Welcome to the second edition of The Starting Lineup, my daily morning piece highlighting the biggest storylines from the day before and previewing the day to come. In The Starting Lineup, you’ll find the biggest stories (Leading off), what to watch each day (Meat of the Order) and other juicy tidbits such as under the radar games, individual player performances or other notes from across the country (7-8-9). The Scouting Report will also feature several pieces of upcoming content at College Baseball Central. Enjoy!
Leading Off:
ACC: The debut of Rintaro Sasaki lived up to the hype. The Japanese high school homerun king drove in five runs across two games in the Cardinal doubleheader at Cal State Fullerton. The Cardinal are 20.
Duke rebounded following an opening day defeat against Cincinnati, though it took a trip to extra innings to do so.
Georgia Tech star Drew Burress clubbed a walk off grand slam to defeat Old Dominion.
North Carolina completed a sweep of Texas Tech, newcomers Kane Kepley and Tyson Bass appear to be a perfect fit in the loaded Tarheel lineup.
Clemson’s offense has looked as good as advertised as they defeated Arizona 16-5. Coach Bakich makes his season debut on Sunday.
Big 10: Indiana falls to 0-2 to start the year following a thriller against Xavier, though the musketeers proved to be too much despite multiple Hoosier comebacks.
Michigan continues their impressive start with a mini-comeback victory against Rice in Puerto Rico.
Nebraska defeated Vanderbilt for the second time in three seasons to improve to 1-1. Huskers were carried offensively by Gabe Swansen.
UCLA blows out Cal Poly 18-2, Roch Cholowsky is a star in LA.
Oregon dropped game two to Toledo, though the offensive heroics of Maddox Molony propelled the Ducks in game three in Eugene.
Big 12: Baylor continued their outstanding start to the season on the mound, defeating Youngstown State 12-4. Ethan Calder, Bryson Bales and Cole Stasio are names to monitor in the Big 12.
Oklahoma State exploded offensively against Louisville, celebrating a 12-3 victory in Arlington. Starting pitching has looked solid alongside the offense for the Cowboys at Globe Life.
TCU staved off San Diego, starting 2-0 on the road, winning 9-2 on Saturday.
The Kansas offense exploded for nine runs across the first three innings against Texas A&M- Corpus Christi, winning 12-1. The Jayhawks are 2-0.
SEC: Florida continues to roll over Air Force and appear to have three strong arms leading the way in Liam Peterson, Jake Clemente and Pierce Coppola.
The Aggie offense woke up against Elon, run ruling the Phoenix, 16-6 in seven innings.
Tennessee does not appear apt to a championship hangover. Vols clubbed Hofstra 18-1 on Saturday.
The Oklahoma rotation is one of the more exciting 1-2-3 in the country, Malachi Witherspoon’s performance completed the sweep over Lehigh.
Arkansas has appeared to settle in following an extra inning victory in game one. The Razorbacks have the deepest pitching staff in the country and are 3-0 with the finale against Washington State coming on Monday.
The Longhorn offense woke up against Ole Miss, defeating the Rebels 10-0 to win their first shriners college classic game in program history. Jim Schlossnagle picked up his first victory in a Longhorn uniform. Max Belyeu is a show stopper.
Mid-Majors: Oregon State’s Dax Whitney dazzled en route to the Beavers shutting UNLV down in a 16-0 victory.
Meat of the Order:
Indiana vs Oregon State (Surprise, AZ)
Hoosiers are due for a victory, the Beavers appear to be fully settled in.
Cincinnati at Duke
Two gritty teams fighting for a series. The Blue Devils have looked flat but came out on top on Saturday. The Bearcats can leave happy with an opening day victory, though would look great escaping Durham with a winning record.
Ohio State at Arizona State
There won’t be too many 2-0 series featured in this section on Sunday’s this season, though you’d be hard pressed to find a more exciting, back and forth series that isn’t tied up. Buckeyes and Sun Devils both look improved and seem to be headed the right direction under Justin Haire and Willie Bloomquist.
Texas vs Oklahoma State (Arlington)
The Longhorn offense looked remarkably comfortable against Ole Miss on Saturday. Oklahoma State has looked phenomenal in Arlington, despite a loss of their own. Each team will be hungry to leave the event with a winning record.
7-8-9:
Under the radar games today
Penn State vs UConn (Puerto Rico)
Iowa at USF
Campbell at UCSB
Minnesota at Houston
Vanderbilt vs UC Irvine
TCU at San Diego
Stanford at Cal State Fullerton
Scouting Report:
Next week: Truck Stop Baseball makes its regular season debut, speaking to winning Head Coaches in the Big 10 and Big 12 and previewing the upcoming slate for each conference.
Join College Baseball Central LIVE on YouTube and X each Saturday morning (11/10 CT) as the crew on ‘The Weekend Rotation’ breaks down all of the action from Friday and previews the rest of the weekend. College Baseball’s Saturday morning wake-up show returns for their fourth season, featuring guests, Q/A and everything you need to know up until first pitch on Saturday.
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