North Carolina State coach Elliott Avent told Baseball America on Monday that the Wolfpack has parted ways with senior catcher Danny Canela.

Canela has 17 homers in three seasons at N.C. State, and he's coming off his best season in 2012, when he hit .348/.457/.507 with six homers, 18 doubles and 46 RBIs. He was slated to hit cleanup for the 'Pack as a senior, and he would have provided a much-needed lefthanded bat in the middle of the lineup.

"He is a great player, and he served us well, so I wish him well," Avent said. "For three years, he's been a good guy and a good player. At some point this fall, we just kind of parted ways."

Scouts have questioned Canela's work ethic for years, wondering why he hasn't been able to firm up his round frame (listed at 5-foot-9, 241 pounds). But he's always had a knack for making quality contact at the plate. Canela is headed to NAIA Lee (Tenn.), coach Michael Moody confirmed Tuesday, and he will be immediately eligible this spring.

For a Wolfpack team with legitimate College World Series aspirations, losing Canela is a blow, but NCSU should be able to overcome it. Sophomore catcher Brett Austin, an unsigned supplemental first-round pick in 2011, figured to be the primary catcher anyway, but losing Canela takes away N.C. State's security blanket in case injury should strike. Now Austin and freshman John Mangum are the only catchers on the roster, Avent said.

Austin's prospect pedigree is built on his offensive potential, as many scouts believed two years ago that he would eventually have to move to another position, but Avent said he worked hard this summer to improve behind the plate.

"He went to the Cape, he caught and did pretty good," Avent said. "Austin's receiving has cleaned up, although he still misses a ball occasionally. If he stays healthy, we'll be OK behind the plate.

"There will be more pressure on him, but I think he's good enough to handle it. If he gets hurt is my biggest fear. That's when I think we'd go backwards."

Longtime Jacksonville University coach Terry Alexander announced Wednesday that the 2013 season will be his last at the school. JU athletic director Brad Edwards also said the school will name pitching coach Tim Montez head coach-in-waiting at the end of the year, the Florida Times-Union reported.

The changes come on the heels of an immensely disappointing 2012 campaign. The Dolphins entered the season as favorites to win the Atlantic Sun Conference and were regarded as a legitimate contender to win a regional. But they finished in last place in the A-Sun and 18-38 overall—the worst season in Alexander's 23 years as head coach.

Alexander's tenure has been overwhelmingly successful. He has been a member of the JU coaching staff since 1980, and since taking over as head coach in 1991 he has led the Dolphins 10 regionals a 713-590-2 record, making him easily the winningest coach in school history. Jacksonville has made four trips to regionals in the last seven years, but 2012 was trying. Even so, the 57-year-old Alexander told reporters that was not the reason for his departure.

"The wheels kind of fell off last year with a lot of injuries and other things that were happening," he said. "I just couldn't walk away then. I had to come back another year and try to go out a winner. I wanted the seniors to go out a winner."

Alexander also indicated he isn't ready for retirement yet. [...] Continue Reading »

Vanderbilt has had plenty of success bringing Northeasterners to Nasvhille—from coach Tim Corbin to players like Pedro Alvarez, Ryan Flaherty and Mike Yastrzemski. Now the Commodores have tapped into their Northeast pipeline again, hiring Scott Brown away from St. John's to be their new pitching coach.

Brown replaces Derek Johnson, who left to become the Cubs' minor league pitching coordinator last month. Like Johnson, Brown has a great baseball mind and has earned the respect of his peers and professional scouts alike.

"Being from the northeast, Scott is someone that I have followed for quite some time," Corbin said. "When you ask about young pitching coaches that have made a difference, Scott's name is widely mentioned . . . He is one of the  most respected young coaches in our profession."

Brown spent the last nine seasons as an assistant under Red Storm coach Ed Blankmeyer, helping to lead St. John's to seven regionals and five Big East championships. The Red Storm reached super regionals for the first time this year, losing to eventual national champion Arizona. Before that, Brown coached at Division III power Cortland (N.Y.) State. He also has experience coaching in the New York Collegiate Baseball League and the New England Collegiate Baseball League, where he won the 2004 manager of the year award after guiding the Sanford Mainers to the NECBL title.

There was never any doubt that Vanderbilt would make a strong hire to replace Johnson, and that's just what it did.

Buddy Bolding, who shepherded Longwood from Division III to D-II to D-I during the course of his 35-year tenure, will retire after the 2013 season, the school announced Tuesday.

