Once again, LSU and Wake Forest remain atop the College Baseball Top 50, but Florida is gaining on the top two teams. Louisville and Arkansas finish off the top five. Vanderbilt checks in at No. 6, while ECU moves up to No. 7. UCLA, Stanford, and Ole Miss complete the top ten. Oklahoma, Texas State, Coastal Carolina, Duke, and Texas enter the top 50. The SEC tops all conferences with 13 ranked teams, followed by the ACC (10), Big 12 (6), and finally the Pac-12 and Sun Belt (5). See the full top 50 below! Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

By Ryan Faulkner, @ryanfaulk03 “We don’t want to quit, and we’re not gonna run from a fight. We’re going to jump into the fire and fight our way through it.” Campbell head coach Justin Haire will be the first to admit that the Fighting Camels’ slow climb to the top has been difficult at its best and near-impossible at its worst. Yet today, they stand ranked as a top-25 team in the country for the first time in program history, Haire deserves much credit for the success enjoyed by the Camels in recent years. But his journey began long before arriving at Campbell as an assistant coach in 2008, with special attention placed on the relationships he formed along the way. Falling in love with the game Haire—the fifth of six children—was born into a large and loving family, constantly surrounded by people who supported him. But perhaps the most impactful of these relationships was that which he shared with his father, who introduced him to the great sport of baseball at a very young age. Haire’s father taught him how to read the box scores printed in local newspapers, and the pair made frequent trips to Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, former home of the Reds. It was also Haire’s father that first introduced him to Willie Mays, his favorite player growing up. “My dad’s true love was always baseball,” Haire said, noting that it was this that sparked his own passion for the game. This “passion” turned to skill when Haire started high school, where he played under Ohio coaching great Mark Maus. Haire fell into his role as the team’s go-to catcher with ease, before graduating and playing four seasons at the collegiate level. Haire said that his relationship with his father never wavered, no matter what roster the young man found himself on or how well he performed on the field. “I wasn’t a great college player. There were times I played a lot, and there were times I didn’t play at all,” Haire said. “But my dad was always super supportive of me and my college career.” After college, Haire said he wasn’t sure if he would be able to make a professional career out of coaching baseball. He was hired as a pitching coach for one season at Sterling College, a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), but struggled to see it as a long-term option. At the time, he made just $295 a month, not always having enough money to even buy groceries or pay for his phone bill. Thankfully, the strong relationship between him and his family persisted further, and his parents encouraged him to keep chasing his dreams, regardless of the monetary struggles that presented themselves at the onset. “[To be a successful coach], you need support,” Haire said. “Not just moral support, but sometimes some financial support, too, to help those dreams come to fruition. My parents were always part of that.” With this renewed motivation, Haire pushed forward. Becoming a Camel After a brief stint as an assistant coach at Ouachita Baptist, Haire received a call from Greg Goff in 2008, who had just been hired as Campbell’s new head coach. Unsure of what the future held for him, Haire packed his bags and moved to Buies Creek, North Carolina, and started as an assistant coach for the program he now helms today. “We call it ‘development without a distraction.’ We want to be a baseball factory.” In 2008, Campbell was not exactly known for its baseball program. The Camels had posted an 11-45 record the season prior and won only two conference games all year. Haire said that, although they were not impossible fixes, Campbell had some hurdles that would need to be overcome before the team could begin winning ball games. “It was just not a very good program,” Haire said. The task of revitalizing a program that had fallen to the wayside was further complicated by the university’s location, situated in a town with a population of just over 2,000. Instead of a cause for fear or frustration, however, Haire said he saw an opportunity to actually use this as an advantage that could further develop the baseball team and its players. “We’re in the middle of tobacco and cotton fields, and there isn't even a Main Street. There’s no bright lights or big cities. We embrace that,” Haire said. “We call it ‘development without a distraction.’ We want to be a baseball factory.” And the upsides didn’t end there. Haire compared Campbell’s facilities in 2008 to those of a “solid high school,” which might have deterred some coaches, but instead excited him. Having come from a school without lights, Haire was just thankful to have a well-lit ballpark with a functional scoreboard. Campbell’s $9,000 recruiting budget, another figure that most baseball powerhouses would have scoffed at, was life-changing for Haire. He said it was “just a matter of perspective” in finding smaller victories and compounding in a way that builds toward the program’s long-term success. “You just start with a plan, a vision, a hope, and a dream,” Haire said. “You start trying to stack some small wins, get better players, coach those guys up, and travel the country.” Tangible growth quickly followed, as a change in leadership within the university’s athletic department in 2011 came with a bigger budget, a facility revamp, fundraising opportunities, and a new overall vision for Haire and the rest of the coaching staff. The stars finally aligned in 2014, when Goff and Haire led the Camels to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1990. The team went 1-2 in the Columbia Regional and was easily eliminated by South Carolina, but this nonetheless marked a turning point for Haire, who had never been on the coaching staff of a Tournament team before. As always, Haire attributes the success of Campbell’s 2014 team to the close-knit and relationship-oriented dynamic of the players on the roster. Some of those athletes, like then-ace Heath Bowers and now-Tampa Bay Rays relief man Ryan Thompson, still maintain constant communication and involvement with Haire and his family even today. “If you’re talking about relationships and teams that change you as a coach, that team changed everything,” Haire said. “We’re still very close.” Climbing the ladder to become top dog Though he didn’t know it, the end of the 2014 season actually signaled the beginning of Haire’s career as a head coach. The world of collegiate baseball quickly took notice of Campbell’s upward trajectory, and within a week of the Camels securing their first-ever win at an NCAA regional game in Columbia, news broke that Goff would be leaving the program in favor of a head-coaching gig at Louisiana Tech. Campbell immediately announced—on the very same day—that Haire would take over as