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In this podcast Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires talks to Stephen Francis of Examiner.com about TCU and the Ft. Worth Regional.  Other teams in the Regional are Baylor, Arizona and Lamar.  If TCU wins its Regional the Horned Frogs will potentially face Texas for a second straight year in Super Regional play.  Stires and Francis talk about that as well.

Read Stephen’s Ft. Worth Regional Preview-Pt. 1.

Podcast

Click Play to listen to the podcast!

TCU's Lupton Stadium will host an NCAA Regional for a second straight year. (Courtesy TCU)

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Interview With A-10 Tourney MVP

St. Louis claimed the Atlantic 10 Tournament title as the number five seed.  The Billikens did it by beating top-seeded Charlotte twice, and Bryant Cotton had a hand in both wins.  Bryant fired a complete game in a 3-2 win over the 49ers to improve to 9-4 last Thursday, then he made his first relief appearance of the season two days later and struckout the only batter he faced to end the A-10 Championship game & earn the first save of his career (as well as A-10 Tournament MVP honors).  Bryant and the Billikens are now headed to Louisville along with Vanderbilt and Illinois State for NCAA Regional action.

Bryant

6’2 – 190  -Sr. – RHP –  Omaha, NE                   Head Coach: Danny Hendrickson

Photos courtesey of Sideline Photos

Stephen Francis covers TCU baseball (and other TCU sports) for TCU Horned Frogs Examiner.com, and he has been providing Collegebaseball360.com with looks at the Horned Frogs this season.  In his latest report Francis provides a “basic” look at the format of the NCAA tournament-with a bit of a TCU twist.

2010 is the last year Rosenblatt Stadium will be college baseball's ultimate destination.

re familiar with the term “pennant race.”  It’s the time of year when the 30 teams that make up baseball’s highest level of competitive play in the U. S. make their final run at a playoff berth.  It usually starts in September when rosters expand from 25 to 40 and teams typically have between 25-30 games to go before the playoffs begin.  For college baseball teams, that time is now.

The TCU Horned Frogs (and a hundred or so other teams) find themselves right in the middle of the NCAA version of a pennant race.  With roughly 20 games remaining, this is the final opportunity for TCU to make their plea as to why they deserve a shot in the college baseball postseason and why they deserve a shot at having home field advantage.

Who makes it in

Just like the NCAA basketball tournament, 64 teams will participate in baseball’s tournament.  Just like the other b-ball, teams winning their respective conference championships will receive “automatic bids” while the rest are divided up between “at large” teams.  With 32 conferences currently participating in Division I NCAA Baseball, it means half the field will receive automatic qualification while the other half have to hope their regular season record and ranking will carry them in.  However, that’s where the similarities end.

Unlike it’s counterpart, the baseball tournament consists of four rounds of “double-elimination” play.  Since wins and losses reset at the end of each round of the tournament, this means a team could lose four times throughout the competition and still win the championship.

The Frogs have made six consecutive postseason appearances and seven total in school history.  Their first postseason appearance came in 1994 when the Horned Frogs qualified for the Midwest Regional, which took place in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Regionals

The tournament field is broken into sixteen “regions,” which each host a “Regional” round of the tournament.  Those sixteen teams are made up a combination of the eight highest-ranking teams (referred to as “national seeds”) and then eight other teams traditionally consist of teams that can promise a certain amount of fan attendance and revenue.  Each Regional is made up of four teams competing in a double-elimination tournament.  The sixteen winners of the Regionals move onto the Super Regionals.

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CHICAGO – The UIC baseball team unveiled its 2010 schedule today with a season-opening trip to Cary N.C. for two games apiece against LeMoyne and Canisius to begin another challenging slate for the eight-time defending Horizon League champion Flames.

