College of Charleston enters the weekend at 7-2 overall. They began the season with a three game sweep of SE Missouri State. A road trip to Coastal Carolina didn’t go so well as College of Charleston was blanked 13-0. They’d lose their next time out to LIU Brooklyn, at home, 7-2. Since then, they’ve won four games in a row. They had a somewhat strange series with LIU Brooklyn as they played them three times on the weekend, then again on Tuesday. Most recently, College of Charleston beat Ga Southern by a score of 3-0.
Last year, the Cougars went 28-31. That surprised me. I thought they were a pretty decent team when they came to Athens, albeit short on pitching and that’s a bad problem to have. The College fired their head coach at the end of the season among rumors of inappropriate conduct toward players, though public details were somewhat sketchy as I recall. Amid further controversy, College of Charleston hired Chad Holbrook as a head coach, upsetting a large portion of their baseball alumni base (or, at least, a vocal portion).
This weekend is largely a story in familiar faces between Holbrook and their returning hitters. Also, Jim Toman, formerly of Liberty, is an assistant on the Cougar staff. You may recall that we played a weekend series against Liberty in 2013.
Friday night, we’ll see Evan Sisk. He’s a fairly stout junior lefty from Chester South Carolina. He didn’t pitch against us last year. I seem to remember thinking we’d see him. He must have been hurt as he made 15 appearances with 12 starts in 2017. He posted a 3.72 ERA and his 75 innings lead the staff. He had a 47/26 K/BB and the opposition hit .262 against him. It looks like a mixed back so far on the young 2018 season. Sisk has made 2 starts and is 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA. He’s thrown 9 1/3 innings and has a 7/3 K/BB and .263 average against. College of Charleston has only allowed three HRs on the year and Sisk has served up one of those. He’s also hit 4 batters.
On Saturday, we’ll face off with Griffin McLarty. He’s a lanky sophomore righty from Buckner, Kentucky. McLarty was ok last year, working mostly in relief. He made 19 appearances with 4 starts and posted an 0-3 record with a 6.16 ERA. He threw 30 2/3 innings with 33 K’s and 16 BB’s. Opponents hit .282 against him. We saw him briefly last year as he recorded the final two outs against us on Saturday, it what was most certainly not a save situation. He retired both batters he saw and honestly don’t remember much about him. He’s off to a pretty good start this year. He’s 1-0 in 2 appearances, both starts, and has a solid 0.96 ERA. He’s thrown 9 1/3 innings, but allowed 10 hits to go with 3 walks and 9 strike outs. The opposition is hitting .278 against him. So, looks like a good number of base runners, but he’s held them at bay.
Sunday we’ll get to see Jakob Frismuth, another lanky sophomore righty. Frismuth was a regular contributor for them last year, appearing in 18 games with 10 starts and posting a 3-5 record and 6/31 ERA. He threw 61 1/3 innings and posted a 34/14 K/BB and a whopping .350 average against. He gave up 25 extra base hits last year, the most on the team. We saw him for 1 innings last year, on Sunday, and had some success, picking up 4 hits and 1 run. This year has been a whole lot better. He’s 2-0 in 2 starts and his 11 innings leads the staff. He has a 0.82 ERA and .211 average against. He has 8 K’s and 1 BB and has only allowed one extra base hit, a double.
Some of those numbers are likely influenced by the lineups they’ve seen. I don’t know a lot about SE Missouri State or LIU Brooklyn, but I feel confident that those teams offensively just aren’t on our level. But really, College of Charleston’s pitching didn’t impress me very much last year. Outside of Bailey Ober (who was really good) on Friday night and Carter Love (who is currently their closer but started against us) on Saturday, I thought they were very pedestrian on the mound… It seemed like most of the other guys they threw at us didn’t hit 90 very often and just didn’t seem to have great stuff. It’ll be interesting to see if that has changed this year.
What really impressed me about the Cougars last year was their bats. I remember standing out in the parking lot during their BP and being really surprised at the number of balls that were flying out… It seemed like Vanderbilt or LSU taking batting practice. Their prowess extended to the games too as they carded 32 runs against us on the weekend. And, a lot of those guys are back.
At the leadoff spot, Dupree Hart was 6-16 last year with 1 RBI. Danny Wondrack was 3-13, but he made all three hits count and his carded 5 RBI and hit a massive HR on Saturday. Luke Manzo was 4-12 with 3 RBI. Their guy, though, was Logan McRae, who went 4-7 with 2 HRs and a whopping 9 RBIs on the weekend.
