VT is crushing us. Don't look.

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19-4 Final.

Were we a patsy, or did VPI's bats get hot?

Our mid-week hurlers gave up all these runs and 21 hits.

Pearson was supposed to be a key swing pitcher and he's being lit up like a Roman Candle.

(03-11-2020 05:57 AM)bubbadog57 Wrote:  Our mid-week hurlers gave up all these runs and 21 hits.

Unlike basketball, CAA baseball does get multi bids, and the W&M program has improved so much that, every year, at the start of the year, one wonders whether the squad is good enough to snag an at large berth.

Unlike basketball, the mid-week schedule provides extremely attractive non-conference games, some at home (imagine that!), which builds the at-large bid resume, if one has a strong team.

I get that the top of the rotation pitches on the weekends, but that's true of everyone ... it's a level playing field. I get that two of our top hurlers just came back from injury. But pitching depth is pitching depth.

Yesterday's result indicates that, unless things turn around, this club is not getting an at large bid.

VaTech is 10-5.

In the Hokies mid-week home games to date:

10-3 win over ETSU
3-2 win over Radford
10-5 win over Marshall
19-4 win over W&M

No one else's "mid week hurlers" gave up more than 10 runs. Tech doubled their highest mid week output yesterday.

At least the offense put up a run total that compares favorably with Tech's other mid-week opponents.

From D1 Baseball ...

2020 Conference Wrap: Colonial Athletic Association
Aaron Fitt - May 14, 2020


It’s still hard to believe the 2020 college baseball season is over after just four weeks of play. Most conferences didn’t even reach league play before the coronavirus halted the season, so it would be pointless to give out any legitimate awards or draw any sweeping conclusions from our meager sample size. With that in mind, we won’t be releasing a 2020 All-America team or naming a national Player of the Year or Freshman of the Year.


BEST TEAM
UNC Wilmington

College of Charleston (12-2) and Northeastern (10-5 with a nice road series win over Florida Atlantic) also got off to strong starts and notched some quality wins, and both appeared to be worthy contenders for the CAA title. But we’re going to stick with our preseason pick to win the league: UNC Wilmington, which got off to a good 11-5 start that was highlighted by a road sweep of Kentucky. The Wildcats weren’t exactly the class of the SEC, but they do have talent, and sweeping any SEC team on the road stands out. The Seahawks followed it up by stubbing their toes with a home series loss to Memphis, but they rebounded with a quality midweek win against East Carolina in their final game of the season.

I thought in the preseason that UNCW had the rotation arms to win a regional, and two of those starters — Landen Roupp (3-1, 2.00 with a league-best 30 strikeouts against seven walks in 27 IP) and Zarion Sharpe (2-1, 2.18) were off to very encouraging starts, while veteran Luke Gesell (3-0, 4.71) is a proven workhorse. The Seahawks had the best and deepest pitching staff in the CAA, as well as a nice core of quality veteran hitters like Cole Weiss (.305/.397/.441), Noah Bridges (.290/.371/.387, 8 SB) and Jackson Meadows. This team’s ceiling would ultimately be determined by how its talented young position players (like Trevor Marsh, Brooks Baldwin, Jac Croom, Matt Suggs and Ron Evans) developed. The early indications were certainly positive. As first-year head coach Randy Hood said in our UNCW Fall Report:

“So we’ve got some pieces and got some depth, got some left/right type matchups. It’s just a matter of plugging in the right guys and finding the right mix as we go. I like our team. They’ve been loose all fall, they’ve done what we’ve asked them to, and hopefully, they’ll keep getting better.”


MOST SURPRISING TEAM
College of Charleston

We expected 2020 to be a transition year for the very young Cougars, and we picked them to finish sixth in our CAA preview, writing: The Cougars must replace a host of departed mainstays from last year’s second-place club, leaving just three returning players who logged more than 100 at-bats last year, and none who registered 160 at-bats.

