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Opening Weekend Series Thread: GWU vs FAU Feb 16-18, 2018

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Opening Weekend Series Thread: GWU vs FAU Feb 16-18, 2018


What:      George Washington (0-0) at Florida Atlantic (0-0)

When:     Fri, Feb 16th at 6:30 PM
               Sat, Feb 17th at 4:00 PM
               Sun, Feb 18th at 12:00 PM


Where:    FAU Baseball Stadium

Stream:   CUSA.tv *FEE

Stats:       Here


Series:

The Owls lead 4-0 having taken the lone series outright in 2004, and a solo effort way back in 1984.


Projected Starting Pitchers

Sat:       GWU - LHP Pat Knight (9-3, 4.92 ERA JUCO)
             FAU - LHP Jake Miednik (7-4, 4.88 ERA 2017)

Sat:       GWU - RHP Elliott Raimo (8-3, 3.20 ERA)
             FAU - RHP Kyle Marman (2-2, 4.50 ERA 2017)

Sun:      GWU - TBA
             FAU - RHP Vince Coletti  (5-0, 2.95 ERA JUCO)


Notes


Owls

After a 35-21-1 overall mark and an 18-12 showing on Conference USA action last season the Owls will be looking to return to post season play in 2018.

To aid in that endeavor, they will return five key position players in that of SS Tyler Frank (.336, 11 HR, 43 RBI), RF David Miranda (.319, 12 HR, 51 RBI), LF Eric Rivera (All Freshman C-USA), C Pedro Pages, and 1B Gunnar Lambert (.306).

LHP Jake Miednik gets the nod as the Friday night starter after a 7-4 mark in 2017. He was up and down a bit early but completed the season strong while enjoying a solid fall camp this year.

Kyle Marmon will take the mound on Saturday's and has improved his overall appearance by shedding what he figures to be about 20 pounds. This has mainly been accomplished through changes in dietary habits.

“He not only changed the look of his body, but it’s also made him better on the mound", Coach John McCormack said. "The light turned on and he saw he could be really good, and he deserves to be the Saturday night starter.”

Newcomer RHP Vince Coletti gets the ball on Sunday. “He has a true out pitch in that breaking ball, and he comes with starting experience at the community college level, so we feel really good about it", said McCormack.

FAU was picked to finish 3rd in the 2018 C-USA Preseason Poll behind Southern Miss, and Rice who received 11 and 1 first place votes respectively.


Colonials

George Washington turned in its second 30-win season of the last three seasons in 2017 by finishing with a 31-27 overall mark.

They return 19 members from last season's squad, including four All-Conference and/or All-Region performers, while nine newcomers and three junior college transfers will join the team.

Most notable is transfer Dominic D'Alessandro, who was the NJCAA Division III homerun leader (15) during his inaugural campaign at Rowan College.

The Colonials were picked to finish sixth in the conference in the annual Atlantic 10 Preseason Coaches Poll. They set a new program record for fielding percentage in 2017 by finishing the year at .982 as a team.

Source: George Washington Media relations
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FAU baseball defeats George Washington in season opener

The Owls took their 2018 opener 3-0 over George Washington on Friday night.

FAU (1-0) broke a scoreless contest in the 3rd inning when Pedro Pages doubled in Tyler Frank and Diamond Johnson.

The damage could have been worse for the Colonials but the Owls left a pair of runners aboard for the second straight stanza.

A pair of throwing errors allowed Eric Rivera to cross the plate in the 4th inning to give FAU the final 3-0 advantage.

Jake Miednik (1-0) tossed six innings, giving up just one hit, while striking out seven.

Florida Atlantic saw the bullpen close the game out, while allowing just one hit for the final three frames.

UPDATED SCHEDULE: 2018 FAU Baseball Schedule - FAU Owl's Nest
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3 batters over the minimum, no runner beyond 2B, only 120 pitches for the game, of which 97 were strikes. That's 81% strikes. Like I said earlier, these guys are pounding the strike zone and putting up numbers I've never seen at any level of the game.
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Jake Miednik  was great. Never in trouble all night. Our hitters were all way too excited. I think the bats should light up in game two. MLB, 81% is unheard of. Wow.
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Local Owl said

Jake Miednik  was great. Never in trouble all night. Our hitters were all way too excited. I think the bats should light up in game two. MLB, 81% is unheard of. Wow.
Posted On: Feb 17th 2018, 6:06 AM #377219

First, a correction. There was and mark on the paper that I read as part of a number (read "8" as "18"), and there were "only" 87, not 97 strikes, but still an amazing 73% strikes.

