• Feeling Patriot-ic this weekend

  • By Eric Sorenson | May 12, 2011 7:42:46 AM PDT

Don't have plans this weekend? Here are 10 can't-miss series:

1. No. 5 Florida at No. 2 Vanderbilt
Watch: Friday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN3.com
By the numbers:
UF: 36-12, 18-6 SEC, No. 1 RPI
Vandy: 41-6, 19-5 SEC, No. 26 RPI
This is good. No, really good. Downright tasty. These two teams mirror each other with great starting pitching, intimidating relievers, lockdown defense and dangerous offenses. Vandy leads the SEC in pitching (2.38 team ERA) and hitting (.319), but don't put too fine a point on that, because the Gators are not only wildly talented (there are seven or eight possible future first-rounders on the roster), they are also road tested and experienced. Still, slight advantage to the home team here, especially since the Gators are going from the frying into the fire in consecutive weeks of SEC road rigors. I look for the Commodores to get one break more in this weekend series.

2. The Patriot League Playoffs
Lafayette (18-28, 10-10) at Army (19-24, 11-9)
Bucknell (24-26, 10-10) at Navy (29-20-1, 12-8)
Ahhhh, I love playoff baseball. Especially when it's not eight teams jammed together where a couple of teams have to play six games in five days. If you have to hold some kind of postseason play, then the PL knows how to decide things. Just take your top teams and throw them in a best-of-three. This week's winners will face off with each other next weekend. I'm not rooting for anybody in particular here, but how cool would an Army-Navy best-of-three sound? Just sayin'.

3. No. 17 Arkansas at No. 3 South Carolina
Arkansas: 32-15, 12-12 SEC, RPI No. 16
South Carolina: 38-10, 18-6 SEC, RPI No. 7
Okay, the big question is: Do the Razorbacks have any magic left in them? After taking down Florida in two of three last weekend, you have to wonder how that arm of D.J. Baxendale is going to fare vs. the homestanding bats of the Gamecocks. I'm still keeping a keen eye on two things with Carolina: the offense, which needs to be more consistent, and reliever Matt Price, who has been a little sketchy, especially the longer his stint on the mound is. Again though, I'm never going to doubt Ray Tanner's ability to get his team to play at a high level when they need it. Carolina rights the ship here and sails on.

4. No. 9 North Carolina at No. 13 Georgia Tech
UNC: 38-10, 16-8 ACC, RPI No. 3
GT: 35-14, 18-6 ACC, RPI No. 9
This one has huge ramifications in the national seeding and regional hosting picture. You have to wonder how many home regionals the selection committee is going to give to the ACC, with Virginia and Florida State seemingly locks to host and Clemson also in the mix. The winner here gets to chicken hawk its chest out and crow about their chances for playing at home in June. Carolina sits two games in back of Tech here, so it looks like the Heels are in more need of a W. Keep an eye on the two superfrosh in UNC's Colin Moran and Tech's Kyle Wren. Both are playing very unlike newbies to say the least, Moran is sixth in the ACC with a .354 average and Wren is third with a .376 average.

5. Long Beach State at No. 11 Cal State Fullerton
LBSU: 24-22, 8-7 Big West, RPI No. 68
CSF: 33-14, 14-4 Big West, RPI No. 19
People out in Smogland know how big this rivalry is. There's no love lost, even when one of the teams is still in rebuilding mode. The Beach comes in limping after last week's 30 lashes it suffered at Arizona State. Now, with their RPI off-the-radar, it's nearly curtains for the Dirtbags. There is still a glimmer of light though. What if the Men in Black can take advantage of a MASH-unit Titan team and pull out a couple of wins? With Andrew Gagnon on the hill on Friday, nothing is out of the realm of possibility. The Titans are learning to adjust to life without Joe Terry and Richy Pedroza, their game-changing left side of the defense. Ace Noe Ramirez has shown some wear in this long season as well, making Friday's matchup with Gagnon as interesting as can be.

