College Podcast: Previewing Week 1 In NCAA Baseball

Image credit: (Photo courtesy of Florida/Evan Lepak)

On this episode of the Baseball America College Podcast, presented by Rapsodo, Teddy Cahill and Joe Healy preview the first week of the college baseball season. Despite a handful of cancellations related to Covid-19 and even more cancellations related to the horrific winter weather that has moved across the country over the last week, there are still more than enough quality games to get the season started in style.

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Among the series and tournaments they preview this week are:

No. 11 Miami traveling to Gainesville to take on No. 1 Florida in the latest version of the rivalry series between the two programs. Winning this series on the road is always a tough ask, but it will be a particularly tough ask for this Miami team, with a weekend rotation that features a converted reliever in Daniel Federman and two freshmen in Victor Mederos and Alejandro Rosario.
The State Farm College Baseball Showdown taking place in Arlington, which has already been moved back a day due to the weather in north Texas. With No. 14 Arkansas, No. 4 Mississippi and No. 8 Mississippi State representing the SEC and No. 12 Texas, No. 13 Texas Christian and No. 3 Texas Tech from the Big 12, the field is absolutely loaded.
Connecticut, now back in the Big East, is heading to Charlottesville to take on No. 5 Virginia. There is a lot of anticipation about the Cavaliers’ season, with the return of a lineup that includes Chris Newell and Zack Gelof and a pitching staff that brings back Andrew Abbott and Nate Savino, but UConn should be able to compete well this weekend and it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Huskies pull off the upset.
No. 16 Duke hitting the road to take on Coastal Carolina. The Blue Devils will look for righthander Cooper Stinson to take a step forward and become the team’s Friday guy in the same way that Bryce Jarvis did last season, while Coastal will be led by a veteran offense headlined by outfielder Parker Chavers.
Tulane hosting the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. In a reversal of the Green Wave’s recent teams, they are led by a talented pitching staff and have questions in the lineup, and it will be intriguing to see how far along the Cajuns are in the rebuilding process under Matt Deggs.