March 24 Baseball Notebook
March 24, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format Week two of Conference play is upon us and Southern Miss will visit Rice this weekend, attempting to hand the Owls their first conference loss. Memphis will put its unblemished league mark on the line at Marshall. Elsewhere, East Carolina will visit UCF and Tulane will travel to UAB.
HITTER OF THE WEEK RICK HAGUE, RICE Freshman, SS, Spring, Texas For the week, Hague hit safely in all five outings to extend his current hitting streak to 10 games. He batted a composite .500, collecting eight hits in 16 at bats with two doubles and two home runs for a 1.000 slugging percentage. For the week, he drove in eight runs and scored five times. Hague drew a pair of walks and was hit by a pitch, giving him a .579 on-base percentage. He also executed three sacrifice bunts and made 17 defensive assists and five put outs from his spot at short. PITCHER OF THE WEEK BARRY BOWDEN, SOUTHERN MISS Senior, RHP, Vidalia, La. Bowden was strong against No. 16 UCF in the C-USA opener on Friday night, striking out 14 Knights in route to his fourth victory of the season. Bowden allowed only one run through eight innings and two runners left on base scored after he exited the game in the ninth inning. He allowed three hits in the third inning to load the bases but struck out two consecutive UCF hitters to end their only threat of the game. Bowden did not allow another hit until the seventh inning. He struck out seven Knight batters in the first three innings and at least one batter in every inning. Bowden's 14 strikeouts is a new career high and placed him sixth all-time on the Southern Miss strikeout list. This is Bowden's second Pitcher of the Week honor this season. C-USA NOTEBOOK
The Pirates opened Conference USA play by going 1-2 against Houston. The series-opening loss on Friday night snapped East Carolina's 13-game winning streak, the sixth-longest in school history. In Saturday's 15-4 win, senior C Corey Kemp tied a school record by homering three times. He is the first C-USA player to hit three home runs in a game since Marshall's Brandon Murphy on May 3, 2006. Freshman 3B Dustin Harrington had his 10-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday. During his streak, he batted .421 (16-for-38) with two home runs, 11 RBI, eight runs scored, three walks and three game-winning RBI. Sophomore Kyle Roller hit three home runs on the week, including two against Elon for the second time in his career. Roller has 17 career home runs with five coming against Elon. While only hitting .286 (4-for-14) on the week, he drove in a team-best eight runs, scored six times, walked four times, slugged .929 and swiped his third career stolen base. Freshman RHP Seth Maness improved to 4-0 on the year after earning the win on Saturday. In his first five collegiate starts, he has an ERA of 3.21 and has struck out 26, while walking only eight. The Cougars opened Conference USA play by winning two-of-three at East Carolina. Houston, which won its fourth straight conference opener on Friday, improved to 10-2 all-time in its opening C-USA series. Sophomore LHP Wes Musick won his career-best fifth consecutive game on Friday at ECU, allowing two runs off six hits with six strikeouts in 6.1 innings. Senior IF Bryan Pounds saw his 19-game hitting streak (sixth-longest in school history) end on Saturday, but bounced back to go 3-for-4 with a run, a double, a stolen base and three RBI in the series finale. Sophomore C Austin Goolsby hit his first career home run on Sunday, providing the game-winning runs in the 8-5 victory. Freshman RHP Chase Dempsay picked up his third save of the season on Sunday, allowing only one hit with five strikeouts in 3.1 shutout innings of relief. Houston will play a three game series at San Diego State this weekend, marking the 10th consecutive season that UH will play at least one opponent in the Pacific time zone. MARSHALL The Thundering Herd saw its six-game winning streak snapped with a pair of one-run losses to Kent State on Tuesday and then dropped all three games against No. 14 Rice over the weekend. Although junior CF Nate Lape cooled off a little bit last week, but still leads the league in in batting (.489), slugging percentage (.929), on-base percentage (.558) total bases (65), runs scored (24) and home runs (8). He tops Marshall in doubles (7), RBI (22) and walks (12). Marshall's eight-run second inning on Saturday against Rice was the most runs the team has scored in a single