Touching 'Em All: Week Four
March 10, 2019 | Baseball, #ForBoston Files
Mason Pelio exploded for two wins, including a dominant outing against Louisville.
Baseball players are creatures of habit and routine. The sport is an exercise in consistency, so their stretching and warmups become extensions of their own personalities. In plain English, nothing breaks that routine, and if something happens, it better be for a good reason.
There was no better reason prior to the Kentucky game. Jake Goodreau, the current Eagle baseball player recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer, came to visit the team. Pregame routines never stood a chance.
"That was one of the coolest things I've been able to be a part of," head coach Mike Gambino said. "Jake, his dad and I worked on getting him down here to surprise the guys. I knew he was coming, so we were checking in (with him) when he was going to get into Kentucky (to see the team)."
Gambino gathered the team for its pregame meeting, hoping to surprise the roster, but nothing bottled the excitement when the first player saw Goodreau arrive around the corner.
"We got to the park, and the boys went out to stretch," he said. "I got them in the dugout so we could somewhat sneak Goody in, but then a couple of guys saw him. They all ran over and started hugging him. It was so cool. It definitely put a lump in my throat."
The excitement spilled over to the field. BC danced with Kentucky to the tune of a one-run ballgame through seven innings, then exploded for 11 runs in the eighth and ninth. It was a decisive victory, both for the team and for the conference since it came over an SEC program with a 12-3 win.
"We were able to play a close game," Gambino said. "We just kept putting pressure on Kentucky. They made one mistake with a walk, and then all of a sudden, it opened up. That's what our offense is going to become."
The two leagues are widely considered the two best in college baseball, and this was BC's first victory over a team playing within the SEC ranks since joining the ACC. In 2010, the Eagles defeated Missouri, but the Tigers were still members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior to that, BC hadn't beaten an SEC program that was representing the league since a win in 2004 against Auburn when the Eagles were still in the Big East.
Here's some more of what happened this past week in Kentucky:
*****
First Base: Eastern Kentucky/Evansville Split
The Kentucky win pushed BC to a 3-2 record in its spring break trip to the Bluegrass State after recording doubleheader splits this past weekend. That was a positive heading into conference play this weekend at Louisville, but it's something that left a sour taste in the team's mouth after splitting the weekend prior with Evansville and Eastern Kentucky.
"I didn't put my guys in the best position to succeed," Gambino said. "We traveled all day on Thursday, then played doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday when we didn't have our number one arm (in Dan Metzdorf) available. I know that I didn't put them in the best position to succeed, then we ran into Evansville's number one arm, who was touching 92-97 the whole game."
That arm belonged to Adam Lukas, a right-handed pitcher considered by Baseball America as one of the "small school pitchers" with MLB potential. Lukas averaged over nine strikeouts per nine innings last year and improved his K:BB ratio last summer, according to the report. He allowed just four hits against the BC lineup, striking out six and walking only one batter through seven innings. His cornerstone foundation allowed Nathan Croner to throw the second game against BC, and he was equally sterling, striking out four with one walk in just under seven innings.
Both games, though, saw bounceback performances by the Eagles against an Eastern Kentucky team poised to make a run at the NCAA Tournament. The Colonels, who scored 27 runs the weekend before against Maryland-Eastern Shore and were coming off of a 7-3 loss to Kentucky, ran into a buzzsaw performance both games, surrendering 19 runs in two games, including a 13-2 thumping in the series finale on Saturday night.
"It's a really hard thing to ask a team to travel 12 hours and play two doubleheaders," Gambino said. "But I was worried that we were going to be in Kentucky for a week with no games because of the rain."
*****
Second Base: Bombs Away
BC settled into the cold Kentucky rain after the doubleheader, enabling a breakout performance against the Wildcats in Lexington's midweek game. The game itself, though, didn't become a blowout until the later innings, forcing the Eagles to rally from a one-run deficit that lasted until the eighth.
"They had the lead, but then (Brian Dempsey) got a big hit, (Jake Alu) got a big hit," Gambino said. "It didn't open up until later in that game. It was a one-run game, and Kentucky had to bring in one of their weekend starters in the eighth inning. So we actually did that against an SEC weekend starter. We just kept putting pressure on Kentucky. They made one mistake, then all of a sudden it opened up. And that's what our offense is going to be."
