This article is part of our College Baseball Picks series.
College Baseball Picks: Saturday, March 23
What a disaster from UC Santa Barbara. A Friday night loss to a crapola team like Cal Poly drives me a little crazy. We need a bounce back for Saturday, and I know just where to go.
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Ole Miss Rebels (+180) @ Tennessee Volunteers (-238) | Total 13
It was quite a "tee" party from Tennessee yesterday. As if a 15-3 victory over Ole Miss wasn't enough, they teed off five Jimmy Jacks in only seven innings (because of the run rule). After another stellar outing from the Friday night fill in, AJ Causey, it's Drew Beam's turn to take the hill as the Vols looks for the series win.
Beam has been strong this year, which his 3.03 ERA and 26 K/4 BB ratio will support. In his first big test of the season last week, it was a mixed bag at Alabama. The potential '24 first round pick allowed six runs -- five earned -- in the first three innings. After that, the kid was lights out. From the fourth inning to the eighth, Drew Beam allowed just one base runner. It was an odd line of eight innings, five earned runs, but we definitely saw the caliber of pitcher Beam is when he's locked in.
Facing an Ole Miss squad that was scorching coming into the weekend, Beam needs to be sharper from start to finish. The Rebels are a team with some capability in that lineup with 36 total home runs. their big dog, Andrew Fischer, has been crushing the ball this year with nine homers and a .325 average. The Rebs have managed 27 runs during their last four contests heading into the Friday game. Since this is a team that can score, we need to see the Vols continue that rampant offensive attack.
UT has been back to their barbaric offensive ways like they were in 2022. Coming into the weekend, the lineup ranked third in runs (226), second in homers (55), and 19th in batting average. That's tough news for the Ole Miss starter and Coastal Carolina transfer, Liam Doyle. Doyle has been solid. His 3.95 ERA isn't bad for being an SEC pitcher, but what really stands out is his 27:4 K:BB in only 13.2 innings. The truth is though, this is one of the best lineups he'll see all year. He dotted against South Carolina last week (5.1 IP, 3 ER, 10 K), but that Gamecock offense isn't on the Vols level.
Part of me thinks maybe Tennessee bum rushing Ole Miss yesterday might have consequences. Because the truth is that happens to a lot of teams. I don't know if it's appropriate to use the phrase the perfectly fits this description, but use your imaginations. It happened to Tennessee last weekend after they put up 11 on Alabama for the Friday game, then only scoring three the next day. The Rebels have been and may end up being better than I thought they were coming into the year, but I'm still going to take my chances and say UT blows them away to take game two.
Pick: Vols -2.5 -105
