FIU Panthers Prowl

Extra Bases from Friday...

Some stuff from Friday night's 6-5 baseball win against Brown in the home opener...

The night before lefthanded sophomore pitcher Michael Ellis gets his start against Brown, he helped produced the game-winning run. Senior Mike Martinez, who went two for three (.533 this season) and walked twice, joked after the game about junior Adam Kirsch continually seeking counsel about his swing and said he told Kirsch he was fine. Kirsch admitted he was asking about quite a bit, but felt he'd missed on some good pitches earlier in the game. Kirsch said Ellis advised that he was getting his foot down late.

The next time up, Kirsch got a first pitch fastball and put it over the fence to break a 5-5 tie.

Freshman shortstop Julius Gaines has five errors in seven games so far, but head coach Turtle Thomas said, Julius is a freshman. He’s played every inning of all seven games. He’ll continue to play because he’s a good player. He’ll figure it out sooner or later.”

Thomas seemed to have more concern about redshirt junior starter Mason McVay, who didn't get the Ivy League visitors under control until the third inning or so.

“That’s what’s happening with him right now," Thomas said. "He goes out , struggles the first couple of innings, he settles in, he does fine as long as he stays in the game. The problem is, he’s got to figure it out earlier so he doesn’t throw 70 pitches the first two innings. Four innings, he had 95 pitches.”

That said, Thomas also complimented Brown on tenacity at the plate. One of the reasons McVay reached such a high pitch count in the first two innings was the Bears weren't leaving anything up to the umpire. If it was close, they were swinging and making contact and foul balls were fine with them.

 

FIU 2012 football schedule; JoGus in NCAA Swimming; Beaupre in NCAA Diving Regional; Nolasco vs. FIU

And here we go...

Sept. 1 -- at Duke

Sept. 8 -- vs. Akron

Sept. 15 -- at Central Florida

Sept. 22 -- vs. Louisville

Sept. 29 -- at Louisiana-Lafayette

Oct. 4 -- vs. Arkansas State (on ESPNU)

Oct. 13 -- vs. Middle Tennessee

Oct. 20 -- at Troy

Oct. 27 -- vs. Western Kentucky

Nov. 3 -- at South Alabama

Nov. 16 -- at FAU (on ESPNU -- Anagrams Away!)

Nov. 24 -- vs. Louisiana-Monroe

SWIMMING AND DIVING

Failed to get this up on the blog yesterday, which is rather incongruous with my continuous updating via blog during last week's Sun Belt Swimming & Diving Championships...

Freshman Johanna Gustafsdottir officially was invited to the NCAA championships in the three events she won at the Sun Belt championships. She'll be in the 200 individual medley Mar. 15, 100 backstroke Mar. 16 and the 200 back on Mar. 17.

Monday and Tuesday, sophomore diving ace Sabrina Beaupre will dive in the NCAA Regional with a chance to qualify for the NCAA Diving Final the following week. Beaupre won the 1-meter and 3-meter events at the Sun Belt Championships.

BASEBALL

The Marlins likely will throw Ricky Nolasco against FIU in next Wednesday night's split squad exhibition at Nothing to See Here, Investigators, Nothing to See Here Park.

 

 

Sun Belt's individual swimming honors go to FIU; happy endings for ball; no fun on the bases

As a team, FIU finished fourth at the Sun Belt Swimming & Divsing Championships. But four individuals were judged the conference's best.

After winning her third individual conference title Saturday, the 200 backstrokes, freshman Johanna Gustafsdottir received the Sun Belt Swimmer of the Year honor. The Diver of the Year had exactly one contender, FIU sophomore Sabrina Beaupre, winner at 1-meter and 3-meters. Their coaches, Randy Horner and Chris Mantilla, respectively won the Sun Belt Swimming Coach and Sun Belt Diving Coach of the Year awards.

Sonia Perez Arau finished third in the 200 back, also with an NCAA qualifying time. Neither Perez Arau nor Gustafsdottir are guaranteed a spot in the NCAAs, however.

BASKETBALLS

Before we get to seniors putting their things down on Senior Night, let's take a look at South Alabama women's coach Rick Pietri Saturday night against FIU. His explosions of reaction kept us entertained when the game degenerated into slop with players committing four fouls before getting called for one.

My two favorite moments escaped unshot (by me, at least). When the South Alabama defense didn't get out on FIU's Fanni Hutlassa and Hutlassa dropped in a three, Pietri jumped out of his squat and ran down the sideline, his feet kicking the air like some mad Eastern European kick dance. In the midst of this, he managed to whip his arm toward the scorer's table definitively enough that a player went to check into the game.

Another time, after FIU forced a shot clock violation, Pietri stomped a foot in triplicate, like he was in he road company of Bring in The Noise, Bring in The Funk.

At about the 1:35 mark...

  

Wait until 1:00 into this one, during the next-to-last FIU and South Alabama overtime possessions. 

Fifth year senior Fanni Hutlassa had nine rebounds, went six of six from the line and was three of 12 from the field, but hit the key three pointer that gave FIU some margin for error at 56-53 in overtime.

That's when FIU started trying to hand the game back to South Alabama with a series of oops! and what? actions. Hutlassa fouled out seconds after her three, but FIU's Kamika Idom come down with the rebound of the second consecutive missed Jaguars free throw -- like old coaches say, there are two things that don't last long: dogs that chase cars and teams that don't hit their free throws. Idom's transfer of the ball to Jerica Coley went about as smoothly as Piscarcik-to-Csonka and South Alabama got to within one on a Mary Nixon bucket.

Instead of a forced shot by Coley, Frozone from the field Saturday, FIU got a look from Finda Mansare, whose five of 10 from the field at that time made her the Panthers' best shooter this night. Idom got the hustle rebound of that miss, then FIU inexplicably called timeout instead of just letting the clock run and forcing South Alabama to foul.

Pietri said at least six times in the USA huddle, "DON'T LET NO. 22 GET THE BALL!" and the Jaguars double-teamed Coley accordingly. But FIU ran a set where Idom wound up cutting toward Coley, bringing three Jaguars to an area with two FIU players and Carmen Miloglav inbounded into that mess. South Alabama came out with the ball, but Miloglav's defense on the final possesion altered Nixon's shot. Pietri's stomp in the video above is in reaction to USA having to foul Coley, 12 of 12 from the line Saturday.

Coley finished with seven turnovers Saturday and five of 18 from the field. Good as she is, her teammates not named Mansare and Hutlassa need to pop on more of the open looks they get, just so Coley's not required to forcing up junk as the shot clock winds down. On her part, as the best player and point guard, Coley should force a greater distribution of of the offensive load. She's the director on the floor. 

