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College  | Story | 2/28/2019

Weekend Preview: Week 3

Patrick Ebert
Mike Rooney
Photo: Bryce Elder (Brendan Maloney)

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

With the arrival of the third weekend of the college baseball season comes the annual Shriners Hospitals for Children Baseball Classic held at Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros. This year it's an all-Texas field as Baylor, Houston, Rice, TCU, Texas A&M and Texas State battle for Lone Star State bragging rights. Baylor is the highest ranked team of this group, currently at No. 12, while TCU isn't too far behind at No. 16. Texas A&M is right outside of the Top 25, but otherwise, like Houston, Rice and Texas State, are not ranked.

The Frisco College Classic also returns this year with an intriguing collection of teams battling in a Round Robin format. The highest-ranked team from Texas, No. 5 Texas Tech, will be in attendance as will No. 17 Mississippi State, Sam Houston State and Nebraska.

However, the biggest games being played in the state of Texas will occur in the state's capital of Austin as No. 1 Louisiana State will take on the host Longhorns. Texas too, at least according to the Perfect Game Top 25, is unranked but they're off to a 7-2 start and the pitching, led by sophomore ace Bryce Elder, is back to its usual, dominant self.

Of the more interesting weekend series outside of Texas, No. 7 Stanford travels south to take on Cal State Fullerton, No. 10 Ole Miss hosts Long Beach State, No. 18 NC State welcomes Minnesota to Raleigh, No. 23 UC Irvine plays at Missouri State and No. 25 Clemson and South Carolina will conduct their annual in-state home/away rivalry series with a neutral site appearance in Greenville.

Stay tuned to Perfect Game throughout the weekend as Brian Sakowski will be in Houston for the Shriners Classic and Britt Smith will cover the action in Frisco.


Top 25 in Action
Rk. Team Opponent Location
1 Louisiana State at Texas Austin, TX
2 Oregon State home vs. West Virginia Corvallis, OR
3 Vanderbilt home vs. Dayton Nashville, TN
4 UCLA home vs. Sacramento State Los Angeles, CA
5 Texas Tech vs. Nebraska, No. 17 Mississippi State, Sam Houston State^ Frisco, TX
6 North Carolina home vs. UMass Lowell Chapel Hill, NC
7 Stanford at Cal State Fullerton Fullerton, CA
8 Florida home vs. Winthrop Gainesville, FL
9 East Carolina vs. Utah, Wright State, Western Carolina# Greenville, NC
10 Ole Miss home vs. Long Beach State Oxford, MS
11 Louisville home vs. James Madison Louisville, KY
12 Baylor vs. Texas A&M, Rice, Texas State Houston, TX
13 Arkansas home vs. Stony Brook Fayetteville, AR
14 Florida State home vs. Mercer Tallahassee, FL
15 Auburn home vs. Cincinnati Auburn, AL
16 Texas Christian vs. Houston, Texas A&M, Rice Houston, TX
17 Mississippi State vs. Sam Houston State, No. 5 Texas Tech, Nebraska^ Frisco, TX
18 NC State home vs. Minnesota Raleigh, NC
19 Michigan at CSUN Northridge, CA
20 Oklahoma State home vs. Iowa Stillwater, OK
21 Connecticut vs. Northeastern, Indiana, No. 25 Coastal Carolina@ Conway, SC
22 Georgia at Georgia Southern Statesboro, GA
23 UC Irvine at Missouri State Springfield, MO
24 Clemson vs. South Carolina Clemson, Greenville, Columbia, SC
25 Coastal Carolina vs. Illinois, No. 18 UConn, Indiana@ Conway, SC

* Shriners Classic | ^ Frisco Classic | # LeClair Classic | @ Coastal Carolina Tournament


 Battle for Texas supremacy

As noted above, the state of Texas is the place to be this weekend with both the Shriners and Frisco College Classics taking place. The Shriners event in particular is of special interest considering each of the six teams participants calls the Lone Star State home. As a result you have only one SEC team in attendance (along with two from the Big 12, one from Conference USA, one from the Sun Belt and one from the American Athletic Conference), and the absence of Texas Tech and Texas is notable. However, the crowds will have more of a focused, in-state flavor as a result, and having a roof over their heads with bad weather expected nearly nationwide, is a nice bonus.

