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College  | Story  | 3/5/2020

Weekend Preview: Week 4

Patrick Ebert     
Photo: Nick Swiney (NC State Athletics)

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

Now that the dust has settled from an action-packed third weekend of the 2020 college baseball season things appear to be a little more quiet (relatively, of course) heading into the fourth weekend. Many of the teams return home for a final non-conference tuneup before the begin of conference play, although conference play does begin in the ACC with no shortage of impact matchups right out of the gate.

The biggest of those matchups include Florida State traveling to Duke and Virginia hosting NC State. Of the other ranked ACC teams, Louisville is at Wake Forest, Boston College travels to Clemson and Miami hosts Pitt.

Some of the highlights of the Top 25 teams in action include No. 9 Oklahoma hosting San Diego State, a team that already has wins over Coastal Carolina, Iowa, Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine and Oregon State. Michigan continues their grueling non-conference schedule as they are set to play in paradise for a three-game set against 10-2 Pepperdine in Malibu. And last but certainly not least college baseball and MLB Draft fans will be treated to an exciting matchup between live-armed Texas A&M lefthander Asa Lacy and New Mexico State's Nick Gonzales.

There is still one big tournament this weekend, the event formerly known as the Dodgertown Classic in Los Angeles. UCLA and USC once again play host to two ranked opponents as Vanderiblt and TCU head West in a Round Robin format. And the action starts off with a bang as the fifth-ranked Bruins play the third-ranked Commodores on Friday in a battle between two of the nation's elite.

Stay tuned for updates this weekend as Connor Spencer and Steve Fiorindo will provide reports on Vanderbilt, UCLA, TCU and USC from the Southern California College Baseball Classic. Access all of the scouting reports in the Perfect Game College Player Database.

Top 25 in Action
Rk. Team Opponent Location
1 Florida home vs. South Florida Gainesville, FL
2 Louisville at Wake Forest Winston-Salem, NC
3 Vanderbilt vs. No. 5 UCLA, USC, No. 20 TCU Los Angeles, CA
4 Texas Tech home vs. Rice Lubbock, TX
5 UCLA vs. No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 20 TCU, USC Los Angeles, CA
6 Georgia home vs. UMass Athens, GA
7 Arizona State home vs. Fresno State Phoenix, AZ
8 Duke home vs. No. 18 Florida State Durham, NC
9 Oklahoma home vs. San Diego State Norman, OK
10 Mississippi State home vs. Quinnipiac Starkville, MS
11 Miami home vs. Pitt Coral Gables, FL
12 Michigan at Pepperdine Malibu, CA
13 Auburn home vs. Chicago State Auburn, AL
14 Arkansas home vs. South Alabama Fayetteville, AR
15 Mississippi home vs. Princeton Oxford, MS
16 NC State at No. 23 Virginia Charlottesville, VA
17 Tennessee home vs. Wright State Knoxville, TN
18 Florida State at No. 8 Duke Durham, NC
19 UCF home vs. Butler Orlando, FL
20 TCU vs. USC, No. 5 UCLA, No. 3 Vanderbilt Los Angeles, CA
21 Clemson home vs. Boston College Clemson, SC
22 Long Beach State home vs. Xavier Long Beach, CA
23 Virginia home vs. No. 16 NC State Charlottesville, VA
24 Texas A&M home vs. New Mexico State College Station, TX
25 Texas home vs. Cal State Fullerton Austin, TX

ACC Grind Begins

The ACC always gets started a week ahead of everyone else in regards to conference play as the teams no doubt are eager to start beating each other up looking to jockey for position, and to claim bragging rights. Looking at the standings heading into the weekend NC State has the best record at 12-0, coming off of a 3-0 weekend against Iowa, Purdue and Minnesota at the Cambria College Classic in Minneapolis. While that isn’t necessarily a surprise, seeing Pitt at 10-2 is a more unexpected development.

Virginia (10-3) opened the year among the ranked on PG’s Top 25 and have moved up to No. 23 despite losing their first weekend series to Oklahoma. North Carolina (10-4) has reached the 10-win mark despite having a pair of losses each of the last two weekends with Duke also also recording their 10th win this week. Louisville, Florida State and Clemson all have identical 9-3 records early in the year and Boston College (5-6) is the only ACC team with a sub-.500 overall record.

To kick things off there are two series between ranked ACC teams, both of which pit one Atlantic Division team against one Coastal Division team.

No. 16 NC State at No. 23 Virginia
At 12-0 the Wolfpack is off to one of the best starts in all of college baseball, and they will continue to climb the rankings as they continue to pile on meaningful wins. However, NC State has had a few hot starts in recent seasons, so it’s hard not to temper one’s enthusiasm when thinking about just how good this team could be. Sweeping the Big Ten field in Minneapolis last weekend was their most recent notable accomplishment, although their true test of character begins at the end of March when they face Florida State, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Clemson on five straight weekends. Should they get past that stretch successfully their May 8-10 weekend series against Louisville is one to circle on the calendar.

