Josh Ludy (Baylor)

Ludy fittingly became the first college baseball player to participate in a Skype video interview with College Baseball 360 (links below, followed by more bio. info).

CLICK HERE  for part-1 of Josh Ludy video interview  (CB360 exclusive)

CLICK HERE  for part-2 of Josh Ludy video interview  (CB360 exclusive)

CLICK HERE  for current CB360 Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll release (Ludy one of  top-2 honorees)

Ludy’s stellar two-way play has been a constant this season. The cleanup hitter leads the team not only in power numbers (7 home runs, 48 RBI and a .578 slugging pct. – but also in batting average (.370) and total hits (57). His combined “free passes” (25; 20 walks + 5 hit-by-pitch) nearly match his strikeout total (27), great numbers for a cleanup hitter – as is his ratio of only four Ks per home run (especially considering the scaled-back bats).

Those offensive numbers tell only half the story, as Ludy has started behind the plate in 93% (41-44) of the games this season for the 36-8 Bears while directing a veteran pitching staff that has compiled its own impressive season stats: 3.27 team ERA … .242 opponent batting avg. … 2.2 K-to-walk ratio … and only 3.2 walks per nine innings.

Ludy epitomizes a Baylor team that lacks big draft prospects but has plenty of veteran leaders. Eight position players returned from the 2011 team while the pitching side of the team features four seniors (including Ludy, along with weekend starters Trent Blank and Joey Hainsfurther, plus midweek starter Tyler Bremmer).

En route to earning the CB360 Primetime Player of the Week honor (for April 16-22), Ludy hit .533 (8-for-15) during Baylor’s unbeaten week, highlighted by a sweep of the showdown series with cb360 #8 Texas A&M (5-3, 1-0, 7-5; gm-1 at A&M, gms 2 & 3 in Waco). He registered two hits in every game of the A&M series, with his most noteworthy moment coming on a 2-run home run in the 1st inning of the series finale. Ludy amazingly fouled off 10 straight pitches before driving the 14th pitch of the at-bat over the fence in left-center.

Later in that series-sweeping win, Ludy’s 6th-inning double helped recharge a Baylor offense that had lost the lead and gone 14 straight batters without a man on-base (he came around to score the tying run). Earlier in the tense game-2, he provided two of his team’s six hits in that 1-0 thriller, after going 2-for-4 with a walk in the series opener.

As the somewhat unsung director of Baylor’s stellar pitching success, Ludy helped guide a Bears staff – led by top starters Josh Turley and Blank, along with closer Max Garner (who saved all three wins vs. A&M) – that allowed only three earned runs in the entire “Battle of the Brazos” rivalry series. The Baylor pitchers walked only two batters over the 27 pressure-packed innings vs. the Aggies, with 18 strikeouts.

Ludy also helped beat Texas A&M Corpus Christi midweek but sat out the other win over the Islanders, marking only the third time he has not been the Baylor signalcaller all season. He is riding a career-best, 10-game hitting streak and is one of only six players ever to be named Big 12 Conference player of the week on consecutive weeks. One week earlier, Ludy blasted three home runs in the series finale at Kansas State (sparking a comeback and yielding him 11 RBI for the series, a Big 12 record).

Texas Tech alum Dan Spencer is in his fourth season as Red Raiders head coach and also oversees the team's pitching staff.

CB360 co-founder Pete LaFleur recently spent some time out on the road and had the chance to visit with Ohio State head coach Greg Beals, along with Texas Tech skipper Dan Spencer and the Red Raiders #2 starter John Neely. Links from video interviews with all three are included below – along with an archive of CB360 video and audio interviews from the 2012 season.

Ohio State's Greg Beals has past experience with top Midwest programs, as head coach at Ball State and previously as an assistant and player at Kent State (where he was coached by current Georgia Tech coach Danny Hall).

Ohio State was listed 37th on the most-recent NCAA RPI, with the Buckeyes set to play host to a key Big Ten series this weekend vs. Nebraska. Both teams are 5-4 in conference action, tied with Indiana for second behind Purdue’s 7-2. Entering the season, it seemed most likely that the Big Ten tournament champion would be the league’s only NCAA qualifier – but it now seems feasible the Big Ten could send multiple teams to the NCAAs (OSU is 20-12 overall while Nebraska is 23-12 and entered the week 77th in the official NCAA RPI).

Texas Tech played a strong schedule (with some key wins) leading up to Big 12 play, but the Red Raiders are only 3-9 in Big 12 action (19-15 overall; #99 RPI). They step outside league play this weekend, with a home series vs. Houston (RPI #69) – while a couple big series remain (vs. RPI #110 Missouri and RPI #4 Texas A&M) that will be RPI boosters, as will a midweek game with Dallas Baptist (RPI #43).

The Raiders – looking for their first NCAA bid since 2004 – clearly need to go on a run, first to earn a top-4 finish in the Big 12 while building on an NCAA resume that already includes wins over Missouri State, Houston, Arizona State, Oklahoma, Texas and Dallas Baptist.

Former closer John Neely (pictured during 2011) could be a key to Texas Tech's late-season push, as the #2 starter behind ace Duke von Schamann.

Here are the video interview links (recorded in full-HD); scroll down for other CB360 video & audio from the 2012 season:

DAN SPENCER video interview
(Texas Tech head coach)

JOHN NEELY video interview
(Texas Tech sr. RHP)

GREG BEALS video interview
(Ohio State head coach)

…

Other Recent CB360 Video Interviews  (2012 season)

• Georgia head coach Dave Perno: Part-1 … Part-2 

• Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard: Part-1 … Part-2

• Jake Boss  (Michigan State head coach)

• Mik Aoki  (Notre Dame head coach)

…

Recent CB360 Podcast Audio Interviews (2012 season)

• Mark Appel  (Stanford jr. RHP)

• Cliff Godwin  (Ole Miss assistant coach)

• Mark Marques  (Stanford head coach)

• Jim Penders  (UConn head coach)

• Tyler Hannah  (Troy sr. SS)

• Preston Tucker  (Florida sr. OF)

• Paul Mainieri  (LSU head coach)

• Brian O’Connor  (Virginia head coach)

• Justin Jones  (California jr. LHP)

This compilation (see links for all 12 teams below, including some that are imbedded at bottom of page) features the following:
• Exclusive CB360 on-campus video interviews with Georgia head coach Dave Perno and Alabama’s Mitch Gaspard
• CB360 audio podcasts with LSU head coach Paul Mainieri, Florida senior leader Preston Tucker, and Ole Miss assistant Cliff Godwin
• Recent video from the seven other SEC teams (preseason previews & press conferences, or postgame after key non-conference wins from first month of season)

Need a quick fix to get geared up for SEC play? … Here you go:

SEC VIDEO AND AUDIO PREVIEW (courtesy of CB360, along w/ the respective teams; 3/15/12)

• CB360 Exclusive Video Interviews  (full-HD; filed on-campus)

GEORGIA head coach Dave Perno: Part-1 … Part-2  (2012 preseason)

ALABAMA head coach Mitch Gaspard: Part-1 … Part-2  (2012 preseason)

• CB360 Audio Podcast Interviews

LSU head coach Paul Mainieri  (2012 preseason)

FLORIDA senior Preston Tucker  (2012 preseason)

MISSISSIPPI assistant coach Clifff Godwin  (3/15/12)

• Additional SEC 2012 video (courtesy of the respective schools):

SOUTH CAROLINA – Postgame after series-clinching win vs. Clemson (3/3/12) … Coach Tanner … Adam Matthews … Dantzler & Beal

ARKANSAS – Preseason Media Day  (head coach Dave Van Horn, players & highlights; also imbedded below)

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Preseason Press Conference (head coach John Cohen; also imbedded below)

KENTUCKY – Preseason Media Day  (head coach Gary Henderson)

VANDERBILT – Head coach Tim Corbin  (after win vs. Siena on 3/14/12, imbedded below)

TENNESSEE – Head coach Dave Serrano (after win vs. Texas on 3/3/12; also imbedded below)

AUBURN – Season preview

_________

IMBEDDED CONTENT included below (for some of the videos also linked above):

Vanderbilt hasn’t played a home game since beating Oregon State in last year’s Super Regional to advance to the program’s first ever College World Series. Coming-off being swept at Stanford over opening weekend, head coach Tim Corbin’s Commodores are a vastly different looking team than last year’s CWS squad.

In this video (courtesy VUCommodores.com) Corbin, and players Connor Harrell and Tony Kemp discuss last weekend’s series as well as being back home.

While most DI teams around the country opened their seasons last weekend, Penn and other Ivy League schools are still eagerly awaiting their season-openers. Penn opens play March 2 at Stetson.

We recently received this video via Twitter (@PennBaseball), showing Penn players pounding the streets of Philadelphia and working out in their on campus bubble. The video was directed by Jeremy Maas ’11 and Produced by Marco Menna in conjunction with Penn Athletics.

(Video courtesy UTsports.com)

(Video courtesy Ramblinwreck.com)