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Passion Buckets Full Of Baseball And Final Four

By Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires

April is here, and my Passion Bucket is overflowing.  For those who’ve never heard of a Passion Bucket, it’s a term that was coined by UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel and made popular on the Dan Patrick Radio Show.  It’s also a term that was used by Cornell basketball player Ryan Wittman prior to last week’s Sweet 16 basketball match-up with Kentucky.

Wittman’s use of the term stirred-up some unwarranted controversy when John Feinstein took it to mean “we’re the smart kids”.   Turned out Wittman’s coach, Steve Donohue,  had just told him to drop the “Passion Bucket” during the presser at Patrick’s request.  Turns out Passion Bucket just stands for how much enthusiasm or excitement you have for something, and mine is overflowing with thoughts of college baseball and the Final Four…and even how they run together…

Brad Stevens

Butler’s in the Final Four.  How cool is that?  Their home floor, Hinkle Fieldhouse, is where the movie Hoosiers was filmed.  The college baseball equal would be Creighton making it to the College World Series.  Wait…that happened in 1991.  Butler’s coach, Brad Stevens, is home grown, just like Brian O’Connor, who pitched at the Series for the Blue Jays in ’91 and who took Virginia to Omaha last year.  Stevens looks so young he gets mistaken for the water boy, but he’s worked his way up the ladder since starting as Butler’s Coordinator of Basketball Operations ten years ago.  By the way, Minnesota Twins reliever Pat Neshek played college ball at Butler.

Tom Izzo is a guy you just have to respect.  He’s taken Michigan State to six Final Fours in 12 years.  His teams grind out possessions and games like a Polish lady with big forearms grinds out Kielbasa.  It got me thinking…what’s Michigan State’s college baseball counterpart?  I’m going with Texas:  Walk, sac bunt, infield hit, 4-3 RBI…Augie Garrido’s great pitching and small ball approach is college baseball’s answer to Izzo’s Spartans.  Augie’s obviously had some success at it too.  And how about Jake Boss, Jr.’s MSU baseball team?  At 16-4,  his Spartans open Big Ten play vs. Iowa this weekend with the best record in the conference.

Speaking of Texas, the Longhorns (18-7) leave their home state for the first time this season when they visit Oklahoma this weekend.  Texas has played road games at Rice and Texas Tech with three neutral site games at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

Arizona State (23-0) and UCLA (21-0) are the only two remaining unbeaten Division One teams in college baseball.

Merrill Kelly

The Sun Devils visit Oregon this weekend in their second Pac 10 series, while UCLA hosts Stanford in it conference opener.  The most amazing thing to me about ASU’s unblemished record is the fact they’ve done it without Josh Spence (10-1, 2.37 ERA in ’09) throwing one pitch so far this year.  The Aussie has been out all year with an arm injury, but his teammates have more than picked-up the slack.  Sophomore Jake Borup pitched all of 8.0 innings last year, but he’s 5-0, while juco transfer Merrill Kelly is tied for the national lead at 6-0.  Meanwhile, Gerrit Cole (6-0, 2.63 ERA) and Trevor Bauer (5-0, 2.33 ERA) have lived-up to their expectations at UCLA.  Both teams have off the charts talent and numbers in the line-up.  Too bad they don’t meet until the end of the month.  Oh, if you want to read a good rant on these teams and the national rankings check out what Chase Titleman has to say at Road2rosenblatt.com!

Who’s been impersonating as the three Conference USA teams that went to at least a Super Regional last year?  Last year’s CWS Cinderella, Southern Mississippi (14-9) , has lost five of its last seven games, including losing two of three last week to UAB.  East Carolina (17-9) just bludgeoned North Carolina Central by a combined 65-12 last weekend, but they just lost a 15-13 slug fest to UNC Wilmington and had losses to Monmouth and High Point.  ECU opens C-USA play this weekend vs. Tulane and then heads to Memphis next week.  Speaking of Memphis, the Tigers took two of three from Rice (14-12) last week for their first ever series win over the Owls, which are falling out of the polls with losses in five of their last eight games.  All three C-USA teams have played tough opponents, all three have hit in spots and consistent pitching has eluded all three as well.

