April 7 Baseball Notebook
April 7, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format Conference play continues this week and the cameras of CBS College Sports will be in Houston where the first place Cougars renew their rivalry with Tulane. CBSC will televise Friday and Saturday night's games beginning at 7 p.m. CT. Houston became the fifth C-USA team to be nationally-ranked this season when they appeared at No. 19 in Monday's Collegiate Baseball poll. Across town, second place Rice will be hosting UAB. The other two conference series feature Marshall at East Carolina and Memphis visiting UCF.
HITTERS OF THE WEEK COREY KEMP, EAST CAROLINA Senior, C, Franklin, Tenn. Kemp batted a team-best .450 (9-for-20) for East Carolina last week, which included a Conference USA series win at No. 20 Southern Miss. The Franklin, Tenn., native also led the team in hits (9), slugging (.750), on-base percentage (.522) and tied for the team lead with two home runs. In 4-of-5 games played on the week, he collected two hits and scored one run. Kemp also drove in at least two RBI in three of the five games, finishing with seven total. With his four multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games this week, Kemp now has 15 multi-hit games and nine multi-RBI games on the year. PITCHER OF THE WEEK RYAN BERRY, RICE Sophomore, RHP, Humble, Texas Berry fired a complete game shutout win at Memphis in game one of Saturday's doubleheader. The standout from Humble, Tex., allowed just three singles and one walk while striking out nine in the contest. Berry held 30 batters faced to a composite .100 average. His Memphis outing extended a recent stretch of sensational outings dating back to early March. In his last 32.2 innings, Berry has maintained a 1.10 ERA, struck out 36 batters and held 111 hitters-faced to a composite .180 average.
C-USA NOTEBOOK East Carolina recorded its second consecutive C-USA road series win over the weekend, dropping game one at No. 20 Southern Miss in 13 innings, but bounced back to take the final two contests. In two of the three games, ECU pounded out double-digit hits (11 in game one and 14 in game three). Freshman RHP Seth Maness became the second Pirate freshman to start a season 6-0 after holding the Golden Eagles to just two runs on 11 hits and lowering his ERA to 2.91. Maness retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced and 14 of the first 18 with four punch outs. His six wins lead the Pirates and ranks sixth in the nation. Junior RHP Justin Bristow improved to 5-1 on the season after surrendering three runs on 11 hits in eight innings of work with seven strikeouts and one walk against the Golden Eagles. It was the fifth time in seven starts this season that he worked into the seventh frame and the sixth time he has fanned at least six batters in a game. Freshman OF Trent Whitehead hit a pair of home runs on the week with a team-best eight RBI, including a grand slam against Campbell. He set and tied his career-high with 4 RBI in a contest driving in four against Campbell on Wednesday and Southern Miss on Sunday. He recorded his first career game-winning RBI against the Golden Eagles in the series finale with a two-RBI single that capped a five-run first inning. The Cougars posted their first Conference USA series sweep since 2006 by taking three straight from No. 25 UCF this past weekend. With the sweep of No. 25 UCF, Houston extended its winning streak over nationally ranked opponents to five straight games. That marks the first time that feat has been accomplished since the 2002 team won nine straight games against ranked teams from April 2 to June 8, 2002. Senior 2B Ryan Lormand had a pair of three-hit games against the Knights, finishing the series 7-for-12 (.583) with three RBI, three stolen bases and five runs scored. Sophomore LHP Wes Musick rebounded from his first loss of the season on March 28 by allowing only two runs off seven hits and four walks with a season-high eight strikeouts in 6.2 innings on Friday. He held the Knights to only three hits and no runs through the first five innings as the Cougars built a 5-0 advantage. Musick remains Cougars' Triple Crown leader with six wins, 2.72 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 46.1 innings and has already equaled his win total from the entire 2007 season. Freshman RHP Chase Dempsay has emerged as a consistent closer for the Cougars. He earned the save in the series opener against No. 25 UCF for his team-leading fourth of the season. He is now only two saves away from UH freshman record set by Robert Dieudonne' in 1997. Freshman SS Blake Kelso remains one of the Cougars' leading offensive performers and a premier table-setter. He has hit safely in each of his last 11 games, a career best. That is the longest hitting streak by a Cougar freshman since Sam Mitchell hit safely in 13 straight games from Feb. 21-March 16, 2001. The Thundering Herd went 1-1-1 at Tulane over the weekend. Junior OF Nate Lape tallied three home runs in last