Stanford coach Mark Marquess talks about his national champion-contending team.

There was a little bit of good and a little bit of bad to the NorCal Media Day. The six bay area schools were all represented at the podium at Stanford’s Arrillaga Sports Center. The good news is that there were a few heavy hitters of Bay Area media on hand, including reporters for the Associated Press, the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Chronicle and even Ray Ratto, who is a freelancer for CBS Sports. (Not that I expect CBS to post anything about college baseball… he musta been freelancing for somebody else)

The bad side of things is that there were still very few media members there, once again proving that college baseball is growing, but not by enough leaps and bounds to satisfy my liking. (I mean, REALLY, Kyle Peterson couldn’t fly out for this?)

Still it was a good little hoedown for a college baseball junkie like me. Here are some of the pertinent points that each coach made, along with a few other things hither and yon. It all got started with Santa Clara’s new head honcho, Dan O’Brien, who came to the Bronco program after a highly highly highly successful stint at Division 2 UC San Diego, where he led the Tritons to numerous appearances at the D2 College World Series.

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DAN O’BRIEN, SANTA CLARA

- On what Santa Clara baseball will be like:

“We will be starting a brand new culture at Santa Clara. We’re going to go to an old school styled uniform for this program. We’re going to emphasize old-school style and old school mentality. We’re gong to play hard and get dirty.”

- On the impression he hopes to make:

“We’re going to take great pride and are thrilled to create a culture where no matter what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, the other team is going to leave the yard saying, ‘Those guys played hard, played with passion. They played the game the right way.’ And that’s where we’re going to start with the program.”

If you had any question about how "old school" Santa Clara's unis would look, here's a glance at their schedule poster with some of the players in their new baggy togs. It even has an old school design to it.

- On his team’s strength:

“Our strength is that we’re balanced. It sounds incredibly cliche but our goal is to be very sound in all four aspects of the game; pitching, hitting, defense and baserunning.”

- On leading player Kyle DeMerritt

“He epitomizes the type of player we want to build our program around. He’s one of those show up early and stay late kind of guys. He’s loves to get dirty. He’s just a ballplayer. He loves to compete.”

- On the returning talent:

“We return a lot of guys off of a club that was decimated by injuries last year and it’s good to have those guys back. Everybody has to deal with injuries, but I believe there were injuries to six starters off last year’s team.”

- On what intrigued him about the Santa Clara job:

“Ultimately our job as coaches is to prepare these guys for life after college and that’s what our coaches are excited about doing. Here, we can get in the trenches and really work with the players to develop them.”

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JEDD SOTO, ST. MARY’S

- On the progress of the program:

“We’ve got a new stadium on the way after we were able to raise $30million as part of a three-phase project. Our administration spared no expense either, it’s all really nice and when it’s done it will include 1,880 chairback seats, along with a picnic area down the foul line that will hold an additional 500. There will also be a 64,000 square foot rec center as well.”

- On his club for 2012:

“We really like this club. I think they’re ready to be tested. We’ve played a top 40 schedule each the last five seasons and we’ll play another tough schedule this year. We were 41st in the nation in ERA and 3rd in the WCC last year, and we return all three weekend starters and a lot of relievers, so we think we’re ready for this kind of challenge.”

- On star 1B Troy Channing’s off season last year (hit just .264):

“Channing actually had a back injury that he didn’t tell anybody about and it really affected his play. He ended up putting on 20 pounds. He also put a lot of pressure on himself with it being his junior year and concerning the draft. But he’s 22 pounds lighter this year and will be a different player, more like his Freshman year where he was up for the Dick Howser Award.”

- On some of the players expected to make a big jump:

“Outfielder Cole Norton is really a player to watch for this year as he’s made huge strides since last season when he was a part-timer (he hit .290 in 27 starts). We couldn’t get him out in our fall scrimmages. Also, RHP Kurt Jahnke made great improvements from his freshman to sophomore year and made a substantial increase in his velocity from last year. He’s a low-90s pitcher now.”

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NINO GIARRATANO, SAN FRANCISCO

- On his health after donating a kidney this past summer:

“I’m doing fine. Really. The first six weeks after the operation was tough but since then, no problem. It’s an amazing thing in that there is no difference between having one and two kidneys. You can survive on one kidney.”

San Francisco coach Nino Giarratano looks good, healthy and ready to lead his team to another NCAA tournament bid.

- On his brother combos:

“We have the unique position of having a pair of good brother tandems. We’ve got Nik and Alex Balog, with Nik as our starting 1st baseman and Alex will be our Sunday starter on the mound. And then we also have Kyle and Brad Zimmer, Kyle is our Friday starter who beat (UCLA’s) Gerrit Cole 3-1 in the opening game of the Regionals last year. And Brad Zimmer is a freshman outfielder who we are very excited about.”

- When the question of the “new” bats came up:

“I’ve always been in favor of having a bat standard. I’m all for the game slowing down a little and having to teach kids to hit. It’s great for the game to have to be able to bunt, play defense and move runners over. Now at the same time I don’t like when a guy hits a ball and you think it will go out, but then it ends up 70-to-80 feet short of the fence.”

- About the game vs. San Diego at AT&T Park:

“Here’s the part where I’m going to ask you media members for help. We’re scheduled to play a game against San Diego at AT&T Park as part of a triple-header. We play the first game and there will be two high school games after ours. We think it gives good exposure to college baseball in the bay area and I’m counting on you media members to help us get the word out about the game.”

(Note to self: be sure to mention this in my Thursday Thoughts for March 29th)

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MARK MARQUESS, STANFORD

- On his team’s biggest question marks:

“Our biggest question will be at catcher and at the closer position. We lost Zach Jones, who was a three-year starter and a leader. And we also lost our closer in Chris Reed, who was a 1st round draft pick. We’ve got a couple of options at catcher with Chris Griffiths, a junior, and freshman Wayne Taylor (a 14th round draft choice and Texas player of the year). For our closer, we may go with either A.J. Venagas or Dean McCardle, one of which will be our Sunday starter and the other may become our closer.”

- On the development of sophomore outfielder Austin Wilson:

“He really should be a tight end on the football team with his size. But he has made a big adjustment because it doesn’t matter how good you are in high school, in this conference you’re going to face guys like Gerrit Cole, Trevor Bauer and Kurt Heyer, you’re going to struggle, I don’t care who you are.”

- On the strength of the Pac 12:

“There are probably five or six teams that could win the Pac 12 this year, it all comes down to pitching. If you have fresh, young arms that develop quickly, that’s the biggest key to our conference. The Pac 12 is probably the best conference in the country and we’ve got eight teams in the top 20 of strength of schedule.”

- On the state of college baseball:

“College baseball has never been better, never been healthier. You can see that in attendance, the new downtown stadium in Omaha and ESPN has increased the interest in our sport. The Cal alumni stepping up and saving the program also shows how interest has increased around here. Plus the new collective bargaining agreement that the Major League has implemented is good for college baseball AND for pro baseball. For us, it means that we are going to get more high school kids coming to play college baseball than ever before.”

- On the change to the new bats (For some reason this was a very popular subject with two or three of the journalists present):

“Well the bat change is here to stay. But I think anytime you change the offense in baseball it’s risky. Fans like offense. They like scoring. In the pros No 3 and 4 hitters in the order don’t bunt, but in college baseball No. 3 and 4 hitters do. I think the adjustment to the new bats won’t be as drastic once the high schools start using them (the BBCOR bats).”

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DAVE ESQUER, CALIFORNIA

- On if there is a change in effort or focus of this team compared to last year’s when they had the specter of program elimination hanging over them:

“There is no change at all from last year to this year. It has been a pleasure to coach this team because they know effort is vital. Not having a chip on their shoulder this year, they need to find inner motivation to push themselves, and they have. But I tell them ‘Just try to be the best practice team ever.’ and they’ve responded.”

- On how last seasons’ possible program elimination effected this year’s recruiting:

“The biggest problem I saw was the deficiency of landing a pitcher who is ready to go right from the start. We’re going to have to develop this year’s freshman class of pitchers. None of them are the kind of guys you just take the wrapping off and throw out there and they’re good to go.”

- On getting Tony Renda and Chadd Krist back for another year:

“Nobody impacts our program more than Renda does. It’s what he brings to our team every day in effort and work ethic. He’ll hit leadoff for us this year. And getting Krist back was huge. I tell people all the time he was my biggest recruit this off-season. The pros under-valued him (as a 13th round draft pick) and getting him back was great for us.”

- On the biggest key to this season:

“Our biggest key will be the 2nd line pitching. We’ve got a solid rotation of Justin Jones, Kyle Porter and Matt Flemer, but the key will be how the young pitching in the bullpen and depth improves. Right now we’ve got Mike Theofanopoulos, who didn’t pitch last year but was outstanding during fall drills, and Joey Donofrio, who will take on a bigger role after throwing in just 10 games last year.”

- Best Line of the Day, concerning the 25th anniversary of Stanford’s back-to-back titles:

“I was fortunate to be a part of those teams during my playing days but in the 25 years since that Stanford team I look in the mirror and there is no more dark hair poking out under my hat anymore.”