the new leading skipper in what the university’ athletics program called a “seamless transition.” Looking backward, the word “seamless” might have been an understatement. Under Haire, the Camels started the 2015 season with a program-best 17-2 record before the new captain went on to become the winningest first-year coach in Campbell history. Much of this success, according to Haire, was because the “core beliefs and values” built by Goff remained in place, allowing Haire to focus more on letting his “personality shine” in developing the team’s offensive schemes. Just three years later, the Camels easily won the Big South Conference regular-season championship before sweeping the Big South Tournament, earning the Camels their first NCAA Tournament berth under Haire. After a 90-minute rain delay halted Campbell’s momentum and burned their last viable arm, the Camels dropped their elimination game to Duke. Haire said it was heartbreaking to know that, had the pitching rotation been in better condition, the team could have easily won the game. “We literally just ran out of quality bullets out of the bullpen,” Haire said. “We stood in the office when we got back, man, and it felt like we had gotten our hearts ripped out.” This was a wake-up call for Haire, who learned one of his first “big lessons” as a head coach: the importance of managing the bullpen. “We just decided right then that, for us to be able to get where we want to go, we have to develop arms at a better clip and at a higher rate,” Haire said. “We’ve dedicated a lot of time, energy, money, and education to doing a better job with those arms, day-in and day-out, and we’ve certainly seen some of the fruits of that labor come home.” There’s no debating that Haire and Co. succeeded, as Campbell has recently become known for its ability to develop young hurlers. Just one year later, righty Seth Johnson became the program’s first-ever first round pick in the MLB Draft. Success on the mound was not Haire’s only newfound attention after the 2018 regional loss, however, He also adopted what he calls a “Hard-to-Kill Mindset” at the plate, which emphasizes capitalizing on each batter’s individual strengths and using that to put pressure on the other team. “Doing the unconventional” became a team staple, he said. “From an offensive standpoint, this has been a rallying cry for us,” Haire said. “Getting our guys to train hard at knowing what they’re good at and what their identity is within our offense is really important for us. “No one is coming to save you. It’s you versus whoever is out there [on the mound].” And save themselves, Campbell did. By relying solely on each other, the Camels have since won four Big South regular-season titles and three Big South tournament championships. Haire has thrice earned Big South Coach of the Year accolades, with the most recent award coming off the team’s first 40-win season under Haire’s leadership in 2022. Within his conference, Haire has become unstoppable. Reemphasizing family connections along the way These highs were not without their lows, however. Haire, who has always emphasized the importance of family across everything he does, had his life flipped upside-down when his mother passed away in 2019. Haire said the last game that she saw the Camels play in-person was winning the conference championship earlier that year. In typical Haire fashion, however, he would not be discouraged. Instead, he and his father both took this loss as an opportunity to further strengthen the bonds between the rest of the family. “My dad retired, sold their house, bought an RV—he had never driven an RV in his life—and has traveled the country with us to almost every game over the last two years.” Haire said. “It’s pretty amazing to have the old man tag along. It makes the ride a lot more fun. “I’ve got four kids now, so he gets to see them grow up, they get to have their grandpa around, and I get to have my dad in his season-ticket seat every game. It’s really, really special.” In some ways, Haire’s family-oriented take on life has come full circle. He now does for his children what his father did for him: mentor, guide, and introduce them to life on the turf diamond. But this time around, it is a multi-generational affair, assuredly with no shortage of Willie Mays references to boot. Looking forward, to 2023 and beyond Today, the Campbell Camels stand confidently in their identity. Branded by resilience and strengthened by the bonds they share with each other, the team has arguably never been stronger. It’s us versus everyone else, man, and I think our coaching staff buys into that.” “We know exactly who we are, and we’re not trying to be anybody different,” Haire said. “As you’re trying to go against the grain without a ‘name brand’ attached to the front of your jersey, you have to have a little bit of a chip on your shoulder. It’s us versus everyone else, man, and I think our coaching staff buys into that.” As of presstime, the Camels average over 10 runs per game and are top-10 in the nation in run production. They also lead the country in on-base percentage, standing at nearly .500, thanks in no small part to their over-.300 team batting average. Haire said the team's dominance thus far has been the result of offseason adjustments which benefit from top-to-bottom experience on the team’s roster. “Our coaching staff did a better job this preseason of really trying to hammer down on some of the things that make us who we are from an identity standpoint,” Haire said. “We’ve also got some veterans in the lineup every single day that have been through the fire, having been to two or three regionals.” The Camels open conference play on Friday, March 17, with the first of a three-game series against Winthrop. Their schedule remains difficult, however, thanks to the scheduling of perennial powerhouses like East Carolina for the majority of the team’s midweek matchups. Rather than looking too far into the future, Haire said he is focused on taking things one step at a time. That is how personal development is best accomplished, after all. “You literally never know what’s going to happen,” Haire said. “You’re just trying to play the game that’s right there in front of you.” And, of course, Haire’s family—his father, his brothers, his children, and his players—will be by his side. “Baseball can weave generations together,” Haire said. “I’m super fortunate for that.” Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

