2009 Baseball Pirates To Be Honored Thursday
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Pirate fans are encouraged to stay in their seats at halftime of Thursday nights nationally televised football game on ESPN when East Carolina plays host to No. 22 Va. Tech inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, as the 2009 East Carolina baseball team will be honored for their accomplishments.
The Pirates (46-20, 17-7 C-USA), who have made 10 NCAA Regional appearances in the last 11 seasons, claimed the 2009 Conference USA regular season and 2009 Greenville Regional titles before advancing to their third NCAA Super Regional on the way to a 46-20 overall record.
ECU landed the most All C-USA selections with seven, including a league-best five first-teamers in Stephen Batts, Chris Heston, Seth Maness, Kyle Roller and Ryan Wood. Brad Mincey and Trent Whitehead were named second-team All C-USA and Kevin Brandt became the 12th Pirate selected to the All-Freshman squad since 2002.
Head Coach Billy Godwin, who ranks fourth on ECU's all-time wins list with 161 victories, was named Keith LeClair Coach-of-the-Year after guiding the Pirates to their first regular season C-USA crown since 2004. In four years at the helm of the baseball program, Godwin has led the Pirates to three consecutive NCAA appearances, became the second coach in school history to win 40-plus games in three consecutive seasons (Keith LeClair: 1999-2002) and has had 15 players selected in the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft.
2009 Pirate Honors
Stephen Batts: ABCA All-Atlantic Region, First-Team All C-USA, Two-time C-USA Hitter-of-the-Week.
Kevin Brandt: Freshman All-America (Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball), Second-Team Freshman All-America (Ping!Baseball), NCAA Greenville Regional All-Tournament Team, C-USA All-Freshman Team, C-USA Pitcher-of-the-Week.
Billy Godwin: C-USA Keith LeClair Coach-of-the-Year
Brandon Henderson: NCAA Greenville Regional All-Tournament Team, ECU's honorary No. 23 jersey.
Chris Heston: First-Team All C-USA, C-USA Newcomer-of-the-Year.
Seth Maness: First-Team All C-USA, Two-time C-USA Pitcher-of-the-Week.
Brad Mincey: Second-Team All C-USA, C-USA Pitcher-of-the-Week.
Kyle Roller: First-Team All-America (ABCA/Rawlings and Ping!Baseball), First-Team All C-USA, NCAA Greenville Regional All-Tournament Team, C-USA Hitter-of-the-Week, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) National Hitter-of-the-Week, Collegebaseballinsider.com Central Regional Player-of-the-Week.
Ryan Wood: First-Team All-America (Ping!Baseball), Second-Team All-America (NCBWA), Third-Team All-America (Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America and ABCA/Rawlings), First-Team All C-USA, NCAA Greenville Regional All-Tournament Team.
Trent Whitehead: NCAA Greenville Regional Most Outstanding Player, Second-Team All C-USA, C-USA All-Tournament Team, set ECU's single-season hit record with 105 base knocks.
(c) 2009 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved.
BU baseball to play 1s 18 games at home
The Baylor baseball team won't have to stray far from Baylor Ballpark during the 2010 season.
The Bears will play their first 18 games at home, and play only two nonconference games away from Waco in all -- at Texas State April 21 and at TCU April 27.
Baylor plays 35 of its 52 games against teams that reached the NCAA tournament last year. The Bears open their season Feb. 19-21 with a double round-robin event against Duke and Georgia.
Last year, Baylor went 30-26 and reached the NCAA tournament for the 10th time in the past 12 years.
(c) 2009 Waco Tribune-Herald. All rights reserved.
Ducks, Beavers baseball recruits praised
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) -- Baseball America magazine has praised Oregon and Oregon State's recruiting classes.
In its annual rankings released Tuesday, the magazine listed Oregon State's recruiting class as the 22nd best in the nation while placing Oregon's at No. 24.
Oregon State coach Pat Casey welcomed 20 newcomers to fall camp. One key recruit is catcher Andrew Susac, a defensive star who was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies but did not sign. Also in Corvallis is 6-foot-7 Tony Bryant. The right-hander from Kennewick, Wash., opted for college rather than sign with Minnesota Twins.
Oregon is beginning its second baseball season after a 28-year hiatus. Despite its lack of recent tradition, coach George Horton brought in many solid recruits from California, such as left-hander Christian Jones and infielder Jack Marder, an Arizona Diamondbacks draftee.
(c) The Associated Press.
LSU baseball back to work
Not quite four months have blazed by since Louis Coleman's final pitch sealed LSU's sixth NCAA baseball championship on a steamy night in Omaha, Neb., and there have been plenty of snapshots and memories to add to the Tigers scrapbook since then.
Now, though, it's time to get back to work for the core group of players back from a team that closed the season winning 15 of 16 games on the way to a 56-17 finish and the program's first College World Series crown in nine years.
Since that June 24 night when the Tigers downed Texas 11-4 to win the championship series, they have been treated to a raucous celebration back home in Baton Rouge, introduced to an adoring throng at Tiger Stadium this fall and even hung out with Vice President Joe Biden at the White House.
''It's been a lot of fun, and our guys have gotten the chance to bask in the glow of winning the national championship,'' fourth-year coach Paul Mainieri said. ''They've gotten recognized by the fans who love them most at Tiger Stadium and been to the White House. It's been really great.
''But it's time to turn the page now and start thinking about what we have to do to write the next chapter in LSU baseball history. We have a lot of kids back from last year and a great group of 13 new players, and we feel like we can be right in the mix again.''
That quest for a second straight national crown and third consecutive trip to Omaha begins today when the Tigers convene for the first day of fall practice.
