May 5 Baseball Notebook
May 5, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format With only two conference weekends remaining, teams continue to jockey for position in the league standings. Rice has a firm hold on first place, but just two games seperate second place Tulane from sixth-place Marshall. In-between them, Southern Miss, Houston and East Carolina are all tied for third. Several showdowns are on this week's schedule, as Rice hosts Houston, Tulane visits East Carolina and Southern Miss welcomes Memphis. The other conference series features UCF and UAB, an important series to determine final spots in the C-USA Championship, as the ninth place team does not qualify for the double-elimination event.
HITTER OF THE WEEK JAMES EWING, SOUTHERN MISS Junior, IF, Beaumont, Texas Ewing led the Golden Eagles to three wins in the week by batting .478 (11-for-23) in five games, including four on the road. His week included three doubles, two triples, two home runs, nine runs scored, 11 RBI and 24 total bases. Ewing had at least one extra base hit in all five games and recorded four multiple-hit outings. In Conference USA play at Marshall this past weekend, Ewing hit .500 (7-for-14) including two doubles, two triples and a home run while scoring six runs and picking up eight RBI. Over the three game series he had a slugging percentage of 1.143 and an on base percentage of .500. Ewing's two triples against Marshall were his first career triples and he currently has a hit in 10 straight games, dating back to the final game of the Tulane series. PITCHER OF THE WEEK CHASE DEMPSAY, HOUSTON Freshman, RHP, Baytown, Texas Dempsay earned a win and two saves in his four appearances last week out of the Houston bullpen. He threw a combined 7.2 innings of shutout ball, allowing just three hits, while striking out five and walking three. Dempsay set the UH freshman record with his seventh save of the season at Lamar last Tuesday and then added to that record with another save in Friday's series opener against Memphis. He earned his fifth win of the season on Sunday vs. the Tigers with 2.2 innings of one-hit ball, getting the Cougars out of a seventh-inning jam and striking out a pair en route to his fourth straight victory. C-USA NOTEBOOK
The Pirates extended their winning streak to nine games and its home winning streak to 13 (both longest active streaks in the nation) after posting a 4-0 mark last week. During the nine-game winning streak they have outscored their opponents 87-28, batting .363 with 114 hits, 14 HRs, 81 RBI and swiped 10-of-12 bases. On the pitching side they sport a 2.96 ERA with a pair of complete games, 77 strikeouts, 20 walks and opposing teams are hitting .187 (53-for-283). Senior OF Harrison Eldridge regained the team lead in batting average over the weekend (.378) after batting .579 with 11 hits and two home runs. His two homers against UAB in game one of the doubleheader marked his first career multi-home run game of his career. With 10 RBI last week, senior C Corey Kemp has taken over the conference lead with 60 on the season. He is tied for the league lead in homers with 14 and is seventh in batting at .375. Freshman RHP Seth Maness improved to a league best 8-0 after working 7.0 innings against UAB, allowing three runs (two earned) while scattering six hits. For the seventh time this season he fanned at least seven batters in a game, striking out seven without allowing a walk to the Blazers. On the week, six different Pirate hitters cranked a combined 13 home runs, led by seniors Jamie Ray and Ryan Wood who each had three. Kemp and Eldridge had two each while junior Stephen Batts and freshman Dustin Harrington both hit one. HOUSTON The Cougars were 4-1 last week, raising their season record to 30-18, marking the ninth time in the last 12 seasons under head coach Rayner Noble that Houston has won at least 30 games. Included was a three-game sweep of C-USA rival Memphis. UH has never lost to the Tigers in Houston, sweeping all six series at Cougar Field. Senior OF Jake Stewart had two home runs last week to give him 13 on the year, the 11th-highest single-season total in school history. Senior 2B Ryan Lormand made his 100th consecutive start at Lamar last Tuesday. He and freshman SS Blake Kelso are the only Cougars to start all 48 games this season. Kelso became the first UH player to lead off the game with a home run since Jake Stewart on March 26, 2006 when he opened Saturday's game with a blast to left field. Sophomore CF Zak Pressley had his 18-game hitting streak snapped in Friday's series opener with Memphis. The streak was the fourth-longest in-season streak in school history. Pressley recorded the Cougars first straight steal of home plate this season during Sunday's series finale. Sophomore RHP John Touchton struck out a career-high eight batters over a career-high-tying seven innings in Saturday's win. He allowed just one run on five hits with no walks. Sophomore LHP Jimmy Raviele earned his first win of 2008 with three shutout innings at Lamar, striking out two. The Thundering Herd opened its weekend series against Southern Miss with a 16-10 victory before dropping the final two games of the series. Friday's win over the No. 28 Golden Eagles marked Marshall's first win over a ranked team this season. Freshman DH Victor Gomez had four multiple-hit games last week, including a 4-for-4 performance against