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Baseball Opening Day

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Another year in the books, Beavos, and another opening day that we’re all here to enjoy.

If the Beavs want to shed their reputation as a fading program, they need to go 4-0 this weekend, but given Gonzaga looks to be relatively tough once again, they probably trip up once.

I’ll go with a 3-1 weekend as the Mitch factor comes into play.

Go Beavs.

259 COMMENTS

  1. Don’t underestimate New Mexico’s bats. They’re normally a good hitting team and could do some damage, especially in our last game of the weekend when we’ll be further down the rotation.

  2. Surprisr AZ: “History. The city was founded in 1938 by Flora Mae Statler, who named it Surprise as she “would be surprised if the town ever amounted to much”.

    Weather: low to high 70’s, sunny-mostly sunny. Enjoy if you’re attending, looks pretty great for watching a game.

  3. A must win sweep of a series in February to claim our piece of relevance? I think you are maybe overstating the relevance of college baseball. Most people, including recruits start paying attention around June.

  4. As far as I can tell, the only way to listen to the game is on some app called “Varsity Network”
    At least it appears to be free. Does anybody else know of a non-app link? My phone has too many apps as it is

  5. Starting lineup posted

    1. LF Meckler
    2. 2B Bazzana
    3. RF Boyd
    4. 1B Forrester
    5. CF Melton
    6 DH Wheeler
    7. C Logan
    8. 3B Gretler
    9. SS Defense

    Hjerpe starting.

    No real surprises other than no Dukart who canham had mentioned in media interviews. Bazzana makes the field and Dernedde slides over to SS.

    Wheeler is one to watch as he hit 21 homers in 54 game last year at his jc.

      • I like Dernedde at #9. He was pretty dependable towards the end of the season last year.
        Wheeler is a new name for me. Looks like a JUCO addition this year who hits high .300s and has some power.
        I really like the hitting potential on this team.
        Logan and Gretler are maybe the weakest bats out there, but they’re both serviceable.

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    Don’t know if the comparison has been made, but Cooper Hjerpe has a windup and body frame like Cole Hamels. Very similar, same initials even. Maybe people think he looks the part of a 1st round pick because of that. His numbers don’t support it.

    • Form is the first place you look when grading a young pitcher. To me his form looks more like a future MLB bullpen arm, and he began his career there at OSU. He hasn’t been a starter for long which may explain the inconsistency. So to me the numbers make sense. He’s 2-3 round pick IMO. Of course this is all based on last year. I’ll be curious to see how his form has evolved this season and that should tell us a lot more.

    • 5-1 now, five hits and five walks in two innings AND zero strikeouts. Not sure about NM pitching, but that’s still impressive batting out of the gate.

    • Went to both of them so far. Managing seems much better than previous years but haven’t really had to do too much with how they’ve played. Lol. The 5 runs today were all on freshman pitchers. Although, he’s been much more consistent with the lineup thru 2 games. Last year in Surprise it seemed like a daily rotation outside of 4 players. We’ll see what happens when we get in closer games.

  7. Is it too soon to say:
    1) Canham’s talk of “aggressive baserunning” is more than just words?
    2) Hjerpe is unlikely to attain his 4 pitch’s per batter goal?
    3) Josh Worden is a HUGE improvement over 5 yrs of Jon Warren?
    4) Canham doesn’t seem familiar with “Pitch To Contact”?

  8. I’m loving the BB/K ratio on offense. Huge improvement over last year.

    I was surprised by the confidence in Bazzana to hit him #2 in his college debut, but looks like he’s making good on it from an OBP standpoint.

    Forrester the real hero at 0/0 with 4BB’s. Shades of Kevin Youkilis!

  9. It’s sort of nice and even a little cathartic to see a Beav sports team beat the shit out of an opponent. Seems like it’s been a while.

  10. Well if our offense can even average a quarter of this we’re in a good spot this season. Offense was definitely an issue last year.

    Next biggest issue was leaving pitchers in. Hope this game is a sign of things to come.

  11. One game doesn’t say much about the potential of the team but it certainly looks like the floor is a high one.

    Forrester walks 5 times and only scores once when the rest of the team scores 21 is one of those strange baseball oddities.

  12. Ouch for New Mexico, I was looking to see when Gonzaga’s first game was and it’s now vs New Mexico. New Mexico is playing a doubleheader today. Tough game to try to bounce back from right away.

