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USF comes to town this week for a pivotal series for both clubs at the Eck. Split DH on Friday (1 and 6), 2pm Saturday and noon on Sunday are the scheduled game times. However the weather forecast has changed somewhat markedly and rain is definitely possible. Keep your eyes open for possible changes.
USF will come in confident having won 3-4 at Memphis this last weekend. They are 10-10 in the league (they lost a home series vs Tulane due to contact tracing for Covid) and will certainly not be just playing out the season. They can still finish 3rd and should battle all weekend.
The last time the 2 teams met was the last regular season series of 2019. The 3 games decided who would continue their season in the Conference tournament and who would go home. It was a gorgeous weekend in Tampa and WSU opened with a 7-6 nail biter in game 1. Paxton Wallace's grand slam gave the Shocks a 6-1 lead as the sun set on a beautiful Tampa evening. A regenerated Clayton McGinness went 7 full and departed the game with a 7-2 lead. Unfortunately, 3 walks (2 by freshman Aaron Haase) a single, an error and a double made it 7-6 going to the 9th. After hitting Joe Genord with 1 out, Mitchell Walters struck out the final 2 batters to preserve the victory. In Friday's game 2, Collin Sullivan (an expected rotation guy this weekend) 2 hit the Shocks as USF forced a deciding game 3. In game 3, Mason O'Brien's 2 out, 2 run home run in the 6th tied the game at 3, and the Shocks would go on to score 4 in the 9th, largely on the back of a horrible Bull error, to win 7-3.
A few players from that series are still around for both teams. Jake Sullivan shares the catching duties and DHs. Dylan Burns, Julio Cortez, Collin Sullivan and Logan Lyle also contributed in that series. For the Shocks, Paxton Wallace, Ross Cadena, Hunter Gibson, David VanVooren, Jack Sigrist, Liam Eddy, Tommy Barnhouse, Aaron Haase, Preston Snavely and Connery Peters all saw action that weekend. While it was a battle between the 2 worst teams in the league, it was contentious and I expect players will remember and the competition will be fierce.
USF went with Dylan Burns, Jack Jasiak, Collin Sullivan and Brad Lord as their rotation starters last weekend at Memphis. Given they all had decent to very good starts, I have no reason to expect a much different rotation this week. The Shocks will probably stay with Snavely, Kaminska, Eddy and Stroh, although with weather a potential issue, no one would be shocked to see Jace go first. Don't want a repeat of Tulane, that's for sure.
The Bulls are a below average fielding team at .964 (compared to the Shocks at .975). Both teams are about the same in conference.
The strength of this Bulls team is clearly their pitching staff. In conference, opponents are only hitting .215. That's insane. Team ERA is 3.19 and team WHIP is 1.19 (conference only) both excellent numbers.
Hitting wise, don't let Riley Hogan beat you. At .356 in conference, he's the only Bull batting over .290. He also has 4 of their 13 home runs. By comparison, the Shocks have hit 22 home runs, but given up 24, while USF has only given up 11.
Where the series could be decided is on the basepaths. WSU is 29-37 in stolen base attempts in conference. USF is only 9-14. But more importantly, they have only thrown out 7 of 55 on the year, and just 5 of 34 in conference. It will be important for Shocker hitters to be patient, get on base and steal any and every time the opportunity presents itself.
This probably won't be a series of pinball scores that we've seen so often so far. Small ball will likely be key, mistake free, take a base every time you can and keep the free passes to an absolute minimum against a team hitting only .215 in league play. As always, getting out in front early is good. They took 3 of 4 from Memphis because of walks, hit by pitches, errors, moving runners over and an occasional timely hit. Play clean and we should be in good shape, but on a weekend when games could possibly be limited, make damned sure every single play counts, because they will matter.
Go Shocks!
USF will come in confident having won 3-4 at Memphis this last weekend. They are 10-10 in the league (they lost a home series vs Tulane due to contact tracing for Covid) and will certainly not be just playing out the season. They can still finish 3rd and should battle all weekend.
The last time the 2 teams met was the last regular season series of 2019. The 3 games decided who would continue their season in the Conference tournament and who would go home. It was a gorgeous weekend in Tampa and WSU opened with a 7-6 nail biter in game 1. Paxton Wallace's grand slam gave the Shocks a 6-1 lead as the sun set on a beautiful Tampa evening. A regenerated Clayton McGinness went 7 full and departed the game with a 7-2 lead. Unfortunately, 3 walks (2 by freshman Aaron Haase) a single, an error and a double made it 7-6 going to the 9th. After hitting Joe Genord with 1 out, Mitchell Walters struck out the final 2 batters to preserve the victory. In Friday's game 2, Collin Sullivan (an expected rotation guy this weekend) 2 hit the Shocks as USF forced a deciding game 3. In game 3, Mason O'Brien's 2 out, 2 run home run in the 6th tied the game at 3, and the Shocks would go on to score 4 in the 9th, largely on the back of a horrible Bull error, to win 7-3.
A few players from that series are still around for both teams. Jake Sullivan shares the catching duties and DHs. Dylan Burns, Julio Cortez, Collin Sullivan and Logan Lyle also contributed in that series. For the Shocks, Paxton Wallace, Ross Cadena, Hunter Gibson, David VanVooren, Jack Sigrist, Liam Eddy, Tommy Barnhouse, Aaron Haase, Preston Snavely and Connery Peters all saw action that weekend. While it was a battle between the 2 worst teams in the league, it was contentious and I expect players will remember and the competition will be fierce.
USF went with Dylan Burns, Jack Jasiak, Collin Sullivan and Brad Lord as their rotation starters last weekend at Memphis. Given they all had decent to very good starts, I have no reason to expect a much different rotation this week. The Shocks will probably stay with Snavely, Kaminska, Eddy and Stroh, although with weather a potential issue, no one would be shocked to see Jace go first. Don't want a repeat of Tulane, that's for sure.
The Bulls are a below average fielding team at .964 (compared to the Shocks at .975). Both teams are about the same in conference.
The strength of this Bulls team is clearly their pitching staff. In conference, opponents are only hitting .215. That's insane. Team ERA is 3.19 and team WHIP is 1.19 (conference only) both excellent numbers.
Hitting wise, don't let Riley Hogan beat you. At .356 in conference, he's the only Bull batting over .290. He also has 4 of their 13 home runs. By comparison, the Shocks have hit 22 home runs, but given up 24, while USF has only given up 11.
Where the series could be decided is on the basepaths. WSU is 29-37 in stolen base attempts in conference. USF is only 9-14. But more importantly, they have only thrown out 7 of 55 on the year, and just 5 of 34 in conference. It will be important for Shocker hitters to be patient, get on base and steal any and every time the opportunity presents itself.
This probably won't be a series of pinball scores that we've seen so often so far. Small ball will likely be key, mistake free, take a base every time you can and keep the free passes to an absolute minimum against a team hitting only .215 in league play. As always, getting out in front early is good. They took 3 of 4 from Memphis because of walks, hit by pitches, errors, moving runners over and an occasional timely hit. Play clean and we should be in good shape, but on a weekend when games could possibly be limited, make damned sure every single play counts, because they will matter.
Go Shocks!
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