FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Game 1: Holy Cross 9 Army 0
Game 2: Army 16 Holy Cross 0

WORCESTER, Mass. - Sophomore Matt Shapiro (Raynham, Mass.) threw is second career complete, picking up a seven inning shutout in the first game as the Holy Cross baseball split a doubleheader with Army this afternoon in Patriot League action, winning 9-0 and losing the second game, 16-0. The Crusaders are now 10-15 (5-1 Patriot League) while the Black Knights are 8-17 on the season (2-4 Patriot League). Read the rest of this entry »

Game 1: Bucknell 8 Army 5
Game 2: Bucknell 6 Army 3

WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Bucknell baseball team finished off its series with Army on Sunday with a sweep of the second doubleheader of the weekend. The Bison took game one, 8-5, and rode a solid pitching performance by freshman Dylan Seeley (Shavertown, Pa./Wyoming Seminary) to a 3-1 victory in game two. With the pair of wins, the Bison are now 13-10-2 on the season, 3-1 in the Patriot League, while the Black Knights fall to 6-16 and 1-3.

In game one, Army’s Andy Ernesto scored the first run of the contest in the bottom of the first, coming home on an error after reaching with a single up the middle. Mike Greco then made it 2-0 with an RBI single that plated Cole White. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM PRESS RELEASES

Game 1: Holy Cross 1 Lehigh 0
Game 2: Holy Cross 5 Lehigh 4 (11 innings)

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Sophomore Matt Shapiro (Raynham, Mass.) threw his first collegiate shutout, giving up two hits while striking out five batters as the Holy Cross baseball team swept Lehigh in Patriot League play this afternoon by scores of 1-0 and 5-4 (11 innings). The Crusaders improve to 6-13 on the season (2-0 Patriot League) while Lehigh falls to 12-13 (0-2 Patriot League). Read the rest of this entry »

I will check in as often as I can throughout the year to bring our loyal readers some highlights from various games across the country. Our first installment is below.

We had one of the best games in recent memory between Rice and Long Beach State last night which was won by the Dirtbags 1-0 in ten innings. Rice pitcher Ryan Berry went seven strong innings while allowing five hits and striking out eight batters. Long Beach starter Andrew Liebel outpitched Berry as he lasted eight innings also only five hits and one walk while striking out 11 batters. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

Eric Sorensen continues his season previews with the Pac-10 and Patriot League. He has Arizona, Arizona State, and UCLA as the favorites. He puts the Oregon State as a contender after their back to back national championships. He puts California as a darkhorse behind the right arm of Tyson Ross. The full article is available here. The Patriot League favorites are the Navy Midshipmen under Paul Kostacopoulos. He puts Lafayette and Army as contenders with Lehigh as a darkhorse. The full article is available here.

We continue to bring you season preview for the 2008 season.

Wake Forest Season Preview
Yale Season Preview
Stanford Season Preview
Michigan State Season Preview Part 2: Pitchers and Catchers
Lafayette Season Preview
Navy Season Preview
Missouri Season Preview: Outfield
Miami (OH) Season Preview: Infielders
Rutgers Season Preview from Gotham Baseball Magazine

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 »

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.

The Air Force Academy has posted the 2008 schedule on their website. The Academy will open the season in the Service Academies Spring Classic with Navy and Memphis joining them from February 22nd-24th. They will be making a trip to Mississippi State for a three game set at the end of February. The Falcons will also take part in the Palm Beach Papa John’s Challenge in Palm Beach, FL but the participants are not listed yet. The most interesting thing on the schedule is on April 18th-20th when they have games listed against UNC or UVSC in Colorado Springs. I wonder if this means that North Carolina is planning on heading to Air Force this year or is this a different UNC as in Northern Colorado. I suspect that it is Northern Colorado but the Falcons fans can hope that it is the two time CWS finalist North Carolina. The full schedule is available here.

The Air Force Academy will visit the Naval Academy on September 28th and 29th in part with the Navy-Air Force football game on Saturday. The game on September 28th will start at 3 pm and Saturday’s game will begin at 9 am. The teams will open each other’s season in Millington TN on February 22nd.The full release is available here.

Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com listed his top 10 Seniors on Monday. This list looks quite a bit like his recent article on returning draftees, but Kendall has some solid notes about each player.

