ADVERTISEMENT

2024 Baseball Season

Baseball has and could be a very good program and draw young fans to UR. The high tuition costs hurt us, but there is some great high school baseball in Richmond for UR to recruit. Godwin, Freeman, Glen Allen, Hanover, Atlee, Lee Davis, Deep Run, James River, ect... All very good baseball programs that produce D1 talent. Add to it the private schools. Turn the program around with local talent. Find a way to make the cost equal to W/M, JMU, ect for baseball players.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eight Legger
I pitched for UR from 1969-72 and have followed the program for over 50 years thereafter. Have con sistenty been a financial backer as well. Without a doubt this is by far the worst pitching staff I have ever seen in the program. Can't understand it. I don't blame Mik, he just inherited this mess. Sure hope he can dig us out of this hole in the next few years.
72 I agree and know Aoki has to recruit and develop his own team. Last night in 8th inning the telecast referred to six key players the Spiders lost from last year.and we did lose some serious bats. It has just been a long time since we have had what I consider a good pitching staff. I don’t know if Aoki is experimenting with all the multiple pitchers to find a baseline for next year or non Conf games he keeps the arms fresh by throwing fewer pitches and to be available for A10 games or he just does not have a choice or all of the above.
 
  • Like
Reactions: urfan1
Gameday! The Spiders (13-20, 3-3 A10) will kick off their third A10 series against George Washington (20-12, 4-2 A10) today at 2:00PM at Pitt Field. Yes, it was a rough mid-week slate, but despite the horrendous pitching, I think we can all take some solace in the fact that only a few of those pitchers we saw are used in weekend series.

Don't let the record fool you, GW ranks 273rd in Massey SOS, and their A10 slate so far has been comprised of a home sweep of St. Bonaventure (long-time bottom of the table team) and a 1-2 series loss at Mason (a series we won two weeks ago). This is not a bad team though, as they boast some really impressive starting pitching and their hitting stats are middle of the road in the A10.

As a team, the Revs boast a Top 5 AVG (.295) and OBP (.398) in the A10 and this is another team that will test us on the base paths (73 stolen bases in 92 attempts). On March 12, Robbie Lavey was named Co-A10 Rookie of the week. The catcher does not start in every game, but since A10 play began, he is batting 6-16 (.375) with a home run and 3 RBIs in 5 games. The hitter we will definitely need to watch out for is junior outfielder Sam Gates. He has racked up an insane slash line (.360/.434/.640), and his 7 home runs and 31 RBIs are far and away the team leaders (the rest of the Revs lineup has only combined for 14 homers).

The pitching is really where GW has found success this year. They are second in the A10 with a 5.19 staff ERA, and their Batting Average Allowed is a miniscule .238 (league leading). They give up 1 home run again on average, and their WHIP is 1.47.

Two of their starting pitchers have won A10 Pitcher of the week: Teddy Brennan on March 19 and Graham Jeffries on April 2.

Brennan is 1-2 with a 3.35 ERA, 1.41 WHIP in 37.2 Innings pitched (over 7 starts that amounts to about 5.1 innings per start). His BAA is .236 and he is striking out batters at an ~11 K/9 rate. However, in his April 6 start against Mason, he pitched 5 innings, and let up 5 hits and walked 4, good for 4 earned runs allowed. So that gives you an idea how good his stats were before this game. We should see him on Saturday.

Jeffries is a Grad Student transfer who previously pitched at Salve Regina in Rhode Island. He has typically been GW's Sunday starter, also got roughed up at Mason last weekend (1.1 IP, 6 Runs, 5 Earned, 7H, 2 BB, 0 K). However, before that start he had been a really successful pitcher for the Revs, pitching to a 3.37 ERA and 1.28 WHIP. He does walk a lot of batters in some of his starts (3+ walks in five of eight starts), and does not strike people out at a high rate (~9 K/9).

This feels like a home series that we could take two, but would not be surprised if we only ended with one.
 
Interesting - Aoki has made a change to the weekend rotation. True Freshman Jackson Hinchliffe is starting today's game, with Roche scheduled to go tomorrow and E-Rod slated for Sunday's game. We'll see if Reinke is used in long relief at some point this weekend or if he's dealing with an injury.

Hinchliffe has looked great so far this year but it's definitely a big ask for him to step in as a Friday starter in conference play.
 
This move could pay off big, excited to watch Hinchliffe work today. For GW it will be Jarret Korson starting, likely followed by Michael Foltz. Usually the latter has been the starter, and pitched 4.2 one hit innings last week against Mason. Korson was perfect in 2.1 innings. The two pitchers both have WHIPs under 1.00 this season with a combined 67 innings between them.
 
Blegh, Spiders had bases loaded with no outs for Jaffe, but go RBI groundout/strikeout/strikeout to end the frame. 6-3 GW heading to the 4th.

Hinchliffe hasn't been awful, and got burned by an error in the 3rd (only 3 of the 6 runs are earned). Allowing a lot of baserunners though, 6 hits and 2 walks through 3.

Hmm....he's pulled after just 49 piches, and now Reinke is in.
 
Have a day Aaron Whitley! 4-4 with two doubles and a home run (3 RBIs). He almost had the cycle with that last double, which drove in 2. His season average is now .406!
 
  • Like
Reactions: urfan1
Whitley is a beast. I'll take the top four of Whitley, Bernstein, Pacheco, and Jaffe against almost any pitcher in the A10.
 
  • Like
Reactions: urfan1
Hell of a pitchers duel going on at Pitt Field. Kyle Roche is through 6 scoreless innings on just 60(!) pitches (43 strikes) - 3H, 4K, 0BB, 8 groundouts and 5 fly outs.

GW starter Teddy Brennan is through 6 scorless on 88 pitches, 4H, 5K, 1BB.
 
Last edited:
Roche allows his first run of the game off 3 GW singles, but battles back to get two outs. Aoki comes out to pull him at just 70 pitches with runners on second and third and a 2-2 count. Not sure I love this move...

Edit: Clifton gets the the K to end the inning, but the broadcast doesn't show it. 1-0 GW.
 
Larson leads off the bottom of the 8th with a double. Top of the order coming up, now or never down 2-0.
 
Spiders have loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 9th! Arcamone in to PH for Shockley, and Larson due up after him.
 
Spiders up 3–1 in the middle of the third. Rickabaugh with a solo shot.

Rodriguez is giving up some base runners, but avoiding damage other than a solo homer so far.
 
Spiders blowing it open, now up 9–1!

No lead is safe in this conference though.

Edit: Make that 10–1.
 
Elsewhere in the A10, St. Bonaventure leads the rubber match of their series with VCU 5-1. Would be a pretty impressive series win.

St. Louis continues its dominant season and is looking to sweep Davidson (our opponent next weekend).
 
  • Like
Reactions: urfan1
Great effort to get the sweep this weekend - now at 6-3 in conference, in a four way tie for 2nd with VCU, Dayton, and Fordham.

Aaron Whitley has been on fire since his return to the lineup, slashing .411/.511/.753 over 20 games this season. He hasn't played enough games to qualify for the A10 leaderboards, but he would rank 2nd in the conference in BA, 5th in OBP, 2nd in SLG, and 2nd in OPS. I'd think he's in the running for an all-conference spot, along with Roche and Jaffe/Bernstein/Pacheco.
 
Good morning Spider fans! Today at 2:30 we take our 3 game winning streak to Pitt Field to take on the Longwood Lancers (16-20, 4-8 Big South). We played them in Farmville on April 2, and came away with a 7-5 win. Since then, Longwood has gone 3-4, dropping two conference series 1-2 and getting a mid-week win at Norfolk State.

Last time out, I shouted out Noah Campenelli, and he is still putting together a really nice campaign, batting .250 since our last matchup, 10 runs scored, and 3 RBIs. He has 24 steals on 27 attempts, good for 3rd in the nation in both SBs and SB/G. One player who has been on a tear recently is Hayden Harris, batting .413 in Longwood's last seven games (.333 for the season), 4 runs scored, 8 RBIs, and additionally drawing 4 walks.

I am done trying to predict mid-week results, but let's just hope the arms can give us a competitive game.
 
Spiders already in a 2–0 hole after half an inning, and it could have been worse, as the Lancers left the bases loaded.

3 hits, 2 walks, and 32 pitches needed by Corso to get through the inning.
 
Definitely could have been worse.

Ugh, Corso is a guy that felt like he could have been a reliable middle innings guy this year, entering his third full season with the Spiders. His ERA dipped from 6.55 from 2022 to 5.82 in 2023 (and in his last three appearances pitched to a 1.31 ERA in 13.2 innings). But he just has not had it in his 12 appearances this season.

10.80 ERA, 2.64 WHIP (!!), 18/24 BB/K ratio in 16.2 innings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MDspider8
Wallon with a walk, two HBP, 2 runs forced in, and no outs, and he's done for the day.

6–0 Lancers, bases loaded.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: MDspider8
WTF was that. Got the force at first, couldn't turn the double at second, and we're just staring at the ball on the ground as another run comes home. 8–0.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: TobiasCatsup
One step forward, two steps back...two solo homers and it's 10–1 Longwood.
 
Stringing together some singles with a HBP and a BB to get two runs back. Bases loaded with no outs, so a chance for a big inning here.
 
Ugh, new pitcher comes in and strikes out three Spiders in a row.
 
After a single and a walk, Clifton comes in and promptly gives up a three-run homer to a pinch hitter.

13–3.

Can we just forfeit all of the mid-week games and rest up for the A-10 slate?
 
  • Like
Reactions: TobiasCatsup
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT