March 27, 2009

Kendall Rogers
Rivals.com College Baseball Editor

Rivals.com Weekend Series Breakdown
No. 8 Georgia Tech at No. 5 Miami (FL)
	When: Friday, 7 p.m., Saturday, 7 p.m., Sunday, 1 p.m. (ET) Why the series is important: Having played Maryland, Boston College and Virginia Tech to begin ACC play, the Yellow Jackets get by far the biggest test of the season this weekend against Miami. The Hurricanes, though, hope to build on an already impressive resume this weekend. The 'Canes already have series wins over Virginia, N.C. State and Duke to their credit. The buzz: The Yellow Jackets have displayed nice balance this season. They enter the Miami series with a solid .321 batting average and a 3.73 earned run average. They also have a very solid .967 fielding percentage. Miami, meanwhile, is hitting .303 this season and has a very impressive 3.03 ERA. The 'Canes are fielding .950 as a team. Spotlight players: Shortstop Derek Dietrich was one of the team's best hitters last season, but this season, another freshman, Matt Skole, has been outstanding for the Jackets. Skole is hitting .387 with seven homers and 25 RBIs. He also is slugging .760 and has a .432 on-bas percentage. Also keep an eye on Tony Plagman and Luke Murton, who are hitting .380 and .348, respectively. Dietrich, Jeff Rowland and Jason Haniger each are hitting over .320. On the mound, the Jackets must get weekend starter Zach Von Tersch back on track, but are very pleased with Deck McGuire, who has a 1.87 ERA in 33 2/3 innings. He also has struck out 41 and walked nine, while opponents are hitting him at a .242 clip. Also watch Kevin Jacob, who has a 1.69 ERA in 26 2/3 innings. He also has held opposing teams to a .217 batting average ? Miami really is pleased with the way newcomer Scott Lawson is performing this season. Lawson leads the 'Canes with a .352 batting average, a home run and 15 RBIs. Dave DiNatale and Yasmani Grandal also are having good seasons at the plate. DiNatale is hitting .325 with three homers and 16 RBIs, while Grandal is hitting .312 with six homers and 16 RBIs. On the mound, weekend starter David Gutierrez is 2-1 with a 0.88 ERA in 30 2/3 innings. He also has struck out 20 and walked 13, while opponents are hitting him at a .194 clip. Chris Hernandez, meanwhile, has a 4.76 ERA in 28 1/3 innings. He also has struck out 30 and walked 10, while opponents are hitting him at a .269 clip. Also watch for relievers Kyle Bellamy and Taylor Wulf. Bellamy has a 0.56 ERA in 11 appearances while Wulf has a 0.66 ERA in 11 innings. What to watch for: With the Jackets and Hurricanes both capable of putting up a few runs this weekend, I think it's going to be interesting to see how Tech weekend starter Zach Von Tersch and Miami weekend starter Iden Nazario fare this weekend. Von Tersch has an ERA of 6.26 so far this season while Nazario has an ERA of 6.14. I'm also interested to see how the Jackets play on the road against elite competition. Kendall's take: Georgia Tech has a very good baseball team and there's certainly no doubting that. However, the Jackets looked very suspect on the road at Virginia Tech last weekend and that probably doesn't bode well for the series at Miami this weekend. The Hurricanes have the better overall team and that should be proven this weekend. The 'Canes are in good shape at home.
No. 1 Cal State Fullerton at No. 22 UC Riverside
	When: Friday, 9 p.m., Saturday, 5 p.m., Sunday, 4 p.m. (ET) Why the series is important: Historically speaking, the Titans haven't been very good at UC Riverside as the top-ranked team. But Fullerton coach Dave Serrano is bound and determined to change history this weekend. The Highlanders, meanwhile, have recorded some nice wins so far this season but really could make a huge statement with a series win over the Titans. The buzz: Fullerton has been absolutely dominant this season and its numbers certainly suggest it as well. The Titans have a .338 batting average and a team earned run average of 3.71. UC Riverside, meanwhile, is hitting at a .290 clip and has a rather solid team ERA of 3.49. UCR has tallied some nice wins this season but the Titans certainly will challenge them more than anyone else. Spotlight players: Josh Fellhauer, Nick Ramirez and Christian Colon are the glue that makes Fullerton's offense flourish. Fellhauer is having a fantastic year at the plate, hitting .438 with three homers and 17 RBIs. Ramirez is hitting .391 with six homers and 23 RBIs while Colon is hitting .390 with a pair of homers and 14 RBIs. Also keep an eye on Khris Davis and Jared Clark, who are hitting .368 and .352, respectively, so far this season. On the mound, Daniel Renken is 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 28 innings of work, while freshman Noe Ramirez will get the start Saturday. He has a 2.57 ERA in 28 innings and has held opposing teams to a .189 batting average. Also watch for relievers Ryan Ackland and Michael Morrison, as both have been dominant this season ? UC Riverside doesn't have great offensive numbers, but it has several players that have been productive this season. Tony Nix, Carl Uhl and Trevor Hairgrove lead the offense. Nix is hitting .455 with a home run and 16 RBIs while Uhl is hitting .370 with three homers and 16 RBIs. Hairgrove, meanwhile, is hitting .339 with a home run and 14 RBIs. On the mound, watch for weekend starters Paul Applebee, Paul Bargas and Matt Montgomery. Applebee has a 2.57 ERA in 35 innings of work and has limited opponents to a .181 batting average. Bargas has a 4.32 ERA in 25 innings of work and opponents are hitting him at a .304 clip, while Montgomery is 2-1 with a 3.06 ERA in 17 2/3 innings of work. Reliever Joe Kelly is another arm to watch this weekend. What to watch for: There are several things to watch with these two teams this weekend, but for UC Riverside, it'll be interesting to see how they react to hosting its biggest series of the year to date. Fullerton, meanwhile, is starting a pair of freshmen in the weekend rotation in a big road series. This series will be a battle of the wills and should come down to Sunday's series finale. Kendall's take: UC Riverside is a team that has impressed so far this season. After all, we have them ranked entering the weekend. But playing the Titans this weekend is a much different animal. The Titans have incredible balance and can frustrate opposing teams in many ways. The Highlanders will win one of the first two games and make the series finale in intriguing, but the Titans should still win the three-game set.
