Tech will travel to Murfreesboro for a 3-game Conference USA series with MTSU this weekend. The Blue Raiders are off to a 7-13 start overall, but did take 2 of 3 last weekend at UTSA.
First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Friday, 4p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Jim Toman is in his first season as the HC at MTSU. He was an assistant at College of Charleston in 2018 and previously served as the HC at Liberty from 2008-2016. He was also a long time assistant at South Carolina under Ray Tanner.
D1 Baseball picked the Blue Raiders to finish in last place in C-USA. Get right weekend if Tech is going to make any sort of run??
MTSU’s field is unique. The LF fence backs up the football stadium which causes the wind to swirl at times. It’s a huge park to the power ally’s.
Last weekend, MTSU sent RHP Carson Lester, LHP Peyton Wigginton, and LHP David Zoz to the mound at UTSA. I can find no release of their three starters for this weekend.
Lester: (0-1, 3.32 ERA, 27.2 IP, 26 hits allowed, 14 BB, and 18 K)
Wigginton: (1-1, 4.40 ERA, 30.2 IP, 35 hits allowed, 7 BB, and 34 K) – one of the better draft prospects in the league for 2020, he’ll be 87-90, nothing overpowering, but he can pitch
Zoz: (1-0, 1.72 ERA, 15.2 IP, 16 hits allowed, 6 BB, and 11 K)
Zach Keenan (1-2, 1.88 ERA, 24 IP, 23 hits allowed, 5 BB, and 15 K) – one of the better draft propsects in the league for 2020, he’ll be 87-90, can run it up to 92 when he needs to, good slider for his out pitch, he’s really their ace, but he didn’t pitch last weekend. I can’t find anything about an injury, so who knows right now.
Sheldon Paulk has been really good out of the pen in nine appearances only allowing 4 ER in 15.2 IP (2.30 ERA)
Tyler Holcombe is another go-to-guy in the pen with nine appearances as well with a 3.32 ERA. With the game on the line, he’s the guy they like to go to.
Pretty cool story, RHP Andy Rivera is back on the mound for MTSU. He has underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery twice since last February. TOS is a condition in which blood vessels or nerves in the space between your collarbone and your first rib are compresses. He’s only pitched in 1 game, 1 inning, allowing 1 run, but it’s nice to see him back. He was up to 92 before the two surgeries, so I’m sure it’s taking him time to get back. It’s also a very difficult surgery to recover from.
Here is the article about him if you want to read it: https://goblueraiders.com/news/2019/3/13/baseball-mtsu-pitcher-andy-rivera-overcomes-two-life-threatening-surgeries-through-hard-work-and-family.aspx
As a team, they have a 3.35 ERA in 177.1 IP. They’ve played some quality competition, so we’ll see if Tech can get things going offensively. If the wind is blowing in, which it does a lot up there, scoring could be at a premium.
Entering the season, Myles Christian and Blake Benefield were the two names to watch offensively. However, both guys are off to really slow starts.
Christian is hitting only .136 with 33 strikeouts in 66 at-bats. Let’s hope we don’t heat him up like we did Wallner last weekend.
Benefield is hitting .227 with 25 strikeouts in 66 at-bats. Rough. He slugged 10 home runs last season so he has some pop.
Nick Carnevale is leading their struggling offense with a .304 batting average. Once he gets on base, he can really run. He stole 27 bases at Brookdale CC last season.
Aaron Antonini is the only other player hitting over .300 with a .303 average. He’s got 8 extra base hits. He’ll be the catcher and has thrown out 13 of 36 attempted base stealers. That’s pretty solid.
As a team, they are only getting on base at a .315 clip which has led to only averaging 3.8 runs per game. If Tech’s pitching staff is going to find some success, this should be the weekend. The key will be not walking guys and giving up free bases.
Tech will trot out its normal weekend rotation of Matt Miller, Logan Robbins, and Logan Bailey.
Miller (22 IP, 13 BB)
Robbins (20.1 IP, 10 BB)
Bailey (23.2 IP, 12 BB)
All of those BB totals are too high. Miller has walked 9 in his last 9.1 IP. Bailey has walked 7 in his 9.1 IP. They don’t need to shy away from the strike zone just because they aren’t getting great results. It’s baseball, balls are going to find holes at times.
Biggest key to the weekend: The Tech pitchers need to put up in a 0 in the first inning. Tech can’t afford to keep playing from behind so often.
Tech needs Follis, Griffen, Fincher, Logan, and Smith to have big weekends out of the pen. If two of those guys could pitch in multiple games, that would be ideal.
Outside of those 5, Billings is the only other really option. He hasn’t been bad lately, but he’s has seemed shaky at times.
I know Hunter Wells wants to play, but I don’t think you’re doing him any favors by putting him in there with a strained oblique limiting him to only the right side of the plate. Heck, he’s a better left-handed hitter as it is.
Wallace was in LF on Tuesday against MVSU, let’s hope that continues. Netterville needs to be the DH.
The following guys have the lowest OBP of the regulars: Wallace (.299), Huddleston (.319), and Netterville (.329). They don’t need to be near one another in the lineup. I could also throw Mason Robinson in there as he only has 5 BB in 90 PAs. Right now his OBP (.404) looks good, but it’ll come down once his BA lowers which is coming soon.
