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  • Big 12 Weekly Roundup (Mar. 21-24): Another Newly Ranked Team

    After weekend three of Big 12 Baseball action, we have more questions than answers as more teams are bundled together in the middle of the Conference standings. Kansas State at 5-1 is percentage points of Oklahoma at 7-2. There are five teams who have played nine Conference games at this point that are 4-5. Baylor at 3-6 and TCU at 2-7 round at the bottom of the standings right now. Five teams in the Big 12 have only played six conference games to this point. A Look Back at Week 3 in Big 12 Baseball BYU at Texas Tech BYU took the opener in Lubbock on Thursday night, keyed by a Kuhio Aloy grand slam in the third inning. BYU right-hander Ben Hansen (3-2) earned the win with a quality start over six strong innings where he allowed just two runs on five hits. Texas Tech came back to even the series on Friday night with a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th to win 4-3. BYU scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game and set up the final frame theatrics where Texas Tech freshman Landon Stripling singled home the winning run. The Red Raiders then claimed the series with a 10-1 victory on Saturday afternoon. Texas Tech pitching allowed BYU just two hits in the series finale. Jacob Rogers and Parker Hutyra combined to pitch five perfect innings to close out the game and the series victory while the offense was provided by Kevin Bazzell who went 2-for-4, hit his first home run of the season, and had 4 RBI. TCU at Oklahoma State Friday night the Horned Frogs got the Payton Tolle they had hoped for when they got him out of the transfer portal. TCU won 1-0 as Tolle racked up 15 strikeouts in a complete game shutout of Oklahoma State. Tolle only allowed two base runners over the final three innings of the game. The Cowboys jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Saturday, thanks mostly to a Kollin Ritchie three-run home run. Brian Holiday pitched a complete game for Oklahoma State striking out 14 Horned Frog batters on 113 total pitches. The 6-2 Cowboys victory evened the series headed into Sunday. TCU opened Sunday’s rubber game scoring one run in the first inning and one run in the second inning for an early two-run advantage. Right-hander Tommy Molsky took the mound for the Cowboys over the next four innings and pitched scoreless, hitless baseball at the Horned Frogs. Molsky struck out seven TCU batters of the 12 outs he recorded and picked up the win for his effort. The win clinched the first Big 12 series win this season for the Cowboys. UCF at Kansas Kansas behind Reese Dutton (5-1) took the opener 13-3. Dutton earned the win having allowed just two runs over seven innings and left the game having retired the final 11 batters he faced. Jayhawks shortstop Collier Cranford (4-for-5) was a one-man offensive machine on Friday night, hitting for the cycle and driving in seven runs. And Cranford did not just hit for the cycle, he hit a natural cycle; single, double, triple, and home run, in order. Cranford was asked after the game about hitting for the cycle. “Yeah, I was walking up to my at-bat and I think some kid yelled and asked me if I was going to hit for the cycle and I ignored him," Cranford said. "At that point, I was thinking about it. I really don’t have any words." Prior to the beginning of the weekend series, weather forced a change to the schedule and a doubleheader was played on Saturday. UCF took game one 6-2 to even the series. The Knights then took game two of the doubleheader 4-1 to take the road series. Kansas State at Houston Kansas State opened their series in Houston with a 5-3 win. After falling behind Houston 3-0, a four-run sixth inning for the Wildcats was the difference in the ballgame. All-American Tyson Neighbors made his first appearance since he was sidelined by an injury in February, and he threw 18 pitches in a scoreless inning of relief work. The win was the 800th in the career of head coach Pete Hughes. The Wildcats clawed back late to top the Cougars and take the series in Houston 6-5. Owen Woodward was solid in relief for Houston, with three scoreless innings to give the Cougars a chance. A balanced offensive effort by Kansas State while taking advantage of two Houston errors was the difference in the one-run victory to take the road series. Brady Day was 5-for-6 on Sunday as Kansas State completed the road sweep with a 9-3 victory. The Wildcats pounded out 15 base hits in the win, their ninth straight. Neighbors (1-0), after returning from injury Friday night, worked two scoreless innings for the win on Sunday and threw 24 pitches while striking out two Houston batters. Neighbors spoke with College Baseball Nation about his comeback weekend after the game on Sunday. Talking about pitching for the first time in over a month when he made his Friday night appearance, Neighbors recalled his freshman season when he had difficulty at times finding the strike zone. Neighbors said that at the time, "I'd go 3-0 and come back and punch them out." Friday, facing his first opposing batter in over a month, Neighbors threw three balls to go 3-0. From the dugout he heard Coach Hughes yell out, “You got him right where you want him, kid.” It was true. Neighbors got the strikeout, he