It was the final weekend before the SEC grind and most teams breezed through it against inferior competition, but a couple of teams got caught sleeping. Alabama entered the weekend as one the few undefeated teams left, but they got handed a series loss by Columbia from the Ivy League – their first ever series win against an SEC opponent. Meanwhile, the top teams in the conference got to showcase their superiority with flawless weekends. Top teams dominate in final prep for SEC play LSU, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida, and Arkansas are considered to be among the favorites in the SEC and they showed why by absolutely dominating their opponent over the weekend. Top ranked LSU run-ruled a strong Samford team in all three games. Paul Skenes continued his brilliant work with 12 strikeouts in 6 innings. On Saturday, all 12 LSU runs came on home runs, showing their tremendous power. Freshman Jared Jones had a monster weekend for LSU going 6-10 with 4 home runs and 11 RBI and now leads the team in home runs. Chase Dollander and Chase Burns for Tennessee continue to pile up the strikeouts with 11 and 13 respectively in their wins over Morehead State. Zane Denton hit for the cycle on Friday for the Volunteers going 4-5 with 6 RBI. Florida had a close win to open their series against Siena – the same game they lost Wyatt Langford who will be out for at least a month with a lower body injury. But then the Gators run-ruled Siena in the next two games. Jac Caglianone had another solid start on the mound Sunday and was 3-3 at the plate with 2 home runs and 4 RBI. The Razorbacks played a quality opponent in Louisiana Tech but were able to get the sweep at home. Will McEntire threw a complete game on Saturday allowing just 1 unearned run on 3 hits and a walk with 6 strikeouts. Arkansas had some interesting stats on Sunday as Jared Wegner was 1-1 with a home run, 3 RBI, and 5 walks. Peyton Stovall was 0-4 at the plate but still drove in 3 runs. And even after losing their Friday night starter, the defending College World Series champion continued to be impressive with a sweep over a solid Big Ten team in Purdue. Kemp Alderman was 5-8 with 3 home runs and 10 RBI in the first two games of the series before Purdue had enough and walked him all five times he came to the plate on Sunday, which also ended his 10-game hit streak. Taking care of business Mississippi State (Lipscomb), South Carolina (Bethune-Cookman), Kentucky (Southern Illinois), and Texas A&M (Northern Kentucky) all dispatched their opponents rather easily. Ross Highfill hit 3 home runs on Sunday for Mississippi State. Kentucky had a close call to start the weekend but Emilien Pitre delivered a go-head hit in the 10th inning for the 5-4 win. South Carolina got solid pitching performances from Will Sanders and Jack Mahoney, while Texas A&M’s Nathan Dettmer and Troy Wansing also impressed on the mound in their sweep. Almost, but not quite Georgia, Missouri, and Vanderbilt all won their series and had some close losses that prevented them from getting the sweep like many of their SEC counterparts. Liam Sullivan pitched 5 scoreless and hitless innings for Georgia in game two of their series against Charleston Southern. The no hitter got snapped with 1 out in what ultimately was a 7-inning game. The pitching was impressive for Missouri against a solid NJIT team. Chandler Murphy went 7 innings in game one allowing just 1 earned run with 8 strikeouts. In the final game of the series the Mizzou pitching staff combined to strike out 16 batters. Vanderbilt is still struggling to figure things out offensively, but their star player - Enrique Bradfield Jr. - looks to be waking up as he had the game-winning hit in game one and 5 RBI on the weekend. Caught Sleeping in the Heart of Dixie Both Alabama and Auburn were upset at home over the weekend by some solid mid-major teams in Columbia and Southeastern Louisiana, respectively. For Columbia, an Ivy League school, it was their first series win over an SEC team in program history. They took the first game 10-7 and then split a double-header on Saturday thanks to an 11-run fourth inning in game three. Ben Hess was solid on the mound in Alabama’s lone win, which included another home run from freshman Colby Shelton who now has 10 on the year. Auburn took the first game of their series with Southeastern Louisiana comfortably 7-1 with Cole Foster going 4-5 at the plate with a home run and 4 RBI. The Tigers then dropped the next two, including a close 8-7 contest in game three despite 2 doubles and 3 RBI from freshman Ike Irish. SEC Power Rankings Week 4 Tier 1 1. LSU 2. Tennessee (up one spot – see below) 3. Florida (down one spot because of the loss of Langford) 4. Ole MIss Tier 2 5. Vanderbilt 6. Arkansas 7. South Carolina Tier 3 8. Texas A&M 9. Georgia (up three spots – pitching continues to come together) 10. Alabama (down one spot – worried Grayson Hitt isn’t that dominate Friday guy) 11. Missouri 12. Auburn (down two spots - still worried about pitching) Tier 4 13. Mississippi State 14. Kentucky Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

LSU and Wake Forest remain atop the College Baseball Top 50 for another week. Ole Miss, Florida, and Tennessee round out the top five. Louisville and Arkansas slide up to No. 6 and 7, respectively, while Vanderbilt, ECU, and UCLA complete the top ten. New to the top 25 this week is Boston College. The Eagles won two out of three games at Virginia Tech over the weekend and won midweek games at Tennessee and UNC Ashville. Washington State and Kentucky enter the top 50. The SEC tops all conferences with 14 ranked teams, followed by the ACC (9), Pac-12 (6), and finally the Sun Belt and Big 12 (4). See the full top 50 below! Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

Conference play is around the corner, so it's time for a field of 64 projection. The SEC leads all conferences with 11 projected teams, followed by the ACC with nine teams. The Pac-12 and Big 12 are tied with five teams apiece, while the Sun Belt has four. UCF, Georgia Tech, West Virginia, and Arizona are the last four teams in, while Missouri, Old Dominion, California, and Texas are the first four teams out. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

Week 3 of the college baseball season featured several high-profile matchups between the SEC and ACC, while others played a lot of the best teams from other conferences in various tournaments. Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina did their part in the SEC-ACC battles, while Ole Miss was really impressive in the Cambria College Classic. Vanderbilt had a shaky start to the weekend, but finished it on a very high note with a no-hitter. Elsewhere in the SEC, we had several teams sweep through the weekend playing some more tune-up games with just one weekend left before conference play begins. SEC tops ACC in rivalry battles Every year we get these great SEC-ACC battles in March pitting teams from the two best conferences together. The SEC won all three series this year, including Florida winning a top 25 battle over Miami. The Gators showed why they're an Omaha-caliber team with dominant starting pitching and a ton of offense. Brandon Sproat, Hurston Waldrep, and Jac Caglianone combined to strike out 31 batters in 18 innings. At the plate, Caglianone had a pair of home runs on Saturday while Wyatt Langford had 6 hits on the weekend, including 3 home runs. The one area of weakness for the Gators is their bullpen, which gave up 9 earned runs in the final three innings of Saturday’s game – their only loss of the weekend. South Carolina dropped Friday’s game to Clemson, but then bounced back to win the next two, including a highly entertaining game on Saturday in which the Gamecocks trailed 3-0 in the 6th and 7-3 in the 7th before ultimately winning 11-9. Cole Messina had a big 3-run home run in the 7th on Saturday to give them the lead. Gavin Casas had 2 home runs on Sunday, while