Baseball: Hofstra series

[Seahawk Nation 08]

GAMEDAY LINK: http://www.uncwsports.com/ViewArticl...B_OEM_ID=19800

Seeing as this is the biggest CAA series of the season to this point, I figured I'd start the thread a tad early. Hofstra, despite being picked to finish 10th by the CAA's coaches, has been the surprise team of the conference.

Starting Pitchers

FRIDAY - 6:30 PM

Hofstra: Jared Rogers, Jr. RHP (0-3, 5.79 ERA)
UNCW: Tyler Mcswain, Sr. RHP (4-2, 4.00)

SATURDAY - 2:00 PM

Hofstra: John Tiedemann, Jr. RHP (4-3, 5.58)
UNCW: Mat Batts, LHP (2-4, 2.90)

SUNDAY - 2:00 PM

Hofstra: Dave Jesch, Fr. RHP (3-0, 2.54)
UNCW: Jordan Ramsey, Fr. RHP (2-2, 3.00)


Hofstra Offense

* Hofstra is out-hitting opponents .335 to .291, with 16 homeruns (13 opp) and 241 runs scored (170).
* Top hitter is senior OF Danny Poma (.459, 6 HR, 34 RBI, 1.254 OPS, 18 SB).
* Junior 1B Jared Hammer has a team-high 38 RBI and is hitting .404.
* Hofstra is among the top 5 teams in the country in stealing bases, averaging 3.0 stolen bases per game. They've stolen 93 times (22 opp).


CAA Standings

1. UNCW 10-2, .833 (18-15, # 84 RPI)
2. Hofstra 9-3, .750 (17-13, # 121)
---------------------------------------------
3. GMU 9-6, .600 (23-11, # 50)
Towson 9-6, .600 (17-16, # 123)
Delaware 9-6, .600 (17-17, # 204)
6. W&M 8-7, .533 (23-13, # 139)
----------------------------------------------
7. GSU 5-7, .417 (14-20, # 192)
8. VCU 6-9, .400 (18-15, # 87)
9. NU 3-9, .250 (13-15, # 230)
ODU 3-9, .250 (12-21, # 215)
11. JMU 4-11, .267 (9-23-1, # 239)


NOTE: The 2012 Tournament will have 6 teams, with the top 2 receiving Day 1 byes.

[tke75hawk]

i will miss this series but will check stats. i have big party starting friday till sunday with my tke fraternity brothers from uncw.

[Seahawk Nation 08]

i will miss this series but will check stats. i have big party starting friday till sunday with my tke fraternity brothers from uncw.

Boo. Tell TKE to support UNCW Baseball.

[SEA33HAWK]

tke75hawk puts on a feed every azalea festival for the TKE fraternity. He has helped get the TKE's organized again on campus, which is a great thing for the university. Plus he scheduled before baseball did. Actually, it's a terrible time to have a home series, during the Azalea Festival. But, I know it can't be helped.

[Seahawk Nation 08]

tke75hawk puts on a feed every azalea festival for the TKE fraternity. He has helped get the TKE's organized again on campus, which is a great thing for the university. Plus he scheduled before baseball did. Actually, it's a terrible time to have a home series, during the Azalea Festival. But, I know it can't be helped.

True. It always seems like we have a home series during the Azalea Festival. I know that the CAA games are done by the league office; maybe we should request to be on the road that weekend.

[billthebighawkfan]

Matt Campbell needs to add the John Cena "you can't see me" hand gesture before the first AB to go with his music. It would really set the tone. Need to come out and play UNCW ball Friday and let the chips fall. Needs some 2 out rally going on and not leave em juiced so much. Need some crooked #s against this crew.

[stuball888]

Guys check out gohofstra.com website for preview of this series. This series got national attention and great article written by a national magazine on this matchup.

