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Ducks Skipper Sees Lack Of Respect For West Coast…

By CB360 Contributor Kris Anderson

Monday was a somber day in Eugene, Ore., as the Oregon Ducks learned that they were not selected to the NCAA Baseball Tournament’s field of 64.

Horton

Despite winning nine of their last 12 games and finishing the regular season by sweeping then No. 6 ranked Oregon State,  the preseason top-15 Ducks proved that three strong weeks could not save themselves from an 11-16 Pac-10 Conference record.

After learning of the tournament field, Ducks coach George Horton expressed his disappointment in not being selected, as well as the selection committee’s perception of college baseball’s western region.

“Those teams like us that thought they had an opportunity to play are devastated and confused,” Horton said on Monday. “You compare your numbers to others that get in, but ultimately, I didn’t think that west coast baseball was very well respected.”

Horton, who made six College World Series appearances and won a national championship during his 10 years as head coach of Cal State Fullerton, pointed to the fact that no national seeds were awarded to teams from the west. He also noted that western teams like Cal State Bakersfield, Gonzaga and Cal Poly—teams that were on the bubble—were not selected to regionals. He called the selections of three Big East teams and three Sun Belt teams “ridiculous.”

“I think the Fullerton regional and the Oregon State regional, they’re all tough, but that isn’t a typical western regional as far as level of difficulty, for me,” Horton said. “The UCLA one certainly is. For me, that’s the toughest regional on paper. And then the fact that all three of those teams match up with national seeds—one, three and six—I think is pretty ridiculous.”

Horton came to the defense of Pac-10 conference champion, UCLA , saying they “didn’t get much respect.”

“They played for the national championship last year, and have the same team back,” he said. “I thought the committee missed the mark there.”

“I thought the western region was under represented. I’m not taking anything away from the committee’s efforts or the national perspective in teams like St. John’s and some of those other team that got in. It’s too bad for western baseball and too bad for the Ducks. I don’t even know, ultimately, whether we were on the board….”

So, how does the west gain respect?

“You schedule all your games at home and play ‘Molly Putts University’ at home and get a bunch of great records,” said Horton, who has been the coach of the Ducks since the program was reinstated in 2009. “But that can’t happen because the budgets aren’t conducive to that, and we don’t have those kinds of stadiums like the ACC, SEC, Big 12 has.”

“They play all their games at home. They play weak opponents in the mid-week. Their leagues are very strong, make no mistake about it. But they all feed off each other because they all come into conference 24-3. And then whatever they do in conference, they do, and then they don’t lose a mid-week game.”

This season, Arkansas, for example, entered conference play with a 14-2 record, but went 15-15 vs. SEC teams. Also, they did not play any mid-week games against an SEC opponent.

Oregon played two mid-week games against No. 13 Oregon State, which they split. They also played two mid-week games against eventual West Coast Conference champion San Francisco and two against WCC runner-up, Gonzaga.

“In the west you play each other, so it’s almost like a conference wash where it’s fifty-fifty,” Horton said. “I’m a little west coast biased, of course, because I’ve been out here, but a third place team, a western team, a .500 team in the west, I think is a more difficult challenge than some of those teams that the others are playing. Not taking any respect from them. It’s always been a problem.”

“Every year you see two (Pac-10) teams, at least, in the College World Series, and the committee tends to forget that. I don’t know why.”

After the Ducks completed the sweep of their in-state rivals, the Beavers, Horton declared that his team had a 40-percent chance of being selected to regionals. After looking at tournament predictions and seeing how the committee treated teams from the west, he said 20-percent would have been more accurate.

The Ducks’ chances were also hurt by the results of certain conference tournaments, which Horton says he is not a “fan” of.

But none of that matters now. The Ducks will spend the off-season evaluating how a season that began with dreams of Omaha, is over before June.

 

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Conference Races, Upsets & A Hit Streak Highlights…

The latest weekend of college baseball was, overall, light on upsets in the College Baseball 360 Top 50 Rankings. In fact, higher-ranked teams won 76% (29-9) of Sunday’s games involving the CB360 top-50. There were 40 series over the past few days involving CB360 top-50 teams, with 14 resulting in sweeps by the higher-ranked teams while 19 other favorites won their series 2-1.

