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We just couldn’t buy one yesterday. Miami let me down big time because they have some of the worst situational hitting that I’ve ever seen. Their sandman closer melted with a chance to slam the door. Oklahoma couldn’t hit a punk who throws 75 MPH and had five appearances all year. It really just was one of THOSE days. Monday features a ton of great game with seven matchups on the slate. Let’s see who will be moving on to the Super Regionals.
** Quick piece of advice for any type of bets for College Baseball, SHOP AROUND. A lot of different books are hanging mispriced numbers, so you can take advantage of them. **
*Each play will be labeled (1 through number “X”) to determine how I rank my plays on a daily basis.
Oklahoma Sooners (+105) vs. Florida Gators (-135) | Over/Under 13 (1)
This is it. For all the marbles, we have a rubber match between the Sooners and Gators to see who is moving on to the next round. After an impressive Sunday showing from Florida where they went 2-0, do they have one more to take down Oklahoma in consecutive days? Or will the Sooners abstain from blowing a 2-0 lead?
It was an absolutely pathetic showing from OU last night. They had the bases loaded with nobody out in the first inning and they came up empty. I mean are you kidding me? I hope after letting some little punk freshman, who throws 75 MPH, dot them all night, got them mad and motivated to throw a beating to Florida. Despite a two-run enigma last night, they still plated 25 total runs in their first two outings. This is likely a bullpen game from Florida, so it’s critical that guys like John Spikerman, Peyton Graham, Tanner Tredaway set the tone for the team. As we have seen, coaches are hooking pitchers very quickly with everything on the line.
It’s no shock that UF has a lot of firepower in their lineup. They legitimately have a few players like Jud Fabian, Wyatt Langford, and Sterlin Thompson that make you feel like you’re watching a big-league star in his “infancy” stage. As this is the stage of the weekend where teams are emptying the tank in every way possible, it especially applies to the pitching staff. OU was definitely disappointed in relief on Sunday after Cade Horton delivered a very impressive 6.1 innings of two-run ball. Florida being the home team is a bit of an advantage. Ultimately though, it just comes down to who wants it more.
This is one of the best games of the day. I’ve highlighted this potential matchup before the weekend even started. It’s two red hot heavyweights battling it out. Does it get much better than this? With that being said, even though Florida has a better pen, I picked the Sooners to win the region. Obviously, they need this game today, but blowing a 2-0 Regional lead would be unfathomable.
PREDICTION: Oklahoma ML (+105)
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Vanderbilt Commodores (+110) vs. Oregon State Beavers (-140) | Over/Under 11.5 (2)
The one disappointment between Vandy and OSU matching up again is that we won’t see one of the top pitchers in the country, Cooper Hjerpe, face this Commodores’ lineup. Still, after Vandy put it on the Beavers on Sunday night, I would expect a much closer matchup in what is a Game Seven type of matchup.
Oregon State was my pick to win the Corvallis Regional. The main reason was they have not only the deepest pitching staff by a mile in this region, but one of the best in the entire country this year. Plus their offense has been extremely productive as a compliment, even though you wouldn’t know it with their one-run dud last night vs. the Vandy Boys. They also struggled with five runs against New Mexico State on Friday. Believe it or not (George isn’t at home), Vanderbilt did an amazing job of limiting the number of arms used this weekend. Due to them somehow only going with one starter and one reliever in each of their first four games, there are a lot of options for them to use. That being said, I expect Jacob Melton and Justin Boyd to attack an average at best bunch of options with their season on the line.
Let’s show some love to the Vandy Boys. I had them on the “fade” list coming into the tournament and they dropped the upset to San Diego, which I had highlighted ahead of time. However, we saw them rally off three straight W’s to get themselves into a winner-take-all match. That’s why they are a blue blood program, or who I call, the New England Patriots of College Baseball. Like most of the SEC teams in the Regional, Vandy is giving the other conferences a real challenge this weekend. While I am a fan of Vanderbilt, I faded them for a reason. Their pitching has overperformed, but likely throwing either Patrick Reilly or Bryce Cunningham against OSU’s solid lineup, I don’t think it favors them. Not to mention, if the Beavers throw Jaren Hunter like I think they will (3.91 ERA), it gives them a significant advantage.
It’s a head vs. heart thing, so I wouldn’t be devastated if Vandy won, but I like to stick to my original analysis.
PREDICTION: Oregon St ML (-150)
Enjoy the taste, kid
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