Saturday’s D1 Digest: Florida State’s perfect week headlines roundup
RoundupSaturday’s Coverage:
• Shotgun Spratling on Oregon’s series win over USC
• Aaron Fitt on WVU’s Derek Clark/JJ Wetherholt
• Eric Sorenson on St. John’s responding well to adversity
• Saturday’s Elite Performers
• Joe Healy’s Sunday SEC Waypoints
• Latest RPI | Latest DSR
There were some impressive sweeps, as teams without many preseason expectations continue to make their mark in the 2024 season.
Florida State capped a fruitful week by completing the sweep of Miami after Tuesday, completing three midweek sweeps of Florida. The Seminoles, now 30-5, won 6-4 over the Hurricanes Saturday. Florida State swept Florida and Miami in the same season for the first time since 1960. Dick Howser Stadium hosted 19,157 fans this weekend, the largest three-game attendance in stadium history. Cam Smith had a home run, a double, and three RBIs to lead the FSU offense. Miami is now 16-19 overall and 6-12 in ACC play.
Elsewhere in the ACC, Duke swept a road doubleheader at Pittsburgh, winning 14-4 in seven innings and 4-3 in the second game. Alex Stone went 4-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs in the first game. Jonathan Santucci struck out eight in four innings, and Gabriel Nard fanned five with three scoreless innings to close it.
Dominic Fritton, Jacob Dudan, and Derrick Smith combined on a five-hit shutout as NC State clinched the series with a 4-0 victory over Clemson. Alec Makarewicz went 3-for-4 with a double to lead the Wolfpack attack. Clemson’s streak of 15 series wins in a row, including 11 ACC regular-season series wins in a row, dating to 2023, came to an end. Clemson starter Ethan Darden worked a complete game with only one earned run allowed.
Drew Burress went 4-for-5 with three RBIs, and Matthew Ellis had a grand slam and five RBIs in Georgia Tech’s 19-0 run-rule win over Virginia Tech. The Jackets had 17 hits, and Cam Jones held the Hokies to three hits in the complete-game shutout.
A BIG BLAST FOR THE BIG FELLA!! A GRAND SLAM!!@matthew_ellis35 | #WreckHavoc pic.twitter.com/Qq6qBsZVw3
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) April 13, 2024
Ryan McCoy went 3-for-5 with two home runs and seven RBIs as Louisville evened a home series with Virginia, winning 14-10. JT Benson stole four bags, giving him 23 on the year.
Boston College evened its series with Wake Forest winning 5-4 in Brighton. BC walked it off with Cameron Leary’s homer in the bottom of the ninth. Wake starter Josh Hartle pitched well with 5.2 innings of scoreless ball. He struck out eight and walked three.
North Carolina slugged three home runs in a 7-2 victory over Notre Dame. Shea Sprague pitched 5.2 innings and allowed two hits and two runs. Matthew Matthijs worked the final two scoreless innings to finish it.
Top-ranked Arkansas saw its 11-game winning streak snapped, losing 4-3 at #25 Alabama, which snapped a five-game losing streak of its own. The teams combined for five solo home runs, one coming from Razorback Peyton Holt with two outs in the ninth to tie the game. After Kade Snell, who led the Tide with three hits, doubled to lead off the Bama tenth, Bama scored the winning run when reliever Jake Faherty threw errantly to first on a comebacker.
After falling behind 7-0 in the fifth inning, Kentucky stormed back to complete a three-game road sweep at Auburn with a 13-8 victory. Nick Lopez hit a pair of home runs as the Wildcats won their tenth consecutive SEC game. Ryan Nicholson homered for the third straight game, and James McCoy added one as well. At 2-13 in SEC play, Auburn is likely out of the regional picture thanks to opening conference play at Vanderbilt vs Arkansas, at Texas A&M, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
Texas A&M continued its dominant run with a 9-0 victory over Vanderbilt to clinch the series with its second shutout win in succession. The Aggies scored five in the first inning and Gavin Grahovac and Travis Chestnut homered in the win, Tanner Jones threw 7.1 innings with six hits allowed. Evan Aschenbeck pitched the final 1.2 innings to complete the shutout. This was Vanderbilt’s first shutout in consecutive games since 1995.
Tennessee clinched the series over LSU with a 3-1 victory. Drew Beam scattered eight hits and allowed only an unearned run in his 6.2 innings. Nate Snead threw two scoreless innings to collect the save. Billy Amick homered for the second consecutive game after returning for appendicitis. LSU fell to 3-11 in SEC play and used their two best pitchers (Luke Holman and Griffin Herring) in Saturday’s loss, which certainly doesn’t bode well for avoiding the sweep on Sunday.
HELLO SERIES WIN!#GBO // #VolsWIN pic.twitter.com/W8l7IL4GVX
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) April 14, 2024
Charlie Condon smacked his 24th home run of the year as Georgia won a rubber game over Missouri 10-7. Reliever Kolten Smith pitched the final six innings, striking out ten and not allowing an earned run.
Ethan Petry and Dalton Reeves both homered, and South Carolina held off a furious Florida rally to clinch the series with a 9-8 win in Gainesville. Florida, losers of six straight games, got home runs for Jac Caglianone and Ty Evans in the loss. Pierce Coppola returned to the mound for the Gators, his first appearance since the opening weekend of 2022.
