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Big And Little Numbers…

Utah Valley has now won 32 straight games (courtesy Utah Valley athletics).

(CB360 co-founder Pete LaFleur contributed to this report.)

We’re not looking at RPIs, ok there are some RPI references, but we are taking a look at more highly noteworthy numbers as teams and players start heading to the finish line of the 2012 college baseball season. From winning streaks to losses, saves, complete games, no-hitters and all points in between … here’s this week’s By The Numbers:

32 … Game winning streak by Utah Valley (39-11, 24-0). The Wolverines were only 7-11 after a 13-3 loss to Sacramento State on March 22, but they haven’t tasted defeat since. Texas (1977) and Florida Atlantic (1999) share the record for the longest D1 winning streak at 34 games. The Wolverines need a win on Tuesday against Utah to tie the 1982 Texas team for the second-longest DI winning streak of all-time. They potentially could push their winning streak to 41 by the time NCAA selections come out.

 

3 … Stunning losses at Oklahoma over the weekend by Baylor. The Bears started Big 12 play with a record 18-0 mark, but after having conference byes for two straight weekends they suffered their first conference losses of 2012. Saturday’s setbacks were by finals of 1-0 (in 10 innings) and 2-1, but they were thumped 12-6 on Sunday to suffer their second 3-game losing streak of the year.  Baylor (39-11, 18-3) still has locked-up the Big 12 regula- season title and had won nine straight series dating back to the 2011 season.

 

Kurt Heyer

5 … Complete games pitched this season by Arizona’s Kurt Heyer, after Friday’s 3-1 win over Cal. Heyer fanned nine and allowed onlt an unearned run on five hits against the Bears. His individual complete game total is better than eight of the 10 teams in the Pac-12. With seven staff CGs, Oregon is the only team in the conference to boast more than Heyer.

 

1 … CG by the LSU pitching staff this season. It came from Kevin Gausman in Friday’s 2-1 win over Vanderbilt.  Gausman struck out 11 and scattered five hits to help the Tigers clinch at least a tie for the SEC Western Division title and a bye in the first round of the SEC Tournament.

 

2-for-12 … LSU outfielder Raph Rhymes’ hits and at-bats for the week. Rhymes entered the week with a Supermanesque .500 batting average for the season, but the Vanderbilt pitching staff proved to be his Kryptonite over the weekend. Still, Rhymes is batting an amazing .478 for the season.

 

.500 … Vanderbilt’s season winning percentage after Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Louisville. The Commodores (now 26-25) started the season 1-7 and had not been even in the win-loss column since being 0-0 on opening day, but they went on to move above .500 for the first time this year by taking two of three games at LSU over the weekend.  Tuesday’s win was head coach Tim Corbin’s 400th at Vanderbilt. He missed Sunday’s 5-4 extra-inning win over the Tigers to be home with his sick daughter.

 

35 … Straight years Florida State has won at least 40 games. The Seminoles reached the mark this season with Tuesday’s 9-1 win over Stetson. FSU remains stuck on 40 after falling 6-5 to the Hatters the next day and then dropping their series-opener at Clemson. The Seminoles and Tigers will complete their series Monday with a doubleheader. The second game (6 p.m. ET) will be televised on ESPNU.

 

30 … Win plateau reached by Michigan State with Tuesday’s 15-7 victory over Western Michigan. After winning 34 games in 2010 and 36 last year, it marks the first time in program history the Spartans have recorded three straight 30-win seasons. The Spartans (33-17, 12-9) went on to take two of three in their weekend series with Iowa. With an RPI in the mid-40s, they remain hopeful of at least an at-large NCAA berth.

 

4-0 … The score of Michigan State’s biggest win of the season – a March 7 victory at Baylor. The Spartans are 47th in the current RPI (per WarrenNolan.com) and that number is propped up significantly by that victory over a Baylor team that remains in the running for a top-8 national seed.

 

20 … Road wins by Purdue this season – the second-highest total of any DI team in the nation this season. Ivy League champion Cornell leads the country with 22 road victories. The Boilermakers, who clinched their first Big Ten title since 1909 by taking two of three games at home from Michigan over the weekend, have played only 16 home games with one more remaining. They close the regular season at Iowa next weekend. Despite the lack of home dates, Purdue (39-9, 16-4) already has set a school record for wins this season.

