March 3 Baseball Notebook
March 3, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
CO-HITTERS OF THE WEEK TREY WIEDMAN, MEMPHIS Sophomore, 1B, Memphis, Tenn. Wiedman led the Memphis offense this past week, hitting .647 (11-for-17) with seven RBI, three home runs and three runs scored, while also walking three times for a .700 on-base percentage. Wiedman homered in all three Memphis wins, including posting a solo shot and a three-run blast in consecutive games to help the Tigers win the weekend series vs. Ohio University. More impressively, the Tiger first baseman was perfect at the plate in three of the five games this week. He started the week by going 5-for-5 vs. UT-Martin and 2-for-2 vs. Murray State to tie the Memphis record with hits in seven consecutive plate appearances. The Germantown, Tenn., native then went 4-for-10 with two homers in the weekend series vs. Ohio. Included in the weekend was a 3-for-3 performance in a 5-4 Tiger win. DIEGO SEASTRUNK, RICE Sophomore, 3B, Chanelview, Texas Seastrunk was one of the Owls' offensive leaders for five-straight wins last week, particularly at the annual Houston College Classic Tournament at Minute Maid Park where he was named the event's Most Outstanding Player. For the full week, Seastrunk batted a composite .455, collecting 10 hits in 22 at bats with two home runs and two doubles for an .818 slugging percentage. On the week he shared the team lead in RBI (8) and he scored six times. Seastrunk also executed two sacrifice bunts and was error-free at third base in 19 total chances. PITCHER OF THE WEEK BARRY BOWDEN, SOUTHERN MISS Senior, RHP, Vidalia, La. Bowden gave Southern Miss its first win of the season over a nationally-ranked opponent, throwing a complete-game, two-hit shutout at No. 25 Louisiana-Lafayette on February 29. He tied a career high with 10 strikeouts and did not walk a batter. Bowden retired the final 13 batters of the game and 26 of the last 27 for his fourth career complete game.
C-USA NOTEBOOK
EAST CAROLINA The Pirates dropped a tough 4-3 series opener against Monmouth on Friday before bouncing back to win the final two games of the series. Junior RHP Justin Bristow was outstanding in the series finale on Sunday, throwing a two-hit, complete-game shutout. It was the first complete game shutout in Clark-LeClair Stadium since Brody Taylor blanked Houston on April 2, 2006 in a 3-0 Pirate win. The Pirates stole seven bases on the day, just one shy of tying the school record. Senior OF Harrison Eldridge swiped three bases on Saturday and Sunday and is a perfect 10-for-10 on the season. In all, the Pirates have stolen 19-of-20 bases this year. In the series against Monmouth, ECU had five players bat of .417 with junior IF/OF Brandon Henderson leading the way with his .667 (4-for-6) batting average. All three Pirate starters on the weekend had an ERA of 1.69 or better: Bristow (0.00 ERA, 9 IP and a win); senior RHP T.J. Hose (1.35 ERA, 6.2 IP) and freshman RHP Seth Maness (1.69 ERA, 5.1 IP and a win). Maness earned his first collegiate win after striking out seven without walking a batter in Saturday's 11-2 victory. He allowed just one earned run on five hits. The Pirates pitching staff fanned 23 batters and walked just four in the series. HOUSTON The Cougars were 2-3 last week, with one loss coming in the bottom-of-the-ninth inning and the other two in extra innings. Senior IF Bryan Pounds was named to the Houston College Classic All-Tournament team after hitting a pair of home runs against No. 3 Texas and finishing with five hits, a double, five RBI and four runs scored in three games. He has now hit safely in a career-high-tying eight games, dating back to last season. Senior OF Jake Stewart continued his torrid start to the 2008 season, hitting safely in all five games and now has an eight-game hitting streak to open the year. He scored at least one run in all five games and has now scored at least once in each of the last seven games. He was also named to Houston College Classic All-Tournament Team. Sophomore C Austin Goolsby tied a UH single-game record with three doubles against Texas Tech on Friday. That equaled a mark held by 12 players and most recently by Josh Stirneman against C-USA rival Southern Miss on April 14, 2006. Freshman RHP Chase Dempsay earned