April Schedule Planner

The best games to keep an eye on each weekend

April 3, 2007

By Douglas Kroll

CSTV.com

	DOUG KROLL Doug Kroll is an editor for CSTV.com, focusing on baseball. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- BASEBALL 1/17: So Cool In SoCal 1/10: Starting With Not Such A Clean Slate 1/3: Closing the Gap 12/27: For Starters 12/20: Second Is Just Fine 12/13: Not Short On Talent 12/06: Stars In The Outfield 11/29: Staying Hot On The Hot Corner 11/23: First Thing Is First 11/16: Best Backstops 11/08: Engineering Perfection 11/01: Up The Coast 10/25: Sun Devils Best In Fall 10/18: Taking The Plunge 10/11: Tourney Time 10/4: Red Raider Savior 9/27: Not Fooling Around 9/20: Continuing To Right The Ship 9/13: Flying Back With The Ducks? 9/6: Same Faces, New Places 8/30: More And More Like MLB 8/23: Laying Down A Full House 8/16: No Hitch At Deadline 8/9: College Homerun Kings 8/2: Bringing The Tradition Back 7/23: Cape Cod Update - All-Star Edition 7/19: Bringing The Quack Back 7/17: Summer League Update - Week 5 7/6: A Ride On A Carousel 7/2: Summer League Update - Week 3 6/28: Omaha In Review 6/26: Summer League Update - Week 2 6/25: Second Time As Good As First 6/21: Back In The Saddle 6/20: Series On The Line 6/19: Expect the Unexpected 6/19: Planting Seeds...Again 6/18: Cape Cod Summer League Update 6/18: Cards On Their Heels 6/17: Pac-10 Showdown 6/17: Is It April Or June? 6/16: Seeds of Success 6/16: Sunday, Bloody Sunday 6/15: Final Chapter For Price 6/13: Omaha in the Cards 6/7: Big Blue Oaks 6/7: The Right Price 5/31: Go Johnnies Go 5/17: Not So Mid Anymore 5/10: In And Out 5/6: On the Road With ECU: Day Three 5/5: On the Road With ECU: Day Two 5/3: On the Road With ECU: Day One 5/3: Staying True to the Family 4/26: Having Fun With Two 4/19: Pitching Is Name Of The Game 4/12: Going Coastal 4/5: Right On Key 4/3: April Schedule Planner 3/29: Northern Exposure 3/22: East Carolina Set To Make Waves 3/8: Shedding The Blues 3/1: March Baseball Schedule Planner 2/25: Seawolves Swept in Carolina 2/24: A Loss Is, Well, A Loss 2/23: On the Road With The Brook 2/15: Florida Looks To Chomp Out Of Rut 2/9: Winthrop Winning The Tough Way 1/29: February Baseball Schedule Planner 1/28: Same Game, New Team, No Year Off 1/21: The Real All-Americans 1/19: Just One Of Those Weeks FOOTBALL 8/24: When Is A Win, A Win? 8/21: Topping Harlon's Hill Twice 8/2: Mid-American Conference Preview 8/2: Thunder and Lightning in Kalamazoo 8/2: Showing Flashes 12/16: Sweet Home Alabama 12/15: Humble Woodhead Wins Harlon Hill 12/14: Familiar Foes, Only On The Biggest Stage 12/7: Blooming in Bloomsberg 11/30: Grand Valley To Face One And Only Rival 11/15: Something New, For Newberry 11/1: Chadron's On The Map 10/28: What Can Brown Do For U-Conn 10/23: Asserting Identity 10/11: Leaf Fits Right in at West Texas 10/4: Pioneers Post Impressive Feats 9/27: Bible Belt Clash 9/20: Regaining Respect at Ashland 9/13: It's the GLFC, Not the GLIAC 9/7: Four Horse Race At Valdosta State BASKETBALL 10/23: Jayhawks, Longhorns Top Big 12 10/19: Memphis The Class Of C-USA 1/8: In The Zone, Hofstra Goes To It 12/28: Sweet Stroke For Stokes 12/05: Hofstra Wins Battle Of Long Island 11/30: Despite Loss, Great Day For Sea Wolves 10/17: CSTV's Top Five Games 10/16: Shiny Pearl in Knoxville 10/13: FSU's Thornton Still Blossoming W. VOLLEYBALL 8/23: Cardinal Comeback 8/21: Pavan Paves Her Way 8/21: Rock Stars In Diguise 8/20: Nebraska's Staying On Top M. WATER POLO 9/5: West Is The Best 9/3: 2007 Men's Water Polo Preview

I personally can't believe that the calendar has already flipped to April. That means two months from this past Sunday, conference tournaments will be all wrapped up, and the field of 64 will be on its road to Omaha. One thing's for sure: once the season gets underway, it really takes off in a hurry. Here's a look at the best action to keep an eye on in the month of April.

