2025 Baseball Season
- Thread starter MDspider8
- Start date
Yep, T6 now, hold on and salvage the finale and head home. At JMU on Tuesday, home with Fordham over the weekend.
Spiders WIN, 12-10. Hopefully the ladies make it a double tonight.
Love to get the W vs. the Dukes tomorrow. So far, 3-0 in mid-week games against state opponents. We were definitely losing most of those matchups the last few years. look forward to gameday preview from Tobias. BTW, poor ol' VCU 0-6 and 4-19 !
Outstanding! I remember talking to him when he played summer ball in Walla Walla. What a personable, friendly person.
Gameday! The Spiders (20-4, 4-2) head to Harrisonburg to take on the James Madison Dukes (9-15, 4-2 Sun Belt) at 4PM ET. Stream should be available on ESPN+. The Dukes are coming in on a 2 game win streak after winning their 2nd SBC series of the season at Marshall, and currently have an RPI of 181. Yes the record and RPI are not great but y'all... I was shocked when I opened up the JMU baseball page to take a look at some stats.
As a team they are hitting below the Mendoza line (.199), are not hitting for much power at all (8 home runs all season), and as a result are scoring less than 4 runs per game. When they do get on base they do look to steal bags (2nd in the Sun Belt with 42 steals, not an eye popping number). One hitter that they have been working into the lineup lately who rides a 6 game hitting streak is Maddux Fleck, Jr. infielder out of Omaha. Hitting .293 and has scored 10 runs in his 13 games played to go with 5 stolen bases.
Hard to say what pitching we are going to see today, but as a staff, the Dukes have a 5.28 ERA and .258 BAA, about middle of the road in a strong SBC. In conference play, they are even better, pitching to a 3.86 ERA in their first six games, leading me to believe we may see some pitchers we could take advantage of today.
Anything can happen in these mid-week games, but boy it would be nice to take another game against an in-state opponent that appears to be scuffling. The Duke's RPI will surely fall as the season progresses, as they still have conference series against Troy, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, and ODU.
As a team they are hitting below the Mendoza line (.199), are not hitting for much power at all (8 home runs all season), and as a result are scoring less than 4 runs per game. When they do get on base they do look to steal bags (2nd in the Sun Belt with 42 steals, not an eye popping number). One hitter that they have been working into the lineup lately who rides a 6 game hitting streak is Maddux Fleck, Jr. infielder out of Omaha. Hitting .293 and has scored 10 runs in his 13 games played to go with 5 stolen bases.
Hard to say what pitching we are going to see today, but as a staff, the Dukes have a 5.28 ERA and .258 BAA, about middle of the road in a strong SBC. In conference play, they are even better, pitching to a 3.86 ERA in their first six games, leading me to believe we may see some pitchers we could take advantage of today.
Anything can happen in these mid-week games, but boy it would be nice to take another game against an in-state opponent that appears to be scuffling. The Duke's RPI will surely fall as the season progresses, as they still have conference series against Troy, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, and ODU.
Spiders were in control from the beginning, and jumped out to an 8-1 lead after three innings.
- Definitely still missing Bernstein in RF, but Freshman Grant Kennedy swats his first homer of the year. Palmeri also gets his first homer of the year.
- Whitley picks up stolen bases #19-21 on a 2-5 day at the plate
- Jaffe (3-6, 2 2B, 3 Runs), Arcamone (1-4, 2B, 2 Runs), and O'Brien (2-4, 3 RBI) all keep hitting and keep their averages above .400
- Five Spider pitchers got the job done. 2 walks issued by the staff, Peacock makes it three straight starts of 3+ innings, Rigot shuts the door with a bounce-back, scoreless 2.1 innings.
Spiders are now 4-0 against Virginia teams. Rooting hard for JMU the rest of the way. Series vs Fordham starts Friday, 2-1 at the bare minimum; no exceptions.
Vinny went yard in first at bat against NY.
Gameday! Spiders (21-4, 4-2) will host the Fordham Rams (11-14, 4-2) this weekend, first game is today at 2PM ET. Here are the probable pitching matchups:
Two bats to watch are Andrew Kanellis and Taylor Kirk. Kanellis on the season is slashing .356/.426/.478 and has a hit in 13 of his last 14 starts. He is tied for the team lead in RBI (21) and has also tallied 8 steals on the season. Kirk is batting .330 with a .889 OPS, and in A10 play is 9-23 (.391) with 7 runs scored. He is tied for the team lead in steals (14) and is way ahead of his fellow rams with 26 runs scored on the season.
The Rams pitching staff has been the strength of the team since conference play has started. According to the Fordham website, in the last 13 games (9-4 team record) the Rams have pitched to a 3.45 team ERA. In six A10 games, they have pitched to a 2.62 ERA with a .188 Batting Avg Against (BAA). Aidan Dowd, who will be starting today, was named A10 pitcher of the week this past week, after he threw 6 shutout innings with 8 Ks against UMass. The sophomore was named to the A10 All-Rookie team last year.
- Friday, 3/28 @ 2PM ET: Esteban Rodriguez (20.1 IP, 1-1, 2.21 ERA, 20 Ks) v Aidan Dowd (28.1 IP, 2-2, 4.45 ERA, 25 Ks)
- Saturday, 3/29 @ 1PM: Chase Topolski (26.1 IP, 2-2, 4.78 ERA, 20 Ks) v Mike Rabayda (27.1 IP, 1-3, 5.27 ERA, 28 Ks)
- Sunday, 3/30 @ Noon: Jackson Hinchliffe (12 IP, NR, 4.50 ERA, 7 Ks) v Aric Berg (5.2 IP, NR, 1.59 ERA, 8 Ks)
Two bats to watch are Andrew Kanellis and Taylor Kirk. Kanellis on the season is slashing .356/.426/.478 and has a hit in 13 of his last 14 starts. He is tied for the team lead in RBI (21) and has also tallied 8 steals on the season. Kirk is batting .330 with a .889 OPS, and in A10 play is 9-23 (.391) with 7 runs scored. He is tied for the team lead in steals (14) and is way ahead of his fellow rams with 26 runs scored on the season.
The Rams pitching staff has been the strength of the team since conference play has started. According to the Fordham website, in the last 13 games (9-4 team record) the Rams have pitched to a 3.45 team ERA. In six A10 games, they have pitched to a 2.62 ERA with a .188 Batting Avg Against (BAA). Aidan Dowd, who will be starting today, was named A10 pitcher of the week this past week, after he threw 6 shutout innings with 8 Ks against UMass. The sophomore was named to the A10 All-Rookie team last year.
M4: E-Rod's day is done and Bilka escapes a jam with two runners on (after he hit a batter), inducing a groundout that required a slick play by O'Brien throwing across the diamond to Jaffe, who applied a last second tag.
The final line on E-Rod: 3.2 IP, 5 Hits, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. Going to need more out of our Friday starter if we are seriously looking to make a deep run in the A-10 tournament (and beyond).
Arcamone gets the bottom of the 4th started with a double. Need runs now!
The final line on E-Rod: 3.2 IP, 5 Hits, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. Going to need more out of our Friday starter if we are seriously looking to make a deep run in the A-10 tournament (and beyond).
Arcamone gets the bottom of the 4th started with a double. Need runs now!
Spiders got lucky to tie it up at 3 in the fourth. Arcamone on third and Pacheco on first with two outs, and Pacheco tries to steal thinking it's a free base, but the catcher throws down there and Pacheco ends up in a rundown. Arcamone comes for home and the fielder throws home as well. Ball is there in plenty of time and the tag is applied, but he's called safe as the ball is lying in the dirt. I've watched the slo-mo replay half a dozen times from a couple of angles and can't tell how or when the ball comes out of the catcher's glove.
Anyway, Spiders have now taken a 6–3 lead in the fifth. Larson BB, Whitley HBP, and then a Bernstein single plates one, and then Jaffe single plates another. Arcamone advances the runners with a groundout and Bernstein scores on an O'Brien groundout. Elko flies out and we head to the sixth.
Anyway, Spiders have now taken a 6–3 lead in the fifth. Larson BB, Whitley HBP, and then a Bernstein single plates one, and then Jaffe single plates another. Arcamone advances the runners with a groundout and Bernstein scores on an O'Brien groundout. Elko flies out and we head to the sixth.
M7: Bilka allows a solo home run to Freshman Taylor Kirk, his first of the season. Spiders lead 6-4.
Bilka is only at 33 pitches, so we should see him for at least another inning.
Bilka is only at 33 pitches, so we should see him for at least another inning.
Spiders get a 2-run homer from Jaffe in the 7th to make it 8–4, and then Bilka sets the Rams down in order in the top of the 8th including a pair of strikeouts.
Fordham now leads 9-8 with nobody out. Brutal.
Total implosion….I get Bilka has been nails this season, but I would have liked to see us go to another reliever after the two-run homer to make it 8-6.
This is where we really miss Hentschel. We really don’t have a closer at all.
Total implosion….I get Bilka has been nails this season, but I would have liked to see us go to another reliever after the two-run homer to make it 8-6.
This is where we really miss Hentschel. We really don’t have a closer at all.
This is a colossal meltdown. Need to be mentally strong, forget this game and try to win the next two.
Built up good record against northern teams early before they could get outside and practice. With the weather warming up they're pounding our weak ass pitching staff. 19 hits by Fordham today. We're not as good as our record says.
Makes sense, hope we turn it around, from 19-2 to 21-6 huge drop.
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