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College  | Story | 5/12/2016

Weekend Preview: Week 13

Patrick Ebert
Jheremy Brown
Photo: UCSB Athletics




Kyle Lewis (Mercer) Feature | National Notebook | Perfect Game Top 25 | Video Vault | Perfect Game College Baseball on SiriusXM College Sports

The second to last weekend of the regular season offers some huge matchups from coast-to-coast that will have significant ramifications on the Top 25 rankings, conference standings and the overall postseason landscape. We have identified seven series as being the ones to watch over the weekend:

• No. 2 Texas A&M at No. 8 South Carolina
• No. 7 Vanderbilt at No. 1 Florida
• No. 11 NC State at No. 6 Louisville
• No. 17 Florida Atlantic at No. 20 Rice
• Cal State Fullerton at No. 25 UC Santa Barbara
• Georgia Tech at Virginia
• South Alabama at Louisiana-Lafayette

Details of all of these series can be found just below.

One automatic bid for the postseason will be determined this weekend as Lou Gehrig Division winner Princeton will host Yale, the Red Rolfe Division winner (their first in over 20 years), in the 2016 Ivy League Championship on Saturday and Sunday (if needed).

Also, the Patriot League semifinals will take place this weekend. No. 4 seed Bucknell will take on top-seeded Navy with second-ranked Holy Cross playing No. 3 Lehigh. The winners of each three-game series will face one another the following weekend for the conference championship. The MEAC and SWAC champions will also be determined that weekend.

Stay tuned to Perfect Game this weekend for first-hand reports from Andrew Krause, who will be attending this weekend's key SEC series between Florida and Vanderbilt.


Top 25 in Action
Rk. Team Opponent Location
1 Florida home vs. No. 7 Vanderbilt Gainesville, FL
2 Texas A&M at No. 8 South Carolina Columbia, SC
3 Mississippi State at Auburn Auburn, AL
4 Miami home vs. Pittsburgh Coral Gables, FL
5 Florida State at Duke Durham, NC
6 Louisville home vs. No. 11 NC State Louisville, KY
7 Vanderbilt at No. 1 Florida Gainesville, FL
8 South Carolina home vs. No. 2 Texas A&M Columbia, SC
9 Mississippi home vs. Kentucky Oxford, MS
10 Texas Tech No games scheduled NA
11 NC State at No. 6 Louisville Louisville, KY
12 Texas Christian at Baylor Waco, TX
13 Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma Oklahoma City/Tulsa, OK
14 UNC Wilmington at James Madison Harrisonburg, VA
15 Tulane home vs. Memphis New Orleans, LA
16 Michigan at Ohio State Columbus, OH
17 Florida Atlantic at No. 20 Rice Houston, TX
18 Bryant home vs. Central Connecticut Smithfield, RI
19 Southern Miss home vs. Louisiana Tech Hattiesburg, MS
20 Rice home vs. No. 17 Florida Atlantic Houston, TX
21 Coastal Carolina at Charelston Southern Charleston, SC
22 Louisiana State at Tennessee Knoxville, TN
23 Clemson at Georgia Southern Statesboro, GA
24 Arizona home vs. Arizona State Tucson, AZ
25 UC Santa Barbara home vs. Cal State Fullerton Santa Barbara, CA



Marquee Matchup #1

Cal State Fullerton at No. 25 UC Santa Barbara

In a battle of two clubs vying for an automatic bid with a Big West Conference championship, both Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara have the depth and talent on their rosters to make noise this postseason. And when breaking these teams down it’s important to realize that they have much more in common aside from being from the great state of California.

The Titans of Cal State Fullerton are currently coming off a three-game sweep of UC Riverside last weekend at home which helped improve their overall record to a 30-16 mark and a 12-3 conference record, best amongst its nine members. Coach Rick Vanderhook’s biggest strength this season is his pitching staff, a trait that’s become a familiar one over the last couple of years.
Colton Eastman (Matt Brown)
While it was Thomas Eschelman and Justin Garza teaming up to create a formidable duo last spring, this year’s rotation has proven to be just as efficient on the mound in the form of sophomore righthander Connor Seabold, sophomore lefthander John Gavin and freshman righthander Colton Eastman. The trio is a combined 17-7 this year with a 2.20 ERA. Seabold is the command specialist at the front of the rotation, Gavin has done nothing but win in his first two seasons and Eastman has already drawn rave reviews and is a projected early round selection in the 2018.