It's tough to get a hit when you don't see strikes (GW threw only 2 more strikes on 49 more pitches). Our OBP for the night was .312. At one point, in a 14-batter stretch, every batter had at least a 2-ball count, with 9 having a 3-ball count (and one of the 2-ball counts ending when Montes laid down a perfect SAC bunt to advance Johnson, who scored the first run of the game). For the night, in 8 innings at the plate only 7 FAU batters had less than a 2-ball count. In 9 innings at the plate, only 8 GW batters even reached a 2-ball count.

Also, our defense was flawless. Gotta give props to Johnson for that line drive he ran down in left in the 9th. Looked like Mantle in his prime.
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Hoping the guys were just a little too gitty at the plate last night for opening day.  Offense was a little underwhelming against sub par pitching.  However, baseball can be a strange game, sometimes it's just as hard to hit poor pitching as it is excellent pitching.  Guys took what they gave them for the most part so gotta give em that.  Gonna have to blow teams like this out of the water though to get any national recognition and move into any polls.  

Pitching and D looked solid.  
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I will take 73% strikes every day. That stat is still crazy great. I really am expecting to see a much more relaxed team today. Don't be surprised to see a double digit score.
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FAU baseball locks up the series with another fine performance from their starting hurler - Kyle Marman.

The pen blew a would be shut out but Coach Mack is obviously trying to get guys time.

Interesting enough, the run came against a seasoned transfer.

The boys will go for the sweep tomorrow.


UPDATED SCHEDULE: 2018 FAU Baseball Schedule - FAU Owl's Nest
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Bottom third of the line up has been getting better looks at the plate than the top third. I don't have the numbers but too many strike outs  at the top. Not even good strike outs. Swinging at pitches out of the zone. Pedro Pages is really hitting the ball hard. Just not getting very lucky. But we have a long way to go.
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Tonight, again 70.2% strikes. Again, in 9 innings, only 8 opposing batters got to a 2-ball count. Marman gave up 4 singles, which traveled a total of about 60 feet, with 3 bunt singles and 1 swinging bunt. No walks, 7 strikeouts. Only one runner reached 2B against him, and then was put out on a play that caused a lot of commotion in the booth. The next batter hits a ground ball which was fielded cleanly, but the throw to 1B was offline. At that point, the E was started to be entered on the board waiting for the position number and the enter button to be pressed. But, then Lambert fired a bullet to Frank at 3B who tagged the runner out, and the E was never posted. Then there were questions about why no error was charged for the batter reaching first, and instead, it was scored as a fielders choice. Most of the media asked, and when I said there was a rule covering that exact play, based upon past history, accepted that. One of the newer media came over and interrupted the scoring of the game to say an error has to be charged on that play; a fan stood up screaming into the booth and blocking the view of the game. It got pretty chaotic for a few minutes.

None of those were aware of Rule 9.05(b)(3).

Rule 9 is "The Rules of Scoring"
Rule 9.05 is "Base Hits"
Rule 9.05(b) is  "The official scorer shall not credit a base hit when a:"
and Rule 9.05(b)(3) is "pitcher, the catcher or any infielder handles a batted ball and puts out a preceding runner who is attempting to advance one base or to return to his original base, or would have put out such runner with ordinary effort except for a fielding error. The official scorer shall charge the batter with a time at bat but no hit;"

In other words, the batter is awarded a fielders choice. If the runner from 2B had been safe, and in the scorer's judgment the batter would not have reached had the throw been accurate, then it would have been an error. Or, had the runner reached 3B and then been put out at home, it would have been an error (the no assumption of double play only applied to force and reverse force double plays - and, unknown by most, even then can be assumed if the error is on the 1B dropping the ball). But, even more interestingly, had something like last years "Labsan shift" been on, and the LF been playing in and made the throw, and the play otherwise developed exactly the same, the batter would have met all the criteria for and have been awarded a hit (note that not a hit only if anyone other than an outfielder initiates the play; outfielder initiate play, it's a hit) - not an error; not a fielders choice, a hit. That would have probably brought out pitchforks and torches.

It can go the opposite way, too. If a runner reaches 2B on an error, and the next batter hits a flare to left with both SS and LF going for it. SS picks up the ball, throws to 3B and puts out the runner from 2B. The batter reaching on an error just took a hit away from the following batter, who now reaches on a fielders choice on what by all that is just and fair earned himself a hit (if LF picked the ball up, it would have been a hit). Or, if a runner reaches 1B on an error, batter hits a routine grounder directly toward the second baseman, the ball hits the runner. Runner out, the batter gets credit for a hit when, without the error, he easily grounded out. You don't have to like the rules, and they don't have to make sense, you just have to follow them. If anyone doesn't, the stats to measure players and teams against one another become meaningless.

Everyone, after reading the rule, agreed it was scored properly as a fielders choice. The fan, after hearing the rule read, went away.
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