Baseball Weekly Release #10

April 17, 2006

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Player of the Week

Steve Chinn, Cleveland State
Senior * 2B * Medina, Ohio
Chinn posted a .550 (11-for-20) batting average with three doubles and six runs scored, pacing the Vikings to a 4-1 record last week (following a 2-21 start). The senior went 4-for-4 and scored twice in CSU's 13-10, come-from-behind victory versus Butler on Sunday, extending his hitting streak to nine games. He also committed only one error in 32 chances in the field.

Pitcher of the Week

Joe Skinner, UIC
Junior * LHP * Grand Rapids, Mich.
Skinner went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two starts. He held UW-Milwaukee to three hits and no runs on Tuesday before coming back with eight strong innings against Wright State on Saturday. He yielded five hits and no earned runs in that outing. Skinner limited opponents to a composite .170 average for the week while improving to 4-0 in League games this season.

Other Top Performances for the Week Ending April 16

Tony Barnes, Butler
Junior * OF * Indianapolis, Ind.
Barnes went 9-for-20 with four runs scored and six RBI in five games. He hit his sixth and seventh homers of the year, and posted a three-hit, three-RBI game at Cleveland State on Saturday.

Bart Babineaux, UIC
Senior * OF * New Iberia, La.
Babineaux hit .579 (11-for-19) and drove in 12 runs in five League contests. He had four more home runs---raising his League-leading total to 13---and is second in the loop with 37 RBI.

Mike Goetz, UW-Milwaukee
Senior * OF * Franklin, Wis.
Goetz continued his torrid pace at the plate, hitting .552 (16-for-29) with three doubles, two homers, 12 runs scored and six RBI. Goetz leads the nation in hitting with his .524 average.

Ross McCoy, UW-Milwaukee
Junior * OF * Menomonee Falls, Wis.
McCoy went six-for-six with two homers and a school-record-tying eight RBI in a victory at Chicago State, and added two round-trippers among seven hits in five League games last week.

Amin Abusaleh, Wright State
Senior * OF * West Hills, Calif.
Abusaleh led the Raiders with a .500 (10-for-20) average last week, posting four multi-hit games in five appearances. He scored a pair of runs and posted a .524 on-base percentage.

John Koehnlein, Youngstown State
Freshman * IF * Toronto, Ohio
Koehnlein hit .478 (11-for-23) in his first week as a regular starter, including his first home run plus a pair of doubles. He hit safely in all six games and scored seven runs.

Brian Long, Cleveland State
Freshman * RHP * Pittsburgh, Pa.
Long posted a 1.69 ERA in gaining his first two saves as a collegian, closing victories over Youngstown State and Butler. The BU outing featured three scoreless innings on Sunday.

Aaron Sorenson, UW-Milwaukee
Senior * RHP * Appleton, Wis.
Sorenson posted a victory over Youngstown State, allowing one earned run in seven innings on Saturday. He struck out four and walked only one in the outing.

Robert Barrett, Wright State
Senior * RHP * Sacramento, Calif.
Barrett quieted the UIC bats in Sunday's finale, allowing five hits and one run in 6.2 innings of work. Only two runners reached third base as Barrett improved to 5-0 with a League-best 1.77 ERA.

Horizon League Players of the Week

Feb. 21- Bart Babineaux, UIC
Feb. 28- Brian Shoup, Wright State
Mar. 7- Mike Goetz, UW-Milwaukee
Mar. 14- Erich Diedrich, Youngstown State
Mar. 21- Ross McCoy, UW-Milwaukee
Mar. 28- Mike Goetz, UW-Milwaukee
Apr. 3- Joe Dempsey, Butler, and Bart Babineaux, UIC
Apr. 10- Bart Babineaux, UIC
Apr. 17- Steve Chinn, Cleveland State

Horizon League Pitchers of the Week

Feb. 21- Robert Michalkiewicz, UW-Milwaukee
Feb. 28- Joe Smith, Wright State
Mar. 7- Zach Peterson, UIC
Mar. 14- Josh Vollmer, Butler
Mar. 21- Garret Holleran, Wright State
Mar. 28- Zach Peterson, UIC
Apr. 3- Robert Barrett, Wright State
Apr. 10- Eric Shaffer, Youngstown State
Apr. 17- Joe Skinner, UIC

On Deck for the Horizon League

One final round of mid-week League action opens the schedule as teams complete three-game sets which began last Tuesday. UIC returns to UW-Milwaukee while Cleveland State and Wright State visit Youngstown State and Butler, respectively.

