Youngstown State hired former Slippery Rock (Pa.) assistant coach Rich Pasquale as its head coach, replacing Mike Florak, who resigned. Pasquale has experience coaching at the Division I level as well–he spent three seasons as an assistant at Pittsburgh–and as a head coach at the Division III level, serving four years at La Roche (Pa.) College. It’s been a good week for Pasquale, whose cousin Terry Francona just led the Red Sox to their second World Series title in four years.

Recruiting rules and regulations are changing as often as the recruits themselves. It’s been a year since Major League Baseball eliminated the draft-and-follow process, and within this year the NCAA has also made significant changes regarding transfers, roster sizes, and scholarship limits.

Those changes affected the way junior colleges are going about their recruiting, and most juco coaches have turned the changes into a positive for their programs.

[...] Continue Reading »

And you thought the coaching carousel had ground to a halt now that it’s nearly November. Fat chance.

A day after Eastern Michigan coach Roger Coryell announced his retirement, prompting another national coaching search, UC Irvine announced the hiring of Ted Silva as pitching coach. Silva joins Mike Gillespie’s staff after spending a year as the pitching coach at Fresno State. Before that, he was a volunteer assistant at Cal State Fullerton. Now, Bulldogs coach Mike Batesole has a vacancy to fill on his staff. [...] Continue Reading »

The wildfires in Southern California have forced San Diego and Long Beach State to move their three-game Fall World Series from this weekend to Nov. 2-4. The first two games will be at LBSU’s Blair Field, with the opener scheduled for next Friday at 6 p.m. and the second game for Saturday at 2. Sunday’s finale is tentatively scheduled for San Diego at 1 p.m.

Toreros coach Rich Hill said this morning that the fires are no threat to USD’s coastal campus, although the winds have blown the heavy smoke toward the ocean, affecting the air quality around USD. But Hill and his family live in Carmel Mountain Ranch, and they’re not out of the woods yet. [...] Continue Reading »

As wildfires have spread through Southern California, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and destroying millions of dollars worth of property, Pepperdine’s emergency response has been admirable. Fires in Malibu have engulfed a number of celebrity mansions and threatened Pepperdine’s campus–the third picture in the slideshow on this webpage shows the fires in relation to the Waves’ baseball stadium–but Pepperdine coach Steve Rodriguez said last night that all of his players are safe, thanks in large part to the university’s quick response. [...] Continue Reading »

Maybe fall baseball is the wave of the future. We’ve already told you about the Fall World Series that San Diego and Long Beach State have planned for next weekend, but those aren’t the only teams getting creative with the schedule this fall. Big 12 juggernauts Texas and Baylor played a predetermined 12-inning exhibition on Sunday, with the Longhorns winning 5-3 behind home runs by junior outfielder Jordan Danks and freshman outfielder Kevin Keyes. Sophomore outfielder Aaron Miller homered and doubled for Baylor.

Though the exhibition did not count toward either team’s spring record, players who appeared in the game will only be able to participate in 55 games next spring, rather than the full 56. But expect to see plenty more games like this in the future. [...] Continue Reading »

The nation’s No. 1 recruit was making his first public appearance for North Carolina just 20 minutes from our office last night, so I had to take a look for myself. On a cold night at the USA Baseball complex in Cary (the temporary home of UNC while Boshamer Stadium is renovated), freshman righthander Matt Harvey looked good despite taking a loss in the Tar Heels’ Fall World Series. Harvey scattered nine hits and two walks while striking out two over 5 2/3 innings, allowing just one run when left fielder Mike Cavasinni lost a pop-fly in the gray sky. [...] Continue Reading »

Sad news today out of Louisiana, where former Louisiana Tech coach Pat "Gravy" Patterson died after fatally shooting his ailing 71-year-old wife and then himself, according to reports. Patterson is a member of the school’s athletics hall of fame who led the Bulldogs to seven regional appearances in his 23-year tenure before retiring in 1990. His wife, Glenda, was suffering from Alzheimer’s and had been living in an assisted-living facility outside of Ruston, La., for the last month.

In case you missed it this week, UC Irvine has finally made its hiring of Mike Gillespie official. Gillespie and new associate head coach Pat Shine began running practices this week after a protracted wait for the UC system to approve their hiring. Gillespie signed a three-year contract that is worth $150,000 annually including shoe, equipment and apparel deals. Shine will handle recruiting duties and run the offense, and he presumably will be first in line to succeed Gillespie when he finally opts to retire. The Anteaters are still looking for a pitching coach.