    I hope they save Kmatz for Sunday so he can pitch against his home state school.

  13. Gonna be plenty to unpack from this one. Here’s my box score analysis.

    1) I don’t see any bats taking a step back. Boyd, Meckler, Melton, Forrester, Drenedde, Fuchs and Gretler all finding ways to get on base. McDowell even had a decent day after a pretty horrible .169 average last year.

    2) Logan showing his bat wasn’t a fluke in short time last year. How was his work on defense?

    3) Obviously early but I’m gonna take the new faces combining for 9 RBI on 6 hits and 2 walks as a good sign. Only guy with a not great day was Wheeler, any see/hear anything about him?

    • Wheeler was getting the ball in play, just got handled by the defense. I think he had 1 base hit down the 1st base line late in the game(didnt look at box score, just what i remember from listening on the radio today)
      He had 20+ HRs last year in JUCO ball and hit around .399, so hopefully that will translate ok in Pac12 play

  14. As impressive as the starters were – the subs coming in with the game well in hand and being aggressive at the plate was nice to see. We’ve seen more than a few players who get their shot in early season games and never see the field again.

    • Gonzaga plates the winning run in the b9, final: 3-2 Zags.
      Zags only got 4 hits, 2 bb, 1 HBP; quite a difference vs the New Mexico team that couldn’t stop the Beavs.

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      What’s the consensus on Quack baseball this season? I have not read much super positive, did they not recruit well? They made the playoffs last year and unfortunately dominated the Beavs.

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          They started up baseball to “compete” with The Beavs. Paid a lot of money for a past his prime George Horton. I especially like it when they fail at baseball. Last season was tough to take. Be nice to see they return to the mean, especially against the good guys!

      • They were the only PAC team with a higher ranked recruiting class than ours, but lost probably their three best hitters from last season. Picked to finish 5th, but they have young talent, so there’s upside depending on how well those guys adapt.

  15. Really hope the better feel for pulling pitchers. Pfennigs with 5 innings and 76 pitches. 5k, 6h, 2BB. Hits were mostly in play for the defense to mop up.

  16. I don’t know how anyone can see the way these guys play and say this team doesn’t have very good coaching. Plate discipline, baserunning, defense. Big difference between this team and past couple squads is the talent upgrade is noticeable. It’s early but the Beavs are back

    • They look sharp. They did not last year.

      The big thing last year was pitchers being left in and blowing games. Seems to be more bullpen confidence 26 innings into the season.

      Latterly is an interesting pitcher. He’s got a talent for getting guys to make contact on bad pitches and making life easy for the defense.

      • Bigger issue was last especially after Melton went down, the lineup really only had 4-5 guys who really could consistently put together good at-bats. A lot of hitters who didn’t scare anybody and it left a small margin of error for pitchers. That was the area they had to get better at and it looks like a night and day difference

    • You can’t say the Beavs are back this early in. If the bats continue to put up runs and the pitchers don’t drill guys constantly they can be very good.

  17. Freshman Grewe getting time on the mound. If the offense keeps firing off I think we will get some great pitching experience this year.

    • Yeah, def a bit surprising. Had 2 go off the fence and Forrester and Melton both hit 2 foul that had plenty of distance. Power ball right now doesn’t seem to be in the cards. Seems like those 2 are the biggest power threats thru 2 games. Boyd and Logan will probably sprinkle a few. Being young, we do seem to lack some size. Felt like a lot of 5’9″ and 180lb guys out there.

        • Yeah, Fuchs had a couple last year but he hasn’t seen the field much thru 2 games. There’s a few that can get you a couple here and there but I think Forrester and Melton are the power guys.

  18. Good win again. Still says nothing about the ceiling of the team but plenty about the floor. The age old saying of iron sharpens iron seems to be the case here.

  19. Went to both games so far:
    1) it’s always good to see the alumni players at this tournament. Fehmel, Chamberlain (there for KC camp) and several others. Coach Casey also there…was wondering if he’d go now that Joe isn’t playing anymore.

    2) the returning pitchers with playing time last year look pretty solid so far (Hjerpe, Pfennings, sebby). Haven’t seen mundt, Frisch or Verburg yet. Will be interesting to see how the pitchers hold up once we get past the 6 or 7 that saw significant time. Been good outside of the 3 or 4 freshman that closed the game today.

    3) have a few guys that can provide power but unless something changes I don’t see the long ball being a big part of the team. Clearly hasn’t been an issue so far but chicks love the long ball so hopefully we can put a few over the fence.

