Multiple sources have confirmed that Oregon will announce that it has hired Cal State Fullerton coach George Horton, possibly during Saturday’s season-opening Oregon football game. Details of the contract should be finalized by the end of the day Friday.

“It’s pretty much a done deal,” said one source with knowledge of the negotiations. “Nothing’s been signed, so nothing’s official yet, but it’s pretty much a done deal. [...] Continue Reading »

In case you missed it last week, Nebraska’s nightmarish year of off-field drama continued. Two Nebraska baseball players and one former Cornhusker have been suspended for exchanging university-issued bats for credit at a local sporting goods store. Senior outfielder Andy Gerch will miss the first 12 games of the 2008 season, and senior infielder Craig Corriston will miss the first six, as will catcher Jeff Lanning, who has transferred to New Orleans.

“I’m very disappointed that these secondary violations occurred,” Nebraska coach Mike Anderson said in a statement. “This is not indicative of Nebraska athletics. Now that we have the findings from the NCAA, I will consider whether further discipline is appropriate.”

UC Irvine coach Dave Serrano has taken his name out of the running for Oregon’s vacant head coaching job.

Baseball America’s 2007 Coach of the Year had delayed his scheduled visit to Eugene so he and his wife and staff could make a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate and relive the Anteaters’ College World Series run, and the Ducks allowed him a few more days to think about it before his visit, which he never wound up making. Serrano said he woke up this morning with a decision to remain at Irvine. [...] Continue Reading »

UC Irvine coach Dave Serrano, Baseball America’s 2007 Coach of the Year, is back in the mix for the head coaching job at Oregon after originally taking his hat out of the ring following a face-to-face meeting with Oregon athletic director Pat Kilkenny in Southern California.

“It’s true, we’re in discussions,” Serrano said Thursday night. “We met three weeks ago, they offered for me and my wife to go visit, and we declined. But since then we’ve rekindled discussions.

“I want to emphasize that I’m extremely happy at UC Irvine, but I’d be neglecting the opportunity of a lifetime if I didn’t see what’s best for my career and family.” [...] Continue Reading »

John Manuel already broke down many of the winners and losers from the Aug. 15 mandatory signing date, but here’s a look at the biggest winners and losers from a college perspective. Keep in mind, many teams had no expectations of signing their biggest recruits; this is more a snapshot of who might have been surprised positively or negatively by late developments: [...] Continue Reading »

The Texas Collegiate League quickly established itself as one of the most talent-rich summer college baseball leagues in the country since its inception in 2004, but the league might have played its final game. According to the (Fort Worth) Star-Telegram, seven of the league’s nine teams plan to drop out, but the TCL has responded by suing the teams to prevent them from leaving. TCL teams cite high membership fees as a major obstacle to balancing the books, and one franchise claims to have lost more than $50,000 a year since the league began, according to the paper.

It doesn’t sound like there’s a lot of reason for optimism that the league can survive, which is a pity because players enjoy the TCL experience and there is certainly room for a strong summer league in Texas.

UPDATE: The TCL has released this statement in response:

“The Texas Collegiate League is continually focused on providing the best summer league experience for the top professional prospects from colleges throughout the country.  In only four seasons, TCL has become one of the premier summer collegiate leagues in the nation, and TCL plans on continuing that prestige for 2008 and beyond.  While TCL continues to pursue its legal remedies and damages against the withdrawing teams, TCL will move forward with league expansion and will do all it can to ensure that 2008 will be another great season for everyone involved.”

Vanderbilt likes Tim Corbin. That much is certain. The university announced that Corbin–who will meet with the media Wednesday afternoon–has turned down Oregon’s overtures to lead its resuscitated program. Corbin is 198-102 in five seasons, with three NCAA tournament appearances and the 2007 Southeastern Conference regular-season and tournament championships on his resume. [...] Continue Reading »

A source familiar with the process of resuscitating Oregon’s baseball program has confirmed that the Ducks have offered their head-coaching job to Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin.
“They want to do this right, they’re trying to get the best coach possible,” the source said. “They’re doing a very thorough search. They did not do this to finish in second place.”

A second source indicated the buzz in the coaching community is that Corbin is likely to stay at Vanderbilt. Corbin could not be reached for comment.

The Division I Baseball Committee has unveiled a slightly modified schedule for the 2008 College World Series. The event will now start on Saturday, June 14 rather than Friday as in years past, a change aimed at giving teams an extra day to prepare and safeguarding against weather delays in the regionals and super-regionals. The CWS Finals will now begin on Monday, June 23 and conclude on Tuesday or Wednesday, rather than beginning the previous Saturday and concluding on Sunday or Monday. This way, the “if necessary” games are scheduled for Saturday, June 22, making Sunday an off day. [...] Continue Reading »

Brian Meehan had a very interesting column about Oregon’s search for a head coach for its soon-to-be-resuscitated baseball program in yesterday’s Oregonian. Among the tidbits revealed in the piece: the Ducks reportedly tried to woo Pat Casey away from in-state rival Oregon State by throwing huge piles of money his way; Casey declined. As Meehan points out, that approach seemed lacking in decorum, and it’s probably best for the Ducks that Casey said no, so the program didn’t start off in controversy. [...] Continue Reading »

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors did not delay the implementation of a minimum scholarship threshold for college baseball as the sport’s academic enhancement group proposed, but it did amend the controversial legislation at its Thursday meeting.

Schools will now be required to offer at least a 25 percent aid package to all scholarship players, rather than the 33 percent that was approved in April. In order to make the change more palatable to underfunded schools that had protested the change, programs that have less than 11.7 scholarships at their disposal will be able to use countable institutional aid to get to 25 percent. This means underfunded programs will be able to stretch their funds a little farther than they otherwise would have by giving out more need-based aid. [...] Continue Reading »

Big changes are certainly on the way for college baseball, but the alteration that has the potential to be the biggest of all might be delayed.

When the NCAA Division I board of directors meets Thursday, the committee that has recommended sweeping academic reforms for baseball will suggest it waits a year to make changes in the allocation of scholarships.

[...] Continue Reading »

Winthrop has confirmed that ace righthander Alex Wilson will miss the 2008 season after having Tommy John surgery. Wilson, who went 6-4, 2.51 as a sophomore this spring after going 13-3, 3.78 as a freshman, figured to be a first-round pick next June thanks to a 90-94 mph fastball and a quality low-80s slider.

There is a good track record of pitchers coming back strong from Tommy John, of course, so Wilson could re-establish himself as a top draft candidate for 2009. But that’s little consolation in the short term for Winthrop, whose hopes to topple Coastal Carolina in the Big South have now taken a major blow.

Southern California officially announced the hiring of Tom House as its new pitching coach, a major coup for second-year coach Chad Kreuter. House pitched for the Trojans in 1967 before becoming a third-round pick of the Braves that year, and he had an eight-year big league career, highlighted by when he caught Hank Aaron’s 715th home run while standing in the Atlanta bullpen. House later was pitching coach for the Texas Rangers but has been in private business for the better part of the last 15 years.

If you visit the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference website, you won’t find any mention of Le Moyne’s unceremonious ouster from the league, even though it happened more than a month ago. If the MAAC is trying to keep the episode quiet, you can’t blame it–the league should be embarrassed.

The MAAC passed a new by-law on June 11 that left perennial league power Le Moyne looking for a new home. Worse for the Dolphins, the by-law took effect immediately, thus denying Le Moyne ample time to look for a new conference. [...] Continue Reading »