April 28, 2008

Contact: Greg Murphy

Complete Release in PDF Format

AROUND THE HORN: Cleveland State returns to the road following an 11-game homestand when the Vikings travel to Akron on Tuesday (April 29) and Pittsburgh on Wednesday (April 30). CSU will then return home to host UIC for a three-game series on Friday and Saturday (May 2-3) at The Pipe Yard. The Flames are tied for first place in the conference with Wright State (11-5), two games ahead of CSU and Youngstown State (9-7).

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: CSU was in action seven times last week, posting a 4-2 record. Following are brief recaps of those contests.

Game 34 - CSU 9, Canisius 8 (10 Inn.) (April 22): Brad Buell's RBI double with one out in the 10th inning to scored Tom Carter and led the Vikings to a come-from-behind extra inning win over Canisius.

Game 35 - CSU 5, Canisius 3 (April 22): CSU scored four runs in the second inning and Jeremy Hartman worked five innings of scoreless relief in a 5-3 win over Canisius. It was the 500th win in the 15-year career of head coach Kevin Kocks.

Game 36 - Mt. Vernon Nazarene 8, CSU 2 (April 23): Josh Mann limited CSU to three hits in a complete game effort to lead Mount Vernon Nazarene over the Vikings, 8-2. Adam Heideman and Tom Carter had RBI for the Vikings.

Game 37 - CSU 19, YSU 8 (April 25): CSU scored 11 runs over the third and fourth innings and pounded out 16 hits, including four homeruns, in a 19-8 win. Bobby Cash went 4-for-4 with four RBI, coming up a double short of the cycle.

Game 38 - CSU 9, YSU 8 (April 26): Alex Kerins scored the game-winning run from second base on a throwing error as the Vikings topped YSU. Kyle Bischof and Brad Buell had three hits apiece, including a two-run homer by Bischof.

Game 39 - YSU 9, CSU 7 (April 26): Youngstown State scored six runs over the first three innings and held on for a 9-7 win. Adam Heideman finished 3-for-4 with two RBI, while Alex Kerins hit a three-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 (.321, 16 R, 4 2B, 3 HR, 21 RBI) moves from shortstop to second base, while senior Josh Geric (.283, 21 R, 4 2B, 6 HR, 22 RBI) returns to anchor the Viking defense behind the plate. The other six field positions have new faces as junior John Foco (.238, 17 R, 7 2B, 13 RBI) has locked down the starting spot at first base, while senior Alex Kerins (.333, 40 R, 12 2B, 11 HR, 47 RBI) starts at third base and redshirt freshman Tom Carter (.270, 24 R, 7 2B, 2 HR, 16 RBI) at shortstop. Senior Kyle Bischof (.308, 25 R, 9 2B, 7 HR, 39 RBI), junior Brad Buell (.342, 44 R, 12 2B, 2 HR, 20 RBI) and freshman Adam Heideman (.371, 20 R, 6 2B, 3 HR, 14 RBI) make up the outfield from left to right.

500: Head coach Kevin Kocks earned his 500th career victory when the Vikings won the second game against Canisius on Tuesday (April 22). The 15-year coaching veteran claims a 502-392 career mark.

HE'S THE MAN: Freshman Adam Heideman has not let an early season slump affect him as the rightfielder leads the team and is ranked fifth in the Horizon League with a .378 batting average. He has hit safely in nine of the last 10 games to raise his average more than .200 points. During the last 10 contests, Heideman has totaled seven runs, six RBI, two doubles and two homeruns. Heideman's best offensive game of the season came on Friday (April 25) against Youngstown State, as he tallied a career-high four hits in six at-bats, scored four runs and drove in three. On April 5, Heideman was hitting just .130.

OUCH!: You'll have to forgive Adam Heideman if he is a little sore. After all, the freshman has been hit by a pitch 14 times, the most in the Horizon League. It also matches the CSU single season school-record of Brian Beaumier in 2002.

ALMOST TO 20: With one more victory, the Vikings will achieve 20 wins for the 18th time in the 66 years of the program and the first time since CSU won 23 games in 2001. The school-record for wins in a season is 28 set in 1982.

POWER SURGE: CSU has hit a Horizon League leading 41 homeruns to surpass its homerun total of 24 last season. Individually, Alex Kerins leads the conference with 11 homeruns, while Kyle Bischof is fourth with seven and Josh Geric tied for seventh with six.

