Off The Bat: Vanderbilt, Wake Forest Secure Statement Series Wins

With each passing week, the weekends feel weightier as conference races twist and turn and Selection Monday gets ever closer. This weekend was filled with big series from coast to coast.

Here are 14 takeaways from the weekend that was in college baseball.

1. Another week, another blockbuster SEC series. This weekend the spotlight turned to Nashville, where Vanderbilt hosted South Carolina in a top-five showdown.

On Friday night, South Carolina looked to be on its way to a signature weekend. The Gamecocks hit five home runs and set a season high for runs in a game against the Commodores in a 14-6 win. But Vanderbilt bounced back for an 8-5 win Saturday and then clinched the series with a 6-4 win Sunday. The Commodores (29-7, 13-2) have won their first five SEC series and hold a two-game lead on Florida in the SEC East and Arkansas in the overall conference standings.

The start of Vanderbilt’s conference slate was, it now appears, soft. Mississippi, the reigning national champion, is just 3-12 in conference play. Mississippi State (5-10), Georgia (4-11) and Missouri (5-10) are only slightly ahead in the standings. But South Carolina (30-6, 10-4) is solidly a top-10 team and the Commodores found a way to win the series despite not being at their best this weekend.

Vanderbilt was without lefthander Hunter Owen, who was held out due to fatigue. Lefthander Carter Holton, the Commodores’ Opening Day starter, recorded just two outs in Saturday’s game as he dealt with control problems after having his start skipped last week at Missouri.

Still, Vanderbilt persisted. After Holton gave up four runs in the first, Greysen Carter (2.1 IP) and Patrick Reilly (4 IP) got the game under control and gave the lineup a chance to go to work. On Sunday, lefthander Devin Futrell (5.2 IP, 2 R, 7 K) and Ryan Ginther (3.2 IP, 2 R, 2 K) combined to hold down the powerful Gamecocks’ offense.

In the long run, Vanderbilt needs Holton and Owen to get back to full strength. But it showed this weekend that it has the pitching depth to weather a lot.

2. South Carolina (30-6, 10-4) won’t be happy with losing the final two games of the series and missing on a chance to land a big road series win and keep pace with Vanderbilt in the standings. But it’s the Gamecocks’ first series loss of the year and came on the road against a top-five team, no less.

Losing a series in Nashville is one thing—Vanderbilt this season is 19-4 at Hawkins Field—but the Gamecocks will be especially displeased with the way it happened. They made eight errors on the weekend, leading to seven unearned runs in their two losses. South Carolina’s not an elite defensive team (.969 team fielding percentage), but it’s also better than it played this weekend.

South Carolina now returns home and has a series against No. 2 Florida on tap this weekend. The Gamecocks this season are 20-1 at Founders Park and if they’re able to bring that homefield advantage to bear this weekend, a disappointing couple days in Nashville will be quickly forgotten.

3. It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but LSU (29-6, 9-5) won another tough SEC series. The Tigers mauled Kentucky, 16-6, in eight innings in Thursday’s opener, but lost 13-10 the following day, undone in part by three errors that led to six unearned runs. LSU claimed the series with a 7-6 win Saturday in a back-and-forth finale, scoring the go-ahead run in the eighth inning when Tommy White was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

The first half of the SEC season has been a tougher road than many expected for LSU and its 9-5 conference record ranks sixth in the SEC. It also has played the toughest schedule of any of the contenders, however. There aren’t any easy weekends in the SEC, but none of the five teams left on LSU’s conference slate (Mississippi, Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State and Georgia) have a winning record in conference play. If LSU takes care of business against those teams in the same way the other SEC contenders have, its conference record will catch up to its ranking.

4. At various times this season, I’ve questioned the wisdom of pitching to Dylan Crews. The All-American is hitting .500/.648/.842 with nine home runs and can do damage any time he’s at the plate. The problem is that if you pitch around him, you have to face White, who’s hitting .366/.438/.772 with 12 home runs and has driven in 62 runs—tied for first nationally.

Mostly, White has protected Crews and prevented teams from outright pitching around him. But the Wildcats clearly weren’t going to let Crews beat them. He was intentionally walked in the first inning of Thursday’s opener with one out and first base open, setting the tone for the weekend. He walked six times (three times intentionally) and was hit two more in 15 plate appearances in the series. He also went 3-for-7 with a double and scored five runs.

The biggest problem with Kentucky’s strategy came in the eighth inning Saturday. With runners on first and second and two outs in a tie game, Crews was intentionally walked, bringing White to the plate with the bases loaded. He was hit with the first pitch of the at-bat, bringing home the go-ahead run. On the weekend, White went 5-for-13 with three doubles, a home run and drove in eight runs.

