Horizon League Baseball Release #10
April 28, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Wright State University junior first baseman Jeremy Hamilton collected his second career Horizon League Baseball Player-of-the-Week award and junior lefthander Jon Durket picked up his first Pitcher-of-the-Week honor as the duo helped the Raiders to three victories in four games last week. Wright State (21-17, 11-5 Horizon League) is tied with the University of Illinois at Chicago for first place in the League standings and has won 14 of its last 18 games, including its last four League series.
Player of the Week
Jeremy Hamilton, Wright State
Jr. * 1B * Cincinnati, Ohio
Hamilton batted 10-for-18 (.556) with five runs scored and seven runs-batted-in in the Raiders' 3-1 week. He opened the week by hitting for the cycle in a 12-9, 11-inning win over the University of Toledo on Tuesday. In the second game of a doubleheader sweep over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Saturday, Hamilton was 4-for-5 with four runs and three RBI, including his second home run of the week. He currently ranks second in the League with a .441 batting average while topping the charts in slugging percentage (.764), on-base percentage (.541), walks (27) and total bases (97).
Pitcher of the Week
Jon Durket, Wright State
Jr. * LHP * El Dorado Hills, Calif.
Durket pitched his second consecutive complete game on Saturday in the Raiders' 8-2 victory over Milwaukee in the opener of the doubleheader. He allowed just two earned runs on eight hits while striking out six and not allowing a walk. Durket retired the side in order four times and allowed only a pair of runs in the third inning. In addition, only four runners reached third as he collected his second straight Horizon League victory. Durket ranks third in the League with a 3.75 earned-run average and is second in opponents' batting average (.242).
Position Players
Adam Heideman, Cleveland State
Fr. * RF * Stow, Ohio
Heideman hit .440 (11-for-25) with six runs, six RBI, two doubles and a home run as the Vikings went 4-2. He was 7-for-14 with five runs and five RBI in the League series against Youngstown State, including 4-for-6 with four runs and three RBI in Friday's victory.
Eric Marzec, Youngstown State
So. * OF * Canton, Ohio
Marzec went 6-for-10 with a home run and a double in three games against Cleveland State, including four hits in six at-bats in Saturday's doubleheader when he also scored four runs.
Steve McGuiggan, UIC
Fr. * CF * Burnsville, Minn.
McGuiggan batted .471 (8-for-17) with five runs scored and two runs-batted-in in four games last week. He also had a double and stole two bases in three attempts. His performance came after the entered the week with only four hits in his last 20 at-bats.
Joe Pauley, Butler
Sr. * SS * Skokie, Ill.
Pauley became the first Butler player since 1983 to hit three home runs in a game, going 4-for-6 with seven RBI in a loss to Valparaiso in Saturday's opener. He had a homer, three runs and two RBI in Friday's victory over Valpo. For the week, he was 10-for-22 with four home runs, seven runs and ten RBI.
Zach Rodeghero, Valparaiso
Sr. * OF * New Lenox, Ill.
Rodeghero extended his hitting streak to 18 games, batting .591 (13-for-22) in five games last week. He had the game-tying single in the ninth of Saturday's first game against Butler as Valpo came back from 13-0 down to win 16-15 in ten innings. He was 7-for-10 in the doubleheader.
Shawn Wozniak, Milwaukee
Jr. * 1B * Mayville, Wis.
Wozniak batted .471 (8-for-17) in four games last week. He was 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI at Iowa and drove in a career-high four with a 3-for-6 day Satuday against Wright State. For the week, he had four doubles with five runs scored and seven RBI while extending his hitting streak to ten games.
Pitchers
Joe Ochs, Butler
Jr. * LHP * Noblesville, Ind.
Ochs saw his first action in two weeks, working 8.2 innings in two appearances. He pitched four shutout frames against Dayton to extend his scoreless inning streak to 21 before allowing an unearned run Saturday against Valparaiso. He has not allowed an earned run in 25.2 consecutive innings.
Matt Tucker
Fr. * LHP * Westerville, Ohio
Tucker held Penn State to one run in eight innings in his first collegiate start on Wednesday. He allowed three hits, walked four, struck out three and left with YSU holding a 4-1 lead. The only run he allowed came on a sacrifice fly in the eighth after a triple that got lost in the lights.
Adam Worthington, UIC
Jr. * RHP * Gurnee, Ill.
