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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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A By The Numbers Look At The Weekend’s Action

Alex Kaminsky (WSU photo)

1…Run allowed in 7 IP by Wright State starter Alex Kaminsky in Friday’s 2-1 win over #1/#2 Virginia.  Kaminsky struckout 7 to earn his first win of the season in a head-to-head dual with UVA sophomore ace Danny Hultzen.

2…Wins in the last two years by the Raiders on a top ranked team’s home field.  WSU beat #1 Georgia last year in Athens.

10…Runs and hits allowed in 2 1/3 innings by Kentucky starter Taylor Rogers in Saturday’s 14-13 win over Monmouth.

0 & 9…Hits allowed & strikeouts recorded in 4 IP by Wildcat reliever Matt Little, who earned the win in that game after allowing just two hits.

10…Hit batters by Monmouth pitchers in the loss to Kentucky to tie an NCAA record.  It’s just the third time a pitching staff has hit 10 batters in a game.

4…Straight hit batters by Monmouth pitchers Andy McDonnell (1) and Stephen Prosapio, who hit Kentucky’s Braden Kapteyn with the bases loaded and the score tied 13-13 to give the Wildcats the winning run.

1…Career home run by 5’9-160 pound Kentucky redshirt junior Neiko Johnson, whose long ball on a 2-2 pitch in the bottom of the 9th inning tied the score at 13 just before the four straight hit batsmen.

103…Runs scored by Georgia State in a 4-game series vs. North Carolina Central.

14…Of the runs scored by Georgia State junior Mark Micowski, who transferred to the school this year after Vermont disbanded baseball last year.  Micowski hit for the cycle in the first four innings of Friday’s 32-3 victory.  He batted .636 with 10 RBIs in the four games.

17…Combined strikeouts by George Washington pitchers Matt Branham and Scott DeCecco in Friday’s 5-1 win over USC Upstate.  The combined effort tied a school record.

210…Career Ks by Branham-whose career high 12 strikeouts in the win made him the 3rd pitcher in GW history to top the 200 K mark.

6…Straight wins by USC Upstate prior to the loss-a record for the Spartans since joining the Division One ranks.

1…Hit allowed by West Virginia’s Jarryd Summers in 8 innings in a 1-0 loss to Western Carolina.  Summers fanned 11 in the loss.  The only hit he allowed was a solo home run by WCU third baseman Tyler Kirkpatrick.

3…Hits allowed by Catamount starter Jason Sullivan-who struckout 8 in 9 shutout innings to improve to 3-0 on the season with the win over the Mountaineers.

Blake Kelso (Houston photo)

9…Strikeouts by Houston’s Michael Goodnight in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Texas at the Houston College Classic.

1…Wild pitch by Longhorn starter Brandon Workman-after a triple by Houston’s Blake Kelso-which allowed the game’s only run to score.

2…Losses by Cal State Fullerton in a 3-game series at Arizona to fall to 4-6 on the season.  The Titans started the year ranked in the top 10 in every poll.

1…Inning pitched by Titan All-American Daniel Renken in Friday’s 8-7 loss to the Wildcats.  Renken was lifted after hitting Wildcat CF Joey Rickard to lead-off the 2nd inning.

3…Walk-off wins by Arizona this season after freshman Seth Mejias-Brean singled home classmate Alex Mejia in the bottom of the 11th inning in that win over the Titans.

8…Strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings by Florida starter Alex Panteliodis in Friday’s 7-1 series-opening win over Miami (FL).

7…Strikeouts in 3 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings pitched by Gator reliever Nick Maronde to earn his first save of the season in that same win over the Hurricanes.

Kevin Chapman

4…Shutout innings pitched by Florida reliever Kevin Chapman in Sunday’s series-clinching 4-2 win over Miami.  Chapman gave-up just one hit with two strikeouts to earn his second save of 2010.

17…Combined strikeouts in 12 innings pitched by Duke starters Eric Pfisterer (10) and Michael Ness (7) who each tossed six shutout innings to help the Blue Devils to a 3-game sweep of Temple.