I’m hesitant to read too much into one weekend and this comes down to picking your poison, but with White hitting like that, it’s hard to advocate giving him extra opportunities with runners on.

5. Tennessee (23-13, 5-10) lost another series this week, its third straight and fourth of SEC play. This time, the Volunteers were swept at Arkansas and outscored 18-7 on the weekend. They didn’t hold a lead in the final 17 innings of the series.

The schedule has absolutely been hard. The three straight series losses have come at LSU, against Florida and at Arkansas—three teams that currently rank in the top five. But the fact remains that at the halfway point of the conference season, the Volunteers are 5-10 and need to go at least 7-8 (and probably 8-7) the rest of the way in conference play just to make the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Tony Vitello said the way Tennessee has started SEC play is down to its own play, not its schedule.

“I think it’s more about us not playing as well as we can to be that far under .500,” he said. “But we’ve faced some really good teams.”

The schedule does lighten some in the second half, but not this week. Tennessee returns home to face No. 4 Vanderbilt.

6. I wrote after Wake Forest beat Louisville, 11-5, on Friday that if the Demon Deacons could win one of the next two games and finish off the series win that they would cement their status as national title contenders. Well, mission accomplished. Righthander Rhett Lowder threw seven scoreless innings the next day and Wake became the first team to shut out the Cardinals since 2021 in a 3-0, series-clinching win.

Louisville (26-9, 8-7) is a good team, but it’s not so much that Wake (31-5, 14-3) beat a quality opponent that has me fully bought in on the Deacs. The Cardinals just don’t lose at Jim Patterson Stadium. They hadn’t lost a home series since 2021 and came into the weekend 19-3 at home this season. Wake, meanwhile, was 9-3 on the road, but hadn’t been tested at a place like Louisville, having played road series at Duke (good team, not a great atmosphere) and Clemson (6-9 in the ACC).

This was Wake’s biggest remaining test of the regular season and the Deacs passed it. They pitched at a high level throughout the series, even with their rotation out of sync because of last weekend’s bad weather. Lowder delivered his best start of the season (7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K) and the bullpen held the Cardinals to four runs (three earned) in 10 innings, highlighted by five strong innings Friday from Seth Keener. It’s easy to see why the Deacs lead the nation in team ERA (2.41).

The combination of Wake’s win and Virginia getting upset by Pittsburgh leaves Wake in firm control of the race for both the ACC Atlantic Division and the overall conference title. The Deacs are five games up on Louisville in the division race (their magic number is 10) and hold a 2.5 game edge on the Cavaliers (31-6, 12-6) in the overall race. Wake has not won the ACC regular season title since 1963. There’s a long way to go still, but that drought could end this season.

7. On the flip side, this was a tough weekend for Louisville. Coming off a sweep of Boston College a week ago, the Cardinals had a chance to build off that success and force Wake into a race for the division and conference title in the second half.

Instead, the Cardinals got down big early on Friday—falling behind 11-3 in the fifth—and then were silenced Saturday. They rebounded Sunday for a 7-2 victory to salvage a win on the weekend, but the result was still a rare losing weekend at home.

Now, Louisville must regroup as it hits the road. It on Tuesday takes on Indiana, which leads the Big Ten standings, and then heads to Duke on the weekend. The Cardinals are just 3-4 in true road games and have lost both of their ACC road series so far (at Notre Dame and North Carolina State). If they’re to stay in the hosting race in the second half, finding some success on the road will be critical because 11 of their final 21 games are on the road.

8. Pitt (16-18, 7-9) delivered the upset of the weekend as it went to Disharoon Park and beat Virginia (31-6, 12-6) in the first two games of the series. The Cavaliers were 22-0 at home coming into the weekend. The Panthers, however, have their number under coach Mike Bell. They have won three straight series against the Cavs.

For Virginia, this weekend doesn’t have to be anything more than a hiccup. The Cavs are No. 6 in RPI, hold a two-game lead in the division and have already won series against Miami and North Carolina, the two teams at the front of the chasing pack. UVa left 13 runners on base in Friday’s 7-5 loss and was held to just six hits in Saturday’s 6-4 loss. Neither is likely to happen much with an offense that averages 9.38 runs per game.

After Sunday’s 8-5 win, coach Brian O’Connor said it was UVa’s best win of the season because it showed its resiliency. The Cavs now need to take that performance and build on it as they hit the road this week, first at Virginia Commonwealth and then a tricky trip to Notre Dame.

