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Panthers to Host Clarke, Iowa and Southern Illinois to Close Out Homestand
April 21, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
THIS WEEK IN PANTHER BASEBALL Date Opponent Place Time The The Panthers enter the weekend as winners of nine of their last 10 contests. As a team, On the mound, the Panthers have a team ERA of 4.52. Taylor Sinclair (4-0) and Guido Fonseca (3-0) are both undefeated in conference action, holding ERAs of 4.03 and 4.06, respectively. Nick Kirk is back in the rotation after sitting out a start with a forearm injury, and the junior holds a 3.74 ERA and is holding opponents to a .202 average. Closer Joe Gonzalez has recorded seven saves on the season, and he holds a 3.20 ERA and a 1-0 record in 14 appearances.
LEADING OFF • UNI junior Nick Kirk has a knack for denying hitters extra-base hits. In his career, he has allowed 128 hits, and only 17 of those have been for extra bases. He has thrown 143.0 innings in his career, and he has yet to allow a home run. This season, in 45.2 innings he has given up 33 hits, just eight of those - all doubles - for extra bases. • Junior shortstop Brandon Douglas is just one hit shy of becoming the sixth Panther to record 200 or more career hits. He would become just the second Panther to reach the 200-hit mark in his third season. Travis Welsch, who holds the UNI career hit record with 295, recorded 210 hits through the end of his junior campaign. • Senior reliever Joe Gonzalez has recorded seven saves on the year, tying him for third in the school record books for saves in a season. Gonzalez's seven saves also put him in a tie for fifth in career saves. Matt Cobb, who recorded 10 saves in his career (all of them in 1999), holds the record for both saves in a season and in a career. SCOUTING CLARKE Clarke enters the game with UNI with a 6-32 overall record, 4-14 in the Midwest Collegiate Conference. The Crusaders come into Riverfront Stadium trying to end an eight-game losing streak. Clarke is led by Pete Lister, who is hitting .339 with six home runs on the season. Lister also leads Clarke with 18 RBIs and eight doubles. The Crusaders are hitting .236 as a team, and they are averaging just more than six hits per game. Chad Harris is in his second year as the head coach of the Crusaders. SCOUTING IOWA Iowa enters the week with a 14-21 overall mark. The Hawkeyes are coming off a pair of losses to Northwestern, falling 9-6 and 13-6 to the Wildcats in a doubleheader on Sunday. The Hawkeyes have four players hitting .350 or better, led by Caleb Curry, who is hitting .406 on the season. Justin Toole (.382), Kevin Hoef (.358) and West Freie (.350) are also above that benchmark. Curry, Hoef and Freie each have three home runs on the season to lead the team, and Toole has 14 extra-base hits, 12 of them doubles. The Hawkeye pitching staff holds a 6.35 ERA. Andrew Porter has a team-low 2.40 ERA in 22 relief appearances for Iowa. Jack Dahm is in his fifth season at the helm for the Hawkeyes. SCOUTING SOUTHERN ILLINOIS Southern Illinois enters the week after losing the series at Wichita State. The Salukis picked up one win in the three-game set, a 3-0 complete game by Shawn Joy that earned him Missouri Valley Pitcher of the Week honors. SIU is 20-17 overall with a 4-7 mark in conference action. At the plate, junior outfielder Bret Maugeri leads the way for the Salukis with a .364 average. Maugeri is one of seven regulars in the Saluki with an average of .300 or better. SIU also brings in pre-season all-MVC catcher Mark Kelly. Kelly is hitting .317 with 32 RBIs on the season, and he ranks among the best catchers in the nation. Sophomore transfer Tyler Bullock has added some power to the Saluki lineup, leading the team with five home runs and 10 doubles. Joy leads the Salukis on the mound with a 4-2 record and 3.08 ERA. Cody Adams has a 4.64 ERA, and he leads the team with 45 strikeouts in 54.1 innings pitched. Dan Callahan is in his 14th year at the helm for Southern Illinois. HITTING FOR THE CYCLE Brandon Douglas became the first player since Aaron McEachran in 2001 to hit for the cycle when he accomplished the feat against Illinois State on April 13. The junior shortstop doubled in the first inning, hit a home run and a single in the third, then reached on a triple in the sixth. LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN Guido Fonseca entered last week as one of just six pitchers in Division I baseball to hold a record of 7-0 or better. The 7-0 mark is the best start by a UNI pitcher since Nic Ungs reached that mark in the 2001 season. Fonseca is just four wins shy of the UNI record for wins in a season. EASY AS ONE, TWO, THREE Chris Lopez hit three home runs in the Panthers' 17-3 win over Grand View on Wednesday. The senior hit the first two in back-to-back at-bats in the first and second innings. It was the first time a Panther has had three home runs in one game since Ryan Brunner accomplished the feat at Air Force in 2001. Lopez was one of three Panthers to hit a home run in the contest. BEAN COUNTER When Taylor Sinclair hit David Brumagin with a pitch in the fifth inning Sunday afternoon it was his 33rd batter hit by a pitch, giving him the career record at UNI. He passed the mark of 32 HBP set by Mike Irvine from 1992-95. Sinclair ranks sixth in the UNI career record books with 223.1 innings pitched. MAKING HISTORY Nick Kirk pitched the fifth no-hitter in school history when he blanked Evansville March 28 