(Editor’s note: As my bald uncle used to say, “Better they turn grey than to turn loose.”)

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SAM PIRARO, SAN JOSE STATE

- Commenting on the WAC going from four-game weekends to three:

“There are no more double-headers in WAC play. I used to like double-headers, but 38 years later I find them to be a pain in the butt. Playing in the WAC is tough, especially with the travel. Have you been to Ruston, Louisiana? Great town, but it’s not easy to get in and out of. We’ve got a home-heavy schedule this year. The travel really gets to you, so this will make a difference.”

- On how he’ll used star two-way player Zach Jones:

We’re going to use him in a closer role this season. I know the scouts want me to start him on the mound, but I’d rather have a chance to win three games in a weekend using him rather than one game. We’re not going to play him in the field this year, although he could play shortstop for anybody in the country.”

- On his star pitcher Esteban Guzman coming back despite getting drafted in the 17th round last June:

“We felt like he was gonna sign last summer, but he played summer ball and, including our season and the summer season, he threw over 130 innings last year. So he didn’t throw for us at all in the fall, we shut him down. And we’re going to try to pick his innings early on. We’ll bring him along slowly. But we’ll have him ready by the time conference play is here when we need him the most.”

- On one of the surprise players going into this season:

“One of the strengths of our team will be at catcher. Kyle Gallegos is a JC transfer from Chabot College and I just love watching him play. He’s an exciting player. When a runner gets on 1st he’s a joy to watch. He’s turned one of our question marks going into this season to a strength.”

- On his teams’ experience:

“We’ll be an experience-heavy team this season, for sure. We’ve got 16 guys who will be playing three or more years of college ball this year. That, and not having to travel much this season will really make a difference.”

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ADDITIONAL NOTES.

-The usually well-attended NorCal Media Day had a few missing pieces this time around. The six immediate Bay Area schools were all on hand, of course. But programs like Sac State, UC Davis, Pacific and Fresno State, who usually show up for this gig, chose not to this time. And it’s not hard to blame them I suppose. It’s a long haul for each of this coaches to come to Palo Alto just to talk for a few minutes in front of media that aren’t really going to cover them much. (Though, yes, I will cover those teams whenever possible, but the Bay Area newspapers aren’t going to be asking those far-flung programs many questions.)

- Just to show how the interest has piqued in Cal baseball, for the 2012 season a commercial radio station has picked up their games and will broadcast them at KALX 90.7fm, 960am. A total of 39 games will be broadcast, both home and away. And that total includes the four-game set against Texas from Round Rock, along with conference weekends at Arizona State, at USC, at Oregon and at Washington State.

- Speaking of Cal radio, I got the chance to meet the student radio announcer from that infamous 9th inning comeback over Baylor, Danny Fry. I told him simply, “You’re my hero.”

- When I told Stanford coach Mark Marquess how happy I was that his team would be taking on so many good non-conference opponents this year (vs. Vanderbilt, vs. Texas, at Fresno and vs. Rice), he shot back with, “Thanks. But in about a month I’ll be able to tell you whether I was happy about that schedule too.”

- In case you’re wondering how the others covered the Media Day, here is how the San Francisco Chronicle covered it.

- The unsung hero of the day is Niall Adler. As a whole, a lot of college baseball’s bloodline goes through each school’s sports information director and there are an awful lot of good ones out there. But Niall Adler of Stanford is still at the top of his game, having put this NorCal Media Day together and getting it to run smoothly and all. With the end of any kind of SoCal Media Day and the annual coaches cook-off they used to have, it makes me appreciate Niall’s efforts at getting this Media Day done and to be the success it is.

- Also, the night before the Media Day at Stanford, I snuck up to San Francisco to go see the New Orleans-based Indy band MuteMath at the Regency Ballroom. Not a bad gig. Lots of energy to it. And they played nearly every song from their new album “Odd Soul” including the song “Blood Pressure” which ESPN used as bumper music between commercials during some of their college football games this past fall (better than anything Nelly got paid millions for). They also played a few of the tasty older ditties like “Typical” and “Control”. If you haven’t seen them live, do a YouTube search for some of their live videos. You’ll prolly dig it… unless you hate good tunes or something.

MuteMath, standing around amongst a whole lot of blue lights.

This is where it starts people. Go to the “2012 Preview” tab over to the left there and click on your favorite conference.

After spending a few months in-and-out of The Cave I’m finally starting to post some college baseball conference previews here. So feel free to skip your Monday morning meeting at work, it’s a waste of time anyway. Immerse yourself in the wonder of college baseball through my 1.2million words of exhilarating and nauseating copy. Laugh a little. Get angry a lot. Write me back and tell me how brilliant I am or how full of shit I am. I don’t care either way. Just let me know.

It’s what I do every winter when there is no more college football and college baseball is still a couple of snowbanks away. It’s my raison d’être.

Nine things to know about these previews.

1- First off, don’t worry. There’s more. I’m posting the first 18 conferences here now. The remaining 14 conference previews are coming soon. I promise. So don’t be pissed if your favorite conference isn’t listed below. Just a matter of time, I’m tellin’ ya’.

2- Secondly, this year’s previews are about two weeks behind in getting posted. I had planned on doing it much earlier than this, but there were many unforeseen factors that got in the way. Put the blame on my ESPN college football work I had to do in November, December and during the bowl games as part of the blame. I also had the ESPN.com college baseball power rankings and All American team to put together (You’ll see them posted soon) and also having the responsibility of putting together Athlon’s Magazine’s preseason Top 25 and team write-ups took away about five or six days out of my schedule as well. So for being 10 to 14 days later than planned, here’s my official “mea culpa.” Hopefully, you’ll still dig it.

3- Oh, and because of that, you’ll probably notice two more things that are different than most years: 1- You’ll catch more typos than normal in my copy I’ve typed since one of the casualties of having to whip my way through the final few weeks is that I haven’t had much chance to go back and re-read what I wrote. So please excuse the blunders. And 2- You won’t find a lot of pretty pictures in this year’s previews. Sorry, going back to beautify things is usually my final chore before I post them, but I didn’t have that luxury this time around.

4- I’ve decided to use Boyd Nation’s ISR ranking from BoydsWorld.com in each team and conferences write up for this season, mainly because I know it gives a more honest assessment of relative ranking instead of the horrible RPI formula. So you’ll note the number for each write-up you read.

5- I feel weird given some conferences a “hot seat coach” designation. I mean really, does any coach in conferences like the NEC or CAA or Patriot League?

6- You have no idea how much more of a pain in the ass it is when a school’s website doesn’t have an alphabetical roster or when players change numbers. Just that little extra digging for information adds up during my months in the cave.

7- Speaking of, it is now February 5th and I can’t believe there are still schools whose websites don’t have updated 2012 rosters and – pause to let this sink in – there are still some who don’t even have their schedules posted either. Those schools need to go ahead and drop to Division II at least.

8- Along with these previews here on CBT, I wanted to give you guys a head’s up about other things I’ve got going on before first pitch. ESPN is having me do a Top 20 “Power Ranking” in the same manner they do for other sports like basketball, hockey and softball, etc. And yes, I know, I know, it’s yet another ranking service for college baseball. You know I’m mostly against doing it, but it’s the mother ship and I have to do as they say. They’ve also had me put together an All American team as well. Look for those features to be up on the ESPN site sometime next week. I’ll be sure to give you a head’s up when it gets posted.

9- By the way, one last thing I wanted to point out. If you don’t see a favorite player or an all-conference candidate listed below your team’s name that you think SHOULD be there, don’t blame me. Most of the time the truth is I got the information from the baseball program’s SID or had to dig it up myself. So blame the school for not giving out enough information, not the messenger.

Hey, they put Wayne Graham as the featured image. Thanks ESPNers.

Here’s my Christmas list for college baseball. Check’d twice, naughtied/nice’d. Peace to all, to all a good night…

Click here to see the list of gifts. After you’re done, feel free to leave a com

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THE TOP 11 OF ‘11

And as a bonus, I’m also going to throw out my Top 11 of ‘11 Songs of the Year (with accompanying videos for you to check out). I don’t really have a rhyme or reason for posting this list, but this is my website so I guess I just do it ‘coz I can. See what you think:

11- The Dollyrots “Rock Control”

(local L.A. band I can’t wait to see in person at some point and I’ll let you know about it.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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10- The Joy Formidable “Whirring”

(Was the first video shown on the re-branding/re-unveiling of the show “120 Minutes” on MTV in July)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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9- The Asteroids Galaxy Tour “Golden Age”

(From the wicked-awesome Heineken commercial. Great campaign, incredibly well-shot and very cool.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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8- Blondie “Mother”

(Yeah, very old school, but a new song. Debbie Harry still sounds great and Clem Baker is a great drummer)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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7- The High Strung “The Luck You Got”

(Obscure Detroit band who got a big break when the producers at Showtime decided to use the song in the opening credits of its outstanding series “Shameless” starring William H. Macy)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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6- Eddie Phillips “Woodstock Daze”

(Former lead singer for the band The Creation. Again, old school – maybe old, old, old school. But try to find this gem.)

