Weekend preview: Conference showdowns
UCLA-Arizona State highlights the weekend action.
ACC
While Florida State has locked up the Atlantic Division title, the Coastal Division is still very much up for grabs, with North Carolina leading Virginia by a half-game. Both teams are on the road this weekend against opponents that have struggled against the league's top competition: UNC visits last-place Maryland, and UVa. travels to Boston College, which is currently tied with Wake Forest for the eighth and final spot in the ACC tournament. BC holds the tiebreaker, having swept the Demon Deacons, but Wake has a more winnable series at Virginia Tech, and the Deacs won the opener Thursday.
Elsewhere, North Carolina State locked up a regional berth last weekend with a road series victory at Virginia, and the Wolfpack will try to make a case for a No. 2 seed in a regional when it hosts Clemson this weekend. NC State will do it without right-hander Andrew Brackman, who will not pitch this weekend because of fatigue. The Wolfpack won Thursday's opener 11-4. The Tigers vaulted themselves back into the discussion to host a regional last week by becoming the first team to win a series at Florida State this season, but they still need to finish strong. On the surface, it might seem unlikely that the state of South Carolina could host three regionals, and Coastal Carolina and South Carolina both have the inside track on hosting over Clemson. But with perennial Southeast host contenders Georgia Tech, Georgia, Miami and Florida unlikely to host, the Palmetto State could get three sites. Clemson probably needs to win its series this weekend and hold its own in the ACC tournament to have a chance at making that a reality.
Big East
St. John's and Rutgers are tied atop the league standings at 18-6, with Louisville nipping at their heels at 17-7. All three contenders are on the road this weekend against middle-of-the-pack conference foes, though St. John's probably has the toughest trip to South Florida (31-22, 12-12 in the Big East). The Scarlet Knights visit Villanova (27-21, 11-13), while the Cardinals travel to Cincinnati (28-24, 8-13). It's worth noting that St. John's has won head-to-head series against both Rutgers and Louisville, and the Knights and Cards do not play this season. All of these teams will be in the eight-team Big East tournament, where NCAA Tournament resumes can be firmed up. All three are in the running for an at-large berth if they don't win the conference tourney, but St. John's seems to be the safest bet for an at-large bid. All three could conceivably make regionals, but two bids seems more realistic.
Big South
Coastal Carolina is in very good shape to earn a No. 1 seed in a regional -- the Chanticleers boosted their RPI into the top 10 by taking two games at Nebraska two weeks ago, and they can solidify their bid to host at high Class A Myrtle Beach's Coastal Federal Field if they can capture the Big South regular-season title. That title is exactly what's on the line this weekend, when Coastal visits preseason conference favorite Winthrop. A midseason swoon dropped the Eagles to 22-19, but they reeled off eight straight wins to put themselves back in position to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. That was before last weekend, when Winthrop was swept in three games at Liberty. With an RPI of 90, Winthrop probably must win the Big South tournament -- as the host school -- to secure a bid.
"We had worked very hard to get ourselves back into position to make a regional, our RPI was climbing, but we really shot ourselves in the foot last weekend," Winthrop coach Joe Hudak said. "It makes the Coastal series that much bigger, and it was big to begin with. When the schedules came out two years ago, we looked at Coastal that last weekend and knew that would be big. Always is."
Big 12
Texas is a safe bet to earn a No. 1 seed and host a regional, and the Longhorns can cement their status as one of the NCAA Tournament's top eight national seeds with a series win against Texas A&M.
"We certainly hope for all of that," Texas coach Augie Garrido said of the possibility of earning a national seed and ensuring a regional and super regional at home. "It didn't prove last year to be very helpful, Stanford and North Carolina State came in and kicked us out of our own tournament. But the host seed wins the highest percentage of the time -- look how often the host schools have gone to the super regionals and the World Series, it's pretty clear there's a significant advantage to whoever gets to play at home."