Tuesday's win at Dayton. The three home runs in a single game marked the first time that a Marshall player had done so since the 2006 season (Brendan Murphy). It also marked the junior's fourth multi-homer game of the season. Lape also accounted for seven RBI in the game, the most since current teammate Brandon Casamassima tallied six in a single game against Memphis in 2007. Lape also collected three hits and two RBIs in Sunday's game against Tulane. Junior RHP Steve Blevins hurled a nine-inning complete game against Tulane Saturday en route to his fourth victory of the season. Blevins fanned a career high 12 batters to lead the Thundering Herd to its first win over Tulane in program history. The junior allowed four runs on six hits and held the Green Wave to just a .171 team batting average in the victory. Blevins leads the team in total strikeouts (33) and has a 5.06 ERA and is the first pitcher this season to turn in a complete game start. Marshall has recorded 38 stolen bases this year, exceeding its 2007 season total of 31. Junior SS Adam Yeager leads the way with 19 in 22 attempts, while Lape has swiped 12-of-14. The Tigers dropped all three games to No. 15 Rice over the weekend. Freshman SS Chad Zurcher has extended his hitting streak to 19 games. In Sunday's series finale, he was 4-for-5 with three doubles, one shy of the program record of four set by Jeff Cottam in 1990. He was 6-for-13 (.462) against Rice with six RBI. Senior CF K.K. Chalmers now has 101 career stolen bases and needs just five more to move into second place on C-USA's all-time list. Freshman LHP Ryan Holland threw five scoreless innings on Sunday, allowing just two hits and striking out two. Sunday's 7-6 loss marked the 13th time this season that Memphis has played a game decided by one run. The Tigers are 4-9 in those games. RICE Rice swept a three-game series at Memphis this past weekend. Two players who missed some games last week due to injuries, freshman SS Rick Hague and senior 1B J.P. Padron, returned for a full week of duty and the results were easy to see. Hague batted .350 (7-for-20) with two doubles and five RBI in the five games while Padron went 7-for-19 (.368) with a double, a stolen base, a sacrifice bunt and two runs scored. Hague saw his career-best 17-game hitting streak come to a close in the series finale against Memphis. Veteran DH Jess Buenger has also been out of action for some of the last few games, but in nine at bats last week Buenger collected three hits and two walks for a .556 on-base percentage. Sophomore RHP Ryan Berry fired a complete game shutout win over Memphis on Saturday. He allowed just three singles and a walk while striking out nine in the contest. Berry's Memphis outing extended a recent stretch of sensational outings dating back to early March. In his last 32.2 innings, Berry has maintained a 1.10 ERA, struck out 36 batters and held 111 hitters-faced to a composite .180 average. Berry's recent work is very much like senior Chris Kelley, who has given up only one earned run in three C-USA starts for an austere 0.44 ERA in 20.1 innings against the league. As a staff, Rice pitchers average 8.99 strikeouts and just 3.24 walks per nine innings. Junior OF Aaron Luna blasted two home runs in the series finale. The two homers give the Owl slugger 33 round-trippers in his career, moving him into a tie for seventh place on the school's all-time home run list with Jaques Landry (1995-96). Luna needs four more to move into a tie for sixth place with Damon Thames. Junior OF Jared Gayhart has been making his presence known in C-USA action. Gayhart is hitting .389 in conference with six doubles, 10 RBI, 10 runs, nine walks and three steals in nine league games. SOUTHERN MISS The Golden Eagles dropped the final two games of the East Carolina series after winning the opener in 13 innings. In that win, junior 2B James Ewing hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to force the game into extra innings and added two RBI in the 12th to push the game one more frame before the Golden Eagles eventually won in the 13th. Ewing had two hits in each game of the ECU series, going 6-for-12 (.500) with a double, a home run and four RBI. Freshman RHP Todd McInnis had another quality start for Southern Miss in game one Saturday, throwing seven innings and allowing only two runs on six hits. Junior LHP Wade Weathers and senior LHP Tyler Conn were both solid out of the pen for the Golden Eagles. Weathers worked two innings and surrendered one hit and walked one while striking out one. Conn extended his streak of not allowing an earned run to 17 innings on the season while striking out three in his two innings of work. In Saturday's second game, senior RHP Barry Bowden threw 46 pitches before leaving the game with a injury to his shoulder in the third inning. Junior RHP Brian Leach replaced him and had the best outing of his career, throwing 6.1 innings scattering three hits and allowing only one run. TULANE The Green Wave finished 1-1-1 vs. Marshall