College Baseball 360 » Wayne Graham http://collegebaseball360.com baseball news, college baseball stats, sean stires, pete lafleur, college world series video, college baseball podcast, Fri, 14 Feb 2025 21:33:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.38 Saturday Regional Baseball Notebook http://collegebaseball360.com/saturday-regional-baseball-notebook/ http://collegebaseball360.com/saturday-regional-baseball-notebook/#comments Sun, 06 Jun 2010 10:01:40 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=10563

A Look Around The Country At Saturday’s NCAA Action

  • The hitting streak continues, but the season is over.  Garrett Wittels extended his hitting streak to 56 games in Florida International’s 15-9 loss to Dartmouth.  The loss eliminated FIU from the Coral Gables Regional.  That means Wittels will begin the 2011 season needing hits in his first two games to tie Robin Ventura for the all-time Division One record hit streak.

    Garrett Wittels (FIU photo)

  • ““Teams are gonna know what to anticipate.  He likes to drive the ball away.  Look for some teams to try to different things next season.  Try busting him hard inside.  Nobody tried to do that.  We know he can push the ball into right center field, but can he turn on the ball?  I think that’s gonna be the test.”  That’s what ESPNU studio analyst Jay Walker had to say about Wittels and how other teams might approach him next year.  So let me get this straight…Wittels batted .409 this season, hit safely in 56 games, smacked 20 doubles, and came to the plate 237 times, but nobody ever challenged him inside once and he never once turned on the ball?  Great analysis Jay (I hope the sarcasm is detected)!  Anyone who hits in 56 straight and bats .400 over the course of the season is going to do it by going to all fields.  More great analysis by someone we’ve never heard of who probably saw all of eight of Wittels’ at-bats this season.
  • Dartmouth clean-up batter Jason Brooks was 2-for-5 in the win over FIU with a grand slam and a total of 6 RBIs.  The win was the first for Dartmouth in the NCAA Tournament since 1987 and the first for the Ivy League since Princeton won a game in 2004.
  • Not to be outdone, Illinois State got its first NCAA win in 34 years by downing St. Louis 8-3 in the Louisville Regional elimination game.  Kevin Tokarski homered and drove-in four.

    Anthony Rendon (Rice photo)

  • Anthony Rendon jacked 3 HR and totaled 7 RBIs to lead Rice to a resounding 19-1 elimination game win over Rider at the Austin Regional.  With the Owls leading 11-0 Wayne Graham lifted starter Taylor Wall after 3 2/3 hitless innings.
  • Southern Mississippi’s Taylor Walker was 4-for-4 with a home runs, 4 runs and 4 RBIs in an Auburn Regional elimination win over Jacksonville State.
  • Matt Weisinger hit two of St. John’s‘ four home runs in Charlottesville to help the Red Storm eliminate VCU 8-6.
  • Baylor beat Lamar 6-5 in Ft. Worth.  Logan Vick had his 29th extra base hit to set a freshman school record.
  • Florida Atlantic had a season-high 18 hits to eliminate Bethune-Cookman with a 12-6 win in Gainesville.
  • Buddy Sosnoskie belted two HR with 6 RBIs to help Virginia Tech beat Bucknell 16-7.
  • Stony Brook eliminated North Carolina State with a 6-2 win in Myrtle Beach.  Sophomore Tyler Johnson (10-3) set a new Seawolves single-season record for wins.  Johnson notched 10 Ks in 8 IP.
  • Tyler Garwal hit a walk-off home run to keep Oral Roberts‘ season going with a 9-8 win over Cal in Norman.  The Golden Eagles hit 4 HR and won despite walking 9 batters.
  • Francis Larson hit his 25th career home run to help UC Irvine beat Kent State 19-9 in the L.A. elimination game.  Larson has now hit the most home runs in Anteater history.