The weekend saw a total of just six Top 50 series upsets, with Ole Miss pulling off the biggest series shocker-taking two of three games from #3 South Carolina.#21 Arkansas had the other big SEC upset by taking two of three from #4 Florida. (SEC Standings & potential Tournament seeding listed below.)

The rest of the series upsets came from the lower half of the Top 50. Wichita State took two of three from #36 Creighton, Missouri won its series at #44 Kansas State, and UNC Greensboro & Western Kentucky took series from #49 College of Charleston and #50 Florida Atlantic, respectively. #14 Fresno State didn’t lose its series, but did tie Louisiana Tech with two wins each.

Missouri started 2-9 in the Big-12, but has now won three straight series against Top 50 conference opponents Baylor, Texas A&M and K-State to move to 8-12 and seventh place in the Big 12.

Big 12 Standings

1. Texas A&M 15-6 2. Texas 17-7 3. Oklahoma St. 12-8 4. Oklahoma 13-9 5. Texas Tech & Baylor 9-12 7. Missouri 8-12 8. Kansas St. 9-14 9. Kansas 9-15 10. Nebraska 7-13

Chad Holbrook

This Tweet from South Carolina Associate Head Coach Chad Holbrook probably sums-up college baseball Sundays the best “Why do we talk about Sundays?? Its simple really-Teams that win on Sundays host regionals and play in Omaha. That’s what we are trying to do.”

Dallas Baptist dropped two out of three games in its series at #11 Texas A&M, but in winning the second game of the set the Patriots added to their quality win resume. DBU (32-15) has wins this season over Oklahoma State, TCU (2), Oklahoma, Rice, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M as the DI independent shoots for an at-large NCAA bid.

Speaking of TCU, the #15 Horned Frogs picked-up a Super Regional quality series win at#20 Oklahoma State. What’s probably most impressive about Jim Schlossnagle’s squad taking two of three in Stillwater is the fact that they did it without pitchers Matt Purke and Steven Maxwell. Purke (4-1, 1.55 ERA) is out with a shoulder injury, while Maxwell (5-0, 2.90 ERA) was sidelined due to a sore biceps. Purke threw on flat ground from 120 feet on Sunday. TCU hopes he will be available for the Mountain West Conference Tournament, which starts on May 24.

Princeton locked-up an NCAA bid by winning the Ivy League title Sunday.

Princeton locked-up an automatic NCAA bid by winning the Ivy League Championship Series over the weekend. The Tigers downed defending Ivy champion Dartmouth 8-5 on Sunday in the deciding game three of the series. The win gives Princeton (23-22) its 17th conference crown and first since 2006. While the Tigers are just a game over .500 this season, they handed LSU its first loss of the year back on March 6 in Baton Rouge.

The quarterfinalists for the National Pitcher of the Year Award were announced heading into the weekend, and it would be hard to make an argument against UCLA‘s Trevor Bauer as the current front runner for the honor. The junior fired his fifth straight complete game (and sixth this year) in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Oregon to help the Bruins to a three-game sweep in Eugene. Bauer (9-2) struckout 12 and leads the nation with 154 Ks. His 411 strikeouts make him the first Bruin with more than 400 in a career. He needs just 10 more Ks to set his own single season record from a year ago. Bauer’s efforts helped UCLA to its first road sweep of the season. The Bruin pitching staff has given-up just six runs over the last six games.

Oregon State's Tony Bryant

#7 Oregon State kept its steam train rolling by taking two of three games from #24 Cal. The Beavers (34-11, 14-4) have won each of their six Pac-10 Conferences series this season, while Cal (28-16, 12-9) has dropped two of its last three conference sets. OSU closer Tony Bryant earned his ninth save in as many chances this season in Sunday’s series clincher.

Pac-10 Standings

1. Oregon St 14-4 2. Arizona St 13-5 3. UCLA 14-7 4. Cal 12-8 5. Arizona 9-9 6. USC 8-10 7. Stanford 8-9 8. Oregon 5-12 9. Washington St. 4-13 and Washington 4-13

Ray Graham reached a career milestone over the weekend. The Rice head coach got carer win number 900 in Friday’s 8-2 win over cross-town rival Houston en-route to a series sweep. Graham and the Owls sit in second place behind Southern Mississippi in the Conference USA standings. The two teams meet in Hattiesburg, Miss to close the regular season.

