Towson plays an unorthodox series this weekend at William & Mary; due to an expected snow storm on Saturday, the Tigers and Tribe will play a doubleheader tomorrow and then wrap up the series on Sunday. William & Mary is 11-19 on the year, but they like playing teams from Maryland. Well, they like playing the University of Maryland, at least, as they are 2-0 against the Terrapins this year. Towson will try to redeem the state and improve their 3-3 mark in conference play.
William & Mary is the second oldest institute of higher learning in the United States. With such an illustrious history, their list of notable alumni is just insane, including founding fathers, presidents, supreme court justices, and J.D. and Turk from Scrubs. Yes, William & Mary boasts more famous fictional alumni than most schools do real ones.
“I love baseball.”
“Hold me.”
It also boasts no fewer than twelve collegiate a capella groups. Back to baseball…
As previously speculated, Towson is switching up their pitching rotation this weekend. While Michael Adams will continue to hold down the Sunday slot, David Marriggi moves up and starts the series opener. The game two starter is TBA at this time. Jake Pecilunas only threw two pitches on Tuesday, so I wonder if he will get his first, but it could be anyone. Whoever it is, they will face a weak hitting Tribe, who are only slashing .215/.300./.291 as a team. Shortstop Zach Pearson and catcher Hunter Smith are their only regulars hitting over .250. Smith is the more dangerous of the two with five home runs and a team high .426 slugging percentage. It seems like every team Towson plays has a really good catcher.
William & Mary has better numbers on the mound, with two of their three starters this weekend sporting sub-4.00 ERA’s (Brodie Sheehan, 3.19, and Chris Farrell, 3.00). The third is Jacob Haney, the son of former MLB pitcher Chris Haney, who played for 13 seasons, including five innings for the Cubs in 1998. The 6′ 3″ freshman is holding his own with a 4.54 ERA and holding batters to a .231 average. They also have a top notch closer in 6′ 5″ sophomore Wade Strain, who has four saves and a 1.85 ERA.
As one would expect from a stereotypical “brainy” school, the Tribe seem to be fundamentally sound, with low walks and solid defense. But Towson hitters should be able to make contact, which hopefully results in some damage, and Tigers pitchers shouldn’t be afraid to be aggressive and throw strikes. Don’t beat yourself and you can beat these guys.
The Watch List
I am making a change to the list this week, which results in two guys getting dropped. However, it’s not because of performance. In fact, I very much plan to keep tracking these guys closely. But, I’ve decided to restrict this list to players who are eligible for this year’s MLB draft. That means Andrew Cassard and Bo Plagge, both 20 year old sophomores, will no longer be featured in this section. They are both intriguing players and will have another year to refine their game.
Richie Palacios, SS – .333↓/.467↓/.573↑, 96 AB, 28 R, 5 HR, 8 2B, 20 RBI, 12-12 SB. Palacios has turned the power back on in the last week with two homers.
Dirk Masters, 2B – .262↑/.392↓/.279↓, 61 AB, 7 R, 4 RBI, 2-2 SB. Only a redshirt freshman, Masters turned 21 in February, which, by my understanding, makes him draft eligible and keeps him on the list. He isn’t likely to get drafted this year, but with his defense, high on-base average, and contact skills, he has a strong foundation on which to build.
David Marriggi, P – 3.89 ERA↑, 39.1 IP, 23 BB, 39 K. Marriggi has been a rock in the rotation, earning this Friday start. Continuing to pitch deep into games, avoiding walks, and maintaining his strikeout rate could find him in a professional system next year. Left-handers are always at a premium.
Michael Adams, P – 2-2, 4.40 ERA↑, 43.0 IP, 16 BB, 49 K. The reigning CAA Pitcher of the Week will take the ball in the series finale. With any luck he’s pitching for the sweep. If he pitches the rest of the season the way he has for the last month, I could easily see a team taking a chance on the big righty.
More Info
Pitching match-ups, series history, and more can be found here. All three games should be streaming online. It looks like William & Mary, as a fellow CAA team, uses the same streaming service Towson does for home games, so hopefully there is no charge to watch. I’ll confirm that as soon as I know for sure.
Pitching rotation hasn’t necessarily changed because Dave Marriggi started the first game of the double header. Typically in college, when a double header is scheduled on Friday, the late game is considered the “Friday” of “Featured” game. That oddly enough makes the first game the “Saturday” game. Obviously other changes have occurred…
Love the blog and your writing style. Keep up the good work and say hi when you are at a game!
Thanks for the kind words and the excellent clarification! I will file that under the many quirks of college baseball that I’ve learned this year.