SQAIRZ, the performance footwear brand trusted by athletes across every level of baseball, has been named an Official Footwear Partner of Perfect Game, the world’s largest amateur baseball platform and scouting service. Their multi-year partnership will focus on supporting the next generation of baseball talent with science-backed footwear proven to deliver real results on the field.

As part of the collaboration, SQAIRZ and Perfect Game will launch an exclusive co-branded colorway of the SQAIRZ GFP™ baseball cleat in fall 2025, giving players a bold new look backed by performance-first design. The cleat—already known for its patented roomier toe box, Smart Traction™ outsole, and biomechanically tested performance benefits—will now be available in a unique Perfect Game edition.

“This partnership is about the players,” said Bob Winskowicz, Founder & CEO of SQAIRZ. “Perfect Game has built one of the most impactful platforms in youth baseball, and we’re proud to support these athletes with footwear that’s proven to enhance balance, increase ground force production, and boost throwing and swing velocity—all while reducing the risk of injury. These players are chasing big dreams, and we’re here to help them compete with confidence and stay healthy doing it.”

Built for Performance. Backed by Data.

Independent testing shows that athletes wearing SQAIRZ cleats experience a 2.6 MPH increase in throwing velocityand 2.0 MPH boost in exit velocity, with improved balance and more efficient energy transfer. These gains come from the cleat’s ability to stabilize the body and harness power from the ground up—whether at the plate, on the mound, or in the field.

SQAIRZ GFP™ cleats are also engineered for injury prevention—reducing stress on joints and soft tissue by creating a more stable base. From helping mitigate common overuse injuries like plantar fasciitis to supporting better lower body mechanics that can reduce the risk of Tommy John surgery, their footwear is built to protect as much as it performs.

Elevating the Game for the Next Generation

As an Official Footwear Partner of Perfect Game, SQAIRZ will be integrated into key events and programs across the country, giving players broader access to performance-driven gear and educational content around how proper footwear impacts movement, injury prevention, and overall development. At select Perfect Game tournaments and showcases, players will have the opportunity to step into SQAIRZ cleats in on-site hitting bays and training zones—experiencing the difference for themselves in real time. From exclusive athlete-only discounts to first-hand access to new innovations and co-branded releases, this partnership is designed to give players every advantage possible as they chase their next level.

“At Perfect Game, we’re committed to helping athletes learn, grow, and reach their full potential by providing access to the best tools and opportunities in the sport,” said Rob Ponger, CEO of Perfect Game. “Partnering with SQAIRZ ensures our players are equipped with footwear that’s backed by innovation and built to deliver a real performance advantage.”

More details on the Perfect Game x SQAIRZ colorway will be announced ahead of the fall launch.

For more information, visit sqairz.com or perfectgame.org.

SQAIRZ GFP™ baseball & softball cleats are available now in molded, metal, and turf, and come in sizes for men, women, and youth athletes. The lineup features a range of bold colorways—including the brand new Carolina Blue. Players, parents, and coaches can shop the full collection at sqairz.com and online at Dick’s Sporting Goods.

About SQAIRZ

SQAIRZ is a performance footwear brand dedicated to helping athletes compete with more power, stability, and balance. Backed by science and trusted by professionals, SQAIRZ delivers patented technology that drives measurable results in baseball, golf, and pickleball.

About Perfect Game

Perfect Game is the world’s largest elite youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, producing over 9,800+ events, hundreds of thousands of games, and showcases each year across the country. Perfect Game is dedicated to giving amateur players exposure to take their game to the next level, whether that be in college or in the professional ranks. At Perfect Game events, players perform with top-level competition in front of college recruiters and professional scouts from all over the country. Because of this, these events prove to be invaluable to college coaches as well as Major League Baseball, as they can scout a large population of talented ballplayers in one location. To date, more than 2,240 players that have played in a Perfect Game event have also played in Major League Baseball. Since 2003, 15,134 Perfect Game alumni have been selected in the MLB First-Year Amateur Player Draft. In the 2023 Draft, for example, 95 percent of all players selected had played in Perfect Game events, and every player selected on the Draft’s first day had previously attended Perfect Game events.