The ninth-ranked Aggies are in an unusual position; with a Ratings Percentage Index of five, a 41-12 overall record and a solid 7-7 mark against Top 25 teams, they seem like a lock to host a regional as a top seed, and maybe even earn a national seed. But A&M is just 13-10 in the Big 12, good enough for fourth place. Even if the Aggies sweep Texas, the highest they can finish in the conference is third. The competition to host a regional will be fierce between Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Missouri, and there is also a crunch in the state of Texas, where the Longhorns and Aggies are joined by hosting hopefuls Rice and Texas Christian. Strong finishers are likely to be rewarded.
"We're not going to get caught up in it all, all we can take care of is the next game we have," Texas A&M coach Rob Childress said. "When we start looking at, 'are we hosting, are we a top national seed?' you lose your focus. "The one thing against Texas, they always pitch great and play great defense, and they're going to try to make you die a slow death."
As much as Childress wants to keep his team focused on the field and not the "spectacle", as he put it, that's always a challenge in a rivalry as heated at Texas-Texas A&M. "I think people are apt to get in a fist fight over who's going to be the winner of a pickup stick contest between these two, much less a baseball game," Garrido said. "If it's between Texas A&M and Texas, it's a true rivalry in every way."
Missouri, the one team that has beaten Texas in a conference series this year, is locked in a tie for second place with Oklahoma State. Incidentally, those two teams meet for a three-game series this weekend in Stillwater, Okla. The Cowboys and Tigers trail Texas by two games, so the winner of this series could grab at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title with a little help from the Aggies. "I think it's real exciting," Missouri coach Tim Jamieson said. "You couldn't ask for much more - -you want to play in high-profile games late in the season when the games mean something."
This weekend could mean an awful lot in the muddled Big 12 hosting crunch. The team not expected to be part of it was Missouri, which lost much of the firepower and twin aces Nathan Culp and Max Scherzer from last year's team that lost a super regional at Cal State Fullerton. "The thing that keeps coming back to me is we're going to finish ahead of A&M, but they're higher in the RPI," Jamieson said. "Certainly it would be hard to deny us [a host site] if we did win the weekend -- being a road weekend, we will have won every road weekend in conference. … To be where we are, I could not have expected that. I thought we'd have a good year, but we've had a great year."
Big West
First place is on the line this weekend when Long Beach State (13-2 in conference) hosts UC Riverside (12-3). Because the Big West does not have a conference tournament, the race for the regular-season title is even more significant than in most other conferences. UC Irvine lurks just around the bend at 10-5. The Anteaters have already taken series from Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton, and they've got a chance to pad their conference record this weekend against Cal State Northridge (14-36, 2-13 in the Big West). The league is set up for next weekend's big finish -- Irvine travels to Riverside, while Long Beach State will have to deal with Cal State Fullerton. LBSU coach Mike Weathers said his team has its work cut.
"We could go from first place to fourth place," Weathers said. "Riverside, they're a really solid club, their pitching staff is really deep, that's why they're only a game back. I think the first noticeable difference is probably the power arms of their staff, they've got much better velocity of the mound, we're more of a finesse team. I think their bullpen is exceptional -- it definitely shortens the game. We'll have to figure out how to be in position to win before we get to the eighth inning, so that's one thing."
The Highlanders are still without Saturday starter Marc Rzepczynski, a senior left-hander who broke a knuckle in the pinky finger of his throwing hand when he angrily slammed his fist down on his counter at home last week. He'll be out four-to-six weeks.
For more on the Dirtbags, see "Streakin'" below.
Conference USA
Rice and East Carolina have locked up regional spots, but after that it's wide open. C-USA is starting to look like a three-bid league, and Houston might be in the best position to seize the final spot. The Cougars were sitting pretty before being swept at home by East Carolina two weeks ago, but they rebounded by taking two of three at Memphis last weekend to draw even with the Tigers for third place at 12-8. Houston has a huge series this weekend against a surging Southern Mississippi team that has won 9 of its last 10 to climb above .500 in conference (11-10). Houston gets the edge at home. Memphis, meanwhile, must travel to Rice (19-2). A strong final weekend followed by a good showing in the conference tournament next week in Greenville, N.C., could propel Houston, Memphis or Southern Miss to a regional.
