FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
HOUSTON — Aaron Crow of Missouri, Joshua Fields of Georgia, Chris Hernandez of Miami (Fla.) and Brian Matusz of San Diego have been selected as finalists for The Roger Clemens Award, which honors the top pitcher in college baseball. The winner will be announced this summer in Houston.

The four pitchers were selected from a field of 10 semifinalists in a national vote of all Division 1 head baseball coaches, selected national college baseball media, previous winners of the R. E. “Bob” Smith Award, which was presented to the top player in college baseball in 1988-2003, and the 13 previous finalists for the Clemens Award. Read the rest of this entry »

Tim Beckham from Griffin Ga will be the number 1 pick in the MLB 2008 Draft today at 2 pm by the Tampa Bay Rays. This goes against many experts including ESPN’s Keith Law that expected Florida State catcher Buster Posey to be selected in the top spot. I think this selection is better since Beckham has a bigger upside then Posey and could be a real special player. This development will hurt the Southern Cal program as Beckham was expected to be a threat in the Trojans program over the next few years. The full MLB.com article is available here.

FROM NCBWA RELEASE
STARKVILLE, Miss. (NCBWA) — University of Georgia relief pitcher Joshua Fields is the 2008 recipient of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s Stopper of the Year Award, the NCBWA announced Wednesday.

Fields helped the Georgia Bulldogs (39-22-1) capture the 2008 Southeastern Conference baseball championship and made a pair of game-closing relief appearances last weekend as Georgia claimed the NCAA Athens Regional title. UGA continues its quest for a College World Series berth this weekend, hosting North Carolina State of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the NCAA Athens Super Regional at Foley Field. Read the rest of this entry »

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)

Darren Heitner of Sports Agent Blog continues his great work on the Andrew Oliver situation that exploded over the weekend. He ended up getting a ton of information forwarded to him from many different sources to get down to exactly what happened which saw Oliver end up suspended from the Oklahoma State team indefinitely. I will let you read the article for the full details which is available here.

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
Lubbock, Texas – College baseball has narrowed to only 16 teams playing in the Super Regionals, which means the Brooks Wallace National Player of the Year “Wallace Watch” is down to 16 talented players. Twelve players on the “Wallace Watch” will not only take the field this weekend in hopes of securing a spot in the College World Series, but also a spot as one of the top three finalists in pursuit of this year’s Wallace Award. The award will be presented among the legends of college baseball – the 2008 College Baseball Hall of Fame inductees. Read the rest of this entry »

Aman Reaka has provided us with his top 50 college players for the upcoming 2008 MLB draft that will take place on Thursday. He has Pedro Alvarez as the top player in his rankings with Gordon Beckham in the second slot. Aaron Crow, Buster Posey, and Brian Matusz round out the Top 5. Read the rest of this entry »

Arizona State 12 – Oklahoma 0

From CBB News Sources

(Tempe, AZ) - A dominant starting pitching performance by Josh Satow propelled No. 3 Arizona State to a 12-0 win over Oklahoma Sunday night in the championship game of the Tempe Regional in front of a crowd of 2,553 at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. The win makes the Sun Devils 48-11 on the season, and they advance to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament where they will face either San Diego or Fresno State.

Satow allowed only three hits and one walk with five strikeouts over 7.1 innings to earn the win and improve to 9-3 on the season. Oklahoma had runners on the corners with one out in the first, but Satow got a foul out and a groundout to get out of the jam, and that began a stretch of 15 straight Sooner hitters retired.

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(Tempe, AZ) – Who Is Mike Jones? The Arizona State version of Mike Jones is now the answer to a trivia question. A three run home run over the right field wall in the sixth inning complimented a couple of great catches in center field on Saturday night. But the question is, name several Arizona State athletes who have hit both a home run and caught a touchdown pass for the Sun Devils? [Thanks for the question TerryLee]

Aaron Baker looked great for Oklahoma with two home runs on the night. However the entire rest of the Sooners roster were only half as effective as Baker, with just the one other run between them all.

Unfortunately Carl Spackler has no “Cinderella story” left here in Tempe. After an inspirational performance on Friday night the Stony Brook Seawolves were eliminated during the day game. Head coach Matt Senk was quoted stating “Arizona State and Vanderbilt are tremendous teams and it was an honor to compete against them.” Well coach Senk, it was an honor to watch your team play. Your players and fans represented the America East conference well. Not Masters champions this year, but maybe you can pull off the miracle next year. [Caddyshack 1980]

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Arizona State 15 Oklahoma 3

From CBB News Sources

(Tempe, AZ) – Buoyed by eight strong innings from starting pitcher Mike Leake, No. 3 Arizona State defeated Oklahoma 15-3 in its second game of the NCAA Tournament Saturday night in front of a crowd of 3,744 at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. The Sun Devils improve to 47-11 with the win, and they will face the winner of tomorrow afternoon’s game between Vanderbilt and Oklahoma tomorrow night.

Leake allowed eight hits and two runs while striking out six to improve to 10-2 on the season. The victory makes Leake the fifth pitcher in school history to have double-digit wins in each of his first two seasons at ASU, joining Jeff Pentland, Eddie Bane, Linty Ingram and Jason Urquidez.

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(Tempe, AZ) - Brett Wallace was huge for Arizona State, but Stony Brook would not give up in a thrilling game that bounced back and forth all night Friday.

3,425 baseball fans enjoyed a great game on a marvelous night that featured five lead changes before a thrilling end to a Stony Brook rally wrapped up the game for Arizona State in the ninth.

Freshman Matt Newman started the game and looked good for ASU, but after putting down the first five Stony Brook batters in order, the Seawolves put together a two out rally in the second to tie the game.   In the third Stony Brook kept at it took the lead and made ASU go to the bullpen first. 

However 12 walks by Stony Brook pitchers gave ASU too many opportunities.  Combine that with 11 hits including a blast off the bat of Brett Wallace that cleared not only the fence in right field but also likely the median on Rural Road on its trajectory out of the park.  ASU looked good offensively but Stony Brook hung all night and never looked out of the game.

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ASU 9 – Stony Brook 7

From CBB News Sources

(Tempe, AZ) – With four hits from two-time Pac-10 Player of the Year Brett Wallace leading the way, No. 3 Arizona State defeated Stony Brook 9-7 in its opening game of the NCAA Tournament Friday night in front of a crowd of 3,425 at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. The win improves the Sun Devils to 46-11 and means they will face fellow first-day winner Oklahoma tomorrow night.

Wallace was 4-for-5 with three RBI and three runs scored, and he hit his team-leading 21st home run in the victory.

Tommy Rafferty earned the win to improve to 12-0 on the year, as he pitched the final five innings out of the bullpen, allowing four hits and two runs while striking out four. The win ties Rafferty for the school record for pitching victories out of the bullpen, equaling Dave Alexander, who went 12-2 in 1989.

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