Sorry, I don’t have a video for this one. You’ll just have to hunt it down and give it a listen. Here’s the CD cover…

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5- Tame Impala “Half Full Glass of Wine”

(From way out in Perth, Australia. First heard this on the closing credits to an episode of “Entourage”)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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4- A Silent Film “You Will Leave A Mark”

(Don’t really know shit about these guys, but I first heard this song in early 2011 and couldn’t get it out of my mind. A little wimpy, sure, but still good.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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3- Smithereens “Sorry”

(Ahhhh, awesome to see Pat Dinizio and the boys kickin’ it no-frills style again)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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2- Jessie Malin & The Saint Marks Social “Burning on Bowery”

(Saw this former D-Generation singer live in August. Great show, great songwriter)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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1- (TIE) Foo Fighters “Rope” and Foo Fighters “Walk”

(C’mon… it’s the freakin’ Foo Fighters. I couldn’t decide. So sue me.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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BACK TO THE CAVE.

Okay, I’m slinking my slimy butt back down to the Cave and going back to work on my 2012 preview. Oh by the way, if you guys have any ideas of what I should do different this year, sound off. Always like getting feedback and new ideas. ESPN *might* be ramping up its coverage a wee-bit more this year as well, not sure how yet. But I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I’ll chime in once in a while on Twitter (You mean you DON’T follow me on Twitter? Gah! Search for @Stitch_Head. Don’t worry, I won’t overwhelm you with hundreds of tweets a day, I keep it unobtrusive.). You can also *Like* me on Facebook at College Baseball Today.

G’day.

Not so fast my tailgating and barbecuing friend. Believe it or not, there actually was a time when the SEC was on the breadline of college baseball. I ain’t lyin’, it’s actually true. Here, I try my best to explain it because the rise of the SEC in our sport is one of the more interesting stories of the last 30 years. Okay, maybe that’s hyperbole, but it IS kinda a cool tale. Check it out…

Click here to view the embedded video.

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A COUPLE OTHER NOTES:
Here are a few nicks and knacks from the junk drawer of The Cave.

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ORIGINALLY SLATED FOR THE MOTHERSHIP.
The video you see above about the rise of the SEC was originally s’posed to be posted on one of the ESPN Fall Notebooks. But as it turns out, with all the endless amounts of college football, pro football, MLB post-season, Nascar and golf highlights, the video streaming department was too shit-can busy so it turns out that there was no way it was going to see the light of day. No prob. That’s why it falls into our laps here on the CBT site.

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DON’T MISS THE NOTEBOOKS.
Speaking of the Fall Notebooks, I’m hoping you guys have been able to keep up with those features that I’ve been putting together for ESPN.com. And yes I admit, they are few and far between and not exactly what I would want if I was writing for ESPN.com on a full time basis. But in the meantime, they’re a nice respite from college football’s foibles and scandals.

Here’s the latest entry from last Friday:
Just click here and check out the Disney-based goods from ESPN.com.

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ATHLON’S
Looks like I’ll be going into The Cave for more than just my usual 300 Division I team-by-team previews and my Top 300 rankings. Athlon’s Magazine has contacted me about doing their college baseball section for the Baseball PreSeason Mag that will be put out in early 2012. Yes, that means you’ll read my schlock amongst all that MLB baseball stuff I nary feel compelled to follow.

The Good News:
The best part is the fact that Athlon’s cares enough to include some college baseball info in their massive baseball preview they put on the newsstands every year. And this time around they’re actually planning on using somebody who really cares about the sport (I think in the past they’ve just pulled it from some newspaper reporter in the South… not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

The Bad News:
Not much space will be reserved for college baseball in the mag. Their only having me do a Top 25 with “three or four lines” about each team. So it’s really not much more than abbreviated capsules on each team. Additionally, the magazine’s due date for the Top 25 is December 10th… so it will be VERY EARLY in the Cave process of pre-season evaluations. So if my pre-season Top 300 rankings varies wildly from my Athlon’s Top 25 preview, please excuse me. A lot happens in the months of December and January in the evaluation process. Still, I’ll try to keep the two as similar as possible.

Oh, and remember, this is just between you and I, Stitch-Heads.

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THE SEC ON ESPN.
A couple days ago the Worldwide leader in sports announced their Thursday night SEC schedule for the upcoming season. Here’s the slate of games that ESPNU is set to televise:
- March 22nd: Florida at South Carolina
- April 5th: LSU at Florida
- April 12th: Ole Miss at Georgia
- April 19th: Tennessee at Mississippi State
- April 26th: Alabama at South Carolina
- May 3rd: Florida at Kentucky
- May 10th: Auburn at Arkansas
- May 17th: Ole Miss at Vanderbilt

First off, big thumbs down and a WTF look for scheduling Florida and South Carolina for the opening weekend of SEC play and not for the final weekend of the regular season. Don’t these people know what a climax is? But yes, a case could be made for a great start-up, I get it.

And how do you know Florida is the overwhelming favorite to win the conference and will probably be the No. 1 team in the country? Because you’ll notice that the Gators get three appearances. Yep, dead giveaway. Defending national champion South Carolina gets two and, curiously, so does Ole Miss. Everybody else gets one showing on the tube.

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SOME PIGSKIN NOTES.
I realize I’m probably retracing some steps here too, but what the hell, this IS my website. (Quit being smug Sorenson… I hear ya’). As you guys know, I’ve been involved in a small bit of ESPN’s college football coverage this season. So I would be remiss if I didn’t reiterate to you guys to feel free to follow ESPN’s official college football Twitter page, @ESPNCFB. I am responsible for manning the page on Thursday nights, Friday nights and Saturday afternoons/evenings. My good bud Josh Barbarotta does the honors during Saturday mornings/afternoons and sporadically during the week. Plus, for every follower I get to follow along, I get a hundred dollars.

Also, I have been hosting a weekly college football webcast with various guests each Thursday during the football season. Hope you’ve been able to catch some of them. Here’s a link to my latest prior to last weekend:

Click on this highlighted piece of copy.

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THE MUSIC BED.
For this latest “Stitch In Time” I used Brian Setzer’s blazing “60 Years” off his 2004 album “Nitro Burning Funny Daddy”. I couldn’t find an actual video for it, the former Stray Cats lead singer isn’t big on making videos anymore, mostly just sticking to live performances.

But here’s a clip from the old Wayne Brady Show where Setzer plays his Gretsch guitar and sings the song “Smokin’ N Burnin’” which was from the same 2004 album:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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That’s it for now. More stuff coming your way soon. Don’t be hasty.

G’night.

(Sorry, I'm sure you guys getting sick of seeing this artwork once again. I've run out of better ideas.)

Here’s where you can check out the column, just click here and get your off-season game face on.

Back with more stuff, schlock and junk sometime in the near future.

Not only am I in esteemed company here, but I'm also the best-tanned of the bunch.

I also couldn’t help but post it here for you guys to check out too. Hope you dig it. Click here, sit back and have fun listening to the best in the business talk about the state of the game for 2011.

And don’t worry, I’ll get back to baseball stuff soon enough. Promise.

A screen-grab from my webcast with Jake Trotter of SoonerNation and Carter Strickland of HornsNation... Wait. Why is my name without capital letters?

First and foremost, by now I hope you guys have seen my first installment of the Fall Baseball Notebook for ESPN.com. They approached me after the College World Series last June about doing something in the fall once a month just to keep college baseball in the loop on the ESPN site a little bit. And of course, I was really geeked to see the World Wide Leader start to take on more and more college stitched ball stuff on their site. Baby steps here StitchHeads, baby steps.

But in case you missed it, here is the link to the first installment of the Fall Notebook .

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PIGSKIN.
You guys that have jumped on as followers to my Twitter page (and for those of you who haven’t, what the hell are you waiting for? Follow me at @Stitch_Head or risk missing out on a lot of cool stuff) you’ve probably noticed a good bit of college football mentions I’ve been doing lately.

Luckily, ESPN has liked what they’ve gotten from me in the past both baseball and football-wise (I used to work on their Rumor Central page for college football), so I was asked to take over their college football twitter account on fall Saturday’s from the afternoon until after the west coast games are done and also on Thursday and Friday nights. So that’s why you might see tweets like this on there:

Then, one of the ESPNers who had caught some of my Baldcasts on the College Baseball Today site through the years thought I did a half-decent job on camera and would be a good candidate to “host” a weekly webcast for college football… as long as I cut out all the cussing crap I do when I’m on my baldcasts. So now I get to talk to some of the ESPN conference bloggers and contributors about the upcoming weekend of games. Luckily, it has worked out so far and they like the energy and personality I bring to it. Pfft! We’ll see if I don’t blow it eventually.

