As Major League Baseball remains in a lockout, all the eyes of baseball fans remain focused on college baseball — and for good reason.
After an electrifying first weekend with major upsets, those trends continued in the second week of the season.
Sacramento State sweeps #8 LBSU
After Long Beach State won two out of three against Mississippi State in Starkville opening weekend, they lost three consecutive one-run home games to Sacramento State.
Suddenly, the Dirtbags have lost four straight and Sacramento State has started the season with an electrifying 7-0 record.
In game one, a Cesar Valero 10th inning home run gave the Hornets a 1-0 victory. The very next day when the game was knotted up at four in the 8th, Steven Moretto homered to give Sac State a 5-4 win.
Sunday was a little different, as the Hornets scored five unanswered in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to complete the series sweep.
Overall, Sac State has seven homers in seven games while posting a .279 team average. The Hornets’ pitching staff has a 3.60 ERA which has been a huge plus for the red-hot team.
Suddenly, the WAC has a new team to watch out for, as Sac State is rolling and having fun while doing it.
Ivy League Baseball is BACK
There was no better way for the Ivy League to make their return known like they did this weekend.
Along with multiple upsets, Ivy League teams showed why college baseball fans missed the league so much after not playing in 2021.
Penn traveled to College Station to open up their season and looked like a legitimate contender immediately, as they defeated Texas A&M in their season opener, 2-1.
Penn can thank Kevin Elise (4.1IP, 1 ER) and Owen Coady (4.2 scoreless innings) for dominating on the mound immediately. The two scholars struck out 12 Aggie hitters.
After falling in game two, Penn bounced back in a major way. Trailing 5-1 entering the seventh inning, the bats came alive — Penn scored seven straight runs in the final three innings to win their opening series against Texas A&M.
The Quakers weren’t the only Ivy League school to pull off an upset this weekend, though.
Harvard opened their season up with a convincing 11-6 victory over No. 13 Miami. After being down 6-5, the Crimson offense exploded for six runs in the last two frames.
Although Miami took the next two, Harvard kept Saturday close, falling 4-2. Harvard finished the weekend 1-2, but showed why they could be a force in the Ivy League.
Davidson impressively sweeps Bryant
The Davidson Wildcats pitching stepped up in a big way as it dominated in a three-game home series over Bryant.
It all started on Friday, when Davidson’s ace Nolan Devos was lights out, as he struck out 13 batters in eight scoreless innings. He only gave up three hits and walked one.
The very next night, Blake Hely dominated as well, as he had an eight-inning shutout of his own. Hely struck out 14 and allowed just two hits and walked two.
Sunday, Bryant scored two runs but only one was earned. Ryan Kutz threw 3.1 impressive innings only allowing one hit.
Over the entire weekend, the Wildcats outscored Bryant 23-2, a complete performance by one of the Atlantic 10’s best.
With pitching performances like those, Davidson could be a sleeper mid-major team this year.
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