You guys sound like a lot of the ECU folks. Our people want us to fly under the radar for fear of tanking with the hype. Baseball America projected us to host this week so it may be the kiss of death.
I think this weekend will really be a coin flip. We both have quality groups of starting arms and really good middle of the order bats. I don't know anything about the WCU bullpen but ECU has managed to find a really strong lefty and righty in the pen. There are some setup righties that can be on when the sinker is sinking and can be lit up when its flat. If there is any advantage either way it may be that ECU hasn't played a midweek game the past 2 weeks and has the midweek starter available for probably 1 of the first 2 games. There should be some really strong crowds too. Our fanbase has been a little baseball hotbed for a while and definitely know the WCU brand in baseball, along with the national ranking and 70+ temps it should be a nice atmosphere.
Our first 2 starters are pretty similar, taller lanky righties that have fastballs that can hit 94 if they want. They've both been really good at dialing it back and pitching at 89-91 with life as opposed to trying to light the radar gun up. The friday guy Benton has a really fine change up to go with the fastball and a downer curve. The Saturday guy, Holba gets a little more sink than Benton, but really just relies on the slider beyond the fastball. Both of these 2 have been dominant if Benton gets both fastball and change going, or Holba fastball and slider. Last week they really struggled with command at UCF. The sunday guy is your classic short, bulldog sunday starter. He locates 3 pretty good pitches for strikes, works fast, hard to square up. The setup guys are a righty low 3/4 sinker ball guy and a lefty with a huge slider he can throw for strikes any count. Closer is a upper 90's guy that Baseball America had hit 100 in week 2... velo and hard to pickup the arm slot. One of the bigger reasons for their success is we really want to sink the fastball with starters and right handed setup guys, and the infield defense has been really strong picking those ground balls.
I think these 2 lineups are really similar, strong defensive first players up the middle, big bats at the corners. Our friday outfield will likely be a speed and defense group. I expect many local scouts show up to see your corner infielders and for good reason. I think they walk away with some high follows for our 2 as well.
I think this weekend will really be a coin flip. We both have quality groups of starting arms and really good middle of the order bats. I don't know anything about the WCU bullpen but ECU has managed to find a really strong lefty and righty in the pen. There are some setup righties that can be on when the sinker is sinking and can be lit up when its flat. If there is any advantage either way it may be that ECU hasn't played a midweek game the past 2 weeks and has the midweek starter available for probably 1 of the first 2 games. There should be some really strong crowds too. Our fanbase has been a little baseball hotbed for a while and definitely know the WCU brand in baseball, along with the national ranking and 70+ temps it should be a nice atmosphere.
Our first 2 starters are pretty similar, taller lanky righties that have fastballs that can hit 94 if they want. They've both been really good at dialing it back and pitching at 89-91 with life as opposed to trying to light the radar gun up. The friday guy Benton has a really fine change up to go with the fastball and a downer curve. The Saturday guy, Holba gets a little more sink than Benton, but really just relies on the slider beyond the fastball. Both of these 2 have been dominant if Benton gets both fastball and change going, or Holba fastball and slider. Last week they really struggled with command at UCF. The sunday guy is your classic short, bulldog sunday starter. He locates 3 pretty good pitches for strikes, works fast, hard to square up. The setup guys are a righty low 3/4 sinker ball guy and a lefty with a huge slider he can throw for strikes any count. Closer is a upper 90's guy that Baseball America had hit 100 in week 2... velo and hard to pickup the arm slot. One of the bigger reasons for their success is we really want to sink the fastball with starters and right handed setup guys, and the infield defense has been really strong picking those ground balls.
I think these 2 lineups are really similar, strong defensive first players up the middle, big bats at the corners. Our friday outfield will likely be a speed and defense group. I expect many local scouts show up to see your corner infielders and for good reason. I think they walk away with some high follows for our 2 as well.
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