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College | Story | 3/30/2017

Weekend Preview: Week 7

Patrick Ebert

Jheremy Brown

Mike Rooney

Photo: Kentucky Athletics

Perfect Game Top 25 | PG/Rawlings Player/Pitcher of the Week
College Spotlight | PG College Player Database

There are significant matchups at all levels of college baseball this weekend. Look no further than the Top 25 in Action table just below and you'll see each of the teams ranked within the top 12 have challenging opponents, including two series that pit teams in that range against one another. Oregon State has another stiff Pac-12 test, this time on the road, while Louisville faces their most dangerous opponent yet. Auburn and Oklahoma both have arguably their biggest tests of the season to help determine whether or not their early season success is legitimate, while the same is true in Columbia, Mo. as Mizzou hosts Florida.

Conference play opens in the eight-team American Athletic Conference with some interesting early season matchups including No. 11 Houston at UCF, UConn at No. 16 East Carolina and No. 21 USF traveling to Tulane.

For as good as all of these series may be there may be none with as much early season intrigue as Kentucky, currently unranked, hosts No. 15 Vanderbilt in Lexington for what should be an exciting series. Aside from plenty of fans taking the action there likely will also be a lot of scouting heat filling the seats behind home plate, and from dugout-to-dugout, with three potential first round picks taking the field in Kentucky first baseman Evan White as well as Vanderbilt outfielder Jeren Kendall and righthanded pitcher Kyle Wright.

Mike Rooney profiles Evan White and the Wildcats in greater detail below.

Stay tuned to Perfect Game throughout the weekend as Brian Sakowski will provide notes from Tempe, Ariz. as Arizona State hosts UCLA at home.

Top 25 in Action

Rk.	Team	Opponent	Location
1	Oregon State	at No. 12 Stanford	Stanford, CA
2	Louisville	at Virginia	Charlottesville, VA
3	Texas Christian	at Kansas State	Manhattan, KS
4	South Carolina	at Auburn	Auburn, AL
5	Texas Tech	at Oklahoma	Norman, OK
6	Clemson	at Georgia Tech	Atlanta, GA
7	North Carolina	at No. 8 Florida State	Tallahassee, FL
8	Florida State	home vs. No. 7 North Carolina	Tallahassee, FL
9	Florida	at No. 25 Missouri	Columbia, MO
10	Louisiana State	home vs. Texas A&M	Baton Rouge, LA
11	Houston	at UCF	Orlando, FL
12	Stanford	home vs. No. 1 Oregon State	Stanford, CA
13	Cal State Fullerton	at UC Riverside	Riverside, CA
14	Florida Gulf Coast	home vs. Jacksonville	Fort Myers, FL
15	Vanderbilt	at Kentucky	Lexington, KY
16	East Carolina	home vs. Connecticut	Greenville, NC
17	Arizona	home vs. Southern California	Tucson, AZ
18	Louisiana	home vs. South Alabama	Lafayette, LA
19	Ole Miss	home vs. Mississippi State	Oxford, MS
20	Arkansas	at Alabama	Tuscaloosa, AL
21	South Florida	at Tulane	New Orleans, LA
22	St. John's	home/away vs. Hofstra	Queens/Hempstead, NY
23	Oklahoma State	home vs. West Virginia	Stillwater, OK
24	Oklahoma	home vs. No. 5 Texas Tech	Norman, OK
25	Missouri	home vs. No. 9 Florida	Columbia, MO

Wake up to the challenge

Three weeks into the 2017 ACC college baseball schedule and Wake Forest is sitting strong. They are 18-7 overall and 6-3 in conference play, taking each of their first three series against NC State, Duke and Georgia Tech. They out-scored their conference foes 78-41 in those nine games, which is roughly an average of nearly nine runs per game scored as opposed to four-and-a-half against.

The offensive outburst is particularly impressive considering the team lost two of their top run producers the past several seasons in Will Craig and Nate Mondou. Ben Breazeale and Jonathan Pryor in particular have stepped up, both of who hit just below .250 a year ago and through 25 games this year are both above .400. For the most part they have held not only the players in their starting lineup the same all season long, but also the 1-through-9 batting order, with six hitters hitting above .300, six hitters with at least five home runs and five batters with at least 20 RBI.

