What do you guys think of having separate threads for the series? Like or, prefer to keep in the original Birdball 2024 thread?
Anyways, The Birds head to Arlington for a 3 game weekend series to take on the Mavericks. I'm sure there is an old Waylon Jennings song of a similar title, but the action kicks off tomorrow night a 7pm ET, games will be on ESPN+.
The Mavs, coached by long time Rice and Oklahoma asst Clay Van Hook, are 2-3 , starting with an impressive road series split vs a strong AAC team in UT San Antonio, and then a midweek one-sided loss to a ranked Texas Tech.
A 29-29 team a year ago, as part of the Sun Belt, they move to the baseball burgeoning WAC, where they are projected to finish in the top 3rd of the league. They are known as strong offensive team overall and will pose a challenge to some of the younger Bird pitchers.
The offense is lead by So 2B Tyler Black, a lefty swinger who's already listed among BA's top 100 prospects for the 2025 draft (this includes HS and college players), and TCU Xfer CF Garrison Berkley- a RH doubles machine, with speed. RF Tyson Pointer is coming off a really strong year where he had 26 xbhs, and Juco C Parker Airhart is off to a fast start w 3 XBHs. Saint Mary's xfer Ryan Ellis is the only other lefty I see, so I think the pitching matchup is favorable from that standpoint, esp West and Farinelli.
While known as an offensive club (some of this is the matchups vs a strong UTSA staff and Texas Tech), but only 10 BBs in 4 games vs 38Ks, only 2 steals and 0 sac bunts. So I don't know if they are a grinding type O like we saw from Cal for example, or an overly aggressive one like we see from some of the ACC teams. They've made 4 errors, and seem to be a typically strong defensive "Texas" style team.
On the mound, what they lack in experience, may be made up for some of the quality they can throw. Their staff is full of xfers, many of which are from P5 schools. Jr Lefty Caden Noah got their Friday start, a former Texas P struck out 7 in 5+ innings vs only 1 BB. He's a bit undersized, but he's your typical pitch ability lefty- not too dissimilar to what we saw from Colarusso vs K State.
Fr Caylon Dygert came in as one of the top Fr in the WAC and didn't disappoint in his debut Sat, although with one of the oddest stat lines. He threw 8 innings, walked 1 batter, and gave up 8 hits, but 0 ERs (1unearned) and ZERO strikeouts to go along with that, for a game UTSA ultimately won on a walk off single 2-1. Oklahoma RHP xfer Aaron Calhoun prob has the best "stuff" on the team, but has never thrown consistent enough strikes, he got their Sunday start- with mixed results in a 7-2 loss. He can bump to 95ish with a good change, so if he's in a groove, he'll pose a challenge.
Sr RHP Zach Norris had a nice line in the 2nd game of a Sunday DH to salvage the spilt for the Mavs. He'll pound the zone w a low 90s sinker to set up his slider, not too dissimilar to what we saw from K State SP Ty Ruhl last Sat. In the pen, they have a strong closer candidate in lefty Jacob Hasty, an xfer from Missouri with some power stuff. Fr RHP Nick Robb and a lefty triumvirate of Cade McClade, Harrison Hammond, and Sam Collins will be used in key matchups. This is where some of the Birds depth can come into play and using a Roche, Collins, Deshazo, Mercado, and Caraher off the bench can counter that.
I expect the same SP rotation West Fri, AJ Sat, and Farinelli Sunday. Mudd will be used as the rover, maybe if they don't use him Friday, he gets the start Sat, but would have to think they like what he gives out of the pen.
No word yet on Ryan or Nunan's availability. Def a winnable series, not a lock to sweep, so I won't be bummed if they don't, but I do expect a series win.
UPDATE: I think Nunan is fine, based soley on him throwing on the team's Instagram post yesterday.
Anyways, The Birds head to Arlington for a 3 game weekend series to take on the Mavericks. I'm sure there is an old Waylon Jennings song of a similar title, but the action kicks off tomorrow night a 7pm ET, games will be on ESPN+.
The Mavs, coached by long time Rice and Oklahoma asst Clay Van Hook, are 2-3 , starting with an impressive road series split vs a strong AAC team in UT San Antonio, and then a midweek one-sided loss to a ranked Texas Tech.
A 29-29 team a year ago, as part of the Sun Belt, they move to the baseball burgeoning WAC, where they are projected to finish in the top 3rd of the league. They are known as strong offensive team overall and will pose a challenge to some of the younger Bird pitchers.
The offense is lead by So 2B Tyler Black, a lefty swinger who's already listed among BA's top 100 prospects for the 2025 draft (this includes HS and college players), and TCU Xfer CF Garrison Berkley- a RH doubles machine, with speed. RF Tyson Pointer is coming off a really strong year where he had 26 xbhs, and Juco C Parker Airhart is off to a fast start w 3 XBHs. Saint Mary's xfer Ryan Ellis is the only other lefty I see, so I think the pitching matchup is favorable from that standpoint, esp West and Farinelli.
While known as an offensive club (some of this is the matchups vs a strong UTSA staff and Texas Tech), but only 10 BBs in 4 games vs 38Ks, only 2 steals and 0 sac bunts. So I don't know if they are a grinding type O like we saw from Cal for example, or an overly aggressive one like we see from some of the ACC teams. They've made 4 errors, and seem to be a typically strong defensive "Texas" style team.
On the mound, what they lack in experience, may be made up for some of the quality they can throw. Their staff is full of xfers, many of which are from P5 schools. Jr Lefty Caden Noah got their Friday start, a former Texas P struck out 7 in 5+ innings vs only 1 BB. He's a bit undersized, but he's your typical pitch ability lefty- not too dissimilar to what we saw from Colarusso vs K State.
Fr Caylon Dygert came in as one of the top Fr in the WAC and didn't disappoint in his debut Sat, although with one of the oddest stat lines. He threw 8 innings, walked 1 batter, and gave up 8 hits, but 0 ERs (1unearned) and ZERO strikeouts to go along with that, for a game UTSA ultimately won on a walk off single 2-1. Oklahoma RHP xfer Aaron Calhoun prob has the best "stuff" on the team, but has never thrown consistent enough strikes, he got their Sunday start- with mixed results in a 7-2 loss. He can bump to 95ish with a good change, so if he's in a groove, he'll pose a challenge.
Sr RHP Zach Norris had a nice line in the 2nd game of a Sunday DH to salvage the spilt for the Mavs. He'll pound the zone w a low 90s sinker to set up his slider, not too dissimilar to what we saw from K State SP Ty Ruhl last Sat. In the pen, they have a strong closer candidate in lefty Jacob Hasty, an xfer from Missouri with some power stuff. Fr RHP Nick Robb and a lefty triumvirate of Cade McClade, Harrison Hammond, and Sam Collins will be used in key matchups. This is where some of the Birds depth can come into play and using a Roche, Collins, Deshazo, Mercado, and Caraher off the bench can counter that.
I expect the same SP rotation West Fri, AJ Sat, and Farinelli Sunday. Mudd will be used as the rover, maybe if they don't use him Friday, he gets the start Sat, but would have to think they like what he gives out of the pen.
No word yet on Ryan or Nunan's availability. Def a winnable series, not a lock to sweep, so I won't be bummed if they don't, but I do expect a series win.
UPDATE: I think Nunan is fine, based soley on him throwing on the team's Instagram post yesterday.
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