Arizona Wild Cats (41-17) @ (1) Miami, Florida Hurricanes (50-8)
Arizona is coming into the Super Regional after sweeping through the Ann Arbor regional. The Wild Cats steam rolled over Eastern Michigan (13-7), Michigan(4-3), and Kentucky(5-3). The Cats finished 4th in the Pac-10 this year, and the conference still has three team in the field (including Arizona). UA has 8 hitters batting over 300, and the team is hitting .305. On the bump, the staff is led by reliever Daniel Schlereth (who was drafted by Arizona in the 1st round of the draft on Thursday) who has a 1.81 ERA (which for a college pitcher is minuscule), the starters have a combined ERA of 4.08. For starters a 4.08 combined ERA is decent, but the stat that really jumps out at me is that UA is hitting 50 points higher than the opposition and have out homered the opposition by a 2-1 margin.
Miami, just saying that to anyone who knows college baseball knows that that is enough. For those who don't know Miami is a baseball machine, almost on the same level as the football team. The 'Canes also have 8 hitters over 300, and 3 guys that have 10+ dingers (that is in the WOW territory). On the mound, Miami has five guys with sub-3 ERA's and to add on top of that, the pitcher that started out as the Saturday starter has become the Friday starter (best starter on the team) and is 11-0 with a 2.55 ERA. Chris Hernandez is the gentleman that I'm speaking of and brace yourself, he's a freshman. Miami had 3 players drafted in the first round of the MLB draft on Thursday.
Prediction -- Miami in a sweep.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (50-12) @ (2) North Carolina Tar Heels (49-12)
Coastal Carolina has been sneaking up on teams all year, well they can't sneak up on UNC due to the fact that the two teams have already faced each other this year. In the lone game that these two schools played CC won 11-4. It was a midweek game, which means they won't see the same pitcher unless its in relief. Coastal Carolina has seven players hitting above 300, and the team is hitting .326 (good for 19th in the country). On the mound, the teams three weekend starters are a combined 22-4, with an ERA of 3.77. Those are some good stats, the team has out homered the opposition by 24 and has 47 more doubles, also the opposition is hitting 60 points fewer than CC.
North Carolina has some numbers that pop out at you when you first look at the stats. Namely the fact that the Heels have two guys hitting over 400!!! As a team they have 6 guys hitting over 300, and a team average of .324. The bump has some interesting numbers as well. For instance, every other team in the field of 16 has at least three pitchers that qualify for pitching stats (thrown at least one inning per team game played), UNC only has two, grant you the Sunday starter is only 1/3 of an inning away from qualifying, but still.... The weekend starters have a combined 24-6 record and a 3.21 ERA. UNC certainly has a power advantage over the opposition this year as they have racked up 84 more doubles, 15 more triples and 34 more homers.
Prediction --- Even though UNC has the power numbers, I'm picking Coastal going the entire distance.
Fresno State Bulldogs (40-28) @ (3) Arizona State Sun Devils (48-11)
The Bulldogs come in after winning the Long Beach regional and are the only 4 seed from the regional round to still be alive. The boys from Central California defeated San Diego in the "if necessary" game by a 5-1 margin. FSU has five hitters over 300 and a team average of .297. Pitching wise the staff is led by Junior Tanner Scheppers with his 2.93 ERA in 12 appearances and an 8-2 record. The weekend rotation of Allison, Wilson, and Miller are a combined 16-12 and a 4.18 ERA. It would not surprise me if Scheppers was the starter in game one, Allison in game two, and Johnny Allstaff (the entire pitching staff) in game three.
Arizona State is in a great spot as eight of the nine starters are hitting over 300 and a team average of .341 will work very nicely as it is 5th in the Nation. Pitching will get the job done for you if you are a Sun Devil fan. The staff ERA is 4.51 and somehow they have a pitcher that is 12-0, yet he has yet to start a game, it doesn't exactly add up, but I trust the SID office. Interesting note on the Sun Devils, when they have the lead after four innings, they are 42-2.
Prediction --- ASU in a sweep.
Wichita State Shockers (47-15) @ (4) Florida State Seminoles (52-11)
Pitching match ups: (Thanks to Wichita State's game notes)
Friday: Rob Musgrave (WSU, LHP, 11-1, 2.21) Vs. Elih Villanueva (FSU, RHP, 7-2, 3.61)
Saturday: Aaron Shafer (WSU, RHP, 11-3, 2.67) Vs. Matt Fairel (FSU, LHP, 11-2, 3.67)
Sunday: Anthony Capra (WSU, LHP, 9-0, 2.87) Vs. TBA
Just by looking at the pitching match ups, I don't think I really need to go to in depth on this SR.
Prediction --- Even with the best offense (batting average, FSU) in the country .... Wichita State in a sweep.
