Hawks Look to Build on Series Victory at TCU
No. 11 Campbell visits Brooks Field on Tuesday night
If you’re looking for someone to downplay UNCW’s series victory at No. 23 TCU, Randy Hood isn’t your man.
He’s never shied away from talking about the Seahawks clearing the hurdle of reaching a Super Regional, and he’s not about to change his tune when it comes to the program’s first-ever road series win over a Top 25 opponent — not just for what it represents on its own, but rather, the doors it will potentially unlock in June.
“We talk about the next steps our program needs to continue to take and we don’t shy away from laying it out there as a coaching staff and remind the players,” he said. “We believe we’re the type of program — we’re not only here to try to win regular-season and tournament titles in the CAA — if we play the way we’re capable of, we feel like our schedule every year gives us a chance to be an at-large team if we win some baseball games.”
Just 48 hours after another milestone for the program, opportunity knocks again as No. 11 Campbell visits Brooks Field in a matchup between two of the nation’s most explosive offenses. The game will air on FloSports ($) and ESPN Wilmington.
A few observations from the series vs. the Horned Frogs, and a quick look ahead at what to expect vs. the Camels tonight.
UNCW Game Notes | Campbell Game Notes
Battling Back
If it seems like the Seahawks are hanging around longer in at-bats and just finding a way to create offense, that’s because they are.
That was an emphasis this offseason, and it’s paying off big-time in the form of a team batting average (.307) that ranks 31st nationally and an on-base percentage (.398) ranked 60th — both major leaps from last season’s batting average of .268 and OBP of .353.
This past Fall, assistant coach Terence Connelly led the charge to institute a new system for the Seahawks in batting practice that involves teammates calling out pitch locations — coded by numbers — to the batter. The speed and simplicity of the system has UNCW hitters seeing and processing quicker in the box.
‘They’re learning and trusting that the pitch that they’re seeing is in this certain location on the plate or off the plate,” Hood said. “I think it’s just a higher level of concentration, and in turn, that’s allowed us to be a little more disciplined at the plate.”
It’s also helping the Hawks keep an even keel in pressure situations, as they did this weekend, scoring 21 of their 31 total runs with two outs. On Sunday, UNCW scored seven runs on hits in two-strike counts.
“We’ve really worked hard on not fearing hitting with two strikes, and not fearing or being scared to hit down in the count some,” Hood said.
Per Hood’s count, the Seahawks were 14 of 22 at the plate in situations with runners in scoring position and two outs — more than double a “good” success rate of 30 percent.
“That’s a tough place to play and a storied program,” Hood said. “You look out on their wall, they’ve got five banners of going to the College World Series … there’s very few programs that can even say that.
“To do what we did, I’m really proud of our program — our guys, our coaching staff, everybody — even the bus driver from Texas, he was awesome.”
Kane is Able
The UNCW bullpen remains a work in progress, but a clear order has started to develop over the past month, as Luke Craig and Ethan Chenault have established themselves as the most consistent guys in the middle, while Brett Banks has performed well as the closer.
Beyond that, Connor Kane had shown enough that Hood and pitching coach Kelly Secrest were confident enough to toss him into a two-on jam in the 3rd inning on Sunday.
Granted the Seahawks led 7-1, but it was early.
Kane, a hometown kid with immense potential, immediately committed a balk, walked a batter then gave up a grand slam. Suddenly, the lead is 7-5 and the Horned Frogs have all of the momentum.
“You’re thinking, ‘Well damn, what are we going to do?,’” Hood said with a laugh.
They stuck with the freshman, and he rewarded that confidence by striking out the next two batters to escape the inning, and didn’t allow another hit until the 8th inning.
“From that point on, he just settled in there and competed, and him and Bryan Arendt did a great job of working together,” Hood said.
Kane ultimately tossed a career-high 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on two hits while striking out six and walking two. He threw 59 of his 92 pitches for strikes, and sat down all six TCU batters he faced with two outs.
“It was just a great job by Connor,” Hood said. “He just kept attacking the zone and I didn’t even have a clue, honestly, he had gotten to 90 pitches. After the seventh or eighth, Kelly goes, ‘That’s 91, what do you think?’ I was like, ‘91, really?’”
It takes a special freshman to toss them in that situation against a Power Five, Top 25 team, and an even more special freshman for them to bounce back after giving up a grand slam on his second batter.
Some Dudes
A little love for the guys who put up big numbers in Fort Worth…
Taber Mongero: 4-for-11, 5 RBI, 4 runs (Double, 3 walks)
Brock Wills: 4-for-13, 5 RBI, 4 runs (HR, Triple)
Jac Croom: 5-for-10, RBI, 5 runs
Tanner Thach: 3-for-13, 5 RBI (HR, Double)
Bryan Arendt: 4-for-8, 2 RBI, 4 runs
Brett Banks: 2.2 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs
Numbers and Such
As of this morning, the Seahawks sit at No. 70 in the RPI — still a long way to go before they’re truly on the NCAA Tournament bubble, but they’ve rapidly been trending in that direction for the past month.
Of the 19 remaining games, 16 are against teams currently in the RPI top-100. Road games are more valuable, so the Hofstra series — against a team much better than their record — is still helpful for the resume.
“The next 19 games, we’ve got a great opportunity to continue to play quality opponents that have good RPIs and put ourselves in a good position — not only in the league, and that’s most important — but from an at-large standpoint,” Hood said. “So hopefully, we can keep taking care of business on the weekends and winning series and then add some more midweek and nonconference wins to keep padding our resume.”
Remaining Schedule (RPI)
Tonight: No. 11 Campbell (31)
Fri.-Sun.: Delaware (98)
April 25: at No. 18 North Carolina (39)
April 28-30: at Hofstra (175)
May 5-7: Northeastern (47)
May 9: at No. 11 Campbell (31)
May 12-14: at Charleston (83)
May 16: No. 2 Wake Forest (4)
May 18-20: William & Mary (66)
Humpin’ It
Hood has seen a couple of pretty good Campbell teams — he played on a few of them, including the 1988 and ‘90 Big South championship clubs.
The roll they’ve been on these past five years is an entirely new level, as the Camels have made four straight NCAA Tournament appearances while dominating their league under Coach Justin Haire.
“They’ve just blown up, man,” Hood said. “They’ve done a great job there.”
This season’s edition of the Camels (27-8) might be the best yet, boasting wins over East Carolina, Coastal Carolina, a sweep of Rutgers and a series win at Lousiana.
On Monday, Campbell picked up its best raking in school history, rising to No. 11 in the D1Baseball Top 25 — just days after former shortstop Zach Neto made his Major League debut for the Los Angeles Angels.
The Camels rank No. 3 nationally in total runs with 356 (10.2 per game), No. 4 in homers with 74 (2.1 per game) and among the nation’s best in a litany of offensive categories.
Video game numbers.
Needless to say, there will be runs tonight at Brooks.
“It does mean a little bit more for me, going there and playing there and coaching there,” Hood said. “Hopefully, our guys, we’ve celebrated this past weekend and by the time we get to (Tuesday) our guys hopefully will be locked and loaded and ready to go and know that it’s another opportunity to kind of put another mark in that resume.”