Big Series:

#1 Florida 2 -1 over #20 Cal State Fullerton

Outside of Sunday starter Brian Johnson, the Gator’s weekend rotation looked like it was opening weekend. Both Hudson Randall and Karsten Whitson looked dominant at points and erratic at points, but the Florida offense (led by Preston Tucker and Taylor Gushue) carried both through to wins on Friday (7 – 3) and Saturday (5 – 2). Johnson’s effort was wasted on Sunday though.

He threw four scoreless innings and had a three-run lead when he left after four innings (pitch count), but the usually reliable bullpen couldn’t hold it. Fullerton managed four runs in both the fifth and the sixth to beat the Gators 8 – 5 and salvage one win on their trip to Gainesville.

The Gators are who we thought they were: Very deep, very talented, and very capable to beating anyone in the country.

The Titans on the other hand are much better than expected. They got solid outings from everyone in their weekend rotation and their line-up was not intimidated by the Gator’s staff. Look for them to be very good in the Big West and possible make another run to Omaha.

#3 Stanford 3 – 0 over #13 Vanderbilt

Stanford was dominant throughout the weekend, but Vandy did not help their own cause. If you commit eleven errors in three games, it’s hard to beat anyone much less the #3 Cardinal.

For the Cardinal, Mark Appel was as advertized on Friday night going seven innings and only giving up one run on two hits. Stanford won the game 8 - 3. Saturday starter Brett Mooneyham struggled a little bit, but four Vandy errors led to four unearned runs and the Cardinal coasted to the 9 – 5 win. On Sunday, Vandy had a lead early, but the Stanford offense (led by Stephen Piscotty’s seven RBI) got going to blew-out the ‘Dores 18 – 5.

Vandy fans, do not worry. This team has talent and the potential to score a lot of runs. They also should not play this badly in the field the rest of the season. Cut down the errors and they will win a lot of games.

For the Cardinal, it was better than expected. This is a team that struggled to score runs last year and they went off to thirty-five in the season’s first weekend. Couple that with a weekend staff that is this solid and a trip to Nebraska in June is definitely not out of the question.

Local Teams:

University of Louisville (2 -1)

In this writer’s humble opinion, the Cardinal Nine got hosed on Friday afternoon. The Cards entered the ninth inning against Minnesota trailing 7 – 1. While they did struggle to score runs before that point, the ninth looked to be different. With two runs already in, the bases loaded, two outs, and Stewart Ijames coming to the plate, the Cards chances of making the comeback looked good. Unfortunately, that is when the rain really started to pour causing the game to be suspended. An agreement between the coaching staffs, the umpires, and the event coordinators was then made to finish the game at 12:30 pm on Saturday.

After returning to the field on Saturday and getting ready for the game, Minnesota protested the game being completed. With the protest, by rule the game would revert back to the last completed inning and be called final, meaning the Cardinals lost 7 – 1. Enter my confusion on the matter.

Why agree to finish the game if you are only going to protest? Why warm-up your players and let the Louisville guys warm-up if you know you aren’t going to play the game? And better yet, why not have the integrity to finish the game as per your agreement the day before?

Luckily for the Cards, they were able to put that fiasco behind them and win their next two games over Illinois (4 -3) and Michigan State (7 – 6).

What did we learn about the Cards this weekend? Their pitching is going to be solid overall. Outside of a few opening-weekend-type bumps in the road, the staff performed well. We also learned they may still have points were scoring runs will be a problem, but they are much capable of manufacturing runs than they were last year. Lastly, we learned that they really need to glove the baseball. Seven errors over the course of the weekend will not get it done later in the year.

I expect the Cards to continue to pitch well, produce more consistently on offense, and hopefully rectify their defensive lapses. If they can do that, they will have another strong season that ends with an NCAA Tournament appearance.

By the way, Minnesota learned that karma can be cruel. The “win” over Louisville was their only one of the weekend.

Next for U of L: Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday, 3 pm.

University of Kentucky (2 – 0)

The University of Kentucky continued their history of rolling over their pre-conference foes again this weekend with a 10 – 4 victory over Wofford on Friday night and 10 – 2 win over Eastern Michigan on Saturday. They will finish their weekend series against USC-Upstate this afternoon at 2pm due to heavy rains yesterday.

What do these wins tell us about the Cats? Not much really. This is what UK does every year. They have plenty of talent to dominate their pre-conference schedule and not enough to even make the SEC Tournament. Will it be any different this year? I guess we will have to wait a few weeks to really know.

Next for UK: Buffalo in Lexington on Friday, 4 pm.

