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Truman State University Athletics

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Baseball

Bulldog Baseball To Open Season This Weekend

 
 
Complete Notes (.pdf)
Live Stats
 
Series Preview:
The 2012 Truman Baseball season will get underway this weekend as the Bulldogs head to Missouri S&T for a four-game series in Rolla, Mo. Truman posted the most wins in 12 years last season and the pitching staff had the lowest earned run average since 1992.

Head Coach Dan Davis returns 17 letterwinners that posted a 17-31 record a season ago and two all-conference performers in junior pitcher Jarrett Eiskina and senior catcher Devon Myers.

Eiskina led the Truman staff in strikeouts with 57 and issued just 11 walks as a sophomore. He was second in the MIAA with a 2.38 in nine starts and had a 3-3 record.

Myers has started 139 of 143 career games at either catcher or designated hitter. He has a career .319 batting average and is 37 hits shy of Truman's all-time hit record of 191 held by Patrick Hardin.

Truman was 1-3 in non-conference games last season after the opening weekend at Drury University in Springfield. This season, the Bulldogs have 10 non-conference games on the scheduled, four with Missouri S&T, two with Maryville (Mo.) and a four-game series with Lindenwood (Mo.) at the end of the year.

The Missouri S&T Miners also put together one of their best campaigns in school history last season. The Miners won the Great Lake Valley Conference's West Division title, advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1972 while going 30-19 in 2011. They were picked to finish third in the West Division this season.

S&T is led by senior left handed pitcher Zack Gronek, who was 10-1 with a team-leading 2.38 ERA and junior Chris Bowe, who posted a 2.90 ERA and was 4-3 as a starter.

Series Schedule:
The four-game series will be conducted by a pair of doubleheaders. The first twinbill will begin on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. with Sunday's games starting also starting at noon. The seven inning game will begin each day's action followed by the nine inning contest. Shall the seven inning game go into extra innings (regardless of how many) the second game is shortened to seven innings.

Current Weather Forecast:
The National Weather Service forecast for Rolla is saying mostly sunny on Saturday with a high in the upper 40s while on Sunday the high jumps to the mid-50s.

MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll
The Truman Baseball team was selected ninth in the MIAA Coaches poll released in early February. The Bulldogs garnered 31 points to finish six behind Pittsburg State and were 12 points ahead of Lincoln and 19 in front of Southwest Baptist.

Milestone Watch:
  • Catcher Devon Myers is 34 hits away from Truman's all-time hit record of 191 held by Patrick Hardin (2002-05). He is currently eighth and will tie Matt Wine (1999-2002) with one more hit.
  • Myers is five runs scored from the top 10 in Truman history. He has 82 entering this season. He is also nine doubles away from tying the Truman record of 40 held by Mike Kubinski (1997-00) and is currently sixth in RBIs with 91. He will next pass Hardin at 93 and Tony Vandemore at 96 RBIs.
  • Steven Rose has 140 career hits, 79 runs scored, seven triples (fourth all-time) and 513 career at bats which is ninth all-time.
  • Pitcher Tyler Stefan is two appearances away from entering the top 10 all-time. Stefan has made 44 appearances and pitched in 160.2 innings.
Bulldog Bites:
  • Last season, the Bulldogs hit .255 with 77 extra base hits.  The team had 59 doubles, nine triples and nine home runs to go with 51 stolen bases.
  • As a team, the Bulldogs were 62% successful in stolen base attempts (51-of-82).
  • The pitching staff had a 4.96 earned run average through 48 games.  Opponents hit .290 with 100 extra base hits (62 doubles, 13 triples and 25 home runs.).
 
Bulldog Baseball In 2011:
  • 17 Overall Wins – Tied for 2nd most in Program history (1982, 1971) School Record 21 in 1999
  • 16 MIAA Wins – Most in Program history, previous record was 11 in 1999
  • Five MIAA Pitchers of the Week – first since 2007, most in a year in program's history.
  • More MIAA Players of the Week than any other conference school.
  • Three MIAA Series Wins
  • 72 Errors – Fewest since 55 in 1988
  • .958 Fielding Percentage – lowest since a .959 in 1982
  • 4.96 ERA – lowest since a 4.53 ERA in 1992, just the second sub 5.00 ERA since 1982
  • Five Shutouts – Most since 6 in 1976 (School Record)
  • Four Complete Game Shutouts – First since 2000
  • 274 runs allowed – Fewest since 238 in 1998
  • 424 hits allowed – Fewest since 407 in 2006
  • 62 doubles allowed – Fewest since 58 in 1997 (35 games that season)
  • 273 Strikeouts – New school record, previous was 270 in 2009
  • 117 Walks issued – Fewest since 94 in 1982 (29 games that season)
  • 25 Home Runs allowed – Fewest since 24 allowed in 1995
  • .290 opponent batting average – Lowest since .288 in 1993
  • Pitcher Christian Witt was the first Bulldog drafted since 1999, taken in the 36th round by the Kansas City Royals.
  • 31 Walks by Kenny Swanson – New school record, previous was 30 record held by Denny McHenry 1998 & Craig Scher 1994
  • 57 Strike Outs by Jarrett Eiskina – Third most since 1981 (Brant Kraner – 85 in 2000 & Jeff Birdsong – 80 in 1999)
  • Lowest Individual ERA (min. 33 IP) – lowest since Al Nipper's 0.98 (55.0 IP) and first sub 3.00 ERA since Matt Leara's 2.75 (39.3 IP)
Truman vs. Missouri S&T:
The Miners have won 10 straight against the Bulldogs dating back to 2006 and hold a 31-29 series advantage over the Bulldogs all-time. The teams last met in 2010 in a doubleheader in Kirksville with the Miners taking both ends 12-5 and 3-2.

Up Next:
Truman will begin MIAA play next weekend when they travel to Missouri Southern State University and face the Lions in a four-game series. The two teams split last year's series in Kirksville.  The Lions were tabbed fifth in the conference preseason poll.
 
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