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The BYU Cougars baseball team enters their second weekend with a 1-2 record. The Y will take part of the 3-team San Jose State Tournament against Northern Colorado and San Jose State.
The University of Northern Colorado will enter this weekend with a 2-3 record. The Bears opened their 2017 season with a 4-game series against a West Coast Conference opponent in San Francisco. The Dons came out on top in the series winning 3 out of the 4 games. Following that series, Northern Colorado picked up a midweek game against San Francisco State that they won, 12-4.
The Spartans have begun this season with a 0-2 record. San Jose State travelled to UCLA where they lost by scores of 3-2 and 10-1. The 3rd game of their series was cancelled due to rain.
Speaking of rain, Northern California has been getting a lot of it. There has been so much downpour that the San Jose State Tournament has been moved away from the universities’ Municipal Stadium as the grass and dirt are in no condition to host 6 games in 3 days. So, the venue has changed to turf field... in Stockton, California.
The move from natural grass and dirt to turf is disappointing, but necessary. However, add in playing ball in Stockton rather than San Jose and it might be time to pass around the Zoloft. Even still, the games will still be played. I guess that’s better than no baseball.
If you aren’t in Northern California, you aren’t going to see any of these games. The Mountain West Network was scheduled to broadcast the pair of BYU-SJSU contests, however, that programming has been cancelled due to the change in venue.
The Cougars will play a double header on Thursday. The first game will be against the University of Northern Colorado Bears. The second game will be against SJSU.
On Friday, the Bat Cats will play their 2nd game against Northern Colorado.
On Saturday, the Y finish out the tournament in their 2nd game with the Spartans.
Probable Starters
Thursday, February 23, 2017, Game #1
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Maverik Buffo
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L | ERA | K | BB | b/avg | WHIP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L | ERA | K | BB | b/avg | WHIP |
Junior | 6'2" | 195 | Right | 0-1 | 7.20 | 3 | 2 | .286 | 1.6 |
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Cody Carroll
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L | ERA | K | BB | b/avg | WHIP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L | ERA | K | BB | b/avg | WHIP |
Senior | 6'2" | 210 | Right | 0-0 | 15.43 | 3 | 5 | .364 | 3.857 |
The Cougars ace Maverik Buffo had a tough, but promising outing against Georgia Tech. Buffo pitched 5 innings in his first competitive game after his UCL injury to his throwing arm. Buffo made a couple mistakes. He gave up 2 home run balls and he threw a pick off pitch to 2nd into centerfield. Maverik will have to give the Cougars better starts going forward.
Thursday’s 12:00 PM start against Northern Colorado is a perfect opportunity for Buffo to bounce back and there is plenty of reason to believe he can do just that.
UNC Bears righty Cody Carroll had a rough start against San Francisco. He was shelled over his 2.1 innings appearance. He also struggle with control. He walked 5 batters out of the 16 he faced and he threw a pair of wild pitches.
The Cougars can exploit Carroll if they can have good plate discipline. With 4 games in 3 days, neither team can afford to go to their bullpen early. Otherwise, they could be thinned out by the end of the weekend.
Thursday, February 23, 2017, Game #2
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Brady Corless
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L | ERA | K | BB | b/avg | WHIP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L | ERA | K | BB | b/avg | WHIP |
Senior | 6'2" | 210 | Right | 1-0 | 3.18 | 6 | 0 | .333 | 1.412 |
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Josh Nashed
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L | ERA | K | BB | b/avg | WHIP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L | ERA | K | BB | b/avg | WHIP |
Junior | 6'1" | 195 | Right | 0-0 | 3.60 | 5 | 0 | .316 | 1.2 |
Brady Corless had a solid outing against Kennesaw State last week. 6 strikeouts with 0 walks over 5.2 innings with 2 earned runs will give BYU a chance to win every time.
Meanwhile, Josh Nashed is the top man in the San Jose State rotation. He had a good showing against UCLA going 5 innings waiving 5 batters with 0 walks and giving up 2 runs. Nashed had trouble with leadoff batters. He gave up 3 leadoff hits in 6 innings. In 2 of those scenarios, UCLA were able to get the batter around. This is likely the way the Cougars will need to hurt Nashed — getting the leadoff batter on the bags.
Friday, February 24, 2017
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Conner Williams
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L (2016) | ERA (2016) | K (2016) | BB (2016) | b/avg (2016) | WHIP (2016) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L (2016) | ERA (2016) | K (2016) | BB (2016) | b/avg (2016) | WHIP (2016) |
Junior | 6'3" | 205 | Right | 1-1 | 4.85 | 30 | 40 | .224 | 2.157 |
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Keenan Lum
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L | ERA | K | BB | b/avg | WHIP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L | ERA | K | BB | b/avg | WHIP |
Junior | 6'3" | 205 | Left | 0-1 | 8.31 | 2 | 0 | .350 | 1.615 |
Conner Williams has a cannon for a right arm. He has a blow-by fastball. The issue is locating the pitch. He doesn’t often get hit hard, but Williams gets into trouble by walking batters. It will be interesting to see if Williams was able to reign in his stuff.
Keenan Lum pitched 4.1 innings against San Francisco. He surrendered 5 runs on 7 hits. San Francisco scored in 3 of the 5 innings Lum pitched in. The left-hander was the recorded losing pitcher in a 8-3 game.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
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Kendall Motes
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L (2016) | ERA (2016) | K (2016) | BB (2016) | b/avg (2016) | WHIP (2016) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L (2016) | ERA (2016) | K (2016) | BB (2016) | b/avg (2016) | WHIP (2016) |
Senior | 6'2" | 210 | Right | 0-0 | 9.00 | 4 | 3 | .357 | 2.667 |
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Graham Gomez
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L (2016) | ERA | K | BB | b/avg | WHIP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Class | Height | Weight | Pitching Hand | W-L (2016) | ERA | K | BB | b/avg | WHIP |
Senior | 6'0" | 188 | Left | 2-5 | 5.40 | 32 | 16 | .338 | 1.617 |
Kendall Motes made a single appearance before he was shelved by injury. Motes makes his first appearance of the season for the Cougars.
Graham Gomez is the 3rd listed starter for SJSU. Gomez will make his season debut this weekend.
Vanquish The Foe’s projected starting lineup
Position | Player | Bats | Throws | Year | Batting Average | Home Runs | RBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Position | Player | Bats | Throws | Year | Batting Average | Home Runs | RBI |
Catcher | Bronson Larsen | R | R | Senior | .345 | 12 | 52 |
1st Base | Tanner Chauncey | R | R | Senior | .329 | 2 | 34 |
2nd Base | Brennon Anderson | R | R | Junior | .356 | 6 | 38 |
3rd Base | Nate Favero | L | R | Junior | .338 | 5 | 41 |
Shortstop | Daniel Schneemann | L | R | Sophomore | .310 | 2 | 34 |
Left field | Keaton Kringlen | R | R | Sophomore | .343 | 5 | 52 |
Center field | Kyle Dean | R | R | Freshman | .283 | 6 | 26 |
Right field | Brock Hale | R | R | Sophomore | .380 | 11 | 42 |
Designated Hitter | Colton Shaver | R | R | Junior | .287 | 11 | 37 |