I'm reminded of Connie Hawkins, one of those prodigious playground legends whose best never got broad exposure because he didn't hit the NBA until he was past his prime. In the original ABA, that brought us the slam dunk contest and the three-point shot, Hawkins played for the Pittsburgh Condors. A teammate noted that early in the game, Hawkins, by far the Condors best player, didn't take many shots. Instead, he made sure to get everyone the ball early with decent looks so the whole team felt involved and in the rhythm.

Just a thought as I wonder if Coley's wearing down from FIU's dependence on her.

In the men's game, Detroit men Jeremy Allen and DeJuan Wright kept smacked South Alabama back down right when the Jaguars looked as if they would prevent FIU's first season sweep of them. From 53-48 FIU, Wright and Allen combined for FIU's next 17 points. Two Allen threes sandwiched a Wright defensive rebound that put FIU up 64-50. Another Jaguars run got the FIU lead down to 72-69 and anybody who's seen this team at home settled in for the heartbreak. In fact, the only consistent fan cheering was from South 'Bama fans doing the "Dee-fense!" chant.

Wright got the layup, the foul and hit the free throw: 75-69, 2:06 left. Plenty of time, but you could feel the uprising die.

BASEBALL

Up in Leon County, senior Iosmel Leon homered for FIU. Alas, that was one of only six hits in a 3-1 loss to Florida State.

Starter Mason McVay walked five, struck out nine and gave up two runs in four innings. McVay and Albert Cardenas kept FSU hitless from the second inning through a solo homer by James Ramsey, whose homer and bases loaded single accounted for all three FSU RBI.

Sophomore Mike Ellis starts today's third game of the series.

INDOOR TRACK

Raqurra Ishmar finished second in the shot put at the Sun Belt Indoor Track and Field Championship Saturday.

FIU baseball beats FSU; Gustafsdottir, Beaupre win (again); softball...oh, well; Wasshington visit

If last weekend's sweep by highly-ranked Rice cast a Sasquatch-sized shadow of a doubt on FIU's status, Friday's 8-5 Panthers win in the first of three games at Florida State shrunk that shadow. FSU came into the weekend ranked No. 8 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and No. 18 by Baseball America.

FIU's last win in Tallahassee was Feb. 21, 1990, when people were doing the Roger Rabbit to this....

 

R.J. Fondon (1-1) got the win and lefty junior Michael Gomez, out of Braddock High and Miami-Dade College, got the save. Pablo Bermudez went three for six, junior Adam Kirsch went three for five and senior Mike Martinez went two for four with a stolen base.

AQUAWOMEN

Freshman Johanna Gustafsdottir, upset winner of the 200 Individual Medley Thursday at the Sun Belt Swimming & Diving Championships, took her second individual championship Friday. Gustafsdottir's 1:48.09 200 freestyle brought her home .36 of a second ahead of North Texas' Catia Weickgenant, the fastest in Friday morning's preliminaries by .11 of a second ahead of Gustafsdottir. FIU's Kayla Derr finished fifth in 1:49.82.

As she did in the 3-meter competition Wednesday, sophomore Sabrina Beupre routed her diving pseudo-competition in the 1-meter Friday. This time, Beaupre did a Riva Ridge instead of a Secretariat -- her 307.70 points were only (heh) 14.65 percent better than second place Catherine Johnson of North Texas, yet still a Sun Belt Conference record.

Sophomore Sonia Perez Arau took a second in the 400 IM Friday, her 4:13.99 just 1.55 seconds behind FAU's Eszter Bucz. Something about the AU and the Eszter on a Friday night makes me think of...

 

Freshman Klara Andersson's 1:04.06 was good enough for a fifth in the 100 breaststroke. Andersson, Derr, Perez Arau and Kelly Grace comprised FIU's fifth-place 200 free relay team Thursday night.

SOFTBALL

Ashley McClain led off the game with a solo home run, the 27th homer and 132nd RBI of her college career. Unfortunately for FIU, that sums up the scoring offense in their two Friday games at the FAU Invitational, losses of 4-1 to Tulsa and 3-0 to Loyola Marymount.

FOOTBALL

Before the equipment dried from the 2011 season, FIU became the first of many to offer Orlando Jones defensive end Devin Washington, class of 2013. Washington's taking a swing through town this weekend, visiting FIU (definitely) and UM (probably).

 

Gustafsdottir wins the 200 IM; Hutlassa goes off; men's BB goes down; baseball to FSU; softball to Boca

Freshman Johanna Gustafsdottir, whose seeding time ranked her 12th going into the Sun Belt Swimming & Diving Championships, swam to an upset win in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 1:59.14, setting a new school, conference and Sun Belt Championships meet record. It was tied for the 33rd best in the NCAA this season.

Gustafsdottir churned to the third fastest time in the preliminaries, hinting she might have something for her finals competition. Sophomore Sonia Perez Arau finished fifth in 2:01.73, the second best time in FIU history.

FIU's fourth with 176 points. Denver's 275 points lead Western Kentucky (256) and North Texas (234).

WOMEN'S HOOP

Sophomore guard Jerica Coley got her usual numbers -- 21 points (but five of 18 from the field), seven rebounds, five assists, four steals, two blocks -- against Troy Thursday night, but it was senior Fanni Hutlassa who tore it up: 26 points on nine of 14 shooting and nine rebounds. FIU rolled as expected, 74-52.

The 19-9 Panthers a win against South Alabama Saturday from the 18th 20-win season in head coach Cindy Russo's 33 seasons.

MEN'S HOOP

It wasn't just that FIU kept putting freshman forward Gilles Dierickx and sophomore forward Dominque Ferguson on the floor Thursday against Troy. Bad as that was, what helped kill FIU was they kept trying to give Dierickx and Ferguson the ball. On this night, FIU's inside men could've been my cats -- handling the ball as if they lacked opposable thumbs or making passes that showed my feline's basketball sense. They combined for seven turnovers and only seven rebounds, a huge reason FIU lost 75-70 in overtime.

The best Jeremy in town Thursday night played at The Branch. In addition to a game-high 22 points against Troy, Allen deflected numerous passes, made six steals and one fast break block so perfect that the Troy bench didn't even make the reflexive howl for a foul as FIU headed back up court.

BASEBALL

Just as Ashley McClain was for softball, senior outfielder Pablo Bermudez has been named a finalist for the 2012 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The award goes to a Division I player whose character, classroom, competition and community contributions match their high standard of play.

As the team heads for their three-game set with Florida State, No. 18 in the most recent Baseball America poll, they'll do so wtihout junior Rudy Flores and senior righthander Christian Malbrough. Both are suspended for the series for violation of team policy.

