SFA To Take On No. 4 Aggies
3/2/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 2, 2009
vs No. 4 Texas A@M (7-2, 0-0 Big 12) - March 3, 6:30 p.m.
vs No. 4 Texas A&M (7-2, 0-0 Big 12) - March 4, 3:05 p.m.
OLSEN FIELD (7,053) - COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS
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Probable pitching matchups:
Tuesday: SFA - Ryan Priest, RHP (0-1, 9.00 ERA, 5.0 IP, 2K, 4BB) Texas A&M - Clayton Ehlert, RHP (0-0, 6.75 ERA, 5.1 IP, 5K, 1BB)
Wednesday: SFA - Jared West, RHP (0-0, 99.00 ERA, 0.1 IP, 0K, 3BB) Texas A&M - Ross Hales, LHP (2-0, 1.04 ERA, 8.2 IP, 9K, 2BB)
THIS WEEK The `Jacks travel to College Station to take on the No. 4 team in the nation on Tuesday ands Wednesday - the Texas A&M Aggies. Both SFA and the Aggies are coming off 2-1 weekends. SFA at the Al Ogletree Classic, and Texas A&M at the Houston College Classic where it took wins over UC-Irvine and Houston.
SFA has never beaten the Aggies, dropping 15 consecutive games in College Station since 1983. Last season, SFA dropped a pair of games, including a 5-4 walkoff win for Texas A&M in the series finale.
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UPDATING THE 'JACKS SFA nearly pulled out a comeback win on Tuesday against Houston, but could not overcome an error-filled first inning in falling to the Cougars 7-5. The `Jacks have dropped three of four to open the year.
UP NEXT SFA jumps right into SLC play on Friday when Central Arkansas comes to Nacogdoches for a conference-opening, three-game series with a home-and-home set with Louisiana Tech only two days after that.
TANNER TOUGH TO STRIKE OUT: Tanner Hines is demonstrating to the `Jacks lineup just how to be a contact hitter. The San Jacinto transfer still has yet to strike out in 28 at-bats to start the season, which so far is still nine at-bats shy of the SFA record to start a season. In 2006, Clay Britton opened up the year by not fanning in his first 37 at-bats.
GREGERSEN GROWING UP: When Erik Gregersen returned to SFA for his senior season after being selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2008 MLB Draft, he knew there were still several aspects of his game to work on. Well, through two starts it looks as though he is moving in the right direction. He currently sports a 2.45 ERA through two starts, having gone 5.0 innings against Mississippi Valley State and 6.0 innings against UT-Arlington. Before this season he had made only six appearances of at least 5.0 innings in three seasons, all coming in `08; however, his first two starts this season mark the first time in his career he has gone at least 5.0 innings and allowed three or less runs in back-to-back games.
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 was 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 71 games since 2006, going 53-18 (.746) in those games; however, the 'Jacks have scored less than seven 105 times since 2006, going only 18-87 (.171) 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 four occassions, going 3-1 in those contests and 0-3 when scoring less than seven runs.
BREAK OUT THE ROLAIDS: Or if you need relief, just look at the SFA bullpen recently. Take away Jared Schrom's 2/3-inning, four-run appearance from Friday's game vs UTA and the `Jacks bullpen posted a 1.32 ERA in 13.2 innings of relief over four games last week. Chris Court is currently leading the SLC with a .038 opponent's batting average, having not allowed a hit in his last 6.1 innings. Richard Folmer has also tossed three scoreless innings and earned a save and Alex Moshier has allowed only one hit and no runs in three appearances.
`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.
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 home and followed that up with a 17-11 record at home in 2008. Not surprisingly, during the `Jacks' nine-game win streak late in the 2008 season 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, posting 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 (210) and needs only 11 K's to move past Sean Wood for the all-time lead, while also needing only 35.1 more innings to top the innings pitched category as well. Richard Folmer earned his 10th career save on Sunday to tie Kevin Buchanan for the second most all-time, while Zach Gardner will likely take the lead in career hits and possibly runs scored by the end of the year.
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.