    Neil Holland (UofL photo)

  • Louisville’s 7-1 win over Vanderbilt set a program record with the 50th win of the season for the Cardinals.  Neil Holland got his 17th save with 3 shutout innings of one hit ball.
  • How confident was Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell that his team could start Regional play 2-0?  Cardinal ace Thomas Royse (9-1, 2.91 ERA) did not start either of his team’s first two games.  He’ll start Sunday, which is the final game of McDonnell’s 3-game suspension.
  • Mike Olt is UConn’s all-time home run (44) and RBI (177) leader after belting two long balls with a career-best 8 RBIs as the Huskies routed Central Connecticut State 25-5.  UConn now faces Oregon, which lost 6-4  to Florida State.
  • Rain and lightening caused two hours and 28 minutes of delay, but Miami cruised to a 14-1 win over Texas A&M.  Hurricane 1B Scott Lawson was 4-for-6 with 3 HR and 6 RBIs.
  • Danny Hultzen gave-up 6 earned runs in 6 IP, but still improved to 10-1 as Virginia beat Ole Miss. 13-7.  The Cavaliers tied a school record with their 49th win.
  • Mike Ferraro was 4-for-6 with a home run, two doubles and 6 RBIs to lead San Diego to a resounding 22-1 elimination game win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Tempe.
  • Here’s a lesson to the kids at home: ALWAYS RUN IT OUT.  Stanford’s Colin Walsh hit a fairly routine fly ball to left field, but Cal State Fullerton’s Casey Watkins dropped it.  Walsh motored all the way to third on the play and scored on a single by Stephen Piscotty.  The Titans still won 6-5 thanks to a pair of 2-run home runs by Christian Colon.
  • Stanford goes 0-2 at the Fullerton Regional.  It’s just the second time Stanford has gone two and out in Regional play.  The last time it happened was in 1994 in Austin, TX.
  • There were a total of seven upsets on Saturday.  Five #4 seeds won, with three of those wins vs. #2 seeds.  Two #1 seeds lost to #2 seeds.
  • Minnesota is the Cinderella of the Regionals so far.  The fourth-seeded Golden Gophers downed #3 New Mexico 6-4 in 10 innings the Fullerton winner’s bracket game to go to 2-0.
  • Scott Matyas struckout 8 in three scoreless, hitless innings of relief to improve to 5-1.
  • Eight of Saturday’s Regional games were decided by double digits.
  • Citadel’s 1-3 batters combined to go just 2-for-12 in their 9-4 loss to South Carolina.  The Gamecocks used a 5-run 7th inning to take the win.
  • Starting pitchers Blake Cooper (11-1) of South Carolina and Asher Wojciechowski (12-3) of The Citadel combined for 23 strikeouts and just 4 walks.

    Trevor Bauer (UCLA photo)

  • Trevor Bauer had 11 strikeouts to lead UCLA to a 6-3 win over defending national champion LSU in the L.A. winner’s bracket game.  Anthony Ranaudo had 10 Ks in the loss.
  • The Bruins (45-13) tied a program record for most wins in one season.  It equals the win total from the Bruins’ 1997 team (45-19-1), which was the last UCLA program to go to the College World Series.
  • Junior Casey Harman tossed the first complete game of his career to help #2 seed Clemson topple #1 Auburn 5-2  in Auburn.  Harman scattered five hits with 8 strikeouts.
  • Arizona State’s Seth Blair is 12-0 after giving-up just a run in 7 IP as the overall #1 seeded Sun Devils rolled Hawaii 12-1.
  • Joe Weik smacked two home runs and had a career-high 6 RBIs to help TCU down Arizona 11-5.  The Horned Frogs improve to 48-11 to tie the school record for wins in a season.
  • TCU pitchers Matt Purke (13-0) and Tyler Lockwood combined for 10 strikeouts, making TCU 21-0 when its pitchers have at least 10 Ks in a game.

