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The NCAA Baseball Tournament gets underway today and for the Gophers that begins in College Station, TX. The Gophers are the #2 seed in the region and will be facing Wake Forest this afternoon.
How to Watch
Time: 3:00 CST
TV: none
Streaming: ESPN3
Live Stats: GameTracker
Game Day Central: GopherSports site
No actual TV for the Gophers but you can watch it on ESPN3 for those of you with such capabilities.
The Match Up
Pitching matchup got interesting with Wake Forest throwing out their usual Friday starter and best pitcher Parker Dunshee while the Gophers went with their typical Saturday starter, Dalton Sawyer.
| Player | Throws | Record | IP | ERA | Ks |
| MN - Dalton Sawyer | L | 7-6 | 88.2 | 3.15 | 107 |
| WF - Parker Dunshee | R | 9-5 | 93.2 | 3.27 | 91 |
Interesting choice for the Gophers but not totally surprising. Sawyer has been pitching better than Fielder in recent weeks and he is a power pitcher who hopefully will keep the Deac's bats at bay. The Gophers will have Toby Anderson (also hot) and Fielder to go in following games, whether that's against Texas A&M or Binghampton.
Key Players
Wake boast's Will Craig who was last year's ACC Player of the year, 1st team All-American this year, a likely late 1st round draft choice and their best hitter. Minnesota has the current Big Ten Player of the Year and very good hitter as well in Matt Fielder. Obviously both teams are at this point in the season because of their entire roster but these are the two headlining hitters.
| Player | AVG | HR | Runs | RBI | Slg% | SB |
| MN - Matt Fielder (DH) | .377 | 7 | 43 | 36 | .532 | 13 |
| WF - Will Craig (3B) | .392 | 16 | 52 | 65 | .766 | 0 |
Prediction
I'm a homer and because it suits me I will say that RPI is overrated and the Big Ten's top team will beat the 9th or 10th best team in the ACC. I trust Sawyer to keep them in the game but need the defense to make plays and the bats to be alive. I'm actually kind of excited about this game, should be fun.