My buddy CLuke purports to not care so much for college baseball but I’m beginning to think otherwise.  Every time I hear from him, he’s talking about something related to the topic. 

This time it’s pretty exciting.  Not only is it about college baseball but it pertains to another baseball interest of mine… APBA. 

Chuck pointed me to Steve Guthrie’s web site.  Steve has custom-made APBA baseball cards based on the 2007 NCAA season.

Wow! 

Steve pumped in the stats to Brian Davis’ APBA Card Generator for most of the Division I teams in the NCAA.  There are nine sets available:

• Set 1: SEC, Atlantic 10, Wright State, Hawaii-Hilo
• Set 2: ACC, Ohio Valley, Oral Roberts, Bethune-Cookman, Florida A and M, North Carolina A and T, Dallas Baptist, Prairie View A and M
• Set 3: Big XII, Sun Belt, Mountain West
• Set 4: PAC-10, Missouri Valley, Southern
• Set 5: Big East, Ivy League, America East, Texas-Pan American
• Set 6: Conference-USA, Colonial, West Coast
• Set 7: Big West, WAC, Metro Atlantic, Army, Navy
• Set 8: Big 10, Big South, Atlantic Sun
• Set 9: Southland, Mid-American, Illinois-Chicago, Lafayette, North Dakota State, South Dakota State

Each set is available for download from Steve’s web site and can be printed with minimal configuration. 

Me?  I got the Big Ten :)

Tags: APBA Baseball, College Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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Fresno State has defeated the University of Georgia 6-1 in game three to take the best of three series 2-1. They are the lowest seed ever to win the College World Series. 33 losses is the most ever by a championship team. But this team would not be denied, beating Georgia two out of three games, after Georgia hadn’t lost a single game in the tournament before this series.

Steve Detwiler the rightfielder for Fresno State was the difference in this one at the plate. Detwiler hit a two run homer just out of the rightfielder’s leaping grasp in his first at bat. His second time up he doubled home a run. Then he capped off his night with a three run no doubt about it blast to left, to account for all the Fresno State runs. The most amazing thing about Steve’s heroics is that he needs surgery to replace a completely torn ligament in his left thumb. This sophomore was in agony whenever he swung & missed, maybe that was motivation for him to connect.

Meanwhile lefthanded starter Justin Wilson had the game completely in hand, with pinpoint control, he dominated Georgia, allowing only a solo home run to Gordon Beckham in the 8th inning. A defining moment happened in the first inning when Wilson was forced to pitch out of a bases loaded jam in which his defense let him down, two errors. I shouldn’t be surprised to see the Pirates drafted Justin, especially because of their tendancy to draft lefthanded pitchers. This kid has alot of moxy and it’s good to see he can pitch around errors, seeing he might be with the Buccos. Wilson reminded everyone of a young David Wells.

As a freshman Gordon Beckham grounded into a doubleplay to end his tournament dreams. This time he hit his 28th homer in his final trip to the dish, but it didn’t matter as Georgia lost to Fresno State. Still Beckham had a great year and I look forward to seeing him on the Southside of Chicago, maybe as early as next year.

Tags: College Baseball by Teddy Ballgame
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Fresno State was down 5-0 in game 2 of the best of three game series, after losing the opener the night before. Although Georgia might’ve thought it was over, Tommy Mendonca had other ideas as he blasted a three run shot deep over the rightfield wall in the bottom of the 3rd with two aboard to make it 6-5 Fresno State. In the top of the 4th Gordon Beckham singled home the tying run from 2nd to knot the game at 6.

The wheels came off for Georgia in the bottom of the 4th as Fresno State exploded for five more runs, and then added four more in the bottom of the 5th to make it 15-6. Georgia scored four times in the top of the 7th, but when Fresno State tacked on another three in the bottom of the 7th, it was pretty much over 18-10, after seven. The final score ended up being 19-11. Can’t wait to see the finale tonight.

