Another exciting weekend is here, and our preview focuses on George Iskenderian and Miami hosting Florida State, upstart South Florida, and five teams needing wins.

SHARE







Weekend Preview: April 24-26

What’s Covered:

• Miami Hopes To Turn The Tide vs. FSU — by Kendall Rogers

• Surprising South Florida in the mix for American crown — by Aaron Fitt

• Five Teams Needing Wins — by Kendall Rogers

High Stakes: Miami hopes to buck FSU trend

BY KENDALL ROGERS

The Florida State-Miami series is best played when stakes are highest.

There have been some epic bouts between the Seminoles and Hurricanes, and the best part of it? There’s very little love lost between the programs and fan bases. Sure, there’s a little respect here and there from the players. After all, who wouldn’t respect the traditions of both programs? That’s where it all stops, though.

Tallahassee, Coral Gables, wherever, it’s always a hard-nosed series that typically has wide-ranging ramifications in the Atlantic Coast Conference and often on the national stage, too. This season is no different. While the Hurricanes were a national seed in last week’s projections, they dropped a tough road series to Virginia last weekend, and as a result, the Seminoles moved in as one of our national seeds this week. For all intents and purposes, it’s strongly believed that the winner of this series is in the driver’s seat for one of those always-important eight national seeds with both teams in very good shape RPI and resume-wise.

Add to that the drama and intensity of Florida State and Miami, and you have the recipe for yet another epic series in South Florida this weekend.

“It’s Miami-Florida State. That’s all you have to say, really,” Miami coach Jim Morris said. “It’s a big series, and we’ve had so many series between the two teams that are exactly like this. They’re that big. It’s a great rivalry, but it’s also one of those series where you have to put all the numbers aside. It could go either direction.”

Miami lefthander Andrew Suarez is having a solid season as expected. (Miami Athletics)

While the Hurricanes have experienced plenty of success against some teams over the past few years, they enter the weekend looking to buck an ugly trend against FSU. Most in college baseball won’t realize this, but the ‘Canes haven’t captured a regular-season series win over the Seminoles since 2009. Morris, though, to his credit, is no stranger to getting the best of his fellow legendary head coach in Mike Martin, as he does have the ultimate trump card from way back in 1999 when the Hurricanes defeated the Seminoles 6-5 in the national title game, finishing that season with an outstanding 50-13 record.

Right now, Morris and the Hurricanes really want to turn the page and get a new streak started against their foes from the capital city.

“I’ll always remember a lot of games against those guys,” Morris said. “But that ’99 season, we beat them in several games that year, and beat them in the national title game. So that one stands out, but we’ve had some great games with each other over the years.

“I don’t think our guys are thinking about [the five-series losing streak to FSU],’ Morris continued. “It’s a challenge, it’s the biggest series of the year, and I think our guys are really, really looking forward to facing a great team like that.”

Miami hopes to return to normalcy this weekend after dropping a tough road series to Virginia last weekend. The Hurricanes have been consistent this spring, especially here as of late, series against the Cavaliers aside. The ‘Canes were expected to finish third in the ACC Coastal Division going into the year, but have exceeded expectations thus far, sitting comfortably in first place at 15-6 in the division and a whopping 4 1/2 games ahead of second-place North Carolina.

“We’ve got some big wins, and we’ve got some losses. We’ve also got some sweeps, but sheesh, baseball is a crazy game,” Morris said. “We go to Virginia and lose two of three, those guys lose a series to Virginia Tech, and we handle VT pretty handily. That’s just baseball.”

Miami has shown improvements in many areas this season, but most noticeable are the offensive contributions. Even with a 44-19 overall record last season, the ‘Canes finished the year with a .257 batting average and had just one everyday player with a batting average over .300. That was Dale Carey, and he’s now long gone. Now, though? The Hurricanes are one of many teams in today’s game benefitting from the new ball, to an extent, and are now hitting .299 with 30 homers (five more than they had all of last year) and four everyday players hitting over .300.

Hurricanes second baseman George Iskenderian has been the most pleasant surprise. Iskenderian was a non-factor in his first season at South Carolina. But after transferring out and hoping for a fresh start, he had a good year at Indian River (Fla.) CC before arriving at Miami and getting off to a good start. Iskenderian leads the team with a .360/.436/.572 along with eight doubles, two triples, two homers and 34 RBIs. He’s also got some speed with 14 stolen bases and has really developed into a spark plug for Morris’ club.

