Spring Practice Reports

Surgery for a torn UCL in his thumb.

 

5pm scrimmage start time today per twitter. Rest of week not announced yet.

 

Scrimmage summary for Wednesday February 7.

Five inning scrimmage.
Blue Visitors:
11 Robertson CF
28 Heyman C
14 Caglianone 1st
29 Donay 1st/LF
23 Martinez 3rd
44 Albert SS
5 Mummau 2nd

2 Ty Evans played right field but did not bat due to hand injury. Yost and Russell did not bat.

Blue team batted only seven players.

Pitchers: 34 Philpott (2 innings), 48 Jones (one inning), 31 Menendez (one inning), 32 Smith (one inning)

Orange Home team
50 Guy CF
4 Kurland 2nd
10 Shelton SS
6 Shelnut 1st
1 Thomas 3rd
26 Garrison C
24 Brookins LF
30 Wilson RF

Pitchers: 17 Gomberg (11/3 inning), 20 Clemente (2 2/3 innings), 48 Jones (2 innings)

Gomberg started for the Orange and in one and a third innings gave up 6 runs on six hits and threw over 40 pitches.
He was relieved in the second by Clemente who gave up two hits and three runs. Jones closed, pitching two innings, two hits, 0 runs.

For the Blue, Philpott started and in two innings gave up 2 runs on 2 hits with one K. Jones came in the second. One inning, one hits no runs, 2 K's. Menendez followed giving up one hits , no runs and one K. Smith closed with 0hits, 0 runs, one walk. Jones pitched for both teams.

Blue wound up with seven hits, Orange 4 hits.

Blue won 9-2.

Best defensive play of the day: Kurland hits a bounder over the mound and second that looked like a hit. Mummau playing second moves to his right, leaps and slags the ball in the air behind second turns and throws Kurland out by a step.

Best offense: Caglianone two for three. First at-bat he was hit by a pitch, then went double, home run with 2 RBI and finished with a second to first out.

Next scrimmages Friday 3:45 and Saturday 6:00.

 

Thanks for the write up Burley--- seems like pitching was not up to par with a few exceptions. Would like to see more of Menendez to judge but looks solid thus far. Sorry to see, Clemente continues his post TJ struggles. Smith looked good in the Fall but have not seen him in action this Spring- had him as a contributor based on Fall performance. Mummau brings the leather-- I've seen him make three plays similar to what you describe-- plays that many would not even reach. Great range. I've only seen him at second base so not sure of his arm for the left side. Cags.... is Cags- sky's the limit !

 

Thanks Burley, sounds like Jones is moving up the pitcher's list for Sully to use him on both sides and go 3 innings and not give up a run. I also concur on Mummau and his defensive ability. I only hope he gets a chance to show his skills in game action during the long season. Opportunity to shine is difficult in this lineup so I hope he is around long enough to see it on display.

 

Mummau isn't the hr threat that Shelton is, but he's looked pretty solid at the plate too, imo. I'm obviously not at every practice and don't keep BA stats, but it seems like he makes solid contact more often than not. I don't know how he'll weasel into this lineup, but I'm with you in that I'd like to see him given some opportunities. There's a handful of young guys who've looked solid. The upperclassmen will be pushed.

 

Agree he is not a HR threat but I too have seen Mummau make solid contact often at the plate. In one Fall scrimmage, he drove in all three runs scored with two line drive singles to left. And his range on D is outstanding. I'd be good if he gets starting PT in some mid-week games.

 

He seems to understand his limitations at the plate. Something I wish Mikey would grasp. Mikey still putting a lot of balls in the air, but he’s not really a hr threat, so he just flys out a lot. He’d help himself and the team out a ton by taking Mummau’s approach. Just drive the ball hard instead of trying to lift everything. Let your speed do the rest. Tanner and Shelly are also both great at just hitting the ball hard, both of those guys have plenty of pop too though. Tanner has a knack for punching the ball through the gap between 1st and 2nd basemen. He’ll be really good with a man on 1st, imo.

 

The latest posts reinforce my opinion that the frosh are promising for contributions this year and especially in future seasons. Only Peterson has shown superstar potential, but several pitchers and position players will be regulars in the future. For this season McNeilly, Jones, Satin, Philpot, Menendez, Gomberg, Smith and Wtmer all have performed well enough in fall and winter workouts to get innings in early games, even though I'm sure some will rise above the others. Yost is the only position player I see likely to challenge for early starts, but all have earned their way onto the squad.

 

I can see Yost and Brookins pushing for outfield pt, especially with Shelly's versatility and Ty's absence from both fall and spring practices. Infield is going to be much harder for the young guys to push into.

 

The interesting part of all this is the young freshmen players have starting playing better than they appeared in the fall. Well duh, there mister baseball knowledge maker. But all of us have noticed and that's important to their input potential as the season goes. Many of them are making better contact at the plate and others are feeling more confident in their defensive ability. A key will be how well they adapt not only to SEC pitching but where else can they play when someone gets injured. Can Mummau handle SS or 3rd if needed? Does Yost play anywhere else than RF? And the biggest concern, can these young pitchers perform when the lights come on at the college level?

 

Wife and I were in Gainesville that weekend . It was a 4 team round robin to open the season. Southern California was here. It was a 1:00 and 5:00 start for games all weekend. Temps were in the 30’s and we had to go to the hotel bar at the 3 rd inning. Couldn’t handle it

 

The scrimmages this weekend will be far better finding parking than any game next weekend. If you haven't checked, the Bubly Invitational is going on at the softball complex and overlaps the baseball start times for the opening weekend. Its going to be a mess.

