April 30 Baseball Notebook
April 30, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format Although Rice has a solid hold on first place, the remainder of the Conference USA race has become quite wild the past couple of weeks. UCF is coming off its first-ever sweepin C-USA, Marshall has won back-to-back league series and Houston and Memphis are just a game apart for second place. There are only six games seperating second place from ninth as the league gets ready for its final three conference weekends before the C-USA Tournament in Greenville, N.C., May 23-27.
HITTER OF THE WEEK MATT HORWATH, UCF Senior, DH, Lake Mary, Fla. Horwath, the Knights leadoff hitter, had one of the best offensive weeks in UCF history. In four games, he went 11-for-16 for a .688 average, scored eight runs, drove in three, stole a base and had four doubles, a homer and his first two triples of his career. The senior scored twice and had at least two hits in all four games to help the Knights go 4-0 on the week, including a three-game sweep of Tulane, its first-ever sweep of a C-USA series. In Friday night's series opener against Tulane he hit for UCF's first-ever cycle. Horwath was hit by a pitch in the first, singled in the third, tripled in the fourth and homered to lead-off the seventh. He came to the plate with the score tied at 6-6 in the eighth and delivered with a RBI double to complete the cycle and also give UCF a 7-6 win. PITCHER OF THE WEEK BARRY BOWDEN, SOUTHERN MISS Junior, RHP, Vidalia, La. Bowden threw the first nine-inning complete game of his career and second complete game this season at No. 25 East Carolina on Saturday. He allowed just one run, scattered four hits and struck out seven without walking a batter for his fifth win of the season. Bowden gave up a first inning solo homer, two hits in the third inning and one in fourth inning. He retired 17 of the final 19 batters, with the two reaching on a hit by pitch in the sixth inning and an error in the seventh inning. Only one runner went beyond second base and only five reached second base for the entire game. Bowden has now won his last four conference starts. He is the fourth different Golden Eagle to be named Pitcher of the Week this season.
C-USA NOTEBOOK
EAST CAROLINA The Pirates dropped the first two games of their series with Southern Miss before posting a 6-3 win in the series finale on Sunday. Sophomore 2B Ryan Wood extended his current hitting streak to nine games as he batted .294 (5-for-17) last week with a home runs and two RBI. Freshman DH Kyle Roller continues to swing the bat well as the Pirates designated hitter. The freshman belted his fifth home run on Sunday, a two-run shot in the second inning. On the week, he batted .286 (4-for-14) with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored, while slugging .500. Junior OF Jamie Ray collected his first three-hit game since April 14, 2006 on Sunday, going 3-for-4 with a triple and one RBI. Ray started two-of-three games played last week in left field and batted .500 (3-for-6) with an .833 slugging percentage. Sophomore 1B Stephen Batts extended his current hitting streak to 10 games with a single in all four contests this week. Over the streak he is batting .381 (16-for-42) with three home runs, 11 RBI, nine runs scored and has swiped 2-of-3 bases. Reliever Chris Powell worked a season-high three innings on April 28, allowing one hit, one walk and striking out four. He has pitched in eight games, working 12.2 innings with 14 strikeouts, seven walks and has a 5.68 ERA. HOUSTON The Cougars dropped two-of-three at Marshall over the weekend, falling to 10-5 in league play, but remaining in second place. Junior DH Jimmy Cesario was Houston's leading hitter again last week, batting .438 (7-for-16) with a pair of doubles and three runs scored. He extended his hitting streak to 20 games before going hitless in Sunday's series finale. Cesario became only the fifth player in school history to record a hitting streak of at least 20 games, joining Brandon Caraway, Ike Lucas, Brett Cooley and Travis Tully. Freshman IF Zak Presley saw his career-best eight-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday. Despite ending the streak, Presley has still hit safely in 15 of his last 17 games and ranks second with 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts, including his first multiple steal game on Saturday. Sophomore RHP Barry Laird collected his second save in a three-day span after retiring five of the six batters he faced in the Cougars' 5-2 win over Texas-San Antonio in Victoria last Tuesday. He also struck out two Roadrunner batters to earn the save. Freshman southpaw Donnie Joseph picked up his first career win in that game after limiting Texas-San Antonio to only two runs off four hits with two strikeouts