GLENS FALLS, N.Y. – Championship Series’ Most Valuable Player Ryan Nokelby (Texas Lutheran) plated Jeff Abrams (Binghamton) with a 10th-inning sacrifice fly as the Brockport Riverbats edged the Glens Falls Golden Eagles, 3-2, in 10 innings to win the 2008 New York Collegiate Baseball League championship. The Riverbats won the best-of-three series, two games to one. The title is the first in the five-year history of the franchise. Read the rest of this entry »

USA Baseball Logo

The USA Olympic Team will begin play on Wednesday August 13th when they open up round robin play against South Korea. It will be the first game in the Olympics for Team USA since their Gold Medal victory over Cuba in the 2000 Olympics behind the right arm of Ben Sheets. We break down the position players today with some background information. We will be checking out the pitchers on Sunday as we continue our preview of Team USA. They open play on Tuesday when they play South Korea at 6 am Eastern time. Read the rest of this entry »

Recruiting coordinator Eric Bakich of Vanderbilt has kicked off recruiting season with a bang.  Today, it was reported that stellar defensive shortstop Anthony Gomez of top ranked Don Bosco high school of New Jersey committed to the Commodores.  Gomez, a sure handed, line-drive hitting shortstop standing 6′ 180, is the third ‘09-’10 recruit known to have committed to Vanderbilt and Tim Corbin.  He received a Perfect 10 rating from Perfect Game. 

Last week, TCBB scribe Don Boyles tipped off that Connor Harrell, a physical specimen and top outfielder had committed to the Commodores.  PG rates Harrell the #65 prospect in the class and awarded him a Perfect 10 rating as well.  The Kinkaid School product is a strapping 6′3″ 190lb speed demon, clocking a 6.66 time in the 60 yard run at PG’s National Showcase.  Read the rest of this entry »

LSU's Leon Landry

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

BATON ROUGE — Youse’s Maryland Orioles defeated the College Park Bombers, 11-1, Friday night to win the 2008 Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League Championship in Bethesda, Md.

LSU sophomore outfielder Leon Landry was named the Most Valuable Player of the League Championship Series as he led to Orioles to the title. Including his two-RBI triple which proved to be the difference-maker in the championship game, Landry went 7-for-13 (.538) with a double, a triple, seven RBI and four runs scored in the three-game series.

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The College Baseball Blog recently added Jarred Amato who will serve as a senior writer covering the SEC while serving as a national writer. He is currently a senior at Vanderbilt and is the editor of The Sports VU website which covers the Commodores athletic program. He will be providing us with weekly insights into the SEC Baseball conference during the season with reports from games across the conference. He can be contacted by clicking here.

David Price, the No. 1 overall draft pick in the the 2007 MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays, is profiled in this week’s Sports Illustrated. You can read the article here.

Price left Vanderbilt as the most decorated pitcher in school history, winning numerous honors including the Dick Howser Trophy and Golden Spikes Award, and has shown no signs of letting up in his first professional season. Price was 4-0 with a 1.62 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 34.2 innings Class A Vero Beach before being called up to Double A Montgomery, where he is 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 45 innings. Read the rest of this entry »

Rendering on the new stadium-LSU Tigers

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

The LSU Tigers will kick off the 2009 campaign in a brand new Alex Box Stadium. They will induct the new stadium with a 3 game tilt against the Villanova Wildcats on opening weekend the 20th of February. The Tigers will play a 56 game schedule and will leave the comfy confines 19 times.

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Courtesy of CodBall.com

The College Baseball Blog made the long trek down to Chatham to take in the Cape Cod All-Star game. The East Division in front of 8,629 fans used a seven run bottom of the eighth inning to erase a 6-1 deficit and pick up a 8-6 victory in the Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star game. The game was dominated by the team’s respective pitching staffs with each squad having a pitcher blow up in an inning. The Western squad scored the first run of the game in the 3rd inning with an A.J. Pollock (Notre Dame) opposite field homer while Rob Poythress (Georgia) returned the favor in the fifth inning by hitting a ball back in the same general area in right field. Both homers were just pop flys to right field but the strong wind heading out to right field brought the ball out of the ball park. Read the rest of this entry »

I will occasionally put up some links to some College Baseball articles from around the country. I hope to make this a daily ritual during the regular season while doing one when I have some time during the off-season. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

