Series Preview: Seattle U. @ Dirtbags, 3/1-3

It's a little late but, after a crazy week for me personally, I don't really care. Here you go...

This pretty much sums up my week.

Summary

The Dirtbags followed up their first series win of the year (sweeping Valpo) by playing maybe their most disappointing game of the year, losing to a weak Southern California squad. They enter this weekend with a respectable 5-4 mark and will do battle with a Seattle University team which currently stands at 1-7 and has scored just four runs in its last 45 innings.

What's at Stake

After going 3-1 versus the relatively easy Valpo/USC combo over the past week the Dirtbags will get one last chance to fatten up before the schedule takes a sharp turn to whyislifesohardsville. Long Beach State faces UCLA on Tuesday then spends the next three weekends against Arizona State, Wichita State, and Cal State Fullerton. Best to rack up the W’s now.

Tale of the Tape

Pitching Match Ups

Seattle U. broadcaster Dan Giuliani was our guest for this week’s “Dirty Talk”. Before getting to that segment he had some words on the Redhawk rotation…

Friday: LHP Andrew Olsen (3.00 ERA, 9:5 K:BB, 12 IP) vs. RHP Shane Carle (1.50 ERA, 9:4 K:BB, 12 IP)

“Olson is the Friday night starter and is a really tough, gritty pitcher. Not overpowering, but good location and an excellent change up.”

RHP Ted Hammond (3.48 ERA, 7:6 K:BB, 10.1 IP) vs. LHP Landon Hunt (7.20 ERA, 5:5 K:BB, 10 IP)

“Hammond…is a really exciting kid. Was a star QB in high school in the Seattle area and has a very poised demeanor for being a young kid.”

LHP Kyle Doyle (5.40 ERA, 8:4 K:BB, 6.2 IP)  vs. RHP Jon Maciel (3.75 ERA, 10:6 K:BB, 12 IP)

“Doyle (is) a sophomore southpaw with an awesome curveball. He doesn't have a lot of velocity, but location and the hook are his best attributes.”

Lineups

For the most part Seattle has gone with some variation of this slate…

3B Cullen Hendrickson

SS Nate Roberts

LF Ryan Somers

C Brian Olson

RF Sean Narby

1B Zach Aaker

DH Grant Newton

2B Nick Latta

CF Landon Cray

The lineup’s been a bit Jekyll and Hyde thus far. The team on-base percentage has been a measly .327 but four different regulars (Narby, Somers, Cray, Roberts) have marks over .400.  Brian Olsen adds a OBP of .350 and may have yet to reach his stride this year (more on that below). The ‘Hawks have only one homer so far (hit by Somers) so they should fit in just fine at Blair Field.

As I mentioned during the live blog on Tuesday, Dirtbags that took the field against USC looked a bit too much like the 2010-2011 teams that possessed such lifeless offenses. That notwithstanding this year’s squad, though it isn’t going to break any records, up to this point has manned a very solid lineup from top to bottom. CF Colby Brenner, despite hitting just .120, has set the table nicely with a .371 OBP. SS Michael Hill, 2B Jeff McNeil, and 1B Jeff Yamaguchi each have OBP north of .380. 3B Juan Avila and DH Ino Patron have been inconsistent to start but are good bets to turn it around and C Eric Hutting has been one of the Big West’s top freshmen up to this point. The only thing keeping this team from having a legitimately good lineup is finding a star presence in the middle of the order.

Dirty Talk

In the 11th hour I lucked into scoring an interview with Seattle U. play-by-play man Dan Giuliani. Check him out on twitter (link on his name) and make a song request for his between-inning broadcast music…

Dirtbag Blues: How do you think the baseball program has handled the transition to Division 1 these past couple years and, generally speaking, what’s the future look like for Redhawk baseball?

Dan Giuliani: The program has had some natural growing pains that were to be expected starting a program from scratch. They had 5 players on campus in 2009 to redshirt a year before the first official season in 2010. After gathering only 11 wins in the first year, they have improved their win total each of the last two years. The original freshman class are now seniors, so this year the roster finally feels deep and robust. The future looks bright for the Redhawks with a good crop of young freshmen and sophomores who will be the nucleus of the team for the next few years. 

DB: What has joining the WAC meant to the program? What’s your take on the stability of the WAC in general?

DG: It's tremendous to be a part of the WAC and have the opportunity to play in a conference tournament and to go to the postseason this year for the first time. It gives the schedule some structure and will create some nice rivalry with opposing clubs over time. All important pieces of building the program. 

