College Roundup: Lauer Dazzles In No-Hitter

Strike One: Lauer, Flashes Have Night To Remember

He might not get the attention, but you won’t find a pitcher who’s had a more dominant year the Kent State ace Eric Lauer. The junior came into Friday with a 0.90 ERA that ranked third in the nation, having allowed just eight earned runs all season. And then he went out and threw a no-hitter.

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED

(1) Florida: won, 4-2, vs. (12) Vanderbilt

(2) Texas A&M: won, 3-0, at (8) South Carolina

(3) Mississippi State: won, 4-0, at Auburn

(4) Miami: won, 7-6, vs. Pittsburgh

(5) Texas Tech: off

(6) Mississippi: won, 14-2, vs. Kentucky

(7) Florida State: lost, 5-4, at Duke

(8) South Carolina: lost, 3-0, vs. (2) Texas A&M

(9) Louisville: won, 2-0, vs. (13) North Carolina State

(10) Texas Christian: lost, 4-3, at Baylor

(11) Louisiana State: won, 2-1, at Tennessee

(12) Vanderbilt: lost, 4-2, at (1) Florida

(13) North Carolina State: lost, 2-0, at (9) Louisville

(14) Rice: won, 9-1, vs. (17) Florida Atlantic

(15) Virginia: won, 6-3, vs. Georgia Tech

(16) Oklahoma State: lost, 9-1, vs. Oklahoma

(17) Florida Atlantic: lost, 9-1, at (14) Rice

(18) Tulane: won, 1-0, vs. Memphis

(19) Southern Mississippi: lost, 7-5, vs. Louisiana Tech

(20) Washington: lost, 9-3, vs. Washington State

(21) Arizona: lost, 5-2, vs. Arizona State

(22) Cal State Fullerton: lost, 3-2, at (24) UC Santa Barbara

(23) Clemson: won, 12-1, at Georgia Southern

(24) UC Santa Barbara: won, 3-2, vs. (22) Cal State Fullerton

(25) Creighton: won, 4-2, at Xavier

It’s the second straight weekend college baseball has seen a no-hitter, after Texas A&M’s Kyle Simonds threw one last Saturday against Vanderbilt. And just like Simonds was, Lauer was essentially perfect. Facing Bowling Green State, only one hitter reached base against him all night, and that was on a throwing error in the third inning. Lauer retired the final 20 consecutive Falcon hitters, and along the way he matched his career high with 13 strikeouts.

“I didn’t feel dynamite or anything today,” Lauer told kentstatesports.com. “I felt like I could move my fastball up and down, which helps a ton. It’s not so much a feeling that you have amazing stuff, it’s more that your command is there and you can control what’s going on.”

Lauer recorded at least one strikeout in eight of the nine innings, and all but one of his 13 strikeouts were swinging. Perhaps his biggest challenge might’ve been his own offense. With Lauer carrying a no-no through eight innings, the Flashes sent a whopping 18 hitters to the plate in the top of the ninth and scored 12 runs. All that time in the dugout didn’t faze Lauer though, as went back to the mound and turned in a perfect bottom of the ninth to finish the job.

The no-hitter is the 11th in Kent State history, and it also happened to clinch the outright regular-season title in the Mid-American Conference. Even for a program with a College World Series trip in its recent history and that has long been the MAC’s flagship in baseball, that makes for one special evening.

“Not only to win a MAC Championship but to do it the way we did with Eric Lauer throwing the no-hitter,” head coach Jeff Duncan said.  “I’m just so happy for him, and for Pete Schuler, a freshman, catching it.  It’s a big game in our program history.  I can honestly say that everyone contributed to get where we are at right now, I’m happy for this program.”

Strike Two: Blue Devils Hunting Another Upset

DURHAM, N.C.—Duke has already proven it can beat good teams. The Blue Devils have won three series against teams that were ranked at one point or another—California, Georgia Tech and Clemson. Entering the weekend with an RPI in the 30s, the program has its first NCAA trip since 1961 within reach, and it took another step in that direction with a 5-2 win in the Devils’ series opener with No. 7 Florida State on Friday.

The Seminoles changed up their rotation, elevating sophomore righthander Drew Carlton to the Friday role and dropping senior Mike Compton to the bullpen. But Carlton struggled early, and the Blue Devils, not a team known for offense, jumped on him for five runs on six hits over the first three innings, including a pair of two-run homers by Michael Smiciklas—the first of his career—and Jack Labosky. The cushion allowed Duke starter Kellen Urbon to settle in, as the graduate transfer from Cornell worked into the seventh before being pulled as FSU cut the deficit to one.

“I think that’s maybe our 10th or 11th win against a ranked opponent this year,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “So we know we’re capable of that. We went out tonight and played really good defense. I thought Kellen Urbon settled in, established his changeup, and then we did a good job behind him. . . . We opportunistic offensively early, and then we kind of stagnated a little bit. But defensively and on the bump, we were really good tonight.”

The Devils played error-free defense, and their pitching staff allowed FSU’s lineup—always renowned for its patience—only one walk for the entire evening. To his credit, Carlton did settle down after his early trouble, allowing just two hits and no runs over his final four innings of work and giving FSU’s offense a chance to come back.

Noles shortstop Taylor Walls went 4-for-5 out of the leadoff spot, including an RBI single in the eighth as FSU tried to mount a comeback, but Labosky, a two-way standout who doubles as a setup man, was able to strand the tying run at second. Mitch Stallings picked up his eighth save by closing it out in the ninth, getting around a one-out single. The win is Duke’s 30th of the season, marking the third straight year they’ve reached that mark under Pollard, and brings the Devils to 11-14 in the Atlantic Coast Conference as they chase a berth in both the ACC and NCAA tournaments.

