College Baseball Takeaways: Miami, Oklahoma Earn Wins to Begin Marquee Series

Image credit: Miami's Yohandy Morales (Photo courtesy of Miami Athletics/Richard Lewis)

Miami Lands First Blow in Pivotal ACC Series Against Virginia

This weekend’s series between No. 2 Virginia and No. 9 Miami is not only the sole top-10 matchup on this weekend’s slate, but it’s also a battle for nothing less than the top of the ACC standings. 

The Hurricanes on Friday struck the first blow in the series with a 6-2 win in Coral Gables. Most impressively, lefthander Carson Palmquist did an outstanding job of holding down a Virginia offense that entered the series as the country’s most prolific. He threw six innings, giving up two hits and two runs (both in the second inning) with three walks and eight strikeouts. 

That effort lowers Palmquist’s season ERA to 2.42, a good figure under any circumstances, but especially so when you consider that he had one start where he gave up nine earned runs against Boston College. 

Virginia lefthander Nate Savino didn’t fare so well, as Miami (24-6, 11-2) got him for six runs on 10 hits in five-plus innings. Four of those runs came on homers—a solo shot for catcher Maxwell Romero, Jr. in the second, a two-run homer in the third off the bat of third baseman Yohandy Morales and a solo homer in the fifth by right fielder Gaby Gutierrez. 

To close it out, Miami turned to righthander Andrew Walters, who set Virginia (26-4, 9-4) down in order and has still not allowed an earned run this season. 

Behind Sproat, Early Scoring, Florida Evens Series with Arkansas

After looking listless for much of Thursday’s 8-1 loss to No. 3 Arkansas, Florida came out looking like a different team on Friday to grab a 7-2 win over the Razorbacks and even the series in Gainesville. 

After not scoring a run until the game was out of hand in the bottom of the ninth on Thursday, the Gators’ offense came out and scored quickly on Friday, putting two runs on the board in the first, the second of which came on a solo home run off the bat of left fielder Wyatt Langford, two more in the second and one in the third on a solo shot for catcher BT Riopelle. After a scoreless fourth, it grabbed two more runs in the fifth, which gave the Gators a comfortable lead in the middle innings. 

All of that damage was done against Arkansas freshman lefthander Hagen Smith, who was tagged with seven runs (six earned) on seven hits in 4.1 innings. Arkansas (23-6, 8-3) was kept in the game to some degree by its bullpen, particularly righthander Kole Ramage, who threw three scoreless innings, but was never able to fully get back in it. 

That largely came to be because Florida (20-11, 4-7) got a good start out of righthander Brandon Sproat, who has had an up-and-down season. It was nothing but up for him on Friday, as he gave up one run on seven hits in 5.2 innings. 

For a Florida team that was off to its worst SEC start under Kevin O’Sullivan after Thursday’s loss, Friday’s decisive win was exactly the kind of answer it needed. 

Oklahoma Comes From Behind to Win Bedlam Opener

With the way Oklahoma’s bullpen has struggled at times this season, you probably wouldn’t have predicted that it would survive a game against No. 4 Oklahoma State on the road in which lefthander Jake Bennett, who has been so solid this season, surrendered seven runs in five innings. 

But that’s precisely what happened thanks to a relentless effort from the lineup and excellent work from the bullpen in an 8-7 Oklahoma win. 

Much in the same way that the Cowboys (21-9, 5-2) got to Bennett, the Sooners (18-10, 4-3) did some heavy lifting against OSU ace Justin Campbell, putting four runs on him in his six innings. 

Still, they had work to do as they trailed 7-4 when Campbell left the game, but they got it done with two runs in the seventh on RBI singles for second baseman Jackson Nicklaus and catcher Jimmy Crooks and two more in the ninth thanks to an RBI double for first baseman Blake Robertson and an RBI single off the bat of right fielder Sebastian Orduno. 

On the mound, the bullpen trio of Colton Sundloff (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R), Carter Campbell (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R) and Trevin Michael (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R) kept the Cowboys from playing add-on and gave the offense time to work. 

Washington State Upsets Arizona in Rout

When No. 10 Arizona took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a grand slam off the bat of DH Noah Turley, it looked like the Wildcats were on the way to a breezy victory against a Washington State team that came into the game 2-10 in Pac-12 play. 

But suffice it to say that things didn’t play out that way. Arizona righthander TJ Nichols, who entered with a 2.34 ERA, put up zeroes in the first two innings, but then the WSU lineup began to work him over, scoring five runs in the third inning and three more in the fourth, two of which were charged to Nichols. For good measure, the Cougars also added a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth, which put the game out of reach on the way to an 11-5 WSU win. 