James Hicks was great out of the bullpen throwing 5 scoreless innings to finish off the game. Georgia’s starting pitching is beginning to take shape as Jaden Woods pitched 6 scoreless innings on Friday with 8 strikeouts in a win, while Liam Sullivan struck out 8 on Saturday in 5.1 innings. Charlie Condon had a pair of 2-run homers on Saturday in Georgia’s big 16-6 win over the Jackets. Let’s mix it up Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss all participated in a couple of weekend tournaments facing top teams from other conferences. Ole Miss had the most impressive weekend taking down Maryland, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Ethan Groff had a big weekend at the plate for Ole Miss picking up 7 hits, 1 double, 1 home run, 5 runs, and 8 RBI. Jack Dougherty had a quality start on Friday and Grayson Saunier struckout 11 in 5 innings on Saturday. Vanderbilt dropped their Friday matchup 5-3 to Nebraska, but then had some of the most exciting moments of the weekend in their next two games with a walk-off on Saturday and a no-hitter on Sunday. RJ Schreck, who had 2 solo home runs in the loss on Friday, had the walk-off sac-fly on Saturday. RJ Austin, who is quickly becoming one of the best players in the conference, had a pair of solo shots on Saturday. Greysen Carter, Sam Hliboki, Ryan Ginther, and Nick Maldonado combined for the no-hitter on Sunday. After getting beat badly by Louisville on Friday, Texas A&M bounced back to win their next two against Rice and Texas Tech. The win over Tech was a 16-inning affair that went past midnight, bleeding into Monday morning. They scored a run in the 9th to tie it and 2 in the top of the 16th. It was the A&M bullpen that deserves the credit as they pitched 10 scoreless innings to finish the game. Evan Aschenbeck tossed 4.2 perfect innings with 8 strikeouts. Mississippi State was the only SEC team to have a losing weekend dropping games to Ohio State and Oklahoma before beating Cal on Sunday. Amani Larry is the lone bright spot for the Bulldogs so far this year hitting .378 with 3 home runs, 4 doubles, and 7 stolen bases. He was 3-4 with a home run and 2 stolen bases in the win on Sunday. Sweep ‘em up Seven SEC teams had perfect weekends as these teams continue to gear up for conference play. Tennessee blew through Gonzaga as Blake Burke led them at the plate with 6 hits in the first two games and 5 RBI. Chase Dollander and Chase Burns combined to allow just 2 earned runs in 12.1 innings with 19 strikeouts. LSU took down Butler and Central Connecticut State over the weekend. Tommy White looks to be back to himself after the early season injury, smashing 2 home runs on Saturday and driving in 8 over the weekend. Paul Skenes continues his dominance striking out 13 in 6 scoreless innings on Friday against Butler. Arkansas might have had the most impressive sweep of the weekend over a Wright State team that is usually really solid. It was a number of bats for Arkansas who had good weekends, including Brady Slavens, Peyton Stovall, Jared Wegner, and Jace Bohrofen. Alabama remains unbeaten on the season. Colby Shelton had a monster weekend with 5 home runs, including 2 grand slams, and he drove in 11 runs. Ben Hess was really good on the mound Saturday pitching 5.2 scoreless innings allowing just 1 hit with 8 strikeouts. Auburn swept Lipscomb, but it wasn’t that easy. Freshman sensation, Ike Irish, had a walk-off hit on Saturday. And on Sunday it took a 3-run homer from Bryson Ware in the 8th inning to give the Tigers a 4-3 win. Both Kentucky and Missouri had their scheduled games on Friday postponed and played double-headers on Saturday against Indiana State and Texas Southern respectively. Kentucky won all three games by a total of 4 runs, including a walk-off hit on Sunday by Jase Felker after being down 3-0 and 6-4. Ryan Waldschmidt was 4-4 in that game as well for the Wildcats. Missouri had several offensive standouts in Hank Zeisler, Dalton Bargo, Juju Stevens, Luke Mann, Ross Lovich, and Justin Colon. Stevens had a big 3-run home run in the sixth inning in the second game on Saturday to break a 5-5 tie in a game they ultimately won 8-7. SEC Power Rankings Week 3 LSU Florida Tennessee Ole Miss Vanderbilt Arkansas South Carolina Texas A&M Alabama Auburn Missouri Georgia Mississippi State Kentucky Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

This year's version of the Shriners Children’s College Classic in Houston featured four teams in the College Baseball Nation Top 25: Louisville, Texas Tech, TCU, and Texas A&M. They were joined by Michigan and Rice. Friday commenced with the roof of Minute Maid Park open and a first pitch temperature of 63 degrees; the weather over the weekend allowed the roof to remain open for all nine games of the Classic. The sun caused some problems, and even one rather gruesome injury in the afternoon games, but the natural outdoor feel of baseball was great and the teams adjusted well. A weekend of continually unforeseen results got underway with a great 3-2 ballgame in which Rice handed Texas Tech their first loss of the season. A fourth inning two-run home run by Connor Walsh off of Red Raiders starter Brendan Girton was the only offense for much of the game. Rice starter Parker Smith was outstanding over six innings of scoreless baseball where he allowed just three hits and struck out eight. He left with a 2-0 lead before Texas Tech tied the game in the top of the seventh inning. Jack Riedel got the lead right back when he hit the first pitch of the bottom of the seventh inning into the right field stands for the eventual winning run. Michigan and TCU squared off in Friday’s second game which was scoreless going into the fourth inning. Horned Frogs starter Ryan Vanderhei tossed six scoreless innings and left the game leading 3-0. Michigan starter Connor O'Halloran was solid for the Wolverines through seven innings, with two long balls accounting for the damage against him. Luke Savage handled the final three innings for TCU to finish the 6-0 shutout. Louisville and Texas A&M closed out the Friday action under the dark Texas sky. The sky further darkened for the Aggies early as Cardinals jumped all over Aggies starter Nathan Dettmer for three first-inning runs. Louisville led 6-0 after three innings, while the Aggies did not get their first hit until the fourth inning. An eight-run fifth inning for Louisville took the life out of the crowd as the Cardinals took a two touchdown lead behind starter Ryan Hawks. The 14-5 final score made the game appear closer than it actually was — the nine run difference felt trivial. Hawks went six scoreless frames and lowered ERA to 0.35 Saturday once again opened with beautiful sunny skies as Texas Tech topped Michigan 10-7. Red Raider starter Mason Molina went six innings and struck out eleven Wolverines. Texas Tech led 5-0 after the second inning and the game was effectively over at that point. Austin Green and Dillon Carter were both 3-for-4 in the game, batting in the fourth and eighth spots, respectively, as part of a balanced approach for the Texas Tech lineup. Next, Louisville faced TCU and after the fourteen runs they scored on Friday night, the Cardinals only scored three runs