said, "I punched him out after going 3-0, it just felt like old times, kind of like freshman year." Neighbors spoke about his role right now and his mentality, "Just going out there trying to compete and win ballgames. If it's coming out in the sixth in tight situations or coming out of the pen in the ninth when we need it, whatever. I'm just being a team guy and doing my best to help the team win." Asked if he was at full strength after his injury, Neighbors nodded in the affirmative and said, “I’m good.” Baylor at Texas Baylor stole the series opener in Austin 4-3 in 11 innings. Mason Marriott out-dueled Lebarron Johnson Jr. Marriott allowed just one earned run over six innings while Johnson Jr.. allowed three earned runs over seven innings, but neither pitcher was around when the game was settled. Baylor got a lights-out performance from Ethan Calder who pitched the final four innings of the game and was nearly perfect, yielding just one walk. A Daniel Altman RBI double in the top of the 11th inning proved to be the winning run as Calder slammed the door on Texas with the Bears third straight Big 12 victory. Texas re-set the series to even with a 10-2 drubbing of the Bears on Saturday afternoon. Longhorns' left-hander Ace Whitehead tossed a complete game making his first ever weekend start. Whitehead struck out five batters and allowed just two Baylor runs. Jared Thomas led the Longhorns offense going 4-for-5 with two home runs and four RBI. Texas then run-ruled Baylor on Sunday 11-1 in eight innings to claim the series on their home turf. Texas right-fielder Max Belyeu had himself a day. Belyeu went 3-for-4, those three hits were all home runs and he drove in six runs to lead the offense. Meanwhile, Max Grubbs pitched seven innings for the Longhorns allowing just one run on five hits. West Virginia at Oklahoma Braden Davis and Reid Hensley combined for a no-hitter and the Oklahoma offense had no problem getting to Mountaineers pitchers as the Sooners won 13-0. Davis struck out 12 batters over seven innings and Hensley struck out three batters over the final two innings to complete the no-no. The Mountaineers responded in Saturday's first game to win 9-5 dealing Oklahoma their first loss of the season in Conference play. The Sooners, trailing 9-2 going into the bottom of the ninth inning, started to make things interesting, plating three runs and perhaps taking advantage of a tiring Derek Clark. The left-hander pitched a complete game for the Mountaineers to help his team even the series. Clark struck out seven and threw 127 pitches. The final out was recorded at third base on a bases loaded two RBI single into right field as the runner on first base attempted to stretch one base into two but a great throw from right field beat the runner in plenty of time to end the game. West Virginia then took the second game of the day 8-3 to rebound and claim the road series. The Mountaineers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning and never looked back. Kyson Withersoon was outstanding out of the Oklahoma bullpen as he cruised through 7 2/3 innings and allowed just one run while striking out 11 West Virginia Batters. Likewise, David Hagaman was equally great out of the Mountaineers bullpen as he pitched the final 6 2/3 innings and allowed just one run to go with 10 strikeouts. Five West Virginia home runs and a balanced offensive attack made the difference in the Mountaineers series-clinching victory. Cincinnati was the only Big 12 team not to play a conference series this weekend. New Rankings After the weekend, there is still just one team in the new College Baseball Nation Top 25, but it is a new team now. The Oklahoma Sooners, previously ranked No. 20, dropped their series at home this weekend to fall out of the Top 25. Kansas State has now moved in to claim the No. 23 spot. The Wildcats are in the Top 25 for the first time this season. Weekly Awards Big 12 Players of the Week Player: Max Belyeu, UT, OF Pitcher: Payton Tolle, TCU, LHP Newcomer: Payton Tolle, TCU, LHP Quoted "I’m extremely grateful for this milestone win, but I’m only interested in 801.” - Kansas State head coach Pete Hughes after his 800th career win on Friday night. "It was awesome. The guys were way into that and I think everyone that was watching the game kind of saw it building where it was single, double, triple. He comes up there and gets to two strikes and we thought if he could pound one to right here and then sure enough he did. Happy for Collier. He’s a heck of a player and a heck of a teammate. It’s fun when those guys have those awesome accomplishments.” - Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald on his team responding to Cranford's hitting for the cycle on Friday night. “I thought it was a fantastic game from our club. I think that was exactly what we needed to do. I thought every guy on the team was competing to their utmost potential. It was a fun win. Mason Marriott was outstanding to start the game, Patrick Hail had some big outs and then Ethan Calder, how big was that. That was huge. Danny Altman had the big hit, but we had guys up and down the lineup getting things done so it was a lot of fun.” - Baylor head coach Mitch Thompson on his team's complete effort to win at Texas on Friday night. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