in a career-high six innings. Junior OF Bryan Tully picked up his team-leading sixth outfield assist of the season in the series finale Sunday. He caught a fly ball to right field and then made a strong throw to catcher Luis Flores who tagged the Herd's Nate Lape between third and home. The Cougars have posted 12 outfield assists this season. MARSHALL The Thundering Herd won two-of-three against Houston over the weekend. The Cougars defeated Marshall four times in 2006, the first ever meetings between the schools, with its average margin of victory at eight runs. Marshall was shutout once and held to one run in the 2006 meetings before breaking out with 12-run and 10-run games in this past weekend's series. Marshall claimed two straight C-USA series for the first time in school history, winning four of its last six league games. The series victory - MU's third all-time in C-USA - is also the first to come at home. Junior C Tommy Johnson leads MU in C-USA play with a .414 batting average, followed by .391 and .379 marks by 2B Josh Valle and LF Jeff Rowley, respectively. Three players (Johnson, RF Nate Lape, SS Brandon Casamassima) are averaging or are nearly averaging an RBI per C-USA game. Sophomore LHP Andrew Blain made his first career start on Tuesday and picked up the win in Friday's game vs. Houston with 5 1/3 innings of relief. The sophomore struck out 13 hitters in 9 1/3 innings of work last week with a 1.93 ERA. He surrendered seven hits and two earned runs. Blain got the starting nod on Tuesday vs. Eastern Kentucky and dazzled the Colonels with five strikeouts in four innings, allowing only one hit. Against UH, Blain allowed two earned runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. Rowley has extended his team-best hitting streak to 14 games. He is hitting .460 during the streak (23-for-50) with a .660 slugging percentage. The Herd hit a team season-high four doubles on Sunday vs. Houston, two by Lape. Marshall has reached double-digits in runs scored eight times in 2007 - with four of the eight coming in C-USA play. MEMPHIS The Tigers were idle this past week after winning a pair of games at Southeast Missouri last Tuesday and Wednesday. Memphis's offense broke out in a big way, scoring 31 runs in the two victories, including a nine-run third inning on Tuesday's 12-6 win and a school-record 12-run fourth inning in Wednesday's 19-8 victory. In that game, senior 1B Adam Amar became the school's all-time hits leader with 241, breaking the old record set by Steve Moss (240 from 1990-93). Amar also needs just four more RBI to own that record, currently held by Chris Marable, who had 170 from 1986-89. Senior DH Joey Lieberman fell just a triple short of the cycle on Tuesday night and then hit two more home runs on Wednesday, moving him into a tie for the team lead for homers with senior 2B Bill Moss at 11. After 356 at-bats, senior IF Michael Murray hit his first Division I home run on Tuesday. The Tigers have now scored 10 or more runs in a game 10 times this season. RICE The Owls increased their winning streak to 10 games following a 4-0 week that included a three-game sweep at UAB. In four games last week Rice out-hit its opponents by a total of .312 to .203. The offensive star of the week was sophomore Jared Gayhart, who was 7-for-12 (.588) with six RBI, six runs scored, a .833 slugging percentage and a .688 on-base average. True freshman pitcher Ryan Berry improved to 7-2 on the year with a win on Saturday at UAB. The right-hander worked 7.2 innings, allowing just one run, which was unearned, on two singles and one walk while striking out five. Junior Joe Savery extended his hitting streak to 10 games over the weekend. Savery leads the team in batting average (.340) and he moved into sole possession of fifth place on the Owls' list for career-doubles with 52. In working double-duty on the mound, Savery is now 6-1 with a 2.01 ERA. Junior LHP Cole St.Clair made an appearance in the finale of the UAB series and earned his third save of the year, recording a strikeout of the final batter on just three pitches. St.Clair has fanned 12 batters in 10.0 innings of work. He has 16 saves in his career and needs only one more to tie current Chicago White Sox pitcher David Aardsma's Rice record of 17 career saves. The team now takes a break from competition until May 9 as the University enters its final exams period. SOUTHERN MISS The Golden Eagles posted their first-ever series win in Greenville, taking two-of-three at East Carolina over the weekend. Sophomore SS Brian Dozier hit .400 with a double, three walks, one hit by pitch and two RBI for the week. He had a .526 on-base percentage and a .467 slugging percentage. Senior OF Jody Blount was a double short of the cycle in game one of the ECU series, hitting a first inning home