Conference USA Standings

1. Southern Mississippi 14-4 2. Rice 12-6 3. East Carolina 11-10 4. Memphis & Houston 9-9 6. Tulane 8-10 7. UAB 9-12 8. UCF 7-11 9. Marshall 5-13

There were just two league series played in the ACC, with North Carolina and Wake Forest sweeping Maryland and Boston College, respectively. The rest of the teams in the league were either playing non-conference series or on break for final exams.

ACC Atlantic Standings

1. Florida State 16-8  2. Clemson 13-11  3. North Carolina State 11-13  4. Wake Forest 10-14  5. Boston College 7-19  6. Maryland 5-22 …

ACC Coastal Standings

1. Virginia 20-4  2. Georgia Tech 18-6  3. Miami 16-7  4. North Carolina 16-8  5. Virginia Tech 9-15  6. Duke 5-19

The West Coast Conference race got tighter when San Francisco dropped two of three at San Diego and Gonzaga swept Santa Clara. The Bulldogs now lead the WCC standings by percentage points over the Dons. Gonzaga (25-13-1, 9-3) has three conference series to play, while USF (25-22, 11-4) has just two left. The two teams meet in the regular season finale May 27-29 in Spokane. With no conference tournament, the WCC’s automatic NCAA bid is likely to be determined that weekend.

WCC Standings

1. Gonzaga 9-3 (.750)  2. San Francisco 11-4 (.733) 3. San Diego 8-7 4. Portland 6-6 5. Pepperdine 5-7 &  Loyola Marymount 5-7 7. St. Mary’s 6-9 8. Santa Clara 4-11

Cal State Fullerton has won five of its last seven games since dropping two of three Big West Conference games to Cal Poly two weeks ago. The Titans (33-13, 14-4) swept three at Riverside over the weekend to inch closer to another conference crown. UC Irvine (31-13, 10-5) took two of three from Cal Poly (21-21, 10-8) and sits in good shape to get at least an at-large NCAA bid. Poly likely needs to win at least nine of its final 12 games to have a chance at the program’s second bid in the last three years (and in program history). They close the season with three games at Pacific, a game at Stanford and three at Cal State Bakersfield.

Big West Standings

1. Fullerton 14-4  2. Irvine 10-5  3. Cal Poly 10-8  4. Long Beach & Davis 8-7  5. Riverside & Santa Barbara 6-9  7. Pacific 7-11  8. Northridge 3-12

The longest active Division One hitting streak in the nation is still alive at 33 straight games after Ryan Jones collected at least one hit in each of Michigan State’s (30-14, 13-5) three weekend wins over Purdue. Jones’ efforts helped the Spartans improve to 9-0 in Big Ten home games this season. They went into the weekend tied for first place with the Boilermakers in the conference standings, but now lead Minnesota (which they swept last month) by two games with two series to go. The top six teams advance to the Big Ten Tournament.

Michigan State's Ryan Jones extended his DI leading hitting streak to 33 games.

Big Ten Standings

1. Michigan St. 13-5  2. Minnesota 11-7  3. Purdue, Ohio St. & Illinois 10-8  6. Penn St. & Indiana 8-10  9. Iowa & Northwestern 7-11  11. Michigan 6-12

Big East Standings

1. UConn 17-3  2. St. Johns 13-7  3. West Virginia 13-8  4. Pittsburgh 12-9  5. South Florida 11-9  6. Louisville & Cincinnati 11-10  8. Notre Dame 10-10  9. Seton Hall 10-11

Southern Conference Standings

1. Elon 21-6  2. Greensboro 16-8  3. Charleston 15-9  4. Samford & Georgia  Southern 14-10  6. Appalachian St.  7. 12-11..Furman 10-13  8. Wofford & The Citadel 8-16

Southland Conference Standings

1. Texas St. 20-7  2. Stephen F. Austin 17-10  3. Sam Houston St. 16-11  4. Southeastern Louisiana 15-12  5. Texas A&M Corpus Christi 14-13  6. UT-Arlington & UT-San Antonio 13-14  8. McNeese & Nicholls 12-15

WAC Standings

1. Hawaii 12-4  2. Fresno St. 12-6  3. San Jose St. 9-7  4. New Mexico St. 7-8  5. Louisiana Tech 8-11  6. Nevada 6-9  7. Sacramento St. 3-12