Horizon League
First place Illinois-Chicago leads second place Wright State by 2½ games heading into the regular-season finale between the two teams at Wright State. Of course, the Horizon is a one-bid league, so it will all come down to the conference tournament next weekend at UIC.
Missouri Valley
Red-hot Creighton has won 19 of its last 20 games to draw even with Wichita State atop the conference at 17-4. The Shockers hold the tiebreaker, having handed the Bluejays their only MVC series loss of the year back in early April. Both teams are home this weekend against teams in the bottom half of the conference, as Creighton hosts Missouri State (21-30, 6-15 in the MVC) and Wichita State hosts Illinois State (20-29, 8-13). Evansville, which entered the season ranked No. 21 in the nation, fell to fourth place in the league by losing two of three to Bradley last week. The Purple Aces, who are finished with their regular-season schedule, probably need to win the MVC tourney to make a regional, but the senior-laden team is certainly capable of doing just that.
Pac-10
Arizona State took control of the conference and put itself in position to earn a national seed in the NCAA Tournament by sweeping UCLA last weekend. The Bruins remain in second place in the league, two games behind ASU, and both teams travel to the Pacific Northwest this weekend. UCLA visits Washington State (25-23, 8-13), while the Sun Devils must deal with desperate defending national champion Oregon State.
The Beavers, a favorite to host a regional at the midway point, could be in danger of missing out on the postseason. OSU has lost consecutive must-win series against Washington and Washington State, and at 8-10, the Beavs are locked in a three-way tie for fifth place in the conference with Southern California and California. With a trip to UCLA lurking on the schedule next weekend, Oregon State could conceivably lose its final four conference series and finish in the wrong half of the Pac-10 standings. That would make it hard for the committee to give the Beavers an at-large bid, regardless of their good record against a solid nonconference schedule. But coach Pat Casey's boys have had their backs up against the wall before, and we know how that ended.
SEC
With one weekend remaining before the conference tournament in Hoover, Ala., here's what we know: Vanderbilt has won the Eastern Division and will be the No. 1 or 2 seed in the SEC tournament; Arkansas will definitely join the Commodores in Hoover; South Carolina and Mississippi State will be there too unless one of them is swept and a succession of other things fall perfectly into place. What we don't know: anything else.
The SEC is unlikely to get nine regional bids this year, so qualifying for the eight-team conference tournament will be imperative. It seems likely, though not certain, that all eight teams that reach Hoover will make the NCAA Tournament.
Florida (14-13 in the league entering the weekend), Mississippi (14-13), Alabama (13-14), Kentucky (12-14), LSU (12-14) and Tennessee (11-14) are all battling for the final four spots in the conference tourney. The Gators and Volunteers will go head-to-head in Gainesville, Fla., and clearly Tennessee has the most work to do of any of the SEC tournament hopefuls. Florida will be on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament even if it reaches Hoover thanks to its 27-26 overall record, but Gators coach Pat McMahon feels good about his team's chances. "The right things have to unfold. I think you need to be playing well late, and I think we've done that," McMahon said. "We've competed well on the road. … In the eyes of the selection committee, bottom line, you've got to keep winning ballgames."
Ole Miss and LSU both have very challenging weekends ahead -- the Rebels must travel to Arkansas (17-10), and the Tigers visit Vanderbilt (19-8). Mississippi can probably get into the SEC tournament with one win this weekend, but LSU likely needs to win its series. That's a tall order, on the road against the nation's No. 1 team.
Alabama is also on the road against a banged-up Mississippi State team that will be without closer Aaron Weatherford (nerve soreness in his arm). Outfielders Cade Hoggard and Jeff Flagg are day to day, and Nick Hardy will have surgery on his weak wrist at the end of the season. Alabama knows it must make the most of its opportunity.
