Truman Baseball Notes (March 4-8, 2016)
Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanBaseball || #BewareofDog
 
 
Games #8-9: Truman (3-4, 0-0 GLVC) vs. Bemidji State (0-4, 0-0 NSIC)
When: Friday, March 4 || 12:00 p.m. (DH – 7/9)
Where: Kirksville, Mo.  || Truman Baseball Park   
Live Stats  
2016 Stats: Truman || Bemidji State || GLVC  || NCAA 
 
Games #10-11: Truman (3-4, 0-0 GLVC) vs. Southwest Baptist (4-6, 0-3 MIAA)
When: Tuesday, March 8, 2016 || 12:00 p.m. (DH – 7/9)
Where: Kirksville, Mo.  || Truman Baseball Park  
Live Stats  
2016 Stats: Truman || Southwest Baptist || GLVC  || NCAA 

Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanBaseball || #TSUGameDay 
Staff
Head Coach: Dan Davis
Career Record: 149-315 || .319 || 10^th season (all at Truman)
GLVC Record: 39-33 || .541 || 2^nd season
 
Assistant Head Coach: Zak Larkin (1^st Season)
 The First Pitch:
The Truman Baseball team will host a pair of non-conference doubleheaders to kick off the 2016 home season. The Bulldogs will host Bemidji (Minn.) State on Friday for a doubleheader and will complete a four-game series with Southwest Baptist (Mo.) on Tuesday. Both twinbills are scheduled to start at noon.
 
Truman is 3-4 after going 2-1 last week at the University of Southern Indiana Dunn Hospitality Classic. The Bulldogs were defeated by the host in extra innings last Friday 14-13 but bounced back with wins against Saint Joseph's (Ind.) 11-9 on Saturday and Southern Indiana on Sunday 3-2.
 
The offense remained hot with a .317 weekend performance with seven doubles and 23 runs scored in the three games. Nick Agliolo continued his torrid start going 7-of-15 and raised his season average to .536. Agliolo has hit safely in all seven games this season and had multiple hits in six. Brendan Trimble, Dave Gambino and Mason King each drove in five runs over the weekend with Trimble also going 7-of-15 from the plate.
 
Bemidji opened up their season over two weeks ago in Joplin against Missouri Southern but has not been on the diamond since. The Beavers lost their first game to the nationally-ranked Lions 1-0 but then were outscored 43-11 in the remaining three games to start the year 0-4.
 
The Beavers were led offensively by Joey Hanowski with a .412 batting average with four runs scored. As a team BSU, hit .221 in the opening weekend while the pitching staff had an ERA of 9.56 Terry Hadden had the strongest start for Bemidji with allowing one run in 7.2 innings pitched in the 1-0 opener loss.
 
Truman hopes to return the favor when Southwest Baptist calls next Tuesday. The Bearcats spoiled the season opener on February 20 with a doubleheader sweep over the Bulldogs. SBU won game one 6-3, scoring four runs in the bottom of the fifth and 10-5 in the second game using two big innings of five runs in the third and four in the eighth.  The Bearcats will play a conference series against Missouri Western before their doubleheader with Truman on Tuesday.
 
The Bulldogs were 11-8 at home last season and hit nearly .300 as a team. TJ Wood hit .386 at home in playing and starting in all 19 games. Brendan Trimble hit .370 with 15 starts in 18 games. Kent Frantz had complete games in all three of his home starts and went 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA.

Weekend Rewind:
In game one against Southern Indiana, Truman rallied from seven runs down to send the game into extra innings before falling in the bottom of the 11^th 14-13. Nick Agliolo went 4-for-6 and Dave Gambino drove in four runs in the comeback. Both teams left a total of 31 runners on base.

Truman fell behind by five entering the bottom of the seventh against Saint Joseph's and scored seven in their final two at bats to win 11-9. Brendan Trimble and Joey Gardner each collected three hits with Trimble and Chris Iliopoulos driving in three runs as well. It was a tough fielding day with nine total errors, six for SJC and three for Truman. Alex Hoffmann got the win in relief pitching the final two innings allowing one hit.
 
After having 33 hits in the first two games, a pitchers' duel broke out in the finale. USI broke on top with a run in the fifth and Truman answered with a two-out, unearned run in the seventh. The Bulldogs jumped on top with two unearned runs in the eighth and Peter Young picked up the four-out save leaving the tying run at third base in the bottom of the ninth.
 
Home Run Homer:
The Bulldogs Dave Gambino and Jason Priest went back-to-back in the fifth inning in game one against Lincoln for the first two home runs of the season.
 
Player – Inning/Game (Season/Career HR)
Dave Gambino - 5^th Inning Game 3 vs. Lincoln solo (1/7)
Jason Priest  - 5^th Inning Game 3 vs. Lincoln solo (1/1)
 
Quick Hits:

• The Bulldogs have outscored opposing teams 22-6 in the final three innings of games this year.
• In the first four innings, opponents have outscored Truman 37-21 with a 12-7 advantage in the first inning and 14-5 advantage in the third.
• Truman is 10-of-17 in stolen bases this year with Nick Agliolo (3), Mason King (3) and T.J. Wood (2) leading the charge.
• King has drawn nine walks in 34 plate appearances and has an on-base percentage of .441.
• Bulldog pitchers have a 1.79 WHIP while opposing pitchers have a 1.60.
• Truman is hitting .301 for the season with 12 doubles, one triple and two home runs.
• Opponents are hitting .324 with 14 doubles, three triples and two home runs.
• Nick Agliolo and Brendan Trimble have hit safely in all seven games this season and Dave Gambino is riding a six-game hitting streak.
• For sabermeteric fans, Agliolo has a 1.165 OPS (onbase + slugging) and Joey Gardner has a 1.295 OPS. Mason King has a .909 total average (each base accumulated divided by total of outs made) to lead the team.
• Truman is hitting .353 in batting average on balls put in play (BABIP) but opponents have a .389 BABIP.

Career Record Watch:
It might be only seven games into the season but career records are on the verge of being passed. Senior pitcher Mark Roberts is four innings away from becoming the all-time leader in innings pitched. Roberts has 216.2 over his three years and will pass Josh Niemczyk with one inning and Kyle Veazey (220.1) with four. Roberts is still four appearances away from cracking the top 10 in pitching stints. His 32 starts is tied with Ryan Trimble for three most and will tie Paul Cornejo for second with his next. The record for starts in a career is 42 held by Veazey.
 
Sophomore reliever Peter Young in alone in third on Truman's saves list with seven. He is one behind Jeff Barnum for second and two back of Dan Hillen for the top spot.
 
Active Career Leaders:
Junior Dave Gambino is a career .332 hitter with 127 hits in 383 at bats. Gambino has 21 doubles and 73 career RBIs.
 
Senior T.J. Wood has 21 stolen bases out of 35 attempts. Wood can crack the top 10 in stolen bases with 11 more swipes.
 
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.
 
Up Next:
The Bulldogs are scheduled to begin a 10-game, five-date homestand beginning on March 4 against Bemidji (Minn.) State. Truman will host the Beavers for a pair then Southwest Baptist returns to complete the four-game series with them on March 8. The Bulldogs will host Lewis for four over March 12-13 and Missouri Western for two on March 15.
 
 
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