The CBB recently had an opportunity to take in the Missouri-Kansas series over this past weekend. We focused on the strong Missouri team which includes one of the top pitchers in the country for 2008 in Aaron Crow and one of the top 2009 pitching prospects in Kyle Gibson. We also checked in on some of the other top players on the squad who might make an impact in the coming future.

Aaron Crow JR 6′3, 195 RHP
Crow is one of the top players in the country and I believe him to be the best pitcher in the country (Brian Matusz of San Diego gets a close 2nd). Crow has 2 very strong pitches he relies on. His fastball and his slider. His fastball is in the lower to mid 90’s with good late movement. He has great command of it and throws it on both sides of the plate and will use it up in the zone. His control is extremely good. Having control and command of a mid 90’s moving fastball is a sick thing to have as a pitcher. He couldn’t do it all with just a fastball however. His second pitch is a slider in the mid 80’s. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, 2009 Top Players, Big 12, CBB Column, CBB Visit, Kansas, Missouri, MLB Draft

The Patriot League Conference Tournament starts up this weekend with Holy Cross heading to Navy and Army hosting Bucknell in best two out of three series to decide which team will advance to the conference championship series next weekend. Navy ended up taking three out of four games this season against Holy Cross while Army lost three out of four games against Bucknell. We previewed the Patriot League in our preseason season previews which can be read here. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Army, Bucknell, CBB Column, Holy Cross, Navy, Patriot League

Samuel Wasson is the Co-Founder and Editor of BleedCrimson.net and covers New Mexico State University athletics. He comes to the CBB as our expert on the WAC.

SERIES OF THE WEEK: SACRAMENTO STATE AT HAWAI’I (Les Murakami Stadium)

Why It’s Important: Hawai`i and Sacramento State are separated by just a half a game in the WAC standings, with UH three games behind Fresno State for first place and Sacramento State 3.5 games back. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: CBB Column, Fresno State, Hawaii, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico St., Sacramento St., San Jose St., Series Preview, WAC

Florida State at Clemson

The Florida State Seminoles head to Clemson SC for a Saturday-Monday series against the Clemson Tigers. The Seminoles enter with a 37-7 overall record while being 19-5 in the ACC. The Seminoles have been one of the better hitting teams in the country with a team batting average of .346. All-American catcher candidate Buster Posey is the top hitter on the team with a .470 average and a team leading 13 homers on the year. Matt Fairel has been the ace of the staff with an 8-1 record with a 2.81 ERA. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ACC, ACC Weekend Preview, Big South, Boston College, Campbell, CBB Column, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, FSU, GT, High Point, Independents, Maryland, Miami (FL), NC State, Presbyterian College, Saint Mary's, Southern Conference, VT, West Coast Conference

Results of the NAIA Coaches’ Poll for April 30, 2008. Comments below.

Rank	Apr. 23	School (Region)	Record	Total Points
1	1	Lubbock Christian (TX) (VI)	45-2	499
2	2	Lewis-Clark State (ID) (I)	44-4	480
3	3	Lee (TN) (XIII)	53-7	488
4	4	Oklahoma City University (VI)	48-7	440
5	5	Azusa Pacific (CA) (II)	40-8	429
6	7	U. of the Cumberlands (KY) (XI)	43-11	374
7	8	Embry-Riddle (FL) (XIV)	38-13	369
8	6	University of Mobile (AB) (XIII)	40-12	358
9	T9	Spring Arbor University (MI) (VIII)	29-5	348
10	12	Fresno Pacific University (CA) (II)	34-11	299
11	T9	Tennessee Wesleyan College (XII)	37-15	289
12	11	Wayland Baptist (TX) (VI)	41-12	288
13	13	University of St. Francis (IL) (VII)	40-8	274
14	15	Bellevue (NE) (IV)	41-11	255
15	14	Union College (KY) (XII)	37-12	218
16	18	Auburn-Montgomery (AL) (XIII)	41-19	191
17	16	Trevecca Nazarene (TN) (XI)	33-12	180
18	19	Texas Wesleyan (VI)	37-12	137
19	17	Biola University (CA) (II)	33-16	117
20	21	LSU-Shreveport (XIII)	41-14	115
21	22	Avila (MO) (V)	32-11	112
22	20	Malone College (OH) (IX)	33-11	77
23	23	Warner Southern (FL) (XIV)	33-22	71
24	25	Madonna (MI) (VIII)	32-12	43
25	24	Southern Polytechnic (GA) (XIII)	38-15	20

First-place votes: Lubbock Christian 19. Lewis-Clark State 1

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Azusa Pacific, CBB Column, Embry-Riddle, Fresno Pacific, Lewis-Clark State, Lubbock Christian, Spring Arbor, Tennessee Wesleyan, U. of Mobile, U. of the Cumberlands, Wayland Baptist

Junior/3B/1B/Arizona State

Brett Wallace can hit - fastballs, curveballs, changeups, oranges, grapefruit, pinatas…you get the idea.
So, the obvious question is: why don’t most of the projection lists have him as a top 10 talent? I wondered the same thing - more specifically, why is there a feeling that Smoak, Hosmer, and Alonso are better 1B prospects? Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, Arizona State, CBB Column, Pac 10

Crow or Matusz, Matusz or Crow? That seems to be the question. Fortunately for comparison sake, the only similarity they really share is they are both studs.