No. 23 Virginia at No. 7 North Carolina
	When: Friday, 7 p.m., Saturday, 3 p.m., Sunday, 1 p.m. (ET) Why the series is important: This series is important for several reasons, but most of all, both the Cavaliers and Tar Heels hope to get back on track this weekend. The Cavaliers dropped a home series to Miami last weekend, while the Tar Heels dropped a disappointing home series to rival Duke. Virginia is still in search of a marquee series win, while UNC must show it can bounce back. The buzz: The Cavaliers have a very balanced team and enter the weekend with a .373 batting average and a 2.49 earned run average. They also have an impressive .969 fielding percentage. UNC, meanwhile, is hitting .320 as a team and has a 3.03 earned run average. They are fielding .966 this season. Both teams already have established consistency this season. Spotlight players: The Cavaliers are having a marvelous year at the plate and Dan Grovatt, Jarrett Parker and Tyler Cannon lead the charge. Grovatt is hitting .414 with three homers and 22 RBIs, while Parker is hitting .402 with four homers and 28 RBIs. Cannon, meanwhile, is hitting .400 with a home run and 21 RBIs. Also keep an eye on Steven Proscia, who is hitting .389 with three homers and 25 RBIs. On the mound, freshman Danny Hultzen is the glue to the pitching staff. The first-year player is 5-0 with a 1.69 ERA in 32 innings. He also has struck out 45 and walked seven, while opponents are hitting him at a .235 clip. Also watch for starter Andrew Carraway and reliever Matt Packer. Carraway has a 1.93 ERA in 28 innings while Packer has made 10 appearances and has a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings ? North Carolina also is having a good year at the plate and first baseman Dustin Ackley once again leads the charge. Ackley is hitting .416 with five homers and 18 RBIs. Third baseman Kyle Seager, meanwhile, is hitting .407 with 16 RBIs. Also keep an eye on Ben Bunting, Levi Michael and Mark Fleury. Bunting is hitting .372 with a pair of homers and 19 RBIs, while Michael is hitting .333 and Fleury is hitting .319. On the mound, weekend starter Adam Warren has been the most consistent this season. Warren, a veteran, has a 2.17 ERA in 29 innings of work and opponents are hitting him at a .212 clip. Reliever Brian Moran, meanwhile, has appeared in 14 games and has a 2.31 ERA in 23 1/3 innings. Opponents are hitting him at a .159 clip. What to watch for: Before the season everyone was talking about how good the North Carolina weekend rotation would be. But as of right now, the Tar Heels actually have left something to be desired, especially junior right-hander Alex White, who has a 4.45 ERA entering the weekend. I'm interested to see how he and fellow weekend starter Matt Harvey perform this weekend. For Virginia, though, it'll be interesting to see how it plays a tough opponent on the road. Kendall's take: Even with a weak schedule so far this season, there's very little doubt that Virginia has a good team. The Cavaliers, though, really need to notch an impressive series win starting this weekend with the Tar Heels. The Cavaliers should give the Tar Heels all they can handle on the road this weekend, but UNC will have too many weapons at key positions.
