2nd Annual Baseball Heaven Series...The West

RT Staff Note:
"Is this heaven?"
"It's collegiate baseball."
"Collegiate baseball? I could have sworn this was heaven.."
We are ranking our collegiate baseball heaven by region the rest of this week. The West, by virtue of being our first in this series is our number one region because of these four words..."No Chance of Rain".

Yes folks, California and the western United States may be seen as a nutty place to be, but it's a dry, nutty place to live. In our many years out here, we have only seen a handful of rain outs...and that was in January or February when it does actually rain here. Of course, the rest of the country is shoveling snow at that time, so we'll forgive the rain gods for two or three rain-outs every ten years. As you and your sons decide on what colleges to target, we thought that a bit of dreaming is in order. These places are our pick for great places to play ball. Now if only they can get more fans out to the games, the West may be the best place to play. Thanks to the University web sites for the info and to our sons for the chance to see these places first hand in past tourneys and camps.

1. Arizona State

Our number one for several reasons. Tradition, Alumni and National Titles. They are the baseball version of UCLA basketball and USC football. They also reside in one of the best baseball climates in the country. If you like to play in warm weather (it’s near perfect in the spring and late winter), then this is your baseball heaven.

Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark, home of Arizona State baseball since 1974, is one of the nation's most beautiful collegiate ballparks. Known for its wonderful aesthetic features, the outfield wall is lined with palm trees, and just beyond the right-field fence is the award-winning Karsten Golf Course. In left field, sparkling Tempe Town Lake and the Tempe construction boom is visible. In the distance, the Superstition Mountains offer a picturesque backdrop. But for every bit of beauty that envelops the facility, there is an equal dose of tradition.

The facility is the home of two national championship teams and 14 NCAA regional tournaments. Arizona State's all-time record at Packard is 894-257-1, for a winning percentage of .776. Last season, ASU was 26-6 at home and over the last five seasons, ASU has won over 80% of its games at home.
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In 1995, the Sports Turf Manager Association awarded groundskeeper Brian Johnson and Packard Stadium Field of the Year honors. In addition, a 2003 coaches survey published in Baseball America ranked ASU's baseball facilities among the Top 15 in the nation.

Just before the 2003 season, ASU installed a brand new playing surface featuring major league quality drainage and irrigation systems. The playing surface consists of tiff green grass in the infield and Bermuda grass in the outfield. The dirt portion of the infield is crushed red brick, which can be found at many major league stadiums. The playing surface is annually referred to as one of the nation's best.

A new players' facility, opened in August 2004, includes a clubhouse and a state-of-the-art sports medicine facility. The clubhouse also includes a video room, study area and meeting room.

2. Pepperdine

Pepperdine's home baseball games are played at Eddy D. Field Stadium, one of the nation's most picturesque collegiate facilities. The baseball field looks out over the Pacific Ocean. The campus is like a Club Med and is in tony Malibu. Oh yeah, Pamela Anderson is kind of like their team mascot and big athletic supporter. If this kind of thing gives you baseball sized goose bumps, (it does us) then this is your baseball heaven.

Original field construction was completed prior to the 1973 season, and the facility was then known as Waves Park. Pepperdine won the first game played at Waves Park, defeating Whittier by a final score of 5-2 on Feb. 16, 1973.

Bleacher and stadium seating was added in 1980, and the facility was officially dedicated as Eddy D. Field Stadium on March 30, 1980. Pepperdine defeated Nebraska by a final score of 5-4 on that date.

Eddy D. Field Stadium has seating for up to 1,800 fans. The facility includes a fully equipped press box, self-contained clubhouses underneath the grandstands, restrooms and a concessions booth. A significant portion of the playing surface was refurbished during the summer of 2003 and a state-of-the-art scoreboard with a video screen was added prior to the 2007 season.

Other recent improvements include additional batting cages, new lockers in the home clubhouse, an upgraded weight room and new blue plastic chair back seats installed during the summer of 2003. Fundraising is currently underway for a new screen backstop.

Pepperdine has posted a winning record at Eddy D. Field Stadium each year since 1974 and the Waves have won more than 70 percent of their home games over the years. The 2006 season marked a first in program history as Eddy D. Field Stadium was selected as the host site for an NCAA Regional.

The Eddy D. Field Stadium complex has been used extensively for the filming of several commercials and movies and has been the site for the University's commencement exercises.

3. Stanford

Often called the most beautiful college baseball facility in the country.
Located a short distance from Stanford Stadium (football field), the facility was originally constructed in 1931 and continues to have a seating capacity of 4,000.

In addition to being the home of Stanford Baseball, Sunken Diamond has also served as a host site for nine NCAA Regional Tournaments - 1983, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, 2002, as well as NCAA Super Regionals in 1999, 2000 and 2002. A Sunken Diamond record of 4,172 fans witnessed the 1997 NCAA West Regional Final between Stanford and Fresno State.

It is also situated on one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. Arguably the nations top academic school, Stanford has had 93 Olympic Gold Medal winners and has won 109 national championships in various sports. If you are a sports fan, then this is your heaven.

4. UC Santa Barbara

The baseball field, it’s hitting facilities and locker rooms are top notch. The baseball stadium is average but has a charm about it… but the location of this school, its size and the weather makes this Big West school tops on our list.

See the picture to the right? It isn't altered. This is baseball heaven for the Oakley set. The school of 21,000+ students IS on the ocean. That whole area/peninsula shot you see there is the university. As if the Ocean wasn't enough, the school has a lake too. Dorms have million dollar ocean views at relatively inexpensive college prices. The stadium gets a nice breeze towards left, making it a bit easier for right handed hitters. The campus is gorgeous and so are the people that go there. Why this school doesn’t compete at Omaha year after year with the recruiting tool they have is beyond us.

They are competitive though. Last year the Gauchos won 36 games and return most of their team. Thay are ranked in the top 25 this year and will challenge for the Big West title. This is a bonafide baseball school folks, not just a pretty place to go to school. When you go on their web site you’ll find that they love their baseball and its alumni like perennial MLB All-Star Michael Young. Barry Zito, the Cardinals Skip Schumacker and the Rockies Ryan Spilborghs are also active major leaguers and ex-Gauchos.

5. San Diego State

Tony Gwynn Stadium is home to SDSU’s Aztec baseball team. The $4 million facility was made possible through the generosity of San Diego Padres owner John Moores, and is named in honor of SDSU alum and Padres’ Hall-of-Fame inductee Tony Gwynn.

Like UC Santa Barbara, the location and the fact that one of the greatest hitters of our time sits in the dug-out makes this our 5th choice for baseball heaven. The campus is also one of the most beautiful of all the state schools in California. Its Mission Style architecture, palm trees and patented warm climate is so very conducive to playing ball. They have a very good team this year and Steven Strasburg is the top pitcher in the country bar none this year. Look for the Aztecs to go far and win a MWC title.

In fact, you will find that this week, our baseball heaven entries are all in warmer weather climates. Why? Baseball is a warm weather sport boys. That's our take anyway. You will never see us crying over the fact that Texas, California and Mississippi aren't part of Hockey heaven places to play.

Enjoy our series. You may be disappointed that your school is not one of the chosen few, but you can't argue with who we picked either. There are others of course.

Fresno State

For sheer fan support, Fresno State packs them in game after game in a great baseball atmosphere. In fact, in terms of California fan support, the Bulldogs have the best fans in the west coast. The reigning national champs are favorites to win yet another WAC title and will try for a Oregon State like repeat in Omaha.

At UCLA, you gotta love a field named after Jackie Robinson.Oregon State has a great field, just lousy weather. West Coast Conference schools such as LMU and Santa Clara have great stadiums but lack a bit on the fan support. If your school is your baseball heaven, then comment below. It's all fun and all good.

"Is there a heaven?"
"Oh yeah. It's the place where dreams come true."
"Maybe this IS heaven."