UIC baseball coach Mike Dee

2:00 p.m. in Cary, N.C. The Flames will also face the Dolphins on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 9:00 a.m. In between, UIC will play a doubleheader against Canisius on Saturday, Feb. 20 beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Complete 2010 UIC Schedule

From there the Flames head to Tuscaloosa, Ala. to face the University of Alabama in a three-game series at Sewell-Thomas Stadium from Feb. 26-27. This marks the second consecutive season that UIC will square off against the Crimson Tide on the diamond. The Tide took both contests played by the schools, while two others were washed away by inclement weather.

Two more non-conference series in the early part of the schedule include trips to Bowling Green, Ky. to battle Western Kentucky in a three-game set, March 5-7 and a swing through Waco, Texas the following week to face the Baylor Bears, March 12-14.

After spending the first month of the season on the road, the Flames host Opening Day at Les Miller Field on Friday, Mar. 19 against Creighton at 4:05 p.m. to begin a three-game series against the Bluejays.

UIC will host Concordia on March 23 and travel to Notre Dame to take on the Fighting Irish on March 24 before beginning the Horizon League campaign at home against Milwaukee on Mar. 26. The Flames and Panthers will play a three-game set.

Another big non-conference clash for the Flames takes place from May 7-9 in Atlanta, Ga., as UIC takes on Georgia Tech in a three-game series.

The Flames end the regular season with five straight home games at Les Miller Field. UIC will entertain Cleveland State for a doubleheader on May 16 before welcoming the Valparaiso Crusaders for three on May 20-21.

UIC will seek to clinch a fifth trip to NCAA Regional play in the last eight years at the 2010 Horizon League Baseball Championship in Gary, Ind. beginning on May 25. The Flames have won two of the last three tournament crowns.

Head coach Mike Dee has 17 players from last year’s squad back to anchor the Flames, including returning 2009 All-Horizon League honorees: third baseman Jason Ganek (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey H.S.), catcher Nathan Orf (Wentzville, Mo./Francis Howell H.S.) and pitcher Chris Kovacevich (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East/Coastal Carolina).

(Release)

Andrew Darr Comes Off The Bench & Comes Up Big For Arkansas

Andrew Darr

Razorbacks beat Florida State to go to the College World Series.

Darr had just one at-bat in the Razorback’s three NCAA Regional wins a week earlier in Norman, OK, and he didn’t see the field in his team’s 7-2 win over FSU to start Super Regional play a day earlier in Tallahassee.  In fact, the senior from Gilbert, Az hadn’t started a game in almost a month prior to the deciding Super Regional game.

Darr had caught Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn’s eye in batting practice though over the last week.  So with his team needing just a win to get to the College World Series for the first time in five years, Van Horn played a hunch and started Darr in left field against the host Seminoles.  To say the hunch paid off would be an insult to the word hunch.

Darr went 4-for-5 with a home runs two doubles and 3 RBIs, including a walk-off 2-run double to send the Razorbacks to Omaha.  His solo home run in the 7th inning started a five-run frame to give the Razorbacks a 6-5 lead.  The game seesawed in the late innings, and FSU took an 8-7 lead in the top of the 9th (Arkansas was the designated home team for game two, even though the game was at FSU.)

Darr came to the plate with runners at first and second and one out in the 9th and stroked the first pitch he saw to the gap in left-centerfield to bring Bo Bigham and Zack Cox home to end the game and send the Hogs to Omaha.  The Razorbacks became just the ninth team in NCAA history to advance to the College World Series without playing either the Regional or Super Regional round in their home ballpark.

Darr started three of his team’s four games at the College World Series.  The only game he didn’t start in Omaha was an elimination game against Virginia, but he made the most of his time on the field in that game as well.  He entered that game as a defensive replacement in the 9th inning of that game and ended-up with an RBI double in the 12th inning to give Arkansas a 4-3 extra inning win.

While Darr’s final stats of his final college season, .252 avg., 4 HR and 18 RBIs, are far from eye-popping it would be hard to argue that there was a more important .252 batter in the country in 2009.

Darr

Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires talked to Darr right after he and the Razorbacks returned to Fayetteville from Super Regional win.  Click the “play” button above to listen to that podcast interview.