America East Standings

1. Stony Brook 15-2  2.  Binghamton 12-4  3. Maine 12-5  4. Albany 9-7  5. Hartford 1-15  6. UMBC 0-16

Atlantic-10 top-9

1. Charlotte & Rhode Island 15-6  3. LaSalle & Dayton 11-7  5. Xavier & Richmond 10-8  7. Fordham & St. Bonaventure 9-8  9. StLouis 7-11

Atlantic Sun top-8

1. Stetson 20-4  2. Jacksonville 18-9  3. Belmont 14-10  4. Kennesaw St. 13-10  5. East TN 12-10  6. Mercer 12-11  7. Florida Gulf Coast 11-13  8. North Florida 13-14

Big South Standings

1. Coastal Carolina 17-4  2. Liberty 15-6  3. Charelston Southern & Gardner-Webb 12-9  5. Winthrop 11-10  6. Radford 10-11  7. VMI 9-11,  8. UNC-Asheville & High Point 7-14  10. Presbyterian 5-16

Colonial Standings

1. Old Dominion 16-8  2. James Madison & UNC-Wilmington 15-9  4. Towson 14-10  5. Delaware 15-12  6. Georgia State & William and Mary 13-11  8. Northeastern 10-14  9. VCU & Hofstra 9-15  11. George Mason 6-21

Horizon League Standings

1. Wright St. 13-5  2. Valparaiso 13-6  3. Illinois-Chicago 11-7  4. Milwaukee 11-8  5. Youngstown St. 7-11  6. Butler 7-12  7. Cleveland St. 4-17

MAAC Standings

1. Manhattan 16-1  2. Rider 15-6  3. Siena 10-8  4. Marist & Fairfield 9-9  6. Canisius 8-8  7. Iona 7-11  8. St. Peter’s 4-13  9. Niagara 4-17

MAC East Standings

1. Kent St. 17-4  2. Miami 14-7  3.  Bowling Green 10-11  4. Ohio 7-14  5. Akron 5-16  6. Buffalo 2-18

MAC West Standings

1. Central Michigan 14-7  2. Eastern Michigan & Toledo 13-8  4. Northern Illinois 12-9  5. Western Michigan 10-11  6. Ball St. 8-12

MEAC Standings

1. Bethune-Cookman 18-0  2. Delaware St 11-7  3. Norfolk St. & North Carolina A&T 9-8  5. Maryland-Eastern Shore 7-11  6. Florida A&M 6-12  7. Coppin St. 2-16

Missouri Valley Standings

1. Creighton 10-5  2. Wichita St. 9-6  3. Missouri St 8-6  4. Illinois St. & Southern Illinois 8-7  6. Evansville 6-8  7. Indiana St. 6-9  8. Bradley 4-11

Mountain West Standings

1. TCU 15-2  2. Utah 15-5  3. New Mexico 10-11  4. BYU 7-9  5. UNLV 7-10  6. San Diego State 7-11  7. Air Force 2-15

Northeast Conference Standings top-7

1. Monmouth 22-6  2. Sacred Heart 19-9  3. Long Island 18-9  4. Bryant 15-12  5. Central Connecticut St. 15-13  6. Wagner 12-16  7. Quinnipiac 11-21

OVC Standings top-7

Austin Peay 13-4…SE Missouri 10-6…Jacksonville (AL) St..TN Martin 9-8…E. Ill. 9-9…E. Kentucky 10-11..TN Tech 8-10

Summit League Standings

1. South Dakota St. 16-4  2. Oral Roberts 14-6  3. North Dakota St. 11-8  4. Western Illinois 10-10  5. Southern Utah & IPFW 8-12  6. Centenary 6-13

Sun Belt Standings top-8

1. Troy 16-7  2. Florida International 15-8  3. Florida Atlantic & Louisiana-Lafayette 14-9  5. Western Kentucky 13-10  6. South Alabama 11-12  7. Arkansas St. 10-13  8. Arkansas-Little Rock 8-15

