2018 Gopher Baseball

Goldy Gopher

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Full 2018 schedule has been released. Some really solid series this season.
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The non-conference schedule looks to be pretty good, with three solid weekends at home in US Bank. TCU televises many of their home games, so there is a decent chance those games can be seen. The midweek home games are pretty much the usual. I wonder if we will see Saint Louis make return trip up here next year.

Overall, a pretty good schedule for a team that I think can compete for the conference title and NCAA berth if a pitcher or two step up.

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Can anyone tell me how the team looked in the fall scrimmages? I was not able to make it to Siebert field this fall. I know we lost a lot of pitching, how did our pitching look? Any pitchers look impressive? How did the big crop of freshmen pitchers look? Did the offense look as dangerous as people think they will be this year?

I think practice starts this coming Monday. Hopefully we can have a great season.
 

Didn't see any of the fall scrimmages but from reading some different things and hearing interviews earlier it sounded like a few of the older guys were out most of the fall recovering from injuries. Pitching will be the question mark but there is plenty of talent there. Would expect at least a couple of the freshmen to make a big impact on the mound. Heard Pettersen on a podcast the other day talk about how good the freshmen pitchers are and how advanced some of them are. He expected them to really step in and perform well. Lineup should be just as good if not better than last year. Really only 2 spots to replace with Jordan Smith and Matt Stemper graduating. Both provided some power last year with 6 and 5 homeruns respectively. Smith was a good defensive outfielder too and .309 avg was probably the best of his career. Should be a very veteran lineup decent chance you see 4 SRs and 4 JRs in the lineup pretty regularly. I would expect the lineup to produce pretty well and help give the pitching staff a little more room for error as they get settled into new roles.
If this group stays healthy and a few of the freshmen pitchers are as good as people think this should be a top 3 B1G title contender and a no doubt regional team.
 

College Baseball Daily had their conference previews posted and picked the Gophers to finish 3rd in the conference. They liked Minnesota's returning offense and as you stated the question mark is the pitching. Picked Hansen and Coffee as all B1G.
 


College Baseball Daily had their conference previews posted and picked the Gophers to finish 3rd in the conference. They liked Minnesota's returning offense and as you stated the question mark is the pitching. Picked Hansen and Coffee as all B1G.
Just checked it out. Seems like they talked to some coaches and must not have been able to get comments from others. I'd have the Gophers and Indiana both above Maryland and I think Illinois will be much better than 9th in the conference, I think there is a decent chance they are a NCAA tournament team.
 

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Are some experts onto something or on something!

When you look at the Gopher baseball team's upcoming season I see some experts are making some big statements. Not all the experts but some. Chris Webber a Big Ten expert saying the Gophers have a chance to host a regional (which more than likely is being a one seed but not always). Or one expert on our Gopher twitter page ranking us #49 (I have no problem with that ranking), but then the expert says, we have a chance to compete for our 4th national title. I'm a guy who the glass is half full when it comes to preseason expectations. This year it's hard for me to be that optimistic as the experts considering the pitching we lost from last year.

I know the offense and defense (the importance of defense is many times overlooked in baseball, like special teams is in football) really do have the potential to being second to none to any college baseball team in the the nation. I'm not saying it will be, but the potential is there. I just think our pitching is a huge question mark. When you factor in losing our senior pitchers, Gilbreath, and probably Nolan being out for the year, that's a lot of good arms to replace. I know the Freshmen class is talented, but I just think our pitching is really going to struggle this year.

I'd be elated if we have a great season and I'm proven wrong about our pitching! I just hope those baseball experts I mentioned are onto something and not on something!
 



The offense will definitely be the strength of this team but there is some really good pitching talent on the roster this year as well. A lot of it has yet to prove itself yet but that definitely doesn't mean there aren't capable arms there. The schedule is very competitive this year with non-conference road games at Georgia Tech and TCU and the B1G/Pac 12 challenge, Creighton, and St. Johns coming to U.S. Bank. If you win a couple of those series the RPI should be sitting pretty good resume wise heading into conference season. Webb really likes the Gophers and sees them as a B1G title contender but I think his point was more the challenging schedule gives you the opportunity to host if this team plays really well this year. With the lineup we have if you get a few guys to step up, stay healthy, and get a few breaks I could definitely see this team in the hosting mix late in the season. If this team stays pretty healthy I'd be pretty disappointed if they don't at least make the NCAA Tournament.
 

