Here’s the week 12 college baseball attendance report as compiled by Tami Cutler of the NCBWA.  We have included the top ten most attended games from last week as well as the top ten season to date attendance averages and the ten top single-game attendances of the 2010 season.

CLICK HERE to see this week’s full report.

Here’s the week 11 college baseball attendance report as compiled by Tami Cutler of the NCBWA.  We have included the top ten most attended games from last week as well as the top ten season to date attendance averages and the ten top single-game attendances of the 2010 season.

CLICK HERE to see the full report.

Here’s the week ten college baseball attendance report as compiled by Tami Cutler of the NCBWA.  We have included the top ten most attended games from last week as well as the top ten season to date attendance averages and the ten top single-game attendances of the 2010 season.

CLICK HERE to see the full report.

Six SEC Teams In Top Ten For Season To Date

CLICK HERE to see the full report.

By Average (min. 1,200)

School/ Avg./ Total #

1. LSU 10,609 / 254,634 / 24
2. Arkansas 7,169 / 143,380/ 20
3. Ole Miss 6,517 / 136,860 / 21
4. Texas 6,273 / 106,651 / 17
5. South Carolina 6,178 / 111,219 / 18
6. Mississippi State 5,961 / 95,385 / 16
7. Florida State 4,656 / 88,469 / 19
8. Clemson 4,564 / 86,721 / 19
9. Alabama 4,200 / 63,001 / 15
10. Texas A&M 3,459 / 65,734 / 19

Top Single Game Attendances (min. 2,000)

1.  36,056 Louisiana Tech at Minnesota, 3/27
2.  14,588 UCLA vs. USC, 2/28
3.  11,588 Centenary at LSU, 2/19
4.  11,225 Arkansas at LSU, 3/19
5.  11,220 Pepperdine at LSU, 3/6
6.  11,157 Kansas at LSU, 3/12
7.  11,126 Centenary at LSU, 2/20
8.  11,074 Kansas at LSU, 3/14
9.  11,010 Georgia at LSU, 4/2
10. 10,944 Arkansas at LSU, 3/20

A By The Numbers Look At The Latest Week’s Action

Randy Fontanez (USF photo)

1…Win this season and career shutouts by Fontanez after Friday’s gem.  The Preseason Big East Pitcher of the Year was 0-4 prior to his team’s conference-opener with losses to the likes of Florida and Ohio State and a no-decision in a loss to Oklahoma.

23…Consecutive wins by Arizona State to open the season-a record for the storied program.

2…Runs scored by ASU in the 8th inning to tie Cal in Sunday’s 3-2 win.  Drew Maggi’s two out RBI single in the 9th gave the Sun Devils their 23rd straight win.

13…Strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings by ASU starter Jake Borup in Sunday’s win.  He allowed just two hits, but  settled for a no-decision.

20…Consecutive wins by UCLA to open the season-the longest winning streak in Bruin’s history.

6…Wins with no losses by UCLA pitcher Gerrit Cole.  He became the nation’s first 6-game winner with Thursday’s 11-7 win over Cal Poly.  Cole walked a season-high seven batters with seven strikeouts in the outing, which UCLA led 11-0 after four innings.

10…Combined double plays turned in Pacific’s 3-2 win in 11 innings over San Jose State on Sunday.  Each team turned five double plays to tie a single-game  NCAA record set on April 4, 1989 by Georgetown and George Mason.

8…Runs given-up in 5 2/3 IP by Texas pitcher Taylor Jungmann in Friday’s 12-5 loss to Texas Tech.

9…Runs given-up by Jungmann (2-1) in his first 36 1/3 IP this season prior to suffering his first loss.

10…Runs scored in the bottom of the 8th inning by George Mason in Friday’s CAA opener vs. James Madison and send the game to extra innings with the score tied 12-12.

Noe Ramirez (CS Fullerton photo)

9…Runs scored in the 10th inning of that same game by James Madison, which won the game 21-16.

14…Strikeouts by Cal State Fullerton’s Noe Ramirez in Friday’s 3-0 win over Hawaii in his second complete game of the season.

0.40…ERA of Hawaii starter Josh Slats, who was Ramirez’s counterpart in that game-which lasted just 2:18.

18…Game home field winning streak that ended last Tuesday when Elon beat Clemson 15-10 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

4 of 5…Games Clemson lost last week after opening the season with a 17-2 record.  The Tigers also lost at home to Elon on Wednesday and then dropped 2 of 3 games at Virginia over the weekend.

5…Walks issued by Kansas State pitcher Evan Marshall in Friday’s 14-11 win over visiting Oklahoma State.

7…Runs scored in the 8th inning of that game to give the K-State its third straight win in a Big 12 opener.  (The Wildcats took two of three games in the series.)

2…Walks issued by Marshall (along with 22 strikeouts) in his first 33 2/3 IP this season.

