Otis 83 Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 UMass Lowell continues their late winter tour of the midwest with a three game series at JLJ starting tomorrow. Not gonna lie, I didn't know there was a UMass in Lowell until the Golden Eagles baseball schedule came out. The Redhawks are 3-9 on the year. They opened the season at Highpoint (NC) and took 3 of 4 from the Panthers. After that successful road trip are losses to William and Mary, 3, Kansas St, 3, and Creighton, 2. So a tough start for this squad. They were picked to finish 6th out of 7 teams in the American East preseason poll. As a team their slash line is .232/.325/.355. They average 4 runs a game but that average is a bit inflated by the Highpoint series. They did score 8 runs in a loss to Creighton. The average less than 1 HR a game. In that all important HBP category they average less than one a game. I'm sure we will help them improve in that category Team ERA is 8.56 but teams are only batting .305 against them. Analyzing their pitching staff is tricky as they seem to use a lot of arms. Their pitcher with the most innings, James Capellupo, has only thrown 13.2 innings and his longest outing is 4 innings. So @Old Titan,@tmh8286 and @Texasgrip should have time to make plenty of trips to the concession stand as we endure multiple pitching changes. Capellupo is sporting a .263 ERA so maybe it is a good thing he isn't averaging 6 or 7 innings an outing. Not to be disrespectful, but this isn't the strongest opponent we will see at JLJ this year. The good guys need to stay focused and not let anything stupid happen this weekend. This should be a sweep. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 1 hour ago, Otis 83 said: In that all important HBP category they average less than one a game. I'm sure we will help them improve in that category The Redhawks appear to be slumping in this category but I'm sure that will be resolved this weekend!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU82 Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Correct Otis, UMass-Lowell is NOT the UMass everyone automatically thinks of, that institution is in Amherst and was/is a member of the A10 but moving to the MAC. UMass-Lowell as you pointed out is a member of that powerhouse baseball conference, the American East Conference. If we do not sweep this team this weekend, there may be serious problems in River City. BTW, no disrespect to the good people of UMass-Lowell. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Two very glaring defensive stats as the Eagles enter this weekend... Over the past five full seasons (2018-23, excluding the COVID year), ORU's defense has averaged 0.77 double plays per game. To be on pace for that average through 13 games, the Eagles should have turned 10 double plays so far this season. They have turned THREE. Certainly, this may be an anomaly that will work itself out over a 60-plus game season, but it is something to watch. More concerning is the defensive play behind the plate. ORU has a LONG history of stellar catchers (including Jose Trevino and Matt Whatley in recent years), which has been a huge component in overall team success. In the past five years, ORU catchers have allowed a passed ball in every 6.11 games. Following this average, ORU should have allowed 2 passed balls in the first 13 games. But, already this season, there have been TEN passed balls by ORU catchers in the 13 games. The ten passed balls are more than ORU has allowed in any SEASON since 2015. Here's hoping that these are early-season blips of a new team coming together. One ray of hope is knowing that Coach Folmar and staff have a great record in coaching up catchers. In 2015, freshman Matt Whatley allowed 13 passed balls over the course of the season as the team's primary catcher. In 2016, he played even more innings behind the plate, with only 6 passed balls. In his final season of 2017, Matt played almost every game at catcher with only ONE passed ball all season (and won the Johnny Bench award as the nation's best collegiate catcher). 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Trying to put this diplomatically: I'm a little concerned (so far) about our defense on the right side of the infield. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otis 83 Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 53 minutes ago, Old Titan said: Trying to put this diplomatically: I'm a little concerned (so far) about our defense on the right side of the infield. Just the right side? The third baseman has 4 errors on the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 2 hours ago, TrueBlue82 said: Two very glaring defensive stats as the Eagles enter this weekend... Over the past five full seasons (2018-23, excluding the COVID year), ORU's defense has averaged 0.77 double plays per game. To be on pace for that average through 13 games, the Eagles should have turned 10 double plays so far this season. They have turned THREE. Certainly, this may be an anomaly that will work itself out over a 60-plus game season, but it is something to watch. More concerning is the defensive play behind the plate. ORU has a LONG history of stellar catchers (including Jose Trevino and Matt Whatley in recent years), which has been a huge component in overall team success. In the past five years, ORU catchers have allowed a passed ball in every 6.11 games. Following this average, ORU should have allowed 2 passed balls in the first 13 games. But, already this season, there have been TEN passed balls by ORU catchers in the 13 games. The ten passed balls are more than ORU has allowed in any SEASON since 2015. Here's hoping that these are early-season blips of a new team coming together. One ray of hope is knowing that Coach Folmar and staff have a great record in coaching up catchers. In 2015, freshman Matt Whatley allowed 13 passed balls over the course of the season as the team's primary catcher. In 2016, he played even more innings behind the plate, with only 6 passed balls. In his final season of 2017, Matt played almost every game at catcher with only ONE passed ball all season (and won the Johnny Bench award as the nation's best collegiate catcher). Excellent analysis, Blue!