Kentucky's staff approach meant ten pitchers trotted out of the bullpen with nobody throwing more than two innings, save for starter Mason Hazelwood's two-and-a-third. In the eighth inning, with the Eagles threatening the one-run lead, the Wildcats brought in closer Jimmy Ramsey with one out and the bases loaded, and he promptly struck out Lucas Stalman. But he failed to end the jam, surrendering a Sal Frelick single that was bobbled at first by Dalton Reed and subsequently scored two runs.
BC still only had a one-run lead, and Ramsey went to 0-2 in the count against Dempsey, but the hitter rallied to launch a triple to left that scored two more runs. It gave the Eagles the lead into the ninth, where opportunistic running worked counts and advanced on wild pitches. BC wound up scoring seven run in the inning but only had three hits.
"You have to take out the idea of a 2-3-4 hitter with us," Gambino said. "We look at the lineup combination and how to feed off, complementing each other. We know we have guys who can get on base, so that's the top of the order. But then we're looking at guys behind them who can situationally hit, get the ball in play. People look at a number four hitter and think of a big strong guy who can leave the yard. That can happen for us, but it's almost more important to situationally hit and put the ball in play because those top order guys are always going to be on second and third."
*****
Third Base: Lights Out
The hitting was flashy enough that it might have cast a shadow over the continued emergence of BC's freshmen arms. Mason Pelio threw seven innings of one-run baseball against Eastern Kentucky while Joe Mancini was electric against Kentucky. The duo allowed one run apiece, with the latter needing just 38 pitches to get through three innings against an SEC lineup. Pelio, meanwhile, dominated EKU, striking out six with one walk.
Travis Lane, meanwhile, pitched in both victories at EKU, firing over three innings with four cumulative strikeouts in relief of both Pelio and Mancini.
"Joe Mancini was great, and Travis Lane was great again," Gambino said. "Joe puts himself in a spot where we can keep going to him. He pounds the zone with three pitches. He can throw a fastball where he wants it, has some sinking action and can throw a curveball for strikes. He's just a dealer, and he has a deceptively quick fastball."
The youngsters' performance allowed BC to advance through the early part of the trip without Dan Metzdorf, who rested last weekend before returning to the rotation in time for Louisville. It also allowed the Eagles to continue working their bullpen in and out of key spots, with John Witkowski picking up the win in the late innings against Kentucky.
"We have three quality weekend starters, and the bullpen (started) coming together (against EKU and Kentucky)," Gambino said.
*****
Heading Home: Pelio's Performance
The first games provided some headlining pop heading into the weekend's ACC-opening series against Louisville. After the No. 8 Cardinals picked up victories in the first two games of the series, the Eagles rallied to stave off the sweep with their first road victory against one of the nation's early favorites to advance this season to the College World Series.
It's hard to understand what the third-game victory will mean in the long run, but it sends a huge short-term statement to the rest of the ACC. The Cardinals are one of the nation's premier programs and proved it early on Friday with a 4-0 win in the first game behind lefty Reid Detmers. He struck out 13 and improved his strikeouts-to-walks ratio to an absurd 5:1 while lowering his WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) to 0.50. Nick Bennett followed him on Saturday and threw five shutout innings, striking out three through 78 pitches and facing six over the minimum as the Cardinals opened up a 10-0 lead.
But after a weather delay paused the onslaught, BC outscored Louisville after play resumed on Sunday morning, 4-1. It set the tone for the afternoon session, where the offense once again used opportunism and cohesion to push runs across in four different innings. Four consecutive hitters in the order - Sal Frelick, Brian Dempsey, Jack Cunningham and Cody Morissette - combined for three runs and three RBI with six of BC's eight hits. For Morissette, his RBI double in the first came two batters after Frelick homered as BC opened up an early 3-0 lead in the first two innings.
It was overshadowed by Mason Pelio's encore performance. His second start of the week featured 113 pitches, over half of which were for strikes. He faced 27 batters and fell one out short of eight complete innings and was just one over the minimum through six innings. He retired 12 straight hitters between the second and sixth innings and retired the Cardinals in order in four of his first five frames. He did commit three walks but two came in the eighth after he started to fatigue.
