Hey y'all, I went to another scrimmage today for the baseball team as it ramps up towards the Garnet and Black series coming up in a couple weeks. Here are some observations from today:
Roman Kimball Leaves Early:
I posted in another thread when it happened, but Notre Dame transfer pitcher Roman Kimball started this game and left in the first inning. He threw back-to-back wild pitches and then a trainer came out, and he walked off with him. His velocity was not dropping at any point before the injury which is a positive sign in terms of avoiding a serious injury, but it is something to keep an eye on in the future.
Eli Jerzembeck Shines:
If you read my last fall baseball notebook, you know I came away very impressed with true freshman pitcher Eli Jerzembeck. He was the highest-rated recruit Mark Kingston brought to campus, and he flashed big time again on Friday. He faced nine batters and retired all of them in three perfect innings, striking out four batters and inducing nine whiffs. The highlight of his day was an impressive strikeout of Vanderbilt transfer Gavin Casas where he induced three swinging strikes on the Vanderbilt transfer.
Infield defense:
There were a few flashy defensive plays this afternoon in the infield, including a pair of nice short hop picks from Ethan Petry at third base. Braylen Wimmer got the start at shortstop and made a good ranging play over to his left for the final our of his game, a shifty play to throw out Connor Fuhrman on a tough grounder.
The best play of the day actually came from a pitcher though in the second inning. Talmadge LeCroy smoked a line drive at 95 MPH off the bat right back to pitcher Trey Wheeler, but Wheeler stuck his glove up in self-defense and snared the line drive for the out.
Will Tippett manufactures a run:
One of the more impressive bits of small ball of the day came when Tippett essentially created a run out of thin air. He started the fourth inning with a 102 MPH exit velocity single up the middle off Connor McCreery. He followed that up by stealing second base, advancing to third on a groundout to second base and then scoring on a heads-up play to dart home on a wild pitch.
Cole Messina and Jonathan French had the two RBI hits of the day, both opposite field singles in the first inning.
Roman Kimball Leaves Early:
I posted in another thread when it happened, but Notre Dame transfer pitcher Roman Kimball started this game and left in the first inning. He threw back-to-back wild pitches and then a trainer came out, and he walked off with him. His velocity was not dropping at any point before the injury which is a positive sign in terms of avoiding a serious injury, but it is something to keep an eye on in the future.
Eli Jerzembeck Shines:
If you read my last fall baseball notebook, you know I came away very impressed with true freshman pitcher Eli Jerzembeck. He was the highest-rated recruit Mark Kingston brought to campus, and he flashed big time again on Friday. He faced nine batters and retired all of them in three perfect innings, striking out four batters and inducing nine whiffs. The highlight of his day was an impressive strikeout of Vanderbilt transfer Gavin Casas where he induced three swinging strikes on the Vanderbilt transfer.
Infield defense:
There were a few flashy defensive plays this afternoon in the infield, including a pair of nice short hop picks from Ethan Petry at third base. Braylen Wimmer got the start at shortstop and made a good ranging play over to his left for the final our of his game, a shifty play to throw out Connor Fuhrman on a tough grounder.
The best play of the day actually came from a pitcher though in the second inning. Talmadge LeCroy smoked a line drive at 95 MPH off the bat right back to pitcher Trey Wheeler, but Wheeler stuck his glove up in self-defense and snared the line drive for the out.
Will Tippett manufactures a run:
One of the more impressive bits of small ball of the day came when Tippett essentially created a run out of thin air. He started the fourth inning with a 102 MPH exit velocity single up the middle off Connor McCreery. He followed that up by stealing second base, advancing to third on a groundout to second base and then scoring on a heads-up play to dart home on a wild pitch.
Cole Messina and Jonathan French had the two RBI hits of the day, both opposite field singles in the first inning.
