Towson seeks revenge today for one of their most painful losses of the season, when they gave up five unearned runs to University of Maryland Baltimore County in the top of the ninth, dropping a game they led 4-1. That marked the first of six straight losses for the Tigers, but since then they have played much better baseball. A win today will give Towson an even 8-8 record for the month of April, going into their final series of the month against CAA leader Northeastern.
UMBC has been on a similar trajectory. After that come from behind victory on March 14, the Retrievers were only 3-9; since then, they have gone 10-11. They are even tougher at home, where they sport a 9-5 record. Their three leading hitters are generally the first three hitters in their lineup: junior second baseman AJ Wright (.281/.356/.463 and the reigning America East Player of the Week), senior catcher Zack Bright (.288/.319/.441), and sophomore third baseman Christian Torres (.283/.387/.368). On the mound, UMBC’s best pitcher continues to be sophomore closer Stephen Schoch, who ranks 27th nationally with 12.34 K/9 (neat). Schoch, a big, submarining right-hander, has racked up 38.2 innings over 17 appearances, picking up seven saves, and compiling a tidy 1.86 ERA and 3.79 strikeouts per walk.
I will have more on Stephen Schoch soon…
I was going to make a joke about not being a tease, but it’s not the kind of Google image search you want to do at work.
Several Towson hitters were hot last week, all of whom happen to be seniors. Billy Lennox hit .476 last week, scoring five runs and driving in four. Colin Gimblet went .313, with two doubles, scoring and driving in three runs. Logan Burke had a .316 batting average, even including two 0-3 games, driving in six runs and hitting his first home run of the year. Junior Craig Alleyne slowed down a little bit against University of North Carolina Wilmington, but has been on base in eight straight games and nine of his last ten and racked up all 11 of his RBI’s for the season during that stretch.
Lineup
Today’s game starts at 6 p.m., I’m trying to confirm if streaming video will be available (UPDATE: Looks like it will depend on the weather). If not, live stats should be available.
Towson will send freshman righty Kody Reeser to the mound for his second start in as many appearances. He pitched one scoreless inning versus Coppin State in his season debut, walking one and striking out one. I will post the rest of the lineup when I see it.