If the Gauchos are able to escape the starting rotation they’ll quickly run into another road block in the back end with a two-headed monster in hard throwing Chad Hockin and junior righthander Scott Serigstad who’s been nearly unhittable this spring in 20 appearances.

On the flip side, the Gauchos may not have a power arm like they did last spring in Dillon Tate, but they do possess a three-man rotation of their own that will match up with any. Junior righthander Shane Bieber, a true master of his craft and one of the best command pitchers in the country, is the ace of the Santa Barbara staff and is a top five round prospect for this year’s draft as he’s able to command his low-90s fastball to either side of the plate with near precision. Redshirt sophomore Joe Record and freshman Noah Davis have both pitched well this spring and sport winning records while averaging six strikeouts per nine on the year.

The similarities between the two staffs continue as you look to the backend of things as Coach Andrew Checketts has both a lefthander and righthander to call in to close things out in sophomore Kyle Nelson and redshirt junior Trevor Bettencourt, who are a combined 10-2 with nine saves over 39 appearances.

While both teams have offensive pieces who have performed at a high level this spring, excelling in small ball to manufacture runs that has personified West Coast offense in baseball, this should be a relatively low scoring series given the talented pitching staffs both teams boast.



Marquee Matchup #2

South Alabama at Louisiana-Lafayette

This week the Sun Belt offers one of the better conference series across the nation as South Alabama visits Louisiana-Lafayette. South Alabama currently has a three-game league in the standings as they have dominated the conference with a 19-5 record and are 36-14 overall. The Ragin’ Cajuns are roughly three games behind in both marks at 16-8 in the Sun Belt and 31-17 overall. Both teams have been knocking at the door for Top 25 inclusion for several weeks and have strong marks in regards to RPI (South Alabama 37th, UL-Lafayette 20th), although the Cajuns have a considerable advantage in strength of schedule (20 vs. 115).

It’s likely both teams make the postseason, assuming one of the two wins the conference championship in a couple of weeks, with the other getting in with an at-large bid.
Kevin Hill (USA Athletic Media Relations)
Junior righthander Kevin Hill is the unquestioned ace of the Jaguars’ staff and can match up with any other pitcher in the nation. He is currently 8-1 with a 2.23 ERA, allowing just 70 hits in 96 2/3 innings with a 107-to-24 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Their pitching staff overall has been especially effective, as their top four arms are a combined 23-5 with a staff ERA of 3.37. Five different relievers have logged at least 20 innings and closer Shane McKinley has been effective in the back end, recording seven saves.

South Alabama isn’t as dangerous offensively, hitting .274 as a team, and their leading hitter, Drew LaBounty, is hitting .317. However, they get on base at a high clip (.385 on-base percentage) and steal bases early and often once they reach (95 stolen bases).

Louisiana-Lafayette got off to somewhat of a rough start as they struggled at the Houston College Classic during the second weekend of the season, and the two hitters they expected to lean on in the middle of their order – Stefan Trosclair and Steven Sensley – have not performed as well as hoped.

However, the Cajuns have since righted the ship, going 27-15 since that second weekend of the year. Kyle Clement has performed as expected, leading the team with a .360 average while playing flawless defense in center field. The pitching staff has been a strength, as Gunner Leger is 6-3 with a 2.44 ERA on Fridays and freshman Nick Lee is 6-1 with a 3.02 ERA on Sundays. Sophomore Dylan Moore has gotten even better during his second year with a miniscule 0.50 ERA, a 5-1 record and 11 saves in 20 relief appearances as the team’s late-inning stopper.

Similar to the Fullerton/UCSB series, this Sun Belt tilt between the league’s Nos. 1 and 2 teams likely will offer three low-scoring affairs. Louisiana-Lafayette has the advantage of playing the series at home (where they’re 19-5), and if they keep games close and tight, late, they have the advantage being able to turn to Moore to close things out.

Regardless of how things shake out, this series could go a long way for either the Jaguars to continue their conference dominance or the Cajuns to gain some ground in the standings with the potential to tie South Alabama with a sweep.