April 3

Nebraska vs. Creighton - at Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha, Neb.

Is there a better way to start off the month with a game played at the Mecca of the sport?  Especially when it's between these two in-state rivals. The Bluejays will travel across town as Johnny Rosenblatt sees its first action of the season, 10 days before the Omaha Royals take the field for the first time at home. The Cornhuskers will hop on the bus and travel an hour to the Northwest, where they will take on a Creighton team that has gotten off to a decent start in Missouri Valley play. These two have met 105 times on the diamond, with Nebraska taking 62 of those, including the last five in the series. In 2006, the `Huskers took all three against the `Jays, with two of those wins coming at Rosenblatt. If you're wondering why they play at the big park, it might have something to do with the fact that 21,158 came out to see last year's final meeting. 

April 6-8

Rice at East Carolina

Two of the best teams in Conference USA will square off on the first full weekend of April, when the Owls travel to Greenville, N.C. to take on East Carolina. These new conference foes only have one series under their belts all-time, and that came last season at Reckling Park in Houston when ECU took the first game before falling in the next two--something they did all too much of on the road in '06.  This time around, the Pirates get them in their own backyard, and so far in 2007, that has been a good thing. East Carolina is a very impressive 20-3 at Clark-LeClair Stadium against opponents like Fullerton, Pepperdine and Michigan.

April 10

Stetson at South Florida

Put any two Florida schools onto the baseball diamond together, and you will get a natural rivalry. If things stay the way they are, South Florida and Stetson will meet for the second time this season, as conference leaders. The Bulls are off to a surprising start in the Big East, while the Hatters are up to their usual tricks in the Atlantic Sun. Back in February, Stetson handed USF its first loss of the season, with a 9-4 win in DeLand, before the Bulls ended a six game losing streak against Stetson two weeks later with a 6-5 win. For the first time in years, these teams aren't scheduled to play more than three games, but of course that could all change if they end up in the same Regional they played in the postseason back in 2002, when USF won a wild, 14-13 game.

April 13-15

Michigan at Ohio State

Put Michigan and Ohio State on any playing surface and you will get yourself a knockdown, dragout fight. Whether it's the obvious rivalry in football, men's gymnastics, or on the baseball field, the Wolverines and Buckeyes plain just don't like each other. The two will meet for a four game series in the middle of April, with a doubleheader on Saturday sandwiched between single games on Friday and Saturday. Entering April, both teams could be considered a couple of the best northern teams in college baseball early on, and this series could go a long way in figuring out where we'll see the Big Ten tournament the last weekend in May. The Wolverines swept the four game series at home a year ago, plus took their lone meeting in the conference tournament to complete the season sweep. The final three games were one run games, and don't think the Buckeyes have forgotten what happened in 2006. One of the greatest parts about this rivalry, and what really makes it a rivalry: 235 games played between them. Enough said.

April 18

Clemson at South Carolina

The Touching the Bases blog will be up and running from Columbia, S.C. for this midweek extravaganza. Clemson has been in somewhat of a rut ever since South Carolina swept a home-and-home earlier this year when the Gamecocks and Tigers met as the top two teams in the nation. This will be the fourth and final schedule meeting of the season, as the teams meet a week before in Clemson. The Gamecocks have rebounded from a disappointing 2005 against their in-state rival, when they lost three of the four games, and are on real good shape to return the favor this time around. The Orange and Purple have a commanding lead in the all-time series, to the tune of 162-113-2. That's a lot of baseball, and Sarge Frye Field is sure to be packed the gills as it was the first time around this year.

April 20-22

North Carolina at Florida State

This should be quite the barnburner at Dick Howser Stadium later this month.  What should still be two of the best teams in the conference, let alone the nation, will collide in Tallahassee for a three game set. In last year's series in Chapel Hill, it was the Tar Heels who took two-out-of-three, but at the ACC tournament in May, FSU scored some revenge with a wild 7-6 win. The all-time series shouldn't come as a surprise, considering the dominance that the Seminoles have had on college baseball over the years. Mike Martin's bunch is 54-22 against the Tar Heels. UNC ace Robert Woodard will look to start cutting down on that disparity in this ACC division crossover (FSU in the Atlantic and UNC in the Coastal). 

April 25

Wichita State at Arkansas

Nearly 300 miles separate the Shockers and the Razorbacks, but they'll still play baseball in the middle of the week, and we are sure glad. It will be a rematch of three great games they played in the 2004 Fayetteville Regional, in which the Hogs would eventually pull out and get to Omaha after downing FSU in the Super Regional. Arkansas has won the last three meetings, including a midweek game in late March last year in Wichita, but the games have all been close. Two of the three regional games were one-run ballgames, as was last year's. Add in the fact that both teams are on a roll heading into the month, and this is going to be quite the midweek contest. Great scheduling.

April 27-29

Pepperdine at San Diego