Baseball Weekend Preview: Back in The Box Edition

Alright Tiger Baseball fans, the boys are back at The Box tonight for the 2014 season opener! There were good reviews on my previews on the regional, super, and CWS opponents last year, so I decided that I would go ahead and do the same each weekend for the 2014 season to give some insight on the guys we can expect to see. All statistics provided in this week’s preview are from 2013. Also, I will focus my efforts on UNO this week more so than Grambling for obvious reasons. I hope yall enjoy.




UNO Privateers
2013 Record: 7-44 (5-9 home, 2-32 away, 0-3 neutral)
Conference: 1st year in Southland, 2013 independent
2013 Final RPI: 274
Last Postseason Appearance: 2008 Baton Rouge Regional


Team Overview:
UNO baseball is a program in full transition, but should see a resurgence in the next few years. After beginning the move to the Division III classification in 2010, becoming an independent, playing a year in the Gulf South Conference, and again spending last season as a Division I independent, UNO has found its home and will compete in the D1 Southland Conference in 2014. In addition, the privateers welcome back long-time head coach Ron Maestri who coached who at New Orleans from 1972 through 1985, when his teams appeared in 9 NCAA regionals and advanced to the College World Series in 1984, the first team from Louisiana to do so.

UNO will be a much improved team with Maestri at the helm to reenergize the program. They have an experienced team with several returning starters and a plethora of JUCO transfers. As for this weekend, LSU’s talent and depth are way too much for UNO to handle at this stage of their program. Expect the Tigers to overwhelm the Privateers in all phases of both matchups this weekend


Starting Pitching:
Ray Winter gets the honor of making his first collegiate start against LSU ace Aaron Nola on opening night in Alex Box Stadium. Winter appeared in 20 games, all in relief for the Privateers last year, while recording an admirable 2.81 ERA over 32 innings. The longest outing of his career so far is 3.2 IP against McNeese a season ago. Saturday afternoon at Zephyr Field, the Tigers will face off against junior righty Alex Smith, who was UNO’s most consistent starter last season. Smith threw a team high 100 innings in 2013 recording 3 of the team’s 7 wins and finishing the season with a 4.50 ERA. Alex won’t strike too many guys out, but he will throw strikes and make the hitters put the ball in play, which is exactly what the Tigers will want to see on opening weekend. Considering their defensive problems, this won’t be a good recipe for UNO.

Friday’s Pitching Matchup:
Sr. RHP Ray Winter (2013 stats: 2-3, 2.81 ERA, 32.0 IP, 31 H, 10 ER, 5 BB, 20 K, .258 OBA)
Jr. RHP Aaron Nola (2013 stats: 12-1, 1.57 ERA, 126.0 IP, 83 H, 22 ER, 18 BB, 122 K, .188 OBA)

Saturday’s Pitching Matchup:
Jr. RHP Alex Smith (2013 stats: 3-9, 4.50 ERA, 100.0 IP, 98 H, 50 ER, 28 BB, 52 K, .255 OBA)
Jr. LHP Kyle Bouman (2013 JUCO stats: 5-3, 1.70 ERA, 58.0 IP, 45 H, 11 ER, 8 BB, 53 K, .211 OBA)

Top Relievers:
The UNO bullpen was, in a word, awful in 2013 with the exclusion of now Friday starter Ray Winter. For UNO fans, look for a change in faces of the bullpen as more than half of the Privateer relief pitchers were not on the squad a year ago. Names that you can expect to see over the weekend are Daniel Martinez (5.93 era, 41.0 IP), Seth Laigast (16.38 era, 20.1 ip), Darren McKigney (JUCO 3.11 era, 8.2 ip), Christian Cale (JUCO, out 2013 w/ Tommy John), and many other arms that new pitching coach A.J. Battisto will have to parade out over the weekend.


2013 Offense: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team BA: .228 (.305)
Team OBP: .304 (.389)
Team SLG: .294 (.432)

UNO returns their top 2 offensive players in juniors Zach Liberto and Jonathan Coco. Liberto lead the team in hitting last year and has a .299 average over his career. Sophomore outfielder Chaz Boyer can be a real threat on the basepath, swiping 12 bags as a freshman. Also keep an eye on freshman Sammy Capielano, who was named 2 time defensive player of the year and All-State selection.

Defense:
UNO fields at a horrendous .950 mark ranking 281st in the country, while LSU was outstanding once again in 2013 with a .980 fielding percentage ranking 6th.




Grambling State Tigers
2013 Record: 18-30 (13-9 home, 5-21 away)
Conference: 9-15, 7th in SWAC
2013 Final RPI: 285
Last Postseason Appearance: 2010 Fayetteville Regional


Team Overview:
Grambling will open the weekend with 2 games against Southern U before facing LSU on late Sunday afternoon in a game that will be featured on the MLB Network and MLB.com as part of the MLB Urban Invitational. Grambling is predicted to finish last in the SWAC Western Division, with Southern expected to take that crown.


Sunday’s Pitching Matchup:
GSU - TBA
LSU - Fr. LHP Jared Poché (1st collegiate appearance)

Pitching:
The GSU pitching staff is lead by ace Brock Baker, who can be expected to throw in their season opener at Southern on Friday night. Contenders to start against LSU on Sunday among others are senior RHP Zach Moreau (19 app, 3.78 era, 33.1 ip, 27 h, .233 oba, 4 saves) and Edvaradas Matusevicius (9 starts, 8.51 era, 48.2 ip, 65 h, .342 oba). Other arms we may see are Coleman McKinney, Colby Martin, and Michael Martin, all of whom saw very limited action a year ago.


Offense: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team BA: .268 (.305)
Team OBP: .341 (.389)
Team SLG: .371 (.432)

Grambling loses their top hitter from last year, but the Tigers return senior leader Juan Bueno, who was named to the preseason All-Conference Team. Bueno compiled a .312 batting average in 2013 while recording a team high 59 hits and 4 home runs. Senior infielder Brandon Kiser and junior outfielder Edwin Drexler each stole 13 bases last year, while recording a .267 and.254 batting average respectively. Kiser can hit for some power with 10 doubles, a triple, and 4 home runs last year.

2013 Defense:
Grambling fielded at a below average .959 mark, while LSU was outstanding once again in 2013 with a .980 fielding percentage.


PREDICTION: LSU cruises to a weekend sweep


TV Viewing:
Friday – CST and Geaux Zone
Saturday – CST and ESPN3.com
Sunday – MLB Network, MLB.com, and Geaux Zone


and as always...