Truman Baseball Weekend Notes (March 7-8; 10, 2015)
Games #5-8: Truman (4-0, 0-0 GLVC) vs. Illinois Springfield (3-2; 0-0 GLVC)
Games #9-10: Truman (4-0, 0-0 GLVC) at Southwest Baptist (3-6; 0-4 MIAA) ****SCHEDULE CHANGE, THESE GAMES WILL NOW BE ON APRIL 28 IN KIRKSVILLE
Returning Position Players
Returning Pitchers
New Players
Staff
Head Coach: Dan Davis
Career Record: 115-291 || .283 || 9th season (all at Truman)
GLVC Record: 18-18 || .500 || 2nd season
Assistant Head Coach: Chris Fletcher (1st Season)
First Pitch:
The Truman Baseball team will hopefully begin a stretch of 10 games over the next nine days with a non-conference weekend series against Illinois Springfield on Saturday. The games were originally scheduled for Springfield but have been shifted to the all turf field of the GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Illinois. GCS is the summer home of the Gateway Grizzles of the independent Frontier League.
Doubleheaders will be played on Saturday and Sunday starting at noon each day.
Following the series, the Bulldogs will head to Bolivar, Missouri for a Tuesday twinbill with Southwest Baptist. That doubleheader will start at 1 p.m.
Deaton Earns Player of Week Honors:
Following the OPSU series, senior shortstop Blake Deaton was named the GLVC Player of the Week. Deaton hit .500 in the opening series sweep over the Aggies with five RBIs and three doubles. He scored six runs as Truman averaged 9.5 runs per game in the series. Deaton had an ops of 1.346 (.714 slugging and .632 on-base percentage) by adding five walks to his seven base hits. He also led the team in defensive assists with 24.
Bulldog Offense Explodes:
Deaton wasn't the only player to have a big opening weekend. Five other Bulldogs hit over .400 in the series and as a team, Truman averaged .325 at the dish with 14 extra base hits. Dave Gambino hit for the cycle during the set with eight hits (.444), double, triple, homer and drove in seven runs. Jarod Hahn (.294) matched Gambino with seven RBIs.
What About The Speed?
After setting a school record last season with 118 stolen bases, the Bulldogs picked right up where they left off, Truman was five of six in the stolen base category with career leader Zak Larkin adding a pair to his record setting total of 62.
Defense Wins Championships:
Truman posted a .951 fielding percentage in the first games of the season. Shortstop Blake Deaton lead the team with 24 assists and Paul Trenhaile added to his career leading putout total with 28. Trenhaile is the Bulldog leader in chances (1,238) and putouts (1,150). Zak Larkin had 11 assists to bolster his total to 30, which is fifth on the all-time assists charts. He needs 18 more to pass Brad Busch for fourth.
The Bulldog catchers threw out four of a potential six base stealers during the series.
Pitching Prowess:
All four starting pitchers went at least six innings in their debut with Cody Gardner pitching a complete seven-inning game and Mark Roberts tossing eight solid innings. Roberts was the only not to get a decision. In his last 10 starts, Gardner is 5-4 with a 2.89 ERA.
The staff as a whole posted a 2.45 ERA during the series and the Aggies hit .205 with three extra base hits.
Schedule Changes:
The Bulldogs have been idle since their weekend series on February 14-15 in Goodwell, Oklahoma. Their home series against Arkansas Fort Smith was canceled due to weather. The team has added a single-game against Washburn (Kan.) for Thursday, March 26 at home beginning at 3 p.m. and a doubleheader at Missouri Western in St. Joseph on Tuesday, April 7.
Records Watch:
Paul Trenhaile is already the Truman career leader in total chances (1,238) and putouts (1,150). At the plate, Trenhaile is 35 hits away from the Truman career hits record of 197 and is 33 RBIs away from the top of that stat category.
Larkin is the king of career stolen bases at Truman with 62 and is in the Truman top 10 in runs scored, walks and assists.
About the UIS Prairie Stars:
Played five games their opening weekend with a pair of wins against Tiffin (Ohio) and one of three against Rockhurst (Mo.)…Gabriel Acevedo led team in hitting at .286 during the five games and had a pair of doubles and a triple…as a team, they hit .164 over the weekend with seven doubles and three triples…five pitchers that saw action did not allow an earned run…staff had a 3.86 ERA with a .231 opponent batting average against…Matt Farrington (1-0, 0.00 ERA) and Christopher Irwin (0-0, 2.57 ERA) are the only two hurlers to go over seven innings…team allowed 13 stolen bases out of 14 attempts…finished 28-24 last season and was 18-18 in the GLVC…picked fifth in the GLVC East Division this season with 60 votes…this will be Truman's first games against Illinois Springfield all-time.
Bulldogs Picked Fourth in GLVC West Preseason Poll:
The GLVC Coaches Poll was released on February 4 with defending national champion Southern Indiana and Quincy (Ill.) picked to win their respective divisions. Southern Indiana sits atop the East Division picking up 14 of 16 first-place votes while Quincy was in a dead heat with Drury (Mo.) for the top spot in the west. The Hawks totaled 113 points to Drury's 112 with each school splitting the eight first-place votes.
The Bulldogs were in a similar heat with Missouri-St. Louis with the Tritons getting the edge and the number three spot in the west with 79 points to Truman's 77.
Truman will play all seven GLVC West Division opponents – William Jewell (Road March 28-29), Rockhurst (Home April 3-4), Drury (Road April 10-12), Missouri S&T (Home April 18-19), Missouri-St. Louis (Road April 25-26), Maryville (Home May 1-3) and Quincy (Home April 1; Road April 14). The Bulldogs will play Southern Indiana on the road to start GLVC play on March 13-15 and McKendree (Ill.) from the East Division at home on March 21-22.
About the Bearcats:
SBU is 3-6 this season and will Northeastern (Okla.) State this weekend prior to the Bulldogs visit on Tuesday…they split with Truman's GLVC mate in Wisconsin-Parkside back on Febraury 13, the Rangers won game one 11-7 before SBU took the nightcap 11-3…Christian Binger leads the team in hitting at .400 with four doubles, two home runs and has driven in 10…Spencer Blacksher leads the team in RBIs with 11 and is hitting .306…team is hitting .288 with seven home runs and 15 doubles while adding just four stolen bases…opponents are hitting .304 against SBU pitching and have stolen 13 out of 16 bases thus far…Matt Dye has a squad leading five appearances from the mound with one win and a 0.00 ERA…The Bearcats were 29-24 a season ago and were picked seventh in the MIAA Coaches Poll…SBU leads the all-time series with the Bulldogs 34-33…Truman and SBU split four games last season with the Bulldogs winning 21-9 in Bolivar and 10-7 in Kirksville while the Bearcats won 17-7 at home and 10-3.
Up Next:
Truman opens up GLVC action on the road against the defending Division II National Champions. The Bulldogs will play a four-game series against the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles in Evansville starting on Friday night.
