DIII Spring Trip Report Card: Week 2

The second week of March is the busiest for our DIII teams heading to warmer locales. After reporting on just a handful of schools last week, we now are now in the full swing of the season.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature intervened in a negative way washing out the entire Florida schedule on Friday and part of it on Saturday as well.

The result is that a number of teams pack up and head for home without playing their full compliment of games.

Let’s take a look at this week’s final grades.  As a reminder, the letter grades represent how I feel the team did versus my expectations for them.  So a team receiving an ‘A’ didn’t necessarily have a better record or beat better teams than a team receiving a ‘C’.  It simply means that the former vastly exceeded my expectations while the latter pretty much performed as I expected.

Baldwin Wallace (4-4)

There’s nothing like starting off my grading with someone returning from Florida pretty much exactly as I expected.  The Jackets headed north on the strength of a two game winning streak including a complete game shutout of Wittenberg by Justin Novak.  The Witt victory was probably BW’s best of the trip, but as I’ve mentioned I don’t think the level of competition at the Russ Matt was quite up to that of the Snowbird.

The Jackets have been paced at the plate by a quartet of players hitting over .350 through eight games.  Scott Nealon (.393), Jim Martin (.375), Sam Wasylyshyn (.368) and Matt Bush (.353).  Bush also leads the team with a .647 slugging percentage.  

Among the more intriguing story lines developing in Berea is how Coach Fisher will find AB’s for John Ulanski.  The Ashland transfer played in six games (four starts) and went 4 for 9 (.444) with 5 BB and 2 HBP.  His on-base percentage of .647 makes a case for him to work his way into the lineup somewhere, at least for now.

Starting pitching has been a bright spot for BW.  Scott Luthman (1-1, 2.00 ERA) and Novak (1-0, 2.40 ERA) were expected to carry the load and so far they’ve been up to the task.  Coach Fisher also got a great start from Josh Scott (1-0, 3.38 ERA).  

As I said, BW fell almost exactly where I thought they would.  Nothing Earth shattering in my mind.  The biggest thing I took away from the trip was the quality starting pitching which exceeded my expectations.  

Grade:  C+ 

Bluffton (4-4)

The Beavers started off their spring trip with likely the worst loss of any team down south ( a 5-4 loss to a very bad John Jay team).  Clearly a ‘F’ on that game.  But the great news is that Bluffton bounced back and had a really good spring trip.  A win over Wilmington, splits with Medaille and Ohio Wesleyan and a win over Juniata led up to a closing loss to Muskingum.  To be honest I was extremely concerned about that opener, but James Grandey and his kids quickly proved that they are battlers.

The Beavers have not hit the ball overly well as their .264 team average suggests.  Through eight games only two Beavers are hitting over .300 with Nick Broyles at .400 and Michael Knorr at .375.  Broyles leads the team in runs (10) while Knorr paces them in RBI (8).

Adrian Fritch leads what’s been a highlight for Bluffton: the pitching staff.  Fritch (5 IP, 0 R, 8 K) is joined by Kelly Barnes (0-0, 1.64 ERA), Ryan Leugers (0-0, 2.57 ERA) and Jordan Kruse (0-0, 3.60 ERA) as pitchers who have given Bluffton quality starts already.

In my opinion, the bad loss to John Jay is more than made up for by the win over Ohio Wesleyan.  Anything can happen in the opener and this case it did.  Showing the grit to bounce back from that loss to have a solid spring trip highlighted by a good win over OWU showed me something.  

Grade:  B+

Defiance (5-2)

In my humble opinion Defiance has been the story of the spring trips.  This is a team that went 7-31 in 2009 and returned little beyond Kirk Jesse and Tim Pitro.  Or so I thought.  All the Jackets have done is rack up impressive wins such as 9-2 win over a solid Kenyon squad and a sweep of Muskingum en route to a 5-2 trip.  Unfortunately rain washed out their final game with OWU in Florida.  That would have been very interesting to see how a confident DC team reacted to play perennially tough OWU.

