Since the Niners have our bye week the final week of the season, we only have 1 more A-10 conference series left @ LaSalle. Rhody is tied with us but we own the tie-beaker from winning the series with them. They have a bye week this week from conference play.
If we sweep LaSalle we win the regular season title and the #1 seed. I believe we have to win 2 of 3 to clinch a 2 seed and a bye in the tourney.
Rhody and Dayton play the final week of the season and that will likely determine which of those 2 get the bye. We did not play Dayton, so I am not sure what the tie-breaker will be. Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to that.
Updated standings after Sunday’s games: (weekend results) (remaining games)
Looking ahead to the tournament contenders and how the Niners fared against them.
Rhode Island (2-1)- Niners won the opening A-10 weekend series at the Hayes back in March two games to one. The Niners won the first 2 games in 2-run games. We had no business losing the Sunday game as we allowed 6(?) unearned runs in an 9-7 loss.
Dayton- Did not play
LaSalle (0-0)- The Niners will travel to LaSalle this weekend. We are 1-0 on LaSalle’s field this season as we beat St Joes there due to poor field conditions at Cambell’s Field.
Richmond (2-1)- The Niners won the series at the Hayes this weekend. We were shut out in the opener 3-0, managed to grind out a 1-0 victory on Saturday, and shut out the Spiders on Sunday 6-0.
Fordham (2-1)- The Niners hosted Fordham in late April. We lost the first game in 2-1 pitchers dual, won the Saturday game with a walk off sac fly, and cruised on Sunday 8-3.
Xavier (3-0)- The Niners swept the Muskies in the second weekend of A-10 play at the Hayes 5-0, 4-2, and 4-2.
Our pitching is about as solid and deep as you can get but I agree we have to start hitting the ball. We were lucky to win off their mistakes in the 10th inning on Saturday after shutting them out for 10 innings. And we had scored ZERO runs after the first 18 innings against Richmond the first 2 games.
Even with our recent hitting woes, I think this team still has potential to go far.
ONE LOSS seperates the top 4 teams and only TWO LOSSES separate the top 8 teams. And the top team (us) still has a series against the 4th place team, while the 2nd and 3rd place teams still have a series against each other. Almost like a script was written for an exciting finish.
This race is as tight as any I can remember in any sport, including the 2004 basketball season that had us in a 5 way tie for first the final week of the season. Those not fortunate enough to make it to any of our games this year really missed out on a real treat.
Our pitching is about as solid and deep as you can get but I agree we have to start hitting the ball. We were lucky to win off their mistakes in the 10th inning on Saturday after shutting them out for 10 innings. And we had scored ZERO runs after the first 18 innings against Richmond the first 2 games.
Even with our recent hitting woes, I think this team still has potential to go far.[/quote]
Seeing Shane Brown playing some this weekend as a pinch runner and defensive replacement is a good sign that he may be back in the line-up soon. I’m not sure if he is 100% yet, but he was one of our offensive leaders before his wrist injury.
Dayton and SBU start their series off with a doubleheader today. SBU is looking to get in the Tourney while Dayton is looking to keep their chances at the title alive. I’m not sure what the tie-breakr would be with Dayton since we haven’t played them, so let’s hope SBU takes 2 today to put them out of the title picture. Then we only have to worry about LaSalle (who we play tomorrow) and Rhody (who we hold a tie-breaker over) for the title.
Charlotte will win its fourth league title in the past five seasons and clinch the top seed in the upcoming Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament. Anything less than three wins means Charlotte will have to wait for Rhode Island's series results at third-place Dayton next weekend.
I guess Roberts is still not 100% as Yermal is getting another weekend start in his place. He had a great outing last Saturday. I hope it is nothing serious with Roberts.
The pitching match-ups follow...
Fri.: RJr. RH Andrew Smith (8-3, 1.75, 74 K, 19 BB) vs. Sr. RH Kevin Fuqua (5-4, 3.32, 60 K, 19 BB)
Sat. (G1): RJr. RH Joe Yermal (4-1, 1.51, 25 K, 9 BB) vs. Jr. LH Eric Van Wyk (3-2, 3.13, 44 K, 14 BB)
Sat. (G2): Fr. RH Tyler Barnette (7-1, 1.88, 46 K, 18 BB) vs. So. RH Shane Petrellis (3-4, 5.21, 26 K, 21 BB)
The reason Charlotte (36-11, 15-6) is tied for first in the Atlantic-10 Conference is its pitching staff, which has the best team ERA (2.19) in the nation. The 49ers shut out Richmond twice in a row last weekend. That gives Charlotte 10 shutouts for the season, which ranks third in the nation. The 49ers’ starters are junior Andrew Smith (8-3, 1.75 ERA), freshman Tyler Barnette (7-1, 1.88), junior Joe Yermal (4-1, 1.51) and sophomore Corey Roberts (7-2, 2.42). Offensively, the 49ers don’t have a ton of pop, but they can run. Cory Tilton has 29 steals in 32 tries, Justin Wilson has 20 in 25 attempts, and Shane Basen has 15 out of 18. The recipe of pitching and speed has the 49ers on the cusp of a national ranking and could make them a tough out in the NCAA Tournament. – Walter Villa
