Aaron Fitt of Baseball America has put out his predictions for the 2009 College World Series. He expects two teams from the ACC in Miami (FL) and North Carolina to make it back to Omaha after strong 2008 campaigns. He has three teams from the West Coast to make it to the College World Series in Cal-State Fullerton, Oregon State, and the University of San Diego. Aaron expects Big 12 rivals Texas and Texas A&M to make it back to the big stage after subpar 2008 campaigns. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2009 CWS, 2009 NCAA Tourney, ACC, Auburn, Big 12, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, Conference USA, LSU, Miami (FL), Oregon State, Pac 10, Rice, Texas, Texas AM, UNC, University of San Diego, Vanderbilt, West Coast Conference

Lubbock, Texas - As eight teams load up and head to Omaha to continue the quest for the College Baseball National Championship, eight players are named as semi-finalists for the Brooks Wallace National Player of Year Award. College baseball has produced a fine class of young men to represent the “Wallace Watch” from the pre-season release to where it stands today.
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Tags: ACC, Arizona State, Big 12, Brooks Wallace Award, FSU, Georgia, Kentucky, Miami (FL), Missouri, National Awards, National Player of the Year, Pac 10, SEC, UNC, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference

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 »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, ACC, Big 12, Georgia, Miami (FL), Missouri, Roger Clemens Award, SEC, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference

By Willie Nicklaus

With the NCAA regionals finished, I thought it was a good time to post my All-Freshman team for 2008. The high school Class of 2007 was a highly touted one, and they did not disappoint as contributors to their respective teams. Here they are with a little information about each. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2010 Top Players, ACC, Alabama, Auburn, Big East, Big South, Big West, Cal, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Column, Coastal Carolina, Conference USA, Florida, GT, Kent State, MAC, Miami (FL), Middle Tennessee, Ole Miss, Rice, Santa Clara, SEC, Tennessee, Texas, UNC, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference, West Virginia

The 4-seed Fresno State Bulldogs defeated the 2-seed San Diego in the finals of the Long Beach Regional on Monday night. The Bulldogs survived a three error night to advance to the Super Regionals. The Toreros grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth inning after the Toreros’ number eight hitter catcher Logan Gelbrich started off the inning with a double. Gelbrich would score on a fielding error by Fresno State first baseman Alan Ahmady. The Bulldogs responded though in the bottom of the inning scoring two runs after leadoff hitter Tommy Mendonca was hit by a pitch and Danny Grubb walked with one out. Both runners advanced on a groundout by Danny Muno and Grant Hedstrom singled to drive in both runners and give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Long Beach Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Fresno State, University of San Diego

GAME ONE - #1 STANFORD VS. #4 UC-DAVIS
Top ranked Stanford used a five run ninth inning to stave off elimination in the Palo Alto Regional. The Cardinal found themselves down 4-3 heading into the top of the ninth but a five run inning propelled the Cardinal into the championship game against 2-seed Pepperdine.

Box Score (PDF)

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Tags: 2008 NCAA Tourney, 2008 Stanford Regional, Pepperdine, Stanford, UC-Davis

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Freshman right-hander Kyle Blair tossed a gem and the Torero bats exploded for 13 hits to help the University of San Diego baseball team save off elimination and advance to the regional final with a 15-1 victory over Fresno State University Sunday evening in the Long Beach Regional at Blair Field.

With the win, the Toreros set a new program record with their 44th win of the season, moving to 44-16 overall, and have advanced to the regional final for the first time in program history. USD will now play Fresno State at 6 p.m. on Monday in the regional final at Blair field to determine who will advance to the Super Regional round.  With the loss, the Bulldogs fall to 39-28 overall.
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Tags: 2008 Long Beach Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Fresno State, University of San Diego

The 2-seed San Diego Toreros bounced top seed and regional host Long Beach State 5-1 on Sunday afternoon. The Toreros got on the board in the first inning and again in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead. The Dirtbags answered with a run in the bottom of the third inning to cut the Torero lead in half at 2-1. Neither team would score until the top of the ninth inning when the Toreros iced the game scoring three more runs to take a 5-1 lead. The Dirtbags went down in order in the bottom of the ninth and saw their season come to a close.

San Diego will now face 4-seed Fresno State in the regional championship game at 5:00 p.m. PDT. Fresno State defeated San Diego 6-0 last night.

Tags: 2008 Long Beach Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Long Beach State, University of San Diego

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Stanford 5 Arkansas 1

STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford baseball team lives on at the NCAA Regional, defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks, 5-1, in an elimination game Saturday at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond. Randy Molina had three hits Saturday, including his fifth home run of the season, and Austin Yount tossed five innings of one-run ball and struck out five to earn his fifth win. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 NCAA Tourney, 2008 Stanford Regional, Arkansas, Big West, Pac 10, Pepperdine, SEC, Stanford, UC-Davis, West Coast Conference

GAME ONE - #1 LONG BEACH STATE VS. #3 CALIFORNIA
Top seed Long Beach State bounced back from their opening round loss to 4-seed Fresno State and eliminated 2-seed Cal winning 9-2. The Dirtbags scored in four straight innings starting in the second inning. Long Beach State scored one in the second, one in the third, three in the fourth and two in the fith to take a 7-2 lead. The Dirtbags added two more in the top of the eighth to take a 9-2 lead. Cal was unable anything together in the final two innings and saw their season come to a close.

