National Notebook: May 12 | Projected Field of 64 | Video Vault
This weekend will be the last of the 2015 college baseball regular season, at least for all but two of the 31 Division I conferences (the Pac-12 and Big West don't have conference tournaments). Conference tournaments begin in full swing with several starting as early as Tuesday, while three others (Patriot League, MEAC and the SWAC) will crown conference champions this weekend. Columbia claimed the Ivy League last weekend for the third consecutive year and as a result became the first team to clinch a spot in Regional play.
Interestingly enough there are no series this weekend that pit Top 25-ranked clubs against one another, although there are still several interesting series sprinkled across the country. We have identified three such series below – USC at Cal, UC Irvine at UC Santa Barbara and UConn at Houston – that offer the most intrigue.
Since the conference championships begin next week this will mark the last weekend preview of the 2015 season, although we do full intend to carry our content through the College World Series in Omaha and beyond. Stay tuned to Perfect Game for updates all weekend long as Andrew Krause will be providing first-hand notes from the Kennesaw State/North Florida series, while Scott Zine will once again be in Los Angeles checking in on UCLA as they host Arizona and their dynamic middle infield duo of Kevin Newman and Scott Kingery.
Top 25 in Action
| Rk. |
Team |
Opponent |
Location |
| 1 |
Louisiana State |
at South Carolina |
Columbia, SC |
| 2 |
Louisville |
at N.C. State |
Raleigh, NC |
| 3 |
Illinois |
home vs. Nebraska |
Champaign, IL |
| 4 |
Texas Christian |
at Oklahoma |
Norman, OK |
| 5 |
UCLA |
home vs. Arizona |
Los Angeles, CA |
| 6 |
Florida |
home vs. Auburn |
Gainesville, FL |
| 7 |
Texas A&M |
at Ole Miss |
Oxford, MS |
| 8 |
Miami |
home vs. Georgia Tech |
Coral Gables, FL |
| 9 |
Dallas Baptist |
home vs. Wichita State |
Dallas, TX |
| 10 |
Florida State |
home vs. Clemson |
Tallahassee, FL |
| 11 |
Oregon State |
at Stanford |
Stanford, CA |
| 12 |
Missouri State |
home vs. Bradley |
Springfield, MO |
| 13 |
Iowa |
at Rutgers |
Piscataway, NJ |
| 14 |
Vanderbilt |
at Alabama |
Hoover, AL |
| 15 |
Oklahoma State |
at Michigan |
Ann Arbor, MI |
| 16 |
Arizona State |
home vs. Washington State |
Phoenix, AZ |
| 17 |
Southern California |
at California |
Berkeley, CA |
| 18 |
College of Charleston |
at Northeastern |
Boston, MA |
| 19 |
UC Santa Barbara |
home vs. UC Irvine |
Santa Barbara, CA |
| 20 |
Florida Atlantic |
at Western Kentucky |
Bowling Green, KY |
| 21 |
Nevada |
home vs. Air Force |
Reno, NV |
| 22 |
Houston |
home vs. Connecticut |
Houston, TX |
| 23 |
Maryland |
at Northwestern |
Evanston, IL |
| 24 |
Arkansas |
at Georgia |
Athens, GA |
| 25 |
Rice |
home vs. Florida International |
Houston, TX |
Marquee Matchup #1
No. 17 Southern California at California
The
No. 17 Trojans got a huge boost last weekend when Kyle Davis made his
second start of the season on Friday night and tossed a gem, a
complete game 1-0 shutout over Stanford in which he struck out 10
Cardinal batters. Saturday starter Kyle Twomey continues to be
incredibly steady in his role, and freshman starter Mitch Hart
book-ended the series with yet another complete game shutout, moving
to 7-2 on the year.
And
for as good as the Trojans' weekend staff appears to be heading into
the final weeks of the regular season, the offense continues to pose
a threat with four regulars hitting above .300 and a cumulative .293
batting average.
