The Diamond Owls look to bounce back from their tough, emotional loss to Southern Miss last weekend as they welcome the Charlotte 49ers to their first-ever visit to The Reck. This is a potential trap series, especially given that this will be the first time in years and years that the baseball student-athletes have been forced to play in the midst of Finals Week and the associated academic pressures (instead of the customary and requisite 10-day, end-of-semester break from competition). We cannot look past this 49ers team, or we risk suffering the same fate that befell FAU at home against them three weeks ago.
Note scheduling change: Due to local impending weather conditions, the new weekend schedule at Reckling Park will be a doubleheader Friday afternoon, starting at 3:00 pm, with 45 minutes in between each game, and game 3 on Saturday at 2 pm. Sunday at 12:30pm will be used as a make-up date if necessary.
The Charolotte comes into Reckling Park sporting an overall 18 - 24 record (7-11 CUSA, 6-8 road, 4-8 vs. Top 50, 6-15 vs. Top 100, #163 RPI, #163 ISR, #109 SoS). However, 6 of their 18 wins have come against teams ranked outside the Top 150 in RPI. It's also interesting to note that they have not played a single OOC weekend series on the road or at a neutral site. Having said that, they split two midweek home games with #23 Georgia, split home-and-home midweekers vs. #31 Wake Forest, and took 2 of 3 on the road from #35 FAU several weeks back. Here's their schedule and results to date...
http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2016/schedule/Charlotte
Offensively,
Charlotte ranks as the third best club in the conference, hitting .296/.360/.410 as a team, with 21 HRs, 95 doubles/triples, 30-38 SBs and averaging a very healthy 5.7 runs per game. They lead CUSA in doubles, and have twice as many extrabase hits as we have hit (116 vs. 61). Five everyday starters are hitting over .310 (including 4 of the Top 12 hitters in the conference) led by Brett Netzer (.376/.452/.530, 4 HRs, 16 doubles/triples, 28 RBIs, 35 runs, 5-5 SBs), TJ NIchting (..362/.379/.482, 1 HR, 19 doubles/triples, 27 RBIs), Logan Sherer (..353/.418/.555, 9 HRs, 12 doubles/triples, 44 RBIs, 41 runs) and leadoff hitter and speedster Reese Hampton (.351/.416/.426, 2 HRs, 10 doubles/triples, 14 RBIs, 34 runs, 12-15 SBs). Making matters even worse for us, Netzer bats left-handed, along with two other everyday players, and both Hampton and Nichting are switch hitters. That gives them an advantage over our right-hand laden pitching staff. Finally, they do not strikeout at a high frequency, averaging just 5 strikeouts per game. Given their relatively low walk totals, the 49ers would appear to be a very aggressive, first pitch swinging team.
Defensively, Charlotte is slightly above average, having posted a .969 fielding percentage, but they've given up a relatively high 36 unearned runs (vs. 29 by the Owls). The left side of their infield (SS, 3B) has committed 24 of their 53 team errors (vs. 39 errors by the Owls). Having said that, the 49ers lead the conference in double plays turned with 43 (vs. just 24 for the Owls). Their catcher has allowed only 3 passed balls all season, but Charlotte leads the conference in wild pitches, and he has thrown out only 19% of attempted basestealers. However, the fact that four of Charlotte's top 6 pitchers are left-handed (two weekend starter, two relievers) has somewhat limitted their opposition's running game. This is another strong-armed outfield, as their three everyday starters have already thrown out 13 baserunners.
With such a quality offense and solid defense, one would logically expect a better record. Obviously, Charlotte's shortcoming is on the pitchers mound, where they rank either last or next to last in the conference in almost every statistic: 5.33 ERA, .289 BAA, 1.67 WHIP, 1.8 K:BB ratio and averaging 5.5 BBs/HBPs vs. 7.2 Ks per game. Their top starter has an ERA of only 4.90. However, we have proven time and time again this year that we struggle against mediocre and sub-par pitching...and the 49ers pitching staff carries our kryptonite, with two of their three weekend starters and two of their top three relievers being left-handers. Making matters worse, it's unknown whether one of our better hitters against southpaw pitching (Wunderlich) will be available to play (after injuring himself crashing against the wall last Saturday). I would hope we include both DiCaprio and Dunlap in our lineup on Friday and Sunday when we will be facing LHPs, but Coach chose not to do that this past weekend, and it cost us dearly on Sunday...