    4) think the 2 bunts we’ve laid down in these 2 games is more than we did all last year. Perhaps Mitch is evolving. Good plate discipline so far. Zags starter today had some pretty nasty stuff…not the best control. Topped out around 97 and had off speed stuff around 79. Aggressive on the bases…5 stolen believe. Good sign as we’ll need to manufacture some runs if we’re not gonna be a power team.

  20. Townsend getting roughed up in the 2nd. Probably digging into the bullpen early today. Also interesting that we seem to lack velocity in our pitching group. Zags 3rd and 4th starters both hitting mid 90s. Missing some power in lineup and velocity in bullpen from what I’ve seen.

  21. Noticed Andrea Aquino is getting the start for WBB today, her first game in 4 years at OSU.
    Is this a sign that she is good to go for the rest if the season? Or is Rueck jist giving her a little run as a thank you for sticking with things for 4 years despite not being medically cleared to play?

    • Yup, a feature article in The Oregonian today. Hinted at a couple of seconds of play. I think it’s interesting that they still won’t disclose the ailment after all these years.

    • His stats so far this season are equal to Melton. If those two keep it up it’s gonna be a hell of a season.

      Boyd knocks a well placed single and brings Bazzana home. 6-2 no outs in the 5th.

  22. 23 innings into the season offense continues to roll.

    RBI leaders:

    Melton 6
    Wheeler 6
    Bazzana 5
    Gretler 5
    Boyd 4
    Wheeler 4
    Forrester 3
    Guerra 3

    Meckler, Forrester, Boyd OBP all over .600.

    9-2 Beavs.

  23. Man Mitch is as bad at managing as Casey! ;)…. What a start to this season. They are doing it all right. It’s like the coaching staff knows what they are doing or something. Curious to hear Angry’s thoughts on the start. He’s been pretty darn quiet. We have scored the most runs in the first three games in school history. I am hopeful for a special season, off to a great start so far.

    • Day 3 is gonna be a crap shoot. Townsend had a great 1st inning but was iffy after that. Most contact on his pitches were hit really solid…no cheap stuff. Carpenter hit low 90’s which is good to see. Makes scouting easy if 80% of your rotation is righties throwing 78-88.

  24. Can tell you our tanner Smith has a lot of work to do. Yikes. His at bats were atrocious. Rough 7th there. Melton on 3rd and no outs. Get nothing out of it. That’s last year type action there.

    • I must confess that I was walking out as he came in lol. But he threw 16 pitches. 1 k, 1 walk and 2 force outs. Would’ve been nice to save him for the 2nd game today.

  25. 3 game in person reflection. Obviously super early in the season so a lot can/will change.
    1) things i find odd. crazy that we’ve scored as many as we have without 1 home run. Also, I don’t think we’ve turned 1 double play.

    2) my main concern is still pitching despite the lack of power in the lineup. We’ve got 6 or 7 pitchers that have seen significant time, most others have little to no college or D1 experience. Depending on how game 2 goes today, I’d be a little concerned with Townsend as our game 3 guy. Ended up only giving up 2 runs but outside of the 1st inning he wasn’t that sharp. Most of the contact on his pitches were really solid…weren’t really any weakly hit balls. Needed to go a bit deeper in the game too. I’m not sure if we have a long relief guy. Game 1 today I saw some good pitches but once we hit that 15-20 pitch range things started to get squirrely. Was good to see Carpenter hit low 90’s. Outside of Hjerpe, Pfennings and Verburg I wasn’t sure anyone else was topping out above 88. Considering we only have 2 lefties on the squad, if all our relief pitchers are right handers throwing the same 78-88 mph pitches then conference play could be very interesting.

    3) today was 1st time really saw some questionable coaching and at bats. Early in game Bazzara was thrown out by a mile trying to go from 1st to 3rd on a bad pick-off by the pitcher. Not sure what 3B coach was thinking…guy at 3rd had the ball by the time Bazzara was half way to 3rd. SMH. Familiar theme from last year with Melton on 3rd with 0 outs and we can’t get him to score. 3 terrible at bats after his double and then moved to 3rd on a bad pitch. So far Mitch has pulled Forrester in the 6th and brought in Dukart at 3rd and Gretler goes to 1st. I like Gretler but Forrester is either our 1st or 2nd best bat on the team and he has the best at bats period. I know Dukart is a former starter and is good defensively but his bat is average at best, especially compared to Gretler and Forrester. Will be interesting to see if that’s a change that continues or if it’s just a move made for early season.
    4) being 3-0 in pretty dominant fashion is awesome, so I know I’m being very critical. However, we started off in a very similar fashion last year coming out of the gates hot so I think these a valid points to keep in mind. Won’t be able to go to any more games until game 3 next Saturday vs Xavier.

