Kansas’ rise to the Big 12 mountaintop was anything but foreseen in college baseball.
For coach Dan Fitzgerald, it was simply a matter of time. His Jayhawks, winners of 11 straight and 17-2 over their last 19 contests, have emulated a conference juggernaut and an Omaha-caliber ball club. Starting pitching has dazzled, the bullpen has been good enough, while the offense has made relative ease of its competition, jolting Kansas to the top of the Big 12 standings midway through conference play.
This weekend, the No. 18 Jayhawks (27-10, 12-3 Big 12) travel 260 miles south of Lawrence to face Oklahoma State (23-14, 7-8 Big 12) in a series at O’Brate Stadium, starting Friday at 2 p.m. Projections casting KU as a regional host for the first time in program history have come, along with midseason All-American honors for a variety of players. And this weekend, Fitzgerald said, is merely another opportunity to prolong recent success.
“We’ve come a long way,” Fitzgerald said. “I think with those early weekends in the season, you think you know who you are as a team, but you really don’t. There’s only so much you can learn in intra-squad (scrimmages), but you won’t learn the identity of your team until you play another team.”
However, it didn’t come without early obstacles, and when reflecting on his team’s recent success, Fitzgerald said he often looks back on the progression from the start of conference play.
Fitzgerald said he hasn’t typically been a “team meeting guy” during his coaching career. Not during his nine seasons as an assistant at Dallas Baptist, his lone season at LSU, nor his four seasons as the Jayhawks’ head man.
Kansas closer Boede Rahe (KU Athletics)
But after a lethargic midweek loss at TCU, swiftly followed by an 11-4 loss to open conference play at Texas Tech, he deemed it necessary.
So, at the team’s hotel in Lubbock, he called a coaches meeting. Fitzgerald instructed his staff to revert “back to the basics.” Tweaking bunt coverages, reworking first-and-third defensive schemes, piecing together nuanced pitching plans, and everything in between.
“Basically, all of the things you think you won’t cover or experience in a game, we went over,” Fitzgerald said. “I basically told our staff, ‘Hey, what we’re doing is not working. We’re better than how we’re playing. It’s our job to figure this out, so let’s do it.’
“(Hitting coach Tyler) Hancock and I got together later, and we essentially said, ‘Hey, let’s rebrand this thing, simplify it and go from there.’”
Despite a walk-off loss the following day, Fitzgerald said he found solace in the product on display in contrast to recent games. At-bats were more competitive, pitching was under more control and above all else, less self-inflicted blemishes surfaced.
“I remember leaving the ballpark that night feeling good and thinking, ‘OK, we’re gonna learn a lot about our ball club the next few weeks,” Fitzgerald said. “We lost, but it looked a lot better.”
Fast forward, and Fitzgerald’s intuition paid dividends.
The Jayhawks run-ruled Texas Tech in the series finale and ignited from that point.
A series sweep at home against Houston followed, before a comeback series win against Cincinnati came shortly after. Next, a midweek sweep of rival Missouri and weekend sweeps against Utah and, most recently, formerly first-place UCF.
Now, the Jayhawks sit atop the Big 12 standings. And it’s been a product of a thunderous offensive attack, complemented by the steady development of the starting pitching rotation.
Namely, with junior right-hander Dominic Voegele.
A rocky start against UT-Rio Grande Valley on Opening Day and another two weeks later against Minnesota saw Voegele slotted out of his usual ace role and into the back end of the Jayhawks’ rotation. As of late, however, he’s found his stride on the mound.
Through his junior season, Voegele holds an 8.08 ERA with 49 strikeouts to 21 walks (2.34 K-BB ratio) and a .304 opponent batting average through nine starts and 45 2/3 innings pitched.
A polarizing stat line, sure. Still, Fitzgerald noted that what’s important is how Voegele has emulated what he envisioned from him in the offseason. Especially as the Jayhawks embark on the tail end of their regular-season slate.
And if anything, his recent seven-inning, 10-strikeout effort with only two earned runs in Game 2 of last weekend’s series against the Knights might be a foreshadowing of what is to come down the stretch.
“Dom has had a fantastic career, it’s just a unique career because it feels like he’s had a million starts,” Fitzgerald said. “I think when you start that many games, you’re gonna experience just about everything.”
As for the offense, heralded junior college transfers such as utility piece Tyson LeBlanc — .312/.419/.681, 14 HR — Cade Balridge — .318/.412/.464, 5 HR — and Augusto Mungarrieta — .325/.415/.626, 10 HR — have aided in a balanced offensive attack. All while veteran slugger Brady Ballinger — .281/.417/.863, 4 HR — steadily finds his groove at the plate, which Fitzgerald deemed “imperative” down the stretch of the season.
“They’re playing good baseball right now,” OSU coach Josh Holliday said. “They’ve been clicking on all cylinders, so, for us, it’s about taking it one game at a time. It’ll be a good test, for sure.”
While KU’s recent surge reshaped the Jayhawks’ season trajectory, it simultaneously reframed the way Fitzgerald evaluates both his roster and the longevity of a season. Experience, he said, isn’t defined by smooth stretches alone, but rather by how players respond when things stall and expectations tighten. That’s why individual growth and prospect development, especially from veterans who have endured the highs and lows of a grueling 56- to 58-game schedule, has become as defining as the team’s place in the standings.
And Fitzgerald owes much of it to his decision to call a team meeting on a late Friday night in Lubbock.
“As much as I believe — or want to believe — every year that we’re going to go undefeated, I have to remind myself that it really has never happened,” Fitzgerald said. “Slow starts are part of the game, part of a season. It’s just a matter of, can you work around those and find positives within each week.
“I think we have another great opportunity ahead of us this weekend. Playing Oklahoma State from my time at DBU and obviously now at KU, they always have a ton of left-handed hitters and a lot, a lot of power. So, we’ve got a big test this weekend, and I’ll be interested to see how our guys handle it.”
Weekend Watch: Players You Should Watch
Dominic Voegele (Kansas, RHP)
Dominic Voegele’s junior campaign might be best described as a tale of discrepancies.
A calamitous start to the season saw him slotted out of the Day 1 role and into the back end of the Jayhawks (27-10, 12-3 Big 12) starting rotation. As of late, however, he’s flashed ace potential — that of which earned him preseason Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honors ahead of the 2025 season. Most recently, in a seven-inning, 10-strikeout effort, allowing only two earned runs in Game 2 of last weekend’s series against UCF, guiding KU to a loud sweep against the Knights at home.
Voegele has logged 40 starts through his three-year collegiate career. Dan Fitzgerald told D1Baseball how such a plethora of starts can lead to an off-balanced trajectory in a pitcher’s season. Through his junior campaign, Voegele holds a 8.08 ERA with 49 strikeouts to 21 walks (2.34 K-BB ratio) and a .304 opponent batting average through nine starts and 45 2/3 innings pitched.
This weekend against Oklahoma State, Fitzgerald and Co. better hope they see the recent product of Voegele. He will be tested against a potent OSU lineup, but if his recent production indicates anything, it’s that he will be up for the task at hand.
Cole Carlon (Arizona State, LHP)
Arizona State’s navigation of its pitching has been a roller coaster ride so far.
At least the Sun Devils (26-13, 9-7 Big 12) have Cole Carlon to fall back on. Through nine starts and 46 innings pitched, ASU’s ace left-hander holds a 4.11 ERA to go with a .239 opponent batting average. His 75 strikeouts ranks second in the Big 12, only four behind Oklahoma State lefty Ethan Lund.
Carlon had a shaky start against Utah last weekend, surrendering seven runs off eight hits, three walks and a home run through only 4 2/3 innings of work. Still, the upside is immense and the sheer talent has been apparent throughout. And after ASU’s series-opening loss to BYU on Thursday, Carlon will need to be at his best if it hopes to maneuver its way to a series win.
Jesse Rusinek (Texas Tech, RF)
If Texas Tech is going to spark a midseason turnaround, it will need to ride its offense down the stretch.
The Red Raiders (20-16, 6-9 Big 12) have a treasure trove of offensive weapons, apparent with their Big 12-best .355 team batting average. But a handful of unforeseen contributors have aided in the team’s abundance of early offensive success.
Enter freshman right fielder Jesse Rusinek.
The first-year prospect leads Tech in batting average with a .438 clip, to go with a .515 on base percentage, a .625 slugging percentage and two home runs. He’s logged 27 RBIs to 15 walks and profusely manages to manufacture ways to reach base.
He’s been a pleasant surprise for the Red Raiders thus far. But he can’t ease up now, especially with a pivotal three-game series on the road against Utah upcoming.
Tyson LeBlanc (Kansas, UTL)
Tyson LeBlanc has been perhaps the biggest surprise within Kansas’ lineup.
LeBlanc, a transfer from LSU-Eunice, is slashing .310/.416/.676 to go with a team-leading 14 home runs. Not to mention, he’s logged a hit in nine of his last 11 games.
LeBlanc has been a Swiss Army Knife for KU this season, and a viable utility option. He’s flashed stellar defense at multiple positions, which complements his timely hitting skills and raw power.
The Jayhawks will be counting on LeBlanc to prolong his recent offensive production this weekend against a stellar OSU starting pitching rotation.
Stormy Rhodes (Oklahoma State, RHP)
With ace lefthander Hudson Barrett out with arm soreness for the foreseeable future, Josh Holliday has had to rely heavily on Rhodes to rise to the occasion.
Two weeks ago, during Oklahoma State’s series sweep of Cincinnati, Holliday told reporters that Stormy Rhodes would be needed to stabilize the Cowboys’ starting rotation moving forward. He echoed that sentiment last weekend after OSU’s series at Kansas State.
Rhodes, a sophomore right-hander, has dazzled in his second season. He boasts a 3.52 ERA — a stark contrast to his 8.14 as a freshman — to go with 35 strikeouts to just 11 walks and a .250 opponent batting average through 15 appearances and 30 2/3 innings pitched.
He flashed starting potential in his lone start against UCF to open conference play. There, Rhodes struck out four to just four hits and two earned runs through five innings pitched.
Assuming he gets the nod this weekend, Rhodes will be tested against a scorching-hot Kansas lineup. And it will be a likely barometer of where the 6-foot-4 sophomore stands in his development process, especially if his start comes on a rubber game.
Teams To Watch
BYU
We talked last week about Baylor’s quiet hot start to conference play. Now, it might be time to begin discourses about BYU’s.
The Cougars (20-16, 9-7 Big 12) are fresh off a series sweep on the road against Houston, a series where they outscored their opposition 15-5 on the weekend. Concurrently, BYU pitching limited the Coogs to only 18 hits on the weekend, with the bullpen doing much of the damage throughout the series.
But they didn’t stop there. Shortly after came an impressive 4-0 midweek road win against Lamar on Monday, and a loud 19-9 run-rule win against No. 23 Arizona State in Thursday’s series opener.
With the Cougars’ RPI up to 37 and their 13-7 combined record against Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents — 4-6 against Q1 — they are likely in good standing for an at-large bid. Of course, being only four games above .500 is unideal, but four weeks remain in the regular season to improve that margin.
From a resume standpoint, the lone blemish is a lack of marquee series wins. A series victory this weekend against the Sun Devils would neutralize that threat, and Thursday’s win brings Trent Pratt’s ball club one step closer to fulfilling that.
Arizona
At this juncture, the 2026 campaign is a lost cause for Arizona.
Last season, the Wildcats made their first appearance in the College World Series since 2021, revitalizing a program that already boasts the status as one of college baseball’s bluebloods. Shortly after came a No. 24 preseason ranking and a second-place selection in the Big 12 preseason poll.
The offseason buzz seemingly foreshadowed the makings of a promising season for Arizona. Until it didn’t.
First came a season-ending elbow injury to senior All-American closer Tony Pluta. Then a bevy of others.
Now, the Wildcats (14-22, 5-10 Big 12) are eight games under .500, with the likelihood of an at-large bid to a regional all but terminated.
Still, that doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to play for.
At 13th place in the Big 12, Arizona sits one game below Texas Tech, Utah and Cincinnati in the Big 12 standings. It’s worth noting that only the top 12 teams make the conference tournament, which takes place May 20-23 at Surprise Stadium in Arizona. Not to mention, Tech and Utah clash this weekend, making the Wildcats’ home series against Kansas State all the more important.
A series victory on the road against TCU last weekend was the first step. Follow suit this weekend, and the Cats move above the threshold. And given the immense bad luck and misfortune Chip Hale’s ball club has undergone, at least appearing in the conference tournament would be an unequivocal silver lining heading into the 2027 season.
West Virginia
Five weeks into conference play, West Virginia looks the part as the Big 12’s best, top to bottom.
The 15th-ranked Mountaineers (25-8, 10-5 Big 12) aren’t rolling teams over as they were early on, but outside of a series loss to UCF at home a couple of weeks ago, they’ve taken care of business. That matters most.
Their success has been driven by stellar production from the starting rotation and a thunderous offensive attack, headlined by catcher Gavin Kelly and outfielder Paul Schoenfeld. In total, the Mountaineers boast a Big 12-best 3.99 team ERA, complemented by a .312 team batting average.
That said, I’m not selling stock on Steve Sabins’ ball club in the Big 12 race just yet. The remaining schedule is quite feasible, outside of a road series against first-place Kansas in a few weeks.
West Virginia sits two games behind the Jayhawks in the conference standings heading into the weekend, with an important series at home against Houston awaiting it this weekend. A sweep would go a long way in jolting the Mountaineers back within striking distance of a first-place standing. However, a series victory would also suffice.
Texas Tech
Through the early portions of conference play, Texas Tech appeared to be surpassing preseason expectations.
Fast-forward, and the lingering concerns clouding the team’s outlook in the preseason have surfaced at large. Most notably, pitching deficiencies.
The Red Raiders (20-16, 6-9 Big 12) hold a Big 12-worst 7.39 team ERA. The pitching staff has allowed eight or more runs in seven of their past 12 contests, while Tech has dropped its past three Big 12 series after a promising 4-2 start to conference play. That, of course, is underscored by a head-scratching series loss at home to conference-bottom dweller Houston, where the Red Raiders blew late leads in Games 1 and 2 of the series.
An at-large bid appears far-fetched at this point, but it isn’t unattainable. A series win — or better — this weekend at home against a struggling Utah team would pay dividends in terms of getting the Red Raiders back to a respectable spot in the conference standings. And while the pitching staff has been a liability, it has displayed subtle signs of improvement over the past two weeks. Simultaneously, the offense is good enough to win ballgames on any given day.
A series loss, however, might be the final blow to Tech’s postseason hopes.
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/08082754/Dominic-Voegele.jpeg5001000Daniel Allenhttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgDaniel Allen2026-04-17 11:29:232026-04-17 12:10:40Big 12 Weekend Primer: A deep dive into KU’s ascend to the Big 12 mountaintop
On this episode of Weekend Waypoints, Joe Healy recaps midweek action and the Thursday games around the SEC before getting you ready for Friday’s slate.
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https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/03/03104333/Weekend-Waypoints-Friday.png10002000Joe Healyhttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgJoe Healy2026-04-17 10:54:022026-04-17 10:54:05Friday Waypoints – SEC Baseball This Weekend with Joe Healy [4-17-26]
Yes, StitchHeads, we forge on to week 10 of the 2026 college baseball season, which means we are 30 days from preparing for Conference Tournament week. So things are starting to get soap opera serious. Mistakes are multiplied. Opportunities are getting fewer and fewer. The pressure is certainly on for the mid-majors where they are in must-win situations against teams that are buried down in the triple-digit RPIs. From this point onward there are a thousand different ways this season can go. Can’t wait to see.
Let’s start The Fives here. Readyyyyyy, go.
FIVE BURNING QUESTIONS I HAVE GOING INTO THIS WEEKEND
I’ll keep it short and simple so you can read this quickly and then move on to your Instagram stories, Twitter rages and social media doom scrolls.
1- How will Georgia Tech handle a second straight weekend vs. a Top Five opponent?
This time on the road at North Carolina.
2- How much will the high-ranking mid-majors get hurt by playing weak opponents?
No. 15 Missouri State, No. 25 UC Santa Barbara, No. 30 Jacksonville State, No. 40 East Carolina, No. 44 St. Joseph’s and No. 46 Kent State will suffer, win or lose, from playing teams win triple digit RPIs.
Blake Primrose and the St. Joseph’s Eagles have made a big early impression in the A-10 title chase.
3- Can teams in the 60s of the RPI raise their profile with big wins over higher-ranked foes this weekend?
I’m looking at you No. 65 LSU (vs. No. 13 Texas A&M), No. 68 Dallas Baptist (vs. No. 21 Liberty), No. 64 Troy (vs. No. 41 Louisiana) and No. 67 Tarleton State (vs. No. 52 Cal Baptist).
4- Will UCLA lose the top spot even if the Bruins win all three games this weekend?
The Boys of Westwood will be playing No. 112 Minnesota at home while the No. 2-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will face North Carolina on the road.
5- Can the Bay Area Boys keep their hot streaks going at home?
Cal (18-17) is coming off a sweep of Pitt and will be taking on Louisville and Stanford (16-17) just got done winning two of three at Louisville but has Miami coming to Palo Alto this weekend.
Stanford has something to cheer about as they start to heat up.
MY TOP FIVE MATCHUPS I’M WATCHING THIS WEEKEND
There are a lot of good matchups in our sport this weekend, StitchHeads. But digging down a little bit, there are a few key game-within-the-game showdowns that have my eye.
1- Georgia Tech at North Carolina
Key Matchup: Jackets offense vs. Heels arms
This is a top-shelf matchup, obviously. Tech has an insane one-thru-nine and leads the nation with a .359 team average, led by Jarren Advincula’s .421 average, Carson Kerce’s 21 doubles and Ryan Zuckerman’s 14 home runs. Odd to think that All American Drew Burress is just seventh on the team in batting average but is still hitting .338. They’ll face the very stout Tar Heels arms, who sport a 3.72 team ERA. Keep an eye on if the Heels get any late leads because relievers Caden Glauber and Walker McDuffie have thrown a combined 81.0 innings and have held opposing batters to .179 and .188 averages respectively.
2- USC at Nebraska
Key Matchup: That Trojan rotation vs. the Cornhusker offense
The Huskers are looking to get back into the Top 25 after suffering a 1-3 week, even though they played Oregon to three nip-and-tuck games. Mason Edwards and Grant Govel have actually shown a few dents of late but they are still 6-0/1.35 and 7-0/2.13 respectively. Edwards has 95 Ks in 53.1 innings. Let that sink in. The Big Red is hitting .311 (which is the name of that ‘90s ska/rock band from Omaha, ironically) and is led by Mac Moyer’s .393 (he has been over .400 all season until last week) and Dylan Carey’s .373. On the flip side, the Huskers’ pitching staff is holding opposing batters to a .222 average. So the somewhat struggling Trojans offense will have its work cut out for themselves.
Nebraska SS Dylan Carey (Photo by Eddie Kelly)
3- Georgia at Arkansas
Key Matchup: Razorback pitching vs. the Bulldog bats
The Bulldogs are trying to emulate their rival Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets by posting imposing offensive numbers. A full nine hitters on the roster have a .300-plus average and there are six hitters with double-digit home run totals, led by All American Tre Phelps who hits .393 with 14 dingers and has also been plunked 24 times. They’ll be facing off against the 24th-best pitching staff in D1 with a team RBI at 4.01. There are seven regulars who have so far posted a sub-3.99 ERA including starters Hunter Dietz (3-2, 3.61) and Gabe Gaeckle (5-3, 3.98). Dietz has been particularly ominous to opposing hitters, posting 78 punch outs in 47.1 innings. And keep in mind this is not the band-box the Bulldogs are used to playing in at home.
(Note: The Razorbacks won Thursday’s opener 6-3, although the Dawgs did park a pair of home runs, so maybe it didn’t matter if they were playing in a Band Box or not.)
4- Louisville at Cal
Key Matchup: The Cardinals high-octane offense vs. the surprisingly effective Bears arms
For all the troubles the Bears have gone through this season (such as their 4-11 mark in ACC play), two things are true about them. One, they entered this week with an RPI at No. 63, meaning they are still within range of at-large consideration. And two, the pitching staff is actually very solid. The team ERA of 4.34 is good for 34th nationally, which keeps them in any game. They’ll face off with a batting order that is coming off a College World Series appearance and has a team average of .317. Names like Lucas Moore, Zion Rose, Tague Davis and Alex Alicea were the core of that CWS batting order last season and are all back now (though Alicea is currently injured). However, the biggest facet of this team is that, at 21-16, the Cards are way down at No. 104 in the RPI, so if they are going to make a move into at-large land, it has to start now.
5- Mississippi State at South Carolina
Key Matchup: The Gamecock starters vs. the struggling Bulldog offense
This is an interesting matchup, and it will be hard to tell which team will show up. Like Cal above the Cocks have had a season of struggles (19-19) but have pitched the ball really well (4.26 ERA, 35th nationally). Friday and Saturday starters Brandon Stone (4-1, 2.89) and Amp Phillips (3-4, 2.17) have been really effective in their starts, including Phillips being named SEC Pitcher of the Week last week. And of course, the struggles of the Bulldogs has been well-documented, having gotten swept in two straight weekends. But they do hit .318 as a unit, which is good for 12th nationally. But in their last six SEC games, the Maroons have hit just .233 and have struck out 61 times. The Bullies can’t keep spiraling like they are.
WE HAVE OUR FIRST CANCELLATION OF A PROGRAM’S SEASON
Pennsylvania College of Technology has dismissed all the coaches except a volunteer assistant and number of players due to some unspecified “concerning reports” after a trip to a tournament in Myrtle Beach…
STATES THAT I HAVE COVERED COLLEGE BASEBALL GAMES IN.
I heard Boston Globe sports writer Bob Ryan on a podcast a few weeks ago talking about what states he has been to in covering a sporting event. He said, in his long, storied sportswriting career that the only states that he’s never covered a game in were Alaska, Montana, Idaho and New Mexico. That got me thinking, how many states have I been to in covering college baseball? The answer turned out to be 34. So since it’d be easier to saw which states I have NOT covered baseball in, here they are, moving East to West…
New Hampshire
Vermont
Delaware
Pennsylvania
West Virginia
Michigan
Illinois
Wisconsin
North Dakota
Kansas
Colorado
Wyoming
Montana
Idaho
Washington
Alaska
A couple of notes here:
– In the summer of 2018 I went to a Foo Fighters concert at Wrigley and before the show Lady StitchHead and I dropped by Curtis Granderson Stadium at Illinois-Chicago and there was a high school summer game going on.
– Last June, before I flew back from the College World Series (via Kansas City), I drove by Kansas State’s rebuilt stadium and saw a high school summer game being played there.
– In the fall of 2019 I went up to Seattle for a wedding and dropped by Washington’s “new” stadium to catch a Huskies fall practice and talk to head coach Lindsey Meggs for their Fall Report that year.
– If you include college hockey, you can take Alaska off that list. When I was the national college hockey writer for ESPN.com in 2016 I went up to Anchorage to cover Arizona State’s first games as a D1 program.
So although I didn’t work a game in those three stadiums, I did see baseball being played in them. But I still can’t count them as states I have worked in college baseball.
By the way, I made a day trip to Las Vegas this past weekend to see the Frozen Four national title game as Denver U. beat Wisconsin 2-1 in a high-stress, three-period game. It was DU’s third national title in the last five years. Great atmosphere and a near sell-out at the Vegas Golden Knights home arena too. We paid $130 per ticket.
AN UPDATE ON THE RALLY PELICAN AT UCSB
I meant to write this a couple weeks ago but I forgot. I’m sure you might’ve seen it but during a game vs. LMU a pelican got caught up in the netting behind home plate, halting a game for a few minutes. Here is a post from when it happened.
Well, after the Gauchos beat Oregon two weeks ago, I talked with head coach Andrew Checketts, and he told me that after that game, he and his team had a moment of silence.
“For who?” I asked.
“The pelican,” he said. “… no, not the real pelican. After that pelican incident we had a stuffed toy pelican as our lucky mascot in the dugout. But after we lost four games in a row we decided to have a ceremonial burning of the pelican because it brought us bad luck.”
By the way, you guys will be happy to know the real pelican that got stuck in the netting was fine after being untied from his entanglement. Currently the Gauchos have won seven of their last eight, including Tuesday’s 4-0 over No. 1-ranked UCLA.
THIS WEEK IN COLLEGE BASEBALL HISTORY
– Clemson’s biggest comeback in program history: 1995.
The Tigers were down to North Carolina State 15-4 entering the ninth inning of a game played on April 14th of 1995. They ended up plating 11 runs in the ninth inning and then won the game with a two-run single from Rusty Rhodes in the 10th inning and the shutdown work of Scott Winchester on the mound. Here is the full writeup:
If that name sounds familiar it’s the bratty little 12 year-old kid who stole the home run off Derek Jeter’s bat that Baltimore’s Tony Torasco was clearly going to catch in the ALCS playoffs, became Wesleyan’s all-time hits leader on April 12th, 2006. His 169th hit of his career, a double against Bates College, re-wrote his name into the school’s record book.
As you guys might know, the Summer Olympics are going to be right here near my trailer park in TinselTown for 2028. And you also might know that baseball is back as an Olympic sport and will be played at Dodger Stadium. The local Angelenos were given first dibs at tickets for every event, promising reasonable ticket prices, some even as low as $28 (even though that turned out to be a crock).
So Lady StitchHead and I manned our computers and went into buying mode when the ticket release window was opened last week. Sure enough, we got baseball tickets among our cache. Here are the sports we have tickets for and the price…
– Baseball: Preliminary Game, Dodger Stadium, Thursday July 13th. $99.20 each
– Handball: Men’s preliminary, Long Beach Arena, Sunday July 16th. $28.00 each
– Flag Football preliminary: BMO Stadium, Monday July 17th. $93.02 each
– Track and Field: LA Coliseum, Tuesday July 18th. $403.10 each
Obviously the track and field tickets were pretty steep, but the ones we got were going to be for the extreme nosebleed seats at the top of the Coliseum. And that’s not even the beginning of it. The cost for any seats even somewhat close to the track were as high as $2,460. Ugh. Those are some of the steepest tickets but they still pale in comparison to trying to get a duc for the opening ceremonies where prices go up to as much as $5,500. The closing ceremonies? They went for $4,961. Swimming and gymnastics are also huge ticket items for the Olympics, both going for $2,460 per ticket for the sessions that include medal ceremonies.
Oh and the reason our baseball tickets were so “reasonable” at nearly 100 dollars? The Thursday the 13th date is actually two days before the actual opening ceremonies will be. That’s why our tickets are for the “preliminary game”. And who know who the two teams will be for our day of attending.
EIGHT FOR OMAHA
If the season ended today here are the eight teams whose fans would complain about the ridiculously-priced tickets for the CWS. When in reality, they should see what Olympics tickets are going for and they’ll feel much better.
Ole Miss
UCLA
Arkansas
USC
Georgia Tech
Oregon State
Texas A&M
Florida
TODAY IN THE PROMISED LAND
The forecast for Omaha calls for a high temperature of 74º under sunny skies with swirling winds gusting up to 25mph, essentially knocking down any home run ball hit toward the outfield into a pop fly at the warning track.
IF THERE WERE A GAMEDAY-LIKE SHOW ON ESPN FOR BASEBALL
This week’s show would emanate from Lincoln, Nebraska for the series between USC and Nebraska. The guest picker would be Nebraska native Larry the Cable Guy… who’s real name is Dan Whitney and he used to perform standup in chinos and a button down dress shirt and without that hick accent.
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2020/05/04145131/OTTOMH1000.jpg5041000Eric Sorensonhttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgEric Sorenson2026-04-17 09:45:162026-04-17 09:45:18Sorenson’s Off The Top Of My Head: Weekend 10 Primer
Saint Joseph’s head coach Fritz Hamburg knows a thing or two about winning ballgames, the Hawks’ all-time leader in victories, now in his 18th year with the program. While the team went 24-28 last year, they were 17-13 against their Atlantic 10 opponents, the sixth straight year they had a winning record in conference play and the only team in the league that had advanced to the conference tournament for five straight years.
That team had 23 new players on the roster to open the season, 15 freshmen and eight transfers. An 11-4 record in the month of April marked the high point of the season, claiming all four weekend series during that stretch. And although their season ended with a 0-2 showing at the Atlantic 10 Championship, they returned a significant amount of their talent base, particularly in the starting lineup, and headed into the 2026 season with more familiarity.
Not surprisingly, the results on the field have reflected the continued development of their talent base. Heading into the 10th weekend of the regular season, and the sixth of 10 weekends against A-10 opponents, Saint Joe’s is 23-12 with a sterling 14-1 record against their conference foes.
Now 21-5 since the month of March began, the Hawks have the nation’s 44th-best RPI heading into a weekend series against George Mason.
“I think we have a talented group, from a baseball standpoint, but I think this group, starting in the fall, really made connections with each other and they care about each other, and they enjoy being around each other,” coach Hamburg said of his team’s early-season success. “I think that’s important for any team. It’s certainly a more challenging landscape with the portal and having so much turnover now on rosters, but they’ve done a really good job of being where their feet are and enjoying their time together.”
The overall feel of the lineup heading into the year was somewhat reminiscent of successful mid-majors in recent years including Murray State last year, Evansville in 2024 and Oral Roberts in 2023 in that there were numerous familiar, returning players returning to maintain important positions. The biggest difference, however, is that this SJU roster isn’t comprised of a heavy dose of fourth- and fifth-year players. Several of their most important contributors are sophomores, and this is a program that has no problem putting freshmen in big roles.
Saint Joseph’s Nos. 1-3 hitters – designated hitter Joey Gale, center fielder Alex Kelsey and catcher Blake Primrose – are all sophomores. The same is true for first baseman Alex Venezia, who redshirted a year ago. Left fielder Joey Pagano, second baseman Tim Dickson and shortstop Carson Applegate are also among the regular, returning players for an offense collectively slashing .281/.385/.444.
Their .281 average is the second-best mark in the league while scoring the fifth-most runs.
Third baseman Richard Beggy and right fielder Jason Janesko are the most notable newcomers. Beggy’s 40 RBIs are the second most on the team, while his .361 average and 63 total bases are both good for third. Janesko is batting .260 with nine extra-base hits, four of which are home runs, and has stolen 12 bases in 13 attempts. Their additions have solidified an already strong lineup from top to bottom.
“We’ve got a nucleus of guys who went through last year’s journey,” Hamburg added. “We had a nice year [but] we didn’t end the season the way we wanted to last year and didn’t play very well in the tournament. I think having that experience and what that left as a memory has helped drive this group and the transfers that have come in. They’re just super excited for the opportunity.
“I don’t think this group is chasing anything. I think this group is just really enjoying being together. Obviously, winning is important, and that’s what we set out to do every day, but we haven’t talked about that. We haven’t talked about anybody beyond the next game.”
Primrose is the star of the show, the team’s second-year catcher who spent his freshman year calling pitches for the A-10 Pitcher of the Year, Colton Book, SJU’s Saturday starter a year ago. Primrose led the Hawks in batting as a rookie with a .329 average, hitting nine doubles and five home runs as part of a promising debut season while serving as the team’s second catcher.
A grand slam for Blake Primrose in the ninth! The Hawks lead it, 18-5, and are three outs away from a sweep! #THWNDpic.twitter.com/2HRLEPn4sp
— Saint Joseph's Baseball (@SJUHawks_Base) April 12, 2026
At 5-foot-11, 215 pounds, Primrose is built like a powder keg, and he’s been especially explosive through the first two months of the 2026 season. He’s slashing .379/.472/.795 with 12 doubles, two triples and 13 home runs with 41 RBIs and 105 total bases. Each of the past two weeks he has earned Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors, hitting three home runs in each of the last two weekend series, sweeps against Saint Louis and Dayton. His 3-for-5, two-home run, seven-RBI performance on Sunday helped secure the sweep against the Flyers.
“It’s been a process,” Hamburg said of Primrose’s development. “He showed a lot of promise offensively, but between last summer and this year – his presence behind the plate [and] the confidence that he exudes and allows the pitchers to have as well – have really brought him to the point where he’s having the season that he’s having. He didn’t start out on fire, but he’s refined some things. He’s worked on some things with his swing and it’s exciting to see him connecting the dots.”
It’s a similar story for Kelsey, who leads the team with a .382 average and is second in OPS (1.026) to Primrose, batting second for the Hawks. Kelsey’s 13 steals lead the team, drawing more walks (20) and getting hit by more pitches (11) than striking out (19), an on-base machine setting the tone for the rest of the order from the two-hole.
There isn’t the same kind of familiarity from 2025 to 2026 when it comes to the team’s weekend starters, but a good bulk of the team’s pitching depth are returning players. Jackson Campbell, Matt Fitzgibbon, Sam Greer, Matt Speicher and Justin Sweeney have all received regular looks out of the bullpen, and Sunday starter Luke Parise – who is 4-1, 4.50 – is second on the team in innings pitched (42).
It’s on this staff the team’s newcomer group has made the biggest impact with Friday and Saturday starters Duke McCarron and Cole Fehrman, midweek starter Carson Magill, closer Andrew Gaines and bullpen ace Christian Coppola. All four have stepped forward and embraced the roles presented to them after finding expanded opportunities more difficult to come by the previous year.
McCarron is 2-2, 6.10 in nine starts so far this year, striking out 37 in 38 1/3 innings of work. That has already far surpassed the 21 innings he logged at the State College of Florida (JUCO) a year ago. Fehrman, a lefthander threw 13 innings in 26 total appearances spanning three seasons at West Virginia and now is 3-3, 4.87 with 57 strikeouts in 44 1/3 innings for the Hawks.
The 1-2 punch of Coppola and Gaines – each of whom is big-bodied, low-90s righthander at 6-foot-5 and 230 or 240 pounds – at the back end of games has been filthy, as together they have struck out 89 batters in 49 combined innings. Gaines has a 1.42 ERA and seven saves while Coppola’s 59-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 30 innings is nothing short of remarkable. Both found playing time at Pitt and Arizona hard to come by, although Coppola did enjoy a successful freshman season at Rutgers in 2023, where he was named a Freshman All-American.
Four of the five transfer hurlers are from nearby New Jersey, the other from Pennsylvania, an important consideration for the Philadelphia-based institution.
“They know St. Joe’s, they understand the Hawk, they like Philly, they’re Philly fans,” Hamburg said of the draw of Saint Joseph’s. “For the guys that have come back from the portal, they recognize a lot of things. It’s a chance to be closer to home. It’s an opportunity to play in an established program where we’ve had several guys move on to professional baseball. The school is a great academic institution. So, there’s a lot of things working in our favor for these guys for that opportunity.”
Following the team’s weekend series at home against George Mason, a team currently fourth in the A-10 standings, Saint Joseph’s will have the opportunity to claim the Liberty Bell Classic championship, an event held annually pitting Northeast and Mid-Atlantic based teams against one another. The championship game is played at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies.
With Saint Joseph’s already beating Lehigh and Rider in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, the Hawks have advanced to face Penn on Tuesday for the opportunity to claim their fourth championship. It would be their first in 10 years, however, as Coach Hamburg guided SJU to three titles in five seasons (2012, 2014, 2016).
While the outcome of the game has more to do with bragging rights than in-conference positioning for the end-of-season A-10 tournament, the importance of the contest to this tight-knit group of SJU players is significant.
“There’s no need to chase anything. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing, enjoying every opportunity we get together,” Hamburg said. “You have to take that for what it is.
“This is my 35th year of coaching, having been in it for a lifetime it allows you to step back and have perspective on things and still remember that these guys are 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-year olds that are trying to enjoy their experience and have the time of their lives. So, you give and take and celebrate the victories.”
Mid-Major Player Spotlight: Mikey Bell, 3B, Gonzaga
It’s safe to say Gonzaga third baseman Mikey Bell had himself a weekend in a sweep against Portland. In three games against the Pilots the redshirt junior had a pair of five-hit games, going 11-for-15 with four doubles, a home run, six runs scored and eight driven in. Earlier in the week, in a pair of midweek wins at Washington, Bell went 5-for-10 and, not surprisingly, was named the WCC Player of the Week.
Bell was the WCC Player of the Year a season ago after batting .360 with 17 doubles and 11 home runs. He carried that success over to the summer when he slashed .355/.453/.484 with the Madison Mallards in the Northwoods League. Named to the NWL’s midsummer all-star team roster, he won the event’s home run derby.
Mikey Bell's 1st homer of the summer comes at the perfect time, driving a ball oppo for a go-ahead grand slam as part of a 13-run inning, coming off a big spring for @ZagBaseball where he played RF and batted 3rd, now batting .405 in 9 games while playing 3B for @MadisonMallardspic.twitter.com/A3yMzDXqtm
While it’s difficult to get too excited about success in a summer league home run derby, the showing itself was impressive considering the regular quality of his at-bats. He does a good job to stay within himself and recognizes which pitches he can square up, perfectly content with spraying line drives to all parts of the field rather than swinging for the fences. He does have six home runs this year, with 11 a year ago, so it’s not as though he’s some light-hitting infielder. This season he’s also drawing more walks and already has 14 doubles.
Bell’s glove at third base is also considered an asset with some positional versatility to play an outfield corner and possibly even second base. Coming into the 2026 season he was ranked by D1 Baseball as the 128th-best college prospect eligible for the draft.
With the series sweep against Portland, Gonzaga is now 20-14 overall and 9-3 in WCC play. In addition, their RPI jumped up to 58. Bell and the Zags ride a seven-game winning streak into their series at Saint Mary’s (22-14) this weekend, a team just a game behind Gonzaga (and San Francisco) at the top of the WCC standings.
Mid-Major Series Spotlight: Louisiana at Troy
Both Louisiana and Troy entered 2026 with great reason for optimism, and the Ragin’ Cajuns even enjoyed an abbreviated stay in the D1 Top 25.
Although Louisiana lost two of three games to Missouri State to open the season, a Bears squad that has sustained their success, they quickly rebounded with series wins against Maryland, UC San Diego and Dallas Baptist with midweek victories against Kansas State and LSU. Although they claimed their first Sun Belt Conference series against South Alabama, they lost their next three, including a sweep at the hands of Texas State.
Last weekend’s home series win against a ranked Southern Miss squad may have quickly turned Louisiana’s fortunes around. After losing the first game, 8-1, they showed a tremendous amount of resolve winning the next two, 8-4 and 6-5. Lefthander and grad student Andrew Herrmann continues to have a sensational season, putting his Cajun teammates on his back on Saturday and delivering his third complete game victory of the year, improving to 4-2, 3.68 while remaining among the nation’s leaders in punchouts with 72.
Troy had stumbled a few times early in the season, starting the year with a series loss against Mercer and entered the month of April with a 13-16 record. Following back-to-back Sun Belt series wins against surging Arkansas State and Texas State squads, the Trojans are 5-3 through their first eight games in April and 18-19 overall.
The top of the Troy offense has been especially lethal, with leadoff hitting right fielder Aaron Piasecki getting on base at a .455 clip ahead of third baseman Josh Pyne, first baseman Blake Cavill and catcher Jimmy Janicki. Janicki has hit 10 of the team’s 37 home runs, leading the team in almost every notable offensive category.
Other series to watch:
Texas State at No. 10 Southern Miss
UAB at South Florida
Liberty at Dallas Baptist
Wichita State at East Carolina
Charlotte at UTSA
Cal Poly at UC San Diegos
High Point at Charleston Southern
Ball State at Kent State
UC Santa Barbara at UC Irvine
St. John’s at UConn
Western Carolina at VMI
Gonzaga at Saint Mary’s
Illinois State at Murray State
Cal Baptist at Tarleton
Indiana State at Wright State
Nevada at New Mexico
Eastern Illinois at Little Rock
Binghamton at Bryant
Northwestern State at Lamar
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/16230308/BlakePrimrose-26SJU.jpg5001000Patrick Eberthttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgPatrick Ebert2026-04-17 09:36:082026-04-17 13:08:25D1 Spotlight: Saint Joseph’s flies atop the A-10, Bell swings hot bat for surging Zags
On this episode of the D1Baseball Podcast, Mike Rooney, Kendall Rogers, and Joe Healy preview week ten around college baseball.
08:33 Week 10 Six Pack
10:20 SEC Spotlight: LSU & Texas A&M
12:26 Arkansas Shakeup
14:57 Texas A&M Freshmen Draft Buzz
17:11 ACC Series Of Weekend
20:31 UNC Bullpen Concerns
22:11 Big Ten: USC at Nebraska
25:51 Big 12 Last Stands
27:19 Weekend Slate Rundown
27:51 Underrated Series Watchlist
28:24 Big Ten Check In
29:07 Big East Showdown
30:51 Lineup Depth Theme
31:38 First Inning Pitching Woes
33:00 Liberty vs DBU Stakes
34:58 More Mid-Major Spotlights
37:00 Texas State vs Southern Miss
38:07 Sun Belt Culture Talk
41:27 Patriot League Rivalry Fun
44:03 Vandy at Kentucky Debate
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Is your favorite team in the SEC? Make sure to check out our Highway To Hoover podcast with Joe Healy and Mark Etheridge on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
Or maybe you’re a fan of ACC baseball? Then you need to check out the ACC Baseball Etc. podcast with Daron Vaught and Bradley Smart on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/17092202/The-D1Baseball-Podcast-Website-1000-%C3%97-500-px-4.png5001000D1Baseball Staffhttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgD1Baseball Staff2026-04-17 09:24:112026-04-17 09:24:13Week Ten Preview – The D1Baseball Podcast
Florida and Arkansas each won home openers in massive series Thursday evening. In today’s dish, we look back at those and ahead to Friday’s packed slate.
King sizzles in home series opening win
Blake Cyr’s three-run, third-inning homer provided the margin in Florida’s 6-3 win over Auburn.
Aidan King is staking his claim as one of the most effective pitchers in the conference. The sophomore righthander fired six innings of one-run ball on three hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts for his third-straight win and quality start. King retired 10-straight batters from the first inning through the fourth frame and did not allow a hit after the first inning. In an era long on walk and strikeouts and short on innings pitched, King has completed six innings in each of his last three starts, going a combined 20 2/3 frames with just three runs allowed to give him a 1.71 ERA on the season.
“I was talking to the guys that are doing the game tonight and I think I was talking to Gregg Olsen about it and he’s like a throwback,” said Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan. “He just pitches, you know. 91 to 94 with command. I mean, that’s the reason why he was a Freshman All-American. He throws any pitch at any time, and he throws the fastball at both sides. His misses are small. He pitches and he never gets rattled. He’s got great poise.”
King has been especially tough in home SEC starts. Against South Carolina, he threw six scoreless innings and allowed two hits, striking out nine with one walk. Against Ole Miss, he threw seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts, allowing four hits and no walks. Add in the Auburn start, and the sophomore has thrown 19 innings with only nine hits, three walks, and one run allowed with 25 strikeouts.
Auburn ace Andreas Alvarez had his shortest outing of the season as he was chased in the third after six hits and four runs. Abe Chancellor was the relief star with three scoreless innings.