 

Joe Rogers

3 … Road losses by Central Florida – tied with UCLA for the fewest of any DI team in the nation this season. UCF’s only road setbacks came on April 13 at Southern Mississippi, Feb. 22 at Florida and at Marshall over the weekend. The Knights (39-13, 14-7) still took two of three from the Thundering Herd to set up next week’s showdown for the C-USA regular season title with Rice (36-14, 15-7).

 

28 … Career saves by Central Florida’s Joe Rogers after notching one in Friday’s comeback win over Marshall. UCF plated three runs in the top of the 9th and then Rogers struck out the side in the bottom of the inning to shut the door on the 6-5 victory.

 

35 … Appearances on the mound by UCLA’s David Berg. The freshman leads the Pac-12 and set the Bruin’s program record for appearances in a season with his 34th trip to the mound in Saturday’s 4-2 win over Washington. Berg appeared in all three wins over the Huskies over the weekend, totaling 3.1 innings and allowing only two hits with three strikeouts. Berg is 5-2 with a 1.40 ERA in 51.1 innings while serving as the primary set-up man for close  Scott Griggs (13 Saves, 2.20 ERA).

 

16 … Saves in 2012 by North Carolina’s Michael Morin after saving 2-1 and 3-0 wins over Duke on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Morin now ranks second on the UNC all-time single season saves list behind Andrew Carignan (2007) and Thad Crisman (1993), who each had 18 saves. Morin’s efforts also helped North Carolina clinch the ACC’s Coastal Division crown. They hold a three-game lead over second-place Virginia and own the tiebreaker with the Cavaliers heading into the final weekend of the regular season. Morin is 5-3 with a 0.94 ERA in 48.0 innings and 31 appearances this season.

 

1 … Game this season in which Cal State Fullerton has hit multiple home runs. It came in Friday’s 9-7 win over UC Santa Barbara when J.D. Davis, Michael Lorenzen and Matt Chapman all left the yard. The three long balls nearly doubled Fullerton’s home run production in 2012. The Titans entered last week ranked 283rd in the nation with only five home runs all season. Fullerton (32-15, 14-4) swept the series with the Gauchos for their 11th straight series win. They lead Long Beach State by two games atop the Big West standings.

 

Jeremy Baltz

36 … Career home runs, a St. John’s school record, by Jeremy Baltz. The junior went deep for the 36th time in his career in Saturday’s 6-3 win at Louisville. Baltz hit 24 pre-BBCOR home runs as a freshman in 2010 but dipped to six long balls a year ago. Saturday’s shot was his sixth of 2012. The Red Storm (32-19, 17-7) lost two of three games to the Cardinals (35-17, 16-8), but they still lead the Big East standings by one game over Louisville and South Florida.

 

16 … Years since Texas A&M’s previous 9-inning no-hitter prior to Ross Stripling’s no-no in Saturday’s 1-0 win over San Diego State. The senior used 106 pitches with seven strikeouts to fire the gem on the day he was scheduled to graduate. A 5th-inning walk was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect day – and that runner was erased on a caught-strealing, as Stripling ultimately faced the minimum 27 batters.

 

29-5 … Kentucky’s home record this season to set a program high-water mark for home victories after a weekend sweep of Alabama. The Wildcats (41-11, 18-9) also have the second-most total victories in the 107 year history of Kentucky baseball. They remain in the running for the SEC regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament.

 

73 … Hits this season by UK’s Austin Cousino – a freshman record at Kentucky. Cousino’s ninth home run of the season in Sunday’s 8-1 win over Alabama also gave him the Wildcats freshman for runs scored (54). Cousino is batting a team-best .343 with 18 doubles, 11 stolen bases, a .543 slugging percentage, and .421 on base percentage.

