By Willie Nicklaus

This is a first in a series of reports I will file leading into the 2009 college baseball season. I decided to start with some of the top power producers who had great 2008 seasons that didn’t get much press except from their local media and schools.

My selections for this report, and upcoming reports, include players who are far from one dimensional. These particular bombers all were in the top 20 of their respective conferences in batting average. So let’s get started with Home Run Frequency. For measure, here are a few HR frequencies from 2008 of players everyone who is a fan of college baseball heard of: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2009 Top Players, 2010 Top Players, ACC, Arizona State, Auburn, Big East, Big South, Big West, CAA, Cal, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Column, Cincinnati, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Conference USA, Dartmouth, George Mason, Georgia, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech, Ivy League, Kent State, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisville, Loyola-Marymount, LSU, MAC, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Missouri State, Missouri Valley, MLB Draft, New Mexico St., Ohio, Pac 10, SEC, Southern Conference, Southland Conference, Sun Belt, Tennessee, Texas State, Washington, West Coast Conference, Winthrop

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
The CBB is committed to our loyal readers in bringing the very best in College Baseball Coverage. We have come across six more 2009 Schedules: Manhattan College, Florida State, Jacksonville University, Kansas State, UC Santa Barbara, Winthrop.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2009 Schedules, ACC, Atlantic Sun, Big 12, Big South, Big West, FSU, Jacksonville, Kansas State, MAAC, Manhattan, Stetson, UC-Santa Barbara, Winthrop

The Okotoks Dawgs and the Swift Current Indians will meet for the Western Major Baseball League final. The best-of-five series starts in Swift Current, SK on Wednesday,

The Dawgs won three of four against the Sherwood Park Dukes in the West Division final. Their leading hitter is now Lee Darracott (Campbellsville; .353, 4 HR, 27 RBI). Jake Bottari (College of Idaho; 6-0, 0.71 RBI, 54 K) continues to do great things on the mound.

The Indians swept the Regina Red Sox in the East Division final. They are lead by Conrad Funk (Winthrop; .397 regular season, 1 HR, 36 RBI), and Nick Bratney (George Fox; 6-0 regular season, 1.18 ERA, 24 K).

WMBL official site: http://www.wmbl.ca/

Tags: Campbellsville, College of Idaho, George Fox University, Winthrop

The Division Finals of the Western Major Baseball League start on Thursday, August 7, and the matchups are the Sherwood Park (AB) Dukes vs. the Okotoks (AB) Dawgs, and the Regina (SK) Red Sox vs. the Swift Current (SK) Indians.

The Dukes are led by Dan Grant (Northern Iowa; .403, 4 HR, 38 RBI) and Casey Barnes (Kansas Wesleyan; 5-4, 2.76 ERA, 67 K). They defeated the Saskatoon Yellow Jackets three games to one in the first round.

The Dawgs have Manny Kumar (Grambling State; .336, 3 HR, 28 RBI) and Jake Bottari (College of Idaho; 5-0, 0.84 RBI, 43 K). They swept the Lethbridge Bulls in the first round. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: College of Idaho, George Fox University, Grambling State, Kansas Wesleyan, LSU-Shreveport, Missouri Baptist, Nebraska-Omaha, Northern Iowa, Western Major Baseball League, Winthrop

The Peninsula Clarion has a great feature on Dennis Machado who serves as the Peninsula Oilers pitching coach. Click here for the article.

The New Haven Register has an article about the decline of American Legion baseball over the last 20 years. Click here for the article. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Atlantic 10, Big South, Fordham, General CBB News, Winthrop

We have a bunch of links for this Monday. The Cape Cod League sent us a few articles from the past week including Chris Dominguez of Louisville hitting three homers in a game for Hyannis. The league also has ten graduates participating in the MLB All-Star game on Tuesday. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big East, Big South, Cape Cod League, Louisville, Winthrop

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

Liberty 11 Radford 2

DANVILLE, Va. - Flames starter Dustin Umberger tossed a complete game and struck out 10 to lead No. 2 Liberty past No. 6 Radford, 11-2 in Game 7 of the 2008 Royal Purple Big South Conference Baseball Championship, May 23 at Dan Daniel Memorial Park in Danville, Va. With the victory, Liberty improves to 33-25-1 and advances to play the loser of No. 1 Coastal Carolina-No. 4 Winthrop Friday night at 7:00pm for a chance to earn a berth in Saturday’s Championship game. Radford, which defeated Liberty 15-4 in their first tournament meeting on Wednesday, is eliminated with the loss and ends its season at 24-32. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big South, Big South Tournament, Coastal Carolina, Liberty, Radford, Winthrop

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

Liberty 10 UNC-Asheville 1

DANVILLE, Va. – Flames starter Ryan Page tossed seven shutout innings and Jeff Jefferson had four hits and three RBI in leading No. 2 seed Liberty to a 10-1 victory over No. 8 UNC Asheville in Game 4 of the 2008 Royal Purple Big South Conference Baseball Championship, May 22 at Dan Daniel Memorial Park in Danville, Va. With the victory, Liberty improves to 32-25-1 and advances to play Friday at a to-be-determined time. UNC Asheville is eliminated from the tournament and ends its season at 24-35. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big South, Big South Tournament, Coastal Carolina, Liberty, Radford, UNC-Asheville, VMI, Winthrop

