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Baseball

First Pitch For Bulldog Baseball Set For Weekend

Truman Baseball Notes (February 20-21, 2016)
Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanBaseball || #BewareofDog
 
 
Games #1-2: Truman (0-0, 0-0 GLVC) vs. Southwest Baptist (2-1, 0-0 MIAA)
When: Saturday, February 20 || 12:00 (DH) p.m.
Where: Bolivar, Mo.  || Dodson Field  
No Live Stats or Video will be provided
2015 Stats: Truman || Southwest Baptist || GLVC  || NCAA 
 
Games #3-4: Truman (0-0, 0-0 GLVC) vs. Lincoln (0-4, 0-0 MIAA)
When: Sunday, February 21, 2016 || 12:00 p.m.
Where: Jefferson City, Mo.  || LU Baseball Field 
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media)
2015 Stats: Truman || Lincoln || GLVC  || NCAA 

Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanBaseball || #TSUGameDay
 
Staff
Head Coach: Dan Davis
Career Record: 146-311 || .319 || 10th season (all at Truman)
GLVC Record: 39-33 || .541 || 2nd season
 
Assistant Head Coach: Zak Larkin (1st Season)
 
2016 Season Begins:
The Truman Baseball team will open up defense of their NCAA Midwest Regional title with a pair of non-conference doubleheaders against some familiar foes. The 2016 season will being in Bolivar, Missouri with a doubleheader against Southwest Baptist University then will move up Highway 54 to Jefferson City on Sunday with a twinbill against Lincoln University.
 
The Bulldogs set a school record with 35 wins last year and earned their first trip to the NCAA Division II Championship tournament. Truman swept through the Midwest Region as the only undefeated team in the bracket and earned a trip to the USA Baseball National Training Complex and the Division II World Series.
 
Truman hit .294 as a team last season, the third best mark in school history and set single season records in hits (541), runs scored (314) and doubles (86). They were fourth in stolen bases with 74 and the pitching staff set a record with the fewest walks allowed/nine innings at 2.61.
 
Junior Dave Gambino led Truman in hitting last season with a .383 average while driving in 42 runs and fielding first base at a .986 clip. His .383 was the 11th best single-season batting average in Truman history and the highest by a Bulldog since Josh Rubin hit .388 in 2003.
 
Truman's weekend rotation will start with last year's number one Mark Roberts followed by the GLVC Freshman of the Year Kent Frantz. Roberts was 5-2 with a 4.33 ERA heads up against other aces around the conference. Frantz tied Cody Gardner with a school-record nine wins and was 9-3 with a 3.12 ERA with seven complete games out of 12 starts. The other two weekend starters will be sophomore Nate Lukas (1-2, 9.74 ERA in 11 games as a freshman) and sophomore transfer Brad Molski who started six games and pitched 42 innings at St. Charles (Mo.) Community College.
 
SBU took two of three against Winona State (Minn.) University in their opening weekend at home. The Bearcats defeated the Warriors 9-3 and 7-6 in the first and last games of the series and dropped the middle game 9-4. Jeff Bouchard led SBU with a .545 batting average over the weekend with six hits, three doubles and a triple in 11 at bats. As a team, the Bearcats hit .280 and had a pair of home runs. Brian Womack and Miles Kilgore earned the victories on the hill. Womack appeared in two games out of the pen and posted a 1-0 record with a 2.08 ERA. The staff ERA for the weekend was 6.12.
 
Lincoln opened their season with a four-game series against Maryville out of the GLVC West Division. The Saints took all four by scores of 9-4, 17-6, 5-3 and 12-6. The Blue Tigers will travel to Missouri S&T for a doubleheader on Saturday before hosting the Bulldogs on Sunday. Mike Million (.500) and Mason Price (.417) led Lincoln in their opening weekend. Million was 7-of-14 from the dish with a double and triple while Price was 7-of-15 with three RBIs. The team his .291 and stole 10-of-12 bases against Maryville. On the mound, Lincoln's team ERA was 10.98 and opponents hit .370 against Blue Tigers pitching.
 
 
Preseason Polls:
In the GLVC Preseason Coaches' Poll, Truman was picked third in the West Division behind Quincy and Drury. The Hawks picked up 12 first place votes and had 117 points, Drury had one first place vote and 96 total and Truman had two first place tallies and 91 total votes.
 
The University of Indianapolis earned 11 first place votes to sit atop the poll for the GLVC East Division with Southern Indiana gaining the other five first place votes and totaled 105 points.
 
This season, the GLVC will play exclusively within their divisions to decide postseason tournament berths. The top four in each Division will gain spots in the tournament to be played in Westfield, Indiana in mid May.
 
In national and regional polls, Truman received votes in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Poll and picked eighth in the Midwest Region in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association polls.
 
 
T.J. Wood Earns Regional Honors:
Senior outfielder T.J. Wood has been selected to the preseason all-Midwest Region team by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
 
Wood set career highs in all offensive categories last season for the Bulldogs including average (.346), doubles (13), RBIs (24) in 56 games played. The 13 doubles was one off the single-season Truman record and his 63 hits tied for fourth most in a season. He had a .987 fielding percentage roaming center field for the Bulldogs and had several "highlight reel" catches during the year.
 
He was named to the NCAA Midwest Regional all-tournament team, had 14 multi-hit games, four three-hit games and reached base in the final 15 games of the season, mostly while hitting in the number nine hole.
 
Up Next:
The Bulldogs will head to Evansville, Indiana for three games against GLVC East Division opponents. Truman will play two games against the University of Southern Indiana and a single game against Saint Joseph's (Ind.) College. The Bulldogs and Screaming Eagles are the last two Midwest Regional champions and Truman took five of six against USI last season. Truman has not faced the Pumas since 1991.
 
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Players Mentioned

Cody Gardner

#17 Cody Gardner

LHP
6' 2"
Senior
R/L
Kent Frantz

#3 Kent Frantz

RHP
6' 0"
Sophomore
R/R
Dave Gambino

#6 Dave Gambino

OF/1B
6' 1"
Junior
L/L
Nate Lukas

#25 Nate Lukas

LHP
6' 4"
Sophomore
L/L
Mark Roberts

#11 Mark Roberts

RHP
6' 1"
Senior
R/R
T.J. Wood

#10 T.J. Wood

OF
5' 10"
Senior
L/L
Brad Molski

#12 Brad Molski

LHP
5' 11"
Sophomore
L/L

Players Mentioned

Cody Gardner

#17 Cody Gardner

6' 2"
Senior
R/L
LHP
Kent Frantz

#3 Kent Frantz

6' 0"
Sophomore
R/R
RHP
Dave Gambino

#6 Dave Gambino

6' 1"
Junior
L/L
OF/1B
Nate Lukas

#25 Nate Lukas

6' 4"
Sophomore
L/L
LHP
Mark Roberts

#11 Mark Roberts

6' 1"
Senior
R/R
RHP
T.J. Wood

#10 T.J. Wood

5' 10"
Senior
L/L
OF
Brad Molski

#12 Brad Molski

5' 11"
Sophomore
L/L
LHP