Stanford will host a regional for the second straight year after winning the top heavy Pac-12 this season. Three-seed Cal State Fullerton also returns to this regional for the second consecutive postseason. Big 12 tournament champion Baylor comes in as the two-seed while the Horizon league auto-bid Wright State rounds out the field as the four-seed. Here is a brief team-by-team breakdown and the projected winner:
- Stanford 44-10 (22-8)
The Cardinal are a balanced team, entering with a .283 team batting average and a 2.85 staff ERA. All three of their weekend starters finished with sub-3 earned run averages. The Beck Brothers, Brandon and Tristan, put up ERAs of 2.44 and 2.99 respectively. They combined for a 14-4 record. Kris Bubic went 8-1 with a 2.73 ERA in 79.0 innings this season. Utility Andrew Daschbach lead the team in production, hitting .286 with 16 HR and 61 RBI. Outfielder Kyle Stowers batted .302 with 10 HR and 42 RBI to follow closely behind. Infielder Nico Hoerner leads the team with a .349 average. Stanford enters the tournament as No. 2 in the RPI and has a 10-7 record against regional teams. Three of those wins came in the opening series sweep of Cal State Fullerton.
- Baylor 36-19 (13-11)
Baylor finished fifth in the Big 12 before catching fire and winning the conference tournament. Their RPI ranking is 32 with an 8-11 record versus regional teams this year. Their offense is dangerous, boasting a .289 team average with eight players accumulating 30 or more RBI. Outfielder Richard Cunningham leads the charge with a .344 average, 9 HR and 38 RBI. C/1B Andy Thomas hit .343 with 34 RBI this year. Infielder Davis Wendel batted .319 with 8 HR and 45 RBI. The pitching staff put up a 3.19 ERA. Cody Bradford went 7-5 with a 2.38 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 90.2 innings pitched. Tyler Thomas followed with a 3-2 mark and a 2.77 ERA in 52.0 innings. Finally, Hayden Kelter rounded out the weekend starting with an 8-4 record and 3.64 ERA in 81.2 innings.
- Cal State Fullerton 32-23 (18-6)
This isn’t the typical Titan baseball team. The team ERA is only 3.52. That’s still pretty solid, however, it isn’t as good as it normally is for these guys. Fullerton sits at No. 52 in the RPI which is also unusually low for them. They only have a 3-11 record against regional teams. The good news is, the offense seems to pack a bit more punch than usual. Catcher Daniel Cope batted .286 with 5 HR and 40 RBI to help lead the team to a cumulative .271 average. Outfielder Mitchell Berryhill hit .308 with 22 RBI. Fellow outfielder Ruben Cardenas batted .295 with 3 HR and 34 RBI. Despite not being as strong overall as most years, Fullerton has the experience and knows how to win in the postseason. Don’t sleep on them.
- Wright State 39-15 (22-6)
It is a mystery how well Wright State will do because they only played one top-25 team this season and zero regional squads. All we know is that they are 69th in the RPI, won the regular season and tournament championships in the Horizon league, and have played spoiler in the past. Their offense features 9 players with averages above .275 en route to a .298 team mark. First baseman Gabe Snyder and outfielder Peyton Burdick are one of the best offensive duos in the nation. Snyder hit .363 with 15 HR and 72 RBI while Burdick put up a .356 mark with 9 HR and 65 RBI. Ryan Weiss leads the pitching staff with a 9-2 record, 3.40 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 92.2 innings. The staff had a 3.77 ERA this year. At the very least, this team should be fun to watch.
Prediction:
I think Stanford is the obvious favorite in this regional. Not only are they the home team, they have the most balance and have put up the best numbers against strong competition. Baylor’s offense could make them scary, but I don’t think their pitching depth is quite good enough to keep up with the Cardinal.
Winner: Stanford