7 simple things that give me hope about our pitching this year. I need all the hope I can get, because I'm really worried about our pitching.

1. McDevitt and Anderson's second year - The way it was presented last year was that McDevitt was the pitching coach, but John Anderson was taking a more active role in the pitching staff. This being their second year together, they should continue to get better.

2. Great fall practice weather and old football practice facility used for spring practices - These two things allowed our pitching staff to do live pitching in the fall and in the spring. One season when the Gopher baseball team got off to a really slow start, Anderson mentioned how it was cold and rainy all during fall practices, and it especially hurt our pitching (in development and where to place pitchers). Ty mentioned how big it was to have live pitching this Spring and not just fall practices.

3. The pitching staff in practices are already facing a team that more than likely will be better than most of the teams we face this year.

4. Sounds like Burchill is out for the year, but it sounds like Fasching and Bridges are healthy for the year. I'd hate to lose Burchill but losing all three would be a huge lose. Don't know if this is totally correct but that's what it sounds like.

5. Pitchers like Stevenson, Lackney, and Rose had good summer outings.

6. Publications and experts excited about our freshmen class of pitchers. Even Anderson seems to be and he never gets excited.

7. Pitching may turn out to be good this year, despite the concerns. Hard to tell until the season starts, but that's what makes sports so fun.
 

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I hope the interview goes more in the direction of this upcoming season and our players. I'm going to vomit if the questions are about how great the Vikings stadium is, or how great the new athlete village is, or how great it will be scrimmaging the Twins this year.
 



Few things from Anderson's interview. Team is healthy right now and hopefully it stays that way, wasn't the case at all this fall. Happy with how the team has looked and excited for the season. Mentioned very veteran lineup and that he kind of figured they would lose a couple of guys to the draft last year but fortunate to get them back. Talked about Reggie Meyer and Nick Lackney being the veteran guys on the mound now and guys that could get the ball to start the season. Also mentioned the freshmen pitchers should all contribute this year. Specifically talked about Sam Thoresen having a chance as a starter early not sure if he meant weekend guy or midweek. Last thing I caught was Max Meyer will probably come out of the bullpen and be a late inning guy to start also will probably DH some.
 

A Couple of things to add about the interview.

1. Everyone healthy - I know Fasching, Bridges and Nolan were recovering from arm injuries. If they all can pitch this year then great, but I'd be suprised if they all pitched this season. I hope they can, but arm injuries can be tough to recover from.

2. I think Sam Thoresen was being mentioned as a midweek starter even though coach did not say that. I'd be very suprised if our weekend rotation to start the year was not Reggie, Brett, and Nick.

3. Sounds like the old football facility they inherited has been a huge help. They are able to hold scrimmages in there and have live pitching and hitting. Not the perfect field but hitters and pitchers need to have game like experiences as close as they can.
 

A Couple of things to add about the interview.

1. Everyone healthy - I know Fasching, Bridges and Nolan were recovering from arm injuries. If they all can pitch this year then great, but I'd be suprised if they all pitched this season. I hope they can, but arm injuries can be tough to recover from.

2. I think Sam Thoresen was being mentioned as a midweek starter even though coach did not say that. I'd be very suprised if our weekend rotation to start the year was not Reggie, Brett, and Nick.

3. Sounds like the old football facility they inherited has been a huge help. They are able to hold scrimmages in there and have live pitching and hitting. Not the perfect field but hitters and pitchers need to have game like experiences as close as they can.
I kind of wonder about the everybody healthy thing. If Burchill had surgery last summer hard to see him pitching this year and I thought I saw somewhere else he would probably just redshirt this year. Wonder if Anderson didn't really factor him in when talking about health just because he has already been out quite a while so they aren't counting on him this season.
Will be interesting to see if Lackney can be more consistent with his control. He has good stuff but the command has been hit and miss in the past and if that continues hard to see him sticking in the rotation. I believe we are supposed to play 4 games next weekend also so even if Thoresen is gonna be the midweek guy you probably start him 1 of the games on Saturday opening weekend too.
 

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It's probably more accurate to say the Gophers will go as far as their pitching will take them. Our offense should be stellar, but there is a chance our hitting could let us down.

I saw it with Ohio State one year when they were ranked in the top 25 to start the year. They had a great offense back from the year before. You thought with everyone back and some really good players now coming back from from injuries who could not play the year before, this offense will absolutely be stellar. That year OSU did not even make it to the Big Ten tournament. Pitching hurt them but the offense did not perform nearly to the level they thought it would.

