D-1 Baseball Starts Manana

February 20th.

Its the date that Division 1 baseball players have been waiting on for about eight months. Its the date that breaks the consecutive string of practices filled with running, drills, intersquad games, lifting, 5 AM wakeups and more running.(When I say it like that it sure does make me miss my playing days) Its the date that marks the beginning of a new season of D-1 college baseball.

You can find all the matchups, scores and individual stats at this wonderful website: http://www.d1baseball.com/

The best matchup of the opening weekend will be between Vanderbilt and Stanford. Vanderbilt's offense has some big holes to fill after Pedro Alvarez and Ryan Flaherty left but they still have a great pitching staff led by Mike Minor. Minor will face off against Jeff Inman, Stanford's ace, in the opener on Friday. The Cardinal are ranked in the top 10 by BaseballAmerica but they too have some big holes to fill in the lineup after losing Jason Castro and Cord Phelps.

Before the season gets going, how about some predictions?

Golden Spikes: Dustin Ackley-OF/1B-UNC
-Ackley has hit over .400 in both his freshman and sophomore seasons. The only way he slows down is if opposing pitchers pitch around him, which is very possible considering the lineup surrounding Ackley is considerably weaker than the past two seasons. He still has good protection in Kyle Seager so I think the average will still be north of .400. I can also see him hitting between 12-15 HRs and stealing around 20 bases.
It is very possible that Stephen Strasburg wins this award since pitchers frequently do win it(David Price being the latest), but I'm just gonna go with the top hitter to mix it up. Blake Dean(LSU), Grant Green(USC) and Josh Phegley(Indiana) could also be among Ackley's strongest competition.

Roger Clemens Award: Stephen Strasburg-SP-SDSU
-Its hard seeing anyone else beating out Strasburg. He is a man pitching against boys in the Mountain West conference. Expect gaudy numbers from the future #1 pick. Low BB/9, high K/9, a few shutouts, maybe a 27 strikeout game. Only an injury(knock on wood) can slow him down in 2009.
Alex White(UNC), Andy Oliver(OSU) and Mike Minor(Vandy) might give Strasburg a run for his money but in the end it'll be the Aztec righty who brings home the award.

National Champions: Baylor Bears
-The Bears brought in the best recruiting class in 2006 and that group has been disappointing thus far. I see this being the year that those boys put it all together and earn a national title. The Bears rotation includes three arms- Kendal Volz(Jr), Craig Fritsch(So) and Shawn Tolleson(So)- that have the ability to dominate. All three could be top 2 round draft picks.
Baylor's bullpen isn't as good as it was when they went to the CWS a few years ago but closing games out will be former Saturday starter, Willie Kempf, who is coming off a very good year. Setting him up is Mace Thurman, a southpaw who is also coming off a good season. The pen isn't very deep so coach Steve Smith will need some youngsters to log key innings.

Offensively, some big names finally need to step it up and they are Aaron Miller and Dustin Dickerson. These two were the top recruits in that loaded 06 class and Baylor fans had high hopes for them. So far, though, neither has hit above .313. If these two can get it going and hit around .350, the Bears are going to be in great shape as they have a lot of starters returning. Included in the returnees are: Shaver Hansen(3B), Raynor Campbell(OF/2B), Adam Hornung(1B/OF), Ben Booker(OF)