Brett Lorin picks up the win for the Dirtbags going five innings giving up the only two runs scored by Cal. Craig Bennigson took the loss for the Golden Bears going three innings giving up two runs.

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Tags: 2008 Long Beach Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Cal, Fresno State, Long Beach State, University of San Diego

GAME ONE - #2 PEPPERDINE VS. #3 ARKANSAS
Pepperdine defeated Arkansas 4-3 in the opening round matchup between the 2-seed Waves and the 3-seed Razorbacks. The Razorbacks and Waves traded runs in the second and fourth sending the game to a 2-2 tie heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth the Waves’ Chase D’Arnaud homered to break the tie and the Waves added an insurance run after Nate Simon reached on a fielding error by the first baseman. Simon stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher and was brought home by a Denny Duron single. Arkansas tried to rally in the top of the ninth scoring a run to cut the lead to 4-3 but were unable to score a runner from third with two outs.

Nathan Newman picked up his seventh win the of the season going 6.2 innings giving up two runs. Nick Gaudi picked up his 13th save of the season. Cliff Springston took the loss for the Razorbacks giving up all four Pepperdine runs.

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Tags: 2008 NCAA Tourney, 2008 Palo Alto Regional, Arkansas, Pepperdine, Stanford, UC-Davis

GAME ONE - #2 SAN DIEGO VS. #3 CALIFORNIA
San Diego ace Brian Matusz pitched a complete game three-hit shutout in the opening game of the Long Beach Regional against 3-seed Cal on Friday afternoon. Matusz struck out ten Golden Bears and gave up just one walk. The Toreros and Bears were deadlocked in a scoreless game heading into the bottom of the sixth inning when Josh Romanski reached on a walk with two out. Sean Nicol came to the plate and doubled to center field scoring Romanski all the way from first to put the Toreros a 1-0 lead. The Toreros broke the game wide open in the bottom of the seventh inning scoring four runs, three of them unearned. Matusz retired six of the final seven batters he faced to complete the victory.

With the win Matusz improves to 12-2 on the season and improves his ERA to 1.58. Tyson Ross takes the loss for Cal giving up five runs on nine hits in 6.2 innings.
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Tags: 2008 Long Beach Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Cal, Fresno State, Long Beach State, University of San Diego

The Stanford Cardinals enter the Regionals with a 33-21 record while having a 14-10 record in the Pac-10. They will be joined by Pepperdine who has a 36-18 record while finishing second in the West Coast Conference with a 14-6 record. Arkansas will join the clubs as they finished with a 34-22 record and a 14-15 record in the SEC which kept the Razorbacks out of the SEC Conference Tourney. The last team in the Regional is UC Davis who went 34-22 with a 13-11 record in the Big West. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 NCAA Tourney, 2008 Stanford Regional, Arkansas, Big West, Pac 10, Pepperdine, SEC, Stanford, UC-Davis, West Coast Conference

#1 LONG BEACH STATE VS. #4 FRESNO STATE

Long Beach State (37-19)
The Dirtbags are 37-19 and are the top seed in the Long Beach regional. LBSU boasts the Coach of the Year in Mike Weather, tri-Pitcher of the Year Andrew Liebel and co-Player of the Year in first baseman Shane Peterson. Peterson led the league in hitting with a .399 average and an .510 on base percentage. Liebel went 8-3 on the season with a 1.81 ERA in 109.2 innings pitched.

The Dirtbags earned a share of the Big West title and the automatic bid after taking two of three games from #8 Cal-State Fullerton to end the season.

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Tags: 2008 Long Beach Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big West, Cal, Fresno State, Long Beach Regional, Long Beach State, Pac 10, University of San Diego, WAC, West Coast Conference

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
STARKVILLE, Miss. (NCBWA) - Five of college baseball’s top relief specialists have been selected as finalists for the fourth annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, the NCBWA announced Thursday.

This year’s finalists include NCAA saves leader Tyler Conn of Southern Miss, Scott Bittle of Mississippi, Joshua Fields of Georgia, A.J. Griffin of the University of San Diego and Eric Pettis of UC Irvine. All five relief aces helped their respective teams advance to the 64-team field of the 2008 NCAA Baseball Tournament, which begins this weekend at 16 regional sites across the nation.
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Tags: 2008 Top Players, Conference USA, Georgia, National Awards, NCBWA, Ole Miss, SEC, Southern Miss, Stopper of the Year, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference