This past weekend (10/5) the Defiance College baseball team wrapped up its 2013 Fall Ball season with a doubleheader scrimmage against Taylor University - capping off a four week fiesta that included team practices, individual work and intrasquad scrimmages; known better as the Chase for the Cup! The Diamond is here to recap the fall and give you a slight glimpse of what to keep an eye on this spring.
This fall the Jackets competed in everything from mental toughness workouts (where they pushed an old shop van and rolled down the auxiliary gym floor on a body scooter), to in-practice competitions (defensive charting/baserunning challenges, late inning pressure situations and even the infamous chicken with its head cut off), to weekend intrasquad games (12 games in all) to help determine the winner of the 2013 Yellow Jacket Cup.Going into the last day of practice, the standings were all tied up - a BP Scrimmage was slated to break the tie and determine a winner, but mother nature reared her head. As the rain came down at The Rutt, there was only one logical option - a Tennis Ball World Series for all the marbles. At the end of the day, it was SR Aaron Helland and his walk-off [tennis ball] bomb that led the Purple Squad to hoist the Cup and unseat the defending champion, Gold Team.
A big thanks goes out to the Taylor baseball program for being such great hosts on Saturday and more importantly the parents, fans and alumni that were able to make it to our intrasquad weekends! Overall, it was a fantastic fall season and some great things were taken away from these past four weeks - as well as a laundry list of things to work on going into the spring.
Offensive Recap:
The Jackets showed a lot of promise offensively this fall, not only in YJC play but in the doubleheader against Taylor as well - scoring a total of fifteen (15) runs on the day. The long ball wasn't very prevalent with just two (2) homeruns in a team total 308 [YJC] at-bats. However, a team batting average of .266 and .772 OPS [in 376 plate appearances] shows that there will be plenty of opportunities to score runs come spring. Quality at-bats will dictate the Jackets success at the plate in 2014, and improvements show in this area - OBP was up 24 points from the team's total this past spring (.365 to .389).
Returners to Remember: Pat Masopust, Darin Waterman & Ryan Kohlhofer
Newcomers to Note: Quinten Harrington, Dave McCrum & Royce Laurendeau
Defensive/Pitching Recap:
With a staff made up of primarily new faces, there's no doubt that getting quality production from a lot of young arms will be the biggest challenge the Jackets face in 2014. These young guys responded quite well though this fall, including posting a batting average against that was 28 points lower than the 2013 staff's (down to .266 from .294). In 72 1/3 innings pitched the hurlers did give up 82 hits - resulting in a 1.85 WHIP (25 points higher than this past spring). On a lighter side, there were six (6) ERA's under two (2.00) over the course of the 12-game intrasquad series. Strikeouts per 9 [innings] also took a huge leap from this past spring to the fall (going from 5.79 to 8.08 in YJC play). Needless to say these comparisons are not done nearly with the same sample size and there is still much work to be done, hopefully the pitching coach knows what he's talking about!
Returners to Remember: Darin Waterman, Matt Goodpaster & Chris Douglas
Newcomers to Note: Dave Blanch, Austin Istvan & Aaron Grasing
News from North of the Border: Congrats to freshman Dave Blanch on taking home the 2013 King of the Hill title for his performance(s) on the mound this fall, narrowly edging out Goodpaster and Grasing by a combined four (4) points. Dave came away with a 1.69 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, .150 O/AVG and a 1-0 record. For the next year, the crown will rest safely in Ontario. Unfortunately, Blanch doesn't feel quite comfortable being labeled a King, he prefers Captain. My opinion, I say they rename the QEW, and make it the KDW - should be smooth sailing, at least until you hit that 401 traffic!
For continued Yellow Jacket coverage throughout the off season follow the Diamond's Twitter feed, and stay tuned for an exciting announcement coming your way in the next week or so!
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