9. A month ago, Oregon State was 1-5 in Pac-12 play, having lost its first two conference series to Washington State and Stanford. Since then, the Beavers (24-11, 10-8) have won four straight series and gone 12-3 overall. They’re riding a six-game winning streak coming out of the weekend, having swept Southern California.

Oregon State didn’t panic after its slow start and is largely the same team today it was a month ago. Its pitching staff has been excellent all season. Righthander Ryan Brown (3-0, 0.49, 7 SV), arguably the best closer in the country, leads a deep bullpen that backs a solid rotation of Trent Sellers (5-3, 3.71), Jacob Kmatz (2-4, 3.64) and Jaren Hunter (1-1, 3.03). The Beavers lead the conference in team ERA (3.14) and fielding percentage (.979) and they’ve been nearly as stingy in conference play (3.35 team ERA, .980 fielding).

Offensively, Oregon State is still a work in progress. First baseman Garret Forrester has been excellent in conference play (.328/.476/.484, 3 HR), but the Beavers often play matchups and like to run on the bases. It’s not the most explosive offense, but with its pitching staff, it doesn’t have to be.

Oregon State this week returned to the Top 25 at No. 19 after a month away. The Beavers face a big series this weekend at No. 18 Arizona State, which is in first place in the Pac-12. If they continue their winning ways against the Sun Devils, they’ll be right back in the heart of the conference title race.

10. Credit to Oregon (24-10, 9-6) for bouncing back from its series loss last weekend against Oregon State to take down Stanford. The Ducks again got a superb start from righthander Jace Stoffal to open the series, as he threw a three-hit shutout Friday in a 4-0 victory. He’s now thrown 18 straight scoreless innings to improve to 5-2, 2.64 with 44 strikeouts and 18 walks in 44.1 innings.

Unlike last week against Oregon State, when the Ducks won the opener behind Stoffal and then couldn’t finish the series win, they got it done this weekend thanks to righthander Logan Mercado. He also threw a complete game, holding Stanford to one run on five hits and a walk while striking out seven. He’s now 3-0, 5.49.

Mercado hasn’t given the Ducks a lot of length this year—prior to Saturday, his longest start was six innings against Northwestern State—but if he’s able to build on his success, Oregon would have a solid 1-2 punch at the front of its rotation. With closer Josh Mollerus (1-0, 0.00, 6 SV) locking down games at the back of the bullpen, it starts to get really exciting on the mound.

Oregon is No. 14 in RPI and in third place in the Pac-12 standings. Hosting is still very much on the table for the Ducks after a strong series win.

11. The roller coaster continues for Texas Christian. After scoring a big series win against Oklahoma State a week ago, the Horned Frogs were upset at home this weekend by UNC Wilmington. Now, this is a solid UNCW team (we’ll get to them in a second) and non-conference weekends in the middle of conference play can lead to wacky results, but there’s no way around this being a bad weekend for TCU (22-14, 7-5).

Tangibly, this is a ding to TCU’s NCAA Tournament resume. The Horned Frogs this week slipped 14 spots in RPI, according to WarrenNolan.com, to No. 46. It’s still early and I wouldn’t project them to end up on the tournament bubble, but it’s also not the direction you want to be going.

The bigger issue for TCU is that this series loss was another missed opportunity to build some momentum. The Horned Frogs were coming off a big series win last weekend against Oklahoma State. A series win against UNCW would have given them a chance to stack some wins and build up a head of steam ahead of a critical stretch—over the next three weeks TCU is at West Virginia and home against Texas and Cal State Fullerton.

TCU has won back-to-back weekends just once this season. In March, it went 2-1 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic and then won a series against San Diego. But even in that stretch, the Horned Frogs were just 3-3. The Horned Frogs have the talent to get hot in the second half, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for them unless they’re able to build more depth on the mound.

12. UNCW, meanwhile, picked up a huge series win in Fort Worth. The Seahawks (21-13) last weekend split a rain-shortened series against Elon and are just a half-game out of first place in the Colonial Athletic Association (and ahead in the loss column at 10-4).

Their RPI is up to No. 70. While that number still needs some work to get into at-large range, UNCW will have plenty of opportunities to lift it down the stretch, as all but three of its 19 remaining games are against teams currently in the top 100. That’s a bit of a double-edged sword, as it also means UCNW will need to be at its best down the stretch. But if it can finish strong, it has a real shot at making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 and for the first time under coach Randy Hood, whose first season as head coach was 2020.

UNCW scored 31 runs this weekend and its deep, experienced offense has been its calling card this season. The Seahawks are averaging 8.18 runs per game and batting .307/.398/.499 as a team. Third baseman Jac Croom (.371/.444/.591, 6 HR) and DH John Newton (.343/.456/.578, 6 HR) are leading the way.