No. 16 Kentucky. He had a home run, three doubles, 11 RBI and eight runs scored on the week. Freshman OF Ben Jurevicious, first cousin of Cleveland Browns wide receiver Joe Jurevicious, hit his first collegiate home run in Friday's win. Junior RHP Steve Blevins picked up his seventh win of the season and fifth in C-USA play, pitching six strong innings against No. 28 Southern Miss on Friday. He gave up just one earned run while scattering seven hits to become the first Marshall pitcher to reach the seven-win mark since 2000. Blevins is the team leader with a 4.78 ERA in 69.2 innings pitched. He has 50 strikeouts and is holding opponents to an overall batting average of .250. Senior RHP Adam Dobies made his 58th career-appearance for Marshall on Friday night. That ranks him eighth on the Herd's career-appearance list. Active members also on that list include senior RHP Andrew Hancock, who currently holds the fourth slot on the list with 65 appearances, and junior LHP Andrew Blain who is currently in the 10th spot with 55. The Tigers dropped all three games at Houston over the weekend. The 5-4 loss on Sunday was the league-high 12th one-run defeat for the Tigers this season. Junior OF Chris Newsom homered for the first time this year in the Tigers' 7-4 game two loss at Houston. He then posted a career-high three hits in the series finale on Sunday. Newsom was 5-for-10 (.500) in the series with a run scored in each game. Sophomore 1B Trey Wiedman went 4-for-4 on Sunday to reach the .300 mark. He is the lone Tiger hitting .300 for the season. Freshman SS Chad Zurcher hit safely in all three games at Houston, registering four hits and driving in two runs, while stealing three bases. The Tigers will make their third and final trip to Jackson, Tenn. and RICE The Owls were off all of last week due to final exams. On April 30, junior C Adam Zornes was added to the list of candidates for the Johnny Bench Award, given to the nation's top collegiate catcher. Offensively, the slugger is batting a steady .331 and he leads the team in home runs (9). Zornes is second on the team in RBI (42) and slugging percentage (.564). He also does something extremely rare in college baseball in that is he calls the pitches for the entire game. Senior lefthander Cole St.Clair opened the season as a starter, but has flourished once again out of the bullpen. In 16 appearances, he has posted a team-high seven wins (7-2) and has three saves with a 3.30 ERA. The All-America closer has struck out 49 batters with just 11 walks in 43.2 innings pitched. Sophomore 3B Diego Seastrunk could become the third consecutive Rice player to lead Conference USA in hits. He is currently tied for third in the conference with 69 hits in 184 at-bats for a team-best .375 average. SOUTHERN MISS The Golden Eagles posted a 3-2 record last week, earning a conference series win at Marshall over the weekend. Junior IF James Ewing has at least one hit in 10 straight games, dating back to the final game of the Tulane series. Over that span, he is hitting .500 (18-for-36) with three home runs, two triples, four doubles, 14 RBI and 13 runs scored. Junior OF Bo Davis continues to swing a hot bat, going 5-for-14 in the series, with a double, a triple and three runs scored. Junior SS Brian Dozier added four hits in the series, scoring four times and driving in a pair of runs. Junior OF Michael Ewing was the bright spot in Friday night's loss, posting a four-for-five night, including a home run, three RBI and two runs scored. Senior RHP Barry Bowden made his first start in a month in Sunday's finale. Throwing on a pitch count, he tossed four shutout innings, allowing just two hits. He struck out seven batters and walked just one, lowering his league-leading ERA to 1.65. Junior RHP Jonathan Johnston and junior LHP Wade Weathers combined for five more shutout innings as the hard-hitting Thundering Herd were shut out for the first time this season. With 15 saves, senior LHP Tyler Conn 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 went 3-1 last week and remains alone in second place in the Conference USA standings with a 10-6-1 league record. Junior RHP Shooter Hunt retired the first nine batters he faced on Friday against UCF before issuing a walk in the fourth and giving up a double in the fifth. Having to pitch in a game delayed four times and 45 minutes by rain, Hunt still went 7.0 innings where he struck out six and allowed a pair of runs on three hits to bring his season record to 8-1. He currently sports a 2.04 ERA and a .138 opponent batting average (33-for-239) and has allowed just 11 extra-base hits while striking out 96 and walking 39 in 70.2 innings of work. Sophomore LHP Matt Petiton tossed the Green Wave's first complete game of the year on Saturday to help lead Tulane to a 6-1 series-clinching victory over UCF. In that game, he fanned four and did not allow a walk while scattering four hits. Petiton faced just five more than the minimum during the ballgame, including retiring 14 in a row from the fourth through ninth innings. He has now earned victories in his last five appearances, including three in the Saturday starter's role. For the season, Petiton is 6-0 with a 1.74 ERA. Junior Anthony Scelfo, who has played six different positions this season, has at least one hit in 29 of the last 36 games, including a current streak of eight in a row. During his current streak, Scelfo