 

Feb 9 scrimmage (7 innings): A good afternoon for 7 innings of baseball. Fisher pitching for White (Heyman C), Satin/Donay for Blue. Fisher looked solid pitching 5 innings against most of the A team. Kurland leading off for Blue hit a line drive HR to RF on Fisher’s first pitch and that was it for Blue. Fisher’s line 5 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks. Witmer and Purnell finished up clean. Some excellent leather on display again from Mummau (2B), Albert at SS, including a nice 6-4-3 DP and both with good plays and outs recorded on other chances. Of note: Shelton 0-3 collar and 2 Ks and looked poor handling Fisher's pitches.

Satin pitching for Blue was not as sharp and typically a strike thrower he walked two to lead off his second inning and after a sac bunt by Albert (I thought he beat it out but was called safe- more on that later), Mummau hit a sharp line drive through the middle plating two. Albert also jacked a two run HR OFF Satin in the third inning of play to cushion White’s lead. Heyman also jacked one off Jameson

Satin’s line 4 IP, 4R 4H, 2 BB. 2 Ks. Not his best. He was relieved by Jameson who after a scoreless inning was roughed up for 3 runs in the last two innings. It was thite team all the way.

One concern: Dale Thomas bounced a few throws and was bailed out on 2 of 3 throws and also threw slowly on Albert sac bunt and I thought Albert beat it. Thomas is wearing a sleeve on his throwing arm so not sure if that is a mild injury but his throws looped and lacked zipped. Other than newbies I mentioned above I was impressed by Brookins who tripled and singled in his last two plate appearances and showed good speed for a big guy. I was pleased to see Guy make a great play on a Heyman rocket to deep center and also make solid contact at the plate, including a double. All for now.

 

Scrimmage Friday February 9 summary.
Ok, today I thought we were going to have a real baseball game. Game started in the top of the third.

The Orange team switched to real home whites. Visitor Blue team wore blue jersey with gray pants.

Blue line up:
4 Kurland 2B
10 Shelton SS
14 Caglianone DH
6 Shelnut LF
29 Donay C
1 Thomas 3B
26 Garrison 1B
11 Robertson RF
50 Guy CF

Starting pitcher 33 Satin.

So far so good. Full batting order.

White line up:
30 Wilson 1B
16 Yost CF
28 Heyman C
24 Brookins LF
23 Martinez 3B
44 Albert SS
5 Mummau 2B

Starting pitcher Cade Fisher.

Wait, wait! That's only seven. They did not have a DH and as in Wednesday's game, Evans fielded in RF but did not bat.

Blue starts with Kurland leading off. As mentioned he hit a home run over the right field fence.

From that point forward, it was downhill for Blue. White pitched Fisher pitched five innings. Gave up one run on the home run, only three hits after that, and struck out five, with one walk.

Witmer pitched the eighth inning giving up one hit with two K's.

Purnell finished the game with 0 runs, 0hits, 0 walks and 0 K's.

On the other hand, the White team with only seven batters had a field day.

Satin shut them down in the third, three up three down. From the fourth until the sixth things did not go according to plan.
In the 4th, lead off Brookins walked as did Martinez. Albert sac bunted the Mummau got a two run single went to second on the throw in but was left stranded.

Inning five was more of the same. Heyman reached on what I called an error (score keeper gave him a single). Ball was hit to Thomas at third and looked like the throw was good but Garrison dropped the ball. (As a side note, Kurland's grandmother Pip Culpepper also scored it an error.)

Heyman scored on a home run by Albert (who says small guys can't hit?) Score now 4-1.

Inning six, White scored another run on a single by Wilson, sac bunt by Yost and a sac fly by Heyman. Brookins got a hit but was thrown out trying to steal second. Wasn't even close.

Satin gave way to Jameson in the seventh and went 1-2-3 with a K. But the eight was not as kind. After two outs Heyman finally got hold of one for a home run. That was followed by Brookins triple or maybe a double with an error when Robertson playing right field couldn't find the handle.

Score now 6-1 White.

Coach let them play the bottom of nine. Went like this: K by Albert, fly to CF by Sammy, single by Wilson, walk by Yost, wild pitch moved the runners one base. Error on left fielder on Heyman's swing scored two more. Heyman scored on a single
by Brookins who got caught in a rundown (2-3-6-3-4 or something like that) ended the game.

By switching from Orange to White, Orange finally won a scrimmage and it was the new guys with veteran Heyman.

Final note: Coach O'Sullivan pitched some BP. Finished rubbing his shoulder.

Next scrimmage is tomorrow at 6:00 pm. Someone pickup the reporting for me. I've got lunch, Men's basketball and dinner with family and friends.

 

OF seems a bit messy. Evans hurt, Robertson seems to be still struggling to get on, Shelnut a little inconsistent O and D. Guy seems to be better this spring than in fall...he may get more work than I anticipated after struggling to hit all fall

 

This is what I was worried about from the offseason. We didn't get a transfer to fill what I believe is a big gap. Though I believe we do have a few fresh studs in making with Yost and Brookins.

 

Looks to me like some of the freshmen have a chance to start. guess we will see next Friday.

One final note. I will be glad to see Gatorgal back at the helm. This stuff wears me out.

 

Correction: Fisher’s line 5 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks. Walked only one- Cags in the 1st. And from Burley's notes it appears Brookins had 3 hits-- 2 singles and triple albeit the triple likely scored a double, with an E on Robertson for playing pinball in the corner and allowing the extre base. Brookins looked pretty solid.