[Seahawk Nation 08]

Guys check out gohofstra.com website for preview of this series. This series got national attention and great article written by a national magazine on this matchup.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today...2/2613252.html

Pride Of The CAA

It's safe to assume a series between Hofstra and UNC Wilmington has never been a bigger deal than it will be this weekend. Since the Pride joined the Colonial Athletic Association in 2002, Wilmington has been a perennial power in the CAA, making the conference tournament every year and reaching regionals four times. Hofstra has made the CAA tournament only once and has finished in the bottom two of the standings in eight of its 10 seasons in the league. The last time Hofstra posted a winning record overall was 1999, when it went 24-20. A year ago, the Pride went 15-32 overall, and 12-18 in the CAA.

So Hofstra's 18-13 start in 2012 is one of college baseball's great surprises. The Pride enters this weekend with a 9-3 record in CAA play, putting it just a game behind first-place UNCW (10-2).

And Hofstra has had to overcome some adversity along the way. Joe Perez, who hit nine of the team's 18 home runs a year ago, will miss all of 2012 with a torn labrum. Ace righthander David D'Errico, a third-year member of the weekend rotation who beat Miami a year ago, had season-ending Tommy John surgery after five games this spring, after getting off to a 2-1, 2.97 start.

The adversity started before that, as head coach Patrick Anderson left for a job in pro ball in January. But fourth-year recruiting coordinator John Russo slid seamlessly into the interim head job.

"The only good thing was I had recruited all but about three of these kids, and they had a lot of trust in me," Russo said. "I have a lot more aggressive style than they had in the past. Last year we had stolen 43 bases; this year we have 93 (second-most in the nation). I feel like that's given the kids a lot of confidence."

Hofstra isn't blessed with an abundance of blazing runners, but the coaches aren't afraid to send runners in any count, no matter how many outs. Not that they're reckless; the Pride has a 73 percent success rate (93-for-129), a testament to the ability of its baserunners to get quality reads and jumps. Four Hofstra players have double-digit steals, led by senior outfielder Danny Poma's 18.


Danny Poma

Poma is the team's best player, and the most dynamic player in the CAA. Poma's 2010 sophomore year at Cuesta (Calif.) JC was derailed by a broken hand after he was hit by a pitch, so he went undrafted and overlooked by college recruiters. Russo said the Pride scooped him up in June, and he went on to earn fist-team all-CAA honors as a junior. But he has elevated his game to new heights as a senior, hitting .459/.517/.737 with six homers and 34 RBIs to go along with his 18 steals and 19 doubles (tied for most in the nation).

Russo coached former Notre Dame star and Diamondbacks first-round pick A.J. Pollock at Vermont in the New England Collegiate League, and he says Poma is a "carbon copy" of Pollock in everything he does.

"He has the same exact build. A.J. in pro ball right now is wearing out doubles, and Danny is the same way," Russo said. "He runs a 6.6 60, he was voted the best defensive outfielder and best arm in the preseason. There's nothing he can't do. We hear it from every coach we play—he's always the best player on the field."

Scouts are starting to take notice—Russo said one national crosschecker who watched Poma play called Russo the next day and said, "I can't believe what I saw yesterday."

Second baseman Matt Ford (.391/.474/.470, 11 SB, 23 RBI) also has garnered some attention from scouts, Russo said. The team's shortstop a year ago, Russo slid to second base when Dalton Rouleau—a juco transfer from California like Poma—showed up this fall. Rouleau (.349/.458/.442) has been an on-base machine in the leadoff spot, and he has teamed with Ford (the son of Cornell associate head coach Tom Ford) to form a very slick double-play tandem.

Russo said Florida State coach Mike Martin raved about the Hofstra middle infielders when the Pride opened its season with three games in Tallahassee. Though it was swept, Hofstra gave FSU a competitive series, scoring eight runs Saturday and six Sunday.

"We played Florida State really tough—some of the highest run totals they've given up all year," Russo said. "We finally broke through with the sweep of VCU the second conference series, and it's been no looking back after that. There's nobody we don't think we can beat now."

Hofstra has had potent offensive teams before, but in the 10 years it has been in the CAA, it has posted a staff ERA below 6.50 just once (5.92 in 2006). Twice in the last decade, the Pride has posted an ERA above 9.58 (including a 9.78 ERA in 2009).

