Drew Rucinski, Luray Wranglers, RHP, Fr. Broken Arrow, Okla. (Ohio State)

Rucinski, a right-handed freshman from Ohio State, had a notable week with eight strikeouts and three hits, all singles, against him while pitching seven innings with a .136 opponent batting average. Rucinski did not allow a run to share the league lead with a 0.00 ERA for the week. For the season, Rucinski has an era of 1.77 and 21 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings pitched. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Auburn, Big South, Big Ten, Liberty, Ohio State, SEC, Valley Baseball League, Valley Baseball League Players of the Week

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Jake Boss Jr., who in his first season at Eastern Michigan led the Eagles to the 2008 NCAA Tournament, has been named Michigan State University’s 16th head baseball coach. Boss, the 2008 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year, will be formally introduced by MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis at a press conference scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 2 at Kobs Field. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big Ten, Coaching Changes, Eastern Michigan, MAC, Michigan State

By Thomas Nelshoppen of The Baseball Zealot

Kentucky 12 Michigan 6

I had been warned in the past that the deeper you go into Michigan’s rotation, the suspect it gets. It was never more evident than in the Michigan-Kentucky game on Sunday. Kentucky scored 7 runs in their first inning and added two more in the second. Michigan starter Jeff DeCarlo gave up a hit, a wild pitch and two walks before getting yanked in favor of Ben Jenzen. Jenzen didn’t fare much better. He gave up three consecutive doubles to Collin Cowgill, Brian Spear and Chris Wade which quickly made it 5-1 Kentucky. Wildcat Troy Frazier topped off the first with a two-run homer. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Ann Arbor Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Arizona, Big Ten, Kentucky, Michigan, Pac 10, SEC

By: Thomas Nelshoppen of The Baseball Zealot
We start to see some players shine in day 2 at Ann Arbor. Players like Arizona’s C.J Ziegler and Kentucky’s Sawyer Carrol really came through for their teams. But first, some unfinished business between Michigan and Kentucky from the night before.

Michigan 7 Kentucky 5

Michigan and Kentucky had to attend to their suspended game from Friday night. Michigan came in with in a 5-1 lead thanks to Zach Putnam’s 5-inning performance the night before. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Ann Arbor Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Arizona, Big Ten, Eastern Michigan, Kentucky, MAC, Michigan, Pac 10, SEC

By Thomas Nelshoppen of The Baseball Zealot

Weather had played major tricks to us college baseball fans in the Midwest. There must have been a record number of postponements, cancellations and suspensions. Unfortunately, the rains came to Ann Arbor Friday evening and interfered with the Regional games. At least, Arizona and Eastern Michigan got their full game in so let’s start with them Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Ann Arbor Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Arizona, Big Ten, Eastern Michigan, Kentucky, MAC, Michigan, Pac 10, SEC

By: Thomas Nelshoppen of The Baseball Zealot
Last week at the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan’s bat boy was wearing a jersey with “692″ on the back of it. The reference was lost on me till later when I read that is the exact mileage from Ann Arbor to Omaha.

When you set your goals, set them high.

Michigan (45-12) will put that all to the test as they host a NCAA Regional Tournament at Fisher Stadium beginning this Friday. They received a #2 seed and in fact, are the only #2 seed hosting a regional tournament this year. They will begin the tourney by facing #3 seed Kentucky (42-17). #1 seed Arizona will take on #4 seed Eastern Michigan (25-32). Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Ann Arbor Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Arizona, Big Ten, Eastern Michigan, Kentucky, MAC, Michigan, Pac 10, SEC

Aman Reaka and myself have been accumulating a bunch of questions from our readers over the past few weeks about the upcoming MLB draft. We have picked out the five best questions that have been sent to us and have answered them below. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ACC, Big Ten, Bryant, CBB Column, CBB Interview, Division 2, Division 3, FSU, Michigan, MLB Draft, Pac 10, SEC, South Carolina, Tampa, Trinity Unversity, Wake Forest, Washington State

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee announced the 16 regional sites for the 62nd annual NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 NCAA Tourney, ACC, Arizona State, Big 12, Big South, Big Ten, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, Coastal Carolina, Conference USA, FSU, Georgia, Long Beach State, LSU, Miami (FL), Michigan, NC State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Pac 10, Rice, SEC, Stanford, Texas AM, UNC

By Thomas Nelshoppen of The Baseball Zealot
My Illini were knocked out of the Tournament yesterday but I thought I’d stick around and see how things ended up. The Tournament was down to three teams this morning and ever shrinking. The offensive-minded teams of Purdue and Indiana took on each other for the privilege of facing powerhouse and top seed Michigan later in the evening. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big Ten, Big Ten Tourney, Indiana, Michigan, Purdue

By Thomas Nelshoppen of The Baseball Zealot

Yesterday, we said goodbye to Ohio State but today, teams were dropping like flies from Big Ten Tournament competition. This started with the first game between Illinois and Indiana which was an elimination match between the two teams.

