MAC Baseball Notebook
May 15, 2001
*MAC TOURNEY HEADS TO BALL STATE:
For the second time in three years, Ball State will host the MAC Baseball Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Muncie, Ind. The host Cardinals earned the top seed with a 21-5 record in MAC play, while Bowling Green claimed the No. 2 seed as well as picking up the school's third MAC East Division title in four years. BSU has won or shared the West Division crown in each of the four years that division play has been in place, and also won its second MAC regular season crown in the last three years.
Kent State is the No. 3 seed and will open the tourney with No. 4 Ohio, while No. 5 Central Michigan will face the Falcons. BSU, meanwhile, will host No. 6 Miami in the final game Wednesday. The championship game is slated to start at 12 p.m. Saturday.
*RETURNING CHAMPION IS BACK:
Defending MAC tournament champion Miami was the sixth and final team to qualify for this week's tournament, and the RedHawks needed extra innings to get in. Miami, which won 7-5 in 12 inning at Kent State on Sunday, is attempting to become the fifth different team in league history to repeat as tournament champion. Bowling Green is the last team to repeat, winning titles in 1998 and 1999.
*THE MAC'S 20-20 MAN:
Kent State's John VanBenschoten this past weekend became only the second player in league history to hit for 20 or more home runs and steal at least 20 bases in one season. The junior, who has slammed a MAC single-season record 26 homers and has swiped 21 bases, joins former Ball State standout Thomas Howard. Howard hit 23 home runs and stole 25 bases in 1986.
*MAC'S PITCHERS SET SCHOOL RECORDS:
Ball State's Bryan Bullington and Ohio's Denny McGee a week ago became only the 16th and 17th players in MAC history to record 100-plus strikeouts in one year. This past weekend the duo also set school marks for strikeouts in a single season and are also chasing the league's single season mark.
Bullington, who has 209 career strikeouts in 185.1 innings, is eighth in MAC single season history with 110 strikeouts, while McGee is tied for fourth with 116 this year. In addition, McGee is 6th all-time in MAC history with 259 strikeouts and also became the school's career strikeout leader with 11 last Friday.
*HOSTEST WITH THE MOSTEST?:
In the 11 previous MAC Baseball Tournaments (12, if one counts a neutral site in 1982), the home team has claimed the tournament title only four times. In 1997 and 1998, Ohio and Bowling Green each won the title on its home field, while Kent State won back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993. In fact, the host has failed to make it to the title game in four out of the last six years, including the last two seasons.
*MACE IS MAC CAREER HITS LEADER:
One year after Kent State's Jess Bechard became the first player in league history to register 300 career hits -- en route to becoming the MAC career hits leader -- Miami's Clark Mace joined and also passed the former second baseman for the top spot. The senior's record-breaking hit, a single, came in Saturday's second game of the doubleheader versus Kent State. Mace, who also owns MAC career marks in runs scored (225) and at-bats (880), enters the tournament with 307 hits.
*RECORD WEEKEND AT WESTERN:
Two members of the Western Michigan baseball team reached impressive statistical records over the weekend. Senior outfielder John Toner belted his 28th career home run Saturday, tying him with Frank Alfieri and Kris Gundrum for the program's all-time lead. Toner's 16 homers this season represent the second-best single season total in WMU history. On the mound, Pat Misch established a new Bronco single season strikeout mark with 16 whiffs against Ball State Friday. Misch ended the year with 99 strikeouts this season, breaking a 70-year old program record. Vic Neiginfind fanned 91 batters during the 1931 season.
*KSU IN FOR NINTH YEAR IN A ROW:
Kent State will be making its ninth straight appearance in the MAC Tournament, which is a league best. The Golden Flashes also have won the most tourney games (17) but have failed to reach the championship game in each of the last three years.
Consecutive MAC Tournament Appearances
Kent State -- 9 (1992-pr.)
Miami -- 5 (1997-pr.)
Ball State -- 5 (1997-pr.)
*KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE:
This season, 49 players have recorded hitting streaks of 10 games or better, including six players who have an active streak. The longest streak in the MAC this year was Kent State's John VanBenschoten, who hit safely in 22 consecutive games. Listed below are the players that through May 13 have current hitting streaks of 10 games or more:
Name, School Streak
Mitch Maier, UT -- 17
Brady Nori, MIA -- 12
David Barkholz, BG -- 11
Homer Renshaw, MAR -- 11
David Colangelo, MAR -- 10
David Goleski, EMU -- 10
*MAC MARKS FALL THIS WEEKEND:
In addition to Miami's Clark Mace becoming the MAC's all-time hits leader, Ohio's Ryan Kyes set the league mark for doubles in a year with 32, while Mace's teammate tied a pair of records. Miami's Jason Knoedler tied two MAC single-season records this past weekend, hits and runs scored. The junior has registered 94 hits to date, and with at least two games in the tournament has a chance to etch his name at the top of the list. Knoedler's hit total equals Thomas Howard's (BSU) 1986 total, while his 75 runs scored matches the output Greg Lotzar produced in 1985 for Central Michigan.
