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Here’s a look at some noteworthy players with college connections and other things going on in the world of college baseball…

The Ax Man Cometh…

If you have spent any time watching the MLB Playoffs, Baseball Tonight or the MLB Network this season you have likely heard the incredible story about how Milwaukee’s John Axford has gone from cell phone salesman to Big League closer in the course of the last few years. However, that’s not even half of the journey that “Ax”, “The Ax Man” – pick your moniker – has gone through to get to where is is now.

Axford, who posted a 1.95 ERA with 46 saves for the NL Central champs this season, turned down the Seattle Mariners after they drafted him in the seventh round of the 2001 MLB Draft. He opted to play instead at Notre Dame, where he went to the College World Series as a freshman in 2002.

He was 5-2 that year after making 12 starts with five appearances out of the Irish bullpen. His fourth relief appearance was one of his most memorable. Axford entered game two of the Tallahassee Super Regional in the middle innings of what would be a 12-5 Irish loss.

In the fifth inning of that game, Florida State fans did what they always do-sang Oh Canada as the Seminoles prepared to bat in the home half of the inning. It’s doubtful the FSU faithful even gave thought to the fact that the lanky 6’6 Axford-a native of Port Dover, Ontario-was on the mound during their spirited chorus. “It fired me up a little,” Axford told me the next day.

While Axford’s 4 2/3 innings in that loss won’t go down in the Irish records books, they were important none the less. Axford did that day what a pro does. He did the same thing Tim Wakefield did for the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS when he chewed-up 3 1/3 innings in relief in a blowout loss to the Yankees-he held the line. Notre Dame, led by current LSU skipper Paul Mainieri (current Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor was his pitching coach), knocked off the top ranked Seminoles 3-1 the next day to advance to Omaha.

Axford made one relief appearance at the CWS, but it would be the last NCAA Tournament appearance of his career. While teammates like Steve Stanley and Brian Stavisky were drafted that year by Billy Beane and eventually mentioned in Michael Lewis‘ book Moneyball, Axford is one of just two players from that ’02 team to make it to the MLB (they other was Matt Macri who missed the postseason due to injury).

He pitched for Mainieri and O’Connor again in 2003, missed all of ’04 after Tommy John surgery and then complete his collegiate career at Canisus in 2006.

But it wasn’t the elbow surgery that held Axford back as much as his problems with control. The Ax Man had 133 strikeouts, but walked 109 with 21 wild pitches in his two seasons under the Golden Dome. Things were no better as Canisus, where he walked and struckout 79 with 15 wild pitches in 70 innings, while going 3-8.

The guy who was considered by some publications to be the top prep player in Canada in 2001 could lather and rinse, but he just couldn’t repeat. Axford could be brilliantly dominant one day and then dumbfoundedly disastrous the next. Think Nuke Laloosh.

It was never more evident that two midweek starts for the Irish in 2003. Axford struckout 12 with no walks in 7.0 innings in an April 9 win over Western Michigan. However, he followed that start with 5 BB and just 4 K in a win over Central Michigan. Throw-in a 7 BB performance in 2 1/3 innings of relief in a Big East Tournament loss to Rutgers that May and it’s easy to see why it took the guy who now sports the second most recognizable facial hair in the Big Leagues to matriculate his way to Milwaukee.

Ask anyone who knows John Axford though, and they will tell you he is as good a person as he is a pitcher. He’s a case study in perseverance paying off over the long haul. Axford is doing now what he did that day in June in Tallahassee-holding the line.

The Dan Man Can…

Dan Johnson

Tampa Bay Rays first baseman, Dan Johnson, is another big league player with college connections. Johnson is probably now best known for his two-out, two-strike home run in the bottom of the ninth last week against the Yankees to help propel the Rays into the AL Playoffs. Like Axford, Johnson is also well traveled.

Johnson started his collegiate career at Butler University in Indianapolis before transferring to a junior college and eventually Nebraska. He batted .361 with 25 home runs and 86 RBIs in 2001 to help the program reach its first ever College World Series.

