SFA Looks For First League Win Against Nicholls
3/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 19, 2009
vs Nicholls (10-7, 4-2 SLC) - March 20, 3:00 p.m. vs Nicholls (10-7, 4-2 SLC) - March 21, 2:00 p.m. vs Nicholls (10-7, 4-2 SLC) - March 22, 1:00 p.m.
JAYCEES FIELD (1,000) - NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS
Complete release in PDF format
Probable Pitching Matchups:
Friday: SFA - Erik Gregersen, RHP (1-2, 5.14 ERA, 21.0 IP, 18 K, 8 BB) Nicholls - Lance Dupuis, RHP (2-1, 5.75 ERA, 20.1 IP, 22 K, 7 BB)
Saturday: SFA - Erich Lehmann, RHP (0-2, 6.05 ERA, 19.1 IP, 17 K, 3 BB) Nicholls - Jarret Dunham, LHP (2-2, 3.80 ERA, 21.1 IP, 15 K, 16 BB)
Sunday: SFA - Brett Rogers, RHP (1-1, 6.05 ERA, 19.1 IP, 8 K, 4 BB) Nicholls - Jake Parrish, RHP (0-1, 4.50 ERA, 14.0 IP, 7 K, 5 BB)
THIS WEEKEND The `Jacks are back in conference play this weekend as they take on Nicholls at Jaycees Field. SFA is looking for its first league win after snapping an eight game losing streak earlier in the week with a pair of wins over Houston Baptist.
AGAINST THE COLONELS SFA has only won 11 of 37 tries against the Colonels since 1983, but did sweep a three game set from Nicholls in Thibodaux last season. That series win sparked a nine-game win streak for SFA and got them back into the SLC race. The `Jacks have won six of nine games with Nicholls since 2006.
FOLLOW THE 'JACKS RADIO: None
LIVE STATS: Livestats will be available via Gametracker for all three games vs the Colonels at www.sfajacks.com
UPDATING THE 'JACKS SFA won its last two games against Houston Baptist to snap a eight-game losing skid. The `Jacks are 0-5 in SLC play and are one of only two winless teams (TAMUCC) remaining in the Southland Conference.
UP NEXT The Lumberjacks next travel to Fort Worth to take on head coach Johnny Cardenas' alma mater, No. 18 TCU at Lupton Stadium. SFA has not played the Horned Frogs since 2006. Following that the `Jacks will travel south to San Marcos for three games wiht one of preseason favorites in the SLC, Texas State. The Bobcats will no doubt be looking for revenge as SFA swept Texas State in Nacogdoches late in the year in 2008.
PUT ON THE BRAKES!: SFA avoided a dubious record with its 7-4 win over Houston Baptist on Tuesday, as another loss would have been its ninth in a row and would have been the longest losing streak since SFA brought back baseball in 2006. SFA had an eight-game losing skid early in the 2006 campaign and had another midway through the 2008 season.
ONE GAME MAKES A DIFFERENCE: Especially when that one game is a game that an opponent scores 24 runs. That happened the second game of the year against ULM when the Warhawks dropped in 24 runs against SFA pitching. Overall the `Jacks have a 5.09 team ERA, but take that game away and as a team SFA has a 4.17 team ERA, a mark that would currently stand as the third best team ERA in the conference.
NEARLY THE RECORD: SFA was swinging the sticks well on Wednesday against Houston Baptist, tallying 20 hits against the Huskies which was just one hit shy of the all-time single-game record of 21 set in 2007. Oddly enough 18 of the hits were of the singles variety with ony Bo Coffman and Justin McAninch getting hits that went for extra bases.
NOT MEYERED IN A SLUMP: First baseman/DH is one of the few Lumberjack hitters to be ranked among the best in the SLC. Meyers leads SFA in batting average (.429), slugging percentage (.667), RBI (16) and doubles (5). The Conroe, Texas, native had an eight-game hit streak to start the season and has now hit in his last six of his last seven games as well. Opposing managers will have a tough time trying to match up with him as well as Meyers is actually hitting better against lefties (.444, 8/18) than against righties (.422, 19/45).
LINEUP SWITCH: The `Jacks made a change at the top of the lineup in the final game against Central Arkansas when they moved shortstop Tanner Hines into the leadoff spot and put Zach Gardner in the No. 2 hole. Statistically speaking, the move is a sensible one considering that Hines is has reached 42 percent of the time he has led off an inning compared to just 26 percent by Gardner, however Gardner is more of an RBI and stands second on the `Jacks with 11 RBI so far, one of only two players in double-figures in that category for SFA.
GOTTA GET `EM IN: Nobody can say that the `Jacks did not have their opportunities against Central Arkansas lat week, but SFA never could seem to convert until late in the game on Sunday. Overall, the `Jacks left 11 runners on base in 11 innings on Saturday, 14 more in 10 innings on Sunday and 11 more in 10 innings against La. Tech on Tuesday. The most SFA left on base throughout all of 2008 was 12 twice, against Sacred Heart (3/8) and Dallas Baptist (3/4). SFA also went a span of 25 consecutive innings without pushing across a run until the sixth inning on Sunday, tying the most since 2006 in that category. That year SFA went from the eighth inning on March 29 to the sixth inning on April 2 without scoring - a span of 25 innings over four games.
THE GARDNER DID IT: Zach Gardner is climbing quickly climbing the SFA record books, and with his eighth career triple against Houston tied Noel Trevino for the most ever at SFA. McNeese's Shon Landry (12) and UTSA's Michael Rockett (9) are the only active players in the SLC with more career triples. He also swiped a base against Houston Baptist, giving him 26 for his career, tying him for fourth all-time at SFA and is only four steals behind Jeff Brewer and Kai Kirby for the all-time top spot.
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 74 games since 2006, going 55-19 (.743) in those games; however, the 'Jacks have scored less than seven 112 times since 2006, going only 18-94 (.161) 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. This year the `Jacks have scored at least seven on seven occassions, going 5-2 in those contests and 0-10 when scoring less than seven runs.
POWER SURGE: SFA had only hit five home runs as a team in 14 games after the first game of Sunday's doubleheader at Northwestern State when they went long four times against the Demons. Justin Long led the way with his first two career home runs while Sean Meyers added his second of the season and freshman Jarid Scarafiotti got a solo shot in as he was making his first career start. The four dingers is the most since SFA hit four long balls as a team on April 13, 2008, against TAMUCC and is only one homer shy of the all-time record at SFA of five team home runs that SFA pulled off in both 2007 an 1993.
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.
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 (218) and needs only 3 K's to move past Sean Wood for the all-time lead, while also needing only 24.2 more innings to top the innings pitched category as well. Richard Folmer earned his 11th career save against Houston Baptist to move into sole possession of second place in the all-time SFA record book, only four saves behind Kyle Standley for first place.
CARDENAS CRACKS WIN COLUMN: With SFA's 7-2 win on 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.
SENIOR CYCLE: The 2009 season will mark the fourth season with baseball back at SFA, and will mark the first four-year senior crop of players to make the full cycle through the program. Erik Gregersen, Zach Gardner, Erich Lehmann, Jared Schrom and Richard Folmer are each seniors that were part of the initial freshman recruiting class that opened up play in 2006.
-SFA-