It was the latest breakout performance for the California native who was considered one of the top 400 prospects out of high school last year. Perfect Game USA listed him as the 29th-best recruit and 10th-best right handed pitcher out of his home state last season with the capability to dominate hitters with a fastball touching into the low-to-mid 90s. After losing that first official start against Bethune-Cookman, he's thrown over 14 innings with nine hits allowed and just one earned run and two wins and a 0.93 WHIP.
Advanced analytics further explain his dominance. Game Score is used to illustrate a pitcher's dominance, and 114 would be an absolute perfect score if a pitcher struck out every batter in a nine-inning game (as improbable as that is). Pelio recorded a 68 against Eastern Kentucky, then improved against Louisville to hit 70 for the first time in his career.
*****
On Deck: Holy Cross and Wake Forest
The week ahead brings BC back to the Commonwealth for their first home on Tuesday vs. Holy Cross. It's the first true "midweek" game for the Eagles and starts the process of playing local non-conference teams in between ACC starts. Following the game on Tuesday, BC heads back on the road to once again play within the Atlantic Division at Wake Forest.
On Tuesday, the Eagles will find an opponent that's struggled to start the season. The Crusaders have only one win in their first 15 games - an 8-6 win over Nicholls in the Mardi Gras Classic in Louisiana - and tell a stark contrast in statistics. The team is hitting just .188 as a unit, with Ben Malgeri leading the team with a .288 average. Despite the number, there is some pop; just under 25% of the team's 87 hits have gone for extra bases, including seven homers. Separately, its pitching staff has an 8.34 ERA, the result of early-season, lopsided results at Baylor, Alabama-Birmingham and LSU.
That sets the tone for the series against Wake Forest, a team known for its power numbers. Since 2012, the Demon Deacons have scored 300 runs every season except for 2014, and they boasted a plus-131 run differential in 2017. In 2013, the team hit 30 home runs as a collective unit but that represents the only season where it wasn't at or around 50 long knocks. During that 2017 season, Wake hit 93 home runs thanks to two 20-homer hitters.
It's partially due to a hitter-friendly ballpark at Gene Hooks Stadium. The field measures just 300 feet down the right field line and 310 feet to left, with the power alleys both under 375 feet. The advantage to the hitters, though, creates a disadvantage for Wake's arms, but the staff handles it with precision. Last year was only the second season where the staff ERA went over 5.00, and that 2017 team that won 42 games was nearly under 4.00.
All three games this weekend can be seen on the ACC Network Extra. Friday night's game is at 6 p.m. with Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday starting at 1 p.m.
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There was no better reason prior to the Kentucky game. Jake Goodreau, the current Eagle baseball player recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer, came to visit the team. Pregame routines never stood a chance.
"That was one of the coolest things I've been able to be a part of," head coach Mike Gambino said. "Jake, his dad and I worked on getting him down here to surprise the guys. I knew he was coming, so we were checking in (with him) when he was going to get into Kentucky (to see the team)."
Gambino gathered the team for its pregame meeting, hoping to surprise the roster, but nothing bottled the excitement when the first player saw Goodreau arrive around the corner.
"We got to the park, and the boys went out to stretch," he said. "I got them in the dugout so we could somewhat sneak Goody in, but then a couple of guys saw him. They all ran over and started hugging him. It was so cool. It definitely put a lump in my throat."
The excitement spilled over to the field. BC danced with Kentucky to the tune of a one-run ballgame through seven innings, then exploded for 11 runs in the eighth and ninth. It was a decisive victory, both for the team and for the conference since it came over an SEC program with a 12-3 win.
"We were able to play a close game," Gambino said. "We just kept putting pressure on Kentucky. They made one mistake with a walk, and then all of a sudden, it opened up. That's what our offense is going to become."
The two leagues are widely considered the two best in college baseball, and this was BC's first victory over a team playing within the SEC ranks since joining the ACC. In 2010, the Eagles defeated Missouri, but the Tigers were still members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior to that, BC hadn't beaten an SEC program that was representing the league since a win in 2004 against Auburn when the Eagles were still in the Big East.
Here's some more of what happened this past week in Kentucky:
*****
First Base: Eastern Kentucky/Evansville Split
The Kentucky win pushed BC to a 3-2 record in its spring break trip to the Bluegrass State after recording doubleheader splits this past weekend. That was a positive heading into conference play this weekend at Louisville, but it's something that left a sour taste in the team's mouth after splitting the weekend prior with Evansville and Eastern Kentucky.