15…Strikeouts in 6 IP by Oklahoma State’s Kevin Chambers, who allowed just one hit with one walk, in Tuesday’s 26-0 win over Alabama A& M.  It was the second game of a doubleheader in Stillwater, OK.

5…Strikeouts by Chambers’ teammate, Brian Denneny, who pitched the last three innings of that game.

13…Combined strikeouts by four OSU pitchers in a 6-5 loss to A&M in game one of that twin bill.

10…Home runs hit by ten different players in Tuesday’s 20-15 win by Morehead State over Indiana.  The teams combined for 35 runs on 43 hits.

8…Pitchers used by Webber International in Thursday’s 9-0 win over Ohio State.

617…Enrollment of Webber International-an NAIA school located in Babson Park, FL.

52,715…Enrollment of Ohio State-a Big Ten school located in Columbus, OH.

Chris Schaeffer (N.C. State photo)

1…Career hit by The Citadel’s Josh Pless.  The freshman’s single to left field gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 win over Appalachian State Saturday afternoon.  He was 0-4 prior to the at-bat.

5…Runs scored by North Carolina State against Miami with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie the game at 6-6 & send it to extra innings.  The Wolfpack won 7-6 after a game-winning sac fly by Chris Schaeffer in the 11th inning.

4 1/3…Relief innings pitched in that game by freshman Felix Roque-a Miami native-to earn his first career win.

10…Consecutive hits by East Carolina in Sunday’s 20-1 win over North Carolina Central.

65-7…Combined score of the Pirates‘ three wins over the Eagles.

2 of 3…Games won by Memphis over Rice over the weekend to give the Tigers their first ever series win over the Owls.

11…Strikeouts in 7 IP by Louisville’s Thomas Royse (5-0, 1.42 ERA) in Friday’s Big East Conference opening 1-0 win over UConn.

4…RBIs by Cody Lassley on his game-ending grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Wichita State a

Cody Lassley

5-1 win over Bradley.

0…Runs allowed in his last 11 2/3 IP by TCU’s Paul Gerrish after 5 2/3 scoreless innings in Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Texas State.

16-15…Air Force’s lead in Sunday’s game vs. TCU when play was halted in the 7th inning due to TCU’s travel plans.  The game will be resumed on May 15.  The two teams split the first two games of the Mountain West Conference Series.

7…Straight wins by Georgia Tech after Sunday’s 11-8 win in 10 innings over North Carolina.

5…Runs scored in the 9th inning by the Yellow Jackets to tie the game 8-8 and send it to extra innings.  The scoring was capped on a 2-run home run by Derek Dietrich, who had a career-high five hits in the game.

10…Years since Georgia Tech last swept a series from the Tar Heels, which were swept at home for the first time since 2003.

10…Strikeouts by GT pitcher Deck McGuire in 7 innings in Friday’s 2-1 series-opening win in Chapel Hill.

20-5…School record best start to a season by Western Kentucky after beating Louisiana-Monroe 10-8 on Sunday to cap a weekend sweep.

1…Win over a Division One team by Division II Lake Erie College after Sunday’s 19-4 win over Cleveland State.

11…Strikeouts by Charleston Southern’s Tyler Thornburg in 8 IP in a 1-0 win over VMI.

446…Wins at UC Santa Barbara by head coach Bob Brontsema after an 11-6 win over San Francisco.  The mark is a new school record.

Defending WAC Champs To Play 30 Of 56 Games At Home

San Jose State Head Coach Sam Piraro

56 games, 36 will be against teams with a .500 or better overall record in 2009.
Complete 2010 San Jose State Schedule
Piraro, the four-time WAC Coach of the Year who has earned that distinction in back-to-back seasons, leads San Jose State into Moraga, Calif., to begin the new campaign at Saint Mary’s College on Friday afternoon, February 19. First pitch at Louis Guisto Field is at 2:00 p.m.

The Spartans open the home schedule the following day against the same Saint Mary’s Gaels, at 1:00 p.m. inside San Jose Municipal Stadium, with the three-game set against their area rivals concluding back in Moraga on Sunday, February 21, also at 1:00 p.m.

The Spartans host UC Santa Barbara of the Big West Conference for three to close the month of February. San Jose State welcomes West Coast Conference rival USF for the home leg of its annual two-game set with the Dons on Tuesday night, March 2, at 6:00 p.m. inside Muni.

This year’s three-game series with South Bay foe Santa Clara will see two games at the Broncos’ Stephen Schott Stadium around a 1:00 p.m. meeting at Muni on Saturday, March 6.

After a home date with Southern Illinois on Wednesday night, March 10, San Jose State is proud to co-host the inaugural Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament with Santa Clara, March 11-14. Five of the games are set to take place at Municipal Stadium, including a neutral-site match-up between Air Force and UC Davis to kick things off on March 11. The final day will have the Spartans in action twice, against Air Force at 11:00 a.m. and UC Davis at 3:00 p.m.

