April 21, 2008

Contact: Greg Murphy

Complete Release in PDF Format

AROUND THE HORN: Cleveland State (15-18, 7-6 HL) continues its busy schedule with six home games this week, beginning with a doubleheader against Canisius on Tuesday (April 22) at 3:00 p.m. at The Pipe Yard. The Vikings will then host Mount Vernon Nazarene on Wednesday (April 23) at 5:00 p.m. before hosting Youngstown State for a three-game series on Friday and Saturday (April 25-26).

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: CSU was in action seven times last week, posting a 3-4 record. Following are brief recaps of those contests.

Game 27 - Kent State 8, CSU 4 (April 15): Kent State scored five runs in the second inning to claim an 8-4 win over Cleveland State and win both games from the Vikings this season. Brad Buell had three hits and scored two runs for CSU.

Game 28 - Niagara 12, CSU 5 (April 16): Niagara scored seven runs over the fifth and sixth innings and pounded out 17 hits to defeat Cleveland State, 12-5. Josh Geric and John Foco had three hits each for the Vikings.

Game 29 - Tiffin 4, CSU 3 (April 18): Don Smith allowed three runs and seven hits over seven innings and Tiffin plated three runs in the third to defeat Cleveland State, 4-3.

Game 30 - CSU 7, Milwaukee 4 (April 19): Josh Hungerman scattered seven hits and gave up four runs in 8.2 innings and Adam Heideman went 3-for-4 with a homerun and three RBI to lead the Vikings to a 7-4 win over Milwaukee.

Game 31 - Milwaukee 4, CSU 3 (April 19): CSU committed four errors which led to a pair of unearned runs in a 4-3 loss to Milwaukee. Panther starter Andy Hetebrueg lasted eighth innings and gave up three runs on eight hits. Brad Buell had a two-run homer for the Vikings.

Game 32 - CSU 10, Butler 9 (April 20): John Brown's two-run double with one out in the ninth capped a dramatic 10-9 come from behind win for the Vikings who had trailed 6-1. Alex Kerins, Kyle Bischof and Brown drove in two runs each.

Game 33 - CSU 8, Butler 1 (April 20): Anthony Sambula pitched his first career complete game, giving up just one run on seven hits with seven strikeouts to lead CSU to an 8-1 win over Butler. Alex Kerins, Kyle Bischof and John Brown all drove in two runs with Brown hitting a two-run homer.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: Cleveland State has a completely different look from last season's squad as the roster features 26 new players. Senior Bobby Cash (.306, 8 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 15 RBI) moves from shortstop to second base, while senior Josh Geric (.300, 18 R, 4 2B, 5 HR, 19 RBI) returns to anchor the Viking defense behind the plate. The other six field positions have new faces as junior John Foco (.267, 14 R, 7 2B, 11 RBI) has locked down the starting spot at first base, while senior Alex Kerins (.331, 31 R, 9 2B, 9 HR, 40 RBI) starts at third base and redshirt freshman Tom Carter (.250, 15 R, 6 2B, 2 HR, 11 RBI) at shortstop. Senior Kyle Bischof (.309, 21 R, 8 2B, 6 HR, 33 RBI), junior Brad Buell (.319, 39 R, 10 2B, 2 HR, 18 RBI) and freshman Adam Heideman (.347, 14 R, 4 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI) make up the outfield from left to right.

TWO TO GO: Head coach Kevin Kocks is two wins shy of 500 for his career. The 14-year veteran has a 498-390 record during his tenure as a manager.

HE'S THE MAN: Freshman Adam Heideman has not let an early season slump affect him as the rightfielder leads the team with a .347 batting average. He has hit safely in 13 of the last 15 games to raise his average more than .200 points. During the last 15 contests, Heideman has totaled 13 runs, eight RBI, three doubles and two homeruns. On April 5, Heideman was hitting just .130. 24: No, this is not a note about Kiefer Sutherland's hit TV show, rather it is the number of runs that CSU scored in a 24-18 win over Milwaukee on Friday (April 11) as the Vikings scored at least one run in eight of the nine innings. It was the most runs scored by CSU since the Vikings defeated Wright State, 26-10, on April 9, 1999.

POWER SURGE: CSU has hit a Horizon League leading 33 home runs to surpass its homerun total of 24 last season. Even more impressive is that the Vikings have played the second fewest number of games among the seven league members. Individually, Alex Kerins leads the conference with nine homeruns, while Kyle Bischof is tied for fourth with six and Josh Geric tied for sixth with five.

