Sunday, February 24, 2013

Valparaiso Series Recap


So I missed most of Saturday’s and Sunday’s games, but here’s a few thoughts from the Dirtbags’ first series sweep of the year...

Protect This House We Did
The Dirtbags rack up a whole 2.1 wins this weekend as far as the RPI is concerned. Our “RPI record” is now 4.1 wins and 2.7 losses.

Richard Prigatano could have a huge year, but…
but nothing, really. Prigatano finally snapped his strikeout streak, going the final two games of the series without a K. He also carried the offense on Sunday with three hits. The sophomore now has a team high 10 hits and four doubles.

Michael Hill could have a huge year too…
The shortstop is slugging .682 so far with all three Dirtbag triples and, though he’s committed a few bad errors in the field so far this season, he made a great (and smart) play on Saturday to save a run from scoring (Defense… FTW!). I should also point out his double play partner, Jeff McNeil, has a .405 on-base percentage. Before the season I had this to say about McNeil…”a good hitter he is not.” Yep, nailed it.

Pitching (this part is about pitching)
Valpo has a pretty light-hitting lineup but even with that in mind there’s really nothing but positives to take away from the Dirtbag pitching this weekend. Carle may have nailed down the Friday role, Hunt was solid, and Maciel had arguably the best start of the season on Sunday. David Hill was strong in the three-inning save on Saturday and Eddie Magallon, the anti-Richard Prigatano (he K’s too little), whiffed two batters to close out the series. Dammit, guys, I need something to complain about.

Now here’s some non-Dirtbag notes…

Seattle U-suck
Sorry, couldn’t resist the joke. I actually like this young D1 program the Redhawks are building but Seattle U. could end up being the easiest opponent the Dirtbags play all season and they were just swept by Cal Poly. More on the Redhawks during our series preview on Thursday.

Arizona sweeps again
They’ve only played Coppin State, LBSU, and San Jose State so far, but as of now the Wildcats are undefeated… when not playing the Dirtbags. SoS brownie points.

Cal State Fullerton is goodish
Dammit, I wish we were closing out the season with them. The Titans just swept TCU, are now 7-0, and could be boasting one of their best team’s in years. Fullerton’s schedule will remain tough for the next few weeks but I’m holding out hope we can hand them their first loss of the year when they come to Blair Field.


Up Next: I gotta catch up on my Stitch Head, Kendall Rogers, and Aaron Fitt reading so that’s all for now. Catch the new “best of the rest in the west” rankings and Southern California Live Blog on Tuesday.

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