Colby Woodmansee (Arizona State)

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Ten Thoughts From Opening Day

1. NEW BALL EARNS POSITIVE REVIEWS

A larger sample size than one day of games is needed to draw accurate conclusions about the new ball in college baseball, but it’s safe to say the early returns are very positive. Several players around the country experienced a power surge on opening day, ranging from Kentucky’s Greg Fettes beginning the day with a pair of homers, while Georgia State’s Matt Rose also finished the afternoon with a pair of homers. Impressive individual performances were aplenty around the country, but perhaps no situation demonstrated the change with the new ball quite like Georgia, en route to its 18-3 win and 20-hit performance against Eastern Illinois.

The Bulldogs aren’t expected to have an ultra powerful offense this season, but you wouldn’t know that from their immense production against the Panthers. The Bulldogs smacked five homers against EIU, two of them coming from the bat of second baseman Mike Bell.

Why’s this relevant, again? Georgia finished last season with 13 homers … for the season.

Time will tell if the new ball truly is a game-changer, but it’s looking good. Several scouts, coaches and fans remarked to me throughout the day about how much better the ball seemed to carry, while all the discussion last Opening Day was about how the ball and bats continue to kill college baseball.

Stay tuned. It’s looking good.

2. CAN I HAVE MY UPSET PICK BACK?

If you’ve been on the new and improved D1Baseball.com since relaunch, you know how high I am on College of Charleston, and how sure I was the Cougars were going to pull off an Opening Weekend upset on the road against South Carolina. Well, my opinion changed when Charleston head coach Monte Lee announced sophomore righthander Bailey Ober would miss the series because of tightness.

That decision to switch my pick might come back to haunt me.

What an impressive Opening Day the Cougars had, beating South Carolina 6-3, while also out-hitting the Gamecocks 14-4. On the mound, veteran righthander Taylor Clarke once again was good, striking out five and allowing just a run on two hits in six innings, while the offense did the rest with freshman leadoff hitter Ryan Brown, Blake Butler, Morgan Phillips, Erven Roper, Bradley Jones and Champ Rowland each finishing the afternoon with two hits.

Charleston is in position to take this series on Saturday with the two teams playing a doubleheader to escape inclement/cold weather on Sunday. Taking this series without Ober would be a significant statement.

3. CHAMPS START THINGS WITH A SHUTOUT

Repeating as national champion is an incredibly difficult task, and Vanderbilt still has a long way to go before it needs to worry about that. But it was interesting to see how the ‘Dores played against a scrappy Santa Clara club on Opening Day.

It was business as usual for Tim Corbin’s team. Vandy righthander Carson Fulmer got the starting nod, and was characteristically impressive, striking out seven and allowing just two hits in five shutout frames. But the big return for Vandy was lefthander Philip Pfeifer, who struck out five and allowed just a hit in four shutout innings of work in the 4-0 triumph over the Broncos.

4. TULANE COULD BE A BIG SURPRISE

The rest of the weekend could go a different direction, but what an impressive debut for coach David Pierce and the Green Wave, beating Pepperdine on the road, 9-3. Tulane starting pitcher Corey Merrill allowed two runs on four hits in 3 1/3 innings, but the bullpen was terrific with Eric Steel tossing 4 2/3 shutout frames. The Green Wave also got a good offensive performance from touted prospects Jake Rogers and Stephen Alemais, who each finished the afternoon with three hits.

I have zero doubt Pierce and his coaching staff will win at an impressive level at some point, but perhaps that point is as early as this season.

5. RACKING UP THOSE STRIKEOUTS

We’ve discussed several high-profile pitchers who had good starts on Opening Day, but what about a pair of mid-major arms in Navy lefthander Luke Gillingham and The Citadel lefty James Reeves?

