COLLEGE BASEBALL 2008
Weekly Wrap-Up
May 12, 2008

By Jeff Simpson

Miami (41-6, 22-3) held on to the No. 1 spot in the PG Crosschecker Top 50 college rankings, despite dropping a game in a three-game weekend set to Virginia Tech (21-30, 5-22), the last place team in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Freshman lefthander Chris Hernandez improved to 9-0 on the year in a 12-4 Hurricane victory on Friday night.

The Hurricanes will face No. 2-ranked North Carolina (42-9, 20-6) this weekend in what will be the second occasion this year that the top two teams in the country have faced each other in a weekend series. Miami took two of three games from current No. 4 Florida State (43-8, 22-5) in an ACC showdown earlier in the year.

Miami, North Carolina and Florida will headline the field for the ACC tournament, set for May 21-25 in Jacksonville, Fla. The eight-team is almost set with the usual also-rans of Duke, Maryland, Virginia Tech and Boston College likely not earning bids. Duke (34-17-1, 8-17-1) is the only team among that quartet that still has a chance to make the tournament, but it will need to sweep Virginia Tech this weekend and have Boston College take three straight from Wake Forest (22-27, 11-15) to sneak in.

With two weeks of play left in the Pac 10, which does not have a post-season tournament, five teams have a legitimate shot to win the regular-season title and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. No. 3 Arizona State (40-9, 12-6) sits in first place right now, but will have to deal with No. 42 Washington (31-17, 10-8) and No. 8 Arizona (34-15, 8-10) to finish out the year. No. 11 California (32-16-2, 11-10) won a big series over No. 18 Stanford (29-18-2, 11-7) this weekend to remain to edge back over .500 in conference play. The series loss is the first of the year for the Cardinal, which had won five straight Pac-10 series.

Among major conferences, the closest race for post-season berths would have to be in the Southeastern Conference tournament. No. 8 Georgia (33-17-1, 19-7-1) clinched the regular season title this weekend by winning two of three games from No. 16 Vanderbilt (37-15, 15-11). Entering the final weekend of play, the teams sitting in the Nos. 4-9 positions in the standings are all within one game of .500. One of those teams will get squeezed out of the eight-team field.

Just when it looked like the season was all but over for No. 21 LSU (35-16-1, 15-11-1), the Tigers suddenly find themselves in the driver’s seat for a bid to the SEC tournament and possibly an opportunity to host a regional. The Tigers have run off 12 straight wins, including three consecutive SEC series sweeps. In what could be the last game in the 70-year history of LSU’s Alex Box Stadium, 8,701 fans saw the Tigers defeat Mississippi State 9-6 on Sunday.

The biggest match-up of the weekend saw No. 5 Nebraska (38-9-1, 17-6-1) take two of three games from No. 7 Texas A&M (42-10, 19-5). The Big 12 regular season should have a very interesting finish this weekend with Nebraska squaring off against No. 22 Missouri (34-17, 13-11), and Texas A&M taking on No. 27 Texas (28-20, 12-12). At this point, it looks like only five Big 12 teams might make the NCAA tournament. Baylor (28-22, 10-14) has an outside chance.

Columbia (22-25, 15-5) became the first school to claim an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after taking two of three games from Dartmouth to win the Ivy League championship. It marks the Lions first Ivy League title since 1977 and the school’s first NCAA appearance since 1976.

No. 47 Arkansas (31-20, 13-13), No. 48 Texas-San Antonio (37-14, 21-6) and No. 50 Canisius (38-10, 17-4) all entered the Top 50 this week. After dropping their first four SEC series, the Razorbacks have been on a roll lately, winning four of the last five series. This weekend the Razorbacks swept No. 26 South Carolina (34-18, 13-14) and will match up against last-place Mississippi State this weekend in a what shapes up as a critical series for the Razorbacks in their bid to make the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

Furman, James Madison and UC Santa Barbara all fell out of the rankings this week.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: David Anderson, 1b, Coastal Carolina. Anderson had a monster week in leading No. 17 Coastal Carolina (41-11, 15-3) to a three-game sweep over High Point. For the weekend, the junior first baseman went 8-for-15 (.533) with five home runs and nine RBIs. After going hitless on Friday night, Anderson exploded with three home runs and seven RBIs in a 17-8 victory on Saturday. For the year, Anderson is hitting .340 with 15 homers and 45 RBIs.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Stephen Strasburg, rhp, San Diego State. The sophomore righthander has become a leading candidate for national player of the year honors among pitchers. In an 8-1 victory over Brigham Young on Thursday, Strasburg again produced one of the year’s best outings. He threw a complete-game two-hitter, allowing no earned runs with one walk and 15 strikeouts. For the year, Strasburg sits at 8-1 with a 1.23 ERA. In 84 innings, he has allowed only 48 hits with 11 walks while striking out 125 batters. If eligible for this year’s draft, Strasburg could make a serious case for being the top overall player taken. He is the front runner in 2009.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Rice. As the regular season approaches an end, No. 6 Rice (39-11, 18-3) has wrapped up yet another conference title after sweeping cross-town rival Houston over the weekend. It marks 13 consecutive conferences titles for head coach Wayne Graham dating back to Rice’s days in the now defunct Southwest Conference. The Owls have now won 19 of their last 20 games, including five consecutive Conference USA series sweeps. Junior Aaron Luna (.344-8-48) had a big weekend for the Owls, going 8-for-13 (.615) with two home runs and 10 RBIs. This year’s Rice squad might lack the star power of some of its previous teams, but definitely fits the team concept with a 3.71 ERA and a collective batting average of .313.

Full Rankings can be found at www.pgcrosschecker.com.