FROM PATRIOT LEAGUE

Center Valley, Pa. - After earning the top seed in this weekend’s Patriot League Tournament, Army reaped the benefits of its stellar season by leading all teams with eight selections on the 2008 Patriot League Baseball All-League Team. The team was voted on by the League’s six head coaches, who could not vote for their own student-athletes.

The Black Knights placed three players on the first team, while five garnered second-team honors. Bucknell followed Army with seven selections, while Navy had six picks overall and a League-high five student-athletes that received first-team honors. Holy Cross and Lehigh each had three All-League selections, while Lafayette had one representative. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Game 1: Holy Cross 11 Navy 5
Game 2: Navy 2 Holy Cross 1

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Senior Brendan Akashian (Lowell, Mass.) went 4-for-8 with a double and two RBIs while freshman Eric Oxford (Danavers, Mass.) went 3-for-8 with three RBIs and a double as the Holy Cross baseball team split with Navy in a Patriot League doubleheader, winning the first game 11-5 and dropping game two, 2-1. The Crusaders are now 20-25 (11-9 Patriot League) while the Midshipmen are 28-21 on the season (11-9 Patriot League). Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Game 1: Navy 6 Holy Cross 5
Game 2: Navy 9 Holy Cross 3

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy’s top-two hitters in the lineup, Renaldo Hollins (Sr./Virginia Beach, Va.) and Mike Guadagnini (Fr./Virginia Beach, Va.), combined to go 13-for-19 with seven runs scored on Saturday to lead the Midshipmen to a baseball doubleheader sweep of Holy Cross at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. Navy rallied in the opener and won in nine innings, 6-5, before taking the nightcap, 9-3. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Game 1: Army 5 Lehigh 0
Game 2: Army 6 Lehigh 0

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Cole White scattered six hits in the opener, and Matt Fouch and Kirk Porter combined on a three-hitter in the nightcap as Army regained a share of first place in the Patriot League standings by posting a pair of shutout victories against Lehigh, Sunday afternoon at Doubleday Field.

The Black Knights won the first game 5-0 behind the stellar pitching of White, then rode the dominant performances of Fouch and Porter to a 6-0 victory in the second game. Over the course of 16 innings of game action on Sunday, White, Fouch and Porter did not allow a single Lehigh base runner to reach third base. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Game 1: Holy Cross 2 Lafayette 1
Game 2: Holy Cross 6 Lafayette 1

WORCESTER, Mass. - The Holy Cross baseball team turned to it’s bullpen for success this afternoon as the Crusaders swept Lafayette in a Patriot League doubleheader at Fitton Field by scores of 2-1 and 6-1. Holy Cross improves to 17-20 on the season (9-5 Patriot League) while Lafayette falls to 18-16 (6-8 Patriot League). Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Game 1: Bucknell 3 Holy Cross 0
Game 2: Bucknell 7 Holy Cross 6

LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell baseball squad rode clutch performances by senior Mathew Wilson (Toronto, Ontario/Northern S.S.) and sophomore Ben Yoder (Belleville, Pa./Indian Valley) to a doubleheader sweep of Holy Cross on Sunday afternoon on Depew Field. Wilson fanned 11 batters in a complete game shutout effort as the Bison defeated the Crusaders, 3-0, in game one, while Yoder registered a walk off single in the bottom of the ninth in game two, leading the Orange and Blue to a 7-6 victory in that contest. Bucknell, which is now 7-1 at home this season, moves to 17-16-2 overall, 7-5 in league play, while the Crusaders fall to 14-19 and 7-5 in the Patriot League. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Game 1: Lehigh 5 Lafayette 1
Game 2: Lafayette 5 Lehigh 0

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Lafayette baseball team rebounded from a 5-1 loss in the first game of a four-game series with archrival Lehigh to shutout the Mountain Hawks 5-0 in the second. Daniel Bierce and Tom Ambrosole each hit home runs in the 5-0 win while starting pitcher Jeremy Atkins threw a complete game shutout in Bethlehem. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Game 1: Navy 4 Lehigh 2
Game 2: Lehigh 6 Navy 5

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Navy infielder Thomas Hamilton (Sr./Houston, Texas) homered in both games as the Midshipmen split a Sunday doubleheader against Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa. The Mids won the opener, 4-2, before the Mountain Hawks rallied for 6-5 victory in the nightcap.