Arkansas scored three in the first inning and never trailed in a 6-3 victory over Georgia. Hunter Dietz struck out six in 5.1 innings. He allowed five hits and two runs with a walk. Gabe Gaeckle worked two effective relief innings, followed by Ethan McElvain, who collected the final five outs with 1.2 scoreless for the save.
The Vanderbilt transfer has been high on potential but low on results, primarily due to command issues.
“McElvain didn’t give in,” said Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn, “He didn’t panic when things were starting to go the other way. I liked his approach there. He didn’t have his best stuff tonight. That’s the way it goes with pitchers. They are a 95-mph guy. The next day they are 93. If we are fortunate enough to get him back in game three, he might be even better.”
Carter Rutenbar had a homer, and Damian Ruiz led the Hogs with two hits. For Georgia, Daniel Jackson slugged his 17th home run, and Ryan Wynn added his third. Tre Phelps had two hits. Each team finished with seven hits.
Sunday’s Spotlight Game
Each day, we’ll spotlight one game that sparks particular interest. It often won’t be the most important game of the day, but rather one that elicits some attention.
Texas A&M at LSU — 7 p.m. [ESPN]
Even with aces on the hill, expect offense all weekend, even in game one tonight. In SEC play, the Aggies lead the conference in batting average (.288), slugging percentage (.559), scoring (9.9 runs per game), doubles (31), triples (4), and walks (108). Caden Sorrell and Gavin Grahovac have powered the lineup, entering the series as the only two players in the league with 20 or more RBI in SEC play. Sorrell’s 57 RBI and 17 home runs this season rank first among all SEC sluggers. Grahovac has reached base safely in all 14 conference games and is riding a 10-game hitting streak.
LSU, which has had games where the runs came in bunches on days when it allowed many as well, has to find a way to clean it up on the mound, in the field, and come up with more clutch hits.
“We need to play better baseball; I know that’s simplistic, but that’s what has to happen,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson. “It’s one-thousand percent about the way we play. You have to pitch well, defend, and excel in timely or situational hitting. This team has won games when it’s done that, but it hasn’t done it enough. I think there is plenty of better baseball in us, and it’s our job to execute.”
Best Game in Each Window
Early Evening: Auburn at Florida — 5:30 p.m. [SECN]
Florida won the opener and will flip the ball to Liam Peterson tonight. Auburn will counter with Jake Marciano, giving us one of the best conceivable pitching matchups after game one.
Also:
Vanderbilt at Kentucky — 6:30 p.m. [SECN+]
Ole Miss at Tennessee — 6:30 p.m. [SECN+]
Evening:Alabama at Texas — 7:30 p.m. [SECN+]
Dylan Volantis moves to the Friday role after rain canceled his start last Sunday. He’ll square off with Tyler Fay in a matchup of starters who have made a habit of getting deep in games.
Also:
Georgia at Arkansas — 7 p.m. [SECN+]
Mississippi State at South Carolina — 7 p.m. [SECN+]
Missouri at Oklahoma — 7:30 p.m. [SECN+]
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https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/17083309/AidanKing3.jpeg5001000Mark Etheridgehttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgMark Etheridge2026-04-17 08:35:382026-04-17 08:54:58Friday’s Daily Dish: King stakes claim among SEC’s best
Somehow we’re already at Week 10 and it’s once again time to provide one, easy place to find probable starters throughout the biggest conferences in the country. Projected weekend rotations are included below for the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, Sun Belt, Conference USA, and The American. Click on a player to be taken to their player page with advanced stats and information.
The usual caveat: All probable starters are just that — probable — and therefore subject to change. These have been pulled from game notes, press conferences, and the fine work done by beat writers throughout the country. As the season gets underway, we’ll expand the teams covered here.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Dating back to their days at Duke, Chris Pollard and his coaching staff have never been afraid to think outside the box when it comes to the handling of their pitching staff. So when Virginia needed to gradually build up Kyle Johnson’s pitch count after his mound work was delayed early this spring by a “kinetic chain” issue, the Cavaliers made an unorthodox move: They shifted their most reliable starter, Henry Zatkowski, into the bullpen to piggyback with Johnson.
And Zatkowski handled the shift with characteristic grace.
“It’s unreal what he’s doing,” Pollard said. “And not just the physical side of it — just how selfless he’s been. He’s never once come in my office and said, ‘Why am I doing this? I’ve put together the best starter numbers on this team, why am I the one having to do this and miss my start and miss my spot in the rotation?’ He’s just done whatever we’ve asked him to do and gone in there and competed at a really high level.”
Zatkowski delivered 5.1 strong innings of relief in a win against Wake Forest, then turned in three innings of three-run relief in a loss to Florida State. On the heels of that shorter stint against the Seminoles, Duke opted to start him midweek against James Madison to ease him back into the rotation, and he responded with four innings of two-hit, shutout ball. Then he came out of the bullpen twice last week at Notre Dame, working a scoreless inning Friday and another 1.1 scoreless on Saturday. That progression set him up to make a triumphant return to the top of the weekend rotation Thursday against Clemson, and he responded with seven innings of three-run ball, tying his career high with 10 strikeouts while leading the Cavaliers to a 6-4 win.
“This past weekend in South Bend, it was coming out of the bullpen, and he never questioned it,” Pollard said. “I was super excited for him to get back into that true starter role, one because it helps our bullpen and gives us length and sets us up for the rest of the weekend. But two, just because he deserves it, because he’s pitched well enough to stay in the rotation. And the only reason he left the rotation was just being selfless enough to help Kyle get built up enough to take his spot in the rotation.”
For his part, Zatkowski said making the transition from the bullpen back to the rotation has been “a little weird,” but he has embraced the challenge.
“I’m totally fine with it, however the coaches want to use me, I’m always down to come out of the bullpen if I need to, make a start if I need to,” he said. “And I think that it will definitely help in the postseason too. When we make for sure a deep run, it will be big to be able to come out of the bullpen too.”
A physical 6-foot-2, 190-pound lefty with a low slot, Zatkowski has always had a knack for hammering the strike zone. During his senior year at River Hill (Md.) High School, he posted an eye-popping 74-4 K-BB mark along with a 0.17 ERA. As a freshman last year at Duke, he struck out 58 against just 11 walks in 59.1 innings, but opponents hit him at a .275 clip and his ERA was 5.01.
As a sophomore, he now has 62 strikeouts against 15 walks in 53 innings, but opponents are hitting just .223 against him, and his ERA is down to 4.25. Though he still misses plenty of bats, he has been able to induce more weak groundball contact by incorporating a two-seamer to go along with his 88-92 four-seamer.
“A big part of it is it’s now a two- and a four-seamer. For all of last year and the first part of this year, it was the four-seam, which he can pitch down with and he can also pitch up with,” Pollard said. “But now he’s mixing in a true two-seamer with heavy sink. A few of those two-seamers had negative induced vertical break. A couple of times, the middle of [Clemson’s] lineup took on-time swings with it — they were on time with fastball, but just over the top of it because of the heavy sink on the ball. And that’s been a difference-maker for him, and he just throws so many strikes.”
He also has a big-time weapon in his elite 83-85 mph changeup, which also had negative induced vertical break at times Thursday, illustrating its incredible and rare sink. He can throw that pitch to lefties as well as righties, and also locate his sweeping 75-77 mph slider.
“It’s the fact that I use [the changeup] to both righties and lefties too,” Zatkowski said. “Being able to use the slider and the changeup against the lefty, and then that changeup low and away and the sinker too to the righty, it’s just a good combination with that.”
Zatkowski said he threw a splitter in high school but picked up the changeup during the fall of his freshman year, and it has become as good a changeup as you’ll see in college baseball — on par with the signature changeup of his Thursday night counterpart, Clemson ace Aidan Knaak. Pollard referred to the changeups of both pitchers Thursday as “unicorn” pitches. Zatkowski threw his changeup 39 times Thursday, along with 41 fastballs and 18 sliders. The changeup induced a 40% whiff rate.
And Zatkowski’s ability to get strikeouts in tight spots is also a big part of his success. In the first inning, Clemson had two men aboard with one out, but Zatkowski struck out cleanup man Jacob Jarrell on a changeup, then got a flyout to strand two. He surrendered a two-run homer in the second, but was nails over the next three frames, putting up three zeroes. He allowed another solo homer in the sixth, to Jarrell, but followed it up with a 1-2-3 seventh to end his night at 102 pitches.
“He left it all out there,” said Virginia catcher Jake Weatherspoon, whose three-run double to the oppo gap broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth. “Even if something didn’t go his way, he stuck to his plan great. Never let the moment get too small or too big; I think he was great at just going and attacking guys.”
Virginia’s Jake Weatherspoon celebrates his bases-clearing double (Aaron Fitt)
Weatherspoon praised Zatkowski’s consistency, in whatever role he has occupied this year.
“It’s really impressive for a guy that, you shake around the routine a little bit, and for him to stick to himself and do what works, he’s been the same guy every single time, he hasn’t tried to change to the role,” Weatherspoon said. “He’s just stuck to himself.”
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/17021806/Henry-Zatkowski.jpeg10012000Aaron Fitthttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgAaron Fitt2026-04-17 02:21:432026-04-17 02:21:45‘Selfless’ Zatkowski makes triumphant return to weekend rotation for Virginia
The D1Baseball staff is BACK with their picks for Week 10 of the 2026 College Baseball season!
The 2026 D1Baseball Staff Picks are presented by Chinook Seedery. These are the only seeds the D1 staff will pick! Save 15% on your next Chinook Seedery order with code D1BASEBALL.
Reminder: Our picks are only made for three-game series.
On this episode of ACC Baseball Etc., Daron Vaught and Bradley Smart preview the weekend, which includes some “now or never” series for teams looking to surge into the Regional picture, as well as the biggest series of the season in No. 3 North Carolina hosting No. 3 Georgia Tech.
00:00 Rapid Fire Weekend Preview 01:49 Top-3 Showdown: Georgia Tech at North Carolina 06:37 How UNC Can Win 09:14 Rotation Watch and Broadcast 11:05 Clemson at Virginia Stakes 13:01 Virginia Pitching Puzzle 15:59 Cal-Louisville Bubble Fight 18:06 Louisville Talent vs Results 21:14 Florida State Hosts Notre Dame 25:23 Boston College vs Duke 29:46 NC State at Wake Forest 30:36 Pitching Heavyweights Clash 33:54 Pitt vs Virginia Tech Stakes 36:46 Miami at Stanford Preview 40:44 Awards Race Tease 42:04 Weekend Watch Plans
Subscribe to ACC Baseball Etc.: Apple | Spotify Subscribe to Premium ACC Content with ACC Extra
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First-year Rice head coach David Pierce admits that he is far from a patient person, but it might be the quality that has the Owls in the NCAA tournament hunt for the first time in years.
Rice is historically one of college baseball’s premier programs of the modern era. But anyone with a pulse on the sport and that program knows what has transpired since legendary coach Wayne Graham was let go. The Owls have experienced a plethora of failures, and get this: they haven’t reached the NCAA tournament in eight seasons.
The Owls, and Pierce, are attempting to work their way back from the abyss this season.
Pierce, if you remember last season, took over the post just as American Athletic play began. The Owls were mightily struggling, and the noise from within the program was loud. So, athletic director Tommy McLelland pushed the eject button on Jose Cruz Jr. and hired Pierce, who at the time was serving as an assistant and consultant for Texas State.
The Owls played better baseball as the 2025 campaign progressed, but they still finished the year with a 10-17 AAC record. That meant that Pierce knew that he had to make tough personnel decisions. He had to find guys willing to go the extra mile to restore Rice’s respectability on the national stage.
“The biggest benefit of coming here in March last year is that I got to know a lot of the players, and I wanted to see which guys already inside the program could help us, and had leadership qualities,” Pierce said. “I thought the guys seemed to be starving to be consistently coached, and starving to put in some serious work. They are now seeing what happens when you put in a lot of work. Can we get a little better? Sure. But we’re learning how to grind each day, and our guys are enjoying that process.”
Tanner Wiggins, Rice (Rice photo)
This season, the Owls still have plenty of unfinished business. But there’s zero doubt this program is in exponentially better hands. Rice is 24-14 overall, 7-5 in the AAC, and yep, they are right there in the at-large mix for the NCAA tournament with an RPI of 54, which is higher than LSU, Vanderbilt, and plenty of other big-named programs.
It’s progress, but Pierce won’t be satisfied until the day he once again sees the name Rice listed in a bracket on Selection Monday.
“I talk about the postseason every week,” he told D1Baseball. “I want them to understand it, and I want them to believe in it — that it is very possible and doable. So, we want to create a vision each day that it’s possible here.
“When I was at Sam, and we had an RPI of 70 or whatever, I would tell them we can get in and preach about it,” he added. “We just need to keep playing the game and play as clean as you can. Be opportunistic on offense. They understand what all this means, and what RPI means, and that’s not something that was the case when I showed up. They didn’t really know what they were playing for. Now, we want to get into the postseason and everything we’re doing has a purpose and more meaning to it.
“I’m not a very patient person,” he added. “If it’s doable, I want to hear it stated as a goal.”
The pitching staff is the strength of this team as the Owls look ahead to the final stretch of the regular season.
The unit as a whole has made some great improvements this season. Last year, the Owls had some dismal numbers on the mound, tallying a 6.71 ERA for the season. However, so far this year, the Owls have a 4.59 staff ERA and have a very solid 3.94 ERA during conference play.
The evolution of several arms has helped the Owls take this giant step forward.
For instance, some of the ringleaders of the pitching staff include Tanner Wiggins, Brayden Sharp, Ryland Urbancyzk and Ethan Sanders, while Jeremiah Arnett, Ethan Atchley and Ty Thames are other often-used and quality arms to watch.
The Owls have shifted some roles around as the season has progressed, but for now, the weekend rotation consists of righty Tanner Wiggins, righty Ryland Urbancyzk, and righty Ethan Sanders. Wiggins is a big-time arm who Pierce said was up to 96-97 mph last week, while Urbancyzk has a 2.48 ERA in 36.1 innings of work. He can taper off a little bit with his command, but when right, it’s a very solid arm up to up to 92 mph with the fastball, while the cutter and changeup are solid offerings as well. As for Sanders, he has a 3.96 ERA in 52.1 innings of work, along with 44 strikeouts and 15 walks. Sanders is up to 93-94 mph with his fastball and has generated a 35% whiff rate (per Synergy) on a mid-80s slider.
The bullpen has some strong and versatile options as well. Sharp and Arnett have made a total of nine starts this season, but also have key roles in the bullpen. Sharp, a Tennessee transfer, is a talented lefthander who has tallied a 3.71 ERA in 34 innings of work, along with 43 strikeouts and 21 walks. He’s low-90s with his fastball and has a promising cutter and curveball combination. As for Thames, he has made 12 appearances for the Owls and has a 4.50 ERA in 28 innings, along with 20 strikeouts and 16 walks. Thames is a hard-nosed type of pitcher who attacks with a fastball that has gotten up to 96-97 mph at times this season, while the low-80s curveball and mid-80s changeup each have whiff rates of 47% or better. As for Atchley, he has appeared in 16 games and has worked 20.1 innings. Teams are hitting just .237 against him, and he is kind of a low-slot joker with a fastball up to 90-91 mph. He is what you’d call a consummate college pitcher.
“Sharp’s velocity hasn’t quite come back to what it was, but he’s really solid for us,” Pierce said. “Thames is like a middle linebacker out there and just hammers you with the curveball, while Atchley is just one of those guys who needs to go out there and let it sink and ride to be successful. For the most part, our pitchers have continued to improve as they’ve gotten more comfortable in their roles.”
For as much as the pitching staff has impressed at times with a unit ranked No. 2 in the American behind South Florida, the offense is the one unit that needs to continue to improve down the stretch. The Owls rank nine out of 10 teams in the American offensively with a .253 batting average, while they are near the bottom of the league in terms of home run production.
The exceptions to the rule are JC Davis, Colin Robson, Cole Green and Paul Smith. Davis is hitting .339 with four home runs and 18 RBIs, Robson has plenty of pop with five doubles and five RBIs, Green is a table setter at the top of the lineup and has a .319 average with double-digit doubles and Smith leads the team from a power standpoint with six doubles and eight home runs.
“I do think we’re just touching the surface on what is possible with this team from an offensive standpoint,” Pierce said. “Make no mistake about it, we’re not a super physical offensive lineup, so we do have to get creative. But we can get runners on base and pass it on to the next guy.”
With a few weeks left to the regular season, Pierce and the Owls are taking things one step at a time. They are excited to be in the postseason mix for the first time in a while, but they also realize they have some excellent RPI opportunities on the horizon with UAB and East Carolina (on the road) still left on the schedule.
This season, at least thus far, has been a raving success. The impatient nature of Pierce, and this program, though, means that the Owls won’t be satisfied until their mission is complete in West University with a trip back to the tournament.
It’s not finality by any means, but there’s zero doubt this program is in an infinitely better spot than it was this time a year ago.
The Pierce effect is real, and Rice getting back to respectability given its tradition is great to see.
College Baseball’s Top Turnarounds
Texas A&M (28-7 overall, 13 RPI, finished last season with 30 wins total)
USC (30-8 overall, 12 RPI, finished last season with 37 wins. Almost already there)
Missouri State (Already at 24 wins, 15 RPI, finished last season with just 30 wins)
Liberty (Already at 26 wins, 21 RPI, finished last season with 30 wins)
Boston College (Already at 28 wins, 28 RPI, finished last season with 28 wins)
Texas State (Already at 25 wins, RPI 36, finished last season with 27 wins)
Saint Joseph’s (Sitting at 23-11 overall, 44 RPI, finished last season with 24 wins)
UAB (23 wins already, 46 RPI, finished last season with 24 wins)
Arkansas State (22 wins already, 48 RPI, finished last season with 26 wins)
South Florida (26 wins, 50 RPI, finished last season with 31 wins)
Pittsburgh (23 wins already, 77 RPI, finished last season with 28 wins)
VCU (22 wins already, finished last season with only 17 wins)
Northern Illinois (20 wins already, 82 RPI, finished last season with just 21 wins)
UCF (Already at 20 wins, 38 RPI, finished last season with 29 wins)
Wofford (26 wins already, 93 RPI, finished last season with 33 wins)
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/15191317/RiceDavidPierce1.jpg5001000Kendall Rogershttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgKendall Rogers2026-04-16 10:03:512026-04-16 10:03:53Rogers: Pierce helping Rice engineer one of college baseball’s great turnarounds
All eight SEC series have compelling storylines this weekend. Let’s dive in with a storyline on each …
Auburn at Florida
Florida is riding high after completing the midweek sweep of Florida State and winning a tough series at Georgia. Auburn has won two series in succession after a stumble at Alabama. Can Florida snap its win-a-series, lose-a-series trend? Or Will Auburn’s strong pitching staff shut down the Gators?
Georgia Arkansas
Georgia lost its first series of the season last week to Florida. Now it heads to Arkansas, which snapped out of a malaise with a road sweep at Alabama. Can the Hogs, who shuffled their rotation and lineup, continue to excel against the powerful Bulldogs?
Texas A&M at LSU
Texas A&M looked like a title contender last weekend against Texas. LSU stumbled at Ole Miss. Is this another case of SEC unpredictability? Can LSU, which could really use a home series victory, right itself against an A&M club long on hitting but short on pitching depth? Expect plenty of runs in this one?
Alabama at Texas
Texas stumbled last weekend at A&M, but comes back home with Dylan Volantis taking the ball Friday after his start was rained out last Sunday. The Horns host a Bama squad looking for run production and dependable relief to accompany a solid rotation.
Ole Miss at Tennessee
Both squads secured huge sweeps last weekend. Which team can back it up with another impressive weekend? It’s two talented rotations, and offenses looking for free bases and extra-base hits. Can the Tennessee bullpen hold down the Ole Miss power in the final innings?
Vanderbilt at Kentucky
Both teams need this one. Kentucky has dropped its last four series. A Vanderbilt road series win is a huge RPI boost for a club with a 102 RPI. Can Vandy figure out the third rotation spot other than Connor Fennell and Wyatt Nadeau? Does Jaxon Jelkin bounce back after his first rocky start?
Mississippi State at South Carolina
MSU gets away from Starkville with a chance to cleanse the palate. The Gamecocks pitched incredibly well, sweeping Mizzou. Can it continue against the MSU lineup?
Missouri at Oklahoma
Mizzou’s last road trip resulted in a series at Kentucky. They’ll try to replicate at an Oklahoma squad that has to feel like this is an opportunity to build a hosting case. Also, does Cameron Johnson throw strikes and dominate or miss the zone, leaving in the first inning?
The Weekend Schedule
April 16 (Thursday)
Auburn at Florida — 7 p.m. [SECN]
Georgia at Arkansas — 8 p.m. [ESPNU]
April 17 (Friday)
Auburn at Florida — 5:30 p.m. [SECN]
Vanderbilt at Kentucky — 6:30 p.m. [SECN+]
Ole Miss at Tennessee — 6:30 p.m. [SECN+]
Georgia at Arkansas — 7 p.m. [SECN+]
Mississippi State at South Carolina — 7 p.m. [SECN+]
Texas A&M at LSU — 7 p.m. [ESPN]
Alabama at Texas — 7:30 p.m. [SECN+]
Missouri at Oklahoma — 7:30 p.m. [SECN+]
April 18 (Saturday)
Auburn at Florida — 12 p.m. [ESPN2]
Mississippi State at South Carolina — 1 p.m. [SECN]
Georgia at Arkansas — 2 p.m. [SECN+]
Vanderbilt at Kentucky — 2 p.m. [SECN+]
Alabama at Texas — 3 p.m. [SECN+]
Missouri at Oklahoma — 5 p.m. [SECN+]
Ole Miss at Tennessee — 6 p.m. [SECN+]
Texas A&M at LSU — 8 p.m. [SECN]
April 19 (Sunday)
Vanderbilt at Kentucky — 1 p.m. [SECN+]
Ole Miss at Tennessee — 1 p.m. [SECN+]
Mississippi State at South Carolina — 1:30 p.m. [SECN+]
Alabama at Texas — 2 p.m. [SECN+]
Texas A&M at LSU — 2 p.m. [ESPN]
Missouri at Oklahoma — 3 p.m. [SECN+]
all times eastern
SEC Statistic Standouts
Texas A&M leads the SEC in batting at .288, ten points higher than Georgia at .278. South Carolina is the lowest at .200. Missouri is 15th at .225.
Vanderbilt has 32 homers, followed by Texas A&M at 29, and Georgia and Mississippi State, who each have 25. Auburn has the fewest, with eight, followed by Missouri with nine and Kentucky with 13.
Texas A&M leads in doubles with 31, followed by Tennessee and Arkansas with 29 each. Florida and Texas have the fewest doubles, with 17 each.
Texas A&M also leads in runs scored with 138, 25 more than second-place Vanderbilt with 113. LSU is third with 107. Unsurprisingly, Missouri is last with 51, followed by South Carolina with 55.
The Aggies also lead in walks with 108, 29 more than second-place Vanderbilt, despite playing one fewer conference game. Missouri has the fewest at 41, followed by South Carolina at 44.
Ole Miss and South Carolina have the most strikeouts with 172, while Vanderbilt has 171. Auburn has the fewest strikeouts with 120, followed by Texas A&M at 121.
Kentucky has the most stolen bases with 29, followed by Oklahoma with 25, and Alabama with 21. Ole Miss has the fewest with 5. South Carolina and Mississippi State have six. Tennessee has seven.
Auburn leads in ERA at 3.31, followed by Mississippi State at 4.09 and Texas at 4.13. Vanderbilt is last at 8.02, followed by Texas A&M at 6.94 and Oklahoma at 6.39.
Auburn also leads in WHIP at 1.20, followed by Texas at 1.23 and Alabama at 1.26. Vanderbilt is last at 1.83, followed by Texas A&M at 1.69 and Kentucky at 1.65.
Mississippi State leads in pitching strikeouts with 173. LSU has 169, and Ole Miss has 161. Kentucky is last with 107, followed by Texas A&M at 123 and South Carolina at 130.
Tennessee leads in fielding percentage at .987, followed by Mississippi State at .981 and Oklahoma at .980. LSU is last at .963. Alabama is at .964, while Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Florida are all at .966.
From an individual standpoint, Georgia’s Rylan Lujo leads all batters with a .442 average, followed by Tennessee’s Trent Grindlinger at .429 and Auburn’s Eric Guevera at .412.
Texas’s Aiden Robbins and Vanderbilt’s Mike Mancini each have eight home runs. A&M’s Caden Sorrell and Nico Partida have six, along with Texas’s Carson Tinney and Arkansas’s Ryder Helfrick.
Texas A&M’s Gavin Grahovac leads all batters with 24 RBIs. Sorrell has 20, and Oklahoma’s Camden Johnson has 19.
A pair of Alabama players lead in overall hits. Bryce Fowler has 24, and Brady Neal has 22, tied with Vanderbilt’s Brodie Johnston, Kentucky’s Jayce Tharnish, and Sorrell.
Sorrell is tied with Tennessee’s Reese Chapman for the doubles lead with seven.
A&M is atop the walks lead with three of the top four. Boston Kellner and Jake Duer each have 17. Bear Harrison has 16, along with Tennessee’s Blake Grimmer.
Oklahoma’s Brendan Brock leads in steals with 11. Florida’s Kyle Jones has 10, and Alabama’s Justin Lebron has nine.
Tennessee’s Cam Appenzeller leads in ERA at 0.77, followed by Georgia’s Caden Aoki with 1.04 and Mississippi State’s Tomas Valincius at 1.39.
Valincius also leads in strikeouts with 46, leading Arkansas’s Hunter Dietz, who has 44.
Alabama’s Tyler Fay leads all pitchers with 33 SEC innings. Valincius has 32.1, and South Carolina’s Amp Phillips has 31.2.
Length per start
Rotation Avg
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Rot Avg
1
Auburn
6.0
5.3
5.3
5.5
2
Tennessee
5.2
5.2
5.4
5.3
3
Texas
5.3
4.8
5.6
5.2
4
Texas A&M
5.4
4.5
5.4
5.1
5
Alabama
6.1
5.3
4.0
5.1
6
Miss State
5.1
5.8
4.0
5.0
7
LSU
5.3
5.2
3.8
4.8
8
Florida
5.1
5.1
4.4
4.8
9
Missouri
4.7
5.0
4.5
4.7
10
Arkansas
4.7
5.1
4.2
4.7
11
Ole Miss
5.2
4.0
4.7
4.7
12
Kentucky
5.3
3.9
4.0
4.4
13
So Carolina
4.4
5.0
3.7
4.4
14
Vandy
5.6
4.3
2.9
4.3
15
Oklahoma
3.9
5.0
3.9
4.3
16
Georgia
5.0
4.2
2.7
4.0
Averages
5.1
4.9
3.8
4.8
I find it interesting that Georgia is in first place with the lowest innings-per-start average. The game three numbers are dragging down the average significantly. Tyler Fay has Alabama at 6.1 for game one, which is the highest single entry. Auburn and Tennessee are averaging over five innings per start each day.
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On this episode of the D1 Daily, KP (Kyle Peterson) joins Burkie and Roons to take a stroll down memory lane. KP describes his beginnings at ESPN, including the 2003 Long Beach State-Stanford Super Regional and sideline reporting at Rosenblatt Stadium. KP also tells the origin story of D1Baseball.com, including some of the highs and lows as the business began to take flight. Finally, Burkie wished KP a happy birthday… and he may have said the number a few times.
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Kerriston Coffee is proud to be the official coffee of D1Baseball. With over 30 years in the business, this family-owned roastery delivers fresh, small-batch coffee made for college baseball fans, coaches, and everyone in between. Kerriston Coffee ships nationwide, and as a listener to The D1Baseball Podcast, you can use code D1 at kerristoncoffee.com to receive 15% off your first order!
Is your favorite team in the SEC? Make sure to check out our Highway To Hoover podcast with Joe Healy and Mark Etheridge on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
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The ACC regular season title and No. 1 seed at the conference tournament was up for grabs entering the final weekend last season. Multiple teams were in the mix and ultimately, by virtue of a series win on the road at Duke, Georgia Tech claimed the top spot by a half-game over North Carolina and Florida State. One point frequently made in the buildup to the tournament in Durham was that the Jackets didn’t play the three teams directly behind them in the standings, a note that will pop up for many teams in this age of “super” conferences with unbalanced schedules.
I wrote about unbalanced schedules throughout the country earlier this season, noting that the ACC was one of 11 leagues that had too many teams to play everybody across a 10-weekend conference slate. Of course, the data from that — which suggested Louisville had the easiest draw and Duke the hardest — was based on last year’s results. As every team in the ACC has now played at least half the conference slate, it’s time to revisit with refreshed data to break down the strength of every team’s upcoming schedule for the rest of the regular season.
To do so, we’ll make use of Diamond Sports Ranking, or DSR. Created by 6-4-3 Charts in an effort to address varied issues with RPI, DSR is a rating system that incorporates win probability, win expectancy, margin of victory, game location, and day of week. It has been approved as an additional resource for the selection committee to use in the tournament selection process, too. Georgia Tech currently sits as the top team in the country by DSR (.648), three points ahead of UCLA. You can find the full rankings here.
ACC, as it stands
Current standings as of April 16th
Team
REC
WPCT
DSR
DSR RK
1. Georgia Tech
15-3
.833
.549
35.2
2. North Carolina
13-5
.722
.545
36.2
3. Boston College
11-7
.611
.568
26.2
4. Florida State
9-6
.600
.578
22.2
5. Virginia
10-8
.556
.573
23.7
6. NC State
8-7
.533
.573
25.6
6. Miami
8-7
.533
.552
30.8
8. Wake Forest
9-9
.500
.549
36.5
9. Duke
8-10
.444
.554
31.7
10. Stanford
6-9
.400
.541
38.2
10. Pitt
6-9
.400
.555
36.0
10. Louisville
6-9
.400
.540
43.4
13. Virginia Tech
7-11
.389
.567
28.3
13. Notre Dame
7-11
.389
.563
28.0
15. Clemson
5-10
.333
.577
27.0
16. California
4-11
.267
.584
21.4
DSR = Average DSR of conference opponents so far DSR Rk = Average DSR ranking of conference opponents so far Tiebreakers not utilized
Remaining strength of schedule
Here’s a look at the remaining schedule for every team, sorted from the toughest (in regard to average conference opponent DSR ranking) to the easiest:
Team
Record
G
DSR
DSR Rk
1. Duke
8-10
12
.603
12
2. Pitt
6-9
15
.577
23.2
3. Georgia Tech
15-3
12
.574
23
4. NC State
8-7
15
.565
28.4
5. Wake Forest
9-9
12
.565
30
6. Boston College
11-7
12
.564
30.8
7. Clemson
5-10
15
.563
27
8. Louisville
6-9
15
.561
27.6
9. North Carolina
13-5
12
.561
33
10. Stanford
6-9
15
.556
31.4
11. California
4-11
15
.546
36.8
12. Notre Dame
7-11
12
.546
38.3
13. Miami
8-7
15
.543
39
14. Virginia Tech
7-11
12
.536
41.3
15. Florida State
9-6
15
.534
43.6
16. Virginia
10-8
12
.528
46.3
G = Games left in conference play Avg. DSR = Average rating across conference games left Avg. DSR Rk = Average rank across conference games left
Notes
Highlighting a few notable schedules throughout the conference.
Duke found its way to an 8-10 start in league play, well above preseason expectations, but are staring down four weekends against Top 25 teams in DSR, three of which are currently ranked. The Blue Devils’ final four series are split evenly home and away, drawing Boston College and Georgia Tech on the road while hosting North Carolina and Wake Forest.
Pittsburgh has dropped back-to-back conference series to Wake Forest and California, sending them to 6-9 in the ACC at the halfway point. Three of the Panthers’ final five series are on the road, with trips to Virginia Tech, Florida State, and North Carolina. They host Virginia and Notre Dame. It’s tough to find a more daunting stretch than trips to Tallahassee and Chapel Hill in consecutive weeks.
Georgia Tech has made light work of its first six conference series, dropping just three games in that span. Last week’s matchup with Florida State was its toughest test yet by far when you look at the metrics, as the Yellow Jackets have had the fourth-easiest slate so far. The difficulty stays ramped up down the stretch, starting with a trip to North Carolina this weekend. Georgia Tech does get an extended homestand with series against Wake Forest, Xavier (non-conference), and Duke before closing the year on the road against Boston College.
NC State is a game over .500 halfway through its ACC slate and will spend three of the final five weekends on the road. The Wolfpack have four teams ranked 21st or higher, starting with a trip to Wake Forest along with home series against Miami and North Carolina.
On the other side of things, Virginia sits at 10-8 and draws the easiest close after a start to the year that included trips to North Carolina and Boston College as well as a home series with Florida State. Virginia’s average opponent DSR rank for its final four weekends is 46th at the moment, which gives the Hoos a good opportunity to maintain or climb from fifth. The toughest weekend metrically is this weekend, a home series against Clemson, before trips to Pitt and Louisville alongside a home series with Cal.
Florida State, likewise, has gotten the bulk of its hardest series out of the way. A sweep last weekend at Georgia Tech was tough, but to be 9-6 at this point against a challenging slate is certainly a great spot to be at. The Noles took series from Wake Forest, NC State, Duke, and Virginia. Their final five series include three at home and the highest-ranked opponent left is Miami in the final weekend of the year. The next three weekends come against Notre Dame, Stanford, and Pitt.
Louisville occupies a peculiar place. The Cardinals have played the easiest average slate to start the conference campaign — all ranking outside the top-45 aside from North Carolina — but sit at just 6-9. Louisville didn’t draw Georgia Tech, Florida State, or NC State but has plenty of work to do if it wants to make a run at regionals. The Cardinals slot in near the middle of the pack the rest of the way but the schedule does get progressively harder. After a trip to California, Louisville hosts Clemson, plays Wake Forest and Miami on the road in back-to-back weeks, then closes with Virginia.
Virginia Tech drew the short straw in 2025. As I wrote after the year, Virginia Tech “played all four of the top seeds and three of the next four. That means that of the Hokies’ 10-week conference slate, seven weekends came against the top half of the conference.” With the way the season has played out so far, the Hokies will come in around the average in terms of difficulty, which has helped them stay afloat. They’re 7-11 through six weekends but have a friendlier close with three of their final four weekends at home. Virginia Tech hosts Pitt, NC State, and Clemson while has a road trip to California.
There’s a phrase I like to use called Little League Logic, coined after the place I first saw it in practice. It’s perhaps better known as the law of transitive property where you say, “We play the Giants this week. We’ll beat them easily because the Reds beat them, and we destroyed the Reds.” Strange as it may seem, that logic used to work OK when handicapping the MAC in prior years.
The good teams traditionally would beat the ones they were supposed to beat. The “Blue Bloods” would jockey for position, but they could be counted on to gain separation from the rest of the league.
Whether due to the portal era or a combination of factors, parity and consistency were the prevalent themes when I spoke with a half dozen MAC coaches this week about the tight race at the top of the standings. Unsurprisingly, while optimistic about where they are at their respective points in the season, each of the coach I spoke with echoed growing pains and/or a sense of not knowing which team is going to show up on any given day.
The race for the MAC title is tight, with six teams separated by just one game with five weeks remaining in the regular season. Coincidentally, six of the 12 teams in the conference qualify for the tournament. It’s going to be a tight race down the stretch, and it’s too early to completely discount the bottom half of the league. With that said, here’s an update on the top six contenders at this moment.
Kent State | 25-9 (13-5)
Our preseason favorite in the conference, the Flashes got off to a hot start, sweeping a Southeastern Louisiana team that’s leading the Southland Conference to open the season, then following it up with a series win in Knoxville against Tennessee. Kent State has been inconsistent in conference play, winning weekends against Bowling Green, UMass and Bowling Green – all of which are in the bottom half of the MAC standings, while dropping series’ against Miami and Northern Illinois. With an RPI of 49, the Flashes have an outside shot at a giving the MAC a rare at-large bid, but have a difficult road ahead with Ball State, Western Michigan and Toledo remaining. Talented sophomores Sawyer Solitaria (1.055 OPS, 10 HR) and Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe (1.015 OPS) have performed at the plate and Friday starter Ciaran Caughey (3-1, 3.89) has allowed three or less earned runs in seven of eight starts.
“It’s up for grabs obviously,” said head coach Jeff Duncan. “It’s one game that separates first and the sixth place, so it’s very competitive. Our RPI has been very good. We’ve been playing fine, there’s been a little bit of hiccups, and I know we can play better. We’re looking to finish strong.”
Hitter Spotlight:Ripken Reese | 3B
A switch hitter who’s been good from both sides this spring, Reese started the season batting sixth but has crept all the way up to the two-hole with during a recent hot stretch. Hitting .316/.405/.588 with eight home runs, Reese has improved his average 66 points while riding a 14-game hitting streak.
“He’s been our best hitter these past few weeks,” said Duncan. “Hitting balls hard, driving in runs, hitting for average, hitting for power and getting on base. He’s been outstanding.”
Pitcher Spotlight:Ben Rabatin | RHP
Rabatin has largely given the Flashes the most important quality that a Sunday starter can provide this spring: reliability. He’s averaged 91.4 mph with his fastball, and low-80s slider is 47.4% whiff rate on his low-80s slider is in the 93rd percentile among D1 pitchers. Setting aside his most recent outing against Northern Illinois, the sophomore hurler sent five plus innings with three or less runs allowed during a six-start stretch, including a dynamite outing (5 IP, 1H, 1R, 10K) against Bowling Green in early March.
“He’s been very good,” said Duncan. “He had a little bit off this Sunday, but the prior starts in the last month have been really good.”
Miami (OH) | 23-12 (12-6)
The defending MAC champions, the RedHawks have series wins over Ball State, Kent, Eastern Michigan and Ohio, with their only MAC loss being on the wrong end of a sweep against Northern Illinois. Miami’s offense has been great, leading the conference in average (.306), OBP (.448), homers (55), and slugging (.522). A true table setter at the top of the lineup, Marcus Dierks drew praise from reigning MAC Coach of the Year Brian Smiley for his zone awareness. The speedster is getting on base at a .527 clip and is second in league in stolen bases (26), prompting a scout to jokingly put a “90 grade” on his speed. Evan Appelwick (1.105 OPS, 11 HR) remains one of the most dangerous hitters in the MAC. On the mound, Clayton Burke (5-1, 4.18) and Zac Sohoshy (3-1, 4.30) has given them length more times than not.
“Our season’s gone OK, said Smiley. “There’s been some bright spots, playing a lot of new players especially up the middle. I think we’ve talked before the season that there’s going to be some pains inevitably and there’s certainly been some as we’ve been figuring out some roles not only on the mound, but positionally. To be sitting at 23-12, that’s probably about what we are. We have played some games that we felt like we should have won and didn’t deserve to give them away. We are getting better as the season gets older, and we’re fixing some weaknesses that we certainly had earlier in the year. That’s what the season’s all about just trying to fix what you’re not good at, capitalize on what you are good at, and I feel like we’re doing that.”
Pitcher Spotlight: Austin Berggren, RHP
Berggren has made tremendous strides after struggling mightily last spring. His ERA is 4.15 after being north of 10 last year, and he’s halved his walk rate from 12.4% to 6.1% year-over-year. He’s been up to 96 mph with his fastball, and his ground ball percentage of 78.8% from Synergy is elite in the 100th percentile.
“Austin is metrically really good,” said Smiley. “Metrically it’s off the charts. He’s still kind of learning what his stuff does. Can he command the cut on the fastball? Can he command the sink on the two-seemer? Is there a big difference between the slider and cutter? He’s still trying to learn all that stuff because his stuff has gotten a lot better in a year. When his stuff starts blending together because it’s all firm, he struggles. When he’s on, he’s really good. He throws strikes and he can be tough to elevate. He’s a very competitive young man.”
Hitter Spotlight: Tommy Harrison | 3B
Harrison is having a phenomenal year, slashing .403/.533/.736 with 13 doubles and 10 homers. Moreover, his 56 RBIs not only lead the MAC, but they’re also good for fourth in the country. A lefthanded hitter, he uses the whole field and is doing has been as good against spin as he has against fastballs this spring.
“He’s come a long way from being our first base coach two years ago,” said Smiley. “He was literally our first base coach two years ago because he had knee surgery and had to redshirt. He can really hit. He hits right-handers, he hits left-handers, he’s smart, and he makes adjustments. He’s a tough out for sure, he’s got some power and he can leave the yard from pretty much from the left field line all the way to the right field line if you make a mistake.”
Northern Illinois | 20-11 (12-6)
The Huskies are trending upward under third year coach Ryan Copeland. Looking to qualify for their first MAC tournament since 2019, Northern Illinois’ in-league resume is strong. They swept Miami and recently took two-of-three against Kent State, both in DeKalb. They also secured weekends against UMass and Bowling Green, with their only series loss against Toledo. NIU is in the top three in the league in ERA (5.89) and fielding (.979), while the offense has been more middle of the road. Copeland mentioned senior second baseman Cole Smith’(1.077 OPS, 13 doubles) do it all mentality, particularly his competitiveness and ability to find the barrel. The Huskies have Ball State and Western Michigan in the final two weeks, in what could be consequential weekends.
“I think we’ve done a good job of putting ourselves in a position to be in the mix at the top of the conference,” said Copeland. “First things first for us, it’s about making the conference tournament, just trying to get into the dance and knowing that anything can happen. I think we’re getting really good starting pitching from our three starters. I still think we need to see a lot more out of our bullpen. I’ve been talking about that with our guys that it’s not sustainable to go play an entire season and have five or six arms that you trust. So, we need more out of our bullpen, but offensively we’ve been good. We have shown we can win a bunch of different types of games, and that’s what we want from our lineup; a bunch of versatile hitters, complete hitters, guys that can grind out at bats and can win games any type of way. There’s still a long way to go, but I like the position we’re in moving forward.”
Pitcher Spotlight: Max Vaisvila | LHP
Vaisvila has gone from a 9.00 ERA over 58 innings last year, to a MAC Pitcher of the Year candidate. A 5-foot-10 strike thrower with a three-pitch mix, he’s 6-0, 2.70 with 59 strikeouts (25.9% K-rate) and 14 walks (6.1% BB-rate).
“I’m super proud of Max,” said Copeland. “I think he pitched close to a 10.00 ERA and gave up a ton of hits. He was a strike thrower and we thought the stuff was good enough to get guys out, but it wasn’t happening. He put a lot of work in the offseason. He kind of retooled his repertoire, changed the fastball profile. The last year the slider was not very good, and he put a lot of work in to improve it. I think once he got a couple of good outings under his belt, the confidence began to grow, and the stuff just keeps getting better. The fastball velocity is ticked up a little bit. He pitches inside the righties, and lands three pitches whenever he wants. He’s beaten some pretty dang good offensive clubs in our league.”
Player Spotlight: Caden Robertson | DH
A DII All-American who had a 1.242 OPS with 23 homers last year, Robertson is doing more of the same at this level by slashing .333/.389/.684 with 11 homers thus far. He could stand to be a bit more selective (5.3% BB rate), but the .350 ISO provides a glimpse of the impact.
