Niner Nuggets: Week 4

It was an up and down week for the Niners as they went 1-3 on the week. After a dominating 9-0 victory over 14th ranked Tennessee on Tuesday, Charlotte dropped three highly contested games at #13 East Carolina over the weekend. The Niners now sit at 8-6 after 4 weeks of the 2021 baseball season and their current RPI is 42 with Conference USA play starting next weekend.

Top Stories

• The Niners picked up a very big home win on Tuesday over 14th ranked Tennessee. Charlotte was clicking on all cylinders vs the Vols in a 9-0 shutout of the SEC foe. Austin Marozas pitched 6 shutout innings in his best performance of his young 49er career. The bullpen of Geisting, Grace, and Boss continued the great pitching, allowing 0 hits and 0 runs.  The offense was led by Freshman Will Butcher, who put the 9ers up 1-0 with his RBI single in the 1st. He later would blast 2 HRs and ended the night with 5 RBI.  David McCabe, and Gino Groover added HRs as they went back to back to back in the 7th to blow the game open. Craig Keuchel added 3 hits and scored a Run in the victory..
• The Niners traveled to Greenville this weekend to take on the #13 ECU Pirates.  There was good pitching all around throughout the weekend from both teams, including the 49ers starters Andrew Lindsey, Bryce McGowan, and Matt Brooks. The 49ers bullpen was strong as well, only allowing 3 ER over the weekend. ECU pitching happened to be a little bit better as the Pirates took all three games by scores of 7-4, 3-1, and 3-1. The Niners’ offense was led by McCabe (2 HRs), McKeithan (4 hits, HR), and Jack Dragum (5 hits on the weekend).
• The 49ers announced last week that Charlotte will be hosting College of Charleston Uptown and Truist Field, Home of the Charlotte Knights.  The game will be game 2 of the weekend series and is scheduled for 1:30 on Saturday March 20th. The stadium will allow for 30% capacity, which is roughly 3000 tickets. You can get your tickets at this lnk:  https://www.ticketreturn.com/prod2/Buy.asp?EventID=316347#.YEeCpWhKguV
• In another announcement last week, the 49ers will be hosting App State in the first baseball game in the new Atrium Health Ballpark on March 23 at 6:00. Atrium Health ballpark is home of the Kannapolis Cannonballers,  Class A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. The park opened in 2020, but due to the pandemic, it has not hosted a baseball game until now. There was a pre-sale for tickets last week and the remaining tickets went on sale today. The game is now SOLD OUT!! Should be a fun atmosphere.

Top Performers

• Will Butcher- The Freshman transfer from NC State had a big day against Tennessee going 3 for 4 with 2 HRs and an RBI single.
• David McCabe- Blasted a HR in the Tennessee game and also went yard from both sides of the plate in Friday night’s game vs ECU. D1 Baseball named McCabe one of Friday’s Top Performers. Currently leading the team in HR (8).
• Austin Marozas- Had his best performance of his young 49er career vs Tennessee, scattering 5 hits over 6 innings of scoreless baseball. Struck out 3 and walked 1 on the day.
• Gino Groover- Slid into the lineup vs Tennessee after a pre-game injury to starting second baseman Carson Johnson. He went 2 for 4 with a solo HR and an RBI single. He also flashed the leather several times over the past week, making some outstanding plays in the field.  He currently is riding a 4 game hit streak as he had a hit in all three games at ECU.
• Aaron McKeithan- The catcher was 5-16 on the week with a HR vs ECU on Saturday.
• Bryce McGowan- pitched a great game vs ECU on Saturday allowing only 1 ER on 5 hits and 8 Ks. 
• Austin Knight- The 3rd baseman saw his hit streak end this weekend after getting a hit in the 49ers first 12 games. Currently leading the team in RBI (17) and Doubles (6). Helped lead the 9ers to a victory over his former team, playing solid D and going 1 for 5 and scoring a Run vs the Vols.
• Jack Dragum added 6 hits on the week, including going 3 for 3 on Sunday.

Conference USA Watch (As of 3/15/2021) – 92-69 OOC, 8 RPI, 6 ELO

• WKU (8-7, RPI 114) – Lost at Kentucky, Swept Bowling Green in 4 games
• FAU (9-5, RPI 31) – Lost at Miami, Lost 2 of 3 to Indiana State
• FIU (6-8, RPI 160) – Split 4 game series at Coastal Carolina
• UTSA (5-6, RPI 144) – Lost at #9 TCU, Swept at #15 LSU i n3 games
• ODU (12-3, RPI 48) – Beat William & Mary, Swept Ball State in 3 games.
• Marshall (3-4, RPI 177)- Lost at EKU, Took series over Mercer 2-1
• Rice (8-7, RPI 240) – Beat Houston Baptist, Beat Northern Illinois(2 GMS), Split 2 with Kansas St
• MTSU (9-5, RPI 208) – Split 4 games with Valpo
• USM (9-5, RPI 74) – Swept Louisiana-Lafayette in 3 games
• UAB (6-8, RPI 230) – Lost to Auburn, Swept at Georgia Southern in 3 games
• Louisiana Tech (9-5, RPI 22) – Beat ULM, Lost series to #1 Arkansas 1-2

Tracking the Enemy – Non-conference opponents (As of 3/15)

• Morehead State (7-7) – Beat Ohio, Won series over Eastern Kentucky 2-1
• William & Mary (2-8) – Lost to ODU, Lost 2 of 3 to College of Charleston
• UNCG (10-5) – Neat NC A&T, Swept by #14 Tennessee
• WCU (11-4 )- Beat Kennesaw St, Swept St Johns in 3 games
• #13 Tennessee (14-3) – Lost to CHARLOTTE, Swept UNCG in 3 games
• #9 ECU (13-2) – Beat Duke, Swept CHARLOTTE in 3 games
• Wake Forest (3-6) – Lost 2 games at Miami
• College of Charleston (5-9) – Lost at Campbell, Won  series over William & Mary 2-1
• App St (6-8) – Swept at UNCW in 3 games
• UNC-CH (10-4) – Lost to Liberty, Swept Clemson in 3 games
• UNCW (10-3) – Swept App State in 3 games

Up next:

The non-conference schedule continues this week for the Niners as they travel to Wake Forest on Tuesday to close out a 4 game road trip. This game can be seen on ACC Network or the ESPN+ app at 4:00. 

 After the mid-week in Winston-Salem, the Niners will return home to the Queen City to host College of Charleston.  Game 1 is scheduled to be at the Hayes on Friday night at 6:00. The Saturday game between these two teams is scheduled to be played uptown at Truist Field at 1:30. The finale will be played Sunday at the Hayes at 1:00.  All three games can be seen on CUSA-TV.  You can also purchase tickets to the game uptown at the link below:  https://www.ticketreturn.com/prod2/Buy.asp?EventID=316347#.YFDUt51KguV