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College  | Story  | 5/3/2018

Weekend Preview: Week 12

Patrick Ebert     
Photo: Jonathan Stiever (Indiana Athletics)




Field of 64: May 3 | College Top 25 | Player/Pitcher of the Week | College Player Database

It likely will be a special week in college baseball as Florida State head coach Mike Martin is one win away from becoming the all-time leader in victories. He finished last weekend tied with Augie Garrido, who passed away earlier this spring, with 1,975 career wins, and with no mid-week games, his Seminoles squad will have a tough test ahead of them as they travel to face Clemson on the road. With three chances to accomplish the feat in a Saturday through Monday series, you would think it should occur at some point over the weekend. FSU is ranked 16th and Clemson sixth, and with postseason hosting opportunities on the line both teams have added incentive for motivation.

The top-ranked Florida Gators will face another challenging test as they hit the road to face the 17th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies. A&M leads the SEC in pitching with a 3.03 ERA, although Florida isn't too far behind (3.21), and the Aggies will need to be at their best to slow down a Gators offense that is also among the national leaders in home runs with 68. We have yet to see a change at the top of the Top 25 this season but it would not be a surprise to see that change given this matchup.

The most impactful series this weekend will occur in four unique locations: Lubbock, Texas, Minneapolis, Minn., Deland, Fla., and Iowa City, Iowa. Below we will provide a glimpse at the four series – No. 25 Texas at No. 8 Texas Tech, No. 12 Indiana at No. 19 Minnesota, No. 21 Oklahoma State at Iowa and No. 24 Jacksonville at Stetson – that could shake up the postseason picture quite a bit


Top 25 in Action
Rk. Team Opponent Location
1 Florida at No. 17 Texas A&M College Station, TX
2 Stanford at Utah Salt Lake City, UT
3 Oregon State at Washington State Pullman, WA
4 Ole Miss at South Carolina Columbia, SC
5 NC State home vs. William & Mary Raleigh, NC
6 Clemson home vs. No. 16 Florida State Clemson, SC
7 Arkansas at Louisiana State Baton Rouge, LA
8 Texas Tech home vs. No. 25 Texas Lubbock, TX
9 UCLA at Arizona Tucson, AZ
10 Southern Miss at UAB Birmingham, AL
11 North Carolina Does not play NA
12 Indiana at Minnesota Minneapolis, MN
13 Kentucky at Tennessee Knoxville, TN
14 Duke home vs. Gardner-Webb (DH Sun.) Durham, NC
15 East Carolina at Tulane New Orleans, LA
16 Florida State at No. 6 Clemson Clemson, SC
17 Texas A&M home vs. No. 1 Florida College Station, TX
18 Vanderbilt at No. 20 Auburn Auburn, AL
19 Minnesota home vs. No. 12 Indiana Minneapolis, MN
20 Auburn home vs. No. 18 Vanderbilt Auburn, AL
21 Oklahoma State at Iowa Iowa City, IA
22 South Florida Does not play NA
23 Coastal Carolina at Louisiana Lafayette, LA
24 Jacksonville at Stetson Deland, FL
25 Texas at No. 8 Texas Tech Lubbock, TX


Marquee Matchups

As noted above, there are four series that we have identified as being particularly important to the landscape of the 2018 college baseball season, especially as the postseason draws near. While Lubbock hosts some of the biggest crowds in college baseball, there are three more non-traditional locales – Minneapolis, Minn., Iowa City, Iowa and Deland, Fla. – that will be the sites for these impactful matchups.

Texas at Texas Tech

Oklahoma State took a commanding lead in the Big 12 standings last weekend, not only because of their impressive series sweep over previously-ranked Oklahoma, but because both Texas Tech and Texas lost their weekend series to TCU and West Virginia, respectively. Both Texas-based teams look to get back to their winning ways, but unless for the unlikely finish of a 1-1-1 series tie, that can only occur for one of these programs.

