2024 Baseball Season

[TobiasCatsup]

Spiders win 8-4! Hentschel closes the door with a 5 out save and a clean 9th inning. Really nice to get yet another series win.

Final 3 A10 series are against really quality opponents, so having the 9-6 conference record feels really good. Find a way to go 5-4 and punch that ticket.

 

[SpiderTrap]

I would say the baseball team has surprised a bit in A10 play after their not so good OOC start. But - they have put themselves in a good position. Only 1 game back of first place, and get Dayton and VCU series to end season (along with URI). Need to just continue to win series. Dayton will be a good test - but I would have to say this is a positive place for UR Baseball under a new coach for the first year.

 

[MDspider8]

Dayton will be a real test this weekend. They're a strong offensive team with above average A-10 pitching staff. With no midweek series this week, we'll have the full pitching staff rested and ready to go. HUGE series for us.

 

[AnnapSpider]

Maybe our new coach knows how to make the best of what he’s got to work with. It sure didn’t start off that way.

 

[SpiderTrap]

Maybe it just took time to figure out what he had and how to use it. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. With VCU and Dayton series coming up - that is 6 games (not to mention URI) - but there is also the possibility UR goes 2-4 or worse in these games. And if that happens - it could be a major drop in the standings and a somber end to the season. So a lot of games left, but at least they are in position where these games matter. Which at the beginning of the season - did not look like it would be the case.

 

[TobiasCatsup]

Congrats to Jack Arcamone for picking up Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors! Arcamone "slashed a .412 average, a .444 on-base percentage and a .706 slugging percentage, and hit 7-for-17 with five RBI, six runs scored, one home run."

He is the fourth Spider to earn A10 weekly honors! On the entire season, Jack has probably been our least impressive hitter out of qualified batters, though he actually had a solid month of April. He went 3-7 in each of the two previous A10 series before St. Bonaventure.

 

[TobiasCatsup]

Gameday! Many of you have been gearing up for this series all week, but for those that don't know, the Spiders (20-24, 9-6 Atlantic 10) take on the Dayton Flyers (28-15, 10-4 A10) at home this weekend!

Game Times:

• Friday, 1PM: E-Rod vs Eli Majick (46.1 IP, 5.24 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, 52:22 K:BB, .292 BAA)
• Friday, approx. 4PM (was changed to a doubleheader yesterday evening): Roche vs Connor Fennell (54.2 IP, 5.10 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 54:9 K:BB, .264 BAA)
• Saturday, 1PM: TBD vs Chris Peguero (40.1 IP, 8.26 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 43:11 K:BB, .318 BAA)

**Note: I am using Richmond's site for our probable starters, though Dayton lists Roche as the Saturday starter. Apologies if we don't see Roche today.

The Flyers are a really quality opponent, and I got some quick facts from their website:

• Dayton's lone series loss on the season was to then No. 1-Wake Forest. They have won or split 10 other series this year.
• The Flyers lead the A-10 in on-base average at .426 and ranks 16th in the country.
• Senior relief pitcher Nick Wissman is the only pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball who leads (or co-leads) his respective conference in both wins and saves.
• Dayton ranks 7th nationally in hits-by-pitch
• They are currently 17th nationally on team stolen bases, swiping 92 bags on the season. David Pedanou leads the way with 25 steals (in 28 chances) on the season, while David Mendez is 16-for-17. In total, 15 Flyers have registered at least one steal on the season.

David Mendez has picked up A10 Rookie of the Week honors twice this season, and has a great shot of winning Rookie of the Year, as he is 4th in the A10 in AVG (.357), 6th in OBP (.466), 8th in Runs scored (39), and 8th in stolen bases.

Their big power bat is Eddie Yamin IV (Sophomore IF/Catcher), who on the season has 12 home runs, 47 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.041. He absolutely torched Davidson last week, hitting 7-12 with 2 HRs, 8 RBIs, and 4 runs scored over the 3 games.

If Dayton have a lead late in the game, they go to their lockdown reliever Nick Wissman, who has pitched in over 50 innings in 20 appearances this season. Along with his 6 saves and 9 wins (!!) this season, he boasts a 2.45 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and a K:BB ratio of 48:9 ~ 5.33.