Media Contact:
Savannah Smith
Senior Marketing Director
savannah@sqairzgolf.com
www.sqairz.com

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The White House is considering forming a presidential commission that could set new rules on how colleges and universities compensate school athletes.

Yahoo.com reports that former Alabama football coach Nick Saban and former Texas Tech football player Cody Campbell will lead the commission.

Some areas the commission may focus on.

The first one deals with athlete compensation. Since the 2021 Supreme Court ruling on the NCAA, college athletes can now be paid from what is known as NIL, name, image, and likeness, and many college football and basketball players are now making six—and seven-figure salaries a year.

Saban has expressed his concerns about players being compensated. Last year, he told Fox News that school competition would be hurt because popular schools could afford to pay top dollar for athletes compared to smaller universities that couldn’t. This may also cause a problem with schools cutting non-revenue and Olympic sports, which could hurt female athletes.  

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Another area the commission may examine is school transfer rules. Under these rules, student athletes can switch schools right in the middle of the season.

“Yep, this is a big issue that will have to be addressed. Some players are taking advantage of this, and it’s caused problems with school turnover,” said Florida Sports Podcaster Jason Redmon. Redmon says there are lawsuits against the NCAA on this topic.

Another problem area, Redmon says, is whether student athletes should be able to form labor unions.

If the commission is formed, the Trump administration says their main issues they will look at are a limited antitrust protection for the NCAA to enforce transfer and eligibility rules, rules explaining that college athletes are students and not employees, and possibly the third would be federal law taking over existing state NIL laws.

“In the ever-changing landscape of college athletics, President Trump wants,” said the White House to make sure that college athletes continue to get a quality education, women’s sports are protected, and the integrity of college sports remains intact,” said the White House.

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Nick Saban was formally tabbed to be help solve all that’s ailing college athletics in the day and age of NIL and the transfer portal as co-chair of President Donald Trump‘s commission on college sports. But it appears the former Alabama coach isn’t exactly sold on need for the presidentially-mandated working group.

“First of all, I don’t know a lot about the commission. Secondly, I’m not sure we really need a commission,” Saban said Wednesday afternoon on The Paul Finebaum Show on SEC Network. “I think that a lot of people know exactly what  the issues are in college football and exactly what we need to do to fix them. The key to the drill is getting people together so we can move it forward.

“I’m not opposed to players making money, I don’t want anybody to think that. I just think the system that we (are using), the way it’s going right now is not sustainable, and probably not in the best interest of the student-athletes across the board or the game itself,” Saban continued. “I think we need to protect the brand, and the competitive advantages and disadvantages that are being created right now, and I think we can fix all that. But I think we know how to do it, and not just me but a lot of people, we just have to get everybody together to do it.”

Saban then revealed how the idea for a presidential commission even came about, originating during President Trump’s trip to Tuscaloosa for a special commencement ceremony late last month.

“I think first of all, the way all this started when President Trump spoke at the commencement at Alabama, he said: ‘All my friends are saying college football is really messed up. Let’s get together so we can figure out how to fix it.’ So that’s how all this got started,” Saban added. “But I really don’t want to get into the implementation of what I would do. I think the first thing is everybody’s got a different state law, which creates advantages and disadvantages. And everybody is trying to create advantages. So we probably need an interstate commerce type something that gets it all there. I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the players to necessarily be employees. And I think authentic name, image and likeness is good for players, but I don’t think pay-for-play is necessarily what we want.”

Nick Saban to co-chair President Donald Trump commission on college sports

Yahoo! Sports insider Ross Dellenger first reported Trump’s plans to form a commission focused on college sports. The Athletic also added the president will be “very engaged” because of the national importance he sees in college athletics.