*NIU PRODUCES WINS AND RECORDS:
Northern Illinois' 28-27 mark represents only the second winning record by the program since 1977 and is one win shy of the school record. The 1995 squad posted a 29-28 record. This season the Huskies broke 18 team and individual records. As a team the Huskies set new standards for runs scored (379), hits (554), doubles (138) and 391 strikeouts by the pitching staff.
*SIX MAC PLAYERS HONORED:
Six MAC baseball players were among student-athletes named May 10 to the Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-District teams, four of which came from District IV and two from District V. Capturing the academic honors from District IV were Miami's Luke Reinhart (3.20 GPA), Bowling Green's Scott Dukate (3.56), Ohio's Ryan Kyes (3.31) and Central Michigan's Bryan Scheurer (3.91). Ball State's Matt Deckman (3.92) and Northern Illinois' Pat Kerrigan (3.52) were represented on the District V list. The six players are now eligible to garner Academic All-America status, which will be announced on June 5.
*KOMMER PREVAILS FOR EAGLES:
Eastern Michigan's Phil Kommer went the distance on Saturday for the Eagles, a 6-0 win for EMU which was also his sixth complete game of the year. Kommer didn't allow a Marshall player to reach second base and struck out four to improve to 4-1 in MAC play.
*CHRISTMAN IS BG'S HIT MAN:
Bowling Green senior Aric Christman added to his school records on Sunday when he hit a grand slam home run at Akron. The hit, which was his second of the game, was his 81st this season, establishing a new Falcon mark. Christman already owns BG single-season records for at-bats and runs scored.
*CMU GOES OUT ON TOP AT HOME:
Central Michigan closed out the Theunissen Stadium era this weekend by winning its final five games, including a sweep of Toledo, the team's first MAC sweep since 1998. Scott Pickens and Jason Helps each hit two home runs on Sunday, part of a school-record home run day for the Chippewas. A day earlier, more than 100 former players returned and took their old positions in a celebration that was part of CMU's final season at its current ballpark.
*LUCAS PITCHES ZIPS TO WINS:
Akron sophomore pitcher Justin Lucas was involved in three of the Zips' four wins last week. Lucas picked up two wins and a save in three appearances that spanned seven innings. The right-handed hurler pitched 3.2 scoreless innings versus Pittsburgh, striking out three en route to the win. He then notched a save and a win against Bowling Green.
*PRESEASON POLL REVISITED:
Below is a comparison of the league's preseason poll, which was released back in February, in relation to where the teams finished at the end of the regular season.
East Division Pick/+/-
Bowling Green 4th/+2
Kent State 2nd/even
Ohio 3rd/+1
Miami 1st/-3
Marshall 6th/+1
Akron 5th/-1
Buffalo 7th/even
West Division Pick/+/-
Ball State 1st/even
Central Michigan 2nd/even
Eastern Michigan 6th/+3
Western Michigan 3rd/-1
Northern Illinois 4th/-1
Toledo 5th/even
*HUBER ENDS SEASON ON PERFECT NOTE:
Eric Huber concluded his junior season at Buffalo in fine fashion. Huber was a perfect 4-for-4 with two runs scored and a double in the Bulls' one-run loss to Niagara. The outfielder set a UB mark for hits in a season with 69 and also paced the Bulls in batting (.367) and doubles (12).
*NIU HURLERS LEAVE THEIR MARKS:
Senior Brad Gavelek ended his career as one of the most successful pitchers in Northern Illinois history. The lefty owns NIU career marks for innings pitched (306.1), strikeouts (231), starts (47) and complete games (20), while rating second all-time with 17 wins. His 306.1 innings ranks him eighth all-time in the MAC. This year Gavelek set the NIU single-season mark for innings with 94.2 while his 89 strikeouts are second. Fellow hurler Brian Miller moved into 11th in MAC with his 71st appearance on Saturday.
*RECORDS FALL AT TOLEDO:
Freshman Mitch Maier established a new mark for batting average by going 3-for-5 to finish the season with a .444 clip, surpassing the mark held by Jeff Squires' .426 total in the 1979 season. Sophomore Phil Pilewski, who finished the season with a .433 average, doubled in the third inning to establish a new total bases record with 120.
*THE NUMBERS GAME AT MARSHALL:
Individual players who broke single season records this year at Marshall included: David Colangelo -- at-bats (217), hits (85), runs scored (71) and triples (6), Jason Brooks -- home runs (23) and RBIs (73), Jason Ricceri -- at bats (219), runs scored (69) and RBIs (63). Two Marshall career marks also fell by the side during the season, those were: home runs -- Brooks (39) and slugging percentage -- Brooks (.743).
*VANBENSCHOTEN ON HOWSER LIST:
Kent State junior John VanBenschoten was named on Apr. 26 as one of 20 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Trophy, given annually to the nation's top college baseball player. The award is presented by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, in conjunction with the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Chamber of Commerce.