“He’s a really impressive right-handed hitter,” said Copeland. His dad [Rich] played in the big leagues, so he’s got some bloodlines there. He’s just been a mainstay for us in that 3-4 hole. He’s got a ton of pop in the bat, he’s dangerous, he can catch you with any swing during a game.”
Western Michigan | 17-15 (12-6)
The Broncos are looking to make their second regional in three years after punching their ticket by winning the MAC tournament in 2024. Western Michigan has won conference series against Akron, Ohio, Massachusetts and Toledo, while dropping weekends to Ball State (home) and Central Michigan (away). In conference play, Billy Gernon’s club is leading the MAC in both ERA (4.11) and fielding (.980). Veteran shortstop Michael Maloney has been rock solid at shortstop, making just three errors and leading MAC shortstops with 5.46 defensive runs saved. Closer Turner Doran (3.72 ERA) is first in the conference and fifth nationally with eight saves, five away from the school record.
“Well, obviously I feel pretty good that we are amongst the top of the league this far into the season,” said Gernon. “We do have five critical series waiting for us. The good news is for us that three of those are at home [Kent State, Miami, Northern Illinois] against the teams that are all fighting for that top spot. So, it’ll be good to have the last at bat in those games. I like where we’re positioned. I like the fact that we’re at the top of the MAC in fielding percentage. I like the fact that we’re at the top of the MAC and ERA, and I like that we’re in the conversation offensively. I feel pretty good, but you know races are start to finish, and this is where we need to keep closing the gap and continue to play really good baseball down the stretch. We have in the past, so there’s no reason why I wouldn’t expect that to continue.”
Hitter Spotlight:Tanner Mally | CF
Not only is Mally leading the country in average (.483) and OBP (.589), he’s remarkably also the toughest player in the country to strike out, punching out just three times in 147 plate appearances (2% K-rate). With difficult to ignore numbers, several scouts have made the trek to Kalamazoo to get a look at Mally. Moreover, Gernon raved about Mally’s character and work ethic.
“It’s really crazy, we’ve had to help insulate him a little bit because of the good noise of the traffic of the scouts and all that kind of stuff,” said Gernon. “He’s handled it really well. I would say he’s coming back to Earth a little bit. I don’t know if it’s wire-to-wire because I didn’t see the stats after the first weekend, but I just know that he’s been leading the nation for quite some time now in those categories, which is hard to make any other argument other than it’s impressive as all get out.”
Pitcher Spotlight: Sam Carlisle | RHP
A redshirt junior who missed the last two seasons recovering from Tommy John, Carlisle has a live arm that has been up to 96 mph this spring and is averaging 92.5 mph with his heater. He’s fourth in the league in strikeouts (55) and average against (.190). He struck out a career high 13 against UMass last month, allowing no runs on seven hits over seven frames.
“Sam’s in a position right now where he’s also drawing attention from the next level,” said Gernon. “It’s an angry fastball; it’s got a lot of life to it. He’s running up some strikeouts. If his command gets just a little bit better there’s just no telling what he might do, but it’s been nice running him out there on Saturday.”
Ball State | 18-18 (12-6)
Despite massive turnover from a team that went 21-9 in the MAC last year and anticipated ace Keegan Johnson (8.46 ERA), the Cardinals are in the hunt once again in 2026. They’ve secured series wins against Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Akron and Ohio. The only carryover from last year’s lineup, Gavin Balius (.411 OBP) is leading the MAC and fifth in the country with 28 stolen bases, with an outside shot of reaching the school record of 44 bags swiped. Third baseman Ryan Muzular is tearing it up in MAC play, hitting .424 with six homers in 27 RBIs. One thing the Cardiac Cardinals have going for them is they’ve won four conference games in their final at-bat of the game, twice against Western Michigan.
“It’s been a very curious type of a season because we haven’t experienced this since I’ve been at Ball State where we’re really 50/50,” said Maloney. “We’re capable of beating anybody and we’re also capable of losing to anybody. Now that can be said about any team in the game of baseball, but I would say for us we’ve been kind of on a roller coaster.”
Pitcher Spotlight: Brendan Garza | RHP
With Johnson struggling, Garza (3-3, 4.29) has been thrust into the Friday role and has twice been named MAC Pitcher of the Week. His season has been underscored with a seven-inning no hitter against Ohio in late March. He’s been up to 95 mph and his low-80s slider has been a put-away pitch.
“Brendan’s talented; he’s very talented,” said Maloney. “He’s still climbing. If you look at his overall stats, they aren’t the greatest. He’s showed signs where he can do some pretty good things. Like most guys at his stage of growth, he’s battling consistency. When he’s on and he’s throwing well; he can be a bull in the China shop. He’s got stuff that’s capable it’s just right now, the consistency level of his game is still growing. But he’s a talented young man, he’s got a really good arm and he’s capable. If we’re going be a contender, not a pretender, he’s going to have to pitch well down the stretch.”
Hitter Spotlight: Brayden Huebner | DH
Out of the leadoff spot, Huebner is leading the team in hitting (.383), doubles (12) and homers (9). A righthanded hitter with pull tendencies, Huebner has been as effective against both fastballs and off-speed pitches.
“The guy who’s really come on and has been just blossoming is Brayden Huebner,” said Maloney. “He’s our leadoff guy; he can really swing it. He’s been impressive.”
Toledo | 16-20 (12-6)
The Rockets struggled out of the gate in the non-conference portion of their schedule, starting just 3-8 with series losses to Memphis and Jacksonville State and a split with Lipscomb. They’ve been better in MAC play, winning weekends against UMass, Northern Illinois, Akron and Eastern Michigan. Their in-conference losses include Central Michigan and most recently, Western Michigan. Led by the likes of Cade Baker (.347, 15 2B), Charlie Scholvin (.343, 20 SB), and Jacob Payne (.337) Toledo’s veteran laden lineup is second in the MAC in hitting (.295). Injured since week three, they’ve missed Brady Sasse on the mound, but freshman lefthander Hayden Frey (3-1, 3.76) is one of several Rockets’ arms who has stepped up.
“I high on this team in the preseason and I’m still high on this team,” said skipper Rob Reinstetle. “Consistency is the issue. Our overall record is right under .500, but we have performed well in conference to this point, and we put ourselves in a position that these last five weeks are going to determine who wins the championship. Consistency is the resounding theme of why you have six teams that are all within a game of each other and it’s completely up for grabs. It’s going to be very interesting down the stretch here of who can play consistent good baseball because if we show up and play, we can beat anybody. The question is can we get our guys to do that on a regular basis. That’ll be really interesting to see that dynamic as like every weekend is going to be a pressure cooker.”
Pitcher Spotlight: Nathan Leininger | RHP
A 6-foot-6, 225-pounder with a heavy, low-90s sinker, Leininger is among the national leaders in ground ball percentage. At 7-0, 1.95 and a .182 average against, he’s putting together a potential MAC Pitcher of the Year type resume. Leininger is tied for fourth in the league in strikeouts (52), though Reinstetle said he could punchout more if he wasn’t so good at getting outs earlier in the count. The efficiency has allowed him to go five plus innings in every start.
“He’s been amazing this year,” said Reinstetle,” “A testament to Nate, in the transfer portal era kids come and go left and right, and he has stayed. He’s been here for four years, and he started out as a kind of a gangly freshman, figuring out his way and he’s been in my bullpen for three years, and each year he’s gotten a little bit better. He came back this fall, and he had made some jumps in velocity, altered some of his pitches a little bit, and he’s been absolutely fantastic. We’ve won every single Friday night but one and I attribute a lot of that to Nate. He’s done everything that you want a Friday night guy to do and more. I hope that he throws well this weekend against Miami. We’re going to need it.”
Hitter Spotlight: Troy Sudbrook | 3B
A two-year starter at third base, Subrook hit seven homers and led the club with 50 RBIs last spring, but he’s elevated his game in his junior campaign. His 1.126 OPS is tops on the team and he’s leading the country with 21 doubles.
“He’s another kid that has been here for three or four years,” said Reinstetle. “He’s been my everyday third baseman and always been a productive player, but this year’s kind of gone to a different level. He’s hitting .356, he’s an RBI machine, and the national leader with doubles. He’s a very good hitter. The difference this year compared to years past is his in-zone swing discipline. He’s swinging at the right pitches. Last year he would swing at some pitches way out of the zone and get himself out. To his credit, he’s really figured out how to be a good hitter in the zone, and I think that’s why his numbers are what they are.”
The SEC standings couldn’t be any more congested, with 13 of 16 teams in the league sitting somewhere between six and nine league wins at the halfway point of league play.
The outlier at the top? Georgia, which is still a game-and-a-half up on the nearest competitors despite losing a series last weekend.
The Bulldogs have a big road series this weekend beginning on Thursday, and that’s our series of the week.
Arkansas (25-13, 8-7) vs. Georgia (30-8, 11-4)
Thursday: 8:00 PM ET Friday: 7:00 PM ET Saturday: 2:00 PM ET
Just a week ago, it would have been easy to downplay the likelihood of this being a competitive series.
At that time, Georgia was flying high having won six straight SEC games, including a sweep of Mississippi State on the road, while Arkansas had lost six of seven in league play and was coming off of a series loss against Auburn.
But what a difference a week makes. Last weekend, Georgia dropped its series at home against Florida at the same time that Arkansas was getting up off the mat and sweeping Alabama on the road.
Georgia’s series loss, which featured a 13-7 defeat in the finale, shined a brighter light on the issue it’s having with starting pitching in the third games of a series.
Games one and two are handled well by Joey Volchko (6-1, 3.38) and Dylan Vigue (3-1, 2.63), whose good numbers overall are largely matched by their output in conference play, during which Volchko has a 3.70 ERA IN 24.1 innings and Vigue has a 3.22 mark in 22.1 innings.
Game threes have been the issue, especially during SEC competition. In five series finales in SEC play, four of them started by Kenny Ishikawa and the most recent one started by Matt Scott, Georgia starting pitching has given up 19 runs on 16 hits in seven innings. It’s to Georgia’s credit that it has won three of those five games, but it’s straining the bullpen and has really come back to bite in blowout losses to Texas A&M and Florida in the final games of those series. For now, the Bulldogs have a TBA in the third spot.
Georgia has been able to win some of those games, though, in large part because its bullpen has been effective. The clear centerpiece is Caden Aoki (2.55 ERA, 35.1 IP), who’s the designated Swiss Army knife of the staff who can do a little bit of everything. He was a starter in his previous stop at USC, and he’s started two games this season, but he’s been so incredibly valuable in the bullpen in SEC games, during which he has a microscopic 1.04 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 17.1 innings.
Georgia RHP Caden Aoki (Shotgun Spratling)
Though his start last weekend didn’t go well, Scott (3.45 ERA, 28.2 IP) has also been a key piece of the pitching staff, and even with that tough start last weekend, his ERA in conference play is still just 3.57 in 17.2 innings. Others who have been centerpieces in the Georgia bullpen include Justin Byrd (4.19 ERA, 34.1 IP) and Paul Farley (4.28 ERA, 27.1 IP).
That unit will deal with an Arkansas lineup about which two things are true. The first true thing is that offensive production has been a concern for large swaths of this season and will continue to be monitored closely. The second true thing is that there were some positive signs last weekend, when the Razorbacks scored 22 combined runs in the first two games of its sweep of Alabama. Of course, as if to prove the point that not everything is just magically fixed, Arkansas scored just three runs in its win to cap off the sweep of the Crimson Tide.
The Razorbacks are 11th in the conference in batting average overall with a .275 mark, but in conference play, that figure drops to .234, which places them 14th. That’s obviously got to improve over the second half of the SEC schedule if they are going to get where they want to go.
Though he’s batting just .250 against SEC pitching, the bolded name on the opposing scouting report is still Ryder Helfrick (.292/.434/.623, 12 HR), an all-around offensive threat whose 12 home runs have him tied for 10th in the league.
Outside of him, some of the hottest hitters of late are also some of those who got off to the slowest starts.
Nolan Souza is batting .279/.345/.419 overall, but that factors in an early-season slump for him. To get a better idea of how important he is now to the Arkansas lineup, consider that he’s batting .333/.371/.491 against league competition. Similarly, TJ Pompey is batting .269/.350/.537 overall, but those numbers jump to .333/.366/.744 in SEC play.
One player who has consistently been an offensive spark plug as he’s gotten more opportunities is Carter Rutenbar (.342/.458/.468). His .302/.362/.395 conference play slash line isn’t as robust as his overall slash line, but it’s still among the better SEC batting lines on the team.
Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn was direct last weekend in saying that he was looking to shake things up in the lineup, and a road series sweep suggests that had some positive effects, so don’t be surprised if we see more of that moving forward.
The Arkansas pitching staff has also undergone a recent shakeup. Gabe Gaeckle (5-3, 3.98) is back in the bullpen after a bumpy ride as the Friday starter in SEC play. Though his first two appearances out of the bullpen last weekend were a mixed bag, he’s been dominant in that role in the past, and the Razorbacks hope he will be once again.
Moving up into Gaeckle’s Friday’s spot is Hunter Dietz (3-2, 3.61), who has somewhat quietly been excellent. Not only is he holding opponents to a .208 batting average but his 78 strikeouts lead the conference. After a couple of tough early starts this season as he shook off some rust from two missed seasons due to injury, the lefthander has been every bit of the workhorse Arkansas hoped he’d be.
Moving into the rotation was fellow lefthander Cole Gibler (2.78 ERA, 32.1 IP), who had been the linchpin of the Razorbacks’ bullpen. His first start last weekend was up and down, as he gave up just two earned runs in 4.1 innings while also walking (4) more than he struck out (2), but there’s optimism that he’ll get better as he gets accustomed to the role.
Also out of the rotation is Colin Fisher (4-4, 4.17), who has just flatly struggled in SEC play and has a conference ERA approaching 10.00. Last weekend featured a TBA in Fisher’s third spot in the rotation, a turn in the rotation that was eventually filled by Tate McGuire, who threw three innings, giving up two runs (one earned).
We know that Gaeckle is a weapon in the bullpen and Fisher will have a role to play there as well, but the biggest revelation on this unit is Ethan McElvain (1.40 ERA, 19.1 IP), who appears to have taken a massive step forward. The ERA speaks for itself, but he also has a .164 opponent batting average and 30 strikeouts compared to six walks.
You also can’t overlook the contributions of Parker Coil (2.10 ERA, 25.2 IP) and Steele Eaves (3.20 ERA, 25.1 IP) to the bullpen. Coil in particular has been stingy against SEC offenses, as he has a 1.08 ERA and a .167 opponent batting average in 8.1 innings across six appearances in league play.
Arkansas LHP Parker Coil (Photo by Gunnar Rathbun for Arkansas Athletics)
That Arkansas pitching staff will have its hands full with a Georgia lineup that mashes. The Bulldogs famously lead the SEC (and the country) in home runs with 100, but they also lead the league in hitting at .324, and even if you filter for conference play, during which they have not been as dominant, they are second in the league in batting at .278 and third in conference home runs with 25.
Depth stands out when you talk about the Georgia lineup—it has 13 players who have started 11 or more games this season—but it has a trio of fire starters leading the way in Tre Phelps (.393/.520/.770), Daniel Jackson (.384/.477/.781) and Rylan Lujo (.365/.470/.594) who stand above the rest.
Jackson is arguably the most dynamic player in the conference, as he’s second in the league in batting average, second in home runs (16), second in RBIs (52) and sixth in stolen bases (18), all while proving that he can be an everyday catcher from a defensive standpoint.
And Lujo has been as hot as any hitter in SEC play, as he has a .442 batting average against league competition, a number that’s 30 points higher than any other player in the conference.
But even beyond that trio, you have to pitch carefully to Henry Allen (.315/.431/.645, 11 HR), Ryan Black (.314/.447/.562), Michael O’Shaughnessy (.291/.431/.684, 10 HR), Brennan Hudson (.274/.448/.726, 12 HR) and Kolby Branch (.267/.382/.634, 13 HR), all of whom are regulars who can beat you. And that’s to say nothing of part-time guys like Ryan Wynn (.368/.386/.711) and Jordy Oriach (.351/.463/.610), who have really responded positively when given opportunities at the plate.
This SEC season has taught us that anything is possible in any given series, but it would seem to be the case that Arkansas’ ability to keep Georgia’s hitters in the ballpark and to have its own hitters leave the ballpark are two obvious keys to the weekend.
The rest of the schedule
Florida vs. Auburn (Thu.-Sat.): 7:00 PM ET, 5:30 PM ET, 12:00 PM ET
Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt: 6:30 PM ET, 2:00 PM ET, 1:00 PM ET
Tennessee vs. Ole Miss: 6:30 PM ET, 6:00 PM ET, 1:00 PM ET
South Carolina vs. Mississippi State: 7:00 PM ET, 1:00 PM ET, 1:30 PM ET
LSU vs. Texas A&M: 7:00 PM ET, 8:00 PM ET, 2:00 PM ET
Oklahoma vs. Missouri: 7:30 PM ET, 5:00 PM ET, 3:00 PM ET
Texas vs. Alabama: 7:30 PM ET, 3:00 PM ET, 2:00 PM ET
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/02000026/VolchkoByConorDillonUGAAA.jpg5001000Joe Healyhttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgJoe Healy2026-04-15 20:45:002026-04-15 20:29:02SEC Series of the Week – 2026 Week 10
For this episode of Sidearm Delivery, Shotgun Spratling brings on a head coach who has helped his program climb the ranks from NAIA to Division II to Division I, with two years playing in the National Christian College Athletic Association mixed in. California Baptist head coach Gary Adcock joins to talk about transition and climbing the ranks, as well as to discuss his Lancers’ squad that keeps finding ways to win despite suffering injury after significant injury.
Later in the show, we also chat with D1Baseball national analyst Eric Sorensen about CBU, their climb to the Division I level, and their conference standing in the final season of the WAC.
Kerriston Coffee is proud to be the official coffee of D1Baseball. With over 30 years in the business, this family-owned roastery delivers fresh, small-batch coffee made for college baseball fans, coaches, and everyone in between. Kerriston Coffee ships nationwide, and as a listener to The D1Baseball Podcast, you can use code D1 at kerristoncoffee.com to receive 15% off your first order!
Is your favorite team in the SEC? Make sure to check out our Highway To Hoover podcast with Joe Healy and Mark Etheridge on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
Or maybe you’re a fan of ACC baseball? Then you need to check out the ACC Baseball Etc. podcast with Daron Vaught and Bradley Smart on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
On this episode of ACC Baseball Etc., Miami outfielder Derek Williams joins Daron Vaught and Bradley Smart to talk about his career year for the Hurricanes, his first NCAA postseason experience last season, his journey from JUCO to mid-major to the ACC, and more!
00:00 Welcome and Introduction 00:43 Breakout Season Jump 02:28 Why Miami Felt Right 03:22 Transfers and Team Identity 04:29 Choosing to Return 06:26 Injury Comeback and Regional Run 08:20 Playoff Atmosphere in Hattiesburg 09:40 Team Meetings and Turning Point 13:22 Clemson Grand Slam Moment 14:52 Lineup Chemistry and Hitting IQ 17:44 Approach Changes at the Plate 20:01 Strength Training and Mobility 23:29 JUCO Roots to Big Stage 25:29 Defense Growth and Wall Catch 28:05 Mark Light Milkshakes and Farewell
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Kerriston Coffee is proud to be the official coffee of ACC Baseball Etc. and D1Baseball. With over 30 years in the business, this family-owned roastery delivers fresh, small-batch coffee made for college baseball fans, coaches, and everyone in between. Kerriston Coffee ships nationwide, and as a listener to The D1Baseball Podcast, you can use code D1 at kerristoncoffee.com to receive 15% off your first order!
Maybe you’re a fan of SEC baseball, too? Make sure to check out our Highway To Hoover podcast with Joe Healy and Mark Etheridge on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/15134330/WEB-Derek-Williams-1.png10002000Daron Vaughthttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgDaron Vaught2026-04-15 13:44:452026-04-15 13:44:48Miami Outfielder Derek Williams Joins – ACC Baseball Etc.
Imagine the Pac 12 this year. How good would the baseball have been? Seeing UCLA playing at Arizona State for a weekend. Seeing what the crowds that Oregon at Oregon State would’ve been (Or Oregon State at Oregon, of course). Or how about seeing Rintaro Sasaki hit 450-foot home runs at altitude in Salt Lake City.
This could’ve been a really good season for the Pac 12. And that is reflected at the top of the West Rankings as the top five teams are once again Pac 12 alums. But that doesn’t mean you can sleep on UCSB, or Cal Baptist or many other West Coast teams that are not from the Pac 12. I’m just saying, how cool would this have been? Thank you football idiots.
1- UCLA, 33-3, 18-0 Big Ten
Previous Rank: 1
Last Week: Swept three games at Rutgers
This Weekend: vs. Minnesota
I’m sure you’ve heard already but just in case you haven’t, Logan Reddemann is good. The Bruins’ Friday night ace threw 8.0 innings against Rutgers on Friday, struck out 18 batters and gave up just two hits and one walk. They did a DNA test on him after the game to make sure he was still technically human. Bruins won 4-1 in 14 innings in that game before burning the Knights for 7-1 and 9-2 wins on Saturday and Sunday. In Friday’s extra inning win, the Bruins came within one strikeout of tying an all-time NCAA record with 30 punchouts.
.@UCLABaseball's pitching staff came up big last week, allowing just seven runs in a 4-0 week that included a midweek win over Cal State Fullerton and a three-game sweep at Rutgers.
See how the rest of last week's D1Baseball Top 25 fared ⤵️
Solid sweep of a decent Mustang club helps the Beavers stay at No. 7 in the RPI. First baseman Mark Glassco got his first start of the season at the cold corner on March 28th against Mercer. Since then he has gone 13-for-35 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in the 10 games since. OSU also happens to be 8-2 in that same stretch. In Saturday’s 11-6 win Glassco went 2-for-4 with two homers and five RBI.
— Oregon State Baseball (@BeaverBaseball) April 11, 2026
3- USC, 30-8, 13-5 Big Ten
Previous Rank: 3
Last Week: Swept Iowa in three games.
This Weekend: at Nebraska
Solid series for the Trojans, sweeping three from a pretty good offense. The Hawkeyes came in averaging eight runs per game and leading the Big Ten with a .318 team average. But the Trojan hurlers and defense held them to just seven runs and a .163 average. For the first time since 1999-to-2002 the Trojans have marked four straight 30-plus win seasons, all under Andy Stankiewicz.
The USC dugout reacts to another well-pitched inning vs. Iowa
4- OREGON, 26-10, 10-5 Big Ten
Previous Rank: 4
Last Week: 2-1 vs. Nebraska
This Weekend: at Illinois
Hard-fought weekend win for the Ducks, winning a pair of one-run games, 7-6 on Friday and 5-4 on Sunday, with a hard-luck 10-8 loss on Saturday where the Ducks blew a 5-0 lead. But a trio of Freshmen helped the cause with catcher Brayden Jaksa going 2-for-4 in the first two games including a home run and two HBPs, Naulivou Lauaki crushing two home runs in Saturday’s loss and Angel Laya smashing two home runs in Sunday’s win. Laya now has an Oregon freshman record 11 home runs on the season.
Frustrating weekend for the Sun Devils as they drop their Friday game to the Utes 10-4 and head coach Willie Bloomquist got ejected. But they bounced back with a wild 14-13 win on Saturday and 5-2 win on Sunday. They also dropped an 11-inning game to rival Arizona on Monday 5-3. Landon Hairston continues his ridiculous hot streak, going 2-for-4, 2-for-5 and 2-for-4 in the three games vs. the Utes with four home runs and 11 RBI. He now has 23 yard calls on the season.
Tough series win for the Gauchos, who dropped a 4-3 Friday game vs. the Tritons but rebounded with an 11-10 win in 11 innings on Saturday (Xavier Esquer with the walk-off RBI) and a 3-1 win on Sunday. Catcher Nate Vargas, who has missed significant time due to injury, was named the Big West Player of the Week as he homered in three straight games as he went 7-for-12 with three home runs and seven RBI against USC in the midweek and the first two games vs. UCSD. By the way, beating No. 1 ranked UCLA 4-0 on Tuesday will help when the season hits the end of May.
A screen grab from after UCSB’s 4-0 win over No. 1 UCLA from the Big Ten Network. Cole Tryba (No. 7) picked up the save as he begins to heat up since returning from injury.
7- CAL BAPTIST, 30-7, 4-2 WAC
Previous Rank: 7
Last Week: Went 2-1 vs. UT-Arlington
This Weekend: at Tarleton State
With their Tuesday win over UC Riverside the Lancers have now reached the 30-win mark in 15 of the last 16 seasons under coach Gary Adcock. And we’re talking about a dude who has taken this program transitioning from NAIA, to Division II and now to Division I. Also, one of the best names in college baseball, Deisel Toth, blasted a solo shot in Tuesday’s 19-4 avalanche of UC Riverside.
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) April 14, 2026
8- BYU, 19-16, 8-7 Big 12
Previous Rank: NR
Last Week: Swept three games at Houston
This Weekend: vs. No. 23 Arizona State
The Cougars are newbies to the West Rankings but deservedly so, having come off a weekend sweep of those other Cougars, winning 3-2, 6-2 and 6-1, in Houston. With those wins the Cougars (the BYU ones) found themselves ranked at No. 41 in the RPI. According to Boyd Nation’s ISR rankings the Coogs have played the ninth-toughest schedule in the country. Including a Monday win at Lamar, the Cougar pitchers combined to hold UofH and LU to just five runs and a sickly .185 batting average.
Last Week: Swept three games from San Diego State at home
This Weekend: vs. Nevada
Welcome to the West Rankings Lobos. They now sit in the catbird seat in the Mountain West thanks to an impressive weekend sweep of formerly first place San Diego State by scores of 5-3, 11-3 and 12-8. In Saturday’s middle game RHP Ryan Castillo threw the first nine-inning complete game for the Lobos since 2018 as he went the distance, holding the Aztecs to three runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. Castillo is now 7-1 on the season, the most wins by a UNM pitcher since Carson Schneider’s nine wins in 2016.
Man, the Mustangs really could’ve used a win in Corvallis, especially considering the month of May is almost here and the NCAA Selection Committee is watching. They don’t have a ton of high-quality wins. They lost Sunday’s getaway game by giving up two runs in the bottom of the ninth on Easton Talt’s RBI single. But the ‘Stangs did manage to get back on track on Tuesday, taking down Pepperdine 7-3. Dylan Kordic and Ryan Tayman both hit a home run and accounted for three RBI each.
NOTES
You Guys Wanna See A 453-foot Home Run To Win The Series?
Down to their last strike, trailing 4-3, Stanford’s JJ Moran gets the game-winning and series-winning three-run home run that was clocked at 110mph…
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2025/03/30022932/BYU-DugoutHyped.jpg4991000Eric Sorensonhttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgEric Sorenson2026-04-15 13:00:002026-04-15 13:02:21Ranking The West – Week Nine
Heading into the 2026 season, Coastal Carolina’s ace Cam Flukey was our top mid-major prospect and UC Santa Barbara’s Jackson Flora was a split-the-hairs second. Both were well-known talents and potential top half of the first round picks. Flukey made one start on opening day, striking out seven in 5.1 innings, but went down with a rib cage stress reaction and has been out of service since. Flora was lights out in his first start of the spring, leveled a bit in his next few appearances and recently put together a scoreless streak of 38.2 innings. He’s currently 6-0 with a 0.63 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 57 innings. The 6-foot-5 righthander is an athletic mover with a quick arm. His best pitch is a 70-grade changeup in the upper-80s with big bottom. It’s a freeze-em dropper that starts up in the zone then dives into the zone for repeated called strikes. He can also throw it into and then below the zone for chase. He’s thrown this pitch 23.4% of the time and it has produced a 32.5% chase rate along with a 47.1% whiff. Flora’s eye-popping statistical performance this season has been buoyed by his improved ability to pitch which is much due to throwing his change-of-pace right on right.
His command of a lively 95-98 mph heater is more control than spotting to a precise location. It spins in the 2500-2600 rpm range and is released with above average, 6-foot-3 extension out front. On the latest look against UC San Diego this past Friday, Flora primarily pitched off his secondary offerings. And he has a lot of them. In addition to the elite changeup, he’ll also mix a 90-91 cutter, an 87-88 slider and a 79-84 sweeper that has 20-22” of horizontal break. His strike rate of all pitches is 64.4% (72nd percentile). He’s a no-doubt first round pick.
Opposing Flora on Friday afternoon for UC San Diego was the quick-rising Steele Murdock. He punched out 17 Gauchos without a walk and stuff-wise was very similar to Aaron Fitt’s look last summer in the Cape – “A thick, strong 6-foot-2, 215-pounder with a big arm, Murdock attacked at 94-96 and bumped 97 with solid arm-side life. He used a sharp 83-85 mph slider with good tilt as the putaway pitch on two of his three strikeouts over two innings of work, and he manipulated the shape and depth on the pitch, making it look more like a power curveball with downer action at times. At other times, it had big lateral tilt, as evidenced by up to 22 inches of horizontal break. The slider was a putaway pitch, generating a 45% whiff rate. He also flashed a changeup at 84, but he used it very sparingly, just 3% of the time. Murdock has some effort in his delivery and has a reliever-ish look, but it’s a big-time power arm with shutdown closer potential for the Tritons.”
Against UC Santa Barbara there was less effort to his operation compared to what I saw during the Cape Cod All-Star game. What also stood out was 6-foot-7 extension out front on his high-spin fastball (2500-2600+ rpm), allowing it to play up. He also induced repeated chase and whiff with a dominant 70-grade breaking pitch. Despite his underwhelming season statistics to date (6.18 ERA, 43.2 IP, 40 H, 22 BB, 11 HBP, 68 SO), the redshirt sophomore jumps into the potential starter bucket. He’s a durable-bodied, high ceiling righthander with a difference-making breaking ball and upper-90s velo which places him into the top four-to-five round conversation.
In addition to those three righthanders, several others have emerged this spring as potential top five round picks from mid-majors. Leading the race are potential top three round talents Andrew Williamson (Central Florida), Ben Blair (Liberty) and Missouri State centerfielder Caden Bogenpohl, whom I broke down in Week Six.
Williamson has been streaky at times, but solid overall this spring. The 6-foot, 195-pound lefthanded hitter is currently slashing .324/.438/.672 and combines a little bit of everything at the plate with above average power (112.1 mph max EV) and solid contact rates. The right fielder is also an above average defender with average (pro scale) arm strength. He’s committed just three errors in three seasons with 253 total chances (.988 FLD%).
Before Blair’s most recent start against Jacksonville State where he allowed seven runs on nine hits in six innings, the Liberty righthander had been unreal this spring. The industry talk was the second-to-third round and our Joe Healy was in the house on the PxP to see the Flames’ ace. Here’s what he wrote — “Though Blair endured arguably his worst outing of the season, he showed the potential that has scouts flocking to Lynchburg. He ran his fastball up to 98 mph, a season-high velocity, and showed two putaway offspeed offerings, a short cutter at 86-89 mph that he often uses to either backdoor lefthanded hitters for looking strikes or slip under the barrel of righthanded hitters for swings and misses and a slider with significant sweep at 80-83 mph that he buries. He’ll also show a changeup at 84-87 mph, but that’s a distant fourth pitch at present.”
Blair’s high effort delivery to a low three-quarter slot (5-foot release height) adds to his deception and creates a different look. He does rush his lower half during his delivery, but a quick arm and lower release point allow him to consistently be on time. He’s walked only five in 55.1 innings this season to go along with 74 strikeouts. Blair is also a good athlete and fields his position well. He made a really nice play on a well-placed bunt in the third, as well as a routine PFP bunt in the 5th. Both were made to look easy and under control at all times. Regardless of his most recent outing, Blair profiles to become a quick mover in a pro relief role, but the second round where some clubs had him evaluated is too tall for me. I’m more comfortable in the fourth round area. Blair is more athletic, but his delivery, release point and FB/SL/CTR mix reminds of former major leaguer Ben Heller, a late round overachieving pick of Cleveland in 2013.
Two-way talent Evan Dempsey(Florida Gulf Coast) is regarded as a top four-to-five round talent as a pitcher. As is Ethan Norby (East Carolina) and I also like Max Bayles (Santa Clara) in this range, a couple rounds higher than the industry. Dempsey has pro value as a hitter and pitcher, but projects more on the mound with a best-pitch high-riding fastball that gets up to 95 mph and enters the zone with a plus VAA of -4.20 degrees. He also stuffs the zone with his heater for a 71.9% strike rate (99th percentile) and its 38.5% Whiff rate is 100th percentile. Dempsey’s curve is also a weapon with spin rates into the 3100s. The righthander has struck out 77 in 54.2 innings this season while limiting opponents to a .189 batting average.
Norby is one of the most competitive pitchers in college baseball. The 5-foot-10, 190-pound lefty has struck out 65 in 46 innings with a best-pitch 3000+ rpm slider (97th percentile Whiff) that averages nearly 17” of horizontal movement. He also attacks with a fastball that has averaged 91.5 mph this spring. There’s not a ton of ceiling to his game, but his “what you see is what you get” does have top five round value.
Santa Clara’s Friday night ace features a dominant slider and a fastball in the low-90s. Bayles has struck out 69 in 43.2 innings for the Broncos, while limiting opponents to a .186 batting average. Like Norby, Bayles’ slider is his best pitch with spin in the 2800 rpm range and a 98th percentile Whiff rate of 54.2%.
Sam Houston State’s Ryan Peterson is also intriguing. With high level control (71% strike rate) of a fastball that averages over 93 mph, he also spins an 80 mph and 3000+ rpm curve. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound righthander has struck out 73 in 55.2 innings this season.
UCSB’s Saturday starter, sophomore-eligible Nathan Aceves is also receiving top 10 round attention, much due to a fastball that is averaging 93.5 mph and a top shelf mid-80s changeup with big bottom similar to his teammate, Flora. If he can develop a better breaking ball, he has intriguing upside.
Two additional mid-major power arms with a fastball that drives their draft profile include Cody Brasch (Louisiana) and Eric Nachtsheim (McNeese State). Brasch has touched 98 this season and follows his heater with a deep-breaking mid-80s slider. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior righthander has dominated out of the pen with five saves and 47 strikeouts in 33 innings. Nachtsheim has punched out even more with 76 in 48.2 innings as a swing arm for the Cowboys. He has a bit less heat than Brasch, topping at 96 and averaging 93, but with 6-foot-9 inches of extension and good ride of 20” IVB, the heater plays up. He also mixes a pair of breaking balls and an effective changeup.
Mercer’s Michael Graziano batted just .239 as a sophomore last season for the Bears with a 29.5% strikeout rate. To say he’s adjusted since is a vast understatement. Currently sizzling along with a .382/.480/.667 slash and a greatly reduced 15% strikeout rate, the centerfielder thrives from the leadoff spot. This past Saturday he hit the first pitch of the game for his fifth home run of the season and added two more knocks for a 3-for-5 day at the plate. His swing is a bit “armsy” and upright – he could get into the ground with his lower half a bit more — but he’s long through the hitting zone. This operation has produced a 99th percentile barrel rate of 25% and above average raw power (111.8 max EV) with fringe average bat speed of 68.5 mph. The former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket is also a good athlete, standing 6-foot-3, 215 pounds.
Reece Moroney (Rhode Island) and Kyle Morrison (Southern Miss) are two mid-major middle infielders drawing some attention for their high level performance. Moroney is currently batting .393 and has shown good raw power with a 112.4 max EV, but has struggled to make consistent hard contact, posting just a 42nd percentile barrel rate of 4.1%. He’s regarded as a sure-handed defender (three errors in 143 chances) with fringe-average arm strength at shortstop. The lefthanded hitting Morrison has average bat speed (69.3 mph), fair pop (108.3 max EV) and finds the barrel at a 22.2% rate (98th percentile). He’s currently hitting .382 in Sun Belt Conference play and .336 with 11 home runs overall.
From the Missouri Valley Conference a few notable prospects include Michael Addari, a righthander from Illinois State who pitches at 92-95 with a high-spin 80 mph sweeper that overwhelms same-sided hitters. He’s posted a 1.71 season ERA which leads the Missouri Valley Conference. The Valley also boasts center fielder Carter Beck from Indiana State who is arguably the top position prospect in the conference this season, along with another top talent in Brayden Bakes (Illinois State). Beck has average bat speed of 69.7 mph and plus raw power with a 114.8 max EV. He currently leads the Sycamores with a .354 average and is tied for third in the Valley in home runs (9). Bakes is second in the MVC in batting average (.364) and home runs (10). He controls the strike zone with more walks than strikeouts, has a max EV of 111.2, a 99th percentile Barrel rate of 22.5% and leads the Redbirds with 22 XBHs.
OMAHA, NE — Monday, April 15, 2026— D1Baseball today announced a comprehensive partnership with Homefield, naming the premium officially-licensed collegiate apparel brand as a Presenting Sponsor of many of D1Baseball’s on-site and digital coverage initiatives throughout the remainder of the 2026 college baseball season and beyond.
The partnership establishes Homefield as an integrated brand across D1Baseball’s expansive media ecosystem, including editorial coverage, social media, podcasts, and in-person activations tied to key moments in the college baseball calendar.
As part of the agreement, Homefield will serve as the presenting sponsor of D1Baseball’s weekend on-site coverage during the regular season and conference tournaments. Team-specific coverage on D1Baseball.com will include pathways for fans to shop Homefield’s officially licensed collegiate apparel directly from team-specific content.
“This partnership with Homefield is a natural fit for us and our audience,” said Kendall Rogers, co-owner and managing editor of D1Baseball. “They’ve built a brand that resonates deeply with college sports fans, and together, we’re creating opportunities to connect storytelling, tradition, and style in a way that enhances the fan experience around the game.”
Expanding Digital & Social Integration
Homefield will serve as the official sponsor of D1Baseball’s “Viceroy” social media accounts, which include conference-specific social media accounts covering the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, and Mid-Majors.
Homefield will also benefit from high-impact placement across D1Baseball’s website, including:
Banner integrations on team pages for schools are available in Homefield’s catalog
In addition to Homefield’s website and social media presences, they will also serve as a presenting sponsor across the D1Baseball Podcast Network.
Enhanced Fan Engagement Through Content & Commerce
D1Baseball will collaborate with Homefield on key product launches, including baseball-specific apparel drops (more on this coming VERY SOON!). These launches will be supported through social media promotion, email alerts, and website activations, all designed to showcase team-branded apparel that fans will love.
“Partnering with D1Baseball allows us to authentically tap into one of the most passionate communities in sports,” said Josh Johns, Vice President of Marketing Partnerships & Events at Homefield. “Their deep connection with college baseball fans and commitment to high-quality storytelling aligns perfectly with how we approach thoughtfully amplifying and celebrating the proud traditions of these programs reflected in our apparel.”
On-Site Activations & Omaha Collaboration
The partnership also includes a series of co-branded stadium activations throughout 2026. These experiences will further integrate Homefield into the fabric of college baseball storytelling.
Fans can also expect a collaborative activation tied to the College World Series, with potential for exclusive product releases and fan engagement initiatives in Omaha.
About D1Baseball D1Baseball (d1baseball.com) is the most comprehensive source for college baseball coverage in the country, delivering breaking news, rankings, analysis, recruiting coverage, and multimedia content to millions of college baseball fans each year. The D1Baseball Podcast Network reaches hundreds of thousands of listeners annually across multiple shows covering the sport from coast to coast.
About Homefield Homefield (homefieldapparel.com) creates unique, premium collegiate apparel that shows you’re part of a community while still standing out from the crowd. Whether you’re on campus or off, our high-quality goods are thoughtfully made and designed to last as long as your memories do.
On this episode of the D1 Daily, Burkie and Roons review the most surprising conference records with five weekends left to go. In the SEC, Kentucky and LSU were top of mind, as well as Vanderbilt‘s overall record. Speaking of surprises, could this Texas A&M lineup be comp’d to the 2024 Vols? In the ACC, Georgia Tech’s dominance and Louisville‘s struggles were discussed. In the Big Ten, Purdue and Nebraska stood out to the guys. While in the Sun Belt, Coastal Carolina continues to perform as if injuries aren’t actually a thing affecting their season.
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Kerriston Coffee is proud to be the official coffee of D1Baseball. With over 30 years in the business, this family-owned roastery delivers fresh, small-batch coffee made for college baseball fans, coaches, and everyone in between. Kerriston Coffee ships nationwide, and as a listener to The D1Baseball Podcast, you can use code D1 at kerristoncoffee.com to receive 15% off your first order!
Is your favorite team in the SEC? Make sure to check out our Highway To Hoover podcast with Joe Healy and Mark Etheridge on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
Or maybe you’re a fan of ACC baseball? Then you need to check out the ACC Baseball Etc. podcast with Daron Vaught and Bradley Smart on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/14214112/D1D-0415-WEB.png5001000Mike Rooneyhttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgMike Rooney2026-04-15 09:45:002026-04-15 09:49:20The Most Surprising Records Halfway Through Conference Play [D1 Daily]
Florida lost Tuesday evening because, of course, it did.
This season, every team that triumphs must be sent to its room immediately without dinner. There’s little consistency with most of the sport, and no team exemplifies it more than Kevin O’Sullivan’s Gators.
A quick synapse … Florida swept two games on the road at Miami, which has an argument as the best preconference series win by an SEC team. It has won three midweek games in three venues against a top-ten Florida State squad, which is, without argument, the best midweek SEC showing. The Gators swept Arkansas in Fayetteville and won a series at Georgia, the Bulldogs’ only series loss to date.
Sounds great, right? And it is.
But that’s only part of the resume. Florida also lost a series to High Point and needed a late-game Panther meltdown to avoid being swept. The Gators were swept at Alabama and blew a late lead in the rubber game to lose a home series to Ole Miss. It’s up and down, feast or famine, a Dale Murphy baseball glove Christmas morning, followed by a smelly lump of coal in the stocking. And while Florida certainly isn’t Lone Rangering this unpredictable season, the drastic nature of the season has elevated scrutiny.
Florida’s Brendan Lawson (Florida Athletics)
We see the premium arms both in the rotation and in the bullpen, and drool a bit at what could happen if all of them get rolling for an extended stretch. We see Brandon Lawson, Kyle Jones, and a cast of quality batters, and see how this team can win with offense as well as pitching. It’s one of those teams that can beat anyone in any type of game. But as we saw Tuesday night in a 13-7 loss to Bethune-Cookman, it can lose to teams with a fraction of its talent and look bad doing it.
Kendall, Aaron, and I built a mock bracket Monday night, and Florida presented a compelling case. On the one hand, the inconsistency is maddening and tough to reconcile on a weekly basis, especially in a world facing a scarcity of nuance. We’re either all good, all bad, all right, all wrong, with no appetite for any compromise or the ability to appreciate the other’s views. And with the way Florida is playing, the highs create more interest and therefore offer the microscope to find holes. The thing is, many of these are holes present on other teams as well; sometimes we just aren’t looking as closely because – frankly – those teams haven’t earned the scrutiny with enough big wins.
