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 »

Tags: 2009 Recruits, Conference USA, Southern Miss

Other than College Baseball’s top eight teams in Omaha, most of America has turned their full attention to the ever turbulent summer. This means summer leagues, coaching movement and draft watching. Things are no different at Vanderbilt, which for the third straight year failed to escape the Regionals. But that doesn’t mean the summer has not been active already.

On the Cape

Vanderbilt features six roster members on teams in the prestigious Cape Cod League. Friend of the College Baseball Blog Jarred Amato (publisher of SportsVU, a Vanderbilt Sports Blog) traveled to Wareham to spend some time with Vanderbilt sophomore leftfielder Steven Liddle as he started his season with the Gatemen. The article, found here, is a great glimpse into the magic of the league and what it means to the players and the community proper. I have a feeling our publisher, Brian Foley, will enjoy it as a top-notch fan of the league. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cape Cod League, MLB Draft, Sonny Gray, Summer Leagues, Team USA, Vanderbilt

In the past 6 season, Vanderbilt University has become one of the thorns in the sides of those trying to recruit high school players committed to Coach Tim Corbin and recruiting coordinator Eric Bakich.  A recent NYTimes profile of Pedro Alvarez disclosed at least one of the secret strategies used by Coaches Corbin and Bakich (a tax planner and a thick three ring binder).  Commodore recruits are told to weigh the value of a Vanderbilt diploma against any potential signing bonus, which a tax planner brings down to earth with an analysis of taxes against the bonus, living expenses during the life of potential contracts and certain luxury purchases.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: MLB Draft, SEC, Sonny Gray, Vanderbilt

Rivals.com division Rivals High released their first ever Top 100 High School Baseball Players this week.  The rankings (found here) are topped by Griffin, GA SS Tim Beckham (pictured left), a Southern Cal commit and probable top 5 pick in the upcoming draft.  Joining him at the top are Cooper City, FL 1B Eric Hosmer (Arizona State); Long Beach, CA OF Aaron Hicks (Southern Cal); Wentzville, MO P Tim Melville (uncommitted); and Santa Ana, CA P Gerrit Cole (UCLA).  The top five are widely speculated to all go pro after the 2008 MLB Draft. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, 2009 Recruits, MLB Draft, Perfect Game, Rivals

FROM CBB SOURCES
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois coach Dan Hartleb announced the addition of four student-athletes to Illinois’ incoming class of 2008 Wednesday. Willie Argo, of Davenport, Iowa, Bill Charvat, of Elk Grove Village, Ill., Mike Santa Maria, of Des Plaines, Ill., and Will Strack, of Sycamore, Ill., will join the Illini in the fall of 2008. The Fighting Illini Class of 2008 now consists of four pitchers, two infielders, one catcher and one outfielder. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2009 Recruits, Big Ten, Illinois

Perfect Game has put out their top Recruiting Classes for the 2009 season with Arizona State University ranked in the Top spot. The top recruit for the Sun Devils is Eric Hosmer as he is one of eleven players ranked in the Top 200 in the country to sign with Pat Murphy’s squad. The Georgia Bulldogs are listed in the runner’s up spot as they have signed 20 players with Michael Palazzone as the top recruit in the class. North Carolina comes in with another strong class after their second consecutive CWS championship series appearance. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2009 Recruits, Arizona State, Pac 10, Perfect Game

The Dallas Morning News has always done a very good job of covering high school sports in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This is an article that I look forward to every year. They talk about the top team, top players and this year Todd Willis talks to the New Coach at Duncanville high School and what it means to take over as the head coach after a legendary coach Bob Rombach retires.

To read the article from the Dallas Morning News go HERE. 

Tags: Dallas Morning News

At the International Power Showcase, which took place at Tropicana Field, Maryland Terp signee Zach Helgeson came out on top, cracking 16 total homeruns and 8 in the final round. Vanderbilt signee Matt Marquis hit the most homeruns overall, at 17.

The IPS website, found here, includes video on several of the performers.

Tags: 2009 Recruits, ACC, Maryland, SEC, Vanderbilt

The Oregon Daily Emerald has published an article discussing some of the challenges George Horton is facing at the University of Oregon. He has decided to go after some high caliber recruits who will likely be drafted on Day 1 of the MLB draft and might never see the Eugene campus. The full article is available here.

