March 21, 2005
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Baseball Player of the Week
Amin Abusaleh
Wright State, Junior, OF (Davis, Calif.)
Wright State junior Amin Abusaleh is the Horizon League Baseball Player of the Week for the period ending March 21.
Abusaleh torched the Blue Devils this weekend in two games as he belted out five hits, three for extra bases, and drove in four runs for WSU. In game one he was a perfect three-for-three and went two-for-three in game two. In the second game he hit a 375 foot home run in the eighth inning to win the game for the Green and Gold. Amin walked twice, didn't strikeout, was 1-1 in stolen bases and hit .833 on the weekend.
Baseball Pitcher of the Week
Ryan Zink
UIC, Sophomore, RHP (Madison, Wis.)
UIC sophomore Ryan Zink is the Horizon League Baseball Pitcher of the Week for the period ending March 21.
Sophomore pitcher Ryan Zink picked up his first victory of the season, tossing a career-high, 10 innings, while striking out nine batters and scattering 10 hits in the Flames' 2-1 victory over Iowa in 10 innings on Mar. 18th. For the season, Zink is 1-3 with an ERA of 3.79 and 24 strikeouts in 35.2 innings pitched
Other Top Horizon League Player Performers - March 21
Charles Schultz, Youngstown State, Junior, Infield (Worthington, Ohio)
Schultz hit .429 (6-for-14) with a homer, two doubles, six RBIs and two runs scored in one game against Missouri and three against Morehead State last week. On Wednesday against MSU, the junior had an RBI single in the second and an RBI double in the eighth in four at bats. He went 1-for-3 with an RBI double in game one of Thursday's doubleheader. Then in the nightcap, Schultz had his best game of the season at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, three RBIs, two runs scored and one stolen base. The Worthington, Ohio, native also had a perfect week in the field, picking up 11 assists and six putouts.
Jeff Gremley, UIC, Senior, Shortstop (Frankfort, Ill.)
Senior shortstop Jeff Gremley helped UIC to a two-game sweep over Iowa over the weekend, batting .429 (3-for-7) with three runs scored and a RBI. His most impressive performance came in the Flames' 2-1 triumph over the Hawkeyes in 10 innings on Mar. 19th, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. For the season, Gremley leads the Flames in batting (.383), runs (16), hits (18), doubles (5), triples (2) and RBI (9).
Alex Rinearson, Butler, Freshman, 3B (Ft. Wayne, IN)
Rinearson batted .407 (11-27) on Butler's eight-game spring break trip to Alabama. He led the Bulldogs with 11 hits on the week-long trip, including a team-high three doubles. He shared the team lead with four runs batted in on the trip. Rinearson had four hits in Butler's game at UAB and two hits in three other games.
Other Top Horizon League Pitcher Performers - March 21
Justin Thomas, Youngstown State, Junior, LHP (Oregon, Ohio)
Thomas earned his first career combined shutout as he picked up his second win of the season against Morehead State on Thursday. He threw six shutout innings, allowing three hits while only walking two and striking out six. Only two runners reached second base the entire contest.
Kyle Kearcher, Wright State, Sophomore, LHP (Mattwan, MI)
Kearcher came in to save the Raiders this week, making two appearances out of the pen for the Raiders. Kearcher threw a scoreless inning in game one to pick up his first victory of the season and then came on in the second inning of game two and threw 5.2 innings picking up his second victory of the weekend. Only three of twenty-six batters reached or passed second base while Kearcher was on the bump. He walked only one batter and held the Blue Devils to a .091 average with runners in scoring position.
Gian Testa, Cleveland State, Junior, RHP (Tallmadge, Ohio)
Testa picked the Vikings' two wins on the week, tossing a seven-inning complete game against Morehead State (3/15) and seven innings in a nine-inning affair against George Washington (3/20). He held the Eagles to three runs, two earned, while striking out seven, and struck out 11 Colonials in holding them to three runs.
Horizon League News & Notes
Butler Bulldogs (3-11, 0-0 HL)
Freshman right-handed pitcher Jon Dages pitched four and two-thirds scoreless innings in relief to pick up a win in Butler's 6-3 victory at Samford. Dages allowed just two hits in his relief stint. The first-year pitcher is 2-0 on the season with a team-best 3.21 earned run average.
Freshmen Brian Deter and Bryan Bokowy each started two games on Butler's eight-game trip to Alabama. Freshmen pitchers threw more than half of Butler's innings on the trip.
Cleveland State (3-8, 0-0 HL)
After juggling their schedule at the beginning of last week, the Vikings return to playing out their scheduled games with a Wednesday contest at Pittsburgh, before returning home for a three game series against IPFW.
UIC Flames (5-8, 0-0 HL)
UIC Head Coach Mike Dee picked up his 200th career victory with the Flames' 2-1 win over Iowa on Mar. 18th. For the second straight week, junior pitcher Jason Foster tossed 5.1 innings of relief to earn his second consecutive win. UIC will open its home campaign on Friday afternoon, as they will welcome Chicago State at 3:05 p.m.
The Flames have added three games to their 2005 schedule. Those three games consist of a two game series against Purdue-North Central on March 29 and March 30, and a single game on April 19 against Eastern Illinois.
UW-Milwaukee Panthers (3-9, -0 HL)
The Panthers will stay in Bradenton, Florida for five more games at the beginning of this week. They look to take on Cornell on consecutive days (Monday and Tuesday), followed by a match ups against Kent State and Dartmouth on Wednesday, March 22. They finish their trip to the Sunshine State with a game on Thursday against Illinois.
Wright State Raiders (6-8, 0-0 HL)
With their win on Sunday the Raiders have won a series for the first time since taking three-of-four games from Detroit on April 2-4, 2004. The Raiders are now 6-1 on the season when they pound out 10+ hit and with their three straight wins they have matched their longest winning streak since winning three in the same series with Detroit. The Raiders wrap up the series with Duke on Monday and head to Winthrop to finish their 16-game road-trip. They then host Akron at Nischwitz Stadium to open the home season.
Youngstown State (4-10, 0-0 HL)
Head Coach Mike Florak will be returning to the site where he made his collegiate coaching debut when the Penguins play at West Liberty State on Tuesday. Florak was an assistant for the Hilltoppers in 1994 before heading to Ohio University in 1995 and Waynesburg in 1996. He holds a career record of 6-0 against WLSC while at YSU.
Freshman Lucas Engle picked up the win in his first collegiate start against MSU on Wednesday. Engle allowed one run on three hits and struck out two in 5 1/3 innings. Freshman Ryan Sellman then came on to throw a scoreless eighth and ninth inning to pick up his second save of the season.
The Penguins will finally get to play a home game Wednesday after opening the season with 15 road contests. However, YSU's game against Bethany will still not be played at Eastwood Field, its normal home field. Instead, the Penguins will play their first of four games scheduled for Cene Park in nearby Struthers, Ohio.
