Jeff Francis is set to start for the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday Night in Game 1 of the World Series. He has pitched in two games in the playoff run where he has a 2-0 record with a 2.13 ERA. Hitters are only hitting a paltry .213 against the lanky lefty. Francis was a standout player with the University of British Columbia where he was drafted out of in the first round. Tbirdbaseball.net sent us a video of an interview done with the CBC about Francis which can be watched by clicking here.

Former University of British Columbia All-American pitcher Jeff Francis has led the Colorado Rockies to the NLCS in the MLB playoffs against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He has had a solid season with a 17-9 record with a 4.22 ERA in the most hitter friendly ballpark in MLB. Francis picked up a victory in the NLDS as he led the Rockies to a 4-2 victory in Game 1 over the Philadelphia Phillies The full article from the NAIA is available here.

Thanks to Bob Broughton of T-Bird Baseball (UBC Fan Page) for the link.

The New York Yankees will be visiting Virginia Tech next spring on March 18th. The game will probably be a fundraiser for the Virginia Tech shootings that took place this past spring. We don’t have many details about this event at this time but will keep the loyal readers aware of any more news coming out of the Yankees or Virginia Tech Media Relations departments.

Mo Patton of the Tennessean is reporting that David Price will receive a record $11.25 Million package over six years, surpassing the “Prior” record of $10.4 Million over six years between Mark Prior and the Cubs. The son of two Vanderbilt alums, Prior also pitched in Nashville as a Freshman before transferring to USC for the remainder of his NCAA career.

I want to be a Sports Agent website checks in with an article about the most successful baseball programs based on MLB players drafted and making it to the Majors. Using their calculations, They have USC in the top spot with 275 players drafted and 94 players making it to the Majors. Texas holds down the second spot followed by Arizona State, Stanford, and UCLA to round out the Top 5. The full article is available here.

Conference USA has put out a press release about the amount of Conference USA alumni that are on MLB opening day rosters. They include many great players including Lance Berkman of Rice and Dan Uggla of Memphis. The full article is available here.

Andrew Miller has been called up by the Detroit Tigers after pitching a total of five innings in professional baseball. In those five innings, Miller struck out nine batters. It was debatable if Miller was going to be a September call-up for the Tigers but he is now on the roster before the September. This is a huge accomplishment for College Baseball and should give the College Baseball World some more notoriety.

Full article from the AP can be seen here.