The Terriers are on a roll right now, having won 6 in a row and 7 of their last 8 games dating back to the finale of their weekend series at Belmont back on March 20th. A big reason for that seems to be that they are starting to play up to the level of their preseason expectations for the pitching staff. As I pointed out last week, Wofford’s team ERA was over 4.50 (4.68 to be exact). After going 4-0 since last week’s edition of this article with a sweep of the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs 7-4, 8-3, and 7-2 and knocking off Winthrop 4-2 Wednesday night, a stretch in which Wofford arms surrendered only 8 earned runs of the 11 given up. That has helped bring their average down to 4.24.
The Terriers approach to pitching has really been more like having an opener rather than a starter over these last 4 games with their starters averaging just a little over 3 innings. They have really been using their wealth of depth in the bullpen to their advantage.Wofford has gotten a lot of good work out of closer Dalton Rhadans, who was named the SoCon’s pitcher of the week after posting a 0.00 ERA with 6 strikeouts, a win, and 2 multi-inning saves – a 9 inning one at Gardner-Webb last Saturday and a 6 outer last night against Winthrop) and Holden Wilder (who compiled a win in 2 appearances with 3.1 shutout innings pitched and 3 K’s) over the last week.
On the flipside, the offense has not been totaling in the double digits as far as run production goes since last Tuesday at USC Upstate, where they scored 10. The Terrier bats have averaged just 6.5 runs per game (which is still pretty good, granted. Anything more than 3 runs should always be enough to win when you have a deep pitching staff like Wofford does) over their last 4. At the plate, the Terriers were led by 2nd baseman Brice Martinez, who was 7-13 with 5 RBIs and DH Brennen Dorighi, who tallied 7 hits in 12 appearances with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. 1st baseman John Dempsey also contributed with 4 hits in 14 plate appearances, including a solo homer, for 3 RBIs.
Wofford, now 18-8 on the season, has a Texas road trip coming this week to finish out non-conference play. The Terriers will travel to take on #18 Dallas Baptist this weekend in what will be their toughest challenge yet this season. Game 1 is set for Friday at 7:30 Eastern time, game two Saturday at 3:00 Eastern, and the finale on Sunday at 2:00 Eastern. They’ll wrap up the Texas swing with a midweek game Tuesday night at Tarleton State with first pitch set for 7:00 eastern time. The games at DBU will be available streaming through their website