No. 17 Mississippi at No. 4 LSU
	When: Friday, 8 p.m., Saturday, 4 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m. (ET) Why the series is important: Since losing that non-conference series to Illinois a few weekends ago, the Tigers really have played well in the SEC with two-straight series wins over Kentucky and South Carolina. The Rebels, though, picked up a series win over Alabama last weekend. However, the series kind of lost its luster when they played terrible in the series finale. Ole Miss has a chance to get a huge road series win this weekend, while LSU hopes to win its third-straight conference series. The buzz: The Rebels enter the weekend with some balance. They have a .319 batting average and a 4.92 earned run average. They also carry a solid .962 fielding percentage into the LSU series. The Tigers, meanwhile, are hitting at a .314 clip and have a 3.37 ERA. LSU really has cooled off at the plate since the start of the season, while the Rebels leave something to be desired on the mound. Spotlight players: Logan Power, Jordan Henry and Kevin Mort are the offensive cogs to watch for the Rebels. Power is having a phenomenal year at the plate and is hitting .405 with three homers and 26 RBIs. Henry, meanwhile, is hitting .377 with 15 stolen bases while Mort is hitting .352 with 15 RBIs. On the mound, Drew Pomeranz is 1-0 with a 3.44 ERA in 18 1/3 innings, while Phillip Irwin is 4-0 with a 1.82 ERA in 29 2/3 innings. Also keep an eye on Scott Bittle, who makes his first start of the season Sunday afternoon. Bittle has made eight appearances this season and has a 5.06 ERA in 10 2/3 innings ? Sean Ochinko, DJ LeMahieu and Jared Mitchell lead the Tigers at the plate. Ochinko has been a pleasant surprise and is hitting .434 with six homers and 31 RBIs. LeMahieu, meanwhile, is hitting .380 with three homers and 15 RBIs, while Mitchell is hitting .368 with four homers and 17 RBIs. On the mound, Anthony Ranaudo, Louis Coleman and Austin Ross have been great this season. Ranaudo has a 2-1 record and a 2.01 ERA in 31 1/3 innings, while Coleman has made nine appearances and has a 1.21 ERA in 29 2/3 innings. Ross, meanwhile, has a 2.86 ERA in 28 1/3 innings and has limited opposing teams to a .229 batting average. What to watch for: The Rebels haven't had too much trouble on the mound with Pomeranz or Irwin, but are looking for some stability by sending converted reliever Scott Bittle to the mound Sunday afternoon. That'll be interesting to see. LSU, meanwhile, really has played well the past two weekends against Kentucky and South Carolina, and could make its resume even better with another series win this weekend. As always, Ranaudo is an arm to watch. Kendall's take: The Rebels have a pretty good team this season but the Tigers return home and have a wealth of confidence after once again taking care of business on the road last weekend. The Rebels will give the Tigers all they can handle throughout the weekend, but I like Ranaudo and Inc. to get the job done once again this weekend. Surprisingly, look for this series to be a low scoring affair. The pitching staffs will be a surprise this weekend.
No. 16 Cal Poly at No. 14 UC Irvine
	When: Friday, 9 p.m., Saturday, 4 p.m., Sunday, 4 p.m. ET Why the series is important: The Mustangs have had an exceptional start to the season, but must elevate their game as Big West play begins this weekend against UC Irvine. While the Mustangs hope to improve their stock even more in conference play, the Anteaters want to make a statement with a series against rival Cal State Fullerton coming up in two weekends. The buzz: The Mustangs could improve on the mound but enter the weekend with an impressive .336 batting average. On the mound, though, they enter the series with a less than stellar 5.56 ERA. Irvine, meanwhile, is hitting .295 as a team and has a 5.14 ERA. In the field, the Mustangs have a .969 percentage and the Anteaters have a .974 percentage. Spotlight players: Cal Poly has several offensive cogs to watch this weekend but Wes Dorrell, Matt Jensen and Adam Buschini lead the charge. Dorrell is hitting .410 with three homers and 24 RBIs, while Jensen is hitting .395 with six homers and 29 RBIs. Buschini, meanwhile, is hitting .377 with a home run and 18 RBIs. On the mound, DJ Mauldin has made five starts and has a 2.70 ERA in 36 2/3 innings of work. He also has struck out 33 and walked four, while opponents are hitting him at a .267 clip. Also keep an eye on reliever Mark DiVincenzi, who has appeared 12 games and has a 3.57 ERA in 22 2/3 innings ? Ryan Fisher and Ben Orloff lead the Anteaters at the plate. Fisher is hitting .373 with a pair of homers and 17 RBIs while Orloff is hitting .342 with six homers. Also keep an eye on Casey Stevenson and Eric Deragisch, who are hitting .328 and .326, respectively. On the mound, keep an eye on weekend starters Danny Bibona, Crosby Slaught and Christian Bergman. Bibona has a 2.81 ERA in 32 innings, Slaught has a 2.92 ERA in 24 2/3 innings and Bergman has a 3.44 ERA in 34 innings. Reliever Eric Pettis, meanwhile, has a 3.86 ERA in 16 1/3 innings. He also has recorded five saves. What to watch for: The Mustangs have put together a heck of a season at the plate, but still have shown room for improvement on the mound. For that reason, the Cal Poly pitching staff must rise to the occasion against the Eaters this weekend. Also worth watching is the UC Irvine weekend rotation against the hot-hitting Mustangs lineup. Kendall's take: This should be a great series at Anteater Ballpark. Irvine clearly has the better pitching staff in this series, but lack the offensive firepower most desire. Cal Poly, meanwhile, has a couple pretty good arms and also has the superior offense. For that reason and more, I like the Mustangs ability to pull an upset down in Southern California this weekend.

Kendall Rogers is the college baseball editor for Rivals.com and Yahoo! Sports. He can be reached at rogersk@yahoo-inc.com.