NC State will throw freshman Eric Surkamp (2-3, 4.89 ERA). Gib Hobson’s complete game effort now looks even bigger, as Surkamp’s longest outing of the season is 5.2 innings. Stanford will give freshman Jeremy Bleich (4-4, 3.56 ERA) just his seventh start of the season. He maxed out at seven innings in his 5/14 start at Washington. Expect to see plenty of both bullpens.

Another Stanford guy who caught my eye is right fielder Michael Taylor. He caught my eye because I saw him getting off the bus yesterday and he was almost as big as the bus. Taylor is listed at 6-6 and 250 pounds, but he honestly looks bigger. He looks like a chiseled Frank Thomas.

Taylor will likely be one of the top picks in the 2007 MLB draft. MLB scouts tend to fall in love with “tools” guys, and guys who “look like baseball players.” Taylor has all the tools (and has had a couple of pretty good seasons, so he can play, too), but he doesn’t look like a baseball player – he looks like an NFL tight end.

But in his two years at Stanford, he has shown the ability to hit for average (.289 and .309), some speed (he stole 25 bases in the Alaska Summer League last year), and he has shown me a big arm in the outfield this weekend. Shockingly, the only thing he hasn’t shown is power – he has hit only eight homers in 432 career at-bats.

Taylor has never played organized football. His dad had played college football at the University of Maryland and advised Michael into playing less contact-intensive sports. It has paid off, as one scouting service named Taylor the top high school prospect in the country in 2004. Taylor, however, decided he couldn’t pass up the chance at a Stanford education, so MLB is still waiting. His dad’s advice will pay off more next year in the form of a fat MLB signing bonus.