Saturday College Roundup: Jared Poche No-Hits Army

SEE ALSO: 2017 College Preview

Three key story lines from around college baseball Saturday night.

Strike One: No-hit Night

Elon righthander Robbie Welhaf threw a no-hitter Saturday afternoon against Longwood, the first of the young season and the first in the Phoenix’s history as a Division I program. Soon after, Louisiana State lefthander Jared Poche’ finished a seven-inning no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader sweep against Army.

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED

(1) Texas Christian: won, 12-1, vs. Penn State

(2) Florida State: won, 12-3, vs. Virginia Commonwealth

(3) Florida: won, 8-1, vs. William & Mary

(4) Louisiana State: swept DH vs. Army, 9-0 and 6-0 (both 7 innings)

(5) South Carolina: won, 5-1, vs. UNC Greensboro

(6) East Carolina: lost, 3-2, at Mississippi

(7) Louisville: won, 10-7, vs. (24) Maryland in Clearwater, Fla.

(8) Cal State Fullerton: won, 8-1, vs. (23) Stanford

(9) Oregon State: off

(10) Clemson: won, 6-2, vs. Wright State

(11) Vanderbilt: postponed at San Diego

(12) Washington: split DH at Santa Clara, won 5-2 and lost 4-3

(13) Louisiana-Lafayette: lost, 2-0, vs. Murray State at the Tangi Tourism Baseball Classic, Hammond, La.

(14) North Carolina State: lost, 8-3, at Hawaii

(15) Coastal Carolina: lost, 5-4, vs. Western Carolina

(16) Virginia: won, 10-6, at the Citadel

(17) North Carolina: won, 6-5, vs. Kentucky

(18) Oklahoma State: postponed at Grand Canyon

(19) UC Santa Barbara: lost, 1-0, at Loyola Marymount

(20) Long Beach State: won, 8-3, at Oklahoma

(21) Georgia Tech: won, 11-3, vs. Marshall in the Atlanta Challenge

(22) Arizona: won, 16-13, vs. Eastern Kentucky

(23) Stanford: lost, 8-1, at (8) Cal State Fullerton

(24) Maryland: lost, 10-7, vs. (7) Louisville in Clearwater, Fla.

(25) Texas Tech: won, 13-5, vs. Western Illinois in Starkville, Miss.

Rain on Friday pushed the start of LSU’s season back a day and created a doubleheader Saturday with a pair of seven-inning games. The fourth-ranked Tigers won the first game, 9-0, behind a strong start from righthander Alex Lange (5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K). But Poche’ upstaged his Preseason All-American teammate in the nightcap.

Poche’ cruised through Army’s lineup, needing 79 pitches to complete the no-hitter. He walked none, struck out four and faced one batter over the minimum—an error on right fielder Greg Deichmann led to the Black Knights’ lone baserunner.
LSU’s second victory of the day was also the 2,500th in program history.

Poche’s no-hitter was the sixth in LSU history and the first since 1979 not to be a combined effort. It was a storybook way to begin his senior season following his decision to return to LSU after being drafted in the 14th round by the Padres last June.

In addition to the efforts of Welhaf and Poche’, South Alabama lefthander Zach Melton and Rhode Island righthander Nick Johnson both threw six hitless innings in their respective games before being relieved. Neither team was able to complete a combined no-hitter, though South Alabama held Eastern Illinois to one hit in a 32-0 victory. Rhode Island lost, 5-4, at McNeese State. Pepperdine’s Ryan Wilson and Kiko Garcia also combined for a one-hitter in an 8-0 victory against St. Joseph’s.

Strike Two: Young Rebels Clinch Series Victory

After bringing in the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class this fall, Mississippi has a youthful team this season, with 27 freshmen and sophomores on the roster. It is a much different look for the Rebels from last year’s team, which hosted a regional and saw six players drafted.

Those young players were in for an opening weekend test, as No. 6 East Carolina, a veteran, experienced team that went to super regionals last season, came to Swayze Field. The precocious Rebels passed that test. After an Opening Day victory, Mississippi defeated ECU again, 3-2, Saturday to clinch the series.

ECU led 2-0 after five innings, as starter Jacob Wolfe kept Ole Miss off the scoreboard. But after he exited, the Rebels scored once in the sixth and twice in the seventh, all off reliever Sam Lanier, to pull ahead. Senior third baseman Colby Bortles (1-for-3, HR, 2 RBIs), one of the few Rebels’ veterans, started the rally with a solo home run and drove in the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly the next inning.

