Rice and Louisville open up the
2007 College World Series when the two teams meet at 2 p.m. Friday at
Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha. The game will be broadcast on ESPN 2.
Mississippi State and North
Carolina will round out the first day's action when they meet at 7 p.m.
The winner of Friday's two games
will meet at 6 p.m. on Sunday, while the losers from Friday will play an
elimination game on Sunday at 1:00.
First-round games on Saturday
include Cal Irvine against Arizona State at 2 p.m., and defending
champion Oregon State versus Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m.
Rice (54-12) returns to Omaha
for the second consecutive year and the fourth time in the last six
years after winning all five games it has played in the NCAA tournament.
The Owls won the title in 2003, the school's first NCAA team title in
any sport.
Louisville (46-22) is making its
first trip to the College World Series. The Cardinals battled back from
the loser's bracket in the regional and were extended to a third game in
the super regional before blasting Oklahoma State 20-2 to clinch a spot
in the CWS.
Five from C-USA named to Nagurski watch list
Five Conference USA defensive
standouts have been named to the prestigious Bronko Nagurski Trophy
watch list for the 2007 season, as announced by the Football Writers
Association of America. The award is given to the best defensive player
in college football.
Texas-El Paso free safety
Quintin Demps and Miners linebacker Jeremy Jones, Marshall defensive end
Albert McClellan, Southern Miss linebacker Gerald McRath and Rice
linebacker Brian Raines are the C-USA players on the 49-player list.
Outland list includes trio of C-USA players
The Football Writers Association
of America has announced the 2007 Outland Trophy watch list. The Outland
Trophy has been awarded to the best interior lineman in college football
since 1946.
Seniors Jeff Akeroyd of Houston,
Robby Heos of Rice and Doug Legursky of Marshall represent Conference
USA and are among the 41 linemen from around the country that have been
nominated for consideration in the preseason.
June 13, 2007
Pirates-Hokies
moves from "the Deuce" to ESPN
East Carolina and Conference USA
have been informed of a network change for the ECU-Virginia Tech contest
scheduled for 12 noon on Sept. 1 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg.
The Pirates and Hokies will now
be shown on ESPN rather than ESPN2 as had been announced earlier.
ECU's
Roller named to national frosh unit
East Carolina designated hitter
Kyle Roller has been named to the inaugural Ping!baseball All-Freshman
team as a second-team selection.
Roller, who was named to the
Conference USA All-Freshman team, batted .306 with 30 RBI's and shared
the team lead in home runs with 11.
A native of Rockingham, NC,
Roller is playing this summer for the Thomasville Hi-Toms in the wooden
bat Coastal Plain League.
C-USA scholar awards go ECU's Krug, Williams
East Carolina senior volleyball
player Heidi Krug and senior golfer Michelle Williams have each been
named recipients of the 2006-07 Conference USA scholar athlete of the
year awards.
The awards are presented to the
top student-athlete in each conference-sponsored sport and are based
upon academic achievement (GPA), athletic achievement and service.
Krug graduated this spring with
a cumulative 4.0 GPA as a biology major while Williams also upheld a 4.0
cumulative GPA as a bio-chemistry major.
June 12, 2007
Irish to don
throwback jerseys for USC game
Notre Dame and Adidas will honor
the 30th anniversary of the Fighting Irish's 1977 national championship
team by wearing green jerseys and gold pants for the Southern California
game on October 20th, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis has announced.
The throwback uniforms will be
designed to replicate those worn by the 1977 team.
Herd soph on Athletes in Action Jones
Cup team
Marshall sophomore Tyler Wilkerson is one of 10
players from eight NCAA Division I universities, along with a former pro
and one National Christian College All-American, that will compete for
the Athletes In Action team representing the United States at the 2007
Jones Cup in Taipei, Taiwan, beginning July 2.
Athletes In Action (AIA) captured the 2006 Jones Cup
championship, marking the 15th time a U.S. team had won the tournament
since its inception in 1977.
Seminoles
capture back to back NCAA track titles
Florida State's men clinched their second consecutive
NCAA outdoor track and field championship with wins in the 200- and
400-meter events in Sacramento.