As for the stability of the WAC, it's really good going forward. There will be a lot of mobility with teams coming and going over the next couple years, but the conference is quite stable. It's turning away from football more and more and I think it is angling more towards a WCC or Big West style conference with a primacy on basketball and baseball. 

DB: Looks like the SU offense has been pretty well shut down lately. Has the opposing pitching just been that good or is it just a light-hitting squad this year?

DG: It seems to be a combo... (Cal Poly) San Luis Obispo had a nice staff and that series was very competitive – really was 3 legit pitching duels. The last couple games against BYU were frustrating and it appears that the offense was probably reaching since they had been struggling at the dish. But the potential is clearly there considering the 32 runs out up against Santa Clara in the opening weekend. The offense is expected to be better than they've shown, that's for sure. 

DB: Any potential draft prospects we should keep an eye on?

DG: The best draft prospect is the sophomore catcher Brian Olson. Really talented kid. Great arm behind the dish, blocks the plate well, and the stick is solid. Team MVP last year as a freshman (.382 OBP, 41% caught stealing in 49 games). Been slow to get going this year offensively, but he should be a guy to keep an eye on going forward. The other guys are the shortstop Nate Roberts, the freshman pitcher Ted Hammond (down the road), and the closer Eric Yardley who throws mid-80s from a submarine slot could be a draft guy as well. 

HUGE thanks to Dan for answering my questions fresh off the flight from Washington. Remember to follow him on twitter @DanGiuliani. He also had these last couple comments on the SU baseball program…

DG: The coaching staff at Seattle U is really tremendous. The head coach Donny Harrel is a great man and his staff is top quality. They'll have the ship righted soon... This rough start so far has been unexpected and perplexing. I expect them to turn it around. And one more note: they have the (10th) strongest out of conference schedule this year and the 29th strongest overall (DB: I believe this is referencing Boyd’s World). Most of the games…have been very competitive - one or two plays away from winning. Could easily be 4-4 or better at this point. I would expect a competitive battle this weekend!

Dirtbags' Keys to the Series

Landon Hunt’s arrival

Carle and Maciel have lived up to their billing thus far and Hunt is coming off a decent start last Saturday. Besides the Dirtbags’ need to picked up some W’s before finishing off it’s non-conference slate with a bang, Landon Hunt could use another confidence building outing before he takes the hill on the road against a Pac-12 school next week.

Fix the glovework

Aside from some great plays by the right side of the infield, the defense has been arguably the biggest weakness for the Dirtbags thus far. They’ve now managed to go three straight games without committing an error and will need to keep that going if they want another series win this weekend. Frosh. catcher Eric Hutting continues to have some growing pains (4 passed ball, 10% caught stealing) and needs to sort that out soon (thankfully the Redhawks have just two steals in seven attempts thus far).

Crack the fake rankings

As I mentioned earlier in the week, the Dirtbags are close to making the Best/Rest/West rankings and another strong weekend could finally convince the voters to get them in the top ten (Okay, I’m the only voter and I could just say “screw it” and put the ‘Bags at #1, but it’s more fun this way).

Up Next: No live blogs this weekend, so I’ll probably catch you guys next on Sunday night with a series recap and some WBC action. Good night, folks...

Live Blog: Feb. 26 @ Southern California

12:00 AM (ET): I'm not waving the white flag just yet, but I think it's time for me to wrap up this live blog. Hopefully the Dirtbags' bats wake up, but should they fail to....

These first two weeks have gone pretty much as well as you could've hoped for for Long Beach State. Losing the series (but taking a game) on the road to one of the top teams in the nation (Vanderbilt), splitting with the defending national champs, and sweeping a home series versus a mid-major.

Tonight's (possible) loss, however, is pretty disappointing. Granted, games like this are bound to happen over the course of the season and being a road match the RPI effect is only 0.7 losses. However, tonight's team seemed much to similar to the Dirtbags of 2011 and the down moments of 2012. The offense was missing and the pitching shot itself in the foot over and over.

A home series versus a struggling mid-major like Seattle is a nice way to avoid running into a losing streak, so hopefully the 'Bags will get things turned around this weekend. Series Preview due up Thursday.

And if we manage to comeback beat the ballclub formerly known as Southern Cal.... well that'd be totes cool.


