April 21, 2008

Weekly Release: at Arkansas

 

Northern Colorado (14-24) at Arkansas (22-17)

Tuesday, April 22 • Fayetteville, Ark. • Baum Stadium • 6:35 p.m. (Central)/5:35 p.m. (Mountain)

Wednesday, April 23 • Fayetteville, Ark. • Baum Stadium • 1:00 p.m. (Central)/Noon (Mountain)

Audio Streaming: www.1310kfka.com • Radio: 1310 AM KFKA • Live Stats: www.hogwired.com

 

Quick Trip

Northern Colorado takes its next-to-last regular season road trip of the year as it heads to Arkansas for a two-game series with the Razorbacks. The Bears then return home for another eight game home stand beginning Friday against Dallas Baptist. They will also host BYU and Texas-Pan American during the days at Jackson Field. The last regular season series is at NYIT and the Bears close out the year at the Division I Independent Tournament at Texas-Pan American in Edinburg.

 

Series History

This is the third straight year the Bears have faced off against the Razorbacks. NC is 1-5 all time against Arkansas and they have been ranked in the top 15 all six previous meetings. This season, the Razorbacks are not ranked, but sport a 22-17 record.

 

Commonality

The Bears and Razorbacks have played several of the same teams throughout the 2008 season. Arkansas lost its only game against Texas A&M, while the Bears split a four-game set. The Razorbacks swept a two-game series from South Dakota State, while NC went 1-2 and Arkansas dropped both games against Arizona State, while NC went 1-1. Arkansas also split two games with Nebraska, while the Bears were 0-6. In summation, the Razorbacks are 3-4 while the Bears are 4-11 against common opponents.

 

It's Definitely A Hitter's Park

In the six games of the Northern Colorado triangular over the weekend, Jackson Field surrendered a total of 135 runs with the fewest runs being scored 15 in the opening game of the tournament between Air Force and Utah Valley (8-7). Teams averaged 11.25 runs per game over the three days.

 

Almost Miraculous

Trailing 15-2 entering the eighth inning, Northern Colorado put a 10 spot on the scoreboard and added two in the bottom of the ninth to almost mount one of the largest comebacks in school history, but fell just short, dropping a 15-14 game to Utah Valley. With the bases loaded full of Bears and one out, senior Jeff Horn hit a bases clearing double to close NC within 10. Freshman T.J. Berge then hit a double and senior Sean Zyer walked to set up the second bases loaded situation of the inning. Senior Cory Morales again cleared the bases with a double to left that took a wicked hop over the left fielder's head. Senior Chad Murray hit the team's fourth double of the inning to score Morales and junior Erik Hegstad then smashed a two-run homer to left field for the 10th run of the frame.

 

Now A-Peery-Ing

Senior right-handed pitcher Sean Peery has now appeared in 18 games this season, tying for the 10th most in a single-season in school history. Peery is 2-3 with a 5.35 ERA and has thrown 33.2 innings. The record for pitching appearances in a season is 24 by Tyler Pearson in 2006.

 

Double Down

The Northern Colorado team currently has four players that have hit double digit doubles this year. Junior Kevin Sandberg leads the way with 15, while senior Chad Murray has 14, junior Erik Hegstad has 12 and senior Cory Morales has 11. The record for doubles in a year is 27 by Patrick Perry in 2004, while Sandberg needs one more to tie for 10th on the single season charts.

 

Two More

With 14 wins on the season, Northern Colorado is just two victories shy of tying last season's total of 16 wins. The 2007 squad went 16-35 and also started with the first 24 games of the year on the road.

 

Double Or Nothing

Junior Kevin Sandberg continues his climb up the career doubles chart. He now has 37 in his two-plus seasons with the Bears, which ties for sixth in school history. Sandberg is now just 10 doubles shy of knotting the school record of 47 doubles by Chris Kirgan (1992-94). With one more two-bagger, Sandberg will move into a tie for fourth with 38.

 

Special K

Senior left-handed pitcher Jon Klausing struck out a season-high eight batters in a no decision against Air Force on Sunday. His previous high of the year was seven K's at Southeast Missouri.

 

Patience Is A Virtue

In the four games over the weekend, Northern Colorado received 27 base on balls, led by senior Chad Murray's eight walks. On the flip side, NC pitchers issued just nine walks in 36.0 innings.

 

Quietly Getting It Done

He may not be flashy, but senior shortstop Cory Morales has been extremely productive lately. Over the tournament, Morales led the team with a .550 batting average, getting 11 hits in 20 at bats. He had two home runs and a slugging percentage of 1.000 for the weekend, as well as a club-best .609 on-base percentage after drawing three walks. He also tallied the only stolen base.

 

Sandberg Slugs Way Into Record Books

Junior Kevin Sandberg had a day for the ages against Metro State. He tallied 10 RBI, breaking the single game school record of eight held by Scott Vatter vs Regis in 1993 and Joe Bacarella vs Western New Mexico in 1990. He also set the single game record for at bats in a game with eight, bettering the previous record of seven and tied the record with six hits in a game. Both Joe Bonacquista vs Western State in 1964 and Zach Brockman vs Metro State in 2003 tallied six hits in a game.

 

A Lot Of Ink Used

Four team records were either tied of broken in the 29-10 victory over Metro State - a game that saw a combined 39 runs, 42 hits and 27 different players come to the plate. The team had 55 at bats to tie the record from 1997 against Colorado State-Pueblo and 2003 against Metro State, tied the record of eight doubles from a game against Morningside in 1999 and set the new nine inning record for runners left on base with 15. The two teams combined for 38 RBI, which ties the record from when the two teams squared off in 2003.

 

Going Streaking

Senior Erik Whinery is currently tied with freshman T.J. Berge for the longest active hitting streak on the team with six games. Whinery is also tied for the longest streak on the team this year with 10 straight (Mike Raudenbush, Chad Murray). Whinery has also reached base safely in the last 10 contests and in 20 of the last 21.

 

It Hasn't Been Easy

With the first 24 games on the road this season, the Bears faced some of the toughest competition in Division I as four opponents and 13 of those 24 contests came against teams currently ranked in the top 20 of the Collegiate Baseball Poll as Arizona State (1-1) is ranked fourth, Texas A&M (2-2) is eighth, Nebraska (0-6) is 10th and UC Irvine (0-1) is 17th,

 

Back-to-Back Jacks

For the first time all season, two Bears hit consecutive home runs when senior Chad Murray and Kevin Sandberg hit long balls against Metro State in the second inning. The Bears tallied six home runs in the game, the most since NC smashed nine against the Roadrunners back in 2003. It was the fourth time this season the Bears notched at least two homers in the same contest.

 

Milestone Approaching

Northern Colorado has a storied baseball tradition, one that shows when looking at the all-time record. The Bears are now just two wins shy of 1,400 in history, sporting a 1,398-1,034-3 (.575) record since the program began in 1924.

 

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.

 

Closing In

Senior Jeff Horn is just three hits shy of 50 for his career and needs nine RBI for the same milestone. With 7.1 more innings pitched, senior Dan Kazell will hit 100 for his time at NC. He is also 17 strikeouts shy of 100. Senior T.R. Keating also needs 7.0 innings for 100 while senior Jon Klausing is 10 K's shy of 50. The next RBI for Cory Morales will be his 50th and the next strikeout recorded for pitcher Chris Reap will be his 100th. Junior Kevin Sandberg is four runs shy of 100 and three hits shy of 150.