We continue with the second post out of a three post series previewing the Texas Longhorns written by Djbfootball. The first article in the series is available here and the third is available here.

The Players;
Lets start at the Catcher position; Returning for his 4th year and starting for his third straight year at the catching position will be Preston Clark. Preston a red shirt junior brings a lot to the table that goes unnoticed. He will be able to keep these young pitchers on track and help them stay focus. When Preston went down to a sprain knee right before the Round Rock Regional those things that go unnoticed became very visible. His offense – .278 batting average 8 home runs and 46 runs batted – just his mere presence in the line up gives this team confidence. His defense – six errors in 56 games- makes the opposing team conscience of him behind the plate. Backing Preston up will be heir apparent Freshman Cameron Rupp. Cameron is a big young man that reminds me more of a Taylor Teagarden and Rupp will be able to continue this long line of outstanding catchers that eventually go on to the MLB.
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Kendall Rogers has continue his Top 25 countdown and checking at #12 is the Missouri Tigers of the Big 12. Missouri finish 2nd to Texas in the BIG 12 last year and they return a very talented pitching staff led by Aaron Crow. The weekend series with Texas traveling to Columbia will help determined the BIG 12 conference and national seedings. When they tangle April 11-13 the CBB will right here reporting on the first pitch until the final out on Sunday. Mizzou article available here.

Top 25 Countdown: No. 13 Michigan

Top 25 Countdown: No. 14 Virginia

Top 25 Countdown: No. 15 Mississippi

Top 25 Countdown: No. 16 Cal State Fullerton

Top 25 Countdown: No. 17 Long Beach State

Top 25 Countdown: No. 18 Wichita State

Top 25 Countdown: No. 19 Mississippi St.

We continue with the final post out of a three post series previewing the Texas Longhorns written by Djbfootball. The first article in the series is available here and the second is available here.

The schedule this year was put together with the thought of getting these younger pitchers some good quality innings in before the conference starts. The first series of importance will be opening day. Texas starts the year with a home date with the VCU Rams, then they go to Houston for the Houston College Classic for games against Tennessee, Rice and Houston, followed up with a home series against a struggling Stanford team. The BIG 12 conference season starts with a home series with an improving Kansas Jayhawk team on March 14. Then mark your calendar for April 11; this will be a HUGE series with the Missouri Tigers in Columbia for the BIG 12 lead. Texas finishes the season with two of the better teams in the league with Baylor and A&M.
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The Harvard Crimson has put out their 2008 schedule which is one of the best OOC schedules in the entire nation. The Crimson will open the season on March 7th when they head to Wichita State for the first game of a three game set. The next weekend the Crimson head down to Bradenton FL for doubleheaders on March 15th and 16th. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM PRESS RELEASE
NEW HAVEN, Conn.–The 2008 Yale baseball schedule was announced today. The 46-game slate includes 20 conference games and 15 home contests at Yale Field.

The season gets underway with a three-game series at George Washington on March 1-2. The Bulldogs and Colonials will square off in a doubleheader on March 1, then a single game the following day. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM PRESS RELEASE
Albany, N.Y. — University at Albany Vice President and Director of Athletics Lee McElroy announced on Wednesday, Dec. 12 the school’s baseball schedule for the 2008 season. The Great Danes, who reached the NCAA Regionals for the first time in school history and captured their first-ever America East Conference championship last year, will play a four-game series against six conference opponents. Read the rest of this entry »

The Pitt Panthers have announced their 2008 schedule. They will open the season on February 22nd when they take on Virginia Tech in the IMICHOTEL INN-vitational in Conway SC. They will also take part in the Keith Leclair Invitational on March 7-9th and the Papa John’s Challenge from March 10th-16th in West Palm Beach FL. They will also play a three game out of conference series at Youngstown State on March 1st and 2nd while hosting the Panther Classic with Central Michigan and Coppin State from May 5th-7th. The Big East schedule opens up with a trip to West Virginia from March 21st-23rd and they will also travel to conference opponents Seton Hall, Cincinnati, and Villanova. They will also host UConn, Georgetown, St. John’s, and Louisville.