After Johnny Long’s 12th-inning home run gave Mississippi State a 9-8 lead over Ole Miss, the Rebels roared back to score two in the bottom of the 12th on Jackson Ross‘ walkoff two-RBi hit. Ross, Ethan Lege, and Campbell Smithwick all had three hits in the series-evening 10-9 win.
Georgia Southern used a five-run sixth to defeat Coastal Carolina 10-3 Saturday to even the Sun Belt series. Jarrett Brown had two hits and drove in three, while Mitchell Gross held Coastal hitless in 3.2 relief innings.
Freshman Chase Morgan allowed only one hit and struck out 11 in eight innings of Louisiana’s 1-0 win over Marshall. J.T. Etheridge kept the one-hitter intact with a perfect ninth. The Ragin’ Cajuns have now won 13 consecutive Sun Belt games.
Brooks Bryan went 4-for-5 with a homer as Troy run-ruled Appalachian State 17-2 in seven innings. Luke Lyon pitched an eight-inning complete game for the Trojans.
Georgia State run-ruled Southern Miss for the second straight day, winning 19-8. Maximus Martin and Brennan Hudson went 4-for-5, and Hudson and Michael Maginnis hit two each of Georgia State’s six home runs. USM hit five homers in the loss.
James Madison evened the series with Old Dominion with a 7-5 victory. Five different Dukes had two hits in the win. Luke Waters went 3-for-5 for ODU.
T6 | Calabrese smacks his fourth double of the season and advances on an error, and Dooley singles him home!!
— JMU Baseball (@JMUBaseball) April 13, 2024
JMU 4, ODU 2#GoDukes pic.twitter.com/Ob9tBRCusM
TCU bounced back to even the series with a 4-2 win over Texas Tech. Horned Frog starter Louis Rodriguez worked 5.1 innings, and Ben Abeldt (2.2 IP) and Kole Klecker (1 IP) held Tech scoreless in relief.
Oklahoma beat Kansas State 11-4 as the Sooners pounded out 16 hits in the win. Jason Walk led the offense with three hits and a homer. OU, now 10-4 in Big 12 play, go for the sweep Sunday.
Enzo Apodaca went 5-for-5 as Baylor won at BYU 18-17. Wesley Jordan went 3-for-3 with a homer and five RBIs, while Cole Posey and Tyriq Kemp also had three hits. Cooper Vest went 3-for-4 with a pair of triples and seven RBIs for BYU.
Carson Benge went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple, and two RBIs, and Aidan Meola drove in five as Oklahoma State beat Cincinnati 12-5 Saturday. The Cowboys got for the sweep Sunday.
Texas rebounded from Friday’s loss with a 6-5 win at Houston on Saturday. Peyton Powell went 4-for-5, and Dee Kennedy smacked two home runs in the victory.
DEE DOES IT AGAIN!@KENNEDEE27’S SECOND DINGER OF THE GAME MAKES IT 6-5 IN THE 9TH! pic.twitter.com/5sI556DE44
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) April 14, 2024
West Virginia clinched the series over UCF with a 7-5 victory. J.J Wetherholt hit one of three Mountaineer home runs in the win. Derek Clark pitched a complete game with ten strikeouts and two walks.
Creighton and Xavier split a twinbill, with Creighton winning 10-8 and Xavier winning 15-9. Xavier scored nine runs in the seventh inning in its win.
St. John’s evened its series with UConn with a 15-7 win. Garrett Scavelli hit two home runs and drove in four in the victory. Blake Mayberry added three hits.
Louisiana Tech took a 5-0 win at Arizona, but the Wildcats rallied with six in the ninth to win 6-5. Michael Ballard and Grant Comeaux had three hits each. Arizona completed the comeback with a walk-off RBI single by Garen Caulfield.
Nebraska evened its series at Rutgers with a 16-1 win. The Huskers slugged three home runs, Case Sanderson had three hits, and Mason McConaughey struck out nine in seven scoreless innings.
Austin Peay got two homers from Jon Jon Gazdar in a 10-8 win over Jacksonville. Harrison Brown scored four runs in the win.
Jay Thomason hit a three-run home run to help Air Force walk off Dallas Baptist 7-5. It was Thomason’s second homer of the game. Kyle Moats pitched four scoreless relief innings to get the win.
Wichita State evened its series with FAU with a 14-9 win Saturday. Jordan Rogers went 3-for-5, while Daybin Johnson and Mauricio Millan each homered.
East Carolina clinched a series win over Charlotte with a 5-1 decision. Ryley Johnson went 3-for-4, and Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman fanned eight in four scoreless relief innings.
Oregon clinched the series over USC with a 5-3 victory. The Ducks won with only five hits, while USC left ten runners on base.
Series win 👊 #GoDucks
— Oregon Duck Baseball (@OregonBaseball) April 14, 2024
🎥 Highlights ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/YIQ82Q1g3S
Oregon State won a 3-1 game over Stanford, where Jacob Kmatz worked six strong innings with one run allowed. Bridger Holmes picked up his eighth save with 2.1 innings of shutout relief.
Portland evened its series with San Diego with a 5-1 win Saturday. Jake Holcroft had a double, a homer, and three RBIs in the victory.
UC Irvine evened its series with UC San Diego with a 16-3 victory. The Anteaters jumped out to a 15-0 lead as Jo Oyama and Chase Call had three hits each in the win.
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