First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Friday, 4p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Jim Toman is in his first season as the HC at MTSU. He was an assistant at College of Charleston in 2018 and previously served as the HC at Liberty from 2008-2016. He was also a long time assistant at South Carolina under Ray Tanner.
D1 Baseball picked the Blue Raiders to finish in last place in C-USA. Get right weekend if Tech is going to make any sort of run??
MTSU’s field is unique. The LF fence backs up the football stadium which causes the wind to swirl at times. It’s a huge park to the power ally’s.
Last weekend, MTSU sent RHP Carson Lester, LHP Peyton Wigginton, and LHP David Zoz to the mound at UTSA. I can find no release of their three starters for this weekend.
Lester: (0-1, 3.32 ERA, 27.2 IP, 26 hits allowed, 14 BB, and 18 K)
Wigginton: (1-1, 4.40 ERA, 30.2 IP, 35 hits allowed, 7 BB, and 34 K) – one of the better draft prospects in the league for 2020, he’ll be 87-90, nothing overpowering, but he can pitch
Zoz: (1-0, 1.72 ERA, 15.2 IP, 16 hits allowed, 6 BB, and 11 K)
Zach Keenan (1-2, 1.88 ERA, 24 IP, 23 hits allowed, 5 BB, and 15 K) – one of the better draft propsects in the league for 2020, he’ll be 87-90, can run it up to 92 when he needs to, good slider for his out pitch, he’s really their ace, but he didn’t pitch last weekend. I can’t find anything about an injury, so who knows right now.
Sheldon Paulk has been really good out of the pen in nine appearances only allowing 4 ER in 15.2 IP (2.30 ERA)
Tyler Holcombe is another go-to-guy in the pen with nine appearances as well with a 3.32 ERA. With the game on the line, he’s the guy they like to go to.
Pretty cool story, RHP Andy Rivera is back on the mound for MTSU. He has underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery twice since last February. TOS is a condition in which blood vessels or nerves in the space between your collarbone and your first rib are compresses. He’s only pitched in 1 game, 1 inning, allowing 1 run, but it’s nice to see him back. He was up to 92 before the two surgeries, so I’m sure it’s taking him time to get back. It’s also a very difficult surgery to recover from.
Here is the article about him if you want to read it: https://goblueraiders.com/news/2019/3/13/baseball-mtsu-pitcher-andy-rivera-overcomes-two-life-threatening-surgeries-through-hard-work-and-family.aspx
As a team, they have a 3.35 ERA in 177.1 IP. They’ve played some quality competition, so we’ll see if Tech can get things going offensively. If the wind is blowing in, which it does a lot up there, scoring could be at a premium.
Entering the season, Myles Christian and Blake Benefield were the two names to watch offensively. However, both guys are off to really slow starts.
Christian is hitting only .136 with 33 strikeouts in 66 at-bats. Let’s hope we don’t heat him up like we did Wallner last weekend.
Benefield is hitting .227 with 25 strikeouts in 66 at-bats. Rough. He slugged 10 home runs last season so he has some pop.
Nick Carnevale is leading their struggling offense with a .304 batting average. Once he gets on base, he can really run. He stole 27 bases at Brookdale CC last season.
Aaron Antonini is the only other player hitting over .300 with a .303 average. He’s got 8 extra base hits. He’ll be the catcher and has thrown out 13 of 36 attempted base stealers. That’s pretty solid.
As a team, they are only getting on base at a .315 clip which has led to only averaging 3.8 runs per game. If Tech’s pitching staff is going to find some success, this should be the weekend. The key will be not walking guys and giving up free bases.
Tech will trot out its normal weekend rotation of Matt Miller, Logan Robbins, and Logan Bailey.
Miller (22 IP, 13 BB)
Robbins (20.1 IP, 10 BB)
Bailey (23.2 IP, 12 BB)
All of those BB totals are too high. Miller has walked 9 in his last 9.1 IP. Bailey has walked 7 in his 9.1 IP. They don’t need to shy away from the strike zone just because they aren’t getting great results. It’s baseball, balls are going to find holes at times.
Biggest key to the weekend: The Tech pitchers need to put up in a 0 in the first inning. Tech can’t afford to keep playing from behind so often.
Tech needs Follis, Griffen, Fincher, Logan, and Smith to have big weekends out of the pen. If two of those guys could pitch in multiple games, that would be ideal.
Outside of those 5, Billings is the only other really option. He hasn’t been bad lately, but he’s has seemed shaky at times.
I know Hunter Wells wants to play, but I don’t think you’re doing him any favors by putting him in there with a strained oblique limiting him to only the right side of the plate. Heck, he’s a better left-handed hitter as it is.
Wallace was in LF on Tuesday against MVSU, let’s hope that continues. Netterville needs to be the DH.
The following guys have the lowest OBP of the regulars: Wallace (.299), Huddleston (.319), and Netterville (.329). They don’t need to be near one another in the lineup. I could also throw Mason Robinson in there as he only has 5 BB in 90 PAs. Right now his OBP (.404) looks good, but it’ll come down once his BA lowers which is coming soon.
