In a year that has seen the baseball programs at Vermont and Northern Iowa cut and the program at Massachusetts narrowly avoid the same fate, another program is trying to escape the chopping block. Fundraising efforts are underway to save the baseball program at Division III Wisconsin-La Crosse, but there’s still a long way to go.

Spearheading the effort is Zach Thiel, who has two cousins who play for UW-L. Thiel has set up a website to try to raise $50,000 by the Sept. 1 deadline to spare the program for another year, and so far the site has raised $17,310 in just a few weeks. If you’d like to make a donation, visit www.saveuwlbaseball.com.

In order to secure the program’s long-term future, UW-L needs major donors to step forward. Athletic director Joe Baker said the program needs to raise between $350,000 and $375,000 by May to be included in the athletic department’s five-year budget. But the first step is to get to $50,000 this summer.

It hasn’t taken Erik Bakich long to settle into his new gig as Maryland’s head baseball coach. In fact, when we spoke with Bakich on Tuesday (a day after he was formally introduced at Maryland), he was already in his comfort zone: on the recruiting trail.

Bakich made his reputation at Vanderbilt as one of the nation’s top recruiters thanks to his tireless work ethic and keen eye for talent. Like fellow former Clemson assistants Tim Corbin (now the head coach at Vandy) and Kevin O’Sullivan (Florida), Bakich will spend plenty of hours recruiting even now that he’s a head coach.

"Looking at the way Coach Corbin did it the first couple of years, taking me under his wing, and watching Coach O’Sullivan—he’s out here now—I don’t think I could ever not be on the road," Bakich said. "I love being out there, I love the chase."

Bakich thinks he’s found a young recruiter in the same mold in Dan Burton, who starred for Louisville’s 2007 College World Series team and spent last year recruiting for Austin Peay State in a volunteer capacity. Bakich hired Burton to be his recruiting coordinator, and Bakich has already been in contact with candidates for his pitching coach job. [...] Continue Reading »

The NCAA has released television ratings for the 2009 College World Series, and the news is good for broadcasts on both ESPN and ESPN2. Overall, the 2009 CWS (the 30th straight Series broadcast by ESPN) was the most-viewed and highest-rated in the history of both ESPN and ESPN2. Having marquee names like Louisiana State and Texas go deep into the Series figured to be a boon for ratings, and indeed it was. Let’s crunch some numbers:

• Overall, ESPN averaged 1,450,000 households, 1,928,000 viewers and a 1.5 rating, marking increases of 33 percent (vs. 1,091,000), 37 percent (vs. 1,408,000) and 36 percent (vs. 1.1), respectively, over 2008.

• ESPN’s three CWS Finals telecasts averaged 2,059,000 households; 2,762,000 total viewers; and a 2.1 rating, making it the most-viewed and highest-rated Finals since the tournament expanded to the best-of-three format in 2003. This season’s games marked increases of 24 percent (vs. 1,664,000), 26 percent (vs. 2,193,000) and 24 percent (vs. 1.7), respectively, over last year. [...] Continue Reading »

Maryland has hired Vanderbilt assistant coach Erik Bakich as its new head baseball coach, a source close to the situation confirmed Saturday. The hire will be announced officially on Monday. Bakich replaces Terry Rupp, who resigned in late May.

Bakich is a rising star in college coaching circles, known for his exceptional talent as a recruiter, his sharp baseball mind, his gregarious personality and his tireless work ethic. As Vandy’s recruiting coordinator, he brought in the nation’s top-ranked class in 2005 (highlighed by third baseman Pedro Alvarez) and the No. 2 class in 2008 (highlighed by righthander Sonny Gray). Each of Bakich’s last four recruiting classes have ranked among the top 25 in the nation, and his efforts are a significant reason the Commodores have become regular contenders in the Southeastern Conference.

Bakich is the latest member of the Jack Leggett/Keith LeClair coaching tree to get a head job (other former Leggett assistants currently serving as head coaches include Vandy’s Tim Corbin, Florida’s Kevin O’Sullivan, Tennessee’s Todd Raleigh and Auburn’s John Pawlowski). He played for LeClair at East Carolina, graduating in 2000, and he started his coaching career as a volunteer under Leggett at Clemson in 2002. Bakich has his work cut out for him at Maryland, which needs significant facility upgrades and lacks winning tradition. But Vanderbilt was in a similar position when Bakich and Corbin arrived there after the 2002 season, and Bakich’s experience as a part of that turnaround should help him at Maryland.

Other finalists for the Maryland job included assistant coach (and former William & Mary head coach) Jim Farr, Indiana coach Tracy Smith and Radford coach Joe Raccuia, according to one source. But Bakich was an inspired choice if Maryland is serious about building a winning baseball program. This is not the first time he has received a head coaching offer at a Division I school, but he was waiting for the right job to come along before leaving a very good situation at Vanderbilt. For him to take the Maryland job, it must mean he is confident he can win there, and it likely signals that the administration is ready to ramp up its commitment to the program.

USA Baseball announced its 22-player roster for the college national team, with Cal State Fullerton shortstop Christian Colon highlighting the team as the lone returnee from last year’s club.