The staff ranked Florida 20th. I get it. Who knows what they are? A weekly evaluation like a poll will always reward consistency, and even the most ardent Florida fan won’t smack a consistency label on the Gators. It’s been a roller coaster.
In the bracket, we projected Florida 4th. And I also get that. The bracket is looking forward, but it is also looking at the totality of the resume, not a week-by-week snapshot, taking more weight on the entire season.
And the resume’s highs are incredible. As of Monday’s deliberations, here are some attributes for the Gators. Florida’s big wins and challenging schedule are displayed in the computer ratings at No. 4 RPI, No. 7 DSR, and No 4. KPI for an average of 4. It is 9-6 in SEC play against what’s currently the strongest SEC SOS. Its non-conference strength of schedule is 25, and its overall strength of schedule is 5th. It is 9-4 on the road, 11-6 vs Quad 1, and before last night, it had just one loss in 13 combined. games versus Quads 3 and 4. Add in a 14-6 against the midseason projected field, and you have the kind of resume that the committee won’t be able to ignore.
If Florida’s recent trend of winning a series, losing a series continues, a series loss to Auburn is in store for this weekend. However, games against teams like Auburn aren’t that damaging to overall bracket projections but could be harshly reflected in its poll position, depending on what happens to the teams ranked near it.
Of course, the most inconsistent thing Florida could do right now is go on a heater and win consecutive series. Wouldn’t that be fitting for such a strange season?
Tuesday’s Finals
at Georgia 12, ETSU 10
at Tennessee 11, UNC Asheville 1 (8 inn.)
Bethune-Cookman 13, at Florida 7
at South Carolina 8, Davidson 6
Alabama 12, at UAB 6
Arkansas 12, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 2 (7 inn.)
at Auburn 13, Alabama State 0 (7 inn.)
Ole Miss 10, Southern Miss 3
Mississippi State 11, at Samford 1 (7 inn.)
At Texas A&M 10, Houston 2
Vanderbilt 15, at Lipscomb 1
at LSU 4, Northwestern State 2
at Texas 14, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 7
Oklahoma State 7, Oklahoma 3 (8 inn.)
SEC SOS
All conference schedules are not created equal. Through five weeks, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi State have played the toughest conference slates. Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee have played the least challenging.
conf_sos
conf_sos_rnk
Florida
0.567
1
Georgia
0.562
2
Mississippi State
0.550
3
Oklahoma
0.538
4
Alabama
0.533
5
Texas
0.530
6
Ole Miss
0.527
7
Texas A&M
0.518
8
South Carolina
0.511
9
Arkansas
0.500
10
Auburn
0.477
11
Vanderbilt
0.477
11
LSU
0.450
13
Tennessee
0.433
14
Kentucky
0.417
15
Missouri
0.409
16
D1Baseball’s SEC Extra content is presented by KinaTrax
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In addition, unlike conventional marker-based systems, the KinaTrax lab system can also track the ball in flight. When coupled with our in-game system, direct comparisons of in-game and lab data can be made to assess a player’s ability to take what they’re doing in practice and apply it to the bright lights of a live game.
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/15091545/EK_1953.jpeg5011000Mark Etheridgehttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgMark Etheridge2026-04-15 09:25:192026-04-15 12:16:48Wednesday’s SEC Daily Dish: The curious case of Florida
With two outs in the top of the seventh, Radford’s Carter Richardson fouled off a pair of 3-2 offerings from Virginia Tech lefthander Danny Lazaro. Lazaro, a junior making just his 11th appearance on the year and first in a week, came right back and rifled a 90 mph fastball past Richardson on the outer half of the plate. For the first time since 1996, the Hokies’ pitching staff had logged a no-hitter, blanking the visiting Highlanders in a decisive 14-0 rout.
Lazaro’s 1-2-3 seventh inning was preceded by four other arms holding Radford to a lone walk. The group faced the minimum as Junho Son’s leadoff walk in the fourth was erased by Henry Cooke throwing him attempting to steal second. Madden Clement and Ethan Grim started the night with two innings apiece, then Brody Roe, Josh Berzonski, and Lazaro combined to set down the final nine in order. Yes, it was a midweek game and the run-rule limited it to seven innings, but it was a fantastic night at the ballpark for a pitching staff that has battled injuries and struggles throughout an uneven season thus far.
Perhaps most encouraging was the first two outings from Clement and Grim, two arms that have battled injuries. Clement, making just his second appearance of the year after a shaky debut against Liberty last week, retired all six batters he faced. The junior southpaw was expected to feature prominently in the rotation in 2025, but went down with injury in his first outing of the year. Against Radford, Clement sat just under 91 mph on his fastball and mixed in an upper-70s curveball and low-80s changeup. Grim, who exited an outing against Virginia back on March 13, hadn’t thrown more than an inning and a third since. He leaned on his 92-94 mph fastball against Radford but showed a cutter, sweeper, and change as well.
Offensively, Virginia Tech got it done in a variety of ways. Ethan Ball had a three-run double, Nick Locurto a two-run homer, and Hudson Lutterman and Sam Grube both brought in a pair of runs on doubles. The lone blemish on an otherwise perfect night at English Field in Blacksburg was Ball exiting with a trainer after an uncomfortable swing.
The ACC went 10-2 as a whole on Tuesday night, with several other notable results to digest. Let’s break it down, starting in Brighton where Boston College claimed the Baseball Beanpot for the first time in three years.
Boston College’s Luke Gallo (Boston College photo)
Gallo powers Eagles past Northeastern
An instrumental part in Boston College’s success this spring has been the emergence of freshman Luke Gallo, who made his first start at third base in early March while the team was on its Florida road trip. Gallo has started every game since and stepped up big time on Tuesday night against Northeastern in the Beanpot championship. Gallo went 2-for-2 with a walk and drove in every run in a 3-1 win for the Eagles, tying the game with a fifth-inning homer and putting them ahead for good with a two-run bloop single to left in the sixth. Boston College got a great outing from Jacob Burnham, who pitched into the sixth, and the trusted bullpen trio of John Kwiatkowski, Gavin Soares, and Kyle Kipp kept Northeastern at bay the rest of the way.
Zuckerman, Georgia Tech extend streak to 13
With UCLA’s 4-0 loss to UC Santa Barbara and Georgia Tech’s 13-9 slugfest win over Georgia Southern, the Jackets now hold the longest active win streak in the country at 13 games — the program’s longest streak since 2011. Georgia Tech dug an early hole, going down 4-0 after the first half inning, but scored in all eight innings they batted in and fended off a late comeback effort from the visitors. It was another day of offense from throughout the order and the biggest day came from six-hole hitter Ryan Zuckerman. The junior third baseman went 5-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs as he continued a fantastic season. The Jackets slugged six home runs, including a pinch-hit blast from Caleb Daniel to lead off the eighth that was promptly followed by Zuckerman’s second.
Wake hammers its way to top-10 win over Coastal
In this week’s Weekend Review, I wrote that “one of the more puzzling storylines this season has been Wake Forest’s offense.” The Deacs scored just four runs on 19 hits over the weekend against Miami, continuing a quiet spell at the plate that dated back to the final game of the Pitt series. That stretch included a 2-1 setback to Coastal Carolina but Wake flipped the script in a rematch. The Deacs looked back to their offensive ways, with five separate hitters logging multi-hit days while the team launched five home runs. They separated late, too, with three of the homers (solo shots) coming against Coastal reliever Ryan Lynch in the eighth.
Carns, Florida State offense shows life
After four games in a row with exactly three runs, Tuesday’s 9-2 win for the Seminoles over Stetson must’ve felt nice for Link Jarrett & Co. A new-look lineup with Brody DeLamielleure and Gabe Fraser starting for the first time since March 20 and March 3, respectively, produced a pair of crooked number innings and the most runs since the series clincher at Virginia. The headliner was Hunter Carns, who hit a three-run homer in the third to break a 1-1 deadlock and added a two-run double in the seventh. Carns now leads the team in average (.348) and doubles (8) and has driven in 18 runs on the year.
Other standouts from Tuesday’s slate
Owen Hull went 3-for-4 with two doubles and four runs scored in a 14-5 win for North Carolina over UNC Wilmington. Tar Heels’ freshman Jackson Rose was excellent again, spinning five innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts. Notre Dame freshman Shane Miranda had a career day, going 3-for-3 with a double, walk, and two runs scored in just his second start of the year. The Irish beat Valparaiso, 6-1, and got an encouraging outing from Caden Crowell (3 IP, 6 K). NC State’s Sherman Johnson went 3-for-4 with a double in an emphatic 10-3 win for the Wolfpack over East Carolina. Louisville’s Jake Bean held down Western Kentucky, going five innings of one-run ball, and the Cardinals got a comfortable 7-3 win. Clemson’s Justin LeGuernic struck out five over two-plus innings in relief as the Tigers got a big three-run homer from Jacob Jarrell en route to a 7-3 win over Charlotte.
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/15082421/Virginia-Tech-no-hitter.jpg5001000Bradley Smarthttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgBradley Smart2026-04-15 08:37:352026-04-15 08:37:36Midweeks: A no-hitter, the Beanpot, and a 13-game winning streak
This time of year, a hefty majority of all questions submitted in our weekly chat, as well as those sent via e-mail or Twitter, center around the battle for postseason positioning. Our readers want to know how the races for national seeds, host sites and at-large bids are shaping up—so it’s time to roll out our weekly Stock Report feature. Every week, we’ll examine how the postseason picture has shifted over the previous week. This analysis is intended to complement our weekly NCAA tournament field of 64 projection, which was put together in a podcast with Kendall Rogers, Mark Etheridge and me on Monday night. As always, you can listen to our deliberations in the weekly Nerdcast.
Below, we’ll look at who’s in, who’s out, who’s on the bubble for at-large spots, hosts and national seeds. This discussion is weighted more toward performance to date and remaining schedule than projection based on talent, but it’s also not intended to show exactly what the field would look like if the season ended today. We’re still looking ahead, and we’re still taking talent into consideration when putting together our forecasts.
During this discussion, we will reference the RPI Rankings through Monday’s games (it’s worth noting our field was assembled prior to the completion of Tuesday’s action). And we’ll make use of records against teams ranked in the four RPI quadrants, a 2024 change to the way data is presented on team sheets to the Division I Baseball Committee. Previously, the team sheets displayed a team’s record vs. opponents ranked in the top 25 of the RPI, then 26-50, 50-100 and 100+. Now, the location of a game factors into which quadrant a game slots into. Quad 1 is home games vs. teams 1-25 in RPI, neutral games vs. 1-40 and road games vs. 1-60. Q2 is home games vs. 26-50, neutral games vs. 41-80 and road games vs. 61-120. Q3 is home games vs. 51-100, neutral games vs. 81-160 and road games vs. 121-240. Q4 is home games against 101+, neutral games against 161+ and road games against 241+. All the data is the same, but the presentation is different, and that matters because it provides some built-in context behind those records against the tiers, making those tools more useful.
Finally, we’ll also reference the Diamond Sports Rankings (DSR), a new metric that the committee will incorporate into its deliberations this year alongside the RPI and KPI.
We’ll get to at-large chances in a bit, but let’s start with a look at which teams are on track to earn national seeds and which are on track to host regionals through the first nine weeks of the season:
National Seeds: Top eight and hosts
Seed
Team
Record
Conf.
RPI
SOS
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Top Eight Seeds
1
UCLA
33-2
18-0
1
22
6-0
10-0
12-1
5-1
2
Georgia Tech
30-5
15-3
3
55
6-2
8-2
5-0
11-1
3
Texas
27-7
9-5
2
10
10-4
3-2
4-1
10-0
4
Florida
27-10
9-6
4
5
11-6
3-3
7-0
6-1
5
Georgia
29-8
11-4
20
62
6-3
3-1
5-3
15-1
6
North Carolina
30-6-1
13-5
11
37
4-4
9-1-1
3-0
14-1
7
Oregon State
28-7
0-0
7
38
3-2
6-4
19-0
0-1
8
Coastal Carolina
26-9
13-2
9
8
6-3
3-3
11-2
6-1
Other National Seed Hosts
9
Texas A&M
27-7
9-5
12
28
4-6
6-0
2-1
15-0
10
Florida State
24-11
9-6
6
2
5-9
1-0
10-2
8-0
11
Virginia
26-11
10-8
17
24
7-6
6-3
4-1
9-1
12
Alabama
26-11
8-7
5
3
10-5
2-4
4-2
10-0
13
West Virginia
24-8
10-5
18
84
6-3
8-4
6-0
4-1
14
Auburn
24-11
8-7
10
1
5-8
10-3
4-0
5-0
15
Southern California
30-7
13-5
8
60
2-6
7-1
9-0
12-0
16
Kansas
26-10
12-3
24
96
3-2
6-5
9-1
8-2
Other Potential Hosts
Mississippi State
26-10
7-8
25
34
5-7
3-3
5-0
13-0
Ole Miss
26-11
8-7
13
6
8-10
1-0
5-1
12-0
Southern Miss
25-11
8-7
14
14
7-5
7-1
5-3
6-2
UCF
20-12
10-5
32
15
4-6
4-2
1-4
11-0
Oklahoma
24-11
7-8
16
11
3-6
7-3
6-2
8-0
Oregon
26-10
10-5
34
89
7-5
2-2
3-2
14-1
Missouri State
24-10
12-3
15
54
4-6
3-4
1-0
16-0
Florida is the biggest mover from our midseason projection two weeks ago, jumping from No. 13 to the No. 4 national seed. The knock on the Gators has been their inability to win back-to-back weekend series, which has stunted their progress in the D1Baseball Top 25 rankings, where they currently sit at No. 20. But this is a different exercise — a team’s previous seeding has no bearing on its seeding this week, because we start from a blank canvas every time we put together a field of 64. And after nine weeks, the totality of Florida’s season overpowers its few weekend hiccups (series losses to High Point and Ole Miss along with getting swept at Alabama). Despite those warts, the Gators are 27-10 overall and No. 4 in the RPI, with marquee road series wins at Arkansas (a sweep) and Georgia along with a quality road series win at Miami. Florida is also 3-0 in midweek action against Florida State, essentially amounting to the same result as a weekend series sweep. A single midweek win doesn’t move the needle a ton, but sweeping three midweek games against the same opponent has a major impact. Florida’s recent series win at Georgia also improved the Gators to 9-6 in the SEC and 9-4 against Q1 opponents. It all adds up to an easy top-eight resumé at this point, and we like Florida’s trajectory and talent — we expect the Gators to maintain their momentum.
Despite that series loss to the Gators, Georgia slots into the No. 5 national seed, up from No. 11 two weeks ago. Sweeping a series at Mississippi State went a long way toward boosting Georgia’s credentials, and it sits along atop the SEC standings at 11-4, helping to offset the glaring flaws in its resumé: a No. 266 nonconference strength of schedule and a No. 20 RPI. We expect that RPI to improve as the Bulldogs continue navigating SEC play, and we have confidence that they have staying power near the top of the standings.
Coastal Carolina is another big mover from our midseason projection two weeks ago, climbing from the No. 15 national seed to No. 8 this week. We spent the first half of the season wondering how long Coastal could hang on as a top contender in the face of pitching injuries that would have devastated most teams, but the Chanticleers have proven they have staying power even at far less than full strength. At 13-2, they are four games ahead of second-place Texas State in the Sun Belt, with a 26-9 overall record and a No. 9 RPI. If ace Cameron Flukey does indeed return at some point down the stretch, Coastal could surge even higher. For now, they have earned a spot in the top eight, and our trust that they can keep it going.
Oregon State moves into our top eight, up from No. 9 two weeks ago. The Beavers have once again managed to put together a quality resumé as a Division I independent, ranking No. 7 in the RPI thanks in large measure to a 12-2 record on the road. OSU is just 3-2 against Q1 opponents, and its remaining schedule offers no more opportunities to accrue quality wins on weekends, which makes its position in the top eight vulnerable, despite its gaudy 28-7 overall record. That puts even more weight on two more upcoming midweek games against rival Oregon, one on a neutral site and one at home.
Keep a close eye on surging Texas A&M, plus steady ACC powers Florida State and Virginia, all of whom are knocking on the door to the top eight. The Aggies made a mighty move by sweeping a pair of games against Texas this past weekend, helping them vault to No. 12 in the RPI and improve to 9-5 in the SEC. They check in at No. 9 in our latest projection. We downgraded FSU in our midseason projection in the wake of Myles Bailey’s season-ending injury, slotting them in at No. 14 two weeks ago. But Florida State promptly showed us that they aren’t going away by taking a road series win at Virginia — but then took a step backward with an 0-4 week against Florida and Georgia Tech. Still, their pitching gives them a high floor, and we expect them to remain right in the hunt. For now they are No. 10, with Virginia just behind as the No. 11 seed. The Seminoles have the stronger RPI (No. 6 vs. UVa’s No. 17) and the head-to-head advantage, so they are certainly in better shape than Virginia at the moment, but both teams have done enough to be in striking range of the top eight.
Alabama and Auburn slot in as our No. 12 and No. 14 national seeds, with matching 8-7 records in the SEC and strong RPI rankings of No. 5 and No. 10, respectively. Alabama’s sweeps of Florida and Auburn in back-to-back weeks followed by a road series win at Oklahoma were loud, putting the Tide in great position to host. Getting swept at home by Arkansas was a setback, and we’re still not convinced that Bama has the staying power to finish the year in the top eight, but they are just another strong week away from jumping right into that position. Auburn, meanwhile, has won back-to-back series over Arkansas and Kentucky; an upcoming series at Florida is huge for Auburn’s resumé. If the Tigers can take that series, it’s easy to envision them making a big move in next week’s projections.
West Virginia slides from No. 7 in the midseason projection to No. 13 this week, largely a result of its home series loss to UCF, which knocked WVU out of the catbird seat in the Big 12. The Mountaineers rebounded with a nice road series win at Texas Tech, and we like West Virginia’s current position as the top RPI team in the Big 12 (No. 18) along with a quality 10-5 record in conference. But at the moment, it’s hard to project WVU as a top eight when they trail first-place Kansas by two games and aren’t that close to the top 10 in the RPI. We still like WVU’s chances to finish the year as the top team in the Big 12 pecking order, but they’ll likely need to win the league to have a shot at the top eight.
Speaking of the Big 12, Kansas made a huge move by sweeping UCF this past weekend, improving the Jayhawks to 12-3 in the league, two games clear of any other teams in the standings. The rest of KU’s resumé is a big light, with a road series win at Cincinnati standing as its only other series against a projected regional team — and its No. 218 nonconference SOS does not help matters either. At No. 23 in the RPI with just a 3-2 record against Q1, Kansas is shaky as our 16th host, although their No. 14 ranking in the DSR is encouraging, but for now we’re giving them the nod as the Big 12 leader — particularly since they get to host West Virginia in a showdown series in May. Kansas needs to keep on winning series to strengthen its position, but the WVU series will be biggest of all.
Southern California is a tricky case. The Trojans pass the “at a glance” test with a sparkling 30-7 overall record and a No. 8 RPI. But a deeper look reveals some concerns: no series wins against any team close to contending for an at-large spot, and just a 2-6 record against Q1. For now, we’ve got USC slotted as the No. 15 seed based on the surface-level indicators, and our belief that the Trojans have the pitching to finish strong. But they sorely need some quality wins, which makes upcoming series at Nebraska, vs. Purdue and a season-ending set at Oregon paramount.
The Magnolia State is full of intrigue, with Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss lining up back-to-back-to-back in our pecking order at Nos. 17, 18 and 19 — all just outside hosting position. That’s a change from two weeks ago, when MSU was our No. 4 national seed and Southern Miss was No. 8. Since then, the Bulldogs have gone into freefall, getting swept in consecutive home series by Georgia and Tennessee to fall to 7-8 in the SEC and No. 24 in the RPI. We still have State ahead of Ole Miss by virtue of MSU’s head-to-head sweep in Oxford, but the Rebels are rising after taking series at Florida and vs. LSU (a sweep) over the last two weeks. Both teams have work to do.
The same goes for Southern Miss, which was riding high at 15-2 after beating Ole Miss on March 10, but has gone just 10-9 since then. The Golden Eagles were still able to grind out two-of-three series wins against Troy, Appalachian State and Old Dominion, but they have now lost series to Arkansas State and Louisiana, leaving them with an uninspiring 8-7 record in the Sun Belt. That conference record coupled with USM’s trajectory undermines all of its strong work in the preconference, pushing the Eagles out of hosting position. But that first month — highlighted by series wins vs UCSB and at Louisiana Tech along with quality victories in round rock against Purdue, Oregon State and Baylor, and midweek wins against Alabama, MSU and Ole Miss — still keeps Southern Miss very much in the hosting race if it can right the ship and make a run in the Sun Belt.
Other teams to keep an eye on for host spots include UCF, Oklahoma, Oregon, Missouri State, Arkansas and Miami. Oklahoma and Missouri State are both in good RPI shape in the mid-teens, but OU has been up and down in SEC play and currently sits at 7-8. The Sooners are just one or two good weeks away from being in very good hosting position, but for now they’re on the outside looking in. Missouri State is one game out of first in CUSA at 12-3 and owns a quality road series win at Liberty, to go along with its No. 15 RPI. We aren’t convinced that RPI has staying power, but for now MoState should be taken seriously as a host contender. We just need to see more. Oregon, UCF, Arkansas and Miami are all in the 30s in the RPI, but they have built decent enough foundations that they can easily surge into hosting position if they can get those RPIs up. Racking up wins is the bottom line.
At-large bids
There are 29 automatic bids awarded to conference champions, and these 16 are safe bets to be one-bid leagues, regardless of how their conference tournaments shake out.
Sure-fire one-bid leagues: America East, ASUN, Atlantic 10, Big East, Horizon, Ivy, MAAC, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, SoCon, Southland, SWAC, Summit.
These six conferences are likely to be one-bid leagues, but each has at least one team with at least a shot at an at-large bid, though the poor RPIs of the rest of their conferencemates figure to drag some of them down below at-large range as the season continues.
Likely one-bid leagues (potential at-large teams in parentheses):
Big South (High Point) Big West (UC Santa Barbara) CAA (Campbell) MAC (Kent State, Miami) WAC (Cal Baptist) WCC (Gonzaga)
Out of this group, UCSB is the strongest bet to earn an at-large spot if it fails to win their conference tournaments, as we currently project the Gauchos as a No. 2 seed, with a No. 34 RPI. High Point is the next most realistic candidate for an at-large bid, with a No. 44 RPI and a marquee road series win against Florida highlighting its resumé. The Panthers are 9-3 in the Big South, percentage points behind 7-2 Winthrop, and winning the regular-season title is likely crucial to HPU’s hopes. We like its chances to do that, but maintaining a top 50 RPI feels like a trickier proposition.
The other teams mentioned above have RPIs in the 50s or 60s, which theoretically puts them in the hunt for at-large spots. But realistically, none of those teams are likely to finish the year inside the top 50, given the poor RPIs of their conferencemates, and it would be a surprise to see any of them wind up getting an at-large bid. But they are on the radar, at least.
Here’s a conference by conference look at the seven leagues we currently project to snag multiple bids:
ACC (8 bids)
Team
Record
Conf.
RPI
SOS
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Safely In
Georgia Tech
30-5
15-3
3
55
6-2
8-2
5-0
11-1
North Carolina
30-6-1
13-5
11
37
4-4
9-1-1
3-0
14-1
Florida State
24-11
9-6
6
2
5-9
1-0
10-2
8-0
Virginia
26-11
10-8
17
24
7-6
6-3
4-1
9-1
Miami
27-9
8-7
31
83
5-4
5-5
5-0
12-0
Boston College
26-12
11-7
30
70
5-4
5-5
6-2
10-1
Wake Forest
24-13
9-9
21
27
3-10
4-2
5-1
12-0
On the Bubble (In)
NC State
24-12
8-7
61
78
2-6
3-1
7-2
12-3
On the Bubble (Out)
Clemson
23-14
5-10
41
20
2-6
3-6
7-1
11-1
Others to Watch
Notre Dame
16-15
7-11
70
46
1-6
6-7
3-1
6-1
Duke
22-16
8-10
97
150
2-6
5-4
1-2
14-4
Pittsburgh
22-12
6-9
73
129
3-4
2-1
5-6
12-1
Louisville
20-16
6-9
114
100
2-4
1-3
4-4
13-5
Louisville was one of the last four teams in our midseason projection, but the Cards have gone into freefall with four straight series losses and are no longer even inside our top 72, with a No. 111 RPI and a 20-16 overall mark along with a 6-9 ACC record. Louisville needs to go on a torrid streak to get back into the at-large discussion.
Notre Dame and Pitt were both in our midseason field two weeks ago, but both have fallen well out of at-large position since. The Irish have lost nine of their last 10 to fall to 7-11 in the ACC and No. 70 in the RPI, with a daunting series on deck at Florida State. Pitt dropped two of three at home and then got swept at home by last-place Cal, plummeting to No. 75 in the RPI and 6-9 in the ACC. Suddenly both of these teams have a whole lot of work to do to rescue their at-large hopes. For the time being, neither team is even on the bubble, similar to Louisville.
NC State slides from a No. 2 seed at midseason to a No. 3 seed now, due to a No. 61 RPI and an ugly nonconference SOS of No. 267. if the season ended today, NC State would be out based on those metrics, but we are betting on the Wolfpack’s talent. After back-to-back series wins against Notre Dame and Duke, NC State is now a solid 8-7 in the ACC, and upcoming road series at Wake and Virginia Tech should help its RPI as long as the Pack holds its own. Also worth noting: NC State is in much better shape in the DSR at No. 30, and that is an official metric that the committee considers now.
Clemson remains outside our field of 64 with a No. 41 RPI and an ugly 5-10 record in the ACC. But that RPI and a No. 28 DSR keeps the Tigers in the hunt if they can get hot down the stretch and improve their conference record. That surge needs to start now, however, with back to back road series upcoming at Virginia and at Louisville. The Tigers have a lot of work to do but they have a path; if they can get to 13 ACC wins, they’ll have a good shot sneak their way into the field.
American (2 bids)
Team
Record
Conf.
RPI
SOS
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Safely In
UTSA
25-11
8-4
28
66
4-2
4-2
11-5
6-2
On the Bubble (In)
East Carolina
22-14-1
7-5
36
17
3-5-1
3-3
9-5
7-1
On the Bubble (Out)
UAB
23-13
8-4
43
40
4-8
1-1
4-0
14-4
Rice
23-14
7-5
52
77
1-5
7-6
5-0
10-3
South Florida
25-10
6-6
59
169
3-3
2-2
5-3
15-2
Others to Watch
UTSA is in great shape to earn an at-large bid if it fails to capture the conference tournament. We currently project the Roadrunners as a No. 2 seed with a No. 30 RPI, a 4-2 record against Q1, and a share of first place in the American. ECU is also in our field with a No. 36 RPI, though the Pirates are tied for third with a modest 7-5 league record. We are betting on a strong finish for the Pirates, but right now they’re on the bubble as a No. 3 seed, with a tenuous hold on that position.
UAB is one of our first four teams out of the field, but the Blazers are right in the mix with an 8-4 league record and a No. 43 RPI. A home series loss to Wichita State was a setback this past weekend, and a road series at South Florida next week is crucial. Right now, we just need to see more proof of concept from the Blazers, and our lack of conviction in their staying power is the main reason they are currently outside our field — but they’re having an excellent year and have a real chance at proving us wrong. USF, meanwhile, is also in the hunt at 25-10 overall with a No. 59 RPI, but a rocky last three weeks has hurt its stock. A series win against UAB would go a long way toward getting the Bulls back in the thick of the race.
And don’t look now, but Rice has quietly played its way into the mix for its first NCAA tournament bid since 2017. The Owls made a major move by sweeping Charlotte on the road this past weekend, giving them eight wins in their last 10 games and improving them to 7-5 in the American and No. 53 in the RPI. Rice has already played UTSA and USF, losing two of three to both, but upcoming series vs. UAB and at East Carolina present an opportunity for the Owls to make a strong push up the at-large ladder, if they can find a way to win both, or at least go 3-3 in those two series.
Big 12 (7 bids)
Team
Record
Conf.
RPI
SOS
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Safely In
West Virginia
24-8
10-5
18
84
6-3
8-4
6-0
4-1
Kansas
26-10
12-3
24
96
3-2
6-5
9-1
8-2
UCF
20-12
10-5
32
15
4-6
4-2
1-4
11-0
On the Bubble (In)
Cincinnati
24-14
6-9
22
26
7-10
3-2
7-1
7-1
Arizona State
26-12
9-6
53
79
4-7
2-1
6-2
14-2
TCU
21-14
8-7
50
45
5-7
2-3
5-1
9-3
Kansas State
23-13
7-8
47
56
3-3
8-7
4-2
8-1
On the Bubble (Out)
Oklahoma State
22-14
7-8
49
72
6-10
3-1
5-1
8-2
Baylor
20-15
8-7
39
12
4-10
7-4
0-1
9-0
BYU
19-16
8-7
42
29
4-6
9-2
3-6
3-2
Others to Watch
Texas Tech
20-15
6-9
96
97
3-8
1-2
3-2
13-3
The top four teams in the standings (Kansas, WVU, UCF and Arizona State) are all in good shape, though the Sun Devils plummeted 10 spots to No. 50 in the RPI after losing a Monday game to 14-22 Arizona. We like ASU’s talent and expect that RPI to climb as the Devils head into the home stretch, because we anticipate a robust finish. If the season ended today, however, they’d be right on the bubble and sweating.
Cincinnati is in the field despite a 6-9 league record, largely on the strength of a No. 22 RPI. It’s worth noting, however, that DSR is much lower on the Bearcats (No. 59), and that may be a better indication of the season UC has had to this point, with conference series losses at BYU, vs. Kansas and at Oklahoma State (a sweep). But the Bearcats did rebound to win an important series against fellow bubble team Baylor this past weekend. The next two weeks will be make or break, with series at UCF and vs. West Virginia.
TCU and Kansas State are two of our final four teams in the field, with RPIs of No. 50 and No. 46, respectively. TCU, Baylor, BYU, Kansas State and Oklahoma State are all separated by just one game in the standings (8-7 or 7-8), and all rank between No. 39 (Baylor) and No. 51 (Oklahoma State) in the RPI, so it isn’t easy to parse this group right now. We’re giving nods to TCU and Kansas State mostly based on our faith in their talent and expectations of good finishes, rather than on their bodies of work to date. Both teams are also in better shape in the DSR and KPI than RPI, which helps offset their fringy RPI rankings. This race is wide open — there are 10 viable regional contenders here and very little separation between teams 4 and 10. It’s going to be a tumultuous road, and it figures to be a few weeks before we have more clarity. For now, we’re going with seven bids, but it’s easy to envision eight being the final number, depending on the size of the bubble. More than eight feels like a stretch.
Big Ten (5 bids)
Team
Record
Conf.
RPI
SOS
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Safely In
UCLA
33-2
18-0
1
22
6-0
10-0
12-1
5-1
Southern California
30-7
13-5
8
60
2-6
7-1
9-0
12-0
Oregon
26-10
10-5
34
89
7-5
2-2
3-2
14-1
Nebraska
27-9
12-3
27
128
6-6
1-1
3-2
17-0
On the Bubble (In)
Purdue
24-10
12-6
58
174
4-3
8-4
2-2
10-1
On the Bubble (Out)
Michigan
20-15
7-8
51
52
1-5
5-5
9-4
5-1
Others to Watch
The top four teams in the Big Ten feel like rock-solid regional clubs. Purdue was our first team out of the field two weeks ago but now moves up to our first team in the field, thanks to five straight Big Ten series wins following its conference-opening series loss at home to Oregon. The Boilermakers haven’t beaten any postseason contenders during this current run, but they did make serious noise early in the year with victories against Oregon State and at-large contender Baylor at the Round Rock Classic. They’re not in great RPI position at No. 58, but their 12-6 record in the No. 5 RPI conference gives them a real shot. They have one series left against a potential regional team — at USC in two weeks — and that feels like a very big one for their chances.
Also keep an eye on Michigan, which has bounced back from a rough first month with three straight series wins, headlined by a marquee series win against Oregon in early April. A No. 52 RPI is right on the borderline for a Big Ten team, but they need to continue to bolster their conference record, which is still just 7-8. The remaining schedule is very friendly, but offers no more opportunities for the Wolverines to make hay against postseason contenders, so it’s a double-edged sword.
Conference USA (3 bids)
Team
Record
Conf.
RPI
SOS
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Safely In
Missouri State
24-10
12-3
15
54
4-6
3-4
1-0
16-0
Liberty
25-10
11-4
23
51
4-6
8-3
4-0
9-1
Jacksonville State
29-8
13-2
26
125
3-7
3-0
7-0
16-1
On the Bubble (In)
Dallas Baptist
21-15
11-4
72
76
2-7
4-5
4-0
11-3
Others to Watch
Missouri State, Liberty and Jacksonville State are all sitting pretty inside the top 30 of the RPI, in a a very strong year for Conference USA, which sure appears to be tracking toward three bids. Dallas Baptist is the only other viable at-large contender, but at No. 72 in the RPI, the Patriots need to get hot and stay hot in order to have a shot, because right now they are barely on the bubble. A series win against Missouri State is currently the highlight of their resumé, and it feel slike they probably need to win just about all of their remaining series, including a critical season-closing set at home against Jacksonville State.
SEC (13 bids)
Team
Record
Conf.
RPI
SOS
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Safely In
Texas
27-7
9-5
2
10
10-4
3-2
4-1
10-0
Florida
27-10
9-6
4
5
11-6
3-3
7-0
6-1
Georgia
29-8
11-4
20
62
6-3
3-1
5-3
15-1
Texas A&M
27-7
9-5
12
28
4-6
6-0
2-1
15-0
Alabama
26-11
8-7
5
3
10-5
2-4
4-2
10-0
Auburn
24-11
8-7
10
1
5-8
10-3
4-0
5-0
Mississippi State
26-10
7-8
25
34
5-7
3-3
5-0
13-0
Ole Miss
26-11
8-7
13
6
8-10
1-0
5-1
12-0
Oklahoma
24-11
7-8
16
11
3-6
7-3
6-2
8-0
Arkansas
24-13
8-7
35
36
6-7
5-3
4-0
9-3
Tennessee
24-12
7-8
29
18
4-3
3-5
3-2
14-2
Kentucky
25-10
7-8
19
57
5-4
1-2
9-1
10-3
On the Bubble (In)
LSU
22-15
6-9
75
63
6-8
3-2
3-0
10-5
On the Bubble (Out)
Vanderbilt
21-16
7-8
98
94
2-8
3-2
4-3
12-3
Others to Watch
In this absurdly bunched mega-conference, the top 12 teams in the pecking order currently look like easy at-large picks, all with RPIs in the top 35 (and 11 of them in the top 25), and all with conference records no worse than one game below .500. Where it gets interesting is with team 13 (LSU) and 14 (Vanderbilt), two perennial superpowers who are fighting for their postseason lives, a year after the Tigers won the national title and the Commodores were the No. 1 overall seed. LSU currently sits in 14th place with a 6-9 conference record, though just a game behind a clump of five 7-8 teams. The Tigers are also struggling in the RPI (No. 72), though the DSR likes them much more (No. 28), as it does for most SEC teams. LSU seemed to be on the right track after winning back to back series against Kentucky and at Tennessee, but getting swept at Ole Miss this past weekend was a major setback, and the going doesn’t get any easier over the next two weeks, with a home set against Texas A&M followed by a trip to Mississippi State. After a home series against South Carolina, LSU closes with a trip to Athens and a home series against Florida. The good news is all those high-end opponents give LSU a chance to make a major move in the RPI, and if they can get to 13 SEC wins, the RPI should settle closer to No. 40, which would be a good target for an SEC bubble team. The bad news is that’s not an easy path. But we still believe in the talent on this roster and the pedigree of this program and this coaching staff, so for now we’re giving the Tigers the benefit of the doubt — even though they wouldn’t be anywhere near the field of 64 if the season ended today.
Vanderbilt is in a significantly worse spot at No. 99 in the RPI, though a No. 43 DSR is more palatable, but still weak for this conference. A 7-8 SEC record is fine, but it is undermined by a No. 285 nonconference strength of schedule and a 2-8 record against Q1. Vandy does have a sweep of Tennessee and a home series win against LSU, but the rest of its resumé isn’t pretty. Just getting to 13 SEC wins probably won’t be enough given Vandy’s RPI predicament; the ‘Dores needs to get very hot and find a way to 15 or 16 SEC wins to have any realistic shot. We aren’t bullish on their chances, even despite their talent. But stranger things have happened.
Sun Belt (3 bids)
Team
Record
Conf.
RPI
SOS
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Safely In
Coastal Carolina
26-9
13-2
9
8
6-3
3-3
11-2
6-1
Southern Miss
25-11
8-7
14
14
7-5
7-1
5-3
6-2
On the Bubble (In)
Texas State
24-12
9-6
38
41
1-4
8-0
8-7
7-1
On the Bubble (Out)
Louisiana
21-15
6-9
40
25
4-6
5-2
10-5
2-2
Arkansas State
21-14
7-8
46
47
5-7
3-2
4-4
9-1
Troy
18-18
8-7
56
23
4-6
3-4
6-6
5-2
Others to Watch
South Alabama
21-15
8-7
78
102
3-5
2-0
9-5
7-5
Coastal and Southern Miss are cruising toward the postseason and jockeying for host spots. Texas State slid toward the bubble with a home series loss to Troy this past weekend, but the Bobcats are still in pretty good shape with a 9-6 conference mark (second place) and a No. 38 RPI. The scary thing is the schedule gets daunting over the next two weeks, with back-to-back road trips to Southern Miss and Coastal. That stretch will make or break Texas State’s postseason chances; a 3-3 showing over those two weekends would be enough to keep the Bobcats on the right path.
Louisiana saved its season (at least for now) by taking a must-win series from Southern Miss this past weekend, improving the Cajuns to 6-9 in the Sun Belt. But that still leaves them tied for 11th place, and that’s not nearly good enough. Fortunately, they’re only two games behind a five-team logjam for third place at 8-7, so making up ground in the standings isn’t such an impossible task. At least the Cajuns are in decent RPI shape (No. 41), giving them a real shot to earn a bid if they can make headway in the standings. For now, they’re out.
Troy has won seven of its last 10 and climbed to No. 57 in the RPI, but at 18-18 overall, the Trojans still have a ton of work to do in order to have any realistic shot at a bid. Arkansas State got off to a nice start and made noise with a series win against Southern Miss in March, but it’s been tougher sledding since then, leaving the Red Wolves on the outside looking in with a No. 49 RPI and a 7-8 conference record. Home series remaining against Louisiana and Texas State offer key opportunities for Arkansas State to bolster its credentials.
Patrick Ebert and Burke Granger open with highlights from the weekend, headlined by Oregon’s series win over Nebraska and several teams with momentum, including Minnesota and Michigan.
The pair round out their thoughts on week nine before previewing the series of the week featuring USC at Nebraska.
01:40 Favorite Midwest Ballparks 05:22 Big Ten Rankings Snapshot 05:55 Oregon Tops Nebraska 07:29 Minnesota Finally Breaks Through 08:20 Michigan Momentum Watch 09:39 Maryland Walk-Off Statement 10:25 UCLA Stays Unbeatable 11:11 USC Sweep and Edwards Shines 11:56 On-site Series Deep Dives 12:22 Ohio State Turning the Corner 18:55 Penn State Bright Spot 20:28 Purdue Sweeps Northwestern 28:04 Injuries And Tourney Stakes 29:10 Northwestern Youth Movement 31:17 Series Of The Week: USC at Nebraska
Bids by conference: SEC (13), ACC (8), Big 12 (7), Big Ten (5), Sun Belt (3), Conference USA (3), American (2).
One thing to keep in mind with the way NCAA tournament seedings now operate: The NCAA Baseball Selection Committee will now rank the Top 32 teams, with 17-32 teams being grouped in pods as two seeds with the Top 16 seeds. For instance, teams in the 29-32 range will go national seeds in the No’s 1-4 range, teams in the 25-28 range will go to national seeds No’s 5-8, teams in the 21-24 range will go to national seeds in the No’s 9-12 range and teams in the 17-20 range will be two seeds at the No’s 13-16 regionals. It is worth noting two things: geographical considerations still matter when applicable, and you still cannot have two teams from the same conference in the same regional. That will naturally cause some seeding manipulation during the process.
Mark Etheridge, Kendall Rogers and Aaron Fitt, who have a combined 60 years of experience covering college baseball, compile our projections.
On The Bubble
Last Four In
LSU
TCU
Kansas State
Purdue
First Four Out
Oklahoma State
Clemson
Baylor
UAB
Four To Watch
Louisiana
Michigan
BYU
Troy
Field of 64
April 14 Edition
Los Angeles (UCLA)
1
UCLA* (1)
2
Liberty
3
Gonzaga*
4
Fairleigh-Dickinson*
Lawrence, Kan.
1
Kansas (16)
2
Mississippi State
3
NC State
4
Oral Roberts*
Atlanta
1
Georgia Tech* (2)
2
Tennessee
3
Jacksonville State*
4
Rider*
Los Angeles (USC)
1
Southern California (15)
2
Ole Miss
3
California Baptist*
4
Wright State*
Austin, Texas
1
Texas* (3)
2
Wake Forest
3
Texas State
4
New Mexico*
Auburn, Ala.
1
Auburn (14)
2
Southern Miss
3
TCU
4
Saint Joseph’s
Gainesville, Fla.
1
Florida (4)
2
Boston College
3
Arizona State
4
Yale*
Morgantown, W.Va.
1
West Virginia* (13)
2
Oklahoma
3
Kent State*
4
Connecticut*
Athens, Ga.
1
Georgia (5)
2
UC Santa Barbara*
3
East Carolina
4
Bethune-Cookman*
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
1
Alabama (12)
2
UCF
3
Purdue
4
Indiana State*
Chapel Hill, N.C.
1
North Carolina (6)
2
Nebraska
3
Campbell*
4
Binghamton*
Charlottesville, Va.
1
Virginia (11)
2
Oregon
3
High Point*
4
Bucknell*
Corvallis, Ore.
1
Oregon State (7)
2
UTSA*
3
Kentucky
4
Eastern Illinois*
Tallahassee, Fla.
1
Florida State (10)
2
Arkansas
3
Cincinnati
4
North Florida*
Conway, S.C.
1
Coastal Carolina* (8)
2
Missouri State*
3
LSU
4
Wofford*
College Station, Texas
1
Texas A&M (9)
2
Miami
3
Kansas State
4
SE Louisiana*
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/14141001/2026-Field-of-64.png5001000D1Baseball Staffhttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgD1Baseball Staff2026-04-14 15:31:472026-04-14 15:57:452026 Field Of 64 Projections: April 14
Kendall Rogers and Aaron Fitt are joined by D1Baseball’s resident Bracketologist, Mark Etheridge, to discuss how the Field of 64 looks in Week 10 of the 2026 college baseball season!