R.J. Fondon and Mason McVay will start the first two games, as they did last weekend at Rice. The third start this time will go to sophomore righty Michael Ellis.

SOFTBALL

The softball team, which ran off five consecutive wins last weekend in the Blue and Gold Felsberg Invitational -- two wins by mercy rule -- goes to the Boca Raton Invitational this weekend where they'll face Tulsa, Loyola-Marymount, Auburn and Florida A&M.

McClain's batting .448 with three doubles and a .724 slugging percentage. Kayla Burri's hitting .393 with a .500 slugging percentage.

 

 

Beaupre, oui (again); rain dances; Taylor plays; spring flings

Going into this year's Sun Belt Swimming & Diving Championships, FIU sophomore Sabrina Beaupre counted as the most sure thing out of Quebec province since Mario Lemieux.

Favorite pays: on Wednesday's first day, Beaupre won her second consecutive 3-meter diving championship by breaking her own Sun Belt record of 304.8 points with 328.85 points. Had Beaupre merely tied her own record, she still would've won by 31.8 points. As it was, she won by 55.85, her score exceeding that of runner up, North Texas' Catherine Johnson, by over 20 percent. That's a blowout on the level of Secretariat (which was trained by a French-Canadian, Lucien Laurin, and ridden by a Canadian, Ron Turcotte.)

FIU's fourth in the team rankings after the first day with 90 points. North Texas' 110 points has them nine up on soon-to-be-WAC Denver and 12 up on Western Kentucky.

FIU's 800 freestyle relay (junior Kayla Derr, sophomore Sonia Perez Arau, senior Vicnan Torres, freshman Johanna Gustafsdottir) finished third in a school redor 7:18.62, and Derr's leadoff of 1:49.24 broke her own school record for the 200 free. Gustafsdottir also was part of a school-record 200 Medley Relay, with freshman Klara Anderson, senior Kariann Stevens and junior Kelly Grace. Their 1:43.38 got them fifth place.

Thursday will be the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and 200 free relay.

BASEBALL

Though the baseball team went 0-3 at Rice, their rain delay dance from last Friday's season opener drew admiration from Sports Illustrated.

 

And, somewhere, Don Cornelius smiles...

 

BASKETBALL

FIU appealed what would've been a one-game suspension for point guard Phil Taylor, who got tossed from Saturday's loss at Arkansas State after a pair of technical fouls, and the Sun Belt said, OK, let him play, Thursday.

FOOTBALL

Walk-on tryouts are Friday and the spring insanity known as spring football begins the next Friday (no video). The spring game is March 30.

This weekend, T.Y. Hilton will be at the NFL Scouting Combine, probably answering more questions about whether or not he's injury prone than anything else. A Hilton with dependable health would get taken in the second round by a team willing to roll the dice on someone so slight, yet so fast as a big play threat in a big play league. If adjudged a health risk -- and with wide receivers, NFL teams can be more risk averse than an insurance company -- he's a third or fourth-rounder.

Hitters, throwers, no catchers...

For an unspecified violation of team rules, two seniors, infielder Mike Martinez and right-handed pitcher Logan Dodds, have been suspended for the baseball team's season-opening series against Rice.

There will be a fuller season preview/series preview story in Friday's Herald, but one tidbit -- it looks like FIU's starting pitching rotation will be lefthanded R.J. Fondon, lefthanded former late reliever Mason McVay -- "He threw five nnings on Saturday and was not sore the next day at all, which was good. he came up to me and made that comment specifically," FIU coach Turtle Thomas said -- and righty Jose Lazaro, a freshman from Puerto Rico via North Broward Prep.

TRACK AND FIELD

What's cool about junior Benia Gregoire being named Sun Belt Field Athlete of the Week for winning the weight throw at the Tiger Paw Invitational at Clemson? Well, other than doing it with a throw of 20.49 meters and being ranked ninth in the nation.

Gregoire's part of the track team. No sport at FIU labors with such comically poor facilities. 

My middle school track teammates, high school track teammates and every school we faced would laugh like we were watching Benny Hill if a coach suggested we practice in such a space.

SOFTBALL

Senior outfielder Ashley McClain is one of the 30 finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, an award honoring the all-around good person/athlete types who attain high standards of character, schoolwork, community involvement and playing well.

McClain made the Sun Belt Honor Roll for the 2010-11 school year on her way to a bachelor's in criminal justice. Now, she's working on a public administration degree.

 

 

Talkin' ballin'...

Saturday night’s first game at U.S. Century Bank Arena featuring the Sun Belt Conference’s top two scorers got decided largely by No. 2 not scoring and a stretch in which No. 1 didn’t score.

Though the conference’s leading scorer and No. 2 nationally Jerica Coley scored none of FIU’s  points in a 16-7 second half run that brought on garbage time in FIU’s 58-42 win, she did all those other little things coaches love to see stars do when they’re not filling the hole.

“The rest of my teammates were doing well scoring, moving the ball, getting layups, getting fouled. I was just trying to do whatever else we needed,” said Coley, who had 14 first half points and 18 for the game.

As FIU’s 27-22 first half lead grew to 43-29 with 11:36 left, Coley had two assists, two rebounds, a block and an out-of-bounds save off a Denver player. Junior forward Finda Mansare took over half the scoring with eight of her 14 points in the run as the Panthers claimed the offensive lane as their turf.

They already had done that in the first half at the defensive end, where Mansare and junior Diamond Ashmore held Denver 5-11 senior forward Kaetlyn Murdoch to two for 10 shooting in the first 20 minutes. It didn’t get much better in the second half for Murdoch, who came into the game averaing 17.0 points per game.

She finished with a double-double, 10 points (on four for 14 shooting) and a game-high 13 rebounds, but when she went strong to the hoop, she kept bumping into the bulk of the 6-2 Ashmore, the 6-1 Mansare or both.

“Diamond did a great job defensivenly,” FIU coach Cindy Russo said. “She had a nice offensive game, but where she was really special was defense. She helped everybody – guards, everybody, got back, she was just amazing. I think that was a turning point in our game.”

After playing a season-high 17 minutes and getting three blocks, Ashmore said, “Instead of thinking about the next play if I messed up, trying to get it back, I just took it one possession at a time.”

Fifth-year senior guard Fanni Hutlassa went down in the first half with what looked like a right ankle injury, but returned to play 25 minutes and score 10 points for FIU.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

What a lousy night for senior guard Jeremy Allen to have a career-high 29 points and surpass 1,000 for his college career.

In the first half of schooling FIU 77-63 Saturday night, Denver ran the kind of offense John Wooden used to...when he was a guard at Martinsville High.

