The Unofficial Fan Blog for Case Western Reserve Baseball

CWRU Football Opinions and Stats Will Be Shared Here, As Well

gwjones7 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 22:51:08 +0000

Hello, world! I’ll be writing occasionally about the Case Western Reserve football team, beginning with tonight’s game at John Carroll, which is starting in 10-15 minutes at 7:00.

As this is mainly a baseball blog, the baseball team will still be my main focus. But I wanted a place to rant about Case Western Reserve football, too, and this seems like as good a place as any. There won’t be too many posts here, but they will exist. The main source of my analysis/happiness/sadness will my Twitter account,

Go Spartans!

NCAA Mideast Regional Game 5 Preview: (6) Case Western Reserve vs. (2) Heidelberg

gwjones7 — Sat, 21 May 2011 12:14:19 +0000

The Spartans jumped out with a 9-run first inning and didn’t look back, defeating Franklin 10-4 yesterday to keep Stayin’ Alive. Oh no, a disco reference in the first row? This is going to be a bad post…anyway, Josh Suvak threw wonderfully, pitching five and a third shutout innings in relief. Matt Keen, Steve Bills, and Cory Pecoraro each had three hits.

Now, Case again gets to face Heidelberg, this time in an elimination situation. Whoever loses, Case or Heidelberg, is no longer in the regional. I’m not sure what good a scouting report will do, because you can look at other posts I’ve written for in-depth analysis of the Student Princes. (A question I haven’t looked up yet: are the women’s teams the Student Princesses? Because that would be even more awesome. “Hey, princess, swing!”) Anyway, Keen, Brechun, Lash, and Lizcano are still good, and they still have really good pitching (giving up 23 runs against Marietta aside).

Game Preview: I think Case will start freshman Ray Kelly (5-1, 3.83 ERA, 25 K/16 BB in 42.1 IP), who was to start the game against Penn State-Altoona but left after the rains hit. Heidelberg will likely start junior Sylvester Nino (5-2, 2.72, 53 K/28 BB in 53 IP). This will need to be a well-pitched, well-defended, well-hit game for the Spartans to win, but it can be done. I hope to have to write even more of these!

I almost forgot: game is at noon, live stats, live video, something called Twitter?

NCAA Mideast Regional Game 4 Preview: (6) Case Western Reserve vs. (4) Franklin

gwjones7 — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:43:02 +0000

The Spartans eliminated Penn State-Altoona earlier today with a 12-6 victory. Junior Bradley Potter pitched very well (7.2 IP, 3 ER, 10 H, 2 K, 1 BB) in relief of freshman Ray Kelly (1.1 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 2 K, 2 BB) after the game was suspended last night. Matt Keen and Brett Ossola each had three hits, including one double.

That means the Spartans keep playing, and will next go up against Franklin College, who has only played two games thus far, beating Frostburg St. and losing to Marietta. The game is at 4:30 today.

Scouting Report: Franklin College Grizzlies (30-13)

For some reason, when I’m typing the name Franklin, the old kids TV show with the turtle is coming to mind (as seen in the photo, whoa, fancy!).

Anyway, they’re a good team, but their pitching staff is also not Adrian or Heidelberg caliber, so I’d expect a fair number of runs scored, just like this morning’s game.

Hitting: They have an amazing amount of power (sixth in the nation in home runs per game), led by sophomore DH Nick Stoia (.363/.403/.615, 10 HR), freshman LF Scott Windler (.424/.483/.712, 8 HR) and senior 2B Ian Sanders (.346/.448/.610, 7 HR). As a whole, their offense is almost at Case-level, scoring 8.0 runs per game to Case’s 8.7.

Pitching: The Grizzlies have had three main starters this year: senior RHP Cody Nees (5-3, 3.66 ERA, 76 K/24 BB in 71.1 IP), junior RHP Nathan Ellis (9-2, 3.73, 64 K/13 BB in 89.1 IP) and junior RHP Shawn Mattingly (7-3, 3.97, 51 K/12 BB in 68 IP). They are the only pitchers with ERAs under 4.00, though, so if Case can get into the bullpen, it’ll be a big day for the offense.

