SFA To Open Up SLC Play At UCA
3/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 11, 2010
at Central Arkansas (4-8, 0-0 Southland) - March 12, 2010 - 6:30 p.m.
at Central Arkansas (4-8, 0-0 Southland) - March 13, 2010 - 4:00 p.m.
at Central Arkansas (4-8, 0-0 Southland) - March 14, 2010 - 1:00 p.m.
Complete release in PDF format
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday:
SFA - Tyler Herriage, LHP (2-0, 4.40 ERA, 14.1 IP, 13 K, 5 BB)
UCA - Michael Wild, RHP (1-1, 5.31 ERA, 20.1 IP, 15 K, 6 BB)
Saturday:
SFA - Jared West, RHP (2-0, 2.25 ERA, 16.0 IP, 10K, 5 BB)
UCA - Bobby Pritchett, RHP (1-0, 5.14 ERA, 14.0 IP, 17 K, 5 BB)
Sunday:
SFA - Justin Braddock, RHP (2-0, 2.84 ERA, 19.0 IP, 7 K, 2 BB)
UCA - Dustin Ward, RHP (1-0, 3.12, 17.1 IP, 16 K, 8 BB
Series Notes
NINE-HOLE KNOCKOUTS: A big part of SFA's early success this season has been the balance throughout Johnny Cardenas' lineup in all spots 1-9. But no slot's improvement has been more glar¬ing as SFA's No. 9 hitters through seven games. Essentially a second leadoff hitter, nine-hole hitters for the `Jacks hit just .173 last season, just 25 runs scored and 33 hits in 55 games. This season has been a different story as Michael Haynes and Jordan Lewis have been sparkplugs at the bottom of the lineup, hitting a combined .419 with 18 hits and 15 runs scored through just 12 games. That .419 average is the highest average of any spot in the Lumberjack lineup.
NO LOVE LOST: Junior transfer Bobby Loveless was brought in to be a run-producing threat in the middle of the order and early on he has been just that, driving in at least one run in 10 of 12 games this year. He put together his first four-hit game of his career last Tuesday against Houston Baptist and picked up his 10th RBI of the season, becoming the first `Jack to reach double figures in that cat¬egory in 2010. He also earned some national recognition last week after his three-run homer against Texas A&M proved to be the winning margin, as he was named a Primetime Performer by Colleg¬eBaseball360.com for the week of Feb. 22-28. He was one of just 21 players in the nation named to the list for the week. Loveless leads the `Jacks in batting average, slugging percentage, RBI and home runs after his 2-for-4 performance on Sunday at No. 17 that included his second home run of the season against a Big XII team.
HIT THE ROAD `JACKS: After opening up with six of its first seven games at home, the `Jacks are at the midway point of a new test as they are away from home for 10 straight games. But so far it's been a productive swing for the `Jacks as they are 3-2 in the first half of the trip. Pending that the weather cooperates and all of the games are played it will be the longest road swing for SFA this sea¬son. It would also be the longest for the program since SFA's first road trip in 2006, an 11-game swing that saw the `Jacks drop 10 of 11 games in its first season back.
BULLPEN BLESSINGS: The `Jacks had arguably the best bullpen in the league last year when you look at what they could throw on any given day from the back end with Richard Folmer, Chris Court and Alex Moshier; however, with Moshier still awaiting his 2010 debut and Folmer and Court gone, Johnny Cardenas had to find a way to piece together a bullpen from what was left. So far he has found a pair of gems in sophomores Cory Ochs and Jason West. Ochs made just three appear¬ances all last year with numbers that were far from stellar, but he has already made four showings this season and has only allowed one unearned run in holding batters to just an .097 average. West has served time in the closer role and has been oustanding, already picking up multi-inning saves at Texas A&M and against South Florida. His sidearm delivery has held hitters to just a .194 average and his 1.12 ERA is second best out of the pen only to Ochs.
TWO-HITTING THE TROJANS: Zack Taylor, Cory Ochs and Jason West teamed up to toss a two-hitter on Tuesday at UALR with the bullpen combo of Ochs and West not allowing a hit. The two-hitter is the first thrown by SFA since Lance Luetge threw a complete-game, two-hit shutout at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on April 15, 2007. The trio also struck out a dozen Trojans on the evening, coming up just one short of the SFA single-game record for strikeouts as a team since 2006.
JUSTIN TIME: With the loss of all-time wins leader Erich Lehmann after last season, the `Jacks knew they would have holes to fill in the starting rotation. One name they were looking at to fill that void was junior transfer Justin Braddock and through two starts he has been solid, going 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA against Grambling and Houston Baptist. He is only the third SFA player since 2006 to pick up wins in his first two career appearances, joining Erich Lehmann and Lance Luetge in that category. Going even further, he and Lehmann are the only two `Jacks to run their record to 2-0 in their first two career starts.
BO KNOWS: Right fielder Bo Coffman is in the midst of a nice run at the plate and has set a new bar for SFA hit streaks with a career-best eight-gamer after his 2-for-4 performance at UALR. Three of the eight games have been multi-hit affairs and he has crossed home plate at least once in six of those eight games. But the most intrieging part about the streak may be his efficiency as he has only struck out twice in 33 at-bats, that is after averaging a strikeout every 4.95 at-bats in 2009.
QUICK STARTERS: With each win the `Jacks continue to add to the program's quickest and best start in history. Currently SFA has won eight of its first twelve, which is the fastest SFa has ever reached eight wins in a season. They also have road wins in College Station against Texas A&M and Tuesday at UALR. The A&M win was SFA's first over the Aggies in 18 tries, as well as the school's second-ever win over a team from the Big XII.
WHO'S THE NEW GUYS?: Look through the `Jacks roster and you will see a number of new faces in pur¬ple and white. SFA returns only a dozen players off of its 2009 roster, which is the least amount of returners of any school in the Southland Conference; however, they are divided up evenly with six right-handed arms back in addition to six position players.
THE UN-WILD WEST: Jared West just seemed more comfortable on the rubber at Jaycees Field in 2009 and through one game that has carried over into 2010. In five starts at home last season West went 3-0 with a 1.37 ERA and held opponents to a .220 average as a starter. In his first start of the season on Saturday against Grambling he went 7.0 innings with five strikeouts and no walks in picking up the win. With two home starts under his belt in 2010, he has run his record to 5-0 with a 1.67 ERA in nine appearances at Jaycees Field over the past two seasons.
HITTIN' `EM EARLY, BUT NOT LATE: The SFA offense has done a exceptional job so far this year in getting early leads for the SFA pitching staff to work with; however, the `Jacks are not having nearly the success against opponent's bullpens as they are against the starters they have faced. Through a dozen games opponent's starters have only managed a 9.47 ERA with SFA hitting .372 as a team against them; however, once the starter exits and the bullpen takes over the `Jacks are only hitting .258 with opponent's bullpens holding a much more respectable 4.88 ERA. Those numbers explain why SFA has also scored exactly half of its 90 runs this year in the first four innings.
RUN-PRODUCING `JACKS: With the departure of much of the offense from a year ago, SFA is still finding balance throughout the lineup in getting runs across the plate. Jarid Scarafiotti has already driven in as many runs (12) as he did in all of 2009, and in less than half as many at-bats. Bobby Loveless (15) and Garrett Smith have (10) have each joined him in double figures through 12 games, with Loveless' mark trailing only Noel Trevino's 16 RBI in 2008 as the most for a `Jack through 12 games since 2006. Smith's trails only Zach Gardner's 11 RBI 2008 as well as the most for a leadoff hitter in the same span.
-SFA-