CLOSE CALLS: The Vikings have been involved in several close games this season, as evidenced by their 4-9 record in one-run games. In fact, five of CSU's seven league losses are by one run. The Vikings had lost six straight one run games, but have won their last two, including a 9-8 win over Youngstown State on Saturday in game one.

MAKING THEM COUNT: Junior John Brown may be hitting just .229 this season, but he has made the most of his at-bats as nine of his 11 hits have been for extra bases. He is tied for third on the team with seven doubles, while adding two homeruns and driving in 10 runs. Brown has started the last seven games at designated hitter, totaling seven runs, three doubles, two homeruns and seven RBI.

ON THE RUN: The Vikings have swiped a school-record 86 bases this season, breaking the old mark of 74 set in 1995. Brad Buell leads the team and is tops in the conference with 18 stolen bases, needing seven more to break the school-record of 24 stolen bases by Tim Miller in 1980. Alex Kerins (16) and Bobby Cash (13) have also totaled double-digit stolen bases, ranking third and fourth in the conference, respectively.

KERINS' BIG YEAR: Alex Kerins has been CSU's top offensive threat this season, leading the Horizon League with 11 homeruns and 47 RBI. In addition he is ranked second in total bases (96), fourth in slugging percentage (.627) and tied for seventh with 12 doubles. Kerins enters the week with a team-best eight-game hit streak, going 13-for-32 (.406) with 11 runs, 11 runs batted in, four doubles and two homeruns. Earlier this season, Kerins tied a school-record with three homeruns in a win at Eastern Michigan (April 7) also finishing with seven RBI. He leads the team with 16 multiple hit games and 14 multiple RBI games.

CASH IS MONEY: Senior Bobby Cash is heating up at the plate as the season goes on, hitting safely in 13 of the last 14 games to raise his average from .250 on April 11 to .321 heading into this week. In the three game series with Youngstown State over the weekend, Cash went 7-for-11(.636) with three runs and five RBI, including a 4-for-4 performance with four RBI in Friday's opener in which he came up a double short of the cycle.

THE CATALYST: Junior Brad Buell has been nothing short of spectacular as CSU's leadoff hitter this season, reaching base safely in 37 of 39 games. He ranks first in the league in runs scored (44) and ninth in on-base percentage (.425) and batting average (.342). Buell finished last week batting .500 (10-20) with five runs and two RBI, including the game-winning double with one-out in a 9-8 extra inning win over Canisius in game one on Tuesday (April 22). Even more impressive was Buell was inserted into the game in the sixth inning after arriving late to the game due to class. He then had eight hits in 13 at-bats in three games against Youngstown State over the weekend.

CLUTCH RBI'S: The Vikings have driven in 227 runs this season with 102 of those, or 45-percent, coming with two outs. Alex Kerins leads the way with 20 two-out RBI, while Kyle Bischof has 15 and Bobby Cash 11.

BISH "OFF" THE HOOK: Very few players in the Horizon League have been as consistent as senior Kyle Bischof this season as the rightfielder has reached base safely in 36 of 39 games, ranking fourth in the league in homeruns (7), fifth in RBI (39) and sixth in walks (18). After hitting a homerun in five straight games (March 29-April 5), Bischof went 18 games without another homer until he drilled a two-run shot to rightfield in Saturday's first game against Youngstown State.

TURNING TWO: CSU has been able to get out of several jams this season with a league-leading 50 double plays. The Vikings were ranked 12th in the nation in the latest statistics for double plays per game (1.12).

THIS SEASON IS A HIT: Last season, the CSU offense gave its pitchers little or no run support, hitting just .258 as a team and scoring just 203 runs in 58 games (3.5 runs per game). In 39 games this season, the Vikings are hitting .293 and have already scored 254 runs (6.51 rpg).

SCORE EARLY: One key for CSU this season has been scoring early as the Vikings are 13-7 when scoring first. In addition, the Vikings have proven to be tough to come back on late, posting a 15-2 record when leading after seven innings and a 16-1 mark when holding a lead after eight innings.

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 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.

ON DECK: With final exams scheduled next week, the Vikings are slated to play just four league games next weekend, beginning with a doubleheader at Wright State on Saturday (May 10) at 1:00 p.m. CSU then heads to Chicago, Ill., for a 12:00 p.m. doubleheader with UIC on Sunday (May 11).