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College  | Story  | 4/27/2017

Weekend Preview: Week 11

Patrick Ebert      Mike Rooney      Jheremy Brown     
Photo: Jeffrey A. Camarati, UNC Athletic Communications




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

Also see: Heels, Bukauskas back on top

Welcome to the biggest weekend of the 2017 college baseball season. There are six series on the schedule that have Top 25 teams playing against one another, and none bigger than No. 4 Clemson at No. 3 North Carolina. The Big 12 (TCU at Texas Tech), SEC (Kentucky at South Carolina, Auburn at Mississippi State), American (Houston at South Florida) and Pac-12 (Arizona at Stanford) also have significant series that could go a long way in determining not only Monday's rankings, but also RPI ramifications and postseason seeding.

All of these series, among other topics, are profiled below. Perfect Game as always will be providing their scouting insights from a handful of locations. Stay tuned this weekend for updates.


Top 25 in Action
Rk. Team Opponent Location
1 Oregon State home vs. Southern California Corvallis, OR
2 Louisville home vs. Toledo Louisville, KY
3 North Carolina home vs. No. 4 Clemson Chapel Hill, NC
4 Clemson at No. 3 North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC
5 Texas Christian at No. 6 Texas Tech Lubbock, TX
6 Texas Tech home vs. No. 5 Texas Christian Lubbock, TX
7 Florida at Georgia Athens, GA
8 Kentucky at No. 24 South Carolina Columbia, SC
9 Virginia at Florida State Tallahassee, FL
10 Auburn at No. 11 Mississippi State Starkville, MS
11 Mississippi State home vs. No. 10 Auburn Starkville, MS
12 Houston at No. 22 South Florida Tampa, FL
13 Long Beach State at UC Davis Davis, CA
14 Arkansas home vs. Ole Miss Fayetteville, AR
15 Louisiana State at Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL
16 Arizona at No. 18 Stanford Palo Alto, CA
17 Cal State Fullerton home vs. UC Irvine Fullerton, CA
18 Stanford home vs. No. 16 Arizona Palo Alto, CA
19 Maryland at Indiana Bloomington, IN
20 Michigan at Rutgers Piscataway, NJ
21 Mercer home vs. UNC Greensboro Macon, GA
22 South Florida home vs. No. 12 Houston Tampa, FL
23 Wake Forest No games scheduled NA
24 South Carolina home vs. No. 8 Kentucky Columbia, SC
25 Southern Miss at Middle Tennessee State Murfreesboro, TN


Late April has Super flavor

This weekend may resemble the postseason considering there are six series that pit fellow Top 25-ranked opponents against one another, including two that will feature the teams currently ranked third through sixth. We take a quick look at each of those six series here.

No. 4 Clemson at No. 3 North Carolina
Both teams are currently 16-5 in ACC play, as UNC leads the Coastal Division and Clemson is just behind Louisville in the Atlantic. This could very well be the biggest series all season long, and the two teams are pretty similar with a balanced lineup and a deep pitching staff.

North Carolina has yet to lose a weekend series in ACC play this year, and overall have lost only one weekend series all year long when they dropped two of three to visiting Long Beach State in early March. J.B. Bukauskas may have the most live arm in the nation with the statistical results to back it up, while Luca Dalatri continues to force his name into the Freshman of the Year conversation. Josh Hiatt has really thrived recently as the team’s closer and they have one of the most dangerous lineups 1 through 9 of any team in the nation.

Pat Krall has done a nice job to get back on track as he, Alex Eubanks and Charlie Barnes have formed one of the best weekend starting staffs no one is talking about. They have each made 10 starts this year, and are collectively 16-6. Just as important has been the productivity of Tyler Jackson, who may be the best midweek starter in the country, who has gone 7-1 with a 3.62 ERA with 10 starts (and 12 total appearances) of his own.

And they have a slugger named Beer who seems to be heating up. If you had to choose only one series to follow this weekend this is the one.

No. 5 TCU at No. 6 Texas Tech
The battle for Big 12 supremacy will take place in Lubbock, Texas this weekend, although TTU (9-6 in conference) could win the series and still be looking up at the Horned Frogs, who have a 11-4 conference mark. However, neither team appears to be as invincible as previously thought.

The Red Raiders are coming off of a weekend series loss to Oklahoma State, at home, and lost another key Big 12 series earlier in April to the Sooners. They have been without Davis Martin for several weeks, putting a squeeze on their pitching depth, although Steven Gingery and Ryan Shetter continue to perform well in the Saturday and Sunday roles while the offense is hitting an even .300.

