College Ball Week #9

[Mr. Poon]

YTD Record: 27-22 for +5.15 units

Simply haven?t been able to make any headway the last couple of weeks. Some good top 25 matchups today, and playing these to try to make a move as the season heads to the second half:

UCLA -105 (vs. Zona) for 1 unit ? Not often does Zona?s starter Kurt Heyer(1.38 ERA; 1.00 WHIP; .217 OBA; 80 K?s in 65 IP) not get the edge on the mound, but this is one of those times. He goes against UCLA?s Gerrit Cole (1.74 ERA; 0.77 WHIP; .173 OBA; 64 K?s in 57 IP). UCLA hasn?t performed up to expectations and has had a meager offense this season, but their pitching keeps them in most games. Believe this will be like Zona?s series at ASU where they lost 2 of 3.

Okie St. +155 (vs. Oklahoma) for 1 unit ? Sooners definitely have the edge on paper, but the Cowboys are one of the hottest team in the country right now. Add to it that Oklahoma has performed pretty poor against any decent competition they have faced and it is worth a shot at the home dog.

Oregon St. +105 (@ Stanford) for 2 units ? Stanford is very similar to the Sooners in that they are a decent club that is decidedly under. 500 when they play decent competition. Add in that OSU starter Sam Gaviglio (1.34 ERA; 0.78 WHIP; .175 OBA; 60 K?s in 60 1/3 IP) has been one of the nations best pitchers and I like the Beavers in this one. Gaviglio had a terrible outing two weeks ago against Zona but bounced back nicely last week against a decent offensive USC team.

Vandy -130 (@ S. Carolina) for 2 units - #1 travels to #3 for the weekends marquee matchup. Tough to go against the defending champs at home, but I have been high on Vandy all season and think they prove it again why they are the best in the nation right now.

gl guys

 

[rrc]

Any thoughts on Texas in general?

Freshman fron St. Rita has started every game in RF and batted 2nd or 3rd....Mark Payton...one of the best hs baseball players I've ever seen.

Always check out your plays and insight..thanks for sharing

 

[Mr. Poon]

rrc ? Texas is very similar to the squad last year.* Great pitching that is going to keep them in almost all games, however an offense that is a big question mark.* If some hot bats get to their staff, they are going to be hard-pressed to get in a slugfest and win.* In their 8 losses, they are averaging 3.4 runs per game.* However, despite that they are still in a great position to get a national seed (one of the top 8) for the tourney which would mean they would host the regional and super-regional.* Although last year the national seeds didn?t fare well (only 3 made it to Omaha), I think this year with the new bats, having home field advantage for 2 straight weekends in the post-season will be real big.* As it stands now, it appears there would be a good chance for a TCU regional to get paired up with the Longhorns again for a re-match of last year?s super regional.* Though A&M is in position for a national seed too, so they may pit TCU against the Aggies regional just to mix it up a bit.
*
I never got out to see Payton when he was in high school here, but remember reading about him.* Always impressive when a frosh can come in and start at a program like Texas.* I know he was drafted in the 30-rounds or something.* Always interesting to see how guys like that progress and how much higher they go in a couple years when they are draft eligible again.* You from around the Chicago area?

 

[shawn555]

good luck today poon.

I really like Vandy, any time I can get Gray at that price he has to be backed.

 

[hawkeye]

GL

 

[rrc]

Grew up in Arlington Heights...live in nw Indiana...you?

 

[Mr. Poon]

rrc - I live just north of downtown, the old Cabrini neighborhood.

If you want to see a pretty good young team, Georgia Tech is playing at UIC the weekend of May 7 - 9. Kind of an odd non-conf series that late, but not often that top 25 clubs are in the chicago-area. I'm going to try to go to a couple of the games.

 

[Mr. Poon]

2-2 for exactly 0.0 :facepalm:

Okie St. wins 8-7, the other OSU wins 1-0. UCLA loses 5-4 and S. Carolina beats Vandy 3-1.

 

[rrc]

Maybe I'll make it down for a game. Went to 2-3 coaching clinics led by Coach Dee, he certainly knows his stuff.

Heard he's kind of tough to play for. Didn't Curtis Granderson play for him?

 

[Mr. Poon]

rrc ? Granderson sure did. A friend of mine who followed him in high school got me to a Flames game early his Frosh year. You could see early on the kid had real legit talent and ability. Went to quite a few more UIC games in his 3 years there.

For today:

Stanford -105 (vs. Oregon St.) for 3 units ? Beavers have a pretty good overall staff, but there is a noticeable drop-off in their starters after Gaviglio. Stanford behind starter Jordan Pries should be able to even the series today.

UCLA -115 (vs. Zona) for 1 unit ? going with the Bruins again with Bauer on the mound, they should be in it again.

Vandy -115 (@ S. Carolina) for 3 units ? very similar to Oregon St., Gamecocks have a very good pitching staff, but the there is a change in quality of starters after their #1 Roth. Vandy has their #2 Grayson Garvin going, who is having a very good year (2.04 ERA; .196 OBA) but just doesn?t get the press that Sonny Gray gets.

gl guys

 

[Mr. Poon]

2-1 yesterday getting UCLA and Vandy but missing Stanford.

For today:

Oklahoma -140 (vs. Okie St.) for 2 units

Vandy -125 (@ S. Carolina) for 1 unit

gl guys