April 6, 2005
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Baseball Player of the Week
Joe Dempsey
Butler, Sophomore, C (Stow, Ohio)
Butler sophomore Joe Dempsey is the Horizon League Baseball Player of the Week for the period ending April 4.
Dempsey batted .467 with a double, two home runs and seven runs batted while helping Butler split four games last week. He was seven for 15 on the week with six runs scored. Dempsey had four hits, scored four runs and drove in three runs in Butler's wild 21-17 loss at Dayton, and then he came back with three hits and four RBI's in the Bulldogs' three-game series against Chicago State. He hit safely in each of Butler's four games last week, and he currently has a five-game hitting streak.
Baseball Pitcher of the Week
Jim Knytych
Butler, Senior, RHP (LaGrange, Ill.)
Butler senior Jim Knytych is the Horizon League Baseball Pitcher of the Week for the period ending April 4.
Knytych tossed a complete game shutout to lead the Bulldogs to a 3-0 victory over Chicago State in the second game of a doubleheader. The Butler senior right-hander faced just 23 batters in the game and allowed just two hits. He had five strikeouts and no walks in the seven-inning contest.
Other Top Horizon League Player Performers - April 4
Justin Wilson, Wright State, Junior, Outfield, (Greenville, Ohio)
After starting the week 0-1 at Eastern Kentucky Wilson went on a tare going three-for-four against IPFW with a home run and three runs scored. Then against Arizona State in the first game Wilson ripped four more hits, including a double. He then finished the week with a double at Arizona State and has raised his average to .333 on the season with nine RBI and a .368 OB%.
Charlie Reschke, UW-Milwaukee, Senior, Second Base (Sheboygan, Wis.)
Reachke helped the Panthers to a 2-1 series win over Illinois State last weekend. He batted .444 (4-9) in three games, including a pair of starts, with one home run and a team-high four RBIs. InSunday's 10-6 win, the senior second baseman went 2-for-4 with a three-run home run and two runs scored to lead UWM.
Jim Phillips, Youngstown State, Senior, Outfield (Oregon, Ohio)
Phillips hit .600 (9-for-15) with two runs scored and seven RBIs to lead the Penguins to a 4-0 week against Duquesne and IPFW. The senior hit safely in all four games and recorded more than one hit in three of the games. Against Duquesne on Tuesday, he went a combined 4-for-7 with three RBIs in the doubleheader sweep. In game one he had two singles and an RBI single, and in game two he went 2-for-4 with a game-tying two-run double in the fifth. In game two against IPFW on Sunday, Phillips had his first career four-hit game, scored a run and knocked in three runs. He also went 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI in game one of the doubleheader. Phillips leads the team in average at .386 and RBIs with 16. He is also the team leader in on-base percentage, slugging and sacrifice bunts.
Ted Rosinski, UIC, Junior, Outfield (Deerfield, Ill.)
Junior outfielder Ted Rosinski helped UIC extend its winning streak to a season-best, eight games, batting .429 (6-for-14) with five runs scored and three RBI. His most impressive performance was a 3-for-4 outing with two RBI, two runs scored and two doubles in a 14-5 victory over Purdue-North Central. For the season, Rosinski is batting .309 with 13 RBI.
Other Top Horizon League Pitcher Performers - April 4
Jason Foster, UIC, Junior,Pitcher (Wyoming, Minn.)
Junior pitcher Jason Foster continues to dominate out of the bullpen, as the Wyoming, Minn., native went 1-0 with a save and a 0.00 ERA in two appearances against Valparaiso over the weekend. In seven appearances out of the bullpen this season, Foster is 4-0 with two saves and an ERA of 1.29.
Lucas Engle, Youngstown State, Freshman, RHP (Marysville, Ohio)
Engle continued his dominance as a starter as he threw six shutout innings against Duquesne to pick up his second win in a row. Against the Dukes, he allowed only three hits and walked only one while striking out a career-high six batters. As a starter, he has allowed only one run in 17 1/3 innings for an ERA of .52. In those 17 1/3 innings, he has allowed eight hits, has walked five and has struck out 13.