Here’s something to keep an eye on with each of the six participating teams.

Baylor (8-0)
Baylor is the top-ranked team in attendance, and the only undefeated one, arriving in Houston as PG’s 12th-ranked team. Not surprisingly the Bears have opened the year firing on all cylinders, although this weekend will provide them with their biggest test(s) of the season, starting with Texas A&M on Friday night. Baylor will be without the services of their Preseason All-American catcher, Shea Langeliers, but Davis Wendzel is the state of Texas’ best third baseman not named Josh Jung and he leads an offense that is averaging over 10 runs per game so far this season.

Texas Christian (5-2)
TCU got off to a good start this year by taking two of three games at the MLB4 Tournament in Arizona. And several newcomers are playing a big role in their initial success. Three of them are junior college transfers, lefthanded pitcher Brandon Williamson, shortstop Hunter Wolfe and first baseman Jake Guenther. Wolfe and Guenther have heated up at the plate while Williamson appears to have locked down the Sunday starting role. Freshman Porter Brown has been exceptionally polished at the top of the TCU lineup, getting on base over half of the time with a polished, patient approach.

Texas A&M (8-1)
Like Baylor, Texas A&M has yet to face a stiff test despite their 8-1 start to the year. That will change quickly when the Aggies and Bears square off against one another on Friday night, and the Aggies have arguably one of the tougher draws with TCU on Saturday and Houston on Sunday. They certainly have the pitching to navigate their way through a weekend against any opponent thanks to their talented all-lefthanded rotation of John Doxakis, Asa Lacy and Jonathan Childress. Doxakis and Lacy have been especially dominant, as each has already recorded 20 or more strikeouts this season over their first two starts.

Rice (3-6)
Hometown Rice got a tough draw, playing the event’s two ranked participants (Baylor and TCU) after opening the tournament against Texas State. While the offense, outside of one big game by Trei Cruz, has yet to find their groove, the team’s starting rotation of Matt Canterino, Evan Kravetz and Jackson Parthasarathy has been a bright spot. Those three pitchers have combined for 30 innings, a 41-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a 2.70 ERA. That formula should result in more wins for first-year head coach Matt Bragga as the season progresses.

Houston (4-3)
The second hometown host, Houston has a deceiving 4-3 record in that they have won each of their first two series, most recently taking down a potent Arizona team two games to one. Four-year slugger Joe Davis already has four home runs on the year and expect to see both Fred Villarreal and Devon Roedahl a few times out of the Cougars’ bullpen for multiple innings at a time. The team has yet to play outside of Houston and in fact won’t travel outside of the state of Texas – with the exception of a mid-week contest in nearby Lake Charles, La., against McNeese – until late March.

Texas State (5-3)
Rounding out the six-team field is Texas State representing the Sun Belt Conference, a team that is off to a 5-3 start with wins over postseason hopefuls Missouri State and Creighton. The Bobcats have scheduled aggressively to open the 2019 season, as they host a ranked Connecticut squad next weekend after they square off against Rice, Houston and Baylor. Nicholas Fraze gives Texas State a legitimate staff after posting a 2.97 ERA a year ago and his start in the very first game on Friday opposite Rice’s Matt Canterino should be a good one.


Longhorns, Tigers to tussle in Austin

Two-plus hours to the West of Houston the Texas Longhorns will embark on a three-game home series against the top-ranked LSU Tigers. This series will feature a classic matchup between the young and live-armed pitching staff of Texas and LSU’s potent offensive attack.

Although he’s not draft eligible for another year, Bryce Elder’s development has been especially encouraging for the Longhorns. He possesses a heavy, boring 90-95 mph fastball and a power 85-87 mph slider with the ability to maintain his velocity deep into games, going eight strong against Louisiana to open the season before adding another six against Purdue last weekend. He has struck out 15 in those 14 innings and allowed just 10 base hits and three walks.

The youth movement doesn’t stop with Elder as three true freshmen are receiving significant innings right out of the gate. Coy Cobb is the team’s Sunday starter with Ty Madden getting longer looks during the team’s mid-week games. Mason Bryant has yet to give up run in three relief appearances and the same is true of redshirt freshman Cole Quintanilla, who has already appeared in four games.

