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College  | Story | 3/19/2016

Karinchak impresses again

Jheremy Brown
Andrew Krause
Photo: Steve McLaughlin




Weekend Preview | Video Vault | Freshmen dominate to open 2016
Thursday Recap: Jefferies continues to deal


Bryant 6, Central Connecticut 1
Bryant 8, Central Connecticut 1

His success this spring hasn't taken anybody by surprise as Bryant’s James Karinchak put together an excellent freshman campaign, but with added strength to his 6-foot-2 frame his stuff has ticked up and it’s showing early in 2016. Powerfully built with strength proportioned throughout, Karinchak has made some early noise on the national scene as he shut down San Diego State in the Tony Gwynn Classic and simultaneously has begun to establish himself as one of the premier prospects in the Northeast for the 2017 MLB draft.




With a stiff wind blowing throughout the course of the game and the 50 degree temperatures feeling closer to 30, it would be expected and excused if Karinchak didn’t come out showing some of his best velocity or sustain the velocity during his outing. Neither of those two expectations were true however as the New York native opened the game sitting in the 90-92 mph range over the first handful of innings, bumping a 93 or two, before working more in the 89-91 mph range towards the backend of his seven innings. And as it would turn out, the lone run and four of the seven hits surrendered came early in the game when Karinchak was showing his best velocity of the game.

On the mound Karinchak employs a rather short and simple set of mechanics that allow him to repeat and consistently generate downhill plane to his heater from a higher three-quarters slot while locating to either side of the black with intent. Early in the game when most of Central Connecticut’s damage was done Karinchak was relying almost solely on his fastball and was pitching more to contact than missing bats. But as the innings wore on his feel for the breaking ball developed, and changeup for that matter, giving him a viable three pitch mix all of which he was able to throw for strikes and subsequently saw his strikeout total rise (eight altogether).

In breaking down Karinchak’s stuff we’ll begin with the fastball, which as I mentioned above worked more or less in the low-90s over the seven innings, still showing 91s in the seventh, with short running life when down in the zone which was more prevalent when locating to his arm side. His arm action is relatively short and quick through the back and the ball leaves his hand with minimal effort which foreshadows to more velocity in there both at present and into the future as he continues to incorporate his lower half into his drive towards the plate. He also flashed a two-seam fastball once or twice in the early frames at 88 mph that featured quality life away from lefthanders.

Though a bit inconsistent throughout the outing, Karinchak’s curveball showed above average at its best and more often than not he had the pitch working this outing. A steady mid- to upper-70s offering when thrown early in the count, the sophomore righthander showed a hard, nasty biting version in the 79-81 mph range to put away hitters and twice located to the back foot of lefthanded hitters. Both versions of the pitch showed 12-to-6 shape and quality depth with the offerings in the lower end of the band showing bigger depth early in the count to get ahead on hitters.

Used solemnly on righthanders though it would be an effective offering, the changeup was a pitch that Karinchak threw almost exclusively to lefthanders but did so with confidence and conviction. Maintaining his arm speed and slot nicely on the 82-84 mph pitch, Karinchak was able to turn it over for consistent strikes showing late fading life away from hitters.

After the Blue Devil’s top performer and three-hole hitter Ryan Costello turned on a fastball to the right-center field gap for a double his previous at-bat, Karinchak’s pitchability came through as Costello stepped up with the bases loaded in his next trip. Beginning the face off by tripling up on changeups (first two for swinging strikes), Karinchak finished with one of those hard 81 mph back foot curves for a swinging third strike though it was the changeups that really resonated from that match up.

With another strong start and helping get Bryant on the right track in conference play, Karinchak improved to 4-1 on the year and is averaging 10.68 strikeouts-per-nine with a 2.03 ERA. After what he did last spring and the hot start to 2016 opposing coaches in the Northeast Conference will be shaking their heads until the end of this spring scheming ways to beat him, especially since they’ll have to face him for another full season.

As a team the Bulldogs are 12-4 and it’s their offense that has been just as impressive as Karinchak’s performance on the mound. A physically impressive bunch one-through-nine, junior center fielder Matt Albanese is sure to entice scouts come June courtesy of his long and loose 6-foot-2, 200-pound athletic frame. Though he was out in front a bit game one he still managed to fly out deep to the left-centerfield warning track for a loud L7 which would have been an easy home run if not for that stiff breeze blowing directly in from left field. The one hit he managed in the first game came as an infield single that deflected off the pitcher’s glove and though he didn’t get out of the box cleanly he still got down the line in 4.28 seconds which would be closer to a 4.2 if he got out well.