Lots of passes, whipped quickly. Little dribbling. Patient. Wait for a slow defensive switch or breakdown...fire. And if you can't grab a rebound, tap it back out to the perimeter, where you've got numbers.

FIU looked ponderous in the first half as Denver proved the ball moves quicker than the feet. Denver worked for its open shots, then hit them while at the other end, FIU moved at Del Boca Vista pace, then missed what open shots it got. No wonder Isiah Thomas went so deep into his bench that, at one moment, FIU had five players on the court who hadn't scored a point...and it was late in the first half.

As home court advantage, The Branch on the surface equates to playing Monopoly with your set instead of your best friend's. Mostly empty small gym. A pep band whose playlist I like and with which the coaches probably are down, but probably not putting the wiggle in a college-aged kid. And the somewhat modern songs with lyrics like "I'm sexy and I know it" are saved for this Somebody-Call-CPS creepiness...

Still, you're at home. You slept in your own bed (or your girlfriend/sex friend/very recent friend's bed). You're dressing in your locker room. You're playing in the gym you practice in every day. You're playing in front of your fellow students, some of whom are fellow athletes. Overdone into comic book-level chest-beating that the whole "This is our house!" thing has been, there's something to it. Just simple pride demands respectable energy, even if you don't play well. 

One win at home midway through February defines not getting it done at any level -- player, assistant coaches, head coach. But most nights -- and most days at practice -- all three levels give engaged effort (people who get on coaches who don't yell and scream and emote on the sideline/bench miss the point -- the time where that does any real good, if it's in that coach's persona, is practice). Saturday, FIU got outhustled, badly.

DIAMOND DINNER

A tough weekend for the softball team, going 0-3 in its first three games of the COMBAT Classic, perhaps got counterbalanced a little bit by Saturday's Diamond Dinner fundraising event for the baseball and softball programs.

A trip to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game went for $4,000 in the live auction. A trip to Duck Key and Hawks Kay went for $4,300. A Chicago sports weekend went for $2,900. Six tickets to the Orange Bowl and the BCS National Championship game with hotel nights went for $7,000. Ticket sales alone to this year's event raised $72,000, so last year's $155,000 event total might be eclipsed.

 

Sun Belt Baseball Coaches Say, "FIU & Troy -- oh, boy!"

The Sun Belt preseason baseball coaches poll installs FIU as the co-favorite with last year's Sun Belt retular season champ, Troy, both finishing the poll with four first place votes and 93 points.

The coaches picked senior outfielder Pablo Bermudez as the Preseason Player of the Year, a logical pick as Bermudez shared the 2011 Sun Belt Player of the Year award. Bermudez, redshirt junior righty pitcher Mason McVay, senior first baseman Mike Martinez and junior Rudy Flores (as the DH) made the preseason All-Sun Belt team.

Next Friday, the baseball team opens at Rice. Tonight, the softball team opens at home against Michigan State, weather permitting.

 

Late Night with another David from Indianapolis' north side

 Barely awake after arising 20 hours ago with a coughy kid for the second day in a row. Hopefully, I'm still more coherent and grammatically better than, say, Twitter.

For no other reason than it's winter, this is on my Winter Dance Party playlist and I couldn't find a proper video of "Stay Up Late."

 

BALL

The men, FIU's Thomas Wolfe Bunch -- they get deep with the whole You Can't Go Home Again concept -- hosts North Texas Thursday at 7 p.m. on the Sun Belt Sports Network. A bench full of NBA scouts should be in The Branch to check out the Mean Green's 6-8 Tony Mitchell. Mitchell's trying to Eric Heiden the Sun Belt conference game statistics, leading in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and three-point shooting percentage. He's sixth in free throw percentage, but nowhere to be found among the steals leaders, a group headed by FIU's Jeremy Allen (2.3 per conference game).

In the women's game, you've got the Sun Belt scoring leader, FIU sophomore guard Jerica Coley, who's still second in the nation in scoring (24.3 per game, 24.6 per conference game). Coley leads FIU in almost every major individual category except steals, the category now topped by forward Fanni Hutlassa's 50 takeaways.

FOOTBALL

Though FIU's still listing the offensive coordinator job publicly as open, Tim Cramsey's still getting the job.

But FIU does need a new director of football operations after Andrew Green left to head the athletic department at Riviera Prep, a middle school and high school that opened its Coral Gables-area high school this year. Job? Handle everything. Travel logistics, recruit visits, whatever.  

SOFTBALL

Softball opens its season Friday night at home against Michigan State, the night before the now-sold out Diamond Dinner. If senior Ashley McClain puts up another year in range of last year's numbers -- .409 average, .696 slugging percentage and 12 home runs -- where would that rank among this year's FIU individual athletes? Ahead of or behind Coley, kicker Jack Griffin, T.Y. Hilton? Equal to, surpassing or far behind ridiculously dominant diver Sabrina Beaupre?

Odd thoughts while fighting off a face plant on my keyboard....nite nite.

New offensive coordinator soon; recruiting tidbits, Feb. 1 event; new baseball schedule

Expect a new offensive coordinator for the football team to be hired by the end of the week. A new OC won't mean a new offense, however. FIU will stay with the spread option attack, but develop it more and diversify. Yes, they'll even have the quarterback line up under center for some packages. That makes sense, especially in super short yardage situations, when you've got a big quarterback like Jake Medlock, or long ones like freshmen E.J. Hilliard (6-3) or Favian Upshaw (6-2).

RECRUITING

Though Krop High's Johnnie Durante made First-Team All-Dade as a defensive back -- seven interceptions, four returned for touchdowns -- he'll initianlly be tried on offense at FIU. And Upshaw will get his shot at quarterback.

There are no FIU fans at Syracuse among the linebacker coaches. Palatka High linebacker Leroy Owens switched his commitment to FIU from Syracuse and, as noted on last night's post, Haines City linebacker Josh Glanton, an FIU commit, is feeling the weight of deciding between FIU and Syracuse. Also feeling the weight of the wait: FIU and Syracuse coaches.

FIU's going after Port St. Lucie Treasure Coast quarterback Travares Copeland hard as they're in competition with West Virginia and Rutgers. How hard? Copeland put this photo on his Facebook Wall from Wednesday afternoon.

Even if he's not deployed at quarterback, Copeland's got wide receiver speed and athleticism. If the scouting report I got on his personality (posted yesterday) is accurate, team leaders will have to make him realize that FIU spreads the ball around like orange marmalade on toast.

FIU pulled Port Charlotte defensive end commit Marcus Gilchrist's scholarship offer several days ago.  

For next Wednesday's National Signing Day, FIU's throwing a soiree at the FIU Stadium's Stadium Club with free food and beverages at which they'll announce the 2012 recruiting class. Starts at 6 p.m.

