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College  | Story | 3/5/2015

Weekend Preview: Clash of Titans

Photo: Vanderbilt Athletics

National Notebook: March 3

The college baseball top 25 rankings could look significantly different by Monday with several of the top teams in the country playing against one another with two huge tournaments taking place this weekend.

The first is the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic, which will feature three of the top five teams in No. 1 Vanderbilt, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Texas Christian. Southern California is also participating in this event, who have opened the year 12-1 and just suffered their first loss of the season to No. 18 UC Santa Barbara in a mid-week matchup. This tournament is profiled in greater detail just below.

Pretty much since the event's inception the Houston College Classic has been the marquee college baseball tournament event, but this year is overshadowed by the Dodger Stadium tournament. That isn't to take anything away from the teams that will be playing in Houston, led by No. 6 Louisiana State, No. 12 Houston and No. 15 Texas A&M. LSU and Houston square off on Friday, while Houston also faces the Aggies on Saturday. Read more about the matchups from this event in the tournament spotlight writeup below.

And although weather has been an issue this week even as far south as Texas, at least Minute Maid Park, for those that are able to make it, has a retractable roof. As for Southern California, it will be 80 degrees and perfect, per usual.

Unfortunately, it won't be perfect in Louisville, Ky., as another band of snow blew through the area in the past 24 hours. As long as the fields are playable, the No. 11 Cardinals will host the No. 10 Hurricanes as ACC Conference play gets underway, another series detailed below.

Stay tuned to Perfect Game over the weekend for first-hand reports from Frankie Piliere at the Houston College Classic and Mike Rooney at the Arizona State/Long Beach State series in Phoenix.




Top 25 in Action

Rk. Team Opponent Location
1 Vanderbilt at Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic Los Angeles, CA
2 Virginia home vs. Pittsburgh Charlottesville, VA
3 Florida home vs. Maine Gainesville, FL
4 UCLA home for Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic Los Angeles, CA
5 Texas Christian at Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic Los Angeles, CA
6 Louisiana State at Houston College Classic Houston, TX
7 Texas Tech at Cal State Fullerton Fullerton, CA
8 South Carolina home vs. Miami (Ohio) Columbia, SC
9 Oregon home vs. St. John's Eugene, OR
10 Miami at No. 11 Louisville Louisville, KY
11 Louisville home vs. No. 10 Miami Louisville, KY
12 Houston at Houston College Classic Houston, TX
13 Texas at Stanford Palo Alto, CA
14 Mississippi State home vs. San Diego Starkville, MS
15 Texas A&M at Houston College Classic Houston, TX
16 Florida State home vs. Boston College Tallahassee, FL
17 North Carolina home vs. Duke Chapel Hill, NC
18 UC Santa Barbara at Sacramento State Sacramento, CA
19 UCF home vs. Columbia Orlando, FL
20 Arkansas home vs. Loyola Marymount Fayetteville, AR
21 Rice at Charlotte Charlotte, NC
22 Arizona State home vs. Long Beach State Phoenix, AZ
23 Oregon State home vs. Fresno State Corvallis, OR
24 Maryland at UNC Wilmington Wilmington, NC
25 Florida Atlantic home vs. Rutgers Boca Raton, FL

• Vanderbilt plays No. 4 UCLA (Fri.), USC (Sat.) and No. 5 TCU (Sun.)
• UCLA plays No. 1 Vanderbilt (Fri.), No. 5 TCU (Sat.) and USC (Sun.)
• TCU plays USC (Fri.), No. 5 UCLA (Sat.) and No. 1 Vanderbilt (Sun.)
• LSU plays No. 12 Houston (Fri.), Baylor (Sat.) and Nebraska (Sun.)
• Houston plays No. 6 LSU (Fri.), No. 15 Texas A&M (Sat.) and Hawaii
• Texas A&M plays Nebraska (Fri.), No. 12 Houston (Sat.) and Baylor



Tournament Spotlight:

Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic

The 2015 Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic this weekend may be the best non-conference tournament in the history of college baseball. This event features an unbelievable three Perfect Game top 5 teams – No. 1 Vanderbilt, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5 Texas Christian – and also 12-1 Southern California. In fact, this may be a preview of what we’ll see in Omaha in June.