If you want to see my webcast preview of the Oklahoma-Texas game with the two experts, here is the link to it . Feel free to check it out and tell me what you think. I’m sure I’ve got plenty of improving to do, but it’s fun:

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A VERY IMPORTANT LINK.
One of the things that was pointed out to me after I posted my Notebook was that the link for donating to the Joplin, Missouri rebuilding effort and their Little League didn’t go to the correct address. (Thank you Dani Wexelman for your dogged determination on this). To review, the town of Joplin was ripped apart by a monstrous tornado this past May, killing 125 people and cutting a large swath of destruction through the town.

The Universities of Iowa and Missouri are playing a pair of fall ball games this weekend on the Mizzou campus with all proceeds going to help rebuild the previously-mentioned Joplin Little League. If you want to help make a donation to the cause, here’s the Rebuild Joplin Facebook page .

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A COUPLE OF THINGS TO NOTE ABOUT THE NOTEBOOK
There were a handful of things that didn’t get published in the Notebook on ESPN.com’s College Sports page that I was hoping would be. Not a big deal though, going into this first entry it wasn’t determined how much copy/features/etceteras would be involved this time around. So here are a few extras that weren’t included, but we’ll get around to them soon.
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1- There was a Q&A I did with Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco, but because of time constraints and the busy college football schedule, it wasn’t able to be included in there. But worry not, It’s supposed to be included next month.
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2- Another feature that wasn’t included in the ESPN Notebook was the latest video I shot talking about the rise of the SEC. The ESPNers couldn’t include the video because at this time of year they are overwhelmed with college/pro football videos and commentaries from talking heads at this time of year. But since you are all so special to me, I’ll be sure to post it here on my site soon. Give me a few days, ‘coz posting videos takes a little bit of time and I’m kind of behind on some other work.
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3- The feature in the Notebook that showed the Top 5 most painful endings just short of the CWS, was actually part of a Top 10. The editors there cut it to five for room’s sake. So here’s the rest of the feature…

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FIVE MORE STILL IN PAIN:
6- Washington, 1997.
The Huskies entered the Mideast Regional as a 4-seed, but took down USL, Mississippi State and Georgia Tech to advance to the title round. Then, two crushing losses to homesteading MSU, by 7-5 and 4-3 scores, kept the purple from reigning in Omaha for the first time ever.
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7- Texas Tech, 1995.
It was the Red Raiders’ first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament, but after racing out to three straight wins, Double-T lost a pair of one-run games to Stanford, 3-2 and 6-5. Tech has made nine trips to the Regionals, but hasn’t come that close to Omaha again.
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8- LeMoyne, 1989
This was as close as a 6-seed ever got to Omaha in the 48-team regional set-up. The Dolphins, playing as the “home” team in Waterbury, CT, took down 1-seed Arkansas in the opener, 7-5, and also beat Penn 18-16 in a 12-inning donnybrook. Eventually, a rematch with Arkansas saw the Dolphins fall 6-5 in the winner-take-all game.
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9- Long Beach State, 2004.
As close to a “sure-thing” as it gets, the Beach had Jared Weaver on the hill for Friday nights. But in the Super Regionals, Arizona managed to beat him in game one, 6-5. Then, in the if-necessary game three, UofA stunned the homestanding Dirtbags 4-3 in 11 innings.
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10- UC Irivine, 2008
Man alive! These guys can’t catch a break. In ‘08, UCI did the unthinkable, dominating LSU for 17 innings, winning game one 11-5 and taking a 7-4 lead into the 9th inning of game two. But in what would be the last hurrah for the old Alex Box Stadium, a little Alex Box magic took over from there. LSU scored five in the top of the 9th off of All American reliever Eric Pettus to win 9-7. Then, in the Sunday game, the Tigers rolled to a 21-7 rout.

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And one to think about:
- BYU, 1958.
The Cougars are the only team in college baseball history to win their district – as the Regionals were known at the time – and then never show up in Omaha. After beating Northern Colorado in the District 7 finals, two games to one, BYU officials decided to turn down the trip to Omaha because of their refusal to play games on Sunday, as the Mormon doctrine calls for. UNC went in their stead.

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IT’S A WRAP.
Okay guys and dolls, that’s all I’ve got for now. Just wanted to add a little lagniappe to what was going on here lately. I’ll be back with more stuff soon. But in the meantime, be sure to follow some of my football stuff. Become a follower @ESPNCFB, we’ve got over 31,000 followers so far. Also catch my webcasts on college football. Oh, and I don’t usually mention this very often, but if you want to become a follower of my college baseball twitter page, follow me at @Stitch_Head.

Don’t worry, I’ll post some of my college football work from time to time on the CollegeBaseballToday twitter page, Facebook page and on the site itself.

Some non-college football reading for you guys and dolls out there. Click here to see the first fall Notebook I did for ESPN.com Or just copy and paste this address into your browser: http://espn.go.com/ncaa/notebook/_/page/offseasoncheckup1/1

No time to elaborate right now. More later on. In the meantime, check out my college football twitter page that ESPN is letting me hijack during the season: @ESPNCFB

Texas flinger Sam Stafford is a great hero of college baseball, turning down 2nd round money to play another season for the Longhorns.

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First off, a slight mea culpa on my part. I meant to get this little ditty out a week ago, but laziness, a football assignment or two and getting into touch with the coaches involved here made this a little late in coming out. Try to forgive me boys and girls. That’s how things roll in this off-season.

But again, the draftee signing deadline is one of my favorite days of the off-season because it marks the one day that numerous high school, J.C. and college players end up turning down money and turning up their noses to the pro teams that have drafted them.

So sure, while we lose talents like Trevor Bauer, Mikie Mahtook, Taylor Jungmann and Anthony Rendon, we also gain a whole new legion of wunderkinds that will lead our sport in the next few years.

In the past two weeks, I’ve talked with head coaches from College of Charleston, Maryland, Louisville and Arizona, all of which came out of signing deadline day with a good number of talented guys deciding to come to campus for the 2012 season.

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IN THE LAND OF GIANTS

- Monte Lee, College of Charleston

You have to feel a small amount of pity for Monte Lee and his College of Charleston program. Look at it geographically, these guys are surrounded by monster programs like South Carolina, Clemson and Coastal Carolina. It’s enough to make a lesser program tuck its tail and whimper its way into the abyss. But coach Lee ain’t such a wilting flower. His recruiting class for this season shows he will to put up his dukes and get down to the business of trying to make the Cougars the best baseball team in a college baseball crazy state.

Yep, I said it and you better not be snickering. The Cougars have put together a whiz-bang class for 2011, including four players that were selected in the major league draft last June, but didn’t sign. If this is any indication, the days of missing the NCAA tournament, as they did this past season, will be out the door.

Incoming drafted players:

- RHP Will Dorton, 15th round pick, Reds

- SS Morgan Phillips, 17th round pick, Reds

- SS Devon Reed, 20th round pick, Marlins

- 3B Cody Martin, 47th round pick, Dodgers (2010)

Returning drafted player:

- RHP, David Peterson, 49th round pick, Astros

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Me:

I know, as a coach, you’re always hopeful, but did you anticipate getting all of these players to come to school?

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Coach Lee:

We thought we were pretty good with all of them, but we thought if anything, we would lose Morgan Phillips. He was a potential top-five round guy but we knew he really wanted to go to school. He dropped down to the 17th round in the draft and the Reds made a really good run at him in the end and offered him a lot of money, but they never quite got what he was looking for. Dorton turned down six-figures from the Reds and Reed’s offer was close to six-figures. But all of them had pretty much broken off talks with their respective teams in mid-July, so unless these guys aren’t telling me everything about their signing day, we expected all four to come to school.

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Me:

So the big question is, what are the chances that some of these guys make an immediate impact?

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Coach Lee:

Yeah, we think the chances are good that these guys will. All of them are very athletic. Even Dorton, as a pitcher, is a great athlete. He played quarterback in high school and can really move around with great reaction and quick feet. He was a small town guy who didn’t play travel ball in high school but has huge upside. When I went and saw him pitch as a junior he was touching 92 on his fast ball, so he’ll really become a solid college player. Martin is a guy who has actually been drafted twice before, once out of high school (31st round, Astros) and after his first year of JuCo ball (47th round, Dodgers)

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Me:

You also had David Peterson (a pitcher) get drafted and decided to come back to school for another year. How big was that?

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Coach Lee:

That was huge because going into this past season the scouts were telling us he had to be a lock to sign after the season, some even thought he might go in the top five rounds of the draft. But David didn’t have the best season and it took him a little off the radar and ended up getting picked in the 49th round. But that means our weekend rotation this year will be senior-junior-senior with Christian Powell, who is expected to be drafted really high next June and senior Josh Renfro, who the scouts are also saying should be drafted. So that’s a strong rotation with all three guys being very experienced and draft-type pitchers.

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Me:

Now, one of the things I always like to ask about is what about some of the incoming guys that didn’t get drafted? Who should we watch for?

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Coach Lee:

Our whole incoming class is really talented and as I said before, very athletic. Bradley Goodson is a shortstop from Central Florida Community College who we thought was the best defensive shortstop in the state of Florida JuCo ranks. In fact, we had heard he was a 15-to-20 round guy going into last season who went undrafted, so we’re really excited to get him to school. Also Gunnar Heidt is a Myrtle Beach guy who plays shortstop and is from the same school as Tanner English (South Carolina signee) and he’s a plus defender who can really hit. Our freshmen class is pretty good, especially the position guys where we brought in multi-tool guys that are athletic.

