UPDATE #1
The school has put out an official release about the situation which is below.
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Pending budget cuts and the lack of adequate facilities have forced Cleveland State University to announce the end of its NCAA baseball program at the conclusion of the 2011 season. Read the rest of this entry »
According to Aaron Fitt of Baseball America, Cal Baseball will not be reinstated. He tweeted the following:
“Bad news: Cal baseball will not be reinstated, according to assistant coach Dan Hubbs.”
The full Cal release is below. You can check out Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau comments by clicking here. Read the rest of this entry »
Comcast Sports Bay Area checked in with Cal Head Coach Dave Esquer, as the Golden Bears open Spring practice for what could very well be their final season. After the jump, Esquer updates us how the fundraising has progressed from the announcement on September 28th up to this point.
Yesterday, it was announced that the University of California was eliminating five athletic programs. Cal isn’t the first or last school that has cut a baseball program but is the first in a long time from an elite conference. I was personally involved during my college days of an athletic department study on the feasibility of adding a baseball program. My alma mater New Hampshire still doesn’t have baseball and ended up cutting three sports a year after the study. I asked our TCBB writers and contributors to share their thoughts on Cal cutting these five sports.
As reported earlier on Thursday, the California Athletic Department has cut baseball, rugby, men’s and women’s gymnastics and lacrosse will be cut, effective for the 2011-12 academic year. Katie Dowd of The Daily Cal and a contributor to this site has an excellent article detailing how important the baseball program has been to the Berkley campus.
According to a tweet from Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (Link), Cal will cut the Baseball program after the 2011 season. I am not that surprised about the move as the school was looking into the financial health of the entire athletic department a couple of weeks ago according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle. (Link). We are currently working on a full article about the decision to cut the baseball team. It should be up soon.
Duquesne University announced today that they will be cutting four men’s varsity sports including the men’s baseball team. This is the third Division 1 baseball team to be cut over the last two seasons joining Vermont and Northern Iowa. I personally find this decision a little shocking as there was no female sports cut at all and Duquesne does not have a scholarship football program. You can check out the full press release below. Read the rest of this entry »
The St. Louis Community College district announced that seven out of the 22 sports offered in the 2009-2010 school year will be cut at the end of the year. This includes two baseball programs being cut at the Forest Park and Florissant Valley campuses. It is always a tough day for any student-athlete to see the program ending. Lets hope these student-athletes can find a place to play next year.
SPECIAL TO TCBB
Written by Zach Thiel
Time is running out for men’s college baseball at University of Wisconsin La Crosse. Due to budget cuts the administration as of June 10th has decided to end their division three baseball program immediately unless $50,000 can be raised by September 1st. The first hurdle will allow play for the upcoming season; however an additional $375,000 will need to be raised by May 2010 to keep baseball at the school over the next 5 years. La Crosse has developed a long list of notable athletes over the years, to name a few: Brewers pitcher Jerry Augustine, Brewers/Huntsville Stars/Team Italy’s catcher Vinny Rottino, first baseman Craig Kusick, NFL lineman Tom Newberry and NFL WR Bill Schroeder. Read the rest of this entry »
I have confirmed through various sources that UMass-Amherst will likely cut the baseball program at the end of the year. The other UMass schools in Lowell, Dartmouth, and Boston are currently safe though but that could change.
UMass will join Northern Iowa and Vermont to recently announce that they are dropping the sport. The only New England public universities that will sponsor the sport are Maine, UConn, and Rhode Island after this year. New Hampshire dropped baseball back in 1997 while Vermont is dropping the sport after this season.
What do you think of the future of College Baseball especially in the Northeast?
The Vermont Athletic Department put out a release today dropping the Baseball and Softball programs at the end of the season. This will impact five staff members and most importantly 43 student athletes who will lose their ability to play their respective sport. Baseball head coach Bill Currier is entering his 22nd season in charge of the Catamount program. I am currently trying to get a comment from Currier about the program being discontinued. Read the rest of this entry »
Colorado Sports Examiner writer Mark Knudson recently put together an article about College Baseball in the state of Colorado. Knudson played 12 years of professional baseball including being the first Colorado resident to play for the Rockies. He talks about how the Northern Colardo program used to be a powerhouse in the past with 10 College World Series appearances. They ended up dropping the program down to the Division 2 level but recently brought the program back up to the Division 1 level in 2004. They have played as an independent since then but it was recently announced that Northern Colorado will join the Great Western Conference starting in the 2010 season. He also talks about Colorado and Colorado State dropping their programs in the 1980′s and 1990′s. Read the rest of this entry »
CBD Scouting Spotlight: Mark Appel (Stanford)
CBD Scouting Spotlight: Adam Plutko (UCLA)
CBD Scouting Report: Kevin Ziomek (Vanderbilt)
CBD Interview with Notre Dame’s Mik Aoki and Dan Slania
CBD Scouting Video: Colton Plaia (Loyola Marymount)