  26. Hmm, I mentioned Dukart in my latest 3 game retrospective. Grounds into a double play with bases loaded and 1 out. Yikes. Think we need to move on from Jake being a regular starter.

    • I mean if your gonna mess with lineups now is the time. Great to have Dukart on the roster if someone gets hurt but he’s definitely not in the same league hitting as most of the roster right now.

      • True. Although the other infielders need more experience. Think we know what we got with Dukart. Obviously needing to rotate and play peeps but I think come conference play he’s there as a backup.

  27. Baserunning mistake by Dernedde negates a SacFly RBI by Meckler.
    I think only the second or third miscue on the paths in the newly aggressive run game.

    T5, 3-2 good guys.

  28. Hibbard in for Brown………..the right move??……Not sure about that!

    EDIT/ADD: Well, we’ll never know. Only took 2 pitches to get that third out.

  29. 13-3 Beavs.

    Anyone notice we have 6 pitchers over 6’4 including 7’ hunter cope? I think our bullpen has more height than the basketball team.

    • Huge difference so far. Yesterday’s late inning subs of the freshman were a little rough but so far feels much better overall. Strike outs might be down from last year though. Regardless, some good stuff all around for the 1st 4 games of the season.

  30. Couldn’t ask for a better opening weekend to the season.
    A few new bats plus Melton working his way back into action and this team has the ability to put up some runs top to bottom.
    Will make the bullpens job easy if they can keep up that pace.

  31. Thank goodness for Beavs baseball. Early in the season but success breeds confidence at the plate. Defense was lights out. Pitching was solid. Averaging 14 rpg thru 4.

  32. Gretler and Melton trading off the lead in the RBI battle with 7 then wheeler walks off and gets 10.

    I bet we have 8 dudes on the top 10 RBI leader for the PAC right now.

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    Man I remember Pat Casey teams starting slow out of the gate. Not a problem for Mitch’s team this year. Pretty impressive. I am gonna enjoy it for now but it’s a long season.

      • You are right Beaverpride. The teams didn’t start slow. I think I was just hyper critical of Casey at the time. Sure funny when you go back and look versus your memory. That being said, none of Casey’s teams were this hot on offense out of the gate like this years squad. Hoping they can keep it up.

  34. Next weekends opponent Xavier got swept at Alabama.

    Alabama is predicted to finish at the bottom of the SEC.

    I don’t see a quality opponent until the UC Irvine series

    • Gonzaga is pretty likely to make a regional this year.

      UCI just went 1-2 against the Cajuns who are expected to tie for 3rd in their conference. Idk if they are a great measuring post this year.

    • Gonzaga is pretty likely to make a regional this year.

      UCI just went 1-2 against the Cajuns who are expected to tie for 3rd in their conference. Idk if they are a great measuring post this year.

    • What happens if/when Vanderbilt gets to the post season? If this is an SEC only rule, wouldnt they have to go back to traditional methods? Seems like having to change things up could throw them off later in the season.
      Can’t wait till fans figure out a way to hack into this and send false signals to pitchers.

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    Drew Eubanks is a Trailblazer(at least for 10 days).
    Eubanks was traded away from San Antonio to Toronto a couple weeks back after former Blazer Zach Collins was activated. Eubanks was the waived by Toronto who didnt have a need for another C taking up a roster spot.

  36. Anyone going to even bother watching Dorman’s announcement? One report I saw said he’s already informed all the schools of his commitment. I’d guess there about a 1 percent chance he’s chooses the Beavs. But when Fisch leaves next year, Smith will get another shot.

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      Not interested. All signs point to Arizona, except at Blitz where they’re still trying to sell fans on tuning in by saying Beavs are still in it.

      • Where is Fisch going?

        The other kid the Beavs had been after, I think it’s Kloppenstein or something like that. I see Washington offered him. He seems to be picking up the offers so he will no longer be a Beaver target.

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          There’s gotta be another under the radar 3A/4A stat monster in the state of Oregon next year that we can scoop up.

