May 12 Baseball Notebook
May 12, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format Rice has clinched its third straight regular season Conference USA Championship and will be the No. 1 seed at the 2008 Entergy C-USA Baseball Championship in New Orleans, May 21-25. Seven of the eight spots in the tournament have been decided, with UAB and Memphis fighting for the final spot. The final weekend to determine the seeding for the double-elimination tournament.
HITTER OF THE WEEK AARON LUNA, RICE Junior, OF, Southlake, Texas Luna was one of the Owls' offensive leaders last week to help the team go undefeated in five games and clinch the C-USA regular season championship. Luna batted a composite .429, collecting nine hits in 21 at bats with two home runs and two doubles for a team-leading .810 slugging percentage. For the week, he led the team in RBI (11), scored five runs and stole a base. Luna also drew two walks and was twice hit by a pitch for a .520 on-base percentage. Luna was named the most outstanding player of the Silver Glove Trophy Series and went 8-for-13 with two doubles, two home runs and 10 RBI in the three wins over Houston. PITCHER OF THE WEEK SHOOTER HUNT, TULANE Junior, RHP, Wyckoff, N.J. Hunt struck out nine and allowed just one run while scattering five hits and three walks en route to improving to 9-1 on the year in Friday's 5-4 series-opening victory at East Carolina. He did not allow more than one base runner in any of his seven-plus innings - giving up a two-out triple in the first, one-out singles in the second and fourth innings, a leadoff single in the fifth, and single walks in fifth, sixth and seventh innings. The only runners to advance 90 feet on any occasion came in the third and seventh when ECU DH Kyle Roller and RF Jamie Ray stole second in the third and seventh innings, respectively. Hunt held the Pirates to an 0-for-15 showing with runners on base. He also became the fourth Tulane hurler in as many years to post 100 strikeouts in a single season and now has 105 Ks in 2008. This is the third Pitcher of the Week honor this season for Hunt.
C-USA NOTEBOOK
The Pirates dropped all three games to second place Tulane over the weekend, snapping their nation's-best nine-game winning streak. Freshman SS Dustin Harrington batted a team second-best .417 (5-for-12) with two RBI, two doubles and two runs scored. He collected a hit in all three games, including three in the series finale against No. 28 Tulane, to extend his current hitting streak to 10 games. Junior IF Stephen Batts belted a pair of home runs in game two of the series, pushing his total to nine, which is a career-high. He drove in four runs on the weekend and now has 44 on the year, which ranks third on the team. Senior C Corey Kemp picked up a pair of RBI on the weekend and improved his league-leading total to 62. He is currently tied for the league lead in home runs with 14. Junior SS Ryan Wood belted his 12th home run of the season in game one on Saturday, a two-run shot. He scored three runs on the week to extend his league-leading total to 62. Junior 3B Drew Schieber made a return to the Pirates lineup after being sidelined with a back injury. On the week he batted .300 (3-for-10) at the hot corner driving in two runs and scoring three. Senior RHP Brett Butts made two appearances out of the bullpen for the Pirates, working 1.2 innings allowing a walk and striking out three of the six batters he faced. HOUSTON The Cougars dropped all three games at Rice and lost out on the annual Silver Glove Trophy that goes that to the winner of the annual Rice-UH series. The Owls won four games to one. Senior OF Jake Stewart, senior 2B Ryan Lormand, senior 3B Bryan Pounds, junior IF Jimmy Cesario and sophomore RHP John Touchton were each named to the Silver Glove All-Series Team for their performances throughout the five-game series against the Owls. It was the second straight season that Lormand and Cesario were named to the All-Series Team. Stewart was 6-for-13 (.462) in the series with two doubles, three RBI and two runs scored. He has moved into tie for fifth place with Jarrod Bitter in UH career history with 47 doubles and has moved into fourth place in UH career history with 340 total bases. Sophomore RHP John Touchton had another solid outing in a no-decision on Saturday. He allowed just one run on five hits over 6.1 innings, striking out five. Marshall swept a non-conference doubleheader from Delaware State on Saturday. With 