David Price is one of the hottest names in the minor leagues. Property of the Tampa Bay Rays, Price is a top flight pitching prospect who may be called upon at some point in 2008. If not, expect Price to make a lot of noise during the 2009 baseball season.

The 23-year-old first became known for his pitching at Vanderbilt University. He was very good as a junior but became spectacular in his senior season. As a senior, Price had an 11-1 record to go with a 2.63 ERA and 194 strikouts in 133.1 innings.

This year in the minors, Price has also been very good. At Single-A and Double-A, Price was a combined 11-0. He’s currently at Triple-A and while he isn’t quite dominating, he has been very good. Most scouts agree that he is one of the top three best pitching prospects in all of the minor leagues.

Price’s money pitch is his slider, which usually comes in at about 87 MPH. His fastball can be anywhere from about 91 to as fast as 98. He struggles a bit spotting his pitches but once he masters his mechanics, expect the Rays to call him up.

Photo: Newscom

I’ve written about USD left-hander Josh Romanski before, and this morning at Cunningham Stadium, he did something I’d never seen anyone do in person: he no-hit Harvard. I can’t find a box score, so I don’t know how many strikeouts he had, but it was a lot. Romanski benefited from one spectacular diving play by shortstop Shawn Nicol in the seventh, but otherwise had a relatively easy time of it. Romanski also homered in the game, which USD won, 12-0.

Earlier this week USD won its first ever NCAA hoops tourney game. On Saturday, back on the diamond, left-hander Brian Matusz tied a school record with 16 strikeouts in a game. Things are looking good for the little school on the hill. Go Toreros!

Update: Here is the box score.

University of San Diego left-hander Josh Romanski
Photo credit: Geoff Young

I finally got to see some baseball this weekend. Friday night I watched University of San Diego left-hander Brian Matusz struggle with his command as crosstown rival San Diego State University came out on top, 11-2. Matusz is projected to go early in the first round of the 2008 draft, but he didn’t have it working in the season opener.

USD left fielder Kevin Muno executed a straight steal of home in the third inning, which was pretty cool. First time I’d seen that in person.

Then on Saturday I caught the first game of a doubleheader between the two teams. USD won this one, 17-11. Southpaw Josh Romanski worked five innings for the win. Sure, he gave up eight runs, but he also drove in seven on two singles and two homers.

Cory Vaughn, son of former big leaguer Greg Vaughn, hit his first collegiate home run for the Aztecs in the loss. It was a bomb to dead center that just kept carrying. Strong kid.

Actual games. I feel better now…

I’ve identified CodBall previously as the place to get all the latest on the Cape Cod Baseball League and its players (you know, the guys who will be getting picked in next year’s draft). Now the folks responsible for CodBall are pointing us to several other sources of info on the league. If you’re a draft junkie, this is a great league to follow, and it seems that there are new ways to follow it every day. What could be better?

The Oregon State Beavers defeated the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, 9-3, on Sunday night to claim their second consecutive NCAA championship. This marks the fifth time in history that a school has taken the title in back-to-back seasons. The last time it happened was when LSU did it in 1996-97.

Congratulations to the Beavers and their fans on a fine season. To survive the field of 64 and emerge on top two years in a row is a remarkable achievement. Well done!

The College World Series schedule is now available. Two teams from California — UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton — have made it to Omaha.

My adopted team, Irvine, plays Saturday against Arizona State. First pitch is 11 a.m. PT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.

Here’s the thing about the Anteaters. Ordinarily you wouldn’t want your team to “suck” but if my understanding of anteater physiology is correct, that’s pretty much what this particular animal does to its prey.

It’s all very confusing…

Update: Upon further review, it appears that “lick” is a more appropriate verb. Very well, then; we’ll go with that instead.

Meet the NCAA. They’re a very large and powerful organization evidently in search of some bad PR.

Hey, they’ve found some. Woo-hoo!

Brian Bennett, a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal, was ejected from the press box in the fifth inning of the University of Louisville’s game on Sunday for liveblogging the event (hat tips to reader Didi and Baseball America.) Apparently this is within the NCAA’s right, or at least they think it is, which has some frightening implications.

It concerns me that the NCAA feels the need to control the reporting of facts (to say nothing of the thought that they might have the right to do so). Certainly there’s a lot of money at stake, but I’m not sure that suppressing facts is the best way to protect the NCAA’s investment. And I always get a little nervous when large entities try to control the media. Even if it’s innocuous, it gives off a foul odor.

In the end, who does this help? Bennett and the Courier-Journal will get added exposure for their products and services, the NCAA will look like manipulative bullies, and bloggers will continue to report the facts from the press box or the comfort of their own homes. I fail to see how any of this serves the NCAA and its investors, advertisers, customers, etc.

Then again, I haven’t been in college for a very long time…

So, I’m over the Toreros getting bumped. The fact that only three of the eight national seeds advanced to the Super Regionals gives me some comfort.

But not much.

Still, if Vanderbilt, the top-ranked team in the country, can’t make it out of the Regionals, then I guess it really could happen to anyone. Ah, the lies we tell ourselves.

Of the sixteen schools remaining, three hail from California: UCLA; Cal State Fullerton; and my new rooting interest, the UC Irvine Anteaters. Meanwhile, Vandy has dropped to #5 in the rankings, while my Toreros have plummeted all the way to #14, with UCI taking their old spot at #4.

The weirdness resumes on Friday. Good times…

Congratulations to the UC Irvine Anteaters for beating Texas and advancing to the Super Regionals. With my USD Toreros now out of the Regionals, I’m adopting the Anteaters for the remainder of the post-season.

Why? It’s very simple:

• A good friend of mine attended UCI and is pulling for them.
• They beat Texas.
• I saw some pretty good concerts at Irvine Meadows back in the day (not really UCI, but in the general area).
• No school that I’m aware of has Ice Spiders as its nickname, so Anteaters will have to do.

Go Anteaters!

Well. This isn’t what I expected from the #4 ranked team in the nation. Granted, they weren’t playing on their home field, but they did get to play in their home town.

And they didn’t win a single game.

Yep, the University of San Diego has been eliminated from its own Regional without so much as a single victory. The Toreros dropped their opener Friday night to Fresno State, and followed it up with a 6-5 loss to Minnesota on Saturday at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

To their credit, the Toreros came back in Saturday’s game after entering the ninth down, 5-0. They tied the game, only to surrender the winning run an inning later.

Sigh. To quote The Sugarcubes, this wasn’t supposed to happen.

I’ll try to keep everyone updated on the rest of the proceedings, but know that my heart won’t be in it…