April 28 Baseball Notebook
April 28, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format Four different Conference USA teams are nationally-ranked in this week's polls. Rice remains listed in the Top 10 of all four major polls, while Tulane and Southern Miss are listed in the newest Collegiate Baseball rankings and East Carolina is back in the latest NCBWA poll. Four important league series' are on the docket as teams jockey for position in the conference race and postseason possibilities.
HITTER OF THE WEEK VICTOR GOMEZ, MARSHALL Freshman, DH, Miami, Fla. Gomez capped off the week by going 11-for-21 at the plate with two doubles, two home runs and eight RBI. Gomez, who has a .370 overall batting average (second on the team), hit his eighth home run of the season, a grand slam in game two of the Thundering Herd's weekend series at UAB. Gomez also went deep during a 4-for-5 day in a win at Ohio last Wednesday. The freshman added a double and four runs scored during the Herd's 17-12 win over the Bobcats. Gomez had four multiple-hit games last week and is slugging at a.616 clip with 30 runs batted in on the season. PITCHER OF THE WEEK STHIL SOWERS, EAST CAROLINA Freshman, RHP, LaGrange, N.C. Sowers tossed his first career complete game in a 6-1 win over No. 27 UNC Wilmington on April 22, earning his fourth victory of the season. The freshman scattered six hits and held the Seahawks scoreless through 8.2 innings until giving up a solo home run in the ninth inning. Sowers did not walk a batter, fanned five and did not allow a runner past second until Mark Carver's home run. C-USA NOTEBOOK
The Pirates posted a 5-0 record last week, allowing just seven total runs. During the week, East Carolina pitchers allowed just seven runs (six earned), struck out 43, walked four and allowed the opposing hitters to bat .148 (23-for-155). On the week, all five starters picked up wins including freshman Brad Mincey who made his first collegiate start at Campbell on April 23. He improved to 3-0 on the year after working six innings where he allowed three runs on six hits and tied his career-high in strikeouts with four. Seth Maness improved to 7-0 on the season after picking up the win on Friday night against Presbyterian. With the win, Maness becomes the first freshman in school history to start a season 7-0. He worked 6.1 innings where he allowed one run (unearned) on two hits with eight strikeouts and two walks. Senior OF Jamie Ray batted .471 (8-for-17) on the week with a team-best 10 RBI. In all five games Ray collected at least one hit and drove in one run, including a pair of three RBI games coming against Campbell and Presbyterian. Ray has recorded a hit in 14 of his last 15 games and has tallied 23 during that 15-game span. Senior OF Harrison Eldridge batted .429 (9-for-21) on the week with three two-hit games. He also scored three runs, drove in three, collected a team-best 13 total bases and slugged a team-best .619. Eldridge also was 2-for-2 on the base paths and now has 25 stolen bases on the year and 56 for his career. HOUSTON The Cougars opened the week with a non-conference win over McNeese State before dropping all three games at Southern Miss, with the final two losses coming by just one run each. Senior OF Jake Stewart continued his tear, hitting a double and three home runs in the four games, while driving in six and scoring six times. On Sunday, he joined junior DH Jimmy Cesario as the only Houston players to homer in back-to-back games this season. Senior 2B Ryan Lormand posted a career-high seven RBIs thanks to a three-run double, two-run double and two-run single in the Cougars' 12-9 loss during the series opener. He topped his previous high of four RBIs that he reached three times. Sophomore CF Zak Presley has extended his career-high hitting streak to 16 straight games. It is the second-longest streak by any Cougar slugger in 2008 and topped his previous high of eight games from April 15-29, 2007. His streak is the fourth double-digit hitting streak by a Cougar in 2008, joining Bryan Pounds' 19-and 11-game streaks and Blake Kelso's 11-game streak. Freshman LHP Ty Stuckey collected his second save of the season after throwing the final two shutout innings with three strikeouts against McNeese State. The Thundering Herd won its third Conference USA series of the season by taking two-of-three at UAB over the weekend. Marshall scored double-digit runs in all three wins last week and has scored 10 or more