"For us, we have to [make the conference tournament] to play any more baseball or be in position to play, because our RPI isn't high, and we've lost too many games in the middle of the week," Crimson Tide coach Jim Wells said. "I don't know about anybody else, but certainly for Alabama, we have to get [to Hoover] to move on."
Kentucky might be in the best position to improve its status. The Wildcats have a home series this weekend against last-place Auburn (8-19).
Thursday's results muddled things more: Alabama edged Mississippi State, Auburn blitzed Kentucky, and Tennesse won the opener at Florida. Mississippi, South Carolina and Vanderbilt all fairly cruised, with the Commodores getting 15 more whiffs from David Price in a 4-1 victory. Price is now 10-0, 2.91 with 164 strikeouts (and just 26 walks) in 114 innings.
Southern
Western Carolina and College of Charleston are tied atop the league standings at 18-6. Both are likely to be regional teams, but if something unexpected happens in the 10-team SoCon tournament, it will be nice to have a regular-season championship in the back pocket, because three bids from the SoCon is pushing it. WCU hosts Georgia Southern (12-12 in the conference), while CofC welcomes Davidson (7-17). And the Cougars own the tiebreaker, having swept the Catamounts in March.
SWAC
The SWAC tournament began Wednesday, with division winners Prairie View A&M and Jackson State as the top seeds in the six-team, double-elimination tournament. Those teams seem to be on a collision course, as both got off to 2-0 starts in the conference tournament. The SWAC's one bid to the NCAA Tournament will be decided as the tournament unfolds this weekend.
Schlereth is one of the most intriguing draft-eligible sophomores in the country, thanks to his power arm from the left side and his famous bloodlines. His father, Mark Schlereth, won three Super Bowls in his 12-year NFL career as an offensive lineman and is now an analyst for ESPN. Daniel Schlereth, who transferred to Arizona from Nevada-Las Vegas after missing his freshman season with Tommy John surgery, has gone 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA and eight saves in 25 innings despite missing a month with torn rib cartilage. Schlereth discussed his famous father, his frustrating injuries, his football background and his approach to hitters -- you'll want to hear this one -- In The Dugout.
Q: So how painful is it to tear cartilage in your oblique area, anyway?
Daniel Schlereth: The day that I did it, I couldn't breathe very well the next day, but it's calmed down a lot. I did it at Chase FIeld against Arizona State. I did it in the bullpen before I threw [two perfect innings of relief], and after that it was excruciating.
Q: Tell me about the way you approach hitters. Do you consider your fastball your best pitch?
Schlereth: Yeah, I would say so. When I'm healthy and everything's going right, it's usually 92-95, 96 miles an hour. I'd say that's my best pitch. It has some movement on it, too -- I don't throw a four-seamer, I throw a two-seamer. Usually my approach is just to throw early strikes and get after guys, be aggressive and stay down in the zone. My out pitch is actually my changeup, that's my second pitch, and I throw a cutter/slider kind of thing.
Q: A lot of people know about you because of your dad, and I know you were a good football player in high school as well. How did your dad let you wind up as a baseball guy instead of a football guy?
Schlereth: Well, first and foremost, I'm not very tall, I'm not the biggest guy. When I was a little kid, my dad kind of leaned me towards baseball because of all the injuries in football. I miss football dearly, man, I wish I could go back and play a little bit, but I'm happy with baseball. I like baseball a lot.
Q: So your dad wanted to keep you away from the injuries, and then you had Tommy John surgery your freshman year at UNLV.
Schlereth: Yeah, he kind of jinxed me. We had talked three or four times, and the last time was right before that injury happened, so I was like, 'Oh, really, no injuries, huh?' It's just a coincidence, and it happened for the best, too.
Q: How frustrating was it to miss that whole season?
Schlereth: Oh my gosh, it killed me. Over there, I wasn't real happy at UNLV anyway even though I missed the whole year, so after that I made a change and came over here, which is awesome. I've been a huge Andy Lopez fan my whole high school career. I'm definitely glad for the opportunity to play baseball here at Arizona.
