CWS 2015: Predicting Winners and Scores for Sunday's NCAA Baseball Bracket
Following Saturday's start to the 2015 College World Series, Day 2 from Omaha brings with it arguably the two best teams in the country looking to avoid being upset and making their way into the loser's bracket right out of the gate.
LSU finished the regular season as the top-ranked team in the nation, per D1Baseball.com (via NCAA.com). After a brief hiccup in the SEC tournament against Florida, the Tigers have been red hot, with a 5-0 record in the NCAA tournament.
Vanderbilt, another SEC power, has caught fire in postseason play. The Commodores won the SEC tournament and are riding their own five-game winning streak in the NCAA tournament.
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Because of how powerful the SEC is, TCU and Cal State Fullerton will be underdogs in Sunday's two games. These two teams have already been battle-tested, knocking off Texas A&M and Louisville in the super regionals, so they won't be intimidated by this stage.
| No. 1 TCU vs. No. 1 LSU | LSU, 4-1 |
| No.1 Cal State Fullerton vs. No. 1 Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt, 5-3 |
TCU (49-13) vs. LSU (53-10)
No team needed a five-day layoff more than TCU, which needed 16 innings to finally put away Texas A&M in the super regional. LSU was able to sit back and relax after disposing of Louisiana-Lafayette on June 7.
The good news is both teams will be able to set up their pitching staff however they want. LSU has a two-headed monster atop the rotation, with Jared Poche and Alex Lange combining for 15 strikeouts and four earned runs allowed in 15.2 innings during the super regionals.
Poche, a left-hander, will be the starter for LSU on Sunday, which makes sense because, as James Moran of TigerRag.com noted, TCU's lineup is composed of five lefties and two switch-hitters.
LSU pitching coach Alan Dunn told Moran that that gives Poche a chance to succeed because of how seldom teams see left-handed pitching during the regular season:
"Left-handed hitters don’t have an opportunity to see a lot of left-handed pitching throughout the course of the season, so that’s obviously something you hope gives you an advantage. You still have to execute pitches. It doesn’t matter if you’re left-on-right or right-on-left, execution is the key. But they do have a lot of left-handers, so Jared just needs to go out and do what he does and I think we’ll be in a situation to have a chance to win the game. That kid has done that every time he’s taken the ball.
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Both teams have strong pitching staffs, ranking in the top 10 nationally in ERA, but LSU is a better all-around group; the offense is tied for ninth in runs scored (439) and 15th in slugging percentage (.460).
TCU is an OK offensive team, ranking 45th with 369 runs scored, but its lack of power (164th in slugging percentage) will eventually catch up to this lineup. There's only so much small ball you can play against one of the nation's best teams before you've given away too many outs.
The Horned Frogs' style of play hasn't hurt them yet, but that has come against lesser competition than LSU. The Tigers are going to take advantage of a strong starting pitcher and a potent offense to get off to a strong start in the College World Series.
LSU 4, TCU 1
Cal State Fullerton (39-23) vs. Vanderbilt (47-19)
Cal State Fullerton has been the cardiac team in this year's NCAA tournament, winning three of its five games in extra innings. Vanderbilt has been the exact opposite of that, winning all five games by a combined score of 53-7.
There are some instances when playing so many close games can work to a team's advantage. The Titans are battle-tested on the big stage and will be ready for another tight affair against anyone in their path.
The problem, at least in this particular matchup, is that Vanderbilt doesn't fit in the same mold as past Cal State Fullerton opponents like Louisville or Pepperdine. The Commodores are the defending national champions and returned key players from that team like Dansby Swanson, Carson Fulmer and Walker Buehler.
In fact, per Sean Ryan of the Sporting News, some stats suggest this year's Vanderbilt team is better than the 2014 group:
"By riding one of college baseball’s best arms in Carson Fulmer (13-2, 1.82) and best players in Dansby Swanson (.350/15/62), D1Baseball.com’s National Player of the Year, and relying on a deep and talented team that is every bit as good as last year’s national champions. This year’s team hits .295 and has a 2.96 ERA; last year, those numbers were .278 and 2.90.
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That combination of offensive prowess and dominant pitching has shown in NCAA tournament games like a 13-0 win over Illinois and 21-0 destruction of Radford.
Cal State Fullerton's best chance to win this game will rest on the arm of starter Thomas Eshelman, who has a ridiculous 131-7 strikeouts-to-walks in 131.1 innings in 18 appearances this season.
The Titans pitching has to be on point in all of their games, because the offense isn't good. They are tied for 111th in runs scored and 230th in slugging percentage. That's not a good formula heading into a tough offensive environment.
Vanderbilt has been playing as well as any team in the NCAA tournament and is set up to keep rolling with a favorable matchup against Cal State Fullerton.
Vanderbilt 5, Cal State Fullerton 3
Stats via NCAA.com
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