re: Diamond Sports Thread: College World Series Game day Edition

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No. 1 seed Georgia Tech

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Record: 41-17, 19-11 in the ACC

RPI: 8

Strength of Schedule: 13

Best series/win: Since Georgia Tech didn’t sweep any ACC series, surprisingly, it would have to be a tie between a series win at Louisville, and an extra-innings win over No. 1 UCLA at home. The Bruins only lost eight games all season.

Worst series/loss: The Yellow Jackets actually had their second game of the season go as a loss to a middle of the road Richmond team at home.

Best hitter: Tristin English — the two-way hitter/pitcher is hitting .317 with 17 homers and 62 RBIs. Both are second to Kyle McCann, who hasn’t hit for as high of an average. Needless to say, this team slugs the ball.

Best pitcher: Connor Thomas — the workhorse starter has gone 104.1 innings, thanks in part to two complete game shutouts this season. He won’t strike out a ton of batters, but has just 19 walks and a 3.28 ERA.

Stat(s) to know: Georgia Tech has a lot of power, but they also have a great amount of team speed. They’ve grounded into just 27 double plays all year, they’ve been caught stealing just 11 times in 72 tries and have 14 triples this year.

Common games with Auburn: Georgia Tech actually beat Auburn twice this season. They also defeated Georgia Southern in a game and beat Georgia twice.

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No. 2 seed Auburn

Record: 33-25, 14-16 SEC

RPI: 19

SOS: 1

Best series/win: Auburn swept Tennessee at home to open SEC play. They also beat them to open the SEC Tournament, and could face them again in a Super Regional, if both teams win.

Worst series/loss: It would have to be a midweek home loss to Jacksonville State. Auburn blew a 6-0 lead and lost 11-6, the pitching depth clearly coming up empty. The Gamecocks, though, did make the NCAA Tournament, as well.

Best hitter: Conor Davis — He takes this title more by default. Will Holland, Edouard Julien and Steven Williams have all faltered. Davis is hitting .290 with six home runs and 32 RBIs.

Best pitcher: Tanner Burns — Assuming that Burns is healthy, and able to pitch a full game, he’s definitely the best this team has. Burns has a 2.80 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 74 innings.

Stat(s) to know: Last season the trio of Williams, Holland Julien hit 41 homers. To this point in the season this year, they have just 23 homers.

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No. 3 seed Coastal Carolina

Record: 35-24-1, 15-13 Sun Belt

RPI: 57

SOS: 65

Best series/win: It would have to be the Sun Belt tournament. After losing the opening game, on the brink of elimination, CCU won five straight games to win the conference. They scores 72 runs over those five games. Also, fun fact, CCU was a No. 3 seed when it won a national championship in 2016.


Worst series/loss: The team lost two games to Little Rock, being outscored 22-5 in those two games.

Best hitter: Zach Biermann has been the most productive hitter, even if their .309 average is slightly below others on the roster. He has 17 homers and 76 RBIs on the season.

Best pitcher: Matt Eardensohn is really the winner of this by default. The pitching staff has struggled this season. He has a 3.86 ERA in 23 games this season, including three starts. All of the primary starters have ERAs near four, five and six.

Stat(s) to know: CCU will play some high scoring games. Their 5.55 team ERA leaves a lot to be desired. That said, pitchers that face them have a 7.42 ERA, which is astounding.

Common opponents with Auburn: They were 2-2 against Georgia Southern and 2-1 against South Alabama.

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No. 4 seed Florida A&M

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Record: 27-32, 14-10 MEAC

RPI: 235

SOS: 247

Best series/win: They took two out of three games against Wofford, a pretty good SoCon team. They also went 6-0 this season against Savannah State.

Worst series/loss: They got swept at North Carolina Central this season, as part of a seven-game losing streak.

Best hitter: Octavien Moyer — He hit .312 with six homers, while playing in all 59 games for the team this season.

Best pitcher: Kyle Coleman has started six games and pitched 94 innings. He has given up 97 hits though, while having just a 3.26 ERA

Stat(s) to know: FAMU hit only 20 homers this season. They allowed just 43 homers.

Common opponents with Auburn: None

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