11…Strikeouts in 6 IP by Florida Gulf Coast ace Chris Sale in a 7-2 win over Wichita State.

2…Home runs hit over the weekend by Middle Tennessee State’s Bryce Brentz.  The outfielder led the nation with 28 HR last year, but he had been shutout through the first two weeks of the season.

1…Loss this season by Washington State after falling 4-1 in Sunday’s finale of a 4-game series with Utah.  The Cougars had started 9-0 for their best opening to a season since 1988.

Steve Fernandez

138…Pitches thrown by Santa Clara starter Alex Rivers in a 4-0 win over San Jose State.  Rivers scattered seven hits with five strikeouts for his third career complete game.

5…RBIs by St. Louis redshirt freshman Steve Fernandez to help St. Louis down Ohio State 10-9 on Saturday.

109…Pitches thrown by West Virginia’s Chris Enourato, who struckout 9 in seven innings of relief to help the Moutaineers to an 11-8 win over Illinois.  Enourato retired 16 of the first 17 batters he faced.

3…Wins by WVU (with seven losses) this season.  Enourato has earned two of the wins and a save in his five relief outings.

16…RBIs in five games by New Mexico State’s Wade Reynoso.  He batted .522 (12-23) with 3 home runs and 11 runs scored as well in wins over New Mexico and St. Joseph’s.

It was another busy week.  Here’s a look at some of the new stuff we had this week on Collegebaseball360.com (just in case you blinked)!

#24 Oregon Brings Back Baseball

#23 LSU Opens The New Alex Box Stadium

#22 Freshman Levi Michael Starts For North Carolina

#21 Alabama’s Kent Matthes Launches Long Balls

#20 Illinois Shocks #1 LSU In Baton Rouge (along with Willie Argo podcast interview)

Two Sport Stars Golden Tate & Toby Gerhart win the Biletnikoff & Doak Walker Awards, respectively

A By The Numbers look at Golden Tate’s college baseball & football careers

Tate announces he is going to the NFL with video from the press conference as well

Training year round with Villanova Two Sport Star Matt Szczur

Szczur helps the Wildcats to the FCS playoff national semifinals

Monmouth adds Karl Nonemaker & Jim Belanger to its coaching staff

Former Kent State pitching coach Richard Schoonover dies

A scholarship fund established to honor former Arkansas Pine Bluff pitcher Kevin Edwards

Schedules from around the country including the Pac 10, Big 12, Big West, Big 10, Big East. CUSA, Summit, and other conferences

Wildcats Face 15 NCAA Tournament Teams From 2009

Kentucky Head Coach Gary Henderson

and several difficult non-conference tests. The Wildcats will host a 29-game schedule at Cliff Hagan Stadium and play a total of 27 contests away from Lexington.

Complete 2010 Kentucky Schedule (PDF)

UK will open its 2010 campaign for the second consecutive season at Coastal Carolina (47-16, No. 28 RPI), a team that finished the season ranked in the top 25. The Chanticleers will host the Wildcats in its preseason tournament, with UK’s season opener coming against ACC power Virginia Tech (32-21, No. 50 RPI) on Feb. 19 at noon ET. UK will also face West Virginia (37-18, No. 102 RPI) for the second consecutive year on Feb. 20 at 11 a.m., before facing the host Chanticleers Feb. 21 at 3 p.m.

“I thought it was important that we test our kids early and get them ready for 10 weeks of SEC play,” Henderson said. “When we got the extra week of competition in the schedule, we were able to add the trip to Coastal Carolina, which we are really pleased about. The trip was a good experience for us last year and we are looking forward to going down there. It is obviously three very good teams and we are going to be tested early in the season.”

The Wildcats will return to Cliff Hagan Stadium for their home opener on Feb. 24, hosting in-state foe Murray State (34-21) at 4 p.m. ET, before beginning a three-game homestand Feb. 26-28 with Mid-American Conference member Bowling Green (28-22).

UK’s next test will be significant, as the Wildcats begin a four-game road swing with a stop in Morehead, Ky., to face off with the Eagles on March 2, before embarking on a trip to San Diego for three games on the west coast. UK will face 2009 NCAA Regional participant San Diego State (41-23, No. 45 RPI), coached by Tony Gwynn, on March 4 before facing traditional powers San Diego (29-25, No. 50 RPI) on March 5 and Monmouth on March 6.

