FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Georgia 11 NC State 4

ATHENS, Ga. — Trevor Holder pitched a career-high 8.2 innings as seventh-ranked Georgia defeated 15th-ranked NC State, 11-2, in game one of the NCAA Athens Super Regional Friday before a crowd of 3,517 at Foley Field.

The Bulldogs (40-22-1) picked up their 40th win of the year while N.C. State dropped to 4-121. Georgia and NC State will meet in the second game of the best two-out-of-three series Saturday at noon ET (ESPN2).

NC State (41-21) grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the third, but Georgia answered with four runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning and a five-run outburst in the sixth put the game away as the Bulldogs cruised to their fifth straight win behind Holder.

Post Game Press Conference Video

Georgia Recap

Tags: 2008 Athens Super Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, ACC, Georgia, NC State, SEC

Fullerton Super Regional Preview

Stanford Regional Coverage

Fullerton Regional Coverage

Both Stanford and Fullerton hosted regionals, but had to work their way out of the loser’s bracket to advance to the Super Regional stage. Cal State Fullerton was swept by Stanford the second weekend of the season. Here’s a recap of how each team fared in their regional, and what to look for this weekend. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Super Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, Pac 10, Stanford

Fans of all kinds come out for the Buster Posey show. (NoleSports)

Freshman All-American Chris Hernandez will take the hill for Miami on Friday (Miami Herald)

What Georgia has to do to reach Omaha. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

It looks like the Athens Super Regional might be sold out. (Effingham Herald)

Texas A&M and Rice is a rematch of last year’s Super Regional (Houston Chronicle)

Preseason #1 rankings really don’t mean much. (The Daily Bruin)

Brett Wallace to the Oakland A’s? (The Sun Devil Sweet Spot)

Could Miami lose focus because of the draft? (The Sporting News)

A breakdown of the Fresno State Bulldogs (Blogging with the Devils)

Tags: Buster Posey, Fresno State, Georgia, Rice, Super Regional

Fullerton 5 UCLA 4

Fullerton decided to go with it’s Friday starter, Brian Wilson. UCLA decided to save ace Tim Murphy to possibly come in late in the game. The decision paid off for Fullerton, and UCLA will have to wait til next season to try and make it to Omaha.

Freshman pitcher Rob Rasmussen was coasting with the help of his defense, including Tim Murphy throwing out the speedy Christian Colon at third after a Brent Dean overthrow on a stolen base attempt. The good times didn’t last though as the Titans were able to put together a two out rally with a couple of 1^st and 3^rd singles by Christian Colon and Erik Komatsu. After a mound visit Rasmussen was able to get out of the inning on a Jared Clark popup to right. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Visit, Pac 10, UCLA

Fullerton 11  UCLA 8

Gavin Brooks started off the season as UCLA’s #1 starter, and the Bruins thought he could rekindle some of last year’s magic.  They we’re wrong, and after using up more of their bullpen than they wanted in this loss to Fullerton, the Bruins are forced into an elimination game in Fullerton, where their 2007 season ended in the Super Regionals.

The Titans offense was stifled for most of their 4-1 victory over Virginia earlier in the day by reliever Matt Packer, but they started a two out rally in the first after Erik Komatsu reached first on a hit by pitch. Komatsu was able to advance to third after Bruin lefty Gavin Brooks missed his first baseman on a pickoff throw. After a four pitch walk to Jared Clark, DH Brian Wilson singled to right, scoring Komatsu and advancing Clark into scoring position. The Titans loaded the bases on a walk to Gary Brown and looked to capitalize, but Joel Weeks lined a 2-2 pitch right to Brandon Crawford to end the inning on a drive that sounded like it broke Weeks’ bat. Brooks threw 32 pitches in the first inning, limiting his longevity. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, Pac 10, UCLA

Fullerton 4 Virginia 1

Cal State Fullerton was looking to rebound in this game after a weak performance against UCLA. Their offense caught fire early against Virginia start Pat McAnaney, and that was all they needed as Titan starter Corey Arbiso only gave up one run, throwing a complete game.

The action got started in the second inning when Pat McAnaney showed some uncharacteristic control issues, handing out free passes to the 6-7-8-9 hitters, beaning Dustin Garneau and Joe Scott. After Gary Brown scored on the bean ball and Josh Fellhauer went down on strikes, Christian Colon came through provided the offense yet again with an RBI single to left. McAnaney got Erik Komatsu to flyout to right, ending the threat with the bases loaded. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Regional, ACC, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Visit, UVA

UCLA 11 Fullerton 4

Interview w/Cal State Fullerton President Dr. Milton A. Gordon

Whether or not Jeff Kaplan’s eye was still bothering him, something was definitely off for him tonight at Goodwin Field. Kaplan faced a total of 19 batters over 3 innings, giving up 6 earned while striking out 4.

