Seeking their third straight victory, Towson returns home to welcome the Eagles of Coppin State University for a 3:00 p.m. game today. Coppin State is a historically black college in northwest Baltimore that plays (at least some of) it’s home games at Joe Cannon Stadium in Hanover. What?! That’s, like, a mile from where I work! What the heck, I could have been sneaking out to watch baseball on my lunch breaks!
If I did – or, rather, when I do – Coppin State has some good players to watch, despite an 11-15-1 record in 2018. That record is colored by a ten game losing streak earlier this year, but since March 17 they are 10-4 and coming off a three game sweep of University of Maryland Eastern Shore. The Eagles have seven regulars batting .284 or better, led by sophomore infielder Allen Saar and freshman shortstop Derek Lohr, both hitting over .400. A team batting average of .284 and an on-base percentage of .392 are outstanding. They only have four home runs in 27 games, but they hit a bunch of doubles (38) and will run you ragged on the bases (56-73 in stolen base attempts). Senior outfielders Andres Santana and Caleb Duhay have racked up 17 steals each. On the flip side, they have allowed 66 steals and only thrown out four attempts. This game figures to be a track meet.
For Towson, the big story is the return of pitcher Kody Reeser, who has been out with an unspecified injury since March 2017. Reeser, a 5′ 11″ right hander, had a great high school career, but only pitched in three games for Towson in 2017 before going down. It is interesting, and potentially coincidental, that he was quoted in this article on the increasing rate of pitcher arm injuries, but, to be very clear, I have no idea what injury he suffered. Hopefully he is another talented arm to add to an emerging pitching staff. Since the game is at Schuerholz Park streaming video will be available get a little peek at Reeser.
Lineup
A pretty similar crew as yesterday, except Dirk Masters moves up to the six hole and Craig Alleyne gets his fourth start of the season in left field. They face Quinn Gleed, a 5′ 8″ sophomore right-hander making his fifth start and tenth appearance. Gleed has an excellent 3.54 ERA, but only has seven strikeouts and seven walks in 28 innings. Expect to see lots of balls in play, the key for Towson will be to avoid pitcher’s pitches and wait for something they can hit hard.
- Mark Grunberg, CF
- Richie Palacios, SS
- Colin Gimblet, RF
- Billy Lennox, 3B
- Logan Burke, 1B
- Dirk Masters, 2B
- Richard Miller, DH
- Craig Alleyne, LF
- Tristan Howerton, C
Starting Pitcher– Kody Reeser, RHP
I was able to find reports of Reeser having a good fastball and a potentially plus curve. Hopefully both of those are still present after his long layoff.
Musical Finale
Don’t call it a comeback.
