Baseball Weekly Release #6

March 21, 2006

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Player of the Week

Ross McCoy, UW-Milwaukee
Junior Outfielder * Menomonee Falls, Wis.
McCoy led the charge as the Panthers scored 48 runs in three games during the weekend. He batted .769, collecting ten hits in 13 at-bats including five doubles and a home run. McCoy scored nine runs and drove in six, posting a 1.385 slugging percentage and .786 on-base rate. In the process, he raised his season batting average 231 points.

Pitcher of the Week

Garret Holleran, Wright State
Junior Right-hander * Phoenix, Ariz.
Holleran picked up the victory in his second consecutive outing, pitching the Raiders to a 6-2 victory over Butler on Sunday. He threw 80 pitches, giving up only two runs on six hits over seven innings. Holleran struck out four and walked only one. In his last two outings, Holleran has a 1.29 ERA, allowing only eight hits in 14 innings.

Other Top Performances for the Week Ending March 19

Joe Dempsey, Butler
Junior * C * Stow, Ohio
Dempsey hit .350 in five games, belting three doubles and three home runs. He scored five runs and drove in seven for the week, helping Butler win two of three games at Wright State.

Josh Geric, Cleveland State
Sophomore * C * Canfield, Ohio
Geric lifted his season average to .360 with a five-for-12 week. Four of the hits were doubles, part of a stat line which featured four RBI. He also threw out two runners attempting to steal.

Larry Gempp Jr., UIC
Junior * OF * Ingleside, Ill.
Gempp posted back-to-back multi-hit games against Big Ten foes Indiana and Illinois, going five-for-seven with three runs scored and two stolen bases as the Flames split the two outings.

Erich Diedrich, Youngstown State
Sophomore * C * Bay Village, Ohio
Diedrich hit .385 with three homers and 11 RBI, leading YSU to a 4-2 record. He posted three multi-hit games and four multi-RBI games, and homered in three consecutive games.

Don Phillis, UIC
Freshman * LHP * Streator, Ill.
Phillis earned his first collegiate victory Saturday, allowing only one run and two hits in 6.1 innings versus Indiana. He retired the last 16 hitters he faced, striking out five in the 5-1 triumph.

Aaron Sorenson, UW-Milwaukee
Senior * RHP * Sheboygan, Wis.
Sorenson earned his first victory of the season with an extended relief stint versus Akron on Saturday. He threw 4.2 innings, allowing just one run as UWM rallied from a 7-0 deficit to win 20-12.

Kevin Libeg, Youngstown State
Freshman * RHP * Hubbard, Ohio
Libeg threw two scoreless innings in each of three appearances last week. He allowed only two hits and struck out 11, earning his first save of the year on Tuesday.

On Deck for the Horizon League

The Horizon League baseball schedule takes full effect this week as all six teams spend the weekend in loop play.

The action begins Friday afternoon as UIC and UW-Milwaukee meet in a re-match of last year's League Championship final. The Flames won that contest and host the Panthers in a single game Friday (3:05 p.m. Eastern time) before Saturday's (1:05 p.m.) doubleheader.

In addition, Youngstown State travels to Indianapolis for a three-game set at Butler, with the Bulldogs hosting a noon twinbill Saturday ahead of Sunday's high-noon finale. Butler got a jump-start on the League schedule last weekend, taking two of three contests at Wright State to stake an early claim on the top of the standings.

Wright State and Cleveland State meet at WSU's Nischwitz Stadium. That three-game series features a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and a 1 p.m. showdown on Sunday.

Several teams get one last dress rehearsal in mid-week action, begining with four contests on tap Tuesday. UIC faces Ohio State to wrap up its four-game Florida trip, while Butler travels to IPFW and Wright State visits Notre Dame for the first time since defeating the Fighting Irish for the MCC Championship 11 years ago. Youngstown State also hosts West Liberty State on Wednesday afternoon.

UW-Milwaukee, Cleveland State and Youngstown State have already lost games to the weather this week, with the Panthers' two-game series at Kansas State called off due to snow in the Great Plains, while Tuesday's scheduled home-opener for Youngstown State versus Bowling Green was called off due to cold weather. Weather also postponed Cleveland State's scheduled Tuesday date at Pittsburgh, with that game moved to May 3 as part of a doubleheader in Cleveland.

Around the Horizon League

Bulldogs move to top of League standings
Butler opened the Horizon League schedule by taking two of three games at Wright State, lifting the Bulldogs to 7-10 overall and 2-1 in the League. The former number also includes a pair of losses at Vanderbilt earlier in the week. Butler took a doubleheader (10-8, 6-5) at WSU on Saturday but dropped a 6-2 decision on Sunday.

Sophomore left-hander Josh Vollmer pitched two scoreless innings to earn the save in Saturday's nightcap. Vollmer extended his string of scoreless innings to 13, and lowered his season ERA to 1.20. He has allowed only seven hits in 15 innings in 2006, holding opponents to a .149 batting average.

Junior catcher Joe Dempsey has hit safely in four consecutive games and seven of BU's last eight. He posted three doubles, three homers and seven RBI last week while registering a .950 slugging percentage. He has already tied his previous season-high with four home runs in just 17 games this year. Dempsey trails only Youngstown State's Erich Diedrich (five) on the League charts.

Junior outfielder Tony Barnes owns a six-game hitting streak. He has hit safely in 11 of the last 12 games and is up to .309 for the season. Barnes also leads the Bulldogs with 14 RBI, putting him third in the League. Senior outfielder Stephen Gill ranks sixth in the League with 12 runs scored and second with four stolen bases. He is hitting .313 on the year.

