What To Watch For This Weekend In College Baseball (4/23)

Image credit: Oregon State's Jacob Melton (Photo courtesy of Oregon State)

Top 25 Schedule

Rank	Team	Opponents (Fri., Sat., Sun.)	TV
1	Arkansas	at (9) South Carolina (Thurs.-Fri.)	SEC Network+ (Fri.)
2	Mississippi State	at (3) Vanderbilt	SEC Network (Fri.), ESPNU (Sat.), SEC Network+ (Sun.)
3	Vanderbilt	(2) Mississippi State	SEC Network (Fri.), ESPNU (Sat.), SEC Network+ (Sun.)
4	Louisville	Idle
5	Texas	at Oklahoma State	ESPNU (Fri.), ESPN+ (Sat., Sun.)
6	Notre Dame	at Boston College	ACC Network Extra
7	Tennessee	at Texas A&M	SEC Network+ (Fri., Sat.), SEC Network (Sun.)
8	East Carolina	Central Florida	ESPN+ (Fri., Sat.), ECUPirates.com (Sun.)
9	South Carolina	(1) Arkansas	SEC Network+ (Fri., Sat.)
10	Texas Tech	Baylor	ESPN+
11	Texas Christian	Kansas	ESPN+
12	Mississippi	Louisiana State (Thurs.-Sat.)	SEC Network+ (Fri., Sat.)
13	Arizona	Southern California	Pac-12 Network+
14	Oregon	UCLA	Pac-12 Network+
15	Virginia Tech	at North Carolina State	ACC Network Extra (Fri.), ACC Network (Sat., Sun.)
16	Pittsburgh	Idle
17	Florida State	at (20) Georgia Tech	ACC Network Extra
18	Florida	at Auburn	SEC Network+ (Fri., Sun.), SEC Network (Sat.)
19	Louisiana Tech	Marshall	CUSA.TV
20	Georgia Tech	(17) Florida State	ACC Network Extra
21	Stanford	Idle
22	Oregon State	at UC Irvine	ESPN3
23	Michigan	Rutgers	Big Ten Network+
24	Indiana State	at Dallas Baptist	PatriotBroadcastingNetwork.com
25	Old Dominion	at Charlotte	CUSA.TV

(2) Mississippi State at (3) Vanderbilt

Mississippi State (28-8, 10-5) and Vanderbilt (29-6, 11-4), fresh off in-state rivalry series wins, are right back in the thick of it this weekend for a top-three showdown in Nashville. These two teams last met in 2019 in the College World Series, a matchup Vanderbilt won, 6-3, ending Mississippi State’s season. They last met for a series in 2018 in the Nashville Super Regional. It was the Bulldogs that came out on top that time, upsetting the Commodores as part of a stunning run to Omaha. The stakes are lower this time, though the series will impact both the SEC standings and race for top-eight seeds in the NCAA Tournament, but this should still be an excellent college baseball series.

The weekend presents a couple intriguing matchups. Vanderbilt and Mississippi State have two of the best pitching staffs in the country (ranking first and third in the SEC in ERA, respectively) but get there in different ways. Vanderbilt is led by its co-aces Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter, who on average cover half the 27 innings of a weekend series. Mississippi State’s rotation of lefthander Christian Macleod and righthanders Will Bednar and Jackson Fristoe is solid, but it uses its bullpen more often. Which approach wins out? And can Mississippi State hit for enough power to beat either Rocker or Leiter? Vanderbilt is 16-2 in their starts but in both of the losses its opponent hit three home runs off the starter (Georgia vs. Rocker two weeks ago and Tennessee vs. Leiter last week). It’s a common winning strategy against the best pitchers in baseball these days, as stringing a series of hits together against them is challenging. But can the Bulldogs follow the blueprint? They have hit 42 home runs on the season, which ranks 30th nationally but just 11th in the SEC.

UCLA at (14) Oregon

With six weeks left in the season, the Pac-12 race is air-tight, and seven teams are separated by just two games in the loss column. The race will likely begin to clarify over the next few weeks and series like this will help to identify the contenders. Oregon (22-8, 8-4) is just a half game behind Oregon State (25-10, 10-5) in the Pac-12 standings. With the Beavers this weekend playing a non-conference series, the Ducks have a chance to move into first place. UCLA (22-11, 9-6) has been more up and down this season than expected, but it enters this weekend with plenty of momentum. Since losing the first two games of its series at Stanford two weeks ago to take a second straight series loss, UCLA has won six straight games. While that streak includes a sweep of last-place Utah and two sub-.500 West Coast Conference teams, the Bruins needed something to get them going. This weekend now presents them an opportunity to prove they are back in the Pac-12 title hunt.

(17) Florida State at (20) Georgia Tech

The top ACC series was slated to be No. 16 Pittsburgh traveling to No. 4 Louisville, but Covid-19 issues with the Panthers led to that series being canceled. Even without that one, the conference still produces a top-20 showdown. The Seminoles (18-14, 13-11) last week pulled out of a mini-skid with a series win against Boston College. The challenge is tougher this week, however, as they travel to Georgia Tech (18-14, 14-10). The Yellow Jackets themselves just got back on track in the last week with a series win at Virginia Tech after a 2-7 stretch. Neither team is currently projected as a regional host and a series win this weekend is required for them to get back into the mix. Georgia Tech lefthander Brant Hurter (3-2, 3.60) is slated to start Friday after missing last weekend’s series with a minor injury. That sets up what should be a fun matchup against Florida State lefthander Parker Messick (3-2, 2.70), whose 77 strikeouts rank fifth nationally.

(22) Oregon State at UC Irvine

Oregon State (25-10) and UCI (22-11) enter this weekend as the leaders in the Pac-12 and Big West, respectively. Neither has much of a cushion—Oregon State holds a half-game edge on Oregon and Stanford and UCI is a game ahead of UC Santa Barbara—but that needn’t detract from the series. After losing four straight, including getting swept at Oregon, the Beavers have rebounded well over the last week and come into the series on a four-game winning streak. The Anteaters are coming off a strong showing in a four-game series last week at Cal Poly, outscoring the Mustangs, 35-12. This is a big opportunity for UCI to bolster its NCAA Tournament resume. It ranks No. 51 in RPI and looks like a solid at-large candidate should UCSB slip past it for the conference title, but a series win against Oregon State would likely remove any doubt. The Anteaters are this season 5-5 against Pac-12 competition—including a 4-0 mark at home—and will be looking for more. The Beavers, meanwhile, are spending the next 10 days in the Los Angeles area and will want to get their road trip off to a strong start.

(25) Old Dominion at Charlotte

Over the next two weeks, ODU (27-7, 13-3) and Charlotte (26-10, 14-2) are going to get very familiar with each other as they play home-and-home, four-game series. The winner will likely emerge as the Conference USA East Division favorite and a contender to host a regional. Both teams have cruised through conference play thus far and rank in the top 25 in RPI. The margin between them now is razor thin and they should produce entertaining series over the next two weekends. The series also figures to be pretty offensive. ODU ranks eighth in the country with 8.2 runs per game (minimum 10 games) and Charlotte averages 7.4 runs per game.