College Baseball
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College baseball week in review: Statement sweep by Vanderbilt, Miami on the move

Few teams enjoyed a more productive weekend than Vanderbilt, which swept Georgia in Nashville to improve to 30-10 overall and 11-7 in the SEC.

Pitching was the story for the Commodores, who limited the powerful Georgia offense to a .179 batting average and 10 runs in the three games. The Bulldogs did hit five home runs — they lead the nation with 105 — but three were solo shots and one came on Friday night when Vanderbilt led by 10 runs.

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On Thursday night, JD Thompson gave up a home run to leadoff hitter Slate Alford but then held Georgia scoreless until turning the ball over to closer Sawyer Hawks to start the ninth inning. On Saturday, Connor Fennell, a sophomore transfer from Dayton, allowed three hits and two runs while striking out 11 with no walks in 5 ⅔ innings. Fennell, who rarely (if ever) touches 90 on the radar gun, has struck out 48.1 percent of the batters he’s faced this season — a number that would lead the nation if he had enough innings to qualify.

The Commodores, with an RPI of No. 3 and a 13 Quad 1 wins (second-most nationally), should be a Regional host in all bracket projections this week.

Around the horn

Here comes Miami.

Three weeks ago, the Hurricanes were 2-7 in the ACC after losing a series at North Carolina. Now, J.D. Arteaga’s club is 24-17 overall and 9-9 in the league after a dominant sweep over surging Georgia Tech in Coral Gables.

The Canes allowed a total of six runs — two in each game — to a Yellow Jackets offense that leads the league in batting average (.331) and runs scored (9.4 per game).

Miami’s RPI climbed nearly 30 spots in one week, from No. 65 to No. 36. The Canes travel to Boston College next weekend with an opportunity to climb over. 500 in the league for the first time this season.

The secret to Texas’ success in its first season in the SEC: dominant pitching.

The Longhorns’ ERA in league games is 3.09, more than a full run lower than the No. 2 team (LSU, 4.41). They also lead the SEC in batting average against (.218), WHIP (1.150) and home runs allowed (15). Perhaps most impressive: Texas has allowed five runs or fewer in 15 of 18 SEC games.

The Horns are 16-2 in the SEC, three games up on Arkansas. They host red-hot Texas A&M next week and then travel to Arkansas.

Oklahoma run-ruled Missouri three times en route to an emphatic sweep in Columbia. The Sooners combined for 23 extra-base hits (45 hits total) en route to wins of 17-4, 17-4 and 17-7.

OU has won six of its last seven games and averaged 13.3 runs in those six wins, after scoring a total of five runs in a four-game losing streak to LSU (three games) and Dallas Baptist (one game).

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Meanwhile, the numbers are horrific for Missouri, now 0-18 in the SEC, with eight of the last nine losses coming via the run rule.

In league games, the Tigers are last in batting average (.220) and batting average against (.360), runs scored (72) and runs allowed (214), and OPS (.675) and OPS against (1.175).

The most alarming number: 13.43 ERA in SEC play. For some context, the two worst team ERAs in the conference (league games only) over the last 10 seasons are 9.54 by Mississippi State in 2023 and 7.62 by Auburn in 2024.

Remember this catch from Cam Cannarella in the Clemson Super Regional last June?

Well, the stakes weren’t quite as high, but Cannarella delivered another spectacular moment Saturday afternoon.

Clemson went on to lose the game (8-6 in 12 innings) but took the series from Louisville with wins of 7-6 on Thursday and 2-1 on Friday.

Clemson and Texas are the only two teams in the top three RPI conferences (SEC, ACC and Big 12) that have not lost a weekend series in league play.

On Saturday afternoon, Yale freshman Jack Ohman allowed one earned run in 6 ⅔ innings in a 7-4 win over Penn. And his ERA almost doubled. That’s what happens when you have given up only one earned run in 47 ⅓ innings.

The right-hander from Mesa, Ariz., leads the nation with a microscopic 0.33 ERA — the next best is 1.75 from Middle Tennessee sophomore Drew Horn — and ranks fifth in WHIP at 0.850.

His stat line two-thirds of the way through his first season of college baseball: 54 innings, 31 hits, eight runs, two earned runs, 62 strikeouts and 15 walks.

