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By Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires

Go East Horned Frogs…

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.

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Blue Devils Release Challenging Slate

Duke Head Coach Sean McNally

North Carolina and Virginia, NCAA Super Regional qualifiers Clemson and Florida State and NCAA Regional teams Baylor, Georgia, Boston College, Miami and Georgia Tech.

Complete 2010 Duke Schedule (PDF)

Five of those series will take place at home in Durham, N.C., with four being played at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, home to the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The home sets against North Carolina, Miami, Clemson and Virginia will all be played at the DBAP, while the three-game showdown against Florida State will be at Jack Coombs Field on the West Campus of Duke University.

The Blue Devil baseball program recently announced an agreement with the Durham Bulls to play 18 home games in 2010 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which is one of the top minor league facilities in the country and will now serve as one of the top-tier venues in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Along with the aforementioned conference series at the DBAP, Duke will also host Fordham and Temple for a pair of three-game sets at the park.

Duke’s schedule boasts 11 teams that won at least 30 games in 2009 and four that finished with at least 40 wins. Duke’s 2010 opponents combined for a 654-575 (.531) record last year. Of Duke’s 56 games scheduled for 2010, 25 will be played against 2009 NCAA Tournament participants.

Rounding out Duke’s ACC schedule will be road trips to Boston College, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and NC State. Exempt from the Blue Devils’ ACC slate this year is Maryland, which will be replaced on the 2010 slate by Florida State, who Duke has not played since 2006.

Duke will still use Jack Coombs Field, its home stadium since 1931 on the West Campus of Duke University, as a practice facility and home field. Along with the home series against Florida State, Duke will host non-conference foes Quinnipiac, High Point, William and Mary, Davidson, UNC Greensboro, North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central at Jack Coombs Field. The Blue Devils will also make road trips to non-conference opponents Wofford and Liberty.

Duke’s 2010 season opens on Feb. 19, 2010, in Waco, Texas, as part of the QTI Apparel Opening Weekend Classic, hosted by Baylor where Duke will face both Baylor and Georgia. The season finale takes place on May 22 at NC State, just before the start of the ACC Tournament on May 26-30 in Greensboro, N.C.

(Release)

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.