Our good friend over at RockChalkTalk.com and JQKU have written a very good piece on this series between Kansas and Texas. This is the opening of conference play for both teams and will go a long way in shaping each teams season. Which player will step for Texas and Kansas and put these ball clubs in the driver seat in an early season conference test.

To follow all the action stop by here through the weekend as the CBB will cover all the action as several of the conferences start play this weekend.

Kansas Jayhawks (10-5) vs. Texas (10-4) The next three baseball games will mean more to the KU Jayhawks than the first 15 combined. KU opens its Big-12 season with a weekend series in Austin. With the Big-12 conference basketball tournament raging this promises to be a busy weekend for KU and UT fans.
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Tags: Big 12, Kansas, Texas

When Tulane baseball Coach Rick Jones sat next to President Scott Cowen at one of the first basketball games at Fogelman Arena post-Hurricane Katrina, Jones wasn’t certain what the future held for his half-demolished, half storm-wrecked stadium.

But Jones was put to ease early in the conversation.

“We are going to build you a new stadium,” Cowen said.

Suddenly Jones was comfortable, believing that somehow things would get back to normal, or in the baseball team’s case, better than normal.

Nearly two and a half years after beginning an overhaul of Turchin Stadium, the Green Wave opens its season tonight with a three-game series against Illinois-Chicago in its new and refurbished playing digs: Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

“From when Scott Cowen said that, I felt comfortable with that’s the way we were going,” Jones said. “I didn’t know how. I didn’t have any idea it was going to be this palatial or this impressive. But that’s obviously where (athletic director) Rick Dickson came in, because he and I shared what this should look like.”

TIMES PICAYUNE: Tulane opens new Turchin

Tags: Conference USA, Tulane

HATTIESBURG - What does a fifth consecutive NCAA baseball regional appearance get Southern Miss?One of the toughest schedules in the nation.

Southern Miss will play three teams that played in last year’s College World Series (Mississippi State, Rice and Cal State Fullerton) and 10 teams that played in a NCAA Regional, including Louisiana-Lafayette, New Orleans and Ole Miss.

“The early part of the season is very demanding with a tough eight-game streak at Louisiana-Lafayette, Cal State Fullerton, Ole Miss, New Orleans and a neutral site game with Miami (Ohio),” Southern Miss coach Corky Palmer said. “I think we can handle this schedule with our veteran leadership.”

The road to a sixth regional appearance begins today at home when the Golden Eagles opens the season today at 4 p.m. in the first game of a weekend series against Lipscomb. First pitch on Saturday is set for 3 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

SUN HERALD: Southern Miss faces tough schedule

Tags: Conference USA, Southern Miss

Eric Sorensen checks in on the SWAC, Southern Conference and the SEC as he heads down the final stretch of previews.

SWAC
Southern Conference
SEC

Tags: 2008 Conference Preview, CSTV, SEC, Southern Conference, SWAC

Due to the NCAA’s common start date rule, the baseball season is getting underway a couple of weeks later this year, but opening day has nearly arrived. All nine C-USA baseball teams will be in action this Friday. Tulane will play its first games on campus since the 2006 NCAA Super Regional when it opens the brand-new Greer Field at Turchin Stadium against Illinois-Chicago. Two of C-USA’s nationally-ranked teams open with three-game series’ at ranked opponents, as No. 24 East Carolina visits No. 2 South Carolina and No. 3 Rice travels to No. 13 Long Beach State. Houston, Southern Miss, UAB and UCF each host weekend series.

Team-by-team thumbnails

Tags: Conference USA, East Carolina, Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane, UAB, UCF

Our friend Alan Trubow of the Austin American- Statesman has done a preview of the infield of the University of Texas. He has started with the infield with an emphasis on Preston Clark and what a he means to this team.

The Texas Longhorns open the 2008 baseball season Friday against Virginia Commonwealth at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

The infield isn’t the biggest question mark for the Longhorns, but it is one with three newcomers (all transfers) and another player changing positions.

Here’s a look at how the infield will look this season.

For the rest of the article from the Statesman. 

Tags: Big 12, Texas

FROM CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
Center Valley, Pa. - Navy has been selected as the favorite to claim the 2008 Patriot League Baseball title in a preseason poll of the League’s head coaches and sports information directors.

