UIC Picked as Favorite for 2005 Horizon League Baseball Title
Feb. 9, 2005 INDIANAPOLIS -
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UIC received 25 points, all from five first-place votes, as the coaches' selection to finish first in the league. UW-Milwaukee followed in second place with 17 points (three second place, one third place and one fourth place), edging out Youngstown State, last season's League tournament champion, who was picked to finish third with 15 points, including one first-place vote.
Butler (14 points) is in the fourth spot, as Cleveland State (12 points), last year's tournament runner-up, was picked to finish in fifth place. Finishing out the poll, Wright State (7 points) was chosen to finish in sixth place.
After a 14-8 conference record vaulted UIC to last year's Horizon League regular-season title, the Flames return to the diamond behind head coach Mike Dee who is beginning his seventh season in the UIC dugout. The Flames will seek to win their fourth consecutive Horizon League regular-season championship following a season in which they finished with a 35-21 overall record. Four position starters from last season's team remain with the club, including three first-team All-League selections consisting of Bryan Russo (2B), Justin Johnson (DH), and standout pitcher Ryan Zink. Russo (sr.) had a strong season batting .330 with an on-base percentage of .429 while starting all 50 contests in which he played. Johnson (sr.) returns after a stellar 2004 when he hit .361 and had a league-tying 61 runs-batted-in along with a league-leading on-base percentage of .476. Being named to the All-Newcomer Team in 2004 further recognized Johnson. Zink, also a member of the 2004 All-Newcomer Team as a freshman, will be on the mound for the Flames this year. The right-hander posted nine victories last year to tie for the League lead, and he led UIC's pitching staff with a 2.07 earned-run-average. Key senior newcomer Jeff Gremley (SS) by way of the Iowa Hawkeyes looks to boost an already strong infield for the Flames. Gremley led the Hawkeyes in triples (4), walks (28), assists (164) and double plays turned (28) in his junior year while hitting .282. Also returning for UIC are starting outfielders Shane Crowder and Ted Rosinski and starting left-handed pitcher Todd Szalewski. Crowder and Rosinski each played in all 56 contests last season and each started in more than 50 of those games. Szalewski boasted a 2.76 earned-run-average en route to a .667 (4-2) winning percentage on the year.
UW-Milwaukee comes into the season with five starters returning from the team that went 23-30 last year (9-10 in Horizon League play). After a first-round win in the Horizon League tournament, the Panthers lost consecutive games to UIC and Butler to end their season. Their 2005 roster features second-team All-League selection Ross McCoy (1B) and senior standout Charlie Reschke (2B). McCoy, who was also named to the All-Newcomer Team as a freshman, had a great beginning to his collegiate career, hitting .324 with 20 extra-base hits while driving in 36 runs for the Panthers. Reschke had a batting average of .340 while adding 38 runs batted in for UWM. Reschke also had 23 extra base hits, including 15 doubles (second in league) to help place him fifth in the league with 107 total bases for the season. On the mound for the Panthers is Jed Dolske (jr.) who recorded six saves as a right-handed pitcher in 2004. Left-hander, Robert Michalkiewicz (so.), had a 3.95 earned-run average and had two complete games during Horizon League play last year. Three-time League Coach of the Year Jerry Augustine will hope to lead his Panthers to a strong year and post his sixth 30 plus win season.
The Youngstown State Penguins, last year's Tournament champion, enters 2005 with high hopes for a return visit to the NCAA regional tournament. After a 7-10 Horizon League record (22-32 overall), the seventh-place Penguins went 4-0 to surprise the league. Along the way was a 5-4 upset over the number-one seeded UIC Flames, the game which propelled Youngstown State into the championship game against Cleveland State. Returning from last year's squad is second-team All-League junior left-handed pitcher Justin Thomas. Thomas recorded seven victories last season with four complete games and struck out 82 batters in 93.1 innings worth of work. Outfielders Brandon Caipen and Jim Phillips also return for the Penguins. Caipen started 51 of 53 games and hit .299 for the season. The now-junior drove in 24 runs while also contributing with a .958 fielding percentage. Phillips had a strong season as well with a batting average of .287 while starting 50 games as a junior. He also ranked second on his team with 13 doubles. Skipper Mike Florak currently ranks third all-time in victories for Youngstown State (135) after helping to lead his team to a conference tournament title for the first time since 1977.
