Games will be played Tuesday through Sunday at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary to trim the Collegiate National Team from 39 players to 22.

The best bets for spectators are Wednesday and Friday when the games are played at 6 p.m. as opposed to the 2 p.m. starts the other days (except for the 12 noon start on Sunday). Temperatures are expected in the 90s this week with the heat index putting temps over 100.

Among those players trying to make the squad are pitcher Greg Holt of UNC-Chapel Hill, pitcher Anthony Meo of Coastal Carolina, infielder Brad Miller of Clemson, outfielder/pitcher Sean Gilmartin of Florida State and outfielder Jackie Bradley of South Carolina.

Bradley, who helped lead his team to the national championship, was named the College World Series Most Outstanding Player last month.

The manager of the club is Bill Kenneberg of Utah. The only local connection among non-players is press officer Malcolm Gray of East Carolina.

Following the trials and training period in Cary, the U.S. will play a five-game series against Korea before squaring off against a Japanese Collegiate All-Star Team in a one-game, international friendship competition in Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium on July 21. From there, the team will travel to Taipei, Taiwan for a four-game series against Chinese Taipei at Tien-Mu Stadium beginning July 25.

Team USA will close its summer season at the FISU World University Championships in Tokyo, Japan, from July 30-Aug. 7. The U.S. has won the last three FISU Worlds (2004, ’06, ’08), while host nation Japan will be looking for its first title.

To see directions and guidelines for attending games at the complex, please click here.

In other USA Baseball news, Dillon Maples, a pitcher out of West End, NC, has made the 20-player 18 and Under National Team announced Saturday.

There has been a lot of talk in the football world that former East Carolina quarterback David Garrard may lose his job as starter for the Jacksonville Jaguars. After all, the Jags were 7-5 going into the final four games and needed to win two of them to guarantee a playoff spot. They lost all four (including two games by four points and one by six).

I suppose it’s possible that backup Luke McCown could overtake Garrard in training camp but Jaguars’ General Manager Gene Smith told me yesterday without hesitation that Garrard is the No. 1 guy.

I had dinner with Smith and his family (they are friends of my in-laws) and we of course talked football. Smith, who lived in Southern Pines when he was scouting for the Jaguars, started with the team at its inception in 1994 and he worked his way up to General Manager a year ago. While I got some insight from Smith, it was a social occasion and I don’t feel comfortable talking about our conversations, especially in light of the fact that we weren’t talking on the record.

But I am confident that he is confident in Garrard and the offensive abilities of the Jaguars this season. The Jaguars scored only 18 points per game last season, which was 24th in the league. But Jacksonville got some good young talent on the offensive line during Smith’s first draft as the final decision maker on personnel.

This past draft was rated as average by most NFL experts and Smith took a bit of a pounding for his first-round draft pick Tyson Alualu, the defensive end out of Cal, who many called a stretch that early.

Some experts have the Jags going 7-9 again this year while others have them going to the playoffs as a wild card team. If Garrard lives up to expectations and the offensive line improves, the Jaguars should go 9-7 and sneak into the playoffs.

If not, time could be running out for Coach Jack Del Rio and Smith, and possibly the town of Jacksonville as well. Attendance has been dismal and that means TV blackouts. The Jaguars have lowered ticket prices and have an advertising campaign going that stresses the importance of Jaguars’ fans.

Those North Carolinians who have remained Redskins fans tend to have a soft spot for the Jaguars, who came in the league at the same time as the Panthers. Since the Panthers took the Redskins off TV in North Carolina, many Skins fans have wanted the Jags to do better than the Panthers. The Panthers have been to the Super Bowl but the Jaguars hold the edge in head-to-head matchups.

Smith is a nice guy who loves it here in North Carolina. He has fond memories of his time here and is loyal to the friends he made while living in NC. He has a smart and engaging wife and two little girls who are not only sharp but are respectful and mannerly. I wish him and the Jaguars well this season – and a lot of it rides on an ECU guy named David Garrard.

(To jog your memory, Garrard led the Pirates to a 9-3 record in ’99, a season that included a 27-23 come-from-behind thrilling upset of Miami in a game played in Raleigh because of devastation in eastern NC caused by Hurricane Floyd.)

The first day of the NHL’s free agency period saw more comings and goings as the Carolina Hurricanes continue to get younger.

The Hurricanes brought defenseman Anton Babchuk, an effective member of their 2008-09 squad, back to the team following a one-year absence. At the same time, veteran fan-favorite Ray Whitney signed a 2-year deal with the Phoenix Coyotes.

Whitney’s departure became more and more imminent during the run-up to Thursday’s opening of the free-agent market. With the Hurricanes determined to keep payroll on the lower end of the salary-cap spectrum for 2010-11, there wasn’t going to be a place for a 38-year-old left winger.