Despite losing several impact hitters from last year’s team this offense hasn’t missed a beat, slashing .348/.443/.618 as a team. Devonte Brown has really stepped up, leading the team in pretty much every notable category. Tyler McDonough hasn’t slowed down, Patrick Bailey already has five homers and Austin Murr has been a pleasant surprise at the top of the order. This team has impressive depth and positional versatility, and as a unit they’ve only committed seven errors in 12 games.

Staff ace Nick Swiney has been nearly untouchable so far this year. He added another impressive performance last Saturday, allowing just one hit over eight innings with 15 strikeouts. He is now 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA, leading a staff with a cumulative 2.18 ERA. Similar to the everyday lineup, the bullpen is deep giving head coach Elliott Avent plenty of options to turn to, although in the early going freshman Sam Highfill has been one of his most frequently turned to relievers.

Virginia can counter with an ace of their own, and one that is flying more under the radar than Swiney. Griff McGarry is also 3-0 early on with an equally impressive 1.12 ERA. Saturday starter Mike Vasil is starting to hit his stride, as he and McGarry have been a quality 1-2 punch to match NC State’s Swiney and Reid Johnston. Prized freshman Nate Savino has now made two starts after opening the year in the bullpen and he could match up opposite NC State freshman lefthander Chris Villaman on Sunday.

The Cavaliers’ lineup isn’t quite as potent at NC State’s, but they’ve been getting the job done just the same, slashing .303/.410/.494 as a unit. Freshman center fielder Chris Newell leading the way with a .410/.574/.718 slash and is perfect in six stolen base attempts. Infielders Nic Kent, Zack Gelof and Max Cotier set the tone at the top of the order with catch Logan Michaels doing a god job driving them home.

Virignia’s defense so far is a concern, with 20 errors in 13 games played. That’s an area that will need to be tightened up as the season progresses, especially as their level of competition increases. The series will be played on Virginia’s home field in Charlottesville with the winner of the series in line for a meaningful bump up the Top 25 rankings come Monday.

No. 18 Florida State at No. 8 Duke
Duke continues their ascent up the Top 25 with their most recent, meaningful wins coming over Purdue and Minnesota last weekend. The win over the Gophers came in extra innings, and they had the early lead over Iowa on Sunday before letting that game slip away.

The Blue Devils have an ace of their own in Bryce Jarvis who followed up his perfect game against Cornell two weeks ago with an 11-strikeout performance on Friday. Cooper Stinson and Jack Carey followed Jarvis in the weekend rotation, a unit that will strengthen once freshman Henry Williams returns to action. The bullpen is deep, with Eli Herrick, Jimmy Loper, Matt Dockman and closer Thomas Girard getting the most looks. Herrick and Girard have the best stuff, sitting in the low- to mid-90s and making it difficult for any team to mount a comeback.

Although the offense doesn’t have big, big numbers, it’s an opportunistic group. Joey Loperfido has advanced bat-to-ball skills, and a keen eye, at the top of the order to go along with a speed element. Michael Rothenberg and Matt Mervis so far has done a good job getting runs home with 14 and 13 RBI, respectively. Shortstop Ethan Murray is a rock defensively and his bat started to show some signs of life last weekend and could be one big performance away from picking up where he left off as a freshman.

After losing the first game of the season to Niagara, Florida State was on an eight-game winning streak before facing Texas Tech on Saturday and Sunday. The Red Raiders took both of those games, although both contests were decided by just one run, and it took 11 innings to decide the first of the two games.

It’s scary to think that the Seminoles’ offense hasn’t yet found their stride, and Elijah Cabell has five of the team’s nine home runs (to go along with 22 RBI). It’s only a matter of time before that changes in a hurry given the amount of firepower they possess.

FSU can match Duke with a strong weekend rotation, and the Friday matchup between Bryce Jarvis and CJ Van Eyk will be as good as any. Van Eyk has only allowed two earned runs over his first 14 2/3 innings of work (1.23 ERA) with some of the best pure stuff of any ACC hurler. Shane Drohan and Conor Grady round out the rotation with a deep, well-rounded bullpen that has been commonplace for the Seminoles.

Best of the Rest

No. 2 Louisville at Wake Forest
Pitt at No. 11 Miami
Boston College at No. 21 Clemson
Notre Dame at North Carolina
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech

After opening the year as the top-ranked team, Louisville got off to a rather slow 1-3 start. However, the Cardinals have now won eight in a row with a few lop-sided wins mixed in and are set to face Wake Forest’s dangerous lineup. Miami quickly licked their wounds after being swept at home by Florida, although they would be wise not to look past an upstart 10-2 Pitt team. Few teams can match the early success of Clemson’s pitching although their offense will need to come to life in conference play to sustain their early season success.

North Carolina will look to get back on track at home after going 1-2 in Minneapolis, and nearly 0-3, salvaging their third and final game with a much-needed come-from-behind victory. Georgia Tech is in a similar position, hosting Virginia Tech after getting swept by in-state rival Georgia.



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