Off The Bat: FSU Makes Statement With Road Series Win

After a bit of a lackluster Opening Weekend, college baseball brought the heat over the weekend with a trio of Top 25 matchups, top-10 upsets and plenty of early season drama.

Here are 18 thoughts on the weekend that was around college baseball.

1. Florida State went on the road to Texas Christian and grabbed the weekend’s biggest series win. The Seminoles won Friday’s opener, 10-1, behind an outstanding pitching performance from righthander Jackson Baumeister and lefthander Wyatt Crowell, who combined for a two-hitter. Florida State needed more offense Saturday and the bats delivered in a 10-8 victory to clinch the series.

TCU bounced back for a 3-2 victory Sunday, but Florida State (6-1) went home with a series win that provides some early season momentum and changes the tenor of discussion around the team.

The Seminoles entered the Top 25 at No. 16 after being unranked entering their first season under Link Jarrett. Florida State had been a solid team a season ago, but with so much new—Jarrett and his staff coming to Tallahassee from Notre Dame and Florida State breaking in a new rotation after its 1-2 punch of Parker Messick and Bryce Hubbart were drafted in the top 100 picks—there was some uncertainty. Going on the road and winning a series against the Big 12 favorites served notice that the Seminoles are ready to go.

Florida State has high-end talent on the mound, and it showed it over the weekend. Baumeister struck out eight in 5.2 scoreless innings Friday before giving way to Crowell, who held the Horned Frogs to an unearned run in 3.1 innings to finish the game. In Sunday’s loss, righthander Carson Montgomery held TCU to one run in five innings, striking out five and scattering five hits and a walk. The Seminoles needed a whole-staff effort to win Saturday, but TCU’s lineup will get to a lot of teams this year.

The talent on the mound is no surprise, though if Baumeister is going to pitch like a No. 1, that’s a big breakthrough for Florida State. More encouragingly, the Seminoles are off to a strong start offensively. They’re hitting .352/.440/.616 as a team and while that won’t last, they’re showing a deep, dangerous lineup.

Florida State looks like a team that can mix it up with the best teams in the conference. The Seminoles have already proven they can go on the road and win a big series—something no one else in the ACC has done (though Virginia Tech did win a series at College of Charleston, the Colonial Athletic Association favorite)—and they have some real star power. The challenge now will be to build on their early success, but in a relatively open conference, Florida State is making an early statement.

2. A week ago, TCU was the toast of Opening Weekend, flying high after beating Arkansas and Vanderbilt, scoring 37 runs off SEC pitching at Globe Life Field and rising into the top 10. But the college baseball season moves fast in February and now the Horned Frogs (4-3) must regroup after a tough weekend.

That was made much easier thanks to TCU’s comeback, 3-2 victory in the series finale to avoid being swept. The Horned Frogs fell behind 2-0 in the first inning, but righthanders Cam Brown and Kole Klecker combined to hold the Seminoles to one hit the rest of the game, giving the offense time to erase the deficit. Klecker especially was impressive, retiring all 12 batters he faced to improve to 2-0, 1.08 this season.

TCU has faced one of the toughest schedules in the country so far this season (it rates No. 3 according to WarrenNolan.com, but the metrics still need time to normalize) and it doesn’t let up this week. TCU this week makes the short trip to Dallas Baptist on Tuesday and then heads to Houston for the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic, where it faces Michigan, Louisville and Rice.

While TCU has effectively only played home games so far (Globe Life Field is 20 miles for Lupton Stadium) it has challenged itself in a way few major conference programs have. Facing that kind of competition, it’s not surprising that the Horned Frogs have had some early season ups and downs. The key moving forward will be to build some momentum and learn from these tests as they go into Big 12 play in two weeks.

3. Pitching was expected to be the name of the game over the weekend in Nashville with Vanderbilt hosting UCLA, bringing together two of the best pitching staffs in the country. The series delivered on that promise, with the two teams combining for 12 runs on the weekend and trading shutouts in the first two games. The Commodores walked away with the series win thanks to a 2-1 victory in Sunday’s rubber game.

Vanderbilt’s starting rotation of lefthanders Carter Holton, Hunter Owen and Devin Futrell didn’t give up a run all weekend and combined for 18 strikeouts, eight walks and five hits in 15.1 innings. That kind of starting pitching is going to win the Commodores (5-2) a lot of games this season. But the efforts of righthanders Bryce Cunningham (3.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) and Nick Maldonado (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K) can’t be overlooked either. That duo has combined for 12.1 scoreless innings to start the year, striking out 22 batters and scattering five hits and two walks. Both have outings of at least three innings, which gives Vanderbilt a lot of flexibility and can dramatically shorten games.