Other Top Moments Of 2009

7.  Virginia Beats Stephen Strasburg In Irvine Regional Opener

8.  Washington State And Gonzaga End Long NCAA Tournament Droughts

9.  Cal Poly Gets Its First NCAA Tournament Bid

10.  Kansas’ Field of Dreams: Kansas, Kansas State & Wichita State All Get NCAA Bids

11.  Stephen Strasburg Strikes out 17 in a no hitter

12.  Ohio State’s Alex Wimmers No-hits Michigan

13.  Kansas Sweeps #1 Texas

14.  Bryce Brentz Has An April To Remember

15.  Clemson’s Kyle Parker Does Double Duty

16.  #1 Arkansas Beats #1 Arizona State

17.  Rhode Island Beats Miami And Oklahoma State

18.  Kansas State’s A.J. Morris beats Arizona State’s Mike Leake

19.  North Carolina’s Mike Fox Wins His 1,000th Game

20.  Illinois Shocks #1 LSU In Baton Rouge

21.  Alabama’s Kent Matthes Launches Longballs

22.  Freshman Levi Michael Starts In North Carolina’s Season Opener

23.  LSU Opens The New Alex Box Stadium

24.  Oregon Brings Back Baseball

Stephen Strasburg Strikes Out 17 In  A No-Hitter

Strasburg was 14-1 in 2009 (SDSU photo)

prepared for his junior season at San Diego State.

Strasburg became a consensus All-American in 2008 after finishing his sophomore campaign with a 10-3 record and 133 strikeouts in 97 1/3 innings pitched.  2009 was just a formality, and the path for Strasburg was simple: Mow down batters and clear a path to being the top pick in the June MLB draft.

That’s why Strasburg’s no-hitter vs. Air Force on May 8 was less a surprise and more a reaffirmation of just how good the fireballer is.  A record crowd of 3,337 packed Tony Gwynn Stadium to see the exclamation point on what turned out to be the last home appearance of Strasburg’s stellar three-year collegiate career.

The big man was on from the onset.  Strasburg struckout seven of the first nine Falcon batters he faced before walking Nathan Carter to open the fourth inning.  Strasburg then got Addison Gentry to fly out, followed by Carter being thrown out trying to steal by Aztec catcher Erik Castro, followed by another strikeout to end the inning.

The only other base runner of the night came when K.J. Randhawa walked to start the sixth inning.  SDSU was leading just 1-0 at the time.  The Air Force shortstop stole second base, but Strasburg struckout the next three batters to end any hopes of a Falcon rally.

The Aztecs scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, and added two more for insurance in the eighth, but one runs was all Strasburg would need.  He retired the last 12 batters he faced, putting the finishing touches on his masterpiece by striking out the side to end the game.

Strasburg’s line for the game :  9 IP – 0 Hits – 0 Runs – 2 BB – 17 K

The 17 strikeouts weren’t even a season-high, let alone a career-best mark.  Strasburg had struckout 18 San Diego Torrero batters in March earlier in the season, and his career best was a 23 K effort in a one-hit win over Utah in 2008.

Strasburg’s gem was the seventh no-hitter in SDSU history, but the first by an individual Aztec since 1986.  It was just the third individual no-hitter in Mountain West Conference baseball history.

Not surprisingly, each of the nine Air Force batters struckout at least one during Strasburg’s two hour and eight minute no-no.  Leadoff man Nathan Carter (one of the only two base runners that night), clean-up batter Ben Ausbun and Blair Roberts each fanned three times.

Strasburg’s record stood at 11-0 after the game.  He led the nation with his 1.24 ERA and 164 strikeouts. He was the eventual #1 pick in the June MLB draft after taking virtually every award possible.  Strasburg won both the Dick Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes award and was again a consensus All-American.

