FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
ST. LOUIS – Missouri State, which returns a dominating veteran pitching staff and solid depth from last year’s Missouri Valley Conference runner-up squad, has been tabbed as the league favorite in the annual coaches’ preseason poll, receiving eight of nine first place votes.

The Bears tallied 80 points and were a sound favorite over second-place pick Creighton (66 points). 2008 champion Wichita State, who secured the remaining first-place vote and 63 points overall, was picked to finish in the third position. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
Laird powers USA Baseball past Northwest Florida State 16-2

MOBILE, Ala. – Sean Laird homered twice and drove in five runs as South Alabama cruised to a 16-2 victory over Northwest Florida State Sunday afternoon at Stanky Field.

Northwest Florida State took an early lead a pair of runs off Jags’ starter Miles Ethridge, but USA answered with three runs in the bottom of the second to take a 3-2 lead. Ryan Bohanan got the Jags started with a triple, and Derek O’Reilly brought him in with a sacrifice fly. Laird put two more runs on the board with a homer to left field. That proved to be all the insurance USA’s pitching would need. Read the rest of this entry »

Head Coach Wade Simoneaux

Louisiana Tech Bulldog Baseball Sets Fall Schedule

For the first time in the Wade Simoneaux era at Louisiana Tech, the Bulldog baseball team will play four fall games against outside competition.

Simoneaux announced Monday that Louisiana Tech would play LSU-Shreveport Oct. 3, Panola Junior College Oct. 9, Grambling State Oct. 16 and Bossier Parish Community College Oct. 18.
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Head Coach Greg Frady announced the schedule for the 2009 baseball season on Tuesday afternoon. Courtesy: Georgia State Sports Communications

Georgia State Announces 2009 Slate

Highlighted by home match-ups against two of their biggest rivals and coming off a school record 33-win season, the Georgia State baseball team announced its upcoming 2009 schedule on Tuesday afternoon. The journey back to the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament begins with a four-game home series against Cleveland State on Friday, February 20th.
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Mark Kingston of Tulane University will be leaving the school to head to Illinois State to become the head coach in the 2010 season. He will serve as the head coach designee in 2009 under outgoing coach Jim Brownlee. Kingston was a member of Rick Jones staff since the 2001 season and becomes the fifth head coach that served under Jones to become a head coach. Read the rest of this entry »

We have found a bunch of season previews in the last week. We have linked to them below.

Houston
USC
Clemson
Illinois State: Catchers

The Illinois State Media Relations department continues their series of season previews this week focusing on the outfielders. They have a very young outfield for the 2008 season which is led by Tyler McNeely. He had a strong summer in the NYCBL where he was named to the All-Star team after struggling in the 2007 season with the Redbirds as he only hit .152 in 33 at bats. The full preview is available here.

The Illinois State Media Relations Department checks in with Week 2 of the season preview this week focusing on the Infield. Mike Stalowy is the top returning infielder after having a disappointing 2007 season where he hit .300 with four doubles, a triple, and 11 RBI. He will continue to play every position in the infield including first base at the beginning of the season as he is recovering from off season shoulder surgery. Kyle Cherney is the only healthy senior in the infield but had a disastrous 2007 campaign which saw him struggle at the plate with a .194 batting average. The full preview is available here.

The Illinois State Media Relations department has started a series of articles previewing the 2008 season. The first installment focuses on the Starting Pitching which is led by Senior Eric Theisen. He went 3-9 with a 4.54 ERA in 2007 coming back from a severe arm injury in 2006. In 2005, He was perfect as he picked up six wins without recording a loss and an ERA of 3.00. The full preview of the Redbirds pitching staff is available here.

We are continuing our coverage of the Recruiting classes for the 2008-2009 season. You can read about each school below.

Memphis
Maine
UAB
East Carolina
Santa Clara
Illinois State
Xavier
Miami (OH)

Here is your update on Fall Baseball Scrimmage Action for October 16th. Click on the links below for more information.

Notre Dame (Video also available at the site)
Illinois State
Tulane
Georgia Tech
Memphis
Dartmouth vs Umass

Many schools are finishing up their fall seasons with intra-squad scrimmages. We have linked to all the weekend recaps below.

Wake Forest (Game 2)
Wake Forest (Game 1)
Indiana Fall Recap
Southeast Missouri State (Game 2)
Southeast Missouri State (Game 1)
Marshall Fall Series Recap
Villanova Fall Series Recap
UNC Fall Series Recap
Illinois State Fall Series Recap
Michigan State Fall Series Recap