Game Preview: Assuming there are no surprises, junior Noah Lieberman (4-3, 5.30, 31 K/29 BB in 37.1 IP) will probably start for Case. Lieberman is the only regular pitcher to have not given up a home run this season. Mattingly is almost guaranteed to start for Franklin. He has been the most inconsistent pitcher, with two complete game shutouts, but the third-best ERA. He also has given up six homers, which plays into Case’s strength.

You Know By Now: Live Stats, Live Video, Something Called Twitter. Hopefully I have to keep writing these things!

NCAA Regional Game 3 Preview: (6) Case Western Reserve vs. (7) Penn State-Altoona

gwjones7 — Thu, 19 May 2011 22:05:32 +0000

Heidelberg struck again, going to 4-0 against the Spartans this year with a 8-1 victory earlier today. It wasn’t an awful game, but Coach Matt Englander would probably say that it was sloppy in all phases of the game. The offense left runners on base, the pitchers walked way too many batters, and there were two errors in the game. Matt Keen had two hits, Jimmy Abed hit a home run for the Spartans’ only run, and John Fortunato pitched 4.2 innings of solid ball.

The Spartans play again tonight, against Penn State-Altoona, who defeated Adrian earlier, on similar ninth-inning heroics to what Case did yesterday (I’d hate to be an Adrian fan today). The winner of this game will face at noon tomorrow the loser of the Marietta-Franklin game currently going on. The loser of this game will be eliminated from the Mideast Regional.

Scouting Report: Penn State-Altoona Lions (29-12)

As with most schools of this type, it’s a fairly young roster, with a lot of freshmen and sophomores. It’s also a talented roster, with good, but not Adrian-level, pitchers, and a few elite hitters.

Hitting: Those elite hitters I mentioned are led by junior 3B John Schall (.373/.440/.595), who leads the Lions in home runs with 5. Junior OF Cord Heine (.409/.460/.591) leads in RBI with 41, and junior CF Jimmy Baum (.369/.473/.582) leads in stolen bases with 16.

Pitching: Their aces this year have been junior righties Trevor Conner (9-2, 2.83 ERA, 50 K, 16 BB in 76.1 IP) and Matt Aungst (5-2, 3.45, 24 K, 22 BB in 44.1 IP). Seven regular pitchers have an ERA below 4.00.

For the Spartans, who you start on the mound depends on your philosophy. The “best pitcher” philosophy would start freshman Ray Kelly (5-1, 3.83, 25 K/16 BB). The “experience” philosophy would start junior Noah Lieberman (4-3, 5.30, 31 K/29 BB). The Lions will probably start sophomore Chris Keeler (2-4, 3.93, 26 K/28 BB), though sophomores Trey Mock (3-1, 3.18, 30 K/19 BB) and Anthony Castelli (2-1, 3.15, 17 K/13 BB) are possibilities.

The usual stuff: live stats, live video, my Twitter. I hope to write at least one more of these preview posts!

NCAA Regional Game 2 Preview: (6) Case Western Reserve vs. (2) Heidelberg

gwjones7 — Thu, 19 May 2011 11:09:17 +0000

You certainly know by now, but I’ll repeat it just in case…Peter Zak, pinch hit grand slam, top of ninth, comeback 5-4 win over Adrian, Peter Zak. It was all pretty exciting stuff. But of course, now the Spartans get to play another game, against the winner of Heidelberg and Penn State-Altoona. Assuming you read the title of this post, you already know that it’s Heidelberg.