on Saturday, but it was enough to claim a 3-2 victory. Louisville starter Greg Farone allowed TCU just two hits and struck out nine over seven-plus innings and left with a 3-0 lead, in the eighth inning, though a runner he left on first base scored on a two-run home run by Karson Bowen to get the Horned Frogs to within a run at 3-2. Louisville did enough to hang on as a potential game-winning home run for TCU died on the warning track for the final out of the ballgame. Rice and Texas A&M closed out day two of action with a blowout. The game was all but over in the first inning, and the Aggies pushed the lead to 13-0 after four innings. Aggies starter Troy Wansing tossed five scoreless frames while the Aggies offense pounded out fourteen hits before the run-rule mercifully ended the affair at 13-1 after seven innings. Louisville and Michigan got the final day started with the opening game Sunday morning. The game was scoreless going into the bottom of the third inning when Louisville finally got on the board with two outs. Logan Beard's three-run home run was the big blast of a six-run inning for the Cardinals. The game ended in the seventh inning when Louisville took a 10-0 lead to claim the walk-off victory and a sweep of the weekend. The entire game lasted just seven minutes shy of two hours. Michigan only had one hit in the ballgame. A three-run blast by Luke Boyers in the second inning was all the offense that the Horned Frogs needed to defeat Rice in Sunday’s middle game. But Tre Richardson added a solo home run of his own and TCU led 4-0 after three innings on the way to a 7-0 shut out. TCU starter Cam Brown went seven scoreless innings on his way to the victory. Texas Tech and Texas A&M faced off in the weekend's final game on Sunday evening and they closed the 2023 Classic in fine fashion. Starters Chris Cortez for the Aggies and left-hander Taber Fast for the Red Raiders battled early and each allowed just a run in the contest. Leading 2-1, the Red Raiders were unable to get three outs in the ninth inning before the Aggies tied the game which eventually went into extra innings and took 16 innings and just over five and a half hours to decide. Two innings after the game's second seventh inning stretch, the Red Raider defense faltered and the Aggies scored two runs to take a 4-2 lead. Texas Tech then went quietly in the bottom of the 16th and the longest game in Shriners history came to a close. After a fierce Sunday night battle in which every element of a winning ball team was put to the test, Texas A&M proved the team with slightly more pitching than their former conference foe. The Red Raiders were unable to score a run after the sixth inning. They were stymied by Evan Aschenbeck who threw 4 ⅔ innings of scoreless relief in extra innings. In the other dugout, Kyle Robinson tossed six scoreless frames for Texas Tech in extras. The Red Raider defense erred at the worst possible time or the two squads might still be playing. In the race of great pitching versus great, or even clutch, hitting, give the edge to Texas A&M right now. If these two teams were to match up against each other in early June, the home confines might be the determining factor. The Aggies will have to go through the blender process that is the SEC, while the Red Raiders are near the top of the Big 12 and have more breathing room to get right before a potential rematch in the postseason. Louisville (10-1) leaves Houston clearly the winner of the weekend with victories over a team from the SEC, the Big 12, and the Big 10. Louisville showed they can dominate and put teams away, but they also showed, as they did on Saturday, that they can play the close games as well and close out those contests. Louisville made a statement this weekend and they are on the rise. Thanks for stopping by! 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In this version of the College Baseball Top 50, the top eight is all the same, but things get a little messier from there. The first eight teams in the rankings went a combined 22-2 over the weekend, showing why they've earned the right to be a the top of the poll. New to the top 25 this week are the Campbell Camels. Campbell won two out of three games at Louisiana over the weekend to improve to 8-2 on the year. FGCU, Long Beach State, Louisiana Tech, and Troy all enter the top 50. The SEC tops all conferences with 13 ranked teams, followed by the ACC (8), and Pac-12 (6), Sun Belt (5), and Big 12 (4). See the full top 50 below! Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

East Carolina and North Carolina played a weather-shortened home-and-home series this weekend, but the series wasn’t short on excitement. The in-state opponents had their scheduled three-game series trimmed before the series began on Friday; two teams postponed what would have been a Saturday game in Greenville. Max Carlson took the ball for North Carolina on Friday night, and he was dominant and in control over seven scoreless two-hit innings, striking out nine and walking just one. Carlson was just slightly better than Pirates right-hander Trey Yesavage who allowed just a single run over six innings on three hits and eight strikeouts. Jackson Van De Brake hit a solo home run to lead off the third inning for the Tar Heels before Colby Wilkerson padded the lead in the top of the seventh inning with a two-run double giving North Carolina a 3-0 lead for Carlson. The Tar Heels seemed poised to steal a road win in Greenville as they had mostly silenced the usually rowdy Pirates crowd and still led 3-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning when the roof caved in. The Pirates attacked the North Carolina bullpen for six runs as they batted around and quickly took a 6-3 lead as the Greenville crowd came to life. The scoring was highlighted by second baseman Jacob Starling when he delivered a go-ahead two-run single to center field. The Tar Heels used four pitchers in the inning, but few had the answer for the Pirates lineup. With their final chance at the plate, the Tar Heels put together a late rally of sorts scoring two runs in the ninth inning. Vance Honeycutt and Mac Horvath each drove home a run and the inning was extended by a dropped fly ball in right field. But the late rally fell short as Zach Root did just enough to seal the 6-5 home victory for East Carolina and pick up his first save of the season and first as a collegian. East Carolina pitchers struck out thirteen Tar Heels in the game which was the second time this season Pirates pitching has notched thirteen strikeouts in a game. The scene shifted to Chapel Hill for Sunday’s finale between the two contenders and the Tar Heels had the opportunity to even the series on their own field. Honeycutt hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning and gave the Tar Heels a 2-0 lead. Catcher Tomas Frick added a two-run home run in the fifth inning to push the North Carolina lead to 4-1. Horvath tacked on a solo home run in the sixth inning. Connor Bovair pitched a solid 5 2/3 innings allowing just two runs and was in line for the win before the Tar Heels went to the bullpen. Leading 5-2 after six innings, the Tar Heels seemed to be ready to even the series. That is when East Carolina rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh and took a 6-5 lead to the stretch. Starling and Lane Hoover each had run-scoring doubles and Jacob Jenkins-Cowart added a RBI single of his own as part of the late-inning barrage. Carter Spivey took the mound in the ninth for the Pirates with two runners on base and no outs in an attempt to protect the one-run lead. Spivey, projected to be the Friday night starter for East Carolina, did not pitch on Friday night due to arm soreness. After inheriting a high-pressure situation on Sunday afternoon, Spivey needed just eleven pitches to dash the hopes of the Tar Heels and seal the weekend sweep with the 6-5 win. East Carolina improved to 5-1 this season and continues to play some great baseball despite their midweek walk-off loss to the Campbell Camels. North Carolina is now 4-3. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

