The Citadel’s master plan worked like a charm, as a Saturday doubleheader prevented a game from being played on Sunday and the Tigers were unable to rally for a doubleheader sweep on Saturday, thus dropping the series to the Bulldogs. Even so, Towson has been playing much better of late and are an even 5-5 for the month of April.
Family obligations kept me from watching much of Saturday’s games, which is a shame, because I was very impressed with the video quality, multiple camera angles, and instant replay on The Citadel’s online broadcast. If your team, or a player you follow, is playing them, I highly recommend checking it out. I was able to get my first decent look at David Marriggi, which was nice, as he pitched probably his best game of the season. I still don’t have a good idea of their scouting reports, but both Marriggi and Michael Adams look like they could pitch professionally, in some capacity, as guys with good size and repeatable deliveries who have shown they can miss some bats.
Towson plays a couple of games this week before returning to conference play over the weekend. Hopefully they can build a little momentum, especially a few guys who opened some eyes this weekend.
Positive Pixels
-
- I mentioned after the Coppin State game last week how friggin’ fast Craig Alleyne looked. Well, Craig Alleyne had himself one heck of a day on Saturday, going 5-7 with five RBI and his first home run. In his last three games he’s raised his average .155 points. If this was a coming out party for Alleyne, a junior transfer from the JUCO ranks this year, it could be a huge deal for Towson’s offense going forward.
- After – gasp – allowing a run in his last outing, Dean Stramara pitched two scoreless in the first game on Saturday to wrap up the shutout. Stramara hasn’t walked a batter in nearly a month and his ERA now sits at a season low 3.26.
- Billy Lennox collected five hits over the weekend and is now working on a seven game hitting streak. In that span he is 11-25 with three RBI and six runs scored, walking five times and striking out once (something he has only done 11 times all year).
- An 0-2 in the series finale snapped Colin Gimblet’s on-base streak at 22 games. During that streak Gimblet got on base twice via hit by pitch, walked seven times, and had 24 hits. Regardless of how the rest of the year plays out, it was a remarkable accomplishment for the fifth year senior.
- This isn’t necessarily a positive pixel, but I have to point out that Joe Enea has given up 25 runs this year and 12 – nearly half – of them have been unearned. Do they confiscate everyone’s gloves when he comes into the game? Make him pitch with a super bounce ball? How is that even possible?! Hey, I just noticed Joe is a Saints fan. That might explain it. Who dat, Joe, who dat.
- The good Alex Cuas was on display Friday, pitching four innings of one run, one walk baseball. Let’s play the arbitrary stat game with Cuas.
2018 Season Minus 1st 2 Games Minus 1st 2 and 3/30 Games IP 15 14 14 ERA 9.60 3.21 1.93 BB/9 12.00 7.71 5.14 K/9 6.60 6.43 6.43 WP 16 5 3 HBP 3 0 0 More Alex Cuas and less Cuex Alas please.
The Watch List
Richie Palacios, SS – .354↓/.475↓/.622↓, 127 AB, 38 R, 113 2B, 7 HR, 28 RBI, 17-17 SB. With one hit in each game this weekend, Palacios is now working on an 11-game hitting streak. As happens with Palacios periodically, he went 6-18 with four walks, two doubles, and a home run for the week and his slash line went down in all three phases from the previous weekend. The shortstop was rated the #78 prospect for the 2018 MLB draft by d1baseball.com (link behind paywall) last week.
Dirk Masters, 2B – .281↑/.402↑/.303↑, 89 AB, 13 R, 2 2B, 7 RBI, 3-3 SB. Masters had hits in all three games against The Citadel, going 4-10 with three walks and his second double of the season. The second baseman has now been on base in 12 straight games (a mini-Gimblet). However, STOP THE PRESSES, he did commit his second error of the season on Saturday.
David Marriggi, P – 2-4, 4.13 ERA↑, 52.1 IP, 27 BB, 47 K. Marriggi has had two sub-par games this year and bounced back nicely after each. This time out he blanked the Bulldogs through seven innings, allowing less than one baserunner per with three hits, two walks and one hit batter.
Michael Adams, P – 3-3, 3.70 ERA↑, 56.0 IP, 21 BB, 61 K. Adams didn’t get the win, but it wasn’t for lack of effort or performance. Big Dirty got credit for his second complete game in 2018, pitching all six innings of the second half of Saturday’s doubleheader and giving up four runs, only two earned. He struck out four, as The Citadel was surprisingly pesky this weekend, only striking out ten times in all three games combined. Adams now has a 3-1 K/BB ratio on the season. If he or Marriggi are on the mound I give Towson better or even odds against any team in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Up Next
Towson plays two games at Schuerholz Park this week, University of Maryland Eastern Shore on Tuesday and Delaware State on Wednesday, before traveling to Wilmington, NC for three games at aptly named University of North Carolina Wilmington. First pitch for both weekday games is slated for 3:00 p.m. Who wants to play hooky?