The Passion Of The Fans

RT Staff Note: Over the past three weeks we have been talking about attitude of players and parents when it comes to baseball. But, what about the fan? It’s the passion of the fan that has kept this game going for so many generations. If players could have a fraction of the passion that many fans I know have, then the game would be even more perfect than it already is. Here’s a article we found from William Baker.

America's pastime, such a fitting description. For most fans it encompasses the majority of their year. It starts in April and doesn't end until October. For me and a lot of people it becomes the soundtrack of the summer. Whenever I'm grilling out or cleaning up the vehicle or just doing anything outside, it will be the sound ringing in the background.

I know a lot of people around the world cannot figure out why baseball means so much to Americans. I can't say for sure what it is for everyone else, I can only speak for myself. Yes the games are long and the seasons even longer. The game drags for a lot of the time you are watching it. But then out of nowhere it gets exciting. A player walks, then another one singles up the middle. Now there are two guys on and your favorite player, who can change the game with one swing of the bat, coming to the plate. Now in the middle of a team driven game, there becomes a one on one battle of mind and skill. The pitcher is backed into a corner. He can't put the guy on, he would load the bases. But he also can't give in because as I said this guy can change the game with one swing of the bat. Then there is the batter, standing alone at the plate trying to guess where the pitches are going to be. Is the pitcher going to surprise him and lay them over the plate. Or is he going to try and paint the corners and get him to chase bad pitches.

Depending on which team you are rooting for, the glorious outcome can come in a different fashions. The pitcher could strike him out, he could cause him to hit into a double play, or he could hit a meaningless fly ball out. Now if your for the batter you hope for other outcomes. Your biggest hope is for the player to hit a massive homerun that towers out of the stadium, putting a devastating blow to the game and the pitchers mindset. Or at the very least hit a long fly ball that gets a run home.

Now to a lot of you this may sound very shallow and unimportant. But to those that grew up listening and watching the game it is very important for many different reasons. For me baseball is summer. I see it live, watch it on TV or listen to it on the radio. They are all appealing in different ways. But the root of all them to me is the bond they have given me with my father. One of my earliest memories in life is going to a Cardinals game with my dad. I was five and he took me along with my grandfather. I remember walking through the tunnel going from darkness to light. Then seeing this huge stadium with people of all walks of life filling the seats. I spent the game setting between my dad and my grandpa and then my dad leaning over to point out to me who Lou Brock was. I don't remember a whole lot about the game or the day other than those moments, what I do remember is I didn't want to be anywhere else.

Baseball is part of America and it's society. Probably more so than any other sport. It may have lost some of it's thunder over the last decade or so with all the allegations of drug use and the increasing popularity of football. As I said though it is the sport that brought an everlasting bond between me and my father. Not that we don't have others but this is the one that held through during anything. To borrow a line from a movie, when me and my father could talk about nothing else we could always talk about baseball. Because of the longevity that players in this game experience, many of my dad's favorite players were still playing as I got interested in the game. Because they were his favorites they became mine. And as I picked some of the newer players as my favorites they in turn became some of my dad's. So let me close by saying this, baseball wasn't and still isn't some meaningless game that tied up the airwaves. It was and always will be a way to connect to my father. It's a way to bring back memories of times long forgotten. But most importantly it's a strong common bond that bridges the gaps of different generations.

Hall of Famer Schmidt: Bring on the world!

By Mike Schmidt, For The Associated Press
AMES, Iowa — Make no mistake, I'm here because of my friendship with Team USA manager Davey Johnson, and each day of this experience I'm more grateful.
Put away the perception that a Hall of Famer can't be a fan or couldn't be energized by the presence of a young player. Or even be a little in awe at times.

To understand what I mean, realize I retired in 1989 and was away from baseball for 10 years. Since 2000, I have spent at least a week in Phillies camp in what I call a coach-advisory role. Most of the summer, like you, I watch games on TV and listen to talk shows to formulate my opinions on today's game and its stars.

Now, coaching with Team USA, I have gone outside the Phillies, met and coached some serious names to add to Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard. So take this to the bank: THESE GUYS ARE GOOD.

Sure, lots of old-timers find it easy to criticize today's players. Their opinions are mostly formed from something they heard, or an issue they disagree with -- maybe the steroid thing -- watered-down pitching, small parks, juiced balls, maybe even jealously.

Hey, I admit, I'm jealous. I want to hit in Citizens Bank Park and own a jet. But that isn't reason to criticize today's stars. It's their era, their generation, and trust me, it was a lot harder for them to make it to the top than it was for me.

Simple fact, there are many more talented young baseball players today than ever. Think about it. We watch the Little League World Series now on TV and it's busting with bigger, more talented kids. Then they play on high school teams that play 40-game schedules, followed by a summer traveling team with another 40. Most have a local training center for hitting with a private coach, and a sense of physical conditioning.

Next are the college programs for those who don't opt to go pro, where schedules can reach 60-plus games. There are probably 100 great college baseball programs now, compared to 25 or 30 from 40 years ago.

But one ingredient is missing today. It's not a make-or-break career thing, it's not noticeable to fans, or an issue that would change baseball's entertainment value.

Most of today's major league stars grew as kids in an environment where baseball was about technique, routine, and repetition. Baseball "sense," the inner game, was seldom a priority.

Baseball "sense" is a knack for feeling the flow and rhythm of the game, knowing what is coming, sensing what to do, knowing your options, looking ahead in the game naturally.

It's mostly acquired naturally, through experience over time. It comes, too, through osmosis, from rubbing shoulders with good baseball men, coaches and players who have it and share it.

At Ohio University under coach Bob Wren, I got a degree in baseball "sense." He taught me more about baseball and its intricacies than anyone. When I played for the Phillies, we often sat around talking the game. Nothing was more fun than dissecting an element of the game, recalling a play or situation, or even rehashing an at-bat, weighing the options and logging all of it in the back of your mind. I had Dave Cash, Dick Allen, Pete Rose and Bob Boone as mentors. Later on, I found young teammates like Darren Daulton and Von Hayes, to name a couple, that I shared the mental game with regularly.

I could not get enough of it. Today, I surprise myself with my sense of recall during a game, even watching on TV. It really is like riding a bicycle.

Today's player is programmed more on the mechanical side than on the mental side. As a kid, his batting stroke or pitching delivery was cultivated much more than his baseball "sense." They get used to practice drills and routines. As they progress in physical size and talent, there is minimal, if any, exposure to baseball's inner game.

I'm not saying they are void of baseball "sense," just that it is not stressed. For example: I was 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and a power hitter. I loved to run the bases and wanted to be known as a great baserunner. I needed it to be a complete player, to leave no stone unturned, to be the best. I worked at the intricacies of baserunning. I knew how many strides I took to first base -- 15.

I studied and worked on the first crossover step to become a basestealer, and stole over 20 bases a couple of times. My goal was to join Willie Mays and Bobby Bonds in the 30-30 club. I stole my 30th in 1975 -- at least I thought I did -- to go along with 35 HRs, but was called out because Greg Luzinski interfered with the catcher's throw, so I never got credit.

I perfected the walking lead and a delayed steal technique. I even had a plan to get out of a rundown, as well as sliding tricks to avoid the tag. I know ... I, I, I ... but my point is I acquired and still have that "sense." Derek Jeter has it, Dustin Pedroia has it, and for sure Rollins and Utley have it. But in general, today's players lack in this area.

Why? I go back more than 30 years ago, when players were granted free agency, as the turning point in the evolution of the game as we know it today. When truly big money became available, the value of having an inner "sense" for the game diminished. It was about attaining numbers and elevating your position as a player, which replaced the team concept in a player's mind. Just ask Manny Ramirez. By the way, need I bring up baseball "sense" here? I digress.

So, with the pot of gold available as a result of individual accomplishment, why would anyone with 35-to-40 homer and 120 RBIs potential think baserunning -- let alone baseball "sense" -- mattered or even existed? Only a select few have.

