Off The Bat: Sweeps Week Shakes Up Conference, Postseason Races

Sweeps week came to college baseball. Five of the SEC’s seven series ended in sweeps, as did four in the ACC and three in the Big 12, not to mention Army-Navy, one of the premier rivalries in college sports.

All those sweeps mean there’s a lot to break down, so here are 17 takeaways from the weekend that was around college baseball.

1. It’s amazing how much difference a week can make in college baseball. A week ago, South Carolina was coming off a tough series loss at Vanderbilt that saw it make eight errors and get outscored 14-1 over the final 17 innings in Nashville. At the end of the weekend, coach Mark Kingston brushed off any concerns about the losses.

“We’re 30-6,” he said. “We’re not going to panic. We’re not going to change anything about how we feel about our team.”

The Gamecocks followed that up with a perfect 4-0 week, punctuated by a sweep of Florida. South Carolina (34-6, 13-4) stifled the powerful Gators’ offense, holding them to 10 runs in the series, and did not trail at the end of any inning in the series.

“Great day, great series, great team,” Kingston said Saturday after the finale. “Like, we have a really good team right now. I’m really happy for these guys. All the hard work we put in this weekend, just a culmination of that.

“Obviously, we still have a long way to go but this was a great statement for our guys.”

Florida came into the series averaging 9.5 runs per game, sixth most in the country. South Carolina’s pitching staff proved to be up to the challenge, however. Righthander Will Sanders set the tone Thursday with his best start of the season, holding the Gators to three runs (two earned) in six innings and striking out 10. Jack Mahoney and Matthew Becker followed the next two days with solid starts, keeping Florida to two runs in five innings. A trio of relievers—James Hicks, Eli Jones and Chris Veach—didn’t allow a run until the third game of the series and gave up three runs (two earned) in nine innings.

South Carolina’s offense has gotten a lot of the attention this season, as the Gamecocks have led the nation in home runs much of the season and average 9.35 runs per game. But the pitching staff has been a big reason for their success this season. South Carolina leads the SEC in team ERA (3.23) after last year ranking 11th (5.41). If the Gamecocks can keep pitching at this level into June, they’ll be very tough to beat in the postseason.

2. What a difference a week makes, part II. Except, in Tennessee’s case, it wasn’t even a week. After getting swept last weekend at Arkansas, the Volunteers were stunned Tuesday at home, losing 12-5 to Tennessee Tech. With a rivalry series against first-place Vanderbilt on deck, a 5-10 SEC record and three straight losing weekends, suddenly there were a lot of questions about whether Tennessee could get back on track.

For much of Friday’s game, it didn’t look great for the Volunteers. The Commodores pushed ahead in the third inning and were leading, 3-1, going to the bottom of the ninth. Kavares Tears homered to lead off the inning, but Nick Maldonado struck out Zane Denton and Maui Ahuna and got ahead of pinch hitter Dylan Dreiling 0-2, to put Tennessee down to its final strike. Two pitches later, Dreiling had tied the game with a homer of his own. The Volunteers then won the battle of attrition on a walkoff home run to lead off the 12th inning from Griffin Merritt, sending them to a 4-3 victory.

Tennessee didn’t mess around the next two days, jumping Vanderbilt for nine runs in the first on Saturday en route to a 17-1 win in seven innings and then cruising to a 10-5 victory in the finale. The Volunteers (26-14, 8-10) have won seven straight games against their in-state rivals.

The sweep flips the conversation on Tennessee’s season. The Volunteers aren’t assured of an at-large bid yet, but they’re 24-4 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium and have two more home conference weekends (Mississippi State and Kentucky). Win those series and don’t get swept at Georgia and South Carolina (maybe easier said than done for a team that’s 1-9 in road games) and Tennessee should be all set on Selection Monday.

That’s the significant, big-picture ramifications of the series, but Tennessee this weekend also got some important work from its pitching staff. This was the second week of the Volunteers’ new-look rotation of Andrew Lindsey, Chase Dollander and Drew Beam. The trio all made quality starts, holding the Commodores to six runs (five earned) in 20.1 innings.

Righthander Chase Burns, who was bumped to the bullpen a week ago, continued to shine in his new role. He threw three scoreless innings Friday night, striking out seven to earn the win, and then came back with a scoreless inning Sunday to finish off the series. As a reliever, he’s now appeared in three games, held opponents to one run on four hits and two walks in 9.1 innings and struck out 13 batters. He touched 100 mph with his fastball and thrived in big moments Friday night. If he’s this comfortable already as a stopper and capable of pitching twice in one weekend, Burns could be a difference maker the rest of the season.