The 32-year-old made his Big League debut with the Oakland A’s in 2005. He stayed there through 2008, when Tampa Bay claimed him off waivers. Johnson then spent the 2009 season with the Yokohama Baystars in Japan. He has spent the last two seasons back in Tampa. His last hit prior to last week’s dramatic home run was in April.

Johnson and Axford are among 175 former college players on the 40-man rosters of this year’s MLB Playoff teams. Click Here to see more.

Who Needs High School…

Vanderbilt's Chris Harvey

Bryce Harper is probably the most famous player to skip his final year of high school to prepare for a future in baseball, but he is not the only one. Harper skipped his last two years of high school to enroll and play for a year at a junior college before the Washington Nationals made him their top draft pick.

Like Harper, Chris Harvey has jumped from high school to college early. However, unlike Harper, Harvey is doing at a higher level – both academically and athletically.

Harvey, a catcher like Harper, should be a senior at Germantown Academy in Pennsylvania, but instead he is working toward a shot to be Vanderbilt’s catcher in a year Tim Corbin‘s Commodores are coming off their first College World Series appearance.

The 6’6 Harvey was projected by many to go in the first three rounds of the 2012 MLB Draft, but the itch to play college ball was something he could not resist.

“It’s something that I wanted to do for a while,” Harvey recently told Max Preps. “This gives me an extra year of college, it helps me become a more well-rounded person, and the academics had a lot to do with it. I always wanted to come to Vanderbilt, and to be honest, me and my family weren’t really depending on what we were hearing [from Major League scouts and teams]. I think they basically all said what I wanted to hear.”

Other players who left high school in recent years to begin their college careers early include Levi Michael of North Carolina and UCLA’s Trevor Bauer. Things worked out well for both of them, as both made it to Omaha with their teams. Bauer was the third overall pick by Arizona in this year’s MLB Draft, while Michael went 30th overall to Minnesota.

Who Needs Two?

Speaking of Vanderbilt, tickets are on sale now for the DeMarini Fall Classic between the Commodores and Cal State Fullerton. The two games will take place October 22 & 23 at Vandy’s Hawkins Field in Nashville. The Titans are led by first year head coach Rick Vanderhook, who was an assistant on UCLA’s 2010 CWS runner-up team. Vanderhook was hired after Dave Serrano left Fullerton to become head coach at Tennessee.

Missouri and Iowa Lending A Helping Hand…

The Missouri and Iowa baseball teams will play a pair of fall exhibition games this weekend (October 8 & 9) and the proceeds from the games will go to a worthy cause.

All proceeds from those games will go directly toward rebuilding Joplin, Missouri’s Little League baseball programs, which were ravaged by tornadoes last May. Saturday’s baseball game will be held prior to the Missouri-Kansas State football game. First pitch for the exhibition is set for 12:30 (Central Time) and kickoff for the football game is at 2:30 pm. Sunday’s game starts at 1 pm.

Fans who can’t attend the games but would like to donate to the cause can contact Missouri director of baseball operations, Evan Pratte, at 573-882-1917 or via e-mail at prattee@missouri.edu.

CLICK HERE to see a video with Mizzou head coach Tim Jamieson further discussing the Joplin relief effort.

Schedules, Schedules and More Schedules…

Now that October is here, we will continue to see more and more college baseball teams release their 2012 schedules. we will link them along with team rosters on our master Schedule Page as they are released.

Long Beach State has the best non-conference slate that I have seen so far. Cal, UCLA, USC, Oregon, Arizona State Washington State, and Wichita State are all among the teams the Dirt Bags will face in 2012.

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Milestones & Upsets Highlight The First Week Of 2010

Max Willett (UNM photo)

2…wins by unranked New Mexico at #1 Texas in Austin.  The Lobos lost the season-opener on Friday, but came back with 3-1 and 6-5 wins Saturday and Sunday.  The wins are the first ever for New Mexico over a #1 ranked team.  Texas topped every national poll heading into the season.