his first collegiate win during the Cougars' 8-1 win over Texas State on Feb. 26. He allowed only one unearned run off two hits with two strikeouts in six innings of work. The Cougars scored 11 runs at No. 6 Rice on Tuesday during game one of the annual Silver Glove Series. It was the first time that UH reached double-digits against the Owls since a 14-5 win on Feb. 21, 2001, at Rice. Houston played back-to-back 10-inning affairs against Oklahoma and No. 3 Texas to close out the Houston College Classic. That was the first time that played consecutive extra-inning games since losing to East Carolina in 10 innings (March 16, 2003) and losing to then-No. 1 Rice 7-6 in 11 innings (March 19, 2003). MARSHALL The Thundering Herd posted a 6-0 win over George Mason on the opening game of the Baseball at the Beach Tournament in South Carolina this past weekend, but dropped the final three games of the tourney, each by two runs. Junior RHP Steve Blevins threw seven shutout innings against George Mason, allowing just three hits and walking two. He also struck out six to earn his first win of the season. Junior CF Nate Lape has extended his hitting streak to seven games and is leading the conference with a .520 batting average (13-for-25) for the season. Sophomore 2B Blake Sanders stepped up on Friday and hit his first collegiate home run in the win over George Mason. Junior RF Kurt Lipton had a pair of hits against George Mason on Friday and then tallied his first home run of the season (and as a member of the Herd) in a 9-7 loss to Western Carolina on Sunday. Marshall has seven players with at least one home run on the season and have out-homered its opponents, 11-7 on the year. The Herd has 24 extra-base hits in the first seven games. MEMPHIS The Tigers posted a 3-2 record last week, with both losses coming by one run. Sophomore 1B Trey Wiedman posted multiple hits and homered in all three Memphis wins, including banging a solo shot and a three-run blast in consecutive games to help the Tigers win the weekend series vs. Ohio University. He posted multiple hits and homered in all three Memphis wins, including banging a solo shot and a three-run blast in consecutive games. Senior CF K.K. Chalmers had an RBI in each game of the Ohio series and recorded a pair of doubles. Junior RHP Scott McGregor had another strong outing in Friday's opener, allowing two runs on six hits and striking out seven without a walk over 6.2 innings. He received a no-decision after Ohio rallied to win. In his first two starts, McGregor has allowed just two earned runs and has fanned 12 without walking a batter in 12 innings pitched. Junior RHP Matt Yokley picked up his second save of the season on Saturday, striking out two batters in the ninth. RICE Rice has won six games in a row to raise its record to 6-2 on the year. Over the weekend the Blue & Gray swept three foes from the Big 12 Conference (Oklahoma, No. 3 Texas and Texas Tech) by a combined run total of 22-10 while playing in the annual Houston College Classic. Rice went 3-0 in the tournament for the first time since 2001. Sophomore 3B Diego Seastrunk was one of the Owls' offensive leaders for five straight wins last week, particularly at the tournament where he was named the event's Most Outstanding Player. In five games on the week, Seastrunk batted a composite .455, collecting 10 hits in 22 at bats with two home runs and two doubles for an .818 slugging percentage. For the week, he shared the team lead in RBI (8) and he scored six times. True freshman CF Chad Mozingo batted .545 (12-of-22) last week with 11 runs scored in five games. Not only did he hit his first collegiate home run against Texas in front of more than 13,000 at Minute Maid Park, home of the major league Houston Astros, on Sunday he also made a game-saving throw-out of a Texas Tech runner at home plate from his defensive spot in center field. Junior RHP Bryan Price has taken over for Cole St.Clair as the closer and at Minute Maid Park he earned a save Saturday against Texas and a win Sunday against Texas Tech. Price has maintained a 1.08 ERA and has fanned 11 hitters in 8.1 innings this season. SOUTHERN MISS The Golden Eagles were 3-2 last week, including their first win over a ranked opponent this season with a 6-0 shutout at No. 25 Louisiana-Lafayette