Senior first baseman Robby Rinn has been on fire since the season opened up and he collected another two hard base hits in game one and another two in the nightcap raising his season total to .420. Strongly built at 6-foot-2, 200-pounds, the lefthanded hitting Rinn shows a short and fast stroke through the zone with quick hands that allow him to handle the inner half fastball. Junior Brandon Bingel enjoyed a nice day at the plate going deep to the opposite field for his first home run of the year and nearly left the park again down the left field line later in the game. Helping his own cause in game two, Bingel not only picked up the win throwing six strong but he also managed to get connect for his second long ball of the afternoon. 



National Notes

• There may not be a hotter hitter in the country than Clemson’s Seth Beer, a lefthanded hitting freshman who graduated Lambert High School (Ga.) early to enroll this spring and man is Coach Monte Lee glad he arrived early. Heading into the highly touted matchup against red-hot Boston College with seven home runs, Beer connected for his eight of the year and added a double as part of his 2-for-2 day and is now slashing .446/.543/.946; not a typical line for your traditional freshman. With the 6-2 win over Boston College, the Tigers continue to fly high as they improve to 14-3 on the year and 3-1 in the ACC. 

• The Schmidt family had quite the Friday night as both senior righthander Clate (Clemson) and sophomore righthander Clarke (South Carolina) turned in exceptional performances and improved their already impressive season statistics. Sticking with the Clemson theme, former Perfect Game All-American Clate recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts while issuing just two walks in seven strong innings over surging Boston College. Younger brother Clarke wasn’t to be outdone as he punched out 11 of his own and continues to put together a ridiculous stat line improving to 5-0 on the year with 43 strikeouts to just six walks as the Gamecocks beat No. 17 Arkansas, 10-6.

• Behind yet another strong pitching performance from sophomore lefthander Zach Warren, the Volunteers of Tennessee were able to walk off winners and upset the Ole Miss Rebels by a final of 3-2. Warren, who was recently named to the Collegiate National Team for the summer, fired 6 1/3 quality innings in which he surrendered a lone run and scattered four hits while punching out eight. And though he didn’t factor into the final decision Warren continues to perform at the highest level and Friday was no exception. It was Tennessee’s Derek Lance who delivered the winning hit in the bottom of the ninth with a single into center field to give the Vols game one.

• There are several ways to walk off and Miami outfielder Willie Abreu chose to do it in grand fashion as grand slam in the bottom of the ninth helped No. 9 Miami take down No. 4 Louisville 8-4. Not only did the win give the Hurricanes the first game of what will be a tough three-game set, but it also provided Coach Jim Morris with career win No. 1,500.

• While this weekend was the opening weekend of conference play for much of Division I baseball, teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference faced off against a fellow conference foe for a second straight week. After taking two of three against Duke University last weekend, the University of Virginia won both ends of a doubleheader against Wake Forest on Friday night. In game one, Connor Jones threw 7 1/3 shutout innings and struck out nine to pick up the win, while Adam Haseley went 3-for-4 with two doubles. Haseley continued his hot hitting in the nightcap, adding four more hits to his tally, including another double and a pair of triples. Also of note, Wake Forest’s star slugger Will Craig did not play in either game as he’s still nursing a minor injury.

• The top-ranked University of Florida Gators opened up conference play with an extra-inning victory against visiting Missouri. Logan Shore pitched well despite a few early hiccups. After the first two batters of the game reached base (via an infield hit and error), Shore struck out three consecutive Tigers to wriggle out of trouble. Missouri made him work and throw plenty of pitches, but the Florida ace struck out a career-high 10 in 5 1/3 innings pitched. Missouri’s veteran ace Reggie McClain (9 innings, 9 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 0 walks, 8 strikeouts) settled in after allowing three runs in the first inning, and the Tigers clawed back to tie the game in the top of the ninth despite the solid effort from freshman righty Brady Singer (2 1/3 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts). Eventually, Florida walked off with a 4-3 win in the 10th inning thanks to a single from Peter Alonso.

• Heath Quinn helped lead Samford to an 8-5 win over Jacksonville University. Quinn went 2-for-4 and hit another home run, a nation-leading 11th of the 2016 season. First baseman Alex Lee also hit a homer and went 4-for-4, as the Bulldogs offense continues to heat up. While perhaps not on the same level as Samford’s Quinn, Jacksonville’s Austin Hays is an interesting prospect to follow in regards to the MLB Draft. Hays had a strong summer in the Cape Cod League and has been swinging a hot bat early this season, as he also hit a homer—his seventh of the year—on Friday night.
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