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Baseball America ranks Coyotes as No. 1 JUCO team
By Dan Cabrera, Sports Information
Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008
Just five days after the College of Southern Nevada baseball team was ranked as the No. 1 junior college baseball team in the nation by Perfect Game Crosschecker, the Coyotes are getting even more recognition by one of baseball's biggest named media outlets.
Baseball America released its 2008 Small College Preview earlier today, and in the preview, the CSN Coyotes were once again dubbed as the top JUCO baseball team in the country.
"It's great for our program to get national exposure and recognition like this and it shows a lot about what we do here," head coach Tim Chambers said. "It's a great compliment for what my coaching staff does to develop players that we recruit.
"But our ultimate goal is not to be No. 1 in January. Our ultimate goal is to win a national championship and be No. 1 when all is said and done."
The remainder of the Top 5 teams ranked by Baseball America were the same teams in PG Crosschecker's Top 5, but they were ranked in a different order.
Baseball America also named several Coyotes as preseason all-Americans. Braeden Schlehuber (C, So.), Devin Shepherd (OF, So.), Taylor Cole (RHP, Fr.) and Colby Shreve (RHP, So.) were all named to their Preseason All-America Team. Cole was also selected to be the Player of the Year, while Shreve was chosen to be the Pitcher of the Year.
Shreve, an 8th-round pick by the Atlanta Braves in the 2007 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft last June, declined an offer to sign with the Braves and elected to return to the Coyotes for his sophomore season. As a freshman, Shreve pitched 58 innings, striking out 59 while going 5-2 with a 2.78 ERA.
Three Coyotes were also selected in a list of the Top 10 Junior College Prospects ranked by Baseball America. Shepherd is ranked as the top JUCO player, followed by Shreve (2nd) and Cole (4th).
A total of eight CSN baseball players on this year's roster have signed letters-of-intent to play Division I baseball.
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