COLLEGE BASEBALL 2008
Weekly Wrap-Up
May 19, 2008

By Jeff Simpson

Despite dropping two of three games to No. 2 North Carolina (45-10, 22-7) on the final weekend on the Atlantic Coast Conference season, Miami (43-8, 23-5) remains the nation’s No. 1 team in the PG Crosschecker Top 50 college rankings. The Hurricanes only needed to win one game to cinch the best regular-season record in the ACC and the No. 1 seed in this week’s ACC tournament in Jacksonville, Fla.

Miami took care of business in the series opener, 12-2, behind another strong performance from freshman lefthander Chris Hernandez (10-0, 2.67), who went 7 2/3 innings and allowed six hits while striking out seven and walking none. Hernandez and Hurricanes head coach Jim Morris were named ACC rookie of the year and coach of the year, respectively. Junior first baseman Yonder Alonso (.380-18-59), a projected first-rounder in this year’s draft, homered in every game during the series and has hit 13 homers in the last 21 games.

By winning two of three, North Carolina was the only team in the ACC to not drop a series all year and yet the Tar Heels earned only the No. 3 seed in the eight-team ACC tournament, which starts Wednesday. The sophomore trio of outfielder Tim Fedroff (.383-11-56), first baseman Dustin Ackley (.395-7-41) and second baseman Kyle Seager (.382-8-67) continues to lead the way for a Tar Heels offense that is hitting .325 as a team. Another Tar Heel sophomore, righthander Alex White (8-3, 3.03), earned ACC pitcher of the year honors.

No. 4 Florida State (46-9, 24-6) won two of three games from No. 23 North Carolina State (37-18, 18-11) to secure the No. 2 seed in the ACC tournament. Junior catcher Buster Posey (.471-17-68) was selected the ACC player of the year and remains a strong candidate to be the first player drafted next month.

The ACC tournament has Miami, N.C. State, No. 27 Georgia Tech (38-17, 16-14) and Clemson (30-25-1, 11-18-1) in one pool, while Florida State, North Carolina, No. 44 Virginia (36-19, 15-15) and Wake Forest (24-29, 13-16) are in the other.

Arizona State (44-9, 15-6) continues to roll with junior third baseman Brett Wallace (.409-19-77) adding three more home runs over the week, cementing his status as a mid-first-round pick in the draft. The No. 3 Sun Devils have now won seven straight games after sweeping Washington over the weekend.

Pacific-10 Conference rival Oregon State snuck into the 2007 NCAA tournament as an at-large selection, only to win their second straight College World Series, but the Beavers (25-23, 11-13) may be on the outside looking in this year as they were swept by Pac-10 also-ran Southern California over the weekend. They have only four games left to make a case for the tournament selection committee. Without a season-ending conference tournament in the Pac-10, things don’t look good for the Beavers, who struggled all season with a talented but young pitching staff which posted a team ERA of 5.43.

No. 5 Rice (42-11, 21-3) rolled over another Conference USA opponent in sweeping No. 39 Tulane (36-18-1, 13-9-1) over the weekend. Since joining Conference USA in 2006, Rice has amassed a 65-7 record in conference play. Their 21-3 record this year was their best in their three years in the conference. The Owls are the No. 1 seed in the Conference USA tournament that starts Wednesday in New Orleans.

In the final weekend of Big 12 Conference play, there were two significant sweeps as No. 22 Texas (34-19, 15-12) took three straight from arch-rival and No. 8-ranked Texas A&M (42-14, 19-8), and No. 18 Missouri (37-17, 16-11) knocked off No. 14 Nebraska (39-12-1, 17-9-1). Despite being swept, the Aggies still won the Big 12 regular-season title to earn the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 tournament, which opens Wednesday in Oklahoma City. Missouri righthander Aaron Crow, expected to be a first-rounder in the draft, improved to 12-0, 2.66 after going eight-plus innings in an 8-1 Tigers victory in the series opener against Nebraska.

The race for the Southeastern Conference regular-season crown was a bit anti-climatic with No. 6 Georgia (35-19-1, 20-9-1) in the driver’s seat over the last half of the season. The Bulldogs will be the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament, which begins Wednesday in Hoover, Ala.

The race for the final spot in the SEC tournament, meanwhile, was hotly-contested as the teams that finished the conference standings fourth through ninth were all within one game of each other. Arkansas (33-22, 14-15) was the odd team left out of the eight-team SEC tournament after dropping its final conference series to lowly Mississippi State (23-33, 9-21) over the weekend. Although the Razorbacks did not quality for the SEC tournament, the conference has received nine NCAA bids in the past and Arkansas has a strong case as its RPI ranking is 23 in the nation.

This weekend’s Arkansas-Mississippi State series marked the end of legendary Mississippi State head coach Ron Polk’s coaching career. Polk coached in college baseball for more than 40 years, with 29 of them being the head man at Mississippi State. This year was his only losing season with the Bulldogs. He finished with an overall record of 1,373-700-2 and ranks seventh on the all-time Division I victory list.

Another SEC coach resigned over the weekend, with Auburn’s Tom Slater stepping down after leading the Tigers to a 115-113 record over the last four years. He posted a 43-77 conference record. Auburn missed the SEC tournament again this year, going a disappointing 28-28 overall with an 11-19 conference record.

Six teams entered the Top 50 rankings this week: No. 38 Elon (39-16, 19-8), No. 40 Cincinnati (36-19, 19-8), No. 43 Alabama (43-24, 16-14), No. 46 Dallas Baptist (37-17), No. 47 UCLA (29-23, 11-10) and No. 50 Houston (34-21, 14-10). Alabama did a lot to help ensure an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament after taking a series from No. 28 Florida (34-20, 17-13).

Teams that dropped from the rankings were Oregon State, Notre Dame, New Orleans, Washington, Arkansas and Santa Clara.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jeremie Tice, 3b, College of Charleston. Tice had one of the best offensive weeks in Cougars history by going 11-for-21 (.524) with seven home runs and 15 RBIs in just four games. He homered in every game and had three games with two home runs. Tice, a junior college transfer, has had one of the top offensive years in the country this season, hitting .410-22-79.

While Tice has had a big offensive year, the whole College of Charleston offense is deserving of some notice. Senior outfielder Michael Harrington (.318-26-78) leads a Cougars offense that has hammered 122 home runs on the year. Entering this week’s Southern Conference tournament, the Cougars have scored 590 runs in 55 games.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Scott Swinson, rhp, Maryland. The sophomore righthander saved his best for last, throwing the sixth no-hitter in school history in the team’s last game of the season. The Terrapins defeated Delaware 4-0 in a midweek game with Swinson facing two batters over the minimum. He struck out 10. A transfer from George Washington, Swinson finished the year with a 5-4, 4.96 record in 13 starts.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Louisiana State. There is little doubt which is the hottest team in the country entering post-season play with LSU running off 16 straight wins, including 12 straight in SEC play. The Tigers were just 6-11-1 in SEC games at one point, and appeared to be on the outside looking in for SEC tournament play. Less than a month later, the Tigers secured the No. 2 seed and almost certainly will be one of 16 teams that will host an NCAA regional May 30-June 2. Sophomore outfielder Blake Dean (.340-13-38) and junior first baseman Matt Clark (.333-19-47) lead a Tigers offense that is hitting .306 overall.

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