As a team the Demon Deacons are leading the ACC in average (.320), on-base percentage (.422) and slugging (.537) as well as runs, hits, RBI, doubles, homers and total bases. They are also second in walks, not surprisingly considering their team on-base percentage is over 100 points higher than their batting average.

First baseman Gavin Sheets continues to shine, and is among the national leaders with 40 RBI. Stuart Fairchild is the most dynamic from a prospect standpoint, leading the team with seven stolen bases (in nine attempts), and he has yet to commit an error in center field. After an up-and-down freshman campaign, former PG All-American infield Johnny Aiello has enjoyed a very productive season thus far, and is leading the team with nine home runs while playing third base on an everyday basis.

While the pitching hasn’t been as stout they are performing at a high enough level to win games thanks to their productive offense. Their 4.28 team ERA is eight in the ACC, and their .969 team fielding percentage is 10th (making this squad truly a group of mashers).

That said, the weekend rotation of Parker Dunshee, Donnie Sellers and Connor Johnstone is a combined 10-2 as each hurler has made six starts over the first six weekends of the 2017 season. And the ERA (5.05) of senior ace Parker Dunshee may be a little deceiving as he’s been much more effective lately, as he gave up 10 earned runs in his first two starts of the year and his 45 strikeouts are among the league leaders.

The Wake Forest bullpen boasts three players with at least 20 innings of work, including their go-to stopper, Griffin Roberts, whose 1.25 ERA leads the team to go along with a 33-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 21 2/3 innings of work.

Wake Forest has some serious tests coming up, as this weekend they travel to Coral Gables, Fla., to take on Miami and the following weekend they’re at Louisville, the No. 2 team in the country. While Miami isn’t playing well this season they are always a tough opponent at home, while few teams have been playing as consistently strong as the Cardinals. The Deacons also have road series at Clemson and Florida State, two more teams currently ranked in the top 10.

As long as the offense continues to perform and the pitching staff holds steady Wake Forest could make some real noise during the 2017 season. Another statement series win this weekend could also push them into the Top 25.

– Patrick Ebert

Mississippi bragging rights

Last season the Bulldogs of Mississippi State took two of three from in-state rival Ole Miss and look to do the same in Andy Cannizaro’s first battle within the Magnolia State. Things are a little bit different in 2017, though, as just the Rebels head into the highly touted matchup as a ranked club, although Mississippi State is coming off a three-game sweep of Tennessee last weekend.

Though they share the same state boarders these two teams are built differently as Cannizaro’s club is a physical, experienced bunch with plenty of strength while Coach Mike Bianco’s Rebels are on the young side but have the pieces to beat you in a variety of ways. The Bulldogs are an offensive group and as a whole are hitting .300 on the year, compared to the Rebels .245 team average, though Bianco’s pitching staff has been one of the best in the country with a 2.79 ERA where as Mississippi State’s staff is at a 4.53.

The Friday night matchup should be a dandy with a potential first round talent next spring in Konnor Pilkington of Mississippi State taking on Mississippi’s David Parkinson, an experienced and battle tested arm who has put up excellent numbers across the board this spring. The depth of the Ole Miss bullpen could very well be a deciding factor in this series as they have the pieces to match up against the tough State offense, whether Bianco needs to win a left-on-left matchup or bring in pure gas with Dallas Woolfolk for a couple of innings.

Below are three additional points of interest for the series and should one of them stray from what we’re used to seeing, then the other club could gain a serious advantage as both look to improve upon their 3-3 marks in SEC play.

Cooper Johnson’s arm: Cooper Johnson’s exploits behind the dish have been well documented, whether it’s his advanced receiving or plus arm strength on throws down to second with very consistent pop times in the 1.8-1.9 range. For the most part his reputation has preceded him and teams have been hesitant in their attempts to swipe a bag on the freshman backstop. Mississippi State could be a horse of a different color as they’re currently ranked eighth in the nation in stolen bases and are tops in the SEC, playing nicely into Cannizaro’s aggressive offensive approach. At least seven different State players have at least three stolen bases, while outfielders Jake Mangum and Brent Rooker have 25 combined. There’s no doubting Johnson’s abilities, and the hype and praise have been backed up regularly, giving Bianco a true shutdown weapon that could ultimately disrupt State’s offensive gameplan this weekend.

