The Chase and the Fall

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.

Stat Crunch: On the Mound

In the sequel to the Diamond's first installment of its fall ball recap, we turn our focus to the middle of the field - and take a look at how the pitching staff fared during Yellow Jacket Cup play. Keep in mind that these games were played in four inning increments, creating a twelve (12) game series between the two teams. Not only were pitchers charged with the task of keeping runs off the board, as always, they were also given the opportunity to score runs for their team. Using a pitch count bonus system, if a pitcher:

• Threw 10 or less pitches in an inning = 3 runs
• Threw 11-15 pitches in an inning = 2 runs
• Threw 16-18 pitches in an innings = 1 run

I would like to say that this system solved the age-old issue of pitcher only(s) yearning to be able to hit and contribute offensively, but sadly I don't know if anything will ever really solve that.

As I sit here and look over these stats, there are certainly some numbers that jump off the page. Sophomore Chris Douglas, freshmen Nick Ewalt & Drew Weber did not surrender an earned run all fall long. For Ewalt, that accompanies a sub-one WHIP, along with newcomer Dave Blanch who recorded a 0.94. The pitching staff also had five arms who held opposing hitters to below a .200 batting average. The battery mate's were under the microscope too, in terms of earned runs their pitchers gave up while they were behind the plate. It's time to go inside the numbers in this finale of the Diamond's Stat Crunch.

Stat Crunch: At the Plate

It's been just a few days since Yellow Jacket Cup play wrapped up and meanwhile, the Defiance baseball team is in the midst of its final week of practice for the fall - rounded out by a doubleheader scrimmage at Taylor University this Saturday (10/5). Now that the dust has settled a little bit and we have had a chance to regroup for this weekend's games, we have to pass the time somehow right? And by we, I mean me. In the first part of a two part series, we take a look at how the Jackets performed at the plate over the course of the 4-week fall season.

On an individual basis, there were certainly a few players that stood out - including seniors Darin Waterman and Pat Masopust who both posted a .500 batting average, utility man Joel Musser and his .714 on-base percentage, and speedster Aaron Helland leading the team in stolen bases (okay, no surprise there).