 

6 1/3 … Innings pitched by Stanford’s Stephen Piscotty in his first career start – an 8-3 win over Washington State on Saturday at Sunken Diamond. Piscotty made 156 previous career combined starts  at third base, first base, left field, and designated hitter for the Cardinal. In addition to earning the win, Piscotty was 3-for-3 at the plate with two walks, while issuing no walks of his own from the mound. The projected first-round pick in next month’s MLB Draft also had made 10 previous relief appearances. He is batting .344 with five home runs and a team-high 50 RBIs this season to go with a 3-2 record and 2.49 ERA.

 

Trea Turner

50 … Stolen bases by North Carolina State’s Trea Turner. The freshman swiped a pair in Saturday’s 6-2 win at Virginia Tech to join Georgia Tech’s Ty Griffin (50 in 1986) and UNC’s Brian Roberts (63 in 1997) as the only other players in ACC history to steal as many as 50 bases in a season. Turner has been caught only twice all year.

 

12 … Strikeouts in 7.0 innings by Loyola Marymount’s Trevor Megill in Saturday’s 8-6 win over San Diego. The win gave LMU the series win over the Toreros in the important WCC series. The effort helped the Lions take two of three games from the West Coast Conference-leading Toreros. Loyola has remaining series against second place Pepperdine and Santa Clara, while San Diego’s only WCC games left are vs. Pepperdine in two weeks. With no postseason tournament, the WCC regular-season champion receives the league’s automatic NCAA bid.

 

40 … Wins for Indiana State – the first 40-win season for the Sycamores in 20 years. ISU swept Southern Illinois over the weekend to reach the mark. The Sycamores (40-12, 13-5 MVC) travel upstate to face Purdue on Tuesday and then will host Missouri State (36-17, 11-6) to close out the regular season this weekend. The winner of that series will take the top seed in the Missouri Valley Conference Touranament.

4 … The number of DI baseball teams that have cracked 40 wins this season … the previously-mentioned Kentucky (41-11), Florida State (40-10), Indiana State (40-12) and UCF (40-12).

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More Numbers Heading Down The Stretch…

With less than a month to go before NCAA selections are made, here’s our latest “By The Numbers” look at the latest college baseball action…

Chris Cruz (right with helmet) is mobbed by his teammates after his Ivy League Championship walk off home run to beat Dartmouth (Cornell photo).

1…NCAA Tournament ticket punched. Cornell grabbed the first automatic bid of 2012 by taking two of three games from Dartmouth in the Ivy League Championship series over the weekend. The teams split Saturday’s games and then Cornell downed the Big Green 3-1 in 11 innings on Sunday with a two-run walk-off home run from right fielder Chris Cruz. The shot was Cruz’s school record 12^thof the season. The NCAA bid is just the second all-time for Cornell and its first since 1977.

28 … Current winning streak for Utah Valley, which has posted wins this season over Arizona and Arizona State (the NCAA record is a 34-game winning streak, set by Texas in 1977 and matched by Florida Atlantic in ’99). Utah Valley’s conference, the Great West, does not have an automatic NCAA bid – so the Wolverines may need to win out simply to be in the discussion for an NCAA at-large spot. Utah Valley is 35-11 overall and has a #62 RPI (per WarrenNolan.com), largely due to its #209 strength-of-schedule. Wolverine senior Goose Kallunki not only has one of the best names in the nation, but also is among the national leaders with a .419 batting average, 15 home runs, 72 RBIs, and a .747 slugging percentage. Utah Valley  has nine games left in the regular season, followed by the Great West Tournament.

If Las Vegas had been laying odds in the preseason for what three teams would post win streaks higher than 20 games this season, how much could have been made by predicting the trifecta of: Kentucky (won first 22 of season) … Baylor (won 24 straight, from March 16-April 22) … and Utah Valley (current 28-gm win streak, started March 23)?

 

.500…Batting average of LSU outfielder Raph Rhymes. The junior, who spent a season at a junior college in 2010 when he couldn’t make the LSU roster, is 85-for-170 at the plate in 45 games this season. He sports a .618 slugging percentage and .544 on base percentage as well. Rhymes was 5-for-11 over the weekend while helping LSU take two of three games from Ole Miss to improve to 38-11 overall and an SEC best (tied with South Carolina ) 16-8).