Yes, these guys are good. They are more talented and skilled as hitters and pitchers than at anytime ever. They are what they are, products of the baseball world as they know it, not as us old folks know it. They live in a complicated world and have to please the masses everyday. If you had a chance to travel with Team USA, trust me, your whole outlook on this generation as players, and more importantly, as respectful young men would change.

I'm a kid again. Bring on the world!

A Collegian Promotes the Game

RT Staff Note: This post is from John Meadus, a college baseball player that has a few things to say about the lack of publicity the college game gets. Enjoy.

It's April. Football season has been over for two months, and won't start up again for another four or five months. Basketball and hockey are both ending their regular seasons and beginning their playoffs.

It is baseball season, but not just for professional baseball! Not just the guys who get paid millions of dollars to sit on the bench with a sore pinky toe. Not just the guys who don't run out ground balls or pop-ups to the infield. I am talking about the kids who may not make it to the next level, but still put out more effort and hustle than the "pros" do. I am talking about college baseball.

Everyone loves college football because of all the big crowds, and the atmosphere in huge stadiums across the country. The same goes for college basketball: guys running up and down the court, diving on the floor for loose balls and taking charges. These are the things that professional games lack these days, which makes some people enjoy college sports more than professional sports.

What is so different about college baseball?

I really don't think college baseball gets the kind of recognition that it deserves. It has all the passion and desire that the professional game has and more. You can just see the desire in players' faces when they play, because for most, this is their last chance to play this game in such a highly competitive way. You can see these kids dive all over the field, not because they're getting paid to, but because they are having fun and playing out of love for the game.

I am a college baseball player, myself, and I believe that there should be more college baseball games on television for people to see. I think that college baseball is always exciting to watch, because even a five-run lead is not safe when hitters are using aluminum bats. While it's true that ESPN shows the College World Series, there are plenty of other games out there during the regular season to watch. For example, take when Florida State plays Florida, or UCLA plays Arizona State.

The College World Series is great, because you can see all the emotion that goes into the game. For the winners and even the losers, all their pent-up emotions come out after the games, and even on the field during play. It's tough to say that about the Majors these days.

I don't think that, watching on TV, you can say that every player gives 100 percent every game. They do play three times as many games as college kids do, but it makes no difference to me. College baseball players always play hard, and when they get to the College World Series and are on TV for once, they play even harder, which makes it great to watch.

I am not advocating putting college baseball games on ESPN in place of MLB games, but when I am going through the channels and I get to ESPN2, I see drag racing on for three hours.

Maybe, instead of televising one of the least popular sports in America, they could show a college baseball game every once in a while.

Connecting With The College Game

"Hey that freshman pitcher is the guy that shut us down in that Junior Olympic Tourney a few years back".

"Isn't that left fielder the kid who blasted that 7th inning home run off of Justin in Georgia two years ago?"

"Look at the Texas roster dad...there's five guys from our high school league on the team."

"I know about 10 of these names on the Florida State roster. We have seen them play at AAU tournaments."

"I remember Gerrit Cole when he was in Little League...nothing has changed. He is still dominant."

Connections like this are abundant in College baseball. When you and your son go to a college game...get a media guide or roster sheet and look at some of the names and the high schools they come from. You will be amazed at all of the connections your son will have with these players. And that will make the game much, much more meaningful for him. It will also make your future star even more excited to be one of those players some day.

Our series this week is meant to glorify a game that we think is even better than the pro game on many levels. It's cheaper, it's pure, it's free of tabloid type drama, and there are players on these teams that everyone can identify with.

Below is a comment we received from a dad who took his son to a ball game in San Diego...If you don't believe us, read his comments and you will be convinced that you guys are missing out on a experience of a lifetime.

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I took my son to the San Diego State vs. University of San Diego game on Sunday. The game was at Tony Gwynn Stadium on the campus of San Diego State.We had a great time!My son really enjoyed sitting behind the Torreros dugout,and being able to hear all the dugout chatter/smack/props among the players and coaches. These tickets at Petco, Edison Field,or Dodger Stadium would have cost 35.00+...... Our cost at SDSU was 7.00 for me(adult) and 5.00 for my 12 year old son. Other costs were parking 2.00 in a parking garage a short walk from the stadium,a big hot dog 3.50 and a frozen lemonade 3.50 for my son. The sunflower seeds and bottled water we bought at Costco. The final cost for a wonderful Sunday afternoon with my son was about 25.00. The memories will last a lifetime.My son was so excited about seeing Brandon Meredith hit his 1st collegiate Home Run (I think he'll hit a lot more of those)

BTW, the game was very entertaining and USD hung on for a 10-7 win and avoided a 4 game sweep by the Aztecs.I was expecting a bigger crowd though. The announced attendance was only 980. These two teams are big rivals and I was expecting a much bigger crowd.I'm an Alumni of Arizona State and most of the games I attended at Packard Stadium were in the 3-4 thousand range.

We'll be heading up the coast to USC at the end of this month to watch the Sun Devils battle the Trojans.I expect to see a full house....Lots of Sun Devil Alums in SoCal. My son is a USC fan...should be lots of fun. Every team in the Pac 10 hates ASU......

Bring it on !!! I love college baseball,and the conferences you mentioned do play the most competitive baseball in the country.

Thanks for your awesome blog :)

Go Devils GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

88 SNDVL

Everyone Is Smarter Than You

RT Staff Note: One of the best recruitment guides we have seen is from yesterdays contributor Jim Giles. The TeachDGame College Prep and Recruitment Guide is very detailed and we will add it as a resource on our side bar soon. On another note, we thought the following article from Jim was appropriate considering the e-mails we have been getting lately. Enjoy!

By Jim Giles...
As we move through the game of baseball and life, we learn by listening to coaches & people we trust, by doing, by watching others and many other methods. At some point, everyone seems to think they know it all. Sometimes this happens in our teenage years of high school, sometimes during our early 20’s as we move through college or for some after, as we enjoy our adult life. It is natural and hard to control our own Ego and basic human instincts. On the baseball field this can limit our potential or other devastating consequences.

The game of baseball on the surface is very simple, or so it would appear. While it has been 90 feet between the bases for over a century and many aspects of the game have not changed, there are many different methods and ways to get things done on the field.

As a player, you may constantly have coaches telling you to do it this way or that. At times this may contradict what you were taught before or that expert advice you are receiving from your “batting / pitching / baserunning / mental psychologist” trainer or advisor. Every time you play on a different team, you may find a coach who wants things accomplished differently. This is fine. You need to stay open to these idea’s because ultimately, how you are in the eyes of that coach, and how you approach the game from their perspective, will be the determining factor in the amount of time you spend on the field vs next to them on the bench. Sometime even whether you make the team or not.

As you moveup in the game, you continue to move up because of the success you have had. DO NOT BLIND YOURSELF BY THIS SUCCESS. Every step up the ladder, will be tougher than the last. You must continue to improve yourself every day or risk reaching your highest potential sooner than you like. You must search beyond yourself and often find that improvement beyond your normal comfort zone. As a coach, you have your ideals and beliefs about the way things need to be done. In many instances, this has been born possibly out of years of success.

DO NOT BLIND YOURSELF BY THIS SUCCESS. The biggest challenge for any coach is not just to win, but to KEEP WINNING. Anyone on any day can win any game. The truly great teams win over the long run. To do this, it is extremely difficult to accomplish without adapting and learning.

The easiest way to learn is to believe EVERYONE IS SMARTER THAN YOU. This is not to say you must sacrifice your own confidence and beliefs. You must be confident in your abilities, without being cocky. Regardless of who we are, or what we know, there is always someone around who might know a little more or something different than we do. EMBRACE THIS ! For us to seek greatness on our own is a sure fire way to fail. Look to everyone and anyone for additional knowledge. You may find this in places you have never imagined. It may be in a different sport, or different field of thought. It may be from that player or coach we can not stand. Watch them, study them. In doing this, we can obtain the experience and knowledge possibly without the pain of struggle.

