Weekend College Baseball Recap, May 10-12

The regular season is winding down but the excitement is about to become dialed up as final season standings will be determined next weekend followed by the crowning of conference tourney champions the following weekend. This past weekend brought us some exciting results, upsets, and rivalry showdowns that didn't disappoint. Here's the weekend highlights:

- Best Team: #1 Vanderbilt - The 'Dores (45-6, 24-2 SEC) have really come on strong lately, showing no signs of surrendering the top spot back to UNC who held it most of the season. Led by Tony Kemp's big weekend (8-14), Vandy swept Kentucky.

Speaking of UNC...

- Really Helped Its Tourney Cause Team of the Week: #30 Georgia Tech - The Yellow Jackets (32-20, 14-13 ACC) handed the Tar Heels their first series loss of the season over the weekend, providing a much needed boost to their previously falling tourney stock.

- Best in the West: #5 Oregon State - It has to be the Beavers (41-8, 20-4 Pac-12) now after handing #25 Stanford an impressive sweep over the weekend while the Cal State Fullerton Titans "only" took 2 of 3 from UC Riverside. (Brendon probably disagrees)

- Best in the West part deux: #3 Cal State Fullerton - Ok, fine. The Titans are co-best in the West. After all their 41-8 record is a school best through 49 games. And this is a long and storied program too. Impressive.

- Reality Check Team of the Week: Ohio State - The Buckeyes want to dance with the big boys and were able to score a weekend home matchup with the #6 Oregon Ducks. They got swept.

- Best Northern Team: #29 Pittsburgh - It's been a remarkable season for the 1st place Panthers (40-11, 18-3 Big East) who swept Villanova over the weekend and now look like a team that won't be in over its head (like I previously thought) when they join the ACC next year.

(Shoutout to #10 Louisville and Seton Hall, 2nd and 3rd in the Big East, who have both won 13 games in a row)

- Best ACC Smackdown: #8 Florida State at #9 NC State - In an epic battle for first place in the Atlantic division, Florida Sate got Rodon'd in Game 1 on Saturday. The Noles bounced back to even the series on Sunday. The crucial series finale will be on ESPNU tonight at 7.

- Bragging Rights Awards: We had three in-state rivalry matchups this weekend (#19 Oklahoma State vs #18 Oklahoma) (#20 Ole Miss vs #13 MSU) and (Kansas vs #28 Kansas State). Congratulations to..

#19 Oklahoma State - The Cowboys (36-13, 11-9 Big 12) won the series as Jason Hursh set the tone Friday night with a dominant CG performance.

#20 Ole Miss - The Rebels (35-17, 14-13 SEC) swept a Saturday doubleheader en route to a series win over State.

#28 Kansas State - Captured a big series sweep of Kansas, moving the Wildcats (37-15, 14-9 Big 12) into 1st place.

- Offensive Juggernaut Award: New Mexico - While their bandbox of a home field along with bash brothers D.J. Peterson and Mitch Garver have much to do with it, it's still worth noting that the Lobos hitters collectively lead all 297 D1 programs in Team AVG, OBP, SLG, Hits, and RBI.

Individual Highlights

- Pitcher of the Week: Marco Gonzales - LHP - Gonzaga - Appalachian State made the hike out west and were given the silent treatment (euphemism for shutout) by Gonzales, a likely first round pick, on Friday. He threw a CG shutout with six hits allowed and 10 strikeouts. App State would, however, win the series.

HM/ Nick Petree - RHP - Missouri State, Daniel Gossett - RHP - Clemson, Ryne Stanek - RHP - Arkansas, Jason Hursh - RHP - Oklahoma State, Harrison Musgrave - LHP - West Virginia

- Hitter of the Week: Kris Bryant - 3B - San Diego - Just another day at the office for Bryant. He hit three more home runs this weekend including a 5-7 performance with two bombs in San Diego's 22-5 laugher over Portland on Sunday.

HM/

- Outdueler of the Week: Sam Moll - LHP - Memphis - Kendall Rogers of Perfect Game breaks the talented junior down in his weekend preview. Moll led Memphis to a big Friday upset over Austin Kubitza and #17 Rice.

- Stock Rising Award: Dustin DeMuth - 3B - #16 Indiana - Demuth, who could be a nice mid round sleeper has quietly raised his AVG to .417 on the season, good for 4th in the nation.

- Streaker of the Week: Tyler Beede - LHP - #1 Vanderbilt - The uber-talented sophomore is now a perfect 13-0 in 13 starts on the season for the #1 Commodores.

- Mid Major Ace of the Week: Kerry Doane - RHP - East Tennessee State - He threw a nation leading 10th CG of the season, shutting out a very good hitting Mercer ballclub.

- Who Says I Don't Hit For Enough Power? Award: Colin Moran - 3B - #2 North Carolina - After hitting just three total in 2012, Moran just smacked his 13th home run of the season, good for 10th in the nation, over the weekend.

- 2014 Draft Prospect of the Week: Harrison Musgrave - LHP - West Virginia - Here's an intriguing name to keep an eye on. He's been superb for the upstart Mountaineers all with the latest gem (9 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 14 K) coming against TCU.

- Baseball America Spotlight: Andrew Thurman - RHP - #23 UC Irvine - Friday's dominant performance versus Cal Poly earned Thurman a win and an extensive writeup in BA's Friday Roundup.

- Stinkbomb of the Week: Mark Appel - RHP - #25 Stanford - The potential No. 1 overall pick sure didn't pitch like one this week (5 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 4 K), when the Cardinal needed him to against 1st place Oregon State.

The latest rankings via College Baseball Writers

College Baseball Daily's Mid Major Rankings

Stat Leaderboard (Boyd's World)

That's all I got for now. Enjoy the final week of the regular season in college baseball and as always, stay classy, not crassy