Perhaps the most exciting thing to come out of the countdown is Kendall’s new abbreviation for “switch pitcher”: SWP. For those not in the know, that references Pat Venditte and the amazing nature of high level ambidexterity. My exuberance is not meant to be dismissive of Kendall’s ranking, it’s just that you take news when and where you can get it during the August slow season. Kendall does a great job of churning out news and interesting features and the Rivals CBB site is definitely a daily visit, much as the College Baseball Blog hopefully is for all of you.

You can read the countdown here: 10 through 6 and 5 through 1.

On to the countdown:

1. Blake Stouffer - Texas A&M - UT
2. Dominic De la Osa - Vanderbilt - RF
3. Cole St. Claire - Rice - LHP
4. Pat Venditte - Creighton - SWP
5. Joshua Fields - Georgia - RHP
6. Josh Satow - Arizona State - LHP
7. Phil Disher - South Carolina - C
8. Matt Hague - Oklahoma State - 3B
9. Mitch Harris - Navy - RHP
10. Zack Pitts - Louisville - RHP

The Navy Midshipmen picked up four wins over Holy Cross this weekend. On Saturday, The Midshipmen picked up wins of 7-6 and 12-8. The Sunday games were 8-1 and 11-7 victories for the Midshipmen. Mitch Harris picked up the victory in Game 1 on Saturday by going 6.1 innings and giving up five runs (three earned) to get his sixth victory of the season. Harris had a huge weekend for the Midshipmen at the plate also by going 8-18 with eight runs scored, 12 RBI, and three homers. Navy increases their record to 22-9 and 4-0 in the Patriot League after thew weekend sweep. The Holy Cross Crusaders continue to struggle as the four losses drop their record to 2-13 overall and 0-4 in the Patriot League.

The CBB might attend the Holy Cross and Lehigh doubleheader next Sunday.

Saturday’s Recap from Navy
Saturday’s Recap from Holy Cross

Sunday’s Recap from Navy
Sunday’s Recap from Holy Cross

The Navy Midshipmen were limited to two hits by the Missouri Tigers on the final day of the Service Academy Spring Classic. Missouri pitchers Stephan Holst and Ryan Gargano both pitched 3.0 scoreless and hitless innings to start the game. Ryan Allen then came in and gave up two hits in the final three innings of the game. The no-hit bid was broken up with 2 outs in the eighth inning by freshman Stephen Soares. Navy will be back in action on Wednesday when they host Georgetown.

Missouri followed the Navy shutout victory with a 5-1 loss to Memphis on Sunday. Missouri will be back in action Friday for their home opener with Youngstown State. I have linked to all the other games at the Classic below.

Sunday’s Game Recaps

Navy Recap
Missouri’s Recap

Air Force vs Akron Recap (Zips Recap)
Air Force vs Akron Recap (USAF Recap)

Friday Game Recaps

Akron vs Missouri Recap (Missouri Recap)
Akron vs Missouri Recap (Akron Recap)

Akron vs Memphis Recap (Memphis Recap)
Akron vs Memphis Recap (Zips Recap)

Navy vs Air Force Game 1 Recap (USNA Recap)
Navy vs Air Force Game 1 Recap (USAF Recap)

Navy vs Air Force Game 2 Recap (USNA Recap)
Navy vs Air Force Game 2 Recap (USAF Recap)

BYU vs Missouri Game Recap (BYU Recap)
BYU vs Missouri Game Recap (Missouri Recap)

Thursday Games

BYU vs Memphis Game Recap (BYU Recap)
BYU vs Memphis Game Recap (Memphis Recap)

The Navy Midshipmen took the final game of their three game set on Sunday by a score of 5-1. This win gave the Midshipmen their second victory of the weekend to take the series two games to one. Matt White led the Midshipmen on Sunday pitching seven shutout innings while only letting up two hits. Mitch Harris hit a three run homer to led the offense. Navy will be back in action next weekend when they host Iona. FAMU will be visiting Florida on Tuesday night before heading down to Miami for a three game set.

Navy Game 3 Recap
FAMU Game 3 Recap

Navy Game 2 Recap
FAMU Game 2 Recap
Tallahassee Democrat Recap

Navy Game 1 Recap
FAMU Game 1 Recap
Tallahassee Democrat Recap