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Big Ten/Big East Challenge To Be Scaled Down In 2013

2012-01-30T16:43:18Z

SInce 2009, cold-weather teams have descended upon the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area to open their season at the Big Ten/Big East Challenge. This year, 20 teams from the two conferences will play a total of 30 games over the three days of opening weekend, at four different fields located at current and former MLB spring training [...]

Toreros Announce Major Stadium Project

2012-01-28T22:06:28Z

The University of San Diego unveiled plans for a major stadium project to begin after this season. The new stadium will be built at site of the current Cunningham Stadium, but it will be renamed Fowler Park and Cunningham Field. Construction on the $13 million facility is scheduled to be completed in time for 2013. [...]

Miami’s Peter O’Brien Cleared To Play

2012-01-19T16:25:26Z

Miami catcher Peter O'Brien has finally been cleared to play in 2012 by the NCAA, according to Hurricanes coach Jim Morris. O'Brien slugged 34 homers over the last two years at Bethune-Cookman and was drafted by the Rockies in the third round last June. He did not sign, instead transferring to Miami for his senior [...]

BaseBald Program Grows Under Cancer Survivor Chase Jones

2012-01-16T19:44:35Z

My favorite part of last week's American Baseball Coaches Association convention was talking with former North Carolina bullpen catcher Chase Jones about his ongoing work to raise money for childhood cancer research through the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Jones' story really begins in 2006. One day after baseball practice, he started getting terrible headaches. UNC's student [...]

Coaches Depart At Wagner, NYIT

2012-01-12T18:52:48Z

The coaching carousel is usually quiet in January, but today we've got a pair of head coaching changes to report in the Northeast. Wagner coach Joe Litterio is leaving after 12 years to take a job as an assistant at his alma mater, Rutgers. And Michael "Butch" Caulfield, who was set to serve as "head [...]

ABCA Notebook: Status Quo Prevails

2012-01-10T01:06:39Z

ANAHEIM—The Division I business meeting is an annual highlight of the American Baseball Coaches Association convention. Every year, the game's top power brokers—ABCA executive director Dave Keilitz, NCAA vice president for baseball and football Dennis Poppe, and the chairman of the Division I Baseball Committee—inform the assembled coaches about the biggest issues facing college baseball. [...]

Roundup: Western Michigan’s Alwine Set To Return

2011-12-21T21:19:36Z

Western Michigan coach Billy Gernon has come to expect the unexpected from Brent Alwine. Lightly recruited out of high school in Denver, Ind., the 5-foot-6 Alwine became a four-year starter for Gernon's IPFW Mastodons before graduating in 2006, with a .311 career batting average. "He's always been a very resilient person—hence his nickname, Seabiscuit," Gernon [...]

Texas A&M-Kingsville Pitcher Dies

2011-12-13T22:44:24Z

A freshman pitcher at Division II Texas A&M-Kingsville was found dead Sunday morning at the bottom of a stairwell at a local apartment complex. Travis Madden, a native of Inez, Texas, had reportedly left an off-campus party the night before and walked toward his on-campus dorm. Police were not aware of any connection between Madden [...]

News Roundup: C.J. Hinojosa Will Not Enroll Early At Texas

2011-12-08T03:33:04Z

  Baseball America has confirmed reports that blue-chip shortstop recruit C.J. Hinojosa will not enroll early at Texas this winter, as he had previously intended. "When you're dealing with young kids, things happen," said Longhorns recruiting coordinator Tommy Harmon. Hinojosa, a switch-hitter from Klein Collins High in Spring, Texas, is a standout student who tried [...]

NCAA Upholds Postseason Ban For Arizona State

2011-11-04T18:01:29Z

The NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee has upheld a one-year postseason ban on Arizona State's baseball program, making the Sun Devils ineligible for the 2012 postseason. The NCAA Infractions Committee ruled in December that violations in the ASU baseball program constituted a lack of institutional control and barred the Devils from the postseason for one year. [...]

Rhode Island Player Dies

2011-10-28T15:58:58Z

Rhode Island righthander Joe Ciancola died Thursday following a medical emergency during a team preseason conditioning workout. Ciancola, 20, is a Connecticut product who played his high school baseball and hockey at Amity High in Woodbridge, Conn. According to a press release from the Atlantic-10 Conference, Ciancola suffered a medical emergency during a team preseason [...]

Arizona Senior Fall Classic Kicks Off With Academic Game

2011-10-14T07:36:35Z

  PEORIA, Ariz.—The Arizona Senior Fall Classic kicked off Thursday, bringing hundreds of scouts and college coaches to the spring training complex of the Padres and Mariners. The four-day event features 61 travel and scout teams, primarily from the West. While coaches and scouts intermingle throughout the 12 fields, there is one event at the [...]

Arizona State To Share New Facility With Cubs

2011-10-11T20:16:38Z

Arizona State will leave Packard Stadium for the new spring training facility of the Chicago Cubs in Mesa, most likely in 2014. Arizona's Board of Regents approved a 30-year deal that has been in the works for several months. As the Arizona Republic reported, ASU will lease a 3.2-acre parcel of land for parking, and the [...]

WAC Welcomes Cal State Bakersfield, Dallas Baptist

2011-09-19T18:45:18Z

In an age of endless football-driven conference realignment (most recently, Pittsburgh and Syracuse joining the Atlantic Coast Conference this weekend), it is refreshing when schools and conferences stop to consider their baseball programs. The Western Athletic Conference announced Monday that Cal State Bakersfield and Dallas Baptist will join the conference as baseball-only members starting with [...]