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Coastal Carolina 20 UNC-Asheville 4

DANVILLE, Va. - Coastal Carolina tied a Big South tournament record with 20 runs as the No. 1 seed Chanticleers defeated No. 8 seed UNC Asheville, 20-4, in Game 1 of the 2008 Royal Purple Big South Conference Baseball Championship, May 21 at Dan Daniel Memorial Park in Danville, Va. With the victory, the Chanticleers improve to 44-11 and advance to play the loser of No. 3 VMI-No. 4 Winthrop Thursday at 3:00pm. UNC Asheville falls to 24-34 and moves to the loser’s bracket and will face the loser of No. 2 Liberty-No. 6 Radford Thursday at 11:00am. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big South, Big South Tournament, Coastal Carolina, Liberty, Radford, UNC-Asheville, VMI, Winthrop

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - For the second consecutive season and the third time in the last four years, Coastal Carolina is the No. 1 seed in the Royal Purple Big South Baseball Championship, which will be contested May 20-24 at Dan Daniel Memorial Park in Danville, Va. The Chanticleers won the outright 2008 regular-season championship with a 17-3 Conference mark to win their third regular-season Big South baseball crown in four years and fourth in seven seasons. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big South, Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, High Point, Liberty, Radford, UNC-Asheville, VMI, Winthrop

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Delaware 22 Temple 4

NEWARK, DE – Thirteen Blue Hens recorded at least one hit and five cracked home runs as the University of Delaware baseball team stormed past Temple, 22-4, at Bob Hannah Stadium on a warm Wednesday afternoon.

Scott Shockley and Pat Dameron (at right) both had three hits and a home run, while Jared Olson, Bill Merkler, and Josh Dean each chipped in with two hits and a long ball. Ryan Cuneo also extended his hitting streak to 21 games with a sixth-inning double. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Atlantic 10, Big East, Big South, Butler, CAA, Delaware, Horizon League, Lafayette, Louisville, MAAC, Patriot League, Rider, Southern Conference, Temple, The Citadel, Winthrop

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Miami (FL) 12 FAU 10

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Junior first baseman Yonder Alonso blasted a two-out two-run ninth inning home run and No. 1 Miami overcame a seven-run deficit to rally past Florida Atlantic, 12-10, Wednesday night at FAU Stadium in front of 2,348 fans. Junior closer Carlos Gutierrez (2-1) picked up his second win for the Hurricanes (31-3), who won the season series over the Owls (21-13). Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ACC, ACC Recap, Atlantic 10, Big South, Boston College, Campbell, Charlotte, Clemson, Duke, FAU, FSU, Georgia Southern, GT, Liberty, Maryland, MEAC, Miami (FL), NC State, North Florida, Radford, SEC, South Carolina, Southern Conference, Sun Belt, UMass, UMES, UNC, VT, Wake Forest, Winthrop

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

South Carolina 5 College of Charleston 3

Columbia, S.C. - Freshman right-handed pitcher Sam Dyson struck out eight batters in a career-high seven innings and Reese Havens hit his seventh home run of the year as South Carolina defeated College of Charleston 5-3 on Wednesday evening at Sarge Frye Field. The Gamecocks improve to 16-6 on the year while the loss drops College of Charleston to 16-8. Carolina returns to action at home this weekend with a three-game series at Sarge Frye Field vs. Kentucky. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alabama, Big South, Big Ten, CAA, Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, Illinois, Indiana State, Jacksonville State, Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley Conference, SEC, South Carolina, Southern Conference, The Citadel, UNC-Wilmington, Winthrop

FROM PRESS RELEASES

FSU 7 Auburn 5

Auburn, Ala. - Despite game time temperatures in the mid-40’s, Florida State (4-0) didn’t let the cold weather effect its play in the first of a four game set against Auburn as the Seminoles passed an early season test downing Auburn (4-1) 7-5 in their first road contest of the season. Senior Dennis Guinn and freshman Stuart Tapley each recorded three hits while Seminole starter Elih Villanueva worked 5.1 innings to register his second win of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ACC, ACC Recap, Auburn, Big South, Coppin State, FSU, SEC, UNC, UVA, Winthrop

FROM CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Coastal Carolina University’s baseball team has been unanimously voted the Big South Conference’s preseason favorite, as voted by the League’s Head Baseball Coaches and Sports Information Directors, it was announced today by the Conference office. In addition, Chanticleers’ junior outfielder David Sappelt (Saxapahaw, N.C.) has been voted the Conference’s Preseason Player of the Year, while junior teammate Bobby Gagg (Hamburg, N.J.) was voted Preseason Pitcher of the Year by the panel. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Conference Preview, 2008 Preseason Poll, Big South, Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, High Point, Liberty, Radford, UNC-Asheville, VMI, Winthrop