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Regional Watching

The Cape League season is less than two weeks away but if you need to whet your appetite, you’re in luck. The NCAA tournament begins today with 32 regional games.

Some Cape notes down below, but first, courtesy of SEBaseball.com, here’s a Friday schedule, sorted by time and with TV info included. Most games are available online at ESPN3.com. Four will be televised on ESPNU: Troy vs. Alabama at 12 p.m., Wichita State vs. Kansas State at 3 p.m., East Tennessee State vs. Vanderbilt at 5 p.m., and Columbia vs. Cal State Fullerton at 11 p.m.

Friday:
Noon ET Troy vs Alabama (Tallahassee) ESPNU

1 ET Coastal Carolina vs Oklahoma (Blacksburg) ESPN3
1 ET Towson vs Florida Atlantic (Chapel Hill) ESPN3
1 ET Liberty vs Clemson (Columbia) ESPN3
1 ET Florida vs Austin Peay (Bloomington) ESPN3
1 ET Army vs Virginia (Charlottesville) ESPN3

2 ET William & Mary vs Ole Miss (Raleigh) ESPN3
2 ET Georgia Tech vs. Illinois (Nashville) ESPN3
2 ET Oklahoma State vs. Miami (Louisville) ESPN3

3 ET Wichita State vs Kansas State (Manhattan) ESPNU
3 ET UC Santa Barbara vs Texas A&M (Corvallis) ESPN3
3 ET Mercer vs South Alabama (Starkville) ESPN3
3 ET Jackson State vs LSU (Baton Rouge) ESPN3

5 ET San Francisco vs Rice (Eugene) ESPN3
5 ET Savannah State vs Florida State (Tallahassee) ESPN3
5 ET San Diego vs Cal Poly (Los Angeles) ESPN3

5:30 ET Connecticut vs Virginia Tech (Blacksburg) ESPN3

6 ET Canisius vs North Carolina (Chapel Hill) ESPN3
6 ET Bowling Green vs Louisville (Louisville) ESPN3
6 ET Elon vs UNC Wilmington (Charlottesville) ESPN3

7 ET Valparaiso vs Indiana (Bloomington) ESPN3
7 ET Binghamton vs NC State (Raleigh) ESPN3
7 ET East Tennessee State vs Vanderbilt (Nashville) ESPNU
7 ET Saint Louis vs South Carolina (Columbia) ESPN3
7 ET New Mexico vs Arizona State (Fullerton) ESPN3

8 ET UTSA vs Oregon State (Corvallis) ESPN3
8 ET Central Arkansas vs Mississippi State (Starkville) ESPN3
8 ET Bryant vs Arkansas (Manhattan) ESPN3
8 ET Sam Houston State vs Louisiana(Baton Rouge) ESPN3

9 ET South Dakota State vs Oregon (Eugene) ESPN3
9 ET San Diego State vs UCLA (Los Angeles) ESPN3

11 ET Columbia vs Cal State Fullerton (Fullerton) ESPNU

 

CAPE LEAGUE FLAVORED REGIONAL NOTES

  • Cape League mainstay North Carolina is your No. 1 national seed. The Heels have seven players on Cape League rosters, led by freshmen Skye Bolt (Harwich) and Landon Lassiter (Chatham). Bolt has also been invited to Team USA. Also in the Chapel Hill Regional is Florida Atlantic, who’s led by future Bourne Brave Austin Gomber, the ace of the Owls’ staff.

  • Wareham fans will have their pick of Gatemen champions to root for this weekend. Tyler Horan leads Virginia Tech as it hosts a regional, Daniel Palka and Mott Hyde take Georgia Tech to the Nashville regional and Kyle Schwarber will be leading Indiana as it hosts a regional for the first time.

  • If East Tennessee State can pull off a monumental upset of Vanderbilt, Clint Freeman will probably be at the center of it. The future Bourne Brave hit .336 with 10 homers this year.

  • Casey Gillaspie, future Falmouth Commodore and brother of former Commodore Conor Gillaspie, will be in action on ESPNU at 3 as Wichita State takes on Kansas State. Gillaspie had a big sophomore season.

  • Former Chatham Angler Kris Bryant has had an incredible season for San Diego and is likely to be drafted in the top three picks next week. He and the Toreros take on Cal Poly at 5 p.m. in the L.A. regional.

  • San Francisco is making just its third regional appearance. The Dons have led offensively by future Cotuit Kettleer Bradley Zimmer, who’s brother Kyle is a former Kettleer and a first-round draft pick.

  • Bryant University, in its first year of D-I postseason eligibility, is in Kansas and will take on Arkansas. Craig Schlitter (Falmouth ’12) has had a big hand in the team’s success this year.

  • Alex Bregman has been invited to Team USA, so he may not make it to Harwich this summer. But the LSU freshman is worth watching anyway. He and the Tigers play Jackson State at 3 p.m.

  • Louisville is sending a huge contingent to the Cape this summer and has quite a few former Cape Leaguers as well. The Cards are hosting a regional and they take on Bowling Green at 6 p.m.

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    Streaking Cavaliers Head to Tech

    Virginia was unranked in Baseball America’s preseason poll. Thirty wins in 34 games later, and the Cavaliers are ranked fifth. They’ll get a test this weekend when they head to Atlanta to take on No. 19 Georgia Tech, a team that’s full of former Cape Leaguers.

    Schedule
    Friday, 7 p.m.
    Saturday, 1 p.m.
    Sunday, 1 p.m.
    *Games will be broadcast on ESPN3

    2013 Cape Leaguers
    Virginia
    Branden Cogswell – INF – Harwich
    Nick Howard – INF – Harwich
    Derek Fisher – OF – Harwich
    Brandon Downes – C/OF – Y-D

    Georgia Tech
    Matt Gonzalez – INF – Bourne

    Notable
    Cape League Nucleus
    The four Virginia players that are slated to play in the Cape League this summer also happen to be four of the team’s top five hitters. Branden Cogswell (Harwich) leads the way with a .367 batting average, while Brandon Downes (Y-D) has been the team’s most productive hitter, with a .311 average and team bests in home runs (five) and RBI (35). Interestingly, only one of the four – Derek Fisher (Harwich) – was a full-time starter last year, which might have something to do with the lack of preseason love for Virginia.

    Gone Fishin’
    The aforementioned Fisher might be the best prospect of the bunch. He was named the top prospect in the Northwoods League by Baseball America last summer. Outside of being the Cape’s top prospect, that’s about as well as you can do in summer collegiate baseball. Fisher is hitting .306 with three homers this year.

    Tech Vets
    Georgia Tech’s starting lineup is dominated by juniors and seniors, which is why the program won’t have a big Cape League presence in 2013. Most of Tech’s standouts have already played on the Cape. That list includes CCBL stalwarts Brandon Thomas, who’s hitting .429, and Daniel Palka, who’s at .372 with eight homers. Then there’s Zane Evans. He hit .128 for Harwich last summer. This spring, he’s hitting .347 and is tied for sixth in the nation with 10 home runs.

    Gonzo
    The one freshman regular in the Tech lineup – and the one 2013 Cape Leaguer – is second baseman Matt Gonzalez, and he has more than held his own among the veterans. His .371 batting average is good for fourth on the team. Gonzalez was an 11th round pick in the MLB draft last year.