The guys over at Pitchfork Nation check in with Golden Spikes Nominee Brett Wallace, who is currently tearing up the Class A Midwest League for the St. Louis Cardinals Single-A affiliate Quad City River Bandits.  Brett is hitting .346 with 5 homeruns so far.  Here’s an excerpt from the interview: Read the rest of this entry »

FROM NCBWA RELEASE
LINCOLN, Neb. – A total of 56 standout college baseball players from every part of the country are featured on the 13th Annual Pro-Line Athletic National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-America Team, the organization announced today.

The 2008 NCBWA All-America Team is comprised of teams from 19 different conferences and 17 conference championships teams. The three All-America squads are also made up of 24 conference “Player of the Year” winners. Read the rest of this entry »

The NC State Wolfpack head down to Athens Ga to take on the Georgia Bulldogs in a matchup between ACC/SEC schools. The Wolfpack have a 40-20 overall record while going 18-11 in the ACC. The Bulldogs have an overall record of 39-22-1 while winning the SEC regular season title with a 20-9-1 record. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

Tim Beckham from Griffin Ga will be the number 1 pick in the MLB 2008 Draft today at 2 pm by the Tampa Bay Rays. This goes against many experts including ESPN’s Keith Law that expected Florida State catcher Buster Posey to be selected in the top spot. I think this selection is better since Beckham has a bigger upside then Posey and could be a real special player. This development will hurt the Southern Cal program as Beckham was expected to be a threat in the Trojans program over the next few years. The full MLB.com article is available here.

FROM NCBWA RELEASE
STARKVILLE, Miss. (NCBWA) — University of Georgia relief pitcher Joshua Fields is the 2008 recipient of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s Stopper of the Year Award, the NCBWA announced Wednesday.

Fields helped the Georgia Bulldogs (39-22-1) capture the 2008 Southeastern Conference baseball championship and made a pair of game-closing relief appearances last weekend as Georgia claimed the NCAA Athens Regional title. UGA continues its quest for a College World Series berth this weekend, hosting North Carolina State of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the NCAA Athens Super Regional at Foley Field. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
Lubbock, Texas – College baseball has narrowed to only 16 teams playing in the Super Regionals, which means the Brooks Wallace National Player of the Year “Wallace Watch” is down to 16 talented players. Twelve players on the “Wallace Watch” will not only take the field this weekend in hopes of securing a spot in the College World Series, but also a spot as one of the top three finalists in pursuit of this year’s Wallace Award. The award will be presented among the legends of college baseball – the 2008 College Baseball Hall of Fame inductees. Read the rest of this entry »

Aman Reaka has provided us with his top 50 college players for the upcoming 2008 MLB draft that will take place on Thursday. He has Pedro Alvarez as the top player in his rankings with Gordon Beckham in the second slot. Aaron Crow, Buster Posey, and Brian Matusz round out the Top 5. Read the rest of this entry »

(Tempe, AZ) - Brett Wallace was huge for Arizona State, but Stony Brook would not give up in a thrilling game that bounced back and forth all night Friday.

3,425 baseball fans enjoyed a great game on a marvelous night that featured five lead changes before a thrilling end to a Stony Brook rally wrapped up the game for Arizona State in the ninth.

Freshman Matt Newman started the game and looked good for ASU, but after putting down the first five Stony Brook batters in order, the Seawolves put together a two out rally in the second to tie the game.   In the third Stony Brook kept at it took the lead and made ASU go to the bullpen first. 

However 12 walks by Stony Brook pitchers gave ASU too many opportunities.  Combine that with 11 hits including a blast off the bat of Brett Wallace that cleared not only the fence in right field but also likely the median on Rural Road on its trajectory out of the park.  ASU looked good offensively but Stony Brook hung all night and never looked out of the game.

Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
PITCHER OF THE YEAR – Mike Adams, Franklin Pierce (N.H.)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Keith Hernandez, Emporia State (Kan.)

FIRST TEAM (5 SP due to ties in balloting)
Starting Pitcher – +++Mike Adams, Jr., Franklin Pierce (N.H.)
Starting Pitcher – Jim Fuller, So., Southern Connecticut State
Starting Pitcher – Brett Hontz, Sr., Carson-Newman (Tenn.)
Starting Pitcher – Korey Noles, Sr., Columbus State (Ga.)
Starting Pitcher – Ryan Schlecht, Sr., Mount Olive (N.C.) Read the rest of this entry »

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.
Read the rest of this entry »

ASU’s Kipnis Named Pac-10 Baseball Player of the Week and UCLA’s Murphy Named Pitcher of the Week

This is the first weekly honor for Kipnis and Murphy’s third.

Media Release

(Walnut Creek, CA) – Arizona State redshirt sophomore outfielder Jason Kipnis has been named the Pacific-10 Conference Baseball Player of the Week and UCLA junior left-handed pitcher Tim Murphy has been named Pitcher of the Week for May 19 – 25, Commissioner Tom Hansen announced today.

Kipnis, from Northbrook, Ill., helped Arizona State clinch their second straight Pac-10 title, going 8-for-13 (.615) with a double, a triple, a homer and six runs batted in during the final week of the regular season. He also stole a base, drew four walks and played perfect defense in the outfield.

Murphy, from Vista, Calif., pitched his second complete game shutout of the season, helping the Bruins blank No. 15 California, 8-0, in Friday’s series opener at Evans Diamond. Murphy scattered five hits in nine innings, totaling 10 strikeouts while walking four hitters. Murphy’s complete-game effort helped pave the way for UCLA’s series victory at California over the weekend. UCLA blanked the Golden Bears, 7-0, on Saturday to become the first Bruin baseball team to post back-to-back shutouts since 1978. With the win, Murphy improved to 5-6 on the season with a 3.52 ERA and team-highs of 107 strikeouts and 94.2 innings.

Read the rest of this entry »