Indiana University (2 – 1)

The Indiana Hoosiers had a banner weekend in Clearwater, FL and came home with victories over Cincinnati (7 – 4) and Pittsburgh (12 – 7) at the Big Ten/Big East Baseball Challenge (their lone loss coming 8 – 0 at the paws of UCONN).

Needless to say, this is a good sign for a program that has struggled over the past few years. A strong pitching performance from Joey DeNato on Saturday and an offensive onslaught led by Micah Johnson and Chris Sujka on Sunday may mean that the Hoosier’s season is not lost after all.

Next for IU: At Tulane on Friday, 7:30 pm.

Western Kentucky University (1 -2)

Western kept close to Toledo in Bowling Green, but they could only manager one win. The Toppers started the weekend on a bad note after giving up three runs in the ninth to lose 5 – 2. Saturday was another one filled with heartbreak after a ninth inning rally came up one run short, giving the Falcons a 7 – 6 win. WKU changed all of that on Sunday though. Behind Ivan Hartle’s four hits, two RBI, and two runs scored, Western got up early and rode out a 9 – 3.

This is the question for the Toppers though. Will this weekend’s performances be a microcosm of their season? If it is, they would be a great horseshoes team. Close matters in horseshoes, but not in baseball.

By the way, what is up with them stealing the Washington Nationals’ logo?

Next for WKU: At Tennessee on Tuesday, 2 pm.

Today is opening day for the 2012 college baseball season. In fact, the Louisville Cardinals are playing the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Clearwater, FL as I write this. Nothing like those 10 am games, but I digress.

Over the course of the season, I will do my best to bring a breakdown of each weekend’s big series across the country and the low-down on what the local teams have ahead of them as well.

So, let’s begin…

Pre-Season Polls:

In college basketball and football, two major polls are used. You have the AP and the ESPN/Coaches polls. In college baseball, there are at least seven or eight polls, but I like to use the four following:

Baseball America

Collegiate Baseball

National College Baseball Writer’s Association

USA Today/ESPN Coaches

To save a little time though, you can just check out the College Baseball Insider.com Composite Poll. It combines the four primary polls into one composite ranking.

The composite pre-season Top 20 looks like this:

1. Florida
2. South Carolina
3. Stanford
4. North Carolina
5. Texas A&M
6. Arkansas
7. Rice
8. Texas
9. Georgia Tech
10. LSU
11. TCU
12. Florida State
13. Vanderbilt
14. Miami (FL)
15. Arizona
16. Oklahoma
17. UCLA
18. Georgia
19. Clemson
20. Cal State Fullerton

Big Series:

#20 Cal State Fullerton vs. #1 Florida

The biggest series in the country this weekend will take place in Gainesville, FL as the Gators will host the Titans of Cal State Fullerton.

After a disappointing year for the Titans (by their standards), head coach Dave Serrano left for Tennessee and assistant coach Rick Vanderhook takes over the lead job.

Vanderhook inherited a pitching staff that was gutted by pro signings, but he does have a veteran lineup returning. Look for outfielder Michael Lorenzen (last year’s Big West freshman of the year) and Carlos Lopez to head-up the offense with Dylan Floro to take the lead on the mound.

The Gators are coming off of their loss to South Carolina in the College World Series last year and are absolutely loaded.

With a weekend rotation filled with soon-to-be first round draft picks (Hudson Randall, Karsten Whitson, and Brian Johnson), the Gators will be a tough pitching mat-up for an team in the country. And that doesn’t even factor in returning SEC player of the year Mike Zunino behind the plate and the rest of the high-powered Florida offense.

Series Prediction: Gators 3 – 0

#13 Vanderbilt vs. #3 Stanford

The Commodores are coming off of their first-ever trip to Omaha and the College World Series, but unlike Florida they do not return many of their key players.

While Vandy will no longer have Sonny Gray or Grayson Garvin in the weekend rotation, look for freshman Tyler Beede to be a stud. They also lost slugger Aaron Westlake at first, but they hope to replace his offense with pre-season All-American Tony Kemp and a solid crew of returning contributors in Riley Reynolds, Anthony Gomez, and Conrad Gregor.

Stanford comes off of its loss in the North Carolina Super Regional last season with a ton of hype, and with the list of probably MLB draftees they have it is well deserved.

Led on the mound by the projected #1 overall draft pick Mark Appel, the Cardinal also boasts a solid number two in Brett Mooneyham. They also return two pre-season All-Americans in the field in third basemen Stephen Piscotty and infielder Kenny Diekroeger. Also look for first baseman Brian Ragira to be a major contributor. He led the Cardinal in RBI last year as a freshman.

