Here is your Big West Recap for this weekend.

LONG BEACH STATE vs. USC

Game #1: USC 5 – LBSU 3
Game #2: USC 4 – LBSU 0
Game #3: LBSU 5 – USC 4

LOS ANGELES – Derek Legg scored the eventual game-winning run in the top of the ninth Sunday while Charlie Ruiz threw 1 2/3 perfect innings in relief as the Long Beach State 49ers beat the USC Trojans, 5-4, at Dedeaux Field. The 49ers recorded 13 hits in the game after a combined seven hits in the first two games of the series. Read the rest of this entry »

George Horton the new head coach of Oregon has completed his coaching staff with the hiring of Andrew Checketts from UC-Riverside and Jason Gill from Cal-State Fullerton. Checketts led the Riverside pitching staff to a nation best ERA of 3.68. Checketts will be making $120,000/year with a one time stipend of $25,000. Gill comes over from Fullerton where he helped Horton to the NCAA Title in 2004. The full release from Oregon is available here.

Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com College Baseball has counted down his top 10 rising programs with a series of articles. Here’s the list.

10. Memphis
9. Coastal Carolina
8. Michigan
7. UC Riverside
6. Texas A&M
5. Louisville
4. Missouri
3. San Diego
2. UC Irvine
1. UCLA

Kendall also answered some interesting questions in his latest Mailbag. Addressed were the draft decisions for a trio of Longhorns and Rick Porcello. Also discussed are the prospects for the NC State Wolfpack and Western Carolina’s hiring of Bobby Moranda.

Press Release

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL— Cody Satterwhite (Ole Miss) saved both ends of Team USA’s (15-5, 4-0 Pan Am Games) doubleheader at the Pan American Games, defeating Brazil 7-5 in the play-in game and then moving onto the Gold Medal Game following a 2-1 victory over Mexico. The Americans, who have won one gold medal (1967) and eight silver medals since 1951 at these Games, will face Cuba, who won their pool following a 4-0 victory over Nicaragua.

“Our goal for the summer was to play for a goal medal, and that’s where we are at,” said Manager Mike Weathers. “To win a double header in international play, is very difficult, and I’m proud of our guys today and the obstacles they had to face. We will be ready to go tomorrow.”

Logan Forsythe (Arkansas) had two multi-hit games today, giving him four for the Games, as he went 3-for-4 with the game-winning RBI against Mexico, after going 2-for-3 with a key two-run single against Brazil.

“I felt good today. Playing for a gold medal means a lot,” said Satterwhite. “Good hitting got us into the finals, and we continue to play well.”

Brian Matusz (1-0, San Diego) threw six and one third innings in the semifinal win, giving it over to the bullpen with a 2-1 lead after giving just three hits and five strikeouts. Francisco Campos countered with two runs on seven hits, pitching into the seventh, taking the loss for Mexico.

“It was exciting to pitch in a semifinal game, maybe outside the gold medal, our most important game,” said Matusz. “I didn’t know a lot about Mexico, but I knew they had some power by the way they swung the bat. My off speed pitch was not great, but I was spotting my fastball and my changeup was getting grounders and popups.”

USA reliever Brett Hunter retired six in a row and two and one-third overall, before Benjamin Gil hit a two-out double in the ninth. Satterwhite, after walking a batter, got a lineout of Ivan Terrazas to pick up his third save of the summer.

Team USA took a 2-1 lead on Mexico in the fifth with an RBI double by Roger Kieschnick (Texas Tech) and an RBI single from Forsythe.

The Americans guaranteed the No. 1 seed in Pool A earlier in the day, holding on for a 7-5 win over host Brazil, thanks to a five-run seventh inning.

Joe Kelly (1-0, UC Riverside) got the win in relief, as Satterwhite came on with the bases loaded and no outs with a three-run lead in the ninth and got the save.

Claudio Yamada, the third of four pitchers in the seventh, threw eight-straight balls to walk the go-ahead run in for the Americans to ignite the inning. A Forsythe two-run single followed, before a Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) double made it 7-2.

Ryan Berry (Rice) gave up four hits and two runs over five and one third innings, but walked five, as the Americans tied the game in the sixth and second innings.

