Toledo rolls into Athens with a 3-8 record. They began the season in Kissimmee, Florida. The Rockets dropped their opening game to Iowa 4-3, giving up two runs in the bottom of the 9th. They came back to beat Saint Louis 4-1 the next day before dropping the second half of the doubleheader to Pittsburgh 17-3. Toledo finished their Florida trip on a good note, beating Saint Louis again, this time 16-8.
A week later, Toledo was swept by Austin Peay, who we (for some reason) will see this fall in football. The Governors beat Toledo 16-4 and 12-2 because Toledo put a most respectable effort forth the next day, losing 8-7.
Toledo has been on the road for awhile. Last Friday, they reported to Baton Rouge to play in the “LSU Invitational”… LSU beat the Rockets 8-1 on Friday night. SE Louisiana beat Toledo 7-5 on Saturday. The Rockets wrapped up the series by beating our old friends from Sacred Heart, 7-2. Most recently, Toledo dropped a mid-weeker to SE Louisiana, 7-6. I’m not sure if they drove up to Athens yesterday or Wednesday, but they haven’t been home. Thankfully for them, they do get to fly back home on Sunday evening.
They won’t play a home game until March 14, when they host Findlay. They actually will not play a weekend home series until April 6. I’m not 100% sure they have lights at their field, as all of their home games appear to be day time starts. Later this season, Toledo plays a school called Madonna…. (Findlay and Madonna? I guess next year they’ll play Dolce and Gabbana)… Their game against Madonna is actually at Comerica Park, where the Detroit Tigers play. I thought maybe that was an undercard game, but it starts at 7p, so who knows….
Stricklin mentioned yesterday morning on the radio that “kids in the north are a little tougher” (ok…..) and noted that some of Toledo’s players will wear short sleeves tonight in the cold weather.
Tonight we’ll see Michael Jacob, a small junior lefty from St. Clairsville Ohio. Jacob looks like he’s their best pitcher, although their Sunday guy Shutes won MAC co-pitcher of the week last week. It looks like Jacob spent a couple of seasons at the back of Toledo’s bullpen before moving into the Friday night role. On the season, he’s thrown 17 1/3 innings and has a 6.23 ERA with an 0-2 record. He has 16 strikeouts and 7 walks, and the opponents are hitting .292 against him. Those numbers are inflated by a bad start at Austin Peay. He was good his other two times out. He went 6 innings in Red Stick last weekend and allowed 3 runs and 7 hits to LSU, with 5 strike outs and a walk. We haven’t hit left handed starters very well this season. This guy probably isn’t as good as the guy we saw from Charlotte, but it looks like he has some ability.
In the middle game, we’ll face off with Layne Schnitz-Paxton, a lanky sophomore righty from Napoleon Ohio. Layne S. -P. as he’s affectionately known in their box score is off to an 0-1 start and 5-93 ERA. He’s thrown 13 2/3 innings with 8 strike outs and 11 walks. Opponents are hitting .273 against him. He was ok last weekend against SE Louisiana, working into the 6th inning and allowing only 3 hits and 2 runs, but walked 5 and also hit 2 batters.
It’ll be interesting to see if we wind up playing a DH on Saturday… I imagine that we will given the forecast on Sunday (and given the opponent…. I suspect that we’d take our chances with playing on Sunday if we were playing Arkansas or Vanderbilt this weekend). Whenever we play game three, we’ll get Sam Shutes, a big fifth year senior righty from Three Rivers Michigan. This weekend will mark his 44th start in a Rockets uniform. On the year, he’s 2-0 with a 6.14 ERA. He’s thrown 14 2/3 innings and has a terrific 16/2 K/BB. Opponents are hitting .246 against him. Last time out, in a game Mickey Westphal could appreciate, Shutes allowed 2 hits and no runs to Sacred Heart, striking out 11 and walking 1. Unlike Mickey, Shutes didn’t go CG, giving the Rockets 6 innings.
As a staff, Toledo has a 7.47 ERA and has already issued 71 walks in 94 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .299 against them.
Offensively, Toledo is lead by Matt Hansen. The senior hails from Erie PA. We should see him hitting leadoff and playing SS. On the season, he’s hitting .413/.471/.783 with 3 HRs and 7 RBI. 10 of his 19 hits have gone for extra bases.
You don’t see a lot of mothers naming their sons “Adolph” over the last seven decades or so… I guess it’s a little harder to shed the last name, though…. Ross Adolph should play CF and hit 3rd for Toledo. Like Hansen, Adolph hits from the left side… He’s one of their biggest position players. The junior calls Findlay Ohio home. On the year, he’s hitting .311/.426/.622 with 3 HRs and a team leading 10 RBI.
Brad Boss will probably play some 3B and maybe some OF this weekend. He should hit in the middle of their order. The senior from Temperance MI is hitting .250/.449/.500 with (wait for it) 3 HRs and 7 RBI.
Toledo has three players who have started every game who are hitting under .230 on the season.
As a team, the Rockets are hitting .263/.357/.443. They’ve hit 13 HRs as a team. They don’t run a ton, going 9/12 in stolen bases on the year. We’ve done a great job of controlling the run game this season.. I don’t imagine we’ll see a lot of steal attempts this weekend. Opponents are 14/24 against Toledo in stolen bases.
It’s not easy to sweep anyone in baseball… One of the biggest mismatches that I’ve seen in Athens was when we played Youngstown State to open the 2009 season. We still had to work that weekend, especially on Sunday to finish it off. I’m certainly not suggesting that this is something that we can blow off, but having said that, if we play decent baseball this weekend, we really should be 3-0. Or, put another way, going less than 3-0 is going to set off more alarm bells than last weekend, as far as I’m concerned. This weekend has been unkind to us recently. That infamous Rider series happened in the 4th weekend last year. Longwood in 2015 fell on the 4th weekend also. Talk about a no-win situation… but I guess that’s what most non-conference games in college sports amount to for the major school.
It's obviously going to get a lot tougher starting next weekend. I’m hoping that this series will allow us to better define some roles and allow us to get some good feelings back. I expect us to go to Tuscaloosa on a five game win streak. Starts tonight!
A week later, Toledo was swept by Austin Peay, who we (for some reason) will see this fall in football. The Governors beat Toledo 16-4 and 12-2 because Toledo put a most respectable effort forth the next day, losing 8-7.
Toledo has been on the road for awhile. Last Friday, they reported to Baton Rouge to play in the “LSU Invitational”… LSU beat the Rockets 8-1 on Friday night. SE Louisiana beat Toledo 7-5 on Saturday. The Rockets wrapped up the series by beating our old friends from Sacred Heart, 7-2. Most recently, Toledo dropped a mid-weeker to SE Louisiana, 7-6. I’m not sure if they drove up to Athens yesterday or Wednesday, but they haven’t been home. Thankfully for them, they do get to fly back home on Sunday evening.
They won’t play a home game until March 14, when they host Findlay. They actually will not play a weekend home series until April 6. I’m not 100% sure they have lights at their field, as all of their home games appear to be day time starts. Later this season, Toledo plays a school called Madonna…. (Findlay and Madonna? I guess next year they’ll play Dolce and Gabbana)… Their game against Madonna is actually at Comerica Park, where the Detroit Tigers play. I thought maybe that was an undercard game, but it starts at 7p, so who knows….
Stricklin mentioned yesterday morning on the radio that “kids in the north are a little tougher” (ok…..) and noted that some of Toledo’s players will wear short sleeves tonight in the cold weather.
Tonight we’ll see Michael Jacob, a small junior lefty from St. Clairsville Ohio. Jacob looks like he’s their best pitcher, although their Sunday guy Shutes won MAC co-pitcher of the week last week. It looks like Jacob spent a couple of seasons at the back of Toledo’s bullpen before moving into the Friday night role. On the season, he’s thrown 17 1/3 innings and has a 6.23 ERA with an 0-2 record. He has 16 strikeouts and 7 walks, and the opponents are hitting .292 against him. Those numbers are inflated by a bad start at Austin Peay. He was good his other two times out. He went 6 innings in Red Stick last weekend and allowed 3 runs and 7 hits to LSU, with 5 strike outs and a walk. We haven’t hit left handed starters very well this season. This guy probably isn’t as good as the guy we saw from Charlotte, but it looks like he has some ability.
In the middle game, we’ll face off with Layne Schnitz-Paxton, a lanky sophomore righty from Napoleon Ohio. Layne S. -P. as he’s affectionately known in their box score is off to an 0-1 start and 5-93 ERA. He’s thrown 13 2/3 innings with 8 strike outs and 11 walks. Opponents are hitting .273 against him. He was ok last weekend against SE Louisiana, working into the 6th inning and allowing only 3 hits and 2 runs, but walked 5 and also hit 2 batters.
It’ll be interesting to see if we wind up playing a DH on Saturday… I imagine that we will given the forecast on Sunday (and given the opponent…. I suspect that we’d take our chances with playing on Sunday if we were playing Arkansas or Vanderbilt this weekend). Whenever we play game three, we’ll get Sam Shutes, a big fifth year senior righty from Three Rivers Michigan. This weekend will mark his 44th start in a Rockets uniform. On the year, he’s 2-0 with a 6.14 ERA. He’s thrown 14 2/3 innings and has a terrific 16/2 K/BB. Opponents are hitting .246 against him. Last time out, in a game Mickey Westphal could appreciate, Shutes allowed 2 hits and no runs to Sacred Heart, striking out 11 and walking 1. Unlike Mickey, Shutes didn’t go CG, giving the Rockets 6 innings.
As a staff, Toledo has a 7.47 ERA and has already issued 71 walks in 94 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .299 against them.
Offensively, Toledo is lead by Matt Hansen. The senior hails from Erie PA. We should see him hitting leadoff and playing SS. On the season, he’s hitting .413/.471/.783 with 3 HRs and 7 RBI. 10 of his 19 hits have gone for extra bases.
You don’t see a lot of mothers naming their sons “Adolph” over the last seven decades or so… I guess it’s a little harder to shed the last name, though…. Ross Adolph should play CF and hit 3rd for Toledo. Like Hansen, Adolph hits from the left side… He’s one of their biggest position players. The junior calls Findlay Ohio home. On the year, he’s hitting .311/.426/.622 with 3 HRs and a team leading 10 RBI.
Brad Boss will probably play some 3B and maybe some OF this weekend. He should hit in the middle of their order. The senior from Temperance MI is hitting .250/.449/.500 with (wait for it) 3 HRs and 7 RBI.
Toledo has three players who have started every game who are hitting under .230 on the season.
As a team, the Rockets are hitting .263/.357/.443. They’ve hit 13 HRs as a team. They don’t run a ton, going 9/12 in stolen bases on the year. We’ve done a great job of controlling the run game this season.. I don’t imagine we’ll see a lot of steal attempts this weekend. Opponents are 14/24 against Toledo in stolen bases.
It’s not easy to sweep anyone in baseball… One of the biggest mismatches that I’ve seen in Athens was when we played Youngstown State to open the 2009 season. We still had to work that weekend, especially on Sunday to finish it off. I’m certainly not suggesting that this is something that we can blow off, but having said that, if we play decent baseball this weekend, we really should be 3-0. Or, put another way, going less than 3-0 is going to set off more alarm bells than last weekend, as far as I’m concerned. This weekend has been unkind to us recently. That infamous Rider series happened in the 4th weekend last year. Longwood in 2015 fell on the 4th weekend also. Talk about a no-win situation… but I guess that’s what most non-conference games in college sports amount to for the major school.
It's obviously going to get a lot tougher starting next weekend. I’m hoping that this series will allow us to better define some roles and allow us to get some good feelings back. I expect us to go to Tuscaloosa on a five game win streak. Starts tonight!
