Sept. 16, 2009

Lineup Card

Lineup Card is a new feature on CollegeBaseballInsider.com, highlighting notes from around college baseball.

Sept. 14-20, 2009

Ascension Parish President Tommy Martinez has declared Thursday, Sept. 17 will be Paul Mainieri Day in the Louisiana Parish, in recognition of LSU’s national championship. Mainieri (right) will receive a proclamation at Thursday’s Parish Council meeting. Buzzy Haydel, a member of LSU’s 2009 title team who played at East Ascension High School, will lead the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Another former Tiger and East Ascension player, Randall Aldridge, will deliver the invocation.

Miami (Fla.) head coach Jim Morris has signed a contract extension through 2015. In 16 seasons, Morris has led the Hurricanes to the College World Series 11 times, including national titles in 1999 and 2001. He has posted a record of 733-278-3 (.724) at Miami.

UTSA has promoted Brett Lawler to assistant coach and has hired Josh Lee as a volunteer assistant. Lawler was the volunteer assistant the past two seasons. He will coach the hitters and work defensively with the catchers and outfielders. Lawler was a two-year starter at UALR from 2006-07, hitting .262 with 26 doubles, 59 runs and 54 RBI. Lee has been an assistant for three years at his alma mater, McMurry. He will work with the outfielders and will assist with the infielders and pitchers. Lee played at McMurry from 2001-04 and coached there for three seasons. He also was an assistant for one year at Southwestern University in 2007. Lee belted 33 home runs at McMurray, including 17 as a senior. He also won 20 games as a pitcher, with a school-record 17 complete games.

Seniors Carlos Alonso, Ryan Cuneo and Brian Rorick will be tri-captains for Delaware. Alonso was second team All-CAA in his first season after transferring from Santa Barbara City College. He hit .380 with 20 doubles, 59 runs and 12 steals. Cuneo batted .285 this past season and was second in the league with 17 home runs. He has a .305 batting average in three seasons with the Blue Hens. Rorick has six wins and three complete games in his two seasons with Delaware. He has fanned 131 in 134 innings.

Eric Valenzuela is the new pitching coach at San Diego State. He moves across town from San Diego, where he worked with the Torero pitchers the past six seasons. A native of Covina, Valenzuela was an assistant for two years at Saint Mary’s. Valenzuela was a member of Arizona State’s 1998 College World Series team before transferring to Pepperdine. He earned a B.A. in Criminal Justice in 2001.

Ty Megahee has been added to the staff at Auburn. He was previously an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Monmouth. Megahee was a volunteer assistant for three years at Mercer, where he played for two seasons.

Adam Taraska has been named an assistant coach at Fairfield. He was on staff at Iona this past season. Taraska was a four-year starter on the infield at Bridgeport and earned a B.S. in Human Services in 2003.

Baylor’s Burgers on the Berm event has been postponed until Friday, Oct. 2. The postponement was due to the inclement weather in Central Texas, which delayed the start of fall practice for the Bears.

Head coach Rich Hill has announced several staff changes at San Diego. Jay Johnson has been promoted to top assistant and head recruiting coordinator, Tyler Kincaid is the new pitching coach, Ramon Orozco is the volunteer assistant and Nik Crouch is director of operations. Johnson is in his fifth year with the Toreros as hitting coach. Kincaid was pitching coach for the past four years at Palomar College.

Russell Stockton has been promoted to associate head coach after one season at Houston. He will have a larger role in recruiting and fundraising as well as continuing his duties in coaching the offense. Before joining the Cougars, Stockton was head coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville for 10 years. Stockton played at Houston from 1988-91 under his father, former head coach Bragg Stockton.

Jeff Duncan has resigned after one year as a volunteer assistant at Auburn to become a full-time assistant at Purdue. A native of Harvey, Ill., Duncan started his collegiate career at Iowa State before transferring to Arizona State. He was a seventh-round pick of the New York Mets in the 2000 MLB Draft and played in New York in 2003 and 2004.

Middle Tennessee will hold its annual Grand Slam Fish Fry fundraiser on Monday, Oct. 13, at 6 p.m. at the Tennessee Livestock Center on the MTSU campus. The event will feature whole fried catfish with all the trimmings, authentic Cajun gumbo, and hot dogs for the kids. Tickets are $20 and children six and under are free. For more information, call 615-898-2210.

(photo by Jimmy Jones)