For today’s play of the day, we are going right back to a 2-leg we ran yesterday, except Alabama’s game was postponed due to rain. Yesterday we stayed red hot collecting a sweep, going 4-0 in our college baseball picks.
Best Bet: 2 Team Parlay: Alabama + Georgia (-112) (DraftKings)
Today’s 1st pick we are going down to Tuscaloosa where it will be a battle of great offenses. Troy (10-3, 2-2 Away) visits the Alabama Crimson Tide (11-1, 8-0 Home). Troy comes in ranked nationally in multiple categories, doubles(5th), runs(10th), on-base percentage(11th), hits(15th), and home runs(16th).
Having said that, those great numbers also come due to level of competition, which there hasn’t been any to date for Troy. Tonight, will see a big step-up vs the SEC powerhouse. Alabama owns this series at home 26-5 all time, and they bring a hitting prowess and elite pitching that Troy has yet to come across.
Why We Like the Crimson Tide
Alabama ranks nationally in multiple categories as well, but unlike Troy, they have played a handful of really good teams to date; Indiana, DBU, Arizona, and they performed very well. Alabama ranks nationally in batting average(8th), Hits(10th), Runs(13th), Home Runs(11th).
Where Alabama gets even better, is behind their stellar arms. They rank #1 in the country with 4 shutouts, team ERA (3rd, 2.25), Whip(4th), and strikeout-to-walk ratio (5th, 4.1). If Alabama pitching can do their job and lean behind their bullpen, their offense should put up enough runs to get this done at home.
As Alabama has been working to build their starters up, they have relied heavily on their pen and it has paid off for them allowing just 1.78 ER over 55 innings pitched, striking out 67 batters and walking just 15. The big stat, Alabama bullpen allows just .178 average to opposing hitters so far, that is devastating.
Why We Like the Bulldogs
Our second pick we make a trip to Athen’s Georgia, were the Georgia Bulldogs (11-1, 8-1 Home) welcome in visitor Stetson (8-4, 0-0 Road). Georgia is coming off a great win last night in a neutral site game vs Georgia Southern. It was a tight 1-1 game until Georgia bats finally broke through in the top 9 with 6 runs, including a grand slam that boosted the bulldogs to victory.
Georgia is coming in on a 3-game winning streak behind one of the more potent offenses in the country. Georgia offense can rake and are ranked very high in a few important categories, batting average (20th, .328), home runs (1st, 30), and on-base percentage (7th, .466). Their opponent Stetson gets their first road test of the season, and it's a tough one.
Stetson is a good baseball team, but currently where these two sit, Georgia has the advantage, especially on offense. Stetson’s team batting average is .269, compared to .328 for Georgia, they also have only scored 86 runs compared to 118 for Georgia.
No Definite Pitching Edge for Either Squad
Stetson does boast a slightly better team ERA than Georgia, but they are both comparable, 4.02 for Stetson and 4.60 for Georgia. We do not see an advantage on either side for pitching. Georgia has used 16 relievers this season, which we believe will help as everyone has a little bit of experience and these mid-week games can be tricky for some of these bigger schools, especially if they have a bigger matchup looming for a weekend series.
Our luck Georgia looks ahead to North Colorado and Alabama looks ahead to Lipscomb, neither are conference foes, and neither present much of a challenge to these squads. We expect Alabama and Georgia to utilize some of their better bullpen arms today to each secure a mid-week win.
