College Season Starts

by DrBGiantsfan on Feb 23, 2008 2:24 PM EST Comment 17 comments

The college season got underway yesterday. There were a lot of rainouts, especially in southern California where a lot of games were scheduled.

Brian Matusz got roughed up by Tony Gwynn's SD State squad giving up 8 H and 6 Runs in 4.2 IP.

It was a tough night for a couple of other top college pitchers with Preston Guilmet of Arizona and Mike Stutes of Oregon State allowing 4 runs in 4 IP each.

The star of the evening had to be Lance Lynn, a huge(6'7", 260 lb) RHP from Ole Miss: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 K.

Aaron Crow of Missouri pitched well: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K.

Other notable performances came from:

Danny Farquar, La-Lafayette- 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 9 K.

Tyson Ross, Cal- 5 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K.

Shooter Hunt, Tulane- 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K.

Scott Gorgan, UC Irvine- 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K.

The top pitchers seem to be mostly ahead of the hitters at this stage: Pedro Alvarez- 0 for 2, Yonder Alonso- 0 for 4, and Kyle Russell- 0 for 2 failed to get hits. Brett Wallace went 1 for 4, BB. Petey Paramore, AZ State C was probably the hitting star of the night going 2 for 3 with 2 doubles and a BB.

There were several outstanding performances by sophomore pitchers:

Ryan Berry, Rice- 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K.

Kendal Volz, Baylor- 8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K.

Mike Ford, UCSB- 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K.

Steve Kalush, Santa Clara- 6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 13 K.

Nate Garcia, Santa Clara- 7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K.

Steve Strasbrug, SD State- 8 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K. Strasburg was going against USD and Brian Matusz. He was featured in BA's "Marquee Matchup" yesterday. He reportedly has touched triple digits with the heater in the past.

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More Friday notes

Josh Fields, a supplemental 1st rounder of the Braves last year, not only struck out the side but hit a homer as a DH as Georgia beat #1 Arizona

I mentioned this in the other thread but Dustin Ackley shows no signs of slowing down, 4-4 with 2 homers and a walk against a very solid FAU team. Potential 2009 #1 overall pick Alex White had a good outing (5.1 IP, 5H, 1R, 2BB, 6K) against a lineup with some dangerous hitters (Mike McKenna I'm looking at you).

FAU ace Mickey Storey, a potential first few rounds guy last year before getting hurt didn't pitch well. It could take him a while to get back to 100% but he is talented.

The Gem of the day was Long Beach State beating Rice 1-0 in ten innings.
LBSU senior Andrew Lieber, making only his 7th career start struck out 11 in 8 scoreless innings.

In a top 10 matchup Vandy beat Ore St 7-1, or something like that.

Elon ace Stephen Hensley, the top college prospect in NC (92-94 fastball, plus slider, good body, Nationals draftee out of HS), pitched well (6ip, 4h, 2r, 1er, 1bb, 5k) against very weak competition in a blowout win over LaSalle. Teammates CF Chris Dove (4-6, 2 sb, 1 2b, 3r) and LF/C Pat Irvine (3-3, 6rbi, 1 2b, 1bb), both decent prospects, had big days at the plate.

Texas catching prospect Preston Clark went 2-3, 4rbi in a 6-2 Texas win that apparently feature only one extra base hit by either team

A couple notable Friday games (Okla at UCLA, ECU at S.C, AppState at NC State, Mercer at Clemson) got turned into doubleheaders today due to rain.

Vandy LHP Mike Minor, a possible 2009 1st rounder, went 6ip, 5h, 0bb, 6k, 1r, 1er in a win over Oregon State.

LSU CF/WR prospect Jared Mitchell went 3-5 in a win over Indiana. Both Indiana and LSU's CFs were also important WRs this past fall.

by nms on Feb 23, 2008 2:56 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Saturday

Personal favorite Indiana sophomore LHP Matt Bashore has 8 Ks in 4 innings so far against a good LSU offense

by nms on Feb 23, 2008 4:24 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

LSU up 5-0

Brown pitching a good game. Last night Bradford had a great game. This could be LSU's comback season if they can keep it up.

by nyy601 on Feb 23, 2008 4:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

HOO HOO HOO HOOSIERS

rally for 4 in the 8th but come up short and lose 5-4.

Bashore goes 4.1 and strikes out 9 (including the side in the 1st but is undone by some errors by his defense). Only one of his three runs were earned.

Two catchers to watch for the '09 draft shined. Indiana's C Josh Phegley, a Cape Cod all-star, went 2-4 with a walk. Phegley has the fire hydrant catcher size (5-11, 215), a strong arm and can hit the ball hard.
LSU's C Sean Ochinko was 3-4 with a double.