Bolding coached the Lancers to 26 consecutive winning seasons from 1979-2004, a stretch that included six trips to the D-II NCAA tournament and two appearances in the D-II College World Series. The Lancers completed the transition to D-I in 2008 and have posted four straight winning seasons since then. They have found a home in the Big South Conference, after starting as a D-I independent.

Since taking over as head coach in the fall of 1978, Bolding has led Longwood to a 927-516-4 mark. Nine of his players have been drafted since 1988, most notably Michael Tucker, who spent 12 years in the big leagues as an outfielder.

"We now stand at the threshold of a new day for Longwood's rich athletic history and for Longwood's well-conceived ambitions for a bright future," Bolding said in an uncommonly colorful statement. "The prudent time for me to pass the baseball torch along to another is at hand, and I joyously extend that torch forward while it yet burns bright. Countless professional scouts, opponent coaches, and others have over the years said that Buddy Bolding possessed the greatest batting practice arm known to man; and even I might agree with that assertion; but as that arm is now seven-plus million pitches well-worn, it cannot continue to develop great Lancer batsmen for a successful future in the Big South Conference, as will be needed.

"In short, I cannot be Buddy Bolding forever, and my standard, and the pride I have had in throwing that BP, is such that I cannot suffer to offer my hitters less than they deserve. I, therefore, walk away from the ball yard having given my best and having left nothing on the diamond for the crows to pick over. In scriptural terms, I have fought the good fight."

For the second time this offseason, a Division I baseball coach has died. Virginia Commonwealth announced that coach Paul Keyes, 50, lost his battle with cancer Saturday.

Keyes was diagnosed in April with stage 4 melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. He had worked at VCU since 1985 as an assistant and was head coach for the last 18 seasons, compiling a 603-428-1 record (.585 winning percentage). The Rams had 12 straight winning seasons from 1996-2007, including 46 victories in 1998 (with a team led by Brandon Inge) and 2003 (led by future big league pitchers Sean Marshall and Cla Meredith as well as 2004 first-rounder Justin Orenduff). Virginia Commonwealth made eight regional trips and won five Colonial Athletic Association titles in his tenure. [...] Continue Reading »

It looks like Arizona State won't be sharing the Cubs' new spring training facility after all.

After more than a year of negotiations with the Cubs and the city of Mesa, ASU announced Thursday that it is officially ending conversations and "moving forward with pursing other options for our baseball program," according to a release.

"ASU negotiated the original agreement in good faith," the school's release said. "However, the changes the Cubs demanded shows that they do not value the partnership with ASU, thus making a deal impossible."

Arizona State had previously entered a letter of agreement to play in the new Mesa ballpark, and it was approved by the Arizona Board of Regents. But that was not the same as reaching a formal partnership deal.

"The university approached the talks enthusiastically and readily accepted the deal as originally outlined," the school said in its statement. "But as the new Cubs management changed the original deal points and added new issues to the negotiation, the new terms became far too costly to the university, imposed too many restrictions on ASU's use of the facility and exposed the university to too great a level of financial liability for the entire complex."

So, assuming this isn't just posturing (and the Sun Devils certainly sound as though they've moved on), Arizona State will explore other stadium options, but the school reportedly lacks the funds to replace or renovate aging Packard Stadium. The Phoenix Business Journal reported a month ago that Phoenix Municipal Stadium could be an option of the Mesa deal fell apart. The stadium is currently the spring training home of the Athletics, who could move into Hohokam Stadium when the Cubs vacate that facility to move into their new $99 million ballpark.

One of college baseball's most respected and accomplished pitching coaches is leaving for a job in professional ball. Baseball America learned Sunday that Vanderbilt associate head coach Derek Johnson will become the Cubs' minor league pitching coordinator.

Johnson, the 2010 Baseball America/ABCA Assistant Coach of the Year, deserves a great deal of credit for helping Tim Corbin build Vanderbilt into an elite program on the national level. Johnson joined the Vandy staff a year before Corbin was hired as head coach in 2002, and Corbin made the wise decision to keep him on the staff. In the last decade, Johnson has earned a glowing reputation among his peers and the scouting community for his ability to develop power arms, including David Price, Mike Minor, Sonny Gray, Jeremy Sowers and plenty of others.

