Jan. 23, 2011

Lineup Card

Lineup Card is a feature highlighting notes from around college baseball.

January 17-23, 2011

Kansas State has announced staff changes. Former Kansas assistant John Szefc has been named Associate Head Coach and will be the team’s hitting coach. Former Wildcat assistant Josh Reynolds will be the pitching coach. Sean McCann has resigned from his full-time position due to health reasons and will be a volunteer assistant.

Ryan Graves has been promoted to Associate Head Coach at Kansas. He will continue to serve as pitching coach and will be the position coach for the catchers. Graves is entering his ninth season with the Jayhawks.

Cal Poly’s game at UC Irvine on Sunday, May 8, will be televised on ESPNU. Game time has been moved to 2 p.m. PDT.

Radford will expand Radford University Baseball Field with the installation of lights and stadium seating. The project is scheduled to be completed in time for 2011 Big South home games. All funds have been privately raised, a first in Radford athletics history.

Tickets for the third annual Big East-Big Ten Challenge are now on sale. Eight teams from each conference will descend on the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area to open the 2011 season from Feb. 18-20. The Big Ten won the inaugural event in 2009, 15-9, while the Big East posted a 17-13 edge in 2010.

Tickets for the 11th annual Houston College Classic go on sale on Monday, Jan. 24. The event will be held at Minute Maid Park on March 4-6 with Baylor, Houston, Kentucky, Rice, Texas A&M and Utah.

Sports agent Scott Boras will be the keynote speaker at Georgia Tech’s 16th annual Baseball Benefit Dinner on Feb. 17 at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. A reception and silent auction will be at 6:30 p.m., followed by dinner. Boras is the founder, owner and president of the Boras Corporation, which represents nearly 175 professional baseball clients, including former Yellow Jackets Mark Teixeira, Jason Varitek, Matt Wieters and Tyler Green.

UC Irvine will hold its Alumni Weekend on Feb. 4-5, with its Alumni game on Feb. 5 at 12:30 p.m. at Anteater Ballpark.

Season tickets will go on sale at Hawaii on Monday, Jan. 24. The defending WAC champs will host 39 games at Les Murakami Stadium, including series against Oregon, Texas, Cal State Fullerton, Wichita State and Fresno State.

Andy Sawyers has been named associate head coach at Texas A&M. He will work with the hitters and catchers. Sawyers spent the past two seasons at Kansas State after serving as a volunteer assistant with the Aggies in 2008, helping Texas A&M win the Big 12 title and advance to the NCAA Super Regionals. Sawyers also coached at Northwestern State, Hutchinson Community College and Nebraska.

Tennessee will hold its Fan Appreciation Day on Feb. 12 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium from 9 a.m. to noon. Fans will see renovations to the stadium, meet the team and take swings in the new indoor batting cage facility. The team will scrimmage following the event.

Houston has scheduled its Alumni Game for Feb. 12 at 11:30 a.m. at Cougar Field. The annual “H” Association BBQ will follow in the Bill Yeoman Fieldhouse for participants and their families.

Sports columnist Rob Parker will be the keynote speaker for the second annual First Pitch Dinner at Eastern Michigan on Jan. 29. The event will serve as a fund-raiser for EMU’s spring trips as well as other projects.

Nebraska has general admission and a limited number of reserved season tickets available for its 32-game home schedule at Hawks Field. The Huskers will have five Big 12 series as well as games against 2010 runner-up UCLA and 2008 national champ Fresno State.

Auburn has season tickets available for its 33-game home schedule, including a three-game set with Arizona State. The Tigers will also entertain Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama at Plainsman Park.

Georgia Southern has season tickets on sale, with more than 30 home games at J.I. Clements Stadium. Along with their Southern Conference slate, the Eagles will host two games against Georgia Tech and a three-game series with St. John’s.

With season tickets now on sale, Appalachian State will hold its third annual Baseball 101 on Feb. 12 at 11 a.m. at Smith Stadium. It will be a ladies-only baseball clinic conducted by the Mountaineer coaching staff. ASU pitching coach Craig Scheffler will be inducted into the Central Wisconsin Baseball Hall of Fame on Jan. 26 in Weston, Wis. A native of Wausau, Wis., Scheffler played at Wausau East High School before his collegiate career at Wisconsin and Milwaukee. He was a 12th-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1993 as a left-handed pitcher and played five professional seasons.

Billy Wagner will be the featured speaker at James Madison’s second annual Batter Up Barbeque on Jan. 30 at 4 p.m. in Memorial Hall. Wagner is fifth on the Major League career saves list with 422, compiled in 16 big-league seasons with Houston, Philadelphia, New York Mets, Boston and Atlanta. The event will also include a silent auction.

Chipper Jones and Jonathan Broxton will attend “An Evening with the All-Stars” on Feb. 4 at the Nessmith-Lane Ballroom, sponsored by the Georgia Southern Baseball Dugout Club. Ryan Chambers of the Georgia Southern Radio Network with serve as host. Jones is a six-time All-Star with the Atlanta Braves. Broxton, a native of Augusta, Ga., was an All-Star each of the past two seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Eastern Michigan head coach Jay Alexander was a speaker recently at the American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Nashville, Tenn. Alexander, a member of the ABCA College Playing Rules Committee, gave a presentation entitled “The Three Elements of a Good Swing.”

Western Carolina will hold its “Celebration of Catamount Baseball” fund-raising event on Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. The banquet coincides with the season-opening home series against Morehead State at renovated Ronnie G. Childress Field at Hennon Stadium. Season tickets are also on sale for the 29-date home slate.

The San Francisco baseball team set a program record with a 3.26 cumulative grade point average for the fall semester, passing the mark of 3.25 set two years ago. Six players had above a 3.75 GPA, including one perfect 4.0.

Texas State’s Diamond Club Lead-off Dinner on Feb. 5 will have newly-hired head football coach Dennis Franchione as its featured speaker. The event will be held at the Embassy Suites in San Marcos with cocktails at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7 p.m.