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Can Oral Roberts Repeat…AGAIN?

2009 Regular Season Champion: Oral Roberts (33-15, 16-2)

2009 Tournament Champ: Oral Roberts defeated South Dakota State 6-2 to win their 12^th straight league title.

Major League Respect: The Summit League saw seven players selected in the 2009 MLB draft led by Oral Roberts’ RHP Jerry Sullivan who was taken in the third round, 83^rd overall by the San Diego Padres.

Golden Eagles Soar: Oral Roberts swept the 2009 postseason awards.  RHP Mark Serrano claimed the Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year honors.  C Seth Furmanek was named Newcomer of the Year, while ORU head coach Rob Walton earned Coach of the Year honors.

ORU head coach Rob Walton

The Skinny: To say that Oral Roberts has dominated the Summit League would be an insult to the word understatement.  The Golden Eagles not only run roughshod through the postseason by winning 12 straight Summit (formerly the Mid-Continent) League titles, but they have also gone 246-27 (.901) in Summit League regular-season games since joining the conference in 1998.  ORU is 36-1 in those conference tournament games.  They’ve won 27 straight such games, with the lone loss coming to Southern Utah in 2000.

All that success begs the obvious question:  Can anyone even challenge Oral Roberts in 2010?

Centenary

2009 Season: (33-19, 16-10)

Mascot:  Gents

Head Coach: Ed McCann

Location:  Shreveport, LA

Vitals: .312 BA, 36 HR, .398 OBP, .959 Fld%…4.87 ERA, 10 SVs, 387 K, 167 BB, .296 Opp. BA

Giant Killer: The Gents posted wins over top-ranked Texas A&M and 18^th ranked Arkansas in 2009.

No Cupcakes: Centenary opens the 2010 schedule in Baton Rouge against defending national champion LSU.  They also play a two-game set at another ’09 CWS team, Arkansas, in March.

Big Losses: Centenary has to deal with the loss of All-Summit League performers Chris LaLonde (4-0, 6.35 ERA) and Ricky Imperiali (.325, 19 doubles).  Travis Leverson led the team with a .386 BA & led the Summit with 18 stolen bases.

Who’s Back:  Michael Tompkins (.348, 8 HR, 45 RBIs) & Tell Ross (.350, 7 HR, 49 RBIs) will pace the offense.

Ace Rising:  Justin Kraft (6-4, 4.08 ERA, 4 CG, 77 K in 81.2 IP should be one of the top pitchers in the conference.

Northern Exposure:  Reigning America East champion Binghamton leaves New York for a 4-game series in Shreveport March 27-29.

IPFW

2009 Season: (13-38, 6-21)

Mascot:  Mastadons

Head Coach: Bobby Pierce

Location:  Ft. Wayne, IN

Vitals: .261 BA, 28 HR, .360 OBP, .952 Fld%…8.10 ERA, 264 K, 268 BB, .328 opp. BA

Boiler Up: IPFW notched two of their 13 wins on the season against Big 10 foe Purdue, sweeping the season series.

Mr. Everything: The Mastodons must replace INF Chris Gottschall, who led the team in every offensive category, except triples and stolen bases.

North Dakota State

2009 Season: (16-28, 10-14)

Mascot:  Bison

Head Coach: Tod Brown

Location:  Fargo, ND

Vitals:  .296 BA, 16 HR, .373 OBP, .952 Fld%…6.71 ERA, 285 K, 184 BB, .315 opp. BA

Youth Movement: NDSU returns two second team All-Summit League selections in So. P John Straka and So. C Justin Kilne.  Straka led North Dakota State with a 4-3 record with a 3.49 ERA and 54 strikeouts.  Kline set a Bison freshman record and led the Summit League with a team-leading .432 batting average.

Road Warriors: NDSU plays its first 26 games on the road this season before finally opening the home schedule April 13^th against Dakota Wesleyan.

Oakland

2009 Season: (22-34, 10-18)

Mascot:  Golden Grizzlies

Head Coach: John Musachio

Location:  Rochester, MI

Vitals:  .299 BA, 49 HR, .380 OBP, .960 Fld%…8.00 ERA, 5 CG, 8 SV, 274 K, 273 BB, .336 opp. BA

Record Setter: The Golden Grizzlies must replace infielder Andrew Stafford who broke single-season school records by smacking 82 hits and posting a .381 batting average.

Strong Arms: Oakland returns all 10 pitchers who earned a win last season.