3. Georgia also landed a big SEC sweep this weekend, taking down Arkansas in Athens. The Bulldogs (23-17, 7-11) finished the sweep with dramatics on Saturday, as they rallied from a four-run deficit in the ninth inning to walk off with a 9-8 win thanks to a grand slam from Connor Tate and then a home run from Parks Harber on the very next pitch. They became the first team to sweep the Razorbacks since 2018.

Georgia, like Tennessee, completely changed the conversation surrounding its postseason hopes with this weekend’s sweep. After a slow start to conference play, Georgia has now won series against Kentucky and Arkansas in the last three weeks, sandwiched around a weekend in which it played Florida very tough in Gainesville. It’s 6-3 in SEC games during that stretch. With series at Mississippi and Missouri and home weekends against Tennessee and LSU remaining, there’s now a clear path for the Bulldogs.

Charlie Condon (.422/.511/.857, 18 HR) is, of course, central to the Bulldogs’ surge. Just as important has been the emergence of lefthander Charlie Goldstein, who threw six scoreless innings against Arkansas and over the last three weeks has held opponents to three runs (one earned) in 16.1 innings. On a weekend when lefthander Jaden Woods was sidelined due to arm fatigue, Goldstein’s start Friday was critical.

4. So, what of Arkansas, Florida and Vanderbilt, the teams that were swept? The weekend doesn’t have to be a defining one for any of the trio, but it did emphasize the flaws of each.

Arkansas (30-10, 11-7) is dealing with a mess of injuries and that only got worse in Athens, as center fielder Tavian Josenberger left Saturday’s game with a hamstring injury. The Razorbacks were already down outfielder Jared Wegner (broken thumb) and catcher Parker Rowland (back), as well as a few key pitchers. They’re also now just 3-6 in road games and still have two road trips left (Mississippi State and Vanderbilt).

Florida (31-10, 11-7) should probably have the least concern of the three teams. South Carolina is 24-1 at home this season and has been an elite team all season, unlike Georgia and Tennessee. The Gators were without closer Brandon Neely, who served a four-game suspension last week following an ejection against Georgia. They have a depth issue on the mound and rank just ninth in the SEC in team ERA (5.12), a surprise for a program that has been built on pitching. But on most weekends, Florida’s offense, frontline pitching and strong defense will carry it. This is its first series loss of the season—the Gators will be fine.

Vanderbilt (29-11, 13-5) absolutely had a week to forget. The Commodores went 0-4 and gave up 41 runs across the four games, starting with a 10-2 loss at Indiana State. When Vanderbilt is healthy on the mound, it has one of the best pitching staffs in the country. The problem is the Commodores aren’t working at full health right now and they haven’t had anyone step up to fill the holes. The focus on Vanderbilt’s pitching woes this week probably gives too much of a pass to the lineup, which only produced 11 runs in four games, but it’s a team that’s built to win on pitching and defense. The Commodores get a breather this week with no midweek games scheduled. If they can get healthier heading into May, they figure to be just fine moving forward.

5. Arizona State showed some impressive resilience this week and remains in first place in the Pac-12 as a result. The Sun Devils (27-12, 13-4) got throttled, 20-0, on Wednesday at Arizona. They then fell into an 11-1 hole in Friday’s series opener against Oregon State. Things were not looking great for ASU.

But the Sun Devils battled back Friday night and forced the Beavers to use their top relievers to finish off a 13-11 victory. ASU then won a back-and-forth game Saturday night, 11-7, winning it on a walkoff grand slam from Isaiah Jackson off closer Ryan Brown, who was pitching on back-to-back days for just the second time this season. ASU then fought back twice in Sunday’s rubber game and scored the final six runs in a 12-10, series-clinching victory.

Offensively, it was a banner weekend for ASU, which is without leading hitter Ryan Campos (oblique). But facing the best pitching staff in the Pac-12, the Sun Devils scored 33 runs. Second baseman Luke Keaschall led the way, going 7-for-14 with four doubles and three home runs in the series. The San Francisco transfer is now hitting .355/.448/.684 with 10 home runs and 13 stolen bases.

ASU needs to find something more on the mound—it gave up 30 runs to a team that came into the weekend averaging 6.6 runs per game—but it’s a dangerous team. The Sun Devils still face the toughest remaining slate of any Pac-12 team (at Oregon, Stanford, at Southern California, UCLA) and staying in first place won’t be easy, but this weekend showed what they’re made of.