After Bruin starter Charles Brewer sent the Titan leadoff batters down in order to start the game, the UCLA offense got started when All Pac-10 2B Alden Carrithers was beaned by Titan starter Jeff Kaplan. Kaplan thought he had finished off the inning when with two strikes on Bruin cleanup hitter Casey Hearther, he started back to the dugout on what he and most of the Cal State Fullerton faithful thought was strike 3. Two pitches later, Hearther hit a hanging breaking ball out of the park to right field, giving UCLA the early 2-0 lead. Kaplan then struck out SS Brandon Crawford to end the inning, with Titan fans still yelling at home plate umpire Darrell Arnold over the potential strike three call.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Visit, Pac 10, UCLA

UVA 8 Rider 2

Andrew Carraway dominated this game from the beginning allowing only two runs on five hits over over seven innings while striking out 10.

Coach Brian O’Connor was very happy with Andrew Carraway’s performance tonight: “Carraway I felt was in command of the game from the start, unfortunately he ran out of gas a little at the end, but he did exactly what we needed him to do, and that’s pitch deep into the ball game in an elimination game and save the bullpen.”

The offense really got going for Virginia in the fourth inning with a leadoff single by catcher Franco Valdes to center. Center field John Barr followed with a double down the left field line that could have been stopped by third baseman Mason Heyne. Tyler Cannon then grounded to third, and instead of going home with the throw to contain Valdes, Heyne threw to first to get Cannon out, while Valdes scored. With Rider being in a win or go home situation, they could have used a more aggressive performance from Heyne. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, ACC, CBB Visit, MAAC, Rider, UVA

UCLA 3 UVA 2

UCLA’s main offensive production came early on. In the first inning, after a Jermaine Curtis leadoff double and single by Blair Dunlap, Alden Carrithers grounded out, scoring Curtis. UCLA scored again in the fourth on a Mickey Weisser single, scoring Carrithers. Virginia got out of the fourth inning relatively unscathed though after Brady Dolan grounded into a double play to end the inning. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Fullerton Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, ACC, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Visit, MAAC, Pac 10, Rider, UCLA, UVA

Former MLB Third Baseman Scott Brosius has led Linfield College (34-11) to the Division III National Championship Tournament. (The Oregonian)

How does Brett Wallace’s season rank in ASU history? (Pitchfork Nation)

Are conference tournaments really necessary in college baseball? (The Nickel Block)

Ohio State’s season ends in disappointment (The Buckeye Nine)

Recruiting in Southern California is a balancing act for USC and UCLA (Los Angeles Times)

South Carolina will try and keep it rolling against LSU today (Gamecock Anthem)

Seminole freshmen are getting big game experience in the ACC tournament to prepare them for the College World Series (Nole Sports)

Examining the economics of Summer League Ball (CodBall)

Miami beat Georgia Tech in a 15-12 ACC Tournament battle that looked an awful lot like a College World Series game. (Miami Herald)

Chapman has already beat their first round opponent twice this season (Orange County Register)

Tags: ACC, Arizona State, Big Ten, Cape Cod League, Chapman University, Division 3, FSU, GT, Linfield College, Miami (FL), Ohio State, Pac 10, SEC, South Carolina, UCLA, USC

Cal State Fullerton shortstop Christian Colon on picking college over the minor leagues: “I know it’s tough to eat the right things in the minor leagues, and I didn’t think I was strong enough to avoid getting run down a little bit.” (Orange County Register)

Gordon Beckham tied the Georgia single season homerun record with his 23rd longball of the season last night in the second game of a double header against Alabama. (BamaMag)

Buster Posey scores only run, gets the save in Florida State win. (Tallahassee Democrat)

Pedro Alvarez couldn’t come through in the clutch last night against Florida, as the Commodores drop their fourth straight game. (Tennessean)

University of Arizona catcher Dwight Childs likes to play head games with opposing hitters. (Tucson Citizen)

The Houston Astros are looking to go with an experienced college player with the 10th overall pick. (MLB)

Seven college players are in the top ten of the draft board over at Minor League Ball. (Minor League Ball)

In a battle of two of the Pac-10’s top two pitchers, Washington’s Jordan Merry has his first poor performance of the season while Mike Leake pitches 8 strong in the Sun Devils 13-3 victory. (Devils Digest)

Aaron Crow’s stats “are pornography to baseball geeks.” (Columbia Tribune)

The best pitcher at Stanford doesn’t even play on the team. (SF Gate)

Tags: 2008 Top Players, ACC, Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Big 12, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, FSU, Missouri, Pac 10, SEC, Stanford, Vanderbilt