runs in 13 games this season. Freshman DH Victor Gomez and senior C Tommy Johnson hit grand slams in consecutive innings to help Marshall to a 10-9 victory in game two of the weekend series. Junior OF Nate Lape went deep twice over the weekend, once Saturday (for the game-winner) and once Sunday for his 12th and 13th home runs of the season. Saturday's bomb was the first since April 1 for the junior. The 13 home runs are the eighth-highest single-season total in Marshall history. Junior SS Adam Yeager is now 30-of-35 in stolen base attempts. His thirty swipes currently ranks him third on Marshall's single season record list (40 is that mark) and tied for seventh on Marshall's career-stolen base list (60 is that record). Freshman RHP Arik Sikula tied the Marshall single-season record for saves with his seventh in Sunday's game at UAB, and that figure also ranks him in a three-way tie for third on Marshall's career saves list. Junior RHP Steve Blevins improved to 6-2 on the season with the victory on Sunday at UAB. In his next start, he will attempt to become the first Herd pitcher to win seven games in a season since Sean Reeder in 2000. The Tigers split a pair of midweek games at Middle Tennessee and lost the first two games of a league series with Tulane before Sunday's game was rained out. Wednesday's win at Middle Tennessee was as wild one, as the Tigers surrendered seven runs in the ninth inning to allow the game to go to extra innings before scoring six times in the 14th inning to post a 17-11 win. Freshman SS Chad Zurcher, who tied the C-USA record for at-bats in a game with nine, had four hits, including a double and three RBI in the win. Sophomore 1B Trey Wiedman also doubled and knocked in four runs in the contest, including the game-winners on a two-RBI single. Junior RHP Scott McGregor struck out six and allowed just two runs in Friday night's opener, but watched as two Tiger errors led to six unearned runs in the first inning. Sophomore LF Tyler Huelsing hit his second home run of the season and drove in all four Memphis runs in that game. RICE Rice is 34-11 on the year. The team's record is exactly the same as its pace from the same point from last season (45 games). A year ago the Owls got off to an 34-11 start and went on to finish up with a 56-14 record and a third place finish at the College World Series. The baseball team has a break from game-action while the University is in its final exams period beginning on April 28. The Owls next return to the diamond on May 6 for a home game against Texas State to open a five-game homestand. Start time with the Bobcats is set for 6:30 pm at Reckling Park. In four games last week the Owls had only three extra-base hits, and all three were home runs. The team won two games without getting an extra base hit. Defensively, the team made only two errors in the field. Rice pitchers tied a season high with 15 strikeouts in the Saturday victory over C-USA foe UCF. Last week, senior All-America Cole St.Clair notched his 24th and 25th career saves to break the school record. He also moved into a tie for the conference lead with his seventh win of the season. Since returning on April 12 from an injury that kept him sidelined all of last season, senior RHP Bobby Bell has made six appearances out of the bullpen, posting a 1.42 ERA and striking out 12 while walking three. Sophomore 3B Diego Seastrunk had a team-high seven hits in 15 at-bats last week (.467) and is tied for the league lead with 69 hits on the season. SOUTHERN MISS The Golden Eagles posted a 5-0 record last week, knocking off Mississippi State twice and sweeping a C-USA series against Houston. Southern Miss hit 10 home runs over the last five games, including a season high four vs. UH on Friday. The Golden Eagles scored double digit runs in four straight games for the first time this season (Tulane on April 20, both MSU games and the series opener vs. Houston). Junior OF Bo Davis led the USM offense this past week, hitting .333 with home runs in three consecutive games, scoring six runs and picking up six RBI. Junior SS Brian Dozier keyed a come from behind win over Houston on Sunday with a game-tying, two-RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning. Junior 2B James Ewing delivered a pinch-hit RBI double in the sixth inning to lead Southern Miss to the win in Saturday's game, 4-3. Senior DH Trey Cuevas set a Southern Miss and tied a C-USA single-game record with five walks in Tuesday's