March 25, 2011

No. 5 South Carolina visits top-ranked Florida

The Florida Gators again have the marquee matchup in college baseball this weekend. After sweeping a three-game set at No. 7 LSU this past weekend, Florida entertains defending national champion and No. 5 South Carolina in a key SEC Eastern Division series. The Gators (3-0, 20-2) have reeled off 10 straight wins after a pair of midweek triumphs over Winthrop. The Gamecocks (2-1, 16-4) have won four in a row, taking the final two games of their series with Georgia this past weekend before beating College of Charleston and Rhode Island this week.

Another Top 20 battles occurs in the SEC with second-ranked Vanderbilt visiting No. 19 Arkansas. The Commodores (2-1, 20-2) took two of three from Mississippi State this past weekend and topped Tennessee Tech on Tuesday. The Razorbacks (1-2, 17-4) dropped two of three at Auburn before beating Memphis twice this week.

Out West, the battle of the Grand Canyon State takes place in Tempe, as sixth-ranked Arizona State welcomes No. 15 Arizona in the Pac-10 opener for both clubs. The Sun Devils (16-5) swept Oral Roberts a week ago before splitting a pair at No. 16 Cal State Fullerton this week. The Wildcats (16-5) most recently took three at home from San Francisco.

In the third weekend of ACC play, there are only two unbeatens in league play and they meet in Coral Gables as No. 12 Georgia Tech (6-0, 18-4) travels to Miami (6-0, 14-8) for the top spot in the Coastal Division. The Yellow Jackets have won 13 straight games, including a sweep of NC State this past weekend and a victory at Georgia on Tuesday. The Hurricanes have won nine in a row, topping UCF and FGCU after a sweep of Wake Forest.

In the Northeast, key encounters this weekend include Pittsburgh at Connecticut in the Big East, VCU at Georgia State (10-game win streak) in the Colonial, Rhode Island at Charlotte and Temple (10-game win streak) at Xavier in the Atlantic 10 and CCSU at Wagner and Monmouth at Bryant in the NEC.

In the Southeast, first-place Kennesaw State visits preseason favorite Mercer and ETSU travels to Stetson in the Atlantic Sun, Winthrop goes to Liberty in the Big South, Bethune-Cookman welcomes Florida A&M in the MEAC, Elon entertains Samford in the Southern, Prairie View A&M visits Grambling State in the SWAC and FIU hosts Western Kentucky in the Sun Belt.

In the Central region, Michigan State goes to Michigan to kick off Big Ten play, No. 8 Texas A&M welcomes Kansas in the Big 12, Tulane heads to Southern Miss to start Conference USA action and Texas State travels to Lamar in the Southland.

In the West, two key non-conference series include San Diego at No. 18 Fresno State and Wichita State at Oregon.

Enjoy the games this weekend!

(photo by Jimmy Jones)