Raiders salvage series finale
Wright State split four games last week, including a victory in the final contest versus Butler to improve to 7-8 on the season. That mark includes a 1-2 ledger in League play. The Raiders have won five of their last seven overall.

WSU collected 41 hits in the four games last week---including 19 in the first contest against Butler---to raise its team batting average to .259 to .292. The Raiders collected 14 extra-base hits against BU, including six triples. Wright State has registered at least one extra-base hit in each of its 15 games this season and has yet to be shut out in 2006.

Junior infielder Ross Oeder collected eight hits in 15 at-bats last week, scoring seven runs in four games. Oeder leads the League with 16 runs scored and four triples, while his four steals are tied for second.

Senior catcher Aaron Garcia is second in the League with a .404 batting average and shares the circuit lead with his seven doubles. On the mound, junior right-hander Garret Holleran owns a 1.29 ERA in his last two appearances after picking up the victory on Sunday.

WSU re-visits history on Tuesday, visiting Notre Dame. The schools have not met since 1995 when the Raiders defeated Notre Dame in the final game to win the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League) title.

Panther bats erupt
UW-Milwaukee exploded for 48 runs in three games last week, as the Panthers defeated Akron twice (20-12, 15-9) before falling to host Western Kentucky 14-13. UWM starts the week at 5-8 overall.

The Panthers rapped out 53 hits, including 27 in the first outing versus Akron. UW-Milwaukee trailed 7-0 before scoring 14 unanswered runs on the way to that victory, and also nearly erased a 13-1 deficit versus WKU.

Sophomore shortstop Grant Berkovitz, sophomore second baseman, Jesse Hart, plus junior outfielders Rob Brockel and Ross McCoy each had four of the 27 hits, while Mike Goetz added three. Their weekend outburst lifted the team's batting average to a loop-best .312, with Goetz topping the individual charts at .469 (23-of-49). Berkovitz is fourth at .385. Goetz (13 games) and Berkovitz (ten) own two of the three longest active hitting streaks in the League.

UW-Milwauke also leads the League with a .962 fielding percentage. Hart has yet to commit an error in 49 chances at second base, and is one of six regulars batting over .300 (.333). Senior outfielder-first baseman Joe Nowicki is at .346 and has scored 14 runs, while Brockel owns a .309 mark and a team-high 15 RBI.

Senior right-hander Aaron Sorenson earned the victory in Saturday's contest, allowing only one run in 4.2 innings of relief. The rest of the Panther staff posted a 13.08 ERA in Kentucky.

Flames halt slide with wins in Florida
UIC carries a 5-10 overall ledger after defeating Eastern Illinois (6-3) and Indiana (5-1) in Sarasota, Fla., to snap a four-game losing streak. The Flames dropped a 4-2 decision to Illinois and close the trip versus Ohio State on Tuesday.

Two starting pitchers posted their best performances of the season, as freshman left-hander Don Phillis and junior southpaw Joe Skinner held the Big Ten representatives at bay. Phillis held Indiana to two hits and one run in 6.1 innings while retiring the last 16 batters he faced to earn his first collegiate victory, while Skinner yielded only one run in seven frames but took the tough-luck loss to reigning Big Ten regular-season champ Illinois.

Junior outfielder Larry Gempp Jr. paced the Flames' offense against the Big Ten competition, going three-for-four with two stolen bases and two runs scored versus Indiana, and posting two hits in three at-bats against Illinois. The junior has five multi-hit games already this season.

The Florida trip concludes a grueling schedule for UIC, featuring trips to California, Mississippi, Florida and Saint Louis. In playing its first 17 games away from home (prior to this weekend's series versus UW-Milwaukee), the Flames have traveled more than 12,400 miles already in 2006.

Penguins continue to rely on offense
Youngstown State scored 46 runs in six games last week. YSU took two of three games each in series at Morehead State and at Xavier to improve to 5-10 on the the season.

Sophomore catcher Erich Diedrih hit three home runs and had 11 RBI last week. He had a 12-game hitting streak snapped in Sunday's loss, but hit .422 with 17 RBI and 13 runs scored during the streak. He has already registered six multi-hit games and seven multi-RBI outings already in 2006. He leads the League with five homers and 20 RBI in 15 games this season, while his .382 batting average is fifth on the loop charts.

YSU ranks second in the League as a team with its .304 batting average, with sophomore second baseman Josh Page third individually at .388 and senior catcher Brandon Caipen sixth at .370. Caipen has also scored 12 runs.

Senior right-hander Chris Dennis earned his first win since May 15, 2004, with Tuesday's triumph over MSU. Dennis, a medical redshirt last season following a shoulder injury, allowed only three hits while striking out six over six shutout innings. He lowered his season ERA to 4.00, second-best in the League.

Vikings look to stop slide
Cleveland State saw its losing streak reach eight consecutive games, falling to 1-11 with two losses at Kentucky and three at Marshall last week. On a positive note, the Vikings scored 17 runs in the series at Marshall, after managing a total of only 24 in its first nine contests of the season.

Senior second baseman Steve Chinn saw his nine-game hitting streak come to an end on Friday. The run was the longest by a Viking to open a season since Dale Horba began the 1997 campaign with a 17-game streak. Chinn is currently eighth in the League with a .357 batting average, and leads the team in hits (15), runs batted in (eight) and stolen bases (three).

Freshman first baseman Ryan Baechel went three-for-four with a double, a home run and five RBI in Saturday's 20-9 loss to Marshall. The five RBI match the single-game high in the Horizon League this season and put him second to Chinn with seven for the season.

Junior outfielder Marc Sikora leads the Vikings with two home runs, tying him for third place on the League charts in that category. He also has six runs batted in.