Cal
has had a taste of the Top 25 this season, and although their stay
didn't last long they have been in the conversation to re-enter the
rankings ever since. Their 2.88 Pac-12 ERA is second best to UCLA
(2.16), and although no one pitcher stands out on the stat sheet, all
three of their weekend starters have an ERA below 3.00 and their
bullpen has been equally effective.
Aaron
Knapp sets the pace on offense, while third baseman Lucas Erceg, who
is hitting .321-10-38 this season, has provided a steady presence in
the three-hole all year long. Erceg is third in the league in
slugging (.542) and his 10 home runs are good for second.
Most
importantly in the sense of this series, especially with no
conference championship, the two teams are currently tied for second
in the Pac-12, along with Arizona State, with 15-9 records. The two
programs match up very well on paper, and it will be arguably the
most interesting series to follow this weekend.
Marquee Matchup #2
UC Irvine at No. 19 UC Santa Barbara
The
Gauchos took one on the chin last week, losing a midweek contest to
CSU Bakersfield before losing two of three games at the hands of Big
West rival Cal State Fullerton. As a result they fell 10 spots in the
Top 25 and currently sit one game behind both Fullerton and UC Irvine
in the Big West standings. They have already exacted revenge on
Bakersfield, taking this week's midweek contest against the
Roadrunners, 8-7, and will look to do the same this weekend against
the Anteaters in hopes of re-claiming at least a share of the Big
West crown.
UC
Irvine on the other hand is coming off of a 3-1 week in which they
beat USC midweek before taking their series against Cal Poly. They
did lose Tuesday to Loyola Marymount, and will be playing on the road
against the Gauchos as they defend their share of the Big West crown
with Fullerton, as both teams are currently 13-5 in the conference.
The
Anteaters surprisingly have a 4.14 team ERA, which seems rather high
for a program that usually excels when their pitching has been
stellar. They do play very sound defense as a unit, and are hitting
.282 as a team led by outfielder Keston Hiura, who leads the
conference in RBI with 50 and overall is hitting .338/.394/.520 with
24 extra-base hits, which includes five home runs.
While
Dillon Tate grabs the headlines for the Gauchos, he's only one of
three pitchers (Justin Jacome, Shane Bieber) on the staff that has
seven wins already this year, and their midweek starter, Domenic
Mazza, has been equally as strong. On paper UCSB would appear to have
the advantage, with a .293 team batting average and a 2.30 cumulative
ERA, but as we all know, games, especially between conference foes,
are never played on paper.
Cal
State Fullerton travels to Hawaii this weekend to play the 12-9
Rainbow Warriors.
Marquee Matchup #3
UConn at No. 22 Houston
The
American Athletic Conference continues to be one of the more
interesting leagues to follow down the stretch, as Houston currently
only has a one game lead over East Carolina (who they beat last
weekend) and a two game lead over Memphis, Tulane, South Florida and
UConn. The Cougars remain in the driver's seat but will need to
continue to take care of business against the Huskies at home this
weekend.
Despite
not having Jake Lemoine for much of the year, and with Aaron Garza
reduced to a limited role, it's impressive how successful they've
been with Andrew Lantrip, Kyle Dowdy and Seth Romero all stepping up
to solidify the weekend starting staff. Like UC Santa Barbara's
weekend staff, each of them has seven wins on the year with ERAs
below 3.00. Housotn has now taken three straight weekend series to
re-claim the AAC lead and knocked off crosstown rival Rice on Tuesday
for good measure, 2-1.
UConn
poses a tough test to close out the regular season, with a formidable
1-2 punch on the mound in Carson Cross and Anthony Kay. The two are a
combined 17-7 with an ERA just above 2.00 on the year, and overall
the Huskies staff ERA is 2.89. They're also hitting .296 as a team,
led by second baseman Vinny Siena and his .362/.412/.523 triple
slash. He's leading the conference in batting, runs scored (61), hits
(85) and is second in RBI (50) and total bases (123).