The Red Raiders on paper are the easy favorite, playing in front of a raucous home crowd while boasting one of the nation's most complete overall teams, with an impressive wealth of pitching combined with a very lethal offense. However, two of their top starters, Davis Martin and John McMillon, were touched up last weekend against a struggling TCU squad, although Caleb Kilian has been light's out all season long, and even more so recently since being inserted as one of the team's weekend starters. Still, that trio is 17-6 this year and the offense continues to be paced by freshman Gabe Holt and sophomores Grant Little and Josh Jung. Holt has yet to be caught in stolen base attempts (and he's made 22 of them) while Little and Jung are both among the nation's leaders in RBI with 57 and 61, respectively.

For the first time in seemingly a long time the Longhorns are hitting the ball well as a team with 2014 PG All-American infielder Kody Clemens leading the way. Clemens is slashing .333/.437/.644 heading into the weekend with 27 extra-base hits, that includes 13 home runs, and 50 RBI. Designated hitter Zach Zubia has found his power stroke of late, and 2015 PG All-American David Hamilton has made his presence felt both at the plate and on the basepaths, swiping 26 bags while getting on at a .416 clip – and his walkoff grand slam on Tuesday against Texas State capped a remarkable comeback, midweek win.

The pitching hasn't been as characteristically strong as of late, but the weekend trio of Nolan Kingham, Chase Shugart and Blair Henley is still one of the most reliable, even if they're not quite as unhittable as they have been, or at least have the potential to be. Andy McGuire has emerged as a solid bullpen ace, recording six saves in 18 appearances, and he's not alone coming out of the 'pen as Parker Joe Robinson, Kamron Fields and Josh Sawyer have also been turned to early and often.

Indiana at Minnesota

The Hoosiers still boast the nation's best team ERA at 2.40, and after losing the first game of their series against Illinois last weekend in Bloomington, they did a nice job to regroup to take the final two games, and the series. That was a much-needed series win for Indiana after losing to Ohio State on the road the weekend before, as Indiana doesn't seem to have as much margin for error given their RPI ranking (20), at least relative to their hosting chances.

Indiana's early season success was chronicled three weeks ago in the Week 9 weekend preview, and as noted they have lost one weekend series since that time, in Columbus to Ohio State. For as good as the pitching has been this season they've been without their dominant Saturday starter Pauly Milto for two weeks and third baseman Luke Miller has been a little dinged up as well. However, staff ace Jonathan Stiever has lowered his ERA below 3.00 (2.63) and has a sterling 75-to-17 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 72 innings of work while sophomore outfielder Matt Gorski continues to show off his impressive combination of power and speed, with 16 extra-base hits and 18 steals.

And don't be alarmed if Indiana loses the first game of the series to Minnesota as they won three different series this year despite losing the opener, including last weekend against Illinois.

The margin for error is similarly small for Minnesota, whose RPI (29) is a little light for hosting purposes, although they could change that simply by winning the Big Ten. Starting with a series victory over Indiana would be a good place to start, and while they went 1-2 in two key early season, non-conference home series, including the Dairy Queen Classic (against Arizona, Washington and UCLA) and Creighton, the team hasn't lost a weekend series since mid-March. That includes series victories over TCU, St. John's, Nebraska, Iowa and most recently, Ohio State.

The Gophers may not have Indiana's pitching staff, but it's still not bad, with a team ERA of 3.37. Reggie Meyer and Patrick Fredrickson give the team a solid 1-2 starting duo you've never heard of, with a combined 10-2 record and each has over 60 innings of work this season. Max Meyer has 11 saves as the team's closer while Jeff Fasching, Jackson Rose and Brett Schulze also see plenty of time out of the bullpen.