CLOSE CALLS: The Vikings have been involved in several close games this season, as evidenced by their 2-10 record in one-run games. In fact, five of CSU's six league losses are by one run. The Vikings had lost six straight one run games before topping Butler, 10-9, in Sunday's first game.

HERE'S WHAT BROWN CAN DO FOR YOU: Junior John Brown had his number called several times over the weekend and responded each time. In Saturday's second game against Milwaukee, Brown connected for a one out double in the ninth, but was stranded at third base as the tying run. In Sunday's first game against Butler, Brown drew a pinch hit walk to ignite a three-run eighth. After Butler took the lead in the ninth, Brown came through with a two-run, walk-off double to give CSU a 10-9 win. For good measure, Brown hit a two-run homerun in the second game against Butler. He finished the weekend 3-for-6 (.500) with two runs, two doubles, one homer and four RBI. KERINS' BIG DAY (AND YEAR): Alex Kerins continued his outstanding season last week and leads the team with 14 multiple hit games and 12 multiple RBI games. The senior is quietly chasing the triple crown in the Horizon League, leading the conference in home runs (9) and RBI (40) and ranking 10th in the league in hitting (.331). Kerins has hit safely in 12 of the last 13 games, contributing 15 runs, 27 RBI, five doubles and five homers. In a win at Eastern Michigan (April 7), Kerins belted three homeruns and drove in seven runs, both single-game highs for a Horizon League player this season.

CASH IS MONEY: Senior Bobby Cash is heating up at the plate as the season goes on as the second baseman carries a team-best eight-game hit streak into the week. Over the last eight contests, Cash is batting .452 (14-31) with two runs, four RBI and two doubles. In four league contests over the weekend, Cash had eight hits in 16 at-bats. He is hitting .306 this season after having a .190 average on April 5.

CLUTCH RBI'S: The Vikings have driven in 185 runs this season with 79 of those, or 43-percent, coming with two outs. Alex Kerins leads the way with 17 two-out RBI, while Kyle Bischof has 13 and Brad Buell nine.

BISH "OFF" THE HOOK: Very few players in the Horizon League have been as consistent as senior Kyle Bischof this season. The rightfielder has reached base safely in 31 of the 33 games he has played this season to rank 11th in the league with a .412 on-base percentage. Over the last six games, Bischof has gone 9-for-28 (.321) with three doubles and eight RBI. He ranks ninth in the conference in slugging percentage (.520), fourth in RBI (33) and homeruns (6) and fifth in walks (16).

DYNAMIC DUO: Juniors Josh Hungerman and Brian Long have combined to give the Vikings one of the top righty-lefty combinations in the league. Hungerman, a southpaw, is 3-2 with a 4.93 ERA and ranks second in the league with 40 strikeouts. Long, a righty is 3-3, ranking third in the league in strikeouts (38), ERA (3.32), innings pitched (59.0) and sixth in opposing batting average (.261). He has struck out a league-high 20 batters looking.

AND HUNGERMAN HITS, TOO: Josh Hungerman is also proving to be deadly with the bat, hitting a team-best .375 (15-40) with six runs, three doubles, one triple and six runs batted in. He has hit safely in nine of 10 games he has started this season, including the first seven before going hitless in the series finale against Wright State (April 6).

D-D-D ... DEFENSE!!: One area that the Vikings needed to see a vast improvement in this season was on defense after finishing last in the league with a .946 fielding percentage in 2007, including 110 errors. It appears CSU has straightened out its defense as the Vikings are ranked fourth in the league in fielding percentage (.958) and have no players with double-digit errors. In addition, CSU has played nine errorless games this season after having five all of last season. The Vikings are 5-4 in those games, compared to 10-14 when making at least one error.

TURNING TWO: CSU has been able to get out of several jams this season with a league-leading 41 double plays. The Vikings were ranked 12th in the nation in the latest statistics for double plays per game (1.12).

SCORE EARLY: One key for CSU this season has been scoring early as the Vikings are 12-7 when scoring first. In addition, the Vikings have proven to be tough to come back on late, posting a 13-2 record when leading after seven innings and 14-1 mark when holding a lead after eight innings.

ON DECK: CSU is slated to play five games next week beginning with road games at Akron on Tuesday (April 29) and Pittsburgh (April 30). The Vikings will return home on Friday and Saturday (May 2-3) for a three-game league series with UIC.