Every WSU starter had at least one hit, with third baseman Elijah Hainline and left fielder Justin Van De Brake each collecting three hits. And while he gave up the Turley grand slam in the first, lefthander Cole McMillan really settled down after that, giving up just one additional run in his 5.2 innings. 

The Wildcats weren’t completely silent after the first inning, as they had seven hits as a team, but three of those hits came off the bat of second baseman Garen Caulfield, whose RBI double in the sixth was the only other run-scoring play for Arizona, which means there wasn’t much else to go around. 

The Cougars (10-18, 3-10) will look to use this win as a springboard to make a move out of the cellar of the Pac-12, while the Wildcats (21-9, 9-4) will look to correct course and finish the weekend where they started, at the top of the Pac-12 standings.

Auburn Stays Hot, Quiets Vanderbilt Bats in Win

If the rest of the SEC viewed No. 25 Auburn as a plucky underdog that was bound to slink back to the pack when the going got tough, the Tigers sent a strong message that they may not be the case with a 5-1 win over No. 19 Vanderbilt. 

It was a team effort for Auburn (21-9, 6-4) on the mound. Lefthander Hayden Mullins started and threw 4.1 innings. He proved incredibly tough to hit, as he allowed just one hit and struck out nine, but he also walked six batters, which contributed to his elevated pitch count. 

The relief duo of lefthander Carson Skipper (2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K) and righthander Blake Burkhalter (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) came afterward and kept Vanderbilt at bay as well. 

The long ball also served the Bulldogs well in this one, as its four early runs were scored on homers. Second baseman Cole Foster connected for a solo homer in the second, while DH Brooks Carlson had a three-run shot in the third. 

Those runs came early enough that it was easy to believe that the Commodores (21-8, 4-6) would make a run eventually, but it just never happened as the offensive struggles, carried over from last weekend’s series loss to Tennessee, continued for Vandy. Auburn, meanwhile, is one win this weekend away from its third consecutive SEC series win. 

Georgia Tech Upsets Florida State, Continues Seminoles’ Skid

Both Georgia Tech and No. 13 Florida State went into Friday’s series opener in Atlanta in need of some wins, and it was the Yellow Jackets (20-11, 6-7) that succeeded in adding one to the ledger with a 7-3 victory. 

The Georgia Tech offense got to Parker Messick early, handing the lefthander far and away his worst start of the season. Two runs came home in the first on a two-run home run by catcher Kevin Parada and four more scored in the third on an RBI single for DH Tim Borden II, a pair of sacrifice flies and an RBI double for second baseman Chandler Simpson, chasing Messick with six runs on 10 hits in 2.2 innings. 

Meanwhile, Georgia Tech righthander Chance Huff turned in his best start since he gave up one run in seven innings against rival Georgia on March 4. He threw six innings, giving up three hits and one unearned run with one walk and eight strikeouts. 

Florida State (17-12, 6-7) made a push late, loading the bases when three straight batters reached to begin the ninth inning against Georgia Tech’s Aeden Finateri, but righthander Zach Maxwell came on and struck out three straight batters to end the threat and secure the win. 

The Seminoles went into last weekend ranked in the top five and looking the part of a favorite in the ACC alongside Virginia, but after getting swept by Notre Dame last weekend and dropping Friday’s game against the Yellow Jackets, they’ve dropped five straight ACC games. 

Georgia Tech similarly came into the weekend scuffling, having lost five of six in ACC play over the previous two weekends, but one more win this weekend would get it back on track toward being more of a factor in the ACC race down the stretch. 

North Carolina Offense Explodes in Win Over Louisville

No. 20 North Carolina put up more runs in a weekend game than it had since the second game of the season in a 13-9 win over No. 11 Louisville. 

The Tar Heels (21-9, 7-6) got most of their work done early by scoring five in the first, one in the second and three in both the third and fourth, with Louisville lefthander Tate Kuehner catching the brunt of that by giving up eight runs (six earned) in two-plus innings. 

The Cardinals (21-8, 7-3) made it somewhat interesting late by knocking UNC starter Max Carlson out of the game in the fifth, having plated five runs against him, and then scoring four in the eighth to make it a 13-9 game, but that’s as close as they would get. 

DH Alberto Osuna led the way for North Carolina by going 4-for-4 with two home runs and six RBI, and first baseman Hunter Stokely went 4-for-5. Four other Tar Heels had two hits. 

