NEWS DIGEST, MAY 28, PART 2

Gatorade honors USC recruits
Lexington High's Nick Ciuffo has been selected the Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year in South Carolina. He has signed with the University of South Carolina, but is projected as  first-round selection in the June Major League Baseball Draft.

Fellow Gamecocks recruit Wil Crowe of  Pigeon Forge was named Tennessee player of the year. He is listed as a pitcher-first baseman,

Below is a link to all state players of the year. Please let me know if any of the others have signed with/committed to state schools.
Gatorade

Baseball America pegs top 500 draft prospects
Baseball America has revealed its listing of the top 500 players available for the draft. The top-ranked player with a state connection is Clemson signee Austin Meadows at No. 6. He is an outfielder from Loganville, Ga.

Here are other players with state connections.  Forgive me if  I miss someone who has signed with/committed to a state school. I have a more complete list for USC thanks to the efforts of John Whittle of TheBigSpur.com. I'd love to be informed of others.

22. Nick Ciuffo, Lexington High (USC);  56. Travis Demerritte, 3b, Winder, Ga. (USC); 72. Chris Okey, C, Eustis, Fla. (Clemson); 112. Daniel Palka OF/P, Georgia Tech (Greer High); 121. Cory Thompson, RHP/SS, Mauldin High (USC); 141. Wil Crowe, RHP/3B, Pigeon Forge, Tenn. (USC); 147. Akeem Bostick, RHP, West Florence High (Spartanburg Methodist/Georgia Southern); 203. Jacob May, OF, Coastal Carolina;  223, K.J. Woods, OF/1B, Fort Mill; 258. Weston Wilson, Wesleyan Christian, High Point, N.C. (Clemson); 374. Matt Vogel, RHP, Medford, N.Y. (USC); 415. John Parke, LHP, Greenville High (USC);  455, Taylor Widener, RHP, South Aiken High (USC); 475. Zach Loraine (Coker); 487. Zack Godley, RHP, Tennessee (Bamberg-Ehrhardt High); 492. Canaan Cropper, RHP, Salisbury, Md. (USC).

BA Draft 500

USC, Saint Louis set for ESPN2
South Carolina's regional opener against Saint Louis at 7 p.m. Friday will be televised on ESPN2, USC officials announced Tuesday. Both DirecTV and ESPN.com's listiing show college softball being on ESPN2 at the time of the USC game.

Here's a link to the ESPN2/3 availability map for the USC game.
USC.

Every game in every regional is scheduled to be covered by the ESPN brand, but many are expected to be Internet-only via ESPN3.com/WatchESPN.com.

Here's what DirecTV's onscreen listings show:

Friday
Noon - Alabama. vs. Troy, Tallahassee Regional, ESPNU
4 p.m. - Wichita State vs. Kansas State, Manhattan Regional, ESPNU
7 p.m. - East Tennessee State vs. Vanderbilt, Nashville, Regional, ESPNU
11 p.m. - Columbia vs. Cal State Fullerton, Fullerton Regional, ESPNU

Here's a link to the ESPN3 listing of video streams/network coverage.
ESPN3