Worthington appeared in all four of UIC's games last week, tossing 5.2 innings of scoreless relief with seven strikeouts. Opponents hit just .167 (3-for-18) against him as he struck out seven and allowed only two walks.
UIC return to League action looking to end recent slide
The Flames (23-18, 11-5 Horizon League) enter the week tied for first place with Wright State in the League standings and are bidding for their seventh consecutive regular-season League title.
UIC has lost five of its last six games, including three of four last week against only non-League competition.
For the third time in the last eight games, UIC featured an inning with consecutive home runs when Brett Schaefer and Kevin Coddington hit back-to-back jacks in the fifth inning of Saturday's first game against Trinity International. The Flames went yard in two straight at-bats in two consecutive games against Valparaiso on April 18.
The Flames also had two straight games with a player hitting two home runs, as infielder Brandon Harwell went yard twice in Saturday's opener against Trinity International before outfielder Devin Melecio hit the first two homers of his collegiate career against TIU in the nightcap.
UIC will face local rival Chicago State on Wednesday and then resume League action with a single game at Cleveland State on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday.
Wright State continues hot streak by winning fourth straight League series
The Raiders (21-17, 11-5) are tied with defending champion UIC for first place with three weeks remaining in the regular season after taking two of three games from Milwaukee last week.
Ross Vagedes extended his hitting streak to 17 games with hits in all four contests for WSU last week. The senior has 27 hits, 15 runs scored and 10 RBI's during the streak and has ten walks to only four strikeouts.
Since Jeremy Hamilton and Justin Parker came back from early season injuries and began playing together every day, the Raiders are 20-8 and have worked their way into first place in the Horizon League. The duo has 69 runs scored, 96 hits and 71 RBI's in the 28 games to go along with 39 extra-base hits.
In League games this season, the Wright State starting lineup has six of the nine players with ten or more runs scored and five players with more than ten RBI. Jeff Mercer has driven in a team-best 21 RBI and Jeremy Hamilton has scored the most runs, with 21.
John Kopilchack will look to join an exclusive club at Wright State this season, as he can become only the second player to rank among the top-10 in all extra-base hit categories.
The Raiders will host city-rival Dayton Wednesday and then play a three-game series at Youngstown State Friday and Saturday.
Youngstown State tied for third with as many League wins as all of last season
The Penguins (17-25, 9-7) are tied for third in the Horizon League with Cleveland State after dropping two of three to the Vikings over the weekend. But Youngstown State's nine League wins are already as many as the `Guins had all last season (9-21) when they finished last in the League.
YSU was two outs away from defeating a Big Ten opponent for the first time since 1996 on Wednesday against Penn State. The Penguins led 4-1 with one out in the ninth before the Nittany Lions rallied to win in the 13th inning. Matt Tucker pitched eight solid innings in his first collegiate start, allowing one run on three hits while striking out three.
Erich Diedrich has scored 24 runs and driven in 21 more in just 26 games this season. Despite missing the first 16 games because of an injury, he ranks third on the team in both runs scored and RBIs.
Aaron Swenson improved to 4-0 in league games by earning his fourth complete-game victory against Cleveland State on Saturday. Swenson ranks second in the league in innings pitched (68.1), third in strikeouts (44), third in wins (4), fourth in opposing batting average (.262) and fifth in ERA (3.95).
The Penguins will face Kent State on Wednesday and then a three-game-series at Wright State on Friday and Saturday.
Cleveland State moves into tie for third; Kocks wins 500th career game
The Vikings (19-20, 9-7) won four of six games last week, including two of three over Youngstown State to move into a tie for third place with the Penguins.
With Tuesday's doubleheader sweep of Canisius, head coach Kevin Kocks claimed his 500th career win as a head coach. The 15-year veteran has now won 502 games in his career.
CSU's 19 wins this year are the most by a Viking squad since the 2004 team won 19 contests. One more win would give CSU its first 20-win season since 2001 (23).
Cleveland State is one League win shy of equalling last season's total (11) with three weeks still remaining in the regular season. The Vikings have never won more than 12 League games in a season (1997, 1999).
Adam Heideman has been hit by a pitch a school-record tying 14 times this season.
Alex Kerins's 47 RBI this season are tied for the seventh most in school-history. With three more runs batted in, he will become just the fourth player in school-history to drive in 50 runs.
Cleveland State plays at Akron and Pittsburgh before hosting UIC in a three-game set Friday and Saturday.