The second weekend of college baseball is in the books, and the week 2 rankings are here! L:SU, Wake Forest, Stanford, and Ole Miss keep their top four spots after winning weekends. Florida slides up one spot, rounding out the top five. Tennessee and Vanderbilt fill spots six and seven and end a streak of four straight SEC teams. Louisville, Texas Tech, and Arkansas finish the top ten. Several road teams scored big upsets, including Florida State who shot up to No. 13 in this week's poll. The SEC tops all conferences with 13 ranked teams, followed by the ACC (9), and Pac-12 and Big 12 (5). The Sun Belt has four teams ranked. See the full top 50 below! Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

As teams begin to settle in, we found out in week 2 that perhaps some of these SEC powerhouses aren’t as invincible as previously thought. LSU suffered their first loss of the season, which happens in baseball, but it was the way they lost to Iowa 12-4 that raised some eyebrows. And perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend was Texas A&M losing a series at home to Portland. However, it was still a great weekend overall in the SEC with A&M being the only team to have a losing weekend. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt and Ole Miss came up with big series wins over ranked non-conference opponents. Bubbles burst in College Station Texas A&M came into 2023 with big expectations after reaching the semifinals of the College World Series in 2022, returning a lot of big bats, and bringing back a potential stud on the mound in Nathan Dettmer. While Dettmer has done his part allowing just 1 earned run over his first 11 innings of 2023 with 15 strikeouts, the offense hasn’t lived up to the hype with just a .230 team average and 41 runs scores – both of which ranks last in the SEC. This past weekend they were on the verge of getting swept at home by Portland before the heroics of freshman Jace Laviolette who had a walk-off 2-run double on Sunday. The Aggies also lost a series at home to Penn in the second week last season and things turned out alright, so no need to hit the panic button just yet. LSU with a slight hiccup and then recovers Baseball is not the same as other sports in that quite often we see the best teams in the sport lose on occasion, so you knew LSU would drop a game at some point. But perhaps not many people saw them getting drummed by Iowa 12-4 in the Round Rock Classic. The number one ranked Tigers did manage to beat Kansas State and Sam Houston in the tournament. Paul Skenes had another great performance on Friday striking out 11 Kansas State batters in 6 innings allowing just 1 earned run on 2 hits and 2 walks. Dylan Crews showed why he’s the best player in the country with 9 hits on the weekend, including 5 hits and 3 doubles on Sunday alone. Brayden Jobert had a big game on Sunday as well with 4 hits, 2 home runs, 1 triple, and 5 RBI. Volunteer pitching carries the way with Coach Vitello Shortstop Maui Ahuna had still yet to be cleared by the NCAA, and now we might have an idea as to why after head coach Tony Vitello was suspended for this past weekend’s series against Dayton for a violation. However, Tennessee announced on Monday that they both would return this week. The Volunteer pitching staff settled things down by stymying Dayton bats all weekend allowing a total of 3 runs. Starters Chase Dollander, Chase Burns, and Drew Beam combined to strike out 28 batters in 18.1 innings (12 each by Dollander and Burns). The offense did score 12 runs on Friday led by Jared Dickey who was 3-4 with 3 runs, 3 RBI, 1 walk, and a home run. But overall, the offense is still seeking to find its footing. Vandy, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State get bigs wins for the conference Ole Miss had a rough start to the weekend after learning Friday night starter Hunter Elliot was being shut down with tightness in his forearm. Then they dropped game one against Maryland 9-2. However, they recovered nicely, winning the next games over a ranked Terps team. Star shortstop Jacob Gonzalez helped finish a comeback effort on Saturday with a 2-RBI single in the 7th. He had 3 hits on the day. Ole Miss run-ruled Maryland on Sunday, 18-8, thanks to a big day from Calvin Harris who was 4-5 with 1 double, 8 RBI, and 2 home runs – including a grand slam. Their in-state rival, Mississippi State, got off to a similarly bad start to the weekend losing 13-4 to Arizona State before eventually taking the weekend series. Colton Ledbetter led the way offensively for Mississippi State getting 2 hits in each of the last two games, including a 4 RBI game on Sunday. Perhaps the best played series of the entire college baseball weekend was between Vanderbilt and UCLA. The two teams swapped shutouts in the first two games with Vanderbilt winning 6-0 on Friday and UCLA 3-0 on Saturday before Vanderbilt squeaked out a 2-1 win in the finale. Carer Holton was great in Friday’s game, tossing 5.2 innings of shutout baseball with 7 strikeouts. Davis Diaz had a big weekend at the plate delivering a big 2-out 2-RBI double on Friday to get the scoring started, and then a big 2-run homer on Sunday that was just enough for the win. Change of plans in Auburn and Alabama series Both Alabama and Auburn were set to travel to the always beautiful (or so we thought) Southern California this past weekend to face Pepperdine and USC respectively. But with unusually bad weather sweeping through the area, both teams had to change their plans. USC was willing to move the series to Auburn, while Alabama was able to find another team in need of a quick schedule change in High Point who was supposed to go out West to face California Baptist. The Crimson Tide swept the series over High Point, although it came with struggles as neither Grayson Hitt or Ben Hess had outstanding games on the mound. They fell behind 6-0 in Saturday’s game before scoring 7 runs in the 5th inning and ultimately winning 10-6. As for Auburn, they had some similar issues on the mound – especially with the loss of Joseph Gonzalez – but won the first two games thanks to the offensive performances by Bryson Ware and Cooper McMurray. Sunday’s game ended in a 12-12 tie. Justin Kirby had a 3-run home run and a grand slam in the game for Auburn. Gators and Gamecocks out