"He's had as much impact on our program as anyone," Corbin told BA in the fall of 2010. "I think what D.J. has done with these kids is far-reaching. He's kept them healthy, he's made each one of them better. You look at the kids, the pitchers specifically, that have come out of our program, being able to pitch at the next level—it goes without saying . . . We would not have our success without having him on our staff." [...] Continue Reading »

Coaches often say the best time to evaluate recruiting classes is four years after recruits show up on campus, when the full measure of their impact can be accurately assessed. Of course, we're a forward-thinking publication for a forward-thinking audience, and we'll always rank recruiting classes when they show up on campus in an attempt to predict which schools have bright futures ahead of them. It is instructional, however, to look back at our 2008 recruiting class rankings (subscribers only) and see how we did. This is also a way to give credit to recruiting coordinators whose classes turned out far better than initially thought.

So, below is how we would rank the 2008 recruiting classes in hindsight, based on what the players accomplished in school. Postseason success weighs heavily in our calculus, but we're also looking at whether the players in these classes were vital cornerstone players or role players who were just along for the ride. The best classes have a blend of both. Draft results have no bearing on these revised rankings, but you'll notice that most of the classes that experienced the most success also produced a number of marquee draft picks (with a glaring exception at the very top).

Overall, the rankings four years ago were pretty strong. Thirteen of our Top 25 classes in 2008 crack our "revised" list four years later. But there were a few glaring omissions from the Top 25 four years ago, led by the top-ranked class on our list.

1. SOUTH CAROLINA

2008 rank: NR.
Recruiting coordinator: Monte Lee/Chad Holbrook.
Key players: Michael Roth, Matt Price, Jackie Bradley Jr., Bobby Haney, Adam Matthews, Justin Dalles, Nick Ebert, Nolan Belcher, Adam Westmoreland.
The bottom line: Simply put, this is one of the most accomplished classes in college baseball history—the foundation for two national titles and a CWS runner-up finish. Only Bradley was drafted inside the top five rounds, which proves that sometimes the best recruiting classes aren't the most prospect-heavy. [...] Continue Reading »

Gregg Ritchie knows he raised some eyebrows when he decided to leave his job as a major league hitting coach with the Pirates in order to take over as head coach at his alma mater, George Washington. That career path is just about unheard-of. 

"A lot of people say, 'That's the major leagues,' " said Ritchie, who was introduced as GW's new coach last week. "Yeah, you're right, that's the major leagues. It's a great, fantastic thing—it's unbelievable. It's the pinnacle of the baseball world, really. But at the same time, spending all that time away from your family, wanting to become a better father . . . This is a great opportunity to do something you really love, and do it somewhere you really love, and be home with your family at the same time. That's the trifecta. It made it a lot easier decision.

"I know some people don't understand it, but when it's family, it made it easier."

Ritchie said he hasn't spent a summer at home—which remains about 45 miles south of GW, where he lived in high school—since he was 15. Travel baseball, college baseball, pro baseball, followed by a successful coaching career in the pro ranks has kept Ritchie on the road since the early 1980s. [...] Continue Reading »

Georgia Tech battled injuries to its pitching staff last year, and now one of its key arms will miss all of the 2013 season, as well. Junior righthander Matt Grimes had Tommy John surgery after re-injuring his elbow in a scrimmage earlier this week.

Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall said Grimes missed most of last year with elbow problems and rested all summer. Grimes was pitching again in intrasquad scrimmages this fall, throwing three outings. His last pitch before the surgery was 91 mph, according to Hall, but he said his elbow didn't feel right.

A trip to Dr. James Andrews revealed the bad news, as Andrews recommended surgery because the MRI on Grimes' elbow looked worse than the one on file from last spring.
[...] Continue Reading »

George Washington's coaching hire was worth the long wait.

The Colonials made a splash Thursday, hiring GW alum Gregg Ritchie as their new head coach. Ritchie has spent the last two years as the major league hitting coach for the Pirates, following a five-year stint as the organization's minor league hitting coordinator. It's one thing for minor league instructors to leave for college coaching jobs, but big league coaches very seldom leave for the college ranks.

"Coming back to George Washington brings my career full circle, as in many ways this is where it all started for me," said Ritchie, a 1999 inductee into the school's athletic hall of fame. "I met my wife here at GW, and we both made a lifetime of extraordinary memories going to school and competing in the heart of the nation's capital. To have this opportunity to coach at my alma mater and play our home games in the premier facility in the conference at Barcroft Park is extremely special."

An outfielder and pitcher at GW in the mid-1980s, Ritchie played seven years in the Giants system and another with the Rangers before concluding his playing career in 1995. He began coaching in the White Sox system the following year.

Tom Sheridan, who was leading the program on an interim basis since August 10, will remain on Ritchie's staff as associate head coach. Dave Lorber, who spent last year on the staff at Stony Brook, was hired in September to fill the other full-time assistant role.

