SFA To Unveil New Jaycees Field Against Houston
2/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 23, 2009
FEB. 24: SFA vs HOUSTON
`Jacks Unveil Revamped Jaycees Field
Houston (1-2, 0-0 Conference USA) vs SFA (1-2, 0-0 SLC)
Feb. 24, 3:00 p.m. - JAYCEES FIELD (1,000) - NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS
Probable Pitching matchup: SFA - Ryan Priest, RHP (First career start) UH - Michael Goodnight, RHP (First career start)
THIS WEEK After picking up their first win of the year on Sunday, the `Jacks will christen the renovated Jaycees Field on Tuesday when they host the Houston Cougars. UH dropped the first two games of its season last weekend against Kansas State before rebounding to earn a 3-2 win in the series finale.
FOLLOW THE 'JACKS LIVE STATS: Viewers can follow the 'Jacks via Gametracker on www.sfajacks.com
RADIO: Can be heard via UH radio at www.uhcougars.com. Access the baseball page and click on banner on the right that says Live Audio.
UPDATING THE 'JACKS SFA dropped heartbreaker in the first game of the season, 4-3, to Mississippi Valley State before running into an offensive buzzsaw against host ULM in losing 24-7 in the Saturday nightcap. Less than 24 hours later, though, the `Jacks cracked the win column for the first time with a 7-2 win over Northwestern State behind eight innings from freshman pitcher Brett Rogers.
UP NEXT The `Jacks hit the road once again this weekend, traveling near the border to Edinburg to take part in the Al Ogletree Classic. There SFA will take on UTPA, UT-Arlington and Illinois in the round-robin affair. SFA played each team last year, posting a 6-1 overall record against the Broncs, Mavs and Illini. SFA went 1-2 in last year's Classic, picking up a win over the Broncs before sweeping UTPA in a two-game set in Nacogdoches later in the year.
CARDENAS CRACKS WIN COLUMN: With SFA's 7-2 win on Sunday over Northwestern State, head coach Johnny Cardenas was able to earn his first win as a collegiate head coach. The 2007 Texas Collegiate League Coach of the Year, Cardenas was SFA's top assistant before being promoted to head coach in July. He is the only first-year head coach in the Southland Conference this season, while JP Davis (NWLA), Scott Malone (TAMUCC), Darin Thomas (UTA) and Terry Burrows (McNeese) all debuted with their schools in 2008.
SFA IN HOME OPENERS: The `Jacks have found its success at Jaycees Field since returning in 2006, and each of the three years SFA's fans have watched the team start off on the right foot on its own turf. SFA is 3-0 in home openers since 2006, with two of those wins coming in one-run fashion. Last year's home opener was an entertaining one as well as the `Jacks pulled out a 9-8 win over Houston Baptist with a perfectly executed suicide squeeze in the bottom of the ninth for the winning run.
CAT SCRATCHED: The University of Houston has been an annual home-and-home opponent for SFA since `06, with the teams having faced each other six times in that span; however, SFA has only been able to pull out one win in those six tries. That win, though, came in 2006 when the Cougars were ranked No. 10 in the nation and fell 3-2 at Jaycees Field. Current SFA seniors Erich Lehmann and Jared Schom were freshmen on that team, but pitched all nine innings between them with Schrom taking the win. Overall, though, the `Jacks are only 2-27 since 1983 against Houston.
MR. ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD: Freshman Brett Rogers felt right at home on the mound in his collegiate debut on Sunday when he led SFA to a 7-2 win over Northwestern State. Rogers went eight innings in only 97 pitches for the win, scattering 11 hits in his time on the bump. That outing is the longest outing by a freshman pitcher for SFA since Erich Lehmann in 2006. That year Lehmann finished off the year on fire, picking up three consecutive complete game wins in the final three games of the season against TAMUCC, SE Lousiana and Sam Hosuton.
JAYCEES GETS A FACELIFT: Beginning in the fall of 2008, the home of SFA Baseball, Jaycees Field, underwent several renovations including elevating the press box and adding new seating. SFA sank nearly $200,000 dollars into the project that includes creating a new playing field for SFA's softball team as well. At Jaycees Field, though, a new 740-seat bleacher system in addition to chair-back seating in a covered center section in front of the press box that was elevated nearly 30 feet.
`JACKS NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT: Tanner Hines and Brett Rogers were both named to the all-tournament team at the ULM Warhawk Classic over the weekend after helping SFA go 1-2 in three tries. Hines Hines was 4-for-7 in his first two games as a Lumberjack, finishing with a .364 average for the tournament with a pair of runs, an RBI and solid defense at shortstop. Rogers was arguably the most impressive of any of the `Jacks, though, with his eight-inning win in the tournament finale against Northwestern State. The true freshman had the longest pitching performance of any player in the tournament, holding NWLA to just two runs in his stint with a pair of strikeouts and only one walk.
LUCKY (OR UNLUCKY) NUMBER SEVEN: SFA has found a key to winning over the past three seasons, and it is scoring at least seven runs that is usually no surprise. With the powerful offenses that the team has had over the past two seasons, it is no surprise that SFA has scored at least seven runs in 67 games since 2006, going 50-17 (.746) in those games; however, the 'Jacks have scored less than seven 102 times since 2006, going only 18-84 (.176) in those games. The 2008 season was alsmost divided directly down that line as SFA went 22-6 in games where they scored at least seven times, and were 3-23 in games in which they scored less than seven.
PROTECTING THEIR HOUSE: The 'Jacks, not unlike most teams, have been much more productive at home than on the road in the past two seasons. SFA went 18-6 in 2007 at Jaycees Field and followed that up with a 17-11 record at home in 2008. During the Lumberjacks' nine-game win streak that pushed them back into contention for berth in the SLC Tournament in 2008, not surprisingly six of those nine wins came at home. Even more impressive is the way SFA has closed each of the last three seasons at home, posing an 11-4 record in the month of May at home since 2006.
RECORD CHASERS: Several Lumberjacks are chasing after the top spot in the SFA record books in a number of categories this year including Erich Lehmann, Richard Folmer and Zach Gardner. Lehmann is one of only two Lumberjack pitchers to have 200 career strikeouts (203) and needs only 18 K's to move past Sean Wood for the all-time lead, while also needing only 42 more innings to top the innings pitched category as well. Richard Folmer has nine career saves trails only Kyle Standley and Kevin Buchanan there, while Zach Gardner will likely take the lead in career hits and possibly runs scored by the end of the year.
-SFA-
