Is Cinderella present? Can we see a potential 4 seed upset a 1 seed on Friday?

(Disney photo)

By Andrew Riedell

I know what you are thinking. "Andrew why the Cinderella picture for this article?" Well reader two reasons the first one is that I am going to Disney this weekend so yea there's that and two I believe Cinderllea is here and we can see a 4 seed in Omaha again just like the last team in 2023 in Oral Roberts and maybe even a National Champion in 2008 with Fresno State. With Regionals starting on Friday I wanted to breakdown some potential upsets we could see on Friday.

Columbia vs. 16 Southern Mississippi

Could the Ivy League champions come into the dance and make a shock real quick? Yes they can I believe that the Lions have the willpower in their lineup to make Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander regret not starting JB Middleton (10-1 2.01 ERA 114 Ks) against this solid Lions lineup. THe Eagles are starting Matt Adams who has gone 6-2 this season with a 3.93 ERA as he has been solid this season especially in his last outing vs Old Dominion but this season he has been inconsistent and if the Lions get the bats going early Southern Miss might have to drain their pitching early. Watch out for sluggers Sam Miller (16 HRs and 55 RBIs) and Anton Lazits (12 HRs and 42 RBIs) take advantage of the 340 feet left and right fields.

Fresno State vs. 15 UCLA

To be fair I don't think that UCLA shpuld have hosted to begin with but here we are and they get a tough draw in a Fresno State team that happens to be one of the two teams in D1 Baseball to have at least two pitchers with 100+ strikeouts this season. (Other is LSU with Anderson and Eyanson.) Those two pitchers are Aidan Cremarosa and Jack Anker as Head Coach Ryan Overland has not committed to a starter I like their chances against a team where if they can contain Roch Cholowsky and Mulivai Levu they can win this game. The UCLA pitching staff has been inconsistent as well could easily see big games from Murf Gray and Bobby Blandford.

Fairfield vs. 13 Coastal Carolina

With how good Coastal Carolina has been this season I could easily see this team go 0-2 BBQ. I don't know why but Coastal Carolina got such a bad draw as they are not even the favorite to win their own regional as on DraftKings (Not gambling advice.) Florida is the slight favorite at -115 which I would favor too. I believe that Coastal could run into some trouble against Fairfield ace Ben Alekson as he has been solid with a 3.24 ERA this season which includes 78 strikeouts this season. Fairfield offense this season has been very good this season as they have 95 stolen bases this year but are also led by Matt Bucciero and Luke Nomura offensively and they could make some noise early in Conway.

Houston Christian vs. 2 Texas

NOW HEAR ME OUT! I believe this Texas team is fraudelnt but could still find a way in Omaha. After the Jared Spencer injury this Texas pitching staff has looked really meh behind Dylan Volantis and Luke Harrison. Jim Schlossnagle has elected to go with Ethan Walker tomorrow as in 11 innings he has pitched to a 2.45 ERA. Do I agree with this? No. My philosophy is you throw your best no matter what I believe Harrison or Riojas should have gotten the start. Houston Christian and Clay Vanderlaan will be throwing their best in Parker Edwards as in his last two outings he has been dominant shutting down a solid offense in Lamar and then UNO in the Southland Championship Series. HCU is a scrappy team and they have already seen this Texas lineup. I could see them getting some quality at bats and shocking the world tomorrow.

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