on Feb. 29. Senior RHP Barry Bowden matched his career high with 10 strikeouts in posting his fourth career shutout. Senior RHP David Clark earned the win in Saturday's 4-1 victory over Miami (Ohio), allowing one run on six hits over 7.1 innings, striking out six and walking one. On Feb. 27, sophomore RHP Todd McInnis improved to 2-0 with seven strong innings against South Alabama. He allowed two runs on three hits while striking out eight. Senior LHP Tyler Conn has earned saves in four of Southern Miss' six wins this season after picking up two more this past week. In two shutout innings pitched, he recorded five strikeouts and allowed just one hit. He has 10 strikeouts in four innings pitched on the season. It was a strong week for the Golden Eagles pitching staff, which allowed just seven earned runs in five games. The unit combined to strike out 30 batters and walk only 11. Junior SS Brian Dozier was 7-for-17 (.412) last week with a double, two RBI and three runs scored. TULANE The Green Wave was 3-2 last week, including a win over No. 25 Louisiana-Lafayette and a victory over former C-USA rival TCU. In the win over ULL, junior RHP Jonathan Garrett made just his second career start and earned his first career win. He threw six innings of shutout ball, yielding just one hit and striking out a career-high five without allowing a walk. Tulane's solid starting pitching continued in the first two games of the Dairy Queen Classic, where junior RHP Shooter Hunt and sophomore LHP Aaron Loup both received no-decisions despite leaving their respective games with the lead. Hunt struck out eight and allowed two runs on two hits over six innings against No. 29 Pepperdine, while Loup fanned six and walked one, while surrendering two runs on four hits against Minnesota. After an 0-4 performance against Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday, freshman 3B Rob Segedin was 6-for-16 the rest of the week with a triple and four RBI. Senior C Jared Dyer hit safely in all four games that he played in last week, going 5-for-15 with a run and an RBI. UAB The Blazers won the first two games of a four-game set against defending Ivy League champion Brown over the weekend, before dropping the final two games. Junior RHP Mitch Kloskowski threw his second career complete game in Friday's opener, allowing one run on four hits, striking out seven and walking none. On the season he is 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA and opponents are hitting just .35 against him. He has 14 K's and one walk, while giving up only seven hits in 15 innings of work. Senior 1B Ryan Keedy leads UAB with a .441 batting average this season, while also pacing the team with 11 RBI. After leading the team in walks last season, he has earned seven free passes this season. He holds an on-base percentage of .548 and has a .676 slugging percentage. In addition to his work at the plate, Keedy boasts a perfect fielding percentage on 90 putouts and four assists. The Blazers begin their season-long six-game road trip this weekend when they travel to play Jacksonville State on Tuesday. Following their trip to JSU, the Blazers fly to Hawaii to play a three game series at Hawaii-Hilo and a two-game set at Hawaii. UCF The Knights swept a three-game series from Central Michigan and are 7-0 on the season. This is the third time in program history that UCF has opened 7-0 and it will aim for its first-ever 8-0 start on Tuesday against 6-0 Jacksonville. Sophomore Shane Brown continues to play well at first base in place of the injured Kiko Vazquez. He is batting .458 (11-for-24) with four doubles and 11 RBI. Brown had 12 RBI his entire freshman season. Senior RHP Jaager Good has worked 10.2 innings of scoreless ball in his two starts this year, racking up 16 strikeouts in the process. Dating back to last year and his 7.0 shutout innings in the C-USA Championship vs. Houston, Good now has a 17.2 scoreless inning streak still in tact. UCF pitchers have struck out 81 batters in 61.0 innings, and have posted at least 10 strikeouts in every game this year. After seven games in 2007, UCF had committed 20 errors and had a 2-5 record. But this season, the Knights have made just five miscues and are 7-0 overall. UCF has notched double-digit hits in six of seven games in 2008.
