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NOTES: Home Opener For Truman Baseball

Truman Baseball Notes (March 9-11)
Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanBaseball || #BewareofDog
 
 
Series 4: Truman (4-8; 0-0 GLVC) vs. Indianapolis (7-2; 0-0 GLVC)
When: Friday, March 9, 2018 || 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 10, 2018 || 12:00 p.m. (DH)
Sunday, March 11, 2018 || 12:00 p.m.  
Where: Kirksville, Mo. || Truman Baseball Park
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video (GLVCSN – No Audio)
 
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Bulldogs will begin the home portion of their schedule with a four-game non-conference series against nationally-ranked Indianapolis on Friday afternoon. Truman is 4-8 on the season while the #26 Greyhounds are 7-2.

Truman is coming off a split over Trevecca Nazarene. The Bulldogs won the opener on both days, 4-3 on Friday evening and 17-7 on Saturday afternoon and the Trojans took both nightcaps 13-3 and 9-8.

The Greyhounds have won five straight with a two-game sweep over #13 Quincy 5-3 and 8-4 and a three-game series win over Oakland City by scores of 10-3, 7-3 and 11-1.

Despite being under the same conference banner, the two teams have had limited number of games due to the league's divisional scheduling philosophy. Truman and UINDY have played five games since the Bulldogs joined the GLVC in 2014. All five were contested during that inaugural season with the teams splitting a four-game set in Indianapolis and Truman winning a wild 13-12 game in the conference tournament.

The game lasted eight hours aided by a four-hour rain delay. The Bulldogs trailed 10-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh. They would score four runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to send the game to a 10th. After UINDY took the lead again in their half of the extra inning, Truman scored twice with the winning run coming on a balk.  
 
Weather Forecast (as of Wednesday 12:00 p.m. update):
National Weather Service Kansas City Office (@NWSKansasCity) – LINK
Friday – Partly sunny, with a high near 45. East wind 6 to 10 mph.
Saturday – Partly sunny, with a high near 51.
Sunday – 30% Chance of Rain/Snow showers. Mostly Cloudy with high near 44.
 
Scouting the 'Hounds:
UINDY will bring a formable pitching staff to the Truman mound this weekend. The Greyhound hurlers have a staff ERA of 2.73, ranked in the top 20 of Division II programs and have allowed 33 runs (3.6/g) in the nine games played. Michael Schalasky has appeared in a team-high five games with one start and a 0.50 ERA. Tyler Hosto (4.24 ERA) and Jake Sprinkle (4.24 ERA) have both started three games for UINDY.

Offensively, Nick Miller is batting .424 in nine games with a team-high 11 RBIs. Miller has four doubles, a triple and a home run among his 14 hits. Macy Holdsworth is second with a .395 average and has a pair of homers under his belt. The team bats .278 with eight home runs in nine games played and averages 6.7 runs per game.

The Greyhounds were 27-23 last season and 11-17 in the GLVC.

Don't Come Late:
In the first 12 games, Truman has put runs on the scoreboard in six games this season. In those six innings, all have been crooked numbers on the scoreboard. They have a 3-3 record in those six games. Truman has more runs scored in the first inning (17) than any other inning this season.

Opponents have scored in the first inning in eight games this season for a total of 13 runs. Opponents are 6-2 when they score in the first.

Sixth Inning Issues:
Opponents have used the sixth inning to score the most runs against the Bulldogs. Opponents have outscored Truman in that frame 23-5 while Truman has answered in the final three innings by outscoring opponents 18-5 in innings seventh through nine.

Abegg Leads The Way:
Josh Abegg is leading Truman with a .357 batting average through the first 12 games. Abegg has three doubles and two triples and has scored 13 runs thus far. He has a .524 slugging percentage and a .442 on-base percentage with four stolen bases.

The Starting Rota:
Bryan Clark, Kent Frantz, Rian Markes and Blake Bagenstos all have three starts apiece through the first three weekends. Clark is coming off a seven-inning, 10-strikeout performance in picking up a 4-2 win over the Trojans last week. He is 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA.

