21 DANS IN REGIONAL PLAY

21 Danville Dans will be playing in the 2010 NCAA Div. I baseball tournament on 7 different teams, which include the University of San Diego, IL State, Vanderbilt, Louisville, LSU, Baylor, and Ole' Miss.

Dans James Meador(2007), A.J. Griffin (2007), Austin Green (2009-10), Bryan Haar (2010), Andrew Walter (2010), and Zach Walters (2008) will represent their University of San Diego Toreos and will play in the Tempe regional along with Az St., Milwaukee, and Hawaii.

Illinois State will play in the Louisville Regional with Louisville, St. Louis, and Vanderbilt. Their roster includes area standout and 2010 Dan, J.D. Learnard.

Dans Richie Goodenow (2008-09)and Mark Lamm (2009) will travel with their Vanderbilt teammates to the Louisville regional as well.

From Louisville, three Dans alumni include Assistant Coach, Xan Barksdale (2002), Drew Haynes (2008), and Justin Amlung (2009).

Brett Huber (2009) and Brooks Oursler (2010) represent Ole Miss who will journey to Virgina for their Regional play against Virginia, VCU and St. John's.

Dan Evatt (2008) will be playing with Baylor at TCU.

LSU, last year's National Champion, will travel to UCLA and play UC Irvine to kickoff the tournament. Kent St. will also play at UCLA. The 6 Dans on the Tiger squade include: Mason Katz (2010), Mikie Mahtook (2009), Austin Ross (2008), Alex Edward (2009), Johnny Dishon (2008, and Austin Nola (2009.

Good luck Dans!

Regional play will begin June 4 and conclude June 7. Winners will advance to the Super Regional to qualify to reach the College World Series in Omaha.

NOLA NAMED MVP OF SEC TOURNAMENT

2009 Danville Dan, Austin Nola, has been named MVP of this year's SEC Tournament. The sophomore from Baton Rouge batted .457 (7-for-16) with a triple, three doubles, and four RBI. It was an honor 2009 Danville Dan, Mikie Mahtook, received in last year's SEC Tournament. Both Nola and Mahtook were named to the 2010 SEC All-Tournament Team.

LSU won the tournament, defeating Alabama 4-3 in 11 innings. Two other Dans (both 2010) also had an outstanding tournament. In the championship game, the Tigers got out to an early lead when Alex Edward came across the plate on a double by Gaudet. In the 7th inning, Mason Katz "made in incredible sliding catch and doubled-up a runner to end the Alabama threat."

DENNIS' SOUTHERN INDIANA SCREAMING EAGLES WIN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Congratulations to Taylor Dennis (Dan 2010) whose Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles won the NCAA Div. II National Championship in Cary, N.C.,today, defeating UC San Diego 6 to 4.

2010 DANS TAKES SOUTHERN INTO NATIONAL TITLE GAME

Congratulations to 2010 Danville Dan and Covington resident, Taylor Dennis, who led his Southern Indiana team to a 3-2 victory over Georgia University in the NCAA Div. II Men's National Tournament. The game prevented the team from elimination and propelled them into the National Championship Game in Cary, N.C. against the University of California San Diego at 11:00 Central time tomorrow (May 29th).

DIAMOND NOTES

2007 Danville Dan (Mississippi State, Ricky Bowen, has been promoted to the Dayton Dragons (Midwest League Class A) in the Reds organization.

From Baseball America - For the second straight day Thursday, the Tigers got encouraging signs that their pitching is on the mend—which seems to be helping the defending national champions rediscover their missing swagger. LSU continued its resurgence with a 7-5 win against Vanderbilt behind eight strong innings from starter Austin Ross,Danville Dan 2008.

Ross allowed four runs on four hits and two walks while striking out seven over eight-plus innings, and held Vandy hitless from the third through the eighth.
Head Coach Paul Mainieri: "The kid is a dominating pitcher except for that one inning when he seems to give up multiple runs, but you just never know when that inning's going to happen. Usually it happens in the fourth or the fifth, today it was the second. But I really didn't fault him all that much. They hit the ball. It wasn't like he was walking batters. I thought the kid showed a lot, he kept challenging hitters . . . He wasn't trying to nibble too much, and I think he really was very, very aggressive, and even his slider, he had good depth on his slider, he was keeping it down and he was throwing it for strikes too. I just think he was masterful tonight. I think he pitched as well as he possibly can tonight."

Mainieri: "Ross was really phenomenal. I mean, he was the story of the game. I was just saying how much fun it is to get good starting pitching. It allowed us to be very aggressive offensively—the hit-and-run, trying to take extra bases.

The SEC Tournament continues today.

DANS TAKE SEC BASEBALL HONORS

Shortstop Austin Nola (LSU-Dans 2009) and Brett Huber (Ole Miss-Dans 2009) have been named All-SEC 2nd Team. Huber has also been named to the SEC All Freshman Team along with Chris Stratton (Mississippi State - Dans 2010). Congrats!