SEC West Standings

1. Alabama & Arkansas 12-12  3. Auburn, Mississippi & Mississippi St. 11-13  6. LSU 8-16

SEC East Standings

1. Vanderbilt 19-5  2. South Carolina & Florida 18-6  4. Georgia 14-10  5. Kentucky & Tennessee 5-19

SEC TOURNAMENT SEEDINGS AS OF 5/9/11

1. VANDERBILT
2. ALABAMA (Won 2 of 3 vs. Arkansas)
3. SOUTH CAROLINA (Won 2 of 3 vs. UF)
4. FLORIDA (Lost 2 of 3 vs. SC)
5. GEORGIA
6. ARKANSAS (Lost 2 of 3 vs. Alabama)
7/8/9. AUBURN (2-1 vs. UM; 0-3 vs. MSU)
7/8/9. OLE MISS (1-2 vs. AU; TBD vs. MSU) 7/8/9. MISS. STATE (3-0 vs. AU; TBD vs. UM)
————————————————————————
10. LSU
11. TENNESSEE
12. KENTUCKY

Tournament Seeding Information

The eight teams that make up the 2011 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament are determined by the best winning percentage in conference competition.

The divisional champion with the highest conference winning percentage is the first seed and the remaining divisional champion is the second seed.  All other teams are seeded 3-8 by conference winning percentage.

Dugouthats.com has officially licensed 2010 College World Series memorabilia year- round!

From t-shirts and caps to limited edition prints commemorating the last CWS ever played at historic Rosenblatt Stadium, Dugouthats.com also always has the caps of your favorite college teams like LSU, Texas, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UCLA, South Carolina, Miami and more.

The Last Notebook Of The Regular Season…

College Baseball Thoughts Heading Into The Season’s Home Stretch

By Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires

The “weekend” starts early this week.  With most conference tournaments starting next Tuesday and Wednesday the start of the last week of most conference regular season series will start this Thursday instead of Friday.  In fact, so many conferences are starting on Thursday this week (ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big East to name a few) the Big 12 is about the only conference that is sticking with its regular Friday, Saturday, Sunday schedule.

Peter O'Brien

The MEAC starts its tournament this Thursday.  It would be a major upset if Bethune-Cookman doesn’t win the championship.  The top-seeded Wildcats (32-18, 18-0) are one of just two teams in the six-team field with a winning record (North Carolina A&T at 25-23 overall & 15-3 in league play is the other).  BC’s Peter O’Brien leads the MEAC and is tied for fourth in the nation with 19 home runs.

What happened to Portland? Just two weeks ago the Pilots were the nation’s feel good story heading into a home series with West Coast Conference leader San Diego.  Winners of 11 straight heading into that showdown, they had a chance to make a case for at least an at-large NCAA berth and an outside chance to claim the WCC title.  All that is gone now though.  After being swept by San Diego, Portland (31-16) lost a mid-week game to Washington State and was swept again last weekend by San Francisco.  That’s seven straight losses heading into Wednesday’s (5/18) home game vs. Oregon.  Ben Roethlisberger has about as much of a chance at being named Georgia’s Man of the Year as Portland now has to get an NCAA bid.

What happened to the Big Ten? A year ago at this time there were three Big Ten teams that had a legitimate chance to receive an NCAA bid, and that’s how many bids the league ended-up with.  Ohio State, Minnesota and Indiana all went to regionals, while Illinois just missed out after the Hoosiers won the conference tournament.  There won’t be three bids for the Big Ten this year though.  All ten teams are still in contention for the six spots in the conference tournament, but only the tourney winner will be NCAA bound this year.  Minnesota (25-27, 13-8) leads the conference, while Michigan State (32-17, 10-11) has the best overall record, but sits in a four-way tie for fifth place

Retiring head coach Bob Todd (OSU photo)

heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

Speaking of Ohio State…The Buckeyes have to be the biggest disappointment in the conference.  OSU returned the conference Player and Pitcher of the Year (Dan Burkhart and Alex Wimmers, respectively) from last year’s regular season championship team, but they have floundered their way to a 27-21 overall mark, including 10-11 in conference play.  And if head coach Bob Todd was hoping for a “Corky Palmer effect” by announcing his retirement it hasn’t worked.  Palmer’s Southern Mississippi squad ran a hot streak all the way to Omaha after he announced his retirement before season’s end last year, but Todd’s Buckeyes have gone 3-4 with series losses to Illinois and Iowa since he announced his impending retirement on May 5.