This year, Hofstra has a 4.96 ERA, down from 6.70 a year ago. Russo gives sophomore catcher Matt Reistetter—who calls all the pitches—a good deal of credit for the improvement of the staff. But the Pride also has more quality arms than it has in many years, with two weekend starters that can reach 90 mph ( John Tiedemann and David Jesch) and a closer who tops out at 93 (Bryan Verbitsky). With D'Errico sidelined, junior Jared Rogers has emerged to fill in admirably as the Friday starter; the Pride hopes to get five or six innings out of him at Wilmington, then hand the ball to Verbitsky.

Russo knows this weekend is a huge measuring stick for his team. He said the Pride coaching staff has tried to model itself after the Seahawks, who are typically aggressive on the basepaths and play solid defense. That is the case this year as well—Wilmington has 53 steals in 65 tries and is fielding at a solid .971 clip.

"That's one thing we do pretty good is we can run up and down the lineup, with the exception of two guys," UNCW coach Mark Scalf said.

The addition of junior-college transfer Tyler Molinaro, an unsigned 15th-round pick, has added some punch to the lineup—he has eight of the team's 17 home runs. Wilmington isn't a juggernaut offensively, but it has a steady group of veterans in the lineup. The key, Scalf said, is for his Seahawks to do a better job driving in runners than they did last weekend at Texas Christian, where they lost two of three.

Defensively, UNCW has its own solid middle infield duo in much-improved shortstop Jake Koenig and second baseman Michael Bass. Andrew Cain and Thomas Pope have worked hard to improve their reads and routes in the outfield, Scalf said, which has also made a big difference.

But Wilmington's greatest strength is its pitching, especially its deep bullpen. The Seahawks use a committee approach in the 'pen, and they have confidence in about six relievers who give hitters different looks. Tyler DeLoach and Kelly Secrest have different slots from the left side. Six-foot-10 righty Jack Lane throws from a sidearm slot, while William Prince and Tom Timoney are a foot or more shorter. Traditional three-pitch righty Ricky Holden (1-0, 1.62) has the best numbers of the group.

The rotation is fronted by a pair of veterans with good pitchability in righthander Tyler McSwain (4-2, 4.22) and lefty Mat Batts (2-4, 2.90). Sunday starter Jordan Ramsey (2-2, 3.00), a freshman righty, has the best stuff of the lot, with an 88-92 fastball that bumps 93 and a pair of promising offspeed pitches, but Scalf said he's still learning how to pitch.

The Seahawks have played a strong nonconference schedule, including an early three-game series at Mississippi and last weekend's set at TCU (a series that was added late because of a cancellation).

"It worked out, it was a good weekend for us," Scalf said. "It was a great test for us in the middle of the year. After going out to Ole Miss early in the year, I think it definitely helps us. If we're fortunate enough to play well enough at the end to be in a regional tournament, playing in those settings puts you in position to relax and play.

"Unfortunately the first eight or 10 games of the year our guys really pressed offensively," added Scalf, whose team was 3-9 at one point. "We finally started to relax a little bit after about 10 or 12 games and figured it out."

Wilmington is battle-tested and still must be regarded as the favorite in the CAA until further notice. But Hofstra—of all teams—has a chance to serve that notice this weekend.

"I'm excited for the guys, and it's going to be an awesome atmosphere for us down at Wilmington," Russo said. "I think they have the best home-field advantage of any team in the conference. But we did play a lot of games on the road and we feel like we're well tested on the road.

"It's been a three-year process to get to this point. It's just been starting over, a building process. I feel like we've finally gotten to where we want to be."

[Seahawk Nation 08]

https://admin.xosn.com/pdf8/839221.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=19800

Some UNCW tid-bits from the game notes:

* Hunter Ridge is just 3 hits away from 200 for his career.
* Michael Bass is currently on a 13-game hitting streak and a 21-game on-base streak.
* The Seahawks are 14-2 when scoring 6+ runs, 4-13 when scoring 5 or fewer.

[UDubFan8]

3-0 hawks, great start