FROM PRESS RELEASE

WINTER PARK, Fla. – Junior Jake Gorman (Norfolk, Mass.) went 1-for-4 including a two-run home run and drove in three runs but it wasn’t enough as the Holy Cross baseball team fell to St. Joseph’s, 16-4, at the Rollins Baseball Week Tournament. The Crusaders drop to 0-4 on the season while St. Joseph’s improves to 2-5. Read the rest of this entry »

We look at various links from around the country today.

BleedCrimson.net checks in with Coach Ward (NMSU)
Gotham Magazine Players of the Week/Weekend Recap
Holy Cross Season Preview
Penn Season Preview from Daily Pennsylvanian
Penn’s Tom Grandieri looks to impact lineup
Penn’s Roth looks to have strong Sophomore season
Baseball Zealot talks with Big Ten Hardball

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 College Baseball Blog continues our series of interviews with head coaches checking in with new Holy Cross coach Greg DiCenzo. He is entering his first season in charge of the Crusader program after coming over from Northeastern. He takes over a Holy Cross club which went 12-23 and 8-11 in the Patriot League.

1. Greg, You are entering your first season as a Head Coach of a Division 1 program after spending the last five seasons as an assistant coach with Northeastern. What is the biggest challenges you face in your first year with Holy Cross? Read the rest of this entry »

Greg DiCenzo is featured in an article in the Holy Cross magazine by former Worcester Telegram & Gazette writer John Gearan. DiCenzo is entering his first season at the helm of the Crusaders program after a successful five seasons with the Northeastern Huskies. 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 »

FROM PRESS RELEASE
Worcester, Mass. – Holy Cross athletic director Richard M. Regan Jr. and head baseball coach Greg DiCenzo have announced the Crusaders’ schedule for the 2008 season, which is set to begin on March 1-2, when Holy Cross travels to DeLand, Florida to face Stetson University for games scheduled on Saturday and Sunday.

The Crusaders will then travel to Rollins College for a single game against the hosting team (March 3). While at Rollins, Holy Cross will play St. Joseph’s (March 4), Georgetown and Rollins (March 5), St. Joseph’s (March 6), Georgetown (March 7), and a game to be determined on March 8.

Holy Cross will host Assumption in a doubleheader for its’ first play at Fitton Field of the season. The Crusaders will visit the University of Washington for two doubleheaders (March 15-16) and then head to Siena (March 19).

The Crusaders play the next three games at home, facing LeMoyne (March 20), Quinnipiac (March 22), and Connecticut (March 25). Holy Cross will then travel to Boston College for a single game scheduled on March 26.

Holy Cross kicks off its Patriot League action when it travels to Lehigh (April 5-6) to play two doubleheaders. After traveling to Massachusetts (April 1), the Crusaders will return home to host Harvard (April 2) and a doubleheader with Army (April 5-6). Holy Cross will host Northeastern (April and Hartford (April 9) followed by hitting the road to face Bucknell for four games (April 12-13).

The Crusaders will host Central Connecticut (April 15) followed by a non-conference game at Dartmouth (April 16). Holy Cross will continue its Patriot League play, hosting its’ final two doubleheaders against Lafayette (April 19-20). The Crusaders will play the next seven games on the road beginning with a doubleheader at Brown (April 23) and then to Navy for two doubleheaders (April 26-27), and finishing up the regular season with an away game at Rhode Island (April 29).

The Patriot League Tournament is scheduled for May 10-11 and 17-18, with locations to be determined.

Full Schedule

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 PRESS RELEASE
WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross has named Mike Reed as an assistant baseball coach, as announced by head coach Greg DiCenzo and Athletic Director Richard M. Regan, Jr.

A 1994 graduate of Salem State, Reed’s years of experience ranges from his recent assistant coaching position at Milford High to beginning his career with the Milford Legion baseball club. Other highlights of Reed’s career include his role as head coach at Clark University from 1995-1999, in which the team improved from three wins in 1995 to a school record 15 wins in 1999. Under his coaching, the team was also a two-time Constitution Athletic Conference Semi-finalist (1998-99).

After Clark, Reed took on an assistant coaching position at Babson College. During his time as assistant coach, he scouted over 200 games, contacted over 800 prospective student-athletes, and generated over 100 applications during this two year span. In 2001, Reed was named head coach at Babson.

Aside from his extensive and successful coaching career, Reed was a section sergeant of the 101st Airborne Division from 2002-2006 in the United States Army in Fort Campbell, KY.

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.

The College Baseball Blog has confirmed with multiple sources that Greg Dicenzo has been selected to become the new Head Coach of the Holy Cross baseball program. Dicenzo heads to Holy Cross after being with the Northeastern Huskies as a pitching coach the last five seasons. He left the program abruptly after the close of the 2007 season in hopes of receiving a head coaching position which came with the Holy Cross program.

The Holy Cross program plays in the best college stadium in New England in Fitton Field. The field is the home of the Independent League Worcester Tornadoes and provides a great place to watch some college baseball.

The College Baseball Blog would like to congratulate Coach Dicenzo for getting the job and hoping he leads the Crusaders program back to the promise land.

UPDATE: Official Press Release

Craig Najarian of Holy Cross in Worcester MA has resigned effective immediately to become the athletic director at Foxboro High School. The school has announced a national search for a new head coach will begin immediately.

Holy Cross Release

The Army Cadets swept a doubleheader from Holy Cross on Saturday in West Point NY. Nick Hill pitched 6.0 shutout innings while only allowing three hits and Milan Dinga pitched a perfect seventh inning to give the Cadets the 3-0 victory. In Game 2, Army scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth with a key two-out two-run triple from Chris Simmons to tie the game up. Simmons then came through in the bottom of the tenth with a single to drive home the winning run.

Holy Cross Recap
Army Recap

The Holy Cross Athletic Department will honor the 1952 National Championship team in a ceremony between games of their doubleheader with Bucknell on April 21st. They will raise a championship banner and celebrate the victory over Missouri on June 17, 1952 that clinched the title for the Crusaders.

Holy Cross Release

The Holy Cross Crusaders swept the Lehigh Mountain Hawks in Patriot League action on Saturday. Scott Hampe pitched a no-hitter in game one. He allowed four walks as they accounted for all the base runners for Lehigh. Norm Roth led the Crusaders with two hits in his three at bats. He also scored two runs in the game. Brendan Akashian went 3-4 with 3 RBIs in Game 2 to lead Holy Cross to a 6-3 victory.

Holy Cross Recap
Lehigh Recap