With both teams having to go to the bullpen early, on top of UNC’s propensity to be a bullpen-centric pitching staff and Louisville’s offensive nature, the next two games are likely going to be back-and-forth rock fights. 

Garrett McMillan Leads Alabama to Upset of Mississippi

Righthander Garrett McMillan has quietly put together a very good season in the Alabama rotation. Going into Friday’s start against Mississippi, he had a 3.05 ERA, a 44-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a .209 opponent batting average in 41.1 innings. 

And on Friday against the Rebels, he improved those numbers by throwing seven innings, giving up three hits and two runs (one earned) with three walks and seven strikeouts to lead the Crimson Tide (19-12, 5-5) to a 7-4 win on the road. 

The Ole Miss pitching staff, which looked as if it had taken a step forward last weekend in a series win against Kentucky, faltered on Friday, as the Tide built a 7-2 lead before the game was halfway over by scoring three runs in three innings against starter Hunter Elliott and four runs in just one inning of work for Dylan Delucia. 

Shortstop Jim Jarvis and DH William Hamiter paced the Alabama offense by putting together three-hit days, and first baseman Drew Williamson drove in three runs. 

A series win this weekend for the Tide, no sure thing with the way the Ole Miss (19-10, 4-6) lineup can heat up in the blink of an eye, would be a massive building block for Alabama’s postseason resume. 

Georgia Southern Wins Marathon Against Sun Belt Leader Texas State

In a series that could have massive ramifications for the Sun Belt’s postseason prospects, Georgia Southern won a 7-4 marathon over No. 16 Texas State in 11 innings. 

This was very close to being a somewhat neat and tidy 3-2 victory for the Bobcats (23-8, 8-2), but the Eagles (19-10, 7-3) weren’t having it. With one out in the ninth and facing Texas State’s nearly unhittable closer, righthander Tristan Stivors, Georgia Southern right fielder Christian Avant connected for a solo home run to tie it and send it to extra innings. 

In the 10th, the Eagles jumped out ahead 4-3 on a squeeze bunt, only to have the Bobcats fight back for a run in the bottom half on an RBI fielder’s choice. But in the 11th, Georgia Southern took the lead for good with three runs scored on a wild pitch, an RBI infield single for left fielder Noah Searcy and an RBI single for third baseman Jarrett Brown. 

The Eagles came into the weekend with a strong RPI but a resume largely without marquee wins in weekend series. Friday’s win certainly counts as a marquee win and another victory this weekend would give Georgia Southern its best series result so far. 

Rutgers Takes Sole Possession of First Place in Big Ten with Win Over Nebraska

The Big Ten will wake up Saturday morning with Rutgers, yes Rutgers, leading the conference with a 6-1 record after it captured a 7-5 win over Nebraska in Lincoln. 

The Scarlet Knights (23-6, 6-1) have had a quick-strike offense through the first half of the season, and that showed up again on Friday. Rutgers built a 4-1 lead in the top of the fifth, largely on the strength of a leadoff homer for center fielder Ryan Lasko in the first inning and a two-run shot for catcher Nick Cimillo in the fifth. 

And after Nebraska made it 4-2 with a run in the bottom half of the fifth, left fielder Mike Nyisztor answered in the top of the sixth with an RBI double and Lasko added a two-run homer to put the game out of reach, even as the Cornhuskers (12-16, 4-3) made a push with three runs in the ninth. 

On the mound, righthander Jared Kollar was also solid, throwing six innings, giving up two hits and two runs, lowering his season ERA to 2.70 and opponent batting average to .187. 

Cimillo, a transfer from Manhattan, is putting up a Big Ten player of the year-type campaign so far. After Friday’s game, he’s hitting .422/.522/.752 with 12 doubles, eight home runs and more walks (22) than strikeouts (16), leading a Scarlet Knights offense that’s hitting .324/.420/.501 as a group. 

It’s still fair to hold out some skepticism for Rutgers being a true Big Ten title contender, even if the evidence in favor of it stacks up. Its first two conference series were against Penn State and Minnesota, two teams that project to finish closer to the bottom of the standings than the top, after all. 

It’s clear, however, that this team is not just vastly improved over past seasons, but is legitimately good, and in a Big Ten that looks increasingly like a wide-open league behind Maryland at the top, the door is open for the Knights to finish higher than they ever have as a member of the Big Ten and challenge for its first postseason appearance since 2007.