So coach Chad Holbrook’s club caught our eye by racing out to a 12-2 start, highlighted by an 11-2 midweek blowout of Clemson on the road. The Cougars had yet to prove themselves against high-caliber weekend competition, but they certainly made a nice early impression. Offensively, CofC got the big bounceback it needed from senior first baseman Ari Sechopoulos (.360/.475/.680, 20 RBI) and a big step forward from fellow senior Harrison Hawkins (.333/.365/.483) in his second year in the program. Spark plug freshman shortstop Trotter Harlan (.321/.390/.491) has the look of a future star — Holbrook thinks he has a chance to be a special player over the next few years. And physical outfielder Donald Hansis (.289/.358/.667, 5 HR, 14 RBI) ranked as the most impactful junior-college transfer in the CAA, helping Charleston’s new-look lineup hit the ground running.

But the Cougars were even better on the mound, ranking seventh in the nation with a 2.13 staff ERA. Seniors Jordan Carr (1-0, 3.60, 24-8 K-BB in 25 IP) plus freshmen Caswell Smith (3-0, 1.45) and CJ Czerwinski (3.38 ERA in 13.1 IP) formed a strong weekend rotation, and the Cougars got contributions from a host of different arms in the bullpen — eight different pitchers on the staff posted 0.00 ERAs in at least one inning of work, led by Zach Williams (1-0, 0.00 in seven appearances over 11 IP).

MOST IMPRESSIVE HITTER
Austin Gauthier, Hofstra

This one is a slam dunk. Gauthier was a force of nature in the 14 games he played, leading all CAA hitters in batting (.411), OBP (.515), slugging (.714), and of course OPS (1.229). He hit six doubles and three home runs — exceeding his entire 2019 season total (two homers in 171 at-bats). Gauthier was an everyday player as a freshman in 2018 and as a sophomore last year, but he made a gradual step forward, improving his OPS from .618 in ’18 to .747 in ’19. He made another quantum leap as a junior, learning into some of the sneaky pop he had flashed at times earlier in his career. The best athlete on the Hofstra roster, Gauthier stands out for his range and arm strength at shortstop, and he’s a smart baserunner. As the Pride’s shortstop and leadoff man, Gauthier was the engine that made the offense go and also the glue of the defense.

MOST IMPRESSIVE PITCHER
Justin Showalter, James Madison

After posting a 7.24 ERA in nine relief appearances as a freshman in 2018, Showalter took a nice step forward as a sophomore in 2019, posting a 3.72 ERA in 36.1 innings over 10 appearances (nine starts). The Dukes predicted a big breakout junior year for him, saying in the preseason that his “upside is through the roof.” A physical 6-foot-4 right-hander with a 90-93 fastball, a legit slider and putaway changeup, Showalter simply needed to put the pieces all together. And that’s exactly what he did this spring, going 4-0, 0.68 in five appearances (four starts). His high walk rate held him back in 2019, but this spring he pounded the zone, posting a 21-4 K-BB mark in 26.2 IP, while also holding opponents to a .144 average.

BEST SENIOR
Brandon Raquet, William & Mary

Raquet has been a key bat in the Tribe lineup for four years, posting a .939 OPS as a freshman and then bouncing back from a sophomore slump to post a .933 OPS as a junior. But he was off to a torrid start to his senior year, hitting .328/.453/.705 for a 1.158 OPS that ranked second in the CAA. In just 61 at-bats, he smacked four homers, four triples and three doubles while driving in 11. A strong, compact 5-foot-10, 190-pound corner outfielder, Raquet’s power bat is his calling card, but he also runs well. Raquet has one of the best long-term track records of any CAA hitter, and he was having his best season yet before the pandemic shut everything down.

Honorable mention to the afore-mentioned Ari Sechopoulos and Jordan Carr (both of CofC), William & Mary RHP Chris Farrell (2-0, 0.42), Northeastern RHP Kyle Murphy (2-2, 3.00), Elon LHP Dean McCarthy (2-2, 3.92), and Delaware catcher Jack Goan (.333/.355/.596).

