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.”

Article by Tyler Norris Goode in the Asheville Citizen-Times about Montreat RHP Marti Sementelli: Female baseball player ready to blaze trail at Montreat College. Sementelli, of Birmingham, CA, will be the third woman to play college baseball on a scholarship. Montreat College press release

Players from NAIA schools taken in the 2011 MLB draft:

Ryan O'Sullivan, RHP, Oklahoma City, Angels, 134th overall pick Story O'Sullivan never played for the Stars; he transferred from San Diego State, and was red-shirted for the 2011 season.

Jesse Darrah, RHP, Fresno Pacific, Diamondbacks, 244 Story

Zach Arneson, RHP, Lewis-Clark State, Yankees, 299 Story

Will Locante, LHP, Cumberland, Diamondbacks, 334 Story

Chris Grayson, OF, Lee, Rangers, 414 Story

Craig Stem, RHP, Trevecca Nazarene, Dodgers, 464 Story

Jonathan Clark, CF, Lee, Mets, 522

William Rankin, RHP, Southern Polytechnic, Rockies, 528

Taylor Siemens, LHP, Cal Baptist, Diamondbacks, 544 Story

John Hill, C, Concordia-Irvine, Phillies, 601 Story

Tyler Barrett, LHP, Lewis-Clark State, Tigers, 617

Cameron McVey, RHP, Biola, Giants, 687 Story

Ruben Sosa, 2B, Oklahoma City, Astros, 700 Story

R.L. Eisenbach, LHP, Faulkner, Padres, 713 Story

Samuel Munson, RF, Tennessee Wesleyan, A's, 716

Brian Sharp, SS, Cal Baptist, Pirates, 722

Freddie Cabrera, RHP, Central Methodist, Dodgers, 794

Kirk Walker, SS, Oklahoma City, A's, 806

Chris Mazza, RHP, Menlo, Twins, 838

Truman Sample, RHP, Rogers State, Diamondbacks, 844

Dexter Price, RHP, South Carolina-Beaufort, Diamondbacks, 904

David Bergin, RHP, Tennessee Wesleyan, Cardinals, 920

Mike Marshall, 1B, Lubbock Christian, Phillies, 931

Sharif Othman, C, Cal Baptist, Marlins, 973 Story

Kyle Brule, RHP, Oklahoma Baptist, Padres, 983

Sheldon McDonald, LHP, British Columbia, Cubs, 999 Story

Alex Kreis, RHP, Jamestown, Nationals, 1057 Story

Johnny Omahen, RHP, Cal State-San Marcos, Marlins, 1063 Story

Drew Madrigal, RHP, Cal Baptist, Cardinals, 1070

Michael Hashem, LHP, Fisher, A's, 1076

Jeremy Williams, OF, U. of Mobile, Rangers, 1104

Gardner Adams, RHP, Asbury, Braves, 1106

Nico Taylor, RF, Northwood (TX), Blue Jays, 1159

Bryan Nicholson, 1B, Concordia-Irvine, Giants, 1167 Story

Patrick Francescon, RHP, Trevecca Nazarene, Cubs, 1209

Shay Crawford, LHP, Lee, Rays, 1260

Andre Kinder, LHP, Peru State, Phillies, 1291

Bobby O'Neill, RHP, Biola, Twins, 1318 Story

Colby Broussard, RHP, Faulkner, Blue Jays, 1339

Brandon Creath, RHP, Embry-Riddle, Cardinals, 1340

Richie Mirowski, RHP, Oklahoma Baptist, Nationals, 1357

Cory Farris, OF, Cumberland, White Sox, 1371 Story

Maxx Catapano, RHP, Lee, Mariners, 1383

Derek Vaughn, RHP, Texas Wesleyan, Rays, 1440

Eric Brown, RHP, British Columbia, Blue Jays, 1519

Kirk Walker of Oklahoma City is the Rawlings-NAIA Player of the Year. Click here for the story from Oklahoma City.

Click here for the NAIA's list of All-Americans.

Click here for Rawlings-NAIA Baseball Gold Glove team.

The Concordia-Irvine Eagles won their first-ever national championship. Results from the sixth and final day of the NAIA Baseball National Championship, in Lewiston, ID:

Concordia-Irvine 9, Lubbock Christian 3

The Eagles opened the scoring in the top of the third inning with an RBI single by 3B Danny Casey. The Chaparrals took a brief 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third when SS Ryan Burnaman reached on a single, and scored on an error. Courtesy runner Brett Morte scored the second run on a ground out. The Eagles took the lead for good in the fourth, when 2B Robbie Knowles hit a bases loaded triple.

The Chaps got one back in the bottom of the fourth on a home run by RF Austin Stewart. After that, the score stayed 4-3 until the ninth inning. The Eagles got five insurance runs in the top of the ninth. The first key play was a triple by CF Matt Ivanoff with one out. The Chaps brought the infield and outfield in close for the next batter, LF Kyle Konicek. The Chaps also sent in Tyler Curtis, who got the win in the first game of the day, to pitch. Konicek proceeded to hit what would normally have been a sacrifice fly, but it went over the head of the right fielder for another triple. The Eagles eventually sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning, and the Chaps used four pitchers. The game ended on a double play.

Blake Harrison went the distance for the Eagles, threw 111 pitches. He allowed two earned runs on six hits, didn't walk a batter, struck out three. Casey and RF Ryan Sheeks stole bases. Shane Ingram got the loss for the Chaps. Attendance: 3,075

Box score and play-by-play
Story from Concordia site
Story from NAIA site

Ivanoff was voted Most Valuable Player, and received the Charles Berry Hustle Award. Click here for the all-tournament team. The was the first-ever championship for a team from the Golden State Athletic Conference. The Eagles were unranked in the NAIA coaches' poll, but were #14 in the ISR, and #1 in strength of schedule, going into the Opening Round.

A one-hitter for Lee's Shay Crawford. Results from the fifth day of the NAIA Baseball National Championship, in Lewiston, ID:

Concordia-Irvine 8, LSU-Shreveport 4 (LSU-Shreveport eliminated)
Lee 1, Lubbock Christian 0

Concordia-Irvine 8, LSU-Shreveport 4 (LSU-Shreveport eliminated)

The Eagles scored six runs in the first two innings.

The Eagles got a strong performance by starter Dean Persinger, who went 7 2/3 innings, threw 130 pitches, allowed only two runs on four hits until the eighth inning. In the eighth, he gave up a solo home run by 1B Kevin Smith. He recorded a strikeout, and gave up a single to 2B Michael Diffie. He then walked two batters, and turned the ball over to Jacob McBride with two out and the bases loaded. McBride gave up an RBI single by LF Curtis Beaudoin, but got the batter to fly out, ending the inning with the bases loaded. McBride finished the game with a three-up, three-down ninth.

The early offensive onslaught started with a two-RBI single by C John Hill and an RBI double by 1B Tyler Derby in the first inning. In the second inning, CF Matt Ivanoff hit an RBI single, chasing Pilot starter Jared Mata. LF Kyle Konicek hit an RBI double, and DH Bryan Nicholson hit an RBI single.

Ivanoff made a big defensive play in the third inning, catching a ball off the center field fence hit by SS Manny Estrada with a runner on base. Ivanoff and Konicek both finished the game 3-4 with an RBI.

Persinger's final numbers were four runs on seven hits, ten strikeouts, and three walks. McBride got a save, and Mata got the loss.

Box score and play-by-play
Story from Concordia site
Story from NAIA site