Seahawks Rolling, Finish Sweep at Towson
UNCW has won 9 of 10, tied for first place in the CAA
Break out the brooms, because the Hawks are hot.
With Sunday’s 12-2 victory at Towson, UNCW finished off an explosive weekend sweep that saw the Sluggin’ Seahawks outscore the Tigers 34-13 overall.
In all, UNCW has won 9 of its past 10 games — including a victory over No. 10 East Carolina — to jump to the top of the CAA standings alongside Elon, with both teams sitting at 5-1 through two weekends of league play.
A few things to know about the Seahawks as we jump into our baseball coverage for the first time this season…
Croom goes Boom
It’s not possible to play better than Jac Croom has been for the past two weeks.
Over his current 13-game hitting streak Croom is hitting .527 (29 of 55) with an OBP of .571 while slugging .873.
A few more facts about his current hot stretch:
Croom has walked seven times while striking out only once.
His six doubles are more than he had all of last season (5).
Croom’s 21 runs scored account for 20 percent of the team’s runs scored over the 13-game period.
Not bad for a guy that had already made himself an invaluable part of the Seahawks’ infield over the past three seasons, first with an excellent glove at second base before adjusting to third base last year.
Over 20 games, Croom has handled 48 defensive chances — several of them not routine plays — without a single error this season.
You can never predict an outburst like this, but it’s awesome to see a guy just keep growing and improving over his career, and have it pay off.
Right now, he’s on track for one of the greatest individual seasons in Seahawk baseball history, and it’s been incredible to watch.
NOTE: Now that I’ve fully recovered from basketball season, we’ll regularly have some baseball coverage in here. Also, be on the lookout for a Q&A with retiring AD Jimmy Bass later this week.
Big ball, small ball
After relying heavily on power hitting for so much of the offense last season, the Seahawks have shown they’re capable of winning several ways this season.
Of UNCW’s 43 hits this weekend at Towson, 33 of them were singles, with the Hawks mixing in eight doubles and just two homers.
The win vs. ECU was more of the same, as the Hawks had just one extra-base hit among their 10 in scoring eight runs to beat the Pirates.
Still, the Hawks have slugged 26 homers this season — ranking in the top 50 nationally — but they’ve shown the ability to string together hits, move runners and manufacture runs, too.
After stealing 47 bases on 63 tries in 2022, UNCW is well on its way to eclipsing those numbers this season, succeeding on 25 of 28 stolen base attempts this season.
A Positive Trend
Things aren’t perfect with UNCW’s pitching, but they’re going in the right direction.
Over the first 10 games this season, Seahawk pitching was its own worst enemy, walking 64 batters, hitting 15 and throwing 15 wild pitches.
No matter how great your offense is hitting, it’s tough to win ballgames when you’re putting that many guys on base or allowing them to move freely.
The turning point came midway through the Columbia series, when after falling 15-0 in the series opener, the Hawks dropped a 15-12 slugfest. Over those two games, UNCW walked 15 batters.
Starting with the second game of the doubleheader on March 4, UNCW pitchers have walked 48 batters over the past 10 games, cut HBP’s to seven and thrown three wild pitches.
The defense has helped, too, as UNCW has committed just seven of its 18 total errors over the past six games.
That’s allowed the pitching staff to settle in, as it did on Sunday with Zane Taylor trusting his defense. Taylor threw 67 of his 93 pitches for strikes, didn’t walk a single batter and gave up just four hits while getting 11 flyouts and six groundouts.
A Correlation…
There’s a pretty direct link with UNCW’s results and its defensive play this season, as the Seahawks have the following records based on the number of errors committed this season.
Three errors: 0-1
Two errors: 1-2
One error: 6-3
Zero errors: 6-1
UNCW Athletics
Base Hits
Reliever Ryan Calvert hasn’t allowed a run over 3.2 innings, striking out five while walking two in three appearances. He’s currently carrying a WHIP of 0.82 — quite the rebound after missing the entire 2022 season due to injury.
Taylor is walking one batter per 4.1 innings — best on the team.
Since moving to the bullpen, Matt Gaither has settled in, tossing 10.1 innings without allowing an earned run.
12 different players have stolen a base this season as UNCW is running — and succeeding — more frequently. The Seahawks are averaging 1.3 stolen bases per game this season, after swiping 0.85 per game in 2022.
Through 12 appearances this season, catcher Kevin Pitarra already has a career-high 11 hits. His 12 RBI are more than he’d had in his first three seasons (5) combined.
UNCW has scored 10+ runs in seven of the past 11 games.
Dating to last season, Seahawk pitchers have gone 40 straight games without a balk. #HawksDontBalk
The Week Ahead
N.C. State (15-5, 2-4 ACC) visits Brooks Field on Tuesday night as the Seahawks look for their second consecutive victory over the Wolfpack. Prior to UNCW’s win on May 20, 2022, State had won nine straight in the series. In all, the Wolfpack has won 18 of 20 dating to 2011.
State is hitting .316 as a team and averaging 8.8 runs, but its biggest strength is in its weekend rotation. Fortunately for us, though, midweek pitching — as for most college teams — hasn’t been nearly as consistent.
Over 20 games, the Pack has 176 runs while UNCW has 175.
Next up on the CAA schedule is a trip to visit newcomer Stony Brook (6-11, 1-2 CAA).