FROM CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE

Somerset, NJ — Defending Northeast Conference champion Monmouth sits atop the 2008 NEC Baseball Coaches Poll as the favorite to capture its fourth league title. The Hawks received six first-place nods to finish ahead of Quinnipiac in the voting. Central Connecticut State, a three-time champion this decade, claimed third. Mount St. Mary’s, picked fourth, received the remaining two first-place votes. Long Island sits fifth followed by Wagner, Sacred Heart and Fairleigh Dickinson. Read the rest of this entry »

CSTV continues their series of previews with the West Coast Conference and the WAC. Sorensen picks San Diego to win the West Coast Conference with Pepperdine as a contender and Santa Clara is the darkhorse. The preview is available here. He picks Fresno State to win the conference with Louisiana Tech and Nevada in the contender category and Sacramento State in the darkhorse category. The full preview is available here.

FROM CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
The Vanderbilt Commodores are predicted to repeat as the 2008 Southeastern Conference baseball champions, as voted by the league’s 12 baseball coaches in the 17th annual preseason SEC poll.

The Commodores, ranked as high as No. 3 nationally in the preseason polls, seek to capture their fifth SEC Championship, having also won titles in 1973, 1974, 1980 and 2007. Vanderbilt returns eight position starters and four pitchers from their 2007 squad which also won the SEC Tournament and earned the National No. 1 Seed in the NCAA Tournament. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CONFERENCE RELEASE
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The TCU Horned Frogs have been selected to win their third straight regular season Mountain West Conference baseball championship in 2008. In a vote of the seven MWC head coaches and a select media panel, the Horned Frogs received six of a possible nine first-place votes and 60 points, while BYU (three first-place votes) received 52 points to finish second in the poll. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
College of Charleston, 2007 Southern Conference regular-season co-champion, is the favorite to win the 2008 crown according to a vote of the league’s coaches. The Cougars picked up five of a possible 10 first place votes and finished with a total of 86 votes. Read the rest of this entry »

CSTV continues their series of articles with two conference previews and Doug Kroll checking in on the coaching carousel. Eric Sorensen previews the ACC which he lists North Carolina, UVA, and Miami as favorites. He lists FSU, Clemson, and Georgia Tech as contenders. He puts Wake Forest as the darkhouse. The full preview is available here. Sorensen also previews the Atlantic Sun conference. He puts Stetson as the overwhelming favorite after they qualified for the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The contenders are Belmont, Mercer, and Jacksonville. The darkhorse candidate is Lipscomb. The full preview is available here. Doug Kroll checks in with an article about the coaching carousel which took place after George Horton left Fullerton to go up to Oregon to restart the Oregon Ducks program. The article is available here.

FROM CONFERENCE RELEASE
South Easton, Mass. – The Northeast-10 reigning regular season and tournament champions were selected to finish first again as voted upon by the conference’s 13 coaches.

Franklin Pierce University, picked to finish second nationally in Division II by Baseball America, finished 26-4 in the Northeast-10 last year claiming its second straight regular season championship and second tournament championship in three years. The Ravens received all 13 first-place votes for a total of 169 points. Read the rest of this entry »

CSTV contributor Eric Sorenson checks in with two conferences previews in the Atlantic 10 and America East. In the Atlantic 10, he lists Charlotte as the clear favorite with Richmond, Fordham, and St. Bonaventure as contenders. His darkhorse in the conference is Xavier. The full A-10 preview is available here. In America East, Eric can not decided on any clear favorite listing Albany, Binghamton, Maine and Stony Brook as contenders for the conference championship. He lists Vermont as the darkhouse after 10-13 conference mark. The full America East preview is available here.

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. FSU won the division last season with an outstanding record of 49-13. The Seminoles were joined in the NCAA Tournament by Clemson, NC State, and Wake Forest. Read the rest of this entry »

After claiming their first regular-season title in school history in 2007 the UTSA Roadrunners received a league-best 18 out of a possible 24 first place votes in the coaches and sports information directors polls.

UTSA leads the Southland Conference returning five automatic selections to the 2008 Preseason Teams, including 2007 award winners Trent Lockwood - Newcomer of the Year, and Tim Palincsar - Freshman of the Year.

A Hitter of the Year candidate and a two-time player of the week in 2007, Lockwood led UTSA in eight offensive categories, including batting average (.378), hits (87), RBI (57) and home runs (14). Those same numbers placed Lockwood in the top six in seven league offensive categories, inclunding finishing second to 2007 Player of the Year Steven Hill of Stephen F. Austin with a .687 slugging percentage.

For the rest of the Preview go HERE!

FROM CONFERENCE RELEASE
EDISON, N.J. – Canisius College is the top choice to win it all during the 2008 MAAC baseball season, according to a preseason poll voted on by the league’s head coaches.

Canisius finished with 71 points in the poll, four points ahead of second-place Manhattan College (67). Marist College placed third with 66 points. Fairfield University and Siena College tied for fourth place (50), followed by Rider University (36), Saint Peter’s College (34), Iona College (19), and Niagara University (12). Read the rest of this entry »

FROM ACC PRESS RELEASE
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion North Carolina is favored to repeat as the league champion in 2008, as determined by a vote of the league’s 12 head coaches. The back-to-back national runner-up Tar Heels were also picked to win the Coastal Division for the third-straight year, while Florida State was predicted to capture its second Atlantic title. Read the rest of this entry »

Ask “Augie-Wan Knobi” about the NCAA rules changes’ effect on the 2008 season and the venerable Texas coach says, “May I look at them in hindsight?” Augie Garrido punctuates that comment with a laugh. He has been around too long to be baffled or amazed by anything.

The teacher in him is never stymied by whatever outside forces bring to bear.

The ever-popular alumni game is no more because the NCAA pushed back the start of the season three weeks, with practice beginning Feb. 1, and the Horns first encounter on Feb. 22 in the newly-renovated UFCU Disch-Falk Field against Virginia Commonwealth.

“The cancellation of the alumni game is disappointing,” Garrido said of the event that has been played annually since 1984.

“Those guys are Longhorns for life and that game was a way to have them back, to keep them a part of what we’re doing,” Garrido said. “I don’t care how we do it, but I want a way to get them back.”

Read the rest Click here

Kendall Rogers has put out his ACC Preview for the 2008 season. He lists Florida State as the favorite in the Atlantic Division and Miami as the favorite in the Coastal Division. The full article is available here.

FROM CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
ELMHURST, Ill. - After winning its record 10th straight league championship a year ago, Oral Roberts was selected to claim its 11th consecutive Summit League title in 2008 as voted on by the league’s eight head coaches. The Golden Eagles (49 points) were a unanimous selection after garnering seven first-place votes (coaches are not allowed to vote for their own teams). Read the rest of this entry »