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/saturday-regional-baseball-notebook/feed/ 0 College Baseball Stock Up/Stock Down – Week 1 http://collegebaseball360.com/college-baseball-stock-upstock-down-week-1/ http://collegebaseball360.com/college-baseball-stock-upstock-down-week-1/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:01:36 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=3850

A Look At Some Movement From Opening Weekend Action

It’s only one weekend, but there were plenty of statements made over the course of the season’s first three days.  Granted, the trends are a little skewed right now, since everything is based on mostly head-to-head match-ups, but we’ll do this every week throughout the season.   Here are three teams whose stock is up and three whose stock is down after opening weekend:

Stock Up

New Mexico:  Ray Birmingham’s Lobos did the nearly unthinkable when they went to Disch-Falk Stadium in Austin and took two of three games from top-ranked Texas.   Both teams stranded a lot of runners, but the Lobos out-pitched the team with last year’s second best ERA (2.95) by compiling a 1.73 ERA compared to 2.67 for the Longhorns.  The biggest difference was the late innings where New Mexico outscored Texas 6-1 in the series from the 6th-9th innings.  The Lobos now find themselves in the national polls the earliest in program history.  Last year’s #21 Baseball America ranking on March 23 was the previous earliest national ranking.

Oregon:  Did the stars align for George Horton’s Ducks, or are they that good?   Horton returned to the place where he won the 2004 National Championship and six College World Series berths and beat his former team, Cal State Fullerton, 7-3 on opening night.  They’re off to a 3-1 start after wins over Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount along with an 11-7 loss to Pepperdine.  Not bad for a team that won just 14 games in its first season of DI baseball since 1981 last year.  The opening night win also snapped a 13-game losing streak that ended the 2009 campaign.  Before anyone gets too excited though remember this:  Oregon won its season opener and then took 2 of 3 games from defending National Champion Fresno State last year.  They were 8-8 in their first 16 games only to win just 6 more times after March 15th.  Their stock is up now, but wait and see might be the better approach for now where the Ducks are concerned.

Stanford:  Stanford missed the NCAA Tournament in 2009, but made a big splash to start the 2010 campaign with a 3-game sweep of #5 Rice at Sunken Diamond.  The biggest question for the Cardinal coming into the season appeared to be offense, but that question was answered at least for a week.  Eleven different batters had at least one RBI over the weekend as Stanford outhit the Owls .327 to .233.  Mark Marquess will find out a lot more about his team this weekend when they go to Austin for a 3-game set with Texas.

Stock Down

Texas:  After a National Runner-Up finish last year Augie Garrido’s Longhorns were the consensus number one team entering the season.  Texas opened 2009 with 11 straight wins and didn’t lose a home game until March 14.  In fact, the Longhorns only suffered six setbacks at Disch-Falk Stadium all of last year.  However, they dropped 2 of 3 games at home to New Mexico last weekend to unanimously fall from the top spot in each of this week’s rankings.  Stat of the weekend:  19 combined runners left on base in their 6-5 & 3-1 losses.  All the key parts are there, it’s just a matter of getting them in-synch.   Texas hosts a hot Stanford team this weekend.

Rice: Credit Wayne Graham for going to California to start the season for a second straight year, but he and his Owls took 3 on the chin while being swept at Stanford.  Rice hit just .233 as a team, but the 9.49 staff ERA along with 19 walks and 23 strikeouts in 24 2/3 IP  have to be the most concerning stats from the weekend..  The longest outing by a Rice starter was 3 1/3 innings pitched by Jared Rogers in Saturday’s 14-5 loss (Stanford exploded for 11 runs in the 7th inning).  To make matters worse, the Owls lost their home opener to Lamar 13-7 Wednesday night to fall to 0-4.  Rice can point to the fact that his team bounced-back nicely after losing 2 of 3 games at Cal Poly to open last season.  The Owls host Elon, Nebraska and Texas A&M Corpus Christi this weekend.

Cal State Fullerton:  Dave Serrano’s Titans followed their season opening 7-3 loss to Oregon with a 6-0 setback to  Pepperdine before beating Long Beach State 8-1 for their first win of the season.  Fullerton hit just .240 in their three games, with the trio of Gary Brown, Billy Marcoe and Christian Colon combining for 12 of the team’s 23 hits.  Meanwhile, starting pitchers Daniel Renken and Noe Ramirez yielded 7 earned runs in 11 2/3 combined IP.  A 3-game home series with 2009 Super Regional team TCU is one of this weekend’s more intriguing match-ups.