Scouting Report: Heidelberg University Student Princes (34-11)

I did a scouting report on them before, so I’m not sure how many times I really need to mention that they have a second baseman named Gar Keen, who is not related to Matt Keen, or that their pitching staff is really good (though not as good as Adrian’s), or that their team nickname is “Student Princes”. Instead, I’ll just list the collective pitching lines from the three games earlier this season:

Case

Jamie Hora: 5.2 IP, 12 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
Devin Dye: 2.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Taylor Lorenz: 2.2 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
A.J. Boshinski: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Noah Lieberman: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 K
Josh Suvak: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Matt Varley: 0.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Eric Mann: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
John Fortunato: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Heidelberg

Ethan Holt: 9.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 6 K
Brian Koehl: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 8 BB, 6 K
Andy Lowe: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Nathan James: 6.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10K
Branden Stucky: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
Zach O’Driscoll: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Sylvester Nino: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Pitched yesterday in italics; Predicted starters in bold.

In my opinion, the respective rotations are shaping as well as they can for Case. Jamie Hora pitched yesterday, and Heidelberg gave him trouble earlier in the year, and it’s set up for A.J. Boshinski, who shut out Heidelberg in five innings of relief back in March, to get the start. Meanwhile, the starter that gave the Spartans the most trouble, Nathan James, started yesterday. They’ll probably go with Ethan Holt, who pitched well against the Spartans in 2010 and was the better of the two other starters back in March. If they start Brian Koehl, I’d expect a similar line to the one up there, with way too many walks to end up with just a few runs allowed.

Live stats here, live audio here, and live video here. I will once again Twitter it up new-school.

NCAA Regional Game 1 Preview: (6) Case Western Reserve vs. (3) Adrian

gwjones7 — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:43:48 +0000

So, Case Western Reserve made their first-ever NCAA playoffs. It’s a watershed moment for the program, and huge strides since just four years ago, when beating Myers University three out of four was an accomplishment (and I was doing scorekeeping on a laptop in foul territory, with a chalk square around me being a dead ball area). The schools in the regional are as follows:

Marietta (38-3)
Heidelberg (33-11)
Adrian (31-9)
Franklin (29-12)
Frostburg St. (28-13)
Case Western Reserve (30-13)
Penn State-Altoona (28-11)

The regional is double-elimination format, with Marietta getting a bye in the first round. On Wednesday, Case will face Adrian at 1:00 pm, and will face one of Heidelberg and Penn State-Altoona on Thursday.

Scouting Report: Adrian College Bulldogs

The Bulldog’ strength is definitely their pitching staff. Their ERA of 2.47 is third in all of division 3. Their offense is very good, but a relative lack of power keeps them from being one of the top offenses in the nation.

Offense: Adrian’s top offensive player is easily senior 3B Brian Billus (.420/.516/.611), with an elite mix of contact and power. Senior 1B Jake Cappelletty (.398/.455/.537) has shown more home run power in the past, and should not be taken lightly. Junior SS Michael Herzog (.411/.424/.518) has had a breakout season after coming off the bench his first two years. Junior CF Nate Sarkissian (.331/.438/.488) has a bit of power as well.

Pitching: Seniors righty David Partyka (8-1, 2.10 ERA) and lefty Ryan Domschot (6-2, 2.38) have been the Bulldogs’ aces, but seven out of the nine pitchers with at least ten innings have an ERA below 3.00. Wait, did I just say seven of nine? (Hey, if Pittsburgh radio personality Rocco DeMaro can do it, so can I!)

So, what do the Spartans need to do in order to shout “Yo, Adrian, we did it!“? First, they need to win the matchup of their strong offense (8.7 rpg) vs. Adrian’s strong pitching. Second, their starting pitcher, whoever it may be (my guess is LHP Jamie Hora), must have a good start. Third, the defense must be strong. They can’t give Adrian more than 27 outs.

The game is at 1:00 PM (edit: 3:00 PM, pushed back by rain), and live stats are here. I will give my thoughts and opinions on Twitter, which, if you’re on Twitter and aren’t following, what are you doing? I’ll have a preview of the Spartans’ next game (hopefully a winners’ bracket matchup) tonight.

Update: Peter Zak wins the game with a pinch hit grand slam in the ninth inning! I’m all about search engine optimization, so… Peter Zak, Peter Zak, Peter Zak. There, that should do it! Unfortunately, I’ve also summoned Beetlejuice.