However, it's the offense that grabs most of the headlines in Minnesota. Shortstop Terrin Vavra has put himself in the draft picture with a strong season in which he's slashing .385/.454/.564 and has many more walks (21) than strikeouts (13). Two other hitters, Cole McDevitt and Jordan Kozicky, also have over 30 RBI, and five others have over 20. Overall as a unit the team is hitting .304 as it's a true team-based approach, and one of their top hitters, Micah Coffey, hasn't even fully hit his stride yet.

Oklahoma State at Iowa

An extra team from both the Big 12 and Big Ten are involved in a big series this weekend as a dangerous Iowa team hosts a surging Oklahoma State squad that is coming off of a huge weekend series sweep against in-state rival Oklahoma. OSU is now being discussed as a potential postseason host, while Iowa is currently on the bubble looking for a statement series win to help force their way into meaningful June baseball.

While Oklahoma State had the louder series win last weekend, Iowa had a pretty big one of their own, handing Michigan their first loss in over a month on Friday and also claiming Sunday's contest. The Hawkeyes are in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten in both hitting and pitching, and while they lack college baseball starpower, they do have solid performers up and down their lineup and throughout their staff.

The starting trio has been quietly impressive, with Nick Allgeyer, Brady Schanuel and Cole McDonald lining up Friday through Sunday. Schanuel came into the year as one of the Big Ten's more promising pitching prospects while Allgeyer has been gaining steam in regards to the draft. Zach Daniels has been dominant as the team's primary bullpen ace while Tyler Cropley and Robert Neustrom are the most dangerous bats on offense.

It was a slow start to the season for Oklahoma State, profiled in last week's preview, but things have really come together for them since the end of March, winning 16 of 21 games. They not only swept the Sooners last weekend but they out-scored them 27-3. Carson Teel opened with a masterful 12-strikeout performance over eight innings on Friday and OSU pitchers struck out a total of 35 OU batters in their 27 innings played. The offense pounded out 39 base hits and the defense didn't commit an error until Sunday, which led to one of OU's three series runs.

While momentum is on Oklahoma State's side, they could get caught napping by an opportunistic Rick Heller-led Iowa squad looking to return to the postseason for the third time in four years.

Jacksonville at Stetson

Stetson has enjoyed a dominant overall season in what has turned out to be a strong year in the Atlantic Sun. They have been knocking on the door for Top 25 inclusion for quite some time, but just when the opportunity to sneak in has occurred they have endured a bad/down week. They're definitely coming off of one of their better weeks of the year, going 4-0, which included a midweek victory over Florida State before sweeping North Florida on the road.

During that time two-way talent Brooks Wilson had himself a week, driving in eight runs as a hitter while recording a win and two saves, his 15th and 16th of the year, as the team's closer. He's part of a dominant pitching staff that has a 2.71 team ERA, which is good for fourth-best in the nation. Logan Gilbert, Jack Perkins and Mitchell Senger are the team's weekend starters and are a combined 20-5. With those three starting and Wilson shutting the door scoring runs hasn't been easy for their opponents.

However, considering Stetson's top hitter is batting .291, scoring runs isn't easy for the Hatters, either, and outside of midweek wins over Florida State and South Florida, they're lacking in statement victories.

Jacksonville is currently ranked 24th in the nation, and they're just behind Stetson in the ASUN standings. Unlike the Hatters, the Fins do have a few statement wins, opening the year by beating West Virginia and then beating Florida Gulf Coast, Florida and Saint Louis as part of an impressive seven-game stretch in mid-April. They've lost only one weekend series all year long, leading to their lofty RPI ranking of 19.

JU's pitching staff may not be as statistically strong as Stetson's, but they have the more well-balanced club, with five hitters batting over .300, led by first baseman Angel Camacho. The weekend rotation of Chris Gau, Tyler Santana and Spencer Stockton is a combined 19-8, while freshman Chris Mauloni is quietly enjoying an All-American type season, posting 17 saves with a 2.05 ERA in 23 relief appearances.

However it shakes out, the series between ASUN rivals Jacksonville and Stetson should be an entertaining one to follow from Deland.
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