‘Mac’s Musings’ Finale Highlights Baseball Season Recap

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Friday's supersized edition of Mac's Musings is the Season 4 finale, recapping the 2021 campaign. Beforehand, baseball head coach John McCormack speaks on the MLB sticky substance controversy, among a few other big league items. Then, it's a truly deep dive into the '21 squad, going around the horn to talk about the Owls' key contributors, with unique stats and Coach Mac's thoughts on them during this just-ended season. In addition, below this is a written recap of the year.

Click the picture above to listen to today's episode (it is a picture, not an embedded play button), or by going directly to https://fausports.com/podcasts/macs-musings-season-4-finale/70. All previous episodes of Mac's Musings are archived here: https://fausports.com/podcasts.

The Owls' 2021 Season in Review
The 2021 season started off with the Owls winning seven of their first eight, including a road win over then-No. 6 Florida at the Gators' brand new ballpark. At that point, many publications had the team ranked. A couple of stumbles ended non-conference play, but the opening Conference USA weekend was a four-game sweep of Marshall at home.

C-USA was tough sledding in the next couple of series, and the league would end up being one of the better conferences in the country, with four eventual NCAA regional invites. The Owls would rebound by either splitting or outright winning the final five sets, including against No. 19 Southern Miss (followed by a road midweek win at Miami) to cap the regular season, to finish third in the East Division and earn the league's No. 5 seed.

In Ruston, at the C-USA Championship, three of the four games came against ranked foes, including a win over No. 16 Charlotte to eliminate the league's regular season champions. But a Saturday loss to eventual tourney winners Old Dominion ended the Owls' hopes of any further postseason play.

Three Owls – Hunter Cooley, B.J. Murray and Nolan Schanuel – earned All-C-USA honors, all being voted to the Second Team, while Schanuel was C-USA All-Freshman as well. He would also go on to being twice named Freshman All-America (by Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game) as well as Second Team ABCA All-Region.

Individually, here are some of the team's category leaders for the season:
Average – Schanuel (.343 – 10th in C-USA), Mitchell Hartigan (.318), Murray (.311) … Note: Steven Loden's .375 average didn't qualify by just one game. He would've ranked second in C-USA
Hits – Schanuel (68 – 12th in C-USA), Murray (65), Hartigan (63)
Runs – Schanuel (54 – 8th in C-USA), Murray (49 – 11th in C-USA), Wilfredo Alvarez (48)
Home Runs – Murray (14 – 4th in C-USA), Bobby Morgensen (12 – 10th in C-USA), Schanuel (11 – 13th in C-USA)
RBI – Schanuel (56 – 9th in C-USA, 54th in Division I), Murray (52 – 12th in C-USA), Morgensen (38)
OBP – Schanuel (.444 – 8th in C-USA), Murray (.424), Alvarez (.405) … Loden would have been 10th in C-USA at .441
Slugging – Murray (.584 – 8th in C-USA), Schanuel (.576 – 10th in C-USA), Hartigan (.535) … Loden would've been 9th in C-USA at .583
Wins – Cooley (8-4 – 4th in C-USA, 48th in Division I), Javi Rivera (7-0 – 8th in C-USA), Dante Visconti (5-2)
Starters ERA – Matt Sparing (3.86), Cooley (3.96), Rivera (4.83)
Relievers ERA – Braden Ostrander (3.46), Sam Drumheller (4.65), Visconti (4.96)
Strikeouts – Rivera (70), Cooley (57), Sparling (52)
Average Against – Drumheller (.225), Rivera (.248 – 13th in C-USA for qualifying pitchers), Sparling (.271)
Appearances – Visconti (19), Mike Entenza/Dylan O'Connell (18), Cooley/Drumheller (17)
Saves – Visconti (4 – 7th in C-USA), Drumheller/Ostrander (3 - Both 11th in C-USA), Entenza (2)

Also, Hartigan was fifth in the conference and No. 29 nationally with 19 doubles, while Murray and Alvarez were fifth and seventh, respectively, in walks (41 and 38). Murray's walk total is No. 49 in DI, and he was also eighth in the league with 122 total bases. And Schanuel was the second toughest batter in C-USA to strikeout, at one K every 9.4 AB.

In league stats only, among the best were:
Alvarez – 4th in walks (23)
Murray – 2nd in HR (9), 4th in RBI (31), 4th in slugging (.636), 7th in walks (21)
Cooley – 3rd in Wins (5), 7th in ERA (3.54)
Drumheller – 6th in saves (3)
Rivera – 2nd in IP (51 2/3), 3rd in Wins (5), 6th in Avg Against (.234), 8th in strikeouts (42)

Again, this doesn't include Loden's slash line of .453/.494/.707. The .453 average would have led the league, against C-USA foes, by nearly 50 points, the .494 OBP fourth highest and .707 slugging second best.

As a team, the Owls were the top defensive squad in the C-USA, with a .978 fielding percentage, and set a new season low in errors with 42 in 57 games (the previous lowest mark was 52 in 2016). Four team members, Jalen DeBose, Hartigan, Shane Magrann and Bobby Morgensen, all had 50 or more chances without an error; Schanuel, in his first ever season at 1B, had a .996 fielding percentage, just two errors in 454 chances (second most in C-USA) with 426 putouts (also second) and was part of a league-best 38 double plays, and Alvarez was sixth in the league with 139 assists, playing every single inning of the year for the Owls at shortstop.

The outfield contingent, in 359 total chances, committed just one error all season long, while the team's trio of catchers – Nicholas Toney, Caleb Pendleton and Magrann – combined to throw out 18 runners attempting to steal, plus a pickoff, with only four errors between them. And another final remarkable stat was the team's seven grand slams on the year: Pendleton, 2/20/21 (both in the 2nd inning vs. UCF); Sam Low, 3/7/21 (vs. FGCU); Victor Castillo, 3/30/21 (at FGCU); Toney, 4/3/21 (at Charlotte); Hartigan, 4/30/21 (vs. FIU); and Jackson Wenstrom, 5/27/21 (vs. Charlotte at C-USA Tournament).

Though there will be a lot of fluidity from '21 to the 2022 roster, including 11 players honored this past Senior Day, plus the possibility of more Owls being drafted and/or signed by MLB teams. A strong nucleus though is made up of the past two freshman classes, who are not yet draft-eligible, in hitters DeBose, Loden, Pendleton and Schanuel, and pitchers Drumheller, Ostrander and Visconti. In just about two months' time, many other components of this year's squad will return to combine with a new incoming class on campus for the preseason.

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