Case will face the winner of Heidelberg and Penn State-Altoona at 1 PM tomorrow. I’ll have a preview post tonight/early tomorrow morning.

Selection Sunday/Monday: Will Case Get In?

gwjones7 — Mon, 16 May 2011 05:30:05 +0000

It’s the big day, the numero uno honcho, the head cheese: the NCAA selection committee is selecting the at-large bids for the division 3 tournament as I write this. The Spartans finished 30-13 and have a good shot at a bid. Below, you’ll see the selection process described, and my (admittedly biased) assessment of Case Western Reserve’s chances. Also, did I just semi-quote Airplane 2? Wow.

As usual, D3Baseball has the go-to sites/articles for this. The article here has the complete process that I will summarize now. There are 55 teams total selected, of which 38 come from automatic qualifiers from conferences. The next two “Pool B” bids are selected at-large from the four conferences that do not have enough teams for automatic qualification as well as independents. The remaining 15 “Pool C” bids are then selected at-large from all the unselected teams left. How are teams selected? That D3baseball article has all the criteria, but the combination of record against teams in your region and strength of schedule is a big factor. Then, teams are placed in regionals of varying sizes for double elimination tournaments. This placement is almost always done to have as few plane flights as possible, so with the dearth of qualifying teams in the west, the farther east you are, the more competitive it is for bids and the more likely a deserving team is left out.

So, do I think Case will get in? I think so, but it seems less likely than it did a couple weeks ago. First, a few teams (Messiah, Rhode Island College, Frostburg St.) won their conference tournament that probably would not have received an at-large bid over teams that probably will. Another bad sign is that Case’s ranking in the regional rankings dropped from third to fifth over the last couple weeks, because teams below Case have won. I still think Case will get in, because the qualifications are there, although the nature of the beast, with objective criteria but a committee arguing, could very well mean it would go like D3Baseball has it, with Case left out.

I’ll update this post whenever the field is announced, then I’ll have a reaction post Monday night.

Games 41-42: Case Western Reserve vs. Mount Union

gwjones7 — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 17:20:17 +0000

These are two key games, as the Spartans have three games left to reach the magic number of 30 wins. They are currently 28-12, and while that would probably still get them in (more on that later next week, after the regular season’s done), I think they need to get to 30 to impress the selection committee.

Today’s game: Spartans vs. Mount Union Purple Raiders (13-14)

Mount Union is a relatively young team, with a number of freshmen in the starting lineup. They do have a few very dangerous players, and I’ll mention them…now!

Sr. OF Greg Ferrell – Ferrell has been one of the top offensive players in Ohio this year, hitting .397/.477/.740 with five homers.
Sr. RHP Cody Colly – Colly is easily Mount Union’s ace, going 4-2 with a 2.39 ERA and an amazing 43 strikeouts and 14 walks in 37.2 innings.
Jr. 3B Craig Knott – Knott is the Raiders’ second-best power threat, hitting .357/.407/.541 with three homers.
Fr. RHP Matt Murzynski – Murzynski has quickly established himself as a good pitcher in his first season, with a 4.32 ERA, 23 strikeouts and 16 walks in 33.1 innings

Live stats are here, and Mount Union audio is here. I’ll update this post with lineups and other information. As always, check my Twitter feed for nugget-sized opinions.

3:00: Lineups for game 2:

Spartans
CF Matt Richards
SS Matt Keen
3B Chad Mullins
RF Sam Alexander
1B Brett Ossola
2B Bobby Marko
DH Cory Pecoraro
C Peter Zak (.310/.356/.476)
LF Jimmy Abed

LHP Ray Kelly (4-0, 3.16 ERA, 23 K/14 BB in 37 IP)

Purple Raiders
CF Jimmy Dobran
SS Lee Grosscup
RF Greg Ferrell
C Craig Knott
P Zach Carlino
LF Britt Williams
1B Ty Wood (.200/.353/.400)
3B Mitch Saunders (.077/.143/.077)
2B Matt Tracy

RHP Carlino (1-1, 6.33, 15 K/9 BB, 21.1 IP)

2:48: Final of game 1: Spartans 4, Purple Raiders 1. Jamie Hora pitched a complete game, with only two hits, one being a home run. Matt Keen and Cory Pecoraro each had two hits for the Spartans.

