General

The 56^th NAIA baseball season starts today, with defending champion Concordia-Irvine hosting Simpson, Palm Beach State at Saint Thomas (FL), and Point Loma Nazarene playing an exhibition game at UC San Diego. Simpson visits Point Loma on Jan. 25, and The Master's on Jan. 27. On January 26, Doane visits Texas-Brownsville. On January 27-29, Auburn-Montgomery hosts a four-team tournament with Embry-Riddle, Tennessee Wesleyan, and Southern Polytechnic. Also on the 27^th, Belhaven hosts Blue Mountain, Brewton-Parker hosts South Carolina-Beaufort, and at least nine more games are scheduled. On January 28, Montreat visits Thomas (GA) and Warner visits Webber International.

Here is an evaluation of the top 10 teams according to the pre-season coaches' poll:

#1 – Oklahoma City: The Stars are led by All-American C Chad Carman (.323), IF Miguel Beltran (.346), and LHP Rich Hawkins (10-5, 2.04 ERA). They've loaded up on talent with C Dane Phillips (transfer from Oklahoma State, batted .337 in 2010), RHP Blake Schwartz (transfer from Minnesota State-Mankato, 10-2, 2.11 ERA, 79 K), RHP Patrick Goelz (transfer from Bethune-Cookman, 8-3, 3.09 ERA, 75 K), IF Chris Munoz (transfer from Eastern Oklahoma State JC), OF Cody Ferrell (transfer from Seminole State JC, .367, 8 home runs), and LHP Ryan Gibson (transfer from Oklahoma, 48^th round draft pick in 2009). Games to watch: Missouri Baptist Feb. 11-12, at Oklahoma Baptist March 22, 24, Oklahoma Baptist March 23, Rogers State April 5, at Rogers State April 7, at Lubbock Christian April 20-21.

#2 – Concordia-Irvine: The defending champions lost Matt Ivanoff to graduation, and John Hill and Bryan Nicholson to pro ball. They still have OF Kyle Konicek (.391), RHP Blake Harrison (8-1, 2.74 ERA), and LHP Josh White (2-1, 2.20 ERA). They've added a high-profile JUCO transfer, P/OF Ty Holm (Everett CC), and two Division I transfers, LHP/OF Aaron Gates (Pepperdine, 4-5, team-best 3.15 ERA) and IF Dave Peterson (Hawaii, .283). Games to watch: at Cal State-San Marcos March 9, Cal State-San Marcos March 10, at Point Loma Nazarene March 16, Point Loma Nazarene March 17, at Biola March 29-30, Biola March 31, at Cal Baptist April 5-6.

If you've seen, or are planning to see the film “Moneyball”, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, it's entertainment. Most of the real story can be found on Wikipedia, in the articles on A's GM Billy Beane and Assistant GM Paul DePodesta.

DePodesta was taken out of the film entirely, and replaced by the fictional character played by Hill. The film portrayed Beane as placing his career on the line with the deals he made during the 2002 season, when, in fact, he had already been the General Manager of the A's for four seasons.

The book that the film was based on was written by Michael Lewis and published in 2003. It gives a history of “sabermetrics”, a set of baseball statistics that started with Bill James, and was refined by a community of geeks. James felt that batting average, home runs, and RBI are ineffective measurements of a players performance. On-base percentage is better, but James came up with the “runs created” statistic, which is:

The Western Major Baseball League, a semi-pro league with teams in Alberta and Saskatchewan, decided at its annual meeting last week to become a "full collegiate" league starting with the 2013 season.

Current league rules allow teams to have three over-aged players. The change will put the WMBL in the same category as the Cal Ripken, Cape Cod, Northwoods, West Coast and other high-profile summer leagues. However, the WMBL has a much higher number of players from NAIA schools.

Story from WMBL site: WMBL Set For Full Collegiate Model in 2013

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.

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