Horizon League Baseball Weekly Release #3

March 7, 2005

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Baseball Player of the Week

Pat Masters

Wright State, Junior, 1B (Dayton, Ohio)

Wright State junior Pat Masters is the Horizon League Baseball Player of the Week for the period ending March 7.

Masters returned from shoulder surgery last fall with strong performances this weekend against Murray State. He hit five-of-seven for the weekend and finished with an OBP of .700. Masters reached base in four straight at-bats and seven-of-nine in three games. Scoring the tying run in Sunday's game, Masters also drove in his four RBIs in that game to help the Raiders to the victory.

Baseball Pitcher of the Week

Aaron Sorenson

UW-Milwaukee, Junior, Pitcher (Sheboygan, Wis.)

UW-Milwaukee junior Aaron Sorenson is the Horizon League Baseball Pitcher of the Week for the period ending March 7.

Sorenson carried a perfect game into the seventh inning to help the Panthers open a three-game road series with a 7-3 win over Arkansas State Friday afternoon. Sorenson (1-1) wound up working seven innings, allowing two earned runs and three hits while striking out seven.

Other Top Horizon League Player Performers -March 7

Jeff Katlen, Cleveland State, Senior, Out. elder (Lyndhurst, Ohio)

Katlen returned from nearly a year and a half layoff from shoulder surgery to lead the Vikings' offensive attack against Cincinnati last weekend, collecting eight hits, including a pair of doubles, a stolen base and a run scored.

Tommy Nutt, Youngstown State, Junior, Short Stop (Louisville, Ky.)

Nutt hit .500 (6-for-12) and posted a .917 slugging percentage in three games against Wofford this weekend. In Saturday's doubleheader, the junior transfer went 6-for-8 with three singles, a double and two triples. In game one, he went 2-for-4 with a double and a triple. He followed that with a 4-for-4 performance in game two in which he had three singles, a triple, a run scored and three RBIs. He scored a run and walked in Sunday's. finale. He was also perfect from the field this week as he recorded two putouts and had nine assists.

Mike Bruszer, UIC, Senior, Out. elder (Deer. eld, Ill.)

Bruszer was one of the few bright spots offensively for the University of Illinois at Chicago against the tough pitching staff of the #14 Arkansas Razorbacks, batting .333 (4-for-12) with two RBI and one run scored. His most impressive performance came in Sunday's 9-2 loss against the Razorbacks, going 2-for-3 with a RBI. For the season, Bruszer is batting .280 and leads the squad with four RBI.

Other Top Horizon League Pitching Performers -March 7

Nate Stevens, Wright State, Sophomore, RHP (Huber Heights, Ohio)

After the Raider bullpen had a shaky start to the week Stevens stood tall in the third game of the series picking up his first victory of the season. Stevens, now 1-1, allowed only one runner to reach third base in his relief work and his only hit surrendered was a single in the seventh inning. Stevens holds down a 1.35 ERA for the season and is holding opposing batters to a .154 batting average in 6.2 innings of work out of the pen.

Horizon League News & Notes

Butler Bulldogs (0-4, 0-0 HL)

Freshman left-handed pitcher Bryan Bokowy made his collegiate debut against South Dakota State, and he recorded 10 strikeouts (and just one walk) in six innings.  Sophomore Dustin Bucalo was five for eight in Butler's first four games, including his first collegiate home run in Butler's loss to South Dakota State.  Butler's game against Indiana was cancelled last week and is rescheduled for Thursday, March 10 in Bloomington.

Cleveland State (0-3, 0-0 HL)

Cleveland State opened their season on the road with three consecutive losses to the University of Cincinnati.  The Vikings are on the road again this weekend travelling back to the Cincinnati area to take on Xavier for a three game series, including a doubleheader on Saturday, March 12.  

UIC Flames (0-8, 0-0 HL)

Junior reliever Scott Saling tied a team-season high, with five strikeouts in four innings of work in Saturday's 15-4 loss at the hands of 14th ranked Arkansas. Senior second baseman Bryan Russo connected for the Flames' first homer of the season with a solo shot in Friday's 7-4 loss to Arkansas.

UIC will be back in action on Friday afternoon, as they will travel to Missouri to take on Saint Louis for a three-game series.

UW-Milwaukee Panthers (2-4, -0 HL)

Following the Panthers road trip to Arkansas State, where they won the opening game but lost the next two in the three game series, UWM will travel to Oklahoma State to take on the Cowboys.  The series kicks off on Friday, March 11 and will conclude on Sunday, March 13.  UW-Milwaukee is looking to improve their away record this weekend.

Wright State Raiders (3-6, 0-0 HL)

The Raiders will play their first weekday game on Tuesday when they travel to Louisville to take on the Cardinals. The lone game is before the Raiders trip to Evansville, IN to participate in the Ace Diamond Classic. The in-season tournament will be the first for the Raiders since they hosted the 1991 Raider Baseball Classic. On the slate for the Classic will be Northern Illinois, Evansville and Austin Peay. 

Amin Abusaleh had his seven game hit streak snapped in the second game of the double-dip with Murray State on Saturday. It didn't take long to get started again as Abusaleh ripped two hits and walked in the Sunday finale.

The Raiders sit at the same point this season as they did in 2004 with a 3-6 mark, the difference is the Raiders is the 4.87 runs a game that WSU averaged in 2004 to the 6.89 runs the Raiders are scoring this season.

Youngstown State (1-7, 0-0 HL)

The March 8 game against Duquesne has been officially cancelled because of weather.  The game has not been rescheduled as of yet.  The Penguins will be in the state of Missouri this weekend to play a three game series against the Mizzou Tigers that will continue into the beginning of next week.  After starting their season off with a victory, Youngstown State has seen their early momentum evaporate.  This weekend they look to turn things around before next week's clash against Morehead State.