26 wins, the Thundering Herd are just one victory away from tying the school record for the most wins as a Division I member, set in 2004. Freshman DH Victor Gomez hit his 10th home run of the season in game one on Saturday, a three-run blast. He is the second Marshall player to hit double-digit home runs and the third Herd player with more than 20 extra-base hits (nine doubles, three triples and 10 home runs). Saturday's game one starter, Steve Blevins, pitched 5.1 superb innings, scattering five hits and a walk, while striking out eight batters to earn his eighth win of the year. The win for Blevins marks the first time a Marshall pitcher has won eight games in a single season since JR Watts won nine games in 1998. Five of his wins have come in C-USA play, tying him for the lead in that category. Junior IF Adam Yeager picked up one stolen base in each game to give him a total of 36 on the season. The Conference USA leader in swipes is now just four shy of tying Marshall's single-season record for stolen bags. Freshman OF Ben Jurevicious stole home for the second time this season in Saturday's second game. The Tigers dropped all three games at No. 30 Southern Miss over the weekend. Sophomore 1B Trey Wiedman hit his team-leading seventh home run on Saturday. Sophomore OF Tyler Huelsing hit his third homer of the season to ignite a three-run fourth inning on Friday night. Among the seniors that will play their final home games this weekend is CF K.K. Chalmers, who will leave as school's all-time leader in triples (15) and stolen bases (109). His stolen base figure is second in C-USA history. The Tigers will host East Carolina this weekend needing at least one win, along with some help from Southern Miss which faces UAB, in order to earn the final berth in the C-USA Championship. RICE The Owls went undefeated in five games last week and clinched the 2008 Conference USA regular season championship outright for a third-straight year. Rice has now won 13-straight conference championships in three diffrent leagues dating back to 1996. In addition to defeating Texas State and sweeping cross-town rival Houston three-games-to-none, Rice notched an important victory over national power Oklahoma State by a score of 4-2. This season the Blue & Gray is 8-3 in games against nationally-ranked opponents. Rice has now won 19 of its last 20, dating back to April 5. In the week before finals, there were two games where the Owls did not record any extra base hits (but still won both games). In their first week back after exams, Rice hit .349 (61-of-175) as a team with six home runs, two triples and nine doubles for a composite .526 slugging percentage. Junior OF Aaron Luna had a productive week that included his eighth home run of the season. The round-tripper was the 37th of his career and moved him into a tie for sixth place on Rice's all-time list with former National Player of the Year Damon Thames. On Sunday, Luna became the fourth different Owl this season to drive in six runs in a game (the others are Rick Hague, Jared Gayhart and Diego Seastrunk). Luna was productive in all offensive areas, but he didn't have the highest average on the team last week. Third baseman Diego Seastrunk hit .522 with a 12-for-23 showing at the plate. Senior all-America Cole St.Clair notched his 26th and 27th career saves last week to break his own school record. He saved the middle game of the Houston series on Saturday afternoon. That same morning he walked across the stage in the University's graduation ceremony to accept his Rice degree in economics (where he maintained a 3.24 grade point average). SOUTHERN MISS The Golden Eagles swept a three-game series from Memphis over the weekend, outscoring the Tigers 46-9. Southern Miss hit .447 in the series with 51 hits, 11 doubles, seven home runs, 45 RBI and a slugging percentage of .728. Friday night's 21-3 win marked the most runs scored by a C-USA team this season, as well as the most hits (27). Six different Golden Eagles recorded three or more hits in the game. This weekend's offensive performance was part of a recent power surge for USM. In their last 14 games, the Golden Eagles are 12-2 while hitting .333 with 26 home runs and 144 runs scored. Junior OF Bo Davis hit .692 (9/13) in the three game series with Memphis. He set the tone for each game leading off the USM half of the first by reaching base and scoring a run. He scored seven runs total on the weekend with four RBI and two