6. No. 23 Miami at No. 1 Virginia
UM: 31-16, 16-7 ACC, RPI No. 22
UVa: 43-5, 20-4 ACC, RPI No. 2
This will be a huge litmus test for the Hurricanes in determining whether they really are back or not. I still admit to being a little biased because when I saw them on opening weekend, they lost to a below-average Rutgers team. But you have to love their resurgence since then, going 16-5 since April Fool's Day, including series sweeps of BC and NC State and a series win at North Carolina. Ah, but lest we say, the Cavaliers will be a different kind of monster to tame. This team is showing nearly zero flaws. And yes, I said "nearly zero" because I do recall them losing a Saturday game to Boston College (hey, everybody has a hiccup from time to time). But if Danny Hultzen (9-1, 1.19), Will Roberts (9-0, 1.43) and Brandon Kline (13 saves) are on their game, that speedy Hurricane order could get the door slammed on them early and often.

7. Mississippi State at Ole Miss Watch: Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU; Friday on 8 p.m. ET on ESPN3.com
MSU: 30-18, 11-13 SEC, RPI No. 26
Ole Miss: 27-21, 11-13 SEC, RPI No. 37
Heated rivalries in the SEC abound, but this one is particularly nasty. The Oxfordians tend to look down their noses at the Starkvillians. But thanks to a series win vs. South Carolina, that "school up North" has put itself back in the at-large discussion. But this will be a tough bounce-back weekend after an emotional series win last week. The showdown of Matt Crouse (6-4, 3.72), the Rebs' Friday ace, vs. Jarrod Parks (SEC-best .419) should be really tasty. But the biggest key will be to see if the Ole Miss staff beyond Crouse can repeat itself. Especially bullpenners Jake Morgan (3-0, 0.00, 5 saves) and Brett Huber (2-1, 3.42, 4 saves), who have become major weapons.

8. New Mexico State at No. 21 Fresno State
NMSU: 32-16, 7-9 WAC, RPI No. 151
FSU: 32-11, 12-7 WAC, RPI No. 29
The two winningest teams in the WAC square off at Beiden Field as the Bulldogs could use a series win to improve their pock-marked hopes for hosting a home regional. They plummeted 10 spots down to No. 29 this week, and unfortunately will probably fall again if they happen to drop a game or two here. As usual, the highly-underrated Aggies will certainly be ready at the plate with their WAC-best .340 average and mind-boggling 282 walks, which is tops in the country. Both Parker Hipp (.429) and Tanner Waite (.403) hit above four-bills for the Maroon and White. Fresno counters with the best staff the Aggies will see all year, especially ace Greg Gonzalez, who is 8-0, 1.34 with 96 Ks in 80.2 innings.

9. Baylor at No. 24 Oklahoma State
BU: 24-22, 9-12 Big 12, RPI No. 40
OSU: 32-15, 12-8 Big 12, RPI No. 24
A battle of the haves vs. the have-nots of the Big 12. OSU has turned a significant corner in putting last year's last-place finish out to pasture and joining Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma in the "haves" of the conference. Just like Long Beach State above, this could be BU's last hurrah in earning some bonus points to put the Bears back in at-large consideration. Any drop in winning percentage from here on out will be a hopes-dasher. Not to mention that BU is still dangerously close to not making the Big 12 tournament, just a game-and-a-half ahead of last place Kansas and Nebraska. The Bears hit just .271 and will be facing Brad Propst (7-3, 2.51) and Mike Strong (5-1, 3.19), who have both had flashes of brilliance.

10. Utah at No. 10 TCU
Utah: 25-16, 15-5 MWC, RPI No. 107
TCU: 34-14, 15-2 MWC, RPI No. 20
Hard to believe, but it's true, this series will be for the lead in the MWC as the Utes sit just a game-and-a-half behind the Frogs. And man alive, is this a bad weekend to be without Matt Purke and Steven Maxwell for the Frogs. The Utes lead the Mountain West in hitting (at .305) and feature the best hitter in college baseball, C.J. Cron (.448-14-54). In fact, in last year's TCU weekend, Cron went 7-for-11 with three home runs and seven RBI. Joining him will be James Brooks (.387, 10 steals) and Shaun Cooper (.361-6-41) as leaders of that potent batting order. So the Frogs have their work cut out for them. The Purple Gang will need another stoic performance from freshman Andrew Mitchell and solid backup by Trent Appleby, who both pitched well in the Oklahoma State series win.

Eric Sorenson, who runs College Baseball Today, and Walter Villa are regular contributors to ESPN's college baseball coverage. Follow Eric on Twitter: @stitch_head

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