Towson split their weekday games and now take on the Marist College Red Foxes for three contests at Schuerholz Park. Marist is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, NY, overlooking the Hudson River, and it sounds just lovely. You may or may not have ever heard of Marist, but you’ve definitely heard of Poughkeepsie, because HOLY CRAP is Poughkeepsie mentioned in pop culture a lot. There is a whole website dedicated to Poughkeepsie in pop culture, complete with Twitter account and YouTube channel. Famous Poughkeepsians include authors, athletes, politicians, scientists (cough drops and baby formula were invented there), famous hippies, at least one serial killer, and B-movie legend Ed Wood.
I choose to believe every Marist baseball player looks like this.
Oh, yeah, baseball…
Marist is 1-10 on the season, but unlike Towson’s last couple of opponents they have a more balanced team. In terms of age, in fact, they are extremely balanced: ten freshmen, nine sophomores, eight juniors, and nine seniors. As a team, their numbers aren’t good on offense or defense, but they do have individual players having very strong seasons. The Red Foxes have four guys hitting .324 or better, with seniors Matt Iantosca and Greg Kocinski posting OPS numbers north of 1.000. On the mound they are led by senior lefty Mike Coss, with a 1.84 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 14.1 innings.
And, holy crap, they do all look like that.
Towson has been playing better of late, but that one inning is keeping them from stringing together wins. The Tigers are building lots of character this season.
The Watch List
Richie Palacios, SS – .386/.527/.667, 74 PA, 7 2B, 3 HR, 22R, 13 RBI, 6-6 SB. Another week, another hit streak, Palacios is at four straight, has been on base in every game this season, and has either driven in or scored a run in all but two. He had a very rough game on defense Wednesday, so how he bounces back from that will be something to watch.
Andrew Cassard, OF – .271/.386/.292, 58 PA, 1 2B, 11 R, 5 RBI,1-2 SB. Still with only one extra base hit on the season, Cassard continues to get on base and score runs. In fact, he has scored in four straight, crossing home six times during that streak. It would be great to see a little more pop from the sophomore, but right now his game is geared towards hitting it the other way and it seems to be getting the job done.
Dirk Masters, 2B – .314/.467/.343, 46 PA, 1 2B, 6 R, 3 RBI, 2-2 SB. After having a good series last weekend, Masters left Sunday’s game early and hasn’t played since.
Bo Plagge, OF – .386/.520/.684, 25 PA, 2HR, 4R, 4 RBI,
Bo Plagge, P – 0-1, 8.53 ERA, 12.2 innings, 12 K, 11 BB. The two-way player had an up and down week. His only hit in nine at-bats was his second home run of the season. Starting Wednesday on the mound, the right-hander gave up a couple of runs in three innings, but only walked one.
David Marriggi, P – 1-1, 4.66 ERA, 19.1 innings, 18 K, 15 BB. For the first time this year, Marriggi had a rough start, getting charged with seven runs in four innings against Ohio. The lefty had his fewest walks since his first game of the season, but gave up 11 hits. Hopefully he gets back on track Saturday.
More Info
Pitching match-ups, series history, and more can be found here. The weekend pitching rotation stays the same, with Gavin Weyman going today at 3 P.M., followed by David Marriggi and Michael Adams this weekend. All three games should be streaming online. I will update this post with links to the streaming video, line-ups, and any other new info as they become available. I should be at the game on Sunday, so look out for more photos and video next week.
Musical Finale
What the heck did Poughkeepsie do to these guys?
