By Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires

Jim Schlossnagle

The news of the week is, obviously, TCU’s announcement that the school plans to join the Big East Conference. The move won’t take place until the 2012-2013 academic year, so Jim Schlossnagle’s baseball team still has two more seasons left to play in the Mountain West Conference. Football is the driving factor in the decision, but from a baseball standpoint the Horned Frogs immediately join Louisville as a power in their new conference. The biggest immediate impact the move will have on TCU is more travel in conference play. Not only is TCU located geographically farther from most of the current Big East baseball playing schools, but there are also more conference opponents to play. The MWC currently has seven baseball schools, while the Big East has 12. I’ll go out on a limb and say Schlossnagle won’t love the trade-off of the trip to San Diego State for Connecticut or New Jersey. We will have a more detailed look at the impact conference shuffling will have on college baseball conferences in the very near future.

College Baseball Goes Primetime…

If not for the TCU announcement, the biggest college baseball news of the last week would likely be the announcement that ESPNU will televise an SEC Baseball Thursday night “national game of the week” during the 2011 season. Defending national champion South Carolina kicks-off the broadcast schedule on April 7 when it travels to Tennessee. This probably won’t make people on the west coast or in other big conferences overly happy, but it’s a big step for college baseball. Like it or not, SEC baseball puts butts in the seats, so it makes sense to start a national broadcast venture with the conference that generates the most revenue. Thursday night broadcasts should also give college baseball optimal exposure. Thursdays are typically Major League Baseball “getaway days”, meaning there are more afternoon games being played at MLB ballparks on those days. That also means the college games on ESPNU will have less competition when trying to draw-in the casual college baseball fan for the 7:30 pm ET broadcasts. Hopefully, bigger ratings numbers now for the SEC games will lead to more opportunities for ACC, Big 12 and Pac 10 teams to get more regular season exposure in the future.

How About A Side Of Garrido…

Augie Garrido

Preseason dinners have become a fundraising tradition for college baseball teams around the country. Many teams have been able to sell tickets to a dinner that features a prominent alum or notable MLB player or manager to help their under funded programs, but here’s one I haven’t seen before. Sacramento State won’t have a Big League manager like Bruce Bochy or a current player like Dallas Braden. Instead, Reggie Christianson’ s Hornet Baseball Diamond Dinner fill feature arguably the biggest name in college baseball-Augie Garrido. The Texas head coach will be the keynote speaker for the January 7, 2011 event. Only 500 tickets to the dinner will be sold. December 29 in the deadline to RSVP.

Three ‘Lopes To Lobos…

Last week we had a note about three high school teammates from Lake Wales, FL who had all signed Division One letters of intent to play baseball in the SEC. Now how about three junior college teammates who have all signed to play at the same Division One school. Lamar (Colorado) Community College pitchers Brandon Ward-Hersee, Shane Zaruba and Arturo Maltos-Garcia have all signed to play for Ray Birmingham at New Mexico next year. The trio combined to go 18-4 for Scott Crampton’s Runnin’ ‘Lopes last year, while Ward-Hersee set a new NJCAA record with 25 saves. LCC is the same school that sent Willy Kesler to New Mexico after the 2007 season. Kesler led the Lobos with six wins and three complete games last year to help UNM end a 48-year NCAA Tournament drought.

Keep Cleaning House…

We found a couple more college baseball renovation projects to report this week. Duke has installed Astro Turf GameDay Grass at the nearly 80-year old Jack Coombs Field. New lighting and fencing was installed at the park as well. The team practiced on the new surface for the first time just before Thanksgiving. Duke will continue to use Jack Coombs for midweek games in 2011 and play weekend games at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Meanwhile, Eastern Kentucky has made nearly $100,000 in renovations to Turkey Hughes Field. The outfield was graded and sodded, while a brick wall was extended to fully enclose the outfield. Synthetic turf was installed on the infield of the facility last year.

Virginia Looks To Keep Rolling After CWS Season

2009 Division Winners: Florida State won the Atlantic & North Carolina won the Coastal.

2009 Champion: Virginia defeated Florida State 6-3 to capture their 3^rd ACC championship and first since 1996.

2009 Tough: Only two ACC teams finished with a below .500 record, with all ACC Coastal Division teams finishing at least 11 games over the mark.  The league also saw a record-tying seven teams earn a trip to the NCAA tournament with four teams (Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and North Carolina) hosting regionals.

2010 No Easier: The ACC has 3 teams in the top 10 and 6 in the top 16 in Collegiate Baseball’s “Fabulous 40” Preseason Poll, the most by any conference in the country.  Virginia leads the way ranked 3^rd, followed by Georgia Tech at number 6, and Florida State 7^th.  Miami starts the year ranked 12^th, while North Carolina checks in at number 13 and Clemson begins the year 16^th.