The three Ohio teams step outside the League on Wednesday, with Cleveland State at Bowling Green and Kent State at Wright State, while Youngstown State welcomes Malone. Thursday's non-League slate features Butler at intra-city rival Marian for a contest under the lights.

This weekend sees YSU travel to Wright State for a single game Friday prior to a Saturday doubleheader. League front-runner UIC at Butler for a pair on Saturday and a Sunday finale, while UW-Milwaukee has a similar schedule for its three games at Cleveland State.

Around the Horizon League

Flames keep scoreboard operators busy
UIC won four of five games last week, improving to 19-13 overall and 11-3 in the League after sweeping a doubleheader at UW-Milwaukee and taking two of three contests versus Wright State. UIC has now won 16 of its last 20 overall.

The Flames scored 52 runs in the five games, including a 24-2 victory in the opener versus UWM. For the week, UIC hit .389 as a team while posting a 1.60 ERA. Senior outfielder Bart Babineaux belted four more home runs and drove in 12 runs. He leads the League with his 13 homers this season (including 12 in his last 14 games) and ranks second with 37 RBI plus sixth with a .360 batting average. He has at least one RBI in each of the last 15 contests.

In addition to his League-high .793 slugging percentage, Babineaux also has eight stolen bases, pacing a Flame squad which tops the League charts with 39.

Senior catcher Justin Johnson is tied for ninth with a .333 average at the plate. Junior outfielder Larry Gempp Jr. has scored 32 runs (second in the League) while sophomore first baseman Mark Hallberg owns 12 doubles and 24 RBI.

On the mound, junior right-hander Zach Peterson is third in the League with a 2.42 ERA, pitching a circuit-high 63.1 innings this season. Junior southpaw Joe Skinner is now 4-0 with a 2.10 ERA in loop action. As a team, UIC tops the loop charts with a 3.74 ERA.

Raiders staying above break-even
Wright State went 2-3 last week, but held on to second place in the League standings with a 9-8 loop ledger as part of the Raiders' 17-15 overall standard.

Senior right-hander Robert Barrett kept WSU above .500 with a strong outing Saturday, holding UIC to just one run on five hits over 6.2 innings. He leads the League with five victories (as part of a perfect 5-0 record) and a 1.77 earned-run average over 36 innings of work. For the season, Barrett is holding opponents to a .200 batting average and boasts a 0.66 ERA in his last four outings.

Junior right-hander Joe Smith has not allowed a run in nine League outings, covering 13 innings. Smith has fanned 17 and walked only four in loop competition and leads the League with seven saves overall. His 32 strikeouts this season give Smith a rate of 11.22 K's per nine innings of work.

Wright State ranks fifth among the six teams in the League with 292 runs scored, but is the only Horizon League squad which has not been shut out in 2006.

Junior third baseman Ross Oeder stands eighth on the circuit charts with his .336 batting average, including a loop-best four triples. He is also fifth with a .438 on-base percentage, fifth with his six stolen bases, plus seventh with 26 runs scored.

Bulldogs claw their way to third place
Butler moved to 8-9 in the League and 14-20 overall following two wins in five tries last week. The Bulldogs split a twinbill with Wright State before dropping two of three games at Cleveland State.

Sophomore left-hander Bryan Bokowy matched his season-high with nine strikeouts in the one victory at CSU. He walked only one Viking in seven innings, and equalled his total against UW-Milwaukee last week. Bokowy owns a 3.50 ERA, putting him fifth in the League and one spot behind sophomore teammate Brian Deter (3.50).