Press Release
2008 Schedule

Tom Waddill the Sports Editor of the Huntsville Item looks back on a very successful year for the Baseball Team.

For years, baseball was Sam Houston State’s pride and joy.

The Bearkats won 1,127 games and lost only 579 from 1957 to 1994. With four ties thrown in, that’s a winning percentage of .659.

During that lengthy 38-season stretch, SHSU won an NAIA national championship (1963), two Lone Star Conference titles (1981 and ’82), three Gulf Star Conference championships (1985, ’86 and ’87) and one Southland Conference crown (’89).

The Bearkats took nine trips to the NAIA World Series and three visits to the NCAA Division II Regionals. After making the move up to Division I, they earned their way to three NCAA Regionals, winning a combined three games at Austin’s Disch-Falk Field in 1987 and ’96.

Read the rest of the article here.

Start in Tempe with Oregon State and Vanderbilt. Close it out with UCLA visiting Fullerton. You might have to violate several physics laws to make it happen, but if you make all the games in between, you’d witness the greatest non-conference road trip of all time.

Boyd’s World has put together a list of all the top non-conference games featuring teams with top 50 ISRs between February 22nd (the date of the OSU-VU matchup) and May 20th (when the Bruins travel to Fullerton). I’m still not quite sure of Boyd’s ISR system and its built-in West Coast bias, but there’s hardly a game on the list that isn’t must-see CBB.

You can read the full list here.

When I got up this morning and noticed that we had a clear blue sky and the temps were hovering around 45 degrees I knew that I need to drive down to Disch Falk Field to get my Baseball fix in for the week. As I was walking around the Stadium taking pictures of the renovations going on I got to thinking what this season will bring to the world of College Baseball Fans.

Could Oregon State make it back to the CWS and when their third in a row. Or will this be the year that North Carolina breaks through. After winning the 2003 Championship, can Wayne Graham and the Rice Owls get pas that hurdle and get to the Championship Series. Could we also see teams that have not been in a couple years make it back like Texas, Miami, or LSU. What about the Cinderellas teams from last year, UC Irvine and Louisville do they have enough to recreate that magic to get back to OMAHA. Tell us your thoughts on the up and coming season.Make sure you check back as we will provide coverage from the first pitch on Friday February 22nd to the last pitch at the CWS!Photos courtesy of Donald J Boyles

To see the rest of the renovations click here.

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 »

The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Baseball program have announced that they have picked up seven players for the 2009 season. The first signee is Daniel Bowman out of Turner Ashby High School in Bridgewater VA where he has played three years of varsity baseball. He had a strong 2007 season where he hit .491 average with eight homers and 35 RBI as he led the team to their second straight state championship. Steve Davis also committed to the Coastal Carolina program. He hails out of Steubenville High School in Steubenville Ohio. He had a .395 average with 25 runs scored and 21 stolen bases in his junior season. Brad Goldberg is the second player from Ohio in this class. He hails from Beachwood High School in Beachwood Ohio. He is a right handed pitcher who went 5-1 with 64 strikeouts. He also hit a solid .450 with 35 RBI but is not expected to see time in the field. Coastal Carolina also picked up a commitment from Anthony Meo from Cranston West High School in Cranston RI. Meo had a perfect junior season which saw him go 9-0 with a 0.77 ERA. The Chanticleers then went down to Palm Beach Gardens Florida to pick up a commitment from Taylor Motter. He only hit .397 with 10 RBI against tough competition in Florida. TJ Swank of Crystal Lake Illinois also committed to the program. He had a disappointing 2007 season which saw him miss six starts but had a 3-2 record with a 1.10 ERA. In his sophomore year, he picked up All-Conference and All-Area awards after going 8-3 with a 1.04 ERA. The last signee was Tommy Winegardner from Riverdale Baptist High School in Maryland. He was named the MVP of the Maryland Private School Championship game in 2007 after helping Riverdale Baptist to their 3rd straight championship. He has been named to the Under Armour All-American the last two seasons and is pre-season All-State. The full release on the signed players is available here.

These players should be able to make a positive impact on one of the rising programs in the country. Coastal Carolina will open the 2008 season on February 22nd against Maryland in the IMIChotels.com INN-vational. The full season schedule is available here.