Sean Geoghagen (Jr, LHP): 10 starts, 2-5, 61.0 IP, 5.02 ERA, .296 BAA, 16 BBs, , 14 HBP, 8 WPs, 40 Ks
Colton Laws (RS Fr, RHP): 12 app, 7 starts, 3-3, 42.0 IP, 5.57 ERA, .295 BAA, 10 BBs, 31 Ks
Josh Maciejewski (So, LHP): 10 starts, 4-4, 60.2 IP, 4.90 ERA, 2.55 BAA, 25 BBs, 7 HBP, 51 Ks
Phillip Perry (RS So, RHP): 19 app, 1-0, 2 saves, 35.0 IP, 2.83 ERA, .240 BAA, 22 BBs, 6 HBP, 30 Ks
Holden Capps (Jr, L:HP): 18 app, 3-1, 36.1 IP, 2.97 ERA, .225 BAA, 9 BBs, 33 Ks
Matt Horkey (So, LHP): 18 app, 1-1, 1 save, 40.1 IP, 4.91 ERA, .290 BAA, 14 Bs, 18 Ks
Maciejewski is the reigning CUSA Pitcher of the Week following his complete game, 1-hit shutout of Marshall last Sunday. None of these guys are high strikeout pitchers; rather, they're ground ball-inducing pitchers. We need to learn to hold back our swing and go the other way against these soft-tossers.
Here's their individual and team stats...
http://www.charlotte49ers.com/fls/23200/...amcume.htm
...and roster...
http://www.charlotte49ers.com/SportSelec...M_ID=23200
Here's their game notes for the 49ers' first-ever visit to Reckling...
http://www.charlotte49ers.com/ViewArticl...=210916396
This series scares me. Not only are we mired in the middle of Finals week, but we're facing a quality offensive club with a left-handed laden pitching staff. We can ill-afford to take these guys lightly or simply go through the motions. We need to bring the energy, aggressiveness and focus if we hope to get the job done. With USM and FAU battling it out down in Miami, we have a good opportunity to regain the conference lead with a sweep. Anything less will be a disappointment and a blow to both our hosting and regular season conference championship chances. Lets take care of business and protect our home turf. Go Owls!
D1Baseball picked Charlotte to finish dead last in CUSA...
http://www.d1baseball.com/analysis/2016-...ews-c-usa/
Quote:• Charlotte is kind of an interesting team to watch this spring. The 49ers had quite a bit of turmoil last season, but there’s now some stability and this team welcomes back several key players, including leading power hitter Logan Sherer, who finished last season with six homers, and second baseman Brett Netzer, who finished last season with a batting average well over .300. The 49ers also welcome back a pair of impact guys in RHP Philip Perry and RHP Brandon Casas, who had to sit out last season. This team definitely has plenty of experience, but we will see if they can put all the pieces together.
Perfect Game picked Charlotte to finish toward the bottom of the conference standings, but did select weekend starting pitcher Sean Geogghagen to their preseason all-conference team...
http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View...icle=12040
Quote:UNC Charlotte: The 49ers may have only collected 19 wins last spring but 11 of them came in conference and did so with a relatively young team. While their top two hitters (Brad Elwood and Danny Raley) won’t return they do bring back Brett Netzer and Logan Sherer among others. Netzer enjoyed a fine freshman season in which he hit .318 with six doubles and was a steady presence in the lineup. While he’ll take the reps at second base, Sherer will man first base and be a middle-of-the-order type bat after hitting .311 with some of the better power numbers on the team. Of his 60 base knocks, one-third went for extra bases with 14 doubles and six home runs, both good for second on the team. He also served as the team’s closer and converted six saves over 11 appearances. The only player to connect for more home runs than Sherer was 6-foot-4 junior outfielder Zach Jarrett who started all 48 games in which he hit seven home runs with a team-high 32 RBI. T.J. Nitching led the team in doubles last year with 16 and two new faces to keep eyes on will be junior catcher Derek Fritz, a JUCO transfer from Pensacola State, and freshman Reese Hampton, who locked down the center field job after a strong fall. Should the weekend rotation mirror last year's than it will be rather lefthanded as Sean Geoghegan, Josh Maciejewski and J.D. Prochaska all return with 13 starts apiece and over 60 innings pitched. Of the three it was Geoghegan who put together the top line and accounted for six of Charlotte’s 19 wins. On top of that, Geoghegan led the staff with 87 2/3 innings and showed advance command and pitchability as he punched out 58 and walked just 22. Brandon Volger and Micah Wells were both go-to options out of the bullpen for Coach Loren Hibbs as Volger made a 23 appearances and finished with a 3.75 ERA while Wells led the staff with 24 appearances and split time with Sherer as the team’s closer, converting four saves.