11:49 PM (ET): Ryan Millison stays in the game for one batter too long and his control finally gets the best of him. Millison exits the game after tossing a solid 4 innings. He struggled with his command early on, throwing 4 wild pitches with 2 HBP in his first 0.2 innings but settled down to shutout USC in the 4th, 5th, and 6th. His first two walks of the night do him in, walking in a Trojan run. Nick Rosetta and the Dirtbag offense will have to pick up the slack.

10:09 PM (ET): Nick Sabo's status in the mid-week spot probably isn't in too much question right now, but the southpaw's start tonight certainly did look a lot like his stints from last year when he struggled mightily as a freshman.

Sabo exits the mound at Dedeaux Field with the follwing line: 2.2 IP, 4 hits (1 homer), 2 runs (1 earned), 3 BB, 1 K. Millison gets out of the third but Dirtbags trail 2-1.

9:25 PM (ET): The Colby Brenner Show may yet have some life in it. A walk in the top of the first followed by gunning down a running in the bottom half.

Unfortunately it wasn't enough to get Sabo out of the inning. Rookie catcher Eric Hutting is still struggling behind the dish. Another passed ball set up the Trojans to score on a ground out. Dirtbags trail 1-0 after 1.

8:31 PM (ET): Lineups...

Dirtbags
CF Colby Brenner

2B Jeff McNeil

3B Juan Avila

DH Ino Patron

RF Richard Prigatano

C Eric Hutting
1B Jeff Yamaguchi

LF Josh Guerra

SS Michael Hill

Trojans

CF Greg Zebrack

2B Adam Landecker

1B Dante Flores

C Jake Hernandez

RF Vahn Bozoian

SS James Roberts

3B Kevin Swick

DH AJ Ramirez

LF Timmy Robinson

Pretty conventional for both teams, although you have to wonder how long Hill will remain in the 9th spot with his slugging percentage being as high as it is. Hutting has hit himself up a notch into the 6th slot.


8:00 PM (ET): Well, the next 72 hours are going to suck for me and on top of that I'll probably miss most of this weekend's series will Seattle, so let's make this game count, guys.

LHP Nick Sabo gets the ball for LBSU, fresh off the best start of his career against Arizona last week. RHP Brent Wheatley gets the ball for the Trojans. Wheatley tossed five scoreless innings against a solid Loyola Marymount team last week, K'ing four and walking three. The true freshman is one of many highly touted rookies from the Trojans' top ranked recruiting class (#24 by Collegiate Baseball).

Best of the Rest in the West: Week Two

Each week in the "Best of the Rest in the West" rankings we take a look at the top ten western  conference teams that failed to crack the major top-25 rankings. For last week's rankings click here.

There wasn’t a ton of movement in the Top 25 rankings, so most of our teams remained the same. Here’s the new Top Ten…

1. San Diego (3-4); Previous: 3; Last Week: 3-1 vs. Kent State

The Toreros didn’t do enough to make any headway in the “real” rankings, but a 3-1 series win gives USD one of the more impressive weekends in our rankings. Though Kent State looks headed for a down year, USD’s offense deserves credit for putting up 32 runs in the series. Kris Bryant (.485 OBP this season), Dillon Haupt (.438), and Joe Connor (.222) all had big weekends at the plate.

2. Cal Poly (7-0); Previous: 4; Last Week: 4-0 vs. Santa Clara, Seattle

The Mustangs could be our next team to graduate from these rankings. Though Poly hasn’t been dominating, their 7-0 mark is the best start the program has had in their D1 history. Reliever Reed Reilly (3 saves, 14:1 K:BB, 8 IP) is off to a fantastic start to the year and the pitching in general (1.29 ERA) has been lights-out.

3. California (4-4); Previous: 2; Last Week: 1-3 vs. UC Irvine

Sunday’s 9-1 loss notwithstanding, Cal played a hard fought series versus the Anteaters that they very easily could have split or even won. The pitching (4.33 ERA) and offense (.322 slugging) has been inconsistent thus far, though there’s been a few bright spots including relievers Dylan Nelson (1.23) and Logan Scott (2.16), and DH Devon Rodriguez (1.000 OPS).

4. New Mexico (2-4); Previous: 1; Last Week: 1-2 vs. TAM-CC, Iowa, Oklahoma

The Lobos’ stock continues to fall after their second straight losing weekend. Things seemed to be going well after a 7-0 win on Friday behind junior righty AJ Carman (7 IP, 0 R, 4 H) but quickly went south after that. The Lobos lost to subpar opponent Iowa on Saturday then saw their pitching and defense fail them in a Sunday loss to red-hot Oklahoma. A quick check on 3B DJ Peterson’s slash line: .417/.548/.958.

