It is a bittersweet realization that the regular season for Towson is almost over, after another up and (mostly) down weekend. Personally, the sweetness comes from knowing I have nearly made it through my first attempt to cover a college baseball team. Also, to be honest, it is a relief to soon get some of my time back. With a full-time job, a family that will shortly expand to three kids, and training for a half-marathon – along with other hobbies – I do feel myself getting stretched thin. Or maybe that’s just all the running.
But still, I do wish it wasn’t quite over. While I’ve had a great deal of fun with this project and learned a tremendous amount, it would have been fun to cover a fairy tale ending where the underdog picks themselves up and roars past the finish line ahead of all others. Or just qualifies for the conference tournament (if I’m reading this correctly, only the top six teams get invites). Of course, the players and coaches would have liked that even more, especially the seniors who will finish their college careers this coming weekend. Hopefully they can take pride that they got to compete at a level that the vast majority of us never could.
Positive Pixels
This past weekend went largely how this season has gone when Towson has played good teams. The first two games weren’t particularly close, while the third was a winnable game marred by an inning where nothing went right. The reality is that, operating with limited resources, the Tigers aren’t going to overwhelm opponents with sheer physical talent, something that will hold true for the foreseeable future. However, despite those limits, there is talent on the team. The trick is how to get all of it to play near-flawless baseball all at the same time.
- It wasn’t until the final game of the series that any Tiger batter had multiple hits, when both Billy Lennox (2-5 with a home run) and Colin Gimblet (3-4 with a walk) pulled it off. Both seniors had their best seasons in a Towson uniform this year and each were impressive in rebounding from very slow starts to the season. It was a pleasure to watch them play.
- Kody Reeser had one very good and one very bad inning on Saturday. The good featured two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 frame. The bad featured a walk, two hits, two hit batters, and two wild pitches. It still wouldn’t have been as bad, except for a Richie Palacios error on what would have been the third out, after which four unearned runs scored.
- Bouncing back from a bad outing against Maryland, Gavin Weyman was sharp on Friday, going two scoreles innings, allowing only two hits, and striking out a pair. Overall it has been a successful first season in D-1 for the JUCO transfer.
- Dean Stramara was strong again on Sunday, coming in with one out in the second inning and finishing with 5.2 innings pitched, allowing three runs (2 earned) on five hits and a walk. Stramara has given up hits this year (.317 batting average against), but not a lot of hard contact (only 11 extra base hits) or walks (16 in 52.1 innings).
- Sophomore Alex Parker finished Sunday’s game with a scoreless inning. Parker has had three bad games this year, but in his other nine appearances he has only given up two runs
The Watch List
Richie Palacios, SS – .305↓/.456↓/.519↓, 187 AB, 54 R, 8 HR, 16 2B, 30 RBI, 24-25 SB. May has not been kind to the shortstop, who only has hits in two games this month (three total). Of course, he has also only struck out three times and has walked 10 times, so it seems obvious that the issue is pitchers just not challenging Towson’s best hitter. Despite the lack of hits, Palacios has scored in six straight games. If he can walk three more times he will finish as Towson’s single-season record holder in that category. I still want the Cubs to draft him (and dread the Cardinals beating them to the punch).
Dirk Masters, 2B – .244↓/.373↓/.267↓, 131 AB, 17 R, 8 RBI, 4-4 SB. Masters walked once in each game this weekend, but otherwise didn’t make an impact offensively.
David Marriggi, P – 3-7, 5.09 ERA↓, 75.1 IP, 40 BB, 62 K. The lefty was a bit better this weekend, completing six innings for the seventh time this year. Weather pending, the senior will start the last game of his career tomorrow.
Michael Adams, P – 3-7, 6.46 ERA↓, 71 IP, 41 BB, 75 K. After a dominating stretch from mid-March to mid-April, I thought it was very realistic to view Adams as a potential draftee, but the wheels have come of here at the end of the season. In the last three weeks the big right-hander has given up nine, seven, and eight earned runs in nine total innings of work. Despite seemingly running out of gas, I will watch to see if Adams is able to continue in the pro ranks in some form or fashion. He is scheduled to start the season finale on Saturday.
Up Next
Towson theoretically plays today at 3 p.m. (nope, just postponed). Someone forgot to turn off the faucet over Maryland this week and not even the fish are happy about it. How much baseball is played and when remains to be seen.
