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College  | Story  | 5/5/2016

Weekend Preview: Week 12

Patrick Ebert      Jheremy Brown     
Photo: Vanderbilt Athletics




Field of 64 | National Notebook | Perfect Game Top 25 | Video Vault | Perfect Game College Baseball on SiriusXM College Sports

There is one clear-cut marquee matchup this weekend as the sixth-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores travel to College Station to take on the second-ranked Texas A&M Aggies. A detailed preview of this series is provided just below, but this series could have huge postseason implications for a pair of teams that have hosting aspirations.

Although there is only one other series this weekend between Top 25 ranked opponents (Louisville at North Carolina), there are several other series in key conferences such as the ACC, Big South, Big Ten, Colonial and Pac-12 that will continue to have significant ramifications on the next Top 25 ranking update as well as the postseason.

Stay tuned to Perfect Game this weekend for first-hand reports from numerous locations across the country. Jheremy Brown will be on hand to check out Will Craig as Wake Forest visits Boston College, Steve Fiorindo will take in Corbin Burnes and St. Mary's visiting Loyola Marymount and Matt Czechanski will be in Atlanta, Ga., for the big Miami/Georgia Tech ACC series.


Top 25 in Action
Rk. Team Opponent Location
1 Florida at Tennessee Knoxville, TN
2 Texas A&M home vs. No. 6 Vanderbilt College Station, TX
3 Mississippi State home vs. Missouri Starkville, MS
4 Miami at Georgia Tech Atlanta, GA
5 Florida State home vs. Bowling Green Tallahassee, FL
6 Vanderbilt at No. 2 Texas A&M College Station, TX
7 South Carolina at Kentucky Lexington, KY
8 NC State at Clemson Clemson, SC
9 Louisville at No. 25 North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC
10 Mississippi at Georgia Athens, GA
11 Oregon State at Arizona Oxford, MS
12 Texas Tech at Kansas Lawrence, KS
13 Texas Christian at Penn State University Park, PA
14 Oklahoma State home vs. Prairie View Stillwater, OK
15 UNC Wilmington home vs. College of Charleston Wilmington, NC
16 Tulane at South Florida Tampa, FL
17 UC Santa Barbara at UC Davis Davis, CA
18 Michigan home vs. Rutgers Ann Arbor, MI
19 FAU home vs. Texas San Antonio Boca Raton, FL
20 Bryant at LIU Brooklyn Brooklyn, NY
21 Southern Miss home vs. Western Kentucky Hattiesburg, MS
22 Rice at Florida International Miami, FL
23 Coastal Carolina at Liberty Lynchburg, VA
24 Louisiana State home vs. Arkansas Baton Rouge, LA
25 North Carolina home vs. No. 9 Louisville Chapel Hill, NC



Marquee Matchup

No. 6 Vanderbilt at No. 2 Texas A&M

Since being swept by Florida in the Swamp a few week backs, Coach Rob Childress’ squad has gone 10-2 in subsequent weekend series, though their biggest arguable challenge lately is right in front of them this weekend in the Vanderbilt Commodores.

The Aggie offense is one that’s loaded with experience and could prove to be a difficult challenge for a relatively young Commodores weekend staff. Leading the away offensively for A&M is transfer Boomer White, who sat out all of 2015 after spending his freshman and sophomore years at TCU, though you couldn’t tell as he’s been the leading hitter more or less since day one. Now hitting .437 on the year with a team-high 12 doubles, White has an uncanny knack for working the count and getting on base with twice as many walks as strikeouts and a .512 on-base percentage.
Boomer White (Texas A&M)
White is just the tip of the offensive iceberg though as the Aggies are hitting .326 as a team and have six players with at least 30 starts sporting an average over .300. Not included within those six however is hard-hitting outfielder Nick Banks who recently checked in at No. 46 in Perfect Game’s top 100 draft prospects released earlier this month. He’s continued to heat up over the last several weeks while showing a surge in power, including a grand slam last weekend against Arkansas, and has as much potential as any bat out there to carry his team deep into the postseason.

The other part of the Aggies’ success stems from the incredible depth they have to offer on the mound, including three starting arms with a sub-3.00 ERA. As good as the rotation has been it’s been their ability to shorten games in the backend, led by hard throwing righthander Mark Ecker, who sports a team low 0.36 ERA over 15 appearances and 25 innings pitched.

On the flip side you have coach Tim Corbin’s Commodores who find themselves climbing up a spot in the recent Perfect Game rankings, moving from No. 7 to the current No. 6 spot with a sweep of Georgia. After an experiment on Sundays in terms of the rotation towards the beginning of SEC play, Vanderbilt appears to have found a permanent fixture in freshman Patrick Raby, who has been fantastic all spring.

After a stellar start against South Carolina at home, Jordan Sheffield hit a speed bump the following weekend in the form of Louisiana State, but that might have been just what he needed to help kick start the recent tear he’s been on. Since that LSU game, Sheffield’s three most recent starts have spanned 24 innings without issuing a single run while striking out 22 (including a 14-strikeout performance against Kentucky), and he has issued just four walks while showing his usual high-octane stuff.

We’ve spoken in great detail about Vanderbilt’s pitching with the likes of sophomore Kyle Wright and bullpen anchors Ben Bowden and Matt Ruppenthal, but there are two new names who have come along from injuries that cost them the first half of the year. Lefthander John Kilichowski, a key piece to last year’s team, has already made six appearances during which he’s collected two saves, while highly touted, power-armed freshman Donny Everett has punched out five in six innings with a .143 batting average against. The emergence of these two pitchers almost makes it unfair now as the ‘Dores staff already featured a plethora of talent prior to these two returning.

