April 3, 2008

Weekly Release: at Dallas Baptist

*Complete Release Attached in pdf format*

 

Games 28-30: Northern Colorado (8-19) at Dallas Baptist (16-8)

Friday, April 4 • Dallas, Texas • Patriot Field • 6:35 p.m. Central/5:35 p.m. Mountain

Saturday, April 5 • Dallas, Texas • Patriot Field • 1:00 p.m. Central/Noon Mountain

Saturday, April 5 • Dallas, Texas • Patriot Field • 4:00 p.m. Central/3:00 p.m. Mountain

 

All three games will have video internet streaming at: www.dbu.edu/athletics/baseball_livebroadcast.asp

 

Independent Action

Northern Colorado hits the road again for five straight, three at Dallas Baptist on Friday and Saturday and then a two-game set at Kansas on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both Dallas Baptist and Northern Colorado are independents. This is the first time this season the Bears have faced another team not belonging to a conference.

 

Series History

Surprisingly, Northern Colorado and Dallas Baptist have never met on the diamond. There is a connection between the two teams, however, as current Bears junior Kevin Sandberg spent his first year of college as a Patriot before returning to his home state to play at NC.

 

Sleeping In Their Own Beds

Though the Bears went 1-2 in the home opening series against South Dakota State over the weekend, the comforts of home were obvious in the offensive statistics. The Bears hit .360 against the Jackrabbits, bringing their season batting average to .242. Five players who saw action in at least two of the three games hit over .300 in the series, led by junior Sean Zyer who hit .600 with three hits in five at bats.

 

Spreading The Wealth

Northern Colorado hit three home runs in the three games against South Dakota State over the weekend. Both junior transfers Erik Hegstad and Andy Mees hit their second long balls of the season, while senior Cory Morales hit his first of the year and the fifth of his career. The Bears now have 12 home runs on the year, coming from seven different players. Junior Kevin Sandberg leads the club with four.

 

Double Digits

Senior catcher Erik Whinery became the second player this season to see a hitting streak reach double figures. He has now hit safely in the last 10 games and has struck out just twice in his last 23 at bats, raising his season batting average to .293. Senior Chad Murray is the other player this year to have a 10-game hitting streak, while senior Cory Morales had a 10-game streak last season.

 

Hard To Strike Out

Several players on the team have good stretches at the plate with no strikeouts going currently. Junior Kevin Sandberg has struck out just twice in the last 60 plate appearances, while senior Chad Murray has been fanned once in 27 plate appearances. Junior Andy Mees has been to the plate 17 straight times without a K, while freshman T.J. Berge has 10 straight appearances in the batter's box without striking out.

 

Back From The Pen

After starting his first three appearances, senior right-handed pitcher Dan Kazell was relegated to the pen, throwing five games and 9.1 innings of relief before returning to a starting role on Saturday against South Dakota State. He struck out a season-high six in 5.1 innings in the second game of the doubleheader against the Jackrabbits. Kazell's ERA is down to 8.88 on the year after reaching as high as 13.

 

There's A Hole In The Stats Dear Henry

Junior Cody Henry joined the Bears this fall and was originally listed as an outfielder/catcher. He has now pitched seven innings of relief in four games for Northern Colorado, giving up no earned runs and just five hits. Henry has also started 17 games (9 outfield, 4 dh, 4 catcher) not on the hill.

 

Multiple Morales

Senior Cory Morales has hit safely in nine of the last 10 games, and had been on base multiple times in eight of those nine contests. Before the hitting streak, Morales was hitting just .131 for the season but has more than doubled that and is now hitting .276 for the year. In the series finale against South Dakota State, he went 2-for-5 with three RBI and three runs scored to bring his RBI total to 13 on the season.

 

Milestone Approaching

Northern Colorado has a storied baseball tradition, one that shows when looking at the all-time record. The Bears are now just eight wins shy of 1,400 in history, sporting a 1,392-1,029-3 (.575) record since the program began in 1924.

