CBD Quick Hits for May 13th

College Baseball Daily throughout the season will be providing our Quick Hits on games throughout the country. Special thanks to William Knox and Mark Rafferty for contributing to this report. As always, follow us on Twitter @CB_Daily for instant reaction and the best up to minute coverage on college baseball in the country. We also have a Facebook page which can be joined by clicking here.

WHAT DID I SEE?

I was at the UConn and Louisville matchup on Friday evening to take another look at both Matt Barnes and George Springer. Both players did not disappoint as Barnes pitched eight innings locating his fastball on both corners and throwing a devasting slider. He even showed an excellent curveball a couple times on the evening. He ended up sitting around 95 MPH and hit 97 on a couple of occasions on his fastball. He finished the evening by allowing six hits and two unearned runs in the eighth to up his record to 10-3. Springer also was solid going 2-4 with three RBI while stealing three bases to bring his season total to 25.

QUICK HITS

• The biggest news of the night was seeing three out of the top five teams in the NCBWA all dropping their weekend opening game.
• The Virginia Cavaliers struggled in the first inning since coming off finals by letting the Miami Hurricanes get five runs (three earned) on four hits and two errors. The Hurricanes made those runs stand up as they picked up the 6-2 victory over the #2 ranked Cavaliers. Bryan Radziewski picked up the win by giving up four hits, two runs (one earned), walking one and striking out seven to up his record to 8-2 while Virginia starter Danny Hultzen picked up his second loss in his last three starts to drop his record to 9-2.
• The Arkansas Razorbacks survived a two hour rain delay to pick up a solid 6-2 victory over the #3 South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia on Friday night. DJ Baxendale was solid on the hill giving up one run on six hits, three walks while striking out six batters. Dominic Ficociello led the offense going 4-5 with an RBI and a run scored. If the Razorbacks pick up another win on the weekend, it will give them two key series victories over Top Ten squads.
• The other upset in the top five was USC defeating Arizona State by a score 5-1 behind a complete game from Andrew Triggs who gave up a first inning unearned run before settling down to get his fourth win of the year. Brady Rogers struggled through his seven innings of work giving up nine hits, five runs (four earned), and walking two batters to drop his record to 7-3 on the year.
• With the Arizona State loss, the Oregon State Beavers took advantage by defeating Washington 6-4 at Safeco Field in Seattle to grab the opening game. The win puts the Beavers two games in front of the Sun Devils for first place.
• What is the problem with UCLA this season? They have two of the best pitchers in the college game but continue to have no offense. This time on Friday, they were two hit by Cal-State Bakersfield RHP Mike McCarthy who pitched the Roadrunners to a 5-1 victory. Junior catcher Jeremy Rodriguez led the offense by going 3-3 with a run scored and two RBI while freshman shortstop Tyler Shryock also went 2-3 with a homer, RBI, and two runs scored.
• The injuries are starting to show their head with the TCU Horned Frogs as they dropped a 7-6 decision in 11 innings to the Utah Utes. Trey Nielsen led the offense for the Utes picking up three RBI while hitting a homer. The win by Utah pulls the Utes within a 1/2 game of the Horned Frogs as they battle it out for first place in the Mountain West conference this weekend in Fort Worth.
• Noe Ramirez faced only three batters over the minimum as he pitched eight innings giving up only one run on two hits while striking out seven batters in a 4-2 victory over Long Beach State. His record was upped to 8-2 with the win. Nick Ramirez picked up the save for the Titans by pitching the ninth inning where he gave up a run but was able to squad the threat to get his 13th save of the year.