Max Most, Staunton, OF, Jr., Port Washington, N.Y. (Old Dominion)
Most was an on-base machine for the Braves, reaching safely in 20 of 29 plate appearances for a .690 on-base percentage. The ODU Monarch led the league with a .571 batting average, going 12-for-21 with two doubles. He scored seven runs, drove in four, and led the league with eight walks. Adding to his arsenal, Most also shared the league lead with six steals. For the season, he is batting .364 with 25 runs, 10 doubles, 15 RBIs, 21 walks, 19 steals, and a .447 on-base percentage. Read the rest of this entry »

Team USA opens play on Friday with a game against Korea at 4:30 am eastern time. They have a perfect record this summer of 16-0 after winning Haarlem Baseball Week. We will take a look at some of the top hitters on the team and top pitchers for the squad for the FISU tournament. Read the rest of this entry »

I know we don’t cover Minor League baseball in general but the 2008 USA Baseball Team was announced today with a bunch of players with collegiate experience in the last few seasons including one player who will be entering his junior season at San Diego State in the fall. The biggest name that is on the roster is Matt LaPorta and the biggest surprise to me is Stephen Strasburg from San Diego State. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
PITCHER OF THE WEEK

Ricky Bowen had just completed a less-than-satisfying season as a red-shirted sophomore at Mississippi State University when he reported to the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League. But the 6-3, 197-pound right-hander improved his record to 2-1 and lowered his earned run average to 2.65 as he pitched the Braves to a 13-4 win over Wareham on July 1 to earn Coca-Cola Pitcher of the Week honors for the week ending July 5. Working the first six innings, Bowen allowed just two singles and a pair of walks while striking out seven Gatemen. In three starts encompassing 17 innings, he has scattered 16 hits, fanned 21 and issued just three bases on balls — this from a pitcher who was 3-6 with a 7.61 ERA in 13 starts for Mississippi State’s 23-33-0 Bulldogs this spring. Bowen was a 38th-round draft choice of the Cincinnati Reds on June 6 and is hoping a strong showing in the Cape League will convince the Reds to make an acceptable offer before the Aug. 15 deadline for signing drafted players. Otherwise, it’s back to Starkville, Miss., to play for new head coach John Cohen next season.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Although he was born in Miami, most Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox fans consider catcher/DH Tony Sanchez to be a “New England kid.” After all, he’s a Boston College standout, who hit .313 this spring and led the Eagles in most major offensive categories, including hits (66), RBI (45), total bases (109) and home runs (9). Picking up where he left off with BC, Sanchez hit his first two home runs of the Cape Cod Baseball League season - both grand slams - and was named Coca-Cola Player of the Week for the week ending July 6. The 6-foot, 220-pound junior-to-be crushed his first grand slam on June 29 as Y-D blanked Orleans, 5-0. It came with one out in the fifth inning and broke open what had been a close, 1-0 game. Four nights later, Sanchez’s first-inning blast with three aboard got the Red Sox off and running as they cruised past Bourne, 10-6. Sanchez is hitting .308 with 12 RBI in 13 games for Y-D. In his two college seasons, Sanchez managed to take first base as a hit batsman on 28 occasions, including a team-leading 18 times in 2008. He’s been hit four times so far to lead Y-D in that category.

Newport starter Chase Reid dominated in his first start of the season, striking out 19 batters in a 6-1 victory over Torrington in New England Collegiate Baseball League Southern Division action Friday night.

The 19 strikeouts – one shy of the Major League Baseball single-game mark – are an NECBL league record.  After allowing a home run to Corey Shimada to lead off the game, Reid allowed just four hits the rest of the way.  He struck out the side four times, and had at least two strikeouts in six different innings.  He struck out every Torrington starter at least once, and fittingly, Reid ended the game by striking out Josh Chasse. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
LUBBOCK, Texas — From Sun Devils to Longhorns, the greats of college baseball came together Thursday during the third annual induction for the National College Baseball Hall of Fame.

“The College Baseball Foundation is proud to recognize the members of this year’s Hall of Fame class,” said Mike Gustafson, Hall of Fame co-chair and College Baseball Foundation board member. “This is an exceptional class dominated by some of the best pitchers in the history of college baseball.” Read the rest of this entry »