Ricardo Chambers won the 400 meter in 44.66 seconds
and Walter Dix captured the 200 in 20.48 to clinch the team title for
the Seminoles.
June 11, 2007
Pirates' Myers 12th in
NCAA hammer throw
East Carolina wrapped up the
2007 track and field season this weekend at the NCAA outdoor
championships in Sacramento. Terrance Myers advanced to the finals in
the hammer throw, where he finished 12th.
ECU's Chelsea Salisbury missed
the cut for the women's hammer throw event.
Myers, who advanced to the NCAA
championships after finishing third in the hammer throw with a mark of
62.87 meters in the NCAA East regionals, placed fifth in his preliminary
heat with a mark of 63.34 meters, and was 11th overall, advancing to the
finals.
Myers recorded a mark of 61.73
meters in the finals for 12th place.
ECU's
Neitz taken by Giants in 37th round
Jason Neitz, who ranks fourth
all-time in pitching appearances at East Carolina, was picked in the
37th round of the major league baseball draft by the San Francisco
Giants with pick number 1,117.
A lefty from Mifflinburg, PA,
Neitz took the mound in 35 games, posting a 5-2 overall record with a
team-best 2.60 ERA, striking out 40 batters and walking 20 in 55 1/3
innings pitched. His 35 appearances in a single-season ranks second in
total appearances and relief appearances only to Shane Mathews' 39.
Neitz, who picked up wins
against Duke, N.C. A&T, Tulane, Marshall and Western Carolina, joins
three ECU players taken earlier in the draft: redshirt junior relief ace Shane Mathews (Conover, NC; 8th round,
pick 249, Baltimore Orioles); junior infielder Dale Mollenhauer
(Gibsonia, PA; 17th round, pick 539, Chicago White Sox);
and junior southpaw pitcher Dustin Sasser (Pikeville, NC; 21st round,
pick 637, Chicago Cubs).
A total of
29 Conference USA players were
selected in the draft, including first-round pick Joe Savery of Rice.
The Owls' junior lefthander was grabbed by the Philadelphia Phillies
with the 19th pick.
Anteaters nip Shockers to earn berth in Omaha
Junior Bryan Petersen doubled in
Matt Morris with the game-winning run as Cal Irvine stunned Wichita
State 3-2 on Sunday at Eck Stadium in Wichita to advance to the College
World Series for the first time in program history.
The Shockers tied the game at
2-2 in the top of the ninth. However, the Anteaters struck back in the
bottom of the frame as Morris led off with a one-out single off reliever
Anthony Capra and then advanced to second on a wild pitch to set the
stage for Petersen, who drove Capra's full-count offering to
right-center to score Morris for the game-winner.
Other super regional champions
that will join Cal Irvine at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE, for the
eight-team College World Series that begins Friday include Arizona
State, Cal State Fullerton, Mississippi State, Rice, Louisville and UNC-Chapel
Hill.
The Corvallis, OR, Regional
pitting Oregon State against Michigan has yet to be settled. OSU
defeated the Wolverines 1-0 on Sunday in the first game of the
best-of-three series. Rain had forced the game to be postpones from
Saturday until Sunday. The teams will meet again today and, if
necessary, play a deciding game on Tuesday.
June 10, 2007
Bulldogs beat Clemson to earn way to Omaha
Mississippi State scored four
runs in the second inning thanks to a Clemson error and never trailed
again, defeating the Tigers 8-5 on Saturday in front of 13,715 fans at
Dudy Noble Field in the Starkville super regional.
The Bulldogs advanced to the
College World Series with the win and improved to 38-20 on the season.
The Tigers ended their season
with a 41-23 record.
Heels, Gamecocks resume super regional today
Due to inclement weather
Saturday, game two of the 2007 NCAA Chapel Hill super regional was
suspended in the middle of the seventh inning with South Carolina
holding an 8-5 lead over No. 3 national seed North Carolina.
The game will be resumed at 2:30
p.m. Sunday (ESPN2). Should the Gamecocks hold on for the victory, the
decisive game three will be played as scheduled at 7 p.m. (ESPN2).