Tough Test: Oakland opens its season with a three-game series against Mississippi in Oxford.

Oral Roberts

2009 Season: (33-15, 16-2)

Mascot:  Golden Eagles

Head Coach: Rob Walton

Location:  Tulsa, OK

Vitals:  .303 BA, 80 HR, .403 OBP, .962 Fld%…3.76 ERA, 9 CG, 4 SV, 498 K, 193 BB, .242 opp. BA

Seth Furmanek

Key Departures: ORU faces the task of replacing Summit League Player of the Year Mark Serrano (9-1, 2.50 ERA), and San Diego Padres first round draft pick Jerry Sullivan (8-3, 3.12 ERA).

Key Returners: Senior C Seth Furmanek (.333, 17 HR) and senior INF Colby Price (.342, 10 doubles), lead a potent Golden Eagles offense.

Road Tests: Oral Roberts has trips this season to Baylor, UCLA, and Texas.

Home Cookin’: Since 1998 ORU’s J.L. Johnson Stadium has hosted either the Mid-Continent or Summit League postseason tournament 10 of 12 times.

South Dakota State

Jesse Sawyer

2009 Season: (26-30, 17-10)

Mascot:  Jackrabbits

Head Coach: Ritchie Price

Location:  Brookings, SD

Vitals:  .315 BA, 65 HR, .392 OBP, .963 Fld%…6.80 ERA, 4 CG, 6 SV, 322 K, 222 BB, .317 opp. BA

Country’s Best Eh: Junior third baseman Jesse Sawyer was named the top Canadian college baseball player according to CanadianBaseballNetwork.com after setting SDSU single season records for homeruns (19) and total bases (148).  Sawyer also led the team with 61 runs scored and 58 RBI.

Hot Streak: After starting the season 5-22, the Jackrabbits won 19 of their last 25 games while all nine regular starters finished the season hitting above .300

Southern Utah

2009 Season: (27-24, 15-7)

Mascot:  Thunderbirds

Head Coach: David Eldredge

Location:  Cedar City, UT

Vitals:  .318 BA, 52 HR, .396 OBP, .957 Fld%…5.85 ERA, 6 CG, 11 SV, 258 K, 237 BB, .313 opp. BA

Man on a Mission: Southern Utah third baseman Bo Cuthbertson earned Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America honors and was named to the PING!Baseball All-Freshman third-team after leading the team with a .393 average.  Cuthbertson, though, is taking the next two years off while serving on an LDS mission in Uruguay.

Thunderbird Hoosiers: SU returns just 15 players from last year’s roster.

Career Leader: Newly named assistant coach Keli’i Zablan finished his Thunderbird playing days first in career at-bats and total bases.

Western Illinois

2009 Season: (13-33, 8-16)

Mascot:  Leathernecks

Head Coach: Mike Villano

Location:  Macomb, IL

Vitals:  .297 BA, 37 HR, .956 Fld%…10.27 ERA, 235 K, 218 BB

Stan Hyman

Tragic Loss: Mike Villano was named Western Illinois head coach November 23^rd after Stan Hyman passed away at age 50 after battling leukemia.

Big Wins: The Leathernecks first victory last year was a 24-0 win over Medaille, with their second coming four days later over 12^th ranked Oklahoma State.

Major Opportunities: WIU faces some heavy hitters on this season’s schedule.  Included are trips to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

Predictions:

2010 Champion: Oral Roberts, while Centenary looks to be the closest challenger

2010 Player of the Year: North Dakota State’s Justin Kline

2010 Pitcher of the Year: North Dakota State’s John Straka

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LSU Coach Receives Honor At Annual Convention In Dallas

ABCA Coach of the Year Paul Mainieri

Mainieri received four National Coach of the Year awards after leading LSU to the 2009 NCAA national championship.  He was also honored by Collegiate Baseball newspaper, Baseball America magazine and Rivals.com.

Mainieri’s 2009 national championship club completed the season with a 56-17 record, marking the second-highest wins total in LSU history. The CWS title was the sixth for LSU and its first since 2000, when ABCA Hall of Famer Skip Bertman led the Tigers to their fifth NCAA championship.

Mainieri has a 134-62-2 (.682) record in three seasons at LSU, including the ’09 national championship, two CWS appearances, one SEC regular-season title, two SEC Tournament titles and two SEC Western Division crowns.