to hot starts Maybe two of the more underrated teams in the SEC right now are Florida and South Carolina. While the Gators are in our top 10, it still feels like many people don’t put them in the same tier with LSU, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt. While South Carolina is still in the back half of most top 25s or not ranked at all. The Gators pretty easily took care of Cincinnati this past weekend scoring 13 runs in all three games. Josh Rivera had a big weekend at the plate collecting 7 hits, 3 home runs, and 8 RBI. In Sunday’s game, Jac Caglianone had 3 home runs. On the mound, Brandon Sproat struck out 9 in 5 innings on Friday, while Hurston Waldrep struck out 13 in 6 innings on Saturday. The Gamecocks offense, which was unstoppable in the first week of the season, cooled off a good bit against a solid Penn team who won the Ivy League last year. But South Carolina still got the sweep, including a couple of 1-run wins in the final two contests. Will Sanders (5 IP, 4 H, 2BB, 0 ER, 6 Ks) and Noah Hall (8 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 12 Ks) remain outstanding atop the starting rotation. Shortstop Braylen Wimmer is hitting .517 on the year with 4 home runs, 13 RBI, and 5 stolen bases through 8 games. Gavin Cases and Will McGillis hit back-to-back homers in the 8th inning of Sunday’s game to give them the lead and the sweep. Taking care of business Georgia and Missouri each won 4-game series against Princeton and Florida International respectively. Georgia had a couple of good pitching performances with Jaden Woods coming out of the bullpen to strike out 11 batters in just 4.2 innings on Friday. Then on Saturday, Liam Sullivan struck out 11 in 7 innings of shutout baseball. Missouri, who was the talk of college baseball after week 1, dropped a game on Thursday to FIU before winning the next three. Tony Neubeck continues to be a huge weapon out of the bullpen for Missouri throwing 5 shutout innings on Friday with 6 strikeouts. Hank Zeisler homered in all four games against FIU, including a grand slam in Friday’s game. Arkansas and Kentucky each won their series against Eastern Illinois and Wright State respectively. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown By Ryan Faulkner Baseball. Is. Back. The Big 12 sent three representatives to Globe Life Field to kick off the new season of play, with each participating in this year’s College Baseball Showdown. They ultimately posted a losing record against Southeastern Conference teams, going 3-6, but the relative success of each Big 12 team should be viewed in light of not only the triumphs of other teams involved, but also the context of what a team’s performance on Opening Weekend means for the rest of the season. Remember, just two years ago, a Big 12 team (Texas) went 0-3 in this very same tournament before almost winning the national championship just four months later. So, what did teams do well, what needs to be fixed, and what are areas that still leave fans unsatisfactorily unsure about the future? These answers and more below. No. 20 Oklahoma State Cowboys Weekend Results Win vs. No. 37 Mizzou, 5-3 Loss vs. No. 13 Vanderbilt, 9-11 Loss vs. No. 14 Arkansas, 1-18 Overall Record: 1-2 The Good What a difference an offseason can make. In the 2022 Stillwater Regional, relief pitchers gave up 31 runs to finalize the team’s early departure from last year’s NCAA Tournament. This year, the Cowboys’ bullpen has already shown signs that this may no longer be an issue. Making his collegiate debut, Drew Blake tossed two scoreless innings of no-hit baseball and picked up the win over Mizzou. In that game, Blake’s performance was supplemented by three more scoreless innings by other young hurlers from the bullpen. Righty Isaac Stebens did the same the next day, giving up just two hits and no walks across the game’s final four innings. Yes, the bullpen struggled against Arkansas on Day 3 of the tournament, signaling that the Cowboys likely need to develop one or two more arms to a higher caliber of play. But even then, two more relievers—Evan O’Toole and Kade Shatwell—showed potential for a higher ceiling than previously expected. The starters on the mound have some work to do, totaling a combined 15 hits, 15 earned runs, and 19.29 ERA on the weekend. Thankfully for the Cowboys, however, they appear to have solid backup from relievers obviously capable of mitigating the damage whenever possible. The Bad The Oklahoma State offense can be best categorized as a feast-or-famine situation. And while the highs are impressive, the inconsistencies are more than enough to make me weary of this team’s offensive prospects moving forward. On one hand, when the Cowboys make contact, they smash the ball — hard. They batted a solid .467 with runners in scoring position against Vanderbilt, including a .375 lead-off average that was complemented by an even .500 on advancement opportunities. But, as with many things that seem too good to be true, Oklahoma State’s offensive successes were starkly contrasted by the team’s failures. The Cowboys struck out a whopping 39 times, making it clear that Oklahoma State needs to take an introspective look at its at-the-plate approach. A lackluster showing against the Razorbacks—marred by a .167 overall batting average and the seven different batters who failed to get on base even once—further signaled that there may be more struggles below the surface. Whether this ‘go big or go home’ approach will pay off long-term is one thing, but starting the season on the right foot today should be of some importance as well. The Unknown One question going into opening weekend was the status of the left side of Oklahoma State’s infield. For now, it appears that we may need to wait another week to find an answer. With the departure of Jake Thompson, a two-year starter at left field with a conference-leading batting average to boot, it’s unsurprising that head coach Josh Holliday let three different players take a stab at the position over the course of the weekend. Freshman Beau Sylvester did well offensively against Vanderbilt, but his hitless performance against Arkansas and nonappearance versus Mizzou suggests that Holliday isn’t quite sold on the kid yet. Nolan McLean’s transition into the role of go-to closer also opened a gap at third base, though no clear heir apparent has yet risen from among the Cowboys’ deep roster. Make no mistake, Oklahoma State’s left side certainly didn’t perform poorly this weekend. But even still, this is an area to monitor as the season progresses, as nobody is quite sure whether the newer position players will be able to fill the shoes of their predecessors. No. 38 Texas Longhorns Weekend Results Loss vs. No. 14 Arkansas, 2-3 Loss vs. No. 37 Mizzou, 5-6 Loss vs. No. 13 Vanderbilt, 2-12 Overall Record: 0-3 The Good For all of their struggles, the Longhorns deserve credit for continuing to battle until the final pitch of the ninth inning. Across its three games, Texas did not lead a single time. But, even with their 0-2 start to the weekend, the boys in burnt orange lost by only two combined runs, just falling short against preseason darling Arkansas—whom Texas held scoreless for eight innings—and