BEST FRESHMAN
Caswell Smith, College of Charleston

Listed as the league’s No. 3 Impact Freshmen in our CAA season preview, Smith managed to exceed even those high expectations, going 3-0, 1.35 with 20 strikeouts against eight walks in 20 innings over four starts. He held opponents to a .203 batting average. The power-armed 6-foot-3 right-hander has a very bright future, but and his debut was exciting, suggesting that he has a real chance to harness his full potential as his collegiate career unfolds. Here’s what we wrote about Smith in the season preview:

CofC coach Chad Holbrook said the super-talented Smith reminds him of major leaguer Matt Harvey when he was a freshman at North Carolina; he’s an excellent athlete with a clean arm action that can produce 92-95 heat with good sink. Holbrook thinks he has a chance to develop into the first Cougar to be drafted in the first round by the time his collegiate career is done.

Each of the top four players on our preseason Impact Freshmen list got off to strong starts. Honorable mention goes to the No. 1 player on that list, Northeastern RHP Sebastian Keane (3-1, 4.50, 24-6 K-BB in 20 IP); No. 2 Chase DeLauter of James Madison (.382/.455/.559); and No. 4 Trotter Harlan of Charleston (.321/.390/.491). Delaware third baseman Joey Loynd didn’t make the preseason list but also deserves honorable mention after hitting .342/.479/.605 with two homers in 38 at-bats.

BREAKOUT HITTER
Jared Dupere, Northeastern

Dupere got his feet with 90 at-bats as a freshman in 2019 and struggled mightily, hitting .156/.222/.311 with four homers. But the coaching staff predicted big things for him as a sophomore, telling us in the preseason that Dupere has “plus speed and power. Has a very good arm and can defend well. Contact needs to improve but he has all of the tools. Looking for a big jump from him this season.”

Dupere, an exciting lefthanded-hitting center fielder, did indeed make a big jump in 2020, hitting .359/.394/.578 with six doubles, two homers and 13 RBIs in 64 at-bats, playing a key role in Northeastern’s strong start, which included a road series sweep of South Florida and a road series win of Florida Atlantic. He still has room to improve his offensive approach, as he still struck out 23 times against five walks in 15 games, but he clearly improved the quality of his contact and showed why the Huskies are so excited about his future. Look for another step forward in 2021.

BREAKOUT PITCHER
Sam Jacobsak, Northeastern

A talented 6-foot-5, 200-pound junior right-hander, Jacobsak struggled with his control over his first two seasons in the Northeastern bullpen, walking 17 batters in 17 innings as a freshman (when he posted a 6.35 ERA), then walking 17 in 32 innings as a sophomore (5.34 ERA). But this spring he moved into the rotation and did a much better job pounding the strike zone, posting a 25-5 K-BB mark in 24.2 innings, which helped him go 2-1, 3.65. He also held opponents to a .207 batting average. Once again, the Northeastern coaching staff saw this emergence coming, telling us in the preseason that Jacobsak had made a jump physically and with the quality of his stuff. His fastball climbed into the 90-92 range and bumped 93, and his slider became a wipeout pitch, giving him draft potential in 2020. But the draft getting shortened to five rounds means there’s a good chance Jacobsak will be back in 2021 with a chance to really establish himself as a top-10-rounds prospect.

The Williamsburg Gazette reported today that Brandon graduated with a 3.9 GPA in neuroscience. Quite the athletic and academic career!

Chris Farrell "transferred" to Texas A&M, I guess as a grad student. He already completed a graduate degree at W&M.



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This is cool.


#CAASports salutes @WMTribeBaseball alum and current U.S. Army First Lieutenant, John Yoest https://t.co/QiQuf1glV7

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From Baseball America ...

This offseason, we’re taking a closer look at all 31 Division I baseball conferences, using five years’ worth of data to examine where each league has been and to try to project forward to where they might go.

When you think of the Colonial Athletic Association, you might think of a pretty typical mid-major conference. Maybe you would assume it’s a one-bid league more often than not, with most of the teams that earn the bids making relatively quiet exits in the postseason.

But the reality of the situation is that it’s been better than that in recent years and should be considered one of the better mid-major conferences in the country. In four of the last five seasons, it has put multiple teams into regionals and five different CAA teams reached a regional final during that time.

No team from the conference has reached a super regional in the last five seasons, but you don’t have to go back very far to find a team that did, as College of Charleston got to that point in 2014.

UNC Wilmington has been the model of consistency in the league, earning four regional trips in the last five seasons and getting to three different regional finals, but the successes in the CAA have been spread out fairly well. Five members of the nine-team conference have been to the postseason in this data sample and four different teams have topped the standings in that same period of time.

