(05-25-2013 08:03 PM)Almadenmike Wrote: (05-24-2013 08:58 PM)eaglenjxn Wrote: You'll see Fisk, no doubt. Pierce could come out of the pen, but honestly I'm not sure I wouldn't go with Myrick before him.
Fisk started against ECU tonight. The Pirates scored two runs off him in T4 (HBP, HBP, 1B, BB, 1B) before a 4-6-3 DP ended the rally.
The Eagles put two on with two outs in B4 (HBP, 1B), but didn't score.
Now I'm totally perplexed. Given today's game is meaningless to USM, why in the world would they start their Sunday starter? I would think LHP Drehoff is burned as he went 6.0 innings and threw 87 pitches in yesterday's win over the Coogs. They can certainly go back to Pierce tomorrow (he only threw 4.2 IP and 83 pitches on Wednesday)-- and he is their 3-year ace and Friday starter who helped get them here, BUT, as ShiftyEagle posted, he's been dreadful his past 2 - 3 starts and may be hiding an injury. (He's throw 108 innings already this year.) Perhaps they start Jr RHP Myrick, who despite not starting any game this year, has been their bullpen workhorse (19 app, 42.0 IP, 4-0, 1 save, 2.79 ERA, .203 BAA, 21 BBs, 42 Ks). Quite honestly, Myrick has the best across-the-board stats of anyone on the staff who has thrown 20+ innings. And they do have four other quality relievers-- all with ERAs under 3.00-- who could pick up the slack if Myrick starts. The way we've pounded left-handers the past two games (as hard to believe as that is), I can't imagine USM would start a southpaw against us (unless it was Drehoff, and he should be unavailable). Clearly, the strength of the USM pitching staff this year has been it's bullpen.
Either way, for the first time this year, I'm confident our offense will come to play tomorrow and will put up runs. The key is going to be for our pitching and defense to slow down the red-hot USM offense, which has now (prior to tonight's game) post 11 double-digit hit games over their last 15 games. I'm also a bit concerned by their lefthanded laden lineup, with four of their top 5 hitters left-handed (Fowler, Roussell, Robbins, Day) and all hitting over .315. Their leading hitter, Isaac Rodriguez (.355/.446/.462, 2 HRs, 15 doubles, 30 RBIs) may be right-handed, but he's the leading hitter in CUSA during confereince-only action.
Their only real power threat is Blake Brown, but he's very much an all or nothing type power hitter and he's right-handed (.247/.329/.460, 10 HRs, 12 doubles, 32 RBIs, 50 Ks).
They don't walk much, but aside from Brown, they don't strikeout at a high frequency either (only one other batter has more than 30 Ks). This would indicate that they are very aggressive, first pitch hitters, who can be had if we lead with our breaking balls and off-speed pitches.
Defensively, they're solid, with a .969 fielding percentage. Their strength is at catcher with all-conference selection, Chase Fowler, who has thrown 58% of attempted basestealers (that's even better than Perrott's 52% caught stealing rate) and who has allowed just 4 passed balls and 28 wild pitches. I don't see us attempting to run tomorrow. Similarly, their RF (Marty Robbins) has thrown out 10 baserunners, which is a very high number of assists for a college outfielder. (Note-- Byrd has 8 and Cook 7 on the year.) USM's one defensive vulnerability appears to be at 3B, where Bradley Roney has committed 15 errors.
And there you have my preview!
