PRESEASON: OCT 11 24: DAY 1

Mike Kaffee

Hurricanes Baseball Reporter
[email protected]

What was supposed to be the start of preseason which officially started at 1104 was short-lived. Whether Milton was still hanging around in some capacity, our Hurricanes got off to a rainy start weather-wise and on the mound. Only managed to get not even an inning and a half completed before the rains came, but I can’t help that it came as a relief for the starting freshman LH pitcher Ryan Ashford. If this is what we can expect from him, he will be cooling his heels for a long time in the BP, if he makes it that far.

I hate being so negative this early but his performance on the mound was a look back at the poor pitching performance we had last year. The first two batters he faced he walked before striking out our strikeout king from last year Daniel Cuvet. Daniel led the team with 63. If Daniel wasn’t pounding out HRs, he was punching out air. One turn at the plate doesn’t foresee the future. Hoping summer ball helped with his patience at the plate. Getting back to Ashford, after striking out Daniel he returned with his 3rd walk of the inning to load the bases. Todd Hudson, a junior transfer from Liberty, and a player I was told to keep an eye out being a solid hitter and able to toss a ball if needed. At Liberty he was 1-4 with an ERA of 7.26 but with a bat hit third best on the team with a .286 average with 11 HRs. A bat we can always use but his pitching fits in with last year’s crop of inadequacy. At 6’6″, he will definitely be a force to be reckoned with at the plate for size alone. Todd grounded out 4-6 but recorded the first RBI of the preseason. With BL still loaded with two out, Ryan reached his five-batter limit.

AJ Ciscar, RH freshman pitcher, pitched the bottom half of the inning. Like Ashford, a shaky start walking the lead-off batter, fellow freshman Michael Torres. This is where Ashford and Ciscar parted ways. The next three batters went down in order, one of which was last year sensation Dorian Gonzalez who struck out. Torres did manage to steal second on a bad throw from home, but that is as far as he went. Need to keep a close eye on our catchers since we have 3 competing for the job. Evan Taveras, who made the throw wasn’t all that impressive. Evan is a freshman. The go-to catcher, my guess will be Tanner Smith who is a senior transfer from Oregon State. Not a barn burner at the plate only batting .221 last year with 4 doubles, a triple, and 5 round-trippers. Only had 32 starts. The other catcher, Nolan Johnson is also a freshman, highly recruited out of Thousand Oaks, Calif where his career average was .361. See how this transfers into college stats. Would love him to be the next ADC ( Adrian Del Castillo).

The second inning proved to be just as bad as the first for Ashford. A good start having Elijah Hurt, freshman, ground out 6-3, his world turned to crap. Jake Kulikowski, returning soph, singled, Jake Ogden, Junior from UNC Greensboro, walked, followed by the most impressive hit of the day. Derek Williams, a junior transfer from Wichita State, last year made second-team All-AAC, batted .318 with 14 HRs, slashed a screaming double down the LF line scoring one. Welcome to the U. A WP added to Ashford’s resume scoring Ogden from third before striking out Gaby Gutierrez ending his 5 batter limit. That, and the rains had seen enough of Ashford and called it a day. The Tarp came out and the opening day of preseason brought to an end.

With not even two innings played, it is hardly time to make any real evaluation. Hopefully a month from now when preseason concludes we will have a much better look at the 2025 team. The main concern is pitching. That was our Achilles Heel last year. It didn’t mean anything how good our offensive punch was, our hurlers always seemed to negate the runs our bats put on the board. It appears management is in agreement accumulating 21 pitchers to the roster. That is more than half our team. From that, I would hope we will be able to find 3 quality starters, a closer and solid middle relief.

This was supposed to be the better of the three days weather-wise with the worst being Sunday. Hopefully, it won’t be a washout first weekend of baseball and the Gods trying to tell us something. Whatever it brings I will be there reporting what I see and providing you a picture of what to expect come February. 

Before closing out the first abbreviated report card, I  would like to pass on a few names that were given to me to watch for in the coming season: Brian Walters, Griffin Hugus, Nick Robert, Carson Fisher, Jackson Cleveland, Max Galvin, and Todd Hudson. We know about Brian and Nick from last year who will probably be leaders in consideration for the starting roles. Overall, this should be an interesting year with so many unknowns. I looked at the players taking to the field and scratched my head at how many new players there were. Will try to sort everything out in the next month.

The first pitch is scheduled for 115. The same for Sunday. If you attend I highly recommend bringing an umbrella.

Share:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *