Former ASU Coach Bobby Winkles talks College Baseball (The Desert Sun)

Tulane’s Jones Promotes Chad Sutter to Associate Head Baseball Coach (Official Tulane Site)

Ryan Wilkes won a Rawlings Gold Glove (Kypost.com)

Dayton added four players for 2009. (Official Dayton Site)

MSU’s Connor Powers to take part in Cape Cod Baseball League Home Run Derby (Official Mississippi State Site)

Falmouth edged Harwich in Cape Cod League action (CodBall)

Stowell continues to dominate the Cape Cod League (Cape Cod Times)

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
PITCHER OF THE WEEK

Ricky Bowen had just completed a less-than-satisfying season as a red-shirted sophomore at Mississippi State University when he reported to the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League. But the 6-3, 197-pound right-hander improved his record to 2-1 and lowered his earned run average to 2.65 as he pitched the Braves to a 13-4 win over Wareham on July 1 to earn Coca-Cola Pitcher of the Week honors for the week ending July 5. Working the first six innings, Bowen allowed just two singles and a pair of walks while striking out seven Gatemen. In three starts encompassing 17 innings, he has scattered 16 hits, fanned 21 and issued just three bases on balls — this from a pitcher who was 3-6 with a 7.61 ERA in 13 starts for Mississippi State’s 23-33-0 Bulldogs this spring. Bowen was a 38th-round draft choice of the Cincinnati Reds on June 6 and is hoping a strong showing in the Cape League will convince the Reds to make an acceptable offer before the Aug. 15 deadline for signing drafted players. Otherwise, it’s back to Starkville, Miss., to play for new head coach John Cohen next season.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Although he was born in Miami, most Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox fans consider catcher/DH Tony Sanchez to be a “New England kid.” After all, he’s a Boston College standout, who hit .313 this spring and led the Eagles in most major offensive categories, including hits (66), RBI (45), total bases (109) and home runs (9). Picking up where he left off with BC, Sanchez hit his first two home runs of the Cape Cod Baseball League season - both grand slams - and was named Coca-Cola Player of the Week for the week ending July 6. The 6-foot, 220-pound junior-to-be crushed his first grand slam on June 29 as Y-D blanked Orleans, 5-0. It came with one out in the fifth inning and broke open what had been a close, 1-0 game. Four nights later, Sanchez’s first-inning blast with three aboard got the Red Sox off and running as they cruised past Bourne, 10-6. Sanchez is hitting .308 with 12 RBI in 13 games for Y-D. In his two college seasons, Sanchez managed to take first base as a hit batsman on 28 occasions, including a team-leading 18 times in 2008. He’s been hit four times so far to lead Y-D in that category.

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Mississippi State will hold a 1 p.m. CT press conference this Saturday, June 7, in the Bryan Athetic Administration Building to announce its new head baseball coach.

The press conference will be carried live and free of charge through Maroon to the Max, MSU’s premium streaming service. To access the video stream, fans simply need to visit M2M’s Live Events Page at the press conference time on Saturday and click on the associated link to watch the event.

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Josh Fields saved each of Georgia’s wins over the weekend to lead the Dawgs to 4-2 (10 innings) and 12-10 victories.  Georgia (33-17-1, 19-7-1 SEC) now has a 4 game lead over both LSU (35-16-1, 15-11-1 SEC) and Vanderbilt (37-15. 15-11 SEC) heading into the last weekend of SEC play. 

LSU swept struggling Mississippi State (20-32, 7-20) to run their winning streak to 12 games.  Meanwhile, South Carolina (34-18, 13-14 SEC) dropped three to Arkansas (31-21, 13-13 SEC).  The GameCocks collapse appears to have left Georgia as the only sure bet to host a regional.  LSU seems to be in good standing with respect to earning a regional host.  Vanderbilt and Florida (30-20, 14-13) may be playing this weekend for a chance to earn a third SEC host bid.  Kentucky (38-14, 14-13) and Alabama (30-22, 14-13) also harbor hosting hopes, with Alabama unranked but traveling to Georgia for a road set that could significantly improve their profile. 

Friday SEC Recap

Saturday SEC Recap

Sunday SEC Recap

Vandy Takes Game One from UGA

Despite a big 4 run inning from UGA in which they took a one run lead at 7-6, Georgia starter Trevor Holder and the UGA bullpen could not hold down Vanderbilt’s bats.  Dominic de la Osa (pictured)  and David Macias hit 2 run homeruns and every Vandy player rapped out a hit in a 13-7 shellacking.

Holder, who entered the game with a 2.84 ERA, gave up 10 ER in 6 innings and saw his ERA baloon one run to 3.84.  The strike zone was tight, often frustrating Vanderbilt’s Mikie Minor, who allowed 3 runs on a surprising 9 hits in just 5.1 innings.  There was question as to whether any pitcher would be able to get consistent outs in the game.

Vandy’s Russell Brewer (a swingman who shares closing duties with Brett Jacobsen) came in and answered that question, striking out 7 of the 10 batters he faced to pick up his 4th win.

On the day, Rich Poythress and Lyle Allen of UGA had 4 hits apiece.  Joey Lewis had three RBI, including 2 on a fifth inning homerun.  For Vanderbilt, the top three in the order (Macias, de la Osa and Alvarez, combined for 7 runs and 10 RBI on 6 hits, 2 walks and 2 HBP). 

The teams square off again today at 3 p.m. Eastern.  Vanderbilt is currently 2 games behind Georgia atop the SEC standings and can take over 1st place by percentage points with a clean sweep. Read the rest of this entry »

Here are the SEC Weekend Pitching Matchups which is the courtesy of the SEC Media Relations Department. Read the rest of this entry »

Vanderbilt sweeps Tennessee:

Knoxville - Dominic de la Osa (pictured) became Vanderbilt’s all-time hits and doubles leader with a pair of doubles on Sunday.  Vanderbilt swept the weekend despite a major home run surge by the Vols all weekend.  VU had solid pitching outings by Mikie Minor and Caleb Cotham, while Kentrell Davis impressed for Tennessee with a triple and two homers on Sunday.

• Friday - VU 8, UT 5
• Saturday - VU 9, UT 2
• Sunday - VU 10, UT 8

Georgia takes 2 of 3 from Ole Miss:

Athens - Georgia gave up a late Saturday lead to drop game two to Ole Miss; however, they stormed back on Sunday with a convincing 11-4 win behind home runs from Gordon Beckham, Lyle Allen, Matt Cerione and Michael Demperio. 

• Friday - UGA 5, OM 4
• Saturday - OM 9, UGA 4
• Sunday - UGA 11, OM 4

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, SEC Recap, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Kentucky 3 Florida 2 (10 innings)

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Brian Spear’s bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th inning scored Keenan Wiley with the game-winning run, giving the 17th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats a thrilling 3-2 win over No. 24 Florida, securing the series victory over the Gators, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Stadium. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Marcus Nidiffer and Chris McClendon tallied three hits each, as the No. 10 Kentucky baseball team utilized seven runs over its final four innings, erasing a 6-2 Mississippi State lead, securing the series win with a 9-8 victory over the Bulldogs on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in front of 2,696 fans at Cliff Hagan Stadium. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Game 1: Mississippi State 6 Kentucky 5
Game 2: Kentucky 13 Mississippi State 4

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Mississippi State and Kentucky split a Southeastern Conference baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Stadium on the UK campus. The Bulldogs rallied from a four-run deficit to take a 6-5 victory in the opener. The Wildcats cruised to a 13-4 victory in the second game. The two teams play the rubber game of the weekend three games series at noon CT Sunday.

MSU saw a three-game win streak snapped in the second game. The Bulldogs are now 14-16 overall and 3-8 in conference play. Kentucky, who lost at home in for the first time this year Saturday, is now 24-5 and 6-5. The 10th-ranked Wildcats are now 19-1 at home this season. Read the rest of this entry »

The Kentucky Wildcats are set to host the Mississippi State Bulldogs this weekend in a key showdown between SEC rivals. The Wildcats enter with a 23-4 record and 5-4 in the SEC after knocking off Western Kentucky on Wednesday by a score of 7-3. They lost the final two games last weekend in Columbia SC to the University of South Carolina to drop their conference record to 5-4. The Wildcats are undefeated at home accumulating an 18-0 record in the friendly confines of Cliff Hagan Stadium. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM PRESS RELEASE

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State’s Ron Polk, the winningest baseball coach in Southeastern Conference history, announced he will resign effective at the end of the current season, MSU Director of Athletics Larry Templeton confirmed.

“It goes without saying that we are most appreciative of the outstanding job Ron Polk has done for Mississippi State baseball,” Templeton said. “His decision does not come as a surprise because we had a conversation about this timeline even before this season started.
Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Alabama 10 Vanderbilt 3

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Junior right-hander Robert Phares, making his first career Southeastern Conference start, turned in a dazzling performance Sunday afternoon, pitching the University of Alabama baseball team to a 10-3 series-clinching win over No. 4 Vanderbilt at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Alabama 9 Vanderbilt 7

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - University of Alabama baseball team scored in six of the eight innings to snap a season-high six-game losing streak with a 9-7 win over fourth-ranked Vanderbilt at Sewell-Thomas Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Alabama tallied 14 hits in the win, including two by No. 9 hitter Jeff Texada, who also belted his first career Southeastern Conference home run in the sixth inning. Freshman shortstop Josh Rutledge, freshman second baseman Ross Wilson, sophomore left fielder Brandon May and Texada all had two hits each for Alabama. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Vanderbilt 2 Alabama 1

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Sophomore southpaw Mike Minor struck out a career-high batters in a complete game 2-1 win over Alabama Friday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

Vanderbilt improved to 14-4 overall and 3-1 in the SEC, while Alabama dropped to 9-11 and 0-4 in league play.

Minor (3-1) struck out a career best 12 batters while allowing just an unearned run on eight hits in his second complete game of the season. Read the rest of this entry »