He has a 998-554-6 (.642) career record in 27 collegiate seasons, including tenures at St. Thomas (Fla.), Air Force, Notre Dame and LSU.

Mainieri is the second LSU coach to win the ABCA award, joining Bertman, who was named National Coach of the Year in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 2000.

The ABCA also honored several Regional Coaches of the Year.  They are:

Atlantic:  Brian O’Connor-Virginia

East:  Bill Brown-George Mason

Mideast: Scott Goodgins-Xavier

Midwest:  Brad Hill-Kansas State

Northeast:  Joe Sattolano-Army

South:  Paul Mainieri-LSU

South Central:  Steve Peterson-Middle Tenn. State

West:  Mike Gillespie-UC Irvine  (Gillespie was also inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame.)

Longhorn Longball In Omaha

Russell Moldenhauer led Texas with 4 HR and a 1.000 Slg.% at the CWS.

Texas DH Russell Moldenhauer’s explanation was simple “We’re not playing at Disch-Falk (the Longhorn’s home field),” Moldenhauer said after belting a pair of solo shots in UT’s 7-6 loss to LSU in game one of the CWS Championship Series.  Moldenhauer led Texas with 4 solo HR in his six games in Omaha after totaling just 15 hits in 38 games in 2009 prior to the College World Series (he was inured for much of the season).

The Longhorns needed every longball they could muster in Omaha.  They scored 17 of their 36 runs at the CWS courtesy of home runs (12 of the 14 shots were solo,)  Texas had just a .413 slugging percentage going into the College World Series, but they slugged at a .537 clip in their six games at Rosenblatt.

The home runs, along with a CWS-best 4.02 ERA in their six games, helped them overcome a.258 2-out batting average and .373 on-base percentage in Omaha.  Their 2-out average ranked 6th in the eight team CWS field, while the OBP was last.  However, only LSU’s .555 slugging percentage was better than Texas’ .537.

It’s also quite ironic that the team that led the nation with 104 sacrifice bunts (including an NCAA Tournament record with seven in a Super Regional game vs. TCU) in 2009 while hitting just a total of 53 home runs had more homers than any other team at the CWS.  LSU was second with 13 Omaha home runs, but the other six College World Series participants managed a combined 18 HR in a total of 19 games at Rosenblatt.

All told seven of the Longhorn’s nine regulars hit home runs during their stay in Omaha.  Here’s the breakdown with CWS HRs followed by each player’s final 2009 HR tally:

Russell Moldenhauer:  4/4 (Hit .350 with a slg% of 1.000 in 6 CWS games.)

Cameron Rupp:  3/11 (the 11 HR led Texas in ’09. Tied w/Keyes w/6 CWS RBIs.)

Kevin Keyes:  2/9  (Added two doubles & tied for team-leading w/6 RBIs.)

Connor Rowe:  2/8 (Had 7 total hits, including two doubles at CWS.)

Travis Tucker: 1/3 (Rowe led Texas with a .400 avg. in Omaha.)

Preston Clark:  1/3 (Hit .381 in Omaha (8 hits), but his HR was his only extra-base hit.)

Michael Torres:  1/5 (He also had a pair of Omaha doubles.)

Neither Brandon Belt nor Brandon Loy homered in Omaha, but they had 3 and 4 RBIs respectively.  Loy led the nation with 25 sac bunts in 2009, but he had just one in 6 games in Omaha.  Belt had 11 sac bunts in ’09, including two at the CWS.