We should see Hart back at the top this weekend. The small second baseman hails from Rock Hill, South Carolina. I remember him as being good with the glove last year. This year he’s off to a great start, hitting .353/.410/.529 with 1 HR and 4 RBI. He’s 1-2 in stolen bases (10-15 last year) and has just two strikeouts in 34 ABs to go along with 3 walks.
Danny Wondrack should hit more in the middle of their order, and catch. Wondrack is a stocky junior from Wall, New Jersey. On the season, he’s hitting .355/.444/.774 with 3 HRs to go with 3 doubles and a triple. He’s K’d 8 times and walked 5.
Logan McRae can DH and play some 1st (we saw him at 1st and LF last year). The fourth year junior hails from West Florence SC. He lead their team (and would have lead ours and plenty of others) with 17 HRs last year. Solid start for McRae this year at .313/.389/.500 with 3 strike outs and 4 walks. He has one HR, one double, and one triple, and 5 RBI.
Of their 8 qualified hitters, 7 have either 4 or 5 RBI. That’s interesting. As a team, they’re hitting .287/.370/.472 with 9 HRs. They’ve K’d 41 times an drawn 33 walks. On the bases, they are 9-15. College of Charleston is fielding .982.
These guys worked us in Athens last year. We were lucky to win that Sunday game after being blown out Friday and Saturday. I’m sure their hitters aren’t scared of us. I’m sure their pitchers have seen enough to know that we aren’t the same lineup as when they saw us last year. I imagine College of Charleston is going to come in with some confidence this weekend. I imagine too that this is a HUGE deal for Chad Holbrook. They probably get into a regional last year if they beat us in Columbia. They didn’t… and Holbrook, having apparently completely lost the majority of their fanbase, was fired. I’m not certain that he keeps his job if they go 0-2 or 1-2 in a regional… it just seemed like a bit situation over there last year. Point is, Holbrook probably view us as a big reason why he was fired. Heck, he was the only SEC coach to lose to us four years in a row. They’ve gotten off to a good start this year, but not against great competition…. Being a somewhat controversial hire there, Holbrook could really unite their fanbase with a series win this weekend. I’m sure he knows that too… It’s an interesting dynamic to me. And I think it’ll be an interesting series.
We are so much better now than the team they rolled in Athens last year. Gotta keep our own good feelings going!
Last year, the Cougars went 28-31. That surprised me. I thought they were a pretty decent team when they came to Athens, albeit short on pitching and that’s a bad problem to have. The College fired their head coach at the end of the season among rumors of inappropriate conduct toward players, though public details were somewhat sketchy as I recall. Amid further controversy, College of Charleston hired Chad Holbrook as a head coach, upsetting a large portion of their baseball alumni base (or, at least, a vocal portion).
This weekend is largely a story in familiar faces between Holbrook and their returning hitters. Also, Jim Toman, formerly of Liberty, is an assistant on the Cougar staff. You may recall that we played a weekend series against Liberty in 2013.
Friday night, we’ll see Evan Sisk. He’s a fairly stout junior lefty from Chester South Carolina. He didn’t pitch against us last year. I seem to remember thinking we’d see him. He must have been hurt as he made 15 appearances with 12 starts in 2017. He posted a 3.72 ERA and his 75 innings lead the staff. He had a 47/26 K/BB and the opposition hit .262 against him. It looks like a mixed back so far on the young 2018 season. Sisk has made 2 starts and is 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA. He’s thrown 9 1/3 innings and has a 7/3 K/BB and .263 average against. College of Charleston has only allowed three HRs on the year and Sisk has served up one of those. He’s also hit 4 batters.
On Saturday, we’ll face off with Griffin McLarty. He’s a lanky sophomore righty from Buckner, Kentucky. McLarty was ok last year, working mostly in relief. He made 19 appearances with 4 starts and posted an 0-3 record with a 6.16 ERA. He threw 30 2/3 innings with 33 K’s and 16 BB’s. Opponents hit .282 against him. We saw him briefly last year as he recorded the final two outs against us on Saturday, it what was most certainly not a save situation. He retired both batters he saw and honestly don’t remember much about him. He’s off to a pretty good start this year. He’s 1-0 in 2 appearances, both starts, and has a solid 0.96 ERA. He’s thrown 9 1/3 innings, but allowed 10 hits to go with 3 walks and 9 strike outs. The opposition is hitting .278 against him. So, looks like a good number of base runners, but he’s held them at bay.