"I didn't put my guys in the best position to succeed," Gambino said. "We traveled all day on Thursday, then played doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday when we didn't have our number one arm (in Dan Metzdorf) available. I know that I didn't put them in the best position to succeed, then we ran into Evansville's number one arm, who was touching 92-97 the whole game."
That arm belonged to Adam Lukas, a right-handed pitcher considered by Baseball America as one of the "small school pitchers" with MLB potential. Lukas averaged over nine strikeouts per nine innings last year and improved his K:BB ratio last summer, according to the report. He allowed just four hits against the BC lineup, striking out six and walking only one batter through seven innings. His cornerstone foundation allowed Nathan Croner to throw the second game against BC, and he was equally sterling, striking out four with one walk in just under seven innings.
Both games, though, saw bounceback performances by the Eagles against an Eastern Kentucky team poised to make a run at the NCAA Tournament. The Colonels, who scored 27 runs the weekend before against Maryland-Eastern Shore and were coming off of a 7-3 loss to Kentucky, ran into a buzzsaw performance both games, surrendering 19 runs in two games, including a 13-2 thumping in the series finale on Saturday night.
"It's a really hard thing to ask a team to travel 12 hours and play two doubleheaders," Gambino said. "But I was worried that we were going to be in Kentucky for a week with no games because of the rain."
*****
Second Base: Bombs Away
BC settled into the cold Kentucky rain after the doubleheader, enabling a breakout performance against the Wildcats in Lexington's midweek game. The game itself, though, didn't become a blowout until the later innings, forcing the Eagles to rally from a one-run deficit that lasted until the eighth.
"They had the lead, but then (Brian Dempsey) got a big hit, (Jake Alu) got a big hit," Gambino said. "It didn't open up until later in that game. It was a one-run game, and Kentucky had to bring in one of their weekend starters in the eighth inning. So we actually did that against an SEC weekend starter. We just kept putting pressure on Kentucky. They made one mistake, then all of a sudden it opened up. And that's what our offense is going to be."
Kentucky's staff approach meant ten pitchers trotted out of the bullpen with nobody throwing more than two innings, save for starter Mason Hazelwood's two-and-a-third. In the eighth inning, with the Eagles threatening the one-run lead, the Wildcats brought in closer Jimmy Ramsey with one out and the bases loaded, and he promptly struck out Lucas Stalman. But he failed to end the jam, surrendering a Sal Frelick single that was bobbled at first by Dalton Reed and subsequently scored two runs.
BC still only had a one-run lead, and Ramsey went to 0-2 in the count against Dempsey, but the hitter rallied to launch a triple to left that scored two more runs. It gave the Eagles the lead into the ninth, where opportunistic running worked counts and advanced on wild pitches. BC wound up scoring seven run in the inning but only had three hits.
"You have to take out the idea of a 2-3-4 hitter with us," Gambino said. "We look at the lineup combination and how to feed off, complementing each other. We know we have guys who can get on base, so that's the top of the order. But then we're looking at guys behind them who can situationally hit, get the ball in play. People look at a number four hitter and think of a big strong guy who can leave the yard. That can happen for us, but it's almost more important to situationally hit and put the ball in play because those top order guys are always going to be on second and third."
*****
Third Base: Lights Out
The hitting was flashy enough that it might have cast a shadow over the continued emergence of BC's freshmen arms. Mason Pelio threw seven innings of one-run baseball against Eastern Kentucky while Joe Mancini was electric against Kentucky. The duo allowed one run apiece, with the latter needing just 38 pitches to get through three innings against an SEC lineup. Pelio, meanwhile, dominated EKU, striking out six with one walk.
Travis Lane, meanwhile, pitched in both victories at EKU, firing over three innings with four cumulative strikeouts in relief of both Pelio and Mancini.
"Joe Mancini was great, and Travis Lane was great again," Gambino said. "Joe puts himself in a spot where we can keep going to him. He pounds the zone with three pitches. He can throw a fastball where he wants it, has some sinking action and can throw a curveball for strikes. He's just a dealer, and he has a deceptively quick fastball."
The youngsters' performance allowed BC to advance through the early part of the trip without Dan Metzdorf, who rested last weekend before returning to the rotation in time for Louisville. It also allowed the Eagles to continue working their bullpen in and out of key spots, with John Witkowski picking up the win in the late innings against Kentucky.