Andy Pagnozzi, Dallas Woolfolk and Will Stokes combined for 4.2 scoreless innings of relief to finish the game. Pagnozzi picked up the victory and Stokes earned his second save in as many games.

ECU will look to salvage a game from the series on Sunday, with freshman righthander Trey Benton slated to make his debut. Benton is the headliner of the Pirates’ own well-regarded recruiting class, which ranked No. 23.

Strike Three: Fullerton Pitches Way To Series Win

No. 8 Cal State Fullerton returned its entire rotation this year and figured to again be strong on the mound. Two games into the season, Fullerton has surrendered just one run and has two victories against No. 23 Stanford as a result.

The Titans claimed their opening weekend series against the Cardinal with an 8-1 victory Saturday. They won the first game, 1-0, on Thursday before rain forced the series to pause Friday.

After righthanders Connor Seabold and Colton Eastman combined to shut out Stanford on Opening Day, lefthander John Gavin held the Cardinal to one run on two hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out six batters. Righthander Gavin Vazquez threw three scoreless innings in relief to earn the save.

Fullerton’s pitchers got plenty of support Saturday. The Titans knocked out Cardinal starter Brett Hanewich in the second inning and continued to build on their lead. Third baseman Taylor Bryant, who missed nearly all of last year due to a concussion, homered and drove in five runs to lead Fullerton.

While bad weather has discombobulated opening weekend in California, Fullerton has powered through and now has a marquee series win to start the season.

The Lineup

Nine newsmakers from Saturday’s action.

1. Nick Quintana, 3b, Arizona: A key part of Arizona’s 10th-ranked recruiting class this fall, Quintana went 5-for-6 with three doubles and drove in five runs as Arizona came back to defeat Eastern Kentucky, 16-13. He is the first Arizona freshman to have a five-hit game during the first series of a season since Trevor Crowe did so in 2003.

2. Ricky Tyler Thomas, lhp, Fresno State: In a matchup of teammates from last summer’s USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, Thomas and Fresno State topped lefthander David Peterson and Oregon. Thomas (6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 9 K) picked up the victory as the Bulldogs defeated the Ducks, 9-1, in the series opener.

3. Jack Zoellner, 1b, New Mexico: The Lobos hit six home runs in a 10-4 victory against Binghamton, and Zoellner (3-for-4, 6 RBIs) had three of them. The senior homered in three straight plate appearances from the third to the sixth inning.

4. Brenton Arriaga, lhp, Loyola Marymount: Against No. 19 UC Santa Barbara, Arriaga threw a three-hit shutout, striking out nine batters and walking none. The Lions won, 1-0, to even the series.

5. Zach Ratcliff, dh/1b, Ohio State: In the first game of a doubleheader at the Sunshine State Classic in Kissimmee, Fla., Ratcliff (4-for-4, 2 HR, 4 R, 6 RBIs) helped lead Ohio State to a comeback, 15-10 victory against Delaware. Ratcliff went 1-for-4 with a run in the nightcap, as the Buckeyes lost to Pittsburgh, 7-2.

6. Kirk McCarty, lhp, Southern Mississippi: McCarty (7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K) led Southern Mississippi to a 14-1 victory against Northeastern to clinch the series. McCarty, a junior, is returning to the Golden Eagles’ rotation this season after going 6-1, 3.27 and ranking fourth in Conference USA with 89 strikeouts in 2016.

7. Nick Johnson, rhp, Rhode Island: Johnson struck out 10 batters in six hitless innings at McNeese State before being relieved after throwing 88 pitches. The Rams were unable to complete a combined no-hitter, and the Cowboys came back for a 5-4 victory.

8. Jose Garcia, of, Texas-Rio Grande Valley: In the first game of a doubleheader against Texas Southern, Garcia (5-for-5, 3 R, 3 RBIs) hit for the cycle in a seven-inning game. UTRGV swept the doubleheader, and Garcia finished the day 7-for-9 with five runs and four RBIs.

9. Dalton Westfall, rhp, Tennessee-Martin: In a 14-0 victory against Buffalo, Westfall struck out 15 batters in seven scoreless innings. His 15 strikeouts are the most for any Skyhawks pitcher since 2003.