Hitting for the Gophers, should be really good this year, but you never really know until the season starts. I still think pitching and staying healthy will be the key to our season.
 

It's probably more accurate to say the Gophers will go as far as their pitching will take them. I know our offense could turn out to be not nearly as good as people think it could be.

I saw it with Ohio State one year when they were ranked in the top 25 to start the year. They had a great offense back from the year before. You thought with everyone back and some really good players now coming back from from injuries who could not play the year before, this offense will absolutely be stellar. That year OSU did not even make it to the Big Ten tournament. Pitching hurt them but the offense did not perform nearly to the level they thought it would.

You never really know until the season starts, but I think pitching and staying healthy will be the key to our season.

Yup. Need some guys that can consistently throw strikes. That can carry a team a long way in CBB.
 

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/021518aab.html
Looking at the game notes no surprises with the projected starting lineup with Mezzenga listed as the CF and Estrada listed as the DH and everyone else returning. Pitching rotation is listed as R.Meyer, Lackney, Stevenson, and Thoresen. A little surprised to see Stevenson in there but he had a nice summer and maybe he has figured out his control problems and is on the right track now. Also surprised that Schulze isn't somewhere in the rotation as he had a decent freshman year and was one of the few options with starting experience. Tomorrows season opener will be televised on ACC Network+ which I believe is available on the watch espn app.

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Mentions this group of freshmen pitchers is the best the staff has had in a long time. Ryan Duffy, Max Meyer, Josh Culliver, and Sam Thoresen have shown a lot of promise with each having a fastball that can be 90+ and Meyer and Thoresen able to get up to 94-95 on occassion.
 

Couple of things to add.

1. I'm surprised about Schulze not starting either, but he's a guy that might be the ideal reliever. He could eat up a lot of innings and get a lot of strikeouts. Even though he was inconsistent at times last year, he still pitched a lot of innings (70) and had a lot of strikeouts (almost 60). I think all those innings from last year, may pay off for this year.

2. I'm beginning to like our bullpen with Shulze, Fasching, Rose, Meyer (Max), Manke, and Stevenson. Plus another Freshmen or two might step up and be reliable in relief. They will probably have Stevenson be the starter on mid-week games against strong opponents (St. Johns, Texas Arlington). My guess one or two freshmen will be the mid-week starters (maybe Bridges if he's healthy). The question is, who will be the closer?

Should be a fun season, I hope it's the best season John Anderson ever had as a coach.
 

Couple of things to add.

1. I'm surprised about Schulze not starting either, but he's a guy that might be the ideal reliever. He could eat up a lot of innings and get a lot of strikeouts. Even though he was inconsistent at times last year, he still pitched a lot of innings (70) and had a lot of strikeouts (almost 60). I think all those innings from last year, may pay off for this year.

2. I'm beginning to like our bullpen with Shulze, Fasching, Rose, Meyer (Max), Manke, and Stevenson. Plus another Freshmen or two might step up and be reliable in relief. They will probably have Stevenson be the starter on mid-week games against strong opponents (St. Johns, Texas Arlington). My guess one or two freshmen will be the mid-week starters (maybe Bridges if he's healthy). The question is, who will be the closer?

Should be a fun season, I hope it's the best season John Anderson ever had as a coach.

Sounds like there is a good chance Max Meyer gets the first chance to close.
 

Love baseball season. Kozicky 2 for 2 on the season with 2 homeruns. Let's get ourselves an earlier big win.
 

Gophers fall 3-2 to Georgia Tech to open the season. Jordan Kozicky had 2 homeruns for the Gophers in his first 2 at bats but the Gophers only managed 3 hits the rest of the game and 2 of them were infield hits. They did have some hard hit balls like the Pettersen drive that was caught at the wall but the offense has to be much better than at was today. Also had a couple of errors on the base paths and a error in the field as well as a couple plays I thought could've been made but weren't. Reggie Meyer had a decent outing but got the loss going 4 innings 4 hits 3 runs(2 earned) 1 walk 1 hit batter and 3 strikeouts. Brett Schulze pitched the final 4 innings giving up 4 hits 0 runs 2 walks and 1 strikeout. Hopefully the Gophers knocked off some rust today and look much more comfortable in the batters box tomorrow.