Similar to spring football practice, this stretch of six weeks culminating with the Purple and Gold World Series in mid-November is an important time for evaluation and teaching.
The primary goals for Mainieri and his coaches will be to determine which players will vie for starting jobs at first base and third base, while also establishing who will split time with senior Blake Dean in left field and at designated hitter.
Five full-time position starters were drafted after last season: Jared Mitchell, DJ LeMahieu, Ryan Schimpf, Dean and Sean Ochinko. Only Dean opted to return. Senior Derek Helenihi started most of the stretch run and is also gone.
That leaves four full-time starters back (Dean, Micah Gibbs, Austin Nola, Mikie Mahtook), along with junior outfielder Leon Landry and sophomore infielder Tyler Hanover, who started 42 and 53 games, respectively.
''We feel like we have six starting position players back when you count Leon with his experience and what he brings to the table, and that's a good core of returning veterans,'' Mainieri said. ''We feel like we need to find 3-5 more guys who can play regularly at first and third base, in the outfield and at DH. We also need to establish a backup catcher and some backups and guys who can fit into utility roles.''
The Tigers pitching staff took one major hit with the loss of Coleman, the 2009 SEC Pitcher of the Year, but everyone else is back with hard-throwing starter Anthony Ranaudo and closer Matty Ott as the headliners. Mainieri said junior Austin Ross has done everything needed to solidify his role as the No. 2 weekend starter with fall practice starting, leaving the No. 3 and midweek slots open for competition.
''It's important for us this fall to see which pitchers might be ready for that weekend role,'' Mainieri said. ''This is when we'll start to establish the pitching roles for the season, so that makes this a real important six weeks for those guys.''
Three players will be limited in fall work.
Dean had shoulder surgery shortly after he announced he was returning for his senior season and also had an emergency appendectomy. Mainieri said he may be able to swing a bat in the final weeks of fall practice.
Sophomore Beau Didier is still rehabilitating from Tommy John surgery on his right (throwing) elbow. Didier is expected to battle for time at both corner infield spots and possibly a spot in the outfield. He'll work only at first this fall to avoid throwing.
Freshman left-hander Forrest Garrett will also be limited after having a pin inserted in his left elbow for a stress fracture.
(c) 2TheAdvocate.
Fall Baseball Practice Continues for Lions
The Southeastern baseball team has a lot to build on during fall practice. The Lions are coming off one of their best seasons in recent memory, one that included a school record with 21 wins in the Southland Conference, but there was one big thing missing: a bid to the NCAA tournament.
"We were disappointed that the NCAA selection committee didn't select us to get in there, but our guys handled it the right way," head coach Jay Artigues said. "They understand that they need to win more ballgames and make it tougher for them next time."
"Having such a good season last year, we still didn't accomplish our goal, which was winning conference and making it to a regional," junior outfielder Cass Hargis said. "So we have that confidence, but we also have hunger to get back and win a championship this year."
1994 was the last time the Lions reached the NCAA regionals. They have every reason to believe that this the team that can end that drought, even though some their biggest stars from a year ago are gone. That includes Brian McCants, Brandon Street and Pittsburgh Pirates draft pick Ty Summerlin, Southeastern's all-time hit king.
"Those are three big name guys, but I think we have some guys that are going to fill in those spots this year," senior infielder Chris Ernest said. "I think we're more of a complete team. We've got guys who are willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done."
"There's a lot of confidence going around, no question," Artigues said. "A lot of optimism because of having seven returning starters and all the returning pitchers. We've got a lot of new guys to go with that mix."
The Lions will again face one of the toughest schedules in the country in 2010. Dates with Mississippi State, Tulane, Alabama and LSU are some of the highlights, in addition to their Southland Conference rivals. Still, no matter what they do in the regular year, it may all come down to the league tournament, where an automatic bid to regionals will hang in the balance.
"This year we're going to try to keep it in our own hands," Hargis said. "If we win conference, they can't keep us out of it."
"You just have to play consisitent throughout the whole year, but really you have to turn it on when that tournament comes," Ernest said. "I think preparing yourself throughout the whole year will get your ready for that tournament."
In the short term, coaches will continue to evaluate players and implement the system here in the fall. You can check out their progress this weekend, with intrasquad games planned for Friday (2:30 p.m.), Saturday (10 a.m.) and Sunday (5 p.m.).
(c) 2009 Southeastern Louisiana University Athletics. All Rights Reserved.
Fisher baseball coach leaves for Clemson
Dan Pepicelli is leaving as St. John Fisher's baseball coach to become the pitching coach at Division I Clemson University.
Pepicelli will leave Fisher next week and begin his new job. During his nine-year career, he guided the Cardinals to a 200-136 record. Fisher has advanced to the postseason in each of the past seven years, including its first trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament in 2007.
Clemson head coach Jack Leggett is 1,101-621 in 30 years in 30 years. Last year, the Tigers went 44-22 and just missed reaching the College World Series.
Fisher has not named a replacement for Pepicelli yet.
(c) 2009 Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. All rights reserved.
Morris' contract extended through '15
CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Miami Hurricanes baseball coach Jim Morris has signed a contract extension through 2015.
Morris has led the Hurricanes to the College World Series 11 times in 16 years, including national championship seasons in 1999 and 2001. The Hurricanes have made the NCAA tournament 37 years in a row.
The extension for Morris was announced Sunday by athletics director Kirby Hocutt.
"Jim has demonstrated that he is the best college baseball coach in the country," Hocutt said. "Even with the rich history of Hurricane baseball success, he has raised the bar even higher."
(c) 2009 by The Associated Press.
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