Author: Max Stamler

What can we expect from Wesleyan? NESCAC Baseball Week 2 Stock Report

NESCAC Baseball Week Two Stock Report:

Stock Up

Tanner Fulkerson (Wesleyan)

Tanner Fulkerson ’20

Fulkerson has had a monstrous start to his second season with the Cardinals, batting .393 with 1 home run and a conference leading 24 RBI’s in just 16 games. Fulkerson has had at least 4 RBI’s in three games so far this year as he leads a Wesleyan team averaging over 8 runs per game into their first NESCAC contests this weekend against Middlebury. While Wesleyan’s spring break strength of schedule wasn’t incredibly strong, Fulkerson will have a chance to prove he is the real deal against a strong Middlebury pitching staff.

Brent Greeley (Tufts)

Brent Greeley ’20

Another sophomore with a great start to the year, Greeley has a 1.29 ERA in 21 innings pitched. Greeley boasts a 3-0 record in those four appearances, while his only no-decision came last weekend against Trinity after he pitched 5 scoreless innings before getting pulled. Tufts is off from NESCAC play this weekend so look for Greeley to have another strong start against a non-conference team in preparation for an April 13/14 showdown at Bowdoin.

Colby Morris (Middlebury)

Colby Morris ’19

While I hate to put NBN head editor on this list, he deserves a spot. Morris has had the best start to the season of his career at Middlebury as he has pitched 28.2 innings with 22 strikeouts and a 1.88 ERA, which are all good for top-4 rankings in the league. This weekend series against Tanner Fulkerson and Wesleyan should be a good one as we will see which one of these guys can come out on top. The Midd/Wesleyan matchup features this showdown between arguably the best pitcher and hitter so far in the season.

Stock Down

Williams Pitching

The Williams pitching staff had a tough spring break trip posting a team ERA of 7.21 going into their second weekend of NESCAC play. In non-conference games over spring break, Williams gave up at least 7 runs in nine different games before getting rocked for 20 runs by Middlebury in their NESCAC opener. Williams was hoping Kyle Dean, a freshmen standout from last year, would be able to lead an extremely young rotation. Unfortunately, he has not had the start to the year he was hoping for despite his hard fastball due to a lack of stamina and offspeed repertoire. Williams’ top four most utilized pitchers so far this season are all freshmen and sophomores so hopefully with more and more experience throughout the season they will be able to turn it around.

Mike McCaffrey (Wesleyan)

Mike McCaffrey ’19

McCaffrey was NBN’s preseason pick for the West Cy Young award and while it is still early in the season, McCaffrey is going to need to step it up if he wants live up to the hype (that we created).  He currently has a 5.48 ERA but has given up 27 hits in just 21.1 total innings pitched. In his last two starts he has given up 10 earned runs in just 11 innings against Carleton and Endicott. The season is extremely young but this is not the momentum that McCaffrey wanted to build going into Wesleyan’s NESCAC opener.  One bright side is that McCaffrey leads the conference in strikeouts so hopefully he can use that as something to build on as the season progresses.

NESCAC Spring Break Trips

NESCAC teams travelled all over the country in search of warm weather and while it is important to note that playing against teams that have 10+ games under their belts is difficult, the NESCAC on a whole didn’t do itself any favors in overall rankings. NESCAC teams posted an overall record of 46-61. As a conference that is known for being one of the strongest for Division III baseball, posting a sub-.500 overall record will not bode well for teams hoping to get an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament later in the year. None of the NESCAC teams are ranked or received votes in the latest poll which is unusual. As we mentioned in the spring break recap article, Tufts usually walks through their games in Virginia with wins, so to see no teams threatening for an at large bid right now is a bit disappointing.

What is an Internship? NESCAC Baseball Summerball Recap

Editor’s Note: Here’s to all of the NESCAC baseball players who didn’t come here to play school. Heading into the baseball season, we wanted to give an update on which players played in competitive summer leagues and the standouts from each league from nearly all of the teams (Sorry, Colby Mules, we literally found no information on your players in summerball, so I guess you did go there to play school). We would also like to welcome a new writer, Max Stamler of the Middlebury D1 Alpine Ski Team, to our writing team.

As Baseball season nears its time to continue to make predictions for the upcoming season. We have already previewed NBN’s preseason choices for player and pitcher of the year but we also wanted to highlight some big-time summer-ball seasons that players from all around the ‘cac had. They will be looking to continue their success from the summer season to having big time impacts for their squads this spring.

Wesleyan LHP Mike McCaffrey

Wesleyan’s Mike McCaffrey earned an All-Star selection in the FCBL.

