Florida State’s Mike Martin to give Summer Commencement Address
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State University baseball coach Mike Martin will be the featured speaker at the 2017 summer commencement ceremony.
The Hall of Fame coach will deliver the commencement address at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, 505 W. Pensacola St. The ceremony will be livestreamed at http://learningforlife.fsu.edu/fsu-graduation/.
Florida State will celebrate the graduation of 2,510 students this summer: 1,662 will be awarded bachelor’s degrees, 680 will be awarded master’s/specialist’s degrees and 153 will be awarded doctorates. FSU’s College of Law will award degrees to 20 graduates and the College of Medicine will confer a doctorate to one student. About 1,500 students are expected to participate in the summer ceremony.
Nicholls State Head Coach Seth Thibodeaux announces staff changes
THIBODAUX, La. – Head coach Seth Thibodeaux announced some changes to the Nicholls State University baseball staff Thursday afternoon, most notably Ford Pemberton’s promotion to volunteer assistant coach and Jason McDonald’s return to the Red and Gray as director of player development.
McDonald was a member of the 2014 and 2015 Colonel baseball squads, capping off his senior season with a 2.86 ERA in 21 appearances out of the bullpen. He graduated magna cum laude from Nicholls in May 2015 and spent the last two years coaching baseball at George County High School (2016-17) and Center Hill High School (2015-16). McDonald will assist with strength training, video coordination, practice planning, and pitchers’ throwing and off-season conditioning programs.
Dave Nakama rejoins Washington Coaching Staff
SEATTLE – Dave Nakama, who was an associate head coach for Lindsay Meggs in his first three seasons at Washington from 2010-12, has returned to the Huskies as a volunteer assistant, Meggs announced.
“Dave is a very talented coach who is one of the best player development people in our game,” Meggs said. “Dave has a great relationship with the players, yet he brings a blue-collar work ethic to the field every day.”
Nakama originally left UW to take over as head coach at San Jose State, where he led the Spartans’ program for four years from 2013 to 2016. He has 33 years of coaching experience under his belt, most recently as head coach at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Ore. during the 2017 season.
Mississippi State adds Trevor Fitts and A.J. Gaura to Coaching Staff
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Just the second first-year coach in program history to lead the Diamond Dawgs to a 40-win season and NCAA Tournament appearance, Mississippi State head coach Andy Cannizaro has bolstered his staff.
Former Diamond Dawg Trevor Fitts returns to Starkville and will serve as the coordinator of baseball operations, after having recently served as the pitching coach at Daphne High School in the spring of 2017. In addition to having spent the last three summers as a head coach within the East Coast Sox organization, Fitts earned his master’s in education in physical education in May 2017 from South Alabama where he served as the baseball graduate assistant.
Iowa defeats Red Top Sports 11-6
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Junior Robert Neustrom hit two solo home runs and finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs to lead the University of Iowa baseball team to an 11-6 victory over Red Top Sports on Thursday night at Duane Banks Field.
The Hawkeyes sported the USA National Team jerseys for the first time thanks to an assist from equipment manager Kevin Foor.
