Hello everybody and welcome to a brand new weekly column. Starting this week, we will have our college baseball team make weekly picks for series and single games for the upcoming week of college baseball. With today being Opening Day, we are welcoming in this new season with weekend series/game picks. As well as some off-the-radar series to keep an eye on this weekend.
Note: We are using our own Top 25 for team rankings, not national ones. You can check out those rankings here
How Are We Scoring This Thing?
Well, the scoring is simple. If our writer gets the pick correct they get one point. For a series, If they guess the number of games their pick win by, that’s two additional points. We will keep track of the picks this year and the winner may or may not win a prize by the end of the year. We like to keep our writers on edge.
Week 1 Series:
Cal State Fullerton - No.15 Stanford
It was a depressing year last year for Fullerton as they went 27-26 missing out on the tournament for the first time since 1991. Although they lost some solid talent last year, they’re ready to make another push for the tournament. The positive for Fullerton is returning the majority of their rotation headlined by Tanner Bibee, who’s looking to rebound after a sophomore struggle. As well as look out for Joe Magrisi in the rotation as he has gotten some hype over the summer from a stellar performance in the West Coast League with the Yakima Valley Pippins. Meanwhile, for Stanford, it will be one they’d like to start off on the right foot. After losing their best hitters last year to the draft, Stanford will need their stellar rotation to make up for the lack of experience in the lineup. Brandon Beck will get the ball Friday night as he’s been consistently good for the Cardinal. With Jacob Palisch and Alex Williams to end off the rotation.
Tom Mussa: Stanford 2-1
Peter Flaherty: Stanford 2-1
Matt Powers: Stanford 2-1
Anthony Franco: Stanford 2-1
Indiana - No.14 LSU
This is one of the most intriguing matchups for me and other Big Ten fans. Indiana has consistently been one of the top teams in the Big Ten fighting for a tournament spot year in and year out. However, Indiana will be replacing 39 of its team record 95 home runs from last year. In addition to losing the entire rotation, Indiana will need the leftover talent lead by projected All-Big Ten Elijah Dunham and Cole Barr to hit with LSU. It won’t be an easy task though, as LSU is once again another powerhouse ready to challenge for Omaha. LSU was one of the favorites in the entire country going into last season but didn’t find its way to Omaha. Now with a much younger lineup and rotation LSU will try to build off the promising years from Cole Henry and Landon Marceaux on the mound meanwhile Saul Garza and Daniel Cabrera will be the spearhead for the bats.
Tom Mussa: LSU 3-0
Peter Flaherty: LSU 3-0
Matt Powers: LSU 2-1
Anthony Franco: LSU 2-1
No.2 Louisville - No. 24 Ole Miss
Now, this matchup is very interesting. Ole Miss will look to gain very crucial RPI wins over Louisville this weekend, as a series win over a projected top 5 team is huge in potentially hosting come June. Ole Miss will have an under-experienced team coming into the series but still with some good talent. Gunnar Hoglund is the name to watch in this one as he will have the ball on Friday night. He will be taking on a Louisville team whose rotation is one of the best in the nation, with Reid Detmers being the headliner. Meanwhile, Alex Binelas, Lucas Dunn, and Danny Oriente will be supporting them in the field.
Tom Mussa: Louisville 2-1
Peter Flaherty: Louisville 3-0
Matt Powers: Louisville 3-0
Anthony Franco: Ole Miss 2-1
No.23 Oklahoma - Virginia
Another interesting matchup between two young teams ready to go back to former success. Virginia has the bigger of the shoes to fill after being 5 years removed from their title win. However, Virginia missed the tournament for their second year in a row last year, but there’s hope in Charlottesville. Virginia will have Brendan Rivoli, Nic Kent, and Zack Gelof back, all who had promising 2019s. Virginia will look to use Andrew Abbott out of the pen, and look for Nate Savino, who many ranked as the best prep pitchers in 2020 class left early to join the Cavaliers this spring.
Tom Mussa: Oklahoma 2-1
Peter Flaherty: Oklahoma 2-1
Matt Powers: Virginia 2-1
Anthony Franco: Oklahoma 2-1
MLB4 Tournament
The MLB will once again be hosting this wonderful tournament featuring a College World Series rematch. Michigan and Vanderbilt are the favorites in their matches, rightfully. However, don’t overlook Connecticut and Cal Poly in this tournament. Yes, Connecticut lost a lot of their core players last year but they reloaded a lineup of talented freshman and other transfers. Look out for Reggie Crawford as he is one of the favorites to win Freshman of the year in the AAC. Meanwhile, for Cal Poly, they’ll lean on their father-son combo as Larry Lee will be coaching his son Brooks. Brooks Lee was a higher respected prospect as he has real power in the bat and had a good summer in the West Coast League.
