Baseball Preview: Yale Bulldogs vs. #1 LSU – Fri 7 / Sat 2 / Sun 12

The #1 ranked LSU Fighting Tigers (7-1) suffered its first loss on Tuesday night and looks to bounce back this weekend with a 3 game set against the Yale Bulldogs (0-0). These two teams have only met once in their long program histories, which was a 7-1 Yale victory back in 1908. LSU welcomes an Ivy League opponent to The Box for the fifth consecutive season compiling an 11-1 record in those contests. Let's get to know the 2014 Yale Bulldogs.



Yale University Bulldogs
Record: 0-0
Conference: 0-0 Ivy
Non-Conf: 0-0

Overview:
The baseball tradition is rich up in New Haven, CT. Yale has been fielding a baseball team since 1864 and will be making their first trip down to Baton Rouge this weekend to face the LSU Tigers. The Bulldogs have been to the college world series twice, finishing as the national runner up in both the first and second ever CWS in 1947 and ’48. Also, you can find information from April 5, 1948, when the one and only George Herman Ruth visited Yale Field to donate the original copy of The Babe Ruth Story to the Yale library. The person accepting that book on behalf of the university was none other than the team captain of the ’48 Yale Baseball team, Former President George H.W. Bush. That moment was captured in the picture below and has become one of the most famous pictures in history of the two men.




The 2014 Bulldogs will be playing in their first game of the season on Friday night. They are lead by Head Coach John Stuper, who is in his 22nd year as lead man of the Yale baseball team. Their last regional appearance was in Stuper’s first season in 1993. In 2014, Yale is predicted to finish toward the bottom half of the Ivy League, while division rival Dartmouth appears to be the League favorite. The Bulldogs finished 10-10 in the league last year and should improve this season after returning almost every pitcher and most of the contributing lineup. They did however lose team captain, starting catcher, and 1st team all conference player Chris Piwinski. Yale only played a total of 38 games last season, so their numbers may seem low.

Yale Stats from 2013 (2014 LSU in parentheses)
Team ERA: 3.92 (1.45)
Opponent ERA: 2.99 (4.86)

Team BA: .249 (.286)
Opponent BA: .268 (.195)

Team Fielding %: .956 (.979)
Opponent Fielding %: .967 (.956)

Starting Pitching:
LSU will use a slightly different rotation than we have seen the opening 2 weekends. Friday, of course, will feature staff ace Aaron Nola, who was pulled early last week upon reaching his pitch count after not allowing a hit in 7 innings against Virginia Tech. Yale will counter with LHP David Hickey, who had a terrific 2013 with a 2.15 ERA in 37.2 IP including 3 complete games and 2 shutouts. The 6’4 senior has above average command allowing only 19 walks in 80.2 career innings pitched while striking out 66. He has a low arm slot and his delivery is effortless on his mid-to-upper 80’s fastball, while also commanding a changeup, and his strikeout pitch is a curve.

On Saturday, the Tigers will once again send out junior lefty Kyle Bouman. Kyle’s LSU career is off to a nice start winning both of his starts allowing just 2 earned in 11 innings. The Bulldogs with send out true freshman Chasen Ford who will be making his first collegiate start. Ford is a 6’3 stocky right hander from California, who went 20-3 with a 1.17 ERA his senior year of high school becoming the South Coast League MVP. He features fastball that sits around 87-89 MPH and can touch the low 90s, a changeup that is his best pitch, as well as a sliding curve that he is still learning to control.

Sunday is where we see a change for LSU’s rotation as the Tigers choose to send out Cody Glenn rather than Jared Poché. Glenn took the team’s first loss on Tuesday night against the Cajuns and looks to bounce back with a strong performance to earn his spot in the weekend rotation. Freshman Jared Poché will get the start on Tuesday night at Northwestern State, while Wednesday’s starting pitcher is yet to be determined. On Sunday, Yale will be throwing physically imposing senior Michael Coleman. Standing at 6’7, 230lbs, Coleman lead the team in innings pitched last year after becoming a full time starter for the first time. He allowed 19 earned runs and 56 hits in 54.2 innings, walking 13 and only striking out 18 batters. Despite his size, Coleman won’t overpower you and really pitches to contact, letting the defense work behind him.


Friday's Pitching Matchup:
Sr. LHP David Hickey (2013 Stats: 4-2, 2.15 ERA, 37.2 IP, 38 H, 9 ER, 9 BB, 35 K, .247 OBA)
Jr. RHP Aaron Nola (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 13.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 14 K, .093 OBA)

Saturday's Pitching Matchup:
Fr. RHP Chasen Ford (1st collegiate appearance)
Jr. LHP Kyle Bouman (2-0, 1.64 ERA, 11.0 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, .256 OBA)

Sunday's Pitching Matchup:
Sr. RHP Michael Coleman (3-4, 3.13 ERA, 54.2 IP, 56 H, 19 ER, 13 BB, 18 K, .268 OBA)
Jr. LHP Cody Glenn (1-1, 3.60 ERA, 10.0 IP, 12 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, .343 OBA)


Relief Pitching:
This may be the most versatile roster I have ever seen. Yale’s team has just 27 players on the roster, so Coach Stuper has to maximize the ability of all of the guys on the roster. Don’t be surprised this weekend when no one is warming in the pen, and the coach heads out to make a pitching change, bringing in someone from the defensive set. Candidates for this action are SS Cale Hansen, OF Eric Hsieh, OF Green Campbell, 1B/DH Kevin Fortunato, and C Robert Baldwin. These five guys are actually their best relievers in addition to most of them being defensive starters. Baldwin is statistically their best returning relief pitcher with a 1.69 ERA and 8 hits allowed in 10.1 IP.

A guy that you can definitely expect to see in a long relief situation is senior Rob Cerfolio. The left-handed pitcher was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 34th round after his junior season chose to return to school and will likely be one of the 4 weekend starters when the Bulldogs get into conference play. Last season Cerfolio recorded a 2.94 ERA in 49.0 innings giving up 54 hits, 8 walks, and 29 strikeouts. You can also expect to see Chris Lanham, who was a regular starter last year as a true freshman recording a 5.74 ERA in 42.1 innings pitched. Other relievers we may see are juniors Ben Joseph and Nate O’Leary, neither of whom have been very effective in their 2 years having posted ERAs of 7.41 and 15.41 respectively in their careers.


continued in next post....