U.S. PAN AMERICAN NOTES
The Americans have won a medal in 14 out of the previous 16 games since the games started in 1951. They won their only gold medal in 1967 in Canada, and finished a runner-up another eight times. In their last series in 2003, when Manager Mike Weathers and assistant Mark Scalf were assistants, Team USA finished with a silver medal to Cuba… Team USA’s pitching staff was called for 12 walks on Wednesday, after averaging just under three per game over the first 18 games.

TOURNAMENT NOTES
With Mexico winning the continued game over Venezuela 3-2 in 10 innings, Cuba earned the No. 1 seed in Pool B and Mexico was the No. 2 seed…. Nicaragua defeated the Dominican Republic 2-0 in the other play-in game, giving Nicaragua and the Dominican 1-2 records in Pool B, and guaranteeing the Americans a medal game about 90 minutes prior to USA’s final pitch against Brazil.

We have found that three schools have already released their 2008 schedules. The NCAA annouced in 2006 that they will have an unverisal start date which is Febraury 22nd this season. The LSU Tigers will open the season on the start date when they host Indiana for a three game set. The Cal State Fullerton Titans will also open up at TCU. The final schedule we have found is the UC-Riverside Highlanders who also start on the first possible day with a series at Washington.

LSU Schedule
Cal-State Fullerton Schedule
UC-Riverside Schedule

USA Baseball Release

CARY, NC— Wei-Hua Lee (2-0) pitched a complete-game, seven hitter as Chinese Taipei (2-3) scored two runs in the top of the seventh to defeat Team USA (8-2) 3-2 on Monday morning. Lee struck out four and walked one. The five-game series continues in Kannapolis, NC on Tuesday at 7 p.m. after the U.S. won the first three games.

The American bullpen blew a one-run lead in the seventh when Josh Romanski (0-1, San Diego) put two runners on and Joe Kelly (UC Riverside) walked the bases full Kelly then gave up a two-run single to Ying-Chien Liao to give CTBA a 3-2 lead.

Reliever Jordy Mercer (Oklahoma State) kept the game to within one, getting three consecutive outs after Kelly walked two straight to begin the inning.

Back-to-back RBI singles by Brett Wallace (Arizona State) and Petey Paramore (ASU) gave the Americans a 2-1 lead in the fourth.

The Taiwanese took a 1-0 lead in the first off of Ryan Berry (Rice) on an RBI double from Chien-Ming Su. Berry was making his first start for Team USA since pitching for Rice in the College World Series. Berry went the first six innings, giving up one run on four hits, using just 68 pitches.

TEAM NOTES
Taiwanese starter Wei-Hua Lee was making his second start on the American tour. He gave up one run on five hits in CTBA’s first game on Thursday… the team’s start time of 10 a.m. is the second earliest start of the season. They play host Brazil on the third day of the Pan American Games at 9 a.m.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The Chinese Taipei series closes out in Kannapolis, NC (July 3) at 7 p.m. The 10-game North Carolina home stand continues with Japan on July 4, beginning a five-game series in Durham, NC (July 4, 6, 7, and Kannapolis (July 5).

Nebraska 11 UC-Riverside 1

The Huskers stayed alive with an 11-1 victory over UC-Riverside in an elimination game on Sunday. Johnny Dorn pitched a gem by letting up one run on five hits while striking out twelve batters. Nebraska advanced to face Arizona State in the Regional Final.

Nebraska Game Recap
UC-Riverside Game Recap

Arizona State 19 Nebraska 7

ASU took care of the Huskers 19-7 after the Nebraska pitching staff fell apart from having to come through the loser’s bracket. Arizona State advances to the Super Regionals to face Ole Miss.

ASU Game Recap
Nebraska Game Recap

Nebraska 6 Monmouth 5

Nebraska survived a late rally from Monmouth to win the elimination game from Monmouth on Saturday evening. Nebraska scored five runs in the seventh inning which was highlighted by a big two run double from Jake Opitz. Monmouth ends the season with a 36-24-1 record while Nebraska advances to play UC-Riverside on Sunday.