The Midshipmen saw its record move to 20-11 overall and 6-2 in Patriot League play, while the Mountain Hawks improved to 14-18 overall and 1-7 in league action. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Game 1: Holy Cross 9 Army 0
Game 2: Army 16 Holy Cross 0

WORCESTER, Mass. - Sophomore Matt Shapiro (Raynham, Mass.) threw is second career complete, picking up a seven inning shutout in the first game as the Holy Cross baseball split a doubleheader with Army this afternoon in Patriot League action, winning 9-0 and losing the second game, 16-0. The Crusaders are now 10-15 (5-1 Patriot League) while the Black Knights are 8-17 on the season (2-4 Patriot League). Read the rest of this entry »

Game 1: Bucknell 8 Army 5
Game 2: Bucknell 6 Army 3

WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Bucknell baseball team finished off its series with Army on Sunday with a sweep of the second doubleheader of the weekend. The Bison took game one, 8-5, and rode a solid pitching performance by freshman Dylan Seeley (Shavertown, Pa./Wyoming Seminary) to a 3-1 victory in game two. With the pair of wins, the Bison are now 13-10-2 on the season, 3-1 in the Patriot League, while the Black Knights fall to 6-16 and 1-3.

In game one, Army’s Andy Ernesto scored the first run of the contest in the bottom of the first, coming home on an error after reaching with a single up the middle. Mike Greco then made it 2-0 with an RBI single that plated Cole White. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM PRESS RELEASES

Game 1: Holy Cross 1 Lehigh 0
Game 2: Holy Cross 5 Lehigh 4 (11 innings)

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Sophomore Matt Shapiro (Raynham, Mass.) threw his first collegiate shutout, giving up two hits while striking out five batters as the Holy Cross baseball team swept Lehigh in Patriot League play this afternoon by scores of 1-0 and 5-4 (11 innings). The Crusaders improve to 6-13 on the season (2-0 Patriot League) while Lehigh falls to 12-13 (0-2 Patriot League). Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

The CBB continues their series of articles previewing different conferences throughout the country. This week we check in on the Patriot League. Lafayette won the Patriot League title by sweeping Army in the Patriot League Championship series after Army knocked off Navy in the opening round of the Patriot League playoffs. Lafayette lost to Virginia 5-1 and Rutgers 11-10 in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The 2008 season will be the first time that the Patriot League will allow four schools into their postseason tournament which will consist of a best out of three semifinal round followed by a championship series the next weekend. Read the rest of this entry »

The Naval Academy and Head Coach Paul Kostacopoulos have released their 2008 schedule. They will open in the Service Academy Spring Classic where they will face Air Force twice and Arkansas State in a single game. They will open the Patriot League portion of the schedule when they head to Lafayette on March 29th and 30th. The Midshipmen will also visit Bucknell and Lehigh (two games) in Patriot League action. They will host Holy Cross, Army, and Lehigh (two games) in Patriot League showdowns. The league has changed the playoff system for 2008 in which four teams will make the postseason. The top seed will host a best of three series against the fourth seed and the second seed will host the third seed in the best of three series. The two winners will match up in the next weekend with the winning deciding the Patriot League championship. The press release is available here and the full schedule is available here.

FROM COLLEGE BASEBALL FOUNDATION RELEASE

The inaugural Veterans Class of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame was inducted this morning in a ceremony held in Lubbock, Texas. Jack Barry of Holy Cross, Lou Gehrig of Columbia, Christy Mathewson of Bucknell and Joe Sewell of Alabama comprised the class.

Barry, a player and later coach at Holy Cross, coached the Crusaders for 39 seasons, including a College World Series title in 1952. Representing Barry in the ceremony, which was conducted as part of the “Hall of Fame Showcase” at City Bank Texas, was his nephew, Mr. Tom Deedy. A video speech was played from Ron Perry, former Holy Cross athletic director and a player for Barry on the ’52 national champions, in which he spoke of Barry.

“Jack Barry stressed the fundamentals and he demanded that we be mentally alert at all times,” Perry said. “He did not hesitate to replace a player who was not attentive.”

Gehrig, who set several offensive records and also pitched for Columbia, was represented by Barry Neuberger, Associate Athletics Director for Sports Marketing at Columbia University. He detailed a home run hit by Gehrig on campus at Columbia that traveled through a distant classroom window.

“I’ve had this story detailed to me a number of times, and all accounts are consistent,” Neuberger said. “The ball traveled about 450 feet.”

Bucknell baseball coach Gene Depew accepted the induction plaque on behalf of Mathewson. One of the first college men to achieve prominence in professional sports, Mathewson was better known in college as a football star.

“Grantland Rice referred to him as the finest drop-kicker of his time,” Depew said. “He also played a horn in the band and sang in the glee club.”

Joe Sewell played at Alabama from 1918 to 1920, and later coached the Crimson Tide to the SEC title in 1968. His daughter, Mary Sue Sewell Parnell, and son, Dr. James Sewell, described a father who loved to tell stories about his baseball days.

“He loved baseball until his death,” said Dr. Sewell.

“He told us about being roommates with Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, although he said he roomed with the Babe’s suitcase more often than the Babe himself,” Pernell laughed.

Hall of Fame festivities will continue on July 4 with the induction of the 2007 Class of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame. The class of 11 includes John Olerud of Washington State, Jim Abbott of Michigan and Fred Lynn of USC.