National college notes: March 15

 



Perfect Game Top 25 | Perfect Game College Baseball on SiriusXM College Sports
Friday Recaps: Kay sharp in big win | Solak, McKay shine in DH sweep
Saturday Recap: Cardinals sweep Irish


Here is a Soundcloud snippet of Perfect Game's College Baseball program on Monday night on SiriusXM College Sports (channel 84):

Cal Quantrill (28) and Garrett Williams (38) did not pitch

Read about the performance and watch video of Kyle Funkhouser and Zack Burdi (among others) here.
Read about the performance and watch video of Corey Ray here.


LakePoint Spring Swing

Six Division I teams (Bowling Green, Iowa, Nebraska-Omaha, Presbyterian, Savannah State and Seton Hall) took to the Perfect Game Park South fields at LakePoint this past weekend. This was the third such trip for UNO this spring and Clayton Taylor hit yet another home run at his home away from home. Jeff Dahn also visited the fields at LakePoint while covering the Perfect Game High School Showdown and wrote the following stories:

Alabama State: ‘Bama St. takes Swing sans ace
Nebraska-Omaha: UNO takes big Swing at LP
Iowa: Iowa looks to find its footing

Matt Czechanski provided his usual scouting observations in the LakePoint scout blog, including this one on a flame-throwing Seton Hall righthander.




Closing out the night in more ways than one was sophomore righthander Zach Schellenger for the Seton Hall Pirates. Schellenger has a very physical 6-foot-5, 210-pound frame with clear present strength. He worked aggressively downhill from a lower three-quarters arm slot with plus, plus arm speed. His fastball sat 94-96 mph consistently with sharp downhill life and kept it low. His release point and drive varied and that hampered his command. What he did do incredibly well was spin his slider with authority and 10-to-4 shape with lots of tilt.



Arizona plays team game in sweep of Sacramento State

Bobby Dalbec is the headliner for Arizona but this team is interesting in other ways as well. The Wildcats are playing with great energy under first-year skipper Jay Johnson. Two things that jump out are the senior leadership at the top of the order and an extremely athletic defense.

The lineup starts with Cody Raymer, Ryan Aguilar and Zach Gibbons. All three are seniors with a boatload of career plate appearances. These three consistently produced quality at-bats, and while they lack big power, there is diversity in their ability to either hit a double or execute the little game. In Sunday’s contest against Sacramento State, Arizona executed a suicide squeeze, a sacrifice bunt (by Dalbec) and then a successful double-squeeze that plated two runs.

As for Dalbec, his profile remains intriguing despite a very difficult start to the season. He is a high-waisted third baseman with athleticism but he's not necessarily quick-twitch. The swing has length but also enormous raw power.

Dalbec's situation is comparable to Oklahoma's Sheldon Neuse in that he rarely sees a mistake in the strike zone. Dalbec is getting pounded inside combined with a steady diet of soft stuff away. He does a good job staying off of those pitches early in his at-bats but much like Neuse, he showed a tendency to get impatient late in the at-bat.

Later in the game, Dalbec hammered a fastball back up the middle and it was the hardest hit ball of the day, by anyone. When he trusts his power to the big part of the field, he is a scary hitter. Dalbec will provide a difficult decision for teams because the raw power is massive although there will certainly be swing and miss concerns to consider.

Dalbec also comes with a fallback position and he was outstanding on the mound finishing up this game. His fastball sits 89-92 mph from a mid three-quarters arm slot and it is a devastating pitch when thrown inside to righthanders. His slider was 75-77 mph and he throws it with great command.

As a team, Arizona is fielding .983 currently and this is remarkable when you consider the speed of the infields in the Southwest. Johnson and his staff were genius in moving their personnel around to create this. Aguilar was a junior college outfielder while Raymer also has experience in the outfield. These two have brought tremendous range and athleticism to the right side of the infield. Justin Behnke is a center fielder playing left field and Louis Boyd is a junior college transfer with experience at shortstop.

One other prospect tidbit to file away: slugger J.J. Matejevic has made the move to second base (he plays there when Dalbec pitches) and he is yet to make an error. Matejevic showed a plus approach at the plate and he crushed balls to the middle of the field all day. This is a player who has made a big jump from his freshman year and an offensive second base profile could serve him well in his draft year.

It would be remiss not to mention Sacramento State despite the Arizona sweep of the series. The Hornets are physical and they play with great confidence and aggressiveness. The pitching staff appears to be top-heavy but this is a team that would be a nightmare number No. 4 seed in a Regional. Reggie Christensen's club played without freshman sensation and leading hitter Matt Smith this weekend and that hurt the lineup's depth.



CSUN takes two over UConn in Sunday doubleheader

Cal State Northridge moved to 14-3 on the season on Sunday with a doubleheader sweep of UConn. Steve Fiorindo was on hand to take in the action to report on rising redshirt sophomore lefthander Kenny Rosenberg.

Rosenberg is somewhat of a popup player as plenty of scouts were on hand to see him pitch. He carried a one hitter through six innings until he started to show some fatigue as his command wavered in the seventh. His final line (7 innings, 3 earned runs, 1 walk and 8 strikeouts) wasn’t as indicative of how dominant he was through the first six innings.