The Midshipmen top the poll with 43 points and four first-place votes, just one point ahead of second-place Lafayette which also claims four first-place votes. Army takes third with 37 points, while Bucknell is in fourth place with 29 points. Both schools claim a pair of first-place votes. Lehigh (17 points) and Holy Cross (12) round out the preseason poll. Head coaches and sports information directors were not allowed to vote for their own teams. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Conference Preview, Army, Bucknell, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh, Navy, Patriot League

FROM CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
IRVING, Texas–For the seventh consecutive year, Texas has been selected the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 Conference baseball regular season title in a vote of the league’s head coaches. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their teams.

The Longhorns (80 points) received eight of the possible 10 first-place votes to edge out second-place Missouri, which earned 71 points, including one first-place tally. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Conference Preview, Baylor, Big 12, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas AM, Texas Tech

FROM CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
NASHVILLE - In a vote of Ohio Valley Conference head baseball coaches, Jacksonville State was picked as the 2008 preseason favorite in the 10-team league. The Gamecocks finished second in both the regular season and tournament last season. In additional voting, JSU senior outfielder Clay Whittemore was picked as the Preseason Player of the Year while Eastern Kentucky junior left-handed pitcher Christian Friedrich was named the Preseason Pitcher of the Year. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Conference Preview, Austin Peay, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Morehead State, Murray State, Ohio Valley Conference, Samford, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee Tech, UT-Martin

Eric Sorensen continues his season previews with the Pac-10 and Patriot League. He has Arizona, Arizona State, and UCLA as the favorites. He puts the Oregon State as a contender after their back to back national championships. He puts California as a darkhorse behind the right arm of Tyson Ross. The full article is available here. The Patriot League favorites are the Navy Midshipmen under Paul Kostacopoulos. He puts Lafayette and Army as contenders with Lehigh as a darkhorse. The full article is available here.

Tags: 2008 Conference Preview, Arizona, Arizona State, Army, Cal, Lafayette, Lehigh, Navy, Oregon State, Pac 10, Patriot League, UCLA

Eric Sorensen continues his season previews today for February 18th checking in on six conferences over the last two days. He checked in on the MEAC, MAC, Mountain West,  Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley, and the Northeast conferences. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Akron, Austin Peay, Bethune Cookman, Bradley, BYU, Central Connecticut, Central Michigan, Creighton, CSTV, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, Jacksonville State, Kent State, MAC, MEAC, Miami (OH), Missouri Valley, Mountain West, New Mexico, Norfolk State, North Carolina A&T, Northeast Conference, Northern Illinois, Ohio Valley Conference, Quinnipiac, Samford, San Diego State, Southern Illinois, TCU, Tennessee Tech, Wagner, Wichita State

The College Baseball Blog continues our series of previews this week checking in on the Atlantic Division of the ACC. The CBB attends about 10-15 ACC games a season including seeing some of the players in the Cape Cod League. UNC won the division last season with an outstanding record of 57-17 and 21-9 in the ACC. The Tar Heels were joined in the NCAA Tourney by Miami (FL) and Virginia. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Conference Preview, ACC, CBB Column, Duke, GT, Miami (FL), Transfers, UNC, UVA, VT

Our good buddy Brian DeCaussin of Big Ten Hardball has started his previews for the 2008 season. His site is the ultimate in Big Ten Baseball coverage as he focuses only on the Big Ten. We have linked to each preview that is currently up below.

Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan

Tags: 2008 Conference Preview, Big Ten, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan

CSTV writer Eric Sorensen continues his series of conference previews on Saturday as he checks in on four conferences.

MAAC
Horizon League
Conference USA
Ivy League

Tags: 2008 Conference Preview, Conference USA, CSTV, Horizon League, Ivy League, MAAC

CSTV writer Eric Sorensen continues his series of interviews with the CAA and Big West Conferences. He lists VCU, Old Dominion, and UNC-Wilmington as the favorites. He puts Delaware led by Alex Buchholz in the contender category and William & Mary as the Darkhorse. The full preview is available here. He also checks in on the Big West Conference where he predicts Long Beach State to win it. He puts Fullerton, Cal-Poly, and UC-Irvine as contenders with UC-Riverside as the Darkhorse. The full preview is available here.

Tags: 2008 Conference Preview, 2008 Season Preview, Big West, CAA, Cal State Fullerton, Cal-Poly, CSTV, Delaware, Long Beach State, Old Dominion, UC-Irvine, VCU, William and Mary