He was the spearhead of San Diego State’s first NCAA Regional berth since 1991, but his only loss of the season was a 5-1 setback to Virginia in the Aztec’s opener at the Irvine Regional.  With Virginia swinging early in its at-bats, Strasburg gave-up a season-high 8 hits.  He surrendered two runs and struckout 15 in seven innings.

Strasburg ended the season with a 13-1 record, and he topped the NCAA with a 1.32 ERA and 195 strikeouts.  He allowed zero earned runs in 50 of his last 52 innings pitched prior to the Virginia game, while striking out at least 10 batters in 13 of his final 15 college starts.

Other Top Moments Of 2009

12.  Ohio State’s Alex Wimmers No-hits Michigan

13.  Kansas Sweeps #1 Texas

14.  Bryce Brentz Has An April To Remember

15.  Clemson’s Kyle Parker Does Double Duty

16.  #1 Arkansas Beats #1 Arizona State

17.  Rhode Island Beats Miami And Oklahoma State

18.  Kansas State’s A.J. Morris beats Arizona State’s Mike Leake

19.  North Carolina’s Mike Fox Wins His 1,000th Game

20.  Illinois Shocks #1 LSU In Baton Rouge

21.  Alabama’s Kent Matthes Launches Longballs

22.  Freshman Levi Michael Starts In North Carolina’s Season Opener

23.  LSU Opens The New Alex Box Stadium

24.  Oregon Brings Back Baseball

Stillwater, OK Twelve NCAA Tournament teams from 2009 highlight Oklahoma State’s 2010 baseball schedule, which was released today.

OSU head coach Frank Anderson

will compete in the Dairy Queen Classic, which is held in the Metrodome in Minneapolis, and will battle host Minnesota, Northwestern and Loyola Marymount.

Complete 2010 Oklahoma State Schedule (PDF)

Following the back-to-back road trips, OSU will open a 12-game home stand at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium on March 12 against Massachusetts. The home stand includes a pair of games against Wright State, which was an NCAA Regional team last season. That stretch will take the Cowboys into Big 12 Conference play, where they open on the road at Kansas State on March 26.

In Big 12 Conference action, Anderson’s club will play host to Nebraska, Texas Tech, Kansas and Texas A&M. The conference home opener is against the Cornhuskers on April 2.

Among the Cowboys’ other non-conference opponents are Missouri State and Wichita State, both of which OSU will face at home and on the road this season. Anderson’s club will host a showdown against Rice on May 11.

OSU also has a non-conference game against Bedlam-rival Oklahoma in Stillwater on April 13. The two teams will alternate hosting a non-conference game each season, with the Cowboys making the trip to Norman in 2011. The games will not count towards either team’s Big 12 record.

“It’s been in the works for a while to get a game back on our campuses every year, and we’re excited to get this first one back in Stillwater,” said Anderson of the non-conference game agreement with OU. “It will be something the fans will enjoy, and it will only enhance the rivalry.”

The Cowboys and Sooners will continue their conference rivalry with the usual Bedlam Series, with the opener May 7 at the new Oneok Field in Tulsa, Okla., and the final two games at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.

The Big 12 Baseball Championship will be held at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark May 26-30, while NCAA Regionals get underway on June 4. The College World Series begins play on June 19 in Omaha, Neb.

(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)

Bulldogs Will Play 35 games At Beiden Field In 2010

FSU Head Coach Mike Batesole

league games,” said Batesole. “If we play well, it gives us the opportunity to be in a solid position to have a great RPI headed into WAC play. This schedule is difficult enough to give us the ability to do something we haven’t done at Beiden Field in 15 years – host an NCAA Regional.”

Complete 2010 Fresno St. Schedule

Fresno State opens the 2010 season with a four-game series on Feb. 19 against Huskers of Nebraska. The Huskers went 25-28-1 in 2009 and the last time the teams met was in 2002 in Fresno, Calif.

The first road trip of the season for the Bulldogs is in Seattle, Wash., against first-year head coach Lindsay Meggs and  Washington. The Huskies visited Beiden Field last season for the 2009 home opener.

