Baseball Games of the Week 3/26 - 3/30
Louisville at Indiana Wednesday, 3/27 4 pm ET
Indiana - At 18-3, the Hoosiers are off to their best start since 1949. The Hoosiers defeated Louisville in the first game of the season, 2-0, in the Big East/Big Ten Challenge. Indiana has quite a potent offense, with six players hitting .313 or above, including Kyle Schwarber, who is hitting .425. He has a team-high 37 hits, team-leading five home runs and is second in RBI with 26. Scott Donley, who leads the team in doubles with seven, also leads the team in RBI with 27. In fact, the Hoosiers have seven players who have double digit RBI. As impressive as the hitting has been, the pitching has been equally as stellar. Three pitchers have started six games and two of those pitchers, Aaron Slegers and Kyle Hart, have 4-0 records. Ryan Halstead leads the squad with four saves.
Louisville - The Cardinals will be trying to get back at the Hoosiers for ruining Opening Day. They come into the game on a bit of a slump, as they just suffered their first series loss, losing two of three to Rutgers this past weekend. Sutton Whiting is the team's leading hitter, hitting at a .395 clip. His 30 hits, four doubles and 19 RBI are all second on the team, while he has a team-high three triples. The Cardinals aren't a huge power-hitting team, having combined for just nine long balls. But they do drive the balls into the gaps, hitting 34 doubles and 19 triples. Adam Engel is a terror on the base paths, stealing 22-of-25 bases. Three other Louisville players have also stolen double digit bases. I've said this before about other pitchers, but it's hard to see another pitcher having a better season than Louisville's Jeff Thompson. Thompson has a 5-0 record in his six starts, with a 0.46 ERA. He's given up two earned runs in his 39 innings pitched and with a team-leading 39 strikeouts, he is averaging a strikeout an inning. He is also holding opponents to a .147 batting average.
Mercer at Savannah State 3/26 6:30 ET and Savannah State at Mercer 3/27 6 pm ET
Mercer - After starting the season 11-2, including wins against Ohio State, St. John's and Notre Dame, the Bears have trudged along to an 8-5 record, but look to reverse that against Savannah State. Derrick Workman is the team's leading hitter with a .424 average. He and Nick Backlund each have five home runs and 29 RBI, which are team-highs. The Bears have scored 208 runs thus far, nearly 100 more than their opponents (208-120) and 10 of their players have double digit RBI. DJ Johnson has started four of the nine games he has appeared in and has a 5-0 record with a 1.19 ERA. He also has the team's lone complete game. Brandon Barker leads the squad in strikeouts with 34.
Savannah State - The Tigers come into the two-game series on a two-game winning streak and having won four of seven. Parker Nix is the team's top hitter, batting .343 and is a perfect nine-for-nine in stolen bases. Jose McCrary is hitting .304, but has 24 hits, eight doubles, two triples and 15 RBI, all team-highs. Kyle McGowin is the team's ace, sporting a 5-0 record in six appearances, five of them starts. He also boasts an impressive 1.14 ERA with 52 strikeouts, while walking just six. The next highest strikeout pitcher has 11.
No. 24 Miami at No. 14 Virginia (3/29 6 pm ET, 3/30 1 pm ET ESPN3, 3/31 1 pm ET)
Miami - Pending a game against Florida Atlantic, the Canes come in with a 19-8 record and 4-5 in conference, but just took two-of-three from Virginia Tech, which was ranked at the time. Miami doesn't hit for much power, knocking only five balls out of the park, but 55 of its 230 hits have been for extra bases (44 doubles, six triples, five home runs). One Hurricane, David Thompson, is the team leader in many of those categories. Thompson leads the squad in doubles (seven), home runs (two) and RBI (21). Chris Diaz and Bryan Radziewski have been the squad's top two pitchers. Radziewski has started four of the five games he has appeared in, including a complete game. He has a 3-0 record and 0.42 ERA in those games. Diaz, on the other hand, carries a 3-1 record through his six starts. Eric Nedeljkovic has been in 13 contests and has yet to be scored on. He has five saves to his name, as well as two wins.
Virginia - The Cavs come in after sweeping a series from then No. 5 N.C. State and do have a game against Towson before their weekend series. Kenny Towns may not have the greatest average, but his four home runs and 26 RBI are both team highs Branden Cosgwell is hitting an impressive .402 and has a team-leading 10 steals. Nick Howard, Brandon Waddell and Scott Silverstein each have started six games and have put up impressive numbers in doing so. Howard has a team-low 1.65 ERA, Waddell has a team-high 47 strikeouts and Silverstein has a perfect 4-0 record. Another starter, Trey Cest has won all four games he has started
