Friday, March 6, 2015

Marquee Match-Up of the Week - Pt. 2; Chico State @ UC San Diego

In part two of our weekly in-depth previews, I will head to the entire opposite side of this continental United States as we take a look at not only one of the West Coast's fiercest D-II baseball rivalry, but a top-25 match-up, as #17 Chico State (6-4) travels to #25 UC San Diego (13-7).

Not only is this a match-up of CCAA contenders, but it is a match-up of a pair of teams that will most likely find themselves in the top half of the West regional tournament come the end of the season.

Chico State, D-II Baseball National Finals team from last season, is led at the plate by Andrew Carrillo, reigning CCAA Player of the Week, who is hitting .567 on the year (17-for-30) with six RBI and a .606 on-base percentage. However, from there, the lineup is struggling so far this season, with no other regular batting above .300. Peter Miller is leading the team with eight RBI, while Tyler Madrid has two of the team's three home runs so far this season. As a team, Chico's hitting struggles are evident, as the Wildcats are hitting only .236 as a team with a paltry .295 slugging percentage. To compare, their opponents are hitting a similar .238, due in large part to...

Yet another stellar pitching staff. The squad carries a 3.12 team ERA, but the top of that rotation is certainly wonderful. The Wildcats are led by All-American Luke Barker, who has moved in to a starting role this year and has converted just fine, going 1-0 in three starts with 22 strikeouts and only two walks allowed in 22 innings. Barker was the CCAA Pitcher of the Week and NCBWA West Region Pitcher of the Week in last week's awards. If Barker is the drink itself, fellow starter Brad Lohse is the straw that stirs said drink, as the partner in crime on the mound is carrying a 1.42 ERA in three starts, with 13 strikeouts in 19 innings of work. The stalwarts in the bullpen so far have been Robert Hook (1-0, 0.79 ERA, 4 appearances, 9 K, 11.1 IP) and AJ Epstein (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 appearances, 5 K, 1 H, 7.2 IP).

I am sure Chico will be the first to admit that they have not gotten out to the start they were hoping for this year. That 6-4 record is a result of dropping two of three to up-and-coming Fresno Pacific to begin the year and splitting a four-game series last weekend with Sonoma State. In-between was a three-game sweep of CSU Stanislaus.

The numbers on both the hitting and pitching match-ups favor the Tritons going in to this series, particular on the offensive side, where UCSD is carrying a .295 average as a team, led by a pair of hitters hovering around .350 on the season. Jack Larsen is raking, hitting .343 with six doubles, three home runs, 21 RBI and a .557 slugging percentage. Troy Cruz has been equally as impressive, batting .352 with a .532 OBP.

As impressive as Barker's numbers on the season were, he has been trumped so far by a pair of dominant starting pitchers that will be toeing the rubber for UCSD. Justin Donatella reeled in this week's version of both the CCAA Pitcher of the Week and NCBWA West Region Pitcher of the Week awards after he threw a nine-inning, one-hit shutout against CSU East Bay last week. Then again, based on his numbers, that descriptor could be used for any of his starts this season. Donatella enters with a 3-1 record, a minuscule 0.36 ERA, a 33/5 K/BB ratio and only 13 hits allowed in 25 innings of work, resulting in a .149 batting average against. The other head on this devastating snake on the mound for the Tritons is Trevor Scott, who is 3-2 with a 0.98 ERA and 22 K in 27.2 innings. Out of the bullpen, it doesn't get much easier, led by Chad Rieser, who in nine appearances, carries a 1.80 ERA and has struck out 19 hitters in 15 innings. All five players who have started at least two games for UCSD are sporting an ERA under 2.91 in at least 20 innings pitched, leading to a spectacular 2.22 team ERA and 161 strikeouts in 170 innings of work and a .215 batting average against.

UCSD has had an interesting time so far this season. They began the year with a four-game sweep of Western Oregon before dropping a pair of 2-0 games to Colorado Mesa, another team that will be contending for a spot in Cary this season. They proceeded to take three-of-four against both San Francisco State and CSU Dominguez Hills with a loss to up-and-coming Point Loma in-between, and then dropped a game against PacWest contender Azusa Pacific before their most recent three-of-four series win against CSU East Bay, the 12th straight conference set that Tritons have went without suffering a series loss.

#17 Chico State (6-4) @ #25 UC San Diego (13-7)

CSU Preview ||| UCSD Preview

Game One - Friday, March 6th, 6 PM PT (Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio)
*** Luke Barker (1-0, 1.23 ERA) vs Justin Donatella (3-1, 0.36 ERA) ***

Game Two - Saturday, March 7th, 12 PM PT (Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio)
Brad Lohse (0-0, 1.42 ERA) vs Alon Leichman (3-0, 2.18 ERA)

Game Three - Saturday, March 7th, 3 PM PT (Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio)
Hunter Haworth (1-1, 9.69 ERA) vs Trevor Scott (3-2, 0.98 ERA)

Game Four - Sunday, March 8th, 11 AM PT (Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio)
Clayton Gelfand (0-0, 2.57 ERA) vs Tony Cruz (2-2, 2.91 ERA)

Note: Starting pitchers are projected and subject to change.

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