Sophomore Bryce Brentz has been named Sun Belt Player of the Year and First Team outfielder

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

NEW ORLEANS – The Sun Belt Conference recognized its top performers on the baseball field with the announcement of the 2009 All-Conference teams on Tuesday. The student-athletes selected to the first and second teams, as voted on by the 11 head coaches, were honored for their consistent play throughout the season, posting impressive numbers all year.
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FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

Chad Cregar

NEW ORLEANS – WKU’s Chad Cregar and FIU’s Tom Ebert were named the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, as decided on by the league’s member institutions. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: School Files

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

NEW ORLEANS – WKU’s Wade Gaynor and UALR’s Jake Sullivan are this week’s Sun Belt Conference Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, as voted on by the league’s member institutions.

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Weekend Winners:  Middle Tennessee State was the big weekend winner, as they swept a three game home series with Missouri State.  Also posting impressive weekends were UALR, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana-Monroe, New Orleans, Troy, and Western Kentucky.  UALR took two of three games at home against Northern Iowa, and just missed a sweep with a one run loss on Saturday.  Florida Atlantic finished the weekend with a 2-1 series record against Fordham.  Florida International posted a 20 run Saturday in route to a two games to one series victory over Jacksonville.  Louisiana-Monroe hosted the ULM  and ended the weekend with a 2-1 record.  New Orleans won the first three games of their home series against Towson before losing the Sunday finale to open the season 3-1.  Troy lost a Friday contest against Kentucky in the Caravelle Resort Invitational before winning their next three games to end the tournament at a very solid 3-1.   Western Kentucky took a single game from Toledo on Friday night, but the Saturday and Sunday meetings were canceled due to inclement weather. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
NEW ORLEANS – After winning its second tournament title and making its second appearance in the NCAA Tournament in five seasons, along with the majority of its line-up returning, Western Kentucky University is expected to top the Sun Belt Conference in 2009, according to a vote by the league’s 11 head coaches. The Hilltoppers veteran ace Matt Ridings has been tabbed Preseason Pitcher of the Year, while ULM’s shortstop Ben Soignier has been selected as the Preseason Player of the Year. Read the rest of this entry »

By Bob Elliott, Canadian Baseball Network

He stands 5-foot-9 and resembles a back-up infielder.

Mike Gosse

DH Mike Gosse sure stood tall for in his Oklahoma Sooners uniform.

As former Montreal Expos manager Felipe Alou used to describe super sub F.P. Santangelo: “It’s not the size of the man, it’s the size of the heart inside the man.”

Gosse has a 6-foot-6 heart.

Gosse (senior, Pitt Meadows, BC) earned 35 first-place ballots to lead the way the ninth annual All-Canadian College Team. He had seven more than First Team votes than 2B Kevin Mailloux (junior, Windsor, Ont.) of the Canisius Golden Griffins.

Results from our usual voting panel of 42 were scored on a 5-3-1 points basis, Our numbers were totaled by a bonded accounting firm of Grant Thornton.

Our 42 experts came from a vast cross section from both sides of the border: coaches (14), executives (eight), scouts (eight), scouting directors (three), former players (three), writers (three), broadcaster (one) and our crack staff. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Western Kentucky

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Western Kentucky University head baseball coach Chris Finwood has announced the signing of six student-athletes to National Letters of Intent (NLIs) on Friday. The new signees are made up of five position players and one pitcher, with five entering WKU in fall 2009 as freshmen while one is a junior college transfer.
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FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
Western Kentucky University head coach Chris Finwood released the Hilltoppers 2009 schedule on Thursday. The challenging 56-game slate features 32 home games and 10 contests against teams that competed in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

TCU 10 Western Kentucky 5

STILLWATER, Okla. – With the game knotted at five, Bryan Holaday delivered a two-run bases loaded double and the No. 18 TCU Horned Frogs staved off elimination in a 10-5 victory over Western Kentucky Saturday afternoon. Trent Appleby was outstanding in relief, helping the Frogs recover from an early 4-0 deficit. Matt Vern gave TCU a lead it would never relinquish with a third-inning home run.

“Our team, we have this relaxed intensity in the dugout,” said catcher Bryan Holaday. “We don’t press. We don’t try to do too much and when it’s late in the game if we’re down or if we’re tied, we have enough confidence in our team, in our bats and in our pitching that we’ll be able to get the job done either way.” Read the rest of this entry »

GAME ONE – #2 WICHITA STATE VS. #3 TCU
The TCU Horned Frogs scored one run in the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th innings but it wasn’t enough as the Wichita State Shockers scored three runs in the 3rd, three runs in the 5th and two runs in the eighth to take an 8-5 opening round win.

Rob Musgrave picked up the win for the Shockers pitching a complete game for the win. Tyler Lockwood took the loss for the Horned Frogs surrenduring all eight Shocker runs in seven innings of work.

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The Stillwater Regional includes Oklahoma State, Wichita State, Texas Christian and Western Kentucky.

Oklahoma State finished second in the Big 12 Conference regular-season standings and will bring a 42-16 overall record into the tournament. Joining the Cowboys in Stillwater are second-seeded Wichita State, which owns a 44-15 record, along with third-seeded Texas Christian (43-17) and fourth-seeded Western Kentucky (32-25).
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FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Kentucky 9 Marshall 6

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Sawyer Carroll’s five-RBI performance boosted the No. 16 Kentucky baseball team to a nine-run rally, soaring from a 6-0 deficit and notching a 9-6 win over the red-hot Marshall Thundering Herd – its 23rd non-conference win in the past 24 games – on Wednesday evening at Cliff Hagan Stadium.

After starting every game of his college career – a span of 98 consecutive games – Carroll was scratched from the starting lineup in order to take a final exam, in Italian. Carroll, a National Player of the Year award candidate, completed his final exam around 7 p.m. ET as Kentucky made it through the first 1 ½ innings. By 7:15 p.m., Carroll was standing in the batters box as a pinch hitter, finishing the night 1-for-3 with a career-high five RBI. On the year Carroll, who leads the Southeastern Conference with a .431 average, has totaled 63 RBI in just 45 games, good for a tie for fifth place all-time on the single-season UK record books. A year ago, Carroll finished with 56 RBI in UK’s 54 games. Read the rest of this entry »