6. Speaking of showing what they’re made of, USC bounced back from getting swept at Oregon State last weekend to win its crosstown showdown against UCLA. The Trojans (24-14-1, 11-7) lost 9-3 on Friday night before evening the series with a 5-1 win Saturday. They then walked off with a 6-5 win in the rubber game on a single from Cole Gabrielson.

While USC won the series last year in Westwood, this was unbelievably the first time it had won a home series against UCLA since 2005, John Savage’s first year with the Bruins (Savage, the former USC pitching coach, is 24-10 at Dedeaux Field with UCLA).

USC got strong starts in its two wins from righthanders Caden Aoki (6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 8 K) and Blake Sodersten (5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K). Aoki, a sophomore, has now made three straight quality starts and is 3-0, 1.38 on the season. He’s been a difference maker for the Trojans since joining the rotation a month ago.

7. Just when I was starting to wonder if Boston College was going to fade in the second half of the season, it this weekend swept North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The Eagles had never beaten the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill before this weekend, let alone win or sweep a series. But they won a wild, back-and-forth game Friday, beating the Tar Heels, 9-8, in 10 innings. On Saturday, BC scored eight runs in the last two innings for a 9-4 victory and then finished the sweep with a 6-2 victory Sunday, scoring five unanswered runs over the final five innings.

The Eagles’ bullpen delivered in a big way on the weekend, holding the Tar Heels to four runs in 16.2 innings. The trio of Eric Schroeder, Andrew Roman and Julian Tonghini combined for 10.2 of those relief innings and held UNC to two runs. The Eagles don’t have a standout rotation but their bullpen is capable of shouldering the load, as it did in some big spots this weekend.

BC (27-12, 12-9), which had lost back-to-back weekend series and was 3-6 overall during that two-week stretch, is back to second place in the Atlantic Division and only Wake Forest has more ACC wins. The Eagles rank No. 12 in RPI and after dropping off the host line in last week’s Field of 64 Projections, could be right back there this week. Two of BC’s final three ACC series are at home (Clemson, Notre Dame), sandwiched around a visit to Wake Forest. With a month to go in the season, it’s given itself a real chance to earn a hosting bid.

8. Just a few miles down Tobacco Road, Duke delivered a resounding sweep of its own, knocking off Louisville. The Blue Devils (27-12, 12-8) are one of the hottest teams in the country, having won 11 of their last 13 games. That, combined with Virginia’s recent downturn, has sent Duke into first place in the ACC Coastal Division.

This weekend, the Blue Devils walked off Louisville in the first two games of the series. On Friday, shortstop Alex Mooney hit a grand slam to lift Duke to a 10-9 victory. On Saturday, it was a two-out single from Alex Stone that gave the Blue Devils a 7-6 win. Sunday’s finale didn’t require a walk off, but Duke did come back for the win, scoring three runs in the eighth on an RBI single from Mooney and a two-run single from Stone for a 4-3 victory.

“I can’t say enough about the toughness of this team,” coach Chris Pollard said. “It’s palpable to me, so much of their mental toughness, their will to win comes from their care for each other.”

Duke has surged into the top 20 of RPI and has a real chance to host regionals for the first time ever. Its closing schedule isn’t easy and includes trips to Virginia (this weekend) and Miami (on the final week of the season). But the Blue Devils have positioned themselves for an exciting sprint to the finish.

9. Meanwhile, Virginia has hit a speed bump the last two weeks. The Cavaliers (32-9, 12-9) last week lost a series to Pittsburgh, their first series loss of the season. They lost again this weekend, swept at Notre Dame. The Cavaliers are now a half-game behind Duke in the Coastal Division standings going into a first-place showdown in Charlottesville.

Virginia’s offense has been slowed the last couple weeks. The Cavaliers have scored 30 runs over their last six ACC games, a significant downturn from the 9.71 runs per game they were averaging going into the Pitt series.

Is it just a hiccup or a reason for true concern in the second half? Notre Dame found a way to shut down the heart of the Cavaliers’ lineup, holding Jake Gelof (.352/.438/.796, 17 HR) and Ethan Anderson (.380/.472/.578) hitless on the weekend, while Kyle Teel (.417/.484/.699) went 2-for-13. Against Pitt, however, UVa was getting runners on base, it just stranded too many of them. So, it’s not as though teams have solved the Cavaliers’ offense and it should kick back into gear sooner than later.

