Waves in Review: April 1-April 13

By: Jack Halsted

Pitchers:

    The Tulane Green Wave continues to chug along and churn out victories thanks to Redshirt Junior and Summer of 2021 Ocean State Waves pitcher Clifton Slagel. In the last 2 weeks, Tulane has taken on a difficult 14-6 Jackson State squad alongside Memphis, but Clifton Slagel continued to pitch well in the two games he appeared in, seeing Tulane take two massive victories. In the contests, Slagel compiled 3.2 IP while scattering 5 hits, collecting 4 punchouts, and only issuing one free pass. His ERA continues to be an impressive 3.00 on the season, as he has only allowed 6 runners to cross the plate during his 18 innings on the mound.

    In Indiana, the Hoosiers carry a modest 13-7 record into the third week of April, with one of the key cogs in the operation being pitcher John Modugno. Modugno boasts a 2.51 ERA, the lowest of any upcoming wave that has thrown 10 or more innings, as his busy past 2 weeks included 3 appearances, with two of them being scoreless. Modugno compiled 5 strikeouts in 5.2 IP, issuing 3 free passes and 7 hits. In his only bad outing of the stretch, Modugno was charged with 3 runs in the road loss to Ohio State, marking only the second time in his 7 appearances this season that he had been hit with a run. More importantly, Modugno continued to be extremely efficient, with his two scoreless outings seeing him only need 20 pitches to get through 2 innings at Ohio State, and 22 to get through 2 innings against Illinois. 

    Staying in-state,  the Rhode Island Rams went 1-1 in games Dominic Picone appeared in, but Picone was lights out himself. In the Loss to Hofstra, Picone recorded 4 strong innings that saw him punch out 3 batters while only allowing 2 runs, but the bounceback performance against La Salle resulted in not only a win but a season-high 9 strikeouts for Picone in only 5 innings, allowing 2 hits in his work while dispatching of La Salle college hitters in a brief 68 pitches.

    The big series of the weekend for Waves fans came when Cade Kuehler’s Campbell University Camels squared off with Winthrop and Andrew Jenner’s Eagles. Sticking with pitchers though, Kuehler was hit up a bit by the Eagles, surrendering 2 runs in 2.2 innings while also punching out 2, issuing 2 walks and allowing 2 doubles, and flashing the leather recording 2 assists from the mound… Though 2s were wild against Winthrop, Kuehler bounced back with the opportunity to record a 4 out save against Charleston Southern and he did just that, keeping his opponent off the board while picking up a strikeout for the 8th straight game. The highlight of Kuehlers weekend came when he clocked out at 98, yes 98 Miles Per Hour against Winthrop, continuing to blaze past hitters en route to his impressive stat line of 3-0 with 12.2 IP, 14 K, 6 BB, a 3.65 ERA, and now a save

Hitters:

    Over to Winthrop’s big bats, though having a quiet 6 games at the plate in terms of hits, Andrew Jenner made his at-bats count picking up 5 BBs (to improve his season total to 10) and maintaining his season average of .300 or better. Alongside his teammate, Dillon Morton mashed for the Eagles going 5-13 (.385) while collecting a hit in 4 of his 5 contests. His biggest game of the stretch came when he dominated UNC Asheville this past Saturday, going 2-4 with a big fly and 3 RBI’s to boot. Morton raised his average on the season to a whopping .339, also number 1 amongst ALL Waves players.

    Speaking of long balls, Griffin Merritt launched one of his own this past weekend when he belted a ball 372 feet while coming off the bat at over 100 MPH (100.7 to be exact). The Cincinnati Bearcat was in the midst of a rough 2-week stretch, one that saw him play in 8 contests but only go 6-28 before belting his home run. Despite the rough patch, Merritt is enjoying a very impressive season with the Bearcats, hitting .289 with 4 big flies and 16 runs driven in thanks to the Juniors hot bat.

    Rounding out the Waves' big week of booming bats is NJIT Highlander, Albert Choi. Alongside his defense in the field, Choi raked at the plate in his 8 appearances over the past 2 weeks. Choi slashed .433/.469/1.036 against Umass Lowell and the University of Maine. Collecting 13 hits, 2 doubles, a triple, 2 walks, and 5 RBI’s (bringing his season total to 12), Choi did it all this past week to help his squad to a 4-4 record as well as bring his average from .204 all the way to .291, now third amongst qualified Waves.