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Me:

Okay, be honest here coach. How tough is it to be recruiting some of these guys against programs like Clemson, South Carolina and Coastal Carolina?

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Coach Lee:

It’s very tough, I’ll admit that. The thing that helps us is that I was a former assistant at South Carolina so I have a lot of contacts throughout the state. But it’s a small state and everybody is so competitive, there aren’t going to be very many diamond in the rough type of guys. We have a good school and good program to sell, but when you target a player, you have to keep on the guys you’re going after and keep in contact with them all the time.

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Me:

I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this, but what are your feelings on the August 15th signing deadline?

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Coach Lee:

Obviously, I don’t like it. It gives the pro teams all the advantages and to the player too since they can just wait until the end and get the best deal possible. It puts the colleges up against it because if they moved the signing deadline up earlier in the summer and we lose a player it might give us a chance to sign a junior college guy or to give a scholarship to a walk-on or something like that. But as late as it currently is, it makes it impossible to add a player since its too close to the start of school.

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WORKING ON SOMETHING BIG

- Erik Bakich, Maryland.

One of the more interesting hires that was made in the last few years had to be Maryland gaining the services of Erik Bakich, who was regarded as one of the best recruiters in the nation back in his assistant days at Vanderbilt. Sure enough, last year, before he coached his first game in College Park, the Terps had the 25th ranked recruiting class according to Collegiate Baseball. To quote Elvis Costello, his aim is true.

Last week, Bakich saw a handful of his players rebuff the advances of the play-for-pay boys and will have another wicked-good recruiting class coming to campus and reporting for fall drills. The Maryland program has never really had much of a pulse, even through Bakich’s first rendition which went 21-35. But don’t get sedate on the Terrapins, ‘coz if their recruiting classes continue like this, they’ll soon turn into Terror-pins before you know it.

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Incoming drafted players:

- 3B, K.J. Hockaday, 14th round pick, Orioles

- 2B/SS, Andrew Amaro, 47th round pick, Phillies

Returning drafted players:

- SS, Alfredo Rodrigues, 32nd round pick, Brewers

- RHP, Sander Beck, 33rd round pick, Orioles

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Me:

Did you have close calls with the new guys from the draft?

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Coach Bakich:

Hockaday was certainly a deadline day decision that went down to the end. I think the Orioles were waiting to see if they could sign Dylan Bundy (1st round pick), Jason Esposito (2nd round pick) and Nicky Delmonico (6th round pick) and then proceed with getting K.J. At first it looked like they might end up offering a seven-figure deal, but his family told me they ended up offering $250,000 and that just wasn’t enough to get him to skip school. It was really good to get him. Omaro had no interest in going pro, so we knew we had him coming to campus.

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Me:

And the returning guys?

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Coach Bakich:

The two returnees were big questions. In fact, Alfredo got a huge push from the Brewers to sign right after he was drafted back in June, but he resisted. Then, about a week before the deadline, he came right out and told them he wasn’t going to sign. Same for Beck. But with him, he had a great summer in the Cal Ripken League and was the starter for their all-star game and everything. He was hitting 92-to-93 on the guns this summer, so we started to wonder if he was doing too good, ya’ know? But he stuck it out and decided that he was coming back to us. So now we have Beck and Brett Harmon returning, who was our ace in 2009 and missed last season.

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Me:

I was going to ask how Harmon’s recovery was going.

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Coach Bakich:

He’s doing well. He’s fully recovered from Tommy John surgery and should be ready for fall ball. He’ll be 100% when our fall drills begin and he and Beck give us a lot of experience and leadership in our top two starting pitchers. So we’re very excited about that.

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Me:

How does this year’s incoming class compare to last year’s class that was ranked in the top 25?

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Coach Bakich:

Well last year’s class was a lot bigger. We had a major overhaul in our program and brought in 23 newcomers. This year’s class was only 12 players, but I feel this one has more high end talent to it. We feel really good about the J.C. guys we brought in that should give us a little bit of college experience. The best of which was a big left-handed pitcher in Jamie Pashuck, who is 6′4, 235 and a high-80s guys who threw two no-hitters this past spring for Harford Community College. There’s also a few freshmen we’re excited about, including left-handed pitcher Shane Campbell, a very projectable 6′4 guy, good athlete who dropped in the draft because he had some arm tenderness this past spring, but has touched 90 with his fastball. We also got another big, athletic pitcher in Will Bouey, who is also a low-90s guy with a big, 6′4 frame. And another guy we were expecting to get drafted but didn’t was Matt Bosse, a 6′6 outfielder-type who had a couple of scouts for major league teams giving him home visits, but he basically told them he was going to go to college so teams stayed away. But he’s a very powerful athlete with light tower power. All three of those freshmen were ranked in the Top 300, but didn’t get drafted, which is good for us.

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Me:

Last season was your second season as a head coach. You guys didn’t improve a lot in the win column, but you beat teams like Texas, Florida State, Clemson… so there must have been a lot of improvement in year two, right?

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Coach Bakich:

I think if you ask the teams we played last year they’ll tell you we were much better than in 2010. We were much more competitive. There is a big disparity between our first team and last year. In 2010, we never started less than five freshmen in the starting lineup. I think against North Carolina once, we started eight freshmen. Our inexperience was unbelievable. But last year we lost 13 games by two runs or less, so going into this season our goal is to teach our guys how to win. How to close out games. We’ll have the majority of our pitching coming back and all of our bats return, so add the new guys we got to that and we should be a really good team in 2012.

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Me:

So how much have you learned after two years of being a head coach?

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Coach Bakich:

I have an appreciation of EVERYTHING a coach has to do. Especially all the little things. I had an equipment guy come up to me at the beginning of my first year and ask, “How many baseballs do we order for the season?” And I said, “I don’t know. How many do you think?” Just little things like that you never think about when you become a head coach.

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Me:

I get the feeling that the wins are going to come your way, but I get the feeling you like where your program is now.

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Coach Bakich:

Sure. In fact, I saw a lot of parallels with this program and where Virginia and Vanderbilt were when Brian O’Connor and Tim Corbin took them over. I mean, we want to win NOW, but we know it’s a process. We’re making a lot of progress on facilities and giving our players what they need. The infrastructure has been laid down. We were the last program in the ACC to have built an indoor hitting and pitching facility. We’ve renovated our locker rooms. We’ve put down field turf. We’ve got a video analysis camera system set up for developing our players. The biggest thing is we’re finally putting down field turf for our outfield before this season too. Before, it would take three days for our outfield to fully dry after a rain storm. Our players used to put baggies on their feet under their socks before they went out there. So now our players food, water and clothing needs are met, which gives us a chance at developing our program and going to the post-season.

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LEADING THE MID-MAJOR UPRISING.

- Dan McDonnell, Louisville

Despite the occasional spike of teams like UConn, Notre Dame or St. John’s, the boys from Cassius Clay-town have been the most successful program in the Big East for the last five years, including being a College World Series participant in 2007. Last year saw the youthful Cardinals drop to a mere 32-29 and sat home in the month of June. But if the draft is any indication, it won’t be long before the UofL will regain its footing. Five high school draftees and three key returnees from last year’s squad will buoy hopes for a triumphant return to the top.

I caught up with coach McDonnell as he sat in the Charleston airport having just attended the funeral of his former coach, the legendary Chal Port. McDonnell played for Port at The Citadel in the early 90s, including an unlikely trip to the College World Series. A place he hopes to return with his Louisville Cardinals program and its great incoming recruiting class.

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Incoming drafted players:

- LHP Adam Schemenauer, 12th round pick, Royals

- RHP Nick Burdi, 24th round pick, Twins

- RHP Jared Ruxer, 29th round pick, Indians

- RHP Joe Ceja, 38th round pick, Marlins

- 2B Sutton Whiting, 44th round pick, Braves

Returning drafted players:

- RHP Derek Self, 27th round pick, A’s

- OF Stewart Ijames, 29th round pick, Yankees (2010)

- RHP Justin Amlung, 39th round pick, Reds

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Me:

Coach, I’m guessin’ you really had to like your haul of high schoolers who turned down the pros, right?

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Coach McDonnell:

The five high school guys was great, no doubt.They’re big for the program and our future. But the bigger part was getting experienced arms in Self and Amlung to come back to school for this year. As you’ve seen in college baseball recently, the older teams are in a much better shape than younger teams, especially on the mound. And having these guys back will give us the kind of experience on the mound we didn’t have last season. So yes, getting new guys with a lot of talent is always a good thing, but the guys with college experience is what really excites me.

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Me:

Six of your signees that come back were pitchers, so my dumb question is, can you ever have too much pitching?

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Coach McDonnell:

Ha, No. As the saying goes, you never have enough pitching. But keep in mind that the trade off is that since we’re limited in scholarships and how we can divide them, you gotta have hitting too. You saw how we struggled offensively last year. The way the game is now, pitching is at a premium, now more than ever. And defense has added importance, so our emphasis going into next season will be pitching and defense. No doubt.