 

80 1/3…Innings between home runs allowed this season by LSU pitcher Matt Gausman. The sophomore gave-up a leadoff shot to Ole Miss first baseman Matt Snyder in Friday’s game. It was the first long ball he had allowed since the first inning of LSU’s Feb. 17 season opener against Air Force.

 

UCLA's Adam Plutko

19…Straight non-conference wins for UCLA after Saturday’s 5-1 and 3-2 decisions over visiting Purdue. The Bruin pitching staff tallied 17 strikeouts with no walks in 18.0 innings in Saturday’s big showdown with the Big Ten Conference leader. Adam Plutko led the way for the staff with 7 Ks in 8 1/2 IP, but the 19-game streak ended on Sunday…

10…Runs scored in the top of the 9^th inning by Purdue in Sunday’s series finale with UCLA to win 15-11. Seven of the runs came with two outs in the frame as the Boilermakers salvaged a win. 15 batters went to the plate in the inning. Bruin pitchers walked eight in the loss.

1…Series loss this season by Purdue after dropping those games at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Boilermaker Friday starter Joe Haase (7-1) lost for the first time this year after allowing 3 ER in 6.0 innings, while his loss was also the first time the Boilers lost in a series opener in 2012.

113…Years since Purdue won its only Big Ten baseball championship. The Boilermakers (35-9, 14-4), whose only previous NCAA Tournament bid was in 1987, have remaining B1G series vs. ninth and tenth place Iowa and Michigan to close the regular season.

106…Years since Indiana and Nebraska had met on the baseball diamond prior to Saturday’s 13-2 Cornhusker victory in Bloomington. It also marked the first time IU has lost a Big Ten series opener this season, but the Hoosiers (24-24, 11-7) won the last two games of the series and sit in second place in the Big Ten behind arch rival Purdue.

Oregon's Alex Keudell

7…Wins in as many starts by Oregon’s Alex Keudell after going the distance in Friday’s key 6-1 win at Arizona. Keudell fanned seven in his second straight complete game. He has allowed just six runs in his last 57.0 innings (0.95 ERA).

12-4…Oregon’s record against ranked opponents after taking two of three games from Arizona over the weekend in Tucson. The wins keep the Ducks (34-14, 16-8) in first place in the Pac-12 standings. Oregon has also won nine series this season, including five on the road against ranked teams.

1…Big 12 regular season championship secured by Baylor. The Bears (38-8, 18-0) were idle over the weekend, but could lose all six of their remaining conference games against Oklahoma and Texas without worry. Current second place teams Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Texas are all 13-8.

10…Wins in its last 11 games by Oklahoma State to find itself in the thick of the Big 12 race and back in the NCAA Tournament picture. Three of those wins and the only loss in the current stretch came against arch rival Oklahoma. The Cowboys won a midweek game over the Sooners on April 24 and took two of three from OU over the weekend in the Bedlam Series. The Cowboys play two games at Ohio State this week and then host another non-conference series with Alcorn State this weekend before hosting Texas A&M in the Aggies’ last series in the Big 12 May 17-19.

32…Wins for USC Upstate this season – its first full season of D1 eligibility. The Spartans, who won a combined total of 36 games over the last two seasons, are eligible for the D1 NCAA Tournament for the first time this season. They were picked to finish just 10^th in the Atlantic Sun preseason poll, but currently lead the conference with a 15-6 mark after taking two of three games over the weekend from preseason favorite Stetson.

USC Upstate's Gaither Bumgardner

11…Straight at-bats with a hit by USC Upstate’s Gaither Bumgardner before the streak ended in Friday’s 8-4 win over Stetson. Bumgardner was coming off back to back 5-for-5 performances, but grounded out in his first at-bat to fall three short of the NCAA record set in 1977. He had also reached base safely 15 consecutive times, which is three short of the record set in 2002.

10…Series won vs. SEC Eastern Division foes in the last four seasons by Florida after taking their series at Kentucky over the weekend. The Gators took two of three games from the Wildcats and have only lost two such series since 2009.