Other Top Moments Of 2009

4.  Southern Mississippi Sweeps Florida To Go To Omaha

5.  The Texas vs. Boston College 25-inning Game

6.  Andrew Darr Comes Off The Bench & Comes Up Big For Arkansas

7.  Virginia Beats Stephen Strasburg In Irvine Regional Opener

8.  Washington State And Gonzaga End Long NCAA Tournament Droughts

9.  Cal Poly Gets Its First NCAA Tournament Bid

10.  Kansas’ Field of Dreams: Kansas, Kansas State & Wichita State All Get NCAA Bids

11.  Stephen Strasburg Strikes out 17 in a no hitter

12.  Ohio State’s Alex Wimmers No-hits Michigan

13.  Kansas Sweeps #1 Texas

14.  Bryce Brentz Has An April To Remember

15.  Clemson’s Kyle Parker Does Double Duty

16.  #1 Arkansas Beats #1 Arizona State

17.  Rhode Island Beats Miami And Oklahoma State

18.  Kansas State’s A.J. Morris beats Arizona State’s Mike Leake

19.  North Carolina’s Mike Fox Wins His 1,000th Game

20.  Illinois Shocks #1 LSU In Baton Rouge

21.  Alabama’s Kent Matthes Launches Longballs

22.  Freshman Levi Michael Starts In North Carolina’s Season Opener

23.  LSU Opens The New Alex Box Stadium

24.  Oregon Brings Back Baseball

Moraga, CA – The Saint Mary’s College baseball team and head coach Jedd Soto have announced the schedule for the 2010 season. Highlighting the season are a total of nine games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year, three series against conference champions, one series against a 2009 College World Series participant, and a total of 33 games against teams who finished .500 or better.
“Without question, this will be the strongest schedule we have played since my arrival at Saint Mary’s College,” said

St. Mary's Head Coach Jedd Soto

Soto. “We will have an opportunity early to compete at a very high level during our preseason contests which should help us prepare for the West Coast Conference play.” “Playing this type of schedule against quality opponents will give a chance to earn a post season bid.”

Complete 2010 St.Mary’s Schedule (PDF)

Fans will get their first chance to see the 2010 club February 19 when the Gaels take on the defending Western Athletic Conference regular season champion San Jose State Spartans, who finished with 41 wins last season. Opening weekend will continue February 20 on the road at San Jose State, and will finish with the Gaels hosting the Spartans again at Louis Guisto Field on February 21.

After hosting the Nevada Wolfpack in a mid-week contest on February 23, the Gaels will be on the road for eight of the next game games. They will travel down south for a tournament hosted by Cal State Bakersfield, February 26-28. In the tournament, SMC will play CS Bakersfield, Bay Area competitor and Pac-10 member California, and Central Michigan of the Mid-American Conference.

From there, the Gaels return home for a mid-week contest March 2 against Sacramento State, and return the favor by traveling to Sacramento, CA the following day, and then will make the trip down to Irvine March 5-7 to take on the Anteaters of UC Irvine. UC Irvine won the Big West Conference last season with a record of 45-14, was ranked no. 1 nationally for a period of time, and hosted an NCAA Regional.

The Gaels hit the road again March 19-21 when they travel to New Orleans, LA, and take on Conference USA member Tulane. Following another mid-week road affair with the Hornets of Sacramento State on March 23, the Gaels return to the friendly confines of Louis Guisto Field March 26-28 for a series against UC Riverside, from the Big West Conference, which finished the 2009 season with a record of 33-20.

Another eight-game road-trip begins on March 30 when the Gaels travel to UC Davis for a midweek game against the Aggies. The Gaels then head to Hattiesburg, MS for an April 1-3 series against Southern Mississippi. The Conference USA runner-ups with a 40-26 record, the Golden Eagles were one of eight participants in last year’s College World Series and finished the season with a no. 8 ranking nationally.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Gaels from there when they return to California, as they travel to Palo Alto for a midweek contest against Stanford, perennial powers in the Pac-10, on April 7. The road trip concludes when the Gaels open West Coast Conference play at the Portland from April 9-11.

Following the series at Portland, the Gaels will be local for the next seven contests when they return home and continue WCC play April 16-18 against Bay Area rivals, the San Francisco Dons. After a mid-week game against Sacramento State, the fourth meeting of the season, SMC will hit the road for WCC play and take on Santa Clara, April 23-25.

Following an April 30-May 2 WCC road series at Loyola Marymount, the Gaels will return to “The Guisto” for its longest home stand of the year. They will host WCC power Pepperdine May 7-9, UC Davis in a midweek contest May 11, and defending WCC champions Gonzaga May 14-16. The Bulldogs finished last season with a record of 36-18 and a no. 22 national ranking.

The Gaels will be on the road the last two weekends of the season, traveling to the Seattle University May 21-23 for a four-game series. Seattle is beginning its first season of baseball since the 1980 season. WCC play concludes with a series against the Toreros of San Diego May 28-30.

“We have a balanced club this year,” said Soto. “We will return some key offensive players and have added some very talented freshman, who should make an immediate impact. We have an experienced starting rotation and a deep bullpen consisting of three closers who have combined for 18 saves over the past three seasons. Overall, we have a fairly young team that should be exciting to watch for the next few years.”