Premier Players: 11 ACC players find themselves on the Louisville Slugger pre-season All-America teams including a conference high four 1^st teamers.  Those on the first team are RHP Deck McGuire from Georgia Tech, C Yasmani Grandal from Miami, OF Jarrett Parker of Virginia, and OF Tyler Holt from Florida State.

2010 ACC Coastal Division Preview

Yesterday we previewed the ACC’s Atlantic Division and today we look at the Coastal Division.

Duke

2009 Season: (35-24, 15-15)

Nickname: Blue Devils

Head Coach: Sean McNally

Location: Durham, NC

Vitals: .300 BA, 53 HR, .379 OBP, .979 Fld. %…4.83 ERA, 17 SVs, 427 K, 238 BB, .267 Opp. BA

Blue Devil Bats: Duke loses their top three hitters from a year ago including All-ACC 2^nd teamer Nate Frieman who led the team with a .340 BA, 20 HR, and 62 RBI.  The Devils, however, do return All-ACC 2^nd team performer Sr. OF Jeremy Gould (.340, 20 doubles, 7 HR) and Ping! All-Freshman So. OF Will Piwnica-Worms (.317, 37 R, 30 RBI).

Challenging Schedule: Duke plays nine NCAA tournament teams from last year this season.  25 of their 56 games are against teams that qualified for regionals, including non-conference foes Baylor and Georgia.

Two Home Parks: The Blue Devils will call two facilities home beginning this year.  Duke will still play at Jack Coombs Field, their home since 1931, but will also play 18 home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, home of the minor league team.

Georgia Tech

Deck McGuire (GT photo)

2009 Season: (38-19-1, 17-10-1)

Nickname: Yellow Jackets

Head Coach: Danny Hall

Location: Atlanta, GA

Vitals: .315 BA, 111 HR, .411 OBP, .965 Fld. %…4.65 ERA, 12 SVs, 523 K, 234 BB, .267 Opp. BA

Wrapping Up the Decade: Georgia Tech played in the NCAA tournament for the 23^rd time in the last 25 years and hosted a regional for the 7^th time in the decade.  They advanced to the regional championship before falling to eventual College World Series participant Southern Mississippi.

Deep Staff: The Jackets return one of the top pitching staffs in the country led by 2009 Collegiate Baseball 1^st team All-American and ACC Pitcher of the Year Deck McGuire (11-2, 3.50 ERA, 118 K) and So. RHP Mark Pope (5-1, 6.00 ERA, 8 SVs).

Big Offense: In addition to the great pitching, Georgia Tech brings back plenty of offense from a team that hit a league high 111 homeruns from a year ago.  Four players hit double digit homeruns, and three of them are back this season: All-ACC 2^nd teamer Tony Plagman (.354, 18 HR, 73 RBI), Jr. SS Derek Dietrich (.311, 10 HR, 54 RBI), and 1^st Freshman All-American Matt Skole (.302, 17 HR, 58 RBI).

Miami

2009 Season: (38-22, 18-12)

Nickname: Hurricanes

Head Coach: Jim Morris

Location: Coral Gables, FL

Vitals: .294 BA, 68 HR, .394 OBP, .965 Fld. %…4.71 ERA, 19 SVs, 479 K, 206 BB, .259 Opp. BA

Yasmani Grandal (Miami photo)

Eye of the Storm: Miami loses OF Chris Herrmann (.341, 9 HR, 44 RBI), a 10^th round draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles, but do welcome back several big bats with the return of preseason 1^st team All-American C Yasmani Grandal (.299, 16 HR, 45 RBI), and Sr. 2B Scott Lawson (.333, 75 H, 21 doubles).

Pitching Strength: The Hurricanes will have to find a new closer since Kyle Bellamy (3-1, 0.97 ERA, 16 SVs) turned pro, but they do return Jr. LHP Chris Hernandez (7-5, 4.76 ERA, 93 K), and Sr. RHP David Gutierrez (4-6, 4.38 ERA, 1 CG).  They also get back Jr. LHP Eric Erikson who was a 2^nd team All-ACC selection in 2008, but missed 2009 after having Tommy John surgery.

Miami Bound : Miami looks to make the NCAA tournament for the 37^th consecutive year, and has a schedule that could lead to success.  The Canes play all but 19 games at home, including a season-ending series against Virginia.  They do have to travel to Florida State and Georgia Tech, plus play an exhibition game against the Florida Marlins March 3^rd in Jupiter, FL.