Watch the GREAT ONE’s. There is a reason they are there. Find a way to adapt what they do to your own individuality. You can not merely copy them, because everyone is different. You must find a way to apply those aspects to your core beliefs and strengths.

Surround yourself with those that are smarter and better than you. As a player, do not seek an environment where you are the best. While this may drive your ego, it will not DRIVE YOU to accomplish greater things. Seek to surround yourself with those individuals you can learn from. For in doing this, you will push yourself to greater achievements in the long run. Yes, it is a long run. As a coach, seek knowledge and input from anyone who has something to say. You never know when that one thought or idea, combined with your existing beliefs and ideals might be the accelerator to greater achievements.

In closing, always keep your eyes wide open for learning opportunities. They may come from any source at any time. There may be ideas or thoughts related to other subjects or sports or even people you never imagined that can be adapted to your situation. For if you really embrace and believe that everyone is smarter than you, you might in the end, just be the smartest one of all.

Real Fans...Real Baseball...Don't Miss Out

RT Staff Note: As a response to our post yesterday, we did some research on how well some of these Big 12 and SEC teams draw. They draw well...even in inclement weather. Below are news clippings from various SEC sites as well as attendance figures from selected games.

Baseball Setting Attendance Records

03/09/2009
Courtesy: Phil Pierce, Athletic Media Relations

FAYETTEVILLE – The Arkansas baseball team is 9-2 on the year and the Razorback fans are showing their support as they come to Baum Stadium in record numbers for the 21st-ranked team in the nation.

The Razorbacks set non-conference series attendance records this past weekend when they took two of three games from California as 21,429 fans packed Baum Stadium for the three-game set. The Razorbacks also set a record for tickets sold for a three-game non-conference series with 25,529. Friday night’s series opener brought the 17th largest crowd ever to Baum Stadium with 8,426 fans including more than 1,800 University of Arkansas students. The Hogs sold 9,230 tickets to the first scheduled night game of the season, 11th on the all-time tickets sold list.

The attendance records set during the California series crushed the actual attendance record of 16,550 which was set March 4-6, 2005 when the Razorbacks swept Illinois-Chicago. The previous tickets sold mark came two years ago, Feb. 23-25, 2007, when Arkansas sold 21,470 tickets for the Illinois State series.

The Razorback nation also broke Arkansas’ opening day record for both tickets sold and actual attendance on Feb. 20. The first game of the season against Washington State brought 6,523 fans to Baum Stadium and sold 8,297 tickets to break the previous bests of 4,258 actual and 6,902 tickets sold for the 2006 home opener against Louisiana Tech.

The Razorbacks continue their season with their first road game on Tuesday evening at Centenary in Shreveport, La., beginning at 6 p.m. For more information regarding Razorback baseball or University of Arkansas athletics please visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.

Record Crowd Watches Win, Opening of Alex Box Stadium

02/20/2009
by www.LSUsports.net

BATON ROUGE -- Leftfielder Blake Dean blasted a three-run homer and centerfielder Jared Mitchell had three RBI as the Tigers exploded for a 12-3 victory over Villanova (0-1) in the season-opener in the new Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (1-0), who are ranked No.1 by Collegiate Baseball and USA Today/ESPN, captured their eighth-straight home opener in front of a crowd of 9,054 in the new stadium’s inaugural contest.

There are more stories.

At the University of Georgia...
ATHENS-----A season-opening Foley Field record crowd of 3,044 saw No. 14 Georgia pound out 17 hits and take advantage of seven Youngstown State errors in a 15-2 win over the Penguins on Friday.

At Texas A&M...
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Clayton Ehlert struck out a career-high nine over seven innings of work and Travis Starling picked up his third save of the year, a five-out effort, as No. 4 Texas A&M held on for a 2-1 win over Stephen F. Austin Tuesday night before 3,530 fans at Olsen Field.

Attendance at Mississippi's first game at their newly renovated stadium was 5996.

Attendance at Florida States Dick Howser Stadium on opening night was 5601.

The Texas Longhorns drew 5333 on their season opener at DischFalk Field.

The University of Oklahoma averages over 1,000 per game.

Get the picture??? Let's get out there folks and support your local collegiate team. We aren't talking about a few hundred fans that go to watch these games. Look at the attendance numbers...There are thousands attending these great games.

California...there's no excuse..These games are inexpensive and some of the best baseball you will ever watch. And for the family...Sodas are $2, Dogs and burgers under $4 and seeds a buck. No price gouging...no out of site pricing tactics...Just good baseball at a great price.

Collegiate Crowds in California Are An Embarrassment

We have a bone to pick...and it happens to be a rant against our own home state.

Other than Fresno State, Cal State Fullerton and Stanford, many California crowds at college games are sparse, lack any enthusiasm and are treated as an afterthought by the athletic department. In a state that has given us the greatest names in the game from Joe DiMaggio to Randy Johnson, you'd think that the collegiate game would garner a bit more attention.

This blog and its contributors traveled up and down the coast to observe some great contests the past few weekends and saw some unbelievable baseball. Unfortunately, most Californians missed out and so did the local press. The Pac 10, WAC, Big West and WCC conference teams play this country’s best baseball, but to the rest of the populous, it might as well have been rugby or cricket...Nobody showed up and nobody wrote about it in the local papers.

What a shame. We are not suggesting that the NCAA would ever make its decisions based on politics...but in this case we wouldn't blame them...It's no surprise that the West Coast gets snubbed every year come NCAA tourney selection time. It's possible that the NCAA figures nobody cares enough to even notice.

For instance, the SEC had 9 teams selected last season for the NCAA post season tournament. The SEC also averages well over 2 million fans per season. Those fans care about their teams a lot and they get rewarded in return. Many of those teams may not be as well deserving on the field to be in the tourney...but at the turnstiles...they are more than deserving to get that post season bid.

From San Diego to Davis, California, the state has teams that compete hard and turn out some of the best players to ever play this game. Year in and year out, some of the top players picked in the draft come out of the state of California. Fans should be lined up at the gate, papers should be gushing praise upon the programs, and talk shows should be dedicating at least an hour or more a week to talk about key match-ups and teams top prospects.

There isn't a basketball or football fan alive that isn't aware of their favorite college player’s stats and how he will rate in the upcoming draft. Baseball IS America's past time...you'd think that the same publicity would be given to this state too. Really there is no excuse for not attending a college game. The weather is perfect, the competition is outstanding, some of the stadiums are cozy and friendly...it's just that most people just don't know about it, because no one talks about the games, players or teams outside of Rivals and other Collegiate Baseball blogs.

In the SEC, baseball is treated as a major sport...mainly because in reality it is a major sport. Games are on the Ten O’clock news, front page of the sports page and the top of the hour on sports talk shows.

California teams and their athletic directors need to up the ante. This is partly the AD's fault. It's their responsibility to create the excitement, media attention and draw the crowds. It's really not that hard...Fresno State has no problems; Stanford promotes their program through a series of letter campaigns and a loyal Stanford alumni base.

Normally we would blame the low turnouts on the bad economy, but it has been that way for years at many of these schools. It’s time California discover the incredible talent that is literally in their backyards. Many of these schools are in small college towns hundreds of miles from any pro teams. UC Davis, Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara, Sacramento State and Pacific, should draw just as well as Fresno. All of these teams are in college towns...hours from the nearest MLB franchise. To these cities...the college team is their baseball ticket to the big time...

That's how they treat baseball in the SEC and it works. Maybe California AD's need to take a fact finding trip to the south and learn a few new tricks of the trade. In our view...when you think of California, baseball comes to mind...it just needs to be more top of mind in our opinion.

Dad who lost son hopes A-Rod boosts steroids cause

By SCHUYLER DIXON Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press

DALLAS — Don Hooton doesn't buy the notion that Alex Rodriguez is damaged goods in corporate America.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

The suburban Dallas father whose son's suicide was linked to steroid use started the Taylor Hooton Foundation to honor the 17-year-old's memory and try to fill what he saw as a void in educating youth on the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs.

