March 5, 2008

Contact: Greg Murphy

Complete Release in PDF Format

AROUND THE HORN: Cleveland State (1-5) continues its early season roadswing when the Vikings travel to Cincinnati (3-4) for a three-game series this weekend, beginning with a 4:00 p.m. contest on Friday, March 7. The two teams will also play single games on Saturday (March 8) at 4:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 9 at 12:00 p.m.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings played a three-game series at Charlotte over the weekend with two of the games being decided by one run, including one in extra innings. Here is a brief recap of each contest.

Game 4 - Charlotte 3, CSU 2 (10 Innings) (Feb. 29): Aaron Bray hit a sacrifice fly with one out in the bottom of the 10th to lift Charlotte to a 3-2 victory over Cleveland State. The Vikings were limited to just four hits with Josh Geric recording two and Brad Buell and Bobby Cash one each. David Hurd and Tom Carter drove in runs for the Vikings.

Game 5 - Charlotte 11, CSU 4 (March 1): Charlotte scored three runs in the seventh inning and five more in the eighth to break open a close game and claim an 11-4 win over Cleveland State. CSU scored a pair of runs in the seventh to slice its deficit to 3-2, but the 49ers responded with three runs to put the game away. Brad Buell drove in two runs, while Josh Geric, Alex Kerins and Travis Miller had two hits apiece.

Game 6 - Charlotte 5, CSU 4 (March 2): Charlotte's Shayne Moody hit a two-out bloop single down the rightfield line that scored Brad McElroy with the game-winning run as the 49ers completed a three-game sweep of Cleveland State with a 5-4 victory. Brian Long worked six innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits, but did not earn a decision.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: Cleveland State has a completely different look from last season's squad as the roster boasts 26 new players. Senior Bobby Cash (.167, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI) moves from shortstop to second base, while senior Josh Geric (.389, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI) returns to anchor the Viking defense behind the plate. The other six field positions have new faces as junior John Foco (.267, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI) has started five of the six games at first base, while junior David Hurd (.000, 1 RBI) and senior Alex Kerins (.278, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI) have shared the duites at third base. Redshirt freshman Tom Carter (.067, 1 2B, 2 RBI) is the starting shortstop. Senior Kyle Bischof (.158, 3 R, 1 2B, 4 RBI), junior Brad Buell (.375, 4 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI) and freshman Adam Heideman (.222, 1 2B) make up the outfield from left to right with freshman Travis Miller (.286, 3 R) and senior Dustin Mills (1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI) also receiving action.

ON THE MOUND: Junior lefty Josh Hungerman (0-1, 5.56 ERA, 5 SO) returns to anchor the CSU pitching staff after finishing fourth in the league with a 3.82 earned run average and 61 strikeouts last season. Juniors Brian Long (1-0, 1.93 ERA, 10 SO) and Sam Suitca (0-2, 6.17 ERA, 3 SO) are CSU's other two weekend starters. Junior Drew Fronczek (0-0, 1.17 ERA, 7.2 IP) and seniors Vasili Pahoulis (0-2, 6.23 ERA, 1 S) and Chris Bauman (0-0, 0.1 IP) form the strength of the bullpen.

COUNTDOWN IS ON: Kevin Kocks is 16 wins shy of 500 for his career. The 14-year veteran has won at least 17 games in 13 of his seasons as a head coach with the lone exception coming last season when he led CSU to 14 wins in his first season at the helm.

ROAD WARRIORS: Cleveland State will face a heavy road schedule to begin the season as the Vikings are slated to play their first 17 games away from home. Last season, CSU opened the season with 25 road games and went 4-21 before playing its home opener against Kent State on April 3.

...BUT NOT TO WORRY: Despite a large amount of games on the road to open the season, Viking fans will have plenty of chances to see CSU play at home as the squad has 20 home games scheduled this season. The home opener is scheduled for March 22 versus Case Western. The Vikings have a season-long seven-game homestand from April 19-26 and will play 12 of their final 21 contests at home.

NEW LOOK VIKINGS: After leading the Vikings to a 14-44 overall record in his first season at the helm, head coach Kevin Kocks set out to revamp the Viking roster and brought in 26 new players. Despite the large number of new players, the Vikings will not lack experience as the 43-man roster boasts 25 upperclassmen, including 10 seniors and 15 juniors.

