College baseball opened with a flourish around the country this past weekend. Before my rankings, check out Baseball America, Rivals, and College Baseball Today.
It wasn't pretty, but the talented Cavaliers took two of three at East Carolina to take over the #1 ranking. LHP Danny Hultzen was solid on Friday night (6 IP, 2 ER), while 3B Steven Proscia and 2B Keith Werman had nice series.
2. LSU (4)
The defending champs swept Centenary this weekend on the strength of two close games and a 25-8 rout. Sophomore righty Joey Bourgeois (6 shutout innings with 7 punchouts on Sunday) might have been the most encouraging development, as the Tigers are looking for quality arms to help Anthony Ranaudo and Matty Ott.
3. Texas (1)
The Longhorns stumbled to a series loss against New Mexico, thereby relinquishing their #1 position. Taylor Jungmann showed his ace potential with a 7-inning, 2-run, 8-strikeout performance on Friday. I don't know what Chance Ruffin is doing in the bullpen, though. The righthander was the dependable staff ace the last two years and has a chance to be one of the best pitchers in the country. Maybe his bullpen struggles will make Augie Garrido think about putting him back in the rotation. Texas is still one of the best teams in the nation, but they've already shown they're not unbeatable.
4. Georgia Tech (5)
Tech didn't really prove anything by sweeping Missouri State, but certain individual performances make me like their club even more. Along with Deck McGuire's typical masterpiece (7 IP, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K) and Tony Plagman's customary ball-bashing exploits, the Yellow Jackets received encouraging contributions from sophomore lefty Jed Bradley (6 IP, 0 R, 12 K) and junior OF Chase Burnette (8-for-11, 2 HR). Shortstop Derek Dietrich, however, did not draw favorable reviews.
5. Florida State (7)
In typical FSU fashion, the Seminoles scored double-digits in each game of a three-game sweep. Stephen Cardullo, Tyler Holt, Jayce Boyd, Sherman Johnson, and others led the potent offensive attack. Lefties Sean Gilmartin and John Gast had solid starts on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Look for more crooked numbers when FSU hosts Hofstra this weekend.
6. UC Irvine (8)
Daniel Bibona dazzled on Friday (7 IP, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K). and helped the Anteaters sweep Loyola Marymount. UC Irvine's offense, led by good contact hitters like Ryan Fisher, Casey Stevenson, and Francis Larson, came through with 33 runs in three games.
7. Arizona State (9)
The Sun Devils tore apart their cold-weather opponent (Northern Illinois) as expected, showing in the process the variety of offensive contributors they have. Zach Wilson, Matt Newman, Riccio Torrez, Kole Calhoun, Drew Maggi, and Zack McPhee will all play major roles this season. I'm not sure whether to be concerned or not over ace lefty Josh Spence's arm soreness, which knocked him out of action on Friday. ASU has another easy task this week, with Towson coming to town for a three games.
8. Cal State Fullerton (3)
I like the Titans' team, but they didn't play well this weekend, dropping games to Oregon and Pepperdine. Fullerton mustered a combined three runs in its two losses and didn't quite clamp down on the pitching end either. The best performances came from RHP Tyler Pill (7 IP, 0 ER on Sunday) and OF Gary Brown (6-for-14 with 4 stolen bases). Freshman RHP Dylan Floro also got his career started on the right foot. The Titans have their work cut out for them with TCU coming to town this weekend.
9. Florida (10)
The Gators looked very impressive in a weekend of South Florida. Young hurlers Brian Johnson, Tommy Toledo, and Anthony DeSclafani threw well, and frosh backstops Austin Maddox and Michael Zunino flashed their potential. Florida looks very dangerous.
10. Rice (6)
Rice was the highest-ranked team to be swept, going down to host Stanford in three consecutive games. Superstar 3B Anthony Rendon and freshman Michael Ratteree played fine, but the Owls' pitching was the culprit. It will be interesting to see how Wayne Graham sorts out his staff behind solid lefty Taylor Wall.
11. Coastal Carolina (11)
The Chanticleers won the first two games of their tournament but lost to Kentucky on Sunday. RHP Anthony Meo (2.2 IP, 5 R, 2 ER) and 3B Scott Woodward (1-for-12) will look to bounce back this week.
12. Louisville (13)
I was very impressed by Louisville this past weekend. The Cardinals (particularly Andrew Clark, Ryan Wright, Stewart Ijames, and Adam Duvall) mashed like expected, and they got some nice pitching contributions as well. Thomas Royse, Bob Revesz, Neil Holland, and Matt Lea look solid, though Tony Zych (0 IP, 7 R) will have to bounce back this week.