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/college-baseball-stock-upstock-down-week-1/feed/ 0 Intriguing Week One College Baseball Match-Ups http://collegebaseball360.com/intriguing-week-one-college-baseball-match-ups/ http://collegebaseball360.com/intriguing-week-one-college-baseball-match-ups/#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:01:06 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=3631

Some Big Match-Ups Highlight The Start Of 2010 Campaign

We’re almost there.  The 2010 college baseball season starts tomorrow.  Most of the nearly 300 teams that open their seasons Friday haven’t played together in a real game since last May.

Not every team is playing this weekend.  Maine is the only team from the America East Conference that has a series scheduled.  The Black Bears are in Beaumont, TX to face Lamar.  There are a lot of Northern teams that didn’t add a week to their schedules this year even though the NCAA decided to do so last summer after Feb. 26th was the originally scheduled starting point.  In fact, all eight Ivy League teams don’t get 2010 started until the weekend of March 5th, while none of the nine Northeast Conference teams will take the field this weekend either.

A majority of teams are playing this weekend though.  Here’s a look at some intriguing interconference games across the country.

(CLICK HERE to see any of the 301 Division I college baseball schedules.)

Virginia at East Carolina

(3-game series)

Bam!  Right off the bat a prime time match-up.  Q: How did East Carolina end its 2009 season?  A:  With a Super Regional loss to ACC power North Carolina, which earned a fourth straight CWS berth.  Q:  Where did Virginia end its 2009 season?  A:  Omaha after a trip to the program’s first ever College World Series appearance.

With a young squad last year Brian O’Connor eased into the start of the season by winning its first 19 games against the likes of Bucknell, Fordham, and Canisius.  That’s not the case this year though.  The Cavaliers go to Greenville, NC at

Danny Hultzen

Clark-LeClair Stadium, where East Carolina beat South Carolina in last year’s NCAA Regional, in what is likely to be Super Regional-like atmosphere in week one.

Danny Hultzen, meet Kyle Roller.  Brad Mincey, this is Jarrett Parker.  If you can’t get excited about this one you probably liked the movie “Valentine’s Day” (my wife drug me there and she didn’t like it either).

New Mexico at Texas

(3-game series)

This is a classic match-up of hitting vs. pitching.  New Mexico led the nation last year with its .363 team batting average while Texas had the second-best ERA in the land at 2.95.  The Lobos haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1962, but the Longhorns have been to the College World Series 26 times with four National Championships in the time since then.

Taylor Jungmann

On the flip side, New Mexico had a 5.26 ERA while Texas sported just a .288 team batting average last year.  Augie Garrido’s Longhorns thrived on “small ball” last year with 104 sacrifice bunts compared to 54 home runs.  New Mexico only hit 51 long balls, but they led the nation by legging-out 47 triples.

Texas returns the bulk of its pitching staff, including Taylor Jungmann (11-3, 2.00 ERA) and Chance Ruffin (10-2, 3.32 ERA),  and is the consensus #1 team in the nation entering the season.  Catcher Rafael Neda (.415, 1.133 OPS) and Ryan Honeycutt (.406, 6 HR, 53 RBIs) lead the Lobo offense.

UNM head coach Ray Birmingham knows he’s putting his team’s feet to the fire with this series and other road trips to Arkansas and Arizona this season, but he hopes the tough tests pay off by season’s end.

Rice at Stanford

(3-game series)

Talk about tradition.  This is a College World Series match-up in February between two teams that traditionally thrive on pitching.  Stanford has been to Omaha 16 times, including five times in the last decade.  Rice has seven CWS appearances of its own, and they have all been since 1997.

Stanford missed the NCAA Tournament last year after joining Rice in Omaha in 2008, and they had trouble scoring

Anthony Rendon

runs last year.  The Cardinal ranked seventh in the Pac 10 with 341 runs scored.  Their .416 slugging percentage was also seventh in the league, while they were sixth with a .360 on-base percentage.  That didn’t combine well with a 5.12 ERA that ranked seventh as well.