Junior outfielder Aaron Thompson hit his first collegiate homer Saturday at CSU, and added his second the next day. Thompson is also a starting defender on BU's men's soccer team.

Junior outfielder Tony Barnes hit a pair of homers last week and is now tied for second in the League with seven for the season. Barnes also is among the loop leaders in average (ninth at .333) and RBI (tied for sixth with 28). Junior catcher Joe Dempsey also has seven homers this season.

On the mound, sophomore left-hander Josh Vollmer made his first start of the year with seven strong innings against Wright State. Vollmer, who had registered two saves as the team's closer, earned the victory with seven strikeouts while allowing only two earned runs.

Penguins close week on winning note
Youngstown State ended a five-game losing streak, climbing to 14-21 overall and 6-8 in the League by taking the last two games of its series with UW-Milwaukee. YSU dropped a doubleheader to Cleveland State and a non-League contest to Kent State earlier in the week.

Senior catcher/outfielder Brandon Caipen became the seventh player in school history to record five hits in a game with his 5-for-6, six-RBI outing in the finale versus UWM. The five hits included a two-run homer and a three-run double. Caipen stands fourth in the League with 29 RBI and third with 31 runs scored.

Sophomore catcher Erich Diedrich remains second on the circuit charts with a .361 average, and tops the League with 39 runs batted in. He is one of four players tied for second with seven home runs.

Senior infielder Justin Banks has hit safely in 15 of his last 16 games, raising his average to .323 overall. That includes a .431 clip in League play. Banks had been hitting .273---43 points below his career average---on March 25 before the current streak.

On the mound, sophomore right-hander Chuck Schiffhauer allowed 13 hits in 6.2 innings but yielded only four runs while striking out four in the longest outing of his career. Schiffhauer and sophomore right-hander Ryan Sellman are tied for team honors with three wins apiece.

Panthers open the record books
UW-Milwaukee begins the week at 14-17 overall and 6-8 in the League despite dropping two of three to Youngstown State last weekend.

The Panthers remain atop the League charts with a .324 batting average, enhanced by 29 hits in a 26-12 win at Chicago State. For the week, UW-Milwaukee hit .384 as a team with 89 hits and crossed the plate 58 times in six games.

Senior outfielder Mike Goetz led the way, bolstering his nation-leading average with 16 hits in 29 at-bats while scoring 12 runs. Goetz is batting .524 for the season and has hit safely in 30 of 31 games (including the last 11). He also tops the Horizon League charts in runs scored (34), hits (65), doubles (14), walks (20), stolen bases (nine) and on-base percentage (.597).

Junior outfielder Ross McCoy tied UWM school records with six hits and eight RBI at Chicago State. He boasts 29 RBI for the season, along with a .364 average (fifth in the League) which makes him one of seven Panther regulars batting .308 or better. That group also includes senior first baseman Joe Nowicki, who is fourth on the League charts with a .365 average and third with 30 runs batted in. Junior outfielder Rob Brockel boasts 28 RBI and a .308 clip.

Vikings turning the corner
Perhaps the hottest team in the League is sixth-place Cleveland State. The Vikings, who were 1-21 nine days ago, have won five of their last six in League play, improving to 5-9 in the loop (6-22 overall) after taking two of three games versus Butler over the weekend.

Freshman first baseman Michael Babin fueled an 11-run sixth inning which erased a 10-0 deficit in Sunday's finale. His grand slam highlighted a five-RBI day.

Senior second baseman Steve Chinn is batting .560 (14-for-25) in the team's last six games, including three doubles, eight runs and five RBI. He leads the team with a .357 average for the season (seventh in the League) while also driving in 17 runs.

Sophomore shortstop Bobby Cash has hit safely in nine consecutive games, while junior John Westra went 9-for-11 (an .818 clip) at the plate and scored seven runs in five appearances last week.

Freshman right-hander Jeremy Hartman posted a victory and a save last week, allowing one hit and no runs in 3.2 innings. Freshman right-hander Brian Long registered his first two collegiate saves.