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College  | Story | 3/24/2016

Weekend Preview: Week 6

Patrick Ebert
Jheremy Brown
Mike Rooney
Andrew Krause
Photo: South Carolina Athletic Dept.




Perfect Game Top 25 | National Notebook | Video Vault | Perfect Game College Baseball on SiriusXM College Sports

It's hard to believe that we're nearly to the halfway point of the regular season for college baseball, and yet we're only a week or two into conference play. In fact, few conferences have yet to begin conference play and teams North of the Sun Belt will have to contend with frigid temperatures over the next few days.

This weekend there are six series that will see Top 25 ranked opponents play one another, and each one of those series is detailed below. Also detailed is the first of two matchups between Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State, the first of which is technically a non-conference series between the two long-time Southern California rivals. The winner of this series may very well find themselves in the Top 25 come Monday.

Stay tuned to Perfect Game throughout the weekend as Jheremy Brown will be in Chapel Hill, N.C., providing updates from the Georgia Tech/North Carolina series and Brian Sakowski will be attending the Arizona State/Utah series in Tempe.


Top 25 in Action
Rk. Team Opponent Location
1 Florida at Kentucky Lexington, KY
2 Texas A&M home vs. No. 10 Louisiana State College Station, TX
3 Oregon State at No. 15 California Berkeley, CA
4 Texas Christian at Texas Austin, TX
5 North Carolina home vs. Georgia Tech Chapel Hill, NC
6 Miami home vs. No. 18 Clemson Coral Gables, FL
7 Vanderbilt at Missouri Columbia, MO
8 Louisville home vs. No. 12 Virginia Louisville, KY
9 Mississippi home vs. No. 19 South Carolina Oxford, MS
10 Louisiana State at No. 2 Texas A&M College Station, TX
11 Florida State home vs. No. 14 NC State Tallahassee, FL
12 Virginia at No. 8 Louisville Louisville, KY
13 Mississippi State home vs. Georgia Starkville, MS
14 NC State at No. 11 Florida State Tallahassee, FL
15 California home vs. No. 3 Oregon State Berkeley, CA
16 UCLA at Arizona Tucson, AZ
17 Houston home vs. George Washington Houston, TX
18 Clemson at No. 6 Miami Coral Gables, FL
19 South Carolina at No. 9 Mississippi Oxford, MS
20 Oklahoma State at Kansas State Manhattan, KS
21 Coastal Carolina home vs. Stetson Conway, SC
22 Arkansas home vs. Auburn Fayetteville, AR
23 Texas Tech home vs. Oklahoma Lubbock, TX
24 Oregon at Washington Seattle, WA
25 Michigan home vs. Illinois-Chicago Ann Arbor, MI



Top 25 Matchups

The weekend ahead features six series that pit Top 25-ranked opponents against one another. Here's a quick look at those series:

No. 10 Louisiana State at No. 2 Texas A&M

Last season this was a must-see, midseason match-up between the top two ranked teams in the country as Louisiana State held the No. 1 seed while the Aggies and their No. 2 ranking hit the road traveling to The Box for prime time television. The Aggies find themselves in a familiar national position as they climbed back to No. 2 after taking two of three from Auburn last weekend while the Tigers look to rebound after grabbing just one win last weekend at home against Alabama.
Boomer White (Texas A&M)
The key to this series will boil down to how the Tiger’s arms handle the hot Aggies’ bats. And the fact that this is a Thursday-Sunday series is something of note as well as LSU played their Friday game last weekend on Saturday, meaning lefthander Jared Poché will be working on just four days’ rest. It’s also the first time in his career that LSU sophomore Alex Lange is coming off a loss. As a team Texas A&M is hitting .348 (good for fourth nationally) and they’re led by transfer Boomer White who’s paying immediate dividends hitting .424 on the year while bringing even more experience to an already seasoned group.