“I think with George, and I’ve been guilty of it plenty of times, he probably went in there [South Carolina], and him being a young guy, you can sometimes give up on someone a little too soon,” he said. “The thing about George is he’s a really good athlete. He’s a big-barreled chested guy, who most people wouldn’t think, but can really run. He’s a pretty loose player, too.”

Miami third baseman David Thompson continues to have a great year with double-digit homers and 50 RBIs, while Zack Collins hasn’t been particularly consistent with his bat, but still has plenty of power potential, ranking second on the team in homers, with athletic freshman Carl Chester right behind him with four homers.

Thomas Woodrey has been terrific for the Hurricanes. (Aaron Fitt)

As improved as Miami’s offense is this spring, the big key to this weekend and down the stretch is the consistency of the pitching staff. The Hurricanes made the decision going into the season to convert junior lefthander Thomas Woodrey from the bullpen to the weekend rotation, and he’s pitched well in that role, while the Hurricanes have enjoyed continued success from senior lefthander Andrew Suarez (2.09, 38.2 IP), and junior righthander Enrique Sosa is a quality option to finish off the weekend. While Suarez is a guy who can throw three pitches for strikes and will sit in the low-90s with his fastball, and Sosa, too, has a good arm with sinker/slider action and a straight changeup, Woodrey is more of the crafty and pitchability variety, and that suits him quite well with 30 strikeouts and just 10 walks in 56 innings.

“I think Woodrey has done an outstanding job. He’s kept us in every game, and you know you’re going to get six innings from him each time out,” Morris said. “He’s a finesse guy, and he’s one of those guys you walk back to the dugout as a hitter thinking that you’ll get him next time. But then you don’t.

“He’s one of those guys where velocity is overrated and the third-most important aspect of his game. He’s all about location and movement,” he continued. “He throws a lot of off speed stuff and his changeup is a really good pitch for him.”

Miami’s bullpen is another reason why this team is a scary one to watch as the postseason nears. While everyone knows about Bryan Garcia (2.96, 24.1 IP, 9 saves), 6-foot-3, 205-pound, righthander Cooper Hammond has been terrific in his many relief appearances. Hammond has tallied a 2.59 ERA in 24.1 innings of work and is tied with Michael Mediavilla with 22 appearances this spring.

All those arms and more will need to rise to the occasion with hard-hitting DJ Stewart and the Seminoles coming to town this weekend. Morris admitted that approaching that FSU lineup, and particularly Stewart, wasn’t exactly an easy task, but the Hurricanes have the arms to finish the weekend with a big series win.

It’s another potentially great Florida State-Miami series and, again, the stakes are high. Win the series and the Hurricanes can start feeling much better about their chances to earn a national seed.

And perhaps get one step closer to getting back to Omaha for the first time since 2008.

South Florida unexpectedly eyes AAC crown

BY AARON FITT

It was obvious to college baseball insiders that Mark Kingston was a home run hire for South Florida last summer. Everyone knew Kingston would turn the Bulls around and make them a bona fide contender. But nobody expected it to happen this fast — not even folks down in Tampa, surely.

Kingston did not inherit the most talented or accomplished roster. The Bulls went just 27-31 last season, missing regionals for the 12th straight year. Kingston and his coaching staff hit the ground running, inking a strong signing class during the early signing period in the fall, but expectations for 2015 were modest. USF looked thin on the mound (which it is) and appeared to lack offensive firepower and speed. They hit just nine home runs last year and stole just 31 bases, and they did not turn over much of the roster.

South Florida coach Mark Kingston (Aaron Fitt)

Yet with largely the same core of players from a year ago, the Bulls find themselves atop the American Athletic Conference standings at 8-4 and in strong at-large position with a No. 22 RPI. They are 27-14-1 overall against a schedule that ranks as the 13th-toughest in the nation, and they have a chance to really take control of the AAC with a series win at home this weekend against preseason favorite Houston.

Kingston knows his team’s remaining schedule is a meat-grinder, with series left at UCF, at Tulane and vs. UCF in the final three weeks after the Houston series. The Bulls own a couple of nice series wins at Connecticut and against East Carolina, but they slipped up last weekend with a series loss to Memphis. Whether or not the Bulls can keep it together down the stretch and make it into a regional this year, they should be thrilled just to be in this position after 10 weeks of the season, because they have made a remarkable transformation from a year ago.