Series Prediction: Stanford 2 – 1

Local Teams:

Louisville Cardinals

The Cards are coming off what I’m sure head coach Dan McDonnell would call his most disappointing season at Louisville, but he is filled excitement about this year’s team.

The pitching staff will be the headliner for this year’s Cardinal Nine with pre-season Big East pitcher of the year Justin Amlung leading the way on Friday nights, to be followed by highly-touted sophomore Jeff Thompson on Saturday and senior righty Travis Tingle on Sunday. Add that to returning contributors Matt Koch, Derek Self, and a host of others and the Cards will be loaded on the mound.

With a mound presence like that, the Cardinal offense shouldn’t need to score too many runs to win games, but scoring runs at all was a challenge for them last year. The new bats had a big effect on the offense last year, but a new plan is in place for the Cards this year. McDonnell said that we can expect the Cards to force the action a little more this year. If that is the case, look for sophomore outfielder Adam Engel to score a lot of runs and sophomore DH Jeff Gardner and senior outfielder/first baseman Stewart Ijames to have a lot of RBI chances.

Louisville will open their season in Clearwater, FL as part of the Big Ten/Big East Baseball Challenge. They will play Minnesota on Friday, Illinois on Saturday, and Michigan State on Sunday. With history on their side in the Challenge, I expect the Cards to win at least two of their three games in the Sunshine State.

Kentucky Wildcats

The Wildcats did what they always do last season, run through their pre-conference schedule with a solid record and proceed to tank once the SEC season gets underway. Will this version be any different? Only time will tell.

Kentucky will send junior Taylor Rogers to the hill as their Friday night guy for the second year in a row. He will be followed by Miami (FL) transfer Jerad Grundy on Saturday and 2010 Louisville Slugger Kentucky High School Player of the Year Corey Littrell on Sundays.

Look for their offense to be led by a strong returning group of hitters in seniors Thomas McCarthy and Michael Williams, junior Luke Maile, and sophomore J.T. Riddle.

The Cats will open their season in South Carolina as part of the Upstate/Wofford Tournament in Spartanburg. They will play co-host Wofford on Friday, Eastern Michigan on Saturday, and co-host USC-Upstate on Sunday. Based on UK’s past pre-conference performances, I expect them to win two if not all three of those games.

Indiana Hoosiers

Indiana’s program is pretty typical of Big Ten baseball…not all that good. After going 30 – 25, the Hoosiers missed both the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA tournament.

The Hoosiers to have one bright spots to look forward to this season though and his name is Micah Johnson. The Indiana second baseman was named a pre-season Third Team All-American and he is an offensive machine for the Hoosiers.

Outside of Johnson, I would look for Indiana to continue to struggle this season. A season they also will begin in Clearwater as a part of the Big Ten/Big East Baseball Challenge. They will play Connecticut on Friday, Cincinnati on Saturday, and Pittsburgh on Sunday to round-out the weekend. I would expect the Hoosiers to come home with one win at most.

Western Kentucky

The Hilltoppers, picked to finish fourth this season in the Sun Belt, and their first-year head coach Matt Myers are looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009.

To get there, they will need strong performances from their junior left-hander Tanner Perkins as well as the rest of their weekend rotation (Ian Thompkins and Tim Bado). Offensively, look for the Hilltoppers to be led by seniors Casey Dykes, Jared Andreoli, Ivan Hartle, and Ryan Hutchison.

Western will open its season with a three-game series in Bowling Green against Toledo later this afternoon. It should be a good series with Toledo expected to finish no worse than fourth in the MAC, but I’ll take Western two-out-of-three.

Well, that’s all of the prep for week one. Get out there and enjoy some baseball.

- Ian (ian_on_sports)

Picture courtesy of Deadspin

The almost 3-year run that John Calipari has frenzied the UK fanbase into a lather they hadn't been in since the mid-1990's.  Cal has elevated the program back to the #1 team in the country and national title favorites.  But just how rare in the run that Cal is putting together?  Take a look at how few times UK has done the things that Kentucky could potentially do this year:

IF UK MAKES THE ELITE EIGHT (3 straight Elite 8's)
1997-98-99
1996-97-98
1995-96-97
1956-57-58

IF UK WINS 29 GAMES OR MORE (3 straight seasons)
1996-97-98
1947-48-49

IF UK GOES TO THE FINAL FOUR (2 straight seasons)
1948-49
1996-97
1997-98

IF UK HAS A FIRST ROUND NBA DRAFT PICK (3 straight seasons)
1996-97-98
1997-98-99
1998-99-00
2000-01-02

IF UK WINS THE SEC TOURNAMENT (3 straight seasons)
1944-1950 (7 straight)
1992-1995 (4 straight)
1997-1999 (3 straight) 

TOP 4 SEED IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
*Seeding began in 1979
1992-1999 (8 straight seasons)
2001-2005 (5 straight seasons)

From the stats above, you can safely say that Rupp was incredibly steady during his run at Kentucky, but there has never been a greater run of seasons in Kentucky history than the 1995-1999 run, which saw Final Fours, Championships both NCAA and SEC, and 1st round draft picks.  And amazing as this seems, if Caliapri is able to stay at Kentucky for another 3-5 years, he could actually surpass that run.  But first, he needs to bring home a title to Lexington this season. 

