NOTES: Baseball Opens Conference Play At Jewell This Weekend

Truman Baseball Notes (March 24-25)
Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanBaseball || #BewareofDog

Series 6: Truman (6-14; 0-0 GLVC) vs. William Jewell (7-8; 0-0 GLVC)
When: Saturday, March 24, 2018 || 12:00 p.m. (DH)
Sunday, March 25, 2018 || 12:00 p.m. (DH)
Where: Liberty, Mo. || Jack Talley Stadium (Fred Flook Field)
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video (GLVCSN)

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Building on the momentum of a doubleheader sweep over Saginaw Valley on Sunday, the Truman Baseball team will begin play in the Great Lakes Valley Conference this weekend with a road four-game series at William Jewell. The teams are scheduled to play doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.

Truman picked up a 4-3 win and 7-3 victory over Saginaw on Sunday after falling on Saturday by scores of 11-4 and 4-3 in extra innings on Saturday. Jack Goodwin and Charlie Kreh had six hits during the four games with Goodwin driving in a team-high four runs. Starter Rian Markes and reliever Christian Watson had the victories on the mound and Peter Young earned one save and did not allow a run in his two appearances over the weekend.

William Jewell is 7-8 overall and will play their final non-conference game on Wednesday against Fort Hays (Kan.) State University. The Cardinals are led by Christian Chalabi and his .413 batting average and 15 runs batted in. Chalabi has six doubles and three triples among his 19 hits and has drawn 15 bases on balls. Jewell hits .279 as a team and has a 6.17 staff earned run average.

Truman has four regulars that are hitting .300 or above paced by Josh Abegg's .366 batting average. Kreh is second at .352 and among a trio of Bulldogs with 11 RBIs. Jack Goodwin, also with 11 RBIs, is hitting .342 and Brendan Trimble is hitting .302.

Bryan Clark is 2-2 with a 3.50 ERA. Matt Wade and Matt Tometz lead the staff with nine appearances apiece and Peter Young has four saves in seven appearances.

Format:
Conference series are four games with the first game of the series being a nine-inning game. Games two and three are seven inning games and the fourth game is also a nine-inning affair. The first game of the series serves as a tiebreaker if teams are tied in the conference standings at the end of the season.

Truman In GLVC:
The Bulldogs have played 32 GLVC series since joining the league in 2014. They have swept all four games once (vs. Southern Indiana in 2015), won three games six times, split the series 17 times, won just once six times and lost all four games twice (last vs. Quincy 2017).

Weather Forecast (as of Wednesday 12:00 p.m. update):
National Weather Service Kansas City Office (@NWSKansasCity) – LINK
Saturday – Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8 a.m. Partly Sunny, with a high near 61. Chance of rain 60%
Sunday – Mostly cloudy, with a high near 57

Truman against William Jewell:
The Bulldogs are 10-9 all-time against William Jewell with the series starting in 1986. The bulk of the games played have occurred in the last four years when Truman and Jewell have been members of the GLVC. Truman is 8-6 against the Cardinals in conference games including sweeping a doubleheader last year against the Cardinals in Liberty by scores of 10-8 and 5-2. The other two games of the series were washed out due to weather.

Peter Young recorded a pair of saves and some late inning heroics lifted the Bulldogs to the two wins last year in Liberty. Truman led 6-1 but Jewell stormed back with a seven-run sixth to take the lead. Evan Kayser and Jason Priest both homered for the 10-8 winner.

The Bulldogs were down 2-0 with only two at bats left in the nightcap but got a two-out double by Dave Gambino and a two-run single by Jon Lyons for a 5-2 victory in the finale.

Scouting the Cardinals:
The Cardinals are 7-8 on the year and will play a single game with Fort Hays State on Wednesday afternoon before Truman's visit this weekend. Jewell is 5-2 at home with wins over Christian Brothers, McKendree and Northwest Missouri State.

They have averaged 6.6 runs per game but have allowed 7.0 runs per contest. Christian Chalabi is hitting .413 in 15 games with six doubles, three triples and 15 runs batted in. Chalabi has also drawn 15 walks and has an on-base percentage of .585. The team as a whole bats .279 with three round trippers.

The pitching staff has a 6.17 ERA with opponents hitting .309 against. Reed Pegram has a 2-0 record with a 1.80 ERA in five appearances out of the bullpen. Brendan Beatty is 2-1 as a starter with a 2.45 ERA.

