The UNC Charlotte 49ers come to Athens with a 3-1 record after sweeping Iona to start the season and dropping a game to NC State in Raleigh on Wednesday night. The 49ers have scored at least six runs each time out this season, and lead NC State 6-5 going to the bottom of the 8th inning.
UNC Charlotte went 34-24 a year ago and 18-12 in Conference USA. Their season ended on Saturday at the C-USA tournament when they dropped a 10-8 game to Southern Miss.
Friday night, we’ll see Matt Brooks, a lanky right hander from York Pennsylvania. The sophomore was pretty good last weekend, going 4 2/3 innings and allowing 3 hits, 1 earned run, with 5 strike outs and 1 walk. In 2017, Brooks went 7-4 in 23 appearances, 6 starts, and also collected 2 saves. He threw 63 innings his freshman year (third most on the squad) and had a very good 58/12 K/BB, a 3.14 ERA, and an average against of .227.
In game two, we’re going to square off with Josh Maciejewski, a big senior lefty from Morrisville NC. We haven’t seen too many lefties on the young year and this guy will almost certainly be the best one that we’ve seen. Game two will mark his 42nd start in a 49er uniform. He was good last week, picking up the win and going 6 innings, allowing 1 run (0 earned) on 5 hits with 11 K’s and 1 walk. In 2017, he was ok, going 5-5 in 20 appearances, 12 starts (also collecting 3 saves). He posted a 5.35 ERA in 77 1/3 innings (second most on their squad) with 59 strike outs, 31 walks, and a .286 average against.
In game three (which I hope will be played on Saturday, I really like a double header) we’ll match up with Jonah Patten, a skinny right hander who began his college career at Arkansas. Patten is from Ossian Indiana. Patten wasn’t great last week, though he did pick up the win with 5 innings of work. He allowed 8 hits, 3 runs (all earned), with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts. Iona hit .364 against him last week. He was good in 2017, though, pitching in 21 games with 4 starts and picking up 7 saves (which was tops on the team). Patten threw 33 2/3 innings in 2017 with 40 strikeouts, but 32 walks. Opponents hit .232 against him and he posted a 4.54 ERA. I imagine that we’ll have some base runners in game three, but it seems like he’s a guy who can be a real pain to face.
Offensively, the 49ers are paced by Tommy Bullock, a small junior from Cornelius NC by way of Pitt Community College. Bullock is hitting .533/.650/.600 on the young season. He has 6 RBIs, but only one extra base hit. We should see the right handed hitter at 2B and hitting leadoff.
Reece Hampton is also off to a strong start, hitting .412/.500/.471. We should see Hampton in CF and hitting 2nd. He looks to be more of a bunt and steal threat than Bullock. Last year, Hampton hit .264/.332/.318. Hampton is a switch hitter from Charlotte.
Harris Yett is hitting .500/.500/.750 and has collected 1 of Charlotte’s 2 HRs on the year. We’ll likely see Yett behind the plate this weekend, although I imagine he may DH some as well. Last year wasn’t as good to Yett, as he hit .206/.281/.297 with 1 HR and 25 RBI. Yett is a 4th year junior from Charlotte who also played some at Walters State. I can’t tell if he overlapped there with Andrew Gist, but I imagine they had a year together.
I was wondering if Drew Ober was related to Bailey Ober, who started against us on Opening Day for College of Charleston last year. Turns out they’re brothers. Drew Ober is a hitter, but is off to a very slow start on the year, at 1-16, though he does have 2 stolen bases. Ober was solid for them last year in limited action, however.
The 49ers are 8-10 on the year in stolen bases. Georgia Southern didn’t run much on us and neither did Kennesaw State. These guys are going to try… and that’s good. We need to see that as we’ll see some conference foes this year who are going to run and be aggressive with us.
UNC Charlotte is fielding .972 on the young season, having made 4 errors.
This looks like a very interesting matchup for us. I’m sure that some of UNC Charlotte’s numbers are inflated by their competition so far, but they did play NC State pretty tough on Wednesday. These guys had a good season last year, but they did lose their top three hitters (in terms of average) and their top two HR hitters. They won’t be quite as inexperienced as Georgia Southern offensively, and I imagine they’ll come in here with a bit more confidence. I saw what Arkansas did to Bucknell last weekend… the Hogs won their middle game 32-4 and outscored the Bison something like 49-10 on the weekend. I imagine those Bucknell kids got on the bus in Pittsburgh (? – I think that’s where they’re located) not really expecting to have much success in Fayetteville. That was probably the same case with that Eastern Illinois team we opened with in 2015. I really doubt that’s the case this weekend… UNC Charlotte is coming down here to beat us and, just like last weekend, we’re going to have to play well. We could do a lot worse for a non-conference opponent, I think.