The likes of Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion leaving the conference for the Atlantic 10 in 2013 and Conference USA in 2014, respectively, left holes to fill, but College of Charleston joining in 2013 and Elon coming on board in 2014 has more than made up for those departures.

Five-Year Standings
*2020 records not included


Team /CAA Record /Winning Pct. /Overall Record /Winning Pct.
College of Charleston /77-42 /64.71 /176-112 /61.11
UNC Wilmington /74-43 /63.25 /183-120 /60.40
Elon /73-46 /61.34 /143-137 /51.07
Northeastern /71-46 /60.68 /149-132 /53.02
Delaware /57-62 /47.90 /144-129 /52.75
William & Mary /54-63 /46.15 /133-147 /47.50
James Madison /48-72 /40.00 /123-143 /46.24
Hofstra /40-79 /33.61 /89-167 /34.77
Towson /38-82 /31.67 /84-185 /31.23

The CAA has had four teams win the regular-season title in the last five seasons, and those four teams are the top four teams in these five-year standings. As the table shows, that group is pretty well separated from the rest of the league, with 4.03 percentage points between first and fourth place and nearly 13 percentage points between fourth and fifth. While UNCW has been the best team in the CAA over the last five seasons by most measures, College of Charleston comes out on top of these composite standings in large part because of its 2015 season, when it went 21-3 in conference play, the best conference record for any team in this sample. Since then, it hasn’t been as successful as UNCW, but it got out to such a fast start in 2015 and hasn’t had a below .500 season in league play, which allowed it to hold on to the top spot.

Team-by-Team Five-Year Trends

The following are summations of how each CAA program performed over the last five full seasons. The arrow designation of up, down and to the side represent the results of the last five seasons, not a projection of the years to come.

College of Charleston—️DOWN

The Cougars came into this five-year period flying high coming off of a super regional appearance in 2014, and they backed that up by winning the CAA regular-season title in 2015 and getting back to a regional. Since then, though, they haven’t been back to the postseason, even as they’ve shown improvement in the last couple of years under Chad Holbrook. When you consider that College of Charleston not only went to a super regional in 2014, but went to the postseason three times in five seasons between 2010-2014, the last five years just don’t quite stack up, even as it has won more conference games than any other team in the league.

UNC Wilmington—️UP

UNCW has been no stranger to regionals over the last 20 years, but it really took things up a notch in the last five seasons, getting to four regionals, including three regional finals. Given the team’s quality year after year, it seems like it’s just a matter of time before it breaks through to its first super regional. The 2019 team sent retiring coach Mark Scalf out in style with one final regional appearance, and it’s now the goal of Randy Hood, a longtime Scalf assistant, to keep the ball rolling.

Elon—️DOWN

The best team in the CAA over the last five seasons to not make a postseason appearance, the Phoenix really missed a chance in 2019, when it won the conference regular-season title with a rotation that featured George Kirby and Kyle Brnovich but couldn’t secure the automatic bid. Elon was in the Southern Conference from 2010-2014, so it’s not a direct comparison, necessarily, but it did get to two regionals in its last five seasons as members of the SoCon, including in 2013 for its most recent postseason trip. The last five seasons just haven’t been quite as good as the previous five.

Northeastern—️UP

No team in the Colonial has done more to improve its lot in the last five seasons than Northeastern. The 2018 season was a particular highlight, with the Huskies breaking through to their first postseason appearance since 2003 and setting a program record for wins with 36. But the success goes even beyond that one season, as they also won the regular-season title in 2017 and finished this data sample without a single season under .500 in CAA play.

Delaware—️UP

Overall, Delaware didn’t do all that much more winning in the last five seasons than it did in the previous five seasons, if at all, but there is one key difference. In 2017, it won the automatic bid and advanced to a regional for the first time since 2001, when it was still a member of the America East and at the end of a streak of four consecutive postseason appearances and six in seven seasons.