Joe Godri

Villanova (17-4) is off to its best start since head coach Joe Godri arrived in 2002.  The Wildcats have a tough task ahead of them this weekend if they want to keep it going.  Godri’s ‘Cats will be “big game hunting” when they travel to Louisville (21-3) for their second Big East series of the season.  Godri has a tradition of plastering the logo of top-caliber teams his team has beaten on his office wall, and just one win at Louisville this weekend would go a long way.  Wildcats Justin Bencsko (.485) and Matt Szczur (.500) have names that are hard to pronounce, but they’re among the nation’s hitting leaders.  Louisville’s Thomas Royse (5-0, 1.42 ERA) and Neil Holland (4-0, 0.42 ERA, 6 SVs) might be the best pitchers they’ll face this season.

That series and many others start on Thursday this weekend due to Easter coming this Sunday.  Here’s hoping your Easter Baskets and Passion Buckets are full!

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UAB To Open Season Feb. 23 At Mississippi State

UAB head coach Brian Shoop

title in 2008.

Complete 2010 UAB Schedule

“We think it’s important to play great teams, and we’ve taken a trip like this every year,” UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. “We’re to the point now where we feel like we can compete at that level. It allows our guys the opportunity and forces them into the challenge of playing the best in the country. I think as long as you continue to improve mentally, you get better in every aspect by doing that.

“And that will certainly be good preparation for the remainder of our schedule, which is always tough. There are no easy wins out there.”

The Blazers’ early-season schedule also includes home weekend series with Ball State (Feb. 26-28), Eastern Illinois (March 5-7) and Western Illinois (March 19-21). Ball State won the Mid-American Conference West Division a season ago, and Eastern Illinois, the defending Ohio Valley Conference regular season champion, is receiving votes in the preseason Collegiate Baseball poll. UAB also has a home series later in the season against Manhattan (April 24-25), the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season champion.

The Ball State and Eastern Illinois series are part of a season-long nine-game homestand that follows UAB’s season-opening midweek game Feb. 23 at SEC foe Mississippi State.

The Blazers get into Conference USA play March 26-28 with a home series against 2009 College World Series participant in Southern Mississippi. The home league slate also features series at Young Memorial Field against Marshall (April 9-11), Houston (April 30-May 2) and Tulane (May 14-16).

UAB will go on the road for conference series at UCF (April 2-3), defending regular-season champion East Carolina (April 16-18), Memphis (May 7-9) and perennial power Rice (May 20-22).

The 24-game league schedule builds toward the 2010 Conference USA Championship, slated for May 26-29 at Houston’s Cougar Field. The tournament has been reformatted to include the top six finishers in a pool play tournament. Previously, the event featured eight teams in a traditional double-elimination bracket.

The Blazers’ 2010 midweek slate is highlighted by home-and-home matchups with in-state rivals Alabama, Troy, Samford and Jacksonville State. For the fifth straight year, UAB will host Alabama at Regions Park, home of the Double-A Birmingham Barons, when the teams meet on March 31. UAB and Jacksonville State will meet four times in midweek games, twice in Birmingham and twice in Jacksonville.

(Release)

MOBILE, Ala. - University of South Alabama baseball head coach Steve Kittrell announced the Jags’ 2010 regular season schedule Wednesday afternoon. The 56-game slate features 32 home games, including the 25th annual South Alabama Classic.

USA head coach Steve Kittrell

“I think it’s a very competitive non-conference schedule, and it should prepare us for Sun Belt Conference play, which is getting better every year,” Kittrell said. “We’re excited about the challenges ahead and look forward to starting practice on Jan. 29.”

Kittrell’s club starts the season with 14 of its first 16 games at home. USA opens with a doubleheader against Jackson State (Feb. 19), then the Jags hit the road to take on Alabama the next day before returning home for a Sunday rematch with the Crimson Tide to round out the opening weekend.

Complete 2010 South Alabama Schedule

USA hosts the South Alabama Classic the following weekend. The tournament field includes another team with a great baseball history – Wichita State – along with North Florida and Eastern Michigan. Wichita State played in the 2002 Classic, while North Florida and Eastern Michigan will be visiting Stanky Field for the first time.

