After the College World Series, players that have not yet signed or weren’t draft eligible disperse across the country to play in summer leagues. Many of them are wood bat leagues which provide relief to pitchers tormented by aluminum bats all season and an opportunity for hitters to get ready for pro ball. The Valley Baseball League is one of those leagues. I had a chance to catch a game near the end of...
Starting Friday, sixteen college baseball teams will pair off in eight best-of-three Super Regional series, with the winner of each advancing to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. College baseball is not exactly my thing. For instance, I’m not sure I could tell you who won last year’s College World Series. (Go visit College Baseball Daily for that sort of thing.) But that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to develop (read: create from...
I know this is Major League business, but I wanted to get a few thoughts out there that I don’t think anyone has brought up yet. By now, I think everyone has seen the horrific crash of Marlins outfielder Scott Cousins and Giants catcher Buster Posey. Of course, Posey was seriously injured in the collision and is out for the season. Last week, Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench said Posey was out of...
In less than three weeks, the 2011 draft will begin. The first round plus the supplemental round will once again be broadcast on MLB Network, and this year that includes the first 60 picks. There are a lot of storylines in this draft, and it could prove to be one of the more interesting ones of all time. It’s easy to scoff at the notion that anyone could be entertained by the names of...
Some interesting news that I’m, oh, about a month late in bringing to the table: beginning this season, the Futures Collegiate Baseball League will put teams in Nashua, NH and the New Hampshire Seacoast. This first caught my attention on my daily commute into work, which brings me past Nashua’s (Historic) Holman Stadium. The advertising road sign outside the ballpark has a message about choosing a name for the new team. I didn’t know...
Bus Leagues Book Review: The Last Best League As summer starts going into fall and the College Baseball Summer Leagues engage in their playoffs, I find myself looking to a minor league book that may have slipped through the cracks of your reading eye. And as I am a natural segueist, we will look at the story of a post Summer Catch Cape Cod League season. In the Last Best League Jim Collins writes...
A couple years ago, I put together an All-Time College World Series Alumni team for that season’s participants. Basically, I took the players with the best major league careers from each school and made a team. It was fun and mildly interesting, so I decided to bring it back this year. Two rules at play here: one, all eight teams have to be represented, and two, I wanted it to have some semblance of...
Arizona State was one strike away from Omaha before Arkansas’s Brett Eibner, the guy who picked up the loss in Saturday night’s Super Regional opener, took a hanging slider down the left field line for a game-tying homerun. Unfortunately, Eibner’s dramatics only delayed the inevitable for the Razorbacks. The top-seeded Sun Devils maintained their composure, took a two-run lead on a Drew Maggi homerun in the twelfth, and held on for the 7-5 win....
As noted just a couple hours ago, we have a fifth team in the 2010 College World Series. UCLA came from behind to win late on Saturday and transferred that momentum to Sunday, beating Cal State Fullerton 9-1 to advance to Omaha. This is the third trip to the College World Series for the Bruins, the first since 1997. In the last game tonight, Arizona State leads Arkansas, 5-4, through eight innings.
As of this moment, four teams have qualified for the 2010 College World Series, which begins next Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska. Florida, Florida State, and TCU advanced after winning the rubber game of their Super Regional matchups earlier today. South Carolina didn’t need a third game, sweeping Coastal Carolina 4-3 and 10-9. It will be the 20th College World Series appearance for Florida State. South Carolina is making its ninth trip to Omaha, Florida...
2012 05 14 Scranton Wilks Barre/ Empire State Yankees vs Pawtucket Red Sox