The best news thus far for the Jackets has been their outstanding pitching (3.77 team ERA).  Derek Woodley has seen five different starters pitch well.  Matt Kaighin (1-0, 1.80 ERA),  Jacob Taylor (1-0, 2.00 ERA), Brett Belew (0-0, 2.57 ERA), Tyler Gallant (1-0, 3.60 ERA) and Nicholas Bratt (1-0, 3.72 ERA) have all shown the ability to be quality starters early on.

Todd Odell (1.59 ERA, 3 saves) has been just a good closing games.

The aforementioned Kirk Jesse (.406, 9 R) and Tim Pitro (.346, 6 RBI) have been keys to the DC offense.  Brent Kremer has also been big hitting .364 so far in 2010.

I have to admit that toward the end of the trip I was getting greedy.  I was disappointed the Jackets dropped their second to last game to Wilmington.  I was upset at DC.  But then I took a step back and asked myself if I ever expected to be that confident in Defiance.  Not a chance.  And that’s the great thing.

Grade:  A

Heidelberg (7-1)

There’s not much I can say about Heidelberg’s trip other than that it was outstanding.  Not only did the Berg fall just one bad inning short of a perfect trip, but they posted seven wins against very tough competition.  Their spring slate included a sweep over NC Wesleyan (2009 NCAA regional qualifier), a win over #9 Carthage and a win over perennially tough Montclair State.  Their “down” games were a pesky Kenyon squad and a three game set at LaGrange.  If you want to make the regional with a chance to advance this is the type of schedule you play down south.

Statistically I wasn’t really surprised by much.  I expected the Berg to pitch well and they have (2.66 team ERA).  I expected them to hit well and they have (.327 team average, 9.4 runs per game).

The best story of the season in my mind is Ricky Lizcano.  The sophomore has been the catalyst of the Berg offense.  Lizcano hit .471 with a .735 slugging percentage on the southern swing.  He also posted a .561 on-base percentage at the top of the order helping to set the table for Keen, Brechun and Lash.

Another interesting angle is the new names making noise already.  Elvin Williams, although certainly not a new name, is new to the every day lineup.  The newly anointed leadoff man is off to a solid start (.333).  Freshman Ethan Holt also made a splash posting seven shutout innings of two-hit ball against Kenyon in his debut.

I don’t feel like the Berg needs much of a closing argument from me.  The schedule and record speaks for itself.

Grade:  A

Marietta (7-2)

 A very business-like spring trip for the Pioneers yet again in 2010.  With Marietta heading to Texas again this spring I feel like I need to explain their schedule a little more than other teams.  UT-Tyler, UT-Dallas, Mary Hardin Baylor, Hardin Simmons, Rhodes, McMurry.  No one else in Ohio plays the teams Etta does.  

Basically the easiest way to explain their schedule is that they just play one tough team after another.  There may not be a flashy name like Carthage or Kean on there, but what there is are a meat grinder of good teams.  Personally, I like the way Etta does this.  They get a consistently good level of competition for the entire week.

To no one’s surprise, Chris Beatty is doing the yeomen’s work at the plate.  His numbers are mind boggling.  .457 average, .857 slugging percentage, .523 on-base percentage.  Most impressive of all, 18 RBI in nine games.  

Tim Saunders (.432) and Kirby Becker (.412) have also exploded out of the gate at the plate.

One of Etta’s question marks coming into 2010 was starting pitching.  Thus far the rotation has looked very good for the most part.  Mark Williams (2-0, 3.55 ERA) and Brian Gasser (2-0, 3.77 ERA) were expected to be key starters.  Mark Mahaffey (0-0, 2.08 ERA), Austin Blaski (1-1, 0.93 ERA) and Kyle Lindquist (1-0, 0.00 ERA) have been excellent as well.  If Andrew Brown comes around the Etta Express will have yet another deep arsenal of arms.