BASEBALL

FIU's not in Baseball America's Top 25 to start the season, but that can change while they're still shoveling snow in Chicago according to the full baseball schedule, released Wednesday afternoon.

FIU opens Feb. 17 with a three-game set at Rice, BA's No. 6-ranked team, and a Feb. 24 three-game set at No. 20 Florida State. FIU's home opener is March 2 against Brown (heigh-ho).

Other scheudle highlights: their two three-game series against FAU will be March 16-18 (here) and May 17-19 (up there). Their exhibition against the split squad Marlins at Huh, We Thought Those Retail Spots Would Sell Faster Stadium: March 7. The Sun Belt Conference Tournament is May 23-27 at Western Kentucky. 

JANUARY NIGHT MUSIC...

Play it, Stevie...

Download 05 Higher Ground

 

 

 

 

 

Some football recruiting stuff; Diamond Dinner

For Haines City outside linebacker Josh Glanton, the choice between FIU, where he verbally committed during the fall, and Syracuse is hard enough that he's starting to stress over it. FIU defensive line coach Cedric Calhoun was scheduled to swing by for a visit Tuesday afternoon.

One recruiting service reports speedy Jackson High wide receiver DeAndre Jasper has committed to FIU, but would like to wind up at Marshall, which had a 11 players from Dade and Broward on their roster for the Beef O' Brady's Bowl. A source says Jasper definitely will choose FIU on Signing Day.

 

FIU's still in the hunt for Travares Copeland, who played quarterback at Port St. Lucie Treasure Coast this year after transferring from Fort Pierce Westwood, but might be used at any of the skill positions. He just entertained West Virginia on a home visit. Scouting report I got from up there: great athlete, tremendous arm ("50 or 60 yards off the back foot"), but too Me Centric, will need some grounding from the coaching staff and team leaders.

 

DIAMOND DINNER

 FIU baseball coach Turtle Thomas is hoping for a sellout of all 500 seats to this year's Diamond Dinner, a fundraising event and season first pitch event for the baseball and softball programs. Last year, 435 attended the event at the Graham Center Ballroom.

The human draw for this year's event is special guest speaker Lou Piniella, former Yankee, Kansas City Royal and, at the start of his career, Clevelnad Indian player and manager of the Cubs, Reds, Devil Rays, Mariners and Yankees (during the years when the Yankees changed managers like Starbucks changes baristas). Thomas said the timing worked for getting the recently-retired Piniella and they're working on getting former Cardinals, A's and White Sox manager Tony LaRussa for next year's event.

Along with dinner, alcohol and stories from Piniella (in "The Umpire Strikes Back," the late former umpire Ron Luciano's first book with David Fisher, Luciano recalled the night Piniella ran for the cycle -- got thrown out at every base), there are 21 live auction items and 200 silent auction items. The items range from trips to the Indianapolis 500, U.S. Open, the Ryder Cup (flights, hotels, tickets) to a trio of basketballs each signed by either Larry Bird, Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan.

For ticket information, call 305-348-1919. 

OUR CLOSING ACT

10 - It Keeps You Runnin' [Single Version]

 

FIU vs. Marlins at Marlins Park; Diamond Dinner; Pool Control

A couple of baseball notes:

Wednesday, March 7, in Exactly How Deep Are The Feds Looking Into This? Stadium the Marlins will play FIU in a split squad exhibition game at 1:05 p.m. 

The Diamond Dinner, to baseball and softball programs' fundraising what Harmon Killebrew was to the Minnesota Twins, will be Feb. 11 at the Graham Center Ballroom. The event will include food (dinner...good), alcohol (cocktail reception...better), a live auction, a silent auction and guest speaker Lou Pinella, an insanely competitive player and manager.

SWIMMING & DIVING

In their final home meet of the season, FIU's women of the pool blew Central Connecticut State out of the water with a 174-120.

Sophmoore Sonia Perez Arau won the 100-yard freestyle, 200 backsrtroke and the 400 individual medley. On Senior Day, seniors Kariann Stevens and Vicnan Torres won the 400 free relay with freshmen Klara Andersson and Nadia Farrugia. Stevens also won the 100 butterfly. The freshmen took individual firsts in the 100 free (Andersson) and 200 free (Farrugia). Freshman Jeanmarie Madison won the 200 breaststroke). Sophomore Johanna Gustafsdottir showed nice versatility by winning the 100 back and the 500 free.

Diver Sabrina Beaupre won the 1-meter and 3-meter events. But, if you're reading this far into the pool part of the post, you probably assumed that. 

Football Gameday XIII; baseball gets some preseason props

One nice thing about the bowl game has been running into some of you blog regulars, such as the couple I just spent two hours yammering with in the lobby of our hotel. So what if I don’t get to sleep until infomercials dominate every channel outside the ESPN family? Bob Evans always serves breakfast – if I don’t get breakfast food, unpleasantness ensues -- and that day spa around the corner can deep tissue my back and shoulders in the afternoon.

Trivia question: Anybody else recognize the tune the band on the ESPN 3D bowl game commercial is playing after they march into the living room of the two guys in sunglasses watching a college football game?

The line: FIU opened a 5-point favorite for the Beef O' Brady's Bowl. It’s now down to 4 points with a 48 ½ to 49 over/under. Bettors see FIU winning, but by a late field goal or come from behind touchdown. The over/under number’s a tough one in this game, as there could be a special teams play or two that boosts the point totals.

The game: One team is in its second bowl game, the other is a young team with many players in a bowl for the first time. Scrape yourself on the rust, you could get lockjaw. Players sometimes take time to break mentally from holiday break and get into the game. Expect some blown blitz pick ups, coverages in the secondary, some shoddy tackling early in the game. The wacky could be the norm before things settle down late in the first quarter or early in the second.

I don't think all the "Will Mario Cristobal head for Pitt?" talk will affect FIU's performance. Cristobal's there on the sideline and been there at practices, doing his normal job. When Brian Kelly left Cincinnati for Notre Dame before Cincy played Florida in the Sugar Bowl -- or, currently, Todd Graham leaving Pitt for Arizona State before the BBVA Compass Bowl -- that's the kind of thing that can gut a team.

It’ll be Wesley Carroll at quarterback for FIU. The pinched nerve in Medlock’s shoulder hasn’t healed enough.

Freshman Rakeem Cato starts for Marshall. His net of 28 yards rushing on 54 carries over a season in which he started eight games tells you he shouldn’t give cause Ryan Aplin or Blaine Gauthier flashbacks for FIU. Cato needs good pocket feet against FIU’s rush (14^th in the nation at 2.83 sacks per game), and such Bojangles Robinson deftness often isn’t developed yet in a freshman quarterback.

