Looper and Morton Headline Hot Start for Incoming Waves
By Tim Joyce and Jack Halsted
The University of Rhode Island took a 2-5 record on the road into their first homestand of the season. Led by Zach Fernandez, URI responded with the tune of 3 wins, including Fernandez relieving the second of Rhody’s victories with 3 innings pitched and 3 strikeouts, lowering his season ERA to a sparkling 2.16 along the way. Fernandez on the season has 8 k’s in his 10 innings pitched.
Shifting down south, the Tulane Green wave welcomed in Western Kentucky, where Clifton Slagel appeared in 2 games, totaling 3 innings pitched and 4 strikeouts. For Slagel, he continues his fast start to the season: 6 appearances, 10.1 innings pitched, 14 strikeouts, only 1 walk, and a sub 3 ERA that currently sits at 2.84. Slagel carries a 12.4 k/9, the highest amongst all Waves pitchers early in this collegiate season.
Cade Kuehler took the mound this weekend in search of his second registered victory and he would get that by striking out 4 batters in his 2.1 innings on Campbell’s mound. His season strikeout total sits at 7 in his 3 appearances and he has registered a 2-0 record while only allowing 2 walks and 2 extra-base hits. However, Kuehler’s most eye-popping stat is that he topped out at 95 mph this weekend, with the next closest Campbell pitcher only grazing 93 on the radar gun.
The star of the weekend though comes from Blue Devil country. Jimmy Loper took the mound against Pittsburgh and made pitching look as easy as Connor McDavid makes hockey look. Loper made sure Duke would win their first ACC series of the season as he needed only 3 innings to record 7 strikeouts, record a 3-inning save, and the icing on the cake: only 31 pitches needed to blank 7 batters.
Dillon Morton continued his hot start this weekend as the Eagles of Winthrop on nationally-ranked South Carolina. Morton, a third year Wave, is hitting a cool .400 a month into the season. He highlighted his scorching start with a three-hit performance against Towson where he launched a double on Saturday and a long ball on Friday.
His fellow Eagle Andrew Jenner has started the season hitting a cool .355 notching a base hit in 7 of 8 games. Although all of Jenner’s hits have gone for singles he has an OBP of .412 and an OPS near .800. Jenner, who was scheduled to play for Ocean State in 2020 looks to bring his sweet-swinging lefty bat to Old Mountain in the summer of 2021.
A familiar face from just down the road at the University of Rhode Island is off to a just as scorching start as through three weekends of play Xavier Vargas has recorded a hit in 8 out of 10 games to start the season. Vargas recorded his first three-bagger of the year at the always triples friendly Bill Beck field on Sunday against UMASS-Lowell. Vargas helped propel the Rams to a sweep of the Riverhawks with four hits on the weekend. The slick fielding first baseman is yet to commit an error through 83 chances as well.
Travis Honeyman, the brother of 2017 Wave Bobby Honeyman, made his first college appearance for Boston College when he came on to pinch-hit in the 9th inning against Auburn. At the time the Eagles were down 9-1 and down to their final strike when an off-speed pitch plunked Honeyman in the foot and he would later come around to score. This help sparked a BC comeback which saw them win 11-9 in 10 innings.