Valparaiso's 13-run rally highlights series win over rival Butler
The Crusaders (13-25, 5-8) enter the week in fifth place in the League standings after going 3-2 last week, including 2-1 against rival Butler.
Valparaiso rallied from a 13-0 deficit in game one of Saturday's doubleheader against the Bulldogs to win 16-15 in 10 innings. Valpo scored seven runs in the ninth to tie the game.
Senior Zach Rodeghero ranked 22nd in the nation in batting average at .424 entering last week's action and improved that to take over the League lead at .449 after going 13-for-22 with a pair of four-hit games. He also is riding an 18-game hitting streak. In addition, Rodeghero is batting .529 (27-for-51) with runners in scoring position and .765 (13-for-17) with runners on third and less than two outs.
Classmate John Giusti has a seven-game hitting streak and is hitting .667 (16-for-24) since returning from a hand injury.
After having only one long ball entering the game, freshman Andrew Quinnette homered three times in the opener of Saturday's twinbill against Butler.
Jarad Miller earned a win and a save on Saturday in the doubleheader versus Butler.
Valpo will face Bradley and IPFW mid-week and then play at three-game series at Milwaukee on Friday and Saturday.
Milwaukee to play first home League games of the season this week
Milwaukee (14-26, 6-10) sits in sixth place in the League standings entering the week but gets a chance to move up with a three-game series at Valparaiso on Friday and Saturday.
Last week, the Panthers defeated Big Ten foe Iowa 13-5 before losing two of three at co-League leader Wright State over the weekend.
Through 16 League games, Milwaukee has yet to play any at its home field but will play its final ten at home, including two at Miller Park, beginning this week with three games Valparaiso.
With 63 hits this week (team .375 average), the Panthers are back over .300 (.301) as a team for the first time since the season opener. UWM is batting .338 as a team in League play, with four players batting higher than .350. Shaun Wegner leads at .465, followed by Nick Wichser is at .433. Ben Long has 21 RBI in 14 League games.
Hart extended his hitting streak to a career-best 16 games and has now raised his batting average 113 points in the 22 games since March 28. Hart also tied the UWM career record for doubles Friday, as he now has 58 in his career to tie former Panther Ross McCoy for the career mark. Hart's 20 doubles this season are on pace to set a new season mark at UWM (record is 23) and currently second in the nation at the NCAA Division-I level.
Butler's power display gives hope to rest of regular season
The Bulldogs (9-28, 5-14) lost four of five games last week, including two of three to Valparaiso in the teams' first meeting as Horizon League foes.
Joe Pauley may have stole the spotlight with his impressive offensive performance last weekend at Valparaiso, but junior outfielder Colin Ziegel's numbers for the week might have been even more impressive. Ziegel batted .500 (9-for-18) with four doubles, three home runs and six RBI. He chalked up 22 total bases for an incredible 1.222 slugging percentage and boasted a .591 on base percentage.
The Bulldogs' combined for 11 home runs last week, increasing their season total by almost 70 percent to 27 on the season. The output helped Butler move up from the bottom of the league's home run standings to third. Additionally, with his four home runs over the weekend, Joe Pauley boosted his season total to 10, the second-most in the League this season and more than the senior shortstop had hit in his previous three seasons combined (9).
Butler will have a slow stretch ahead during finals week, as the Bulldogs' game at Indianapolis on Tuesday (April 29) will be the lone contest until they head to Louisville on May 7.
UIC, Wright State tied for first place with three weeks remaining in regular season
With three weeks left in the regular season, six-time defending regular-season champion UIC and Wright State are tied for first place with 11-5 records.
The Raiders own the tiebreaker by virtue of winning three of five games in the season series.
Cleveland State and Youngstown State are tied for third, just two games behind the co-leaders, while League newcomer Valparaiso is one-and-a-half games ahead of Milwaukee for fifth. Butler is two-and-a-half-games behind the Panthers.
This week's League slate features UIC at Cleveland State, Wright State at Youngstown State and Milwaukee at Valparaiso in three-game sets this Friday and Saturday. Butler does not play any League games this week.
The 2008 Horizon League Baseball Championship, presented by the U.S. Army, is set for May 20-25 at Eastwood Field in Niles, Ohio. UIC is the defending champion. Host Youngstown State won the tournament in 2004 when it was last held at Eastwood Field despite finishing last in the regular-season standings that season.