One thing that was kind of frustrating was when Georgia had runners on 1st & 2nd, one out, and the batter popped up a bunt, Orel Hershiser said, “The umpire should’ve called the infield fly rule”. The infield fly cannot be called on a bunt. Come on Orel, know your rules!

Tags: Broadcasters, College Baseball by Teddy Ballgame
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I’m watching the 2008 NCAA Baseball World Series in part because of Gordon Beckham. The White Sox drafted the University of Georgia SS Beckham with the 8th pick in the draft. Although he hasn’t yet signed with Chicago, not until after the College World Series is over, I still consider Gordon a member of my Southside club. Can’t wait till he’s playing SS at the Cell.

Even if there wasn’t a future White Sox star playing I’d probably be tuned in, my dream is to one day go to Nebraska, and watch the World Series in person. This one would have been a good one to be at. Kind of a weird twist to an old dream, Chicago boy goes to Nebraska, to make dream come true. Anyway I’m a baseball geek, what can I say?

So I’m up in Waupaca and turned the game on TV in the living room at our cottage. The Fresno State Bulldogs (I can’t believe they made it to the finals) jump out to a 6-3 lead in game one of the best two out of three series. It’s already the 7th inning, things aren’t looking good for the Dawgs, as the wounded Fresno State players are coming up with some big blasts. Anyway a bloop & a blast later in the 8th inning, and it’s 6-5.

Following the bloop hit, Beckham greeted Fresno State closer Brandon Burke with the blast. Maybe if Burke had been brought in before the bloop, things might’ve been different, but MO was on Georgia’s side now. Before the dust had settled the Bulldawgs from Georgia were leading 7-6, Joshua Fields closed out the 9th, and the series stands at 1-0 the University of Georgia.

But don’t count Fresno State out, they are fighters, who will not give up. They have left many good ballclubs along the side of the road on their way to this Championship Series.

Tags: College Baseball by Teddy Ballgame
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For those interested, by the end of the night, the College World Series will be down to four teams.  Georgia, Stanford, Fresno State and the winner of tonight’s North Carolina-LSU game will go on to the semi-finals. 

You can see the NCAA’s interactive tournament bracket at the NCAA web site.

Tonight’s game has just started but NC has already scored 2 runs in the top of the first.

Do I have a favorite?  Not particularly.  Any team I remotely have an interest in has been knocked out.  I would recommend checking out The College Baseball Blog as I’m sure they’re working overtime covering the CWS.

Tags: College Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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Gravatars

I’ve enabled Gravatars, a form of avatars, on the site.  They’ll show up next to any of your comments.  If you don’t have one already, you can upload one at Gravatars website for free.  Until you do, I’ve provided a picture of a baseball that looks a whole lot better than the default ones they provide you.

We’ll give it a try for a while… if there’s no interest.  We’ll scrap it.  Meanwhile, you get to see my ugly mug next to each of my comments.

Simyard

Teddy Ballgame has been talking up Erick Robertson’s online fantasy baseball game, Simyard for a while so I got my butt over there and signed up.  The basic deal is free and more advanced stuff costs a bit more.  I haven’t played any but I was able to look around and it does look interesting.  Maybe if Teddy and CLuke sign up we can a Zealot league going. 

College Baseball Blog Interview

With the college baseball postseason in full swing, Brian Foley from The College Baseball Blog is making the rounds with interviews.   He was interviewed by The World Ford Sports Show recently.

Tags: Blog Administration, College Baseball, Fantasy Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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June 5: 2-9 p.m. ET
June 6: 11:30 a.m. ET-end

Some more handy links you might find useful.

For those unfamiliar to the First-Year Player Draft, Baseball America has a useful tutorial on how exactly the draft works. Who’s eligible, when and where it’s held, how the picks are made, everything. Definitely, a must read for anyone who’s new to the draft and maybe those aren’t too.

While you’re on Baseball America’s website, Jim Callis goes out on a limb and does a mock draft of the first round.

Brian Foley of The College Baseball Blog was interviewed by the Yankees blog, River City Blues on the subject of the upcoming draft. Brian writes all year about college baseball so at least from that angle, he pretty qualified to speak about the topic.

