The College Baseball Blog continues our series of previews this week checking in on the Atlantic Division of the ACC. The CBB attends about 10-15 ACC games a season including seeing some of the players in the Cape Cod League. UNC won the division last season with an outstanding record of 57-17 and 21-9 in the ACC. The Tar Heels were joined in the NCAA Tourney by Miami (FL) and Virginia. Read the rest of this entry »

A very nice article from The FSView and Florida Flambeau (Student paper of FSU) about Tony and Rod Delmonico coming over to the Florida State program this year after leaving Tennessee after his Rod was fired as the head coach. Tony is expected to start for the Seminoles at shortstop or second base. Rod will serve this season under Mark Martin Sr. as a volunteer assistant coach after being with the Seminoles as the top assistant/recruiting coordinator in the late 80’s. The full article is available here.

Shawn Shroyer of The University Daily Kansan checks in with a great interview with Ritch Price. He discusses how the uniform start date has affected his program which is making him a pain to his wife. Price also discusses the new caps his team will wear during some of the games which are inspired by some Montreal Expos uniforms. The full interview is available here.

Kansas has announced two transfers for 2008 with two left handed pitchers in Sam Freeman and Daniel Manos joining the program. Freeman comes over from North Central Texas College where he went 10-1 with a 3.20 ERA in 2007. Manos comes over from Santa Ana College (CA) where he went 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA in 17 appearances. The full release is available here.

The Virginia Tech Hokies picked up two transfers for the 2008 season in Danny Farris and Michael Seaborn. Farris spent his freshmen season at Pepperdine where he accumulated a 2-1 record with a 4.38 ERA. Seaborn comes over from Kentucky where he redshirted last season. Seaborn had a strong summer campaign in the NYCBL where he led his team in batting average (.350), home runs (six), doubles (11), total bases (78), and slugging percentage (.557). The full release from Va Tech is available here.

CSTV editor Doug Kroll checks in this week with an article about the top transfers for the 2008 season. He discusses how the Winthrop Eagles have been devastated with their ace pitcher in Alex Wilson as he got injured in the Cape Cod League this summer which he had Tommy John surgery to correct. When he gets healthy, he will be suiting up for Texas A&M in 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

With this being the last year that a player may transfer with out having to sit out a year look for more of this in the coming weeks as we are two weeks away from the Spring Semester for most schools.

Word is that Hunter Hill a two way star player from Prestonwood Christian Academy will be transferring this Spring semester. Hunter originally signed with University of Central Florida but, has been granted a release form the university and will be here ready to go for the spring semester. During his senior season at Prestonwod Christian Academy Hunter went 11-0 on the mound and he slugged 5 home runs. Hunter was also a team mate of Current Horn Cameron Rupp. Cameron was the Catcher for Hunter during their days at Preston Wood Christian Academy.

Photo courtesy of Donald J Boyles

The Florida State Seminoles have finished up Fall practice this week with a two Garnet vs. Gold games.

The Garnet team won Game 1 with a 9-0 shutout of the Gold Team in five innings. Matt Fairel picked up the victory by going three innings while allowing only three hits and two walks. Buster Posey also pitched a shutout inning while allowing one hit. Jack Posey (Buster’s brother) led the offense with three RBI’s. Jimmy Marshall of the Gold team came in to pitch the third inning but was lit up for six runs (one earned) while walking four batters. The Gold offense was led by Ruairi O’Connor who went 2-2.

Game 1 Recap
Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 was won by the Garnet team with a 7-5 victory to complete the sweep. They were led by Tennessee transfer Tony Delmonico who went 2-3 with two RBI. Mike McGee (Garnet team) chipped in with three hits in the victory. Elih Villanueva pitched three perfect innings with two strikeouts with Mike McGee picking up the victory on the mound by pitching two perfect innings. Trenton Jarvis had the best day on the mound for the Gold team by pitching two scoreless inning while allowing only one hit. Dennis Guinn led the Gold offense with a three run homer in the fourth inning.