Fundraising has been modest, and the list of athletes joining Hooton's cause is short. Hooton believes both could change after he attended Rodriguez's first news conference since the New York Yankees third baseman admitted using performance enhancers from 2001-03. Rodriguez, an 11-time All-Star, used that forum two weeks ago in Florida to announce his intention to help Hooton's foundation.

Hooton is hoping Rodriguez can give his foundation access to corporate sponsors it hasn't had before. He is unfazed by derisive alternatives to Rodriguez's iconic nickname, A-Rod, or that the steroids admission meant Rodriguez lied in a nationally televised interview in 2007.

"If you ever went ... to Gamblers Anonymous and were going to take a lesson, you don't go to the guy that's never gambled," Hooton said. "If you think back to the last five or six years, who would you reach out to? Who is clean? At least we're dealing with a known quantity here. And certainly just from notoriety and visibility, we could not have found a better player, I think, to associate with."

The natural question, of course, is whether Rodriguez will offer his own money. This is the player who opted out of the richest contract in baseball history (10 years, $252 million) so he could reset the bar with the Yankees at 10 years and $275 million. He's a year into his latest deal.

Hooton says they didn't talk about Rodriguez's money. They talked about boosting corporate donations and Rodriguez serving the foundation's primary mission — talking to kids about steroids. Hooton said he planned to meet with Rodriguez within a week to discuss details.

The foundation has a program called "Hoot's Chalk Talk" that makes presentations at middle schools, junior highs and high schools. Hooton said about 50,000 kids so far have seen the program, "but on the other hand we've got millions of kids to reach."

To do that, the foundation will need more than its current $700,000 budget, most of which comes from a five-year contract with Major League Baseball that pays $500,000 annually. Hooton said the goal is to get the annual budget in the range of $3 million to $5 million in order to reach 10,000 schools nationally.

More importantly, he said he wants to make good on a vow to baseball commissioner Bud Selig not to be so heavily reliant on that sport.

"With the current economy and everything that's going on, everybody's in the same tough boat," Hooton said. "Thank goodness we've got a committed partner in MLB."

The Rodriguez admission after a Sports Illustrated report about his positive tests for performance-enhancing drugs became the latest publicity boost for Hooton and his group. He was first noticed nationally at the congressional steroid hearings in 2005, just about the time his foundation was given nonprofit status by the IRS.

Some of the biggest names in baseball were spellbound by the story of Taylor Hooton, who apparently took steroids to give himself a better chance to compete on his high school team in Plano, north of Dallas. Doctors said the cousin of former major league pitcher Burt Hooton suffered from depression after he quit taking the drugs.

Media reports of steroid use at another Texas high school prompted the state Legislature to take up the issue, and in 2007 it passed the nation's largest steroid testing program for high schools. Meantime, the Mitchell Report to Congress implicated more big names, most notably Texas-raised star pitcher Roger Clemens.

But now the Mitchell Report is more than a year old. Very few positives came out of the early rounds of testing in the Texas program, prompting some to question the scope and cost of the plan.

Hooton's group was in a lull between waves when the Rodriguez news hit, but now he says his foundation has actually reached out to a player for the first time. Hooton put out feelers to the Yankees and MLB and said he heard back from Rodriguez within 24 hours.

"The stars lined up," Hooton said. "He seemed to be the right guy at the right time and the right place, and we picked up the phone and called."

Now Hooton has visions of doing more things with the Yankees and using Rodriguez to connect with more players. The Yankees and baseball's powerful union say they support Hooton's efforts.

"We expect to work with him, to hold some kind of event at Yankee Stadium," said Yankees president Randy Levine. "It's important to note these conversations have been going on before A-Rod."

Baseball union head Donald Fehr took issue at the perception — shared even by Hooton — that his group has discouraged players from speaking out about steroids.

"We certainly wish (Hooton) well and hope he can have a fair degree of success with it," Fehr said. "And if Alex Rodriguez or any other player wants to help him out, that's entirely their choice and we commend them to the effort. I hope it works out to everybody's benefit."

The list of corporate partners on Rodriguez's Web site isn't extensive, but it does include the biggest corporate name in sports — Nike — along with the Topps trading card company and sports equipment maker Rawlings.

Hooton believes the path to these potential donors opened in part because his organization is "one of the few ports in the storm," another way of saying he doesn't think many people are talking to kids about steroids.

"We hope as we go forward that we can become a trusted place, maybe a safe place where other players, whether they've done performance-enhancing drugs or not, can join with A-Rod and this is a place to speak out to kids," Hooton said. "We're an education group, and our role is not to judge."

A College Baseball Team, Always on the Road

By BILL PENNINGTON...New York Times

Two days after leaving the Canadian border town of Presque Isle, Me., the bus with 14 players, 2 coaches and a manager pulled into a lot at the baseball field of Ferrum College in western Virginia. The drive had been 22 hours, but for this baseball team, the journey was finally over.

Or was it just beginning?

This February day’s doubleheader against Ferrum would be the first of 37 successive away games scheduled for the University of Maine at Presque Isle team this year.

Because winter can last until May in northern Maine, Presque Isle routinely plays its entire season on the road. With their campus 400 miles north of Boston, the Owls have not played a home baseball game since 2005, when there were two.

“You can either complain that the baseball field is buried under six feet of snow, or you drive to where you can play baseball,” said Tyler Delaney, a junior infielder. “We don’t complain.”

Waiting for batting practice to start at Ferrum, the players in the bus, none of whom have ever played a home game, were buttoning their jerseys and pulling on game socks when a woman approached and knocked on the door. Two lines of written script are on the side of the blue-and-white bus: The University of Maine at Presque Isle

North of Ordinary

When the bus door opened, the woman peered inside and asked in a drawl, “Where’s Ordinary?”

The nation’s prominent college sports of basketball and football are flashed across television screens around the clock, a big-money, high-stakes enterprise awash in excess. Unseen but nonetheless part of the same intercollegiate athletic community are teams like Presque Isle, bumping along the quiet country back roads of Virginia looking for a game.

“Believe me, we know the difference between them and us,” first baseman D. J. Charette said the next day as the bus rolled down Interstate 81.

“Their sport got them an athletic scholarship, and they might see it as a career. We aren’t in that world. We just want to play.”

Presque Isle has had a baseball team since at least the 1940s, about the time the Army built an airstrip there, from which scores of World War II fighter planes departed for Europe. The Presque Isle baseball teams have always been road warriors. But in an era of all-weather playing surfaces and expansive indoor college athletic complexes, this team may be the only college baseball squad in the nation to regularly play all its games on the road.

The university, known as U.M.P.I., which the locals pronounce “Um-Pea,” has teams in N.C.A.A. Division III and in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Representatives from each organization said they had no record of any other baseball teams routinely playing entire seasons without a home game.

The boys of winter from Presque Isle play on, laughing when opposing players tease them about frostbite or ask if they brought any snow with them in the bus. Their closest opponent, Daniel Webster College in Nashua, N.H., is about seven hours away.

Presque Isle’s only winter practice facility is in a basketball gymnasium, making the first fly balls and pop-ups of the season an adventure.

Because every extra dollar is poured into the extensive travel budget, there is not money for technologically advanced bats. Their helmets are clearly a few years old.

The roster was small, at 14 players, for the weeklong eight-game trip against six Virginia programs, so almost everyone had to pitch occasionally, whether they liked pitching or not.

The players get $15 a day for food. They stayed in budget hotels, four to a room for $60 at a Howard Johnson’s last month. There are no athletic scholarships, and their bus lacked a restroom. They are literally and figuratively miles away from the pumped-up, high-price world of professional baseball.

“We do it for the love of the game,” the senior Brandon Elie said. “We do it because we’ve been playing since we were in T-ball, and we don’t want to stop.”

Charette added: “No one should feel sorry for us. This is fun. I feel sorry for all the people who don’t get to play college baseball.”

