April 21 Baseball Notebook
April 21, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format With four weeks remaining until the Conference USA Championship in New Orleans, Rice has begun to emerge from the rest of the pack, taking a 3.5 game lead into this week's play. Houston, East Carolina, Tulane, Southern Miss and Marshall are all within two games of each other after that. This weekend, Houston and Southern Miss will face each other for a three-game set in Hattiesburg to highlight the upcoming C-USA action.
HITTERS OF THE WEEK ADAM ZORNES, RICE Junior, C, Houston, Texas Zornes hit safely in all four Rice wins last week to extend his current hitting streak to eight games. He batted a composite .500, collecting eight hits in 16 at bats with two home runs and a double for a team-leading .938 slugging percentage. For the week, he drove in a team-leading 10 runs and he scored four times. Zornes drew three walks, twice intentionally, for a team-best .579 on-base percentage. ROB SEGEDIN, TULANE Freshman, 3B, Old Tappan, N.J. Segedin hit .600 (9-for-15) with a 1.000 slugging percentage with two home runs, seven RBI and a stolen base during Tulane's 3-1 week. He had at least two hits and an RBI in all four games, including a three-hit contest on Sunday vs. Southern Miss. Segedin recorded two hits in Tuesday, Friday and Saturday's ballgames, and drove in a pair of runs on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. He posted a .647 on-base percentage with a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Segedin also posted a pair of saves with 2.0 scoreless frames vs. Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday and 2.0 perfect innings on Saturday vs. Southern Miss when he struck out three of the six batters he faced. PITCHER OF THE WEEK JOHN TOUCHTON, HOUSTON Sophomore, RHP, Houston, Texas Touchton made two appearances last week, starting at Stephen F. Austin and coming out the bullpen at UAB on Saturday to pitch a combined 9.1 innings. He recorded a career-high six strikeouts in both appearances to finish the week with 12 K's and just one walk. Touchton earned his third win of the season at SFA with six scoreless innings in which he allowed just four hits. He extended his string of scoreless innings to 8.1 before surrendering a solo home run in the eighth inning at UAB. C-USA NOTEBOOK The Pirates were 1-4 last week, but all four losses came on the road against nationally-ranked opponents. Two of those losses came by one run, meaning that seven of ECU's defeats this season have been by just one run. Junior UT Stephen Batts extended his hitting streak to nine games and recorded a pair of two-hit outings to give him 50 for his career. Senior C Corey Kemp had his career-long 16-game hit streak snapped on Sunday against Rice. The streak was the eighth longest in school history and ranked as the sixth longest in C-USA this season. Senior OF Jamie Ray saw his nine-game hit streak come to an end at Rice on Sunday. During the nine-game span he batted a team-best .469 with 15 hits, two doubles, a home run and six RBI. He also had six two-hit games during that nine-game span. After allowing four runs on four hits at Rice in the first inning, true freshman RHP Seth Maness scattered three hits over the next 5.1 innings, fanning seven Owls and walking one in a 5-4 extra inning loss. On the season, he is 6-0 with a 3.12 ERA, has fanned 52 batters while walking 20 in 57.2 innings. The Cougars dropped two-of-three at UAB over the weekend. Senior OF Jake Stewart tied a Houston single-game record and became only the third player in school history to blast three home runs in one game during the series opener on Friday. He accomplished the feat on the last three pitches he saw in the game. Stewart joined Mark Grimes (vs. Trinity, April 23, 1985) and J.P. Woodward (vs. Louisville, March 20, 1999) as the only sluggers to accomplish that feat. Senior 2B Ryan Lormand and freshman UT Matt Murphy combined for back-to-back home runs to lead off the fourth inning at UAB on Friday. Those were the first back-to-back shots for the Cougars in 2008 and the first since Luis Flores and Zak Presley accomplished the feat against UTSA on April 24, 2007. It was the first home run of Murphy's collegiate career. The Cougars welcomed junior DH Jimmy Cesario back to the starting lineup at Stephen F. Austin last Tuesday after he had been sidelined with a sprained wrist suffered against Rice on March 26. Cesario blasted home runs in each of the first two games of the UAB series, becoming first player since Lormand against Pacific on Feb. 23-24, 2008, to enjoy home runs in consecutive games. Sophomore CF Zak Presley has hit safely in each of his last 11 games to set a career high. It is the fourth double-digit hitting streak by a Cougar in 2008, joining Bryan Pounds' 19- and 11-game streaks and Blake Kelso's 11-game streak. The Cougars blasted a season-high six home runs at UAB on Friday. That was the most since UH launched six home runs against Tulane on April 7, 2006 and only one from the school record of seven set against Cincinnati on May 2, 1999. The Thundering Herd posted its second Conference USA sweep of the season by taking three straight from UCF over the weekend. The wins even Marshall's record in league play (7-7-1) and overall (19-19-1). The seven C-USA wins are already more than it had in either of its first two seasons as a league member. Senior C Tommy Johnson batted .353 (6-for-17) in the five wins last week, had a .765 slugging percentage and a .459 on-base percentage while collecting 13 total bases. Four of Johnson's six hits during that span were doubles and one was a home run. Johnson was 2-for-4 with three RBIs in each of the first two games against UCF, with a pair of doubles in the first contest, and a double and home run in the second, respectively. Johnson added a sacrifice fly and an RBI single in the second game of last Tuesday's non-conference