  • SEC Weekly Roundup (March 21-24): What a Difference a Week Makes

    Things can change quickly in the SEC as the conference remains as deep as ever. That was on full display this past weekend, particularly with Vanderbilt and Alabama who both had big series wins to begin SEC play only to get swept this past weekend. While South Carolina lost its first SEC series of the year, they handed it to the Commodores this past weekend winning 8-4, 8-3, and and 10-2. Eli Jones was great on the mound for the Gamecocks in game one allowing just 1 hit over 6.1 innings. On the other side, Carter Holton struck out 10 in 6 innings. But this misplay in center led to a huge 7th inning for South Carolina. Ethan Petry hit a pair of homers in the second game of the series, and then in the finale, Tyler Pitzer tossed 6.1 innings without allowing an earned run while striking out nine. Georgia’s Charlie Condon should be the talk of college baseball. He’s already hitting .517 with 17 home runs this year, and he led the Bulldogs to a home sweep over Alabama this past weekend with 6 hits and 3 home runs, including this go-ahead nuke on Saturday. In the first two games particularly, the Georgia pitching staff did a much better job of limiting the walks, which plagued them the previous weekend. Still, the Crimson Tide had plenty of chances but just couldn’t get that big hit. The series of the weekend between Florida and LSU lived up to the hype – aided by record-setting crowds at Alex Box Stadium to see a rematch of last year’s College World Series finale. After a rough outing to begin SEC play this year, LSU ace Luke Holman bounced back to strike out a career-high 13 Florida batters in 6 innings while only allowing 1 run in a 6-1 LSU win on Friday night. The two teams went to extra innings on Saturday after Florida scored single runs in the eighth and ninth to tie it up. Then Jac Caglianone hit this rocket in the 11th to give Florida the win. Cags turned around and tossed 7 innings on Sunday allowing just 1 earned run on 3 hits. The Gators bats started to wake up as well, hitting 6 combined home runs in a 12-2 (8) win to take the series. It’s early, but Arkansas’ Hagen Smith, Condon, and Caglianone have started to form the trifecta we saw in the SEC last year with Paul Skenes, Dylan Crews, and Wyatt Langford. After tossing 6 shutout innings against Auburn on Thursday night with 12 strikeouts, Smith is now 4-0 on the year with a 1.24 ERA in 29 innings allowing 11 hits and 10 walks with 62 strikeouts. The dominant pitching was needed as the Razorbacks' only run came on a home run from Wehiwa Aloy in a 1-0 win. It was another close one in game two as Arkansas came back late to win 6-5. Pinch-hitter Ryder Helfrick came on the ninth to deliver the final blow. In the finale, it was a 6-run sixth inning that helped Auburn escape with a win at home. Cooper McMurray’s 3-run shot gave the Tigers the lead for good. One of the biggest surprises early on is Kentucky’s 5-1 start to conference play. After sweeping Georgia at home last weekend, they went to Missouri this past weekend and won a close series. Trey Pooser allowed just 1 earned run on 3 hits and 2 walks over 6 innings with 7 strikeouts for Kentucky on Friday in a 9-4 win. Missouri’s Javyn Pimental and Bryce Mayer combined to allow just 1 earned run on 5 hits and 1 walk with 9 strikeouts in game two as they evened the series with a 2-1 victory. These two teams played another close one on Sunday that almost saw Missouri come back in the bottom of the ninth, but the Cats held on for the 7-6 win. Tennessee picked up a pair of run-rule wins over Ole Miss at home this past weekend 15-3 and 15-4. In the first of those games, Christian Moore hit a pair of home runs, Kavares Tears had 3 hits and 4 runs, and Robin Villeneuve drove in four. Moore added another homer in Sunday’s big win, while Billy Amick drove in five – four of them coming on a grand slam. In between those two games, Ole Miss did pick up an 8-5 win. Liam Doyle struck out 10 Tennessee hitters in 6 innings, while Andrew Fischer led the Ole Miss charge on offense with 3 runs scored, 2 home runs, and 2 walks. It was a 4-run ninth inning that lifted them to victory. This hit by Ethan Groff gave them the lead. Gavin Grahovac got the weekend party started early for Texas A&M on Thursday night with this grand slam to give the Aggies the lead over Mississippi State and ultimately a 6-3 win. That was after hitting a solo shot in the first. Ryan Prager was good on the mound for Texas A&M in that one tossing 6.1 innings without allowing an earned run and striking out 8. The Bulldogs would bounce back on Friday with a 5-1 win thanks to a 3-run homer by Hunter Hines and a great performance on the mound by Khal Stephen (6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 1 ER, 5 Ks). It was the Braden Montgomery show in the finale as he blasted a pair of home runs and drove in 3. That was plenty for Texas A&M starter, Justin Lamkin, who allowed just 1 earned run on 2 hits and 1 walk over 7.1 innings with 12 strikeouts in the 6-1 win. SEC Power Rankings Tier 1 Arkansas Florida Texas A&M Tier 2 LSU Vanderbilt South Carolina Tennessee Tier 3 Mississippi State Alabama Georgia Kentucky Ole Miss Auburn Tier 4 Missouri Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

  • 2024 Week 6 College Baseball Top 25

    See the full college baseball rankings below! Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content, including college baseball rankings!