8…Unanswered runs scored by red hot South Carolina in Friday’s 8-6 10 inning win at Arkansas. The Razorbacks scored all six of their runs off Gamecocks ace Michael Roth in the first three innings, but then saw South Carolina plate three in the 4^th and 6^th innings before Evan Marzilli’s RBI double in the 10^th provided the winning margin. South Carolina (36-12, 16-8) would take two of three games in the series in Fayetteville and currently leads the SEC’s Eastern Division.

19-5…South Carolina’s record in its last 25 games.  The Gamecocks started SEC play with a 1-5 mark after being swept by Kentucky and then dropping two of three at home , but have been red hot since then. The 19 wins in their last 24 games includes a 15-3 mark in conference play.

South Carolina's Michael Roth

2…Doubles hit this season by South Carolina Friday night pitcher Michael Roth, who connected on his second two-bagger, which drove-in two runs, as a pinch hitter in Sunday’s 10-7 win over Arkansas. It was Roth’s second pinch hit in as many days. He is 4-for-14 at the plate (.286) this season, while going 4-0 on the mound with a 2.82 ERA.

15-11…Kentucky’s record since rattling-off 22 straight wins to start the season. The Wildcats (37-11, 15-9) are just 9-9 over the last four weeks, including consecutive SEC series losses to Vanderbilt and Florida. They are percentage points behind the Gamecocks in the SEC Eastern Division.

60…Feet – the combined distance of Oregon State’s first three hits against Stanford’s Mark Appel Friday night in Corvallis. The Beavers’ first two hits were swinging bunts and the last was a bunt single. Stanford scored all eight of its runs in the last two innings for an 8-2 victory, but Oregon State (30-15, 11-10) won Saturday and Sunday to win the series. Stanford and OSU now share fifth place in the Pac-12 standings.

11…Series wins in 2012 for Indiana State after taking two of three games in their Missouri Valley Conference series with Wichita State. The Sycamores (36-12, 10-5) are the only MVC team that has not lost a series this season. They are percentage points behind Missouri St. on the MVC leader board and host the Bears May 17-19 in the last regular season series for both teams.

10…Consecutive wins by Florida State heading into Monday night’s series finale with visiting Maryland (7 p.m. ET on ESPNU). The Seminoles (39-7, 21-2) haven’t lost since their series finale at Boston College on April 15. Their only other ACC setback was in their finale at Wake Forest on March 25.

8…Straight series New Mexico had won prior to dropping two of three games in Ft. Worth over the weekend to TCU. The Lobos (27-21, 13-5) and Horned Frogs (29-16, 13-5) share the lead in the Mountain West Conference. With just five teams in the league teams play two conference series against each other this season. New Mexico took two of three from TCU in the first meeting in Albuquerque.

23-24…Vanderbilt’s overall record after taking two of three games from rival Tennessee over the weekend in Knoxville. The series win comes on the heels of the Commodores taking two of three from Kentucky last week. Vandy started the season by dropping seven of its first eight games, but now finds itself creeping back into the mix for an NCAA bid. Vanderbilt’s last SEC series are against LSU and Ole Miss. It could have to do what Georgia did last year – get into the SEC Tournament and win a few games – to receive an at-large NCAA bid.

Going Coast To Coast With The Latest Week…

Max Garner helped Baylor sweep Texas A&M for its 24th straight win.

A big weekend of college baseball has just concluded. A total of 10 head-to-head series between CB360 top 50 teams wrapped-up over the weekend. Our  By The Numbers Notebook takes a look at some of those series as well as more notable action from the latest week as April begins to wind down.

24…Consecutive wins by No. 7 Baylor after a monster weekend sweep of No. 8 Texas A&M. The 24 straight wins gives the Bears the longest winning streak by a Big 12 team since the conference began play in 1997. The Bears are 35-7 overall and 18-0 in conference play for the best conference start and longest winning streak in Big 12 history.  The 24 game winning streak is the longest in the nation this season. The three wins over the Aggies are the first for the Bears against a ranked team during the streak.

 

13…Of the 24 straight Baylor wins that have come by margins of one or two runs. Max Garner saved all three wins over the Aggies over the weekend.  They were decided by a total of five runs. Garner logged 3 2/3 innings with one hit and four strikeouts to earn his 6^th, 7^th and 8^th saves of 2012.