There will be no West Coast Conference tournament or playoff for the 2010 season. The regular season champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

(Release)

Lake Charles, LA McNeese State baseball coach Terry Burrows has announced the Cowboy schedule for the 2010 season and it includes games against 2009 College World Series champion LSU and CWS participant Arkansas.

McNeese St. Head Coach Terry Burrows

McNeese will also participate in the Lamar tournament this year where the Cowboys will play Penn State, Dallas Baptist and the host Cardinals.

Complete 2010 McNeese St. Schedule

Burrows has his team starting its schedule Feb. 19 in a three game home series against Valparaiso.  Other non-conference matchups for the  Cowboys are home and home matches with UNO, UL-Lafayette and UL-Monroe and single games at home against Prairie View and Texas Southern.

On the road the Cowboys will also play Louisiana Tech.

McNeese will begin Southland Conference action March 12 in a three game home series with Northwestern State.

The Cowboys have 23 lettermen returning this year including seven starters in the field and three pitchers in rotation.  Heading this group is outfielder Lee Orr who was named to the Louisville Slugger freshman all-American team last year after batting .301 with 15 home runs, 57 RBIs and 18 stolen bases.

Other front line players returning are outfielder Andy Riche’ (.340, three homers), third baseman Steven Irvine (.285, seven home runs), shortstop Matt Fontenot (.343, three home runs), second baseman Jace Peterson (.366, 13 stolen bases) and first basemen Nick Eubanks (.268, four homers) and Bryn Thompson (.240).

Starting pitchers returning are Tyler Davis (4-3, 6.91 ERA), Jonathan Conrad (3-6, 7.10 ERA) and Matt Click (2-4, 7.30 ERA).

A year ago the Cowboys posted a 21-30 overall record and were 10-22 in conference play.

(Release)

Wildcats Will Open Season With 27 Straight Home Games

UA Head Coach Andy Lopez

Beach State, Cal State Fullerton, Northern Colorado, and Sacramento State.  The Wildcats will also play non-conference two game sets vs. UNLV, Saint Joseph’s, Wichita State and New Mexico.

Complete 2010 Arizona Baseball Schedule

The Wildcats begin Pac-10 play vs. Oregon with a 3-game home series that starts on March 26.  They play their first road games at California April 1,2 & 3 in Berkley, CA.

Other Pac-10 road series are vs. Washington, USC and Oregon State.  The Wildcats host Washington State, UCLA, Arizona State, and Stanford.

Two “non-conference” games vs. Arizona State will be played in Tempe on Aprl 20 & May 4.   Cal State Bakersfield also visits Tucson May 7-9 in Arizona’s last non-conference action.

In all Arizona plays eight games against 2009 College World Series teams.

Four Things I’m Thinking About Right Now

We’re still  3 1/2 months away from the start of the college baseball season, so I thought I would share a few things that are rattling around in my head.

1.  The World Series Is Over, and like most baseball fans I’m sad.  I don’t know if I’m more sad that the season’s over or that the Yankees won.  The good news though is the next meaningful games that will be played will be college games on February 19, 2010.   One of the more intriguing match-ups of the opening weekend has 2009 College World Series participant Virginia at East Carolina for a three-game series.  ECU fell to North Carolina in ’09 Super Regional action.  Brian O’Connor’s Cavs host a three-game set with Rhode Island the following weekend, so they’ll have a tough task to match the 19-0 start they had in 2009.

CLICK HERE to see more 2010 schedules.

2.  The Early Signing Period Is Here, and college baseball teams around the country are officially inking players

Fresno State Won The 2008 CWS

for their 2011 classes.  I know recruiting is the life blood of college athletics, but I have just never been a “recruitnik”.  How many “can’t miss” guys turn into giant busts, while “projects” fly below the radar in high school, but blossom in college or beyond?  Fresno State and Southern Mississippi haven’t sniffed a top 20 recruiting class lately, but things  worked out pretty well for them in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

3.  Andre Agassi’s Book Is Stirring Things Up, and his is no doubt a cautionary tale.  In “Open” Agassi not only dishes on himself for drug use, but also on his dad for pushing him into tennis.  There is a fine line for parents between introducing a sport to their kids and then encouraging young Johnny or Jane to succeed.  Ala Marv Marinovich (the infamous Todd Marinovich’s father), Andre’s dad, Mike, pushed his son into a sport that Andre apparently didn’t really love.  It’s a shame, because so many people loved watching him play.  (Ever wonder if A-Rod had daddy issues?)

