This weekend, Stanford baseball will have a three-game series at No. 4 North Carolina to open up ACC play. Stanford comes in at 10-2 overall while North Carolina comes in at 13-0. Game one will be on Friday at 1:00 PM PT, game two will be on Saturday at 10:00 AM PT, and game three will be on Sunday at 10:00 AM PT. As a courtesy reminder to all of you, Sunday will be the first day of Daylight Savings Time. All three games will air on ACCNX.
Last time out: Stanford split against Xavier in their last series, going 2-2 against the Musketeers at home.
RECAP: Stanford BSB splits against Xavier
Probable pitchers: Stanford junior right-handed pitcher Matt Scott (3-0, 1.56 ERA) will get the start on Friday. Stanford sophomore left-handed pitcher Christian Lim (1-1, 5.65 ERA) is projected to get the start on Saturday. Stanford sophomore right-handed pitcher Joey Volchko (1-0, 7.71 ERA) is projected to get the start on Sunday.
On North Carolina: The Tarheels are one of the top teams in the nation, coming off a run to the College World Series. They are a perfect 13-0 on the season, which is really impressive even though they’ve played a pretty soft schedule up to this point. They were taken into extra innings against No. 24 Coastal Carolina in their most recent outing, winning 5-4 in the 11th inning.
The Friday night starter for the Tarheels is sophomore right-handed pitcher Jason DeCaro (3-0, 0.50 ERA). He has been lights out this season. Their number two starter is senior right-handed pitcher Aidan Haugh (2-0, 3.14 ERA). While he hasn’t been as good as DeCaro, he’s stilll been pitching very well. The top reliever for the Tarheels is freshman right-handed pitcher Walker McDuffie (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 save in 5 appearances). So they got a good bullpen in addition to a great starting rotation.
The top contact and power hitter for the Tarheels, is graduate student infielder Hunter Stokely, who is batting .438 for four home runs, 17 RBIs, a .750 slugging percentage, and a .517 on base percentage. The number two contact hitter is graduate student infielder Alex Madera, who is batting .340 for eight RBIs to go along with a .420 slugging percentage and a .410 on base percentage. The number two power hitter is sophomore catcher Luke Stevenson who is batting .261 for three home runs, 13 RBIs, a .478 slugging percentage, and a .443 on base percentage.
As a team, the Tarheels are batting .299 for 11 home runs, 95 RBIs, a .460 slugging percentage, and a .421 on base percentage. Their opponents are batting .226 for 12 home runs, 41 RBIs, a .345 slugging percentage, and a .303 on base percentage. Their pitching staff has a 3.18 ERA while their opponents have a 7.79 ERA.
Keys to the series: The first thing Stanford needs to do is make sure their bullpen holds steady. They should be able to put up at least a decent amount of runs, but where this series could go sideways for them is if the bullpen doesn’t do its job.
Secondly, Stanford really needs to get a strong performance from Christian Lim and Joey Volchko, the Saturday and Sunday starting pitchers. Both guys have had rough starts to the season and need to settle in. Volchko was solid in his last outing while Lim not so much. If those guys can do their jobs, that more than anything would help Stanford win the series.
Finally, Stanford needs to make sure they are smart with their base running. It can be easy for teams to get greedy and try to do too much. As long as they trust in their lineup and don’t force things, they should have a shot at making this series interesting.
Prediction: I’ll pick North Carolina to win the series 2-1. I don’t see Stanford getting swept, but with how North Carolina has started the season as well as coming off a trip to the College World Series, I gotta roll with them to win the series.
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