No.12 Michigan - No.1 Vanderbilt
Tom Mussa: Michigan
Peter Flaherty: Vanderbilt
Matt Powers: Vanderbilt
Anthony Franco: Vanderbilt
No.1 Vanderbilt - Connecticut
Tom Mussa: Vanderbilt
Peter Flaherty: Vanderbilt
Matt Powers: Vanderbilt
Anthony Franco: Vanderbilt
No.12 Michigan - Connecticut
Tom Mussa: Michigan
Peter Flaherty: Connecticut
Matt Powers: Michigan
Anthony Franco: Michigan
No.12 Michigan - No.9 Arizona State
This is a single game matchup this weekend, as this is the second game of a double-header for both teams. Arizona State is the favorite in the Pac-12 currently to bring the West back to Omaha, as no team from the west coast made it to Omaha for the first time since 1996. Arizona State will be headlined by potential first pick in the draft Spencer Torkelson.
Tom Mussa: Arizona State
Peter Flaherty: Michigan
Matt Powers: Arizona State
Anthony Franco: Arizona State
Other Series to Watch:
Grand Canyon - No.16 Oklahoma State
GCU is one of the more intriguing mid-major teams out west. They return their entire weekend rotation, including Kade Mechals (2019 WAC Pitcher of the Year) and Pierson Ohl (2019 WAC Freshman of the Year). On the backend of their rotation they have lefty Jack Schneider who compiled a 2.83 ERA last season. The Lopes also have depth in their bullpen with Preseason All-WAC member Frank Scalzo as well as JuCo transfer Dawson McCarville. However, there are question marks at the plate as GCU lost Quin Cotton, Tyler Wyatt, Kona Quiggle, and Preston Pavlica all of whom were all-conference selections in 2019. The Lopes' bright spot at the plate is Junior first baseman, Cuba Bess. The physical lefty broke out last season, slashing .341/.476/.632 and had a whopping 1.108 OPS. Bess won't be able to do it all by himself, so guys like David Avitia and JuCo bounceback Channy Ortiz will each need to take big steps forward.
Oklahoma State is a legit club who will be in the running for the Big12 championship, but has a number of newcomers in their lineup. Two key guys to watch will be Kaden Polcovich, who had a breakout summer in the Cape League, and sparkplug Freshman Caeden Trenkle. Alix Garcia and JuCo transfer Jake Thompson also provide a bit of stability in a young lineup. Their rotation will likely feature 2 true Freshmen (Bryce Osmond and Justin Campbell) while anchored by lefty Parker Scott, who also had an excellent summer in the CCBL. Osmond is the crown jewel of Oklahoma State's #3 ranked recruiting class. The big-bodied righty will run his fastball into the mid-90s and will be a big reason for why the Cowboys will find success this season.
Some things to look for will be to see how a proven Antelopes staff handles a fairly inexperienced OkState lineup and how OkState's young arms fair against an extremely thin GCU lineup. While each team has their respective question marks, the lack of offense on the Antelopes side will have the Cowboys winning 2-1 in a scrappy first series. - Peter Flaherty
Rutgers - No.3 Miami
Miami has a national championship caliber roster, but the Canes are already facing adversity with the big loss of shortstop Freddie Zamora for the season. How Miami will mix and match as they look to replace that production is one of the more interesting stories in the season's opening weekend. Rutgers, meanwhile, hasn't had much success in recent seasons. New head coach Steve Owens led a mid-major powerhouse at Bryant, though. He'll turn to lefty ace Harrison Rutkowski on Friday. One of the top pitchers in the Big Ten, Rutkowski figures to be the Scarlet Knights' first top-five round pick since Patrick Kivlehan (2012) this June. - Anthony Franco
Middle Tennessee - No.19 North Carolina
UNC comes in with a lot of questions and this opening weekend is a chance to start to get some answers. Can Gianluca Dalatri hold up? What does hyped redshirt freshman Max Alba look like? Then on offense you have a pair of true freshmen starters along with a JUCO transfer and a lightly used third year sophomore all expected to take starting jobs. Carolina has upside, but we need to get some answers. - Matt Powers