Harvey's move recalls Bryce Harper—the most famous baseball player to skip his final year of high school to expedite his college, and then professional, career.

In 2009, at age 16, Harper earned his GED and skipped his last two years at Las Vegas High School to enroll early at the College of Southern Nevada. The move allowed Bryce to enter the 2010 MLB Amateur Draft.

In 2008, a year before Harper, Levi Michael, of the University of North Carolina, and Trevor Bauer, of UCLA, made the jump. They now have company.

Chris Harvey, the 6'4", 220-pound catcher from Norristown, Pennsylvania, is hoping to be the starting catcher for Tim Corbin's Vanderbilt Commodores this spring.

Harvey would have certainly been a first-round draft choice in the 2012 amateur draft. But the road for catchers, moving from high school to the professional ranks, is often long and bumpy.

Harvey appears to have made a wise investment in committing to the Commodores for the next three years.

Experience in the hyper-competitive SEC will surely develop Harvey's game-calling skills and allow him to mature a bit more physically.

Both will come in very handy in a few years when he does finally make the move from college to professional baseball.

Rather than being a low-round selection who toils in the minor leagues for a few years, Harvey will be close to major-league ready right after he signs his contract.

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ASU was originally notified of the infractions in December of 2010 and ultimately cost Coach Pat Murphy his job. The NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee upheld the infractions they received last year., along with the most of the appealed findings. Two of Arizona State's major infractions were upheld, while a third was reduced from a major to a secondary infraction.

The violations by the ASU baseball program occurred over a five-year period and involved coaching-staff limits, paying student athletes for work they didn't perform, using an impermissible recruiter, and lack of institutional control. 

Penalties, including those that were self-imposed by the school, include a three-year probation, a ban on postseason appearances for three seasons, vacating wins, recruiting restrictions and coaching activity limitations during practice. All are significant penalties for a highly-competitive program like the Sun Devils. 

ASU appealed the violations, claiming that several of the major violations were secondary, meaning they were isolated or inadvertent incidents that provided only a minimal competitive advantage and did not include a recruiting advantage. All of the other violations were considered major. The Sun Devils argued that the penalties were excessive and were overly damaging to the program.

While the committee upheld two of the infractions and reduced the third, the penalties were upheld because the penalties fit the violations. Penalties can be set aside if they are found to be excessive and/or they do not fit with the severity of the infraction. The committee did not feel that any of these were the case. This is a definite blow to the Arizona State program for the next three years.

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The Summit League includes Oral Roberts, Nebraska-Omaha, Missouri-Kansas City, North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Western Illinois, Southern Utah, Oakland, Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne and Indiana-Purdue Indianapolis.

It stretches from Utah in the West, Michigan in the East and Oklahoma in the South. As you can well imagine, travel is extensive.

The ORU Golden Eagles have been dominant in the conference, winning 134 conference and tournament championships during their league tenure.

With its emphasis on football, the Summit League hasn't been a great fit for ORU a non-football school, whose emphasis has always been on baseball and basketball, which fits perfectly with Southland Conference programs.

Oral Roberts' admission to the Southland Conference will add another state to the conference that is currently limited to Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.

But because of the schools' proximity to one another it won't stretch the travel budget of any school to a great degree.

Current Southland schools include Stephen F. Austin, Texas State, Texas-Arlington, Lamar, Sam Houston, Texas-San Antonio, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Central Arkansas, Northwestern Louisiana and Southwestern Louisiana.

Oral Roberts certainly will be a terrific addition to the conference.

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As a former NAIA player with York College in Nebraska, my heart will always be with the school that gave me the opportunity to become a starter during my four years. The NAIA provided me an opportunity to live my dream while becoming a better person in the process. 

Nearly a decade after my college career came to an end, my ties with the NAIA still continue. 

I was approached by the NAIA about speaking on my experiences during my time with York, why I chose to play in the NAIA and how it shaped me as a person. I was thrilled to be able contribute to their site with a retrospective called NAIA Student-Athlete Rewind: Devon Teeple, York College. 

It received some very good reviews, and I was extremely pleased with how it turned out. 

A couple of months went by, and yet another opportunity with the NAIA presented itself when I participated in the first ever NAIA Podcast. It was a chance to speak to past, present and future NAIA students about my college experiences, what I like most about college sports, what I liked most about my college teammates/college team and other opinions on the college game. 

This has led to multiple Podcasts featuring numerous athletes from a variety of sports. The PLAYNAIA Blog where this is featured is a platform that allows the student athletes to speak candidly with the sports organization that has allowed them to fulfill a lifelong dream.

It is of particular interest to me because it is a personal touch that you may not find at comparable outlets.

The blog's 'about' section contains its mission statement, which states, “The PlayNAIA Blog is dedicated to sharing the student-athlete experience with our readers. NAIA student-athletes past, present and future all have a story to tell, and we wanted to provide them a fun place to do just that! Join us as we explore the inside scoop on the NAIA!”