With Ritchie's hire, the coaching carousel appears finally to have stopped spinning in 2012. Yesterday, new Western Illinois head coach Ryan Brownlee filled out his coaching staff, hiring former Iowa assistant Dusty Napoleon and retaining WIU pitching coach/recruiting coordinator Shane Davis. The Leathernecks hired Brownlee (who had spent 15 years as an assistant at Iowa) on Sept. 28.

Towson's athletic department on Tuesday recommended a proposal to cut its baseball and men's soccer programs after this academic year, pending final approval by the university president in mid-November.

Athletic director Mike Waddell said the proposals to cut the two teams will save the athletic program about $800,000. He also said the cuts are aimed at complying with Title IX legislation, which calls for the athletic program representation to remain consistent with the school's 60-40 female-male student ratio. As part of the proposal, the school would re-establish a men's tennis team as well.

In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, long-time Towson coach Mike Gottlieb expressed frustration with the university's lack of communication and lack of commitment to its student-athletes. The Sun reported Tuesday that the school had been considering the cuts since last fall, but Gottlieb said he was kept in the dark until this week. [...] Continue Reading »

Maryland-Eastern Shore made an intriguing head coaching hire Tuesday, tabbing Pedro Swann to replace Will Gardner, who is gone after going 61-260 in six seasons.

Swann played 17 years of pro ball from 1991-2007, including brief big league stints with the Braves, Blue Jays and Orioles between 2000 and 2003. Like Oregon's George Horton and Texas' Augie Garrido, Swann also has a neat connection to actor Kevin Costner. Swann played the role of Juan Vasquez in Costner's 1998 film "For Love of the Game."

Swann also has Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference experience, playing for Delaware State from 1989-'91. He graduated from Delaware State in 1995, and in 2001 he was inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame. After retiring from playing in 2007, Swann founded and has been president of the Pro Swing Sports Academy in Middletown, Delaware. He served as a hitting instructor as well as head coach of three youth travel teams. He also spent four years as a high school hitting coach.

Swann inherits a UMES program that made progress in 2012, going 11-13 in the MEAC and finishing in third place in the conference tournament. The Hawks finished 14-39 overall—tied for their second-most wins in the last 17 years.

Mik Aoki has been down this road before. When he was the head coach at Boston College, Aoki led the Eagles through the transition from the Big East Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference, and he handled it with aplomb. BC made it to regionals in 2009, its fourth season in the ACC.

Soon Aoki must guide another program from the Big East to the ACC, a conference populated largely by warm-weather baseball powers. The ACC officially welcomed Notre Dame to the conference Wednesday (for all sports except football). Aoki, now the head coach for the Fighting Irish, will shepherd his program into the ACC sometime in the next 27 months, though it's unclear if the Irish can negotiate an exit fee to expedite that process.

"Baseball is a really big deal to the ACC," Aoki said in a statement. "Our conference is exciting, the venues from Miami to Florida State to Clemson to Georgia Tech to N.C. State to Virginia. It is simply a who's who of college baseball. The game operation, fan base and facilities, I just think it's a really big move for our baseball program to compete in that conference. If you look at the ACC over the last 10 years or so, the ACC has either been No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 in conference RPI. This is a major upgrade for our program." [...] Continue Reading »

San Jose State passed over interim coach Mark O'Brien and hired longtime Pacific-12 Conference assistant Dave Nakama as its head coach Wednesday, replacing the retired Sam Piraro.

Athletic director Gene Bleymaier, in his first coaching hire after arriving from Boise State, chose Nakama, who most recently was an assistant for three seasons at Washington after working as an assistant at Stanford (1997-98, 2002-2009). Nakama has previous head-coaching experience at Division II San Francisco State (55-109 from 1999-2001) and Mission JC in San Jose (1992-96). His Mission teams made a pair of California state JC playoff trips, and he coached Gary Matthews Jr. there.

"San Jose State always has had a very good baseball reputation," Nakama said in a statement released by the school. "I'm excited to continue this tradition and return to the Bay Area—a great place to work and live." [...] Continue Reading »

Two years ago, the University of New Orleans athletic program left the Sun Belt Conference to pursue a move to Division III, and later decided to set its sights on D-II. In March, the school announced it would remain in Division I, and all that remained was to find a new conference, because UNO was unaffiliated since exiting the Sun Belt.

On Thursday, the Privateers and the Southland Conference announced that UNO will join the SLC, effective July 1, 2013. Earlier in the week, the Southland extended invitations to Abilene (Texas) Christian and Incarnate Word (Texas), which would need to reclassify as Division I institutions.