.636…batting average by Lobo Max Willett in the 3-game series.  He had a 1.615 OPS with two doubles and a triple.  Willett also had the game-winning RBI in Saturday’s win.

23…runs by Washington State in Sunday’s 23-o rout of Seattle-the most runs by a Cougar team since 1999.  15 different Cougars had at least one hit.

5…Wazzou pitchers who combined in the shutout.

1,001…Career wins by LSU head coach Paul Mainieri after his Tigers’ 3-game weekend sweep of Centenary.  Mainieri hit the 1,000 win mark with Saturday’s 25-8 victory.

1,000…Career wins by Ohio State head coach Bob Todd after his Buckeyes won three games over the weekend in Jacksonville, FL.  OSU pounded Richmond 20-9 Sunday to get Todd to the milestone.

Danny Hall (GT photo)

901…career wins for Georgia Tech’s Danny Hall after a weekend sweep of Missouri State.

36…runs scored by Canisius in a doubleheader sweep of Illinois-Chicago Saturday at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, NC.  The Golden Griffins won the first game 20-4 and took the second game 16-10.

3…games Stanford won vs. 5th ranked Rice in Palo Alto.

11…runs Stanford scored in the 7th inning of game two of the series on Saturday.  The Cardinal was trailing 4-2 at the time.

5…pitchers Rice used during Stanford’s biggest inning in nearly two years.

265…wins at Cal State Fullerton’s Goodwin Field by Oregon (and former Fullerton) head coach George Horton after Friday’s upset of the 4th ranked Titans.

6-5…the score of Friday’s Louisiana-Monroe win over Ole Miss.  It was the Rebels’ first season-opening loss since 1981.

Paul Karmas (St. John's photo)

1 & 15…combined hits and strikeouts by St. John’s starting pitchers Bruce Kern (5 IP-0H-0BB-8K) and Nick Cenatiempo (4 IP-1 H-0R-BB-7) in Friday and Saturday wins over New Orleans.

3…home runs by Red Storm 1B Paul Karmas in Sunday’s 31-6 win over UNO.

5…total runs by West Virginia in weekend losses to #17 Coastal Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia Tech.

9 1/2…runs a game scored by the Mountaineers last year-which ranked 12th in the nation.

14,922…fans who saw #2 Virginia win two of three games over #11 East Carolina at ECU’s Clark-LeClair Stadium.  Friday’s opening day crowd of 5,012 is the largest in stadium history.  Saturday’s crowd of 5,136 marked the first time ECU ever had back-to-back attendance of more than 5.000.

14…combined pitchers used by the Cavaliers (6) and Pirates (8) in Sunday’s 14-11 UVA series-clinching win.

3 2/3…innings pitched by UVA starter Cody Winiarski.  It was the longest stint for any of the 14 hurlers.  Virginia had 19 hits while East Carolina totaled 11.

4:11…the total time of the 9-inning game.

4:39…time of Lamar’s 5-4 win in 17-innings over Maine.  The game is the longest in Lamar history.  The two teams had played a 2 hour and 27 minute 9-inning game prior to the marathon.

12…strikeouts in 6 innings by Georgia Tech’s Jed Bradley in Sunday’s 13-0 win over Missouri State.  The lefty allowed just four hits and retired 6 of the first 8 batters he faced via strikeout.

13…strikeouts in 6 innings by Arizona freshman Kurt Heyer.  Heyer allowed just three hits and fanned 13 of the 22 batters he faced in Sunday’s win over Utah Valley in his collegiate debut.

2,500…all-time wins for the Arizona baseball program after Heyer’s performance Sunday.

Kevin Tokarski (ISU photo)

8…straight wins by UC Irvine pitcher Daniel Bibona after his 10 strikeout performance in a 5-1 win over Loyola Marymount.