Sunday we’ll get to see Jakob Frismuth, another lanky sophomore righty. Frismuth was a regular contributor for them last year, appearing in 18 games with 10 starts and posting a 3-5 record and 6/31 ERA. He threw 61 1/3 innings and posted a 34/14 K/BB and a whopping .350 average against. He gave up 25 extra base hits last year, the most on the team. We saw him for 1 innings last year, on Sunday, and had some success, picking up 4 hits and 1 run. This year has been a whole lot better. He’s 2-0 in 2 starts and his 11 innings leads the staff. He has a 0.82 ERA and .211 average against. He has 8 K’s and 1 BB and has only allowed one extra base hit, a double.
Some of those numbers are likely influenced by the lineups they’ve seen. I don’t know a lot about SE Missouri State or LIU Brooklyn, but I feel confident that those teams offensively just aren’t on our level. But really, College of Charleston’s pitching didn’t impress me very much last year. Outside of Bailey Ober (who was really good) on Friday night and Carter Love (who is currently their closer but started against us) on Saturday, I thought they were very pedestrian on the mound… It seemed like most of the other guys they threw at us didn’t hit 90 very often and just didn’t seem to have great stuff. It’ll be interesting to see if that has changed this year.
What really impressed me about the Cougars last year was their bats. I remember standing out in the parking lot during their BP and being really surprised at the number of balls that were flying out… It seemed like Vanderbilt or LSU taking batting practice. Their prowess extended to the games too as they carded 32 runs against us on the weekend. And, a lot of those guys are back.
At the leadoff spot, Dupree Hart was 6-16 last year with 1 RBI. Danny Wondrack was 3-13, but he made all three hits count and his carded 5 RBI and hit a massive HR on Saturday. Luke Manzo was 4-12 with 3 RBI. Their guy, though, was Logan McRae, who went 4-7 with 2 HRs and a whopping 9 RBIs on the weekend.
We should see Hart back at the top this weekend. The small second baseman hails from Rock Hill, South Carolina. I remember him as being good with the glove last year. This year he’s off to a great start, hitting .353/.410/.529 with 1 HR and 4 RBI. He’s 1-2 in stolen bases (10-15 last year) and has just two strikeouts in 34 ABs to go along with 3 walks.
Danny Wondrack should hit more in the middle of their order, and catch. Wondrack is a stocky junior from Wall, New Jersey. On the season, he’s hitting .355/.444/.774 with 3 HRs to go with 3 doubles and a triple. He’s K’d 8 times and walked 5.
Logan McRae can DH and play some 1st (we saw him at 1st and LF last year). The fourth year junior hails from West Florence SC. He lead their team (and would have lead ours and plenty of others) with 17 HRs last year. Solid start for McRae this year at .313/.389/.500 with 3 strike outs and 4 walks. He has one HR, one double, and one triple, and 5 RBI.
Of their 8 qualified hitters, 7 have either 4 or 5 RBI. That’s interesting. As a team, they’re hitting .287/.370/.472 with 9 HRs. They’ve K’d 41 times an drawn 33 walks. On the bases, they are 9-15. College of Charleston is fielding .982.
These guys worked us in Athens last year. We were lucky to win that Sunday game after being blown out Friday and Saturday. I’m sure their hitters aren’t scared of us. I’m sure their pitchers have seen enough to know that we aren’t the same lineup as when they saw us last year. I imagine College of Charleston is going to come in with some confidence this weekend. I imagine too that this is a HUGE deal for Chad Holbrook. They probably get into a regional last year if they beat us in Columbia. They didn’t… and Holbrook, having apparently completely lost the majority of their fanbase, was fired. I’m not certain that he keeps his job if they go 0-2 or 1-2 in a regional… it just seemed like a bit situation over there last year. Point is, Holbrook probably view us as a big reason why he was fired. Heck, he was the only SEC coach to lose to us four years in a row. They’ve gotten off to a good start this year, but not against great competition…. Being a somewhat controversial hire there, Holbrook could really unite their fanbase with a series win this weekend. I’m sure he knows that too… It’s an interesting dynamic to me. And I think it’ll be an interesting series.
We are so much better now than the team they rolled in Athens last year. Gotta keep our own good feelings going!
