The Georgia State Panthers (10-4, 0-0 CAA) will face Towson (4-6-1, 0-0 CAA) in a 3-game CAA series matchup over tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. Game times are at 6 PM, 1PM and 12 PM respectively
Who: The Towson Tigers are fellow CAA members and are 4-6-1 (0-0 CAA) coming into this weekend's matchup. The Tigers returned 19 players from the 2010 season, 7 position players and 12 pitchers. They come with an experienced infield led by 3 seniors (1B, SS, 3B) which is reflected in their CAA best 12 errors and 2nd best fielding percentage. The Tiger's pitching staff is the opposite story. Two of their top 3 most used starting pitchers from the 2010 season were lost to graduation and their leader in saves was lost to the MLB 2010 Draft (Toronto). To make matters worse in the pitching staff only 1 of 4 of the top newcomers has been able to positively contribute to the pitching efforts to-date. The other 3 have been hit hard in their outings.
Towson at the Plate: Returning senior starters Chris Wychock (3B) and Nick Natoli (SS) are leading the Tigers on offense. Chris is hitting .366 with 8 RBI's and 2 HR's and has 5 doubles, all of which are team leading numbers. Nick is hitting .344 with 4 doubles, a triple and only 1 RBI. Nick also holds 3 of Towson's 9 stolen bases. As we've seen in previous opponents, Towson is missing power and speed. They have only 5 home runs and have been successful in only 10 of 20 stolen base attempts. If you don't have power or speed your offense needs to be hitting well above Towson's team average of .258 in order to produce runs. They have been scoring about 5 runs per game this season which places them almost in the bottom of the CAA. Overall, there's not too much to be afraid of in this Towson lineup.
Towson on the Mound: The Tigers pitching staff is allowing over 8 runs per game this season which places Towson at the bottom of the CAA. Their team ERA of 6.56 is good for 2nd worst as is their 10 home runs allowed.
Tiger Starters are as follows:
Sean Thompson (RH, So.) is 0-2 after 3 starts posting a 5.40 ERA. He has only lasted through 11.2 innings allowing 10 runs on 11 hits. He is walking 1 of 6 batters faced and has 9 strikeouts. Thompson throws a very good curve ball to keep hitters off-balance.
Charlie Cononie (RH, Sr.) is 6'7" and features a fastball with great movement. He has progressively moved into a starter role coming into this season. Through 3 starts he is 1-2 with a 4.60 ERA after 15.2 innings pitched. He has allowed 8 runs on 14 hits and batters are hitting only .230 against him. Low offensive production has been his enemy this season. His strikeouts have been his best friend. Charlie has sent almost 40% of batters faced back to the dugout by way of strikeout with 23 K's on the season.
Michael Trionfo (RH, So.) started against Georgia State last season as a freshman and received a no-decision after pitching 4.2 innings in the Tigers win. Michael is 0-1 after 2 starts with a 7.82 ERA. He has been hit hard for 12 runs on 19 hits in 12.2 innings. Batters are hitting .352 against him. Michael has great command of his pitches and features a great curve ball with overall good control.
Once the starters give way to the bullpen batters really begin to light up the Towson pitching staff. Most of their relievers are being hit for well over .300 and in most cases .350-.400. Spencer Patton has been the most used and most successful reliever. Hitters are .343 against him, he has 9 strikeouts and has given up 5 runs through 8.1 innings.
GSU at the Plate: Watch out for infielder Brandon Williams as he's been on a tear lately. Named CAA Player of the Week, he has batted .478 in his last six games and five of them coming against power conference teams. He is now hitting .348 on the season with 5 RBI's and 4 for 5 in stolen bases. Outfielder Brett Maxwell is leading the Panthers with a .474 batting average and also leads the team with 5 doubles. The Panthers are batting .272 as a team and are still struggling to get, and keep, this number above .300. With that said they remain a top 3 offense in the CAA and are 3rd in the CAA with 6 runs per game. James Madison and George Mason remain a larger offensive producer than the Panthers but with CAA play starting, these numbers should normalize and we'll get a better picture of where we all stand.
GSU on the Mound: Pitching has been the Panthers strength in the 2011 season. GSU leads the CAA in team ERA at 2.82 and also in runs allowed per game at 4.5. The staff has the 2nd best opposing batting average at .224 with Old Dominion performing only .003 points better.
Starters as follows:
Justin Malone (RH, Jr.) takes the mound Friday with a 0.47 ERA after 3 starts and a 3-0 record. Justin has been just outstanding for the team in the 2011 season. He has thrown 19 innings and allowed 1 earned run, 4 runs total. His walks and hits per inning is 1.0 and has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3:1. Batters are hitting only .235 against him.
Charley Olsen (RH, Sr.) makes his 3rd start on Saturday with a 3.29 ERA and a 1-2 record. Charley has been a victim of some messy defense. Of his 10 runs allowed through 13.2 innings (which includes a 4.2 inning relief effort) only 5 runs are earned. Batters are hitting .288 against him which is the team high for starters. However, Charley is striking out 1 batter per inning and has kept his walks down to 3 on the season. Saturday features the best pitching matchup with two Charley's going to the mound (spelling is different) so he'll need to have a good game which I think we can count on.
Aidan Francis (LH, Sr.) takes the mound for the last game of the series. Aidan is 2-0 with a 3.68 ERA after 3 starts. Aidan earned the win in a great pitching effort last week against Georgia Tech after pitching 7 innings. Aidan has allowed 6 runs in his 14.2 innings pitched but 4 of the runs came during the Mercer game where he allowed 3 HR's against the powerful lineup. That is his only blemish on the season thus far. His weapon has been strikeouts as he's fanned 17 and walked only 4. Aidan has been an authority on the mound this season, look for this to continue against Towson.
Even though the Panthers are 4-8 against Towson under Coach Frady, these are different teams and I expect a 3-game sweep this weekend. Saturday is my only question mark due to the pitching matchup but it's a small question mark. I think Charley (the good guy) will come out and pitch a good game and we'll get into the Towson bullpen to put up some runs.
Here are some keys against this Towson team. The Panthers offense needs to watch the strikeouts. The first two pitchers they face have good strikeout numbers. Don't let them give you only 2 outs to work with each inning. The Panther pitchers just need to keep doing what they've done all season. Sounds simple, but that's a large reason why the team is 10-4 with wins over Mercer, GT and Iowa. The offense needs to make the Tiger starting pitchers work hard. Get into the bullpen and rack up some runs. Don't let these guys have 8 and 10 pitch innings.
GO PANTHERS!!!
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