doubleheader at The Tigers won a pair of midweek games before dropping three straight to Dallas Baptist over the weekend. After going homerless in the first 35 games of the season, junior DH Cole Shelton has found his swing, knocking two round-trippers in the last four games. He homered in the first inning against UT-Martin and then blasted a game-tying two-run shot in the ninth inning in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader vs. DBU. Sophomore LHP Brennon Martin struck out seven in a 91-pitch complete-game gem to lead Memphis to a 7-3 victory over UT-Martin in the Razz Classic held at Pringle Park in Jackson. Martin scattered nine hits and allowed single runs in the first, third and fifth innings, before holding the Skyhawks to just three hits over the final three innings of play. The Tiger southpaw did not walk a batter in the contest. Junior RHP Scott McGregor had one of the more effective outings of the season in Friday's 4-3 loss to Dallas Baptist. He held one of the nation's top offenses in check with one of his strongest outings of the year, scattering six hits and fanning six in six innings. He allowed just one earned run and walked one batter. RICE SOUTHERN MISS The Golden Eagles were 3-2 last week, defeating Mississippi Valley State and Alabama before dropping two-of-three at Tulane. Senior LHP Tyler Conn earned two more saves last week to give him 14 on the season, a new Southern Miss single-season record. His 20 career saves rank him third on the Golden Eagles all-time list. The Southern Miss bullpen was outstanding this past week. Not only did Tyler Conn pick up his NCAA leading 14th save, but the five members who worked in relief (Collin Cargill, Wade Weathers, Jonathan Johnston, J.R. Ballinger and Conn) allowed just one earned run and 15 hits in 20.2 innings of work while striking out 22 batters. Senior IF Trey Sutton pinch hit Saturday against Tulane to collect his 299th career hit, leaving him one shy of becoming the first Southern Miss player to record 300 career hits. Junior OF Michael Ewing hit an inside-the-park-home run on Friday at Tulane. Head coach Corky Palmer became only the second coach to win 400 games at Southern Miss with the 11-0 win Tuesday night over Mississippi Valley. TULANE The Green Wave took two-of-three from Southern Miss over the weekend. Junior RHP Shooter Hunt struck out a season-high 12 batters in Tulane's 4-3 win over Southern Miss on Friday. He posted at least one strikeout in six of the seven innings he tossed, including a pair of two-K stanzas while striking out the side in both the sixth and seventh innings. All three of Hunt's punches in the sixth came on nine consecutive pitches. He had a no-hitter through four and gave up just two hits during his time on the hill to improve to 6-1 on the year. Freshman 3B Rob Segedin and junior C Steve Moritz have both hit safely in their last five games and junior IF Seth Henry concluded the week having successfully reached in seven consecutive contests. Junior 1B Sam Honeck, however, leads the squad with an 11-game hitting streak dating back to April 2. Since then, Honeck is connecting at a .405 clip (17-for-42) with a .595 slugging percentage courtesy of five doubles and a home run. By hitting four home runs during the Green Wave's 3-1 week, Tulane now has 37 bombs on the year which is already three more than the season total of a year ago. Junior OF Andrew Rodgers paces the 2008 team with eight home runs and junior IF/OF Anthony Scelfo follows closely with six. UAB UAB surprised second place Houston with wins on Friday night and Saturday afternoon to earn its first series win over the No. 19 Cougars since 1997. The series victory also marks the first series win for the Blazers against a ranked team since UAB beat No. 29 East Carolina to close out last season. Senior LF Phil Bell, who posted a career-long 17-game hit streak earlier in the season, has gotten hot at the plate again and is on a 10-game hit streak. For the year, Bell is batting .327 and is leading the Blazers in both home runs (eight) and RBI (45). Senior 1B Ryan Keedy hit his 19th double of the season against Houston on Sunday. He leads Conference USA in two-baggers and is now fifth all-time at UAB in single-season doubles. Keedy needs just five more to become the school's all-time leader in the category. Junior RHP Mitch Kloskowski picked up his fifth win of the season on Saturday, tying his team-high victory total of last season. He has struck out 43 batters and walked only 13 in 61.1 innings pitched. Freshman 2B Nick Crawford has not made in error in his last 27 games and is fielding at a .982 clip for the season. At the plate, he has laid down a league-high12 sacrifice bunts. UCF The Knights dropped all three games at Marshall over the weekend. UCF amassed at least 10 hits in all three contests at Marshall. The Knights have now notched at least 10 base hits in 28 of 42 games. The 45 hits were the second most in a three-game series in 2008 (48 vs. Florida A&M Feb. 22-24). UCF's two through six hitters (Colin Arnold, Ryan Richardson, Kiko Vazquez, Robert Lara, Chris Duffy) combined to go 13-for-22 Sunday. However, UCF gave up a minimum of 10 hits for the sixth time in its last seven games when Marshall posted 18 Sunday. Sophomore 3B Chris Duffy crushed two home runs for the second time this year (Feb. 25 vs. Missouri) and the third time in his career. Duffy moved his two-year long-ball total to 15. Senior CF Tyson Auer's hitting streak was extended to eight games, while Richardson moved his to seven outings. The Knights were held without a stolen base for all three games of a series for just the second time this year (at Houston (April 4-6). For the series, Colin Arnold was 9-for-14 (.643) with four runs, two RBI, three doubles and two sacrifice hits. Junior 1B Kiko Vazquez, a preseason All-C-USA selection, played his first two games of the season, going 3-for-10 with four RBI.