Professional scouts must be licking their chops as there is an obvious plethora of Perfect Game top 100 college prospects who will take the field this weekend. Here is a list of those players:

3. Walker Buehler, rhp, Vanderbilt
4. Dansby Swanson, ss, Vanderbilt
5. Carson Fulmer, rhp, Vanderbilt
14. Riley Ferrell, rhp, Texas Christian
17. James Kaprielian, rhp, UCLA
20. Alex Young, lhp, Texas Christian
24. Tyler Ferguson, rhp, Vanderbilt
42. Cody Poteet, rhp, UCLA
58. Rhett Wiseman, of, Vanderbilt
66. Kyle Twomey, lhp, Southern California

Vanderbilt comes to Los Angeles as the top ranked team in the country at 10-2 but the Commodores have been anything but dominant thus far. The most glaring issue for Vandy has been strike throwing. The ‘Dores come into this weekend ranked 269
th nationally in walks allowed per nine innings at 6.39.

Two things to watch out for are the return of Walker Buehler and the Commodores’ acclimation to a natural grass surface. Buehler pitched for the first time this year on Tuesday as he battled arm soreness early in the season. He should pitch this weekend and his premium talent and pitchability provide a boost to a pitching staff that has been inconsistent so far this season.

Nine of Vanderbilt’s 12 games have been played on the artificial turf at Hawkins Field in Nashville. Even though Dodger Stadium will surely be an outstanding playing surface, there is always an adjustment for infielders when transitioning between a natural grass surface and turf. Additionally, third baseman Will Toffey is a freshman and shortstop Dansby Swanson is making the switch back to the left side of the diamond this year. These are outstanding athletes more than capable of handling a grass surface but grass is typically more challenging than turf for infielders.

UCLA enters this weekend owning the most impressive resume in the country thus far in 2015. Winning two or more games this weekend would punctuate the Bruins’ significant road series win over No. 17 North Carolina two weeks ago. They are led by Luke Persico and Chris Keck, two physical corner players having breakout seasons. Kevin Kramer’s steady play at shortstop might be the most critical upgrade from last season.
Riley Ferrell (Photo: Texas Christian)

There is no weakness in the UCLA pitching staff and the rotation of James Kaprielian, Grant Watson, and Cody Poteet offers big-time talent and experience. If that doesn’t discourage the Bruins’ opponents then First Team Perfect Game All-American closer David Berg should do the trick. Berg’s submarine arm slot makes him available for all three games on the weekend and he is a nine-out reliever when needed. This is a club with all of the components needed to contend for a national title.

Texas Christian also boasts of an elite pitching staff and the Horned Frogs are currently ranked third in the nation in ERA. Closer Riley Ferrell brings a mid- to upper-90s fastball with devastating secondary stuff while ace Preston Morrison is on the short list of pitchers you’d chose to win one big game. Morrison’s uncanny command of his sinker-slider mix is a virtual pitching clinic. Meanwhile, 6-foot-7 Mitchell Traver has pitched his way into the weekend rotation with 18 strikeouts versus one walk over 16 innings of work.

As was the case for last year’s College World Series team, the TCU offense is efficient but lacks explosiveness. Freshman catcher Evan Skoug is the exception to that and they will need his light-tower power to add a dimension to their lineup. Skoug will see the best pitching college baseball has to offer this weekend so it will serve as an excellent barometer as to his development as a hitter thus far.

Southern California is a program on the “rise back,” for lack of a better phrase. This is an older team that was on the bubble for an at-large bid to last year’s NCAA tournament and the Trojans are off to a 12-1 start, albeit against mostly inferior competition. Sophomore Jeremy Martinez is their most talented hitter while catcher Garrett Stubbs leads the club with 24 hits.

Lefthander Kyle Twomey has thrived in his return to the rotation, pitching to a 1.33 ERA through three starts. Kyle Davis remains the Trojans’ main bullpen option and he leads them in appearances with five. Davis has swing-and-miss stuff and skipper Dan Hubbs will use him in any high-leverage situation.