The commission on college sports is expected to “deeply examine the unwieldy landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the transfer portal, the unregulated booster compensation paid to athletes, the debate of college athlete employment, the application of Title IX to school revenue-share payments and, even, conference membership makeup and conference television contracts,” according to Yahoo! Sports. It is expected to be a months-long endeavor.

News of Trump’s plan to consider an executive order and form a commission come with the backdrop of the House v. NCAA settlement, which continues to go through the final approval process. Attorneys filed an updated brief last Wednesday that sought to address Judge Claudia Wilken’s concerns about roster limits, and the plan would create a grandfather provision for athletes who lost their spots. A decision on final approval is expected in the coming weeks.

However, plaintiffs’ attorney Steve Berman called out Nick Saban and President Donald Trump’s discussions as the settlement seeks final approval. Legal experts say an executive order could create more problems, and Berman called for the conversations to cease while both sides work toward final approval for the House v. NCAA settlement.

“While he was a coach, [Nick] Saban initially opposed NIL payments to athletes, pushing to add restrictions and red tape through national legislation to add ‘some sort of control,’” Berman said in a statement. “During his time scrutinizing the athlete pay structure, he made tens of millions of dollars and was previously the highest-paid coach in college football.

“Coach Saban and Trump’s eleventh-hour talks of executive orders and other meddling are just more unneeded self-involvement. College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals. They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.”

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 16 West Virginia University baseball team returns home to play Kansas in the final regular season series of the season, May 15-17. First pitch from Kendrick Family Ballpark on Thursday and Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. while Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
Tickets are available at WVUGame.com, by calling 1-800-WVU-GAME or visiting the Mountaineer Ticket Office at Kendrick Family Ballpark. Student tickets are free with a WVU ID. Mountaineer fans can watch the games on ESPN+, listen on Mountaineer Sports Network, and can follow along with live stats at WVUsports.com.
 
Promos for the weekend include Jerry West Night and weeknight bingo on Thursday, Friday Night Happy Hour and a Victor Scott II bobblehead giveaway, courtesy of United Bank for game two, and Senior Day on Saturday.
 
West Virginia is 40-10 on the season and sits in first place in the Big 12 at 19-6. One win this weekend by WVU or a loss by Arizona State would clinch the conference title. In the latest polls, West Virginia sits at No. 14 in Perfect Game, No. 14 in NCBWA, No. 17 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 19 in Baseball America, No. 24 in The Athletic, and No. 16 by D1Baseball, which is recognized by the NCAA.
 
Junior Sam White leads the Mountaineers with a .368 batting average while seniors Jace Rinehart and Kyle West each have a team-high eight home runs. Rinehart also leads the team with 50 RBI and leads the Big 12 with 20 doubles.
 
On the mound, redshirt senior Griffin Kirn is 4-1 with a 3.49 ERA and leads the team with 73 strikeouts. Graduate student Jack Kartsonas is 6-1 with a 2.44 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 48.0 innings.
 

Pitching Probables
LHP Griffin Kirn (4-1, 3.49 ERA, 73 K, 23 BB, 69.2 IP) vs. RHP Dominic Voegele (6-4, 5.40 ERA, 74 K, 28 BB, 80.0 IP)
RHP Gavin Van Kempen (2-0, 5.95 ERA, 36 K, 25 BB, 39.1 IP) vs. RHP Cooper Moore (6-1, 3.49 ERA, 65 K, 14 BB, 69.2 IP)
RHP Jack Kartsonas (6-1, 2.44 ERA, 55 K, 11 BB, 48.0 IP) vs. TBA
 
Led by third year head coach Dan Fitzgerald, Kansas is 39-14 this season. In the Big 12, the Jayhawks sit in third place at 17-10 after taking two of three from BYU last weekend.

Kansas leads the Big 12 and is 10th in the nation with 93 home runs, led by 18 from Jackson Hauge. Cooper Moore leads the pitching staff with a 3.49 ERA while striking out 65 batters.