inning so far this season. The previous was a six-run fourth inning in game one vs. Kent State last Tuesday. Junior SS Adam Yeager was the star of Saturday's game, going 3-for-5 with two RBI and tying the conference record for triples in a game with two. He also stole his team-leading 10th base of the season. Freshman OF Ben Jurevicius made his first collegiate appearance on the mound and retired the only batter he faced in game one against the Owls. The Tigers have won five in a row after going 4-0 last week. The streak also includes a Conference USA sweep during the opening week of league play for the first time ever, as Memphis won three straight over UAB. The last time the Tigers opened league play with three straight wins was in 1995 when they swept Saint Louis to begin Great Midwest Conference play. Senior CF K.K. Chalmers continues to close in on more records at Memphis. The senior tied the program's runs mark of 165 over the weekend, while his four walks during the week pulled him to with four of the walks record of 116 set by Brad Seitzer. Chalmers also needs just one more stolen base to become just the third C-USA player ever to reach the 100 stolen base milestone. Chalmers closed out the week by going 4-for-4 in Sunday's dramatic, come-from-behind win, capping a four run rally in the bottom-of-the ninth by driving in the winning runs with a two-RBI single. After 154 trips to the plate without a home run, sophomore Tyler Huelsing hit his first career home run on his 155th at-bat. Huelsing's homer was the big blow of Memphis's six-run second inning as the Tigers claimed the C-USA opener 10-5 over UAB. Memphis exploded for 18 runs against Samford on Tuesday. That marks the largest run production for the Tigers all year, and the most since striking for 19 runs in a record-setting day versus SEMO in 2007. RICE Rice is 17-6 on the year and winners of nine-straight games. The Owls opened C-USA action with a three-game sweep of Marshall on the road. Rice has won 26-consecutive conference series, home and away, dating back to March of 2005. The Marshall series was the 15th time the Owls notched a 3-0 weep during the streak. Sophomore third baseman Diego Seastrunk saw his 19-game hitting streak come to an end on March 17 against Winthrop. Junior Jared Gayhart saw his 16-game hitting streak end Sunday at Marshall, and that was after a particularly hot six-game stretch where he was 15-of-31 (.484) with seven doubles, two home runs, 17 RBI and 10 runs scored. Freshman SS Rick Hague is now in the hit-streak spotlight with a 10-gamer where he is 18-of-38 (.474) with four home runs, three doubles, 15 RBI and 10 runs scored. The trio of Hague, Gayhart and junior catcher Adam Zornes have all driven in at least five runs in a game this season. Junior Aaron Luna hit his second home run of the season last week. The two round-trippers give him a career total of 31, moving him into a tie for eighth place on the Owls' all-time homer career homer list with Enrique Cruz (a major league draft pick in 2003). Senior LHP Cole St.Clair earned his first save of the season with a performance that was as dominating as it was lengthy. St.Clair fired 4.1 innings in relief to save 13-9 come-from-behind victory over Marshall on Saturday. The All-America left-hander scattered four hits and struck out six without allowing any walks in his longest outing of the season. Sophomore pitcher Ryan Berry was steady last week in a Friday night start, allowing just one run on five hits while striking out seven in 6.1 innings. As a staff Rice pitchers average 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings. SOUTHERN MISS The Golden Eagles have won eight of their last nine games after opening Conference USA by taking two-of-three from No. 16 UCF in Hattiesburg. Senior RHP Barry Bowden struck out a career high 14 batters in Friday night's 8-4 victory to improve to 4-1 on the season. With 14 K's, he has moved into sixth place on the school's all-time strikeout list with 245, only 21 away from passing the legendary Ray Guy for fifth place. Freshman RHP Todd McInnis earned two wins last week, moving into a tie for the C-USA lead with five victories on the year. He picked up the win over Southeastern Louisiana last Tuesday and then struck out six in five innings of Sunday's series-clinching triumph against UCF. Southern Miss pitchers have allowed just nine home runs in the first 21 games of the season. Junior 2B James Ewing had a pair of three hit games last week and finished 8-for-14 (.429) with his first