Trip Report
1) Great crowd on hand. Was stunned. Better crowd than they get during the week in the spring and it rivaled Friday night crowds in May. Good to see.
2) I arrived late but saw Coe give up the 2nd homer.
3) SQuigs came in for 2 after Coe's 2. Hitting 93 on the gun consistently and sprinkling in 94s. Avery Point was overmatched they weren't used to seeing that type of velocity. He threw well and with confidence. A positive. Pole position for Friday night starter IMO.
4) Cookie came on after and was hitting 93 on the gun. Looked good. Made a great fielding play off the mound. Happy with his stint.
5) The starting lineup was what I thought with the following exceptions: Padilla at 3B and Kron in CF. Malcom Dan Hurley'd. I didn't see Luke.
6) Avery Point struggled mightily with pop ups perhaps aren't used to playing under the lights. They gave several outs away. Malcom made them pay with a triple to right center. For a catcher he has wheels. Can see why he stole bases at ECSU.
7) Noticed infielders using wristbands and looking at them b4 every pitch. Maybe they were doing this last year but much more pronounced tonight. Thought I was at a college softball game. Not my thing but I'm old school. Haha
8) Minick came on at 3B for Padilla as the rest of IF was kept intact. My hunch is Bry will be on a short leash and must produce with the bat, especially at 3B where you need to get major offense out of that position. Minick hit a bomb that went on the roof of the PC in left. Very interesting prospect. If he doesn't get a lot of playing time this year I hope he sticks around. Intriguing. Could get real playing time this year.
9) Offensively I'm a bit concerned with Daniels. He had a sac fly RBI which was a nice AB but I'd like to see him drive the ball more to the right side of the park. Maybe my expectations are too high. Still plays a great 2B. Just want to see that bat come alive. Same ABs with him over and over. He should eat that pitching up tonight.
10) 2nd point on the offense: appears to be a more station-to-station offense augmented by the running game. Again it's September but will have to mfg runs more than last year. Garbo hit 5th tonight so offense WIP and the runs scored tonight aren't a measuring stick.
11) It's early and I'm fully aware of that, but still need to determine where the leadership will come from. Last year you knew it was Ben and Smitty. Now it's a bit rudderless and less defined. Korey and Bry would be possibilities but they seem more reserved as compared to say, a Smitty who had that outward fire. Will be interesting who is/are named captain(s). Leadership needs to emerge.
12) Didn't stay for the full game as it was getting cold (high 50s) and AP play deteriorated although they weren't much worse than if Niagra showed up.
13) LIU should be a bit more interesting. Not a good team, however, they are D1.