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Me:

Are there some impact guys that you think will come in and contribute right away?

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Coach McDonnell:

Well you always hope there are freshmen like a Justin Marks that comes in and is the Big East Pitcher of the Year and beats Mississippi State in Omaha, but you don’t expect all of them to do that. You do hope you have one or two like that though. I’m pretty sure somebody will step up and have a monster year for us. I mean, you turn on the TV every year in Omaha and you see that there’s a freshman winning on the mound or making a big hit at the plate. It happens. But you can never count on it, you just gotta throw them out there. I don’t have one I can project to do that right now, but with all the talented guys we’ve got coming in, it will be interesting to see who emerges, that’s for sure.

Derek Self will be back on the hill for the Cards in 2012.

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Me:

Now, I’ve also seen that you had some guys have big time summer seasons.

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Coach McDonnell:

Jeff Thompson (RHP) had monster summer in the New England Collegiate League (named the No. 1 pro prospect after going 4-2, 1.60 with 68 strikeouts in 50.2 innings). And we also had a total of five pitchers in the Cape Cod League this summer. Matt Koch (RHP) pitched in Cape Cod All Star game (did not allow a run in his last 15.1 innings of relief) and Amlung was a Cape Cod All Star too (3-1, 1.76 in seven starts).

I know Coach (Roger) Williams is excited about the prospect of working with them this coming fall. Last year, we had so many freshmen, we just had to say “Let’s throw them out there and see how they play. This year, we’ll have so many experienced pitchers that we’ll be able to work on other things to begin with and improve our team.

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Me:

Were there any last-minute, 11th-hour decisions from those seven guys who got drafted this year?

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Coach McDonnell:

One of the biggest things was getting Adam Schemenauer. He’s a Kansas City area kid and when we found out that the Royals picked him in the 12th round, it really scared us. But as it turned out, Adam cut off negotiations with the Royals in late July, so we never really heard much going into the final day or two.

One guy we lost that wasn’t a big surprise, although it did go down to the last minute, was Mark Biggs, a right-handed pitcher who was picked in the 8th round by the Blue Jays. They were really aggressive in going after him and he eventually signed on the final day. Nick Burdi (24th round) and the Twins had some conversations near the end and they made last minute rush to get him, but he didn’t sign. The other guys had all cut off their talks with their pro teams by the end of July.

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Me:

Who are some of the guys that didn’t get picked in the draft that you think will make a big splash?

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Coach McDonnell:

Well we were very young last year and the scary part is we’ll be young again. We’re almost going to be all sophomores. So I thought it was important to go out and get some JC guys that will help right away.

Nick Ratajczak played for Gulf Coast CC last year and will be a big bat for us and he was also the Defensive Player of the Year in his conference. All the other coaches in the Florida JC’s talked well about him. He’s gonna fight it out at second base to replace Ryan Wright. Another to watch for is Matt Helms, a JC guy from Oklahoma, who is a catcher/third baseman with a strong arm. Also look for a middle infielder named Mason Snyder from Chicago who is a big hitter. He probably should’ve been drafted, but had some shoulder problems this past season that dropped his stock.

These guys will all compete to play immediately. Last year we had five freshmen in starting lineup who were facing college pitching and using those BBCOR bats. It was scary with those guys in there.

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MR. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

- Andy Lopez, Arizona

It looks like the facilities race has taken over in the Pac 10. Coach Lopez was quick to point out to me that Oregon’s coming back into the league and having a first class stadium to play in raised the bar for everyone. Oregon State’s improvements to Goss Stadium has made it the crown jewel of the conference. Washington is building a new grandstand on its field and of course we know about the Wildcats and rival Arizona State both having the desire to move into pro stadiums in their neighborhoods. Wow, right?

With that in mind, it’s a good thing that coach Lopez has an impressive group of recruits coming to campus, spearheaded by six draftees that said no to the bigs on the signing day. These promising new talents will help raise the curtain on the new home of the Wildcats. Here’s the list of newbies headed for Tucson:

Incoming drafted players:

- David Schuknecht, C, 12th round pick, Rockies

- Tyler Parmenter, SS, 15th round pick, Rays

- Matthew Troupe, RHP, 17th round pick, Yankees

- Riley Moore, C, 21st round pick, Phillies

- Trent Gilbert, SS, 40th round pick, Marlins

- Travis Feeney, OF, 48th round pick, Athletics

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Me:

With the drafted guys you’ve got coming to campus, how good is this year’s recruiting class? I mean, how do these guys compare with some of your classes in the past?

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Coach Lopez:

When all is said and done, I really think these guys are going to do good things for our program here. We’ve got some pretty good arms and really athletic guys coming in. But when you’ve been doing this 30 years like I have, you try not to get too over-excited about it all. I’m not sure how they compare right now, we’ll see how they look in the fall. But we’re happy with what we’ve got coming in.

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Me:

Were there any last minute surprises on signing day?

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Coach Lopez:

There wasn’t anything that surprised us, but we did have a close call with Austin Malinowski, a left-handed pitcher from Minnesota who was drafted by the Twins (in the 16th round). He had his airplane ticket bought and was set to go to orientation and everything. But the Twins made a big run at him in the end and we ARE talking about his home state team. So that was tough for him to turn down.

Other than that, I know that Trent Gilbert got offered 3rd round money from the Marlins and Matthew Troupe was offered 2nd round money from the Yankees, but both stood by their commitment to come here.

We also came close to holding onto Cole Frenzel (a 1st baseman who hit third in the order for the Wildcats last season), who was drafted in the 7th round, but on the last day he decided to sign with the Mets.

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Me:

Out of the draftees, who do you expect to make an immediate impact?

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Coach Lopez:

Well we know we’ve got a catcher and a 1st baseman to replace, so I’m sure you’ll see some of the new guys make contributions, particularly David Schunknecht and Riley Moore, who could platoon at either catcher and 1st. We lost our ace in Kyle Simon, and I really think Matt Troupe has a legitimate chance to be our Sunday starter before all is said and done. We’re also expecting big things from Parmenter in our infield too. He and Trent Gilbert could have a huge opportunity since we don’t have any experienced 2nd basemen returning.

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Me:

Who else do you see being contributors from your incoming class?

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Coach Lopez:

Although we lost out on Austin Malinowski, we got another pitcher out of Minnesota named Lucas Long, who is only 5′11, but he’s a consistent 92-to-94 on his fastball. I think a lot of pro clubs were put off by his size, but he should be a good college pitcher and a real factor in our pitching staff. Another guy I’m really high on is an outfielder from Santa Barbara named Colin Dewell, who is very athletic.

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Me:

Talk for second about the move to Hi Corbett Field. Did that have any impact on your recruiting?

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Coach Lopez:

I would like to say it did because it’s an exciting time for our program with the move. It’s absolutely gorgeous and we’ve used it to bring up with the guys in this class and in our recruiting for the 2012 class too. But it was definitely a necessary change that had to be made. We’ve been to regional championship rounds in five of the last nine years and all of them had been played on the road. It was the 2008 post-season that really made me think. We had to go from playing in Ann Arbor, Michigan, came back to Tucson and then had to leave for Miami, all in the span of 72 hours. That team in 2008 really deserved to play a Super Regional at home, so it made me think, “We really need to make a change here.” And Hi Corbett Field gives us a chance to be at home in the post-season.

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OTHER DRAFT DRIVEL.

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THE 15th DEADLINE:

Just like last year, I asked the coaches their thoughts on the August 15th signing deadline and they all hated it. Here’s the best response I got from Louisville’s Dan McDonnell:

“My question is, who is it good for? What group is saying it’s good for them? If you’re a pro organization, why wouldn’t you want that kid in your program early in the summer? Especially when you’re spending millions of dollars to get him into your system. If they made the deadline a month earlier it could help with dispersing our scholarships. I only have about 10 days between deadline and classes.”

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BEST NAME IN THE DRAFT.

- Oakland A’s 50th round pick: Travis Pitcher out of Cypress JC. And yes, he’s a pitcher.

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2nd BEST NAME IN THE DRAFT.

- Chicago White Sox 34th round pick: Dakota Freese, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

And to get away from the winter’s freeze, Freese has signed with LSU-Eunice, a Junior College.

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HIGHEST DRAFTED PLAYER RETURNING TO HIS SCHOOL.

- Texas LHP Sam Stafford, 2nd round pick of the Yankees.

Will team with fellow non-signees RHP Austin Dicharry (41st round, Phillies) and C/3B/DH Kevin Lusson to form a really experienced returning battery.

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HIGHEST DRAFTED PLAYER GOING TO COLLEGE.

- RHP Tyler Beede, a 1st round pick (21st overall) is going to Vanderbilt.

That continues a welcome trend of top-round draft picks spurning the pros to play our college game. I dig it.

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RUNNER UP.

- Catcher Brett Austin, a 1st round supplemental pick (54th overall) is going to North Carolina State.

The cornerstone to an outstanding incoming class that Elliot Avant has put together in Raleigh this year.