Oregon won two of three vs. UCLA in a pivotal Big Ten series. On Sunday, in the deciding Game 3, junior outfielder Mason Neville drilled a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth to give the Ducks a 6-4 lead. It was Neville’s 19th home run, giving him the national lead and setting the Oregon single-season record.

Iowa, which swept Michigan on the road over the weekend, remains in first place in the Big Ten with a 17-4 league record. UCLA is 2.5 games back at 13-4, and Oregon is three back at 14-7.

Kentucky held the powerful Tennessee offense to a combined nine hits and three runs on Saturday and Sunday to pick up a huge series win on the road. Tennessee won the opener, 8-2, but the Wildcats responded with wins of 4-1 on Saturday and 8-2 on Sunday.

Kentucky, 22-15 overall and 8-10 in the league, has now won two SEC series this season — at the preseason No. 1 team (Texas A&M) and at the defending national champions (Tennessee).

Tennessee dropped to 33-7 overall and 12-6 in the SEC and has lost consecutive series at home for the first time since 2017.

Kansas swept Kansas State in Lawrence in arguably the biggest Sunflower State showdown ever. The Jayhawks rallied from a 3-0 deficit by scoring four in the seventh and one in the eighth to win 5-3 on Friday night and then swept a Saturday doubleheader by scores of 6-3 and 6-5. Kansas’ bullpen was terrific, allowing only five hits and one earned run in a combined 9 ⅓ innings in the three games.

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It was a nice response from KU, which got swept the previous weekend at TCU. At 12-6, the Jayhawks are in a three-way tie with Arizona and TCU for second place in the Big 12. Kansas State, which lost a pair of midweek games at Northeastern, is now 23-17 overall and 10-8 in the Big 12.

Everyone in the league is chasing West Virginia, which improved to 13-3 by sweeping Cincinnati. The Mountaineers, with an RPI of No. 14, are firmly in the picture to host a Regional.

With three teams inside the top 60 of the RPI, the Southland Conference is in great shape to send multiple teams to a Regional for the first time since 2017. The candidates:

  • UTRGV, 26-13 overall, 17-7 Southland, No. 31 RPI
  • McNeese, 26-7 overall, 16-5 Southland, No. 38 RPI
  • SE Louisiana, 30-9 overall, 16-5 Southland, No. 54 RPI

The Southland ranks as the No. 9 conference in the RPI — up from No. 14 the last two seasons — and includes seven teams in the top 100.

Here’s a cool moment from the weekend in Columbia, S.C.

South Carolina won the series — its first in SEC play this season — with wins on Thursday and Friday.

In Thursday’s 3-2 win, South Carolina’s Brandon Stone needed only 86 pitches to finish off a complete game victory. Stone, a sophomore transfer from Johnson County (Kan.) Community College, allowed six hits and two earned runs and kept his pitch count down by issuing no walks and striking out only four.

And finally

• Texas A&M’s midseason turnaround continued with a series win at Arkansas, a team that was ranked No. 1 nationally a few weeks ago. The Aggies are 23-16 overall and 8-10 in the SEC with a No. 37 RPI.

• Wake Forest took two of three at Florida State in early April but has since lost five of its last six in the ACC. The Demon Deacons were swept at North Carolina two weeks ago and lost two of three at home to Boston College over the weekend.

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• UTSA hit four home runs in the bottom of the second inning of a 25-7 win over Tulane on Saturday. Impressive? Sure. Even more impressive: The Roadrunners’ 11-run inning featured a solo shot (Mason Lytle), a two-run homer (Norris McClure), a three-run homer (McClure) and a grand slam (Diego Diaz). UTSA is 30-10 overall and 12-3 in the AAC.

• Rhode Island swept Dayton over the weekend and is in first place in the A-10 at 13-5. The Rams have not been to a Regional since 2015.

• It was a great week for Northeastern. The Huskies swept Kansas State in two midweek games and followed up with a three-game sweep over College of Charleston by a combined score of 23-0. Yes, zero runs in three games. Northeastern has a four-game lead in the Coastal Athletic Association.

• UC Irvine improved to 28-9 overall and 16-2 in the Big West with a sweep over Hawaii by a combined score of 12-1.

(Photo of JD Thompson: Andrew Nelles / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

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