No. 3 Oregon State at No. 15 California

California's last two weekends haven't gone according to plan, as they dropped one contest against visiting Texas Tech and were forced to cancel the final pair of games due to inclement weather, and lost the series to rival Southern California in Los Angeles last weekend. Although they return to Berkeley this weekend, the task doesn't get much easier as they have to play host to one of the best teams in the country in Oregon State. 

The Beavers have been playing at a high level, but the Golden Bears are also their stiffest competition to date. It'll be an intriguing conference clash of two very talented teams. Pitching has certainly been an area of strength for both clubs to this point in the season, but the key battle of this series would appear to be the matchup between the California pitchers and the Oregon State hitters. Led by their electric ace, Daulton Jefferies, the Golden Bears have been able to stymie opposing lineups more often than not, but the Beavers have a whopping eight qualified hitters hitting over .300, including catcher Logan Ice (.442), and the vaunted infield trio of Nick Madrigal (.384), Trever Morrison (.344) and Cadyn Grenier (.328). 


No. 18 Clemson at No. 6 Miami

After taking two out of three from Louisville this past weekend, the Canes welcome the red-hot Clemson Tigers to Coral Gables for what should be a very entertaining matchup of cross-divisional rivals. Although Thomas Woodrey hasn't been at his best for the Hurricanes, fellow southpaw starters Danny Garcia and Michael Mediavilla have been nails thus far this spring. Similarly, the backend of the Miami bullpen is in good hands with Bryan Garcia who has power stuff. 
Seth Beer (Bradley Moore, Clemson Athletic Communications)
Still, they'll be tested against a Clemson team that is hitting .286/.394/.446 this spring. Freshman outfielder Seth Beer has been an absolute difference maker for the Tigers as he leads the team in batting average (.453), home runs (9), and RBI (25) all while walking more times (12) than he's struck out (6). He'll face arguably his toughest competition to date, in the lefthanded trio of Miami starters, but he's clearly adjusted just fine to collegiate baseball and his walk-off home run against Boston College on Sunday afternoon allows Clemson to enter this series with plenty of swagger. 


No. 19 South Carolina at No. 9 Ole Miss

South Carolina was poised to enter the rankings a few weeks ago, but a series loss at the hands of their in-state rivals made them have to wait. Now they’re in, making their debut right behind Clemson as the 19th-ranked team in the nation. The number of players – veterans, underclassman and transfers – performing at a high level is truly remarkable. They have a pair of three-headed monsters, one in the middle of their lineup (John Jones, Dom Thompson-Williams and Alex Destino) and one guiding their pitching staff (Clarke Schmidt, Braden Webb and Adam Hill).

Ole Miss is proving to be just as big of an upstart, making a statement early in the year by taking their series at home against Louisville, who opened the year as the No. 2 team in the nation. The Rebels’ starting staff has been strong, but it has been the bullpen that has been most impressive, with five pitchers logging at least seven innings of work and ERA’s below 1.70. The trio of J.B. Woodman, Tate Blackman and Colby Bortles is Ole Miss’ answer to the Gamecocks hitters listed above, and overall this series should be one of, if not the most entertaining ones of the weekend, if not the year.

No. 12 Virginia at No. 8 Louisville

Louisville has come under fire somewhat after their weekend loss at the hands of Miami, their third straight series loss against a tough opponent in a tough situation going back to last year’s Super Regional loss at home to Cal State Fullerton. We still believe Louisville is one of the top programs in the country and have the pieces to get back on track. While this weekend they’ll be back at home, things don’t get any easier as the Cardinals host the defending National Champion Virginia Cavaliers.
John Sansone (Larry Novey)
On Friday Kyle Funkhouser is going to have to step up and find his form from previous years as Virginia ace Connor Jones doesn’t beat himself. However, after that Virginia will have to find the right combination of arms that match up well with Brendan McKay and Drew Harrington, as aside from McKay’s hiccup last weekend, those two have been almost as consistent as Jones has. Expect a close, well-pitched series where some late-inning heroes are likely to emerge.