  • Big 12 Notebook: March 21, 2024

    Recapping the Midweek No. 20 Oklahoma was shut out by Dallas Baptist 6-0. TCU defeated UT Arlington 7-3 on Tuesday in Ft. Worth. Kansas defeated Missouri 4-3 in Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Royals. Kansas State won 8-6 at Wichita State. Oklahoma State won 13-4 over Missouri State Tuesday night at O’Brate Stadium. Texas Tech beat Abilene Christian 9-4 in Lubbock on Tuesday. Baylor was rocked by Sam Houston in Huntsville, Texas 18-3. The Bears gave up 12 runs in an inning and that was the ballgame. UCF defeated Florida Atlantic 3-2. BYU traveled to St. George, Utah to face Utah Tech and won the game 11-6. West Virginia shutout Marshall 15-0 in Morgantown. Houston swept Rice on back-to-back days, 4-1 and 4-2, to claim the Silver Glove Series. Cincinnati topped Miami (Ohio) on the road in Oxford, 11-3. Texas hosted Air Force for a pair of midweek games. The Longhorns walked-off the Falcons on Tuesday, 6-5 in 10 innings and then had an easier time of things on Wednesday taking a 12-3 victory for the midweek sweep. Weekend Schedule BYU (10-8, 3-3) at Texas Tech (15-6, 2-4) (Thur - Sat) West Virginia (12-9, 2-1) at No. 20 Oklahoma (13-7, 6-0) TCU (16-5, 1-5) at Oklahoma State (13-8, 1-2) UCF (13-5, 2-4) at Kansas (11-8, 3-3) Kansas State (14-6, 2-1) at Houston (14-6, 4-2) Baylor (7-13, 2-4) at Texas (13-8, 2-1) Cincinnati does not play a Big 12 opponent this weekend. League Notes Texas Tech announced an alteration to their starting rotation this weekend when they host BYU, a series which begins on Thursday. Freshman Mac Heuer will start Thursday's first game so that ace Kyle Robinson can make his usual Friday start. The Red Raiders have not yet announced a Saturday starter for the series finale. Oklahoma State ranks second in the Big 12 with a team ERA of 4.09. Six Cowboys pitchers have an ERA under 3.00. Right-hander Brian Holiday ranks fourth in the conference with a 1.83ERA. Logan Maxwell has reached safely in 21 straight games for TCU dating back to last season. Maxwell's .403 batting average ranks third in the Big 12. Houston right-hander Duncan Howard has not allowed a walk in four starts this season. Hunter is the only pitcher in Division I that has not allowed a walk this season. Third baseman Easton Jones leads BYU this season batting .377 with 23 hits, four doubles, six home runs, and 13 RBI. Jones enters the weekend ranked second in the Big 12 in slugging percentage at .738. John Spikerman leads No. 20 Oklahoma with a .394 batting average and Michael Snyder leads the Sooners with nine home runs. Matt Prevesk leads UCF with a .370 batting average, which includes six extra-base hits, 15 runs scored, and 15 RBI. Texas ace Lebarron Johnson Jr., ranks in the top 10 in the Big 12 with 26 1/3 innings pitched, a 3.08 ERA, 33 strikeouts, and a .207 batting average against. Kansas State second baseman Brady Day, a 12th round draft pick in the 2023 MLB Draft who chose to return to school, leads the Wildcats in eight offensive categories: average (.392), slugging percentage (.734), on-base percentage (.515), OPS (1.250), hits (31), RBI (30), home runs (6), and total bases (58). Baylor is the definition of a youth movement. True or redshirt freshmen have accounted for 46% of innings pitched on the mound for the Bears this season (79 1/3 of 174 innings). In addition, 59% of Baylor's offense (101 of 170 hits) has been produced by underclassmen or players in their first season at Baylor. Kansas is the only team with three pitchers ranked in the top 10 in ERA in the Big 12. Dominic Voegele with a 2.08 ERA is fifth in the league, Patrick Steitz is sixth with a 2.31 ERA, and Reese Dutton is seventh at 2.57. The Jayhawks trio has started all five weekends to this point and have a combined 2.33 ERA, earning eight wins in their 15 starts. Cincinnati leads the Big 12 and ranks 12th nationally in walks with 172. The Bearcats have three players inside the top 10 in the conference in free passes. Kerrington Cross has have been walked 24 times so far this season, which leads the conference and ranks eighth nationally. Quoted “If we play our style of baseball—where we pitch and defend at a high level, and get creative on offense—we can play with anybody in the country, anywhere,” UCF head coach Rich Wallace said. “I want to see us take what we do here and take it up there. I’m looking forward to the weekend.” Round Numbers The Houston program sits at 1,999 wins in its history. The next win for the Cougars will be No, 2,000. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