THE POLLS Baseball America (Mar. 3) Collegiate Baseball (Mar. 3)
NCBWA (Mar. 3) LAST WEEK' S STARS Other than the players of the week, here's a look at some of the top performances in Conference USA during the games of Feb. 25-Mar. 2: HITTING HOU - BRYAN POUNDS - hit safely in all five games last week and was named to the Houston College Classic All-Tournament team. Homered twice against No. 3 Texas and also doubled, had six RBI and scored six runs last week. MAR - NATE LAPE - extended his hitting streak to seven games while going 7-for-15 (.467) at the Baseball at the Beach Tournament. Hit his third homer of the season and drove in six runs on the weekend. USM - BRIAN DOZIER - batted .412 (7-for-17) in five games last week with two multiple hit games. Had a double, two RBI, stole a base and scored three runs. Also drew three walks to give him a .524 on-base percentage. UCF - RYAN RICHARDSON - had at least in one hit in all four games, going 7-for-16 (.438). He had three hits, including a double and a home run in the win against No. 5 Missouri. PITCHING ECU - JUSTIN BRISTOW - earned his first win at ECU on Sunday with a complete-game shutout over Monmouth. He allowed just two hits and struck out six batters, while walking one. HOU - WES MUSICK - moved to 2-0 on Friday with a win over Texas Tech. He allowed only one run off five hits with four strikeouts in 6.2 innings, holding the Red Raiders scoreless after a first inning run. MAR - STEVE BLEVINS - threw seven shutout innings against George Mason on Friday, allowing just three hits and walking two. He also struck out six to earn his first win of the season. MEM - BRENNON MARTIN - the southpaw earned the win over Tennessee-Martin on Feb. 26 with six solid innings of work. He gave up one run on four hits, while striking out five and walking one. RICE - RYAN BERRY - picked up the win on Friday vs. Oklahoma at the Houston College Classic, allowing two runs on five hits over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out eight and walked three. TLN - JONATHAN GARRETT - helped the Green Wave to a win over No. 25 Louisiana-Lafayette on Feb. 27 by firing six innings of one-hit ball. He also struck out five batters without yielding a walk. UAB - MITCH KLOSKOWSKI - earned a complete-game victory over Brown on Feb. 29, allowed just one run on four hits. It was his second career complete game. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter. UCF - JUSTIN WEISS - made three appearances last week, earning a win over No. 5 Missouri and a save against Central Michigan. In 2.2 innings pitched, he allowed just one hit and fanned three without walking a batter. SOUTHERN MISS' BOWDEN NAMED NATIONAL PITCHER OF THE WEEK Southern Miss starting pitcher Barry Bowden was named the National Pitcher of the Week by Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper on March 3 following his dominating performance at No. 25 Louisiana Lafayette Friday night. Bowden, a senior from Vidalia, La., threw a complete-game two-hit shutout over No. 25 Louisiana Lafayette to spoil their home opener. He led the Golden Eagles over ULL 6-0, retiring the final 13 batters and 26 of the last 27 hitters he faced. Over the nine innings he tied his career high with 10 strikeouts in his 99-pitch game, 68 for strikes. It was his fourth career complete game. It was the first National Player of the Week honors in Bowden's career and the second time a Southern Miss pitcher has received national honors in two seasons. Ryan Belanger earned National Pitcher of the Week last season on May 17th after his complete-game shutout vs. Houston.
C-USA VS. RANKED FOES Feb. 23.................. East Carolina 13, (2) South Carolina 4 Feb. 24.................. Rice 3, (13) Long Beach State 1 Feb. 25.................. UCF 10, (5) Missouri 9 Feb. 27.................. Tulane 10, (25) Louisiana-Lafayette 1 Feb. 29.................. Southern Miss 6, (25) Louisiana-Lafayette 0 Mar. 1.................... Rice 10, (3) Texas 4
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