Mid-week College Ball

[Mr. Poon]

Updated season record: 12-14 for -0.7 units

one so far:

UNC -175 (@ UNC Wilm.) for 3 units - quite a bit to like here about the #5 Tar Heels. First they just lost a weekend series and two straight to Duke. They are going to be looking to get back in the win column in a big way. Look for them to use some of their best relief pitchers out of the pen. UNC is definitely the far superior offensive squad. Starting today for the Tar Heels is Sophomore Bryant Gaines who has performed well this season as their mid-week starter (4 starts). He has a 2.95 ERA in 21 1/3 IP; a 1.27 WHIP and opponents are hitting .241. Wilmington sends to the mound Sophomore Stephen Harrold. Harrold has a 6.23 ERA in 13 IP; a 1.54 WHIP and opponents are hitting .269. Harrold hasn't faced a team the likes of UNC and it should show tonight.

Looking into the Ohio State/Miami game as I might play Ohio State as a big dog (+280!). Need to find out who is pitching for them though.

GL guys.

 

[IE]

Ohio State concludes its 21 games in Florida to open the season with a 6 p.m. game Tuesday at No. 6 Miami. Alex Wimmers is scheduled to start.

 

[IE]

The University of Miami baseball team, ranked second in the nation in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Assocation poll released today, is set to host Ohio State on Tuesday before making the short trip north to play FAU in Boca Raton on Wednesday.

The Hurricanes (18-4, 7-2 ACC) are coming off their fifth-straight series win of the season and second over a Top 15 opponent on the road, taking two-of-three at No. 7 Virginia over the weekend. With the series win over UVa, the `Canes have now won 21 of their last 22 regular season series and 14 of their last 15 ACC series dating back to 2007.

Miami will play nine of its next 10 games at home, including Tuesday's 6 p.m. game against OSU and this upcoming weekend's three-game series against No. 3 Georgia Tech. The team's lone road game the next two weeks is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and pits a pair of teams that will face each other three times in a span of 21 days.

UM's bullpen continues to be the story through the first half of the season, as UM relievers have a combined 1.67 ERA (16 earned runs in 86 1/3 innings) through the first 22 games. All-American closer Kyle Bellamy and set-up man Taylor Wulf anchor the bullpen, with the pair combining to allow just two earned runs in 29 2/3 innings. Bellamy has proven to be one of the nation's top closers through the first month of the season, coming into the week with a perfect 3-0 record to go along with a league-high six saves. In 16 innings this season, the Davie, Fla. native has allowed just one run on 10 hits while striking out 25.

After hitting .250 in the month of February, Yasmani Grandal has turned it around in March, hitting a team-best .365 over the last 16 games. He has brought his season average up to .338 as a result, and after hitting two homers in Sunday's win over UVa, now leads the team in both home runs (6) and slugging percentage (.662).





Scott Lawson continues to lead the team in hitting, coming into the week at .360. Since head coach Jim Morris moved Lawson to the lead-off spot and Ryan Jackson into the No. 2 hole on March 17 against St. Thomas, both players have seen a jump in their offensive production. Lawson is 8-for-19 with two walks and a team-high six runs over the last five games in the lead-off spot, while Jackson hit his first three homers of the season and has a team-high 11 RBI since the move.

Starter David Gutierrez (2-1) has proven to be one of the league's top starters thus far, having yet to allow more than one earned run in any of his five starts this season. In 30 2/3 innings, Gutierrez has allowed just three earned runs while he is holding his opponents to just a .196 batting average against him.

OHIO STATE REPORT
The Buckeyes are 17-2 overall and ride a nine-game winning streak into their game Monday night against Rollins College in Orlando. Zach Hurley and Michael Arp both enter the week hitting over .400. Hurley leads the team in most offensive categories, including hits (35), average (.407), doubles (4), RBI (28), total bases (55) and on-base percentage (.443). Alex Wimmers (4-0, 1.85 ERA) is the team's ace, having struck out 47 in 34 innings of work to go along with the team's only two complete games. Jake Hale (0-0, 2.25 ERA) has four of the team's seven saves.

 

[Mr. Poon]

Thanks IE, just found that out as well and that is what I was hoping for!



Ohio State +280 (@ Miami, FL) for 2 units ? love spots like this to take a shot at a nice size dog. Miami is obviously the better team being ranked in the top 10 in all polls, while Baseball America doesn?t have OSU ranked and others have them around #20. On paper the Buckeye?s offense has better statistics than Miami, but the Hurricanes have the #48 SOS compared to #185 for Ohio State. That negates any edge in offense, but the point is Ohio State can still score as they average over 10 per game, have a .350 team batting average and a .550 slugging percentage. As noted in the notes IE posted, Miami?s pitching, especially their bullpen, is their strength at this point. Their weekend starters are pretty good as well, but their mid-week guys haven?t wowed anyone yet. OSU is pretty thin pitching wise. They have two main guys they like to go to out of the pen (Hale and Rucinski) and both will be able to play tonight. Due to playing a 4 game series/tourney over the weekend as well as playing a game yesterday, OSU is turning to their ace and normal Friday starter Alex Wimmers. Wimmers is 4-0 in 5 starts with a 1.85 ERA over 34 IP. His WHIP is 1.21, opponents are hitting .219 off of him and as stated in the notes above, he racks up the K?s having struck out 47 so far. Base of the play is you have a Friday starter for an average team going against a mid-week starter for a pretty good club. At a dog price like this one it is a very good opportunity in my mind.

 

[Mr. Poon]

Really good day going 2-0 and picking up 8.6 units. UNC rolled to an 8-1 victory. Ohio State gets the big upset winning 7-1. Miami's only run came via errors in the first inning and they were only able to get 1 hit against the pitching of Wimmers, Rucinski and Hale.

Updated season record: 14-14 for +7.9 units

Couple of top 25 matchups tomorrow with Georgia facing Georgia Tech as well as TCU travelling to Baylor.

 

[IE]

nice job!!