The real Tribe, not the fakers in Cleveland.

Charley Gould Named Preseason Player of the Year; Tribe Selected Fifth

W&M opens its 2016 campaign with a trip to Charlotte for a three-game series. The set gets underway on Friday, Feb. 19 at 3 p.m.

Tribeathletics.com

I was at a fund raiser lunch with the coach last fall and he basically said that injuries killed them last year and at one point they didn't have a healthy short stop. He was forced to play people out of position a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing what they have this season. My big concern is power. They don't appear to have a lot of pop up and down the lineup like they have in the past.

If I heard right during the Elon broadcast I believe we have a new hitting coach

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(01-26-2016 05:39 PM)zablenoise Wrote:  If I heard right during the Elon broadcast I believe we have a new hitting coach

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http://www.tribeathletics.com/coaches.as...h=baseball

Weather permitting, I will go to the Sunday game opening weekend at UNCC. That damn inconvenient job precludes the Friday game and a Davidson hoops game interferes with Saturday.

Play Ball!

Charlotte baseball had a good run in the A10 (a mediocre baseball conference), but struggled in their second season back in CUSA (a fantastic baseball conference) after losing Butler, Hudgens, Seager, and Barnette to the MLB draft over the previous two seasons. The pitching wasn't there for most of the season and, though it showed some improvement, it didn't hold up. The team was young, so I expect more improvement this year (I have a great deal of respect for Coach Hibbs), but I'm not sure exactly how much. CUSA can be brutal. Should be fun to see exactly how each team comes out of it.

ETA: Charlotte just renovated to add new turf at the stadium, so I believe this will be the first time anything has been played on it.

I will be in the Plumeri for the Hofstra series in late March. Can't wait for the alumni game this Saturday at Anteater Park, home of UC, Irvine baseball and a major league turf. We have beer, wine, and fresh Mexican food. Kicker is a pair of breeding seabirds nesting on top of a light stanchion.
Batter up.

Season opens this weekend with three game series at UNC-Charlotte. Games are at 4 PM Fri, 2PM Sat,
and noon on Sunday.

We have a seasoned starting lineup with five returning every day players of the eight and some up and both non-starter vets and talented frosh to fill the other three slots. Charley Gould at first base is an outstanding hitter with power and pre-season CAA POY. He may be a MLB draft choice in the first three/four rounds,
perhaps higher if his fielding improves.

We have two freshman catchers, both highly-rated recruits...one, at least, has to come through at the important catcher's position.

Key will be pitching depth, especially in the starting ranks. Brown, an outstanding starter, and Goulette (who
was stymied by injuries last season) a really overpowering reliever if he's healthy.

First home game is Wednesday, 2/24, with old CAA foe, George Mason, visiting at 4 PM. Then a home weekend series with Holy Cross at 4 PM Fri, 2 PM Sat, and 1 PM Sunday. If you've never been to a February
game at Plumeri bring a winter jacket no matter what the temperature...the wind is always blowing.

Below is the baseball prospectus, released by the Sports Information department today:

http://www.tribeathletics.com/news/2016/...h=baseball

Where is Aaron Fernandez? Last year as a junior he pitched his way into the weekend rotation, sending Aker to the bullpen. Other players on last year's roster that have not returned are Zach Newell, Jon DeMarco, and Matthew Smith. As a freshman last year Newell got some ABs in center when Smith was down so as an OF capable of playing CF his absence is weird. DeMarco and Smith were rarely used relievers so they probably were cut; I saw Smith listed on the club baseball roster.

Looking back to the Green and Gold Series in the Fall both Newell and DeMarco are listed on the two teams' rosters (but if you click on their names in the online article their respective player pages cannot be found). Listed as well are some freshmen who I guess didn't stick: Vincent Addona, Noah LoCascio, Chris Farrell, and Nick Raquet.

Holy **** UNC-Charlotte. I guess I know what I'm doing this weekend.

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7-3 loss in game 1

Brown had rough start, seven runs in six innings and just one strikeout. Error in bottom of first that led to three unearned runs didn't help either.

5-1 win in game 2 against UNC-C, but the best part for me is two hits from freshman catcher and Lafayette High School product Matt Keane. I had him as a student, and kept the score book for his team for three years. You will never in your life encounter a better kid. He is off the charts as a leader, relentlessly positive, polite, smart...you want to have a daughter for him to marry. He has a fantastic arm and quick release behind the plate. I worried about his hitting at this level, as he struggled some as a hitter in high school. I hope his first game is a preview of coming attractions.

Team winning big again this afternoon, leading UNCC, 9-0, in the ninth.
Promising opening weekend, especially two well-pitched games from the #2 and #3 hurlers.
Home opener this Wednesday against old CAA foe, George Mason at 4 PM.

Good news in this game is that we saw Dan Powers throw a shut out along with a reliever to finish it out scattering seven singles. Two very well pitched games yesterday and today. Still don't see a lot of pop in the lineup but we did get a homer today.

Had two home runs yesterday, so three in two games not bad at all...plus 14 hits today, 10 yesterday.

Final score 11-0.

Is this a big win for us? I know we usually try to start the season against strong opposition

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Eh they're a below average CUSA team. Good to win, but they've had back to back losing seasons with under 20 wins.

Good opponent or middling opponent, the two extremely well-pitched games by our guys a good harbinger this early in the season. Pitching depth the big questionmark for this year's edition of the Tribe.