Their pitching staff is 4th in the A10 in team ERA with 6.02, which is not incredibly dominant. They have given up 54 home runs on the year, so I am hoping the Spiders can use some power to generate runs. They are, however, 2nd in the A10 in walks, allowing 170 free passes this year in 378.1 innings.

Win this series, and the Spiders are in an incredible spot not only to get into the conference tourney, but get a Top 4 seed. Get swept and we will be fighting for our life, with half of the remaining A10 games coming against most writer's A10 Auto-bid at the moment.

 

[MDspider8]

Big bottom of the first to put the Spiders ahead, 5-2 after one. Won't feel comfortable with any lead today, though. Dayton already stole 4 bases in one inning and E-Rod needs to stay in the strike zone.

 

[TobiasCatsup]

E2: Really nice to get a clean inning from E-Rod off of the big bottom of the first inning. But Spiders go fairly quietly in the bottom half of the frame, just a single from Pacheco.

 

[SFspidur]

Nice! Leadoff double by Yamin in the top of the 4th for the Flyers' first hit, advances to third on a groundout, but a sharp grounder to third traps the runner with nowhere to go and O'Keefe gets him trying to scramble back to the bag. Headed to the Spider half, still up 5–2!

 

[SFspidur]

E-Rod's day is done after more control issues. Single, wild pitch, walk, HBP to load them up, and the Spiders bring in Reinke who promptly walks in a run. Then a crazy at-bat by Yamin...strike was reviewed for a potential HBP and then he got called out for leaning in to get a HBP that deflected off his elbow and hit Lass in the family jewels. Fortunately a force at home on the next batter ends the threat...5–3 Spiders.

 

[SFspidur]

Spiders have really not been able to get anything going offensively since the 1st. And everything is an adventure with the Spiders on the mound.

Another leadoff double for the Flyers and they're in business again.

Edit: Nice recovery...two strikeouts and a groundout to keep the Flyers off the board in the 6th.

 

[SFspidur]

Spiders get one in the bottom to push the lead back to 3...Larson single, Whitley reaches on fielder's choice then steals second, and Jaffe doubles him home.

Edit: And a quick top of the 7th for the Spiders with only 7 pitches for Reinke....pop out, HBP, and a DP. Let's finish it!

 

[SFspidur]

Spiders get another one off a new Flyer pitcher to push it to 7–3! Pacheco HBP, then two PB to move him to third. Walk to O'Keefe, and then a Topolski fly gets Pacheco home. Another new pitcher coming in as the Spiders look for more with O'Keefe on second and just one out.

Edit: Nope, strikeout and fly out and the Spiders are done.

 

[SFspidur]

Hentschel comes in and gets a strikeout to end a Flyer threat, and we're headed to the bottom of the 8th. Only three more outs between the Spiders and victory!

 

[SFspidur]

Spiders take the opener! Only three hits for the Flyers.

 

[urfan1]

Great start

 

[MDspider8]

Hmmm...Roche is not starting game 2 after being listed as the Saturday starter in our game notes. I guess they'll run him out tomorrow

It's Hinchliffe instead, who has looked pretty good this year. Let's see what he's got.

 

[Eight Legger]

Dayton gets three in the seventh to take a 5-2 lead.

 

[TobiasCatsup]

Hmmm...Roche is not starting game 2 after being listed as the Saturday starter in our game notes. I guess they'll run him out tomorrow

It's Hinchliffe instead, who has looked pretty good this year. Let's see what he's got.

Dayton game notes more accurate than ours!

 

[SFspidur]

Spiders got four in the 9th and had the tying run at the plate, but Whitley flied out to deep right on the first pitch to end it. 8–6 Flyers.

 

[urfan1]

split today

 

[TobiasCatsup]

E4: Spiders trail Dayton 4-2. Roche was really struggling in the 4th, and we may have gotten bailed out on a no call for home plate obstruction, which led to the 3rd out.

Offense needs to get more going against a pitcher that has not had much success this year.

 

[TobiasCatsup]

Roche’s day is done and Aoki turns to Dane Armson first.

 

[TobiasCatsup]

M6: Dayton tack on one more and now lead 5-2. Hentschel comes in with bases loaded 1 out and gets Sac fly, walk, pop out.

Neither team has been happy with the strike zone today.

 

[SFspidur]

6–3 Flyer victory. Sure would have been nice to get two against them, especially after getting the first one, but obviously better than getting swept!

