Here's a look at Friday's Top 25 action in college baseball:

• (1) Virginia at Boston College: The Cavaliers obliterated the Eagles, 17-0, and out-hit them 18-1. Kenny Swab (3-for-5, 2B, 3B, 5 RBI) led the UVa. assault in support of Danny Hultzen (7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K), who rebounded from his first loss of the season to improve to 9-1, 1.19.

• Auburn at (2) South Carolina: Michael Roth (8 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) was characteristically outstanding in a no-decision for the Gamecocks, and Jon Luke Jacobs (8 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 9 K) matched him for eight innings, but South Carolina broke a 1-1 tie on Scott Wingo's walk-off RBI single in the ninth against Dillon Ortman.

• (3) Oregon State at (24) UCLA: The Beavers erased a four-run deficit against Gerrit Cole (4.1 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 5 K) with six runs in the fifth, highlighted by Carter Bell's three-run triple, and went on to win 7-5. Sam Gaviglio (6 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 7 BB, 0 K) had one of the strangest lines you'll see for a winning pitcher, and relievers Matt Boyd and Tony Bryant combined to work three shutout innings for the Beavers. Cole has given up 18 runs over 18.2 innings over his last three starts. I was on hand for this game, and I'll have more on Cole in an upcoming Draft Blog post, and more on the Beavers in Monday's Three Strikes.

• Tennessee at (4) Vanderbilt: Vandy used a balanced 11-hit attack to reach double digits in runs for the fourth straight game, beating Tennessee 10-1. Sonny Gray (8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K) improved to 9-2, 1.91.

• Mississippi at (5) Florida: Josh Adams and Vickash Ramjit combined for eight of Florida's 17 hits in a 9-3 win against Mississippi, keeping the Gators even with South Carolina and Vandy atop the SEC at 15-4. Hudson Randall (7.1 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K) improved to 8-1.

• (6) Texas A&M at Missouri: The Aggies had a 6-1 lead with ace John Stilson on the mound heading into the bottom of the seventh, when Missouri chased Stilson with seven runs en route to a 10-9 win. The Aggies regained the lead with three in the eighth, only to see the Tigers win it with two in the ninth against Joaquin Hinojosa, capped by Jonah Schmidt's walk-off walk with the bases full. Tyler Naquin and Matt Juengel combined for six hits and nine RBIs in defeat for the Aggies, who fell into a tie with Texas atop the Big 12.

• (14) Oklahoma at (7) Texas: Augie Garrido became the first Division I coach to reach 1,800 wins in Texas' 5-0 victory against Oklahoma. Taylor Jungmann (9 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K) needed just 107 pitches to throw his third complete-game shutout of the season, improving to 10-0, 0.90 on the season and 17-0 in his career at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Michael Rocha (8 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 4 ER) also went the distance in defeat.

• (21) Stanford at (8) Arizona State: The Sun Devils outslugged the Cardinal, 12-10. Riccio Torrez (3-for-5, 3B, 2 R, 4 RBI) was one of seven Devils to record multiple hits in support of Brady Rodgers (7 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K), and ASU chased Stanford ace Mark Appel (7 IP, 12 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) in a six-run eighth.

• (9) Florida State at (16) Miami: Sherman Johnson scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the ninth to give Florida State a 6-5 win in a fractured affair. The start of the game was delayed 65 minutes by rain, and the teams sat through an 18-minute lightning delay later. Miami committed a season-high seven errors, hit three batsemen and threw two wild pitches that led to runs.

• Pacific at (10) Cal State Fullerton: Unheralded shortstop Keegan Dale filled in for injured Richy Pedroza and delivered three hits and three RBIs to lead banged-up Cal State Fullerton to a come-from-behind 12-6 win. Colin O'Connell (2.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER) got the start in place of injured ace Noe Ramirez and struggled, but the Titans got strong relief from Raymond Hernandez (2.2 IP, 1 ER) and Chris Devenski (4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K).

• (11) Texas Christian at Brigham Young: Erik Miller (8 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) won his second straight start, leading TCU to a series-clinching 6-4 win at BYU. Miller held the Cougars to just one run until the ninth, when they made things interesting with a three-run rally.

