The West Coast Conference announced the 2008 Preseason Conference Poll as selected by the coaches. San Diego is selected to finish in first place as they received seven out of a possible eight first place votes with Santa Clara getting the other one. Pepperdine comes in second place followed by Santa Clara in third place. The conference should be decided by these three schools as they all return veteran squads. The rest of the poll is filled with LMU, Gonzaga, San Francisco, Portland, and St. Mary’s. The full press release is available by clicking here.

Tags: 2008 Conference Preview, Gonzaga, Loyola-Marymount, Pepperdine, Portland, San Francisco, Santa Clara, St. Mary's, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference

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)

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

FROM CCBL RELEASE
SOUTH YARMOUTH, Mass.- The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox were in control of game one of the Cape Cod Baseball League Championship Series from the first batter all the way to the end. After both teams swept their divisional series, the Red Sox kept their momentum going while taking the wind out of Falmouth’s sails winning 8-2.

Game two of the Championship series will be played at Guv. Fuller Field in Falmouth at 7 PM August 13 as the Red Sox will be looking to win their third title in four years. Tonight’s crowd of 4.335 is expected to matched tomorrow in what could be the last game of the 2007 season.

Falmouth starter Shooter Hunt (Tulane) was chased from the game after pitching just 2 1/3 innings giving up four runs on four hits. Hunt started the game by relinquishing a homer to the first batter he faced, Grant Green (Southern California) who also blasted a solo shot in the fifth inning off of reliever Preston Claiborne (Tulane).

The second year starter for Falmouth, who also allowed Buster Posey (Florida State) to score on a sacrifice fly by Gordon Beckham (Georgia) in the first, left the game in the third after giving up a single to Jason Castro (Stanford) and a walk to leftfielder Aaron Luna (Rice) to start the inning. Preston Claiborne, Hunt’s college teammate, came in and gave up a walk to load the bases, but the Red Sox could not cash in on the opportunity as Claiborne struck out Collin Cowgill (Kentucky) and induced a ground ball out from Joey Railley (University of San Francisco) to end the threat.

The Red Sox scored twice in the second off of Hunt thanks to an RBI double by second baseman Railley that drove in Cowgill and a ground ball by the tall middle infielder turned first baseman Green that plated Railley to go up 4-0. Green moved to first base for the postseason after an elbow injury to Sean Ochinko (LSU) in the last game of the regular season left a hole in the lineup for Y-D.

For Yarmouth-Dennis Terry Doyle (Boston College), the 2006 Co-Outstanding Pitcher of the Year, collected the win giving up just two runs on four hits. He struck out seven Commodores, walking three and racking up four wild pitches in his last Cape League start in 6 1/3 innings of work.

Two of those wild pitches led to a Falmouth run as second baseman David Adams (Virginia) took both third and home on pitches that hit the dirt in front of the plate and got by Buster Posey (Florida State). The 6 foot 2 inch 205 pound power hitter, who led the Commodores with 51 hits on the season, reached second base on a double that just missed leaving the park bouncing off the left field fence in front of the score board at Red Wilson Field.

Adam’s scored the second Falmouth run in the sixth inning after reaching on a single, stealing second base, advancing to third on another Doyle wild pitch and coming home on a sacrifice fly by third baseman Phil Carey (Winthrop).

The Red Sox collected three insurance runs in the eighth of off reliever Erik Bird (Nebraska). Green collected his fourth RBI of the night, and Posey and right fielder Matt Long (Santa Clara) each drove in one run putting the final tally at eight for the Red Sox.

DJ Mauldin (Cal Poly State) shut down the Falmouth Commodores to close out the game, pitching 2 2/3 shutout innings to keep Doyle’s seventh win of the season in tact.
For Doyle, there couldn’t be a better way to finish his Cape League career than with back-to-back championships.

“It would be great (to win again), last year was a lot of fun but to be able to go back to back, which nobody’s done in a while, would be great. I mean, everybody likes winning,” said Doyle.

Photo is courtesy of Codball

 

Tags: ACC, Boston College, Cal-Poly, Cape Cod League, FSU, Kentucky, LSU, Nebraska, Santa Clara, Stanford, Tulane, USC, UVA, Winthrop

The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox knocked off the Chatham A’s 4-3 with a walkoff RBI from Matt Long. Codball.com has an excellent recap available here. The teams will be back in action in Game 2 of the best of three series on Sunday at 7 pm in Chatham.

The Falmouth Commodores took Game 1 of their series with Bourne on Saturday by a score of 7-2. Aaron Crow started for Falmouth and went 6 innings while giving up only one run on three hits to pick up the win. Codball has a full recap available here. The teams will head to Falmouth for Game 2 at 7 pm.