  • SEC Weekly Roundup (March 15-17): Feels Good to Be Home

    It’s challenging to win in the SEC and even more difficult to win on the road as we saw in week one of conference play as every home team won their series. That includes Mississippi State’s big series win over LSU. The Bulldogs offense had a huge weekend scoring 33 total runs, and the weekend ended with a run-rule victory of 15-5. Mississippi State’s Hunter Hines had a big weekend hitting 3 home runs in their two wins. Aaron Downs picked up 7 hits and scored 5 runs, while on the mound Nolan Stevens struck out 8 in 5.2 innings on Friday night. LSU managed a 9-8 win on Saturday thanks to a 3-RBI game from Tommy White who also hit 3 tanks on the weekend. Easily the most entertaining matchup of the weekend was Texas A&M at Florida. All three games were decided by 4 runs or less and had several dramatic moments. The teams exchanged blows on Friday night leading to a 6-6 tie after just 4 innings. Florida used 5 home runs to get the 8-6 win, including two by Jac Caglianone. But a Cade Kurland homer in the sixth gave them the lead. After a round second inning for Florida starter Cade Fisher that saw him give up 5 runs, he settled in and ended the game with 10 strikeouts over 6 innings. Brandon Neely pitched the final 3 innings to secure the victory. On Saturday it was the Aggies who used the long ball getting one each from Braden Montgomery, Gavin Grahovac, and Jace LaViolette. That helped them build an early 8-3 lead and they held on for the 10-6 win as Evan Aschenbeck settled the game down on the mound for Texas A&M tossing 4 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts. Sunday’s game was the best of the weekend with Texas A&M twice taking a 1-run lead only to see Florida immediately tie it up. Caglianone continued his good work on the mound this year by allowing just 1 earned run over 5.1 innings with 7 strikeouts. But then it was Tyler Shelnut’s moment in the 8th as he hit the go-ahead and eventual game-winning homer. Neely pitched two more scoreless innings for the Gators with 4 strikeouts, while Luke McNeillie picked up the save. The weekend got out to a rough start for Alabama as they were beaten 11-3 by Tennessee on Friday night. The Volunteer offense did a great job making Ben Hess work as he walked 5 batters leading to 4 earned runs over just 3.2 innings. But the Crismon Tide picked themselves up and came out ready to play on Saturday jumping out to a 6-0 lead against Tennessee starter Drew Beam. The All-American settled down and ended up pitching a complete game for Tennessee, which allowed them the chance to come back. But Alabama closer Alton Davis II shut the door with 2 scoreless frames to give his team the 6-3 win. The finale saw Tennessee jump out to a 4-1 lead, but Alabama was able to tie it up on a Will Hodo home run in the fourth. Both offenses had plenty of baserunners but couldn’t take advantage. Tennessee did scratch across a run in the 7th to take a 1-run lead. In the eighth inning, after it looked like Kavares Tears made a game-saving catch for Tennesee, Alabama’s Gage Miller hit a 2-out, 3-run homer to give Alabama the lead. A couple of Alabama errors in the 9th allowed a run to score and loaded the bases, but Aidan Moza got the big strikeout to seal the deal and the series for the Crimson Tide. Like their in-state rivals, Ole Miss got a big boost of confidence to start SEC play with a series win over South Carolina. After South Carolina jumped out to an early lead on Friday night, a Luke Hill 2-RBI double in the sixth gave Ole Miss the lead. Three walks loaded the bases in the seventh for Ole Miss. Treyson Hughes hit into a double-play that scored a run, and it ended up being the deciding factor in a 5-4 victory. An 8-run inning on Saturday turned a close game into a route in favor of Ole Miss. Ethan Groff and Andrew Fischer were a big part of the Ole Miss offense with a combined 6 hits, 6 runs, 7 RBI, and 4 home runs (3 of them by Fischer). South Carolina did manage to survive the road series with a 6-2 win on Sunday. They got a good performance out of the bullpen from Matthew Becker who gave up just 2 earned runs over 5.1 innings. Kentucky put a rough weekend against Kennesaw State behind them to get a sweep over Georgia this past weekend. The offense was hot all weekend in 16-10, 9-3, and 12-2 wins. But it was the pitching by Dominic Niman (6.2 IP and 0 ER on Sunday) and Mason Moore (6 IP, 2 ER, and 8 Ks on Sunday) that helped carry them to the sweep. Leadoff hitter Ryan Waldschmidt led the way in the first two games with a combined 6 hits and 6 runs scored. While Ryan Nicholson drove them in with 5 hits, 6 RBI, and 2 home runs on the weekend. Vanderbilt didn’t give Auburn much of a chance this past weekend with 11-1 (8), 13-5, and 9-6 wins. Carter Holton allowed just 1 earned run over 7 innings on Friday with 9 strikeouts, while Bryce Cunningham also allowed just 1 earned run on Saturday in 5 innings. Auburn did hold a slim 5-4 lead going into the sixth on Sunday, but then Davis and Jonathan Vastine each picked up 2-run doubles. Vanderbilt’s offense had a combined 47 hits on the weekend – led by Jayden Davis and Alan Espinal who each had 8 hits. Baseball can be a cruel sport sometimes, and that’s what Missouri has to be thinking as they had to open conference play against the number one team in the country. Arkansas’ pitching staff held Missouri to just 1 run on the weekend in a sweep with 8-0, 6-0, and 9-1 victories. Hagan Smith continues to be a cheat code. Despite the increase in offense around college baseball, he tossed another 6 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts on Friday. In 5 starts this year now, Smith has given up just 4 earned runs (3 of those in week one) on 8 hits and 8 walks with 50 strikeouts in 23 innings. Nolan Souza had a big day at the plate for Arkansas on Friday with 3 hits, including 2 home runs. Brady Tygart and Will McEntire combined for a 1-hitter on Saturday, while Arkansas’ top three hitters in the lineup (Peyton Stovall, Wehiwa Aloy, and Kendall Diggs) all went deep. Mason Molina struck out 10 in 5.1 scoreless innings on Saturday for the Razorbacks to finish off the sweep. SEC Power Rankings Tier 1 1. Arkansas 2. Vanderbilt (up 3) 3. Florida (up 4) 4. Texas A&M (down 2) 5. LSU (down 2) Tier 2 6. Alabama (up 2) 7. Tennessee (down 3) 8. Mississippi State (up 4) 9. Ole Miss (up 4) 10. South Carolina (down 2) Tier 3 11. Auburn (down 1) 12. Kentucky (up 1) 13. Georgia (down 4) Tier 4 14. Missouri Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