Today, Baseball Prospectus Radio is in Day 1 of their draft coverage. Among others, Kevin Goldstein interviews Cutter Dykstra, son of Lenny. Their show is in mp3 format.

Tune in tomorrow at 2pm Eastern when the draft starts. For my money, ESPN’s MLB.com’s Draft Tracker is the best way to follow the draft if you’re not watching it on TV (and even if you are).

Happy Draft Day!

Tags: 2008 First-Year Player Draft, College Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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Yesterday, Michigan was defeated by Kentucky 12-6 in front of their home crowd at Ray Fisher stadium.  This eliminated the Wolverines from the NCAA Regionals.  Kentucky went on to face Arizona later in the day, creating a Wildcats vs Wildcats final in the Regional final. 

Arizona beat Kentucky 5-3 and will advance to the super regional. 

You can read my daily updates I did on the Ann Arbor Regional on Brian Foley’s fine website, The College Baseball Blog.

As an Illini fan, rooting for Michigan is always a tricky thing.  But let’s face it, they were representin’ the Big Ten and for that reason alone, I was hoping they would make it.

Tough luck, Blue.

Congrats though, to Zach Putnam, Jason Christian, Adam Abraham and Ryan LaMarre for being selected to the All-Region Tournament team. 

Putnam doubly so.  He was selected as a designated hitter AND pitcher.

Tags: College Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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Michigan has landed a #2 seed in the NCAA Regionals and will be hosting Arizona, Kentucky, and Eastern Michigan this weekend. 

You can find schedules, box scores and other info at the University of Michigan’s official Ann Arbor Regional site. 

If you’re interested, I will be doing daily write-ups and analysis for The College Baseball Blog during the Ann Arbor Regional.  I have a preview of the Ann Arbor Regional up now.

Tags: College Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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The Trinity College Bantams capped off a perfect regular season by winning the NCAA Division III Championship over Johns Hopkins 5-4 on May 27th. This game was played in Appleton, WI. My summer cottage is about 45 minutes away in Waupaca, WI.

I became interested in the NCAA Division III Championship because my cousin’s son, Kevin Kaminski, was playing for a very good Division III baseball team Carthage College. I shouldn’t say Kevin actually played for Carthage College, he sat the bench. Last year Kevin redshirted as Carthage made it to Appleton. This year he was promised playing time by head coach Augie Schmidt, but then was cut from the team as tournament play began, after wasting his time on the bench all year. As luck would have it, Carthage was eliminated from tournament play on May 16th losing to St. Scholastica, after losing to Wisconsin-Whitewater 24-3 on the 15th. So Kevin didn’t miss out on a championship, although he did work hard for the privlege of riding the pines. A couple of years ago Kaminski proved his worth as the regular secondbaseman for Harper Junior College, hitting well over .400.

But this story isn’t about Kevin Kaminski, Carthage College, or unkept promises. It’s all about Division III Championship Baseball.

In the bottom of the 8th inning trailing by a run, Trinity pinch-hitter Matt Stafford tied the game with an RBI base knock, coming through with two outs and two strikes. Johns Hopkins again put the pressure back on Trinity, when Matt Benchener hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the 9th for a 4-3 lead. Trinity who had lost to Johns Hopkins the previous day to ruin their perfect season, was now just three outs away from losing the championship as well.

Trinity’s Kent Graham got things started in the bottom of the 9th with a one out single up the middle. Then James Wood got a hit & run single through the rightside, sending Graham to 3rd. Chandler Barnard, who had five hits on the day, was given an intentional walk. Matt Sullivan then drew a 3-2 bases loaded walk to tie the game. Then Guy Goglietino, Jr., who’d come into the game as a defensive replacement at 3B, fouled off seven pitches before receiving the game winning ball four.

Who says walks can’t be exciting? Congrats to Trinity College! Maybe next year I’ll have to make it to this exciting baseball tournament in Appleton, WI, rather than just reporting on it from afar.

Tags: College Baseball by Teddy Ballgame
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