Following the tournament, the Jags take on a pair of storied programs in consecutive midweek games. USA travels to Mississippi State (March 2), then gets a visit from Tulane the following day. South Alabama’s last nonconference series is a four-game set with Siena (March 5-7).

After a pair of midweek games at home against Tennessee Tech, the Jags open Sun Belt Conference play with a three-game series at Arkansas-Little Rock. The Jags took two of three from the Trojans a season ago. The Jags follow that series with a pair of midweek games at Memphis, then return to Stanky Field for the conference home opener when they host longtime rival Louisiana-Lafayette (March 19-21).

After four more road games, including a series at Middle Tennessee, the Jags return for a five-game homestand when they host Southern Miss (March 30), New Orleans (April 2-4) and Southeastern Louisiana (April 6).

The Jags hit the road for Western Kentucky the following weekend (April 9-11), but not before making a stop along the way to take on Auburn (April 7). After the three-game set with the Hilltoppers, USA heads back home for games against Nicholls State (April 13) and Louisiana-Monroe (April 16-18). The Jags took both games of a rain-shortened two-game set against the Warhawks last year.

Kittrell’s squad then travels back to Arkansas, this time to take on Arkansas State (April 23-25), and on the way back the Jags stop for games with Nicholls State (April 27) and Southern Miss (April 28), before closing with seven of the last 10 at home.

USA rounds out the regular season hosting Florida Atlantic (May 7-9), Auburn (May 11) and Troy (May 20-22), and going on the road to face Florida International (May 14-16).

The Jags’ game against Auburn will be their fifth game of the season against an opponent from the Southeastern Conference. USA went a perfect 4-0 in home games against teams from the SEC in 2009, including a win over No. 6 Ole Miss that gave Kittrell his 1,000th career win, and a win against No. 21 Alabama in front of a Stanky Field record crowd of 4,436.

The Sun Belt Conference Championship is scheduled for May 26-29 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

(Release)

JONESBORO, Ark. – Thirty-one home games, including 15 Sun Belt Conference matchups and a home clash with perennial national power Ole Miss highlight the schedule for the 2010 Arkansas State baseball season, which gets underway Feb. 19 when the Red Wolves host Southern Illinois in a three-game series at Tomlinson Stadium and Kell Field.

Three of the top four teams in last year’s Sun Belt Conference regular season standings will visit Tomlinson Stadium, including defending regular season co-champions Middle Tennessee State and Western Kentucky.  Florida International, which finished fourth in the regular season a year ago, and sixth-place

Arkansas State Head Coach Tommy Raffo

South Alabama will also travel to Jonesboro.  The Red Wolves will close out the regular season by hosting in-state and conference rival Arkansas-Little Rock.

Complete 2010 Arkansas State Schedule

Regional rivals Memphis, Southeast Missouri State, Murray State and UT Martin will all visit Jonesboro during the regular season as well, and the 2010 schedule marks the first time since the 2004 season that ASU’s schedule consists entirely of Division I opponents.

Arkansas State will play 11 of its first 12 games at home, hosting SIU, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Portland in the season’s first three weekends.  The Red Wolves open SBC play March 12-14 at Louisiana-Lafayette before returning to Jonesboro to face MTSU in the March 19-21 SBC home opener.

“We are very excited about the 2010 baseball schedule,” said ASU head coach Tommy Raffo.  “We are presented with some early challenges before conference play begins that will help prepare us for play in the Sun Belt.  The 31 home games at Tomlinson Stadium will be a great opportunity for our players, our fans, and the people in Northeast Arkansas to watch quality baseball.”

Seven starters return from last year’s team, including All-Sun Belt Conference performer Murray Watts, who hit .305 a year ago and led the team with 16 doubles, 10 home runs and 44 RBIs.  Junior outfielder Todd Baumgartner, who hit a team-best .350 with 15 doubles, eight home runs and 43 RBIs returns as well.  The Red Wolves also return junior Andy Ferguson and sophomore Jacob Lee who were both weekend starters on the mound a year ago.

(Release)

Sooners will host 28 home games in 2010

OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway

Tournament, including five non-conference opponents in Arkansas, Indiana, Jacksonville, San Diego State and TCU.