Game 2 Recap
Game 2 Box Score

Jett Ruiz formerly a catcher with the Boston College Eagles has turned up with the San Diego Toreros. He left the Boston College program last season late in the year over the emergence of freshman catcher Tony Sanchez Jr. Ruiz will enter San Diego as a junior but will likely not see much time behind the plate with Logan Gelbrich expected to handle the pitching staff in 2008. Ruiz struggled mightily in the ACC the last two seasons. He showed a few glimpses of talent but could not become a consistent hitter.

I have noticed a recent trend with the NC State baseball program with top players transferring to other schools across the country. After the 2006 season, Matt Mangini transferred for his junior season to Oklahoma State where he ended up getting picked up by the Seattle Mariners with the 52nd overall pick. This past summer Mike Roskopf transferred out of NC State to the University of Southern California for his senior season. Roskopf showed me some major power this past season when the Wolfpack visited Boston College. What is Elliot Avent doing to these kids? Is it just a random occurence that these players have transferred out the last two seasons? I hope someone has some insight into the reasoning these players have left.

The Cornell Daily Sun writer Eric Haskel checked in on the Cornell baseball program status for fall practice. Cornell lost Justin Milo to UVM and pitcher Jim Hyland to graduation but return a veteran squad. Cornell finished the 2007 season in last place with a 8-12 record in the Gehrig Division in the Ivy League. The full article is available here.

The Marist baseball program will welcome eight new players for the 2008 season including three transfers. Chris Wojick from Maine, B.J. Martin from St. John’s, and Zach Starkey from Wabash Valley College will join five freshman in the Red Fox program. The full release is available here.

The University of Texas Baseball squad had two transfers from the West Coast enroll in classes for the fall semester. The pair, both infielders, includes David Hernandez from Fresno State University and Michael Torres from the University of Southern California.

Hernandez will be a sophomore in 2008. He played in 35 games for Fresno State as a freshman, including 21 starts. Hernandez hit .251 (18-of-72) with two doubles and six RBI. The smooth fielder committed just two errors in a 107 chances at shortstop for a .981 fielding percentage.

Torres will be a junior in 2008. He played in 46 games over two seasons at USC, including 27 starts. In 2007, Torres, a left-handed batter, hit .253 (20-of-79) with four doubles, one triple, one home run and 10 RBI as a second baseman and third baseman. He batted .231 (6-of-26) with three runs scored and four RBI in 15 games in 2005.

Both players are California natives. Hailing from Danville, Calif., Hernandez was a three-year letterwinner at Monte Vista HS, playing shortstop and third base. A product of Santa Ana, Calif., Torres was named the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register Player of the Year as a senior at Mater Dei High School, batting .459 with 23 RBI and 19 stolen bases.

TexasSports.com

These two kids are a great addition to the roster for the ‘08 season. They will come in and immediately compete for starting time. Look for Hernandez to be the Starting short Stop and Torres the 2nd baseman on opening day. This will allow Travis Tucker to slide over to 3rd base. This will shore up the infield. This will also allow Texas to really put the pressure on opposing team defense as these two guys will put the ball down and Run.

The Tulane Baseball team picked up three transfers this summer to hopefully lead the Green Wave back to the upper echelon of college baseball. The first transfer is shortstop Josh Prince (Texas) who hit .371 in 35 games for the Longhorns in 2007. Left-handed pitcher Matt Petition (UNC) heads to New Orleans after appearing in only two games in his freshman season. The final transfer is Josh Zeid from Vanderbilt which the College Baseball Blog reported earlier this summer. Zeid pitched in 18 games in 2007 and 13 games as a freshman. The full release is available here.

The NCAA has suspended three Nebraska baseball players after trading baseball bats for store credits. Andy Gerch took the biggest hit as he will be suspended for the first 12 games of the 2008 season while Craig Corriston will be missing the first six games. The NCAA has also suspended Jeff Lanning for six games as he has recently transferred to New Orleans for next season. Mike Anderson said that the players could face discipline from the university also. The full article is available from the AP here.

Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin announced yesterday that he was remaining in Nashville. Just 10 hours after that decision, VandySports.com’s Mike Rapp broke the news that Corbin and Erik Bakich had landed coveted transfer candidate Drew Hayes.