The Bulldogs host second year program Oregon in March. George Horton and the Ducks were 14-42 last season. The Ducks are one of three Pac-10 teams the Bulldogs face in 2010.

The `Dogs head South for the San Diego State Invitational Tournament. Fresno State faces Cal State Fullerton, San Diego, San Diego State and San Francisco. Three of the five teams in the tournament made it to an NCAA regional last season and Fullerton made an appearance in the College World Series in 2009.

“The San Diego Tournament is a great chance for us to experience a Regional atmosphere,” said Batesole. “Several teams invited participated in a Regional last year – and that is how we will approach it.”

Fresno State begins Western Athletic Conference play in April and hosts three WAC series at Beiden Field. The `Dogs look to win their fifth-consecutive WAC championship. The Bulldogs have won four-straight conference championships and are one of four teams west of Texas to make four-consecutive NCAA Regional appearances.

“The WAC will be the toughest it has been in five years,” said Batesole. “I would anticipate we will be a two or three team bid league in 2010.”

(Release)

OMAHA, Neb. – Eleven games in Rosenblatt Stadium’s final season, games against five NCAA Tournament participants and three meetings with local rival Nebraska highlight this year’s 2010 Creighton Baseball schedule, which was released late Monday.

The Jays kick-off its 54 game schedule on Feb. 20 with a doubleheader in Conway, Ark. against Central Arkansas and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. The Bluejays will start the season with a 21-game road trip before playing its home opener against Indiana State on April 2 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Creighton Head Coach Ed Servais

The Jays will also close its home slate with a Rosenblatt matinee against New Orleans on May 22 at 12:00 p.m. It will be the last regular season game the Jays play at the park, as they will play a handful of games at TD AMERITRADE Park Omaha in 2011 before moving in as full-time tenants in 2012.

Complete 2010 Creighton Schedule

The Jays non-conference season is highlighted by six games against four NCAA Regional participants from last season. The first of which will be Southland Conference champions Sam Houston State, who the Jays will play on March 5 and 7^th.

Minnesota is next on Creighton’s list of tourney teams, as the Jays will face the Golden Gophers at the Metrodome on March 13 in the Metrodome Tournament.

Kansas State and Kansas round out the Jays’ non-conference, ’09 tourney-team lineup, as they will face KSU in Manhattan on March 16. Creighton and Kansas will play a home-and-home set, as the Jays will visit Lawrence on March 23 and the Jayhawks will play at Rosenblatt on April 7.

After the season opener in Arkansas, the Jays will play in three tournaments, two of which will be in Texas. ULM, Northwestern State (La.) and Stephen F. Austin will be the opponents at the Stephen F. Austin Tournament while Northern Colorado and Sam Houston State will tangle with the Jays at SHSU’s tournament.

After a single non-conference game at Texas-Arlington, Creighton will play in the Metrodome Tournament in Minneapolis. The Jays will play South Dakota State on March 12, host Minnesota on the 13^th and Harvard on the 14^th.

The Jays will play a three-game set in Chicago against 2009 Horizon League regular season champ Illinois-Chicago before jumping into its 21-game, Missouri Valley Conference schedule.

The Jays be on the road at Southern Illinois on March 26-28, and will also have road conference series at Bradley and Missouri State.

Along with Indiana State, the Jays will host Valley opponents Illinois State, Evansville and 2009 regional participant Wichita State.

Creighton hosts two of the three games against Nebraska at Rosenblatt Stadium. An April 6 trip to Lincoln precedes games on April 20 and May 18 in Omaha.

Creighton will also play host to Big Ten foe Iowa, along with Air Force, Seattle University and New Orleans in its other non-conference home games.

The State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament will be played from May 25-29 at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kan. It will be the second straight year Wichita has played host to the tournament.

The Jays finished last season 31-25, falling in the MVC title game to Wichita State. Creighton will look for its first NCAA regional appearance since 2007, and third under head coach Ed Servais.

(Release)