Tags: Cape Cod League, Missouri, Santa Clara

FROM USA BASEBALL
ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS— Team USA (25-11, 4-3 WPT) was beat for the second time by Chinese Taipei (4-4 WPT) at the World Port Tournament, 1-0, forcing the Americans to have to beat first place Cuba on Saturday to advance to Sunday’s finals. If they lose on Saturday, their summer is over.

The Americans forced one last rally in the ninth inning off of Wei-Hua Lee, who finished with a complete game four-hitter. Tommy Medica (Santa Clara) had a one-out pinch-hit single, before a two-out bunt base hit by Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State) in front of the plate, followed by a walk, loaded the bases. But Petey Paramore (Arizona State) struck out on a 2-2 pitch to give the Taiwanese the victory.

Lee worked his magic all day long, retiring 10 in a row early, and then another nine in a row into the eighth inning.

Tyson Ross (4-1, California) lost for the first time this summer, pitching seven-plus innings, giving up one run on six hits. He put runners on base in seven of the eight innings, but got 13 groundball outs. With a runner on base in the eighth, Brett Hunter (Pepperdine) came on and struck out the side.

Ryan Flaherty’s (Vanderbilt) hit in the fifth, the 3500th hit in the tournament’s history, broke a string of 10 in a row retired by Lee, and loaded the bases for the first of two times. Two walks followed Flaherty, before Jordy Mercer (Oklahoma State) struck out to end the threat and keep Taipei up 1-0.

A one-out triple by Chien-Yu Kuo came around to score on a groundout to give Taipei a 1-0 lead in the first.

TEAM NOTES
Ryan Flaherty’s single in the fifth inning was the 3500th hit in the tournament’s 22-year, 11-time history… Standings heading into tonight’s game between Cuba and the Netherlands are the Cubans are 6-0, Japan is 0-7 and the Netherlands is 3-3… Netherlands will need to win twice and have Team USA lose to Cuba in order to get into the Finals… The Americans won four of five from Chinese Taipei in the States and lost the first game at the World Port Tournament, 10-5… Jordan Danks has hit safely in the last six World Port Games… games can be followed live on the internet at http://www.worldporttournament.nl/… Stats are available at: http://utopia.ision.nl/users/hwede/stats07/wpt07/ and under live scoring.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The Americans will close out the summer with a game against Cuba (8 a.m. Eastern). The Finals between the first place team, currently Cuba (6-0) and the second place team are on August 12 at 7 a.m, Eastern, finishing the summer for the Americans.

 

Tags: Cal, Long Beach State, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Santa Clara, SEC, Team USA, Vanderbilt, World Port Tournament

-Courtesy of USA Baseball-

ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS— Team USA (25-10, 4-2 WPT) moved into sole possession of second place with two days to play at the World Port Tournament following a 10-2 win over host Netherlands (3-3 WPT) on a cool and windy Thursday evening.

Jordan Danks (Texas) fell a triple short of hitting for the cycle, going 3-for-5 with a solo home run and RBI double, while Tommy Medica (Santa Clara) drove in two runs with two hits. Justin Smoak (South Carolina) walked twice and got two hits.

Team USA pushed across three runs in the first and fourth innings to give Ryan Berry (2-1, Rice) a 7-1 lead. Berry rebounded to go seven innings, giving up a run on five hits.

After walking three and scattering four hits over the first two innings, Berry pitched to the minimum over the final five innings. He got out of the first two innings with just one run, thanks to two double plays, and after a second inning walk, retired seven and then a final eight in a row. He used just three pitches to retire the side in the seventh. The Dutch had just one hit from the third until a three-hit ninth inning, finishing with eight hits.

Back-to-back doubles by Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State) and Danks made it 5-1 in the fourth as part of a three-run inning, chasing starter and loser Diegomar Markwell from the game. Medica’s second RBI single then made it 6-1 off of reliever Kenny Berkenbosch, before a sacrifice fly pushed it 7-1.

The Americans took an early 3-0 lead in the first. Danks took the second pitch of the bottom of the first to right field for his second home run of the summer. Team USA then doubled the score on a play at the plate on a slow groundball to short that was dropped by catcher Sidney de Jong. A Josh Romanksi (San Diego) sacrifice fly then made it 3-0, the second unearned run of the inning.