That assumes FIU can get to Cato. Marshall’s done a good job of keeping its quarterbacks upright, giving up only 26. Their size upfront concerns some FIU coaches, but the Thundering Herd isn’t a pound-it-out team and FIU’s had success slowing the solid rushing attacks of teams more multi-dimensional. The Herd’s team rushing average is 3.6 per carry. Top running backs Tron Martinez  and Travon Van (doesn’t “Martinez & Van” sound like either a road-trip show on The Food Network or a cop team from a late 1970s drama?) average 4.1 and 4.0 respectively. The Thundering Herd moves best through the air.

Downfield, the length and height of Marshall 6-3 junior wide receiver Aaron Dobson, Marshall’s leading receiver in catches (42), yards (587) and touchdowns (10) could leave him reaching for the stars while FIU’s diminutive cornerbacks plot for his landing. The only FIU defensive back with similar build is redshirt freshman strong safety Justin Halley, the team leader in interceptions. FIU's been on an seven-game interception roll, though, and Cato's thrown 10. 

Marshall’s defenders likened FIU’s skill position players to those of Houston and Southern Mississippi, the schools that wound up playing for the Conference USA title. Marshall beat Southern Miss 26-20 in the second game of the season for each, then got strafed 63-28 by Houston on Oct. 22. 

Normally, with a defensive end like Marshall’s All-American Vinny Curry, you’d run some traps and screens to his side early just to contaminate him with hesitation. But Marshall moves Curry around so much that adjustments for that would have to be made on the fly. Still, with the Herd worrying about how well they’ll tackle, perhaps FIU should try to hit regular screens to Kedrick Rhodes, bubble screens and hitches early to get T.Y. Hilton and Wayne Times on the edge.

Despite Curry’s 11 sacks and 21 tackles for loss, Marshall allowed 4.2 yards per rush and 155.0 rushing yards per game for the season – that’s including sacks -- and came up with only 25 sacks. Curry’s going to get his, but Marshall’s opponents have done a good job of not letting him ruin their attack singlehandedly. FIU’s had three weeks to figure out how to do that. That also sounds like a lot of running room for Rhodes.

Marshall’s special teams worries FIU – three blocked kicks, three blocked punts and an 87-yard punt return by Andre Booker. Booker also averaged 25.2 yards per kickoff return. FIU will be trying some new players on special teams, so don’t be surprised if Marshall’s first couple of returns blow up big.

FIU’s special teams should worry Marshall just as much. Four FIU players – T.Y. Hilton, Wayne Times, Richard Leonard and Colt Anderson – had kickoff returns longer than 30 yards and Anderson’s was on a pooch kick. Jonathan Faucher got his hands on two punts in the last three games and nearly a third. Jack Griffin gives FIU the edge in kicking.

I’m seeing experience making the difference early as FIU grabs a big lead and late as they hang on for the win. I’m seeing a couple of massive plays out of Hilton, maybe a touchdown from Colt Anderson and maybe some type of special teams or defensive touchdown off a youthful mistake to put the game away.

Call it 31-20, FIU. But that’s just one black man’s opinion. I could be wrong.

Trivia answer: It’s the “Theme from SWAT,” which actually went to No. 1 on the charts in 1976 during the show’s year and a half run.

 BASEBALL

In Collegiate Baseball's Fabulous 40 preseason poll, FIU comes in at No. 39.

Baseball's Sweet 16 (maybe), optimistic orals; basketball's Oral surgery

Major League Baseball has "The Hot Stove League." For college baseball, it should be called "The Hot Plate League."

Anyway, FIU announced the signing of 16 high school and junior college players in its 2012 recruiting class. Perfect Game USA ranks the class at No. 19. I wonder where it'll rank should the verbal commitments made below make it to Camp Mitch.

Now, I've made clear my feelings on recruiting and recruiting rankings. I'll write about recruiting because college fans love to obsess over "Who's next?" which I don't get, although I have several friends who obsessed over Who's Next. I'll report the rankings by the folks who make a living off the aforementioned obsessed by ranking players and classes. But it doesn't mean I put much more stock in them than I do my twice-a-week Lotto play.

That said, here's the officially signed part of the class (player details were more extensive before I lost this entire blog post a third of the way through. I figured at that time it was time to change the rhythm of the evening -- a nap, some blackened fish & shrimp fried rice, tea and Coke, back to it.)

LHP Tyler Alexander, 6-1, 175, out of Hillsboro Community College and Tampa Armwood High: No relation to the Tyler Alexander who helped Bruce McLaren develop his invincible Can-Am design, then ran McLaren's Formula 1 and Indy Car operations the founder's 1970 death. In case you were wondering.

INF Josh Anderson, 6-1, 215, R/R out of Yavapai College and Poway (Cal.) High

RHP Mitchell Davis, 6-1, 175, out of Grayson County College Fort Worth Castleberry High

RHP Chris Elander, 5-11, 175, from Oviedo Hagerty. Threw a no-hitter last year and hit a key grand slam as Hagerty came from 5-1 down to beat Oviedo 8-5 in the 6A-District 3 final.

RHP Matt Ferreira, 6-2, 195, Deltona Trinity Christian

RHP Mike Franco, 5-10, 180 from Howard College and Corpus Christi Moody High

C Phildrick Llewellyn, 6-0, 180, a switch-hitter from Lake Worth Trinity Christian. When a freshman, Llewellyn got KO'ed by Miami Brito's Daniel Bolanos in a plate collision that sparked a bench-clearning brawl (of course). Mass suspensions and injunctions ensued. Baseball, brawls, lawyers...high school baseball, South Florida-style.

RHP Dillon Maya, 6-1, 180, from Coral Gables High

LHP Jeff Rehonic, 6-6, 235, American High

OF/3B Edwin Rios, 6-4, 170, left-handed hitter from Kissimmee Osceola High

OF/1B, Alexis Rivera, 6-2, 220, left-handed hitter from Kissimmee Osceola High

OF Antonio Rodriguez, 5-10, 175, left-handed hitter from Coral Gables High. First team All-Dade last year, hitting .545 with two homers and 26 RBI

RHP Reid Scoggins, 6-2, 205, from Howard Collge and Dallas W.T. White High

RHP Alex Seibold, 6-2, 180, from Plantation American Heritage High. Two-time All-Broward second team player.

LHP Tyler Sullivan, 6-0, 185, from Weatherford College and Plant City Durant High

C Chucky Vazquez, 6-2, 190, right-handed hitter from American High.

