Aaron Fitt: Hello everyone, let's get right to it. Matusz might be the biggest story in college baseball in the first month. If I had to pick a player of the year at this point, it would be him. Double-digit strikeout games in four of his five starts -- he's unreal. And he's doing it against good teams, too. Right now, he's the best pitcher in the nation, and he gives that USD club some true legitimacy.

Aaron Fitt: Like most of the teams in the top half of the rankings, Virginia is red-hot right now, doing it with the bats and on the mound. Guyer has good tools and could wind up being a top-five-rounds type of guy, but I'm not as sure about Lambert. I think Lambert is a terrific college player, deceptive and reliable, but I'm not sure how well his stuff will play in pro ball.

Aaron Fitt: Anyone who's read these chats or our blog this year knows that we've got plenty of respect for Riverside. There's more to "respect" than the rankings -- I have respect for many, many schools that might not be in the top 25. As I've been saying all spring, I think the Highlanders might have the best pitching staff on the West Coast, and I think they've got a legitimate chance to win that conference. Also keep an eye on UC Irvine, which has won seven in a row. More on the Anteaters later in the week.

Aaron Fitt: The first tier of catchers would probably be Wieters, Arencibia, Canham, Donaldson, and maybe Andrew Walker at TCU. I'd put Garabedian in the next group, along with guys like Jeff Dunbar at UC Riverside and Danny Lehmann of Rice. Lehmann and Dunbar probably have better catch-and-throw skills than Garabedian, but he's got the better bat. Scouts really like his size and strength. CofC is off to a solid start, but their schedule has been very soft. They'll get more consideration for the rankings when they test themselves.

Aaron Fitt: It just shows you how high Roemer has set the bar for himself that you could say he is "struggling" after he just struck out 12 guys. But he's got two losses already, matching his total from all of last season. I'll bet he rises to the occasion against Rice next week though. What a matchup that will be. You're right, the Titans have gotten good outings now from Jeff Kaplan and Sean Urena, and they needed it, because that allows them to keep Jorgenson in the bullpen, where he can be a stabilizing force. I think think Fullerton's the favorite in the Big West, but that's an awful good conference, which could have four teams in the top 25 next week if Irvine keeps cruising along.

Aaron Fitt: As you'll see in Three Strikes very shortly on the College Blog, I was very impressed with Miami's weekend. We thought seriously about bringing the RedHawks into the top 25 based on this weekend... they're in the discussion, along with Irvine, Southern Cal, Auburn, Kentucky, Michigan, Arizona, Stetson and South Florida. We've got quite a few teams on our follow list right now, a testament to the parity in the college game right now.

Aaron Fitt: The Huskers are a very solid club -- I heard from one talent evaluator today who likes them even better than Arkansas, because of their power arms and experienced hitters who don't make easy outs. Opitz and Wehrle comprise one of the best middle infields around -- slick double play tandem, and both can hit. Real nice weekend for Opitz, going 6-for-10.

Aaron Fitt: Gearrin is pretty filthy, and I'm not surprised how well he's pitching after what he did in the Cape last summer, striking out 41 in 27 innings. The thing is, he was a virtual unknown when he arrived in Cotuit, having gone undrafted and mostly unnoticed by DI schools. But he is so tough to pick up because of his low-three-quarters arm slot.

Aaron Fitt: Just a terrific swing through Hawaii for the Shockers, who went 7-0 against Hilo and the Rainbows. I absolutely think that team is a legit Omaha contender -- one of the most balanced teams out there, with power arms in the rotation (Shafer, Banwart) and the bullpen and plenty of speed and power in the lineup.

Aaron Fitt: To answer your first question: No. Quite simply, no one is going to dominate the ACC this year -- there are too many good teams. I like Florida State, but I still don't believe the Seminoles are better than UNC, Clemson, Virginia or even Miami, despite the Hurricanes' shaky start. I do believe FSU will be able to compete with all those teams, but dominate? No. As for Guinn and Henry, well, you'll be hard-pressed to find a player in the Florida State roster with ugly stats, and those two are no exceptions. Guinn had another good weekend and is hitting .439 overall, and Henry picked up his third win and owns a 3.38 ERA.