Korey Keller, UW-Milwaukee, Junior, Pitcher, (Beloit, Wis.)
Keller provided 3.1 innings of relief for the Panthers in Sunday's 10-6 win. Surrendered just two hits and one unearned run in picking up his first win of the season. The junior righthander also struck out two batters while walking none in the appearance.
Horizon League News & Notes
Butler Bulldogs (6-15, 0-0 HL)
The Bulldogs played in one of the more unusual games of the season at Dayton. Butler jumped to a 14-0 lead and carried a 17-5 advantage into the bottom of the seventh inning. Dayton responded by scoring 10 runs in the seventh inning and six more in the eighth to claim a 21-17 victory in a regulation game. Earlier this season, the Bulldogs had overcome a 10-0 deficit at Indiana to claim an 11-10 win.
Freshman Alex Rinearson and sophomore Dustin Bucalo each batted over .500 in Butler's four games last week. Rinearson had seven hits in 12 trips to the plate (.583) and raised his season batting average to a team-leading .407. Bucalo had eight hits in 16 (.500) at bats, including a home run.
Freshman Jon Dages, in his first collegiate start, picked up the win in Butler's 11-5 victory over Chicago State and improved to 3-0 on the season.
Cleveland State (3-9, 0-0 HL)
Weather cancelled three more games this past week for the Vikings. To date, they have had seven games cancelled because of adverse weather conditions. CSU returns to the diamond this week with a contest on Tuesday against in-state rival Akron before hosting Duquesne on Wednesday. The Vikings host their Horizon League regular season opening weekend series against the Youngstown State Penguins on Friday, April 8.
UIC Flames (13-9-1, 0-0 HL)
UIC has won a season-best, eight games in a row, and 11 consecutive home games, dating back to May 7, 2004. Senior third baseman Bryan Russo is currently riding a team, season-best, nine-game hitting streak.
UIC opens Horizon League play this weekend with a four-game series against Wright State, beginning on Friday evening at 5:30 p.m.
UW-Milwaukee Panthers (6-12, -0 HL)
Milwaukee game with Valparaiso, scheduled for Thursday, April 14, has been changed to Wednesday and moved from Henry Aaron Field to Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. The game time has also been changed to approximately 4:30 p.m., as it will follow the Brewers vs. Pirates contest scheduled for 12:05 p.m.
Wright State Raiders (10-13, 0-0 HL)
This week the Raiders opened the week with a win over the Colonels of Eastern Kentucky, which extended their winning streak to four games, their longest since the 2002 season. The Raiders then hit six home runs in their loss to IPFW, capped off by a Brian Shoup grand slam in the eighth. In that game the Raiders hit back-to-back-to-back home runs as Jack Leopard, Ross Oeder and Justin Wilson all hit solo home runs in the second inning.
Third-baseman Brian Shoup reached base in 15 straight at-bats before recording the first out of the seventh inning against IPFW. Shoup had walked eight times, banged out six hits and reached on an error. He also scored nine times, recorded four extra-base hits and stole a base against EKU.
Youngstown State (11-12, 0-0 HL)
With four wins this week, head coach Mike Florak would reach the 150-win plateau as the coach of YSU. Florak currently has 146 wins in his seventh season at the helm of the Penguins.
After starting the season 1-10, the Penguins have won 10 of their last of their last 12 games to move to 11-12. In the span dating back to a 5-3 win against Morehead State on March 16, YSU has outscored its opponents 77-31. Also over those 12 games, the Penguins are out-hitting their opponents .321 to .205 and hold an ERA edge of 2.56 to 6.22.
YSU's 20 hits against IPFW was a season-high and the most since the Penguins banged out 22 against Cleveland State on May 8, 2000... J.D. Hannan recorded his first career four-hit game when he went 4-for-5 in game two against IPFW on Sunday... Brian Dill hit his first homer as a Penguin with a three-run shot in game two against IPFW... Brandon Caipen enters this week on a six-game hitting streak while Jim Phillips has hit safely in five straight contests... Erich Diedrich went 3-for-12 in four games this week, but all three of his hits were home runs.