Indiana 14 Illinois 7

Despite the score, it was actually quite an exciting game. Indiana continued with trend of scoring early and often by putting 3 runs up on the board in the first inning. This was done by their simple strategy of a) get Jason Hervey on base and b) have Josh Phegley drive him in. For the game, Hervey was 3 for 4 with 4 runs scored and Phegley was 4 for 4 with 2 homers and 6 RBI. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big Ten, Big Ten Tourney, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Penn State, Purdue

Former MLB Third Baseman Scott Brosius has led Linfield College (34-11) to the Division III National Championship Tournament. (The Oregonian)

How does Brett Wallace’s season rank in ASU history? (Pitchfork Nation)

Are conference tournaments really necessary in college baseball? (The Nickel Block)

Ohio State’s season ends in disappointment (The Buckeye Nine)

Recruiting in Southern California is a balancing act for USC and UCLA (Los Angeles Times)

South Carolina will try and keep it rolling against LSU today (Gamecock Anthem)

Seminole freshmen are getting big game experience in the ACC tournament to prepare them for the College World Series (Nole Sports)

Examining the economics of Summer League Ball (CodBall)

Miami beat Georgia Tech in a 15-12 ACC Tournament battle that looked an awful lot like a College World Series game. (Miami Herald)

Chapman has already beat their first round opponent twice this season (Orange County Register)

Tags: ACC, Arizona State, Big Ten, Cape Cod League, Chapman University, Division 3, FSU, GT, Linfield College, Miami (FL), Ohio State, Pac 10, SEC, South Carolina, UCLA, USC

By: Thomas Nelshoppen of The Baseball Zealot

On the second day, we had three games on the docket, so let’s get straight to the action.

Indiana 10 Ohio State 8

In the first game, both teams were facing elimination and tension was a bit high both on the field and in the stands. By the time I got to Fisher Stadium in the top of the first, Indiana had already scored two runs. By the time I found a seat, Jake Hale had balked and Ohio head coach was having a conversation with the ump. Before the first inning was over, four Hoosier runs were across and I thought this would be a wash. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big Ten, Big Ten Tourney, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue

By: Thomas Nelshoppen of The Baseball Zealot

Wednesday was the first day of the 2008 Big Ten Baseball Tournament hosted by first place University of Michigan. The tourney was held in its newly renovated stadium. At least it’s new to me. I remember at last year’s tournament, they were beginning construction on it. At any rate, it’s very nice, looking very first class.

Today it was sunny but very cool and the two higher seeds cooled off their opponents with complete game performances. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big Ten, Big Ten Tourney, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

James Madison 8 ETSU 4

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn., May 6, 2008 – Freshman Turner Phelps (Roanoke, Va./Lord Botetourt) pitched seven innings of shutout relief and James Madison University overcame an early four run deficit for an 8-4 non-conference baseball victory over East Tennessee State University on Tuesday night at Cardinal Park.

JMU improved to 31-13 and salvaged a win on its three-game road swing after dropping a pair at Radford. The Dukes improved to 4-1 in night games this season. ETSU fell to 18-32 on the season. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Atlantic 10, Atlantic Sun, Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, East Tennessee State, Horizon League, Indiana, James Madison, Kentucky, Louisville, Northeastern, SEC, South Florida, UCF, UMass, Wright State

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Gonzaga 6 San Francisco 5

Spokane, Wash. (http://www.gozags.com May 3, 2008) Jason Chatwood hit a solo walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth for Gonzaga University Saturday as the Bulldogs defeated the University of San Francisco 6-5 at Patterson Baseball Complex and Washington Trust Field in Spokane, Wash. The three-game West Coast Conference series between the Zags and Dons is now tied 1-1.

After surrendering a game tying run in the top of the ninth, Gonzaga (28-19, 8-8) entered its half of the ninth inning with the scored knotted at five. The leadoff batter in the inning flied out for the first out of the inning, before Chatwood stepped in. The junior then hit a one-run home run just over the leftfield wall to give the Bulldogs the 6-5 victory. The walk-off was the first of the season for GU and the first since Mark Castellitto’s walk-off against Loyola Marymount University last season. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Atlantic 10, Big South, Big Ten, Charleston Southern, Dayton, George Washington, Gonzaga, Illinois, Liberty, Mountain West, Northwestern, San Francisco, TCU, Temple, UMass, Utah, West Coast Conference