TAYLOR LEADS EAGLES IN POST-SEASON PLAY

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The ninth-ranked University of Southern Indiana baseball team opened NCAA Division II Baseball Championship Series play with a late-night victory over 11th-ranked Minnesota State University, 8-6, Sunday evening in Cary, North Carolina. On the mound, junior right-hander Taylor Dennis (Dans 2010)gave the Eagles seven strong innings to win his 11th of the season. Dennis (11-1 overall, 4-0 postseason) tied the USI single-season record for wins by allowing one run on seven hits. He also struck out six MSU hitters. The Screaming Eagles advance to play sixth-ranked Kutztown University in the winner’s portion of bracket two at 6 p.m. (CDT) Tuesday

DANS DIAMOND NOTES

LSU 3rd baseman, Alex Edward (Dans 2010), had an outstanding game last night in a 14-13 slugout with Mississippi State. The freshman finished 3 for 5 with a homer and an RBI.

Missisippi State 2nd baseman, and incoming Dan, Sam Frost, was 1 for 3 with an RBI.

A total of 6 Dans played in the game. The series contintues today.

DABO SWINGING HOT BAT

Click Here 2008 and 2009 Dan, Dabo Worthington, swings a hot bat at Southern University in Baton Rouge.

COGHLIN SWING HOT BAT

Collectively, the Marlins have had 1,310 at-bats in 38 games.

Perhaps none was bigger than Chris Coghlan's three-run homer off Fernando Nieve in the seventh inning on Sunday afternoon. (Note: Coghlan, 2009 National League Rookie of the Year is a 2004 Danville Dan alumni)
Over the course of the season, there may have been bigger results on a hit. But no single at-bat was constructed better, according to Marlins teammate Cody Ross.

Coghlan's pinch-hit home run capped a 12-pitch showdown with the hard-throwing New York reliever. At the time, New York trimmed a seven-run deficit to one. The Marlins went on to win, 10-8, completing their first-ever four-game sweep of the Mets in Miami.

"For me, it was the best at-bat of the year, from anybody," said Ross, who had a four-hit game, and was on first when the ball cleared the wall in center field. "It was amazing to come up there and foul off so many pitches, and to keep battling. And to stay within himself."

Coghlan remarkably fouled off seven straight pitches after the count was 1-2. The 11th pitch was a slider in the dirt for ball three.

With the count full, Coghlan unloaded on a 95 mph fastball.

"The fact that he was able to take 2-2 and be able to go to 3-2 is impressive," Ross said. "As a hitter, you tend to get caught up in swing mode, where you are fouling pitches off, fouling pitches off. It seems like everything they throwing, you're swinging at, because you're trying to protect.

"He threw a changeup and [Coghlan] took it. That was a big pitch right there."

Off the bat, it was unclear if the ball would have the distance. In fact, Ross said he was heading back to first base to tag up. But the ball was well hit, and it landed on the blue targ in straight away center.

Mets center fielder Angel Pagan's reaction indicated the ball was gone.

"Once I saw Pagan turn his back and start jogging, I was thinking, 'He really got that ball good.' I was actually going to go back and tag at first, and go to second," Ross said. "Once I realized he didn't have a chance, I was like, 'Wow!' "

Coghlan was pinch-hitting for Brett Carroll.

"I know it was a big at-bat for the team, after the Mets had come back and made it close," Coghlan said. "To come off the bench and put the game out of reach, that's pretty much what you try to do when you come off the bench."

-- Joe Frisaro

Update - Danny Worth Gets 1st RBI

In his first career at bat, Danny Worth drove in Migiel Cabrera with a single to right.

WORTH CALLED UP TO MAJORS

Danny Worth (Pepperdine) becomes the 17th Dan to play major league baseball as he joins the Detroit Tigers today, May 16th, 2010. Danny will wear #29.

Worth was a member of the 2005 Dans (34-12) and one of 11 players drafted from that team.

Worth was coached by Jamie Sailors and was hosted by Pat & Elaine O'Shaughnessy.

Dans Meador Honored

Congratulations to 2007 Danville Dan, James Meador (San Diego) for his selection as an April Star of the Month by the San Diego Hall of Champions for his outstanding performance as last year's conference Player of the Year. James was 22-for-55 (.400) with 7 doubles, 2 home runs and 19 RBI's for a team that went 12-0 in West Coast Conference Play. He also earned WCC Player of the Week honors with a 4-for-5 game that included 4 RBI's and a homer against Gonzaga.

DAN GAINS GLVC FIRST TEAM HONORS

The University of Indianapolis's Donovan Drake (Danville Dan 2009 and 2010) has been named to the Great Lakes Valley Conference first team baseball squad.

Donovan has a 6-4 record with a 3.23 ERA, 2.11 in conference play. He has 5 complete games including two shutouts. Opponents have been held to a .228 batting average. He has struck out 64 and walked only 19 in 64 innings.