Charlotte is another quality ball club that Tech will play this weekend. The 49ers have defeated West Virginia 2 out of 3 in a weekend series, and also defeated #6 NC State in a midweek matchup. This series will be no small task.
Offensively Bret Netzer is their most talented player. Netzer is one of the top prospects in the league, coming in at #5 according to D1 Baseball. Netzer is hitting .329 on the year with 2 homes runs and 17 RBI. Jackson Mims and T.J. Nichting are also off to hot starts. Mims is hitting .407, while Nichting is hitting .398. If you take a close look at their team offensively, one thing they take great pride in is not striking out and they do an outstanding job at it. As a team they have only struck out 101 times in 21 games. Less than five strikeouts per game are very rarely seen in today’s game.
On the mound Colton Laws, Josh Maciejewski, and Zach Flanagan make up their weekend rotation. All three of these guys have been outstanding. As a staff they will not overpower you with outstanding stuff, but they will pitch to contact. They very rarely walk guys which will make it a key for Tech to come out ready swing the bats. They have a 3.91 team era, so they are solid on the mound, mixed with a solid lineup and you can see why they have had success early on.
Now to the ‘Dogs, they have certainly hit a rough stretch but they will be fine. They won so many tight games early in the year; they were bound to hit a stretch where some games didn’t go their way. Baseball is such a fickle game and will always balance out. That said, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any concerns. Hasler and Sutton have to give good starts for Tech to be successful and that wasn’t the case last weekend. Those two giving good starts allows for the bullpen to line up in a way that makes it successful. Casey Sullivan, Graham Ahlrich, and Nate Harris give Tech a good bullpen. Are three guys enough? No it’s not, but with three reliable arms it allows Burroughs to mix and match the other guys and not let their weaknesses be exposed as much. Remember, relievers are relievers for a reason; their stuff isn’t as good as a starters may be. Offensively, Tech has to continue doing what it’s doing as far as a getting on base stand point. They are leaving a small army on base each game, the problem has been getting those guys in. I link that problem to the strikeout issue. While striking out 8 times a game isn’t terrible by any means, the strikeouts looking are what hurt, have to at least give yourself a chance. These guys have great two strike approaches, but have to quit looking off-speed with two strikes. Look fastball and adjust to the breaking ball. The fastballs with two strikes are freezing so many guys lately. Hopefully this weekend is a nice bounce back weekend and they get back to feeling good about themselves.
D1 Baseball has Brent Diaz as the 7th best catcher in the country to this point. Brent has had an outstanding year to this point. Chase Lunceford is the 10th best third basemen currently, he was 18th preseason.
Offensively Bret Netzer is their most talented player. Netzer is one of the top prospects in the league, coming in at #5 according to D1 Baseball. Netzer is hitting .329 on the year with 2 homes runs and 17 RBI. Jackson Mims and T.J. Nichting are also off to hot starts. Mims is hitting .407, while Nichting is hitting .398. If you take a close look at their team offensively, one thing they take great pride in is not striking out and they do an outstanding job at it. As a team they have only struck out 101 times in 21 games. Less than five strikeouts per game are very rarely seen in today’s game.
On the mound Colton Laws, Josh Maciejewski, and Zach Flanagan make up their weekend rotation. All three of these guys have been outstanding. As a staff they will not overpower you with outstanding stuff, but they will pitch to contact. They very rarely walk guys which will make it a key for Tech to come out ready swing the bats. They have a 3.91 team era, so they are solid on the mound, mixed with a solid lineup and you can see why they have had success early on.
Now to the ‘Dogs, they have certainly hit a rough stretch but they will be fine. They won so many tight games early in the year; they were bound to hit a stretch where some games didn’t go their way. Baseball is such a fickle game and will always balance out. That said, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any concerns. Hasler and Sutton have to give good starts for Tech to be successful and that wasn’t the case last weekend. Those two giving good starts allows for the bullpen to line up in a way that makes it successful. Casey Sullivan, Graham Ahlrich, and Nate Harris give Tech a good bullpen. Are three guys enough? No it’s not, but with three reliable arms it allows Burroughs to mix and match the other guys and not let their weaknesses be exposed as much. Remember, relievers are relievers for a reason; their stuff isn’t as good as a starters may be. Offensively, Tech has to continue doing what it’s doing as far as a getting on base stand point. They are leaving a small army on base each game, the problem has been getting those guys in. I link that problem to the strikeout issue. While striking out 8 times a game isn’t terrible by any means, the strikeouts looking are what hurt, have to at least give yourself a chance. These guys have great two strike approaches, but have to quit looking off-speed with two strikes. Look fastball and adjust to the breaking ball. The fastballs with two strikes are freezing so many guys lately. Hopefully this weekend is a nice bounce back weekend and they get back to feeling good about themselves.
D1 Baseball has Brent Diaz as the 7th best catcher in the country to this point. Brent has had an outstanding year to this point. Chase Lunceford is the 10th best third basemen currently, he was 18th preseason.