(12) Georgia Tech at Clemson: Brad Miller had four hits and Jason Stolz had three RBIs in support of Dominic Leone (8 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K), as Clemson earned a big 4-2 win against Georgia Tech. The Tigers overame four errors (two by Miller) by holding the Yellow Jackets to just two hits. Mark Pope (6 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) fell to 9-2.

• Hawaii at (13) Fresno State: Sean Montplaisir scored on a wild pitch in the 10th to give Hawaii a 6-5 win at Hawaii, keeping the Rainbows in first place in the WAC. Zack Swasey (3-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI) led the Hawaii offense, while Greg Gonzalez (5 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 11 K) was strong in a no-decision for Fresno.

• (15) Southern Mississippi at East Carolina: Ashley Graeter, filling in at shortstop while B.A. Vollmuth nurses a hip injury at DH, delivered RBI singles in the seventh and ninth to lead Southern Miss to a 3-1 win at ECU. Geoffrey Thomas (6.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER) moved into the Friday role and improved to 9-2, as the Golden Eagles opted to give ace Todd McInnis an extra day of rest after he experienced some shoulder soreness last week. MIke Wright (6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) pitched well in defeat for ECU, filling in for banged-up ace Seth Maness for the second straight Friday.

• North Florida at (17) Stetson: The Hatters were without their top two pitchers—Kurt Schluter and Lindsay Caughel—but Austin Perez (7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K) filled in admirably in a no-decision, as Stetson scored three in the eighth to beat North Florida 6-3. Spencer Theisen's two-run double broke a 3-3 tie in the fateful eighth.

• Kansas State at (19) Oklahoma State: The Cowboys halted their four-game losing streak and Kansas State's six-game winning streak with a 9-2 victory against the Wildcats. Zach Johnson and Jared Womack combined for seven hits and five RBIs in support of Mike Strong (8 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K).

• Oregon at (20) California: Mitch Theofanopoulos delivered a walk-off, pinch-hit RBI double in the ninth to give Cal a 2-1 win. Erik Johnson (8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 11 K) and Tyler Anderson (7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) were both strong in no-decisions.

• (22) Troy at Florida Atlantic: The game was suspended after three innings with Troy leading FAU 6-3. Play will resume at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.

(23) Connecticut at Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights got to UConn ace Matt Barnes (5 IP, 6 H, 5 ER) in an 8-3 upset, snapping Connecticut's winning streak at 12 games. D.J. Anderson (2-for-4, 5 RBI) led the Rutgers offense in support of Tyler Gebler (9 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K).

Texas Christian released a statement late last night about the status of star lefthander Matt Purke. The school confirmed that Purke was evaluated by shoulder specialist Dr. James Andrews on April 20.

"We recently saw him because of some discomfort in the front part of his shoulder, which has been evaluated very thoroughly not only by myself but also by Dr. John Conway, who is the team physician for TCU in Fort Worth, Texas," Andrews wrote in his report. "We certainly don't have any reservations recommending him for being drafted as a professional lefthanded baseball pitcher. His prognosis looks good and he should respond to a minimum period of active rest and conservative treatment to get his shoulder built back up."

The statement also said the TCU coaches and training staff will continue to  monitor Purke's progress and look forward to seeing him "competing for TCU in the near future."

The release contained no other specifics about the nature of Purke's injury, and the school said this will be its only statement until Purke returns to the mound. [...] Continue Reading »

This time of year, a hefty majority of all questions submitted in our weekly college 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 every Wednesday here on the College Blog, we examine how the postseason picture has shifted over the weekend. Rather than get bogged down in the jigsaw puzzle that is a full field of 64 projection, we're not going to worry about which regionals teams get sent to. We're just looking at who's in, who's out, who's on the bubble. This discussion is weighted much more toward performance and remaining schedule than projection based on talent, but it's also not intended to show what the field would look like if the season ended today. We're still looking ahead.

During this discussion, we will reference the pseudo Ratings Percentage Index figures at warrennolan.com, which are very close to the NCAA's official RPI rankings (which are released on Tuesdays but can change quickly). We'll also reference the useful RPI Needs Report at Boyd's World. And we'll make use of records against the top 50 or top 100 in the RPI, according to the Nitty Gritty Report at warrennolan.com.