National Notes

• If you’re going to Gainesville this weekend you better make sure your radar gun is charged. The plethora of talent both in the starting rotations and bullpens of the Florida Gators and Vanderbilt Commodores is almost an embarrassment of riches as both teams are so talented that several of the bullpen arms would slide into most team’s starting rotations. Between the two clubs’ weekend trios five are destined for the first round between this year and next, and a sixth (for 2018) is emerging in Vanderbilt freshman Patrick Raby. In addition, Florida freshman reliever Brady Singer spurned the pros after a second round selection last spring and current closer Shaun Anderson is viewed by many as a starter at the next level and could very well be off the draft boards within the first 50 picks. Vanderbilt’s pitching depth continues with lefthander Ben Bowden and righthanders Donny Everett, Matt Ruppenthal and Collin Snider, who the Commodores could use to assemble a five-man rotation like a big league club. As a result, runs could be at a premium this weekend even with the types of offenses both teams have one through nine, and if come Sunday it turns out neither team has scored 10 total runs it wouldn’t come as too much of a shock.

• It’s hard to choose which is the better weekend series in the SEC, as in addition to the Florida/Vanderbilt tilt No. 2 Texas A&M travels to Columbia to take on the No. 8 Gamecocks. There may not be the same number as high profile next-level prospects between the two rosters, but there will still be plenty of talent on hand. While South Carolina is somewhat top heavy in that talent display, few teams can match the Aggies’ depth. For as good of a unit as they are offensively, with the ability to put up a crooked number in a hurry, they proved last weekend against Vanderbilt that they can also hang with any team pitch-for-pitch. And while South Carolina is still plenty good, as exhibited by their 37-11 overall record, the luster has worn off a little from the early season shine, as they haven’t had a statement series win since sweeping Ole Miss in late March. They did play Florida tough over two games in a series that lost game three due to poor weather, but a big weekend against Texas A&M would obviously be a loud statement made at the perfect time.

• For the collegiate baseball enthusiast, this weekend’s Conference-USA “Battle of the Owls” between Rice and Florida Atlantic has big implications on the postseason as they’re separated by a mere game atop the conference standings (with Southern Miss tied with Rice for the conference lead). Draft enthusiasts will be watching closely Friday night as the top two prospects in the conference – Rice’s Jon Duplantier and Florida Atlantic’s C.J. Chatham – square off for a handful of at-bats. Duplantier is surging up draft boards with strong start after strong start, showing improved command and an ability to miss bats with a high-octane repertoire. Like Duplantier, Chatham was detailed in last week’s Draft Pack and is racing up team’s boards as he now ranks among the top collegiate shortstops, if not the top, in this year’s class. With Duplantier’s refinement on the mound and Chatham’s impressive righthanded stroke, every pitch could be telling to the abundance of scouts who will surely be in attendance.

• Slow start, battle through injuries, finish strong. Stop me if this sounds familiar in regards to the Virginia Cavaliers, particularly if it has the same feel as last season’s championship run. That of course isn’t to say the Cavaliers are a lock to take down the crown again, but Coach Brian O’Connor has his troops playing at the highest level as of late and you’d have to go back to the beginning of April to find a weekend series the Cavs dropped. Well rested as they had last weekend off due to exams, the Hoos have lost just three of their last 14 games and have taken series from the likes of North Carolina and Miami. This weekend they play host to Georgia Tech who are a strong club and will be another test for Virginia as they’re just on the outside of the Top 25. Big-time players always seem to rise to the occasion of big situations and the key Cavalier stalwarts have done just that with catcher Matt Thaiss, who’s leading the team in virtually every offensive category, and junior righthander Connor Jones, who more or less wears the same crown on the pitching staff.

• Look out for Louisville who may have some serious confidence brewing. They finally claimed a significant road series last weekend, taking two of three from a previously ranked North Carolina squad in Durham. They then beat Vanderbilt, in Nashville, on Tuesday, 8-5, a game in which Corey Ray added two more hits, Nick Solak added three more hits and Zack Burdi eclipsed triple digits on the radar gun, again, to collect his seventh save of the year. Now they return home, where they’re 29-1 this season, to host NC State. NC State may be looking to exact some revenge after losing Sunday’s game in walkoff fashion in a contest that ended 2-1 in favor of Clemson. That came after the Wolfpack’s 20-9 beatdown of the Tigers on Saturday, and while they still enter the series with a strong 32-13 record and overall resume, playing the Cardinals strong could go a long way for their own confidence as the ACC Tournament approaches.

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