is connecting at a .486 clip (17-for-35) with a .886 slugging percentage on the strength of three doubles, a triple and three home runs while driving in nine runs and swiping a pair of bases. UAB The Blazers dropped all three games at East Carolina over the weekend. Junior OF Brint Hardy has hit safely in seven of his last eight outings. He had four hits in the ECU series, including his third home run of the season, and he scored three times. Senior 1B Ryan Keedy continues to lead Conference USA with a .410 batting average. He is trying to become just the second Blazer to bat .400 in a season. Keedy also leads C-USA in on-base percentage (.505) and doubles (21). The UAB school record for doubles is 24, held by B.J. Huff in 1996 and Brian Jersey in 1994. Sophomore SS Jonathan Merritt has scored a league-high 26 runs in conference games and has 49 on the season. Freshman 2B Nick Crawford has 14 sacrifice bunts on the season, just three away from the school record. Sophomore 3B Luke Stewart hit his 10th home run of the season in game two on Saturday, becoming the first Blazer to reach double figures in home runs since Daniel Hill hit 14 during the 2004 season. UCF After dropping their first two games at No. 27 Tulane, the Knights rebounded in a big way on Sunday, scoring six runs in each of the first two innings en route to a 12-1 victory. The win was the first time that UCF had run-ruled an opponent as a member of C-USA. The victory was the 28th of the season for the Knights, allowing them to surpass last season's total. Sophomore LHP Mitch Houck earned the seven-inning complete-game victory at Tulane on Sunday, allowing one unearned run on three hits, while fanning four. It was UCF's first complete-game on the road since Houck went the distance at USF on April 4, 2006. Senior CF Tyson Auer moved into a tie for ninth place with Ryan Bono on UCF's all-time hit list by recording his 217th career hit Sunday. Shane Brown and Brandon Romans both put the bats to work against USF April 29. Making his first start since April 5 due to an injury, Brown served as the designated hitter and went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Romans was also 3-for-4 with a double and a RBI, as both players tied personal-highs for hits in a game. Associate head coach Craig Cozart took over as the interim head coach during the Tulane series and will serve that role for the remainder of the season while a national search is conducted to find a replacement for Jay Bergman. THE POLLS Baseball America (May 5) Collegiate Baseball (May 5)
Sports Weekly (May 5) NCBWA (May 5)
PSEUDO-RPI REPORT Six members of Conference USA are ranked in the Top 60 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 May 5): 6. Rice 8. East 16. Southern Miss 50. 51. Tulane 56. UCF 83. 177. 189. 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, UCF ECU - over UCF, USM, MAR, UAB USM - over UCF, RICE, HOU, MAR HOU - over ECU, UCF, TLN, MEM MAR - over MEM, UCF, UAB UCF - over MEM MEM - over UAB UAB - over HOU Here's a look at who each team faces down the stretch in Conference USA series': RICE - HOU, at TLN TLN - at ECU, RICE ECU - TLN, at MEM USM - MEM, at UAB HOU - at Rice, MAR MAR - at HOU UCF - UAB MEM - at USM, ECU UAB - 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 Sam Honeck, Tulane 19 Ryan Keedy, UAB 18 Zak Presley, Houston 17 Seth Henry, Tulane 17 Rick Hague, Rice 17 Phil Bell, UAB 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
LAST WEEK'S STARS HITTING ECU - COREY KEMP - batted .583 (7-for-12) with two home runs, two doubles, 10 RBI and 10 runs scored last week. He slugged at a 1.250 clip and was hit by two pitches and walked five times for a .700 on-base percentage. HOU - JAKE STEWART - had three multi-hit games hit safely in, stole one base and drew one walk during each of the last four games of the week. Hit .350 (7-for-20) on the week with two home runs, four RBI and five runs scored. MAR - VICTOR GOMEZ - was 11-for-23 (.478) last week, including four multiple hit games. He had three doubles, a one home run and eight RBI, while scoring seven runs and stealing a base. 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 .429 (6-for-13) with a 1.071 slugging percentage thanks to a double, a triple and two solo home runs. He drew a pair of walks, drove in three runs and scored five times. PITCHING ECU - T.J. HOSE - earned two wins last week, including a relief appearance at UNC Wilmington and a start vs. UAB. In 8.1 innings pitched, he allowed two runs on seven hits with nine strikeouts and three walks. MAR - STEVE BLEVINS - threw six solid innings against Southern Miss on Friday night, allowing just one earned run on seven hits to earn his fifth win in C-USA play. He also became the first Marshall pitcher since 2000 to win seven games in a season. USM -BARRY BOWDEN - making his first start in a month and throwing on a pitch count, he threw four shutout innings at Marshall on Sunday, allowing just two hits. He struck out seven batters and walked just one. TLN -MATT PETITON - threw his first career complete game on Saturday vs. UCF, allowing one run on four hits. He fanned four and did not allow a walk while facing just more than the minimum. UCF -MITCH HOUCK - earned the seven-inning complete-game victory at Tulane on Sunday, allowing one unearned run on three hits, while fanning four.
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