5. Pepperdine (6-2); Previous: 7; Last Week: 2-2 vs. Cal State Fullerton, Texas A&M

It’s not often a .500 week can improve one’s stock, but the Waves are suddenly on the major rankings’ radars after fairly well against a difficult schedule and winning a road series against Texas A&M. Predictably, pitching paved the way for Pepperdine, which got quality starts from it’s entire weekend staff (Scott Frazier, Corey Miller, Jackson McClelland). The Waves now had a staff ERA of 2.57.

6. Gonzaga (4-4); Previous: 5; Last Week: 2-2 vs. UNLV/Pacific

The Zags’ 2-2 week wasn’t quite as impressive as Pepperdine’s, as Gonzaga split two pairs of games during a tournament in Stockton. The Bulldogs’ pitching got strong starts from Marco Gonzales (who now has a 4.15 ERA) and Tyler Olson (2.08) versus the Rebels, but struggled against hosting Pacific. For the season Gonzaga has been outscored 46-37.

7. New Mexico State (3-4); Previous: 6; Last Week: 1-2 vs. Ohio, Illinois, East Carolina

The Aggies lineup remains inconsistent and for the second straight week scored more runs in one game (seven on Friday) than they did the rest of the series combined (three). The Aggies drew a season-low one walk during a disappointing Saturday loss to Illinois, though the BB still remains the bread and butter of their offense, which has a .392 OBP. Rotation front-men Adam Mott (1.80 ERA) and Christopher Bradley (1.69) had been strong but the pitching otherwise has been below average.

8. Dallas Baptist (4-3); Previous: 9; Last Week: 4-0 vs. Rice, Mississippi Valley State

It’s going to be awhile before the Patriots sniff the Top 25, but DBU got back on track after an impressive win over Rice followed by a dominating performance over the weekend. DBU outscored Mississippi Valley 50-5 in the sweep and saw six different players (DH Justin Wall, 3B Austin Listi, RF Ronnie Mitchell, C Michael Miller, 1B Duncan McAlpine, LF KJ Alexander) have three-hit games over the course of the series. Righty Jake Johansen (8.1 IP, 10 K, 1 hit) dominated the Delta Devils on Saturday.

9. Cal State Bakersfield (4-3); Previous: 8; Last Week: 2-2 vs. Hofstra

A strong performance by the pitching wasn’t enough to net the RoadRunners a home series win against a somewhat weak opponent. CSUB, which now has a 3.43 ERA and K:BB of 52:23, managed to turn just two of it’s three quality starts into victories though they did manage to outscore the Pride 16-11 for the series. Each of their weekend starters (Jeff McKenzie, Scott Brattvet, and Jonathan Montoya) has an ERA below 2.8 and though the offense could use more power they boast an OBP of .394.

10. San Diego State (3-4); Previous: Top 25; Last Week: 0-4 vs. Oregon State

Not much went right for the Aztecs over the weekend, who ran into a buzzsaw of a team in Oregon State. However, the games were much closer than the 22-2 run differential indicates. SDSU got solid starts from Michael Cederoth (6 IP, 6 K, 5 BB) and Philip Walby (7.2 IP, 9 K, 2 BB) and come out of the series with a decent ERA of 3.43. The offense was pretty well shut down by a deep OSU pitching staff but DH Brad Haynal managed five hits in the series and is slugging .500.

Graduated to Top 25: None
Dropped in: San Diego State
Dropped out: UC Santa Barbara

I swear the Dirtbags were THIS close to cracking the rankings. Hopefully they can force their way in with another strong week against Seattle U and Southern Cal, speaking of which…

Up Next: The Dirtbags head to one of my favorite ballparks in the region, Dedeaux Field, to take on what use to be the Southern Cal Trojans. Live Blog forthcoming... 

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.

Series Preview: Valparaiso @ Dirtbags, 2/22-24

First, allow me to piggyback an Arizona Series Recap on here…

-The Mid-Week Starter spot is most likely settled. Ryan Millison (5 IP, 3 ER) was solid in his first start of the year, but Nick Sabo (5 IP, 1 ER, 6 K) put together the best start of his career on Tuesday. According to Baseball America’s Aaron Fitt, Sabo was working a strong change up which Fitt described as “disappearing”. Sabo, who struck out just ten men in 16 innings last year, has already racked up eight punch-outs in seven innings in 2013. Expect to see Sabo pitching on Tuesdays from here on out.