Tournament Spotlight:

Houston College Classic

In what has become a tradition of high quality college baseball in the first weekend of March, the Houston College Classic has emerged as a weekend in which most in the sport circle in red on their calendars. Attracting scouts and fans alike with a plethora of talented teams on display at Minute Maid Park, the tournament will showcase not only elite level prospects but some of the most fascinating head-to-head matchups between highly ranked teams that we will see all spring.

The Houston College Classic has gained notoriety as a must-see event on the scouting calendar, and the list of elite prospects on the field for talent evaluators to see will be as long as ever in 2015. For instance, Friday will give us a showdown between arguably the two best pure hitters in the 2016 college draft class, Texas A&M’s Nick Banks and Nebraska’s Ryan Boldt. Later that night, in a matchup between No. 12 ranked Houston and No. 6 ranked LSU, there will be a barrage of prospects to feast their eyes on from the 2015, 2016, and 2017 draft classes.
Kade Scivicque (Photo: LSU)

Beginning with a marquee matchup between two standout sophomores in Houston’s Andrew Lantrip and LSU’s Jared Poche, these two two teams could give us the tournament’s most fascinating overall ballgame. Both pitchers have started the season on a 3-0 tear, with Lantrip posting a 0.46 ERA along the way. These are two young arms that succeed on the strength of exceptional command and feel for their off-speed pitches. And, both LSU and Houston also spring potent offenses to the table to challenge these elite level arms. Eyes will be squarely on hot-hitting Houston outfielder, Kyle Survance, who has paced the Cougar offense and is hitting .333 through his first 13 games.

No offense has looked more dynamic early in the season than LSU’s, making their matchup with the Cougar pitching staff all the more intriguing. Led by Kade Scivicque and his white hot .448, three home run start, the Tigers have received major contributions from just about everywhere in their lineup. They have nine different .300 hitters entering the weekend, including likely first rounder Alex Bregman, who will arguably be the most watched and scrutinized player of the tournament.

Houston’s junior righty, Jake Lemoine, will be another one of those closely watched 2015 first round hopefuls, and although he will not have to face the potent LSU lineup, he will be taking on another dynamic lineup in 15th ranked Texas A&M. Lemoine’s low- to mid-90s fastball and plus slider will have a lot to deal with as he tries to slow down a slew of Aggies off to hot starts. The aforementioned sophomore outfielder, Nick Banks, is as talented as any hitter in the nation and is hitting .444 entering the weekend. Logan Taylor comes in hitting .405 with five home runs. The Aggies are 12-0 entering the weekend, but this will be a major step up in competition for them. How their bats respond will be one of the event’s most interesting storylines.

Also on the stage will be Hawaii, who enters the weekend 5-8, but did grab an opening week win against Oregon, and has the pitching to make things difficult on some of these loud offenses. The Baylor Bears are coming off a tough weekend at Cal State Fullerton, where they were swept by the Titans, but are 6-5 entering the Houston College Classic.

The wildcard of the event will clearly be the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who enter the weekend at 6-4, and have the potent offense, led by the sweet-swinging Ryan Boldt, to come out of this weekend potentially with some high profile notches on their belt.




Marquee Matchup:

No. 10 Miami at No. 11 Louisville

This weekend marks the first series for the Louisville Cardinals in ACC play as they host the Miami Hurricanes in a three-game set. The Cardinals are on a three-game winning streak and look to build off a strong performance last weekend from ace righthander Kyle Funkhouser and the rest of the pitching staff.
Corey Ray (Photo: University of Louisville Sports Information)

The Cardinals are going to need Funkhouser to replicate the performance they know he can, especially when facing a formidable lineup such as Miami. The Hurricanes speed combo at the top of freshman Carl Chester and junior Ricky Eusebio have set the tempo of the offense as both are hitting north of .300 and have a combined nine stolen bases. Sophomore Zack Collins hit a mammoth home run during their mid-week game against Florida Gulf Coast and the Canes will be looking for him to carry that momentum into the weekend. Another bat heating up for Miami is left-handed swining Willie Abreu, who is hitting .381 over the last five games.

Miami has been without senior ace Andrew Suarez since the first week of the season but both Thomas Woodrey and Enrique Sosa have stepped up in a big way on the mound as both. Woodrey will start Friday opposite of Funkhouser and is coming off a big start last weekend and both he and Sosa hover around a 2.00 ERA while showing exceptional command of the strike zone. 