4.  College Baseball Lost A Good Umpire Recently.  Lenny Brickens died on October 30th, and by all accounts he was a guy who cared deeply about the game.  Brickens had been the Missouri Valley Conference’s Baseball Coordinator of Umpires since 2006.  A coach I talked to whose team played games umped by Brickens told me “He was always trying to help younger umpires.  He cared

Lenny Brickens

about the sport…he was one of the better umpires who took pride in developing the young guys so that they could be good Division One umpires.  Lenny’s heart was always into it.”  I’ve taken my share of shots at umpires, but I have also always said that being an umpire is a job I would never want, because 50 percent of the people are always going to be mad at you on every call you make.  That said, I think there are a lot of good “Lenny’s” out there working games.  They all care about the game, and they all want to get the calls right.

Here’s our weekly recap of some of the new stuff we have added to the site last week.

1.  Podcast interview with West Virginia’s Jedd Gyorko, who was also a Cape Cod League All Star.

2.  Virginia’s Kevin McMullan named National Assistant Coach of the Year.

3.  LSU and Texas each received their College World Series rings.

4.  East Carolina honored at this week’s football game for its 2009 Super Regional season.

5.  Rhode Island named the top college team in New England by the BoSox Club.

6.   Southern Illinois’ Dan Callahan named Most Courageous by MVC.

7.  Wichita State is auctioning logos from its old field turf.

8.  Sacramento State has a succession plan in place to name a new head coach when current skipper John Smith retires.

9.  Our exclusive final statistics compilation from the 2009 College World Series.

10.  Muhammed Ali, Dustin Pedroia and Andre Ethier at Friday’s Pat Murphy/ASU fundraiser.

11. Schedules, schedules and more schedules.  Seriously, we posted more than 30 2010 schedules this week.

Rams looking to build on their record-setting 2009 campaign

URI Head Coach Jim Foster

home runs and fielding percentage – the 2010 squad will look to pick up where it left off, returning all but three starters (two pitchers, one infielder) from a year ago.

Rhody opens the new season with a three-game series at Mississippi State (Feb. 19-21) before heading to Charlottesville, Va. for three games against the Virginia Cavaliers.

Complete 2010 Rhode Island Schedule

The Rams will spend March 6-11 in Winter Haven, Fla., facing various opponents who have yet to be determined. URI then travels to UNC Wilmington for a three-game series beginning on Friday, March 19. From there, Rhody will travel to William and Mary for a pair of games on the 23rd and 24th.

The Atlantic 10 portion of the schedule will feature home series against Charlotte (April 9-11), Massachusetts (April 16-18), Xavier (April 23-25), Richmond (May 14-16), and George Washington (May 20-22).

The Rams will travel to play three-game conference series at Temple (March 26-28), Fordham (April 1-3), Duquesne (April 30-May 2), and St. Bonaventure (May 7-9).

The Ram’s non-conference home schedule features games against Central Connecticut (March 30), Boston College (March 31), Quinnipiac (April 13), Bryant (April 14), Brown (April 27), Siena (April 28) and Northeastern (May 19).

Rhode Island will also face Northeastern (April 7), Sacred Heart (April 20) and Connecticut (April 21) on the road.

Atlantic 10 action will wrap up at the league’s 2010 Championship at Campbell’s Field in Camden, N.J., from May 26-29.

HARRISONBURG, Va., Nov. 3, 2009 – A four-team tournament in Myrtle Beach, an extended trip to Florida, a home-and-away series with Virginia, 12 games against 2009 NCAA Tournament teams, and home night games for the first time in program history highlight the 2010 James Madison baseball schedule released Tuesday.

JMU Head Coach Spanky McFarland

his 13^th season with the Dukes.  “It’s a little harder because I feel we have an experienced team that should be able to handle it.  Any time you have a lot of experience, you want to play as good a schedule as you can.  The thinking is to try to give the team more than one way to get into the NCAA tournament.  We want to get the RPI high enough that we can get an at-large bid into the tournament if we don’t win the CAA.”

Complete 2010 James Madison Schedule

Overall the schedule features eight games against top 50 teams in the 2009 RPI and 17 against the top 100.  Additionally, the Diamond Dukes will play 12 games against teams that qualified for the 2009 NCAA field of 64, including games against College World Series qualifier Virginia in Charlottesville on March 2 and at home on March 17.  The home contest against the Cavaliers will be one of the marquee games for JMU’s first season in Veterans Memorial Stadium and the first home night game in program history.