IN A PINCH: CSU pinch hitters have excelled this season, going 4-for-6 (.667) when called upon. Josh Lowe is 2-for-2 in pinch hit situations, including a home run, while Dustin Mills has a pinch hit homer in his only at-bat this season.

NO DAY OFF FOR BUELL(ER): Junior Brad Buell, who has hit safely in four straight games, has paced the CSU offense as the leadoff hitter through the first six games this season. He is hitting .375 (9-24) with four runs, two doubles, one homer and four runs batted in, including three with two outs.

GOING LONG: Junior Brian Long has been CSU's best pitcher through the first two weeks of the season, going 1-0 with a 1.93 earned run average. Long was named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 26 after leading the Vikings to an 8-5 win at 22nd-ranked Louisville on Feb. 24. He worked eight innings, allowing four runs (two earned) and struck out eight to earn his first win since going five innings in a 7-5 win over Ohio State on April 24, 2006. Long leads the Horizon League in innings pitched (14.0) and strikeouts (10).

GOOD START DERAILED: Freshman Adam Heideman drew a starting assignment in CSU's season opener at Louisville on Feb. 23 and went 2-for-3 with a double before being removed in the sixth inning due to a hamstring injury. Heideman did not return the rest of the weekend against the Cardinals. He came back to play in all three games at Charlotte last weekend, including two starts, but was 0-for-6 at the plate.

IN RELIEF: Junior Drew Fronczek has been CSU's top middle reliever this season, appearing in four of the six games and working 7.2 innings. He has allowed three runs, but only one has been earned, on six hits, while striking out two. In Friday's contest at Charlotte, Fronczek worked 2.1 innings, allowing just two hits as he kept the score tied at 2-2 before being removed in the ninth. On Sunday, Fronczek entered the game in the seventh inning and worked 1.1 innings. He allowed one run on two hits and once again maintained a CSU lead.

RUNNERS BEWARE: Senior Josh Geric is back for his final season as CSU's starting catcher after 56 starts a season ago. Geric made his mark behind the plate defensively by throwing out 24-of-70 (.343) would be base stealers. The 24 caught stealing led the Horizon League. This season, Geric gunned down 2-of-6 (.333) base stealers.

...AND DOING IT WITHOUT THE MASK: In addition to excelling defensivley behind the plate, Josh Geric has been getting it done offensively this season, leading the league and ranking sixth in the league with a .389 (7-18) batting average.

RUN, VIKINGS, RUN: One philosophy that head coach Kevin Kocks wanted to install in his first season was being aggressive on the basepaths in order to put pressure on the defense. It seemed to worked as CSU led the league in stolen bases (68) and stolen base attempts (99).

... BUT NOT THIS YEAR: It appears that the Vikings once again want to be aggressive on the basepaths this season as they have attempted a league-most 15 steals. However, CSU has been successful just four times, being caught a league-high 11 times.

TURNING TWO: CSU has been able to get out of several jams this season by turning a league-leading 11 double plays, six more than second place Milwaukee. In contrast, the Vikings have hit into just one double play.

CASH IS MONEY: Senior Bobby Cash was one of just two players to start all 58 games last seaso and is slated to move from shortstop to second base this season. He is the top returning hitter for the Vikings after batting .272 with a team-leading 63 hits and 36 runs. Cash also produced nine doubles, drove in 25 runs and set a school-record with 232 at-bats. He ended the season by hitting safely in eight of the final 10 games, going 13-for-35 (.371) with 12 runs and six RBI.

LET'S PLAY 10 ... OR 11: One area that the Vikings excelled in last season was extra inning games as CSU was 3-1 in games that went more than nine innings. CSU outscored its opposition, 8-3, in the extra frames. However, the Vikings dropped their first extra inning game of the season, falling in 10 innings at Charlotte, 3-2, on Friday (Feb. 29).

SMART KIDS: A total of 13 student-athletes from the baseball team were named to the Dean's List for the fall 2007 semester, while 24 earned a grade point average of 3.0 or better for the semester.

ON DECK: Cleveland State will embark on its annual spring break trip by playing five games in a six-day span, beginning with a pair of games at Morehead State on Tuesday, March 11 and Wednesday, March 12. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. both day. The Vikings will then head to Evansville, Ind. for games against Evansville (March 14), Central Michigan (March 15) and North Dakota State (March 16).