 

Putting It In Play

Junior Kevin Sandberg has struck out just twice in the last 13 games (60 plate appearances). He has reached base safely in 21 of the last 22 games and is hitting .280 for the year. As a designated hitter he is hitting .333, while .250 as a first baseman.

 

Extra Bags

Junior transfer Erik Hegstad has 18 hits this season, and 10 of those hits are for extra bases. He leads the team with eight doubles and is tied for second with a pair of home runs.

 

Trouble With Triples

Northern Colorado is 27 games into the season and has yet to record a triple in a game. Opponents have had 13 three-baggers in 2008. Last year, the Bears tallied 20 triples while giving up 23. The team does have 46 doubles and every player who has played in at least 20 games has recorded multiple doubles this season.

 

Double Trouble

Northern Colorado has turned 22 double plays through the first 27 games of the season, with senior Chad Murray being in on 14 of them.

 

Milestones

Senior Cory Morales had the 300th at bat of his career in the series finale against South Dakota State and now has 302. Senior Adam Symons tallied the 200th total base of his career in the finale against South Dakota State when he walked.

 

A Win Over One

For the first time in Division I history at Northern Colorado, the Bears defeated the top-ranked team in the nation, downing Arizona State 6-3 on March 21. This season the Bears are 3-6 against teams ranked in the top 30, while they went 0-6 against ranked squads a year ago. In 2006, NC defeated #2-ranked Nebraska, 5-2 and went 2-4 against teams appearing in the national rankings.

 

Road Warriors

Northern Colorado is getting used to living on the road as the Bears started the 2008 season with 24 straight games away from home. The 2007 team also started with its first 24 on the road, posting an identical 7-17 record to start the year. The 24 games is the longest road stretch to open a season in school history.

 

Closing In

Senior Cory Morales is now just 14 hits shy of 100 for his career at Northern Colorado, as he is sitting at 86. Senior right-handed pitcher Sean Peery needs to record just five more strikeouts for the 50th of his career, while senior Chris Reap is 14 shy of 100. With three more doubles, junior Kevin Sandberg will tie for 10th in school history with 32 doubles. Senior Adam Symons will tie for 10th on the career at bats charts with 26 more and is also three doubles shy of tying for 10th.

 

In The Clutch

With runners in scoring position and two outs, head coach Kevin Smallcomb hopes that his everyday catcher Erik Whinery is coming to the plate. Whinery is hitting .429 in that situation with nine RBI in 14 at bats, including two doubles and a home run. Senior Chad Murray is also hitting over .400 in those same circumstances, hitting .417 in 12 at bats with five hits and seven RBI.

 

Going Yard

If one was going to predict what inning a Bear was going to hit a home run, the sixth would be a good bet. Four of the team's last five long balls have come in the sixth frame and five of the team's 12 have been in the sixth. Junior Erik Hegstad has two homers in the sixth inning, while senior Cory Morales, senior Chad Murray and junior Kevin Sandberg each have one.

 

Inherited Runners

NC pitchers have done a fantastic job of not letting inherited runners cross the plate. Bears' hurlers have inherited 27 base runners through the first 27 games and only six have scored. Senior right-handed pitcher Dan Kazell has paced the squad, coming in with seven on base and none have scored. Twice he has taken over the game with the bases loaded and gotten out of the jam.

 

The Every Day Player

Senior shortstop Cory Morales is the only player on the Bears roster to have started and played in all 27 games this season. Morales is now hitting .276 and has 87 assists and 49 putouts on the year, close to double anyone else's assists on the team. Last season, played and started in all 51 games, bringing his career total to 78 consecutive games started.

 

Strength of Schedule

The Bears will face some of the best teams in the nation in 2008. Six of the team's opponents played in the NCAA Regionals last year with UC Irvine and Arizona State advancing to the College World Series (Texas A&M, Nebraska, Creighton, Arkansas). Four of those teams (#1 Arizona State, #4 UC Irvine, #9 Nebraska, #23 Texas A&M) are currently ranked in the Collegiate Baseball Poll.