Tony Thompson (KU photo)

Kansas finds itself in a rough situation this weekend. As they head into this weekend’s regular season ending series with Oklahoma, most current bracket projections have the Jayhawks (31-21 DI record, #54 NCAA RPI) staying home for the NCAA Tournament.  A look at the stats shows this year’s team is not much different than last year’s team that finished 39-24 after playing at the Chapel Hill Regional.  This year’s respective team batting average and ERA of .303 and 5.15 are pretty similar to the 2009 marks of .301 and 4.46.  The biggest difference appears to be the absence of the big bat Tony Thompson provided when he won the Big 12’s first triple crown by hitting .389 with 21 home runs and 82 RBIs.  He was one of two Jayhawks to hit double-digit dingers last year, but so far no KU player has reached even 10 long balls in 2010.  Thompson fractured his left knee cap before the season started, and he hasn’t been able to fully regain his form in the 33 games he’s played since his return to the field.  Thompson is batting a respectable .325, but has just five home runs with 35 RBIs.  He also hasn’t seen as many pitches to hit this year.  After walking 21 times in 61 games and 247 at-bats as a sophomore, the junior has drawn 19 free passes in just 126 ABs this season.

The SEC Leads The Way With 13 Selections

Moraga, CA – The Saint Mary’s College baseball team and head coach Jedd Soto have announced the schedule for the 2010 season. Highlighting the season are a total of nine games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year, three series against conference champions, one series against a 2009 College World Series participant, and a total of 33 games against teams who finished .500 or better.
“Without question, this will be the strongest schedule we have played since my arrival at Saint Mary’s College,” said

St. Mary's Head Coach Jedd Soto

Soto. “We will have an opportunity early to compete at a very high level during our preseason contests which should help us prepare for the West Coast Conference play.” “Playing this type of schedule against quality opponents will give a chance to earn a post season bid.”

Complete 2010 St.Mary’s Schedule (PDF)

Fans will get their first chance to see the 2010 club February 19 when the Gaels take on the defending Western Athletic Conference regular season champion San Jose State Spartans, who finished with 41 wins last season. Opening weekend will continue February 20 on the road at San Jose State, and will finish with the Gaels hosting the Spartans again at Louis Guisto Field on February 21.

After hosting the Nevada Wolfpack in a mid-week contest on February 23, the Gaels will be on the road for eight of the next game games. They will travel down south for a tournament hosted by Cal State Bakersfield, February 26-28. In the tournament, SMC will play CS Bakersfield, Bay Area competitor and Pac-10 member California, and Central Michigan of the Mid-American Conference.

From there, the Gaels return home for a mid-week contest March 2 against Sacramento State, and return the favor by traveling to Sacramento, CA the following day, and then will make the trip down to Irvine March 5-7 to take on the Anteaters of UC Irvine. UC Irvine won the Big West Conference last season with a record of 45-14, was ranked no. 1 nationally for a period of time, and hosted an NCAA Regional.

The Gaels hit the road again March 19-21 when they travel to New Orleans, LA, and take on Conference USA member Tulane. Following another mid-week road affair with the Hornets of Sacramento State on March 23, the Gaels return to the friendly confines of Louis Guisto Field March 26-28 for a series against UC Riverside, from the Big West Conference, which finished the 2009 season with a record of 33-20.

Another eight-game road-trip begins on March 30 when the Gaels travel to UC Davis for a midweek game against the Aggies. The Gaels then head to Hattiesburg, MS for an April 1-3 series against Southern Mississippi. The Conference USA runner-ups with a 40-26 record, the Golden Eagles were one of eight participants in last year’s College World Series and finished the season with a no. 8 ranking nationally.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Gaels from there when they return to California, as they travel to Palo Alto for a midweek contest against Stanford, perennial powers in the Pac-10, on April 7. The road trip concludes when the Gaels open West Coast Conference play at the Portland from April 9-11.

Following the series at Portland, the Gaels will be local for the next seven contests when they return home and continue WCC play April 16-18 against Bay Area rivals, the San Francisco Dons. After a mid-week game against Sacramento State, the fourth meeting of the season, SMC will hit the road for WCC play and take on Santa Clara, April 23-25.

Following an April 30-May 2 WCC road series at Loyola Marymount, the Gaels will return to “The Guisto” for its longest home stand of the year. They will host WCC power Pepperdine May 7-9, UC Davis in a midweek contest May 11, and defending WCC champions Gonzaga May 14-16. The Bulldogs finished last season with a record of 36-18 and a no. 22 national ranking.