Complete 2010 Oklahoma Schedule (PDF)

Five of the 12 NCAA participants from 2009 (Arkansas, Kansas State, San Diego State, TCU and Texas) recorded 40 or more wins a year ago, while Arkansas (College World Series), TCU (Super Regional) and Texas (College World Series) advanced deep into the tournament.

The Sooners will kick things off on Feb. 19 in the San Diego State Tournament held at Tony Gwynn Stadium.  OU begins action in San Diego against the host Aztecs.  The Sooners also face Indiana and San Diego over the weekend.

The SDSU Tournament is just one of four that the Sooners will participate in during the 2010 regular season.  Following the trip to San Diego, OU travels across the country to Florida for the Jacksonville Tournament hosted by Jacksonville University.  OU will face a trio of first-time opponents in Valparaiso, Jacksonville and Richmond.

Oklahoma will host its first regular season tournament in Norman from March 4-7 as South Florida, Western Illinois and Stephen F. Austin visit L. Dale Mitchell Park for the Sooner Classic.  The 1985 season was the last time OU hosted a regular season tournament (Knor Sooner Shootout) but it was held at the All Sports Stadium in Oklahoma City.

The fourth and final tournament, The Whataburger Classic in Corpus Christi, Texas, is one of the top tourneys in Division I baseball each of the last five years.  The 2010 field includes OU, Mississippi State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UCLA.

The non-conference slate also features home games against Dallas Baptist, Houston Baptist, Massachusetts, Arkansas Pine Bluff, TCU, Memphis and Arkansas, while OU travels to DBU, TCU and Oklahoma State for midweek games.

The game on Tuesday, April 13 with OSU marks the first year that the Bedlam Series will be extended to four regular season games, with the home team alternating each season.  The contest will not count towards either team’s Big 12 records and the Cowboys will return the trip in 2011.

“Year in and year out we look to schedule some of the best non-conference competition in order to prepare us for the grueling Big 12 season,” said Golloway.  “This year’s schedule is once again evidence of that.  We are excited for our fans as we host several exciting match ups at home in and out of conference play, including the extra Bedlam game.”

The 27-game Big 12 schedule begins at home against Baylor (March 19-21).  The Bears are the first of four 2009 NCAA Tournament teams to visit Norman in Big 12 play.  OU also welcomes Texas (April 1-3), Missouri (April 9-11) and Kansas State (April 30-May 2) for three-game sets.

The Big 12 road series include Nebraska (March 26-28), Texas Tech (April 16-18), Texas A&M (April 23-25) and Kansas (May 21-23).

The Bedlam Series, presented by The Oklahoman and Oklahoma Farm Bureau Insurance, will be held May 7-9.  Game one between OU and Oklahoma State is set for May 7 in Tulsa at Drillers Stadium.  Then the teams return to Oklahoma City for the final two games of the series slated for May 8 and 9 at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

For the sixth consecutive year, the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament will be held in Oklahoma City at the Bricktown Ballpark from Wednesday, May 26 through Sunday, May 30.

The NCAA Tournament begins on campus sites with the NCAA Regional (June 4-7) and NCAA Super Regional (June 11-14).  The 2010 College World Series will be played in Omaha, Neb., at Rosenblatt Stadium from June 19-30.

The Sooners return 17 letterwinners from the 2009 squad that made the program’s fourth appearance in an NCAA Regional Final in the last five years. OU finished second in the Big 12 standings and earned a No. 7 national seed while hosting a regional for the second time in four years.

(Release)

Blue Raiders Have 27 Home Games In 2010

MTSU Head Coach Steve Peterson

“With the exception of Ohio University, our schedule looks much like it has in recent years,” noted Peterson. “It will feature a lot of familiar foes, and have a lot of road games close by that our fans can follow us to.”

Complete 2010 MTSU Schedule

Tennessee and Vanderbilt are home-and-home foes once again, as are Austin Peay, Belmont, David Lipscomb and Tennessee Tech.

Middle Tennessee will play Southern Illinois in multi-game series’ home and away, and will also have a three-game road trip to Jacksonville State in early March.

