New Mexico State Aggies

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - New Mexico State baseball head coach Rocky Ward announced, Monday, July 28 that he has signed three players from around the state that have the opportunity to make an immediate impact on the team.

Tomas Gutierrez joins the Aggies next season and is from Albuquerque, while Justin Cooper heads to Las Cruces from Roswell, N.M. where he played for Goddard High School and Jonathan Rodriguez, who hails from Carlsbad, N.M. joins both Gutierrez and Cooper in 2009.

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Matt James of the Fresno Bee updates the contract negotiation extension talks between head coach Mike Batesole and Fresno State. The head coach of the national champion Fresno State Bulldogs out of the WAC currently makes $125,000 per year in base salary and isn’t even the highest paid coach in his own league.

An interesting note from the article is that the head coach of the national runner-up Georgia Bulldogs received a $150,000 raise when he headed back to Athens after the College World Series.

More on the negotiation talks at the Fresno Bee.

Last week, Erik Wetzel decided to return to school after rejecting a contract offer from the Rockies. After reportedly not speaking with the Rockies for a week, Wetzel signed on the dotted line and was given a $100,000 signing bonus. Wetzel is the second junior to leave the Bulldog program, as pitcher Justin Wilson signed a deal with the Texas Rangers after being picked in the 16th round. With these two juniors and team leaders Steve Susdorf, Clayton Allison and Tanner Scheppers all leaving, the question is, is Mike Batesole the next out the door?

According the CBS 47 in Fresno, Batesole’s house is back on the market. Early reports of him leaving have to be premature, as there are only 3 vacant coaching positions in Division-I baseball, at Eastern Michigan, Eastern Kentucky and Charleston Southern. Needless to say I don’t think he is leaving anytime soon, unless a coach at another school is planning on retiring, leaving room for Batesole.

Our good buddy Eric Sorenson of CSTV checks in with his final Extra Innings column wrapping up the 2008 postseason. He talks about the future of CSTV/CBS College Sports and how Fresno State winning the 2008 CWS is not the biggest upset in sports history. I tend to agree with him. Read the rest of this entry »

bleedCrimson.net has set up a page to honor legendary head coach Gary Ward who was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame on July 4th. The page includes his induction speech as well as a few pictures from the event.

View the video at bleedCrimson.net

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 »

COCA COLA PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Chatham’s Sammy Solis is 3,000 miles from home, but the University of San Diego southpaw has adapted well to his summer surroundings. Solis ran his record to 2-0 last Tuesday and remained the only pitcher in the Cape Cod Baseball League with a perfect 0.00 ERA after working 10 or more innings, a performance which earned him Coca-Cola’s Pitcher of the Week honors for the week ending June 28. A sophomore-to-be at San Diego, Solis worked seven innings, allowed just two hits and struck out eight batters as Chatham defeated Wareham, 2-0. In doing so, the 6-4, 215-pound hurler has clearly established himself as the ace of what is otherwise a struggling A’s pitching staff. His perfect earned run average stands in sharp contrast to the team’s last-in-the-league staff ERA.

COCA COLA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
When newly arrived outfielder Corey Olson made his first appearance in the Chatham A’s lineup on June 24, his 1-for-2 performance at the plate was overshadowed by Sammy Solis’s shutout pitching as Chatham beat Wareham, 2-0. But when the week ended, this 5-10, 185-pound native Californian sported an astounding .688 batting average with 11 hits in 16 at-bats and opposing pitchers in the Cape Cod Baseball League were scratching their heads and wondering, “Where did this kid come from?” Well, Olson was a two-time All-Orange Empire outfielder for Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Calif. He hit .346 and led his team in about a dozen offensive categories last spring to earn an invitation to enter the University of California-Irvine in the fall. Chatham knew it was getting a kid who could hit, but even the A’s management was stunned as their new center-fielder followed his relatively quiet debut with games in which he went 3-for-4, 3-for-4 and 3-for-3 to clinch Coca-Cola Player of the Week honors for the week ending June 28.

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
(DURHAM, N.C.) – USA Baseball announced Saturday the addition of Tommy Mendonca (Fresno State; Turlock, Calif.) to the 2008 National Team. Mendonca, the 2008 College World Series Most Valuable Player, joins the team Saturday afternoon and will be available for Team USA’s game Saturday night against the Chinese-Taipei National Team.

