May 6, 2008

Contact: Greg Murphy

Complete Release in PDF Format

AROUND THE HORN: Cleveland State (20-21, 9-7 HL) begins its stretch run with four Horizon League road games this weekend beginning with a doubleheader at Wright State on Saturday (May 10) at 1:00 p.m. The Vikings will then head to Chicago, Ill., for a doubleheader at league-leading UIC on Sunday (May 11) at 12:00 noon

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: CSU played just two mid-week games last week as its three-game series against UIC at The Pipe Yard was rained out.

Game 40 - CSU 12, Akron 9 (April 29): Cleveland State scored six times in the fourth and tallied 18 hits to defeat Akron. Seven players had multiple hits, including three each from Brad Buell, Alex Kerins and Tom Carter. Buell also scored three times and drove in three runs.

Game 41 - Pittsburgh 9, CSU 1 (April 30): Cleveland State was held to six hits in a loss at Pittsburgh. Brad Buell had two hits, while Kyle Bischof drove in CSU's lone run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning.

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 (.319, 16 R, 5 2B, 3 HR, 23 RBI) moves from shortstop to second base, while senior Josh Geric (.285, 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 (.239, 18 R, 7 2B, 13 RBI) has locked down the starting spot at first base, while senior Alex Kerins (.340, 42 R, 14 2B, 11 HR, 49 RBI) starts at third base and redshirt freshman Tom Carter (.276, 26 R, 8 2B, 2 HR, 16 RBI) at shortstop. Senior Kyle Bischof (.307, 27 R, 10 2B, 7 HR, 41 RBI), junior Brad Buell (.356, 48 R, 12 2B, 2 HR, 23 RBI) and freshman Adam Heideman (.352, 21 R, 6 2B, 3 HR, 15 RBI) make up the outfield from left to right.

VIKINGS REACH 20 WINS: Tuesday's (April 29) victory at Akron allowed the Vikings to reach the 20-win plateau for the 18th time in program history and the first since the 2001 team won 23 games.

LUCKY 13: CSU needs to win four of its final seven games to set a program record for Horizon League wins in a season with 13. The record is 12 league victories set in 1997 and 1999.

500: Head coach Kevin Kocks earned his 500th career victory when the Vikings won the second game against Canisius on April 22. The 15-year coaching veteran claims a 503-393 career mark.

HE'S THE MAN: Freshman Adam Heideman did not let an early season slump affect him as the rightfielder leads the team and is ranked sixth in the Horizon League with a .352 batting average. He has hit safely in 10 of the last 12 games to raise his average more than 220 points. During the last 10 contests, Heideman has totaled eight runs, seven RBI, two doubles and two homeruns. Heideman's best offensive game of the season came on April 25 against Youngstown State, as he tallied a career-high four hits in six at-bats, scored four runs and drove in three. To put his recent production at the plate into perspective, Heideman was batting just .130 on April 5.

OUCH!: You'll have to forgive Adam Heideman if he is a little sore. After all, the freshman has been hit by a pitch a Horizon League leading 15 times. The total is a CSU single season school-record, breaking the old mark of 14 by Brian Beaumier in 2002.

PERFECT 10: Alex Kerins enters the week with a team-leading 10-game hit streak. That ties him for the longest streak on the team this season as Tom Carter and Bobby Cash also had 10-game hit streaks earlier this season.

POWER SURGE: CSU is ranked second in the Horizon League with 41 homeruns, nearly doubling 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 April 26.

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?: Junior John Brown has made the most of his opportunity over the last two weeks. After not starting since March 15, Brown was called upon as a pinch hitter against Butler on April 20 in the first game of a doubleheader and responded with the game-winning walk-off double. He has started the next nine games at designated hitter, going 9-for-31 (.290) with seven runs, nine RBI, four doubles and one homerun.

MAKING THEM COUNT: John Brown has made the most of his 14 hits this season, as 10 have gone for extra bases, including eight doubles and two homeruns. He has driven in 12 runs in just 55 at-bats. Even more impressive is that six of his seven hits in league games have been for extra bases.

KERINS' BIG YEAR: Alex Kerins has been one of the top offensive producers in the conference this season, leading the Horizon League with 11 homeruns and 47 RBI. In addition he is ranked second in total bases (102), fourth in slugging percentage (.630) and tied for seventh with 12 doubles. Kerins enters the week with a team-best 10-game hit streak, going 17-for-38 (.447) with 13 runs, 13 runs batted in, six doubles and two homeruns during that time. Earlier this season, he 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 17 multiple hit games and 15 multiple RBI games.

CASH FLOWING IN LEAGUE PLAY: Senior Bobby Cash has been a tough out in league games this season, batting .449 (22-49) with five runs, two doubles, one triple, one homerun and seven RBI in the 14 Horizon League games he has played in. He has at least one hit in 12 of those games and nearly hit for the cycle against Youngstown State on April 25, coming up a double shy.

THE CATALYST: Junior Brad Buell has been nothing short of spectacular as CSU's leadoff hitter this season, reaching base safely in 38 of 41 games. He ranks first in the league in runs scored (48) and sixth in on-base percentage (.436) and batting average (.356). Over the last five games, Buell has gone 13-for-21 (.619) with eight runs and four RBI, recording multiple hits in all five games. In an April 22 extra inning win over Canisius, Buell drove in the game-winning run with a one-out, walk-off double. Even more impressive was that Buell was inserted into the game in the sixth inning after arriving late due to class.

CLUTCH RBI'S: The Vikings have driven in 239 runs this season with 102 of those, or 43-percent, coming with two outs. Alex Kerins leads the way with 20 two-out RBI, while Kyle Bischof has 15 and Bobby Cash 11.

ON THE RUN: The Vikings have swiped a school-record 92 bases this season, shattering the old mark of 74 set in 1995. Brad Buell leads the team and is first in the conference with 20 stolen bases, needing five more to break the school-record of 24 stolen bases by Tim Miller in 1980. Alex Kerins (16) and Bobby Cash (15) have also totaled double-digit stolen bases, ranking third and fourth in the conference, respectively.

BISH "OFF" THE HOOK: Very few players in the Horizon League have been as consistent at the plate as senior Kyle Bischof this season as the leftfielder has reached base safely in 37 of 41 games, ranking fifth in the league in homeruns (7), sixth in RBI (41) and seventh in walks (19). 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 on April 26 against Youngstown State.

TURNING TWO: CSU has been able to get out of several jams this season with a league-leading 53 double plays. The Vikings were ranked seventh in the nation in the latest statistics for double plays per game (1.29).

DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT: The Viking defense has drastically improved this season, committing just 74 errors (1.80 epg). In addition, CSU has played 10 errorless games and had 23 games with multiple errors. This is in sharp contrast to last season when the Vikings committed a school-record and Horizon League most 155 errors (2.67 epg), including 44 games with multiple errors and just six errorless games.

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 41 games this season, the Vikings are hitting .296 and have already scored 267 runs (6.5 rpg).

SCORE EARLY & HOLDING ON LATE: One key for CSU this season has been scoring early as the Vikings are 14-8 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: The Vikings conclude the regular season with five games next week, including the final two home contests of the season. CSU will host Duquesne on Tuesday (May 13) and Pittsburgh on Wednesday (May 14) with both games slated to begin at 5:00 p.m. at The Pipe Yard. The Vikings will then travel to Butler for a three-game series against the Bulldogs (May 16-17) to conclude the regular season.