This article is part of our College Baseball Picks series.
College Baseball Betting: Today's College Baseball Picks
Friday Night in College Baseball. Tell me something better. Chances are you can't. Thursday actually featured a lot of game one slates, so the handicap is a different approach for tonight in most cases.
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Virginia Cavaliers (+110) @ Duke Blue Devils (-140) | Total 12.5
This weekend features one of the top matchups in the country with arguably the two best teams in the ACC. Both of them, along with FSU, were teams I gave out a little ticket on in the preseason to win the ACC in the regular season. The winner of the series is certainly in a good position heading into April. Jonathan Santucci was back to himself in a big rebound start last night, as he led Duke to a much needed 9-4 win. In what has become a trend lately, Duke has won most Game 1's with Santucci, only to come back and lose the next one. Can UVA even the score?
Virginia will be throwing lefty Evan Blanco, who has been okay this year, nothing special. He has four straight contests of between five and 5.2 innings, and the last three he has allowed exactly three earned runs. On paper, Blanco won't dominate an opposition, but he can keep his team in the game. Even after facing Miami and Wake, Duke may be the best team he sees all year. If he can just repeat his last few lines of five-plus innings with three runs, then UVA will certainly have a chance.
It's been three straight Game 2's where Duke has lost. Against Wake, Clemson, and NC State, none of whom are easy matchups at all. Now, they have another difficult one in the Cavaliers. Ryan Higgins has been slotted into this role for the time being.
In his first "Saturday" role chance last week at NC State, he delivered four scoreless innings, and three innings with no earned runs the week before against Clemson. It's a small sample size at just 16.2 innings, but his 3.24 ERA has reflected his quality outings.
Even with Duke's impressive staff, they will be put to the test here facing a UVA lineup that is second in the country in batting average (.352), tied for the most runs (277), and 21st in Jimmy Jacks (45). It's a loaded lineup filled with soon-to-be top-round draft picks.
I grabbed UVA at +124 last night, so the market agrees with me. Obviously, that doesn't always mean anything. The bullpen for UVA is probably the weakest unit in this contest, which is not ideal. But Virginia is a team that is capable of responding. I think they find a way to get it done today.
Pick: UVA ML +110