Lights Out:
Closer Peter Young has three saves this season and 24 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.

Young and Christian Watson have both appeared in four games while Matthew Wade and Matt Tometz lead the staff with five appearances. Wade has a 1.08 ERA in eight-plus innings pitched and has 13 strikeouts to one walk. Tometz has tossed seven innings with a 5.14 ERA with six strikeouts.

Bulldog Bites:
  • Truman is averaging 5.4 runs per game this season and 7.6 hits per game. Opponents are averaging 6.9 runs per game and 9.7 hits.
  • Noah Schrader is on an eight-game hitting streak entering the weekend. He is hitting .419 with 13 hits in 31 at bats and has been walked or hit by a pitch a total of seven times.
  • The eight-game streak matches Josh Abegg's longest this season. The longest in 2017 was 12 by Jason Priest.
  • 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 23 career saves is first by 14 over Dan Hillen (2003-05) and his 61 appearances is one shy of the 62 set by Tyler Stefan (2009-12).
  • 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 sixth in starts with 31, seventh in complete games with 11 and sixth in innings pitched with 210.0. He is ninth in strikeouts with 126. Next on the charts for Ks is Jeff Birdsong's 141.
Up Next:
The Bulldogs will take a day trip down to Bolivar and face Southwest Baptist University for a single-game on Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. The Bearcats are 6-11 this season and will be at Central Oklahoma for a MIAA series this weekend.

Truman returns home for their final non-conference series next weekend. The Bulldogs host a new opponent in Saginaw Valley (Mich.) State with a single game on Friday, doubleheader on Saturday and a single on Sunday. The Cardinals are a member of the GLIAC and Midwest region and are 6-2 thus far.   
 
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Players Mentioned

Tyler Stefan

#8 Tyler Stefan

RHP/OF
6' 1"
Junior
R/R
Cody Gardner

#17 Cody Gardner

LHP
6' 2"
Sophomore
R/L
Alex Hoffmann

#31 Alex Hoffmann

RHP
6' 1"
Senior
R/R
Jason Priest

#26 Jason Priest

C/3B
6' 0"
Senior
R/R
Josh Abegg

#32 Josh Abegg

OF
5' 10"
Senior
R/R
Blake Bagenstos

#15 Blake Bagenstos

RHP
6' 0"
Sophomore
R/R
Bryan Clark

#11 Bryan Clark

LHP
6' 4"
Sophomore
L/L
Kent Frantz

#3 Kent Frantz

RHP
5' 11"
Senior
R/R
Mason King

#33 Mason King

OF
5' 10"
Junior
L/L
Charlie Kreh

#24 Charlie Kreh

1B
6' 2"
Junior
L/R
Rian Markes

#16 Rian Markes

LHP
6' 2"
Sophomore
L/L
Matt Tometz

#1 Matt Tometz

LHP
6' 0"
Senior
R/L

Players Mentioned

Tyler Stefan

#8 Tyler Stefan

6' 1"
Junior
R/R
RHP/OF
Cody Gardner

#17 Cody Gardner

6' 2"
Sophomore
R/L
LHP
Alex Hoffmann

#31 Alex Hoffmann

6' 1"
Senior
R/R
RHP
Jason Priest

#26 Jason Priest

6' 0"
Senior
R/R
C/3B
Josh Abegg

#32 Josh Abegg

5' 10"
Senior
R/R
OF
Blake Bagenstos

#15 Blake Bagenstos

6' 0"
Sophomore
R/R
RHP
Bryan Clark

#11 Bryan Clark

6' 4"
Sophomore
L/L
LHP
Kent Frantz

#3 Kent Frantz

5' 11"
Senior
R/R
RHP
Mason King

#33 Mason King

5' 10"
Junior
L/L
OF
Charlie Kreh

#24 Charlie Kreh

6' 2"
Junior
L/R
1B
Rian Markes

#16 Rian Markes

6' 2"
Sophomore
L/L
LHP
Matt Tometz

#1 Matt Tometz

6' 0"
Senior
R/L
LHP