TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida State baseball junior shortstop Alex Lodise has been named a finalist for two major national player of the year accolades, the Golden Spikes Award and Brooks Wallace Award.
 
Awarded annually to the best amateur baseball player in the country by USA Baseball, Lodise is one of three finalists for the Golden Spikes Award. He is one of five Brooks Wallace Award finalists, which is presented to the best shortstop by the College Baseball Foundation.
 
Lodise is the only ACC player named a finalist for either award.
 
Fan voting will play a part in the Golden Spikes Award again in 2025. Fans can vote for Lodise at GoldenSpikesAward.com now until June 20. There is no voting limit, and fans are encouraged to vote for Lodise as many times as they’d like every day. Direct short links to share and support Lodise’s campaign is available below.
 
Vote for Alex Lodise: https://noles.co/GSVoteAlex
 
Lodise is the 11th FSU player to be named a Golden Spikes Award finalist and first since Buster Posey in 2008, who ultimately won the award. Posey is one of four Seminoles to have won the Golden Spikes Award since it was first presented in 1978, joining Mike Fuentes (1981), Mike Loynd (1986) and JD Drew (1997). Posey also earned the Brooks Wallace Award in 2008. That accolade was first presented in 2004 and recognized the national player of the year from 2004-08 before honoring the top shortstop beginning in 2009.
 
One of the nation’s most prolific hitters and best defenders, Lodise is having a breakout 2025 campaign while leading the Seminoles to a top-10 national ranking and a second consecutive NCAA Super Regional appearance. The ACC Player of the Year and ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Lodise was recognized as the midseason National Player of the Year and the country’s No. 1-ranked shortstop late in the season. He is a team captain and also was honored as a Dick Howser Trophy Semifinalist.
 
Lodise is No. 10 in the country in hits (92) and hits per game (1.67), No. 11 in batting average (.405), No 12 in total bases (167) and No. 21 in slugging percentage (.736). He also is second in the ACC in RBI per game (1.22), third in RBI (67), fifth in triples (3) and sixth in home runs (17) and runs per game (1.11). He has scored 61 runs with a .473 on-base percentage, 18 doubles and 26 walks. He is a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts.
 
While starting all 55 of FSU’s games at shortstop, Lodise has at least one hit in 46 of those 55 games played, with 30 multi-hit games. He has notched three or more hits in 13 games, which is more than the number of times he has been held hitless (nine) and almost as many games as he has just one hit (16).
 
Lodise is believed to be the first player in major college or professional baseball history to complete the cycle with a walk-off grand slam. The historic performance to beat rival Florida in his hometown of Jacksonville on March 25 is one of seven game-winning hits for Lodise in 2025. It was FSU’s first cycle since 2019, the 10th in program history and second to include a grand slam. At the end of the week, Lodise was bestowed with National and ACC Player of the Week honors on April 1.
 
Away from baseball, Lodise spends time volunteering at a local middle school, where he builds relationships with students, helps them with homework and plays games during recess. He was selected as a member of FSU’s CGS Leadership Academy.
 
Up next, Lodise and the Seminoles continue their postseason run at the Corvallis Super Regional from June 6-8. No. 9-seeded Florida State travels to No. 8-seeded Oregon State for a best-of-three series. The winner of the Super Regional will advance to the 2025 Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
 
For more information on Florida State baseball, check Seminoles.com for the latest news and scheduling information, and keep up with the team on social media through Twitter/X and Facebook (@FSUBaseball) & Instagram (@NoleBaseball).
 

There’s no question that NIL has had a major impact on today’s college athletes. While the headline-grabbing deals involving private jets and multi-million-dollar contracts often steal the spotlight, for most student-athletes, NIL provides support in much more practical and meaningful ways.

When it comes to Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, he says he’s used NIL support from The Matador Club to pay for his wedding and for travel expenses to see his wife, who currently serves in the Army.

“The Matador Club has been one of the greatest things that has happened in my life,” Rodriguez said. “It was a big funder for my wedding and for me to be able to have the life that I have right now. My wife is living in Alabama right now. Being able to see each other as much as we do, not many long-distance people get to do that. I love to play football, and she loves to be in the Army. That’s something that we kind of chose, and as hard as it is, we make it happen. So this is definitely something that has helped us, for sure.”