The late afternoon sky was a mix of snow and hail when the Presque Isle bus left Maine to start the Virginia trip. The team could have left earlier, before the storm, but Coach Leo Saucier did not want any player to miss a class. Despite all the travel, Saucier’s players work in tandem with the college’s faculty to minimize absences and to make up homework or take tests early, even if that means extra, advance studying.

The trip’s first stop was Boston. The second day brought 15 hours on the road, counting several stops for food and bathroom breaks. When they arrived at their Virginia hotel at 11 p.m., the players unpacked the team’s bags and equipment, which could fill a small U-Haul.

When a player entered the hotel lobby, he would remove his cap or hat, acknowledging a team rule adopted and enforced by the players.

“We want to show respect for the hotels and restaurants we visit,” first baseman Andrew Parker said later. “We don’t want anyone to say anything bad about that Maine team they saw one day.”

The Maine visitors lost both games of the opening-day doubleheader at Ferrum College, and a day later, against the Division III powerhouse Lynchburg College, the Presque Isle visitors were behind, 15-1, in the fifth inning.

With two outs and a runner at third base, every player and coach in the Presque Isle dugout was on his feet cheering as Delaney doggedly worked the count to 3-2. He then fouled off seven consecutive pitches. Delaney, a Nova Scotia native and the only player on the Presque Isle roster not from Maine, eventually grounded out to shortstop. But his teammates met him as he came off the field, touching fists and handing out high-fives.

“We rely on each other because we are all we have,” said Clint Carter, a sophomore pitcher. “We never have any fans cheering us. It’s easy to give up. We pick each other up instead.”

The next day, playing their fourth game in three days — after a layoff of nearly nine months — the Presque Isle pitching staff looked weary in an 18-0 loss at Roanoke College.

“No one likes to lose, but I admired those kids and what they’ll go through to play,” Roanoke Coach Larry Wood said. “We lined up after the game to shake hands, and they all looked you in the eye and wished you luck. I can’t say that about a lot of teams.”

After the game, the team found a parking lot in walking distance of a Sonic, a Burger King and a Pizza Hut. Players scattered, meal money in hand.

“When you practice in a gym, you don’t come down here expecting to go 8-0,” Saucier said, waiting in the parking lot. “This is meant to help us get ready for the rest of our schedule and do what athletics is supposed to do — teach the value of teammates, teach responsibility and maybe some other life lessons, too.”

The Presque Isle baseball team was 5-20 last season, a major improvement from a couple of winless seasons earlier in the decade. Scanning the team’s spring schedule of games across New England and New York, Saucier said he thought this season’s team could reach double digits in victories.

By 9 p.m., the bus had rumbled back to the team hotel. Some players immediately alighted for the laundry room with bundles of dirty socks. Some did homework. Some did both. The majority fell asleep with televisions turned to ESPN.

The next day’s game was at Shenandoah University. In a twist the Presque Isle players found unbelievable, it was nearly snowed out. Instead, it was moved back a few hours.

The players used the delay to crowd into their already crowded rooms and when prodded, wondered what it would be like to play major college athletics: traveling in jets, playing before packed grandstands, staying in swanky hotels.

“I’d settle for a home game that my parents could come to,” Elie, the lone senior on the team, said.

Delaney said: “I don’t know, I kind of like it that it takes more passion to play at our level.”

Caleb Hale, a freshman pitcher, snickered.

“Well, I’d love to play on TV, have someone pay for college and do my homework for me,” he said.

The room filled with laughter.

“There is that,” Delaney conceded.

The Presque Isle team was still winless as it entered the final game of the February trip, but led Southern Virginia University, 4-3, in the fifth inning. A two-out, bases-loaded bloop single proved to be the pivotal moment in a game-winning rally for the home team.

The Presque Isle players headed back to Maine to face another three weeks of practice in the university gym before their next game. The day they returned to campus, a foot of snow fell as a greeting.

“The guys were disappointed about that last loss in Virginia, but even before we got home, some were already talking about the next trip,” Saucier said in a telephone interview Thursday. “They believe we can do some good things. You know kids, they love to play the game.”

On March 20, the blue-and-white Presque Isle bus will roll out of northern Maine bound for the next day’s game in Boston. It will head south and west, but as the script on the side of the bus will attest, it will always have originated from somewhere north of ordinary.

HS Coaches...Make Sure Your Players Are Placed For The Summer

This year, more than ever, it is nearly impossible for a college program to scout a high school game. Because of the uniform Feb. 22nd start date, teams are forced to squeeze 56 games by the same ending date. That results in a 5 games week...more than any other College sport. Coaches and recruiters have no time to see high school players actually play. The recruiters are usually the assistant coaches. They are needed at the games and at practices.

Therefore, more and more recruiters are going to rely on the big name summer showcases and tournaments to scout talent. As we have stated many times on Rounding Third, Showcases and high profile tournaments in the summer and fall months are the most cost effective way for college coaches to see a huge group of prospects at one place.

Gone are the days of the traveling recruiter paying a visit to Johnnies home. The state of the college recruiting biz is a sophisticated and intense procedure. With college baseball approaching top revenue status with new TV contracts with CSTV, Fox, Comcast and ESPNU, there is accountability at stake here. Even without the shortened season, recruiters already embraced the showcase and tourney scene because it gave them an opportunity to see the best playing the best. Occasionally they would head over to a high school game if time allowed, but now there is no time.

The solution? Coaches...your high profile underclassmen need to be placed on teams that will benefit their chances to play at the next level.

Don't have time? Consider the lack of time a college coach has with year round conditioning, fall ball scrimmages, and media guide prep. They still find the time to place their players in summer leagues like the Cape Cod, Northwood’s, Alaskan League, California Collegiate, Cal Ripken and the Carolinas to name a few. This is a tremendous opportunity for their players, because these elite summer leagues combine the best of all the colleges. Why do the college coaches place them in that situation? Mr. Obvious Sez...To Make Them Better Players!!!

So, why should high school coaches place their players? Plain and simple...College Development Programs (CDP's) provide better competitive baseball and it will make them better players....plus there is the added benefit that they will be noticed by the dozens of scouts that will attend those venues that they play in.

Now...HS baseball is better baseball from the aspect of team camaraderie, school spirit, bigger crowds and tons of local press...Don't misunderstand what we are saying...CDP's, by virtue of the top all league players all playing on one team against alike teams is what makes it more competitive.

So, it's a win-win for the player and the HS coach. The player gets better and the coach gets a more seasoned, tougher leader next season. It's not too late...get on the phone now...CDP coaches...contact the high school coaches...we have hundreds of you reading this blog everyday. Use the college coach analogy when explaining the benefits of CDP's...

Keeping Our Top Twenty Updated

Every Monday we will update our Top Twenty, because this site exists for one reason and one reason only...to give the kids the tools necessary to be seen and heard, so that they have a chance to play at the next level...Scouts and recruiters are already tuned into our site...so we want them to read about the accomplishments of the high school players out there. We also want to be as detailed as possible, so encourage your high school to post their scores on their web sites or Max Preps daily. It's not that hard...If they don't have time to do it...offer to have one of the baseball boosters take on that task...Stats are important for recruiters and best of all it helps player and team morale to be able to view their stats on not only their high school web site, but a national site like Rounding Third. If that doesn't work, then send us the scores and box scores yourselves by e-mail.

We want to compile updates and changes in our Top Twenty so that recruiters have one site and one page to see how the top teams and their players are playing. In fact, we are already making changes for next weeks poll. A few teams in our Top Twenty suffered a loss or two already...which is going to happen...it's hard to go undefeated in baseball. But, unlike the other polls, we will take the particular loss into consideration. A loss can sometimes happen due to an intense league rivalry...a hurt player...or in the case of more than a few teams that have already started in the warm weather states...key players not on the team yet because they are still playing basketball.

Also, this Top Twenty poll is not a scientific poll by any means. It's not meant to be taken too seriously. None of the polls from USA Today to Rivals to Baseball America can't really predict who is better out of the tens of thousands of high schools out there. All of these polls are really a fun glimpse of perennial powerhouses, up and comers and teams with top recruited talent and how they play the game throughout the season. But the key word is Fun...They are fun to read, debate, admire or scoff. They provide incentives for those that want to be on the list and pride for those that are.