doubles from the leadoff spot. Over the last six games (all C-USA games), he is hitting .519 (14/27) with 10 runs scored and five RBI, including three doubles and a triple. He also has three walks and a HBP for an OB % of .581. Since returning to the mound from an injury that forced him to miss a month, senior RHP Barry Bowden has made two starts, picking up two wins in nine innings of work, allowing only two hits and striking out 14 batters. On Sunday, he threw five hitless innings against Memphis, striking out six and walking one to improve to 7-2 on the season. The Golden Eagles finished the regular season 25-6 at home. Saturday's game saw the 100,000th fan to attend a game at Pete Taylor Park this season. 2008 marks the fourth consecutive year with over 100,000 fans for the season. TULANE Tulane posted an impressive three-game sweep at No. 21 East Carolina over the weekend. With four wins during the week, the Green Wave has now won 12 of their last 16 games, including its fourth consecutive C-USA series victory. Freshman 3B/P Rob Segedin hit .364 (8-for-22) with a .636 slugging percentage courtesy of a three doubles and a home run while driving in a team-best nine runs in the Green Wave's five-game week. Over the weekend at ECU, the big rookie went 6-for-14 (.429) with two doubles and a home run, and even got into the action on the mound with a save in Friday's season-opening, 5-4 victory. Sophomore SS Josh Prince hit .600 (6-for-10) with a double, a home run, a stolen base and four runs scored in the ECU series. After going 1-for-4 in Friday's 5-4 win, Prince went 2-for-3 in game one of Saturday's doubleheader before going 3-for-3 with a double and a home run in the nightcap. Prince now has a hit in each of his last four ballgames, and ranks second on the team with 17 stolen bases while scoring 18 runs. Junior RHP Shooter Hunt became the fourth Tulane hurler in as many years to post 100 strikeouts in a single season and now has 105 Ks in 2008. Since joining the Green Wave prior to the 2007 season, Hunt is a combined 15-7 with a 2.33 ERA and a .195 opponent batting average. In 28 games at Tulane Hunt has a 10.61 strikeout-per-nine-inning average and a 2.90 strikeout-to-walk ratio after fanning 209 batters and walking 72 in 177.1 innings. UAB The Blazers dropped the first two games at UCF before posting a 14-3 victory on Sunday. UAB had three more games last week with 10 or more runs scored, giving them a season total of 15, including eight of its last nine victories. 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 hit a pair of doubles in Sunday's win, giving him 24 for the season. That figure ties him with B.J. Huff (1996) and Brian Jersey (1994) for the Blazers single-season record. With 32 doubles in less than two full seasons, his next two-bagger will also move into the top 10 on UAB's career chart. Sophomore 3B Luke Stewart hit three more home runs last week, giving him 13 on the season. The 13 homers move into a tie for 10th place in the Blazers single-season record book. Senior RHP Mitch Kloskowski earned the win on Sunday (his sixth of the season) after throwing his fourth career complete game. He allowed three runs on seven hits, while striking out three. UCF The Knights took two-of-three games from UAB to finish 8-16 in Conference USA play. UCF is locked into the No. 7 seed at the C-USA Tournament and the team's 31 overall wins are the most for the program since 2005, its final year in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Junior C Robert Lara went .462 (6-for-13) at the plate last week with five walks, four RBI and three runs scored. The catcher did not make an error in 33 chances, while posting a .538 slugging percentage and a .611 on-base percentage. Lara finished as UCF's leading starting position player in Conference USA games, batting .358 with a team-high 18 RBI. Senior CF Tyson Auer's third inning sacrifice fly on Sunday was the Knights' 31st of the year, their most sac flies in a season since 2004 (38). Auer has also moved into eighth place on the school's all-time hit list with 222. Senior 2B Dwayne Bailey picked up a stolen base on Saturday to improve to 21-of-22 in stolen base. A night after watching UAB post 22 hits in a 13-12 UCF win, junior LHP Mitch Herold took the mound for the Knights on Saturday and held the Blazers to just two hits in a 6-1 victory. The lefty struck out seven in 7.0 scoreless innings and did not walk a batter to move to 4-3 on the season.