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 eight weeks of the season:

NATIONAL SEEDS

SECURE TEAMS: Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Vanderbilt, Oregon State, Arizona State

ON THE BUBBLE (IN): Texas A&M, Florida State

ON THE BUBBLE (OUT): Georgia Tech, Texas, North Carolina

One change from last week: Florida State replaces North Carolina as the last national seed. UNC, FSU and Georgia Tech are probably all competing for one national seed, and there is not much separation between the three teams—indeed, they rank sixth through eighth, respectively, in the RPI. Tech has the best conference record of the three (17-4), but its conference slate has also been less rigorous to this point. UNC's back-to-back series losses against N.C. State and Miami have dropped it to 13-8 in the conference and nullified the edge it got from winning a road series against Florida State. The Seminoles, whose case is built around a 3-1 record in midweek games against Florida and a 14-7 mark in the ACC, can strengthen their position with a series win at Miami this weekend, or fall behind in the pecking order with a series loss. [...] Continue Reading »

Georgia earned an emotional 6-4 win against Georgia Tech in front of 18,156 fans at Turner Field on Tuesday. Before the game, Johnathan Taylor showed up on the field to hug teammates from his wheelchair. Taylor was paralyzed in an outfield collision March 6, and his teammates last saw him in intensive care.

"It's just very emotional," Georgia coach David Perno told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "The last time we saw him as a group, he was in tough shape, and he's just a whole different guy now. It was pretty special."

Perno told the paper that Taylor watched the first four innings of the game from the dugout before returning to the Shepherd Center, where he is rehabilitating. In the fourth, the Bulldogs got to Tech starter Matt Grimes for five runs, highlighted by two-run singles by Levi Hyams and Kyle Farmer. The victory snapped Georgia Tech's five-game winning streak against Georgia, and pushed the Bulldogs to two games above the all-important .500 mark (teams must be above .500 to be eligible for at-large bids to the NCAA tournament).

Other highlights from Tuesday's action:

• Arizona State continued its recent mastery of rival Arizona, beating the Wildcats 4-3 in Tucson. Arizona threw ace Kurt Heyer (6 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 5 K), but the Sun Devils got to him for three runs in the second inning and held on for the one-run victory thanks to 4.1 combined innings of scoreless, one-hit relief from Alex Blackford, Trevor Williams and Mitchell Lambson. ASU won the season series against Arizona 4-1. [...] Continue Reading »

South Carolina coach Ray Tanner told reporters Tuesday that All-America center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. has a torn tendon in his left wrist and is "unlikely" to return this season.

"Jackie, I think, may end up having surgery, and I’m speculating right now," Tanner said. "There’s some dialogue going on right now about that. It’s unlikely Jackie will be back. It’s unlikely he’s going to be back without surgery. It’s a tendon issue that’s going to take some time."

Bradley, a potential first-round pick this June, injured his wrist diving for a ball in the outfield in the fifth inning Saturday at Mississippi State. Though a prolonged slump has dropped his batting average to .259, he is South Carolina's best all-around player and will not be easily replaced. Bradley was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2010 College World Series, where he led the Gamecocks to their first national title. It looks like the second-ranked Gamecocks will have to defend their title without him.

Tanner did reveal a bit of good news, however. Sophomore outfielder Evan Marzilli could be activated as early as this weekend, Tanner said. Marzilli has been out with an undisclosed medical condition.

South Carolina announced Monday that junior outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. will be out indefinitely with a tendon injury in his left wrist. An MRI on Monday confirmed the tendon injury, which was originally diagnosed in Starkville, Miss., after Bradley hurt his wrist diving for a ball in the fifth inning of Saturday's loss to Mississippi State.

Bradley, a first-team preseason All-American who projected to be drafted in the first round this June, was scheduled to meet with a hand specialist Monday to set a course of treatment.

A prolonged slump has dropped Bradley's season line to .259/.361/.468 with six homers and 26 RBIs, but he remains one of the nation's most exciting all-around players and has a reputation as the finest defensive outfielder in college baseball. He won't be easy to replace, and one of the primary candidates to fill in for him in center field is going through his own medical issues.