 

For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

 

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As the college baseball calendar flips to the postseason, so too begins transfer portal season—now one of the sport’s most critical and fast-moving markets.

In 2024, several thousand Division I players entered college baseball’s version of free agency, a trend that’s allowed some of the nation’s top teams—including LSU, Auburn, Georgia, Texas and Oregon—to rebuild rosters and vault into national seed contention.

The portal is already open to all graduate transfers and will open without restriction to all players on June 2 and remain open until July 1.

Baseball America will be tracking notable entrants and their commitments—or, in the case of draft-eligible players, decisions to sign professional contracts. This is not a comprehensive or ranked list, but a running log of key player movement throughout the offseason.

We encourage you to check out our friends at 64Analytics.com for additional transfer portal coverage.

Mason Estrada, RHP, MIT

Tennessee has won huge in the transfer portal in recent years, landing a handful of roster headliners such as former Ole Miss lefty Liam Doyle, who is now arguably college baseball’s most dominant active arm, former Ole Miss slugger Andrew Fischer and former Louisville middle infielder Gavin Kilen, among many others. The Volunteers are hopeful that they’ve struck gold again after earning a commitment from former MIT righty Mason Estrada, whose fastball sits in the mid-to-high 90s with carry through the zone. He also offers a big, sweeping slider out of a low three-quarter slot, which helped to produce an impressive 2.21 ERA and 66 strikeouts to 23 walks in 40.2 innings this year. Estrada is eligible for this summer’s draft, making his collegiate future somewhat murky.

Max Jensen, 1B/3B, Cornell

Vanderbilt set out to add experience to its infield this offseason and got on the board very early when it earned a pledge from former Cornell corner infielder Max Jensen, who has one season of remaining eligibility after making just 17 appearances in 2025 due to injury. Jensen batted .284 with three doubles, one triple, five home runs and 15 RBIs while producing a 90.6 mph average exit velocity and 106 mph 90th percentile exit velocity in his limited sample size.

Jacob Faulkner, RHP, Princeton

The Commodores’ first transfer pickup of the year came from former Ivy Leaguer Jacob Faulkner, a sidewinder who pitched to the tune of a 4.14 ERA with 55 strikeouts to 17 walks in 67.1 innings as a junior in 2025. Faulkner relies on two pitches, a fastball and slider, and neither produce overwhelming velocity or sharp movement, his extremely low release height and deceptiveness make each offering unique.

Temo Becerra, SS, Stanford

Becerra entered the portal as a graduate transfer and is currently in the midst of a career season to the tune of a .341/.394/.435 slash line with 12 extra-base hits and 36 RBIs—all of which are new career-highs. A versatile infielder, Becerra can play anywhere on the dirt. He has the skillset to handle either shortstop or third base, where he has an above-average arm. Becerra very much fits the mold of a “hit over power” profile, but he has plus bat-to-ball skills and is currently running a 90% overall in-zone contact rate, including 94% against fastballs.

Charlie Saum, C, Stanford

He might not have the flashiest offensive numbers, even among early transfer portal entrants, but Stanford senior catcher Charlie Saum is expected to garner high-major interest this offseason after producing impressive batted ball numbers and proving to be a steady presence behind the plate with over 100 games of collegiate experience. As of April 18, Saum had a 114 mph maximum exit velocity, 30% barrel rate and 51% hard hit rate.

Rob Liddington, 1B/OF, Incarnate Word

One of over a dozen players from Incarnate Word to hit the portal in the wake of head coach Ryan Shotzberger’s firing, Liddington has a chance to command serious attention after posting a breakout season in 2025, which included a .359 average, 15 home runs, 10 doubles, five triples, 50 RBIs and 13 stolen bases across 50 games. Liddington has played all over the diamond in college, though the majority of his reps have come in the outfield and at first base.