The question now for UVa is whether it can recapture its mojo ahead of its big showdown against Duke.

10. The ACC standings have gotten very tight. Eight teams have either nine or 10 conference losses, meaning just 2.5 games separate third from 10th place. Significantly, no ACC team has made the NCAA Tournament with a losing conference record since 2016, so over the next four weeks a lot of teams are going to be fighting to get to at least .500 in the league.

Along those lines, this was a brutal weekend for North Carolina State (25-14, 8-12). The Wolfpack were swept at home by Clemson (25-16, 9-9), which has now won three straight ACC series. NC State has played a very difficult conference slate but looked like it was ready to turn a corner last week with a sweep of Florida State. Instead, it has just about no margin for error with three conference weekends to go—at Notre Dame, at North Carolina and Pitt.

11. Coastal Carolina won its first-place showdown against Southern Mississippi and has taken control of the Sun Belt. The Chanticleers (26-12, 13-5) slugged their way past the Golden Eagles in the first two games of the series, winning 15-7 and 20-7. Southern Miss (23-15, 11-7) struck back with a 15-7 win Sunday and finishes the weekend in second place, two games back.

Coastal’s offense is one of the best in the country and it’s especially difficult to slow down at Springs Brooks Stadium. With the Chanticleers up to No. 6 in RPI, it looks like that’s going to continue to be a problem for opponents during the postseason.

The Chanticleers aren’t home free for a top-eight seed, but if they can find a way to secure one, they would be a very difficult out in June. No team from outside the Power Five conferences has made it to the College World Series since 2017 (Cal State Fullerton), but the Chanticleers look like they have a real shot at breaking through.

12. Conventional wisdom says the Big 12, which ranks fourth in conference RPI, will produce at least one host for regionals. The trouble with that wisdom is how much of a morass the conference standings have become. Any time a team looks like it has found traction in the conference race, it gets tripped up.

West Virginia, however, is trying to rise above the fray. The Mountaineers (29-11, 8-4) this weekend swept TCU, punctuating the series with a 17-7, run-rule shortened win. They’ve now won six of their last seven games, including consecutive series against Oklahoma State and TCU, to rise to first place in the conference standings. Their RPI is up to No. 23, putting them on the hosting bubble ahead of the stretch run.

Importantly, leading hitter JJ Wetherholt was able to get back into the mix Sunday after missing five games due to injury. He didn’t start the game but went 2-for-3 with a stolen base and scored twice after entering as a pinch hitter in the fourth inning. He’s hitting .455/.520/.752 with 28 stolen bases and the more the Mountaineers have him in the lineup, the better.

13. Texas and Oklahoma is one of the best rivalries in college sports and it delivered one of the biggest series results of the weekend. The Sooners (22-19, 7-8) swept the Longhorns for the first time since 1998 and for the first time ever in Austin.

Oklahoma won Friday’s opener, 2-1, and then swept a doubleheader Saturday. The Sooners’ bullpen was excellent throughout the series, holding the Longhorns to three runs in 11 innings. Carter Campbell threw 6.1 scoreless innings of relief in the series, giving up just three hits and no walks.

The Sooners needed that kind of weekend. They had lost back-to-back series to last-place Baylor and Texas Tech, putting themselves in a big hole in the standings and the NCAA Tournament race. Now, they’ve got a shot. Their final three Big 12 weekends aren’t easy (Kansas, at West Virginia, Oklahoma State), but if they can use this weekend’s momentum, they can make a push in the stretch run.

14. Texas (27-15, 8-7) came into the weekend projected to host regionals and was the Big 12 team I felt the best about in the postseason. Now, that’s all been undone. The Longhorns are down to 34 in RPI and will need to nearly run the table to really get back into the hosting mix before the Big 12 Tournament. They’ve lost five of their last eight games and face the next two weekends on the road (TCU, Kansas).

After Saturday’s losses, coach David Pierce didn’t mince words.

“It was one of the worst days of my tenure here at the University of Texas,” said Pierce, who is in his seventh season at Texas. “Not because it was against the University of Oklahoma. We were embarrassing. Embarrassingly bad.”

The Longhorns walked 16 batters in the doubleheader and committed four errors. On the weekend, the Longhorns walked or hit 23 batters, 12 of which came around to score. Texas didn’t hold a lead in the series after the fourth inning of the opener.

