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College  | Story  | 4/16/2015

Weekend Preview: Week 10

Patrick Ebert      Jheremy Brown      Andrew Krause     
Photo: Matt Brown




National Notebook: April 14 | Dillon Tate UCSB Feature | Video Vault

Although there is only one series between Top 25 ranked opponents (Miami vs. Virginia, as detailed below), there are quite a few other series, particularly on the West Coast, that could have a significant impact on their respective conference standings by the end of the weekend. In the Pac-12 California travels to No. 4 UCLA while Arizona will play at No. 21 Oregon State. In addition, the Mountain West will be up for grabs, and potentially a spot in the rankings come Monday, as Nevada travels to San Diego State, another series that is detailed below.

The Big Ten also has a few key series, including No. 11 Illinois hosting Indiana and No. 19 hosting Ohio State, with No. 22 Maryland playing host to a non-conference opponent, Cal State Fullerton. In addition, a pair of 10-2 teams from the Big South will play one another as Radford travels to Conway, S.C. to play Coastal Carolina.

Top 25 in Action

Rk. Team Opponent Location
1 Louisiana State at Georgia Athens, GA
2 Texas A&M home vs. Arkansas College Station, TX
3 Louisville home vs. Wake Forest Louisville, KY
4 UCLA home vs. California Los Angeles, CA
5 Arizona State at Washington Seattle, WA
6 Miami at No. 20 Virginia Charlottesville, VA
7 Florida at Mississippi State Starkville, MS
8 Texas Christian home vs. Santa Clara Fort Worth, TX
9 Vanderbilt at South Carolina Columbia, SC
10 UC Santa Barbara home vs. Cal Poly Santa Barbara, CA
11 Illinois home vs. Indiana Champaign, IL
12 Florida State home vs. Pittsburgh Tallahassee, FL
13 Southern California home vs. Oregon Los Angeles, CA
14 Florida Atlantic at Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg, MS
15 UCF at Tulane New Orleans, LA
16 Dallas Baptist home vs. Indiana State Dallas, TX
17 Oklahoma State home vs. Baylor Stillwater, OK
18 North Carolina at Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
19 Nebraska home vs. Ohio State Lincoln, NE
20 Virginia home vs. No. 6 Miami Charlottesville, VA
21 Oregon State home vs. Arizona Corvallis, OR
22 Maryland home vs. Cal State Fullerton College Park, MD
23 Missouri State home vs. UT Martin Springfield, MO
24 Missouri home vs. Alabama Columbia, MO
25 Iowa home vs. Northwestern Iowa City, IA



Marquee Matchup #1:

No. 6 Miami at No. 20 Virginia

The Hurricanes travel north to Charlottesville on a roll, having won nine in a row and 10 out of their last 11. After dropping two early-season road series against two high-quality opponents in the University of Florida and ACC-newcomer Louisville, Miami has won five straight series, all against conference opponents. As a result, the Hurricanes are now 14-4 in ACC play and comfortably enter the weekend with a five game lead in the Coastal Division over Georgia Tech and North Carolina.

Sitting a bit further down in the Coastal Division standings are the Virginia Cavaliers. With a 7-11 record in conference play and a 22-14 record overall, Brian O'Connor's squad has had a rough spring. Coming off of a tremendous 2014 season, the Cavaliers were expected to be one of the top teams in the country and seemed prime for another run to Omaha. Instead, they have been hindered by injuries to a number of key contributors and have unexpectedly dropped four of their last five ACC series with losses to Virginia Tech, Florida State, Louisville, and Georgia Tech.

With Miami looking to further solidify itself as the Coastal's top team, push Louisville for the conference's best overall record and continue to state it's case for a national seed come selection time, and Virginia trying to claw it's way back up the standings, the weekend's only matchup between ranked teams figures to be must-see baseball.

While the Hurricanes are an undoubtedly balanced team in all facets of the game, it is their well-rounded and powerful lineup that help shapes the club's identity. Although changes to the NCAA baseball has certainly played a role in the increased power, with 30 home runs so far this spring the Hurricanes have already eclipsed last season's total (25).

