College World Series Tickets

Omaha Mayor Met With NCAA Today

The future of the College World Series was at stake today as Omaha officials met with officials from the NCAA to talk about a much debated topic, whether the CWS should leave Rosenblatt or not.  As reported by the Omaha World Herald, Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey pitched a new plan to the NCAA that would build a new stadium in downtown Omaha costing over $50 million and hopefully keep the CWS in Omaha for a long time. 

The new stadium would be used as the host field for the College World Series as well as the home of the Creighton BlueJays and the Omaha Royals (KC's farm team).  The new stadium would seat 25,000 -30,000 people and may have a mix of permanent and temporary seating.

Arguments were also heard from Jack Diesing Jr. who supported the renovation of Rosenblatt Stadium.  The renovation would cost $25 million and would revamp the stadium as well as the surrounding areas around the park.

The NCAA will review the plans and meet with officials at a later date.  The city of Omaha has 150 days from today to settle on a deal before other cities can pitch their town for College World Series consideration.

Tommy Milone Showing Off in Cape Cod League

Tommy Milone is making a splash in the famous Cape Cod summer league and just recently was awarded the Pitcher of the Year award for the League.  Milone is USC's top pitcher and is seen as the leading candidate to take the Trojans back to a College World Series in 2008.  USC has won 12 College World Series in the past but have not taken the trip to Omaha since 2001.

Milone, a Junior, is lucky enough to have a new pitching coach Tom House, who just recently was hired as USC's pitching coach.  Tom House is one of the most famous pitching coaches in the nation and even runs a mini pitching school in the Los Angeles area.  Learn more about Tom here.

Look for Milone to get even better with Tom House at the helm.  I think he is good enough to take his team all the way to the College World Series.

Kevin Costner will Film Commercial for Rosenblatt

The city of Omaha, in its effort to keep the College World Series in town, raised a very important question this summer during the Series:  should they build a new stadium or renovate the old one?

The question has not been answered, but some people already have strong opinions about the issue.  People have a strong enough opinion in fact to enlist the help of actor Kevin Costner to appear in commercials telling the viewers to "Save Rosenblatt."

Action 3 news reported that Costner will film a commercial for the group Save Rosenblatt next week.  Costner is a regular at the College World Series.  He attends some Texas games and regularly attends games when his alma mater Cal State Fullerton is playing.

UCI Coach Talking to Oregon About Coaching Job

The newly resurrected Oregon baseball program is talking with Baseball America's Coach of the Year and College World Series veteran Dave Serrano.  Serrano led the otherwise unknown UC Irvine baseball team to an unprecedented fourth place finish at this year's College World Series.

As reported by the Daily Pilot, Serrano is in talks with Oregon Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny about taking over as head coach for the team that has sat dormant for 26 years but will return for the 2008 season.

Oregon has a bigger budget to woo Serrano but it will have a difficult time convincing him to leave a successful team to come to a brand new team with only four full scholarships to give out.  Serrano has not made a decision yet, but says he owes it to his family to look at the Oregon job seriously...whatever that means.

College World Series to Start a Day Earlier

The NCAA has decided to move the starting date of the College World Series back one day for the 2008 series.  Instead of starting on Friday June 13th as was scheduled it will move to Saturday the 14th.

The NCAA moved the date back to allow teams more time to prepare before the series.  In the last couple of seasons some teams have had to deal with rain delays in the regional rounds of the elimination rounds and have been rushed to the series.  The extra day will help keep things fair so that every team has an equal chance to rest and prepare.

The change will affect a number of different dates for the College World Series.  Fan day will now take place on Friday, June 13th and the championship games will now start on Monday, June 23rd and run through June 25th.

UNC Will Start Building New Stadium September 1st

The University of North Carolina will start construction on their new stadium on September 1st.  The Tar Heels have a storied program and have placed second overall in the College World Series for the past two years behind Oregon State.

According to CSTV the Tar Heels will still be able to practice on Boshamer Stadium for the fall and the beginning of spring but will temporarily move their games and eventually practices to the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Carey.

This may hurt North Carolina in its race to the College World Series this coming year due to the fact that they will not have a true home field.  But with the strength that they have shown us the last two seasons, I think UNC is due for their own championship.

Bonds was CWS Star Before Becoming Home Run King

Before Barry Bonds started his MLB career and infamous home run streaks he frequently stopped by Omaha, Nebraska, the home of the College World Series.  Bonds, who just recently hit his 756th homerun to break Hank Aaron's all-time homerun record, was a standout player in the College World Series back in his days with the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Bonds made an instant impact with the Sun Devils in 1982 when he joined the team.  He was baseball royalty by then due to his many star cousins and father Bobby Bonds.  A lot was expected of Barry and he definitely delivered.

As a freshman Bonds earned all-College World Series team honors for hitting ASU's only 2 homeruns in the Series.  Then as a sophomore Bonds hit seven consecutive hits that tied a College World Series record at the time.

He never returned to Omaha after that but he will definitely not be forgotten not only as a great baseball player but as a star on Rosenblatt field as well.

Rosenblatt Group Tries For Costner

Lobbying group Save Rosenblatt is attempting to get movie star Kevin Costner to star in a commercial to sway fans and NCAA officials to keep Rosenblatt stadium as the home of the College World Series.

A large debate was started earlier this summer when Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey proposed a plan that would move the College World Series to a new stadium in a fairly new downtown district.  The town was split in half of people wanting the new stadium and all of its features to people that wanted the history and tradition of Rosenblatt to stay in its location and its famous stadium.

According to the Beatrice Daily Sun the lobbying group sent a request to the actor who is expected to make a decision within the next week.  Costner was picked because because of his previous baseball movie roles such as "Field of Dreams."  He also attended the 1999 CWS supporting his alma mater Cal State Fullerton.

Check out Save Rosenblatt's website if you want more information.

Pitching Guru Tom House Added to USC Staff

Tom House will return to his alma mater as a pitching coach for USC's 2008 season.  He will join one of the most storied programs in college baseball which has the most College World Series wins in the history of college baseball. 

House was drafted to the Atlanta Braves in 1967 and quickly advanced to the pros in 1971.  He is best remembered for openly admitting to using steroids during the steroid fiasco with congress.  He said that he started experimenting with them in the early 70's and said that at least 6 guys from every pitching staff he knew used steroids.  He was also made famous by catching Hank Aaron's 715th home run that broke Babe Ruth's record.  He ran the ball from the left field bullpen to Aaron in the historic moment in baseball history.

House is a storied pitching coach.  He coached at many MLB teams and mentored pitchers Nolan Ryan as well as Mark Prior.  He is known to use unusual coaching techniques and runs his own sports clinic as well as a number of youth pitching camps.  He has written several baseball coaching books as well as an autobiography.

UC Irvine Pitcher Makes Explosive Start

UC Irvine's Scott Gorgen joined the Team USA last month after several pitchers left to pursue professional careers.  The pitching ace, who also lead his team to an unprecedented fourth place finish at this year's College World Series, started in his first Team USA match-up against Russia last night.

Although Russia is not known for being a tough team, the 6-0 victory was an accomplishment nonetheless.  Gorgen looked comfortable and focused on the mound and struck out eight Russian players.

Up next for Team USA is the World Port Tournament in the Netherlands.  USA will take on Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Japan and the Netherlands in two games apiece.  The two teams with the most wins will advance to a one game championship match.