March 19, 2013

Around the Nation

By Sean Ryan & Phil Stanton

sean@collegebaseballinsider.com @collbaseball

phil@collegebaseballinsider.com @roadtoomaha

With a win Monday over North Dakota State, Dartmouth improved to 7-0 and is the only Division I team without a loss. The Big Green plays Vassar Tuesday and will try to match the 1903 team for the best start in school history – 140 years of baseball. Dartmouth opened the year with wins over Minnesota, Northern Iowa and Utah at the Dairy Queen Classic at the Metrodome and also has wins over Army, LIU and UAB. Through seven games, the Big Green boasts a 1.57 ERA, tops in the country. 

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Dartmouth also leads the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 5.08 (61 K/12 BB) in 63.0 innings. Cal State Fullerton is second at 5.00 (145 K/29 BB) in 170 innings.

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The Big Green boasts two of the three qualifying pitchers who have yet to issue an earned run: senior Cole Sulser (12 IP in two starts) and senior Kyle Hunter (11 IP in two starts). The other hurler with an ERA of 0.00 is sophomore reliever Matt Lees of VCU (16.1 IP in nine appearances).

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Towson’s baseball program officially was notified that this season would be its last as the school has decided to drop the program, along with men’s soccer.

The Tigers have responded by taping over the “Towson” on their jerseys with black tape and winning. The Tigers are 4-2 in the CAA and 11-7 overall after erupting for 43 runs in a three-game sweep at Hofstra, a team that played Oklahoma to three tight games to open the season.

Junior outfielder Dominic Fratantuono shared the CAA Player of the Week with UNC Wilmington’s Michael Bass. It’s the second time Fratantuono has earned the honor – this time, he batted .545 (12 for 22) with a homer, three doubles, eight runs and 11 RBI.

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Pitching was on display for a handful of West Coast teams over the weekend.

UCLA yielded two runs in a sweep of Washington. UC Irvine took two of three from Nebraska, allowing five runs. Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State each surrendered six runs in sweeps of Oral Roberts and Wichita State, respectively.

The Bruins lead the country in WHIP at 0.94 (120 H/39 BB in 169.0 IP).

Also of note, Oregon State allowed nine runs in a sweep of defending champion Arizona and is second in the nation with a 1.59 ERA.

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There are plenty of big-name schools with the top RPIs according to Boyd Nation (www.boydsworld.com); although it’s early, and there often are some early-season anomalies that correct themselves, it’s worth noting some fast starts.

·              Notre Dame (12-5) is No. 2

·              Michigan State (9-7) is No. 7

·              South Alabama (17-4) is No. 12

·              Austin Peay (17-2) is No. 13

·              Kent State (6-11) is No. 14

·              Louisiana-Lafayette (16-3) is No. 17

·              Central Arkansas (17-3) is No. 18

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Several coaches posted milestone wins over the weekend. Troy’s Bobby Pierce picked up win No. 900, Virginia Tech’s Pete Hughes earned win No. 500 and Gardner-Webb’s Rusty Stroupe notched win No. 300.

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Two of the top three and three of the top eight team batting averages belong to CAA squads. Georgia State is second at .349, James Madison is third at .337 and Delaware is eighth at .321. Georgia Tech is the top hitting team at .355.

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Lamar is the top fielding team in the country at .993. The Cardinals have committed six errors in 21 games (812 chances). Lamar is tied for fourth in double plays at 26. UC Irvine is second in fielding at .991. The Anteaters have seven errors in 20 contests (740 chances).

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The top three strikeout staffs in Division I reside in the Sun Belt Conference. South Alabama leads the nation in punchouts per nine innings (9.7, 200 in 186.0 IP). Western Kentucky is second at 9.7 (183 in 170.2 IP) and Arkansas State is third at 9.6 (194 in 182.0 IP).

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Louisville and Campbell are the top theft squads in the country. The Cardinals average 3.67 steals per game (66 SB/17 CS in 18 G), while the Camels average 3.53 (67 SB/6 CS in 19 G).

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Junior third baseman Kris Bryant of San Diego continues to pound the ball, leading the nation in home runs with 12. Junior D.J. Peterson of New Mexico is the only other player in double figures at 10. Peterson has the top slugging percentage at 1.013, with Bryant second at .986.

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Senior lefty Nolan Belcher of South Carolina is listed on the NCAA website as the top pitcher for walks allowed per nine innings at .25. He has walked one batter in 36.0 innings. But the true leader is freshman right-hander Thomas Eshelman of Cal State Fullerton, who has yet to issue a free pass in 35.0 innings.

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Senior Tyler Rogers of Austin Peay is the top fireman, leading the country in saves with eight. Four pitchers are tied with seven: senior Tyler Webb of South Carolina, junior Matt Hicks of Louisiana-Lafayette, and sophomores Trace Dempsey of Ohio State and Brian Miller of Vanderbilt.

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West Virginia and Marshall meet on Tuesday, March 19, at 6 p.m. at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston. It will be the first meeting since 2008, when the Mountaineers defeated the Thundering Herd 5-3 in Myrtle Beach, S.C. It will be the first in-state encounter since WVU edged MU 12-11 in 1998 in Charleston. This is the first of a three-game series for 2013. The teams will meet in Morgantown on April 2 and in Beckley on May 14.