Q: You said you missed football a little bit. In high school, you threw six no-hitters, you had a 19-strikeout game once, and you also had a 96-yard run in a football game. Out of all these things, what's the biggest thrill?
Schlereth: Gosh, it's tough, man. Probably, the 96-yard run was great, but striking out 19 guys out of 21 is pretty cool too. I guess they're even. Maybe a walk-off home run is the best moment you can have. But as a pitcher, probably 19 strikeouts is best there is. In high school, I tended to walk guys too. I'd strike out 18 guys and walk seven guys--my pitch count would be ridiculous. So I guess if they weren't making contact, I was walking them. A no-hitter's a no-hitter, it doesn't really matter.
Q: Your dad travels to a lot of your games. Does that give you a nice little extra boost on the road?
Schlereth: That's great. If they can't make it, that's fine too. It's definitely good to talk to him, because he's been there, and he's been with the professional deal, too. It's definitely good to look up to someone like that, especially where he's my dad too.
Q: Does he ever flash those Super Bowl rings at you when he's trying to make a point?
Schlereth: No, he never flashes them, but I know where they are, though. I just look at those, and I'm reminded of how successful he was in his career, so that definitely motivates me.
Q: You started a game earlier this season. I heard you just felt more comfortable in the bullpen; is that what you told Coach Lopez?
Schlereth: I think deep down he really knows that my heart is as a closer. We definitely had to give it a try, he told me he needed to give me a shot at starting, just to see how it went. So we did that, and it didn't work out very well, so after that I said, 'You know, Lopes, I guess I'm just a bullpen guy.' I just have a closer mentality, and he knows that too, so I think it works out for both of us.
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• LSU at No. 1 Vanderbilt • Memphis at No. 2 Rice • No. 3 Florida State at Georgia Tech • No. 4 North Carolina at Maryland • No. 6 Virginia at Boston College • No. 7 Texas at/vs./vs. No. 9 Texas A&M • No. 8 Arizona State at No. 22 Oregon State • Mississippi at No. 10 Arkansas • Georgia at No. 11 South Carolina • Cal State Northridge at No. 12 UC Irvine • Illinois State at No. 13 Wichita State • Washington at No. 14 Arizona • No. 15 Clemson at North Carolina State • No. 19 Missouri at No. 16 Oklahoma State • No. 17 Coastal Carolina at Winthrop • No. 21 UC Riverside at No. 18 Long Beach State • New Mexico at No. 20 Texas Christian • No. 23 St. John's at South Florida • No. 24 Michigan at Iowa • No. 25 Pepperdine at Portland
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Kyle Nicholson, RHP, Texas A&MNicholson has flown under the radar as much as a legitimate All-America candidate can. The senior began the year in the bullpen, racking up four saves and bailing the Aggies out of many a tough spot with stellar long relief after their starter was knocked out early. But when A&M needed someone to stabilize its weekend rotation, Nicholson was called upon to start, and he adapted seamlessly. On the season, Nicholson is 11-1 with a 1.74 ERA and 86 strikeouts and 14 walks in 104 innings over 21 appearances (eight starts). "He's meant everything, he's filled every role you can fill on the staff for us, from our closer to the last five weeks being our Friday night guy," Childress said. "He's an extreme competitor who's going to work off his sinker. And he's one of the best defenders we've ever had, I know that gets overlooked sometimes. He throws a sinker, slider and changeup. He's probably 88-91. He'll attack the zone, compete -- that's what he does."