Nebraska Recap
Monmouth Recap

ASU 9 UC-Riverside 2

Mike Leach pitched a complete game while giving up two runs as the Sun Devils picked up a 9-2 victory over UC-Riverside. Petey Paramore led the Sun Devils offense by going 3-4 with 2 RBI as the Sun Devils advance in the winner’s bracket to take on the winner of the UC-Riverside vs Nebraska elimination game tomorrow.

ASU Recap
UC-Riverside Recap

UC-Riverside 10 Nebraska 5

The Highlanders picked up a solid 10-5 victory over Nebraska. They were led by Jaime Pedroza who went 2-4 with four RBI including a home run. UC-Riverside will take on Arizona State on Saturday while Nebraska battles Monmouth.

UC-Riverside Recap
Nebraska Recap

Arizona State 5 Monmouth 3

Kiel Roling went 2-3 with three runs scored as the Sun Devils defeated Monmouth 5-3. ASU will take on UC-Riverside and Monmouth will play Nebraska.

ASU Recap
Monmouth Recap

Arizona State will be hosting the NCAA Regional this upcoming weekend at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. They will be joined by UC-Riverside, Nebraska, and Monmouth.

Arizona State

The Sun Devils (43-13) have one of the best offenses in the country with a team batting average of .349. They have 11 players who are batting over .300 on the year. Brett Wallace leads the team in average at .426 including 15 homers and 73 RBI. Josh Satow has become the ace of the staff as he has an 11-3 record with a 2.23 ERA. They open the tournament at 7 pm PDT against Monmouth.

Arizona State Tourney Notes

UC-Riverside

The UC-Riverside (37-19) Baseball squad is led by one of the top pitchers in the country in James Simmons. He leads the team with a 10-3 record and a 2.32 ERA. He recently was named the Big West pitcher of the year. The offense is led by Joey Gonzales who is hitting .360 on the season. They will open up against Nebraska at 2 pm PDT.

UC-Riverside Tourney Notes

Nebraska

The Cornhuskers (30-25) are in the midst of a rebuilding year. They are led by Jeff Tedak who leads the team with a .331 average. The Huskers will be without starting catcher Mitch Abeita who is out for the Regionals with a broken leg. The Husker pitching staff is headlined by Tony Watson who is 6-4 with a 3.94 ERA. Nebraska opens up against UC-Riverside at 2pm PDT.

Nebraska Tourney Notes

Monmouth

Monmouth (36-22-1) enters this weekend as the automatic bid out of the Northeast Conference after defeating Central Connecticut State in the championship game 7-1 in which the CBB attended. The full article is available by clicking here. They are led by Kyle Messineo who is hitting .346 on the season and leads the team in stolen bases with an outstanding 41 on the season. Ryan Buch and Brad Brach both went 9-2 on the year to lead the pitching staff. Monmouth opens against Arizona State at 7 pm PDT.

Monmouth Tourney Notes

The CBB predicts that Arizona State will win the Regional fairly easily.

The UC-Riverside Highlanders picked up a 9-4 victory over San Diego in college baseball action Tuesday. The Highlanders received a 2-3 performance from Jaime Pedroza who also scored three runs in the game. Matt Vass picked up a key three-run homer in the second inning to provide some power to the offense. Chad Blauer started the game for San Diego and only lasted 1.1 innings while giving up five runs (all earned) to pick up his first loss of the season. UC-Riverside starter Marc Rzepczynski pitched 5.0 innings while only giving up three runs to get his third victory of the season against no losses.

Riverside Recap
San Diego Recap

The UCLA Bruins knocked off the UC Riverside Highlanders 3-2 in a highly competitive game at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Bruins pitching held the Highlander offense in check until the top of the ninth inning when closer Brant Rustich entered the game with a three run lead. He proceeded to scare everyone in the ballpark by giving up two runs on a hit and two walks. Rustich also had problems in Coral Gables this weekend including blowing a save against the Hurricanes. Brandon Crawford went 3-4 on the night to lead the Bruins offense. Kyle Barratt and Ryan Goetz had the only two hits on the evening for Riverside. UCLA hosts East Carolina on Friday while Riverside hosts San Francisco.

UCLA Recap
UC Riverside Recap
Daily Bruin Article