College Roundup: Hansen’s Tough Start

Three key storylines from the first Saturday of the college baseball season.

Strike One: Huskies Jump Hansen

Oklahoma figured to need a little time for its new look lineup to come together. What the Sooners were supposed to be able to count on was the one-two punch of Jake Elliott and Alec Hansen, the latter a presumptive high first round pick in June. But while Elliott pitched well in a losing effort against Northeastern on Friday, Hansen had an unabashed meltdown in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

The junior righthander had his usual 95-98 mph velocity, but his command fell apart right in the top of the first inning, as three walks, a hit-by-pitch and a wild pitch opened the door for the Huskies to take a 3-0 lead. Hansen was pulled after giving up a leadoff walk in the top of the second.

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED

(1) Florida: won, 8-4, vs. Florida Gulf Coast

(2) Louisville: won, 12-0, vs. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville

(3) Texas A&M: won, 15-4, vs. Hofstra

(4) Virginia: won, 8-0, vs. Appalachian State in the Caravelle Resort Tournament, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

(5) Oregon State: lost, 12-9, vs. Utah Valley in the Surprise (Ariz.) Tournament

(6) Miami: won, 2-0, vs. Rutgers

(7) Vanderbilt: won, 13-6, vs. San Diego

(8) California: lost, 6-5 (10 inn.), at Duke

(9) Oklahoma State: won, 8-2, vs. Stephen F. Austin, and won, 5-3 at Texas-Arlington in the Clay Gould Classic, Arlington, Texas

(10) UCLA: won, 6-5, vs. North Carolina

(11) Louisiana State: won, 4-0, vs. Cincinnati

(12) Houston: won, 4-0, vs. Villanova

(13) Louisiana-Lafayette: won, 6-2, vs. Sam Houston State

(14) Oregon: won, 10-5, at San Diego State

(15) Michigan: swept DH, 6-2 and 3-0, vs. Canisius in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

(16) Southern California: lost, 5-4, vs. North Dakota

(17) Florida State: won, 8-1, vs. Rhode Island

(18) Texas Christian: won, 1-0, vs. Loyola Marymount

(19) North Carolina State: won, 13-10, at (23) Coastal Carolina in the Caravelle Resort Tournament, Conway, S.C.

(20) Mississippi State: lost, 4-0, vs. Florida Atlantic, and won, 17-4, vs. South Dakota State in the Mississippi State Tournament, Starkville, Miss.

(21) Oklahoma: split DH vs. Northeastern, lost, 3-2, and won, 10-4.

(22) Cal State Fullerton: lost DH at Stanford, 2-0 and 2-1.

(23) Coastal Carolina: lost, 13-10, vs. (19) North Carolina State in the Caravelle Resort Tournament, Conway, S.C.

(24) Mississippi: won, 7-4, vs. Florida International

(25) Kentucky: won, 8-6, vs. George Mason in the Wofford Tournament, Spartanburg, S.C.

Oklahoma never could climb out of that hole. While Northeastern may not have the name brand to strike fear in the heart of a power-conference school like OU, the Huskies have a stout pitching staff led by ace Aaron Civale, who beat OU on Friday, and fellow junior Dustin Hunt, draft prospects both. Hunt (4.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, ER, 4 BB, 4 SO) wasn’t at his best on Saturday, but then the Huskies got a strong relief outing from righty Andrew Misiaszek (4.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) to finish the 5-3 win.

The Sooners did manage to salvage a split of the doubleheader with a 10-4 win in the nightcap. Sheldon Neuse, the third member of their triumvirate of stars, led the way, knocking three RBIs at the plate and logging 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief on the mound. OU will likewise try to gain a split of the four-game series on Sunday.

Strike Two: Slugfest By The Beach

So, there can be some exceptions to the rule about good pitching beating good hitting. As ranked foes Coastal Carolina and North Carolina State clashed Saturday in Conway, S.C., both started their best arms, Alex Cunningham and Brian Brown, respectively. But these are two teams with deep, talented offenses, and Coastal’s Springs Brooks Park can play small. Put it all together, and those offenses won out on Saturday, with the Wolfpack outslugging the Chanticleers 13-10.

The two teams combined for a whopping nine home runs (and 28 total hits), while neither ace made it past the fourth. The home runs came from everyone from usual suspects like Coastal third baseman Zach Remillard, who hit two, to diminutive Wolfpack sophomore leadoff man Josh McLain, who hit the first of his college career. Talented NCSU freshman second baseman Xavier LeGrant also homered in his first collegiate at-bat.