McCaffrey played this summer for the Brocton Rox of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL). He appeared in 8 games and posted a 2-2 record with a 1.46 ERA. This performance earned him a spot in the FCBL All-Star game stacked with mostly Division 1 players. McCaffrey’s success pitching this past summer in a highly competitive league should give him the confidence he needs to make that next step in this seasons NESCAC play as he looks to lead Wesleyan into the playoffs in a strong West division.

Trinity C Alex Rodriguez

The reigning NESCAC Co-Rookie of the year turned in a strong summer league season in the NECBL, one of the top leagues in the nation. Rodriguez batted .342, had a slugging percentage of .465 and knocked in 23 runs on his way to leading the Valley Blue Sox to the NECBL title, the first ever for the franchise. After breaking out in his first season, he looks to lead a Bantam team to home field advantage in their new stadium for the NESCAC playoffs after they narrowly missed the postseason in 2017.

Hamilton C Craig Sandford

Another NESCAC catcher with a successful summer season was Craig Sandford of Hamilton, playing for the Sherrill Silversmiths of the New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL). Sandford appeared in 30 games hitting .354 with 12 RBI’s and 3 homeruns while earning a spot in the All-Star game. Sandford should see the bulk of the playing time and be a leader for a Continental team that is rebuilding following the loss of the majority of their starting lineups.

Williams 2B Jack Roberts

Roberts played for his hometown Martha’s Vineyard Sharks of the FCBL this past summer and the his team was definitely happy he chose to stay home. Roberts appeared in 47 games, hitting .374 with 28 RBI’s and 3 home runs. He was perhaps the biggest NESCAC contributor over the summer, and his 65 hits and 174 AB’s were both team highs. Not surprisingly, Roberts performance was rewarded with a selection in the All-Star game alongside many Division 1 players. He was statistically the best player on a team loaded with guys from Vanderbilt, UConn, Kansas, and Notre Dame and will be the cornerstone for the Ephs along with SS Kellen Hatheway.

Bates LHP Connor Russell

One of Bates only players to participate in summer ball, Russell started 5 games for the Seacoast Mavericks in the FCBL wining 1 of those appearances with a 4.15 ERA. He played this past summer alongside Middlebury RHPs Conor Himstead and Colby Morris and might just face them in the playoffs again in 2018. Russell and the Bobcats are already off to a tough start this season, going 0-6 during their trip to California and need to get their bats hot to compete. Russell is more of a pitch to contact, veteran style pitcher and will find a way to get outs this year no matter the level of offensive support he gets.

Tufts 1B/3B Nick Falkson

Falkson appeared in 43 games for the North Shore Navigators of the FCBL at 3B hitting .273 with 19 RBI’s. He also drew 21 walks over the summer which ranked third on the team. Falkson returns to a Tuft’s team looking to defend the NESCAC title and make a run deep into NCAA tournament in his final year as a Jumbo. After playing 3B this summer, the Jumbos might have a competition at the hot corner as senior 3B Tommy O’Hara has started there for three straight years but saw limited time there over the summer for the Brockton Rox.

Tufts’ Nick Falkson looks to improve on his 2017 POY season after a strong summer in the FCBL.

Amherst SS Harry Roberson

Roberson joined the Nashua Silver Knights of the FCBL partway through the summer after a brief stint in the famed Cape Cod League and proved to be a key contributor in their lineup for the second half of the summer. In 30 games, Roberson hit .308 with 7 doubles and 17 RBI’s. In the last 9 games of the year, Roberson hit just below .500 as the Silver Knights won 6 of their last 9 to win the FCBL championship. Roberson looks to keep this form heading into his final collegiate season and has an outside shot to keep playing after college.

Middlebury CF Sam Graf

Unlike many of his NESCAC peers, Graf traveled outside of the Northeast for his summer season where he played for the Suffolk Fightin’ Crabs of the new short season Virginia Beach Collegiate League. Graf slugged .520 and had 23 RBI’s, both of which ranked him in the top 5 in the league and earned him a spot in the All-Star Game. Graf, coming off a semester in Chile swinging sticks instead of bats (for more information on his semester check out https://cbscout.net/2018/02/18/the-journey-colby-morris-sam-graf/), looks to lead a Middlebury squad into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006.

Bowdoin RHP/OF Jack Wilhoite

Wilhoite led the North Shore Storm of the North Shore Baseball League (NSBL) into the playoffs over the past summer hitting .304 with 14 RBI’s in 19 games while also pitching in 4 games. In just 12 innings pitched, Wilhoite struck out an impressive 16 batters. The Polar Bear’s dynamic player looks to have a bigger impact this spring after just throwing 10.1 innings in 2017. He did strike out 22 hitters last season though, so he is the favorite to close games this year.