Aaron Fitt: That's a good team that hasn't gotten much attention this year because they haven't really played anyone, but the Cajuns can make a statement this weekend in a three-game series at Southern Miss. Lafayette was our preseason pick in the Sun Belt, and I'll stand by that, but I'm going to withhold further pronouncements until we find out how they fare against stronger competition.

Aaron Fitt: South Carolina has been playing better baseball so far this year, so at this moment I'll give the Gamecocks the edge this weekend. As for the Clemson pitching, I don't think there's too much to worry about. I think Zocchi, Kopp and Hinson is a strong rotation, and if one of them should falter, Josh Thrailkill looks pretty good early on.

Aaron Fitt: It's pretty darn good. If you're a Wolfpack fan, you've got to feel good about what Brackman's been doing. Everyone knew he's got great stuff, but he's also getting results. Shutting down Coastal on Saturday was very impressive, because Coastal can score some runs. Stallings and Surkamp look like solid options for Saturday and Sunday. Right now, I'd rank the ACC pitching staffs as follows: Virginia, North Carolina, Clemson, Florida State, NC State, Miami, followed by Wake Forest or Georgia Tech.

Aaron Fitt: The contrast between Long Beach and UCLA is rather striking. Both have rather young teams dominated by sophomores and freshmen, and both have played tough schedules, but the Dirtbags are 4-3 against the top 25 and UCLA is 3-6 against the top 25. I didn't think there was any way LBSU would be 8-4 at this point in the season against that challenging schedule. Terrific, terrific coaching job by Mike Weathers and his staff so far.

Aaron Fitt: Like I mentioned earlier, South Florida is one of the teams on our worksheet this week. Sweeping Manhattan is a nice showing, because that Jaspers team has some big bats, led by Matt Rizzotti and Nick Derba. But right now I'd have USF behind Stetson, which has a similar record against a similar schedule but won the head-to-head matchup against South Florida this week.

Aaron Fitt: Obviously if you were to rank all three of those teams based strictly on results so far in 2007, Arizona State would rank first, then Texas, then Miami. But if you're only judging teams by their records, you can do that on your own -- you don't need us to put together rankings. We started Texas and Miami considerably ahead of ASU because of better pitching, and the gap has clearly closed as the season has begun to play itself out, but I still believe both Miami and Texas have better pitching than Arizona State and comparable offenses. Miami in particular has struggled on the mound, but I think Scott Maine will come around, and I like Eric Erickson in the rotation. The Canes just need some answers in the bullpen.

Aaron Fitt: Strength of schedule.

Aaron Fitt: I've got got time for a few more...

Aaron Fitt: Savery has been throwing well, and reports are he feels good. The Owls have wisely taken it slow with him, and he appears to be building up his workload gradually. As for LaPorta, he injured his ankle, and it's unclear how much time he'll miss. It doesn't sound like he's going to be back anytime too soon...

Aaron Fitt: Competition for that last spot was tough, but we gave the edge to the Aggies because of their winning streak (which includes a win against Rice in addition to a bunch of wins against lesser competition) and their talent. All those juco transfers have meshed very well there, particularly outfielder Ben Feltner (who's on an eight-game hitting streak) and shortstop Brandon Hicks. It's a speed, pitching and defense outfit there, and the arms are very good. In 107 innings, the Aggies have struck out 105 and held opponents to a .204 average. It's also a smart club, as you'd expect from a Rob Childress-coached group, with a mature offensive approach (54 walks and just 59 strikeouts) and intelligence on the basepaths (40 steals in 49 attempts).

Aaron Fitt: That's all I've got time for today. Great questions, as usual. See you next week.