Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to the first-ever College Baseball article on RotoBaller. It is a great honor to write this and introduce you to my favorite form of baseball. The college game is full of raw emotion, and the kids playing it don't do it for a paycheck but rather for the pure love of the game. I will be writing this article on Fridays, and I compare Fridays to MLB opening day, in which each team aces toe the rubber and create some of the most electric moments in college baseball.
My name is Casey Wilson, and I've been obsessed with college baseball since I was a kid. It was a dream of mine to play at this level, and after getting a scholarship to Kent State, I got to live out my dream for four years. I even got the opportunity to pitch a couple of games in Omaha, the goal of all college baseball players, and where the College World Series is hosted. I am well versed in how the college game is played, and we will do our best to exploit that and try to make some profit along the way.
Sportsbooks have recently taken away game totals and run lines in College Baseball. This article will focus on money lines and often parlaying teams to get better odds. Not all books have college lines, so DraftKings Sportsbook will be my primary book, but if you find a line on another book, feel free to use that as well. With no further adieu, here are my favorite bets for Friday, April 7th, 2023.
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Today's College Baseball Betting Picks
Southern Miss @ Old Dominion
USM: Matthew Adams | ODU: Sam Armstrong
We start off today with a battle of two conference foes from the Sun Belt as Southern Miss (18-10) takes on Old Dominion (22-7). Sam Armstrong has been one of the best starting pitchers in the country, posting a 5-0 record with a 2.89 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and 42 Ks in 37.1 IP.
Southern Miss Tanner Hall has been every bit as good, but he threw yesterday in USM's 4-2 win against ODU. Matthew Adams will get the ball today as he comes into Friday with a 2-1 record, a 3.79 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and 43 Ks in 40.1 IP. The advantage on the mound belongs to ODU, but the major mismatch and the reason we like this matchup so much is ODU's offense.
ODU comes into today's game ranked fifth in the country in home runs, as they have hit an astonishing 61 home runs in 28 games to open the season. They are led by Hunter Fitz-Gerald (.351 AVG, 12 HRs, 38 RBIs), freshman Alex Bouche (.380 AVG, 7 HRs, 27 RBIs), and Jake Ticer (.303 AVG, 12 HRs, 34 RBIs).
They have a team batting average of .311, and now that they are not facing Tanner Hall, it's time to attack this USM pitching staff. We look for Old Dominion to even the series today at home and get back on track.
Pick: Old Dominion Moneyline (-125) DraftKings Sportsbook
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Today's College Baseball Betting Picks (Parlay)
Miami FL @ Virginia | Kansas State @ Texas
UM: Gage Ziehl | UVA: Brian Edgington
KSU: Owen Boerema | TEX: Lucas Gordon
Miami (20-9) travels to Virginia (25-4) for game one of a three-game set that begins today. Virginia sends out ace Brian Edgington, who has been outstanding this year. Edgington has a 5-0 record with a 1.64 ERA and 43 Ks in 38.1 IP.
His opponent Gage Ziehl has a 4-3 record with a 4.58 ERA and 48 Ks in 39.1 IP. Virginia is 17-0 at home to open the season, and two Golden Spike award watchlist members lead their offense in Kyle Teel (.440 AVG, 6 HRs, 33 RBIs) and Jake Gelof (.357 AVG, 9 HRs, 44 RBIs).
I expect this to be a competitive series, but Virginia has been so good at home, and with Edgington on the bump, I expect them to cruise through game one.
Texas (21-9) welcomes Big 12 foe Kansas State (19-8) this weekend in Austin for a three-game series that starts today. Texas is hot, winning 17 of their last 19 games, and are 18-2 at home this season. They also will send ace Lucas Gordon to the mound and talk about a dude that pitches with a ton of swagger. Gordon is a low-90s lefty who can manipulate the ball in various ways.
He enters today's start with a 3-0 record with a 2.04 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 45 Ks in 39.2 IP. He faces KSU's Owen Boerema, who has a 4-1 record with a 3.89 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, and 45 Ks in 37 IP. Texas's offense will have too much top-end firepower for Boerema, and look out for Porter Brown (.349 AVG, 6 HRs, 28 RBIs) to have a big game in the opening set here today.
Pick: Virginia ML + Texas ML (+111) DraftKings Sportsbook
Today's College Baseball Betting Picks
Washington @ Arizona
UW: Kiefer Lord | UA: Bradon Zastrow
Our last game for today takes us out west, where Pac-12 rivals Washington (19-8) and Arizona (14-13) will battle in game two of their three-game conference series. Arizona has been scuffling a bit and has even moved their ace starter TJ Nicholas out of the rotation this weekend.
They enter today with a 3-10 conference record, and after dropping game one 13-8 last night, they will face arguably the best arm on Washington's staff in Kiefer Lord. Kiefer enters this start with a 3-2 record, a 3.23 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 46 Ks in 39 IP. He will run his fastball up to triple digits and has some of the best stuff in the country.
His opponent Bradon Zastrow has been very pedestrian with a 2-1 record, 4.01 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, and 31 Ks in 33.2 IP. I wouldn't be surprised to see Nicholas come in relief here, which isn't the greatest news for the Huskies bats, but let's hope Will Sampson (.313 AVG, 13 HRs, 33 RBIs) and crew can get some early runs on the board for Kiefer.
This Washington team is sneaky good and can really compete on the mound. I love the juice we're getting here at (+135) because they are on the road, and I expect this team to return to a regional in 2023.
Pick: Washington Moneyline (+135) DraftKings Sportsbook
Thank you for reading the first 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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