William & Mary - ️️EVEN

Over the last five seasons, William & Mary had one tough season, a 3-21 CAA campaign in 2018, but was otherwise solid and won the league’s automatic bid in 2016, eventually advancing to the regional final in Charlottesville. That’s pretty similar to the previous five seasons, when the Tribe made a regional appearance in 2013 and were a solid competitor in the CAA just about every year.

James Madison—️DOWN

JMU has rebounded from bottoming out and finishing 10th in the conference in 2012 and ninth in 2013, and showed signs of progress with a fourth-place finish in 2016. What it hasn’t done is produce any result similar to what it did in 2010 and 2011, when JMU won back-to-back CAA regular-season titles, advancing to a regional in the second of those years.

Hofstra—️️EVEN

Though there have been some moderate improvements in the last couple of years, most notably a 12-12 conference record and sixth-place finish in 2018, the Pride continues to struggle to break back into the top half of the CAA. Going back to 2000, Hofstra has finished better than fifth in the standings just once, when it came in second in 2012.

Towson - ️DOWN

The last five seasons have been tough for Towson, with a seventh-place finish in the standings in 2015 the best showing in this sample. A 10-14 record the next year in 2016 is the best conference record in the last five seasons. The Tigers got to a regional back in 2013, just months after it was initially announced that the program would be cut, so it’s a big win for the program to have successfully fought off being eliminated, but the Tigers haven’t been able to replicate that type of on-field success since.

Regional Recap by Year

Year /Team /Results
2019 /UNC Wilmington /0-2 in Chapel Hill Regional
2018 /UNC Wilmington /2-2 in Greenville Regional
2018 /Northeastern /0-2 in Raleigh Regional
2017 /Delaware /0-2 in Lubbock Regional
2016 /UNC Wilmington /2-2 in Columbia Regional
2016 /William & Mary /2-2 in Charlottesville Regional
2015 /UNC Wilmington /2-2 in Baton Rouge Regional
2015 /College of Charleston /2-2 in Tallahassee Regional

Looking at this table, it’s easy to see why it’s assumed that UNCW will someday breakthrough to a super regional. Four regional trips and three regional finals in five seasons is the definition of knocking on the door. At first glance, it might appear that the Seahawks hold the key to the Colonial being a two-bid league, as they have been one of the two teams in regionals each time the league has gotten two teams in over the last five seasons. But actually, in two of those three instances, they were the automatic bid winner, and the other team, College of Charleston in 2015 and Northeastern in 2018, did enough to earn an at-large bid.

Top Draft Picks

Player /Year /Pick
George Kirby, RHP, Elon /2019 /20th overall
Greg Jones, SS, /UNC Wilmington /2019 22nd overall
Ryan Jeffers, C, /UNC Wilmington /2018 59th overall
Taylor Clarke, RHP, College of Charleston /2015 /76th overall
Aaron Civale, RHP, Northeastern /2016 /92nd overall

Jeffers’ selection as the 59th overall pick was a breakthrough for the CAA, as he became the highest-drafted player from the league since 2008. The very next year, two players, Kirby and Jones, surpassed him. The 2019 draft was a big one for the Colonial in a number of ways. Kirby and Jones gave the league multiple first-round picks for the first time since 2004 and the 22 total players drafted was the most from the conference since 2008. Clarke and Civale both broke into the big leagues in 2019, with Civale pitching extremely well for the Indians in 10 starts.

Coaching Changes

Year /Team /Out /In
2019 /UNC Wilmington /Mark Scalf /Randy Hood
2017 /College of Charleston /Matt Heath /Chad Holbrook
2017 /Towson /Mike Gottlieb /Matt Tyner
2015 /College of Charleston /Monte Lee /Matt Heath
2015 /James Madison /Spanky McFarland /Marlin Ikenberry

Scalf’s retirement at UNCW flew a bit under the radar at the end of the 2019 season, but you can’t overstate what he did for that program. In 28 seasons, he compiled 941 wins and 10 postseason appearances. Most impressive is that the first of those postseason appearances didn’t come until his 12th season on the job. It’s fairly rare that a coach is able to lead his program to find another gear in the way that he did in Wilmington. It hasn’t resulted in any postseason appearances yet, but Holbrook’s hiring at College of Charleston has paid immediate dividends, with third-place and second-place finishes in the last two seasons.

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