May 1, 2008

Weekly Release: Texas-Pan American

 

Texas-Pan American (17-29) at Northern Colorado (15-30)

Friday, May 2 • Greeley, Colo. • Jackson Field • 2:00 p.m.

Saturday, May 3 • Greeley, Colo. • Jackson Field • 1:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 3 • Greeley, Colo. • Jackson Field • Noon

Audio Streaming: www.1310kfka.com • Live Stats: www.uncbears.com

 

Home Finale

Northern Colorado concludes its home season with a three-game set against Texas-Pan American beginning on Friday. The Bears are currently 8-8 at Jackson Field and Sunday will be "Senior Day" with the 14 graduating seniors being honored prior to the first pitch.

 

Series History

With both teams being Independent, the Broncs and the Bears started the series in 2006. The teams squared off in the season opener, with Texas-Pan Am winning 2-1. Last year the teams met six times, with the Bears winning four, including a three-game sweep at Jackson Field, and NC leads 4-3 in the meetings.

 

Commonality

Surprisingly, Northern Colorado and Texas-Pan American have just one common opponent this season in South Dakota State. The Broncs lost their only game to the Jackrabbits 11-10, while the Bears went 1-2 against SDSU.

 

It's So Hard To Say Goodbye

A total of 14 seniors will be playing their final series at Jackson Field this weekend. Tony Andenucio, Jason Banks, Anthony Garcia, Jeff Horn, Dan Kazell, T.R. Keating, Jon Klausing, Cory Morales, Chad Murray, Sean Peery, Chris Reap, Adam Symons, Erik Whinery and Sean Zyer will all be honored prior to Sunday's contest for their contributions to the program.

 

It's Going, It's Going...

Freshman T.J. Berge became the 10th player this season to hit a home run, when he hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth inning against BYU. Berge's shot was as a pinch hitter and then he was inserted into the lineup where he had two more hits for a 3-for-3 day.

 

Double Double Toil and Trouble

Junior designated hitter Kevin Sandberg leads the team with 19 doubles this season, but senior first baseman Chad Murray is right behind him with 18. Both are currently ranked on the single-season top 10 list at Northern Colorado, with Sandberg in a tie for sixth and Murray in a tie for eighth. The single season record for doubles is 27 by Patrick Perry in 2004.

 

When It Counts

With a runner on third base and less than two outs, the Bears are doing a great job of getting the runner home. Senior Chad Murray is leading the team with more than 15 attempts, hitting .762 (16-for-21). Fellow senior Cory Morales is hitting .688 (11-for-16), while junior Kevin Sandberg is at .571 (12-for-21). As a team, the Bears are hitting .596 in that situation.

 

And Two Makes 18

With his two walks in the last game against BYU, Mike Raudenbush has now reached base safely in 18 straight games. It is the longest active streak on the team and the longest of the year.

 

Making His Move

Junior Kevin Sandberg continues to make his climb up the career charts in several different categories. He now ranks seventh overall in at bats with 509 and needs just eight more RBI to move onto the charts in 10th. He is third with 41 doubles, needing just six more to tie the record and with three more home runs will move into a tie for 10th. Sandberg has also been on base in 21 of the last 22 games.

 

Inching Closer

After pitching in both games against BYU early in the week, senior right-handed pitcher Sean Peery now ranks second in school history on the appearances chart for pitchers with 22 games. The NC record in a year is 24 held by Tyler Pearson from 2006 and there are 10 games left on the 2008 schedule for Peery to possibly pitch in.

 

Reap Gets 100th "K"

Senior right-handed pitcher Chris Reap threw the 100th strikeout of his career at Northern Colorado in the start against Dallas Baptist. Reap now has 102 K's in his two seasons with the Bears.

 

Going The Distance

Senior left-handed pitcher Jon Klausing pitched his second complete game with the Bears in the second game of the double header with Dallas Baptist. Klausing now has two complete seven-inning contests this year. He defeated DBU 10-1, striking out seven and walking just two. He is now 2-4 on the year with an ERA of 6.15.

 

Turning Two

In the last seven games, Northern Colorado has turned 10 double plays, compared to just four for the opposition. The Bears are up to 37 double plays for the season after turning just eight in the first 10 games of the year. Shortstop Cory Morales has been involved with a team-best 25 of those turns, while Chad Murray has been in on 20.

 

In The Clutch

Three players have shined this year getting RBI with two outs. Junior Erik Hegstad leads the way with 17 RBI (31 total), while senior Erik Whinery has 15 (30) and Chad Murray (44) and Cory Morales (29) both have 14. A total of 97 of the team's 276 RBI have come with two outs (.369).

 

Getting Closer

The Bears now have 102 doubles on the season for an average of 2.23 per game which ranks 44th in the nation. NC is now just 16 shy of the school record of 118 from the 1994 season and have surpassed last year's mark of 92 two-baggers.

 

One More

With 15 wins on the season, Northern Colorado is just one victory shy of tying last season's total of 16 wins. The 2007 squad went 16-35 and also started with the first 24 games of the year on the road. The Bears have 10 games remaining on the 2008 schedule.

 

It Hasn't Been Easy

With the first 24 games on the road this season, the Bears faced some of the toughest competition in Division I as four opponents and 13 of those 24 contests came against teams currently ranked in the top 20 of the Collegiate Baseball Poll as Arizona State (1-1) is ranked third, Texas A&M (2-2) is sixth, Nebraska (0-6) is 10th and UC Irvine (0-1) is 17th.

 

Back-to-Back Jacks

For the first time all season, two Bears hit consecutive home runs when senior Chad Murray and Kevin Sandberg hit long balls against Metro State in the second inning. The Bears tallied six home runs in the game, the most since NC smashed nine against the Roadrunners back in 2003. It was the fourth time this season the Bears notched at least two homers in the same contest.

 

Milestone Approaching

Northern Colorado has a storied baseball tradition, one that shows when looking at the all-time record. The Bears are now just one win shy of 1,400 in history, sporting a 1,399-1,040-3 (.574) record since the program began in 1924.

 

A Win Over One

For the first time in Division I history at Northern Colorado, the Bears defeated the top-ranked team in the nation, downing Arizona State 6-3 on March 21. This season the Bears are 3-6 against teams ranked in the top 30, while they went 0-6 against ranked squads a year ago. In 2006, NC defeated #2-ranked Nebraska, 5-2 and went 2-4 against teams appearing in the national rankings.

 

Closing In

Senior Jeff Horn is 15 at bats shy of 250 for his career and the next hit will be the 50th of his career. Senior Dan Kazell is 15 strikeouts shy of recording 100, while senior T.R. Keating needs 20 for the same milestone. Senior Jon Klausing needs to fan three more for the 50th. Junior Andy Mees needs eight more hits for 50 in his career, while Chad Murray is six at bats shy of 300 and 13 hits shy of 100. The next strikeout for Joe Sawicki will be his 50th batter fanned and senior Erik Whinery needs four more hits for his 50th this season.