run, a seventh-inning triple and a ninth-inning single. For the week, he hit .278 (5-for-18) with a double, a triple, a home run and two RBI. After hitting his first home run of the season against UAB last Sunday, sophomore OF Luke Adkins hit his second homer of the season at Mississippi State on Wednesday. Senior C Eddie Burger hit his first home run of the season in Saturday's game at East Carolina. Sophomore 1B Michael Ewing hit three doubles on the week. Freshman RHP JR Ballinger pitched in relief in two games this past week, tossing two innings, giving up three hits and two walks and recording his first collegiate win at ECU in game one on Friday night. Senior RHP Patrick Ezell picked up his eighth save of the season in Friday's game, pitching an inning, giving up one hit. He also pitched an inning at Mississippi State, not giving up a hit. TULANE The Green Wave dropped all three games at UCF over the weekend, marking the second weekend in a row that Tulane has been swept in league play. It's the first time that the Wave has ever been swept twice in the same season as a member of Conference USA. For the second straight week, sophomore RHP Shooter Hunt had an outstanding outing, only to get a no decision after the bullpen failed. The righty transfer from Virginia struck out a career-high 13 without walking a batter over 7.1 innings, allowing two runs on six hits in Saturday's 4-3 loss. Hunt leads C-USA with a 2.00 ERA and has 82 strikeouts, which ranks second in the conference to teammate Sean Morgan's 96. With six K's on Friday night, Morgan moved into sole possession of eighth place on Tulane's all-time strikeout list with 263. Sophomore OF Aja Barto hit safely in all four games last week. Junior 2B Brad Emaus had two doubles in the first 42 games of the season before hitting three in four games last week. UAB The Blazers dropped all three games against No. 3 Rice over the weekend. Seven Blazers are hitting .300 or better for the season. Senior OF J.R. Bond leads the team with his .349 average, while junior OF Phil Bell is hitting .332 after having his 15-game hitting streak snapped against Rice on Saturday. Senior 3B Ryne Lovdahl, junior 1B Ryan Keedy, freshman SS Jonathan Merritt, senior DH Levi Patmon and junior IF Billy Lichtner are all at or above the .300 mark as well. Merritt holds a team-best .404 batting average in Conference USA this season. He is tied for the team-lead in RBI with nine and has four doubles to rank second in C-USA games. The rookie speedster has stolen more bases than any other Blazer in league play with five. For the year, Merritt is hitting .314 with nine stolen bases. UCF The Golden Knights posted their first-ever sweep in Conference USA play by taking all three games from Tulane over the weekend. UCF posted a pair of one-run wins in the first two games of the series (raising their record in one-run games to 8-2 this season) before posting an 8-4 victory on Sunday. The Knights also had a season-high 15 hits in the series finale, as all nine starters posted at least one hit. Sophomore 1B Kiko Vasquez had a single on Sunday to extend his hitting streak to seven games, his second seven-game hit streak this season. Junior OF Ryan Richardson was 5-for-9 (.556) in the Tulane series with a double, two RBI and three stolen bases. He is now 12-for-12 in stolen base attempts this season. Junior CF Tyson Auer stole his 20th base of the season on Sunday, a figure that places him second in Conference USA. Freshman 3B Chris Duffy had his first career multiple home run game on Friday night when he went deep twice. For the second straight outing, sophomore RHP Eric English posted his longest collegiate outing, throwing seven innings of two-run, five-hit ball on Sunday for his second win of the year. THE POLLS Baseball America (Apr. 30) 2. Florida State (39-7) 4. RICE (37-11) 5. Texas (37-12) 6. North Carolina (37-10) 7. Arkansas (35-12) 9 San Diego (34-14) 10. Wichita State (36-12) 12. UC Irvine (31-12-1) 13. Texas A&M (35-11) 15. Arizona (32-11) 16. Michigan (30-8) 18. Clemson (29-15) 19. Mississippi (30-16) 20. Oklahoma State (31-13) 21. Coastal Carolina (36-9) 22. UCLA (24-18) 23. TCU (34-10) 24. Long Beach State (27-14) Collegiate Baseball (Apr. 30) 2. Florida State (39-7) 3. Arkansas (35-12) 5. North Carolina (37-10) 6. RICE (37-11) 7. Texas (37-12) 10. San Diego (34-14) 11. UCLA (24-18) 12. Wichita State (36-12) 13. Michigan (30-8) 14. Mississippi (30-16) 15. Mississippi State (28-12) 18. Arizona (32-11) 21. Missouri (31-12) 22. Oklahoma State (31-13) 23. Clemson (29-15) 24. Georgia Tech (27-17) 25. Texas A&M (35-11) 26. UC Irvine (31-12-1) 27. TCU (34-10) 28. Stetson (32-12) 29. St. John's (29-12) 30. College of Charleston (34-10)