breakout-surprise Mizzou, a team that needed a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth to secure its win. Much of this resilience came from the Longhorns’ starting weekend rotation. The openers on the bump combined for only nine innings, a number that they probably need to work on increasing, but struck out 12 and gave up only three earned runs. Junior Lucas Gordon looked especially comfortable as a starter against the Razorbacks, walking only one batter in his 84-pitch, five-inning scoreless showing. Yes, Game 3 against Vanderbilt was rough. But any team that can find the strength to keep swinging for the fences after committing five errors and giving up eight unearned runs (more on that next…) is owed at least a little bit of respect, if nothing else. The Bad Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. By the time the weekend was said and done, the Longhorns had committed eight errors, contributing to a total of nine unearned runs. And, even more shockingly, the middle infield committed seven of those slip-ups. These same positions, plus the catcher, also allowed seven stolen bases and successfully turned only two double-plays. Offensively speaking, the hiccups were just as apparent. Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I’m comfortable saying that a batter should never pop-up a bunt attempt directly to the pitcher, especially when their team is down eight runs. Also, under no circumstances should a player trot to first base before confirming that a well-hit ball is actually a homer. Dylan Campbell learned this the hard way on Sunday and was benched immediately after barely reaching second on what should have probably been a triple. Texas has talent. But as long as they keep putting on sloppy performances on the diamond, they are going to have a hard time winning games. Tidying up this aspect of the game up needs to be priority No. 1 for the foreseeable future. The Unknown The Longhorns returned only three players from last season’s College World Series team, and although they have talent to fill the gaps, the new players’ inexperience is more than obvious. This presented itself in the form of poor at-bats, pitch-clock violations, and an inability to capitalize on momentum shifts. Most notably, batters wearing burnt orange struggled at the plate, striking out 35 times across their three games. Many of those, though not technically ‘looking,’ were marked by half-effort swings that were ultimately too little too late. For example, Texas batted .000 with runners in scoring position against Vanderbilt and hit .091 two-out situations against Mizzou. For the sake of transparency, it should be noted that Texas’ lineup was never truly finalized, with some younger players—such as catchers Rylan Galvan and Garrett Guillemette—earning crucial game-time experience by splitting weekend duties. Maybe this will help each player build their confidence and allow for more rapid development in the coming weeks. Maybe. Until we know for sure, it’s too early to call inexperience a necessarily bad thing. But the Longhorns have their work cut out for them if they want to prove that their unfledged roster will not be a hindrance in the grand scheme of things. No. 12 Texas Christian Horned Frogs Weekend Results Win vs. No. 13 Vanderbilt, 11-4 Win vs. No. 14 Arkansas, 18-6 Loss vs. No. 37 Mizzou, 8-9 Overall Record: 2-1 The Good An aggressive offense might just be the key to the Horned Frogs’ success this season. In its first matchup against Vanderbilt, all nine batters in TCU’s lineup reached first base at least once, with each member notching either a hit or a run en route to their 11-4 walloping of Vanderbilt. In that same game, the Horned Frogs went 3-for-3 on stolen-base attempts. Outfielder Elijah Nunez was not on most people’s radars entering the season, but after this past weekend, that’s going to dramatically change—and fast—after the junior batted an even .500 with four RBIs, four hits, and four runs. Nunez and Co. faced pitching of a much higher caliber than what they will see in the coming weeks—especially throughout preseason play—so if he can keep his momentum rolling as he settles into his newfound role as a two-hole anchor within the TCU lineup, expect Nunez’s already-impressive stats to do nothing but climb. The upperclassman duo of right fielder Austin Davis and third baseman Brayden Taylor proved to be just as threatening, with the former posting a monstrous 1.200 slugging percentage against Mizzou and the latter batting a team-high .800 against Arkansas. If a team can fill its lineup, top to bottom, with guys who are confident and experienced, they’ll be unstoppable. The Bad Until its final game on Sunday against Mizzou, Texas Christian appeared to be near-unstoppable. But in their final appearance of the weekend, the Horned Frogs were out-hit, out-pitched, and on the losing end of the error totals. Had Texas Christian not made five mistakes on the field on Sunday night, they probably could have swept the weekend with ease. Instead, though, they were forced to contemplate ‘what could have been’ on their bus ride back to Fort Worth, just one run away from the team’s first 3-0 start since 2020. Could I be nit-picky and critique every little thing that they could have done better in their first two games? Sure. For example, I could point out that they need to leave fewer men on base, with a tournament-high 14 runners being stranded against Arkansas on Saturday. But in a game that Texas Christian won by 12 runs, am I really in the position to do the critiquing? For this team and this team only, I’ll leave it at this: The coaches know what adjustments need to be made to iron out those errors, and I trust them to handle it on their own without my unsolicited two cents thrown into the mix. The Unknown The state of TCU’s pitching staff remains relatively unclear. Junior Ryan Vanderhei made his first start on the bump with the Horned Frogs on Friday after three seasons with Kansas, and while his five-inning, two-hit showing looks good at a glance, it is muddled by a higher-than-expected ERA and a mere three strikeouts. But, to his credit, the righty has a solid spinner-cutter-slider combo, and he demonstrated good chemistry with catcher Kurtis Byrne in the battery. The bullpen posed similar questions. Relief man River Ridings’ low-velo fastball (90–92 mph) may set alarm bells ringing, but his great ball placement and even better movement in the zone shows promise — if he can harness it properly, that is. Freshman Kole Klecker picked up his first-ever collegiate win on Saturday, striking out six and giving up only one earned run across over four innings of work. His big challenge will be minimizing opposing batters’ extra-base shots, which accounted for more than half of the hits he gave up. Cal transfer Sam Stoutenborough is in a similar position, as his game-leading seven strikeouts against Mizzou were impressive, but his elevated pitch count leaves much to be desired. The arms are in Fort Worth and more than ready to throw, but whether they make smaller adjustments as the season progresses will determine if they are actually worth remembering. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!