NOTES: Home Conference Opener For Truman Baseball On Friday

Truman Baseball Notes (March 30-31)
Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanBaseball || #BewareofDog

Series 7: Truman (7-17; 1-3 GLVC) vs. Drury (10-15; 2-2 GLVC)
When: Friday, March 30, 2018 || 12:00 p.m. (DH)
Saturday, March 31, 2018 || 12:00 p.m. (DH)
Where: Kirksville, Mo. || Truman Baseball Field
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video (GLVCSN)

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Bulldogs will play their first conference series at home this holiday weekend when Drury University is scheduled to visit starting on Friday at noon.

Truman is 1-3 in the GLVC after the opening weekend in Liberty, Missouri at William Jewell College. The Bulldogs lost the opener 11-3 but rebounded to win the second game behind Kent Frantz's complete-game shutout 2-0. Frantz moved into a tie for the career all-time pitching wins list with his 16^th victory. It was his 12^th complete game and third shutout.

Drury is 10-15 overall and split their conference opener at home against Missouri-St. Louis. The Panthers won the opener 18-0 but dropped game two 7-4. They won game three 9-2 but fell 5-4 in the finale. Clayton Engel is Drury's top offensive player with a .308 batting average and 17 runs batted in. Starter Austin Simms is 4-2 with a 2.54 ERA.

Charlie Kreh leads Truman with a .341 batting average and is tied with freshman Jack Goodwin with 14 RBIs. Frantz is 2-3 overall with two straight quality starts with three earned runs in 14 innings of work.

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 33 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 seven times and lost all four games twice (last vs. Quincy 2017).

Weather Forecast (as of Wednesday 6:00 a.m. update):
National Weather Service Kansas City Office (@NWSKansasCity) – LINK
Friday – Mostly sunny, with a high near 54. North wind 5-11 mph becoming south in the morning.
Saturday – Partly sunny, with a high near 52

Truman against Drury:
Drury has won five of the last six games played with Truman and owns an 18-9 overall advantage against Truman.
Last year in Springfield, the Panthers escaped the first day with 4-3 and 1-0 victories. Truman took game three 3-1 but lost in the finale 10-7.
Truman individual player stats against Drury.

Kent Frantz has started three games against the Panthers and is 4-3 with a 4.94 ERA in 23.2 innings pitched.
Charlie Kreh, in six games, has a .333 batting average with seven hits, one home run and four RBIs.
Brendan Trimble has 46 at bats against Drury with 12 hits (.261), four doubles and six RBIs.
Peter Young has six saves in eight appearances against Drury with a 1.12 ERA. Young has faced 30 Drury hitters and has allowed five hits, including one home run.

Scouting the Panthers:
Drury is 10-15 overall and 2-2 in the GLVC. Away from Springfield, the Panthers are 1-6 and have a common non-conference opponent with the Bulldogs in games at Trevecca Nazarene. Trevecca took two of three against Drury in early March after Truman split a four-game series with the Trojans the week prior.

The Panthers have seven players with over 10 RBIs led by 17 from Clayton Engel. Bran Schaffitzel has a .360 batting average in 20 games and has drawn a team-high 26 bases on balls. Drury has been successful on 51 out of 58 stolen base attempts. The 51 stolen bases lead all GLVC teams.

The Drury pitching staff has a 5.81 ERA. Ryan Wedermyer is 1-0 in 11 appearances with a 1.88 ERA. Austin Simms is 4-2 with a 2.54 ERA in six starts and two complete games.

Bulldog Leaders:
Charlie Kreh is the team's top offensive player with a .341 batting average. Kreh has 30 hits, three doubles, two home runs and has driven in 14 runs. Jack Goodwin is batting .315 and his tied with Kreh with 14 runs batted in.

As a team, Truman averages 4.6 runs per game with a team batting average of .239.

The Starting Rota:
Bryan Clark, Kent Frantz, Rian Markes and Blake Bagenstos all have six starts apiece through the first six weekends. Clark is 2-3 with a 5.22 ERA and has been the starter in the first game of series' all season long.

Frantz is 2-3 with a 6.15 ERA but has gone seven innings in his last two starts with allowing a total of eight hits in 14 innings and three earned runs (1.92 ERA). He has struck out six batters in each of his last two outings.

Rian Markes did not allow a hit after a rocky first inning against William Jewell on Sunday. Markes was tagged for four runs, one earned and four hits in the first but slammed the Cardinal offense down the rest of the way as Truman lost 4-3. Markes has thrown six innings in his last three starts with a 3.00 ERA.

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 10 appearances apiece and serve as the set up men to Young. Wade has a 5.51 ERA with 18 strikeouts and five walks. Tometz is 0-2 with a 3.31 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .207 against Tometz.

Countdown to 200:
Head Coach Dan Davis needs nine 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 4.6 runs per game this season and 7.5 hits per game. Opponents are averaging 6.8 runs per game and 9.4 hits.
Brendan Trimble is the active leader in multi-hit games with 48, Charlie Kreh is second with 33 and Mason King at 20.
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 65 appearances is the all time leader among all Truman pitchers.
Frantz is tied for first in career wins with 16 with Alex Hoffmann (2014-17). Frantz is tied for third in starts with 34, seventh in complete games with 12 and third in innings pitched with 230.1. He is eighth in strikeouts with 142 and will vault into the top three with eight more. The record is 174 set by Brant Kraner.
Truman has 32 multi-run innings this season and have scored in the first inning 11 times in 24 games. Opponents have 40 multi-run innings and have scored in the first inning in 14 of 24 games played.

Game 4 vs. William Jewell
The 13-inning game against William Jewell on Sunday was the third longest in Truman history. The two previous longest were a 15-inning game against Lincoln in 2009 and a 14-inning game against Quincy in 2014.

Jose Abegg and Brendan Trimble matched single-game records with eight at bats apiece. Luke Crader (2009) and Darin Koch (1988) also had eight at bats in a single-game.

The Bulldogs scored seven runs on one hit and five errors in the top of the ninth trailing 11-4. Six of the seven runs were scored with two outs.

Up Next:
Truman will play a four-game series at Maryville University next weekend in St. Louis. First pitch is scheduled for Saturday, April 7 at noon.

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Players Mentioned

#2 Luke Crader: 2B; 5' 7"; Senior; R/R

#31 Alex Hoffmann: RHP; 6' 1"; 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

#33 Mason King: OF; 5' 10"; Junior; L/L

#24 Charlie Kreh: 1B; 6' 2"; Junior; L/R

#16 Rian Markes: LHP; 6' 2"; Sophomore; L/L

#1 Matt Tometz: LHP; 6' 0"; Senior; R/L

#6 Brendan Trimble: 3B/OF; 6' 2"; Senior; L/R

#21 Peter Young: RHP; 6' 2"; Senior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#2 Luke Crader
: 5' 7"; Senior; R/R
: 2B

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

#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

#33 Mason King
: 5' 10"; Junior; L/L
: OF

#24 Charlie Kreh
: 6' 2"; Junior; L/R
: 1B

#16 Rian Markes
: 6' 2"; Sophomore; L/L
: LHP

#1 Matt Tometz
: 6' 0"; Senior; R/L
: LHP

#6 Brendan Trimble
: 6' 2"; Senior; L/R
: 3B/OF

#21 Peter Young
: 6' 2"; Senior; R/R
: RHP