Tim Corbin said pitching coach Scott Brown made the decision to bring Maldonado in the game in the seventh inning Sunday.

“He just wanted to go to our best guy out of the bullpen and didn’t want to wait,” Corbin said.

With weapons like that out of the bullpen, Vanderbilt can skip its middle relievers—which on many major conference teams would be pitching in much higher-leverage innings—and move directly from its starters to its bullpen aces. And it looks like the Commodores will largely be able to frame games that way without taxing either Cunningham or Maldonado by asking them to pitch twice in one weekend.

It’s still very early, but that’s a scary proposition for opposing batters.

4. UCLA hadn’t played a regular-season series at an SEC team since 2012 (Georgia) and it came up short in Nashville, but it was a good test for the Bruins (5-2). Aside from one tough inning Friday night when Vanderbilt got to starter Jake Brooks for five runs, UCLA pitched well all weekend. Its bullpen gave up one run on eight hits and three walks in 10 innings. Righthander Alonzo Tredwell threw five scoreless in Saturday’s win and righthander Kelly Austin delivered a quality start Sunday.

The trouble for UCLA was offensively. On the weekend, it went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position, grounded into five double plays and three of its four runs came on solo home runs. That was in sharp contrast to the team that scored 58 runs in its first four games against Nebraska-Omaha and Pepperdine.

Struggles offensively are going to happen to a lot of teams against Vanderbilt and UCLA is not built to be the offensive juggernaut it may have looked to open the season. Better weeks lie ahead for the Bruins and their true offensive level probably lies somewhere between their first two weekends. But UCLA needs to get back on track quickly—it has just one more weekend before Pac-12 play begins.

5. Pitching took center stage over the weekend in Nashville, but it was—as expected—all about offense in Oxford, with Mississippi hosting Maryland. The two teams a year ago both ranked in the top 15 nationally in home runs and the ball was flying over the weekend at Swayze Field. After the teams split the first two games, the Rebels broke away for an 18-8 win in seven innings in Sunday’s rubber game.

Ole Miss (6-1) was stymied Friday night by All-American Jason Savacool, held to just two unearned runs in a 9-2 loss. But it came back for 30 runs over the next two days, hitting seven home runs in the process. Through seven games, 10 Rebels have homered and six have hit at least two homers, showcasing the depth of the lineup.

Ole Miss picked up a strong series win and it should feel great about its offense, but this weekend did expose some concern on the mound. Opening Day starter Hunter Elliott did not pitch due to forearm tightness and coach Mike Bianco said he is slated to see a specialist this week. Righthander Jack Dougherty slid into his spot in the rotation and the junior is a solid option, but if Ole Miss loses Elliott for a significant amount of time, it will come as a blow to the rotation. Elliott was a Freshman All-American in 2022 and spent the summer with USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team. While the Rebels have high-upside freshmen, they don’t have anyone who can match Elliott’s combination of experience and stuff.

It wound up not mattering against Maryland, but Ole Miss gave up 23 runs on the weekend and got just 10.1 innings out of its rotation of Dougherty, Grayson Saunier and Xavier Rivas. The Rebels’ offense can win it a lot of games this year, but Ole Miss can’t ask the lineup to shoulder such a heavy burden every weekend.

6. Maryland had its own troubles on the mound in Oxford. Savacool was outstanding on Friday, holding the Rebels to just two unearned runs in seven innings and striking out nine batters. It was the kind of start that made him an All-American a year ago and makes him an intriguing prospect.

In the next two games, however, Maryland couldn’t keep Ole Miss off the scoreboard. The Rebels scored in 10 of the final 15 innings of the series and pounded out 28 hits, 11 of which went for extra bases.

The Rebels’ lineup is going to make a lot of pitching staffs look bad this year. But if the Terrapins are going to take the next step this spring and advance past regionals, they’re going to have to develop some more depth on the mound. Maryland has three months to work on that and it faces another tough test this weekend at the Cambria College Classic in Minneapolis, where it will take on Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Hawaii.

7. It’s sure to be an entertaining weekend any time East Carolina and North Carolina meet for a series. While poor weather forced Saturday’s game to be postponed, the Pirates and Tar Heels again delivered over the weekend.