Sophomore outfielder Evan Marzilli will see a specialist on Tuesday morning for further evaluation of an undisclosed medical condition, which kept him out this past weekend. The South Carolina medical staff does not foresee any long-term effects from this condition, according to the school's release. [...] Continue Reading »

Strike One: Aggies Firing On All Cylinders

It's not easy to find a better pitching staff than Texas A&M's. The Aggies rank second in the nation in ERA (2.15), and their dynamite weekend rotation of John Stilson, Michael Wacha and Ross Stripling gives them an advantage in nearly every weekend series.

The question facing the Aggies coming into the season was how their offense would perform. Lately, A&M's bats are more than holding their own, which makes the Aggies as dangerous as any team in college baseball. They showed it this weekend, sweeping a previously red-hot Oklahoma State team that had already won weekend series against Texas and Oklahoma. The Aggies simply dominated the series, outscoring the Cowboys 24-4 in the three-game set.

"We played good this weekend," Aggies coach Rob Childress said. "We pitched really well, we played good defense, and the three guys in the middle of our lineup had good weekends—Adam Smith, Kevin Gonzalez and Matt Juengel were productive for us, and they need to be for us to be really good."

The talented Smith is still hitting just .222 on the season, but that does not tell the whole story. Childress said he started driving in a lot of key runs since conference play began, and indeed, he leads the league with 11 two-out RBIs in conference play. Gonzalez and Juengel combined for eight RBIs in the final two games of the series, giving the Aggies reason to hope that they are heating up, as well. [...] Continue Reading »

Another weekend in college baseball has come to a close. Here's a roundup of the Top 25 action a few other highlights from around the country. Note that a number of series ran from Thursday through Saturday this week due to the Easter holiday; you can find a roundup of Saturday's action here.

• North Carolina State at (1) Virginia: The Cavaliers won Sunday's rubber game, 7-6. UVa. built an early 5-0 lead through three innings and held off N.C. State's comeback bid—Kyle Crockett (2.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R) earned the win in relief, and Branden Kline (1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K) picked up his 13th save. Five Cavs posted two-hit days as part of a balanced 12-hit attack. Steven Proscia drove in a run to tie Sean Doolittle atop UVa.'s career RBIs list.

• (2) South Carolina at Mississippi State: Freshman DeSean Anderson filled in for the injured Jackie Bradley Jr. and had three hits as part of South Carolina's 18-hit onslaught in a series-clinching 13-4 win. South Carolina's 3-4-5 hitters—Christian Walker, Brady Thomas and Jake Williams—combined for 11 hits and 10 RBIs. South Carolina's one-two bullpen punsh of John Taylor (4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER) and Matt Price (2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K) took care of business on the mound.

• Louisiana State at (4) Vanderbilt: Anthony Gomez (4-for-6, 3 RBI) was one of three Commodores to record four-hit games, as Vandy rapped out a season-high 20 hits in a 10-7 victory, completing the series sweep. LSU rallied with four runs in the seventh to get within two runs, but Vandy's bullpen slammed the door, as Mark Lamm and Navery Moore each worked a hitless inning. [...] Continue Reading »

Our Saturday roundup begins in the SEC, where second-ranked South Carolina got some bad news:

SEC

• Mississippi State upset South Carolina, 5-3, but that wasn't the worst of it for the Gamecocks. All-American center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. left the game in the seventh inning with a left wrist injury after diving for a ball, and South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said that Bradley will be out "a few weeks," according to reports. Meanwhile, South Carolina's normally reliable bullpen failed to hold a 3-2 lead, as Mississippi State surged ahead with three runs in the sixth, highlighted by Ryan Collins' two-run single up the middle. The rubber game of the series is Sunday.

• Vanderbilt and Florida moved back into a three-way tie with South Carolina atop the SEC standings, as both teams clinched their series against SEC West foes with Saturday wins. Vandy broke a 1-1 tie with four runs in the sixth and then piled on against LSU's bullpen to win 10-1. At 4-13 in the conference, LSU is in last place in the West—three games behind fifth-place Mississippi State—and is just a half-game ahead of Kentucky, which is 12th in the conference.

• Florida beat Alabama 9-2, as Mike Zunino (2-for-4, 4 RBI) hit his seventh homer of the year in support of Brian Johnson (5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K).

