Up next: Rhode Island

[i77cat]

2 walks, 2 hit batters, wild pitch, passed ball. And that was all in the 7th.

[i77cat]

And that was better than what Shedleski and Rosenfield did in the 8th. We're down two touchdowns.

[Corpulent Cat]

We are 3 games out of the tourney with 7 left to play.

All alone in last at the moment. A lot of teams bunched up at the bottom.

[DC69Wildcat]

And that was better than what Shedleski and Rosenfield did in the 8th. We're down two touchdowns.

I turned it off after the grand slam.

[citycat]

Rhode Island is not a good hitting team.

Until they encountered our pitching staff in the 2nd game.

There are more people in Mecklenburg County than there are in Rhode Island. We should beat these guys.

The only baseball player from Rhode Island I can think of is Davey Lopes. He was very good, but did not become a regular until he was 28.

[i77cat]

Our Friday starter is superb. Our remaining pitching is spotty at best.

[catnhat]

George Greer, who drove in the winning run in the Pan Am games gold medal game against Cuba (circa 1967), before reaching AAA with the Cardinals and coaching DC, is from RI. That Cuban team was loaded w players who could have played in the majors if given the opportunity.

[i77cat]

Sunday at noon. Maybe.
https://davidsonwildcats.com/news/2024/ ... -to-sunday

[DC69Wildcat]

Our Friday starter is superb. Our remaining pitching is spotty at best.

Perkins is our most consistent starter, but calling him superb may be a little too strong. He has an ERA of 5.73, which is 19th in the A10. To his great credit, however, he has only walked 13 and hit 6 in 70.2 innings, which is a huge anomaly among our staff, and he has the only complete game for a Davidson pitcher since 2022. Cavanaugh has a better ERA at 5.10, 13th in the A10, but he has been inconsistent. He has shown enough that with good coaching, he could be an ace. However, I still can't forget that the same was said about Feczko after his 10-1 Freshman All-American season. Parker Bangs went to Rice, and Feczko has not lived up to expectations.

Although not a starter, Matt Weber is our best pitcher. His fastball reaches the low 90s, and when it rises, it is almost unhittable. I will not be surprised to see him sign a pro contract some day. Jason Ban also has shown potential. He has the lowest WHIP on the staff, but hit batters don't count towards that stat, and he has hit 7 in 21 innings. The good news is that Cavanaugh and Ban are freshmen, and Weber and Perkins are redshirt sophomores. I hope we can keep them, and I hope we are capable of coaching them up.

I still think we need to wrest Durin O'Linger away from the Dodgers.

[i77cat]

True. "Superb" may be too strong. I think he's fine and would be better on a better team. Davidson can't afford O'Linger, unless you are thinking as a head coach. Even then, probably way too expensive.

[DC69Wildcat]

We were A10 regular season champions 2 seasons ago, losing to VCU and Richmond in the tournament. Four players from that team (DeVos, Schomberg, Carico, and Wilson) are currently playing professionally. All of those players were recruited by Rucker Taylor. He is an excellent hitting coach, and our offense has never been a problem, even this year. We have 3 position players (Putnam, Friend, and Shaggy) among the A10's top hitters, and all 3 should make All Conference. Also, all 3 are underclassmen (I started to say "all 3 will be back next year," but thought better of it). Cider Canon should be on the All Rookie team if he has played enough games to qualify. We were 4 reliable pitchers away from being a good A10 team this year. i77cat pointed out several threads ago that we are on our 3rd pitching coach in 3 years, and I think therein lies the problem. Joe Sheridan may turn out to be a terrific pitching coach and recruiter, but he was only hired in January. If he is, and if Perkins, Cavanaugh, Weber, Ban, Putnam, Friend, O'Shaughnessy, and Canon all come back, we may be very good next year.

And another thing ... does anyone know why Jack Cotrone and Jake Wilhoit aren't playing?

[graveline]

Rhode Island is not a good hitting team.

Until they encountered our pitching staff in the 2nd game.

There are more people in Mecklenburg County than there are in Rhode Island. We should beat these guys.

The only baseball player from Rhode Island I can think of is Davey Lopes. He was very good, but did not become a regular until he was 28.

Bill almon. #1 overall draft pick from brown of all places. Long MLB career as a middle infielder

[i77cat]

Competing today. Down 2-0, tied it at 2, down 5-2, tied it at 5. Still 5-5 in the 7th.

[i77cat]

Weird bottom 7. One out, we get 3 straight doubles. One run in, runners at 2 and 3. Calero rips a ball up the middle. It hits the pitcher's foot (umps rule that it did so on the fly), ricochets to the 1st baseman for an out, he throws it to 3rd for the 1,3,5 double play.

URI ties it at 6 in the 8th.

[i77cat]

Close. Lost 8-6. 5-13 in the A10 now. Making the conference tournament seems unlikely. More unlikely, that is.