 

10,798…Fans who saw the Bears win two games over A&M at Baylor Ballpark Saturday and Sunday (the first game of the series was played in College Station) for a two game series record at the park. The combination of the Aggies leaving the Big 12 next year and the Bear’s winning streak helped bring fans to see two of the team’s biggest wins this year.

 

Kenton Parmley saw his hitting streak end at 47 games over the weekend.

47…Game hitting streak that ended with an 0-for-3 day on Sunday for Southeast Missouri State’s Kenton Parmley. The shortstop tied Wichita State’s Phil Stephenson (1981) for the third longest D1 streak of all-time. Florida International’s Garrett Wittels hit safely in 56 straight two years ago. Oklahoma State’s (and current Chicago White Sox manager) Robin Ventura still has the longest D1 streak at 58 games in 1987.

0…Hits allowed by Oregon’s Jordan Spencer in Wednesday’s 2-0 no-hit win over Portland. The freshman struckout five and faced just two over the minimum in his first complete game.

0-6…Miami’s record against rivals Florida and Florida State this season after being swept over the weekend by the Seminoles. FSU outscored the Hurricanes 25-10 in the three games in Tallahassee.

19-2…Florida State’s record in ACC play after the sweep of the Hurricanes. The next best record in the conference is 13-8, shared by NC State (second place in the Atlantic Division behind FSU) and Coastal Division leader North Carolina. Clemson and Miami are both 12-9.

3…Straight walk-off wins by Virginia Tech after Kyle Wernicki’s game winning RBI single in the 10^th to beat Coastal Carolina 4-3 Tuesday night. The Hokies had won the last two games of their series with Miami in walk-off fashion as well the previous weekend.  VT dropped two of three though over the weekend at Wake Forest.

Vikash Ramjit

16…Innings it took No. 1 Florida to defeat Georgia 3-2 Friday night in Gainesville. Vikash Ramjit scored the winning run for the Gators after an errant throw on a dropped third strike. Florida pitchers fired 13 strikeouts with no walks in the victory. Four Gators pitched at least 3.0 innings apiece. Reliever Austin Maddox had the longest outing of the night at 5.2 IP. Greg Larson earned the win with 3.0 hitless frames. The Gators (31-9, 11-7)  took two of three games in the series.

41…Runners left on base in 16 innings in Indiana State’s 2-1 win over Valparaiso last Tuesday. The Sycamores stranded 24 in the marathon victory, while the Crusaders left 17 aboard. The game featured 24 straight scoreless half innings with no runs scoring between the top of the 4^th and bottom of the 16^th inning. Valpo out-hit ISU 18-12 in the loss. Indiana State (31-10) went on to take two of three games from Dallas Baptist over the weekend.

107…Pitches for Oregon State’s Jace Fry to fire a complete game shutout win Saturday over UCLA. Fry scattered six hits with two walks and six strikeouts while becoming the first Beaver freshman in three years to toss a solo shutout. The Beavers took two of three games from UCLA to drop the Bruins into a second place tie with Oregon in the Pac-12 standings.

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5…Unfortunate strikeouts in 0-for-5 night by Virginia’s Jared King. The first baseman was saddled with the rare “Olympic Rings” in Friday’s 6-3 loss to Duke. National strikeout leader Marcus Stroman had nine Ks in 7.0 innings on the mound, while reliever David Putnam registered four strikeouts in 2.0 IP.

13…Of the 14 runs that scored in Cal Poly’s 8-6 Saturday win over Cal State Fullerton that came with two outs. The Titans still managed to take two of three games in the series from the Mustangs. Fullerton is tied with Long Beach State with 9-3 records at the top of the Big West Conference standings. The Big West is shaping-up to possibly be a one bid league come NCAA selection Monday. Fullerton is 26-13 overall, but Long Beach is just 18-19. Santa Barbara and Cal Poly are just five and six games above .500 overall.

