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Utah Valley is picked to finish 5th in the WAC after a 3rd place finish in 2016. The WAC has no teams ranked in pre-season polls but Seattle U., NM State, and Grand Canyon all received votes in the Collegiate Baseball poll which ranks about one-third of all D1 baseball schools. Utah Valley also has nobody on the pre-season WAC 1st team in 2017.
Last year Utah Valley finished 37-23 overall and 18-9 in conference play. They were 15-10 at home, 15-8 on the road, and 7-5 at neutral sites. They hit .284 as a team with 40 hr, 23 3b, 100 2b, and SO 441 times and had 227 walks in 2149 at bats.
Utah Valley had a 4.82 ERA in 545.2 innings giving up 587 hits, 339 runs and 292 er while SO 413 and walking 253 for an opponent batting average of .280. They also fielded .971 in 2016.
The 2017 roster includes 34 players (7 Sr, 12 Jr, 3 So, 1 R-So, 10 Fr, and 1 R-Fr). Key returning players are
On the bump they return 4 of their 5 top starters from last season as well as one of their top relievers. Last year’s ace, Danny Beddes, was drafted by Pittsburgh in the 15th round of the 2016 draft. The returning pitchers started 37 games last year.
The Shockers are picked to finish tied for 4th in the MVC. The 2017 roster includes 38 players for now (2 Sr, 2 R-Sr, 8 Jr, 2 R-Jr, 8 So, 4 R-So, 10 Fr, and 2 R-Fr). They return 6 of their top 10 hitters from a year ago in Jenista, Vickers, Dugas, Bohm, Troutwine, and Ritter but those 6 hitters struck out a total of 216 times! They also return several guys that started many games in Boyer, Young, and DeBacker.
The shockers return a ton of arms from last year including the entire starting rotation which accounted for 46 of the 58 starts. The problem is we only return 2 guys with ERAs under 4!!! Willie Schwanke 3.40 era in 53.0 innings and Reagan Biechler 3.97 era in 22.2 innings. Everyone else combined for 328.2 innings with ERAs ranging from 4.46 to 9.12. We return a total of 83.6% of IP from 2016. There is no doubt we have an experienced staff; the only problem is that it is mediocre to poor performance. This year’s success depends largely on the improvement of the pitching staff.
I think everyone expects 3 wins this weekend but at the very least we need a series win to kick off the home schedule.
Last year Utah Valley finished 37-23 overall and 18-9 in conference play. They were 15-10 at home, 15-8 on the road, and 7-5 at neutral sites. They hit .284 as a team with 40 hr, 23 3b, 100 2b, and SO 441 times and had 227 walks in 2149 at bats.
Utah Valley had a 4.82 ERA in 545.2 innings giving up 587 hits, 339 runs and 292 er while SO 413 and walking 253 for an opponent batting average of .280. They also fielded .971 in 2016.
The 2017 roster includes 34 players (7 Sr, 12 Jr, 3 So, 1 R-So, 10 Fr, and 1 R-Fr). Key returning players are
Code:
avg HR RBI SO BB HBP Jr INF Stone Ramsey .324 0 17 17 9 2 Sr OF Justin Erlandson .302 2 23 39 22 5 So INF Trevor Howell .297 1 28 25 23 0 Sr C Zac Willis .288 6 36 36 19 6
Code:
W-L ERA IP H R ER SO BB Sr RHP Logan Hold (2-0) 1.83 34.1 34 11 7 23 7 Jr LHP Jackson Cofer (6-5) 3.79 76.0 86 41 32 53 28 Jr RHP Jake Mayer (8-2) 4.27 78.0 72 40 37 51 25 Jr RHP Kaden Schmitt (1-2) 5.06 32.0 42 24 18 21 18 Sr LHP Patrick Wolfe (2-3) 5.57 72.2 74 48 45 60 36
The shockers return a ton of arms from last year including the entire starting rotation which accounted for 46 of the 58 starts. The problem is we only return 2 guys with ERAs under 4!!! Willie Schwanke 3.40 era in 53.0 innings and Reagan Biechler 3.97 era in 22.2 innings. Everyone else combined for 328.2 innings with ERAs ranging from 4.46 to 9.12. We return a total of 83.6% of IP from 2016. There is no doubt we have an experienced staff; the only problem is that it is mediocre to poor performance. This year’s success depends largely on the improvement of the pitching staff.
I think everyone expects 3 wins this weekend but at the very least we need a series win to kick off the home schedule.
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