NCAA Top 25 Podcast: Georgia Surges after Sweeping Georgia Tech, Carnage in SEC West

Image credit: Cole Wilcox (Photo by Brian Westerholt/Four Seam Images)

On this episode of the Baseball America College Podcast, Teddy Cahill and Joe Healy recap a wild weekend in college baseball. 

The headline item on the schedule was the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic in Minute Maid Park in Houston. 

The standout performance in Houston came from Oklahoma righthander Dane Acker, who threw a no-hitter against Louisiana State on Sunday. That type of outing reminds you of what the Sooners high-end potential can be. 

The hosts also discussed their surprise at the big-picture results from that tournament, which included the Big 12 going 6-3 against their Southeastern Conference foes, Arkansas going 0-3, Baylor going 3-0 and Missouri, with a 2-1 record, being the only SEC team to win more than it lost. 

Perhaps the most impressive weekend for any single team came from Georgia, which swept rival Georgia Tech emphatically. Game 1 ended with a close final score, but games 2 and 3 were never in doubt for the Bulldogs. With the sweep, Georgia is all the way up to No. 4 in this week’s rankings. 

Also moving up in the rankings this week is Mississippi, which went 3-0 in the Keith LeClair Classic in Greenville, N.C. The Rebels got quality pitching from lefthander Doug Nikhazy and righthander Gunnar Hoglund in the first two games of the tournament, and on offense, they continued to show the ability to hit balls out of the ballpark. 

Teddy and Joe touch on what that means for Ole Miss moving forward and the SEC West in general, and then discussed Indiana’s 2-1 weekend in Greenville. The Hoosiers, like the Rebels, are a power-based offense, but this season’s bunch is also showing signs that they’ll be able to make more consistent contact, which should bode well for the rest of the season. 

Long Beach State pulled off another upset series win, taking two of three from Mississippi State at home, led by a masterful outing from lefty Adam Seminaris on Friday and a gutsy start from freshman Luis Ramirez on Sunday to polish off the weekend. The Dirtbags will have to continue to pitch well to have this level of success as the season rolls on, but if they can do so against Mississippi State, they can get it done against just about anyone. 

Finally, the hosts touch on some of the wackier results from the weekend, including the 24-inning game between UC Davis and Loyola Marymount, Liberty’s no-hitter that saw them also allow four runs, a three-error play from Harvard and a walk-off winner for Portland on a ball that caromed off of an umpire.