Gator Baseball 2022 Roster/Lineup/Batting Order

Friday night notes from 2/25 Ga State
1. First off I hope everybody saw my note for the Saturday game. In the presser after the game tonight Sully said Coppola is a wait and see for Saturday. He woke up this morning with a stiff back so he is a wait and see in the morning. Sully also said Manning will stay on Sunday regardless but no mention who might start instead of Coppola.
2. Really happy with our hitters tonight getting 9 hits with 2 homers. Great job by them answering in the bottom of the first with 2 runs after we went down 1-0. They had a bunch of well placed balls and an obvious effort to put the ball in play. I'm going to wait until after Sunday to run thru the averages but will list the current OB% at the end of this.
3. Barco had another great night. Say no more. Nick Fic shined as well. As I said in the game thread, that was our first game this year only using two pitchers for the whole game. As Sully said, now we show up tomorrow and see who we got that can pitch. That's just about everybody.
4. Funny thing late in the game, the K man out in RF ran out of K signs to post and had to hold up t-shirts to get through the last two innings. I think he ran out after 14.
5. Jud got two hits tonight but hit the ball hard in two other ABs. He almost hit one out to right. Let's see if he can keep a streak alive tomorrow.
6. Once again our defense had zero errors. As the radio guys said after the game, if we get really good pitching with great defense we will win a lot of games. That's Sully baseball. Deric is locking down 3rd base and is starting to take command of the gap cross over SS.
7. I was glad to see Armstrong sit this game. I was surprised Ty Evans was his replacement. But later I was glad Prevesk got the last two ABs as the DH. He has been hitting the ball very well in the preseason even though neither of them got a hit tonight. I'm guessing Sully will try someone else at DH tomorrow, perhaps T Squared will get another try.
8. Great news! Our batter in the 4th spot in the lineup actually got a hit tonight. It was our first hit this season from the 4th batter and, wouldn't you know it, Langford hit an oppo homerun. Hopefully whoever is 4th in the lineup tomorrow can get another hit.
9. Our team ERA is now down to 2.67. Last year we ended at 4.39. That number will be interesting to see after next weekend at Miami.
10. Here's our top batters in On Base Percentage with a minimum 10 At Bats.
Josh Rivera .429
Sterlin Thompson .400
Deric Fabian .381
Colby Halter .370
Jud Fabian .346
Wyatt Langford .304
Kenny Calilao .158
Mac Guscette .143
Kris Armstrong .050
I think it's clear to see where our holes are at. The lower half of the order sure didn't do anything tonight other than Guscette's one hit. Special note Talbott and Riopelle both have OB% higher than .400 but both are less than 10 ABs. That should change tomorrow.

 

Well its Abner up for the starting pitcher today. If he gets off to a good start I'll be wondering when does Sully pull him. I suppose he should hope for at least 3 innings, anything after that is gravy. The tough part for Sully he wants to build his confidence. So coming out after a good inning will help tremendously but he doesn't want to yank him after giving up 3 runs. It should be interesting.

 

Notes for Saturday vs Ga State 2/26
1. Most important take from tonight was Sully sent a message. He said last night don't make him call his bluff you you aren't going to move guys up with no outs. That's what Jud Fabian of all players was asked to do tonight. Credit Sully because it worked. Not only did Jud lay a good sacrifice bunt down, but then Sterlin hit a sac fly to score a run, and then Langford hit a HR to score 2 more and help us retake the lead. Seems like the message was received loud and clear. Props to Sully for that one.
2. Well Wyatt Langford is definitely coming thru for us in the 4th spot. Just like Sully said and I noted after the first weekend we needed someone to step in there to protect Thompson batting 3rd. That's what Langford gives us and that's why when he gets 3 hits including a HR and 4 RBIs then Sterlin goes 3 for 3 with 3 RBIs himself.
3. Again another big time answer by our offense coming back to score 3 runs in the bottom of the 3rd to get the lead back. That was just as big as Purnell coming in to settle down them getting runs but important on our part to get the lead back so Purnell could settle in.
4. Another big point to our offense tonight. We scored runs in 6 of the 8 innings we batted in. That's production from all parts of the order and even some of the young freshmen that played.
5. Deric's play at 3rd tonight was amazing. If you didn't see the highlight you need to find it. I'm wondering how many other 3rd basemen you see when they dive to their left, then do a barrel roll on the ground to pop up and throw a strike to first with two steps to spare. I'm asking his dad tomorrow if that's something he normally practices. I gave him a standing ovation on that one.
6. Pitching wise we are set up very well for the sweep and who would have thought that before last Sunday. We should see Manning, Hartman, Nick Fic and Slater all ready to go. I can't stress enough Manning's opportunity here and how important it is for the future to settle him in. Keeping it real I'm just looking for Manning to get through 3 innings and go from there but I'm sure 4+ innings is the goal. This will be the Third Day (great band by the way) that Ga State will have seen a LHP starting so Manning needs to show he can overcome last week. He comes into this start with a 9.00 ERA and 3-4 shutout innings would be great.
7. Coppola was out today as reported. I saw him getting treatment during the game. He was wearing what looked to be something like a Tens Unit with cords coming out of his back pocket and under the back of his shirt. It was still on up until the 7th when he went back into the tunnel and when he came back out then the cords were gone. No word yet on his status going forward. This is why I believe someone else will be the Saturday starter soon but not Manning.
8. Food for thought 4 other starters have more strikeouts than Jud and Jud is still tied for the lead in walks. His patience is probably why he has zero HRs so far. But the approach is better and it should start paying off soon. If I were Sully I'd challenge Jud to go get a base hit first in each game then swing for the fences after.
9. Some other hitters are starting to put better swings on the ball including Rivera and Deric Fabian. This weekend is starting to settle the averages and I'll take a look at shuffling the lineup again after Sunday's game. Imagine if we started with Halter-River-Thompson. hhhmmmm

 

The Trenton Thumper, I like it!
Sproat should be able to go in middle relief but I was thinking of the other arms Sully probably wants to see today. Sproat proved himself already this week but I won't be surprised if he gets in there for an inning or two today if Manning struggles early.
Hopefully Rivera improves his average even more when SEC play starts like last year but .318 is just fine with me.

 

Ehh the freshman still went 2 for 4 at the plate yesterday batting in the 9th spot. I'll take that any day.

 

The only time I look away is towards the south when I remind myself he's from Ocala.

 

Fun stat you don't see very often.....
Rene Lastres has a slugging percentage of 4.000. Not bad for your first opportunity as a Gator.

 

I would expect Abner to get a few starts during the midweeks to help build some consistency. Maybe this Wednesday at home against FAMU.

 

Yeah he doesn't look the same then what he looked like in the fall. Then he was attacking but now it looks like he is trying to make something happen when he throws.