For those interested in the NAIA, which stresses not only sports as a career but one that will prepare you for life after the cheers have stopped, I highly recommend checking out the PLAYNAIA Blog and taking in a podcast during your visit.

Devon is the founder of The GM’s Perspective

Devon is a former professional baseball player with the River City Rascals& Gateway Grizzlies, and is now an independent scout.

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Those five players consist of one starter, one reliever, one closer, a reserve outfielder and a second baseman that just got back from injury. Two of them are on the same team. One of them is in playoff position. Another plays for Canada’s team and the other plays for the worst team in baseball.

Here’s an update on how they’re doing.  

On the injured players, one of them is outfielder Trevor Crowe, who hasn’t played this year but stole 20 bases in 2010. The other injured player is catcher Nick Hundley, who had a good start to the season but went on a slump that ended in an injury. In 45 games, Hundley has hit .222 with three home runs and 15 runs batted in.

Brad Mills has finally made it into the Toronto Blue Jays’ rotation and is 1-1 with a 3.65 ERA with a 12.1/10 IP/K ratio.

Daniel Schlereth is a member of the AL Central division-leading Detroit Tigers’ bullpen and has one win, one loss, a 4.20 ERA and has struck out 27 batters in 30 innings. 

Mark Melancon has the closer role for the worst team in baseball. He’s 6-3 with a 3.04 ERA, 11 saves in 14 chances and has struck out 43 batters in 53 innings.

Second baseman Jason Donald and outfielder Shelly Duncan are teammates on the Cleveland Indians. Duncan is a valued piece off the bench with four home runs and 22 runs batted in. Donald just came back from injury and may be starting in second base.

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In came Todd Whitting. A former assistant under Noble at UH, Whitting had most recently been an assistant under Jim Schlossnagle at TCU.

While few doubt that the future is bright for the program, they took their share of lumps in 2011 in their first season under Whitting. Their final record was 27-32 and often times their lack of depth was a glaring weakness.

It wasn't all bad, though. Faced with a thin pitching staff and an offense whose power was sapped thanks to the BBCOR bats, the Cougars were forced to fight to stay competitive.

And fight they did. They won series over eventual NCAA tournament teams Kent State and Southern Miss and put the fear of God in Ole Miss and TCU in their series against those two teams.

They saved their best for last. UH opened the Conference USA tournament with wins over East Carolina and Southern Miss to get into the championship game against Rice. UH dropped that game 4-3 in what was a somewhat fitting end to an up and down season.

We talked about the season that was while also looking ahead to next season with UH radio broadcaster Jeremy Branham. Jeremy has been with UH since 2006. He has been broadcasting UH women's basketball since 2006-2007 and has been the radio voice of Cougars baseball since 2008.

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Wow—I am at a loss for words. The South Carolina Gamecocks have done it again; with a 5-2 win over Florida, the Gamecocks became the 2011 College World Series National Champions.

Tanner has been known to whittle down his lineup during the postseason, but using only three different starting pitchers and three relievers? One would assume that the bullpen would be strapped and unable to perform up to par. Not here.

Gamecock ace pitcher Michael Roth threw a whopping 342 pitches. What’s even more impressive was closer Matt Price’s pitching. During the 13th inning in the game against Virginia, he threw 95 pitches.

As a closer he is usually expected to throw around 30, and then to make it even more impressive was that he came back on only two days of rest to finish up Game 1 against Florida. If that wasn’t enough, he came back yet again to throw the final outs to seal the title for the Gamecocks.

After two hitless innings, shortstop Peter Mooney blasted one to left field for a double, catcher Robert Beary executed a sacrifice bunt to advance Mooney to third.  Florida pitcher, Whitson, then walked right fielder Evan Marzilli, forced second baseman Scott Wingo to fly out to center and then walked Jackie Bradley Jr.

Mooney, Marzilli and Bradley all scored to give South Carolina an early lead. First baseman Christian Walker reached base on an error and the designated hitter Brady Thomas singled. Florida stopped further damage when third baseman Adrian Morales grounded out to the pitcher.

In the top of the fourth, Florida catcher Mike Zunino answered with a home run. Unfortunately for Florida, however, their next three batters were all victim to South Carolina’s incredible defense; two back-to-back ground outs to short and one to second.

In the fifth inning, Carolina loaded the bases, but failed to bring anyone home. The chance for some major insurance was missed; but the disappointment didn’t last long. Mooney hit a home run off the first pitch to lead off the bottom of the sixth.

The Florida catcher, Zunino, served to be a problem for the South Carolina pitching staff; he had a solo home run and then scored again in the eighth. After Zunino’s at bat, South Carolina replaced bridgeman John Taylor with the infallible Matt Price. (His sister yelled out, “Prepare to be PRICE-checked.”)

The Gamecocks earned another run in the eighth after Beary singled, moved to second on Marzilli’s sacrifice, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Wingo’s single up the middle.

It was top of the ninth, Gamecocks up 5-2, and the crowd was starting to get a bit rowdy. Fans were jumping up and down, screaming, laughing and high-fiving. They could already taste the title; it was a mere three outs away, and with Price on the mound, Gamecock Nation knew that they could call it a sure thing.

