June 30, 2012

Lineup Card

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

June 11-30, 2012

Former Michigan State catcher Eric Roof has returned to his alma mater at volunteer assistant coach under Jake Boss. Roof replaces Jake Boss Sr., who recently retired after 45 years coaching baseball, including the past four as the volunteer assistant at MSU. Roof will primarily work with the catchers and hitters as well as performing various administrative duties. Roof was a three-year letter-winner at MSU from 2007-09. He was selected in the 18th round of the 2009 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers. He played three seasons in the Tigers organization.

Patrick Waer was recently hired as an assistant coach at Washington State. He was an assistant for the past five seasons at Fresno State, including helping the Bulldogs win the 2008 national championship. Waer played two years at Bakersfield College, his junior year at Chico State and his senior season at Washington State. He earned his bachelor’s degree from WSU in 1995 and a master’s degree from National University in 2000. He was a high school head coach from 1998-2005 before serving as a volunteer assistant at Fresno State in 2006. Waer was catching and hitting instructor at Fresno City College in 2007.

The West Coast Conference will hold its 2013 championship at Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton, Calif. The four-team event will run from May 23-25.

Tom Kinkelaar will not return as an assistant coach at Georgia Tech. He has been on staff for the past eight seasons, including the past five as pitching coach. Kinkelaar was a college teammate of head coach Danny Hall at Miami (Ohio). Kinkelaar started as director of baseball operations with the Yellow Jackets in 2005 and was promoted to assistant coach in 2008.

Josh Jordan has been added to Chris Pollard’s staff at Duke. He will be recruiting coordinator, work with catchers and outfielders while assisting with hitting and baserunning. For the past six seasons, Jordan was an assistant with Pollard at Appalachian State. Jordan played at Catawba and coached at Catawba, Fort Hays State and Young Harris before landing at ASU.

The All-Louisiana teams and award winners were announced by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association in voting by various state sportswriters and sports information directors.

2012 All-Louisiana Baseball

First Team

1B  Alex Williams, Louisiana Tech

2B  Brock Hebert, Southeastern Louisiana

SS  Jeremy Sy, ULM

3B  Thomas Brown III, Grambling

C  Jeremy Schaffer, Tulane

OF  Raph Rhymes, LSU

OF  Mason Katz, LSU

OF  Kyle Pearson, LSU-Shreveport

DH  Colin Bear, Northwestern State

P  Kevin Gausman, LSU

P  Stefan Lopez, Southeastern Louisiana

P  Jared Mortensen, LSU-Shreveport

P  D.J. Ponder, Tulane

Second Team

1B  Joey Rapp, ULM

2B  Ryan Gebhardt, Louisiana Tech

SS  Austin Nola, LSU

3B  Garrett Cannizaro, Tulane

C  Ty Ross, LSU

OF  Brandon Boudreaux, Tulane

OF  Seth Granger, McNeese State

OF  Nick Schneeberger, Tulane

DH  Derrick Hopkins, Southern

P  Nick Goody, LSU

P  Aaron Nola, LSU

P  Chris Cotton, LSU

P  Phil Maton, Louisiana Tech

Hitter of the Year:  Raph Rhymes, LSU

Pitcher of the Year:  Kevin Gausman, LSU

Freshman of the Year:  Andro Cutura, Southeastern Louisiana

Newcomer of the Year:  Greg Friesen, LSU-Shreveport

Coach of the Year:  Paul Mainieri, LSU

Kirk Saarloos has been named an assistant coach at TCU. He was pitching coach at Cal State Fullerton for the past two seasons. Saarloos pitched for the Titans and spent seven seasons in the major leagues, pitching for Houston, Oakland and Cincinnati.

J-Bob Thomas has joined the staff of Tim Tadlock at Texas Tech. Thomas, 29, will work with the catchers and help with the hitters. He spent the past seven seasons as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Howard College. Thomas was a four-year all-conference catcher at Abilene Christian.

Steve Johnigan has been promoted to associate head coach at Baylor. He has been on Steve Smith’s staff for 17 seasons. He is the primary hitting coach, coordinates the offense and baserunning, works with infielders and catchers and serves as co-recruiting coordinator. Smith also announced that assistant Trevor Mote and volunteer assistant Zach Dillon will also return for 2013.

Murray State received the 2011-12 Team Sportsmanship Award for baseball by the Ohio Valley Conference. The award was voted on by the baseball student-athletes and coaches.