3…the magic number during opening weekend for Illinois State’s Kevin Tokarski.  The redshirt sophomore tripled on the Redbirds’ first pitch of 2010.  He stole 3 bases with 3 doubles in his team’s first three games of the season.   Tokarski was a 2008 Freshman All-American, but missed last season due to wrist surgery.

8,803…total attendance of TCU‘s season-opening 3-game sweep of 2009 NCAA participant Sam Houston State.  The mark is a single-series TCU record.

.800…batting average by Horned Frog freshman Josh Elander.  He was 8-for-10 with a team-high six RBIs to start his career.

1…hit allowed in 6 innings on the mound by Conference USA Preseason Pitcher of the Year Todd McInnis.  The Southern Mississippi hurler didn’t give-up a hit until there were two outs in the 5th inning of Friday’s win over Northwestern State.  He exited the game after he reached his 75 pitch limit.

10 of 10…Pac 10 Conference teams that finished opening weekend with a winning record.  The Pac 10 is the only BCS conference that claimed that distinction over the first three days of the 2010 season.

CHICAGO – The UIC baseball team unveiled its 2010 schedule today with a season-opening trip to Cary N.C. for two games apiece against LeMoyne and Canisius to begin another challenging slate for the eight-time defending Horizon League champion Flames.

UIC baseball coach Mike Dee

2:00 p.m. in Cary, N.C. The Flames will also face the Dolphins on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 9:00 a.m. In between, UIC will play a doubleheader against Canisius on Saturday, Feb. 20 beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Complete 2010 UIC Schedule

From there the Flames head to Tuscaloosa, Ala. to face the University of Alabama in a three-game series at Sewell-Thomas Stadium from Feb. 26-27. This marks the second consecutive season that UIC will square off against the Crimson Tide on the diamond. The Tide took both contests played by the schools, while two others were washed away by inclement weather.

Two more non-conference series in the early part of the schedule include trips to Bowling Green, Ky. to battle Western Kentucky in a three-game set, March 5-7 and a swing through Waco, Texas the following week to face the Baylor Bears, March 12-14.

After spending the first month of the season on the road, the Flames host Opening Day at Les Miller Field on Friday, Mar. 19 against Creighton at 4:05 p.m. to begin a three-game series against the Bluejays.

UIC will host Concordia on March 23 and travel to Notre Dame to take on the Fighting Irish on March 24 before beginning the Horizon League campaign at home against Milwaukee on Mar. 26. The Flames and Panthers will play a three-game set.

Another big non-conference clash for the Flames takes place from May 7-9 in Atlanta, Ga., as UIC takes on Georgia Tech in a three-game series.

The Flames end the regular season with five straight home games at Les Miller Field. UIC will entertain Cleveland State for a doubleheader on May 16 before welcoming the Valparaiso Crusaders for three on May 20-21.

UIC will seek to clinch a fifth trip to NCAA Regional play in the last eight years at the 2010 Horizon League Baseball Championship in Gary, Ind. beginning on May 25. The Flames have won two of the last three tournament crowns.

Head coach Mike Dee has 17 players from last year’s squad back to anchor the Flames, including returning 2009 All-Horizon League honorees: third baseman Jason Ganek (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey H.S.), catcher Nathan Orf (Wentzville, Mo./Francis Howell H.S.) and pitcher Chris Kovacevich (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East/Coastal Carolina).

(Release)

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Head coach Don Maines and the Long Island University baseball team announced the schedule for the 2010 season on Tuesday. The Blackbirds are slated to play 56 games during the 2010 campaign, highlighted by an early-season trip to Florida and a four-game series at Atlantic Coast Conference member Virginia Tech.

LIU head coach Don Maines

four games with Virginia Tech starting on March 5.