2…Straight years UC Irvine has no-hit Long Beach State in the opener of their series after Anteater Andrew Thurman did it in Friday’s 4-0 win over the Dirtbags. Thurman hit the first batter of the game and then retired 23 straight before walking pinch-hitter Jeff Yamaguchi in the bottom of the 8th inning. The sophomore righthander struckout five and used 110 pitches to become the fifth Irvine pitcher to fire a no-hitter. LBSU still went on to take the next two games to win the series 2-1.

728…Total pitches thrown in a doubleheader split between James Madison and Hofstra. JMU won the first game 20-14, while Hofstra took the nightcap 15-13. The two pitching staffs combined to walk 34 batters in the two games.

Notre Dame's Pat Connaughton is a rare basketball/baseball two-sport college standout.

.423…Field goal percentage on the basketball court this past season by Notre Dame basketball and baseball standout Pat Connaughton. A guard who averaged 7.0 points for Mike Brey’s hoops team from November-March, Connaughton has a 2-2 record with a 2.37 ERA for Mik Aoki’s Irish baseball team this spring. Connaughton has 19 strikeouts in 19.0 IP this season. He fired 6.0 shutout innings in Sunday’s 14-4 win over Georgetown to help the Irish to a three game sweep.

 3…Teams tied for first place in the Big East Conference standings. UConn, St. John’s and South Florida all share 11-4 marks in conference play, followed by 10-5 Louisville and 9-6 Notre Dame. The leader board is likely to change quickly. UConn still has remaining series with Louisville, USF and Notre Dame. St. John’s has Notre Dame this weekend then back to back weekends with USF and Louisville. USF still has series with St. John’s and UConn to go as well.

6…Conference series wins by Kentucky to begin SEC play this season after taking two of three games from LSU over the weekend. The Wildcats (35-6, 13-5 SEC) have the nation’s best overall record as well as the best mark in the SEC. They are off to the best start in the 100 years of the program.

12…Two-out RBIs this season by Kentucky freshman A.J. Reed, who is batting .311 with 3 home runs and 39 total RBIs at the plate. Reed also has a 4-1 record, 3.71 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings as a pitcher for the Wildcats.

4…Total runs North Carolina closer Michael Morin had allowed in his first 36 2/3 innings this season before he gave up two runs in 2 2/3 innings in Saturday’s 4-2 loss to Georgia Tech. Morin (4-3), who has 10 saves in 2012, saw his ERA go from a miniscule 0.74 to 1.14. More importantly for the Yellow Jackets (24-17, 9-12 ACC), they were able to win just their third ACC series of the season by taking two of three games in Chapel Hill.

Buck Farmer

3…Runs allowed by GT Friday starter Buck Farmer over his last four starts, a stretch covering 30.0 innings, after giving-up two runs in 7.0 IP in Friday’s 11-4 win over the Tar Heels. Farmer (6-3) has allowed just two runs in 15.0 innings and two starts vs. UNC.

11…RBIs in four games, including a three-game sweep of Arizona State, by Stanford’s Alex Blandino. The freshman batted .563 with four home runs last week. Two of the homers came in a 17-5 win over the Sun Devils. He also plated the winning run with a walk-off two-out RBI single to give the Cardinal an 8-7 Saturday victory. He also hit a three-run home run in that game.

5…Wins over top 10 ranked teams, all on the road, this season by Washington after taking two of three games at No. 10 Oregon over the weekend. The Cougars had just three such wins in head coach Donnie Marbut’s first eight seasons combined entering 2012.

42…First inning runs through 42 games scored by Central Florida (34-8, 12-3 CUSA) which swept a weekend series over Tulane and has sole possession of first place in Conference USA. The Knights’ 12 conference victories this season have already tied a school record. They also have six weekend sweeps in 2012-their most six sweeping seven in 2004.

3…Losses suffered by Gonzaga at the hands of San Francisco in a weekend West Coast Conference series. The Bulldogs (26-12, 6-6) went into the weekend just a game behind San Diego (31-9, 9-3) atop the WCC standings, but took a huge tumble to sixth place after being swept by USF (19-24, 6-6). Some had Gonzaga pegged to possibly host an NCAA Regional, but they could end up on the bubble just to make the field of 64 in what has traditionally been a one bid league.