Stanford Cardinal (37-22-2) @ (5) Cal State Fullerton Titans (41-20)
The Cardinal, what can you say about this Bay Area team? First they are the 5th most winning team in NCAA history (2554-1600-34 in 115+ seasons (.614 WP)). They have also won five SR's, but this years team they are hitting .300 and have a team ERA of 4.43. The weekend starters started the season pretty rocky but have managed to come back and finish the season strong. Erik Davis (7-3, 4.59) and Jeffery Inman (7-2, 4.22) are the two at the top of the rotation.
The Titans are coming off an regional that they hosted and had to come through the losers bracket after losing to UCLA in the winners bracket final. In the regional championships the Titans payed the Bruins back by scores of 11-8 and holding them off 5-4. The rotation for the Titans looks to be Jeff Kaplan (RHP, 11-2, 4.37), Daniel Renken (RHP, 5-5, 4.11) and Cory Arbiso (RHP, 12-3, 4.21). That is a pretty good rotation.
Prediction -- The Titans feel very comfortable in Omaha, and Rosenblatt Stadium will have Blue & Orange in it again this year, Fullerton will run their very impressive SR record to 8-1 (sweep).
Texas A&M Aggies (46-17) @ (6) Rice Owls (45-13)
A&M is coming off a regional that saw them score 15, 22 & 13 in the wins, pretty impressive. The Aggies certainly have the power numbers as they have three hitters with at least 12 HR's. The weekend rotation includes Brooks Raley (LHP, 7-2, 4.33) is scheduled to start Saturday. The remaining portions of the weekend rotation include Clayton Ehlert (6-2, 3.41) and Barret Loux (6-2, 4.27).
Rice is on a roll, prior to the two and out in the Conference-USA tournament the Owls had reeled off 10 straight wins and 22 of 23 to finish the regular season. Six hitters are over 300 and the team is hitting .308, while on the mound the weekend starters are a combined 18-6 with a ERA sub-3.50.
Prediction --- Rice should be booking plane tickets to Omaha.
UC Irvine Anteaters (41-16) @ (7) LSU Tigers (46-16-1)
Projected rotation:
Scott Gorgen (RHP, 11-3, 2.31) Vs. Ryan Verdugo (LHP, 9-2, 3.81)
Daniel Bibona (LHP, 9-3, 3.03) Vs. Blake Martin (LHP, 5-3, 4.88)
Bryce Stowell (RHP, 8-2, 2.77) Vs. TBA
Game three starter last weekend
UCI might just have the wackiest nickname in all of college athletics. The 'Eater Nation is in the supers for the second consecutive year after sweeping through the Lincoln regional. UCI took out Oral Roberts twice and the host Nebraska in a 3-0 sweep of the regional. As you can see the rotation for UCI is a pretty darn good one, hitting wise there are 7 Anteaters that are hitting over 300 and the team is hitting at a .306 clip.
The #7 seed LSU also swept through their regional taking out Texas Southern in the first game and Southern Miss in back-to-back games. The LSU Bayou Bengals have outscored the opponents 192-122 in the middle three innings, and I would suggest the the Eaters to make sure that they are not trailing after the 7th inning. The Tigers are a very nice 38-2-1 when leading after 7. LSU has seven batters over 300 and the team is a .305 hitter as a whole. The team has a 3.83 ERA.
Prediction --- This SR could go either way, but I'm going to go with LSU simply because they know how to close games out.
North Carolina State Wolf Pack (41-20) @ (8) Georgia Bulldogs (39-22-1)
The NC State ball club are a self-described "Road Warriors" as the Head Coach described them during a recent post-practice news conference. If Georgia wants to have a chance they better keep the game close as the Pack is 22-2 in games decided by 5 or more runs. The team is hitting 300 and seven hitters over 300 with at least 110 AB's. Pitching is a mix bag as the two leading pitchers have a combined record of 12-7. It could get interesting for the Pack.
The Bulldogs had built the 2008 season on pitching and defense while scratching out a run here and there to get the win. Then came last weekend, when the Bulldogs outscored the region 64-27 coming out of the losers bracket. The good thing for Georgia is that they are battle tested facing 10 nationally ranked teams. Stats wise, the team is hitting .306 with five players over the 300 mark. The pitching staff is led by the stopper of the staff Josh Fields who was drafted by the Seattle Mariners on Thursday with the 20th pick in the first round. Field was 2-2 with 16 saves and a 2.27 ERA. The rotation is suspect on the stats side of things with a 16-10 record and a 4.62 ERA.
Prediction --- Another SR that could go either way, I'm going with NC State with the SR going the distance.
Your CWS field:
1 Miami
2 Coastal Carolina
3 Arizona State
4 Wichita State
5 CSU-Fullerton
6 Rice
7 LSU
8 NC State