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Gophers jumped on Kennesaw State early and cruised to a win. Gophers bats were alive especially early gathering 12 hits for the game but did leave 10 men on base although most of those were when the game was pretty much already decided. Toby Hanson led the Gophers with 3 hits while Luke Pettersen, Jordan Kozicky, Terrin Vavra, and Alex Boxwell each had 2. Nick Lackney was sharp in picking up the win. His control looked much better than last year as he went 6 innings 3 hits 0 runs 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. Freshman Josh Culliver made his debut going the final 3 innings giving up 4 hits 3 runs walking 2 hitting a batter and striking out 2. Culliver was solid in his first 2 innings but got into trouble in the 9th as he struggled with his control a little bit and that is when KSU got their runs.
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Had to grind out a win in a kind of ugly game 2. Jake Stevenson got the start and I thought his stuff and command looked better than last year but he did struggle. It seemed like he lost a little focus when things went bad and really couldn't recover from it. After 1st Stevenson allowed a couple of singles, a hit by pitch, and a walk in the 2nd but still had the chance to get out of the inning giving up just the 1 run but he couldn't as the Owls got a huge 2 out grand slam. Stevenson got 2 quick outs in the 3rd after the Gophers had scored 6 in the top of the inning to take the lead but a Terrin Vavra error extended the inning and Stevenson would end up leaving after giving up 3 more hits and was replaced by Jeff Fasching who hit and walked a batter before getting a strikeout to end the inning. Stevenson's final numbers were 2.2 innings 7 hits 8 runs(5 earned) 1 walk 1 HBP and 2 strikeouts. The good news was the Gophers bullpen was lights out. Jeff Fasching got the win going 2.1 innings allowing 1 hit 1 walk 1 HBP and striking out 4. Jackson Rose was next up and pitched really well going 2.1 innings 1 hit and 4 strikeouts. Max Meyer made his debut and got the save going 1.2 innings 1 hit and 2 strikeouts. He entered with 1 out in the 8th and a runner on 1st and immediately got a tailor made double play ball. Offensively Alex Boxwell had a huge homerun. Luke Pettersen had 2 hits while Micah Coffey, Toby Hanson, Terrin Vavra, and Cole McDevitt each had 2 RBIs.
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Gophers started good with 2 hits to lead off the game that would lead to 2 runs and a lead for the freshman Sam Thoresen making his debut. Things did not go well for Thoresen as he would not retire a batter. He hit the first 2 batters, walked the 3rd, hit the 4th, gave up a double to the 5th and hit the 6th before he exited. Another freshman Patrick Fredrickson followed and hit the first batter he faced before getting a sac fly and double play ball to end the first but only after Georgia State had 5 runs. Gophers got a run back in the 2nd but a double play ball with runners on 1st and 3rd would end the threat. Fredrickson would actually pitch pretty well cruising through the next 4 innings allowing only 2 hits. He did get into some trouble with the Gophers trying to get him through the 6th too he didn't record an out and left with the bases loaded on a hard hit single and 2 infield singles. Freshman Ryan Duffy entered next and gave up a single to the first batter to score 2 runs. After a sac bunt, a walk, and a wild pitch allowed a run to score Duffy got his first 2 strikeouts to escape the inning down 8-3. Gophers again fought back with a couple runs in the 7th cutting it to 8-5 but just couldn't ever get all the way back. Just too many free passes from the young pitchers today and the offense really never could string things together today. I wonder what the energy level was like from the guys today with the doubleheader yesterday and long day at the park.

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Gophers used a number of players and pitchers in the game. On the mound they went Fasching, Culliver(3), Horton(2), Bridges, Stevenson, and Duffy. Few guys made their career debuts in Bubba Horton, Sam Bridges, Gabe Knowles, and Jacob Hitz. Not sure whether a guy can play in an exhibition game and still redshirt or not.
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Gophers used a number of players and pitchers in the game. On the mound they went Fasching, Culliver(3), Horton(2), Bridges, Stevenson, and Duffy. Few guys made their career debuts in Bubba Horton, Sam Bridges, Gabe Knowles, and Jacob Hitz. Not sure whether a guy can play in an exhibition game and still redshirt or not.
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In an exhibition I imagine its like a scrimmage, which means you don't lose a redshirt. Probably the last time you see Duffy pitch this season. Bummer he had his one outing and gave up a wild pitch walk-off.
 




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