Our first Big East weekend was a success. We would of liked to have gotten a sweep, but got beat by a very good college pitcher in game 1. So taking 2 out 3 on the road was good. For the week we were 3-1 again which makes for 4 straight weeks of playing 3-1 baseball, 12-4.

Zack Pitts and Trystan Magnuson continue to be very dominant on the mound. The 2 freshmen, Justin Marks and Tyler Mathis also continue to give us quality outings on the weekend with a chance to win. During the middle of the week Jimmy Belanger and Skylar Meade have given us good outings.

But a couple of weeks ago I promised to discuss the hitters and our offense, so here it goes:
It starts with the seniors and the 2 table setters as I call them. Boomer Whiting hitting .413 and Chris Cates hitting .345 have done a great job of getting on base and setting the tone for the offense with on base %'s at .505 and .404. Boomer has just broken the single season stolen base record with 33sb's and Chris with 9sb's. The 2 hottest hitters are Logan Johnson and Isaiah Howes. Isaiah leads the team in batting average .433 while Logan is hitting .378. Logans 16 extra base hits and 26 rbi's lead the team as Isaiah ranks second with 15 extra base hits and 4th with 18 rbi's. There ability to recognize the breaking ball in the dirt(not swinging at them) has given them the chance to be in positive counts and have success hitting the fastball. Great hitters hit the fastball!!!! And to do that you have to be in good counts (0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-1, etc.) And if you have seen us play we have 3 homeruns on 3-0 counts and 1 double. The guy that can do it all has been Dan Burton, hitting .323 with 19 rbi's, on base % .396 with 11 stolen bases. Basically he ranks in the top 3 or 4 in all offensive categories. Pete Rodriguez is hitting .302 and has been very consistent lately. The top 6 hitters I just mentioned are all senoirs, so the credit goes to those guys 1st.

Jorge Castillo, Derrick Alfonso and Chris Dominguez have been hot and cold. Jorge is coming on strong. Derrick had some good weekends and some bad. We are working on his swing. Chris has battled some wrist problems and that has affected his swing, but he has swung it well the last 4 games. He probably gets pitched to as tough as anyone. Meaning he doesn't get many fastballs to hit with a lot of breaking balls in the dirt. The better job he does of recognizing pitches and laying off the low breaking ball, and taking more walks, the more good pitches he will get to see when they have to throw him a strike.

Alec Lowrey has been very good coming off the bench as a pinch hitter and has started 6 games. Justin McClanahan has 7 starts with a huge 3-run homer at Eastern Kentucky. Jeff Arnold has 3 starts behind the plate and has shown us that he will be a very consistent hitter. Chris Pelaez and Greg Del George have played in 26 games combined and add depth to the outfield and infield.

This group of hitters all played this past weekend at Villanova and have made our offense one of the scariest offenses to face in the country. We are hitting .324 as a team with 21 homeruns(several balls hit the outfield wall), 52 doubles and 68 stolen bases. These numbers all rank in the top 25 in the country.

We are very aggressive at the plate and on the bases. We don't always make the best decisions, but are getting better. We are definitely a fun and exciting team to watch and the kids play VERY HARD!!

Give credit to Chris Lemonis, our recruiting coordinator and hitting coach and Xan Barksdale who also helps with the hitters. These 2 spend many hours throwing batting practice, breaking down video, hitting extra in the cages and creating an atmosphere where are hitters are accountable for their preparation on a day to day basis. Hitting a baseball is the toughest skill in all of sports and it takes a great commitment to be succesful.

Next time you will hear from one of our players or coaches as they assess where we are and what we are doing.

Go Cards,
Dan McDonnell