a year when pitching has a solid chance of being dominant, the eighth annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association preseason 2008 All-America team reflects the plethora of mound aces returning for the upcoming campaign. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, NCBWA, Pre-season All-Americans

When the initial list came out I made a comment on the article that I was surprise to see that Preston Clark was not on the initial list. Well as of Today Preston Clark has made the list. Preston Clark will be a very key member of the defense. The infield will have to replace two seniors and 3rd baseman Bradley Suttle who was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 4th round. With Preston behind the plate for his 3rd season his leadership will be called upon to make sure that the infield is set and in the right position. Preston belongs on the list as well as Jordan Danks and Kyle Russell. To read the full Article click here.

Tags: Big 12, Brooks Wallace Award, National Player of the Year, Texas

The CBB has been previewing some of the top players in the country for the 2008 season throughout this off-season. This week we check in on the top freshmen in the country.

Derek Dietrich SS/P (Georgia Tech)

Derek Dietrich is a 6′1 199 pound shortstop/pitcher out of Parma OH. He was a third round pick by the Houston Astros in 2007 but elected to enroll at Georgia Tech after failing to come to terms on a contract. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ACC, Arizona State, Big 12, Big East, GT, Kent State, LSU, MAC, Miami (OH), Mountain West, Notre Dame, Pac 10, SEC, Texas, UNC, UNLV

The RBI Foundation of Houston is holding their annual banquet on Janarary 19th at the Westin Galleria Hotel in Houston TX. The event will recognize many players and coaches between high schools and colleges. Two college baseball players in Matt Langwell of Rice and Kyle Russell will pick up The Charlie Maiorana Awards. The full list of honorees is available by clicking here. If you are interested in purchasing a table please contact Butch Ghutzman at (281) 222-9999.

The Recycled Baseball Items Foundation (RBI) is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization committed to keeping the Greater Houston Area’s underprivileged youth off the streets, away from gangs, crime, and drugs, while offering them a positive and viable alternative in the form of participation in baseball/softball. RBI accomplishes this by providing baseball equipment, instructional clinics and college scholarships.

Tags: Big 12, Conference USA, Rice, Texas, Youth Baseball

Patrick Ebert of PG Crosschecker checks in with his early signing period standout classes. You can read his full review here. In alphabetical order (with three of each class’ top names), Ebert notes:

• Arkansas, led by Austin Wright, Bobby Bundy and Tyler Sample.
• Florida, with Ryan Weber, Nick Maronde and Jerico Weitzel.
• Georgia, featuring Brett DeVall, Michael Palazzone and Xavier Avery.
• Kentucky, boasting Alex Meyer, Andy Burns and Daniel Webb.
• San Diego State, lining up Isaac Galloway, Ryan O’Sullivan and Matt Lollis.
• UCLA, landing Gerrit Cole, Clark Murphy and Chris Amezquia.
• Vanderbilt, snaring Sonny Gray, Jack Armstrong and Jason Esposito.

Tags: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, San Diego State, SEC, UCLA, Vanderbilt

As a follow-up to his Top 5 Storylines of 2008, Rivals.com baseball editor Kendall Rogers has revealed five predictions for 2008. The full article can be read here.

First, Kendall picks UCLA to be the team to step up their game the most. Conversely, he sees Clemson falling flat in the new year.

Kendall’s “Most Important” players? Pitcher Jacob Thompson of UVA tows the rubber, while Vanderbilt Third baseman Pedro Alvarez is the king of the batter’s box.

And Kendall’s early take on national title contenders? It all starts with Arizona State, but Kendall says that Miami, UCLA, Rice, San Diego, Texas and Vanderbilt should be in the mix for some hardware.

In separate blogging news, congratulations go out from this Commodore fan to Vandy’s All-American RHP commitment Sonny Gray, who, as QB, led Smyrna High School (Smyrna, TN) to its second straight state football title. Gray’s legend continues to grow in Tennessee and we’ll have to wait until August 15 to see if BA’s #6 rated HS prospect will take his 96MPH fastball and back breaking curve to the Hawk.

Tags: Arizona State, Clemson, Rice, SEC, Texas, UCLA, University of San Diego, Vanderbilt, Virginia, West Coast Conference