game vs. MSU. Junior RHP Jonathan Johnston earned wins over Mississippi State and Houston out of the bullpen last week for his first career victories. He pitched a combined 6.1 innings, allowing only one earned run, while striking out five. Senior LHP Tyler Conn picked up his 15th save of the season on Saturday, striking out two batters in the ninth inning of the 4-3 win. He needs just one more save to tie the C-USA single-season record of 16, set by Tulane's Brandon Belanger in 1999. TULANE The Green Wave won a pair of games at Memphis over the weekend, scoring 17 runs on Friday and 15 runs on Saturday before Sunday's game was rained out. For the weekend, the Green Wave hit .368 (32-for-87) with a .586 slugging percentage courtesy of 10 doubles and three home runs. Junior CF Anthony Scelfo led Tulane with a .667 batting average (8-for-12) with two doubles, a home run and six RBI. Freshman 3B Rob Segedin continued to swing a hot stick for the Green Wave last week, hitting a team-best .583 (7-for-12) with a .917 slugging percentage on the strength of a double and a home run while driving in five runs and scoring six. With a two-run homer in the sixth inning during Tulane's 15-3 win at Memphis on Saturday, junior 1B Sam Honeck now has at least one hit in the last 16 games dating back to April 2. Honeck got off to a rough start to the 2008 season and saw his batting average dip to as low as .217 following April 1's home game against McNeese State. Since then, however, Honeck is connecting at a .423 clip (22-for-52) with a .673 slugging percentage courtesy of seven doubles and two home runs while driving in 12 runs. Tulane hit 15 doubles in three games last week. The two-bag totals from those games brings the Wave's season total to 87, which is already six more than the 60-game total of a year ago. Sophomore LHP Matt Petiton earned his fourth straight win on Saturday, allowing two runs on three hits over six innings. UAB The Blazers were 2-2 last week, winning at Samford on Wednesday, 16-8 and taking Friday night's series opener against Marshall, 15-3. UAB has now scored 10 or more runs in 11 games this season. Junior RHP James Oliver threw his first career complete-game in the win over Marshall, allowing three runs on eight, while striking out five. Freshman 2B Nick Crawford went 4-for-4 and helped turn three double plays in the victory. On Saturday, he had his 14th sacrifice bunt of the season to move him into a tie for second all-time at UAB in single-season sacrifices, three away from the school record. Sophomore 3B Luke Stewart batted .563 (9-for-16) in UAB's four games last week, hitting four home runs, including three against Marshall, while driving in 10 runs. On Wednesday at Samford, Stewart finished just a double shy of hitting for the cycle, going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and five RBI. He boasted a 1.500 slugging percentage for the week and drew five walks to increase his C-USA leading total to 41, which moves him into eighth place all-time at UAB in single-season walks. UCF The Knights posted their second win over a Top 5 team this year when it opened it series with No. 4 Rice, by defeating the Owls, 4-2. Although UCF dropped back-to-back one-run games after that, it matched Rice with 13 runs in the three-game set. On the mound, Rice edged UCF in strikeouts by a 29-26 margin, but issued more walks than the Knights' staff, 11-10. Junior RHP Kyle Sweat went 7.1 innings and surrendered just two runs for the win, which was the first time since April 9 that a starter gave up two runs or less. Freshman RHP Evan Stobbs came on with the bases loaded and no outs in a 3-2 game in the fifth inning on Saturday, and proceeded to escape the jam without giving up a run. After UCF tied it in the bottom half, Stobbs went on to toss 4.0 scoreless innings with five strikeouts, including retiring nine-straight at one point to enable the Knights to reach the ninth inning in a 3-3 tie. Junior 1B Kiko Vazquez was a triple short of the cycle on Friday. In five games since returning to the lineup from an injury, he is hitting .400 with two homers and seven RBI. Vazquez was 5-for-10 with two dingers in the series against Rice. The Knghts have faced eight teams that played in the 2007 NCAA Tournament and posted at least one win against each of them. THE POLLS Baseball America (Apr. 28) Collegiate Baseball (Apr. 28)
Sports Weekly (Apr. 28) NCBWA (Apr. 28)
