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UNI Baseball Takes on Iowa, Wichita State
April 29, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
THIS WEEK IN PANTHER BASEBALL The University of Northern Iowa baseball team will try to hold on to first place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings when it plays a three-game set at No. 8 Wichita State starting on Friday. The Panthers and Shockers enter the weekend series in a tie for first in the MVC standings. Before taking on the Shockers, UNI will face in-state rival Iowa in the fifth annual Corridor Classic in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday. This is the second meeting between the Panthers and Hawkeyes this season. UNI was held to just five hits in a 5-2 loss to Iowa on April 23 at Riverfront Stadium. The Panthers have come away as winners of three of the four previous Corridor Classic games. The Hawkeyes claimed a 5-4 victory in last year's game. The weekend series will go a long way towards determining where the Panthers finish in the conference race, as they play three against co-leaders Wichita State with just six Valley games remaining at the conclusion of the series. UNI and WSU hold identical 11-4 MVC records to stand locked in a tie in the league standings. Three of the teams' losses have come at the hands of common opponents. Each team lost one game to Creighton, Indiana State and Southern Illinois. WSU's additional loss came against Missouri State, while UNI dropped a second contest to the Salukis. The Panthers are coming of a week where they finished 2-3 and came out on the losing end of an MVC series for the first time this season. The Panthers are hitting .320 on the season and have six regular players in the lineup with a batting average of .314 or better. Brandon Douglas, Dane Embury and Deric Manrique are each hitting .448 in conference play to stand in a three-way tie for second in the league in that category. The Panther pitching staff owns a 4.64 ERA, ranking as one of the lowest for the Panthers since the move to Division I. Guido Fonseca holds a 7-0 record on the mound, and Taylor Sinclair ranks among the MVC leaders with a 4-1 Valley record. Nick Kirk has a 3.73 ERA on the year, and he is holding MVC opponents to a .151 batting average, lowest in the league. Closer Joe Gonzalez leads the Valley with seven saves, five of them in conference play. LEADING OFF... • Brett Douglas has started in six different positions for the Panthers this season. While the junior spends the majority of his time in the outfield, he has also started as third base, second base and catcher, making shortstop, first base and pitcher the only positions he has not played this season. • Brett Featherston has drawn 39 walks on the season, making him one walk shy of the UNI single-season record for walks. Featherston drew 40 walks last season to tie Tom Bach for most walks in a season. With 119 walks in his career, Featherson holds the UNI career record in that category. SCOUTING IOWA The Hawkeyes are coming off a 1-3 series loss at Michigan State and currently find themselves in seventh place in the Big Ten with an overall record of 16-24. Iowa faced UNI one week ago at Riverfront Stadium where it left with a 5-2 victory. The Panthers have a 3-1 series advantage in the Corridor Classic. Senior Caleb Curry and junior Justin Toole lead the Hawks' offensive attack, possessing the top numbers in nearly every offensive category. Curry is batting .395 with 46 RBIs and 82 total bases while Toole is batting .384 with 63 hits and 14 doubles. From the mound, Iowa's most utilized pitcher has been senior Brock Alberts. In his 45 innings, Alberts has compiled a record of 4-3 with a 6.35 ERA. Head coach Jack Dahm is in his 5th year at Iowa. He recorded his 400th career victory last week at Riverfront Stadium as the Hawks defeated the Panthers. SCOUTING WICHITA STATE Owning a 33-9 record entering the week, Wichita State is ranked No. 8 nationally by USA Today/ESPN Poll. The Shockers are the defending league champions and were picked to repeat as conference champions by the MVC coaches. At 11-4 in conference play, WSU is currently tied with UNI for the conference lead. The Shockers have displayed home dominance throughout the season with a home record of 24-2 going into a Tuesday match-up with Kansas State. The Shockers' pitching has been very impressive this season. The team ERA (3.33) is less than half of that of their opponents (6.85). Meanwhile, each of the top three pitchers in the Shocker rotation (Capra, Musgrave, and Shafer) has won at least six decisions while keeping his ERA under 3.00. Offensively, the Shocker bats have been led by junior third baseman Conor Gillaspie, who ranks in the top five in MVC batting categories including batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage, runs scored, RBIs, and total bases. Coach Gene Stephenson has been at the helm since 1977. Quick Hits • Dane Embury extended his hit streak to 10 games on Sunday, becoming the fourth Panther to have a hit streak of 10 or more games this season. • Brandon Douglas is hitting .550 with runners in scoring position and .520 with runners on base, but he hits just .229 when the bases are empty. • The Panthers are 11-0 in games where Brett Douglas has recorded two or more hits, and 22-5 in games where he has collected at least one hit. YOU ONLY GET ONE UNI junior Nick Kirk has a knack for denying hitters extra-base hits. In his career, he has allowed 133 hits, and only 19of those have been for extra bases. He has thrown 148.0 innings in his career, and he has yet to allow a home run. This season, in 50.2 innings he has given up 33 hits, just 10 of those - nine doubles and one triple - for extra bases. BICENTENNIAL MAN Junior shortstop Brandon Douglas collected his 200th hit on April 22, becoming the sixth Panther to record reach that milestone. He is 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. SHUTTING THE DOOR 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. GETTING 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 39 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. 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. 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. 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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