On the weekend of March 19-21, San Jose State travels by bus down to Cal State Bakersfield for a three-game set. After a mid-week home contest against UC Davis, the Spartans take on another Big West opponent in Pacific three times, March 26-28, with the first two in San Jose.

A three-game home series with BYU of the Mountain West Conference begins the month of April for San Jose State. That leads into a season-long six-game road stretch which starts at USF, goes through Ruston, La., and ends at UC Davis with a third attle against the Aggies.

The WAC portion of the 2010 schedule opens at Louisiana Tech for four games, April 9-11. The WAC slate, for a second year in a row, features 24 games, with 12 at home and 12 on the road.

New Mexico State heads into town for a four-games-in-four-days league set, April 16-19. All four contests will thus be of the regulation nine-inning variety, whereas nightcaps of the usual WAC doubleheaders will again go seven frames in 2010. The first two meetings with the Aggies, who, like the Spartans, notched 40-plus wins a year ago only to get left out of the NCAA post-season, will be day affairs at Blethen Field, with the last two, including a Monday night finale, at Muni.

That series will set the stage for a much-anticipated appearance in Wichita, Kan., and Eck Stadium-Home of Tyler Field for three games against one of college baseball’s more storied programs in long-time head coach Gene Stephenson’s Wichita State Shockers, April 23-25. The two schools have never before met in baseball.

San Jose State welcomes retiring 32nd-year head coach John Smith’s Sacramento State Hornets to Blethen Field for all four games of their league match-up, April 30-May 2, before travelling up the freeway to take on the Stanford Cardinal on Tuesday, May 4.

What follows is a bus trip to Reno, Nev., and Peccole Park, home of the Nevada Wolf Pack, May 7-9. The home-and-home with Stanford concludes at Municipal Stadium on Wednesday night, May 12, at 6:00 p.m. The Spartans round out the WAC road schedule with another bus ride south to Fresno, Calif., for four games with the rival Bulldogs of Fresno State, May 14-16.

For the fifth successive year, the Spartans finish the regular season in San Jose, but after completing it three straight times against Nevada, the Rainbows of the University of Hawai’i pay a visit in 2010. All four games will be played at Muni, with Senior Day slated for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch on Sunday, May 23.

The 2010 season will be the first in a three-year agreement to hold the WAC Tournament at a neutral site, Hohokam Park, the spring training home of the Chicago Cubs, in Mesa, Ariz. The six-team, double-elimination tournament takes place May 26-30.

The 64-team NCAA Championship starts with 16 four-team Regionals, June 4-7. The eight two-team Super Regionals will be held at campus sites, June 11-14, with the 2010 Men’s College World Series set once again for Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb., June 19-30.

San Jose State went 41-20 a year ago and won the WAC regular-season championship, its first league title since the 2000 team shared the crown on its way to the program’s first College World Series. The 2010 campaign marks the 10-year anniversary of that achievement, when the Spartans won an identical 41 contests, tied for the third-best total in program history.

Over the past three seasons, the Spartans have produced the most wins and best overall record among the nine Division I baseball programs in Northern California. They have gone 106-71 for a winning percentage of .599, finishing ahead of those nine squads in two of the last three years with marks of 41-20 (.672) in 2009 and 34-26 (.567) in 2007. Stanford is 99-77-2 (.562) while fellow Pacific-10 Conference contender California is 86-76-2 (.530) during this three-year span, with UC Davis, Pacific, Sacramento State, Saint Mary’s, USF and Santa Clara all finding lesser amounts of success since the start of the 2007 season.

“I feel that the schedule is very challenging,” commented Piraro, now in his 23rd season. “I don’t see a series or opponent that we’re going to be successful against if we don’t perform at our best. We face a lot of California teams, and people know that there are no weak teams in California. We have a difficult travel schedule, with some great opponents. Obviously, the one that might catch more attention than others is Wichita State. To me, it’s a regular series, but of course it is a great opportunity for our players to go back to the Midwest and compete in an environment and setting in which college baseball is really big. The crowds will be large, but that’s not to take away from any of the other non-conference opponents that we are playing.

“We have our (Jack Gifford Memorial) tournament, we play UC Santa Barbara at home, which will be a great series, we have the series with Santa Clara, we have a series with Saint Mary’s, USF, Pacific, UC Davis, we go to Cal State Bakersfield, and BYU comes in for a series in April, just prior to starting conference.

“We open up the conference schedule at Louisiana Tech, which is one of the most challenging travel venues in college baseball. We are going to have home series against New Mexico State and Sacramento State. We have to go on the road to Nevada and Fresno State, which is a large task, and end the regular season with Hawai’i at home.

