Trip Report (I stayed thru 9 innings; had a dinner commitment I had to meet so had to leave)
1) Again a very good crowd for a fall game at 3 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, impressive
2) Weather held up and was excellent; blue skies peeked out in 2nd inning
3) Didn't see Coach Mac at the game maybe I missed him
4) Great to play a team like LIU in the fall. Fundamentally sound, decent enough pitching, and a good test. The game won't get out of hand a la Avery Point.
5) First look at Noah Sorenson played SS. Looks decent and needs to bulk up seems like a nice kid. Hope he does well there. If LIU can get some pitching they could be interesting in their part of the universe.
6) Pitching (Strike zone with first ump looked tight but hard to tell)
a) Cookie (2 IP) 92-93 in first inning, 91 in second inning. When he gets ahead of hitters and can mix in the breaking stuff he becomes effective. When he's behind in counts is when he gets hit hard. Seen him several times now. Net positive outing.
b) SQuigs (2 IP) 92-93. Was behind LIU dugout during this stint. Navarro struck out came back to the dugout and said, "comes inside on ya and it breaks late". Music to my ears. Thought he through well and liked his velocity. It's a quick 92. Appears to be ace of staff.
c) Coe (2 IP) topped out at 87 (mostly 86) but mixed speeds nicely. Every motion and arm angle is the same whether it's 86 or 76. Deceptive and effective
d) Van Emon (2 IP) First time seeing him. Topped out at 89. From my amateur eye I do think when he drops his arm angle it's the slider seems like a tell but can be corrected. Bumpy first frame then easy 2nd.
e) Quinn came on in the 9th and got knocked around and gave up the 4 runs.
f) I have no say but if I did, my rotation would be: Friday night (SQuigs) Saturday (Coe) and Sunday (Cookie). Based on very small sample size Van Emon seems like the goal would be to develop into a quality weekday starter and emergency weekend starter.
7) Dalena hit 3 lasers, 2 left the yard (first one was Reggie Crawford like) and one hit at the base of the 372 sign in RCF. This is why I believe he's a key to this team performing well. He can create separation in games just needs to do it. Did let a ground ball go by him later on but barreled 4 balls good sign. Probably should be flip-flopped with Garbo in the lineup (Don't like garbo hitting 5th that's an RBI spot see below)
8) Daniels continues to struggle at the plate. It's the same AB: Foul balls off to left side and K on breaking stuff in the dirt. Thinking too much? Lack of confidence? Or both? Needs to keep it simple. See it, hit it. He starts hitting the lineup becomes much more interesting
9) Kron drove in a run with a double down the left-field line. Had been on top of everything chopping it into the ground so good to see him contribute. He almost made a spectacular catch in RCF when Van Emon came in. Full speed full layout dive I believe it popped out when he hit the ground. Almost an unbelievable catch at any level of baseball. So close.
10) Malcom didn't have a lot to show for today but hit a ball foul by about a foot at the base of the LF wall and drove a ball down the RF line which was caught. I think he can help them with the bat this year providing quality depth even if in a pinch-hitting role depending on how they use Broadhurst.
10) Davino was first off the bench to pinch hit, TC came on in CF (had a face mask contraption on which must be the injury) Brini in LF and Shpur in RF
11) 3-1 5th inning 1st/2nd nobody out with Morton up and he bunted to advance runners. Garbo and Malcom then K'd. Korey swinging a good bat wouldn't mind seeing the 4 hitter have a go to play for the big inning.
12) They played long ball today which was good to see. Get Broadhurst back with Daniels and Studley hitting the lineup starts to take shape. Pitching looks more stabilized than last year. Barring injuries SP should see step function improvement.