UNC Charlotte went 34-24 a year ago and 18-12 in Conference USA. Their season ended on Saturday at the C-USA tournament when they dropped a 10-8 game to Southern Miss.
Friday night, we’ll see Matt Brooks, a lanky right hander from York Pennsylvania. The sophomore was pretty good last weekend, going 4 2/3 innings and allowing 3 hits, 1 earned run, with 5 strike outs and 1 walk. In 2017, Brooks went 7-4 in 23 appearances, 6 starts, and also collected 2 saves. He threw 63 innings his freshman year (third most on the squad) and had a very good 58/12 K/BB, a 3.14 ERA, and an average against of .227.
In game two, we’re going to square off with Josh Maciejewski, a big senior lefty from Morrisville NC. We haven’t seen too many lefties on the young year and this guy will almost certainly be the best one that we’ve seen. Game two will mark his 42nd start in a 49er uniform. He was good last week, picking up the win and going 6 innings, allowing 1 run (0 earned) on 5 hits with 11 K’s and 1 walk. In 2017, he was ok, going 5-5 in 20 appearances, 12 starts (also collecting 3 saves). He posted a 5.35 ERA in 77 1/3 innings (second most on their squad) with 59 strike outs, 31 walks, and a .286 average against.
In game three (which I hope will be played on Saturday, I really like a double header) we’ll match up with Jonah Patten, a skinny right hander who began his college career at Arkansas. Patten is from Ossian Indiana. Patten wasn’t great last week, though he did pick up the win with 5 innings of work. He allowed 8 hits, 3 runs (all earned), with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts. Iona hit .364 against him last week. He was good in 2017, though, pitching in 21 games with 4 starts and picking up 7 saves (which was tops on the team). Patten threw 33 2/3 innings in 2017 with 40 strikeouts, but 32 walks. Opponents hit .232 against him and he posted a 4.54 ERA. I imagine that we’ll have some base runners in game three, but it seems like he’s a guy who can be a real pain to face.
Offensively, the 49ers are paced by Tommy Bullock, a small junior from Cornelius NC by way of Pitt Community College. Bullock is hitting .533/.650/.600 on the young season. He has 6 RBIs, but only one extra base hit. We should see the right handed hitter at 2B and hitting leadoff.
Reece Hampton is also off to a strong start, hitting .412/.500/.471. We should see Hampton in CF and hitting 2nd. He looks to be more of a bunt and steal threat than Bullock. Last year, Hampton hit .264/.332/.318. Hampton is a switch hitter from Charlotte.
Harris Yett is hitting .500/.500/.750 and has collected 1 of Charlotte’s 2 HRs on the year. We’ll likely see Yett behind the plate this weekend, although I imagine he may DH some as well. Last year wasn’t as good to Yett, as he hit .206/.281/.297 with 1 HR and 25 RBI. Yett is a 4th year junior from Charlotte who also played some at Walters State. I can’t tell if he overlapped there with Andrew Gist, but I imagine they had a year together.
I was wondering if Drew Ober was related to Bailey Ober, who started against us on Opening Day for College of Charleston last year. Turns out they’re brothers. Drew Ober is a hitter, but is off to a very slow start on the year, at 1-16, though he does have 2 stolen bases. Ober was solid for them last year in limited action, however.
The 49ers are 8-10 on the year in stolen bases. Georgia Southern didn’t run much on us and neither did Kennesaw State. These guys are going to try… and that’s good. We need to see that as we’ll see some conference foes this year who are going to run and be aggressive with us.
UNC Charlotte is fielding .972 on the young season, having made 4 errors.
This looks like a very interesting matchup for us. I’m sure that some of UNC Charlotte’s numbers are inflated by their competition so far, but they did play NC State pretty tough on Wednesday. These guys had a good season last year, but they did lose their top three hitters (in terms of average) and their top two HR hitters. They won’t be quite as inexperienced as Georgia Southern offensively, and I imagine they’ll come in here with a bit more confidence. I saw what Arkansas did to Bucknell last weekend… the Hogs won their middle game 32-4 and outscored the Bison something like 49-10 on the weekend. I imagine those Bucknell kids got on the bus in Pittsburgh (? – I think that’s where they’re located) not really expecting to have much success in Fayetteville. That was probably the same case with that Eastern Illinois team we opened with in 2015. I really doubt that’s the case this weekend… UNC Charlotte is coming down here to beat us and, just like last weekend, we’re going to have to play well. We could do a lot worse for a non-conference opponent, I think.