“We have a tremendous challenge in front of us (to repeat). Winning the championship last year was a great accomplishment, but we lost almost our entire pitching staff. We return just four wins out of 41. We are really going to have to develop these pitchers through January and February in preparation for the new season, because we have a daunting task ahead. That’s not to be negative, but it is pragmatic. This time last year, we were very confident that we had the makings of an experienced team, which carries a lot of weight in college baseball. We no longer have that in the pitching ranks. It’s inexperienced, it’s young, it’s unproven, and that’s an area where I would prefer not to be unproven.

“The positive is that the future is going to be very good, because these young men are going to get some great experience through their process of maturing, and could be a quality unit within a year. My goal is to have them develop quicker. That is our objective.

“The schedule will be demanding and unrelenting,” concluded Piraro. “Every competition is going to demand our ultimate excellence on the field. We need to stay healthy, and we need to develop our pitching staff as we go along.”

(Release)

MINNEAPOLIS– The Minnesota baseball team released its 2010 schedule on according to an announcement by Golden Gopher head coach John Anderson.

Golden Gopher Head Coach John Anderson

NCAA Super Regionals in 2009 and four out of conference opponents that were part of NCAA Regional play in 2009.

Complete 2010 Minnesota Schedule

The Golden Gophers will start things off when they bring back the Pro-Alumni Game for the first time since 2007. It will take place on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 6:05 p.m.

Minnesota will open up the season against Akron (19-33, 12-15 in 2009) in Fort Myers, Fla. on Feb. 19-21. The next week, the Golden Gophers will travel to St. Petersburg, Fla. where they will compete in the Big East-Big Ten Challenge. Minnesota will face St. John’s (30-22, 16-11) in Dunedin on Friday, Feb. 26, Connecticut (36-24, 14-13) in St. Petersburg on Saturday, Feb. 27 and 2009 Super Regional participant Louisville in St. Petersburg on Sunday, Feb. 28.

The Golden Gophers will return home to host the Dairy Queen Classic on Mar. 5-7. Minnesota will welcome Loyola Marymount (30-29, 13-8), Northwestern (14-35, 5-17) and 2009 NCAA Regional participant Oklahoma State (34-24, 9-16) to the 26th annual installment of the Dairy Queen Classic. Minnesota will face Loyola Marymount on Friday, Mar. 5 at 6:35 p.m., Oklahoma State on Saturday, Mar. 6 at 6:35 p.m. and Northwestern on Sunday, Mar. 7 at 3:05 p.m.

Following the Dairy Queen Classic, the Golden Gophers will host Division III National Champion St. Thomas (41-13) at the Metrodome on Wednesday, Mar. 10. Minnesota will host the Metrodome Tournament on Mar. 12-14. The Golden Gophers will welcome Creighton (31-25, 14-9), Harvard (13-28, 10-10) and South Dakota State (26-30, 17-10) to the Metrodome that weekend. Minnesota will host Harvard on Friday, Mar. 12, Creighton on Saturday, Mar. 13 and South Dakota State on Sunday, Mar. 14.

After the Metrodome Classic, Minnesota will embark on six-game road trip to Alabama and Samford. The Golden Gophers will face 2009 NCAA Regional participant Alabama (37-21, 18-11) in a two-game series on Mar. 16-17. Minnesota will then head to Samford (17-35, 9-21) for a four-game series on Mar. 18-21.

Minnesota will host North Dakota State (16-28, 10-14) at the Metrodome on Mar. 23-24. The Golden Gophers will host a three-game series against Louisiana Tech (29-22, 13-11) on Mar. 26-28. The Saturday game will be played at Target Field at 1:05 p.m., while the Friday and Sunday games will be at the Metrodome.

The Golden Gophers will open up Big Ten play on the road at Purdue on Apr. 2-4. Minnesota will return home to the Metrodome for the first Big Ten series against Michigan State on Apr. 16-18.

Minnesota’s other road series in the Big Ten will be against Northwestern (Apr. 16-18), Iowa (Apr. 30-May 2) and 2009 Big Ten Regular-Season Champion Ohio State (May 20-22). The Golden Gophers will have home conference series at the Metrodome against 2009 Big Ten Tournament Champion Indiana (Apr. 23-25), Michigan (May 7-9) and Penn State (May 14-16).

The Golden Gophers will also play midweek games during the conference season against Concordia-Moorhead (Mar. 31), Hamline (Apr. 6), South Dakota State (at home Apr. 14, on the road Apr. 20), North Dakota State (on the road Apr. 28) and at Kansas State (May 4-5).

Minnesota returns 20 players who saw action from a 2009 squad that finished 40-19, finished second in the Big Ten regular-season at 17-6, advanced to the Big Ten Tournament Championship and advanced to the final game of the NCAA Regionals in LSU.

(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)