Let’s start with Gillingham, who helped lead the Midshipmen to an 8-1 road win over North Carolina A&T. The lefty struck out 16 and allowed just one hit in seven shutout innings, throwing 63 strikes in 93 pitches. Incredibly, he fanned the first 12 batters of the game in order, en route to the most strikeouts by a Navy pitcher since 1986. Meanwhile, Reeves was brilliant in a 5-3 win over Air Force. The physical 6-foot-3, 200-pounder, struck out 14 and allowed a run on two hits in six innings.

6. WELCOME BACK, COLE IRVIN

Oregon got some big news earlier this week when head coach George Horton announced Irvin, the talented lefthander, as the Opening Day starter. Irvin was one of the nation’s elite arms as a freshman, but an arm injury and Tommy John surgery sidelined him last season. Irvin, though, made remarkable progress over the past year and returned to the mound in a 12-0 win over Hawaii on Friday.

Irvin struck out four, didn’t walk anyone and allowed just two hits in four innings. His rapid return should pay huge dividends for the Ducks moving forward.

7. NOT SO MUCH OF A DUEL

Earlier this week, we featured the pitching matchup between Kennesaw State’s Jordan Hillyer and Liberty’s Parker Bean. Well, the two took the mound on Opening Day, and let’s just say neither start turned out as planned.

Bean lasted just three innings for the Flames in an 11-9 setback. The sophomore righty walked a pair of hitters and allowed eight runs (six earned) on six hits in three innings. Meanwhile, Hillyer had three solid innings before he allowed five runs in the fourth to help Liberty make a fierce comeback. The Flames didn’t execute the comeback, but did touch up Hillyer for five runs (two earned) on three hits in four innings.

8. COLOR ME SURPRISED

West Virginia has earned positive reviews for its level of play the past couple of seasons. The Mountaineers were expected to take a decent-sized step back this spring, but perhaps that won’t be the case. WVU began its 2015 campaign with an impressive 2-0 road win over Clemson.

WVU freshman righthander B.J. Myers had a career debut to remember. Myers struck out five, walked four and allowed just four hits in five shutout innings. Meanwhile, Clemson’s Matthew Crownover struck out eight in six shutout frames, but that wasn’t enough as WVU reliever Blake Smith slammed the door on the back-end of the game, striking out five and allowing just two hits in four innings.

Another WVU win over Clemson this weekend would help the Big 12’s profile entering the rest of the season.

9. NEW COACHES TRIUMPH AT INDIANA, ARIZONA STATE

New Indiana head coach Chris Lemonis decided several weeks ago to move righthanded reliever Scott Effross to the weekend rotation. His theory was he wants to keep all of his best arms in the weekend rotation, or at least try them as starting pitchers. Well, it looks like Effross will do just fine in the weekend rotation, as he put together a gem in his redemption game against Stanford, leading his team to a 4-2 win over the Cardinal to begin the season.

Effross struck out three and allowed just a run on five hits in six innings. Also worth noting, Stanford’s Tommy Edman, last year’s Bloomington Super Regional hero, went 0-for-4 against the Hoosiers Friday night.

Down in Arizona, former Indiana head coach and new Arizona State head coach Tracy Smith captured a win of his own, as ASU shortstop Colby Woodmansee hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to beat Oklahoma State 4-3. The Devils outhit OSU 12-7, and righthanded closer Ryan Burr was terrific out of the pen, striking out five and allowing just a hit in two shutout frames.

Woodmansee is an interesting player and prospect to watch the rest of the season. After putting together a good summer, Woodmansee had a good fall and showed the ASU coaches he has a lot of upside. Woodmansee is a quality defensive shortstop who might just make a lot of noise at the plate, too.

10. MATUELLA MEETS EXPECTATIONS

When the baseball world projects you as the top candidate to be the top overall pick in the draft, it’s not easy to avoid the massive target on your back. Duke righthander Michael Matuella embraced the expectations in the season debut against California.

The Blue Devils defeated the Golden Bears 7-1 as the righty put together an impressive performance that included his typical low-to-mid 90s fastball. Matuella struck out eight, walked two and allowed four hits in six innings to lead the way.

Matuella still has more to prove, but Friday’s performance was a nice step in a positive direction.