Watching opening weekend we saw a lot of what we expected but sometimes we were surprised. There were some monster performances around the country. Here is my new Top 25 for KnupSports.
At #1 is still Wake Forest. They simply took care of business with 3 wins and they were Fordham W 9-3, Illinois W 5-2, Akron W 14-3. Josh Hartle and Chase Burns on the hill for first two games is almost unfair. The offense was led by first baseman Nick Kurtz who was 4-12 with a home run and Adam Tellier at 3-for-9 and also a homer.Austin Hawke led the weekend with 6 RBI’s. Next weekend they play at home vs Dayton after a midweek game against UNC Greensboro.
Not a huge surprise to find the defending champion LSU Tigers at #2. They went undefeated with these wins:VMI W 11-8, W 27-5, Central Arkansas W 2-0 The offense was led by grad student catcher Hayden Travinski with 7 hits in eleven at-bats. one home run and ten total bases. Outfielder Jared Jones smack two homers in four hits and totalled twelve total bases fo the Tigers. The pitching was solid and all three starters, Nate Ackenhausen, Luke Holman and Javen Coleman each got a victory. There are fifteen pitchers on the roster and ALL got some work in the opening weekend.
At #3 is the TCU Horned Frogs defeated Florida Gulf Coast thre times to open the season. Freshman outfielder Chase Brunson led the team with 6 hit in 10 at-bats including two doubles and teo home runs. Sophomore Anthony Silva had seven hits in 13 at-bats. Payton Chatagnier slammed two homers over the weekend.Junior reliever Zach Cawyer notched two wins in 4.2 innings of relief for the Frogs. Braeden Sloan got the other win in relief.
Slotting in at #4 is the Arkansas Razorbacks. They won their Friday and Saturday games but dropped the finale to James Madison 7-3. Mason Molina struck out nine in his much-anticipated Razorback pitching debut, but #3 Arkansas (2-1) fell to James Madison (1-2) on Sunday.
Dropping to #5 is the Florida Gators and maybe unfairly as they lost their opener to St John’s and got rained out of two contests. Starter Cade Fisher got the loss in the opener and was pulled out after two innings of work. Jac Caglione, a possible lottery pick, got two hits to lead the offense.
Just out of the Top 5 but certainly could have been in any of the places above is the Oregon State Beavers. They won all three games over the weekend with New Mexico W 15-6, Minnesota W 6-4, CSU Bakersfield W 15-2 scores. Second baseman and a possible top pick in the draft, Travis Bazzana, went 7-for-13 with one double and three home runs. Tyce Peterson had three hits including 2 home runs and 3 RBI’s. On the hill, all 3 victories came from the pen with Chase Reynolds, Bridger Holmes and Aidan May each got a win.
#7 is the Vanderbilt Commodores with two wins and one loss to Florida Atlantic. RJ Austin had four hits to lead the Vandy boys, He had one homer and four runs batted in. Jonathan Vasline and Jake Burger each homered over the weekend. JD Thompson got the first win in relief and one inning pitched.
Texas A&M is #8 in the Top 25 list. They were undefeated over the weekend. Behind five home runs and a strong pitching performance from Ryan Prager, Texas A&M baseball team rolled past McNeese, 15-0, to open the 2024 season Friday night from Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. Unanimous Preseason All-American Jace LaViolette topped the squad with four RBI to go along with a pair of home runs, marking his fifth career multi-homer performance. In his collegiate debut, College Station native Blake Binderup went 3-for-6 and plated three RBI’s.
Tennessee is #9 this week. Christian Moore led all offense in hits with a 5-for-13 weekend and Billy Amick was behind him with a 4-13 in three days. AJ Causey and Nate Snead took the two wins for the Volunteers.
Rounding out the Top Ten is Clemson. The Tigers won 2 of 3 of their contests. Cam Cannarella had 7 hits in 13 at-bats to lead the squad. Following him was Blake Wright and Aiden Mathes, On the mound, Billy Barlow got a win on five innings and 3 hit work,along with Nick Clayton with three innings of work.
#11- Duke
#12- East Carolina
#13- Virginia
#14- NC State
#15- Not\rth Carolina
#16-Texas
#17- Alabama
#18- Texas Tech
#19- Iowa
#20- UCLA
#21- South Carolina
#22- UCSB
#23- Indiana
#24- Kansas State
#25- Coastal Carolina
**Duke and East Carolina are poised to move up quite a bit in the next few weeks.