Abegg Leads The Way:
Josh Abegg is leading Truman with a .366 batting average through the first 20 games. Abegg has seven doubles and two triples and has scored 19 runs thus far. He has a .521 slugging percentage and a .435 on-base percentage with five stolen bases.

Other Leaders:
Charlie Kreh and Noah Schrader are the other two Bulldogs to start all 20 games this season. Kreh is hitting .352 with 11 RBIs and two home runs while Schrader is at .263 in his first season with a pair of homers and six RBIs.

The Starting Rota:
Bryan Clark, Kent Frantz, Rian Markes and Blake Bagenstos all have five starts apiece through the first five weekends. Clark is 2-2 with a 3.60 ERA but is coming off his shortest start of the season on Satudray when he lasted just three innings and allowed eight runs, four earned in a loss to Saginaw Valley State.

Frantz and Markes both had solid outings this past weekend. Frantz went six innings and struck out a season-high six in an extra inning loss to the Cardinals last Saturday. Markes was the winner with six innings of work and three runs allowed in a 4-3 win on Sunday.

Lights Out:
Closer Peter Young has four saves this season and 25 for his Bulldog career. Young was a first-team all-GLVC pitcher in 2017 and is the only Bulldog pitcher with more than 10 career saves.

Matt Wade and Matt Tometz have nine appearances apiece and serve as the set up men to Young. Wade has a 3.77 ERA with 18 strikeouts and three walks. The 18 Ks in 14 innings pitched matches Clark for the team high in strikeouts.

Countdown to 200:
Head Coach Dan Davis needs 10 wins to hit the 200-win plateau. He will be only the second Truman Baseball Coach to win 200 games joining all-time leader in wins Sam Nugent (238).

Bulldog Bites:

Truman is averaging 4.5 runs per game this season and 7.6 hits per game. Opponents are averaging 6.8 runs per game and 9.6 hits.
Brendan Trimble is the active leader in multi-hit games with 47, Charlie Kreh is second with 28 and Mason King at 19.
Young's 1.83 career ERA would rank third on the Bulldog career pitching list with those with a minimum of 25 innings pitched. His 24 career saves is first by 15 over Dan Hillen (2003-05) and his 64 appearances is the all time leader among all Truman pitchers.
Frantz is second in career wins with 15, tied with Cody Gardner (2012-15) and one shy of Alex Hoffmann (2014-17). Frantz is tied for fourth in starts with 33, seventh in complete games with 11 and third in innings pitched with 223.1. He is ninth in strikeouts with 136. Next on the charts for Ks is Jeff Birdsong's 141.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will welcome Drury to town for a four-game series over the Easter weekend. The series will begin on Friday at noon with a doubleheader.

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Players Mentioned

#17 Cody Gardner: LHP; 6' 2"; Sophomore; R/L

#6 Dave Gambino: OF/1B; 6' 2"; Senior; L/L

#31 Alex Hoffmann: RHP; 6' 1"; Senior; R/R

#26 Jason Priest: C/3B; 6' 0"; Senior; R/R

#32 Josh Abegg: OF; 5' 10"; Senior; R/R

#15 Blake Bagenstos: RHP; 6' 0"; Sophomore; R/R

#11 Bryan Clark: LHP; 6' 4"; Sophomore; L/L

#3 Kent Frantz: RHP; 5' 11"; Senior; R/R

#19 Jack Goodwin: INF; 5' 9"; Redshirt Freshman; L/R

#14 Evan Kayser: SS/2B; 5' 10"; Sophomore; R/R

Players Mentioned

#17 Cody Gardner
: 6' 2"; Sophomore; R/L
: LHP

#6 Dave Gambino
: 6' 2"; Senior; L/L
: OF/1B

#31 Alex Hoffmann
: 6' 1"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#26 Jason Priest
: 6' 0"; Senior; R/R
: C/3B

#32 Josh Abegg
: 5' 10"; Senior; R/R
: OF

#15 Blake Bagenstos
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; R/R
: RHP

#11 Bryan Clark
: 6' 4"; Sophomore; L/L
: LHP

#3 Kent Frantz
: 5' 11"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#19 Jack Goodwin
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Freshman; L/R
: INF

#14 Evan Kayser
: 5' 10"; Sophomore; R/R
: SS/2B