College Roundup: Cards Find Road To Success
Strike One: Louisville Starts Well On Road
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Coming into this weekend at North Carolina, Louisville had lost its first four road series of the season. The Cardinals had lost the first game of each of those series, making the task of winning a road series even tougher.
| How the Top 25 Fared |
| 1. Florida: won, 7-2, at Tennessee |
| 2. Texas A&M: lost, 6-1, vs. (10) Vanderbilt |
| 3. Mississippi State: won, 4-3, vs. Missouri |
| 4. Miami: off |
| 5. Florida State: won, 6-1, vs. Bowling Green |
| 6. South Carolina: won, 10-5, at Kentucky |
| 7. Mississippi: won, 6-4, at Georgia |
| 8. Texas Tech: won, 10-3, at Kansas |
| 9. Louisville: won, 6-0, at North Carolina |
| 10. Vanderbilt: won, 6-1, at (2) Texas A&M |
| 11. North Carolina State: lost, 10-5, at Clemson |
| 12. Texas Christian: postponed at Penn State |
| 13. Louisiana State: won, 5-4, vs. Arkansas |
| 14. Rice: won, 2-0, at Florida International |
| 15. UC Santa Barbara: lost, 6-2, at UC Davis |
| 16. Virginia: off |
| 17. Oregon State: lost, 6-1, at Arizona |
| 18. Oklahoma State: won, 9-0, vs. Prairie View A&M |
| 19. Florida Atlantic: won, 5-4, vs. Texas-San Antonio |
| 20. Tulane: won, 9-4, at South Florida |
| 21. Southern Mississippi: won, 12-5, vs. Western Kentucky |
| 22. Minnesota: lost, 12-8, vs. Indiana |
| 23. Washington: lost, 4-3, at Southern California |
| 24. Michigan State: off |
| 25. Creighton: won, 6-2, vs. Georgetown |
Louisville broke that streak Friday at North Carolina. Behind a strong performance from two-way star Brendan McKay, the ninth-ranked Cardinals defeated the Tar Heels, 6-0.
Louisville (37-9) has faced stiff competition on the road this season, travelling to Mississippi, Miami, Florida State and Boston College. And it won a game in each series, three times forcing a rubber game. But coach Dan McDonnell knows winning on Friday makes it easier to get a much-needed road series victory.
“We’ve been fighting for our life on the road,” McDonnell said. “We’ve come away with one win every weekend. We had a chance to win two on all four road trips, but it is awful hard when you lose the first game.
“There’s still a lot of baseball left this weekend and by no means are we giddy with one win. But life in the ACC, if you can win that first game, that’s huge.”
McKay, the 2015 Freshman of the Year, stepped up Friday. He was in control throughout his outing on the mound, and struck out nine batters in seven scoreless innings. He helped himself at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI double.
“He’s been doing it his whole life, so he’s very comfortable being a hitter,” McDonnell said. “It probably eases his mind. I think they both feed off of each other. Hitting takes a little bit of pressure off the pitching and pitching takes a little bit of pressure off the hitting.”
Friday’s results in the Atlantic Coast Conference saw Louisville climb into a first place tie with Florida State in the Atlantic Division, while North Carolina (29-16) has fallen to 12th place at 9-13 in ACC play. That would leave the Tar Heels out of the ACC Tournament and in danger of not making the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, despite their gaudy RPI of 14 and 11 wins against top 50 opponents.
North Carolina has time to move back up the standings, but has now lost five straight ACC games and will need to arrest its slide quickly.
Strike Two: Kennesaw State Grabs First Place
Kennesaw State made a Cinderella run to super regionals in 2014, its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. After the way they finished that season, the Owls went into 2015 with high expectations, but stumbled to a 28-28 record and sixth place finish in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Expectations were lower coming into this season, as the league’s coaches picked the Owls to finish fifth. But with a 5-3 victory Friday at Jacksonville, Kennesaw State (21-23) became the first team to clinch a spot in the six-team conference tournament. It now holds a two-game lead on Jacksonville in the conference and, if it can win one more game in this weekend’s series between the conference’s top two teams, will head back to Georgia in sole possession of first place.
The Owls did all their damage Friday in the sixth inning, scoring five runs off Dolphins ace Michael Baumann. Trailing 2-0, Taylor Allum got the rally started with a one-out homer. The next six batters reached base and, by the time reliever Casey Kulina got out of the inning, Kennesaw State had a 5-2 advantage.