Kipp Schutz, Indiana's Redshirt Freshman RFer and cleanup hitter, a 26th rounder in 06, went 2-4 with a walk.

Jared Mitchell, LSU CF/WR, a highly watched prospect, struck out 4 times

by nms on Feb 23, 2008 8:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Saturday

Personal favorite Indiana sophomore LHP Matt Bashore has 8 Ks in 4 innings so far against a good LSU offense

by nms on Feb 23, 2008 4:24 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

man

I wish my school had fricken college baseball. Damn you Title IX! Only Big 10 school without it.

by wibadger on Feb 23, 2008 4:34 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I have to say

I have to say that a year ago it was really cool to be reffing my annual weekend of wheel chair basketball -- moved from Cal State East Bay to the Recreational and Sports Facility at Cal last year -- and find out that the balcony outside the RSF reached so close to the left-center field fence of the Cal baseball diamond that when I went out to watch at halftime and between games, I could actually reach over the fence and into the field of play if I stretched out.

I see that Cal opened its season again yesterday, but this year the wheel chair basketball is being played at another venue in Berkeley. Perhaps it's just as well. A year ago the opening weekend was flat-out BEAUTIFUL, while today it's been raining.

by sharksrog on Feb 23, 2008 5:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

more from Sat

UNC gets a scare from FAU but wins 14-13.
Kyle Seager, a talented sophomore IF who I have mentioned as worth watching for '09 draft, goes 4-4, 2 hr, 3 rbi, 1 double, 1bb.
Dustin Ackley was "only" 3-5 with a double.
FAU sr 3b/of Daniel Cook, an 07 20th rounder homered ann their star JR 2b William Block was 2-5.

------

Baylor holds on to beat Purdue 11-10 in 11 innings.
Aaron Miller and Beemer Weems, two of Baylors best prospects, had ordinary one hit days. R-Fr Shawn Tolleson had a tough introduction to D-I baseball (2.1 ip, 6h, 4r, 4bb, 3k). Tolleson is a well-regarded RHP who sat out last year with TJ surgery.
Purdue JR 1b Ryne White, who hit .452 last year, went 2-5.

---

South Carolina wolloped a very good ECU team 22-5. Havens and Smoak both homered

by nms on Feb 23, 2008 8:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

More Saturday News

It was a good day for hitters.

In addition to Brett Wallace, Ike Davis went 3 for 4 for AZ State which has a sick lineup. Ike is the son of former Yankees and Twins reliever Ron Davis.

Pedro Alvarez DNP for Vandy. What's up with that?

Danny Espinosa went 3 for 4 with a HR for Long Beach State. He's a potential sleeper.

In addition to Smoak, Phil Disher went 3 for 5 with 2 HR's for South Carolina while James Darnell went 2 for 6. Talk about a sick lineup!

Kyle Russell went 2 for 4 with a HR for Texas.

Allan Dykstra of Wake Forest went 5 for 8 in a DH against Pepperdine. He was facing good pitching too as Brett Hunter went 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K's for the Waves.

In other pitching performances, Cody Satterwhite made his debut and went 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K for Ole Miss. Satterwhite and Lance Lynn should be quite a 1-2 punch for the Rebs.

Virginia's Pat McAnany went 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K's.

If you are looking for sleepers, UC Davis Jr RHP Brad McAtee, 6'5", 215 lbs went 7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K.

by DrBGiantsfan on Feb 23, 2008 9:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

south carolina

how did you leave out reese havens? he went 5-6 with a homer in the first game of the DH, and he has another homer in the night cap. he could have also had an inside the park homer on a play where the left fielder crashed into the wall and dropped the ball, but it was ruled a 4 base error.

by fewgoodcards on Feb 23, 2008 9:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Havens

nms already mentioned Havens.

by DrBGiantsfan on Feb 23, 2008 10:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Alvarez

Announcers said during the game that Alvarez was sitting out with "minor forearm soreness", a bit tight and just a precaution.

by casejud on Feb 24, 2008 3:35 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Tanner Scheppers dominates

7 innings, 4 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 10 strikeouts

he has one of the best pure arms in the draft, and if he continues to throw strikes like that he will be right up there pushing crow and matusz as the top pitcher in college baseball.

by fewgoodcards on Feb 23, 2008 10:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Helium

Scheppers seems to have taken on some serious helium on draft boards.

by DrBGiantsfan on Feb 23, 2008 10:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Christian Friedrich

Eastern Kentucky: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 B, 11 K's.

by DrBGiantsfan on Feb 24, 2008 11:23 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

friedrich

i saw that earlier and thought what a funny line. obviously he had very good control and dominating strikeout numbers, but he still gave up 3 runs. i'm not too concerned though, if he can keep throwing strikes like that he will be gone quick on draft day.

by fewgoodcards on Feb 24, 2008 11:29 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs