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2024 Baseball Season

Ugh, Spiders load the bases with one out but again can't score as Niagara gets the force at third on a sharp grounder and doubles up with the out at the plate.
 
We're through 5 at Pitt field. Roche is still looking really sharp, but we're getting 2-hit by Niagara's starter who is making his first apperance in a Division 1 game. Not great. We've drawn 5 walks, but just can't get a run home.
 
This team is cursed with runners on today. Elbeery leadoff double in the 8th, then Niagra turns a nice double play on a jumping catch by the third baseman when it looks like Shockley has a sure hit to drive him home. We're 1-10 with runners on and 0-7 with RISP.
 
The Mik Aoki era begins with a 6-0 loss, as Niagara hit a grand slam in the top of the 9th to break it open. Let's hope it's only up from here.
 
Quick update on some former Spiders playing at other schools this year:

- Jared Sprague-Lott hit a homer in his first at-bat for Arkansas. Followed it up with a two-run single in his second AB.
- Alden Mathes is batting cleanup at starting at RF for Clemson. EDIT: He hits a GRAND SLAM in his first AB. WOW.
- Jason Neff is batting 6th and starting at C for Villanova.
- Lineup hasn't released yet, but Mikey Kluska should be starting at SS or 2B for UCF.
- Jeremy Neff is not in the projected weekend for rotation for VT, but I assume he'll appear at some point this weekend.

Happy for all these guys, but defintely bittersweet to see. Hopefully this is an outlier and won't become the norm for us.


 
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Niagara takes the first game of today's doubleheader, 6–3.
 
True, but getting swept at home by Niagara? Just shouldn't happen. First time they are 3-0 in 48 years or more, apparently. Woof. Better take this one today.
 
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Seen a few innings of each game of the series and it would appear there is limited talent being displayed. It's early but this could be a very long year.
 
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Yeah, we’re down 10-5 now in the top of the third. Brought in a true freshman pitcher in the second inning and he got shelled.

Looks like it’s gonna be a tough season.
 
Walking eight guys and hitting another one in four innings is not the formula for victory.
 
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18-5 in the top of the 6th….could not be more of a disappointing start to the new regime. Not over yet, but a 4 game sweep to a team picked to finish sixth in the MAAC (a bottom 5 baseball conference) and who hasn’t been outside because there is still snow on the ground—not good at all. Sincerely hope coach Aoki can quickly right this ship.
 
I agree, bad start, but I like Coach's attitude and believe he deserves time to turn it around. Let's see how it progresses.
 
He's only made 3 or 4 NCAAs in 21 seasons, right? Not the best track record. I'm not judging him after four games, but that was a total dud of a first impression.
 
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It is amazing to watch how tough it is for freshmen pitchers. All of a sudden pitches they got
batters out in HS, are now pounded in college. Being a former catcher, I am frustrated with the number
of walks issued. Historically most games where we give up a lot of walks, we lose.
 
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Nothing to add on this past weekend that hasn't already been said; disappointing in almost every facet of the game. Still a long season though, and with the non-conference schedule we have put together, a lot of opportunities to gain confidence.

William and Mary tomorrow will be a nice mid-week test, they just took two of three from Holy Cross. The weekend series will be another team picked to finish in the middle of the MAAC, Mount St. Mary's. They lost their weekend series against Norfolk State, another bottom third team in the NCAA. If we can take the weekend series (or at the very least take 1 of 3 with competitive losses), I would be cautiously optimistic the season won't be an utter disaster.
 
He's only made 3 or 4 NCAAs in 21 seasons, right? Not the best track record. I'm not judging him after four games, but that was a total dud of a first impression.
It's not easy getting to the NCAA tournament from cold-weather schools in a warm-weather conference (BC, ND), or from a one-bid conference like the Ivy League (Columbia) or MVC (Morehead State).

Obviously not the way we wanted to start, and hopefully it can only improve from here. I was very surprised he kept Woodson's assistants.
 
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Jordan Jaffe is not in the lineup today and also didn't play on Sunday. I did hear on Friday's broadcast that he dealt with a wrist injury this offseason, which worries me that he might have re-aggravated it.

If he's out long-term, can't overstate how crushing of a loss that would be.
 
Rodriguez picks up two Ks (one looking, one on a check swing) in the top of the first. Dugout sounds like it has some good energy!
 
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Lol, there are like 10 scouts behind home plate with radar guns to see this W&M pitcher. Pretty funny/cool to see. Guess he's a good pro prospect.

 
Also - heard on the broadcast that we already have 4 pitchers sidelined with long-term injuries. Not sure who they are though. Wish we got some sort of coverage/info on the team to help put the pieces together.
 
No hits for the Spiders yet in the fifth, but they just tied it up at 1 thanks to a walk, a HBP, a walk, and an error. Bases still loaded with one out.

Edit: Bah, double play ends it with just the one Spider run.
 
Second homer of the game for Greco, and this one's a slam. 7–1 Tribe in the 7th.
 
Yikes...rough start for the Aoki era. Don't think this team has enough firepower to come back.
 
10–1 final. Spiders only managed three singles for the game.
 
3-32 for the game, 0-17 with runners on, 0-8 with RISP. We just don't have a lot of offensive firepower right now.

Starting pitching has been mostly fine, but bullpen has been falling apart in the late innings.
 
Quick Friday morning preview on Mount St. Mary's:
  • Picked to finish 7th out of 11 teams in the MAAC, and have been an uninspiring program over the last couple of seasons, having three straight losing seasons since 2020.
  • They are off to a 1-3 start this year. As mentioned above, they dropped the first series of the year to a bad Norfolk State team, and most recently suffered a 14-3 defeat in College Park on Tuesday.
  • Two bats to watch in the lineup: JT Landwehr and Scott Seeker, the two were picked to the Preseason All-MAAC team.
    • Both are off to lukewarm starts (the team as a whole is batting .214 to start the young season), but last year Landwehr hit .303 and drove in 23 as a true freshman and Seeker was voted First Team All-MAAC Selection, slashing .343/.415/.647.
    • Another intriguing bat is David Stirpe, who last year showed some pop with 14 homers, and also swiped 12 bags.
  • On the pitching side of things, game notes right now do not have probable starters for MSM. Brendan Yagesh was their most successful starter last weekend, pitching 4 innings, collecting 4 Ks while surrendering only 2 hits and walk.
  • Devan Sheerin is a true freshman that came out of the 'pen last weekend, and over five innings in a long relief appearance notched 11 strikeouts!
    • Another bullpen arm to highlight so far is Kyle Speas, who picked up a 4 inning save in the first weekend of action.
Let's take two!
 
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