Enjoy the High School Season...Play Ball!!!

RT Staff

2009 High School Top Twenty

1. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, NV)
In the past three years, Bishop Gorman has posted a perfect 9-0 record in the state tournament. It’s not as if the competition in Nevada is below average…it’s that Bishop Gorman is that good. The reason we rank them so high again? Fifteen of the 18 players on their heralded summer team return for the 2009 high school spring season. BG has five senior players already committing to NCAA Division 1 programs and one junior making a verbal commitment. Any questions as to why the Gaels are heavily favored to be the top team in the nation? They are led by one of the top recruits in the nation in LHP/1B Jeff Malm. Malm, who has signed with Southern California, posted an 8-2 record with 74 strikeouts, 9 walks, 2.90 ERA last spring. In addition, a supporting staff that went a combined 27-0 in LHP/CF Joey Rickard, RHP Stephen Manthei…both Arizona bound and junior LHP/OF Matt Hall will help round out the pitching staff.

2. Farragut (Knoxville, TN)
We liked this team last year and are even more impressed this year. They have been a state and national power for nearly 10 years and admirably, the Admirals will be looking for their fifth state title in the last seven years in 2009. They return Vanderbilt-bound SS/RHP Curt Powell (.493-8-56), Louisville-bound 3B/RHP Cade Stallings (.462-9-50) and Mississippi-bound LHP Jordan Cooper. (7-1, 16-3 in his career). They look to be good for the next few years as well with LHP Phillip Pfeifer…one of the nation’s top-ranked sophomores. He pitched Team USA to the gold medal at the Pan Am Youth championships last summer.

3. Jesuit (Tampa, FL)
Jesuit is always one of the top programs in Florida, and these boys can sure hit. They have a fearsome foursome that have committed to Division I programs, including a pair to South Florida in 3B Jimmy Falla and SS Nick Lockwood. Joe Hudson, both bound for Notre Dame, and Greg Dupell , committed to Navy, will share the catching duties.

4. Jesuit (Carmichael, CA)
It’s a good year to be a Jesuit school this year. The Marauders had an impressive 2008 season, winning CIF San Joaquin section championship, but bigger things are expected this year as they return a talented senior class. Catcher\ Andrew Susac is one of the top catchers in the country and along with SS Danny Hayes will be going to Oregon State. Add in California-bound OF Jimmy Bosco and the Marauders will be striking fear into pitchers this year. Keeping hitters off balance will be Santa Clara-bound RHP/3B Brock Simon who had a nasty 1.97 ERA last year and went 7-2.

5. Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, NJ)
These guys had 7 D-I players graduate last year. You’d think it would be an off year, but DBP is like USC football. There are always reloading, not rebuilding. The Ironmen have five more seniors who committed to Division I programs, highlighted by Vanderbilt-bound SS Anthony Gomez, Wake Forest-bound LHP Niko Spezial and Don Bosco’s highly-rated QB Brett Knief, who committed to North Carolina to play baseball… Now that’s an athlete.

6. Cathedral Catholic (San Diego)
Like Don Bosco last year, the Dons have an incredibly deep program that has seven seniors that have committed to Division I programs. As if that wasn’t enough, they also have one of the most talented sophomore players in LHP Daniel Camarena. Clemson-bound RHP Jonathan Meyer), San Diego State-bound RHP/3B Ryan Wilkins and Southern California-bound 1B Casey Husband highlight the returnees for the Dons. Speedster and San Diego-bound OF Matt Moynihan also returns after hitting .400 and leading the Dons in hits, runs and stolen bases a year ago.

7. KATY (Texas)
We love Houston Baseball and Houston does love it’s high school sports…A LOT!!! The Tigers could be the team to beat this year and return just about everyone from a team that won a district title last year. Texas-bound RHP Kiefer Nuncio leads the pitching staff, while TCU-bound OF Jarred Fancher and Texas State-bound catcher Andrew Stumph will stump pitchers and drive the offense.

8. Coppell (Coppell, TX)
They have a Deep Six Nine…meaning of course that they have 6 top rated players going to top D-1 schools on their starting nine. This could be the top talent laden team in the country when you consider the teams these players have committed to. The Cowboys have three players that are ranked in the Top 100 nationally and committed to major Division I programs. OF Jacob Morris is headed for Arizona State, catcher Jonathan Walsh is Texas Longhorn bound and SS/RHP Chad Kettler will be a Boomer Sooner at Oklahoma. Other key Cowboys include Dallas Baptist-bound SS/RHP Austin Elkins and Princeton-bound RHP Zak Hermans who had a .0175 ERA last year…WOW!

9. Brophy Prep (Phoenix, Ariz.)
The Arizona state trophy will go to Brophy this year. They have a really loaded senior class. Arizona-bound RHP/SS Trent Stevenson, San Diego-bound 1B/LHP Jake Williams and Arizona State-bound catcher Beau Maggi give the Broncos one of the most balanced teams in the country.

10. Simi Valley (Calif.)
Simi Valley returns several key players and are favorites in their section this year. California doesn’t have a state championship due the sheer size of this state of over 37 million people….However, their sections have a population base that rivals the size of a majority of states, so a section title is a huge deal. Cal State Fullerton-bound SS/RHP Jonathan Meyer is the team’s best talent, but the Pioneers have a solid supporting cast around Meyer in UC Irvine-bound C Drew Sandler and Pepperdine-bound RHP Cory Jones.

11. Owasso (Owasso, OK)
When a school is in 11 state-final appearances in the past 12 years…well, that has to be one of the best runs in the nation. The run doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon as two way studs Austin Kirk and Brandon Bargas are both Oklahoma-bound lefthanders. They both had Bob Gibson like ERA’s and can hit as Kirk hit .477 in 2008and Bargas .379.

12. Monte Vista (Danville, Calif.)
This is a first in the national polls for this Northern CA (Bay Area) school…and it’s the pitching got them there this year. The Mustangs have four quality pitchers that have committed to top rated Division I programs. Stanford is the beneficiary of RHP Mark Appel, one of the nation’s best arms. Oregon will get LHP Christian Jones, San Jose State will improve it’s staff with LHP Drew Bradshaw and up and coming Big West challenger, Cal Poly will be even stronger with RHP Joey Wagman. Without a doubt, this is one of the top pitching staffs in the country. Calling the shots will be Oregon-bound catcher and masher, Grant Saunders.

13. Bellaire (Bellaire, TX)
They should be called the Prince’s of Bellaire as eight starters, including the team’s top three pitchers, return. There is talent in every class, led by Rice-bound RHP Tyler Duffey in the senior class, 3B Kyle Chaskin in the junior class and highly-regarded LHP Toller Boardman in the sophomore class. They have a MLB son on the team too. Power-hitting 1B Trace Knoblauch, son of ex-big leaguer Chuck Knoblauch and the grandson of legendary former Bellaire coach Ray Knoblauch, also returns.

14. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, CA)
Is there a sport that this SoCal school doesn’t dominate in? Multi sport stud, Matt Barkley was the nation’s No. 1-ranked quarterback recruit this season, and is a talented diamond dog as well. The Monarchs also have USC-bound RHP Aaron Northcraft and Oklahoma State-bound RHP Kevin McCarthy. They will anchor the pitching staff, while a talented group of talented juniors, led by catcher Konnor Armijo, will lead the offensive attack.

15. Park Vista (Lake Worth, Fla.)
The Cobras reached the Florida 6-A championship game last year, before falling to Lake Brantley. Athletic OF Kamm Washington and SS Cody Dent, the son of ex-big leaguer Bucky Dent and a defensive standout, have committed to Florida. Stetson-bound Ryan Lashley can mash and also contributes to a potent offense which returns most of it’s big time players from last year.