Containing Brent Rooker: There may not be a single answer readily available on how to slow down the Mississippi State slugger, and if there is, teams have yet to exploit it. A very worthy candidate for the Midseason Player of the Year honor, Rooker is hitting .427-8-38 on the year, and his .521 on-base and .885 slugging percentages are just as mind boggling. The athleticism is explosive, as is the bat speed, proving he can beat you in a variety of ways. Both his batting average and home runs rank within the top 15 in the country while his stolen bases (14) are seventh best and his RBI are third. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Rooker has established himself as one of the most feared hitters in not only the SEC this spring, but the entire country, and though Cannizaro has plenty of pieces to his lineup, Rooker’s presence is game changing.

Home field advantage: Just once in the last five years, back in 2014 when the Rebels traveled to Starkville, has one of these clubs gone on the road and taken the series. Neither Swayze nor Dudy Noble are friendly environments, especially when you’re talking about the “other” team from Mississippi, and you better believe all 6,100 seats of Swayze Field will be packed to the gills this weekend, mostly in Ole Miss colors. It’s the type of fan base that can help impact a baseball game as they grow louder and louder as the innings pass and could ultimately swing the momentum in the Rebs’ favor.

There’s no doubt that bragging rights are on the line, but more importantly there are three potential and valuable SEC wins on the line, something both skippers won’t let their teams lose sight of.

– Jheremy Brown

Wildcats ready for next test

Even though Kentucky is a program that has been to four Regionals since 2006 it is hard to call their 5-1 start in SEC play anything but a surprise. While this is a team with a very strong 19-7 record (with those losses coming by a TOTAL of 10 runs no less), this is also a club that lost the first four games of the season. Let’s dive into why this is a surprise and then examine several of the interesting characteristics of this unit that may cause you to do a double take.

Skipper Nick Mingione, while a highly decorated assistant coach of 14 years, has never been a head coach before. The Wildcats lost literally all 30 SEC starts on the mound from a year ago. First round talent Evan White has started less than half of Kentucky’s games due to two separate injuries that have hampered him. Kentucky started their SEC schedule at Texas A&M followed by a home series with Ole Miss. To put that into perspective, College Station is one of the toughest environments in the league and the Rebels have arguably the best freshman class in the country. Of those previous four statements of fact, exactly zero of them scream 5-1 start for Kentucky.

Regarding specifics around this Kentucky team, you might be surprised to learn that they feature two of the most feared hitters in the SEC in Evan White and freshman T.J. Collett. White has been a three-year performer for the Wildcats while Collett’s absurd raw power showed itself in the form of a pinch-hit opposite field grand slam versus Ole Miss.

Kentucky also features two lefthanders, Zach Logue and Logan Salow, who are the prototype of a rarely seen animal in college baseball: an arm-strength lefthander (both throw in the low-90s) with a power slider. Neither Logue nor Salow throw a changeup with much frequency but both attack hitters with their fastballs. And if you’re thinking of loading up a righthanded lineup, then think twice because both of these upperclassmen relentlessly assault the righthanded hitter’s back foot with the slider.

And we’re not done with the Kentucky pitching staff. Canadian-born reliever Zach Pop has been up to 98 mph and he is one of the best arms in the SEC. riday night arm Sean Hjelle, who goes 6-foot-11, has the league’s most awkward release point. And finally, Sunday starter Justin Lewis is a 6-foot-7 former high school basketball star whose overall velocity can fluctuate from 68 mph to 90 mph in the course of a game. By the way, if you’re not familiar with Lewis’ changeup beware because it’s one of the best off-speed pitches in the SEC.

While there is a lot to like here, and probably more than you imagined, Kentucky is not a perfect team. The pitching staff is really only five or six deep on the weekends and their infield defense, outside of Evan White at first base, doesn’t have all that great of a track record.

But the Wildcats are in first place in the SEC East as they prepare to host Vanderbilt this weekend. Mingione’s troops have answered every challenge the 2017 season has presented and here comes another one: Vandy’s very talented roster seemed to find its stride last weekend in a series win over Texas A&M.

– Mike Rooney

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