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Baseball: Series vs. JMU (May 7-9)
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82hawk Offline
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Post: #101
RE: Baseball: Series vs. JMU (May 7-9)
UNCW is a pretty young team when you look at who is on the field. The only senior who played yesterday was the pitcher with bunch of freshmen and sophomores. We have a load of talented pitchers and with a young bunch of fielders, our next few years look great on paper.

It also looks like moving Adam Smith into the weekend rotation has given us a solid 1-3 rotation for a weekend series and our other closers have stepped up. Our record since he moved to a starting spot shows the move has worked. Still find it funny Smith is listed as a left fielder on the UNCW roster since he's become probably our best pitcher.
05-10-2021 05:16 AM
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solohawks Online
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Post: #102
RE: Baseball: Series vs. JMU (May 7-9)
Are we going to try and makeup the @JMU series instead of playing Charlotte?
05-10-2021 09:24 AM
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Seahawk Nation 08 Offline
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Post: #103
RE: Baseball: Series vs. JMU (May 7-9)
https://seahawkperch.substack.com/p/hawk...with-sweep

Hawks Vault to Second with Sweep
UNCW has won 11 of its past 14 games

Brant Wilkerson-New
4 hr ago

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-43...4x576.jpeg]

We’re back!

(And we’re back, too. Apologies for the hiatus, but we’ve solved our technology issues and ready to finish the season strong!)

In need of a series victory, UNCW did one better, dominating its way to a sweep of James Madison as the Seahawks vaulted into second in the CAA South standings and solidified their standing for the conference tournament.

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-43...30x336.png]

It was a complete performance in every phase, from solid, extended starts handing off to a shutdown bullpen and solid hitting up and down the lineup, with a few timely hits off the bench.

All in all, it was as complete a weekend as the Hawks (26-16, 10-8) have had in league play and reason to believe this team’s aspirations should be much higher than simply making the CAA Championship.

Here’s what we learned this weekend at Brooks Field.

No. 14

There’s something about the number 14 for this team.

There’s no denying the importance of No. 14, Landen Roupp (5-4, 2.95), who earned the victory on Friday night with an other solid outing.

Sunday’s victory also concluded another 14-game stretch for the Seahawks, which have been clearly defined runs this season.

UNCW was 11-3 over its first 14 games, concluding with a statement win over East Carolina before a 4-10 run defined by defensive mistakes, quick at-bats and just plain old bad luck.

Starting with the April 16 win over UNC Asheville, the Hawks have rolled to an 11-3 mark thanks to the most consistent run of pitching of the season.

Over the current stretch, UNCW pitchers are allowing 1.93 earned runs per game on 6.5 hits while lowering their average walks to 3.2 per game.

Most importantly, the Seahawks aren’t giving away freebies anymore, as they surrendered an average of 1.5 unearned runs per game during the 4-10 stretch.

Over the past 14 games, that number is down to .93 per game despite committing six errors in the JMU (4-8, 9-14) series, as eight of the Dukes’ nine runs were unearned.

“We just went through a little stretch where, honestly, we didn’t play bad but we just had some bad breaks go against us,” UNCW coach Randy Hood said. “I’ll just chalk that up, we’ve got to make our breaks; we didn’t at those times, we didn’t make winning plays. It kind of caught up with us.”

Fifth-year senior Luke Gesell said the team’s elders have taken a more active role in ensuring things got corrected.

“It just comes from daily preparation during practice; just doing what we can, constantly letting people know, our days in the weight room, gotta attack it. Our practice days, gotta attack it,” he said. “At the end of the season, this is exactly where we want to be, we want to be playing our best ball and that’s what it takes in order to do that.”

Shuffle Successful

Taking Adam Smith (5-1, 2.03) out of the closing role was obviously a risk, but change has paid off for everyone since he became UNCW’s Saturday starter on April 17.

In four starts, Smith has allowed four earned runs over 23.2 innings, striking out 19 and walking nine, as opponents have managed just one homer and four doubles in their 20 total hits as pro scouts have filled the seats behind the plate at Brooks Field.

Meanwhile, the bullpen hasn’t skipped a beat amid the shuffle, with Ethan Chenault and Hunter Hodges taking turns closing things out.

Over the past two series, UNCW relievers haven’t given up a single run over 16.2 innings, allowing two hits with 13 strikeouts and seven walks.

The move has contributed to another important step for the Seahawk.

“When we made the move a month ago to get Adam in there, it’s allowed us to put a pretty good guy on Sunday that would probably be pitching on Fridays and Saturdays for a lot of teams,” Hood said.

Solidifying Sunday

Fifth-year senior Luke Gesell wasn’t himself in April.