Bullpen ace Richard Lovelady held Jacksonville (27-16) to one run in 3 1/3 innings, and closer Erich Stahl got the final out for his seventh save of the season.
“I was proud of our guys tonight, bouncing back from an early 2-0 deficit and put up five runs in the sixth inning,” coach Mike Sansing said. “Our bullpen was great tonight and was able to hold off Jacksonville.”
The Owls have bounced back well since going 5-15 in March. That tough stretch of the season means their postseason fate is tied to their performance in the conference tournament, but they are trending in the right direction. Kennesaw State has won its first four conference series, and now has a chance to make it five in a row on Saturday.
Strike Three: Indiana Edges Ahead In Big Ten
The first game of this weekend’s series between the top two teams in the Big Ten Conference quickly turned into a slugfest Friday in Minneapolis, and Indiana defeated No. 22 Minnesota, 12-8. With the victory, the Hoosiers (27-16) moved a half-game ahead of the Golden Gophers (27-14) for first place in the conference standings.
The Golden Gophers hit four home runs Friday and have now homered 14 times in their last four games. But they weren’t able to keep the Hoosiers powerful offense down.
The 12 runs Indiana scored were the most allowed by Minnesota since March 20, when Utah Valley scored 15. The Hoosiers pounded out 16 hits, including seven extra-base hits. Tony Butler, Ryan Fineman and Alex Krupa all collected three hits, and Fineman drove in four runs.
The beneficiary of all the offense was righthander Kyle Hart, who improved to 10-2, 3.18, despite allowing eight runs in six innings. The senior is tied for the most victories in the country.
After struggling at the outset of the season, the Hoosiers have come on strong and has won 15 of its last 18 games. Indiana is 12-4 in the Big Ten and already owns a series win against third-place Michigan State (1.5 games back).
Minnesota, which has a chance to host a regional, now must win the final two games of the series to reclaim first place and win its sixth straight Big Ten series to start conference play.
The Lineup
Nick Thayer, rhp, Campbell: After a rain delay of nearly two hours, Thayer (9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K) outdueled Presbyterian lefthander Brian Kehner (8 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 13 K), in a 1-0 victory. Thayer faced two batters over the minimum, as he improved to 7-5, 4.67 this season.
Thomas Hatch, rhp, Oklahoma State: With a shutout of Prairie View A&M in Oklahoma State’s 9-0 win, Hatch (9 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K) extended his scoreless innings streak to 29. The redshirt sophomore has three shutouts this season, leaving him one shy of the Big 12 Conference record held by Aaron Crow and Shane Komine.
Mandy Alvarez, 3b, Eastern Kentucky: Led by Alvarez (7-for-7, 2 HR, 6 RBIs), Eastern Kentucky defeated Jacksonville State, 19-13. The senior is hitting .417/.456/.676 with 12 home runs and leads the nation with 85 hits in 47 games.
Mitch Roman, ss, Wright State: In a doubleheader sweep of Valparaiso, Roman went 5-for-9, scored three runs and stole a base. The junior is hitting .333 and has stolen 21 bases this season.
Chuckie Robinson, c, Southern Mississippi: In a 12-5 victory against Western Kentucky, Robinson went 5-for-5 with a home run and seven RBIs, one shy of the Southern Miss record. The junior is 10-for-10 with a sacrifice fly and 11 RBIs in his last 11 plate appearances, dating back to last Saturday at Florida Atlantic.
Tristan Beck, rhp, Stanford: Thanks to another strong outing from Beck (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K), Stanford defeated California, 5-1. The freshman began his first start against the Cardinal’s archrival by striking out eight of the first nine batters he faced, and improved to 5-4, 1.87 this season.
Jon Duplantier, rhp, Rice: Led by Duplantier (8.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K), Rice defeated Florida International, 2-0. The redshirt sophomore improved to 6-4, 2.20 with the victory, and has now struck out 107 batters in 86 innings this season.
Keston Hiura, dh, UC Irvine: In a 4-2 victory at UCLA in 10 innings, Hiura went 5-for-5 and scored a run. After the first five-hit game of his career, the sophomore is hitting .403/.468/.623 this season.
Max Karnos, rhp, Sacramento State: Facing just one batter over the minimum, Karnos (9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K) led Sacramento State to an 8-0 victory against Utah Valley. The junior worked efficiently and needed just 94 pitches to throw his second complete game of the season.
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