“You are playing two regional teams again out in San Diego,” Henderson said. “I want the team to experience some travel and play against top level competition on the road. It is important for the team to understand what it is going to be like on the road against good teams.”

After the trip to the west coast, UK will embark on a six-game homestand that includes non-conference matchups with Evansville (25-30), IPFW (13-38) and Wright State (33-30). The Wildcats then begin the rugged SEC conference season, welcoming defending conference regular-season champion Ole Miss (44-20, No. 14 RPI) in the league opener, March 19-21 at Cliff Hagan Stadium.

“The conference is going to be extremely competitive again,” Henderson said. “We are going to have as many returning players as ever in the league. When you look at the rosters and stats from around the conference, there is no weak team. It is going to be a great challenge from week to week. It is an absolute grind, 10 weeks of tremendous competition in great environments for college baseball.”

UK will host SEC series with Ole Miss, Alabama (37-21, No. 39 RPI), Florida (42-22, No. 10 RPI), South Carolina (40-23, No. 21 RPI) and 2009 NCAA Champion LSU (56-17, No. 4 RPI) during the year. The Wildcats will take trips for SEC play to Vanderbilt (37-27, No. 27 RPI), Arkansas (41-24, No. 7 RPI), Auburn (31-25, No. 33 RPI), Tennessee (26-29, No. 58 RPI) and Georgia (38-24, No. 20 RPI).

Highlighting UK’s non-conference action are mid-week contests with 2009 NCAA Regional teams Xavier (39-21, No. 59 RPI), Western Kentucky (42-20, No. 41 RPI), Louisville (47-18, No. 17 RPI) and Indiana (32-27, No. 108 RPI). UK will also face Cincinnati (29-29) and Lipscomb (24-32), as part of its non-conference season.

UK will play rivals Murray State, Indiana, Western Kentucky, Louisville, Cincinnati and Morehead State during the season. The last few years the rivalry games have increased in fan excitement and interest, and in 2010 UK will hit the road to face Louisville in the River City, WKU in Bowling Green, Ky., Murray State in Paducah, Ky., Morehead State in Morehead, Ky., and Indiana in Bloomington, Ind.

“I think when you have as many good programs as we do in the state, it is important that everyone plays each other,” Henderson said. “The series’ that we have had in state have been extremely competitive and have created a lot of excitement and interest. As the programs continue to get better, the rivalries and fan support continues to grow, which makes for some great environments in the in-state contests.”

(Press Release)

HARRISONBURG, Va., Nov. 3, 2009 – A four-team tournament in Myrtle Beach, an extended trip to Florida, a home-and-away series with Virginia, 12 games against 2009 NCAA Tournament teams, and home night games for the first time in program history highlight the 2010 James Madison baseball schedule released Tuesday.

JMU Head Coach Spanky McFarland

his 13^th season with the Dukes.  “It’s a little harder because I feel we have an experienced team that should be able to handle it.  Any time you have a lot of experience, you want to play as good a schedule as you can.  The thinking is to try to give the team more than one way to get into the NCAA tournament.  We want to get the RPI high enough that we can get an at-large bid into the tournament if we don’t win the CAA.”

Complete 2010 James Madison Schedule

Overall the schedule features eight games against top 50 teams in the 2009 RPI and 17 against the top 100.  Additionally, the Diamond Dukes will play 12 games against teams that qualified for the 2009 NCAA field of 64, including games against College World Series qualifier Virginia in Charlottesville on March 2 and at home on March 17.  The home contest against the Cavaliers will be one of the marquee games for JMU’s first season in Veterans Memorial Stadium and the first home night game in program history.

One of the key early weekends on the schedule will be the Baseball at the Beach event hosted by Coastal Carolina at BB&T Coastal Field, home of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Class A Carolina League in Minor League Baseball.  The weekend will have the feel of a four-team NCAA Regional as JMU will be joined by Coastal Carolina (Feb. 26), UC Irvine (Feb. 28), and North Carolina State (Feb. 27).  The Anteaters spent much of the 2009 season ranked first in the nation and, along with CCU, finished in the top 30 of the final RPI.

