Photo Courtesy Texas A&M Athletics
Week six of the college baseball season is upon us, and in this latest edition of the College Baseball Central Podcast, I run through the five places that I want to be for the weekend.
They are as follows:
- LSU at Texas A&M- These two will do their best to give fans an encore performance of their thrilling three-game set last year in Baton Rouge. LSU will be looking to bounce back from a tough series loss, and while Texas A&M took two of three against Auburn last weekend, the Aggie pitching staff will be looking to rebound from surrendering 27 runs in that series.
- Oregon State at Cal- This series will give us a barometer for just how far ahead of the rest of the Pac-12 Oregon State really is. Cal (along with UCLA) looks like the most credible challenger to the Beavers in the league, but OSU looked downright dominant in a series sweep over Arizona State last weekend. Cal is a better club than ASU at this point, but we’ll see if that’s enough difference to allow Cal to pull off the upset.
- Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton- With this three-game set, we have a couple of mirror-image teams. Both boast talented, productive pitching staffs and both have struggled swinging the bats. The margins in this series are going to be razor-thin, so it won’t be a surprise if the difference ends up being a booted grounder or a single pitch left up in the zone.
- TCU at Texas- We’re just now getting into Big 12 play and already the clock seems to be ticking on Texas. Sure, they’ve played a very tough schedule, but at 9-12 on the season, they need to get going. Certainly, TCU is not the team you want to see when you’re struggling, as they’re proving to be the favorites in the league with a physical offense and a deep pitching staff.
- Kent State at Central Michigan- To this point of the season, one of these two MAC favorites, KSU, has looked the part. The other, CMU, has not, as they have struggled to a 4-17 start. It’s tough to ask them to get things turned around against a team as complete as the Golden Flashes, but perhaps facing the best team in the league will be the spark they need to get it going.
Thanks for listening!