Perhaps most strikingly, USF has just one new regular in the lineup, yet it has increased its home run output from nine to 28 (in just 42 games), and its stolen base total from 31 to 58. Coaching has a lot to do with that.

“I’ve always played with coaches and worked for coaches that really believed in trying to maximize the long ball and maximize the speed that we do have,” Kingston said. “Our roster is 99 percent the same offensively — Kevin Merrell is the one addition to the offense. But our emphasis from Day One has been to push the action on the bases and emphasize the power that we felt like they could have. I think the new ball has helped, the work in the weight room has really helped.

“The big thing for us is helping these guys learn how to use their lower body, using their legs and hips to drive the baseball. They’ve all bought into it and really tried to embrace that philosophy.”

Catcher Levi Borders, the son of former big league catcher Pat Borders, is a prime example. Borders hit .243/.341/.317 with one homer in 189 at-bats last year. Through 156 at-bats this year, he’s hitting .321/..412/.551 with seven homers, 36 RBIs and 11 doubles (which matches last year’s season total).

“Levi’s a guy that, I think he’s always had BP power and has been able to drive the ball,” Kingston said. “But he has long arms, so the key for him has been trying to keep his swing as short as possible, as often as possible.”

USF slugger Levi Borders (12) has celebrated home runs seven times this year (Aaron Fitt)

Luke Maglich has also made a big offensive jump, going from .244/.355/.348 with two homers last year to .289/.372/.467 with six homers this year. Buddy Putnam and Austin Lueck have combined to hit 12 homers this spring after hitting one combined last year. Borders’ brother Levi has also become a key middle-of-the-order run producer. And Merrell, the one newcomer, has provided a real spark, ranking second in the team in hitting (.309) and leading the team with 16 stolen bases, making him a a catalyst in the No. 2 hole.

“He’s made a big difference,” Kingston said. “He actually started the year in left field, but then we moved him in to second base and his defense has been very good at second base as well, which has been a pleasant surprise. We thought he could spark the offense, but he also has played really good defense at second base.”

The infield defense, led by Merrell and shortstop Kyle Teaf, has also improved from early in the season, which is partly a product of a coaching adjustment that Kingston made.

“We got off to a really slow start defensively, and I’ll take some of the blame for that, coming from the North,” said Kingston, the former head coach at Illinois State. “There are certain things you have to teach your guys about fielding the ball on slow fields (in the North), and we continued to do that when we first got there. The fields down here are so much faster that you have to make an adjustment to how we attack ground balls, so that has really made a difference.”

Still, USF’s lineup isn’t particularly deep, with just two .300 hitters and just five players batting above .240. Kingston has gotten a lot out of his hitters, just as he and pitching coach Billy Mohl have gotten the most out of their arms.

South Florida’s Jimmy Herget (Photo by Aaron Fitt)

At least the rotation has a true ace in junior righty Jimmy Herget (7-1, 2.49 with 76 strikeouts in 65 innings), a funky, deceptive low-slot bulldog whose stuff has gotten firmer this season. He regularly touches 94 mph early in games and pitches comfortably at 89-91 with a lively fastball, and he can keep hitters off balance by mixing his tempos. His 77-80 mph Frisbee slider has a lot of depth, giving righthanded hitters fits from his low slot, and he mixes in his mid-70s curveball and 83-85 changeup effectively.

“Jimmy Herget has been Jimmy Herget this year — he gives you a chance to win every time he’s on the mound,” Kingston said. “He loves to compete, his stuff has gotten even better this year, his strikeouts have gone up a ton this year. The key for him is to be able to work deeper into games to give our bullpen a rest on Fridays. Anytime you look at guys that are posting big strikeout numbers, sometimes they don’t go as deep into the games as you’d like. That’s something we’ll work on down the home stretch here; strikeouts are fine, but there’s nothing wrong with a one- or two-pitch out so you can get deeper into the game.”

South Florida RHP Casey Mulholland (Aaron Fitt)

Senior righty Casey Mulholland (4-5, 2.94) has also gotten better this year, showing better command and mound presence, and a bit more velocity. He used to top out at 91 mph, but now he pitches at 90-91 and can touch 93 to go along with a 83-85 mph slider/cutter that has shown more depth as the season has progressed, turning into more of a swing-and-miss pitch. USF’s Sunday starter this week is TBA, as freshman Joe Cavallaro (3-1, 2.68) has hit a bit of a freshman wall, according to Kingston. One option is swingman Ryan Valdes (5-1, 3.12), an undersized bulldog with good athleticism, a 90-92 mph fastball, a solid changeup and a breaking ball that remains a work in progress.