          Also, noticed Lindgren started following Jayden Daniels recently. So add him to the list of QBs we get hopeful for but Lindgren/Smith strike out on.

        • The joke with fisch is that the longest he’s been at a job in his entire coaching history is 3 years.

          He’s been coaching since 1997, has had 15 different stops.

    • “Arizona coach Jedd Fisch put together a strong class despite a miserable 1-11 season in his debut. The Wildcats landed the Pac-12’s No. 2 class at No. 22 in the country, including five blue-chip recruits. However, Dorman would be the best QB recruit at Arizona since Khalil Tate. ”

      How did Fisch achieve this? What about hus past does he play as a strength?

    • https://www.brooksports.com/user-profile/2aja02j0-jayden_stevens

      Some scouting site I’ve never heard of has him projected as a mid-major prospect with this scouting report:

      “Jayden has all the tools to become an elite wing his size at 6 foot 7 combined with his length and athleticism screams potential but when you see the motor he plays with it is easy to love his upside. His versatility allows him to guard multiple positions and his quick hands and feet make him a defensive pest. Offensively his strength is his three-point shooting and ability to play in transitions where he can use his athleticism to make plays for himself or teammates.”

      Sounds like a similar type of recruit to what WT has been bringing in: prioritizing athleticism and defense over skills.

    • Not a ton of news. He hasn’t committed anywhere yet. I am seeing Auburn mentioned most recently as a landing spot which isn’t good for us.

      • You have to take SEC rumors with a grain of salt because they’re probably generated by people that think college football doesn’t exist outside the south.

        Auburn already brought in A&M’s 2021 starter, and they don’t have a QB coach right now. There are definitely other destinations that make more sense for him.

        • I understand that entirely. However, I was just pointing out that there isn’t a ton of news and that was the most recent rumor. Have you heard any real talk of possible destinations?

  37. USFL draft today! Round 1 is QBs….2-4 is edge/DEs…

    How will Mike Riley build the Generals?!?

    Teams pick from the same position pool in each round…draft order changes on a round to round basis so each team ends up with two #1 picks at two positions.

    Not that anyone will care…

  38. BASEBALL: Noon tomorrow, Xavier comes to Surprise looking for their first win of the season. Jaren Hunter set to start for the Beavs.
    Maybe worth keeping an eye on the basepaths; the Musketeers have two guys who have each stolen 3 bags in 4 games, matching Melton and Boyd for the good guys.

    Their starter (Olson) has pitched 5 innings so far, giving up 3 hits, 3 bb, 2 k’s

    Nolan ranks their SOS at 48, Beavs 54………….BTW, Anteaters are #3 in SOS, just sayin’

  39. OT: ASU’s President oddly and absurdly going all in on defense of HC Herm Edwards. School is saying Edwards was not part of no-contact-period recruiting violations, and did not direct or require such activities. The investigation apparently will conclude in 10-12 months, and I bet the President ends up being pushed out as well as Edwards. Should be challenging for Edwards to hire & recruit well as thus drags on.

  40. From what I can tell, Jayden Daniels has only followed a couple of coaches back since entering the portal. A Texas coach, and Brian Lindgren.

  41. A frustration I had last year with the baseball team was Dorman’s decisions with the bullpen and his strategy with inside pitching leading to hit batters and many free bases. I didn’t see any complaints about the pitching over the weekend. Any thoughts from the brilliant baseball minds?

    • Doesn’t feel like we’ve tried to go inside as much but it was really bright outside and I had several beers while at the games so I could’ve missed something. Lol. They seemed much quicker on the draw this year when people have gotten in trouble. Mostly it was that 1st game vs Gonzaga where the freshman pitchers came in at the 8th or 9th inning ND gave up those 4 or 5 runs. But they cycled thru several of them pretty quick. So far, it seems some of the game management stuff that was questionable in prior years hasn’t been an issue yet. However, there’s lots of season left and we started off really good last year and once we got into Pac12 play is when the wheels started to come off…particularly that last 6 weeks or so. I also wonder how much of it is due to the lack of variety…only 2 lefties on the squad and only 4 or 5 being able to hit 90+. What I noticed is that we have a lot of pitchers that are 78-88 with the same stuff…not a complaint by any means but only having 1 lefty in the bullpen probably limits some of the decisions. Perhaps they have decided to play more towards contact baseball and not as focused on trying to throw inside all the time for the k’s.

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