Aside from a road series loss to West Virginia TCU, they have won their other four Big 12 series, which includes sweeps over Oklahoma State and Kansas State. For as impressive as their 30-8 overall record is it doesn’t even seem as though the team is clicking on all cylinders; Luken Baker is hitting .305 with seven homers, Evan Skoug is batting .267 and Brian Howard has a 4.47 ERA.

This weekend will be a very good test for both teams to prove that they belong on the national landscape, although come Monday one will clearly have significantly greater conference bragging rights.

No. 8 Kentucky at No. 24 South Carolina
Unfortunately the Gamecocks were dealt some bad news this week when they discovered their staff ace, Clarke Schmidt, would need to undergo Tommy John surgery, ending his season and potentially his career at South Carolina. That being said, if any team can overcome an injury of that magnitude it’s the Gamecocks.

However, South Carolina was already limping coming into this weekend series. They lost four consecutive SEC series, although they have managed to win at least one game in each of those series. As a result, their overall (24-15) and conference (9-9) records are still solid, but they need a series win at home to remain in the rankings.

Kentucky on the other hand has a lot of positive momentum working in their favor. They have won five of six SEC series and second baseman Riley Mahan is coming off of a huge series against LSU that garnered him SEC co-Player of the Week honors. The club is hitting .315 as a unit with Evan White flirting with .400 (.398), the starting staff has been good enough to secure wins and they have one of the best closer’s in the nation in Logan Salow.

Tyler Johnson’s return to action couldn’t have come at a better time for South Carolina who may need to lean on their high-powered righthander to get them through more than a handful high-leverage situations this weekend.

No. 10 Auburn at No. 11 Mississippi State
The Bulldogs are one of the hottest teams in the nation, and have soared up the rankings after opening the season outside of the Top 25. The same can be said about Auburn, as while they’re ranked one spot higher than Mississippi State they’re just behind them in the West Division of the SEC, as they are tied with Arkansas for second right now with a 12-6 record (MSU is at 13-5).

Auburn was covered in great detail in last week’s weekend preview, but the story for them starts with their three weekend starters: Casey Mize, Keegan Thompson and Davis Daniel. While the team doesn’t have that one, big bat in the middle of their lineup they have a great team approach, and their heroes seem to rotate on a game-by-game basis. Last week it was Josh Anthony’s turn, who earned co-Player of the Week honors in the SEC.

Mississippi State on the other hand does have that big bat in their lineup, Brent Rooker, arguably the best player in all of college baseball, with all due respect to Louisville’s Brendan McKay. Rooker continues to be among the league leaders is pretty much every offensive category, as teams somehow have yet to receive the memo to not pitch to him, or at least to not throw him a fastball anywhere near the strike zone. A potentially underrated part of Mississippi State is their 1-2 late-inning punch of Riley Self and Spencer Price coming out of the bullpen.

Aside from a SEC opening series sweep to Arkansas the Bulldogs have beat every other SEC opponent they have faced, including Ole Miss, Kentucky and South Carolina. A series win against Auburn could very well secure their title as the team to beat in the SEC.

No. 12 Houston at No. 22 South Florida
The American Athletic is one of the more competitive conferences there is right now, as Houston sits on top with an 8-4 league mark just ahead of the 7-5 USF Bulls. UCF and UConn are also 7-5 in AAC play, and this series could have some serious bragging rights on the line.

Despite being without their staff ace, Seth Romero – who was suspended indefinitely a couple of weeks ago – Houston continues to pile up wins. Trey Cumbie has made a nice transition to staff ace while infielder Jake Scheiner continues to lead the offense with 26 extra-base hits – which includes 12 home runs – and 41 driven in.

Kevin Merrell is having a huge season for the Bulls, hitting .403/.494/.619 atop their order with nine doubles, three triples, five homers and 17 stolen bases. But he’s far from being alone, as USF is hitting .306 as a team, and their staff ERA is 2.64. In fact, only one pitcher who has made an appearance for USF this year has an ERA over 3.55 (Carson Ragsdale at 9.00, but he has only logged five innings over five appearances).

Both teams have UCF breathing down their backs, and despite being swept by USF earlier this month, the Knights have series wins this season over UConn, East Carolina and Houston.

