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College  | Story | 3/15/2018

Weekend Preview: Week 5

Patrick Ebert
Mike Rooney
Photo: Arkansas Communications




College Top 25 | Player/Pitcher of the Week | College Player Database

Week 5 of the 2018 college baseball season marks the beginning of conference play in almost every location across the country, although a few – including the American Athletic and Big Ten conferences – will wait another week to get underway. That means conference play in the SEC will return as of Friday, with seven competitive series scheduled from Columbia, South Carolina to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Interestingly enough, six of those seven series will be hosted by SEC West teams. Mike Rooney takes a deeper look at the SEC just below, providing a detailed preview of three of the more meaningful matchups, with a two other impactful series taking place on opposite coasts.

Perfect Game will be on hand to cover two of those series, as Patrick Ebert will be in Clemson, South Carolina – after a stop in Columbia, S.C. to see the projected Brady Singer/Adam Hill matchup on Friday night – to watch No. 10 NC State face No. 13 Clemson. Vinnie Cervino will check in with reports on Casey Mize and Auburn, among others, who host Texas A&M.


Top 25 in Action
Rk. Team Opponent Location
1 Florida at South Carolina Columbia, SC
2 Oregon State at California Berkeley, CA
3 Kentucky at No. 9 Arkansas Fayetteville, AR
4 Stanford Does not play NA
5 Texas Tech at Baylor Waco, TX
6 Ole Miss home vs. Tennessee Oxford, MS
7 Texas Christian home vs. Minnesota Fort Worth, TX
8 Florida State home vs. Notre Dame Tallahassee, FL
9 Arkansas home vs. No. 3 Kentucky Fayetteville, AR
10 NC State at No. 13 Clemson Clemson, SC
11 Louisville at Wake Forest Winston-Salem, NC
12 Texas A&M at No. 14 Auburn Auburn, AL
13 Clemson home vs. No. 10 NC State Clemson, SC
14 Auburn home vs. No. 12 Texas A&M Auburn, AL
15 Vanderbilt at Mississippi State Starkville, MS
16 Louisiana State home vs. Missouri Baton Rouge, LA
17 Southern Miss home vs. Texas-San Antonio Hattiesburg, MS
18 Indiana home vs. Northern Illinois Bloomington, IN
19 UCLA home vs. Washington State Los Angeles, CA
20 Duke home vs. Miami Durham, NC
21 Sam Houston State at Texas A&M Corpus Christi Corpus Christi, TX
22 UCF home vs. Chicago State Orlando, FL
23 UNLV at Air Force Colorado Springs, CO
24 Oklahoma home vs. Kennesaw State Norman, OK
25 East Carolina home vs. Maryland Greenville, NC


SEC Kickoff

With all due respect to the many great leagues we have in college baseball, there is no regular season like that of the SEC. Theirs is a 30-game gauntlet. There are no bye weeks. There are no exceptions. 

If you want in, then you need to be ready for 10 consecutive weekends of a college baseball melee. You will see the vulnerabilities of your team exposed in ways that will break your faith at its core. Yet, if you survive, there is nothing the postseason offers that you won’t be ready for.

For the cynical among us, let’s look back to week one of the 2017 SEC regular season. That weekend saw six sweeps. Here are three of the teams who began league play 0-3:

• Florida (eventual National Champions)
• Texas A&M (eventual CWS participant)
• Mississippi State (eventual Super Regional participant)

If you’re still not convinced, here is another factoid that speaks loudly: since 2012, five different SEC programs have reached the CWS Finals – Florida (2017), LSU (2017), Vanderbilt (2014, 2015), Mississippi State (2013) and South Carolina (2012). That’s five different programs finishing in the Top 2 in the country, in the last six years.

Let’s look at a key player and key storyline for three critical SEC series this weekend.

No. 3 Kentucky at No. 9 Arkansas
Key Player: Sean Hjelle
Theme: Will the SEC’s greatest offense please stand up?