"We have three quality weekend starters, and the bullpen (started) coming together (against EKU and Kentucky)," Gambino said.
*****
Heading Home: Pelio's Performance
The first games provided some headlining pop heading into the weekend's ACC-opening series against Louisville. After the No. 8 Cardinals picked up victories in the first two games of the series, the Eagles rallied to stave off the sweep with their first road victory against one of the nation's early favorites to advance this season to the College World Series.
It's hard to understand what the third-game victory will mean in the long run, but it sends a huge short-term statement to the rest of the ACC. The Cardinals are one of the nation's premier programs and proved it early on Friday with a 4-0 win in the first game behind lefty Reid Detmers. He struck out 13 and improved his strikeouts-to-walks ratio to an absurd 5:1 while lowering his WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) to 0.50. Nick Bennett followed him on Saturday and threw five shutout innings, striking out three through 78 pitches and facing six over the minimum as the Cardinals opened up a 10-0 lead.
But after a weather delay paused the onslaught, BC outscored Louisville after play resumed on Sunday morning, 4-1. It set the tone for the afternoon session, where the offense once again used opportunism and cohesion to push runs across in four different innings. Four consecutive hitters in the order - Sal Frelick, Brian Dempsey, Jack Cunningham and Cody Morissette - combined for three runs and three RBI with six of BC's eight hits. For Morissette, his RBI double in the first came two batters after Frelick homered as BC opened up an early 3-0 lead in the first two innings.
It was overshadowed by Mason Pelio's encore performance. His second start of the week featured 113 pitches, over half of which were for strikes. He faced 27 batters and fell one out short of eight complete innings and was just one over the minimum through six innings. He retired 12 straight hitters between the second and sixth innings and retired the Cardinals in order in four of his first five frames. He did commit three walks but two came in the eighth after he started to fatigue.
It was the latest breakout performance for the California native who was considered one of the top 400 prospects out of high school last year. Perfect Game USA listed him as the 29th-best recruit and 10th-best right handed pitcher out of his home state last season with the capability to dominate hitters with a fastball touching into the low-to-mid 90s. After losing that first official start against Bethune-Cookman, he's thrown over 14 innings with nine hits allowed and just one earned run and two wins and a 0.93 WHIP.
Advanced analytics further explain his dominance. Game Score is used to illustrate a pitcher's dominance, and 114 would be an absolute perfect score if a pitcher struck out every batter in a nine-inning game (as improbable as that is). Pelio recorded a 68 against Eastern Kentucky, then improved against Louisville to hit 70 for the first time in his career.
*****
On Deck: Holy Cross and Wake Forest
The week ahead brings BC back to the Commonwealth for their first home on Tuesday vs. Holy Cross. It's the first true "midweek" game for the Eagles and starts the process of playing local non-conference teams in between ACC starts. Following the game on Tuesday, BC heads back on the road to once again play within the Atlantic Division at Wake Forest.
On Tuesday, the Eagles will find an opponent that's struggled to start the season. The Crusaders have only one win in their first 15 games - an 8-6 win over Nicholls in the Mardi Gras Classic in Louisiana - and tell a stark contrast in statistics. The team is hitting just .188 as a unit, with Ben Malgeri leading the team with a .288 average. Despite the number, there is some pop; just under 25% of the team's 87 hits have gone for extra bases, including seven homers. Separately, its pitching staff has an 8.34 ERA, the result of early-season, lopsided results at Baylor, Alabama-Birmingham and LSU.
That sets the tone for the series against Wake Forest, a team known for its power numbers. Since 2012, the Demon Deacons have scored 300 runs every season except for 2014, and they boasted a plus-131 run differential in 2017. In 2013, the team hit 30 home runs as a collective unit but that represents the only season where it wasn't at or around 50 long knocks. During that 2017 season, Wake hit 93 home runs thanks to two 20-homer hitters.
It's partially due to a hitter-friendly ballpark at Gene Hooks Stadium. The field measures just 300 feet down the right field line and 310 feet to left, with the power alleys both under 375 feet. The advantage to the hitters, though, creates a disadvantage for Wake's arms, but the staff handles it with precision. Last year was only the second season where the staff ERA went over 5.00, and that 2017 team that won 42 games was nearly under 4.00.
All three games this weekend can be seen on the ACC Network Extra. Friday night's game is at 6 p.m. with Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday starting at 1 p.m.
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