The Gaels will be on the road the last two weekends of the season, traveling to the Seattle University May 21-23 for a four-game series. Seattle is beginning its first season of baseball since the 1980 season. WCC play concludes with a series against the Toreros of San Diego May 28-30.

“We have a balanced club this year,” said Soto. “We will return some key offensive players and have added some very talented freshman, who should make an immediate impact. We have an experienced starting rotation and a deep bullpen consisting of three closers who have combined for 18 saves over the past three seasons. Overall, we have a fairly young team that should be exciting to watch for the next few years.”

There will be no West Coast Conference tournament or playoff for the 2010 season. The regular season champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

(Release)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara University’s baseball program announced its 2010 schedule today. The 55-game slate, released by ninth-year head coach Mark O’Brien, begins February 19-21, with a home series against the University of Nevada.

Santa Clara Head Coach Mark O'Brien

“Every year we’re going to bring in some of the best teams on the West Coast to play us here,” said O’Brien. “Just as important is to go to different venues, into some hostile environments. We have an early-season series at Houston which will be a good test for us and games at San Diego State and Cal State Fullerton.”

Complete 2010 Santa Clara Schedule (PDF)

Three games with local rival San Jose State March 5-7, a midweek trip to play 2008 College World Series Champion Fresno State March 9 and an extended series at SDSU March 20-23 are also part of the non-conference schedule.

“We are going to be tested early and tested often,” said O’Brien. “In my mind you need to play teams that will prepare you for conference and we’ll do that.”

A 13-game homestand at Schott Stadium, March 26 through April 13, dominates the team’s midseason calendar. The Broncos will play its first two WCC series at home, matching up with Portland April 1-3 and Pepperdine April 9-11.

“What a great environment for college baseball,” O’Brien says about SCU’s Schott Stadium which opened in 2005. “We are very fortunate. It’s a perfect place for families to come out and watch a game.”

Twelve of Santa Clara’s final 16 games are on the road: at Gonzaga April 30 through May 2, at Stanford May 10, at UC Davis May 19, at 2009 CWS qualifiers Cal State Fullerton May 21-23 and finishing up the regular season at LMU May 28-30.

(Release)

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Second-year Head Coach Jason Gill has announced a 2010 Loyola Marymount University baseball schedule that features 16 games against 2009 NCAA Regional teams, including a home-and-home two-game series against 2009 College World Series qualifier Cal State Fullerton. In just his first season as a Division I Head Coach last year, Gill guided LMU to its first West Coast Conference Championship appearance since 2005.

LMU Head Coach Jason Gill

host the Anteaters on Saturday before returning to Irvine for Sunday’s finale. LMU’s current 56-game schedule will see 29 of the contests played within the walls of Page Stadium, and the other 27 on the road, including three games at the Metrodome from March 5 to 7 as part of the 2010 Dairy Queen Classic hosted by Minnesota.

Full 2010 Loyola Marymount Schedule

Playing in Southern California, a well-known hotbed for college baseball, LMU is consistently playing one of the toughest schedules in all of Division I baseball. Last season, the Lions finished the year 36th in terms of strength of schedule according to Boyd’s World (boydsworld.com).

After opening the season with the three games against UC Irvine, LMU will host Oregon, the program that Gill left as an assistant coach to take the reins at LMU prior to last year, on February 22. The Lions will then travel to USC for the first of two meetings between the two teams on February 23, capping a run of five games in five days to open the year.

With just two full days of rest following the string of games to start the season, LMU will host UC Riverside on Friday, February 28 to open a four-game series with the Highlanders, a series that will consist of home games on Friday and Sunday and a doubleheader at UCR on Saturday.

A midweek contest at home against UC Santa Barbara (March 2) will precede the 2010 Dairy Queen Classic, in which LMU will square-off against host Minnesota (March 5), Northwestern (March 6) and 2009 Regional qualifier Oklahoma State (March 7) in the Metrodome.

A three-game series against Cal State Northridge, consisting of back-to-back home games on March 12 and 13 and a road game on the 14th, will flow into a Tuesday matchup with another Big West Conference opponent, Long Beach State on Tuesday, March 16.