Offensively, it’s much of the same tune as the prior 11 weeks as Jeren Kendall and Bryan Reynolds are at the forefront of the offense. Reynolds’ emergence of late is certainly noteworthy with the MLB Draft looming in the near future as he’s been able to raise his batting average up to a .340 clip while still showing power (he leads the team with 10 home runs) and showing an even better approach at the plate with a near 1-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

This series features a little bit of everything, and whether you’re a fan of either team or just a collegiate baseball fan in general, it’s a series that’s sure to be filled with excitement and a high level of play from the first pitch to the final out.
Zac Gallen (UNC Athletic Communications)
Mound Matchup

Brendan McKay (No. 9 Louisville) vs. Zac Gallen (No. 25 North Carolina)

The last two starts for North Carolina ace righthander Zac Gallen have resulted in losses after beginning the season on fire. Though he took the losses, Gallen still fired at least six innings in each of those starts and his team is in need of another quality start this week after being swept last weekend by in-state rival Wake Forest.

Armed with a low-90s fastball and a devastating cutter that’s proven to be a barrel missing pitch, Gallen will need to have all his pitches working as the Louisville offense is a potent one and one that welcomed Nick Solak back to the fray last weekend. The Cardinals are well balanced in terms of left and righthanded hitters, something that Gallen is capable of navigating through as he shows a full array of pitches and exceptional command to either side of the plate, evidenced by his 76 strikeouts and just 17 walks in 68 2/3 innings this spring.

Toeing the rubber opposite of Gallen on Friday night will be sophomore do-it-all Brendan McKay who rebounded nicely last weekend against St. John’s after taking the loss the week prior at Boston College. Four of North Carolina’s everyday starting bats call the lefthanded batter’s box home, something that could help dictate the course of Friday night’s game. McKay offers a full arsenal and advanced command of each pitch, in particular his curveball that features sharp break and late depth, and when he’s on the young lefthander has proven to be as difficult an at-bat as they come.


National Notes

• After being swept last weekend in Atlanta by Georgia Tech, Coastal Carolina will need to lick their wounds quickly and rebound with a strong effort against Big South rival Liberty this weekend if they hope to keep their place in the Top 25. The Chanticleers still lead the conference by a wide margin with a 13-2 record, and also lead the Big South in both hitting (.300) and team ERA (3.81). Plus, after getting into a groove for the month of March and the first few weeks of April, ace Alex Cunningham has suffered back-to-back losses, allowing 11 runs (nine of which were earned) in those starts spanning 11 1/3 innings. However, this series likely will come down to how well Liberty’s pitching staff, which has a cumulative ERA just shy of 5.00, holds Coastal’s potent offense at bay, as four different players have double-digit home runs as they likely can’t keep up with them in a slugfest.

• Speaking of powerful offenses, look no further than the Colonial leading Seahawks of UNC Wilmington, who have a .332 average and 59 home runs as team thanks to a physical group of sluggers. Nick Feight is providing most of the thunder in the middle of the lineup, with 20 doubles, 16 home runs and 74 RBI, all of which are among the national leaders. College of Charleston was playing well up until a few weeks ago as they were in the conversation for the Top 25. However, ever since they split their weekend series 1-1-1 with UC Santa Barbara in early April they have gone 2-8 since, suffering three straight series losses to Hofstra, James Madison and Towson.

• After coming off of the aforementioned sweep of Coastal Carolina, Georgia Tech will be looking for more consistency in ACC play as they host the fourth-ranked Hurricanes. While they did beat Clemson two weeks ago, on the road, and have other ACC series wins against Virginia Tech and North Carolina, they’ve also lost to Florida State, Duke and NC State. While GT can match Miami’s potent offense with a pretty good one of their own, keeping the Hurricanes off of the scoreboard will be no easy task for a team that is lacking in impact starters past staff ace Brandon Gold. However, closer Matthew Gorst’s turnaround season has been a pleasant surprise for them, matching Miami’s more well-known stopper Bryan Garcia in saves (10) while posting a miniscule 0.68 ERA.

• After a 1-6 start to the season Indiana has turned things around nicely, going 25-10 since with a 11-4 mark in Big Ten conference play. They travel to Minneapolis this weekend to take on the first-place Gophers, who boast a 11-3 mark in conference after losing one of their games due to bad weather against Michigan in early April. However, the difference in RPI is notable, as Minnesota has one of the best in the nation, and definitely one of the best of any team not currently ranked at 24. Indiana’s RPI on the other hand is 131st, although a series win, or better yet, sweep, would give them a nice bump, not to mention putting them on top of the Big Ten standings. The series will provide a classic strength vs. weakness, as Minnesota is first in the conference in batting while Indiana is second in team ERA.

• It looked as though Arizona was gaining some momentum after sweeping their series against California two weeks ago in Berkeley. However, they lost their series last weekend against USC in what has been status quo in the evenly matched Pac-12. This weekend they host Oregon State, the top team in the nation in the conference but not the leader in the Pac-12 standings, as the Beavers (10-8) hold a slim lead over the Wildcats (11-10). At 29-12 overall, Oregon State needs to string together some statement wins, and overall series victories (especially with no conference tournament) if they have any aspirations of hosting a Regional, while Arizona simply needs to keep winning if they hope to play in the postseason.

• After taking two of three from the Florida State Seminoles three weeks back, the Demon Deacons proceeded to sweep a three-game set from North Carolina two weekends ago at home, only strengthening their bid for a postseason spot. For the third straight conference home series the Boston College Eagles were able to take two of three with the most recent series win coming over Virginia Tech. Coach Mike Gambino’s squad is led by one of the best trio of arms in the entire Atlantic Coast Conference, though they’ll certainly have their hands full this weekend with the Wake Forest offense, led by junior Will Craig, who’s slashing a resounding .430/.558/.860 with 13 home runs and 53 RBI.

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