THE POLLS Baseball America (May 12) Collegiate Baseball (May 12)
Sports Weekly (May 12) NCBWA (May 12)
PSEUDO-RPI REPORT Five members of Conference USA are ranked in the Top 50 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 12): 5. Rice 11. East Carolina 13. Southern Miss 38. Tulane 50. Houston 57. UCF 86. Marshall 172. Memphis 185. 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, HOU TLN - over UAB, USM, MEM, UCF, ECU USM - over UCF, RICE, HOU, MAR, MEM HOU - over ECU, UCF, TLN, MEM ECU - over UCF, USM, MAR, UAB MAR - over MEM, UCF, UAB UCF - over MEM, UAB UAB - over HOU MEM - over UAB Here's a look at who each team faces down the stretch in Conference USA series': RICE - at TLN TLN - RICE USM - at UAB HOU - MAR ECU - at MEM MAR - at HOU UCF - UAB - USM MEM - ECU 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 J.P. Padron, Rice 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 The 2008 Entergy Conference USA Baseball Championship will be held May 21-25 in New Orleans, La. RICE WINS REGULAR SEASON For the third consecutive season, Rice has won the regular season Conference USA Championship, becoming the first school in league history to accomplish that feat. It marks the 13th consecutive regular season title for the Owls, dating back to the Southwest Conference. Rice will now take aim at winning its third consecutive C-USA Tournament title as it will be the No. 1 seed at the 2008 Entergy C-USA Baseball Championship in New Orleans, May 21-25. Rice earned the regular season championship by sweeping a three-game series from cross-town rival Houston over the weekend at Reckling Park. The wins assured the Owls of winning the Silver Glove Trophy for the eighth straight year by winning four-of-five head-to-head matchups with the Cougars. LAST WEEK'S STARS HITTING ECU - DUSTIN HARRINGTON - batted .417 (5-for-12) against Tulane with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored. Hit safely in all three games, extending his hitting streak to 10 games. HOU - JAKE STEWART - went 6-for-13 (.462) in the Rice series with two hits in each game. Had a pair of doubles, three RBI and two runs scored. Earned a spot on the Silver Glove All-Series team. MAR - VICTOR GOMEZ - hit his 10th home run of the season and drove in four runs during Saturday's doubleheader sweep of Delaware State. USM - BO DAVIS - led off all three games vs. Memphis by reaching base and scoring. He scored seven total runs from the lead-off spot, doubling twice and driving in four runs, while batting .692 (9-for-13). TLN - SETH HENRY - hit .455 (10-for-22) with a .636 slugging percentage thanks to a double and a home run. He drove in seven runs and scored six times and posted three multiple-hit games during Tulane's 4-1 week. UAB - RYAN KEEDY - batted .409 (9-for-22) and had seven walks to produce a .567 on-base percentage. He had three doubles, which allowed him to set a new UAB record with 24. Added two homers and drove in 11 runs, while scoring 11 times. UCF - ROBERT LARA - hit .462 at the plate in a 3-1 week for UCF, going 6-for-13 with five walks, four RBI and three runs scored. PITCHING ECU - STHIL SOWERS - made his fourth appearance out of the bullpen against Tulane on Friday, working three scoreless innings. He allowed three hits and struck out one. HOU - JOHN TOUCHTON - allowed just one run on five hits over 6.1 innings on Saturday at Rice. Struck out five and walked three in a no-decision. MAR - STEVE BLEVINS - pitched 5.1 superb innings against Delaware State, scattering five hits and a walk, while striking out eight batters to earn his eighth win of the year. RICE - CHRIS KELLEY - shared the team lead with six strikeouts in 8.2 innings. He allowed just one run and a walk for a 1.04 ERA last week. USM -BARRY BOWDEN - threw five hitless innings on Sunday against Memphis to earn his seventh win of the season. He struck out six and walked one. UCF -MITCH HEROLD - gave up only two hits in 7.0 scoreless innings on Saturday vs. UAB. He did not issue a walk and struck out seven while throwing on a pitch count. 2008 C-USA CHAMPIONSHIP PHOTOS AVAILABLE AT C-USAPHOTOS.COM Action photos from the 2008 Entergy Conference USA Baseball Championship will be available at www.C-USAPhotos.com. The championship takes place May 21-25 at Tulane University in New Orleans. You can browse photo galleries from each game at www.C-USAPhotos.com. You can also buy photos from this event exclusively online at www.C-USAPhotos.com. For more information, visit the website or call 404.259.9716 or email cservice1@comcast.net.
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