That’s not to say that Whitney doesn’t have value. His lockerroom presence is immense and he did contribute 21 goals and 37 assists last season. That makes four consecutive seasons he’s notched at least 20 goals.

But the reported $6 million Whitney will receive from Phoenix over the life of his new contract probably exceeds what he will produce in the waning years of his career.

Babcuck, 26, comes back to Carolina after playing in Russia last season. He’ll make $1.4 million for the Hurricanes in 2010-11. He played well during his last stint for the Canes, establishing career highs in goals (16) and assists (19) in the 2008-09 season.

UNC SPORTS INFORMATION NEWS RELEASE – The University of North Carolina finished in seventh place nationally in the Learfield Sports Directors Cup, the Tar Heels’ 15th top 10 finish in the award’s 17-year history.

The Directors Cup, run by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA), measures a school’s postseason success in men’s and women’s sports. Each school receives points its 10-highest men’s and 10-highest women’s finishes in NCAA competition.

The seventh-place showing marked the eighth top 10 finish by the Tar Heels in the last nine years. By comparison, the other 11 ACC schools have a total of eight top 10 finishes in Directors Cup history.

Stanford won for the 16th straight year, claiming the 2009-10 award with 1508.5 points. Florida was second with 1310.25 points and was followed by Virginia, UCLA, Florida State, Texas A&M, North Carolina, Ohio State, California and Duke.

The 2009-10 season marks the first time that four Atlantic Coast Conference schools finished in the Top 10 and just the third time that the Tar Heels were not the highest finishing ACC school. No other conference had more than three schools finish in the Top 10.

Six different Tar Heel teams finished in the top five nationally in their respective sports, including field hockey and women’s soccer, which both won NCAA championships. Men’s soccer, women’s lacrosse and women’s tennis each finished third and men’s lacrosse was fifth. Men’s swimming and diving (15th), men’s indoor track and field (20th) and women’s swimming and diving (20th) each placed in the top 20.

The Tar Heels are the only school other than Stanford to win the Directors Cup. Carolina won the inaugural trophy in 1994 and has averaged a sixth-place finish.

(Other ACC finishes: Maryland 28th, Virginia Tech 38th, Georgia Tech 45th, Clemson 48th, Wake Forest 53rd, Miami 58th, Boston College 63rd and N.C. State 89th.)

The defending Triple-A national champion Durham Bulls will be well represented when the all-star game for the highest level of minor-league baseball is played July 14.

Dan Johnson, Joe Dillon and Elliot Johnson were selected to the International League squad, which will face the Pacific Coast League stars at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pa. Bulls manager Charlie Montoyo will manage the IL all-star team. The game will be televised live on MLB Network (DirecTV channel 213).

Dan Johnson, a left fielder, leads the International League with 63 RBIs and has 18 home runs. Dillon, a second baseman, is batting .295 with five home runs and 31 RBIs. Elliot Johnson, also an infielder, is batting .282 and has 19 stolen bases. His availability for the game is in doubt as he has been on the disabled list with a pulled quad muscle since June 13.

Durham, a Tampa Bay Rays affiliate, began play Wednesday night with a league-best 47-31 record. The Bulls lead the International League’s South Division by nine games over second-place Charlotte.

The Carolina Hurricanes made the right, and classy, move with Rod Brind’Amour. Brind’Amour  announced Wednesday afternoon that he won’t return to the Carolina Hurricanes as a player, but will join the team in a new role.

Brind’Amour said general manager Jim Rutherford had told him, in a conversation a few weeks ago, that there was not a fit for him to come back next season. That left Brind’Amour weighing whether to try to play for another team after a disappointing 2010 season.

Leaving Raleigh, Brind’Amour said, “never ever felt right.”

“I certainly don’t want to play anywhere else,” he said. After Rutherford called him Wednesday morning and said Brind’Amour could have a role with the team, that sealed it for Brind’Amour. That role has not yet been defined.

Here’s the harsh truth – Brind’Amour’s play had fallen to the point where Carolina had make a change. But you have to applaud the franchise for looking for a way to keep Brind’Amour around.

Worth a read today is great story in The News & Observer on Lee Fowler at N.C. State. Fowler’s final day is today, and Ken Tysiac has an excellent piece on Fowler reflecting on his time as the Wolfpack athletics director.

Tysiac, who covered the Triangle for The Charlotte Observer before the papers merged, has a great knack for anticipating stories. While most of the Triangle media was focused on Tuesday’s Sidney Lowe news conference, Tysiac delivered a fresh read on Fowler’s 10 years with the Wolfpack.