The 2012 NAIA Baseball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll, released November 15:

First place votes: Concordia-Irvine 10, Oklahoma City 4, Embry-Riddle 2, Lee 1, LSU-Shreveport 1

The biggest surprise in this was that Concordia ended up ranked second, despite getting the most first-place votes. CourtesyRunner.com's pre-season preview will be published in mid-January.

Sophomore RHP Tyler Brown of the Rogers State Hillcats was killed in an automobile accident west of Claremore, OK.

From the Rogers State site: "Brown was an integral part of the Hillcats’ run to the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship in 2011. As a freshman he pitched in 14 games and posted a perfect 6-0 record on the hill. Before coming to RSU, Brown was a two-sport standout at Berryhill High School. He led the Chiefs to state championship appearances in baseball and football." Click here to read the rest of the story.

Story from NewsOn6: Rogers State Baseball Player Killed In Single-Car Wreck

Trio of 2011 First-Team All-Americans headline preseason list
NAIA press release

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced the 2012 Baseball Preseason All-America Team on Monday. The 17-member team was selected by the NAIA-Baseball Coaches Association All-America Selection Committee.

Headlining the team are a trio of 2011 First-Team All-Americans in Lubbock Christian (Texas) second baseman Richard Bohlken, outfielder Brady Wathen of Grand View (Iowa) and Madonna's (Mich.) starting pitcher Jeremy Gooding. Designated hitter Mike Mandarino of Cumberland (Tenn.), who was a Second-Team selection a year ago, was also selected to the preseason team. Ten All-America Honorable Mentions from last season also garnered the preseason accolade.

^{^} 2011 First-Team All-American
^$ 2011 Second-Team All-American
^{^} 2011 All-America Honorable Mention

While the Cardinals and Rangers were taking the night of October 26 off, Canada defeated the USA 2-1 in the final of the Pan American Games in Lagos de Moreno, Mexico.

You can be excused for not being especially excited about this news, but for Canada's national baseball program and Coach Ernie Whitt, it's a huge win; this was Canada's first-ever gold medal in senior international competition.

The Canadian roster included four players who played baseball at NAIA schools: RHP Jimmy Henderson (Tennessee Wesleyan), LHP Mark Hardy (British Columbia), RHP Chris Kissock (Lewis-Clark State), and DH Emerson Frostad (Lewis-Clark State).

Henderson played for the 2003 Bulldog team that won the Appalachian Athletic Conference championship. He was drafted in the 26th round by the Nationals, and is now in the Brewers organization. Hardy was drafted by the Padres in the 43rd round in 2010. Kissock played for L-C State's national championship teams in 2006 and 2007, and was drafted by the Phillies in the 9th round in 2007. Frostad, a national team veteran (he played in the 2008 Olympics), was drafted in the 13th round by the Rangers, and is currently in the Astros organization. He played for L-C State's national championship teams in 2002 and 2003.

Hardy, Henderson, and Frostad played minor roles during the tournament. Hardy pitched three innings, allowed three hits and a run. Henderson pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowed three hits. Frostad played in one game, went hitless in four at-bats.

Kissock was a different story. He pitched four shutout innings (two hits allowed, struck out three). Two of the innings came in a key win against Venezuela. The other two came in the semifinal against Mexico, and he got the save.

Story and film highlights from ESPN

Mike Grahovac, coach of the NAIA Champion Concordia-Irvine Eagles, has been named NAIA Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association. Press release from Concordia-Irvine

IF Sean Myrom of Concordia-Portland played for the West Coast League champion Corvallis Knights during the summer. He batted .279 with 16 RBI. He played in the league's all-star game, and won the home run derby. Press release from Concordia-Portland

Dave Therneau, pitching coach for Embry-Riddle, was the Coach of the Year in the Florida Collegiate Summer League. He coached the Leesburg Lightning, who won the league pennant with a 29-12 record. Press release from Embry-Riddle

Jason Dannelly, long-time proprietor of the Victory Sports Network, has been named Director of Athletic Operations at Midland University, formerly known as Midland Lutheran College, in Fremont, NE. Midland had 962 students during the past school year.