TEAM NOTES
The Americans are 4-1 against Netherlands this summer, winning two of three in the States, prior to the tournament… standings heading into the final two scheduled days are Cuba at 6-0, Chinese Taipei at 3-4 and Japan at 0-7… Danks has hit safely in the last five World Port contests… the third double play of the night by the Americans came on a play in which Espinosa when behind the back at second, flipped to a bare-handed second baseman Ryan Flaherty and then over to first for the out in the fifth… the Toronto Blue Jay mascot was in attendance for the later game between the U.S. and the Netherlands… games can be followed live on the internet at http://www.worldporttournament.nl/ … Stats are available at: http://utopia.ision.nl/users/hwede/stats07/wpt07/ and under live scoring.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The Americans will play twice more to close out the summer with consecutive games against Chinese Taipei (8 a.m. Eastern) and Cuba (8 a.m.). The Finals between the top two teams are on August 12 at 7 a.m, Eastern, finishing the summer.

Tags: Long Beach State, Santa Clara, SEC, South Carolina, Team USA, Texas, University of San Diego, Vanderbilt, West Coast Conference, World Port Tournament

Team USA was one-hit by Japanese pitcher Yuske Iwamato but picked up a 1-0 victory on the first day of the World Port Tournament. As the game entered the ninth inning, Team USA had no hits off of Iwamato but Jordan Danks (Texas) got a lead-off walk. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Tommy Medica (Santa Clara). He then advanced to third on a flyball from Brett Wallace (Arizona State). Logan Forsythe (Arkansas) then hit a single to drive home Danks with the eventual winning run. Ryan Berry (Rice) started for Team USA and went 7.1 strong innings while only giving up three hits and three walks but got the no-decision. Brett Hunter pitched the final 1.1 innings without allowing a hit while striking out three batters to up his record to 3-0. Yuske Iwamato was the tough luck loser pitching a complete game while allowing the only hit and four walks. Team USA is off on Friday before playing The Netherlands on Saturday.

Team USA Recap
World Port Tournament Schedule

 

Tags: Arkansas, Rice, Santa Clara, Team USA, Texas, World Port Tournament

Team USA took the final game of their series with the Japan University All-Stars by a score of 7-3. The USA team took advantage of three walks and two errors by the Japanese team to score six runs in the inning. Tommy Medica (Santa Clara) led the offense by going 2-3 with two runs scored and a run driven in. Mike Minor (Vanderbilt) pitched three innings in relief while giving up only one run on three hits to put his record for the summer at 4-0. Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) was named Team USA’s MVP for the series while Shinya Muramatsu was given the MVP award for Team Japan. The USA national team now heads to the Pan-American games which start on July 14th against the Dominican Republic.

Team USA Release

Tags: Santa Clara, SEC, Team USA, Vanderbilt

The Santa Clara Broncos pulled out a victory in the final game of their series with the Hawai’i Warriors. They won 3-2 in a well pitched game by both teams. The Broncos were led by Justin Kuehn who gave up two runs (one earned) in six innings of work. He ended up with a no-decision because Hawai’i starter Matt Daly pitched five innings while letting up one run. He was followed up by Nicholas Rhodes who surrendered two runs in his 2.1 innings of work for the final scoreline of 3-2. Santa Clara closer Jeff Lombard pitched the last 2.1 innings to pick up the victory. It got rocky in the bottom of the ninth with the tying run on third base with two outs but he was able to strike out Eli Christiansen to salvage a game in Hawai’i. Santa Clara was led on offense by Senior catcher Carl Bacon who was able to go 3-4 with 2 RBI’s. Hawai’i was led on offense by a 2-4 2 run score day from Brandon Haislet. Both schools will be back in action next weekend when Santa Clara hosts Utah while Hawai’i continues their homestand by hosting Georgia Southern.

Hawai’i Recap
Santa Clara Recap
Honolulu Star-Bulletin article

Tags: Hawaii, Santa Clara

The University of Hawaii Baseball program came up with a solid 8-1 victory on Friday evening over the Santa Clara Broncos. They were led by a great earlt season start by Ian Harrington who gave them 6.2 innings of one run baseball. The Rainbows were led on offense by Kris Sanchez who went 3-4 with two doubles and two runs. Santa Clara starter Matt Wickswat was roughed up in his 2.2 innings of work while giving up five runs while walking four batters. Broncos senior Kevin Drever went 3-4 and scored the only run.

Santa Clara’s recap
Hawaii’s recap

Tags: Hawaii, Santa Clara

The Santa Clara Broncos are opening the season tonight against the Hawai’i Rainbows. Santa Clara is scheduled to start their ace on Friday night in lefty Matt Wickswat (9-2, 3.54 ERA in 2006) and Hawai’i is planning on countering with senior lefty Ian Harrington.

Honolulu Star-Bulletin preview
Santa Clara’s series preview
Hawaii’s series preview

Tags: Hawaii, Santa Clara, Series Preview