McFarland commented on the weekend in Myrtle Beach, “We tried to put ourselves in a regional atmosphere so that if we do make it, we’ll have the experience of playing at some tough places against good teams.  It should be a good test early in the season.”

The new stadium will officially open the first weekend of the season when JMU hosts Marist College in a three-game set Feb. 19-21.  The Red Foxes reached the NCAA Tournament as champions of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.  Other games against NCAA teams include May 18 at East Carolina, May 12 at Monmouth, and March 26-28 at George Mason.

The week after Baseball at the Beach, JMU will travel to Jacksonville, Fla. for eight games in a span of 10 days.  The trip includes three games against host North Florida (March 5, 11, 13) along with two games against Illinois State (March 12 & 14), and single games against Alcorn State (March 6) and Stetson (March 9 at Stetson).

The Florida trip will also feature an exhibition game against the Japanese Collegiate All-Stars on March 7.  McFarland stated, “I think that’s one of those once-in–a-lifetime experiences that transcends everything.  It’s an opportunity to meet other people and see how the sport is played in a different country.  It will be a good cultural experience for the guys.   And they are a very good team so it will be another good test.”

The Colonial Athletic Association portion of the 2010 schedule features eight three-game series in the traditional Friday, Saturday, and Sunday format and will culminate in the four-team CAA Championship May 27-29 at UNC Wilmington’s Brooks Field.  JMU will play home series against Towson (March 19-21), William and Mary (April 9-11), UNCW (April 16-18), and Delaware (April 30-May 2).  Road series include George Mason (March 26-28), Old Dominion on Easter Weekend (April 2-4), Hofstra (May 14-16), and VCU (May 21-23).

In addition to Virginia, the Dukes will play home-and-away series against Radford, Longwood, Liberty, Maryland, and VMI.  They will also have a three-game trip to Kennesaw State in Georgia April 24-25.

July Photo of Construction On JMU's Veterans Stadium

JMU’s new stadium, Veterans Memorial Stadium, is nearly completed construction and will be available when the team begins practice in early February.  The facility features a synthetic turf playing surface throughout (including the infield dirt area) with seating for 1,200 and lights.  The complex also includes renovations to JMU’s Memorial Hall with new locker rooms, offices for coaches, team meeting rooms, indoor batting cages, sports medicine, and strength training facilities.  The indoor areas will be occupied during JMU’s winter break.

The schedule at the new stadium includes a total of 11 night games with first pitch at 6:30 p.m. at all games with the exception of Sundays beginning March 19 through the remainder of the season.  JMU, which has traditionally played only a handful of night games in a season, will play nearly 20 night contests home and away in 2010.

McFarland added, “I’m excited about the night games.  When we return from Florida we’ll start immediately.  I think that will be fun.  We’re going with 6:30 games so kids can come to games and still get home at a decent time.  It’s also late enough that it’s after work and dinner so hopefully people can get there.”

JMU returns an experienced roster in 2010 with 23 of 29 letterwinners back from last year’s 30-24 squad.  The Dukes return starters at all eight field positions and players who accounted for 1,655 of the team’s 1,960 total at bats.  On the mound, JMU returns nine pitchers who threw at least 25 innings last year and players who accounted for 413 2/3 of the team’s 474 total innings pitched.  In addition, the Dukes return a starting catcher who missed all but 10 games in 2009 due to injury and a pair of probable starting pitchers who sat out the entire season due to an injury and a transfer redshirt.

NOTE: The Veterans Memorial monument at the entrance to the new baseball/softball complex will be dedicated this Sunday, Nov. 8, as part of Veterans Day celebrations in the city of Harrisonburg.  A parade downtown will begin at 2 p.m. with the monument dedication at 3:15 p.m. in the softball stadium at the new complex.  Members of the JMU baseball and softball programs along with the Marching Royal Dukes will be in attendance as part of the ceremony.

(Press Release)