David Thompson (Photo: Richard Lewis / Miami Athletics)
Junior third baseman David Thompson, who carries a .352/.439/.669 triple slash line into the weekend and leads the team with 10 home runs, was named to USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list and has put himself into early-round consideration for this June's draft. Infielder George Iskenderian, a former South Carolina Gamecock and Indian River Community College player, has played very well in his first season with the Hurricanes. Predominately a second baseman, Iskenderian has also seen time at shortstop and third base when Jim Morris has seen fit to juggle the lineup around. While he doesn't boast the same power potential as some of his teammates, the junior has been a vital piece of the Hurricanes' lineup and will also be considered for the top five rounds of the draft.

Garrett Kennedy, the lone senior position player on the Miami roster, also has been a key element for the Miami offense. The catcher/first baseman is enjoying a career year, hitting a robust .383/.493/.573.

The scary part for Virginia – and all other future Miami opponents – is that perhaps Miami's two most talented players, Willie Abreu and Zack Collins, have yet to truly hit their stride this season. Both sophomores, Abreu and Collins have performed pretty well this spring. However, given their strong pedigree, size, strength, bat speed and solid freshman campaigns, it has been easy for them to be a bit overshadowed by some of their teammates posting more eye-opening numbers than the respective .276/.370/.362 and .275/.432/.481 that Abreu and Collins have produced up to this point.

Virginia will hope that their solid weekend rotation is up to the task. Nathan Kirby is already a household name for most college baseball fans, and he has followed up a great 2014 season with a very solid spring. The lefthander has a solid four-pitch mix, with a low-90s fastball, slider, curveball and a changeup that is said to have taken a big step forward over the past year. While his strikeout rate has climbed since last season, so to has his walk rate, and he'll have to be pretty sharp in order to successfully navigate through Thompson and company.

Behind Kirby, are promising sophomore righthander Connor Jones and another solid lefthander, Brandon Waddell. Jones, working with a low-to-mid 90s fastball and mid-80s splitter, has transitioned from the bullpen to the starting rotation almost seamlessly, going 4-2 with a 3.83 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 51 2/3 innings pitched. Waddell has not been as dominant as he was last season, particularly in his sublime performance in the postseason, but he offers veteran experience, savvy and ability to mix pitches.

Virginia's lineup is talented in it's own right, but it is hard not to wonder how much more productive the Cavaliers could have been if not for a litany of injuries. Junior outfielder Joe McCarthy finally returned to action on Wednesday after missing the first 35 games of the season while recovering from a back injury. John La Prise only appeared in four games before a hip injury required surgery. Furthermore, just this past weekend sophomore Matt Thaiss, the team's catcher and one of the ACC's best hitters (.320/.433/.547, 7 home runs) suffered a sprained ankle and is questionable for this weekend. Luckily, the Cavaliers should be buoyed by McCarthy's return, and they still have a considerable amount of talent to lean on while he gets his timing back, including senior Kenny Towns (.331/.383/.510) and freshmen Pavin Smith (.309/.377/.483), Adam Haseley (.268/.366/356.) and Jack Gerstenmaier, who also returned to from injury to play in his first game of the season on Wednesday.

Miami's Andrew Suarez, the highest selected player not to sign in last year's draft, has also dealt with injuries. The senior lefthander only just returned three weekends ago from an oblique strain suffered before the opening game of a series against Florida. In his first start back, against North Carolina, Suarez struggled a bit and lasted only 3 1/3 innings. However, since then Suarez has been very solid, including an eight inning, 12 strikeout performance against Duke. Since returning Suarez has been slotted in the Saturday spot in the rotation between the underrated Thomas Woodrey (4-1, 2.19 ERA) and Enrique Sosa (5-3, 3.91 ERA).

While the Cavs have been scuffling of late and Miami has been in tremendous form, trips to Charlottesville are never easy and it will be interesting to see how a talented and nearly full-strength Virginia plays.

Marquee Matchup #2:

Nevada at San Diego State

While it may not create quite the same buzz that say the UCLA-Cal or Arizona-Oregon State series, there may not be a bigger matchup on the West Coast this weekend than San Diego State and Nevada. The Aztecs overtook the Wolfpack for the Mountain West Conference lead last weekend when they took two of three over San Jose State and Nevada dropped two in their series against Fresno State. With just one game separating the sides in the standings, it figures to be a hotly contested weekend between two teams typically out of the national spotlight.

The matchup also features two of the better 2015 draft prospects from the Moutain West Conference in San Diego State righthanded pitcher Bubba Derby and Nevada first baseman Austin Byler. Although it was mentioned briefly in the national notes earlier this week, it bears repeating that Derby has induced (as of today) the fourth-most strikeouts in Division I baseball this season (80).