Mendonca hit .285 (83-for-291) with 19 home runs, 70 RBI and eight doubles for College World Series champion Fresno State this season. He tallied 150 total bases for a .515 slugging percentage and committed only 11 errors in 77 games for a .947 fielding percentage. Mendonca led the Bulldogs to a 46-31 record; Fresno State was 14-4 in postseason play, including a 6-0 mark in elimination games en route to becoming the lowest seed to win an NCAA Championship.

Team USA continues its six-game series against Chinese-Taipei with a 7:05 p.m. EDT first pitch Saturday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The U.S. squad has won each of the series’ first three games.

FROM EASTON SPORTS
VAN NUYS, Calif. (June 26, 2008) - Easton Sports, the leading manufacturer of sporting goods equipment, once again demonstrated its dominance in college baseball Wednesday at the College World Series® as Fresno State became the 20th champion in the last 29 years to win a title swinging Easton baseball bats exclusively. The Bulldogs also became the lowest seeded NCAA team to capture a Division I crown ever, completing a daunting postseason run for the history books. Read the rest of this entry »

Fresno State completed the most improbable run in recent college sports history as they became the lowest seed ever to win a national championship defeating the Georgia Bulldogs 6-1 on Wednesday night at Rosenblatt Stadium. The night belonged to Steve Detwiler who had a career night in the championship game going 4-4, driving in all six Fresno State runs and setting College World Series records for the most home runs in a championship game with two, most home runs in a championship series with three, most RBIs in a championship game with six, most RBIs in a championship series with nine, most extra base hits in a championship game, most bases in a championship game with 11 and in a fitting end to the game he caught the final out for Fresno State.

Fresno State scored two runs in the top of the second inning off of a two run blast by Steve Detwiler. Detwiler drove in the third run of the game in the top of the fourth with a double that scored Steve Susdorf and the Detwiler continued his one man onslaught with a three run blast in the top of the sixth and then capped off his night with a single in the top of the eighth.

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One night after blowing a three run eighth inning lead Fresno State found themselves down 5-0 after just two and a half innings and in desperate need of something special if they were to stay alive in the championship series. Something special is what they got. The Bulldogs rallied for six runs in the bottom of the third inning followed by five runs in the bottom of the fourth and four more in the bottom of the fifth a total of 14 runs in the span of three innings.

The Bulldogs who batted around in both the third and fourth innings suddenly found themselves up by nine runs. Georgia tried to mount a comeback as they scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to pull to within five at 15-10 but Fresno State answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning and one more in the bottom of the eighth to stretch the lead back out to nine runs.

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The Georgia Bulldogs tagged Fresno State closer Brandon Burke for four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to stun the west coast Bulldogs in game one of the best of three series. Fresno State had just plated three runs in the top of the inning to take a 6-3 lead.

With their starting pitching used up the Fresno State Bulldogs turned to Sean Bonesteele for the start. Bonesteele pitched three innings and gave up just one run before turning the ball over to the rest of the Fresno State bullpen. Jake Floethe, Kris Tomlinson and Jason Breckley combined to pitch the next six innings giving up just two more runs as Fresno State turned to their closer Bradon Burke with a three run lead heading into the bottom of the eighth.

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Fresno State defeated North Carolina 6-1 to secure their spot in the championship series of the 2008 College World Series. After falling 4-3 to the Tar Heels on Saturday night on a go ahead two run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning by UNC’s Chad Flack the Bulldogs bounced back to bounce out the Tar Heels giving up only one run.

For the third straight game against North Carolina, Fresno State jumped on the board first in the bottom of the third inning on a two RBI single by third baseman Tommy Mendonca. UNC cut the lead in half at 2-1 when Kyle Shelton drew a bases loaded walk with one out however, the Tar Heels weren’t able to bring any more runs across the plate.

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FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
OMAHA - The drama the College World Series got even better Saturday night at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium.

The Fresno State Bulldogs, the Cinderella story of this year’s NCAA baseball tournament, went to the wire against the No. 2 team in the nation in a classic baseball game that featured great defensive plays, solid and smart pitching and timely hits. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, North Carolina came away with a 4-3 victory. Read the rest of this entry »

The Fresno State Bulldogs kept their incredible run going knocking off the No. 2 national seed North Carolina 5-3 on Tuesday night at Rosenblatt Stadium. The Bulldogs are now 2-0 and are off until Friday and await the winner of the North Carolina/LSU elimination game in bracket two.

The Bulldogs got on the board first in the bottom of the second inning scoring a run to take a 1-0 lead. North Carolina came out in the top of the fourth inning and scored three runs to take a 3-1 lead. Fresno State answered with a home run by Steve Susdorf in the bottom of the inning to cut the Tar Heels’ lead to 3-2.

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