A 7-2 record against quality competition is never a bad thing.  But a 7-2 record against quality competition when you have big question marks in your rotation is a great thing.  I was very impressed with the Pios last week.  There’s really no other way to say it.

Grade:  A

Mount Union (4-2)

I don’t know that much of anything surprised me about Mount’s spring trip.  I’m a little disappointed their DH with Wittenberg Saturday was rained out because I thought that was going to be a good measuring stick for both teams.  But beyond that things went pretty much as I expected.  The win over Thomas More was solid.

Greg Ferrell was possibly the hottest hitter of any Ohio player down south.  The junior was hitting .600 through five games.  The centerfielder already has 3 home runs and 6 doubles.  He scored 12 runs and drove in 10 in five games.  He also swiped 4 bases.  Just a dominant offensive performance thus far.

From a pitching standpoint there were some interesting developments.  First, as expected Paul Mariotti has struggled a little (0-1, 10.80 ERA).  Coming off of offseason arm surgery I don’t think anyone is surprised that the senior doesn’t have his great stuff back yet.  He pitched very well for four innings in his first start, but seemed to just run out of gas a little.  Mark Sabatino (1-0, 1.50 ERA) stepped up and pitched well to help fill the void.  

The other surprising thing to me was outfielder Kyle Von Duyke making two appearances in relief.  The sophomore had as many pitching appearances as at bats in Florida.  This is surprising on both counts considering Von Duyke didn’t pitch at all last year, but did hit .413 as an outfielder.  

Overall I wasn’t blown away by the Raiders’ spring trip outside of Ferrell’s performance.  At the same time, Mount did what they should.  Neither of their losses were bad losses.  But with the three rain outs they didn’t really get to paint a full picture for us.  

Grade:  C+

Muskingum (4-4)

I’ve been staring at the Muskies’ schedule for five minutes and I can’t decide how I feel about it.  Let’s look at the losses.  Split with Skidmore.  No problem there I guess.  Loss to Carthage.  Top ten team so not really a surprise.  Swept by Defiance.  Wait, what?  I literally did a double take when I saw those finals that day.  Fortunately for Musky, Defiance appears to be much, much improved so my initial shock may not be as warranted as I first thought.  Still, for a team I picked to make the OAC tourney I expected more.

While a couple guys have scuffled at the plate, the Fish’s big bats have been as advertised for the most part.  Wes Carder (.448, 9 R, .655 slugging) has been great.  Not surprisingly, Brock Whiteman (.379, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 9 R, .690 slugging) has been outstanding as well.  Jared Whittington (.423) and Erik Spitzer (.407, 8 RBI) have been bright spots as well.

Isaac Free (1-0, 2.77 ERA) has been as good as expected starting.  At the same time, Josh Cornwell (1.80 ERA, 3 appearances) has been equally as effective closing.  Jared Patterson (1-0, 4.32 ERA has also been solid).  My biggest question at this point is where Nathan Van Meter is.  The southpaw who dominated the OAC in 2009 leading the conference in ERA and opponents batting average has yet to toe the rubber.  His status is a huge factor for Muskingum’s season.

While the Ohio Wesleyan win was certainly a highlight, I can’t help but feel like the Muskies’ trip left a bad taste in my mouth.  That being said, I feel like their grade is more my fault than theirs.  This is a team that I was internally debating whether I could put them even higher than fourth in my preseason OAC picks.  I had such high expectations for Musky that I set them up for this.  I honestly thought they had an outside shot at 7-1.  I thought 6-2 was very possible.  So 4-4 just didn’t sit well with me.  

Grade:  D+ 

Ohio Wesleyan (3-4)

I keep looking at 3-4 and thinking “this team is better than that.”  As a result my gut instinct is to give the Bishops a low grade.  But the problem is that I don’t think a loss to #2 Wooster and a split with #9 Carthage is bad.  Probably because it’s not.  Even the loss to Muskingum isn’t that bad (although I have a well documented infatuation with Musky this year so maybe I’m alone in that thought).  The split with Bluffton was not good, there’s no way around that.  If you’re a contender for the NCAC title you need to take care of business in that DH.