00:00 Nerdcast Returns 00:19 Chaos Season Context 02:35 How Projections Work 03:21 New Top 32 Seeding 05:03 Top Seeds UCLA, Georgia Tech 08:06 Sorting the Next Tier 08:45 Florida Resume Debate 15:54 Filling Out Top 10 18:26 Host Bubble Teams 24:53 Final Host Picks 31:51 Seeds 17 to 32 35:10 Ranking the No. 2 Seeds 41:18 Last Spots: Wake Forest, Liberty 42:59 Auto-Bids Begin 43:34 A10 and America East 44:37 American and ACC Check 50:40 Big 12 Bubble Cluster 52:40 Big East to Big West 55:05 CUSA Through Ivy 56:26 MAC Chaos and More 01:02:03 SEC Spotlight, LSU 01:04:39 Sun Belt and Other Mid-Majors 01:07:30 Bubble Size Revealed 01:08:01 Last Four In Picks 01:15:09 Next Four and Watch List 01:19:27 Wrap-Up and Next Week
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Is your favorite team in the SEC? Make sure to check out our Highway To Hoover podcast with Joe Healy and Mark Etheridge on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
Or maybe you’re a fan of ACC baseball? Then you need to check out the ACC Baseball Etc. podcast with Daron Vaught and Bradley Smart on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/14123742/The-D1Baseball-Podcast-Week-10-Nerdcast-2026.png5001000D1Baseball Staffhttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgD1Baseball Staff2026-04-14 13:30:002026-04-14 12:39:49Week 10 Nerdcast: 2026 Field of 64 Projection
ATLANTA — Entering Saturday’s series finale, Georgia Tech had been outhomered, 4-1, by visiting Florida State. Yet the Jackets had doubled them up, both in runs and wins, and had drawn 13 walks in two games. The slug, which the Jackets possess in spades, soon followed. Georgia Tech hit four home runs in a 17-3 win, an emphatic sweep-sealing run-rule win that pushed its winning streak to 12 games and its lead in the ACC table to two games over North Carolina.
That, to head coach James Ramsey, was a perfect example of his team’s approach working. Florida State entered the weekend with a pitching staff that drew nearly a 27 percent chase rate and a 26 percent put-away rate (the rate of two-strike pitches that result in a strikeout). Against the Jackets, that dipped to 21 and 20 percent, respectively.
“We didn’t slug as much the first couple of days as I think we could have, but honestly that’s part of what can get you in trouble,” Ramsey said after. “When you have really good arms that are making pitches on the edges of the plate, have really good fastballs and good secondary stuff, you have to just take what they’re giving you. It was similar to the NC State series when you’re talking about first- and second-round arms up and down, starters and bullpen, for us to just scratch any which way that we can. The slug came today when mistakes were made and we did damage with them.”
The damage done in two innings on Saturday — in which Georgia Tech piled up 15 runs to turn a deficit into another laugher — reflected what the Jackets have been able to do to teams all year. If you drill into the underlying numbers from the weekend, however, you see a lineup that can make the necessary in-game adjustments, even within a specific at-bat, to handle the quality of pitching that they’ll undoubtedly face if they want to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Consider this stat: Last season, hitters across the country hit just .180 with two strikes. This past weekend, Georgia Tech hit .310 (17-for-55) with two strikes. On the year, they’re hitting .228 in those counts, a full 16 percentage points higher than the next-best mark in the ACC (NC State, .217). One stat pitching coaches harp on is the 1-1 count win rate: How often can you win those battles? Last year, hitters had an .882 OPS in 2-1 counts versus a .530 mark in 1-2 counts. Florida State’s arms won those battles two-thirds of the time on Sunday but it didn’t seem to matter.
Georgia Tech’s Carson Kerce (Bradley Smart)
In the fifth inning, Drew Burress fell behind to Cole Stokes at 0-2, battled back to 2-2, and laced a single into right field. Jarren Advincula drove him in on an 0-1 offering a batter later. O’Leary quickly got a pair of called strikes on Alex Hernandez, only for him to drive in a run with a single up the middle on a 2-2 count. Against Cade O’Leary, Kent Schmidt singled on a 1-2 count. Then, with two outs, Will Baker doubled and Carson Kerce singled in a run. It was a five-run frame for the Jackets in which three of the runs came with two outs.
Kerce’s at-bat is one to single out. O’Leary got an ugly chase from Kerce on a curveball low and away. That prompted Ramsey to call an offensive timeout, a move we’ve seen many times this year. The conversation was brief, however, and Kerce quickly dug back into the batter’s box. He took a fastball low then laced a two-run single through the left side of the infield on another curveball that left the bat at 98 mph.
“We do a really good job making adjustments,” Kerce said. “Ramsey does a really good job with the scouting reports and adjusting on the fly, understanding how pitchers are attacking us maybe different than they do different guys in other orders. I think our lineup is one of the best in the country so we’re going to get some of their different stuff because they find out we’re going to attack their best pitches.”
In talking with Ramsey after the game, moments like that meeting with Kerce — after a daunting few days of scouting and prep work — are what make his job a joy.
The first-year head coach joked that he doesn’t sleep much on Tuesday nights after a midweek game, nor on Wednesday, and had to buy blue light glasses to deal with watching as much video as he does. He stressed that if he and his staff are going to preach to his players to work hard, they’ve got to do it as well, and the system the Jackets’ staff has devised is certainly paying dividends. Each coach takes on a different part of the prep, whether it’s Josh Schulman handling baserunning, Jason Richman on positioning, or Matt Taylor game-planning for the pitching staff. They spread it out, then meet to cross-reference their findings.
“If you think this guy we’re going to face is hitting X against X pitch, why do you think he’s doing that? We’ll have that conversation,” Ramsey said. “If a guy is throwing from zero-zero vs. two-feet extended and he’s switching for batter handedness, if his horizontal approach is steeper, sideways steeper, why do you think that’s more effective? The pitching guys usually have an answer we can talk about. That is what I love more than anything.”
James Ramsey discusses an at-bat with Drew Burress (Bradley Smart)
“Obviously, the human connection of a hitter and getting him confident, but then preparing him so he knows when he steps in the box what a pitch feels like, what it looks like. It’s to get that reaction when you take a visit with [Carson Kerce] and he’s like ‘I’m good’ and I’m like, ‘I know you’re good, but in this pitch clock era you can’t take a deep breath and you’re a little out on your front side, and you just need to calm each other down.'”
Kerce had a massive weekend, going 8-for-12 with two doubles, a home run, and six RBIs. He’s enjoying a career year, slashing .402/.490/.680 with 20 doubles, 32 RBIs, and 17 walks to 17 strikeouts while playing elite defense at shortstop. On many teams, he’d be hitting leadoff. For Georgia Tech, he hit eighth in all three games this weekend. You could say the same about Jarren Advincula, who hit leadoff in 49 of 55 games for Cal last spring but now slots in at third for the Jackets.
“[Advincula’s] the prototypical leadoff hitter,” Ramsey said. “High contact, lefthanded, a lot of speed. I think we would like that vision to work but you put a guy in the three-hole that’s got elite contact, hits for power, hits righties and lefties, it’s those two guys at the front and Hernandez behind him. Every time I write the lineup, I’m going 7-8-9, I’m sitting there and I’m like you could move those guys to 4-5-6 and I would be like, that’s a really good middle of the lineup. I think that’s the positive part. These guys really don’t see it that way. As soon as the game starts, Drew [Burress] leads off the first time and then after that we’re just going nine vs. one against them.”
The danger at every turn was apparent in the sixth inning, when Georgia Tech erupted for 10 more runs to secure the run-rule. Nine-hole hitter Caleb Daniel, in a platoon in left field with Parker Brosius, homered on the first pitch he saw. Later, with two outs and two on, Florida State went to a lefty out of the pen.
Kent Schmidt drew a walk, Ryan Zuckerman scorched a two-strike double into the left-center gap, and Baker worked a walk after falling behind 1-2. In came another pitcher, who gave up a two-run single to Kerce (on a full count) and a three-run homer to Burress. Vahn Lackey greeted yet another new pitcher with a homer and, while the inning ended shortly afterwards, Advincula fouled off four pitches and laced a single into right.
Innings like that late in games feel almost inevitable when you face Georgia Tech. The Jackets do such a good job at driving up pitch counts and making adjustments that turning that order over multiple times is incredibly challenging. If they get deep into your bullpen, too, it’s a recipe for disaster. Just two starters have gone at least six innings against them this season — NC State’s Ryan Marohn and Jacob Dudan — and the average start length is less than four innings (3.1).
“It’s a broken record but these guys just embody everything you want to talk about as a coach,” Ramsey said. “So it’s really easy for us to just keep putting them in the best positions and trust that they know how to play the game.”
https://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/04/14124532/Georgia-Techs-Will-Baker-and-Carson-Kerce.jpg5001000Bradley Smarthttps://cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2024/11/21163231/d1-logo.svgBradley Smart2026-04-14 13:00:002026-04-14 22:56:17Even if it’s two strikes or two outs, Georgia Tech can make you pay
On this episode of ACC Baseball Etc., Daron Vaught and Bradley Smart are joined by Danny Graves to discuss Georgia Tech’s sweep of Florida State and other notable results from Weekend 9 around the ACC.
00:00 Weekend Recap Setup 01:25 Georgia Tech Dominates 11:14 Florida State Outlook 14:53 ACC Tier Talk 17:33 North Carolina Skepticism 27:39 Miami Finds Answers 33:38 Wake Forest Slump 37:13 Louisville Trouble Signs 44:07 NC State Responds 50:07 Virginia Bats Reignite 53:34 Boston College Momentum 59:55 Cal Shock Sweep 01:01:25 Putter Talk and Wrap
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Big 12 Weekend Primer: A deep dive into KU’s ascend to the Big 12 mountaintop
Kansas’ rise to the Big 12 mountaintop was anything but foreseen in college baseball.
For coach Dan Fitzgerald, it was simply a matter of time. His Jayhawks, winners of 11 straight and 17-2 over their last 19 contests, have emulated a conference juggernaut and an Omaha-caliber ball club. Starting pitching has dazzled, the bullpen has been good enough, while the offense has made relative ease of its competition, jolting Kansas to the top of the Big 12 standings midway through conference play.
This weekend, the No. 18 Jayhawks (27-10, 12-3 Big 12) travel 260 miles south of Lawrence to face Oklahoma State (23-14, 7-8 Big 12) in a series at O’Brate Stadium, starting Friday at 2 p.m. Projections casting KU as a regional host for the first time in program history have come, along with midseason All-American honors for a variety of players. And this weekend, Fitzgerald said, is merely another opportunity to prolong recent success.
“We’ve come a long way,” Fitzgerald said. “I think with those early weekends in the season, you think you know who you are as a team, but you really don’t. There’s only so much you can learn in intra-squad (scrimmages), but you won’t learn the identity of your team until you play another team.”
However, it didn’t come without early obstacles, and when reflecting on his team’s recent success, Fitzgerald said he often looks back on the progression from the start of conference play.
Fitzgerald said he hasn’t typically been a “team meeting guy” during his coaching career. Not during his nine seasons as an assistant at Dallas Baptist, his lone season at LSU, nor his four seasons as the Jayhawks’ head man.
But after a lethargic midweek loss at TCU, swiftly followed by an 11-4 loss to open conference play at Texas Tech, he deemed it necessary.
So, at the team’s hotel in Lubbock, he called a coaches meeting. Fitzgerald instructed his staff to revert “back to the basics.” Tweaking bunt coverages, reworking first-and-third defensive schemes, piecing together nuanced pitching plans, and everything in between.
“Basically, all of the things you think you won’t cover or experience in a game, we went over,” Fitzgerald said. “I basically told our staff, ‘Hey, what we’re doing is not working. We’re better than how we’re playing. It’s our job to figure this out, so let’s do it.’
“(Hitting coach Tyler) Hancock and I got together later, and we essentially said, ‘Hey, let’s rebrand this thing, simplify it and go from there.’”
Despite a walk-off loss the following day, Fitzgerald said he found solace in the product on display in contrast to recent games. At-bats were more competitive, pitching was under more control and above all else, less self-inflicted blemishes surfaced.
“I remember leaving the ballpark that night feeling good and thinking, ‘OK, we’re gonna learn a lot about our ball club the next few weeks,” Fitzgerald said. “We lost, but it looked a lot better.”
Fast forward, and Fitzgerald’s intuition paid dividends.
The Jayhawks run-ruled Texas Tech in the series finale and ignited from that point.
A series sweep at home against Houston followed, before a comeback series win against Cincinnati came shortly after. Next, a midweek sweep of rival Missouri and weekend sweeps against Utah and, most recently, formerly first-place UCF.
Now, the Jayhawks sit atop the Big 12 standings. And it’s been a product of a thunderous offensive attack, complemented by the steady development of the starting pitching rotation.
Namely, with junior right-hander Dominic Voegele.
A rocky start against UT-Rio Grande Valley on Opening Day and another two weeks later against Minnesota saw Voegele slotted out of his usual ace role and into the back end of the Jayhawks’ rotation. As of late, however, he’s found his stride on the mound.
Through his junior season, Voegele holds an 8.08 ERA with 49 strikeouts to 21 walks (2.34 K-BB ratio) and a .304 opponent batting average through nine starts and 45 2/3 innings pitched.
A polarizing stat line, sure. Still, Fitzgerald noted that what’s important is how Voegele has emulated what he envisioned from him in the offseason. Especially as the Jayhawks embark on the tail end of their regular-season slate.
And if anything, his recent seven-inning, 10-strikeout effort with only two earned runs in Game 2 of last weekend’s series against the Knights might be a foreshadowing of what is to come down the stretch.
“Dom has had a fantastic career, it’s just a unique career because it feels like he’s had a million starts,” Fitzgerald said. “I think when you start that many games, you’re gonna experience just about everything.”
As for the offense, heralded junior college transfers such as utility piece Tyson LeBlanc — .312/.419/.681, 14 HR — Cade Balridge — .318/.412/.464, 5 HR — and Augusto Mungarrieta — .325/.415/.626, 10 HR — have aided in a balanced offensive attack. All while veteran slugger Brady Ballinger — .281/.417/.863, 4 HR — steadily finds his groove at the plate, which Fitzgerald deemed “imperative” down the stretch of the season.
“They’re playing good baseball right now,” OSU coach Josh Holliday said. “They’ve been clicking on all cylinders, so, for us, it’s about taking it one game at a time. It’ll be a good test, for sure.”
While KU’s recent surge reshaped the Jayhawks’ season trajectory, it simultaneously reframed the way Fitzgerald evaluates both his roster and the longevity of a season. Experience, he said, isn’t defined by smooth stretches alone, but rather by how players respond when things stall and expectations tighten. That’s why individual growth and prospect development, especially from veterans who have endured the highs and lows of a grueling 56- to 58-game schedule, has become as defining as the team’s place in the standings.
And Fitzgerald owes much of it to his decision to call a team meeting on a late Friday night in Lubbock.
“As much as I believe — or want to believe — every year that we’re going to go undefeated, I have to remind myself that it really has never happened,” Fitzgerald said. “Slow starts are part of the game, part of a season. It’s just a matter of, can you work around those and find positives within each week.
“I think we have another great opportunity ahead of us this weekend. Playing Oklahoma State from my time at DBU and obviously now at KU, they always have a ton of left-handed hitters and a lot, a lot of power. So, we’ve got a big test this weekend, and I’ll be interested to see how our guys handle it.”
Weekend Watch: Players You Should Watch
Dominic Voegele (Kansas, RHP)
Dominic Voegele’s junior campaign might be best described as a tale of discrepancies.
A calamitous start to the season saw him slotted out of the Day 1 role and into the back end of the Jayhawks (27-10, 12-3 Big 12) starting rotation. As of late, however, he’s flashed ace potential — that of which earned him preseason Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honors ahead of the 2025 season. Most recently, in a seven-inning, 10-strikeout effort, allowing only two earned runs in Game 2 of last weekend’s series against UCF, guiding KU to a loud sweep against the Knights at home.
Voegele has logged 40 starts through his three-year collegiate career. Dan Fitzgerald told D1Baseball how such a plethora of starts can lead to an off-balanced trajectory in a pitcher’s season. Through his junior campaign, Voegele holds a 8.08 ERA with 49 strikeouts to 21 walks (2.34 K-BB ratio) and a .304 opponent batting average through nine starts and 45 2/3 innings pitched.
This weekend against Oklahoma State, Fitzgerald and Co. better hope they see the recent product of Voegele. He will be tested against a potent OSU lineup, but if his recent production indicates anything, it’s that he will be up for the task at hand.
Cole Carlon (Arizona State, LHP)
Arizona State’s navigation of its pitching has been a roller coaster ride so far.
At least the Sun Devils (26-13, 9-7 Big 12) have Cole Carlon to fall back on. Through nine starts and 46 innings pitched, ASU’s ace left-hander holds a 4.11 ERA to go with a .239 opponent batting average. His 75 strikeouts ranks second in the Big 12, only four behind Oklahoma State lefty Ethan Lund.
Carlon had a shaky start against Utah last weekend, surrendering seven runs off eight hits, three walks and a home run through only 4 2/3 innings of work. Still, the upside is immense and the sheer talent has been apparent throughout. And after ASU’s series-opening loss to BYU on Thursday, Carlon will need to be at his best if it hopes to maneuver its way to a series win.
Jesse Rusinek (Texas Tech, RF)
If Texas Tech is going to spark a midseason turnaround, it will need to ride its offense down the stretch.
The Red Raiders (20-16, 6-9 Big 12) have a treasure trove of offensive weapons, apparent with their Big 12-best .355 team batting average. But a handful of unforeseen contributors have aided in the team’s abundance of early offensive success.
Enter freshman right fielder Jesse Rusinek.
The first-year prospect leads Tech in batting average with a .438 clip, to go with a .515 on base percentage, a .625 slugging percentage and two home runs. He’s logged 27 RBIs to 15 walks and profusely manages to manufacture ways to reach base.
He’s been a pleasant surprise for the Red Raiders thus far. But he can’t ease up now, especially with a pivotal three-game series on the road against Utah upcoming.
Tyson LeBlanc (Kansas, UTL)
Tyson LeBlanc has been perhaps the biggest surprise within Kansas’ lineup.
LeBlanc, a transfer from LSU-Eunice, is slashing .310/.416/.676 to go with a team-leading 14 home runs. Not to mention, he’s logged a hit in nine of his last 11 games.
LeBlanc has been a Swiss Army Knife for KU this season, and a viable utility option. He’s flashed stellar defense at multiple positions, which complements his timely hitting skills and raw power.
The Jayhawks will be counting on LeBlanc to prolong his recent offensive production this weekend against a stellar OSU starting pitching rotation.
Stormy Rhodes (Oklahoma State, RHP)
With ace lefthander Hudson Barrett out with arm soreness for the foreseeable future, Josh Holliday has had to rely heavily on Rhodes to rise to the occasion.
Two weeks ago, during Oklahoma State’s series sweep of Cincinnati, Holliday told reporters that Stormy Rhodes would be needed to stabilize the Cowboys’ starting rotation moving forward. He echoed that sentiment last weekend after OSU’s series at Kansas State.
Rhodes, a sophomore right-hander, has dazzled in his second season. He boasts a 3.52 ERA — a stark contrast to his 8.14 as a freshman — to go with 35 strikeouts to just 11 walks and a .250 opponent batting average through 15 appearances and 30 2/3 innings pitched.
He flashed starting potential in his lone start against UCF to open conference play. There, Rhodes struck out four to just four hits and two earned runs through five innings pitched.
Assuming he gets the nod this weekend, Rhodes will be tested against a scorching-hot Kansas lineup. And it will be a likely barometer of where the 6-foot-4 sophomore stands in his development process, especially if his start comes on a rubber game.
Teams To Watch
BYU
We talked last week about Baylor’s quiet hot start to conference play. Now, it might be time to begin discourses about BYU’s.
The Cougars (20-16, 9-7 Big 12) are fresh off a series sweep on the road against Houston, a series where they outscored their opposition 15-5 on the weekend. Concurrently, BYU pitching limited the Coogs to only 18 hits on the weekend, with the bullpen doing much of the damage throughout the series.
But they didn’t stop there. Shortly after came an impressive 4-0 midweek road win against Lamar on Monday, and a loud 19-9 run-rule win against No. 23 Arizona State in Thursday’s series opener.
With the Cougars’ RPI up to 37 and their 13-7 combined record against Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents — 4-6 against Q1 — they are likely in good standing for an at-large bid. Of course, being only four games above .500 is unideal, but four weeks remain in the regular season to improve that margin.
From a resume standpoint, the lone blemish is a lack of marquee series wins. A series victory this weekend against the Sun Devils would neutralize that threat, and Thursday’s win brings Trent Pratt’s ball club one step closer to fulfilling that.
Arizona
At this juncture, the 2026 campaign is a lost cause for Arizona.
Last season, the Wildcats made their first appearance in the College World Series since 2021, revitalizing a program that already boasts the status as one of college baseball’s bluebloods. Shortly after came a No. 24 preseason ranking and a second-place selection in the Big 12 preseason poll.
The offseason buzz seemingly foreshadowed the makings of a promising season for Arizona. Until it didn’t.
First came a season-ending elbow injury to senior All-American closer Tony Pluta. Then a bevy of others.
Now, the Wildcats (14-22, 5-10 Big 12) are eight games under .500, with the likelihood of an at-large bid to a regional all but terminated.
Still, that doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to play for.
At 13th place in the Big 12, Arizona sits one game below Texas Tech, Utah and Cincinnati in the Big 12 standings. It’s worth noting that only the top 12 teams make the conference tournament, which takes place May 20-23 at Surprise Stadium in Arizona. Not to mention, Tech and Utah clash this weekend, making the Wildcats’ home series against Kansas State all the more important.
A series victory on the road against TCU last weekend was the first step. Follow suit this weekend, and the Cats move above the threshold. And given the immense bad luck and misfortune Chip Hale’s ball club has undergone, at least appearing in the conference tournament would be an unequivocal silver lining heading into the 2027 season.
West Virginia
Five weeks into conference play, West Virginia looks the part as the Big 12’s best, top to bottom.
The 15th-ranked Mountaineers (25-8, 10-5 Big 12) aren’t rolling teams over as they were early on, but outside of a series loss to UCF at home a couple of weeks ago, they’ve taken care of business. That matters most.
Their success has been driven by stellar production from the starting rotation and a thunderous offensive attack, headlined by catcher Gavin Kelly and outfielder Paul Schoenfeld. In total, the Mountaineers boast a Big 12-best 3.99 team ERA, complemented by a .312 team batting average.
That said, I’m not selling stock on Steve Sabins’ ball club in the Big 12 race just yet. The remaining schedule is quite feasible, outside of a road series against first-place Kansas in a few weeks.
West Virginia sits two games behind the Jayhawks in the conference standings heading into the weekend, with an important series at home against Houston awaiting it this weekend. A sweep would go a long way in jolting the Mountaineers back within striking distance of a first-place standing. However, a series victory would also suffice.
Texas Tech
Through the early portions of conference play, Texas Tech appeared to be surpassing preseason expectations.
Fast-forward, and the lingering concerns clouding the team’s outlook in the preseason have surfaced at large. Most notably, pitching deficiencies.
The Red Raiders (20-16, 6-9 Big 12) hold a Big 12-worst 7.39 team ERA. The pitching staff has allowed eight or more runs in seven of their past 12 contests, while Tech has dropped its past three Big 12 series after a promising 4-2 start to conference play. That, of course, is underscored by a head-scratching series loss at home to conference-bottom dweller Houston, where the Red Raiders blew late leads in Games 1 and 2 of the series.
An at-large bid appears far-fetched at this point, but it isn’t unattainable. A series win — or better — this weekend at home against a struggling Utah team would pay dividends in terms of getting the Red Raiders back to a respectable spot in the conference standings. And while the pitching staff has been a liability, it has displayed subtle signs of improvement over the past two weeks. Simultaneously, the offense is good enough to win ballgames on any given day.
A series loss, however, might be the final blow to Tech’s postseason hopes.
Friday Waypoints – SEC Baseball This Weekend with Joe Healy [4-17-26]
On this episode of Weekend Waypoints, Joe Healy recaps midweek action and the Thursday games around the SEC before getting you ready for Friday’s slate.
Weekend Waypoints is brought to you by Academy Sports + Outdoors—your go-to destination for everything you need this baseball season. Whether you’re gearing up for game day or sharpening your skills in the offseason, Academy has the bats, gloves, cleats, protective gear, training equipment, and apparel to help you bring it home for less. With everyday low prices and a huge selection of top brands like Easton, Rawlings, and Wilson, Academy makes it easy to step up to the plate with confidence. Shop in-store or online at Academy.com and get ready to play ball!
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Sorenson’s Off The Top Of My Head: Weekend 10 Primer
Yes, StitchHeads, we forge on to week 10 of the 2026 college baseball season, which means we are 30 days from preparing for Conference Tournament week. So things are starting to get soap opera serious. Mistakes are multiplied. Opportunities are getting fewer and fewer. The pressure is certainly on for the mid-majors where they are in must-win situations against teams that are buried down in the triple-digit RPIs. From this point onward there are a thousand different ways this season can go. Can’t wait to see.
Let’s start The Fives here. Readyyyyyy, go.
FIVE BURNING QUESTIONS I HAVE GOING INTO THIS WEEKEND
I’ll keep it short and simple so you can read this quickly and then move on to your Instagram stories, Twitter rages and social media doom scrolls.
1- How will Georgia Tech handle a second straight weekend vs. a Top Five opponent?
This time on the road at North Carolina.
2- How much will the high-ranking mid-majors get hurt by playing weak opponents?
No. 15 Missouri State, No. 25 UC Santa Barbara, No. 30 Jacksonville State, No. 40 East Carolina, No. 44 St. Joseph’s and No. 46 Kent State will suffer, win or lose, from playing teams win triple digit RPIs.
3- Can teams in the 60s of the RPI raise their profile with big wins over higher-ranked foes this weekend?
I’m looking at you No. 65 LSU (vs. No. 13 Texas A&M), No. 68 Dallas Baptist (vs. No. 21 Liberty), No. 64 Troy (vs. No. 41 Louisiana) and No. 67 Tarleton State (vs. No. 52 Cal Baptist).
4- Will UCLA lose the top spot even if the Bruins win all three games this weekend?
The Boys of Westwood will be playing No. 112 Minnesota at home while the No. 2-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will face North Carolina on the road.
5- Can the Bay Area Boys keep their hot streaks going at home?
Cal (18-17) is coming off a sweep of Pitt and will be taking on Louisville and Stanford (16-17) just got done winning two of three at Louisville but has Miami coming to Palo Alto this weekend.
MY TOP FIVE MATCHUPS I’M WATCHING THIS WEEKEND
There are a lot of good matchups in our sport this weekend, StitchHeads. But digging down a little bit, there are a few key game-within-the-game showdowns that have my eye.
1- Georgia Tech at North Carolina
Key Matchup: Jackets offense vs. Heels arms
This is a top-shelf matchup, obviously. Tech has an insane one-thru-nine and leads the nation with a .359 team average, led by Jarren Advincula’s .421 average, Carson Kerce’s 21 doubles and Ryan Zuckerman’s 14 home runs. Odd to think that All American Drew Burress is just seventh on the team in batting average but is still hitting .338. They’ll face the very stout Tar Heels arms, who sport a 3.72 team ERA. Keep an eye on if the Heels get any late leads because relievers Caden Glauber and Walker McDuffie have thrown a combined 81.0 innings and have held opposing batters to .179 and .188 averages respectively.
2- USC at Nebraska
Key Matchup: That Trojan rotation vs. the Cornhusker offense
The Huskers are looking to get back into the Top 25 after suffering a 1-3 week, even though they played Oregon to three nip-and-tuck games. Mason Edwards and Grant Govel have actually shown a few dents of late but they are still 6-0/1.35 and 7-0/2.13 respectively. Edwards has 95 Ks in 53.1 innings. Let that sink in. The Big Red is hitting .311 (which is the name of that ‘90s ska/rock band from Omaha, ironically) and is led by Mac Moyer’s .393 (he has been over .400 all season until last week) and Dylan Carey’s .373. On the flip side, the Huskers’ pitching staff is holding opposing batters to a .222 average. So the somewhat struggling Trojans offense will have its work cut out for themselves.
3- Georgia at Arkansas
Key Matchup: Razorback pitching vs. the Bulldog bats
The Bulldogs are trying to emulate their rival Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets by posting imposing offensive numbers. A full nine hitters on the roster have a .300-plus average and there are six hitters with double-digit home run totals, led by All American Tre Phelps who hits .393 with 14 dingers and has also been plunked 24 times. They’ll be facing off against the 24th-best pitching staff in D1 with a team RBI at 4.01. There are seven regulars who have so far posted a sub-3.99 ERA including starters Hunter Dietz (3-2, 3.61) and Gabe Gaeckle (5-3, 3.98). Dietz has been particularly ominous to opposing hitters, posting 78 punch outs in 47.1 innings. And keep in mind this is not the band-box the Bulldogs are used to playing in at home.
(Note: The Razorbacks won Thursday’s opener 6-3, although the Dawgs did park a pair of home runs, so maybe it didn’t matter if they were playing in a Band Box or not.)
4- Louisville at Cal
Key Matchup: The Cardinals high-octane offense vs. the surprisingly effective Bears arms
For all the troubles the Bears have gone through this season (such as their 4-11 mark in ACC play), two things are true about them. One, they entered this week with an RPI at No. 63, meaning they are still within range of at-large consideration. And two, the pitching staff is actually very solid. The team ERA of 4.34 is good for 34th nationally, which keeps them in any game. They’ll face off with a batting order that is coming off a College World Series appearance and has a team average of .317. Names like Lucas Moore, Zion Rose, Tague Davis and Alex Alicea were the core of that CWS batting order last season and are all back now (though Alicea is currently injured). However, the biggest facet of this team is that, at 21-16, the Cards are way down at No. 104 in the RPI, so if they are going to make a move into at-large land, it has to start now.
5- Mississippi State at South Carolina
Key Matchup: The Gamecock starters vs. the struggling Bulldog offense
This is an interesting matchup, and it will be hard to tell which team will show up. Like Cal above the Cocks have had a season of struggles (19-19) but have pitched the ball really well (4.26 ERA, 35th nationally). Friday and Saturday starters Brandon Stone (4-1, 2.89) and Amp Phillips (3-4, 2.17) have been really effective in their starts, including Phillips being named SEC Pitcher of the Week last week. And of course, the struggles of the Bulldogs has been well-documented, having gotten swept in two straight weekends. But they do hit .318 as a unit, which is good for 12th nationally. But in their last six SEC games, the Maroons have hit just .233 and have struck out 61 times. The Bullies can’t keep spiraling like they are.
WE HAVE OUR FIRST CANCELLATION OF A PROGRAM’S SEASON
Pennsylvania College of Technology has dismissed all the coaches except a volunteer assistant and number of players due to some unspecified “concerning reports” after a trip to a tournament in Myrtle Beach…
https://www.athleticbusiness.com/operations/personnel/article/15820858/pennsylvania-college-of-technology-abruptly-cancels-baseball-season-fires-coaching-staff
STATES THAT I HAVE COVERED COLLEGE BASEBALL GAMES IN.
I heard Boston Globe sports writer Bob Ryan on a podcast a few weeks ago talking about what states he has been to in covering a sporting event. He said, in his long, storied sportswriting career that the only states that he’s never covered a game in were Alaska, Montana, Idaho and New Mexico. That got me thinking, how many states have I been to in covering college baseball? The answer turned out to be 34. So since it’d be easier to saw which states I have NOT covered baseball in, here they are, moving East to West…
New Hampshire
Vermont
Delaware
Pennsylvania
West Virginia
Michigan
Illinois
Wisconsin
North Dakota
Kansas
Colorado
Wyoming
Montana
Idaho
Washington
Alaska
A couple of notes here:
– In the summer of 2018 I went to a Foo Fighters concert at Wrigley and before the show Lady StitchHead and I dropped by Curtis Granderson Stadium at Illinois-Chicago and there was a high school summer game going on.
– Last June, before I flew back from the College World Series (via Kansas City), I drove by Kansas State’s rebuilt stadium and saw a high school summer game being played there.
– In the fall of 2019 I went up to Seattle for a wedding and dropped by Washington’s “new” stadium to catch a Huskies fall practice and talk to head coach Lindsey Meggs for their Fall Report that year.
– If you include college hockey, you can take Alaska off that list. When I was the national college hockey writer for ESPN.com in 2016 I went up to Anchorage to cover Arizona State’s first games as a D1 program.
So although I didn’t work a game in those three stadiums, I did see baseball being played in them. But I still can’t count them as states I have worked in college baseball.
AN UPDATE ON THE RALLY PELICAN AT UCSB
I meant to write this a couple weeks ago but I forgot. I’m sure you might’ve seen it but during a game vs. LMU a pelican got caught up in the netting behind home plate, halting a game for a few minutes. Here is a post from when it happened.
Well, after the Gauchos beat Oregon two weeks ago, I talked with head coach Andrew Checketts, and he told me that after that game, he and his team had a moment of silence.
“For who?” I asked.
“The pelican,” he said. “… no, not the real pelican. After that pelican incident we had a stuffed toy pelican as our lucky mascot in the dugout. But after we lost four games in a row we decided to have a ceremonial burning of the pelican because it brought us bad luck.”
By the way, you guys will be happy to know the real pelican that got stuck in the netting was fine after being untied from his entanglement. Currently the Gauchos have won seven of their last eight, including Tuesday’s 4-0 over No. 1-ranked UCLA.
THIS WEEK IN COLLEGE BASEBALL HISTORY
– Clemson’s biggest comeback in program history: 1995.
The Tigers were down to North Carolina State 15-4 entering the ninth inning of a game played on April 14th of 1995. They ended up plating 11 runs in the ninth inning and then won the game with a two-run single from Rusty Rhodes in the 10th inning and the shutdown work of Scott Winchester on the mound. Here is the full writeup:
https://clemsontigers.com/news/2014/04/14/clemson-vault-greatest-comeback-in-tiger-baseball-history
– Jeffrey Maier becomes Wesleyan College’s all-time hits leader: 2006
If that name sounds familiar it’s the bratty little 12 year-old kid who stole the home run off Derek Jeter’s bat that Baltimore’s Tony Torasco was clearly going to catch in the ALCS playoffs, became Wesleyan’s all-time hits leader on April 12th, 2006. His 169th hit of his career, a double against Bates College, re-wrote his name into the school’s record book.
https://www.espn.com/espn/wire/_/section/mlb/id/2415511
LA OLYMPIC TICKETS THAT I BOUGHT
As you guys might know, the Summer Olympics are going to be right here near my trailer park in TinselTown for 2028. And you also might know that baseball is back as an Olympic sport and will be played at Dodger Stadium. The local Angelenos were given first dibs at tickets for every event, promising reasonable ticket prices, some even as low as $28 (even though that turned out to be a crock).
So Lady StitchHead and I manned our computers and went into buying mode when the ticket release window was opened last week. Sure enough, we got baseball tickets among our cache. Here are the sports we have tickets for and the price…
– Baseball: Preliminary Game, Dodger Stadium, Thursday July 13th. $99.20 each
– Handball: Men’s preliminary, Long Beach Arena, Sunday July 16th. $28.00 each
– Flag Football preliminary: BMO Stadium, Monday July 17th. $93.02 each
– Track and Field: LA Coliseum, Tuesday July 18th. $403.10 each
Obviously the track and field tickets were pretty steep, but the ones we got were going to be for the extreme nosebleed seats at the top of the Coliseum. And that’s not even the beginning of it. The cost for any seats even somewhat close to the track were as high as $2,460. Ugh. Those are some of the steepest tickets but they still pale in comparison to trying to get a duc for the opening ceremonies where prices go up to as much as $5,500. The closing ceremonies? They went for $4,961. Swimming and gymnastics are also huge ticket items for the Olympics, both going for $2,460 per ticket for the sessions that include medal ceremonies.
Oh and the reason our baseball tickets were so “reasonable” at nearly 100 dollars? The Thursday the 13th date is actually two days before the actual opening ceremonies will be. That’s why our tickets are for the “preliminary game”. And who know who the two teams will be for our day of attending.
EIGHT FOR OMAHA
If the season ended today here are the eight teams whose fans would complain about the ridiculously-priced tickets for the CWS. When in reality, they should see what Olympics tickets are going for and they’ll feel much better.
Ole Miss
UCLA
Arkansas
USC
Georgia Tech
Oregon State
Texas A&M
Florida
TODAY IN THE PROMISED LAND
The forecast for Omaha calls for a high temperature of 74º under sunny skies with swirling winds gusting up to 25mph, essentially knocking down any home run ball hit toward the outfield into a pop fly at the warning track.
IF THERE WERE A GAMEDAY-LIKE SHOW ON ESPN FOR BASEBALL
This week’s show would emanate from Lincoln, Nebraska for the series between USC and Nebraska. The guest picker would be Nebraska native Larry the Cable Guy… who’s real name is Dan Whitney and he used to perform standup in chinos and a button down dress shirt and without that hick accent.
D1 Spotlight: Saint Joseph’s flies atop the A-10, Bell swings hot bat for surging Zags
Saint Joseph’s head coach Fritz Hamburg knows a thing or two about winning ballgames, the Hawks’ all-time leader in victories, now in his 18th year with the program. While the team went 24-28 last year, they were 17-13 against their Atlantic 10 opponents, the sixth straight year they had a winning record in conference play and the only team in the league that had advanced to the conference tournament for five straight years.
That team had 23 new players on the roster to open the season, 15 freshmen and eight transfers. An 11-4 record in the month of April marked the high point of the season, claiming all four weekend series during that stretch. And although their season ended with a 0-2 showing at the Atlantic 10 Championship, they returned a significant amount of their talent base, particularly in the starting lineup, and headed into the 2026 season with more familiarity.
Not surprisingly, the results on the field have reflected the continued development of their talent base. Heading into the 10th weekend of the regular season, and the sixth of 10 weekends against A-10 opponents, Saint Joe’s is 23-12 with a sterling 14-1 record against their conference foes.
Now 21-5 since the month of March began, the Hawks have the nation’s 44th-best RPI heading into a weekend series against George Mason.
“I think we have a talented group, from a baseball standpoint, but I think this group, starting in the fall, really made connections with each other and they care about each other, and they enjoy being around each other,” coach Hamburg said of his team’s early-season success. “I think that’s important for any team. It’s certainly a more challenging landscape with the portal and having so much turnover now on rosters, but they’ve done a really good job of being where their feet are and enjoying their time together.”
The overall feel of the lineup heading into the year was somewhat reminiscent of successful mid-majors in recent years including Murray State last year, Evansville in 2024 and Oral Roberts in 2023 in that there were numerous familiar, returning players returning to maintain important positions. The biggest difference, however, is that this SJU roster isn’t comprised of a heavy dose of fourth- and fifth-year players. Several of their most important contributors are sophomores, and this is a program that has no problem putting freshmen in big roles.
Saint Joseph’s Nos. 1-3 hitters – designated hitter Joey Gale, center fielder Alex Kelsey and catcher Blake Primrose – are all sophomores. The same is true for first baseman Alex Venezia, who redshirted a year ago. Left fielder Joey Pagano, second baseman Tim Dickson and shortstop Carson Applegate are also among the regular, returning players for an offense collectively slashing .281/.385/.444.
Their .281 average is the second-best mark in the league while scoring the fifth-most runs.
Third baseman Richard Beggy and right fielder Jason Janesko are the most notable newcomers. Beggy’s 40 RBIs are the second most on the team, while his .361 average and 63 total bases are both good for third. Janesko is batting .260 with nine extra-base hits, four of which are home runs, and has stolen 12 bases in 13 attempts. Their additions have solidified an already strong lineup from top to bottom.
“We’ve got a nucleus of guys who went through last year’s journey,” Hamburg added. “We had a nice year [but] we didn’t end the season the way we wanted to last year and didn’t play very well in the tournament. I think having that experience and what that left as a memory has helped drive this group and the transfers that have come in. They’re just super excited for the opportunity.
“I don’t think this group is chasing anything. I think this group is just really enjoying being together. Obviously, winning is important, and that’s what we set out to do every day, but we haven’t talked about that. We haven’t talked about anybody beyond the next game.”
Primrose is the star of the show, the team’s second-year catcher who spent his freshman year calling pitches for the A-10 Pitcher of the Year, Colton Book, SJU’s Saturday starter a year ago. Primrose led the Hawks in batting as a rookie with a .329 average, hitting nine doubles and five home runs as part of a promising debut season while serving as the team’s second catcher.
At 5-foot-11, 215 pounds, Primrose is built like a powder keg, and he’s been especially explosive through the first two months of the 2026 season. He’s slashing .379/.472/.795 with 12 doubles, two triples and 13 home runs with 41 RBIs and 105 total bases. Each of the past two weeks he has earned Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors, hitting three home runs in each of the last two weekend series, sweeps against Saint Louis and Dayton. His 3-for-5, two-home run, seven-RBI performance on Sunday helped secure the sweep against the Flyers.
“It’s been a process,” Hamburg said of Primrose’s development. “He showed a lot of promise offensively, but between last summer and this year – his presence behind the plate [and] the confidence that he exudes and allows the pitchers to have as well – have really brought him to the point where he’s having the season that he’s having. He didn’t start out on fire, but he’s refined some things. He’s worked on some things with his swing and it’s exciting to see him connecting the dots.”
It’s a similar story for Kelsey, who leads the team with a .382 average and is second in OPS (1.026) to Primrose, batting second for the Hawks. Kelsey’s 13 steals lead the team, drawing more walks (20) and getting hit by more pitches (11) than striking out (19), an on-base machine setting the tone for the rest of the order from the two-hole.
There isn’t the same kind of familiarity from 2025 to 2026 when it comes to the team’s weekend starters, but a good bulk of the team’s pitching depth are returning players. Jackson Campbell, Matt Fitzgibbon, Sam Greer, Matt Speicher and Justin Sweeney have all received regular looks out of the bullpen, and Sunday starter Luke Parise – who is 4-1, 4.50 – is second on the team in innings pitched (42).
It’s on this staff the team’s newcomer group has made the biggest impact with Friday and Saturday starters Duke McCarron and Cole Fehrman, midweek starter Carson Magill, closer Andrew Gaines and bullpen ace Christian Coppola. All four have stepped forward and embraced the roles presented to them after finding expanded opportunities more difficult to come by the previous year.
McCarron is 2-2, 6.10 in nine starts so far this year, striking out 37 in 38 1/3 innings of work. That has already far surpassed the 21 innings he logged at the State College of Florida (JUCO) a year ago. Fehrman, a lefthander threw 13 innings in 26 total appearances spanning three seasons at West Virginia and now is 3-3, 4.87 with 57 strikeouts in 44 1/3 innings for the Hawks.