Houston
counters with Chris Iriart, whose 14 home runs are second best in the
conference, and leadoff hitter Kyle Survance, whose 28 stolen bases
are also good for second in the league.
National Notes:
• Here
are some quick hits on a few other intriguing matchups this weekend:
-
No.
4 Texas Christian at Oklahoma: TCU looks poised to lock up the Big
12 this weekend, as second-ranked Oklahoma State's conference season
is over (they play at Michigan). Third-ranked Oklahoma could tie TCU
with a sweep in Norman as the Sooners (13-8) trail the Horned Frogs
(15-5) by three games.
-
Auburn
at No. 6 Florida: Although there aren't any conference implications
riding in this series, the Gators will look to solidify their case
as a Top 8 National Seed while the Tigers look to fight for their
postseason lives.
-
A
high-powered Arizona offense travels north to Los Angeles to take on
No. 5 UCLA and their usually dominant pitching staff. There is no
lack of college star power in this series, from James Kaprielian and
David Berg of the Bruins to Kevin Newman and Scott Kingery of the
Wildcats.
-
No.
3 Illinois hosts Nebraska in Champaign riding a 24-game winning
streak. Although the Huskers have lost some of their luster after
rising up into the Top 25 only to quickly slide out, they still have
some intriguing players on both sides of the ball that could make
this an interesting series.
-
The
same is somewhat true as Georgia Tech travels to No. 8 Miami, who
have all but wraped up the ACC Coastal Division with a 19-8
conference record. At 32-18 overall, Georgia Tech has found
themselves in the conversation to be included in the Top 25 several
times this year, but have yet to break through. Sophomore close Zac
Ryan is having a huge season for the Jackets, with a 9-1 record, a
2.74 ERA and seven saves in 26 appearances.
-
The
Missouri Valley Conference has been fun to watch all season long,
with No. 9 Dallas Baptist and No. 12 Missouri State steadily
climbing the Top 25. Third-ranked Bradley has also made some noise
this year for their impressive RPI ranking, and will travel to
Columbia, Mo., to take on the first-place Bears.
• Speaking
of Dallas Baptist, they continued their impressive string of tough
midweek opponents this season (including Texas A&M, Oklahoma and
TCU) by playing No. 15 Oklahoma State on Tuesday. Things didn't go
well for DBU as the Cowboys continued to pile runs on through the
middle and late innings of the game leading to an 11-2 OSU win. The
Patriots close the regular season at home against Wichita State while
Oklahoma State, as mentioned above, travel to Ann Arbor, Mich..
• Another
team that hasn't been shy about scheduling challenging midweek
opponents is No. 2 Louisville, who welcomed No. 14 Vanderbilt to Jim
Patterson Stadium on Tuesday. The Commodores continued to flex their
pitching depth muscle as Ryan Johnson (now 5-0) and John Kilichowski
combined to pitch well in the 5-2 win over the Cardinals. Kilichowski
was partciularly impressive, striking out five without allowing a hit
or a walk in 3 2/3 innings.
• Things
didn't get an easier for No. 20 Florida Atlantic as they got shelled
by the host Hurricanes, 14-6, after suffering a weekend sweep to
Rice. Five different Miami hitters had multi-hit games, led by George
Iskenderian's 5-for-5 night at the plate and Zack Collins' – who
has caught fire of late – 13th home run of the year.
• Cal State Fullerton suffered a blow when it was revealed in a CSF release on Wednesday that Saturday starter Justin Garza would miss the rest of the season after a slight tear in his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) was found in an MRI. Garza came out of the game last Saturday against UC Santa Barbara due to discomfort. It also is a blow to Garza given the proximity of the MLB Draft, as he is currently ranked PG's 55th overall draft-eligible prospect, which put him squarely in the mix for the second round. He was named the Big West Pitcher of the Year in 2013 after a 12-0 freshman campaign and is 21-7 overall during his three-year career with the Titans.