Horizon League players stand among baseball's statistical elite
April 12, 2006
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INDIANAPOLIS -- Senior outfielder Mike Goetz of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee owns the top batting average in the nation, according to the NCAA. The organization released its first baseball statistics of the season Tuesday (April 11), with Goetz leading a group of Horizon League players on the national charts.
Goetz had 49 hits in 95 at-bats through Sunday (April 9), giving him a .516 clip which is 37 points ahead of Tom King of Troy University (.479). Kellen Kulbacki of James Madison University is third at .472, followed by Jackson State University teammates Joaquin Rodriguez (.464) and Marquez Tadeo (.455).
UW-Milwaukee's Ross McCoy sits among the national leaders in another statistical category, with the junior outfielder ranking fifth with a rate of 0.52 doubles per contest (11 two-baggers in 21 games played). Goetz joins his teammate on that list, standing 21st at 0.44 per game (11 in 25 outings).
The University of Illinois at Chicago and Wright State University each boast three players among the nation's elite, with the Flames' Bart Babineaux standing 18th with his 0.33 home runs per game (nine in 27 games) and 31st with a .696 slugging percentage. Both of those numbers will likely go up after the senior outfielder's two-homer performance versus UWM on Tuesday night, which was not included in the previous statistics. Babineaux has a League-high 11 home runs this season, including ten in his last 11 appearances.
Sophomore infielder Mark Hallberg is the sixth-toughest player to strikeout with one whiff per 25 at-bats (four in 102 official trips), while teammate Justin Johnson is 44th with a norm of 0.13 triples per game.
Wright State's entries include junior infielder Ross Oeder, whose 0.16 triples-per-game pace is 17th-best in the nation. The junior shortstop also ranks 30th in Division I at 0.28 sacrifice hits per game, putting down seven successful bunts in 25 games. Senior right-hander Robert Barrett enters the weekend with a 1.86 earned-run average which is 51st nationally. He has allowed only six earned runs in 29 innings this spring, while junior right-hander Joe Smith ranks 46th with his six saves.
Youngstown State University senior catcher Brandon Caipen rounds out the Horizon League contingent, rating 19th on the toughest-to-strike-out list with one per 18.8 at-bats. He has fanned six times in 113 official trips in 2006.
League competition resumes this weekend with three-game sets featuring Wright State at UIC, Youngstown State at UW-Milwaukee, and Butler University at Cleveland State University. The UIC-Wright State match-up features the top two teams in the current standings, with the Flames (17-12 overall) atop the League standings with a 9-2 loop ledger hosting second-place WSU (16-13 overall, 8-6 in the League). Butler (13-18, 7-7) challenges a Viking squad (4-21, 3-8) which has won three in a row, while UW-Milwaukee (12-19, 4-7) and Youngstown State (12-19, 4-7) try to get back into contention for the regular-season championship.