The 1-2 punch of Coppola and Gaines – each of whom is big-bodied, low-90s righthander at 6-foot-5 and 230 or 240 pounds – at the back end of games has been filthy, as together they have struck out 89 batters in 49 combined innings. Gaines has a 1.42 ERA and seven saves while Coppola’s 59-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 30 innings is nothing short of remarkable. Both found playing time at Pitt and Arizona hard to come by, although Coppola did enjoy a successful freshman season at Rutgers in 2023, where he was named a Freshman All-American.
Four of the five transfer hurlers are from nearby New Jersey, the other from Pennsylvania, an important consideration for the Philadelphia-based institution.
“They know St. Joe’s, they understand the Hawk, they like Philly, they’re Philly fans,” Hamburg said of the draw of Saint Joseph’s. “For the guys that have come back from the portal, they recognize a lot of things. It’s a chance to be closer to home. It’s an opportunity to play in an established program where we’ve had several guys move on to professional baseball. The school is a great academic institution. So, there’s a lot of things working in our favor for these guys for that opportunity.”
Following the team’s weekend series at home against George Mason, a team currently fourth in the A-10 standings, Saint Joseph’s will have the opportunity to claim the Liberty Bell Classic championship, an event held annually pitting Northeast and Mid-Atlantic based teams against one another. The championship game is played at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies.
With Saint Joseph’s already beating Lehigh and Rider in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, the Hawks have advanced to face Penn on Tuesday for the opportunity to claim their fourth championship. It would be their first in 10 years, however, as Coach Hamburg guided SJU to three titles in five seasons (2012, 2014, 2016).
While the outcome of the game has more to do with bragging rights than in-conference positioning for the end-of-season A-10 tournament, the importance of the contest to this tight-knit group of SJU players is significant.
“There’s no need to chase anything. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing, enjoying every opportunity we get together,” Hamburg said. “You have to take that for what it is.
“This is my 35th year of coaching, having been in it for a lifetime it allows you to step back and have perspective on things and still remember that these guys are 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-year olds that are trying to enjoy their experience and have the time of their lives. So, you give and take and celebrate the victories.”
Mid-Major Player Spotlight: Mikey Bell, 3B, Gonzaga
It’s safe to say Gonzaga third baseman Mikey Bell had himself a weekend in a sweep against Portland. In three games against the Pilots the redshirt junior had a pair of five-hit games, going 11-for-15 with four doubles, a home run, six runs scored and eight driven in. Earlier in the week, in a pair of midweek wins at Washington, Bell went 5-for-10 and, not surprisingly, was named the WCC Player of the Week.
Bell was the WCC Player of the Year a season ago after batting .360 with 17 doubles and 11 home runs. He carried that success over to the summer when he slashed .355/.453/.484 with the Madison Mallards in the Northwoods League. Named to the NWL’s midsummer all-star team roster, he won the event’s home run derby.
While it’s difficult to get too excited about success in a summer league home run derby, the showing itself was impressive considering the regular quality of his at-bats. He does a good job to stay within himself and recognizes which pitches he can square up, perfectly content with spraying line drives to all parts of the field rather than swinging for the fences. He does have six home runs this year, with 11 a year ago, so it’s not as though he’s some light-hitting infielder. This season he’s also drawing more walks and already has 14 doubles.
Bell’s glove at third base is also considered an asset with some positional versatility to play an outfield corner and possibly even second base. Coming into the 2026 season he was ranked by D1 Baseball as the 128th-best college prospect eligible for the draft.
With the series sweep against Portland, Gonzaga is now 20-14 overall and 9-3 in WCC play. In addition, their RPI jumped up to 58. Bell and the Zags ride a seven-game winning streak into their series at Saint Mary’s (22-14) this weekend, a team just a game behind Gonzaga (and San Francisco) at the top of the WCC standings.
Mid-Major Series Spotlight: Louisiana at Troy
Both Louisiana and Troy entered 2026 with great reason for optimism, and the Ragin’ Cajuns even enjoyed an abbreviated stay in the D1 Top 25.
Although Louisiana lost two of three games to Missouri State to open the season, a Bears squad that has sustained their success, they quickly rebounded with series wins against Maryland, UC San Diego and Dallas Baptist with midweek victories against Kansas State and LSU. Although they claimed their first Sun Belt Conference series against South Alabama, they lost their next three, including a sweep at the hands of Texas State.
Last weekend’s home series win against a ranked Southern Miss squad may have quickly turned Louisiana’s fortunes around. After losing the first game, 8-1, they showed a tremendous amount of resolve winning the next two, 8-4 and 6-5. Lefthander and grad student Andrew Herrmann continues to have a sensational season, putting his Cajun teammates on his back on Saturday and delivering his third complete game victory of the year, improving to 4-2, 3.68 while remaining among the nation’s leaders in punchouts with 72.
Troy had stumbled a few times early in the season, starting the year with a series loss against Mercer and entered the month of April with a 13-16 record. Following back-to-back Sun Belt series wins against surging Arkansas State and Texas State squads, the Trojans are 5-3 through their first eight games in April and 18-19 overall.
The top of the Troy offense has been especially lethal, with leadoff hitting right fielder Aaron Piasecki getting on base at a .455 clip ahead of third baseman Josh Pyne, first baseman Blake Cavill and catcher Jimmy Janicki. Janicki has hit 10 of the team’s 37 home runs, leading the team in almost every notable offensive category.
Other series to watch:
Week Ten Preview – The D1Baseball Podcast
On this episode of the D1Baseball Podcast, Mike Rooney, Kendall Rogers, and Joe Healy preview week ten around college baseball.
08:33 Week 10 Six Pack
10:20 SEC Spotlight: LSU & Texas A&M
12:26 Arkansas Shakeup
14:57 Texas A&M Freshmen Draft Buzz
17:11 ACC Series Of Weekend
20:31 UNC Bullpen Concerns
22:11 Big Ten: USC at Nebraska
25:51 Big 12 Last Stands
27:19 Weekend Slate Rundown
27:51 Underrated Series Watchlist
28:24 Big Ten Check In
29:07 Big East Showdown
30:51 Lineup Depth Theme
31:38 First Inning Pitching Woes
33:00 Liberty vs DBU Stakes
34:58 More Mid-Major Spotlights
37:00 Texas State vs Southern Miss
38:07 Sun Belt Culture Talk
41:27 Patriot League Rivalry Fun
44:03 Vandy at Kentucky Debate
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Friday’s Daily Dish: King stakes claim among SEC’s best
Florida and Arkansas each won home openers in massive series Thursday evening. In today’s dish, we look back at those and ahead to Friday’s packed slate.
King sizzles in home series opening win
Blake Cyr’s three-run, third-inning homer provided the margin in Florida’s 6-3 win over Auburn.
Aidan King is staking his claim as one of the most effective pitchers in the conference. The sophomore righthander fired six innings of one-run ball on three hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts for his third-straight win and quality start. King retired 10-straight batters from the first inning through the fourth frame and did not allow a hit after the first inning. In an era long on walk and strikeouts and short on innings pitched, King has completed six innings in each of his last three starts, going a combined 20 2/3 frames with just three runs allowed to give him a 1.71 ERA on the season.
“I was talking to the guys that are doing the game tonight and I think I was talking to Gregg Olsen about it and he’s like a throwback,” said Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan. “He just pitches, you know. 91 to 94 with command. I mean, that’s the reason why he was a Freshman All-American. He throws any pitch at any time, and he throws the fastball at both sides. His misses are small. He pitches and he never gets rattled. He’s got great poise.”
King has been especially tough in home SEC starts. Against South Carolina, he threw six scoreless innings and allowed two hits, striking out nine with one walk. Against Ole Miss, he threw seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts, allowing four hits and no walks. Add in the Auburn start, and the sophomore has thrown 19 innings with only nine hits, three walks, and one run allowed with 25 strikeouts.
Auburn ace Andreas Alvarez had his shortest outing of the season as he was chased in the third after six hits and four runs. Abe Chancellor was the relief star with three scoreless innings.
Hogs win fourth straight SEC game
Arkansas scored three in the first inning and never trailed in a 6-3 victory over Georgia. Hunter Dietz struck out six in 5.1 innings. He allowed five hits and two runs with a walk. Gabe Gaeckle worked two effective relief innings, followed by Ethan McElvain, who collected the final five outs with 1.2 scoreless for the save.
The Vanderbilt transfer has been high on potential but low on results, primarily due to command issues.
“McElvain didn’t give in,” said Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn, “He didn’t panic when things were starting to go the other way. I liked his approach there. He didn’t have his best stuff tonight. That’s the way it goes with pitchers. They are a 95-mph guy. The next day they are 93. If we are fortunate enough to get him back in game three, he might be even better.”
Carter Rutenbar had a homer, and Damian Ruiz led the Hogs with two hits. For Georgia, Daniel Jackson slugged his 17th home run, and Ryan Wynn added his third. Tre Phelps had two hits. Each team finished with seven hits.
Sunday’s Spotlight Game
Each day, we’ll spotlight one game that sparks particular interest. It often won’t be the most important game of the day, but rather one that elicits some attention.
Texas A&M at LSU — 7 p.m. [ESPN]
Even with aces on the hill, expect offense all weekend, even in game one tonight. In SEC play, the Aggies lead the conference in batting average (.288), slugging percentage (.559), scoring (9.9 runs per game), doubles (31), triples (4), and walks (108). Caden Sorrell and Gavin Grahovac have powered the lineup, entering the series as the only two players in the league with 20 or more RBI in SEC play. Sorrell’s 57 RBI and 17 home runs this season rank first among all SEC sluggers. Grahovac has reached base safely in all 14 conference games and is riding a 10-game hitting streak.
LSU, which has had games where the runs came in bunches on days when it allowed many as well, has to find a way to clean it up on the mound, in the field, and come up with more clutch hits.
“We need to play better baseball; I know that’s simplistic, but that’s what has to happen,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson. “It’s one-thousand percent about the way we play. You have to pitch well, defend, and excel in timely or situational hitting. This team has won games when it’s done that, but it hasn’t done it enough. I think there is plenty of better baseball in us, and it’s our job to execute.”
Best Game in Each Window
Early Evening: Auburn at Florida — 5:30 p.m. [SECN]
Florida won the opener and will flip the ball to Liam Peterson tonight. Auburn will counter with Jake Marciano, giving us one of the best conceivable pitching matchups after game one.
Also:
Evening: Alabama at Texas — 7:30 p.m. [SECN+]
Dylan Volantis moves to the Friday role after rain canceled his start last Sunday. He’ll square off with Tyler Fay in a matchup of starters who have made a habit of getting deep in games.
Also:
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In addition, unlike conventional marker-based systems, the KinaTrax lab system can also track the ball in flight. When coupled with our in-game system, direct comparisons of in-game and lab data can be made to assess a player’s ability to take what they’re doing in practice and apply it to the bright lights of a live game.
Projected Weekend Rotations – Week 10
Somehow we’re already at Week 10 and it’s once again time to provide one, easy place to find probable starters throughout the biggest conferences in the country. Projected weekend rotations are included below for the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, Sun Belt, Conference USA, and The American. Click on a player to be taken to their player page with advanced stats and information.
The usual caveat: All probable starters are just that — probable — and therefore subject to change. These have been pulled from game notes, press conferences, and the fine work done by beat writers throughout the country. As the season gets underway, we’ll expand the teams covered here.
Jump to a conference or section below:
ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | SEC | American
Sun Belt | CUSA | Independent/Ranked
Asterisk (*) indicates unconfirmed, prior week used in most cases.
ACC
Big Ten
Big 12
SEC
Sun Belt
The American
Conference USA
Independent / Other Ranked Teams
‘Selfless’ Zatkowski makes triumphant return to weekend rotation for Virginia
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Dating back to their days at Duke, Chris Pollard and his coaching staff have never been afraid to think outside the box when it comes to the handling of their pitching staff. So when Virginia needed to gradually build up Kyle Johnson’s pitch count after his mound work was delayed early this spring by a “kinetic chain” issue, the Cavaliers made an unorthodox move: They shifted their most reliable starter, Henry Zatkowski, into the bullpen to piggyback with Johnson.
And Zatkowski handled the shift with characteristic grace.
“It’s unreal what he’s doing,” Pollard said. “And not just the physical side of it — just how selfless he’s been. He’s never once come in my office and said, ‘Why am I doing this? I’ve put together the best starter numbers on this team, why am I the one having to do this and miss my start and miss my spot in the rotation?’ He’s just done whatever we’ve asked him to do and gone in there and competed at a really high level.”
Zatkowski delivered 5.1 strong innings of relief in a win against Wake Forest, then turned in three innings of three-run relief in a loss to Florida State. On the heels of that shorter stint against the Seminoles, Duke opted to start him midweek against James Madison to ease him back into the rotation, and he responded with four innings of two-hit, shutout ball. Then he came out of the bullpen twice last week at Notre Dame, working a scoreless inning Friday and another 1.1 scoreless on Saturday. That progression set him up to make a triumphant return to the top of the weekend rotation Thursday against Clemson, and he responded with seven innings of three-run ball, tying his career high with 10 strikeouts while leading the Cavaliers to a 6-4 win.
“This past weekend in South Bend, it was coming out of the bullpen, and he never questioned it,” Pollard said. “I was super excited for him to get back into that true starter role, one because it helps our bullpen and gives us length and sets us up for the rest of the weekend. But two, just because he deserves it, because he’s pitched well enough to stay in the rotation. And the only reason he left the rotation was just being selfless enough to help Kyle get built up enough to take his spot in the rotation.”
For his part, Zatkowski said making the transition from the bullpen back to the rotation has been “a little weird,” but he has embraced the challenge.
“I’m totally fine with it, however the coaches want to use me, I’m always down to come out of the bullpen if I need to, make a start if I need to,” he said. “And I think that it will definitely help in the postseason too. When we make for sure a deep run, it will be big to be able to come out of the bullpen too.”
A physical 6-foot-2, 190-pound lefty with a low slot, Zatkowski has always had a knack for hammering the strike zone. During his senior year at River Hill (Md.) High School, he posted an eye-popping 74-4 K-BB mark along with a 0.17 ERA. As a freshman last year at Duke, he struck out 58 against just 11 walks in 59.1 innings, but opponents hit him at a .275 clip and his ERA was 5.01.
As a sophomore, he now has 62 strikeouts against 15 walks in 53 innings, but opponents are hitting just .223 against him, and his ERA is down to 4.25. Though he still misses plenty of bats, he has been able to induce more weak groundball contact by incorporating a two-seamer to go along with his 88-92 four-seamer.
“A big part of it is it’s now a two- and a four-seamer. For all of last year and the first part of this year, it was the four-seam, which he can pitch down with and he can also pitch up with,” Pollard said. “But now he’s mixing in a true two-seamer with heavy sink. A few of those two-seamers had negative induced vertical break. A couple of times, the middle of [Clemson’s] lineup took on-time swings with it — they were on time with fastball, but just over the top of it because of the heavy sink on the ball. And that’s been a difference-maker for him, and he just throws so many strikes.”
He also has a big-time weapon in his elite 83-85 mph changeup, which also had negative induced vertical break at times Thursday, illustrating its incredible and rare sink. He can throw that pitch to lefties as well as righties, and also locate his sweeping 75-77 mph slider.
“It’s the fact that I use [the changeup] to both righties and lefties too,” Zatkowski said. “Being able to use the slider and the changeup against the lefty, and then that changeup low and away and the sinker too to the righty, it’s just a good combination with that.”
Zatkowski said he threw a splitter in high school but picked up the changeup during the fall of his freshman year, and it has become as good a changeup as you’ll see in college baseball — on par with the signature changeup of his Thursday night counterpart, Clemson ace Aidan Knaak. Pollard referred to the changeups of both pitchers Thursday as “unicorn” pitches. Zatkowski threw his changeup 39 times Thursday, along with 41 fastballs and 18 sliders. The changeup induced a 40% whiff rate.
And Zatkowski’s ability to get strikeouts in tight spots is also a big part of his success. In the first inning, Clemson had two men aboard with one out, but Zatkowski struck out cleanup man Jacob Jarrell on a changeup, then got a flyout to strand two. He surrendered a two-run homer in the second, but was nails over the next three frames, putting up three zeroes. He allowed another solo homer in the sixth, to Jarrell, but followed it up with a 1-2-3 seventh to end his night at 102 pitches.
“He left it all out there,” said Virginia catcher Jake Weatherspoon, whose three-run double to the oppo gap broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth. “Even if something didn’t go his way, he stuck to his plan great. Never let the moment get too small or too big; I think he was great at just going and attacking guys.”
Weatherspoon praised Zatkowski’s consistency, in whatever role he has occupied this year.
“It’s really impressive for a guy that, you shake around the routine a little bit, and for him to stick to himself and do what works, he’s been the same guy every single time, he hasn’t tried to change to the role,” Weatherspoon said. “He’s just stuck to himself.”
Staff Picks: Week 10 (2026)
The D1Baseball staff is BACK with their picks for Week 10 of the 2026 College Baseball season!
The 2026 D1Baseball Staff Picks are presented by Chinook Seedery. These are the only seeds the D1 staff will pick! Save 15% on your next Chinook Seedery order with code D1BASEBALL.
Reminder: Our picks are only made for three-game series.
ACC Weekend 10 Preview – ACC Baseball Etc.
On this episode of ACC Baseball Etc., Daron Vaught and Bradley Smart preview the weekend, which includes some “now or never” series for teams looking to surge into the Regional picture, as well as the biggest series of the season in No. 3 North Carolina hosting No. 3 Georgia Tech.
00:00 Rapid Fire Weekend Preview
01:49 Top-3 Showdown: Georgia Tech at North Carolina
06:37 How UNC Can Win
09:14 Rotation Watch and Broadcast
11:05 Clemson at Virginia Stakes
13:01 Virginia Pitching Puzzle
15:59 Cal-Louisville Bubble Fight
18:06 Louisville Talent vs Results
21:14 Florida State Hosts Notre Dame
25:23 Boston College vs Duke
29:46 NC State at Wake Forest
30:36 Pitching Heavyweights Clash
33:54 Pitt vs Virginia Tech Stakes
36:46 Miami at Stanford Preview
40:44 Awards Race Tease
42:04 Weekend Watch Plans
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Rogers: Pierce helping Rice engineer one of college baseball’s great turnarounds
First-year Rice head coach David Pierce admits that he is far from a patient person, but it might be the quality that has the Owls in the NCAA tournament hunt for the first time in years.
Rice is historically one of college baseball’s premier programs of the modern era. But anyone with a pulse on the sport and that program knows what has transpired since legendary coach Wayne Graham was let go. The Owls have experienced a plethora of failures, and get this: they haven’t reached the NCAA tournament in eight seasons.
The Owls, and Pierce, are attempting to work their way back from the abyss this season.
Pierce, if you remember last season, took over the post just as American Athletic play began. The Owls were mightily struggling, and the noise from within the program was loud. So, athletic director Tommy McLelland pushed the eject button on Jose Cruz Jr. and hired Pierce, who at the time was serving as an assistant and consultant for Texas State.
The Owls played better baseball as the 2025 campaign progressed, but they still finished the year with a 10-17 AAC record. That meant that Pierce knew that he had to make tough personnel decisions. He had to find guys willing to go the extra mile to restore Rice’s respectability on the national stage.
“The biggest benefit of coming here in March last year is that I got to know a lot of the players, and I wanted to see which guys already inside the program could help us, and had leadership qualities,” Pierce said. “I thought the guys seemed to be starving to be consistently coached, and starving to put in some serious work. They are now seeing what happens when you put in a lot of work. Can we get a little better? Sure. But we’re learning how to grind each day, and our guys are enjoying that process.”
This season, the Owls still have plenty of unfinished business. But there’s zero doubt this program is in exponentially better hands. Rice is 24-14 overall, 7-5 in the AAC, and yep, they are right there in the at-large mix for the NCAA tournament with an RPI of 54, which is higher than LSU, Vanderbilt, and plenty of other big-named programs.
It’s progress, but Pierce won’t be satisfied until the day he once again sees the name Rice listed in a bracket on Selection Monday.
“I talk about the postseason every week,” he told D1Baseball. “I want them to understand it, and I want them to believe in it — that it is very possible and doable. So, we want to create a vision each day that it’s possible here.
“When I was at Sam, and we had an RPI of 70 or whatever, I would tell them we can get in and preach about it,” he added. “We just need to keep playing the game and play as clean as you can. Be opportunistic on offense. They understand what all this means, and what RPI means, and that’s not something that was the case when I showed up. They didn’t really know what they were playing for. Now, we want to get into the postseason and everything we’re doing has a purpose and more meaning to it.
“I’m not a very patient person,” he added. “If it’s doable, I want to hear it stated as a goal.”
The pitching staff is the strength of this team as the Owls look ahead to the final stretch of the regular season.
The unit as a whole has made some great improvements this season. Last year, the Owls had some dismal numbers on the mound, tallying a 6.71 ERA for the season. However, so far this year, the Owls have a 4.59 staff ERA and have a very solid 3.94 ERA during conference play.
The evolution of several arms has helped the Owls take this giant step forward.
For instance, some of the ringleaders of the pitching staff include Tanner Wiggins, Brayden Sharp, Ryland Urbancyzk and Ethan Sanders, while Jeremiah Arnett, Ethan Atchley and Ty Thames are other often-used and quality arms to watch.
The Owls have shifted some roles around as the season has progressed, but for now, the weekend rotation consists of righty Tanner Wiggins, righty Ryland Urbancyzk, and righty Ethan Sanders. Wiggins is a big-time arm who Pierce said was up to 96-97 mph last week, while Urbancyzk has a 2.48 ERA in 36.1 innings of work. He can taper off a little bit with his command, but when right, it’s a very solid arm up to up to 92 mph with the fastball, while the cutter and changeup are solid offerings as well. As for Sanders, he has a 3.96 ERA in 52.1 innings of work, along with 44 strikeouts and 15 walks. Sanders is up to 93-94 mph with his fastball and has generated a 35% whiff rate (per Synergy) on a mid-80s slider.
The bullpen has some strong and versatile options as well. Sharp and Arnett have made a total of nine starts this season, but also have key roles in the bullpen. Sharp, a Tennessee transfer, is a talented lefthander who has tallied a 3.71 ERA in 34 innings of work, along with 43 strikeouts and 21 walks. He’s low-90s with his fastball and has a promising cutter and curveball combination. As for Thames, he has made 12 appearances for the Owls and has a 4.50 ERA in 28 innings, along with 20 strikeouts and 16 walks. Thames is a hard-nosed type of pitcher who attacks with a fastball that has gotten up to 96-97 mph at times this season, while the low-80s curveball and mid-80s changeup each have whiff rates of 47% or better. As for Atchley, he has appeared in 16 games and has worked 20.1 innings. Teams are hitting just .237 against him, and he is kind of a low-slot joker with a fastball up to 90-91 mph. He is what you’d call a consummate college pitcher.
“Sharp’s velocity hasn’t quite come back to what it was, but he’s really solid for us,” Pierce said. “Thames is like a middle linebacker out there and just hammers you with the curveball, while Atchley is just one of those guys who needs to go out there and let it sink and ride to be successful. For the most part, our pitchers have continued to improve as they’ve gotten more comfortable in their roles.”
For as much as the pitching staff has impressed at times with a unit ranked No. 2 in the American behind South Florida, the offense is the one unit that needs to continue to improve down the stretch. The Owls rank nine out of 10 teams in the American offensively with a .253 batting average, while they are near the bottom of the league in terms of home run production.
The exceptions to the rule are JC Davis, Colin Robson, Cole Green and Paul Smith. Davis is hitting .339 with four home runs and 18 RBIs, Robson has plenty of pop with five doubles and five RBIs, Green is a table setter at the top of the lineup and has a .319 average with double-digit doubles and Smith leads the team from a power standpoint with six doubles and eight home runs.
“I do think we’re just touching the surface on what is possible with this team from an offensive standpoint,” Pierce said. “Make no mistake about it, we’re not a super physical offensive lineup, so we do have to get creative. But we can get runners on base and pass it on to the next guy.”
With a few weeks left to the regular season, Pierce and the Owls are taking things one step at a time. They are excited to be in the postseason mix for the first time in a while, but they also realize they have some excellent RPI opportunities on the horizon with UAB and East Carolina (on the road) still left on the schedule.
This season, at least thus far, has been a raving success. The impatient nature of Pierce, and this program, though, means that the Owls won’t be satisfied until their mission is complete in West University with a trip back to the tournament.
It’s not finality by any means, but there’s zero doubt this program is in an infinitely better spot than it was this time a year ago.
The Pierce effect is real, and Rice getting back to respectability given its tradition is great to see.
College Baseball’s Top Turnarounds
Texas A&M (28-7 overall, 13 RPI, finished last season with 30 wins total)
USC (30-8 overall, 12 RPI, finished last season with 37 wins. Almost already there)
Missouri State (Already at 24 wins, 15 RPI, finished last season with just 30 wins)
Liberty (Already at 26 wins, 21 RPI, finished last season with 30 wins)
Boston College (Already at 28 wins, 28 RPI, finished last season with 28 wins)
Texas State (Already at 25 wins, RPI 36, finished last season with 27 wins)
Saint Joseph’s (Sitting at 23-11 overall, 44 RPI, finished last season with 24 wins)
UAB (23 wins already, 46 RPI, finished last season with 24 wins)
Arkansas State (22 wins already, 48 RPI, finished last season with 26 wins)
South Florida (26 wins, 50 RPI, finished last season with 31 wins)
Pittsburgh (23 wins already, 77 RPI, finished last season with 28 wins)
VCU (22 wins already, finished last season with only 17 wins)
Northern Illinois (20 wins already, 82 RPI, finished last season with just 21 wins)
UCF (Already at 20 wins, 38 RPI, finished last season with 29 wins)
Wofford (26 wins already, 93 RPI, finished last season with 33 wins)
Thursday’s SEC Daily Dish: Monster Showdowns
All eight SEC series have compelling storylines this weekend. Let’s dive in with a storyline on each …
Auburn at Florida
Florida is riding high after completing the midweek sweep of Florida State and winning a tough series at Georgia. Auburn has won two series in succession after a stumble at Alabama. Can Florida snap its win-a-series, lose-a-series trend? Or Will Auburn’s strong pitching staff shut down the Gators?
Georgia Arkansas
Georgia lost its first series of the season last week to Florida. Now it heads to Arkansas, which snapped out of a malaise with a road sweep at Alabama. Can the Hogs, who shuffled their rotation and lineup, continue to excel against the powerful Bulldogs?
Texas A&M at LSU
Texas A&M looked like a title contender last weekend against Texas. LSU stumbled at Ole Miss. Is this another case of SEC unpredictability? Can LSU, which could really use a home series victory, right itself against an A&M club long on hitting but short on pitching depth? Expect plenty of runs in this one?
Alabama at Texas
Texas stumbled last weekend at A&M, but comes back home with Dylan Volantis taking the ball Friday after his start was rained out last Sunday. The Horns host a Bama squad looking for run production and dependable relief to accompany a solid rotation.
Ole Miss at Tennessee
Both squads secured huge sweeps last weekend. Which team can back it up with another impressive weekend? It’s two talented rotations, and offenses looking for free bases and extra-base hits. Can the Tennessee bullpen hold down the Ole Miss power in the final innings?
Vanderbilt at Kentucky
Both teams need this one. Kentucky has dropped its last four series. A Vanderbilt road series win is a huge RPI boost for a club with a 102 RPI. Can Vandy figure out the third rotation spot other than Connor Fennell and Wyatt Nadeau? Does Jaxon Jelkin bounce back after his first rocky start?
Mississippi State at South Carolina
MSU gets away from Starkville with a chance to cleanse the palate. The Gamecocks pitched incredibly well, sweeping Mizzou. Can it continue against the MSU lineup?
Missouri at Oklahoma
Mizzou’s last road trip resulted in a series at Kentucky. They’ll try to replicate at an Oklahoma squad that has to feel like this is an opportunity to build a hosting case. Also, does Cameron Johnson throw strikes and dominate or miss the zone, leaving in the first inning?
The Weekend Schedule
April 16 (Thursday)
April 17 (Friday)
April 18 (Saturday)
April 19 (Sunday)
all times eastern
SEC Statistic Standouts
Texas A&M leads the SEC in batting at .288, ten points higher than Georgia at .278. South Carolina is the lowest at .200. Missouri is 15th at .225.
Vanderbilt has 32 homers, followed by Texas A&M at 29, and Georgia and Mississippi State, who each have 25. Auburn has the fewest, with eight, followed by Missouri with nine and Kentucky with 13.
Texas A&M leads in doubles with 31, followed by Tennessee and Arkansas with 29 each. Florida and Texas have the fewest doubles, with 17 each.
Texas A&M also leads in runs scored with 138, 25 more than second-place Vanderbilt with 113. LSU is third with 107. Unsurprisingly, Missouri is last with 51, followed by South Carolina with 55.
The Aggies also lead in walks with 108, 29 more than second-place Vanderbilt, despite playing one fewer conference game. Missouri has the fewest at 41, followed by South Carolina at 44.
Ole Miss and South Carolina have the most strikeouts with 172, while Vanderbilt has 171. Auburn has the fewest strikeouts with 120, followed by Texas A&M at 121.
Kentucky has the most stolen bases with 29, followed by Oklahoma with 25, and Alabama with 21. Ole Miss has the fewest with 5. South Carolina and Mississippi State have six. Tennessee has seven.
Auburn leads in ERA at 3.31, followed by Mississippi State at 4.09 and Texas at 4.13. Vanderbilt is last at 8.02, followed by Texas A&M at 6.94 and Oklahoma at 6.39.
Auburn also leads in WHIP at 1.20, followed by Texas at 1.23 and Alabama at 1.26. Vanderbilt is last at 1.83, followed by Texas A&M at 1.69 and Kentucky at 1.65.
Mississippi State leads in pitching strikeouts with 173. LSU has 169, and Ole Miss has 161. Kentucky is last with 107, followed by Texas A&M at 123 and South Carolina at 130.
Tennessee leads in fielding percentage at .987, followed by Mississippi State at .981 and Oklahoma at .980. LSU is last at .963. Alabama is at .964, while Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Florida are all at .966.
From an individual standpoint, Georgia’s Rylan Lujo leads all batters with a .442 average, followed by Tennessee’s Trent Grindlinger at .429 and Auburn’s Eric Guevera at .412.
Texas’s Aiden Robbins and Vanderbilt’s Mike Mancini each have eight home runs. A&M’s Caden Sorrell and Nico Partida have six, along with Texas’s Carson Tinney and Arkansas’s Ryder Helfrick.
Texas A&M’s Gavin Grahovac leads all batters with 24 RBIs. Sorrell has 20, and Oklahoma’s Camden Johnson has 19.
A pair of Alabama players lead in overall hits. Bryce Fowler has 24, and Brady Neal has 22, tied with Vanderbilt’s Brodie Johnston, Kentucky’s Jayce Tharnish, and Sorrell.
Sorrell is tied with Tennessee’s Reese Chapman for the doubles lead with seven.
A&M is atop the walks lead with three of the top four. Boston Kellner and Jake Duer each have 17. Bear Harrison has 16, along with Tennessee’s Blake Grimmer.
Oklahoma’s Brendan Brock leads in steals with 11. Florida’s Kyle Jones has 10, and Alabama’s Justin Lebron has nine.
Tennessee’s Cam Appenzeller leads in ERA at 0.77, followed by Georgia’s Caden Aoki with 1.04 and Mississippi State’s Tomas Valincius at 1.39.
Valincius also leads in strikeouts with 46, leading Arkansas’s Hunter Dietz, who has 44.
Alabama’s Tyler Fay leads all pitchers with 33 SEC innings. Valincius has 32.1, and South Carolina’s Amp Phillips has 31.2.
Length per start
I find it interesting that Georgia is in first place with the lowest innings-per-start average. The game three numbers are dragging down the average significantly. Tyler Fay has Alabama at 6.1 for game one, which is the highest single entry. Auburn and Tennessee are averaging over five innings per start each day.
D1Baseball’s SEC Extra content is presented by KinaTrax
The KinaTrax markerless motion capture lab system allows for accurate biomechanical analysis to take place without training staff having to make contact with the players. The KinaTrax system integrates with several force plate vendors and can capture from multiple force plates synchronized with the motion capture data.
In addition, unlike conventional marker-based systems, the KinaTrax lab system can also track the ball in flight. When coupled with our in-game system, direct comparisons of in-game and lab data can be made to assess a player’s ability to take what they’re doing in practice and apply it to the bright lights of a live game.
The KP Episode [D1 Daily]
On this episode of the D1 Daily, KP (Kyle Peterson) joins Burkie and Roons to take a stroll down memory lane. KP describes his beginnings at ESPN, including the 2003 Long Beach State-Stanford Super Regional and sideline reporting at Rosenblatt Stadium. KP also tells the origin story of D1Baseball.com, including some of the highs and lows as the business began to take flight. Finally, Burkie wished KP a happy birthday… and he may have said the number a few times.
Listen on Apple or Spotify
00:00 Welcome Back With KP
02:55 KP Turns 50 And Career Intro
08:19 Omaha Memories And Moments
10:54 Favorite Coaches And Stories
16:12 Wild Super Regional Memories
22:18 Building D1Baseball
32:36 Wrap Up
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Mid-April remaining ACC strength of schedule rankings
The ACC regular season title and No. 1 seed at the conference tournament was up for grabs entering the final weekend last season. Multiple teams were in the mix and ultimately, by virtue of a series win on the road at Duke, Georgia Tech claimed the top spot by a half-game over North Carolina and Florida State. One point frequently made in the buildup to the tournament in Durham was that the Jackets didn’t play the three teams directly behind them in the standings, a note that will pop up for many teams in this age of “super” conferences with unbalanced schedules.
I wrote about unbalanced schedules throughout the country earlier this season, noting that the ACC was one of 11 leagues that had too many teams to play everybody across a 10-weekend conference slate. Of course, the data from that — which suggested Louisville had the easiest draw and Duke the hardest — was based on last year’s results. As every team in the ACC has now played at least half the conference slate, it’s time to revisit with refreshed data to break down the strength of every team’s upcoming schedule for the rest of the regular season.
To do so, we’ll make use of Diamond Sports Ranking, or DSR. Created by 6-4-3 Charts in an effort to address varied issues with RPI, DSR is a rating system that incorporates win probability, win expectancy, margin of victory, game location, and day of week. It has been approved as an additional resource for the selection committee to use in the tournament selection process, too. Georgia Tech currently sits as the top team in the country by DSR (.648), three points ahead of UCLA. You can find the full rankings here.
ACC, as it stands
Current standings as of April 16th
DSR = Average DSR of conference opponents so far
DSR Rk = Average DSR ranking of conference opponents so far
Tiebreakers not utilized
Remaining strength of schedule
Here’s a look at the remaining schedule for every team, sorted from the toughest (in regard to average conference opponent DSR ranking) to the easiest:
G = Games left in conference play
Avg. DSR = Average rating across conference games left
Avg. DSR Rk = Average rank across conference games left
Notes
Highlighting a few notable schedules throughout the conference.
Duke found its way to an 8-10 start in league play, well above preseason expectations, but are staring down four weekends against Top 25 teams in DSR, three of which are currently ranked. The Blue Devils’ final four series are split evenly home and away, drawing Boston College and Georgia Tech on the road while hosting North Carolina and Wake Forest.
Pittsburgh has dropped back-to-back conference series to Wake Forest and California, sending them to 6-9 in the ACC at the halfway point. Three of the Panthers’ final five series are on the road, with trips to Virginia Tech, Florida State, and North Carolina. They host Virginia and Notre Dame. It’s tough to find a more daunting stretch than trips to Tallahassee and Chapel Hill in consecutive weeks.
Georgia Tech has made light work of its first six conference series, dropping just three games in that span. Last week’s matchup with Florida State was its toughest test yet by far when you look at the metrics, as the Yellow Jackets have had the fourth-easiest slate so far. The difficulty stays ramped up down the stretch, starting with a trip to North Carolina this weekend. Georgia Tech does get an extended homestand with series against Wake Forest, Xavier (non-conference), and Duke before closing the year on the road against Boston College.
NC State is a game over .500 halfway through its ACC slate and will spend three of the final five weekends on the road. The Wolfpack have four teams ranked 21st or higher, starting with a trip to Wake Forest along with home series against Miami and North Carolina.
On the other side of things, Virginia sits at 10-8 and draws the easiest close after a start to the year that included trips to North Carolina and Boston College as well as a home series with Florida State. Virginia’s average opponent DSR rank for its final four weekends is 46th at the moment, which gives the Hoos a good opportunity to maintain or climb from fifth. The toughest weekend metrically is this weekend, a home series against Clemson, before trips to Pitt and Louisville alongside a home series with Cal.
Florida State, likewise, has gotten the bulk of its hardest series out of the way. A sweep last weekend at Georgia Tech was tough, but to be 9-6 at this point against a challenging slate is certainly a great spot to be at. The Noles took series from Wake Forest, NC State, Duke, and Virginia. Their final five series include three at home and the highest-ranked opponent left is Miami in the final weekend of the year. The next three weekends come against Notre Dame, Stanford, and Pitt.
Louisville occupies a peculiar place. The Cardinals have played the easiest average slate to start the conference campaign — all ranking outside the top-45 aside from North Carolina — but sit at just 6-9. Louisville didn’t draw Georgia Tech, Florida State, or NC State but has plenty of work to do if it wants to make a run at regionals. The Cardinals slot in near the middle of the pack the rest of the way but the schedule does get progressively harder. After a trip to California, Louisville hosts Clemson, plays Wake Forest and Miami on the road in back-to-back weeks, then closes with Virginia.
Virginia Tech drew the short straw in 2025. As I wrote after the year, Virginia Tech “played all four of the top seeds and three of the next four. That means that of the Hokies’ 10-week conference slate, seven weekends came against the top half of the conference.” With the way the season has played out so far, the Hokies will come in around the average in terms of difficulty, which has helped them stay afloat. They’re 7-11 through six weekends but have a friendlier close with three of their final four weekends at home. Virginia Tech hosts Pitt, NC State, and Clemson while has a road trip to California.
Midwest Connection: Examining a tight MACtion race
There’s a phrase I like to use called Little League Logic, coined after the place I first saw it in practice. It’s perhaps better known as the law of transitive property where you say, “We play the Giants this week. We’ll beat them easily because the Reds beat them, and we destroyed the Reds.” Strange as it may seem, that logic used to work OK when handicapping the MAC in prior years.
The good teams traditionally would beat the ones they were supposed to beat. The “Blue Bloods” would jockey for position, but they could be counted on to gain separation from the rest of the league.
Whether due to the portal era or a combination of factors, parity and consistency were the prevalent themes when I spoke with a half dozen MAC coaches this week about the tight race at the top of the standings. Unsurprisingly, while optimistic about where they are at their respective points in the season, each of the coach I spoke with echoed growing pains and/or a sense of not knowing which team is going to show up on any given day.
The race for the MAC title is tight, with six teams separated by just one game with five weeks remaining in the regular season. Coincidentally, six of the 12 teams in the conference qualify for the tournament. It’s going to be a tight race down the stretch, and it’s too early to completely discount the bottom half of the league. With that said, here’s an update on the top six contenders at this moment.
Kent State | 25-9 (13-5)
Our preseason favorite in the conference, the Flashes got off to a hot start, sweeping a Southeastern Louisiana team that’s leading the Southland Conference to open the season, then following it up with a series win in Knoxville against Tennessee. Kent State has been inconsistent in conference play, winning weekends against Bowling Green, UMass and Bowling Green – all of which are in the bottom half of the MAC standings, while dropping series’ against Miami and Northern Illinois. With an RPI of 49, the Flashes have an outside shot at a giving the MAC a rare at-large bid, but have a difficult road ahead with Ball State, Western Michigan and Toledo remaining. Talented sophomores Sawyer Solitaria (1.055 OPS, 10 HR) and Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe (1.015 OPS) have performed at the plate and Friday starter Ciaran Caughey (3-1, 3.89) has allowed three or less earned runs in seven of eight starts.
“It’s up for grabs obviously,” said head coach Jeff Duncan. “It’s one game that separates first and the sixth place, so it’s very competitive. Our RPI has been very good. We’ve been playing fine, there’s been a little bit of hiccups, and I know we can play better. We’re looking to finish strong.”
Hitter Spotlight: Ripken Reese | 3B
A switch hitter who’s been good from both sides this spring, Reese started the season batting sixth but has crept all the way up to the two-hole with during a recent hot stretch. Hitting .316/.405/.588 with eight home runs, Reese has improved his average 66 points while riding a 14-game hitting streak.
“He’s been our best hitter these past few weeks,” said Duncan. “Hitting balls hard, driving in runs, hitting for average, hitting for power and getting on base. He’s been outstanding.”
Pitcher Spotlight: Ben Rabatin | RHP
Rabatin has largely given the Flashes the most important quality that a Sunday starter can provide this spring: reliability. He’s averaged 91.4 mph with his fastball, and low-80s slider is 47.4% whiff rate on his low-80s slider is in the 93rd percentile among D1 pitchers. Setting aside his most recent outing against Northern Illinois, the sophomore hurler sent five plus innings with three or less runs allowed during a six-start stretch, including a dynamite outing (5 IP, 1H, 1R, 10K) against Bowling Green in early March.
“He’s been very good,” said Duncan. “He had a little bit off this Sunday, but the prior starts in the last month have been really good.”
Miami (OH) | 23-12 (12-6)
The defending MAC champions, the RedHawks have series wins over Ball State, Kent, Eastern Michigan and Ohio, with their only MAC loss being on the wrong end of a sweep against Northern Illinois. Miami’s offense has been great, leading the conference in average (.306), OBP (.448), homers (55), and slugging (.522). A true table setter at the top of the lineup, Marcus Dierks drew praise from reigning MAC Coach of the Year Brian Smiley for his zone awareness. The speedster is getting on base at a .527 clip and is second in league in stolen bases (26), prompting a scout to jokingly put a “90 grade” on his speed. Evan Appelwick (1.105 OPS, 11 HR) remains one of the most dangerous hitters in the MAC. On the mound, Clayton Burke (5-1, 4.18) and Zac Sohoshy (3-1, 4.30) has given them length more times than not.
“Our season’s gone OK, said Smiley. “There’s been some bright spots, playing a lot of new players especially up the middle. I think we’ve talked before the season that there’s going to be some pains inevitably and there’s certainly been some as we’ve been figuring out some roles not only on the mound, but positionally. To be sitting at 23-12, that’s probably about what we are. We have played some games that we felt like we should have won and didn’t deserve to give them away. We are getting better as the season gets older, and we’re fixing some weaknesses that we certainly had earlier in the year. That’s what the season’s all about just trying to fix what you’re not good at, capitalize on what you are good at, and I feel like we’re doing that.”
