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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Donovan, Beaman, Hodges Honored by D3Baseball

Whitewater 1B/P Jeff Donovan, Ripon 3B Nick Beaman, and Carthage CF Will Hodges have been named to the 2011 D3baseball.com preseason All-American team.

Donovan, a senior at UWW,  was placed on the second team as a utility player. Donovan put up great numbers last year for the Warhawks as both a hitter and pitcher. He batted .348 with 68 RBIs, 53 runs scored, 65 hits including 28 extra base hits with 13 home runs. On the hill he compiled a 4-1 record with a 3.79 era and allowed batters to hit only .248 against him in 54.2 innings of work. Donovan spent time this summer playing with the Green Bay Bullfrogs of the Northwoods League before returning home to play with the New Berlin Lakers in Land O' Lakes action. 

Nick Beaman from Ripon College joined Donovan on the second team as the third base pick. Beaman enjoyed a great season at the plate in 2010 batting .439 with 10 home runs, 53 RBIs, 37 runs scored, and 69 hits. The senior also spent time in the Northwoods League over the summer playing for the Thunder Bay Border Cats. Beaman has an impressive list of career highlights and records that you can check out on his Ripon profile page.

The final Wisconsin athlete recognized by D3Baseball.com is Will Hodges a centerfield from Carthage College. Hodges was named as part of the Honorable Mention players. The senior is coming off a great season that saw him hit .358 with 9 round trippers, 16 doubles, 60 RBI, and 56 runs scored. Hodges also showed off his valuable speed/power combo, nabbing 11 steals while slugging an impressive .616.

Congratulations to all three players! Hopefully they are able to prove that they are worthy with strong 2011 performances.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Hitting The Links

Hitting the links will be a feature brought to our readers at least once a week featuring some of the top news from Wisconsin teams.
  • Stevens Point and Milwaukee have stories about their pre-season rankings. 
  • Oskosh has two players named to the D3 Baseball All-Decade Team.
  • Edgewood tweets a link about former player Matt Krueger's success in an Australian baseball league.
  • Stout is holding their annual Lead Off Banquet on February 19
  • Whitewater posts a blurb and a link to a story about a former Warhawk rescuing the life of one of his students.
  • Milwaukee nabs four recruits in the early signing period. 
  • Sheboygan A's tweeted a link to their 2010 award winners. Congratulations to all.
Were a little short on links this time around, but the season will be upon us before we know it! In a few weeks, players will be hitting and throwing in indoor facilities preparing for trips down south.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Whitewater to Host Midwest Regional for Second Straight Year

On January 7th, the NCAA released the locations of seven of the eight regional sites. For the second consecutive year, UW-Whitewater's Prucha Field was selected as the site of the Midwest Regional.

This will come as good news to many fans who aren't able to make the trip to Whitewater for the games as they do a great job of having video, audio, and live stats for each game. This is also great news for Whitewater, who many expect to get back to the regional. UWSP might also benefit from playing at their "home away from home" after playing13 games at Whitewater's field a season ago between regular and post-season action.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Ten Questions for the 2011 Season?

1. How will the new regulations on metal bats affect the game?
Pitchers across the nation are salivating at the chance to get on the mound with the new regulations facing metal bats. Hitters are eager to prove that it wasn't the bats doing the work. Should be an interesting story line to follow across college baseball all year.

2. Can UWM get back to the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive season?
The Panthers return many arms from a pitching staff that led them to post-season success a year ago. They will have to replace some big bats if they look to cause damage in the Horizon League. UWM may look to some talented freshmen including SS Tell Taylor a top recruit from Burlington.

3. Can anyone challenge Stevens Point and Whitewater for the WIAC Title?Both UWSP and Whitewater are ranked in the top ten to start the season, however, they both have holes that will need to be filled in order to live up to the hype. Oshkosh may be the only team that can challenge the two top dogs. Senior Jeremy Rubens, returning from Tommy John surgery, and transfer Phil Schrieber, fresh out of a summer in the Cape Cod League, could provide the Titans with the pitching to win the WIAC.

4. Will a Wisconsin school qualify for the NCAA tournament for the Northern Athletics Conference for the first time?
The Northern Athletics Conference has sent an Illinois team to the NCAA tournament each year since they were granted an automatic bid to the tournament. Edgewood who tied for the regular season conference crown in 2010 will again be amongst the favorites. Lakeland and Concordia will look to build upon very successful seasons from a year ago.

5. Will Madison College be able to reload after graduating a very talented group?
Madison lost many players from their JUCO World Series team from a year ago, but Coach Davenport always seems to find a way to reload. Freshmen Luke Maldanado, James Sadowske, and Eric DuCharme could be a big part of the WolfPack's season.

6. Can Viterbo challenge for a Midwest Collegiate Conference title?
Viterbo finished a one game behind the leaders of the MCC a year ago and will look to senior leadership to bring home a conference title this season. Senior Brandon Buelow, who tied Viterbo's single season home run record with 11 last season, will need to put up big numbers this season for the V-Hawks.

7. Can Beloit, Carroll, or Lawrence get involved in Midwest Conference race between Ripon and St. Norbert?
St. Norbert and Ripon are expected to run away from the competition in the Wisconsin half of the Miwest Conference. Beloit may have the best chance to compete with them, but will need to be sure not to drop any of their games with Lawrence and Carroll as they did a season ago.