• Alex Meyer (9 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 10 K) threw a gem to lead Kentucky to an upset of Arkansas in the first game of a doubleheader (the second game was suspended until Sunday, with no score in the third).

• Auburn won the rubber game of its series against Mississippi, 9-7. The Tigers, Rebels and Razorbacks all sport .500 records in the SEC, tied for the lead in the West. Justin Fradejas had four hits for Auburn, and Kevin Patterson hit his seventh homer of the year and drove in four.

• Georgia evened its series at Tennessee with an 8-6 win. The Bulldogs, who sit in fourth place in the SEC East, would be leading the West at 10-7. [...] Continue Reading »

Our Friday roundup begins in the Pacific-10 Conference, where series began on Thursday this week due to Easter weekend.

Pac-10

• Trevor Bauer just might be the front-runner for College Player of the Year—or at least neck and neck with Virginia's Danny Hultzen. Bauer threw yet another masterpiece in UCLA's 4-1 win against Stanford on Friday, matching his career high with 17 strikeouts in his fourth complete game of the season. He yielded just four hits and two walks in his 135-pitch outing. On the season, Bauer is now 8-1, 1.42 with 127 strikeouts and 25 walks in 83 innings, and he has recorded double-digit strikeouts in nine of his 10 starts. No other pitcher in Division I has even 100 strikeouts (Hultzen is second with 99). Bauer leads all Pac-10 pitchers in strikeouts, wins, innings (82.2), ERA and opponent batting average (.145). The series is even at a game apiece.

• Arizona State clinched a road series win at California with a 5-0 win behind Kramer Champlin (9 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K). The Sun Devils, who won in 17 innings Thursday, are tied with UCLA for second place in the Pac-10 at 10-4.

• The Pac-10's leader continues to be Oregon State (10-1), which remained unbeaten in weekend series this year with a come-from-behind 7-6 win against Washington State. The Cougars got to Sam Gaviglio (6.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 8 K) for four runs in the first and broke a 4-4 tie with two more in the seventh. But the Beavers bounced back with two in the eighth to tie it, then won it on an RBI single by Danny Hayes (3-for-5, 2 RBI) in the ninth.

• Arizona evened its series at Oregon with a 2-1 win behind Kyle Simon (9 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K). [...] Continue Reading »

OMAHA—When it comes down to it, Dennis Poppe was the driving force behind TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.

Poppe, the NCAA's vice president for baseball and football, initiated conversations seven or eight years ago about formulating a long-term plan for the home of the College World Series. After seeing the pricetag of renovating venerable Rosenblatt Stadium, it was Poppe who first broached the notion of building a new downtown ballpark to house the CWS with former mayor Mike Fahey.

Poppe was there to sign his name on the steel beam that was driven into the ground where home plate was to be located, establishing the focus point for the $131 million construction project. Poppe and his entire family had their pictures taken at the construction site while wearing hard hats last June, and the photo adorned the Poppe family Christmas card. Over the last 18 months or so, Poppe visited the new site once or twice every month. He is as invested in and as familiar with the sparkling new ballpark as anyone.

At 6:42 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Creighton's Ty Blach delivered the park's first pitch to Nebraska's Kale Kaiser, who lofted it into right field for the park's first out. And that's when it hit home for Poppe.

"You know what was funny: We all wanted to see the first pitch," Poppe said. "My immediate reaction was, 'OK, now it's a ballpark. Now it's real.' So he threw a pitch, somebody hit it, it was an out. Now it's real." [...] Continue Reading »

This time of year, a hefty majority of all questions submitted in our weekly college 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 every Tuesday here on the College Blog, we examine how the postseason picture has shifted over the weekend. Rather than get bogged down in the jigsaw puzzle that is a full field of 64 projection, we're not going to worry about which regionals teams get sent to. We're just looking at who's in, who's out, who's on the bubble. This discussion is weighted much more toward performance and remaining schedule than projection based on talent, but it's also not intended to show what the field would look like if the season ended today. We're still looking ahead.