Bubba Derby (Photo: San Diego State)
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Derby served as the closer in his freshman season before striking out 100 last season in 105 1/3 innings pitched. He's clearly continued to thrive as the Atzec ace this season, as he has a 4-2 record and 2.81 ERA (to go along with his gaudy strikeout totals) in 57 1/3 innings. Behind Derby in the weekend rotation are two productive, if unheralded arms in junior righty Mark Seyler and sophomore lefty Marcus Reyes. Seyler only pitched in one game as a freshman, but was very solid in the weekend rotation last season. He's continued to provide San Diego State with quality innings this season, and boasts a 7-1 record and a 2.78 ERA. Reyes, an undersized lefthander, has slotted in nicely as the Sunday starter, with a 5-1 record and 2.68 ERA.

The Aztec pitching staff will have their hands full with two of the more fearsome power hitters in the conference in Byler and Ryan Howell. Byler, who returned to Reno for his senior season despite being drafted in the ninth round of the 2014 draft by the Washington Nationals, is second in the conference with nine home runs. Last season the 6-foot-3, 225-pound first baseman led the MWC with 14 home runs, but as we enter the weekend Byler sits behind only his teammate, Ryan Howell.

Howell, formerly of Oregon State and then Chabot College, has been a tremendous addition to the Wolf Pack lineup. The second baseman also leads the conference in RBI (48) and is fifth in hits (49). While Byler and Howell undoubtedly provide the thunder in the middle of the lineup, lefthanded-hitting outfielders Kewby Meyer and Cal Stevenson are very valuable in helping to set the table for the big mashers. Meyer, a junior from Hawaii, is fourth in the conference in hits (50) and Stevenson owns the second highest batting average (.378).

San Diego State has plenty of offensive firepower as well, with the owners of the conference's highest, third-highest, and fourth-highest batting averages in Chase Calabuig (.416), Ty France (.362), and Steven Pallares (.360). While France, a junior, has performed well throughout his college career, the hot-hitting duo of Calabuig and Pallares have been revelations. Calabuig, a true freshman, not only leads the conference in batting average, but he is also second on the Atzec team in slugging percentage. Meanwhile, Pallares entered 2015 with a career batting line of .226/.329/.283, but now leads the conference in hits and is among the leaders in batting average, slugging percentage, and doubles.

Although the series is being played away from the altitude in Reno and the starting rotations are solid, particularly San Diego State's, there still could be some fireworks on display with the way the Atzec and Wolfpack lineup have been performing.

Mound Matchup:

Michael Shawaryn (Maryland) vs. Justin Garza (Cal State Fullerton)

It’s always a good problem to have when as a coach you can flip around your Friday and Saturday starters and not have to think twice about it. Coach Dave Vanderhook has that luxury at his disposal and this weekend he is flip-flopping his two USA Collegiate National arms, sending righthander Justin Garza on Friday and Thomas Eshelman, who has started Friday’s throughout the spring, will go on Saturday.

Michael Shawaryn (Photo: Greg Fiume / Maryland Athletics)
With a quick twitch 5-foot-11, 175-pound frame, Garza is capable of producing the loudest stuff on the Fullerton staff, often bumping his fastball into the mid-90s. Working in the 91-94 mph range rather comfortably, Garza is not only able to control his heater but shows an equally strong feel for both his slider and changeup. This spring is no different for the righthander as he has walked just 10 batters in 45 innings, striking out 32 batters.

The delivery is balanced and easy to repeat, allowing for Garza to pound the strike zone while missing bats with each offering. His slider is a true put-away pitch, showing above average life and tilt in the low-80s while flashing solid feel for his upper-70s changeup. It’ll be an interesting matchup Friday night as Garza brings his electric stuff to College Park and looks to silence the Terps’ who have already hit 33 home runs as a team.

Coming out of the other dugout is sophomore righthander Michael Shawaryn who is pretty much a guarantee to take the ball each and every Friday for the Terrapins and for good reason. Over nine starts this spring the New Jersey native has been fantastic, going 8-0 (tied for the nation’s lead in victories) with a minuscule 1.89 ERA, while batters are hitting a mere .193 against him.

