SAVE UP TO 80% OFF at our Summer Clearance Sale in San Antonio!

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For our customers in the San Antonio area, you can SAVE UP TO 80% OFF RETAIL on major brand sports equipment this month.

We opened up a temporary location at the corner of Perrin Beitel and 410. We’re clearing out warehouse inventory of baseball, football, softball, basketball, volleyball, soccer and athletic equipment.

Here are the details

• What: Sports equipment clearance sale
• Where: 8611 Perrin Beitel RD, San Antonio (The NW corner of Perrin Beitel and Loop 410)
• When: Thru June 24
• Hours: Monday thru Saturday (10a-8p), Sunday (11a-6p)

Related: As always, you can visit our retail store at 1003 Nakoma, just north of the airport!

Who’s swinging what in the 2012 College World Series

All eyes will be on Omaha this weekend as the 2012 College World Series gets underway.

The field is set, and some of the usual suspects are back again. The SEC leads the way with three teams, including South Carolina, gunning for its third consecutive national championship.

Now that we know who’s in, what are they swinging? Here’s a look at the baseball bats that all eight teams will be using.

UCLA, Arkansas, Florida — Easton

These three teams use the Easton Power Brigade Series.

Easton designed the Power Brigade with the idea that not all batters bat alike — some are power hitters, some are contact hitters, some fall somewhere in the middle. The Power Brigade is a series of eight bats, each balanced and weighted to compliment a certain hitting style, just like wood bats in the pros.

Florida State, Arizona — Louisville Slugger

The Wildcats and ‘Noles use Louisville Slugger’s 2012 lineup, which includes the Exogrid, Omaha and Z-1000.

The Exogrid is famous for it’s ultra-stiff composite handle, designed in a shock-absorbing grid pattern with an stiffness-enhancing internal sleeve. The Z-1000 is tuned for maximum barrel flex, and the Omaha is a familiar name around the CWS as it’s the latest in a long line of wildly successful Omaha bats for Lousiville Slugger.

South Carolina, Kent State — Rawlings

The Golden Flashes and the two-time defending champ Gamecocks swing Rawlings, specifically Rawlings’ 5150 BBCOR Baseball Bat.

The 5150 has spent a year in the game, and it’s a crowd favorite. It has a 4.3/5 rating at Baseball Express, one of our top baseball bats. The Velo features a longer barrel and a stiff handle.

Stony Brook — DeMarini

Stony Brook is the lone College World Series team using DeMarini, whose 2012-2013 lineup of baseball bats includes some familiar names.

The Voodoo is designed with some pretty awesome barrel graphics and a TR3 composite handle for faster bat speed. The CF5 pulls that technology into the barrel, creating a fully two-piece TR3 composite bat. Vexxum utilizes DeMarini’s X10 alloy for maximum power with minimal bat weight.

How do they stack up?

Let’s have a little fun and compare some of the season statistics in home runs…

Florida’s insane home run total for the season puts Easton in front.

1. EASTON (UF 75 HR in 65 games; UCLA 23 in 61; UA 38 in 64) — 0.71 HR per game
2. RAWLINGS (USC 41 in 62; KSU 43 in 64) — 0.66 HR per game
3. DEMARINI (SB 37 in 65) — 0.56 HR per game
4. LOUISVILLE SLUGGER (FSU 43 in 63; UA 20 in 60) — 0.51 HR per game

Related: Shop our entire selection of BBCOR certified baseball bats.

Marucci Black (33 and 34-inch models) now banned in the NCAA

The NCAA announced this week that it has decertified the 33 and 34-inch models of the 2012 Marucci Black Series BBCOR Baseball Bat.

The decertification is effective immediately, which means that those sizes of the Marucci Black (Model No. MCB11) will no longer be allowed in NCAA competition. The 31 and 32-inch models of the Marucci Black Series are still legal. The National Federation of State High School Associations has not released a decision yet, so at the moment, the bat is still legal in high school baseball.

The baseball bat was decertified as part of the NCAA’s process of continually field testing game-used bats in college baseball.

Bats that originally pass the BBCOR certification process and make it onto the field are routinely re-tested by the NCAA. If a certain number of game-used bats test outside the BBCOR specifications, the decertification process is triggered.

Word from Marucci is that they are working on options for customers who have purchased these bats.

Baseball Express can accept returns for unused bats within 30 days of purchase, but we ask that all other returns go directly through Marucci.

There are plenty more details to come, and we will post updates as they happen.

If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments.

You can view the original NCAA memo here.

Related: How does BBCOR work? Let us explain.

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New from Evoshield: Compression wrist sleeves and padded sliding shorts

We’re big fans of the folks at Evoshield, easily one of the most innovative companies in the baseball equipment biz.

They broke into the market with a revolutionary new design for protective equipment. It uses a lightweight substance that turns from gel into a solid, so players can custom-fit their own protective gear.

More than a handful of MLB players now wear Evoshield gear, from Chicago’s Gordon Beckham to the Rangers’ Josh Hamilton.

And the mad scientists over at Evoshield continue to cook up cool new designs and uses for their technology. That includes the new EvoShield Compression Wrist Sleeve ($24.99), which is set to make taping your wrists a thing of the past.

The Neoprene wrist compression sleeve features an adjustable, high-performance strap with a unique rubber tab for easy wrapping and unwrapping. The adjustable strap allows players to select the level of wrist compression they want.

And best of all, it saves players, coaches and trainers from the hassle of having to deal with rolls of athletic tape.

There’s also Evoshield’s new Men’s Baseball Sliding Shorts ($39.99), which integrate Evoshield’s pad technology into a lightweight, breathable sliding short.

It’s got Evoshield’s proprietary pad technology, which gives you a custom fit, and the abrasion arrow layout of the pads allows each pad to independently stretch with your body.

The double-layered mesh cup pocket keeps your family jewels safe, while the 92% polyester fabric is designed to give plenty of ventilation. Get them at Baseball Express.

Related: Shop our entire selection of Evoshield protective gear.