ECU twice used late comebacks to defeat UNC, 6-5, on both Friday and Sunday, with the games split between Greenville and Chapel Hill. In the opener, UNC led 3-0 after seven innings before ECU put up a six-spot in the sixth and then held off the Tar Heels’ own rally in the ninth. On Sunday, UNC took a 5-2 lead into the seventh, only to see ECU (5-1) score four runs in the inning and hold on for the win.

Righthander Carter Spivey, the 2022 American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year, closed out Sunday’s win after being held out of Friday’s start due to soreness. He entered in the ninth inning in a jam, with runners on first and second and no outs, and got three quick outs to end the game.

“I was pretty fired up, but it was just a fun game,” he said. “Just a fun two games. They play really hard over there, we play hard, too. Just two really good teams going at it.”

Getting Spivey back at the front of the rotation sooner than later would be big for the Pirates, but righthander Trey Yesavage handled the duties with aplomb. He held UNC to one run on three hits and a walk, while striking out eight batters in six innings. A 1-2 punch of Spivey and Yesavage would be formidable.

8. The losses obviously sting for the Tar Heels (4-3), especially knowing how close they were to flipping the results. On Friday, UNC had the tying run on second base with one out but couldn’t bring him home. On Sunday, it got the first two runners on but couldn’t make anything more happen.

The good news for UNC is that starters Max Carlson (7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K) and Connor Bovair (5.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K) were strong. The Tar Heels are still working things out in the bullpen after losing three of their four top relievers from last season, but Scott Forbes has a long track record of building strong bullpens. This year shouldn’t be any different.

However, UNC needs to work it out sooner than later. It has just one more weekend before ACC play starts with a bang, as Virginia’s powerful offense comes to Chapel Hill.

9. It was a week to forget for Texas A&M. The Aggies lost Tuesday to Lamar, 7-4, and then dropped a series to Portland, losing the first two games and needing a ninth-inning rally to avoid an 0-4 week.

On the one hand, going 1-3 at home to Lamar and Portland is not good. Both teams have gotten better in recent years and are coming off their best seasons in some time—Portland won 32 games last year, its most since 2010, and Lamar won 37 games, its most since 2013. But these aren’t opponents that a preseason top-10 team is supposed to be losing to at home.

A&M’s offense never got going last week. It scored 13 runs in four games—three of which came in Sunday’s ninth inning—and while it drew 22 walks, it was never able to take advantage of those free bases. The Aggies left 33 runners on base and went 6-for-38 with runners in scoring position.

Overall, the Aggies are fighting it offensively. They’re hitting .230/.337/.369 as a team and, among the regulars, only Hunter Haas (1.054) and Jace LaViolette (.944) have an OPS over .750—and both of them are newcomers. That’s not a recipe for success.

The Aggies’ collective slump—especially among the veterans—is one of the reasons that there’s no need to reach for the panic button in College Station. Once players like Austin Bost and Ryan Targac get on track, things should turn around in a hurry for the A&M offense.

The other reason not to panic after last week is that exactly a year ago, A&M lost a series at home to Pennsylvania. There was a lot of hand wringing following that weekend (some of it done by me) and all the Aggies did was finish the year as one of the last four teams standing in Omaha.

A&M didn’t instantly turn it around—the series loss to Penn was part of a 6-6 stretch leading up to the start of SEC play—but coach Jim Schlossnagle did get it turned around. Expect it to happen again in 2023.

10. The drama off the field continued to unfold in Knoxville. Tennessee on Opening Day announced shortstop Maui Ahuna was ineligible as he awaited clearance from the NCAA following his transfer from Kansas. A week later, the Volunteers announced coach Tony Vitello was suspended for the weekend against Dayton, just before the series began.

The suspension was levied by Tennessee—not the NCAA—for “a violation in the program.” The Volunteers are expected to provide a further update Monday, but a timeline for resolution on the issue remains unclear.

On the field, the Volunteers (6-2) swept Dayton to complete a 5-0 week against the Flyers and Alabama A&M. There wasn’t much to be learned for Tennessee last week, but taking care of business after hitting an Opening Weekend speed bump in Arizona was important. The Volunteers get back to it quickly this week with a midweek series against Charleston Southern (2-5), but, first, all eyes will be on any further off-field developments.  

11. Louisiana State on Saturday took its first loss of the season, falling 12-4 to Iowa. Just about nothing went right on the day as the Hawkeyes held the Tigers to four hits and nine walks, while knocking around four LSU pitchers for 12 runs on 16 hits and one walk.