this past weekend. Sunday's 5-5 tie due to travel curfew was the first tie in C-USA play since 2002 and just the third in league history. Junior C Steve Moritz replaced the injured Jared Dyer late on Tuesday, and posted at least one hit in each of the next four games - including a two-hit outing at Nicholls State on Wednesday when he hit his first career Division I homer. For the week, Moritz hit .333 (5-for-15) with a home run and three RBI and a sacrifice fly. He also played flawless defense with 34 putouts and four assists. Several Tulane players are carrying hitting streaks. Junior IF Seth Henry leads the team with a season-best 15-game hitting streak, during which time he is connecting at a .439 clip (25-for-57) with 10 doubles, three triples and three home runs. Junior IF Anthony Scelfo has a hit in the last seven games, freshman 3B Rob Segedin is riding a six-game hit streak, and the junior duo of Moritz and Sam Honeck both have hits in their last four contests. Through the first 31 games of the 2008 season, the Green Wave hitters have combined for 15 triples - and average of .484 three-baggers per game. The 2008 team already has six more triples than last year's squad (9) and four more than the season total from the 2006 club. The last time the Wave posted more than 15 triples in a season 1996 when Tulane had 20 three-baggers. UAB The Blazers went 3-2 for the second straight week this past week. On Wednesday, senior RHP Mitch Kloskowski threw his second complete game of the season as he led the Blazers to a victory over in-state rival Alabama. Both Kyle Roberson and James Oliver provided the Blazers with superb pitching performances as each pitched seven-inning complete games in Sunday's doubleheader sweep of Presbyterian. Roberson earned the win in game one after pitching 7.0 innings in which he allowed two runs on eight hits, while striking out four. Oliver was the winner in game two by giving up just one unearned run in 7.0 innings, while allowing just four hits and striking out four. A pair of lengthy Blazer hitting streaks came to an end this past week. Senior 1B Ryan Keedy saw his 19-game hit streak come to an end against Alabama on Wednesday, just one night after he went 3-for-5 against the Crimson Tide. Senior LF Phil Bell had a run of 17-straight games with a hit until going hitless against Presbyterian on Saturday. Center fielder Cody McMurry had another strong week for the Blazers as well, extending his team-leading home run total to five on Sunday against Presbyterian. UCF The Knights dropped three straight at Houston over the weekend. Junior SS Eric Kallstrom extended his hitting streak to eight games on Sunday by going 2-for-4. He was 8-for-21 (.381) last week with a double, a home run and three RBI. Junior LHP Mitch Herold made his first relief appearance of 2008 on Sunday, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts, including striking out the side in the bottom of the eighth. Freshman RHP Cody Allen pitched one inning in Friday's 5-3 loss at Houston, striking out the side in the eighth inning. In 19 innings pitched this season, he has fanned 26 batters and walked just four. UCF starting pitchers have failed to go at least 5.0 innings in six of their last seven outings.
THE POLLS Baseball America (Apr. 7) Collegiate Baseball (Apr. 7) NCBWA (Apr. 7) PSEUDO-RPI REPORT Four members of Conference USA were ranked in the Top 26 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. 7): 9. Southern Miss 20. East 23. Rice 26. 58. UCF 66. Tulane 117. 166. 215. UAB PEAK PERFORMERS Throughout the 2008 season, we'll track some of the top individual performances around Conference MULTIPLE HOME RUNS IN A GAME 3 Nate Lape, MAR (12) at 3 Corey Kemp, ECU (15) vs. 2 Anthony Scelfo, TLN (11) at 2 Andrew Rodgers, TLN (8) vs. UAB (7) 3-28 2 2 Jonathan Merritt, UAB (10) vs. 2 Seth Henry, TLN (16) vs. 2 Ryan Wood, ECU (7) vs. 2 Nate Lape, MAR (12) vs. Valparaiso (6) 3-12 2 Andrew Rodgers, TLN (18) vs. NW St. (11) 3-12 2 Nate Lape, MAR (9) vs. Valparaiso (4) 3-11 2 2 Chris Duffy, UCF (10) vs. Missouri (9) 2-25 COMPLETE-GAMES James Oliver, UAB (3) vs. Presbyterian (1) 4-6 Kyle Roberson, UAB (3) vs. Presbyterian (2) 4-6 Steve Blevins, MAR (7) vs. Marshall (4) 4-5 Ryan Berry, RICE (3) at Memphis (0) 4-5 Mitch Kloskowski, UAB (8) vs. David Clark, USM (5) vs. Justin Bristow, ECU (6) vs. Monmouth (0) 3-2 Barry Bowden, Southern Miss (6) at La.-Lafayette (0) 2-29 Mitch Kloskowski, UAB (4) vs. Brown (1) 2-29 10 OR MORE STRIKEOUTS 14 Barry Bowden, USM (8) vs. UCF (4) 3-21 13 Ryan Berry, Rice (0) vs. Southern Miss (1) 3-28 13 Mitch Houck, UCF (6) vs. Wagner (0) 3-17 12 Steve Blevins, MAR (7) vs. Marshall (4) 4-5 12 Mitch Houck, UCF (8) vs. 11 Shooter Hunt, TLN (2) vs. UC Irvine (0) 3-7 10 Matt Evers, Rice (7) at 10 Barry Bowden, Southern Miss (1) at Rice (0) 3-28 10 Shooter Hunt, TLN (3) vs. 10 Seth Maness, East Carolina (10) vs. 10 Barry Bowden, Southern Miss (6) at La.-Lafayette (0) 2-29
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