Look at me, rattling off these things three days in a row.  Here’s what I can pretty much promise you, though.  There will not be a daily blog on weekends, unless I am really in the groove during the college baseball season that is now all of the sudden just two weeks away.  Working on a preseason magazine for a month while raising a newborn really isn’t good for keeping time.  In two weeks, we play.  Craziness.  Today’s blog comes on the back of a fair line of inquiry from “

It is 10:00 AM Central time, proving any expectation you may have of this daily blog series to have a set time to be false.  On day 3, in an effort to give myself some sort of organization, I believe I am going to start writing about some of my favorite College World Series memories, even if fractured.  Each day will focus on one event for the time being, unless something crazy happens in the college baseball world that requires my immediate blogging. Today’s topic: 2014 Vand

Welcome back to The Starting Lineup.  If you think you may have missed a handful of blog entries after my promise to deliver a daily blog, you didn’t miss any and we’re just ignoring the gap between blog #1 on Friday and today’s second entry coming on Wednesday.  Maybe this will be one of those things where I call it a daily blog, but the joke everyone is in on is that the blog is, in fact, not daily.  Funny stuff. Today, I sit down around 7:45 AM central time, otherwise know

This marks the return of my pursuit to write a daily, or at-least near-daily, column regarding the sport we all love.  In the past, the college baseball season has begun with my attempts to preview and recap the biggest contests that sandwich that morning’s recap.  It didn’t take long for other things to come up, eventually leaving my good intentions in the dust.   Today, I’ve decided to give this pursuit another shot, and I’m going to tell YOU, why this time is going to be d

Cade Climie headlines an old experienced Houston Squad in 2026 (Houston Athletics photo) By Jake McKeever Entering 2026, Big 12 Baseball feels just as wide open as it has in recent memory. The league features just one preseason Top 25 program (TCU). TCU is the clear-cut number one, top dog. Outside of the clear tone-setter, there is a wide range of outcomes for nearly every team in the conference. Roster turnover, assistant coaching changes, and the realities of the portal an

By Jake McKeever As college football winds down and fresh snow starts to fall, it usually signals the end of one season. But for baseball fans, it means something else entirely. College baseball is right around the corner. With schedules released and rosters finalized, I started wondering what the College Football Playoff would look like if these matchups were decided on the diamond instead of the gridiron. Using projected 2026 baseball rosters and judging each matchup as a t

By Andrew Riedell Oh, what a fall it has been in Gainesville for the Florida Gators baseball program. Kevin O’Sullivan has been on a leave of absence the last few weeks, dealing with a personal matter, and it seems like there is no finite timetable for him to return to the program. David Kopp, the pitching coach for the Gators, wasn't with the team for a few days as he and his wife welcomed their first child. (Congrats to them!) Then, Interim Head Coach and Associate Coach Ch

By Andrew Riedell On the evening of October 21st, Noah Darling and I were doing our podcast “Ban The Wave,” and we both ended that show not knowing that the next morning, College Baseball and the University of Tennessee would not be the same. I was only a child, just learning and starting to love the game of football, when Lane Kiffin was the Tennessee head football coach, when he unexpectedly left for the USC head coaching job and held one of the most infamous press conferen

They haven't played in the regular season since 2019, but Mississippi State meets Louisiana Tech on November 1 for the second exhibition in three years. By Doug Kyle M ississippi State Head Baseball Coach Brian O’Connor announced in August a second fall baseball exhibition for his new team, this one at home against Louisiana Tech on Saturday, November 1. This one is now set for a 12 noon start. Like the October 18 venture to Pensacola, FL, to face Florida State on the same Sa

By Andrew Riedell Were you expecting bombshell college baseball news in October of all months? Multiple sources have confirmed to College Baseball Central, Tennessee Head Coach Tony Vitello will become the first head coach ever to make the jump directly from the NCAA level to MLB, as he will be hired by the San Francisco Giants with the finalization of a deal coming in the following days. The Athletic was the first one to link Vitello to the job and then the first to confirm

By Andrew Riedell Fall Ball is here in South Florida, as the Miami Hurricanes had their first and only scrimmage of the fall against the FAU Owls in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes returned 15 players and brought in 25 players via the transfer portal and freshmen coming on board. This was my second time seeing the new look FAU Owls, but this was my first time this fall seeing the projected Friday night starter in James Litman. Miami did not throw AJ Ciscar and Rob Evans

By Doug Kyle and Monty Taylor I t may be one of the oldest sports clichés, but “You can’t tell the players without a scorecard” may turn...