Things really start to pick up on March 19 as the Lions travel to Fresno State for a four-game series against the Bulldogs (March 19-21), kicking-off a portion of the schedule that will pit the Lions against 2009 NCAA qualifiers in six of its next 11 games. Although the competition will be tough, LMU will be at home for seven of those 11 games, hosting Cal State Fullerton (March 23), a four-game series against Albany NY (March 26-28), and single games against USC (March 30) and 2009 NCAA Tournament participant Cal Poly (March 31).

A Tuesday game at UC Santa Barbara on April 6 will be the last game before WCC play begins on April 9 at San Diego. The conference schedule will consist of 21 games, 12 of which will be played at Page Stadium. LMU will host San Francisco (April 23-25), Saint Mary’s (April 30-May 2), Pepperdine (May 14-16), and Santa Clara (May 28-30) to close the regular season. The Lions will travel to San Diego (April 9-11), Portland (April 16-18) and 2009 WCC Champion Gonzaga (May 21-23).

The Lions will host two seven-game homestands this year. The first runs from March 23 to March 31, while the second runs from April 30 to May 16. Moreover, LMU will host 11 of its 12 games from April 20 to May 16, with the only road contest coming at Cal State Bakersfield on April 27.

Between conference games, the Lions will continue to boast a non-conference schedule packed with some of the best teams on the west coast, if not in the all of Division I baseball. The second half of the non-conference schedule will feature games against Long Beach State (April 13), two more against Cal Poly (May 11 at home and May 25 on the road), and the final game against Cal State Fullerton (May 18). LMU will also play a home-and-home against Cal State Bakersfield, with the home game coming on April 20.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. ­ Eleven games against Pac-10 Conference teams and three-game home series against USC, Houston, California, Long Beach State and UC Irvine highlight the 2010 Cal Poly baseball schedule announced Tuesday by head coach Larry Lee and director of athletics Alison Cone.

Full 2010 Cal Poly Schedule (PDF)

The Mustangs will open the 2010 campaign, Lee’s eighth as head coach at Cal
Poly, with a three-game set against the Southern California Trojans on Feb.
19-21 in Baggett Stadium.

Cal Poly also hosts the Cal Bears on March 19-21, visits UCLA for a
three-game series March 25-27 and will play Arizona State and Oregon State
in the Coca-Cola Classic hosted by the City of Surprise, Ariz., in Surprise
Stadium, the spring training home of the Texas Rangers and Kansas City
Royals.

The Mustangs will host four Big West series, including Long Beach State on
April 30 through May 2 and UC Irvine on May 7-9. In all, Cal Poly will play
29 of its 56 games in Baggett Stadium.

The schedule also includes 10 midweek games against some of the best teams
from the West Coast and WAC conferences.

“Our 2010 schedule will be very challenging with 11 games against the likes
of the best the Pac-10 has to offer and strong midweek games versus
Pepperdine, Fresno State and Loyola Marymount,” said Lee.

Other three-game sets at home include non-conference games against Houston
and Cal State Bakersfield and Big West series against UC Santa Barbara and
Pacific. The Mustangs also host Northern Illinois for two games March 9-10.

The 2009 Cal Poly baseball season will go into the Mustang record book as
one of the most successful campaigns, thanks in large part to the
achievement of its first NCAA regional playoff berth at the NCAA Division I
level.

The Mustangs won 37 games (one shy of the school’s Division I mark),
finished third in the Big West Conference, compiled a .325 team batting
average, posted their fifth winning season in the last six years, cracked
the 30-win mark for the seventh time in the last 10 seasons and earned a
spot in the national polls for 13 consecutive weeks.

Lee is now 223-175-2 overall in seven seasons at the helm of the Cal Poly
program.

The Mustangs, who finished third in the Big West, produced a pair of
eight-game winning streaks last season, another six-game string of victories
and a national ranking as high as No. 12 by both Baseball America and
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. The Mustangs, who won 11 of 14 weekend
series.

Cal Poly won eight of its first nine games and 17 of 21 for its best start
since the 1997 squad went 18-2 to open the year. The Mustangs won 13 more
games than they did in all of 2008 and were 20 games above the .500 mark
three times last season — 30-10, 32-12 and 37-17 — and only the fourth
time since moving to Division I 15 years ago. The 2004 squad was 33-13-1 in
mid-April. Twenty is still the school’s Division I record.

(Courtesy Press Release)