Rice is led by 2009 National Freshman of the Year Anthony Rendon (.388, 20 HR, 72 RBIs) at the plate and Mike Ojala (5-0, 2.17 ERA) on the mound.  Rendon is one of eight returning starters from last year’s Super Regional team.  Sophomore LHP Brett Mooneyham (6-3, 4.14 ERA) gets the Friday start for Stanford.  Cardinal shortstop Jake Schlander is the reigning Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Year.  OF Kellen Kilsgaard (.313, 9 HR, 46 RBIs) is Stanford’s top overall returning offensive player.

This is just the third meeting between Wayne Graham and Mark Marquess’ teams.  The Cardinal swept a series at Sunken Diamond in 1991, while Rice won two out of three games at the 2003 College World Series.

Rhode Island at Mississippi State

(3-game series)

Rhode Island was the team that was perceived as the biggest snub last year after the NCAA Tournament bids were announced.  Jim Foster’s Rams won 37 games in 2009, but won neither the Atlantic 10’s regular season nor tournament titles.  Oliver Palmer (.342, 11 HR, 44 RBIs) and Mike LeBel (.323, 7 HR, 41 RBIs, 17 SB) lead the URI offense.  The pitching staff must replace its top two starters and its closer from last year’s squad.

Mississippi State has missed the last two NCAA Tournaments after going to the 2007 College World Series.  The Bulldogs have finished a combined 14 games under .500 with back-to-back 9-win seasons in SEC play in John Cohen’s first two years as the MSU head coach.  Connor Powers (.301, 19 HR, 63 RBIs) and Ryan Duffy (.339, 10 HR, 33 RBIs) head a group of solid returning players in the line-up.

George Horton

Oregon at Cal State Fullerton

This is just a one-game match-up to open the season on Friday.   Both teams aslo play Pepperdine and Long Beach State over the weekend.  The season-opener is a homecoming for Oregon head coach George Horton, who graduated from Fullerton in 1978 and later coached the Titans for 11 seasons.  Horton played on Fullerton’s first College World Series team in 1975 and later coaches the Titans to six CWS berths, including the 2004 National Championship.  He is one of just nine men to appear in Omaha as a player and head coach.  He left his alma mater after the 2007 College World Series when he was hired to revive a program at Oregon that had been

Dave Serrano

defunct since 1981.

Current Titan head coach Dave Serrano was an assistant under Horton at Cal State Fullerton from 1997 to 2004.  He coached UC Irvine to the 2007 CWS, and prevailed against Horton and the Titans in a 5-4 13 inning game that’s the longest game (in time) in CWS history.  Horton has a 7-6 head to head advantage when the two have met as head coach.

Horton, known as “The Commissioner” at Fullerton, ranks 19th among active head coaches with a .665 career winning percentage, while Serrano ranks 25th at .660.

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/intriguing-week-one-college-baseball-match-ups/feed/ 0 Conference USA 2010 Baseball Preview http://collegebaseball360.com/conference-usa-2010-baseball-preview/ http://collegebaseball360.com/conference-usa-2010-baseball-preview/#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:43:53 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=2656

Which ’09 Super Regional Team Will Reign In 2010?

2009 Regular Season Champ:  East Carolina

2009 Tournament Champ:  Rice beat Southern Miss. 8-6

2009 was arguably the most successful season in Conference USA baseball history.  C-USA’s traditional power, Rice, didn’t make it to the College World Series, but Southern Mississippi’s Cinderella run to Omaha made it five straight years that the conference was represented at the CWS.  Only the Pac-10 and SEC have sent at least one team to Omaha every year in the same span.

For the first time in conference history three C-USA teams also advanced to Super Regional play (Southern Miss.,

East Carolina slugger Kyle Roller

Rice & East Carolina).  All three teams are ranked in the 2010 preseason polls.

C-USA also has five preseason All-Americans heading into the 2010 campaign.