The Warriors field teams in 21 sports. The baseball team, coached for the past 17 seasons by Jef Field, went 26-20 last season, and made it to the final of the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament. They were ranked #93 in the ISR. They were 42-15 in 2006; they won the GPAC pennant, but lost out in the conference tournament.

Dannelly founded VSN in 2002, and it has been a primary news outlet for the NAIA since then. Dannelly published a pre-season football magazine, and organized the NAIA Football First Down Classic, a Spring all-star game. VSN features message boards for several sports, and a basketball tournament pool. He did a weekly radio program about NAIA sports for a while. Click here for a press release.

Dannelly will continue as owner of VSN, but will be stepping away from its day-to-day operations.

Kevin Kocks, who has 550 wins as a head coach, was hired by Culver-Stockton last month to replace Chris Terry, who moved to Eastern New Mexico.

Bob Broughton, courtesyrunner.com: Your previous head coaching job was in a Division I program, Cleveland State. What led to Cleveland State dropping baseball?

Kevin Kocks: Cleveland State dropped baseball due to financial reasons, so they say. We had no warnings...

BB: What were the highlights of your five years at Cleveland State?

KK: We turned academics around in three years. The NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) was a big issue when I got there. 95% of my players graduated and ended up playing in a multi-million dollar stadium. Cleaned up the image of the program while I was there.

OF Bryan Abrey of Lewis-Clark State is the batting champion of the Western Major Baseball League. He batted .423 for the Medicine Hat Mavericks, and went on a 21-35 tear at the end of the regular season, and is 5-7 with a home run so far in the playoffs.

Ryan Rogers of Lindsey Wilson made the all-star team as a left-handed pitcher. He plays for the Okotoks Dawgs, went 4-4, 2.16 ERA, and 61 strikeouts. In his first playoff start, he allowed six hits, struck out six.

Nick Senior of British Columbia made the all-star team as an outfielder. Playing for the Melville Millionaires, he batted .327, with 35 RBI and three home runs. He batted .417 in three playoff games.

Okotoks and Medicine Hat are still alive in the WMBL playoffs.

Other players honored:

Most Valuable Player: IF Jesse Sawyer, South Dakota State
Top Pitcher: RHP Chad Jones, George Fox
Rookie of the Year and Outstanding Canadian: OF Tyler Hollick, Chandler Gilbert CC
Left-handed pitcher: Marco Gonzales, Gonzaga
Right-handed pitcher: N.D. Gonzalez
Catcher/designated hitter: C.J. DeDeaux, Merced College
Infielders: Jess Cooper, West Texas A&M, Joel Lutz, Muscatine CC, Mitch McDonald, Monterey Peninsula

Here are some stats for some NAIA players who are doing well this summer. This list is nowhere near complete. If you know of players who should be on this list, use the contact form on this site to send in the info.

Mandarino made the Cal Ripken League all-star team; click here for Cumberland's press release. Abrey's batting average is second-best in the Western Major Baseball League. Rogers' ERA is second-best in the WMBL.

The “coefficient of restitution” bats (also known as BBCOR), which were reported on here last summer (see New bat restrictions for the 2011 season) have now been in use for a full season.

The change has been an improvement. The pace of a college baseball game is now like a wood bat game, without the high cost of wood bats. There have been fewer blowouts, although teams in the Red River Conference other than LSU-Shreveport may choose to argue about this. Games have been shorter. Columnist Ron Morris of Columbia, SC's The State wrote this in a good analysis here: “With the use of energy-sapped bats this season, the college game became real baseball again. For the first time since the advent of aluminum bats, pitching and defense returned to being the cornerstones of the game, replacing the pop-fly home run and off-the-fists double to the gap.” According to one NAIA coach, “the good hitters are still good hitters, the bad hitters are outs, and you are not worried about a nine-hole hitter hitting a home run, which is the way it should be.”