UNCW on Tuesday hosts No. 10 Campbell before Delaware comes to town this weekend.

13. Mississippi State bounced back from a Friday night loss to win its rivalry series against Mississippi. The showdown between the last two national champions was muted because they came into the weekend with a combined five SEC wins and both project to miss the NCAA Tournament.

But this weekend’s series win gives Mississippi State (22-15, 5-10) some life. The Bulldogs have won back-to-back SEC series after losing their first three. Their RPI (23) and strength of schedule (3) are strong, but they still need to go at least 7-8 in the second half of conference play to have a chance at an at-large berth. The next two weeks—at Auburn and at Tennessee (both of which are also 5-10 in the SEC), with a midweek, non-conference game against Ole Miss in the middle—are crucial, with series against Arkansas and at LSU looming to start May. It won’t be easy, but there is a path for the Bulldogs.

As big as the rivalry series win was, the bigger story may have been in the stands this weekend. It was Super Bulldog Weekend at Mississippi State, which included the unveiling of Ron Polk’s statue at Dudy Noble Field, the spring football game and a postgame concert Saturday by country star Brett Eldredge, and the fans came out in droves. On Saturday, 16,423 fans filled Dudy Noble Field, setting a new on-campus attendance record for college baseball. The previous record was 15,586 fans on April 12, 2014 at Dudy Noble Field. The crowds in Starkville were huge all weekend and the three games totaled 43,986 fans.

It says a lot about Mississippi State fans that they set an attendance record in a season that doesn’t look as promising as many of recent vintage. Now, it’s on the Bulldogs to take this momentum with them on the road.

14. In a showdown between the top two teams in the Big East, Connecticut won a crucial series at Xavier. The Huskies (26-9, 4-2) won Friday’s opener, 7-6. The Musketeers (22-14, 4-2) evened the series with an 18-8 rout in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday and held a two-run lead going into the ninth inning of the nightcap. But UConn scored four runs in the ninth on a pair of two-run home runs from Jake Studley and Ryan Daniels and went on to win, 11-9.

In both wins, UConn got strong work out of its bullpen, which held Xavier to two runs in 7.1 innings over the two games. That’s been a strength for the Huskies this season, with the trio of closer Justin Willis (0-1, 4.22, 6 SV), righthander Brady Afthim (0-0, 2.81) and lefthander Zach Fogell (4-0, 2.57) leading the way.

UConn’s RPI is up to No. 16, keeping it firmly in the hosting race. Xavier is No. 43, keeping it in the mix for an at-large bid. Both will need to keep rolling through the rest of their conference slate, but both look to be capable of doing so.

Eight for Omaha

Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Stanford, Texas, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest

No changes this week, despite Stanford and Virginia both losing series. I’m still a believer in both teams, especially at home and they’re still on track to host regionals. South Carolina remains a formidable challenger, but someone from the SEC East has to miss out. I also like Coastal Carolina, but I’m not ready to put it in the field yet.

Looking Ahead

No. 6 South Carolina looks to bounce back against No. 2 Florida. After a series loss this weekend at Vanderbilt—its first series loss of the year, South Carolina (30-6, 10-4) returns home to Founders Park and has a big opportunity to rebound. Florida (30-7, 11-4) comes to Columbia a half-game ahead in the standings but looking for a signature SEC weekend. These are the top two teams in the SEC in home runs (South Carolina, 86; Florida, 79), so expect to see some serious power this weekend.

No. 8 Coastal Carolina hosts No. 25 Southern Mississippi in a battle for first place in the Sun Belt. The Chanticleers (23-11, 11-4) are atop the standings, a game ahead of Louisiana-Lafayette (25-12, 10-5) and Southern Miss (22-12, 10-5). Now, the Golden Eagles make the trip to Conway for a showdown with implications not only for the conference title, but also in the hosting race. It’s early, but Coastal has a top-10 RPI and Southern Miss isn’t far behind at No. 15. Either—or both—could host and this series would be a nice addition to the winner’s resume.  

No. 18 Arizona State opens the stretch run with a big series against No. 19 Oregon State. The Sun Devils (25-10, 11-3) sit atop the Pac-12 standings, a half-game up on No. 11 Stanford, as they begin the second half of conference play. ASU’s remaining schedule is difficult, however, starting with this weekend’s showdown against Oregon State (24-11, 10-8). The Beavers are on a six-game winning streak and have won back-to-back Pac-12 series, taking down Oregon and Southern California. A weekend at Phoenix Municipal Stadium presents another big challenge.