Baseball Weekly Release #5

March 14, 2006

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Player of the Week

Erich Diedrich, Youngstown State
Soph. Catcher/DH * Bay Village, Ohio
Diedrich hit .556 with five hits in nine at-bats, posting a slugging percentage of 1.000 and a .692 on-base percentage in the Penguins' three games versus Austin Peay. The sophomore hit safely in all three contests, including a two-for-four outing with a double, two runs scored and an RBI in the series opener, plus a two-run homer in the finale. He leads YSU with a .379 batting average, two homers and nine RBI.

Pitcher of the Week

Josh Vollmer, Butler
Sophomore Left-hander * Westfield, Ind.
Vollmer pitched seven shutout innings of relief at The Citadel, helping Butler rally to come back from a 6-1 deficit for a 10-6, 11-inning victory. He allowed just four hits in that outing, striking out four to pick up the victory and snap BU's six-game losing streak. He also pitched three scoreless innings in relief against Dayton, not allowing a hit in the Bulldogs' 7-6 loss.

Other Top Performances for the Week Ending March 12

Steve Chinn, Cleveland State
Senior * 2B * Valley City, Ohio
Chinn continued his hot hitting in the early going, collecting five hits and four RBI in four games to push his team-best batting average to .400. He has hit safely in all seven games this season.

Mark Hallberg, UIC
Sophomore * 2B * Barron, Wis.
Hallberg hit .375 with three hits in eight at-bats at Saint Louis, highlighted by a two-for-four performance on Friday night. The sophomore was also perfect in 13 chances in the field.

Amin Abusaleh, Wright State
Senior * OF * West Hills, Calif.
Abusaleh helped lead the Raiders to three victories, hitting .400 with a hit in each game. He drove in the decisive run with a game-ending single Friday. He has three multi-hit games in 2006.

Gian Testa, Cleveland State
Junior * RHP * Tallmadge, Ohio
Testa posted a victory in his first outing of 2006, pitching 2.2 innings of hitless relief with five strikeouts. Testa missed the final two months of the 2005 season due to injury.

Zach Peterson, UIC
Junior * RHP * Minnetonka, Minn.
Peterson pitched a career-high 8.2 innings at Saint Louis, matching his personal-best with five strikeouts. He allowed just two earned runs in a complete-game, 3-2 loss to the Billikens.

Garret Holleran, Wright State
Junior * RHP * Phoenix, Ariz.
Holleran threw a seven-inning shutout Air Force, allowing only two hits while striking out six. He faced 24 batters, only three over the minimum, and retired 18 in a row in one span.

Eric Shaffer, Youngstown State
Senior * LHP * Akron, Ohio
Shaffer was the winning pitcher in YSU's victory over Austin Peay on Saturday. He pitched six innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits while striking out five batters.

Around the Horizon League

Raiders sweep Air Force, open League slate
Wright State improved to 5-6 with a three-game sweep of Air Force, outscoring the Cadets 19-3. The Raiders snapped a three-game skid, allowing only seven hits while posting a 1.17 ERA over the weekend.

WSU opens the 30-game Horizon League schedule with a three-game series against Butler this weekend. Wright State closes out the month of March with ten games (eight at home), but then plays only ten of its last 32 contests in Nischwitz Staidum, home of this year's Horizon League Championship (May 24-27).

Senior catcher Aaron Garcia and sophomore third baseman Brian Shoup pace the WSU offense, hitting .419 and .343, respectively. Shoup tops the Raider charts with nine RBI, while Garcia has four doubles and four runs batted in.

On the mound, junior right-hander Garret Holleran lowered his season ERA from 9.31 to 5.40 with his complete-game shutout Saturday, allowing only two hits in seven innings.

Bulldogs end losing streak
Butler broke a six-game skid with Sunday's 10-6, 11-inning victory overr The Citadel. BU is now 5-7, after playing back-to-back 11-inning games in South Carolina.

Junior outfielder Tony Barnes and junior catcher Joe Dempsey each posted a .429 batting average in four games last week. Barnes' six hits included a double and a triple, while Dempsey now leads the team with ten runs batted in.

Sophomore left-hander Josh Vollmer pitched ten shutout innings last week, allowing only four hits. The rest of the BU pitching staff posted a 5.72 ERA, yielding 18 earned runs in 28.1 innings.

The Bulldogs concludes its spring break trip at Vanderbilt before heading to Dayton for a three-game set at Wright State to begin Horizon League play.

Panthers return to action
UW-Milwaukee carries a 3-7 record into the week, traveling to Bowling Green, Ky., for two games versus Akron before closing the weekend against host Western Kentucky. The Panthers were idle last week.

Senior outfielder Mke Goetz has hit safely in all ten games this season and boasts a streak of 18 in a row going back to last season. He leads the Horizon League in hitting with a .472 average, while his .604 on-base percentage and .528 slugging mark also top the UWM charts.

Sophomore infielders Grant Berkovitz and Jesse Hart have combined for only one error in 82 chances so far in 2006, while Berkovitz boasts a .351 average and Hart stands at .316.

Senior first baseman Joe Nowicki hit just .250 in the first seven games of the year, but raised that mark by 101 points with a seven-for-13 showing against #20 Missouri.

Flames' slide continues
UIC slipped to 3-9 with a pair of losses at Saint Louis, falling 3-2 and 11-0. The latter loss marked the fourth shutout suffered by the Flames, with three of those featuring double-digit scoring margins. The Flames have lost four in a row and eight of their last nine overall entering a spring-break set which includes three Big Ten Conference teams among four opponents in Bradenton, Fla.

Junior right-hander Zach Peterson took the tough-luck loss in the opener at SLU, throwing a 8.2-inning complete game and allowing three runs (two earned) while striking out five. He leads the team with a 1.98 ERA in almost 28 innings of work this year.

Senior outfielder Ted Rosinski raised his average to .306 with a pair of hits in Saint Louis. Freshman first baseman Jake Carr tops the UIC hitting charts at .320 but is the only other Flame above .300 in the early portion of the season.

Vikings gain first win but get swept at Cincy
Cleveland State stands at 1-6 prior to two games at Kentucky and three at Marshall this week. The Vikings broke into the win column with a 6-4 victory over Ohio but were outscored 20-7 in a three-game sweep by Cincinnati.

Junior right-hander Gian Testa was the winning pitcher against OU, tossing 2.2 perfect innings. Testa missed most of the 2005 campaign due to injury, but struck out five of the eight batters he faced in his first appearance of 2006.

Sophomore right-hander Nathan Schaefer also sports a perfect 0.00 ERA through two outings, giving up four hits and two unearned runs over 4.2 innings.

Junior second baseman Steve Chinn tops the Cleveland State hitting charts with a .400 average (10-for-25) and a .464 on-base percentage. He has hit safely in all seven games this spring.

Penguin bats power way to victory
Youngstown State also gained its first win of 2006, beginning the week at 1-8 after a weekend set at Austin Peay. The Penguins scored 17 runs in the three games and currently lead the League with a .280 batting average. Five Penguin regulars are above .300 for the season.

Sophomore catcher Erich Diedrich led the way at APSU with five hits in nine at-bats, including a double and a home run. He has hit safely in seven consecutive games and leads the League in slugging percentage (.690), while topping the Penguins in batting average (.379), hits (11), RBI (nine) and home runs (two). The average is fifth-best in the League, while his RBI count is third.

Senior outfielder/catcher Dustin Thomas adds a .321 average, with two doubles and two homers among his nine hits for a .607 slugging mark.

Penguin pitchers have struck out 69 batters in 68.1 innings this season, but have a composite ERA of 6.98.