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Rebels, Commodores set for SEC showdown

No. 2 LSU and No. 10 Kentucky are squaring off this weekend, but that’s not the only SEC battle worth watching for Cape League fans. No. 3 Vanderbilt will visit Ole Miss, with each team featuring six players who are on 2013 Cape League rosters. As a bonus, all three games will be broadcast on ESPN3.

Vanderbilt is 26-4 overall and 8-1 in the SEC. The Rebels are 23-6 but have gotten off to a tough 4-5 start in conference play.

Schedule
Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 5 p.m.
Sunday, 2:30 p.m.

2013 Cape Leaguers
Vanderbilt
Tyler Beede – RHP – Cotuit
Carson Fulmer – RHP – Cotuit
Brian Miller – RHP – Cotuit
Rhett Wiseman – OF – Cotuit
Jared Miller – LHP – Orleans
Philip Pfeifer – LHP – Orleans

Missouri
Hawtin Buchanan – RHP – Bourne
Josh Laxer – RHP – Bourne
Chris Ellis – RHP – Cotuit
Brady Bramlett – RHP – Falmouth
Jacob Waguespack – RHP – Falmouth

Notable
Arms Race
Vanderbilt’s pitching has just been ridiculous this year. I don’t know how anyone can take a series from them. Former Cape Leaguer Kevin Ziomek has been the ace, but 2013 Cape Leaguers Tyler Beede (Cotuit) and Philip Pfeifer (Orleans) haven’t been far behind. Beede is 7-0 with a 0.99 ERA, best among starting pitchers in the SEC. Opponents are hitting .151 against him. Pfeifer has a 3.86 ERA.

Leading Off
Former Cotuit Kettleer Tony Kemp ranks sixth in the SEC in hitting at .375. He has also stolen 14 bases, and his on-base percentage is .486.

Bullpen Rebels
Hawtin Buchanan, Jacob Waguespack and Chris Ellis have all pitched sparingly for Ole Miss because of injuries, but Josh Laxer and Brady Bramlett have been two of the players who’ve picked up the slack. Bramlett has a 1.53 ERA in five appearances, with three starts. Laxer has also pitched out of the bullpen and in a starting role, posting a 2.45 ERA.

Emerging Ace
In his time on Cape Cod, Bobby Wahl was a lights-out closer for Cotuit. He’s now a starter – and an ace. Wahl is 6-0 for the Rebels with a 1.80 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 45 innings pitched. The Friday match-up between Wahl and Ziomek – both former Kettleers – should be a dandy.

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Breaking Out

The summer belonged to Sean Manaea. Pre-draft talk revolved around the big three – Manaea, Mark Appel and Ryne Stanek. Kevin Ziomek was there the whole time, not even really under the radar, just not quite turning every head.

Now he’s officially crashing the party.

The Vanderbilt junior and former Cotuit Kettleer has been the best pitcher in the country through the first month of the college baseball season, and I’m not sure it’s close. Ziomek is tied for the national lead in strikeouts with North Carolina State sophomore Carlos Rodon, but Rodon’s ERA sits at 5.14. Ziomek’s ERA? Try 0.87.

Ziomek has struck out 46 and walked only seven in 31 innings. He’s 4-0 and has allowed 12 hits in four starts, for a nice little average of three per game. Opponents are hitting .118 against him.

And that’s not even everything.

Ziomek has hurled two absolutely dominant complete games. In a 9-0 win over Illinois-Chicago on March 1, he struck out 15 and didn’t allow a runner past second base on his way to the shutout. The very next week – on the road, against a much tougher Oregon team – Ziomek went nine again, this time allowing just two hits while striking out 13.

It’s been an amazing start to the season, one that even prompted former Vanderbilt ace and Tampa Bay Rays star David Price to talk of “Nintendo Numbers” on Twitter in response to Ziomek’s stats.

When you’re getting David Price’s attention, you’re doing something right.

This level of success has always seemed like a possibility for Ziomek. He starred in high school in Amherst, Mass., and was a 13th-round pick of the Diamondbacks. At Vandy, he pitched mostly out of the bullpen as a freshman and did well.

Since then, it’s been about waiting for the breakout.

After his freshman season, he was in Cotuit and flashing his potential. He finished the summer with a 4.35 ERA, though, and almost as many walks as strikeouts. In his sophomore season at Vandy, he struck out a batter an inning but carried an ERA over five.

This summer, though, while Manaea was dominating, Ziomek showed a few hints of what was to come. He pitched in only five games for the Kettleers, but struck out 36 in 28.1 innings and posted an ERA of 1.27.

Now, the break-out is happening, in a pretty enormous way. Ziomek’s next start will come this weekend, when Vanderbilt opens up SEC play against Auburn.

Will it be more of the same? Based on what’s happened so far, I wouldn’t put it past him.

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Ducks Welcome ‘Dores

College baseball’s best weekend match-up is also one Cape League fans will want to keep an eye on. No. 2 Vanderbilt is heading west to take on No. 11 Oregon in Eugene. It’s one of the bigger series the Ducks have hosted in the four years since the program was revived, although several ranked teams have come to town, including No. 2 Arizona State in 2010. Those teams have left unhappy, with the Ducks owning a 13-4 home record against ranked teams.

At this point, Oregon has three players on Cape rosters for 2013, while Vanderbilt has seven, which is among the highest of any school.

Schedule
Friday, 6 p.m.
Saturday, 2 p.m.
Sunday, 12 p.m.

Oregon
Steven Packard – OF – Brewster
Scott Heineman – C/INF – Falmouth
Cole Irvin – LHP – Falmouth

Vanderbilt
Tyler Beede – RHP – Cotuit
Carson Fulmer – RHP – Cotuit
Brian Miller – RHP – Cotuit
Rhett Wiseman – OF – Cotuit
Jared Miller – LHP – Orleans
Philip Pfeifer – LHP – Orleans

Big Z
Vandy junior Kevin Ziomek spent part of two seasons with Cotuit and though he made only five appearances last summer, he emerged as one of the top arms in the league. So far this season, he’s been one of the best in the country, a status that was cemented last weekend. Ziomek fired a one-hit, complete game shutout with 15 strikeouts against Illinois-Chicago. For the year, Ziomek has a 0.82 ERA with 33 strikeouts in 22 innings pitched. He’ll get the ball in Friday’s opener.

Aces
Vanderbilt’s weekend rotation is shaping up to be one of the nation’s best, and the two pitchers who follow Ziomek are both slated to be on the Cape this summer. Sophomore Tyler Beede, a former first-round pick, has a 1.45 ERA this season and is on the Cotuit roster. Sophomore Philip Pfeifer actually has a better ERA than Ziomek at 0.45, and he’s been the SEC Pitcher of the Week already this year, as well. Pfeifer is on the Orleans roster.

Kettleer vs. Firebird
Pfeifer is scheduled to start Sunday against Oregon freshman Cole Irvin, who is on the Orleans roster for the summer. Irvin was a 29th-round pick out of high school and has jumped right into the weekend rotation for the Ducks. He’s 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA.

Wise
Vandy’s Rhett Wiseman, who’s also slated for Cotuit, is a Massachusetts native and is one of the most highly-touted freshmen in the country. He’s started only two of the team’s 12 games, but he hit a walk-off home run against Illinois-Chicago last weekend.