- Houston (40-19, 15-9)
RPI: 17
2017 Season Review
Houston started off the year beating Wake Forest twice, which now looks like two huge wins. They played a pretty difficult schedule with a SOS of 36. They were 13-10 against teams in the top 50 of the RPI, and 24-17 against the top 100. The Cougars finished the season strong by winning four straight games in the American Baseball Tournament to win the championship and earn the chance to host a regional. Houston has eight pitchers that have thrown at least 18.1 innings with an ERA of 3.72 or less. Their offense is not too bad either with a combined team batting average of .290.
Players to Watch
- Jake Scheiner: .347, 48 R, 17 HR, 57 RBI
- Corey Julks: .323, 32 R, 7 HR, 41 RBI, 14 SB
- Trey Cumbie: 10-1, 1.88 ERA, 96 IP, 80 K
- Aaron Fletcher: 2.19 ERA, 8 SV, 37 IP, 36 K
- Baylor (34-12, 12-12)
RPI: 20
2017 Season Review
Baylor won its first 10 games of the season before losing to LSU in the Shriner’s Classic. They bounced back to beat Texas A&M in that same weekend, and now they will face the Aggies to begin this regional. The weekend after that, they won 2-of-3 against Houston, who is hosting this regional. So the Bears are very familiar with the main opponents in this regional. However, things didn’t go quite as well for Baylor in Big 12 play as they lost their first four series in conference play. They went limping into the Big 12 Tournament losing a series to Kansas State, and they went 2-and-out in the tournament. However, their early season work was enough to earn them a 2-seed in the Houston regional. They were 16-13 against teams in the top 50, and 24-20 against the top 100.
Players to Watch
- Shea Langeliers: .324, 42 R, 10 HR, 38 RBI
- Aaron Dodson: .335, 35 R, 10 HR, 38 RBI
- Montana Parsons: 5-3, 2.81 ERA, 83.1 IP, 67 K
- Kyle Hill: 2.79 ERA, 42 IP, 54 K
- Troy Montemayor: 1.08 ERA, 12 SV, 25 IP, 28 K
- Texas A&M (36-21, 16-14)
RPI: 46
2017 Season Review
The Aggies had a great start to the season winning nine of their first 10 before losing to TCU and Baylor in the Shriner’s Classic. They bounced back to win five straight after that weekend, but then lost their first five games in SEC play. However, they followed that up by going to Alex Box Stadium and taking 2-of-3 from LSU, and then they gave Auburn its first conference series loss of the season. Starting with that Auburn series, they went on to win 14 of their next 16 games. Then they hit another lull at the end of the regular season losing their last three conference series and then getting bounced in their first game of the SEC Baseball Tournament. Texas A&M is a team that can get hot and run through a regional, but you just don’t know what team is going to show up.
Players to Watch
- Braden Shewmake: .343, 40 R, 10 HR, 65 RBI, 11 SB
- Nick Choruby: .307, 51 R, 3 HR, 26 RBI, 11 SB
- Brigham Hill: 7-3, 2.96 ERA, 85 IP, 95 K
- Kaylor Chafin: 2.54 ERA, 63.2 IP, 61 K
- Iowa (38-20, 15-9)
RPI: 82
2017 Season Review
Like many teams up North, Iowa did a lot of traveling at the beginning of the season leading to an unimpressive record of 11-8 before conference play started. Even then things didn’t get much better for the Hawkeyes, but they won their last four conference series. Then they caught fire in the Big 10 Baseball Tournament beating Northwestern 13-4 in the title game to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Jake Adams is tied for the most home runs in the country with 27, so we’ll see if he takes sole possession during the regional.
Players to Watch
- Jake Adams: .339, 52 R, 27 HR, 70 RBI
- Mason McCoy: .328, 54 R, 5 HR, 34 RBI
- Nick Gallagher: 8-1, 3.39 ERA, 90.1 IP, 83 K
- Josh Martsching: 5-0, 2.36 ERA, 7 SV, 42 IP, 42 K
Prediction: I really think this regional comes down to Texas A&M and Houston. I don’t have much faith in Baylor at this point. Really, the only team playing good baseball in this group right now is Houston. Baylor and Texas A&M both stumbled at the end of the season and into their conference tournaments. I think the Aggies have the firepower and pitching to get hot and win a few games. Iowa is a good enough 4-seed to win a game in this regional as well. I think the pitching of the Cougars allows them to breeze through this regional and advance to the super regionals.