East Carolina

2009 Record:  (46-20, 17-7)

Mascot:  Pirates

Head Coach:  Billy Godwin

Location:  Greenville, NC

Vitals: .339 BA, 108 HR, .415 OBP, .971 Fld%…4.48 ERA, 513 K, 212 BB, .268 opp. BA

Missed It By That Much:  East Carolina advanced to a Super Regional after hosting an NCAA Regional last year, but North Carolina beat ECU to advance to a 4th straight College World Series.

Cape Crusher:  2009 Cape Cod League MVP Kyle Roller (.336, 16 HR, 75 RBIs) is back to lead the Pirate offense this season.  Roller helped the Bourne Braves win their first ever Cape Championship.

Supporting Cast: Devin Harris (.344, 14 HR, 48 RBIs) and Dustin Harrington (.318, 14 HR, 49 RBIs) are back to bat in the middle of the order as well.

Tough To Replace:  While three strong bats are back for ECU, they also lose three big hitters in Stephen Batts (.352, 14 HR, 19 SB),  Brandon Henderson (.330, 13 HR) and Ryan Wood (.379, 14 HR, 14 SB).

Arms Race:  East Carolina returns three starters who won at least nine games in 2009 as well as their closer – Brad Mincey (10-5, 3.16 ERA), Kevin Brandt (9-2, 3.64 ERA), Seth Maness (9-3, 4.71 ERA), Seth Simmons (3-1, 3.69 ERA, 9 SVs).

Early Tests:  ECU opens the season by hosting three games vs. 2009 CWS participant Virginia.  Two weeks later the Pirates host a 3-game set with South Carolina.

Houston

2009 Record:  (27-31, 13-11)

Mascot:  Cougars

Head Coach:  Rayner Noble

Location:  Houston, TX

Vitals:  .282 BA, 25 HR, .364 OBP, .966 Fld%…5.48 ERA, 453 K, 237 BB, .294 opp. BA

Bring It On:  Houston plays 10 teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament last year, including CWS teams Texas (1), Arizona State (3) and Southern Mississippi (3).

Pass On The Pulp:  The Cougars face Texas, Missouri and Texas Tech at the Houston College Classic in the Astros’ Minute Maid Park the first weekend of March.

Speed Over Power:  Houston hit just 25 home runs last year, with Chris Wallace (9 HR) being the only player to hit more than 4 home runs.  However, the Cougars had 69 stolen bases on the season.

Solid Nucleus:  Wallace (.285, 34 RBIs) is one of three Houston players who played at Cape Cod last summer.  He’s joined by Blake Kelso (.335, 2 HR, 23 RBIs, 12 SB) & Caleb Ramsey (.332, 4 HR, 46 RBIs, 16 SB) both played for Yarmouth-Dennis.  Zak Presley (.301, 28 RBIs, 17 SB) is back as well.

Marshall

2009 Record:  (22-32, 9-15)

Mascot:  Thundering Herd

Head Coach:  Jeff Waggoner

Location:  Huntington, WVI

Vitals:  .280 BA, 58 HR, .364 OBP, .943 Fld%…5.45 ERA, 1 CG, 8 SV, 414 K, 290 BB, .276 opp. BA

Give ‘Em A Buckeye:  Marshall plays Ohio State on a neutral site in Tennessee in March and then in Columbus, OH

Marshall closer Austin Coan

in April.

Get It To The Pen:  Sr. closer Austin Coan earned all 8 of Marshall’s saves in 2009.  Coan (3-5, 3.49 ERA, 8 SVs) made 23 appearances with 45 Ks in 38.1 IP with a .217 opp. BA.  He once helped Grayson (TX) win the Juco national championship.

Big Bopper:  Jr. 1B/C Victor Gomez (.332, 18 HR, 62 RBIs) is back to anchor the offense.  Gomez has smacked 29 home runs in his first two seasons.

Memphis

2009 Record:  (21-32, 7-16)

Mascot:  Tigers

Head Coach:  Daron Schoenrock

Location:  Memphis, TN

Vitals:  .272 BA, 34 HR, .350 OBP, .959 Fld%…6.30 ERA, 0 CG, 11 SV, .300 opp. BA

Mound Presence:  Memphis returns 11 pitchers (including all five starters) from last year’s staff.  Among the returnees Marcus Barnes and Heith Hatfield combined for 31 appearances and five saves in 2009.  The three pitchers the Tigers lose combined for two wins last season.