Other than those four, the Bulls really only have two more dependable arms — righthanded relievers Tommy Peterson (3-1, 1.76, 13 saves, 41-11 K-BB in 30.2 IP) and Michael Farley (3-1, 2.57, 44-17 K-BB in 35 IP). Farley, the setup man, works off an 86-89 fastball and a swing-and-miss breaking ball. Peterson’s emergence as a shutdown closer has been perhaps one of the very biggest keys to USF’s turnaround. Peterson sits at 90-94 mph and features a good slider when it’s on, though Kingston wants him to get more consistent with it. He also can mix in a changeup against lefties.

“I think the biggest boost to our pitching this year was Tommy Peterson going from a starter to a closer,” Kingston said. “I think that has allowed us to win a lot of close games that maybe would have slipped away in the past. He’s been up to 95 on more than one occasion. You’re looking at a guy that’s gotten himself into the best shape of his life. He’s now two years off Tommy John surgery. He went from a starter and trying to pace himself to, all right, try and get three to six outs and let it fly. The combination of all those things really helped Tommy come on the scene this year.”

And the combination of Peterson’s emergence and the improved speed and power of the offense has helped USF come on the scene this year too, earlier than scheduled.

Five Teams Needing Wins

BY KENDALL ROGERS

California: The Golden Bears still have a healthy standing in the Pac-12 Conference thanks to a strong start to conference action, but have work to do down the stretch fresh off a trio of series losses in a row to Washington State, Stanford and most recently, a hard-fought series against UCLA. With an RPI in the 70s, and just a 1-2 record vs. RPI Top 50 teams, the Bears need to rise to the occasion on the road against hard-hitting Arizona this weekend. Lose that series and Cal will have a tough time getting back into the mix with the remaining schedule.

Texas: It’s crazy to think we’re still talking about the Longhorns considering they have an RPI approaching 90 and a dismal overall resume. But get this, the Longhorns are just two games out of first place in the Big 12 Conference, and they get newly-formed baseball rival TCU, albeit on the road, this weekend. Texas shortstop CJ Hinojosa is coming off a strong weekend against Kansas, where he hit for the cycle in the series finale. It seems like a real long shot, but things could start getting interesting for the ‘Horns with a series win over the Horned Frogs. But then again, things get pretty impossible with a series loss to the Frogs. It’s a see-saw weekend for Augie Garrido’s club.

Alabama: This weekend’s series in Oxford, Miss., against the Rebels is a big one for coach Mitch Gaspard and his club. The Crimson Tide have all the potential in the world, but have struggled to find that consistency this spring. Now, with a 7-11 mark in the SEC and 5-14 mark vs. RPI Top 50 teams, this team suddenly has some real work to do the rest of the regular-season to get into the NCAA postseason, and even the conference tourney, mind you. Alabama does possess a good RPI of 30, but the rest of the metrics don’t add up to this being a postseason team at the moment. Therefore, this weekend is very big for this club. Alabama’s Jake Walters put together an impressive start last weekend against Missouri, and will need to be good again this weekend.

UCF: There’s no doubt Terry Rooney has a good team this season, but the Knights are finding it tough to get out of their current scuffle. The Knights have dropped three-straight series to Cincinnati, Connecticut and Tulane, and now have the tough chore of going on the road and facing a fast-improving East Carolina club with coach Cliff Godwin leading the charge. UCF’s RPI is approaching 50, and this team has suddenly transformed into one that was potentially in the hosting discussion to being on the bad side of the bubble with a 9-11 mark vs. RPI Top 50 teams.

NC State: The Wolfpack looked like a team a few weeks ago that could sneak their way into the postseason, but the tide has turned, and not for the better, here the past few weeks. The Pack has lost three-straight series to Florida State, North Carolina and Notre Dame, and getting out of that slump won’t be easy with Virginia in town this weekend. The Wolfpack has an RPI in the mid-60s, and the conference record isn’t great, so they will need to win a lot of games down the stretch, including this weekend’s must-win series against the Cavaliers.