16. Barbe, Lake Charles, La.
These guys are always ranked. It’s an automatic with this these Bayou bombers. Mississippi is after OF/LHP Tanner Mathis based on his record setting year as he broke the school record for batting average (.559) and on-base percentage (.628) in 2008. SS Garin Cecchini), son of long-time Barbe coach Glenn Cecchini, and C Hommy Rosado (52 RBIs) also had big years in 2008 as sophomores, and will be key factors as the Buccaneers shoot for their third Louisiana 5-A championship in four years.

17. Providence (Charlotte, NC)
If you have an AFLAC All American, your team will be ranked. It helps to have back-up too. The Panthers will be led by Aflac All American and Clemson-bound 3B/RHP Richie Shaffer, as well as Appalachian State-bound OF Tyler Zupcic.

18. El Toro (Lake Forest, Calif.)
The Chargers won a CIF sectional Division II title in 2008, and return a loaded pitching staff that includes Arizona State-bound RHP Chad Thompson, San Diego-bound LHP/1B Aaron, senior LHP Tyler Ziegler and junior RHP T.J. Kendzora. A second Arizona State recruit, SS Nolan Arenado will bolster the offense.

19. Klein (Texas)
LHP Matthew Purke will have a plethora of perks, due to the fact that he is the nation’s consensus top high-school prospect for this year’s draft. The Bearkats (what’s a Bearkat?) are talented and have three other seniors have committed to Division I programs with 3B Sam Landis and OF Tyler Boss heading to Louisiana Tech, and C Brandon Clark bound for New Orleans. Additionally, junior RHP Clayon Crum will try to make hitters look crummy as their No. 2 behind Purke.

20. Norco (Calif.)
Despite its name, NORCO is in SOCAL and the Cougars will be one of the favorites in their CIF Southern section. Almost the entire pitching staff returns for Norco. Top hurlers are Oh so Good… Matt Hobgood RHP/1B and RHP/SS Wes Hatton…both are Cal State Fullerton recruits. Senior RHP David Jones is a quality arm and should make this team a tough one to beat this year.

Weather or Not

This past week, Vermont and Northern Iowa University killed their baseball programs. That's sad and probably necessary at the same time. We are survival of the fittest types. Teams in the north, just don't always have the enthusiasm or invested time to make it work. Practicing indoors and getting excited about baseball when there is a foot of snow on the ground is tough. That said, here are some basic questions that address the warm weather vs. cold weather states as it relates to baseball issue.

Q. Historically, where are the stronger programs?
A. In the past 20 years, the southern/warm climate teams have had 156 representatives go to Omaha...the Northern teams have had 12.

Q. Why does the south and western state colleges dominate in the College World Series?
A. Outside of foreign born players, the majority of major league baseball players come from California, Florida, Texas and Georgia, so it stands to reason that these colleges would have a strong base of high school players to choose from, making their ability to load and reload easier each year.

Q. Why do baseball baseball players be seem to better in the southern/western states?
A. They play more baseball. They have the ability to concentrate on baseball year round and by high school, have ceased to chop up their season by playing fall and winter sports. Although some people will disagree that year round baseball makes a difference, the realities are that most west coast and southern state players DO play year round and as a result, those states continuously produce some of our nations best players, best college teams and MLB recruits.

Q. Will Northern players ever compete with southern players?
A. Absolutely!!! A great athlete is a great athlete. The difference is commitment. It takes a year round commitment, a love for the sport and a major shift in their work-out habits. Baseball is an outdoor sport, when you can play it outdoors. A great athlete that loves baseball in Schaumburg, Illinois will have to take his game to another level mentally, than the guy in Poway, California. The guy in Poway can play in tournaments, face good pitching, hone his game situation skills, etc. The high school player in Schaumburg has to visualize those situations and work a lot harder indoors to achieve those kind of results.

And, folks that's very hard. Northern players have a distinct disadvantage. It's tough to psyche yourself to play pretend baseball in a cage, gym or on an indoor carpet. But, it can be done and has been done. Prior to 1988, there were teams like Maine and Michigan that used to be regulars in the CWS. A lot of that was due to regionalism and the way they seeded the brackets, but back in the 50's and 60's, Minnesota won three times and Michigan won twice. It just takes commitment and hard work, no matter if you are indoors or out. High School players in the North just need to get used to the idea of getting their reps indoors for 4-5 months.

Northern collegiate baseball seems to be headed in the right direction to address their biggest issue of February baseball. Teams in the Big 10, Big East and other conferences had to travel down south starting as early as Feb. 2nd and play conditioned and outdoor seasoned southern teams from the ACC, SEC and other warm weather conferences. That was a big disadvantage for them since they had little or no outdoor playing experience that early in February.

So, last week the Big East and Big Ten had a pre-season tournament challenge in Florida to kick off the 2009 season. They got their feet wet by playing other northern schools that are in the same situation as them to start off the season without greatly affecting their RPI standing.

We hope this tournament and hopefully others like it, will eventually convince the NCAA that there are solutions to narrow the weather gap and lengthen the season again. As we have written many times on this blog, the condensed season is hard for the STUDENT-athlete. In a condensed season, teams have to play 4-5 games a week early in the season and that makes it extremely hard for an athlete to be a student.

It's all so complicated folks. And, unless this global warming issue gets worse, collegiate baseball will always be be divided by the climatized haves and have-nots. All of you readers that live in the north are probably real sick of hearing about how the south is better than the north...when we all know there are great baseball athletes are on both sides of the Mason Dixon line. The bottom line is the level of commitment and playing time that separates the good baseball athletes from the great athlete and that divide can be closed with a shift in your winter baseball work-outs. It's really that simple.

Listen and Learn

For many of you future recruits, there are some great shows and sites to help you make a decision on the type of college program that might fit your style of play and your criteria for a collegiate setting.

Every Wednesday on satellite radio, Sirius 122, XM 143 at 9 a.m., central, 7 a.m. pacific and 10 a.m. eastern, Rivals Radio broadcasts a College Baseball report. You can also hear a re-broadcast courtesy of Rivalsbaseball.com.

I listened to their first broadcast and was impressed at the coverage. For parents and recruited players that want to learn more about the college game...who's hot and who's not...tune into this broadcast.

This radio show is part of a growing list of media outlets that is starting to take advantage of the ever increasing popularity of College Baseball. The College Baseball Blog, Rivals College Baseball, CBS Gametracker, Boyds World, SE Baseball.com, and a variety of state, conference and regional blogs and web sites are now available to give you the type of up to date information that you only used to see with basketball and football.

We are serious folks. College Baseball is incredibly entertaining. We have been saying this from day one and now it seems the word is finally spreading. There are some great match-ups this weekend that you should attend...Even if you live in a cold weather state. For instance...in Minnesota...yes Minnesota...at the Dome...Washington, Minnesota, UC Santa Barbara and Hawaii square off in the Dairy Queen Classic.

In Houston at Minute Maid Park, February 27th - March 1st, the annual Houston College Classic features the University of Houston, Rice, Texas A&M, Baylor, UCLA and UC Irvine! Some of those match-ups will feature the nations top pitchers such as Rob Rasmussen against Rice on Friday, Yankees first round pick and now UCLA Bruin, Gerrit Cole against Baylor on Saturday and Charles Brewer against UC Irvine on Sunday. BTW, Cole is dominating...and was clocked at 98-100 on radar guns this past weekend. Don't miss his outing of you are in the Houston area.

For all of the snow birds that like to travel down to the Cactus League for Spring Training...there's a great college tourney in Tempe this weekend pitting Missouri, Arizona State, Oregon State and Northern Illinois. You just might find that this will be much more entertaining than the pro teams you came down to watch. You will be in good company...there will be dozens of Pro scouts at those games as well.

Other great match-ups include Georgia at Arizona...Miami (FL) at Florida...Stanford at Cal State Fullerton...TCU at Mississippi...Auburn vs. Florida State...Clemson vs. South Carolina...

Get out and take your family to a college game this weekend...We promise...you will be hooked!!!