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Bobby Gagg vs. Alex WilsonWinthrop's Wilson is one of the most high-profile sophomore pitchers in the nation thanks to his electric fastball and devastating slider, but he hasn't been the best sophomore righty in the Big South Conference this season. That title belongs to Coastal's Gagg, who has gone 10-1, 2.69 with 73 strikeouts and 23 walks in 90 innings. Wilson has quietly put together another outstanding season, but he hasn't gotten the kind of run support he got as a freshman, when he went 13-3, 3.78. His ERA is a full run lower this year (2.77), but he is just 4-4 in 15 outings. Gagg had been Coastal's Saturday starter for most of the season, but with senior lefty Andy DeLaGarza scuffling a bit recently, the Chanticleers slid Gagg into the No. 1 starter spot just in time for Friday's showdown with Wilson.
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Long Beach StateThe surprising success of the Dirtbags might be the biggest story of the 2007 season to this point. The young Dirtbags -- 21 of the 35 players on the roster are freshmen or sophomores -- opened eyes by starting the season 12-5 against a murderer's row schedule (Southern California, Texas, Rice, UCLA, California and Arizona State) before running into some adversity. LBSU dropped three straight weekend series against Wichita State, Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine, as injuries began to take its toll. Down went ace right-hander Vance Worley with elbow soreness; down went right-hander Manny McElroy with a torn muscle in his back; down went star shortstop Danny Espinosa with a pulled back muscle; down went junior first baseman Brandon Godfrey with a broken hand. But Weathers just shuffled the pieces around, plugged new faces into the lineup, and the Beach kept on chugging. The Dirtbags have won 13 straight heading into this weekend's showdown with UC Riverside, and they've won 22 of their last 25 since the finale of the Irvine series. The hot streak has come against the softer part of LBSU's grueling schedule (Oral Roberts, Cal State Northridge, UC Davis, Pacific, Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara), but we've already seen that the Beach can make it through difficult weekends without wilting. "This roll we're on right now, sweeping conference opponents, no matter who they are, I think that's really hard to do," Weathers said. "We've rolled through four straight weekends of sweeps, and in the Big West that doesn't usually happen, and I don't think it happens in too many leagues. I just thought the [early] schedule was going to be way too hard for this team. I love playing tough schedules, but I kind of wondered if this was a little too tough for this team, and if I'm surprised by anything, it's the success of this team against this schedule." What the Dirtbags lack in star power, they more than make up for in grit. Weathers makes a point of getting as many players into the lineup as possible early in the season to find every player a purpose on the team, and that approach paid off once the injury bug bit. McElroy returned from his injury to emerge as a reliable Friday starter, and junior righty Andrew Liebel had no problem making the transition from crucial setup man to Saturday starter. Sophomore first baseman/left-hander Shane Peterson has been good on Sundays, and sophomore righty Bryan Shaw has been as steady a closer as Weathers could want. Now Long Beach State is getting healthy again -- Espinosa has been back for about four weeks, and Worley returned to throw an inning against Loyola Marymount earlier this week. Worley will be available in relief this weekend and figures to provide a boost in the bullpen the rest of the way. Fortunately, Long Beach doesn't need him to rescue the rotation, because other players have stepped forward in his absence. The pitching staff has gotten other key contributions from Division I transfers in need of an opportunity to prove themselves -- senior lefty Omar Arif (a transfer from Texas Christian), sophomore righty Dustin Rasco (Kansas State) and sophomore righty David Roberts. "This team reminds me a lot of our mid-90s teams when I was an assistant here and the Dirtbag image was alive and well," Weathers said. "Then we started getting all the high-profile guys, and don't get me wrong, I like getting the high-profile guys, but this team is a true Dirtbag team. I like talking about this group, you can tell. I'm proud of them, I don't know what's going to happen. So far so good, I don't care what happens the rest of the way. It's been a tremendous season, one they'll remember."
