We have entered the best part of the college baseball season, with regionals beginning today. For those new to college, baseball teams are seeded 1-64 and split into 16 different regionals with hosts for each 16. Teams are seeded one to four in their specific regionals, and a double-elimination tournament is held between those four teams. The one seed plays the four, and the two and three seeds matchup in game one. From there, it is a winner-take-all to advance to the super regionals. The charts posted in my article are from Friday Starters on Twitter. He has the best college baseball content out there. Please give him a follow.
This is the point of the year when mayhem occurs. Teams get hot and make runs deep into the postseason. We see four seeds, with conference pitchers of the year upset one seeds. We see host teams end their season on their diamonds. We see mid-major teams seeded too low make a name for themselves in regionals. We also get baseball for four days from noon to midnight, making it the most incredible time of the year. Today I will give you my three favorite games for the opening day of regionals.
Sportsbooks have recently taken away game totals and run lines in College Baseball. This article will focus on moneylines and often parlaying teams to get better odds. Not all books have college lines, so DraftKings Sportsbook will be my primary book. If you find a line in another book, feel free to use that as well. With no further adieu, here are my favorite bets for Friday, June 2nd, 2023.
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Today's College Baseball Betting Picks
#3 Oklahoma @ #2 East Carolina
Sooners: TBA (James Hitt Projected) | Pirates: TBA (Trey Yesavage Projected)
#15 ECU (45-17) is led by an outstanding pitching staff that ranks 9th in runs allowed per game with 4.5, fifth in WHIP, and 20th in ERA. Trey Yesavage is their best arm and probably the best in Charlottesville this weekend. He is 6-1 with a 2.80 ERA and has 98 Ks in 70 IP. I expect him to get the ball here for the Pirates. They also have two weapons in Danny Beal and Carter Spivey, a former Friday guy, who they will run out of the bullpen.
The lineup is very deep and can do damage up and down. They don't hit for a ton of power but find ways to get on base and hit for a decent average. Carter Cunningham (.324 AVG, 8 HR, 35 RBIs, 47 Rs), Justin Wilcoxen (.322, 8 HR, 44 RBIs, 41 Rs), Jacob Starling (.314 AVG, 10 HR, 50 RBIs, 56 Rs), and Josh Moylan (.302 AVG, 15 HR, 66 RBIs, 52 Rs) lead the charge offensively and will have to do damage if they want to get it done tonight.
Oklahoma (31-26) somehow snuck into the tournament with one of the last outright bids. The Sooners were 12-16 in the BIG-12 and aren't very good. They have no statistical categories in which they are ranked in the top 100. Their team ERA is 5.92, good for 148th in the country. They have a team batting average of .283, good for 130th in the country. I project them to start James Hitt (6-1, 4.50 ERA) or Braxton Douthit (4-6, 5.89 ERA), both average power five arms. This is the worst team in this regional. Even if East Carolina decides to save Yesavage and go with Josh Grosz or Garrett Saylor, I still give them a significant advantage.
Pick: East Carolina Moneyline (-135) DraftKings Sportsbook
Today's College Baseball Betting Picks
#3 Louisiana @ #2 Texas
Ragin' Cajuns: TBA | Longhorns: TBA (Lucas Gordon Projected)
I have been all over this Texas (38-20) team, and it won't stop now. They swept West Virginia to end the season and take a share of the Big-12 title. They then lost their first two games in the Big-12 tournament and burst my bubble. They are led by one of the nation's best pitching staffs. The Longhorns have a 4.13 ERA which is 14th best in the country and has only allowed 4.7 runs per game which is 15th best.
Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Lucas Gordon is phenomenal, AKA Nestor Corter Jr. He went 6-1 with a 2.55 ERA. Lebarron Johnson Jr. and his nasty split-finger take the number two roll for the Longhorns, and he has been phenomenal as well, pitching to a 7-3 record and a 2.82 ERA. I expect one of the two to get the ball in game one against the Ragin' Cajuns. Zane Morehouse is just like Carter Spivey for ECU, where he was moved to the bullpen after pitching on the weekends and has been a weapon for the Longhorns in that role.
Porter Brown (.332 AVG, 12 HR, 55 RBIs, 43 Rs) is the leader on the offensive side of the ball as well as Peyton Powell (.358 AVG, 10 HR, 43 RBIs, 49 Rs) and Dylan Campbell (.341 AVG, 12 HR, 44 RBIs, 63 Rs).
Louisiana Lafayette (40-22) has been a team I have watched in the Sun Belt often this season. They are so hard to get right. Their pitching has allowed 5.1 R/G, but then you look at some of the underlying numbers, and nothing is impressive. The offense is led by Kyle DeBarge, hitting .370 with 6 HRs. Cooper Rawls is the best arm on this staff, as he is 10-1 with a 3.66 ERA, but he only has five starts. He is deployed whenever they need him. Usually, when winning. I expect the Horns to get on the board early today, so I don't expect to see Rawls. Horns up tonight; give me Texas.
Pick: Texas Moneyline (-175) DraftKings Sportsbook
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Today's College Baseball Betting Picks
#4 Wright State @ #1 Indiana State
Raiders: TBA (Sebastian Gongora Projected) | Sycamores: TBA (Connor Fenlong Projected)
The Sycamores (42-15) were a force in the Missouri Valley this year, going 24-3. They finished the season with an RPI in the top 10. They are built on their pitching staff. Connor Fenlong is an absolute stud after winning MVC Pitcher of the Year. He has four shutouts this season and a streak of 30 consecutive innings without giving up a run. The offense, plain and simple, is just not very good.
Wright State (39-21) is a program with a ton of postseason experience. This will be their third straight regional. No team in this regional has more postseason experience than Wright State. They have an ace in Sebastian Gongora, who can beat a one-seed and a star at the plate with experience in Andrew Patrick.
They now get a winnable draw here after going to Tennessee and Virginia Tech in back-to-back seasons. To back that up, they are +155 in the opening game against Indiana State, the lowest of any four seeds. Gongora and Wright State will be ready to play today and will get it done.
Pick: Wright State Moneyline (+155) DraftKings Sportsbook
Thank you for reading the ninth edition of our College Baseball Bets saga. If you have any questions, you can message me or tweet me on Twitter @CaseyW22. Most games are accessible on ESPN+, but if you have trouble finding them, head to each team's athletics website, and you can follow the games on live stats or even sometimes free live streams. Good luck, RotoBallers!
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