Elder will pitch opposite Zack Hess in Game 1, and while Hess’ statistical productivity isn’t as impressive as Elder’s, he too has a knack for missing bats with a power arsenal. Freshmen Landon Marceaux and Jaden Hill follow Hess in the LSU weekend rotation and Hill in particular has looked strong early on.

LSU’s offense is where things get fun in this series as they present a classic strength vs. strength matchup against the Texas pitching staff. LSU has already scored double-digit runs in five of their first eight games. Shortstop Josh Smith as well as outfielders Daniel Cabrera and Antoine Duplantis have been particularly unstoppable so far in 2019 as part of a lineup that doesn’t offer an easy out.

(Duplantis added four more hits on Wednesday, pushing his season total to 16 and his career total to 284, just 68 shy of Eddy Furniss all-time mark of 352.)

Texas of course entered on the outside of the Perfect Game Top 25 and we certainly heard about it from the Longhorns’ faithful. They have the perfect opportunity to prove us wrong this weekend with a big series win at home against the No. 1 team in the nation.

– Patrick Ebert


Quick hits

It seems that each week of the college aseball season builds on the excitement and intrigue of the week before. Week 3 appears to be no different and here are several things to keep an eye on.

Titans of the Midwest
Michigan was the preseason darling in the Big Ten, and rightfully so. Yet a very mature Illinois team has made the most noise so far. This is a team with tremendous pitching depth and an older lineup that plays elite defense. But is there enough offense now that Bren Spillane is gone? And are there enough out pitches on this staff? Well stay tuned because the Illini will play Coastal Carolina, Northeastern, Connecticut, and Northeastern (again) this weekend.

Baptism by fire
If you’re looking for a Super Regional atmosphere this weekend, the state of South Carolina is for you. Clemson and South Carolina will face off in one of the most heated rivalries in all of college baseball. Last year’s series was played in front of nearly 22,000 fans and included two one-run games, with Clemson winning the series in walk-off fashion on Sunday.

This type of tension and pressure will be brand new for several key players in both dugouts. Clemson’s two-way freshman Davis Sharpe has looked like Brendan McKay version 2.0 so far and classmates Justin Wrobleski and Keyshawn Askew have made a combined four starts on the mound.

For South Carolina, the list of newcomers is parade-like. Andrew Eyster and Brady Allen are freshmen who been in the starting lineup in each of the Gamecocks’ eight games. Classmates Cam Tringali, Brett Kerry and Wesley Sweatt have combined for 11 relief appearances and the trio has given up just one earned run. And let’s not forget that starting catcher Luke Berryhill and Sunday starter Reid Morgan are junior college transfers.

There is no way to simulate this type of college baseball weekend. This large and interesting group of newcomers will be the better for it regardless of the outcome. That said, some of these names will step forward and others will be receiving a healthy learning experience.

Postseason rivals
Since the beginning of the Super Regional era in college baseball in 1999, Cal State Fullerton and Stanford have faced off in an astounding nine of those 20 postseasons. And it has been a battle of streaks.

From 1999 to 2008, the Cardinal handed the Titans losses in a Regional, three different College World Series and a Super Regional. Conversely, from 2010 to 2018 Fullerton has defeated Stanford in four different Regionals. This includes the Titans winning the 2017 and 2018 Palo Alto Regionals at Sunken Diamond. In both cases, Stanford was a Top 8 seed.

This year’s series stirs the usual curiosity. Stanford is a legitimate national title contender with potential questions to answer in the rotation and at shortstop. Fullerton looks every bit like a Regional team but the Big West is off to an awful start. A series win would be huge for the Titans and their league.

This weekend won’t end either team’s season but the history between these two programs isn’t lost on anyone.

Undefeated over/under: 4.5 remain undefeated
Headed into this weekend, there are 13 undefeated teams left in college baseball: Penn State, Michigan, Illinois, Arizona State, Oregon State, UMass (1-0), NC State, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Baylor, LSU, Tennessee and Cal Baptist.

Interesting nugget: 11 of the 13 are from Power 5 conferences.

The aforementioned (and unofficial) over/under for teams left undefeated at the end of this weekend is 4.5. We are taking the under. What say you?

– Mike Rooney
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