LSU bounced back from the loss well and routed Sam Houston State, 16-4, in Sunday’s finale of the Karbach Round Rock Classic in Round Rock, Texas. The lineup, which had been unable to come up with timely hits the day before, broke through for 23 hits, nine of which went for extra bases.

Overall, it was a solid weekend for No. 1 LSU (6-1). It responded to the loss and coach Jay Johnson continued to experiment with the lineup and pitching staff, as the Tigers search for their best combination in all facets of the game.

In the early going, some things have started to crystalize for LSU, however. Seven players – Dylan Crews, Jared Jones, Tre’ Morgan, Brady Neal, Ben Nippolt, Jordan Thompson and Tommy White—have started every game they’ve been available for and Gavin Dugas has started every game since Opening Day.

12. Iowa (5-1) was a tough defeat on Friday away from being the story of the weekend. The Hawkeyes beat LSU on Saturday and then finished the weekend with a 6-5 comeback win against Kansas State. Only a 6-0 loss Friday to Sam Houston State soiled their weekend in Round Rock.

Still, it was a big weekend for Iowa. The Hawkeyes scored the program’s first ever win against a No. 1 team and netted two wins against major conference competition that should help their metrics all season long.

“We have a really good team,” said coach Rick Heller. “A tough team. A team that puts in great effort every single day. Awesome makeup, good culture, good teamwork. Everything that you want to say is good from a culture standpoint these guys have that.”

13. After going 2-2 on Opening Weekend in Arizona, UC Santa Barbara faced a difficult trip to Eugene. The Gauchos bounced back in a big way to sweep the Ducks at PK Park. UCSB outscored Oregon, 20-3, on the weekend and never trailed in the series.

The series started with a 6-2 victory Friday for UCSB with Zander Darby and Ivan Brethowr providing all the offense the Gauchos needed with two swings of the bat. Darby hit a two-run home run in the third inning to give them an early lead and Brethowr hit a grand slam in the seventh to break it open. UCSB hit six home runs in Saturday’s doubleheader, while its pitching staff allowed just one run on the day.

UCSB has consistently had standout pitching under coach Andrew Checketts and the Gauchos were tough on the mound against the Ducks. Their rotation of Mike Gutierrez, Matt Ager and Reed Moring combined to hold Oregon to two runs in 18 innings and the bullpen allowed jut one run all weekend.

That kind of pitching, combined with an exciting, physical lineup makes for a tough combination and is why UCSB is the Big West favorite. It certainly played like it over the weekend in Eugene, but, at some point, Oregon and Oregon State are going to quit inviting UCSB to play them in the Beaver State. The Gauchos are 9-4 in Eugene and Corvallis under Checketts (who is a Portland native, played at Oregon State and coached at Oregon), with two sweeps in the last four seasons. In fairness to Oregon, this series was slated to be at UCSB until poor weather in Southern California led it to be moved up the coast.

14. The weekend was Oregon’s worst offensively since Mark Wasikowski took over the program following the 2019 season. The Ducks were held to just three runs; previously, their lowest total in a series under Wasikowski was eight (Oregon State, 2022).

It’s early and UCSB’s pitchers are a tough matchup for any team, but Oregon is now hitting .202/.295/.318 as a team. Veterans Josiah Cromwick (.333/.353/1.000) and Tanner Smith (.300/.462/.350) are off to solid starts, but the Ducks haven’t developed the lineup depth that they need and Wasikowski’s teams typically have.

“There’s not a lot that you don’t look to improve on,” Wasikowski said. “The blame isn’t with players only, it’s with coaches, it’s with preparation and we need to improve.”

It’s not getting any easier for Oregon, however. The Ducks host San Diego (5-0-1) for a four-game series this weekend and then face UCLA to open Pac-12 play. Finding a way to get the offense unlocked is critical.

15. Illinois (4-3) scored a big upset series win over the weekend at Southern Mississippi. The Illini won Friday’s opener, 13-5, and then dropped a back-and-forth game Saturday, 14-13, in 11 innings. That set up a Sunday rubber game and Illinois took care of business with a 9-4 win in which it never trailed.

Illinois is facing a very difficult start to the season and after going 2-2 last weekend in Wake Forest’s round-robin—it beat Youngstown State twice and lost twice to Wake—picking up a series win in Hattiesburg is significant, both for the purposes of its NCAA Tournament resume and simply building early confidence.

Illinois became the first team to beat Southern Miss in a non-conference series at Pete Taylor Park since 2015 (Oakland) and the 35 runs it scored on the weekend are the most an opponent has scored in Hattiesburg since Cal State Fullerton scored 36 in 2009.

The Illini finished tied for second last year in the Big Ten standings and it looks like they’re again going to be in the mix at the top of the conference.

16. After a tough Opening Weekend on the mound at the College Baseball Showdown (it gave up 29 runs in losses to Arkansas and Vanderbilt), Oklahoma State’s pitching staff bounced back in a big way last week. The Cowboys threw back-to-back no-hitters, first spinning one in Tuesday’s 2-0 victory against California Baptist and then doubling up with a 1-0 victory in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against Loyola Marymount.

Oklahoma State (4-3) did give up 10 runs in 10 innings in the nightcap Saturday, but it bounced back for an 11-1 victory in seven innings in Sunday’s series finale (a three-hitter). 

The Cowboys are still working some things out on the mound in between ace Juaron Watts-Brown and closer Nolan McLean, both of whom were Preseason All-Americans. But righthander Janzen Keisel‘s start Tuesday against CBU (5.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K) was encouraging in his Oklahoma State debut following his transfer from Brigham Young. Righthanders Evan O’Toole and Isaac Stevens, both junior college transfers, have been reliable out of the bullpen.

The Cowboys have the depth and the time to work through it with series against Austin Peay State and Utah Tech before Big 12 play begins with a big series at Texas Tech.

17. One of the loudest weekends came from Duke, which not only swept Baylor, but outscored the Bears, 52-7. The Blue Devils (5-2) pounded out 47 hits and drew 24 walks. While they did have some big hits, the Blue Devils were also relentless, racking up 11 two-strike hits in Friday’s opener.

Baylor (2-5) is struggling in the early going, but last weekend should still provide some real momentum for the Blue Devils. They’re coming off a difficult season (22-32) and were picked to finish sixth in the ACC’s Coastal Division. Getting off to a strong start in non-conference play—like they have—could pay dividends.

18. West Virginia (4-3) had one of the best weeks of any team in the country, starting it with a win Tuesday at Maryland before winning a series at Arizona.

The Mountaineers won Friday’s opener, 6-5, in 11 innings in dramatic fashion. JJ Wetherholt scored the go-ahead run with a straight steal of home on an 0-2 count with two outs in the 11th inning. He went 3-for-6 with a home run in the game and is batting .467/.556/.833 with 12 stolen bases.

West Virginia clinched the series win Saturday with a more conventional 5-1 victory.

West Virginia opened the season with a close series loss at Georgia Southern but is piling up some road wins that should be a big boost to its RPI throughout the season. After just missing the NCAA Tournament last year, the work the Mountaineers are doing early could have them in a better spot this May.

Eight for Omaha

Florida, LSU, Louisville, Ole Miss, Stanford, Tennessee, TCU, Virginia Tech

No changes this week. We’ve got to let some things settle in before I start dropping teams, though I’m a little concerned that Virginia Tech has lost on back-to-back Fridays to start the year.

Looking Ahead

No. 2 Florida, No. 10 Miami renew their rivalry in Gainesville. A top-10, rivalry series between the Gators (7-1) and the Hurricanes (7-1) highlights the weekend slate. Both teams are off to strong starts to the season, but this weekend will be a step up in competition for both. The Gators won last year’s series at Mark Light Field, but the Hurricanes won the series the last time it was in Gainesville, in 2021.

The Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic is back with a solid field. The long-running tournament is always a highlight of the early season and this year it brings No. 4 Louisville, No. 11 TCU, No. 12 Texas A&M, No. 18 Texas Tech, Michigan and Rice to Minute Maid Park in Houston. The highlights figure to be Friday night’s showdown between Louisville and A&M, a rematch of last year’s College Station Super Regional, Saturday afternoon’s game between Louisville and TCU and Sunday’s finale between A&M and Texas Tech.

Clemson, South Carolina meet for Reedy River Rivalry. One of college baseball’s premier rivalries is once again traveling through the Palmetto State, starting in Clemson for two games and then finishing Sunday in Columbia. Clemson (4-3) is smarting after getting swept at home by Central Florida and the Tigers will be eager to get back on track, particularly in coach Erik Bakich’s first showdown with the Gamecocks. South Carolina (8-0) is rolling in the early going, but Clemson will be a bigger challenge then it’s faced so far, particularly with two games on the road.