College World Series Tickets

Serrano Graduated From College? Kind of.

Dave Serrano, the former UC Irvine head coach who took his team to the College World Series last year, is taking some heat from his new University (Cal State Fullerton) for not getting a proper college degree. 

According to the Daily Titan, Serrano got a BA degree from Trinity College and University.  So what is required to obtain a degree at Trinity College and University, well, apparently all it takes is "life experience" and $300.  Not bad huh?

Now officials at Cal State Fullerton are raising a fuss about the college degree.  Some, like the Athletic director Brian Quinn think that experience is the most important thing.  He said that how he learned to be a coach is more important than a college degree.  He said learning coaching is "not a textbook thing."

I think if they are going on the NCAA thought that sports should be mixed with academics then Serrano should need a degree before he teaches.  If they really want the players to care about proper education, I think the coaches should at least have a proper education as well.

Michigan Gains Respect

After an impressive run to the College World Series that was stopped short in the Super Regional round, the Michigan Wolverines are gaining loads of respect from people that only thought they knew how to work with a football.

Rivals has ranked the Wolverines as the top Mid-West baseball team going into this season.  I'm not sure I agree with that but they point out some very interesting things I did not think about.

Michigan actually has been very successful in the last five years as they have traveled to regionals twice and a super regional once, only to be knocked out by eventual College World Series champions Oregon State.  The Wolverines also bring back all but a couple of starters from last year, something that is almost unheard of in this day and age.

Serrano Recruits Quickly

Dave Serrano, former coach of UC Irvine, who took his team to Omaha for the College World Series last year, wasted no time in the recruiting department of his new school, Cal State Fullerton.

Serrano, along with Fullerton's recruiting coordinator Sergio Brown, have signed 11 new players for the '09 season.  According to CSTV, two of those players are ranked at the top of Baseball America's prospects list.

This is Dave Serrano's first year with the Titans.  He did an amazing job of finding recruits quickly and of finding quality recruits.

The pride and joy of the recruiting class is in the pitchers.  Brown said, "we landed the 2 best left handed pitchers in the state in Jarrett Martin and Michael Montgomery and we were also able to secure two of the best right-handers in Tyler Pill and Noe Ramirez."

Save Rosenblatt Unveils Plan

Save Rosenblatt is doing everything in their power to keep the College World Series in Rosenblatt stadium.  First, the group collected petitions to help their cause, then they made a bold move by enlisting Kevin Costner to tell Omaha TV viewers to Save Rosenblatt on commercials.

Now they can add submitting an original plan to renovate Rosenblatt to their growing list of activism.  The group is based in Omaha and started when word got out that Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey was considering building a new stadium in downtown Omaha to host the CWS.

The plan that they unveiled is very similar to one of the original plans that Mayor Fahey and the NCAA talked about during talks this summer.  The NCAA said that Rosenblatt did not have some of the amenities that it is looking for in the stadium of the College World Series and told Fahey that he should consider renovating Rosenblatt or other options (building a new stadium).

According to the Omaha World Herald, the plan does increase the size of the concourses, but does not open them up like the NCAA wants.  It also adds around 2000 seats, adds a parking garage and will improve and add more locker rooms.  However, it does not address the fact that Rosenblatt is far away from many hotels, a problem that a new stadium downtown would solve.

Louisville Outlook Good for 2008

The Louisville Cardinals will return in 2008 after a break out season that took them to Omaha for the College World Series.  It was the Cardinals first trip ever to the College World Series, and they played well before getting knocked out by CWS runner up North Carolina.

The Cardinals recently released their 2008 schedule at CSTV.  They will take on some baseball powerhouses this season.  Not only will they take on conference foes West Virginia and St. Johns, but will also face the under-appreciated Vanderbilt.

The outlook looks good for the Louisville Cardinals this season.  They return 17 players from last season including Big East pitcher of the year Zach Pitts.  The Cardinals will also benefit from having coach Dan McDonnell at the helm.  McDonnell is in his second year with the Cardinals and deserves a lot of credit for taking Louisville to the College World Series in his first season as head coach last year.

Oregon Starts Recruiting

There is very little chance that the Oregon Ducks will win the College World Series in 2009 when the Ducks re-instate their baseball program.  But that is not to say that they are not on the fast track to success.

The Ducks showed they were a team to be reckoned with by hiring one of the top coaches in the country, former Cal State Fullerton coach George Horton.  Horton has a tough job ahead of him to assemble a team in a year.

Whats worse for the Oregon is that recruiting will be incredibly difficult.  Not only is the future very bleak for the first couple of years, but they have to compete to recruit against the two-time College World Series champions Oregon State for in-state commits.

According to Baseball America, Horton and the Oregon Ducks staff have nabbed ten commitments already to play in 2009.  Horton said that they will focus on California recruits for now but want to expand quickly into the Northwest.  He also said that he expects to have quite a few junior college players that will go pro after their Junior year.  This will free up scholarships and make room for the Northwest commitments.

Teams on the Rise

2008 may be the year for some surprise teams that make it to the College World Series in Omaha.  Rivals predicts that the two teams that could make it to the College World Series in 2008 are UC Riverside and Missouri.

UC Riverside had an impressive run last season that stopped to soon in the Tempe regional.  The team won the Big West title and look to perform better in the regionals and super regionals this year.

Riverside definitely has the talent to go to the CWS.  Their pitching staff will need to replace ace James Simmons.  The likely new star pitcher will be right handed Sophomore Joe Kelly who performed well in 22 games as a reliever last season.

The other team that could surprise traditional baseball fans is Missouri.  The Mizzou Tigers lost in their own regional round last season.

The Tigers return an impressive pitching staff lead by Aaron Crow.  Crow had a break out year last season and is expected to be a top draft pick in the 2008 draft.  If the Missouri Tigers want to make it to the College World Series they will have to bulk up their offense.  Most of the power hitters last year were freshman; we will have to wait and see if they bulk up and hit the ball like they are supposed to.

Yankees Lend Hand to Virginia Tech

Although the Virginia Tech Hokies didn't make the College World Series last year, the biggest team in baseball, the New York Yankees, will visit them on March 18, 2008.  Why would the biggest names in baseball take a day out of spring training to play a college baseball team?

According to CSTV, the Yankees were so moved by the tragedy that happened this April on Virginia Tech's campus that they gave $1 million to the memorial fund set up.  Not only that, but the New York Yankees promised to visit English Field in Blacksburg and play and exhibition with the Hokies to help in the healing process.

I applaud the sportsmanship of the Yankees on this move.  The Yankees are bashed on way to much in the media and by baseball fans and I think they should deserve some more credit for their efforts.  This game will be a great experience for the Hokies and I wish I could make it to Blacksburg to witness it.

UCI Ranked To High In Polls

University of California Irvine was ranked 15th in the preseason poll by CSTV after coming off an impressive run to win the College World Series in Omaha last year.  This comes as a shock to me.  Not only did UC Irvine lose some key hitters to the draft but they now have a new coach.  Mike Gillespie took over for Dave Serrano who left to coach at Cal State Fullerton.

Gillespie is a great coach who has proven his worth many times over with four trips to the College World Series and a championship in 1998.  He coached USC for 20 years and is regarded as one of college baseball's great all-time coaches.

But I still don't buy it.  Gillespie is 67 years old and he's not coaching at USC right now for a reason.  Is he a good coach?  Yes.  Can he take a team to the College World Series in his first year?  I doubt it.