ESPN 3 Who to Watch: Weekend of March 23-25, 2012

ESPN 3 Who to Watch: Weekend of March 23-25, 2012.

by Jeremy Strain

FRIDAY

3/23 7:00 PM EDT #1 Florida vs. #8 SouthCarolina

The pitching matchups to watch in this series feature Florida starters BrianJohnson, JohnnyMagliozzi , HudsonRandall and ace reliever AustinMaddox versus South Carolina hurler MattPrice. [NOTE FROM NICK: Randall, Maddox and Price all threw on Thursday night, and Price and Maddox are most likely unavailable again until Saturday.]

SATURDAY

3/24 1:00 PM EDT #20 NorthCarolina State vs. #5 NorthCarolina

This matchup doesn’t feature any of the BA preseason top100, but it features some young players to watch for 2013, and some youngoutstanding pitching.

3/24 1:00 PM EDT #1 Florida vs. #8 SouthCarolina

From abatting standpoint, led by Mike Zunino, Preston Tucker, and Nolan Fontana, Florida is sawing throughcompetition this season. [NOTE FROM NICK: Freshmen Taylor Gushue and Joshua Tobias are candidates for early-round attention come 2014.] For South Carolina at bat, the preseason top 100players to watch are Evan Marzilli, Christian Walker, and Adam Matthews, who is off to a bit of a slow startthis season [NOTE FROM NICK: but showed well in Thursday night's series opener].

3/24 4:00 PM EDT FloridaAtlantic vs. MiddleTennessee

This game doesn’t feature any of the BA preseason top 100.

SUNDAY

3/25 1:00 PM EDT #3 Arkansasvs. MississippiState

The players to watch for in this matchup are from numberthree ranked Arkansas featuring OF Nolan Sanburn and P D.J.Baxendale who areboth preseason top 30 players. [NOTE FROM NICK: Matt Reynolds is a fringe top 100 talent and 2013 early-round candidates Ryne Stanek and Dom Ficociello are worth a watch.]

3/25 2:00 PM EDT #20 NorthCarolina State vs. #5 NorthCarolina

As mentioned before this is a game more to watch for 2013than for the 2012 draft, but a tough ACC matchup.