LSU’s Dylan Crews wins Golden Spikes Award as NCAA’s top player

LSU center fielder Dylan Crews, projected to be the No. 1 pick in the amateur draft next month, on Sunday was honored as the winner of the Golden Spikes Award as the top amateur baseball player in the country.

Crews, the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year for the second straight season, led the Tigers to the Men’s College World Series finals and is among the national leaders in most offensive categories. He’s first in runs scored (94), second in on-base percentage (.562), fifth in hits (104) and sixth in batting average (.418).

Crews is the 10th Golden Spikes winner from the Southeastern Conference and the second from LSU. The Tigers’ Ben McDonald won the award in 1989…

Of the 44 previous Golden Spikes winners, three have gone on to win the Cy Young Award, three have been a Most Valuable Player, and 20 have been selected to at least one All-Star team as a player or manager.

Stanford’s Quinn Mathews throws career-high 156 pitches in win against Texas in NCAA Super Regional

Stanford starting pitcher Quinn Mathews had quite an outing on Sunday. In an 8-3 victory over Texas in the NCAA Super Regionals, Mathews threw a career-high 156 pitches and registered 16 strikeouts in a complete game.

Mathews, who has a 10-4 record on the season, has thrown at least 100 pitches in 15 of his 17 starts. In this game, he allowed three runs on eight hits and walked just one batter as the Cardinal tied the best-of-three Super Regional series at one game apiece.

2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament Bracket

The NCAA regionals will take place from June 2-June 5 in a double-elimination tournament. The regionals winners will advance to the super regionals, which will run from June 9-June 12. The super regionals are a best-of-3 series. The eight super regionals champions will advance to the College World Series, which begins on June 16.

THE BRACKET ⚾️

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— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) May 29, 2023

Atlantic Cape baseball coach resigns after illegal communications devices found in helmets

Atlantic Cape Community College baseball coach Rodney Velardi resigned after 13 years leading the program on May 4, almost two weeks after the Buccaneers were found to have illegal communication devices in two of their players’ batting helmets during an 11-4 loss to Rowan College Gloucester County on April 22….

That’s when Valli went to the umpire and asked him to check two Atlantic Cape helmets. There was one out in the bottom of the third inning.

“(He was) as surprised as I was,” Valli said of the umpire. “The reaction was I went out and said they have headsets in their helmets, and he seemed surprised. … He’s like how do you know? I explained our first baseman has been hearing this now and we just confirmed it the second time these guys got on base. In 30 years, I’ve never asked an umpire to check a helmet, but I’m out here now, and I’m telling you now you’re going to find ear pieces in these helmets, and he goes OK, let’s check.”

The umpire did, finding earpieces in the helmets of both the runner on second base, and the one on first.

Alabama firing baseball coach Brad Bohannon amid betting probe

Alabama has decided to fire baseball coach Brad Bohannon, less than three days after an ESPN report raised questions about “suspicious wagering activity” surrounding Alabama baseball games that led to Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania halting all bets on the team’s games.

“Alabama director of athletics Greg Byrne announced he has initiated the termination process for head baseball coach Brad Bohannon for, among other things, violating the standards, duties, and responsibilities expected of University employees,” the university said in a statement Thursday morning. “Bohannon has been relieved of all duties and Jason Jackson will serve as the interim head coach. There will be no further comment at this time pending an ongoing review.”