THE POLLS Baseball America (Apr. 21) Collegiate Baseball (Apr. 21)
NCBWA (Apr. 21)
PSEUDO-RPI REPORT Four members of Conference USA are ranked in the Top 25 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. 21): 7. East 10. Rice 19. Southern Miss 40. 54. Tulane 64. UCF 90. 156. 200. 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 HOU - over ECU, UCF, TLN ECU - over UCF, USM, MAR TLN - over UAB, USM USM - over UCF, RICE MAR - over MEM, UCF MEM - over UAB UCF - over MEM UAB - over HOU Here's a look at who each team faces down the stretch in Conference USA series': RICE -at UCF, HOU, at TLN HOU - at USM, MEM, at Rice, MAR ECU - UAB, TLN, at MEM USM - HOU, at MAR, MEM, at UAB TLN - at MEM, UCF, at ECU, RICE MAR - at UAB, USM, at HOU UCF - RICE, at TLN, UAB MEM - TLN, at HOU, at USM, ECU UAB - MAR, at ECU, at UCF, USM 2008 HITTING STREAKS Seven 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 Ryan Keedy, UAB 17 Rick Hague, Rice 17 Phil Bell, UAB 16 Seth Henry, Tulane 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 NCAA MID-SEASON TRENDS The NCAA released its mid-season trends on April 17 and Conference USA leads all leagues in two categories. C-USA tops all conferences in stolen bases per game (1.48) and batters struck out per nine innings (8.08). Conference USA also ranked fifth among D-I leagues in fielding (.965). LAST WEEK'S STARS HITTING ECU - STEPHEN BATTS - collected a team-best four RBI, while batting .350 (7-for-20) and extending his hitting streak to nine games. He had a double, four RBI and two runs scored while recording his 49th and 50th career multiple-hit games. HOU - JAKE STEWART - tied a UH single-game record with three home runs on Friday at UAB. Finished the week batting .368 (7-for-19) with a pair of doubles, five RBI and eight runs scored. Also walked four times and stole three bases. MAR - TOMMY JOHNSON - hit .353 (6-for-17) with a .459 one-base and a .765 slugging percentage. Five of his six hits were extra-base hits, with four doubles and a home run. He walked three times, scored five runs and drove in eight. USM - CHRIS MATESICH - batted .529 (9-for-17) including two home runs, a double, seven RBI and five runs. Had a two-out, two-RBI bases loaded walk-off single in the ninth inning to cap a four run ninth inning rally and defeat Arkansas State on Saturday. UCF - COLIN ARNOLD - was 10-for-18 (.556) in four games last week, with three multiple-hit outings. He extended his hitting streak to nine games, totaled three doubles, drove in two runs and scored four runs. PITCHING ECU - JOSH RUHLMAN - made three appearances, combining for 7.2 innings worked. He allowed just one run on six hits while fanning six. Opposing batters hit just .214 against him. MAR - STEVE BLEVINS - earned his fifth win of the season against UCF on Friday. He struck out seven and walked only one. MEM - BRENNON MARTIN - struck out seven in a 91-pitch complete-game gem to lead Memphis to a 7-3 victory over UT-Martin. He scattered nine hits and did not walk a batter in the contest. RICE - MATT LANGWELL - threw his first career complete game on Sunday vs. East Carolina. He allowed just one run on seven hits and struck out five. TLN - SHOOTER HUNT - struck out a season-high 12 batters with just one walk in Friday night's opener against Southern Miss, fanning at least one batter in all but one inning. He allowed two runs on two hits over seven innings. UCF -MITCH HEROLD - threw UCF's first complete game since 2006 with a three-hitter against Stetson last Wednesday. Allowed one run and struck out nine, while walking just one batter.
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