  • Big 12 Weekly Roundup (Mar. 14-17): A Newly Ranked Team

    By the time the last out was recorded in the Big 12 on Saturday night, the weekend already had everything: one series was already complete (Houston at BYU); one game had been postponed after 4 innings to be continued Sunday (Texas Tech at Baylor); there was one series that was even (Kansas at Cincinnati); there was a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th on a hit-by-pitch (Oklahoma State at UCF); and two series were at 2-0. In addition to all of that, of the four new teams in the Big 12 this season, only Houston had won a Big 12 series before this weekend. By the close of business on Saturday night, two of the new teams had won their first Big 12 series, with the fourth team having the possibility on Sunday. This does not include the rocket that took off into the night sky on Friday in Florida beyond the right field wall providing quite the scene for those attending the Oklahoma State and UCF game in Orlando. The spectacle, in the top of the eighth inning, was a momentary distraction from the UCF 10-2 lead. And there was still baseball to play on Sunday. Oklahoma State at UCF The starting pitching for both teams was solid the first time through the order on Friday evening. Lex Boedicker broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning with a two-run home run off of Cowboys left-hander Sam Garcia. It was the first of five Knights home runs on the night on their way to a 13-2 romp. UCF starter Ben Vespi allowed just two runs over six innings. Oklahoma State right-hander Brian Holiday was dominant on Saturday night. Holiday racked up 11 strikeouts and left after eight innings leading 3-2. The Cowboys looked poised to even the series. Andrew Sundean tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with a solo home run to right-center field, a real show of power going the opposite way. Still in the bottom of the ninth, the Knights loaded the bases. Matt Prevesk was hit by a pitch with two outs and UCF walked off 4-3 winners and claimed their first Big 12 series win with eyes on a Sunday sweep. “I was just trying to put the ball in play and make something happen,” Prevesk said. “I took a deep breath after the first pitch, and I was fired up to take one for the team.” Sunday afternoon Oklahoma State staved off a sweep by outscoring UCF 16-10. Aidan Meola hit a three-run home run to cap a seven run second inning. A six-run fourth inning for the Cowboys gave them a 13-4 advantage, which proved to be enough for their only win of the weekend. Kansas at Cincinnati Kansas drubbed Cincinnati 14-4 to open the series on Friday. Chase Diggins and Kodey Shojinaga each had four hits and four RBI for the Jayhawks while Reese Dutton had another great outing over six innings to get his fourth win of the season. Little did anyone know that the Jayhawks would only score one run the rest of the weekend. On Saturday, Cincinnati right-hander Tommy Boba took a no-hitter into the 9th inning. A lead off bunt by John Nett ended no-hit bid and Boba’s day. After a double put runners in scoring position for the Jayhawks, the Bearcats closed the door stranding runners on 2nd and 3rd for a 1-0 win. Kansas starter Dominic Voegele, who opposed Boba, was the hard luck loser having pitched six quality innings and allowing just the one run on an Alec Jones RBI single. Cincinnati returned the Friday drubbing with a lopsided win of their own on Sunday, 10-1 to claim the series, their first in the Big 12. Nathan Taylor tossed six scoreless innings while his offense scored a run in every inning except the eighth (the Bearcats did not bat in the ninth). The Cincinnati offense was a model of balance, with just two players with multiple RBI, and they each had two in the game. Oklahoma at TCU Oklahoma opened up the weekend in Ft. Worth with a statement win on Friday, 7-3. A serviceable start by Oklahoma’s Braden Davis over four innings, was followed by an outstanding performance by Kyson Witherspoon out of the Sooners bullpen. Witherspoon did not allow a run over the final five innings to preserve the road win. The victory snapped TCU’s 17 game home win streak and was also the 200th win for head coach Skip Johnson at Oklahoma. Trailing 2-1 in the top of the fifth inning on Saturday, Oklahoma's Bryce Madron, who was 3-for-4 in the Friday opener, destroyed a baseball that landed somewhere beyond the right field wall for a three-run home run off of TCU starter Kole Klecker. TCU tied the game at five in the bottom of the eighth inning. Carter Frederick led off the top of the ninth inning with a pinch-hit home run to center field and the Sooners had the lead right back. Oklahoma manufactured another run to put the game away and secure the series with a 7-5 win. Sunday was all Oklahoma as they rolled to the series sweep on the road. The Sooners built a 6-0 lead in the fifth inning. TCU responded with home runs by Kurtis Byrne and Karson Bowen to get within two runs at 6-4. Oklahoma plated three runs in the top of the ninth inning to essentially put the game away at 9-4. Oklahoma’s statement win on Friday night turned into a statement series sweep on Sunday afternoon. Texas Tech at Baylor Texas Tech got their road trip to Waco started with a 2-0 shutout on Friday night. Red Raiders starter Kyle Robinson and reliever Josh Sanders combined to four-hit the Bears. Baylor was leading 5-0 in the fourth inning on Saturday when the skies opened up and forced the postponement of the game until Sunday. This meant both teams would have to manage 15 innings of baseball on Sunday afternoon. The Bears held on to win the game once it continued on Sunday, 5-1. Then Sunday brought another challenge: a one hour and 26 minute rain delay in the top of the seventh inning with Baylor leading 3-0. An already soggy field, got more water to work with as a light rain continued to fall even after the resumption of play. The 2024 Baylor team is a young team and that was on full display as freshman pitchers combined to throw 14 1/3 innings with 13 strikeouts in Baylor’s two wins over Texas Tech. The Red Raiders offense only scored five runs all weekend. Houston at BYU This series started Thursday and ended Saturday, and with both teams having Cougars as mascots, it is best to stick with calling them by their school name in recaps like this. Houston walked away with a game one victory in Provo 9-2. Houston basically threw a bullpen game on Thursday and kept their Friday and Saturday starters on schedule. The usual Houston Sunday starter ended up throwing two solid innings in relief in Saturday’s finale. BYU bounced back from dropping game one to take the series, their first in the Big 12. Despite a six inning 13 strikeout performance by Houston right-hander Jaxon Jelkin, BYU got to the Houston bullpen and wound up with a 4-2 victory on Friday. Bryce Robison pitched six strong innings for BYU in Friday's series-tying win. BYU then won a 10-8 slugfest on Saturday. BYU third baseman Easton Jones hit a home run in each game of the series. Three Big 12 teams did not play Conference opponents this weekend: Kansas State, Texas, West Virginia. New Rankings After the weekend, there is still just one team in the new College Baseball Nation Top 25. The Oklahoma Sooners check in this week at No. 20, and back in the Top 25 for the first time since they were No. 24 in week one. Weekly Awards Big 12 Players of the Week Player: Bryce Madron, Oklahoma, OF Pitcher: Tommy Boba, Cincinnati, RHP Newcomer: Mason Green, Baylor, LHP Quoted “I knew it was going to take something completely different than it did last night to beat these guys, and we went sac fly, safety squeeze, home run and walk-off hit by pitch with the bases loaded. That, I didn’t have on my Bingo card for how we were going to score our four runs, but I’m sure glad that we did.” - UCF head coach Rich Wallace after Saturday's walk-off win. Baylor head coach Mitch Thompson was asked about the mindset of his team after resuming the suspended game on Sunday against Texas Tech. “The [rain delay] part of it stunk, to be honest with you. We were off to a good start, but there was a lot of ballgame left. To run out there today and go with 14-plus innings of freshman pitching, that was exciting. They handled themselves against a really good club in a really good environment, and we got out of there with two wins, so it was a big deal,” Thompson said. Houston head coach Todd Whitting was doing an in-game interview on ESPN+ on Thursday night during their game at BYU. With runners on the corners, a botched stolen base attempt resulted in an out at second base and with the runner on third base going nowhere. Whitting said, “I didn’t put that play on, by the way,” which brought laughter and affirmation from the broadcast duo. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