No. 16 Arizona at No. 18 Stanford
The Wildcats will look to lick their wounds quickly and get back on track after getting swept at home last weekend by Utah, however, they have a difficult task ahead of them by taking on the Stanford Cardinal on the road. Stanford is coming off a 4-0 week that included a road sweep of Oregon.

Stanford’s offense has been fairly productive this season, even if they lack the firepower of Arizona, as they are hitting .272 as a team. The pitching remains a strength even without electric sophomore Tristan Beck, who may not return to the mound at all this season.

Arizona ace J.C. Cloney didn’t make a start last week after being removed from his start on April 7 against Washington State. He did make a start against Oregon on April 14, but without Cloney the Wildcats are a significantly different team. J.J. Matijevic is one of the hottest hitters in all of college baseball, slashing .401/.443/.656 with a national-best 22 doubles.

The Pac-12 is once again somewhat of a mess this year, as neither Stanford nor Arizona is in the top three of the conference standings. The two programs are respectively 8-7 and 9-9, behind Oregon State, Cal and UCLA with Washington currently tied with Stanford. One thing the two teams have in common: they were both swept at home earlier this season by the No. 1-ranked Beavers.

– Patrick Ebert


Putting the work in ‘workhorse’

Admittedly, prior to delving into stats, Brandon Marsonek of Alabama A&M was an unknown name to me. And while you hear names such as Brendan McKay, Alex Faedo and Kyle Wright, you would be hard pressed to find a couple of arms who are putting together more impressive springs than Marsonek.

A senior lefthander, Marsonek currently leads the nation in both strikeouts (104) and appearances (32) and is the only arm to eclipse the 30-appearance or 100-strikeout thresholds this spring. There’s another statistic to keep in mind when pouring over his numbers from this spring: over those 32 appearances, five of which have been starts, Marsonek has logged 85 1/3 innings, another top mark in the country.

Though not overly physical at 6-foot-1, 190-pounds, Marsonek has shown he can bounce back and perform at a high level as he’s appeared in all three games of a series five different times this spring. He’s not just coming out of the bullpen and logging innings as he sports the lowest ERA on Head Coach Mitch Hill’s staff and has held hitters to a mere .227 batting average against while collecting five saves.

As a college baseball fan you can’t help but be mightily impressed with the season Maronsek is putting together for the Bulldogs as he’s excelled both in a starting role and out of the bullpen.

– Jheremy Brown


Must-see conference tourneys

It's time for me to come clean. I don't like college baseball conference tournaments…I'm the guy who loves them!

While I understand why coaches don't love these tourneys that both undercut the regular season and also show up the week before Regionals, I'm still all in. After all, I'm a college baseball fan first and foremost, and this is a chance to watch multiple teams and players in one location. And the best part is that the games last all day long.

So if you're looking to pick a conference tournament to attend, allow me to entice you with five of the ones that currently have my attention. The SEC Tournament will not be among my five but please know this: Hoover is the Rose Bowl of College Baseball, the granddaddy of them all.

WCC
Loyola Marymount, San Diego, BYU and Gonzaga have separated themselves from the pack. All four teams are of Regional caliber and let's not forget that Pepperdine was one inning away from Omaha in 2014. This will be a college baseball steel-cage match.

Conference USA
Rice is having their first ever down year under Wayne Graham. That's the bad news. The good news is that this league is more exciting than ever. Conference USA could have anywhere from one to four bids. That's as wide of a range as any league out here. There is a ton on the line this year in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Big 12
This is the No. 1 RPI conference in the country and that is because there isn't a bad team in this league. In fact, the Big 12 has seven teams with an RPI of 43 or better. That spells Regional bids by the truckload.

Side note: the Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City is an absolutely fantastic venue.

Big Ten
The Big 10 could have as many as four Regional teams with Maryland and Michigan looking like Omaha sleepers. This tourney has an exciting eight-team format that lends itself to lower seeds making a big run.

Southland
This tournament carries great intrigue because of three main teams: McNeese, Southeastern Louisiana and Sam Houston State. McNeese is running away with the regular season and the Cowboys have a monster RPI of 22. The other two clubs mentioned fit the prototype of mid-major sleepers who can go on an Omaha run; programs that are perennial Regional participants that won't be overwhelmed by the unique format of Regionals. Sam Houston State in particular has an older team also. All across the country, teams on the bubble will be keeping a close eye on this tournament.

One of my favorite baseball sayings goes like this: "There's no such thing as too much pitching." Well, if I may, there's no such thing as a college baseball conference tournament I wouldn't want to attend.

– Mike Rooney

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