I remembered, rather late in the day yesterday, that University of Maryland Baltimore County is right down the road from my house, so I decided to pick my daughters up from preschool and take them to a baseball game. It was…quite an adventure.
I have to admit, I did not realized how large UMBC is, with, uh, an actual campus and, like, college buildings and stuff. In any case, thanks to my distrust of GPS and very unhelpful directions from the handful of people I asked, we ended up driving around most of that campus before finding the gate that led to the baseball field. Which was locked. Fortunately, I noticed a bit of the fence around the soccer field had been knocked over, so I carried my girls down a hill, through the gap, and across a very soggy field, until we finally reached The Baseball Factory Field. Which is very un-factory like, though it does have lights, which is nice.
We arrived just in time to watch Towson give up 12 runs in the third inning, which took so long it was the little ones’ bedtime, so we left. So, as far as baseball goes, it was a pretty fruitless trip. But, as far as spending time with my daughters and watching them have a great time dancing around the bleachers, it was absolutely fantastic. And it’s nice knowing there’s baseball right down the road from my house.
So you got that going for you.
It is unfortunate the the only inning I got to take in was so one-sided, but I did make a few observations.
- The third inning was just an everything-that-can-go-wrong-will frame for Towson. The balls that Tigers hitters crushed (and there were a couple) went straight to UMBC players, whereas every ground ball and soft liner by the Retrievers found a hole. The three pitchers Towson sent to the mound in that inning allowed a combined six walks, which is, of course, bad, but it really didn’t seem like they were missing by much. It was a great example of my “pitching is hard” maxim and an inning better off forgotten.
- I will say that the home plate umpire’s idea of a strike zone was completely whimsical. Awful. A joke. I really can’t stress enough how bad it was. He may as well have been flipping a coin.
- When you look at Joe Enea on the mound, he looks the part. He is a big guy, with the big, uh, posterior that one usually associates with a power pitcher, but it didn’t seem like the ball really jumped out of his hand. He did pop the catcher’s mitt a few times, but for much of the day I just felt like he was aiming, instead of letting the ball go (to be clear, I am very, very, very much not a scout). But, again, when you see him out there, you can see something to dream on.
- Jake Pecilunas was also bitten by the inconsistent strike zone. I would have to check again, but it felt like most of the hits he gave up were on two-strike counts. The stats look bad, but like Enea, he just wasn’t that far off. The ball definitely jumps out of Pecilunas’ hand and when he snaps off a good one, the freshman’s curve is absolutely filthy. I think he’s going to be fun to watch going forward.
- The ball also jumps out of Mason Anderson‘s hand. He’s got a little bit of a funky delivery, too, and probably produced the ugliest swings I saw from UMBC hitters.
Positive Pixels
- The best news on the pitching side was probably Kody Reeser continuing his comeback from injury with a second scoreless start, again pitching just the first inning, allowing a single walk. Baby steps, but good ones.
- Billy Lennox had a couple of hits and I did get to see the double that he crushed to the base of the left field wall. Lennox has now hit in 13 straight games, raising his season average to .310.
- Towson got two hits from the leadoff spot, one each by Craig Alleyne and Andrew Cassard. Both will be important bats for next year, with the graduation of seniors like Lennox, Colin Gimblet, and Logan Burke, and the presumed departure of Richie Palacios to the professional ranks.
- Matt Watters gave up a run in two innings of work, but did get two strikeouts. After collecting only seven K’s in his first ten appearances, Watters has now struck out nine in his last three games (7 innings), against only two walks.
The Watch List
Richie Palacios, SS – 0-4, 1 SB. It might have been the most “meh” game of the season for Palacios. Hopefully that means that he’s ready to go this weekend against a strong Northeastern team.
Dirk Masters, 2B – DNP
David Marriggi, P – DNP
Michael Adams, P – DNP
Up Next
It’s on the road again for a three game set at conference leading Northeastern.