I only have the last two outs recorded in my book; a fly out to center and a ground out to first. All I know is that they got the out (the third was a fly out to Bradley Jr.) and in that moment when Price’s arms flew up, they had won.

Nothing could be more exciting than getting the win, or so you’d think. For all the Gamecocks watching at home or at the Colonial Life Area back in Columbia, I’m sure it was thrilling, but to be there, to be sitting with Matt’s mom, to be with the players when it happened…exhilarating.

What sets South Carolina’s win apart is not only the fact that it’s their second title in a row—the last time a team won back-to-back titles was Oregon State in 2006-07—but the fact that they were undefeated.

They broke the record of 15 straight wins previously held by Texas. The Gamecock’s last loss in NCAA play was the first game of last year’s College World Series against Oklahoma.

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A complete team effort is needed to come out victorious, but you almost always need that one transcendent player that will not let his team lose.

Jason Windsor was that guy for Cal State Fullerton back in 2004. Same goes for Huston Street for Texas in 2002. I could go on and on.

The list of winners of the Most Outstanding Player Award reads like a who's who of college baseball greats. This season's award promises to be no different. The field that came to Omaha this year was as good as any in recent memory. The team that comes out on top will have to have given an outstanding performance to get there.

The player that wins the award this year will have faced some incredible stiff competition and will no doubt go down as a College World Series legend.

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Reliever John Taylor came in for South Carolina with one out left in the eighth inning, but never really had great control through the entire finals series. He was taken out after just two pitches and giving up one hit. Clutch closer Matt Price retired the last four batters.

The bulk of the damage for Florida starting pitcher Karsten Whitson happened in the bottom of the third. Scott Wingo hit a sacrifice RBI and got Peter Mooney in for the first run of the game. Another fielding error for Florida, committed by shortstop Nolan Fontana, led to another run getting in. Brady Thomas hit a single and got the third and final run in for the Gamecocks. Both runs at the end were unearned.

Wingo got another RBI in for insurance in the bottom of the eighth, solidifying the final score of 5-2.

No one could really figure out how to attack Roth except Mike Zunino, who hit a double and a home run off of him. Unlike last game, Florida did not have as many chances to score. They left seven batters on base.

A shining part of the game for the Gators was the bullpen. Five pitchers were used and only two hits and two earned runs were given up.

Unfortunately, the damage done in third inning was all that the Gamecocks needed to bring the title back to South Carolina once again.

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Pointing fingers, making excuses, deflecting criticism, it’s all very much en vogue.

Call it the “LeBron Generation.” From the basketball player whom Scottie Pippen anointed “better than Jordan,” to Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, to our elected officials in Washington, everyone seems to have mastered the art of blaming their shortcomings on circumstance.

Evidently Ray Tanner’s South Carolina Gamecocks didn’t get the memo.

USC could have folded when two-thirds of their outfield went down within a week of each other this spring.

Left fielder Adam Matthews (a 23rd-round selection of the Baltimore Orioles) was lost on April 16 to what was described only as a “very serious hamstring injury.”

At the time of the injury, he was not expected to return this season.

On April 23, All-American center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. (the 40th overall selection of the Boston Red Sox) tore tendons in his left wrist after landing awkwardly while diving for a fly ball.

The injury required surgery. Bradley’s season appeared to be finished.

“Win anyway,” demanded Tanner.

After losing to the sub-.500 Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC tournament, South Carolina—still without Bradley and Matthews—could have simply resigned to the notion that this just wasn’t their year.

“Battle,” insisted Tanner. 

The Gamecocks could have thrown in the towel when Texas A&M jumped out to a four-run lead in their CWS opener.

Or, when Virginia loaded the bases vs. closer Matt Price in the 10th inning… or the 12th inning… or the 13th inning of Friday’s CWS semi-final. Or, when Florida loaded the bases with no outs vs. Price on Tuesday.

Instead, they “battled”—and won anyway.

So, when first baseman Christian Walker fractured his left wrist in his final at-bat during the Gamecocks’ win over Virginia Friday night, it should come as no surprise that “no one expected (him) to sit.”

Such was the explanation from Walker regarding his presence in the lineup on Wednesday.

Of course it was.

Jackie Bradley Jr. returned to the lineup in time for South Carolina’s Omaha opener vs. the Aggies.

Adam Matthews scored the winning run vs. Virginia on Friday.

Walker roped a double down the right field line in his first at-bat vs. the Gators on Monday.

Price and the Gamecocks escaped every single jam along the way, always coming up with the big pitch and the big play in the big moment.

South Carolina didn’t win their second consecutive national championship on Tuesday night because they were the most talented team in the country. They won because they refused to lose.

They won because they rejected any and all excuses. They won because they believed in the concept of team, and the old-school mantra of fighting for a championship.

In doing so, they have provided each of us with a battle cry worth rallying around.

“Win anyway.”

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