  • 2024 Week 5 College Baseball Top 25

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  • Big 12 Notebook: March 14, 2024

    Recapping the Midweek No. 14 TCU defeated No. 17 Dallas Baptist 9-6 Texas defeated Incarnate Word 7-1 in Austin Texas Tech over New Mexico State 13-7 on Tuesday and 9-7 on Wednesday Kansas lost to Missouri 5-4 Kansas State hosted and defeated South Dakota State 16-5 Oklahoma State topped Oklahoma in game one of Bedlam 14-5 Cincinnati lost at home to Western Illinois 12-11 on Tuesday but took the rematch Wednesday 8-3 West Virginia beat Marshall 11-2 UCF toppled Stetson 7-1 in Orlando Baylor thumped Stephen F. Austin 17-4 in Waco BYU’s game at Utah was cancelled. Houston did not have a midweek game scheduled. Weekend Schedule Oklahoma (10-6, 3-0) at No. 14 TCU (15-2, 1-2) Texas Tech 13-4, 1-2) at Baylor (5-11, 0-3) Houston (11-4, 3-0) at BYU (7-7, 1-2) (series begins Thursday) Kansas (9-6, 2-1) at Cincinnati (10-8, 1-2) Oklahoma State (11-6, 0-0) at UCF (10-4, 0-3) Big 12 Teams Not Playing a Conference Series This Weekend: Ohio State at West Virginia Missouri State at Kansas State Washington at Texas League Notes No. 14 TCU is one of 14 programs in the country with at least 15 wins this season. Kansas catcher Jake English (.356) and outfielder John Nett (.345) have reached base safely in all 15 games this season for the Jayhawks. Houston first baseman Justin Murray leads the Big 12 in on-base percentage (.582). Oklahoma duo Easton Carmichael and John Spikerman co-lead the team with a .419 average which is tied for fifth best in the Big 12. Kansas State’s offense is hitting .310 with five players hitting over .300. Ten Wildcats players have hit home runs this season, including seven with multiple home runs led by Brady Day with five. Oklahoma State has 115 RBIs this season, 49 of which have come with two outs. Carson Benge leads the Cowboys with 13 two-out RBIs. Benge has also reached base safely in all 17 games this season, and in 26 straight games dating back to the final nine games of last season. Max Belyeu is batting .319 with four doubles and a team leading six home runs for the Texas Longhorns. UCF, which is hosting Oklahoma State this weekend, is 7-1 at home this season with first year head coach Rich Wallace at the helm. Baylor pitchers have recorded double digit strikeouts in seven of their 16 games so far this season, Houston will be at BYU, the two teams have never faced each other. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

  • SEC Weekly Roundup (Mar. 8-10): Playtime is Over

    In the final weekend before conference play starts, every team looked to pad their resume with some fairly easy matchups. That backfired on Kentucky who lost their weekend series to Kennesaw State dropping the first two games of the series 13-1 (8) and 10-2. Missouri split a four-game series with Purdue Fort-Wayne, while Florida, LSU, and Auburn dropped single games to Saint-Mary’s, Xavier, and Austin Peay. But those were the seven losses on the weekend. Here are some of the highlights from all the wins. Florida very nearly dropped the series to Saint-Mary’s if it weren’t for the heroics of Colby Shelton in Game 1 with this walk-off, 3-run homer. The same goes for Auburn who needed this walk-off home run by Mason Maners in Game 1 against Austin Peay. Texas A&M remains the only unbeaten team in the conference after a weekend sweep over Rhode Island. But they had to work for it on Sunday with this walk-off hit from Hayden Schott. Dakota Jordan of Mississippi State homered in all three games against Evansville over the weekend, including this 462 foot blast. He’s homered in four straight games and six of the last eight. Georiga leads the conference in runs scored thanks to hitting six grand slams their past six games. It’s worth mentioning that Peyton Stovall returned from injury for Arkansas and homered in his first game back. Pitching Standouts Many pitchers across the conference had outstanding weekends. Ryan Prager for Texas A&M tossed 7 shutout innings against Rhode Island with 13 strikeouts. Luke Holman continues his dominant start with LSU striking out 10 over 6 scoreless, hitless innings against Xavier. Gage Jump racked up 10 strikeouts as well for LSU against Xavier over 5 innings with just 3 hits allowed. And to round out the LSU rotation, Thatcher Hurd struck out 9 over 5 innings on Sunday with just 4 hits and a walk allowed. Carter Holton is getting on track for Vanderbilt as he struck out 11 batters in 5 innings. Bryce Cunningham followed that up with 11 strikeouts on Saturday over 8 innings with just 4 hits allowed. And then on Sunday, Devin Futrell tossed a complete game shutout. The bullpen has been a problem for Vanderbilt early on, but one way to reduce that issue is to have dominant starters who go deep into the game. Tennessee’s AJ Causey struck out 12 over 6 innings against Illinois. Liam Doyle made his first career start with Ole Miss over the weekend and struck out 8 batters in 3.1 innings against Morehead State. SEC Power Rankings Tier 1 Arkansas Texas A&M LSU Tennessee Tier 2 Vanderbilt South Carolina Florida Alabama Georgia Auburn Tier 3 Mississippi State Ole Miss Tier 4 Kentucky Missouri Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

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  • SEC Weekly Roundup (Mar. 1-3): Rivalry Weekend