Kentucky heads to Fayetteville without their Saturday starter, uber-talented lefthander Zack Thompson. So if the Wildcats are going to win this road series, it appears imperative that Hjelle defeats Blaine Knight in their highly anticipated Friday night matchup.

The Arkansas’ lineup is one of the deepest and most talented in the country, however, it is the Wildcats who are putting up the louder numbers. Kentucky is led by Luke Heyer and T.J. Collett, both of whom have eight home runs, and this club tops the SEC in both batting average (.324) and home runs (30).

No. 15 Vanderbilt at Mississippi State
Key Player: Patrick Raby
Theme: First SEC series for an important group of freshmen

Vandy’s 12-4 start has the nation on notice as this is an extremely talented roster. If there is a question mark it would be the weekend rotation outside of Drake Fellows. Raby is the obvious answer as he was the Friday night arm (over first rounder Kyle Wright) a year ago. Raby, who is working his way back from a foot injury, was outstanding in an extended relief appearance versus TCU last weekend.

The Vandy freshman core of Pat DeMarco, Austin Martin, Philip Clarke, Jayson Gonzalez, Jake Eder and Mason Hickman has revitalized this program and all are making significant contributions. Mississippi State, like Vandy, also sports four freshmen in their everyday lineup. Rowdey Jordan, Tanner Allen, Josh Hatcher and Justin Foscue have made 52 starts for the Bulldogs and look to be the future of the program. This will be the first SEC series for these 10 freshmen and it will take place at the newly redone Dudy Noble Field. This is the college baseball version of baptism by fire.

No. 12 Texas A&M at No. 16 Auburn
Key Player: Davis Daniel
Theme: Do bullpens matter?

Auburn will be without key arms Cody Greenhill (mononucleosis) and Andrew Mitchell (arm injury) this weekend so quality starts will be critical. Casey Mize and Tanner Burns look up to the challenge but Daniel has struggled so far in 2018 (5.06 ERA through four starts). If Daniel fails to get deep into the Saturday game head coach Butch Thompson may be forced to punt and save his thin bullpen for Sunday.

Calvin Coker has been brilliant in the Auburn bullpen but it appears that he will be a one-man gang this weekend. Texas A&M, on the other hand, owns an embarrassment of riches for the end of games. Cason Sherrod and Kaylor Chafin were the names we knew coming into the season, and, as expected, they have been very good. Junior college transfer Nolan Hoffman (Hutchinson CC, Kan.) has joined the band, and he has a 0.00 ERA through nine appearances.

Here are two more key series outside of SEC play:

 No. 10 NC State at No. 13 Clemson
Key Player: Brett Kinneman
Theme: How much pitching is enough?

In a series that includes Seth Beer, it is actually Kinneman who comes into this weekend’s docket leading the nation with 10 home runs. Kinneman also has an astounding 31 RBI through 18 games and the Wolfpack are hitting .341 as a team.

While these are two of the top offenses in the ACC, both clubs had significant pitching questions coming into 2018. That said, the Clemson rotation of Jacob Hennessy, Brooks Crawford and Jake Higginbotham has pitched to a 2.14 ERA through a combined 12 starts. And wily lefthander Brian Brown of NC State has pitched to a miniscule 0.36 ERA through four starts. So while the pitching depth on these clubs may be in question, maybe there is just enough.

No. 2 Oregon State at California
Key Player: Andrew Vaughn
Theme: Stars versus depth

Cal’s Vaughn is the key player in this series because he is arguably the best hitter in America right now. Through 16 games he is hitting .474 with 26 RBI and he is tied for the national lead in home runs with 10. There is no question that Vaughn has earned his way into the conversation as an early contender for the Golden Spikes Award.

Oregon State may have the deepest roster in college baseball. Even without injured star Nick Madrigal, the Beavers out-talent every opponent. While Cal doesn’t possess that kind of depth, there are several high-end stars on this roster in two-way player Tanner Dodson, the aforementioned Vaughn and hot-hitting Jonah Davis. Can these elite talents for Cal out-play the Beaver army for one weekend?

– Mike Rooney
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