“We have a tough non-conference slate, as we always try to do, to prepare us for conference play,” said Peterson. “Tennessee was very good at the end of the season last year, and Vandy is being touted as perhaps having the best pitching staff in the country. Tennessee Tech made the NCAA tournament last year, and Southern Illinois and Jacksonville State are always a tough series for us.”

The 56-game schedule will include 18 games against Sun Belt Conference foes, beginning with a three-game home stand against Louisiana-Monroe March 12-13-14. It will close the regular season with what has become the traditional season-ending series with Western Kentucky.

Sunday, April 25th, is tentatively set as Little League Day at Reese Smith Field. Middle Tennessee will host SBC foe Arkansas-Little Rock on that day.

(Release)

STARKVILLE, Miss. – A slate of 33 games at Dudy Noble Field featuring 17 different opponents highlights a challenge-filled 56-game Mississippi State University baseball schedule announced this week by MSU head baseball coach John Cohen.

MSU Head Coach John Cohen

“We feel like we’ve put together another very good baseball schedule, with half of our games against teams from the NCAA tournament field and 15 against NCAA Super Regional teams,” said Cohen.

“We’re excited about playing an additional game at Trustmark Park in Pearl this season and giving our great fan base in the Jackson area three week-night opportunities to see the Bulldogs play. “With an extra week added to the playing season, our schedule is spread out over 14 weeks, and now in most weeks we’ll be playing just one mid-week game.”

Complete 2010 Mississippi State Schedule (PDF)

MSU launches its 120th season of baseball and a string of 13 consecutive games at Dudy Noble Field Feb. 19-21 with a three-game series against first-time opponent and Atlantic 10 Conference runner-up Rhode Island. State also hosts Southeastern Louisiana in a three-game weekend series (Feb. 26-28) and closes out the home stand with the second annual BankFirst Baseball Challenge (Mar. 5-7). The Bulldogs play two games each against Michigan State of the Big 10 Conference and Ohio Valley Conference foe Southeast Missouri State, coached by former Bulldog assistant Mark Hogan, in the three-day, six-game event.

The Bulldogs begin their 30-game SEC schedule March 19-21 in Gainesville, Fla., with a three-game series at Florida. State’s 15-game home SEC slate for 2010 includes series against SEC Western Division rivals Arkansas and Ole Miss and SEC East teams Georgia, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. The MSU-UT series (Apr. 16-18) will be part of the schedule for Mississippi State’s annual spring homecoming, Super Bulldog Weekend.

Mississippi State’s non-conference home schedule also includes single midweek contests against instate SWAC foes Alcorn State, Jackson State and Mississippi Valley State along with Memphis, Northwestern State, South Alabama, UAB, and Western Kentucky.

State makes a program-first trip to Corpus Christi, Texas, for its initial road competition of the 2010 season. The Bulldogs square off against Big 12 Conference power Oklahoma, UCLA of the Pac-10 Conference and tournament host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the fifth annual Whataburger Classic (Mar. 12-14). The event is held at Whataburger Field, the 5,000-seat home of the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Houston Astros’ Class AA Texas League affiliate.

The Bulldogs are scheduled to make three mid-week appearances at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss., in the coming season. MSU is the designated home team against Ole Miss in the fourth annual Governor’s Cup game (Mar. 30) at Trustmark Park, and later takes on Jackson State (May 4) and Southern Miss (May 5) at the home of the Atlanta Braves‘ Class AA Southern League affiliate.

Nine of MSU’s 26 baseball opponents in 2010 are newcomers to the MSU schedule, including season-opening foe Rhode Island and SEC opening weekend opponent Florida, which replaces Kentucky on the Bulldogs’ SEC league schedule in 2010.

State closes out its regular season schedule in Baton Rouge, La., with a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series against defending NCAA national champion LSU (May 20-22).

The 2010 SEC Baseball Tournament is set May 26-30 at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala., while the NCAA baseball tournament begins competition June 4 at 16 regional sites.

(Release)

2009 College World Series Team to be Honored at Halftime Saturday

The team will be presented with their championship rings after winning the NCAA Atlanta Regional and NCAA Gainesville Super Regional.