“We’re looking for their best shot (Saturday),” Pollard said. “They’ll certainly come out hungry. We’ve got to be able to answer that energy. Nothing changes. What I told our guys yesterday and I reminded them today, we’ve got six one-game seasons left. Tomorrow, we’ve got five one-game seasons. Tomorrow will be all about tomorrow. We’ll treat tomorrow like its own one-game season and compete like crazy.”

Strike Three: ASU Delivers Early Knockout

We’ll keep the “Devils” theme going with Arizona State, which scored five runs in the top of the first inning against rival Arizona. Junior Seth Martinez made them stand up, as the Sun Devils went on to a 5-2 win in Tucson.

The game between the two Territorial Cup rivals drew 6,324 fans, Arizona’s largest crowd since it moved to Hi Corbett Field in 2012, but ASU sapped their energy quickly. ASU’s first three hitters of the game reached base, and the turning point in the inning was a critical throwing error by Wildcats third baseman Bobby Dalbec, throwing away a potential inning-ending groundout that opened the door for ASU to score three more runs.

That was more than enough for Martinez. The righthander (7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) improved to 8-3, 1.93 by delivering his 11th quality start of the season. He retired the first 14 Wildcat hitters of the game—the fourth time this year he’s taken a no-hitter into the fifth—and wasn’t scored upon until UofA pushed across an unearned run in the seventh.

“Going into this game no matter how many runs you have in the first inning, I was pumped up,” Martinez told the Arizona Republic. “I had the nerves going, but it was definitely nice to be five runs up. That’s when you just go out there, do what you normally do and try to compete in the zone as much as you can. We decided as a staff to go right after them and let the defense work and try to get that first-pitch strike as much as possible.”

The Sun Devils may be playing the role of spoiler, as Arizona is in the thick of the regional hosting race, but there’s plenty for them to gain themselves. ASU, now 12-10 in Pacific 12 conference play, is after its fifth straight weekend series win, having pulled to within a half game of UofA in the Pac-12 standings, and it’s just two games behind first-place Utah.

The Lineup

Logan Shore, rhp, Florida: Logan Shore pitches. Florida wins. Lather, rinse, repeat. The top-ranked Gators won a Shore start for the 18th straight time on Friday, as the righty worked his third complete game of the season (9 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K) in a 4-2 win against No. 12 Vanderbilt.

Shane Matheny, 3b, Washington State: We wrote of ASU as a spoiler. That title certainly applies to Wazzu, which dealt a severe blow to rival Washington’s hosting aspirations with a 9-3 win in Seattle. Matheny bats just .229 as the Cougars No. 9 hitter, but he bit the Huskies on Friday, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs, highlighted by a big two-run single in Wazzu’s decisive seven-run sixth inning.

Brigham Hill and Mark Ecker, rhps, Texas A&M: The SEC’s other marquee opener featured a dominant pitching night of its own, as Hill (6 IP, 5 H, 0 R) and Ecker (3 IP, 0 H, 0 R) combined on a five-hit shutout on the road at South Carolina in a 3-0 win for the second-ranked Aggies. Following Simonds’ no-hitter in last week’s series finale, it’s the first time A&M has thrown shutouts in consecutive conference games since 1990.

Brendan McKay, lhp/dh, Louisville: North Carolina State never even got a runner to second base against McKay (7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K), who extended his scoreless innings streak to 17. The Cardinals put up their school-record 11th shutout of the season, taking the opener by a 2-0 score in a vital showdown in the national seed race. Don’t forget, McKay can hit a little, too. He also extended his on-base streak to 34 straight games, going 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Tristan Gray, of, Rice: Gray registered a career-high five RBIs as Rice hammered Florida Atlantic 9-1 in the opener of the Owls-vs.-Owls showdown, which of course also happens to feature the first- and third-place teams in Conference USA. Gray went 2-for-4 in the game, including a two-run homer in the third, just his second of the season.

Kevin Hill, rhp, South Alabama: The Jaguars took a big step towards the Sun Belt’s regular-season title with their 3-2 win against Louisiana-Lafayette in a matchup of the league’s two best teams. Steady USA ace Hill (8 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) lowered his ERA to 2.24 by coming out on top of a quality duel with ULL’s Gunner Leger as the Jaguars opened up a four-game lead on the second-place Cajuns with two games left in the series.

Jordan Smith, of, Minnesota: Smith had two hits for the Gophers against Purdue, but his biggest contribution was his go-ahead sac fly in the top of the 10th as Minnesota scratched out a 4-3 win. A harder win than expected against the last-place Boilermakers, but nonetheless, that result coupled with Indiana’s loss to Illinois puts the Gophers back in first place in the Big Ten.

Connor Jones, rhp, Virginia: Jones stayed hot, throwing his third complete game in his last five starts, and so did Virginia, racking up its seventh straight win by a 6-3 count against Georgia Tech. Jones (9 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K) needed just 104 pitches to go the distance and run his mark to 10-1, 1.96 on the year.

Emerson Gibbs, rhp, Tulane: The senior went out in style in his likely final home start, setting a career-high with nine strikeouts over eight innings and pitching his team to a 1-0 win against Memphis. Friday may not have been Gibbs’ last time on the hill at Turchin Stadium though—don’t sleep on the Green Wave, the first-place in the American and No. 25 in the WarrenNolan.com RPI, as a regional hosting candidate.