For those of you out there looking for big upsets in the college baseball landscape, this was certainly a good weekend for you. And it wasn’t just a win here, a win there, like a chicken pecking corn in the feed lot. We’re talking mid-major and even low-major teams out there winning weekend series against the fat cats of the college sports world.
Brendan Dougherty and the Coastal Carolina coaching staff have leadoff man Rico Noel and the rest of the Chanticleers pointed in the right direction.
I mean, when was the last time you saw teams like LeMoyne, Southeastern Louisiana and Western Kentucky listed in the Team of the Week feature? Never, right? Well here we are now people. All three are included in this week’s honorees.
From Downeast Maine to the Florida Keys and stretching to Puget Sound and the Hawaiian Islands, here is the East to West roster for some of the teams that deserve a shout across the rooftops for the past seven days in college baseball.
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EAST:
- LeMoyne (2-1)
W6-2 at No. 26 Southern Miss
L10-3 at No. 26 Southern Miss
W12-11 at No. 26 Southern Miss
I don’t think anyone this side of Nostrodamus saw this one coming. The Dolphins withstood a furious rally by the Eagles in Sunday’s getaway game, holding off a pair of additional run-scoring threats in the last three innings. LeMoyne is certainly a team worth keeping an eye on, last year the Dolphins went 14-6 from mid-April to the end of the regular season and returned nearly everyone from that ‘09 team. Next up for the Big Green?… the team you see below.
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Honorable Mention:
- Louisville (4-0)
W7-2 vs. Morehead State
W2-0 vs. Michigan
W17-6 vs. Michigan State
W5-4 vs. Minnesota
Impressive pitching performance from starter Thomas Royse (6.0inns, 9Ks, 2Hs) and reliever Neil Holland (3.0inns, 3Ks, 0Hs) against the Wolverines. Gutty win vs. the Gophers too, with the jog-off home run from Phil Wunderlich, proving that even though Chris Dominguez is no longer in the order, it’s still a potent offense with some power still around.
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SOUTH:
- (Tie) East Carolina and Coastal Carolina
ECU (3-1):
W11-2 vs. Old Dominion
L6-2 vs. No. 18 South Carolina
W4-3 vs. No. 18 South Carolina
W4-2 vs. No. 18 South Carolina
CCU (5-0):
W2-0 at Wake Forest
W11-7 vs. James Madison
W7-3 vs. No. 4 UC Irvine
W13-6 vs. No. 4 UC Irvine
W6-3 vs. North Carolina State
I’ve spent a good bit of bandwith writing about the wicked-good weekend that these two teams have had, so I won’t beat a dead horse here. They’re good. They’ve proven it and now we’ll see how the rest of the season treats them. Not that they need more testing, but some good matchups lie ahead for both in the next few weeks. ECU will make a west coast trek to play Cal State Northridge and Pepperdine and CCU will have teams like Ball State, Michigan and Illinois come calling soon.
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Honorable Mention:
- Western Kentucky (3-0)
W5-1 vs. No. 28 Texas A&M
W4-3 vs. Texas State
W6-2 at Baylor
Let’s hope this team doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. Despite the huge shadow cast by the Carolina teams above and teams like Southeastern Louisiana and LeMoyne stealing a lot of the mid-major thunder out there in college baseball land, a huge story is developing here with the Hilltoppers. They went to to QTI Classic in Waco and ran every other team out of town, including the two Big 12 monsters.
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MIDWEST:
- Southeastern Louisiana (4-0)
W15-1 vs. Mississippi Valley State
W4-1 at Mississippi State
W8-5 at Mississippi State
W6-5 at Mississippi State
Yes, before you guys start your screaming, I lump the Southland Conference into the Midwest section. But if I had a Team of the Week for the nation, it’d be SLU as well. What a great run this was, winning all three in one of the toughest environments in the country. And how about that Sunday win, where Trey Martin got the go-ahead run in the 8th inning by stealing home. That’s gutsy, man. And with the wins, SLU is ranked (No. 29 in Collegiate Baseball) for the first time in school history.
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Honorable Mention:
- Texas (4-0)
W7-2 vs. Dallas Baptist.
W6-0 vs. No. 17 Stanford
W6-3 vs. No. 17 Stanford
W8-2 vs. No. 17 Stanford
It took all of just 27 innings for Texas to right the ship and get their stature back near the top of the college baseball pecking order back where it belongs. And of course, leave it to the pitching to do that. Looks like Taylor Jungmann is going to be quite studly again, going 7.0 innings, giving up just four hits and with 10Ks to get the win on Friday night, 6-0. Yes, this is Texas… again.
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WEST:
- TCU (2-1)
W5-2 at No. 11 Cal State Fullerton
L6-4 at No. 11 Cal State Fullerton
W8-1 at No. 11 Cal State Fullerton
The Frogs do it again, winning a series at Goodwin Field for the second straight season. Wow. That is a rarity… like Kohoutek’s Comet rare. Steven Maxwell (Friday) and Kyle Winkler (Sunday) were superb in the two wins. The only bummer was seeing super-frosh Matt Purke getting rocked in an early exit. But just imagine how awesome this team will be when he gets brought up to speed?
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Honorable Mention:
- Oregon State (3-1)
W5-0 at Hawaii
W17-1 vs. Tennessee
L9-2 vs. Tennessee
W1-0 vs. Tennessee
The Beavers appear to be a very versatile – and deep – team. They bracketed the week with a pair of great pitching performances by James Nygren and Matt Boyd, who combined on a five-hitter vs. the Warriors, and then got a complete game three-hitter from Greg Peavey in the getaway game vs. the Vols. This looks like a team that should challenge Arizona State and UCLA for the Pac 10.




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Chip Porter says:
Stitch,
Nail on the head with LeMoyne. Young teams come into their own in the second half of the season. They get dangerous when they return everyone the following year with a belief they can win.
As to your lumping SLU into the midwest, I’ll forgive your CA geographically challenged self. Here in Chicago, we consider the south to be everything the other side of I-80. By the time we get to Champaign we expect to see Johnny Reb flying his flag in his front yard and drinking corn liquor with his bloodhound at his feet on the front porch.
Fat Sam says:
It’s nice to see how Rico Noel has developed for Coastal Carolina. I saw him as a freshman 2B in 2008 commit 5 errors in the 2 game Super Regional against North Carolina. Not surprisingly, he became the object of derision from the UNC fans as the Tar Heels blew the Chanticleers out on their way to Omaha.
Noel played great defensively as an outfielder last year, hit over .300 and stole 48 bases and is really the catalyst for the potent CCU offense. The straw that stirs the drink, if you will.
Johnny Gardner says:
Stitch,
I always seem to pull for the underdogs. Upsets are one of the many things that make college baseball a great sport.
Sam,
Nice points about Rico. He put that weekend in Cary behind him. I don’t think Coastal will be the underdog too often this year.
Stitch-head says:
I agree with Johnny Law there. Good point you brought up Fat Sam. It’s always good to see success stories like Rico Noel out there. It’s great to see his awful day in the NCAA tournament performance in 2008 didn’t crush him for the rest of his career. He’s a stud.