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Casey Wilson's top NCAA college baseball betting picks and best bets for today's NCAA Baseball games on 3/8/24. His free picks include run lines, totals, money lines and parlays.
We have another incredible weekend of games, with conference play underway in some of the Power Five conferences. The weekend will highlight marquee matchups between Duke and Wake Forest, Virginia and Miami, and Texas and Texas Tech.
We have 14 bets that were posted last night for today in our Premium Discord for our members, including my two favorite bets, which our two moneyline parlays not listed below. If you want all my college baseball plays, I post all my bets in our Premium Discord daily. Use code CASEY to get 10% off any MLB Premium subscription, and you will also receive my daily bets.
This article will focus on money lines, run lines, totals, and often parlaying teams to get better odds. Not all books have college lines, so DraftKings Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook will be my primary books. If you find a line in another book, feel free to use that as well. With no further adieu, here are my favorite bets for Friday, March 8, 2023.
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Today's College Baseball Betting Picks
#12 Duke (11-1) @ #1 Wake Forest (11-1)
Projected Starters - Blue Devils: Jonathan Santucci | Demon Deacons: Josh Hartle
There is no way I can write this article without talking about my favorite weekend matchup, maybe of the year. My two pre-season bets to win the College World Series square off to kick off ACC play in what should be a doozy.
Duke has skyrocketed up the charts and has become one of the public's bets on teams in college baseball, and rightfully so. They have been incredible to start the year and are one of the best teams in the country when Jonathan Santucci takes the mound. The lefty works 93-97 on the gun with a wipeout slider. He is a surefire first-round pick and has been unhittable this season.
Santucci enters today's start with a 3-0 record, 0.00 ERA, and a 1.00 WHIP. He has 46.3% K%, 10.4% BB%, and a 1.23 SIERA. He has been electric and cannot miss TV every time he toes the rubber. His 100% LOB% and a 10.4% BB% are a bit concerning. This will be his toughest test this season on the road against the number-one team in the country.
It's hard to be better than Santucci, but Josh Hartle will get the ball for the Deacons, and it has been phenomenal for a much longer sample size. Hartle is 3-0 with a 2.04 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP this season. He owns a 23.6 % K%, 4.2% BB%, and a 2.08 SIERA. The lefty will run his heater in the low to mid-90s and has some of the best commands in college baseball.
Hartle has more big-game experience than most in college baseball. Last year, he was 11-2 with a 2.87 ERA and 140|24 K|BB. He has the experience and is pitching at home, giving Wake Forest the advantage here on the mound, although that is tough to say with Santucci on the mound.
Wake will have the advantage at the plate, led by its two stars on offense. Nick Kurtz, one of the favorites for the college baseball Golden Spikes award, is slashing .262/.475/.452 with two HRs and two 2Bs to start the season. The other Golden Spikes award candidate for the Deacs on offense is transfer Seaver King. King is slashing .255/.316/.510 with four HRs and two stolen bases to start the year.
Although the two stars have struggled, this Wake offense has been electric. It is led by Adam Tellier, who hit .413/.550/.870 with five HRs and six 2Bs, and Jack Winnay slashing .369/.444/.895 with six HRs. If Kurtz and King can get it going this weekend, watch out for this Wake offense.
Duke also has star power, led by one of the country's best backstops, Alex Stone. Stone is slashing .256/.333/.488 with three HRs to start the year. Also, look out for Ben Miller, who has been on a tear for Duke to start the season, slashing .500/.556/1.063 with seven HRs. Duke will have by far and away its toughest test to date on the mound tonight, and something tells me the offense may slow down a bit in this series.
Wake opened as -200 favorites; the public has pushed this line down to -166. That is plenty of value to get in on the action backing the best team in the country.
Pick: Wake Forest Moneyline (-166) DraftKings Sportsbook
Today's College Baseball Betting Picks
Southern Miss (8-5) @ Louisiana Tech (12-1)
Projected Starters - Golden Eagles: Niko Mazza Jr. | Bulldogs: Reed Smith Sr.