After going back and forth for seven innings, the Wolfpack seized control of the game with four runs in the top of the eighth, during which it homered three times, and two more in the ninth. All this coming a day after the Wolfpack was shut out in its opener by Old Dominion. Both teams sit at 1-1 heading into Sunday. Coastal will have to lick its wounds quickly as it faces defending national champ Virginia on Sunday, while the Wolfpack closes the weekend against Mid-American Conference favorite Kent State.

That both the Chanticleers and Wolfpack can hit wasn’t in question. The important issue going forward for both sides is making sure Cunningham’s and Brown’s performances were the ones that were outliers.

Strike Three: Twice As Nice For North Dakota

On Friday, North Dakota coach Jeff Dodson called the Fighting Hawks’ 1-0 win at No. 16 Southern California the biggest in program history. That game might have held that title for less than 24 hours. UND did it again on Saturday, taking down the Trojans 5-4 to shockingly clinch the series.

“No words can express what we just did,” Dodson told the Associated Press on Saturday.

While Friday’s win was all about the three-hit shutout tossed by Zach Muckenhirn, UND’s bats came to life Saturday. Daniel Lockhert and Connor Trygstad hit back-to-back homers in the fourth, and UND took the lead for good on Ben Reznicek’s RBI double in the fifth as they jumped on an ineffective Brent Wheatley (4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO). The Trojans scored once in the seventh to pull within 5-4 but stranded the tying run at third, then had a runner thrown out trying to steal third for the final out of the eighth.

USC undoubtedly has plenty of time and opportunities to make up for the damage done by losing a home series to North Dakota, but their upcoming schedule is unforgiving. They host a dangerous Wake Forest team next weekend, followed by three straight weekends where they’ll face ranked opponents. At the same time, the Trojans have to hope North Dakota turns out to be a better team than one picked ninth in the Western Athletic Conference.

The Lineup

Nine newsmakers from Saturday’s action.

1. Tristan Beck, rhp, Stanford: One of the highest rated players to come to college out of last year’s high school class, Beck (6.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO) didn’t disappoint in his collegiate debut, setting the tone as Stanford swept a doubleheader from No. 22 Cal State Fullerton.

2. Alex Lange, rhp, Louisiana State: Lange (6.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K) figures to be a regular in this space, as he picked up where he left off in his dominant freshman season in LSU’s 4-0 whitewashing of Cincinnati.

3. Preston Palmeiro, 1b, North Carolina State: There were plenty of standouts we could’ve gone with from the wild NCSU-Coastal game, but the Wolfpack’s sweet swinging junior first baseman (4-for-5, HR, 2 2B, 4 RBI) was the ringleader.

4. John King, lhp, and Aaron Fletcher, lhp, Houston: Filling in ably for the suspended Seth Romero, the two Cougars combined on a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts as Houston blanked Villanova 4-0, with King (6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 SO) picking up the win in his Houston debut.

5. Ryne Edmondson, of, Utah Valley: The Wolverines beat a ranked team for just the sixth time ever, taking down No. 5 Oregon State in a 12-9 shootout in Surprise, Ariz., with freshman Edmondson (2-for-5, 3B, 4 RBI) leading the way.

6. Evan Dougherty, of, Duke: Dougherty’s walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the 10th finished off the Blue Devils’ 6-5 upset of No. 8 California, setting up a rubber match Sunday.

7. Marc Stewart, rhp, Florida Atlantic: Offense figures to be FAU’s forte, but it was Hillsborough (Fla.) CC transfer Stewart (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 SO) who paved the way to the Owls’ second straight win against No. 20 Mississippi State, a 4-0 shutout in Starkville.

8. Dan Martinson, rhp, Richmond: Getting the ball for just his third career start, the senior turned in his longest outing as a collegian (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K) in leading the Spiders to a 3-1 win against Western Carolina that improves them to 2-0.

“I was really just trying to keep my defense in the game–moving quick and throwing strikes–and they did a great job behind me,” Martinson said. “Some were hard hit balls put in play that we made some great plays on and kept the momentum going.”

9. Alex Stephens, 3b, Morehead State: The Eagles set a school record with nine doubles in a 24-4 drubbing of North Carolina Central, but no one had a bigger day than the junior Stephens, who hit for the cycle and needed just four plate appearances to do it (4-for-4, 4 RBI) .