Eric Sorensen checks in on the SWAC, Southern Conference and the SEC as he heads down the final stretch of previews.

SWAC
Southern Conference
SEC

FROM CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
Center Valley, Pa. - Navy has been selected as the favorite to claim the 2008 Patriot League Baseball title in a preseason poll of the League’s head coaches and sports information directors.

The Midshipmen top the poll with 43 points and four first-place votes, just one point ahead of second-place Lafayette which also claims four first-place votes. Army takes third with 37 points, while Bucknell is in fourth place with 29 points. Both schools claim a pair of first-place votes. Lehigh (17 points) and Holy Cross (12) round out the preseason poll. Head coaches and sports information directors were not allowed to vote for their own teams. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
IRVING, Texas–For the seventh consecutive year, Texas has been selected the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 Conference baseball regular season title in a vote of the league’s head coaches. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their teams.

The Longhorns (80 points) received eight of the possible 10 first-place votes to edge out second-place Missouri, which earned 71 points, including one first-place tally. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
NASHVILLE - In a vote of Ohio Valley Conference head baseball coaches, Jacksonville State was picked as the 2008 preseason favorite in the 10-team league. The Gamecocks finished second in both the regular season and tournament last season. In additional voting, JSU senior outfielder Clay Whittemore was picked as the Preseason Player of the Year while Eastern Kentucky junior left-handed pitcher Christian Friedrich was named the Preseason Pitcher of the Year. Read the rest of this entry »

Eric Sorensen continues his season previews with the Pac-10 and Patriot League. He has Arizona, Arizona State, and UCLA as the favorites. He puts the Oregon State as a contender after their back to back national championships. He puts California as a darkhorse behind the right arm of Tyson Ross. The full article is available here. The Patriot League favorites are the Navy Midshipmen under Paul Kostacopoulos. He puts Lafayette and Army as contenders with Lehigh as a darkhorse. The full article is available here.

The College Baseball Blog continues our series of previews this week checking in on the Atlantic Division of the ACC. The CBB attends about 10-15 ACC games a season including seeing some of the players in the Cape Cod League. UNC won the division last season with an outstanding record of 57-17 and 21-9 in the ACC. The Tar Heels were joined in the NCAA Tourney by Miami (FL) and Virginia. Read the rest of this entry »

Our good buddy Brian DeCaussin of Big Ten Hardball has started his previews for the 2008 season. His site is the ultimate in Big Ten Baseball coverage as he focuses only on the Big Ten. We have linked to each preview that is currently up below.

Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan

CSTV writer Eric Sorensen continues his series of conference previews on Saturday as he checks in on four conferences.

MAAC
Horizon League
Conference USA
Ivy League

CSTV writer Eric Sorensen continues his series of interviews with the CAA and Big West Conferences. He lists VCU, Old Dominion, and UNC-Wilmington as the favorites. He puts Delaware led by Alex Buchholz in the contender category and William & Mary as the Darkhorse. The full preview is available here. He also checks in on the Big West Conference where he predicts Long Beach State to win it. He puts Fullerton, Cal-Poly, and UC-Irvine as contenders with UC-Riverside as the Darkhorse. The full preview is available here.

FROM CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
The Vanderbilt Commodores are predicted to repeat as the 2008 Southeastern Conference baseball champions, as voted by the league’s 12 baseball coaches in the 17th annual preseason SEC poll.

The Commodores, ranked as high as No. 3 nationally in the preseason polls, seek to capture their fifth SEC Championship, having also won titles in 1973, 1974, 1980 and 2007. Vanderbilt returns eight position starters and four pitchers from their 2007 squad which also won the SEC Tournament and earned the National No. 1 Seed in the NCAA Tournament. Read the rest of this entry »

CSTV continues their season previews with Eric Sorensen checking in on the Big Ten and the Big 12. Sorensen predicts that Michigan will win the Big Ten after a great run into the Super Regionals last season. He puts Minnesota and Ohio State as contenders with Penn State as the darkhorse. The full preview is available here. He also checks in on the Big 12 which is one of the top conferences in the country. He states that the Big 12 is wide open with the favorites being Texas, Missouri, and Texas A&M. He lists Baylor, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State as contenders with Kansas as a darkhorse. The full article is available here.

CSTV continues their series of articles with two conference previews and Doug Kroll checking in on the coaching carousel. Eric Sorensen previews the ACC which he lists North Carolina, UVA, and Miami as favorites. He lists FSU, Clemson, and Georgia Tech as contenders. He puts Wake Forest as the darkhouse. The full preview is available here. Sorensen also previews the Atlantic Sun conference. He puts Stetson as the overwhelming favorite after they qualified for the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The contenders are Belmont, Mercer, and Jacksonville. The darkhorse candidate is Lipscomb. The full preview is available here. Doug Kroll checks in with an article about the coaching carousel which took place after George Horton left Fullerton to go up to Oregon to restart the Oregon Ducks program. The article is available here.

FROM CONFERENCE RELEASE
South Easton, Mass. – The Northeast-10 reigning regular season and tournament champions were selected to finish first again as voted upon by the conference’s 13 coaches.

Franklin Pierce University, picked to finish second nationally in Division II by Baseball America, finished 26-4 in the Northeast-10 last year claiming its second straight regular season championship and second tournament championship in three years. The Ravens received all 13 first-place votes for a total of 169 points. Read the rest of this entry »

CSTV contributor Eric Sorenson checks in with two conferences previews in the Atlantic 10 and America East. In the Atlantic 10, he lists Charlotte as the clear favorite with Richmond, Fordham, and St. Bonaventure as contenders. His darkhorse in the conference is Xavier. The full A-10 preview is available here. In America East, Eric can not decided on any clear favorite listing Albany, Binghamton, Maine and Stony Brook as contenders for the conference championship. He lists Vermont as the darkhouse after 10-13 conference mark. The full America East preview is available here.

The College Baseball Blog continues our series of previews this week checking in on the Atlantic Division of the ACC. The CBB attends about 10-15 ACC games a season including seeing some of the players in the Cape Cod League. FSU won the division last season with an outstanding record of 49-13. The Seminoles were joined in the NCAA Tournament by Clemson, NC State, and Wake Forest. Read the rest of this entry »