Lineups for game 1:

Spartans
CF Matt Richards (.350/.469/.406)
SS Matt Keen (.387/.467/.506)
3B Chad Mullins (.478/.541/.723)
RF Sam Alexander (.383/.444/.593)
1B Brett Ossola (.327/.411/.480)
2B Bobby Marko (.281/.375/.375)
DH Cory Pecoraro (.263/.318/.358)
C Steve Bills (.310/.400/.414)
LF Jimmy Abed (.242/.410/.352)

LHP Jamie Hora (6-3, 4.72 ERA, 38 K/16 BB)

Raiders
LF Jimmy Dobran (.383/.456/.489)
SS Lee Grosscup (.321/.436/.432)
CF Greg Ferrell (.397/.477/.740)
3B Craig Knott (.357/.407/.541)
1B Zach Carlino (.295/.400/.372)
DH Britt Williams (.312/.478/.422)
C C.J. Stotler (.242/.271/.424)
2B Matt Tracy (.261/.312/.295)
RF Connor Mathis (.291/.365/.309)

RHP Matt Lambert (2-2, 7.09, 17 K/10 BB)

Games 37-38: Case Western Reserve at Wooster

gwjones7 — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 17:42:54 +0000

Apologies for the lack of posting recently. I’ve been really busy, though I have kept up with the Twitter account, which is in the top right corner of this page, and I strongly encourage you to follow, if you have a Twitter account.

The Spartans recently surpassed their school record win total and currently stand at 25-11 (I’ll have a post on whether they can make the playoffs this week). Today’s doubleheader at Wooster is very crucial to their chances, as Wooster, though having a down year in terms of record, is still a very tough opponent.

Scouting Report: College of Wooster Fighting Scots (17-10)

Records can be deceiving, and Wooster still has a very good offense and elite pitching staff, even if they haven’t quite met the top-25 preseason expectations.

If there is a weakness on Wooster, it’s that they don’t really have a great lineup up-and-down. Shortstop Greg Van Horn is still one of the top players in D-3, but a relatively young lineup has showed its youth at times.

Their pitching staff is still among the best in D-3, led by two seniors Matt Barnes (4-0, 2.43 ERA) and Justin McDowell (5-1, 2.77).

Live stats should be accessible from either the Case or Wooster sites. Live audio is available at Wooster’s radio station here: http://wkvx.com/

I’ll provide updates on Twitter, depending on whether my phone can load the live stats.

Weekend Scouting Report: Case Western Reserve at Heidelberg University

gwjones7 — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 13:50:02 +0000

This is the first of two defining weekends for the Spartans. No. 2 Heidelberg University has one of the best pitching staffs in the nation, and the Spartans will have to play three really good games to beat them.

Scouting Report: Heidelberg University Student Princes (11-3)

Offense: Heidelberg has a number of talented hitters, including senior 2B Gar Keen (no relation to Matt), senior SS Jason Lash, senior 3B Willie Brechun, and junior OF Ricardo Lizcano. Their 7-9 hitters are in a slump to begin the year, but they don’t need a 1-9 offense with their pitching staff.

Pitching: Their team ERA through 14 games is 1.86. Yes, that’s the right number, it’s less than two. For the entire team. They don’t have a single hurler whose ERA is over 6.00. Compare that to the Spartans, who have six pitchers with an ERA over 6.00, and you can see why this will be a tough test. Their aces are sophomore righty Ethan Holt and senior righty Brian Koehl

Live stats are here. Live audio is here. I’ll be away from my computer most of the weekend, but I may check in with updates.