Experience Counts:  The Tigers have seven starters back in the field.  The group combined for just 15 homes but still had 72 doubles.  Drew Martinez (.309, 11 doubles) and Adam McClain (.288, 11 doubles) were both named to the C-USA All-Freshman team.

New Digs:  Memphis will play home games in the new 2,000 seat FedEx Park beginning in February.  The $3 million dollar project is part of the renovation of Nat Buring Stadium, which was built in 1972.

Rice

2009 Record:  (43-18, 16-8)

Mascot:  Owls

Head Coach:  Wayne Graham

Location:  Houston, TX

Vitals:  .320 BA, 71 HR, .392, .971…4.21 ERA, 7 CG, 16 SVs, .257 opp. BA

Rice's Anthony Rendon

Freshman Phenom:  Anthony Rendon (.388, 20 HR, 72 RBIs) had the Rice team triple crown as a true freshman in ’09.  He had an 1.163 OPS.

Supporting Cast:  Rice always has a line-up filled with tough outs, and 2010 will be no exception.  Back with Rendon in the order are Steven Stultzbaugh (.324, 8 HR, 31 RBIs), Rick Hague (.319, 9 HR, 57  RBIs), Chad Mozingo (.319, 8 HR, 50 RBIs) and Diego Seastrunk (.288, 7 HR, 45 RBIs).  Seastrunk hit .353 as a sophomore, but struggled a bit last year due to injury last year.

On The Mound:  Mike Ojala (5-0, 2.17 ERA) and Taylor Wall (7-6, 3.72 ERA)are back to lead the rotation.  The Owls lose Ryan Berry (7-2, 2.42 ERA, 4 CG).

More Than A Legacy:  Matt Reckling (2 2, 5.84 ERA, 2 SVs) made 20 appearances with 3 starts.  Rice’s home field is named after his grandfather, T.R. Reckling, who played for the Owls from 1952-’54.

Southern Mississippi

2009 Record:  (40-26, 12-12)

Mascot:  Golden Eagles

Head Coach:  Scott Berry

Location:  Hattiesburg, MS

Vitals:  .305 BA, 73 HR, .399 OBP, .966 Fld%…5.14 ERA, 2 CG, 17 SVs, 438 K, 250 BB, .285 opp. BA

New Man In Charge:  Corky Palmer announced his retirement last April & then USM road a hot streak all the way to the College World Series.  Scott Berry now takes over the Golden Eagle helm after 9 seasons as an assistant to

Todd McInnis

Palmer.

Pitching Prowess:  Southern Miss. returns Jr. closer Collin Cargill (3.55, 4-3, 13 SVs) as well as Jr. starter Todd McInnis (9-4, 3.73 ERA).  Both have redshirt years under their belts.

Key Returnees:  Kameron Brunty (.336, 7 HR, 53 RBIs), Joey Archer (.306, 10 HR, 62 RBIs),  Taylor Walker (.305, 3 HR, 29 RBIs) as is B.A. Vollmuth who went from the College World Series straight to the Cape Cod League as a true freshman.

Big Bat Lost:  Bo Davis (.359, 14 HR, 53 RBIs, 10 SB)

Tulane

2009 Record:  (34-25, 13-11)

Mascot:  Green Wave

Head Coach:  Rick Jones

Location:  New Orleans, LA

Vitals:  .292 BA, 69 HR, .396 OBP, .968 Fld%…4.63 ERA, 6 CG, 13 SVs, .269 opp. BA

No Ordinary Jones:  Head coach Rick Jones has led the Green Wave to the NCAA Tournament in 12 of his 16 seasons at the Tulane helm, including College World Series berths in 2001 & 2005.

My Cousin Joe:  Jr. closer Nick Pepitone (9 SVs, 3.25 ERA) is the cousin of former big leaguer Joe Pepitone.

Holes To Fill:  Tulane loses its top three hitters in Josh Prince (.353, 48 SB), Sam Honeck (.313, 16 HR, 70 RBIs) & Scott Powell (.311, 18 SB).