13. Clemson (14)
Clemson impressed in three wins this weekend, albeit against inferior opponents. The usual suspects carried the Tigers, with Kyle Parker and Mike Freeman having good series at the dish and lefty Casey Harman tossing 5 scoreless innings on Friday. OF Will Lamb is a big breakout candidate; the sophomore went 4-for-4 with a home run and added 2.1 scoreless innings on the mound. (Baseball America named him the top prospect in the Coastal Plains League last summer.)
14. East Carolina (12)
ECU lost a series at home, but there's not much to be concerned about. The Pirates faced then-#2 Virginia, won on Saturday, and generally had solid individual performances. Hurlers Kevin Brandt, Seth Maness, and Mike Wright showed well (though Brad Mincey, who surrendered 6 runs on Sunday, needs a bounce-back). The Pirate bats are alive and well, as evidenced by the bashing from Dustin Harrington (5-for-13 with 1 HR) and John Wooten (3-for-8 with 2 bombs).
15. TCU (15)
The Horned Frogs swept Sam Houston State this weekend to hold steady at #15. Starting pitchers Steven Maxwell and Matt Purke were solid, but I was most impressed by freshman OF Josh Elander, who kicked his TCU career off by going 8-for-10.
16. San Diego (16)
In taking three of four from Indiana, San Diego's bats were very impressive. James Meador, Bryan Haar, Chris Engell, and Kevin Muno contributed to a combined 39-run outburst. USD's talented pitching staff is characteristically its hallmark, but the offense could make them an elite overall team.
17. Arkansas (17)
Arkansas took two of three from Ball State (a solid opponent), but the Razorbacks didn't look overly impressive. Sophomore 2B Bo Bigham injured his shoulder and will likely miss a month or more.
18. North Carolina (18)
In eking out a sweep of George Washington, the Tar Heels displayed why they are a solid team but likely won't be able to match the top-notch play of the last four years. UNC received excellent starts from righties Patrick Johnson (7 IP, 1 R, 7 K) and Colin Bates (7 IP, 3 R), and hit the ball just adequately.
19. UCLA (19)
Just like it was drawn up, the Bruins got stellar starts last weekend from twin aces Gerrit Cole (6 IP, 2 ER, 9 K) and Trevor Bauer (8 IP, 3 ER, 13 K). Fellow underclassmen Steve Rodriguez and Beau Amaral paced the offense. I'm still waiting for Rob Rasmussen to live up to his potential and round out the rotation. UCLA has a tough week coming up, with Long Beach State, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma State, and USC on the schedule.
20. Miami (20)
Miami swept Rutgers behind strong offense and a nice return from Tommy John surgery from Eric Erickson (5.2 IP, 1 R, 6 K). The Hurricanes were led at the dish by Chris Pelaez, Harold Martinez, David Villasuso, and Yasmani Grandal, four players who will be crucial this season.
21. Ole Miss (21)
Completely opposite of what was expected, Rebels ace Drew Pomeranz struggled while Aaron Barrett and Trent Rothlin had strong starts to round out the weekend. Mike Bianco has to love the performances from the latter two, as they are vital to Mississippi's chances this year. The Rebels have a solid offense and should be able to pick up four wins this week.
22. Oregon State (22)
OSU won three of four versus Hawaii. Carter Bell, who is replacing Joey Wong at shortstop, went 7-for-13 on the week. Power-armed enigmas Tanner Robles and Greg Peavey pitched decently, and underclassmen such as Matt Boyd, Sam Gaviglio, and Tony Bryant were even better. The Beavers have an interesting matchup against Tennessee this week.
23. Southern Miss (24)
The Golden Eagles managed to take two of three from Northwestern State. RHP Todd McInnis was brilliant on Friday (6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K) as usual. Joey Archer had a great weekend (8-for-13), as did stud shortstop B.A. Vollmuth.
24. Vanderbilt (24)
The Commodores took care of business as expected this weekend, overmatching Niagara by a combined score of 46-5 over three games. Sonny Gray was outstanding on Friday night (8 IP, 0 R, 7 K) and Saturday man Taylor Hill pitched well also (6.2 IP, 0 R, 9 K). Among the many offensive stars, Jason Esposito and Aaron Westlake stand out. Vandy will face stiffer competition in the Dodgertown Classic in California this weekend.
25. Stanford (NR)
The Trees hop in the rankings after taking a broom to Rice, previously the #6 team. Stanford might have had the most impressive weekend of any team in the country. The young rotation of Jordan Pries, Scott Snodgress, and Brett Mooneyham flashed its potential, as did the talented freshman in the lineup (Kenny Diekroeger, Stephen Piscotty, Jake Stewart). The Cardinal have a huge test coming up this weekend, with a trip to #3 Texas on the docket.
Out
Georgia (23)
Next Tier
South Carolina
Ohio State
Kansas
Oklahoma
Kentucky
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