-Richard Prigatano now has seven strikeouts for the season, and one in each game thus far. I know I’ve been harping on this a lot, but Prigatano’s ability to avoid the strikeout will remain on of the biggest X-factors for this offense all year.

-The Dirtbags’ new RPI record is 2 wins, 2.7 losses.

Now moving on the Valpo...

Two home games down, only 31 to go.

Summary

The Dirtbags seasons has started about how one would’ve expected, dropping two of three to Vandy in Nashville, then splitting a pair with Arizona.

Just two miles from the Dirtbags-Commodores contests, Valparaiso was playing in the Belmont Tournament to open the season. There they dropped both games versus Belmont and squeaked out a 1-0 win over the Ohio Bobcats. Thus far the Crusader offense has pushed just seven runs across the plate, though Valpo figures to be more of a pitching/defense team. After taking the Horizon League crown a year ago, a deeply experienced Valpo team looks ready for a dogfight in a wide-open conference this season.

What’s At Stake

This weekend won’t have the same stakes as the Vandy or Arizona series however, thanks to the new RPI system, the Dirtbags have to make sure they take care of business during their large home schedule this year. Even winning two out of three this weekend would result in only 1.4 “RPI wins”, and a series loss could really hurt.

And here’s a fun fact: Valpo Athletic Director Mark LaBarbera is serving on the Baseball Selection Committee this year. A series win over LaBarbera’s school probably won’t help the Dirtbags at all much, but it couldn’t hurt.

Tale of the Tape

Pitching Match Ups
UPDATED: I'm never going to get this rotation figured out...

Friday: RHP Kyle Wormington (6.2 IP, 2 ER, 4:3 K:BB) vs. RHP Shane Carle (5 IP, 1 ER, 3:3 K:BB)

Wormington is a workhorse that logged 102.2 innings a year ago while issuing a remarkably low 19 walks. He also posted a solid 3.33 ERA.

Carle assumes the Friday role we figured he'd get at the start of the year.

Saturday: RHP Cole Webb (8 IP, 0 ER, 4:1 K:BB) vs. LHP Landon Hunt (4.1 IP, 7 ER, 2:2 K:BB) 

Webb tossed a gem versus an albeit weak Ohio team. He had a solid 2012 season with Coffeyville College, posting a 3.13 ERA, though that came with a less-than-impressive 46 walks in 75.2 innings of work.

Though no one seems poised to grab a rotation spot from Hunt, the senior southpaw holds the most precarious weekend spot and could use a good start after melting down in the fifth inning last week.

Sunday: RHP Chris DeBoo (5 IP, 6 ER, 2:1 K:BB) vs. RHP Jon Maciel (5 IP, 5 ER, 3:3 K:BB) 

DeBoo returns to the west coast where he served in the Cal State Northridge bullpen for three years. His best season came in 2011 when he posted a 3.91 ERA with 16 K’s in 25.1 innings.

Maciel’s status in the Dirtbag rotation seemed safe, until we learned he was bumped to the Sunday spot. Most likely this move is to rest him a bit after pitching an inning on Wednesday. He could use a rebound from a shaky debut last week versus Vanderbilt. 

Lineups

Valpo has boasted three different batting orders through their first three games; though the defensive lineup should remain something along these lines:

C Billy Cribbs, RH

1B John Loeffler, LH

2B Tanner Vavra, RH

3B Elliot Martin, RH

SS Spencer Mahoney, LH

LF Michael Morman, RH

CF Bryce Hara, LH

RF Chris Manning, RH

Vavra and Mahoney make for one of the better DP combos the Dirtbags will see this season. Both are tough outs at the plate as well, with Vavra hitting .332 with 15 steals in 2012, and Mahoney batting .348 as a true freshman.

Last week I spoke to some of the regulars at Valpo Fan ZoneForum. I’ll have more from our chat below, but for now here’s some notes on the Crusaders’ players from forum commenter “Jetz”, who is the parent of a current Crusader:

“Mahoney was named to a couple of Freshman All-America lists last year.  He hurt his knee early in the season, then returned for the last third and had a great month or so. [He's] 6'4" with good range.