Coach Rick Jones (Tulane) kept a bit of an unusual roster in that there is no true third baseman or second baseman on the team. Colon is one of three regular shortstops on the roster, joined by Rice’s Rick Hague—a fellow sophomore—and Clemson freshman Brad Miller. With a 22-player roster, though, flexibility is always at a premium for Team USA, and this team has several flexible players on the roster.

Hawaii freshman Kolten Wong, for example, can catch, play all three outfield positions and give second base a try. Two of the team’s outfielders, Middle Tennessee State’s Bryce Brentz and Arizona State’s Matt Newman, are both pitchers and hitters.

The team’s strength, however, is on the mound. Want hard throwers? Try UCLA’s freshman tandem of Trevor Bauer and Gerrit Cole, or Vanderbilt freshman Sonny Gray, or Texas Tech’s Chad Bettis. Want college performance? Lefthander Drew Pomeranz, a top candidate to be top-10 pick in 2010, had a stellar postseason for Mississippi, nearly getting the Rebels to Omaha on his own. He had 124 strikeouts in 95 innings while going 8-4, 3.40. And the team has several emerging pitchers, such as Coastal Carolina’s Cody Wheeler and Kansas’ T.J. Walz.

USA Baseball also announced Utah’s Bill Kinneberg—a two-time Team USA assistant—as the head coach for 2010. Kinneberg’s pitching coach will be Cal State Fullerton head coach Dave Serrano, in his first stint with Team USA.

Here is the roster for this summer’s Team USA College National Team.

OMAHA—Augie Garrido finished second at the 1992 College World Series with a Cal State Fullerton team led by future big leaguer Phil Nevin.

"I know this: That 1992 team with Nevin and those guys that finished second, more of them have gone on to different professions—real estate, banking, dentistry," Garrido said. "They have a higher level of success rate in life than teams that won. I honestly believe it’s because they never want to finish second in anything again. I have that experience—I know that to be true."

Garrido’s 2004 Texas team also finished as the national runner-up, and the Longhorns returned to Omaha in 2005 and won the CWS. Texas did not even win a regional the next three years before getting back to Omaha and pushing Louisiana State to the third game of the CWS Finals in 2009. Even though the Longhorns fell short of a national title, there is reason to believe they could follow the example of the ‘05 team next year. [...] Continue Reading »

OMAHA—Louis Coleman’s strikeout of Texas’ Connor Rowe delivered LSU its sixth national championship, setting off a celebration that began with the requisite dogpile on the pitcher’s mound.

Amid the jubilation, the Tigers players literally planted their flag in center field at Roseblatt Stadium before making a beeline to the left-field bleachers to high-five fans.

LSU head coach Paul Mainieri then took the time to say a few words of thanks during the postgame trophy presentation and awards ceremony.

OMAHA—After watching Louisiana State win its sixth national championship with an 11-4 win against Texas, Kirk Kenney and I offered our parting thoughts from Rosenblatt Stadium.

The Mutual of Omaha building downtown had it right all along.

OMAHA—Louisiana State has beaten Texas 11-4 to claim its sixth national championship.

The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Jared Mitchell’s first-inning, three-run homer, then stretched the lead to 4-0 with a run in the second. Texas stormed back against LSU righthander Anthony Ranaudo to tie the game at 4-4 in the fifth, but the Tigers roared back with five runs in the top of the sixth to put it out of reach. Mitchell started the rally with an eight-pitch walk to lead off the inning against UT reliever Brandon Workman, who had retired the previous nine LSU batters. After a passed ball, Mitchell scored the go-ahead run on Mikie Mahtook’s RBI double to right-center.

The Longhorns pulled Workman at that point, but pitchers Austin Dicharry and Austin Wood provided no relief. Dicharry’s throwing error on Micah Gibbs’ sacrifice bunt put runners on the corners with no outs, and Derek Helenihi’s sacrifice fly made it 6-4. After a groundout, Dicharry walked D.J. LeMahieu, Wood came on and hit the next two batters, then surrendered a two-run single to Sean Ochinko to break the game open.

Senior righty Louis Coleman finished the game off with two scoreless innings, striking out the side to end the game.

The Tigers have now tied Texas with their sixth championship, second-most all-time behind Southern California (12).

We’ll have much more reaction and analysis from Rosenblatt after postgame.

OMAHA—After Texas tied the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth, Louisiana State responded in a big way, exploding for five runs on two hits in the top of the sixth. This rally felt a lot like Texas’ ninth-inning rally against Southern Miss on Sunday, when the Longhorns scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth without the benefit of a hit (thanks to three walks and a hit batsman), and Arizona State’s eight-run seventh inning Tuesday, when the North Carolina bullpen couldn’t find the strike zone. Texas pitchers issued two walks, hit two batters and made a costly error in the five-run sixth tonight. But the big blow was Sean Ochinko’s two-run single through the left side of the infield, which stretched LSU’s lead to 9-4.

For the second time in three days, I think Augie Garrido has mismanaged his bullpen. Brandon Workman was cruising along, having retired nine straight batters heading into the sixth. He walked Jared Mitchell to lead off the frame, then lost a battle with Mikie Mahtook, who hit a soft two-run double into the right-center gap to drive in Mitchell. But Workman has great stuff, a fresh arm and had thrown just 49 pitches (he’s a starter by trade, so that’s not much). His fastball and curveball are good enough to get swings and misses, and he had the best chance to get out of that jam. [...] Continue Reading »