It’s no secret that The Matador Club has been a driving force behind Texas Tech emerging as an early favorite to win the Big 12 championship. While some reports claim the Red Raiders have invested over $40 million in this year’s roster, that’s simply the cost of competing at the highest level in today’s college football. And while fans can often be turned off by some of the most lucrative NIL deals that garner most of the attention from the media, the reality is that stories and experiences like the one from Rodriguez are far more common.

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ESPN has announced its broadcast teams for the NCAA Super Regionals. The next round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament — and the last step before Omaha — will begin on Friday.

All eight best-of-three series will air across ESPN platforms, including on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. All games will also be available to stream live on ESPN+. Numerous broadcast teams will be in play for the Super Regionals. Some include ESPN’s top on-air talent.

Below are the commentators calling the various Super Regionals. ESPN’s lead team of three will be in Fayetteville, while all other broadcast teams will have two members.

Super Regional Broadcast Teams

Louisville: Mike Ferrin, Gaby Sanchez
Corvallis: Roxy Bernstein, Devon Travis
Chapel Hill: Eric Frede, Jensen Lewis
Auburn: Roy Philpott, Lance Cormier
Los Angeles: Victor Rojas, Todd Walker
Durham: Clay Matvick, Gregg Olson
Baton Rouge: Dave Neal, Ben McDonald
Fayetteville: Tom Hart, Kyle Peterson, Chris Burke

ESPN provided some brief highlights of the Super Regional action in its press release announcing this weekend’s broadcast teams. Below are some of the most pertinent details.

• Per ESPN Baseball Insider Kiley McDaniel, the Super Regional round will feature 14 of the top 40 MLB Draft prospects, including top overall prospect and Florida State ace Jamie Arnold. Other top prospects include left-handers Liam Doyle (Tennessee) and Kade Anderson (LSU), and power-hitting shortstop Aiva Arquette (Oregon State).
• Tennessee and Arkansas match up in an intriguing Super Regional filled with a number of the country’s top players, including 2025 Golden Spike Award semifinalists Doyle and Wehiwa Aloy, the star Razorback shortstop.
• Despite seven of the top 16 teams being eliminated, college baseball powerhouses remain in the field. Recent MCWS champions playing this weekend include Tennessee (2024), LSU (2023), Oregon State (2018), Coastal Carolina (2016), UCLA (2013) and Arizona (2012).

In today’s current era of Name, Image and Likeness in collegiate sports, programs which are historically successful with large alumni backings and a dedicated administration are able to turn things around quicker than places where that may not be the case.

According to a new report, that may be the case right now with the North Carolina Tar Heels, one of the most iconic brands in all of college basketball.

A report by Inside Carolina states that that UNC’s payroll for its roster this upcoming season has exceeded a mark of $14 million, a number which would be more than triple what was spent on last season’s roster.

The Tar Heels massively underachieved last season and though they were granted a spot in the NCAA Tournament, they were eliminated in the first round after a 23-win season.

Clearly committing to major changes, the program had already hired longtime NBA agent Jim Tanner to be the general manager back in February and better help head coach Hubert Davis to navigate the difficulties of this current era and the chaos it brings.

Spending this kind of money on the roster is part of the investment that bringing in Tanner — who is set to make $850,000 this season — came along with.

Not only did the Tar Heels bring in a top-15 recruiting class from the high school ranks, they also took in four transfers from the portal in order to try to regroup and get things right.

With guys like Jarin Stevenson of Alabama and Henri Veesaar of Arizona, there’s no question a huge chunk of those funds were spent in the portal.

Notably, the high school class is headlined by one of the top players in the nation in big man Caleb Wilson, who is already featured by On3 on their NIL 100 list as the No. 81 highest paid athlete in college athletics.

Davis is headed into his fifth season as the head coach for the Tar Heels and this is not a program that is used to losing.

A massive budget for the upcoming season is only going to bring more pressure upon Davis as he tries to figure out how to turn this ship around.

UNC is making a commitment to getting back to being one of the sport’s premiere programs, and they are putting up the cash to show it.

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