Tags: 2009 Recruits, Cal State Fullerton, Coaching Changes, Oregon, Pac 10

FROM USC PRESS RELEASE

LOS ANGELES — Student Sports (studentsportsbaseball.com) has released its recruiting rankings for the 2009 season with the USC program slotted at third on the nation’s Top 25 classes. Head coach Chad Kreuter and first-year recruiting coordinator Doyle Wilson signed 10 players during the early signing period, including highly-touted shortstop Tim Beckham out of Georgia. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2009 Recruits, Arizona, Arizona State, Pac 10, Stanford, UCLA, USC

The CBB continues their series of articles previewing different conferences throughout the country. This week we check in on the Patriot League. Lafayette won the Patriot League title by sweeping Army in the Patriot League Championship series after Army knocked off Navy in the opening round of the Patriot League playoffs. Lafayette lost to Virginia 5-1 and Rutgers 11-10 in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The 2008 season will be the first time that the Patriot League will allow four schools into their postseason tournament which will consist of a best out of three semifinal round followed by a championship series the next weekend. Read the rest of this entry »

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

We continue to get information on Signing classes almost daily. We have linked below a bunch of the ones that have come out in the last week.

Sam Houston State
George Mason
Clemson
Maryland
Northwestern
LaSalle
Gonzaga
Duquesne
Lipscomb
New Mexico

Tags: ACC, Atlantic 10, Atlantic Sun, Big Ten, CAA, Clemson, Duquesne, George Mason, Gonzaga, LaSalle, Lipscomb, Maryland, Mountain West, New Mexico, Northwestern, Sam Houston State, Southland Conference, West Coast Conference

Patrick Ebert of PG Crosschecker checks in with his early signing period standout classes. You can read his full review here. In alphabetical order (with three of each class’ top names), Ebert notes:

• Arkansas, led by Austin Wright, Bobby Bundy and Tyler Sample.
• Florida, with Ryan Weber, Nick Maronde and Jerico Weitzel.
• Georgia, featuring Brett DeVall, Michael Palazzone and Xavier Avery.
• Kentucky, boasting Alex Meyer, Andy Burns and Daniel Webb.
• San Diego State, lining up Isaac Galloway, Ryan O’Sullivan and Matt Lollis.
• UCLA, landing Gerrit Cole, Clark Murphy and Chris Amezquia.
• Vanderbilt, snaring Sonny Gray, Jack Armstrong and Jason Esposito.

Tags: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, San Diego State, SEC, UCLA, Vanderbilt

FROM PRESS RELEASE
TAMPA, Fla. – Second-year head coach Lelo Prado announced Friday that the University of South Florida baseball staff has signed 11 recruits to National Letters of Intent for the 2008-09 academic year.

Prado’s second recruiting class at USF is made up of five pitchers, four infielders and two outfielders.

The class of 2008-09 includes: Adrian Nieto, (C), American Heritage High School, Hialeah, Fla.; Anthony Ferrara, (LHP), Riverview High School, Riverview, Fla.; Kyle Parker, (LHP), Newsome High School, Lithia, Fla.; Sam Mende (SS), Clearwater Central Catholic High School, Clearwater, Fla.; Alex Mendez (LHP/OF), Bishop Moore High School, Orlando, Fla.; Jay Taylor (OF), Seminole High School, Seminole, Fla.; Sean Buckley (RHP/1B), King High School, Tampa, Fla.; Corey Thomas (RHP/SS), Middleton High School, Tampa, Fla.; Peter Brotons (2B), Christopher Columbus High School/Daytona Beach Community College, Miami, Fla.; Adrian Puig (RHP), Miami Gulliver Prep, Homestead, Fla.; Matt Reed (LHP), West Stanley High School, Albemarle, N.C.

“I’m very happy with our first two recruiting classes here at USF,” said Prado. “I would have never thought I would be able to get these types of players right off the bat. We’re making great strides and Bryant (Ward) and Lazer (Collazo) have done a great job recruiting these guys.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2009 Recruits, Big East, South Florida

FROM PRESS RELEASE
HARRISONBURG, Va., Nov. 29, 2007 – James Madison University baseball head coach Joe “Spanky” McFarland announced the signing of three high school athletes and a junior college player who will join the Dukes for the 2008-09 school year.

“We’ve had two highly-ranked recruiting classes in a row,” commented McFarland, who is entering his 11th season with the Dukes. “This class is small, but we’re trying to fill in some key holes from what’s left of the last two classes. We needed to add a catcher, and of course you need pitching every year. Plus there’s always a chance we lose a few guys in the draft and we have to prepare for that. As far as hitting, the catcher is a left-handed hitter and the outfielder is a switch hitter so that helps us out. Basically, we’re just trying to fill in the pieces to the puzzle to add to the last two classes.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2009 Recruits, CAA, James Madison