When Southern Miss baseball fans pack Pete Taylor Park on Feb. 20 for the Golden Eagles’ season opener, they’ll notice some nice changes to the grounds.

Down the right-field line, a new concrete seating area will add around 300 seats with a good view of the field, and a deck area for grills will offer students a spot to tailgate during the game.

The batting cage area behind the bullpen on the left side is also getting a renovation.

The third baseline seating, which has long been used as the student section, will be general admission and the student section will be moved to the first baseline, directly behind the visiting dugout.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Southern Miss baseball team began fall practice Monday with a notion of change in the air.

Sure, there was still center fielder Bo Davis, likely Friday starter Todd McInnis and Brian Dozier patrolling the middle infield, but there were several new faces, faces that will likely help make up the starting lineup when the Golden Eagles take the field on Feb. 20 in the 2009 season opener. Read the rest of this entry »

Biloxi’s B.A. Vollmuth figures to play a key role in Southern Miss’ bid to make a seventh consecutive appearance in an NCAA baseball regional next season.

The Golden Eagles finished 42-22 in 2008. They lost plenty of firepower in first baseman Trey Sutton, outfielder Drew Carson and third baseman Chris Matesich. Relief pitcher Tyler Conn, the nation’s leader in saves, also has moved on. Read the rest of this entry »

Miles from the crowds on 13th Street and the tense battles on the field at Rosenblatt Stadium, a languid afternoon game plays out on Boys Town’s close-cropped emerald turf.

Players in gray T-shirts and North Carolina-blue gym shorts lean on the chain-link fences, enjoying a cool breeze between sharp ground balls.

Two third basemen take turns trying to make leaping, spinning, Derek Jeter-esque throws to first base, laughing as ball after ball sails off target. Read the rest of this entry »

The LSU late-inning magic continues as the Tigers, who were on the verge of elimination in the Super Regionals before rallying to earn a trip to Omaha, staved off elimination from the College World Series by scoring four runs in the bottom of the ninth to claim a 6-5 decision and send Rice home.

Rice did itself no favors, as pitcher Cole St. Clair hit Sean Ochinko on an 0-2 count, and an error by shortstop Rick Hague allowed the Tigers to load the bases. Blake Dean then knocked a 1-0 pitch to the left field wall, clearing the bases and giving LSU its first lead of the game, along with the victory. Read the rest of this entry »

From the Omaha World-Herald: Rice vs. LSU and North Carolina vs. Fresno State

OMAHA, Neb. — Hours after being introduced as the new head baseball coach at the University of Central Florida, LSU pitching coach and recruiting coordinator Terry Rooney arrived Thursday night at the site of the College World Series.

His long-range plans for UCF now take a backseat to his immediate goal: to finish the job the right way with LSU.

Stetson coach Pete Dunn, for whom Rooney worked as pitching coach in 2002 and 2003, said LSU fans shouldn’t worry about Rooney’s focus being in the wrong place during the CWS, which begins this weekend. Read the rest of this entry »

It was Rice’s opening game of the College World Series on Sunday, but it was so much more to Tracy Kuhlman.

She made the trip from Houston as a tribute to her grandfather, who died just a few weeks before his beloved Owls competed in Omaha. It was a trip the two planned to make together before George “Poppie” Thomen — Rice, class of 1941 — passed away May 28 at age 89.

“It’s such an honor to be sitting here today,” Tracy said. “My grandfather would have gotten such a kick out of this.”

George wasn’t at the game, but his spirit certainly was. His Rice baseball cap was in the team dugout in hopes of bringing the team good luck.

Complete story

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
OMAHA - An offensive explosion of 11 runs by the fourth inning, 13 hits and four homeruns vaulted the Fresno State Bulldogs to a 17-5 win over No.6 National seed Rice in the opening round of the College World Series.

Rice (47-14) is ranked No. 5 ranked in the nation and the Bulldogs have now six wins over teams ranked in the top 11 nationally in their last eight games. Fresno State improved to 6-2 at the NCAA tournament. Read the rest of this entry »

Reckling Park offers proof of the strides the Rice baseball program has made under Wayne Graham, but there are other indications of how expectations have been altered.

In 1995, several Owls gathered at a friend’s apartment to watch the NCAA Tournament selection show, eager to learn where the Owls would land in their first regional appearance. After the Owls were placed in the NCAA South Regional at Baton Rouge, La., an impromptu celebration erupted between the television and the coffee table. Read the rest of this entry »

Omaha and the College World Series have been married for 59 years, and the love affair will continue through at least 2035.

The NCAA’s top official said its relationship with Omaha is based on mutual trust and support. He offered that assessment today as he signed a 60-page contract that commits the series to Omaha for an unprecedented 25 years.

“There is something special about Omaha,” NCAA President Myles Brand said. Read the rest of this entry »

For college baseball players everywhere, the word “Omaha” rolls off the tongue like no other.

LSU’s proud army of baseball legacies knows that all too well.

They also know all about dog piles and victory laps around an old ball yard that has seen her share of celebrations.

With the memory of a stirring ninth-inning comeback the night before fresh in their minds and an emotionally charged start as the launching pad, the Tigers punched their ticket to Omaha and the College World Series in explosive and dominating style Monday night.

In the process of romping past shell-shocked Cal Irvine 21-7, LSU also composed the final chapter in the proud and nostalgic history of Alex Box Stadium. Read the rest of this entry »

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU scored five runs in the ninth inning, including Sean Ochinko’s go-ahead single, as the Tigers rallied to stave off elimination in their super regional series with a 9-7 win over UC Irvine on Sunday.

The deciding third game at LSU’s Alex Box Stadium is Monday night. Read the rest of this entry »

LSU’s 23-game winning streak came to an end Saturday, as UC Irvine smacked the homestanding Tigers 11-5 in the first game of the final series ever at LSU’s Alex Box Stadium.

A Tony Asaro single plated two runs to give the Anteaters a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Going into the sixth, UC Irvine held a 3-1 edge and gets two aboard via the walk from a pair of Tiger pitchers. Sean Madigan then erases the Anteaters’ “small ball” image by depositing the ball over the right center fence to put Irvine up 6-1. Read the rest of this entry »

Tigers to stick with strengths vs. UCI

By now, the point has been clearly pushed across.

In case you haven’t heard, the red-hot LSU baseball team will not adapt its style simply because UC Irvine figures to play at a different tempo and with a different approach.

Tigers coach Paul Mainieri beat on the same drum again Wednesday, reiterating what he has said all week.

“Just because they play small ball doesn’t mean we’re going to combat that by playing small ball ourselves,” Mainieri said.

Maybe not. Read the rest of this entry »