in the Panthers' MVC opener. Kirk struck out 15 in the win. It was the first no-hitter for the Panthers since 1995, and the first nine-inning no-hitter in the Missouri Valley Conference since 1990. PANTHER PROMOTIONS Tickets to UNI's Missouri Valley Conference games can be purchased for $3. Tickets are available for this price at the UNI ticket office or at the gate. TAKE FIVE Brandon Douglas tallied five hits in the Panthers' win over Evansville on March 29. It was the first five-hit game for a Panther since 2005. Douglas finished the day with three doubles, a triple and a single, and he drove in four and scored four runs. Douglas was 5-of-5 on the day with 10 total bases for a 2.000 slugging percentage. HONORS FOR KIRK After throwing a 15-strikeout no-hitter against Evansville, Nick Kirk was named the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of th Week on March 31. He was also selected as a `Louisville Slugger's' National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball. InsidePitching.com selected Kirk's win as the Performance of the Week. FUN IN THE SUN UNI had a successful trip on its annual spring break trip to Florida. While playing seven games in eight days, UNI finished 6-1 on the trip. UNI dropped its first game, 8-6 to Eastern Illinois, but came back to win six straight, the Panthers' longest win streak since winning seven straight to open the 2006 season. UNI hit .342 as a team during the trip and averaged 8.7 runs per game. PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE UNI slugger Brett Featherston is leading the Missouri Valley Conference in walks, drawing 31 so far this season. Fellow senior Dane Embury has drawn 20 walks this season, ranking ninth in The Valley. NOT ONE, BUT TWO GEMS Nick Kirk and Guido Fonseca combined to allow just six hits and one run in 14 innings two sweep Northwestern in a doubleheader on Good Friday. Kirk pitched seven-innings of shutout baseball in the first game, allowing just two hits while striking out seven in seven innings. Fonseca allowed four hits and one unearned run while pitching all seven innings of the second contest. STREAKING After dropping four straight contests, the Panthers won six-game in a row. UNI is hit .348 over that stretch, and the Panthers are averaged9.2 runs per game over those six contests. The streak included three consecutive games where UNI scored 12 or more runs. The six-game streak was the longest for the Panthers since opening the 2006 campaign with seven straight wins. GETTING IT DONE Pitcher Guido Fonseca is having a good start to his senior season. The right-handed hurler is 7-0 in nine starts for UNI. His is the first Valley pitcher to earn four wins, and he is second in the MVC with 47 strike outs on the season. Fonseca led the Panthers with five wins last season A NICE RETURN After sitting out 12 games with an injury, junior center fielder Deric Manrique returned to the starting lineup against Central Connecticut State on Thursday. Playing as the designated hitter that game, he hit 3-of-4 with three runs scored, five RBIs, two doubles and a home run. He hit .500 on the week, going 5-of-10 from the plate with six RBIs. BREAKING OUT Chris Lopez had a break-out weekend at UALR, tallying seven hits, six of them for extra bases. Lopez hit six doubles in the series and two home runs, finishing the weekend with a 1.000 slugging percentage. WHAT A RELIEF The Panther bullpen has been solid for the Panthers this season, especially seniors Nick Lauver, Mike O'Leary, Joe Gonzalez and Tim Flattery. The foursome has combined to pitch 38.2 innings of relief, allowing just 10 earned runs for a combined 2.35 ERA. That group has held opponents to a .201 batting average. FAST START Brandon Douglas got his junior season off to a blistering start. The preseason All-Valley shortstop went 11-of-16 in the series against Centenary, including four doubles. Douglas collected three three-hit games in that series. OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT The first play of the season proved to be a costly one for the Panthers. Preseason All-MVC selection Deric Manrique was able to run out an infield single, but he turned his ankle in the process. Manrique sat out the remainder of the Centenary series and will likely be out of action this weekend. FILLING IN After the injury to Manrique, redshirt freshman Levi Ferguson moved into center field and the leadoff spot for UNI. In his first game as the leadoff man, Ferguson went 3-of-4 from the plate and scored three runs. He hit .375 in the opening series for UNI, and he collected a hit in each of the Panthers' four games. ROAD WARRIORS Once again, the Panthers' early schedule has them traveling. UNI will play its first 20 games away from Riverfront Stadium. UNI will play in four-game series at Centenary and Arkansas-Little Rock, along with a three-game tournament in the Metrodome and the annual nine-game spring trip to Bradenton, Fla. The Panthers will play its first home game on March 26 when they host UW-Platteville. PRESEASON HONORS UNI's Deric Manrique and Brandon Douglas were each tabbed to the preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference team. Manrique and Douglas were each named to the All-MVC first team last season. In 2007, Manrique led the Panthers with a .351 average, and he stole a league-high 30 bases. Douglas is a two-time All-Valley first-team selection. He led the Panthers with 19 doubles a year ago.
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