Weekend College Baseball Recap: April 5-7

Another fine weekend of college baseball is in the books. This weekend brought us continued dominance by the top four teams in the nation, several impressive pitching performances worth noting, and the end of Oklahoma first baseman Matt Oberste's 30-game hit streak (not to mention the end of our six week streak of at least one no-hitter thrown over the weekend). Here's the weekend highlights according to me...

Team Highlights

- Best Team: LSU - This is a personal opinion as North Carolina will remain #1 in the polls after their sweep of Maryland. I'm just slightly more impressed with LSU's body of work. They are a school record 30-2 and just completed a dominant sweep of #10 Kentucky.

- Red Hot Team of the Week: #6 Virginia - The Cavaliers are hot on UNC's heels (pun definitely intended) as they swept Wake Forest, including a dramatic, 9th inning grand slam by center fielder Mike Papi. The Cavs are now surprisingly 29-3 (11-3 ACC) on the season.

- Offensive Juggernaut of the Week: Delaware - The Blue Hens have won 12 straight, scoring 9.2 runs per game in that stretch. They've quietly hit .330 as team, good for 1st in the nation. The main culprits: Jimmy Yezzo, JR, first baseman (.444/.478/.790 w/ 7 HR) and Nick Ferdinand, SR, outfielder (.384/.455/.679 w/ 6 HR). Yezzo has a chance to go high in the draft as he was the preseason top hitting prospect in the CAA, according to Baseball America.

- Best West Coast Team: #4 Cal State Fullerton - Swept UC Davis to improve to 28-4, 6-0 Big West. My favorite two-way draft prospect Michael Lorenzen, OF/RHP, hit a HR and notched two saves in the series.

- 'Not Just a Soup Brand' Award: Campbell - They should be ranked in most polls following a sweep of Presbyterian to improve to 9-3 Big South and 28-5 on the year. Note: Nation SB leader (35 in 33 games) Ben McQuown, SR, plays OF for Campbell.

- Best College Football Score Impersonation: Eastern Kentucky - EKU defeated Morehead State on Sunday by a 30-14 score. 12 Home Runs were hit in this game. That's remarkably bad pitching.

- West Coast Showdown of the Week: #8 Oregon State and #11 UCLA - Adam Plutko, JR, RHP, pitched UCLA to a win Friday night before Oregon State rebounded to take the series. OSU now 25-5 (7-2 Pac 12).

- Best SEC Showdown: #3 Vanderbilt and # 16 Ole Miss - Well, aside from the LSU - Kentucky series I already touched on...Vandy swept Ole Miss, clearly proving they are the best in the SEC East. Tony Kemp, JR, OF leads the 'Dores with a .378 AVG and 15 SB.

- Upset of the Week: Duke shutting out Georgia Tech...Twice - Led by Senior OF, Brandon Thomas (.441/.509/.591) Tech lead the nation in Team AVG by a landslide before Duke pitching stymied them with TWO shutouts in a series win.

- Worst CWS Hangover: Stony Brook - Who would've have thought at the beginning of the season that at this point in the season Stony Brook and UMBC would be tied for last in the America East! UMBC is traditionally awful. I would know. I live 20 minutes from the school.

Individual Highlights

- Pitcher of the Week: Michael Cederoth - RHP - San Diego State - Here's a big name to watch in the 2014 draft class. Cederoth had his 96-100 MPH fastball working Friday night (8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 14 K) in an epic pitcher's duel with Nevada ace Braden Shipley (likely top 15 pick).

HM/ Jonathan Gray - RHP - Oklahoma, Eric Peterson - Temple, Austin Kubitza - RHP - Rice, Sam Moll - LHP - Memphis, Daniel Wright - Arkansas State, Robert Baker - Northwestern State

- Hitter of the Week: JaCoby Jones - 2B - LSU - The bat has finally come alive! Jones had a huge weekend (8-13, HR, 2 BB, 7 RBI), playing a key role in LSU's sweep of Kentucky. A strong finish to the season should re-establish him as a potential top three round pick.

HM/ D.J. Peterson - 3B - New Mexico, Charlie White - OF - Maryland, Mason Katz - 1B - LSU, Jimmy Yezzo - 1B - Delaware, Colin Moran - 3B - North Carolina

- Ready for Prime Time Award: Aaron Blair - RHP - Marshall - Masterful (8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K) against #23 Houston. Pre season top pitching prospect in C-USA according to Baseball America. More draft info on him here.

- Mid Major Ace of the Week: Colin Welmon - RHP - Loyola Marymount - Led the Lions (8 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K) to a big 4-0 win over San Diego. Carries a minuscule 0.97 season ERA.

- Outdueler of the Week: Chris Razo - RHP - Illinois State - The Senior tossed a one hit gem, out dueling Nick Petree of Missouri State in a 2-1 win. Not an easy thing to do against Petree and his 0.73 ERA. Illinois State won the series.

- Best Rebound Performance: Ryne Stanek - RHP - Arkansas - Last week: 4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 92 Pitches! This week: 8 IP, 5 H, O ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 97 Pitches. He's consistently inconsistent.

- Masher of the Week: Ryan Kinsella - C - Elon - The sophomore now leads the SoCon with 11 HR, putting him 4th in the nation. (Yes, Kris Bryant still leads the nation with 14). No relation to Ray Kinsella (obviously)

Matt Oberste's hit streak has been snapped! Robin Ventura breathes easy once more. Which means we have a new...

- Streaker of the Week: Thomas Eshelman - RHP - Cal State Fullerton - Touched on him a bit last week, but the talented freshman has now thrown 58 innings on the season without allowing a single walk. Cliff Lee approves.

- Overshadowed Pitcher of the Week: DJ Snelten - LHP - Minnesota - I dug deep for this one. Most assume Tom Windle is about all the Gopher program has going for them. Wrong. The 6'7", 230 pound Snelten is also considered a draft prospect (preseason no. 5 in Big Ten according to Baseball America) and outings like Sunday's one hitter vs Ohio State with 7 K can only help his cause.

- "Sounds Like a Computer Generated Name in MLB 13: The Show" Award - Chance Cleveland - RHP - Arkansas Little Rock - The UALR Senior ace threw a gem (8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 11 K) versus MTSU, proving he is more than a name for me to poke fun at.

Honorable Mention: Skye Bolt - OF - UNC

- Most Notorious Batting Stance in College Baseball: Alex Buccilli - OF - Coastal Carolina - Here's video. I'm speechless.

The latest rankings via College Baseball Writers

College Baseball Daily's Mid Major Rankings

That's all I have this time. Enjoy the week, everyone. Stay classy, not crassy