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsSmith Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 My random thoughts: The catcher position is going to be weaker if we don't get LaLiberte back this year. Injuries are tough, especially at that critical position. The Holden Breeze errors are weird. He only had 5 errors all of last year. David Herring has been excellent at SS. I hope he is back in the lineup today. The outfield is incredible. I wish those of you out of town could actually see the plays they have made. Coach is letting everyone get some playing time. I think that once the starting lineup stays consistent, we will be a better team. We have been really spoiled with Jake McMurray at 1st base. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 1 minute ago, MrsSmith said: We have been really spoiled with Jake McMurray at 1st base. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 2 hours ago, TrueBlue82 said: More concerning is the defensive play behind the plate. ORU has a LONG history of stellar catchers (including Jose Trevino and Matt Whatley in recent years), which has been a huge component in overall team success. In the past five years, ORU catchers have allowed a passed ball in every 6.11 games. Following this average, ORU should have allowed 2 passed balls in the first 13 games. But, already this season, there have been TEN passed balls by ORU catchers in the 13 games. The ten passed balls are more than ORU has allowed in any SEASON since 2015. Here's hoping that these are early-season blips of a new team coming together. One ray of hope is knowing that Coach Folmar and staff have a great record in coaching up catchers. In 2015, freshman Matt Whatley allowed 13 passed balls over the course of the season as the team's primary catcher. In 2016, he played even more innings behind the plate, with only 6 passed balls. In his final season of 2017, Matt played almost every game at catcher with only ONE passed ball all season (and won the Johnny Bench award as the nation's best collegiate catcher). We had a new pitching coach in 2013, which took over for Rob Walton, and developed his troops (pitchers and catchers) until 2018 - when Matt Whatley was drafted as a junior in his Johnny Bench year. The current pitching coach took over in 2018. Outside of Jacob Godman, we have struggled at the catcher position and LaLiberte looked to be the help needed. He is currently injured with a lame non-throwing shoulder, so it is uncertain when he will be ready to go again. 2 hours ago, Old Titan said: Trying to put this diplomatically: I'm a little concerned (so far) about our defense on the right side of the infield. We have a whole new middle infield and first baseman that has never played that position. It is going to take a little longer to get those positions on the same page, but hopefully by the time we get to late April/May we will be hitting on all cylinders. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasgrip Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 ***Tonight’s game postponed due to weather*** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 3 hours ago, Otis 83 said: Just the right side? The third baseman has 4 errors on the year. More diplomacy: Jake was really good at pickin' it. Makes everybody look better (not to mention it saves innings). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otis 83 Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 3 minutes ago, Old Titan said: More diplomacy: Jake was really good at pickin' it. Makes everybody look better (not to mention it saves innings). Agree 100%. Jake caught balls that would have shot by other first baseman. That is a very important point in analyzing our new infield. That's why every time I saw his mother I said "I want you to know how much I enjoy watching your son play first base." 2 hours ago, tmh8286 said: Excellent analysis, Blue!! Excellent analysis as always. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 7 minutes ago, Otis 83 said: Agree 100%. Jake caught balls that would have shot by other first baseman. Best defensive first baseman I've ever seen at ORU was Kelvin Torve, who played professionally for years including several call-ups to the bigs. Jake was right there with him defensively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 9 minutes ago, Old Titan said: Best defensive first baseman I've ever seen at ORU was Kelvin Torve, who played professionally for years including several call-ups to the bigs. Jake was right there with him defensively. Which makes me wonder why he wasn't drafted, or why he didn't get a minor league contract after he led the league in hitting in the Pioneer League last summer. He did latch on with another Independent League team for this summer, but that is a tough living to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 1 hour ago, Texasgrip said: ***Tonight’s game postponed due to weather*** All of those $1 Hot Dogs going to waste!! What a shame!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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