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2024 Baseball Season

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MDspider8

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The 2024 baseball schedule just released, link is below. Only two games against power conference opponents (BC & UVA) and looks to be a pretty soft schedule overall, which makes sense for what will be rebuilding team with a first-year coach. Also, the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship has now been moved to a neutral site at the new Capital One Park outside their HQ in Tysons Corner.

"UR will host non-conference series against Mount St. Mary's (Feb. 23-25), Marist (Mar. 8-10), Cornell (Mar. 15-17), and single games versus Princeton (Mar. 11) and Lafayette (Mar. 13) before heading south for a weekend series at High Point (Mar. 22-25).

The 2024 Central Virginia Challenge opponents include Boston College (Mar. 1), Sacred Heart (Mar. 2) and Central Connecticut State (Mar. 3).

Richmond will also face in-state non-conference foes: William & Mary (Feb. 20), at James Madison (Mar. 6), home (May 14) and away (Mar. 19) against Old Dominion, at 2023 Men's College World Series participant Virginia (Mar. 26), against VMI (Apr. 9), home (Apr. 16) and away (Apr. 2) against Longwood, and host Norfolk State (Apr. 23). The Spiders will also split a home (Feb. 27) and away (May 7) series against Towson.

The Spiders host Atlantic 10 Conference series against George Mason (Mar. 29-31), George Washington (Apr. 12-14), Dayton (May 3-5), and crosstown rivals VCU (May 16-18). UR will hit the road for league games against Fordham (Apr. 5-7), Davidson (Apr. 19-21), St. Bonaventure (Apr. 26-28) and Rhode Island (May 10-12). The 2024 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship has moved to a neutral site at Capital One Park in Tysons, Va., over May 21-25."

2024 Baseball Schedule - University of Richmond Athletics

The official 2024 Baseball schedule for the University of Richmond Spiders
richmondspiders.com richmondspiders.com
 
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I feel like we made an upgrade, hopefully it ill pay off.
 
Hope the weather is nice early because we have a lot of home games in February and March.

Feels as if we have upgraded the coaching staff and institutional program support.
 
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Nice video from the D1 Baseball media outlet, who sent Steven Schoch to tour our baseball facilities with Zach Lass and Harrison Clifton. Great to have this level of exposure for the program. Facilities look pretty solid.

 
I think almost anything would have been an upgrade, from the people I've talked to. Aoki's career suggests he is the baseball version of Mooney, but I suppose we will find out (hopefully sooner rather than later, however).
 
I have a great idea, eight Legger and KE, why dont you guys start criticizing the new coach
before the first game. . Then you can say how you told us so.
 
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So in recent years our most successful coach was one who coached local Legion ball.
Let’s see if Aoki can establish a winning attitude with his players We cannot use poor
facilities as an excuse anymore. Would like to see us tap into local talent more.
 
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AnnapSpider said:
I have a great idea, eight Legger and KE, why dont you guys start criticizing the new coach
before the first game. . Then you can say how you told us so.
Click to expand...
I don't think we're criticizing him, we're just being realistic. He's been doing this a long time and has a losing record. What conclusions should we draw from that? Are you expecting five straight NCAA appearances?
 
I think the most important part of his record would be last 5 years vs overall.
Are we getting him on an upswing or downturn?
 
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He's had one good season in the last eight, and it was last year (36-20). So probably his son is buddies with one of Queally's kids or something. 🤣
 
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Eight Legger said:
He's had one good season in the last eight, and it was last year (36-20). So probably his son is buddies with one of Queally's kids or something. 🤣
Click to expand...
So, you would have opposed the Yankees hiring either Casey Stengel or Joe Torre? ;->
 
Ha, I mean that's a helluva cherry pick there. But yes, I suppose I would have been. You would concede, I imagine, that the list of managers or coaches who had a total of seven winning seasons out of their first 22 and THEN went on to wild success is a pretty short one. That's Aoki's career.

I'm hoping for the best, but not expecting it.
 
Eight Legger said:
248-253-1 at Notre Dame. He's basically been a break-even manager for 22 years.
Click to expand...
Coaching a northern team in a southern league like the ACC is a difficult undertaking. The rest of the ACC has been outside for at least a month by the time the snow melts in South Bend.

There's a reason only one cold-weather program has won an NCAA baseball tournament since 1989, and only two have made it to the championship game since 1994. Weather plays a bigger role in baseball than any college sport, I think.
 
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Wood Hall said:
Coaching a northern team in a southern league like the ACC is a difficult undertaking. The rest of the ACC has been outside for at least a month by the time the snow melts in South Bend.

There's a reason only one cold-weather program has won an NCAA baseball tournament since 1989, and only two have made it to the championship game since 1994. Weather plays a bigger role in baseball than any college sport, I think.
Click to expand...
I'm not harboring any illusions of us winning the national championship right now (although if Coastal Carolina can do it, I'm not sure why we shouldn't aspire to it as well). But it would be really nice to win the A10 one time, at least, or make the NCAAs again.
 
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Yes it would be. But until we fully fund the program with 11.7 scholarships we're going to struggle, no matter what league we're in.

Even if the other teams in the A-10 are not fully funded, us not having 11.7 scholarships greatly inhibits our recruiting, maybe not against the rest of the A-10 but certainly against everyone else.

Again, our student demographics are perfect for college baseball, which has become an upper middle-class to rich kids sport.
 
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We've announced our recruiting class for high school class of 2024 - it includes a whopping 10 players, 5 pitchers and 5 position players.

richmondspiders.com

Spider Baseball Adds 10 For 2025 Season - University of Richmond Athletics

RICHMOND, Va. – Richmond Baseball head coach Mik Aoki is excited to welcome 10 new faces to the Spider Baseball program for the 2025 season. The group of five pitchers,
richmondspiders.com richmondspiders.com
 
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Recruiting class of 10 sounds just about right, seeing as how the roster is capped at 35.
 
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I have no idea. The fact Hallock said they would commit institutional funds, rather than just fund-raising, to complete improvements to Pitt Field is an encouraging sign we might be starting to take baseball seriously again.

I got a call from Joey Wilga last month thanking me for my donation to the program, but unfortunately it was on voicemail as I was not home. Very well-spoken young man. I'd love to get some Spiders out here on the summer league team I work for.
 
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Excited for the season to get started next Friday. Figured we'd have some sort of season preview video from the athletic department at this point, but maybe that'll come next week. I'll do my best to give a quick preview just looking at the roster:

While I'm looking forward to seeing how the team looks under Aoki, I'm expecting this to be a rebuilding year. We lost so much talent from last year's team, including 7/9 lineup regulars and 5/6 pitchers who gave us more than 24 innings last year. We'll have Jaffe back at 3B, Elbeery at 1B, and Conklin either DHing or at 2B, but that's about it. Rodriguez should be one of our weekend starters, but everything else is up for grabs.

Excited to see what some of the transfers can bring - we'll have two D-3 standouts in Whitley (Rochester) and Bernstein (Hamilton) in the OF. Curious how those guys will adjust to D1 ball. Either Jake Topolski or Kraemer (Wake Forest) should round out that group. Up the middle, I'm expecting Larson (Wofford) and Elko (Northwestern) to compete for the starting SS job, and Shockley (Delaware) and Rickabaugh (Notre Dame) to compete to back up Lass at C.

Pitching will be interesting, as Willitts, Corso, and Chase Topolski are all recovering from injuries suffered last year. Roche (F&M) should also compete for a spot in the weekend rotation after being a successful D3 starter. Not sure what to expect from the other transfer pitchers, many of whom dealt with injuries and did not pitch mutch at their previous schools.

Two freshmen I'm big on - Arcamone (C) and Hill (LHP). Arcamone had a .902 OPS in the Perfect Game Collegiate League this summer, and Hill is a big 6'4 lefty who was all-state in Arkansas, known for their baseball talent.

Hoping for a solid season to set the stage for being consistently competitive in the A10 moving forward.
 
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Accompanying article from JOC. Unfortunately, we still have confirmation the program is not fully funded with scholarships. “the Spiders are close but not at the NCAA maximum for baseball scholarships (11.7).”

 
Last edited:
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Why are we still not fully funded? Is it a matter of not having the women's sports to match up with, or ???
 
Here's the season preview video - not much detail provided as usual. These always leave so much to be desired. One ambiguous quote from Aoki and spotlights on Jaffe and Roche. Since he's spotlighted, I assume Roche is a lock for the weekend rotation.

Curious where we'll be picked in the preseason poll which should be releasing later this week. I'm expecting bottom 4 due to the amount of roster turnover.

 
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We were picked 8th out of 12 teams in the preseason coaches poll, slightly better than I expected. All 7 teams above us received at least one first place vote, which speaks to how wide open A10 baseball should be this year. Excited to get things going on Friday.

atlantic10.com

Saint Louis Picked to as Atlantic 10 Baseball Preseason Favorites

WASHINGTON – Saint Louis has been tabbed the preseason favorite to win the 2024 Atlantic 10 Conference Baseball race, according to the preseason poll conducted by the league’s 12 head coaches and released on Wednesday.
atlantic10.com atlantic10.com
 
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I feel like this poll came out much later this year!

This poll, if you believe it is at least directionally correct, would suggest our conference schedule is really favorable. We miss Saint Louis (1), Saint Josephs (3), and UMass (11), and we have home series against Mason, VCU, and Dayton (all top six teams).
 
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Happy game day to all. Read through the game notes for today, and it has the weekend probable starters as:

Friday: Roche
Saturday (Game 1): Reinke
Saturday (Game 2): Ymker
Sunday: Corso

Not surprised by Roche and Corso, but Reinke and Ymker have been career relievers, so wonder how things will play out during the doubleheader. I'd have to think Rodriguez, Willitts, and Topolski will be called upon to provide multiple innings out of the pen if all are healthy.

2024 BSB Notes - Niagara (PDF) - University of Richmond Athletics

2024 BSB Notes - Niagara (PDF)
richmondspiders.com richmondspiders.com
 
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Quick Friday morning preview on Niagara:
  • Lost by far their most potent bat from last year (Max Giordano, slashed .374/.481/.741, 16 HRs and 54 RBIs). They will be most likely batting 2023 MAAC All-Rookie Nick Groves in the lead-off spot. He had a .504 OBP last year (good for the nation lead for freshman), and also led the nation in walks as a freshman. He swiped 21 bags last year, so can wreak some havoc if he gets on base.
  • Other bats to watch in the lineup would be Kelly Corl (.834 2023 OPS) and Vincent Mauro (.839).
  • No real pitching stand outs from last year. Their starter today, Maximilian Rodriguez, is a community college transfer who struck out 72 batters in 60.2 innings. If they have a lead late in the game, they will be turning to Grad Student Zach Cameron, who posted a 4.34 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 9 save season last year, pitching in 47.2 innings over 21 appearances.
There is definitely a lot of uncertainty about our Spiders, but you'd really like to take three of four here to start the season on a team that was picked sixth in the MAAC pre-season poll.
 
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Starting lineup is in:

1cf7 Jackson KraemerR
23b13 Jordan JaffeR
31b26 Jake ElbeeryL
4c23 Jason ShockleyR
5rf6 Phil BernsteinL
62b10 Jake TopolskiR
7dh12 Jack ArcamoneL
8lf9 DJ PachecoR
9ss2 Connor LarsonR
10p28 Kyle RocheR

A few surprises - Rutgers transfer Jason Shockley getting the opening day start at catcher AND hitting cleanup. Jake Topolski and Pacheco have switched positions, with Topolski now in the IF and DJ moving to the outfield. As I expected, true freshman Jack Arcamone is in the starting lineup at DH - think he's going to be big for us. Wonder why Whitley isn't starting - figured he'd be a no-doubter with his numbers at D3. Hope he isn't injured.

See you on ESPN+.
 
Topolski can't field a sharp ground to second, and Niagara takes the 1–0 lead on the error.

Roche is dealing fairly well, but Niagara has managed a couple hits in addition to the run-scoring error.
 
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