Sports Weekly (Apr. 30) 2. RICE (37-11) 3. Florida State (39-7) 4. Texas (37-12) 5. North Carolina (37-10) 7. Arkansas (35-12) 11. Wichita State (36-12) 12. Texas A&M (35-11) 13. Mississippi (30-16) 15. Arizona (32-11) 16. San Diego (34-14) 17. Clemson (29-15) 18. Coastal Carolina (36-9) 19. Oklahoma State (31-13) 21. UC Irvine (31-12-1) 22. Michigan (30-8) 23. Mississippi State (28-12) 24. Missouri (31-12) 25. College of Charleston (34-10) ARV: EAST CAROLINA (29-15) TULANE (29-17) HOUSTON (24-19) NCBWA (Apr. 30) 2. Florida State (39-7) 3. RICE (37-11) 4. Texas (37-12) 5. North Carolina (37-10) 7. Arkansas (35-12) 11. Texas A&M (35-11) 12. Wichita State (36-12) 13. Mississippi (30-16) 14. Clemson (29-15) 15. Arizona (32-11) 16. San Diego (34-14) 17. Oklahoma State (31-13) 19. Coastal Carolina (36-9) 20. Mississippi State (28-12) 22. UC Irvine (31-12-1) 23. Long Beach State (27-14) 24. College of Charleston (34-10) 25. Charlotte (34-9) 26. Michigan (30-8) 28. Missouri (31-12) 29. TCU (34-10) 30. Minnesota (30-8) ARV: EAST CAROLINA (29-15)
PSEUDO-RPI REPORT Four members of Conference USA are ranked in the Top 45 and seven are listed in the top 64 of the most recent Pseudo-RPI's (April 30), as published by Boyd Nation (www.boydsworld.com). As a league, C-USA is ranked fifth, trailing only the SEC, Big 12, ACC and Pac-10 Conferences. Here's a look at where each C-USA school ranked in the current ratings: 2. Rice 19. East Carolina 38. Southern Miss 45. Memphis 54. Houston 58. UCF 64. Tulane 155. UAB 186. Marshall 2007 HITTING STREAKS Five Conference USA players have registered hitting streaks of 15 games or better in 2007, including two that have reached 20 games. Here's a look at the longest hitting streaks in C-USA this season (active streaks in bold): 20 Michael Murray, Memphis 20 Jimmy Cesario, Houston 15 Adam Amar, Memphis 15 Tyson Auer, UCF 15 Phil Bell, UAB SERIES TIE-BREAKERS Here's a look at which teams own the tie-breakers in head-to-head Conference USA series in 2007: RICE - over USM, MAR, ECU, HOU, UCF, UAB HOU - over UCF, UAB, TLN MEM - over USM, TLN, UAB TLN - over MAR, ECU, USM USM - over UCF, UAB, ECU ECU - over MEM, MAR MAR - over MEM, HOU UAB - over UCF UCF - over TLN Here's a look at who each team faces down the stretch in Conference USA series': RICE - TULANE, MEMPHIS HOU - ECU, at Memphis, SOUTHERN MISS TLN - UAB, at Rice USM - MARSHALL, at Houston MEM - UCF, HOUSTON, at Rice ECU - at Houston, UCF, at UAB UAB - at Tulane, at Marshall, EAST CAROLINA UCF - at Memphis, at East Carolina, MARSHALL MAR - at Southern Miss, UAB, at UCF
LAST WEEK'S STARS HITTING ECU - RYAN WOOD - extended his hitting streak to nine games with hits in all four outings last week. Had a home run and a pair of RBI. HOU - JIMMY CESARIO - was 7-for-16 (.438) last week, extending his hitting streak to 20 games before going hitless on Sunday at Marshall. Added a pair of doubles, drove in three runs and scored three times. MAR - NATE LAPE - hit .474 (9-for-19) last week with multiple base hits in three of five games. He had three doubles, two home runs and five RBI. Also walked four times, stole three bases and scored five runs. MEM - JOEY LIEBERMAN - was 5-for-9 (.556) with three home runs, eight RBI, four runs scored and a 1.667 slugging percentage in two midweek games at Southeast Missouri. He hammered a pair of homers in Wednesday's win. RICE - JARED GAYHART - batted .583 (7-for-12), scored a team-high six runs and drove in a team-best six runs during Rice's 4-0 week. He had a double and a triple and also drew four walks for a .688 on-base percentage. USM - TREY SUTTON - hit .348 (8-for-23) from the leadoff spot. He had a pair of doubles, a home run, three RBI and two runs scored. Registered at least one hit in all five outings last week. PITCHING ECU - JOSH DOWDY - earned the win on Sunday against Southern Miss, allowing two runs on four hits over seven innings. He struck out three and did not walk a batter in earning his second win of the season. HOU - WES MUSICK - earned a win at Marshall on Saturday, allowing only one run off five hits with five strikeouts. He pitched seven innings, including six shutout frames after allowing a pair of runs in the first. MAR - JEREMY SLONE - matched his season high with 8.1 innings pitched in Sunday's win against Houston. He allowed three runs on seven hits, pitching the Herd to a series-clinching victory for the second straight week. RICE - RYAN BERRY - posted his seventh win of the year in Friday's opener at UAB, working 7.2 innings. He allowed just one run, which was unearned, on two singles and one walk, while fanning five. UCF - JUSTIN WEISS - did not allow a hit or a run in three relief outings last week. He earned a win and a save (his sixth of the season) against Tulane. In his three appearances, he struck out three and walked two.
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