LINE DRIVES the NATIONAL COLLEGIATE BASEBALL WRITERS NEWSLETTER (Volume 48, No
LINE DRIVES THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE BASEBALL WRITERS NEWSLETTER (Volume 48, No. 4, June 29, 2009) The President’s Message By NCBWA President Joe Dier NCBWA Membership: More than four months after its official start back on Feb. 20, the 2009 college baseball season has found its way into the record books. What a season it was, with LSU, one of five different teams to hold down the top position in the NCBWA’s weekly national rankings during the year and besting Texas to capture the College World Series championship series at Omaha’s historic Rosenblatt Stadium. Worth noting from the 63rd national championship tournament is that the 15-game event drew a record 336,076 fans to Rosenblatt Stadium. And though this year’s champion, LSU, is among the 23 teams that have previously reigned as NCAA baseball champions, college baseball welcomed two newcomers to its national championship event. Southern Miss and Virginia became the 107th and 108th schools to compete in the CWS. More than a third of the schools that compete on the NCAA Division I level have now advanced to college baseball’s biggest stage. With construction on the new 24,000-seat TD Ameritrade Stadium in downtown Omaha underway and venerable Rosenblatt Stadium set to host its 61st and final CWS in 2010, there could added incentive, if only for sentimental reasons, to advance to college baseball’s “final eight” next season. Back to 2009, though, and congratulations to our recently-crowned kings of diamonds: NCAA Division I national champion LSU (56-17), NCAA Division II champion Lynn University (46-16) of Boca Raton, Fla., and NCAA Division III champion University of St.
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