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Jared King and the Hoos hope for a win to start a nine-game home stand. (photo by Ian Rogol) |
The Virginia baseball team opened its 2012 season by splitting three games over the weekend in Conway, SC, including a rare tie. The JMU contest, the second game of a double header on Saturday, was played in a continuous downpour and finally suspended at 4-4 in the top of the 9th inning due to poor playing conditions. In the season opener on Friday, the Hoos dropped a 5-3 decision to Boston College. They bounced back in Saturday’s first game to pound host Costal Carolina 9-3 on the strength of 3-run home runs by both Jared King and Chris Taylor.
Now, the Cavaliers return home to the friendly confines of Davenport Field for a nine-game home stand that begins with William & Mary. That contest was moved to Wednesday (today) at 3 p.m. due to the snowfall this past Sunday in Charlottesville.
Junior transfer RHP Joel Effertz will probably get the start against the Tribe, his first one in a Virginia uniform after pitching one inning of relief on Saturday against Coastal Carolina.
Here is a brief scouting report.
William & Mary
1. 2012 results to date: 2-1, having defeated the Rhode Island Rams at home twice over the weekend, both by scores of 2-1. Most recently, the Tribe lost the second game of a double header on Saturday to the Rams by the score of 4-3. W&M has made the most of its limited scoring opportunities in 2012, getting 2 runs on 5 hits in its opener and 2 runs on 3 hits in its other victory over Rhode Island.
2. 2011 Results: 26-29, 16-14 in the CAA, did not get to postseason play
3. 2011 Series with Virginia: UVa won 9-0 in Charlottesville on 3/1/11 behind the combined shut-out pitching performances of Kyle Crockett (4 IP), Justin Thompson (3 IP) and Shane Halley (2 IP). The Hoos got 4 hits (3 RBIs) by John Hicks.
4. Outlook: Coach Frank Leoni enters his seventh year at the helm of William & Mary’s baseball program and has a veteran team in 2012, needing to replace only 2B Jonathan Slattery and SS Derrick Osteen as position starters from 2011. The pitching staff, one of the Tribe’s strengths in 2011, returns intact except for CAA Pitcher of the Year Logan Billbrough and one relief pitcher who appeared in 21 games in 2011. The returning pitchers accounted for 75% of the Tribe’s innings in 2011, yet opponents batted .272 compared to the W&M’s team BA of .266, so Coach Leoni is looking for both of those averages to improve in 2012. Even though aspirations are high for William & Mary to contend for the CAA title, the team was picked in a tie with Delaware for seventh place in the league’s preseason poll, well behind conference champ and 2012 preseason favorite James Madison.
5. Pitching: With the exception of Billbrough (7-2, 2.58 ERA) and Reid Killian (1-2, 2.57 ERA), the rest of the Tribe’s pitching staff returns for 2012. The weekend starters for their opening weekend series at home against Rhode Island were RHP Brett Koehler (Jr., 4-3, 59 IP, 8 SV) who was the Tribe closer last year, LHP Matt Wainman (Jr., 5-3, 4.06 ERA), and freshman RHP Jason Inghram, who took the loss against Rhode Island. The mid-week starter for William & Mary in 2012 is likely to be RHP Brett Goodloe (Jr., 3-0, 5.09 ERA). Senior RHP Matt Davenport (2-7. 6.22 ERA) and senior RHP Jay McCarthy have been the primary relief pitchers so far over the opening weekend. The Tribe closer in 2012 is Junior RHP John Farrell, who already has 2 saves in 2012, pitching the 9th inning in each of the W&M wins.
6. Hitting/Fielding: Senior 1B Tadd Bower (L/R) leads the returning infielders for W&M. He was second on the team in batting average (.315) behind Osteen and second in HR (5) behind returnee Ryan Williams (7) a year ago. Williams (Jr., R/R, .246) was the regular LF in 2011, but has moved to SS in 2012 for the departed Osteen. Ryan Lindemuth (Soph., R/R, .255) returns at 3B and Chris Forsten (Sr., R/R, .232) returns at catcher. The starting nod at 2B last weekend was filled by Kevin Nutter (Jr., R/R, .174) for all three games against Rhode Island. Senior CF Stephen Arcure (L/L, .271) has moved to LF in 2012 and junior RF Ryan Brown (R/R, .292) has moved to CF; they anchor the outfield for William & Mary. The starting RF last weekend was freshman Josh Smith (R/R).
7. Prediction: Even with a veteran team for W&M, I believe Virginia will get the entire lineup into the hitting attack mode at home, so I predict an 8-1 Hoo victory.
