College World Series Tickets

Former Rice Pitcher Signs with Phillies

Former College World Series pitcher Joe Savery received a ticket to the Major Leagues recently by signing with the Philadelphia Phillies baseball program.  Savery will help out the struggling Phillies pitching staff which had the worst ERA in the National League.  It is not expected that he will start this next season in the major leagues but he is expected as one of the top players expected to make the jump from minor to major leagues.

Savery was a part of the Rice Owls College World Series team in 2006 as well as their third ranking 2007 team.  He is predominately a left handed pitcher but also plays first base. 

Savery was picked in the first round of this year's amateur draft with the 19th overall pick.

UC Irvine players eat up summer skills

According to the Battle Creek (MI) Enquirer, four players from the 2008 CWS darlings UC Irvine Anteaters are polishing their skills in summer ball far from their California homes.

The Battle Creek Bombers play in the Northwoods League and are coached by Brian Murphy. Murphy's connection to the Anteaters comes by way of Irvine assistant coach, Nathan Choate, when the two coached together in the Cape Cod League.

Sean Madigan, Tony Asaro, Eric Pettis and Sammy Donabedian are acclimating to summer in Michigan, quite different than their California digs, but as Madigan was quoted, "... you're not here to go on a vacation. You're just here to get better and play baseball."

Former LSU Coach has quote of the day

Skip Bertman, legendary LSU Tiger baseball coach from '84 to '01 and 5 time College World Series champion coach, had the quote of the day in the the Chicago Tribune when discussing the play of Chicago Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot. Asked about Theriot's performance at short, Bertman replied, "He could make a cup of coffee nervous."

And that is the quote of the day.

ECU Head Coach Earns Contract Extension

East Carolina University's head baseball coach Billy Godwin received a raise and a contract extension that will guarantee his spot until 2011.  Godwin started coaching East Carolina in 2005 and has posted a 73-49 record in just two seasons with the Pirates.

Goodwin's eventual goal is to land his team in Omaha for the College World Series.  He had a chance this last season while playing in the Chapel Hill  regional as the number two seed.  Unfortunately, Goodwin's team lost to West Carolina to be knocked out, but not before they posted a close 11-10 loss to the eventual College World Series runner up North Carolina.

Cape Cod All-Star Game Features College Stars

The Cape Cod summer league is a haven for college baseball's elite.  Summer leagues are commonplace in the college baseball realm.  Players all around the country will travel to the best teams, and most of those teams are located in Cape Cod.

The Cape Cod All-Star game will be played this Saturday.  The All-Star team features many predominant college players, but features no players from this years College World Series.  Most players hail from the South in the Cape Cod League with the exception of USC and UCLA who both sent a number of players to play.

Thousands will show up to the All-Star game on Saturday.  Because the league is made up of the best in college baseball, many people consider it at the same level as a 1-A league.

Team USA Crushes China 10-0

Vanderbilt left hander Mike Minor was on his game on Sunday.  Minor struck out 12 batters in 6 innings to give the USA a new boost of energy.  Team USA just returned to the United States from the Pan Am games in Brazil where they lost the championship match to Cuba.

Minor, whose team almost made this years College World Series was not the only player performing well.  Fellow Vanderbilt player Pedro Alvarez struck a deep two run homer in the first inning, and Texas Tech's Roger Kieschnick slammed a three run homer in the third which all but guaranteed the win for the US team.

The match was called after the seventh inning due to international rules about being ahead by more than 10 points.

Team USA loses in Final

Team USA lost in the final baseball game against Cuba today in the Pan American games.  Cuba won the game 2-0 and only allowed the US team four hits.

The Cuban team was a much older and experienced team compared to Team USA.  The US team is made up of all college age players.  The youngest players on Team USA are going to be freshman in college but the majority of the players will be juniors.  The US team missed out on the talent pool that includes the players who participated in the College World Series.  They could not play due to scheduling conflicts.

It is no surprise the Cuban team won the gold.  Cuba has won every gold medal in the baseball event since 1967, today marked the 10th consecutive time the Cubans have won.

First Round Draft Picks Start Signing

Many of the first round draft picks from this years MLB draft have started to sign contracts with their respective teams.

The Phillies, who just recorded their 10,000 loss, signed left-handed pitcher Joe Savery.  Savery was a stand out pitcher from Rice University and made a trip to the College World Series this summer in Omaha.  Savery will play on a farm team to build up his speed and accuracy and then transfer up to the starting squad.

The number four pick overall in June's draft will be heading to the Pirates this next season.  Daniel Moskos was a left handed pitcher from Clemson.  Pirates fans were upset with the pick of Moskos early in the draft.  There were higher rated players the Pirates could have signed, but for financial reasons they signed Moskos instead.

Texas Slugger Likely to Return to Longhorns

Kyle Russell was selected in the fourth round of this years MLB draft to the St. Louis Cardinals.  But Russell will most likely to return to the Texas Longhorns after failed negotiations with the Cardinals' management.

Russell thought he was going to be a 1st or 2nd round pick and earn a seven figure salary, but he was insead taken in the fourth round and the Cardinals were not willing to offer him over a million for his services.

This is great news for the Longhorns who can use Russell's home run hitting skills.  Russell hit a record 27 home runs last season.  The junior to be will most likely wait until next year's draft to leave Texas.  He hopes to increase his draft stock to be picked in the first or second rounds. 

With Russell playing this year the Longhorns are an early favorite to reach the College World Series.  It probably wouldn't hurt Russell's chances in the draft next year either.

Western Carolina Hires New Head Coach

It was just announced that Bobby Moranda will become the new head coach at Western Carolina for the upcoming season.  After spending six years with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as the pitching coach, Moranda will assume the head coach position with Western Carolina.  Moranda will replace former head coach Todd Raleigh who recently moved to the University of Tennessee.

While a pitching coach at Georgia Tech he helped lead the team to four top ten finishes and also to two College World Series'.  He has coached a wide variety of pitchers that have been successful including Matt Wieters who was selected 5th overall in the 2007 draft.

Moranda could guide Western Carolina to their first College World Series appearances in the coming years.  He has the skills to turn his new team into a surprise team such as UC Irvine was in this year's CWS.