SEC’s Powerful Conference Schedule Kicks Off

After dominating non-league opponents during the first few weeks of the college baseball season, Southeastern Conference teams will get a chance to really see just how good they are.

The SEC, one of the game’s most powerful conferences, opened league play this weekend with a number of intriguing matchups kicking things off.

“We’re very excited about the start of SEC play and, boy, again it shapes up to be a great, great league in every way,” said Florida Coach Pat McMahon.

The Gators, last year’s College World Series runner-up, opened at home against Arkansas, which entered the weekend with a 16-1 record.

“I really like Arkansas’ club,” McMahon said. “They’re so well-prepared, they play hard, play with great intensity, pitch and defend well -- I just enjoy that series.”

Florida, which was 15-6, has relied on outstanding pitching performances to stay close in most games this season while the offense struggles to get going. The Gators, led by ace Bryan Augenstein and sidearming closer Darren O’Day, had a 3.00 team ERA and held opponents to a .259 batting average.

The Gators were hoping to get slugging first baseman Matt LaPorta, last year’s conference player of the year, back in the lineup after he missed 13 games with a strained oblique muscle.

The Razorbacks, with stingy lefty Nick Schmidt (4-0, 1.47 ERA) and slugger Danny Hamblin (six homers, 26 RBIs), are off to one of the best starts in school history -- and have done it mostly on the road. Coach Dave Van Horn had his team play 11 of its first 17 games away from home to prepare for the tough SEC schedule.

“I feel like it helps us get better, kind of find out where you’re at -- the travel, the hotels, the food, team unity. All of that plays a part,” Van Horn said. “We just felt like we needed to play as much as we could on the road so we don’t go to Florida and get shocked.”

Road games will be something new this weekend for South Carolina, which was at Auburn after playing 16 of its first 17 at home, and LSU, which opened at Kentucky -- its first away from home this season.

The Gamecocks scheduled so many home games early on purpose.

“I knew we were going to have a pretty young team, and I wanted to get them comfortable as quick as I could,” South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said. “Part of the scheduling purpose was to be at home and hopefully they could have some success and build some confidence before we got into the SEC weekends.”

LSU will get a big test this weekend at Kentucky, which is led by second baseman John Shelby -- the son of the former major leaguer of the same name -- and was off to the second-best start in the 102-year history of the program at 15-3.

“It’s my third season at Kentucky, and I feel like we just have a higher percentage of kids on our club who understand what the SEC is all about, and can get to that type of passion and intensity level,” Coach John Cohen said. “It’s a lot more fun to sit in that dugout and be a part of that as a coach.”

Mississippi State entered the weekend as the only undefeated team in Division I at 13-0, and was hosting Tennessee.

“This week will be a big test,” Bulldog Coach Ron Polk said. “We’ll know a lot more about ourselves after this week.”

The other SEC series this weekend are: Alabama at Georgia and Vanderbilt at Mississippi.

The conference has placed a record nine teams in the NCAA tournament in each of the last two years, and this could shape up to be another big year for the SEC.

“As usual, it’s going to be very good and very competitive, and I think it’s going to be 12-deep so it’s going to be a challenge for everybody,” Georgia Coach David Perno said. “You’d rather be in the SEC than anywhere else in the country, that’s for sure.”

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Kyle Thomason became the fifth player in Texas-Arlington history to hit for the cycle, and first to do it with a single, double, triple and home run in order.

Thomason, a senior first baseman, needed only seven innings to accomplish the feat as the Mavericks beat Northwestern State, 14-1, last Saturday.

“To be the fifth guy to ever do it is neat,” Thomason said. “Just to do it alone is really neat, but to be just the fifth person here is just extra special.”

Thomason was four for four, including his first career home run, with six RBIs and one run scored.

“I didn’t do anything different,” he said. “I just went up with the same approach as always, and it all fell into place.”

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Alex Zanini’s first college home run never came close to going over the fence.

The freshman shortstop, batting ninth in the lineup, highlighted Pacific’s six-run third inning in its 11-9 victory over Louisiana Tech last Saturday with an inside-the-park grand slam.

With the Tigers leading, 5-2, Brett Manning hit a one-out single, Jake Ross walked and Jordan Seiber walked one out later to load the bases. Zanini fell behind in the count 0-2 before launching a shot to center that bounced off the outstretched glove of Adam Cobb.

By the time Cobb recovered the ball, Zanini was racing for the plate and beat the throw home to put the Tigers up, 9-2.

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Steven Strausbaugh has been a force at the plate for Western Carolina.

The sophomore outfielder entered this weekend’s series against Princeton with eight home runs and 20 RBIs in 11 games. And that’s despite missing four games with a hand injury.

Strausbaugh, who was batting .333, had at least one hit in all but two games and at least one homer in seven games for the Catamounts.

The Venice, Fla., native has picked up from where he left off last season, when he hit 12 home runs and batted .367 and was named a freshman All-American.

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Virginia Commonwealth’s Joe Meador hit for the cycle in the Rams’ 12-4 win over Longwood on Wednesday. ... Washington’s Tim Lincecum and Nick Hagadone combined on the Huskies’ first no-hitter in 28 years last Sunday, beating Santa Clara 9-0. Lincecum pitched the first six innings, with Hagadone going the last three. The last Washington no-hitter came in April 1978, when Rick Anderson threw 10 hitless innings in a game that ended in a 0-0 tie due to darkness.