WMU’s Brent Alwine Recovering From Car Crash

2011-09-15T17:59:44Z

Western Michigan assistant coach Brent Alwine is making progress after a serious car crash left him hospitalized for 18 days. Alwine was released from a Kalamazoo, Mich., hospital Tuesday and transferred to a rehabilitation center. Alwine was critically injured when his car slammed into a semi-trailer on I-94 on Aug. 26. "He almost died on [...]

Nike Releases Schools From Bat Obligations

2011-09-13T22:54:34Z

Competitive equity is always a hot-button issue in college baseball, where variations in the quality of bats can have a significant impact on wins and losses. Not all bat technology is created equal, and while it is impossible to draw definitive conclusions about the quality of equipment by looking at statistics, it seems entirely plausible [...]

Summer Leagues Postseason Heating Up

2011-08-10T21:02:19Z

Summer ball schedules continue to dwindle into mid-August, but many title runs are just beginning. In Cape Cod, the semifinals are underway as the Harwich Mariners defeated the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, 6-0, in Game One of their series Tuesday night. Nick Routt, a rising senior southpaw from Mississippi State, carved through the Y-D bats, firing [...]

UC Davis Elevates Matt Vaughn To Head Coach

2011-08-09T22:13:40Z

UC Davis has promoted associate head coach Matt Vaughn to head coach, replacing Rex Peters, who left for a job on the UCLA coaching staff after nine seaons at the helm of the Aggies' program. Vaughn, a UC Davis pitcher from 1989-92, has spent the last 19 years on the Aggies coaching staff under former [...]

Summer League Playoffs Underway

2011-08-05T15:02:33Z

As we welcome in August, we also begin to wave farewell to summer baseball. The NECBL playoffs began on Wednesday, featuring the top four teams from the Eastern and Western divisions. Each group will fight amongst itself with a pair of three-game series’ to decide who will emerge for the interdivisional championship series set for [...]

UCLA Hires Rex Peters Away From UC Davis

2011-08-04T04:08:41Z

UCLA took its time replacing Rick Vanderhook on its coaching staff after he left to take the head job at Cal State Fullerton, but the Bruins have finally found their man, and it was worth the wait. Baseball America has learned that UCLA has hired UC Davis head coach Rex Peters as an assistant, though [...]

Cape League Notebook: Stony Brook Standouts Keep Rolling

2011-08-04T03:41:24Z

CHATHAM, Mass.—After taking in the Cape Cod League all-star game at Fenway Park on Friday, I stuck around to catch some more action around the Cape. Here are some observations from the final week of the league's regular season. • Stony Brook dominated the America East Conference this spring, going 22-2 to win the league [...]

Gauging Impact Of New RPI Formula

2011-08-03T16:54:32Z

The NCAA has released a chart showing how the new Ratings Percentage Index formula would have affected every Division I team in 2011. The chart shows each team's actual 2011 RPI ranking, and where it would have ranked under the new formula, which weights road victories as 1.3 wins and home victories as 0.7 wins. [...]

Ramsey, Power Arms Stand Out In Cape All-Star Game

2011-07-30T13:32:23Z

BOSTON—James Ramsey had such a good time Friday night that he said he wanted to keep on playing with his new teammates—the all-stars of the Cape Cod League's East Division. Ramsey, a rising senior outfielder at Florida State, jumped on an 88 mph first-pitch fastball from William & Mary righthander John Farrell in the fifth [...]

Orleans Rolling Toward Cape Cod Playoffs

2011-07-26T20:59:54Z

All-Star week in Cape Cod signals the tail of the regular season and no team is roaring toward postseason play like the Orleans Firebirds, winners of six in a row, their longest streak of the summer. The Firebirds now stand at 19-16-3 and are tied for first place in the Eastern Division with Harwich. Just [...]

Cape League All-Stars Announced

2011-07-23T01:15:08Z

The Cape Cod League has announced the rosters for its 49th annual all-star game set to take place July 29th at Fenway Park. The event marks the third consecutive summer that Fenway will serve as a host. In the Eastern Division, the Brewster Whitecaps will send a division-best six players to Boston, including a pair [...]

Summer Ball Update: Hot Bats Have Edenton, Bourne Surging

2011-07-21T21:27:22Z

Two of the nation’s hottest college summer league teams continued their winning ways in convincing fashion Wednesday night, as the Coastal Plain League’s Edenton Steamers won their 11th in row and the Cape Cod League's Bourne Braves won their 10th in their last 12 games. Both teams have ridden shut-down pitching staffs all summer, but [...]

Trio Of Potential Ducks Leading Cowlitz

2011-07-20T23:22:37Z

LONGVIEW, Wash.—The Cowlitz Black Bears are 19-18 on the season, trying to claw to the top of the West Coast League West standings. The team has already won more games than it did last year (18), thanks to contributions from a trio of potential Ducks. The West Coast League has solidified itself over the past [...]

Summer College All-Star Games Roundup

2011-07-21T21:28:17Z

If the 2011 draft class was stronger than usual, early indications are that 2012 could be a down year, at least on the college side. The talent level across college summer baseball is down, according to scouts. "It's OK," a National League scouting director said of the talent in the Cape Cod League. "There's some [...]

Fordham Hires Manhattan’s Kevin Leighton

2011-07-19T02:35:25Z

Fordham officially announced Monday that it has hired Manhattan coach Kevin Leighton to be its new head coach, replacing Nick Restaino, who resigned after seven seasons in June. Leighton, who won more than 30 games in each of his six years as head coach with the Jaspers, is coming off one of his most successful [...]

Aaron Brown Dazzles At CCL All-Star Game

2011-07-19T00:42:53Z

GLENDALE, Calif.—The California Collegiate League has featured a nice collection of talent in recent years, a blend of Southern California college players, highly regarded rising freshmen and big-name prospects from schools like Texas and Rice, among others. On Wednesday at Stengel Field in Glendale, the league's top talent assembled for its third annual all-star game, [...]

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