The USA BaseBlog is a new web site feature found only on the baseball page at www.usajaguars.com. David Kaye, USA baseball's athletic media relations contact, provides an all-access look into Jag baseball. The USA BaseBlog will also be utilized to provide information on items that may not necessitate a full release.
Nov. 14, 2008 - Signing On
Welcome to the first entry in The BaseBlog. Thank you for taking the time to browse the baseball page. If you have a question or comment, please feel free to e-mail me. With a number of things to be covered in this first edition, let's go ahead and get started.
The early signing period is underway, and the Jags expect to release their first signings Monday. Players who sign National Letters of Intent during this early signing period will come to USA in the fall of 2009 and will be eligible to play the 2010 season.
Be sure to check out the baseball page on www.usajaguars.com every day during the week following the announcement of the signees. Each player will be individually profiled in a web site feature that can only be found on the baseball page. Additionally, "In the Dugout with ... Brandon Sage" will be available shortly.
Also on the web site, each player's bio is now finalized for the 2009 season. These bios are the ones that will be used in the 2009 Baseball Media Guide. Speaking of the media guide, it is already in the works and will be published before the start of the season. We're also working on having it available for online viewing.
If you haven't had a chance to look at the 2009 schedule yet, it's a great one. The Jags play eight games against SEC opponents, including home-and-home series with Alabama, Auburn and Mississippi State. While not at Stanky Field, USA also plays in one of the country's best tournaments when it travels to Waco, Texas for the fourth-annual QTI Baylor Classic. This tournament features perennial postseason teams in Baylor and UC-Irvine, as well as UAB. The Blazers welcome the addition of collegiate coaching legend Ron Polk as their volunteer assistant coach.
For those of you who enjoyed last season's game when the Jags wore camoflouge uniforms, you're in for a treat again this season. However, instead of camoflouge, the Jags will wear throwback uniforms during one game in 2009. We're close to settling on a date, and once the date is finalized I'll post the information and a picture of what the uniforms will look like. Once again, they will be available in an online auction.
On another note, there has been a slight change to the schedule for the 19th-annual Coca-Cola Classic, so be sure to print a new copy of the 2009 schedule. Sunday's games will now be at 10 a.m. (Mercer vs. Liberty) and 1:30 p.m. (USA vs. Ole Miss). The web site schedule still includes results from the fall exhibtion games and all six games of the Red and Blue World Series, but those will be removed Dec. 1. They will only be available by searching the archives after that date.
Also on the web site, there are a few other updates to report. All four coaches' bios have been updated, as well the 2009 Quick Facts. A USA Baseball History section and a section on Stanky Field have also been added. The Stanky Field section includes a photo gallery.
For those of you who can't get enough college baseball, check out the web site http://thecollegebaseballblog.com/. Be sure to leave www out of the address. In the interest of full disclosure, I have no connection to anyone who operates the site, but they have posted three of our "In the Dugout with ..." features, as well as numerous other releases from the fall. It's hard not to be happy about any site that promotes college baseball, especially when it helps publicize the Jags.