“Tanner Vavra is the son of Twins assistant Joe Vavra.  It's been well documented that the senior 2B suffered an eye injury early in life, yet still led the Northwoods League in batting average last summer.  He is the player that scouts came to Valpo to see this fall on scout day...

“Closer/DH Karch Kowalczyk is the player the scouts ended up watching on scout day.  He hit a few balls out of the park, and hit 90+ on the gun from the mound.

“Michael Morman returns from ACL this year and has the team's most powerful bat.  The sweet swinging LF will hit some HRs this year. 

"OF Chris Manning played in the Cape for a while last summer and has great range defensively.  Like LBSU, Valpo has a vast outfield, and Manning gets to a lot of balls.  He played both right and center field in our opening series at Nashville."

The Dirtbags’ lefty lineup seems to be a work in progress; lucky for them they’ll face three right-handers on the hill this weekend. The lineup should look like this:

CF Colby Brenner, LH

2B Jeff McNeil, LH

3B Juan Avila, RH

DH Ino Patron, LH

RF Richard Prigatano, RH

1B Jeff Yamaguchi, RH

C Eric Hutting, RH

LF Josh Guerra, RH

SS Michael Hill, LH

Dirty Talk

As mentioned before, I had a chance to get the 411 on the Crusaders thanks to the fine folks at Valpo Fan Zone Forum, and most notably Mr. “Jetz”. Here’s a few of the questions Jetz was able to answer for me.

Dirtbag Blues: How’s the Valpo pitching staff looking this year after suffering some big losses?

Jetz: We got over 100 innings each from our three weekend starters in 2012.  [Wormington] is back as the ace this year and looked decent in our first game… I'm guessing that we won't get as many innings out of the starters as last year, and our bullpen will be much more important this year.  We have a deep pen with the ability to go righty-lefty as the situation dictates.  We also lost our all-time saves leader and closer Jarad Miller to graduation.  Karch Kowalcyck will inherit the role and is probably our best pro prospect.  It's no secret that he throws hard.

DB: In a nutshell, what does the Valpo lineup look like? What’s the offensive game like?

Jetz: In 2012 we played a lot of small ball. The lineup this year features more power and a lot more speed.  We have to wait and see about the overall philosophy this year … we're experienced and I look for good things offensively.

DB: 2012 looked like a banner year for the Crusaders. What was different about that squad that finally got Valpo to the Regionals?

Jetz: Last year we got over the Wright State hump in Horizon League play to get to the Regionals.  Our starting pitching was outstanding, and we went into basically every series knowing that we had the better of the pitching matchups.  We also played good defense for the most part until the Regionals, where we made way too many errors.  We should be solid defensively this year as well.  Overall I think our outfield play will be much improved over 2012.

DB: Any words on the impact Head Coach Tracy Woodson has had on the program?

Jetz: Coach Woodson has invaded your neck of the woods and Texas and brought some good JuCo players to northwest Indiana.  That has been his most significant recent contribution.  It doesn't hurt that he and Brian Schmack are both ex-MLB players.  Valpo may have the only coaching staff in the country that can boast two former major leaguers.  We all can find decisions that we might question with any coach, but I contend that we won't get outcoached in game situations very often.  We have a lot of talent for a small northern D1 school, and the coaching staff is a direct reason why the kids play here.  

Special thanks to “Jetz” for this week’s chat. Also want to give thanks to “valpotx”, a former Valpo player, who also provided some useful info, though I was unable to add a quote from him into this post.

Dirtbags’ Keys to the Series

Win

Revolutionary concept, huh? As stated above, the new RPI will make any home losses hurt badly and though Valpo fields a competitive team, this is a winnable series for the Dirtbags’. Protect this house*.

Find a Closer

Maciel picked up the first save of the year, finishing the Tuesday/Wednesday suspended game, but otherwise we're five games into the season with still have no answers whatsoever as to who the new Dirtbag closer could be. I’ve had my eye on David Hill, but Eddie Magallon may also try to win his old job back.

The Colby Brenner Show

Though I’d like to see what the lefty Brenner can do versus southpaws, coaches Buckley and Zepeda has been reluctant to start him versus left-handed pitching thus far. With three right-handers on the bump this weekend we should get a good look at what the slick fielding, speedster can do in big Blair Field.

*Under Armor, please don't sue me. I make no money from this blog, am giving you free advertising and, hey, I plan on having some Maryland Terrapin coverage eventually (seriously).