homer of the season and four RBI. Ewing has raised his season batting average to .349, although he has played in only 15 of the team's 21 games. Friday's victory gave head coach Corky Palmer his 900th career win over his 29-year coaching career. He now needs only one more victory for his 800th collegiate win and 10 more wins for his 400th win at Southern Miss. TULANE The Green Wave posted their second straight weekend sweep of an opponent, winning three straight over Sacred Heart. Tulane posted a pair of shutouts in the series, marking five blankings in the last seven outings for the Wave pitching staff. The five shutouts match the team's total from all of last season. Junior C Jared Dyer has reached base safely in 17 of the 19 games he has played in so far, has a team-best eight multiple-hit contests - including a trio of three-hit games - and ranks second on the club with five multiple-RBI ballgames. While he has been a standout at the plate, he has been stellar behind the dish as well with 126 putouts and 30 assists. From his catcher's position, Dyer has thrown out eight runners trying to steal, picked off a pair and helped turn a double play. While the Green Wave offense got off to a bit of a slow start to the 2008 season, Tulane hitters have been swinging a hot stick over the last eight ballgames and are hitting .343 (131-for-382) with a .534 slugging percentage on the strength of 26 doubles, four triples and 13 home runs since March 12. Tulane entered the March 12 game against Northwestern State hitting just .251, but broke out for a season-best 23 hits in an 18-11 win over the Demons. Since then, Tulane has double-digit hit totals in six of its last seven ballgames, including 18 in the series finale vs. Oakland on March 16, 14 hits in the series opener vs. Sacred Heart (March 21) and 10 hits both at LSU (March 19) and against the Pioneers on Easter Sunday. UAB It was a tough week for UAB, as the Blazers dropped a mid-week contest with Mississippi State and then lost all three games of its conference-opening series at Memphis over the weekend. Senior 1B Ryan Keedy extended his hit streak to 13 games against Memphis over the weekend. The first baseman has 14 multiple-hit games this season and is one pace to set a school record for doubles in a season as he currently has a league-high 12 on the campaign. Senior OF Phil Bell has also had a hot bat this season and is on a 10-game hit streak. Sophomore SS Jonathan Merritt hit a home run in his first at bat against Mississippi State Tuesday and never slowed down. The sophomore finished the game with a career-best five hits in six plate appearances, while also hitting two home runs, driving in three runs and stealing two bases. Though the UAB pitching staff gave up 24 runs against Mississippi State on Tuesday, there was a silver lining. Eleven Blazer pitchers combined to match the school record for strikeouts in a game with 17. Junior RHP Kyle Roberson had a team-high four strikeouts in 1.1 innings in the game, while 10 of the 11 arms used in the game recorded at least one strikeout. UCF It was a tough opening weekend of conference play for UCF, which dropped two-of-three at Southern Miss to fall to 20-3. At 19-1, UCF posted the best one-loss start in Conference USA history, topping the 2005 Tulane team (14-1) that went on to the College World Series. Senior RF Ryan Richardson stretched his hitting streak to 10 games by hitting safely in all five outings last week. He batted .529 (9-for-17) with a double, a triple and four RBI. Junior SS Erik Kallstrom extended his hitting streak to 13 games with seven hits, along with eight RBI last week. Senior 2B Dwayne Bailey is now 13-for-13 in stolen base attempts on the season. Senior OF Tyson Auer stole his 70th career base on Saturday to move into fifth place on the school's all-time list. UCF has stolen at least two bases in 13 games this season. Sophomore LHP Mitch Houck combined with sophomore RHP Austin Hudson for the first combined no-hitter in UCF history on March 17 against Wagner. Houck totaled a career-high 13 strikeouts in seven innings to earn the win. It also was the second overall UCF no-hitter (Pete MacLaughlan vs. Columbia in 1973). That win also was head coach Jay Bergman's 1,200th career victory. He became the 17th coach in D-I history to reach the mark, and the 21st at all levels of the NCAA. It took just 22 games before the Knights claimed their 20th win of the season. Last year, UCF needed 43 games to reach the 20-win plateau, while it took 33 outings in 2006.