During this discussion, we will reference the pseudo Ratings Percentage Index figures at boydsworld.com, which are very close to the NCAA's official RPI rankings (which are released here on Tuesday afternoons). We'll also reference the useful RPI Needs Report at Boyd's World. And we'll make use of records against the top 25, 50 or 100 in the RPI—there is some margin for error with those figures, but they are accurate enough to serve our purposes.

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 eight weeks of the season: [...] Continue Reading »

Strike One: Zags Emerge As WCC Favorites

LOS ANGELES—Gonzaga already looked like the team to beat in the West Coast Conference after sweeping UC Irvine in late March. After two weeks of conference play, the Zags have made it clear that they are the favorites.

Gonzaga followed up its sweep of preseason WCC favorite San Diego by taking two of three on the road from Loyola Marymount, which figures to be Gonzaga's strongest competition in the league. Gonzaga finds itself 21-11 overall, 5-1 in the WCC and on track to make its second trip to regionals in three years, after going 28 years between postseason appearances before 2009.

Gonzaga set the tone for the weekend on Friday, when it erased a 3-2 deficit on Cameron Edman's three-run homer into the trees right of the left-field Blue Monster against LMU closer Ryan Hawthorne in the ninth inning. After the first batter of the inning reached on an error, Gonzaga coach Mark Machtolf elected to let cleaup man Royce Bollinger hit away rather than bunt the tying run into scoring position, and he rewarded his coach by singling up the middle, setting the stage for Edman's heroics.

"It's just that Royce is pretty good against lefthanded pitching, and the old adage is you play for the win on the road, and I don't like to bunt that much anyway, so it's easy for me to talk myself into letting him swing away," Machtolf said. "(Edman's homer) is a special hit, for him and for us." [...] Continue Reading »

For our Sunday roundup, let's run through the Top 25 series, then take a look at some of the day's other highlights:

• (1) Vanderbilt at (3) South Carolina: The Gamecocks won their second series this season against the nation's top-ranked team, coming from behind to take the rubber game against Vanderbilt, 5-3. The Commodores built a 3-1 lead on back-to-back homers by Aaron Westlake and Jason Esposito (his second of the game) in the sixth against Forrest Koumas (5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER). But the Gamecocks chased Vandy starter Taylor Hill (6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K) in a four-run seventh, sparked by Steven Neff's leadoff double—the first career collegiate hit for Neff, a pitcher by trade. Three Vandy relievers were ineffective in the frame before Jack Armstrong got the 'Dores out of the inning, but by then the damage was done. South Carolina closer Matt Price (3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K) earned the win with his second overpowering appearance of the weekend. The Gamecocks moved into sole possession of first place in the SEC.

• Duke at (2) Virginia: Steven Proscia went 5-for-8 with a homer and three RBIs to lead the Cavaliers to a doubleheader sweep of Duke, 3-2 (11 innings) and 18-4. The Cavs outscored the Blue Devils 31-6 in the three-game series sweep. Virginia got strong pitching from Tyler Wilson (7.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 10 K) and Branden Kline (3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K) in Sunday's first game. Will Roberts (5 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER) picked up the win in his first weekend start in the finale, improving to 8-0 on the season. John Barr (3-for-3, 2 R, 5 RBI, 3 2B) led a 17-hit attack in that one.

• (4) Florida at Georgia: The Gators trailed 7-6 after six innings Sunday, then exploded for eight runs over the final three innings to win 14-7 and win a big road series against the Bulldogs. Preston Tucker (2-for-5, 2 HR, 6 RBI) hit a grand slam to highlight Florida's pivotal five-run eighth. [...] Continue Reading »

Here's a look at Saturday's action in the power conferences, followed by some other highlights from around the nation, including all the Top 25 action:

SEC

• No. 1 Vanderbilt evened its series against No. 3 South Carolina with a 6-4 win. Leadoff man Tony Kemp (5-for-5, 2 2B, 2 R) ignited the Vandy offense, and the 'Dores got homers from Jason Esposito and Mike Yastrzemski. Grayson Garvin (6 IP, 6 H, 4 ER) got the win, while Colby Holmes (4.1 IP, 7 H, 6 ER) picked up his first loss of the year.