North Carolina

2009 Season: (48-18, 19-10)

Nickname: Tar Heels

Head Coach: Mike Fox

Location: Chapel Hill, NC

Vitals: .313 BA, 69 HR, .403 OBP, .970 Fld. %…3.73 ERA, 17 SVs, 661 K, 264 BB, .244 Opp. BA

Big Losses: The Tar Heels must deal with the loss of 1B Dustin Ackley, Rivals.com Player of the Year and 2^nd overall pick in the MLB draft by the Seattle Mariners.  Ackley led the ACC with a .417 BA, 111 H, and 22 HR and was named the Hitter of the Decade by Rivals.com.  Also gone is top pitcher Adam Warren who finished with a 10-2 record, 3.31 ERA, and 103 K.

Carolina History: UNC earned a 4^th straight trip to the College World Series last season becoming the first ACC team to accomplish that feat.  Carolina also became the first ACC school to send a team to the CWS, a bowl game, and the men’s Final Four in the same season.

Key Returners: UNC goes for 5 straight CWS appearances with a few key parts returning.  Jr. OF Ben Bunting (.336, 92 H, 63 R) leads the offense, while Jr. RHP Colin Bates (4-4, 3.15 ERA, 6 SVs) a 3^rd team preseason All-American, heads up the pitching staff.

Danny Hultzen (UVA photo)

Virginia

2009 Season: (49-15-1, 16-11-1)

Nickname: Cavaliers

Head Coach: Brian O’Connor

Location: Charlottesville, VA

Vitals: .327 BA, 59 HR, .401 OBP, .972 Fld. %…3.23 ERA, 18 SVs, 593 K, 190 BB, .239 Opp. BA

Let the Good Times Keep Rolling: Virginia, fresh off their first ever trip to the College World Series, returns 23 of 29 letterman and begin the season ranked

Jarrett Parker (UVA photo)

2^nd by Baseball America, their highest ranking ever in school history.

Stop Them If You Can: The entire starting lineup returns in 2009, including All-American Jr. OF Jarrett Parker (.355, 16 HR, 65 RBI, 20 SB), Jr. OF Dan Grovatt (.356, 51 RBI, 14 SB) and ACC Freshman of the Year LHP/1B Danny Hultzen (.327, 37 RBI, .993 Fld. %).

Dominant Pitching: The Cavaliers led the ACC with a 3.23 team ERA, a .239 Opp. BA, and 593 K and they return several key pitchers for 2010.  Among those back are Danny Hultzen (9-1, 2.17, 107 K), Jr. RHP Tyler Wilson (9-3, 2.97, 1 SV), and Jr. RHP Kevin Arico (2-3, 2.70, 11 SVs).

Virginia Tech

2009 Season: (32-21, 12-17)

Nickname: Hokies

Head Coach: Pete Hughes

Location: Blacksburg, VA

Vitals: .319 BA, 52 HR, .405 OBP, .960 Fld. %…5.18 ERA, 10 SVs, 428 K, 191 BB, .287 Opp. BA

Good Season, Tough League: Virginia Tech finished last in the ACC Coastal division last year, but still finished 11 games above .500 overall.  Jr. C/OF Steve Domecus was named to the All-ACC 2^nd team becoming the first Hokie player named to an All-ACC team in Tech’ five seasons in the league.

Top Offense Back: The Hokies return 3 of their top 4 hitters from 2009 with Steve Domecus (.406, 4 HR, 42 RBI), Jr. Austin Wates (.397, 5 HR, 16 SB), and Sr. OF Mike Kaminski (.340, 6 HR, 38 RBI) all back to lead the offense.

Hokie Arms: Tech Jr. Jesse Hahn (1-2, 1 SV, 23 K in 24 IP) was named a preseason All-American by PGCrosschecker.com, a team that is made up of players who rank among the best pro prospects.  Tech also welcomes back Jr. LHP Justin Wright (7-2, 3.95, CG, 59 K).

2010 ACC Coastal Predictions

ACC Coastal Winner: Virginia just beats out Georgia Tech

Top ACC Coastal Player: Jarrett Parker—Virginia

Top ACC Coastal Pitcher: Deck McGuire—Georgia Tech

2010 ACC Predictions:

ACC Winner: Florida State does it again

Top ACC Player: Tyler Holt—Florida State

Top ACC Pitcher: Deck McGuire—Georgia Tech

By Collegebaseball360.com contributor Shawn Lewallen

League Coaches Pick Virginia To Repeat As Champion

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion Virginia, which made its first ever College World Series appearance last June, has been picked as the 2010 preseason favorite in a vote of the league’s 12 head baseball coaches.