A lot of people look forward to the beginning of football season. Some count the days to the start of college basketball. I like both of those times too, but for me they pail in comparison to this Friday. You see, it’s the official start date of the college baseball season.

Come Friday afternoon, the first pitch will be thrown out at ballparks and stadiums all across the country and I could not be happier (don’t tell my wife I said that).

And since happiness like this can not be contained, I will share it with you over the course of the next four-and-a-half months. Every week, I’ll give you a breakdown of the best match-ups across the country plus the low-down on the local teams (U of L, UK, IU, and Western).

To give you a little preview of what is to come; I thought I would put up the video I shot at U of L’s Media Day earlier this week. And if Coach McDonnell can’t get you excited for the college baseball season, you might want to check you pulse. The guy is chomping at the bit to get on the field…

More to come very soon, including this opening weekend’s breakdown. Keep an eye on this space.

- Ian Vertrees (aka ian_on_sports)

If you haven't seen the video yet of Digger Phelps scolding UK fans before College Gameday Saturday, and frankly get out more if you haven't, but it has led to a bit of an uproar from the always passionate UK fans and their feeling that their is a bias amongst many in the media against their team.  Bobby Knight has been quite open about his disdain against UK, but that comes from years and years of rivalry that saw UK win most games against the Hoosiers, and cheat while doing it according to Knight.  Phelps might have a similar feeling against the Wildcats as well, as Notre Dame and Kentucky played often during his tenure, with the Cats winning most contests.  But, on Saturday, Phelps opened up a can of worms by being critical of UK fans who attempted to bombard the Gameday atmosphere at Vanderbilt and take it over for UK.  Did Phelps have a legitimate argument that it was out of line for UK fans to do what they did?  I think that Digger's problem can be broken down into 2 parts:

1) THAT UK FANS SHOWED UP IN THE FIRST PLACE

-On this issue, Digger is way wrong.  This is what UK fans are known for.  They travel better than any team in the country.  This season, they have routinely held 20-30% of the tickets at all road games and 75-80% of the tickets at neutral sites.  It's what makes them as passionate as they are, and gets them the title of "best college basketball fanbase".  And when an event like Gameday is in a city as close as Nashville, you have to expect UK fans to travel en masse to something like that.  To act as if they are not WELCOME to be there is almost un-American.  If UK fans want to spend the time travelling to another city, stand in line to get in the door, and do so in larger numbers than Vandy fans, then so be it.  That shows their dedication.  It would be like telling skinny people to stay the hell out of McDonalds because only fat people are welcome.  If skinny people want to make the trek, then they are allowed too. 

2) THAT GAMEDAY WAS "VANDY'S DAY" AND UK FANS SHOULD NOT DISRUPT THAT

-Once again, Phelps was way wrong on this one.  On the one hand, you only came to Gameday because they were playing Kentucky.  Secondly, every sporting contest has TWO teams, not just one, and they were covering the game between TWO teams, not just Vanderbilt.  And finally, what does Digger expect from UK fans?  Does he want them to cheer at all the Vandy publicity the show was giving away?  What is showing respect when it concerns an opposing fanbase.  I didn't hear of any stories of UK fans throwing objects or obscenities towards Vandy fans.  And that says something in our current sporting atmosphere.  The fact that UK fans did not make much noise being relegated to the 3rd deck in Memorial Gym also showed that they had great respect towards Vandy.  UK fans wanted to be a part of that atmosphere, and they did so in a completely respectful manner.  But because they shouted "Go Big Blue" and booed when Vandy segments were going on, I guess that isn't part of being a sports fan anymore.

The point is: DIGGER PHELPS NEEDS TO GET A GRIP.  He clearly has lost touch with how fanhood works, and allowed his past hatred to come into play in this incident.  Is it some fireable offense?  Of course not.  The embarrassment Digger should be getting over his words is more than enough.  I don't even think UK fans want an apology.  I just hope that Digger and anyone associated with ESPN that might agree with his opinion recognize that the UK fanbase is an unique breed of fan, and all events involving UK need be closely monitored for unique actions. 

If you haven't seen the video, watch below: