Baseball 4/28/2012 7:30:00 PM

Bilovesky Blasts Two Home Runs To Give Pitt Day One Sweep

Complete Notes (.pdf)
Live Stats

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Ryan Bilovesky's two, two-run home runs gave Pittsburg State a doubleheader sweep over the Truman Bulldogs on Saturday. The Gorillas took game one 4-1 and game two 9-8. Sunday's game were canceled due to continuous rain in Kirksville and will not be made up.

Bilovesky was 5-for-7 on the day with five RBIs and two runs scored while Truman's Will Nader also had a big day at the plate going 5-for-6 in both games.

Game 1 Recap | Box Score
Pittsburg State 4, Truman 1

With the score tied at one apiece, Bilovesky made the Bulldogs pay for a costly error with one out in the sixth. It was his first home run of the season to give the Gorillas a 3-1 lead. Pitt would add insurance in the seventh on a passed ball that scored Luke Bordewick. Truman's lone run came off the bat of Blake Marino, who hit a solo home run in the third. Matt Stalcup (7-5) struck out nine to earn the complete-game victory while Logan Siegler (3-6) allowed just four hits in taking the loss.

Game 2 Recap | Box Score
Pittsburg State 9, Truman 8
Truman battled back after trailing 4-0 by putting a four-run third and a two-run fourth to take a 6-4 lead. Pitt used the long ball to regain the lead in the fifth as Chase Barnes led off with a solo home run and Ryan Reddick followed with a two-run shot. The Bulldogs battled back as Zak Larkin doubled and scored on a fielding error off the bat of Steven Rose and Devon Myers tripled in Rose to give Truman the 8-7 lead. Tyler Stefan, who was in his sixth inning of relief work struck out the first batter in the ninth but a double and wild pitch put the tying run at third with one out. Bilovesky fell behind 0-2 to Stefan but worked the count full with four fouls mixed in before taking the 10th pitch of the at bat deep over the right center field fence to give the Gorillas the eventual win. Blake Marino singled to lead off the bottom of the night and move over to third with two outs before Steven Rose fouled out to the catcher to end the game as Cody Wren earned his third save. George Brandecker pitched four innings of relief to earn his fourth win of the season.

Series Preview:
The Bulldog Baseball team will conclude MIAA play this weekend at home as they will face Pittsburg State University for a four-game series. Saturday's games will start at 2:00 p.m. while Sunday will be Senior Day with festivities starting around noon.
Truman is riding a three-game winning streak and have won 10 of their last 14 games including a doubleheader sweep of Maryville University on Tuesday and their fifth straight weekend split with a league foe in taking two from second place Missouri Western at home.
The Bulldogs are two wins away from second all-time in a season with 16 thus far. The school record of 21 wins is within reach with eight games left on the slate. The team is also three wins away from the school record of 16 MIAA wins and will need to win the series to gain that mark.
Finally, the team is two wins away from the Bulldog season record in home wins. They have posted 11 winners this season at home with the record of 13 set in 1971.
Speaking of records, Devon Myers claimed the top spot in the Bulldog all-time hit charts with three hits against the Saints on Tuesday and will now try to distance himself from Steven Rose, who is within 10 from the new hits leader. Myers has 193 base hits.
The Gorillas will face Drury on Wednesday before making the trip to Kirksville for the weekend series. Pittsburg State is 18-23 this season and 14-18 in conference play. The are led offensively by Luke Borderwick's .327 batting average and Matt Stalcup has posted a 6-5 record with a team leading 3.86 ERA.
Pitt has won six straight before Wednesday's tilt with Drury, including a four-game weekend sweep of Northwest Missouri State.
The Gorillas took three of four from Truman last year in Pittsburg, Kan. Pitt scored two in their final at bat to take the opener 3-1, scored in their final AB again to win 11-10, took game three by a 7-3 score before the Bulldogs scored five times in their final at bat to salvage the finale 8-3.
Prior to Sunday's game, six seniors will be recognized for their achievements. Pete Jurich, Tyler Stefan, Devon Myers, and Steven Rose are all four-year letterwinners while Dan Plecki and Weston Lewis have transferred in. This group is three wins away from the four-year win record of 59 set by the 1999-2002 Bulldogs.

Series Schedule:
The four-game series is scheduled for a pair of doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's games will begin at 2:00 p.m. while Sunday's will get underway at noon. The first game each day is slated for seven innings with a nine-inning game to follow. If the first game goes into extra innings, the second game reverts to a seven-inning affair. For any changes to the scheduled, please check TrumanBulldogs.com or @TrumanAthletics on Twitter.
Truman In Conference Rankings (April 23):

The Bulldogs are 10th in hitting (.271) and seventh in pitching (5.80 ERA).
Weston Lewis is tied for third in the league with three triples
Jarod Hahn is 13th in on-base percentage (.446) and eighth in hit by pitches (9).
Zak Larkin is tied for fourth in stolen bases with 14 and third in steal attempts (17).
Logan Siegler is tied for 13th in strikeouts with 36, 11th in innings pitched (57.0) tied for sixth in pickoffs with four and 12th in walks issued with 12.
Tyler Stefan is tied for seventh in appearances with 15 and sixth in fewest walks issued with nine.
Bret Gerstner is 11th in earned runs allowed and hits allowed with 20 and 48 respectively.
Devon Myers is tied for first in pick offs with eight.

The MIAA At A Glance:
Truman is the only team in the league with 36 league games play with just four left. They are four conference wins from the current fifth place team of Missouri Southern (17-15). Central Missouri has a six-game advantage for the conference title with a 28-4 record with Missouri Southern second at 22-10. Third through 10th are separated by six games in the race for the conference tournament.
The top six teams will make the conference tournament in Kansas City.
Milestone Watch
The race to become Truman's all-time hit king is on as seniors Devon Myers and Steven Rose could finish 1-2 when all is said and done.

Myers eclipsed the Truman's all-time hit record of 191 held by Patrick Hardin (2002-05) on Tuesday and now has 193. He is currently fourth and will pass Mike Kubinski (1997-00) and Keaton Jones (2007-10) with two more hits.
Myers is fourth all-time in runs scored (101) and 10th with 13 home runs. He is currently second in RBIs with 109, second in doubles (38), fourth in at bats (614) and third in total bases (280).
Steven Rose is fifth in hits with 183 career hits, 10 behind Myers and three back of Mike Kubinski and Keaton Jones. Rose is seventh with 98 runs scored, sixth triples (seven) and first with 647 career at bats.
Pitcher Tyler Stefan now holds the school record in appearances by a pitcher with 60. He is fourth in innings pitched with 204.0 and tied for fifth in strikeouts with 144.
Sophomore Chris Allard is tied for sixth all-time in saves with four. The Bulldog record is nine set by Dan Hillen (2003-05).

Bulldog Bites:

Truman is hitting .273 as a team this season with 62 extra base hits (42 doubles, six triples and 14 home runs). 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.
Devon Myers has the team lead in home runs with four while Myers and Zak Larkin lead in RBIs with 18.
Jarod Hahn leads the team in hitting with a .333 average while seven different Bulldogs have driven in more than 10 runs this season.
The Bulldogs are 62% in stolen base attempts going 37-of-59 this season. As a team last year, the Bulldogs were 62% successful in stolen base attempts (51-of-82).
The pitching staff has a 5.61 earned run average through 42 games. Opponents are hitting .308 with 94 extra base hits, including 24 round trippers. In 2011, the staff had a 4.96 earned run average in 48 games. Opponents hit .290 with 100 extra base hits (62 doubles, 13 triples and 25 home runs.).
Opponents are scoring 6.57 runs per game while Truman is scoring 3.90.
Truman has had 13 one-run games this season winning nine. Over the past four seasons, the Bulldogs are 17-21 in one-run games. The Bulldogs have won their last nine straight one-run games.

Truman vs. Pittsburg State:
The Gorillas are 45-12 against the Bulldogs all-time.
In last year's series, Pittsburg State won three out of the four games with Jeremy Filer hitting .636 in the series with a double, four runs scored and four RBIs. For Truman, Daniel Jewett had a .400 average with five RBIs. Pittsburg State pitchers struck out 33 Bulldogs during the series compared to the 14 Gorillas that were fanned by Bulldog hurlers.
Jarrett Eiskina is 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA against Pittsburg State in two appearances while offensively, Steven Rose has a career .370 mark against Gorilla pitching going 17-of-46 with 11 RBIs and nine runs scored.

Up Next:
Truman will close out the 2012 season with a split home-and-home doubleheader with non-conference Lindenwood University. The first two games of the series will be played on the Lions' campus in St. Charles, Mo. on Saturday starting at 1:00 p.m. then the teams will come to Kirksville for a Sunday doubleheader also beginning at 1:00 p.m. Lindenwood is transitioning to Division II and will play in the MIAA next season while this series replaces Nebraska-Omaha, who left the MIAA last year for Division I.

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