• Georgia upset No. 4 Florida, 7-2, to even the series in Athens. Both teams got solid starts from Brian Johnson (6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) and Michael Palazzone (8 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K). Florida tied the game at 1-1 on Bryson Smith's solo homer in the eighth, but Georgia answered with six in the bottom of the frame, highlighted by Brett DeLoach's three-run triple.

• LSU's tailspin continued with a 3-1 loss to Auburn. Cory Luckie (6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K) was strong in a no-decision for Auburn, and LSU's Kevin Gausman (8.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) shined also until giving up Casey McElroy's tie-breaking two-run homer in the ninth. LSU has lost four of its first five SEC series, sinking to 3-11 in the league, while Auburn recovered from back-to-back series sweeps by winning five straight SEC road games against Kentucky and LSU.

• Arkansas surged into first place in the SEC West with a 6-1 win against Mississippi State coupled with Tennessee's doubleheader sweep of Alabama, 2-1 and 1-0. Jake Wise's three-run homer highlighted the Hogs' five-run third, and Barrett Astin (3.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K) picked up the win with brilliant relief work. That's eight straight wins for the Razorbacks.

• The Crimson Tide, meanwhile, mustered just nine hits in 14 innings against four Tennessee pitchers. Steven Cruver (7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 5 K) threw a seven-inning complete game in the opener, as did Bama's Jake Morgan (7 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) in defeat. [...] Continue Reading »

Our Friday roundup begins in the Southeastern Conference with the weekend's biggest series—No. 1 vs. No. 3. As usual, we'll run through the power conferences and try to touch on all the Top 25 teams, as well as some other big series.

SEC

• Michael Roth (7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) out-pitched Sonny Gray (7.2 IP, 11 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K) to lead South Carolina to a 3-1 win against top-ranked Vanderbilt. Roth took a no-hitter into the fifth and a shutout into the eighth, and he improved to 8-1, 1.24 on the season. Scott Wingo and Adam Matthews had two hits and one RBI apiece to lead the Gamecocks' offense.

• In another big SEC East series, Florida won the opener of its road set against Georgia, 5-4. Austin Maddox (3-for-4, 2 RBI) led Florida's 13-hit attack behind Hudson Randall (6.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER).

• Arkansas ran its winning streak to seven with a dramatic, come-from-behind 6-5 victory against Mississippi State. Kyle Robinson's two-run homer in the eighth tied the game at 5-5, and Tim Carver followed with a game-winning RBI single later in the frame. Carver (.216) has had a rough season offensively, but he is a key piece for the Hogs, and maybe he's starting to find his groove.

• Louisiana State fell to 3-10 in conference play with an 8-7 loss to Auburn. Auburn chased LSU ace Kurt McCune (5 IP, 4 H, 5 ER) with a six-spot in the sixth inning, sparked by Tony Caldwell's two-run double. Auburn has rebounded from its 1-8 midseason funk by winning four straight road conference games. [...] Continue Reading »

The Southeastern Conference has had three of the top four teams in the Baseball America Top 25 for most of the season, and no other conference is as stacked at the top as the SEC—though the ACC isn't far behind with Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Florida State. The SEC also has the deepest collection of solid teams, with 10 teams that have legitimate shots at regional bids. But after the elite teams, there is little separation between teams No. 4 through No. 10.

The Pac-10 has a deeper pool of top contenders, though a couple of them are still finding their way. But good luck sorting out the top six. Which brings us to this week's mailbag question:

Oregon State took it to the Sun Devils this weekend to continue their very impressive season thus far. Still, the Pac-10 is full of tough and talented teams top to bottom. How do you see the race for the Pac-10 title shaping up?

Matt
Bend, Ore.

The Pac-10 seems more wide open than any other conference. Six teams from the Pac-10 have been in our Top 25 for most of the season, and all six are talented enough to win the league. It's not easy to handicap the race, but let's give it a shot. [...] Continue Reading »

Before we get to Tuesday's highlights, we have to pass along some bad news for Oregon State: sophomore catcher Andrew Susac and talented freshman Jake Rodriguez both had surgery to repair broken hamate bones on their left hands. No timetable has been set for either's return, but Susac told the Oregonian last week that if he elected to have surgery, it would take 4-6 weeks to recover and would not require a cast.

