July 15, 2012

Lineup Card

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

July 9-15, 2012

Former East Carolina standout Ben Sanderson (left) was named assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at his alma mater. Sanderson was an assistant at Florida Atlantic for the past four years, as the Owls posted a mark of 131-97 with two Sun Belt regular season titles (2010, 2012) and a berth in the 2010 Gainesville Regional. Sanderson spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant at ECU, working with the outfielders and coaching first base. As a player for the Pirates from 2000-03, Sanderson helped ECU reach four NCAA Regional and one Super Regional in 2001.

Oregon State promoted Nate Yeskie to a full-time assistant coach. He was a volunteer assistant for the past four seasons. Yeskie will be the pitching coach for the Beavers, replacing Marty Lees. Yeskie played at UNLV and was a ninth-round selection of the Minnesota Twins in the 1996 MLB Draft. He played professionally for five years, rising as high as Double-A. Yeskie spent three seasons as an assistant at UNLV from 2005-07.

Ohio University has added Craig Moore and Chris Berry to its coaching staff. Moore will be recruiting coordinator and hitting coach. Moore worked with new OU head coach Rob Smith for the past two seasons at Creighton. Berry will work with the catchers and assist with the pitchers and hitters. Barry was Co-Director of the Baylor Baseball Academy this past year. Before that, Barry was pitching coach at Sam Houston State for four years and spent eight seasons at Baylor.

Trea Turner of NC State went 3 for 4 with two doubles, two runs and one RBI to lead Team USA past Cuba 5-2 on Sunday to improve to 2-0 in pool play in Honkbal Week in the Netherlands. The Americans, who beat Japan 4-1 on Saturday, scored three in the seventh to snap a 2-2 tie. Carlos Rodon of NC State pitched two scoreless innings in relief to earn the victory, while Michael Lorenzen of Cal State Fullerton got the final out to record the save. Team USA will play Puerto Rico on Tuesday, Chinese Taipei on Wednesday and the Netherlands on Thursday before beginning medal-round games on Friday.

Former Alabama shortstop Josh Rutledge made his Major League debut on July 13 for Colorado, going 2 for 2 with two RBI as the Rockies defeated Philadelphia 6-2. Rutledge had a RBI double in the second in his first career at-bat.

James Madison has promoted Ted White (left) to top assistant coach and Brandon Cohen to full-time assistant. White, who has been on staff for five years, will be recruiting coordinator, while overseeing the offense and coaching third base. White played ULM, earning a degree in 2002. Cohen was a volunteer assistant for the Dukes this past season. He will work with White on the offense and serve as first base coach. Cohen was a two-time captain at Seton Hall, graduating in 2006.

UCLA had all seven of its drafted players sign professional contracts. The group includes juniors Jeff Gelalich (1st round), Beau Amaral (7), Tyler Heineman (8), Scott Griggs (8), Trevor Brown (10) and Cody Keefer (15), as well as redshirt freshman Eric Jaffe (11).

Michigan State learned that two of its drafted signees, Justin Alleman (RHP/IF, Holt, Mich.) and Cam Gibson (OF, Grosse Pointe, Mich.), will not sign professional contracts and will join the Spartans in the fall. Alleman was taken by Kansas City in the 18th round, while Gibson was picked in the 38th round by Arizona.

Mississippi State had 19 baseball players on the SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll, the top mark in the league. Outfielder Brent Brownlee was recognized for the fourth time, while Nick Routt was honored for the third time. Vanderbilt was second with 16 baseball honorees, while Georgia and South Carolina tied for third with 14.

The Big South announced during its spring meetings that it will use a 24-game, two-division schedule format for the 2013 season. Each of the 12 teams will play a three-game series against the five teams in its division and against three teams in the other division based on the final 2012 conference standings. The top eight teams will advance to the league tournament, playing in double-elimination brackets to determine the teams to play in the championship game. The divisions are:

Campbell         Charleston Southern

High Point        Coastal Carolina

Liberty             Gardner-Webb

Longwood       Presbyterian

Radford           UNC Asheville

VMI                Winthrop

Mississippi State recently announced the promotions of pitching coach Butch Thompson to associate head coach and of coordinator of camps Nick Mingione to full-time assistant coach. In his fifth season with the Bulldogs, Thompson led the MSU staff to a team ERA of 2.58, the second-best mark in the nation. Mingione is also in his fifth season at MSU. He replaces Lane Burroughs, who became head coach at Northwestern State.

The University Division All-State Team was recently announced by the North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA).

SP Tyler McSwain, Sr., UNC Wilmington
SP Carlos Rodon, Fr., NC State
RP Preston Hatcher, Jr., Western Carolina
C Alex Swim, Jr., Elon
IF Chris Diaz, Jr., NC State
IF Michael Felton, Jr., Campbell
IF Ross Heffley, Sr., Western Carolina
IF Trea Turner, Fr., NC State
OF Shane Brown, Sr., Charlotte
OF Ryan Mathews, Sr.; NC State
OF Thomas Pope, Sr., UNC Wilmington
DH Jake Kirkland, Jr., Campbell
 

LSU led the nation in total attendance for the 17th consecutive year. The Tigers set a NCAA record with a 472,391 fans in 44 games. LSU is the only program to exceed 400,000, having also reached the mark in 2010. The Tigers sold more than 10,000 tickets for 37 of its 44 home contests.

2012 NCAA Baseball Home Attendance

Team                           Avg.       Total         Dates

1. LSU                         10,736    472,391     44

2. Arkansas                  7,924      269,433     34

3. South Carolina          7,574      295,389     39

4. Ole Miss                  7,471      239,099     32

5. Texas                       6,337      158,428     25

6. Mississippi State       6,131      202,340     33

7. Florida State             4,583      174,180     38

8. Clemson                   4,405      145,388     33

9. Texas A&M             4,369      187,901     43

10. Creighton               4,268      106,717     25

(photos courtesy of ECU Media Relations & JMU Athletic Photography)