Top Bat In The Rack:  Jeremy Schaffer (.311, 14 HR, 56 RBIs) is Tulane’s top retuning hitter.

UAB

2009 Record:  (31-26, 11-12)

Mascot:  Blazers

Head Coach:  Brian Shoop

Location:  Birmingham, AL

Vitals:  .305 BA, 58 HR, .400 OBP, .957 Fld%…5.91 ERA, 1 CG, 10 SVs, .288 opp. BA

Packing Some Pop:  Digger Towe, Andrew Manning and Luke Stewart combined to hit 34 home runs last year.

Speed To Burn:  Jonathon Merritt, Jamal Austin and Nick Crawford totaled 55 stolen bases in 2009…but the departed Brint Hardy swiped 46 by himself.

Central Florida

2009 Record:  (22-35, 9-15)

Mascot:  Knights

Head Coach:  Terry Rooney

Location:  Orlando, FL

Vitals:  .297 BA, 68 HR, .377 OBP, .957 Fld%…7.47 ERA, 0 CG, 13 SVs, .341 opp. BA

Soak Up The Sun:  UCF plays its first 22 games in Florida, including home and home gaves vs. Miami and a trip to Gainesville vs. Florida.

Power Outage:  UCF loses Brandon Romans and Kiko Vazquez who combined to hit 27 home runs in 2009.

Not So Fast:  Romans is back on the UCF coaching staff this season as the volunteer assistant.

Tools Of Distinction:  Soph. catcher Beau Taylor was named a Freshma All-American last season, making him the first UCF catcher to ever earn the honor.

Conference USA Predictions

2010 Champion:  Rice, but East Carolina and Southern Mississippi should make the race close.

2010 Player of the Year:  Kyle Roller – East Carolina

2010 Pitcher of the Year:  Mike Ojala – Rice

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/conference-usa-2010-baseball-preview/feed/ 0 Texas NCAA Teams To Play Fall Exhibitions http://collegebaseball360.com/texas-ncaa-teams-to-play-fall-exhibitions/ http://collegebaseball360.com/texas-ncaa-teams-to-play-fall-exhibitions/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:02:11 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=621

Texas vs. Baylor And Rice vs. Texas State On Tap This Weekend

Texas and Baylor are slated to play a fall exhibition this Sunday.  The two Big 12 Conference rivals will meet in a scheduled 14-inning scrimmage at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, TX at 1 p.m. CDT.  The exhibition is a make-up of the contest which was rained out on October 4.

Texas Head Coach Augie Garrido

Texas Head Coach Augie Garrido

While the fall scrimmages do not count toward the teams’ 2010 win-loss records, it does count toward the teams’ maximum number of games (56) for the 2010 schedule.

The Longhorns have 22 returnees from this year’s team that finished with a 50-16-1 record and a national runner up finish at the College World Series.

Baylor returns 18 letter winners from a 2009 squad that finished 30-26 and made the program’s 10th NCAA appearance in 12 years.  The Bears played in the Baton Rouge Regional, which saw eventual National Champion, LSU, advance.

Meanwhile, Rice will hold a fall exhibition at Reckling Park in Houston, TX against longtime rival Texas State Sunday at 1 pm.  Like the Texas-Baylor game, the Rice-Texas State contest is schedule for 14-innings.

Rice's Wayne Graham

Rice's Wayne Graham

The Owls went 43-18 in 2009, and won the Conference USA Tournament Championship. Rice hosted and won an NCAA home Regional to advance to the Super Regional round for a fifth-straight year before falling to LSU in the Baton Rouge Super Regional.

The Owls open the 2010 season with a three-game series on the road at Stanford on February 19th.

Texas State made it to an NCAA Regional in 2009.  The Bobcats finished with a 41-16 record after losses to Boston College and Army at the Austin Regional.

CLICK HERE to read “Growing College Baseball”; Collegebaseball360.com’s thoughts on how to make fall baseball even better and grow college baseball at the same time.

(From staff reports and press releases)

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