What follows are the verbal committments that have allegedly been made:

SS Nick Basto, 6-2, 190, from Fort Lauderdale Archbishop McCarthy High

OF/1B/P Alex Dowell, 6-1, 175, from Parkland Douglas High

SS/P Victor Gonzalez from Jupiter High

P David Jervis from Braddock High

SS Rey Ordonez Jr. from Mater Academy. Yep, son of the major leaguer.

INF Jason Morozowski, 6-0, 160, from Fort Lauderdale Archbishop McCarthy High. Brother Ryne's with FIU now.

Andres Sanchez, Pembroke Pines Flanagan, hit .500 with 51 RBI and 17 home runs last season, making everyone's first team All-Broward and garnering a couple of Player of the Year honors. 

 MEN'S BASKETBALL

After opening with an upset of George Mason, FIU's lost to Virginia Tech (unavoidable), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (what?) and now Oral Roberts, 73-65, at Oral Roberts in the final consolation round game of the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off.

Phil Taylor scored 22 and was four of eight shooting from three-point range. DeJuan Wright was six of eight from the floor and a perfect three for three from the line in getting his 17 points.

Now 1-3, FIU returns home for the home opener, Saturday, against Coastal Carolina. It's a 7:30 start, meaning you can shovel in two meals worth of leftovers before waddling over to check out the action.

 

 

Free FAU-FIU tickets for military; Baseball & Basketball signings; Hobbs' All-Academic

Members of the military, veterans and families of those currently serving overseas can get two free tickets to Saturday's FAU-FIU game with military, veterans or family identification. Said identification should be shown at the University Credit Union Box Office, which opens at 2 p.m. Saturday.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Hours before their exhibition against Florida Memorial, the men's basketball team officially announced the signing of 6-4 swingman Milton Doyle out of Chicago's Marshall High for the class of 2012. Doyle's verbal committment was reported on the blog last month.

 

FIU head coach Isiah Thomas grew up in the part of Chicago where Marshall is located and his late brother Gregory Thomas played there. You might've recall Marshall as the school Arthur Agee went to in the documentary Hoop Dreams after suburban private school St. Joseph's booted him, allegedly for unpaid tuition. With Agee as one of the leaders, Marshall wound up going "down state" to the finals of the 1991 Illinois State High School tournament by upsetting perennial power King High.

BASEBALL

The baseball team announced three signings Wednesday

Right-hander Michael Franco, out of Corpus Christi, Texas and Howard College, was named Most Valuable Pitcher in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference last season. Franco had a 10-2 record, 2.84 ERA, 88 strikeouts and 31 walks in 79 1/3 innings.

Reliever Reid Scoggins went 4-0 with a 4.59 ERA with 38 strikeouts and 24 walks in 33 1/3 innings for Howard. He had two saves. Another reliever, Tyler Sullivan, bounced from the University of West Florida to Weatherford Junior College, where he had 32 strikeouts and 13 walks in 28 innings, a 4.82 ERA and 2-1 record.

MEN'S SOCCER

Defender Anthony Hobbs, named All-Conference USA First Team earlier this week, was named to Conference USA's All-Academic team Wednesday.

Wednesday football practice, volleyball poll, new baseball coach

Notes from Wednesday's football practice in the sun, then rain, erstwhile chewy heat that reminded coach Mario Cristobal of a practice while he played for Amsterdam in the World League of American Football:

"One day it was scorching out there," Cristobal said. "Then it started raining, then it started snowing."

Wide receiver Rockey Vann continued in non-contact work, and Cristobal said Vann, who he was worried about missing half or even the whole season, could be back in a week and a half. Offensive lineman Ceedrick Davis participated in practice Tuesday and Wednesday. They're easing him back in after he's missed time with a back problem.

During the hitch/wide receiver screen blocking drills, wide receiver Glenn Coleman had the most impressive block, taking his cornerback into the pursuit path of the other corner then dumping him. Sam Miller had the best rep among the defensive backs, eluding his block so quickly, he jumped the route.

Practice began with the "board drill" or "hamburger drill." I think the offense won overall because running back Robert Boswell got semi-carried out of the end zone by several celebratory offensive players like Leon Taylor at the end of the last Playmakers game.

I asked about defensive end Tourek Williams last few days of practice. I had the sense that , last week, Paul Crawford might've pulled ahead of Williams, of whom the coaching stafff expects a great deal. Cristobal complimented Williams last few days, then went on to talk about the entire defensive end rotation.

"Tourek, Paul (Crawford), Greg Hickman, James Jones and the two young cats we've brought in, Denzel Perine and Giovani Francois, we're really trying to find out what's the best combination when we're facing certain personnel groups," he said. "So, we're mixing and matching those guys, so they can play both defensive end positions without a hiccup."

Long snapper Brandon Taylor, the freshman transfer from LSU, has begun practicing with the team. Keep your money on Mitch McCluggage as the long snapper.

BASEBALL

As anticipated for the last couple of weeks, the baseball team hired Drew French, who has spendt the last four years at Alabama, as pitching coach. French had been at Bama four years.

VOLLEYBALL

FIU was picked to finish third in the Sun Belt's East Division behind conference powers Middle Tennessee State and Western Kentucky, in the preseason coaches' poll. Andrea Lakovic and Jovana Bjelica were named to the preseason All-Sun Belt team. The volleyball season opens Friday against Fairfield in the Cal Molten Classic at Berkeley. I'll have a longer preseason post on the volleyball team tomorrow.

Sorry about a no-post day yesterday. Even though it was technically my day off, I was cranking up a late night blog when listening to my visiting mother yammer about people and relatives I don't know slowed me down. The fatigue I've been outrunning for three weeks like I'm in the Mod Squad opening credits caught me. Sack, loss of blog.

 

FIU athletes, I'm only going to write this once: when you're on Twitter, especially if you have FIU in your handle, you're representing yourself, your team, your university, your mother, father, sisters, brothers, your whole family and your friends. You might want to remember that.

Speaking of mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers....

   

Blogging After Dark: Football, Soccer, Baseball

Got the caffeine to push me through another hour or two, got the sugar rush from apple streudel, got the Brazilian club jazz going as my rhythm section, got a winning Lotto ticket ($5) so let's start covering more ground than grass with...

WEDNESDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

Mario Cristobal said Tuesday night's full contact scrimmage was a draw. Offense galloped through the first scrimmage, nine days ago; defense gangsta slapped around the offense Friday night and, as described by Cristobal (it was a closed practice scrimmage), Tuesday night was a microcosm of the first two scrimmages combined.

"Even means winning games, when your team can beat each other each down." defensive end Gregory Hickman said. "Hopefully, we'll be pretty good." Hickman quickly corrected himself, "not pretty good. Really good. Better than last year."