Filed in the “no surprise to anyone” drawer is the fact that James DiBiasio and Zach Frentsos have been the go to guys on offense.  DiBiasio (.448) leads the team in runs scored (15) and on-base percentage (.556).  Frentsos, on the other hand, has posted team bests in average (.485), hits (16) and RBI (11).

Mason Farr has to be the talk of the pitching staff thus far.  The sophomore is 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA in two starts.  The lefty also has an outstanding .140 opponents batting average early on.  Eric Livingston, a BSB top 10 pitcher selection, allowed 1 ER in 5 innings in his start.  Fellow BSB selection Matt Struble has not pitched his best in the early going, but his history tells us that if Farr continues to throw well Tyler Mott will have a trio of good starters this year.

We’ll know a lot more about OWU ten days from now.  The Bishops play Heidelberg, Otterbein, Wabash, Thomas More and John Carroll in the next week and a half.  But looking purely at their spring trip I have to say it was basically what I expected overall (albeit in a strange path to get there).

Grade:  C+

Wilmington (1-6)

On paper it looked like Wilmington had a few chances to pick up wins.  It’s no secret that I don’t expect a lot from the Quakers this season, but a game against Bluffton, Medaille and a pair with Defiance at least gave them some chances to pick up wins.  Even a DH with Kenyon wasn’t a total lost cause.  Obviously the Quakers managed only one win, a 4-3 victory over Defiance.

But Wilmington does have some positives, chief among them being Jared Ramsey.  The sophomore has been nearly flawless on the mound.  In two starts the righty has yet to garner a decision, but has allowed just one earned run over 12.1 innings (0.73 ERA).  He has also fanned a dozen batters.

Jake Hofer (3.38 ERA) and Bruce Dunlap (3.86 ERA) have also been solid out of the pen.

We expected Dunlap to be an offensive force for Wilmington and he has (.360, 7 RBI).  What we didn’t expect was for Brett McEvoy (.471, 2 HR) and Mitch Fogg (.393, 5 R) to be such big factors as well.

All in all the Quakers ended up not far from where I expected.  When I looked at their schedule I jotted down “2 wins, 3 would be good.”  So they didn’t quite hit what I thought, but I also didn’t expect to see a potential top of the rotation pitcher emerge either.  It feels like a wash to me.

Grade:  C

Wittenberg (3-3)

Like BW and Mount Union, rain wreaked havoc on Wittenberg at the Russ Matt too.  Witt’s schedule looked strikingly similar to Mount’s with games against Trine, Webster and Albion.  A loss to BW is telling in as much as a single game in early March can be.  It’s a solid win for BW, but certainly not a big deal for Witt.  The teams are pretty similar so not really news in my mind.  

As I said before, the cancelled DH against Mount Union would have been a good indicator, but unfortunately Mother Nature disagreed.  Splits with Trine and Albion don’t really tell us much either.  Let’s be honest, a split in Florida tells us next to nothing unless you’re playing a top 10 team or an awful team.  Anything in between feels like par for the course.

Mike Yednock leads the team in average (.500), runs (5) and slugging percentage (.800).  Zach Spring has also been a nice surprise hitting .429 so far.  Ray Noe’s 7 RBI top the Tigers.

Bobby Ciucki (1-0, 0.00 ERA) and Joel Assenheimer (1-0, 1.80 ERA) have turned in outstanding starting pitching performances.  If the Tigers want to improve their prospects for 2010 they will need to bring down their 6.36 team ERA moving forward.

Once again, just a very predictable spring trip for an Ohio school.  Teams like BW, Mount Union and Wittenberg have to do something crazy to surprise me.  In the case of this year, none of them really shocked me (positively or negatively).  They kind of fell into place exactly where I expected for the most part.

Grade:  C

Advertisement