    It’s the best weekend of the early, non-conference slate as we get to see three big time SEC-ACC matchups. Florida and Miami both came limping into their weekend series having suffered mid-week upsets. The Gators took the series with 7-3 and 8-4 wins on Friday and Sunday. Jac Caglianone helped them secure the series on Sunday by tossing 6 shutout innings with 11 strikeouts while also going deep. He had 7 hits and 2 home runs against the Hurricanes. Georgia had a big weekend against it’s rival, Georgia Tech, and it could have been even bigger. They were up 9-3 on Friday before the game was halted in the 5th inning due to weather and the decision was made to cancel the game entirely. But they didn’t let that get them down as they still won the series by taking down the Yellow Jackets 3-1 and 11-9. Charlie Condon hit a home run in Sunday’s game where Bulldogs had 12 hits and 5 walks. It was a brutal weekend for South Carolina as their only home game of tha Palmetto Series against rival Clemson was cancelled, and then they lost a pair of 1-run games. On Saturday Ethan Petry hit a dramatic 2-run homer in the 9th to tie the game, but Clemson’s Andrew Ciufo hit a walk-off home run in the 12th inning. It was the only hit reliever Garrett Gainey allowed in 3.2 innings out of the bullpen. Despite another Petry home run in the 9th inning on Sunday, it wasn’t enough as they fell short by 1 run again. Big Non-Conference Matchups Not only did this weekend have some great rivalry matchups, but several teams also played in some big non-conference tournaments. LSU kicked it off with a classic matchup against Texas in which they won 6-3 thanks to a great performance on the mound by Luke Holman. He punched out 12 in 5.2 innings only allolwed 3 hits and 1 walk. On Saturday they would get a 1-run win against UL-Lafayette, and then they finished off the weekend with a 10-5 win over Texas State. UCLA transfer, Gage Jump, tossed 5 shutout innings on Saturday. Vanderbilt was in that same tournament as LSU (Astros Foundation College Classic) and also swept the field taking down UL-Lafayette (7-3), Houston (3-1), and Texas (14-11). Alan Espinal broke the game open against UL-Lafayette wit a 3-run homer in the 7th inning. Bryce Cunningham dominated on the mound for the Commodores against Houston allowed just 1 earned run over 5.2 innings with 8 strikeouts. Sunday’s finale against Texas was wild as Vanderbilt found themselves down 11-3 after 3 innings. They chipped away with 2 runs in the 5th and 2 in the 6th. And then they exploded in the 7th with 5 runs to give them the lead. That inning started with a hit by pitch, single, single, error, and triple. Sawyer Hawks and Ryan Ginther did a great job keeping the Loghorns off the scoreboard the final 4 innings to allow the comeback. Alabama went out to Frisco, Texas and won games over Indiana (12-0) and Arizona (7-6) before suffering their first defeat of the season at the hands of a really good Dallas Baptist team 7-5 in 12 innings. Ben Hess struck out 10 over 5 scoreless innings against Indiana on Friday. They took advantage of some Arizona errors on Saturday to get the comeback win late. The pitching staff on Sunday was victimized by the home run ball giving up 4 to DBU hitters. Auburn hosted UConn over the weekend and after splitting a double-header on Saturday they won the series on Sunday with an 8-2 victory. Chase Allsup was great in the Saturday win giving up just 1 earned run over 6 innings with 6 strikeouts. John Armstrong finished it off with 3 hitless innings. Joseph Gonzalez didn’t make it out of the first inning of the second game on Saturday as he continues to try and get back to form. A Deric Fabian 3-run homer in the first inning of Game 3 gave the Tigers an early lead. Ike Irish also drove in 4 runs with a pair of 2-run homers. The weekend got out to a rocky start for Ole Miss as they dropped the Friday game 13-7. After tying the game with a 5-run eighth inning, the bullpen gave up 6 runs in the top of the ninth. But they carried that offensive momentum into the next two games with 12-5 and 8-3 wins. Ole Miss fell behind 5-1 on Saturday but scored 11 unanswered led by Andrew Fischer who drove in 5. On Sunday they jumped out to an 8-0 lead and got a good start on the mound from Grayson Saunier who tossed 5 scoreless innings. In the Glove Life Field Series, Texas A&M took on a couple of Pac-12 opponents in Arizona State (twice) and USC. After 4-0 and 10-5 wins over the Sun Devils and a 9-3 win over USC, the Aggies are now the only undefeated team leaf in the SEC. Ryan Prager and Evan Aschenbeck combined for the shutout on Friday night with 12 strikeouts and each pitcher allowed just 1 hit. Braden Montgomery drove in 3 of the 4 runs on a home run. Montgomery continued his hot start against USC on Saturday with 3 hits, 3 runs scored, and 2 RBI. And then he capped it off with a grand slam against Arizona State on Sunday. The Rest of Them Tennessee got a stress free sweep over Bolwing Green as all three games finished early via the run rule. The Razorbacks also got a sweep, but Murray State made them work for it with a couple of close games. Hagan Smith continues to look like one of the best pitchers in the country with 12 strikeouts over 6 innings with just 1 hit and 1 run allowed. Kentucky is quietly 10-1 on the year after sweep over Lipscomb at home this past weekend. Mississippi State was able to rack up some much-needed wins in a sweep over Mount St. Mary’s where the pitching staff allowed a total of 4 runs in the 3-game series. The rough season continues for Missouri as they dropped a series at home to Northern Kentucky. The final two games of the series saw a combined total of 69 runs scored. Missouri is the only SEC team with a losing record. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

  • 2024 Week 3 College Baseball Top 25

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