No. 14 NC State at No. 11 Florida State

Coming off a series win at home against Notre Dame last weekend, the Wolfpack of North Carolina State find themselves traveling into Tallahassee to take on Coach Mike Martins 11th-ranked Seminoles. Two of the seven ACC clubs that are ranked within the Top 25, this weekend series is sure to have a couple of high scoring affairs with the potent offenses in either dugout.

While State’s weekend rotation has continued to improve since opening weekend, the offense has been a constant, connecting for 22 home runs (second most In the ACC), seven of which belong to slugger Chance Shepard, and putting together a .302 team batting average. Florida State’s top power comes from John Sansone (three home runs) but he’s also their most consistent hitter with a .415 average. As a whole the offense is a steady one top to bottom with a cumulative .312/.431/.442 triple slash and five everyday regulars who are currently hitting north of the .300 mark. 



Marquee Matchup

Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton

If you're developing a love of College Baseball, then you will love the history of this Titans/Dirtbags rivalry. And if you're already a fan of this annual battle between Southern California neighbors, then you will love the fact that a spot in the Perfect Game Top 25 is most likely on the line this weekend.

This is one of the few rivalries out there where the two teams still play each other six times. The first time they meet each year is the non-conference weekend slate whereas the conference series between the Titans and Dirtbags is always played over the very last regular season weekend of the year.

This rivalry became real in 1988 when Dave Snow took over the Long Beach State program. That is because he had worked for Augie Garrido (and with George Horton) at Cal State Fullerton, and those were the two Titans head coaches during Snow's tenure in Long Beach. While the intensity between these two programs was palpable, the respect level was even higher. Rumor had it that Snow and Horton personally scouted each other's teams, a role normally reserved for assistant coaches. The rivalry was that important.

These two programs had quickly become nationally relevant and trips to Omaha happened frequently. Between 1989 and 1998, Long Beach State and Fullerton accounted for nine trips to the College World Series and that included the Titans' 1995 National Championship.

The rivalry continued to gain steam as the two lead assistants, Mike Weathers and George Horton, took over their respective programs. The pinnacle of the rivalry came in 2004. This was a year in which Long Beach State earned a Top 8 National Seed and Fullerton went on to win the National Championship.

The box score from 2004 that is shown says it all.  For Fullerton Kurt Suzuki hit third, Justin Turner hit ninth and Vinnie Pestano closed the game out. For Long Beach State Troy Tulowitski played shortstop, Jason Vargas was the designated hitter (he was a two-way player in college) and Jered Weaver was on the mound. Five of the six starting pitchers in this series went on to pitch in the big leagues. Ironically, the loss reflected in this box score left the Titans at 15-15 and looking like anything but a National Championship team.



And if you're still not convinced, let's talk about modern day Major Leaguers. In 2015, these two programs had a combined 25 former players play in the big leagues at some point. Long Beach State had 15 of those but the Titans' 10 is an impressive number in its own right.

Fast-forward to 2016 and these are two teams who share an interesting postseason profile. Both clubs have played a non-conference slate chock-full of brand name programs. Long Beach State has the edge here with series victories over Arizona State, Nebraska and Oklahoma and the Dirtbags have won five weekend series in a row. The Titans' resume includes a sweep over Indiana and a road series win over Texas Tech, but they have played the likes of Arizona State, Stanford, Arizona and Maryland.

Both clubs are built in vintage West Coast fashion: a star at shortstop, solid starting pitching, a deep bullpen, plus defense and an opportunistic offense. Garrett Hampson has been the shortstop at Long Beach State since day one of his freshman year and this is clearly his team. Timmy Richards took over at shortstop last year and his emergence was a key to the Titans' run to Omaha. Ironically, Richards went to Long Beach Wilson High School.

Current head coaches Rick Vanderhook and Troy Buckley have been part of this rivalry for a long time. As is always the case, this battle will come down to the three baseball fundamentals that are valued so deeply on the West Coast: throw strikes, play catch, put the ball in play. Let the games begin.
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