"It's like I said last week, we can't control who we have," Beavers coach Pat Casey told the paper. "My catcher right now is Parker Berberet and Ryan Gorton and we don't have Andrew Susac and that's that."

Not having Susac did not affect the Beavers this weekend, when they swept Arizona State to vault to No. 9 in the rankings. But long term, his loss is a major blow, because he is the team's best hitter and biggest power threat. Susac was a second-team preseason All-American, and he earned our midseason All-America nod behind the plate. He is hitting .364/.496/.614 with four homers and 25 RBIs. A draft-eligible sophomore, Susac had a strong chance to be drafted in the first round this June, and this injury should not have any dramatic effect on his draft stock.

Let's get to Tuesday's action, which featured a few rivalry games and a few upsets:

• For the second year in a row, Florida State won its season series against rival Florida, three games to one. Behind seven shutout innings from Hunter Scantling, the Seminoles beat the Gators 3-1 in Tallahassee on Tuesday. Scantling, who allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out seven, will move into the Sunday starter spot this weekend, as the 'Noles look to stabilize their shaky weekend rotation. But there has been nothing shaky about their pitching in four midweek games against Florida this year. The Gators have mustered just 11 runs in the four games, and just six runs in their three losses.

• Oklahoma cruised to a 13-6 win against Texas Christian in the first of two meetings this season between the regional hosting hopefuls. Four TCU errors led to five unearned runs for the Sooners, who employed a balanced 12-hit attack.

• John Simms struck out a career high 11 batters over 7.2 shutout innings—the longest outing of his young career—to lead Rice to a 2-0 win against Texas A&M. Lefthander Tony Cingrani continued to pitch well for the Owls, working 1.1 scoreless frames for his fourth save. Anthony Rendon went 1-for-3 out of the leadoff spot.

• Georgia Tech extended its winning streak against rival Georgia to five games with its second victory over the Bulldogs this season, 5-3 in Atlanta. Freshmen led the way for Tech, as Daniel Palka hit his seventh homer and Matt Grimes (6.2 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 10 K) set a career high for strikeouts. [...] Continue Reading »

This time of year, a hefty majority of all questions submitted in our weekly college 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 Tuesday here on the College Blog, we'll examine how the postseason picture has shifted over the weekend. Rather than get bogged down in the jigsaw puzzle that is a full field of 64 projection, we're not going to worry about which regionals teams get sent to. We're just looking at who's in, who's out, who's on the bubble. This discussion is weighted much more toward performance and remaining schedule than projection based on talent, but it's also not intended to show what the field would look like if the season ended today. We're still looking ahead.

During this discussion, we will reference the pseudo Ratings Percentage Index figures at boydsworld.com, which are very close to the NCAA's official RPI rankings (which have not been released yet). We'll also reference the useful RPI Needs Report at Boyd's World. And we'll make use of records against the top 25, 50 or 100 in the RPI—there is some margin for error with those figures, but they are accurate enough to serve our purposes.

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 eight weeks of the season: [...] Continue Reading »

Strike One: Mashing In Memphis

At the end of a Conference USA weekend, Daron Schoenrock said he just wants to find an easychair and relax, because he's mentally drained. More than ever, C-USA is a grind this year, with no easy series. Southern Mississippi, Rice and East Carolina are strong, as expected, while Central Florida, Tulane, Alabama-Birmingham and Houston have taken steps forward. So has Schoenrock's Memphis team—another reason this is a banner year for Conference USA.

"This league, about all you can say is, 'Wow,' " Schoenrock said. "As far as a non-BCS league, it's got to be one of the best leagues in the country."

A week ago, it looked like Southern Miss might have been the team to beat in Conference USA, and it still might be. But Memphis won a huge series against the Golden Eagles this weekend, following a midweek win against Mississippi. The Tigers are 19-12 overall and 3-3 in conference play, and they have the offensive firepower to make some noise down the stretch.

"We looked at the strength of this year's team, it was basically experience in the lineup, and that experience is coming forth now," Schoenrock said. "We have been really close in our losses early—I could see some good things happening with the team. We were losing a lot of one-run games, we were one pitch away, one play away. We didn't get discouraged; I knew we had a tough stretch coming up, and our lineup started kicking on a few more cylinders this weekend, is the best way to say it." [...] Continue Reading »