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Harris Honeycutt, RHP, South CarolinaHoneycutt was a perfect 15-0 in his three-year collegiate career before making the fateful mistake of talking to Baseball America. Call it a jinx or call it a coincidence, but Honeycutt has not won since our profile story about him ran in mid-April. He lost three consecutive Friday starts before South Carolina moved him to Saturdays, and then he proceeded to drop his first two Saturday starts. He's now 7-5 with a 3.79 ERA on the year with 89 strikeouts and 33 walks in 76 innings. The Gamecocks moved sophomore right-hander Mike Cisco into the weekend rotation to start Thursday's series opener against Georgia (a 13-3 USC victory) so they could leave junior lefty Arik Hempy on Fridays, but USC coach Ray Tanner said Honeycutt could get bumped from the Saturday start by freshman righty Blake Cooper, who had been starting on Sundays. Honeycutt might still get the nod, but either way his transformation from rotation rock to iffy weekend starter has been abrupt and startling. "It's been a little bit hard to figure out," Tanner said. "Harris Honeycutt was pitching as good as anybody else in the country in the beginning of the season. He's not blessed with the fastball of [Vanderbilt lefty] David Price, but he pitched very well. Then he started scuffling. It's not a case of Honeycutt not helping us anymore, he just hasn't been as good as he was. Even against Tennessee [last Saturday], he gave up three in the first and we lost 4-3. I still feel good about him and think he's very capable. … It's one of those things that's hard to figure out sometimes, but I still am a big fan of Harris Honeycutt."
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8-0 Missouri's record in one-run games in Big 12 play. Those eight conference victories are the difference between being tied for second place and gunning to host a regional and being out of the postseason picture. They are also a testament to Missouri's fortitude in tight spots. "It's a consummate team, guys picking each other up," Jamieson said. "We're not a high-profile ballclub, but we're still winning. We have different guys contributing -- it's everybody. Matching up with Oklahoma State in their ballpark when they're playing well is difficult to do, but this team has responded in different situations all year." Also, with a number of heralded freshmen across the nation having rocky years, give credit to Missouri freshman Kyle Gibson for living up to his considerable billing and stabilizing the Tiger bullpen. The right-hander has gone 6-3 with a 4.03 ERA and seven saves. "He's been a guy since Day 1 that we could count on, and you don't usually say that about a freshman," Jamieson said. "Our bullpen depth has gotten better as the year's gone on, so we don't have to just give the ball to Kyle. His velocity's stayed pretty much the same all year, and he has command of both his slider and his changeup. He's capable of getting both left-handed and right-handed hitters out."
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Western Illinois over Oral RobertsOral Roberts' long-time stranglehold on the Mid-Continent Conference was on the line this weekend, as the Golden Eagles led the conference by four games over Western Illinois with a four-game series between the clubs remaining on the regular-season schedule. The Golden Eagles dashed the Leathernecks' hopes of claiming a share of the conference's regular-season title by winning Thursday's series opener behind eight strong innings from ace Chance Chapman. That was to be expected, as Chapman, a senior right-hander, has been utterly dominant for stretches this season. He has used one of the best sliders in college baseball to strike out 17 batters against Arkansas on March 27 and whiff 19 against Centenary last week. But even though Western Illinois can't catch Oral Roberts in the standings, it can still take the four-game series and gain some momentum heading into the all-important conference tournament. Under sixth-year coach Stan Hyman, the Leathernecks have posted their first winning record (31-21) since 1989 and secured a berth in the Mid-Con tournament for the fifth straight season. Junior left fielder Brett Pendell, a free-swinging left-handed hitter, has been a sparkplug atop the order, batting .347/.427/.464 with 15 stolen bases in 19 attempts and a conference-leading 54 runs. Senior center fielder Travis Check has provided some punch in the middle of the order, batting .339/.397/.540 with eight home runs and 46 RBIs. "Travis is arguably the best player in the conference," Hyman said. "He's been consistent throughout the entire season. He tore it up in our 12 games against the top Big 12 pitching. And his hits always seem to come at big times. He's delivered nine game-tying or game-winning hits and belted two key home runs against Oakland and [Valparaiso] in conference. "Defensively, he's also saved several games for us. His seven outfield assists also rank at the top of the conference. He's a money player who will succeed at the pro level." Give Western Illinois credit for closing the gap with Oral Roberts. This weekend, the Leathernecks have a chance to show they are on the same playing field as the Golden Eagles.
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