8. Can Carthage return to the NCAA tournament?
The Red Men will have to battle through a very tough CCIW schedule in order to earn the right to make the NCAA tournament. Joey Aiello, Will Hodges, and Eric Rohe will need to keep their All-Conference form if Carthage looks to extend its NCAA tournament appearance streak.

9. What freshmen/transfers will have the biggest impact on their teams?
UWM, Whitewater, Stevens Points, and Madison College may get the big name freshmen, but every year smaller schools like Concordia, Carroll, and Cardinal Stritch give significant playing time to freshmen that prove their worth to a team. Who will prove that they deserved all the hype and who will surprise this year?

10. Can any Wisconsin teams compete for a National Title in 2011?

Stevens Point is the early favorite for team most likely to bring a National Championship home.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

New Coaches at Carroll and Northland Look to Turn Programs Around

The Northland College Lumberjacks and Carroll University Pioneers both named new head coaches this off-season.

Stein Rear will lead the Lumberjacks and Derek Hassell will take the reigns at Carroll. Both men are collegiate head coaches for the first time, but they have compiled strong resumes.

Most recently Rear was assistant coach for the Whitewater Warhawks from 2006-2010. In his time there, Whitewater won four WIAC Conference Championships and advanced to a D3 World Series. Rear also gained experience as head coach of the New Glarus varsity program for three seasons.

The coach will have his work cut out for him, trying to improve the Northland baseball program which finished 12-27 a year ago and 13-20 in 2009. Adding to the difficulty for Rear, is the fact that he wasn't officially named to the position until October 2010, meaning he will go into this season without having a recruiting class of his own to battle with.

Rear has been successful at each stop of his playing and coaching careers and I hope he is able to make Northland a force in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.

Carroll took a page out of the book of Michigan football fans by naming a "Carroll Man" to lead their program. Derek Hassell played for four seasons between 1998-2001. In those years, Hassell led the team to records above .500 twice, which may not seem like a big deal until you realize that Carroll has only posted three winning records in it's history. Hassell now looks to be a part of more success with the Pioneers.

According to the Carroll website, "Hassell has worked on coaching staffs at Pomona-Pitzer College, Gardner-Webb University, Charleston Southern University, Texas Christian University and most recently, at Furman University. Additionally, in 2006, he led the Solingen Alligators to the team's first-ever National Championship in Germany's top baseball league."

It would appear that Carroll has gotten themselves a great catch in the hopes of joining the powers atop the Midwest Conference. With strong young talent from the 2010 season, the Pioneers could be a team to look out for in the coming years.

Good luck to both men as they start their coaching careers off in the 2011 season.
Photos courtesy of Northland College and Carroll University athletic dept.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Pre-Season Rankings

The rankings are out and Wisconsin schools are again well represented!

The states lone Division I program, UWM is receiving votes to be in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's Division I Poll. The Panthers will pin their hopes of a second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance to senior pitchers Chad Pierce and Jayme Sukowaty. The offense has some holes to fill, but will be able to build around the experience of senior outfielders Doug Dekoning and Sam Sivilotti, as well as junior Paul Hoenecke, a first team All-Horizon League performer from a year ago. (Thanks to UWM pitcher Greg Blohowiak for the heads up.)

In the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's Division II Juco Poll, the Madison College Wolfpack is ranked tenth in the Top 20 poll.  The WolfPack sent 10 players on to four year schools from the 2010 roster, including All-American Tyler Jones who will play ball for LSU this spring, but Coach Davenport had a very strong recruiting year, bringing in some of the top talent in the state.

Whitewater and Stevens Point both find themselves in the top 10 of the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's DIII Poll. The Pointers return many key members from their World Series team from a year ago, but the losses of Brad Archambeau and Sam Spurney must be addressed for a repeat of 2010.

Whitewater will be forced to replace front line starter Jason Hooper and closer Ben Versnick, now playing in the Seattle Mariners' organization, as well as everyday players at 2B, SS, 3B, and CF. All-American's Jeff Donovan and Riley Tincher may hold the key to the Warhawks success with their performances on the mound.

Ripon is also listed among the teams receiving votes for the pre-season top 30. The Red Hawks will need to improve on their pitching (5.47 ERA in 2010), in a year that is expected to be dominated by pitching and defense with the new metal bat regulations.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the brand new Wisconsin College Baseball Network. It is my hope to provide you with the latest and best news on college teams throughout the Wisconsin area as well as on players from Wisconsin playing across the country.

College baseball team's in Wisconsin have been successful for years and today's teams are no exception. Last year saw Stevens Point and Madison Area Technical College reach the College World Series at their respective levels, UWM win the Horizon League Tournament earning an automatic berth to the DI NCAA Tournament, and Whitewater, Carthage, and Ripon securing berths to the D3 tourny.

As the season gets closer, WCBN hopes to bring you a preview of most if not all of the college programs in Wisconsin, a list of the top 20 college players in the state, as well as pre-season predictions for each conference featuring multiple Wisconsin teams.

I hope you enjoy the site and add it to your favorite. We will have a Twitter and Facebook page up in no time and you can follow/friend us there. Fan input is always appreciated, so please any suggestions, praise, or hate can be sent to WICollegeBaseball@gmail.com