The Towson Tigers are in Beantown this weekend, taking on the 23-13 Northeastern Huskies, who currently lead the Colonial Athletic Association by a game and a half. Over the last twenty or so years, Northeastern has transformed itself from a large commuter school to one of the nations leading research universities and is noted for it’s innovative cooperative education program, consistently ranking as one of the best schools for interns. It’s a far cry from it’s humble beginnings in 1898 as the Evening Institute for Younger Men in the Huntington Avenue YMCA.
No, it wasn’t like that and, surprisingly, no, that won’t the song at the bottom of this page.
For the second straight weekend, Towson will be sternly challenged against a really good team, but get used to hearing that. The next two weekends feature series versus College of Charleston and Elon, who along with Northeastern and University of North Carolina Wilmington form a clear top tier in the CAA. That will be a solid month of excellent opposition, but that means you can get excited about any improvements the Tigers show over that span.
A few stats for Towson deserve to be highlighted. The Tigers have the second fewest strikeouts in the CAA, while ranking number two in most walks. And, once they get on base, the Tigers have a very impressive 87% success rate on stolen base attempts (47 steals in 54 attempts), which, if I’m not mistaken, is one of the top few percentages in NCAA Division-1 (Duke has 65 steals in 74 attempts and Missouri State has 50 steals in 59 attempts, leading Towson by eight and two thousandths of a point respectively). That’s good stuff.
The Huskies are led offensively by junior first baseman Jake Ferrall (.344/.401/.586, 7 home runs), while junior outfielder Charlie McConnell is the table setter (.339/.402/.450, 24 stolen bases). Other weapons include junior third baseman Ryan Soloman (.286/.398/.527, 7 home runs) and senior shortstop Max Burt (.327/.376/.412).
Surprisingly, given their record, Northeastern sits (with Towson) at the bottom of the CAA in earned run average with an ugly 5.81 (we’ll leave Towson’s unsaid right now, gah). It’s reasonable to think we’ll see some high-scoring games this weekend.
Or maybe not. The first starter the Tigers will face is 6′ 5″ junior Tyler Brown, who has a season ERA of 5.40, but is coming off a seven inning, one-hit performance that earned him CAA co-Pitcher of the Week honors. Saturday’s scheduled starter is senior Brian Christian, who carries a 7.16 ERA, but last pitched six innings and allowed only one run. Sean Mellan, who will go for Northeastern in the series finale, is 9-1 with a 1.94 ERA, and that includes a 6-run, 2.2 inning start last month against Texas Tech.
Let’s hope Towson’s hot hitters stay that way. (Lookin’ at you Billy Lennox. And Colin Gimblet. And Craig Alleyne. And Richard Milller. And anyone else who wants to join the party!)
The Watch List
Richie Palacios, SS – .349↓/.491↓/.652↓, 149 AB, 45 R, 8 HR, 14 2B, 29 RBI, 21-22 SB. Palacios needs two hits to reach 200 for his career. He would be the first Towson player ever to reach that milestone within three seasons.
Dirk Masters, 2B – .293↑/.420↑/.315↑, 92 AB, 14 R, 7 RBI, 3-3 SB. Masters has been missing from the line-up recently, but it looks like he will return today.
Dirk Masters returns to the lineup for the series opener against league-leading Northeastern. pic.twitter.com/Sk3IGcowzM
— Towson Baseball (@Towson_BASE) April 27, 2018
David Marriggi, P – 3-4, 3.79 ERA↑, 59.1 IP, 30 BB, 51 K. Marriggi has pitched into the seventh in five of his last six starts, completing a full seven three times.
Michael Adams, P – 3-3, 3.92 ERA↓, 62.0 IP, 21 BB, 68 K. Last time out, Adams gave up more than two earned runs for the first time since February 25. He will look to return to his dominant Sunday ways this weekend.
More Info
Pitching match-ups, series history, and more can be found here. All three games will be streaming online and I will have my Twitter box fired up and ready to go.
Musical Finale
Among many notable alumni, Northeastern boasts one of my favorite musicians, John Geils!
