These Tigers don’t lack fight and desire, but those traits have mostly resulted in moral victories. Unfortunately, they only count scoreboard victories in the standings. In both games of Friday’s doubleheader, Towson fell behind William & Mary by five runs, only to mount a comeback that fell one run short. The series finale was much more satisfying, a 6-1 victory. It was the third straight winning Sunday for Coach Matt Tyner and his team, as Michael Adams continued his dominant ways. Towson is now tied with Elon and Hofstra for fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association at 4-5. They take a break from conference games for a couple of weeks, but they have plenty of baseball to play until then. This week and next they play Tuesday and Wednesday games, sandwiching a trip to South Carolina for a weekend series at The Citadel.
I don’t see a baseball field.
Despite the losses, Towson is definitely improving as the season progresses. They are still susceptible to big innings, which generally start with walks or hit batters and spin out of control from there, but it feels like those are happening a little less often and aren’t quite as big as they were earlier this year. It might be something I need to look at closer and see if the numbers agree with my gut. In the meantime, there was plenty of good to take from this weekend.
Positive Pixels
- When I spoke with Coach Tyner earlier this year, we talked a bit about the proverbial “love of the game” and how important it is to college baseball. During that chat he specifically mentioned Colin Gimblet, explaining that he was a fifth year senior who wanted to come back and use his extra year of eligibility to be a part of the team as it transitioned to a new era. The coach’s admiration of the right-fielder was apparent, but at the time he was only hitting .133 had nearly three times as many strikeouts as hits. That day Gimblet had two hits. The next game he went 0-1, but ever since he has been on base at least once in each game, eighteen straight, with hits in fifteen of those. He’s currently working on a five game streak and has his season average up to .260. Since the beginning of March it’s .309. This weekend Gimblet was 5-14 with three RBI and a run scored. He’s not just a touching story, he is one of Towson’s most consistent offensive weapons.
- Dean Stramara pitched the last two games of the series, chalking up three perfect innings with five strikeouts. He recorded his first save, and only Towson’s second of the season, in the series finale. That’s five straight scoreless outings, covering 8.1 innings and featuring 11 strikeouts, five hits, and zero walks. More of that, please!
- Andrew Cassard went 0-4 in the series opener, but bounced back nicely on Sunday with two hits and a walk in four plate appearances. After going through a stretch where he was striking out far too often, the sophomore has now struck out only once in his last six games.
- Mark Grunberg had hits in each game this weekend, four total in ten at bats. He also had one walk in each game, scored three runs, drove in four, and stole three bases. Dang, that’s a really good series!
- He may have lost his spot in the rotation for this weekend, but Gavin Weyman had one of his best performances of the season, pitching 3.1 scoreless innings in Friday’s second game with six strikeouts and no walks. He also has the funniest Twitter account on the team, despite an inability to get a follow from his own school.
Waiting for my follow like @Towson_BASE #rolltigs pic.twitter.com/qKZWawSC74
— Gavin (@G_Weyman) April 6, 2018
- Billy Lennox has taken over lead-off duties and did an admirable job against William & Mary, getting on base five times and scoring three runs. Lennox has only struck out ten time all year.
- Catching all three games of the series, Trey Martinez was on base six times (three hits, two walks, and one hit by pitch). The junior caught both games of Friday’s double header, the second time this year he’s done so. In his last nine games, Martinez is hitting .333/.438/.444.
The Watch List
Richie Palacios, SS – .358↑/.481↑/.624↑, 109 AB, 30 R, 11 2B, 6 HR, 24 RBI, 12-12 SB. It was a huge weekend for Palacios, as the shortstop went 7-13 with three doubles and a home run, walking twice with no strikeouts.
Dirk Masters, 2B – .274↑/.391↑/.288↑, 73 AB, 9 R, 1 2B, 7 RBI, 2-2 SB. It was a good weekend for Palacios’ double-play partner, as Masters was on base all three games and went 4-12 with three runs batted in and two runs scored. He was also perfect in 21 chances in the field.
David Marriggi, P – 1-4, 4.76 ERA↓, 45.1 IP, 25 BB, 43 K. Marriggi pitched the series opener and, as the wind was howling out, he got bit by the home run bug. He finished six innings, allowing seven earned runs on three round trippers, more than doubling the number he had allowed coming into the game. It was the fourth straight start the senior went at least six innings and struck out at least twice as many as he walked.
Michael Adams, P – 3-2, 3.78 ERA↑, 50.0 IP, 20 BB, 57 K. Michael Adams keeps rolling, throwing seven innings of one-run ball as Towson avoided the sweep. He had eight strikeouts and only allowed three singles scattered among four walks. That’s three straight Sunday wins for Adams. I’m on a mission to find out more about him from a scouting perspective, because his performance for the last six weeks has absolutely been draft-worthy.
Up Next
Towson plays at Bucknell on Tuesday, April 10, at 3:30 P.M.
