NCAA Baseball Review: Fireworks Fly On Opening Weekend
Forget Opening Weekend – Opening Day saw six top-25 teams get upset by various opponents. Teams like Long Beach State, Bryant, and Southeast Missouri State announced their arrival to the season emphatically.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma State stole a series from Vanderbilt in Nashville, and Liberty took the series in Gainesville against top-10 Florida.
Below, we'll lay out the mayhem and takeaways from the first weekend of the 2022 college baseball season.
How The Top 25 Fared: The Winners
Brace yourselves, Omaha, the Texas Longhorns are here. Nearly unanimous atop preseason rankings, Texas made quick work of a good Rice ball club in Austin. Any doubts about this team were effectively put to bed behind fireworks from Ivan Melendez. He hit two mammoth home runs out of UFCU Disch-Falk Stadium.
Ole Miss also made a case for their top-five status, completing a weekend sweep of visiting Charleston Southern. LSU, NC State, Florida State, and Oregon State all took care of business.
Arizona may be the standout of the weekend, coming away from another loaded College Baseball Showdown tournament field unscathed. On the way, they took down #14 Texas Tech in emphatic fashion, 13-2.
Arkansas, Stanford, Notre Dame, TCU, and Duke all came away from their series and tournaments with winning records.
How The Top 25 Fared: The Losers
It's hard to lead off the disappointments of the weekend without Mississippi State. They set school attendance records and raised a banner, but they also dropped two of three games to #24 Long Beach State. The defending champions lost plenty of production, but they do return two of the best players in the nation and are expected to make another run at Omaha. This isn't the way they wanted to start the year.
Florida baseball is an enigma. Coming off a severely disappointing season in 2021, they dropped two of three to Liberty (who found their way inside the Week 2 Top 25). While pitching was expectedly good, the bats fell silent on the weekend. The Gators scored four and three runs in the two losses.
Dallas Baptist blew leads in more than one game this weekend and were swept by Southeast Missouri State at home. The typically-competitive Patriots come away from their opener with three stinging losses.
#12 East Carolina may have been the biggest disappointment of the action, being swept by unranked Bryant. The offense was expected to be excellent this season, young as the group is, but offense is what failed the Pirates.
Series of the Weekend
The Oklahoma State Cowboys are here, folks.
After losing two of three to Vanderbilt a season ago in Stillwater, the Pokes took two of three, including the final two games, in Nashville. Pitching was on display in this one, with Oklahoma State allowing just 11 runs in three games. Vanderbilt also pitched well (per usual), shutting out the Pokes in the opening game and also only allowing 11 runs in three games.
One thing's clear moving forward for the Pokes: Justin Campbell won't be doing it along; Bryce Osmond and Kale Davis helped Oklahoma State along as well.
Oklahoma State lost the first game 3-0, but won the following two 4-3 and 7-5.
The Lumber Got A Workout
What happens when you allow 6'+, 210+ pound college sluggers swing around an aluminum bat? You get hits like Melendez's (above) and one like this from NC State's Tommy White (Player of the Week). White would hit FIVE home runs this weekend:
... and one titanic shot from Tennessee's Drew Gilbert:
There were plenty of displays of defense and pitching excellence (Cal State Fullerton), but some ballparks hosted home run derbies. Never, ever a dull weekend in college baseball.
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