PSEUDO-RPI REPORT Six members of Conference USA are ranked in the Top 53 of the latest Pseudo-RPI's, as published by Boyd Nation (www.boydsworld.com). Here's a look at where each C-USA school ranks (as of Apr. 28): 6. Rice 10. East 15. Southern Miss 48. 51. UCF 53. Tulane 90. 156. 182. UAB SERIES TIE-BREAKERS Here's a look at which teams own the tie-breakers in head-to-head Conference USA series in 2008: RICE - over MAR, MEM, UAB, ECU, UCF TLN - over UAB, USM, MEM USM - over UCF, RICE, HOU HOU - over ECU, UCF, TLN ECU - over UCF, USM, MAR MAR - over MEM, UCF, UAB MEM - over UAB UCF - over MEM UAB - over HOU Here's a look at who each team faces down the stretch in Conference USA series': RICE - HOU, at TLN TLN - UCF, at ECU, RICE USM - at MAR, MEM, at UAB HOU - MEM, at Rice, MAR ECU - UAB, TLN, at MEM MAR - USM, at HOU MEM - at HOU, at USM, ECU UCF - at TLN, UAB UAB - at ECU, at UCF, USM 2008 HITTING STREAKS Ten Conference USA players have registered hitting streaks of 15 games or better in 2008. Here's a look at the longest hitting streaks in C-USA this season (active streaks in bold): 19 Diego Seastrunk, Rice 19 Chad Zurcher, Memphis 19 Ryan Keedy, UAB 17 Seth Henry, Tulane 17 Rick Hague, Rice 17 Phil Bell, UAB 16 Zak Presley, Houston 16 Sam Honeck, Tulane 16 Corey Kemp, East Carolina 16 Jared Gayheart, Rice Additionally, three players had hitting streaks that carried over from last season: 25 Trey Sutton, Southern Miss 19 Bryan Pounds, Houston 18 Jamie Ray, East Carolina C-USA IN THE RANKINGS Four different Conference USA teams are ranked in this week's polls. Rice is the highest ranked team, listed at No. 5 by the NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball. Tulane and Southern Miss are ranked at No. 28 and No. 29 by Collegiate Baseball and East Carolina is No. 30 in the NCBWA polls. Houston and UCF have also been ranked this season, meaning six of C-USA's nine teams have already broken into the national polls. LAST WEEK'S STARS HITTING ECU - COREY KEMP - batted a team-best .476 (10-for-21), while scoring a team-best nine runs. Had a hit in all five games, including a pair of three-hit outings, and collected a run and an RBI in four outings. Added two game-winning RBI. HOU - JAKE STEWART - hit safely in, scored at least one run and knocked in at least one run in all four games last week. Homered in three of the four games. Finished the week batting .438 (7-for-16) with six RBI and six runs scored. MAR - DIEGO SEASTRUNK - batted .467 (7-for-15) with a home run for a team-leading .667 slugging percentage. Added three RBI and scored twice. USM - BO DAVIS - had three home runs and two doubles last week, going 8-for-24 (.333) at the plate. He added a pair of walks for a .563 on-base percentage and scored six runs, while driving in six. TLN - ANTHONY SCELFO - hit .563 (9-for-16) in three games with an .875 slugging percentage courtesy of two doubles and a home run. He had at least one hit in each game and also drove in six runs, scored eight and stole a pair of bases. UAB - LUKE STEWART - hit .563 (9-for-16) with a triple, four home runs and 10 RBI. He scored eight runs and also drew five walks. Was a double shy of the cycle in the win over Samford on April 23. UCF - KIKO VAZQUEZ - was 5-for-10 (.500) with a pair of home runs against Rice over the weekend. Had a double, three RBI and three runs scored. PITCHING ECU - JUSTIN BRISTOW - tossed a four-hit complete game shutout in game two of Saturday's doubleheader sweep of Presbyterian. Fanned a career-high nine without walking a batter and allowed just two hits in the first eight innings. HOU - JARED RAY - earned a win over McNeese State by striking out eight batters in five innings. Added two more K's in a brief (0.2 IP) relief appearance at Southern Miss. MAR - STEVE BLEVINS - earned his sixth win of the season at UAB on Sunday. He allowed four earned runs on six hits and struck out four. RICE - COLE ST.CLAIR - earned a win at UCF and saves against Sam Houston State and UCF last week, posting a 1.42 ERA in 6.1 innings pitched. He struck out 11 and walked just one. USM -JONATHAN JOHNSTON - earned wins over Mississippi State and Houston out of the bullpen for his first career victories. Pitched a combined 6.1 innings, allowing only one earned run, while striking out five. UCF -KYLE SWEAT - earned the win over Rice on Friday in his first start in two weeks. In 7.1 innings, he allowed two runs on five hits, while striking out five and walking two.
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