Even though Louisville may have a lineup on the younger side, their players have proved they are ready to jump right in and contribute. Sophomore outfielder Corey Ray has been a catalyst of the offense with a .306 average while swatting two home runs from the left side with 10 RBI. Infielder Sutton Whiting, one of four seniors on the roster, is to the Cards what Chester and Eusebio have been to Miami. Hitting a team-high .390, Whiting has walked more than twice the amount of times he as struck out and leads the team with 11 stolen bases. Freshman Devin Hairston has hit his way into the starting lineup and is now hitting .333 with a team-high 11 RBI, providing some pop from the second base position.

Joining Funkhouser and his mid-90s fastball on the mound are Josh Rogers and Anthony Kidston, both of whom are coming off strong outings last weekend against Xavier. The bullpen has been a big strength for Coach Dan McDonnell and are led by sophomore lefthander Drew Harrington (0.66 ERA, 13 2/3 IP, 20:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio) and freshman closer Brendan McKay, who has already closed out three games with 17 strikeouts in nine innings. Coming into the season McKay was seen as a two-way threat, and he has been just that, hitting .529 with an incredible .652 on-base percentage.

Whatever it is you’re looking for as a fan, this opening weekend series in the ACC will check all the boxes; high-octane arms, power bats, big-time matchups, and intriguing freshmen.




National Notes:

After playing only one game the previous week due to poor weather, No. 5 Texas Christian squared off against No. 21 Rice on Tuesday in a mid-week matchup between two highly ranked teams. Mitchell Traver received the start, but only went one inning as Coach Schlossnagle decided to give his top arms some much-needed time on the mound heading into their difficult weekend tournament series against No. 1 Vanderbilt, No. 4 UCLA and 12-1 Southern California.

Traver sat in the low- to mid-90s with his fastball and made quick work of a dynamic Owls' offense, needing only nine pitches to get out of the frame. Usual Sunday starter Alex Young worked the next two innings, following by staff ace Preston Morrison, who also tossed two frames. Lefthander Ryan Burnett got an inning of work in, and Trey Teakell worked both the seventh and eighth inninngs before handing the ball over to closer Riley Ferrell.

All Ferrell did was use seven pitches to quickly record two strikeouts and a weak tapper back to the mound to record his 21
st save of his career at TCU, moving ahead of Sam Demel for the all-time mark for the Horned Frogs.

The TCU offense scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning of this game, which proved to be all they would need in a 3-1 win over Rice.

• No. 20 Arkansas will host Loyola Marymount this weekend in a matchup of two projected Regional teams. Colin Welmon of LMU and Trey Killian of Arkansas will square off in the Friday game in what will most likely be a low scoring affair. Lions shortstop David Fletcher is among the nation's best defensive shortstops while center fielder Austin Miller is a dynamic leadoff hitter.

Righthanders Dominic Taccolini and Keaton McKinney will follow Killian in the weekend rotation for the Razorbacks.

This weekend features a handful of other series that if nothing else will provide good test for the ranked teams involved, since few of them have faced formidable opponents up to this point in the season.

Although San Diego currently sits at 4-6, they are coming off of a pair of wins over Texas, at the Longhorns' home park, and have played some tough series against Dallas Baptist and Morehead State. No. 14 Mississippi State just suffered their first loss of the season in a mid-week contest against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, as they host the Toreros for a three-game set in Starkville.

No. 7 Texas Tech travels to Cal State Fullerton this weekend in what would otherwise be a primetime matchup between two solid ballclubs if it weren't for all of the other attention the bigger tournaments and series will receive this weekend. Although the Titans, who opened the season in the top 25, are 7-5, they have won their last five games, including a sweep of Baylor last weekend, and a mid-week win over Pepperdine. The high-powered Red Raiders are hitting .321 as a team, pitting their strength, offense, against Cal State Fullerton's, pitching.

Long Beach State, fresh off of their sweep of Wichita State that included the program's first no hitter by freshmen righthanders Chris Mathewson and Darren McCaughan, travel to Phoenix to take on No. 22 Arizona State. All three games of this series likely will be close contest, as the Dirtbags pitching staff (2.00 ERA) faces the Sun Devils lineup (.307 combined average).


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