Games 16-17: Case Western Reserve Home Opener vs. Ohio Wesleyan
So Emory won the UAA championship in walkoff fashion. The UAA is so competitive now that, really, that’s the only way the championship could have been decided. Now the Spartans move on to the Ohio portion of their schedule. The main games to watch out for are the three games against (1) Heidelberg and the doubleheader at (16) Wooster; those games will go a long way toward earning the Spartans respect from poll voters and selection committee members. Of course, the Spartans also need to put up a good record in the other games as well. At 10-5 with 29 games to go, I think they need to go at least 19-10 over the remaining games in order to secure a spot in the NCAA regional field. That is certainly doable, but they have to focus on each game as it comes.
Today: Spartans (10-5) vs. Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops (4-7)
Ohio Wesleyan went 20-19 last year, and returns several good players, so their 4-7 record is a little surprising, though they have already had two games against Heidelberg and (8) Marietta. Please read Buckeye State Baseball’s preview of the Bishops for more info.
Offense: The Bishops have four great players on offense: senior OF Zach Frentsos, junior 1B Tim Knezovich, junior 1B Nathan Strome, and freshman 3B Sean Vollenweider. Knezovich and Strome have the most power on the team, and Frentsos is the best pure hitter.
Pitching: Senior righty Eric Livingston and junior lefty Mason Farr have been the hot starting pitchers so far, both with ERAs below 4.00. Junior Kevin Schindler is their other regular starter, but has started slow, with an ERA of 8.22.
Live stats from Case are here. The doubleheader starts at 1:00, though this post is going up after that. I’ll check in during game 2.
6:12 PM: A 6-0 Case victory in game 2. Jamie Hora pitched masterfully, a two-hit complete game shutout for the first complete game shutout by a Spartans pitcher since A.J. Boshinski on April 5, 2009. Chad Mullins, Andrew Frey, and Cory Pecoraro had two hits each. The defense was shaky again, but it was still a solid victory.
4:51 PM: Lineups for Game 2:
Spartans
CF Matt Richards (.345/.439/.418)
SS Matt Keen (.422/.513/.516)
3B Chad Mullins (.500/.560/.903)
DH Brett Ossola (.316/.417/.509)
RF Sam Alexander (.344/.403/.574)
1B Cory Pecoraro (.298/.369/.456)
2B Andrew Frey (.333/.355/.400)
C Peter Zak (.286/.444/.714)
LF Jimmy Abed (.282/.451/.487)
P Jamie Hora (1-2, 7.52 ERA)
Battling Bishops
3B Sean Vollenweider (.368/.455/.474)
LF James DiBiasio (.295/.380/.318)
DH Nathan Strome (.361/.351/.583)
1B Tim Knezovich (.375/.458/.450)
RF Seth Frentsos (.091/.375/.091)
CF Zach Frentsos (.273/.313/.295)
SS Steve Gaydos (.219/.324/.250)
C Brandon Marker (.091/.231/.182)
2B Zach Bott (.238/.273/.238)
P Brandon Sega (0-2, 7.27)
4:12 PM: Game 1 went to Ohio Wesleyan, 10-6 (box score to go here later). I’d blame the defense (four errors), but as far as this game goes, the Bishops were worse (six errors). The difference was bullpen work. Ohio Wesleyan’s Steve Skarsten: two perfect innings, three strikeouts. Case Western Reserve’s bullpen (Matt Varley, Taylor Lorenz, and Bradley Potter; I’m not counting Noah Lieberman, as he was effectively the second starter): three innings, three runs (one earned), three walks, one hit batter, two strikeouts.