One of the key early weekends on the schedule will be the Baseball at the Beach event hosted by Coastal Carolina at BB&T Coastal Field, home of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Class A Carolina League in Minor League Baseball.  The weekend will have the feel of a four-team NCAA Regional as JMU will be joined by Coastal Carolina (Feb. 26), UC Irvine (Feb. 28), and North Carolina State (Feb. 27).  The Anteaters spent much of the 2009 season ranked first in the nation and, along with CCU, finished in the top 30 of the final RPI.

McFarland commented on the weekend in Myrtle Beach, “We tried to put ourselves in a regional atmosphere so that if we do make it, we’ll have the experience of playing at some tough places against good teams.  It should be a good test early in the season.”

The new stadium will officially open the first weekend of the season when JMU hosts Marist College in a three-game set Feb. 19-21.  The Red Foxes reached the NCAA Tournament as champions of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.  Other games against NCAA teams include May 18 at East Carolina, May 12 at Monmouth, and March 26-28 at George Mason.

The week after Baseball at the Beach, JMU will travel to Jacksonville, Fla. for eight games in a span of 10 days.  The trip includes three games against host North Florida (March 5, 11, 13) along with two games against Illinois State (March 12 & 14), and single games against Alcorn State (March 6) and Stetson (March 9 at Stetson).

The Florida trip will also feature an exhibition game against the Japanese Collegiate All-Stars on March 7.  McFarland stated, “I think that’s one of those once-in–a-lifetime experiences that transcends everything.  It’s an opportunity to meet other people and see how the sport is played in a different country.  It will be a good cultural experience for the guys.   And they are a very good team so it will be another good test.”

The Colonial Athletic Association portion of the 2010 schedule features eight three-game series in the traditional Friday, Saturday, and Sunday format and will culminate in the four-team CAA Championship May 27-29 at UNC Wilmington’s Brooks Field.  JMU will play home series against Towson (March 19-21), William and Mary (April 9-11), UNCW (April 16-18), and Delaware (April 30-May 2).  Road series include George Mason (March 26-28), Old Dominion on Easter Weekend (April 2-4), Hofstra (May 14-16), and VCU (May 21-23).

In addition to Virginia, the Dukes will play home-and-away series against Radford, Longwood, Liberty, Maryland, and VMI.  They will also have a three-game trip to Kennesaw State in Georgia April 24-25.

July Photo of Construction On JMU's Veterans Stadium

JMU’s new stadium, Veterans Memorial Stadium, is nearly completed construction and will be available when the team begins practice in early February.  The facility features a synthetic turf playing surface throughout (including the infield dirt area) with seating for 1,200 and lights.  The complex also includes renovations to JMU’s Memorial Hall with new locker rooms, offices for coaches, team meeting rooms, indoor batting cages, sports medicine, and strength training facilities.  The indoor areas will be occupied during JMU’s winter break.

The schedule at the new stadium includes a total of 11 night games with first pitch at 6:30 p.m. at all games with the exception of Sundays beginning March 19 through the remainder of the season.  JMU, which has traditionally played only a handful of night games in a season, will play nearly 20 night contests home and away in 2010.

McFarland added, “I’m excited about the night games.  When we return from Florida we’ll start immediately.  I think that will be fun.  We’re going with 6:30 games so kids can come to games and still get home at a decent time.  It’s also late enough that it’s after work and dinner so hopefully people can get there.”

JMU returns an experienced roster in 2010 with 23 of 29 letterwinners back from last year’s 30-24 squad.  The Dukes return starters at all eight field positions and players who accounted for 1,655 of the team’s 1,960 total at bats.  On the mound, JMU returns nine pitchers who threw at least 25 innings last year and players who accounted for 413 2/3 of the team’s 474 total innings pitched.  In addition, the Dukes return a starting catcher who missed all but 10 games in 2009 due to injury and a pair of probable starting pitchers who sat out the entire season due to an injury and a transfer redshirt.

NOTE: The Veterans Memorial monument at the entrance to the new baseball/softball complex will be dedicated this Sunday, Nov. 8, as part of Veterans Day celebrations in the city of Harrisonburg.  A parade downtown will begin at 2 p.m. with the monument dedication at 3:15 p.m. in the softball stadium at the new complex.  Members of the JMU baseball and softball programs along with the Marching Royal Dukes will be in attendance as part of the ceremony.

(Press Release)