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TALLEST.

- Louisville’s incoming frosh LHP Adam Schemenauer, 6′9″

(12th round pick of the Royals)

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SMALLEST

- Oklahoma’s incoming infielder Drake Roberts, 5′7″, 144LBS.

(49th round pick of the Twins)

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LOWEST RANKED TEAM TO GET A DRAFTED PLAYER TO COME TO SCHOOL.

- Fairleigh-Dickinson.

The No. 287th rated Knights will welcome SS Brett Bittiger, a 38th round draft pick of the Athletics who didn’t sign and will come to school to help improve FDU’s 12-38 record.

FDU coach Gary Puccio gets the services of highly-touted SS Brett Bittiger in an FDU uniform.

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RUNNER UP TO LOWEST RANKED TEAM TO GET A DRAFTED PLAYER TO COME TO SCHOOL.

- Cornell.

The No. 266th rated Big Red has RHP Roberto Suppa, a 26th round draft pick of the Padres coming to school. Suppa is from West London, Ontario, Canada.

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GET READY FOR THE WORD “THREE-PEAT”

Yep, I’m sayin’ it already. I mean, at this point (and considering their ability to amp up their game in the post-season) who is going to bet against South Carolina? The two-time champs will get the services of both Matt Price (a 6th round pick of the Diamondbacks) and Michael Roth (31st round, Indians) to come back to the roster, along with a recruiting class that saw seven draftees come to campus (including 8th round stud RHP Evan Beal). What more do they need for another title run? Sure, they’ll lose Jackie Bradley and CWS MVP Scott Wingo, but they’ll still have Ray Tanner at the controls and Roth and Price to get guaranteed Ws. Wow.

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PALMETTO STATE UPRISING.

The remainder of the state didn’t fare so bad either. As discussed above, College of Charleston had some real gems in its incoming class. But don’t forget about Clemson and Coastal Carolina either. The Tigers will have two returnees in RHP Kevin Brady (17th round, Indians) and LHP Joseph Moorefield (26th round, Royals), who should both take on bigger roles in 2012. They also had two incoming frosh that were picked, led by 16th rounder RHP Daniel Gossett. The Chanticleers, on the other hand, will get four incoming pitchers, though none of them were higher than 38th round draft picks. But LHP Javier Reynoso, a low-90s southpaw flinger from Tampa, Florida was expected to go much higher if not for his signability issues. CCU will also get heavy-slugging outfielder Daniel Bowman, who turned down the Reds in the 38th round to come back for his senior year.

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A BOSS OF A JOB.

Credit Jake Boss for the turnaround job he’s doing at Michigan State. In fact, you have to figure the Detroit Tigers really hate him right now too. Three of his incoming recruits were drafted by the Tigers and all three said “No” to the in-state pro-ballers. Catcher Blaise Salter (38th round), 1st Baseman Ryan Krill (40th round) and OF Jimmy Pickens (41st round) are all native Michiganders and chose to don the Big Green jerseys this coming season as incoming frosh. Joining them will be RHP Mick Van Vossen, a 49th round draftee of the Rangers. Looks like Steve Garvey University is back on its way up. Of course, that’s no thanks to Ryan Garvey, Steve’s son, who is an outfielder from Palm Desert, California drafted in the 15th round by the Phillies. Turns out this Garvey is going to USC instead.

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BERKELEY BOUND.

Another team that could have a lot in the tanks and make another big run in the 2012 post-season is Cal. Coach Dave Esquer told me at the Area Code Games two weeks ago that his program is becoming one where the drafted juniors are having to be pried away with a crowbar. And signing day proved him to be right about that. RHPs Kevin Miller (18th round, Astros) and Matt Flemer (19th round, Royals) will be joined back on campus by Catcher Chadd Krist (13th round, White Sox), who is one of the better team leaders in the country. The Bears did have to say goodbye to 2nd round pick RHP Erik Johnson and 6th round SS Marcus Semien

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STAYING IN THE BAY AREA

Stanford did its usual job of getting high-quality athletes from all over the country as six drafted players will be coming to Palo Alto. The Angles lose out to Mark Marquess and Co. on 14th round pick Wayne Taylor, a catcher from Houston, and 15th round pick Domonic Jose, an outfielder from Boca Raton, Florida. Another Sunshine Stater will join them in SS Austin Slater, who was picked by the Dodgers in the 44th round out of Jacksonville. They’ll also get the services of RHP David Schmidt, a 47th-round pick of the Cardinals who hails from St. Louis.

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THE BIGGEST HAUL.

Excuse Ole Miss head honcho Mike Bianco if he has a bit of an impish grin on his face for the next six months. The dude brought in an incredible array of talent to Oxford for this school year. For signing day, coach Bianco saw eight of his recruits turn down the pros and not sign their lives away to the minors. The biggest catch was 8th round draftee Senquez Golson, an outfielder from Pascagoula, who appears to be in the running for playing time as a cornerback for the Rebel football team.

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MONTANA BASEBALL STAYS HOT.

While the Montana team in the Little League World Series is making its run at being the best group of 12-to-13 year olds in the world, the state made a mark in the draft dodging department too. Donny Marbut and Washington State appear to have gotten a real gem with 7th round draftee Ben Roberts, who didn’t sign with the Diamondbacks. An athletic 6′4″ 210-pound outfielder who has burned a 6.60 in the 60, Roberts was a three-sport star at Sentinel High School in Missoula. Wazzu also lucked out in getting Junior outfielder Derek Jones to return to campus (13th round pick, Orioles) and 1st baseman Taylor Ard (24th round, Red Sox). Jones hit .275 with eight home runs last season, while Ard led the Coogs with a .337 average and 10 dingers. Before the Cougars get too happy about their haul, keep in mind that Lindsey Meggs and the University of Washington  also had a good signing day as the Huskies got four prospects to turn down the pros, led by 12th round pick Trevor Mitsui, also a 6′4″ outfielder.

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EXAMPLES OF WHY ITS GOOD TO STAY IN COLLEGE..

I was keenly keeping an eye on three players that I saw play last season and were drafted in the 2010 draft but chose to come back for another year of school. All three of them came out ahead in improving their draft status.

- Coastal Carolina OF Scott Woodward.

Turned down the A’s as a 15th-round pick last year, was chosen in the 7th round by the Dodgers.

- Mercer 3B Jacob Tanis.

Turned down the Rockies as a 26th round pick last year, was chosen in the 13th round by the A’s.

- Connecticut LHP Elliot Glynn.

Did not sign after getting picked in the 49th round last year, was chosen in the 39th round by the Brewers.

Now I have no idea if these guys got better monetary deals this time around (nor do I care), but the point is, they improved their stock by sticking it out one more year in college ball.

West Virginia's John Polonius

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THE FIRST PLAYER FROM CUROCAO TO PLAY COLLEGE BASEBALL.

- SS John Polonius

The athletic 6′1″ 170-pounder from the Caribbean island was drafted in the 30th round by the Indians, played at Genesee CC in New York last spring and hit .294 with the Edenton Steamers in the Coastal Plains League this summer. Polonius is headed to play at West Virginia this coming season. I believe he is the first player from Curocao to ever play D-1 college baseball.

Welcome John.

The final twist - Ryan Borucki uncorks another confounding sinkerball in the White Sox win over the Athletics.

With their 7-5 win over the Northern California-based Athletic on ESPN3 yesterday, the Northwest-based Royals had already wrapped up at least a tie for the Area Codes Championship by way of their perfect 5-0 record.

The Texas-based Rangers had a chance to tie for the title today, as they entered the day’s final set of games with a 4-0 mark. But the best the Rangers could do was forge a final-inning 4-4 tie with the SoCal-based Brewers to finish in 2nd place at 4-0-1. Damn ties.

Before we get to what else happened on Blair Field’s diamond today, here’s a few accolades to put a bow on the week here in Long Beach.

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- BEST GAME.

Tuesday:

Royals… 7

Athletics… 5

The Royals went 5-0 on the week, but they nearly didn’t finish things out unbeaten as they had to rally with five runs in the 7th and final inning to overcome the Northern California-based A’s. The rally got started by the week’s only home run, a 375-foot salvo by Oregon State-commit Dylan LaVelle.

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- MOST DRAMATIC ENDING.

In the final game of the week, Ranger slugger Courtney Hawkins (an Oklahoma commit from Corpus Christi, Texas) hit just the second home run of the week to forge a 4-4 tie with the SoCal-based Brewers to put a bow on the Area Code Games. But the game would actually come to an end two batters later when Austin Dean (Texas commit) got picked off of 2nd base.

The Sooner came through later - OU commit Courtney Hawkins blasted the second home run of the week (a 385-footer) to tie the Brewers in the final game of the week.

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- BEST HITTER.

Kevin Ross, White Sox

The Michigan commit finished up a big week by going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI single. The 6′1, 213-pound 3rd baseman ended the week going 7-for-13 and was named the Kevin Youkilis “Heart and Hustle Award” for his efforts.

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- BIGGEST CLUTCH HITTER.

