College Roundup: Upsets Abound On Opening Day

Friday marked Opening Day in college baseball. Here are the key storylines and top performers from around the country.

Strike One: Opening Day upsets

The top eight teams in the Top 25 all won Friday. Behind them, however, things were not so straightforward on Opening Day.

Upsets abounded, as eight ranked teams lost their opener and two more required extra innings to eke out victories.

The tone of was set early on, as Old Dominion defeated No. 19 North Carolina State, 5-0, in one of the earliest games of the day. The Monarchs worked seven walks in the first six innings and got a solid start from righthander Sam Sinnen to knock off the Wolfpack.

“I thought we pitched really well,” coach Chris Finwood said. “It’s hard to get better than zero, I guess. But I thought offensively we had some good at bats and battled and kept the pressure on them.”

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED

(1) Florida: won, 4-2, vs. Florida Gulf Coast

(2) Louisville: won, 21-4, vs. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville

(3) Texas A&M: won, 5-2, vs. Hofstra

(4) Virginia: won, 8-6, vs. Kent State in the Caravelle Resort Tournament, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

(5) Oregon State: won, 7-6, vs. Ball State in the Surprise (Ariz.) Tournament

(6) Miami: won, 4-1, vs. Rutgers

(7) Vanderbilt: won, 8-4, vs. San Diego

(8) California: won, 5-2, at Duke

(9) Oklahoma State: lost, 3-2, at UT-Arlington in the Clay Gould Classic, Arlington, Texas

(10) UCLA: lost, 4-0, vs. North Carolina

(11) Louisiana State: won, 6-5, vs. Cincinnati in 12 innings

(12) Houston: won, 13-1, vs. Villanova

(13) Louisiana-Lafayette: won, 2-1, vs. Sam Houston State in 10 innings

(14) Oregon: won, 8-2, at San Diego State

(15) Michigan: won, 9-0, vs. Canisius in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

(16) Southern California: lost, 1-0, vs. North Dakota

(17) Florida State: won, 19-1, vs. Rhode Island

(18) Texas Christian: lost, 5-3, vs. Loyola Marymount

(19) North Carolina State: lost, 5-0, vs. Old Dominion in the Caravelle Resort Tournament, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

(20) Mississippi State lost, 10-6, vs. Florida Atlantic in the Mississippi State Tournament, Starkville, Miss.

(21) Oklahoma: lost, 3-2, vs. Northeastern

(22) Cal State Fullerton: postponed (rain) at Stanford

(23) Coastal Carolina: won, 17-2, vs. Appalachian State in the Caravelle Resort Tournament, Conway, S.C.

(24) Mississippi: won, 9-2, vs. Florida International

(25) Kentucky: lost, 5-4, vs. Wofford in the Wofford Tournament, Spartanburg, S.C.

The wild Opening Day continued late into the night, as Cincinnati pushed No. 11 Louisiana State to the brink. The Tigers finally prevailed, 6-5, in 12 innings in a game that took three hours, 59 minutes to play and didn’t end until after midnight on the east coast.

While LSU’s new-look offense was able to scratch out the runs necessary to twice tie the game when it was down to its last out, Cincinnati showed it is ready to take a step forward in coach Ty Neal’s third season. Before the season, Neal called the Bearcats “unassuming, young and dangerous.” They lived up to that billing Friday.

Strike Two: Tough day for the Big 12

Opening Day was not kind to the Big 12 Conference. Of the eight schools in action Friday, only Kansas State and Texas Tech won. All three ranked Big 12 teams (Oklahoma State, Texas Christian and Oklahoma) lost, as did traditional standard bearer Texas.

No. 9 Oklahoma State is the conference favorite, but was unable to get past UT-Arlington and its ace Joel Kuhnel. The righthander, who was the No. 1 prospect in the Jayhawk League this summer, held the Cowboys to one run (unearned) on four hits and two walks in six innings.

Oklahoma similarly ran into a tough opponent on the mound, as Northeastern righthander Aaron Civale struck out a career-high eight batters and held the Sooners to two runs on seven hits and one walk in 7 1/3 innings. It was the first victory against a Big 12 team in program history for the Huskies, who shifted Civale from a relief role to the rotation this season.

On the positive side of the ledger, Texas Tech defeated Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 12-3, and Kansas State edged UC Riverside, 1-0. The Wildcats went on the road, and got just enough offense to go with strong performances on the mound from starter Corey Fischer and reliever Jordan Floyd, who combined for eight scoreless innings.

The Big 12 schools will no doubt rebound as the season continues, but coming off a season that saw only three teams from the conference make the NCAA Tournament, the conference could have used a stronger showing on Opening Day.

Strike Three: Gilligan wins final opener

Lamar coach Jim Gilligan will retire at the end of the season, his 39th in charge of his alma mater. Friday, he led the Cardinals to a 2-1 victory against Southeast Missouri to improve to 29-10 on Opening Days in his career at Lamar. Righthander Will Hibbs struck out eight batters in six innings and held the Redhawks to one run on three hits to earn the victory.

The Lineup

Nine players that stood out around the country in Friday’s action.

1. Jeren Kendall, of, Vanderbilt. The sophomore showed why he is one of the most dynamic players in the country. The preseason third-team All-American did a little bit of everything for the Commodores (4-for-5, 2 HR, 3 R, SB, 5 RBI), who had a school-record Opening Day crowd of 3,054 fans at Hawkins Field.

2. Nick Madrigal, 2b, Oregon State. After much talk about how the Beavers would fit shortstops Trever Morrison, Cadyn Grenier and Nick Madrigal on the field, Madrigal showed what all the fuss was about (4-for-4, run, two RBIs).

3. Connor Jones, rhp, Virginia. The preseason third-team All-American gave the Cavaliers a fantastic start (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K), as they began the defense of their national championship.

4. Jeremy Montalbano, dh, Tulane. In his first game for Tulane after transferring from Texas, Montalbano (2-for-5, HR) hit a three-run walk-off home run in the 10th inning to give his new team a 6-5 victory against Illinois.

5. Gunner Leger, lhp, Louisiana-Lafayette. The Ragin’ Cajuns ace (6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K) retired the first 13 batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning against Sam Houston State.

6. David Villar, 3b, South Florida. In a back-and-forth game against Liberty, Villar (4-for-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI) homered in his first collegiate plate appearance and then helped key South Florida’s ninth-inning rally for an 11-10 victory.

7. Zach Muckenhirn, lhp, North Dakota. The junior lefty (9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K), coming off a strong summer in the Northwoods League, held Southern California in check all night, leading North Dakota to an upset victory at Dedeaux Field.

“Biggest win in the program’s history,” North Dakota coach Jeff Dodson said. “The story tonight was Muckenhirn. He threw as good as I’ve ever seen him, throwing three pitches for strikes.”

8. Robert Tyler, rhp, Georgia. The big righthander (5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 13 K), yet another preseason third-team All-American, was sidelined by injury for much of last year, but showed Friday against Georgia Southern that he is one of the most dominant pitchers in the country when he’s healthy.

9. James Bunn, of, Virginia Commonwealth. In a slugfest against Kennesaw State, the senior (4-for-5, 2 3B, HR, 4 R, 5 RBI) fell a double short of the cycle, but led VCU to a 15-11 victory.