I am not going to get into college numbers when comparing them, because most college numbers are useless. The fact that Matusz struck out 16 against San Fransisco really does no good in his future projection. Something I will bring up is the K/BB ratio because I feel it is important no matter what division or league a pitcher is in that they throw strikes and have dominating stuff; Matusz with a 71:15 ratio and Crow with a 67:11. But, Crow plays against better competition blah blah blah that it why I do not want to get into comparing college stats. They are both dominating the college ranks, enough said. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, Big 12, Missouri, MLB Draft, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference

Junior/Catcher/Florida State

Much like Gordon Beckham, a strong Junior year has caused Posey’s stock to sky rocket.

Career/ Background

Posey has been on the radar for a while, being ranked behind Justin Smoak and Reese Havens on Baseball America’s fab 50 Freshman list at #7.

His story is quite interesting, being drafted by the Angels in the 50th round as a SS, and signed by Florida State as a SS. However, he moved behind the plate after his Freshman season, not become of a lack of ability at SS, but because of the need of the team. The story goes that Coach Mike Martin saw one pitch and knew that he was gonna be an outstanding Catcher. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, ACC, CBB Column, FSU, MLB Draft

During the season, I will be providing random thoughts from around the nation. On Saturday night, We had Pat Murphy of Arizona State get ejected in the fifth inning as his Sun Devils went on to lose to the Oregon State Beavers. He tried to spark his team which ended up losing the game but picked up a victory on Sunday to salvage a game from the Beavers. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ACC, Arizona State, Clemson, Duke, Pac 10

Eric Sorenson of CSTV and many sources around the internet are talking about the great series that took place this past weekend between FSU and Miami (FL). The Hurricanes were able to win the first and last games of the series to get the win. The biggest thing that came out of the weekend was the near brawl between the two squads after Sunday’s game which was called after seven innings due to the old curfew rule. At the end of the seventh inning, the umps called the game because it was after the curfew which was set up before the game. Mike Martin Jr. who coaches third base for the Seminoles made a comment to the Miami bench which led to both benches clearing and nothing actually happening. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ACC, CBB Column, FSU, Miami (FL)

By Willie Nicklaus
The highly regarded Class of 2007 was touted as one of the best in recent years by the scouting community, major baseball publications, and all experts alike. Those that opted for college baseball are making the impact predicted by many, including our own Brian Foley, the head man here at the College Baseball Blog. We previewed the position players last week and that article is available by clicking here. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ACC, Big East, California, CBB Column, GT, Miami (FL), Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Oregon State, Pac 10, SEC, Tennessee, UNC, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference

Junior/SS/University of Georgia

It is safe to say no player has earned more buzz that Gordon Beckham this year. The premier college middle infielder in this draft is shooting up draft boards. Here is the breakdown.

Career:

Freshman year: - Freshman All- American while playing in all 70 games at SS - hit .280 with 12 HR

Sophomore year: Hit 13 HR overall, while hitting .322 in SEC play

Cape Cod League: tied for league lead with 9 HR

Junior year: Up at the top of the list this year for college baseball’s best player. He has slowed down a bit, no doubt to being pitched around and seeing increased offspeed stuff. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, CBB Column, Georgia, MLB Draft, SEC

By: Willie Nicklaus
The highly regarded Class of 2007 was touted as one of the best in recent years by the scouting community, major baseball publications, and all experts alike. Those that opted for college baseball are making the impact predicted by many, including our own Brian Foley, the head man here at the College Baseball Blog. (Our Top Freshmen article from the Pre-season is available here.) Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, ACC, Arkansas, Atlantic 10, Auburn, Big 12, Big East, Boston College, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Column, Elon, Florida, Georgetown, GT, Kent State, LSU, MAC, Miami (FL), Middle Tennessee, Richmond, SEC, Southern Conference, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, Texas, UNC, West Virginia

Georgia Tech at Maryland

#21 Georgia Tech (27-10, 9-9 ACC) continues its road swing as it travels north to College Park to take on the Maryland Terrapins (22-17, 5-13 ACC).

Georgia Tech enters the series coming off a 14-8 victory at Georgia Southern on Wednesday. Junior Luke Murton, who hit 2 home runs in the Georgia Southern game, leads the team with a .355 batting average. Freshman shortstop Derek Dietrich leads the team with 11 home runs and 39 RBI. Tech’s top three relievers, Andrew Robinson, Brad Rulon and Chris Hicks, have combined for 55 appearances, a 5-3 record with 12 saves, and a 3.66 ERA. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ACC, ACC Weekend Preview, Boston College, CBB Column, Clemson, Duke, FSU, GT, Maryland, Miami (FL), NC State, UNC, UVA, VT, Wake Forest

(#1) Miami (FL) at (#2)Florida State

The Miami Hurricanes head to Tallahassee this weekend to take on the Florida State Seminoles in a battle between the number 1 and number 2 teams in the country in most polls. The Hurricanes enter with a 31-3 overall record and 15-1 in the conference. In my opinion, I consider them to have the best lineup in the country with Jemile Weeks, Blake Tekotte, Yonder Alonso, Dennis Raben, and Mark Soblewski leading the offense. Every single one of those hitters should be drafted in the top 2 rounds of the MLB draft either this season or next depending on their eligibility. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ACC, ACC Weekend Preview, CBB Column, FSU, Miami (FL)