August 7, 2011

Lineup Card

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

August 1-7, 2011

David Esquer has agreed to a new five-year contract as head coach at California. He has posted a record of 354-313-2 (.531) and led the Golden Bears to the College World Series this past season, their first trip to Omaha since 1992. The 2011 CBI National Coach of the Year, Esquer guided Cal to a 38-23 mark this season and its third postseason appearance in the past four years.

Brendan Dougherty has been named an assistant coach at Western Kentucky. He will work with the infielders and coordinate the team defense. Dougherty worked for the past six seasons at Coastal Carolina. He also coached two years at Army, one year at Auburn and four years at Elon. Dougherty played two seasons at Coastal Carolina and earned a degree in interdisciplinary studies in 1998.

Drew Dickinson was hired as pitching coach at Illinois. He was a two-time All-American and Big Ten Pitcher of the Year for the Illini. Dickinson was a volunteer assistant at Illinois in 2009 and 2011 after a seven-year professional career. He was pitching coach for the Schaumburg Flyers of the Northern League in 2010.

Drew Thomas, pitching coach at Coastal Carolina, has been promoted to a full-time position. Thomas was a volunteer assistant with the Chanticleers for the past five years and was the camp coordinator. He was a pitching instructor at the IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla., prior to his arrival at Coastal Carolina. Thomas earned a B.A. in history at Illinois State and pitched professionally in the San Diego Padres system. He also pitched for the Canton Crocodiles of the Frontier League.

Randy Johnson will be inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame. He won 16 games for the Trojans over three seasons with 206 strikeouts and 188 walks. Johnson went 303-166 in 22 years in the major leagues with five Cy Young Awards. He struck out 4,875 and posted a career ERA of 3.29.

Former Louisville catcher Kyle Cheesebrough has returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach. He will work with the catchers and hitters. Cheesebrough played for the Cardinals in 2008 and 2009. He was a student assistant at Louisville in 2010. This past season, Cheesebrough was the volunteer assistant at Pittsburgh.

Zach Etheredge has been named a volunteer assistant at UC Santa Barbara. He was a two-time All-Southland Conference catcher at UTSA. Etheredge played professionally in the Chicago White Sox organization.

The sixth annual Iowa Baseball Golf Outing will be Friday, Sept. 2 at Blue Top Ridge Golf Course at the Riverside Casino & Resort in Riverside, Iowa. The event will be held the day before the Iowa football season opener against Tennessee Tech.

Kyle Kallander, commissioner of the Big South, has been elected Chair of the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee for 2011-12. He is in his 16th season as Big South commissioner and has been on the Division I Baseball Committee for the past two years. Kallander previously chaired the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee and was a member of the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics.

Dusty Blake has been hired as pitching coach at USC Upstate. He will also help with recruiting. Blake was an assistant for the past four years at Wofford. He also coached at Catawba and Pfeiffer. Blake earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Appalachian State in 2003 and a Master’s degree in organizational development and business from Pfeiffer.

George Horton has added Mark Wasikowski and Jay Uhlman to his staff at Oregon. Wasikowski will be recruiting coordinator and run the offense, as well as working with the outfielders and base runners. He coached for the past 10 years at Arizona. Wasikowski also coached at Florida and Pepperdine. Uhlman was a volunteer assistant for the Ducks in 2010 and was a fulltime assistant at Kansas this past season. He also coached for eight years at his alma mater, Nevada. Uhlman will coach third base and work with the infielders. He will also help with recruiting and coaching the hitters.

Jason Hawkins has been named an assistant coach at UC Santa Barbara. He was head coach at Occidental for the past three years after serving as an assistant at the University of Redlands from 2005-08. Hawkins was infield and hitting coach at Redlands.

Jeff Schexnaider has brought in Justin Hill and Jim Rushworth as assistant coaches at ULM. Hill will serve as pitching coach and Rushworth will be the volunteer assistant. Hill was pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Southeastern Louisiana the past four seasons. He also coached at Sam Houston State, LSU and Northwestern State. Hill earned a bachelor’s degree from LSU and a master’s degree from Northwestern State. Rushworth was head coach at Sterlington High School for the past three years. He also coached at Leesville HS and DeRidder HS.