College Baseball Weekend (2)

Edit: (Will do this each Sunday night and will try and post info Friday’s going over weekday games and previewing weekend games.)

Here it is the first full week of college baseball (two Hawaiian squads played last weekend). This week it gets even more exciting with a few squads matching up with Major League squads in spring training exhibition games. First, I will take a quick glimpse at the MLB v. NCAA games, and then I will breakdown the Top 25 over the weekend and look at who plays weekday games and next weekend.

MLB v. NCAA begins on the 26th with the No. 15 Michigan Wolverines meeting the New York Mets. If non-roster invitee Eddie Kunz gets in for the Mets it will be another chance to get after the Big Blue. The Detroit Tigers get a visit from the Florida Southern Mocs, and the Florida Marlins look for revenge against the No. 12 Miami Hurricanes, who in recent years stole one from the big league club. Rounding out the day is a match-up between the Philadelphia Phillies and the No. 13 Florida State Seminoles.

Day two pits the St. Louis Bilikens and the Cardinals as well as the Georgia Bulldogs and the Atlanta Braves. Day three features more geographic battles beginning with the Washington Nationals and the Georgetown Hoyas. The Boston Red Sox go to split-squad to meet the Boston College Eagles (with Josh Beckett throwing against the college kids) and the Northeastern Huskies. The Yankees will get in on the action on the 29th against the University of South Florida Bulls.

A Peek into the Top 25-

No. 1 Arizona State went 3-0 against a tournament field including No. 3 Vanderbilt and No. 11 Oregon State, racking up 36 runs including three homers from the big bat of Brett Wallace.

No. 2 North Carolina went 3-0 against Florida Atlantic. The Owls kept games two and three close being downed by only a run in both.

No. 3 Rice did not fare as well as the top two squads starting their season 1-2 with losses to No. 18 Long Beach State. The Dirt Bags and Owls appeared to be in a pitchers duel all weekend scoring ten runs total between the two of them.

No. 4 South Carolina did battle with East Carolina and the weather, as they were rained out Friday, playing a double header Saturday and a single game on Sunday. The Gamecocks came out on top 2-1 including a 22-5 victory in their opening game.

No. 5 Arizona finished the weekend 2-1 against Georgia, with the Wildcats losing game one with their All-American ace on the hill.

No. 6 Texas swept Virginia Commonwealth in Austin to go to 3-0, the Longhorns hung up 27 runs total in the final two games on the Rams.

No. 7 Mississippi joined Texas in putting up big runs in games two and three, on the way to a 3-0 record after sweeping Minnesota and putting up 37 runs on the Golden Gophers on Saturday and Sunday.

No. 8 Vanderbilt finished 2-1 against the field featuring wins over Oregon State and Miami (OH), despite the Red Hawks getting out to a 3-0 lead.

No. 9 San Diego went 1-2 against rival San Diego State, with their win in game two of a Saturday doubleheader before getting rained out Sunday.

No. 10 Wichita State only got one game in which they defeated the Fordham Rams 4-3 on Friday.

No. 11 Oregon State did not fare well in their search for a three-peat, going 1-2 with their win against Miami (OH). Head coach Pat Casey experimented with lineups and introduced freshman pitcher Greg Peavey to NCAA baseball with the bat of the Sun Devils Brett Wallace who jacked his third homer of the season against the young right-hander.

No. 12 Miami (Fla.) went 3-0 against Cincinnati allowing only five Bearcat runs.

No. 13 Florida State put up 44 runs on the way to a 3-0 weekend against Duquesne, including a 15-3 win Sunday in eight innings.

No. 14 Cal State Fullerton finished 2-1 against Texas Christian, with the Titans dropping game two to the Horned Frogs.

No. 15 Michigan put up 47 runs on their way to a 3-0 start as they beat up Villanova.

No. 16 Clemson wound up 3-0 against the Mercer Bears.

No. 17 Missouri swept the competition in the Bright House Invitational going 3-0 against Connecticut, Michigan State and Stetson.

No. 18 Long Beach State went 2-1 against Rice.

No. 19 UCLA split a double header with Oklahoma to go 1-1 in a weather-shortened weekend.

No. 20 Texas A&M might be kissing the top 25 goodbye after going 2-2 against Northern Colorado, with neither win being overly convincing.

No. 21 Virginia went 4-0 against Lehigh, including a 12-1 win over the Mountain Hawks in seven innings as part of the two double headers between the Cavaliers and Lehigh.

No. 22 UC Irvine finished 2-0 against Nevada before getting snowed out on Sunday.

No. 23 Louisville managed to go 2-1 against Cleveland State, losing the final game 8-3 to the Vikings.

No. 24 Mississippi State went 1-2 against North Florida, as the Osprey knocked the 2007 College World Series squad off 17-9 on Saturday.

No. 25 Kentucky swept the competition in the Coca-Cola Classic (Mobile, AL) finishing 3-0 over Xavier, Fairfield and South Alabama.

The Top 25 finished 59-17 over the weekend, including victories and losses against each other. The Pac-10 went 17-8 including an ASU win over OSU. Only Washington came out with a losing record going 1-2 against UC Riverside (they are scheduled to play on the 25th as well).Keep an eye out for No. 30 Pepperdine who hung up 22 runs on Wake Forest on Sunday.

Weekday Games (Top 25 and Pac-10)-

(Does not include games vs. MLB)

Monday, February 25-
San Diego State @ No. 9 San Diego
Washington @ UC Riverside

Tuesday, February 26-
Cal State Northridge @ No. 19 UCLA
Nevada @ Stanford
San Diego State @ Southern California
Washington State @ Nevada-Las Vegas

Wednesday, February 27-
Lewis-Clark State @ Washington
Southern California @ UC Irvine
UC Santa Barbara @ No. 19 UCLA
Washington state @ Nevada-Las Vegas

Thursday, February 28-
No. 1 Arizona State v. No. 15 Michigan @ Coca-Cola Classic, Tempe, AZ
California v. Fresno State @ USD Tournament, San Diego, CA