 

[TobiasCatsup]

Agreed SF, taking 1 of 3 (with the two losses being somewhat competitive) you can be happy with. Makes you want to take 2 of 3 on the road at Rhode Island next week, but we still very much control our own destiny.

 

[TobiasCatsup]

Now that the dust has settled on the weekend, figured I would do a standings update with two series to play. Bolded teams represent the current Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament qualifiers (if the season ended today):

1. St Louis 13-5
2. Dayton 12-5
3. UMass 11 -7
4. VCU 10-7
5. Fordham 10-8
6. Richmond 10-8
7. George Washington 9-9
8. Rhode Island 8-10
9. St Joseph's 8-10
10. George Mason 6-12
11. Davidson 5-13
12. St Bonaventure 5-13

Absolutely massive series up ahead for us, at Rhode Island. Win the series, and you basically clinch postseason play by way of eliminating a team on the outside looking in. Three series next weekend are made up of the other six postseason teams:

• Dayton at St Louis
• VCU at Fordham
• UMass at George Washington

 

[TobiasCatsup]

Gameday! 3PM at Towson, stream only on Flo Sports (sad). Towson (11-36, 3-17 CAA) are a bottom five team we have played this year by the advanced metrics (Lafayette and Mount St. Mary's, Norfolk State also around this range), and looking at their roster, not too many names or stats to call out.

Offensively, they do not hit for average (.259) or power (.364 SLG). They have just 27 homers on the season, and are scoring a little over 5 runs per game (opponents are scoring nearly 9). They average about 1 stolen base a game, but no one on their roster is a stand out base stealer. If there is one hitter to call out it would be Elijah Dickerson, who on the season has a slash line of .339/.400/.492. He leads the team in doubles with 18, and has also added 3 homers and 27 RBIs. He has stolen 7 bags in 10 attempts.

Pitching for this team is rough, a team ERA of 7.71 and WHIP of 1.95. They hit over 2 batters a game, and have a batting average against of almost .300. Should be a Spider win today but we have seen some mid-week craziness before.

Quick shoutout to DJ Pacheco, who had a nice series vs Dayton (5-12 at the plate, with 3 runs scored, and 3 RBIs). He quietly now is the team leader (among qualified hitters) in AVG (.346), OPS (1.1013), and Runs (40, next closest is 33).

We also have a little more of a sample size on Freshman Jackson Hinchliffe, who now has 24.1 IP, a 3.33 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, .211 BAA. The K/BB (14/9) could definitely be better, but having a seemingly competent Freshman arm is a really nice development out of this season.

 

[72Spider]

Towson rips Spiders 20-10.

 

[SpiderTrap]

While its a bad loss - does it really have any effect on A10 standings - think we really need to handle business this weekend and then go 2-1 with VCU the following series. If UR can go 4-2 in those 6 games - its looking good. And I think 4-2 is achievable.

 

[72Spider]

Then why play them? You try to win every time you take the field. Desperate need for more and much better pitchers.

 

[SpiderTrap]

Then why play them? You try to win every time you take the field. Desperate need for more and much better pitchers.

I agree - it shows our lack of pitching depth. But right now - at this point in the season since we are not figthing for a top 25 ranking or anything and really just fighting for A10 playoff spot - the mid-week games right now are meaningless.

We are in A10 survival mode right now.

 

[TobiasCatsup]

In an ideal world, these mid-week games serve as a way to test out some of your lesser used arms (that assumes you have a full roster of competent pitchers that can throw strikes) and see what you can use in conference play. Jackson Hinchliffe is a great example of this: threw four no-hit innings against ODU and High Point and then Aoki started to work him into A10 play.

Another benefit would just be our lineup continuing to see live pitches, game scenarios, etc. The top of the lineup had a solid day yesterday:

• Whitley: 3-3, 1 BB, 1 HR, 3 R, 1 RBI
• Bernstein: 2-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI
• Jaffe: 1-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI
• Pacheco: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI
• Whitley, Bernstein, and Jaffe went B2B2B homers in the 5th

Small sample size and he's mostly been pitching in "garbage time", but Jason Shockley now has pitched 3.2 innings of no-run ball against VMI, Longwood, Dayton, and Towson. Something to chew on.

The good news is that these disastrous mid-week games have not killed our morale and have not affected conference play, so far. Let's win the Rhody series!

 

[SpiderTrap]

In an ideal world, these mid-week games serve as a way to test out some of your lesser used arms (that assumes you have a full roster of competent pitchers that can throw strikes) and see what you can use in conference play. Jackson Hinchliffe is a great example of this: threw four no-hit innings against ODU and High Point and then Aoki started to work him into A10 play.

Another benefit would just be our lineup continuing to see live pitches, game scenarios, etc. The top of the lineup had a solid day yesterday:

• Whitley: 3-3, 1 BB, 1 HR, 3 R, 1 RBI
• Bernstein: 2-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI
• Jaffe: 1-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI
• Pacheco: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI
• Whitley, Bernstein, and Jaffe went B2B2B homers in the 5th

Small sample size and he's mostly been pitching in "garbage time", but Jason Shockley now has pitched 3.2 innings of no-run ball against VMI, Longwood, Dayton, and Towson. Something to chew on.

The good news is that these disastrous mid-week games have not killed our morale and have not affected conference play, so far. Let's win the Rhody series!

I agree with this 100% at the beginning and middle of the season. But now that we have 2 A10 series to go with major playoff implications on the line - these last 2 mid-week games are nothing more than practice for those games. OR - if we were fighting for top 25 position in rankings - then I would argue, we need these wins to stay in rankings. But since that doesn't apply, all focus on the A10 series.

 

[TobiasCatsup]

Gameday! The Spiders (21-27, 10-8 Atlantic 10) will take on the Rhode Island Rams (16-25, 8-10 A10) this weekend in Kingston, RI. We are on a 4 game winning streak against the Rams, including conference tournament play.

Game Times and Probable Pitchers (mostly guessing for URI based on their historical series):

• Friday, 3PM: E-Rod vs Jeremy Urena (32 IP, 3.09 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 22:8 K:BB, .273 BAA)
• Saturday, 1PM: Roche vs Sean Sposato (42.2 IP, 6.75 ERA, 2.06 WHIP, 34:20 K:BB, .366 BAA)
• Saturday, Noon: TBD vs Evan Maloney (38 IP, 3.79 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 30:17 K:BB, .236 BAA)

As a team, Rhode Island are middle of the pack in the conference in most stats. They are last in the conference in team Average (.240) and OBP (.360). They do hit for some power (47 HRs on the season) and run the bases fairly well (60 SBs in 73 attempts). Their pitching has not been stellar, but they are a really solid team in the field (.970 Fielding percentage).

Their most potent bat is Anthony DePino, a Junior infielder who won the most recent Atlantic 10 Player of the Week. DePino "hit .500 with three home runs during the series victory over Davidson...was credited with 14 total bases and he four walks for a .667 OBP." He has put together an impressive season overall, slashing .294/.412/.657, 14 HRs, 31 RBIs, 10-10 on SBs with 35 runs scored.

Their other big home run hitter is 1B Michael Anderson, who has 11 on the year and leads the Rams in RBIs with 36. Interestingly, he also is second in the Atlantic 10 with 17 HBPs. I will be interested to see his stance. Anderson was named to the All-Atlantic 10 Second Team last season.

While starting pitching leaves a lot to be desired (see above), URI have a really solid bullpen arm in Tommy Hughes, who has not allowed a hit in his last 5 appearances (across 6 innings). He has 4 wins and 2 saves on the season, and has pitched to a tune of a 2.86 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, and .152 BAA, with 33 Ks in 22 innings.

I think if we can get some solid starting pitching outings, we should be in a good place to pounce on their pitchers and come back to Richmond with two more conference wins.

 

[MDspider8]

We are heading to the bottom of the 9th in Kingston with the Spiders leading, 3-2. Hentschel is out to complete the four out save. Bring it home!

 

[MDspider8]

Spiders win! Huge W to open up the series!! Impressive work from E-Rod, Reinke, and Hentschel to allow 2 total runs and 6 total hits.

 

[Wood Hall]

Great start, now win the series and finish the job.

 

[MDspider8]

Utter domination from the boys today! Up 14-0 in the 8th. Roche with 6 scoreless, 7 K’s, and of course, 0 walks.

This is a massive series win. I’m super impressed with what Aoki has been able to get out of the squad this year.