While much of the talk in Austin has been about the Texas pitching staff, the lineup scored just 11 runs in the series against a pitching staff that came into the weekend with a 5.95 team ERA, second-worst in the Big 12. The Longhorns were simply beat in all phases.

That said, the sky isn’t falling at Disch-Falk Field. Righthander Tanner Witt, a potential first-round pick, is expected to pitch next weekend for the first time this season as he returns from Tommy John surgery. He can’t single-handedly turn the pitching around, but he should provide a boost. Texas has the overall talent to get back on track, but it needs to do so quickly.

15. Wichita State this weekend scored a shocking sweep of East Carolina, twice shutting out the Pirates at Eck Stadium. Grant Adler threw a three-hit shutout Sunday to complete the sweep. The Shockers (24-15, 8-4) are the first team to sweep the Pirates (29-11, 7-5) in an American Athletic Conference series since Houston in 2018.

ECU has now lost series at both Houston (23-17, 8-4) and Wichita this season and sits a game behind both in the conference standings. The Pirates probably still have to be considered the conference favorites, but it’s not a great sign that they’ve lost road series to their two biggest contenders and are just 5-9 away from Clark-LeClair Stadium. That makes hosting regionals all the more important for the Pirates and they’re still on track to do so, but they need to be careful down the stretch.

Wichita made a huge move in RPI thanks to its sweep, rising to No. 88, up nearly 60 spots week over week. That’s not good enough to get in the at-large discussion and the Shockers will need a very strong finish if they are to get in that mix. But they’ve already passed last year’s win total (21) and are in the midst of a strong turnaround season under interim head coach Loren Hibbs, who was promoted following Eric Wedge’s decision to step away from the team in the fall.

16. In the first-place showdown in the Missouri Valley Conference, Indiana State (25-12, 13-1) on Sunday clinched the series win against Southern Illinois (23-16, 10-4) with a 10-0 victory in seven innings. The series finale is set for Monday, but the Sycamores secured a banner week that started with a 10-2 victory at Vanderbilt.

Indiana State is up to No. 10 in RPI and is demanding to be taken seriously in the hosting race. It’s been a remarkable run for the Sycamores, who are off to their best start ever in conference play. They’ve been especially stingy in run prevention and lead the MVC in team ERA (4.36) and fielding (.984). It’s a formula that the Sycamores are hoping to ride to their first regular season conference title since 2012.

17. It’s always a big weekend when Army and Navy face off and that was doubly true this weekend with the Black Knights and Midshipmen in first and second place in the Patriot League standings. Army (28-12, 16-2) swept the series in Annapolis, its first sweep of the series since 2012.

The Black Knights have won 15 straight, the longest active winning streak in the country and the third longest this season.

Eight for Omaha

Arkansas, Florida, LSU, South Carolina, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest

Just one change this week, as South Carolina moves into the field and Texas moves out. Can there be five SEC teams in Omaha? It makes as much sense as anything, right now. The SEC is head and shoulders above the rest of the country and is going to have a bunch of hosts. So, why not? I nearly put Coastal Carolina in this field, but I think it’s imperative that the Chanticleers have a top-eight seed. If they put up solid results on the road this week to bolster that resume further, I’ll probably find a way to move them in next week.

Looking Ahead

No. 16 Duke, No. 11 Virginia meet for ACC Coastal first-place showdown. The Blue Devils (27-12, 12-8) and Cavaliers (32-9, 12-9) have been going in opposite directions the last few weeks, allowing Duke to surge past UVa in the division standings. Now, Virginia hosts Duke in a series that will have weighty implications on the hosting race. The Cavaliers will look to use their home-field advantage—they’re 23-2 this season at Disharoon Park.

No. 25 Indiana hosts Maryland in critical Big Ten series. It’s a first-place showdown in Bloomington, as the Hoosiers (30-11, 9-3) hold a one-game lead on the Terrapins (25-15, 8-4) coming into the weekend. IU is also chasing the chance to host regionals and a Big Ten title would be a significant boost to its resume. The Hoosiers will have to go through the reigning champions first.

No. 5 Vanderbilt, No. 15 Kentucky look to bounce back in key SEC East series. Both the Commodores (29-11, 13-5) and Wildcats (30-9, 11-7) are coming off tough series losses and will be looking to get right this weekend in Nashville. These offenses are stylistically similar to each other and it should be a fun series if you like speed—Kentucky leads the SEC in stolen bases (68) and Vanderbilt is second (60).