Pitcher Spotlight: Austin Berggren, RHP
Berggren has made tremendous strides after struggling mightily last spring. His ERA is 4.15 after being north of 10 last year, and he’s halved his walk rate from 12.4% to 6.1% year-over-year. He’s been up to 96 mph with his fastball, and his ground ball percentage of 78.8% from Synergy is elite in the 100th percentile.
“Austin is metrically really good,” said Smiley. “Metrically it’s off the charts. He’s still kind of learning what his stuff does. Can he command the cut on the fastball? Can he command the sink on the two-seemer? Is there a big difference between the slider and cutter? He’s still trying to learn all that stuff because his stuff has gotten a lot better in a year. When his stuff starts blending together because it’s all firm, he struggles. When he’s on, he’s really good. He throws strikes and he can be tough to elevate. He’s a very competitive young man.”
Hitter Spotlight: Tommy Harrison | 3B
Harrison is having a phenomenal year, slashing .403/.533/.736 with 13 doubles and 10 homers. Moreover, his 56 RBIs not only lead the MAC, but they’re also good for fourth in the country. A lefthanded hitter, he uses the whole field and is doing has been as good against spin as he has against fastballs this spring.
“He’s come a long way from being our first base coach two years ago,” said Smiley. “He was literally our first base coach two years ago because he had knee surgery and had to redshirt. He can really hit. He hits right-handers, he hits left-handers, he’s smart, and he makes adjustments. He’s a tough out for sure, he’s got some power and he can leave the yard from pretty much from the left field line all the way to the right field line if you make a mistake.”
Northern Illinois | 20-11 (12-6)
The Huskies are trending upward under third year coach Ryan Copeland. Looking to qualify for their first MAC tournament since 2019, Northern Illinois’ in-league resume is strong. They swept Miami and recently took two-of-three against Kent State, both in DeKalb. They also secured weekends against UMass and Bowling Green, with their only series loss against Toledo. NIU is in the top three in the league in ERA (5.89) and fielding (.979), while the offense has been more middle of the road. Copeland mentioned senior second baseman Cole Smith’ (1.077 OPS, 13 doubles) do it all mentality, particularly his competitiveness and ability to find the barrel. The Huskies have Ball State and Western Michigan in the final two weeks, in what could be consequential weekends.
“I think we’ve done a good job of putting ourselves in a position to be in the mix at the top of the conference,” said Copeland. “First things first for us, it’s about making the conference tournament, just trying to get into the dance and knowing that anything can happen. I think we’re getting really good starting pitching from our three starters. I still think we need to see a lot more out of our bullpen. I’ve been talking about that with our guys that it’s not sustainable to go play an entire season and have five or six arms that you trust. So, we need more out of our bullpen, but offensively we’ve been good. We have shown we can win a bunch of different types of games, and that’s what we want from our lineup; a bunch of versatile hitters, complete hitters, guys that can grind out at bats and can win games any type of way. There’s still a long way to go, but I like the position we’re in moving forward.”
Pitcher Spotlight: Max Vaisvila | LHP
Vaisvila has gone from a 9.00 ERA over 58 innings last year, to a MAC Pitcher of the Year candidate. A 5-foot-10 strike thrower with a three-pitch mix, he’s 6-0, 2.70 with 59 strikeouts (25.9% K-rate) and 14 walks (6.1% BB-rate).
“I’m super proud of Max,” said Copeland. “I think he pitched close to a 10.00 ERA and gave up a ton of hits. He was a strike thrower and we thought the stuff was good enough to get guys out, but it wasn’t happening. He put a lot of work in the offseason. He kind of retooled his repertoire, changed the fastball profile. The last year the slider was not very good, and he put a lot of work in to improve it. I think once he got a couple of good outings under his belt, the confidence began to grow, and the stuff just keeps getting better. The fastball velocity is ticked up a little bit. He pitches inside the righties, and lands three pitches whenever he wants. He’s beaten some pretty dang good offensive clubs in our league.”
Player Spotlight: Caden Robertson | DH
A DII All-American who had a 1.242 OPS with 23 homers last year, Robertson is doing more of the same at this level by slashing .333/.389/.684 with 11 homers thus far. He could stand to be a bit more selective (5.3% BB rate), but the .350 ISO provides a glimpse of the impact.
“He’s a really impressive right-handed hitter,” said Copeland. His dad [Rich] played in the big leagues, so he’s got some bloodlines there. He’s just been a mainstay for us in that 3-4 hole. He’s got a ton of pop in the bat, he’s dangerous, he can catch you with any swing during a game.”
Western Michigan | 17-15 (12-6)
The Broncos are looking to make their second regional in three years after punching their ticket by winning the MAC tournament in 2024. Western Michigan has won conference series against Akron, Ohio, Massachusetts and Toledo, while dropping weekends to Ball State (home) and Central Michigan (away). In conference play, Billy Gernon’s club is leading the MAC in both ERA (4.11) and fielding (.980). Veteran shortstop Michael Maloney has been rock solid at shortstop, making just three errors and leading MAC shortstops with 5.46 defensive runs saved. Closer Turner Doran (3.72 ERA) is first in the conference and fifth nationally with eight saves, five away from the school record.
“Well, obviously I feel pretty good that we are amongst the top of the league this far into the season,” said Gernon. “We do have five critical series waiting for us. The good news is for us that three of those are at home [Kent State, Miami, Northern Illinois] against the teams that are all fighting for that top spot. So, it’ll be good to have the last at bat in those games. I like where we’re positioned. I like the fact that we’re at the top of the MAC in fielding percentage. I like the fact that we’re at the top of the MAC and ERA, and I like that we’re in the conversation offensively. I feel pretty good, but you know races are start to finish, and this is where we need to keep closing the gap and continue to play really good baseball down the stretch. We have in the past, so there’s no reason why I wouldn’t expect that to continue.”
Hitter Spotlight: Tanner Mally | CF
Not only is Mally leading the country in average (.483) and OBP (.589), he’s remarkably also the toughest player in the country to strike out, punching out just three times in 147 plate appearances (2% K-rate). With difficult to ignore numbers, several scouts have made the trek to Kalamazoo to get a look at Mally. Moreover, Gernon raved about Mally’s character and work ethic.
“It’s really crazy, we’ve had to help insulate him a little bit because of the good noise of the traffic of the scouts and all that kind of stuff,” said Gernon. “He’s handled it really well. I would say he’s coming back to Earth a little bit. I don’t know if it’s wire-to-wire because I didn’t see the stats after the first weekend, but I just know that he’s been leading the nation for quite some time now in those categories, which is hard to make any other argument other than it’s impressive as all get out.”
Pitcher Spotlight: Sam Carlisle | RHP
A redshirt junior who missed the last two seasons recovering from Tommy John, Carlisle has a live arm that has been up to 96 mph this spring and is averaging 92.5 mph with his heater. He’s fourth in the league in strikeouts (55) and average against (.190). He struck out a career high 13 against UMass last month, allowing no runs on seven hits over seven frames.
“Sam’s in a position right now where he’s also drawing attention from the next level,” said Gernon. “It’s an angry fastball; it’s got a lot of life to it. He’s running up some strikeouts. If his command gets just a little bit better there’s just no telling what he might do, but it’s been nice running him out there on Saturday.”
Ball State | 18-18 (12-6)
Despite massive turnover from a team that went 21-9 in the MAC last year and anticipated ace Keegan Johnson (8.46 ERA), the Cardinals are in the hunt once again in 2026. They’ve secured series wins against Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Akron and Ohio. The only carryover from last year’s lineup, Gavin Balius (.411 OBP) is leading the MAC and fifth in the country with 28 stolen bases, with an outside shot of reaching the school record of 44 bags swiped. Third baseman Ryan Muzular is tearing it up in MAC play, hitting .424 with six homers in 27 RBIs. One thing the Cardiac Cardinals have going for them is they’ve won four conference games in their final at-bat of the game, twice against Western Michigan.
“It’s been a very curious type of a season because we haven’t experienced this since I’ve been at Ball State where we’re really 50/50,” said Maloney. “We’re capable of beating anybody and we’re also capable of losing to anybody. Now that can be said about any team in the game of baseball, but I would say for us we’ve been kind of on a roller coaster.”
Pitcher Spotlight: Brendan Garza | RHP
With Johnson struggling, Garza (3-3, 4.29) has been thrust into the Friday role and has twice been named MAC Pitcher of the Week. His season has been underscored with a seven-inning no hitter against Ohio in late March. He’s been up to 95 mph and his low-80s slider has been a put-away pitch.
“Brendan’s talented; he’s very talented,” said Maloney. “He’s still climbing. If you look at his overall stats, they aren’t the greatest. He’s showed signs where he can do some pretty good things. Like most guys at his stage of growth, he’s battling consistency. When he’s on and he’s throwing well; he can be a bull in the China shop. He’s got stuff that’s capable it’s just right now, the consistency level of his game is still growing. But he’s a talented young man, he’s got a really good arm and he’s capable. If we’re going be a contender, not a pretender, he’s going to have to pitch well down the stretch.”
Hitter Spotlight: Brayden Huebner | DH
Out of the leadoff spot, Huebner is leading the team in hitting (.383), doubles (12) and homers (9). A righthanded hitter with pull tendencies, Huebner has been as effective against both fastballs and off-speed pitches.
“The guy who’s really come on and has been just blossoming is Brayden Huebner,” said Maloney. “He’s our leadoff guy; he can really swing it. He’s been impressive.”
Toledo | 16-20 (12-6)
The Rockets struggled out of the gate in the non-conference portion of their schedule, starting just 3-8 with series losses to Memphis and Jacksonville State and a split with Lipscomb. They’ve been better in MAC play, winning weekends against UMass, Northern Illinois, Akron and Eastern Michigan. Their in-conference losses include Central Michigan and most recently, Western Michigan. Led by the likes of Cade Baker (.347, 15 2B), Charlie Scholvin (.343, 20 SB), and Jacob Payne (.337) Toledo’s veteran laden lineup is second in the MAC in hitting (.295). Injured since week three, they’ve missed Brady Sasse on the mound, but freshman lefthander Hayden Frey (3-1, 3.76) is one of several Rockets’ arms who has stepped up.
“I high on this team in the preseason and I’m still high on this team,” said skipper Rob Reinstetle. “Consistency is the issue. Our overall record is right under .500, but we have performed well in conference to this point, and we put ourselves in a position that these last five weeks are going to determine who wins the championship. Consistency is the resounding theme of why you have six teams that are all within a game of each other and it’s completely up for grabs. It’s going to be very interesting down the stretch here of who can play consistent good baseball because if we show up and play, we can beat anybody. The question is can we get our guys to do that on a regular basis. That’ll be really interesting to see that dynamic as like every weekend is going to be a pressure cooker.”
Pitcher Spotlight: Nathan Leininger | RHP
A 6-foot-6, 225-pounder with a heavy, low-90s sinker, Leininger is among the national leaders in ground ball percentage. At 7-0, 1.95 and a .182 average against, he’s putting together a potential MAC Pitcher of the Year type resume. Leininger is tied for fourth in the league in strikeouts (52), though Reinstetle said he could punchout more if he wasn’t so good at getting outs earlier in the count. The efficiency has allowed him to go five plus innings in every start.
“He’s been amazing this year,” said Reinstetle,” “A testament to Nate, in the transfer portal era kids come and go left and right, and he has stayed. He’s been here for four years, and he started out as a kind of a gangly freshman, figuring out his way and he’s been in my bullpen for three years, and each year he’s gotten a little bit better. He came back this fall, and he had made some jumps in velocity, altered some of his pitches a little bit, and he’s been absolutely fantastic. We’ve won every single Friday night but one and I attribute a lot of that to Nate. He’s done everything that you want a Friday night guy to do and more. I hope that he throws well this weekend against Miami. We’re going to need it.”
Hitter Spotlight: Troy Sudbrook | 3B
A two-year starter at third base, Subrook hit seven homers and led the club with 50 RBIs last spring, but he’s elevated his game in his junior campaign. His 1.126 OPS is tops on the team and he’s leading the country with 21 doubles.
“He’s another kid that has been here for three or four years,” said Reinstetle. “He’s been my everyday third baseman and always been a productive player, but this year’s kind of gone to a different level. He’s hitting .356, he’s an RBI machine, and the national leader with doubles. He’s a very good hitter. The difference this year compared to years past is his in-zone swing discipline. He’s swinging at the right pitches. Last year he would swing at some pitches way out of the zone and get himself out. To his credit, he’s really figured out how to be a good hitter in the zone, and I think that’s why his numbers are what they are.”
SEC Series of the Week – 2026 Week 10
The SEC standings couldn’t be any more congested, with 13 of 16 teams in the league sitting somewhere between six and nine league wins at the halfway point of league play.
The outlier at the top? Georgia, which is still a game-and-a-half up on the nearest competitors despite losing a series last weekend.
The Bulldogs have a big road series this weekend beginning on Thursday, and that’s our series of the week.
Arkansas (25-13, 8-7) vs. Georgia (30-8, 11-4)
Thursday: 8:00 PM ET
Friday: 7:00 PM ET
Saturday: 2:00 PM ET
Just a week ago, it would have been easy to downplay the likelihood of this being a competitive series.
At that time, Georgia was flying high having won six straight SEC games, including a sweep of Mississippi State on the road, while Arkansas had lost six of seven in league play and was coming off of a series loss against Auburn.
But what a difference a week makes. Last weekend, Georgia dropped its series at home against Florida at the same time that Arkansas was getting up off the mat and sweeping Alabama on the road.
Georgia’s series loss, which featured a 13-7 defeat in the finale, shined a brighter light on the issue it’s having with starting pitching in the third games of a series.
Games one and two are handled well by Joey Volchko (6-1, 3.38) and Dylan Vigue (3-1, 2.63), whose good numbers overall are largely matched by their output in conference play, during which Volchko has a 3.70 ERA IN 24.1 innings and Vigue has a 3.22 mark in 22.1 innings.
Game threes have been the issue, especially during SEC competition. In five series finales in SEC play, four of them started by Kenny Ishikawa and the most recent one started by Matt Scott, Georgia starting pitching has given up 19 runs on 16 hits in seven innings. It’s to Georgia’s credit that it has won three of those five games, but it’s straining the bullpen and has really come back to bite in blowout losses to Texas A&M and Florida in the final games of those series. For now, the Bulldogs have a TBA in the third spot.
Georgia has been able to win some of those games, though, in large part because its bullpen has been effective. The clear centerpiece is Caden Aoki (2.55 ERA, 35.1 IP), who’s the designated Swiss Army knife of the staff who can do a little bit of everything. He was a starter in his previous stop at USC, and he’s started two games this season, but he’s been so incredibly valuable in the bullpen in SEC games, during which he has a microscopic 1.04 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 17.1 innings.
Though his start last weekend didn’t go well, Scott (3.45 ERA, 28.2 IP) has also been a key piece of the pitching staff, and even with that tough start last weekend, his ERA in conference play is still just 3.57 in 17.2 innings. Others who have been centerpieces in the Georgia bullpen include Justin Byrd (4.19 ERA, 34.1 IP) and Paul Farley (4.28 ERA, 27.1 IP).
That unit will deal with an Arkansas lineup about which two things are true. The first true thing is that offensive production has been a concern for large swaths of this season and will continue to be monitored closely. The second true thing is that there were some positive signs last weekend, when the Razorbacks scored 22 combined runs in the first two games of its sweep of Alabama. Of course, as if to prove the point that not everything is just magically fixed, Arkansas scored just three runs in its win to cap off the sweep of the Crimson Tide.
The Razorbacks are 11th in the conference in batting average overall with a .275 mark, but in conference play, that figure drops to .234, which places them 14th. That’s obviously got to improve over the second half of the SEC schedule if they are going to get where they want to go.
Though he’s batting just .250 against SEC pitching, the bolded name on the opposing scouting report is still Ryder Helfrick (.292/.434/.623, 12 HR), an all-around offensive threat whose 12 home runs have him tied for 10th in the league.
Outside of him, some of the hottest hitters of late are also some of those who got off to the slowest starts.
Nolan Souza is batting .279/.345/.419 overall, but that factors in an early-season slump for him. To get a better idea of how important he is now to the Arkansas lineup, consider that he’s batting .333/.371/.491 against league competition. Similarly, TJ Pompey is batting .269/.350/.537 overall, but those numbers jump to .333/.366/.744 in SEC play.
One player who has consistently been an offensive spark plug as he’s gotten more opportunities is Carter Rutenbar (.342/.458/.468). His .302/.362/.395 conference play slash line isn’t as robust as his overall slash line, but it’s still among the better SEC batting lines on the team.
Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn was direct last weekend in saying that he was looking to shake things up in the lineup, and a road series sweep suggests that had some positive effects, so don’t be surprised if we see more of that moving forward.
The Arkansas pitching staff has also undergone a recent shakeup. Gabe Gaeckle (5-3, 3.98) is back in the bullpen after a bumpy ride as the Friday starter in SEC play. Though his first two appearances out of the bullpen last weekend were a mixed bag, he’s been dominant in that role in the past, and the Razorbacks hope he will be once again.
Moving up into Gaeckle’s Friday’s spot is Hunter Dietz (3-2, 3.61), who has somewhat quietly been excellent. Not only is he holding opponents to a .208 batting average but his 78 strikeouts lead the conference. After a couple of tough early starts this season as he shook off some rust from two missed seasons due to injury, the lefthander has been every bit of the workhorse Arkansas hoped he’d be.
Moving into the rotation was fellow lefthander Cole Gibler (2.78 ERA, 32.1 IP), who had been the linchpin of the Razorbacks’ bullpen. His first start last weekend was up and down, as he gave up just two earned runs in 4.1 innings while also walking (4) more than he struck out (2), but there’s optimism that he’ll get better as he gets accustomed to the role.
Also out of the rotation is Colin Fisher (4-4, 4.17), who has just flatly struggled in SEC play and has a conference ERA approaching 10.00. Last weekend featured a TBA in Fisher’s third spot in the rotation, a turn in the rotation that was eventually filled by Tate McGuire, who threw three innings, giving up two runs (one earned).
We know that Gaeckle is a weapon in the bullpen and Fisher will have a role to play there as well, but the biggest revelation on this unit is Ethan McElvain (1.40 ERA, 19.1 IP), who appears to have taken a massive step forward. The ERA speaks for itself, but he also has a .164 opponent batting average and 30 strikeouts compared to six walks.
You also can’t overlook the contributions of Parker Coil (2.10 ERA, 25.2 IP) and Steele Eaves (3.20 ERA, 25.1 IP) to the bullpen. Coil in particular has been stingy against SEC offenses, as he has a 1.08 ERA and a .167 opponent batting average in 8.1 innings across six appearances in league play.
That Arkansas pitching staff will have its hands full with a Georgia lineup that mashes. The Bulldogs famously lead the SEC (and the country) in home runs with 100, but they also lead the league in hitting at .324, and even if you filter for conference play, during which they have not been as dominant, they are second in the league in batting at .278 and third in conference home runs with 25.
Depth stands out when you talk about the Georgia lineup—it has 13 players who have started 11 or more games this season—but it has a trio of fire starters leading the way in Tre Phelps (.393/.520/.770), Daniel Jackson (.384/.477/.781) and Rylan Lujo (.365/.470/.594) who stand above the rest.
Jackson is arguably the most dynamic player in the conference, as he’s second in the league in batting average, second in home runs (16), second in RBIs (52) and sixth in stolen bases (18), all while proving that he can be an everyday catcher from a defensive standpoint.
And Lujo has been as hot as any hitter in SEC play, as he has a .442 batting average against league competition, a number that’s 30 points higher than any other player in the conference.
But even beyond that trio, you have to pitch carefully to Henry Allen (.315/.431/.645, 11 HR), Ryan Black (.314/.447/.562), Michael O’Shaughnessy (.291/.431/.684, 10 HR), Brennan Hudson (.274/.448/.726, 12 HR) and Kolby Branch (.267/.382/.634, 13 HR), all of whom are regulars who can beat you. And that’s to say nothing of part-time guys like Ryan Wynn (.368/.386/.711) and Jordy Oriach (.351/.463/.610), who have really responded positively when given opportunities at the plate.
This SEC season has taught us that anything is possible in any given series, but it would seem to be the case that Arkansas’ ability to keep Georgia’s hitters in the ballpark and to have its own hitters leave the ballpark are two obvious keys to the weekend.
The rest of the schedule
Florida vs. Auburn (Thu.-Sat.): 7:00 PM ET, 5:30 PM ET, 12:00 PM ET
Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt: 6:30 PM ET, 2:00 PM ET, 1:00 PM ET
Tennessee vs. Ole Miss: 6:30 PM ET, 6:00 PM ET, 1:00 PM ET
South Carolina vs. Mississippi State: 7:00 PM ET, 1:00 PM ET, 1:30 PM ET
LSU vs. Texas A&M: 7:00 PM ET, 8:00 PM ET, 2:00 PM ET
Oklahoma vs. Missouri: 7:30 PM ET, 5:00 PM ET, 3:00 PM ET
Texas vs. Alabama: 7:30 PM ET, 3:00 PM ET, 2:00 PM ET
Cal Baptist’s Gary Adcock, D1Baseball’s Eric Sorenson (Sidearm Delivery)
For this episode of Sidearm Delivery, Shotgun Spratling brings on a head coach who has helped his program climb the ranks from NAIA to Division II to Division I, with two years playing in the National Christian College Athletic Association mixed in. California Baptist head coach Gary Adcock joins to talk about transition and climbing the ranks, as well as to discuss his Lancers’ squad that keeps finding ways to win despite suffering injury after significant injury.
Later in the show, we also chat with D1Baseball national analyst Eric Sorensen about CBU, their climb to the Division I level, and their conference standing in the final season of the WAC.
Listen on Apple or Spotify
00:00 Welcome Back!
02:33 Cal Baptist’s Gary Adcock
30:20 D1Baseball’s Eric Sorenson
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Miami Outfielder Derek Williams Joins – ACC Baseball Etc.
On this episode of ACC Baseball Etc., Miami outfielder Derek Williams joins Daron Vaught and Bradley Smart to talk about his career year for the Hurricanes, his first NCAA postseason experience last season, his journey from JUCO to mid-major to the ACC, and more!
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:43 Breakout Season Jump
02:28 Why Miami Felt Right
03:22 Transfers and Team Identity
04:29 Choosing to Return
06:26 Injury Comeback and Regional Run
08:20 Playoff Atmosphere in Hattiesburg
09:40 Team Meetings and Turning Point
13:22 Clemson Grand Slam Moment
14:52 Lineup Chemistry and Hitting IQ
17:44 Approach Changes at the Plate
20:01 Strength Training and Mobility
23:29 JUCO Roots to Big Stage
25:29 Defense Growth and Wall Catch
28:05 Mark Light Milkshakes and Farewell
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Ranking The West – Week Nine
Ahhhhh, what could have been.
Imagine the Pac 12 this year. How good would the baseball have been? Seeing UCLA playing at Arizona State for a weekend. Seeing what the crowds that Oregon at Oregon State would’ve been (Or Oregon State at Oregon, of course). Or how about seeing Rintaro Sasaki hit 450-foot home runs at altitude in Salt Lake City.
This could’ve been a really good season for the Pac 12. And that is reflected at the top of the West Rankings as the top five teams are once again Pac 12 alums. But that doesn’t mean you can sleep on UCSB, or Cal Baptist or many other West Coast teams that are not from the Pac 12. I’m just saying, how cool would this have been? Thank you football idiots.
1- UCLA, 33-3, 18-0 Big Ten
Previous Rank: 1
Last Week: Swept three games at Rutgers
This Weekend: vs. Minnesota
I’m sure you’ve heard already but just in case you haven’t, Logan Reddemann is good. The Bruins’ Friday night ace threw 8.0 innings against Rutgers on Friday, struck out 18 batters and gave up just two hits and one walk. They did a DNA test on him after the game to make sure he was still technically human. Bruins won 4-1 in 14 innings in that game before burning the Knights for 7-1 and 9-2 wins on Saturday and Sunday. In Friday’s extra inning win, the Bruins came within one strikeout of tying an all-time NCAA record with 30 punchouts.
2- OREGON STATE, 28-7
Previous Rank: 2
Last Week: Won all three games vs. Cal Poly
This Weekend: vs. Cal State Fullerton
Solid sweep of a decent Mustang club helps the Beavers stay at No. 7 in the RPI. First baseman Mark Glassco got his first start of the season at the cold corner on March 28th against Mercer. Since then he has gone 13-for-35 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in the 10 games since. OSU also happens to be 8-2 in that same stretch. In Saturday’s 11-6 win Glassco went 2-for-4 with two homers and five RBI.
3- USC, 30-8, 13-5 Big Ten
Previous Rank: 3
Last Week: Swept Iowa in three games.
This Weekend: at Nebraska
Solid series for the Trojans, sweeping three from a pretty good offense. The Hawkeyes came in averaging eight runs per game and leading the Big Ten with a .318 team average. But the Trojan hurlers and defense held them to just seven runs and a .163 average. For the first time since 1999-to-2002 the Trojans have marked four straight 30-plus win seasons, all under Andy Stankiewicz.
4- OREGON, 26-10, 10-5 Big Ten
Previous Rank: 4
Last Week: 2-1 vs. Nebraska
This Weekend: at Illinois
Hard-fought weekend win for the Ducks, winning a pair of one-run games, 7-6 on Friday and 5-4 on Sunday, with a hard-luck 10-8 loss on Saturday where the Ducks blew a 5-0 lead. But a trio of Freshmen helped the cause with catcher Brayden Jaksa going 2-for-4 in the first two games including a home run and two HBPs, Naulivou Lauaki crushing two home runs in Saturday’s loss and Angel Laya smashing two home runs in Sunday’s win. Laya now has an Oregon freshman record 11 home runs on the season.
5-ARIZONA STATE, 26-12, 9-6 Big 12
Previous Rank: 5
Last Week: 2-1 vs. Utah, 0-1 vs. Arizona
This Weekend: at BYU
Frustrating weekend for the Sun Devils as they drop their Friday game to the Utes 10-4 and head coach Willie Bloomquist got ejected. But they bounced back with a wild 14-13 win on Saturday and 5-2 win on Sunday. They also dropped an 11-inning game to rival Arizona on Monday 5-3. Landon Hairston continues his ridiculous hot streak, going 2-for-4, 2-for-5 and 2-for-4 in the three games vs. the Utes with four home runs and 11 RBI. He now has 23 yard calls on the season.
6- UC SANTA BARBARA, 23-11, 10-5 Big West
Previous Rank: 6
Last Week: 2-1 vs. UC San Diego
This Weekend: at UC Irvine
Tough series win for the Gauchos, who dropped a 4-3 Friday game vs. the Tritons but rebounded with an 11-10 win in 11 innings on Saturday (Xavier Esquer with the walk-off RBI) and a 3-1 win on Sunday. Catcher Nate Vargas, who has missed significant time due to injury, was named the Big West Player of the Week as he homered in three straight games as he went 7-for-12 with three home runs and seven RBI against USC in the midweek and the first two games vs. UCSD. By the way, beating No. 1 ranked UCLA 4-0 on Tuesday will help when the season hits the end of May.
7- CAL BAPTIST, 30-7, 4-2 WAC
Previous Rank: 7
Last Week: Went 2-1 vs. UT-Arlington
This Weekend: at Tarleton State
With their Tuesday win over UC Riverside the Lancers have now reached the 30-win mark in 15 of the last 16 seasons under coach Gary Adcock. And we’re talking about a dude who has taken this program transitioning from NAIA, to Division II and now to Division I. Also, one of the best names in college baseball, Deisel Toth, blasted a solo shot in Tuesday’s 19-4 avalanche of UC Riverside.
8- BYU, 19-16, 8-7 Big 12
Previous Rank: NR
Last Week: Swept three games at Houston
This Weekend: vs. No. 23 Arizona State
The Cougars are newbies to the West Rankings but deservedly so, having come off a weekend sweep of those other Cougars, winning 3-2, 6-2 and 6-1, in Houston. With those wins the Cougars (the BYU ones) found themselves ranked at No. 41 in the RPI. According to Boyd Nation’s ISR rankings the Coogs have played the ninth-toughest schedule in the country. Including a Monday win at Lamar, the Cougar pitchers combined to hold UofH and LU to just five runs and a sickly .185 batting average.
9- NEW MEXICO, 22-13-1, 8-3-1 Mountain West
Previous Rank: NR
Last Week: Swept three games from San Diego State at home
This Weekend: vs. Nevada
Welcome to the West Rankings Lobos. They now sit in the catbird seat in the Mountain West thanks to an impressive weekend sweep of formerly first place San Diego State by scores of 5-3, 11-3 and 12-8. In Saturday’s middle game RHP Ryan Castillo threw the first nine-inning complete game for the Lobos since 2018 as he went the distance, holding the Aztecs to three runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. Castillo is now 7-1 on the season, the most wins by a UNM pitcher since Carson Schneider’s nine wins in 2016.
10- CAL POLY, 19-16, 10-5 Big West
Previous Rank: 8
Last Week: Lost all three games at Oregon State
This Weekend: at UC San Diego
Man, the Mustangs really could’ve used a win in Corvallis, especially considering the month of May is almost here and the NCAA Selection Committee is watching. They don’t have a ton of high-quality wins. They lost Sunday’s getaway game by giving up two runs in the bottom of the ninth on Easton Talt’s RBI single. But the ‘Stangs did manage to get back on track on Tuesday, taking down Pepperdine 7-3. Dylan Kordic and Ryan Tayman both hit a home run and accounted for three RBI each.
NOTES
You Guys Wanna See A 453-foot Home Run To Win The Series?
Down to their last strike, trailing 4-3, Stanford’s JJ Moran gets the game-winning and series-winning three-run home run that was clocked at 110mph…
2026 Scouting Trail, Week Nine: Top mid-major prospects
Heading into the 2026 season, Coastal Carolina’s ace Cam Flukey was our top mid-major prospect and UC Santa Barbara’s Jackson Flora was a split-the-hairs second. Both were well-known talents and potential top half of the first round picks. Flukey made one start on opening day, striking out seven in 5.1 innings, but went down with a rib cage stress reaction and has been out of service since. Flora was lights out in his first start of the spring, leveled a bit in his next few appearances and recently put together a scoreless streak of 38.2 innings. He’s currently 6-0 with a 0.63 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 57 innings. The 6-foot-5 righthander is an athletic mover with a quick arm. His best pitch is a 70-grade changeup in the upper-80s with big bottom. It’s a freeze-em dropper that starts up in the zone then dives into the zone for repeated called strikes. He can also throw it into and then below the zone for chase. He’s thrown this pitch 23.4% of the time and it has produced a 32.5% chase rate along with a 47.1% whiff. Flora’s eye-popping statistical performance this season has been buoyed by his improved ability to pitch which is much due to throwing his change-of-pace right on right.
His command of a lively 95-98 mph heater is more control than spotting to a precise location. It spins in the 2500-2600 rpm range and is released with above average, 6-foot-3 extension out front. On the latest look against UC San Diego this past Friday, Flora primarily pitched off his secondary offerings. And he has a lot of them. In addition to the elite changeup, he’ll also mix a 90-91 cutter, an 87-88 slider and a 79-84 sweeper that has 20-22” of horizontal break. His strike rate of all pitches is 64.4% (72nd percentile). He’s a no-doubt first round pick.
Opposing Flora on Friday afternoon for UC San Diego was the quick-rising Steele Murdock. He punched out 17 Gauchos without a walk and stuff-wise was very similar to Aaron Fitt’s look last summer in the Cape – “A thick, strong 6-foot-2, 215-pounder with a big arm, Murdock attacked at 94-96 and bumped 97 with solid arm-side life. He used a sharp 83-85 mph slider with good tilt as the putaway pitch on two of his three strikeouts over two innings of work, and he manipulated the shape and depth on the pitch, making it look more like a power curveball with downer action at times. At other times, it had big lateral tilt, as evidenced by up to 22 inches of horizontal break. The slider was a putaway pitch, generating a 45% whiff rate. He also flashed a changeup at 84, but he used it very sparingly, just 3% of the time. Murdock has some effort in his delivery and has a reliever-ish look, but it’s a big-time power arm with shutdown closer potential for the Tritons.”
Against UC Santa Barbara there was less effort to his operation compared to what I saw during the Cape Cod All-Star game. What also stood out was 6-foot-7 extension out front on his high-spin fastball (2500-2600+ rpm), allowing it to play up. He also induced repeated chase and whiff with a dominant 70-grade breaking pitch. Despite his underwhelming season statistics to date (6.18 ERA, 43.2 IP, 40 H, 22 BB, 11 HBP, 68 SO), the redshirt sophomore jumps into the potential starter bucket. He’s a durable-bodied, high ceiling righthander with a difference-making breaking ball and upper-90s velo which places him into the top four-to-five round conversation.
In addition to those three righthanders, several others have emerged this spring as potential top five round picks from mid-majors. Leading the race are potential top three round talents Andrew Williamson (Central Florida), Ben Blair (Liberty) and Missouri State centerfielder Caden Bogenpohl, whom I broke down in Week Six.
Williamson has been streaky at times, but solid overall this spring. The 6-foot, 195-pound lefthanded hitter is currently slashing .324/.438/.672 and combines a little bit of everything at the plate with above average power (112.1 mph max EV) and solid contact rates. The right fielder is also an above average defender with average (pro scale) arm strength. He’s committed just three errors in three seasons with 253 total chances (.988 FLD%).
Before Blair’s most recent start against Jacksonville State where he allowed seven runs on nine hits in six innings, the Liberty righthander had been unreal this spring. The industry talk was the second-to-third round and our Joe Healy was in the house on the PxP to see the Flames’ ace. Here’s what he wrote — “Though Blair endured arguably his worst outing of the season, he showed the potential that has scouts flocking to Lynchburg. He ran his fastball up to 98 mph, a season-high velocity, and showed two putaway offspeed offerings, a short cutter at 86-89 mph that he often uses to either backdoor lefthanded hitters for looking strikes or slip under the barrel of righthanded hitters for swings and misses and a slider with significant sweep at 80-83 mph that he buries. He’ll also show a changeup at 84-87 mph, but that’s a distant fourth pitch at present.”
Blair’s high effort delivery to a low three-quarter slot (5-foot release height) adds to his deception and creates a different look. He does rush his lower half during his delivery, but a quick arm and lower release point allow him to consistently be on time. He’s walked only five in 55.1 innings this season to go along with 74 strikeouts. Blair is also a good athlete and fields his position well. He made a really nice play on a well-placed bunt in the third, as well as a routine PFP bunt in the 5th. Both were made to look easy and under control at all times. Regardless of his most recent outing, Blair profiles to become a quick mover in a pro relief role, but the second round where some clubs had him evaluated is too tall for me. I’m more comfortable in the fourth round area. Blair is more athletic, but his delivery, release point and FB/SL/CTR mix reminds of former major leaguer Ben Heller, a late round overachieving pick of Cleveland in 2013.
Two-way talent Evan Dempsey (Florida Gulf Coast) is regarded as a top four-to-five round talent as a pitcher. As is Ethan Norby (East Carolina) and I also like Max Bayles (Santa Clara) in this range, a couple rounds higher than the industry. Dempsey has pro value as a hitter and pitcher, but projects more on the mound with a best-pitch high-riding fastball that gets up to 95 mph and enters the zone with a plus VAA of -4.20 degrees. He also stuffs the zone with his heater for a 71.9% strike rate (99th percentile) and its 38.5% Whiff rate is 100th percentile. Dempsey’s curve is also a weapon with spin rates into the 3100s. The righthander has struck out 77 in 54.2 innings this season while limiting opponents to a .189 batting average.
Norby is one of the most competitive pitchers in college baseball. The 5-foot-10, 190-pound lefty has struck out 65 in 46 innings with a best-pitch 3000+ rpm slider (97th percentile Whiff) that averages nearly 17” of horizontal movement. He also attacks with a fastball that has averaged 91.5 mph this spring. There’s not a ton of ceiling to his game, but his “what you see is what you get” does have top five round value.
Santa Clara’s Friday night ace features a dominant slider and a fastball in the low-90s. Bayles has struck out 69 in 43.2 innings for the Broncos, while limiting opponents to a .186 batting average. Like Norby, Bayles’ slider is his best pitch with spin in the 2800 rpm range and a 98th percentile Whiff rate of 54.2%.
Sam Houston State’s Ryan Peterson is also intriguing. With high level control (71% strike rate) of a fastball that averages over 93 mph, he also spins an 80 mph and 3000+ rpm curve. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound righthander has struck out 73 in 55.2 innings this season.
UCSB’s Saturday starter, sophomore-eligible Nathan Aceves is also receiving top 10 round attention, much due to a fastball that is averaging 93.5 mph and a top shelf mid-80s changeup with big bottom similar to his teammate, Flora. If he can develop a better breaking ball, he has intriguing upside.
Two additional mid-major power arms with a fastball that drives their draft profile include Cody Brasch (Louisiana) and Eric Nachtsheim (McNeese State). Brasch has touched 98 this season and follows his heater with a deep-breaking mid-80s slider. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior righthander has dominated out of the pen with five saves and 47 strikeouts in 33 innings. Nachtsheim has punched out even more with 76 in 48.2 innings as a swing arm for the Cowboys. He has a bit less heat than Brasch, topping at 96 and averaging 93, but with 6-foot-9 inches of extension and good ride of 20” IVB, the heater plays up. He also mixes a pair of breaking balls and an effective changeup.
Mercer’s Michael Graziano batted just .239 as a sophomore last season for the Bears with a 29.5% strikeout rate. To say he’s adjusted since is a vast understatement. Currently sizzling along with a .382/.480/.667 slash and a greatly reduced 15% strikeout rate, the centerfielder thrives from the leadoff spot. This past Saturday he hit the first pitch of the game for his fifth home run of the season and added two more knocks for a 3-for-5 day at the plate. His swing is a bit “armsy” and upright – he could get into the ground with his lower half a bit more — but he’s long through the hitting zone. This operation has produced a 99th percentile barrel rate of 25% and above average raw power (111.8 max EV) with fringe average bat speed of 68.5 mph. The former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket is also a good athlete, standing 6-foot-3, 215 pounds.
Reece Moroney (Rhode Island) and Kyle Morrison (Southern Miss) are two mid-major middle infielders drawing some attention for their high level performance. Moroney is currently batting .393 and has shown good raw power with a 112.4 max EV, but has struggled to make consistent hard contact, posting just a 42nd percentile barrel rate of 4.1%. He’s regarded as a sure-handed defender (three errors in 143 chances) with fringe-average arm strength at shortstop. The lefthanded hitting Morrison has average bat speed (69.3 mph), fair pop (108.3 max EV) and finds the barrel at a 22.2% rate (98th percentile). He’s currently hitting .382 in Sun Belt Conference play and .336 with 11 home runs overall.
From the Missouri Valley Conference a few notable prospects include Michael Addari, a righthander from Illinois State who pitches at 92-95 with a high-spin 80 mph sweeper that overwhelms same-sided hitters. He’s posted a 1.71 season ERA which leads the Missouri Valley Conference. The Valley also boasts center fielder Carter Beck from Indiana State who is arguably the top position prospect in the conference this season, along with another top talent in Brayden Bakes (Illinois State). Beck has average bat speed of 69.7 mph and plus raw power with a 114.8 max EV. He currently leads the Sycamores with a .354 average and is tied for third in the Valley in home runs (9). Bakes is second in the MVC in batting average (.364) and home runs (10). He controls the strike zone with more walks than strikeouts, has a max EV of 111.2, a 99th percentile Barrel rate of 22.5% and leads the Redbirds with 22 XBHs.
D1Baseball, Homefield Announce Partnership
OMAHA, NE — Monday, April 15, 2026— D1Baseball today announced a comprehensive partnership with Homefield, naming the premium officially-licensed collegiate apparel brand as a Presenting Sponsor of many of D1Baseball’s on-site and digital coverage initiatives throughout the remainder of the 2026 college baseball season and beyond.
The partnership establishes Homefield as an integrated brand across D1Baseball’s expansive media ecosystem, including editorial coverage, social media, podcasts, and in-person activations tied to key moments in the college baseball calendar.
As part of the agreement, Homefield will serve as the presenting sponsor of D1Baseball’s weekend on-site coverage during the regular season and conference tournaments. Team-specific coverage on D1Baseball.com will include pathways for fans to shop Homefield’s officially licensed collegiate apparel directly from team-specific content.
“This partnership with Homefield is a natural fit for us and our audience,” said Kendall Rogers, co-owner and managing editor of D1Baseball. “They’ve built a brand that resonates deeply with college sports fans, and together, we’re creating opportunities to connect storytelling, tradition, and style in a way that enhances the fan experience around the game.”
Expanding Digital & Social Integration
Homefield will serve as the official sponsor of D1Baseball’s “Viceroy” social media accounts, which include conference-specific social media accounts covering the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, and Mid-Majors.
Homefield will also benefit from high-impact placement across D1Baseball’s website, including:
In addition to Homefield’s website and social media presences, they will also serve as a presenting sponsor across the D1Baseball Podcast Network.
Enhanced Fan Engagement Through Content & Commerce
D1Baseball will collaborate with Homefield on key product launches, including baseball-specific apparel drops (more on this coming VERY SOON!). These launches will be supported through social media promotion, email alerts, and website activations, all designed to showcase team-branded apparel that fans will love.
“Partnering with D1Baseball allows us to authentically tap into one of the most passionate communities in sports,” said Josh Johns, Vice President of Marketing Partnerships & Events at Homefield. “Their deep connection with college baseball fans and commitment to high-quality storytelling aligns perfectly with how we approach thoughtfully amplifying and celebrating the proud traditions of these programs reflected in our apparel.”
On-Site Activations & Omaha Collaboration
The partnership also includes a series of co-branded stadium activations throughout 2026. These experiences will further integrate Homefield into the fabric of college baseball storytelling.
Fans can also expect a collaborative activation tied to the College World Series, with potential for exclusive product releases and fan engagement initiatives in Omaha.
About D1Baseball D1Baseball (d1baseball.com) is the most comprehensive source for college baseball coverage in the country, delivering breaking news, rankings, analysis, recruiting coverage, and multimedia content to millions of college baseball fans each year. The D1Baseball Podcast Network reaches hundreds of thousands of listeners annually across multiple shows covering the sport from coast to coast.
About Homefield Homefield (homefieldapparel.com) creates unique, premium collegiate apparel that shows you’re part of a community while still standing out from the crowd. Whether you’re on campus or off, our high-quality goods are thoughtfully made and designed to last as long as your memories do.
The Most Surprising Records Halfway Through Conference Play [D1 Daily]
On this episode of the D1 Daily, Burkie and Roons review the most surprising conference records with five weekends left to go. In the SEC, Kentucky and LSU were top of mind, as well as Vanderbilt‘s overall record. Speaking of surprises, could this Texas A&M lineup be comp’d to the 2024 Vols? In the ACC, Georgia Tech’s dominance and Louisville‘s struggles were discussed. In the Big Ten, Purdue and Nebraska stood out to the guys. While in the Sun Belt, Coastal Carolina continues to perform as if injuries aren’t actually a thing affecting their season.
Listen on Apple or Spotify
00:00 Welcome!