Clint Coulter, Royals.

Provided two game-winning hits for the unbeaten Royals. The former Washington state wrestling champion (he is going to give up being a grappler to concentrate on baseball his senior year) had six multi-base hits on the week.

See that 7-5 score in the upper left? Clint Coulter - the one with the smile and the moppy hair - was responsible for that lead with another big time hit in the win over the Athletics on Tuesday.

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- BEST PITCHER.

Lucas Giolito, RHP, Brewers.

The UCLA commit topped out at a staggering 97mph and was ranked as the top arm by ESPN Rise. At 6′6, 230, this is the second year for Giolito to play at the Area Code games. Last season he threw a 96.2mph fastball.

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- BIGGEST UPSET.

The Royals going unbeaten.

The boys from the Pacific Northwest were perceived to have the weakest array of talent in the field, and certainly nobody saw them going unbeaten on the week. Equate this as the high school all star equivalent of Oregon State.

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- BIGGEST UNDERACHIEVERS

The Brewers.

The SoCal-based squad had a total of 16 pitchers on the roster and according to ESPN Rise’s top 25 pitcher rankings, seven of the top 12 pitching prospects this week in Long Beach were on the Brewers. So now you see why this team winning only two games was surprising.

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- WORST SCHEDULING DECISION.

The Royals and the Rangers were the only unbeatens on the week, mainly because they weren’t scheduled to face each other. Dammit.

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- WORST IDEA.

8:30am start times for the first game each day.

Why did the first game of each day HAVE to start so early? Don’t the organizers of this event know how impossible L.A. gridlock traffic can be? And what athlete wants to get up at 5:30am and play a baseball game three hours later? That’s some poor customer service there guys.

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- WORST OUTCOME.

The tie games.

Three of the games this week ended up tied. The most egregious of them had to be the grand finale, which was one of the best games of the week, yet the Brewers and Rangers ended up in a 4-4 tie. Even Royals coach Randy Taylor mentioned to ESPN Rise after seeing the umpires leave after the final out of the 7th inning, “They should have let us keep playing. We were ready.”

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- BEST SOCKS.

Zachary Green, 3B, Athletics

I wonder if it pained the Oregon State commit to be wearing Oregon Duck green and gold this week?

Zachary Green was the only A's player to display Joe Rudi-type stockings this week.

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- BEST MUSTACHE:

This Royals coach…

Speaking of the mid-70s A's, check out this Rollie Fingers-like cookie duster. Freakin' cool.

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- BEST NAME:

Evan Van Hoosier, 2B, Reds

In case you’re wondering, the Henderson, Nevada native is not committed to Indiana. He’s uncommitted for now.

Hey Hoosiers, I loved that movie! - I'm sure Evan Van Hoosier has never heard that one before.

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- ODDEST TREND.

The Montana boys.

No, not Joe’s sons here. We’re talking about that state with no speed limit on their interstates. Yep, in an odd twist, three players from the state of Montana made the trip out here to the Area Code Games: OF Justin Black (Nebraska commit), P/OF Caleb Frare (Utah commit) and RHP Andrew Sopko.

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- BEST RECRUITERS.

Texas and UCLA.

The two national powers each had seven players from Area Code rosters committed to their programs. Though it’s unlikely many of them will make it to campus since they will all go really high in the 2012 draft, Augie Garrido and John Savage are in the awkward position of hoping their committed players have off-seasons as seniors and sees their stock drop big time.

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THE FINAL STANDINGS.

Not that any of the MLB scouts or college coaches are keeping track of this sort of thing this week, all the same, here are how the standings looked at the end of six days of play…

1- Royals (Pacific Northwest): 5-0

2- Rangers (Texas): 4-0-1

3- Brewers (SoCal): 2-1-2

4- White Sox (Midwest): 2-2-2

5- Yankees (Northeast): 2-3

6- Nationals (Southeast): 1-3-1

7- Athletics (Northern Cal): 1-4

7- Reds (Four Corners): 1-4

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TODAY’S GAMES.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the games I stopped in on for the last day of Area Code play:

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GAME 18:

Reds……… 000 000 0 – 0  5  0

Yankees… 001 000 0 -  1  8  0

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The poor Reds. Try as they might, they just couldn’t put up runs when they needed to, losing their third game in the last five days by a shutout. In fact, in their five games, the Reds scored a grand total of five runs in going 1-4. Their team batting average for the week was a paltry .139.

The only scoring the Northeast-based Yankees would need came in the 3rd inning when 10-hole hitter (yes, the Area Code Games allows 10 batters in the lineup) Chris Harvey slapped an RBI single to score Kevin Bradley, who had walked on base and then advanced to 2nd on a balk.

The Reds did pull off a pair of stoic defensive gems in the 4th inning when on back to back plays they threw out a pair of Yankee baserunners at the dish.

The Reds would also put up a big time threat in the 7th and final inning, getting men on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. But shortstop Kenny Koplove, a sinewy-built whip of an arm, took the mound and induced three straight outs, a fielder’s choice, a pop up to shallow left and a groundout. Koplove’s keen mound work saved the game and earned the Yanks their second win of the week.

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PICS

Chris Harvey led the Yanks with an RBI single and a double.

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Matthew Tully got his big leg-kick in motion early, commanding all four quadrants of the plate and changing speeds beautifully, collecting three Ks in his 3.0 innings of work.

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Vandy commit Rhett Wiseman slapped a pair of singles to help keep the offense moving.

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The Reds got back-to-back tag outs at home. Here, Chris Shaw is dead meat for catcher Juan Gamez.

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... a batter later, Nelson Rodriguez mysteriously decided not to slide and Gamez tagged him as he jogged by.

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Lean and athletic, Kenny Koplove brought his sweeping, low-90s heat to the mound and got out of a huge jam to secure the win in the 7th inning.

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GAME 19:

Athletics…… 101 000 1 – 3  9  1

White Sox… 000 600 2 – 8  9  3

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It was a hellish 4th inning to say the least. The Northern California-based A’s looked in complete control for the first three innings and probably should’ve scored more than just two runs.

In fact, the first three batters of the game reached on single, single and a walk. They also accounted for four stolen bases in the first 20 pitches that White Sox starter Ryan Borucki (an Iowa commit) threw. But Borucki would get out of his own jam and minimize the damage with three straight strikeouts to keep it from becoming a big inning.

In that fateful 4th inning, the Sox got things started with a leadoff double from Kevin Ross (a Michigan commit). The next seven batters went walk, RBI single, walk, RBI single, 2RBI double, hit batsman and bases-loaded walk. The big blow was Drew Ward’s double that broke a 2-2 tie and put the Sox up for good.

And by the way, Ward, a beyond-his-years 6′4, 210-pounds, is one of the youngest players at the Area Code Games, set to graduate from Leeday High School in Leeday, Oklahoma in 2014.

Three White Sox pitchers, Drew Hasler (Valparaiso commit), Jordan Minch (a Purdue commit) and Matt Schultz (uncommitted), closed out the final four innings, giving up just one run and getting three double plays from the defense behind them.

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PICS

Do scouting reports include vertical jump? Westin Edrington couldn't sky high enough to nab this errant throw and tag out Mark Mathius.

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Michigan commit Kevin Ross snakes under the tag of Washington commit Austin Rei.

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BLAKE’S RETURN.

One of the things I was really glad to see was Simeon Academy (Chicago) catcher Blake Hickman, who was playing on the White Sox team here at the Area Code Games. As some of you might recall, I got the chance to see Blake play at the MVP Tournament in Decatur, Georgia last month – the showcase tournament dedicated to inner city prospects that don’t always get the chance to show their wares on some of these other summer travel teams because of costs or other limitations.

Blake Hickman had a little bit more of a struggle at the Area Code Games, but is still a big time prospect.

Hickman is set to graduate in 2012 and has already committed to Iowa. He didn’t play on Wednesday because he had to leave the Area Code Games a day early. But if you want to see what I wrote about him at the tournament down in Georgia, here’s my “Player Profile” on Hickman:

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PLAYER PROFILE:

- Catcher Blake Hickman, Chicago All Stars

This guy truly fits in the “man-child” department. Listed at 6′4″ and 210 pounds, the senior-to-be has the body of a grown man, ready to take on the rigors of a college baseball season as the block of granite behind the plate. But it’s his boyish face that catches your eye, making you wonder if he really is going into his last year of high school and getting the attention of the Major League scouts.

People at the tournament have been waiting for him to showcase his cannon right arm behind the dish, and they got their chance to see it today. Virgin Island speedster Khalif Gerard, one of the fastest base-runners in the tournament took off for second in the 5th inning. Suddenly… whoosh! A Hickman throw made a blue streak to second base, landing in the glove of shortstop John Zuber about two feet above second base. Problem was, Gerard was still three strides from getting to the base.

Scouts and recruiters are well aware of Hickman’s talent. In fact, a scout I talked with said there was a chance that he though Hickman could get drafted in the 10-to-20 round range after his upcoming senior season. If he doesn’t go as high as projected or decides not to sign, he has committed to attend Iowa beginning in the fall of 2012.