LAST WEEK'S STARS Other than the players of the week, here's a look at some of the top performances in Conference HITTING ECU - COREY KEMP - batted .467 (7-for-15) last week, highlighted by a three home run effort in a win over Houston. On the week, he drove in four, scored five times, slugged 1.133 and had an on-base percentage of .529. HOU - BLAKE KELSO - was 7-for-13 (.538) in the series win at ECU, including four hits in the finale on Sunday. Had two doubles in the series-opening win and finished the series with two walks, two stolen bases and four runs scored. MEM - K.K. CHALMERS - hit safely in all four wins last week, going 7-for-18 (.389) with four runs scored, four walks, three RBI, a double and a stolen base. Included was a game-winning, two-RBI single on Sunday that gave the Tigers a sweep to open league play for the first time since 1995. USM - JAMES EWING - was 8-for-14 (.429) in the four games he played in last week, including a home run and a double, six runs scored and three RBI. Was 5-for-9 in the UCF series with a homer in two RBI in Friday night's win. UCF - RYAN RICHARDSON - hit .529 (9-for-17) in five games played last week with at least one hit in each game. Added a double, a triple, a home run and four RBI with six runs scored on the week. PITCHING ECU - JOSH RUHLMAN - threw 7.0 innings over three relief appearances, allowing one earned run on six hits with four strikeouts. Earned the win over Elon on March 18, allowing one unearned run on one hit over 2.2 innings. HOU - BRYAN TULLY - entering Sunday's game with the bases loaded and UH up 5-4, he allowed just one hit and struck out four over 4.0 innings pitched to earn the win. He retired six straight batters near the end of his outing. MAR - JUSTIN MOORE - threw six shutout innings in game two against Kent State on March 18. He scattered four hits and struck out one. MEM - SCOTT McGREGOR - he struck out seven and walked three in seven innings of work in Friday's league-opening win over UAB. It was the second conference-opening win of his career and his first victory this season. RICE - CHRIS KELLEY - pitched a season-long 7.1 innings in Sunday's win at Marshall, posting a season-best five strikeouts. He scattered seven hits and one walk. TUL - AARON LOUP - earned his second win of the season on Saturday against Sacred Heart. Threw seven innings, striking out six and allowing two runs on six hits. UCF - MITCH HOUCK - was part of the first combined-no-hitter in UCF history on March 17, striking out 13 batters with four walks over seven innings. Made a relief appearance on Sunday at Southern Miss, but allowed three runs in 0.1 IP. UCF NO-HITS WAGNER Sophomores Mitch Houck and Austin Hudson combined to give UCF a no-hitter against Wagner on March 17. The game marked the first combined no-hitter in UCF history, and the second overall. The first and only no-hit performance before Houck and Hudson accomplished the feat was Pete MacLaughlan vs. Columbia in 1973. It was the first no-hitter thrown in Conference USA since the 2005 season. C-USA NO-HITTERS Mitch Houck and Austin Hudson, UCF (Wagner) 3-17-08 J.R. Crowel, Billy Mohl, Daniel Latham, TUL (Nicholls State) 4-26-05 Ricky Brooks, ECU (Memphis) 4-24-05 Cliff Russum, USM (Eastern Illinois) 3-13-04 Josh Bobbitt, TLN (New York Tech) (7 inn.) 3-8-98 COACHING MILESTONES When UCF no-hit Wagner on March 17, the win marked the 1,200th in the coaching career of Knights head coach Jay Bergman. He became just the 17th coach in Division I history to reach the 1,200-win plateau, and just the 22nd at all levels of the NCAA. He is approaching another milestone, needing 16 victories to reach 1,000 wins in his UCF career. Friday's victory over UCF gave Southern Miss head coach Corky Palmer his 900th career win over his 29-year coaching career. He now needs only one more victory for his 800th collegiate win and 10 more wins for his 400th win at Southern Miss.
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