The Cavaliers, who return a strong cast that includes All-America outfielder Jarrett Parker, 2009 ACC Freshman of the Year Danny Hultzen and 2009 ACC Championship MVP Dan Grovatt, were projected as the ACC’s 2010 champion on eight head coaches’ ballots. Three coaches chose Florida State, and North Carolina received one vote.

Eleven of the league’s head coaches picked Virginia as the favorite to win the Coastal Division, with defending division champion North Carolina receiving one vote. Florida State was a favored to claim a fourth straight Atlantic Division championship on 10 ballots, while two coaches favored Clemson.

Georgia Tech placed second in the overall Coastal Division preseason coaches’ voting, followed by North Carolina, Miami, Virginia Tech and Duke.

Clemson was picked to finish second in the Atlantic Division, followed by Boston College, NC State, Wake Forest and Maryland.

Teams were awarded six points for each first-place vote, five points for each second-place vote, etc.

Virginia, which won a school-record 49 games in 2009, was joined in the College World Series by North Carolina, which made its ACC-record fourth straight trip to Omaha. Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Miami also made the 2009 NCAA field, with Clemson and Florida State joining North Carolina and Virginia in the final 16.

ACC teams open their 2010 seasons Feb. 19 and conclude regular-season play May 22. The 2010 ACC Baseball Championship will be held May 26-30 at NewBridge Bank Park in Greensboro, N.C.

Complete results of the 2010 ACC Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll are listed below. First-place votes are in parenthesis:

ATLANTIC DIVISION

Team                                                   Points              2009 Record

Florida State (10)                                  70                    45-18. 19-9 ACC

Clemson (2)                                         62                    44-22, 19-11 ACC

Boston College                                     42                    34-26, 13-15 ACC

NC State                                               38                    25-31, 10-20 ACC

Wake Forest                                         21                    22-30, 6-24 ACC

Maryland                                              19                    27-27, 10-20 ACC

COASTAL DIVISION

Team                                                   Points              2009 Record

Virginia (11)                                         71                    49-15-1, 16-11-1 ACC

Georgia Tech                                        57                    38-19-1. 17-10-1 ACC

North Carolina (1)                                 44                    48-18, 19-10 ACC

Miami                                                   42                    38-22, 18-12 ACC

Virginia Tech                                        20                    32-21, 12-17 ACC

Duke                                                    18                    35-24, 15-15 ACC

Overall champion: Virginia (8)

Others receiving votes: Florida State (3), North Carolina (1)

Blue Devils To Play Some Home Games At Durham Bulls Athletic Park

Duke AD Dr. Kevin White

The 2010 season will now mark the first time since 1931 that Duke will play home games outside of its home turf at Jack Coombs Field, located on the West Campus of Duke University. Jack Coombs Field, built in 1931 and formally named in 1978 in honor of Duke coaching legend Jack Coombs, will still be in use by the Blue Devils for a number of home games and as a practice field.

“Without question, Jim Goodmon is the catalyst behind so much of the revitalization effort in downtown Durham, and an anchor piece of that puzzle is the Durham Bulls Athletic Park,” said Duke Vice President and Director of Athletics Kevin White. “It is so exciting that the Duke Baseball program will be playing in one of the finest facilities in the sport. Additionally, this is yet another example of Duke and Durham partnering to further enhance the ties between the campus and its surrounding community.”

The agreement gives the Blue Devils access to one of the finest minor league baseball stadiums in the country. The Durham Bulls Athletic Park, located in downtown Durham, opened in 1995 and has a seating capacity of 10,000. Constructed by HOK Sport + Venue + Event – the architects who also constructed Camden Yards in Baltimore, Jacobs Field in Cleveland and Coors Field in Denver- the DBAP features an old-style manual scoreboard at the base of a 32-foot-high wall in left field deemed “The Blue Monster.” The DBAP’s dimensions begin at 305 feet in left field, 371 feet at left-center field, 400 feet to center field, 373 feet in right-center field and 327 feet down the right field line.

Duke Head Coach Sean McNally

“We are excited to have the opportunity to play downtown at the DBAP,” said Duke head coach Sean McNally, now in his fifth year as head coach at his alma mater. “We are especially thankful to Jim Goodmon and Dr. Kevin White for their hard work in making this possibility a reality.  It should be a great experience and relationship for our players, Duke University, Duke Athletics and the Durham community.  We have made great strides as a baseball program over the last four years; this move downtown both recognizes that progress and absolutely helps us in our mission to elevate the program further.  Opening Day at the DBAP for Duke Baseball can’t come soon enough!”

With the move, Duke joins numerous Division I baseball programs around the country that share their home field with a minor league or independent league baseball team, including Cal State Fullerton, The Citadel, Nebraska and New Mexico.