Success is something that Shawaryn is more than familiar with after accumulating quite the resume during his prep days at Gloucester Catholic and during his freshman spring in 2014. Advanced pitchability is one reason for his continued success as he’s walked just 11 batters this spring over 62 innings. Another factor is Shawaryn’s ability to maintain his velocity deep into an outing this spring after fading off midway through a game last year. Along with the fastball, his slider and changeup have continued to improve and will once again be key this weekend to keep the Titans' hitters off balance.



National Notes:

• As noted above, while this weekend only has one matchup between Top 25 ranked teams, there are several other series taking place this weekend that will have major implications on the conference standings by the end of the weekend.

From the listed Top 25 in Action above you can see there are other key series that involved ranked teams, including California at UCLA, Illinois hosting Indiana, UCF traveling to Tulane and Oregon State hosting Arizona. UCLA will be a huge test and a good barometer for the early season success of Cal, while both UCF and Oregon State have the opportunity to right the ship somewhat after slumping somewhat as of late.

The two series that jump out the most will take place in Lincoln, Neb., and Conway, S.C. between Big Ten and Big South contenders.

Ohio State is currently third in the Big Ten, behind both Illinois and Iowa who are tied with a 8-1 conference record. Ohio State, at 7-2 and 24-9 overall, heads to Lincoln to play the 28-11 and No. 19 ranked Cornhuskers, who have been solid but not spectcular in Big Ten play with a 5-4 record. Ohio State has a very difficult conference schedule coming up, with series remaining against Illinois and Maryland at home and a road series against Indiana to wrap up the regular season schedule. The same is true for the Huskers, who recently took two of three against Minnesota after being swept by Maryland, with upcoming road series against Iowa and Illinois.

Coastal Carolina hosts Radford this weekend in a bout for Big South supremacy. Both teams are currently 10-2 in conference play, with the Chanticleers (26-10) having the overall edge over the Highlanders (23-12). Liberty (23-14/9-3) should also be mentioned in this conversation, as they could leap-frog both teams depending how the games shake out. The Flames already lost their conference tilt with Radford in mid-March, and eye a key series of their own with Coastal Carolina May 8-10.
 
• Tyler Alexander was dominant in TCU's Tuesday night 7-1 win over UT-Arlington, sitting at 88-91 with his fastball and pitching ahead in the count all night.  Alexander's separator was his ability to pound his fastball in on righthanders and he was borderline unhittable.  The Horned Frogs will be very difficult to deal with in the postseason with that kind of star power pitching in the four hole.

• The University of South Carolina received some tough news earlier this week when it was announced that standout sophomore righthander Wil Crowe had a torn ulnar collateral ligament and will require Tommy John surgery, causing him the remainder of the 2015 season.

• North Carolina also received a similar blow recently, and announced in a release that Reilly Hovis underwent Tommy John surgery on Tuesday, conducted by Dr. James Andrews.

• Coach Rob Childress, our Midseason Coach of the Year, has continued to work through injuries, especially to his pitching staff after losing lefty Tyler Stubblefield in the preseason and hard throwing junior A.J. Minter in early March. Seemingly without missing a beat, the Aggies have accrued a 34-3 record while receiving a steady diet of both offense and pitching. One of their key bullpen arms, hard throwing sophomore righthander Ryan Hendrix, is going to move to the weekend rotation this weekend, taking the ball this Saturday against Arkansas.

Hendrix has been superb out of the 'pen so far this spring, making 14 appearances with a minute 0.42 ERA, picking up five saves while striking out 19. He simply overpowers hitting with a late 92-95 mph fastball, and his hard, downward curveball serves as another potential plus pitch.

• After a rough weekend in South Bend, being swept by Notre Dame, the No. 12 Seminoles got some redemption on Tuesday night against No. 7 Florida with a 4-3 walkoff win in extra innings. Quincy Nieporte once again provided the midweek fireworks, hitting a solo shot to win the game. Nieporte hit two home runs in a midweek win against No. 15 UCF earlier this season, while Florida State took two of their three contests against the in-state rival Gators. Florida's red-hot freshman catcher J.J. Schwarz hit his 13th home run of the season in the loss.

• UC Santa Barbara has pushed back the start of their sensational Friday ace Dillon Tate to Sunday in their three-game series with Cal Poly. It is widely speculated that this was done to give him some added rest between starts, as his 67 2/3 innings this season are already more than the combined 54 2/3 innings he tossed for the Gauchos and Team USA last year.
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