Over three starts and one brief relief appearance, UNCW’s Saturday starter gave up 18 earned runs in 16.2 innings as he was tagged with two losses in that stretch.

With Gesell moving into the Sunday role, he also made a few tiny adjustments in his approach: simplifying his pregame bullpen and making an effort to get his pitches down in the zone.

“My focus recently has been just coming out of the pregame bullpen and bringing that into the game to really execute down in the zone,” he said. “That’s been giving me success in the first couple of innings, and that’s allowed me to go deep in games.”

UNCW is 4-0 on Sundays since Gesell moved into the role, and he’s been the winner in three of those. In all, he’s allowed six earned runs over 28 innings, striking outs 21 and walking three.

Whether he’s starting Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday — doesn’t matter to Gesell.

“I’m sure a lot of people consider it as a demotion, but I personally don’t see it that way,” he said. “We can all get the job done no matter what day it is. I just come out and compete no matter what day it is, and I don’t feel like the day bothers me at all.”

Hood pointed to the importance of what Sundays will come to mean over the next several weeks.

“We call it Championship Sunday for a reason, because that’s when a lot of your tournaments are decided; that’s when your championships are won,” he said. “Every Sunday, whether we’re winning or losing, it’s Championship Sunday mentality. I think Luke is one of the guys that will always bring that mentality to the ballpark, no matter who we’re playing and what game we’re at.”

Old Bats, New Bats

All of the usual suspects are mashing.

Brooks Baldwin (.328, 12 HR, 37 RBI, 8 SB) was 6-13 with an RBI over the weekend, while Kip Brandenburg (.310, 13 2B, 4 HR, 22 RBI) was 6-12 with five RBI, two doubles and four runs scored.

That’s never stopped throughout the season, with Matt Suggs and Cole Weiss taking turns getting hot at the top of the lineup, but lately, some of the bats at the bottom of the order have come alive.

Sunday, it was Trevor Marsh who opened the scoring with a two-out single. Saturday, Zachary Bridges delivered two RBI in his fifth start of the season while Dillon Lifrieri had the go-ahead RBI on Friday.

Those contributions are a major step for an offense that sputtered through April, especially beyond the top half of the lineup.

One player that would have made a difference late in those one-run losses was Chris Thorburn, who missed 24 games with a broken hand.

Called upon to pinch-hit in the 8th inning on Sunday, Thorburn (.353, 7 RBI in 17 AB) doubled down the right field line to drive in two runs and finally give UNCW some breathing room.

Ironically, Thorburn wasn’t happy with his pregame batting practice and told Hood as much.

That didn’t stop him from calling on No. 20 in a big spot.

“It doesn’t matter,” Hood said. “Guys can hit if they can hit and whether they have great BP or not. I trust him in a lot of big situations and he was doing a really good job early in the season before he had the injury.

“He’s just a very carefree type player; I trust him so much as a hitter in big situations.”

Bunting is Winning

In all three games vs. JMU, bunts played a part in UNCW putting runs on the board.

* Friday, a Noah Bridges bunt moved Lifrieri before he eventually scored the run that would tie the game at 3-3.

* Saturday, Baldwin led off the third by bunting for a single before Noah Bridges’ bunt forced a bad throw, as two runs scored on the error and Bridges ended up on third. He’d ultimately score when Lifrieri grounded out.

* Sunday, Baldwin again got on base with bunt, and in the process, moved Taber Mongero to third before Thorburn’s double.

The Hawks have made a clear effort to play more small-ball lately, and more importantly, they’ve executed in getting bunts down, stealing bases and generally looking to manufacture more offense.

During this 11-3 run, UNCW is stealing 1.1 base per game to go with 1.1 sacrifice hit per game. Over the previous 4-10 stretch, the Seahawks were getting .93 stolen bases per game and .36 sacrifice hits per game.

“It’s huge; we talk about it and you’ve got to execute,” Hood said. “When the wind is blowing in like it was today, and you’ve got to find ways to one, get baserunners on and then you’ve got to get them in scoring position as quick as possible, whether it’s hit-and-run or stolen base or just sacrificing them over. I thought we’ve done a pretty good job with that.”

Up Next

The Hawks visit N.C. State on Tuesday night (6 p.m., ESPN+), where they’ll look to even the season series after the Wolfpack won the first meeting on March 23.

State has won 17 of 22 games since then, although it might be best to catch the Pack at Doak Field, where it’s 10-11 this season vs. 12-3 on the road.

With both teams focused on finishing conference seasons strong for postseason standing, expect to see plenty of arms.
05-10-2021 09:54 AM
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