An excellent nonconference midmajor series will occur at Pat Petterson in Ruston between the Southern Miss Golden Eagles of the Sun Belt and the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs of C-USA.
Lousiana Tech has been excellent this season, opening 12-0. They are coming off their first-season loss against Xavier on Wednesday. They will send Reed Smith Sr. to the mound for game one. Smith starts today with a 0-0 record, a 4.15 ERA, and a 1.46 WHIP. He owns a 19.7% K%, 9.8% BB%, and a 4.12 SIERA.
On the other hand, Niko Mazza will get the ball for Southern Miss and is one of the Sun Belts' and college baseball's premier arms. Mazza enters today's start with a 2-0 record, 1.96 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 33.3% K%, 1.4% BB%, and a 1.55 SIERA. He will pump his fastball into the mid-90s and attack hitters with a premier cutter and slider.
Southern Miss has a clear advantage on the bump, and when we add in the .985 fielding percentage, the 13th-best in the country, scoring runs on Fridays against this team is at a premium.
Southern Miss on the offensive side of the ball has been underwhelming. As a team, they are slashing .235/.385/.366 and have hit only ten HRs. Slade Wilks, .250/.393/.432, and Carson Paetow, .278/.481/.583, are the two bats to look out for in this order and need to get it going for the Golden Eagles to be successful this season.
LA Tech has been a different beast on this side of the ball. Their .312 AVG and .485 SLG top the Golden Eagles by a wide margin. Niko Mazza is the best arm this team has faced so far this season, and when it comes to capping, I will choose pitching over hitting every day unless it's Oregon State.
Pick: Southern Miss (-135) DraftKings Sportsbook
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Today's College Baseball Betting Picks
#24 Texas (7-5) @ #17 Texas Tech (10-2)
Projected Starters - Longhorns: Lebarron Johnson Jr. | Red Raiders: Kyle Robinson
Our last battle of the day brings us to a matchup between two in-state rivals in their last-ever series in Big 12 play. The Longhorns will travel to Lubbock for a three-game set after getting swept at the Astros Foundation Classic in Houston last week and losing a mid-week game against Texas A&M at home.
This is a classic bounce-back opportunity for Texas here as the public perception has changed. Just a week ago, Texas was the chalk pick against LSU, and Luke Holman, with LBJ on the mound; we picked LSU. This week, we will ride with the Longhorns in a must-win game.
Star pitcher Lebarron Johnson Jr. will get the ball for Texas in a huge momentum game in what feels like a must-win series to get back on track for the Horns. LBJ enters today's start with a 1-1 record, a 2.25 ERA, and a 1.12 WHIP. He will run his heater in the upper 90s with the game's best splitter. He has a 31.3% K%, 10.9% BB%, and a 2.68 SIERA.
He is one of the game's biggest competitors, and although this is more of a "feel" play and not a numbers play, I expect LBJ to have one of his signature games tonight for the Longhorns.
Kyle Robinson is an ace in his own right for the Red Raiders. Robinson will also run his fastball in the mid-90s and has big-time stuff. He enters today's start with a 2-1 record, a 3.14 ERA, and a 1.26 WHIP. His 32.3% K% shows the quality of his stuff, but he has struggled a bit with command. He owns a 12.9% BB% and a 2.93 SIERA. With what I expect from LBJ tonight, the free passes may haunt Robinson.
Some mainstays lead Texas in their lineup: Peyton Powell, .440/.482/.820 with four HRs, and Porter Brown, .196/.327/.435 with three HRs. Jared Thomas, .457/.569/.652, and Jalin Flores, .347/.411/.755, with five HRs, have been scorching hot to start the season.
I love the Longhorns to bounce back here tonight and pick up a big-time win with their ace on the bump.
Pick: Texas Moneyline (-115) DraftKings Sportsbook
Thank you for reading our College Baseball Bets saga. If you have any questions, you can message me or tweet me on Twitter @CaseyW22. Most games are accessible on ESPN+, but if you have trouble finding them, head to each team's athletics website, and you can follow the games on live stats or even sometimes free live streams. Make sure to sign up for a Premium MLB pass to access all college baseball bets. Good luck, RotoBallers!
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