Great Lakes Valley Conference

NKU picked second in GLVC by coaches; Kipnis to compete for Indians’ second base job; UK opens practice

College Baseball, Minor League Baseball

Latest links from around Kentucky baseball:

  • Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports one-time UK outfielder turned second baseman Jason Kipnis, who transferred to Arizona St. from UK, will participate in the Cleveland Indians Winter Development Program for 14 of the organization’s top prospects. Bastian notes Kipnis will compete for the MLB second base job during Spring Training.
  • Eric Lindsey of the University of Kentucky media relations department notes on the school’s “Cat Scratches” blog that the Bat Cats began practice for the upcoming season on Wednesday.
  • Northern Kentucky University has been picked to finish second in the east division by the Great Lakes Valley Conference coaches in their preseason poll. NKU was recently ranked No. 17 in the country in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper‘s preseason Division II poll.
  • If Western Kentucky University finishes among the top eight teams in the Sun Belt Conference it will face a new format in the conference tournament. The Sun Belt tournament will feature two round-robin, four-team pools in the first round with the top team from each pool moving on to the championship game.

NKU’s DII tournament run ends in regional semifinals

College Baseball

After losing Friday, Northern Kentucky University won a 15-12, extra-innings thriller against Indianapolis Saturday to stay alive in the NCAA Division II tournament, but lost 6-5 to top-seed Southern Indiana in the second game of the day. The loss eliminated the Norse from the double-elimination regional and ended NKU’s season.

Great Lakes Valley Conference player of the year Jason Crisper was 5-10 with a home run, four runs scored and two RBI in the two Saturday games. The Norse plated three runs in the top of the 10th inning to earn the victory in game one. NKU fell down 6-2 early in game two and scored three runs over the final two innings, but its rally fell short. NKU finished its season at 43-17 with a 24-6 conference record and a 21-3 record at home.

Northern Kentucky prepares for D2 tournament

College Baseball

Northern Kentucky University will begin the 2010 NCAA Division II tournament Thursday as the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region. NKU opens with No. 4 Wayne State at 3 p.m. The Norse finished the season in first place in the East division of the Great Lakes Valley Conference and the league’s second best record. Outfielder Jason Crisper was named the GLVC player of the year, and reliever Kevin Jordan was named the conference pitcher of the year. NKU head coach Todd Asalon was named GLVC coach of the year. Crisper and Jordan have also been named semifinalists for the Tino Martinez Award, which goes to the top NCAA Division II player.

NKU, Bellarmine University and Kentucky Wesleyan College also had several players named to the Great Lakes Valley all conference team. I’ve listed them with position at team below:

  • First Team — 2B Jeff Bohlen (NKU), 3B Shannon McCormick (NKU), OF Jason Crisper, UT Patrick Brady (Bellarmine), SP Dave Middendorf (NKU), RP Kevin Jordan (NKU)
  • Second Team — C Brian Erie (NKU), 1B Evan McDole (NKU), 2B Luke Garmon (Kentucky Wesleyan), DH Pat Muth (NKU), SP Jarrett Casey (NKU), SP Ryan Schmidt (NKU)
  • Third Team — OF Bryan Rose (NKU), OF Jordan White (Kentucky Wesleyan), RP Cory Thomas (Bellarmine)

Small college spotlight: Northern Kentucky University

College Baseball

Most of the focus of the site has been on the six Division one schools in the state, but as a recent commenter pointed out, Northern Kentucky University deserves some praise as well. The Norse are 16-6 on the season and 7-1 in their conference with a 3-0 record at home. NKU took three of four games from Bellarmine this weekend.

The Norse are the two-time defending Great Lakes Valley Conference champions, and have the fourth most active Minor League alumni of any school in the state behind UK, UofL and WKU. Senior left-handed pitcher Kevin Jordan recently was named GLVC pitcher of the week. (Read more)