00:53 Midseason Conference Records Check
01:32 SEC Surprises: LSU, Kentucky, Vandy
07:10 Texas A&M Offense Spotlight
12:45 ACC Surprises: Louisville
15:54 Georgia Tech Title Run
18:52 Other ACC Notes: Virginia & BC
20:22 Big 12 Chaos and ASU
24:12 Sun Belt and Big Ten
26:16 Final Thoughts
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Wednesday’s SEC Daily Dish: The curious case of Florida
Florida lost Tuesday evening because, of course, it did.
This season, every team that triumphs must be sent to its room immediately without dinner. There’s little consistency with most of the sport, and no team exemplifies it more than Kevin O’Sullivan’s Gators.
A quick synapse … Florida swept two games on the road at Miami, which has an argument as the best preconference series win by an SEC team. It has won three midweek games in three venues against a top-ten Florida State squad, which is, without argument, the best midweek SEC showing. The Gators swept Arkansas in Fayetteville and won a series at Georgia, the Bulldogs’ only series loss to date.
Sounds great, right? And it is.
But that’s only part of the resume. Florida also lost a series to High Point and needed a late-game Panther meltdown to avoid being swept. The Gators were swept at Alabama and blew a late lead in the rubber game to lose a home series to Ole Miss. It’s up and down, feast or famine, a Dale Murphy baseball glove Christmas morning, followed by a smelly lump of coal in the stocking. And while Florida certainly isn’t Lone Rangering this unpredictable season, the drastic nature of the season has elevated scrutiny.
We see the premium arms both in the rotation and in the bullpen, and drool a bit at what could happen if all of them get rolling for an extended stretch. We see Brandon Lawson, Kyle Jones, and a cast of quality batters, and see how this team can win with offense as well as pitching. It’s one of those teams that can beat anyone in any type of game. But as we saw Tuesday night in a 13-7 loss to Bethune-Cookman, it can lose to teams with a fraction of its talent and look bad doing it.
Kendall, Aaron, and I built a mock bracket Monday night, and Florida presented a compelling case. On the one hand, the inconsistency is maddening and tough to reconcile on a weekly basis, especially in a world facing a scarcity of nuance. We’re either all good, all bad, all right, all wrong, with no appetite for any compromise or the ability to appreciate the other’s views. And with the way Florida is playing, the highs create more interest and therefore offer the microscope to find holes. The thing is, many of these are holes present on other teams as well; sometimes we just aren’t looking as closely because – frankly – those teams haven’t earned the scrutiny with enough big wins.
The staff ranked Florida 20th. I get it. Who knows what they are? A weekly evaluation like a poll will always reward consistency, and even the most ardent Florida fan won’t smack a consistency label on the Gators. It’s been a roller coaster.
In the bracket, we projected Florida 4th. And I also get that. The bracket is looking forward, but it is also looking at the totality of the resume, not a week-by-week snapshot, taking more weight on the entire season.
And the resume’s highs are incredible. As of Monday’s deliberations, here are some attributes for the Gators. Florida’s big wins and challenging schedule are displayed in the computer ratings at No. 4 RPI, No. 7 DSR, and No 4. KPI for an average of 4. It is 9-6 in SEC play against what’s currently the strongest SEC SOS. Its non-conference strength of schedule is 25, and its overall strength of schedule is 5th. It is 9-4 on the road, 11-6 vs Quad 1, and before last night, it had just one loss in 13 combined. games versus Quads 3 and 4. Add in a 14-6 against the midseason projected field, and you have the kind of resume that the committee won’t be able to ignore.
If Florida’s recent trend of winning a series, losing a series continues, a series loss to Auburn is in store for this weekend. However, games against teams like Auburn aren’t that damaging to overall bracket projections but could be harshly reflected in its poll position, depending on what happens to the teams ranked near it.
Of course, the most inconsistent thing Florida could do right now is go on a heater and win consecutive series. Wouldn’t that be fitting for such a strange season?
Tuesday’s Finals
SEC SOS
All conference schedules are not created equal. Through five weeks, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi State have played the toughest conference slates. Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee have played the least challenging.
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In addition, unlike conventional marker-based systems, the KinaTrax lab system can also track the ball in flight. When coupled with our in-game system, direct comparisons of in-game and lab data can be made to assess a player’s ability to take what they’re doing in practice and apply it to the bright lights of a live game.
Midweeks: A no-hitter, the Beanpot, and a 13-game winning streak
With two outs in the top of the seventh, Radford’s Carter Richardson fouled off a pair of 3-2 offerings from Virginia Tech lefthander Danny Lazaro. Lazaro, a junior making just his 11th appearance on the year and first in a week, came right back and rifled a 90 mph fastball past Richardson on the outer half of the plate. For the first time since 1996, the Hokies’ pitching staff had logged a no-hitter, blanking the visiting Highlanders in a decisive 14-0 rout.
Lazaro’s 1-2-3 seventh inning was preceded by four other arms holding Radford to a lone walk. The group faced the minimum as Junho Son’s leadoff walk in the fourth was erased by Henry Cooke throwing him attempting to steal second. Madden Clement and Ethan Grim started the night with two innings apiece, then Brody Roe, Josh Berzonski, and Lazaro combined to set down the final nine in order. Yes, it was a midweek game and the run-rule limited it to seven innings, but it was a fantastic night at the ballpark for a pitching staff that has battled injuries and struggles throughout an uneven season thus far.
Perhaps most encouraging was the first two outings from Clement and Grim, two arms that have battled injuries. Clement, making just his second appearance of the year after a shaky debut against Liberty last week, retired all six batters he faced. The junior southpaw was expected to feature prominently in the rotation in 2025, but went down with injury in his first outing of the year. Against Radford, Clement sat just under 91 mph on his fastball and mixed in an upper-70s curveball and low-80s changeup. Grim, who exited an outing against Virginia back on March 13, hadn’t thrown more than an inning and a third since. He leaned on his 92-94 mph fastball against Radford but showed a cutter, sweeper, and change as well.
Offensively, Virginia Tech got it done in a variety of ways. Ethan Ball had a three-run double, Nick Locurto a two-run homer, and Hudson Lutterman and Sam Grube both brought in a pair of runs on doubles. The lone blemish on an otherwise perfect night at English Field in Blacksburg was Ball exiting with a trainer after an uncomfortable swing.
The ACC went 10-2 as a whole on Tuesday night, with several other notable results to digest. Let’s break it down, starting in Brighton where Boston College claimed the Baseball Beanpot for the first time in three years.
Gallo powers Eagles past Northeastern
An instrumental part in Boston College’s success this spring has been the emergence of freshman Luke Gallo, who made his first start at third base in early March while the team was on its Florida road trip. Gallo has started every game since and stepped up big time on Tuesday night against Northeastern in the Beanpot championship. Gallo went 2-for-2 with a walk and drove in every run in a 3-1 win for the Eagles, tying the game with a fifth-inning homer and putting them ahead for good with a two-run bloop single to left in the sixth. Boston College got a great outing from Jacob Burnham, who pitched into the sixth, and the trusted bullpen trio of John Kwiatkowski, Gavin Soares, and Kyle Kipp kept Northeastern at bay the rest of the way.
Zuckerman, Georgia Tech extend streak to 13
With UCLA’s 4-0 loss to UC Santa Barbara and Georgia Tech’s 13-9 slugfest win over Georgia Southern, the Jackets now hold the longest active win streak in the country at 13 games — the program’s longest streak since 2011. Georgia Tech dug an early hole, going down 4-0 after the first half inning, but scored in all eight innings they batted in and fended off a late comeback effort from the visitors. It was another day of offense from throughout the order and the biggest day came from six-hole hitter Ryan Zuckerman. The junior third baseman went 5-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs as he continued a fantastic season. The Jackets slugged six home runs, including a pinch-hit blast from Caleb Daniel to lead off the eighth that was promptly followed by Zuckerman’s second.
Wake hammers its way to top-10 win over Coastal
In this week’s Weekend Review, I wrote that “one of the more puzzling storylines this season has been Wake Forest’s offense.” The Deacs scored just four runs on 19 hits over the weekend against Miami, continuing a quiet spell at the plate that dated back to the final game of the Pitt series. That stretch included a 2-1 setback to Coastal Carolina but Wake flipped the script in a rematch. The Deacs looked back to their offensive ways, with five separate hitters logging multi-hit days while the team launched five home runs. They separated late, too, with three of the homers (solo shots) coming against Coastal reliever Ryan Lynch in the eighth.
Carns, Florida State offense shows life
After four games in a row with exactly three runs, Tuesday’s 9-2 win for the Seminoles over Stetson must’ve felt nice for Link Jarrett & Co. A new-look lineup with Brody DeLamielleure and Gabe Fraser starting for the first time since March 20 and March 3, respectively, produced a pair of crooked number innings and the most runs since the series clincher at Virginia. The headliner was Hunter Carns, who hit a three-run homer in the third to break a 1-1 deadlock and added a two-run double in the seventh. Carns now leads the team in average (.348) and doubles (8) and has driven in 18 runs on the year.
Other standouts from Tuesday’s slate
Owen Hull went 3-for-4 with two doubles and four runs scored in a 14-5 win for North Carolina over UNC Wilmington. Tar Heels’ freshman Jackson Rose was excellent again, spinning five innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts. Notre Dame freshman Shane Miranda had a career day, going 3-for-3 with a double, walk, and two runs scored in just his second start of the year. The Irish beat Valparaiso, 6-1, and got an encouraging outing from Caden Crowell (3 IP, 6 K). NC State’s Sherman Johnson went 3-for-4 with a double in an emphatic 10-3 win for the Wolfpack over East Carolina. Louisville’s Jake Bean held down Western Kentucky, going five innings of one-run ball, and the Cardinals got a comfortable 7-3 win. Clemson’s Justin LeGuernic struck out five over two-plus innings in relief as the Tigers got a big three-run homer from Jacob Jarrell en route to a 7-3 win over Charlotte.
Postseason Stock Report: Week 10 national seed & at-large analysis
SEE ALSO: Field of 64 projection: April 14
SEE ALSO: Nerdcast: Assembling the field of 64
SEE ALSO: RPI Nitty Gritty
SEE ALSO: Diamond Sports Ranking (DSR)
This time of year, a hefty majority of all questions submitted in our weekly chat, as well as those sent via e-mail or Twitter, center around the battle for postseason positioning. Our readers want to know how the races for national seeds, host sites and at-large bids are shaping up—so it’s time to roll out our weekly Stock Report feature. Every week, we’ll examine how the postseason picture has shifted over the previous week. This analysis is intended to complement our weekly NCAA tournament field of 64 projection, which was put together in a podcast with Kendall Rogers, Mark Etheridge and me on Monday night. As always, you can listen to our deliberations in the weekly Nerdcast.
Below, we’ll look at who’s in, who’s out, who’s on the bubble for at-large spots, hosts and national seeds. This discussion is weighted more toward performance to date and remaining schedule than projection based on talent, but it’s also not intended to show exactly what the field would look like if the season ended today. We’re still looking ahead, and we’re still taking talent into consideration when putting together our forecasts.
During this discussion, we will reference the RPI Rankings through Monday’s games (it’s worth noting our field was assembled prior to the completion of Tuesday’s action). And we’ll make use of records against teams ranked in the four RPI quadrants, a 2024 change to the way data is presented on team sheets to the Division I Baseball Committee. Previously, the team sheets displayed a team’s record vs. opponents ranked in the top 25 of the RPI, then 26-50, 50-100 and 100+. Now, the location of a game factors into which quadrant a game slots into. Quad 1 is home games vs. teams 1-25 in RPI, neutral games vs. 1-40 and road games vs. 1-60. Q2 is home games vs. 26-50, neutral games vs. 41-80 and road games vs. 61-120. Q3 is home games vs. 51-100, neutral games vs. 81-160 and road games vs. 121-240. Q4 is home games against 101+, neutral games against 161+ and road games against 241+. All the data is the same, but the presentation is different, and that matters because it provides some built-in context behind those records against the tiers, making those tools more useful.
Finally, we’ll also reference the Diamond Sports Rankings (DSR), a new metric that the committee will incorporate into its deliberations this year alongside the RPI and KPI.
We’ll get to at-large chances in a bit, but let’s start with a look at which teams are on track to earn national seeds and which are on track to host regionals through the first nine weeks of the season:
National Seeds: Top eight and hosts
Florida is the biggest mover from our midseason projection two weeks ago, jumping from No. 13 to the No. 4 national seed. The knock on the Gators has been their inability to win back-to-back weekend series, which has stunted their progress in the D1Baseball Top 25 rankings, where they currently sit at No. 20. But this is a different exercise — a team’s previous seeding has no bearing on its seeding this week, because we start from a blank canvas every time we put together a field of 64. And after nine weeks, the totality of Florida’s season overpowers its few weekend hiccups (series losses to High Point and Ole Miss along with getting swept at Alabama). Despite those warts, the Gators are 27-10 overall and No. 4 in the RPI, with marquee road series wins at Arkansas (a sweep) and Georgia along with a quality road series win at Miami. Florida is also 3-0 in midweek action against Florida State, essentially amounting to the same result as a weekend series sweep. A single midweek win doesn’t move the needle a ton, but sweeping three midweek games against the same opponent has a major impact. Florida’s recent series win at Georgia also improved the Gators to 9-6 in the SEC and 9-4 against Q1 opponents. It all adds up to an easy top-eight resumé at this point, and we like Florida’s trajectory and talent — we expect the Gators to maintain their momentum.
Despite that series loss to the Gators, Georgia slots into the No. 5 national seed, up from No. 11 two weeks ago. Sweeping a series at Mississippi State went a long way toward boosting Georgia’s credentials, and it sits along atop the SEC standings at 11-4, helping to offset the glaring flaws in its resumé: a No. 266 nonconference strength of schedule and a No. 20 RPI. We expect that RPI to improve as the Bulldogs continue navigating SEC play, and we have confidence that they have staying power near the top of the standings.
Coastal Carolina is another big mover from our midseason projection two weeks ago, climbing from the No. 15 national seed to No. 8 this week. We spent the first half of the season wondering how long Coastal could hang on as a top contender in the face of pitching injuries that would have devastated most teams, but the Chanticleers have proven they have staying power even at far less than full strength. At 13-2, they are four games ahead of second-place Texas State in the Sun Belt, with a 26-9 overall record and a No. 9 RPI. If ace Cameron Flukey does indeed return at some point down the stretch, Coastal could surge even higher. For now, they have earned a spot in the top eight, and our trust that they can keep it going.
Oregon State moves into our top eight, up from No. 9 two weeks ago. The Beavers have once again managed to put together a quality resumé as a Division I independent, ranking No. 7 in the RPI thanks in large measure to a 12-2 record on the road. OSU is just 3-2 against Q1 opponents, and its remaining schedule offers no more opportunities to accrue quality wins on weekends, which makes its position in the top eight vulnerable, despite its gaudy 28-7 overall record. That puts even more weight on two more upcoming midweek games against rival Oregon, one on a neutral site and one at home.
Keep a close eye on surging Texas A&M, plus steady ACC powers Florida State and Virginia, all of whom are knocking on the door to the top eight. The Aggies made a mighty move by sweeping a pair of games against Texas this past weekend, helping them vault to No. 12 in the RPI and improve to 9-5 in the SEC. They check in at No. 9 in our latest projection. We downgraded FSU in our midseason projection in the wake of Myles Bailey’s season-ending injury, slotting them in at No. 14 two weeks ago. But Florida State promptly showed us that they aren’t going away by taking a road series win at Virginia — but then took a step backward with an 0-4 week against Florida and Georgia Tech. Still, their pitching gives them a high floor, and we expect them to remain right in the hunt. For now they are No. 10, with Virginia just behind as the No. 11 seed. The Seminoles have the stronger RPI (No. 6 vs. UVa’s No. 17) and the head-to-head advantage, so they are certainly in better shape than Virginia at the moment, but both teams have done enough to be in striking range of the top eight.
Alabama and Auburn slot in as our No. 12 and No. 14 national seeds, with matching 8-7 records in the SEC and strong RPI rankings of No. 5 and No. 10, respectively. Alabama’s sweeps of Florida and Auburn in back-to-back weeks followed by a road series win at Oklahoma were loud, putting the Tide in great position to host. Getting swept at home by Arkansas was a setback, and we’re still not convinced that Bama has the staying power to finish the year in the top eight, but they are just another strong week away from jumping right into that position. Auburn, meanwhile, has won back-to-back series over Arkansas and Kentucky; an upcoming series at Florida is huge for Auburn’s resumé. If the Tigers can take that series, it’s easy to envision them making a big move in next week’s projections.
West Virginia slides from No. 7 in the midseason projection to No. 13 this week, largely a result of its home series loss to UCF, which knocked WVU out of the catbird seat in the Big 12. The Mountaineers rebounded with a nice road series win at Texas Tech, and we like West Virginia’s current position as the top RPI team in the Big 12 (No. 18) along with a quality 10-5 record in conference. But at the moment, it’s hard to project WVU as a top eight when they trail first-place Kansas by two games and aren’t that close to the top 10 in the RPI. We still like WVU’s chances to finish the year as the top team in the Big 12 pecking order, but they’ll likely need to win the league to have a shot at the top eight.
Speaking of the Big 12, Kansas made a huge move by sweeping UCF this past weekend, improving the Jayhawks to 12-3 in the league, two games clear of any other teams in the standings. The rest of KU’s resumé is a big light, with a road series win at Cincinnati standing as its only other series against a projected regional team — and its No. 218 nonconference SOS does not help matters either. At No. 23 in the RPI with just a 3-2 record against Q1, Kansas is shaky as our 16th host, although their No. 14 ranking in the DSR is encouraging, but for now we’re giving them the nod as the Big 12 leader — particularly since they get to host West Virginia in a showdown series in May. Kansas needs to keep on winning series to strengthen its position, but the WVU series will be biggest of all.
Southern California is a tricky case. The Trojans pass the “at a glance” test with a sparkling 30-7 overall record and a No. 8 RPI. But a deeper look reveals some concerns: no series wins against any team close to contending for an at-large spot, and just a 2-6 record against Q1. For now, we’ve got USC slotted as the No. 15 seed based on the surface-level indicators, and our belief that the Trojans have the pitching to finish strong. But they sorely need some quality wins, which makes upcoming series at Nebraska, vs. Purdue and a season-ending set at Oregon paramount.
The Magnolia State is full of intrigue, with Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss lining up back-to-back-to-back in our pecking order at Nos. 17, 18 and 19 — all just outside hosting position. That’s a change from two weeks ago, when MSU was our No. 4 national seed and Southern Miss was No. 8. Since then, the Bulldogs have gone into freefall, getting swept in consecutive home series by Georgia and Tennessee to fall to 7-8 in the SEC and No. 24 in the RPI. We still have State ahead of Ole Miss by virtue of MSU’s head-to-head sweep in Oxford, but the Rebels are rising after taking series at Florida and vs. LSU (a sweep) over the last two weeks. Both teams have work to do.
The same goes for Southern Miss, which was riding high at 15-2 after beating Ole Miss on March 10, but has gone just 10-9 since then. The Golden Eagles were still able to grind out two-of-three series wins against Troy, Appalachian State and Old Dominion, but they have now lost series to Arkansas State and Louisiana, leaving them with an uninspiring 8-7 record in the Sun Belt. That conference record coupled with USM’s trajectory undermines all of its strong work in the preconference, pushing the Eagles out of hosting position. But that first month — highlighted by series wins vs UCSB and at Louisiana Tech along with quality victories in round rock against Purdue, Oregon State and Baylor, and midweek wins against Alabama, MSU and Ole Miss — still keeps Southern Miss very much in the hosting race if it can right the ship and make a run in the Sun Belt.
Other teams to keep an eye on for host spots include UCF, Oklahoma, Oregon, Missouri State, Arkansas and Miami. Oklahoma and Missouri State are both in good RPI shape in the mid-teens, but OU has been up and down in SEC play and currently sits at 7-8. The Sooners are just one or two good weeks away from being in very good hosting position, but for now they’re on the outside looking in. Missouri State is one game out of first in CUSA at 12-3 and owns a quality road series win at Liberty, to go along with its No. 15 RPI. We aren’t convinced that RPI has staying power, but for now MoState should be taken seriously as a host contender. We just need to see more. Oregon, UCF, Arkansas and Miami are all in the 30s in the RPI, but they have built decent enough foundations that they can easily surge into hosting position if they can get those RPIs up. Racking up wins is the bottom line.
At-large bids
There are 29 automatic bids awarded to conference champions, and these 16 are safe bets to be one-bid leagues, regardless of how their conference tournaments shake out.
Sure-fire one-bid leagues: America East, ASUN, Atlantic 10, Big East, Horizon, Ivy, MAAC, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, SoCon, Southland, SWAC, Summit.
These six conferences are likely to be one-bid leagues, but each has at least one team with at least a shot at an at-large bid, though the poor RPIs of the rest of their conferencemates figure to drag some of them down below at-large range as the season continues.
Likely one-bid leagues (potential at-large teams in parentheses):
Big South (High Point)
Big West (UC Santa Barbara)
CAA (Campbell)
MAC (Kent State, Miami)
WAC (Cal Baptist)
WCC (Gonzaga)
Out of this group, UCSB is the strongest bet to earn an at-large spot if it fails to win their conference tournaments, as we currently project the Gauchos as a No. 2 seed, with a No. 34 RPI. High Point is the next most realistic candidate for an at-large bid, with a No. 44 RPI and a marquee road series win against Florida highlighting its resumé. The Panthers are 9-3 in the Big South, percentage points behind 7-2 Winthrop, and winning the regular-season title is likely crucial to HPU’s hopes. We like its chances to do that, but maintaining a top 50 RPI feels like a trickier proposition.
The other teams mentioned above have RPIs in the 50s or 60s, which theoretically puts them in the hunt for at-large spots. But realistically, none of those teams are likely to finish the year inside the top 50, given the poor RPIs of their conferencemates, and it would be a surprise to see any of them wind up getting an at-large bid. But they are on the radar, at least.
Here’s a conference by conference look at the seven leagues we currently project to snag multiple bids:
ACC (8 bids)
Louisville was one of the last four teams in our midseason projection, but the Cards have gone into freefall with four straight series losses and are no longer even inside our top 72, with a No. 111 RPI and a 20-16 overall mark along with a 6-9 ACC record. Louisville needs to go on a torrid streak to get back into the at-large discussion.
Notre Dame and Pitt were both in our midseason field two weeks ago, but both have fallen well out of at-large position since. The Irish have lost nine of their last 10 to fall to 7-11 in the ACC and No. 70 in the RPI, with a daunting series on deck at Florida State. Pitt dropped two of three at home and then got swept at home by last-place Cal, plummeting to No. 75 in the RPI and 6-9 in the ACC. Suddenly both of these teams have a whole lot of work to do to rescue their at-large hopes. For the time being, neither team is even on the bubble, similar to Louisville.
NC State slides from a No. 2 seed at midseason to a No. 3 seed now, due to a No. 61 RPI and an ugly nonconference SOS of No. 267. if the season ended today, NC State would be out based on those metrics, but we are betting on the Wolfpack’s talent. After back-to-back series wins against Notre Dame and Duke, NC State is now a solid 8-7 in the ACC, and upcoming road series at Wake and Virginia Tech should help its RPI as long as the Pack holds its own. Also worth noting: NC State is in much better shape in the DSR at No. 30, and that is an official metric that the committee considers now.
Clemson remains outside our field of 64 with a No. 41 RPI and an ugly 5-10 record in the ACC. But that RPI and a No. 28 DSR keeps the Tigers in the hunt if they can get hot down the stretch and improve their conference record. That surge needs to start now, however, with back to back road series upcoming at Virginia and at Louisville. The Tigers have a lot of work to do but they have a path; if they can get to 13 ACC wins, they’ll have a good shot sneak their way into the field.
American (2 bids)
UTSA is in great shape to earn an at-large bid if it fails to capture the conference tournament. We currently project the Roadrunners as a No. 2 seed with a No. 30 RPI, a 4-2 record against Q1, and a share of first place in the American. ECU is also in our field with a No. 36 RPI, though the Pirates are tied for third with a modest 7-5 league record. We are betting on a strong finish for the Pirates, but right now they’re on the bubble as a No. 3 seed, with a tenuous hold on that position.
UAB is one of our first four teams out of the field, but the Blazers are right in the mix with an 8-4 league record and a No. 43 RPI. A home series loss to Wichita State was a setback this past weekend, and a road series at South Florida next week is crucial. Right now, we just need to see more proof of concept from the Blazers, and our lack of conviction in their staying power is the main reason they are currently outside our field — but they’re having an excellent year and have a real chance at proving us wrong. USF, meanwhile, is also in the hunt at 25-10 overall with a No. 59 RPI, but a rocky last three weeks has hurt its stock. A series win against UAB would go a long way toward getting the Bulls back in the thick of the race.
And don’t look now, but Rice has quietly played its way into the mix for its first NCAA tournament bid since 2017. The Owls made a major move by sweeping Charlotte on the road this past weekend, giving them eight wins in their last 10 games and improving them to 7-5 in the American and No. 53 in the RPI. Rice has already played UTSA and USF, losing two of three to both, but upcoming series vs. UAB and at East Carolina present an opportunity for the Owls to make a strong push up the at-large ladder, if they can find a way to win both, or at least go 3-3 in those two series.
Big 12 (7 bids)
The top four teams in the standings (Kansas, WVU, UCF and Arizona State) are all in good shape, though the Sun Devils plummeted 10 spots to No. 50 in the RPI after losing a Monday game to 14-22 Arizona. We like ASU’s talent and expect that RPI to climb as the Devils head into the home stretch, because we anticipate a robust finish. If the season ended today, however, they’d be right on the bubble and sweating.
Cincinnati is in the field despite a 6-9 league record, largely on the strength of a No. 22 RPI. It’s worth noting, however, that DSR is much lower on the Bearcats (No. 59), and that may be a better indication of the season UC has had to this point, with conference series losses at BYU, vs. Kansas and at Oklahoma State (a sweep). But the Bearcats did rebound to win an important series against fellow bubble team Baylor this past weekend. The next two weeks will be make or break, with series at UCF and vs. West Virginia.
TCU and Kansas State are two of our final four teams in the field, with RPIs of No. 50 and No. 46, respectively. TCU, Baylor, BYU, Kansas State and Oklahoma State are all separated by just one game in the standings (8-7 or 7-8), and all rank between No. 39 (Baylor) and No. 51 (Oklahoma State) in the RPI, so it isn’t easy to parse this group right now. We’re giving nods to TCU and Kansas State mostly based on our faith in their talent and expectations of good finishes, rather than on their bodies of work to date. Both teams are also in better shape in the DSR and KPI than RPI, which helps offset their fringy RPI rankings. This race is wide open — there are 10 viable regional contenders here and very little separation between teams 4 and 10. It’s going to be a tumultuous road, and it figures to be a few weeks before we have more clarity. For now, we’re going with seven bids, but it’s easy to envision eight being the final number, depending on the size of the bubble. More than eight feels like a stretch.
Big Ten (5 bids)
The top four teams in the Big Ten feel like rock-solid regional clubs. Purdue was our first team out of the field two weeks ago but now moves up to our first team in the field, thanks to five straight Big Ten series wins following its conference-opening series loss at home to Oregon. The Boilermakers haven’t beaten any postseason contenders during this current run, but they did make serious noise early in the year with victories against Oregon State and at-large contender Baylor at the Round Rock Classic. They’re not in great RPI position at No. 58, but their 12-6 record in the No. 5 RPI conference gives them a real shot. They have one series left against a potential regional team — at USC in two weeks — and that feels like a very big one for their chances.
Also keep an eye on Michigan, which has bounced back from a rough first month with three straight series wins, headlined by a marquee series win against Oregon in early April. A No. 52 RPI is right on the borderline for a Big Ten team, but they need to continue to bolster their conference record, which is still just 7-8. The remaining schedule is very friendly, but offers no more opportunities for the Wolverines to make hay against postseason contenders, so it’s a double-edged sword.
Conference USA (3 bids)
Missouri State, Liberty and Jacksonville State are all sitting pretty inside the top 30 of the RPI, in a a very strong year for Conference USA, which sure appears to be tracking toward three bids. Dallas Baptist is the only other viable at-large contender, but at No. 72 in the RPI, the Patriots need to get hot and stay hot in order to have a shot, because right now they are barely on the bubble. A series win against Missouri State is currently the highlight of their resumé, and it feel slike they probably need to win just about all of their remaining series, including a critical season-closing set at home against Jacksonville State.
SEC (13 bids)
In this absurdly bunched mega-conference, the top 12 teams in the pecking order currently look like easy at-large picks, all with RPIs in the top 35 (and 11 of them in the top 25), and all with conference records no worse than one game below .500. Where it gets interesting is with team 13 (LSU) and 14 (Vanderbilt), two perennial superpowers who are fighting for their postseason lives, a year after the Tigers won the national title and the Commodores were the No. 1 overall seed. LSU currently sits in 14th place with a 6-9 conference record, though just a game behind a clump of five 7-8 teams. The Tigers are also struggling in the RPI (No. 72), though the DSR likes them much more (No. 28), as it does for most SEC teams. LSU seemed to be on the right track after winning back to back series against Kentucky and at Tennessee, but getting swept at Ole Miss this past weekend was a major setback, and the going doesn’t get any easier over the next two weeks, with a home set against Texas A&M followed by a trip to Mississippi State. After a home series against South Carolina, LSU closes with a trip to Athens and a home series against Florida. The good news is all those high-end opponents give LSU a chance to make a major move in the RPI, and if they can get to 13 SEC wins, the RPI should settle closer to No. 40, which would be a good target for an SEC bubble team. The bad news is that’s not an easy path. But we still believe in the talent on this roster and the pedigree of this program and this coaching staff, so for now we’re giving the Tigers the benefit of the doubt — even though they wouldn’t be anywhere near the field of 64 if the season ended today.
Vanderbilt is in a significantly worse spot at No. 99 in the RPI, though a No. 43 DSR is more palatable, but still weak for this conference. A 7-8 SEC record is fine, but it is undermined by a No. 285 nonconference strength of schedule and a 2-8 record against Q1. Vandy does have a sweep of Tennessee and a home series win against LSU, but the rest of its resumé isn’t pretty. Just getting to 13 SEC wins probably won’t be enough given Vandy’s RPI predicament; the ‘Dores needs to get very hot and find a way to 15 or 16 SEC wins to have any realistic shot. We aren’t bullish on their chances, even despite their talent. But stranger things have happened.
Sun Belt (3 bids)
Coastal and Southern Miss are cruising toward the postseason and jockeying for host spots. Texas State slid toward the bubble with a home series loss to Troy this past weekend, but the Bobcats are still in pretty good shape with a 9-6 conference mark (second place) and a No. 38 RPI. The scary thing is the schedule gets daunting over the next two weeks, with back-to-back road trips to Southern Miss and Coastal. That stretch will make or break Texas State’s postseason chances; a 3-3 showing over those two weekends would be enough to keep the Bobcats on the right path.
Louisiana saved its season (at least for now) by taking a must-win series from Southern Miss this past weekend, improving the Cajuns to 6-9 in the Sun Belt. But that still leaves them tied for 11th place, and that’s not nearly good enough. Fortunately, they’re only two games behind a five-team logjam for third place at 8-7, so making up ground in the standings isn’t such an impossible task. At least the Cajuns are in decent RPI shape (No. 41), giving them a real shot to earn a bid if they can make headway in the standings. For now, they’re out.
Troy has won seven of its last 10 and climbed to No. 57 in the RPI, but at 18-18 overall, the Trojans still have a ton of work to do in order to have any realistic shot at a bid. Arkansas State got off to a nice start and made noise with a series win against Southern Miss in March, but it’s been tougher sledding since then, leaving the Red Wolves on the outside looking in with a No. 49 RPI and a 7-8 conference record. Home series remaining against Louisiana and Texas State offer key opportunities for Arkansas State to bolster its credentials.
Big Ten Baseball – Week 9 Recap [B1G Baseball & Beyond]
Patrick Ebert and Burke Granger open with highlights from the weekend, headlined by Oregon’s series win over Nebraska and several teams with momentum, including Minnesota and Michigan.
The pair round out their thoughts on week nine before previewing the series of the week featuring USC at Nebraska.
01:40 Favorite Midwest Ballparks
05:22 Big Ten Rankings Snapshot
05:55 Oregon Tops Nebraska
07:29 Minnesota Finally Breaks Through
08:20 Michigan Momentum Watch
09:39 Maryland Walk-Off Statement
10:25 UCLA Stays Unbeatable
11:11 USC Sweep and Edwards Shines
11:56 On-site Series Deep Dives
12:22 Ohio State Turning the Corner
18:55 Penn State Bright Spot
20:28 Purdue Sweeps Northwestern
28:04 Injuries And Tourney Stakes
29:10 Northwestern Youth Movement
31:17 Series Of The Week: USC at Nebraska
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2026 Field Of 64 Projections: April 14
• Check out the D1Baseball Scoreboard Upgraded Features!
📹 NerdCast: Watch Mark Etheridge, Aaron Fitt, Kendall Rogers deliberate the Field of 64
Bids by conference: SEC (13), ACC (8), Big 12 (7), Big Ten (5), Sun Belt (3), Conference USA (3), American (2).
One thing to keep in mind with the way NCAA tournament seedings now operate: The NCAA Baseball Selection Committee will now rank the Top 32 teams, with 17-32 teams being grouped in pods as two seeds with the Top 16 seeds. For instance, teams in the 29-32 range will go national seeds in the No’s 1-4 range, teams in the 25-28 range will go to national seeds No’s 5-8, teams in the 21-24 range will go to national seeds in the No’s 9-12 range and teams in the 17-20 range will be two seeds at the No’s 13-16 regionals. It is worth noting two things: geographical considerations still matter when applicable, and you still cannot have two teams from the same conference in the same regional. That will naturally cause some seeding manipulation during the process.
Mark Etheridge, Kendall Rogers and Aaron Fitt, who have a combined 60 years of experience covering college baseball, compile our projections.
On The Bubble
Field of 64
April 14 Edition
Week 10 Nerdcast: 2026 Field of 64 Projection
Kendall Rogers and Aaron Fitt are joined by D1Baseball’s resident Bracketologist, Mark Etheridge, to discuss how the Field of 64 looks in Week 10 of the 2026 college baseball season!
00:00 Nerdcast Returns
00:19 Chaos Season Context
02:35 How Projections Work
03:21 New Top 32 Seeding
05:03 Top Seeds UCLA, Georgia Tech
08:06 Sorting the Next Tier
08:45 Florida Resume Debate
15:54 Filling Out Top 10
18:26 Host Bubble Teams
24:53 Final Host Picks
31:51 Seeds 17 to 32
35:10 Ranking the No. 2 Seeds
41:18 Last Spots: Wake Forest, Liberty
42:59 Auto-Bids Begin
43:34 A10 and America East
44:37 American and ACC Check
50:40 Big 12 Bubble Cluster
52:40 Big East to Big West
55:05 CUSA Through Ivy
56:26 MAC Chaos and More
01:02:03 SEC Spotlight, LSU
01:04:39 Sun Belt and Other Mid-Majors
01:07:30 Bubble Size Revealed
01:08:01 Last Four In Picks
01:15:09 Next Four and Watch List
01:19:27 Wrap-Up and Next Week
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Even if it’s two strikes or two outs, Georgia Tech can make you pay
ATLANTA — Entering Saturday’s series finale, Georgia Tech had been outhomered, 4-1, by visiting Florida State. Yet the Jackets had doubled them up, both in runs and wins, and had drawn 13 walks in two games. The slug, which the Jackets possess in spades, soon followed. Georgia Tech hit four home runs in a 17-3 win, an emphatic sweep-sealing run-rule win that pushed its winning streak to 12 games and its lead in the ACC table to two games over North Carolina.
That, to head coach James Ramsey, was a perfect example of his team’s approach working. Florida State entered the weekend with a pitching staff that drew nearly a 27 percent chase rate and a 26 percent put-away rate (the rate of two-strike pitches that result in a strikeout). Against the Jackets, that dipped to 21 and 20 percent, respectively.
“We didn’t slug as much the first couple of days as I think we could have, but honestly that’s part of what can get you in trouble,” Ramsey said after. “When you have really good arms that are making pitches on the edges of the plate, have really good fastballs and good secondary stuff, you have to just take what they’re giving you. It was similar to the NC State series when you’re talking about first- and second-round arms up and down, starters and bullpen, for us to just scratch any which way that we can. The slug came today when mistakes were made and we did damage with them.”
The damage done in two innings on Saturday — in which Georgia Tech piled up 15 runs to turn a deficit into another laugher — reflected what the Jackets have been able to do to teams all year. If you drill into the underlying numbers from the weekend, however, you see a lineup that can make the necessary in-game adjustments, even within a specific at-bat, to handle the quality of pitching that they’ll undoubtedly face if they want to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Consider this stat: Last season, hitters across the country hit just .180 with two strikes. This past weekend, Georgia Tech hit .310 (17-for-55) with two strikes. On the year, they’re hitting .228 in those counts, a full 16 percentage points higher than the next-best mark in the ACC (NC State, .217). One stat pitching coaches harp on is the 1-1 count win rate: How often can you win those battles? Last year, hitters had an .882 OPS in 2-1 counts versus a .530 mark in 1-2 counts. Florida State’s arms won those battles two-thirds of the time on Sunday but it didn’t seem to matter.
In the fifth inning, Drew Burress fell behind to Cole Stokes at 0-2, battled back to 2-2, and laced a single into right field. Jarren Advincula drove him in on an 0-1 offering a batter later. O’Leary quickly got a pair of called strikes on Alex Hernandez, only for him to drive in a run with a single up the middle on a 2-2 count. Against Cade O’Leary, Kent Schmidt singled on a 1-2 count. Then, with two outs, Will Baker doubled and Carson Kerce singled in a run. It was a five-run frame for the Jackets in which three of the runs came with two outs.
Kerce’s at-bat is one to single out. O’Leary got an ugly chase from Kerce on a curveball low and away. That prompted Ramsey to call an offensive timeout, a move we’ve seen many times this year. The conversation was brief, however, and Kerce quickly dug back into the batter’s box. He took a fastball low then laced a two-run single through the left side of the infield on another curveball that left the bat at 98 mph.
“We do a really good job making adjustments,” Kerce said. “Ramsey does a really good job with the scouting reports and adjusting on the fly, understanding how pitchers are attacking us maybe different than they do different guys in other orders. I think our lineup is one of the best in the country so we’re going to get some of their different stuff because they find out we’re going to attack their best pitches.”
In talking with Ramsey after the game, moments like that meeting with Kerce — after a daunting few days of scouting and prep work — are what make his job a joy.
The first-year head coach joked that he doesn’t sleep much on Tuesday nights after a midweek game, nor on Wednesday, and had to buy blue light glasses to deal with watching as much video as he does. He stressed that if he and his staff are going to preach to his players to work hard, they’ve got to do it as well, and the system the Jackets’ staff has devised is certainly paying dividends. Each coach takes on a different part of the prep, whether it’s Josh Schulman handling baserunning, Jason Richman on positioning, or Matt Taylor game-planning for the pitching staff. They spread it out, then meet to cross-reference their findings.
“If you think this guy we’re going to face is hitting X against X pitch, why do you think he’s doing that? We’ll have that conversation,” Ramsey said. “If a guy is throwing from zero-zero vs. two-feet extended and he’s switching for batter handedness, if his horizontal approach is steeper, sideways steeper, why do you think that’s more effective? The pitching guys usually have an answer we can talk about. That is what I love more than anything.”
“Obviously, the human connection of a hitter and getting him confident, but then preparing him so he knows when he steps in the box what a pitch feels like, what it looks like. It’s to get that reaction when you take a visit with [Carson Kerce] and he’s like ‘I’m good’ and I’m like, ‘I know you’re good, but in this pitch clock era you can’t take a deep breath and you’re a little out on your front side, and you just need to calm each other down.'”
Kerce had a massive weekend, going 8-for-12 with two doubles, a home run, and six RBIs. He’s enjoying a career year, slashing .402/.490/.680 with 20 doubles, 32 RBIs, and 17 walks to 17 strikeouts while playing elite defense at shortstop. On many teams, he’d be hitting leadoff. For Georgia Tech, he hit eighth in all three games this weekend. You could say the same about Jarren Advincula, who hit leadoff in 49 of 55 games for Cal last spring but now slots in at third for the Jackets.
“[Advincula’s] the prototypical leadoff hitter,” Ramsey said. “High contact, lefthanded, a lot of speed. I think we would like that vision to work but you put a guy in the three-hole that’s got elite contact, hits for power, hits righties and lefties, it’s those two guys at the front and Hernandez behind him. Every time I write the lineup, I’m going 7-8-9, I’m sitting there and I’m like you could move those guys to 4-5-6 and I would be like, that’s a really good middle of the lineup. I think that’s the positive part. These guys really don’t see it that way. As soon as the game starts, Drew [Burress] leads off the first time and then after that we’re just going nine vs. one against them.”
The danger at every turn was apparent in the sixth inning, when Georgia Tech erupted for 10 more runs to secure the run-rule. Nine-hole hitter Caleb Daniel, in a platoon in left field with Parker Brosius, homered on the first pitch he saw. Later, with two outs and two on, Florida State went to a lefty out of the pen.
Kent Schmidt drew a walk, Ryan Zuckerman scorched a two-strike double into the left-center gap, and Baker worked a walk after falling behind 1-2. In came another pitcher, who gave up a two-run single to Kerce (on a full count) and a three-run homer to Burress. Vahn Lackey greeted yet another new pitcher with a homer and, while the inning ended shortly afterwards, Advincula fouled off four pitches and laced a single into right.
Innings like that late in games feel almost inevitable when you face Georgia Tech. The Jackets do such a good job at driving up pitch counts and making adjustments that turning that order over multiple times is incredibly challenging. If they get deep into your bullpen, too, it’s a recipe for disaster. Just two starters have gone at least six innings against them this season — NC State’s Ryan Marohn and Jacob Dudan — and the average start length is less than four innings (3.1).
“It’s a broken record but these guys just embody everything you want to talk about as a coach,” Ramsey said. “So it’s really easy for us to just keep putting them in the best positions and trust that they know how to play the game.”
ACC Weekend 9 Recap – ACC Baseball Etc.
On this episode of ACC Baseball Etc., Daron Vaught and Bradley Smart are joined by Danny Graves to discuss Georgia Tech’s sweep of Florida State and other notable results from Weekend 9 around the ACC.
00:00 Weekend Recap Setup
01:25 Georgia Tech Dominates
11:14 Florida State Outlook
14:53 ACC Tier Talk
17:33 North Carolina Skepticism
27:39 Miami Finds Answers
33:38 Wake Forest Slump
37:13 Louisville Trouble Signs
44:07 NC State Responds
50:07 Virginia Bats Reignite
53:34 Boston College Momentum
59:55 Cal Shock Sweep
01:01:25 Putter Talk and Wrap
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