Complete 2010 Long Island Schedule

From there, Long Island will head to the sunny climes of Winter Haven, Fla., on March 12 for a nine-day, six-game road trip. There, the Blackbirds will take on Central Michigan, Army, Maryland-Baltimore County, North Dakota State, Dartmouth and NJIT. Long Island will return to Brooklyn for its first contest at LIU Field on March 23 when local rival Manhattan visits.

Northeast Conference play opens on March 26 when the Blackbirds visit their Staten Island neighbor Wagner for four games. Following a midweek, non-conference tilt at St. John’s on March 30, Long Island will host its first NEC series beginning on April 1 against Fairleigh Dickinson.

The Blackbirds will also host midweek games at LIU Field against Saint Peter’s (April 7) and Hofstra (May 4). Long Island will visit non-conference foes NYIT (April 13), Rider (April 21 and May 16) and Lafayette (April 28).

This season, Long Island will host NEC series against Sacred Heart, Monmouth and conference newcomer Bryant. The Blackbirds will be on the road against Quinnipiac, Mount St. Mary’s and Central Connecticut State, wrapping up the season in New Britain, Conn., with four games against the Blue Devils beginning on May 21.

The home series against Bryant, beginning on May 7, will be played at KeySpan Park, the Coney Island home of the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones. The Blackbirds will also take on Le Moyne at KeySpan in a doubleheader on May 14.

(Release)

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Fairfield University Baseball Head Coach John Slosar announced the Stags’ 2010 slate this afternoon. The schedule includes opponents from the Big East, the CAA, the Atlantic-10, the Horizon League, and the Ivy League.

Fairfield head coach John Slosar

13-14, for a three-game series with the Hornets.

Complete 2010 Fairfield Schedule

Fairfield returns to the Northeast on March 16 for a single game against Big East foe St. John’s. The Stags open play at Alumni Diamond on March 18 when they host Quinnipiac. It’s the first of three games against the Bobcats that the Stags will play this season. The two teams will also meet in Hamden, Conn. on April 10 and will be back at Alumni Diamond on April 11.

The Stags will head to Hofstra, March 20-21, for a four-game tilt with the CAA foes. Fairfield will also travel to Sacred Heart and Hartford before opening MAAC play at Saint Peter’s on March 27. After non-league home games against Fordham and Bryant, the Stags will host Rider during Easter weekend for their first MAAC home series. The two teams will play a doubleheader on April 3 followed by a single game on April 5. The Stags will host three additional MAAC series which includes Manhattan, Canisius, and the regular season finale against Marist, May 20-21.

Fairfield will have several weekday non-conference games throughout the month of April. The Stags travel to Yale for a doubleheader on April 14, host UConn on April 20 and Sacred Heart on April 27, head to Stony Brook on April 28, and will have home and home series with Central Connecticut.

Fairfield went 20-27 overall and 10-14 in the MAAC last season. The Stags return eight starting position players and six starting pitchers, including senior captains David Dudish, Bill Rafferty, and Rob Gariano, a First Team All-MAAC selection.

(Release)

Wright State Baseball to Hold Ring Ceremony on November 5 at Men’s Exhibition Game

Horizon League Tournament MVP Kory Twede

Twede, who garnered the 2009 Horizon League Tournament MVP  honors. Along with Mercer and Twede, juniors Alex Kaminsky and R.J. Gundolff joined freshman Ryan Ashe and Garrett Gray on the All-Tournament Team.

The 2009 Championship rings were designed by the senior class, Griffin Knapp, Jeff Mercer, Rylan Ostrosky and Kory Twede, and produced by the J. Lewis Small Co., Inc.

The 2009 team won the Horizon League Championship for the second time in four seasons, while redshirt junior Greg Robinson became the first player in program history to win two Horizon League Championships. A recap of the 2009 season can be found by clicking here while the 2010 schedule and roster can be view at WSURaiders.com.

The Green and Gold will open their title defense on February 19-21 at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C. with games versus Canisius and LeMoyne. The Raiders return 24 players from last season’s roster, add seven true freshman and two transfers to comprise the 2010 roster.

(Press Release)