UNO baseball will play a full Southland schedule and be eligible for the conference tournament in its first season in 2014.

"This is an exciting day for the student-athletes, fans and the University," UNO baseball coach Bruce Peddie said. "Athletics at the Division I level will generate interest, garner local exposure and help increase admissions. I am very excited for the student-athletes and the fans that have supported all of our programs for years. I greatly appreciate the confidence that President (Peter) Fos and (athletics director) Derek Morel have shown us and look forward to bringing back the fans to the Lakefront."

The Privateers have a proud baseball tradition, which includes 14 trips to regionals and an appearance in the 1984 College World Series under coach Ron Maestri. New Orleans went to regionals as recently as 2007 and '08 under coach Tom Walter, now at Wake Forest. [...] Continue Reading »

The coaching carousel hasn't finished spinning yet.

Mike Villano, who has coached Western Illinois for the past three seasons, announced his resignation Wednesday. Assistant coaches Shane Davis and Cooper Stewart (who assisted in running the program in fall 2009 prior to Villano's arrival) will oversee the day-to-day operations until a head coach is named.

Villano is resigning to pursue an opportunity outside of coaching in business sales.

"I've been involved with baseball after college for 18 years, and everyone has to make decisions for different reasons," Villano said in a release. "I'm at a different chapter in my life to go experience a new challenge. I love Western, I love Macomb and I love these players . . . The foundation is here to win some championships and I for one will be their biggest fan."

Villano led the Leathernecks to the Summit League tournament in 2011 for the first time in three years; they went 21-38 overall that season and 13-15 in league play. WIU went 17-35-1 last year. [...] Continue Reading »

The Missouri Valley Conference announced Monday that Dallas Baptist will officially join the league as an affiliate member for baseball and will be eligible for the league's automatic bid starting in 2014. The league's invitation is for a six-year membership.

DBU had previously hoped to join the MVC and even played a Valley schedule this spring as a step toward gaining full membership. Then, last September, the Patriots accepted an invitation to join the revamped Western Athletic Conference. But when WAC expansion began to crumble, DBU looked at the MVC once again. The relationship is clearly beneficial for the Patriots and the Valley both.

As the MVC press release emphasized, DBU's addition gave the league a significant boost in the Ratings Percentage Index in 2012. The league finished the season as the No. 6-ranked conference and sent three teams to regionals (while DBU earned its third straight at-large bid as an independent). The Patriots went 41-19 overall and 14-7 against Valley teams, finishing 23rd in the final RPI rankings.

"There's no question that Dallas Baptist University is a premier power in Division I baseball," commisioner Doug Elgin said in the release. "Their addition to our conference as an affiliate member in baseball will strengthen our position in the national landscape, and we're excited to commit to one another for a lengthy term. The Missouri Valley Conference has a rich tradition in baseball, and the addition of Dallas Baptist will make us stronger." [...] Continue Reading »

The Santa Barbara Foresters beat the Seattle Studs 6-2 in the championship game of the National Baseball Congress World Series this weekend. The Foresters became the first team to repeat as NBC World Series champions since Kenai of the Alaska League in 1993-94.

For a while, the Foresters looked like they were going to steamroll their way to the title, entering the tournament on a nine-game winning streak (including six straight wins at the end of the California Collegaite League schedule to tie for the league title), and then winning their first five games in Wichita. But a loss to the Hays Larks last week put Santa Barbara's back up against the wall, and the Foresters responded.

"It was fun, and it was a grind," Santa Barbara coach Bill Pintard said. "Until we lost to Hayes on Thursday night, we had won 14 straight. Now we're on a two-game winning streak—but that's all we need." [...] Continue Reading »

As its search for a new head baseball coach approached its third month, George Washington finally made a decision Friday—to delay the search further.

The Colonials hired Tom Sheridan as associate head coach and announced that he will lead the program in an interim capacity into the fall, when the athletics department expects to announce a new full-time head coach.

Sheridan has spent the last 25 years as head coach at the Division III University of Mary Washington (Va.). He led the Eagles to 579 wins, 10 conference championships and 11 NCAA tournament appearances. Before that, he spent six seasons as an assistant at James Madison from 1982-87, helping lead the Dukes to the 1983 College World Series.

GW announced on May 19 that head coach Steve Mrowka would not be returning as head coach next year, ending his eight-year tenure. The Colonials reached the A-10 conference tournament just once in that period, in 2005.