Player on the rise for now: defensive end Paul Crawford. The 6-8 sophomore apparently had a second consecutive strong scrimmage and looked impressive during the open part of Wednesday night's practice.  Defensive coaches love length and Crawford's all length, but he's also got speed. In the practice closing wind sprints, Crawford led the way in his group, seemingly almost eased up.

After the last of those wind sprints, new arriving cornerback DeMarkus Perkins fell to one knee and took his helmet off. He didn't know how many there were for the rest of the team, but he'd made up his mind this was his last.

Cornerback Chuck Grace walked over and in an encouraging tone, said, "Come on, Perk. We've got to get in shape."

Perkins said, "I can't go, man. I can't go for real." The 5-9 Grace ignored Perkins, helped the latter to a standing slump and supported him as they moved back toward the post-practice coach's speech.

Cristobal, after saying Perkins made a tackle on his first kickoff coverage during the scrimmage, admitted as far as Perkins conditioning, "He wasn't ready. Six plays, he was over here fertilizing the, ah, artificial turf. He's got a ways to go."

It should be said, though, in hitch pass blocking drills, Perkins was one of the few defensive backs who consistently shed his blocker and made the play on the wide receiver attempting to fly past. On the other side, wide receiver Jairus Williams was making defensive back pancakes like his middle name was "Bisquick." until Jonathan Cyprien stepped in to prevent the drill from turning into Williams' personal IHOP.

Rivals.com is reporting that South Broward punter Chris Ayers has committed to FIU for 2012. We'll try to get that confirmed.

(Apparently, not enough caffeine -- just made a dumb mistake that cost me the next section. Take two...)

The women's soccer advance on the first game will appear on this blog Thursday night or Friday morning. The Sun Belt coaches picked Chelsea Leiva as their preseason Player of the Year and FIU as the No. 2 team in the conference behind the University of Denver. Though I'll be part of The Herald army at the Dolphins preseason game Friday night against the visiting Cam Newtons, check the blog Friday night for results and coaches comments on the Stetson game.

FROM THE PITCH TO PITCH...

The baseball team announced its 2012 recruiting class late Wednesday afternoon:

C Aramis Garcia, 6-2, 200, R/R out of Pines Charter in Pembroke Pines. He was a Herald First Team All-Broward pick and was a .414 hitter in his high school career with 15 home runs. But it was his defensive quickness that's considered major league level. The Cardinals drafted him in the 20th round in June.

SS Julius Gaines, 6-0, 160, R/R Locust Grove (Ga) Luella. FIU recruiting coordinator Frank Damas calls Gaines, ranked among Baseball America's top 100 high school players mainly on his defensive skills, "the most athletic recruit we have."

P Jose Lazaro, 6-3, 180, R/R North Broward Prep. The Yankees took Lazaro in the 28th round in June. He had 101 strikeouts in 58.1 innings as a senior as he compiled a 2.52 ERA and 7-0 record. He brings a 4.3 GPA, too, so he'll surely help the team average in that regard.

P John Costa, 6-2, 200, R/R  West Palm Beach Summit Christian. The Class 3A-2A-1A State Player of the Year went 9-1 with a 2.52 ERA and struck out 97 in 69.1 innings.

OF Nathan Burns, 6-4, 220, L/L Howard College. Burns hit .419 with 12 homers and stole 32 bases (nice to see that coming back into style).

INF Adam Kirsch, 6-0, 200, R/R North Central Texas College. In a statement, Damas calls Kirsch "the best pure hitter that we are bringing in this year." Kirsch is coming off a .466 season with 12 homers, 12 stolen bases.

UTL Oscar Aguirre, 6-2, 200, S/B Homestead South Dade. I admire anyone who is truly ambidextrous as Aguirre is.

OF Roche Woodard, 5-9, 170, R/R Tampa Hillsborough. A 5A FACA All-State selection, Woodard hit .351 with four home runs and 12 stolen bases.

P Anthony Coletti, 6-1, 175, L/L Hollywood South Broward by way of Palm Beach College. Coletti was a reliever at PBC. Damas claimed in the statement that his fastball is between 89-92 mph.

OK, it's 2  a.m. Time to put it down. Later today, folks.

 

 

So Happy Together -- FIU extends Turtle Thomas' deal

FIU has given baseball coach Henry "Turtle" Thomas a new five-year deal that'll run out after the 2016 season. Thomas was working on a contract that ran out after the 2014 season.

"We're just being proactive," FIU athletic director Pete Garcia said. "We're trying to keep good coaches and he's done a great job here. I still feel he's the best college baseball coach in America. I think he's going to take us to the College World Series and championships. He knows how to do the whole package."

Garcia lauded Thomas' success on the field (130-104-1, 2010 Sun Belt title, NCAA Regional appearances each of the last two years) and off (the 2011 Academic Progress Report score was 990, the program's highest ever).

By the way, if 2016 sounds familiar, that's also when football coach Mario Cristobal's deal runs out and, as Garcia himself pointed out, his own.

"Somebody could swoop in and pay a buyout and get your coach, but I want to make sure the valuable pieces here stay here as long as possible," he said.

What he didn't say is if all three are still around in 2016 -- an IF the size of the national debt -- this creates a nice situation for them if they choose to act as an informal unit, notwithstanding Garcia being theoretically Cristobal and Thomas' direct superior.

More after this moment from the WABAC machine:

 

Another newsy tidbit: Garcia also said the school already has sold over 10,000 season tickets for football and has surpassed last year's final number.

Futbol news: an Aug. 29 home game against Florida Tech was added to the FIU women's soccer schedule Monday. That season starts Friday at Stetson, and we'll be giving that team some blog love in the next couple of days.

 

Some soccer and baseball midday

Another day off, another chance to get some work done. But a couple of things popped up...

FIU put one player, junior defender Anthony Hobbs, on the preseason All-Conference USA team. The league's coaches ranked FIU eighth out of nine in the conference this season. So, down on the Modesto Madique Campus (Camp Mitch), the soccer guys can say, "Whatcha got to say about that, Memphis!"

Traditional power SMU is ranked No. 1 (five first place votes, FIU faces ) with Central Florida No. 2 (two votes), Tulsa (one) and South Carolina (one) coming behind, in that order. The men's soccer team's first preseason game is Sunday against Broward Community College and Saturday, Aug. 20, against Barry. Both are free. The season opener is Aug. 26, when they host Nova Southeastern.

The baseball team promoted Frank Damas to recruiting coordinator, and pulled in Alan Burr as strength and conditioning coordinator and Tommy Kanganis as director of baseball and softball operations. Burr was last the strength and conditioning coach at Central Connecticut State. Kanaganis just earned a masters at St. Thomas after being on the suit side with the Florida Panthers, the Dolphins and FAU's football operations department.